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Customer perceptions of e-service quality in online shopping
|
[
"Electronic commerce",
"Service quality assurance",
"Customer satisfaction",
"Purchasing",
"Shopping",
"Structural analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: With the rapid global growth in electronic commerce (e-commerce), businesses are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by using e-commerce to interact with customers. Businesses with the most experience and success in using e-commerce are beginning to realize that the key determinants of success or failure are not merely web site presence and low price but also include the electronic service quality (e-service quality) (Yang, 2001; Zeithaml, 2002). Santos (2003) defined e-service quality as overall customer assessment and judgment of e-service delivery in the virtual marketplace.Service quality is an elusive and abstract construct that is difficult to explain and measure (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). The SERVQUAL model, first developed by Parasuraman et al. (1988) has been widely tested as a means of measuring customer perceptions of service quality. The SERVQUAL model contains five dimensions, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Furthermore, during the past decade, SERVQUAL model has been tested for measuring service quality in e-commerce settings (Devaraj et al., 2002; Kim and Lee, 2002; Li et al., 2002; Kuo, 2003; Negash et al., 2003). Previous studies on the measurement of e-service quality focused only on the application of the SERVQUAL model by rewording the original scale items. However, in the service quality field, service researchers need to pay more attention to customer evaluations of e-services, because methods of measuring service quality differ between e-commerce and physical marketplace service (Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000). Additionally, van Riel et al. (2001) proposed that the SERVQUAL scale items would have to be reformulated before they could be used meaningfully in the online shopping context. Thus, this study aims to identify the main influence on online shopping service quality, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL model.Research is required on the influence of e-services on all customer responses, such as perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions (Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000; Jeong et al., 2003). Understanding the determinants of service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions for online shopping is important for both marketing researchers and online stores managers. Moreover, previous studies have revealed that service quality in online environments is an important determinant of the effectiveness of e-commerce (Yang, 2001; Janda et al., 2002). However, few studies have examined the relation among different dimensions of e-service quality in predicting overall service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intentions for online shopping.This study attempts to derive the instrument dimensions of e-service quality through modifying the SERVQUAL model to consider the online shopping context, and develops a research model to examine how e-service quality dimensions affect overall service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. To prove the usefulness of the research model, data were collected from 297 online consumers. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to test the research model, which was supported by LISREL 8.3 software. The test results provide a valuable reference for managers of online stores, as well as for researchers interested in internet marketing.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 E-service quality\n3 Research model and hypotheses: Because the existing literature remains insufficient to provide a conceptual model of e-service quality, empirical research is required to clarify the detailed determinants of e-service quality and their influence on customer perceptions of online stores (Janda et al., 2002; Yang and Jun, 2002; Santos, 2003). This study proposed that e-service quality dimensions include web site design, reliability, responsiveness, trust and personalization, and moreover developed a research model for understanding the perceptions of rational customers regarding online shopping. The model proposed that e-service quality dimensions are casually linked to the two performance measures of overall service quality and customer satisfaction, and in turn influence customer purchase intentions (see Figure 1).3.1 E-service quality dimensions\n4 Research methodology: 4.1 Measures\n5 Results: 5.1 Measurement model\n6 Discussion: This study developed instrument dimensions of e-service quality through modifying the SERVQUAL model in the online shopping context. The dimensions of e-service quality included web site design, reliability, responsiveness, trust and personalization. Moreover, this study developed a research model to examine how e-service quality dimensions affect overall service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. The analytical results of this study are discussed below.First, the analytical results showed that trust most strongly affected overall service quality and customer satisfaction for online stores. This analytical result is consistent with that of Gefen (2000), who found that trust is a strong determinant of e-service performance that identified trust as key drivers of perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. Online stores thus must act honestly and in the best interests of customers during the transaction processes.Second, the reliability dimension is a significant predictor of overall service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions in online shopping. Other studies also found reliability to be an effective determinant of web-based service quality (Kuo, 2003; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003). Therefore, to enhance customer satisfaction and purchase intentions, online stores should start improving the dimensions of reliability, such as capability of delivering products as promised, providing up-to-date and accurate information, and strengthening the security of online transactions.Third, the dimension of responsiveness mildly affects overall service quality and customer satisfaction for online stores. This finding might be cause by the fact that customers expect high responsiveness from the prompt delivery of products, but might tolerate slower financial transactions if such transactions have increased security (van Riel et al., 2001).Next, although web site design had only a minor effect on overall service quality and customer satisfaction in this study, its importance should not be underestimated. Online stores should pay careful attention to this aspect. Particularly, web site design should be readable, and the user interface should be visually appealing and tidy, allowing customers to use the web site easily.However, perhaps most surprising is the dimension of personalization, which is not a significant predictor of overall service quality and customer satisfaction for online stores. This finding might indicate that customers are afraid that the online stores will sell personal information to other organizations without their knowledge or permission. Notably, increasing numbers of online customers have expressed concern regarding potential misuses of personal information and abuses of privacy (Than and Grandon, 2002).Additionally, consistent with previous studies (Baker and Crompton, 2000; Sivadas and Prewitt, 2000; Zhu et al., 2002), this study found a positive relationship among overall service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions in an online store.\n7 Conclusions: The conclusions drawn from this study make contributions in two main areas. First, this study developed the instrument dimensions of e-service quality by modifying the SERVQUAL model to consider online shopping context. Second, this study identified e-service quality dimensions that affect overall service quality and customer satisfaction, which in turn are significantly related to customer purchase intentions. The implications for practitioners and researchers and the limitations of this study are discussed below.7.1 Implications for practitioners\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - This paper develops a research model to examine the relationship among e-service quality dimensions and overall service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data from a survey of 297 online consumers were used to test the research model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural equation modelling technique was used to test the research model.\nFindings: - The analytical results showed that the dimensions of web site design, reliability, responsiveness, and trust affect overall service quality and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the latter in turn are significantly related to customer purchase intentions. However, the personalization dimension is not significantly related to overall service quality and customer satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research can use different methodologies, such as longitudinal studies, focus groups and interviews, to examine the relationship between service quality and customer purchase behaviour in online shopping contexts.\nPractical implications: - This study suggests that to enhance customer purchase intentions, online stores should develop marketing strategies to better address the trustworthiness, reliability, and responsiveness of web-based services. Online stores can devote valuable corporate resources to the important e-service quality attributes identified by this study.\nOriginality/value: - This study developed the instrument dimensions of e-service quality by modifying the SERVQUAL model to consider online shopping context. Moreover, the results of this study provide a valuable reference for managers of online stores, as well as for researchers interested in internet marketing.\n",
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] |
Behavioural effects of a short school-based fruit and vegetable promotion programme: 5-a-Day for kids
|
[
"Vegetables",
"Schools",
"Intervention",
"Fruit",
"Child nutrition"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research has indicated that eating a diet rich in fruit and vegetables has important health benefits. Higher fruit and vegetable intake has been associated with a lower risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, obesity and other diseases (World Health Organization, 2003; Hyson, 2011; Boeing et al., 2012). Because of these correlations, the US National 5-a-Day for Better Health Programme, initiated in 1991 by the National Cancer Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation, promotes the consumption of fruit and vegetables by Americans of five or more servings per day (Heimendinger and Van Duyn, 1995; Potter et al., 2000). In the year 2000, the registered association \"5-a-day\" was founded in Germany and has also been supporting the increase of consuming these foods.\nMethods: Study design\nResults: In total, 930 FFQs were completed at baseline, while a total of 669 questionnaires were filled in at follow-up 1 and 545 FFQs were sent back at follow-up 2, giving response rates of 68, 49 and 40 per cent, respectively. In all, 440 children (respectively their parents) completed all three FFQs. All 5 instruments (pupils' and parent's questionnaires, three FFQs) were returned from 407 pupils.\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to investigate the acceptance and the short- and intermediate-term effects of the school-based nutrition programme \"5-a-day for kids\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the Cancer Society of Lower Saxony's school-based nutrition education programme \"5-a-day for kids\", designed to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption. Intervention: the programme included three parts (each 45 minutes): education-based classroom session; food knowledge in a local supermarket; and practical vegetable snack preparation. Additional promoting information materials for parents were provided.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A pre-/post-test research design was used for the evaluation. In total, 1,376 pupils (age 7-14, 51 per cent female), their parents and 69 teachers of 35 schools in Lower Saxony participated in the study. The fruit and vegetable intake was measured with the KiGGS-Food Frequency Questionnaire.\nFindings: A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the change in fruit and vegetable consumption over three measurements (baseline, one month, three months). No significant positive effect of the intervention was observed with the applied method for the daily intake of fruit and vegetables, neither at month 1 nor at month 3.\nResearch limitations/implications: A 135 min school-based intervention does not seem to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption. To enhance its effectiveness, the programme may be improved by adding a longitudinal classroom component, extensive parental involvement and/or distribution of free fruit/vegetables every day.\nOriginality/value: This is the first evaluation of a 5-a-day-intervention in Germany.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Effects of religiosity on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Consumer attitudes",
"Egypt",
"Islamic banks",
"Islam",
"Religiosity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Islam is one of the major monotheistic religions in the world. Its importance is growing as the number of Muslim adherents is increasing, currently around 1.57 billion worldwide (El-Bassiouny, 2014). From an analysis of the available literature, it has become apparent that religion plays a significant role in consumer behavior (Bonne et al., 2009). However, the missing link is the nature of this role with regard to Muslim consumers in Egypt. Even though Egypt is currently undergoing an Islamic awakening (Vouhra et al., 2009), no current research is exploring the consequences of this phenomenon on consumers and their behavior. As Rice (1999) discusses, Egyptians are religious by nature and there is a growing feeling among them that Islamic cultural values are being replaced with western ideals and practices.\n2. Literature review: The literature review that follows is divided into three subsections. The first sub-section discusses attitudes. The second subsection discusses how religiosity can be measured using different scales, and the final subsection discusses the link between attitudes and religiosity.\n3. Research methodology: In the present research, both exploratory qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 respondents followed by descriptive quantitative surveys with 400 respondents were conducted. The mixed methodology was needed as the research is exploratory and descriptive (Deshpande, 1983). This research does not follow a specific paradigm, but applies both inductive and deductive approaches, which translates into a qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology. It is well known that there is no one research methodology better than any other, and each approach is effective in satisfying certain objectives (Deshpande, 1983). We believe the optimum scenario is combining both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The qualitative fieldwork can contribute to survey design, data collection, and analysis.\n4. Findings: This section presents the major findings from the consumer research conducted. The research was divided into the exploratory qualitative phase and the descriptive survey phase, as mentioned above.\n5. Limitations and directions for future research: There are numerous directions for future research arising from the literature review, research methodology, as well as limitations of this study. A basic limitation facing any researcher is the unavailability of data, and this is the case especially in the Middle East. It is difficult to implement an exploratory study or collect data in Middle East due to the unavailability of secondary and primary data. Consumers in the Middle East are typically cautious when providing information to researchers which could be attributed to social desirability reasons.\n6. Conclusion and implications: This research provides Islamic banks with a clearer understanding of Egyptian consumers. It reflects the current attitude of consumers toward Islamic banks. Through analyzing both the findings from the in-depth interviews with Islamic banks and the consumer research milestones, we can deduce that there is a malfunctioning in the marketing of Islamic banks as consumers are not perfectly aware of the main differences between conventional and Islamic banks. Consumers find the idea of Islamic banks appealing. However, there is no clear information in the market to educate consumers. In the meantime, there is a huge potential for Islamic banks to grow in Egypt. The challenge Islamic banks face is to create awareness and educate consumers about the differences between Islamic banks and conventional ones. Based on the results of the current study, religiosity degree also has a significant linear relationship with attitudes toward Islamic banks. Thus, by measuring the Islamic behavioral religiosity degree, Islamic banks can extrapolate consumers' attitudes toward the banks and thus their future intentions and behavior.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of Islamic religiosity on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, employing both qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys.\nFindings: The main findings of the study show that religiosity has an impact on consumer attitudes toward Islamic banking in Egypt. Major religiosity clusters were identified from the sample and these were associated with attitudes toward Islamic banking.\nPractical implications: The findings of this research are of practical importance for marketers in Islamic banks, as they reflect on the likely role religiosity would play in shaping the attitudes of potential customers toward their products. Thus, marketers can use the religiosity scale in measuring intention to use their banking services.\nOriginality/value: The study was implemented in Egypt, where the volume of research on this topic is very limited; thus the context of the study is of value to researchers and practitioners and it can serve as a base for future studies in the Middle East region.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The adoption of technological innovations in a B2B context: an empirical study on the higher education industry in Egypt
|
[
"Higher education",
"Innovation",
"Adoption",
"B2B",
"Service",
"Web"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internet technology has a direct impact on companies, customers, suppliers, distributors and players in the service industry (Porter, 2001; Patrick and Dotsika, 2007). Many studies have focused on how the Internet will affect the nature of doing business within organizations (Shunk et al., 2007; Yadav and Varadarjan, 2005; Beheshti et al., 2006; Drennan and Coll-Kennedy, 2003). Early studies anticipated a \"marketing revolution\" (Hoffman and Novak, 1997; Keeny and Marshall, 2000) as businesses changed their modes of operation and customers adapted to novel and different ways of purchasing and delivering goods and services. Given the growing importance of the Web in conducting business, there has been a growing focus in literature over the past decade on understanding the determinants of Web adoption by individual consumers and more recently by vital institutions like universities (Mourad, 2010). Much of the initial marketing research on the adoption of innovations, however, focused on final consumers. Heavy emphasis was put on exploring the characteristics of individuals (e.g. innovativeness) as determinants of adoption as well as attitudes and personality characteristics of innovation adopters (Lockett and Littler, 1997). Comparatively few studies have considered the business as the adopter of innovations (Bengtsson et al. (2007; Ferneley and Bell, 2006; Tan et al., 2007). Businesses have decision-making processes that often differ from those of consumers, and, thus, there is no reason to automatically assume that adoption decisions and processes are the same for the two groups. According to Frambach et al. (1998), organizational innovativeness is not the same as individual innovativeness and while consumers are motivated to satisfy individual needs, organizations are concerned with value-added and organizational needs.\nMethod: This research used a quantitative method based on a large scale survey to test the proposed model. As for the measurement of the dependent and independent variables, key constructs were measured using established scales. The sources, from which the measurement items for each dimension/construct were adapted, are shown in Appendix 2. It should be noted that all factors studied in this model are first-order factors and there are no moderators in this research. The measurement items used to operationalize the constructs were derived from previous studies and the wording of the items was adjusted to match the present context. New items were added when necessary. All items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale, from 1: \"strongly disagree\" to 7: \"strongly disagree\". When applying a positivist approach and testing a set of hypotheses in a structural equation model, a strong underlying theory is important (Dibbern, 2004). Therefore, all hypotheses are well-grounded in extant literature.\nResults: Structural model and research hypotheses\nDiscussion: It is clear from the complete standardized solution of the model shown in Table IV that 9 out of the 12 factors studied in the model turned out to have a significant effect on technology adoption in universities. These factors are concentrated in the innovation attributes and university characteristics key constructs. Only one factor being need for interaction turned out to be significant under service provider characteristics. The following is a discussion of the results found with regard to each group of constructs as presented in the model.\nConclusion and managerial implications: This paper has attempted to enhance current understanding of the adoption of innovations in a B2B context with a particular focus on the higher education industry. The main contribution of this paper is an empirical one, whereby it focused on identifying the marketing factors affecting the adoption of Web technology at universities. The particular focus here was on the factors that influence faculty and administrators' decision to adopt the Web in communicating with students and delivering education at universities. The research context, Egypt, is of particular interest given that the innovation - Web - is still at a relatively early stage of development. The model was tested using SEM and results indicate support of the model. The analysis reveals significant explanatory power of all the perceived innovation attributes and university characteristics on the adoption of technology in the higher education industry. These results indicate that the more faculty and administrators perceive an added value from using technology such as WEBCT/blackboard in their teaching and interaction with students, the more likely they are to adopt it. However, the more complex this technology is, the less likely they would attempt to use it. This might call for special training sessions provided by the educational institution to faculty and administrators to outline all the different benefits/facets of technology and make it easier to understand and use. Additionally, the results show that universities' commitment to learning and to being competitive in their markets has a profound effect on decisions such as those related to adopting all what is new in the field of education. Additionally, the more the management support of the academic institution to the idea of technology use in delivering education and the better level of IT knowledge of its staff, the more likely it is for faculty and administrators to adopt the technology. Thus, in the higher education industry, it seems that university policies and orientation toward adopting new ways and tools of delivering education are particularly influential on faculty adoption of these innovations. However, contrary to previous results, apart from need for interaction, all service provider factors were not found to have a significant impact on technology adoption in higher education. One possible explanation might be due to the fact that adoption vs non-adoption is entailed by the educational institution and that service provider factors may turn to be more important when studying the different levels of adoption and use of technology, in which case service provider differences may assume an important role.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the factors that affect the adoption of technological innovations in a service industry, like the higher education industry. Specifically, the use of Web-based technology (WEBCT/blackboard) by faculty and administrators in universities in Egypt in the delivery of educational material and communication with students and peers is the focus of this study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A distinctive business-to-business (B2B) model is developed drawing on Rogers' innovation adoption model, the resource-based view of the firm, as well as theoretical and empirical foundations in previous innovation adoption literature. The model is testified drawing on the results of empirical work in the form of a large survey conducted on 200 faculty and administrators in two different universities in Egypt. Structural equation modeling is used to test the research model.\nFindings: In addition to the attributes of the innovation, all university-based factors as well as one service provider factor, namely, need for interaction, were identified to have a significant influence on the adoption of technological innovations in the higher education industry.\nOriginality/value: This paper attempts to enhance current understanding of the adoption of innovations in an important industry like the higher education industry. Empirical results shed light on influential factors when adopting technological innovations by faculty and administrators in the higher education industry. This is the first empirical study of this type to be conducted in the Middle East.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Au revoir to partnerships: what's next ?
|
[
"Public sector accounting",
"Partnership",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The increase across the UK public sector in partnership working and/or the creations of partnerships raises a series of important issues for those engaged with seeking to understand their significance and to reflect upon the policy and practice implications these models present. To some extent we can argue that the term \"partnership\" is such an illusive label that it now lacks any real meaning. At best we can suggest that it captures a way of working rather than conveying a particular organisational model. To a large extent it has become the norm across the public and voluntary sector. As a label or brand it conveys the idea that:* Public agencies will avoid duplication.* Public professionals will co-operate with each other.* Public services will be more efficient.* Public decision making will be better informed.* Competition between public agencies will be replaced by collaboration.The difficulty with this resume is that it ignores some real and largely unaddressed issues associated with the growth in partnership working. These include whether partnership formations are voluntary activity, the extent to which differences in size, remit and scale can be described in a uniform way, the ways in which different professional interests are represented or challenged and the broader issue of whether public sector reforms can sit in isolation from broader societal and economic changes. In addition it assumes a model of working which, is itself, open to question. The partnership brand ignores the contested nature of power and decision making and so can minimise (or ignore) the issues of conflict. Specifically, the rush to partnership as a policy response puts on one side those local, organisational, political and social factors which shape and inform practice at the local level. As a consequence we may need to look at the experiences of specific partnerships in order to assess their effectiveness rather than assume a particular model as best practice. At the same time we may conclude that these real differences in size, remit and scale make such generalised comments difficult. If the test is \"fitness for purpose\" then this itself raises a different set of issues.This paper will suggest that whilst we may wish to draw upon a range of theoretical debates to inform our own understanding of this growth in partnership working we may, also, wish to imagine alternative models which might shape the context to our own practice. Indeed this may, also, enable us to situate partnerships within a particular historical, political and cultural context and question or learn from trans national experiences.\nPartnerships: the right response?: The promotion of \"partnership working\" to address perceived failings in the UK public sector are not new. Nearly 40 years ago they were being promoted as one policy response to the recognition that unaddressed urban problems were impacting on the health, education and environmental well being of some of the poorest in Britain's cities (Higgins et al., 1983). Indeed each new successive wave of urban regeneration initiatives were conceived as examples of \"partnership working\". The underlying and explicit assumptions were that of discrete public agencies (especially at the local level) who were unable or unwilling to engage in an integrated approach to public and welfare service delivery. The assumptions which informed this hypothesis argued that:* Public sector agencies were too inflexible in their decision making.* Public sector professionals were constrained by \"departmentalism\" and engaged in boundary disputes with other agencies.* Public policy decision making at a national level reflected and re-enforced divisions at the local level.* Political leadership at the centre was governed by short-termism.* Public sector agencies were poorly managed.* Public policy making assumed that the voluntary or community sector had a marginal role ((Huxham and Vangan, 2000; Diamond and Liddle, 2005; Leach and Percy-Smith, 2001).At a policy level we can see, in the UK, that over the past 25-30 years a growing consensus emerged amongst politicians, policy makers, practitioners and academics argued that:* The complexities of social problems required an explicit \"turn\" to collaboration across the public/private/voluntary sector.* The UK system and structure of Local Government could not provide, by itself, the only response to these problems.* The place of the community and voluntary sector in this response was necessary.* There was (after 1997) a more explicit emphasis on community participation.Whilst the significance of extending the capacity of civic participation and co-operation between agencies was not new (Boaden et al., 1982) it received greater legitimacy in the UK during the 1990s. It is this legacy which, arguably, has informed developments in the UK since the election of New Labour in 1997.There were a number of factors which were cited as illustrating the value to the public sector of a more collaborative approach to service design and delivery. These include the following:* Collaboration justified joint working on grounds of efficiency and effectiveness.* Joint working or multi agency working provided focus for services and agencies.* Collaboration assumed that individuals within agencies had a role regardless of status.* Joint working necessitated changes to the structure and culture of agencies and organisations.* Changing the organisational structure resulted in \"flatter\" hierarchies and devolution of responsibilities to front-line or street-based workers.* Decentralising decision making to local points of contact resulted in more informed decision making.* Opening up local points of contact for the public facilitated the active involvement of community organisations.And this rationale can be seen in successive reports and initiatives post 1997 in which the challenges facing the government at a national level were:* To address the cumulative failure of successive regeneration initiatives.* To identify and to introduce cross agency working to tackle the \"wicked issues\" (those aspects of social and economic policy beyond the scope of any one agency).* To tackle skill shortages and educational underachievement.* To increase the efficiency of the public sector.* To develop policy and practice which was sustainable after special interventions by the central state.* To reinvigorate the democratic process at the local level (SEU 1998, 2001).In the UK, after 1997, the momentum for change was sustained by the Labour Government's attempts to both \"modernise\" the structure of decision making within local government (DETR, 1998) and the emphasis which was placed on \"forcing\" collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors. The particular forms this enforced approach took varied but it did encompass the following:* Financial incentives for both the private and public sector through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).* Target setting for the public sector across a number of agencies and services (including health, police and education).* Formalising partnerships in regeneration (with the New Deal for Communities and Neighbourhood Renewal Initiative).* Establishing Local Strategic Partnerships with specified targets to meet (Public Service Agreements).* Legislation to meet specific demands in children's service.* New agencies to address \"problems\" which cut across existing services (e.g. youth crime and youth offending).* Encouraging collaboration between higher education and post-16 providers.* Using Regional Development Agencies in England to act as brokers and sponsors of specific initiatives in employment and training.The consequences of these varied approaches has been that agencies find themselves acting as \"partners\" to multiple local and regional initiatives with sometimes competing and contradictory demands. More significantly, perhaps, this approach now looks like a short-term response rather than a long-term strategy of changing organisational practice and culture. As a model the \"partnership\" approach, as adopted in the UK, runs the risk of overloading the system and increasing the potential for partnership fatigue (Rowe, 2005). The capacity of public sector to accommodate to new demands for \"partnership\" work must be at risk. As a long-term strategy the real weaknesses rest on the following:* An absence of a strategic approach to embed changes.* A lack of understanding of how to achieve transfer of best practice.* An over use of the language of partnership.* A failure to grasp the significance of local and regional networks.* An absence of a strategic and theoretical framework within which to place change and innovation.* A short-term approach to change management across the public sector.For practitioners, activists and those engaged in reflecting on these changes the challenge remains to examine not only the rush to partnership working but to imagine alternative models and approaches. This still remains a priority partly because there is a new generation of public sector managers who have been \"schooled\" in the ideas and practice of collaboration and \"partnership\" working. The longer-term changes foreshadowed in a wide variety of services in the UK (health, housing, law and order, regeneration and work with children) are predicated upon promoting \"generic\" practitioners who work across professional boundaries. As a consequence perhaps we should be much more careful about the use of \"partnership\" to describe this activity. As an alternative discourse we should consider promoting a language which does explicitly talk of \"networks\", \"reflective practitioners\" or \"communities of practice\" (Gilchrist, 2004).\nTowards a new model: fitness for purpose?: If the sole or significant test is \"fitness for purpose\" then we need to develop a framework which enables us to undertake that test. In the UK there is already a significant body of work which promotes the effectiveness of partnership working. But that is essentially focussed upon the process not on the organisational and structural frameworks which either \"own\" the work or are accountable for its implementation.Indeed part of the difficulty practitioners and professionals experience is that they may be part of multiple networks which, in turn, are connected to different \"partnerships\" which bring together quite different sets of participants. For example in the UK the present Government reformed the service which provides educational advice and guidance to children and young people (Connexions) and is about to reform it again. At one level (strategic) Connexions Partnerships were established and quasi independent (local) agencies were contracted to deliver the specific service. At the strategic level the partnerships directly employed practitioners to monitor the local services, negotiate local service agreements, ad to allocate resources ad to act as the primary site of innovation and experimentation. At a local level the service delivers were, also, accountable to local boards which include Connexions in a wider remit of youth work and education. The test for Connexions managers at both the strategic and local level was how to navigate their way through a set of complex (and sometimes contradictory) relationships whilst at the same time meeting quite specific targets upon which a significant part of their funding was dependent.In another, quite different, context the Labour Government have promoted neighbourhood management as part of their renewal and regeneration of deprived communities. These partnerships are, usually, focussed upon specific and defined geographies in place. They have an explicit set of targets to address and their role is to facilitate or contract other public service agencies to deliver defined services. Their physical location within particular communities and their requirement to encourage the active presence of local residents in local fora suggest that these are quite different from the model described above. If the test is \"fitness for purpose\" we might conclude that the latter example passes and the former fails.If we wish to develop a framework it might include the following assessments:* Local relationships between agencies and individual actors.* Scale and spatial relationships present.* Points or sites of innovation.* The local environmental factors.* Place and scale of influence by external agencies.* Emergent forms and places of innovation.Local relationships between agencies and individual actors\nConclusion: The shift in the UK over the past 20 years to new organisational forms of public service delivery have been re-badged as \"partnership working\". The limitations of such an approach and the weaknesses inherent in this model are well known. In particular the label itself is now redundant. We should try to avoid it. More significantly we should be examining and testing in a more focussed way the experiences and practice of those engaged in collaborative work. The rush to partnership has created significantly new organisational structures and modes of delivery. We are now at a stage when we need to move beyond this and to explore whether alternative models \"capture\" what is happening. This is necessary both because of the flaws in the original concept but, also, because these new structures do provide an important site of learning and reflection across the public sector.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To review the current debates on partnership working and to examine whether a \"fitness for purpose\" test is an appropriate way of evaluating existing developments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper examines the conceptual frameworks within which the partnership discourse has been located, and reflects on whether this enables both practitioners and academics to make sense of the partnership literature and arrangements.\nFindings: - The paper argues that existing frameworks are limited and suggests that alternative models need to be considered.\nPractical implications: - The paper invites the practitioner/academic community to reassess existing models in the light of experience and analysis.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides an alternative framework within which to situate partnership development and practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Individual intellectual capital versus collective intellectual capital in a meta-organization
|
[
"Intellectual capital",
"Network",
"Meta-organization",
"Collective",
"Intellectual liabilities",
"Seaport"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The assertion that organizations are more dependent on intangible resources than on tangible ones for the creation of sustainable competitive advantages has become commonplace (Palacios and Galvan, 2006). The term intellectual capital (IC) is used to refer to non-physical sources of future economic benefits (Canibano et al., 2002). Research on IC has focused mainly on individual business firms, treating knowledge in a static way (in terms of a knowledge stock), namely, by identifying and evaluating the intangible assets owned by an organization in a particular moment (Poyhonen and Smedlund, 2004; Schiuma et al., 2008).\n2. Background and relevant literature: 2.1. IC creation and deterioration - IC as an asset or a liability\n3. Methodology: This paper reports on a single case study conducted at the Seaport of Aveiro. One of the advantages of the case study methodology in business and management research relates \"to the possibilities of examining and understanding unique, rare, and atypical companies and organizations as well as complex and dynamic events and processes\" (Mills et al., 2010, p. 95). Given that a complex reality (a meta-organization) is being explored and there is no deep comprehension about the complex phenomenon under study, the case study research method was selected. This paper seeks to provide a deep comprehension about the phenomenon of IC creation/deterioration in a specific and complex setting.\n4. The case study: The Seaport of Aveiro is a multi-functional Portuguese seaport with an important role in serving the industrial sector in Central and North of Portugal, as well as in Central Spain. Within the Seaport of Aveiro, several private actors develop their activities along with public ones, such as the Port Authority. The seaport is administered by APA, a corporation with exclusively public capitals. In this paper, APA is considered as the one entity that \"represents\" the collective.\n5. Results and discussion: The case study allowed to illustrate how IC is created and deteriorated at both individual and meta-organizational levels of analysis. On the one hand, the relationships between the meta-organization's members are crucial for transmitting the knowledge that is embedded in their core competencies and core capabilities (Marti, 2004; Sporleder and Peterson, 2003). Knowledge transfer is a consequence of collaboration and communication and seaports have specific characteristics that encourage these. The \"new business unit\" illustration provides evidence of how a member of the seaport, by investing in its own IIC (a new brand or new procedures), enhances other organizations' IIC (new and better competencies). This is in line with Lee and Song (2010), who claim that maritime operators' behaviours can affect other actors' strategic decisions by being part of a cooperative network in the same business. To produce collective knowledge in a meta-organization (and consequently CIC), it is critical the way firms work together, how their tasks interrelate and how their knowledge is integrated in order to create value and competitive advantage for the meta-organization (Kianto, 2007). On the other hand, the case study provides strong evidence regarding the interconnectedness between the meta-organization's and its members' IC. For instance, \"The new business unit\" illustrates how the seaport's CIC (specifically its reputation) increased as a consequence of one of its members' investment in a new brand (i.e. in IIC). It also illustrates how APA, by creating CIC (namely, relational capital), increased the operator's IIC. This IC micro-meso link is supported by Nielsen and Dane-Nielsen (2010), who argue that collaboration between entities can be seen as the means to transform knowledge into emergent proprieties at a higher level of analysis and also that higher level phenomena may have downwardly causal effects on lower level processes.\n6. Conclusions: This paper addresses an important gap in IC literature: the processes of IC creation and deterioration in meta-organizations and, specifically, the relationship between IC at a \"micro\" and \"meso\" levels of analysis. Its objective has been also to comprehend those relationships from a longitudinal perspective. A case study conducted in the Portuguese Seaport of Aveiro provided a set of illustrations depicting the interdependencies between a meta-organization and its members, which allowed to better comprehend the importance of assessing IC at both these levels. The paper suggests that in such settings two types of IC must be distinguished: the CIC pertaining to the meta-organization and the IIC of its members. It is also argued that the traditional models on which most \"macro\" and \"meso\" IC models are built from, do not fit in this type of setting which can be seen as an organization per se.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyse how intellectual capital (IC) is created and deteriorated in a meta-organization by assessing the interdependency between the collective IC of the meta-organization and the individual IC of its members.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study conducted in a seaport is adopted to explore how creation or deterioration of IC at one level of analysis affects the IC at the other. Four different illustrations are provided, depicting different instances of articulation between both types of IC.\nFindings: Evidence suggests that, in a meta-organization, IC appears as a function of both individual and collective IC dimensions. Changes in the meta-organization's IC or in its members' IC may have different impacts on each other, generating intellectual assets or intellectual liabilities at both levels. Evidence also suggests that those changes in IC should be analysed in a longitudinal way, since both levels affect each other in different ways over time.\nResearch limitations/implications: Despite the validity of the interpretations provided in the context of the case study, generalization to other situations should be conducted only in a theoretically framed manner.\nPractical implications: This study provides important strategic and managerial implications for meta-organizations and their members, who are concerned with their performance.\nOriginality/value: Although there have been some efforts to apply the traditional IC methodologies to a bigger scope, such as regions or nations, some meso level empirical contexts are yet far unexplored, such as the case of meta-organizations. Furthermore there is a gap in management sciences' research on seaports.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The relationship between motivation to work and workers' pay flexibility : The moderation of age
|
[
"Older workers",
"Self-determination theory",
"Work motivation",
"Pay flexibility",
"Reservation wage"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Enhancing the employment rate of people over 50 or mature age workers is a key challenge for many governments (e.g. van der Heijden et al., 2008; Wang and Shultz, 2010). Compensation is typically regarded as one of the central human resource (HR) practices that keep workers committed to their jobs (Gagne and Forest, 2008) and the labor market (Templer et al., 2010). However, if wages of mature age workers rise faster than their productivity, employers may be reluctant to hire and retain them (Simpson et al., 2002; Skirbekk, 2008). Wage setting depends both on what employers want to offer and what employees are willing to work for. Hence, what mature age workers are willing to work for is crucial for their labor participation, in particular during an international downfall of the economy when many organizations have to cut down costs or downsize.\nTheory and hypotheses: The relationship between work valence and the reservation wage ratio\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Preliminary results\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of motivation to work in explaining workers' pay flexibility - as measured by their reservation wage ratio - across the lifespan. This is important since pay inflexibility may undermine mature age workers' retention at the workforce.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Relying on self-determination theory the paper broadens the role of \"motivation to work\" from the overall work valence an individual attaches to work to the underlying work values (i.e. the perceived value of work for its intrinsic vs extrinsic outcomes) and work motives (i.e. the underlying autonomous vs controlled reasons regulating one's work participation). The authors conducted hierarchical linear regression analyses on a sample of 1,577 Belgian workers to explore how individuals' work values and work motives, in addition to work valence, shape workers' reservation wage ratios across the lifespan.\nFindings: Results indicate that work valence and holding relative intrinsic work values and relative autonomous work motives are associated with lower reservation wage ratios. Finally, age moderates all three relationships. Whereas the negative impact of work valence and relative autonomous work motives is stronger at older age, the negative impact of relative intrinsic work values is stronger at younger age.\nResearch limitations/implications: Motivational predictors are differently related to reservation wage ratios across the lifespan.\nPractical implications: By fostering overall work valence and autonomous work motivation practitioners can exert influence on mature age workers' pay flexibility.\nOriginality/value: This study extends prior research on pay flexibility by focussing on the content of motivation to work (i.e. work values, work motives) and its role across the lifespan.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Service experiences beyond the direct use: indirect customer use experiences of smartphone apps
|
[
"Value-in-use",
"Co-creation",
"Service experience",
"Phenomenology",
"Smartphone apps",
"Use experience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The mobile application (app) business has become increasingly significant in recent years. Smartphone apps are software app programs that are designed to run on specific operating system platforms. With the emergence of smartphones during the last decade, apps have become the key interaction and service provision mechanism between the smartphone and the customer. Apps provide several services and have an impact through their service experiences on the everyday lives of their users (Dube, 2014). For example, Apple offers more than 750,000 apps to its customers via its App Store (Monti, 2013). Available in both priced and free versions, apps have largely replaced the use of other mobile-based services.\n2. Literature review: The word \"experience\" has multiple connotations as it is used in different contexts. Employing \"experience\" as a verb (\"I have/he has experienced [...]\") leads to a phenomenological characterization of the concept, in which the activity of experience is uniquely personal. On the other hand, the noun \"experience\" (\"In my experience [...]\" or \"I have learnt from my experiences [...]\") refers to the knowledge aspect of experience (tacit or explicit). In previous research, scholars have used similar conceptualizations of experience, including Caru and Cova (2003, pp. 269-270), who presented a compilation of conceptualizations of experience from different research streams: natural sciences (experiment experience), philosophy (self-transformation from experience), sociology and psychology (subjective and cognitive experience), and anthropology (experience as a way of living).\n3. Smartphone app use experiences: In this paper we understand the user as the person who uses the service (i.e. smartphone apps). We do not distinguish between use experience and user experience. We depict use experience as referring to the phenomenologically determined experience in the use of a service. Based on the phenomenological approach, use experience, or user experience, has been scarcely studied, with a few exceptions, such as Payne et al. (2008), and Helkkula and Holopainen (2011).\n4. Methodology: This paper investigates customer use experiences of smartphone apps based on the phenomenological approach, which relates to use experiences that are individually subjective in a social context (Helkkula, 2011). Thompson et al. (1989) argue that phenomenology (in particular, existential phenomenology) is a suitable paradigm for researching consumer experiences. The tenets of existential phenomenology include understanding that experience is contextual, with research goals as thematic descriptions of consumer experiences (Thompson et al., 1989). In accordance with the phenomenological approach, this research is based on the respondents' descriptions and interpretations of their app experiences.\n5. Findings: Based on the analysis of the respondents' diaries and interviews, two main types of use experiences emerged from the data, which we labeled direct and indirect use experiences. Direct use experiences included user contact and the actual use of the apps. In contrast to direct use experiences, indirect use experiences included those that did not require the actual use of apps or direct contact with the user. Therefore, indirect use experiences can be imaginary in nature, and thus are a component of phenomenological, holistic service experience and value co-creation (Helkkula et al., 2012b; Meyer and Schwager, 2007; O'Brien, 2004; Valberg, 1992). An example of this phenomenon is the way that a user can vividly imagine a journey or holiday when told by a friend about a travel app and its benefits.\n6. Discussion and conclusions: Our study focuses on customer service experiences, with a special emphasis on the use experiences of smartphone apps. This paper understands service experience and use experience as a holistic phenomenon, which is individually subjective in a social context and specific event (Lusch and Vargo, 2006; Schembri, 2006). Despite the current research interest in service experience (Ostrom et al., 2010), and the growing importance of the mobile app business, the service literature has not yet focused on apps or their use experiences. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to investigate the use experiences of smartphone apps in a service marketing context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine customers' use experiences in a smartphone application (app) context. Apps have emerged as popular tools among marketing practitioners. In service research, however, smartphone apps, and their customers' use experiences, have received limited attention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper provides a conceptual overview and draws on an empirical two-phase study comprising diary narratives of using a specific app and semi-structured interviews on the use of multiple apps by app users.\nFindings: Results show that indirect use experiences play an important role in the holistic service experience. Compared with direct experiences, indirect use experiences do not require the actual use of apps or direct contact with the user. Also the context, such as the time and location of app use, is important for both direct and indirect use experience.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper highlights indirect use experiences as a vital component of service experiences and encourages researchers not to restrict use experiences to direct use only. Indirect use experiences enable managers to gain deep insights into the everyday use experiences of current and potential customers.\nOriginality/value: First, previous research on service experience has mainly focused on direct use experiences. This study highlights that indirect use experiences are an important part of the service experience. Second, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is the first attempt to investigate the use experiences of smartphone apps in a service marketing context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Development of wine from infused tea leaves (Cammellia sinensis)
|
[
"Product development",
"Wines",
"Tea"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tea and herb tea are popular beverages worldwide because of their refreshing and mildly stimulating action (Hamilton and Miller, 1995). Different kinds of tea products are available in the market, each characterised by a distinct processing method (Chou et al., 1999). Although the nutritional value is poor, many reports are available on the beneficial effects of tea on human health. In fact, tea may have a protective role against cardiovascular disease and cancer due to the antioxidant activity of tea flavonoids (Dreosti et al., 1997).Many studies have been reported on wine production from grapes and other fruit musts and several physicochemical evaluations have been undertaken (Cristovan et al., 2000; Gonzalez et al., 2002; Guerra et al., 1999; Lloret et al., 2002; Maccarone et al., 1993; Nicolini et al., 2000; Perez-Mangarino and Gonzalez-San Jose, 2000; Versari et al., 1999, 2002).Wine, along with other moderately alcoholic beverages, has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases and other illnesses related to oxidative stress.Rimm et al. (1996) reported that a moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with reduced mortality and coronary heart disease.Foods that have potential or definite antioxidant capacities have been reported to be mainly vegetables and fruits as well as beverages like red wine, tea and beer (Girotti et al., 2002). Wine is well recognised for its social and sensory qualities and actions as a source of antioxidant substances such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, flavonols, cathechins, leuco anthocyanins and resveratrol (German and Walzem, 2000; Nattella et al., 2001). The beneficial effects of tea derive primarily from ingredients such as antioxidant substances (polyphenols, or flavonoids), nutritional compounds and xanthine, mainly caffeine (Duffy et al., 2001).As a result of the need to find a wider use for tea, the tea producing countries of the world, have explored and developed many different products and by-products. Notable among these are non-alcoholic beverages packaged in cans, plastic bottles and tetrapacks. Apart from this, green tea buckwheat noodle has been introduced into the market. Tea has also been used in candy and chocolate (JGT, 2001).The objective of this study is to develop a new wine product using infused tea leaves as a raw material and then determine its physicochemical parameters compared to the sensory qualities of other commercial wines from tropical fruits.\nMaterials and methods: Loose tea leaves of clones 318 and 143 were obtained from the Highland of Mambilla, Nigeria. A total of 10 g of each of the two tea leaves was infused in hot water (85-90degC) and labelled LT318 and LT143 respectively. An already processed tea bag provided by Unilever Plc. Nigeria was also infused in hot water and labelled (LP). One processed instant tea bag was infused in 400 ml of hot water. All the infusions were prepared in triplicates.Preparation of yeast starter\nResults and discussion: There were variations in the macro and micro nutrient contents of the two tea clones 318 and 143 (Table I). Clone 143 had higher values for some of the macro nutrients assayed (such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) while calcium and magnesium values for the two clones were not significantly different (p<0.05). The value obtained for copper in clone 318 was greater than that of LT143 while the latter had a higher value for zinc. Apart from clonal differences, seasonal variations could also be a factor (Obatolu, 1990).In Table II, the pH in all the samples decreased as fermentation progressed. This trend was in agreement with reports of other workers (Akinwale, 1999; Maccarone et al., 1993). This is due to the gradual decrease in the sugar present in the must as a result of the activities of the fermenting organisms. The trend of decrease in pH, total soluble solids, and specific gravity varied significantly with clonal differences. As the pH decreased, the titratable acidity increased at different rates in all the samples. Ogunmoyela (1984) reported that there are variations in clones, which affect their ability to ferment properly. However, the problem of inadequate fermentation of tea clone 143 leaves during primary processing into black tea might be responsible for the values obtained for its percentage of total soluble solids as shown in Table II and consequently the slow rate of alcoholic fermentation when compared with clone 318. The control sample LP had the lowest percentage of alcohol (4.4 per cent).According to Table III, the tannin contents were low for clones 318, 143 and the control LP. Although the tannin contents were low (<0.1) such small amounts can still represent an important factor in the immobilisation of calcium (Turner, 1980).The more sulphur (IV) oxide, the greater the retardation of microorganisms (Frazier and Westhoff, 1995). The values obtained for SO2 from our studies fell within acceptable level (>0.01 per cent) and the volatile acidities of all the three samples were within legal limit for wines in the US (Frazier and Westhoff, 1995).Tea has high polyphenols, which invariably interfere in the estimation of the chlorogenic acids (Mohammed and Jinesh, 1980). The polyphenol of tea leaves before fermentation might be responsible for the higher values obtained for both wines 318 and 143 but the wine produced from processed tea bag (LP) had the lowest polyphenol content. The reason for this could be due to the processing procedure it underwent into instant tea.In Table IV, wines produced from infused tea leaves seemed to be significantly different from other commercial samples like capel, peach and apricot in physicochemical values. This could be as a result of raw material components or due to different processing methods. Samples LT318 and LT143 are significantly different from other commercial fruit wines in pH, percentage of total solids, and volatile acids, fixed acids and percentage of alcohol. Cocoa wine percentage alcohol was not significantly different from capel. Tea wines were very low in alcohol (<10 per cent) with significantly lower values than cocoa and capel wines. There were no significant differences in alcohol contents of samples LT143, peach and apricot while LP and LT318 with the lowest alcohol content were not significantly different from each other (p<0.05). This is a potential benefit because in recent years, consumers are tending towards low calorie, low alcohol and sparkling drinks (Giovanetti and D'Ambrosio, 1991).The spectra data obtained in Table V is a function of the turbidity of the wine samples. The brown colour of LT143 was more intense than both LT318 and LP. These differences were due to different levels of haze formation or precipitation of colloidal suspensions (Maccarone et al., 1993).According to Table VI, the mean sensory scores of all the three wine samples compared favourably well with commercial samples in taste, colour, odour and overall acceptability and there were significant differences in all the evaluated attributes (p<0.05). The taste for sample LT318 was rated the best. There was no significant difference between the sample and LP (p<0.05). The tea wines LT143 and LT318 had a precipitate, which was obviously responsible for their poor rating on colour attributes as shown. Only LP was well rated after cola wines and cashew wines which were not significantly different (p<0.05). The aroma of the sample LT318 was rated supreme with no statistical difference from cashew wine. This might be as a result of the phenolic compounds in both cashew and tea respectively (German and Walzem, 2000). In the overall assessment all the three wines produced from infused tea leaves were rated higher than other samples analysed except for cashew wine which was not significantly different from sample LP.\nConclusion: The utilisation of tea leaves in wine production furnishes a drink that has excellent sensory profile with good flavour characteristics. The tea wines will not only serve as a mildly stimulating drink but offers a potential health drink with low alcohol content.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Tea and herb teas are popular beverages with potential health benefits. This study evaluates the potential for the development of wine using infused tea leaves as a raw material.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Tea leaves of clones 318 and 143 obtained from the Mambilla Highland of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria Ibadan, were infused in hot water and used in wine production. Processed tea bags from Unilever Plc, Nigeria (LP) were used as the control. All the three infusions were fermented for 120 hours at 30degC.\nFindings: - The pH, total solids, and the specific gravity of the musts showed a marked decrease with concomitant increase in titratable acidity. Macro elements of the tea leaves indicated significant differences in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium between clones. The different physiology of the tea clones was responsible for the varied tannins of the wines. Sensory evaluation of the wines showed that there were significant differences, p<0.05 value, among wines samples in all the attributes evaluated.\nOriginality/value: - The taste of the wines produced from tea leaves and the aroma compared favourably with other commercially known tropical fruit wines used in the assessment, although there is need for further work on the improvement of the colour of the tea wines.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
ROI on a shoestring: evaluation strategies for resource-constrained environments or ROI on a shoestring: Measuring more with less (part II)
|
[
"Training evaluation",
"Return on investment",
"Training management",
"Workplace learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The training and development field has continued to evolve at an accelerated pace with increased pressure for training professionals to measure their success and show the return on investment of their programs and processes. When citing key competencies for the profession, the 2004 ASTD Competency Study states that the seismic shift from training to performance improvement requires today's trainers - or workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals - to \"drive results\" through business acumen and strategic thinking. According to the study, \"essential\" WLP skills during the next three years are, \"first and foremost\", to effectively link learning and performance to an organization's overall strategy and second, to substantiate the payback for training efforts in the form of improved business results.For practitioners who must show training's bottom line value in business environments with limited time, money, and resources, there are unique challenges to demonstrating training's impact. In addition to such organizational constraints, many practitioners are deterred from comprehensive measurement and ROI evaluation due to false assumptions about the process and how to implement it. This article is part 2 of a two-part series in which ten best practice, cost savings approaches for developing a credible, economical ROI strategy are provided. Part 1 provided the groundwork for ROI implementation by describing an evaluation framework for measuring training effectiveness across multiple levels and presenting practical application of five cost savings approaches.Part 2 continues by describing five additional shoestring strategies, along with guidelines for integrating and sustaining a measurement culture for training efforts going forward.\nReview: an evaluation framework: A systemic approach to measuring training's impact begins with an evaluation framework. For review purposes, a research-based, five-level evaluation framework for measuring training effectiveness is as follows:1. Level 1 (reaction and planned action): measures reaction to the program and action planned following a training or learning initiative.2. Level 2 (learning): measures skill and knowledge changes.3. Level 3 (application): measures extent to which learned skills and knowledge are applied back on the job.4. Level 4 (business impact): measures changes in business impact variables.5. Level 5 (ROI): monetary value of the results compared to the program costs, usually expressed as a percentage.This framework includes techniques for isolating the impact of a training solution and also provides for a sixth data measure: intangible benefits. Intangible benefits are those benefits that have not been converted to monetary value, such as increased morale, improved teamwork, or increased job satisfaction.\nCost-saving approaches: The following ten cost-saving approaches to ROI evaluation (Phillips, 1997) have been successfully utilized by organizations around the globe and have been proven to significantly decrease resource requirements while still providing sound, credible data:1. Plan for evaluation early in the process.2. Build evaluation into the training process.3. Share the responsibilities for evaluation.4. Require participants to conduct major steps.5. Use short-cut methods for major steps.6. Use sampling to select the most appropriate programs for ROI analysis.7. Use estimates in the collection and analysis of data.8. Develop internal capability.9. Streamline reporting.10. Utilize technology.As a continuation of this series, strategies six through ten are described below.6. Use sampling to select the most appropriate programs for ROI analysis\nImplementation issues: Achieving a results-oriented evaluation focus can be time consuming, labor intensive and sometimes perceived as intrusive. When ROI process implementation fails to take hold in an organization, it's typically due to the following reasons:* Unclear methodology or framework.* Lack of a clear vision or goal.* Lack of leadership.* Changing directions in mid-stream.* Poor communication.* Unmet or unrealistic customer expectations.* Resource issues, including: not enough resources; competition for resources; inadequate or poorly trained resources.As with any change effort, constant attention and focus must be maintained to build and sustain the ROI process over time. Preparation and planning is only half the journey.A big challenge for ROI implementation is staying on track and maintaining the health and integrity of the process so that it remains more than a passing fad or short-term phenomenon. One of the best pieces of advice for any training function seeking to standardize the ROI process as a way of doing business is this: \"Commit to the long haul.\" Ultimately, this is not the sole responsibility of the training function. Cooperation, interaction, and dedication of individuals and groups across all organizational levels is needed. The following enabling strategies will help with these challenges:* Build and maintain stable links for integrating evaluation data with other organizational metrics.* Gain leadership support and commitment.* Make optimum use of resources - identify interdependencies.* Establish continuous improvement mechanisms.* Recognize and reward \"small wins\".* Communicate the ROI of the ROI.\nSummary: Integrating ROI processes into the organizational mainstream is simply a matter of helping stakeholders define which initiatives are effectively adding value and meeting intended objectives across multiple levels of evaluation, not just ROI or the financial return on investment. Significant payoffs associated with using the ROI methodology over time include the following:1. It transforms the role of training in the organization.2. It increases alignment with business needs.3. It improves the efficiency of solution design, development, and delivery by:* reducing costs;* preventing a program from being implemented after the pilot process shows that it delivers no value;* expanding programs when other areas need the program; and* discontinuing programs when they add no value.1. It enhances the value of learning and development in the organization.2. It builds respect, support, and commitment from internal groups, including senior executives and major program sponsors.Practical application of the ten cost-savings approaches described in this series allows the resource-constrained training function to present their work in terms of financial benefits that leaders understand and have come to expect. It is a vital step in establishing business partnerships that will enhance commitment for training programs, products, and services going forward.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Despite heightened interest in return-on-investment (ROI) and increased accountability for training professionals to prove their bottom-line organizational value, many practitioners are deterred from comprehensive measurement and ROI evaluation due to concerns about the cost, time, and human resources necessary to fully implement the process. This article, the second in a two part series, aims to present best practice, cost savings approaches for developing a credible, economical ROI strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A systemic approach to measuring training's impact begins with an evaluation framework. For purposes of this article, Phillips' (1997) five-level framework for capturing the financial impact of training programs was referenced. Based upon over 20 years of research and global applications, Phillips' ROI model also includes techniques for isolating the impact of other variables, besides training, upon performance improvement.\nFindings: - Many organizations around the globe are using cost-saving approaches so they can begin conducting ROI evaluation within their current budget while others use cost-saving approaches in order to increase the number of ROI studies they conduct. The ten cost saving approaches for measuring programs at the ROI level have been proven to significantly decrease resource requirements while still providing sound, credible data. Despite these factors, establishing an evaluation culture is no easy task. In many ways, implementing a system-wide ROI effort is similar to implementing a large-scale change initiative.\nPractical implications: - Practical application of these cost-savings approaches allows the resource-constrained training function to present their work in terms of financial benefits that leaders understand and have come to expect. It is a vital step in establishing business partnerships that will enhance commitment for training programs, products, and services going forward.\nOriginality/value: - By evaluating training programs with the ROI in mind, training functions can be perceived in a more credible light. Programs aligned with organization strategy are offered, while others that add little value are redesigned and sometimes eliminated. Trainers, designers and developers can use the findings of an ROI evaluation to increase training alignment with business needs and to improve the efficiency of the training design, development, and delivery life cycle.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Investigating "circular business models" in the manufacturing and service sectors
|
[
"Manufacturing industry",
"Service operations",
"Business process re-engineering"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increase in environmental considerations, reverse supply chain, and identification and utilisation of residuals after the end of life product, has triggered the development of circular manufacturing models (Nunen and Zuidwijk, 2004; Talbot et al., 2007). Environmental regulations are considerably more strict in developed countries compared to developing countries, and they follow practices (Lambert et al., 2011; Drohomeretski et al., 2014; Sajan and Sridharan, 2015; Vijayvargy et al., 2017; Baz et al., 2018) which contribute to circular economy (CE). However, it is not just the environmental regulations that prompt manufacturing companies to move from linear models to CBMs, but also the pressure from customers and suppliers (Huang et al., 2015) that plays a vital role.\n2. Research methodology: 2.1 Journal article selection criteria\n3. Findings: A total of 27 journals were shortlisted after careful consideration, to contribute to investigation of the role of the CBM in the manufacturing and service sector. The key findings from these journals are noted below.\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Circular business model\n5. Conclusion, limitations and future research directions: The need for the CBM has been derived from the concept of creating infinite resource from finite resource. The main aim of this paper was to identify the role of circular business in the manufacturing and service sectors (FI). It has been found that a CBM facilitates quality development of resources, improved product improvisation, new market opportunities and increased competitive advantage in the selected industries. This research study has systematically highlighted these roles and provided effective comparison through application of proper methodology and the findings related to these. The research study shows that the move towards sustainability is not possible without the application of the CBM and this requires full transformation of business processes and working dynamics. With the increasing complexities and challenges in the business world the CBM is getting much attention as a sustainable way of doing business for all the companies irrespective of their nature and sector of operation. A CBM enables a complete picture of how all the functional departments of the organisation can come together to create a differentiated value proposition. The main advantage of the CBM is that it allows the organisation to form a sustainable solution that helps to reduce the waste and time lags associated with operation. The CBM also allows the organisation to respond positively to the call of pressure groups and social activists by becoming more socially responsible, whilst also meeting the expectations of other stakeholders.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the different circular business models (CBMs) in the manufacturing and service sector and apply this in the context of the food industry (FI), through a systematic literature review of related published journals and articles. The research study is designed to illustrate the impact of CBMs in the manufacturing and service sectors through a combination of real-life examples and direct references to existing literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The underlying research study follows a systematic literature review approach where the relevant CBMs are explored in the context of the manufacturing and service sector (FI.) The journals most cited in the context of CBMs and their implication in the manufacturing and service sector were chosen for this study. There was no fixed timeframe applied to complete the research. A total of 54 articles were selected which referenced: discussion in the context of the concept of CBMs; different types of CBM; definition of the manufacturing sector; definition of the service sector (FI); application of different CBMs in these two sectors; and included a comparison of the application of CBMs. In total, 40 of the 54 articles were shortlisted for best relevance and used in the research study.\nFindings: The underlying research study was limited to 40 articles and the data contained within them. The article search was limited to the keywords of the CBM; the implication of CBM; the CBM in manufacturing (textiles); circular business in service (FI); and comparison and application of the CBM.\nPractical implications: The final analysis demonstrates that circular business promotes sustainability by allowing companies to generate maximum return from given resources and reach zero waste targets. Greater customer satisfaction is also achieved through service innovation that cuts down negative impact on the environment. These findings are relevant and applicable to the FI.\nOriginality/value: A review of existing literature showed that whilst there is significant research on the implications of the CBM in general, there has been little focus on the use of different CBMs specifically in the manufacturing and service industry (FI). This research study is designed to tease out the specific benefits of CBMs in this context, highlighting the contribution they can make to efficiency in both the manufacturing and service sectors (FI) through useful comparison.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The significance and performance of Singapore REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio
|
[
"Singapore",
"Robustness",
"Portfolio diversification",
"Post-GFC recovery",
"Risk-adjusted returns",
"S-REITs"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: REITs in Asia have taken on increased significance in recent years, reflecting the strong economic growth and improved market transparency in many of the Asian property markets (APREA, 2014b; Chin et al., 2006; JLL, 2014a). Since being established in 2001, this has seen major REIT markets established in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia; as well as South Korea and Thailand. Figure 1(a)highlights the significant growth in these Asian REIT markets over 2001-2014.\nSignificance of commercial property in Singapore: Singapore has been a key player in the growth of the Asian economies in the last 15 years. Singapore is one of the most globally competitive business environments, being ranked No. 2 globally and No. 1 in Asia (WEF, 2014), as well as being one of the least corrupt countries globally (No. 5) and in Asia (No. 1) (TI, 2013). The 2014 GDP real growth forecast of 3.6 per cent shows signs of a positive business outlook, only exceeded by the emerging markets of China (7.1 per cent), Indonesia (5.3 per cent) and India (4.7 per cent) (JLL, 2014b).\nSignificance of REITs in Singapore: With REITs established in Asia in September 2001, S-REITs were first established in July 2002 (CapitaMall Trust); being delayed nine months after an earlier attempt to launch an S-REIT (SingMall Property Trust) failed, due to an under-subscription of the IPO (Ooi et al., 2006). This saw S-REITs established as the second REIT market in Asia, after REITs in Japan. The regulatory body, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), issued REIT guidelines in 1999. Further regulatory changes to the management of S-REITs were subsequently made by MAS to encourage the growth and investor attractiveness of S-REITs, with the expectation of establishing Singapore as a pan-Asia hub for REITs. These regulatory changes concerned allowing increased gearing, reducing the withholding tax rate, reducing the income distribution requirements, requiring the disclosing of yield-enhancing arrangements, requiring the licensing of REIT managers and improving corporate governance via mandatory AGMs.\nMethodology: Data sources\nS-REIT performance analysis: Risk-adjusted returns\nSub-period performance analysis of S-REITs: The important strategic role of S-REITs over 2003-2013 has been clearly highlighted in the above analysis. To more fully understand the investment dynamics of S-REITs under different market conditions, it is also important to do this analysis over different time periods to capture the pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC investment contexts.\nProperty investment implications for S-REITs: With Singapore being a dynamic and sophisticated property market in Asia, the development of\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: REITs have taken on increased significance in Asia in recent years, with Singapore REITs (S-REITs) becoming an important property investment vehicle since 2002. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance, risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of S-REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio context in Singapore over 2003-2013. The post-GFC recovery of S-REITs is also assessed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using monthly total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of S-REITs over 2003-2013 is assessed, with efficient frontiers and asset allocation diagrams used to assess the role of S-REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio. Sub-period analyses are conducted to assess the post-GFC recovery of S-REITs.\nFindings: S-REITs delivered strong risk-adjusted returns, being the best-performed asset class, but with little portfolio diversification benefit over 2003-2013. Whilst taking on reduced risk, but with less portfolio diversification benefits in recent years, S-REITs are seen to be robust relative to the other major Singapore asset classes; contributing significantly across the risk spectrum; particularly in the post-GFC period, where S-REITs have been the best-performed asset class in Singapore.\nPractical implications: The results highlight the important strategic role of S-REITs in a Singapore mixed-asset portfolio. The strong risk-adjusted performance has highlighted the robustness of S-REITs, with S-REITs contributing to the mixed-asset portfolio across the portfolio risk spectrum; particularly in the post-GFC period. This robustness highlights the ongoing strategic role of S-REITs in a Singapore mixed-asset portfolio, as well as the ongoing development of S-REITs as an important pan-Asia hub for REITs.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first published empirical research analysis of the risk-adjusted performance of S-REITs and the role of S-REITs in a portfolio. Given the increased significance of REITs in Asia, this research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical property investment decision-making regarding the role of S-REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio and S-REIT performance in a post-GFC context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Heritage sites experience design with special needs customers
|
[
"Co-creation",
"Cultural and heritage sites",
"Customers with special needs",
"Inclusive research",
"Service experience innovation",
"Tourism for all",
"Access",
"Special needs",
"Experience design"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the European Commission (2013), from 2011 to 2020, the potential market of people with special needs is quite significant. The design of tourism and cultural sites and services for this segment of population will create new market opportunities (Leidner and Bender, 2007). Thanks to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006), the right of people with disabilities to have access to all parts of the world is fully recognized. Hospitality organizations are meant to facilitate enriching experiences for all. Therefore, managers of heritage sites that aim to offer satisfactory cultural experiences for disabled people need to have an in-depth understanding of any individual, meeting their needs using universal design principles. On top of that, they need to take into account the values of independence, equality and dignity, enhancing the \"memorable accessible tourism destination experience\" (Darcy and Dickson, 2009) as one of the key foundations for sustainable development (Zhelyazkova et al., 2007).\nLiterature review: Value co-creation for hospitality heritage sites\nMethodological framework: The underlying empirical study, based on the \"Heritage Sites Design Project\", released in Barcelona in 2017, consisting of two cultural heritage routes:\nFindings: In terms of customer satisfaction, significant results were obtained after including visitors in the service design process before the stay (Route 2). The level of satisfaction of the participants from Route 1 was very low and was significantly higher in Route 2.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Conclusion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of including customers with special needs in the design of cultural and heritage services before the actual experience takes place.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Inclusive research through co-creation took place in the city of Barcelona, Spain, in 2017, comparing the effect of including (Route 2) or not including (Route 1) customers with visual and learning difficulties in the service design process of heritage walking routes.\nFindings: The results show that the most important encounter in the heritage site context is communication, although the usage and service touchpoints were also significant. In addition, results showed that the ideal encounter or touchpoint should take place before the stay.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to learning about the designing of cultural and heritage experiences and including people with special needs in the service design process before the actual experience takes place.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Factors that influence the implementation of collaborative RFiD programs
|
[
"Companies",
"Customers",
"Suppliers",
"Identification"
] |
[
{
"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: Recent reports suggest that the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFiD) technology is slowing due to the lack of return on investment (Field, 2007; McWilliams, 2007; Neal, 2007). Even with mandates from Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense, the deployment of the technology in channel and other business relationships has not lived up to industry expectations. At Wal-Mart, over 600 suppliers have been mandated to adopt the technology; however, the majority are implementing the technology at the minimum levels required (Briody, 2006; Field, 2007; McWilliams, 2007). These minimum levels, also known as the \"slap-and-ship\" approach, utilize only the most basic aspect of the technology, the RFiD tag. The tags are applied manually to either the case or pallet just prior to leaving the warehouse. Most of the suppliers operating at this level have not invested in any of the hardware and software components necessary to scan, collect and utilize data generated from the RFiD tag technology (Briody, 2006; Field, 2007; Fish and Forrest, 2006; McWilliams, 2007; Songini, 2006; Wailgum, 2006). Yet, the picture is mixed since there are some suppliers who have derived tremendous benefits after making the requisite investments in the hardware (i.e. RFiD readers), collaborative networking, and related software (Songini, 2006).Because RFiD has important interorganizational requirements, when organizations such as Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense adopt RFiD in their supply chains they become dependent on the implementation behaviors of their channel partners. RFiD technologies encompass a myriad of technological components such as tags, readers, middleware, enterprise systems and collaborative networks that both channel partners must adopt. As a result, the implementation of RFiD programs across channel relationships is a complex and highly interdependent process. Collaborative RFiD programs require investments by both parties involved in the channel relationship before the benefits of the technology can be fully optimized (Hausman and Stock, 2003). One trading partner cannot effectively utilize the technology without its counterpart participating in the implementation as well. Each channel partner must invest in the various RFiD system components which may include the tags and readers, middleware and servers, enterprise applications and the EPCGlobal Network infrastructure, all of which may or may not be adopted at the same time (RFiD Journal, 2006). The adoption of RFiD technology in a channel relationship begins with one trading partner's decision to adopt the technology; this partner is the initiator and may be the supplier or retailer. After the initiator decides to adopt the technology, they must then deploy it across their channel partners by convincing them to implement the technology. Often this is done through coercive tactics, such as mandates requiring the channel partner to adopt the technology or face the termination of the relationship. The channel partners who are required by the initiator to adopt the technology are called followers.When an initiator adopts and subsequently implements an interorganizational technology, they often have little direct control over the assimilation behaviors of follower firms and, consequently, little control in realizing benefits from the technology (Bello et al., 2004). For this reason, it becomes necessary to understand the factors that enable the follower to successfully implement an RFiD program. This is especially crucial as major retailers and governments attempt to encourage RFiD technology adoption and deployment through mandates.As called for by Ngai et al. (2008), the goal of this research is to identify specific factors that are likely to enable the follower firm to have a successful RFiD implementation that results in increased organizational efficiency. While innovation theory is the predominant paradigm for analyzing adoption and implementation behaviors, other research suggests that the technological characteristics are not the only forces that work within this phenomenon (Attewell, 1992). The major argument is that innovation theory only considers knowledge about the technology and ignores the implications of knowing how to implement and use the technology (Attewell, 1992; Fichman and Kemerer, 1997). As such, we propose a conceptual model based on the theory of assimilation; our approach suggests follower organizations are more apt to have successful implementations when conditions are conducive to organizational learning.The conceptual model we propose recognizes that the successful implementation of RFiD programs is dependent on both the internal and external implementation climates experienced by the follower organization. The internal implementation environment may create conditions conducive to organizational learning, while the external implementation environment may increase the follower's commitment to the program. RFiD programs require specific knowledge and skills and, as such, the model considers specific organizational factors leading to successful implementation practices.This article proceeds with discussions of the theoretical framework and conceptual model. Three propositions are developed to summarize the theory presented and to serve as a guide for future research. The article concludes with a discussion of the research implications.\nTheoretical framework: In situations where the adoption of RFiD technologies is mandated to followers, some argue that learning about the characteristics of the technology becomes less important than learning how to implement and utilize the technology (Attewell, 1992). Classical innovation and diffusion theories examine how communication influences the adoption of technology. These theories assume that technologies are more likely to be adopted when the potential adopter is aware of the technology and convinced that the technology is superior to and compatible with current systems, easy to understand, easy to try and test, and has highly observable results (Rogers, 2003). One limitation of these theories is that they do not differentiate between the cognitive (i.e. beliefs, perceptions, mental models) and technical dimensions (i.e. know-how, technical knowledge and skills) of tacit knowledge. Some researchers suggest that the latter is the critical knowledge component related to the implementation of technologies and that the persuasion-based drivers of adoption in the classical theories do little to explain the degree to which follower organizations deploy technologies (Attewell, 1992).In response to this criticism of classical diffusion models, Attewell (1992) introduced a framework suggesting that know-how or technical knowledge impacts an organization's ability to adopt and implement complex technologies. Importantly, Attewell suggests complex technologies create knowledge barriers for organizations possessing limited know-how, negatively impacting their ability to adopt and implement technologies. The assimilation framework suggests knowledge barriers are created when organizational resources are insufficient to the extent they place burdens on organizational learning (Attewell, 1992; Fichman and Kemerer, 1997). As will be shown, organizations are less susceptible to knowledge barriers when they have an internal environment that encourages organizational learning (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997).Similar to innovation theory, technology assimilation is based on processes, beginning with an organization's awareness of the technology. Next, the organization evaluates the technology, resulting in a decision to commit or not to utilizing the technology within the organization (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997). The actual implementation of the technology (implementation stage) refers to all events that follow the decision to commit to a technology (Pullig et al., 2002). In this stage, the organization purchases the technological components, changes relevant business processes, and routinely utilizes the information created by the technology (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997).Empirical evidence suggests that organizations can easily purchase the technological components necessary for a new technology system; however, the implementation phase is wrought with difficulty stemming from the learning burden (Attewell, 1992). Some research even suggests that certain technologies can destroy firm competencies when they require new skills and knowledge (Tushman and Anderson, 1986). Additionally, researchers have found that firms with more prior knowledge and diverse knowledge are more likely to sustain the implementation of a technology (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997).\nConceptual model: As shown in Figure 1, effective implementations of RFiD programs for follower firms are the result of commitment and internal firm conditions that are conducive to the implementation (Pullig et al., 2002; Klein and Sorra, 1996). With RFiD implementations, considering the external environment is important due to the dependencies associated with the collaborative adoption by both the initiator and follower. The successful implementation of the RFiD program can be viewed as the routinized utilization of the capabilities of the RFiD technology effectively in their business activities (Armstrong and Sambamurthy, 1999). Internally, environments that are conducive to the creation of technical knowledge will be better equipped to implement and utilize the RFiD technologies in a successful manner. Externally, the collaborative environment created by the relationship with the initiator motivates the follower to implement and utilize the technology. In the following sections, internal and external factors that are likely to increase the likelihood of successful implementation are examined.Internal implementation environment\nManagerial implications: Our conceptual model leads to some very practical implications. First, an organization's ability to successfully implement RFiD technologies requires a commitment to the program as well as conditions that enable the implementation. Conditions that enable the relationship are those that reduce knowledge barriers and increase the transfer of technical know-how across the organization. One basic implication is that top management must be involved and support the implementation of the RFiD program. This suggests they must have a strong understanding of the technology and the performance implications for the firm. Additionally, executive level support enables the transfer of knowledge by opening up the capital resources necessary for the firm to build the technical knowledge through training, educational seminars and conference attendance. Cross-functional teams are also suggested to help with the implementation. Cross-functional teams help transfer knowledge regarding the benefits and problems associated with an implementation across the functional areas. The implementation often requires that other functional units understand the benefits of the program and how to utilize the data to create value for the firm. The framework also suggests that firms with more prior technical knowledge will be more likely to have the conditions necessary for a successful implementation. Firms with a history of successful implementations or experience with RFiD technology in other applications have the ability and confidence to tackle a complex implementation.Another implication for managers is the role that the external relationship has on the follower's likelihood of having a successful RFiD implementation. The social norms that surround the exchange relationship between the follower and the initiator will influence their levels of commitment to the program. Interorganizational relationships that are highly collaborative are more conducive to motivating the follower to adopt the technology. Collaborative relationships provide the follower with the expectation that there will be a fair distribution of profits and burdens associated with the implementation. Overall, the research suggests that initiating firms can encourage successful adoptions through collaborative behaviors.\nConclusion: In conclusion, with major retailers and governments mandating the use of RFiD technology by their business partners, it is essential to understand the factors that will lead to successful implementation of RFiD programs. Our model suggests that successful implementation is a result of an internal implementation environment, which is conducive to organizational learning by the following partner. It also is a result of a positive external implementation environment which will increase a follower firm's commitment to the program. RFiD programs require specific knowledge and skills; therefore, our model takes into account the specific organizational factors leading to successful implementation and resulting in greater efficiency for the organization. This model lends itself to many future research streams and it also has many potential practical implications for firms. We propose, first, that companies must have strong top management support for the new RFiD programs, as well as high-quality cross-functional teams that can assist in the knowledge transfer across company areas. Second, firms also will be successful in implementing RFiD programs if they have prior technical knowledge regarding RFiD in general. Finally, if the initiator firm reaches out and collaborates with the follower firm, then the follower firm will have a stronger commitment to implement a successful RFiD program.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Radio frequency identification (RFiD) programs are being mandated by many entities, such as Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense, but what factors lead to successful implementation of these programs by their business partners?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is conceptual in nature. It briefly reviews current applications of RFiD technology and proposes a model for RFiD implementation through partners.\nFindings: - While some companies are quickly adopting RFiD technology, little is known regarding important factors for successful implementation. To address the interorganizational nature of RFiD, this research uses assimilation theory to provide insight as to the key factors impacting the deployment of this technology across trading partners.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a theory-based framework for companies' RFiD initiatives and identifies specific factors that enable a business partner to implement successfully an RFiD technology program initiated by a powerful supplier or customer.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
When the mobile app is free, the product is your personal data
|
[
"Privacy",
"Mobile apps",
"Personal data",
"GDPR",
"Google play store"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Currently, a significant percentage of internet access takes place via smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Users are not confined to Web browsing, e-mail and similar traditional internet services; they are able to choose between a large number of apps (available via Google Play and other online stores) and download them in their device. However, these apps require, to a lesser or greater extent, access to specific functions of the smartphone, as well as to specific parts of the storage, all related to personal data. The requirement for handing over personal data to third-party services also existed in desktop and laptop computers, Facebook and Google immediately come to mind as the most usual suspects in this case. However, the mobile phone also collects very detailed location data, stores text, voice and multimedia messages and is the main medium by which people take photos and videos. In addition, it contains info about one's contacts and in many cases, it contains account credentials for services that are accessed quite often (e.g. e-banking).\n2. Literature review: The issue of privacy awareness and privacy infringement in mobile apps has been studied elsewhere albeit not extensively. Researchers (Zimmeck et al., 2017) introduced a system to examine the compliance of more than 17 thousands mobile apps offered in Google Store to their privacy policy. The results show that 71 per cent of examined mobile apps that lack of privacy policy should have one, while around 41 per cent of mobile apps could be collecting location information and 17 per cent could be sharing such info with third parties without disclosing so in their policies.\n3. General Data Protection Regulation provisions related to mobile apps personal data: The provisions of GDPR are not entirely new since the regulation tries to harmonize all relevant preexisting European Union (EU) directives into a common framework. In addition, it is not concerned with mobile data protection per se but with privacy and data protection in all types of services. In parallel, GDPR attempts to emphasize and clarify several provisions that were contained in earlier directives. Some of these provisions, presented below, will create serious problems in the dissemination and operation of most mobile apps that exist today:\n4. Analysis of google play store: Our research involves the analysis of the most popular mobile apps available on Google Play store in relation to the types of required permissions. At the time of our research (March 2016 - December 2017) the Google Play store contained around three million mobile applications[1] grouped in three main categories: the first one (that we named General) contained 27 sub-categories, the second titled Games, contained about 17 sub-categories and the third one titled Family contained about 9 sub-categories. Each sub-category contained hundreds or thousands mobile applications available for downloading either free of charge or paid.\n5. Further analysis: Consequently, we have examined whether there is any correlation between the number of installations (Ninstalls), the number of reviews (Nreviews), the rating of reviews (RReview) and the number of required types of data access (Naccess). The following table (Table II) contains the relevant correlation matrix, for all examined mobile apps, as well as, for three groups based on the number of installations. It should be noted that because of the fact that Google Play store provides a range for the number of installations for each mobile app, each range has been normalized to the relevant middle number of the range. For example, for the range of 1,000 to 5,000 installations it was assumed that all mobile apps included in this range category, have been installed 2,500 times. It is obvious that the only correlation, from a statistical point of view, is between the number of installations (Ninstalls) and the number of reviews (Nreviews) verifying the common perception that the higher the number of installations the higher the number of reviews (correlation index 0.8).\n6. Conclusions: As a general conclusion, it must be stated that the level of privacy protection of personal data in mobile applications leaves a lot of room for improvement. First of all, there are several issues in Google Play store (and obviously in other stores) with respect to the conformance to the provisions of the new EU Regulation such as transparency and consent, minor protection, purpose justification, data minimization and the right to access the data.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Mobile devices (smartphones, tables etc.) have become the de facto means of accessing the internet. While traditional Web browsing is still quite popular, significant interaction takes place via native mobile apps that can be downloaded either freely or at a cost. This has opened the door to a number of issues related to privacy protection since the smartphone stores and processes personal data. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of access to personal data, required by the most popular mobile apps available in Google Play store. In addition, it is examined whether the relevant procedure is in accordance with the provisions of the new EU Regulation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper examines more than a thousand mobile apps, available from the Google Play store, with respect to the extent of the requests for access to personal data. In particular, for each available category in Google Play store, the most popular mobile apps have been examined both for free and paid apps. In addition, the permissions required by free and paid mobile apps are compared. Furthermore, a correlation analysis is carried out aiming to reveal any correlation between the extent of required access to personal data and the popularity and the rating of each mobile app.\nFindings: The findings of this paper suggest that the majority of examined mobile apps require access to personal data to a high extent. In addition, it is found that free mobile apps request access to personal data in a higher extent compared to the relevant requests by paid apps, which indicates strongly that the business model of free mobile apps is based on personal data exploitation. The most popular types of access permissions are revealed for both free and paid apps. In addition, important questions are raised in relation to user awareness and behavior, data minimization and purpose limitation for free and paid mobile apps.\nOriginality/value: In this study, the process and the extent of access to personal data through mobile apps are analyzed. Although several studies analyzed relevant issues in the past, the originality of this research is mainly based on the following facts: first, this work took into account the recent Regulation of the EU in relation to personal data (GDPR); second, the authors analyzed a high number of the most popular mobile apps (more than a thousand); and third, the authors compare and analyze the different approaches followed between free and paid mobile apps.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The positioning and competitive strategies of higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates
|
[
"Strategy",
"United Arab Emirates",
"Marketing",
"Higher education hub",
"Institution positioning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Universities have always competed with one another for the best students, staff and resources. However, the increased marketisation of higher education in developed markets globally has accentuated the competition and rivalry existing between institutions. This is particularly noticeable in higher education hubs. While Boston has 35 institutions of higher education and London has 45 institutions, Dubai has a total of 62 higher education providers (KHDA, 2017). The marketisation of higher education has encouraged institutions to establish branch campuses in locations where they perceive there is unsatisfied student demand. For example, 13 British universities based outside London have established a branch campus in London (QAA, 2014) and Dubai hosts 24 international branch campuses (IBCs), i.e. the campuses of universities based in countries other than the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (KHDA, 2017).\nThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) - a competitive higher education hub: The UAE was established as a federal state in 1971; it consists of seven emirates, each of which has its own ruler. The country has three general higher education institutions that are owned and controlled by the federal government: UAE University, established in 1977; the Higher Colleges of Technology, established in 1988; and Zayed University, established in 1998. There are two further specialised federal higher education institutions: the National Defense College and the Emirates Diplomatic Academy. Several of the emirates have set up their own higher education institutions, and the UAE Ministry of Higher Education classifies these institutions as private universities.\nMarket segmentation and competitor analysis: To thrive in highly competitive markets, most higher education institutions engage in strategic planning that involves strategic marketing (Angulo et al., 2010). An institution's marketing strategy may be most effective when the institution identifies and targets the market segments that are likely to be most receptive to its particular offerings, e.g. subject specialisms, accreditations and location (Szekeres, 2010). Students that have similar needs and wants, or that have similar characteristics and attitudes and which behave in similar ways, may be regarded as a market segment (Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2015). Market segmentation analysis enables higher education institutions to better understand students' criteria for choice of institution; identify market opportunities; allocate resources effectively; and achieve student satisfaction (Kotler and Keller, 2008). In this study, segmentation is analysed at the hub level, i.e. the UAE higher education market.\nMethod: Seven experts that are knowledgeable about higher education in the UAE were consulted in person (in unstructured interviews lasting 30-50 min) and/or by e-mail to suggest the names of the most important, well-known and distinctive higher education institutions that should be included in this research; advise on draft lists of institutions; and identify the main differences between institutions that may form the basis of competitor and market segmentation analysis. The experts had job titles such as Vice Chancellor, Dean, Registrar and Head of Programme. The final list consisted of 42 institutions, for which data were collected in order to run the cluster analysis.\nResults: In a series of sequential steps, the hierarchical clustering process involved combining cases into homogenous clusters by merging them together one at a time. At each step, either a new cluster was formed or one case joined a previously formed cluster. Each step is irreversible meaning that once a case is assigned to a cluster it cannot be moved to a different cluster. Thus, the first clusters formed are highly influential, as the remaining cases are compared to these for possible inclusion or to create a new cluster. For example, once Cluster 1, representing elite institutions was formed, each case was considered for inclusion or exclusion from this group. Those institutions that were excluded from this group were then considered for inclusion in Cluster 2, which accepted non-elite public institutions, and so on.\nDiscussion: The eight cluster solution identifies eight groups for which specific and unambiguous meaning can be found. This section discusses the factors and institution features that determine strategic group membership.\nConclusion: To some extent, the higher education sector of every country has unique structures, processes and features. Government policies determine levels of funding for institutions and whether or not students pay tuition fees. The number of private and foreign institutions allowed to operate in a country is also determined by the country's government. Laws and regulations dictate the accreditations that are mandatory, desirable or appropriate for any particular institution. The general level of economic wealth in a country often influences institution wealth and resource levels, as well as affordability of tuition fees among the population. Individual student choice of institution may be influenced, among other things, by the subject the student wants to study, the student's academic ability and their ability to pay tuition fees.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discover how higher education institutions may segment the market in a competitive higher education hub and to assess the usefulness of strategic group analysis as an analytical technique for market and competitor analysis. As a case example of a competitive higher education market, this research investigates how higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) position themselves and compete with one another.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research relied mainly on secondary data, which were obtained from the websites of institutions and regulatory bodies. Then, hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify strategic groups and institutional competitive strategies in the UAE higher education market. A panel of experts helped interpret and explain the cluster results.\nFindings: Eight distinct institutional clusters were identified, which include public- and privately-owned institutions, as well as elite and specialist institutions. Institution and programme accreditation were found to be particularly important in the UAE market. The institutions in each group appear to operate in a particular market segment, targeting students who have similar needs and wants, and who often share similar demographic features.\nPractical implications: It is concluded that strategic group analysis may help institutions to evaluate potential markets, select target segments and develop competitive strategies. In the UAE market context, the results demonstrate how institutions may position themselves to create strong and distinctive identities. The results of the research may be of interest to higher education institutions that operate in competitive markets, and particularly those that want to evaluate foreign markets.\nOriginality/value: This is believed to be the first study to use a strategic group approach for analysing competitors in a higher education hub.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Dissatisfaction and violation: two distinct consequences of the wait experience
|
[
"Critical incidents technique",
"Dissatisfaction",
"Psychological contract violation",
"Waiting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Waits and delays in services experiences are two variables that make a significant impact on customer evaluations of the service experience (Hui and Tse, 1996; Voorhees et al., 2009). Understanding the dynamics of the process through which waits and delays make an impact on the customer is important for both the theory and practice of services marketing. In many situations, service operations management techniques cannot eliminate waits and delays, so it is critical to alter consumer reactions to a wait through perceptions management (Larson, 1987) and expectations management (Maister, 1985). We know that negative service evaluations and negative affective states result when the perceived wait duration differs from consumer expectations about the length of the wait (Kumar et al., 1997; Hui and Tse, 1996; Tom and Lucey, 1995; Bielen and Demoulin, 2007; Grewal et al., 2003). We also know that consumers have a wide variety of expectations about the wait in a service situation (Zeithaml et al., 1993). Waiting has been the subject of a large number of studies in the disciplines of marketing and social psychology and it is clearly a maturing area of inquiry.\nConceptual development: Expectations vs psychological contracts\nMethodology and data analysis: This study utilized a \"critical incidents\" technique (CIT) originally developed by Flanagan (1954). The use of CIT has been well established in the services marketing field (Edvardsson and Roos, 2001; Gremler, 2004), particularly in the study of consumer reactions to waits and delays (Keaveney,1995; Bitner et al., 1990). The CIT is appropriate when the researcher seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the cognitive and affective reactions to what can typically be defined as some type of service failure (Gremler, 2004). Essentially, participants were asked to describe in their own words a \"critical incident,\" in this case a wait experience. One might think of this as a type of consumption story (Fournier, 1998) from the perspective of a consumer with particular emphasis on the consumption of a service in the presence of a wait. Information from the written responses of participants were then content analyzed and then classified into categories by independent judges. This research process was largely consistent with Gremler's (2004) advice on using CIT as a methodology in services research. Each consumer \"story\" was content analyzed in an attempt to generate a series of categories that best describe the stories. In our case, we analyzed each story to assess if a wait resulted in disconfirmed expectations or a breach of a psychological contract. Furthermore, each story was analyzed to assess whether the affective response to the wait was one of dissatisfaction or violation. Finally, the incident was classified as to the stage of wait.\nResults: As discussed above, incidents were collected that described a variety of different wait experiences. The waits described ranged in duration between five minutes and 20 hours with an average being nearly one hour and the mode being about 30 minutes. Of the 144 critical incidents that were the subject of this study, it was determined that for 93 of them there was a failure to meet expectations and for 51 there was a perceived breach of a psychological contract. Of the 93 incidents that were determined to be failures of meeting expectations, 85 of them resulted in an affective response that was deemed to be dissatisfaction while eight resulted in an affective reaction that was more consistent with violation. Of the 51 incidents that were classified as breaches of a psychological contract, 48 resulted in the affective state of violation while three resulted in a state that was consistent with mere dissatisfaction. These results are shown in Table I.\nDiscussion: The purpose of this research was to determine whether the type of affective reaction to a wait might depend on whether the consumer has expectations or perceives that a psychological contract is in place. In general, consumer dissatisfaction resulted when the service provider failed to meet expectations and violation was an affective response when the service provider breached a psychological contract. The finding that dissatisfaction generally results from failing to meet customer expectations about the time it takes to deliver service is consistent with a wide body of literature in the area waiting for services and general services marketing (Taylor, 1994; Butcher and Kayani, 2008). However, there are two unique contributions of this study.\nLimitations, implications for theory and practice and future directions: The critical incident method is useful in a number of contexts, including those where the focal phenomenon is not well understood (Gremler, 2004). Although it provides rich data, it is fundamentally qualitative in nature. In this case, the limited sample (144) would not allow us to make strong quantitative conclusions about the relative extent of dissatisfaction and violation as affective responses to waits. We were pleasantly surprised that informants provided so many incidents that we could classify as breaches of a psychological contract because it enabled a richer presentation of the phenomenon. However, it does not mean that the findings are representative of frequency of the condition. Rather, it is likely an artifact of the methodology, where we asked informants to think about a recent occasion where they experienced a wait. No doubt the more unpleasant waits or the ones that lead to the strongest emotional response were more accessible in the informants' memory (Gardner, 1985). Accordingly, the findings should be viewed as an attempt to build our understanding of the nature of psychological contracts and the affective response of violation in consumer service situations. In addition, participants wrote about their waiting experiences in a wide variety of service settings and we make no claim about the relative frequency of the phenomenon in various service settings or industries. As our understanding of the nature of psychological contracts in services industries increases, the prevalence of psychological contracts by service sector might be an avenue of research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the theory that dissatisfaction and violation are distinct affective responses to a service wait. It was thought that dissatisfaction was a consequence of a disconfirmation of expectations while violation was a consequence of a breach of a psychological contract.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used the critical incidents method to examine 144 consumption stories where an informant experienced a wait in a service situation.\nFindings: It was found that consumers generally felt disappointed or dissatisfied when they experienced a wait when they had expectations about waiting time. When they believed that service provider had made concrete representations (or promises) about the length of time it would take to deliver a service, they felt angry or outraged. These are elements of the overall affective state of violation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The critical incidents technique is well used in services marketing and rich theory building method of investigation. It has known limitations. In addition to explaining reaction to waits and delays, the application of psychological contract theory might apply to a host of marketing phenomena and the theory explains why some consumers get frustrated and angry while others are merely dissatisfied.\nOriginality/value: There are two significant contributions of this paper. First, the psychological contract exists in service marketing situations and that the psychological contract is different from consumer expectations about the service encounter. Second, dissatisfaction is distinct from violation as violation is a strong emotional response to breach of the psychological contract in the service encounter.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Characteristics of the international joint ventures in Bulgaria (1989-2003)
|
[
"Joint ventures",
"Strategic alliances",
"International investments",
"Databases",
"Economic changes",
"Bulgaria"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Joint economic undertakings are as ancient as trade itself, but since the late 1970s a considerable growth has started to be marked worldwide in the number of international strategic alliances, resulting in the qualification of the phenomena in academic investigations as \"a radical change in the organization of productive activity by multinational enterprises (MNEs) toward collaborative arrangements between firms\" (Ramanathan et al., 1997, p. 51) and the transformation of these flexible organizational structures into \"a strategic imperative for the twenty-first century\" (Pekar and Allio, 1994, p. 64). Although strategic alliances have turned into widespread practice in international business relations, the last representative empirical study of the basic characteristics of one of the types of strategic alliances in Bulgaria - the international joint venture (IJV), dates back to 1991 and covers the period of centrally planned economy from 1981 until 1988 (see Razvigorova et al., 1991). It is precisely the main purpose of the present study to provide the answer to the question, unresolved since that time, regarding the evolution of the structural characteristics of the IJVs within the context of a transition to market economy. A subsidiary objective of the study is the analysis of the variation of these structural characteristics depending on the nationality of the foreign partners, categorized according to the methodology of Glaister et al. (1998), based on the original classification of Ohmae (1985), in the following three regions:1. partners, whose nationality is from Triad countries (USA, Western Europe and Japan);2. partners, whose nationality is from Non-Triad countries; and3. a Mixed region, encompassing combinations of partners from the above two regions.For the attainment of the specified goals, in cooperation of the author with the National Statistical Institute (NSI), a database has been created of the entire non-homogeneous population of 722 IJVs in Bulgaria for the 1989-2003 period, featuring 620 conventional or traditional IJVs, set up by foreign and local partners, with the emphasis of the study laid on these IJVs, and 102 non-conventional IJVs, formed by foreign partners alone.In the following sections are presented: a short description of the database and its advantages when compared to the databases, established on the basis of information deriving from the economic press; and the discussion, deriving from the analysis of some of the included in the database internationally comparable qualitative and quantitative variables like year of establishment, nationality of the foreign partners, industry, distribution of equity among the partners, number of partners, whose operationalization, whenever necessary, has been accomplished in the course of the presentation.\nDatabase of the study: In the same way as in the predominating part of the countries, where the quoted below empirical studies regarding the characteristics of the IJVs have been carried out, in Bulgaria, too, there are no disaggregated official information sources on the level of IJVs. That is why a database of the IJVs has been established in cooperation with the NSI to find out the trends in their characteristics within the national context. Official information from the Unified Register for the Identification of Economic Subjects, Exercising Activity on the Territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, referred to as BULSTAT Register, which has been in existence under various names since 1974, has more specifically been used to create the database. The BULSTAT Register has been developing in close cooperation with the court, where the legal registration for doing all economic activities is carrying out, and contains data following both the establishment of the economic subjects, and all the subsequent changes that have taken place in connection with them. In our time the BULSTAT Register serves as \"a bridge\" between all the other administrative registers in the state, most important among which are the Tax Register and the Customs Information System.Owing to the absence of a universally accepted definition of IJV, proceeding from previous definitions in specialized literature (Brodley, 1982, pp. 1524-1526; Harrigan, 1986, p. 2, 1988, p. 142; Bresser, 1988, p. 378; Kogut, 1988, p. 319; Borys and Jemison, 1989, p. 245; Garcia Vicente, 1989, pp. 150, 152; Lynch, 1989, p. 7; Geringer, 1991, p. 41; Kredietbank, 1991, p. 2; Shenkar and Zeira, 1992, p. 56; Balakrishnan and Koza, 1993, pp. 99-100; Navarro Elola,1993, p. 4158; Veugelers and Kesteloot, 1994, p. 1800; Cullen et al., 1995, p. 92; Inkpen and Crossan, 1995, p. 596; Bell, 1996, pp. 2, 136; Makino and Beamish, 1998, p. 799; Robson et al., 2002, p. 412; Garcia Canal et al., 2003, p. 744), the following definition has been used to qualify an enterprise as an IJV and for its identification in the BULSTAT Register:A JV is a newly-established organizational entity, separate from, but whose equity belongs to at least two enterprises, which are independent from each other. From the standpoint of the state hosting foreign investments, a JV is considered international, when: (1) participating as partners in the JV are foreign enterprises, and at least one local enterprise;(2) only foreign enterprises participate in a JV as partners, at least one of which is of a nationality different from that of the rest; and(3) only foreign enterprises of identical nationality participate in a JV as partners.In the database and in the presentation of the study, the conventional or traditional IJVs from point (1) have been conventionally denoted as Type I, and the non-conventional IJVs from points (2) and (3), as Type II and Type III.Initially, while encompassing all the subjects, entered in the BULSTAT Register, whose total number amounted to 992,147, by the end of January 31, 2003, the entire population of 723 IJV was identified with 1,780 partners involved. Subsequently, the total number was reduced by one IJV, founded in 1981 - the year, in which IJVs between Bulgarian firms and firms from market economies were established for the first time in Bulgaria after the Second World War (UNECE, 1987, p. 45; Sznajder, 1988, p. 4766), to the final number of 722 IJVs with 1,777 partners established in the 1989-2003 period. The downsizing was necessary so that no distortion could result in the statistical series of distribution by time of emergence, because according to the empirical study of Razvigorova et al. (1991), currently 19 out of the total of 20 IJVs, estatblished in Bulgaria in the 1981-1988 period by force of Decree No. 535 of March 25, 1980, had discontinued their operation. On the other hand, 1989 has turned into a suitable starting point for analysis, because it coincides both with the passing of Decree No. 56 of January 13, 1989 on the economic activity (subsequently substituted, in 1991, by the Commercial Law), and with the start of the complex transition process from a centrally planned to market economy, in the wake of 10 November 1989.The advantage of the method presented for the establishment of a database, in comparison with the predominant method of using information from the economic press (e.g. Ghemawat et al., 1986; Morris and Hergert, 1987; Garcia Canal, 1992; Garcia Canal et al., 1997; Valdes Llaneza and Garcia Canal, 1998; Glaister et al., 1998) consists in the overcoming of the following shortcomings, brought forward by researchers, which result in distortion of the results in the empirical studies:1. Dependence of the information regarding the IJVs, published in the press, on the firms, presenting it. This dependence introduces several distortions of the results, owing to the following factors:* Impossibility to encompass the IJVs, in which the parent firms are confidential with regard to offering information for the press.* The existence of different degrees of information offered to the press by the firms, entailing difficulties in the classification of the data with regard to certain characteristics of the IJVs.* Misrepresentation of the information offered with the purpose of advertizing.* Manipulation of the information offered with the purpose of misleading the competitors.1. Dependence of the information on the IJVs, published by the press, on the press itself. This dependence also introduces distortions in the results, owing to the following factors:* The different orientation of the printed publications determines whether the information on the IJVs would be published.* The press usually publishes information on IJVs, whose parent firms are large in size or are well known or are MNEs, neglecting the small and medium-sized parent firms, whereby the databases are biased to the benefit of the large firms.* Every printed publication lays stress on the IJVs, in which firms of its country are involved as partners.1. Distortions of the results, owing to the researchers' use of printed publications mostly from their own countries, resulting in the over-representation in the databases of IJVs, involved in which as partners are firms from their own countries.\nTrends found and discussion: Evolution over time of the number of the established IJVs\nConcluding remarks: With the presentation of new knowledge, based on disaggregated official information from the principal administrative register in Bulgaria, the present study extends and supplements the theme regarding the characteristics of the IJVs, a theme which has become established as one attracting the academic community researchers' interest in the 40-year long history of economic studies, going back to the work of Friedmann and Kalmanoff (1961) on this mode of implementing international transactions. Specifically, the results of the study bear out the existence of common trends with the trends established in previous studies on conventional IJVs, in this case, set up by partners, whose nationality is from Triad countries, and from Bulgaria, like: the overwhelming share of the IJVs, formed by two partners, and the unequal distribution of the equity among the partners. Diverging results have been found with respect to the industry investments made in trade, representing the industry, where the frequency of this type of IJVs is the greatest. On the other hand, it has been established that the non-conventional IJVs in Bulgaria, set up by partners, whose nationality is solely from Triad countries, despite of their predominant two-partner profile, show characteristics, different from the established global trends, related again to the trade industry, as well as to the unbalanced distribution of equity among the partners.Finally, notwithstanding the generalized results obtained, owing to the coverage of the entire population of IJVs, future studies regarding their characteristics in Bulgaria should have not only structural, but also motivational and outcome variables superimposed.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - In response to the need of new knowledge about the international joint venture (IJV), the purpose of this study presents an analysis of the basic characteristics of these IJVs and their variation of characteristics depending on the nationality of the foreign partners, coming from three regions: Triad countries (USA, Western Europe and Japan); non-Triad countries; and a mixed region, encompassing combinations of partners from the above two regions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The advantage of the study is the use of official data from the database, established in cooperation between the author and the National Statistical Institute, on the entire non-homogeneous population of 722 IJVs in the 1989-2003 period.\nFindings: - The generalized results of the study confirm the existence of common trends and trends diverging from those registered in previous studies both on the conventional IJV, set up by foreign and local partners, and on the non-conventional IJV, formed by foreign partners alone.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Notwithstanding the generalized results obtained, owing to the coverage of the entire population of IJVs, future studies regarding their characteristics in Bulgaria should have not only structural, but also motivational and outcome variables superimposed.\nPractical implications: - The research can serve for international comparative studies and for the elaboration of national and European Union policies regarding the creation of official databases on the IJVs.\nOriginality/value: - With the presentation of new knowledge both on the conventional and on the non-conventional IJVs, the present study extends and supplements the theme regarding the characteristics of the IJVs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Mindfulness as substitute for transformational leadership
|
[
"Transformational leadership",
"Motivation",
"Mindfulness",
"Proactivity",
"Self-determination"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Because of their dynamic environments, today's organizations cannot anticipate on or specify all desired employee behaviors. Therefore, many organizations need their employees to engage in extra-role performance by taking on extra tasks and responsibilities and come up with creative solutions for problems. Extra-role performance is not formally rewarded but performed for self-generated, intrinsic reasons (Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006). Intrinsic motivation, doing an activity for the satisfaction that it gives rather than for its instrumentality in achieving rewards (Gagne and Deci, 2005), has been consistently found to predict extra-role performance (Cerasoli et al., 2014). However, intrinsic motivation does not come naturally: according to a Gallup employee survey in 142 countries the majority of employees worldwide (63 percent) lack motivation and are less likely to invest discretionary effort in organizational goals or outcomes (Crabtree, 2013).\nTransformational leadership, motivation, and extra-role performance: Transformational leaders involve their followers in their charismatic vision by setting example behavior, challenging their followers' assumptions and ideas and paying attention to their needs (Bass and Stogdill, 1990). With these behaviors, leaders inspire their followers to shape, alter, and elevate their motives, values, and goals, encouraging them to do more than their formal duties and take on extra tasks or responsibilities, update required knowledge and skills, and come up with creative solutions for new problems (Burns, 1978). By using goal setting techniques, setting visionary goals and empowering employees to use job resources for accomplishing these goals they stimulate extra-role performance (Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006). Indeed, meta-analytic findings demonstrate that transformational leadership is related to extra-role performance (Wang et al., 2011).\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Descriptives and correlations\nDiscussion: To maintain the effective functioning of organizations in times of restructuring, reorganizing, and delayering much depends on employees' intrinsic motivation to take ownership for the quality of their work by keeping an open eye to the context of their jobs and displaying extra-role performance (Cerasoli et al., 2014). In line with previous research, we found that transformational leaders may spark the intrinsic motivation of employees, thereby stimulating their extra-role performance (Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006). However, we also found initial evidence that mindfulness partly compensates for the low levels of transformational leadership in fostering intrinsic motivation and in turn extra-role performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Transformational leaders spark the intrinsic motivation of employees, thereby stimulating their extra-role performance. However, not all employees are lucky enough to have a transformational leader. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent mindfulness can function as a substitute for transformational leadership. By being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present, mindfulness provides employees with a source of intrinsic motivation that lies within the person, thereby possibly making employees less dependent on transformational leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey was used to collect data of 382 employees working in diverse sectors in the Netherlands.\nFindings: Moderated mediation analyses indicated that mindfulness partly compensates for a low levels of transformational leadership in fostering intrinsic motivation and in turn extra-role performance, thereby providing evidence for the substitutes for leadership theory. Moreover, the findings extend previous research on the contribution of mindfulness to in-role performance by showing its additional value for intrinsic motivation and extra-role performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: Despite the use of validated measures and the presence of an interaction effect, common-source bias cannot be out ruled completely.\nPractical implications: Since mindfulness can be developed, the results suggest a training intervention to make employees less dependent on their leaders for their motivation.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to show that mindful people are more resilient against the absence of transformational leadership. Given the frequent changes in management layers in organizations, knowledge about resources for individual resilience and self-management is sorely needed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Weaving a web of control : "The Promise of Opportunity" and work-life balance in multinational accounting firms
|
[
"Identity",
"Work-life balance",
"Management control",
"Foucault",
"Accounting firms",
"Web of control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Work-life balance is something that they want to bring in [...] but because of that whole billing, utilisation [systems], because [...] it is a business [...] you have to, in the end, think about meeting budgets [...]\nWLB, organisational culture and management controls: This study uses the following definition of WLB from The Work Foundation (n.d.):\nFoucault, identity work and management controls: Over the last 20 years there has been a growing body of literature that suggests the power of management accounting technologies lies in the influence it has on identity (e.g. Alvesson and Karreman, 2004; Alvesson and Willmott, 2002; Covaleski et al., 1998; Karreman and Alvesson, 2004; Knights and Collinson, 1987; Roberts, 1991). The work of Covaleski et al. (1998, p. 323) shows how \"control is enacted at the level of constituting the subjectivity\" of employees within the firm \"in the realm of their identities, and plays out in their work goals, discourse, social relations and actions\". Ongoing qualitative management accounting research has contributed to our knowledge of MCS and identity and the relationships between these.\nMethodology: Given the purpose of this study is to explore the experience of junior accountants and their efforts to become professionals whilst juggling other commitments to work and \"life\", we used a series of semi-structured interviews to build rich empirical data around these central themes. Despite multiple attempts to recruit interviewees for our study through formal channels, access proved difficult. Given the sensitive nature of the topic and the apparent disconnect between WLB policy and practice within many of these firms, this is not surprising.\nNot all time is equal: overtime and WLB at \"the finishing school\": Given its finite nature, time is critical to WLB. Any effort to achieve satisfactory WLB requires us to think about how much time we want to allocate to the various things that are important to us. This is reflected in the way our interviewees spoke about time and \"overtime\" within their firms. Most suggested that their firm poorly compensated additional time spent at work, yet all of our interviewees felt their firms wanted to be associated with better WLB behaviours. Even so, most interviewees did not know very much about the WLB policies in their firms and it seemed firms were doing little to bring these to the attention of their junior accountants. One participant commented that \"if you've read all the HR policies [...] you wouldn't get the chargeable hours in\" (Male, third year).\nThe web of control: The general view was that these early years involved hard work, sacrifice and the hope for something better. We asked our interviewees general questions about the way they worked, how they recorded their work, how much time they spent at or on work, how it made them feel and how other things within their lives were impacted by these choices. In doing this, we were able to explore how management controls worked through these early career identities without asking these questions overtly. We observed these junior accountants weaving what we describe as a \"web of control\" through their relationship with work, time and their emerging identity. The idea of a web moves away from more traditional conceptions of control (such as the levers: Simons, 1995; or package: Malmi and Brown, 2008) because whilst these metaphors recognise that management controls cannot be understood in isolation from one another, the web suggests that controls are not just enacted upon employees by managers. They are produced by people within the organisation at all levels (Ahrens and Mollona, 2007) and they work together to amplify the power of the controls. Interestingly, most of our interviewees felt WLB was important, but they also saw it as a necessary casualty if they were to build the kind of professional identities needed to succeed and a personal identity that signalled success. Three reoccurring themes within our interviews offered insight into the reasons WLB sacrifices seemed necessary. We will consider each of these in turn.\nConclusion: The organisational culture within large multinational accounting firms appears to work against WLB - both in terms of the initiatives driven by the firm and the WLB aspirations of their employees:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between management controls and the work-life balance (WLB) of junior accountants working in four multinational accounting firms using semi-structured interviews.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed junior accountants, asking them about their firms' time budgeting process, their views on organisational culture and their experience of WLB.\nFindings: Time budgeting controls and the dominant discourses of \"efficiency\" and \"career\" form a web of control within these firms that sustain the long-hours culture. Drawing on the work of Foucault, the authors argue that the web of control is particularly strong because it is not imposed externally by a clearly identifiable source of power. Instead, the interviews revealed how junior accountants actively produce the web of control in order to secure their identity. This is particularly apparent when they speak of their career.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research sheds light on the relationship between management controls and WLB. Management controls are effective in large multinational accounting firms because they work through the emergent identity of young professionals.\nOriginality/value: The link between management control systems and WLB has received little attention from accounting academics. This research offers important insights into the way management control systems and organisational culture may impact the lived experience of WLB within multinational accounting firms.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Modified chain sampling plan for assuring percentile life under Weibull distribution and generalized exponential distribution
|
[
"Weibull distribution",
"Life testing",
"Generalized exponential distribution",
"Modified chain sampling plan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Any product can be uniquely recognized by its quality and the products supplied by the companies are differentiated by quality. The production industries achieve the good reputation in global market based on their product's quality. For this reason, quality is treated as a necessary factor of the product. Quality maintenance, quality improvement and quality assurance are important tasks in production field and these are done by using the tools of statistical quality control namely, control chart and acceptance sampling. Control chart tool is used in the task of quality maintenance and improvement when manufacturing process is on-going whereas quality assurance of the product can be done by acceptance sampling. Acceptance sampling is a sampling inspection in which the sample items randomly drawn from the submitted lot are tested to determine whether the products possess the specified quality characteristics or not. Based on the results of sample items obtained under sampling inspection, the decision may be made whether to accept the entire lot or to reject the lot. In acceptance sampling, the items are inspected either for attribute quality characteristic or variables quality characteristic. When attribute quality characteristic is inspected, the sample items are just classified as conforming or non-conforming with respect to the specified characteristic. The quality characteristic is measured on continuous scale in the variables inspection. As the entire lot is disposed only using the results of random sample items and the sample items is a small part of the lot, there is a chance of rejecting the entire lot which is of good quality or there is a possibility to accept the lot which is of poor quality. The probability of rejection of a good quality lot is known as producer's risk (a) and the acceptance of a poor quality lot is called as consumer's risk (b). The quality levels corresponding to the producer's risk and consumer's risk are referred to as acceptable quality level (AQL) and limiting quality level (LQL), respectively.\n2. Weibull distribution and generalized exponential distribution: 2.1 Weibull distribution\n3. MChSP-1 under truncated life test: In general, MChSP-1 is used under the situation of making decision on the high-quality products. The operating procedure of MChSP-1 is slightly different from the operating procedure of ChSP-1. In ChSP-1, the acceptance of preceding \"i\" lots is required only when the current lot sample contains a failure item but MChSP-1 considers the acceptance of preceding \"i\" lots for accepting a current lot even none of the current lot sample item is failed. The operating procedure of the proposed MChSP-1 based on time truncated life test is as follows.\n4. Designing methodology: In acceptance sampling, a number of authors designed the sampling plans based on one-point on the OC curve approach namely (LQL, b) (see e.g. Kantam et al., 2001; Balakrishnan et al., 2007; Aslam et al., 2010). The approach of one-point on the OC curve is only favorable to consumers and their protection. Therefore, the sampling plans obtained under one-point on the OC curve approach cannot be a good sampling plan since a good sampling plan should protect both producer and consumer simultaneously. For this reason, two points (AQL, 1-a) and (LQL, b) on the OC curve approach is considered for designing the sampling plan. Several works are available in the literature on the designing of sampling plans based on two points on the OC curve approach (see e.g. Aslam et al., 2012; Balamurali and Usha, 2013; Aslam et al., 2014; Balamurali et al., 2017b). In this paper, we design the MChSP-1 for assuring percentile life of the product with minimum ASN based on two points on the OC curve approach. The optimal parameters determination and the minimization of ASN are achieved using the following optimization problem:\n5. Comparative study: 5.1 Comparison using ASN\n6. Economic designing of MChSP-1: In the literature, there are a number of designing approaches of acceptance sampling plans are available in which the designing of sampling plans with economic aspect is considered as one of the important approaches. In economical designing of sampling plans, the objective is to select the optimal sampling plan which minimizes the total cost (TC) of the inspection. Several authors studied the economical designing of sampling plans using different techniques (see e.g. Hsu and Hsu, 2012; Balamurali et al., 2014; Aslam et al., 2015; Fallahnezhad and Qazvini, 2016; Fallahnezhad et al., 2017). Some of the authors designed the sampling plans with economic aspect using Bayesian approach. For example, Aslam et al. (2015) designed group acceptance sampling plan for assuring Weibull distributed median life and used the Bayesian approach to estimate the value of failure probability (p). In this section, we discuss the economic designing of MChSP-1 for assuring Weibull distributed 10th percentile life of the product and in this designing, we define p as the failure probability corresponding to the average ratios of AQL and LQL. Some of the performance measures of the proposed plan are required to this economic design. The lot acceptance probability under proposed plan is provided in Equation (12). The other performance measures such as average total inspection (ATI) and average outgoing quality (AOQ) are given as follows:\n7. Conclusions: In this paper, the modification of ChSP-1, namely, MChSP-1 has been proposed for assuring the product's percentile life where the product's lifetime follows Weibull distribution or GED. The operating procedure of the proposed plan has been provided by diagram. The optimal parameters have been determined on the basis of two points on the OC curve approach. The ASN of the proposed plan has been compared with the ASN of other existing sampling plans. The discriminating power of the proposed plan has been compared with the same of ChSP-1 and SSP by using the OC curves. The important role of the value of \"i\" in accepting the current lot under proposed plan has been discussed using the OC curves. From the overall discussion, it has been concluded that the proposed plan will be very useful to make a decision on the lot with minimum sample size rather than ChSP-1 and the protection of both producer and consumer will be assured by proposed plan with minimum inspection cost and time. The economic designing of proposed plan is discussed under both Weibull distribution and GED and it has been shown that the cost required for the proposed plan implementation where the lifetime follows the Weibull distribution is minimum when compared with the same when the product's lifetime follows the GED. In addition, from the comparative study, it has been concluded that the ASN and TC of proposed plan is much smaller than the same of SSP.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to design a modified chain sampling plan for assuring the product percentile life where the lifetime follows Weibull or generalized exponential distributions (GEDs). In order to reduce the cost of inspection when implementing the proposed modified chain sampling plan, it is also considered the economic aspect of designing of proposed plan in this paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have designed the proposed plan on the basis of two points on the operating characteristic (OC) curve approach. The optimization problem is used to determine the plan parameters of the proposed plan so that the specified values of producer's risk and consumer's risk are satisfied simultaneously.\nFindings: The results we have obtained, confirm that the proposed plan will be very effective in reducing the sample size rather than other existing sampling plans. The OC curves of proposed plan, chain sampling plan and zero acceptance number single sampling plan show that the performance of proposed plan in discriminating the good and poor quality lots is better than other two plans. In this paper, it is proved that the value of number of preceding lots required for current lot disposition plays an important role.\nOriginality/value: The proposed modified chain sampling plan for assuring the percentile lifetime of the products under Weibull or GEDs is not available in the literature. The proposed plan can be used in all the manufacturing industries to assure the product percentile lifetime with minimum sample size as well as minimum cost.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Buyers' switching intentions in a manufacturing supply chain: a migration theory perspective
|
[
"Supply chain relationship",
"Migration theory",
"Push-pull-mooring model",
"Switching intentions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The growing importance of supply chain management (SCM) has garnered increased interest in the strategic significance of purchasing decisions (Paulraj and Chen, 2007). The role of purchasing, which selects, maintains, assesses, and switches suppliers, is important. This is because SCM starts from the purchasing function (Kozlenkova et al., 2015), and a buyer's outputs are affected by the selected supplier's inputs (Chai and Ngai, 2015). The extant literature on SCM and purchasing has focussed on a wide range of perspectives concerning the study of relationship variables (trust, satisfaction, and commitment; Nyaga et al., 2010), supplier selection (Riedl et al., 2013), supply chain (SC) integration (Flynn et al., 2010), and supplier switching (Bygballe, 2017). In particular, previous research mainly addressed supplier switching as an issue related to consumers' brand switching between competing products in a business-to-consumer (B2C) rather than business-to-business (B2B) context (Al-Kwifi and McNaughton, 2013). Studies on supplier switching, which is related to finding a source of alternative supply in the B2B context, are deficient compared with those in the B2C context (Pick, 2010). This is due to organisational factors (i.e. size, structure, orientation, task and goals, technology, and rewords) and environmental factors (i.e. economic, physical, political, legal, and cultural influences) as well as a complex network wherein many people influence the purchase decision process (Johnston and Lewin, 1996). Furthermore, the purchasing behaviour of a company is a decision process with complex interactions between individuals and organisational objectives (Webster and Wind, 1972). Few studies have been conducted on buyers and suppliers' switching in the B2B context. However, these studies focussed on partial characteristics such as cost information (Pfeiffer, 2010), relationship variables (Vigolo and Cassia, 2014), technology-related variables, switching costs, standardisation of rules and procedures, and the power of decision makers (Heide and Weiss, 1995).\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: This section reviews previous research on the PPM model of migration and discusses its application in the B2B context. The study explores various factors that affect a buyer's switching intention after reviewing extant literature and proposes hypotheses related to the PPM effect on a buyer's switching intentions. This study determines the influence of PPM on a buyer's switching intention according to the cognition-affect-behavioural intentions. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) established the theoretical validity of the relationship among the \"cognition-affect-behavioural intention of attitudinal framework\" (Lam et al., 2004, p. 297).\n3. Research methodology: Data collection and sample\n4. Data analysis and results: The study used a PLS-SEM approach using SmartPLS package version 2.0.M3 (Ringle et al., 2005). Researchers are now increasingly using the PLS methodology (Henseler et al., 2009), particularly in operations management research (Hadid et al., 2016). The PLS-SEM approach has some advantages that enable simultaneous analyses of causal relationships in complex models and a less constrained multivariate normality assumption to allow an assessment of the relationship between constructs through bootstrapping (Hair et al., 2014). This study selected the PLS-SEM approach for the following reasons: a less constrained distribution of normality, complexity of constructs with relatively free use of formative and reflective measures, and superiority in calculating accurate estimates with a small sample size through bootstrapping. The PASW 18.0 software package was used to calculate Cronbach's a, which confirms internal consistency with respect to the reliability of the measurement variable.\n5. Discussion: Past research has focussed on a few quantifiable or qualitative factors that influence a buyer's switch to another supplier, such as cost information (Pfeiffer, 2010), inertia (Li, Madhok, Plaschka and Verma, 2006), psychological contracts (Mir et al., 2017), relationship variables (Vigolo and Cassia, 2014), and switching cost (Geiger et al., 2012). However, to better understand the buyer's switching intentions in SCR, research that explains the various influences within a single model is needed. Thus, this study addresses the following research question:\n6. Conclusion: As a fiercely competitive environment presents increased opportunities for buyers to dissolve relationships by switching suppliers (Mir et al., 2017), firms have become increasingly interested in relationship switching. Understanding the reasons behind switching provides strategic information to buyers and suppliers (Perrien et al., 1995). This study identifies the relative importance of each effect on a buyer's intention of switching an existing supplier by applying the PPM model of migration used in human geography to the operations management/SCM field. Meanwhile, recently, there is an increasing interest in reshoring in academia and industry (Ellram et al., 2013; Ketokivi et al., 2017). This study applied the PPM model to the relationship between a buyer and supplier, but future research could explain a firm's migration behaviour by applying it in relation to reshoring and offshoring.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the negative impact of an incumbent supplier pushing out a buyer, the positive effect of an alternative supplier pulling a buyer, and the mooring impact that prevents a buyer from switching to a supplier in terms of the push-pull-mooring (PPM) model of migration theory. In this context, this study considers a buyer as the immigrant, an incumbent supplier as the origin, an alternative supplier as the destination, and inertia as the hesitance to migrate.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study collected survey data from 148 end-product manufacturers and first-tier suppliers. It tested whether the PPM model fit in a supply chain relationship (SCR) using the partial least squares structural equation modelling approach and SmartPLS package version 2.0.M3.\nFindings: The results support all hypotheses for causal relationships among factors of cognitive, affect, and behavioural intentions of each PPM effect. This study identifies the relative importance of each effect on a buyer's intention of switching an existing supplier.\nOriginality/value: This study presents a new perspective that enhances the understanding of a buyer's behaviour towards a supplier by applying the PPM model of migration to a manufacturing SCR. It promotes interdisciplinary and integrated views as well as broadens the diversity of the results in the business-to-business context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How do international tourists perceive hotel quality? An exploratory study of service quality in Antalya tourism region
|
[
"Turkey",
"Service marketing",
"Experience marketing",
"International guest services",
"International hotel management",
"Service quality perceptions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With its history, sea, cultural assets and high quality tourism facilities, Antalya is known as the capital of Turkish tourism. With Belek, Kemer, Side-Manavgat, Alanya, Lara-Kunda, and Kas tourism centers, Antalya hosts more than 10 million foreign quests every year. Along with a cultural heritage deeply rooted in history, Antalya's coves and highlands of unique beauty, pristine beaches, comfortable hotels and marinas, colorful entertainment venues, and art-filled festivals all make it a tourist destination that offers endless possibilities to its guests. These include the pleasure of sunbathing from sunrise to sunset; the natural thrill of outdoor sports in the grip of mother nature; the excitement of discovering national parks with their rich flora and fauna, ancient cities, museums and Kaleici; the mystery of the mountains and the peaceful Mediterranean coves drawing you away; the romance of watching an opera outdoors under the stars at night; sampling the unique delicacies of Turkish cuisine and enjoying the party scene. Meeting the hospitable people of Antalya is just another part of the pleasant holiday experience (GoTurkey, 2013). Being an eye-catching destination (Sari et al., 2011) and as well as being the most globally connected, densely populated and the main tourist destination in Turkey (Erkus-Ozturk, 2009) brings many responsibilities for city-managers in general. Specifically, as a tourism capital, hotels in Antalya need to provide services of the highest quality to their guests.\nLiterature review: Service quality\nMethodology: The survey questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part is to measure hotel guests' perceptions of service quality in the hotel where they were staying. A five-point Likert-type rating scale, in which (1) indicates \"strongly disagree\" and (5) indicates \"strongly agree\" was used. The second part of the questionnaire pertains to the measurement of the demographic characteristics of respondents. The adopted instrument was in line with previous studies by Tribe and Snaith (1998), Khan (2003), Juwaheer (2004), Laroche et al. (2005), Akbaba (2006), Albacete-Saez et al. (2007), Li et al. (2007), Narayan et al. (2008) and Salazar et al. (2010). A pilot test was conducted with 25 instructors at Cumhuriyet University. The results enabled us to gain valuable information about the wording of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in English, German and Russian.\nFindings: Demographic profile of respondents\nDiscussion: The results of this study back up the importance of service quality perceptions in the context of particular dimensions as it shows such dimensions are related with customer satisfaction, customer value and behavioral intentions. From a pragmatic point-of-view, the study offers potentially valuable contributions to the hotel industry in Antalya as it provides some insights for hotel managers. Developing a framework for conceptualizing the effects of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction and other behavioral intentions can be considered as the main theoretical implication of this study. The present study presents ten hotel service quality dimensions from a list compiled of 50 items. These dimensions can be listed as:\nImplications and limitations: The increasing interest in addressing the service quality concept from the consumer's point-of-view is accepted as one of the most important developments in the tourism industry (Nadiri and Hussain, 2005). Explicitly describing and understanding the hotel attributes in light of customer needs allows hotel management to recognize and fulfill customer wants and needs in advance instead of subsequently reacting to customer dissatisfaction (Choi and Chu, 2001). Moreover, giving a satisfactory experience to the customers, hotel managers should understand how the customers assess the service quality (Olorunniwo et al., 2006) that is too subjective to evaluate based on specific characteristics of service (Alexandris et al., 2002). Thus, this study is believed to provide useful information about these facts for hotel managers in Antalya. Besides its practical implications, the study has some theoretical values while it is providing insights for a comparative study of service quality perceptions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify tourists' perceptions of services provided by hotels in Antalya/Turkey and to explore hotel service quality dimensions. Specifically, the objectives are as follows: to identify the dimensions of hotel service quality, and to determine the relative impact of those dimensions on customer satisfaction levels, on customer value and on customers' intentions to recommend or revisit a hotel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The present study uses the framework which originally appeared in Juwaheer's study investigating international tourists' perceptions of hotels in Mauritius. In this framework ten hotel service quality dimensions were defined by factor analysis and then the most important dimensions for each component were determined using stepwise regression analysis.\nFindings: Of the ten hotel service quality dimensions, \"tangibles\" and \"food quality and reliability\" influence the customer satisfaction level the most. Customer value is explained by five dimensions which generate 37.8 percent of the variance. \"Hotel employees and problem solving\", \"transportation\", \"food quality and reliability\", \"climate and hygiene\", \"level of price\", \"tangibles\", \"interaction with Turkish culture\" and \"friendly, courteous and helpful employees\" are the main dimensions which affect whether a guest will recommend a hotel. \"Tangibles\", \"interaction with Turkish culture\", and \"level of price\" are seen as the most influential dimensions in terms of customers' intentions to revisit a hotel.\nResearch limitations/implications: The basic limitation of the study is the unexplained variance, which is the result of the regression analysis. Therefore, future research should aim to determine the factors explaining that variance.\nPractical implications: In light of these findings, hotel managers in Antalya can better understand their guests' priorities and consequently, they can arrange their service encounter process accordingly to fulfill these priorities.\nOriginality/value: This study presents potentially valuable information for hotel managers in Antalya with regards to understanding customer value and satisfaction, which are the key elements in terms of guests revisiting a hotel and recommending it to others. As providing an opportunity for a comparative study of service quality searches, this study contributes to the field.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Biased recruiters and mental disorders: Workplace initiatives which may lessen prejudice
|
[
"Employment",
"Stigma",
"Mental illness",
"Cognitive biases",
"Recruitment decisions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations' recruiters might consider themselves to be fair-minded, unbiased people. Men and women who have a positive attitude to their important and essential role and who could never be found to be prejudiced, intolerant or bigoted. Maybe so, but how about blinkered or ill-informed? Perhaps they are discriminatory in their perspectives and assessments of some job candidates but do not recognize that failing in themselves.\nOpportunities to contemplate true, underlying values: However, a study by Moss et al. (2017), a senior lecturer in psychology at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia, et al. concludes that a variety of initiatives could be implemented to nullify biases which disadvantage people who disclose or demonstrate a mental disorder. According to the \"meaning maintenance model\" which they describe, when individuals experience a sense of meaning and coherence in their lives, they are not as susceptible to these biases. Consequently, recruiters should participate in workshops that are intended to foster this meaning and coherence.\nFive impediments to people's employment opportunities: Other initiatives emanate from both socioemotional selectivity theory and the future self-continuity model. As these theories imply, if individuals commit to some enduring vision of the future - and thus assume their identity and values will persist indefinitely - temporal discounting should diminish. Individuals are more inclined to commit to an enduring vision of the future that entails two key features. First, this vision should be consistent with recent trends or advances in the organization. That is, recruiters are more likely to commit to some vision they feel has progressed already. Second, this vision should be distinct from the strategies of other similar organizations.\nComment: This review is based on \"Initiatives that diminish the biases of recruiters against people who disclose or demonstrate a diagnosed mental disorder\" by Moss et al. (2017). Because of various biases, employers may reject applicants even if they would have been suitable. The paper explores the possibility that several workplace initiatives could stem the biases of recruiters against people who disclose or demonstrate diagnosed mental disorders.\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: The authors uncovered five constellations of biases in recruiters that could disadvantage individuals who disclose or demonstrate mental disorders. Fortunately, consistent with the meaning maintenance model and cognate theories, when the vision and strategy of organizations is stable and enduring, these biases diminish, and people who report mental disorders are more likely to be employed.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Translation in the "contact zone" between accounting and human resource management: The nebulous idea of humans as assets and resources
|
[
"Human resource management",
"Translation",
"Interdisciplinary",
"Accounting for people",
"Human assets",
"Human resource accounting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: [...] it is the people, whether we see them as users or creators, who energize an idea any time they translate it for their own or somebody else's use. Ideas left in books left on shelves do not travel, and no amount of satiation will help to diffuse ideas from closed libraries(Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996, p. 23).\n1. Introduction: The accounting profession, like many others, depends on a register of specialized terms and concepts to communicate and conduct its business (Evans et al., 2015). These terms and concepts are a materialisation of ideas (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996) which either originated in the accounting profession or were translated into the accounting lexicon from other disciplines. For example, the concept of \"capital\" as the sum which is the foundation of the business, the total of money on which the individual, firm or company carries on trade (Cannan, 1921) was translated into the accounting lexicon from the discipline of economics, while the concept of \"assets\" was translated into accounting from the legal profession (Baladouni, 1984; Parker, 1994). While studies have shown evidence of concepts being translated into the accounting discipline from other disciplines (Baladouni, 1984; Fetter, 1937; Parker, 1994; Williams, 2003), little is known about the process through which these trans-disciplinary translations occur. It is this process which this study seeks to illuminate.\n2. Theoretic frame: While there is a significant body of writings on the practice of translation which stretch back to antiquity, translation studies as a discipline emerged out of the field of applied linguistics in the 1970s (Mialet, 2010). In the early years, the translation studies discipline conceived of translation as a process of communicating a source language text in a target language by establishing a relationship of identity or analogy with it. However, as the discipline grew and interfaced with other disciplines, it underwent a cultural turn which shifted the focus away from textual concerns of equivalence and faithfulness to the original text to broader issues of context, history and convention (Bassnett, 2007). The cultural turn in translation studies foreshadowed a \"translation turn\" in social science disciplines where translation moved from being the particular object of investigation in the translation discipline, to being a new methodological and epistemological category across disciplines (Bachmann-Medick, 2009). While many social science disciplines have embraced the opportunities offered by the translation turn, Evans and Kamla (2016) note that the accounting discipline has, with a few exceptions, neglected it.\n3. Method: Given that the study which we undertake spans a time period starting in the early 1900s to the present and focusses on the translation of ideas across disciplines, we draw methodological insights from the field of translation studies, and more particularly, from the sub-field of translation history. Translation historians note that in historical studies the choice has to be made between viewing translation as the object of our research or as the lens through which we research our historical object (Rundle, 2011). Indeed, Rundle (2011, p. 33) frames the tensions between these two choices, thus:[...] the more historical our research, and the more embedded it is in the relevant historiography, the less obviously enlightening it is for other translation scholars who are not familiar with this historiography; while the more we address other scholars in Translation Studies, the less we are contributing to the historical field of our choice. Or to put this another way: the more we immerse ourselves in the historical field of our choice the more the other scholars of this field become our natural interlocutors and the less we have in common with other scholars in Translation Studies.\n4. Three translations: 4.1 First translation and origins of the idea\n5. Translation of ideas - some thoughts: At the conclusion of Section 2, the following had emerged from the review of the literature:\n6. Conclusion: We set out to develop an understanding of how ideas travel across disciplines by studying how the idea that people are valuable assets travelled from the human resources discipline to the accounting discipline. Our understanding of translation is based on insights from the Scandinavian Institutionalist Schools, Skopos theory and linguistic translation techniques.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the process through which ideas are translated across disciplines. It does this by focussing on how the idea that people are corporate assets was translated between the accounting and human resource management (HRM) disciplines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the interpretation of a historical case study of the travel of ideas between the accounting and HRM disciplines. Translation is used as an analytical lens as opposed to being the object of the study and is theorised drawing on insights from the Scandinavian Institutionalist School, Skopos theory and linguistic translation techniques.\nFindings: Translation by individual translators involved the translator stepping across disciplinary boundaries. However, translation performed by interdisciplinary teams occurs in the \"contact zone\" between disciplines. In this zone, both disciplines are, at once, source and target. Ideas are translated by editing and fusing them. In both cases, translation is value laden as the motives of the translators determine the translation techniques used. Legitimacy and gravitas of the translator, as well as contextual opportunities, influence the spread of the idea while disciplinary norms limit its ability to become institutionalised. Also, differential application of the same translation rule leads to heterogeneous outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This is the first accounting translation study to use the theories of the Scandinavian Institutionalist School or indeed combine these with linguistic translation techniques. It is also the first study in accounting which explores the translation of ideas across disciplines.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Preliminary insight into cloud computing adoption in a developing country
|
[
"Determinants",
"TOE",
"Ghana",
"Cloud computing",
"Developing countries",
"Adoption"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Cloud computing has been described as a new development in the field of information technology (IT) (Armbrust et al., 2009). With this advancement comes a huge potential which businesses and governments in the developed world are already utilising to improve service delivery and performance. Cloud computing basically entails the provision of IT as a service rather than as a product. Cloud computing has been adopted in private, public and non-profit sectors in both industrialised and developing countries. However, the developed economies are far ahead of the developing world in terms of adoption and use. In spite of the multitudinous benefits associated with the cloud technology, its potential is yet to be realized in developing countries.\n2. Literature review: IT has long been regarded as a product. However, this notion seems to be dwindling as many IT providers are striving to offer IT as a service and at reduced cost. Cloud computing as an innovation provides opportunity for IT to be delivered as a service rather than as a product. Cloud computing innovation has been with the IT industry for a while. However, it was not initially commercialised. The genesis of cloud computing is found in other technologies such as grid and parallel computing, distributed systems, hardware and software virtualization, multi-core chips, and internet-based technologies (Buyya et al., 2009). There is still not a standard definition of what cloud computing entails (Sultan, 2010). In this paper cloud computing is defined as the delivery of IT infrastructure and applications as a service on demand to individuals and organisations via internet platforms.\n3. Research methodology: As noted above, the aim of this study is to investigate determinants of CCA among organisations from different industries in a developing country context. Data was collected using questionnaires designed in line with Churchill (1979) and Straub (1989) proposal for designing a survey instrument in order to ensure reliability and validity. The target population was organisations operating in Ghana and the sampling technique adopted was a stratified random sampling since it allows selection of a balance sample of the population from the subpopulation (Hair et al., 2010). The subpopulations were Ghanaian and foreign-owned businesses operating in Ghana. For a respondent to be selected, it must first belong to one of these strata.\n4. Findings: 4.1. Demographics of surveyed organisations\n5. Discussion: 5.1. TC\n6. Conclusion: This study investigated the determinants of CCA among organisations from different industries in a developing country. The study adopted the TOE framework as a guiding lens to tackle adoption from multiple contexts. The constructs employed in the study were tested and validated using CFA while the hypotheses were tested using logistic regression. Given the dichotomous nature of the dependent variable (CCA), logistic regression was chosen among other multivariate techniques to test and validate the hypotheses proposed in relation to the ten factors. The initial conceptual model consisted of ten variables. The results from the CFA analysis and the logistic regression provided support for six variables out of the initial ten. The confirmed variables are: RA, SC, TMS, TR, CP and TPP. The other four factors, namely FS, FSC, compatibility and RS were insignificant to the model and were therefore rejected as determinants of CCA from a developing country context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of cloud computing adoption (CCA) in a developing country context through the lens of the technology, organisation and environment (TOE) framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was carried out using the quantitative research methodology based on a survey of 305 organisations from different industries in Ghana. Based on the TOE framework, a conceptual model consisting of ten hypotheses were proposed and tested through a confirmatory factor analysis and logistic regression analysis.\nFindings: The findings indicate that relative advantage, security concern, top management support, technology readiness, competitive pressure and trading partners' pressure were the TOE factors found to be significant in CCA in a developing country context. Conversely, firm size, scope, compatibility and regulatory support were found to be insignificant.\nOriginality/value: This study provides insights into CCA across different industries in a developing country environment. The study is arguably the first kind of empirical research into CCA in a developing country context, specifically in Ghana. The findings from this study provide a foundation for other studies as well as constructive insights for the development of cloud computing, due to its infancy in the developing world.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Performance measurement in tourism: a value chain model
|
[
"Value chain",
"Tourism management",
"Performance measures",
"Management effectiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Measuring business performance in tourism industry has been attracting researchers and practitioners for some time. However, there are few studies on performance measurement in the tourism industry when compared to studies done for manufacturing industries. It is also noted that these theoretical or empirical studies are limited to the hotel sector alone (Atkinson and Brander Brown, 2001; Mia and Patiar, 2001; Phillips, 1999; Enz et al., 2001) and they do not examine the performance measurement subject considering the interdependent nature of tourism industry.The interdependent feature of the tourism industry makes the companies in different sectors, i.e. transportation, tour operators and hotel, heavily reliant on each other (Evans et al., 2003). If one fails to deliver a service it has an affect on the other one. Along the other characteristics of tourism products and services like its intangibility, perishability and inseparability; \"interdependent\" nature of tourism plays a great role in providing the overall service quality of the product that the consumers buy. Hence, it requires various organisations in the tourism industry to work together as a value chain to add value and deliver product and services to the customer.To build a system that searches for customer satisfaction at every step in the tourism value chain, and the efficiency of this chain at every phase, needs a robust performance measurement system. Although the distribution channel concept has been studied widely, the focus of these studies were marketing oriented and no attempt has been observed which addresses the performance measurement of the distribution channel within a value chain understanding.This paper, therefore, aims to offer a tourism value chain performance measurement framework that allows various players to communicate and coordinate their processes and activities and helps to measure the customer and internal performance in a more mature manner.\nThe tourism value chain: The tourism industry has been analysed in a holistic manner through distribution channel perspective by many authors (Middleton and Clark, 2001; Mill and Morrison, 2002; Halloway, 1998; Laws, 1997). The book, Tourism Distribution Channel, edited by Buhalis and Laws (2001) also consists of 23 papers of various writers. The majority of them are marketing oriented and do not emphasise the performance management and measurement of value chain in the tourism industry. Poon (1993) adapted Porter's value chain concept to the tourism industry. However, she also did not mention the performance management of value chain. Another lack of the literature is not to have looked at the value chain from the customer perspective; in other words there is a lack of customer-oriented approach in the end-to-end value chain. The customers see the tourism product as a seamless product and that requires to be handled from the customer point-of-view so as to measure the tourism value chain effectively. Although great emphasis is given to service, quality and customer satisfaction issues and their link to the business performance in the tourism industry, it is surprising not to see a customer-oriented approach in the tourism value chain. von Friedrichs Grangsjo (2003) emphasises the importance of destination networking and co-opetition (he means that competitors can both have a competitive and a co-operative relationship with one another at the same time). Despite being solely a marketing oriented perspective, his research demonstrated the importance of co-operating in the tourism network. As he stated \"the tourism product is produced in interaction with the customer and the customers have to be imported to the arena of production, to the destination\" (p. 427). This inseparability, as mentioned before, makes the companies interdependent on each other, which affects the overall customer satisfaction and so the future business. Hence, at this point, to search the ways to manage and measure the tourism value chain as a whole with a customer-oriented approach becomes vital.The tourism value chain starts with the customer order. Customers or tourists have some alternatives when they purchase the tourism product. They can either arrange their travel plan with the help of tour operators or outbound travel agents (package travel) - that has the advantage of taking professional advice on the whole holiday package without any thinking; or arrange it themselves (individual travel), which allows them to be flexible in their travel experience. Incoming travel agents can be used to make transfer arrangements from/to the airport (or train station, harbour, etc.) to/from the hotel and for daily excursions and other activities held at the destination. Transportation (airline, train, etc.) between home and destination is also an important part of the tourism value chain.The package travel model includes the alternatives of either taking the whole holiday package, which is the most popular one, or any part of the travel (e.g. airline ticket only, hotel reservation, car rental at destination or a combination of both). On the other hand, consumers can individually organise each step of their travel by themselves - that means they buy the airline ticket, hotel stay, car rental, sightseeing tour or any other activities individually from the companies directly without using any intermediary. The use of IT on the indirect travel mode is increasing and many authors like Nissen (2001), Law et al. (2004), Meyronin (2004), Sigala (2003), Smith (2004) and others have discussed the impact of IT usage on the tourism distribution channel especially since the late 1990s.To manage the tourism product as an end-to-end seamless product, a tourism value chain concept can be developed, as in Figure 1. At the win order stage, consumers purchase the product among the pre-determined travel packets either as a whole or part(s) of it from the travel organiser. A tour operator or outbound travel agent makes the necessary arrangements on behalf of the consumer.Pre-delivery support consists of activities like handling visa requirements, giving the detailed information about the destination and any other things that the consumer may need before departure. The tour operator or outbound travel agent operates at this stage.The delivery stage is where the customers consume their product. The tourism suppliers deliver their products to the consumers at this stage.Post delivery support is where the customer satisfaction is measured and the necessary corrective action taken to make sure that the tourism value chain is managed in a continuous manner.If we accept the proposed value chain as an accurate representation of the tourism industry, it will be possible to develop a framework to facilitate management of performance as an integrated value chain, rather than by an individual sub-sector (e.g. hotel).\nPerformance measurement in the tourism value chain: The suggested model for tourism value chain performance measurement is illustrated in Figure 2. Current measures used in the literature of performance measurement have been mapped onto this model. This shows the potential gaps in the current thinking with respect to the tourism industry. In Figure 2 some example measures have been suggested as a guide to people who may wish to work on these areas.At the first level of the tourism value chain, the scope and content for the value chain operations are defined and the bases of competition performance targets are set. The performance attributes can be designed to focus on the internal and customer perspectives for the whole value chain.At the second level, the performance measurement criteria of each process of the value chain is determined in accordance with the attributes and set targets defined at the first level. A third level can be added to the value chain, if necessary.Level 1\nConclusion: As demonstrated through the proposed tourism value chain model, there is an opportunity to study the tourism industry as a value chain and to develop a value chain oriented performance management and measurement framework that would allow various players to communicate and coordinate their processes and activities in a more mature manner. Therefore, it becomes critical to measure and manage the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism product and services from a value chain management perspective. The framework has some implications for both practitioners and researchers.Implications for practitioners\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The tourism industry consists of various players and tourism demand is met by the joint efforts of these players. However, it seems that there is no attempt in the tourism management literature proposing frameworks or models, which can assist the tourism companies, evaluate and control the overall tourism value chain. This paper attempts to show the usability of value chain concept in the tourism industry to manage and measure the value chain processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A tourism value chain model with four stages; win order, pre-delivery support, delivery, and post-delivery support, is developed. A value chain performance measurement model for the tourism industry is suggested according to the value chain model developed.\nFindings: - There is an opportunity to study the tourism industry as a value chain and to develop a value chain oriented performance management and measurement framework that would allow various players to communicate and coordinate their processes and activities in a more mature manner. Therefore, it becomes critical to measure and manage the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism product and services from a value chain management perspective. The framework has some implications for both practitioners and researchers.\nPractical implications: - The tourism companies can use the suggested model as a guide to evaluate their performance in terms of customer and internal dimensions through the value chain perspective. Mapping of existing thinking on performance measurement against the proposed tourism value chain model reveals gaps for further research, such as: the need to study the tourism industry as an end-to-end value chain; the need for understanding and measuring the performance of front-end win-order and pre-delivery-support processes; and the need for managing the delivery process as a whole rather than as two or three unrelated services. The model is intended to be useful for the practitioners when designing and implementing a framework who search for the whole tourism chain effectiveness using both internal and customer related metrics.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights the need to evaluate the overall tourism value chain through the customer and internal dimensions and suggests a unique model for this aim.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A gathering storm: re-tendering and the voluntary sector workforce
|
[
"EU procurement regulations",
"Outsourcing",
"Re‐tendering",
"Voluntary sector",
"HR issues",
"Voluntary organizations",
"Tendering",
"Human resourcing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As with many western industrialised countries over the last 20 years the UK voluntary sector has steadily increased its influence in delivering public services to some of the most vulnerable in society (Kendall, 2003). This has not been without costs to the sector in terms of its independence and concerns with regard to a \"race to the bottom\" in employment conditions. Much of this pressure on terms and conditions has been attributed to fiscal pressure from national government funding at local and central level (Cunningham, 2008). However, little attention has focused on the influence of the European Union (EU) on voluntary sector-state relations and the impact it can have on employment conditions in the former. This omission is surprising given recent the EU inspired Public Contracts Directive 2004/18/EC, which is designed to further facilitate competitive procurement in public services.This paper explores this issue by addressing two related research objectives. First, it provides an evaluation of the impact of the procurement regulations and subsequent re-tendering on terms and conditions of employment in voluntary organisations. Second, it explores the impact of re-tendering on workers' sense of well being, and commitment.The article is divided into four sections. The first begins with a brief outline of the voluntary sector's involvement in delivering public services and its workforce implications. This is followed by an overview of the provisions and projected impact of the EU Public Contracts Regulations on the voluntary sector. The second section outlines the method for the study. The paper utilises results from a qualitative study of three Scottish voluntary sector organisations involved in re-tendering exercises. Section three presents the findings revealing the impact of re-tendering on the management of voluntary organisations including employee well being, job security and commitment. Section four presents conclusions and discussion. The paper argues that the procurement regulations are a \"gathering storm\" for the voluntary sector workforce as competitive re-tendering adds a further dimension to the unrelenting pressure from the quasi-market to undermine terms and conditions of employment. It also asks to what degree this state of affairs can be conducive to maintaining service quality.\nOutsourcing, re-tendering and the voluntary sector workforce: Much of the literature on the transformative capacity of New Public Management (NPM) focuses on its impact on the public sector management culture and its workforce (Horton, 2006). The voluntary sector, however, in becoming a major provider of public services in the UK (Kendall, 2003) has not escaped NPM's influence. The attraction of the sector as a potential deliverer of public services began with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, which accepted the \"New Right\" critique of the public sector as being poorly managed, unaccountable, professionally dominated with no market incentives in place to improve performance, and consequently, the voluntary sector (along with private sector organisations) increasingly became seen as a source of innovative, lower cost provision of services. In return for this new status the sector, under the umbrella of NPM, had to accept new approaches to management that mirrored private sector practices and accepted greater scrutiny of their activities under public sector contracts, along with calls for services to be delivered on principles of value for money (Osborne, 1997).Outsourcing to the sector continued under successive Labour governments from 1997 where initially there appeared to be a desire to move to an emphasis on \"what matters is what works\", where voluntary sector providers were part of a mix of public and independent providers (Geddes, 2001). This process was facilitated by a range of policies that encouraged partnership between government and the sector, such as the \"Compact\" code of practice which advocated long-term funding arrangements (Home Office, 2005). Consequently, the voluntary sector now employs approximately 668,000 employees in the UK. More than half of these (374,000) work in social work activities. The figure increased by 85 per cent between 1996-2008 largely due to the transfer of social care activities from the public sector (NCVO, 2010).Yet outsourcing to the voluntary sector under NPM has had mixed consequences for the management of human resources (HR) and the terms and conditions of its workforce. HR specialists in the sector face a dilemma managing the diverse and contradictory pressures from funding and regulatory agencies while at the same time meeting the need to retain a committed workforce (Ridder and McCandless, 2008). In recent years, voluntary organisations have experienced pressure on terms and conditions of employment as public sector contractors demanded more for the same or less public funding. The result has been a steady unravelling of the link with public sector terms and conditions, work intensification and persistent job insecurity for voluntary sector staff (Barnard et al., 2004: Cunningham, 2008). Studies have revealed how this can lead to burn out, disenchantment and a reduction in commitment to the organisation, leading to problems with staff turnover (Baines, 2004; Cunningham, 2008; Nickson et al., 2008). These forces have not been universal as a combination of institutional factors, differing degrees of resource dependency and the intervention of boundary spanners (Cunningham, 2008) suggests that not all voluntary organisations have had to embark on a \"race to the bottom\" on pay.\nThe Public Contracts Regulations 2006 - provisions and potential impact on voluntary sector employment: Re-tendering of public services has emerged as an issue that challenges the stability of the voluntary sector and places additional pressure on organisations to balance the demands of funders and the rights of their workforce to decent terms and conditions. Recently, the focus of this re-tendering has been through the implementation of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006) which was introduced as a consequence of the Public Contracts Directive 2004/18/EC1. Community Care Providers Scotland (CCPS) (2008) have pointed out how the regulations have led to the growing re-tendering of services among existing providers in the Scottish voluntary sector. The Directive brought together three older directives covering works, supplies and services (Gelderman et al., 2006; Office of Government Commerce (OGC) 2006). The aim of the Directive is to open competition, encourage transparency, non-discrimination, competitive procurement, and facilitate value for money for the taxpayer as well as promote the single European market. It is binding on all public sector contracting bodies - local and national. In clarifying existing regulations the Directive is seen as a way of reducing the costs of procurement, while assuming there will be no detrimental impact on service delivery (OGC, 2006).We know little about the actual impact of these regulations on employment in the voluntary sector. One potential outcome is that some of the growth in jobs in the sector may be threatened if it faces increased competition from private sector providers and begins to lose contracts. There are also concerns over the consequences to terms and conditions of employment and the quality of jobs for those remaining employed in the sector. The Public Contracts Regulations are part of the wider neo-liberal logic of the eliminating obstacles to free trade, which in recent years has increasingly subordinated worker rights to the increasing mantra of competitiveness and marketisation (Gold, 2009).The regulations do provide some limited provision to take account of social issues that embrace employment practices in the procurement process, i.e. while not being a legal obligation the guidance encourages the contracting body to do so. This limited protection may involve contracting bodies asking potential contractors to supply equal opportunities policies for inspection and exclude organisations that have breached equality law (Out-law.com, 2006).Procurement decisions also do not have to be made solely on the basis of cost, as although any party can express an interest in tendering for a service, only those meeting the contracting authority's selection criteria will be invited to bid. Furthermore, a contracting authority must award the contract on the basis of either:* lowest price tender wins; or* the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT), where factors in addition to price such as quality, technical merit and running costs can be included (OGC, 2006).Employees in the sector would also have some protection, if they are transferred to another employer in a re-tender situation through the Acquired Rights Directive (77/187/EC), which was transposed into the UK as the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). Subsequent Directives have further updated the regulations leading to significant changes coming into place in April 2006. However, TUPE (2006) continues to provide important legal safeguards for workers, there is also some latitude for employers to take advantage of increased opportunities to cut terms and conditions. This is particularly the case with the \"ETO\" reason, where an employer can vary terms and conditions on the basis of issues arising due to economic, technical or organisational reasons. Employers can also dismiss an employee if the reason is principally due to the \"ETO\" reason (Cavalier and Arthur, 2006).Despite this protection, unions have concerns regarding procurement generally and the EU Directive in particular. UNISON's key concerns are that re-tendering can lead to the fragmentation of public services, the undermining of collective pay and conditions and the creation of a two tier workforce, with the public sector workforce enjoying protected status, but newly recruited workers in contracted organisations suffering poorer terms and conditions of employment, and thus potentially undercutting public sector employees (Unison, 2009). The Trades Union Congress (TUC) advocates that contracts should not go to employers with poor health and safety records; they have also called for clauses for a \"living wage\" in all procurement contracts; and have advocated for public procurement contracts to promote social causes such as skills development and apprentices (TUC, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010).In the light of the previous discussion, the remainder of the paper explores the following research questions:1. What is the impact of the procurement regulations on terms and conditions of employment in voluntary organisations?2. How does the process of re-tendering impact on workers sense of well-being, security, and commitment in their organisations?\nMethod: Three case study organisations, who had all been involved in re-tendering exercises with local authorities, agreed to participate in this research:1. A provider that had lost several re-tendering exercises (Sapphire).2. A provider that had won several re-tendering exercises (Emerald).3. A provider that had won and also lost services through re-tendering exercises (Diamond).Table I outlines the profile of organisations and the numbers of individuals interviewed. In each case study interviews were conducted with HR directors/managers, and operational/business development managers who were part of \"tender teams\" or had responsibility for developing and sustaining current business. Questions were asked about the broad nature of the market they operated in; perceptions regarding the rationale and processes behind local authority re-tendering; the balance between cost and quality evident in re-tendering decisions; the employment implications of re-tendering; and the impact on service users and their families.Interviews with employees included a number of who were transferred to another employer as a consequence of a re-tendering exercise (nine respondents). Six of these were now employed in Diamond, but were previously employed in Sapphire and three were employed in Emerald, but had previously worked in an organisation, which did not participate in this study, but had been subject to re-tendering. Of the employees who had remained with their original employer, because of a successful bid during a re-tendering exercise (18), seven were employed by Diamond, and the remainder with Emerald.Interviews with employees asked about their employment history; orientations to work; nature of work in care; their experiences of the tendering process; their reactions once re-tendering decisions were made; the impact on their terms and conditions and service quality; and intentions to quit. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by researchers using the general analytical procedure favoured by Miles and Huberman (1994).\nFindings: Organisational impact - intensified competition and the breakdown of co-operation\nDiscussion and conclusion: Voluntary sector organisations continue to play a significant role in the delivery of public services in the UK. This involvement has not come without costs to its workforce in terms of steady pressure to reduce terms and conditions of employment. We argue here that the impact of the EU-inspired procurement regulations presents additional challenges for the voluntary sector, in particular its efforts to manage the tension between on the one hand meeting the requirements of funders and, on the other, maintaining a committed workforce (Ridder and McCandless, 2008).The evidence suggests that pressures from re-tendering appear to be leading to employers in the sector moving from a co-operative culture to a more ruthless private sector one. This is driven by decisions around re-tendering largely, although not exclusively, being based on cost. An added problem is that one of the ways in which organisations can ameliorate the harsher aspects of operating in a supply chain - in this case through boundary spanners (Marchington et al., 2005) appears to be closed to organisations in this study as power to make re-tendering decisions is shifted from familiar heads of social work to finance specialists in newly constructed procurement teams. These pressures represent a \"gathering storm\" that may hasten the \"race to the bottom\" in terms and conditions of employment for the voluntary sector workforce, having an impact on worker morale in the sector, with subsequent concerns regarding service quality.There remain questions over the extent to which this state of affairs is desirable? For example, it is difficult to argue, especially in the current financial climate, against re-tendering making supplier organisations from any sector more efficient and focused on value for money for the taxpayer. There are lessons, however, to be drawn from transfers of staff from public to private organisations. Specifically, where such transfers lead to reductions in terms and conditions of employment, and subsequently employee morale and commitment this eventually threatens service quality (Hebson et al., 2003).In an EU where the social aspect of economic integration takes second place to the call for market liberalisation (Gold, 2009) calls for worker interests to be met in re-tendering situations will, on their own, fail to be persuasive enough to prevent the aforementioned pressures on pay brought about by these regulations. Moreover, the changing political and economic/fiscal landscape in the UK with a political agenda of budget cuts and value for money will mean that producer/service provider and worker interests may hold even less credence in the debates about the future of public service provision.A way forward may lie in the objectives of the EU regulations and the possibilities for common ground between unions and the organisations providing services. As previously mentioned the EU regulations were established to simplify procurement with the proviso that they should have no detrimental impact on services. Here, we argue that it is incumbent on unions and the voluntary sector to campaign on a case by case and on a national level, for a common programme of transparency in re-tendering decisions, and the protection of worker rights to ensure the maintenance of service quality.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to consider the impact of the European Union procurement regulations. It assesses the impact of the re-tendering of services on the terms and conditions of employment and sense of well being, and commitment of employees in the social care sub-sector of the voluntary sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study employs a qualitative study of three organisations utilising semi-structured interviews with managers and employees.\nFindings: - The process of re-tendering is creating intensified competition and the breakdown of co-operation between voluntary sector organisations. Re-tendering also has an impact on employee terms and conditions with related problems arising with regard to their morale and commitment.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This remains a relatively small-scale piece of research and there is also scope to consider how these issues are played out in private, as well as voluntary sector organisations.\nPractical implications: - The research highlights the potential tensions between creating greater competition and a search for value for money in the tendering and re-tendering of services on voluntary organisations' raison d'etre and the sense of commitment of employees.\nOriginality/value: - There is little research examining the human resource aspects of re-tendering and this research provides an important step in surfacing a number of emergent issues for how voluntary organisations manage the people dimension of the re-tendering process.\n",
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] |
Resource sharing in Latin America
|
[
"Academic libraries",
"Consortia",
"Collaboration",
"Resources",
"University libraries"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: There is no lack of publishing in Latin America but data are elusive. The UCLA Statistical Abstract of Latin America remarked on the lack of accurate reporting and the shortage of current tracking for any comparison for prior years (UCLA, 2008). On the other hand, Mario Vargas Llosa's (Peru) first book in 1963, La Ciudad y los Perros, won the Cervantes Prize and has been translated into 30 languages. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010 and currently serves as the Director of the Cervantes Virtual Library in Bilbao, Spain. The world mourned the loss of Vargas Llosa's close friend, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia) author of Cien Anos de Soledad. Guadalajara, Mexico, hosts an annual book fair with financial support from the American Library Association among others to encourage extensive attendance. There are frequent mentions of \"difficult regulations\" by publishers and book sellers in the Spanish market related to distribution, online access, imports, exports, tariffs and the acceptability of the Spanish language (Wischenbart, 2014). Perhaps as a result of these factors, the registration of Spanish titles was static between 2006 and 2013. This trend keeps Spain as the main source of publishing in Latin America. (CERLALC, 2014). Many titles are not lent between neighboring countries. Spain will redistribute and promote only the most popular titles. The lack of a shared catalog to search for book titles and journals makes it difficult to identify and share titles with other countries (Volland, 2012).\nResearch on resources in Latin America: Two international projects lead to the study of resources available in Latin America. The first was funded by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in 2009 via the Academic and Research Libraries Section and focused on research of library consortia development. Additional funding was provided by the International Availability for Scientific Publications (INASP) and its related Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERii). Support also came for the project in selected Latin American countries from the Swedish Agency for International Development (SIDA). This funding also enabled the second project, from INASP, which focused on training for library consortia development. Each project supported a separate group of Latin American countries.\nSome statistics: Imports of new titles into Latin America exceed exports and concern has been expressed about book piracy in Latin America (Greco, 2008). In 2006, CERLALC reported 99,566 new titles published, increasing to 302,199 in 2014 (CERLALC, 2014).\nResources: International countries share resources developed by UNESCO. The four most popular being:\nDigitization projects: International organizations have contributed to multi-national resource networking activities. The following collections are designed to encourage scholarly content contributions and sharing in Spanish.\nInternational connections: All the resources noted above depend on the support of many international organizations. However, CLADEA[21] is an exception. The roots of this 50-year-old organization are in a project focused on improving knowledge in the field of management. CLADEA seeks to promote research and provide bibliographic support. Members share journal articles often delivered within 24 hours. The international level of cooperation is between directors and scholars from 200 institutions. CLADEA facilitates discussion and sharing knowledge on management issues. In addition, services and products to facilitate the exchange of information help to optimize costs and shared benefits. Ongoing training is provided to members in different areas of library management, and CLADEA has established contacts and cooperation with similar organizations in other continents.\nProject management: Strong leadership is the key to strengthen and communicate the desire for cooperation, and as a result, resource sharing should become less a battle of ownership and individual pride. Ruth Velia Gomez, a consortia leader in Nicaragua, provided the best practical and inspiring statements for library consortia development. \"One needs to take the aggressive belligerent role to meet the requirements of leadership with library consortia\".\nCopyright and trade relations impact on Latin America: Copyright supports the infrastructure requirements for research and scholarly production. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), copyright sections[27], are under revisions by the World Trade Organization (2014) proposing elimination of exceptions for least developed countries. However, the Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL)[28] is dedicated to enabling access to knowledge for education, learning, research and sustainable community development through libraries in more than 60 countries and is supporting the continuation of a waiver for developing countries. Developments in technology and industry require the creation and nurturing of R\nLiteracy: The dominant culture may create barriers to continued growth of native language by omission in schools and society. Indigenous languages may still be spoken in homes, social and religious gatherings. Some dominant cultures wisely retained native languages to learn possible secrets and as a safeguard to protect from revolt. Chile provides government forms in indigenous languages to preserve cultures and support their development. Guatemala in 2011 discovered the 23rd indigenous language from within its own country. The Rieken Foundation is working with the indigenous communities of Honduras to write native language books to record lore for future generations. Lor (2011) has dedicated research on the loss of indigenous languages.\nConclusion: The summary of activities in some countries of Central and South America is that the resources developed have included the need to sustain services beyond current funding but to guarantee the success, further senior management buy-in and other research agency involvement is needed. The Ministries of Culture, Education, Science have dedicated considerable support but there are further requirements for wireless access, increased bandwidth and infrastructure. These needs must be recognized by each nation's economic development agencies. Further support will continue from national or multi-national efforts, network infrastructure across regions and by embracing the first priority - technology. Latin America has applied and embedded innovative approaches. Many are embracing the future and taking steps toward stronger links to other peer initiatives.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the developments in resource sharing in Latin America.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach is based on research carried out in a number of countries in Latin America financed and supported by a number of organizations, including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication (INASP) and The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC).\nFindings: Dominance of English language databases, publications and indexing has notably created a barrier for access and entry of Spanish language publications in Latin America. The consortia project encountered barriers of language and infrastructure, conflicts with trade barriers, the value of forming consortia and the values of literacy. Prospects of positive change were noted with engagement in electronic resources.\nOriginality/value: One of the very few studies of developments in resource sharing in Latin America with an excellent apparatus of Web sites and references.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Creation of an e-business requirements specification model
|
[
"Modelling",
"Electronic commerce",
"Business analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concept represented by the term \"e-business\" has emerged as a central component of information technology planning during the last ten years. Typically it is argued (Cox, 1999, p. 168) that e-business represents modern thinking on supply chain management by providing \"opportunities to fundamentally transform existing supply chains\" through the erosion of the \"middle men\" (disintermediation) and the speeding up of the information linkage between ultimate customers and all stages of the supply chain, thereby providing \"opportunities to eliminate many aspects of waste\". By using internet-based information transfer, supply webs will replace the traditional linear movement of information within supply chains, thereby facilitating a more interactive approach to supply chain partnering (Kehoe and Boughton, 2001).Also, e-business has been associated (Ritchie and Brindley, 2000, 2002) with the concept of the \"amorphous supply chain\". The premise is that the linear supply chain relationship model, which dominates most sectors, will be replaced by an \"amorphous'\" supply chain relationship model, where one can build, change and reformulate flexible partnerships at speed, because the internet facilitates the potential for effective collaboration.The following definition of e-business is characteristic: \"The use of systems and open communication channels for information exchange, commercial transactions and knowledge sharing between organisations\" (Croom, 2005, p. 55).From the above, it is not surprising that the argument is quoted (Van Hooft and Stegwee, 2001) that the \"e\" - will soon be dropped and that e-business will be business as it comes to be generally understood. The clear impression so gained is one of a marketing-driven domain, and the danger of is that the \"e-business\" concept becomes an over-hyped marketing \"solution in search of a problem\" used by salesmen in their never-ending search to persuade prospects to buy information technology products. Therefore, while many organisations are interested in the e-business concept, getting to industrially validated real requirements is not easy.The motivation of the research described in this paper is that there is a real need to provide objective assistance to organisations faced with making investment decisions in a domain that is currently very solution led (and hence marketing led), based on the advances made possible by software in general and the internet in particular. The hypothesis of the research described in this paper is that it is possible to produce a systematic process and a model that defines usefully the probable e-business requirements of an organisation based on objective criteria. This paper describes the creation of such a model, based on a model structure and approach proven in prior research. It describes how it was possible to produce a generic model, based on characteristics and concerns, which can generate a functional specification to a useful level of detail, at a useful level of accuracy. It also describes how the accuracy and usefulness of the model was evaluated.\nSources for the model: Although conceptual models are common, there is relatively little publicly available literature that describes the generation of system requirements at a sufficient level of detail to be useful for real organisations. We are aware of only one example that addresses the topic at the level of detail that we require, and this is the work of Howard et al. (1998).This research demonstrated that it was possible to predict the detailed functional requirements of a manufacturing system for an industrial enterprise, based on objective factual characteristics (such as volume parameters and product characteristics) and management concerns. It was demonstrated that by processing such concerns through a reference model, one could produce a functional specification at a level sufficient to become the basis of an invitation to tender for potential software suppliers. Moreover, in one case it was demonstrated that the specification produced was more complete than that produced by a project team using a more traditional method of requirements specification (department requirements bidding by committee).Figure 1 shows the concept. The process starts with the collection of the company characteristics and management concerns by an interview process with an appropriate company person. These are matched against the reference model that defines the complete set of functions available and contains logic to decide those situations where a particular function should be relevant (or otherwise).From this matching a list of recommended functions for the enterprise is produced, and presented alongside a trace of how and why particular selections were made.\nOur e-business model: The e-business model was intended to use the same structure. The e-business functions are defined. Reasons why such functions may be appropriate or inappropriate are postulated. Company characteristics and management concerns that cause such reasons to be activated or not identified. In principle, company characteristics are intended to be as objective and factual as possible (such as number of items despatched per year). The value of the model lies in its ability to predict from these facts what is likely to be significant and what is not. For example, there is no point in asking whether a customer wants EDI invoices (or whatever) and then saying that this is a reason for specifying EDI invoices as a relevant function - this is obvious and of no use. The model needs to predict that a customer is likely to require EDI invoices - even if he has not thought of it.The concept of management concerns may at first sight seem anomalous in a model purporting to be objective. The importance of the concerns is that they address the issue of how internal attitudes or customer/supplier behaviour can make or break the relevance of certain functionalities irrespective of the objective relevance or otherwise of these said functions. In the model, concerns tended to have one of two effects:1. they represent a problem that ought to be a motive for interest in an e-business function (e.g. excessive clerical activity); and2. they represent a problem that would tend to prevent an e-business function from being useful (e.g. our suppliers cannot cope with our e-business-oriented communication with them).Howard et al. (1998) focused their research on the established domain of manufacturing control system internals and demonstrated that results of practical use could be achieved. It proved possible to get below the level of broad generalisations and produce detailed advice and guidance that was practically useful for real businesses with real problems.The challenge for the research described in the current paper was to assess whether Howard et al.'s approach could be adapted and extended to create a similarly structured model in the far less established domain of e-business.\nResearch methodology considerations: In broad terms the research consisted broadly of the following stages:* a review of available e-business related literature and expertise;* the development of a model based on this literature and expertise; and* the testing and stepwise refining of the model using a selection of case studies leading to the production of an \"approved\" model.Support for this type of reference-based approach is common, for example Bititci (1995), Stirling et al. (2002), and Jennings (1997), in areas related to the domain of e-business. Jennings in particular recommends the construction of a systems model as soon as there is sufficient information (possibly during the prior research, certainly after the first visit) with the model being further developed iteratively throughout the case research process.The question arose as to whether our methodology qualifies as \"action research\". There are some definitions of action research that are drawn so widely that any research seems to qualify if it involves practical problem solving that has theoretical relevance (Chiasson and Dexter, 2001; Mumford, 2001). It seemed to the authors, however, that the weight of literature (Altricher et al., 2002; Gilmore and Smith, 1996; Gummesson, 2003; Naslund, 2002; O'Leary et al., 2004; Westbrook, 1995) reserves the term \"action research\" for situations when researchers assume the role of change agents of the processes and events they are simultaneously studying. This does not fit what was done here.According to Yin (1994), the quality of a research project and its case study design can be tested in four areas. Table I presents the results of such an evaluation indicating the main research tactics used to meet these tests.\nResearch process: The research method adopted consists of the following phases shown in Figure 2, and described in detail below.Literature review\nThe case studies: Characteristics of the case studies\nAnalysis of the model evolution: One of the key controls on the validity of our case study methodology was the analysis of the evolution of the model as the case studies progressed. The purpose of analysing model evolution was to:* verify the extent to which the model was giving reasonable results;* that as the case studies progressed, the amount of change decreased thus demonstrating that the model was moving towards stability; and* that as the model is refined by each case study, the results of previous case studies are not significantly degraded.Two types of analysis were attempted:1. Analysis of changes. What changes were made and for what reason as a result of each case study.2. Analysis of model stability. How the results produced by the model for the system test case study changed as a result of the feedback from subsequent case studies.Change analysis\nConclusions: The main objective of this research was to provide a method whereby organisations interested in the e-business concept can understand their requirements with relatively little time and effort. Although there are \"softer\" inputs to a requirements definition process (e.g. special circumstances, politics), our objective was to create a model good enough to be a useful animator and guide for such a process.This approach in effect allows the analysis and presentation of a detailed functional specification of requirements within a day. At the present time we know of no other approach that is capable of producing such a model to the same level of detail.The primary purpose of the research described in this paper is to produce a model capable of giving useful advice at the detailed level rather than merely producing superficial diagrams. However, as a by-product of the case studies, it proved possible to create overall e-business profiles of each organisation, a profile that was used in a management summary of the produced report and was invaluable for management level communication.The model was created initially based on theoretical considerations and the strategy was to refine and improve it using a multiple case study approach. We have demonstrated that such a case study process has produced a model that gives sound results and tends to improve with usage. We therefore feel that we have validated the basic research method that we have adopted.A system of this nature will improve as it is used in an increasing number of new situations not previously involved in the development of the model and the feedback from the companies is evaluated.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe the creation of an e-business functional requirements definition model using a case study process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The creation of this model was the subject of a research project, the hypothesis of which is that it is possible to produce a model that can be used in real life situations to specify, using objective reasoning, the e-business requirements of an organisation.\nFindings: - The research demonstrated a practical method of creating and refining this model and further was able to demonstrate that there were reasonable prospects of converging towards a stable model.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper has demonstrated that it has produced an acceptable model by using a case study process that gives sound results. It is also felt that it has validated the basic research method that was adopted.\nPractical implications: - An innovative tool has been created whereby a specification of e-business requirements can be created in a matter of a few hours, compared with the weeks' or months' worth of effort often involved in the use of the traditional business systems analysis process. Based on the operating characteristics of a company and the concerns of its management, the specification avoids the prejudices of consultants and vested interests of salesmen.\nOriginality/value: - The computerised rule-based system is easy to use and leads to a significant reduction in the time taken to generate an accurate functional specification. In addition, it provides a useful way of generating overall insights and communicating an e-business requirements picture at a management summary level.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumer relationship with pro-environmental apparel brands: effect of knowledge, skepticism and brand familiarity
|
[
"Purchase intention",
"Social exchange theory",
"Apparel",
"Pro-environmental",
"Trust",
"Knowledge",
"Commitment",
"Skepticism",
"Perceived benefits",
"Brand relationships",
"Shared value",
"Brand relation",
"Brand familiarity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable, particularly pro-environmental, initiatives have been of significant consideration among apparel brands and their consumers in recent times as the environmental impact of the apparel industry has become well known. Although the global apparel industry is valued at $3tn, apparel production finds itself the second leading industrial cause of environmental pollution, thus taking a vast toll on the planet (Fashion United, 2019). The industry is often scrutinized for its lack of environmental stewardship such as contributing to excessive landfill waste and use of harmful chemicals (Bostrom and Micheletti, 2016; McCarthy, 2018).\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Social exchange theory\nStudy 1: familiar brands: Method\nResults: Respondents' characteristics\nStudy 2: unfamiliar brands: Method\nDiscussions: This study focused on understanding how consumers' intention to purchase from a pro-environmental apparel brand is influenced by their knowledge of environmental impact of apparel and their overall skepticism toward climate change. Particularly, it was found that consumers' shared value perceptions and perceived benefits obtained from pro-environmental apparel brands influenced their relationship with the brand through trust and commitment. This ultimately impacted their intention to purchase from the brand. Specific findings of the study are discussed below.\nImplications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and scope of future research: Despite its many contributions, this study is not without limitations, which in turn, provide us with opportunities for future research. First, the study involved apparel brands only, whereas future studies involving brands from other industries might be interesting, as this may be unique to the apparel industry because of the fact there is such low knowledge of apparel environmental impact. In addition, this study delved into consumers' knowledge of environmental impact of apparel only and not the social aspect. Given that the apparel industry is highly labor intensive and employs over 60 million employees globally, it has tremendous potential to impact society as well (Fashion United, 2019). Therefore, future studies investigating the impact of consumers' knowledge about the social impact of the apparel industry would be beneficial and could possibly provide more outlets for brands to connect with consumers on a more human/social level, in addition to pursuing the pro-environmental initiatives. Second, only US consumers were used in this study. Given that a majority of apparel manufacturing is done in developing countries, consumers in those countries might have unique schemas about pro-environmental initiatives undertaken by global brands. Therefore, conducting cross-cultural studies, particularly including consumers from developing economies, might yield interesting results. Third, this study considered knowledge as the only predictor of skepticism. Given that skepticism can arise from lack of compelling message arguments and/or credibility of the source of the message (Whitmarsh, 2011), future studies on other factors that can reduce consumer skepticism, such as perceived credibility of the message source, as well as message arguments might be insightful. In addition, given that familiar brands often act as sources of credible information (as compared to unfamiliar brands) (Low and Lamb, 2000), controlling for the effect of such perceived credibility might yield interesting results. In this light, the study uses two separate samples to test for the effect of familiar vs unfamiliar brands. Given that sample characteristics (such as means and SDs) might differ across samples, it was not possible to compare the strength of path coefficients for familiar and unfamiliar brands. Therefore, in future studies, introducing brand familiarity as a moderator with one larger sample might be beneficial. Finally, future research could also be conducted using qualitative methods to gain a deeper, richer understanding of how consumers form relationships with brands.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: The apparel industry is often scrutinized for its lack of environmental stewardship, and thus pro-environmental initiatives have been of significant consideration among apparel brands in recent years. However, one personality trait of specific concern to brand marketers is consumer skepticism toward climate change, which has the potential to negatively impact the success of brands' pro-environmental initiatives. In this light, research indicates that knowledge of the environmental impact of products can lead to lower skepticism (Tobler et al., 2012) and ultimately higher purchase intentions of such products. Thus, this study investigates the impact of consumers' knowledge about environmental impact of apparel, climate change skepticism on their evaluation of brands' pro-environmental initiatives (shared value and perceived benefit) and ultimately their relationship with the brand (perceived trust, commitment), leading to purchase intention for both familiar and unfamiliar brands.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two separate studies were conducted for familiar and unfamiliar brands. Data for online surveys were collected from two US nationwide samples and analyzed using path analyses.\nFindings: Consumers' intention to purchase from a pro-environmental brand was influenced by knowledge and skepticism. Particularly, the obtained shared value perceptions and perceived benefits of consumers influenced their relationship with the brand through trust and commitment, which eventually impacted their intention to purchase from the brand. Differences were observed for familiar and unfamiliar brands.\nPractical implications: Findings of this study will help brand managers design effective pro-environmental marketing messages. Both familiar and unfamiliar brands would benefit from educating consumers about the true environmental impact of their apparel choices, as well as the personal benefits and values earned when purchasing/consuming pro-environmental apparel. This, in turn, reduces consumer skepticism toward climate change, leading to favorable evaluations of the brand's pro-environmental initiatives and improvement of long-term brand relations.\nOriginality/value: This study extended the social exchange theory by understanding antecedents of consumers' shared value and perceived benefits, namely, their knowledge about the environmental impact of apparel and their skepticism toward climate change, with the final outcome variable being consumers' patronage intention of pro-environmental brands.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A seminal framework of marketing schools: revisited and updated
|
[
"Marketing theory",
"Schools",
"Transactional analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At the end of the 1940s, production efficiencies were regarded as essential for achieving and maintaining successful and prosperous business operations in the marketplace. In the 1950s, marketing scholars began to argue that corporations should pay more attention to the customers' needs and wants (McKitterick, 1957). This fundamental approach is often referred to as \"the marketing concept\". It is one of the most important and famous concepts ever developed in marketing literature. McKitterick (1957, p. 78) states:... the principal task of the marketing function in a management concept is not so much to be skillful in making the customer do what suits the interests of the business as to be skillful in conceiving and then making the business do what suits the interests of the customer.Thus, the marketing concept holds that the customer needs and wants should be the aim of any marketing activity and marketing process. Subsequently, the turn towards the customer was a major shift in current management views at that time. In addition, other contemporary scholars of that time agreed. For example, Keith (1960, p. 35) concludes that:Our attention has shifted from problems of production to problems of marketing, from the product we can make to the product the consumer wants us to make, from the company itself to the marketplace.These ideas generated at the time a seed that has underpinned and triggered the forthcoming developments of marketing. Marketing may be divided into two parts, namely the academic discipline of marketing and the practice of marketing.While the practice of marketing is very old, the academic discipline of marketing goes back to the early twentieth century when classical schools of marketing emerged (Copeland, 1923; Parlin, 1912; Shaw, 1912; Weld, 1916). In the 1950s, a strong expansion of the discipline commenced by the introduction of a practitioner-oriented and pedagogical approach of marketing - the so-called \"marketing-mix\" or as often known, the \"4P:s\" (Borden, 1942, 1964; Culliton, 1948; McGarry, 1950; McCarthy, 1960, 1964). In fact, the academic discipline was dominated by this approach until the late 1970s and early 1980s when complementary approaches of marketing emerged (Fisk et al., 1993; Berry and Parasuraman, 1993; Gronroos, 1979, 1990; Hakansson, 1982; Shostack, 1997).\nA brief retrospective view: Many of the practices that we currently refer to as marketing have been used for centuries. For instance, Pilbeam (2003) shows how Madame Tussaud, in the early nineteenth century, deftly practiced advertising, public relations and market segmentation in a way that was to give her establishment its enduring status. However, Bartels (1976) argues that marketing should not be seen merely as a practice but also as a conception. As such, the first trembling steps were taken in the dawn of the early twentieth century. In addition, it took some time before the academic marketing efforts gained noticeable influence on the marketing activities of companies. As is depicted by Church and Clark (2003) in their description of the marketing of three leading consumer-product companies between 1918 and 1939, practices were learned more from imitating competitors than from academia.At that time marketing had long been regarded as more or less parasitic, and trade was seen as adding costs rather than value to the products (Bartels, 1976). Much of the earliest work in marketing was aimed at amending this picture.The roots of the early marketing efforts lay mainly in the field of economics. In contrast to the dominating economic theories of the time, however, the early marketing authors were more empirical, practical and descriptive. It was not until the 1930s that the interest of scientific aspects of marketing really took hold (Bartels, 1976). In addition, the early texts in marketing mainly dealt with the trade of physical goods (Engwall, 1992).According to Bartels (1976) it is probable that the word \"marketing\", as a noun, first was used between 1906 and 1911. He claims that the first meaning of marketing was the combination of the factors that should be considered before selling, or of various promotional activities; the essence of marketing lies in this combination of factors.The first courses in the \"distributive industries\" were given in 1902 in the Universities of Michigan and California (Bartels, 1976). Although the titles of the early courses usually identified them with distribution, they dealt with many of the subjects that were later to be included in the field of marketing (Bartels, 1976). In 1905, the University of Pennsylvania offered a course on \"the marketing of products\" which is the first known example of a course in which the word marketing is included in the title. In 1910, a course called \"marketing methods\" was offered by the University of Wisconsin. The same year, the course leader, Professor Ralph Starr Butler, produced some pamphlets with the same title. Seven years later he published his book, also called \"marketing methods\", which may have been the first comprehensive textbook in the field (Bartels, 1976). In fact, Romilla (Robert Millar) (1916) also wrote a textbook on marketing for teaching purposes in the early twentieth century. With foresight, he argued that businessmen should try to look at business from the customers' side of the desk counter.\nMarketing schools - revisited: In order to understand the novel approaches in marketing that have recently appeared in the last decades, it is necessary to have an understanding of the historical development of the field and its theoretical structure. Therefore, we have given a brief retrospective view of the history of the marketing in the previous section by presenting the dawn of the field. In this section, we will present a way of structuring the different strands of marketing thought, based on the seminal work of Sheth et al. (1988). With this foundation laid, we will proceed to introduce briefly some of the more recent additions of marketing schools in the next following sections. We will also make an attempt to position them in relation to the described seminal framework (Sheth et al., 1988) at the end of the paper.A seminal framework\nMarketing schools - recent developments: Traditionally, marketing has mainly been concerned with consumer mass markets (Engwall, 1992). However, in the last 30 years, theories regarding other forms of business have gained ground. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two separate strands of thought challenging the traditional mass-market based literature began to take form. The first, which had been looking at marketing in industrial markets, and the second, which had discovered the importance of services, both started investigating the peculiarities of their fields. One aspect that is common to these two lines of development is the significance of relations. This has lead to the emergence of theories regarding relationship marketing. Their proponents claim that they constitute a new paradigm of marketing utterly different from the traditional marketing theories, and incompatible with traditional marketing theory (Gummesson, 1999; O'Malley and Tynan, 2000).Services marketing\nMarketing schools - seminal framework updated: The common feature of the three recent strands presented above is their focus on relations. This focus was present already in services marketing and industrial marketing in connection with their respective empirical areas. In relationship marketing, this focus came to full fruition, just as the mode of interaction in the form of relations became the main perspective used for studying all companies. Looking back to the structure presented, based on the 12 schools (Table I), we see that the new currents do not straight away fit into this structure. They are definitely non-economic. Furthermore, they are obviously also interactive; but their concept of interaction goes much further than the previous interactive schools as it entails long-lasting, continuous relations within which the interactions take place. Therefore, we propose a modification and an extension of the seminal framework in Table II.In our up-dated framework of marketing schools, the economic dimension is unchanged, but the interactive dimension has been divided into three parts. The non-interactive dimension is also unchanged, but the interactive dimension has been re-labelled as transactional.We contend that the term reflects better the core idea of these schools. These schools do not really focus on the interaction of marketing, but rather on the transactions taking place, such as the exchange between buyers and sellers. In addition, the focus of these schools is more on interactions within a limited timeframe.We propose an additional dimension, namely the relational dimension. The recent developments of marketing schools that have emerged in the last decades - such as services marketing, industrial marketing and relationship marketing - and with their emphasis on sustained relations are categorised as relational.One interesting feature of the extended framework is that there is one box - i.e. the economic/relational dimension - that does not hold any content (Table II). The reason for this might be that the recent developments that have taken place among the non-economic schools have been absent among the economic schools. In fact, the box provides an extensive area of further research in marketing.In general, the centre of attention in marketing has in recent times more resided in the non-economic theories. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see an extension of the economic schools into more relational thinking. The school that is closest to achieving this is probably the institutional school with its emphasis on lasting institutions. Developing this theory into a school in which relational aspects are integrated should be an interesting challenge for scholars in the economic disciplines.\nConcluding reflections: We have re-visited the development of marketing from its early practice and its first trembling steps towards becoming an academic discipline. A seminal framework containing old and modern marketing schools was re-visited. We finished by presenting the three most influential recent additions of marketing schools and propose an integration of them into the seminal framework by Sheth et al. (1988). We contend that it contributes to integrate these recent developments with the previous ones. Furthermore, it reveals a white spot in the research efforts taking place in the marketing discipline. This is a substantial field of further research that may focus on a combination of economic and relational dimensions of marketing.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The objective is to re-visit and up-date a seminal framework of marketing schools.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors provide a conceptual description and positioning of old, modern and recent marketing schools.\nFindings: - Recent developments in marketing - such as services marketing, industrial marketing and relationship marketing - do not fit into the seminal framework of marketing schools.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The authors have limited the discussion to the human practice of marketing and the academic discipline of marketing. In addition, the authors' focus is on marketing as part of business.\nPractical implications: - The up-dated framework of marketing schools may assist practitioners to understand the current status of marketing by connecting to the past, and the future by revealing unexplored areas of the marketing discipline.\nOriginality/value: - The up-dated framework of marketing schools builds on and extends the seminal framework in question to incorporate the recent developments in marketing. In extension, it reveals a white spot in the research of the marketing discipline - a field of further research that may focus on a combination of economic and relational dimensions of marketing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Using module-based learning methods to introduce sustainable manufacturing in engineering curriculum
|
[
"Sustainable engineering",
"Education for sustainable development",
"Sustainable manufacturing",
"Curriculum innovation",
"Module-based learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: US manufacturing, a key component of national economic development and prosperity, has been greatly challenged by competitive trends over the past decade, as global manufacturing competition has begun to shift toward fast implementation, just-in-time model-based manufacturing, frequent product transitions and shifting of technical personnel to meet those changing needs. Further burdens are being placed on all industries owing to uncertain energy prices and possible greenhouse gas constraints. Revitalization of US manufacturing is of utmost importance to the national economy. In academia, advanced manufacturing theory, nanotechnology, composite materials, infrastructure resiliency, alternative energy, etc. have become very active but relatively disconnected research areas. Research coordination in the academic community and its networking with industries are insufficient and lack depth.\nBackground and objectives: New trends in epistemology of the higher education curriculum\nModule structure: For the design of modules, Donnelly and Fitzmaurice (2005) provide a thorough guideline where they identify the need for a planned integrated approach with the focus on the learning of the student. They suggest that module design should focus on the quality of learning that can be achieved by their students and not on the content of the module and how they intend to teach it. In the process of devising a module, the key is to forge educationally sound and logical links between learner needs, aims, learning outcomes, resources, learning and teaching strategies, assessment criteria and evaluation (Donnelly and Fitzmaurice, 2005). Svanstrom et al. (2008) discussed the key learning outcomes in education of sustainable development, which also apply to sustainable manufacturing.\nModule content: Table II summarizes the key information for the modules developed to date. Following the outcomes of the SMART Roadmap Development Workshop in Cincinnati (SMART, 2013), LCA was identified as an essential knowledge requirement for sustainable manufacturing. Thus, the first module is based exclusively on LCA keeping undergraduate students in mind, where the knowledge and basic concepts are explained. Figure 3 shows some of the topics covered in the LCA module. It gives an introductory view toward LCA, and emphasizes on why it is a needed tool for process engineers and for sustainable manufacturing. It also depicts the methodology followed in LCA and a generic case for implementing LCA in any manufacturing process. This is supported with examples that emphasize the role of process engineers in the entire life cycle of a product. The case study accompanying this module shows how LCA can be used as part of comparing a new process for methanol production via catalytic routes from carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) to a conventional process for methanol production.\nModule assessment plan: ABET, formerly known as The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, requires well-defined Program Educational Objectives, Student Outcomes, Assessment and Evaluation Planning of Engineering Programs (ABET, 2014). Keeping that in mind, the sustainable manufacturing modules were described according to the terminology suggested by ABET. For the assessment of the modules, an assessment rubric was created to evaluate each module. The blank rubric is given in Figure 7. These assessment rubrics and questions were distributed among several graduate students from various institutions along with the modules as received from the module developers. A self-study of the modules was suggested to the students, and they were asked to respond after carefully following the module instructions and solving the problems in the modules.\nFuture module uses: There are several possible ways to use these modules. We have envisioned three such uses for education related to sustainable manufacturing. The first use is where these modules complement existing core courses in undergraduate or graduate studies. The second is where a dedicated course is proposed for introducing sustainable manufacturing, and can be complementary to engineering design. The third type is to cater to the needs of sustainability inclusion in a specific manufacturing sector of the industry. These are explained in detail below:\nModule dissemination: These modules have been made available through the CACHE Corporation (CACHE, 2015), and all future modules will also be disseminated through this website and the website of the Center for Sustainable Engineering (CSE, 2015). These modules have undergone rigorous testing and review from the SMART team members, and are continuously updated based on reviews and responses from users. CACHE is a not-for-profit organization consisting of 21 universities and 7 industry members. Its purpose is to promote cooperation among universities, industry and government in the development and distribution of computer-related and/or technology-based educational aids for the chemical engineering profession. CACHE also operates short courses and research conferences on subjects of interest to the Process Systems Engineering community.\nConclusion: Sustainability is a complex topic for introduction and assimilation in current engineering courses. There is a need to integrate these concepts effectively in higher-education curriculum. Module-based learning methods have proved to be effective, and this concept is extended to develop sustainable manufacturing case study modules. In this paper, the focus has been on developing education modules for the various aspects for sustainable manufacturing as a part of the Sustainable Manufacturing Advances in Research and Technology Coordination Network.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Sustainable manufacturing may be defined as the creation of manufactured products that use processes that are non-polluting, conserve energy and natural resources, and are economically sound and safe for employees, communities and consumers. Recently, there have been several industrial and governmental endeavors to launch sustainable manufacturing initiatives. To support such initiatives and to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers, academic institutions have a responsibility to introduce educational programs and tools in the area of sustainable manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to report on the approach, progress and contributions of a US National Science Foundation-sponsored project titled: \"The Sustainable Manufacturing Advances in Research and Technology Coordination Network (SMART CN)\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: The project aims to bridge the gap between the academic knowledge discovery and industrial technology innovation for sustainable manufacturing. Toward this goal, various research and educational activities have been undertaken to introduce Sustainable Manufacturing Case Studies for use by academic instructors to a diverse group of undergraduate, graduate and industry professionals.\nFindings: In this paper, the need for education on sustainable manufacturing has been focused upon, followed by approaches toward addressing these needs, concluding with examples of case studies developed through the SMART-CN project framework.\nOriginality/value: This work provides the engineering community with structured modules for introducing the topic of sustainable manufacturing in the curriculum.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Exploiting women's aesthetic labour to fly high in the Chinese airline Industry
|
[
"China",
"Gender",
"Women",
"Aesthetic labour",
"Chinese airlines",
"Flight attendants"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While embracing commercialisation and internationalisation, the Chinese airline industry is subject to fierce competition resulting from an unstable global economy, high fuel prices, new competitors globally and passengers increasingly demanding to be treated as individuals (Ren and Foster, 2011; Taylor and Tyler, 2000). In an effort to gain competitive advantage, Chinese airlines have adopted some of the most retrogressive gendered employment practices with which many Western counterparts have been associated historically (Foster and Ren, 2015). For decades, Western airlines hired only young, attractive, unmarried white women who were fabulous and charming and provided comfort to passengers (Barry, 2007). Aesthetic labour was part of workplace regulation (Sangster and Smith, 2016). Stewarding involved both sensory engagement and social interaction, and such visual and aural displays were crucial in the performance of aesthetic labour (Warhurst and Nickson, 2007). Nevertheless, over time, societal norms in the West have challenged gender stereotypes in airlines, and carriers such as British Airways have responded by placing a greater emphasis on maturity and experience in the service encounter (Foster and Ren, 2015). Western airlines have altered the criteria for selecting and recruiting flight attendants, who should now be acknowledged safety experts instead of beautiful stewards (Williams, 2003). By contrast, in the newly commercialised Chinese airline industry, instead of the gendered service encounter declining in value, the reverse seems to be true (Ren and Foster, 2011). This illustrates the importance of context (Tsui, 2004) which this paper will explore in-depth in the discussion section.\nMethodology: This study uses a qualitative research approach as the issue of aesthetic labour indicates a multi-dimensional nature which \"makes investigation through qualitative methods seem both natural and necessary\" (Shields, 2008, p. 306). A semi-structured interviewing approach was adopted to allow for focused, open and two-way communication on what, why and how things happened. A total of 55 interviews were conducted during 2008 and 2010 as part of the wider research project upon which this study draws. The initial project focused on women's work-family conflict and their career aspirations in the Chinese airline industry. There are two important rationales for the female-only sample. First, international research suggests that balancing work and family appears to be more of a woman's concern than a man's (Chandra, 2012; Hassan, 2010; Lewis et al., 2007), and women are more affected by work-family conflict than men (Chou et al., 2005). Second, rooted values in Chinese society see family as a woman's domain and the public sphere of paid work as predominantly male, although China has one of the highest rates of female labour market participation in the world (Cooke 2005; Woodhams et al., 2009). With women still dominant in lower-level positions and/or feminised service roles (Ren and Foster, 2011; Cooke, 2005), discrimination against women in the Chinese labour market is a greater concern (Woodhams et al., 2009).\nDiscussion: This study exposes that aesthetic labour is a gendered phenomenon and that women's aesthetics have been exploited for commercial purpose in the Chinese airline industry. But why has such exploitation been accepted in China? It can be examined effectively through an in-depth analysis of four significant contextual issues - legislation, labour market practices, national culture and airline management practices - which co-construct each other, contributing to the seemingly legitimised exploitation of women's aesthetics.\nConclusion: This paper has illustrated that aesthetic labour is both gendered and context-bound. As part of business strategy, aesthetic labour has been imposed on women (and not men) which can be evidenced through flight attendant recruitment and selection practices. Having female employees who look attractive to customers and who can deliver the \"right\" behaviours to affect customers' feelings is seen to help produce a distinctive organisational image and improve market competitiveness. Being a female flight attendant in a Chinese airline implies that a number of regimes will be in operation: the gender regime underlying the fact that organisations and society are gendered, resulting in women dominating in feminised and/or sexualised service roles; the cultural regime in which gendered views of women have been forged through deeply rooted traditional ideology despite its interaction with modern values; the organisational regime locating her in a position where she is expected to comply with corporate HR strategies and managerial ideologies prioritising qualities such as appearance and age; the labour market regime which is increasingly competitive and intersecting through gender and age which impede women's labour market prospects and financial returns; and finally, the legislative regime in which an ineffective role is played by the State as a legislator and a policy-maker affecting women's social positions and career opportunities. Together, they account for the continuously dynamic interconnectedness between gender and aesthetics, which has resulted in women working in airline service work tolerating the utilisation of their aesthetic labour and enabling them to experience aesthetic labour differently from their counterparts in the West.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Drawing upon the existing theoretical and empirical sourced knowledge of aesthetic labour and gender, this paper aims to explore the exploitation of women's aesthetic labour in the Chinese airline industry and the underlying causes from a contextual point of view.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative study has emerged from a broader research project which aimed to explore women's experiences of work-family conflict and their career aspirations in the Chinese airline industry in which aesthetic labour was prevalent as a significant issue during semi-structured interviews with female employees and HR/line management. Thus, the study draws upon interview data focusing on recruitment and selection of flight attendants in three Chinese airlines. This is complemented by secondary sources of data from Chinese television programmes and job advertisements.\nFindings: This study reveals that aesthetics is both gendered and context-bound. It exposes that aesthetic labour in Chinese airlines is demanded from women but not men. It highlights that gendered aesthetic labour is continuously shaped by four influential contextual issues - legislation, labour market practices, national culture and airline management practices.\nOriginality/value: By uncovering the dynamic interconnectedness of gender and aesthetics and illustrating the exploitation of women's aesthetic labour for commercial gains in Chinese airlines, this paper contributes to the understanding of the gendered aesthetics in the airline industry. It also offers new insights into the theory of aesthetic labour by locating it in a context that differs significantly from other socio-cultural contexts.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The integration of standardized management systems: managing business risk
|
[
"Business risk",
"Business continuity",
"Critical business activities",
"Integrated management systems (IMSs)",
"Management system standards (MSSs)",
"Risk management (RM)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizations are increasingly facing with a rapidly and constantly change in global markets. This is characterized by turbulent and chaotic times, strong competition, increasing demands on knowledge, increasing uncertainty, and consequent business risk. Also, since resources are scarce organizations have to define priorities and know where to direct them. For that, organizations have to identify the activities that are the most critical to achieve the business objectives, and be aware of how a disruption of these critical activities would negatively affect their objectives.\n2. RM - contextualization, principles, and benefits: Risk is the number one criterion for supply management decisions, a shift from the previous quality and costs concern (Hutchins, 2003). The conception, implementation, and operation of an integrated risk management system (RMS) must ensure ongoing monitoring of risk and the integration of the risk response measures in a coherent risk strategy (Vasile and Croitoru, 2012).\n3. RM - intrinsic risks of MSSs: The domain of standardized MSs has expanded greatly over the last years and nowadays there exist a relevant number of MSSs for individual MS, which apply to any type of organization independently of its external and/or internal context, i.e. according to ISO (2009a), the external and internal environments in which organizations seek to achieve their objectives. Hence, the proliferation of individual MSS, in a context of the business globalization as well as the worldwide competitive economy, is a reality (Rebelo and Silva, 2012). A MSS is a \"standard for MS.\" There are two main types of MSS: type A MSS, which provides requirements; and type B MSS, which provides guidelines (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), 2015, Annex SL). Globally, the MSSs have as common objective to assist organizations in managing risks associated with providing products and services in the context of customer and other relevant stakeholders requirements - \"person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by a decision or activity\" (ISO/IEC, 2015, p. 127).\n4. An integrated and systematic approach for RM: Organizations have to develop a strong risk culture to insure a holistic RM process with the involvement of all collaborators, from the top to the base of the organizational structure, taking as reference a strong commitment and visible leadership as well as the needs and expectations of the relevant stakeholders.\n5. Conclusions: Businesses exist to deliver products and/or services to customers in order to potentiate the generation of value for both shareholders and others stakeholders. Risk is one criterion, maybe the number one, for supply management decisions. The failure of a process (critical or not), for any reason, may potentially stop the delivery, resulting in value loss for organizations and their stakeholders.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Protecting business value is regarded to be the cornerstone of any organization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explore the potential contributions of the integration of standardized management systems (MSs) into an integrated MS. This will support a better coordinated management of different kinds of risks that exist in organizational processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The findings are based on literature as well as empirical case studies conducted by the authors. It focuses on the potential results of integration of MSs.\nFindings: It is found that the integration of MSs leads to a more coherent, extensive, consistent, and harmonized process of identification of hazards. Also, it is found that from integration also results in the minimization of associated risks that affect key aspects of business, considering the organizational context vs requirements of each relevant stakeholder, as defined in related management systems standards.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research, investigate the risk management (RM) and the integration of MSs from existing research papers about empirical studies for the period 2000-2014, including case studies in which the authors are involved. The number of enterprises can be larger.\nOriginality/value: Although there is some research regarding RM in organizations related to isolated implementations of MSs, this paper stands in a different perspective, since it addresses the issues emerging from the integration of standardized MSs in a broader perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Major obstacles to improving the performance of waste management in China's construction industry
|
[
"Construction industry",
"Waste management",
"Factor analysis",
"Performance measurement (quality)",
"China"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Construction and demolition waste is generally defined as waste which arises from construction, renovation and demolition activities including land excavation or formation, civil and building construction, site clearance, demolition activities, roadwork, and building renovation (Shen et al., 2004). During the past two decades, considerable efforts from both researchers and practitioners have been committed to dealing with construction and demolition waste management issues of many economies. These efforts, to a large extent, play a positive role in the promotion of the construction sector towards sustainable development. Multiple merits of implementing construction and demolition waste management have been acknowledged worldwide by many researchers. This practice, for example, can reduce the use of nonrenewable materials and encourage the use of renewable resources and secondary resources (Bossink and Brouwers, 1996), prolong the lifespan of landfills (Dantata et al., 2005), and prevent the environment from pollution through both reducing the stocks of waste and decreasing the use of natural aggregates (Hadjieva-Zaharieva et al., 2003). The advantages a well-performed construction and demolition waste management can provide are in line with the two pillars of sustainability in construction, which are minimizing resource consumption and alleviating environmental pollution (Peng et al., 1997).Although the literature shows that increasing volume of construction and demolition waste and running-up landfills have challenged cities and governments throughout the world for decades, impressive achievements in minimizing the generation of construction and demolition waste have been already made in some economies. For instance, the amount of construction and demolition waste generated in Hong Kong has been reduced from 6,595 tonnes per day in 2004 to 2,659 tonnes per day in 2008 (EPD, 2008).It is generally agreed that construction and demolition waste management research and practice have been guided by a \"3Rs\" principle, which refers to reduction, reuse and recycling. This principle classifies waste management strategies according to their desirability (Peng et al., 1997). Reduction is considered as the most effective and efficient strategy. It can not only minimize the generation of waste, but also reduce the cost for waste transporting, recycling and disposal (Tam and Tam, 2008). Reuse means using the same material in construction more than once, including using the material again for the same function (e.g. formwork in construction) (Ling and Leo, 2000) and new-life reuse for a new function (e.g. using the cut-corner steel bar for shelves; using the stony fraction for road base material) (Duran et al., 2006). The wasted materials that cannot be reused will either be recycled for new construction use or disposed of at landfills. Reuse is therefore the most desirable option after reduction because a minimum processing and energy use is achieved (Peng et al., 1997). When reduction and reuse become difficult, recycling is desired. Through recycling, some new materials can be made out of the wasted materials.However, the effectiveness of embracing such practices in some developing countries, for example, in China, is still very limited. China produces 29 percent of the world's municipal solid waste each year, amongst which construction activities contribute for nearly 40 percent, consuming about 40 percent of total natural resources and around 40 percent of energy (Lu, 1999; Wang et al., 2008). Although problems regarding how to improve the performance of construction and demolition waste management have attracted increasing attention from researchers in China since the early 1990s, currently the level of expertise and application of good waste management in the construction sector is low (Wang et al., 2010).Identification of major obstacles to implementing construction and demolition waste management in China is very essential as it not only enables major decision makers to understand these obstacles, but also serves as a basis for exploring strategies to promote the performance of waste management. Therefore, this research aims at identifying major obstacles hindering the improvement of construction and demolition waste management performance in China. The paper begins with a brief review of obstacles to implementing construction and demolition waste management. It then introduces the methods adopted for data collection and analysis, which mainly include document analysis, semi-structured interview, questionnaire, ranking analysis and factor analysis. Afterwards analyses, discussions and findings are presented; it is worth mentioning that a framework integrating major measures for addressing the barriers to improving the performance of construction and demolition waste management, which are identified through the work of this paper, is also proposed and interpreted in this section. Finally the paper draws the conclusion. The research findings will contribute to both the research and practice of construction and demolition waste management in China.\n2. Review of major obstacles observed in previous studies: A review of the literature indicates that major obstacles to implementing construction and demolition waste management can be grouped under five headings, encompassing insufficient regulations, lack of a well-developed waste recycling market, insufficient awareness about construction and demolition waste management, inadequate economic incentive, and poor skills of operatives.2.1 Insufficient regulations\n3. Research methods: A hybrid research methodology has been devised for achieving different objectives in this study. Research data are collected through document analysis of previous studies, semi-structured interview and empirical questionnaire. Collected data are analyzed by using ranking analysis and factor analysis technique. The whole data collection and analysis process is presented in Figure 1.3.1 Data collection methods\n4. Data analyses and findings: 4.1 Results of ranking analysis\n5. A proposed framework for improving construction and demolition waste management performance in China: Based on the 16 obstacles identified in this study, several measures for addressing these problems can be proposed accordingly. This section aims at developing a framework that integrates all potential measures. The proposed framework is illustrated in Figure 3, in which five construction and demolition waste management strategies, namely \"S1: heightened awareness and adequate education\", \"S2: sufficient support of the authority\", \"S3: economic benefits\", \"S4: adequate incentive\" and \"S5: improved site activity performance\", are presented. These five strategies correspond to the components extracted by factor analysis.Sufficient support is the precondition of successful implementation of construction and demolition waste management in China, as this plays a critical role in helping foster the regulation environment for waste management in construction. It can contribute not only to the development of a mature market (S4), but also to the promulgation of regulations for heightening practitioners' awareness and making them sufficiently educated. The major participant for implementing S1 is the authority in China. Heightened awareness and adequate education can then lead to improved site activity performance, and extra benefits from performing construction and demolition waste management can be obtained in a mature market. Participants in S1, S3, S4 and S5 mainly include clients, building contractors, designers, operatives, engineers and waste contractors. The performance of construction and demolition waste management in China will be greatly improved if all these strategies can be implemented adequately.\n6. Conclusions: This paper has presented the findings from a questionnaire survey conducted in China looking at the obstacles to improving the performance of construction and demolition waste management. Ranking analysis was used to identify the relative importance of the 16 obstacles identified and factor analysis was adopted to examine the underlying cluster of them. The findings show that \"lack of a well-developed waste recycling market\", \"insufficient regulation support\" and \"waste reduction does not receive sufficient attention in construction design\" are perceived as the three barriers of most importance, while \"construction and demolition waste management cannot be effectively carried out due to limited site space\", \"construction and demolition waste management would result in higher project cost\" and \"low cost for waste disposal\" are regarded as the three least important obstacles. In addition, five underlying grouped components accounting for approximately 61 percent of the variance in responses are derived from the 16 obstacles. All loadings for the obstacles are greater than 0.4 indicating a high absolute value for each. Based on the five components extracted by factor analysis, five strategies, namely \"S1: heightened awareness and adequate education\", \"S2: sufficient support of the authority\", \"S3: economic benefits\", \"S4: adequate incentive\" and \"S5: improved site activity performance\" are proposed accordingly to form a framework for effectively managing construction and demolition waste management in China.The results revealed in this study are of great benefit both to researchers and industry practitioners. Researchers could use the obstacles as a sound basis to develop construction and demolition waste management strategies that are tailored to the practice of China. The results also help deepen industry practitioners' understandings about the major barriers they would encounter in managing construction and demolition waste, so that considerable attention and efforts can be devoted to addressing them.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The generation of construction and demolition waste in China is a pressing need to be minimized in order to alleviate the environmental burden. The effectiveness of implementing construction and demolition waste management in this economy, however, is very limited due to various barriers. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the major obstacles to managing construction and demolition waste in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The views from Chinese practitioners were collected via a questionnaire survey. The respondents were invited to rate a total of 16 obstacles that hinder the effective implementation of construction and demolition waste management as gleaned from previous literature and six semi-structured interviews. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed by ranking analysis and factor analysis.\nFindings: - The findings show that \"lack of a well-developed waste recycling market\", \"insufficient regulation support\" and \"waste reduction does not receive sufficient attention in construction design\" are perceived as the three barriers of most importance. Furthermore, the 16 obstacles could be grouped into five underlying components including: component 1 - weak awareness and inadequate training, component 2 - insufficient support of the authority, component 3 - economic consideration, component 4 - immature market and component 5 - barriers related to site activity.\nPractical implications: - Based on the findings, industry practitioners' understandings about the barriers to better performing construction and demolition waste management in China can be deepened. Furthermore, the results also provide useful information for developing strategies to improve the performance of construction and demolition waste management in China.\nOriginality/value: - Major obstacles to improving the performance of construction and demolition waste management in China are identified and analyzed in this study.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Implementation of a quality procedure based on Delphi method and the ISO/TS 16949:2009 in the production of stainless steel tubes for automotive exhaust systems
|
[
"ISO/TS 16949",
"Quality management system",
"Process control",
"Delphi method",
"Control charts",
"Capability index",
"Exhaust tubes",
"Stainless steel"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: This paper presents the application of a procedure for the quality control of stainless steel tubes produced for automotive exhaust systems from a leader company in the steel sector, based on Delphi method in accordance with the ISO/TS 16949:2009 and the ISO 9000:2008. The study was based on four main phases:1. defects survey; identification of the main issues in the production line object of the study, and of the main defects in the final products by Delphi decision process;2. collection of data in the production line and processing by means of statistical tools (control charts) in accordance with the standards;3. control chart analysis; and4. identification of non-compliance causes, proposition and implementation of corrective actions by the team of experts involved in the Delphi process.The study was carried out in one of the company's plants, on a production line devoted to the realization of welded tubes of different diameter and thickness to be used in mufflers and exhaust pipes. Dimensional data were acquired by non-destructive testing on diameters and X-R charts were used to graphically represent the process state of control, when possible capability index was calculated to assess the process compliance.Destructive tests were performed on line to monitor the welding quality and P-chart was used to assess the proportion of nonconforming units.The paper provides an overview about the quality approach of one of the world's largest companies in the steel production and demonstrates how the statistical tools are used in order to manage process behavior and to suggest corrective actions.The following paragraphs present the results of the case study: Section 2 describes the methods used to perform the statistical control of the process in accordance with the standards. In Section 2.1, related research works are discussed and Section 3 will be devoted to the description of the case study (welded tubes for exhaust systems) and of the control plan applied to the line in which the research work was carried on. In Section 3.1, the material used for producing the item object of the study are presented, meanwhile in Section 3.2 the car exhaust system components and their characteristics will be explained. In Section 3.3, the controls applied on the considered production line are described. Section 3.3.3 describes the main critical areas in the production lines using the Delphi method. Section 4 will be devoted to the statistical process control (SPC). Section 4.1 will present X-R charts produced and capability index calculated. Section 4.2 is dedicated to P-chart.Finally a discussion and some conclusions are presented in Section 5.\n2 Material and methods: The quality procedure implemented involves the application of the Delphi method and the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard in conjunction with ISO 9000:2008 to the production line of welded tubes for exhaust systems.The Delphi technique is used to survey and collect the opinions of experts on a particular subject and is defined as a method for structuring a group communication process to allow a group of individuals to deal, as a whole, with a complex problem.The Delphi method, following the Linstone and Turoff (1975) technique, was based on structural surveys and made use of the intuitive available information of the participants, who were selected for their expertise.The ISO/TS 16949 is a technical specification that defines the requirements of the quality management system for automotive-related products. According to Hoyle (2005), the purpose of ISO/TS 16949 is to assist organizations supplying products or services into the automotive sector to operate systems that not only ensure whether these products and services meet customer requirements but also provide continual improvement, emphasize defect prevention, and reduce variation and waste in the supply chain.The standard provides a vehicle for consolidating and communicating concepts in the field of quality management that have been approved by an international committee of representatives from the automotive industry as well as from national standards bodies.The five pillars of the ISO/TS 16949 are:1. production part approval process;2. advanced product quality planning;3. failure modes and effect analysis;4. statistical process control; and5. measurement system analysis (MSA).SPC is a tool that allows to monitor the process, to promptly identify process drift and to take real time corrective actions avoiding non-complying products and pursuing a continuous improvement of the quality by involving the entire structure with the main aim of gaining increased performances and greater competitiveness.The SPC is based on the seven basic statistical tools defined by Ishikawa: the fishbone diagram along with the histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control charts, flowchart, and scatter diagram. In this case study, X-R and P control charts have been used to check the process capability and consistency and to detect the presence of special causes of variation.According to Montgomery (2008), the control chart is a proven technique for improving productivity. A successful control chart will signal the out-of-control cases promptly so that the number of defectives (scraps and/or reworks) can be reduced.2.1 Related research works\n3 Case study: The industrial group in which the study has been carried out (that for privacy reasons is not named), is divided into different business areas such as steel, building, home products, engineering, energy, tourism and services. The steel coil processing is the core activity with a yearly output of 5.3 million tons. The group has operations worldwide with 6,500 employees, 51 sales offices, 210 representations and 50 manufacturing plants covering 6 million m2, where 5,500 km of carbon and stainless steel products are manufactured every day, serving more than 12,000 customers. In recent years, the group entered in the automotive market as supplier of stainless steel tubes for exhaust systems and, following his quality-oriented policy, has adopted from the beginning of the new business area, the ISO/TS 16949 standard.This paper will present the approach in the application of qualitative and quantitative quality control tools (e.g. Delphi method, statistical methods) to the production of welded exhaust pipes.The tubes analyzed are named TXM and have a diameter that varies in the range between 30 and 76.1 mm and a thickness between 0.8 and 4 mm. In the first phase of the study, the issues to address by using statistical methods were identified by Delphi analysis; in the second phase control charts were realized and finally results obtained were analyzed by the panel of experts and corrective actions suggested.3.1 Stainless steel used in the production of exhaust pipes\n4 Control charts: The defects survey brought to the decision of performing a statistical analysis on the main issues represented in the Pareto chart: non-compliance of diameters dimensions and non compliance of welding.For this purpose, data have been collected and analyzed on dimensional non- destructive controls of the external diameter, and destructive control of the welding quality of the TXM tube. The analysis was carried out from June to September.Attributes (P) and variables (X-R) control charts and capacity index (Cp and Cpk) were used to evaluate the process compliance and the product quality.4.1 X-R charts and capability index\n5 Conclusions: In this work, a procedure was developed in order to characterize the production process of TXM tubes realized in the line 31 of the leader company plant.The use of Delphi methodology, in order to incorporate experts opinions in the quality control of stainless steel tubes, was one of the main points of this work, since in the prevalent practices of process quality control Delphi method and SPC are broadly applied but there are very few cases that combine together the two techniques. The panel of experts was chosen for identifying together process issues, defining their causes and proposing corrective actions. After the main critical aspects of the production line were assessed, statistical tools were used to define the parameters to monitor (Pareto analysis), to perform a capability analysis (X-R charts) and to evaluate the trend of non-compliant outputs (P-charts).The Pareto analysis carried out on the line outlined that the main defects present on the final products were related to the non compliance of the diameter dimensions, the welding quality and the presence of widespread rust. It was decided to address the first two issues by X-R charts and P-charts.The analysis of the X-R charts showed three different behaviors that brought to the implementation of different actions:1. Process totally in statistical control. To this category belong 16 types of tubes, of different diameter and thickness, out of the 20 produced. Since for those items the process is stable, capability index was calculated to assess how to further improve this performances.The analysis outlined that:* Cpk>1.67 for ten processes out of the 16 stables.* 1.67<Cpk<1.33 for three processes out of the 16 stables.* 1<Cpk<1.33 for two processes out of the 16 stables.* Cpk<1 for one process out of the 16 stables.From those results, it is evident that the majority of the stable processes are also completely capable (about 64 percent of the total):1.1. Process partially in statistical control. To this category belong two types of tube out of the 22 produced. From a first analysis with X-R charts, the process appears not in control, but, stratifying the data by shift and operator, it was possible to attribute the anomalous behavior to the measurement process and thus taking the proper actions.1.2. Process not in statistical control. Also to this category belong two types of tube out of the 22 produced.The main corrective and preventive actions suggested were:* increase the checking of working tools (wear, position, settings);* check or 100 percent of raw material; and* schedule training programs for workers involved in the production line (it was established to organize periodically a training course on measurements for process control for all the personnel involved in the production process).The P-chart was used to analyze the trend of the destructive tests performed to the TXM tube in the line 31. In particular, the welding quality has been monitored thanks to buckling and radial expansion tests.Also in this case it was possible to divide the process behavior into three different categories:1.1. Increasing of non-compliant tests. Give an indication of the performances reduction and of the opportunity to increase the number of controls to assess the welding quality. In this category fell five tubes over the 20 produced in the line 31.1.2. Decreasing of non-compliant tests. Give an indication of the performances rising and confirm the necessity to maintain constant quality tests number. In this category fell six tubes over 20.1.3. Zero non-compliant tests. They are indices of an optimal performance. In this case, it is possible to reduce the quality tests for welding. In this category fell nine tubes over the 20 produced.The main goal reached at the conclusion of this work was the standardization of the described procedure (Delphi method in conjunction with SPC) by the quality management team and its implementation in other production lines.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the application of a procedure for the quality control of stainless steel tubes produced for automotive exhaust systems from a leading company in the steel sector, based on the Delphi method in accordance with the ISO/TS 16949:2009 and the ISO 9000:2008. Using Delphi methodology, it was possible to identify the main problems in the production lines object of the study, the main defects and their causes. Statistical methods were used to monitor process compliance and capacity. The panel of experts involved in Delphi method was able to identify causes of non-compliance and suggest corrective actions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The quality procedure implemented involves the application of the Delphi method and the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard in conjunction with ISO 9000:2008 to the production line of welded tubes for exhaust systems. The statistical methods used to monitor the process were mainly control charts. Capability index, Cp and Cpk, were used to measure the process attitude to produce compliant outputs. Dimensional data were acquired by non-destructive testing on diameters and X-R charts were used to graphically represent the process state of control. Destructive tests were performed to monitor the welding quality and P-chart were used to assess the proportion of nonconforming units.\nFindings: - In this work, a procedure was developed in order to characterize the production process of TXM tubes realized in the line 31 of the leader company plant. The use of Delphi methodology, in order to incorporate experts opinions in the quality control of stainless steel tubes, was one of the main points of this work. The panel of experts worked together to identify process issues, define their causes and propose corrective actions. The paper provides an overview about the quality approach of one of the world's largest companies in the production of steel and shows also how the statistical tools are used in order to manage process behavior.\nOriginality/value: - The value of this paper is to illustrate an innovative approach to a real life quality problem; it demonstrates how the application of qualitative and quantitative quality instruments in accordance with technical specification can help in increasing and maintaining product compliance and in optimizing the management of resources.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Smoking in Australian university students and its association with socio-demographic factors, stress, health status, coping strategies, and attitude
|
[
"Cigarettes",
"Students",
"Stress",
"Attitudes",
"Australia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tobacco use has been associated with negative health events and contributes to mortality and morbidity through conditions such as lung cancer, respiratory diseases, cancers of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts, ischemic heart disease, stroke and peptic ulcers (Mathers et al., 2001; Turrell and Mathers, 2001; Turrell et al., 2006). Tobacco smoking is the single risk factor responsible for the greatest incidence of disease in Australia, providing around 12 per cent of the total burden in Australian males and 7 per cent in females (Mathers et al., 2001). The link between cigarette smoking and diseases is well known among middle-aged adults. However, the association between smoking and its related factors among young university students has not been extensively studied in an Australian sample.There are a number of psychosocial factors linked to smoking initiation and smoking maintenance. Smokers often view smoking as an effective means of coping with minor and major stressful situations in daily life (Khantzian, 1985; Koval et al., 2000). Stress and associated distress or depression is an important factor in the adoption of smoking behaviour (Pritchard et al., 2007). Not only is current depression observed more often among smokers, but a lifetime history of depression or history of depressive symptoms has been associated with smoking cessation failure (Covey et al., 1998).The association between chronic disease and smoking has been a point of some controversy. Tobacco exposure accounts for the vast majority of cases of lung cancer (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2004) and it appears that trends in lung cancer mortality follow general trends in smoking prevalence (Jemal et al., 2001; Mannino et al., 2001). Some studies indicate an association between tobacco smoking and heart disease, whereas others fail to show this connection (Paraskevas et al., 2009; Surinach et al., 2009).Coping has been found to be related to smoking (Koval and Pederson, 1999) and is defined as behaviours and thoughts individuals use to manage demands from the environment and to regulate stress-related emotions (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Once smokers adopt smoking as a method for coping, it is possible they do not see the need to utilise less harmful active coping strategies. The stress-coping model of substance use posits that the preference for coping through tobacco use instead of other strategies results from deficits in a person's repertoire of active and effective coping skills, such as efficacy and problem solving. As a consequence, coping by substance leads to an increase in unresolved problems, which, in turn, contributes to a continuation of distress (Wills, 1986).Trends in smoking initiation in the USA suggest that knowledge of the health consequences of smoking has kept adults from starting to smoke (Gilpin et al., 1994). Adolescents' beliefs about potential health risks and personal approval of cigarette smoking have been found to be directly related to smoking behaviour (Halpern and Warner, 1994). Several studies have demonstrated that knowledge alone does not directly translate into protective behaviours (Alam, 2006; Vega et al., 1988), but knowledge is crucial because it influences and shapes self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, normative beliefs, and perceptions of the severity of the health condition. In turn, these health beliefs influence our decision to engage in protective behaviours (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Rosenstock et al., 1988).Although most studies have shown no differences in smoking rates between males and females (Johnson et al., 2001; Rigotti et al., 2000), a significant relationship has been found on the relationship between smoking and other variables such as the amount of money spent per week (more money is associated with greater likelihood of smoking), expectation of future smoking, stress, and perceived health (Koval et al., 2006). Several variables that were related to male smoking that include level of mastery (lower level) and depression (higher level). For females, smokers were less likely to be involved in non-team based sports.Data about the prevalence of tobacco use among young university students and the relationship of tobacco use with socio-demographic factors, morbidity and life stress measures in Australia are sparse. Instead our understanding of smoking behaviour has been derived from studies of adolescents in secondary schools and adult-population studies in America (Koval et al., 2006; Peterson et al., 2005). The association between cigarette smoking, morbidity and quality of life among university students, and difference in the prevalence of tobacco use between male and female, are therefore not well documented in Australia.The present study was undertaken as part of a large multidimensional investigation of health and smoking behaviour of university students and involved three university campuses of a major university in Brisbane, Australia. It established an overall picture of life stressors, health and living conditions of the university students. This paper is based on data from the baseline survey. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of smoking in an urban university population and its association with socio-demographic factors, life stressors, physical health and mental health status, coping strategies, attitudes and knowledge about the effects of smoking on health. The following hypotheses were proposed:H1. Smoking is associated with life stressors, physical and mental health status, coping strategies, attitudes and knowledge about the effects of smoking on health.H2. The association between smoking and health and psychosocial factors differ in male and female university students.\nMethod: A cross-sectional investigation of university students aged 18 to 30 years was undertaken using a purposive sampling procedure. Students at three campuses of a major metropolitan University in Brisbane, Australia were invited to participate in the survey. A broadcast email was sent by the Deputy Vice Chancellor to all university students seeking their participation in completing an online survey. A follow up email was sent two weeks after the original email. Ten prize draws worth A$75 each were offered as incentives to encourage students' participation in the survey. Preliminary reports compared sampled student characteristics with those of the whole university students in order to ensure representativeness of the study sample. The online survey was conducted in August, 2009 and the study was approved by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref. number: PBH/24/09/HREC).Measures\nStatistical analyses: We first determined the overall and by-gender group prevalence of current tobacco use (i.e. number of current tobacco cases divided by the total number of participants and numbers of current tobacco cases in a gender group divided by the total number in that gender group). Cross-tabulations were used to calculate frequencies and associations. Frequency comparisons between current tobacco use and each of the socio-demographic, mental and physical health variables were performed using Chi-Square (kh2) tests for categorical variables. To identify factors associated with the dependent variable tobacco use, logistic regression analysis was chosen. In the multiple logistic regression, the initial model included all variables studied. Variables that were not associated with tobacco use (p < 0.20) were excluded from the final regression model. The number of participants used in the statistical analysis varied due to missing data for some variables. The statistical analysis and 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs) presented here were generated using the SPSS version 16 program (SPSS Inc). Multivariate significance tests in the logistic regression analysis were carried out using the Hosmer-Lemeshow Goodness of Fit test. Statistical significance was evaluated using two-tailed design-based tests.\nResults: Response rate and sample characteristics\nDiscussion: Current tobacco use rate for all participants (18.8 per cent), men (24.9.0 per cent) and women (16.6 per cent) in this sample indicates that smoking prevalence of tobacco use among Australian university students of both genders was similar to that found among young people in Australia (19 per cent). Smoking rates were higher among men than among women and peaked in the age group 26-30. Socio-demographic factors also associated with tobacco use in this sample were intermediate level of income ($40,000 to $59,999). Having money to spend is an important predictor for females to take up smoking (Koval et al., 2006), but this is not the case for male students. The lack of effect on taking up smoking in the low income group (less than $40,000) might because material hardship forces female students to cut expenses on cigarettes and stop smoking (Hymowitz et al., 1997; Townsend, 1987), but this is not the case for male students.Other researchers have suggested that smoking might serve as a coping mechanism through which people deal with life and environmental stress. The current study included a wide coverage of study and life stressors (Clements and Turpin, 1996).In our study we have reported that lack of coping resources (i.e. disengagement v. active coping) contributed directly to smoking behaviour in both male and female students, implying that increased vulnerability of students with poor coping skills is an important issue. The mediating variable between smoking and variations in coping is the controllability of the stressor. When situations are controllable, active coping strategies predominate; when situations seem less controllable, alternative strategies are employed (Scheier et al., 1986). This association presumably should extend to dispositional variations in sense of control. People who report they typically could not cope are likely to use smoking and rely on such strategies as denial and disengagement of stressful situations.The particular attitudes and knowledge profile of the smokers partly explained their higher odds of smoking behaviour. A better understanding of the environmental context for continued high rates of smoking among students is critical to developing interventions that reduce tobacco use in this population. We found that most smokers and almost half of non-smokers agree that smoking is acceptable among students.People who believe that smoking does not have a harmful effect on health, or that exposure to environment smoking does not bother or affect them, had higher chance of smoking, indicating that for students aged 18-30, their attitude and beliefs towards smoking are important determinants of taking up smoking behaviour. Generally, non-smokers demonstrate a more sophisticated knowledge of the relationship between smoking and health than smokers. This may be attributable to the salience to non-smokers of the relationship between health and smoking behaviour, or it may also be an indicator of a perception within the university population of smoking as a behaviour that is overall detrimental to most aspects of health. While general population studies find that non-smokers are as knowledgeable or more knowledgeable than smokers relative to the relationship between smoking and heart disease (Weinstein et al., 2004), the findings of this study that university smokers are much less likely than non-smokers to understand the role of smoking in a number of diseases underpins the high prevalence of smoking in university.Tobacco use was not independently associated with psychiatric distress in this sample, a finding that is inconsistent with other clinical and community-based studies (Covey et al., 1998; Killen et al., 2003). Among those aged between 15 and 54 years and among those aged 18-year-old and over, psychiatric distress is usually associated with an increased chance of tobacco use of between 1.6 to 2 times (McClave et al., 2009). In contrast with other studies, in this sample, stress and psychiatric distress were not associated with smoking.Students who have more than two physical illnesses in both male and female groups were less likely to smoke than healthy students, suggesting that having more than one physical condition has made these students being more aware of the harmful effect of smoking on health than students who were either healthy or have only a mild level of one physical condition.There are a number of limitations of this study. First, we did not have longitudinal university level measurements, which may generate selection bias. The relationship between student characteristics and smoking may be due to the non-random selection for individuals into university and not because of university influences. Therefore, these relationships should be interpreted only as associations, not causal. Second, we did not measure the length of time that participants had smoked, thus we were not able to determine the cumulative effects of long time smoking on health. Third, other variables such as informal social control, availability of health services were not analysed into this paper, which may have limited the explanation of the effects of the multi-factorial university characteristics on smoking behaviours.\nConclusion: It was shown in this study that stress, disengagement coping strategies, health attitude and knowledge regarding the effect of smoking are significant predictors of university students' smoking behaviour. It is recommended that active coping strategies, such as exercise and social participation, are probably better considered an important resource enabling a person to cope with smoking cessation and other stressors (Hanson et al., 1990). Future initiatives may need to focus on measures to increase students' coping strategies. A further implication of this study is that health education programs, which are designed to modify behaviour via a change in attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about the effects of smoking should be considered for implementation in university settings.\n",
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},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of smoking amongst university students in Brisbane, Australia and associated risk factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A cross-sectional design was used for the study. A sample of 2,414 university students aged 18-30 was examined to estimate the prevalence of tobacco use. Smoking was measured by means of an online survey that inquired about current tobacco use, socio-demographic characteristics, self-rated physical and mental health status and attitudes toward smoking.\nFindings: - The prevalence of tobacco use was 24.9 per cent among male students, 16.6 per cent among female students and 18.8 per cent overall. Low to medium level stress is a strong predictor of smoking in male students. Age and income are significantly related to smoking in female students. For both male and female students, disengagement coping strategies to deal with stressors, feeling not bothered by exposure to smoking, and knowledge of the effect of smoking on health were found to be independently related to smoking.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Factors associated with an increased probability of tobacco smoking were: stress in male students, disengagement coping strategies and holding approval attitudes toward smoking, acceptance of exposure to smoking, and poor knowledge of the effect of smoking on health in both male and female students. It is recommended that active coping strategies, such as exercise and social participation, are the most effective ways of enabling students to cope with smoking cessation and other stressors.\nPractical implications: - Future initiatives may need to focus on increasing the environmental supports to assist students to actively cope with life stressors, In addition, the implementation of health education programmes, which are designed to modify behaviour via a change in attitudes and beliefs in university, should be examined.\nOriginality/value: - The association between cigarette smoking and morbidity and quality of life among university students is not well documented in Australia. The contribution of this paper is to increase understanding of the association between smoking and life stressors, coping strategies, attitudes and knowledge about the effects of smoking on health in Australia university students.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
What does work mean to your workers? Understanding how significance differs across occupations
|
[
"Meaningful work",
"White-collar workers",
"Blue-collar workers",
"Occupations",
"Pink-collar workers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: Talk of blue-collar and white-collar workers will seem faintly outdated for many HR managers. For some, blue-collar workers will conjure up images from the 1970s and 1980s of striking mineworkers, some of the terrible conditions in steel works or in car factories in the pre-robot era. And as for white-collar workers, again this term seems a little anachronistic, albeit it has recently been adopted when referring to computerized \"white-collar\" crime. And as for pink-collar workers, this surely was left for dead in the 1970s along with bell-bottom flares and male perms.\nOccupational hazards: So if we accept the utility of these terms, what can they tell us about workers in the twenty-first century that occupy these roles? In particular, what are the myths around these roles that can usefully be eliminated, or actually stand up to investigation? This is where the international team of researchers Lips-Wiersma et al. (2016) come in with their article \"Meaningful work: differences among blue-, pink-, and white-collar occupations\".\nFive alive: Specifically, the authors want to propose and test against the backdrop of the four criteria - or \"dimensions\" - they state, and in addition look at the myth that some workers naturally attach more significance to their work than others. For example, the portrayal of blue-collar and pink-collar workers in the media in particular often shows them to be proud of their work and defining themselves through it, not wanting to take shortcuts or be patronized. Is such a state of mind true across the board? Can office workers not feel the same sort of pride, or even more so?\nThe results are in ...: So what did the researchers find? Well first, it was clear when the study was complete and analyzed that differences were found between different occupations in the significance they attach to their work. Specifically, the researchers discovered that white-collar workers found greater satisfaction in expressing their full potential and serving others than their blue-collar and pink-collar counterparts. This may come as surprising to some, especially those expecting that pink-collar workers would get more job satisfaction out of serving others, integral as this aspect is to many of their jobs. In addition, while the extent of feeling might not necessarily be more for white-collar workers, the evidence from the second study across the four dimensions showed that they felt these feelings more often than their blue-collar and pink-collar counterparts.\nComment: The article \"Meaningful work: differences among blue-, pink-, and white-collar occupations\" by Lips-Wiersma et al. (2016) does what few academic articles in business and management do and actually places a common myth or question under the microscope to test it. In this case, the notion of meaningful work and job satisfaction among different classes of workers is studied, with some surprising results that will be of common interest to any reader, but especially to HR managers who manage blue-, white- and pink-collar workers in their organization.\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: Talk of blue-collar and white-collar workers will seem faintly outdated for many HR managers. For some, blue-collar workers will conjure up images from the 1970s and 1980s of striking mineworkers, some of the terrible conditions in steel works or in car factories in the pre-robot era. And as for white-collar workers, again this term seems a little anachronistic, albeit it has recently been adopted when referring to computerized \"white-collar\" crime. And as for pink-collar workers, this surely was left for dead in the 1970s along with bell-bottom flares and male perms.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The influence of visibility on staff face-to-face communication and efficiency in emergency departments
|
[
"Healthcare design",
"Visibility",
"Emergency department",
"Communication",
"Teamwork"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Effective communication is essential for all the staff in healthcare environments including both nurses (Kilner and Sheppard, 2010; Korkmaz and Tuna, 2014; Lazure et al., 2014; Morrish, 2013; Rixon et al., 2015; Williamson and Kives, 1991) and physicians (Kilner and Sheppard, 2010; Lazure et al., 2014; Morrish, 2013; Williamson and Kives, 1991). Communication has different aspects and components for different medical staff and can be analyzed from different perspectives, as staff members have unique responsibilities and priorities. Communication between nurses is required as they have to pay attention to their colleagues about informative content, evaluate patients, set priorities for themselves and others (Korkmaz and Tuna, 2014) and finally communicate with others to deliver care and protection (Rixon et al., 2015; Spencer et al., 2004). Interaction between nurses and physicians is another type of communication, which is shorter and more task-focused and contains less social interaction (Rixon et al., 2015).\nMethods: Finding the association between visibility and communication; and field observation sessions and one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with medical staff in four community hospital EDs in the USA This study took place during September and October 2016, and the protocol was approved by the institutional review board (IRB) at the lead author's academic institution and the research office of the healthcare system in which the research was conducted.\nResults: For the observation sessions' analyses, three major themes and 13 subthemes were emerged. The ideas regarding visibility, communication locations and communication specifications were the topics of the main themes (Table I).\nDiscussion: This study's qualitative data supported a positive relationship between visibility and face-to-face communication in EDs. The nurses and physicians who were interviewed stated that visibility helped to promote face-to-face communication and more in-depth discussion with their colleagues. The researchers' on-site observations supported the interviews, particularly in noting that the staff members in departments with less visibility tended to spend more time walking and searching for colleagues to conduct face-to-face interactions. Additionally, departments with lower visibility were associated with greater use of phone communication, less efficient face-to-face communication and greater levels of staff dissatisfaction about their communication efficiency.\nLimitations and implications for future research: Due to the limited budget and time, this study only borrowed data from a qualitative research design based on hands-on experience and opinions of the medical staff. However, future investigations can include a wider range of professionals such as administrators, unit clerks, technicians, security personnel, patients' family and other non-medical staff. Additionally, the concentration of this study was community hospitals of a similar-size EDs (20-36 beds), while further investigations may target more diverse types of EDs. Moreover, the interview participants were volunteers and their opinions may not represent the views of others and this can expose the findings to the risk of selection bias errors. Future researchers may select the potential participants randomly. Furthermore, this study only had a limited number of participants and hours of observations, which could have been extended.\nConclusion: Designing ED layouts to ensure care quality, efficiency and efficacy is vital through collaborative communication. A goal of this research was to identify the impact of visibility for facility managers, designers, healthcare planners and architects to improve their design solutions for medical staff (physicians and nurses) communication and efficiency in emergency care. Face-to-face communication among medical staff including both nurses and physicians has been addressed as a significant factor for health-care delivery. Physicians are the primary decision-makers in the ED, but nurses are regarded as the mediators between physicians and patients. Therefore, the ability of nurses and physicians to communicate well in both directions was considered a high priority by this study. In addition to contributing to the core body of knowledge about the impact of physical design on collaborative communication, this study provides evidence about the subjective/perceived importance of visibility, different types of visibility and the role of face-to-face communication for physicians and nurses in hospital EDs through the lens of facility design. Moreover, as a qualitative inquiry, the findings of this study provide overall ideas about the importance of environmental design in the improvement of healthcare delivery in EDs, which can inform future researchers. Furthermore, the results of this investigation can inform hospital managers and healthcare designers about one of the important ways to improve medical staff performance through environmental architectural design.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the potential impacts of visibility on face-to-face communication among medical staff in community hospital emergency departments (EDs). Also, the researchers investigated how different types of visibility can increase/decrease the efficiency of EDs' medical staff.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used an exploratory approach to investigate the role of visibility in enhancement of medical staff communication in four EDs within the same hospital system. Overall, 12 semi-structured interviews and 48 h of observation were manually conducted.\nFindings: The findings suggest that communication among medical staff can be improved by enhancement of different types of visibility (general and staff-to-staff) in EDs. Also, visibility facilitates patient assessments, overall supervision, comfort and asking for help while reducing stress and distractions.\nPractical implications: The results of this investigation can inform hospital managers and healthcare designers about one of the important ways to improve registered nurses and physicians' performance through environmental architectural design in the enhancement of communication.\nOriginality/value: Understanding the importance of visibility as a design element would provide a crucial principle for future ED designs. Although research has been conducted with different focuses and methods in other hospital departments, nothing similar to the current study in EDs was available in the healthcare design published literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Selected leadership demographics as predictors of continuity planning
|
[
"Disaster recovery",
"Organizational resilience",
"Business continuity",
"Contingency planning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) planning consists of identifying the activities that an organization must effectively execute in order to resume operations after an unexpected event. This type of planning is an essential portion of any organization's strategic planning (Adams, 2004). Incidents such as the Y2K scare, natural hazards, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, continually reinforce the necessity of continuity planning (Dalmadge, 2001).\nLiterature review: The literature on organizational resiliency provides a theoretical framework from which a context for future research can be derived. Blum (2004) explains that this theoretical framework \"places research in perspective among other relevant studies and describes the important issues, perspectives, and controversies in the field under investigation\" (para. 32). The research within the organizational resiliency (including BC and DR) tends to be of an all hazards nature, taking into account disciplines such as management, information technology, practitioner- and industry-specific domains (much of which is comprised of case studies), medicine, engineering, and threat analysis.\nMethodology: The research methodology was a quantitative method utilizing a correlational research design (logistic regression). According to Creswell (2004), a correlational study is appropriate when trying to isolate direction and degree of association between sets of scores. Correlational research is \"useful for identifying the type of association, explaining complex relationships of multiple factors that explain outcome and predicting an outcome from one or more predictors\" (Creswell, 2004, p. 338). Robson (2002) further elaborates on the appropriateness of correlational research in identifying associations between multiple factors by suggesting stepwise regression. Stepwise regression is useful for creating models (Robson, 2002) as it starts with the simplest possible model and introduces more independent variables into the equation. Furthermore, as the outcomes being predicted are binary, binary logistic regression was utilized. The two predicted outcomes were: yes or no with regard to having a DR plan, yes or no with regard to having a BC plan.\nResults: The initial investigation of the responses moved the study to perform binary linear regression analysis on the data. Of those that responded to the survey, 23 percent report that their department has no BC or DR plan (binary outcome of yes or no with regard to having a BC or DR plan). This lead to the research question: What factors are important predictors of having a contingency plan? Following analysis of that question, the predictors of having any type of contingency plan (BC or DR plan), having just a DR plan, or having a comprehensive BC plan were examined.\nDiscussion and implications of the study: The results from the data gathered and analyzed for this study indicate that only the past experience with a discontinuity event appears to have a significant impact. The results indicate that experience is often the best teacher. From an applied research perspective, it is reasonable (based on the results of this research study) to heavily weight the experience of a past BC/DR event when selecting a BC/DR consultant or a BC/DR team leader within academic, research-oriented institutions.\nConclusion: This quantitative, correlational study explored the relationships of leadership demographic characteristics to BC and DR planning in two public, research-oriented universities in Southern California. The results indicate there is a correlation between past experience with a discontinuity event and performing BC planning. The data supporting these conclusions was obtained by surveying (web-based, self-reporting survey) the emergency response coordinators at these two universities. While the study was bounded by both institution type as well as geography, it could provide a framework for assigning contingency planning responsibilities within academic institutions. Identifying managers with prior discontinuity event experience, could assist the university administration in building a comprehensive organizational resiliency plan.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the findings that describe any correlations between leadership demographic characteristics with that of the levels of business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) planning by surveying the academic department's continuity planners at two major research universities in Southern California.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methodology was a quantitative method utilizing a correlational research design (logistic regression). Survey data from a self-reporting web-based survey were analyzed.\nFindings: Analysis of five leadership demographic characteristics and four covariates reveals one statistically significant predictor of resiliency planning. Furthermore, close to one-quarter of the academic departments were found to have no BC or DR plan. Conversely, having a budget for resiliency planning was not found to be a significant predictor of resiliency planning.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study was specifically limited to continuity planners within two major, public, academic research institutions within Southern California. This allows for an in-depth understanding of a specific contingency planning phenomenon: geographically bounded public, research-oriented, higher education institutions. This study could provide a framework for administrative leaders in academic settings to assess their organizations' capacity for recovery from an unexpected business disruption. This study could assist university administration in identifying personnel to lead resiliency planning within the institution.\nPractical implications: The research indicates that educational institutions lack in organizational resiliency planning. This study could provide a framework for administrative leaders in academic settings to assess their organizations' capacity for recovery from an unexpected business disruption.\nOriginality/value: While there is much literature on the separate topics of leadership in an academic environment and contingency planning, no study exists that attempts to observe any correlations between these concepts.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Monitoring progress in "quality education" in the European Union - strategic framework and goals
|
[
"Higher education",
"European Union",
"Adult learning",
"Sustainable Development Goal",
"European strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable development (SD) is based on a comprehensive approach combining economic, social and environmental issues in a way that ensures their mutual reinforcement. Leal Filho et al. (2017, p. 6) note that SD is a long-term process whose main goal is \"decouple what the socioeconomic development countries of the world pursue, from the increased and harmful consumption of natural resources.\" SD is therefore a development which \"meets the needs of the current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\" (WCED, 1987, p. 16). The international pursuit of SD reached four milestones (Figure 1), which paved the way for the document \"Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development\" (United Nations, 2015a) adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015.\nThe significance of education in sustainable development from the perspective of international declarations and commitments: Education has been treated as one of international priorities for a long time. The right to education was enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948: \"Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit\" (United Nations, 2015b, p. 54). The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century emphasised the significance of education in supporting personal and social development. The Commission perceives education as \"one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war\" (Delors, 1996, p. 11).\nInitiatives of the European Union supporting sustainable development: SD has been present in the EU's policies and activities for a long time. In the Treaty on EU it was stressed that the EU \"works for the sustainable development of Europe and based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment\" (Treaty on EU, 2012, Article 3(3)). Moreover, the EU works towards cooperation in all fields of international relations, among others, in order to \"help develop international measures to preserve and improve the quality of the environment and the sustainable management of global natural resources, in order to ensure sustainable development\" (Treaty on European Union, 2013, Article 21(2f)). In the past, an EU SD Strategy (Communication from the Commission, 2001, Communication, 2001/0264) was launched in 2001, which was revised in 2006. SD has also been mainstreamed into the Europe 2020 strategy (Communication from the Commission, 2010, Communication, 2010/2020), which was launched in 2010. The EU is also committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.\nMethods: The EU SDG indicator set received a favourable opinion of the European Statistical System Committee in May 2017. It is structured along the 17 SDGs and comprises 100 indicators. The indicators have been selected taking into account the EU perspective (European Commission, 2017). With a few exceptions, the indicators stem from already existing indicator sets such as the Europe 2020 headline indicators or initiatives as reported in the staff working document 'Key European action supporting the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs' (Commission Staff Working Document, 2016). Monitoring 4th SDG (\"quality education\") the EU focuses on the sub-themes: basic education, tertiary education and adult education. However, further analysis will focus mainly on higher education and adult learning.\n\"Quality education\" in the European Union - a comparative analysis: Higher education is currently important in the development of countries' competitiveness and is treated as one of the most important elements of the education sector (Beynaghi et al., 2016). People with higher qualifications are more likely to be employed and less likely to face poverty. It also seems that levels of tertiary educational attainment can impact innovation economy and SD in each country. According to the forecasts for the OECD and G20 countries, a global trend of the increase in the share of people with higher education is forecasted (in 2013 it was 137 million of 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education, in 2030 it could be 300 million) (OECD, 2015). Faham et al. (2017, p. 307) emphasises that higher education plays a special role in the process of social change, especially through the education of new generations. It has \"the potential to prepare students and increase information and knowledge in order to move towards a sustainable future\". Therefore, monitoring tertiary education is particularly important for SD.\nDiscussion: As a result of the conducted analysis, it should be noted that despite a positive trend observed in the development of education, especially higher education, the question of gender inequality remains a very serious challenge for the EU (Table V). It is not only the fact of its occurrence that is worrisome, but also the tendency to grow, which has been observed in recent years. Additionally, marked differences were identified between Member States in the analysed areas. Therefore, an important recommendation for the EU decision makers should be the requirement to not only take note of the above issues but also to take action (e.g. within initiatives and programmes for the subsequent period, i.e. after 2020), which would counteract the deepening disproportion between men and women, but also between Member States.\nConclusions: The EU is involved in introducing Agenda 2030, and the initiatives undertaken by it correspond with the assumptions recommended by the UN. It is also a positive factor that the EU adopted indicators relevant to the EU, which allow SDGs to be monitored in the context of long-term EU policies, including in the area of education.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the most important initiatives and the strategic framework of the European Union (EU) supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This paper also presents an overview of the progress towards the 4th Sustainable Development Goal (quality education) mainly in tertiary and adult education in the EU context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The adopted research method includes a literature survey, a study of law regulations and strategic documents of the EU and their critical analysis. The main axis of empirical investigation is a comparative analysis. Thematic scope of the analysis embraces indicators such as tertiary educational attainment, employment rate of recent graduates and adult participation in learning.\nFindings: The results of the comparative analysis confirm the diversity between Member States in achieving the goals of sustainable development. Overall positive trends in the development of quality education can be observed in the EU. However, the gender gaps in tertiary educational attainment and in the employment rate of recent graduates have been widening. Moreover, the EU is not on track to meet its 2020 benchmarks for adult participation in learning.\nOriginality/value: The paper systematizes knowledge of initiatives of the EU for sustainable development and supplements it with a comparative analysis in the field of statistical data, which allows for a better understanding of the state and the prospects of implementing the idea of quality education at the EU level.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The information needs and information-seeking behaviour of the users of the European Parliamentary Documentation Centre: A customer knowledge study
|
[
"European Union",
"Information retrieval",
"User studies",
"Behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background to the research: This paper discusses the results of a customer knowledge study commissioned by the Parliamentary Documentation Centre (PDC) of the European Parliament in order to elicit a better understanding of the views and needs of its actual and potential client base. It highlights those findings which are interesting in terms of what can be learned from the study about the information-seeking behaviour of the PDC's users. The PDC has its origins in the Parliament's library service, first established in the 1950s, and its mission is \"to support the European Parliament's legislative, control and representational functions by providing high quality information services that are timely, objective and non-partisan\" (Toornstra, 2003). The study was conducted at a time (February 2004) when the PDC was about to embark on a major development programme, when it was felt that improved client knowledge would lead to the implementation of service enhancements, in a climate of internal Parliamentary restructuring and the enlargement of the European Union, both of which were felt to have potential to impact on user information seeking and service responsiveness.\nAim and objectives: The aim of the project was to develop a better understanding of client needs in relation to European Parliamentary information and research services, while its objectives were to carry out a major data collection exercise with a sample of clients exploring information behaviour and to analyse results, draw conclusions and make recommendations for service development.The present study, although focused upon information behaviour in the context of the use of a government information service, is informed by the authors' previous work in citizen information behaviour and communication research (Marcella et al., 2002; Marcella and Baxter, 2005). This work has focused largely on the citizen as a user of government information but has also included previous research into the information needs of MEPs (Marcella et al., 1999) and observational study of Members of the UK Parliament (Orton et al., 2000). The authors' approach has been influenced by that of information and communication researchers such as Kuhlthau (1991), Ford (1973), Wilson (1981) and in particular by Dervin's (1976) sense-making approach. According to Dervin (1976), the user's focus in decision making tends to be on making a decision, solving a problem, resolving a worry, or understanding a complex phenomenon, while the user will also seek that information in a range of life-contexts and in situations of varying levels of pressure. A complex picture of information behaviour, therefore, must emerge, where people's actions can only be interpreted in terms of their individual life circumstances. (Marcella and Baxter, 2005). One of the most significant findings from the authors' earlier research in the context of the present study was that \"it was highly questionable whether users (whether apparently expert or not) were in fact consistently able to judge the quality of their own informedness\" (Marcella and Baxter, 2005, p. 208).Various theories focus on relevant aspects of information behaviour, such as Chatman's \"life in the round\" (Chatman, 1999) which suggests that context is the most significant factor affecting everyday information seeking. Savolainen (1999) also argues that social and cultural factors affect people's ways of interacting with information as part of everyday life. Others have focused to a greater extent on the significance of work-related tasks of varying complexity (see, for example Bystrom, 2002, who focuses on task complexity and provides a classification of types of information required in particular instances of source use). Equally Zipf's theory of the \"principle of least effort\", which argues that people expend the least effort necessary to move forward with the task in hand, has increasingly being hailed as significant in a world where users expect desktop or handheld delivery and \"seekers will minimise the effort required to obtain information, even if it means accepting a lower quality of information\" (Case, 2005, p. 291).However, there have been relatively few studies of the information behaviour of users of parliamentary information services and most have taken a service-based rather than theory informed approach, with literature emanating often from staff of the services, rather than as independent research studies (see, for example Bannenberg (1994), Tanfield (1995), Gardner (2002), Thapisa (1996) and Feliu and Delano (1994).However, there have been some research studies of this context. Serema (1999) for example found an increasing erosion of the close relationship between members and the House of Commons Library. Others (see, for example, Ferreiro and Muga (2004) and Verrier (2002) have argued that users are increasingly less aware of parliamentary information services; while there appears to be a growing acceptance that parliamentary libraries and research services need to gather more meaningful data on user needs in a world of electronic access (European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation, 2004).Overall, such research as has been carried out paints a somewhat bleak picture of decreasing awareness and use of parliamentary library services, suggesting a growing gulf between service and user understandings of \"need\", while users turn increasingly to a growing variety of alternative sources of information.Information behaviour research has moved, methodologically, from an early reliance on positivist surveys to the use of diverse methodologies in a mix of quantitative and qualitative research tools, enabling a more holistic view of information need to emerge from the researcher getting \"close to the data, thereby developing the analytical, conceptual and categorical components of explanation from the data itself\" (Weingand, 1993). There has also been a complementary move in information behaviour research from a subject and cognitive approach to the person-centred one described by Wilson (1994). These trends have been reflected in the work of the present researchers, who have used a variety of methodological tools in seeking to build a holistic and informed view of information need and information seeking in a range of communities. Broadly, the present authors' research has moved from a positivist to a phenomenological theoretical perspective, with an earlier focus on the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies via large-scale surveys being supplanted by research which has sought to get close to the everyday lives of those studied and to interpret how these individuals construe or make sense of the world in different ways (see, for example, Marcella et al., 2003). The study described here continues that trend in that, rather than simply quantifying descriptively levels of PDC use, it sought to explore the information behaviour of individuals from the PDC client base, and to increase understanding of the ways in which information use underpins and enhances their capacity to undertake the core duties of their parliamentary role.\nProject methodology: The study took place just prior to the 2004 parliamentary election, to ensure that data were collected from experienced MEPs and their assistants. Semi-structured interviews enabled the collection of rich, evaluative and thoughtful comment from respondents. Two separate interview schedules were designed: one for interviews with PDC users, the other for interviews with PDC staff.A variety of mechanisms were adopted to encourage participant engagement in the interviews, including telephone calls, e-mails, floor walking, project announcements and calls for participation, and volunteers were matched against a set of categories to ensure representation across countries and political groups. As interviews progressed, snowball sampling also took place to ensure that all required categories were represented. To an extent the latter approach was adopted as a convenience sample, in that the fieldwork period in Brussels was time limited to three weeks and certain user groups proved more difficult to engage in the research. In total, 83 individual interviews were conducted in Brussels, in English, French or German, varying in length from 35 minutes to over two hours. The respondents spoke openly and freely around the questions asked, and, with the exception of three cases, all interviews were recorded on audio tape for subsequent transcription and analysis.In total 72 interviews were carried out across the spectrum of user groups and 11 with experienced service staff (see Figure 1). Of the 84 MEPs and 22 Observers approached, seven individuals were eventually interviewed: MEPs from Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom; and Observers from Cyprus and Estonia. Members generally regarded themselves as too busy to participate, despite the emphasis being placed on the potential of the research to improve the quality of service. While the lack of participation from these groups was disappointing, it was unsurprising, for, as Tanfield (1995) observes, \"Legislators are very busy people who are reluctant to devote time to interviews\" and \"who can not be relied upon to keep such appointments\". While an electronic interview schedule might have been more successful with Members, there is a real danger of it being completed by a third party (see Marcella et al., 1999).Assistants were generally willing to participate in the research, and 26 MEPs' assistants and two Observers' assistants were interviewed. As it is frequently the assistants' responsibility to seek information on behalf of their Members (in line with Toornstra (2003) and most earlier studies), their contributions were regarded as valuable and valid. Administrators and other parliamentary staff (37 interviews) were far more responsive than MEPs and Observers, with the project team encountering few refusals from this group. In addition, 11 PDC staff were interviewed, to establish how their perception of the service's strengths and weaknesses compared to the clients.All Member States were represented in the sample, ensuring representation across a wide range of cultures. Although the demographic profile of interviewees included more males (61 per cent) than females (39 per cent), no particular age group dominated the sample.\nResearch results: The project findings are discussed below; they begin with an account of what the results reveal about the information needs of those working in the European Parliament and then move on to an account of how this user group goes about locating information through both internal parliamentary resources and other widely available and more generic tools.The significance of information in the parliamentary context\nConclusions and recommendations: Many respondents saw information as crucial to their successful engagement in a range of activities, and indeed tended to regard the possession of information as constituting \"power\". Information-dependent tasks are complex, based on examples of both highly specific and very broad/general subjects; and needs tend to shift at different points in the task cycle, when the user may vary between being a passive recipient of information and an active seeker of information which may not yet exist (see Figure 3).Many of those in parliament do not know what they need to know, cannot possibly know everything that they need to know, and frequently cannot predict what they will need tomorrow or next week.Asking respondents about situations where they found it difficult to access relevant and reliable information unleashed a maelstrom of examples, suggesting that those working in parliament often find it difficult to find what they need, and tend, therefore, to rely on those most active in supplying the information, i.e. those generally with an agenda or something to gain from supplying information that will be used in decision making.There was, not unexpectedly, evidence that users are increasingly relying on what can readily be found via an internet search engine, and a demonstration of satisfaction with the information that could most readily be located. Although, as trained information professionals, the authors might be expected to take issue with such behaviour, it is a phenomenon which we must recognise and find ways to factor into service provision more effectively than at present, for there remains a concern both that such information appears frequently to be accepted completely uncritically and that it is clearly, therefore, often being used in what most would regard as crucially significant decision-making contexts. This is, of course, a type of behaviour exhibited by legislators on a number of globally significant occasions in recent years, when the quality of government information has been found retrospectively flawed, yet the information-seeking behaviour and the complacency upon which it is based continues unabated, from the findings of the present research. While it would be facile to suggest that only an information professional can carry out an effective search, to simply accept without question that a \"Google\" search for information, which considers no other criteria than relevance and the speed of retrieval, is a sound approach to finding information on a topic is, in the authors' view, dangerously naive. This study has reinforced others' findings of an uncritical over-reliance on \"quick and dirty\" internet searches, in a context where the decisions, which such information may help to inform, are likely to be significant in economic, social and cultural ways. When participants go beyond the internet as an approach to seeking information, their next preferred source tends to be the material received from lobbyists/pressure groups. While this is likely to present a more rounded, better defended and possibly more comprehensive picture than a swift internet search, it is, of course, always subject to the criticism of bias on interest. Lobbyists do not produce fair reflections of all points of view: that is not why they exist; they are, of course, all about getting a message across and influencing decisions in a particular direction. Interestingly, respondents appear to be more aware of the bias implicit in information produced by European institutions, frequently looking for Euro-sceptic views against which to balance the European perspective.While it is no longer credible to suppose that librarians (or indeed the world) can stem the tide of over-reliance on Google, there are very clear messages here about the importance of information researchers clearly demonstrating awareness of the limitations and dangers of simplistic over-reliance on single methods of locating information.The majority of respondents were unaware of the European Parliament's information service, the PDC, and, clearly, a priority for the service would be to raise awareness amongst their user group, in particular amongst Members. The real challenge for information professionals is how to get that message across effectively. Legislators are busy people: it is only by convincing them that life will be made easier for them that engagement will be increased. Clearly this is not just a challenge with the young and technologically adept: one respondent who had never set foot in the service had been in Parliament for almost 30 years. Going back to Ranganathan's principles of reference service might be useful to us here: with concepts such as \"save the time of the reader\" and \"act as an agent for the book\". We as information professionals may have to take something of a messianic approach to \"selling\" the importance of a well designed search leading to high quality, meaningful and useful information. Conversely, those who are active users of the PDC service rated it highly, so when the connection is made and the message has been communicated, then information services often get it right and are consequently highly valued.However, mechanisms are required to ensure responsiveness to users' needs and closer consultation with users in developing service strategy, for example, in acquisition and circulation policies. In addition to existing small-scale surveys, a regular programme via an enhanced annual survey and focus groups with particular client sub-sectors, would help to build the levels of knowledge required. An advisory group might also be useful.While in some ways similar to other parliamentary contexts, the EU presents a uniquely complex information environment, with challenges around a lack of transparency, the political dimension of information provision and use, the multi-lingual and multi-national layers of data needed, and the sheer volume, extent and obscurity of many of the core information sources. The institutional complexity of the European Parliament also creates a stakeholder environment where generalisation across groups can be contentious and unproductive. Both individual priorities and group activities, such as the work of a committee, tend to determine information needs and methods of information acquisition within the European Parliament. This has direct implications for the ways in which information needs should be assessed and how services should be delivered.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a customer knowledge study commissioned by the Parliamentary Documentation Centre (PDC) of the European Parliament in order to elicit a better understanding of the views and needs of its actual and potential client base.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study consisted of in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 72 clients and 11 staff (83 individuals) in Brussels in February 2004. The paper explores the significance of information in the parliamentary context and summarises the activities which respondents described as being information-dependent. The paper also highlights the evolutionary nature of information need during the course of the legislative process.\nFindings: - The information-seeking behaviour and skills of the PDC clients are discussed, as are the criteria by which they assess information quality. The study revealed that users were frequently uncritical and pragmatic in use of the most readily available information, sacrificing quality in favour of ease of access.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents results from a uniquely complex information environment - the European Union. Users tended to be complacent about their information-seeking skills and reluctant to engage in skills enhancement activities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate social responsibility: investigating theory and research in the marketing context
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Marketing environment",
"Ethics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The idea that firms and other organizations have social responsibilities, labeled as CSR, has evoked widespread interests and concerns both in business and among academicians, so also in the field of business administration. This article reviews and critically assesses whether, to what extent and how the scholarly marketing literature has addressed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We limit our focus to marketing, because marketing is a central business discipline, and furthermore probably the discipline that is most preoccupied with the linkage between the firm and the environment in which the firm is embedded, i.e. a central aspect of CSR. We are in particular interested in how marketing scholars understand and exploit CSR. This is an important task because the way the research literature treats CSR impacts what our students and other constituencies learn. This review is also of importance, for managers and managers to be, as it might influence their thinking and behaviors.Underlying the interest and concern for CSR is the fact that firms do not operate in a vacuum. Rather they can be viewed as \"open systems\" dependent on some actors and influential to others. Through exchanging output with the environment, for example the customers, companies impact and transform society. In order to survive and prosper, sufficient resources must be retained to at least cover costs, and excess profit is considered advantageous. In other words they must be effective. Firms, in this way, work diligently at attaining their goals. Their activities are planned and conducted by motivated actors with self-interests. CSR exactly addresses the potentially negative aspects of their behavior that is difficult to control.The idea that firms' activities may have negative consequences is nothing new. The fact that companies need to take environmental considerations has for long been realized and reflected in rules and laws. So has the importance of ethical behaviors. However, the idea of CSR is broader and more encompassing. The idea of CSR is also complex and ambiguous, which is reflected by multiple and different perspectives and views.A key focus in the marketing discipline is the boundary-spanning role between the firm and its ever-changing environments, or more precisely to foster exchange of its outputs, i.e. products and services with the environment, where customers represent a key constituency. Furthermore, the marketing discipline is not static. Rather it can be considered \"a living organism\" addressing new phenomena as they emerge, creating and adapting new concepts, theory and methodologies to create new insights and influencing the firms' activities. The marketing discipline has focus, identity and special interests. In a way, marketing can be considered as a specific lens or \"glasses\" through which the phenomenon of CSR is examined. In other words, it is not sufficient to focus on whether and to what extent the marketing discipline has addressed CSR. The way CSR is captured through the marketing lenses is of equal importance. For example, what aspects of the ambiguous CSR construct are reflected and integrated into marketing thought? Even though CSR has been addressed previously in the marketing literature, the focus so far has however not been on the more reflective and critical aspects, such as what aspects of the multiple CSR perspectives have been addressed and whether and how these have been integrated and \"colored\" by marketing thought.The remaining part of the paper is organized as follows: In the next section we address the core concepts to be used, namely marketing and CSR. We do so because a clarification of the central concepts is a prerequisite to pursue our task. In order to further sharpen the construct we propose a new definition of CSR and the section also addresses how the marketing elements have dealt with CSR related issues. After this, we describe the research methodology underlying our study to empirically examine our research question, i.e. to what extent and how the discipline of marketing has addressed CSR. Here, a content analysis of scholarly journals was found appropriate. This section also contains information about the selection of journals, sample of articles included and analytical procedure. The subsequent section reports our analysis. Finally we draw conclusions and highlight the implications of our study.\nCentral concepts and CSR related issues in marketing: This section addresses the concepts of marketing and CSR, and CSR related issues dealt with in the marketing literature. In order to capture the overlap between the two concepts, i.e. how and what aspects of CSR are captured in marketing, a clear understanding of the two concepts is required.Central concepts\nResearch methodology: To empirically examine our research purpose, we need information (data) that actually reflects how the marketing literature deals with CSR. More precisely, we decided to conduct a content analysis of scientific marketing journal articles addressing CSR. Scholarly journal articles were chosen because what is addressed in scholarly journals later on is \"absorbed\" in textbooks, and due to the way CSR is treated in the research literature depicts what is taught and conveyed to students and other constituencies, influencing managers and managers-to-be, in their thinking and behaviors. Content analysis comes in different forms. Common for the various forms, is systematic inspection and treatment of the actual content (see, e.g. Weber, 1990). Among the advantages of content analysis is that it is an unobtrusive method, i.e. it does not influence the data as such. However, as in any empirical research method, the data selected - and the researcher's interpretation may influence what is captured and how it is understood.Selection of journals\nAnalysis and findings: Thematic categories and levels of analysis\nDiscussion: Looking back to the reported findings, we notice a number of important features regarding the research approaches that have been employed in the reviewed studies. These features are discussed below.Key features\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This review article aims to develop an integrating overview of the present status of the theory of corporate social responsibility (CSR) applied in the marketing context and asks whether, to what extent and how the discipline of marketing has addressed CSR.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After clarifying core concepts and proposing a new definition of CSR, 54 articles in leading marketing journals between 1995 and 2005 are analyzed in terms of publication characteristics, research design, variables, sampling, level of analysis, issues raised, and key findings.\nFindings: - Recommendations include a broadened perspective in empirical research to address CSR in its entirety, expand the focus beyond consumers, include a broader range of samples and conduct more inductive, exploratory empirical studies. These steps will contribute to a multidimensional view of the future customer.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The number and specific choice of journals was subject to a compromise between comprehensiveness and the availability of space for a review.\nPractical implications: - The way the scholarly marketing literature treats CSR impacts what our students and other constituencies learn.\nOriginality/value: - Given the veritable explosion in CSR research in the recent years, there is a genuine need for the field to take stock of what has been learned so far and what that implies in terms of where researchers should be headed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Linking managerial practices and leadership style to innovative work behavior: The role of group and psychological processes
|
[
"Leadership",
"Psychological empowerment",
"Managerial practices",
"Group processes",
"Innovative work behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations have increasingly relied on employees' innovative contributions to preserve or enhance competitiveness, effectiveness, and continuous improvement in uncertain and dynamic environments (Anderson et al., 2004). As a consequence, organizational scholars have investigated the impact of personal and situational factors on individual innovative behavior at work (Hammond et al., 2011), which refers to the intentional generation, promotion, and implementation of new and useful ideas in order to benefit role performance, the group, or the organization (West and Farr, 1990; Janssen, 2000). In particular, empirical studies have provided meaningful insights into the psychological processes that help explain how perceived group and contextual characteristics are linked to innovative outcomes (e.g. Choi, 2004; Zhang and Bartol, 2010; Scott and Bruce, 1994).\nManagerial practices, leadership style, and group processes: Adopting the widely accepted input-process-output model (Hackman, 1987; Salas et al., 2004), scholars argued that innovation-supportive group processes, which directly contribute to innovative outputs, can be enhanced by several input variables, including aspects of organizational context (e.g. task and associated objectives, reward systems, information systems, and training resources) (West, 2002).\nGroup processes and psychological empowerment: The second central argument of our study is that individual perceptions of group vision and group support for innovation will indirectly affect employees' innovative endeavors by shaping proximal psychological processes. In this regard, we identify psychological empowerment as a critical motivational state that is assumed to bridge the link between employees' perceptions of group processes and individual innovativeness. Psychological empowerment reflects a proactive orientation to one's role, which is manifested in four interrelated cognitions (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990; Spreitzer, 1995): meaning, which indicates a sense that one's work is personally valuable; competence, which refers to an individual's belief in his or her ability to effectively perform tasks; self-determination, or the sense of freedom in the initiation and regulation of work behaviors; and impact, which indicates one's belief about the extent to which he or she significantly affects work-related outcomes.\nPsychological empowerment and innovative work behavior: The third central argument of the present study is that employees who are empowered by an innovation-supportive, vision-oriented team will direct their efforts toward developing, promoting, and implementing innovative ideas at work. Both empowerment and innovation literature have ascribed to psychological empowerment a pivotal motivational role in fueling innovative work activities (e.g. Spreitzer, 1995; Seibert et al., 2011), with most empirical studies providing evidence on the positive impact of empowerment on individual creativity and innovation (e.g. Zhang and Bartol, 2010; Sun et al., 2012).\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)\nDiscussion: The present study is one of the first attempts to test a conceptual model that links perceptions of managerial practices and leadership style to individual innovative performance through the chain mediating role of individual-level group and psychological processes. First, results from SEM reveal that teamwork, information sharing and participative leadership can effectively contribute to shaping team vision and team support for innovation. Accordingly, our study adds to the innovation literature by extending current knowledge on the role exerted by contextual factors in enhancing innovation-supportive group processes. Indeed, past research has widely disregarded the role of teamwork and information sharing in predicting group variables that are highly conducive to successful innovative outcomes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a theoretical model linking individual perceptions of participative leadership style and managerial practices (i.e. teamwork and information sharing) to individual innovative behavior through the mediating mechanisms of: perceptions of team support for innovation and team vision; and psychological empowerment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Self-report data were collected from 394 employees working in five organizations. Structural equation models were conducted to empirically test the hypothesized research model.\nFindings: As hypothesized, participative leadership, teamwork and information sharing positively predicted perceptions of team support for innovation and team vision, which in turn fostered psychological empowerment. The latter was further positively associated with innovative performance.\nPractical implications: The results of the present study inform management of the group processes (i.e. team vision and support for innovation) that can mobilize employees to engage in effective innovative activities. Importantly, the findings indicate that for such processes to be developed and nurtured, teamwork activities should be promoted within work groups, effective communication systems should be implemented throughout the organization, and participatory skills should be developed among supervisors.\nOriginality/value: The study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the perceived group and psychological processes that can explain how managerial practices and leadership style jointly benefit employee innovative behavior.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Motives for buying local, organic food through English box schemes
|
[
"Motivations",
"Local food",
"Awareness",
"Political consumerism",
"Alternative food network",
"Mixed methods approach"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The UK has one of the largest organic markets in Europe, after Germany and France, with an estimated value of over 2bn GBP in 2016, up by 450m GBP since 2012 (Soil Association, 2017, 2012; IFOAM-EU, 2016). In 2016, about 68 per cent of organic sales in the UK took place through supermarkets, but other outlets have reported above average growth (Soil Association, 2016). Box schemes and home delivery accounted for 261m GBP in 2016 (Soil Association, 2017) and above average growth demonstrates the increasing popularity of these alternative forms of food purchase. Box schemes represent one of the many different forms of alternative food networks (AFNs), alongside farmers market, farm shops and community supported agriculture (CSA) (Hemmerling et al., 2015).\n2. Why do people buy organic and local and how does this related to alternative food networks? A brief review of the literature: In the literature on ethical consumer behaviour, decision-making is determined by recognition of ethical issues associated with a given specific consumption activity (Bray et al., 2011). Thus, the consumers' ability to identify relevant ethical issues within the agro-food sector and the impact on consumption will determine motivation, direction and the intensity of change in behaviour (Moisander, 2007; Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2009). Some studies of sustainable food systems (including local and organic) confirmed the influence of consumer awareness of issues related to food production systems and of alternatives on the formation of attitudes and the ability to perform action (Mirosa and Lawson 2012; Sirieix et al., 2013).\n3. Methodological aspects: A mixed method approach combining qualitative and quantitative approaches was used (Arora and Stoner, 2009). Many box schemes across England, identified through their websites and other promotional material were contacted and ten schemes committed to inviting their customers to take part in the study. Of those, four box schemes were located in the South West, four in the South/South East (including London) and two schemes in the North of England. These box schemes promote locally sourced[1] organic vegetables and animal products, and deliver in a small area proximate to the farms. All shared the same business description of being small farm based schemes, except the two schemes in London, which mix their own farm produce with products from other small organic farms in the area. The average distance to which the box schemes deliver to was 24 miles (ranging from 8 miles for one scheme in the South East to about 100 miles for a London based scheme). The qualitative approach was designed to explore consumers' motivations to buy local organic food through box schemes and their recognition of ethical and environmental problems associated with agro-food systems that contributed to their stated motivations. Semi-structured interviews allow interviewees to express their own situation and experience, thus enabling researchers to gain a more accurate and clear picture of a respondent's point of view. An interview guide had been developed in advance, but the order of questions varied. Respondents could reply with any level of detail and the interviewer could choose to go to the next question or probe for further elaboration or clarification.\n4. Results: 4.1 The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample\n5. Discussion: This study set out to investigate the main factors affecting English consumers' choice to purchase local organic food through box schemes as one specific sales channel in AFNs, aiming to enhance practitioner and academic understanding of localised food systems and alternative supply chains. The results indicate that consumers participated in local organic box schemes for a variety of reasons, showing that both altruistic (\"anti-globalisation\" and \"environmental\") and hedonistic factors (such as \"health\", \"freshness and taste\", and \"convenience\"), are both important. The factors were characterised by variegated motivations and supported by consumers' awareness about specific problems of the industrialised agro-food system. These motivations were consistently related to both the organic and local attributes of box scheme products, i.e. environmental issues related both to organic status and reducing food miles through the localness of the box schemes and health and safety related to and organic and higher trust in local farmers. This stands in contrast to the findings of Hempel and Hamm (2016a, b), who found consumers in general--not shopping in specific alternative outlets--preferring \"local\" over \"organic\" for some product categories.\n6. Conclusion: The market share of box schemes has consistently shown higher growth than the UK organic market overall in the last few years and currently accounts for 12 per cent of the total organic market (Soil Association, 2017). Box schemes are one example of AFN and the knowledge of factors influencing consumers' choice to purchase local and organic food through box schemes enriches the discussion about AFNs and can inform strategies to encourage re-localisation of organic food systems. This study highlights the political dimension in consumers engaging with AFN, finding a direct link between consumers' ethical and political awareness and their decision to participate in local organic box schemes in England, but this does not occur in isolation from hedonistic factors.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the growing interest of English consumers in local organic food sold through box schemes, by providing insights into the motives of customers of such schemes and examining the relationship with their awareness about problems of the agro-food system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed methods approach combined in-depth interviews with 22 box scheme customers with a quantitative survey of 416 consumers, analysed by means of principal component analysis and an ordered logit model.\nFindings: Consumers of small local organic box schemes in England are both altruistically and hedonistically motivated. This includes a strong political motivation to change the current food system, as shown by the strong influence of an anti-globalisation factor and wanting to support small farmers. They perceive local organic food as a more environmentally sustainable alternative to the mainstream food system. The box schemes offer consumers a practical alternative by providing high quality products combined with convenience illustrating the importance of the latter also in local food shopping. This reinforces the possibility to successfully combining the attributes of \"local\" and \"organic\".\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was conducted in only one country (England) with about 400 consumers of ten organic farmer-led box schemes. It was based on a self-selecting sample of consumers of such schemes, which included a large proportion of females and people with high level of education. Further research is needed to validate the results.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first academic study investigating the main factors affecting consumers' choice to purchase local organic food through a number of English box schemes. It identifies that such consumers are ethically and politically motivated and show some differences compared with the general literature on organic food consumption.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modelling the behavioural intentions of day spa customers
|
[
"Thai day spas",
"Service quality",
"Comprehensive hierarchical modelling"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Thailand's spa industry is vibrant and one of the fastest growing services in Thailand's domestic economy. Thailand's spa industry has made a marked contribution to Thailand's national income (Wannaree, 2013). In 2007, revenues from the spa industry were approximately US$ 369.4 million (Thai Spa Association, 2013) and have increased to US$ 1,317.4 million in 2017, with 2,760 spas and 84,176 spa employees. Spa industry revenues are projected to increase by over 6 per cent annually through 2022. (Global Wellness Institute, 2018).The services liberation agreement is also impacting positively on Thailand's spa industry as the agreement provides the opportunity for Thai spa operators to expand their business into other ASEAN markets. The agreement is among the ASEAN member nations (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand) and directs to liberalise trade in services in the region in conjunction with the vision of developing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). However, Thailand' spa industry will face an increasingly competitive environment as a result of the services liberation agreement (Thai Spa Association, 2013).Approximately 70 per cent of all spas in Thailand are classified as day spas, and these spas are the most popular among Thai consumers, followed by resort and hotel spas, medical spas and destination spas (Thai Department Export Promotion, 2014). Regular spa visits are also popular amongst Thailand's aging population as older-aged consumers find that spa therapy is relaxing and beneficial to their well-being (Karagulle et al., 2016).The number of day spas in Thailand are increasing as they have the capacity to service more customers when compared to the other types of spas (Thai Department of Health Service, 2012). Day spas also have limited financial barriers restricting their establishment, especially when compared with the high capital investment associated with resort/hotel spas and destination spas (Tabacchi, 2010). This current research concentrates on day spas, the dominant type of spa in the major Thai population centres of greater Bangkok and the Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen provinces.Global day spa industry researchers are investigating the service quality construct as a result of the increasing number of consumers regularly visiting day spas (Giritlioglu et al., 2014; Lo et al., 2015). A multi-dimensional and hierarchical approach has been applied in various service industries and cultural settings to conceptualise service quality and its dimensions including mobile phone services (Clemes et al., 2014); health care (Dagger et al., 2007); professional sport (Clemes et al., 2011); restaurants (Clemes et al., 2018); university education (Clemes et al., 2013); and beach resort hotel stays (Channoi et al., 2018). However, to date, a comprehensive hierarchical model with a third-order conceptualisation of service quality and an analysis of the interrelationships among selected higher-order marketing constructs in a path model has not been tested in a day spa context.Comprehensive hierarchical modelling is valuable as it provides a complete and integrative analysis of the constructs under investigation in a particular service setting. In comprehensive hierarchical modelling, the interrelationships among sub and primary dimensions, and the selected higher-order constructs are simultaneously analysed using the perceptions from a single sample (Clemes et al., 2011).Comprehensive hierarchical modelling is applied in this research to analyse the interrelationships among five higher-order marketing constructs (service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, perceived switching costs and behavioural intentions) in Thailand's day spas. The comprehensive hierarchical model will provide a modelling and measurement framework for future research on the spa industry. The findings presented in this study will also improve the understanding of the interrelationships among the higher-order constructs, and this information will provide valuable strategic guidelines for spa industry management.\nResearch gaps: To date, no published research has identified the service quality dimensions and tested how these dimensions have an effect on customers' perceptions of service quality in day spas in Thailand.There is a lack of published empirical research that identifies the importance ranking of the service quality primary dimensions as perceived by Thai day spa customers.No published research on Thailand's day spas has measured the important and complex interrelationships among selected higher-order service marketing constructs: service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, perceived switching costs and behavioural intentions. Moreover, the mediating role of customer satisfaction on the relationships between service quality, perceived value and behavioural intentions has not been tested for Thailand's day spas.This current research intends to close these research gaps using comprehensive hierarchical modelling to conceptualise service quality and examine the interrelationships among the selected higher-order constructs for day spas in Thailand.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Service quality\nResearch design and method: The data was collected using a survey-based method with a self-administered questionnaire as the research instrument. The questionnaire was designed based on an extensive review of literature and the information generated from three focus group interviews. A standard seven-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) was used for the questionnaire items. The questionnaire was reviewed by three service marketing experts and two experienced Thai spa entrepreneurs to ensure its face and content validity. The questionnaire was then pre-tested using a sample of 30 customers who had a recent Thai day spa experience. Following this process, minor modifications were made to the questionnaire.The primary data was collected from customers of 17 day spas throughout Thailand: 5 in Bangkok, 7 in Chiang Mai and 5 in Khon Kaen. A convenient sampling approach was used and 750 spa customers, 18 years or older, were asked to participate in the survey. 655 questionnaires were distributed to the spa customers and returned. However, 25 of these questionnaires were subsequently excluded from the analysis as they were incomplete or not suitable in content, resulting in 620 useable questionnaires. Table II shows that approximately 69 per cent of the sample were females, 64 per cent were aged between 18 and 45 years and 82 per cent had a spa treatment between one and four times per month.The total sample was randomly split into two sub-samples of equal size, and a two-stage data analysis was performed. The first stage, EFA (exploratory factor analysis) was used to identify the underlying factors representing the sub-dimensions of spa service quality. CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) was performed to validate the measurement models developed and to confirm the results of the EFA (Hair et al., 2010). SEM (structural equation modelling) was performed to test the first-order analysis, second-order analysis and causal path analysis, respectively. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences v.20 (SPSS) and the Analysis of Moment Structures v.21 (AMOS) software were used to analyse the data.\nResults: EFA results\nDiscussion: Theoretical contributions\nLimitations and directions for future research: Convenience sampling (non-probability sampling method) was used to collect the data. The convenience sampling approach is a suitable method for exploratory research and testing theory (Leary, 2004; Reynolds et al., 2003). However, caution must be used when generalising the results of research obtained from a convenience sample. This may limit the ability for day spa management to generalise the results generated in this study to other cultural settings.There are additional higher-order constructs that may have interrelationships with the five marketing constructs examined in this current study in a day spa context. For example, corporate image and customer engagement were not included in the analysis, and these constructs are also considered to be important determinants of behavioural intentions.Future researchers may use the hierarchical and multi-dimensional approach applied in this current study to conceptualise and measure the perceptions of spa customers in different regions of Thailand and in other countries. Hierarchically modelling the interrelationships among the important constructs identified in this study for different types of spas and in different cultural settings may improve the overall understanding of these interrelationships.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This research develops and tests a comprehensive hierarchical model of the behavioural intentions of day spa customers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The primary data was collected from the customers of 17 day spas throughout Thailand. EFA and SEM were used to analyse the data and test the interrelationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value, perceived switching costs and behavioural intentions. A third-order conceptualisation of service quality is also included in the modelling framework.\nFindings: Customer satisfaction is the key determinant of behavioural intentions. Service quality and perceived value are two important descriptors of customer satisfaction. Service quality is the most important determinant of customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is the most significant antecedent of behavioural intentions. Service quality is a significant determinant of perceived value and perceived switching costs. Customer satisfaction plays a partial mediating role on the relationship between service quality and behavioural intentions and between perceived value and behavioural intentions.\nOriginality/value: There is a conceptual gap in the literature as no published empirical research on the day spa industry has comprehensively modelled the behavioural intentions of day spa customers. The comprehensive hierarchical modelling approach used in this study provides a complete and integrative analysis of the constructs under investigation in a day spa context and closes the research gap.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Can Pubwatch address the problems of binge drinking? A case study from the North West of England
|
[
"Alcoholism",
"Criminology",
"Social behaviour",
"Police",
"England"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction - urban renewal: The rejuvenation of urban centres in the UK has resulted in the emergence of leisure complexes, as well as cafe bars, bistros and fast food establishments. At the same time, a late evening culture has developed, with large pubs and clubs offering alternative entertainment to the more traditional activities of a city's cultural night life. Licensing authorities have allowed late night licenses for pubs and clubs. As a result, this new late night economy tends to attract the 18-30 age group, and often is closely associated with the consumption of alcohol. A recent study (Jones et al., 2003) commented upon the influx of visitors who enjoy the facilities. For example, Norwich will have about 15,000 people in its centre on weekend nights; Newcastle upon Tyne's city centre has 100 pubs and 22 night clubs, registered to allow 30,000 people to enjoy music and dancing. Croydon expects to attract 25,000 visitors on Saturday evening, and Cheltenham welcomes 20,000.The problems caused\nA case study from the North West of England: Pubwatch in Crewe and Nantwich: In 1998, the police approached the licensees in the Nantwich Road area of Crewe, a town in Cheshire, about half way between the Midland city of Birmingham and the North West city of Birmingham, and encouraged them to hold a meeting to discuss affairs of common interest. The initial session convinced those present that this should be a monthly affair. A representative of the Crewe Division of the Cheshire Constabulary agreed to attend, but only to offer advice, especially of legal matters. Thus, Pubwatch was created. It was especially concerned with addressing anti-social behaviour, and particularly acts of violence. Thus, the members agreed to ban from all public houses within the group any individuals guilty of:* verbal assaults and threatening behaviour towards the licensee, pub employees or other customers;* violence itself - assaults on the licensee, pub employees or other customers* the possession, supply or procurement of drugs on licensed premises;* assaulting members of the public within the vicinity of the pub; and* causing criminal damage within the vicinity of the pub.Every pub that was a member displayed large posters that informed customers of its membership of the scheme, and the reasons for a ban, as above. If the Pubwatch decided to effect a collective ban, then the police would be informed, and would actually deliver the letter informing the individual. Licensees were so pleased with the results that the Crewe area soon had four other schemes - Nantwich (a small town, and the other part of the Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council), Crewe North, West Street and Rural for the many country pubs. The latter proved to be too diverse, and lacked sufficient common problems to be sustainable, and the Nantwich group started to split as some members were perceived as using the initiative as an alternative to being effective licensees.By 2001, the impetus of the scheme started to recede. Many of the licensees who had helped to found the schemes were moving away, and their replacements did not have the same level of enthusiasm. At this stage, Cheshire Constabulary was engaged in a restructuring process, as it tried to tackle crime more efficiently. This led to the formation of the Crime and Disorder unit, which was designed to work with non-police partners to prevent crime. Out of this emerged the notion that Pubwatch could be considered a partner in this operation. Thus, police representatives encouraged the revival of the five schemes. Superintendent Mary Roberts, the Divisional Commander of Crewe and Nantwich for the Cheshire Constabulary, in a statement prepared specifically for this research, stated that:...the success of the scheme in the police division of Crewe and Nantwich has resulted in the lowest alcohol-related violent crime year on year. In the licensees we have allies in the battle to reduce anti-social behaviour who genuinely want to run safe, successful businesses. Pubwatch enables this.This meant that the officer responsible for licensing needed to ensure that all licensees would support the Pubwatch scheme. Licensing magistrates decided to assist, by making a condition of granting a new license the task of attending such meetings. Armed with this support, the police announced that attendance and support for Pubwatch would be noted, and could be used if it was necessary to oppose any license renewal. This ensured attendance. Moreover, the in formation provided to the police proved extremely fruitful. Bans were recorded on police information reports, which could be accessed nationally, which should help eliminate alcohol-related crime.The public has become aware of the powers of Pubwatch as a result of the posters in the member pub and efforts to publicise the scheme in the local press. Local community policemen have noted increased comments from members of the public expressing support for the principles of the endeavour. Thus, Pubwatch has become part of Crewe area, and Cheshire Constabulary's battle against crime. It is a partnership between the police and licensees, which allows local licensees to meet and discuss common problems, to reach common solutions, and to tackle anti-social behaviour together. Moreover, it is a link with the police, to provide them with similar information, and to allow liaison intended to make pubs safer places.Of course, such schemes are not perfect. They are as effective as their member want them to be. They require regular attendance and responsible behaviour from the licensees. Membership must not be regarded as a method of failing to exert sufficient control of the individual pub. They also demand the assistance of dedicated and enthusiastic police officers, who actually believe that crime prevention can be achieved by making their pubs safer and more welcoming environments. When such a partnership exists, and the general public is aware that anti-social acts can mean exclusion from all pubs in the locality for a period of up to three years, then troublemakers will be obliged to take notice, and the normal, decent citizen can retake possession of their stools in the bar.Some local licensees have reported increased trade, especially at weekends. One proprietor, an avid supporter of the Pubwatch scheme, said that her pub was not part of the circuit used by young people in her town centre, and her usual clientele were middle aged and elderly couples, many of whom stayed at home on weekend evenings, because they were worried about the possibility of trouble. This licensee actively advertised Pubwatch in her pub, and ensured that her customers were aware of any bans that were imposed. She felt that this gave her customers' confidence. Her weekend trade has increased, and believes that this is a direct result of the initiative. Other licensees feel that some local youths and potential troublemakers are influenced by Pubwatch, but would like there to be greater public awareness.\nConclusions and recommendations: The problems of binge drinking, with associated anti-social behaviour and even violence is receiving more publicity than ever before. Licensees, collectively, are being blamed for allowing or even encouraging such acts. Clearly, the vast majority of licensees value the trust placed upon them by the licensing magistrates, and operate in a responsible manner. However, the social problems remain, and so operators are obliged to do everything possible to demonstrate that they are \"fit and proper persons\". The sale of alcoholic drinks is, by its very nature, a difficult one. Alcohol has a different impact upon each customer, and tolerance levels vary. The observant licensee, together with well-trained staff, are able to recognise early sign of intoxication and violent behaviour, and refuse further service. This does not end the problem. The binge drinker will go elsewhere, or may have a friend purchase his drinks, or may visit an off-license. He will stay in the vicinity of his friends, and may induce them to commit offences. The simple solution is to identify those who wish to drink to excess and then interfere with the enjoyment of their peers. Once identified, they can be excluded from the pubs until they are able to act responsibly. One effective way of doing this is for licensees to join together with the police in organisations such as Pubwatch, and collectively identify the unwanted elements, and simply refuse them entry. It will make the locality more peaceful, quieter, and prove that the licensees have a real social conscience. It is of value as a forum of discussion on trade matters as well as a means of excluding the worst behaved individuals. The small operators can make their observations about how local and national events impinge upon their operations, while managers can use Pubwatch to report concerns about the policies of their owners, so that the police can seek to address their worries. Only by such debates and actions can licensees appear to be behaving in the responsible manner which the possession of a license demands.Alcohol abuse is not simply a British phenomena. Many other countries suffer from alcohol related crimes. It would be inappropriate to suggest that here is an answer: the structure of the alcohol industry is different, and the cultures vary. However, it would appear to have some effect here, and is spreading through the country, as other towns see that Pubwatch can play a part in crime reduction. It may be appropriate that anywhere else in the world which is experiencing a problem may be able to adapt the idea to their own advantage.Note to licensees\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To study the problems of alcohol-related crime in the UK, and to describe the operation of a Pubwatch scheme which attempts to unite the police and the licensees in bringing effective action against those involved.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Reference has been made to Home Office sources to discover the extent of the problem. Schemes which have alleviated the problem have been examined. The general principles of Pubwatch are studied, and then its effectiveness in a specific operation is examined as a case study.\nFindings: - The study has revealed that the police regard Pubwatch as an effective weapon. Some licensees agree, and even believe that its operation can increase.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study merely reports on the outcome from one licensing authority. It is clear that the impact of Pubwatch must be monitored in more detail and over many areas before its real impact can be determined.\nPractical implications: - The concept is clearly worthy of consideration for all of the licensed trade. It could become a vital weapon in the campaign towards responsible drinking.\nOriginality/value: - It is hoped that this paper will initiate debate on the scheme, and to examine solutions to the problem of anti-social behaviour caused by alcohol. Thus it should be of value to licensees and pub owners, the police and local authorities, as well as the public at large.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A review of entrepreneurship education research: Exploring the contribution of the Education + Training special issues
|
[
"Training",
"Review",
"SLR",
"Entrepreneurship education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As a research area, entrepreneurship education (EE) has attracted increased scholarly attention in recent decades (Fayolle, 2013). This is evidenced by the growing number of entrepreneurship modules in higher education, the spread of such modules beyond pure business and economics disciplines, the sustained (and in some countries, increasing) number of entrepreneurship faculty at reader and professorial level (Iacobucci and Micozzi), and the growing number of international conferences, books and calls for papers on the topic (Henry and McGowan, 2016). At the global level, research articles published over the last 20 years on EE have been comprehensive, covering topics as diverse as programme objectives (Hytti and O'Gorman, 2004); categorisation (Garavan and O'Cinneide, 1994; Jamieson, 1984); content and pedagogical approaches (Taatila, 2010); learning outcomes' frameworks (Higher Education and Training Awards Council, 2012; Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), 2012); students' attitudes and perceptions (Shinnar et al., 2009); evaluation and effectiveness (Henry et al., 2003; Martin et al., 2013; Matlay, 2008; Storey, 2000), and gender (Westhead and Solesvik, 2016). It is now widely accepted that entrepreneurship is a key component of most business and management schools, as well as a recent addition to non-business and professional disciplines. With specific regard to the latter, there has been increased recognition that EE has an important role to play in science-based professions, such as pharmacy and veterinary medicine (Henry and Treanor, 2010), supporting the view that such disciplines are valuable sources of economic growth (Science and Learning Expert Group, 2010; Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2014; Henry and McGowan, 2016).\nTheoretical context: Defining EE\nMethodology: We used an adapted version of the now well-established systematic literature review (SLR) approach. Such approaches have been used successfully within the field of entrepreneurship research as a means of gathering large volumes of published evidence over long periods of time (Pittaway and Cope, 2007). The journal Education + Training was searched electronically for recent articles focusing on the topic of Entrepreneurship and/or Enterprise Education. The search was conducted as an \"in-journal\" search via the journal's on-line repository (www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/et). Key words used in the search were: \"entrepreneurship\" OR \"entrepreneur\" OR \"enterprise\" OR \"business.\" Contents pages of each issue during the time period were also searched by way of cross-reference to ensure no relevant article was excluded. The focus was ultimately centred on the journal's special issues on the topic of EE and training.\nFindings and discussion: In the following sections of the paper, we present and discuss the analysis of the 66 papers that form the basis of this review. Our approach is oriented to the headings that structure the reading guide (as presented in the below list), synthesising that content with our understanding of the current state of the domain of EE research.\nConclusions: The aim of this paper was to review recent literature on EE in order to explore its contribution to the broader entrepreneurship scholarship base. We choose to focus our review on papers published with the dedicated EE special issue series of the journal Education + Training. In so doing, we sought to concentrate on questions relating to the topics explored, noting observable trends in country context, methodological approach and EE definitions. We reviewed a total of 66 papers from seven special issues published in Education + Training over a period of six years.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review recent published research on entrepreneurship education (EE) specifically within the special issue collections of the journal Education +Training, and to assess the overall contribution to the field. The research questions focus on: What topics are explored by these SI papers? What trends can be observed in relation to country context and methodological approach? How is EE defined in these papers, and how do the papers contribute to the wider entrepreneurship research agenda?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses an adapted version of the systematic literature review approach, focusing on the discrete special issues on entrepreneurship/enterprise education published in the journal Education + Training since 2010. A comprehensive reading guide was used to review the papers, with completed data compiled into a single excel spreadsheet to facilitate analysis. A total of 66 papers were reviewed.\nFindings: A considerable range of themes, geographical contexts and methodological approaches were used in the papers reviewed. A mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches were also found. The papers were characterised by a strong international and applied dimension, with the core collective contribution of the SI papers laying in their direct relevance to practice.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is limited by its deliberate focus on a discrete set of special issue papers; however, the total of 66 papers included in the review is noteworthy.\nPractical implications: The paper demonstrates the considerable learning that can be garnered from the Education + Training special issue collection for EE practitioners.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time this discrete collection of special issue papers has been reviewed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Emergent approach to knowledge management by small companies: multiple case-study research
|
[
"Poland",
"Knowledge management",
"Small firms",
"Small to medium sized enterprises",
"Case study analysis",
"Emergent approach"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The body of research about knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is rather limited (Durst and Edvardsson, 2012) compared to the large number of studies concerning big companies. There is also a scarcity of practical guidelines and best practices in KM for SMEs, although some initiatives have been undertaken to fill in this gap (Ogiwara et al., 2010). This happens even in the case of those small companies for which cognitive resources are a key determinant of their success (Coyte et al., 2012).\n2. Knowledge management in SMEs: As KM is \"rapidly becoming an integral business activity for organizations as they realize that competitiveness pivots around the effective management of knowledge\" (Wong and Aspinwall, 2005), KM initiatives are gaining more and more attention not only in large companies, but also among their smaller counterparts (Bozbura, 2007; Wei Chong et al., 2011b). Actually, KM has the potential to provide several benefits to small and medium-sized firms, such as better communication, improved customer service, faster response times, enhanced innovativeness, greater efficiency in processes and procedures and reduced risk of loss of key capabilities (Handzic, 2004; Edvardsson and Durst, 2013a). KM initiatives may also lead to skill increase or staff retention (Migdadi, 2009; Wei Chong et al., 2011b), and can have a positive influence on broadly defined human capital, new business opportunities and new product development (Edvardsson and Oskarsson, 2013). Additionally, as Dotsika and Patrick (2013) or Desouza and Awazu (2006) highlight, the implementation of KM programmes in SMEs may be even more crucial, as knowledge can be their single key resource. Furthermore, knowledge and its management are often perceived as critical sources of growth (Salojarvi et al., 2005).\n3. Emergent KM: The idea of \"emergent\" KM development, especially when SMEs are concerned, has been already proposed in the literature, but in a fragmented way. For instance, as particularly regards actions and mechanisms that support knowledge sharing in an organization, Van den Hooff and Huysman (2009) distinguish between two approaches: engineering and emergent. The engineering approach focuses on \"managing and controlling organizational knowledge for the purpose of securing a competitive advantage\"; it is assumed that knowledge, seen as a strategic resource of a company, can be shared and transferred in an organization by providing the context and means to do so in a \"top-down fashion\". Previous studies have focused on this aspect, giving particular attention to the role played by organizational and technical infrastructures to support knowledge sharing among individuals. Conversely, in an emergent approach, \"the focus is mainly on social aspects, and knowledge sharing is seen under a practice-based perspective\". In such an approach, the situated and collective nature of learning is stressed: organizational members learn from and with each other during their day-by-day activities, and KM practices and tools \"emerge\" from the bottom. According to Ferguson et al. (2010), the engineering approach derives from a rationalistic and objectivistic view of knowledge, while the emergent approach derives from a post-rationalist and practice-based view. Furthermore, the former considers KM as driven by a perceived need to manage and control knowledge resources, while the latter is mainly geared towards facilitating knowledge flows within and between social networks. The same authors also indicate the two approaches, respectively, with the terms \"active\" and \"latent\" KM programmes. In a previous study, Sparrow (2005) referred to a contrast between an idea of KM \"emergent\" development in small companies and those of \"investigative/diagnostic\" and \"event-based\" KM development. The first approach is implemented through pilot projects, the second one is supposed to face the overall cognitive needs and the third one aims to solve specific problems. Also, Burford et al. (2011) underline the dissonance that exists between a strategic/top-down management and a situated/practice-based approach to knowledge works, where the former privileges formalized and cognitivist processes, while the latter represents an emergent, self-organizing and spontaneous activity.\n4. Methodology and research questions: The main aim of this research was to investigate how small companies manage their knowledge. Despite the fact that literature generally refers to SMEs, the authors prefer to focus on small entities. Indeed, although many studies about KM consider SMEs as a homogenous group (Uit Beijerse, 2000; Corso et al., 2003; Wong and Aspinwall, 2005; Migdadi, 2009; Wei Chong et al., 2011a), in the authors' opinion, it is advisable to divide the SMEs category into small firms (including micro ones) and medium-sized firms. The reason is that KM practices required by a company with, e.g., 10 employees are far too different from the ones necessary in a company with, e.g., 240 workers. Furthermore, keeping in mind that, among European SMEs, micro firms (i.e. companies with less than 10 employees) stand for 92.4 per cent and small companies (i.e. those between 10 and 50 employees) for 6.4 per cent of all companies in the 28 European Union countries (Muller et al., 2014), micro and small entities should deserve much more attention. As the body of research on KM in small and micro firms is hardly existing - some studies carried out up to date did not consider companies with less than 50 employees (Sanz-Valle et al., 2011; Donate and Guadamillas, 2011; Lopez-Cabrales et al., 2009) or even 100 employees (Lara et al., 2012; Ferraresi et al., 2012) as an object of research - the authors based their theoretical review on studies devoted to SMEs as the whole. The rationale is that the phenomena described in the previous sections concern small and micro firms, but are grounded in the literature on the whole SME group.\n5. Findings and discussion: This section presents the results of the case-study analysis in relation to the three research questions stated above.\n6. Conclusion: 6.1 Findings\nAcknowledgement: This study was performed within the research project \"Knowledge management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) offering knowledge intensive business services\", funded by the Polish National Science Centre on the basis of Decision No. DEC/2011/01/D/HS4/04111 and \"Ateneo 2012\" Project \"Developing organizational ambidexterity to foster the competitiveness of the Italian machinery industry\" (University of Padova).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the knowledge management (KM) approach followed by small companies. In particular, after introducing the notion of emergent approach, the paper aims to examine if that notion is useful to properly describe the way small businesses approach their KM activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on the results of a qualitative survey involving 12 owners and managers of small companies belonging to the knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) sector. The survey uses the case-study method.\nFindings: The findings confirm that the approach to KM adopted by small companies can be defined as emergent: in the analysed cases, there were no formal KM plans, despite the fact that the examined companies have all introduced various KM practices. This shows that there can be the need to define KM approaches that better fit smaller companies.\nPractical implications: Although an emergent approach may be seen as unplanned, companies should learn how to be aware of their KM practices and, once they are, how to develop them properly. For executives to be able to recognize emergent KM practices, notions and elements of KM need to be introduced in their business background and professional education (e.g. how KM fits into a small organization, what KM processes are, what KM tools and practices exist, etc.).\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to the understanding of KM in really small entities, still a much under-explored topic.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Thinking about how to think: cognitive skills to stay relevant in a digital economy
|
[
"Training",
"Human resource development",
"Talent development",
"Capabilities management",
"Thinking skills"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nFourth Industrial Revolution: Touted as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the fusion of technologies is creating a mash-up of digital and physical products and services in a \"phygital\" world - think drone logistics or 3D-printed organs. Consequently, many existing jobs become obsolete and new jobs requiring different sets of skills start to emerge.\nHuman resources challenges: Given the disruptive nature of digital technologies, how should senior human resources practitioners manage organizational capabilities and develop talents to be equipped with future skills? Besides simply achieving productivity gains and value-adding, the ultimate goal must be to enable professionals, managers, and executives (PMEs) to develop the skills that create value through innovations.\nHolistic thinking skills in a digital context: Skills may broadly be categorized into technical or hard skills, people or soft skills, and thinking or cognitive skills. Briefly, technical skills are the abilities to perform specialized tasks. People skills are the abilities to interact with others. Lastly, thinking skills are the mental abilities to analyze and synthesize information. Technical skills are generally domain specific and dependent on market demand and business needs during a particular period of time. Thus, it is a major challenge to be able to anticipate what types of technical skills are required in a future economy. Nonetheless, given that digital technologies are rapidly changing the way societies do things (Lanvin and Evans, 2016), it should be a very safe bet to focus on digital-related technical skills such as mobile-application development and Internet of Things. In terms of people skills such as communication and teamwork, these skills should be taken as a \"given\" set of abilities for anyone who wishes to thrive in a social setting. PMEs must continue to hone people skills because these are \"prerequisites\" for all human interactions at the workplace.\nConclusion: To stay relevant in a digital economy, there is a need to develop a holistic set of cognitive skills such as design thinking, process thinking, systems thinking, futures thinking, and creative thinking that complements technical and people skills.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic set of thinking or cognitive skills for professionals, managers, and executives to stay relevant in a digital economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The viewpoint is based on more than 20 years of experience gained working with multinational companies and public sector organizations across various industries in Asia.\nFindings: To stay relevant in a digital economy, there is a need to develop a holistic set of cognitive skills such as design thinking, process thinking, systems thinking, futures thinking, and creative thinking that complements technical and people skills.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper provides senior human resources practitioners with suggestions on a holistic set of thinking skills that complements technical and people skills to help manage organizational capabilities and develop talents to stay relevant in a digital economy.\nPractical implications: The paper provides senior human resources practitioners with suggestions on a holistic set of thinking skills that complements technical and people skills to help manage organizational capabilities and develop talents to stay relevant in a digital economy.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the existing literature on human resource development by providing insights on a holistic set of thinking skills that are needed in a digital economy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evidence of QFD best practices for product development:a multiple case study
|
[
"Product development",
"Quality function deployment",
"Brazil"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Remaining competitive in a global economy hinges on the ability to develop successful products. Companies usually establish a product development process in order to develop their products more effectively. This process embraces a number of methods and techniques in each of its stages to gather the information needed to progress the project to the next stage. One of the methods applied to product development is QFD (quality function deployment). It is a method adopted by a number of companies that helps to translate customer needs and wants into a technical concept or design quality characteristics.A significant number of QFD applications have been reported, and a vast literature has evolved. These applications have lead to a discussion concerning the overall effects of QFD in organizations throughout the world. It is a fact that some organizations have implemented QFD, but to what degree is a question that still needs to be addressed. In this sense, a research project was begun in 2000 to study how QFD has been applied, the main difficulties associated with its implementation, and the benefits obtained. Firstly, a survey was carried out, the results of which can be found in Cauchick Miguel (2003a). Then, a number of recommendations for further development were provided based on the findings. It was understood that some results have led to a more in-depth analysis. Then, a number of case studies were conducted in companies which have already achieved maturity in QFD implementation. This paper presents the results of a field research study of the use of QFD in companies operating in Brazil.\nQFD theory and application: QFD concepts have been extensively explored in the literature for the past 20 years or so. The method was conceived in Japan in the late 1960s. The term \"quality deployment\" was adopted for the first time in 1972. Beginning in the early 1980s, the QFD product development approach was adopted by American industry, starting with the automotive sector. Later, the application of the method was expanded to other industrial sectors, including service organizations. By adopting QFD, both manufacturing and service organizations can receive its inherent benefits, as pointed out by recent studies (e.g. Cristiano et al., 2000; Martins and Aspinwall, 2001; Cauchick Miguel, 2003a).QFD is a generic name for quality deployment and narrowly defined quality function deployment (Akao, 1998). Quality deployment is defined as translating user demands into substitute characteristics, determining the design quality of a completed product. Then, it systematically deploys the quality of each product system into that of each component and process, including the relationships among them. Narrowly defined, QFD is defined as systematically deploying the job functions and operations that contribute to quality into step-by-step details.The main QFD components are the deployment tables, the matrices and the conceptual model. A quality deployment table is a chart that represents levels of deployment of a given subject. Information is grouped by affinity (similarity) and ordered in levels from the left-hand side of the table towards the right-hand side. More detail is obtained from level one to levels two, three, and so on. A matrix is a combination of two deployment tables. One of the most common matrices is called the \"house of quality\" (HOQ). This is a matrix that provides a map for the design process, as a construct for understanding customer requirements (demanded quality) and establishing priorities of design requirements (quality characteristics) to satisfy them. QFD utilises a set of matrices to establish quality and deploy it through the product development process. Therefore, other matrices are also used in a cause-effect relationship. These matrices relate the variables associated with one design phase to other variables associated with the subsequent design phase. This set of matrices used in a given development is called the QFD conceptual model, which represents the whole development. It may consider a number of deployments, such as quality, technology, costs, and reliability deployments (Akao, 1998).In terms of QFD applications, a comprehensive literature review is provided by Chan and Wu (2002). The work is based on a reference bank of about 650 publications. After a brief introduction to the historical development of QFD, especially in Japan and the USA, a categorical analysis is presented. In this analysis functional fields, applied industries and methodological development are highlighted.\nResearch background: In 2001, a postal survey was conducted of a sample of more than 500 top Brazilian companies to identify QFD activities in Brazil. A response rate of about 22 percent was achieved, which is within Furtrell's (1994) expected range of 20-40 percent. Approximately 21 percent of the companies surveyed were QFD users, and most of them had applied the method since 1997. The companies reported the difficulties experienced, perceived benefits, and other relevant aspects of their QFD implementation. The main difficulties were related to the size of the matrices, the commitment of group members, and lack of experience. Companies were more likely to report qualitative benefits associated with improved cross-functional communication and teamwork. A report of the design, development and findings of this survey was presented by Cauchick Miguel (2003a). Although the study revealed a considerable lack of knowledge about the method expressed by many survey respondents, some companies were identified which had reached a maturity level of QFD usage. From this study, a number of recommendations for further development were provided based on the findings. So, a more in-depth analysis of QFD users was performed through case studies. The case study methodology and results are presented in the following sections.\nCase studies research methodology: This section presents the methodological approach used to conduct the case studies. A more detailed description can be found elsewhere (Cauchick Miguel, 2003b; Cauchick Miguel and Sassi, 2003; Cauchick Miguel and Formaggio, 2003).Given the investigative nature of this research, a case study method seemed appropriate. Additionally, in general, case studies are the preferred strategy when the investigator has little control over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context. Such \"explanatory\" case studies also can be complemented by two other types (Yin, 1994), i.e. \"exploratory\" and \"descriptive\" case studies. Voss et al. (2002) complement this by stating that in the early stages of many research programmes, exploration is needed to develop research ideas and questions (i.e. means to uncover areas for research and theory development). An exploratory case study can be considered for this work because this study began by setting some direction in order to understand QFD best practices. Next, a theory development behind the application of the method will be conducted. Additionally, a primary distinction in designing case studies is between single- and multiple-case designs. The latter has distinct advantages and disadvantages in comparison to the former. The evidence from multiple cases is often considered to be more compelling, and the overall study is therefore regarded as being more robust (Yin, 1994). From the perspective of this study, the multiple-case study format was chosen due to its inherent advantages. A previous investigation (Cauchick Miguel, 2003a) identified the companies where the cases should be studied, since each case must be carefully selected (Yin, 1994).The companies investigated are involved in a diverse range of industries and also differ in size, nationality, and annual revenue. Some details of the companies studied are shown in Table I. Semi-structured, tape-recorded interviews with individuals involved with product development were the main technique employed to gather the data in loco. Other methods for gathering data, such as non-participant observation and document analysis, were also employed. An interview protocol checklist was employed on which notes and annotations were made as the interview progressed. It consisted of ten basic questions, with subsequent queries according to the respondent response. Interviews lasted about two hours, ranging from one hour to 2.5 hours. Aggregation of the results was done a posteriori. Then, a case study was developed for each company, as described below.\nCase study results: As stated earlier, the findings discussed here were derived from an ongoing QFD study in companies operating in Brazil. The companies studied are identified as A, B, C, and so forth due to confidentiality reasons.Company A\nDiscussion of results: Tables II and III summarise the results of the case studies. Table II presents the identified aspects of QFD best practice, while Table III shows factors contributing to successful QFD implementation.As can be seen in Table II, a number of QFD best practices were identified. These best practices involve the operational aspects of QFD (e.g. development of matrices and voice of customers), interaction with other organizational practices (e.g. TQC system and other methods and techniques), and applications (concept definition, strategic planning, and developing a global product).Regarding the factors associated with successful QFD application, the literature categorised them into (Cristiano et al., 2001):* organizational characteristics (e.g. management support for QFD and cross-functional involvement in QFD project);* data sources (e.g. existing data sources and QFD driven data sources); and* QFD tools and techniques such as use of advanced phases of quality deployment (e.g. development of different matrices, comprehensive QFD, integration of analytical techniques and QFD).In agreement with the literature, almost all of these factors appear as a result of the case studies (Table III) and some as best practices (Table II).Management support is always very important because all available expertise and market information are required (Govers, 1996). Cristiano et al. (2001) reported that one of the characteristics that US companies exhibited was QFD management support. The result from Table III (American companies C and F) agreed with this previous study, since those companies pointed out this factor as relevant. Conversely, specific tools used with QFD did not matter for Cristiano et al. (2001), but they appear as a best practice for the American companies F and G (Table III).Team selection and team building are other important factors (Govers, 1996), indicated by companies B and G. For example, in order to turn a pilot project into a success, it is critical to select an appropriate team. Experience has shown that these are organizational factors that companies have to untangle (Govers, 1996).Another essential factor pointed out by Cheng et al. (1995) is training, which was cited by two companies (A and C), and was particularly important to company A. They conduct short \"refresher\" training with the development team every time a new project is begun using QFD. Company A claims that the beneficial results from this training are quite significant.Another organizational factor that deserves attention is QFD meetings. The meeting duration depends on the project and the necessary speed of the development towards a deadline. The duration of the meetings usually varies from a couple of hours to one day (Cauchick Miguel, 2003a). The choice also depends on how urgent the project is. The longer the meeting, the shorter time to market that can be achieved. However, long meetings tend to be tiring and, eventually, tedious. In this sense, some companies pointed out half-day meetings as a useful factor.Voice of the customer is another critical factor concerning QFD projects. The literature has also addressed this issue (e.g. Govers, 1996; Cristiano et al., 2001). Use of new customer data, for instance, is associated with larger positive QFD impacts (Cristiano et al., 2001). This best practice was found in companies A and G (Table II).Finally, one result which was a consensus in the case studies, is the inherent benefits of QFD. Most of are intangible and long term, as already identified in the past by Griffin (1992). This is also confirmed in more recent studies (Cristiano et al., 2000; Martins and Aspinwall, 2001; Cauchick Miguel, 2003a).\nConclusions: This paper presents the results of a multiple case study on QFD applications in companies operating in Brazil in order to identify QFD best practices and success factors for its application. In this sense, some conclusions can be drawn from the case studies:* Although it was possible to identify some best practices in the companies (Table II), one remark is consistent: the method is not applied in its full capabilities, considering other deployments are not conducted and, in most cases, only the HOQ is applied. Therefore, further research in this direction to investigate the reasons why this occurs would be desirable. Further, it seems that companies with a more robust development process tend to use QFD more simplistically. On one hand this restricts the benefits from its application. On the other hand, it simplifies its use since some companies see the method as too complex and cumbersome. As a consequence, further investigation to obtain a broad understanding of QFD within new product development seems appropriate.* Concerning the QFD implementation success factors, the results from the cases are well aligned with the literature. These factors (Table III) seem to be vital to achieve successful QFD applications. Nevertheless, the prediction of the relationship between these factors and successful application is another suggestion for future investigations that this research will concentrate.* Finally, experienced QFD users showed a number of best practices. The results emphasise good work on the voice of the customer, QFD integrated to TQC, use of comprehensive QFD and deployment of many different matrices, and QFD interaction with other methods. QFD assists organisations to achieve effective new product development processes, and therefore QFD can be a very powerful tool.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To identify QFD best practices and understand factors that contribute to successful QFD application.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A field research study is presented that summarises the use of QFD in a number of companies operating in Brazil. The paper reports multiple case studies conducted in organizations that have already achieved maturity in QFD implementation.\nFindings: - The study identified areas of QFD best practice such as the development of matrices and voice of customers, interaction with other organizational practices (e.g. TQC system and other methods and techniques), and less traditional QFD applications (concept definition, strategic planning, and developing a global product). The study also identifies QFD implementation success factors related to organizational characteristics (e.g. management support for QFD and cross-functional involvement in QFD project), data sources (e.g. existing data sources and QFD-driven data sources), and QFD tools and techniques such as use of advanced phases of quality deployment (e.g. development of different matrices, comprehensive QFD, integration of analytical techniques and QFD).\nPractical implications: - A useful source to be used by organizations that have been implementing QFD for product development or for those that plan to employ the method.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers practical and applied information on QFD implementation while identifying areas of best practice within a variety of situations. It will be useful for both academics and practitioners.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Firms' experience of SME-friendly policy and their participation and success in public procurement
|
[
"SMEs",
"Policy",
"Public procurement",
"Contracts",
"Tendering"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) involvement in the marketplace for public sector contracts is an area that pre-occupies policy makers and elected representatives in the European Union (EU), the USA, and beyond. The reason for this is simple. All the evidence shows that SMEs struggle to compete in public tendering competitions and are under-represented as public sector suppliers (Cabinet Office, 2013; GHK, 2010; PwC, 2014). Without doubt, something akin to market failure exists. This is neither desirable nor tenable if governments are serious about fostering dynamic economies with SMEs as the engines of growth, innovation and employment creation (Glover, 2008; Preuss, 2011; Sorte, 2016). Accounting for, on average, 12.8 per cent of GDP and 29 per cent of total government expenditure across developed economies, the public procurement market is too commercially important for SMEs to be excluded from OECD (2013). Not only does SMEs' under-representation limit their growth prospects and opportunities for diversifying their customer base, it also means that the supply marketplace is not as competitive as it could be (European Commission, 2008). Public sector organisations lose out as a result, with repercussions for efficiency in public administration and the effective delivery of public services.\nLiterature review: Public procurement is understood as having a key role to play in supporting the SME sector specifically and, at a more overarching level, fostering a dynamic enterprise environment (Preuss, 2011; Sorte, 2016). Contemporary enterprise policy bears this out, with procurement featuring prominently as a policy lever in both the EU Small Business Act 2008 and the US Small Business Act. In concrete terms, public sector contracts offer SMEs stable and predictable sources of demand, payment certainty and reputational enhancement (Cabras, 2011; Fee et al., 2002; Loader, 2005); all of which enables them to build for the future by investing in their organisational resources and human capital. Interacting with the public sector can also spur SMEs to professionalise their operations (Pickernell et al., 2013b) and engage in product and process innovation (Georghiou et al., 2014). Nor are the benefits one-way. SME involvement adds to the quantity and quality of competition in the supply marketplace, yielding lower bid prices and improved choice for public sector organisations (European Commission, 2008). Equally, it serves the goal of having a sustainable domestic business sector that creates employment, embeds itself in the local economy and contributes to national prosperity.\nModel development: The model presented in this section posits relationships between SME-friendly policy, as experienced by SMEs themselves, and frequency of tendering; success rate in contract competitions; and commercial orientation towards the public sector (see Figure 1). The relationships are predicated on what policy explicitly sets out to achieve, which is to have more SMEs competing for and winning public sector contracts. There is an outstanding need for reliable, survey-based evidence on SME-friendly procurement policy and its associated outcomes for firms; hence the rationale for the deductive model put forward here.\nMethodology: Independent variable\nResults: This section presents the results of the study. Each of the three hypothesised relationships is tested using step-wise regression. The five control variables are entered in the first step. The variable that captures firms' experience of SME-friendly policy is entered second. This is done in respect of frequency of tendering (Model 1), success rate in public contract competitions (Model 2) and commercial orientation towards the public sector (Model 3). The output from these three models is given below. Table IV contains the standardised coefficients (b), standard errors and significance values for the independent and control variables in the case of Models 1-3. Before proceeding, it is important to point out that there is no evidence of multicollinearity in the dataset. Proof of this, the highest observed value inflation factor (VIF) value is 1.50[4].\nDiscussion: Policies to expand SMEs' presence in public procurement are a common feature of contemporary public administration (OECD, 2013). These policies evince similarities in content, with their emphasis on increasing the visibility of opportunities, ensuring relevancy and proportionality in the use of qualification criteria, alleviating the administrative burden of tendering, tackling contract size barriers and addressing information deficits, among other areas. Such trends reflect the fact that SMEs are under-represented as public sector suppliers at national and international level (Cabinet Office, 2013; GHK, 2010; PwC, 2014) and report the same barriers when competing for public contracts irrespective of jurisdiction (Loader, 2013). While academic interest in SME-friendly procurement policy is gaining pace, there remains a paucity of empirical studies. With a few exceptions (Flynn and Davis, 2015; Murray, 2011; Reis and Cabral, 2015), we know very little about the implementation of SME-friendly policies or their effects for firms in practice. Hence, the findings adduced in this study represent a timely and warranted addition to the literature. On the one hand, they afford SME and public procurement scholars a more evidence-informed view of government attempts to re-balance the market for public sector contracts. Equally, they provide some indication of how procurement reform initiatives are being experienced by SMEs as well as their association with indicators of firm behaviour and performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between firms' experience of small- and medium-size enterprise (SME)-friendly policy and their participation and success in public procurement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hypothesised relationships between SME-friendly policy and three outcome variables - frequency of tendering, success rate in public contract competitions, and commercial orientation towards the public sector - are tested using survey data from 2,755 SME respondents.\nFindings: SME-friendly policy is found to be significant in explaining success rates and commercial orientation towards the public sector marketplace. It is not significant in explaining frequency of tendering.\nResearch limitations/implications: The context for the study is Ireland. However, given institutional similarities in national public procurement regimes, particularly among EU Member States, the findings have relevance beyond the Irish context. The research design is cross-sectional and so does not allow for any causal claims to be made.\nOriginality/value: This study puts forward and tests an original model of SME-friendly procurement policy and its associated outcomes for firms. It develops a comprehensive 16-item instrument to measure SME-friendly procurement policy. It uses SMEs as research informants instead of public buyers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The economic foundations of corporate sustainability
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Food industry",
"Process analysis",
"Business performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe \"triple bottom line\" - an illusion?: The view that companies should take into account not only the simple (profit) bottom line of their business operations, but adopt a three-dimensional perspective that includes economic, social and ecological implications of doing business has become very fashionable - at least in the rhetoric of companies and their stakeholders. However, reality appears to be that the economic bottom line still dominates corporate decision making.Does this mean that companies could - or should - ignore the social and economic dimensions of their business? Absolutely not - in the first place, there are many laws that set standards for the social and environmental behavior of companies (at least in OECD countries) with which they must comply. Economically speaking, these laws are an effort to \"internalize externalities\". Externalities are positive or negative effects of economic activities - such as income multiplier effects in local communities or air pollution - that are not reflected in market prices (for an overview of this conceptual framework see Steger, 2004, p. 6). Depending on the degree to which regulation forces companies to internalize externalities, environmental and social issues can become economically relevant for companies.However, corporate sustainability does not imply mere compliance with the law, as this is a required precondition for companies' licenses to operate. Obviously not all externalities are internalized. As a result, stakeholders put companies under additional pressure to internalize more of the social and environmental externalities they create. While these demands can become relevant to business in different ways (for more details see Steger (2003, p. 73)), companies must ensure their own economic survival in a competitive and volatile business environment while dealing with social and environmental issues brought to their attention by stakeholders. This scenario clearly appears to be more in tune with reality than a \"triple bottom line\" expectation (that companies will give equal weighting to economic, social and ecological issues). But, how can companies live up to the expectations of their stakeholders? This article presents recent empirical evidence on how managers perceive this reputed dilemma. We will present findings from industry comparisons and will respectively elaborate on more industry-specific results using the food and beverage industry as an example. For a more detailed comparison between industries, refer to Steger (2004).\nReview of the literature: Theoretical studies\nMethod and sample: The authors opted for a research design facilitating a comparison across several industries that were chosen based on their exposure to current and future social and environmental risks. They include oil and gas, utility, aviation, automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, technology, financial services and food and beverage. We focused on large global companies with a home base in one of the OECD countries.Given the rather exploratory stage of the research field, we selected a mixed methods design featuring:* Semi-structured interviews with managers (sustainability experts, business managers from various functions, and external stakeholders).* Self-completion questionnaires (also targeting sustainability experts and business managers) to collect complementary quantitative data.Between April 2002 and April 2003, we conducted more than 400 interviews, 336 interviews in 114 companies in 16 different countries (Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan). In addition, we carried out 82 stakeholder interviews (to \"benchmark\" managers' responses). We received 1,068 questionnaires (945 from business managers and 123 from sustainability experts). We detected a bias towards Northern Europe, and in terms of gender (mostly male) and corporate (versus non-corporate) staff. The exact distributions of industries in both samples (business managers and sustainability experts) are provided in Figures 1 and 2.As an example, for the food and beverage industry, some 60 interviews were carried out at 11 food and beverage companies (Cadbury Schweppes, Chiquita, Coca-Cola, Danisco, Danone, Diageo, Kraft, Nestle, Nutreco, Procter & Gamble and Unilever) and relevant stakeholders. We received 130 surveys from business managers and sustainability officers.Since there is no practical way to establish the \"objective\" truth, a word of caution is due. We have adopted a social constructivist approach, which is based on the assumption that \"perception is reality\" and hence determines people's decisions and actions, but also is inherently vulnerable to certain biases of self-representation and social desirability. In addition, there is always a self-selection bias in studies of this kind.In conclusion, our data are most certainly biased towards the proactive end of the scale. If interpreted carelessly the data would depict an overoptimistic stance of corporate sustainability and its business case.We address the following research questions:RQ1.Which social and environmental issues do companies face and how significant are they?\nDiscovering the business case - empirical evidence: cross-sector findings: Environmental and social issues\nConcluding remarks: Our assessment of managers' knowledge and perception of the business case for corporate sustainability provides several new insights: Most importantly, our findings constitute a significant counterpoint to the \"sustainability rhetoric\" of many companies and consultancies as well as the various normative calls on companies by NGOs. Social and environmental issues clearly lack the significance necessary to draw more attention from managers coping with the \"daily grind of business\". This is primarily because companies' primary stakeholders (shareholders and customers) largely ignore those issues.Nevertheless, a business case for sustainability exists - beyond the obvious of improved efficiency and health and safety performance - even if it is difficult to build and measure. The issues are many, and are industry-, company- or even plant-specific. Our evidence illustrates internal bottlenecks that impede the building and measurement of the business case. Companies lack the capacity and will to collect and process data on social and environmental issues. It is obvious the gap widens when the issues at hand are complex and perceived as less important than daily business issues.Our interviewees pointed to two factors that could overcompensate for the absence of a business case for sustainability validated through measurement: first, soft organizational factors such as a proactive corporate cultures and top management commitment; and second, intuitively plausible business logic, i.e. a causal model linking corporate sustainability management to improvements of financial performance. Here we would like to add some words of caution:First, given that our evidence also pointed to the significance of reactive mindsets and lack of managerial knowledge as internal barriers, one should be careful not to overestimate the positive effect of corporate culture. Furthermore, top management commitment can end abruptly in times of financial difficulties or after a management reshuffle. Second, it is risky not to validate causal models, even though they may be intuitively plausible. Such assumptions can prove to be half-baked or simply wrong (Ittner and Larcker, 2003, p. 91).While corporate sustainability may not be the next \"big thing\" as is so often proclaimed nowadays, it is certainly here to stay. Its future role is determined by both companies and their stakeholders, and it will be very industry-specific. Since it is still somewhat unclear how regulatory and political frameworks on certain issues (e.g. climate change, fair trade) will develop, it may be presumptuous to expect a swift rise in pressure on companies to integrate social and environmental issues more strongly into their strategies. In any case, our evidence clearly suggests that companies have \"room to maneuver\" in terms of a valid business case for corporate sustainability. Corporate laggards, in particular, have significant potential to improve their social and environmental performance and at the same time improve their bottom line.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to fill the void of empirical cross-industry research in the area of corporate sustainability management and its business case.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Nine industries (oil and gas, utility, aviation, automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, technology, financial services and food and beverage) are compared in terms of their environmental and social issues, the pressure they face from their stakeholders, and the resulting business case for corporate sustainability. For this approach, a mixed methods design was employed featuring semi-structured interviews with managers (sustainability experts, business managers from various functions) and external stakeholders); and self-completion questionnaires (also targeting sustainability experts and business managers) to collect complementary quantitative data. It was possible to draw upon more than 400 interviews and 1,100 questionnaires.\nFindings: - It was ascertained that the business case is clearly sector-specific and difficult for companies to build for several reasons: limited relevance of social and environmental risks and opportunities to companies' core business; numerous and highly-fragmented stakeholder demands; and lack of basic organizational capacities to collect and process relevant data.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is primarily relevant to practitioners. It looks beyond the usual \"sustainability rhetoric\", as it provides a much differentiated (since cross-industry) view on the drivers and barriers to corporate sustainability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Finance-seeking behaviour and outcomes for small- and medium-sized enterprises
|
[
"Financing decisions",
"Small- and medium-sized enterprises",
"Capital structure",
"Debt and equity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It goes without saying that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are economically important, not least in Australia. In evidence, small (0-19 employees) and medium (20-199 employees) businesses (the standard definition of SMEs used in Australia), respectively represent 96 per cent and 4 per cent of Australia's nearly 2.1 million trading enterprises, accounting for 35 and 22 per cent of value-added, and 47.2 and 23.3 per cent of employment (Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, 2011). It is equally manifest that SMEs generally lack appropriate finance and therefore require special attention because of their inherent informational opaqueness and the limited finance sources commensurately available (Beck et al., 2005, 2008). A better understanding of the how, when, and why of SMEs seek finance and any outcomes then allows to us to improve industry practice and inform government policy so that this sector is not habitually starved of the funds necessary for sustainable growth and development.\n2. Review of the literature: A sizeable literature focuses on the restricted capability of SMEs to obtain finance because of their inherent informational opacity (e.g. Beck et al., 2005, 2008; Berger and Udell, 2006; Dietrich, 2012). All of these studies encompass two broad dimensions; that is, the supply and demand side of SME financing. On the supply side, numerous studies have suggested that SMEs are less likely to have access to formal sources of finance, such as securitized debt and equity markets. Thus, SMEs rely relatively heavily on intermediated finance from banks and other financial institutions (Iturralde et al., 2010). However, banks may wish to have less exposure to SMEs or want to charge SMEs relatively higher fees and interest rates compared with larger firms (Beck et al., 2008). In addition to high levels of operational costs, SMEs have a severe lack of negotiation power (Dietrich, 2012) because the alternatives to bank finance are even more costly (Roberts and Sufi, 2009). Therefore, financial obstacles consistently adversely affect SMEs borrowing and thus they frequently rely on internal finance (Beck et al., 2005, 2008).\n3. Theory development: The focus of this paper is on the firm-level determinants of SME finance seeking and outcomes as based on the prevailing capital structure theories, namely, pecking-order, trade-off, and agency costs theory. For this purpose, we seek to obtain empirical verification of the following hypotheses.\n4. Model specification: In this paper, we seek insights into both the factors underlying a SME's decision to seek additional finance, including debt and equity, and the demand-side factors influencing the outcomes of finance applications. For these purposes, we employ the following empirical model to examine the factors involved in each of these decisions:\n5. Data: In our analysis, we utilize the results of surveys included in the Business Longitudinal Database (BLD) Expended CURF, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The BLD comprises two independent samples (referred to as panels) drawn from the in-scope Australian SME populations, defined in the survey as all businesses employing fewer than 200 employees. Panel 1 is representative of the in-scope business population as at 30 June 2005; Panel 2 is representative of the in-scope business population as at 30 June 2006, with each panel surveyed once a year for the following three years. Once included in a panel, and irrespective of changes to business size or industry division, the selected business remains in the stratum originally selected. For reasons of confidentiality, the survey includes only a randomly generated ID, so it is unfortunately impossible to merge the two panels. In addition, the scope of the questions included in the 2005 and 2006 surveys was refined for the surveys in 2007. As a result, we selected Panel 1, and removed the 2007 survey from our sample. Panel 1 comprises 2,732 SMEs,. The BLD data is collected directly via the ABS Business Characteristics Survey, with the assistance of the Australian Taxation Office and Australian Customs.\n6. Empirical results: Influential factors in seeking finance\n7. Concluding remarks: This paper provided empirical evidence relating to the finance-seeking behaviour of Australian SMEs using a large ABS data set. Our key motivation for the paper is that the factors determining the willingness of small businesses to seek finance lack evidence, especially in Australia. Based on capital structure theory, we investigate both these financing decisions and the demand-side determinants of finance availability while making allowance for firm-specific factors, such as business objectives. In the first step, we examined the determinants of finance seeking. In the second step, we investigated the factors affecting finance unavailability.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Model finance-seeking behaviour and outcomes by Australian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using firm-level panel data. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using firm-level three-year panel data for more than 2,000 SMEs from the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the authors estimate separate models for the seeking of finance (debt and/or equity) and the outcomes of finance seeking (successful or unsuccessful). Key explanatory variables include declared business focus (on financial, cost, operational, quality, innovation, and human resource measures), presence of business plans and other documentation related to successful finance seeking, innovation, indicators for family and foreign-owned businesses, and profitability. Control variables include sales, the number of employees, length of operations, export and import activity, government financial assistance, and industry classification.\nFindings: Business objectives together with a large number of firm-level characteristics, including firm age, size, industry and sales, profits, growth and exports, significantly affect both finance-seeking behaviour and outcomes. The authors find evidence that the pecking-order and agency cost theories of capital structure at least partly explain the financial behaviour of Australian SMEs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Several of the responses in the underlying survey data are qualitative so the authors are unable to assess how the strength of these relationships varies by the levels of sales and profitability.\nPractical implications: The findings show that business objectives significantly affect SME finance-seeking decisions and outcomes. SMEs that focus on profitability or growth have a strong willingness to seek additional finance; in comparison, SMEs that focus on the quality of their products or services are less likely to apply for additional finance. As only half of the SMEs in the sample considered profitability or growth to be a major business focus, core business objectives greatly affect SME financing decisions. Further, pecking-order theory not trade-off theory better explains the financial behaviour of SMEs, yielding evidence that SMEs continue to face financial constraints when pursuing growth. Some evidence also of agency cost theory in the positive effects of family ownership on debt seeking.\nOriginality/value: One of very few studies to examine finance seeking by SMEs, especially in Australia. Further, only study known to include declared business strategy, presence of business plans and other finance-related documentation and innovation in addition to the usual focus on growth and profitability to explain financing behaviour. Very large panel of longitudinal data used to explain financial decision making over time.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Online grocery systems design through task analysis
|
[
"Online grocery store",
"Electronic commerce",
"Process design",
"Task analysis",
"Process planning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online grocery shopping has not been accepted as fully as other types of online purchasing such as books, DVDs and CDs. Despite all the potential benefits to a consumer, 50 per cent of users never finish their first grocery shop and only 15 per cent of online grocery shoppers return to shop online again. Clearly, there is a problem. While many factors may play a part in this poor performance, initial research suggests that poor usability of online grocery shopping systems is a major factor and therefore more research needs to be conducted into user design of these types of systems and the type of errors that users could make whilst interacting with these systems.Initially this paper considers the inherent differences when placing multiple product, multiple quantity (MPMQ) orders, which are the norm for online grocery stores, as opposed to single product orders. The field of MPMQ ordering has been shown to be of significance in previous studies (for example see Heikkila et al., 1998; Hansen, 2008). A normative task model to support the design of an efficient ordering process for MPMQ orders is presented in this paper. In order to create a task model to support the design of an efficient ordering process for MPMQ orders, it is necessary to understand how online grocery stores are used; this is completed through a process of reverse engineering 14 different online grocery stores.The application of reverse engineering to review tasks is commonly used in software design and development to determine how an existing system has been designed and the features of that system. However, reverse engineering can also be used to gather user interface (UI) requirements, which allow the development of improved systems to meet user requirements. This paper presents the process of reverse engineering on a group of e-commerce grocery ordering web sites (in this paper these are referred to as \"online grocery stores\"), to create a task model of common methods of user interaction with such web sites. This normative task model contributes to further development of these types of web sites to improve user interaction and design by focusing on the types of errors that users can make while interacting with these systems. While typical task modelling focuses on creating optimal solutions for problems.\n2. Designing for users in a multiple product shopping environment: One of the major areas in human-computer interaction (HCI) research is how usable systems are with regard to their UI. The idea behind this research is to use the principles of usability with a focus on the development of the normative task model to guide the design elements of the UI. If something is said to have usability it is easy to use, easy to learn, efficient, visually pleasing, and quick and effective (Bara et al., 2001; Mandel, 1997; Preece, 2000). However, there is no single universally accepted definition of usability suitable for this research. According to the ISO 9241-11 standard, usability is the \"extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use\" (International Organization for Standardization, 1998). Preece (2000) explains that, in a practical sense, \"usability is concerned with developing computer systems to support rapid learning, high skill retention, and low error rates\". For this study the concept of usability will include a combination of both the ISO 941-11 and Preece's definition, and a usable system is defined as: a system that supports the user in a specified context and is effective, efficient, easy to learn, has high retention and has low error rates. These will be the key elements when reviewing the UI of an online grocery system.The concept of systems evaluation can be traced back to the beginning of systems analysis. Specifically, usability evaluation methods (UEMs) are over 20 years old. A number of different methods have been developed to evaluate the usability of computer systems (Jeffries et al., 1991; Preece et al., 2002). Such UEMs have been developed as the result of much work by both designers and researchers, as they attempt to improve the usability of systems to further meet users' needs (Preece et al., 2002, p. 339). UEMs can involve both experts and users evaluating a system in different ways (Preece et al., 2002). Different evaluation techniques can include, but are not limited to, heuristic evaluations (Nielsen, 1994), usability testing (Rubin, 1994), checklists (Gaffney, 1998) and frameworks (Beier and Vaughan, 2003). These methods aim to predict actual user behaviour and identify issues that may influence usability. However, although there are a large number of methods available, researchers have been unable to reach a consensus about when it is appropriate to use each method (Hartson et al., 2001). For this study it is important to consider the review of systems through frameworks (Beier and Vaughan, 2003) when developing the normative task model.2.1 Online grocery store design and features\n3. Methodology: Existing literature does not provide models that describe the use of online grocery stores. The normative task model that was developed in this paper is designed to describe the process of online grocery store shopping, facilitating a better understanding of this process, with the purpose of allowing the creation of better MPMQ ordering systems. For the purposes of this normative task model, a \"task\" is defined as: an activity undertaken by the user towards the goal of adding a specific product to their shopping trolley. \"The concern of models is utility, not truth\" (March and Smith, 1995). The normative task model that was developed is a \"utilitarian\" model. Although it is important for a normative model to be accurate and current, it is not necessary for it to provide an ideal or perfect representation of a task. A normative model is one which can demonstrably show a current or sub-optimal representation of a task, which can be further refined at a later date. Increased understanding of the process of online grocery store shopping should be used to inform system development, and therefore increase customer satisfaction and uptake.The normative task model was developed from the data collected through expert evaluation (i.e. a usability professional conducting a review and/or comparison of a system's features), which determined that similar features and methods of interaction were present across all 14 online grocery stores evaluated. The comparison test was conducted with 14 online grocery systems from the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. This provides significant evidence to support the accuracy of the normative task model. The goal was not to produce a prescriptive and universal model, merely to produce an initial normative model, which describes typical interactions.The model building process was designed to develop a normative task model of possible user interaction paths with an online grocery store interface. The model has been derived from reverse engineering. This proposed normative task model is just one model depicting how a user of an online grocery store can interact with the interface of such a system. It does not intend to explain every way a user can interact with an online grocery store interface, nor can it be considered to be an optimal model of interaction. The reverse engineering was conducted with the use of a \"comparison test\" (Rubin, 1994). This allows judgement of a product (such as a web site) at the end of the development lifecycle or in the market place, against its competitors. The objective of these comparison tests is to compare two or more different interface styles to review stand methods of conducting tasks. Data were collected through the comparison test to inform the normative task model.The normative task model describes the task of interacting with the online grocery store interface. In order to deconstruct any task, an analysis of that particular task needs to be conducted. Card et al. (1983) are concerned with the psychological aspects of task analysis, claiming that the goal-oriented nature of humans means that analysing the psychology of behaviour in relation to a specific task is similar to analysing that task itself. Humans have limited perceptual and information-processing abilities, and so are forced to adapt to the task environment to attain their goals. If the goals of the task and the task environment are known, it is possible to predict a human's responses (Card et al., 1983). Task analysis, from a more practical perspective, is concerned with identifying tasks that a user should perform and the main properties needed to perform those tasks (Paterno, 2000). Once tasks are analysed and understood, they can be modelled. Many formal modelling techniques, such as the GOMS Model, Use Case Analysis, MAD, Diane+, UAN and FFlows, can be applied to task analysis (Diaper and Stanton, 2004). However, the problem is that \"[w]ithout an explicit understanding of the different attributes of these models, it is difficult to select a specific one to achieve one's goals\" (Balbo et al., 2004, p. 445). The purpose of this research was to establish a normative view of the systems used by online grocery stores, and so a more informal approach to task analysis was selected. Uden et al. (2009) proposed that UML is a viable method to indicate the sequence of operations within web-based applications, of which an online grocery store fits into this category of systems. However, ULM considers the correct workflow of a process whereas this normative task model attempts to address the errors made by users.A model of interaction at Amazon.com was developed by Paterno using task modelling (De Troyer and Casteleyn, 2003). The process of adding a product to the \"cart\" is similar to adding a single product to the trolley in an online grocery store. The Subtask Navigation Model above was designed for an online shopping environment that typically involves single product, single quantity purchases. Because of the nature of the products available from Amazon.com, users are also more likely to purchase sporadically, and are usually purchasing products for pleasure. In contrast, online grocery stores are typically used for necessary purchases that are made regularly.The development of a new online grocery store using the normative task model could also be undertaken in the future. The usability of this new online grocery store could then be evaluated against existing online grocery stores to determine whether the normative task model supports the development of more usable online grocery stores.Following the development of the normative task model a scenario was developed. Balbo et al. (2004) define scenarios as an instantiation of a use case in a particular environment; these are mainly represented using narrative descriptions. They describe the setting, the actor(s) and the events of a user-computer interaction of the events that a user will encounter. A scenario presents information about a user's mental activities, however there is no formal notation (Rosson and Carroll, 2001).\n4. MPMQ normative task model development: This section introduces a normative task model developed for online grocery stores that employ MPMQ ordering systems. This model represents the MPMQ ordering process. Throughout this paper several issues that need to be addressed in this normative task model have been identified. These include:* method of product retrieval (searching and linking);* advanced system features of searching;* method of displaying categories in linking;* method of displaying results in both searching and linking; and* method of product selection and addition to the trolley.4.1 High level normative task model\n5. Conclusion: The normative task model presented in this paper is expected to help in the future design of online grocery systems by identifying the possible errors that users can encounter, and methods to reduce the occurrence of these errors for MPMQ ordering. The normative task model extends the work of De Troyer and Casteleyn (2003) and Yenisey (2007) whose focus was on singular purchases. The process of normative task models is about informing design to allow the shopping process to be simplified, creating better system design from the users' perspective. The novelty of this approach was that the focus was on avoiding potential errors that users made where formal approaches to modelling focus on the overall design and human-computer interaction. Where typically task analysis is about identifying the optimal solution for a design (not all possible user interactions). What needs to be considered for MPMQ ordering systems such as online grocery stores is that users have no training and suboptimal performance needs to be recognised.The normative task model was developed from the data collected via reverse engineering across 14 online grocery stores evaluated, therefore there is significant evidence to support the accuracy of the normative task model. It should be noted, however, that the applicability of the normative task model to other online grocery stores has not been tested in this research, nor has feedback been sought from online grocery store designers or end users about the accuracy of the model.The purpose of this research was to establish a normative view of the systems used by online grocery stores, so a more informal approach to task analysis was selected. Further research will be conducted analysing the model developed using formal approaches such as GOMS Model, Use Case Analysis, MAD, Diane+, UAN and FFlows. From the perspective of error analysis and task models Systematic Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA) (Stanton, 2005) or Task Analysis for Error Identification (TAFEI) (Stanton and Baber, 2005) will also be explored.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Modelling users' interactions online is envisaged to allow developers to increase the usability of online systems and will aid system developers in building better systems to meet users' needs, hereby creating better system design processes. This paper aims to investigate this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The normative task model that was developed in this paper was created through an expert review of 14 online grocery stores, using a reverse engineering technique to model the features of the stores' ordering process.\nFindings: - The research identified three main areas of user experience when undertaking the process of adding a product to an online trolley: attempting to retrieve the product, receiving the results of the retrieval attempt, and adding the product to the trolley. These three classifications were used as the basis for an analysis of errors.\nPractical implications: - The findings present a model that can be used to further understand the processes of customers as they engage in an online grocery shopping visit. The normative task model presented is expected to help in the future design of online grocery stores by identifying the possible errors that users can encounter, and methods to reduce the occurrence of these errors. Errors are one area that traditional task-modelling processes ignore, due to their focus on successful processes.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents the innovative process of the development of a normative task model for modelling user interactions when using online grocery stores.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Research trends in the study of gamification
|
[
"Gamification",
"Mixed method"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nContext and definitions: There is a tendency in research to rely on quantitative sources in the study of gamification. Game scores, points, game analytics and survey are the common denominator among research papers studying the topic of gamification. This overreliance on one type of data has limited our understanding of the effect of gamification in different contexts, particularly in education. It is useful before analyzing this in detail to set the context and understand the concept of gamification.\nLiterature analysis method: The systematic approach adopted in this study relies on scanning the literature on the study of gamification between 2009 and 2017 and categorizing studies based on the research design used leading to the selection of ten sample studies (four quantitative, two qualitative and four mixed method). The goal is not to critique these studies but rather to investigate how research design used affected the overall results and possible improvement in the research design.\nResearch design effect on reported results: examples: Hanus and Fox's quantitative study examined a gamified course as compared to a non-gamified one concluding that students in the gamified settings exhibited less motivation and lower scores. The study recommended some discretion when applying game mechanics in a pedagogical context. The study focused on the use of game features described as elements of extrinsic motivation such as virtual rewards and badges. Although the researchers make suggestions to incorporate more game features which might yield positive results, there is no information on the perception of the students regarding the gamified experience they participated in. The study could benefit from incorporating qualitative elements which allow the participants to further explain the results. In the study, extrinsic rewards caused competition leading to loss of satisfaction among students in the gamified course decreasing their intrinsic motivation which finally reflected on their overall score. Although the researchers mention some limitations in their study such as the selected game features used and the lack of choice in imposing the badge system on students, the voice of the students regarding these issues is missing and so is the opportunity to expand our understanding of why gamification occasionally fails in some settings.\nHolistic understanding of gamification and research design: This study highlights the need to study the gamification phenomenon using mixed-method research drawing from quantitative and qualitative elements to develop a holistic understanding of its effects and potential in different contexts. Many studies researching gamification were examined and exhibited a tendency to rely solely on quantitative elements made available through the game metrics and reward system, while few studies employed qualitative components such as interviews, observations and artefactual data. Studies adopting qualitative approach only are rare in researching gamification.\nThe importance of mixed-method design in researching gamification: Since, according to Creswell (2014), the nature of the research problem is what dictates the selection of the research approach, it makes sense to adopt a mixed-method design in researching gamification effects on motivation and engagement. The study of gamification cannot be examined fully based only on quantitative data sources such as game metrics and surveys, but learners' experiences and opinions of the gamified events needs to be taken into consideration. This can be captured through observations, interviews and other documents used as qualitative data sources in the gamified settings. The argument in supporting quantitative research with qualitative one is that although quantitative data have resulted in specific knowledge about statistical relationships or associations, qualitative research examines participants' (subjects for quantitative research) understandings of the game features and affordances they experienced. This is beyond proving or rejecting a hypothesis but rather to explore how people who engage in the gamified activities make sense of them.\nMethodological challenges in adopting mixed-method design: There are potential methodological challenges in explaining and merging the results and whether the qualitative \"central phenomenon and quantitative variables or constructs are parallel\" (Creswell, 2015, p. 19). Creswell (2009), along with Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004), distinguished three essential difficulties confronted by the researcher in utilizing a mixed-method approach. To start with is the requirement for broad data collection. Since both quantitative and qualitative information are required, the gathering of different data sources is important to complete the mixed-method design. The second challenge is that mixed-method research is an exceptionally time-concentrated approach with regard to investigating the information. Since the information is gathered and reported in both content and numeric configurations, abundant time is needed to analyze and merge the data. The third challenge is for the researcher to be familiar with both quantitative and qualitative forms of research.\nConclusion and recommendations: A balanced approach in research drawing from qualitative and quantitative data sources can expand and improve our understanding of the use of gamification in different contexts. It is true that there are some practical reasons which influence researcher's decision of which design to adopt such as data availability, number of participants and funding. However, many quantitative studies where the above factors are not an issue could make greater contributions to the study of gamification if qualitative elements were utilized. Assuming an equal percentage of research design elements whether quantitative or qualitative is not a plausible proposition, but rather a balanced investigation of the research phenomenon drawing from both quantitative and qualitative data sources would lead to a more reliable and comprehensive results.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the research design of several publications on the study of gamification and proposes a mixed-method research design for creating a holistic understanding of the gamification phenomenon. It presents an argument in support of combining both qualitative and quantitative data sources through mixed-method design as being equally important in illuminating all aspects of the research problem.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper covers a number of methodological themes relevant to the study of gamification: research design trends in the study of gamification; the importance of mixed-method design in the study of gamification; methodological challenges; conclusion and recommendations.\nFindings: Majority of the studies on gamification before 2015 are either quantitative or described as mixed method but overly focused on quantitative data sources. However, there is a tendency between 2015 and 2017 to adopt mixed-method design.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study does not examine all research done on the topic of gamification but relies on 56 empirical studies reviewed by Hamari, Koivisto, Sarsa (2014) and Seaborn and Fels (2015) between 2009 and 2015.\nOriginality/value: The author believes it to be one of the few studies of its kind on proposing a methodological design for the study of gamification as a pedagogical tool.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Examining spatio-temporal patterns, drivers and trends of residential fires in South East Queensland, Australia
|
[
"Spatial analysis",
"GIS",
"Trend analysis",
"Emergency management",
"Residential fire"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Fires pose a significant threat to human life in terms of economic cost, psychological effects, physical damage and deaths. Residential fires are common and a serious problem worldwide. The World Fire Statistics Centre (2014) estimated the direct fire losses are approximately $885m per annum for 2010 in Australia with an average of 0.07 per cent of GDP per annum. Globally, the estimated operational costs were about $2,565 to $2,842m for the period between 2007 and 2010 (World Fire Statistics Centre, 2014). In Australia, Ashe et al. (2009) have estimated that all types of fire cause approximately 100 deaths and over 3,000 injuries per annum. Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia have a relatively higher number of fire-related deaths compared to other states in Australia (Council, 2005). Fires also have catastrophic effects on critical infrastructure, and the biophysical environment (Masood Rafi et al., 2012; KC and Corcoran, 2017; Clare et al., 2017). Despite the significance of this problem and its associated enormous costs, there is limited attempt to examine the changing spatio-temporal patterns, trends and drivers of residential fires using disaggregate fire incident data at a small area level in Australia.\n2. Literature review: Residential fires are non-uniform distributive events across time and over space even if they occur in a predictable and non-random manner (Wuschke et al., 2013; KC et al., 2015). Previous empirical studies (e.g. Gunther, 1980; Goodsman et al., 1987; Fahy and Norton, 1989; Holborn et al., 2003; Chhetri et al., 2009; Corcoran et al., 2009; Rohde et al., 2010) have investigated a limited number of largely census-based variables to identify the underlying factors associated with increased residential fire risk and fire-related injuries. These studies found that individuals who are more socially and economically deprived are at a higher fire risk. Gunther (1980) developed a fire cause model to explain the reasons for higher fire incident rates and found a significant drop in fire incident rates with an increase in income level. This study recommended the risk awareness education as a key mechanism to reduce fire risk. Clare et al. (2012) also reiterated this finding in their study in British Columbia, which analysed the impacts of public education campaigns on fire prevention.\n3. Study area: South East Queensland (see Figure 1) is one of the fastest growing regions of Australia. During the last three decades, the region, due to its sub-tropical climate and coastal lifestyle, has attracted a large number of interstate and international migrants (ABS, 2014). Almost 40 per cent of the Queensland's population lives in SEQ (SEQ Regional Plan, 2017). The region has a multi-centric urban agglomeration that comprises five strategic sub-regions, Brisbane at the centre, the Gold Coast along the southern corridor, Sunshine Coast growth corridor to the north, and West Moreton and the city of Toowoomba to the west of Brisbane. This multi-tiered and fragmented regional structure of SEQ requires a better understanding of the local variability in residential fires and the regional trends to be developed so that resource distribution can be better planned and allocated on the basis of fire risk variability.\n4. Data sets: The detailed disaggregate data in the form of a database of call-outs to residential fire incidents covering a period of 11 years (1 January 1998 - 31 December 2008), was obtained from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services. By spatially integrating fire incident data with other data sets, a core data set for SEQ was generated using fire incident location (latitude and longitude) as the primary key.\n5. Results and analysis: Statistical and spatial analyses were conducted on fire incident data to identify the key areas that are at a higher risk of fire and to capture the overall trends over time across different regions in SEQ. The relationships between residential fires and socio-economic disadvantage, seasons and calendar events were examined. The key findings of residential fire data analyses are presented across three broad themes: spatio-temporal patterns; relationship to socio-economic disadvantage; and the effect of seasons and calendar events. These are discussed as followings.\n6. Conclusion: This study applied a range of statistical and visualisation techniques to examine spatial and temporal dynamics of residential fires. Overall, results show distinct spatial and temporal variability in residential fires within SEQ. Residential fire incidents are more likely to occur in the inner city and across more disadvantaged areas. However, what socio-economic factors discriminate areas of different fire density and how much influence do they individually exert on residential fires remained unanswered when using a composite index such as the SEIFA index. Residential fires show a stronger seasonal periodicity whereby fire risk increases during Winter. The risk associated with residential fire is greatly increased during the school holidays. There is a continuous yet gradual increase in the number of fire incidents recorded for all five sub-regions within SEQ. Sunshine Coast experienced the highest upward trend whereas Toowoomba and West Moreton show the lowest increase.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first is to examine the changing spatio-temporal patterns and regional trends in residential fires; and second is to investigate the likely association of fire risk with seasons, calendar events and socio-economic disadvantage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using spatial analytic and predictive techniques, 11 years of fire incident data supplied by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services are mapped and analysed.\nFindings: The results show significant spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of residential fires. Residential fire incidents are more likely to occur in the inner city and across more disadvantaged areas. Mapped outputs show some areas in Brisbane at a higher risk of fire than others and that the risk of fire escalates at specific times of the year, in neighbourhoods with a higher disadvantage, during major sporting events and school holidays. The residential fires showed strong seasonal periodicity. There is a continuous yet gradual increase in the number of fire incidents recorded for all five sub-regions within SEQ. Sunshine Coast experienced the highest upward trend whereas Toowoomba and West Moreton show the lowest increase.\nOriginality/value: This study provides an empirical basis to guide future operational strategies through targeting high fire risk areas at particular times. This, in turn, will help utilise finite resources in areas where and when they need and thus enable minimise emergency management costs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A multicommodity unpaired pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem with split loads and unloads
|
[
"Logistics",
"Vehicle routing",
"Unpaired",
"Pickup and delivery",
"Valid inequalities",
"Variable neighborhood search"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem (PDVRP) is a variant of the well-known vehicle routing problem (VRP). For PDVRP, a fleet of vehicles drives through the routes to satisfy a series of transportation requests. Each request is associated with load size and location where it is picked up and delivered (Savelsbergh and Sol, 1995). PDVRP can be classified into two categories: paired and unpaired. Paired PDVRP (PPDVRP) indicates that each transportation request is uniquely specified by a pickup location, a delivery location and a demand to be transported between the two locations. Therefore, the pair of pickup and delivery should be predefined. For unpaired PDVRP (UPDVRP), the pickup points and the corresponding pickup quantity (from each pickup point) for each delivery request are unknown beforehand (Xu et al., 2017; Dell'Amico et al., 2018; Maggioni et al., 2019). Thus, the pair of pickup and delivery is a decision variable. UPDVRP is more complicated than PPDVRP since it needs to consider the pickup and delivery pairing decision when making the routing decision.This paper explores an UPDVRP with multicommodity request among scattered customers and a single serving depot. The supply and demand information of each commodity in each customer is known. A certain quantity of a commodity is collected from its any supply-customer and can be delivered to its any demand-customer (unpaired). Split pickup and delivery of any commodity at a customer are allowed (split loads and unloads). A fleet of capacitated vehicles is assigned from the depot to pick up and deliver commodities among customers to satisfy their demands. Figure 1 illustrates the transportation network with four customers and four commodities. In the network, the pickup customer and delivery customer are not separated, namely each customer can not only be regarded as the pickup customer for some commodities, but also be interpreted as the delivery customer for other commodities. Furthermore, for a delivery customer of a commodity, in addition to the delivery routing, the pickup customers and the corresponding pickup quantity from each pickup customer (pairing decision) need to be made.Multicommodity UPDVRP appears at several application scenarios, such as the raw materials transferring among plants in multipoint production enterprises (Xu et al., 2017), the goods transshipment among stores in chain retailing industry (Chen et al., 2014) and the bikes rebalance among stations in sharing systems (Li et al., 2016) with the support by a centralized control of the logistics information system based on real-time data as shown in Figure 2. This research is to construct the optimal routing solution with the minimal transportation costs. The routing solution includes the visiting sequence of customers of each transportation vehicle and the quantity of each commodity carried from one customer to another. To solve the proposed UPDVRP, an improved variable neighborhood search (IVNS) algorithm is presented by combining multistart initial solution generation technique and modified multilocal search operators.The contributions of this paper are as follows. A compact model for multicommodity UPDVRP is proposed, which would provide theoretical enlightenments for tackling related problems both in practice and in the literature. Stronger valid inequalities are developed to improve the linear programming (LP) relaxation of the model, which helps to find the optimal solution or tighter lower bound. An IVNS is designed to find the optimal solution or near-optimal solution for the investigated problem quickly, compared to CPLEX. Furthermore, the heuristic algorithm is superior to the compared algorithm mentioned in the numerical analysis.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Relevant works of UPDVRP are reviewed in Section 2. Mathematical model is developed in section 3. Section 4 introduces the valid inequalities based on the model structure. The heuristic algorithm is designed in section 5. Section 6 presents the numerical experiments and in-depth discussions. The conclusions of this paper and possible space for future research are given in Section 7.\n2. Literature review: Related work of UPDVRP mainly appears at the realms of bike rebalancing in the static sharing system (Dell'Amico et al., 2018; Maggioni et al., 2019) and the goods transshipment of the fashion retailing chains (Lei and Ouyang, 2018). They are summarized as follows based on the consideration of three aspects: the number of vehicles, the number of commodities (bikes or goods), nonsplit or split (i.e. whether split loads and unloads at the customer are allowed).UPDVRP with single-vehicle, single-commodity and nonsplit (UPDVRP-SSN) is introduced by Hernandez-Perez and Salazar-Gonzalez (2004). Afterward, two exact algorithms (Hernandez-Perez and Salazar-Gonzalez, 2007; Erdogan et al., 2014) and many heuristic algorithms (Zhao et al., 2009; Mladenovic et al., 2012; Ho and Szeto, 2014; Szeto et al., 2016) are proposed to solve UPDVRP-SSN.UPDVRP with single-vehicle, single-commodity and split (UPDVRP-SSS) is formally proposed by Chemla et al. (2013). Next, Salazar-Gonzalez and Santos-Hernandez (2015) and Erdogan et al. (2015) design a branch-and-cut algorithm to exactly solve this problem; Pal and Zhang (2017) present a hybrid nested large neighborhood search algorithm; and Cruz et al. (2017) address an iterated local search algorithm to solve real-life large-scale UPDVRP-SSS.UPDVRP with single-vehicle, multicommodity and nonsplit (UPDVRP-SMN) is introduced by Hernandez-Perez and Salazar-Gonzalez (2014), in which a branch-and-cut algorithm is designed. Subsequently, Li et al. (2016) propose a hybrid genetic algorithm, Hernandez-Perez et al. (2016) develop a hybrid heuristic algorithm and Lu et al. (2019) design a population algorithm based on randomized tabu thresholding.To the best of our knowledge, UPDVRP with single-vehicle, multicommodity and split loads and unloads (UPDVRP-SMS) has not been receiving attention so far.UPDVRP with multivehicle, single-commodity and nonsplit (UPDVRP-MSN) is formally introduced by Ravivet al. (2013), in which a two-phase exact algorithm is proposed. Further, Dell'Amico et al. (2014) develop a branch-and-cut algorithm; Kadri et al. (2016) explore a branch-and-bound algorithm. Also, some heuristic algorithms are investigated (destroy and repair algorithm, Dell' Amico et al. (2016); two-phase heuristic algorithm, You et al. (2017), Schuijbroek et al. (2017), You (2019), etc.).UPDVRP with multivehicle, single-commodity and split (UPDVRP-MSS) is introduced by Shi et al. (2009). Afterward, Forma et al. (2015) present a three-step math heuristic algorithm; Gaspero et al. (2016) and Ho and Szeto (2017) develop a large neighborhood search algorithm, respectively; Bulhoes et al. (2018) propose a branch-and-cut algorithm.UPDVRP with multivehicle, multicommodity and nonsplit (UPDVRP-MMN) is firstly proposed by Li et al. (2019), in which a branch-price-and-cut algorithm is designed.UPDVRP with multivehicle, multicommodity and split (UPDVRP-MMS) is firstly presented by Chen et al. (2014) with considering unlimited supply. A VNS algorithm, which can obtain optimal or near-optimal solution within half an hour, is proposed. Xu et al. (2017) study UPDVRP-MMS with limited supply, the proposed tabu search algorithm can provide high-quality solution in a short time.Clearly, of all the extensions, UPDVRP-MMS is the most complicated but with high application benefits. However, as far as we know, related studies are quietly scarce (only two papers discuss this subject). This research extends the work of UPDVRP-MMS by exploring the improved mathematical model, valid inequalities and solution algorithm.\n3. Mathematical model: 3.1 Problem definition and assumptions\n4. Valid inequalities: Considering the complexity of the studied problem, the optimal solution cannot be obtained by the aforementioned improved model (called as ModelI) even for the instance with seven customers and four commodities (see Table 2). Therefore, valid inequalities are introduced to help the model to attain the optimal solution or a tighter lower bound within prescribed time or before the solver runs out of memory. 4.1 Least-visiting times inequality\n5. Improved variable neighborhood search: The VNS algorithm is a meta-heuristic algorithm, which is proposed by Mladenovic and Hansen (1997). It has been successfully applied in solving large-scale PDVRP (Mladenovic et al., 2012; Polat, 2017; Aydogdu and Ozyoruk, 2020). The main reason is that: (1) search framework is simple, thus it has certain advantage in terms of solution efficiency for complicated VRP. (2) Systematically change neighborhood structures within the local search algorithm, so that it has strong ability to find the optimal or near-optimal solution. Based on the VNS algorithm developed by Chen et al. (2014) for UPDVRP-MMS, this paper designs a more efficient VNS by using multistart initial solution, more efficient neighborhood structure and more flexible search process. 5.1 Initial solution construction\n6. Numerical experiments: In this section, the experimental instances used in this paper are described first. Then the effectiveness of our improved model and valid inequalities are explored. Finally, the performance of our IVNS algorithm is tested and some management implications are presented.The experimental environments are given as follows: (1) all tests are executed on a computer with Intel Dual Core 2.8 GHz CPU and 2 GB RAM and ILP solver CPLEX 12.2 is utilized to keep consistent with that of Chen et al. (2014). (2) The heuristic algorithm is coded by C++. For convenience, the model proposed by Chen et al. (2014) is regarded as original model and denoted as ModelO, ModelI with the derived valid inequalities is denoted as ModelIV. Table 1 is to contain the parameter settings for the experimental analyses, in Tables 2-5, the optiml solution obtained for each instance is given in bold. 6.1 Experimental instances\n7. Conclusions: Based on practical background of commodity transshipment among customers, this paper studies UPDVRP-MMS, which is relatively scarce in the literature. Firstly, a MIP model is established by introducing more compact and effective \"Service Sequence Constraint\" and \"Loading and Unloading Constraints.\" Then, through analyzing the characteristics of the problem, a series of valid inequalities are proposed to strengthen the model. Lastly, through embedding multiple initial solutions, integrating efficient neighborhood operators and considering more flexible search mechanism, an IVNS algorithm is designed to obtain high-quality solutions. The proposed model, valid inequalities and heuristic algorithm are tested on the instances in the literature, and the performance results are compared with those of Chen et al. (2014).The experiment results show that: (1) the proposed model requires less decision variables and can optimally solve more instances within prescribed time. (2) The derived valid inequalities can significantly help the model to obtain the optimal solution or tight lower bound, which lays a foundation for exploring exact algorithm for this problem. (3) The improved algorithm can obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions in a short time, that is, it is effective in both solution quality and computational efforts, which is verified by CPLEX. 4) The improved algorithm is superior to the existing approach in terms of solution quality, computational time and robustness, thus it can be expected to provide more value and effective guidance for enterprise's logistics management and information platform construction.Future work is planned to derive stronger valid inequalities and develop a tailored exact algorithm to solve the problem. Moreover, time windows on pickup and delivery are considered for more application scenarios, for example, the decisions for emergency transshipment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the commodity transshipment planning among customers, which is commonly observed in production/sales enterprises to save the operational costs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed integer programming (MIP) model is built and five types of valid inequalities for tightening the solution space are derived. An improved variable neighborhood search (IVNS) algorithm is presented combining the developed multistart initial solution strategy and modified neighborhood local search procedure.\nFindings: Experimental results demonstrate that: with less decision variables considered, the proposed model can solve more instances compared to the existing model in previous literature. The valid inequalities utilized to tighten the searching space can efficiently help the model to obtain optimal solutions or high-quality lower bounds. The improved algorithm is efficient to obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions and superior to the compared algorithm in terms of solution quality, computational time and robustness.\nractical implications: This research not only can help reduce operational costs and improve logistics efficiency for relevant enterprises, but also can provide guidance for constructing the decision support system of logistics intelligent scheduling platform to cater for centralized management and control.\nOriginality/value: This paper develops a more compact model and some stronger valid inequalities. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is easy to implement and performs well.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Students' demand for smartphones: Structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence
|
[
"Smartphones",
"Product features",
"Brand names",
"Product price",
"Social influence",
"Structural equation modeling",
"Malaysia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Smartphones are a combination of personal device assistants and mobile phones that use advanced operating systems and permit users to install new applications, be constantly connected to the internet, and provide multifarious functionalities of both. Smartphones are increasingly entwined in people's everyday activities as it makes their lives easier access the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year anywhere. The top smartphones that consumers own include the iPhone 5, Galaxy S III, and HTC One X, because they are able to transfer more mobile data than the iPad or Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.Mobile phones have become an inseparable part of everyday life and a majority of people carry them all the time (Smura et al., 2009). Heavy mobile phone users possess a higher level of knowledge, have more social participation, maintain extensive interpersonal networks, and have contact with people not only within the social system but also outside it (Suki and Suki, 2007). Consumers do not view smartphones just as devices for calling and texting, instead as multi-use devices for gaming, socializing, and downloading applications which results in a radical shift in behaviour patterns (Shin, 2012), lifestyle and status.Forest Interactive (2013) stated that IE Market Research reported Malaysia will have 41.9 million mobile subscribers in 2013 with 17.3 million (41.4 per cent) subscribing to Maxis, 13.8 million (33.0 per cent) to Celcom, and 10.7 million (25.6 per cent) to DiGi. Malaysia is the third most mobile payment-ready nation in Southeast Asia after Singapore and Philippines, as reported by Mastercard (2011). The increase in use of smartphones among consumers including students has made it unlimited consumer demands. Hence, this study aims to examine structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price, and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students'.The paper is organized as follows: the next section reviews prior studies on the relationships between product features, brand name, product price, and social influence with demand for smartphones among users. The next section, methodology, describes the data, variables, and analysis approach. In the results section, model results are presented. The last section recapitulates the key ndings and provides a number of practical implications and future directions.\n2. Literature review: Factors affecting users' demand for smartphones are complex and cannot be determined using a single factor or a simple reason (Chow et al., 2012) and it varies among individuals. This section emphasizes product features, brand name, product price, and social influences.2.1 Product features\n3. Methodology: Data were collected from pre-screened university students studying at the pubic higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have experience in using and owning smartphones via the self-administered questionnaire, a method of quantitative research employing convenience sampling techniques, from 1 to 30 September 2012. Initially, 400 questionnaires were administered, however a total of 320 unique and usable responses were successfully collected for a response rate of 80 per cent. The structured close-ended questionnaire was designed in line with this study's research objective of examining structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students'. The questionnaire comprised three sections. Section A consisted of demographic profile of respondents, Section B requested the respondents to provide responses on their personal experiences using smartphones and Section C examined the factors affecting users' demand for smartphones. In total, 17 items (described in Appendix A), were used to measure the four independent variables: product features, brand name, product price, and social influence, and five questions were used to measure the dependent variable: demand for smartphones on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree.Survey instruments were adapted from the following sources: product features (Market Analysis and Consumer Research Organization, 2004), brand name (Rio et al., 2001), product price (Cheong and Park, 2005), social influences (Tian et al., 2009), and demand for smartphones (Park and Chen, 2007; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Completed questionnaires were keyed in the computer program Statistical Package for Social Sciencesversion 20.0 to process and analyse the data in the form of descriptives such as frequencies, mean, standard deviation, skew, and kurtosis. Next, a graphical model development known as path diagram was drawn using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique via AMOS 20.0 computer program which has the ability to ensure the consistency of the model with the data and to estimate effects among constructs.\n4. Data analysis: Table I displays the demographic profile of the respondents. A total of 320 participants were included in the final sample, out of which more than half of the respondents were female (58.8 per cent), the remainder (41.2 per cent) were male. They were mostly 18-20 years old (90.3 per cent), and nearly half held STPM certification (49.7 per cent).4.1 Experience using smartphones\n5. Discussion: Empirical analysis across a sample of 320 respondents via SEM technique was executed in examining structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students'. Results divulged that brand name and social influence affected the positive demand for smartphones among Malaysian students', thus supporting H2 and H4. The first is confirmed as the most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is according to standardized path coefficients and their statistical signicance as shown in Table VI and Figure 2.As expected, brand name was found to have a significant effect on the demand for smartphones among Malaysian students'. This portends that users who are particular about brand names are more likely to have positive demand towards buying and using smartphones. The ndings are consistent with preceding discovery by Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010). Most of the users are likely to select smartphones that are internationally recognized, branded, and trustworthy. Besides that, they will only buy their favourite brands of smartphone. For example, Samsung and iPhone are the most preferred brands of smartphones.Further investigation of the study uncovered that the increasing demand for smartphones among Malaysian students' is also affected by social influence. This in turn implies that students' who have strong social influence from friends and family members tend to have positive demand for smartphones, signifying their decision making and use rates are mostly influenced by people around them. This is in accordance with findings by Goldman (2010), Park and Chen (2007) and Rashotte (2007). For example, when users want to purchase a smartphone, they will seek recommendations from their friends and family members who have a lot of experience using and owning smartphones in order to make a more informed choice of smartphone and benefit from reduced perceived risk. They also execute viral marketing regarding smartphone latest product information, features, and promotions and sharing it with friends by posting it to Facebook page. Smartphones enhance social influences as they enable owners to view visual information, full-screen product imagery, dynamic zoom, 360 spin, and enjoy product tours.The design of smartphone which is slimmer and lighter offers users some convenience in accessing applications such as FaceTime, Passbook, Quickoffice, Drop Box, Instagram, and Maps without any fuss. Moreover, the FaceTime feature allows users of smartphone to talk to each other with video. Though users worldwide choose smartphones based on the attractive design and applications, better product quality, speedier internet accessibility, and outstanding operating system (i.e. Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, Google Android or others), the more advanced features of cutting edge smartphones still had no impact on the current respondents in affecting their demand for smartphones, thereby not supporting H1 and contrary to support by foregoing studies (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mack and Sharples, 2009; Mohd Azam et al., 2012).Likewise, the effect of price on demand for smartphones did not appear, meaning that H3 is not sustained. This is divergent with discoveries of prior research work (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012; Swani and Yoo, 2010). Consumers will only buy smartphones during price reduction periods as they treat buying smartphones like buying high-risk products. However, they are willing to buy smartphones even though the price is higher as they think that owning and using a smartphone could enhance their image.\n6. Conclusion and recommendations: This study contributes to a more thorough understanding of the determinants of demand for smartphones among Malaysian students' by emphasizing the dimensions of product features, brand name, product price, and social influence. Students' demand for smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the smartphone itself and social influence from friends and family members. Smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers, and programmers should improve the current ability and performance of smartphones by upgrading hardware and software driven services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be marketable and sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers' minds when making the decision to purchase and own a smartphone. Positive viral marketing spread via social networking sites could help smartphone providers to strengthen the competitive advantage of their product brands. The attractiveness of the message content of the advertisement on the social networking sites could improve marketing strategies of the smartphone brand.There is opportunity for future research to expand the sample size and investigate in different geographical areas in order to enhance the understanding of demand for smartphones. The R2 for this study was 0.65, implying there are additional factors that affect demand for smartphones to be explored further, other than product features, brand name, product price, and social influence. Further research could enhance the proposed model by inputting mediating variables, such as lifestyle, culture, as well as demographics such as gender or age, etc. Furthermore, it would be relevant to investigate differences in product demand among smartphone users and basic mobile phone users. However, this study advanced understanding by the smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers, and programmers to obtain empirical and actionable insights about the determinants of demand for smartphones and how to improve smartphone user experience and plan directions in the smartphone market.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The study aims to examine structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students'.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data collected from 320 valid pre-screened university students studying at the pubic higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have experience in using and owning Smartphones, using a structured questionnaire, with closed-ended questions, employing a convenient sampling technique, were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach via AMOS 20.0 computer program.\nFindings: - Empirical results via SEM divulged that brand name and social influence have an effect on the increasing demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students. The first is confirmed as the most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is according to standardised path coefficients and their statistical signicance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study contributes significantly to a more thorough understanding of the determinants of demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students' by emphasizing the dimensions of product features, brand name, product price and social influence. Students' demand for Smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the Smartphone itself and social influence from friends and family members.\nPractical Implications: - Smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers and programmers should improve the current ability and performance of Smartphones by upgrading hardware and software driven services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be marketable and sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers' minds when making the decision to purchase and own a Smartphone. Positive viral marketing spread via social networking sites could help Smartphone providers to strengthen the competitive advantage of their product brands. The attractiveness of the message content of the advertisement on the social networking sites could improve marketing strategies of the Smartphone brand.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides valuable insight into consumer behavior regarding Smartphones demand by examining the factors that influence students' demand for using and owning Smartphones, which is not much covered in the literature in Malaysia context. The lessons can also be replicated in other countries for marketing Smartphones.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Attitude and age differences in online buying
|
[
"Electronic‐commerce",
"Online operations",
"Age groups",
"Shopping"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The internet has typically been described as a young man's medium. Young men have also been regarded as the typical profile of the early adopters of online shopping. However, as the internet has become more ubiquitous, the profile of the online shopper has come to resemble that of the general population (Stores, 2001). For example, in the year 2000 in the USA, women comprised almost 60 percent of the online shoppers. In a report by Jupiter Media Metrix, consumers age 50 and older now comprise 16 percent of new online shoppers in the USA and this number is expected to double by 2006 (Tedeschi, 2002).The purpose of this research is to determine the relative impact of age and attitude towards shopping online in predicting the likelihood to shop and buy online. The first section of the introduction will present a review of the findings on shopping attitudes and motivations with particular focus on online shopping. The next section will discuss the demographic profile of online shoppers and examine whether their attitudes towards shopping online vary by demographic segment. Then, we will conclude with the research questions of the present study.Online shopping attitudes and behavior\nMethod: A four-page questionnaire was constructed with a mixture of open-ended and rating-scale questions about experience with and attitudes toward both searching for products and buying them online.Sample\nResults: In an initial question, 91.5 percent of all respondents indicated that they had ever used the internet to search for and/or purchase any product or service online. There were no significant differences by age levels.Online shopping (both searching and purchase) by age\nDiscussion: The analyses presented in this paper seek to clarify the relationships among age, attitudes toward online shopping, and the actual behavior of shopping online (including both search and purchase). The results of the present study were:* When examining age alone, younger consumers searched for more products online than did older consumers, but they did not buy more online. Online buying varied by product category as predicted by age-related interests (e.g. older consumers searched for more garden tools and younger consumers searched for more music).* Younger consumers were more likely to agree that online shopping was more convenient than older consumers.* Attitudinal factors explained more variance in predicting online searching and buying behavior than did age. Those with more positive convenience and information attitudes towards online shopping had higher online searching behavior and purchasing behavior.* Age explained more variance than attitudinal factors in the percentage of products purchased online if shopped for online. If they searched for a product online, older consumers were more likely to buy the product online than younger consumers.The objective of this research examined how age and attitude together predicted searching and purchasing products online. In examining the first regression analysis, age, convenience and information attitudinal factors are significant predictors of searching for products online. For purchasing alone, only the convenience and information factors were significant. For the last variable, the percentage of online purchase given online search, only age was a significant predictor. Older shoppers in this study purchased as many products as younger shoppers, despite the fact that they actually searched for fewer items than their younger counterparts. The reluctance of older consumers to spend the time and effort to shop for products online may reflect their less positive attitude towards internet shopping, and specifically, a lack of agreement that online shopping is more convenient than traditional shopping. In examining the R2 values among all of the regression equations in the present study, the R2 for the combined model was lowest for the ratio (purchase-if-shopped-for) dependent measure. This indicates that there are likely to be other predictor variables beyond those included in this study. On the basis of the results of Donthu and Garcia (1999), income is a likely candidate.In examining how age impacts online shopping behavior, in the preliminary \"Yes/No\" item querying if they had ever shopped online, there were no significant differences among the three age levels. However, when asked if they had searched for or purchased specific products or services online, younger shoppers reported searching for more products than the older group. Though the trend was in the same direction, there was not a significant difference in terms of the number of products purchased online by age. These results are the opposite of Joines et al. (2003) who found that age did not impact search behavior but did impact purchase behavior, and younger consumers purchased more than older consumers. In the present study, younger consumers were more likely to search online than older consumers. And when the search for the product was taken into consideration, older consumers were more likely to purchase once they had searched for the item online. This result is in keeping with Donthu and Garcia's results who found that those who had ever purchased from the internet were older and had higher incomes.For electronic commerce professionals, the results imply that different marketing approaches are necessary for the different consumer age segments. Older consumers may need to be induced to get online in the first place, while younger consumers will require enticement to translate their shopping and browsing into actual purchasing.Retailing researchers will note that our results demonstrate the multifaceted nature of online shopping and buying behavior. For example, age differences (in both directions) were seen for some product categories and not others. In addition, our results indicate that how you measure online shopping impacts our understanding of age effects on internet shopping. Age was negatively correlated with online pre-purchase search but was positively correlated with online purchasing when pre-purchase search behavior was taken into account.The limitations of the present research are three-fold. First, the sample was restricted to university faculty, staff and students. A more diverse and representative population is required. Second, the hedonic motivation measure was not reliable. A better measure of this construct is needed. Third, additional independent measures such as income should be included to understand the primary demographic factors related to online purchase. Notwithstanding these concerns, the present study advances our knowledge of the nature of the relationships among age, attitudes, and online shopping and buying behavior.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper examines the shopping and buying behavior of younger and older online shoppers as mediated by their attitudes toward internet shopping.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Over 300 students and staff from a US university completed a survey regarding their online shopping and buying experiences for 17 products.\nFindings: - The results show that, while older online shoppers search for significantly fewer products than their younger counterparts, they actually purchase as much as younger consumers. Attitudinal factors explained more variance in online searching behavior. Age explained more variance in purchasing behavior if the consumer had first searched for the product online.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations of the present research are threefold. First, the sample was restricted to university faculty, staff and students. Second, a better measure of the hedonic motivation construct is needed. Third, additional independent measures such as income should be included to understand the additional demographic factors related to online purchase.\nPractical implications: - Retailing managers can make use of the results as describing multifaceted nature of online shopping and buying behavior. Age differences (in both directions) were seen for many product categories. In addition, results indicate that how one measures online shopping impacts on one's understanding of age effects on internet shopping. Age was negatively correlated with online pre-purchase search but was positively correlated with online purchasing when pre-purchase search behavior was taken into account.\nOriginality/value: - The present study advances knowledge of the nature of the relationships among age, attitudes, and online shopping and buying behavior.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Organisational features and their effect on the perceived performance of emergency management organisations
|
[
"Leadership",
"Adaptability",
"Emergency management performance",
"Mission and direction",
"Organizational features",
"Stakeholder communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: One of the fields of emergency management which is presently receiving increased interest in the research community is organisational behaviour under conditions of uncertainty and emergency situation (Weick and Sutliffe, 2001; Wise, 2006). In the context of Australia and New Zealand, emergency management organisations are under huge pressure for ever increasing demands for services, finite limits to resources and a likely growth in risks from hazards such as bushfires, earthquakes and floods (Britton, 1986). This study aims to understand the nexus between emergency management response and organisational processes of emergency management organisations particularly related to fire in Australia and New Zealand.\nTowards a conceptual model of emergency management response: This section discusses various organisational features and processes that are important in considering what constitutes an effective emergency management response to large fires within the literature. For example, in discussing organisational performance Denison (1990, 2012), Denison and Mishra (1995) and Denison et al. (2004) identifies what he calls mission, involvement, consistency and adaptability as important features. Dynes (1998) highlight the significance of adaptive decision-making process for better emergency management performance. In what follows, we refer to various aspects of the research literature on organisational emergency response processes and develop a conceptual model that we believe may be useful in understanding key organisational features in fire response.\nAn organisational taxonomy for emergency management response: This study argues that both formalized structural elements of organisation need to be combined with organisational flexibility and processes that support adaptation to emergency events. To date a number of key features found to be theoretically important in effective emergency management organisational response have been discussed and these include pre-prepared structural elements (providing clarity of mission and direction) and authority relationships (leadership) as well as processes that support collective sense making (communication between stakeholders) and improvisation (adaptability). In keeping with the work of Denison (Denison and Mishra, 1995) , these elements may be mapped in terms of the intersection of two continua that highlight how organisations need to manage different orientations and organisational processes (Figure 1).\nOrganising for effective emergency management challenges: Some of the common problems reported in Australian emergency response arrangements are breakdowns in coordination, equipment failures, language barriers, mismatch between incident action plans and response structures, ambiguities in organisational roles and procedures (Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, 2009). Similar challenges have been reported by Kapucu (2008), Wise (2006) and McEntire (2002) about multi-organisational emergency response coordination in the USA.\nResearch method: Design and procedure\nFindings and analysis: To address H1, multiple correlation analysis was undertaken. The findings (Table III) revealed that perceived success of emergency management response to fire was positively correlated with adaptability (r=0.562, p<0.01), communication (r=0.370, p<0.01), leadership (r=0.492, p<0.01) and stability (r=0.492, p<0.01). These figures explained that perceived success of emergency management response to fire increased with adaptability, communication, leadership and stability, and vice versa. In view of these findings, H1 can be supported.\nDiscussion: In general, the predictive significance of stability, adaptability and leadership for perceived success is strong in all organisational types (refer to Table VI). Higher predictive significance of stability (mission and direction) in established and expanding organisation indicates that fire services personnel have a high regard for the emergency management structure in place, their reporting relationship within organisation and understanding of who to contact for information and expertise in the event.\nImplications and limitations: Given what we have discussed about organisational features and their influence on fire response performance, what are the implications for public managers and administrators involved in the emergency management process?\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study reports on a survey of experienced emergency management personnel in Australia and New Zealand to identify the influence of organisational features in perceived emergency management performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of organisational features in emergency response performance and to discuss how this knowledge can be used to enhance the response capacity of emergency services organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a review of the literature, a conceptual theoretical model for organisational performance is first developed based on four organisational features found to be previously important in emergency management organisation. These are, adaptability, leadership, stability (mission and direction) and stakeholder communication. An organisational survey was distributed to all 25 fire and emergency services agencies in Australia and New Zealand which included indicators of these elements. Responses were received from experienced emergency management personnel from fire and emergency services agencies. The sample was stratified into the three main organisational types, namely, established, expanding and extending organisations.\nFindings: The findings reveal that the predictive significance of organisational features in emergency response performance vary among established, expanding and extending organisations. The predictive significance of stability, adaptability and leadership for perceived success is strong in all organisational types. It is interesting to note that the predictive significance of communication with external stakeholders is low in all organisation types. This indicates the preference of emergency services agencies to look internally within their own operations than externally to build relationships with different specialism.\nOriginality/value: The theoretical model in this study makes a first attempt to understand the role of organisational features in emergency response performance of organisations in Australia and New Zealand. This work contributes to theorizing emergency operations by highlighting how organisations need to manage two orientations simultaneously: their own internal as well as external orientations, together with their processes for managing both mission and direction and the need for change and flexibility.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The value of thinking inside out
|
[
"Public relations",
"Best practices",
"Employee communication",
"Internal communications",
"Organizational communication",
"IBM values Jam",
"Institute for Public Relations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Wake the average CEO in the middle of the night, shine a flashlight in his face, and ask him who haunts his sleep, and he might say the media, stock analysts, regulators, the tort bar, his own board, and maybe even customers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: To explore the value of internal communication in strategic planning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Personal viewpoint.\nFindings: Effective internal communications is an important element in the development and implementation of business strategy. Research by the institute for Public Relations has revealed best-in-class practices in employee communications.\nOriginality/value: Personal viewpoint based on research by the Institute of Public Relations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments: insights from Australia
|
[
"Knowledge sharing",
"Australia",
"Hospitality",
"Hospitality management",
"Turnover",
"Hotels"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many contemporary businesses, such as the hospitality industry, experience high labour instability and could be perceived as dynamic labour environments; environments experiencing frequent changes in the compositions of teams. Labour instability could be attributed to the 24-hour operation of hotels, voluntarily driven by employees (e.g. staff turnover or labour mobility), cyclic and unpredictable patterns of hospitality demand (Ingram, 1999). Considering that knowledge is the lifeblood of tourism (Poon, 1993) and that labour stability is essential to foster knowledge sharing (Wang and Noe, 2010), understanding how knowledge is shared in such environments is critical to the business' overall health. The purpose of this research is to understand how knowledge sharing takes place in the dynamic labour environment of Darwin's hospitality industry in the Northern Territory of Australia. The paper begins with a review and critique of the knowledge sharing literature and leads to the research questions driving this research. The methodology section sets the context of the research, the data collection techniques used and process involved. The findings section addresses sharing knowledge in the front office departments of a hotel chain in Darwin, Australia. The paper concludes with a summary of the main discussion points, research limitations and the implications for both researchers and practitioners.\n2. Knowledge sharing in hospitality: Knowledge sharing is perceived as a fundamental process of knowledge management (Cruz et al., 2009) and its purpose is to direct knowledge to people in a timely fashion to improve an organisation's performance (O'Dell and Grayson, 1998). Knowledge sharing enables employees to contribute to an organisation's competitiveness by acquiring and implementing knowledge that has the potential to introduce innovations (Jackson and Klobas, 2008). Many industries have been described as knowledge intensive because managing their knowledge is their main activity and product. By way of illustration, hotels are knowledge intensive because employees deliver experiences that require the coordination and application of knowledge (Bouncken, 2002; Hallin and Marnburg, 2008).Based on the knowledge sharing literature, knowledge sharing between employees is influenced by the types of knowledge (e.g. explicit, tacit), employee-related factors such as their attitudes towards sharing knowledge, their social networks or commitment to the organisation, as well as their organisation's structure and practices (e.g. motivation and rewards) (Table I).Generally, the knowledge sharing literature assumes that businesses operate in stable labour environments and if they do not they should attempt to stabilise them (Riege, 2005; Wang and Noe, 2010) to allow employees to develop and nurture factors enabling knowledge sharing (Droege and Hoobler, 2003; Inkpen and Tsang, 2005). For example, informal social interactions may require employee familiarity, which is the result of allowing employees sufficient time to interact and become accustomed to each other. Organisational culture tends to be found in stable labour environments and constructed from the interaction between employees and the organisations (Yang, 2007). Moreover, the organisational identification and organisational commitment literature appears to disregard the inevitability and reality of dynamic labour environments (Konovsky et al., 1994). Furthermore, labour instability may influence organisational socialisation as employees might not be with the company long enough to immerse themselves into the organisation's knowledge sharing orientation. Finally, social networks enable knowledge sharing by the value created from their structure and their emergent properties (Inkpen and Tsang, 2005). Through time, the structure and content of those relationships create properties that influence knowledge sharing activities amongst employee teams.Both hospitality literature as well as literature on managing labour instability continue to engage in studies suggesting strategies to minimise or eradicate labour instability through staff and/or knowledge retention (Singh et al., 2007). This is interesting should the core-periphery labour literature be considered explaining that most of the labour instability experienced in such industries is a result of casualising the labour force to combat irregular demand patterns (Deery and Jago, 2002; Deery and Shaw, 1997). Indeed the core-periphery labour literature identifies labour instability as a central characteristic of hospitality. This suggests that the international hospitality research currently falls short of recognising the inevitability of labour instability and fails to accept it as a key characteristic of both the hospitality industry and certain tourist destinations (Hu et al., 2009; Yang, 2008, 2009). Indeed, the literature currently lacks empirical findings on how knowledge sharing transpires in dynamic labour environments (Wang and Noe, 2010). This is extremely interesting should the core-periphery literature be considered.The hospitality industry of Darwin in the NT is a dynamic labour environment due to high rates of residential mobility especially in the hospitality and accommodation sector (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006; Carson, 2008; Tourism and Transport Forum of Australia, 2006). This research assumes that labour instability is inevitable and cannot be substantially reduced or eradicated. On this basis, it aims to understand how knowledge is shared in Darwin's hospitality industry in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia through three research questions:1. Which factors influence knowledge sharing in the dynamic labour context of the hospitality industry of the Northern Territory of Australia.2. Which strategies businesses and/or employees use to compensate for the absence of knowledge sharing facilitators present in more stable labour environments and adapt to the differences of dynamic labour environments.3. Which factors facilitate or motivate these strategies.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research context\n4. Knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments: 4.1 Factors influencing knowledge sharing\n5. Conclusion: This research revealed that knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments resulted from a combination of organisational and individual factors. The hotel chain supported knowledge sharing through, for example, social interactions or training. For participants, attitudes to knowledge sharing, social interactions and social networks were critical as they enabled peers to familiarise with each other both professionally and non-professionally. The product of this familiarity was people knowledge that enabled their adaptation to multiple levels (place, industry, hotels, and peers) and in turn helped them to share knowledge with peers irrespective of labour instability.The proposed multi-adaptation strategy aims to act as a corrective measurement to the frequent change in the composition of front office teams and the loss of, or change of collaborative alignment of peers. If Darwin's hospitality labour force adopts this multi-adaptation strategy or parts of it, then they will be able to engage in knowledge sharing, despite not having worked with certain peers or have worked with them for only a short period. The multi-adaptation strategy suggested in this research differs from the staff and/or knowledge retention strategies by supporting knowledge sharing despite the inevitability of labour instability that can certainly complement staff and knowledge retention strategies.Furthermore the multi-adaptation strategy supports hospitality knowledge sharing literature arguing that knowledge sharing between employees takes place informally and spontaneously (Yang, 2004). However, it challenges findings that employees' informal and spontaneous knowledge sharing process is beyond management's control (Yang, 2004). In this context, the hotel chain did have an indirect role on this informal and spontaneous process of knowledge sharing through formal social interaction opportunities, organisational socialisation activities or formal communication structures. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2 it would be more appropriate to say that knowledge sharing in this dynamic labour environment resulted from participant's multi-adaptation as well as the hotel chains structure, infrastructure and practices.\n6. Limitations: From a conceptual perspective, this project focused only on knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments. Indeed, it cannot paint an all-encompassing picture of knowledge management in dynamic labour environments. Studying other aspects of knowledge management could certainly be the topic of future research across different industries and destinations.From a methodological perspective, quantitative measures were not used for the constructs even though most of them have been quantitatively assessed in the literature. The factors influencing knowledge sharing were studied through qualitative methods and were based on participant's perceptions. Although many researchers would argue that this is not methodologically sound, this approach is allowed by the research community (Yi, 2009). Finally, the hospitality industry of Darwin in the Northern Territory was a suitable case because labour instability appeared to be more prevalent compared to other destinations or industries. In this vein, the findings of this research may be cautiously applied to other industries or hospitality sectors as the prevalence of labour instability may differ between sectors and industries.\n7. Implications for research and practitioners: In relation to which factors enabled or inhibit knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments, the findings create an understanding of the factors influencing knowledge sharing in stable and dynamic labour environments (Table III). As per Table III, there are similar factors influencing knowledge sharing in stable and dynamic labour environments. However, knowledge sharing in dynamic labour environments is not necessarily influenced by job satisfaction, organisational commitment and identification, management styles, organisational culture and motivation and rewards.Considering the strategies businesses could use to support and nurture knowledge sharing, businesses could refrain from focusing solely on staff or knowledge retention strategies. There are contexts in which employees are difficult to retain and perhaps efforts channelled towards achieving the aforementioned amount to wasted efforts and financial resources. Knowledge retention is often a difficult process that may more than likely lead to a collection of knowledge that lacks value-adding characteristics (Li and Gao, 2003; Lubit, 2001). Despite difficulties in retaining knowledge, there are instances where knowledge retention is not a feasible solution. For example, when knowledge exists in an explicit format such as captured and codified in the form of work manuals or software. Based on this research, it can be recommended to businesses, in particular operating in dynamic labour environments, to refrain from solely focusing on staff or knowledge retention. In addition they could also include knowledge sharing strategies to support collaboration between employees with young professional relationships.Businesses could motivate or encourage their employees to engage in knowledge sharing strategies by promoting knowledge sharing almost immediately between employees irrespective of their possibly young professional relationships. Businesses could consider that new employees might often require more than just a formal orientation to the company and training for their job. They may need to adapt to a new destination in which their usual support networks are different and they are exposed to different situations. In addition, irrespective of their career-orientation or industry experience, adapting to the hospitality industry and hotel in the particular destination seems to be important as the latter can significantly influence the way businesses operate. Therefore, businesses should consider and enable the adaptation of employees to their peers, the place (Darwin), the industry and the business.People knowledge, facilitated collaboration by giving employees the opportunity to become flexible towards their professional relationship with peers (Chalkiti, 2009). A recommendation could be to enhance current recruitment and selection strategies to include measures of employees' tendency to demonstrate voluntary behaviours such as organisational citizenship behaviours. Businesses would probably find that using behavioural interviewing and assessment techniques during recruitment stages would offer them valuable insights regarding the behavioural orientation of their peers. However, in light of certain and inevitable labour instability, such recruitment and assessment strategies could be tailored to include a set of voluntary behaviours critical for collaboration in dynamic labour environments.Additionally, the fact that non-career-oriented employees demonstrated voluntary behaviours that supported knowledge sharing could make businesses aware of the positive implications of recruiting non-career-oriented labour. Their motivations to experience different places or lifestyles suggested they had qualities that could enable their timely adaptation to a work environment and new colleagues. This awareness becomes critical in dynamic labour destinations where businesses experience great difficulty in finding, skilled, labour. Additionally, it might be beneficial for businesses to reconsider some of their recruitment guidelines. For example, it could be beneficial to recruit career or non-career employees who have travelled extensively and worked in many companies. This suggests that they have potentially had exposure to many contexts (destinations and industries). This exposure could have made them familiar with the importance of collaborating with people they have not known or have not worked with at all. Indeed, such experience might have made them more flexible in terms of responding and functioning under such dynamic labour conditions.Moreover, these findings also highlight that businesses have the potential to influence the creation of people knowledge. Businesses can achieve this by putting emphasis on the design and creation of socialisation opportunities between employees in their professional environment. For example, hotel chains could increase the opportunities for organisational and interpersonal socialisation to help employees interact and develop professional and non-professional familiarity. Furthermore, businesses could perhaps recognise that knowledge sharing is not the outcome of an employees' job description but recognise that it is also influenced by voluntary behaviours too. In this vein, businesses may want to engage in strategies that aim to trigger or increase the volition of employees towards voluntary behaviours.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to understand how knowledge sharing takes place in the dynamic labour environment of Darwin's hospitality industry in the Northern Territory of Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three hotels, part of the same hotel chain, were used as a case study. Data were acquired through 76 semi-structured interviews and validated through two focus groups over an eight-month period.\nFindings: - The research revealed that organisational and individual factors supported knowledge sharing in the dynamic labour environment of Darwin's hospitality industry. Noteworthy were the participant's attitudes to knowledge sharing as well as the role of social interactions and social networks as they enabled peers to familiarise with one another both professionally and non-professionally. The product of this familiarity was people knowledge that enabled their adaptation to multiple levels (place, industry, hotels, and peers) and in turn helped them to share knowledge with peers irrespective of labour instability.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research focused only on one aspect of knowledge management (knowledge sharing) and the front office departments of three hotels located in Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia.\nPractical implications: - The research provides a knowledge sharing strategy that could help practitioners nurture knowledge sharing in environments of high turnover.\nOriginality/value: - The research contributes to the scant literature available on knowledge sharing strategies in environments of high turnover.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A hybrid approach for cost-optimized lateral transshipment in a supply chain environment
|
[
"Suppliers",
"Supply chain management",
"Supplier selection",
"Cost optimization",
"Lateral transshipment",
"Hybrid genetic algorithm",
"Inventory cost"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the intense competition in the wholesale business sector, there have been significant developments and applications of various supply chain management strategies to streamline the flow of goods. The stochastic nature of retailer demand for goods makes precise demand forecasts difficult for wholesalers. For cost competitiveness, wholesalers tend to maintain the inventory at a low level and face the challenges of satisfying customer expectation for minimized storage cost. Even though cost competitiveness has become an imperative in inventory management, hence the adoption of this low invenotry strategy, when demand suddenly increases they need to backorder extra supplies from their suppliers or consider sourcing extra from other wholesalers in the same region. The latter response is known as lateral transshipment which is faster but more expensive than sourcing from general suppliers. Inventory managers need to determine whether orders should be placed with a supplier or another wholesaler, and further, whether it should be in full or partly from a supplier and partly from another wholesaler. Such decisions are influenced by the requirement to minimize the total cost involved.\n2. Literature review: Optimization in the supply chain network environment has been studied from different perspectives using different methodologies. Applications include, supplier selection (Ghodsypour and O'Brien, 2001); determining transshipment quantities (Herer et al., 2006) delivery scheduling and distribution (Bredstrom et al., 2005; Torabi et al., 2006) and product family selection (Lamothe et al., 2006). Taking into account the minimization of the total cost of logistics, including net price, storage, transportation and ordering costs, Ghodsypour and O'Brien (2001) studied the supplier selection problem in a multiple sourcing environment and proposed an algorithm comprising the pure non-linear programming model as a solution. On replenishment strategies and transshipments, Herer et al. (2006) focussed on minimizing the expected long-run average cost including the replenishment, transshipment, holding and penalty costs with the objective of finding the transshipment and replenishment quantities. They demonstrated how the values of the order-up-to quantities could be calculated using a sample-path-based optimization procedure and how to determine an optimal transshipment policy, using a linear programming/network flow framework. In another study, Lamothe et al. (2006) focussed on minimizing the total cost comprising fixed costs of physical items, facilities, resource lines, shipping channel and variable costs related to manufacturing, inventory and shipping costs; a mixed integer linear programming model was used as the solution.\n3. Model development: Consider a finite number of wholesalers operating independently in a local region. They supply to local retailers whose orders are assumed to follow a compound Poisson distributions (Axsater, 2003). Wholesalers usually replenish their stock from a supplier and their lead time follows some probability distribution. Transshipment from other wholesalers in the same cost center is also a feasible option to partially/fully meet retailer demands. Due to the wholesalers' close proximity in a local region compared with what are usually large distances from their suppliers, lateral transshipments have no lead time but incur an additional cost. When there is a shortage of different types of products, wholesalers may replenish them from a supplier or receive them from another wholesaler through lateral transshipment. Storage of products at a wholesaler incurs holding costs; lack of products for fulfilling retailers' demand incurs backorder costs.This study focusses on the problem of determining the best course of action for a wholesaler in order to minimize its operation cost when responding to retailer demand.\n4. HGA: The GA proposed by Holland (1975) is an effective search technique based on a parallel search algorithm that imitates the mechanism of natural selection and the survival of the fittest described in evolutionary theory. It is comprised of a population of chromosomes (individuals), and selection, crossover and mutation mechanisms (Michalewicz, 1996). The method proposed here of HGA shown in \"Flowchart of HGA\" in Figure 1 differs from the standard GA in the following ways:\n5. Case study analysis and and simulation results discussion: Three stochastic search methods, standard GA, SA (Zomaya, 2001) and TS (Glover, 1989, 1990), were utilized to compare with the proposed method of HGA via simulations. A generic case study focussing on a wholesaler, W\n6. Conclusion: This study develops a pragmatic and effective approach to support logistics practitioners in wholesaler management for making cost-optimized transshipment-related decisions. These decisions involve the cost effective selection of suppliers and other wholesalers for goods transshipment. It considers the real world scenarios with multiple suppliers with variable lead time and selling prices. The model used in this study is developed based on the total inventory cost function that considers purchasing costs, holding costs and backorder costs. The proposed HGA is comprised of four characteristics introduced in a novel way for improved performance. They include a mixture of greedy-based and randomly generated solutions in the initial population, local search method, hill climbing, applied to individuals selected for performing crossover before crossover is implemented and to the best individual in the population at the end of HGA, and gene slice and integration. The effectiveness of the proposed method was illustrated by comparing it with various commonly adopted search techniques including standard GA, SA and TS through simulations. In this comparison, three different scenarios were considered and the results showed that the proposed method outperformed other search methods in all scenarios.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: When making sourcing decisions, both cost optimization and customer demand fulfillment are equally important for firm competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to develop a stochastic search technique, hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA), for cost-optimized decision making in wholesaler inventory management in a supply chain network of wholesalers, retailers and suppliers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study develops a HGA by using a mixture of greedy-based and randomly generated solutions in the initial population and a local search method (hill climbing) applied to individuals selected for performing crossover before crossover is implemented and to the best individual in the population at the end of HGA as well as gene slice and integration.\nFindings: The application of the proposed HGA is illustrated by considering multiple scenarios and comparing with the other commonly adopted methods of standard genetic algorithm, simulated annealing and tabu search. The simulation results demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach in producing more effective solutions.\nPractical implications: The pragmatic importance of this method is for the inventory management of wholesaler operations and this can be scalable to address real contexts with multiple wholesalers and multiple suppliers with variable lead times.\nOriginality/value: The proposed stochastic-based search techniques have the capability in producing good-quality optimal or suboptimal solutions for large-scale problems within a reasonable time using ordinary computing resources available in firms.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Dropping in to game design: Iterations of a skatepark physics game for a children's museum exhibit
|
[
"Collaboration",
"Game design",
"Intergenerational learning",
"Interface design",
"Informal learning environments",
"Learning games",
"Library and information science",
"Librarianship/library management",
"Library and information services"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction - design-and-play gaming in children's museums: In this paper we present our iterative approach to creating a collaborative design-and-play skatepark videogame that gives players the opportunity to build a virtual skatepark in a physics-centered exhibit at a children's museum. We describe how an agile framework for game development led our design perspectives to shift after parent-child dyads tested the game across several prototypes. Played on a 128-cm-wide multi-touch interactive tabletop, the game invites users to work together to design their own skateparks, explore physics concepts, and then test their designs by playing through them. A partnership between learning scientists, child development scholars, children's museum practitioners and game developers, this ongoing project aims to create a game-based learning experience that:\nDesign goals - tinkering in play: Research on learning in informal environments has been concerned with \"integrating learning experiences across settings to develop synergies\" that build upon and further develop \"ecological connections among learning experiences\" (Bell et al., 2009, p. 40). Similarly, museum exhibit designers have been concerned with the integration of experiences across exhibit components within larger themed exhibits so that visitor engagement with a museum's various exhibit modalities is seamless (Allen, 2004). Engaging with the literature on learning through collaborative tinkering, design, and play, this project extends scholarship on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in museums and research into informal environments by looking at the integration of active learning across physical and digital modalities.\nInitial prototype design - skatepark creation in a sandbox environment: Near the outset of our work, the first game prototype offered players the ability to design skateparks in a two-dimensional \"sandbox\" space. The environment presented users with no explicit goals and few visual cues about how to play. Using an interactive panel along one edge of the screen, players could select icons representing skatepark elements such as kickers, quarter pipes and rails from a left-screen menu interface. Players could drag the elements into the skatepark environment. For the initial prototype, our approach was characterized by an effort to allow user freedom in designing skateparks. Few restrictions were placed on how players could position virtual skatepark elements and situate the skateboard character, and participation structures that guided players' interpretation of the results of testing the skatepark design (i.e. by skating through it) were uncommon.\nMethod: playability testing, design-based research and agile development: This paper presents a design narrative (Gaydos, 2015) from the project's iterative playability testing and design endeavor, one portion of our broader work scope. Our project brought together methodological elements adapted from agile game development processes and educational design-based research (DBR). DBR has been described as a methodological approach that focuses on \"engineering particular forms of learning and systematically studying those forms of learning,\" often in the context in which they are instantiated (Cobb et al., 2003, p. 9). Sometimes characterized as a methodological family rather than a singular methodology, an important aspect of DBR is its iterative, systematic and reasonably adaptable approach to studying how learning might be engineered in meaningful contexts. DBR interventions are typically lengthy, iterative, and dynamic and are concerned with what works in everyday contexts (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003). Emerging from the work of cognitive scientist and educational researcher Ann Brown, DBR was formulated with the provision that:\nPlayability test of prototype: interaction, structure and design reasoning: While six out of seven dyads reported that they enjoyed playing the game, we focus here on observations and feedback that resulted in changes in the game design. Three major areas for improvement were identified:\nCase 1: jumbled skatepark element interface stymies design effort of son and mother pair: The case of an eight-year-old boy, Al, and his mother, Ava, (both pseudonyms) shows how some dyads both struggled to manage interface elements while finding some aspects of the interface intuitive. Al and Ava were given minimal instruction about how to play the game, but within 45 s of beginning gameplay they had selected the gender of their character, and constructed a small two-piece skatepark course. Within 105 s they had worked together to assemble a small three-piece course and unsuccessfully tried to have their skater-character skate through it because the character did not have enough momentum. Around 120 s, however, the two encountered difficulties with the interface. Because of very light stray touches on the tabletop, the duo unintentionally spawned seven stray elements - more than they wanted. These unwanted elements overlaid parts of the interface and hindered the dyad from selecting and placing skatepark elements that they actually wanted to use. Working around these obstacles by carefully touching the small portions of the menu that were visible through the infringing skatepark elements, the two patiently persevered for an additional 10 min in designing more sophisticated skateparks, although they kept unintentionally spawning elements until approximately 20 elements covered the menu interface. The superimposed graphics for these elements visually obscured parts of the menu interface, and prevented the users from interacting with the menu by touching it. Around 12 min into gameplay, the adult became visibly frustrated. The proctor then intervened and showed the dyad how to clear the environment of stray skatepark elements via a visible \"reset\" button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. With the intent of trying to have their skater go faster, the two then quickly constructed a tall skatepark with a steeply declining slope. While collision with tiny seams between skatepark elements slowed the skater and prevented the skater from achieving substantial velocity, the dyad celebrated as the character slowly finished the course.\nCase 2: a young girl labors to understand the game-based velocity and kinetic energy: The experience of six-year-old Emma and her father Eddie illustrates how the design mode interface sometimes failed to quickly communicate to users how they could move the skater character. Emma made plain from the beginning of the experience that she did not want her father interacting with the touchtable alongside her, and as a result Eddie stood off to the side and periodically offered suggestions. Advised by Eddie, Emma worked diligently on building a skatepark course and, at about three min into game play, had constructed a five-piece course that featured a low uphill-facing starting position for the skater character. But Emma appeared to understand height only in terms of an individual skatepark element; she did not recognize that multiple pieces could be linked together to create a steeper downward slope. In other words, there was no attempt to align multiple pieces to create, for instance, a longer decline than that which was found as part of an individual piece.\nRedesign approach: intuitive and challenging skatepark building with feedback: After our initial prototype testing with seven dyads, we perceived that the game was confronted with three major issues. First, the skatepark building toolbar on the left-hand side was both intuitive and difficult for users. All players quickly recognized that this toolbar was an important part of the game and interacted by dragging skatepark elements onto the skatepark environment. However, it was difficult for players to manage skatepark elements once they were in the environment. It was easy to accidentally generate too many environment elements with a stray or prolonged toolbar touch, and sometimes elements generated on top of the toolbar obscured it visually and blocked further interactions. Second, young players were sometimes confused about how they should orient themselves to the skatepark, and the interface did not provide meaningful cues that helped them understand how to do so. Players at times did not understand which direction they should orient their skatepark, or how the skater avatar should be positioned. A few had never seen a representation of a skatepark in any form - via illustration, video or otherwise - and did not understand the general mechanics and manner in which skaters moved. These young players struggled to reason about how to generate the velocity and kinetic energy to send virtual skaters up inclines. Some players were unaware that they could reposition the skater-avatar to a higher location, or were not sure how to accomplish moving the character. This problem was perhaps the result of the spawning positioning of the skater-character, which was created at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, resting upon the floor of the skatepark environment. In addition, other young players did not intuitively understand the relationship between starting the skater at a higher vertical position and generating speed to go up inclines. The design team had presupposed children would be able to infer what to do when their skater character was unable to ascend a hill, but this presupposition turned out wrong. A third major issue was that some players (and five-year-olds in particular) had difficulty understanding why their skatepark designs did not generate the results that they desired. Other than showing the player that the avatar could not move to a certain area - often because of an obstacle or lack of velocity - the game provided no cues that would support players' reasoning about why the movements that they desired from their skater had not occurred. We addressed these three issues by:\nConclusion - designing for game-based tinkering and tinkering with game design: Games on interactive tabletops are an emerging medium in museum spaces, and games that provide tinkering experiences for children are less common still. A central concern for those designing similar games and game-centric exhibits is how to foster experiences that both engage visitors with shorter play encounters and longer episodes that may involve geeking out with exogenous and endogenous game-based challenges. Many young museum visitors move through the exhibit spaces and elements at high velocity. As such it is important to design a museum-sited game that presents multiple modes of play that suit different play styles and contexts and clearly and quickly communicates the possible activities and interactions. Our game design offers players the opportunity to take up game-directed challenges or explore the skatepark physics environment through self-generated goals. It also allows visitors to play meaningfully with the game for just three-to-four min, or to experiment and manipulate the sandbox environment for 30 min or longer - both phenomena we have observed.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present an iterative approach to creating a collaborative design-and-play skatepark videogame for a children's museum physics exhibit. Intended for children of 5-8 years old and accompanying adults, this interactive tabletop game encourages players to build a skatepark and then skate through it with a skater character. This case study describes the authors' design perspective shift to make the game's possibilities for tinkering more \"perceptible.\"\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents a case-based design narrative that draws on the project's iterative playability testing with parent-child dyads and reflections from the design team's endeavors. This analysis draws on methodological elements adapted from agile game development processes and educational design-based research.\nFindings: The initial game prototype inhibited the collaborative tinkering of parent-child dyads because it used interface abstractions such as menus, did not orient to the task of tinkering with skatepark design and did not help players understand why their skatepark designs failed. Subsequent game versions adopted blocks as a metaphor for interaction, gave players explicit design goals and models and provided players with more explicit feedback about their skater's motion.\nOriginality/value: Museum games that provide tinkering experiences for children are an emerging medium. Central concerns for those designing such games are presenting multiple modes of play for different players and contexts and clearly and quickly communicating the possible activities and interactions. The design approach in this study offers players the opportunity to - at both short and long timescales - take up game-directed challenges or explore the skatepark physics through self-generated goals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Benchmarking the performance of department stores within an income elasticity of demand perspective
|
[
"Business performance",
"Data envelopment analysis",
"Benchmarking",
"Service operations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Retail businesses are influenced positively or negatively by economic cycles, such as booms and recessions in general. The income elasticity of demand explains consumer behavior in different economic cycles and, thus, the impact of the economic cycles on the retail businesses. During economic booms, consumers have more income and spend more money on normal goods or luxuries. Accordingly, retailers that sell luxuries will have increased revenues. On the other hand, during recessions, consumers will have less income and tend to buy inferior goods over luxuries (Graves and Sexton, 2009). We assume that the recent Great Recession, which started in late 2007, has influenced the retail businesses in different ways, according to the income elasticity of demand. Based on this property, we select ten major department stores in the USA and collect data from 2006 to 2010. Further, we categorize the department stores into two groups - luxury and discount. Using data envelopment analysis, we evaluate the comparative performance of the department stores in order to examine and assess the effect of the income elasticity of demand on retail businesses and to develop strategic implications for individual retail companies. However, this study does not attempt to investigate the details of the income elasticity of demand but develops research questions based on its basic concept.\nRelated studies: Graves and Sexton (2009) defined the income elasticity of demand as \"the responsiveness of the change in demand to a change in income in percentage terms.\" According to them, the change of demand in a percentage on normal goods including luxuries will be positively correlated to the change of income in a percentage. Meanwhile, the change of demand in a percentage on inferior goods will be negatively correlated to the change of income in a percentage. We employ these properties for measuring the comparative performance of department stores.\nMethodology: We employ data envelopment analysis (DEA) for measuring the comparative efficiencies of department stores by using variables related to retail operations. DEA identifies efficiency frontiers among similar entities and has its root on frontier methodology of Farrell (1957). Since Farrell, major breakthroughs such as solving DEA via linear programming (LP) were achieved by Charnes et al. (1978) and by Banker et al. (1984). DEA measures relative efficiency among similar organizations or objects, which are called decision-making units, or DMUs (Charnes et al., 1978). Because DEA can identify relatively efficient DMU(s) among a group of given DMUs, it is a promising tool for benchmarking the performance of entities or companies (Post and Spronk, 1999).\nData and variables: We have collected data from annual reports or 10-Ks of ten department stores for the years 2006-2010 and pooled them for analysis. Accordingly, we have 50 DMUs, which are comprised of the ten stores for five years. Because we do not believe that there has been a technology shift for the department stores during the data-collection period, it is safe to pool the data set and apply DEA models. The department stores are categorized into two groups: discount stores and luxury chains. The discount department stores include Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse (Burlington), JCPenney (Penney), Kohl's, Sears, and TJX Companies (TJX). The luxury stores are Belk, Dillard's, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Saks. By following the framework for selecting variables in a return-on-asset perspective (Joo et al., 2011), we select four variables for measuring the performance of the department stores: revenues (Revenues), merchandise inventory (Inventory), costs of goods sold (COGS), and selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A). The output variable in the models is Revenues, which is frequently chosen for a profitability measure along with other variables. Three input variables are Inventory, COGS, and SG&A. Inventory is an important part of current assets for retail businesses and can be a barometer of market or economic conditions. Companies will end up with a high level of inventory during a recession as sales diminish, and a low level during a peak as sales increase. COGS, which is closely related to purchasing activities, used along with revenues shows a gross margin, which is a measure of profitability. COGS and Inventory are results of supply chain management activities such as forecasting, purchasing, and collaboration-on-demand management. These variables will show, at least, parts of supply chain efficiency and can be used for diagnosing and developing strategic implications for supply chain management. SG&A includes all direct and indirect selling-related expenses. Examples of direct selling expenses are credit, warranty, and advertising expenses. Indirect selling expenses are fixed expenses related to selling activities and usually assigned proportionally. The luxury department stores heavily advertise their brands and have more SG&A expenses than do their discount competitors. Table I shows descriptive statistics of these variables.\nResults and discussion: We analyzed data in two steps. First, we applied three input-oriented bilateral DEA models for comparing discount department stores (Group 2) to luxury counterparts (Group 1). Next, we pooled two groups and examined the relative efficiency of the department stores by using an input-oriented SBM model for measuring individual performance, analyzing inefficiency on input variables, and suggesting a benchmark to each inefficient store.\nConclusion: Retail businesses are known to be sensitive to economic cycles and, indeed, have been significantly affected by the recent economic turmoil. According to an economic theory, the income elasticity of demand, consumers' buying behaviors vary during different economic cycles (Graves and Sexton, 2009). During an economic boom, consumers will have higher income and spend more money on luxury goods than inferior goods. However, it will be opposite during a recession. Will, then, all retail businesses that sell luxury goods enjoy larger profits during an economic boom? Or will all retail businesses that carry inferior goods see increased revenues during a recession? We assume that businesses with appropriate strategies can exploit favorable economic conditions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purposes of this study are twofold: first, the authors attempt to confirm the effect of the income elasticity of demand in the retail industry by investigating the performance of department stores; second, the authors measure and benchmark the performance of individual department stores in order to develop strategic insights.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors employ data envelopment analysis for measuring and benchmarking the relative performance of department stores by using pertinent variables collected over a five-year period - 2006-2010.\nFindings: The results confirmed that the luxury department stores were more sensitive to an economic cycle, and all department stores in this study demonstrated higher performance in recent years, except for one discount department store that showed consistently deteriorating performance over the observation period.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations of this study include the use of financial data from companies' annual reports, along with the limited number of decision-making units and variables.\nOriginality/value: Major contributions of this study include the confirmation of the effect of the income elasticity of demand in the retail industry in general and suggested strategic implications for specific department stores, which are not found in the current literature at the time of this study.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How manufacturer brand erosion shapes consumer assortment perceptions
|
[
"Store brand",
"Repatronage intention",
"Assortment quality",
"Assortment variety",
"Manufacturer band erosion"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumer decision making has been described as a hierarchical process in which consumers select an assortment and then select an option from the chosen assortment (Boyd and Bahn, 2009; Hong et al., 2016). Although understanding both aspects of this process is important, failure to effectively manage the first step - consumer preference for a given assortment - can be disastrous for retailers (Briesch et al., 2009; Boyd and Bahn, 2009). Perceptions of an assortment are largely shaped by its quality, price and brands; they determine a retailer's market position and image (Mantrala et al., 2009; Gao and Simonson, 2016) and are associated with consumers' purchases and satisfaction with a store (e.g. Spassova and Isen, 2013; Hong et al., 2016).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 Retailing assortment management\n3. Methodology: A scenario-based experiment was conducted to test the proposed conceptual model in Figure 1.\n4. Discussion, implications and future research: 4.1 Discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Recently, the popularity of store brands has resulted in some manufacturer brands being removed from shelves. The current literature lacks empirical work on the effect of manufacturer brand erosion on consumer assortment perception and repatronage intention. Based on signalling theory, the purpose of this paper is to manufacturer brands play a signalling role and contend that manufacturer brand erosion has detrimental effects on the assortment perception due to reduced signalling efficacy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 3 (low manufacturer brand erosion vs high manufacturer brand erosion vs manufacturer brand dominance) x2 (assortment size: small vs large) between-subject experiment was conducted.\nFindings: Manufacturer brand erosion exerts a negative effect on assortment attractiveness and consumers' repatronage intention; the greater the erosion, the larger the negative effect. These negative effects are mediated by reduced consumer perceptions of assortment quality and variety. A large (vs small) assortment size attenuates the negative effect of manufacturer brand erosion by improving perceived assortment quality.\nPractical implications: To engage in strategic positioning through efficient assortment management, retailers should cooperate with brand manufacturers, instead of promoting their own private labels. Nevertheless, a large assortment dominated by store brands signals that the retailer has built a strong private brand, which in turn gains a differentiation advantage.\nOriginality/value: This paper is among the first to take the signalling perspective and explicitly investigate whether and how manufacturer brand erosion exerts a significant impact on assortment perception.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Correlation structure of real estate markets over time
|
[
"Real estate",
"Portfolio investment",
"Correlation analysis",
"Economic stability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to the standard model of modern portfolio theory suggested by Markowitz (1952) and its extensions, low international correlation across markets is at the root of global portfolio diversification. International investments can reduce the risk of investment portfolios since asset returns in different countries are not perfectly correlated. Thus, the correlation and covariance matrix of international asset returns plays a key role in portfolio theory and has been widely studied. A countless amount of examinations considered and analyzed correlations, correlation structures over time, and correlation forecasting. In contrast, for both direct and indirect real estate markets, less attention has been paid to the correlation and covariance structure over time and its implications for mean-variance-optimization.In general, there exist some well-accepted central statements about comovements and correlation structures of international stock markets:* Correlation coefficients and matrices are not stable over time.* Correlation coefficients increase in downward market trends and decrease in upward market trends. Thus, gains from diversifying internationally and across assets are less available when they are most needed.* Correlations are higher among well-integrated economic countries or regions and during periods of globalization.* Correlation forecasting is still a crucial point in finance with unsatisfying results to date.According to securitized real estate markets and from an international perspective in particular, these central aspects are analyzed in much less detail.However, the importance of the correlation structure over time is not less interesting for investors when considering real estate rather than common stock markets. Furthermore, it is suggested that benefits from international diversification are much higher for real estate investments than for investments in stocks or bonds according to the more local business of most real estate property companies. Thus, this paper is focusing on securitized real estate investment vehicles like real estate investment trusts (REITs) and listed property companies.The remainder of the paper is laid out as follows. After briefly reviewing the literature of correlation structures for real estate stock markets, section 3 presents the data analyzed and considers the properties of the return distributions. Section 4 analyzes the correlation and covariance structure by rolling correlation, semi-correlation and the Jennrich stability test. Finally, section 5 summarizes the main results.\n2. Literature review: The main research concentrates on the US market or on the Asia-Pacific markets and considers mixed-asset portfolios with common stocks, bonds, together with both direct and indirect US real estate investments by mainly assuming correlation stability over time and applying mean-variance optimization. A summary of former research on correlation structures and implications for portfolio diversification is presented by Sirmans and Worzala (2003) and Worzala and Sirmans (2003). Further analyses were conducted by Brounen and Eichholtz (2003), Lee (2005), Lee and Stevenson (2005), Waggle and Agrrawal (2006), Cheng and Roulac (2007), Idzorek et al. (2007), Jin et al. (2007), Liow and Adair (2009), Yat-Hung et al. (2008), and Fugazza et al. (2008). While the studies strongly support the benefits from adding real estate to a US mixed asset portfolio, there is no extended discussion on correlation structures over time in an international context. However, Bond et al. (2003) use an international factor model to analyze real estate returns. Based on their findings, they conclude that it is worth diversifying internationally. Furthermore, it is suggested that investors should move away from naive to more complex international diversification strategies. However, the stability of the influencing factors is not examined in detail.To our knowledge, Eichholtz (1996) only analyzes the correlation and covariance matrices for international real estate stock markets and their stability over time. Eichholtz (1996) is using logarithmic monthly returns from February 1973 to May 1993 for nine national property company indices from Datastream. The findings indicate that correlations are more stable than variances and covariances over time. However, even correlation matrices are not stable over time. Therefore, the application of standard portfolio models is limited in determining the allocation of securitized international real estate investments. Compared to the findings of Kaplanis (1988) and Longin and Solnik (1995) using the same methodology - namely the Jennrich test - the results by Eichholtz (1996) support the conclusions for the real estate stock markets. Therefore both covariance and correlation matrices are not stable over time and the Markowitz approach is not applicable for real estate stock markets without limitations. A study by Newell and Acheampong (2001) regarding the Australian market for listed property trusts (LPTs) emphasizes that correlation between LPTs and the stock market is asymmetric over time and increases significantly in a down-market environment being in line with the evidence for international stock markets. This result demonstrates that the phenomenon of increasing correlations in down-market conditions is not specific for one asset class, but also appears between asset classes. The time-varying link between direct real estate, securitized real estate and other financial assets is also documented by Clayton and MacKinnon (2001) and Goldstein and Nelling (1999), analyzing time variation in factor sensitivities without any correlation matrices in particular. Conover et al. (2002) show significant benefits from adding international real estate to an US portfolio by calculating efficient portfolios. They conclude that correlations between international real estate and US stocks are lower than for foreign stocks. Thus, these lower correlations provide lower risk and higher returns when adding foreign real estate to a portfolio of US assets. However, an explicit analysis of the stability of the correlation is not done by Conover et al. (2002). Summarizing, previous research found some evidence for benefits from adding national and international real estate to a US stock and bond portfolio (e.g. Brounen and Eichholtz (2003)), for asymmetric correlations between real estate investments and stocks, and for probably unstable correlation matrices over time. However, with the exception of Eichholtz (1996), the former examinations focused mainly on mixed-asset portfolios and an explicit analysis of the correlation structure between international real estate stock markets over time is still missing.\n3. Data: The empirical analysis in this paper is based on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT monthly indices between January 1990 and December 2006. With the exception of Canada, the time series contain 204 monthly data for each market. Because of the lack of data, the analysis of the Canadian market is based on 120 monthly returns between 1997 and 2006 only. The study covers the following 14 markets: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore in the Pacific area, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK in Europe, and Canada and the USA in Northern America. To our knowledge, it is the most comprehensive analysis of international correlation in real estate stock market returns over time. Sample statistics are calculated in market values based on Euro and local currency[1].Table I gives an overview of the return and risk characteristics of the 14 national real estate stock indices. As can be seen, the performance of the countries' securitized real estate markets is very heterogeneous and differs substantially between national markets. While Canada and the US have an average monthly return of above 1.20 percent, the Swedish and Japanese market have an average return around 0.00 percent only. The three countries with the highest returns (Australia, Canada, USA) are the countries with the longest history in REIT legislation. It is interesting to notice, that the markets with the highest return show the lowest standard deviations, whereas the highest standard deviations can be found for the Asian markets. This may be caused by the fact, that the Asian securitized real estate markets are dominated by property developers and construction activities. Therefore, the cash flows of their business and consequently the equity returns are more volatile in contrast to REITs and other property companies, where rental investments dominate[2].According to the first two moments of the return distribution, the Australian, the Canadian, and the US market seem to be preferable. However, it can be reasonable to solely use volatility as a risk measurement only if it can be assumed that the observed returns are normally distributed. But according to the test statistics of the Jarque-Bera normality test, the null hypothesis of normally distributed returns is rejected for 12 out of 14 national indices at least at the 10 percent level of significance. Only the Dutch and French real estate markets have normally distributed returns. The third and fourth moment emphasize these findings. With the exception of the Dutch market, the return distributions are leptokurtic and negative skewness dominates. Due to the results above, the use of standard deviation as a measure of risk may result in distortions of the true performance. The z-values in Table I specify whether the deviation from normality is attributed to the third and/or the fourth moment of the return distribution. Using the testing method suggested by Urzua (1996), the findings indicate that for Belgium, Canada, and Italy both higher moments are responsible for the significant non-normality. The market in the UK is the only one where skewness is significant different from zero, but the distribution is not leptokurtic. For all other non-normally distributed indices, kurtosis alone determines the rejection of normality.These findings of non-normal return distributions are typical for financial assets and are in deep contrast to the assumptions of classic mean-variance optimization. Further support of the Markowitz approach is given by Figure 1 in comparison to Figure 2. Feasible portfolios, based on the five markets with the lowest Jarque-Bera-test statistics, and the efficient frontier are calculated and presented in Figure 1. Additionally, the portfolios in Figure 2 are controlled for the properties of their return distributions by applying the Jarque-Bera test for normality to the return distribution of the portfolios. As can be seen, the portfolios located on and close to the efficient frontier are non-normally distributed at the 10 percent level of significance[3]. Thus, mean-variance-dominance is not sufficient for portfolio decisions and higher moments like skewness and kurtosis should be taken into consideration as well when investors' utility functions do not depend on mean and variance only.\n4. Correlation and covariance analysis: In contrast to international stock markets, the low correlation between real estate markets is well documented in relevant literature. As shown in Table II, five correlation coefficients are higher than 0.50 only. The relative high correlation between France and The Netherlands (0.559), Hong Kong and Singapore (0.741), and Canada and the USA (0.711) might be caused by the strong economic linkages between these countries. The German (0.160) and Japanese (0.199) real estate stock markets indicate the lowest average correlation whereas Australia, France, The Netherlands and the UK are characterized by the highest average correlation which is around 0.350 for all of these countries. These findings suggest that the benefits from diversification are much higher for real estate stock markets than for broad stock markets in general and other sectors like industrials, materials, and financials in particular. Thus, from an investors' perspective, the focus on international diversification is even more necessary when investing in real estate stocks than in broad stock markets.However, the analysis is static and no dynamics over time are considered, challenging the analysis of covariance and correlation structure over time. According to Markowitz' portfolio theory, it is assumed that the covariance matrix is stable over time and in many applications it is also supposed that the past is the best forecast for the future. However, when it is shown that the covariance matrices are time-varying, then results based on previous covariance structures are not helpful for asset allocation. Thus, a constantly changing covariance structure requires constant rebalancing of the international real estate stock portfolio. Therefore, from a theoretical point of view, the stability of variances, covariances, and correlations of international real estate stock market returns is essential for the construction of international real estate stock portfolios. The further examinations focus on the time-varying comovement of the national real estate stock markets. The analysis is based on three steps. First, rolling correlations are presented getting a graphic impression of the correlation structure over time. Second, correlations in different market environments like upward and downward moving markets are calculated. Finally, using the Jennrich test, statistical power of correlation and covariance stability are tested. While correlations are a standardized measure of comovement and are commonly used, covariance is the essential input to mean-variance-optimization.4.1. Rolling correlations\n5. Conclusion: This paper examined the appropriateness of mean-variance-optimization for constructing real estate portfolios. The relative low correlation coefficients between the national real estate stock markets indicate pervasive benefits from diversification across real estate stock markets, whereas diversification between continents is more beneficial than within continents. The vast majority of previous research applies mean-variance-optimization for measuring the benefits from diversification across political and economics borders and assets. But this approach is based on assumptions of normally distributed returns. Furthermore, in both research and practical portfolio management, data from the past are often used for constructing efficient portfolios. This critical assumption requires that the correlation and the covariance structure in particular are stable over time because the covariance matrix is critical input to the optimization and the resulting benefits from diversification.By using monthly data, there is strong evidence that the hypothesis of normal return distribution is rejected for 12 out of 14 real estate markets, mainly due to negative skewness and leptokurtosis. Though the analysis of correlation structures shows low correlation between real estate markets and thus, indicates strong benefits from diversification. However, the Jennrich test is rejecting the stability of both the correlation and covariance matrix, putting further doubt on the application of mean-variance-optimization based on past data. Thus, summarizing the empirical results, both researchers and portfolio management should be aware of the limitations of the mean-variance-framework when applying the Markowitz approach for decision making in real estate portfolio management.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the time-varying correlation structure of international real estate stock markets and its implications for portfolio management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The analysis focuses on real estate markets only and examines the appropriateness of the Markowitz approach based on mean-variance-optimization. Therefore, the properties of the return distributions are analyzed first. Afterwards, the stability of the correlation and covariance structure over time is analyzed and statistically tested by the Jennrich test.\nFindings: - Because of low correlation among real estate markets worldwide there exists diversification benefits from broadening the investment horizon to international real estate markets. However, using correlation coefficients as a measure for diversification benefits is limited by empirical findings: Returns are not normally distributed, correlations increase in downward moving phases and neither the correlation nor the covariance structures are statistically stable over time. Therefore, mean-variance optimization is inherent with misleading results.\nOriginality/value: - The study provides some interesting and valuable insights into the correlation structure of real estate stock markets over time and the limitations for portfolio management based on mean-variance-optimization.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Implementation of a nationwide electronic health record (EHR): The international experience in 13 countries
|
[
"Critical success factors",
"Critical failure factors",
"EHR implementation",
"Implementation barriers",
"IT implementation approach"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although previous studies have shown that the implementation process is as important as the system itself, the implementation of nationwide electronic health record (NEHR) system has progressed much more slowly worldwide than it was initially anticipated (Morrison et al., 2011). There are a number of reasons, such as the continuously changing system characteristics and the politically driven contractual relationships among healthcare providers, which seems to prevent the successful completion of electronic health record (EHR) system's development (Sheikh et al., 2011). The majority of stakeholders are aware of the magnitude of the problems arising from the implementation of such a system and they understand that it is unrealistic to hold high expectations concerning the operational functions of these systems.\n2. Literature review: In Europe, 19 out of 33 countries are still at the planning stage of the development and implementation process of a patient summary and EHR-like system (Stroetmann et al., 2011). The leading in the field countries in Europe are Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Worldwide, Canada and Australia are the countries with the most advanced stage of NEHR implementation (Thomson et al., 2013).\n3. Research methodology: The primary aim of this research was to capture the existing experience from countries where nationwide EHR systems have already been implemented or they are in a medium to mature implementation phase. For that reason, experts with experience in implementing NEHR in many different countries were invited to participate in this survey and share their knowledge and experience with the academic community and other practitioners.\n4. Results: In this section, part of the answers provided by each one of the 13 experts in each question is presented. Since all the questions in the survey were optional, there are some boxes in some tables which are blank indicating that no answer was provided. It should also be stressed that, apart from choosing the answers for each question, the survey participants were also asked to rate the importance of each given option, where it was applicable.\n5. Discussion: The adoption of the appropriate NEHR implementation approach plays a crucial role as far as system development time and budget for each country is concerned.\n6. Conclusions: In the current research, experts from 13 countries (eight from Europe and five from the rest of the world) have provided some useful insight, as far as the NEHR implementation process is concerned. Considering the limitations of this research, especially the heterogeneity amongst the participated country's healthcare systems and the limited representation of the stakeholders, this research can be used as a reference point for other countries that intend to proceed in NEHR system implementation for issues concerning: the EHR implementation approach to follow, the main difficulties and how to overcome them during the implementation process and the critical success factors and critical failures - barriers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the best practices applied during the implementation process of a national electronic health record (EHR) system. Furthermore, the main goal is to explore the knowledge gained by experts from leading countries in the field of nationwide EHR system implementation, focusing on some of the main success factors and difficulties, or failures, of the various implementation approaches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To gather the necessary information, an international survey has been conducted with expert participants from 13 countries (Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, the USA, Israel, New Zealand and South Korea), who had been playing varying key roles during the implementation process. Taking into consideration that each system is unique, with each own (different) characteristics and many stakeholders, the methodological approach followed was not oriented to offer the basis for comparing the implementation process, but rather, to allow us better understand some of the pros and cons of each option.\nFindings: Taking into account the heterogeneity of each country's financing mechanism and health system, the predominant EHR system implementation option is the middle-out approach. The main reasons which are responsible for adopting a specific implementation approach are usually political. Furthermore, it is revealed that the most significant success factor of a nationwide EHR system implementation process is the commitment and involvement of all stakeholders. On the other hand, the lack of support and the negative reaction to any change from the medical, nursing and administrative community is considered as the most critical failure factor.\nOriginality/value: A strong point of the current research is the inclusion of experts from several countries (13) spanning in four continents, identifying some common barriers, success factors and best practices stemming from the experience obtained from these countries, with a sense of unification. An issue that should never be overlooked or underestimated is the alignment between the functionality of the new EHR system and users' requirements.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence of teachers: The effects of learning goal orientation and training readiness
|
[
"Learning goal orientation",
"Cultural intelligence (CQ)",
"Multicultural teaching efficacy",
"Training readiness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Given the current era of global society with increasing numbers of international students and minorities from around the world, secondary teachers in the USA face increasingly diverse groups of students in their classrooms. In this situation, teachers are expected to be sensitive to different cultures and to help immigrant students from diverse backgrounds, those who may have been adopted, or are early study abroad students from other countries. In such challenging situations, school districts require teachers who are more adaptable to new environments and who are flexible in dealing with culturally distinctive students. It is a shared consensus that there are gaps between teachers and students with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Schools and communities have invested in professional development to prepare teachers for multicultural classrooms that require understanding a wide range of students' learning needs (Sleeter, 2001). The US Government has supported outreach services for the in-service secondary teachers by providing workshops, study abroad programs, curricula modules and various teaching materials in order to bridge the differences between students and teachers (US Department of Education, 2018).\nLiterature review: Learning goal orientation\nMethods: Samples\nResults: The results of the study are reported in two parts. First, the descriptive statistics, correlations and reliabilities were reported. Second, the hierarchical multiple regression models were tested and the results of the hypothesis testing were addressed. Descriptive statistics, correlations, reliabilities and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0.\nDiscussion: In this study, we examined how learning goal orientation and training readiness affect teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence. The findings of the current study provide evidence that learning goal orientation enhances both teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence, while training readiness does not. Additionally, teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy plays a significant role in fostering cultural intelligence.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of learning goal orientation and training readiness on teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 182 responses from secondary schools in midwest and southern areas of the USA were analyzed using the hierarchical multiple regression.\nFindings: The findings indicated that learning goal orientation positively influenced both teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence, while training readiness did not significantly affect them. In addition, teachers' multicultural teaching efficacy positively influenced their cultural intelligence.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study implied that high-level learning goal orientation can contribute to enhance multicultural teaching efficacy and cultural intelligence for teachers.\nPractical implications: By conducting needs analysis of participants in advance, trainers can reflect what teachers want and need when designing and implementing a workshop. In addition, trainers could prepare for interventions to improve the participation rate of multicultural workshops and the quality of existing workshop programs.\nOriginality/value: This study is important in that it will help to develop culturally sensitive workshop/training programs that can prepare teachers for diverse classroom environments and face potential issues that may arise.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How does supplier's asset specificity affect product development performance? A relational exchange perspective
|
[
"Asset specificity",
"Relationship quality",
"Knowledge sharing",
"Product development",
"Buyer‐supplier",
"Knowledge management",
"Buyer‐seller relationships",
"Electronics industry"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: New product development is the core activity in firm innovation, and is essential to firm growth and competitive advantage in the highly competitive market. To improve product development performance, introduction of external resources, particularly from suppliers, has become crucial to product development. Suppliers thus are crucial to successful buyer product or service development. New product development is frequently cited as an example of a knowledge intensive activity (Iansiti and MacCormack, 1997). Since product development is a knowledge intensive activity, knowledge sharing between buyers and suppliers in product development is critical to buyer product development performance.Supplier behavior explains the willingness of buyers and suppliers to share knowledge with each other. Extant research posits that the supplier willingness to invest in specific assets for buyers significantly influences buyer-supplier knowledge sharing. However, it fails to explain how supplier asset specificity influences knowledge sharing in industrial contexts. The argument that asset specificity directly causes knowledge sharing is unconvincing and deserves further discussion. The relationship quality framework comprising satisfaction and trust offers a promising perspective for clarifying knowledge sharing in supply chain relationships. Based on relational exchange theory, this study proposes that supplier investment in specific assets for buyers can improve buyer perceived relationship quality, making buyers feel relieved and willing to share knowledge with suppliers. Consequently, the first research goal and contribution of this study is to clarify the mechanism by which asset specificity leads to knowledge sharing.Supplier specific asset investment for customers is generally esteemed to improve customer business and operation performance in practice. However, extant researches rarely discussed how asset specificity influences the product development performance, and this question is the research focus of this study. Suppliers may invest in tangible or intangible assets for buyers. Besides direct aid provided in the form of physical asset investment, intangible and human assets can also favor product development. Nevertheless, intangible assets require transformation to realize their contribution to product development activities. This study thus first argues that relationship quality and knowledge sharing are critical for transforming supplier asset specificity to enhance buyer product development performance, and the gap in the influence mechanism research shapes the second goal and contribution of this study.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The following section reviews the relevant literature and proposes hypotheses related to the influence of asset specificity on knowledge sharing and product development performance based on the theories of social exchange and relational exchange. Second, this paper discusses the research methodology and analyzes the statistical data. Finally, this paper concludes by reviewing managerial implications, research limitations, and future research directions.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: Transaction cost economics asserts that the specific assets invested in a partnership increase opportunism hazards and hence transaction costs (Heide and Stump, 1995). Based on the level of asset specificity, firms select an appropriate governance structure by which the partnership can reduce opportunism hazards (David and Han, 2004; Ghosh and John, 2005). Although transaction cost economics advocates structural governance to alleviate misappropriation hazards in alliances (Sampson, 2004), it neglects trust enhancement through repeated alliances. However, social exchange theory and relational exchange theory stress the importance of building interfirm trust (Bignoux, 2006; Das and Teng, 2002; Lui et al., 2009) and the trust building process in exchange relationships (Muthusamy et al., 2007).Homans (1961) first proposed social exchange theory, which utilizes the disciplines of behavioral psychology and elementary economics. Blau (1964) considered social exchange as individual voluntary actions motivated by expected returns from others. Besides interpersonal exchanges, social exchange theory also examines relational exchanges in business-to-business contexts (Whitener et al., 1998). Other researchers adopted relational exchange theory to study the relationship between two parties. This theory proposes a relation-specific asset for capturing the long-term investment in the people, assets, and procedures involved in a partnership (Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Ganesan, 1994; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Relational exchange relationships can be characterized by shared norms such as solidarity, flexibility, and information exchange (Heide and John, 1995).Lui et al. (2009) supported the predictions of relational exchange theory, which focuses on cooperative behavior generated by asset specificity, more than those of transaction cost economics. The extant research based on relational exchange theory suggests that asset specificity enhances trust between partners, in turn promoting cooperative behavior and higher partnership performance. According to the above discussions, adopting social exchange theory and relational exchange theory offers the best means of building the research theories and framework of this study.2.1 Asset specificity\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Measurement development\n4. Data analysis and results: 4.1 Data accuracy analysis\n5. Discussion and managerial implications: The study examines the mechanism by which asset specificity of supplier investment in a buyer affects the performance of that buyer in product development, something neglected in the previous literature. Based on the review of the extant literature, buyer-supplier relationship quality and knowledge sharing significantly influence the impact of asset specificity on product development performance. This finding shows that buyer product development performance is enhanced both directly by supplier asset specificity and indirectly through the mediation of relationship quality and knowledge sharing. This study also finds that supplier asset specificity positively influences buyer satisfaction with and trust in suppliers, both of which determine relationship quality. Relationship quality thus significantly and positively impacts knowledge sharing between buyer and supplier. Claro and de Oliveira Claro (2011) studied the question whether, with a high degree of transaction specific investments, buyers would engage more in collaborative joint efforts that coordinate activities and resources in a buyer-supplier relationship. The finding of this study discloses that supplier asset specificity does not directly enhance buyer-supplier knowledge sharing. Despite asset specificity can affect knowledge sharing through the mediation of relationship quality, the result of this study shows that even if suppliers would like to invest specific assets for buyers, the buyers may still doubt loyalty and commitment of the suppliers to them and hesitate to share confidential information with the suppliers. The buyers need time to perceive trust and satisfaction toward their suppliers, and are subsequently willing to share knowledge with their suppliers.Supplier asset specificity has been shown to improve buyer-supplier relationships and buyer performance. However, previous studies have rarely emphasized the impact of supplier investment in specific assets on buyer performance in product development, particularly the reasons for and mechanism of that impact. The findings of this study further clarify the mechanism of that effect. Knowledge sharing between buyer and supplier thus is a crucial route by which supplier asset specificity can affect product development. Changes in technology and market demand are normally rapid in high-technology industries, in which product development is vital for high-technology firm survival. To accelerate product development and time to market, firms frequently urge or invite suppliers to become involved in their product development processes. Supplier involvement in buyer product development activities can be through providing tangible resources or knowledge. Owing to the knowledge intensive nature of product development, the contribution of suppliers to buyer product development performance derives partly from mutual knowledge sharing between buyer and supplier. The findings of this study support this argument.Beelaerts van Blokland et al. (2008) showed that a higher collaborative innovation effort by partners in the supply chain leads to a significantly decreased time-to-market and a significantly positive change in market share. Buyer-supplier knowledge sharing is essential to the process of collaborative innovation. Therefore, improving buyer product development performance requires efficient and effective buyer-supplier knowledge sharing. Schedule planning and management is essential for successful product development. Schiele (2010) found that a well-organized and systematic program of innovation meetings with suppliers in new product development is a powerful tool that generates more innovative input for the firm. The implications for practice lie in that buyers communicate with suppliers and invite them to participate in initial product development to maximize supplier knowledge contribution. Such an approach will increase the flexibility of the lead time before product development deadlines, thus avoiding accidental events. The close relationship between buyer R&D and supplier staff then helps provide immediate and customized solutions to problems. Sometimes informal discussion is a good way of building this close relationship.This study also demonstrated that supplier asset specificity directly and positively impact buyer product development performance, reflecting supplier involvement in buyer product development via physical assets. Kleinaltenkamp and Ehret (2006) showed that with a growing share of collaboration, suppliers are forced to up-front specific investments in R&D or customer specific knowledge in order to be perceived as a potential business partner by a customer. To improve product development performance, this study implied that buyers can require their suppliers to provide products or services by investing in specific equipments, facilities, or even factories to meet their product demands. The restructuring of production processes and improving quality through such measures as increased yield rates are also ways in which suppliers can help buyers manage product development. Timely and considerate product adaptation by suppliers for buyers also directly affects product development performance.Although extant studies revealed that supplier asset specificity can lead to buyer-supplier knowledge sharing, the literature has not clarified the reason for this effect. Based on the practical perspective, suppliers willing to invest on behalf of a specific buyer tend to share information and knowledge with that buyer. This study shows that supplier asset specificity cannot directly enhance mutual knowledge sharing between buyer and supplier without the motivation of buyer perceived relationship quality. If suppliers make specific investments in buyer needs and assure buyer perceived relationship quality, that buyer will also like to share knowledge with the supplier.However, buyers frequently hesitate to disclose knowledge to their suppliers, especially knowledge related to sensitive technologies and product specifications. This hesitation is generally motivated by fear that suppliers will leak buyer confidential information to competitors, or even that suppliers will copy their technologies and products and become competitors. Therefore, buyers are very cautious about sharing knowledge with suppliers. Once a buyer feels satisfied with a supplier and confirms that supplier is trustworthy, the buyer perceives the relationship to be good quality and becomes more likely to share knowledge with that supplier. This study shows that for practice to build more cohesive relationships with customers of enhanced trust and satisfaction, suppliers should provide customers with effective communication (Sanzo et al., 2003; Yen and Horng, 2010; Yen et al., 2011) and instant support, protect customer interests, and deliver on promises made to customers. Subsequent knowledge sharing and buyer product development performance improvement can then benefit the business of suppliers with buyers.\n6. Research limitations and suggestions: The limitations of this study are discussed below, as are future research suggestions. The first limitation is that this study only examines the electronics industry in Taiwan. Although Taiwanese electronic firms are leaders in global high technology manufacturing, other countries, such as America and Japan, are more advanced than Taiwan in product development. This investigation thus could be extended to test other countries. Moreover, product development activities are regularly conducted in numerous industries, including traditional industries. Future studies thus can replicate the present survey in other industries. Consequently, investigations of other countries and industries can help generalize the findings of this study.The second limitation of this study lies in the definition and dimensions of the relationship quality construct. This investigation adopts satisfaction and trust as dimensions of relationship quality. Nevertheless, the definitions of relationship quality used by some researchers also include other dimensions, such as commitment, information sharing, and communication. Future research thus can adopt different relationship quality constructs to examine the model proposed in this study.The importance of the relationship between supplier asset specificity and buyer product development performance is well recognized. However, the literature has neglected the critical roles played by relationship quality and knowledge sharing in that relationship. This study proposes a brand-new model to explain the mechanism of that relationship, but further research is required to better understand related issues.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Although previous studies have examined the influence of asset specificity on firm performance, the literature has not focused on the influence of supplier asset specificity on product development, or the transformation that induces this. This study aims to propose a model by using the relational exchange perspective to explain the mechanism in which supplier investment in specific assets on behalf of buyers influences buyer performance in product development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Empirical data were collected from research and development staff in Taiwanese listed electronic firms and tested using structural equation modeling to verify the fit of the hypothetical model.\nFindings: - The result demonstrates that supplier investment in specific assets for buyers positively impacts buyer's perceived relationship quality, which in turn affects knowledge sharing between buyers and suppliers and buyer product development performance. However, asset specificity does not directly affect knowledge sharing.\nOriginality/value: - This study illuminates the contribution of asset specificity to knowledge sharing and product development performance, by clarifying the mediation effects resulting from relationship quality and knowledge sharing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Retail blues in black and white: an emerging market context
|
[
"Turnover intention",
"Grounded theory",
"Front-end employees",
"Indian retail industry"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Retail is one of the flourishing service sectors in India. It accounts for 22 percent of India's GDP (Mohan, 2016). Organized retailing is expected to grow at the compounded annual growth rate of 19-20 percent annually to reach around $950bn by 2018 (RAI, 2014). National retailers are in a continuous phase of expansion, mainly in tier II and tier III cities, where the current penetration rate is 10 percent (RAI, 2014). The Indian retail sector is the second largest employer after agriculture. The recent announcement by Government of India to open 100 percent foreign direct investment has further signaled increasing employment opportunities in this sector (Mohan, 2016). This massive growth and considerable attention from foreign investors have come at significant cost. The growth of Indian retail industry is hindered by a number of challenges. The most prominent among them is talent retention as the employee turnover rate is as high as 50 percent (Deloitte, 2013) at the front end. This high turnover rate indicates unfavorable work-climate in India. It also indicates huge costs retail organizations are bearing as a result of increased employee withdrawal. RAI (2014) report states that talent retention is the top concern for hypermarket, department stores and specialty stores.\nThe Indian context: A complex challenge exists enacting management practices in India as they are highly influenced by social, economic, political and religious factors (Budhwar and Boyne, 2004). Furthermore, owing to its high cultural diversity and the population of 1.2bn, her anatomy makes it a unique country to follow any organized and structured practices (Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997). Dealing with a large and fragmented population, where values and moral considerations precede any chain of professionalism, organizations often face challenges of pragmatic policies execution. Twenty-one years after the path breaking reforms of 1991, India lacks a thriving business environment where barriers to business operation still limit the scope of growth. As pointed by Budhwar and Sparrow (1997) and Pio (2007), societal norms and cultural influences determine business policies and practices in a number of ways. For example, fatalistic and submissive orientation ranks India low in structural empowerment. Similarly, an analysis of cultural impacts on business practices reveals that centuries-old tradition still holds sway in India and presents critical challenges for firms that emulate western organizational practices (Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997; Pio, 2007).\nLiterature review: Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of planned behavior explained how attitudes drive behavior; they stated that, \"Behavioral intention is a measure of the chances that people express a given behavior.\" Extant literature on employee turnover reveal that job satisfaction (Firth et al., 2004; Booth and Hamer, 2007; Hom and Kinicki, 2001; Jaramillo et al., 2006) and organizational commitment (Firth et al., 2004; Jaramillo et al., 2006; Yurchisin and Park, 2010; Aladwan et al., 2013) are the most significant predictors of turnover intention.\nResearch methodology: The present study was carried out in three phases. A total of 12 supermarkets (FMCG and Apparel) in the eastern and the northern regions of India were selected at random. In the first phase, human resource (HR) managers of each store were contacted through e-mails and telephonic calls. Subsequently, a letter from the institution mentioning the purpose and significance of the study along with the sample questionnaire was e-mailed to them. Out of 12 stores that were contacted, only 7 stores agreed to participate in our study as some of them did not approve the purpose while others were apprehensive to share certain information.\nConclusion and implications: In the present study, researchers used grounded theory approach to identify the antecedents of turnover intention among front-end employees in the Indian retail organizations. The grounded model (Figure 1) represents the precursors (selective codes) \"The grounded model represents the precursors 'of' turnover intention among front-end workers particularly in India\".\nTheoretical contributions: To our knowledge, this is perhaps the first study to follow the grounded theory approach in developing an employee turnover framework in the Indian context. Adopting grounded theory approach helped us to present the context-specific factors responsible for developing turnover intentions in an otherwise neglected Indian retail sector. The grounded model (Figure 1) representing antecedents of employees' intention to quit is an original contribution to HRM knowledge in India. In doing so, it follows the suggestion of Murphy et al. (2016) in unfolding complex process of employee turnover. It meaningfully contributes to the present literature by providing fresh and intriguing explanations on why frontline employees in the Indian retail industry quit their job. The study has captured cultural nuances that influence workers' attitude toward retail jobs in India. Findings show that challenges workers face in the Indian retail organizations are not congruent with some studies implied. Therefore, the present study would help scholars and practitioners to enhance their understanding of the underlying factors affecting turnover intention in the Indian retail industry. The findings should assist managers in devising more employee-centric HR policies which should enhance their satisfaction and commitment.\nLimitation and future studies: The study has made an important progress toward understanding the turnover intention among front-end employees in the Indian retail industry. However, it has few limitations. First, the sample consisted of employees limited to retail stores of northern and eastern India, majorly, from tier II cities, hence, representing a small sample of firms. Nevertheless, the findings depict an important contribution with respect to contextual factors affecting turnover intention. Future studies would benefit by conducting similar studies in different parts of India, so that clear contours can be drawn and exact picture stands clearly revealed. Second, we examined thoughts and practices of employees in the Indian retail setting. Therefore, some of the findings may not be applied to other work settings. Future studies may benefit by conducting similar studies in other work settings as employee turnover is a serious issue across service sector in India (Balram, 2017; Shankar, 2017). Perceived job image, favoritism and culture shock manifest cultural structures that influence employees' decision to quit. Hence, survey-based studies could help understand the adverse effects of cultural norms that limit the participation of workers in India. Scholars also recommend including gender-specific societal norms that would provide a more convincing investigation regarding social impacts in employees' workplace behavior.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Research investigating turnover intention among frontline employees in the Indian retail industry is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors affecting withdrawal cognitions among front-end retail employees in India.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the factors responsible for developing turnover intentions among the front-end employees. Data were analyzed using the ground theory approach.\nFindings: Qualitative investigation revealed nine factors (abusive supervision, favoritism, perceived job image, insufficient pay, work exhaustion, perceived unethical climate, organization culture shock, staff shortage and job dissatisfaction) are responsible for developing turnover intention among front-end employees in the Indian retail industry.\nOriginality/value: The study uncovers antecedents of turnover intention among front-end employees in the relatively neglected Indian retail sector through a qualitative technique. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications, limitations and direction for future research are discussed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How transformational leadership predicts employees' affective commitment and performance
|
[
"Affective commitment",
"Transformational leadership",
"Individual performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Transformational leadership (TL) has been considered the most influential leadership theory over the past two decades (Avolio et al., 2009; Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Sosik and Jung, 2010). TL has been defined as a set of behaviors that motivate followers to achieve performance beyond basic expectations by changing followers' attitudes, beliefs and values (Bass, 1985; Yukl, 1999). The dynamics of TL point to followers having a strong personal identification with the leader, a shared vision for the future and the ability to work collectively for the benefit of the team (Kelloway et al., 2003), these help followers make a positive transformation in themselves (Cetin and Kinikb, 2015). Therefore, transformational leaders inspire followers to do more in their organizations than what is required (Sosik et al., 2002).\n2. Research background and hypothesis development: 2.1 Transformational leadership\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and procedures\n4. Results and analysis: We have tested our study hypotheses with SEM using Amos software. For estimating the goodness-of-fit, we will report the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (Steiger and Lind, 1980), comparative fit index (CFI) (Bentler, 1990), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) (Tucker-Lewis, 1973) and kh2 values. In accordance with some authors (Browne and Cudeck, 1993; Hulland et al., 1996), we will consider a model with CFI and TLI values ranging from 0.90 to 0.95 combined with RMSEA values ranging from 0.10 to 0.08 to be acceptable, and CFI and TLI values 0.95 combined with RMSEA 0.08 to be very good.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transformational leadership (TL) on employees' individual performance (IP) through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC). More specifically, it aims to understand how TL relates to employees' AC, TL relates to employees' IP, employees' AC relates to IP and employees' AC mediates the relationship between TL and employees' IP.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 476 Turkish healthcare professionals participated in this study. The mediation effect of AC in the relationship between TL and employees' IP was tested by structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results indicate that AC mediates the relationship between TL and employees' IP. In others words, transformational leaders promote employees' AC which, in turn, increases their IP.\nPractical implications: This study suggests that organizations should select, develop and invest in leaders who adopt a TL style because they build a climate of admiration, loyalty, respect, participation and involvement for employees which will in turn enhance their commitment and performance.\nOriginality/value: This study responds to calls for research studies to explore the mediating mechanism in the TL process (Judge et al., 2006), as the mediation effects explain the conditions in which TL is related to the favorable outcomes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
An introduction to the special issue on the past, present and future research on deliberate lookalikes
|
[
"Deliberate lookalikes",
"Counterfeits",
"Copycats"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One of the \"prices\" that successful brands have to pay is that they are imitated often via lookalikes. Lookalikes have strong similarities with authentic branded offers and might take various forms, including counterfeits, copycats and no-name imitations. Firms are facing various marketing and legal problems, including loss of sales and profits, consumer dissatisfaction, legal liability and safety issues (Evans et al., 2019). In addition, these fraudulent activities may negatively affect the performance outcomes of brands (Davcik et al., 2015) and brand equity (Wilson et al., 2016).\nLiterature review: Counterfeits are products that imitate an established brand in terms of all its characteristics, including its trademark (Baghi et al., 2016). The traditional view in branding literature typically views counterfeiting as unauthorized manufacturing goods that are protected with patents, trademarks, copyrights and similar (Cordell et al., 1996). The contemporary view understands brands as holders of the identity and meanings that are co-created in a stakeholder network (Brodie et al., 2017) and manufacturing firms are only the owners of the trademark (Evans et al., 2019). Recent research explored the equity of luxury brands (Nia and Zaichkowsky, 2000), consumer perceived risk (Veloutsou and Bian, 2008), counterfeit ownership (Bian and Moutinho, 2011), customer confusion (Falkowski, Olszewska and Ulatowska, 2014), the spotlight effect (Zhan et al., 2015), purchase intention (Le Roux et al., 2019) and conceptualizations of collaborative processes (Evans et al., 2019). Copycats are products that have a different brand name but look very similar to an existing brand and therefore they confuse consumers (Coelho do Vale and Verga Matos, 2015; Le Roux et al., 2016). The research on copycats is still limited (Satomura et al., 2014), with few studies on the effects of copycatting practice on brand perception (Cova & Cova, 2019), consumer behavior (Le Roux et al., 2016) and private labels (Coelho do Vale and Verga Matos, 2015; Aribarg et al., 2014). No-name imitations are products that look similar to an existing brand but do not carry a brand name (Ohly, 2010; Wu and Li, 2011); however, there is very little research into these types of lookalikes.\nResearch gaps: Despite the growing research in lookalikes and consumer behaviour and the use of various theoretical perspectives (e.g. economic, ethical and socio-normative) to explore the phenomenon (Eisend and Schuchert-Guler, 2006; Staake et al., 2009; Zhan et al., 2015), there are still many mixed findings and unanswered questions in the area (Geiger-Oneto et al., 2013; Hamelin et al., 2013). For example, many studies identified a positive influence of attitude towards counterfeiting on deliberate counterfeit purchase intentions (Maldonado and Hume, 2005; Wee et al., 1995) and past purchase behaviour (Nia and Zaichkowsky, 2000) but others find no effects on purchase intentions (Hoe et al., 2003) or past purchase behaviour (de Matos et al., 2007; Walthers and Buff, 2008). Similarly, most studies find a negative effect of subjective norms against counterfeiting and perceived social risk on counterfeit purchase behaviour but some do not (Shaari and Halim, 2006; Veloutsou and Bian, 2008). Finally, some find a negative effect of ethical and moral beliefs on counterfeit purchase behaviour unlike others (Wang et al., 2005).\nSpecial issue: The goal of this special issue was to address the above research gaps and to extend our knowledge about the deliberate lookalikes and their effects on firms, brands and consumers. We received 17 submissions from around the world (Australia, Bangladesh, Taiwan, China, India, France, the UK, Brazil and Turkey). All these papers were subjected to the standard double-blind peer-review process, which included reviews by two or three reviewers. At the culmination of the review process, we accepted five manuscripts for final publication (acceptance rate = 29 per cent). These five manuscripts use diverse methodological approaches and measurement methods. Specifically, this special issue contains a conceptual article (Evans et al., 2019), two articles using qualitative methodologies, including an ethnographic study (Cova and Cova, 2019) and semi-structured interviews (Cekirdekci and Latif, 2019) and two articles using experimental studies (Pathak et al., 2019; Le Roux et al., 2019).\nConclusions: The growing interest in the proliferation of deliberate lookalikes and their effects on consumers, brands and firms highlights the challenges faced by brand managers in a globalized world. The literature recognizes various deliberate lookalike forms (counterfeit, copycats and no-name imitations) and markets (deceptive [primary] and non-deceptive [secondary]). This special issue contains five research manuscripts using different research methods and an extended editorial on contemporary issues in deliberate lookalikes research stream. All these five articles provide important insights into the vast and unexplored research area of deliberate lookalikes in the literature along with new directions for research and ways to apply different research methods that may have important implications for scholars and managers. We hope that the readers will find these articles interesting and thought-provoking for reading and extending the scholarly work in this research area.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the contemporary thinking on deliberate lookalikes and to provide a better understanding of its key forms (counterfeits, copycats and no-name imitations) and markets (deceptive and non-deceptive).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This editorial contains a review of current and past literature on deliberate lookalikes along with summaries of all the articles accepted for publication in the special issue on deliberate lookalikes. The guest editors used academic databases such as Web of Science to find the most representative scholarly work on deliberate lookalikes literature.\nFindings: This editorial identifies pertinent research gaps in the literature on deliberate lookalikes. The five selected articles address some of these research gaps and provide useful insights on the purchase and usage of deliberate lookalikes along with directions for future research and ways to apply different research methods that could have important implications for scholars and managers.\nOriginality/value: The editorial and special issue extends the knowledge about the deliberate lookalikes and their effects on firms, brands and consumers. This work opens new avenues for the research about different forms and markets in the context of lookalikes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding context in diversity management: a multi-level analysis
|
[
"Gender",
"Context",
"Māori",
"Diversity management",
"Multi-level analysis",
"Aotearoa New Zealand"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A core feature of contemporary diversity studies is attention to ongoing contextual processes (Zanoni et al., 2010). In this paper we engage directly with the challenge of how context matters in terms of power. As Ahonen et al. (2014, p. 264) argue persuasively \"context is not a 'variable' or 'background', but a complex array of power relations, discursive practices and forms of knowledge that need to be analysed\". These power relations need to be taken into account to better understand the ambiguities of implementing workplace diversity within local contexts. We situate our work within critical diversity studies by demonstrating how the historical and socio-political contexts may be operationalized using the setting of Aotearoa New Zealand. While other country contexts have been analysed in diversity research (e.g. Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2008; Klarsfeld 2010), the link between country context and the intergroup power dynamics is often broadly sketched. Within this paper we aim to analyse how context and power are intertwined and explore tensions and inconsistencies that can arise in local diversity management discourses for two groups: women and indigenous Maori.\nMacro level influences shaping diversity: The Neoliberal environment\nMeso level analysis of the diversity discourse: The accounting profession\nMicro level analysis: At the micro level verbatim interview extracts were analysed and focused on the biopolitical position of Maori. Whilst this is only one participant it provides an illustration of how an understanding the power dynamics within the macro context can enhance understanding of micro level individual experiences.\nDiscussion: In this paper we have sought to understand how context and power influences diversity management and how context can be operationalized. By applying Syed and Ozbilgin's (2009) multi-level framework to analyse context we have demonstrated often contradictory influences within and between macro, meso and micro levels. Using evidence from Aotearoa New Zealand, we argue that the analysis of the macro environment is needed to understand the societal power positioning of diversity groups. Macro level power dynamics influence the interpretation of diversity at the meso level, guiding professional and organizational diversity priorities. Ambiguities in power positioning at the macro level are partially filtered through the meso level and are played out at the micro level.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to operationalize context in diversity management research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case analysis provides an example of the influences of context at macro, meso and micro levels. Country context (macro) and professional and organization contexts (meso) are analysed in relation to the micro individual experiences of gender and indigeneity at work.\nFindings: Tensions and inconsistencies at macro and meso levels impact on diversity management at a micro level. The authors demonstrate how power and context are intertwined in the biopolitical positioning of subjects in terms of gender and indigeneity. The contested legacy of indigenous-colonial relations and societal gender dynamics are \"played out\" in a case from the accounting profession.\nResearch limitations/implications: Within critical diversity studies context and power are linked in a reciprocal relationship; analysis of both is mandatory to strengthen theory and practice. The multi-level analytical framework provides a useful tool to understand advances and lack of progress for diversity groups within specific organizations.\nOriginality/value: While many diversity scholars agree that the analysis of context is important, hitherto its application has been vague. The authors conduct a multi-level analysis of context, connecting the power dynamics between the levels. The authors draw out implications within one profession in a specific country socio-politics. Multi-level analyses of context and power have the potential to enhance the theory and practice of diversity management.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Perceptions becoming reality: bridging the market knowledge gap
|
[
"Learning organizations",
"Market research"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In an increasingly competitive external environment, organizations constantly strive to learn new market trends and ideas in order to stay ahead of the game. Consequently, a new form of organizational learning capability emerges where organizations are able to apply market knowledge generated from customers and competitors and modify their behaviors in response to competition. The application of such knowledge could include reshaping policies to benefit key customers and developing new products and services to broaden customer choice. However, with an increased demand for market knowledge, how does the organization motivates employees to constantly acquire and disseminate such knowledge? The key may simply lie in management's emphasis on the importance of market knowledge.\nPerceived emphasis driving behavior: Management is responsible for providing an environment that promotes organizational learning. They play a definitive role in determining how an organization should focus on various business activities. Management also influences employee behavior on how to achieve these objectives. Thus, the development of market knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities would be difficult if the importance of such knowledge as one of the key competitive objectives is not well established. The signals sent by management would provide guidance to employees with the understanding of how to operate in the external and internal environment.According to Ichijo et al. (1998), management emphasis on market knowledge is an important condition for effective organizational learning to occur. This is because once management has indicated strongly the need for market knowledge; the rest of the organization would respond and support this demand through increased acquisition and dissemination activities. Thus, it is crucial that employees perceive that management takes market knowledge seriously. At the workplace, perception is everything. Perceiving that management emphasizes market knowledge would go a long way to drive behavior. People would believe that the act of bringing \"fresh\" market insights from customers and competitors contributes directly to organizational goals. However, how does management communicate their expectations to the employees such that they realize the importance?\nCommunicating expectations: Management can easily communicate their expectations that employees should search for market knowledge. Several ways have been proposed by Li and Calantone (1998). For example, management could encourage employees to have greater awareness of market trends and stay ahead of change, and be sufficiently equipped with strong knowledge of customers' needs and competitors' products. Such expectations could be communicated through weekly management meetings, monthly staff meetings and quarterly one-to-one reviews with all staff. In further promoting the importance of market knowledge, management could give employees more time for internal discussions and presentations to disseminate knowledge. Alternatively, more financial resources could be channeled to implement systems such as corporate portals to share market knowledge.In communicating, management must first signal the importance of market knowledge and how it contributes to organizational goals. Once such emphasis on market knowledge has been established and reinforced, the employees, perceiving that this is a management requirement, would inadvertently explore ways to acquire and disseminate to close the market knowledge gap. Outcome-wise, management's direction on market knowledge creates employee perception of the need for such knowledge. This, in turn, drives employee behavior to acquire and disseminate more market knowledge, thereby, contributing to building an even strong organizational learning capability.\nRole of development and learning team: The development and learning team could further encourage knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities through a basic program comprising two workshops. The first workshop would focus on skills needed to acquire and disseminate market knowledge. Such skills include conducting in-house market research, identifying customer needs during focus groups and designing processes to inform departments of environmental changes. At the workshop, participants would have to role-play different ways of gathering and sharing knowledge and create a list of practices to facilitate these activities. As \"homework\", participants would arrange to \"implement\" these practices back in the office. At the second workshop, participants would share what went wrong and right during the \"implementation\". Their immediate managers would be invited to provide feedback on the effectiveness of these practices. It is envisaged that besides equipping the employees with the necessary skills, the development and learning team could also provide relevant feedback by creating a platform for management feedback on the effectiveness of such implementations.\nConclusion: Overall, management-driven activities are critical for organizational learning to occur. The best organizations are able to convert an explicit message and drive the entire organization to use market knowledge for decision-making. Employees are more likely to engage in knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities when they believe that these activities are important to management. Unless management emphasizes the value of market knowledge, the organization is unlikely to pursue knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities vigorously. To close the market knowledge gap, the development and learning team could encourage knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities through programs workshops.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Organizations constantly strive to learn about new market trends and ideas to stay ahead of the game. However, with an increased demand of market knowledge, how does the organization motivate employees to constantly acquire and disseminate market knowledge? The purpose of this paper is to highlight the perceived importance of market knowledge in promoting continuous employee acquisition and dissemination of customer and competitor knowledge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The perceived importance of market knowledge concept is highlighted and discussed.\nFindings: - The paper offers a view on how management could address the increased demand for market knowledge and how the development and learning team could provide further support to close this gap.\nOriginality/value: - This paper contributes to the existing organizational learning literature by suggesting simple yet effective ways in which management emphasis of market knowledge can bridge the market knowledge gap and promote organizational learning.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The presentation of the self and professional identity: countering the accountant's stereotype
|
[
"Goffman",
"Impression management",
"Identity",
"Role",
"Photography",
"Visual research"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Accounting researchers have long been intrigued by the stereotypes attributed to accountants and the accounting profession. Their research has variously addressed the nature, causes of and responses to the often made representations of accountants as desk bound, calculative, numbers people. This range of studies includes investigations of various stakeholders' perceptions of the stereotype (Beard, 1994; Allen, 2004), the phenomenon of and contributors to its persistence (Cory, 1992; Bougen, 1994), its proximity to reality (DeCoster and Rhode, 1971) and its promulgation and its representation in the media (Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Dimnik and Felton, 2006). The question of contemporary accountants' roles has also been widely examined and discussed by researchers and professional accounting body research in recent decades. This has included investigation of their historically expanding scope of practice, the changing contemporary scope of their roles and the balance between accountability, compliance and advisory work (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), 1996; The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), 1997; The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), 1998; Matthews, 1998; Siegel and Sorensen, 1999; Ahrens and Chapman, 2000; Rankin and Sharp, 2000; Parker, 2001; Howieson, 2003). These studies have invariably focussed upon the general surveyed perceptions of various stakeholders and the professionalisation agendas of accounting associations and institutes but have neglected the qualitative study of the social construction of professional identity by the individual professional accountant. This study seeks to address this gap by presenting a qualitative investigation of individual accountants' presentations of their professional roles and identities. Following the works of Anderson-Gough et al. (1998) and Jeacle (2008), the findings are theorised with reference to Goffman's (1959) classic work on \"the presentation of self in everyday life\" addressing the creation of professional identity as an exercise in impression management.\nChanging roles, enduring image: Studies have increasingly pointed to empirical evidence of a greater diversity in working areas and roles that accountants occupy (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998; Gendron and Suddaby, 2004). For more than a decade, studies have reported a trend towards accountants undertaking a broader scope of work, for example an Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) (1999) survey of US management accountants found them spending less time preparing standardised financial reports and more time analysing information and directly participating in the decision process. This trend is also reported generally by Burns and Baldvinsdottir (2005).\nGoffman: the presentation of a professional self: Goffman's (1959) analysis of impression management in terms of the presentation of self offers some potentially relevant insights into accountants' construction of personal and professional identities (Fine and Manning, 2003; Winkin, 2003). Decades earlier, this potential was observed by Tomkins and Groves (1983) particularly through Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. Their employment of Goffman's ideas in the accounting literature was quickly followed by Preston's (1986) study of how managers are informed, Mouritsen's (1989) study of \"soft\" corporate culture vs \"hard\" management accounting controls, Neu's (1991) study of trust in the accounting profession, Roberts (1991) theoretical study of accountability, Dent's (1991) study of accounting and organisational culture and Neu and Wright's (1992) study of accounting profession management of bank failure stigma. Further accounting studies applying concepts from Goffman's theorising to a variety of topics can be found in Jonsson's (1998) examination of aligning management accounting research with managerial work, Grey's (1998) research into how large accounting firm accountants define their professionalism, Anderson-Gough et al.'s (2001) investigation into the time management socialisation of trainee auditors, Kornberger et al.'s (2010) study of flexible work initiatives for women in a large accounting firm, Jeacle and Carter's (2012) exploration of accounting as a mediator between creativity and control in fashion stores and public sector accounting and audit studies by Skaerbaek (2005), Christensen and Skaerbaek (2007) and Vinnari and Skaerbaek (2014). Thus Goffman's concepts have been employed to inform a wide range of accounting research subject areas. This study continues in that tradition, addressing the theme of the accounting professional's individual identity and image considered by Grey (1998), while drawing on Goffman's concepts more extensively.\nA reflexive methodology: participant-led photo-interviews: Methodological review articles have begun to lay the foundations for photo-interview studies in the accounting discipline (Davison and Warren 2016; Warren, 2005; Parker, 2009; Warren and Parker, 2009); however, at the time of writing, this study represents one of the few empirical executions of this method in the accounting and management research literatures.\nDramatisation: putting on a work show: As outlined above, Goffman explains the importance of ensuring that the work one does is visible to others. He refers to this as \"dramatization\" in the sense that it is brought into being as a performance for the audience where it might otherwise go unnoticed. Interestingly, many of the accountants in this study explained how they made their work less visible by keeping desks and workspaces exceptionally tidy or completely clear in order to give off a particular professional image of order and efficiency. While a very few declared themselves content with working at a messy desk, many preferred and maintained neat and tidy workspaces and aimed for organised filing systems, with working materials that were easily and efficiently accessible as Interviewee 5's photograph and narrative shows:I have worked in a situation where they wondered what I did all day because my desk was so neat [...] and it's because they didn't look behind the desk and see everything nicely piled. And I could look, and everything always had its place. But everything is also put away at night. It's, you know, priority and neat(Interviewee 5).\nIdealisation and role aspirations: Goffman also argues that dramatised aspects of work are often desired attributes of the job and those to which the roleholder aspires the most. It is notable that the elements of broader scope roles noted above were articulated by many interviewees who were still at quite early stages in their careers. So while recounting a conventional image of the accounting field, they deliberately stressed their efforts to change its constituent roles they occupied, and to expand the products produced in that field. This aspirational element of impression management, Goffman refers to as idealisation and, as noted above, this was apparent in the ways our participants stressed the interactive and communicative parts of their roles.\nBalancing dramaturgical loyalty with dramaturgical circumspection: The impression of stability, order and resulting trustworthiness given off by the clean, tidy desk as referred to above supports existing expectations of what an accountant is and does. This Goffman refers to as \"dramaturgical loyalty\". To recap here, dramaturgical loyalty means keeping up appearances and \"business as usual\" performances of a role. This was extremely important to our participants and was cited by some as a means by which they distanced themselves from the recent moral scandals that they saw as having dogged their profession and which they felt had the potential to sully their reputation and image as upstanding professionals. This was mentioned in terms of organisational fraud and error that when later discovered could bring dysfunctional consequences for personal and professional reputations, the impact of major corporate frauds and crashes that had been the subject of global publicity in recent years, and the impact of poor professional standards upon stakeholders:I think [...] there is so much accountability with what we do. Because ultimately everything comes back to a number and it's got to be supported by x y z and if it's not somebody is going to ask questions and you can get yourself into trouble. Otherwise [...] these scandals come back to hurt you, bite you in the arse. I think you have always got to be conscious of that(Interviewee 19).\nMystification: breaking stereotypes: The overwhelming majority of interviewees articulated the persistent accountant stereotype at length. From their own experiences, they argued that the accountant is still seen by others as a \"numbers person\", a \"beancounter\" and a \"money counter\", their working day focussed upon office and desk work, spreadsheets, papers and juggling numbers. The image includes the accountant adopting a \"glass half empty\" focus on bottom line financial results, monitoring and policing organisational members from the \"back office\". Interviewee 27 typifies these sentiments in relation to the \"number crunching\" element of the stereotype using a photograph of a calculator (Plate 4), and Interviewee 2's photograph of a bare, functional desk (Plate 5) refers to the presumed \"back office\" character of the job:People don't see past that (beancounter image). They think you are always on your calculator. Or some of them have a maths problem and they will spin off some numbers - \"Oh [interviewee's name], you should know that off the top of your head\"(Interviewee 27).[...] a lot of people think of it as an office job in general as if you're tied to the chair all day and you can't get out and all you do is look at your screen and you type all day and you look at papers and go through files(Interviewee 2).\nDramaturgical discipline: One of the most common ways in which interviewees expressed their concern to preserve a distinction between their projected image and their personal reality was through their declared reluctance to progress to senior roles. This they explained and justified in terms of their desire to achieve, or maintain a healthy work-life balance which we find dovetails with Goffman's notion of dramaturgical discipline - the realisation that one is playing a part on a particular stage for a particular audience. Recognition of a \"work self\", as opposed to other selves, points to the roleholder's ability to recognise that they are performing a front. It also reflects Goffman's (1983) notion of the social self and its development being intrinsically related to peoples' relationships and social interactions with others, thereby as Bork (2008) puts it, including aspects of work-life balance. Thus what accountants choose to do and aspire to do is socially situated (Goffman, 1983).\nDiscussion: dramatising, idealising, mystifying: Viewing our data through a dramaturgical lens has allowed us to see how accountants' wide ranging perceptions about their role, image, work, life, careers and aspirations are operationalized at an individual level as they attempt to change their own and societal perceptions of what an accountant is today. As Goffman (1959, p. 241) tells us, the dramaturgical perspective is especially useful when viewing \"establishments\" as political entities, \"in regard to the capabilities of one individual to direct the activity of another\". Both in contemporary accounting research literature and in interviewees' perceptions, we find evidence for the continuation of the traditional accounting stereotype which involves the accountant cast in a supporting information calculating and provision role, reacting to the activities of the business as a financial steward. Our study reveals interviewees seriously concerned and unhappy with what they see to be the ongoing and socially undesirable \"boring, grey, beancounter\" stereotype and reveals their determination and tactical approaches to fighting back and attempting to reconstruct their individual professional identities and image.\nConcluding reflections: This study set out to explore the intersection of professional accountants' career values and roles in their presentation and projection of professional identity. Informed by Goffman's systematic theory of impression management, and employing reflexive photo-interviewing methodology, it has focussed upon the issue of professional identity and imagery at the individual professional accountant level with an interest in how accountants may be attempting to change the stereotyped public perceptions of their occupation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection of professional values and career roles in accountants' presentations of their professional identity, in the face of enduring stereotyping of the accounting role.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study presents a qualitative investigation of accountants' construction of their professional identities and imagery using a Goffmanian dramaturgical perspective. Viewing professional identity construction as a presentational matter of impression management, the investigation employs a reflexive photo-interviewing methodology.\nFindings: Accountants use a variety of workplace dramatisation, idealisation and mystification strategies inside and outside the workplace to counter the traditional accounting stereotype. They also attempt to develop a professional identity that is a subset of their overall life values.\nResearch limitations/implications: Their professional orientation is found to embrace role reconstruction and revised image mystification while not necessarily aiming for upward professional mobility. This has implications for understanding the career trajectories of contemporary accountants with associated implications for continuing professional development and education.\nOriginality/value: The paper focusses on professional role, identity, values and image at the individual accountant level, while most prior research has focussed upon these issues at the macro association-wide level. In offering the first use of reflexive photo-interviewing method in the accounting research literature, it brings the prospect of having elicited different and possibly more reflective observations, reflections and understandings from actors not otherwise possible from more conventional methods.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Challenges in the deployment of LSS in the higher education sector: Viewpoints from leading academics and practitioners
|
[
"Six Sigma",
"Lean production",
"Higher education",
"Quality",
"Process management",
"Process efficiency"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as a process excellence methodology has been around for over a decade in many manufacturing and service-oriented organisations. However, its applications in the public sector context, in particular higher education (HE) sector has received very little attention to date. LSS is a continuous improvement methodology that aims to reduce the costs of poor quality, improve the bottom-line results and create value for both customers and shareholders. The popularity and the first integration of Lean and Six Sigma were in the USA in the George Group in 1986 (Salah et al., 2010). However, the term LSS was first introduced into literature around 2000 (Timans et al., 2012). LSS teaching was established in 2003 as part of the evolution of Six Sigma (Kubiak, 2011). Since that time, there has been a noticeable increase in LSS popularity and deployment in the industrial world especially in large organisations in the west such as Motorola, Honeywell, General Electric (Laureani and Antony, 2012) and many others and in some small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (Antony et al., 2005).\nConclusion: LSS is a powerful process excellence methodology which integrates the best of both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. The application of LSS in the HES is in its early stages and will be proved to be a popular topic in the forthcoming years. Although LSS has been applied to administrative, finance, estate, human resources and library processes in a HE setting, its applications to academic processes are not yet fully explored due to various challenges. HEIs can start off with basic tools of Lean to streamlining university business processes and then utilise basic tools of Six Sigma for tackling errors or defects which lead to excessive process variation. This paper addresses some of the fundamental challenges in the deployment of LSS in a HE setting. These challenges are put forward by some of the leading academics and practitioners of LSS from three continents. The findings of the study can be very useful to those who get involved in the application of LSS principles for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of HE processes.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: Although Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has been widely accepted today by more than 70 per cent Fortune 500 companies, its applications in the public sector are not widely observed and reported due to a number of challenges. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the fundamental challenges in the deployment of LSS within the higher education (HE) context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses primary data in the form of opinions or viewpoints from leading academics and parishioners around the world. The viewpoints were collected carefully to have a good balance between the leading academics and the LSS practitioners.\nFindings: The challenges of LSS implementation in HE can be classified into three categories: organisational, technical and individual challenges. Lack of visionary leadership for LSS journey from top management team in the HE sector makes the deployment a total failure. The difficulty of defining and measuring quality in a HE setting along with collecting relevant and accurate data can be an immense technical challenge in any university sector. Moreover the lack of staff engagement, full academic freedom and autonomy will be a personal challenge for those who are involved in the business process improvement initiative such as LSS.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to limited time constraints, the number of people participated in the study was relatively small. However, the author argues that this study can provide a good foundation to various researchers and practitioners in further exploring the challenges in the implementation and deployment of LSS in any HE setting.\nPractical implications: The findings of the study can be very useful to those who get involved in the application of LSS principles for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of HE processes.\nOriginality/value: This paper makes an attempt to reveal some of the rudimentary challenges in the deployment of LSS within the HE setting. These challenges should be taken into account when any HE sector embarks on the LSS initiative.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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A study into the international competitiveness of low and high intensity Tanzanian exporting SMEs
|
[
"Competitiveness",
"Internationalisation",
"International entrepreneurship",
"Managerial practices",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"International business",
"Entrepreneurialism",
"Tanzania"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A body of knowledge has emerged over the last couple of decades on the subject of international entrepreneurship (Keupp and Gassmann, 2009). McDougall and Oviatt (2000, p. 903) view this as \"a combination of innovative, proactive and risk-seeking behaviour that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations\". The majority of studies in this area of research have arguably been undertaken in developed as opposed to less developed countries (LDCs). While the socio-economic development of particular LDCs has progressed at varying rates, not least of which within the continent of Africa that features in this study, overall it has been shown in earlier research that this has been at odds with that of many developed nations (Ng and Yeats, 1996 cited in Ibeh, 2005; Calof and Viviers, 1995; Grenier et al., 1999; UNIDO, 2004 cited in Ibeh, 2005; Ibeh, 2005). For example, Ibeh (2005) identifies that while research has shown that African firms' internationalisation has been relatively low, exceptions exist. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceived competitiveness of firms with varying degrees of export intensity from a specific LDC in Africa, namely Tanzania.In addressing the aim of this investigation it should be recognised that terms such as \"performance\", \"success\", plus \"competitiveness\" have been widely discussed in existing studies and been viewed at the firm, industry and country level (Buckley et al., 1988, 1990). It has been argued that no single agreed criterion or set of criteria exists to measure these issues (Crick et al., 1994; Katsikeas et al., 1996), but in firm level studies such as the current investigation, research has been undertaken that views \"measures\" as distinct from \"sources\" of performance/success/competitiveness (Crick and Spence, 2005). These should be viewed in the context of the structure-conduct-performance framework as it has become termed in previous studies, i.e. how firms develop an organizational fit between their strategies and the interaction with external forces (Hofer and Schendel, 1978; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994). In other words, firms develop a variety of sources of competitiveness depending on the environment that they face e.g. markets served, intermediaries, etc.In this study export intensity is viewed as firms' commitment to serving overseas markets rather than as an overall measure of performance as it takes no account of profitability or other objectives that managers might have. In contrast, the terms performance/success/competitiveness are viewed as one and the same and referred to as \"competitiveness\". However, studies have also found that a number of managers, and this can be potentially compounded in respect of those in LDCs, have been reluctant to provide data on issues associated with \"measures\" of performance (Crick and Bradshaw, 1999). While recognising potential subjectivity in terms of the criterion used, the specific focus of this study is to investigate whether differences exist between management teams of low and high intensity exporting firms from Tanzania in respect of their perceptions towards a variety of issues that provide potential \"sources\" of competitiveness. It adds a developing country perspective in order to contribute to knowledge in this field of research.This paper is organized into seven sections that starts with this introduction including the study's aim and subsequently a review of the literature is then presented in respect of earlier research. The next section summarises the study's research focus in relation to issues arising from the literature review. Consideration of the methodological approach employed then follows before the findings are summarised. The paper subsequently ends with a discussion of conclusions that relate findings back to selected literature and recommendations are also proposed both for policy makers and for future research.\nLiterature review: Two issues form the basis of the framing literature that underpin this study and each are discussed separately in order to contextualise this investigation within the existing body of knowledge. First, research involving international entrepreneurship is considered in less developed countries and specifically the case of Africa. Second, studies addressing the broad issue of competitiveness are discussed.International entrepreneurship in Africa\nResearch focus: While the international entrepreneurship literature has tended to concentrate on the practices of management teams in developed countries at the expense of those in LDCs, the review of existing studies suggests mixed results in respect of firms' overseas activities from an African context. When considering the vast scale of the continent of Africa it would be wrong to stereotype behaviour across countries, industries or firms. Indeed, firms within some countries have been more internationally oriented than others, even if their trading practices have been regionally based.The review of the literature also highlighted mixed results in respect of the measurement and sources of competitiveness at the firm level. Existing studies have suggested that no agreement exists in the way this should be measured; moreover, that even if a composite measure is considered some entrepreneurs are reluctant to share this information. While not without its limitations, one measure is the export intensity i.e. the percentage of export sale to total sales, which in this study is seen to represent commitment to overseas markets rather than overall performance. A subjective cut-off point is used to differentiate between low intensity exporters (less than 50 per cent) and high intensity exporters (50 per cent or more). In reality however, the low intensity exporters in this specific study might be considered as somewhat \"marginal\" in that their export ratios tended to be far lower than the 50 per cent cut-off point. In comparison, the high intensity exporters tended to have export ratios much higher than the 50 per cent cut-off point. As such, two distinct groups of firms were being investigated in this study.In terms of sources of competitiveness, a review of the literature highlighted that a number of internal and external environmental issues might contribute to respective firms' performance. It could be hypothesised that Tanzanian firms engaged in overseas business may have developed competencies in respect of particular sources of competitiveness and this could vary between those with a high as opposed to low export intensity; this leads to the following testable hypothesis placed in the conventional null hypothesis format:H1. There are no statistical differences between low and high export intensity Tanzanian firms with respect to their sources of competitiveness in overseas markets.\nMethodology: In the course of this study no large-scale sampling frame was known to exist in Tanzania of exporting firms though several smaller databases were identified after interviews with trade officials (representing the Tanzania Board of External Trade and the Ministry of Trade and Industry). It was therefore decided to construct a sampling frame in this investigation by consolidating databases from participating ministries and screening out businesses that were no longer in business via access to the database of the Tanzania Revenue Authority. The criteria were that these were small, (taken to mean under 200 employees in this study although the vast majority were under 100 employees), independently-owned firms to minimise resource bias (Storey, 1994). Data were collected from firms located in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Zanzinar in order to obtain a geographical spread of firms from major areas representing various trade sectors, e.g. agriculture, forestry and fishing and low technology manufacturing such as textiles.A questionnaire was constructed after reviewing earlier literature and tested with academics, government officials and managers in order that questions were both understandable and relevant to the likely respondents. Despite potential bias in relying on key decision-makers within these firms and them commenting with hindsight, the key entrepreneurs (typically managing directors) were contacted in 256 firms identified in the sampling frame. The key entrepreneurs were asked that, in the event this person was not in charge of overseas activities, the questionnaire be completed by the senior member of the firm involved in internationalisation activities. To improve the response rate lobbying took place with trade officials and this meant that data were collected over an eight-week period. However, arguably nothing substantive happened over that period that might significantly bias the data.The drop and collect method of distributing questionnaires was utilised. Questionnaires were received from 209 firms but this study is restricted to 205 firms due to incomplete data from the remaining four. This represents a response rate of 80 per cent and consisted of 112 low intensity exporting firms in comparison to 93 high intensity exporting firms. These firms were for the most part not involved in more committed forms of market entry such as subsidiaries, joint ventures etc and so the term \"exporting firms\" appears largely appropriate. While this response rate might at first glance be considered to be high, it is again emphasised that the questionnaire was pilot tested and also was supported by trade officials. This latter issue in itself provides a potential prima facie cause for concern with respect to the accuracy of the data given that respondents might have perceived it was in some way endorsed by trade officials and provided to this source even though anonymity was promised.Interviews were undertaken with international entrepreneurs and key members of management teams in 23 firms representing 12 low and 11 high-intensity exporting firms. These were selected via geographic proximity and willingness to grant an interview. Building on factors identified in the existing literature, the objective in this stage was to explore perceptions in respect of key factors associated with this study, i.e. those affecting their internationalisation such as their motives for engaging in overseas sales, perceived barriers, assistance requirements, plus issues affecting their competitiveness. The semi-structured interview approach that typically lasted around one-two hours allowed international entrepreneurs to freely provide rationales to account for their international strategies (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998). Interviewees refused to be recorded and so extensive notes were taken to allow within and between case comparisons. Nevertheless, the refusal to allow interviews to be recorded presented a potential bias in respect of the notes that were taken i.e. in fully reflecting the flow of the discussions. Where possible web sites, newspapers, etc, were used to triangulate the data but this proved somewhat difficult in some cases.\nFindings: The findings are presented individually to represent the two phases of the investigation, namely both quantitative and qualitative. First, the quantitative phase reports on the extent to which statistical differences exist between low and high intensity exporting firms with respect to individual issues associated with their competitiveness. Second, the findings from the qualitative phase then follow to report on themes in the statistical analysis.Managers' perceptions of sources of competitiveness\nDiscussion: Although a body of knowledge has emerged over the last couple of decades on the subject of international entrepreneurship (Keupp and Gassmann, 2009), arguably this has tended to involve firms in developed as opposed to developing countries. While Ibeh (2005) found that although a good deal of research has shown African firms' internationalisation to have been relatively low, exceptions exist. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceived competitiveness of firms with varying degrees of export intensity from a specific LDC in Africa, specifically Tanzania. Despite the lack of agreement in past studies as to how to classify low and high intensity exporters (Diamantopoulos and Inglis, 1988; Crick et al., 1994), a 50 per cent cut-off point was used to differentiate between low intensity exporters (less than 50 per cent) and high intensity exporters (50 per cent or more).The findings suggest that the sample of Tanzanian firms that participated in this study had varying perceptions towards issues affecting their competitiveness in overseas markets and that some statistical differences were found between low and high intensity exporting firms in this respect; it was therefore concluded that hypothesis 1 could not be fully rejected. The interviews suggested that perceptions were affected by several characteristics that masked the quantitative analysis that can now be discussed.The findings indicated that low intensity exporters, tended to operate a spreading strategy by diversifying risk selling to a number of international buyers. In contrast, high intensity exporters tended to operate a concentration strategy focusing on larger customers in fewer markets. Nevertheless, perceptions towards competitiveness varied between firms due to sectoral conditions, although certain common underlying themes were also found to exist in the findings that can now be summarised.In terms of commonalities, proactive behaviour was noted among the firms indicating that Tanzanian international entrepreneurs alongside certain African counterparts in earlier studies do actively look for overseas opportunities (Kuanda and Sorensen, 1999; Owusu-Frimpong and Mmieh, 2004). Management commitment was rated highly by both low and high intensity exporters, but it was concluded that commitment was not necessarily a function of the percentage of turnover a firm exported. Managers believed that they could be competitive overseas even if a managerial decision was made that exports accounted for a relatively low percentage of turnover; they could be \"committed\" to having a low export intensity but put effort into making this successful. In other words, export intensity by itself is not necessarily a good indicator of performance as it depends on what objectives are set (Katsikeas et al., 1996; Crick and Bradshaw, 1999).Another conclusion was that cultural issues (in a broad sense that over-lapped with regulatory and political issues) were perceived as a common problem. For example, being able to deal with corruption both in the domestic and certain (but by no means all) foreign markets that were served. This was particularly the case with certain neighbouring African countries where it was perceived that experience and training in how to deal with issues such as bribes and competitors spreading false rumours were important alongside more day to day business related matters (dealing with export paperwork and the like). It highlights Ibeh and Young's (2001) point about care being taken to account for cross border trading that might be \"under reported\" e.g. due to issues such as those relating to corrupt practices.\nRecommendations: Turning to the core recommendation arising from this study, policy makers should address the needs of different international entrepreneurs to assist the economic output in countries like Tanzania. Conditions within particular sectors need to be recognised, rather than generic policies being formulated. In operational terms this means that policy makers need to understand how best to overcome both perceived and actual barriers to internationalisation, plus motives that might stimulate international business activities. Nevertheless, this by itself might not be adequate since investment in and control of infrastructural and cultural issues within the country might also assist Tanzanian exporters' competitiveness in overseas markets.In building on the results of this study potential avenues exist to research international entrepreneurial behaviour from a LDC perspective. Future single country studies may be undertaken similar to this current investigation, but other opportunities might involve increasing the sample size, and specific industry factors, the markets that international entrepreneurs serve, plus the resources of the respective entrepreneurs. In the meantime, this study has offered a contribution to the under researched area of international entrepreneurship from a LDC perspective with a focus on Tanzanian firms on which others can build.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine whether differences exist between low and high export intensity Tanzanian internationalising small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in respect of their perceived competitiveness in overseas markets. In this study, export intensity, i.e. the percentage exports make towards total turnover, is viewed as a representation of firms' commitment to serving overseas markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methodology employed a quantitative phase involving a questionnaire completed by 205 Tanzanian SMEs; 112 low intensity (exporting less than 50 per cent of their sales) in comparison with 93 high intensity exporting firms (exporting 50 per cent or more of their sales); also a qualitative phase of interviews with international entrepreneurs in 23 firms.\nFindings: - The findings provide an initial understanding of the two types of firms' patterns of internationalisation and, more specifically, statistically significant issues are identified in respect of items perceived as affecting their competitiveness in overseas markets, including the extent to which they concentrated on serving key markets rather than diversifying risk over a number of markets.\nPractical implications: - The results offer insights into the practices of Tanzanian exporting firms and recommendations for policy makers as well as an indication for further research.\nOriginality/value: - This research study explores managerial practices of particular types of firms in Tanzania, which have been largely viewed from a developed as opposed to a developing African country perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Construction tender price estimation standardization (TPES) in Malaysia: Modeling using fuzzy neural network
|
[
"Project management",
"Decision support systems",
"Estimating",
"Construction planning",
"Questionnaire survey"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The construction industry is one of the most dynamic, challenging and rewarding field, but with full of uncertainty and associated risks which arises from the nature of the industry itself. In a public construction project, one of the main criteria utilized by the authority in charge in selecting the most suited contractor is the tender price of the contractor. This is important for the client since they are responsible for the public and therefore must demonstrate that the best value for money has been achieved (Singh and Tiong, 2005). The tendered price too will be a vital indicator and guideline for the contractor in constructing the project. According to Oberlender and Trost (2001), the preliminary cost estimates of a certain project will be the basis on which all future estimates are being compared. However, the closing actual cost frequently surpasses the preliminary estimate.\n2. Literature reviews: Construction clients require early and accurate cost advice to enable them to assess the feasibility of the proposed project. The objective of this early stage estimate is to assist the client in setting a budget, predicting the tender price and managing the design so that it meets the budget. Several studies have found that clients are generally dissatisfied with the initial cost advice provided by their construction professionals (Procter et al., 1993). Thus, there is a dire need to provide the client with a more accurate and robust forecast of construction cost (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, 1991). While it is widely held that a perfect estimate is not possible and will always contain a number of risks, the goal of the forecaster is to come out with an estimate of practicable level of accuracy (Smith, 1995), by which anticipated costs can be accurately predicted (Ashworth and Skitmore, 1983).\n3. Research method: Generally, the methodology for the research is divided into three major stages, namely the identification of factors that affect the tender price estimation, survey work and lastly, the analysis of data.\n4. FNN model development: Based on the result from the questionnaire, a pre-tender estimate model was then developed using FNN. The method to develop the model was adopted from the research done by Liu and Yean (2003). The FNN model for this study consists of four layers as shown in Figure 1. Layer 1 is the input layer, layer 2 is the fuzzification layer, layer 3 is the base rule layer and layer 4 is the defuzzification layer that produces output that gives the percentage of error.\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Influential factors affecting cost estimation\n6. Model development: Before the training, all a were set to 0.5 and width of membership function was 1.0. By using Equation (4), the first three values data were calculated and the results are found to be X1=0.779, X2=0.779 and X3=1.60x10-9 which is shown in Table IV. All the data were then calculated and the results summary is shown in Table V. Based on Equation (5), the crisp output was calculated to be 3.02. The next series of steps were calculated by ANFIS to obtain the rule configurations.\n7. Model validation: In validating the developed program to determine the reliability, three separate samples from the respondents were used. Table VI shows the rating given by Respondents 1, 2 and 3, respectively. More cases were not used to validate the model due to time limitations. However, this is not expected to nullify the work, following the triangulation concept by Hammersley and Atkinson (1983). This concept states that at least three distinctive sources needed for the collection of data of a single phenomenon.\n8. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated the achievability of using statistical and modeling approach, in this study, FNN in objectifying factors affecting cost estimating. This approach has the potential to offer clients a significant saving by shortening the time and decreasing the steps necessary to come up with a more accurate pre-tender cost estimate for construction projects. It is recommended for future research to enlarge the model by integrating more relevant variables which will give more accurate pre-tender estimate of a construction project. It is also recommended that future research to come up with a guide or manual for user to rate the factors in this model. By having such manual or guide, the user can more accurately rate the factor according to the circumstances of the project. The manual can incorporate certain typical scenario of the project in relation to the usual rating of the factors in the model. By rating the factors accurately, the model estimated cost can be more precise as compared to the final project cost.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The pre-tender estimation process is still a hazy and inaccurate process, despite it has been practiced over decades, especially in Malaysia. The methods evolved over time largely depend on the amount of information available at the time of estimation. More often than not, the estimate produced during the pre-tender stage is far more than the tender cost of the project and sometimes, it is perilously underestimated and caused major problems to the client in the monetary planning. The purpose of this paper is to determine the most influential factors on the deviation of pre-tender cost estimation in Malaysia by conducting a survey.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Fuzzy logic, combined with artificial neural network method (fuzzy neural network) was then used to develop an estimating model to aid the pre-tender estimation process.\nFindings: The results showed that the model is able to shift the cost estimation toward accuracy. This model can be used to improve the pre-tender estimation accuracy, enabling the client to take the necessary early measures in preparing the funding for a building project in Malaysia.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study on tender price estimation standardization for a construction project in Malaysia. In addition, the authors have used factors from literature for the model, which shows the thoroughness of the developed model. Thus, the findings and the model developed in this study should be able to assist contractors in coming out with a more accurate tender price estimation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Supply chain performance measures and metrics: a bibliometric study
|
[
"Performance measurement",
"Citation and co-citation analysis",
"Performance measures and metrics",
"Supply chain measurement systems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last years, supply chain management (SCM) has emerged as a prime factor to increase organizational effectiveness and for accomplishment of organizational goals. With the considerable development in SCM, both researchers and practitioners are interested in measuring supply chain performance. According to Neely (1994), \"a performance measurement system can be defined as the set of metrics used to quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of actions.\" The significance of measurements is stated by Kaplan (1990) who claimed that \"No measures, no improvement.\" Gunasekaran and Kobu (2007) highlighted the purposes of a performance measurement system (PMS): identifying success; identifying whether customer needs are met; helping the organization to understand its processes and to confirm what they know or reveal what they do not know; identifying where problems, bottlenecks, waste, etc. exist and where improvements are necessary; ensuring decisions are based on facts, not on supposition, emotion, faith or intuition; and showing if improvements planned actually happened (Parker, 2000). Having appropriate measurement systems as well as measures and metrics in place allows for performance measurement that is \"vital in strategy formulation and communication and in forming diagnostic control mechanisms by measuring actual results\" (Wouters, 2009).\n2. Methodology for reviewing the literature on supply chain PMMs: Our analysis was carried out in two stages.\n3. Review of supply chain performance measures and metrics: In this section, we report on our literature review on supply chain PMMs. Furthermore, we identify those articles that highlight the need for PMSs, and we provide and discuss a comparison of traditional and modern supply chain PMMs.\n4. Supply chain PMMs: citation and co-citation analysis: In this section, we identify the influential scientific contributions in the field of supply chain PMMs. This section is divided in two sub-sections. In the first, we discuss the results of our citation analysis, whereas in the second section, we present and comment on the results of the co-citation analysis for each of the three periods.\n5. Current and future trends in supply chain PMMs: Our results reveal that the nature of PMMs has changed over the years. It was with the beginning of era 1 when the conventional PMS was replaced with a new and flexible PMS (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). This era marked the development of frameworks to overcome the criticism faced by earlier financial measures by providing a balance between financial and operational measures. No matter if the seminal paper by Kaplan and Norton argued for a broader view of PMMs, the papers in this era were either empirical papers that perpetuated the use of tangible PMMs, or conceptual papers that stated the need to include both tangible and intangible PMMs in measuring supply chain performance. The review articles published during that period, especially by Neely, Bititci, and colleagues illustrate the need to adopt new/alternative lenses to explain supply chain performance related phenomena, and make the case for different methodologies and methods (both quantitative and qualitative) to be applied (Table AI). This is also shown in the co-citation analysis, represented by the arcs amongst the works of Kaplan (1983) and Kaplan and Norton (1992), as well as Neely and colleagues (Figure 5).\n6. Managerial implications: We underline the importance for managers to attend to the diverse supply chain PMMs, which should be inclusive of financial and non-financial aspects, as well as tangibles and intangibles. These PMMs need to adapt to the multifarious business objectives, risks, stakeholder agendas and requirements, as well as costs entailed when measuring PMMs. Therefore, managers have to consider those factors in order to develop and test PMSs based on PMMs and make informed decisions whether particular PMMs need to change or particular changes need to occur in the processes or structure that these PMMs represent. PMMs are dependent on the type of industry, client, the organizational goals and objectives, the nature of the market, and the technological competence of the organization (Gunasekaran and Kobu, 2007). Finally, robust data collection and analysis, infrastructure investments and human resources and competencies are needed to put appropriate PMMs and frameworks into practice. Frequent auditing is also needed to ensure the frameworks and PMMs are working appropriately or need to be updated/adjusted. To ensure this update and adjustment is conducted in a fair way, appropriate stakeholders and senior executives should participate in determining the PMMs (Gunasekaran et al., 2015).\n7. Conclusions and limitations: In this paper, we have attempted to review the literature on supply chain PMMs from 1991-2014 using a bibliometric analysis. To our knowledge this is the first study attempting to classify highly cited and co-cited works within supply chain PMMs. Our findings can help researchers in understanding the evolution of research trends in the field, and those articles that have been influential in shaping research in particular periods; and reveal the major research clusters in the field in each of these periods. It is vital for managers to attend to supply chain PMMs and adapt them based on the organizational context and stakeholder needs and views. A careful evaluation, however, of the relevant PMMs by managers is vital for the achievement of organizational objectives.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on supply chain performance measures and metrics (PMMs). It provides a critical evaluation of 234 articles published in past 24 years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper examines the studies published from 1991 to 2014 by adopting the bibliometric technique of citation and co-citation analysis.\nFindings: The analysis of the results indicate that the number of articles on supply chain PMMs is increasing at its fastest pace in the past few years. Furthermore, the study identifies some of the most influential articles on performance measurement and metrics. Finally, it concludes that there has been a transition from traditional to more sophisticated performance measurement system.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study focuses only on supply chain performance measurement and metrics and excludes research on performance management and control. Thus, researchers may explore and extend this area of research.\nOriginality/value: To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to review the literature on supply chain PMMs by using citation and co-citation analysis. The study includes 234 articles over the time of 24 years (1991-2014).\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Relationship closeness paradox: contingency analysis in B2B sales
|
[
"Social exchange theory",
"Regulatory focus",
"Sales performance",
"Extent of supervision",
"Relationship closeness",
"Salesperson passive opportunism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: B2B scholars have paid considerable attention to the concept of relationship closeness, which entails frequent, interpersonal and friendly relationships between salespersons and their customers (Mende et al., 2013). The importance attached to relationship closeness reflects its various benefits, including enhanced commitment, loyalty and positive word of mouth (Guenzi and Pelloni, 2004; Gao et al., 2016; Zablah et al., 2017). Close relationships enhance the ability of salespersons to accurately perceive and report back on levels of customer commitment and value (Homburg et al., 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Perceived relationship closeness\n3. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development: 3.1 Social exchange theory\n4. Method: 4.1 Sample and data collection\n5. Data analysis and results: We tested the hypotheses using hierarchical linear regression analysis (Table III). All of the variables were standardized to mitigate multicollinearity. Model 1 (control variables and the independent variable) and Model 2 (additionally the moderator variables) relate to the outcome variable salesperson sales performance. Model 2 shows that salesperson's perceived relationship closeness is positively and significantly related to sales performance (b = 0.24, p <* 0.01), thus supporting H1.\n6. Discussion: Our study is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the first empirical study of the positive and negative consequences of relationship closeness between a selling firm's salespersons and their retailers. Our findings show that salesperson's perceived relationship closeness positively influences sales performance and that this relationship is stronger in the presence of a high (vs low) extent of supervision. Results also demonstrate that salesperson's perceived relationship closeness positively influences salesperson passive opportunism. However, this relationship is weaker when there is high (vs low) extent of supervision. Further, salesperson passive opportunism is less (more) likely when the salesperson is prevention-focused (promotion-focused). These empirical observations have significant implications for theory and practice, as outlined in the following sections.\n7. Limitations and future research: Our study has several limitations that might provide the basis for future research. Future research should examine salesperson-customer relationships in other B2B research contexts (e.g. banking, insurance and hospitality) to assess the extent to which our results are applicable elsewhere.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the positive and negative consequences of relationship closeness between salespersons and their business customers in a B2B sales context: sales performance and salesperson passive opportunism.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the social exchange theory, the authors develop a conceptual model of positive and negative consequences of relationship closeness. The authors empirically test the model using matched survey data from 269 salesperson-sales supervisor dyads and individual sales performance ratings from one of the largest distribution and market expansion companies in Myanmar.\nFindings: Results provide evidence of positive (i.e. sales performance) and negative (i.e. salesperson passive opportunism) consequences of salesperson's perceived relationship closeness. These relationships are, however, contingent on organization-level and employee-level factors. High extent of supervision enhances the effects of salesperson's perceived relationship closeness on sales performance but attenuates its influence on salesperson passive opportunism. The effect of salesperson's perceived relationship closeness on salesperson's passive opportunism is stronger for salespersons with a promotion (vs prevention) focus.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results offer guidelines to firms seeking to optimize the efficacy of close relationships between their salespersons and customers. For example, higher levels of supervision could increase the likelihood of positive outcomes of relationship closeness while minimizing its negative consequences.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate not only the benefits of relationship closeness between salespersons and customers but also its dark side: the relationship closeness paradox.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Ethics in social media marketing: How should sponsorship information be disclosed in online product reviews?
|
[
"Online product reviews",
"Marketing ethics",
"Experience goods",
"Online community influence",
"Sponsored reviews",
"Sponsorship type"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is the sharing of relevant knowledge and opinions (positive or negative) about the products and/or services of a firm among potential or actual customers (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen, 2015; Chen et al., 2017). In Web 2.0, consumers actively receive information through networks and also act as the main entity spreading information. This has prompted explosive growth in online forums, blogs and social media, which allow consumers to share their thoughts on products or services quickly and conveniently (Kuo, 2015; Kim and Song, 2018). Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) are growing in popularity and importance (Jonas, 2010; Stephen et al., 2012; Lee and Choeh, 2018). OPRs contain the opinions and ratings of users with regard to the attributes, performance and use of products. They are generally found on platforms that present an extensive range of information, such as blogs (Forrest and Cao, 2010; Tsao and Hsieh, 2015; Yu, 2017).\n2. Theoretical background, and literature review: Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin (2015) and Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen (2015) conducted an experiment using two scenarios with one group of participants. The participants first read a blog post with no disclosure of sponsorship information. The researchers then told them that the reviewer received financial sponsorship from the firm, and examined how this revelation affected the influence of the review. They found that a failure to disclose sponsorship information greatly undermined the persuasiveness of the OPR, including the helpfulness and credibility of the reviews as well as the purchase intention of the readers. However, that study failed to provide a solution to the problem of information disclosure. Lu et al. (2014) examined the sponsored recommendations of bloggers; however, they focused only on financial rewards. Sponsorship can also be provided using non-monetary methods (Chu, 2010; Stephen et al., 2012). Hwang and Jeong (2016) discussed the ethical implication of sponsorship disclosure (e.g. disclosure and \"honest opinions\" disclosure), rather than the types of sponsorship that are actually employed by firms. Kim and Song (2018) divided content sponsorship into two categories: organic (i.e. unpaid) and sponsored (i.e. paid). Their primary focus was on OPR content (promotional vs experience centric); however, they did not touch on the issue of how firms could be motivated to proactively disclose sponsorship. In this study, we divided the types of sponsorship into financial, non-financial and dual sponsorship. This study also adopted the evaluation index used in previous eWOM researches, using helpfulness, credibility and purchase intention to determine the persuasiveness of OPR (Li et al., 2013; Tsao and Hsieh, 2015; Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen, 2015). This study also examined sponsorship disclosure within the context of blogs, due to their growing popularity and influence in the online community (Fullwood et al., 2009).\n3. Study 1: influence of sponsorship type on OPR persuasiveness: A review of the literature revealed that concealing sponsorship information can enhance the persuasiveness of OPRs (Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen, 2015); however, it is a direct violation of marketing ethics and is outright illegal in some countries. Thus, in sub-study 1, this study sought to identify the type of sponsorship best suited to the disclosure of sponsorship information.\n4. Study 2: application of online community influence on OPR management: Opinion leaders and professional critics are generally experts in their fields; therefore, their knowledge, opinions or actions are valued highly by others (Fenner, 2012). Individuals in this position can have a profound impact (direct or indirect) on the purchase decisions of consumers, particularly when it comes to experience goods, restaurants, movies and tourist activities (Tsao, Hsieh, Shih and Lin, 2015; Tsao, Mau, Hsieh and Chen, 2015; Tsao, 2014). Their reviews also tend to receive strong responses from followers (Fenner, 2012; Tsao, 2014). Response indicators include ratings, the number of page views, comments, shares and awards. These accomplishments are commonly displayed on web pages as an indirect of the influence the reviewer has in the online community (Lu et al., 2014). These indicators can add to the fame and reputation of the reviewer and further influence the decisions and intentions of the followers (Pixnet, 2014). Study 2 extended the analysis in study 1 to include the influence of the online community in the research framework with the aim of finding an advantageous approach to sponsoring opinion leaders under the premise of full disclosure.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Consumer-generated online product reviews (OPRs) have become a crucial source of information for consumers; however, OPRs are increasingly being incentivized. The purpose of this paper is to find a method of sponsorship and disclosure that could be considered ethically sound.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study adopted a quasi-experimental approach to clarifying how the method of sponsorship impacts reader perceptions of OPRs in terms of helpfulness, credibility and purchase intention. Two experiments were performed on an online platform using data from 480 participants. Hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance.\nFindings: Meaning under the premise that sponsorship information is disclosed and not withheld from the readers, Study 1 revealed that experiential sponsorship is the best sponsorship. Study 2 revealed that featuring reviewers with greater influence in the online community increases the positive influence of disclosing experiential sponsorship on OPR persuasiveness.\nOriginality/value: The findings in this study provide rational incentives for firms to disclose sponsorship information, i.e. demonstrate high ethical standards in marketing. This was shown to create a win-win-win situation for consumers, firms and reviewers. Managerial implications for online marketing managers are also discussed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Lean-team effectiveness through leader values and members' informing
|
[
"Team effectiveness",
"Leadership",
"Lean management",
"Work values",
"Team members’ information sharing behavior"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In lean management, worker ideas are implemented to continuously improve work processes and, in turn, customer value (Shah and Ward, 2003, 2007). Yet, many work-floor teams that begin with lean fail to keep improving their work practices and to solve problems on an everyday basis, even after multiple attempts, in some cases, to implement lean (Barnas, 2014; Hines et al., 2004; Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009). Scholars have studied the links between (sets of) lean tools and performance (Bamford et al., 2015; Shah and Ward, 2003). It is known that implementing lean management not only entails workers adopting mechanistic lean tools, such as Kaizen and value stream mapping, it also requires leaders at all organizational levels to change their own mindset and behavior. Those behaviors should be directed at continuous improvement, root-cause analysis, and respect for people, i.e., \"lean thinking\" (Barnas, 2014; Hines et al., 2004; Mann, 2005; Toussaint, 2015). Most leaders struggle before they reach a lean mindset and more effective leader and lean-team behaviors (Barnas, 2014; Hines et al., 2004; Liker and Hoseus, 2008; Moyano-Fuentes and Sacristan-Diaz, 2012). Despite its resurging popularity, in both the manufacturing and service sector, lean has been associated with higher levels of stress, tension, and anxiety (Conti et al., 2006; Hasle et al., 2012), and conflict (Delbridge, 1995). Thus, in order to help aspiring lean work-floor level teams (or: \"lean-teams\"), and their leaders, to learn about better work-floor dynamics (Balle, 2005; Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009), scholars have urged the study of teams' micro behaviors and associated work values (Bardi and Schwartz, 2003; Detert et al., 2000; Prajogo and McDermott, 2005). Such \"soft\" organizational-behavioral analyses at the lean-team work-floor level are still largely absent (Bhamu and Sangwan, 2014; Bortolotti et al., 2015; Samuel et al., 2015; Van Dun and Wilderom, 2012). The present study aims to fill this void.\n2. Theory: team leaders' values, team-level information sharing, and lean-team effectiveness: Below, relevant operations management literature on lean is paired to parts of Schwartz et al.'s (2012) values theory and to Kozlowski and Ilgen's (2006) IPO model of predicting work-unit effectiveness. Brown and Trevino (2009) adapted Schwartz et al.'s (2012) values to work settings; the original four value clusters are: \"self-transcendence,\" \"self-enhancement,\" \"conservation,\" and \"openness to change\" (see Figure 1). Whereas the self-transcendence cluster entails other-focused values, such as \"altruism\" and \"teamwork,\" the self-enhancement cluster consists of self-focused values, such as \"ambition\" and \"taking initiative.\" The largely change-averse values in the conservation cluster are \"conformity\" and \"tradition,\" while the openness to change values entails risk-taking through \"experimentation\" and \"daringness.\"\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: The bi-variate correlations, means and standard deviations are presented in Table III. There was a positive significant correlation between team members' information sharing and lean-team effectiveness (r=0.67, p<0.01), as well as a negative significant correlation between team leaders' conservation values and lean-team effectiveness (r=-0.38, p<0.05). There was also a marginally significant correlation between team leaders' self-transcendence values and team members' information sharing (r=0.31, p<0.10). A significant, positive correlation existed between team leaders' self-transcendence and conservation values (r=0.59, p<0.01). The service/manufacturing sector was positively correlated with male/female ratio (r=0.67, p<0.01) and educational level (r=0.62, p<0.01).\n5. Discussion: Team leaders' \"lean thinking\" or espoused values are shown here to be associated with team members' information sharing behavior and, in turn, with lean-team effectiveness. Specifically, this study establishes that leaders' self-transcendence values and team members' information sharing behavior are positively related to lean-team effectiveness, whereas leaders' conservation values are negatively linked to lean-team effectiveness. Information sharing by team members mediates in part the relation between leaders' self-transcendence values and lean-team effectiveness. In other words, beyond a lean toolset (Shah and Ward, 2003), specific leaders' factors (i.e. their values constellations) seem to affect lean-team effectiveness.\n6. Conclusion: This multiple-source study shows that lean work teams are more effective when their leaders endorse self-transcendence and reject conservation values while their employees share a lot of information. More research on the human factors on lean work floors is warranted, given also that many other change-management practices pivot on work-floor employees as crucial informants for enhancing organizational or team effectiveness (see e.g. Bicheno and Holweg, 2009; De Lange-Ros and Boer, 2001).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Although empirical tests of effective lean-team leadership are scarce, leaders are often blamed when lean work-floor initiatives fail. In the present study, a lean-team leader's work values are assumed to affect his or her team members' behaviors and, through them, to attain team effectiveness. Specifically, two of Schwartz et al.'s (2012) values clusters (i.e. self-transcendence and conservation) are hypothesized to be linked to team members' degree of information and idea sharing and, in turn, to lean-team effectiveness. The paper aims to report the examination of these hypotheses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey responses (n=429) of both leaders and members of 25 lean-teams in services and manufacturing organizations were aggregated, thereby curbing common-source bias. To test the six hypotheses, structural equation modeling was performed, with bootstrapping, linear regression analyses, and Sobel tests.\nFindings: The positive relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders' self-transcendence values, and the negative relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders' conservation values were partly mediated by information sharing behavior within the team.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research must compare the content of effective lean-team values and behaviors to similar non-lean teams.\nPractical implications: Appoint lean-team leaders with predominantly self-transcendence rather than conservation values: to promote work-floor sharing of information and lean-team effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: Human factors associated with effective lean-teams were examined, thereby importing organization-behavioral insights into the operations management literature: with HRM-type implications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Student intentions to become self-employed: the Ukrainian context
|
[
"Enterprise education",
"Entrepreneurial intentions",
"Entrepreneurial event theory",
"Theory of planned behaviour",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Self‐employed workers",
"Students",
"Ukraine"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: To encourage the economic benefits associated with the formation of new firms, governments are encouraging more university students to consider self-employment or business ownership as a career option (henceforth termed \"to become an entrepreneur\"). To address attitudinal and resource barriers to student enterprise there has been a growth in the delivery of entrepreneurship modules by business and management schools (Solomon, 2007). Many university courses encourage students to learn new ways of collecting and analyzing information, which will subsequently enable them to create and identify opportunities, as well as accumulate and leverage resources to exploit an opportunity. Many studies solely focus upon entrepreneurial intentions in developed economies, but these findings may not be applicable to transition economy contexts.Governments have promoted the move from a command economy to a market economy. A distinction can be made between post-Socialist European countries associated with market and tax reforms that have promoted a continual increase in enterprise formation, and those that have promoted a short, dramatic increase in enterprise formation and a subsequent decline in enterprise formation (Smallbone et al., 2010). Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dominant values and the social norms during the Communist ascendancy in the Ukraine did not promote individual enterprise. The Ukrainian economy was highly centralised and associated with structural problems relating to large, inefficient and declining state-owned organisations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, enterprises in the Ukraine producing military goods for the Soviet Union went into decline. Due to reduced demand for products produced in large firms and structural reforms, highly educated people in the Ukraine were \"pushed\" into establishing their own businesses. Men in the Ukraine became business owners to exploit existing resources and opportunities, while women sought to increase their incomes (Aidis et al., 2007). After the \"Orange Revolution\" in 2004, the Ukrainian government introduced political and economic structural reform measures to promote a spirit of enterprise (i.e. reduction of administrative burdens and a more favourable tax regime). Nevertheless, a recent slow-down in enterprise formation has been noted. Young people are less likely to engage in enterprising behaviour (Kalantaridis and Labrianidis, 2004), particularly males under 30 years of age (Aidis et al., 2007). In the Ukraine, fewer than 5 per cent of entrepreneurs are aged between 18 and 28 years of age (Government of Ukraine, 2002).The Ukrainian government is supporting youth enterprise in order to encourage students to accumulate and leverage enterprise skills and knowledge to increase self-employment and new venture creation. Many young people face the following barriers to self-employment and business creation: poor self-confidence, experience and knowledge deficiencies relating to entrepreneurial behaviour, and finance shortages. Schemes have been introduced to reduce attitudinal barriers among young people to entrepreneurship (i.e. entrepreneurship schools and seminars that promote entrepreneurship). Universities play an important role in removing attitudinal barriers among young people (Jones and Iredale, 2008).The variance \"explained\" in studies monitoring the intention of students to become entrepreneurs (i.e. self-employed or business owner) is summarized in Table I. Variations between studies are, in part, shaped by differences in the definition and operationalisation of the dependent (i.e. entrepreneurial intention), independent (i.e. perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, etc.) and control variables in each study. Alternative theoretical lens and methodological approaches have been applied, and there is an absence of an integrated perspective. Variations between studies are also shaped by the differences between the samples analysed with regard to their context, composition and size. Studies have generally solely considered direct effects (i.e. individuals' perceived desirability, etc.) with regard to the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. With the notable exception of Fitzsimmons and Douglas (2011), interaction effects between factors have not been theorised or tested empirically. We add to this debate by exploring the following research question:RQ1. Does an integrated conceptual model (ICM) relating to factors drawn from entrepreneurial event theory (EET) (i.e. perceived desirability and perceived feasibility) and theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (i.e. attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) explain more of the variance relating to the intention to become an entrepreneur than individual EET or TPB models?We seek to make several conceptual and empirical contributions. Notably, we contribute by integrating themes from EET and TPB (Krueger et al., 2000) with regard to an integrated conceptual model (ICM). Further, we contribute by extending theory relating to entrepreneurial intentions by specifically exploring the factors (or constructs) that are the key drivers of the formation of entrepreneurial intentions by students, which is a context that is attracting growing practitioner attention. Fresh insights are provided with regard to a hand-collected dataset involving 192 students drawn from three universities in the Ukraine transitional economy context. Our findings have implications for the stimulation of student enterprise in transitional economies where attitudinal and resource (i.e. skill and knowledge) deficiencies can retard enterprise. In these contexts, Governments and international agencies are supporting the provision of educational initiatives that address barriers to enterprise. Evidence from a control group of students that did not participate in enterprise models was not collected. We do not seek to evaluate the benefits associated with specific enterprise modules. This study makes an empirical contribution by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) structural equation modelling to explore the casual links between factors (or constructs) from EET and TPB with one another, and with the intention to become an entrepreneur-dependent variable. We theorize and empirically test using structural equation modelling causal relationships between main effects and an interaction effect.Information relating to the profiles and intentions of young people to become entrepreneurs was gathered from students located in three universities in the city of Nikolaev, which has a population of 500,000 people. This city used to be the centre for shipbuilding in the former Soviet Union. The former industrial and political culture did not promote individual enterprise. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the role of shipbuilding in the city declined dramatically. Government is now seeking to encourage local people to establish their own new ventures in the city. Notably, government has supported enterprise education in three universities in the city in order to encourage more students to become entrepreneurs. Science and engineering students are, generally, more likely to report the intention to become entrepreneurs than business students (Kuckertz and Wagner, 2010). Entrepreneurship and small business courses have been provided to second-year economics and business administration undergraduate students. This study explores the links between the cognitive profiles of 192 students and their intention to become entrepreneurs.The article is structured as follows. In the next section, we develop theory and hypotheses relating to the intention to become an entrepreneur. Insights from EET and TPB are summarised and an ICM is presented. Several hypotheses are derived. The data and method to test these hypotheses are then summarised. In the following section, results from the structural equation models are reported. Key findings are presented and implications are then discussed.\n2. Theoretical insights and derivation of hypotheses: 2.1 Entrepreneurial event theory\n3. Data collection and research methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 EET model\n5. Conclusions and implications: To address attitudinal and resource barriers to enterprise, many universities are introducing \"taster\" enterprise modules, which seek to raise the expectations of students, and provide students with a realistic perspective relating to the commitment and resources required to pursue a career in enterprise. Enterprise modules have a role in encouraging more students to believe that being an entrepreneur is desirable and feasible. Modules have a role in promoting a positive attitude toward enterprise, notably, the self-belief that a career in enterprise would provide benefits and satisfaction, the belief that they would be supported by their kinship groups (i.e. subjective norm), and they would able to control their destinies as entrepreneurs (i.e. perceived behavioural control).A novel contribution of this study was the testing of two theories to \"explain\" the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. SEM was used to explore the causal links between factors discussed in EET, and the causal links between factors discussed in the TPB. A further novel contribution of this study was the testing of an ICM. Direct and indirect effects between factors and the intention to become an entrepreneur were considered.Models relating to EET, the TPB and the ICM explained 40 per cent, 55 per cent and 60 per cent of the variance in the entrepreneurial intention dependent variable, respectively. Students reporting higher levels of perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise) and perceived behavioural control were more likely to report the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. No significant negative interaction effect between perceived desirability and perceived feasibility was detected. Unlike Fitzsimmons and Douglas (2011) with regard to MBA students, we did not find evidence that suggests undergraduate students with lower levels of perceived desirability still reported entrepreneurial intentions if they perceived themselves as having sufficient perceived feasibility to do so. Most undergraduate students with no prior self-employment and work experience cannot leverage the knowledge accumulated, for example by MBA students, to address resource and legitimacy barriers to enterprise formation.Enterprise models have a role in reducing attitudinal barriers to enterprise, and the accumulation of skills required for careers in entrepreneurship. The formation of entrepreneurial intentions in more students could be increased if enterprise teaching also seeks to nurture higher levels of attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise), and higher levels of perceived behavioural control.Initiatives that encourage student enterprise need to be monitored. This study monitored students in a single city. Presented results can be generalised to the Ukraine and comparable transition economies. Studies conducted in other cultural, national and institutional contexts will insights relating to the generalizability of the findings presented. Additional research is warranted to explore the linkage between the delivery mode, nature and content of enterprise teaching and the formation of entrepreneurial intentions by participants. Longitudinal studies that monitor large cohorts of students over time which also consider local and family contexts will provide additional insights. Despite concern that the factors explored in previous studies are inter-related with one another, we found that the five operationalised factors were distinct, valid and reliable. Nevertheless, additional work is warranted to improve the validity and reliability of presented factors. Direct and interaction effects between factors need to be considered in several national contexts with regard to large and representative samples of students taking and not taking enterprise modules, as well as a sample of people drawn from the general population. A broader array of themes that can shape an individuals career options (i.e. attitudes to risk, economic thresholds, etc.) need to be considered in future studies. Longitudinal studies using sophisticated SEM techniques should, in addition, explore the links between factors relating to EET and TPB and the subsequent \"quality\" of the businesses established with regard to economic, societal and environmental performance indicators.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore whether an integrated conceptual model (ICM) relating to factors drawn from entrepreneurial event theory (EET) (i.e. perceived desirability and perceived feasibility) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (i.e. attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) explains more of the variance relating to the intention to become an entrepreneur than individual EET or TPB models.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey information from 192 students from three universities in the Ukraine was hand collected. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses presented.\nFindings: - Models relating to EET, the TPB and the ICM explained 40 per cent, 55 per cent and 60 per cent of the variance in the entrepreneurial intention dependent variable, respectively. Students reporting higher levels of perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise) and perceived behavioural control were more likely to report the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. No significant negative interaction effect between perceived desirability and perceived feasibility was detected.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study does not evaluate the benefits of enterprise modules. The results can be generalised to the Ukraine and comparable transition economy contexts.\nPractical implications: - The formation of entrepreneurial intentions in more students could be increased if enterprise teaching seeks to nurture higher levels of attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise), and higher levels of perceived behavioural control.\nOriginality/value: - Structural equation modelling was used to test the predictive accuracy of EET, TPB and ICM perspectives. Direct and indirect effects between factors and the intention to become an entrepreneur were considered.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of social influence on the perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews
|
[
"Social influence",
"Perceived review helpfulness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), or providing information about goods, services, brands or companies to other consumers through the internet, noticeably shapes consumers' perceptions and preferences (Chen et al., 2011; Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; Jang et al., 2012)[1]. An increasingly important element of eWOM is online consumer reviews[2] (Rosario et al., 2016; Chen and Xie, 2008; Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006), and trade publications state that at present, roughly half of the internet shoppers always or at least most of the time check online reviews before making a purchase (eMarketer, 2016). Academic studies also show that online reviews play an important role in consumer decision-making, as consumers consider content generated by their peers to be more credible and trustworthy than marketer-generated information (Gilly et al., 1998; Schindler and Bickart, 2012). As a result, online reviews affect firm performance (Floyd et al., 2014; You et al., 2015).\nHow do consumers process online consumer reviews?: Consumers' motivation, opportunity and ability influence how consumers process information (MacInnis et al., 1991). Motivation is defined as goal-directed behavior, and opportunity is the extent to which the consumer is distracted from processing or has limited time. Ability is whether the consumer has enough skills to be able to process information. When consumers search for and read online reviews, their motivation and ability to do so are generally already high, and they are likely to engage in more effortful information processing (Lu et al., 2014). While motivation and ability are difficult for firms to influence, firms can influence opportunity to process by affecting the way the information in the review is presented (MacInnis et al., 1991).\nEffects of content presentation factors and social influence on perceived review helpfulness: Content presentation factors\nResearch design: Choice-based conjoint analysis\nResults: Table II shows the part-worths of the estimated model. The log likelihood of the model is -1,618.386.\nDiscussion: This study examines how consumers process online reviews and how social influence, in the form of the helpfulness votes others provide to reviews, affects the perceived helpfulness of online reviews. We show that the helpfulness votes of others indeed affect how consumers process the review and perceive the helpfulness of a review, whereby positive votes increase review helpfulness and negative votes decrease review helpfulness. Theory on observational learning can explain these effects, as it predicts that consumers will follow others' opinions (Banerjee, 1992; Bikhchandani et al., 1992; Kallgren et al., 2000).\nTheoretical and managerial implications: This study provides insights into how consumers actually process online reviews. We show that the well-studied content presentation factors and social influence affect how consumers process online reviews and consequently how consumers perceive the helpfulness of these reviews. Reviews with positive or negative helpfulness votes are perceived as more and less helpful, respectively. The mechanism behind this perception is observational learning, through which consumers pay less attention to the information in the review itself when they can observe actions of others (i.e. the helpfulness votes). With mixed and no votes, this mechanism is not present, as the evaluation of the review may be ambiguous, and people seem to rely more on their own judgment and put more effort into information processing. Thus, our study contributes to the literature on the perceived helpfulness of online reviews and how consumers may actually process online reviews, which has only recently started to receive scholarly attention.\nLimitations and further research: Although the results of our study are interesting and reliable, our investigation has certain limitations. First, the current study is of an experimental nature. Although, the internal validity is high in that we could study the impact of social influence on perceived review helpfulness in a controlled environment, as in any experiment, the external validity is limited. This limitation may partially explain the lack of significant interactions in our model. Therefore, it would be interesting to replicate our findings by using secondary data.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to study to what extent the helpfulness votes others attach to a review affect a consumer's perceived helpfulness of that review. In addition, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether this social influence moderates the relationships among several content presentation factors and perceived helpfulness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A choice-based conjoint experiment was carried out in which 201 respondents evaluated different reviews and chose the review they perceive as most helpful.\nFindings: Consumers perceive reviews as more (less) helpful in the presence of clearly valenced positive (negative) helpfulness votes. In addition, helpfulness votes of others diminish the positive impact of structure and the negative impact of spelling errors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The experimental setup may limit the external validity of the study.\nPractical implications: Providing a helpfulness button gives firms an instrument to offer content that consumers perceive as more useful and to exert some influence on the effects of content presentation factors on the review's helpfulness.\nSocial implications: Consumers tend to follow other consumers' opinions without forming their own opinion. Firms could misuse this tendency by hiring people to vote on reviews that are not necessarily helpful for consumers, but are helpful for the firm.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to assess the extent to which social influence affects consumers' evaluation of reviews. Given that consumers use helpfulness votes to distinguish reviews, it is important to understand to what extent these votes reflect the actual helpfulness of the information in the review and to what extent they reflect previous helpfulness votes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The influence of the gender and race of the judge and the type of discrimination charge on court case outcomes
|
[
"Employment discrimination",
"Judicial demographics",
"Race claims",
"Gender claims",
"Age claims",
"Disability claims",
"Judges",
"Law courts"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Several empirical studies have investigated whether the outcomes of employment discrimination court cases can be influenced by the sex or the race of the judge. Unfortunately, these studies have yielded contradictory and inconsistent findings. For example, some studies that have examined the influence of the sex of the judge have found that female judges were more lenient (more apt to rule in favor of the plaintiff) than male judges (Allen, 1993; Songer et al., 1994), while other studies have reported that male judges were more lenient than female judges (Segal, 2000). Furthermore, some studies have found no significant difference between the rulings of female and male judges in employment discrimination court cases (Walker and Barrow, 1985; Westergren, 2004). Empirical studies regarding the influence of the race of the judge have also yielded mixed and inconclusive findings. Some studies have found that African-American judges were more likely than white judges to rule in favor of the plaintiff (Sisk et al., 2004), while other studies have found no significant difference between the rulings of African-American and white judges in employment discrimination court cases (Gottschall, 1983).\nMethod: The researchers examined the judicial outcomes of employment discrimination cases in US district courts. This was due to the fact that in federal employment discrimination cases, disputes generally involve only an individual employee or small group of individuals (plaintiffs) and a business entity such as a corporation or sections of the local, state, or federal government (defendants). Also, in US district courts, plaintiffs typically allege that they were discriminated against by the defendant due to their (plaintiff's) race, gender, age, etc. which served as the basis of their claim/charge against the defendant.The researchers limited their analysis to cases in which the defendant presented to the court a motion for summary disposition of the plaintiff's lawsuit, and the judge ruled on that motion. This was done for two reasons:1. these cases represent a judge's decision in favor of one party over another; and2. jury verdicts are not reported in any national legal database (e.g. Lexis or Westlaw) and more importantly would not be as relevant to the stated purposes of this study to examine the potential interaction of judges' race/sex with the type of employment discrimination claim.The outcomes of selected cases were assigned one of two values. Cases were coded as \"defendant wins\" where the defendant's motion was granted and the case was dismissed with prejudice. In all other cases, where either the defendant's motion was denied or where the motion was granted in part and denied in part, the value \"plaintiff wins\" was assigned. Cases involving a partial denial of summary judgment to the defendant were considered as a victory for the plaintiff for such verdicts allow the plaintiffs to continue their litigation in federal court. For many plaintiffs this may be considered a successful outcome, as it allows them to proceed to trial and present their case before a jury. In addition, by surviving summary judgment, the plaintiff is given significant bargaining power with the defendant, which often leads to a settlement of the plaintiff's claims.To address the purposes of this study, the researchers generated a random sample of cases over a relatively broad time frame utilizing the Lexis electronic database in a query of only US district court cases. Search terms included such items as the \"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act\" (1964), the \"Americans with Disabilities Act\" (1990), \"Age Discrimination in Employment Act\" (1967), and \"summary w/1 judgment.\" To have a dataset that spanned multiple years, the researchers randomly selected four time periods from the last decade: January 1-31, 2000 (145 cases); June 1-30, 2003 (133 cases); December 1-15, 2005 (141 cases); and March 1-31, 2007 (482) cases. The use of more recent cases in the sample of 901 cases reflects the researchers desire to emphasize a more contemporary situation with regard to employment discrimination in the workplace.Eliminated from this initial sample of 901 cases were those which did not meet the criteria necessary for the purposes of this study. Researchers thus removed cases that did not involve a claim of employment discrimination, did not involve a motion for summary judgment, or were simply duplications of the case. Also removed from the sample were employment discrimination cases involving religion and/or multiple claims of employment discrimination (e.g. race and sex). Cases involving religious claims were removed due to their small sample size which would not be large enough for meaningful statistical analysis or commentary. Cases involving multiple claims of employment discrimination were eliminated so as to not confound the results and allow the researchers to explore the stated purpose of the study involving the potential differences in case outcomes as a result of the type of plaintiff claims. This resulted in the sample having cases involving single employment discrimination claims based on race, sex, age, or disability.As a result of these eliminations, the final sample consisted of 401 employment discrimination cases. The outcomes of these court cases (whether the judge ruled for the plaintiff or for the defendant) indicated that 34 percent (137 of 401) favored the plaintiff, and 66 percent (264 of 401) favored the defendant/employer. The frequencies and percentages of cases by type of discrimination charge were as follows: sex - 129 (32 percent); race - 177 (44 percent); age - 38 (9 percent); and disability - 57 (14 percent). The percentages of case outcomes that favored the plaintiff by type of charge were as follows: sex - 44 percent; race - 31 percent; age - 37 percent; and disability - 21 percent. Regarding the demographic characteristics of the judges presiding over the cases, 307 (77 percent) judges were male and 94 (23 percent) were female, and 349 (87 percent) of the judges were white and 52 (13 percent) were African-American.\nResults and discussion: Analyses were conducted to investigate whether court case outcomes might differ due to the interaction of the demographic characteristics (sex and race) of the judge with the type of discrimination charge.Outcomes by judge sex and type of discrimination charge\nSummary and conclusions: Previous research regarding the influence of the sex and race of the judge on court case outcomes has yielded contradictory and confusing findings. However, these previous studies did not adequately control for the possible influence of the type of charge involved in the cases (e.g. sex discrimination, race discrimination, age discrimination, or disability discrimination). The findings of the current study suggest that judges' rulings are a function of the interaction of the judges' demographic characteristics (sex and race) with the type of discrimination charge.Summary of findings related to judge gender\nConclusions: Clearly, the effects of the demographic characteristics of judges on their rulings in employment discrimination cases are much more complicated than was originally thought. The current findings suggest that the outcomes of employment discrimination cases are a function of the interaction of the judges' demographic characteristics with the type of discrimination charge (e.g. sex, race, age, or disability discrimination) involved in the case. More research studies with larger cell sample sizes should be conducted to confirm the current results. If additional research replicates these findings, a systematic research program could be launched to identify sex and race-based differences in attitudes toward specific forms of discrimination related to sex, race, age, disability, religion, and national origin. It would also be of interest to investigate the causes and correlates of attitudinal differences toward various forms of discrimination. Another research direction could involve the investigation of the possible interaction of the demographic characteristics of judges with the demographic characteristics of plaintiffs by specific type of discrimination charge.Employment discrimination is a serious matter, and the decisions of judges in discrimination cases should be rendered in a consistent, fair, and unbiased fashion. The rulings of judges in employment discrimination cases have significant effects on the organizations and individuals (both plaintiffs and defendants) involved. It is hoped that the current study (and future research) will contribute to a greater understanding of the process by which the rulings of judges are unfairly influenced by bias. Research information about possible biases related to demographic characteristics could, perhaps, help judges to become more aware of potential biases and guard against being influenced by such biases. The current findings may also have implications for the selection and appointment of judges, and for the composition of judicial bodies where the final decision is determined by a group. Perhaps judicial bodies that are more diverse (in terms of sex and race) render more unbiased rulings because individual biases will cancel themselves out. The results of the current study would also seem to have implications for the selection of jury members. The demographic characteristics of individual jurors and the demographic composition of the jury may well have an influence on the outcomes of discrimination cases.In conclusion, it is hoped that research investigating the influence of the demographic characteristics of judges on the outcomes of employment discrimination cases will eventually lead to the elimination of judicial bias.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine whether the demographics of the US federal judiciary and the type of employment discrimination charge influence federal employment discrimination case outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The outcomes of 401 randomly selected employment discrimination cases were examined by utilizing chi square analysis to test the interaction effects of race and gender along with four different charges of employment discrimination.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that the outcomes of employment discrimination cases are a function of the interaction of the judges' gender and race along with the type of discrimination charge (e.g. gender, race, age, or disability discrimination) involved in the case.\nResearch limitations/implications: - More research studies with larger cell sample sizes for certain discrimination claims should be conducted to ascertain the validity of the current results.\nPractical implications: - Potential litigants in employment discrimination cases (both plaintiffs and defendants) may find these results relevant in determining their chances for success in the courtroom.\nSocial implications: - These findings could help judges become more aware of potential biases and help guard against being influenced by them. These findings may also have implications for the selection and appointment of judges and suggest that judicial bodies that are more diverse may render more unbiased rulings.\nOriginality/value: - Previous research regarding the influence of the sex and race of the judge on court case outcomes has yielded contradictory and confusing findings. However, by controlling for the possible influence of the type of charge involved in the cases, the findings of the current study suggest that judges' rulings are a function of the interaction of the judges' demographic characteristics with the type of discrimination charge.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Estimating student ability and problem difficulty using item response theory (IRT) and TrueSkill
|
[
"Problem solving",
"User modeling",
"Prediction model",
"Educational data mining (EDM)",
"Log file analysis",
"Learning analytics (LA)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recently, US Department of Education emphasized the importance of developing computer-based learning environments that can provide customized learning contents tailored to the ability of students (Bienkowski et al., 2012). It is anticipated that such adaptive learning environments can maximize the learning outcome of students because students can be engaged in personalized learning activities matching their level of understanding (Tanenbaum et al., 2013). To develop an adaptive learning environment, it is essential to accurately estimate the ability of students as they are engaged in various learning activities. Typically, computer-based learning environments estimate the ability of students, which is changing over time as a result of their learning, by having students solve a series of problems. The estimated ability of students can then be used to provide differentiated learning experiences.\nLiterature review: Assessing student learning using item response theory\nMethod: Two-parameter item response theory model\nResults: Estimating ability of students and difficulty of problems from simulated data set\nDiscussion: To facilitate student learning, it is critical to provide instructional supports and guidance. However, it does not mean that we need to provide instructional supports immediately when students make mistakes or fail to complete the learning task at hand because it will prevent students from exerting enough cognitive efforts (Kapur, 2008; Schmidt and Bjork, 1992). On the other hand, academically weaker students will flounder, get frustrated, and may give up their learning unless they receive instructional supports in time. Therefore, the real issue is how we can determine the most appropriate time to provide instructional supports when students having a different ability are trying to resolve learning tasks with varying difficulties, which requires an accurate estimation of the ability of students in relation to the difficulty of learning tasks. This issue would become more important in the computer-based learning environment where students learn mostly on their own and there is no teacher who can provide appropriate instructional supports and guidance to struggling students. Unfortunately, however, the ways in which instructional supports are provided in the computer-based learning environment do not take into account the ability of students. Regardless of their ability, students get instructional supports after submitting the same number of incorrect answers, which is unlikely to maximize the learning outcome of students. The findings from this study suggest that the two-parameter IRT model and the TrueSkill rating system may be able to address this issue because these approaches were able to estimate the ability of students solving a series of problems in relation to the difficulty of those problems, and to predict how likely students will be able to solve problems correctly.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate an efficient means of estimating the ability of students solving problems in the computer-based learning environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Item response theory (IRT) and TrueSkill were applied to simulated and real problem solving data to estimate the ability of students solving homework problems in the massive open online course (MOOC). Based on the estimated ability, data mining models predicting whether students can correctly solve homework and quiz problems in the MOOC were developed. The predictive power of IRT- and TrueSkill-based data mining models was compared in terms of Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve.\nFindings: The correlation between students' ability estimated from IRT and TrueSkill was strong. In addition, IRT- and TrueSkill-based data mining models showed a comparable predictive power when the data included a large number of students. While IRT failed to estimate students' ability and could not predict their problem solving performance when the data included a small number of students, TrueSkill did not experience such problems.\nOriginality/value: Estimating students' ability is critical to determine the most appropriate time for providing instructional scaffolding in the computer-based learning environment. The findings of this study suggest that TrueSkill can be an efficient means for estimating the ability of students solving problems in the computer-based learning environment regardless of the number of students.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Mining archival genealogy databases to gain new insights into broader historical issues
|
[
"Digitization",
"History",
"Genealogical Web databases",
"Digital archives",
"Tax records",
"Income inequality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Denmark saw a sharp increase in income inequality during the First World War (Sorensen, 1990; Atkinson and Sogaard, 2016; Sogaard, 2018a). In anecdotal narratives, the increased inequality has often been associated with the so-called \"goulash barons,\" i.e. manufactures earning huge profits by selling canned meat of poor quality to the German armed forces. The term goulash barons has more generally been used to describe a nouveaux riches class of stock-market speculators and businessmen profiting from the war (Cohn, 1928; Sorensen, 2014; Bendtsen, 2017; Appel, 2018; Sogaard, 2018b).\n2. Brief review of related literature: The article at hand relates most closely to two earlier studies that have covered the historical evolution of income inequality in Denmark. The first article is by Sorensen (1990) that presented maximum equalisation percentages for 1870 and most of the years between 1903 and 1986 based on tabulated tax-based income statistics published by Statistics Denmark. The compilations were carried out at an aggregated regional level (capital, provincial towns and rural districts). Disregarding the First World War, the results indicated a gradual but substantial long-run reduction of the degree of income inequality in all regions during the last decades of the 1800s and the first decades of the 1900s. However, the First World War saw sharp increases in income inequality in all regions - increases to levels of income inequality comparable to those of 1870.\n3. Tax records on local income tax payments: A permanent nationwide personal income tax to the central government was only introduced in Denmark with the tax reform of 1903. However, some major municipalities - including Esbjerg - made use of permanent personal income taxation at the local level prior to 1903 (Moller, 2009; Johansen, 2007; Aidt and Jensen, 2009). Already in the 1890s, income taxes constituted the vast majority of the local tax revenue raised in Esbjerg Municipality.\n4. Estimation of the number of non-tax paying families: The tax books and local directories from Esbjerg cover only taxpaying families, i.e. families with an income above the threshold for local income taxation or families with a lower income that voluntary chose to pay the minimal tax amount to have the right to vote at local elections. However, the total number of families in Esbjerg can be estimated for each year in the sample period as the total number of inhabitants with age at or above 15 years minus the number of married women. These compilations are based on the population figures for Esbjerg in the nationwide censuses of population published by Statistics Denmark supplemented by special censuses on the population of Esbjerg carried out by the local authorities (also published by Statistics Denmark).\n5. Using local tax payments to track a family's position in the income distribution: The data on payment of local income taxes can be used to calculate the approximate position in the income distribution of all families in Esbjerg in each year in the sample period 1892-1925.\n6. Who were the new riches in Esbjerg during the First World War?: Table I shows the most frequent job titles of the family heads in the top 1 per cent of the income distribution in Esbjerg in the years around the First World War. There were no fishermen in the top 1 per cent in 1913. In contrast, more than 37 per cent of the family heads were fishermen in 1917. After the War, the share of fishermen in the top 1 per cent declined markedly again to around 1 per cent in 1919 and 1922. There was also a significant - although more modest - increase in fish exporters in the top 1 per cent of the income distribution during the First World War.\n7. Final remarks and scope for further research: The analysis in this paper has illustrated how local tax records with granular information on occupation from a proportional local income tax system can complement existing data sets for research on the historical evolution of inequality.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Several genealogical databases are now publicly available on the Web. The information stored in such databases is not only of interest for genealogical research but might also be used in broader historical studies. As a case study, this paper aims to explore what a crowdsourced genealogical online database can tell about income inequality in Denmark during the First World War.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on 55,000 family-level records on the payment of local income taxes in a major Danish provincial town (Esbjerg) from a publicly available database on the website of The Esbjerg City Archives combined with official statistics from Statistics Denmark.\nFindings: Denmark saw a sharp increase in income inequality during the First World War. The analysis shows that the new riches during the First World War in a harbour city such as Esbjerg were not \"goulash barons\" or stock-market speculators but fishermen. There were no fishermen in the top 1per cent of the income distribution in 1913. In 1917, more than 37 per cent of the family heads in this part of the income distribution were fishermen.\nOriginality/value: The paper illustrates how large-scale microdata from publicly available genealogical Web databases might be used to gain new insights into broader historical issues.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Teacher's turnover intentions: Examining the impact of motivation and organizational commitment
|
[
"Motivation",
"Turnover intentions",
"Commitment",
"Intrinsic motivation",
"Amotivation",
"Introjected regulations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The success of any educational system depends on the excellence of its teachers. Therefore, to occupy a recognized position among educational institutes, schools need to maintain their qualified teachers, because they play a main role in transforming an ordinary person into a creative, wise and dynamic one. Actually, they are those who transform institutions into lampposts of prosperity and convert nations toward knowledge-oriented society (George and Sabapathy, 2011). In the modern era, teachers work in an environment that is characterized by greater job opportunities and higher social mobility. In such environment, teachers intend to leave their jobs for better opportunities. This situation creates problems for organizations as they may lose many experienced teachers (Richardson and Watt, 2005).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 TIs\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Participants\n4. Results: Table II reveals descriptive statistics and correlation matrix of the study variables. The mean value ranges between 2.92 to 4.63 for TIs and amotivation, respectively. The correlation matrix shows that amotivation is positively and significantly related to only one dimension of commitment i.e. AC (r=0.322, p<0.001) whereas the other two dimensions, normative (r=0.084, p>0.05) and CC (r=0.006, p>0.05), were found to be on significant precursors. IRs werefound to have a positive and significant relationship with the whole three dimensions of commitment i.e. affective (r=0.203, p<0.01), normative (r=0.210, p<0.01) and CC (r=0.199, p<0.01). On the other hand, all three dimensions of commitment i.e. affective (r=-0.402, p<0.01), Normative (r=-0.201, p<0.01) and CC (r=-0.132, p<0.01) were found to negatively and significantly affect TIs.\n5. Discussions: Like in other services organizations, people (i.e. teachers) are considered as the most valuable assets when it comes in terms of schools'goodwill and functionality. They are the main resource that is needed to develop the future of any nation (e.g. Nevatia, 2011). Educational institutions, especially schools, focus on having a competitive and retained workforce in order to sustain over time. The current research is aimed at finding the factors that can contribute to maintaining low levels of TIs of the teachers working in schools of Dhofar region in Oman. The research uses SDT-based construct to measure motivation for the first time in Omani context.\n6. Implications: This research provides greater understandings to both researchers and school professionals in Oman. From a theoretical perspective, it gives a well understanding of the relationships between various facets of motivation and the three components of commitment and their effect on the levels of TI in schools in Oman. This research could be one of the pioneering studies that have examined the path of motivation contributing to organizational commitment leading toward reducing TIs.\n7. Limitations and recommendations for future research: First, data of this research was limited to public schools only. It's recommended for future studies to consider collecting samples from both public and private schools, as well as,clustering among different levels of schools i.e. elementary, intermediate and high secondary schools to deduct any possible invariances. Second, the current research does not investigate the socio-demographic variables, thus, future research may investigate factors such as income, age, rural-urban, etc., as moderating variables that could further explain teachers' TI. Third, motivation is found to influence TI indirectly. However, future research may investigate the possible direct effect of motivation on TI.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the path of motivation leading to organizational commitment resulting in reduced turnover intentions (TIs). It examine the relationship between dimensions of motivation (amotivation, introjected regulations (IRs) and intrinsic motivation (IM)) with dimensions of commitment (affective, normative and continuance). Furthermore, it test the effect of these three dimensions of commitment on TIs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 467 teachers working in public schools in Dhofar Governate in Sultanate of Oman was selected for the study. A path analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized model.\nFindings: The analysis unveils that teacher's TIs can be reduced with a right mix of motivation and commitment. Furthermore, amotivation is only linked to affective commitment and this linkage is positive; IRs positively affect continuance and normative commitment (NC); and IM positively affects affective commitment and NC. Moreover, a significant negative effect of affective, normative and continuance commitment is found on TIs.\nOriginality/value: This research sheds light on how motivation can indirectly affect TI through commitment. This study is of immense importance as it focuses on the education sector in Oman especially in Dhofar Governate.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Gendered choices: Young women's perspectives on non-traditional training and careers in Northumberland
|
[
"Gender",
"Vocational training",
"Apprenticeships",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite legislative attempts to tackle gender equality over the past three decades, it remains the case that a significant proportion of jobs are still done mainly by women or mainly by men. Three-quarters of working women are still found in just five occupational groups[1], whereas sectors such as construction and engineering remain overwhelmingly male-dominated (Dale et al., 2005). The effects of occupational segregation are far reaching. In addition to limiting choices and opportunities for men and women in general, it plays a significant part in the perpetuation of the gender pay gap (Equal Pay Task Force, 2001; Forth, 2002) and is thought to contribute to critical UK skills deficits in a number of occupational sectors (EOC, 2004).In this context, it is vital that education and training provision enables both sexes to have the skills and competencies that will not restrict individuals according to their gender. However studies carried out by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) have found that whilst there are a number of individual initiatives across government and by employers to increase the numbers of women and men in non-traditional areas, efforts are often insufficiently joined up and sustained across those agencies that need to be involved. The EOC is also concerned that the careers information and advice available to young people often reinforces gender stereotypes by failing to represent the full range of employment options open to men and women (EOC, 2004).Against this background, the \"Enhancing Vocational Training Opportunities for Women in Northumberland\" research project (O'Donnell et al., 2007) was commissioned by Northumberland Learning and Skills Council, with support from the European Social Fund. The study aimed to assess the adequacy of current vocational training provision in Northumberland, focusing on sectors in which women are currently under-represented, and to investigate the ways in which such provision could be developed to better meet the needs of local women in the future. This article reports the findings of this research and is organised in three parts. The first section provides context to the study, summarising some of the main themes arising from previous research into gender segregation in the UK. The second section introduces the research, outlines the methodology and presents key findings from the interviews and discussions conducted with young women in Northumberland. The final section draws overall conclusions from the research and outlines recommendations for policy makers and practitioners interested in improving future training provision in the area.\nBackground to the research: A wide range of factors contribute to gender segregation in the UK labour market but undoubtedly the choices that men and women make in education and training play a key part (Anderson et al., 2001). Current UK data indicates that deep gender divisions remain regarding the subject choice made by males and females at age 16 (Osgood et al., 2006). For example, three times as many males as females opt for Physics and Computer Studies at higher level, with significantly fewer males taking traditionally \"female\" subjects such as Biological Sciences, English and French (Thewlis et al., 2004). In addition, whilst overall more females apply to and are accepted for places on university courses, technological and science subjects remain strongly male-dominated (EOC, 2004). Inequalities also persist in subject choice in vocational training. Again, although a greater number of female candidates are currently awarded NVQs at Level 3 and above, they continue to be found in a limited number of fields: \"providing business services\"; \"providing goods and services\"; and \"providing health, social and protective services\" (DFES, 2001). In comparison, of over 13,000 young people registered for a foundation level Apprenticeship in construction in 2003, only 100 of these were female (Miller et al., 2004).In response to such continued inequities, there have been a number of recent studies into the particular issues around gender segregation in vocational training provision, most notably by the EOC, (EOC, 2004; Miller et al., 2004; Dale et al., 2005; Fuller et al., 2005; Miller et al., 2005). Key barriers to women's participation in non-traditional training identified by these studies have included the difficulties women face in interacting with employers; lack of support from teachers, careers advisors and in some cases, husbands or partners; alongside being given inappropriate advice and guidance in subject choices for non-traditional routes (Dale et al., 2005). There is also recognition of the financial barriers facing 19-plus women learners who are currently ineligible for the full Apprenticeship funding rate[2]. Indeed, one study found evidence to suggest that some employers and training providers have tended to limit their intake to 16-19 year olds due to funding limitations for learners over 19 (Fuller et al., 2005).Inevitably, the choices made by women in education and training impact on future career opportunities, and combined with deep-rooted beliefs on what comprises gender appropriate work (Miller et al., 2004; Beck et al., 2006), mean that women remain significantly under-represented in certain employment sectors. According to the Construction Industry Training Board, for example, of the 10 per cent of women working in the industry, less than 1 per cent are employed in craft and trade occupations (CITB Construction Skills, 2004). Indeed, representation of women is low across all the main construction occupations, indicating both horizontal segregation in terms of the range of occupations where women are present, and vertical segregation in terms of access to management positions and higher status occupations (Bagilhole, 2002). Further, despite the fact that engineering currently comprises 3 per cent of employment in England (LSC, 2003), women represent only 8 per cent of the workforce as a whole and less than 10 per cent of professional engineers are women (Fielding and Glover, 1997).For women, the impacts of gender segregation in employment are profound. Critically, the EOC has identified occupational segregation as one of the three key causes of the gender pay gap (Equal Pay Task Force, 2001). Indeed across Europe, women have, on average, 16 per cent lower hourly earnings than men, and this gender pay gap is particularly evident in certain sectors of the labour market, with significant differentials evident in financial services (29 per cent), manufacturing (27 per cent) and among craft workers (32 per cent) (European Commission, 2003). Additionally, at the same time as training and labour markets are characterised by occupational segregation, industry is experiencing major skills shortages (DFES, 2004; DTI, 2004). Significantly, the sectors in which the lowest numbers of women are employed are also those experiencing severe skills shortages. For example, construction has been reported as having the second highest proportion of skill-shortage related vacancies out of 28 industries (38.2 per cent against an average of 19.9 per cent) (LSC, 2003).\nThe research: The study reported in this paper involved an investigation into the extent to which current vocational training provision is meeting the needs of both women learners and employers in Northumberland. The research adds empirically to the growing evidence base around the causes of gender segregation in the UK workforce and makes recommendations for attention at a local authority and regional level which will enable the development of more effective provision in the future.Regional context to the study\nDiscussion: The research has shown that a range of interrelated factors currently shape the vocational training opportunities available to young women in Northumberland today. First, it is clear that women's education and training routes continue to be constrained by powerful stereotypes about the sorts of learning opportunities (and in turn careers) considered \"suitable for a woman.\" However, even those young women interested in pursuing non-traditional career paths appear to be further restricted by a series of challenging physical barriers such as lack of access to suitable transport or financial support; or, in the case of mature learners 19-plus, confusing and/or inappropriate careers advice. Indeed, our findings further underline the negative impact that inadequate access to support services can have on rural learners, particularly women. For policy makers and service providers, this highlights the fact that a multi-dimensional approach will be essential if more women are to be encouraged into non-traditional training courses. This final section summarises the main themes that have emerged from this research project and suggests key areas for future attention.First, our research implies that the social and cultural context of Northumberland and the wider North East region is an important factor in explaining the position of women in non-traditional occupations in Northumberland. Even today, with women playing an increasingly active part in the regional economy, there continue to be strong stereotypes around the kind of work it is considered appropriate for women to undertake; and as the research has shown, these are held by even the region's youngest women. In addition, perceptions around the male-dominated image, internal culture and working conditions in the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors, act as a strong deterrent to women[11]. Clearly, this raises serious questions about how effectively schools and early years' settings are currently working to address stereotypes in educational settings; and underlines the need for far more serious action to challenge traditionally accepted norms about the role of women in the paid economy at the earliest possible stage.Crucially, the research also implies that at present careers in the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries are not being promoted effectively to young people, particularly within schools. This affects young people in general but there is a perception that young women are particularly poorly served at present. For example, there is a sense that schools and/or careers advisors do not actively encourage women to enter non-traditional occupations or strive to promote such careers in a way that make them appealing to women. There also appears to be a feeling that vocational training represents for many a \"second class\" alternative to more mainstream academic routes at present, and that is possibly influencing the advice given to today's pupils. In this respect, there is a need to address the issue that schools and vocational training providers sometimes compete for pupils rather than working together to provide the widest possible range of opportunities for young people. In addition, it appears that young women outside the compulsory education system are experiencing a significant careers advice deficit in comparison to those still in compulsory education, and that their specialist information needs are not being met by current provision.Further, these stereotyped concepts of gender appropriate occupations, often further reinforced by the biased nature of careers advice in schools, are currently combining with a series of physical barriers to further limit training and employment opportunities for women in Northumberland. Financial constraints proved a significant barrier for many participants, along with concerns around childcare provision in Northumberland. However poor transport infrastructure emerged as the biggest single obstacle facing Northumberland's learners, with rural parts of the county particularly badly served in terms of public transport. Indeed, during the research we found that many young women feel that their choice of jobs and training are directly restricted by transport deprivation[12]. It is to be hoped that future efforts to tackle skills issues and worklessness in the county focus on improving provision.Finally, at all levels there is a clear need for the various agencies responsible for promoting non-traditional occupations to women to work together more effectively. This is particularly the case in relation to developing better links between schools, training providers and local employers. More effective partnerships between businesses in the target sectors and learning institutions will both boost careers advice provision (through school visits, work experience placements, taster days etc) and provide women in training with better access to the placement opportunities critical to their success. In order to achieve this aim, it is important that local and regional policymakers work to both better educate Northumberland's employers about the value of a diverse workforce, and support businesses in improving their equality and diversity practice onsite.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to report findings from a North East (of England) study co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Learning and Skills Council to explore the issues around the provision of vocational training for women in Northumberland, focusing on the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors. The aim of the research was to investigate the extent to which current vocational training provision is adequately meeting the needs of both women learners and employers in Northumberland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research consisted of a survey of learning providers in Northumberland and the immediate surrounding areas; interviews with local and regional policy makers, practitioners and service providers; interviews with local employers based in the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors; and finally, focus groups and interviews with a range of women across the county.\nFindings: - First, the research implies that the social and cultural context of Northumberland and the wider North East region is an important factor in explaining the position of women in non-traditional occupations in Northumberland. The research also implies that at present careers in the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries are not being promoted effectively to young people, particularly within schools. Finally, at all levels there is a clear need for the various agencies responsible for promoting non-traditional occupations to women to work together more effectively.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is of value to employers, policy makers and service providers seeking to encourage more young women into non-traditional occupations, particularly within Northumberland and the North East region.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Enterprise resource planning: identifying relationships among critical success factors
|
[
"SMEs",
"ERP",
"Business integration",
"CSF"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's dynamic and turbulent business environment, there is a strong need for organizations to become globally competitive. The survival guide to competitiveness is to be closer to the customer and deliver value-added product and services in the shortest possible time. This, in turn, demands integration of the business processes of an enterprise, which is the stronghold of ERP. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a software-driven business management system that integrates all facets of the business. ERP is a complex system (Helo et al., 2008; Bansal and Negi, 2008). Organizations of all sizes, small, medium and large are making an effort to integrate their businesses by deploying ERP systems. An ERP project is an expensive project costing anywhere between 1 and 3 percent of the turnover of a company if ERP covers all functions of the organization. The cost will be proportionally less if some functions are not included in the ERP. An ERP project in an SME takes anywhere between six months and two years. A schedule overrun causes budget overrun as well (Sun et al., 2005). An organization also looks forward to achieving certain benefits from the ERP system once it is deployed. The first critical success factor (CSF) - stress the enterprise, not the system, was identified in 1997. One should find an ERP system that closely matches the processes of the organization and modify the processes to take care of the gaps between the ERP offering and organization's processes (Davenport, 1998). Since then many researchers have put in effort to identify CSFs. There are close to 40 reasons listed in the literature for failure of an ERP project (Amid et al., 2012) for SMEs. CSFs have been ranked in order of their criticality. Further to ranking, it has been shown that CSFs are not independent by a few researchers (we will elaborate this point in Section 2).\n2. Background: Support of senior management, business process reengineering, user training and use of a consultant who has knowledge of business as well as technology are the earliest CSFs identified (Sumner, 1999). These findings are consistent with the assertion that ERP is not a software, it is a way of doing business (Davenport, 1998; Marsh, 2000). Consequently, the roles of chief information officer and the top management are very important as well as the coordination between them (Willcocks and Sykes, 2000). The findings assert that an organization implementing IT must have in-house IT capability. These findings support stages theory (Nolan et al., 1993) for IT adoption. The CSFs list expanded (Holland and Light, 1999; Bingi et al., 1999) to include factors such as business vision, project management and user acceptance etc. The CSFs have been grouped into strategic and tactical factors (Holland and Light, 1999). An ERP project involves people and organization in addition to technology. CSFs have been augmented with critical people and critical uncertainties (Loh and Koh, 2004). Researchers paid attention to people issues such as morale of employees and expertise of vendors. Integration of the organization emerged as one of the critical factors. CSFs for SMEs have been studied for various countries including Belgian (Doom et al., 2010), India (Aanamalai and Ramayah, 2012; Ganesh and Mehta, 2010; Upadhyay and Dan, 2008; Upadhyay et al., 2010, 2011), China (Li, 2011; Xia et al., 2009), Malaysia (Goni et al., 2011; Jafari et al., 2006; Noudoostbeni et al., 2010), Egypt (El Sawah et al., 2008), Iran (Salimifard et al., 2010), Australia (Marsh, 2000; Reuther and Chattopadhyay, 2004), UK (Loh and Koh, 2004) etc. There seems to be a consensus about the adequacy of the CSFs that have been identified in the literature and that most of the CSFs apply to SMEs (Doom et al., 2010; Winkelmann and Klose, 2008; Haddara and Zach, 2011). Another study (Asemi and Jazi, 2010) compiled CSFs for developing and developed countries. Their list of CSFs for both developing and developed countries coincides with that of (Shaul and Tauber, 2012).\n3. Objective of the study: There are four fundamental phases in an ERP project life cycle: planning or charting; implementation; stabilization; and enhancement (Loh and Koh, 2004). Different CSFs have different impact (low, medium, high) across different phases of an ERP project (Shaul and Tauber, 2012). We have considered planning phase and six CSFs that have high impact during the planning phase. We have undertaken to explore planning phase because the relationships among CSFs (Akkermans and Helden, 2002) that hold at the planning phase will have impact on the subsequent phases as well. The factors that we consider and their definitions come from the literatures (Shaul and Tauber, 2012; Somers and Nelson, 2004). We have omitted organizational factors in this study. We are assuming that an organization would attempt an ERP project only after determining its readiness.\n4. Results: 4.1. Data collection\n5. Discussion and conclusion: In this study, we explored the mediating effect of three variables on success of an ERP project in SMEs is India. The literature available seems to indicate that all CSFs are independent except a few studies as indicated earlier. In this study, we have looked at the relationships among CSFs. It is not a good idea to mitigate and manage all CSFs sequentially as implementation time directly translate into project cost (Sun et al., 2005). For small organizations, problem exist at two levels. One, a small organization, specially in a developing country, does not have resources to adequately address all the CSFs (Welsh et al., 1982). Two, a small organization may not be able to manage a CSF in spite of its best efforts due to limited resources (money/men power) available.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish that there are causal relationships among critical success factors (CSFs) associated with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project. The authors prove that: H1 - Vendor (VN) is positively related to Enterprise System Selection Process (ES). H1a - Enterprise System Selection process (ES) mediates the relationship between vendor (VN) and Success (SS). H2 - Project Management (PM) is positively related to Implementation Strategy (IS). H2a - Implementation Strategy (IS) mediates the relationship between Project Management (PM) and Success (SS). H3 - Support of Top Management (TM) is positively related to Project Team Competence (PT). H3a - Project Team Competence (PT) mediates the relationship between Support of Top Management (TM) and Success (SS).\nDesign/methodology/approach: To test the proposed hypotheses, the authors conducted a survey using a questionnaire. The research questionnaire was floated to 450 respondents; the authors received 168 responses. The authors had to discard 62 responses as their organization had greater than 250 employee and did not qualify to be an Indian SME. The authors were left with 106 responses. The respondents were managers (5.6 percent), consultants (39.6 percent), engineers (50 percent) and the remaining (4.8 percent) did not specify their job. The authors then do regression analysis and path analysis including all other required analysis.\nFindings: The authors found that all hypotheses are supported. The management may use these findings to understand relationships among CSFs and use this knowledge to mitigate and manage CSFs.\nOriginality/value: There are no systematic studies to study relationships among CSFs. The work establishes relationships among CSFs through data collected from organizations that have implemented ERP.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Preparing future business professionals for a globalized workplace through intercultural virtual collaboration
|
[
"Intercultural competence",
"Business education",
"Blended learning",
"Intercultural virtual collaboration",
"Telecollaboration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Intercultural competence is a 21st-century skill expected from today's business professionals. Those who are able to bridge and capitalize on cultural differences are in a position to enhance the quality of teams in globalized workplaces. More recently, universities have been adopting intercultural virtual collaboration (henceforth IVC) as a means to foster students' intercultural competence development. IVC is, however, an ongoing endeavor. Its design and implementation can be challenging and hence there is a need for sharing positive experiences which can be replicated. This article describes (a) students' overall perceptions toward IVC and (b) teachers' observations regarding the challenges and solutions encountered during the implementation of an intercultural virtual collaborative project derived from a partnership between Deusto Business School (DBS - Spain) and Arnhem Business School (ABS - Netherlands).\nDeveloping intercultural competence through virtual collaboration: Intercultural virtual collaboration connects students from different locations through technology, allowing them to collaborate in tasks or projects without the need to move physically. Also known as Online Intercultural Exchange, Telecollaboration, Globally Networked Learning, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and Global Virtual Teams (GVTs), IVC has been used as a learning strategy by Higher Education teachers in aiding students to develop, among other learning outcomes, intercultural competence (i.e., Aristizabal and Welch, 2017; Eslami et al., 2019).\nTwo countries, two universities, two teachers, two groups: one objective: At the beginning of 2017, DBS and ABS agreed to carry out an IVC project to connect their undergraduate Business courses. Participating students in Spain were enrolled in a Cross-cultural Communication subject while Dutch students participated in an Intercultural Awareness class.\nStudents' perceptions of the IVC project: At the end of the project, a web-based survey was sent out to all 85 participating students, being 66 students from DBS and 19 students from Arnhem. 75 students completed the questionnaire. The two open-ended questions analyzed were: \"What did you learn from this project?\" and \"What did you 'most and least' like about this project?\" A content analysis of the responses given by students was carried out. The list of learning outcomes suggested by the EMIC Intercultural Competence Model (EMIC, 2015) was used as a coding scheme for the analysis, with new categories emerging during the process.\nAn ever-evolving practice: In many ways, it was observed that IVC consists of building and aligning relationships at all levels. At the institutional level, program coordinators and the teachers involved needed to invest time in dialogue in order to successfully align their courses, schedules, instructions, feedback and grades.\nConclusion: This paper discussed the potential of intercultural virtual collaboration to develop business students' intercultural competence. It also approaches the challenges and on-going improvement process involved in the design and implementation of IVC.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Universities have increasingly been adopting intercultural virtual collaboration (IVC) to connect and develop the intercultural competence of students from different locations. However, the design and implementation of IVC have proved to be challenging, and thus there is a need for sharing positive experiences. This paper explores students' overall impressions toward their participation in an IVC project involving a Spanish and Dutch university and discusses the on-going improvement process inherent to such practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article presents (a) the results obtained from a content analysis of students' feedback collected through a satisfaction survey, and (b) the observations of participating teachers on the challenges encountered during the implementation of the intercultural virtual collaborative project.\nFindings: The analysis shows the potential of IVC to develop different aspects of students' intercultural competence, especially intercultural teamwork, awareness and skills. Students appreciated the experience of working in intercultural teams, \"the real-life application\" of the project and the opportunity to gain cultural knowledge. At the institutional level, the biggest challenge related to aligning participating institutions' courses, schedules, and grading systems. At the classroom level, it is argued that interaction between students should happen gradually. The discussion also approaches how partnerships between universities and companies could contribute to making training in intercultural virtual collaboration more authentic.\nOriginality/value: Given its impact on the development of students' intercultural competence, the intercultural virtual collaborative project has been recognized as a best-practice in both universities, being officially incorporated into the curriculum of the participating institutions and replicated to other subject areas.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
ABES - the Bibliographic Agency for Higher Education: its role in the resource sharing of documents in French universities and in document supply
|
[
"Document delivery",
"Interlending",
"Higher education",
"France"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nABES: objectives: L'Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Superieur (ABES)[1], formed in 1994, is a publicly owned body within the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. When it was established it was assigned the following objectives:* to measure and locate library holdings in higher education (HE) libraries, in order to facilitate access to bibliographic catalogues, to databases and to the documents themselves;* to ensure the coordination of documentary processes of the collections and, in particular, to oversee the standardisation of cataloguing and indexing;* to ensure the management and development of systems and data processing techniques necessary to achieve these objectives;* to publish a range of support products derived from the catalogues or information systems which ABES manages;* to assist HE establishments in the field of bibliographic information; and* to cooperate with organisations working towards the same ends, both in France and abroad.Located in Montpellier, ABES employs around 50 staff: apart from a small administrative team, its employees are divided almost equally between librarians and data processing specialists.\nABES: history: In the sphere of activity entrusted to ABES, a certain number of tools already existed on the network[2]. At the beginning of the 1990s the French documentary landscape was characterised by the existence of numerous applications and networks and some tentative attempts towards federalisation. In 1994 ABES began to look again at the administration of two particular applications:1. the Teletheses database, created in 1985 which contains details of French theses; and2. the Pancatalogue, a union catalogue of works held in university libraries, set up in 1991 and created by the loading of data originating from three cataloguing networks - BN Opale (managed by the Bibliotheque Nationale), OCLC and Sibil (The Lausanne libraries integrated system).At the outset, ABES undertook the coordination of the two networks as well as the maintenance and development of the corresponding applications:* the CCN-PS (the national union catalogue of serial publications), which has subsequently become SUDOC-PS, a database of French and foreign periodicals, current and non-current, created in 1983, which records the collections and holdings of more than 3000 libraries and information centres; and* the PEB (interlibrary loan system), computerised in 1987.It is within this context of various applications and diverse networks that a management plan arose for the computerisation of the network of university libraries. Devised between April 1992 and January 1993 by the Ministry of Higher Education, this scheme came to the conclusion that it was necessary to bring together the different applications and to modernise them by creating a single catalogue, containing details of all types of documents and allowing direct and more comprehensive access in the field of document supply. The proposed system offered to users a unified and coherent access route to the data, and to libraries an opportunity to rationalise the financial and human resources dedicated to all aspects of cataloguing, through the development of a centralised catalogue.The management plan began its implementation phase at the end of 1995. ABES took charge of this project and tendered for a new management system to replace the previous national applications. In order to minimise costs and delays, it was decided to rely on an existing system, and the PICA system, subsequently OCLC PICA, was selected. A contract was signed in 1998 and the installation phase with the HE organisations began in early 2001. This installation work was completed in March 2002 but the network continues to increase with the addition of between six and ten new establishments each year: there are now 160 establishments representing 1,124 libraries (that is, all university libraries, and libraries of large organisations or major schools to which are affiliated other relevant research libraries[3]) forming part of the network. They are responsible for the participation of the whole of the network's applications and for the description of all their documents.\nThe SUDOC catalogue: This catalogue, named SUDOC[4] (Systeme Universitaire de Documentation - University documentation system) has the following features:* it makes available to all users, through free web access, a union catalogue - a single identification tool for all types of material, showing locations in HE libraries;* it makes available to professionals and experienced users a completely integrated process leading from the consultation of the catalogue to the direct transmission of a document request (PEB: Pret entre Bibliotheques - interlibrary lending), or even the consultation of a full-text document for certain categories of material such as digitised theses; and* it makes available to professional library staff some tools enabling them to reduce the workloads linked to the production of catalogue records and the management of loans between libraries - the objective was to reduce the number of originally created catalogue records in the database to a maximum of 15 percent by locating a record already present in the database (as a result of original loadings or generated by members of the network) or by copy cataloguing from external databases (BNF, Worldcat, Helka, DNB etc.)This high-profile project, spearheaded by ABES, is an undisputed success see Figure 1), as demonstrated by the fact that as at 31 December 2006, the database had 7.58 million records and 22.43 million holdings/locations. In 2006 there were almost 35 million searches, 23.25 million of which were access via the web, 10.19 million were access via professional mode, and 1.33 million were access via CCFr[5] (see Figure 2).As of 31 March 2007, the SUDOC network comprised:* 3,067 libraries;* 1,124 deployed libraries;* 1,943 Sudoc-PS libraries; and* 33 regional SUDOC-PS centres.\nThe SUDOC-PS network: In addition to the 1,124 \"deployed\"[6] libraries, the network comprises 1,943 \"non-deployed\" libraries and documentation centres which provide information about their periodical collections only to the SUDOC database, and form the SUDOC-PS network: these are non-university libraries (municipal libraries, private libraries and archive centres, etc.).This network is crucial for the functioning of inter-library lending, as it is the basis for the description of serial publications in the SUDOC catalogue.The network structure, inherited from CCN-PS, is organised on three levels:1. at the national level, ABES, which coordinates the activities of the regional centres;2. at the regional level, 33 regional centres[7], which are responsible for creating and modifying the records of serial publications and the collection for the non-deployed libraries in the SUDOC network relating to their geographic zone or subject specialism; and3. at the local level, the non-deployed libraries of the SUDOC-PS network.For provincial libraries the geographic specialism of the regional centres generally cuts across the French administrative regions. For libraries in Paris and the Parisian suburbs, where there are too many establishments for one to be able to conceive of a coherent geographical regrouping, the distribution of establishments between the regional centres is based on subject.The regional centres have three main functions:1. to educate, encourage and inform the participating libraries;2. to promote and distribute serial publications according to the regional plan; and3. to provide input to, and bibliographic control of, the SUDOC database.At the end of 2002, ABES proposed to open up a level of secondary membership for those non-deployed libraries which possessed important collections of periodicals. These libraries are able to manage their holdings collections directly on SUDOC, under the guidance of their appropriate regional centre.The regional centres are responsible for the bibliographic control of serial publications for all their relevant organisations, including deployed libraries. All request slips for numeration and correction in transit to ISSN go through them.Libraries who are members of the SUDOC-PS network are working on making their collections accessible: all the collections indicated must be accessible to all users, be it by direct provision (the original documents themselves) or by making copies of them, by loan to the user's home or by permission to consult on site in the library concerned.\nInterlibrary lending (PEB): The provision to users of an integrated computerised process leading from consultation of the catalogue to the direct transmission of a document request formed part of the objectives of the scheme's plan. The term \"interlibrary lending\" used in the network is misleading and inaccurate: it is more a question of document supply since this service offered by ABES enables a network of libraries to create or receive requests for the supply of documents, whether copies or originals.There are several levels of participation amongst the member organisations of the interlibrary lending network, depending on whether they take a full or partial role in the production of Sudoc.Interlibrary lending (PEB) for deployed establishments\nStatistics: With 242,477 requests sent in 2006, of which 199,891 were satisfied (84,899 by an original document, 114,992 by a copy), the transaction figures have continued to drop since 2003 (see Figure 3).Via Webstat, the navigation system of SUDOC, ABES provides a vast range of statistics to the libraries in the network. These figures, which only comprise the internal transactions of the SUDOC libraries, are fed into the statistics published by the Ministry of Higher Education[10], which include transactions with libraries outside the SUDOC network.These statistics count towards the annual assessment of the whole network, for requests sent and received, with details about the form of supply and the percentage satisfied (Table I). Other statistics relate to each establishment with a wide range of indicators, notably a list of the most requested/supplied titles (see Figure 4).\nInterlending between libraries: foreseeable developments: Technical developments\nStudy on the future of interlibrary lending (PEB): With regard to the future of interlibrary lending (PEB) and remote document supply (FDD), AURA has in addition taken on an in-depth analysis of the situation by means of a study undertaken by consultants[12]. The aims of the study were to draw up an audit of the current state of affairs in order to examine the problems relating to tariffs, to assess the methods implemented and to prepare some scenarios intended to achieve a more rational organisation.The current situation\nABES: future developments: While the SUDOC catalogue is indeed the foundation of ABES's activity, other projects and other activities have subsequently been added, which indicate a development in the expectations and information research practices of the users:* In the context of the development of online resources, the launch in 2005 of a documentary portal[18] to offer to the HE and research community a range of new bibliographic services. Its priority is to support access to primary documents and the interrogation of full text versions of these documents (open archives, scientific articles, theses, reports, prepublications etc). As this portal was not as successful as expected, and as it was unable to find its place alongside other university portals, it is foreseen that it will be repositioned in specific niche areas for which ABES has acquired a well-founded reputation, such as manuscripts and theses.* The launch in 2006 of STAR (Signalement des Theses, Archivage et Recherche - Particulars of Theses, Archiving and Research), a tool destined to permit the deposit, description and archiving of theses in digitised format, a system which is today being used in about half of all French universities. STAR, which appears in the context of a ministerial circular describing the new national system for the management of electronic theses, was conceived in terms of the following requirements which existing systems do not necessarily guarantee: electronic deposit of the final version of the thesis after final corrections demanded by the examining panel have been made and after validation by the university; entry in the SUDOC catalogue; the widest and speediest dissemination possible on the web; permanent archiving ensuring long-term access to the information independent of technological developments. In addition to these minimum requirements, STAR also facilitates the automation of the management and dissemination of theses in the universities: namely a store of the thesis (in XML or PDF), attached to descriptive or management metadata (administration, archiving, rights).* The launch in the autumn of 2007 of Calames (Catalogue en Ligne des Archives et Manuscrits de l'Enseignement Superieur - Online Catalogue of Archives and Manuscripts in Higher Education), a new catalogue dedicated to the archive and manuscript holdings of higher education and research libraries. ABES has developed a cataloguing and reference tool which uses recent XML technologies (EAD format, XML database, AJAX, Web Services). The catalogue will be available externally, via the Sudoc portal, the CCFr and the web in general.* In addition ABES supports organisations by the acquisition of electronic resources in direct collaboration with COUPERIN (COnsortium Universitaire de PERIodiques Numeriques[19] - University Consortium of Digitised Periodicals). COUPERIN selects resources using its network of experts; ABES, involved in the negotiations, then takes over in agreeing contracts with the publishers to pay a single invoice and to re-invoice individually each organisation as appropriate. In 2006 ABES coordinated seven contracts allowing access to electronic resources regrouping some 26 to 127, for a total sum of more than EUR12 million. By widening its aims and objectives, ABES is opening itself up to new networks beyond university libraries. With the forthcoming reconfiguration of the French scene relating to scientific and technical information, the challenge which ABES now faces is to find its place within these networks and to evolve from bibliography, its well-known sphere of excellence, towards a wider field of activity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to describe the role and the development of the French bibliographic agency, ABES. More generally, it aims to describe the state of bibliographic and document supply developments in France and possible futures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is descriptive in nature.\nFindings: - The findings of the paper are that it is necessary to reduce the ILL failure rate, to reduce supply times, to capitalise on the streamlining of document supply, to improve the quality of supply, and to harmonise terms and conditions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is written by an authoritative figure in the French library network. It will be relevant to all those interested in developments in document supply and bibliographic organisation in France.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The role of customer orientation in key account managers' performance: a client network perspective
|
[
"Repurchase intention",
"Customer orientation",
"Client network",
"Key account manager"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Key account managers (KAMs) are specialized personnel responsible for direct contact with strategically important customers (Davies and Ryals, 2013). They play the roles of coordinators (Homburg et al., 2002), boundary spanners (Hutt and Walker, 2006) and even entrepreneurs (Wilson and Holt, 2014) facing the clients that are most strategically valuable to firms. Thus, KAMs should be customer oriented and work to ensure customers' long-term interest and satisfaction (Guenzi et al., 2007; Wilson and Holt, 2014). Key customers often have more special and complex requirements than ordinary customers (Workman et al., 2003; Guenzi et al., 2009; Gounaris and Tzempelikos, 2014). Therefore, KAMs face more difficulties than ordinary salespeople when uncovering each key account's latent needs and adapting products and services to best satisfy them (Homburg et al., 2011b). These difficulties may cause uncertainty about whether KAMs could effectively implement the customer orientation to make their key clients willing to repurchase, which finally determines KAMs' sales performance.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: We make predictions about\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Regression analyses\n5. Discussion and implications: KAMs - a newly established role, concurrent with the introduction of key account management - are a new topic in the literature of customer orientation. This study pays attention to the effects of KAMs' customer orientation on customers' repurchase intention and introduces a social networks perspective to investigate the contingency effects of the client network in which KAMs are embedded on the effectiveness of KAMs' customer orientation.\n6. Limitations and future research: Despite the contributions that this study makes to the literature on key account management, customer orientation and social networks, it has several limitations, and we look forward to future research addressing them.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how does key accounts managers' (KAMs') customer orientation affect customers' repurchase intention and how do tie strength and structural holes in KAMs' client networks moderate these linkages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Paired data of 208 dyadic relationships between KAMs and customers in several Chinese industries are subjected to multiple linear regression analyses.\nFindings: KAMs' functional customer orientation can directly increase customers' repurchase intention, whereas relational customer orientation cannot do that. With strong ties in client networks, KAMs' relational customer orientation could promote customers' repurchase intention, whereas when there are many structural holes in a client network, relational customer orientation would constrain customers' repurchase intention. In addition, structural holes can enhance the effectiveness of functional customer orientation in facilitating customers' repurchase intention, but tie strength has no impact on this.\nOriginality/value: This study pays attention to the emerging topic of KAMs' customer orientation and introduces KAMs' client networks as a new contextual factor. The findings not only address the outcomes of KAM's customer orientation but also indicate the vital role client networks play in determining the effectiveness of KAMs' customer orientation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
What is the value of Facebook? Evidence from the Schwartz/Moon model
|
[
"Facebook",
"Firm valuation",
"Growth company",
"Initial public offering",
"Real options",
"Schwartz/Moon model",
"G32"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: May 17, 2012, Facebook Inc. (Facebook) declares its initial public offering (IPO) share price to be $38.00. Within 110 days, on September 4, 2012, Facebook's stock price reaches its preliminary low of $17.73, representing a decrease of 53.34 per cent. Though internet stocks are known to be highly volatile for sound and logical reasons, this dramatic decrease in value provoked astonishment. With remarkable unanimity, previous literature (Ibbotson, 1975; Ibbotson et al., 1994; Ritter and Welch, 2002) has found that IPOs with a preset price are underpriced in the sense that the shares are traded on the stock exchange shortly after the IPO at an average premium of 15-20 per cent relative to their offer price. In light of this, we are ultimately led to two bold hypotheses. Firstly, the IPO share price of $38.00 was overpriced and the market has been correcting this overvaluation since. Alternatively, the IPO was priced fairly, however, the market has been undervaluing the stock ever since.\n2. The Schwartz/Moon valuation model: The Schwartz/Moon valuation model is a simulation-based approach to the problem of internet stock valuation (Schwartz and Moon, 2000, p. 62). Uncertainty about key variables, which determine the value of an internet company is explicitly considered (Schwartz and Moon, 2001, pp. 7-8). First published in 2000, the model allows for uncertainty by two stochastic variables: revenues and growth rate in revenues. Schwartz and Moon (2001) expanded their model in several directions. Among other advancements, variable costs were introduced as a third stochastic variable.\n3. Valuing Facebook Inc: 3.1 Outline of the company and its business model\n4. Discussion: The model used for valuation in this article is based on the Schwartz/Moon valuation model, and therefore, focuses on assumptions about the expected growth rate of revenues and on expectations about the cost structure of Facebook (Schwartz and Moon, 2000, p. 74). The original model is expanded and optimized in several ways. In addition to extensions previously discussed in the subject-based literature, we incorporated stochastic interest rates and investigated their valuation effects.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: On May 17, 2012, the social networking company Facebook Inc. fixes its initial public offering (IPO) price at $38.00 a share. Over the next couple of months, contrary to expectations raised by previous IPOs, the stock price crashes more than 50 per cent. Immediately, the question arises whether the issuer's or the stock market's pricing of the share are in line with the firm's fundamentals. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to determine the company value in close proximity to the date of IPO.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As Facebook is an archetypal internet growth company, it is evaluated using the Schwartz/Moon model. This approach features significant advantages over traditional valuation models and more adequately captures the characteristics of growth companies.\nFindings: As of September 30, 2012, the fundamental share value determined was $26.53, which exceeded the market price per share of $22.66 by 22.48 per cent, but was far less than the IPO stock price. The subsequent sensitivity analysis reveals the robustness of the result to key input parameters.\nOriginality/value: The results raise doubts about the IPO price of Facebook. Furthermore, this paper is of value from a more conceptual perspective in that an extended version of the Schwartz/Moon model is provided. Beyond extensions previously discussed in the subject-based literature, the authors include stochastic interest rates (as an additional source of uncertainty) and investigate their valuation effects.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Active and wealthy Brazilian older adults: identity and consumption motivations
|
[
"Older adults",
"Consumer motivations",
"Life course",
"Identity construction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the elderly population segment in the USA has been the fastest growing one. This segment, known as the Mature Market, is attractive because of its wealth and continued economic growth (Gordon et al., 2002; Moschis et al., 1997; Weijeuters and Geuens, 2003). Brazil is a particularly interesting country in which to analyze the consumption motivations and identities in the mature market, as it has a significant population of elders compared to the rest of the world. According to the US Census Bureau (2013), Brazil is the fifth most populated country with about 207 million inhabitants, 25.7 million of whom are over 60 years old. According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), in Brazil, the elderly population is the fastest growing segment of the population (Ervatti et al., 2015). The elderly population segment in Brazil is important not only because of its size but also because getting old is one of the issues that most worries the Brazilian (Debert, 1987). Debert (1987) argues that one of the main reasons for this is the dependency of older Brazilians on their families and the State. This dependency is worrisome in a country in which the State does not give much support to their old, and where culture is steeped in the appreciation of youth.\nSegmenting the mature market: Gerontology typically divides elders into several subgroups according to their age. Forman et al. (1992) distinguish the young elder, aged between 60 and 69 years old; the average elder, from 70 to 79 years old; and the very old elder, aged above 79 years old. Zizza et al. (2009) classify the not-very-elder as being between the ages of 65 and 74; the mildly elder as being aged between 74 and 84; and the extremely elder as those beyond the 85-year mark.\nMarketing strategies for the mature market: Understanding the needs and desires of older customers, how they differ from those of the young, and why such needs vary across age groups, is key to a successful marketing strategy. The mature market is complex, with attitudes and behaviors that vary according to age groups, and it demands high levels of service and quality (Myers and Lumbers, 2008). It is also more difficult to predict elder behavior compared to that of the young. Cameron et al. (2014), for example, study two different types of older adults: one who does not like new experiences, who has fixed tastes, who is unable to cope with technology, and who is familiar with only a small repertoire of brands; and another who is eager to test new brands for certain product categories.\nConsumers' identity and motivations: Consumers all through their life use material, symbolic and experiential resources to forge a sense of self, by using the marketplace to construct narratives of identities (Arnould and Thompson, 2005). Consumer identity is shaped by practices of consumption, consumers use brands to express their identities (Gilleard et al., 2005; Chernev et al., 2011).\nElders' consumer identity and motivations: There are older people, retired or not, who find themselves having more time, freedom and autonomy for consumption. Others find themselves more worried about their financial resources, living moments of consternation, not focused on consumption. There are also those who want to enjoy the rest of their lives in the best possible way. However, no group of older adults escapes the circumstances of bodily and cognitive decline, the loss of family and friends, and, in some circumstances, the loss of status due to exiting the workforce. This new context influences older adults to acquire new identities (Schau et al., 2009).\nLife course approach: The focus of academic research has shifted gradually from \"those who have aged\" to \"aging\", providing a new approach that emphasizes the importance of examining consumers in the context of the time and life circumstances in which they are embedded (Moschis, 2012). This approach identifies factors in early life that provide continuity in behavior over time and emphasizes circumstances that act as breakpoints. Such breakpoints, such as the loss of a loved one, are unexpected, while others, such as retirement and the children's departure from home, can be anticipated. Biological and psychological changes, physical and social demands define life events and social roles serving as points of changes (Moschis, 2012).\nMethodology: This study is qualitative, exploratory and interpretative in nature, and aims to extract information about participants' life trajectories. We seek to identify the factors that influence older adults' identities, habits and consumption motivations. We focus on both personal and social identities (White and Dahl, 2007). We use an in-depth semi-structured interview method to explore the concepts of life course, life events and life circumstances analysis (Moschis, 2012), consumer identity construction (Schau et al., 2009) and consumption motivations (Cameron et al., 2014; Lambert-pandraud and Laurent, 2010; Myers and Lumbers, 2008).\nResult discussion: Our findings confirmed for the unexplored specific segment of older consumers analyzed here several previous findings found in the literature about older consumers (self-expression, self-permanence, self-synchronization, affiliation, etc.) and uncovered new factors that affected the construction of elder identity, habits and consumption motivation. Among these new factors, we highlight events that modified the life circumstances of some individuals, making them detached from material goods; active professional lifestyles where intellectual elements such as knowledge are valued; critical stances toward educational principles and values, brought about by observing the education of grandchildren; affinity with technology directly related to the way this technology was learned; and lack of talk about security expected as an important factor during the interviews.\nFinal considerations: Theoretical contributions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between identity construction and consumption motivation of the socially active and wealthy Brazilian older adults, applying a new approach that focuses on important circumstances and life events retrieved through storytelling.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with socially active and wealthy older Brazilian consumers, this study adopts \"Noting, Collecting and Thinking about Things\" (NCT) and two-cycle coding methods to explore the qualitative data.\nFindings: The results indicate the need to explore identity construction and consumption motivation in an integrated matter. Life circumstances and events help explain older consumers' identities and its impact on main consumption motivations, which include self-expression, a need for social contact and relationships, attachment, detachment, nostalgia, knowledge appreciation and technology affinity, among others. An integrated approach allows for the identification of new consumption motivations.\nPractical implications: The main consumption motivations identified in this study help delineate some new marketing strategies targeted to older consumers, such as taking into account the importance of building relationships with older customers, adopting family references to promote products and services, taking into account the value older customers place on technology usage and being connected with current matters and treating the elderly as a heterogeneous group, among others.\nOriginality/value: This paper focuses on an attractive and yet unexplored segment of older consumers in the literature, contextualizing their identity and consumption motivations in an integrated fashion, rather than studying these concepts in isolation. New marketing strategies targeted to the older consumers are identified.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Employability, skills and training in Portugal (1988-2000): evidence from official data
|
[
"Employment",
"Portugal",
"Human resource management",
"Case studies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Portugal is a very special European country, because by its level of economic development, it is considered to be the poorest of the developed countries. Historically Portugal always had very low levels of investment in Human Resources, and always was a \"low skill economy\". The situation only began to change in the last 30 years, and the transition for a \"high skills economy\" has been slow. Even now the Portuguese population is, on average, considerably less skilled than the populations of the other developed and OECD countries. So, the country is not well prepared to face the 21st century \"Knowledge Based Economy\" (KBE).\nConcepts and theories: This section presents a summary of the main relevant concepts and theories on employability, its causes and its consequences. Its intention is to provide a theoretical basis to the analysis that is going to be presented in the next section.Basic definitions\nQuestions, controversies and problems: The picture that was depicted in the last section only represents the global and mainstream situation.There are several questions that give complexity and realism to the question of employability, even if, and quite unfortunately, they make the theories less valid and less general. Here are five of those questions:1. One crucial question about employability is about the role of specifically not directed public policy measures (like budgetary constraints, or interest rates rises, or exchange rates rises) on the employability itself; those measures affect the macroeconomic equilibrium; if the macroeconomic environment is depressed, the employability level may be low, and the efficacy of public policies that intend to generate employability would tend to decrease.2. Another question is to analyse whether globalization means the degradation of the level of employability of skilled, trained and educated workers, and the lessening of the impact of public policies, by transforming the high skill economies in economies that have a tendency to survive with low skills.3. In addition, not all the skills, education or training are considered as providing the same level of employability, the success being linked with the relation of those skills, education and training with the economic cycle itself.4. Some other controversies relate to the discriminative factors that an individual, organization, region or country may possess and that may contribute to the degradation of its economic and social situation. Are those factors true or is there myopia from the employment provider? What must be done to change that situation: a public policy, or a private investment? And what kind of policy or investment?5. In relation to those discriminative factors, arises the decisive question of what public policies are the best to increase employability. Quality is somewhat different from quality in this context. In principle, quality is the essential factor of policies. However, if employability is considered to have a high and positive external effect, namely because being employed has a big intangible positive effects in society, quantity becomes to be very important also. The European Union Social Policy on employment has a huge quantity component, clearly demonstrated by the objective of raising the employment rate until 2010 (European Commission, 2005, p. 1).\nEmpirical study: Previous studies\nDiscussion: Determinants of employability\nConclusions: This paper was an attempt to study the determinants of employability in Portugal. We used officially published data. We found that few relations can be detected, and we hope that in future studies, using the same database. Anyway, some evidence was gathered that supports the idea that education, skills and experience related positively to employability. This finding is mitigated by the fact that we also found that low levels of HR also have an impact in employability, a feature that supposes the existence of a dual labour market. Finally, some some evidence was also gathered indicating that in what concerns training the public sector and the private sector are complementary, and that the when the investments are publicly financed they generates more employability, while privately funded investments tend to be a way of substituting untrained workers by trained ones. Because of that double possibility of acting, the evidence that was found regarding the share of trainees in the labour force was mixed.\nRecommendations for public policies: The findings of this paper would suggest two main policy guidelines:1. In one hand, the Portuguese authorities should try to help the establishment in the country of companies that might extract returns from the skilled, educated and experienced workers that exist. Those actions would improve the employability of the HR possessors.2. In the other hand the Portuguese authorities should continue to support the investments in education and in training. That support would generate a form of Welfare State in which the public presence is considerable, far away from the liberal guidelines and ideas that tend to marginalize the public actions in the social domain.Those two guidelines are not contradictory with each other. But, they are slightly different, from a point of view if Social Policy (and HR policies are a part of Social Policies). The first recomendation is essentially aimed at the market and related to competitiveness aspects; whereas the second is more directed to social cohesion aspects, and therefore more linkd with the intervention of the third sector and of the public sector.\nSuggestions for further research: This is the beginning of a research project on the employability in Portugal. The next steps of the project will be the following:1. extend the analysis made in this paper to more years; data are available and were not treated here because of time restrictions;2. deepen the analysis asking the National Institute of Statistics (2005) for more detailed data on sub-sectors; the actual grid uses a two digits classification that may be enlarged to four digits;3. try to use an Employability Index (Grip et al., 2004) to study the Portuguese sub-sectors;4. try to find the consequences of employability; and5. try to extend the analysis to other European countries and to make some comparative studies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of employability in Portugal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Calculations were made using official data for 1991, 1994 and 1997 on education, skills and tenure, and on 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1997 regarding training.\nFindings: - High skills, high levels of education and high levels of tenure seem to generate employability in Portugal. However, it was also found in Portugal that low skills, low education and low levels of tenure also generate employability, indicating that Portugal has a very dual labour market. Furthermore, in what concerns training, the public sector and the private sector seem to be complementary: when the investments are publicly financed they generate more employability, while privately funded investments tend to be a way of substituting untrained workers with trained ones.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The concept of employability used is linked to the growth of employment by sub-sector of activity. This is a considerable limitation, but it was not possible to obtain better data, given that the study uses published data. A more detailed analysis is under way, using unpublished company-based data, provided by the public authorities.\nPractical implications: - First, the Portuguese authorities should try to help the establishment in the country of companies that might extract returns from the skilled, educated and experienced workers that exist. Those actions would improve the employability of the HR possessors. Second, the Portuguese authorities should continue to support the investments in education and in training. That support would generate a form of Welfare State in which the public presence is considerable, far away from the liberal guidelines and ideas that tend to marginalize the public actions in the social domain.\nOriginality/value: - The paper tries to apply the concept of employability to a country, and this is seldom the case in HRD studies, due mainly to lack of data.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Recognizing critical success factors (CSF) to achieve the strategic goals of SAIPA Press
|
[
"Critical success factors",
"Competences",
"Strategic management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Concepts of key success factors were first suggested by Ronald Daniel in 1960s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the rapid development of information systems triggered an information revolution in organizations. Development of information systems in organizations created a large volume of information that must be analyzed and utilized in the decision-making process. In spite of widespread availability of information, studies showed that managers did not have the necessary information to aid the decision-making process. Subsequently, an approach was developed to help managers identify relevant information (Caralli, 2004).Daniel believed that in order to prevent organizations from receiving spurious information, information systems must concentrate on factors that ensure organization success. Thus, managers can analyze information utilizing key success factors as a filter. Therefore, effective decision-making is one that is based on data which is exclusively related to organizational success (Annual Report, 2002-2003). He also suggested that there are between 3 and 6 success factors in many industries.John Rockart, a manager at the Research Center of information Systems at Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) initiated an innovative method to identify the scientific needs of an organization related to information systems entitled \"key success factors\" (Rockart, 1979).\nA review of the literature: Definition of key success factors\nSources of key factors of success: Rockart (1993) defines five key sources of organizational success as follows.Source 1: industry key success factors\nModels of recognition of key success factors: Balanced scorecard model\nIdentification steps of critical success factors using Ghaffarian and Kiani Model: In this model, analysis of critical success factors is done in three steps (Ghaffarian and Kiani, 2001):1. Necessary factors to realize potential opportunities are discovered. A list of necessary resources and processes are provided for achievement of strategic goals. Two general approaches are involved in this step: objective approach and subjective approach.The objective approach is based on pattern similarity. For example, effective factors that are achieved by doing a productive process can be patterned from a productive department with similar mission. If this is not possible, the subjective approach is applied. In the subjective approach, cognitive and perceptual methods are used to estimate necessary items to fulfill hidden resources in opportunities.2. These factors are divided into two groups. The first group are those whose success does not involve complexity (non-strategic factors), and the second group are those strategic factors that involve more complexity.3. Strategic factors are compared with available abilities of an organization, and the difference between these two factors help to identify critical success factors.\nIntegral model to identify critical success factors and competencies: This model is the result of a study by Sirus and Moghaddam in 2007, in which they present a design to identify critical success factors and strategic competencies.Step 1. Extraction of general success factors (GSF)\nStudy questions: * Which factor is important in the success of goals of strategic plan of SAIPA Press Company?* What is the priority of these factors?* Which factor is a critical one in current situation of SAIPA Press Company?\nMethods and tools of data gathering: Data gathering in this study included library study and field investigation. Also, essays, books, journals and internet were used for subjective fundamentals and study literature. Questionnaires and field investigation are used to gather practical data.\nStatistical population and statistical sample: The subject of study was SAIPA Press Co. (producer of automobile parts), time period of study was October 2008 to March 2009. Statistical population was composed of employees, experts, principals, and managers of this company. Sample volume was 108 numbers.\nReliability of questionnaire: Reliability is a technical feature of measurement tool, i.e. how much does the measurement tool reliably produces results in similar conditions. There are different methods to determine reliability that include: examiners reliability method, test-retest method, equivalent forms method, and internal analog methods (Momeni and Fa'al Ghayyumi, 2008). In this study, Cronbach alpha is used to determine reliability, which is from the internal consistency method. Based on this method, test parts are used to measure reliability factor (Momeni and Fa'al Ghayyumi, 2008). Therefore, for the measurement of reliability, Cronbach alpha method with SPSS software was used. Subsequently, a primary sample including 30 questionnaires was used for pretest and output of 0.79 and 0.92 were obtained for key success factor and critical success factor, respectively.\nValidity of questionnaire: Validity is the ability of the tool in measuring the feature for which the test is built. It includes nominal validity, anticipation validity, context validity, etc. Different methods are used to determine test validity, which the most important ones are:* A logic that includes two nominal and context validities.* Validity dependent to norm that includes two simultaneous and anticipation validities.* Structure validity that is divided to three categories convergent, divergent, and factor analysis (Momeni and Fa'al Ghayyumi, 2008).In this study, context validity is used in order to examine validity of questionnaire. In this method, quality and quantity of questions are examined by experts. Therefore, after providing the questionnaire, necessary modifications were applied based on feedback from interviews. Additionally the questionnaire was submitted to some management experts and few university students.\nMethods of data analysis: A descriptive statistical method is used to analyze population data, and the Friedman method to answer the questions.\nFriedman test: Non-parametric tests have features that distinguish them from parametric tests. These tests are generally used to examine hypothesis with qualitative variables. Unlike parametric tests, these tests do not require any certain assumption about the shape of population distribution. These tests are useful to examine hypothesis with small samples. The Friedman test is used to examine equality of priority (ranking) of many dependent variables by individuals. In this study, this test is used to examine the degree of importance of each of these variables (Momeni and Fa'al Ghayyumi, 2008).\nIdentification and prioritize key success factors: In total, 24 key factors were identified related to the literature and experts inputs which was used as a basis for developing the questionnaire. The Friedman test is used to prioritize these factors.Statistical hypothesis to use Friedman test are:H0. Priority of factors is equal.H1. At least two priorities are different.Results of Friedman test using SPSS are as depicted in Table I, since sig.<0.05, H0 is rejected and so the claim of equal priority of these 24 factors is not supported.Table II shows that the most important key success factors are leadership skills, employee satisfaction, qualification and experience of management, ability of decision making and execution, and high value and quality of product. This prioritized listing is highlighted in Table II.\nIdentification of critical success factors in organization strategic goals: To identify these factors, the results are as shown in Table III using Friedman test and responders' ideas.As depicted in Table III it was found that the most important critical factors in the organization are effective employee placements, effective monitoring and evaluation of employee performance, employee satisfaction, innovation in products or services, and knowing when to replace old resources with newer ones. Also, key competencies of the organization are technology proportional with market demand, defined organizational vision and mission, leadership guaranty and obligation, protecting organizational brand and trying to disseminate definite and accessible operational goals.\nRecommendations: Given that the main goal of this study was to identify key and critical success factors, it is necessary to mention that offering strategies to resolve organization bottlenecks and enforcement of organization competencies is beyond the scope of this study, and thus further examination is needed. The following tactics can resolve critical success factors and convert them to strategic opportunities as follows:* To design mechanisms to convert critical success factors to competencies.* Entering new markets in which existing critical factor are no longer critical.* Alliance with some competitors with competencies, so that these competencies will be key factors for organization.* To design mechanisms to protect competencies.* Entering markets in which competitors do not have existing organization competencies.* Improvement of employment system, reward, and performance evaluation.* Creating like-minded teams and enforcement of creative thoughts to extend innovation.* Enforcement of support decision systems for rapid decision-making and on time action.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study deals with the results of an investigation to recognize and prioritize key and critical success factors to achieve predetermined goals in strategic plans of SAIPA Press Co., producer of Automobile parts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this study, Sirus and Moghaddam model, 2007, is used to identify critical success factors. also, a descriptive statistical method is used to analyze population data, and Friedman method to answer the questions\nFindings: - Recognition the 24 key success factors, priority of them, being as the critical success factors or core competencies are the results of this research.\nPractical implications: - Key success factors determine those performance fields that manager should notice permanently. These factors have most importance in executing this strategy\nOriginality/value: - Key factors concepts for success is not a new revolution in occupation. These concepts were suggested by Ronald Daniel in 1960s. But nowadays, these concepts and approaches become more powerful. The most successful organizations in new millennium are those that from one hand have brilliant strategic views and from the other hand have guidelines and tactics to achieve success Key success goals and factors are both necessary to conduct organization to its mission. Key success factors make goals powerful directly and make mission powerful indirectly.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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