Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
Design of cumulative count of conforming charts for high yield processes based on average number of items inspected	[ "ANI", "CCC chart", "Negative binomial distribution" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Traditionally, practitioners have used p charts or np charts to detect the shift of fraction nonconforming (p) in a manufacturing process. Due to technology progress in contemporary manufacturing, p has become low. As pointed out in Ryan (2000), when p is low, the use of a p chart or np chart may induce a number of flaws. Researchers then proposed some alternative charts to mend the flaws when p is low. One such control chart is called the cumulative count of conforming chart (CCC-r chart). In a CCC-r chart, the number of items until the rth nonconforming item (X) is plotted to monitor p. X is then a random variable of negative binomial distribution with the probability mass function (pmf) and the cumulative distribution function (cdf) as follows: Equation 1\n2 Theoretical background: This study proposes the following mathematical model to set control limits for the CCC-r chart: Equation 5\n3 Numerical validation of the proposed approach: In this section, we first perform a computational validation to compare the proposed approach with the traditional one for a given p\n4 An application example: Suppose that the in-control fraction nonconforming p\n5 Conclusions: The CCC-r chart is an alternative to the p chart or the np chart for monitoring the fraction nonconforming when it becomes low. Previous work has typically used the ARL for evaluating control chart performance. However, when practitioners employ continuous inspection in manufacturing processes, the ANI is more informative than the ARL because the ANI counts the number of items inspected, whereas the ARL does not. This paper presents a new approach to setting CCC-r chart control limits based on the ANI. Numerical results show that the proposed approach outperforms the traditional one in terms of the maximum and the unbiasedness of the ANI\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to propose a new approach to setting the control limits to promote the control performance of the cumulative count of conforming chart (CCC-r chart), in terms of the average number of items inspected (ANI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: In contemporary high-yield manufacturing processes, the CCC-r chart is often an alternative of p charts or np charts for monitoring the fraction nonconforming (p). When a CCC-r chart is used, the traditional approach based on the equal-tail probabilities to setting control limits demonstrates a poor performance in terms of ANI as p deviates upward from its nominal value p\nFindings: Analytical validation confirms that the proposed approach outperforms the traditional one in terms of the maximum and the unbiasedness of ANI\nOriginality/value: This study numerically shows that the use of the proposed approach achieves the goal of the near-maximal and near-unbiased ANI\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The "next day, free delivery" myth unravelled: Possibilities for sustainable last mile transport in an omnichannel environment	[ "Sustainability", "Consumer behaviour", "Electronic commerce", "Last mile", "Omnichannel retail" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Research on last mile transport investigates the final part of the supply chain from the last distribution centre, consolidation point or local warehouse. It focusses on the ways in which products reach their final destination in the consumer market (Xiao et al., 2017). In times of intensifying retail digitalisation, consumers order more and more products over the internet. As these products are often delivered to consumers' homes, concerns on last mile sustainability are rising (Allen, Piecyk and Piotrowska, 2017; Allen, Piecyk, Piotrowska, McLeod, Cherrett, Ghali, Nguyen, Bektas, Bates, Friday, Wise and Austwick, 2017). In their review of environmental implications of online business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce, Mangiaracina et al. (2015) demonstrate that transport has the greatest impact on sustainability. They refer to last mile delivery as most important transport activity, as there are little differences between online and conventional shopping for most of the other transport activities involved. Accordingly, last mile transport is considered as one of the biggest challenges in B2C e-commerce (Savelsbergh and Van Woensel, 2016).\n2. Literature review: Two last mile transport options are commonly offered to consumers when they order products online: delivery at home (or any other address of choice) and collection at a local pick-up point or locker. From an environmental point of view, home delivery is considered the least favourable option (Mangiaracina et al., 2015). Several sustainability issues are raised. First, delivery rounds are organised during regular office hours. Most consumers are at work during this time of day, which results in failed deliveries (Visser et al., 2014). Exact percentages on the share of product deliveries that fail are scarce and inconsistent. According to Edwards et al. (2009), failure rates can go from as low as 2 per cent to 30 per cent. Other figures are recorded in the UK: 13-14 per cent (IMRG, 2014), 25 per cent (McLeod et al., 2006), 30 per cent (Fernie and Sparks, 1999) and even 60 per cent (Retail Logistics Task Force, 2001). In the Netherlands, deliveries fail in 25 per cent of the orders (Van Duin et al., 2016), while the Belgian postal organisation reports 14 per cent (Gijsbrechts, 2017). The differences in percentages largely depend on logistics service providers' policies with receivers that are not at home. In general, orders that could not be delivered are dropped off at receivers' neighbours or at a local pick-up point. However, in 12 per cent of the cases such orders are offered a second time to receivers' homes (Visser et al., 2014). This re-delivery process can be repeated up to four times (Van Duin et al., 2016). In any case, delivery failure rates increase as home delivery grows (Weltevreden, 2008).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Choice-based conjoint analysis\n4. Results: 4.1 Attitudes of consumers\n5. Conclusion: Last mile transport is a critical part of the supply chain and entails the various ways in which products reach the end-customer in the consumer market. Not only is it a very costly process for retailers and logistics service providers to organise, its environmental impacts are also significant. Home delivery is considered the worst last mile option but several more sustainable alternatives exist, including local pick-up points and lockers. Retailers that adopt an omnichannel model add their stores as an alternative location for consumers to collect (and return) their online orders. By means of a survey with choice-based conjoint experiments, this paper investigates to which extent consumers are willing to adopt last mile options that are more sustainable and how these options should be composed to remain attractive. Results show that almost one third of consumers reflect a neutral attitude towards sustainability in last mile transport, indicating low interest in and/or knowledge about this topic among consumers. It also provides an opportunity to convince consumers to choose for more sustainable last mile options. Although the research shows that consumers' preference goes out to free, next day delivery to an address of choice, on regular office hours during the week, they are willing to collect their orders themselves or wait longer for their order to arrive when delivery and return are free. The research confirms that consumers accept omnichannel retailers' store network as pick-up and return locations, allowing retailers to organise their supply chain in a more efficient and sustainable way.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Currently, it is unclear how omnichannel retailers can create a last mile offer that is both attractive and sustainable from an economic and environmental point of view. The purpose of this paper is to explore to which extent consumers are willing to adopt last mile options that are more sustainable and how these options should be composed to remain attractive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To this end, the authors surveyed a representative sample of Belgian consumers, using choice-based conjoint experiments, and analysed their preferences structures.\nFindings: Consumers' preference goes out to free, next day delivery to an address of choice, on regular office hours during the week. However, when free delivery and return are offered, consumers are willing to collect their orders themselves or wait longer for their orders to arrive.\nPractical implications: The research findings are important for retailers that (plan to) operate an omnichannel model. For omnichannel retailers with a dense store network, the results indicate that consumers accept their store network as pick-up and return locations, allowing retailers to create a more efficient and sustainable supply chain in which their online and offline activities can be combined.\nOriginality/value: The research findings contribute to current literature and practice by combining \"planet\" and \"profit\" components of sustainability in last mile transport and applying it in the novel omnichannel environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning in the service environment: the influence of diversity climate	[ "Service management", "Diversity climate", "Psychological safety", "Communication satisfaction", "Learning behaviour", "Service employees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The service industry continually faces increased competition due to new growing global markets and the advancement of technology (Burdon et al., 2015). Service organizations are expected to not only attract customers, but also establish loyalty by providing superb service (Piha and Avlonitis, 2015). To this end, service organizations are continuously seeking new ways to improve their processes and outcomes, and their success depends largely on their capacity to learn from their experiences (Kallio and Lappalainen, 2015; La and Kandampully, 2004; Wagar, 2007). Therefore, learning behavior is critical in the service industry. Learning behavior involves an ongoing process of reflection and action, characterized by asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting, reflecting on results, and discussing errors or unexpected outcomes of actions (Edmondson, 1999; Guchait and Hamilton, 2013). Learning behavior facilitates individual and group performance because it helps group members to understand the work environment, their customers, coordinate members' actions effectively, and adapt to new ways of working (Edmondson et al., 2001; Chan et al., 2003). For example, learning behavior has been associated with performance and client satisfaction (Blazevic and Lievens, 2004; Guchait and Hamilton, 2013), creativity (Hirst et al., 2009), and service quality (Chan, 2002).\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Learning behaviors\nMethodology: Sample and procedure\nResults: Preliminary analysis\nDiscussion: In the service industry, particularly within the hospitality context, managers face two related challenges, namely, increasing competition that requires the capacity to learn from their experiences (Reagans et al., 2005) and managing a diverse workforce (Madera et al., 2013). The goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between hotel managers' perceptions of diversity climate and learning behavior in their hotels and the mediating effect of psychological safety and communication satisfaction on the relationship between diversity climate and learning behavior. As hypothesized, the results showed that hotel managers who perceive a positive diversity climate at their hotels reported high engagement in learning behavior than managers who reported negative diversity climates. This relationship was mediated by both psychological safety and communication satisfaction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how diversity climate in service organizations influence employee learning behavior. Additionally, the study examined the mediating effects of psychological safety and communication satisfaction between diversity climate and learning behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 128 hotel and lodging managers by administering survey questionnaires. The dual mediational model was tested using the mediation test suggested by Preacher and Hayes (2008).\nFindings: Results indicated that when managers perceived a positive diversity climate they also reported high engagement in learning behavior. Additionally, the study found the mediating effects of psychological safety and communication satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: The importance of learning behavior has been noted by researchers and practitioners because of its influence on service performance. Learning behavior is especially important in complex, error prone, and fast changing businesses like the services industry. This research contributes to the existing body of research by examining the influence of diversity climate on learning behavior, which has not been investigated empirically in the literature. The current research not only makes a significant contribution to the learning and diversity literature, but also informs practitioners how learning behavior can be increased and how diversity climate can be created in within service organizations, in particularly hospitality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Firms' entrepreneurial orientation and the adoption of quality management practices: Empirical evidence from a Latin American context	[ "Latin America", "Entrepreneurial orientation", "Environmental uncertainty", "Quality management practices", "M11", "L23", "N66" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the 1990s, the manufacturing industry has been facing many changing challenges caused by globalization, technological progress and continuously changing customer knowledge and expectations. Since then, quality management (QM) practices have spread significantly among manufacturing companies as a way to increase efficiency and competitiveness (Flynn et al., 1995; Bortolotti et al., 2015). Researchers in operations management (OM) have paid special attention to the existence of contingent factors conditioning the adoption of practices and systems. Specially, contextual (e.g. Hendricks and Singhal, 2001; Shah and Ward, 2003; Agarwal et al., 2013), environmental (e.g. Flynn et al., 1994; Fuentes-Fuentes et al., 2004) and organizational (e.g. Claver et al., 2003; Bortolotti et al., 2015) factors have been studied to explain the adoption and implementation of QM practices. However, the universalization of these practices has been the subject of great debate because of the disparities observed in the levels of implementation and in their effects on manufacturing performance (Yoo et al., 2006; Talib et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2014). Very few research papers step back and try to explain the determinants of implementation and the reasons why the universality of these practices is questioned.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1 EO: concept and dimensions\n3. Methods: 3.1 Sample size and data collection\n4. Discussion and conclusions: For several years, companies have been implementing QM practices in the field of OM. Initially, these practices were promoted decisively in developed countries and then moved to developing countries. In general, the adoption of these practices overall has not achieved the expected improvement in results (Kaynak, 2003). In fact, as stated previously, a wide variety of empirical studies offering empirical evidence on the relationship between the adoption of QM practices and manufacturing performance shows mixed results. However, very few research papers step back and try to explain the determinants of implementation and the reasons why the universality of these practices is questioned. In order to contribute to this debate, this paper has approached QM practices from what we consider a logical prior step to practice-performance studies. We examined the entrepreneurial characteristics of companies as a determinant factor for the adoption of organizational innovations in manufacturing. In addition, we considered the environmental uncertainty that companies face as another factor not only affecting the adoption of practices, but also moderating the role that entrepreneurial attitude may play to explain the adoption of QM practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between firms' entrepreneurial orientations (EOs) and the adoption of quality management (QM) practices. The role of environmental uncertainty as the moderator of the former relationship is considered.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using theories and related empirical evidences, two research hypotheses were argued and proposed. These hypotheses were tested using data collected from a unique sample of 301 Uruguayan and Argentinean manufacturing companies with more than 20 workers assessed through personal interviews. The empirical methodology includes statistic treatment for scale validation, statistic descriptive techniques and regression analysis.\nFindings: Firms' EO is determinant for the adoption of QM practices. The environmental uncertainty strengthens the positive impact of EO on the adoption of QM practices, mainly human resource management practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data come from a particular geographical context and refer to manufacturing plants. It would be interesting to extend the scope of this study to services. The collection of data from only one individual in each organization can generate a potential problem with using single-source information.\nPractical implications: Innovative manufacturing companies that try to adopt advanced QM practices will benefit from hiring managers who are able to take risks, and to seek a long-term orientation toward being aggressive with their environment, especially in highly competitive contexts. Mustering these features may ensure perseverance in the adoption of advanced manufacturing practices, even in the presence of complex and uncertain environments.\nOriginality/value: The principal contribution of this paper is that it advances the study of the intersection between operations management and entrepreneurship, analyzing how firms' EO affects the adoption of new methods and practices in manufacturing. Furthermore, it is important to highlight the fact that the authors use data from a unique survey of manufacturing companies from Argentina and Uruguay in the southern cone of Latin America. The authors also contribute to the open debate about the universality of QM practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The emerging Brazilian wine industry: Challenges and prospects for the Serra Gaucha wine cluster	[ "Wines", "Competitive advantage", "Sustainable development", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Brazilian wine history dates back to the Portuguese colonization in the sixteenth century but its current development is due primarily to the arrival of Italian immigrants, beginning in 1875, to the region of Serra Gaucha, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state. Brazil occupies today the 17th position in the world ranking of wine producers, third in South America (behind Argentina and Chile) with 1.2 per cent of world production. Wine-making is now a consolidated activity in several producing areas, with the Serra Gaucha cluster being responsible for over 80 per cent of the national wine production. But, as is the case with most wine-producing countries, the exception being some of the \"New World\" producers, Brazilian wine industry is suffering the effects of the globalization process combined with a growing global excess supply and falling worldwide consumption. It does not yet occupy a position in the world market worth entering the wine trade statistics and has over the last few years systematically lost market share to imported wine in its own domestic market. This unfavourable competitive environment raises questions concerning not just the future development of the Brazilian wine industry and its place in the wine world, but also its very capacity to survive as a domestic industry.Can the Brazilian wine industry succeed, when even traditional wine-producing countries are going through severe difficulties, both at home and in the international markets? In addition to an unfavourable world scenario with intensified global competition, where established wine- producing countries are aggressively implementing strategic actions to increase wine exports, there are several internal (domestic) conditions that adversely affect the Brazilian wine industry, namely: low per capita wine consumption (1.8 litre, compared with around 30 litres for Argentina and Uruguay, its neighbours and Mercosur partners); absence of a culture of regular and moderate wine consumption during meals; lack of image as a wine-producing country; low importance of the sector for the national economy (although it is economically important for Rio Grande do Sul, where it is concentrated); and a high incidence of taxes (they represent over 42 per cent of the consumer price, compared with approximately half of that for Argentina and even less for Chile, currently the two largest wine exporters to Brazil).The concern in this paper is thus with the future of the Brazilian wine industry, not only with its survival as a domestic industry but, most importantly, with its possibilities of finding a place in the increasingly internationalized wine business. According to Rabobank (2003), the participation of exports in world consumption increased from 15 per cent to 27 per cent in less than a decade. In the current stage of development of the Brazilian wine industry, and given the aggressive export efforts by the established producing countries, to be able to enter the international market may hence be an imperative for survival in its own domestic market.The challenges faced by the Brazilian wine industry are certainly formidable, but in this paper we provide both qualitative and quantitative evidences that they are not insurmountable. The qualitative evidences are set forth by showing that a series of underlying conditions for the sustainable development of the sector are present in the regional cluster of Serra Gaucha, which, additionally, has positive spillover effects on other recently developed viticultural areas of Rio Grande do Sul and elsewhere. The quantitative evidences are drawn from data on the recent performance of the sector.The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The next section presents the conceptual base that guided the analysis of the cluster. The Serra Gaucha wine cluster in then described, based on secondary sources of data and information, and some recent trends in wine commercialization is provided and analysed; in the description of the cluster emphasis is placed on its distinctive characteristics that put in evidence its degree of organization and hence its role as a sustainable basis for the sector's development, while the analyses of commercialization data aimed at identifying evidences of trend changes for the local wine industry. Then the results of a survey research concerning a restructuring process that occurred in the 1990s, the strategic orientation adopted by the wineries, the evolution of cooperative relations in the cluster and perceptions concerning its international competitiveness are discussed; this section provides evidences on the existence of conditions leading to a sustainable development of the wine business. Finally, the main conclusions of the study are presented.\nConceptual base: clusters, networks, cooperation, social capital and sustainable competitive advantages: The conceptual base that underlies the analysis presented here draws basically on the notion of cluster and its role in the creation of sustainable competitive advantages. Special emphasis is given to cooperative relations that enhance learning and innovation within the cluster.A cluster can be defined as a geographical concentration of inter-related firms in a particular field, suppliers of specialized inputs, machinery and services, financial institutions, firms in related industries, universities, research centres and trade associations (Porter, 1998). Another definition, which is also pertinent for the analysis of the Serra Gaucha cluster, is that of Becattini (1990, p. 39), who defines an industrial district as \"a socio-economic entity which is characterized by the active presence of both a community of people and a population of firms in one naturally and historically bounded area\". A clearly identifiable community, according to Lazerson and Lorenzoni, 1999, in Molina-Morales and Martinez-Fernandez, 2003, p. 156), \"implies a cultural homogeneity that gives rise to an atmosphere of cooperative and trusting behaviour in which economic action is regulated by implicit and explicit rules\". And cooperation and trust are essential elements of the related concept of social capital of a community, which includes the institutions, attitudes and values that guide the interactions between its members and contribute to its social and economic development (Portes, 1998; Productivity Commission, 2003). Social capital relates thus to social norms and creates an environment of trust and cooperation that the undertaking of collective actions in a cluster requires.A large and growing body of literature, from different theoretical currents, exists that discusses and provides both theoretical and empirical evidences of the benefits derived by firms belonging to a cluster or an industrial district. These benefits range from the positive externalities resulting from industrial agglomeration (Marshall, 1925) to the more recent ones, more akin to the current competitive imperatives, such as its positive impact on learning and innovation and, consequently, in the upgrading of capabilities leading to the development of sustainable competitive advantages (e.g., Lundvall, 1992; Porter, 1998; Molina-Morales and Martinez-Fernandez, 2003) and to the stimulation of regional economic development (OECD, 1999).The interaction of firms in cooperative actions for strategic purposes, such as collective (sector wide) actions, resource sharing, joint development or experimentation, co-production, economies of scale and scope, is an important characteristic of the more developed clusters. These strategic interactions generally give rise to the formation of networks within the cluster, with quite different and varied purposes, but where learning, innovation and the creation of competitive advantages are generally of central importance. While there are many kinds of informal interactions among firms and other organizations within a cluster, which are very important for the diffusion of innovations, the term network in this paper refers to purposeful, strategic and formal interactions among firms, involving or not other organizations and entities.Both Porter's and Becattini's definitions will be explored in the description of the Serra Gaucha cluster. The ensuing analysis carried out in this paper follows the research current that relates the competitive factors of a cluster to firm strategy but draws on social factors as well, in line with Becattini's definition of a cluster as a socio-economic entity and with the concept of social capital, where trust and cooperation play a central role.\nThe Serra Gaucha wine cluster and recent trends in wine commercialization: Before proceeding to the description of the cluster, a few antecedents about the wine sector are necessary, starting with the arrival of Italian immigrants to the Serra Gaucha region 130 years ago, which marks the beginning of the expansion of the Brazilian wine industry. The varieties of grape cultivated by the immigrants were basically American and hybrid; being more robust than the vinifera varieties, they adapted quite well to the climatic conditions of the Serra Gaucha. A second important period in the development of the wine industry occurred with the arrival of multinational wine producers to Rio Grande do Sul in the 1970s, resulting in the dissemination of European varieties of grapes and modern wine-making technologies. Although non-vinifera wines still represent well over 80 per cent of the total wine commercialization in Brazil, practically all the new vineyards implanted in the last few years are of vinifera varieties.Besides Serra Gaucha, new grape growing regions with vinifera varieties are being developed in several other areas, the most notorious ones being in the \"Southern Half\" region of Rio Grande do Sul, in the state of Santa Catarina and in the Valley of Sao Francisco, in the Northeast of Brazil. These new developments, combined with a gradual increase in the utilization of the American and hybrid varieties (predominantly Isabella) for the production of juice (an increasingly important export product) and other derived products, point to a gradual and consistent change in the mix \"vinifera v. non-vinifera\" wine in the coming years. It should be clarified at this point that the denomination table wine in Brazil still refers to non-vinifera wine, also called common wine, whereas fine wine refers to vinifera wine (of all quality levels). This is the terminology that will be adopted here, the focus of this paper being on fine wine.The national production of wine in recent years has averaged 330 million litres/year, and is heavily concentrated in the state Rio Grande do Sul, responsible for 93 per cent of the national production, and particularly in the Serra Gaucha cluster, responsible for over 90 per cent of the state's production.The Serra Gaucha Cluster: the basis for sustainability of the Brazilian wine industry?\nRestructuring, strategic options, cooperative relations and perceptions on international competitiveness: Important aspects concerning the trajectory and future possibilities of the Brazilian wine industry are treated in this section. The results presented here are based on a survey, conducted from July to December of 2003, with 58 wineries that produced at least 10,000 litres per year of fine wine, still or sparkling, for commercialization under their own brands in bottles of up to 750 ml. This sample represents over 85 per cent of the wineries that satisfied these criteria and over 95 per cent of the cluster's fine wine production in 2002.The analysis of Subsection 4.1 refers to actions that were undertaken in the 1990s as a response to the opening of the Brazilian market to imported wines, whereas that of the remaining subsections refer to the time of the survey (2003). They contemplate two quite distinct moments in the industry's trajectory in the fine wine segment: while in 1990 market share was 81.2 per cent, in 2003 it had fallen to 46.5 per cent, with sales volume approximately 14 per cent below the 1990 level.The restructuring of the 1990s: the beginning of a new wine industry\nConclusion: In this article we sought to characterize the Brazilian wine industry with a special concern for its capacity to survive and find a place in the increasingly internationalized and competitive wine business. The challenges are numerous, but the analysis of this paper provided evidences that the industry has been preparing itself to compete. By both individual (firm-level) and collective actions it is creating encouraging prospects for a sustainable position in the wine business.More specifically, the evidences provided here were both of quantitative and of qualitative nature. The quantitative evidences are based on:* a small upturn in commercialization of fine wines in 2005 accompanied by an increase in market share, interrupting a long sequence of persistent market share loss to imported wines (in spite of a significant appreciation of the local currency in 2005);* a consistent and significant increase in exports, although they are still represent a small percentage of total sales, accompanied by an increase in the export destinations from six to 16 countries in three years; and* a continuous and steady increase in commercialization of fine sparkling wines, a growing segment where the local product has succeeded in maintaining a two-thirds market share.These quantitative evidences, by themselves, are of course rather weak, as they are based just on recent performance. However, they gain force when combined with the qualitative evidences provided, namely: restructuring of the 1990s (actions that continue and whose results are not immediate); current strategic orientation predominantly to growth; concerted efforts towards upgrading wine quality; investments in new grape growing areas with favourable soil and climatic conditions; change from individualistic to a collective approach to the problems affecting the sector; the synergistic effects and positive externalities arising from the existence of an institutionally developed wine cluster; a collectively formulated 20-year horizon strategic plan; an export consortium involving 16 important wineries; and, finally, the existence of network types of associations of wineries within the cluster.The synergistic effects of the above firm-level actions and collective efforts, besides reinforcing the quantitative evidences of an improvement in performance, should counterbalance the weaknesses of the sector in its favour and give sustainability to the emerging Brazilian wine industry.Concerning the sustainability dimension, it could be added that more than the efforts described in this study, it is the underlying forces and factors that led to these efforts that constitute the true evidences that the current development trajectory can be sustained in the long run. It can be hypothesized that these underlying forces and factors (a study concerning this point is being conducted) stem to a large degree from the social capital of the cluster, which provides the environment of trust and cooperation that the development of collective strategic actions requires. This may help as well to explain how the wine sector survived the crises of the past and brought, in spite of many adverse conditions, great prosperity to the region. At Serra Gaucha the attentive observer can easily discover that wine is not just a business; it is a tradition brought by the Italian immigrants and successfully passed on through the generations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the Brazilian wine industry's capacity for sustained development in an increasingly internationalized competitive environment. The focus is on the Serra Gaucha wine cluster, where over 80 per cent of the country's wine is produced.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This case study is descriptive in nature and makes use of secondary sources, in-depth interviews and survey-based data in order to describe the cluster and analyse the different factors associated with sustained competitiveness. The conceptual base that guided the analysis draws on the notion of cluster and its role in the creation of sustainable competitive advantages, with special emphasis on cooperative actions that enhance learning and innovation within the cluster.\nFindings: - In spite of several weaknesses of the industry and of the challenges posed by an unfavourable international environment, this paper provides both qualitative and quantitative evidences that a series of underlying conditions for the sustainable development of the industry are present in the Serra Gaucha wine cluster.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is purposefully descriptive and wide in scope as it analyses an as yet little known outside of Brazil and little researched wine cluster; this provides both academic value, as it establishes a basis for the development of more focused research as well as comparative studies with wine clusters from other countries, and practical value for the actors of the cluster, as it highlights important implications for both collective and firm-level actions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Providing high-quality fundamental care for patients with acute abdominal pain: A qualitative study of patients' experiences in acute care	[ "Healthcare", "Hospitals", "Patient care", "Interviews", "Qualitative research", "Nursing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Acute abdominal pain (AAP) is one of the most common reasons for emergency department (ED) presentations and subsequent hospital admissions worldwide (Bayley et al., 2004; Muntlin et al., 2008; Ross et al., 2012). AAP can be challenging for health professionals due to issues of differential diagnosis. Despite the frequency of AAP presentations, and the complexity of this patient group, there is little empirical research on how patients with AAP experience care across the acute care delivery chain, and in particular how they experience fundamental care (Jangland et al., 2016). Fundamental care refers to essential aspects of nursing practice that address patients' fundamental (or essential) physical, psychosocial and relational needs (e.g. pain management, nutrition, communication and dignity) in order to ensure their health and well-being (Feo et al., 2018). International evidence suggests patients' fundamental care needs are often inadequately addressed in acute care settings globally, leading to poor physical and psychosocial outcomes (Francis, 2013; BHI, 2014; Kalisch et al., 2014). This study describes how patients with AAP experience fundamental care across the acute care delivery chain.\nBackground: AAP can vary markedly in intensity and characteristics, with its underlying conditions ranging from benign (e.g. constipation) to life-threatening (e.g. aortic aneurysm). As such, patients with AAP can experience varied and complex care pathways involving multiple diagnostic tests, examinations and/or surgery and consultations with several health professionals from different specialties. In turn, this can lead to poor communication, multiple handovers and service duplication, threatening continuity of care and patient safety and causing patient distress (Arora and Farnan, 2008; Kitson et al., 2014; Jangland et al., 2016). Adding further complexity, many acute care settings lack standard protocols, pathways or guidelines for patients with AAP (Muntlin Athlin et al., 2017), most likely due to issues of differential diagnosis. Patients with AAP are also often diagnosed late in the care procedure, following discharge from the ED (Muntlin Athlin et al., 2017).\nMethod: Design and setting\nResults: Two main themes emerged from the analysis: developing genuine caring relationships with health professionals; and being informed about one's care. These themes, the health professional behaviours reported by patients as contributing to their positive experiences in relation to the themes, and the impact of these behaviours for patients, are shown in Table II.\nDiscussion: This paper contributes to the small, but growing, literature on how patients with AAP experience fundamental care across the acute care delivery chain. The discussion centres on three key findings that emerged from the analysis: the relative influence of time and professionals' attitude/approach on establishing professional-patient relationships; the difference between being informed and being involved (and whether information-provision constitutes sufficient patient involvement); and patients' perceptions regarding the relative causes for insufficient information and for poor professional-patient relationships.\nConclusion: This study has shown that nurses and other health professionals can create positive fundamental care experiences for patients with AAP across the acute care delivery chain by developing genuine, caring relationships with patients, characterised by attentiveness, humour, personal conversations and the acknowledgement of patients' emotional distress and physical pain; and by keeping patients appropriately and adequately informed about their care, including providing up-to-date information, allowing patients to ask questions and taking the time to answer those questions.\nClinical practice implications and future research: The study findings provide a number of implications for clinical practice and future research. First, research is needed to understand why some health professionals are better able than others to develop positive relationships with patients and provide high-quality fundamental care in acute settings, particularly under time constraints. Second, and relatedly, research is required to demonstrate the positive outcomes of the professional-patient relationship, and to determine how to measure these outcomes objectively. Demonstrating these outcomes will influence healthcare systems to value and systematically measure professional-patient relationships and their impact, ensuring better care experiences for patients and their families/carers. Third, the study findings provide implications for how patients with AAP can be better informed about their care in the acute care context. In terms of patients' reported frustrations around changes to surgery times, possible solutions include being more explicit with patients about the likelihood for surgery times to change in a public hospital, as well as enhanced team communication. Patients with AAP also require relevant discharge information regarding nutrition, in addition to other self-care advice (e.g. for wound and pain management and resumption of normal activities).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Globally, acute abdominal pain (AAP) is one of the most common reasons for emergency admissions, yet little is known about how this patient group experiences the delivery of fundamental care across the acute care delivery chain. The purpose of this paper is to describe how patients with AAP experienced fundamental care across their acute care presentation, and to explicate the health professional behaviours, reported by patients, that contributed to their positive experiences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative descriptive study, using repeated reflective interviews, was analysed thematically (n=10 patients).\nFindings: Two themes were identified: developing genuine, caring relationships with health professionals and being informed about one's care. Patients reported that health professionals established genuine professional-patient relationships despite the busy care environment but perceived this environment as impeding information-provision. Patients were typically accepting of a lack of information, whereas poor professional-patient relationships were seen as inexcusable.\nPractical implications: To provide positive fundamental care experiences for patients with AAP, health professionals should establish caring relationships with patients, such as by using humour, being attentive, and acknowledging patients' physical pain and emotional distress; and should inform patients about their care, including allowing patients to ask questions and taking time to answer those questions.\nOriginality/value: This is the first Australian study to explore the experiences of patients with AAP across the acute care delivery chain, using a novel method of repeated interviews, and to demonstrate how fundamental care can be delivered, in clinical practice, to ensure positive patient experiences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Physicians' accounts of frontline tensions when implementing pilot projects to improve primary care	[ "Primary care", "Qualitative research", "Health services", "General practitioners", "Implementation science", "Pilot projects" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For more than two decades, Canadian primary healthcare reform efforts have largely focused upon federally and provincially supported pilot projects (Hutchison et al., 2011). Canada's primary care system has been described as \"a culture of pilot projects\" (Begin et al., 2009) with little evidence of converting successful initiatives into funded, permanent programs or sharing project outcomes and insight across jurisdictions (Naylor et al., 2015; Ries, 2016; Pendharkar et al., 2015; Verma et al., 2013). These projects typically focus upon innovations related to the organization/governance of services, funding/remuneration models and service delivery arrangements (Hutchison et al., 2001). Given that pilot projects are often launched to try out and test new policy recommendations rather than moving directly to full implementation, they are also vulnerable to cancellation when provincial or federal governments and agencies change (Fooks, 2004). While there have been many promising initiatives, few projects have been successful in their scale up and spread to other healthcare settings and regions (Begin et al., 2009; Naylor et al., 2015; Verma et al., 2013).\nMethods: Study design and recruitment\nResults: Physicians as frontline advocates for patients with medically complex conditions and system reform\nDiscussion: Our participants experienced leading the medically complex patient pilot projects as a rewarding but often challenging experience. A central positive theme that emerged from our study was the finding that many physicians defined themselves as advocates for vulnerable patients and communicated a strong understanding of systemic barriers to more effective social and medical care. As Denis and Van Gestel (2016) observe, physicians can bring frontline knowledge and an integrated understanding of system gaps and unmet clinical care needs to quality improvement initiatives. In this study, participants reported their dedication and commitment to improving the quality of clinical care for patients with medically complex conditions who often fall between the cracks in existing service models. However, participants also encountered systemic challenges in implementing and evaluating innovative models of care that highlighted weaknesses in the pilot project approach to primary care reform. In a qualitative study of type 2 diabetes pilot interventions in Alberta, Wozniak et al. (2016) observe that physicians may experience frustration and an administrative burden when there is a lack of infrastructure support for project implementation and evaluation activities. Reflecting upon the National Demonstration Project's rapid implementation of quality improvement initiatives in the USA, Nutting et al. (2011) describes the phenomena of \"change fatigue\" that characterized many primary care groups who experienced staff burnout and turnover when implementing ongoing and complex practice change.\nStrengths/Limitations: A key strength of this study is that the qualitative evaluation approach allowed for an in-depth exploration and comparison of contextual factors that informed physician experiences when leading pilot projects. However, while our study design allowed for data collection at two time points, for reasons of funding, interviews were conducted at one point in time. An understanding of how participants addressed pilot projects challenges and how these challenges changed over time would have been strengthened by a longitudinal design. In addition, some participants may have felt pressure to present positive findings, while others may have minimized the challenges they reported, as the interviews were part of a government funded evaluation. As well, by not including other members of the project teams, we did not capture the perspectives on pilot project implementation from the vantage points of other healthcare workers. Future research engaging in-depth ethnographic case study approaches might increase our knowledge of implementation and evaluation challenges in the context of pilot project initiatives.\nConclusions: Our study findings suggest that, in fact, system-level phenomena inform and shape participants' capacity to lead, implement and evaluate improvement interventions. Our study demonstrates that physicians in many cases consider themselves advocates for their patients. However, we should not assume that physicians have the skills, knowledge, experience and time to take on nonclinical leadership roles such as project management, research, human resources and social care coordination. Although some excelled in these areas, many did not. Until project leads and their teams are provided with ongoing support, resources, expertise and mentorship in the planning, implementation and evaluation of pilot projects, this primary care reform strategy is unlikely to produce sustainable and scalable health services improvements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Canada's primary care system has been described as \"a culture of pilot projects\" with little evidence of converting successful initiatives into funded, permanent programs or sharing project outcomes and insights across jurisdictions. Health services pilot projects are advocated as an effective strategy for identifying promising models of care and building integrated care partnerships in local settings. In the qualitative study reported here, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the strengths and challenges of this approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 primary care physicians who discussed their experiences as pilot project leads. Following thematic analysis methods, broad system issues were captured as well as individual project information.\nFindings: While participants often portrayed themselves as advocates for vulnerable patients, mobilizing healthcare organizations and providers to support new models of care was discussed as challenging. Competition between local healthcare providers and initiatives could impact pilot project success. Participants also reported tensions between their clinical, project management and research roles with additional time demands and skill requirements interfering with the work of implementing and evaluating service innovations.\nOriginality/value: Study findings highlight the complexity of pilot project implementation, which encompasses physician commitment to addressing care for vulnerable populations through to the need for additional skill set requirements and the impact of local project environments. The current pilot project approach could be strengthened by including more multidisciplinary collaboration and providing infrastructure supports to enhance the design, implementation and evaluation of health services improvement initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gift shopping behavior in a multichannel retail environment: The role of personal purchase experiences	[ "Shopping", "Individual psychology", "Retailing", "Consumer behaviour", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The gifting market generated an annual sales revenue of $253 billion in 2004 (Danziger, 2004). An average US consumer spent $1,215 on buying gifts (of goods and services) in 2004, which accounts for 2.7 percent of the average consumer's annual expenditure in 2004 (US Census, 2007). Gift buying represents a large portion of annual revenue for the apparel industry each year (US Census, 2007), and this revenue is greatly enhanced by offering apparel products over the internet as an additional channel of retailers (Jette, 2005; comScore Media Metrix, 2005). The apparel industry has also recognized the significance of gift giving behaviors in a multichannel retail environment (Jette, 2005).Multichannel retailing provides customers with an array of conveniences to decide when, where, and how to shop (Gordon, 2005; Jensen et al., 2003). In a multichannel retailing environment, consumers may easily adopt diverse retail channels at different shopping stages. Consumers can gather information about products from non-store channels (e.g. internet, mail-order catalogs, and/or TV shopping), and decide to purchase products from either non-store or store-based retail channels. Consumers, as gift givers, enjoy more product choices (e.g. styles, sizes, and colors) and shopping conveniences in a multichannel retail environment. Consumers can collect product information, such as price and style of the product, using the internet and then they may make a purchase at bricks-and-mortar stores (Balasubramanian et al., 2005; Jensen et al., 2003). Moreover, returning a gift using various channels is easier and more convenient than using a single channel for gift-receivers, since the multichannel retailers operating the internet stores offer an option of returning the gift to their physical stores. Thus, gift shopping, gift giving, and/or gift returning processes can be improved by a multichannel retail environment.Many gift givers have recognized the benefits of the internet and are turning to online retailers for gift shopping (comScore Media Metrix, 2005). Consistent growth in online sales and customer traffic during the holiday season proves that online shopping meets consumers' gift giving needs (Meiners, 2007). Online shopping offers various beneficial services to gift shoppers. For example, it compresses the gift shopping and gift giving process - selecting, buying, wrapping, and shipping - into a few clicks. Customers can also put a personal message in shipment to the recipient. Moreover, future gift recipients can post a list of items as a wish list of merchandise at various online retailers' sites so that their friends and family can view them and purchase a product as a gift from the wish list. A gift organizing service is also available in online retailing. For instance, Amazon.com provides customers with year-round gift recommendation services, which was created by working with 40 nation-wide top magazine editors (Internet Retailer, 2005). This service offers the customer gift ideas and suggestions for gifts for certain occasions with specific recipients in mind, as well as tracking previous gifts purchased for a specific recipient (Internet Retailer, 2005).Previous literature showed that gift givers experienced different levels of shopping involvement depending upon the relationship between the giver and the recipient (Belk, 1982; Caplow, 1982; Sherry, 1983) and gift giving occasions (Belk, 1982; DeVere et al., 1983). A multichannel retail context provides another level of shopping involvement, as gift-givers have more channel choices to make for gift shopping. Some consumers perceive the internet as a useful channel because it provides valuable and helpful product information (Balasubramanian et al., 2005; Detlor et al., 2003; Noble et al., 2005) and provides helpful information for the gift shopping and gift giving process (Internet Retailer, 2005). Others, however, perceive a physical store would be more satisfying because they can physically examine the product (Vijayasarathy, 2003) and get the product immediately (Noble et al., 2005). In addition, Clarke and Belk (1978) indicated that consumers might be more cautious in the context of gift giving than the context of shopping for themselves since they visit more stores, spend more time, and spend more money for gift purchasing than for themselves. Gift givers are generally more serious about the gift shopping process, so they tend to avoid the potential costs and/or risks that might be caused by their purchases, such as inaccurate delivery, inadequate product quality, and unacceptable level of customer services (e.g. poor quality of gift wrapping, restricted return policy). These costs could result from individual purchase experiences with certain channels, based on Klein's (1998) economics of information search model, which illustrates that consumers would choose the least costly way for searching and purchasing the goods and services. In line with this, consumers would select the channels with low levels of risk based on his or her previous experiences for the gift shopping situation. Therefore, in the present study, we proposed that selecting an appropriate retail channel for the gift shopping process might be related to gift givers' previous personal shopping experiences. Gift givers may choose retail channels that may be more useful and familiar to them when buying gifts for others.As gift giving budgets have significantly increased in households (Garner and Wagner, 1991; US Census, 2007), consumers value gift shopping processes more than personal shopping processes (Clarke and Belk, 1978), and diversified shopping channels/venues have been available in a multichannel retailing context (Balasubramanian et al., 2005; Gordon, 2005; Jensen et al., 2003), understanding consumers' gift giving behaviors has become more important. Apparel would be an important product category to understand as a gift, since it is one of the most popular gift categories purchased (Belk, 1979; Horne and Winakor, 1991; Hyllegard and Fox, 1997; Netemeyer et al., 1993; Wagner and Garner, 1993).To date, most studies focused on understanding the meanings and mechanism of gift giving behavior (Belk, 1979; Camerer, 1988; Sherry, 1983), and there is little literature on the gift shopping behavior or channel choice behavior for gift purchasing. Even though a multichannel retail environment has emerged, little is known about consumer gift shopping behavior in this retail environment, where various retail channels are permitted for an individual to perform gift shopping. Moreover, based on the economics of information search model (Klein, 1998), the present study investigated how consumers' personal apparel buying behaviors are related to their gift shopping behaviors in five different channels (i.e. mail-order catalogs, internet, TV shopping, local store, and non-local store).Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to examine if there is a significant positive relationship in the consumer's retail channel experiences between two occasions:1. product purchases for himself or herself; and2. gift purchases for others.We conceptualized that consumers' product purchase experiences consist of the frequency of consumers' product purchase, the perception of retail usefulness for purchases, and satisfaction with product purchases for both occasions in five different retail channels (i.e. internet, mail-order catalogs, TV shopping, local retailers, and non-local retailers). In doing so, we examined the potential of each retail channel for product purchases for oneself as well as for gift giving in a multichannel retail environment.\nLiterature review: Gift shopping behaviors\nMethod: Data collection procedure\nResults: Characteristics of sample\nDiscussion and conclusions: The present study was the first attempt to investigate the significance of personal purchase experiences for self on the gift purchase experiences for others in a multichannel retailing environment (i.e. internet, mail-order catalogs, TV shopping, local retail stores, and non-local retail store). There has been no study that has compared the consumer gift shopping behavior using various retail channels in a multichannel retail context, as previous research revealed that different degrees of shopping involvement were based on the relationship between the gift giver and the receiver (Belk, 1982; Caplow, 1982; Sherry, 1983), occasions of gift giving (Belk, 1982; DeVere et al., 1983), and gender differences of gift giving and shopping behaviors (Caplow, 1982; Fischer and Arnold, 1990; Laroche et al., 2000; Sherry and McGrath, 1989). In today's multichannel retailing context, the present study contributes to the literature of gift-giving behaviors by examining the relationship between personal product purchase experiences and gift giving purchase experiences applying five different retail channels.As the gifting market has increased and become more important in our economy (Danziger, 2004; US Census, 2007), and since the apparel industry especially has been significantly influenced by different retail channels (Jette, 2005; comScore Media Metrix, 2005), the multichannel retailing context clearly provides an easy environment for gift-givers and for receivers in purchasing and receiving gifts. The results of this study showed that both consumers' purchase experiences for themselves and gift purchase experiences for others were composed of consumers' frequency of apparel product purchase, perceived usefulness of apparel product purchase, and satisfaction with apparel product purchases in all five channels. Our operational definitions of personal purchase experiences and gift purchase experiences were empirically examined in the findings. In addition, the positive relationship between the personal purchase experiences and the gift purchase experience was well supported in all five retail channels. Support of the entire proposed model for various retail channels (i.e. internet, Mail-order catalogs, TV shopping, local retail stores, and non-local retail stores) in the present research indicated that respondents in the study certainly extended their personal shopping experiences to gift giving behaviors in a multichannel retail environment.The findings of our study have implications for relationship marketing practices, which retailers try to build long-term relationships with consumers rather than one time shopping (Engel et al., 1995; Solomon, 2007). The individual, who had positive shopping experiences from one channel for oneself, will be highly likely to use the same channel to purchase gifts for others. Therefore, retailers could focus on frequent consumers in the various channels and try to develop relationships by providing useful information about different channels that retailers operate to consumers.This finding also showed that college-age consumers would be a potential target group of the various retailers, as previous research already indicated (Lee and Kim, 2008; Ray and Walker, 2004). It provides a very positive future for multichannel retailers, not only for personal purchase situations, but also for gift giving situations. In conclusion, this study found that positive personal purchase experiences of clothing clearly extend to apparel gift purchase behavior in various channels. There has not been any research to study the consumers' gift purchase behaviors in a multichannel retailing context that specifically examined the relationship between apparel purchase for consumers' own use and others as gifts.The findings of the present study lead to some implications for multichannel retailers. As it is clear that individuals who shop frequently from a store would shop for gifts frequently from that same retailer, multichannel retailers need to embrace the current consumers who shop for their own personal purchases and encourage them to also purchase gifts for others using their channels. We suggest that multichannel retailers provide a pleasant shopping environment for both gift shoppers and gift recipients so that they can easily communicate using the multiple channels of the retailers. Retailers should also educate their loyal consumers about what they can provide to the consumers in order to have a reciprocal relationship among gift givers, gift receivers, and multichannel retailers.According to comScore Media Metrix (2005), during the month of December in 2006, online retailers sold products worth 25 percent of the annual sales of the year. In order to assist gift givers' shopping tasks, internet retailers or multichannel retailers may utilize customer relationship management information on gift-givers' shopping preferences and gift receivers' wish lists to personalize the list of potential gift items for gift shoppers. In addition, multichannel retailers may adopt the strategy of Amazon.com (i.e. year-round gift recommendation service for customers) to offer an optimal level of customer service options for managing the whole gift shopping and giving process. This may create or enhance the customer value perceived in the consumer's mind by personalizing the services and product recommendations and organizing the list of gifts given to various recipients.There were some limitations of the present study, which lead to suggestions for future studies. Because this study only focused on a college-aged sample, mainly female Caucasian American in a Midwestern University, the findings of the study are limited in generalizing the results to other consumer segments. College students, however, were an appropriate group for a multichannel retailing study at this point. Therefore, future studies extending the sample to a general population of multichannel users and using a larger sample with a random sampling method would be very helpful. As previous research related to gift giving indicated significant gender differences, it would be interesting to compare male and female differences in regard to the extension of their purchase behaviors to gift purchase behaviors. In addition, the product used in the study was limited only to apparel. It would be beneficial to examine other product categories (e.g. home furnishings, personal care products, and cosmetics) in multichannel retailing in the relation of the personal purchase experience to the gift giving situation. In the current study, we did not ask where or what types of retailers the respondents shop for apparel as gift items (e.g. non-store channels vs store-based channels; discount stores, specialty stores, department stores). We do not know which stores our respondents used from the internet, local, and/or non-local and whether the products were purchased at regular price or sales price. Therefore, future research may extend our findings by incorporating specific types of retailer information to draw more accurate understandings about gift giving behavior related to personal shopping experiences in a multichannel retail environment.This present study examined consumers' general purchase experiences of five different retail channels related to personal and gift giving levels. However, the study leaves the following questions related to the gift giving behaviors in a multichannel retailing environment to be answered by future research: how can multichannel retailers provide easy, convenient, and consistent environments for both the gift-giver and the gift-receiver? How would the gift giving situation be different from the personal purchase situation in choosing different types of retailers for shopping? How would the dynamics of the simultaneous interactions with multiple channels, during the pre-purchase stage influence the gift shopping process? What values play important roles when consumers shop for gifts in a multichannel retailing environment? How would consumers utilize different shopping channels for the self differ between a functional replacement and a self-gift rewarding situation? How would non-functional motivations explain gift shopping behaviors using various channels?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To date, most research focused on understanding the meanings and mechanism of gift giving behavior and there is little literature on channel usage behavior for gift shopping. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between consumers' retail purchase experiences for their own use and their gift shopping for others in a multichannel retail context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a self-administered survey method, the paper obtained 171 usable responses from females in a large US Midwestern University. Data are analyzed employing descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling.\nFindings: - The findings of this paper showed that for all five retail channels (i.e. internet, mail-order catalog, TV shopping, local stores, and non-local stores), there are significant and positive relationships between consumers' product purchase experiences for their own use and their gift purchase experiences. Managerial and theoretical implications are provided.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Limitations of the present study include sampling, which prevent the generalization of results to all gift shoppers, and gift product categories focus on in the present study.\nOriginality/value: - As little is known about the consumer gift shopping behavior in a multichannel retail environment, the study provides valuable strategy for multichannel retailers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Weavers and female weavers: Typical examples of social problems in Germany and Japan	[ "Social problems", "Manual workers", "Women workers", "Literature", "Germany", "Japan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Gerhardt Hauptmann's (1925) Weavers, first published in 1892, dealt chiefly with the tragic situation of the weavers in Schlesia in the nineteenth century. It may be considered a masterpiece of naturalistic drama. On the other hand, The Tragic History of Female Weavers (Hosoi, 2001), written by Wakizo Hosoi in 1925, depicted vividly the plight of the Japanese female weavers during the period of advancing capitalism in Japan. Whereas Hauptmann's work should be called a poetic description of human life, Hosoi's is a true documentation of female factory workers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to compare typical social problems in Germany and Japan in the context of weavers and female weavers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper compares Gerhardt Hauptmann's Weavers (1892) with Wakizo Hosoi's The Tragic History of Female Weavers (1925).\nFindings: - Despite remarkable differences, there are many similarities between the two works in terms of the economic situations in Germany and Japan.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores differences and similarities in the two works and highlights some typical examples of social problems common to both.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Taxonomizing performance measurement systems' failures	[ "Performance measurement", "Balanced scorecard", "Decision support systems", "Failure analysis", "Strategic management", "Taxonomy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nOn performance measurement and management: Since the early 1980s increased attention has been addressed to map the performance of an organization by means of performance metrics, as they may aid in achieving the company's goals more efficiently and effectively (Cedergren et al., 2010; Chiesa and Masella, 1996; Garengo et al., 2005). Especially, at a company and macro level, practitioners strive to get accurate insights on how the organization or cluster of organizations is performing. On a daily basis, incubator managers, EU commissionaires, project leaders and CEOs are confronted with the dynamic and complex interplay between input and output, cause and result. All want to know how efficiently resources are being transformed into desirable products (or services) with added value for the customer. This heterogeneous mix of shareholders presents a first challenge of the research domain: different perspectives and a broad application.\nPMSs' failures constitute a research gap: When researching global literature, articles can be found ranging from general management systems to very specific measurement frameworks. Moreover, many academics are researching the topic from a variety of backgrounds. Researchers from accounting, economics, information systems, human resource management, marketing, operations management, psychology and sociology are independently exploring the field without much collaboration (Neely, 2011; Bititci et al., 2012). Dominantly, academic research was occupied with financial and purely R\nPurpose and scope: In addition to recent work of Bititci et al. (2012), which focusses on the broad theme of evolution and development of PMSs, this paper gives an overview of common failures leading to a non-functioning PMS, i.e. not aiding the decision maker in a substantial way, therefore not justifying the resources spent for the conception and implementation of the PMS. Subsequently, this overview of failures presents a list of caveats bewaring both academics and professionals. The failure, originating from literature or practice, can be translated into a caveat, warning other professionals. Furthermore, this approach supports a novel learning curve for the research domain. More precise, the general purpose and applications of this study is manifold and should (initially) be seen within the light of PMS research. The major contributions of this paper are ennumerated:\nMethodology: Based on an extensive literature review (comparable to the approach of Bititci et al., 2012, who also apply a systematic literature review supplemented with individually selected works based on citations and key references to other papers), empirical insights and brainstorming sessions with both academics and professionals, the authors have built a taxonomy to classify pitfalls dealing with measurement systems. This second phase in the methodology can be further broken down into four dynamic steps with continuous feedback and updating: listing of failures, categorizing, clustering and validating.\nLessons learnt funnel into a taxonomy of failures: The underlying research has identified plural factors that could lead to the failure of the PMS. These failures can be attributed to three levels. The first level contains difficulties with the metrics: failures allocated to the measurements, parameters and key performance indicators. Second, failures allocated to the framework and model, i.e. the processing of the measures (the PMSs minus the metrics themselves). And finally, failures at a third level which encompasses the support given and decisions taken by management: failures attributed to the implementation or operability of the PMS.\nDiscussion: To initiate the discussion, four points of interest are highlighted. The first remark relates to the abundance of existing literature and the resulting diverse (and fragmented) references incorporated in this paper. A variety of research disciplines contributed to the general knowledge of PMSs, leading to works of reference from many perspectives. This paper has tried to link them by a fil rouge, being the failures that the frameworks encounter. A minor quantity of papers focussing on SME's and governmental programs were included, but the authors argue that lessons from these specific sectors may be extrapolated to support general conclusions. Moreover, as indicated in the overview paper of Bititci et al. (2012), SME's are essential for (regional) economic growth and their dynamic context should exhibit dynamic (and interesting to study) PMSs as well. The bibliography incorporated can act as a starting point for further research, as many extra studies exist in the research domain. By selecting a diverse set of literature - considered to be equal to a random selection process - and by choosing for an appropriate level of abstraction in the analysis, the authors have built a representative overview concerning failures of PMSs.\nConclusion: In total, 30 years of research characterized by slow but steady growth indicates the global interest in the topic, but also exemplifies the underlying complexity. Reviewing the existing literature on PMSs showed that the research domain is characterized by ambiguity in definitions and a general lack of convergence, mainly due to the large diversity in interdisciplinary studies. When digging deeper into literature, other difficulties arise within the research domain. Only a conservative learning curve is present with limited cooperation and interaction between research domains. Clear and unambiguous exchange of know-how and best practices could boost further research and applications.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: After more than 30 years of research, literature on performance measurement systems (PMS) is characterized by diversity and fragmentation. Due to the multidisciplinarity of stakeholders and researchers involved the basis of literature is expanding, but not converging. The purpose of this paper is to dispersedly discuss failures of PMS in the abundance of literature written.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Over 250 articles related to PMS have been analyzed in order to shortlist failures of PMS. Two criteria have been used: explicitly referenced being a failure; or mentioned as being essential for a successful PMS. Next steps were clustering, cross-checking with academics and professionals and re-allocation to appropriate levels.\nFindings: This paper identifies 36 failures and proposes an easy taxonomy for further referencing by attribution to three levels: metric, framework and management. Failures range from uncertainties in data gathering, lack of knowledge and dealing with complexity, toward the allocation of necessary resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations are attributed to the abundance of research published on PMS. Consequently, incorporated papers are a subset representing the current state of the research domain. Furthermore, the completeness of the list can be discussed as well as the level of generalization of the proposed taxonomy.\nOriginality/value: Both academics and professionals can benefit from this study as it creates an awareness of the risks involved when constructing, implementing and managing a PMS. Therefore, this original research ought to be seen as a catalyst for a learning curve, as it puts the research of PMS in a different perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emotional intelligence towards entrepreneurial career choice behaviours	[ "Emotional intelligence", "Undergraduates", "Entrepreneur career", "Entrepreneurial career choice behaviours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Most higher education institutions have already introduced entrepreneurship education in response to high demand for instruction in entrepreneurship and innovation, which plays significant roles in developing and maintaining economies (Ahmad and Xavier, 2012; Stam and Stel, 2009). Entrepreneurship is also recognised as a key driver in reducing poverty rates and improving local economic standards. Therefore, to reap the benefits associated with entrepreneurship, steps should be taken to encourage young generations, and university students especially, to venture into entrepreneurship (Audretsch, 2007; Kuratko, 2005). For instance, Germany, Malaysia, Greece, Spain, Italy and Pakistan identify entrepreneurship as one of the efforts to eradicate poverty and reduce unemployment rates (Aslam and Hasnu, 2016; Yusoff et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Entrepreneurial career behaviour among graduates\n3. Methodology: This study used a survey research design with a questionnaire as the instrument. Starting from a population of 85,703 undergraduates at 21 public universities in Malaysia, public universities in Selangor, Malaysia, were chosen as the target group. Selangor has the highest number of public universities of all states in Malaysia, and all public universities in Malaysia, except Universiti Teknologi MARA, Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, use the entrepreneurship curriculum model from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (Yusoff et al., 2015). Simple random sampling was used to select three public universities in Selangor: University I, University II and University III. Based on the identified target groups, stratified random sampling was used to create a sub-population from the lists of faculties at the three participating universities, and simple random sampling was used to select the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Modern Language and Communication and the Faculty of Business Management. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) table, the suitable sample size is 384 respondents. To ensure an adequate sample size, 400 questionnaires were distributed, but only 382 questionnaires were returned successfully. Of these questionnaires, only 369 could be applied to this study, and the return rate was 96 per cent.\n4. Results and discussion: Descriptive analysis was used to assess the levels of emotional intelligence among respondents, and standard regression analysis was used to identify the variables that contribute significantly to entrepreneurial career choice behaviours among university students.\n5. Conclusions and implications: This study shows that university students have a moderate level of emotion management, social skills and empathy, and a high level of self-awareness. However, the study also shows that emotion management contributes significantly towards the formation of entrepreneurial career choice behaviour by proving that emotional intelligence and emotion management allow an individual to manage, understand and perceive emotions, as well as facilitate thought using emotions. Further research should explore whether an emphasis on emotion management in relevant university courses will increase the interest of graduates in entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess emotional intelligence levels and their contributions to entrepreneurial career choice behaviours among Malaysian public university students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study surveyed 369 respondents selected from a population of 87,503 Malaysian public university students using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Respondents were given a three-part questionnaire covering their personal information, their emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness, emotion management, empathy and social skills and their entrepreneurial career choice behaviours.\nFindings: The results indicate that the surveyed students have high levels of self-awareness and empathy, and moderate levels of emotion management and social skills. This indicates that these students are able to manage their emotions in making decisions and consider people's emotions. The results also indicate that students who were able to manage their negative emotions were more likely to choose an entrepreneurial career.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study aims to help higher institutions focus on emotional intelligence in the entrepreneurship curriculum to help students recognise their potential in terms of entrepreneurial characteristics and behaviours. Students' involvement in entrepreneurship can foster economic growth in developing countries. A limitation of this study is that it focuses only on second-year undergraduates from public universities in the Selangor area.\nOriginality/value: Few studies address emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial career choices among public university students, which this study addresses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What makes representation of executive women in business happen?	[ "Gender representation", "Gendered organization", "Female executives", "Critical realism", "Attraction of women", "Woman managers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is a long history detailing women's struggle for equality in many facets of life, including the gender pay gap and inclusion at senior levels of organisations. In South Africa, every year 9 August is recognised as National Women's Day, commemorating the 1956 demonstration when 20,000 women peacefully marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the apartheid legislation forcing black African women to carry passbooks when travelling outside demarcated areas. On this day, South Africa celebrates the successes of the women of South Africa, and highlights women's fight for equality and empowerment. Notwithstanding that 52 per cent of the South African population consists of women, in the private sector less than 21 per cent and in the public sector less than 31 per cent of executive management positions are held by women (Commission for Employment Equity, 2016). This clearly indicates underrepresentation of women at these levels in South African organisations. The Business Women's Association of South Africa's Women in Leadership Census 2015 reported that of the 273 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and 20 state-owned enterprises, 34 were categorised as top performers in terms of women's representation (Businesswomen's Association of South Africa, 2015). These 34 organisations are subject to the same legislative requirements and stock exchange listing requirements as those that do not have such high women's representation at senior level. Within this context, an investigation of organisations that have achieved greater levels of gender equality is important, as it may identify the factors promoting such equality.\nLiterature review: Research on women in management and leadership has progressed through \"waves of thought\" (Nkomo, 2012), commencing with the \"think manager, think male\" view (p. 30), where the attributes of leadership are associated with men. With regard to South Africa, Booysen and Nkomo (2010) found that black men very strongly subscribed to the stereotype that managers should be men. In the second wave, the phenomena that constitute barriers to entry were studied, such as the glass ceiling, which is described as an invisible barrier that prevents women from being promoted to the most senior levels within organisations, despite having the relevant skills and qualifications (Hymowitz and Schellhardt, 1986). The third wave was women being viewed as contributors, and research has illustrated that women leaders typically display more transformational behaviours when compared to men (Powell, 2011), and investigated organisational performance when women are in management (Siciliano, 1996; Erhardt et al., 2003). In light of the pressure being placed on organisations to increase women's representation in management and on boards, Nkomo (2012) refers to a fourth wave of thought, which manifests in legislation and/or quota systems adopted by nations. This has resulted in, amongst others, the \"golden skirts\" phenomenon, which refers to \"women that have made a living from being independent directors\" (Huse, 2011). We add a fifth wave of thought to this scheme, which concerns itself with the gendered organisation and the impact of an organisation's culture and practices on gender patterns (North-Samardzic and Taksa, 2011; Plowman, 2010) and how gender inequalities are created and reinforced due to their embeddedness in organisations (Acker, 2012; Bendl, 2008; Benschop and Doorewaard, 2012), and the way in which these act in intersectional ways (see Carrim and Nkomo, 2016 for an overview of intersectionality theory). Sex and gender were first differentiated in the 1960s, highlighting the social, cultural, historical, and political origination and influence on what was primarily viewed as biological (Broadbridge and Hearn, 2008). The differentiation between sex and gender is now widely accepted, in that sex is one's biological characteristics that define one's physiology, whereas gender refers to the aspects associated with the social role of being a man or a woman, including beliefs about typical behaviours and feelings (Broadbridge and Simpson, 2011).\nBackground to the case organisation: FS Org operated within the South African financial services industry, an industry largely dominated by white, men managers (Commission for Employment Equity, 2016), which reinforces the perception that the financial industry lacks diversity. This perception is widely held, with study participants providing supporting comments:[...] a very elitist environment [...] it's old, it's white, and it's male.[...] in the banking environment [...] my skin colour and my gender were against me [...] very male-dominated.\nResearch approach and strategy: Considering the phenomenon under study, a case study strategy was adopted, which is appropriate for addressing a descriptive or explanatory question such as \"Why or how did this happen?\" In addition to this, by employing a case study strategy, the phenomenon is studied within its natural setting, with the fieldwork element providing richer data (Yin, 2012). The value of employing a critical realist methodology in case study research has been postulated by several researchers (Mingers et al., 2013; Rotaru et al., 2014). In addition to the customary attributes of case study research design (such as the participants' dialogues and meanings thereof, and the order and undercurrents of social processes within a specific environment), critical realism values additional features such as employing mixed methods when collecting and analysing data, extracting broader inferences from case studies through the dependency on explicit theories, and engagement with candidates' experiences that may be both probing and inhibiting (Elger, 2010).\nSampling, data collection, and analysis: The focus of the study dictated that the participants had to be the members of FS Org's executive management comprising of ten people. Participation in the study was voluntary, ensuring that there was no researcher selection bias. Eight executives availed themselves for participation in the study. Both men and women in executive positions were interviewed, as the aim of the study was to understand the gendered features of the organisation. A breakdown of the participants' demographics is provided in Table I. In order to protect the identity of the participants, demographic factor grouping was used.\nFindings: The current CEO of FS Org was the first woman to hold this position after a long line of men predecessors. Once she had assumed her role, there was a high level of executive management turnover, which is not unusual when an incumbent CEO departs (Barron et al., 2011). Although it was outside the scope of the present study to ascertain the reasons for this turnover, the participants subtly hinted that the change in leadership style, the associated culture change, and differing views on the new strategic vision of the organisation could have been contributing factors. Although no determination was made as to whether these mechanisms, which are found in the domain of the real (Bhaskar, 2008), contributed to the turnover of executive management, there was sufficient data to suggest that these could not be disregarded and, hence, are depicted in Figure 1 as \"possibly influencing\" initial executive-level turnover.\nDiscussion: Overlaying Bhaskar's (2008) critical realist framework, the findings of this study were represented in terms of the three domains of critical realism - the domain of the empirical, the domain of the actual, and the domain of the real (see Figure 1). The phenomenon manifests in the domain of the empirical. All but one of the candidates who had assumed their roles during the new CEO's tenure were women - events that had occurred in the domain of the actual. The underlying causal mechanisms that contributed to this are found in the domain of the real. Links between this study's findings and the characteristics of gendered organisations as identified by Acker (2012), Bendl (2008), Ely and Padavic (2007), and Williams et al. (2012) are included in Figure 1.\nConclusion: This study concluded that two factors (the organisation's attractiveness and the actions of the gatekeeper) had played a role in the increased number of women appointed at executive level. Both these factors are gendered, leaning towards greater levels of feminine qualities in terms of the mechanisms that underpin them, namely altruism, having a woman CEO, the largely network of women of the CEO, and potential similar-to-me recruiter bias of the CEO. The prestige of the organisation, together with the fact that the organisation had a woman CEO, also seemed to change perceptions of outsiders that there was the possibility for women to reach the executive level. Broadening the gendered organisation literature, this paper presents an example of how, the sex of a leader and feminine characteristics that underpin an organisation actively promotes the inclusion of women at executive level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying organisational features, according to the gendered organisation theory, that have contributed to high levels of representation of women executives, contrary to the trend in the South African financial services industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A critical realist approach was employed, using semi-structured interviews, based on a theoretical framework of the gendered organisation. Data were aligned to the theoretical levels of critical realism.\nFindings: The research found that the pool from which the successful candidates were appointed was influenced by two features. The first was the perceived attractiveness of the organisation as an employer, composed of organisational prestige, opportunity for altruism, and the sex of the CEO. The second was the role of the CEO as gatekeeper, most notably the CEO's network and the impact of the similar-to-me paradigm during selection.\nOriginality/value: The utilisation of critical realism as an approach allowed for organisational features embedded in the theory of the gendered organisation to be identified and gives an indication of how the number of women at executive management level may be increased. The salient factors are the role the woman CEO played in the inclusion of more women at the executive level by virtue of her being a woman, and the attractiveness of the organisation to women employees. Organisational features identified were gendered towards the feminine.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Agility in business school education through richness and reach: a conceptual model	[ "Education", "Augmented reality", "Social networking", "Agility", "Business schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the present era of knowledge-driven economy, the role of higher education, especially business education, has become instrumental in the overall socio-economic development. The emerging global information economy is forcing businesses to devise new strategies, develop new capabilities, design new organizational structures and deploy new business models. The disruptive effect of fast technological changes is redefining the essence of today's competitiveness. In such a scenario the ability to detect and seize market opportunities with speed and surprise (i.e. agility) is fast becoming imperative for success. Further, as the international economic crisis continues to unfold and its effects continue to be felt across all sectors of the economy business schools across the globe are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that transformation of business education pedagogy is need of the hour.Business schools have been around for over a century now but still they operate today under the same basic model as they did 100 years ago (Knight and de Wit, 1999). At the risk of oversimplifying, the basic model of the business school consists of a physical location where we assemble faculty, attract students, deliver courses and finally produce graduates. The process in fact can be likened to a production-based model whereby a selected input (qualified students) arrives at a manufacturing plant (called a business school), where it is processed by knowledge professionals (called faculty) to deliver an output (the knowledge-certified graduates) who are then distributed (through placement services) to jobs around the world. This model could have worked has worked successfully over a span of several decades but today as the forces of globalization and communication and information technologies converge, much of this will have to change (and is changing). The production-based model of the business schools needs to evolve to an agile business school education model.Fortunately for the business schools world over, this need for change is gradually being realized. The business school education objectives are shifting from mere empowerment of students with business knowledge and insights into a blended approach wherein knowledge and insights are fused with entrepreneurial abilities to tackle uncertainty. And technology is playing a pivotal role in almost every aspect of this pedagogical shift - right from the stage of origin of knowledge in the realm of business research to the use of that knowledge in classroom via the use path breaking teaching innovations such as simulations and augmented reality (AR). The motivation behind this research paper is to combine richness of knowledge, learning and technology with reach of social networking to propose a conceptual framework that results in agile business school education. This agility in education would nurture not only business knowledge and insights but also entrepreneurial alertness (Sambamurthy et al., 2003) in the business school students.The research paper is divided into five sections. Section 1 is the introduction. Section 2 introduces the concept of business school agility and allied theoretical literature grounding. Section 3 discussed the theoretical framework which is the basis of conceptual paper. Section 4 discusses the conceptual model. Finally, Section 5 envisages the implications and conclusions.\n2. Business school education agility: Proficient education is a multidimensional phenomenon. It lies in effectiveness of transmitting knowledge and skills; the authenticity, content, coverage and depth of information; availability of reading/teaching materials; help in removing obstacles to learning; applicability of knowledge in solving the real life problems; fruitfulness of knowledge in personal and social domains; convergence of content and variety of knowledge over space (countries and regions) and different sections of the people; cost-effectiveness and administrative efficiency.For business school education to be effective, besides the aforementioned dimensions, other important dimensions include: constant updating of curriculum, real-time connect with the corporate world and a perspective to train people to be successful in the face of uncertain situations. Also, business education is unique in its fundamental focus on teaching students those techniques necessary for enhancing business value. Analysis of the firm's competitive position, analysis of the firm's internal strengths and weaknesses and the formulation and implementation of proper competitive strategies comprise the essential components of today's MBA education.2.1 Business skills\n3. Theoretical background: The prominent trends with reference to contemporary business school education, as discussed in the last section (rise in complexity, need to impart better judgement capabilities and improved ability to react by anticipating future) along with the rise of interdependence among individuals and organization in this connected world (Srinivasa, 2006) wherein time and space both are converging, have placed business school education at the dawn of a new pedagogical paradigm which demands education to be agile. To better understand how this agility in business education can be achieved we amalgamate three widely accepted theories of the social and natural sciences and ground our conceptual model in them. Theory of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984) by Kolb helps in understanding the importance of experiential learning and also the reason why richness in pedagogy is important for agile education. Theory of social networks (Barnes, 1954; Granovetter, 1973; Freeman, 1979) envisages the potency of social capital and social networking and thereby helps in understanding the importance of reach for agile education. And contingency theory (Fiedler, 1964) proposes that optimal operations and decision making is not well-crafted formula science but instead is contingent upon various internal and external constraints.3.1 Theory of experiential learning\n4. Conceptual model: In this section we are proposing a conceptual model that would help in building entrepreneurial agility through education in business school when internal factors collectively optimize the richness of education content and external factors provide the reach necessary to create a field for socialization that helps in building knowledge. Present pedagogies such as case study method (Stake, 1978) that are used in teaching business concepts and for social enquiry focus predominantly on learning from past. Whereas, need of the hour is to encompass present and future into the learning environment. Our conceptual model consists of three sub-paradigms that have been derived from the previously discussed theories, namely, richness (from theory of experiential learning), reach (from social network theory) and business school education agility (from contingency theory). These three dimensions together enable us to understand and propose a new model for business school education. The objectives of these schools are to turn out more graduates with entrepreneurial agility.4.1 Entrepreneurial agility\n5. Discussions and conclusions: Business growth with sustained high performance requires relentless, well-executed change just to keep pace with new markets, technologies and competitors. In a turbulent environment, the generally accepted rules and norms that govern business conduct become uncertain and volatile. Turbulence is inherently unstable, diffused in its sources and effects, and difficult to measure. Nonetheless, managers do perceive it; they sense that environments are becoming more dynamic as levels of complexity and change accelerate. Agile business school education is a new variation on business school pedagogy that combines traditional-style education with technology to provide education that's relevant today and will be relevant in dealing with unforeseen tomorrow. It attempts to successfully graft a layer of experiential and agile learning onto the course structures that are usually followed in business schools.With the help of the model proposed, business schools can create leaders and managers that are well equipped with skills and abilities not only for today's business challenges but also for tomorrow's business uncertainties. Agile business school education will enable business school graduates to build and lead agile and successful organizations. Entrepreneurial agility will enable the business school graduates to have a clear sense of who they are, what they stand for, what they have and what they want to pursue. They will be able to effectively execute current and future strategic intent with the end result being sustained advantage and success.This research is just an attempt towards integration of emerging technologies to offer agile and experiential education. More research is needed to assess the effectiveness of various teaching and learning techniques. Multivariate analysis would be helpful in determining the multitude of effects on learning that can occur within a business school environment. Technology will continue to affect colleges and universities. Administrators should start to pay attention to student perceptions and address them within the contexts of their relevance for not only today but also tomorrow.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Pedagogy today has become a function of technology and this relationship becomes all the more promising when used to address the educational needs of the constantly changing and fast evolving business school education. Business schools today are responsible for empowering future managers and leaders with not only the knowledge and insights but also with the ability to sense and respond to the unanticipated changes of the turbulent business environment. The objective of this paper is to conceptualize an integrated pedagogical framework that combines \"richness\" of augmented reality, classroom teaching and academic research with \"reach\" of social networking to yield a paradigm of agile business school education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors propose a conceptual model that would help in building entrepreneurial agility through business school education when internal factors collectively optimize the richness of education content and external factors provide the reach necessary to create a field for socialization that helps in building knowledge.\nFindings: - The authors' conceptual model consists of three sub-paradigms derived from the theories they discuss: richness (from theory of experiential learning), reach (from social network theory) and business school education agility (from contingency theory). These three dimensions together enable the authors to understand and propose a new model for business schools, which would have the objective of producing more graduates with entrepreneurial agility.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research is just an attempt towards integration of emerging technologies to offer agile and experiential education. More research is needed to assess the effectiveness of various teaching and learning techniques. Multivariate analysis would be helpful in determining the multitude of effects on learning that can occur within a business school environment.\nOriginality/value: - Agile business school education is a new variation on business school pedagogy that combines traditional-style education with technology to provide education that is relevant today and will be relevant in dealing with unforeseen events in the future. Agile business school education will enable graduates to build and lead agile and successful organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Engaging customers through online and offline referral reward programs	[ "Customer engagement", "Referral reward programs", "Metaperception", "Tie-strength", "Online and offline" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Referral reward programs (RRPs) are a customer engagement initiative devised to incentivize current customers (recommendation givers) to recommend a firm's products to others in their social networks (recommendation recipients). RRPs are a popular practice adopted by service firms in offline and online environments as they rely on the enhanced capabilities of existing customers in providing referrals (Hollebeek et al., 2016a, 2016b) and offer indirect customer contributions to profit (Kumar, 2018). Examples range from e-banking, e-commerce and telecommunications services, to bookstores, restaurants and tuition centers. RRPs are important customer acquisition tools as they have the potential to reduce acquisition costs for the firm and bring in future revenue (Kumar et al., 2010; Jaakkola and Alexander, 2014).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Customer engagement, metaperception and referral behavior\nStudy 1: in-depth interviews: Study 1 seeks to enhance our understanding of how engaged customers think others will perceive their incentivized recommendations, and whether such perceptions influence their recommendation behaviors in online and offline environments with strong- and weak-tie relations. We used a qualitative method because this has been proven to be valuable in expanding the current understanding of consumer behavior such as engaging in WOM (Neumann, 2015). This interpretive approach to research yields rich, descriptive data that provide a contextual understanding of the phenomenon at hand (Bryman, 2006).\nStudy 2: experiment set in a bookstore context: Study 1 offered rich insights into the hypothesized relations which were then tested empirically in Study 2.\nDiscussion and implications: The growing interest regarding customer's level of engagement in specific brand interactions and the resurgence in marketing efforts designed to take advantage of customers' social networks - both offline and online - has led to a renewed attention towards customer WOM and referrals. Despite this renewed attention, most conceptualizations of customer engagement do not differentiate between organic WOM and incentivized referrals (with the notable exception of Kumar et al., 2010) and between offline and online referrals. Our study is the first to focus on customers turning prospects into customers through a formal incentivized referral program, and to investigate how incentivized referral behavior might differ in online versus offline communication environments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the psychological consequences of a customer engagement initiative through referral reward programs (RRPs) in online versus offline environments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a qualitative study followed by a scenario-based experimental study.\nFindings: The authors show that recommenders' concern about how they are viewed by recommendation recipients (i.e. their metaperception) mediates the effects of incentives on referral likelihood in both offline and online environments. However, metaperception has a stronger effect offline where recommenders show higher impression management concerns compared to online. Furthermore, tie-strength and communication environment moderate the effect of incentives on metaperception. When referrals are made to weak-ties, incentives decrease metaperception favorability offline more than online. For strong-ties, this effect is lower, and it is similar in offline and online environments.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study focused on an online versus offline dyadic communication and did not consider the differences among social media. Furthermore, the authors did not consider how other forms of positive metaperception, like being seen as helpful or knowledgeable, could be increased in an online incentivized referral context. It is possible that a recommender thinks others see him as more helpful or knowledgeable online because a lot more useful information and other resources could be offered here compared to offline communications.\nPractical implications: The authors recommend managers to design both online and offline RRPs that minimize metaperception concerns; target strong ties in any communication environment as metaperception concerns are low; and target weak ties online where metaperception concerns are muted.\nOriginality/value: This work is the first to examine how recommenders' psychological responses differ offline and online.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Remodelling the corporate visual identity construct: A reference to the sensory and auditory dimension	[ "Corporate identity", "Visual perception", "Sensory perception", "Hearing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The corporate identity construct has been widely discussed in academic literature and a numerous definitions have been put forward by various authors (Abratt, 1989; Alessandri, 2001; Birkigt and Stadler, 1986; Margulies, 1977; Markwick and Fill, 1997; Suvatjis and De Chernatony, 2004; van Rekom, 1997; van Riel and Balmer, 1997). Being aware of the differences of the various definitions, for the purpose of this paper corporate identity is defined as \"the set of meanings by which a company allows itself to be known and through which it allows people to describe, remember and relate to it\" (author 1). With regard to the components that have been defined to constitute corporate identity, there is wide agreement that besides factors such as corporate communication, corporate behaviour, corporate culture, corporate structure, industry identity and corporate strategy (author 1; Suvatjis and De Chernatony, 2005), the visual component is one of the most dominant factors. In detail, corporate visual identity (CVI) has been defined as \"the most tangible facet of corporate identity\" (Simoes et al., 2005, p. 158), including five elements (company name, symbol and/or logotype, typography, colour and slogan) (author 1) that \"reflect the company culture and values and that create physical recognition for the organisation\" (Simoes et al., 2005, p. 158). Nevertheless, despite a rather clear categorisation of the key components of the visual dimension of corporate identity, there is still a lack of consistent terminology with regard to visual identity. Various terms are still used inconsistently and interchangeably. This is a significant obstacle for a clear and coherent communication between academics. In addition, this insufficient terminological consensus makes it difficult for practitioners to gain from and apply outcome from academic research.In addition, based on in-depth examination of the various components of corporate identity, the question emerged whether \"name\" and \"slogan\" as key elements of CVI should be categorised as part of the generic group of visual elements. The two elements \"name\" and \"slogan\" are not exclusively visual but can also be seen as audible cues.Furthermore, academics have been giving little consideration, so far, to newly emerged elements that project the identity of an organisation. Developments such as the usage of scent or the creation of acoustic environments, including audio logos, have not been taken into account regarding the conceptualisation of the corporate identity construct.The next section will examine these three dilemmas of the identity construct (i.e. terminology, nature of CVI elements and newly emerged elements) in more detail. In addition, further elaboration towards a reconfigured corporate identity construct is provided, leading to the presentation of the corporate sensory identity construct. Next, corporate auditory identity is proposed as a relevant focal construct for subsequent research and a definition of auditory identity is presented. Finally, this paper concludes by presenting implications and conclusions.\nDilemmas of the CVI construct: Issue 1: variety and inconsistency of terminology\nConceptualisation of the sensory identity construct: Based on the variety of stimuli linked to the new elements involved (i.e. sound, scent, etc.), the human senses theory provides a flexible and open system with space for future development. According to Pines (2007), there are five traditional senses namely seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. Senses such as pain, thermal sensitivity and position sense which are sometimes claimed to be additional senses, can be incorporated into the sense of touching (Pines, 2007). Consequently, in order to reconfigure the corporate identity construct based on the principle of human senses, the five commonly agreed senses are used in the following:1. Visual perception might be the most apparent means of perception and is directly linked to all elements and applications covered by the categorisation of \"corporate visual identity\". This domain comprises all the established visual elements of CVI such as logo, typeface and colour as well as the application of these elements (e.g. stationery, advertising, leaflets).2. Auditory perception covers all signals that can be heard. This area includes basic elements such as corporate sound, audio logos and corporate music. This dimension can be extended by including further audible applications produced by sound designers and related to a company or its products such as the particular sound of car engines, music on telephone cues, music in a retail shop, etc.3. Olfactory perception describes all impressions obtained by smelling. This way of perception can be linked to the various usages of scent and fragrance, whether applied on an interior architectural level (e.g. retail store, trade fairs, etc.) or on a product level such as a designed scent of a new car.4. Gustatory perception stands for the sensory recognition by tasting. Despite the fact that there are not many real applications so far, gustatory perception supporting gustatory identity could be an important way of distinction especially in the food industry (e.g. McDonalds vs Burger King).5. Tactile perception covers recognition that is gained through touching. This way of perception includes stimuli, for example based on surfaces of products or architecture (e.g. surfaces of car interior, surfaces of furniture) or packaging design (e.g. stamping, Braille, etc.).Based on these five human senses, Table I summarises:1. type of perception;2. human organ;3. activity;4. general examples; and5. examples related to corporate identity.Definition and terminology of corporate sensory identity\nAuditory identity - avenue for further investigation: The proposed sensory identity construct is based on the human senses theory and consists of five-dimensions based on the five human senses. Consequently, the construct has to be considered as multi-dimensional. Looking at the five-dimensions, it becomes apparent that each of them can be considered as a full construct depending on the focus. In particular, CVI as one-dimension of corporate sensory identity already has been conceptualised and operationalised as an autonomous construct in the past (Based on author 1; Gabrielsen et al., 2000). Accordingly, the other dimensions can be classified as sovereign constructs.Subsequent to the process of conceptualisation of a construct, the next step in research generally is to operationalise it, i.e. to measure the construct. According to Gerbing and Anderson (1988, p. 186), the reason for measurement is to offer \"empirical estimate of each theoretical construct of interest\". Technically, measuring a construct refers to \"assigning numbers to objects to represent quantities of attributes\" (Nunnally, 1967, p. 2). In order to assign such numbers, i.e. to measure the construct, valid and reliable measurement scales have to be developed (Churchill, 1979).Regarding the process of operationalisation, it is important to consider that except for visual identity most of the other sensory means have only been applied on an experimental level by organisations so far. In particular, tactile identity, olfactory identity and gustatory identity are still in an experimental stage or applications are limited to a few companies and restricted to niche markets or niche products. For example, projecting identity by using gustatory stimuli could theoretically be an interesting idea for food manufacturers or the gastronomy sector. However, there are no widely established applications of gustatory identity hitherto in real life, compared to the numerous applications of CVI. In the same way, tactile cues as well as olfactory stimuli have not exceeded an experimental stage as a means to project the identity of an organisation so far.However, for the construct of \"corporate auditory identity\" this is not the case. Auditory identity has already been applied by numerous companies and various well-known examples can be found such as the sound logos of Intel, Telekom or Windows XP (Lindstrom, 2005). Moreover, there are also agencies exclusively working with sound such as Cutting Edge Commercial from London (Cutting Edge Commercial, (2010)). Additionally, from a theoretical point of view the use of sound does not seem to be restricted by the type of company or industry. In general, almost every organisation can utilise sound in some way (e.g. web site, radio advertising, in-store audio, telephone voice, etc.). Based on the fact that corporate auditory identity can be widely found in real life already (Lindstrom, 2005), it can be considered as the second most developed dimension within the sensory identity construct, after CVI. A practical consequence of this prevalence is that it makes the development and application of measurement scales reasonable and feasible due to realistic accessibility of sample subjects. Based on these considerations, auditory identity is proposed in this paper as the most emerging focal construct for future research with regard to the overall research subject of sensory identity.Sound and music in the literature\nConclusion: Over the last decades the marketing discipline has become more and more multifaceted due to the emergence of new concepts (e.g. the integrated communication paradigm, customer experience marketing or place marketing). As a result, managers not only have to evaluate but also to manage more and more dimensions of marketing. For that reason, offering precise definitions and categorisations of existing and new dimensions is crucial in order to manage such complexity on an academic as well as on a practitioner level. This paper addresses this issue by providing a definition of the sensory identity construct that represents a clear and explicit framework uniting all cues based on human sensory perception, which can be used for an organisation to project its identity.Furthermore, the sensory identity framework and the provided definitions of sensory and auditory identity offer some guidance for practitioners such as marketing and brand managers when reviewing their current composition of cues of self-presentation and if they consider to add further elements such as sound.Moreover, the sensory identity construct offers a chance to attenuate existing problems regarding misleading categorisation of elements of visual identity and to overcome the use of diverse and ambiguous terminology regarding the means for projecting identity.In addition, this paper not only provides a general stimulation for future research in this area, but by offering a definition of sensory identity and auditory identity it facilitates subsequent steps of research such as the operationalisation (i.e. development of measurement scales) of the two constructs.Overall, the investigation of sensory identity and auditory identity in particular will not only be relevant for practitioners who intend to influence their corporate image by sound or other sensory elements, but will also advance existing academic knowledge in the area of corporate identity and corporate image formation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Despite a well-established corporate identity construct there is still ambiguity and disorientation regarding the corporate visual identity construct. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inconsistent use of terminologies such as \"symbolism\" and \"corporate design\" as well as pointing towards an insufficient conceptualisation of the corporate identity and visual identity construct vis-a-vis other sensory dimensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of existing categorisations and conceptualisations of the corporate identity and visual identity construct is provided.\nFindings: - The paper presents a remodelled corporate visual identity construct that takes a holistic sensory perspective and proposes the corporate sensory identity construct as a more adequate and flexible reflection of current business reality.\nPractical implications: - The paper offers fundamental guidance for managers regarding the integrated and holistic utilisation of a set of sensory communication activities as part of their corporate identity management.\nOriginality/value: - This paper contributes to the further understanding of the complexity of corporate identity management by addressing additional sensory dimensions apart from visual identity management. Moreover, by stressing the particular relevance of music and sound, this paper stimulates the integration of the auditory dimension as additional facet of a communication tool kit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of service-entry waiting on customer's first impression and satisfaction: The moderating role of opening remark and perceived in-service waiting	[ "Customer satisfaction", "First impression", "Multiple stages", "Opening remarks", "Waiting time" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the era of e-commerce 2.0, the increasing popularity of mobile internet and the widespread use of various social tools have brought about new business models and marketing models. Information spreads faster and more purposefully, accelerating the transfer of consumption initiative to consumers. Chinese consumers have gradually shifted from material consumption to spiritual consumption, and the consumption pattern has changed from \"going shopping\" to \"on shopping,\" which poses a substantial challenge for online businesses to retain customers (ZhiYan Consultation, 2016).\n2. Theoretical model and hypotheses: Waiting time\n3. Study 1: In study 1, a 3 (service-entry waits: fast vs medium vs slow) * 3 (opening remark: formal vs informal vs hybrid) * 3 (in- service waits: fast vs medium vs slow) between - subjects design was used to test the research model. A customer's prepurchase consultation process regarding cruise tourism products through an online travel agency platform was simulated as the experimental background. The experimental scenario was as follows.\n4. Study 2: To further confirm the hypotheses and explore the influence of waiting time on customer satisfaction in the online context, in-depth interviews with 20 e-commerce practitioners were conducted from June17 to June 25 in 2019. These participations were recruited from two professional customer service companies; three e-commerce platforms, i.e., JD.com, lvmama.com and Ctrip.com; and one luggage flagship store on Tmall.com. Among them, five participations were customer service managers, and 15 participations were online customer service staffs. All the interviews were conducted by telephone or Wechat Voice, and each interview lasted 30-45 minutes.\n5. Discussion: Waiting time is regarded as an important nonverbal cue in online interaction that determines the impression of each other and the quality of interpersonal relationship. This study interprets the significant importance of waiting time in a business background focusing on the online service context. This study provides some important findings.\n6. Implications and limitations: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence mechanism of waiting time on customer satisfaction based on first impression bias, which explains how customers' perceived service-entry waiting time (PSWT) influences their first impression of service staff and satisfaction in the context of online service. Furthermore, the moderating effect of three information formats (formal, informal and hybrid) of opening remark on the relationship between PSWT and first impression, and the moderating effect of perceived in-service waiting time (PIWT) on the relationship between first impression and customer satisfaction are investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies were used to verify the research model. First, an experiment on prepurchase consulting services for cruise tourism products was designed, and 810 Chinese individuals have participated. Second, 20 interviews with e-commerce practitioners in China were conducted.\nFindings: The results show that, first, PSWT negatively influences customers' first impression of service staff. Second, customers prefer the hybrid format to present opening remarks, which not only conveys the respect of the staff but also fosters a relationship. Third, in-service waits are equally as important as service-entry waits in online service. When PIWT is longer, the positive influence of first impression on customer satisfaction is weakening, resulting in lower customer satisfaction.\nPractical implications: This study provides suggestions for online service enterprises to minimize the negative impact of waiting time and improve customer satisfaction through waiting time management.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a new perspective for exploring the mechanism of waiting time on customer satisfaction in online service context, and extends previous research related to waiting time by exploring the influence of waiting time in multiple service stages and expression modes of service staff.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
O2 makes the right connections with employees: Company among top five in UK for staff satisfaction	[ "Recruitment", "Mobile communication systems", "Employee participation", "Service Operations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The company winning the best score for open and honest communication by managers in this year's Sunday Times Top 100 Big Companies to Work For award has more reason than most to take communication seriously.\nShaping the company from the inside out: O2 encourages its employees to shape the company from the inside out. Along with feedback mechanisms such as the O2 employee forum and Open Voice, an online anonymous discussion forum, O2 employees have the chance to influence company strategy through the Real Directors' program.Real Directors are people working in front-line customer-service jobs who have been selected to take their customer insights to the boardroom. One, an online project manager, commented: \"The company is really different in its innovation and how employees are involved ... I go out and speak to the various areas of the business that I wouldn't necessarily have any contact with, and ensure there is a strong emphasis on customer service.\"O2 also believes that it is important to recognize and reward employees through fun initiatives such as the Spirit of O2 awards. Every year, the company looks for the stars of O2 - employees who are making a difference every day to their colleagues and customers. Each person has the opportunity to nominate someone or a team they feel has made a difference. The finalists are then invited to the Spirit of O2 awards night.Dream Catcher was another in-house competition, which involved staff revealing their unfulfilled ambitions, to help to raise awareness of O2's new branding internally. One employee, who had for several years been sponsoring a child in Senegal by sending a monthly sum of money to help to fund her education, wrote about her dream of visiting the child. The employee won the competition and was given the PS2,000 she needed for the visit.O2 was best in the country in the \"employee well-being\" section of the Sunday Times award. The company aims to help employees to achieve a good work-life balance by providing a wide range of health and well-being services. The most important of these is Balance, which covers good nutrition and exercise - which are seen as especially important in company where many of the jobs are sedentary.O2 employees also feel a strong sense of family in their team (with a 72 percent positive score on this), and say their colleagues go out of their way to help each other (77 percent, and third in Britain).\nSuccessful recruitment drive: Meanwhile, O2 has also won the Industry Recruiter of the Year award at this year's Scottish Recruitment Awards, in recognition of its successful drive to recruit up to 1,500 employees at its contact center based in Glasgow.The accolade recognizes O2's implementation of a new recruitment process to attract additional high-caliber employees, which was researched and designed by an external company and supported by management in-house in Glasgow. The recruitment drive was crucial to support the growth and expansion of O2 in Scotland.Since O2 opened for business at its contact center in the Skypark, Finnieston, last year, it has recruited 950 employees - 300 of whom were signed up from January 2007 using an auditable performance-based selection process.The process ensures that employee engagement begins at the selection stage and continues throughout the employee's career. Candidates engage with management from the outset, allowing them to grow, develop and expand their skills. Each candidate is assessed against specific role requirements, which helps applicants to understand clearly the role they are applying for.Candidates provide feedback both during and after the hiring process, to ensure a continued experience for the new employee and to monitor and use feedback to make the candidate experience even better.A full training program was rolled out to managers and assessors so they fully understood the new recruitment process and its design.Kirk Croal, head of consumer offline at the Skypark in Glasgow, said: \"We are sitting at 950 employees at the Skypark, ranging from customer-service advisers to e-care and broadband advisers, which is a fantastic achievement in less than a year. O2 in Scotland is developing and expanding every day and we will continue to recruit more good people for our team to help to support this business growth.\"O2 chief executive Matthew Key commented: \"Our employees help to make O2 the success story that it is today. If you have got happy employees, you have got happy customers.\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe the initiatives that have helped to place mobile-network operator O2 in the top five Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Highlights the use of several employee-communication tools and a new performance-based selection process.\nFindings: - Details an auditable performance-based selection process that ensures that employee engagement begins at the selection stage and continues throughout the employee's career. Candidates provide feedback both during and after the hiring process, to ensure a continued experience for the new employee and to monitor and use feedback to make the candidate experience better.\nPractical implications: - Reinforces the message that satisfied employees help to deliver happy customers.\nOriginality/value: - Emphasizes the value of satisfied employees in helping to ensure that customers are satisfied, too.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of middle management commitment on improvement initiatives in public organisations	[ "Quality Management", "Organizational structure", "Middle management commitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past 35 years, the public sectors of both developing and developed nations have begun to adopt many management techniques from the private sector to improve their performance. Many public services, including healthcare agencies, security, education and other government services, have integrated the notion of quality management into their daily operations to enhance performance and service quality (Saint Martin, 2001, p. 118) as governments across the globe realized the importance of quality in the level of the services they offer to their citizens (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2000; Boyne and Walker, 2002, p. 111). According to Sharma and Hoque (2002, p. 351), quality management caused absenteeism and employee turnover rates to drop as public sector organisations began to work together towards employee and customer satisfaction. Moreover, continuously improving organisational performance is considered to be the base for every successful implementation of quality management (Walsh et al., 2002, p. 300; Temponi, 2005, p. 17).\n2. Literature review: Commitment is critical to successful implementation of CI (Kaye and Dyason, 1995; Kaye and Anderson, 1999; Lillrank et al., 2001; Emiliani, 2003; Achanga et al., 2006). The commitment of members of top management is considered to be critical to the success of any efforts that are aimed at changing the operational philosophy of the organisation (Sanjay and O'Shaughnessy, 1998, p. 16). Moreover, the level of management commitment and support across all management levels may have an impact on success or failure CI efforts at organisation (Oakland, 2011).\n3. Research method: This empirical research is part of a larger research programme studying CI in eight organisations within the Saudi Arabian public service sector. A mixed-method design has been employed to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire were conducted to explore the current practices of CI and to examine the views of employees from different management levels on the implications of current improvements in these Saudi Arabian public service organisations. This paper addresses the findings from just one of the investigated organisations.\n4. Case study: MU is one of the Saudi Arabian public service organisations that have recently implemented a quality management system. MU is responsible for designing municipal services that are provided to the public through 11 regional offices which, at the time of the research, had 217 employees working on the development and improvement of the services provided to the public. The organisation has a traditional bureaucratic structure, with vertical management layers that include a top management board, middle management, lower management and non-management staff. In recent years, the advent of information technology has placed immense pressure on the public service sector to adopt a more collaborative and information-sharing environment that can increase organisational efficiency and effectiveness. MU has an established departmental quality management system that focuses on reviewing existing work processes and improving the e-services that are provided to customers through its offices.\n5. Results and discussion: The response rate for the questionnaire was 149 of 217, or 69 per cent and 52 participants of the 149 took the opportunity to offer additional comments to supplement their responses to the closed questions. Table I presents the percentage of respondents according to their positions.\n6. Conclusions: The research reported here examined the impact of middle management in a public service organisation on improvement initiatives. There is no doubt that top management's commitment is considered a significant factor in improvement efforts and programmes. However, commitment on the part of other management levels is also crucial. Although implementing quality management at a public service organisation improved work processes and customer service, a lack of middle management commitment after the establishment of improvement practices caused a lack of employee commitment within the vertical structure. Thus, the level of commitment on the part of middle management will have an impact on lower levels of management. The issues that were identified by the participants could be resolved if middle management became committed to improvement initiatives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Top management commitment is considered a significant factor in improvement programmes, and many papers have been written about the role of top management commitment in implementing a quality management system. However, not considering other management levels' commitment, such as middle management, may lead to issues in achieving organisational development. Public organisations that work through vertical structures may face a lack of middle management commitment, which might have a negative impact on lower and non-management staff commitment to improvement programmes. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of middle management's commitment towards improvement initiatives in public organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical research with a mixed-method design used semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to explore the current practices of continuous improvement (CI) and examine employees' views from different management levels of the implications of current improvements in a Saudi public service organisation.\nFindings: The analysis indicated that the lower managers and non-management staff agree that, after the implementation of the quality management system, the organisation's middle management showed a lack of commitment to that system. Moreover, this lack of commitment is recognised in the analysis of participants' views of CI practices recorded in the questionnaire and interviews. This lack of commitment has caused poor employee commitment and thus a lack of problem solving in organisational departments. It is also responsible for a lack of employee involvement, the centralisation of decisions, deficiencies in terms of determining and applying training, inequality between employees and a lack of trust between employees and their managers. These issues could be managed and resolved through middle management and their commitment.\nPractical implications: Increasing middle managers' awareness of the importance of their commitment to improvement initiatives can have an impact on employees' commitment towards improvement initiatives, especially in those public organisations that have vertical/hierarchical structures. The level of commitment towards the implementation of improvement programmes needs further in-depth analyses to identify which factors influence public organisation leaders' commitment to improvement programmes.\nOriginality/value: The results of this study could motivate middle managers in public organisations to review their policies and to facilitate CI initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empirical investigation of predictors of success in an MBA programme	[ "Performance", "Accreditation", "Master of Business Administration", "MFT-MBA", "Success in graduate programme" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: MBA programmes are carefully designed to infuse both the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the rapidly moving, competitive world of business. Organisations all over the world credit their success to the skills acquired by their management in MBA programmes. As the MBA programme is very intense, schools recruit students who share a record of achievement, demonstrate strong leadership, and possess the ability to work in teams. MBA admission committees evaluate a candidate's prior academic performance, test results on GMAT or GRE exams, and the nature of work experience to gauge his or her probability of success in the MBA programme. The GMAT and GPA requirements are typically threshold prerequisites. Other submissions such as letters of reference and essays are more subjective. With a broad base of information about the applicant, the graduate admission committee hopes to admit students who demonstrate high probability of successfully completing the MBA programme.\nResearch questions: Pursuing this endeavour, the overall objective of this research was refined by asking the following questions:\nRelated literature: Dreher and Ryan (2004) point out that current selection processes at many graduate business schools may be seriously flawed and in need of systematic evaluation and improvement. Rather than resembling the high-quality selection systems used by executives when their companies make decisions about hiring managerial and professional talent, many MBA programmes use admission procedures based on a collection of criteria adopted without serious consideration of the predictive validity of each requirement. The predictive validity of standardised test scores, undergraduate grades, and similar readily available prerequisites (e.g. letters of reference) have not escaped scrutiny (Hartnett and Willingham, 1980; Willingham, 1974). Sternberg and Williams (1997), for example, suggest that standardised tests used for graduate school admissions have only limited predictive validity, and high scores here generally account for achievement only in the early stages of graduate coursework. But the empirical research also points in the other direction, i.e., GMAT and undergraduate GPA do contribute to success in the MBA programme. Most of this empirical research is derived with an R2-value of about 0.08-0.28, making the results quite suspicious in terms of their predictive capability.\nMethod: Sample and data collection\nDiscussion of results: The inclusion of both TIME and AGE in our models requires further explanation. TIME is included to control for the possibility that students who go straight into the MBA programme upon completion of their undergraduate degrees do not perform at the same level as those whose studies are grounded in real-world experience. AGE is included to control for the possibility that academic performance varies with the amount of time since the student has been engaged in formal, full-time study. The simple correlation between the two variables is 0.24, which leads us to conclude that their simultaneous inclusion in the model will not give rise to multicollinearity.\nConclusion: Our results indicate that students who do well in Boot Camp are more likely to perform at higher levels in their other MBA classes. It is likely that the effectiveness of Boot Camp is tied directly to its design and implementation, specifically, that content is directly mapped to subsequent courses in the curriculum and that faculty members teaching individual modules in Boot Camp are the same ones teaching those content areas later in the programme. The tight sequencing of courses in the curriculum - Boot Camp is immediately followed by accounting and economics, which is directly followed by finance - allows for immediate reinforcement of concepts learned. In this regard, we would expect full-time students, who complete the programme in 14 months, to benefit more than part-time students due to the shorter time period over which they take courses. Given that FT was not statistically significant in either Models 1 or 2, it is impossible to make a definitive statement about the impact of course sequencing and programme duration on performance and learning.\nLimitations: One of the limitations of this study is that data were limited to 97 students who enroled in and completed MBA degree programme at an American university. The reformulation of the Boot Camp variable in Models 2, 5 and 6 further reduced the sample size to 53 observations. Given the limited number of observations, extreme caution should be exercised in any attempts to generalise our conclusions to other populations. On the other hand, as pointed out by Gropper (2007), combining data on grades from several universities would raise additional issues related to potential difference in grading standards, programme cultures, curriculum design, and programme focus. This study should be replicated at the same institution at a future date. Such analysis would be helpful in determining if the predictor and explanatory variables examined in this study remain constant over time. So far, we have not identified any study which was repeated over several cohorts. In addition, this study could be replicated in an educational institution outside of the USA. Lastly, by limiting the sample to students who successfully completed the MBA programme, we are unable to take into account the performance of students who failed to complete the programme or who were denied admission.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The twofold purpose of this study was to determine if selected variables were predictors of: student performance in the MBA programme; and student performance on the MBA MFT exam.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study focuses on MBA graduates at a US university who have successfully completed the entire programme requirements. Real student performance data, collected from 2007 to 2012, were analysed using multivariate regression techniques.\nFindings: Results suggest that academic performance in an MBA programme is positively related to undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and GMAT exam score, two of the most common admissions criteria in use today. Additionally, performance in an initial skills-building course exhibits a strong positive correlation with performance in subsequent MBA courses. With respect to performance on the Major Field Test (MFT-MBA), our results indicate that students who do well in the MBA programme tend to score at a higher level than those with lower overall GPAs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research study was limited to MBA graduates at a business school in central Virginia. Further studies can determine whether differences in predictors of success in the MBA programme from those found in this study might exist.\nPractical implications: Results of this study provide practical implication for MBA programme curriculum development and assist MBA admission committees in designing MBA programme admission criteria.\nOriginality/value: An extensive literature exists about the variables that influence the performance on the MFT exam at the undergraduate level. This is the first study to explore these relationships at the graduate level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer centricity: reality or a wild goose chase?	[ "Customer orientation", "Marketing strategy", "Networking", "Service levels" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A project with the purpose to increase the awareness of marketing among business managers, governments, the media and academe is in progress in Sweden, since 2007. It assumes both a commercial and political/societal perspective on the role of markets and marketing in today's economies. This paper is an adapted version of a chapter from a book where researchers express their views on different aspects of marketing and how marketing can be improved (Mattsson, 2008). My contribution is to position customer centricity (or customer orientation) in a theoretical and practical context. The paper looks ahead, assisted by current marketing theory developments, and does not review past literature on customer orientation.There are problems and possibilities with customer centricity which invite both business managers and professors to reconsider their stance. The paper discusses whether customer centricity with its message of benign and harmonic balance in relationships between suppliers and customers is just a desk ideology, a hopeless quest. It ends with the idea of balanced centricity in which stakeholder interests are considered within a network frame. It reflects what I find important and connects to an ongoing international discussion.The paper speaks out and takes positions, for or against. It is based on my experience as professor, marketer, consumer and citizen. I interpret customer centricity in my way which of course, does not give me amnesty against objections. But that is unimportant; the important thing is to prompt constructive rethinking of marketing to the benefit of our society and economy. Underpinning my way of approaching reality, criticize and offer propositions is a vision about \"the good market\" as a contributor to \"the good society.\" Perhaps a utopia, but for me an important direction.\nWhat is customer centricity?: There has been talk about customer orientation as long as I can remember, perhaps longer. The AGA corporation once became a world celebrity through its many innovations, among them the AGA lighthouse and cooker. It was a product-oriented company that first developed products, then sought customers. AGAs current strategy is customer centric within gas applications which are developed with consideration of customer needs and in close cooperation with customers. But back in the early 1900s, Gustav Dalen, Inventor, Nobel Prize Winner, and CEO of AGA said: \"Solve the customers' problem. Give them possibilities to increase profitability, security and quality in their operations. Help them introduce new and better technology.\" In the 1950s Peter Drucker - until his death in 2005, almost 96 years old, listed as number one among management thinkers in America - wrote that marketing is seeing your business through the eyes of the customers. As new CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, in the early 1980s, Jan Carlzon found an industry where passengers - customers - were treated as disturbances and residuals in a system created for the administration of aircraft, pilots and flight attendants. His battle cry \"Customer in Focus!\" circled the globe and affected both business and governments.So customer centricity is not new, but how well do we handle it today? In accordance with the American marketing concept companies should learn about customer needs and wants and satisfy these; this is a prerequisite for survival and profitability. Its opposite is production or product orientation where technology, resources, product knowledge, systems and organization structure control the behaviour of companies.Both in literature and practice the concepts of customer and marketing orientations are mixed up. Marketing orientation is broader, not only including customers but also competitors and how markets function. This paper is focused on the customer, but at the same time wants to consider the customer as part of a larger context, a network of relationships.The border between customer and citizen is fuzzy. Since customer centricity reached the public sector in the 1980s it is claimed that patients are customers, students and parents are customers of the school, and so on. This is well, but it is too limited. As citizen you have partly different and more basic needs than those that can be satisfied commercially. Citizens have obligations and rights, pay for societal service primarily through taxes and do it in relation to ability, not in relation to individual needs. When there is talk about competition and that we live in an affluent society, the most basic service such as humane elder care, efficient emergency service, legal security, and good schools and housing are left out. This should not stop a doctor from being partially customer centric, for example in communicating with patients. Furthermore, the boundary between the private and public sectors is not so obvious; there is an overlap and they both cooperate and compete.When marketing is discussed, especially in American books and media, the emphasis is usually on consumer marketing, business-to-consumer or B2C. This however is only part of all marketing, even the smaller part. Marketing to companies and governments, business-to-business or B2B, is both different from and similar to B2C. The two are also connected as everything that is B2B sooner or later must reach customers and citizens, that is transcend into B2C. In this paper both B2C and B2B and the roles as customer and citizen are considered. What is said sometimes concerns all of this, sometimes only some part.There are contradictory perceptions about the value of customer centricity as a guiding star for business:Customer orientation has become a commodity. If every supplier invests in customers it becomes a must and no competitive advantage is attained. Expectations are raised and a supplier cannot refrain without losing ground. Costs rise and customers may become more and more demanding, even spoilt.Genuine customer centricity has never been implemented. There has been lots of rhetoric but little practice, more talk than walk. Perhaps, customer centricity cannot even be implemented? Can we indeed give one of many stakeholders priority? In periods there has been a lot of talk about the needs of employees as the nucleus of a company's operations. Now most of the talk is about owners - shareholder value and corporate governance - and the only thing that counts is the share price. Finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, bonuses and fees to management and the board are topping the agenda rather than marketing and customer centricity. And looking at the issue with customers' eyes: how intimate do they really want to get with suppliers?*Price, quality and value are hard-to-catch concepts. Customer centricity should mean that companies strive to give the customer value for money. Therefore, price, quality and value are constantly present in marketing. They are not only hard to catch but also must be traded off and they are influenced by a customer's individual personality, lifestyle and group belonging. There are no theories that more than partially explain their connections. For lack of theory, an example will have to do. During the 1990s, a new type of competition emerged in the airline industry. Low price no frills airlines challenged the traditional full service airlines. How do customers evaluate a low price and low service compared to a higher price, more departures, more comfort, and so on? That price is important for consumers who pay out of their own pocket is no news but business travellers also use the low-price alternatives. The price differences are so big; Ryanair even gives away tickets or just charges nominal fares. Companies find that their travel budget can be drastically cut. Paradoxically, low-price airlines sometimes offer better service. For example, they use smaller airports where it is easier for the traveller to find the way and they have non-stop flights to popular destinations. But members of the full service airlines' frequent flier programs can, even when travelling on a budget ticket, count on access to lounges, priority when problems arise, and upgrades.What conclusions should be drawn from this? We can only establish that reality is complex and that a lot in marketing is built on beliefs and assumptions both in business and academe. This creates challenges, and some of these will be addressed below.\nChallenges: Proper understanding of customer centricity is a challenge to academe and businesses alike. It is unlikely that we will get a definitive and general answer to the secrets of customer centricity. However, in specific situations companies can find answers that fit their situation.Challenges for business\nWhat's cooking in marketing?: With a focus on customer centricity, the following sections account for efforts to re-think marketing. My journey begins in the USA and its traditional marketing management, marketing mix and 4Ps. It goes on with a transfer from exchange transactions to relationships and interaction through the concepts of relationship marketing, CRM and one-to-one marketing. In its extension networks as the foundation for new marketing theory attracts growing attention. In my interpretation this is referred to as many-to-many marketing. The journey proceeds to the contributions from service marketing and management, the growing understanding of a service logic in manufacturing as well as IBM's education and research project Service Science. All this is treated together with a new logic for marketing, service-dominant logic, the latter being a hot topic among researchers. Another contribution comes from quality management and lean production which has expanded into lean consumption and finally the two are joined in a lean solution. In this context, the role of the value chain and the value network is also treated.This represents my personal interpretation of the current evolution of marketing. There are also other approaches; the more radical being based on critical theory and postmodernism (Saren et al., 2007).Marketing management, marketing mix and the 4Ps\nTwo points to ponder: My travel report from the marketing landscape is coming to an end. Not that the journey is over; it is just a stopover. It is time that we ask ourselves if all this new theory will lead to increased customer centricity in practice. Must not the problem-solving begin by addressing more fundamental, paradigmatic vantage points?Two points will be discussed below. The first concerns whether marketing primarily applies old and well tried tricks, upgraded by sophisticated scientific manipulation. The second concerns the realism of customer centricity. Neither is central in marketing education and research but is part of marketing practice. Both points question the marketing concept: isn't it too innocent and benign and are the theory contributions implementable in tough, competitive markets.After all: is marketing just a bag of tricks?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - With Sweden and Europe and the present and the future as vantage points, the purpose of this paper is to challenge the viability of customer centricity (or customer orientation) and its axiom, the marketing concept, as the basis for marketing and profitability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is part of a project in Sweden to stimulate a dialogue on the importance and role of marketing. As such the paper draws on the author's experience as professor, practicing marketer, consumer and citizen and expresses a personal and unorthodox synthesis of ongoing developments in marketing.\nFindings: - Although customer orientation has been on the agenda for at least half a century it is not whole-heartedly implemented. The reason may be that it is unrealistic as a general guideline for marketing. First, a single stakeholder can only in special instances be treated as the nucleus of marketing and business; a tradeoff between several stakeholders - \"balanced centricity\" - stands out as more realistic. Second, the gullibility of human nature and the customer's limited knowledge and time open up for the deployment of diverse tricks in marketing practice. The current evolution of marketing theory and the advent of better methodology to handle complexity could be a step forward once the marketing discipline embraces it fully. Gaps between what marketing textbooks prescribe and the real world confronting marketers need to be narrowed.\nPractical implications: - Just focusing on the customer and customer satisfaction is not possible in practice; businesses have to balance the interests of many stakeholders, thus balanced centricity.\nOriginality/value: - Customer centricity is hardly ever challenged in the research literature and textbooks and its strategic value is often not understood and accepted in practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The making of inclusion as structuration: empirical evidence of a multinational company	[ "Ethnic minorities", "Qualitative research", "Inclusion", "Migrants", "Structuration theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: All over the world, migration processes and demographic shifts bring about that business companies increasingly depend on migrant employees (OECD, 2012; Ortlieb and Sieben, 2013). In view of pertinent labour and skill shortages, European governments initiated immigration policies to facilitate companies the recruitment of people from abroad. Also, the enhancement of equal opportunities at work and the inclusion of immigrants got new socio-political impetus in view of the rising workforce diversity. Yet still, empirical findings show that the employment opportunities of migrants are far from equal to those of native-born individuals without a foreign background. Migrants earn lower wages (e.g. Fertig and Schurer, 2007), are more often assigned to low-skill jobs for which they are over-qualified (Holgate, 2005; Turner, 2010), get lower scores in job performance ratings (Roth et al., 2003), face stronger barriers in their career development (Kamenou and Fearful, 2006) and experience multifaceted discrimination (Ogbonna and Harris, 2006).\n2. A structurational perspective on the making of inclusion: In the growing body of literature on inclusion, several models of inclusiveness are discussed. Mor Barak (2000) proposes a model that distinguishes between a personal dimension, i.e. individual norms and values associated with diversity, and an organizational dimension, i.e. the type of organizational culture. The interplay of the personal and organizational dimensions and their perceived fit determine employees' perceptions of inclusion. The degree of perceived inclusion in turn impacts various outcomes such as individual well-being, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and task effectiveness. Similar to this approach, Shore et al. (2011) emphasize individual perceptions and collective norms. These authors conceptualize inclusion as employees' perceptions of belongingness and uniqueness within the work group. They discuss antecedents of inclusion, namely, an inclusive climate (involving fairness systems and diversity climate), inclusive leadership (expressed by management philosophy and values, strategies and decisions) and inclusive practices (that promote the satisfaction of belongingness and uniqueness needs).\n3. Method: In this study we analyse empirical material that originates from a broader research project on the employment of migrants in German companies (Anders et al., 2008; Ortlieb and Sieben, 2010). Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach we investigated into the reasons for the (non)employment of first- and second-generation immigrants, for workplace diversity and related organizational practices. Out of the six companies considered by the project's qualitative part we chose for this paper the most \"critical\" case in the sense of Yin (2009). This case promises particularly rich insights into the practices of inclusion, since the company employs a particularly high proportion of migrants, spread over all hierarchical levels. In addition, the company strategically recruits migrants for particular jobs. It is the only company in our sample that can be characterized as highly international and inclusive in terms of its philosophy of valuing diversity and striving for equal opportunities. Thus, this single case is especially well suited for a description and an in-depth analysis of the ambivalences of organizational practices of inclusion.\n4. Empirical findings: 4.1 The company\n5. Discussion and conclusions: This paper aimed at describing the socio-structural fabric of an inclusive organization and its inherent tensions and ambivalences. Applying structuration theory, we focused on the recursive interplay of structure and agency born by organizational practices. For instance, the preferential recruitment of migrants for jobs in the customer support is an inclusive practice. Migrants can use their specific skills as resources to get access to the organization. Training and development as opportunities to augment resources also can contribute to the inclusion of migrants. Finally, meals and other social events are an area where migrants can use their resources effectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically analyse the question how organizations become inclusive - with special regard to migrants - and the potential limits to inclusion.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper develops a theoretical framework based on Giddens' structuration theory. By a firm-level case study, the paper empirically examines the theoretical propositions.\nFindings: The paper proposes that inclusion bears specific kinds of the structural dimensions signification, domination and legitimation on which organizational actors draw to reproduce the inclusive organization. The empirical case reveals three areas of organizational practices - personnel recruitment and selection; training and development; meals and parties - in the making of inclusion. But the interplay of specific rules and resources also contains social practices of differentiation and hierarchization that limit inclusion.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future studies would benefit from considering additional socio-demographic characteristics and intersectionalities. An ethnographic approach on the basis of participant observation is also recommendable. A longitudinal empirical design focusing on causal relationships would expand the papers descriptive approach.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that organizational actors can shape the structural dimensions corresponding to an inclusive organization by acting themselves accordingly and inciting others to do so. They should be aware of processes of differentiation and hierarchization that go along with practices of inclusion.\nOriginality/value: Applying key arguments of structuration theory, the paper develops a comprehensive framework that considers corresponding rules and resources in detail. The empirical case study demonstrates the fruitfulness of the theoretical framework and reveals the ambivalence of organizational practices that promote inclusion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Power-based behaviors between supply chain partners of diverse national and organizational cultures: the crucial role of boundary spanners' cultural intelligence	[ "National culture", "Organizational culture", "Buyer–supplier relationships", "Power", "Cultural intelligence", "Boundary-spanners" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Global supply chains (GSCs) consist of a \"full range of activities, including coordination, that are required to bring a specific product from its conception to its end use and beyond\" (Gibbon & Ponte, 2005, p. 77). Thanks to economic and technological drivers and enablers such as globalization, containerization, and communication technologies, a substantial share of buyer-supplier relationships is international (Fang et al., 2018). Pivotal elements in the study of GSCs concern how GSCs are coordinated and managed across borders and how power dynamics fit into this picture (Gereffi et al., 2005; Hult, 2004). Supply chain internationalization means that buyers and suppliers are compelled to operate in cross-cultural contexts (Ang and Inkpen, 2008; Moon, 2010).\n2. Theoretical background: We draw on marketing and management research on culture (Deshpande and Webster, 1989; Earley and Ang, 2003; Hofstede, 2001), inter-organizational strategy (Beugre and Acar, 2008; Heide, Wathne, and Rokkan, 2007) and power (Gaski, 1984; Hunt and Nevin, 1974) to advance understanding of the role culture plays in power-based behaviors exerted by GSC partners. We focus on boundary spanners, the organizational members who link their organization with the external environment (Williams, 2002). They typically are buyers in purchasing firms and sales and customer support managers of suppliers. Buyer-supplier relationships are built and sustained by individuals who span inter-organizational boundaries (Chakkol et al., 2018). Boundary spanners develop, facilitate, and sustain buyer-supplier relationships using practices such as negotiating with clients, leading innovation projects, communicating with SC partners, or contracting with suppliers (Korschun, 2015). In line with their fundamental tasks, boundary spanners are often required to possess the ability to engage with others and deploy effective relational and interpersonal competences (Williams, 2002).\n3. The effects of culture on power behaviors and relationship outcomes in supply chains: Our central assertion is that boundary spanners on both sides of a GSC relationship make power-based decisions through national and organizational cultural lenses, with cultural intelligence of the boundary spanners affecting decisions and interpretations of partner' behaviors (Figure 1). Our resulting propositions, therefore, apply both to actions and responses of partners in GSCs.\n4. Discussion and conclusions: We describe how culture and cultural intelligence influences how boundary spanners of GSC partners engage with one another through the performance and acceptance of power-based behaviors. To do so, we bring a new perspective on the traditional power discourse found in SCM and marketing channels research by discussing national and organizational culture and the effects of culture on power-based behaviors used by GSC partners at the level of the individuals involved in these behaviors (boundary spanners) rather than at the firm level. We also add cultural intelligence of these boundary spanners to the discourse, thereby identifying a mechanism for improving GSC partner relationship outcomes. We make several key contributions to theory while providing several managerial implications.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explain the effects of national and organizational cultures of boundary spanners on their choices of using three archetype power-based behaviors - dominance, egalitarian and submissive - with supply chain partners. Improved outcomes for global supply chain (GSC) partners are anticipated due to the ways that cultural intelligence affects these culturally guided decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on multiple streams of literature and focusing on boundary spanners in GSCs, the authors build a conceptual framework that highlights cultural antecedents of predispositions toward power-based behaviors and explains the moderating role of cultural intelligence of boundary spanners on behaviors performed.\nFindings: The authors propose that boundary spanners' national and organizational cultural values influence predispositions toward applying and accepting power-based behaviors. They also discuss how cultural intelligence moderates the relationship between culturally determined predispositions and power-based behaviors applied by partners. The cultural intelligence of boundary spanners is argued to have a pivotal role in making power-based decisions, resulting in healthier cross-cultural buyer-supplier relationships.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first paper to advance an understanding of the cultural antecedents of boundary spanners' power-based behaviors that are exercised and interpreted by partners in GSCs. Furthermore, the potential role of cultural intelligence in inter-organizational power dynamics and power-based partner behaviors in supply chains has not previously been discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value co-creation behaviour - role of embeddedness and outcome considerations	[ "Co-creation", "S-D logic", "Value-in-context", "Embeddedness", "Value co-creation behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organisations demonstrate the importance of collaborating with and leveraging customer resources and efforts. For example, Coca-Cola collaborates with customers through social media brand communities to generate creative ideas for high-impact marketing campaigns promoting the Coca-Cola brand (Dan, 2013; Coca-Cola.com, 2012). By involving the community, Coca-Cola fuels the connectedness between customers for inspiring behaviours of self-expression, deeper interaction, brand ownership and brand advocacy. Coca-Cola thus illustrates the relevance of active participation and connectivity among customers for the development of resonating value propositions supporting competitive advantages in the market.\nLiterature review: Importance of VCB for value co-creation processes\nHypotheses development: The following section organises the hypotheses development around the proposed conceptual framework depicted in Figure 1. Consistent with Yi and Gong (2013), VCB is conceptualised as a multi-dimensional construct. Based on the literature subsequently discussed, three dimensions of embeddedness - structural, relational and cultural - are hypothesised to study their influence on VCB. As highlighted earlier, VCB enables an understanding of how customers elicit mutually reinforcing co-creation behaviours that assist in sustaining ongoing interactions in a service system. Similarly, three outcomes - object-oriented value, self-oriented value and brand-oriented social value - are hypothesised to understand benefits that customers seek by participating in co-creation within service systems. These values manifest how customers draw on other customers and/or brand and non-human resources to actualise their desired outcomes.\nMethodology: The proposed framework is tested within the firm-facilitated online service environment of an international weight management firm. Our industry partner is a market leader in the weight management industry in Australia. Customers enroled in the weight management programme were expected to participate in the online forum. The purposefully chosen context offers various co-creation avenues for its customers, who are registered members of the online forum. Members engage in events, workout challenges, recipe swapping, exercise tips and how to manage food cravings. Resource integration opportunities emerge, as initiated by the forum members themselves, which allow them to share and distribute resources with other exchange partners (e.g. information related to sprint triathlon and wearable fitness technologies). Firm employees are facilitators of co-creative interactions and only intervene if needed. Overall, and in line with S-D logic, the online forum represents a service system context and offers a perfect fit with our research purposes, as conditions within the forum reflect a customer-to-customer social community environment wherein individuals maintain relationships to actualise mutual value outcomes. The extant body image and weight management literature (e.g. Wooley et al., 1979; Crawford and Worsley, 1988; Tiggemann, 1992) highlight the significance of community and social relationships to achieve relevant weight management outcomes.\nAnalysis and results: Discriminant validity and reliability\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify antecedents and consequences of customers' value co-creation behaviour (VCB). VCB as a means to facilitate value realisation processes is gaining importance in service research and practice. Encouraging such enactments can be challenging, but can also offer competitive advantages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: We empirically investigate a conceptual model by converging three contemporary concepts of co-creation research - embeddedness, VCB and value-in-context - and examining the interdependencies between them. Data were collected in an online forum of a leading international weight-management firm.\nFindings: Results suggest that customers' embeddedness is a key antecedent of customers' VCB in a service system. The three embeddedness dimensions - structural, relational and cultural - have a differential impact on customers' VCB. Furthermore, findings illustrate that customers' VCB has a significant impact on their object-oriented, self-oriented and brand-oriented social value-in-context outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes by empirically investigating and validating antecedents and consequences of VCB in a service system. In doing so, the study highlights the significance of the nature of customer's social constellations to develop contexts where value outcomes are actualised. Understanding the factors that shape VCB offers insights for firms to recognise how and where value propositions can be deployed that drives on-going co-creation processes.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first empirical research to offer insights into important pre-conditions and subsequent outcomes concurrently to illustrate how customers' VCB can be managed and nurtured for sustainable value co-creation processes within service systems. This research further advances mid-range theorizing and microfoundational perspectives in marketing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
TV food advertising aimed at children: qualitative study of Pakistani fathers' views	[ "Pakistan", "Children", "Advertising", "Father", "Mother" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Television viewing affects attitudes, shapes values, and forms behaviours of viewers of all ages, especially the children. It has been observed that TV food advertisers mostly try to persuade children through television advertising which is causing obesity and eating disorders (Just and Payne, 2009). In New Delhi, there are almost 22 per cent urban children facing problems of being overweight and six per cent of them are obese (Sharma et al., 2007). Despite taking into account these issues, television viewing remains most significant factor contributing towards obesity (Sugiyama et al., 2008). It is argued that TV advertising has a strong influence on children buying behaviours hence researchers strongly recommend the idea to regulate TV advertisers in order to control the obesity and overweight tendency (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007).\nRelevant literature: The national culture is segmented into five broader dimensions: power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, risk taking/uncertainty avoidance, and long-/short-term orientation (Hofstede, 2001). In terms of advertising, the most important relationships in collectivist cultures are vertical (parent-child), while in individualist cultures the most important relationships are horizontal (spouse-spouse, friend-friend). The societies with high power distance expect and value a sense of achievement in advertising communication which can serve their innate need to feel powerful (de Mooij, 2010a, b). The masculinity/femininity dimension views culture in a different way. In masculine societies, performance together with achievement must be demonstrated as important, so status brands or products such as jewellery are important to portray one's success (de Mooij and Hofstede, 2002; de Mooij, 2010a, b). Differing from masculinity, the dominant values in a feminine society are \"caring for others\" and \"quality of life\". The household work is less shared between husband and wife in masculine cultures. Men also do more household shopping in the feminine cultures. Data from Eurostat (2002) shows that low masculinity explicates 52 per cent of variance of the proportion of men who spend time on shopping activities.\nMethodology: Research design\nResults: Initially, to understand the information sources of children, fathers were asked this question; \"What are the many ways in which children get to know about food products\"? Amongst the 32 respondents mostly believed TV to be the highly influential medium. The results of this question have been presented below through Figure 1.\nDiscussion: This is the first study to provide fathers' perspective about TV food advertising directed at children. Recent studies only presented the mothers and parents' perspective (Jay, 2012; Soni and Singh, 2012). Assuming the masculine culture in most countries of Asia, we think that fathers exhibit more authority as compared with mothers while taking decisions about buying food products and channel choice. Another major contribution lies in presenting the Asian perspective to the most debatable issue of children and media through an in-depth, qualitative frame. The majority of respondents believed that TV advertising significantly impacts buying and consumption food products among children. The results are in line with the previous studies conducted in the field of advertising and consumer socialization (Just and Payne, 2009).\nImplications for practice/research: Based on the findings of this study, the researchers strongly recommend some suggestions to manufacturers and marketers of food products. First, there is strong need to manufacture those food products especially for children that are not harmful to their health. Some permissions or quality assurance certifications can be achieved from local authorities to build parents' trust on food products that is currently lacking. Second, the gap between food quality communicated and quality delivered must be minimized to subtle level in order to increase the parents' satisfaction with food quality. Third, there is no doubt that TV has been the dominant medium influencing children. However, being socially responsible, manufacturers should opt for other mediums as well also such as; print and interactive media. It will minimize the bad effect of visuals, created through telecasting promotions that showcase children performing unsafe activities. Fourth, the theme of brand must be culturally sensitive which does not result in shaping the societal values towards violence, deception, and materialism. The arousal of conflicts between parents and children are attributed to aggressive advertising that is alarming for TV food advertisers and must be dealt with great care. Ideally, in Islamic cultures such as Pakistan, children must always be portrayed as obeying their parents in TV commercials. Fifth, the other important role has to be played by media channels and advertising agencies. They must discourage those creative ideas to promote products which can damage the societal values. As previously discussed and suggested, children must not be shown as conflicting with their parents in any food commercials which is not the cultural norm, especially in countries like Pakistan. We strongly recommend implying special check and balances concerning food quality of products advertised through various TV channels. Finally, the legal authorities are also assumed to be responsible for marketing and production of food products. It is suggested that instead of merely formulating strict laws, the implementation of these laws must be stressed. We suggest to food authorities in Pakistan to evaluate various food products which are being aggressively marketed by various companies. PEMRA is responsible to govern the TV advertising laws which must be implemented to avoid any harm to the health of children and their families.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is plethora of advertising research that has highlighted the mothers' perspective to TV food advertising. However, the fathers' perspective on children food advertising in societies that score high on masculinity is important but absent from literature. The purpose of this paper is to present opinions of respondents as fathers, concerning the impact of TV food advertisements on children buying and consumption habits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The qualitative data through semi-structured interviews has been collected from 32 males having at least one child between the ages of seven and 14 years. The respondents were purposefully selected from a private sector university located in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The collected data have been analysed through thematic analysis.\nFindings: Thematic analysis revealed six themes; quantity of ads, negative impact of TV food ads, changing buying patterns, positive/productive impact on children, father's perceptions of TV advertising, and advertising changes to be incorporated. The findings have some social, cultural, and managerial implications for core advertising stakeholders.\nPractical implications: This study is useful for marketing managers whose job is to persuade children and their families into buying their products. They can benefit from the findings of this study to customize the brand communication strategies as per the expectations of respondents as fathers. Furthermore, the study proposes useful insights that will help in devising consumer-led advertising policies in Pakistan.\nOriginality/value: The gender role of males while influencing family decision making with regards to food products marketing has been a new area of research. The study is pioneer in the field of consumer socialization in that it focuses upon the fathers' perspective on TV advertising to children.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Baby boomers' reasons for choosing specific food shops	[ "Australia", "Consumer behaviour", "Baby boomer generation", "Shopping behaviour", "Food", "Survey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It has been estimated that in most countries the proportion of the population aged over 60 years will rise substantially in the next 20 years (Lopez et al., 2006) bringing with it increased demand for health services associated with the management of chronic diseases (NATSEM, 2004; Slack-Smith and Laverty, 2005). This is particularly so with Australian \"baby boomers\" (those born between 1946 and 1965 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS, 2005)) who are a group of 5.5 million people about to enter the high morbidity stage of their lives (Hamilton and Hamilton, 2006; Quine and Carter, 2006). Many of them are at high risk of, or suffer from, metabolic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and various cancers. For example, 20 per cent of Australians over 55 years are obese, 72 per cent have high blood pressure, 62 per cent have elevated blood cholesterol levels, and 22 per cent have impaired glucose tolerance (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). It is important that policies are developed which will enable them to maintain their health and wellbeing for as long as possible.Approximately 18 per cent of the general population's burden of disease has been linked to poor dietary practices (Queensland Health, 2006) so the increased consumption of healthier, ecologically sustainable foods is an essential part of any reduction in the prevalence of chronic disease and the associated demand for health services (Strategy Unit, 2008). This necessarily involves an understanding of baby boomers' food shopping and food preparation practices. These behaviours have received relatively little attention in the past but the growing size of the older population means that retailers need to meet their particular needs and interests (Satterthwaite, 2001).Although the influences on consumers' choice of retail food store have been investigated in the general consumer population (Dabholkar et al., 1995; Kerin et al., 1992; Siu and Chow, 2004; Wong and Sohal, 2003), relatively little is known about the influences on middle to older aged people's choice of store. In a New Zealand study of older consumers, Goodwin and Mcelwee (2001) showed that service quality and the availability of well-known brands were important characteristics for the oldest consumers. More recently, Lu and Seock (2008) identified three dimensions of service quality among American \"grey\" consumers: personal interaction, store image, and convenience. Personal interaction was the strongest predictor of older consumers' satisfaction and loyalty behaviour.Little is known whether the observations made in these overseas studies apply to Australian baby boomers. In a series of three surveys of Australian baby boomers, we have been able to examine consumers' food preparation and shopping habits as well as their health behaviours and retirement expectations (Hunter and Worsley, 2009). In this paper, we report on respondents' reasons for choosing specific food shops. On the basis of the overseas studies, we expected that shoppers' choices would be related to a number of demographic and personal factors such as age, gender, family income, education, religious affiliation, marital status, health condition, and body weight. We made several predictions which are outlined below.Age\nMethods: Participants and survey administration\nResults: Characteristics of the sample\nDiscussion: The respondents' most common reasons for shopping at particular shops were predictable: basic store properties such as low prices, convenience, a good range of healthy products, and user-friendly environment were desired characteristics.A few of our hypotheses were confirmed. For example, low income and less-educated people tended to prefer shops that offered savings, people with reported poor health status preferred convenience and those who were overweight or obese were less interested in quality and healthy foods. However, the majority of our findings were new. One set of findings included additional associations with previously studied independent demographic variables, and the other set were new associations with previously unstudied variables.Among the former, our findings showed that people were less interested in saving as age increases, and that younger respondents valued convenience more, perhaps because of the full-time family and work responsibilities of many of them. Women valued user-friendly environments more than men did, and, low-income people preferred user-friendly shopping environments more than high-income people who were more interested in convenience than less well off respondents. Married people valued savings more than unmarried people, possibly because of their likely larger households.The finding that proximity to shops is less important to older people contrasts with Caraher et al.'s (1998) observation in the UK that the tendency to use local shops increased with age. However, our finding is indirectly supported by Bawa and Ghosh's (1999) finding that older consumers shop more frequently (and perhaps, also shop elsewhere other than locally) due to fewer competing demands on their time.Contrary to our hypotheses, it was the least educated and lowest income groups who preferred the recycling and add on facilities (as well as low prices). We have seen similar high awareness in studies of food and health concerns; lower socio-economic status people being more aware of many environmental and health issues (Worsley and Skrzypiec, 1998). Indeed, during the recent collapse of the PAN Pharmaceuticals Company in Australia, these same groups were more critical of government responses to the crisis (Blasche et al., 2008). We suggest that lower paid, less-educated people are more aware because the various health and environmental threats tend to impact more directly on them. They are less involved in the \"system\" and are less powerful.The greater preference of women to shop at stores that provided healthy eating information and made recycling facilities available was consistent with findings from the study by Mohai (1992) who showed that women expressed greater concern for the environment than men. They are also consistent with Umberson's (1992) finding that women generally possess more knowledge about health-related issues than men, are more likely to monitor their own health status, and are less likely to engage in a number of risky health behaviours.Among our more novel findings are the associations with religious affiliation, country of birth, health status, and body mass. To our knowledge, religious affiliation differences in shopping have not been reported previously. They probably have less to do with the practice of religion and more to do with embeddedness in traditional Anglo-Celtic Australian culture. Rejection of religious affiliation appeared to be linked to rejection of tradition as exemplified by adherence to (traditional) brands, habit, friendships, low prices, etc. Further confirmation and exploration of these findings is required.Respondents who were born in other countries were more likely to spend less on food and were less likely to choose stores that provide a range of healthy foods, than Australian born respondents. These findings are consistent with Kumanyika (2006) who showed that people who belong to minority groups are often social economically disadvantaged and therefore, foods at normal price and a range of healthy foods are probably less affordable to them.The negative association between health status and convenience is a new finding; as health status increased, the desire for convenience decreased. Respondents with poor reported health status may be less able to travel to the shops and so value convenience more. This finding requires further confirmation.The positive relationship between BMI and quality and healthy food is new but unsurprising. There is accumulating evidence that overweight and obesity are linked with the purchase and consumption of energy dense low-nutrient foods such as confectionery, cakes and buns, carbonated beverages, and fast foods (Drewnowski, 2004; Franco et al., 2007; Pereira, 2006; Rosenheck, 2008). Further work is needed to confirm this finding and to establish the directionality of this relationship, i.e. whether these shopping preferences habits cause overweight and obesity or whether overweight causes people to shop in this manner.Overall, the findings suggest that these baby boomers had relatively little interest in health or environmental sustainability in their shopping. Since these issues are likely to be of increasing importance for them and their families in coming years, more might be done at retail outlets to raise their awareness of these issues, especially among the higher educated groups.Study limitations\nConclusions: The choice of specific shops depends mainly on consumers' perceptions of their characteristics. Less education and low family income were associated with greater preference for lower priced shops and for \"non-core assets\" such as recycling and transport facilities. Religious affiliation, country of birth, health status and body mass are previously unexamined variables which appear to be associated with preferences for different shop characteristics and need to be further examined.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) are approaching retirement and there is concern about their preparation for their future health and wellbeing. Food shopping is likely to play a major role in their future lives. The purpose of this paper is to examine their reasons for choosing to buy food from particular shops and whether demographic characteristics and health status were associated with them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A questionnaire survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,037 people aged between 40 and 71 years in Victoria, Australia. Respondents were asked to indicate, from a list, their reasons for choosing to shop at particular food outlets. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between respondents' demographics and health status and their reasons for shopping at the food stores.\nFindings: - Multivariate analysis showed that the reasons the respondents reported in choosing shops fell into four groups: saving, convenience, quality and healthy foods, and user-friendly environment. Saving was negatively related to income, age, level of education and also linked with country of birth, religious affiliation, and marital status. Convenience was negatively associated with age and also related to health status and religious affiliation. Quality/healthy food products were positively related to age but negatively associated with body mass index, and also linked to country of birth. User-friendly environment was negatively associated with income and education and related to gender and religious affiliation.\nOriginality/value: - The paper's results show that stores could provide more information, perhaps as signage, to their recycling and health information facilities, particularly in low socio-economic status areas. Furthermore, the social status and religious associations confirm the view that shopping reflects broad societal affiliations among baby boomers. Shopping centres can be used to provide support for health and environmental sustainability promotions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reflections on context in service research	[ "Research", "Service theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nContext: Our research and consequent theory development and testing typically takes place based on data and observations in a particular context. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of context and its implications for theory and research in service. For example how dependent a theory is on a particular context determines whether theories can be seen as general, middle range or as theories in use. The latter are context specific, while middle range and general theories are by implication less context specific, but the degree of context specificity or generality is not clear. The concept of context is widely used in research literature, particularly in the area of contingency theory in management research. Context can be defined as the setting within which the phenomenon of interest of the research occurs. Context can be seen as one or more high-inertia variables; that is, the opportunity to control or manipulate these variables is, at best, limited or indirect. Although in some cases the organization or manager is able to change these variables, it is only possible in the long-term and with substantial effort (Sousa and Voss, 2008). Typically context variables are situational characteristics usually exogenous to the focal organization or manager such as firm size, industry, competition, availability of alternative offerings or time and place.\nContext and service: The characteristics of service make context both important and challenging. First, it is recognized that there is great diversity in services. Study of service is often within specific industry contexts such as healthcare, hospitality, retailing, professional service or manufacturing firms. There is also study of specific service types such as experience-intensive service, front office/back office, e-service, etc. In each of these areas there is an implicit assumption that each is a distinctive context and there are theoretical and managerial implications that are specific to the individual context. The development of the theoretical concept service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988) and its measurement through SERVQUAL was conducted in traditional (face to face) service settings. However, for e-services Zeithaml et al. (2002) conclude that while some dimensions are similar between service and e-service quality, some dimensions of e-service quality are entirely new or consist of new sets of attributes. In this case, the context makes us develop new middle range theories specific for this context.\nChallenges for service theory: As theories progress from general theory through middle range to theories in use, the theory tends to become more context specific. An important task is to understand the context relationships in middle range and theories in use and how it may vary with context. Through understanding this can we progress to more general theory. In addition, even general theory can have contextual assumptions. Ketokivi and Choi (2014) suggest that there is a need to examine this and that there is a need to elaborate on the contextualized logic of a general theory. They argue that successful theory elaboration hinges on the researcher's ability to investigate the general theory and the context simultaneously, in a balanced manner. Theories with specific contextual logics can be challenged; an example is the long tail theory (Anderson, 2006) which implies that the long tail drives customers \"from hits to niches.\" However, Elberse (2008) argued in the sub-context of music downloads there was a long tail, but it drove customers more to hits. Questions have been raised as to whether exploiting the long tail increases demand or just shifts it. Despite these questions, the theory is widely accepted. This is an interesting example of how the context of the theory has evolved. It has a narrow core context, web enabled shopping and consumption where there is near marginal cost of distribution. Initially it was explained in the context of the media and entertainment industry, but soon expanded to cover areas where some of the context assumptions could be relaxed, such as where there was physical distribution, for example Amazon. Over time, further thought has gone into what is the context required for the long tail. For example to exploit it, companies need significant variety and a wide range between hits and misses.\nLearning across contexts: As we develop and justify theory in a particular context, we have the opportunity to learn from that theory and to test it or adapt it for other contexts. Learning from different contexts can take different forms; for example; control for context, learn from one context to another or study a context with specific characteristics. This leads to a number of challenges for research and for theory. First, to what degree does the theory that we develop apply to all the diverse service contexts. Much of our theory, middle range and general, is put forward as universal, but we do need to explore in what contexts it is not applicable or needs adapting. For example there are (Western) cultural assumptions about service contact, co-creation behavior and involvement, service quality and service innovation. Do these break down in other cultures? Asian and Middle Eastern countries may have very different cultural contexts; developing countries may have very different economic contexts; both may have distinctive ecosystems. On the other hand, where theory is developed in a specific context, is it confined to that context or could it be more widely applicable?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of context and its implications for theory and research in service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper based on exploring existing research and theory related to context in service research.\nFindings: The characteristics of service make context both important and challenging, there is great contextual diversity in service research as reflected, for example in ecosystems made up of multiple contextual variables. There is a need to identify the context-specific nature of middle range theory and the contextual logic of general theory. The authors explore the challenges of context for service theory and how we might learn from theory in a particular context and test or adapt it in other contexts.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this paper are of value to researchers seeking to develop and justify theory in service research (general, middle range or theory in use).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Construction projects as mechanisms for knowledge integration: Mechanisms and effects when diffusing a systemic innovation	[ "Knowledge management", "Innovation", "Case study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nSystemic innovation diffusion and knowledge integration: Debate has been ongoing for several years about the need of a changed approach in the construction industry. Its short-term view (for example Barlow, 2000) and stressful work environment (Cattell et al., 2016) are common motives stressing this need. Studies on innovation[1] in construction (Gadde and Dubois, 2010; Bygballe and Ingemansson, 2011, Hakansson and Ingemansson, 2012) using the ARA-model (Hakansson and Johanson, 1992), in which interaction between actors, resources and activities are focused, all highlight the negative influence of a short-term view and challenges with the project-based setting of construction. Interaction is essential for innovation to occur and Gadde and Dubois (2010) have emphasized the usefulness of long-term relationships and mutual adaptations over time, but they have also stressed the challenge in construction. Bygballe and Ingemansson (2011) and Hakansson and Ingemansson (2012) also identified low-interaction upstream in the construction process as significant, with a negative impact on innovation. Bygballe and Ingemansson (2011) focused on price as a barrier for increased interaction and innovation. They also claimed that innovation processes in construction are not fully understood and that more research is needed. However, Hakansson and Ingemansson (2012) conclude that significant levels of renewal and change have taken place downstream the construction process. Upstream interaction needs to be developed because subcontractors usually comprise about 60-70 percent of construction companies' total volume, displaying significant potential for learning opportunities and innovation.\nTheoretical frame of reference for the study: Systemic innovation diffusion and KI\nMethod: This study is a part of a larger research project addressing KI in temporary projects and building component manufacturer's innovativeness. A systemic innovation developed by a case-study organization (CSO) was studied, including a series of projects and development work that took place between the projects. The CSO was participating in the larger research project. They were chosen for this study due to their work with the innovation being researched. The systemic innovation, a multi-storey building system, was considered a systemic innovation due to its inter- and intra-organizational effects in the construction process. A longitudinal case study using multiple data collection (in line with Meredith, 1998) was used and reveals how different approaches to development and KI has been managed in the attempts to diffuse the systemic innovation. The researched KI process stretches from the early development phase that led to the system and includes a number of projects until the end of the research period; a period of 12 years. The KI mechanisms used the role of common knowledge and effects were studied. Knowledge development was studied through the three knowledge types (domain specific, procedural and general).\nResults and analysis: The CSO is a Swedish corporation active in timber-processing in different business areas. It is active throughout the construction process including management of rental apartments. Timber products not related to the construction process are also a part of the business. The CSO is a Swedish corporation active in timber processing in different business areas. It is active throughout the construction process including management of rental apartments. The timber-based multi-storey building system that was researched is one system among others on the Swedish market. At the time of the study four companies in Sweden had well-developed systems. Three of these were three-dimensional volumetric elements that were complete with plumbing, electrical installations and finishes (Mahapatra et al., 2012), and one was built-up by prefabricated surface elements, similar to the system developed by the CSO. Systems with prefabricated surface elements may allow more architectural freedom. Overall, research conducted on multi-storey housing in timber relates to industrial building, due to the material's suitability for this (Tykka et al., 2010). For an extended review see Lindgren and Emmitt (2017). According to the technical manager at the CSO, an openness to other timber system manufacturers existed, where they openly reviewed each other's systems and solutions. Furthermore, the system builds on the method for building prefabricated small domestic houses in timber, and has many similarities to this way of building. Therefore, both similarities and differences existed among the different systems available.\nDiscussion: The aim of the research was to study how KI takes place during the diffusion of a systemic innovation. In the study projects are the central mechanism in the KI process, surrounded by different mechanisms. The built projects validate development and show what works (and what does not). The importance of projects as a central activity in the innovation projects has been stressed by, for example, Winch (1998); however, not explicitly as a mechanism. Furthermore, many different mechanisms are used depending on the trade and process step in question and balance is needed between codification and \"soft\" personalization strategies, for example, when screwing was not made according to instructions compromising acoustics. The impact from current practice is also an example how previous knowledge can be a barrier for KI (cf. Henderson and Clark, 1990). On a general level, a conclusion is that balance is needed in line with Senaratne and Sexton (2008); since there are many different trades with different competencies throughout the process, requiring different types of mechanisms to handle different types of tacit and explicit knowledge. However, the dominant use of drawings, i.e. codified knowledge, contradicts the current picture of construction and sheds light on the need to nuance codified knowledge types (cf. Kivrak et al., 2008). A pattern in the study is that interaction needs and knowledge demands in projects decreases, while the level of prefabrication and definition steadily increases. The choice of mechanisms initially can be related to the innovation initially being a technological change demanding more social interaction (cf. Johnson, 1992) and insecurity requiring interaction (Van De Ven et al., 1976). A result from development is that diffusion is simplified due to a decrease in the amount of knowledge required to integrate into the system. It also seems logical to introduce new project managers and increase the number of projects when the system reaches a certain level, since the amount of knowledge required to integrate is lower.\nConclusions and further research: This research emphasizes the importance of actual projects as the most crucial activity for KI. Projects serve as a result of the development, as a checkpoint and as a mechanism to integrate knowledge, including many underlying mechanisms. Knowledge areas to integrate become evident through mistakes and experiences from the projects adding understanding to why development preferably is made in small steps and over a series of projects. The research shows that a major challenge relates to the innovation's level of complexity, extent and how it affects different types of knowledge and groups. Furthermore, the research shows the necessity of integrating knowledge from a diversity of participants to and from the systemic innovation to improve its efficiency. The systemic innovation acts as a platform that serves as a boundary object bonding and bridging different stocks of knowledge, supporting the research by Styhre and Gluch (2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study knowledge integration (KI) when diffusing a systemic innovation. The objectives are to understand what mechanisms are used and when and what their effects are in terms of knowledge development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The method comprised a longitudinal case study which followed a firm's attempts to develop and diffuse a timber multi-storey building system (the systemic innovation) over a number of projects.\nFindings: The findings emphasize actual projects as the most crucial activity for KI and when and why soft personalization mechanisms and codified knowledge should be mixed. Furthermore, it shows how different types of knowledge are built-up including construction process effects over a series of projects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research contributes with knowledge about mechanisms for the diffusion of a specific systemic innovation type and provides input regarding mechanisms to use. The introduction of the concepts \"domain-specific,\" \"procedural\" and \"general knowledge\" into construction has increased understanding of innovation diffusion and knowledge flows and where and how they are integrated.\nPractical implications: The research shows how knowledge develops and through which mechanisms, and where problems occur. Construction organizations can learn from this to avoid mistakes and potentially better understand how to manage knowledge to diffuse a systemic innovation.\nOriginality/value: The research provides insight into systemic innovation diffusion over a series of projects and focuses on both projects and the construction process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sociocultural brand revitalization: The role of consumer collectives in bringing brands back to life	[ "Practices", "Collective consumption", "Cultural branding", "Brand revitalization", "Symbolic meaning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2005, two entrepreneurs bought the trademark of a Finnish brand that was in serious decline. The brand was Reino & Aino, a traditional house slipper that had been in production with no change in its design since the 1930s. This risky venture was based on a belief that there was something inherently valuable in the brand and its heritage. Nonetheless, with no real budget or clear strategy for growth and with most of the world poised on the brink of a major economic recession, the future should have looked bleak. And yet, something unexpected started to happen. Despite the lack of traditional marketing activity on the part of the company, sales started to increase to such an extent that figures rose from 50,000 pairs sold in 2005 to 500,000 in 2010. The brand had been resurrected and brought back to life by igniting the cultural imagination of the Finnish people. It is this sociocultural brand revitalization process which forms the crux of this paper.\nThe brand revitalization gap: Despite the vast amount of work on various aspects of branding theory and practice, somewhat less attention has been paid to the potentially powerful management option of bringing dead brands back to life through the process of brand revitalization (Brown et al., 2003; Ewing et al., 2009). In 2003, Brown et al. described the need for research into brand revitalization as urgent. But, the majority of studies remain within the marketing management view of the company as controllers of the brand, who, through the application of marketing strategies, are able to renew and revitalize old or declining brands (Bellman, 2005; Cattaneo and Guerini, 2012; Hudson, 2011; Light and Kiddon, 2009; Thomas and Kohli, 2009; Wansink and Gilmore, 1999; Wansink and Huffman, 2001). From this perspective, consumers are assigned a predominantly passive role or treated simply as potential targets of marketing communication.\nMethodology: Data collection and analysis\nFindings: Through the process of analysing the Reino & Aino brand, we constructed a conceptual model of the brand revitalization process. This illustrates first how both the company and the consumers actively participated in the process and, second, the interplay between meanings and practices. The process consists of four phases: Sleeping brand; Reappropriation; Diffusion and Convergence. McCracken (1986, p. 71) argues that cultural meaning is always in transit. We suggest that this mobility of cultural meaning is the basis for revitalizing brands. We also build on recent research arguing that ambiguity and complexity may be advantageous to brands, helping them to thrive (Brown et al., 2013; Diamond et al., 2009). In discussing our data, we focus on the complex meaning transition processes and the mutual adjustment which takes place between these actors, leading to ultimate convergence of voices and a revitalized brand which can be co-developed further.\nDiscussion: The Reino & Aino case provides several important insights for understanding sociocultural brand revitalization. To begin with, we stress the fact that, ultimately, consumers play a key role in determining the success or failure of a brand and as such should be given due consideration as stakeholders. Miller and Merrilees (2013) stress the importance of total stakeholder, both internal and external, involvement in the rebranding process, placing the emphasis on corporate values. Yet they do not include the consumer in this. Holt's (2004), Holt and Cameron (2010) approach to cultural branding is also mainly centred on companies as the initiators of the process. Our study therefore bridges the theory of cultural branding with theory on consumer collectives in explaining the brand revitalization process. As this, and other research has shown, consumers construct meanings around brands that may differ from those intended by the brand owners and as such have an important role to play in the co-construction of brand meaning (Kates, 2004). Fournier and Avery (2011, p. 55) argue that open source branding occurs when a brand is embedded in a cultural conversation whereby consumers gain an equal or greater input than marketers into how the brand looks and behaves - \"open source branding implicates participatory, collaborative and socially linked behaviors whereby consumers serve as creators and disseminators of branded content\". This calls for companies to be active listeners, to be willing to relinquish control, to entertain and even use parody when appropriate. All of which implies risk. However, progressive organizations need to actively co-create brand meanings by developing customer-centric branding strategies which may require going against the grain of contemporary brand management practice (Berthon et al., 2009). Reino & Aino, through their willingness to listen, learn, adapt and develop their products to serve the needs of their various markets, provide an example of a company who have taken this approach to heart with great success.\nConclusion and implications: This study has focused on sociocultural brand revitalization and highlighted both consumers' and brand owners activities in the process. As such, our findings go some way towards bridging the gap between the company as central and controlling (Holt, 2004; Holt and Cameron, 2010) and consumer-centric approaches that privilege consumer sovereignty in determining brand meaning (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995; Muniz and O'Guinn, 2001; Goulding et al., 2013). Moreover, we have focused on practices in addition to the semantic and discursive level of meanings when considering the (re-)shaping of brands. From this perspective, brands obtain their meaning not only through a process of cultural negotiation but also through activities and objects which are linked with specific practices. Finally, we offer insights into the role of national identity in the creation of brand meaning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to build a sociocultural perspective of brand revitalization. Maintaining brands and bringing them back to life in the market has received much less interest than their creation. Moreover, the existing literature is dominated by the marketing management paradigm where the company's role is emphasized. This paper addresses the phenomenon of brand revitalization from a sociocultural perspective and examines the role of consumer collectives in the process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a data-driven approach, the study builds on the case of a consumer brand of footwear that has risen to unprecedented popularity without traditional marketing campaigns. Data were generated using an inductive theory building approach utilizing multiple methods, including interviews, participant observation and cultural materials.\nFindings: The paper presents a conceptual model of cultural brand revitalization that has four stages: sleeping brand, spontaneous appropriation, diffusion and convergence.\nPractical implications: Implications for companies in consumer markets are discussed, suggesting ways to facilitate the process of sociocultural brand revitalization.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature first by offering a sociocultural brand revitalization scenario that highlights the interplay between the actions of consumers and the company, second, by examining the interaction between the symbolic meanings associated with the brand and the practices used by consumers and, third, by offering insights into the relevance of national identity in creating brand meaning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Talent-spotters' ladder to success: Time to ask and answer some hard questions	[ "Analytics", "Talent management", "Human resources", "Decision making", "Human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nComprehensive database underpins Google's employee search: Google is well known for its tough screening process of new job candidates. But as the company grows, it has become increasingly difficult to find enough people who are likely to perform well. A few years ago, as it waded through some 100,000 applications a month, Google was not sure it was identifying the best candidates with traditional techniques such as grade point average.To develop a more sophisticated approach, it started with a comprehensive database that captures employees' attitudes, behaviors, and personality and biographical information, as well as job performance. Google collects the same information from applicants. The data for individual job seekers are matched against a list of the best predictors of performance generated from the current employees' data. Google then applies an algorithm that calculates a score to predict the likelihood that applicants will succeed at the company.This analytical approach has helped Google manage the rapid growth of its workforce. In the third quarter of 2007, for example, the company hired 2,130 people, a 38 per cent increase from the second quarter. Just as important, this approach ensures that the company does not overlook potential employees who may not have made it through the previous process. The company's initial analysis of two million data points from the survey confirmed that Google's reliance on GPA as a simple screening metric had indeed caused them to overlook great candidates in the past.\nTop soccer team's efforts to identify player durability: Like all professional sports teams, elite Italian soccer club AC Milan is vulnerable to the loss of key players to injury. After spending 30 million euros to acquire a superstar only to have him suffer injuries that kept him from playing for years, management decided that a talent for the game was not the only important factor to be considered when identifying and managing critical talent. Durability was also critical. It began focusing not just on acquiring the best players, but also on the best players who were also the healthiest and most likely to stay that way.The club created its own lab to understand players from every possible angle. For example, by studying how a player jumps, the lab can predict with 70 per cent accuracy the likelihood that he will get injured. It now gathers 60,000 data points on each player, examining not only physical characteristics but also psychological traits. Extensive analysis of the voluminous data helps the team decide which players are best equipped to consistently perform at high levels, as well as those more likely to break down from injury. AC Milan also tests players periodically to check for the development of habits that might lead to injury. This approach helped the team reduce injuries by over 90 per cent over a five-year period.Just two examples which emphasize that HR departments need to reorient towards measurements that are more meaningful to the business. As HR's primary task has evolved from that of \"personnel control\" to \"people developer\" and now to \"talent multiplier,\" it has become increasingly important to show that its investments improve the bottom line. HR executives must do more than use data to report on past performance, generate compliance reports and process administrative tasks.They need to start using data to ask (and answer) some hard questions that are at the heart of how employees contribute to business performance. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of a new generation of human capital analytics. A variety of analytical approaches can help to link investments in human capital to a company's returns on financial capital. More important, they can help HR leaders actively shape their organization's future - managing talent and directing programs toward the long-term needs of the business.\nSix steps towards HR analytical sophistication: Professional sports teams, banks, food-service companies, and energy companies are among those that are showing how HR can use analytics to contribute to business results. Some approaches have more impact than others, and can be envisioned as a \"ladder\" of analytical sophistication. From a foundation of good data that is accurate, consistent, integrated, accessible and relevant, the \"ladder\" shows how analytical capabilities tend to build on each other:* Talent supply chain. Rapidly adapt and scale recruiting supply channels and targets to meet changing business conditions, objectives, and competitive threats.* Workforce planning. Develop causal models and identify leading indicators to forecast business requirements and staffing requirements.* Customize EVP. Predict and target employee lifecycle actions based on calculations of employee value.* Focus HR investments. Manage critical workforce segments accordingly.* Critical talent management: Identify and manage critical talent (e.g. high performers, high potentials, pivotal workforces).* Employee database: Build a comprehensive employee database to track skills and performance.Given the benefits, companies should focus on building a human-capital analytical capability. Accenture uses a five-step model called DELTA to summarize the essential elements of a successful use of analytics. Building a human capital analytical capability will require:* Data: accessible and high-quality.* Enterprise: strategic perspective.* Leadership: advocates for analytics.* Targeting: the right analytics opportunities.* Analysts: deep analytical skills.Other functions that have used analytics to improve their ability to contribute strategically have followed a standard progression from reporting to analytics. In each function, managers have rejected the use of historical, static reporting (drawing on data that are convenient to collect) in favor of outcome-based predictive measures.Companies seeking to use human capital analytics for business advantage will follow the same path to analytical maturity: First, reporting what happened. Organizations need an accurate assessment of the way things really are, one not skewed by emotion or limited to anecdotal evidence. Second, explaining why it happened. They must diagnose the causes of whatever problems exist and create plans to address the underlying causes. Third, predicting what might or should happen. Companies want to develop forecasting and optimizing capabilities to help them see bumps in the road before they encounter them, or to seize opportunities that others cannot see.HR departments are now beginning to look beyond historical data that is a byproduct of transaction and compliance reporting systems. They are asking important questions about what really matters: Do our recruiting processes create an adequate leadership pipeline? Do we currently have the right skills mix to achieve our goals? What skills will we need in five years? Which people and what positions create the most value for our organization?For companies looking to maximize the value of every investment, human capital analytics can help direct resources toward the people and programs most essential to high performance.\nComment: This review is based on \"Talent and analytics: new approaches, higher ROI\" by Jeanne G. Harris, Elizabeth Craig and David A. Light. The leaders of business functions are turning increasingly for competitive insights to the massive data they can now capture. But human resources departments have lagged behind the efforts of marketing, IT, CRM and other functions. Jeanne G. Harris et al. of Accenture Institute for High Performance, Massachusetts, demonstrate how executives can start using data to measure and improve HR's contributions to business performance.\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 leaders of business functions are turning increasingly for competitive insights to the massive data they can now capture. But human resources departments have lagged behind the efforts of marketing, IT, CRM and other functions. Jeanne G. Harris et al. of Accenture Institute for High Performance, in Boston, MA, demonstrate how executives can start using data to measure and improve HR's contributions to business performance.\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" } ]
Reinventing program design: Challenges in leading sustainable institutional change	[ "Universities", "Sustainable development", "Master of business administration", "Performance monitoring", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Instead of having to create change efforts, disrupt the status quo, or adapt to change, organizations should be built to change. Further, we believe that many current organization practices and designs actually prevent leaders from successfully implementing necessary changes. Organizations need to be built around practices that encourage change, not hinder it (Lawler and Worley, 2006, p. 3).Sustainability is increasingly becoming a competitive necessity in twenty-first century organizations. It requires basic individual and group capabilities for learning, flexibility, and speed - three design attributes that have become noticeable discriminators between twentieth and twenty-first century organizations in both the private and public sectors of society in the USA as well as in many parts of Europe, Asia, and South America (Dunphy, 2003; Hammer, 2004; Holliday, 2001; Mohrman, 2007). Sustainable planned change in organizations is characterized by the ability for timely innovations and adaptations with non-toxic consequences for people, processes, and the institution's culture. Further, change of this nature can be experienced as an energizing process that promotes growth and development rather than depleting, damaging or destroying vital organizational resources.Sustainable change underpins a new paradigm of social organizations that are built to change (Lawler and Worley, 2006; Lafley, 2007) rather than built to last (Collins, 2001) - which often means merely to endure. As Lawler and Worley (2006) noted, \"surviving\" doesn't necessarily mean \"performing\". The notion of creating organizational strategies, structures, cultures, and processes that are designed for change - to enable learning, flexibility, and speed - is no novelty, but its enactment is uncommonly observed. Especially in academic institutions - sometimes described as the personification of bureaucracy (see Bennis and O'Toole, 2005; Bess, 1988), there is a traditional incapacity for the change processes that constitute self-renewal. Yet, the essential feature of academic life is learning, which by its very definition, is a change process (Argyris, 1984; Kimble, 1969; Gallistel, 1990) - whether it occurs at the level of the individual, group, or institution. True to their core values (knowledge creation and dissemination), faculty demand learning in their research activities and expect it of their students. But in spite of faculty members' passions for learning (i.e. for change; variation), most tend to build their institutions and programs to last. Thus, paradoxically, when it comes to institutional renewal and sustainable growth and development (see Barr et al., 1992; Gardner, 1981), tradition bound, stable, educational institutions do not learn, they tend instead to merely endure. That said, every once in a while, environmental jolts precipitate institutional learning (Barnett and Pratt, 2000), even in academia.This article explores the change and development journey of one such academic institution whose capacity for endurance in the face of environmental change eventually jeopardized its survival. Mobilized to act in the face of a slow moving life or death crisis in the MBA program, the faculty finally started work on a new paradigm for its graduate programs - a paradigm that fundamentally challenged the institution's sense of purpose, threatened the life of its culture, and strained its functional processes far beyond their limits. Yet, if a business school faculty is not built to change, it will last with increasingly notable irrelevance (The Economist, 2007).We begin this article with a description of the antecedents to change in our business school and then we consider the faculty's approach to managing its MBA program revitalization. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges of sustainable planned change in business schools, their MBA programs, and their faculties. We emphasize the importance of mobilizing the faculty through past performance data as a jolt to the status quo. And we highlight how we worked through intense challenges in primarily positive energy creating ways that inspired morale, innovation, and learning rather than in energy depleting ways that would have destroyed vital resources.\nAntecedents to change: the competitive crisis: In the summer of 2004, after more than two decades of stability, the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics (WSBE) initiated a comprehensive review of its MBA programs. In just over 13 months - by the Fall of 2005 - a new full-time MBA program was designed and approved, a class of high quality students recruited, and the program launched. The changes were dramatic: incoming class size doubled compared to prior years, grade point averages (GPAs) and GMAT scores of incoming students were significantly higher than past cohorts', full scholarships were eliminated, and for the first time in many years the program became profitable. The revitalized program was not without problems, but it was a step toward unfreezing the prevailing culture and establishing a more flexible, innovative, and market driven approach to graduate program design.The crisis motivating programmatic change was hardly unique to WSBE. The Graduate Management Admission Council had published (GMAC, 2004) its application trends survey report of 2004 highlighting a drop in all full-time MBA applications throughout the country. At WSBE, enrollment had fallen by thirty percent in less than five years, and of those students admitted, over 50 percent had been awarded significant scholarships or fellowships.In response to the applications crisis, aggressive schools were adding new courses, integrating curricula, requiring fewer core courses, opening satellite campuses, creating distance-learning alternatives, expanding global programs, admitting younger students, relaxing job experience requirements, and shortening the time it took to earn the MBA degree. It was within this context that we began program redesign in WSBE. But what became apparent, very early, was that radical change was needed and that old approaches would no longer work. What also became apparent was that a change of this magnitude would be a challenge of overwhelming proportions - i.e. we needed to reinvent our change process, not just the curriculum. We strongly believed that an undertaking of such proportions would require an entirely different kind of stewardship than the school had ever experienced. Figure 1 shows the conceptual framework for our novel change process. It was based on a commitment to both utilizing and advancing our capacity for learning, flexibility, and speed as program designers.Figure 1 reflects our organizational process for achieving goals through a fairly orderly sequence of events. This process was the enactment of our redesign strategy and it contained an inherent logic for problem solving and decision making about the following five activities:1. resource allocations;2. competitive data collection and presentation;3. focus group problem solving;4. program redesign decision-making; and5. academic and administrative approvals.In this article, we describe the complicated and dynamic set of challenges that emerged throughout the process that is briefly described above. All of the primary structural elements of an MBA program were focal issues during the redesign process. The next section of this article considers the structural components of the MBA program whose radical redesign we aspired to achieve.\nProgram design framework: Structure of MBA programs\nRedesign challenges: Previous attempts over a period of at least three decades to initiate significant and measurable change at WSBE had met with disappointment and failure. Beer et al. (1990) suggested that to be successful, change must focus on the structural components of the process itself and not on the more abstract notions of top management support, participation, and culture. This supports the view held by Stewart and Kingas (2003) that cultural changes follow concrete changes. But even so, cultural changes may prove difficult to sustain. Neal and Tromley (1995) explained sustainable behavioral change is challenging because the beliefs and values that underlie organizational cultures change only slowly and require persistent effort. The longer the culture has existed, the more difficult it is to change. Since the culture at WSBE had changed little for over 30 years, the challenge would be considerable.While many of us at WSBE were concerned that the culture of the school would interfere with the change process, it was concluded that the only way to accomplish MBA Program redesign would be to focus on concrete changes and not the culture itself. In the next sections of this article, we summarize the challenges encountered while moving through the phases of our overall change process.Challenge 1: the historical failure of continuous improvement\nChanged structural component in the MBA program: Although our overarching interest in this article is to explore the challenges in developing capacities for sustainable program redesign and corresponding cultural change, the concrete objective of our real time transformation process was to redesign the MBA program for its own vitality. The 13-month redesign effort included such changes as a reduction in degree requirements, a shortened program calendar, tighter admission standards, improved student recruiting processes and revised strategies for career planning and placement.For example, the program was reduced from 19 to 16 courses and the core was condensed from 13 to 10 courses. Perhaps the most controversial element was changing the program calendar to a one-year MBA education. Courses were to start at the beginning of July and end the following June (Gloeckler, 2006; Galbraith, 2006). Admission standards were also changed to accept highly qualified recent graduates with no formal job experience. The recruiting process was dramatically changed including the addition of a full-time in-house professional. Finally, career planning and job placement processes were outsourced to a professional services firm.As shown in Figure 2, we had to make changes in our processes and practices for placement, recruiting, faculty, and program content. In the old structure, placement focused on both undergraduates and graduate students across the entire university campus with a liaison administrator based in the business school. In the new structure, we hired a placement professional dedicated to connecting our MBA students and regional organizations. Similarly, a centralized approach within the business school was previously used for recruiting new students. In the new structure a professional was hired by the business school to primarily focus on the MBA program. In addition, under the old program there was little integration of courses, and little orientation of students into the program. In the new program, integration was begun and a week-long orientation program was designed. The old structure included 13 core courses that reflected program objectives established some time ago. The new objectives required that the core be reduced to ten courses to better fit with the changing demands of our external environment. Reducing and streamlining the content of the MBA courses was a conflicted and stressful problem solving process that was resolved over many contentious focus group meetings and numerous hallway dialogues among faculty colleagues.\nDisappointments: Implementation over the first three years of the new program uncovered many problems and disappointments. Some were solved in situ while others persisted. For example, with a significantly compressed academic calendar, it became apparent that additional preparatory courses in the quantitative and accounting areas had to be added to the curriculum. It also became quite clear that younger students were inadequately prepared for the job search process. And students themselves complained that integration across the curriculum was not nearly as successful as we had hoped.In response to these problems, we made several changes. An on-line \"Foundations\" course was added during July and August. It included both accounting and quantitative modules. A two-semester internship program was required for those with insufficient business experience. Finally, additional emphasis was placed on curriculum integration, but this element is still a work in progress.Perhaps the biggest disappointment was that three faculty members - who were among those resisting the changes - continued to express their concern into the third year of the program.Cultural changes are always slow (Hofstede, 1993) and until the new behaviors become ingrained as shared values, old behaviors reemerge as soon as the pressure for change is relaxed (Kotter, 1995). When the pressure periodically lifted at WSBE, those opposed to the program and even some supporters raised the prospect of returning to the old ways. Nonetheless, a growing number of faculties began to offer their strong support of the changes that had been made.\nConcluding thoughts on sustainable planned change in business schools and MBA programs: There may be few leadership or management challenges greater than implementing ongoing change in educational institutions. Unlike an organization in the private sector, educational institutions are challenged with tenured faculty, scarce resources, confusion as to who is the customer, a strong constituency, lack of immediate concrete feedback, and in WSBE's case, exceptionally limited state funding support. But the biggest hurdle may be institutional and individual resistance to change. The challenge is then to unfreeze the status quo, but we would add a qualifier: unrelentingly. This implies becoming a permanently changing organization, one that is designed to constantly monitor itself and stimulate appropriate, ongoing variations in its strategies, structures, culture, and actions. That level of rapid flexibility requires a disciplined commitment to data, information, and knowledge - their collection, analysis, interpretation, communication, and translation into new action that enables individual and organizational vitality. The irony is that when organizations are failing and failing to recognize it, disconfirming data tend to stimulate remedial action, yet without some kind of a crisis, there seems to be a remarkable deficiency in the motivation to learn.We have witnessed the power of evidence to awaken faculty to a need for radical change. Specifically, the most important step in the effort to unfreeze the organization at WSBE was the collection and presentation of data for over 60 competitive MBA programs. Those data made it clear to the entire faculty that any illusions about the strength of the school's competitive position were unfounded and the status quo could no longer be justified.While the role of data in unfreezing an organization was perhaps our most important lesson, our second critical learning was that failures and disappointments are an inevitable element of any change process. The only way to avoid them is to do nothing at all or to move forward so slowly that we would always be leaving the program behind where it needed to be. The future challenge then becomes a matter of how we perceive and approach the normal errors, mistakes, failures, and disappointments that are components of a greater learning and development journey. That, of course, returns us to the notion of culture in organizations - the core values, attitudes, practices, and traditions that render strategy into goal achievement. One possibility for business schools is to develop a new tradition of sustainable planned change. Doing so promises to translate into self-renewal, not doing so implies stagnation, decline, or death.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to build a framework for thinking about radical program redesign as a broad, forward-looking, sustainable institutional change process rather than a traditionally narrow, periodic \"project\" aimed primarily at comparisons with past performance. The paper seeks to examine the transformational journey of a US public research university's AACSB-accredited business school during its efforts to reinvent itself for the long term after decades of unsatisfactory continuous improvement initiatives. The key success factor is developing more of a learning-oriented culture to enable ongoing performance monitoring and corresponding variations in strategies, structure, and action.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper takes the form of a qualitative case study.\nFindings: - Initiating radical change in educational institutions requires some type of crisis without which there is a remarkable deficiency in faculty members' motivation to learn. Once awakened by compelling data that disconfirm their illusions of effectiveness, a critical mass of faculty members can readily lead cultural and structural changes that enable ongoing advances in their programs and colleges. Sustainable planned change depends on a culture of disciplined commitment to data, information, and knowledge that are effectively communicated by the principal change agent and swiftly translated into new, appropriate action.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a single case study of a US business school whose cultural and political nuances may differ from non-US educational institutions, thereby limiting the value of the learning process and outcomes that are reported. In addition, the paper describes and explains a relatively short-term four-year change process whose assessment would no doubt benefit from a seven to eight-year retrospective analysis.\nPractical implications: - The paper illuminates many of the commonly observed cultural and political dynamics in educational institutions that both promoted and inhibited the faculty's progress during the redesign, and considers the faculty's future path based on perceptions about the challenges that emerged from its recent transformation. Other business school faculty can distil insight from the report to guide their own journeying.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of a very small number of theoretically grounded reports of a graduate faculty's efforts to redesign its MBA program for a creative, good fit with twenty-first century global economic realities. More and more business schools are starting to move in a similar direction to this and their faculties could gain a great deal from the experience reported here.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sticks and stones: shareholder activists in the public forum	[ "Corporate governance", "Shareholders", "Risk assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.\" How many times did you either hear, or invoke, that taunt as a child? While this common childhood phrase may have served as an effective defense mechanism when we were five years old, it may serve us significantly less well as a coping mechanism when we are at the helm of a major organization. Such an approach is essentially the equivalent of the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand; if I can't see it, it doesn't exist.\nPublic shaming: Shareholder activists have turned public shaming into a virtual art form. Activists rely on any number of techniques for utilizing their shareholder powers to effect change in organizations. Some of the more common techniques for creating public dialogue with organizations' executives and directors include direct talks either in open forums or where the content of the discussions is subsequently made available for public purview, proxy contests/shareholder resolutions, press campaigns, litigation (actual or threatened) and use of technology (for example to create a blog) to reach the general public. These techniques are often not used in isolation, depending on the nature of the issue and the actual or anticipated response from the targeted organization's leadership.The efficacy of such activism, however, has been called to question. Not surprisingly, officers and directors find the activity to be disruptive and harmful to the organization. They often claim that shareholder activists are uninformed about the organization and its activities and that responding to their demands, whether for information or action, distracts them from attending to their \"normal\" duties. These same individuals also cite academic research that demonstrates a negligible impact of shareholder activism on firm financial performance.Naturally, shareholder activists discount such claims and counter that sometimes publicly exposing officers and directors is necessary in order to serve as a catalyst for initiating needed change. Absent holding officers' and directors' feet to the proverbial fire, activists suggest that firms' strategic leaders operate largely unchecked, resulting in an environment where shareholders and their interests may or may not be the primary consideration.\nOh Henry!: Some commentators have traced the beginnings of shareholder activism to Henry Ford. In 1916 he elected to cancel Ford Motor Company's special dividend payout in order, in part, to underwrite the cost of a price reduction in the Model T. While Mr Ford owned 58 percent of the company and believed that his majority ownership position afforded him the sole discretion to make such a decision, minority shareholders John and Horace Dodge apparently disagreed. Having helped Mr Ford found his eponymous company, they planned to leverage their experience to found their own (eponymous) automobile manufacturing firm. As 10 percent owners of Ford Motor Company, they had planned on the Ford dividends to finance their venture. Mssrs Dodge won a lawsuit against Ford for reinstitution of the dividends, the outcome of which is considered to be foundational law on the issue of corporate leadership's legal duty to place shareholders' interests above those of other stakeholders.It was not until the 1980s, however, that shareholder activism took strong root. It was in this era of hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts that shareholders challenged what they believed to be ineffective and inefficient management. By the following decade institutional investors had entered the activist arena focusing largely on corporate governance reforms such as the repeal of poison pills and anti-takeover provisions. Today, hedge funds are central actors in shareholder activism and they will not be denied their voice.\nLike wine and cheese, better with age: Shareholder activism continues to gain traction and activists continue to perfect their approaches for targeting companies. One approach to activism that persists due to its effectiveness is the public naming (shaming) of companies. An early artist in this genre of activism was the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). As one of the largest pension funds, when CalPERS talks organizations listen. While CalPERS engages in many forms of activism, they were a front runner in publishing a \"hit list\" of companies where they sought some form of change, typically related to corporate governance practice. This practice expanded to include naming specific directors for whom CalPERS would withhold votes during proxy season.Similar tactics have been employed by watchdog and advisory organizations. The Corporate Library and BoardAnalyst, for example, also publicize lists of \"problem\" directors. Other agencies (e.g. Standard & Poor's, Morningstar) publish governance ratings based on firms' governance practices and structure. Examples of how board members might find themselves targeted, individually or as a firm, include:bankruptcy filing;impending insolvency;major litigation;regulatory infractions;restatements;poor board attendance;accelerated vesting of options;excessive severance payments; or*directors' refusal to declassify the board, defuse poison pills, or replace plurality voting with majority voting.These public efforts are apparently effective. Under the leadership of Sheila Wellington, former Catalyst president, Catalyst published detailed accounts of organizations that either excelled at or failed in placing women in top leadership positions. Powerful companies such as General Electric Co. (GE) took note. As reported in Business Week (April 16, 2007, p. 34), GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, \"cringed\" when the New York Times, based on a Catalyst report, identified GE as having no female top officers. Several years later, GE was noted for the company's promotion of women. Similar approaches have been equally effective with corporate board members. Clearly, public shaming can have a positive impact - or at least serve as a catalyst (no pun intended) for change.\nResponse team to the ready: With activism seemingly here to stay, officers and directors need to anticipate the company's points of vulnerability for attack and have an action plan in place. Ultimately, it is the board's responsibility to ensure that the firm has a well-thought-out approach for responding to any instance of public shaming.The first element of any action plan is to have a plan in place. Failure to anticipate being the target of public shaming by an activist organization or group places firm leadership in a reactive mode. Not only is this likely to negatively impact the quality of any response when the organization is targeted, but it may also lead to delays in organizational responses, further eroding stakeholders' confidence in the targeted firms' strategic leaders. To borrow from an oft repeated quote, failure to plan is planning to fail.A second consideration for directors is determining who is on the response team. This is a critical step for controlling information flows. Directors and officers will need to decide which individuals bring relevant expertise to a shareholder activist engagement. These individuals will comprise the core group of organizational members developing any response or communication plan.Additionally, most situations will benefit from having a clearly designated individual or group of individuals who serve as the actual contact point for all information and/or communications with activists or other external parties. This enables the company to deliver a consistent, unified message. With multiple points of contact within the firm, the likelihood of inappropriate or inaccurate information being shared with the firm's stakeholders significantly increases. Whether the \"point person\" is the CEO, board chairperson, or another executive matters less than having designated someone to fill this role.Thirdly, directors will want to follow the mantra taught to children as they first learn how to safely cross roadways: stop, look, listen. A key element of any response plan should include fact gathering. Just as we encourage children to pause at the curb, look both ways, and listen for traffic, directors and officers will want to take the time to absorb the facts of the situation when faced with public shaming and they must ensure that they listen to activists' concerns. They will then be in a better position to acknowledge receipt of the intended message and provide an appropriate response.A critical task of the response team will also be prioritizing the importance of any public shaming. Clearly, some circumstances will require greater effort in response than others. Should the company find itself, for example, at the top of CalPERS' \"hit list\" of companies in which CalPERS is seeking governance reforms, it is best to pay attention. What we do not recommend, however, is no response or a purely defensive \"sticks and stones\" response under any circumstances. Yes, some shareholder activists will have greater strategic importance to the firm than others, but all shareholder groups deserve an acknowledgement of their concerns, at a minimum.\n(Un)intended consequences: Companies that engage with those organizations and groups that target them may, in a rather ironic twist, realize ancillary benefits. Catalyst, for example, has recently halted its historical practice of specifically identifying companies that do not promote the advancement of women to the executive suite. Catalyst president Ilene Lang has commented that company-by-company breakdowns involve too much time and effort and that such public shaming is of little value (Business Week, April 16, 2007, p. 34). Perhaps it is simply a coincidence that among the organizations that would appear on a list of corporations with no women among the top paid senior officers are several of Catalyst's member organizations that through their annual corporate memberships fund Catalyst's annual operating budget.While we appreciate Ms Lang's defense of this change in practice that Catalyst exists to serve its members, we confess to some curiosity regarding whether by serving its fee-paying members it can also effectively remain true to its mission \"to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work.\" Catalyst owes its prominence largely to its willingness to publicly identify those organizations that are lean on female representation in the upper echelon. While we appreciate the need to protect the organization's financial situation, we hope that the new policy at Catalyst is simply an unintended consequence of thoughtful consideration of how to best meet the organization's mission and not a reflection of the often complex interplay between those doing the counting and those doing the accounting.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper discusses shareholder activists in the public forum.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This as a viewpoint paper in which the authors discuss the roles played by shareholder activists in the public forum.\nFindings: - There are a variety of responses that companies may take in response to activism.\nOriginality/value: - The authors present some strategies for dealing with shareholder activists and shareholder groups.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Buyer behavior and procedural fairness in pricing: exploring the moderating role of product familiarity	[ "Pricing policy", "Fair value", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Buyers assume that price fairness is an inherent component of economic transactions. Thus, when evaluating a product, buyers implicitly identify with an established social norm that the product will be priced fairly (Maxwell, 1999). Unless an explicit violation of the social norm occurs, the assumption that products are priced fairly tempers the degree to which buyers use judgments of price fairness to form behavioral intentions. Recent research supports this idea. Xia et al.'s (2004) study suggests that judgments of price equality typically do not trigger fairness perceptions but judgments of price inequality always trigger perceptions of unfairness (Xia et al., 2004).In the present research we explore a condition under which buyers may be more versus less likely to invoke an established norm of procedural fairness in forming behavioral intentions. Specifically, we focus on how a buyer's familiarity with a product influences the salience of procedural fairness judgments when forming purchase intentions. Past research supports the idea that product familiarity plays a critical role in facilitating comparisons that lead to fairness judgments. Here, familiarity with the product is tested as a moderator of the influence of fairness on willingness to buy. The focus on product familiarity answers Xia et al.'s (2004) recent call for research on the interplay between established social norms and consumers' knowledge.\nFairness in the marketplace: Buyers compare their outcomes with other buyers and fairness judgments are a result of such comparisons (Xia et al., 2004). Fairness judgments give rise to emotions that manifest themselves as consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the seller and/or the product. Past research by Campbell (1999) and Okun (1981) suggests that lack of fairness on the part of sellers leads to lost sales. Sellers with this understanding take great care to follow the norm of fairness consistently when pricing consumer products. The failure of Amazon.com's price experiments and Coke's attempt to introduce a variable price vending machine are widely cited as instances of consumers' retaliation following perceived violations of fair pricing norms (Adamy, 2000; Cox, 2001; Hays, 1999).Consumer fairness perceptions are composed of both distributive and procedural components (Deutsch, 1985; Thibaut and Walker, 1975). Thus, it is expected that a consumer who finds that others paid less money for the same service should feel upset and angry over the perceived inequality. In this case, anger is an emotion that arises from a judgment of distributive fairness pertaining to the final price. Fairness also manifests itself through its procedural component. For example, consider that an airline representative charged two passengers different prices because of differences in their weights. The fairness judgment of the passenger charged a higher price includes an assessment of the seller's principle that led to the unequal outcomes.Both components of fairness are relevant in assessments of overall fairness in a purchase scenario. However, information leading to judgments of distributive fairness is difficult for consumers to access because it necessitates knowledge of sellers' costs which are not always well-known (Xia et al., 2004). In contrast, procedural fairness norms are socially established making explicit comparisons with other referents unnecessary. For instance, if a seller refused to honor his/her word about a price-matching guarantee, the fact that the seller had previously honored or dishonored other consumers' claims is likely irrelevant to the current judgment of procedural fairness. Of course, if a buyer were to learn that a seller had previously honored a similar claim, the perceived deviation from of the norm would be greater. However, because of the pervasiveness of buyers' understandings of fair pricing norms, such an explicit comparison with another buyer is not necessary to establish judgments of procedural fairness. The present study addresses the procedural component of fairness judgments.\nProduct familiarity and social norms: When forming behavioral intentions, buyers assess multiple product attributes and various situational cues (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987). The nature of this assessment is influenced, at least in part, by a buyer's level of product category knowledge (Park and Lessig, 1981). Specifically, differences in product category knowledge lead to differences in both the number of attributes assessed in a product evaluation, and the importance placed on those attributes. A buyer who has a great deal of product knowledge likely considers several attributes when making a purchase decision. In contrast, a buyer with meager or no product knowledge may only rely on a few readily available cues that signal the integrity of a deal (Brucks, 1985; Rao and Monroe, 1989). Additionally, the weights assigned to attributes change as buyers' knowledge of various attributes changes. Past research suggests that buyers who are more knowledgeable are not only more selective in the information they examine, but also have a better understanding of the attributes that will lead to an optimal choice than buyers who are less knowledgeable (Cowley and Mitchell, 2003).This suggests that even when product attribute information is available, a buyer with no prior knowledge may not process such information efficiently. Nevertheless, even consumers with no prior knowledge of intrinsic attributes require some indication of overall quality of the product before making a purchase decision. Past research has shown that buyers with low product knowledge use the only available cue and place considerable weight on that cue to make a decision (Park and Lessig, 1981). In such an instance, more readily available cues such as those signaling adherence to established social norms might become salient indicators of overall attitudes toward the product. This is not to say that social norms do not concern a well-informed consumer. Instead, uninformed buyers are likely to attach greater weight to cues signaling adherence to an established social norms than well-informed buyers because for the former such cues are the only indicators of the integrity of a deal. Conversely, for well-informed buyers, fairness is only one of several attributes that influence the overall attitude toward the product. Individual differences in the salience attached to fairness may exist. However, it is proposed here that all else being equal, less knowledgeable consumers are more likely than well-informed consumers to use procedural fairness for forming overall intentions to purchase.Pricing research also considers perceptions of quality and value to be important indicators of buyers' attitudes toward products (Zeithaml, 1988). In order to provide a more coherent analysis of the role of procedural fairness in influencing buying behavior it is potentially interesting to explore how perceptions of quality and value are influenced by procedural fairness. Because quality is an objective assessment of product attributes, we expect buyers who are a priori more familiar with the product attributes to make more accurate judgments of a product's attributes. This is consistent with Rao and Sieben's (1992) findings that those who are more knowledgeable about a product can judge a product's quality more accurately. In contrast, we expect that buyers who are unfamiliar with the product attributes will tie their judgments of product quality to the more readily available and universally understood norm of procedural fairness.Two components of value are considered in pricing research; acquisition value and transaction value (Grewal et al., 1998). Acquisition value represents a ratio of objective benefits to objective costs, whereas transaction value represents the goodness of the deal and is based on factors other than objective attributes of the product. We expect that acquisition value will vary only in response to product familiarity but not procedural fairness because those who are more familiar with a product will be more likely to evaluate benefits versus costs regardless of the integrity of a seller's pricing tactics. In contrast, we expect transaction value to be impacted solely by perceptions of procedural fairness. This is consistent with Thaler's (1985) argument that fairness is an important component of transaction utility. Thus, those who perceive a seller's pricing tactics to be procedurally fair will perceive transaction utility to be higher than those who perceive a seller's pricing tactics to be procedurally unfair. We tested these arguments in an experiment the details of which are presented next.\nMethodology: Design\nData analysis and results: Manipulation check\nDiscussion and managerial implications: The results of this study suggest that in certain circumstances marketing managers should adhere to established social norms when pricing consumer products. Specifically, the results suggest that procedural fairness is particularly important for sellers of new-to-the-world consumer products and consumer products with low product involvement. The results also attest to the importance of making product information available to buyers but hint at caution in relying solely on quality cues for buyers with varying levels of product familiarity.When marketing new-to-the-world consumer products marketers can assume that consumer knowledge is low across all segments of the market. For instance, at the time of its product launch, consumer knowledge of the Segway Gyroscopic Scooter was low because no such product previously existed. In such circumstances, buyers have no prior referent to judge the integrity of a deal. Attributes based on established social norms are therefore particularly important. As such, managers should take care to adhere as closely as possible to established social norms when pricing new-to-the-world products.Marketers often target their communication efforts to audiences with varying levels of product category involvement. In forming intentions to purchase, highly involved consumers access and process a considerable amount of product information. In contrast, consumers with low product category involvement rely on fewer but salient cues, which may not be indicative of objective product quality, in forming product judgments and purchase intentions. The results of the present study suggest that perceptions of procedural fairness are more critical for consumers with low product category involvement than for consumers with high product category involvement.If social norms are relied on in the absence of adequate knowledge of product attributes, buyers with less product knowledge may be vulnerable to quality-related scams. This concern is heightened when one considers that buyers intrinsically trust sellers to adherence to accepted social norms. From the perspective of retailers who carry high-quality products in categories that require significant customer knowledge this finding also suggests that objective quality alone may not influence buying decisions for novice buyers. Such buyers may not process objective quality cues efficiently. Therefore, objective quality cues may need to be complemented explicitly with cues signaling fairness and other well-established social norms in order to provide naive buyers alternate signals to the integrity of an exchange.\nLimitations and future research: In this study product knowledge was manipulated. Although a precedent for such experimental manipulation exists in recent research (Cowley and Mitchell, 2003), external validity may be improved if product knowledge were measured instead of manipulated. Future research using a quasi-experimental design could test the study's hypothesis in a more realistic setting. However, the challenge remains to find a product that may be familiar to some and not familiar to others.The present study also lacks process measures that conclusively point to an intentional retaliation by low familiarity customers when they are treated unfairly. Although empirical results point to the significant difference in intention to purchase between low and high familiarity participants in the unfair condition, further research can introduce participants to scenarios involving violations of social norms and interview them to study what thoughts pervade buyers' minds under such conditions.As with any study conducted in a laboratory setting, a limitation of the present study is that presenting the high familiarity subjects with information about how to buy DVRs may have prompted them to engage in the buying scenario more intently, thereby leading to greater intentions to purchase. Although the pattern of participants' perceived quality across familiarity and fairness provides evidence against this argument, future research can guard against this by including multiple products in the stimulus material and varying product knowledge between groups such that within one group participants are familiar with one product and unfamiliar with another. Such a design will allow researchers to analyze results for just one product thereby reducing any potential demand effects created by the familiarity manipulations.Although the limitations of the study preclude a definitive statement regarding the use of fairness cues, the results expand the current state of knowledge of product familiarity and procedural fairness and direct a path for potentially useful future research. It is hoped that the issues addressed spur further investigation of various social norms and the extent to which different buyers utilize them in their decision making.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research proposes studying how consumers' familiarity with products impacts the degree to which consumers are sensitive to a seller's violation of procedural fairness norms in pricing. Past research has either studied the role of familiarity or the role of fairness in influencing consumer behavior. However, it is unclear how familiarity and fairness combine to influence consumer behavior. The present research proposes filling this gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An experiment is designed to manipulate consumers' perceptions of procedural fairness of a seller's pricing tactic, and consumers' levels of familiarity with a product. Each variable is manipulated to be either high or low. Thus, outcomes are observed for four purchase conditions.\nFindings: - Results indicate that the degree to which consumers rely on procedural fairness to evaluate a product is related to consumers' level of familiarity with a product. Consumers who are less familiar with a product are more likely to rely on procedural fairness to form purchase intentions. Also, unlike their more knowledgeable counterparts, consumers who are less familiar with a product are more likely to equate procedural fairness with perceived quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research stresses the need to differentiate between the roles played by procedural and distributive fairness in shaping consumer behavior. The authors study only procedural fairness, but a natural next step for future research is to study simultaneously the role of both facets of fairness.\nPractical implications: - The results of our study underscore the importance of following procedural fairness norms especially for retailers who deal in product categories where the pace of innovation is so rapid that it creates a large dispersion in knowledge of product attributes among consumers. The study' findings suggest that in such situations, consumers may rely excessively on cues that signal a seller's adherence to or violation of social norms relevant to business practices. Thus, the authors encourage sellers to monitor keenly levels of product knowledge among their customer base. This would enable sellers to identify situations that merit an enhanced sensitivity to upholding social norms such as procedural fairness.\nOriginality/value: - The paper brings to attention the interaction between consumers' familiarity with a product and procedural fairness in pricing. Although an expectation of procedural fairness underlies all exchanges this research identifies consumers' familiarity as a variable that influences the degree to which procedural fairness is relied on in shaping consumer behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The way toward a new entrepreneurial balance in business succession processes: The case of management buy-ins	[ "Family business", "SME", "Acquisitions", "Entrepreneurship", "Organizational change", "D83", "L25", "L26", "M13" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Basic problem and research gap: Business succession is among the most critical issues of family business research (De Massis et al., 2008; Hatak and Roessl, 2016). Up until now, family business research has been largely focused on family-internal business succession (Howorth et al., 2007; Durst and Gueldenberg, 2010; Banno and Sgobbi, 2016; Chalus-Sauvannet et al., 2016; Lopez-Fernandez et al., 2016; Odom et al., 2019). Family-internal business succession refers to members of the managing and/or owning family taking over the firm. However, such family-internal business succession is entirely different (Wright et al., 2018) in its nature compared to situations of non-family members acquiring the company. The latter variant describes the family-external business succession. The research focus on family-internal successions does not perfectly reflect developments in European countries as to the proportion of family-internal vs family-external business succession: e.g. in Germany approximately 40 percent of family businesses between 2002 and 2008 were handed over to external parties (Hauer et al., 2010). More recent data support the notion of external business succession becoming more important (Bayerisches Staatsministerium fur Wirtschaft, Energie und Technologie, 2018), which also applies to Austria and Switzerland (Mandl et al., 2008; Halter, 2009).\n2. Conceptual foundations: As has been mentioned above and following the call of Nordqvist et al. (2013), the present paper deals with business succession processes that entail a change in both ownership and management. Thus, by drawing on Aronoff et al. (2003) and Haunschild et al. (2010) business succession is being defined here as follows.\n3. Development of research propositions: Given the lack of extensive theories as to the business succession process, it seems suitable to develop a conceptual framework through which assumed relationships among factors can be structured (Miles and Huberman, 1994). A starting point for a reference theory has been sought that allows coping with the temporal and multi-level character of family-external succession processes and incorporates the reasoning of business succession as an entrepreneurial act (Freiling, 2008). Such behavior is attainable under conditions of stakeholders' possession of at least partly incomplete information. Moreover, as Dosi and Nelson (1994) note, successful outcomes stemming from innovation relate to a market process and disequilibrium. Furthermore, differences among decision makers such as owner-managers are often accompanied by differences in actual decisions being pursued (Dosi and Nelson, 1994). Following this discussion, this paper rests on a subjectivist position.\n4. Methodology: Due to under-researched nature of the topic, attempting to uncover informants' views on the business succession process and acquiring relevant information (Gioia and Pitre, 1990) is vital for this study. Thus, a qualitative method is perceived as viable (Maxwell, 2005). Even more so, a deductive-inductive research approach seems to match the situation. It allows exploring the process of family-external business succession by following some deductively pre-structured conceptual points of reference and making use of them as guidance for the data collection (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Still, the inductive part guarantees an openness toward unanticipated insights, categories or relationships which is useful due to the under-researched nature of the phenomenon (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007).\n5. Empirical results: Pre-succession phase: background information\n6. Discussion of results: In the paper, we utilize the multi-functional approach to entrepreneurship theory and subsequently conceptualized entrepreneurial behavior based on the four entrepreneurial functions. This led to the beneficial usage of both exploitation and exploration matters of entrepreneurship (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Through the utilization of the multi-functional approach it became possible to operationalize the construct of entrepreneurial behavior and to generate theoretical propositions in a deductive way. Afterwards, these propositions underwent a first reality check and were modified or specified if needed. In addition, the study gives rise to various main findings based on the empirical data and two expert validations. The following overview lists factors influencing a family business' entrepreneurial behavior during the process of external business succession.\n7. Limitations and implications: The study is one of the very few to empirically explore the process of family-external business succession in a way that is both multi-level and considering the temporal dimension. The development, testing and subsequent modification of the propositions listed above are connecting points for future research on family-external succession processes. Nevertheless, by setting sail to this under-researched phenomenon there various concessions in both theoretical and empirical regards.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the under-researched family-external business succession process. It makes use of entrepreneurship theory in order to conceptualize this temporal process. This allows for an operationalization of entrepreneurial functions and tracking them during the two main phases of such processes. This study provides a starting point for further endeavors into researching family-external succession processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on an explorative, quasi-longitudinal, qualitative and multiple case-study approach. It became possible to create trust with stakeholders in three family firms and to conduct face-to-face interviews with a total of 12 interviewees, generating over 300 transcript pages. The case interviews were validated through two expert interviews. A priori research propositions were tested and modified, if deemed necessary.\nFindings: Entrepreneurial functions during the two main phases of the process seem to be carried out and aligned depending on several influencing factors: delegation of responsibilities from owner-managers to qualified employees; incumbent owner-managers being heavily involved in the succession's facilitation and neglecting some entrepreneurial functions; and as a result new owner-managers being forced to prioritize certain functions in the second phase.\nOriginality/value: This paper benefits from a rather unique access to three family firms undergoing succession in the DACH-region. Therefore, it became possible to study the family-external succession process by including various stakeholders involved. Such an inclusion of perspectives has been suggested by family business scholars for a long time.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship between logistic service and maintenance costs of warehouses	[ "Facilities management", "Logistics", "Maintenance costs", "Regression analysis", "Warehouses", "Distribution management", "Maintenance", "Italy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organisations are typically reluctant to spend in order to maintain built industrial assets. Even in good economic times, the cost of maintaining the building and systems parts of the workplace is considered disliked and unavoidable burden in reaching minimum acceptable standards for the purpose of running business operations (Chew et al., 2004). While appropriate budgets for the maintenance of manufacturing plant and materials handling equipment are considered of vital importance for the business, the maintenance conditions of the industrial building become critical to managers only at the point in time that the obsolescence gap is so large as to be no longer able to support industrial operations, with subsequent impact on the performance of the business (Jones and Sharp, 2007).Therefore, except for extreme cases of ultimate disrepair and non-compliance with health and safety legislation, it is difficult for organisations to perceive the level of spending on maintaining the building components of industrial facilities as a crucial success factor. Indeed, the issues associated with the relationship between building maintenance and industrial activities are struggling to integrate fully into the business strategy of manufacturing and logistics organisations.However, the increased number of assets to be maintained, escalating built asset maintenance costs in absolute terms and tightening legislation are forcing many companies to re-analyse the role of maintenance in profitability, efficiency and competitiveness (Cooke, 2003). Above all, this has to concern vertical retailers, distributors, and logistic service providers that do not operate large manufacturing equipment, but rather run a number of core-business warehouse facilities with rising building maintenance costs.Nevertheless, building maintenance does not receive enough management attention because of the belief that the associated costs cannot be easily controlled (Lofsten, 1999). Also, the correlations between maintenance and business performance are not fully explored in either the professional or research literature.With the purpose of filling the research gap and contributing with insights to field knowledge, the research that underpins this paper is aimed at exploring the links between FM and operational performance. The specific objective is to prove that the cost of warehouse building maintenance is related to the performance of the logistic business, together with other relevant operational factors. This suggests that facility management (FM) professionals within organisations can effectively contribute to enhancing business performance by designing appropriate maintenance strategies and implementing effective maintenance actions to keep warehouses in a satisfactory condition.This statement is inferred from a statistical study of empirical data from a number of Italian warehouses leased by a leading global shipment and logistic service provider. (For the purposes of anonymity, details cannot be stated here.)The paper is structured as follows. The next section is a brief review of existing research exploring the relationships between maintenance and business service level. Then, we discuss the design of the study, the empirical analysis and the main results. Finally, conclusions and practical implications are drawn together with limitations and future research directions.\n2. Background research: Organisations are becoming interested in examining the relationship between building maintenance costs and the results of operating activities and in affirming the role that improved maintenance management can play in enhancing the organisation's ability to compete in a demanding market (Stoy, 2007).To this end, various frameworks are available in the literature for either measuring business performance or assessing the value of maintenance strategies in industrial facilities. However, very few are focused on understanding the impact of maintenance and FM on business operations. The following is a brief review of some of the methods available in these areas of research.2.1 Assessing the logistics service level performance\n3. Empirical analysis: 3.1 Case study\nConclusions: As anticipated by managerial thinking, our study demonstrates that a few variables that are inherently associated with the operational characteristics of the logistics business are significant factors in improving the outbound service level for a logistics provider: the lower the outgoing freight volumes, the lower the inbound service level, the higher the pick-up and delivery productivity, and the greater the handling productivity, the higher the maintenance cost, the better the service level performance (i.e. reduced number of late deliveries).In contrast, incoming items per square meter, vehicles/docks, and customer satisfaction do not appear to be significant factors. In fact, the results show that the vehicle-to-dock ratio in a distribution warehouse does not affect service punctuality: however, we have found that the vehicle fleet is a relevant factor, so we can deduce that the number of docks in a warehouses does not influence the OSL. Also, customer satisfaction, as a measure of perceived service by customers, does not affect the actual outbound service level.In conclusion, this means that to improve the logistic business performance it is important to:* appropriately design the layout of the warehouse, considering that space assigned to incoming freight does not influence the delivery service, whereas space for outgoing traffic is a relevant factor;* effectively execute vehicle routing and to determine the proper number of vehicles; and* efficiently use the productivity of human resources.In addition, an original finding is that maintenance cost is a significant driver of the outbound service level performance. As a practical implication, we recommend that warehouse managers should avoid considering maintenance expenditure merely as a necessary evil (Moua and Russell, 2001), but rather as a supporting system for the purpose of improving the performance of logistics operations. Through the definition of an appropriate level of FM spending, the building components of the logistics facility can be maintained not only to preserve the functional and economic value of the asset, but also to assure the conditions for running a competitive business.However, this work has some limitations. First, the implications of the model might not be applicable in other geographical areas, so any general extension of the lessons learned will need a similar analysis of data gathered in countries other than Italy.Second, due to the dynamic and changeable nature of traffic volumes, it would be better for data to be recorded over a longer period of time rather than just one year. Indeed, the fact that the year 2009 was a period of low traffic because of the global economic crisis permits us to state that our findings are corroborated. Developing our analysis in a period of high traffic flows would have resulted in even more significant relationships.Finally, the regression analysis R2 values suggest that a percentage of the variation is still unexplained.It is to overcome these issues that we are contemplating future research.Despite its limitations, this work is still proved valid, and supports the notion that increased investment to preserve the maintenance status of the building and service components of warehouses is very likely to lead to improved performances of the logistics service level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to prove that maintenance cost of warehouses is correlated to the performance of the logistic business, together with other relevant operational factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The relationships between indicators of logistic service level performance are examined using a linear regression analysis of a dataset collected from a number of distribution facilities operated by a leading global freight provider throughout Italy.\nFindings: - Expenditures in building maintenance contribute to improve the punctuality of deliveries with resulting improved quality of customer service.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further research may gainfully generalise the model by examining other geographical areas and longer observation periods.\nPractical implications: - It is suggested that logistic buildings have to be maintained not only to preserve the functional and economic value of the asset, but also to strengthen the competitive advantage of the logistic business.\nOriginality/value: - The business performance is very likely to be influenced not only by variables related to the business process, but also by non-operational factors, such as warehouse building performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategizing and organizing in the innovation process: An innovizing perspective applied to a multimedia firm	[ "Practices", "Organizing", "Innovation process", "Innovizing", "Strategizing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In his seminal article, Whittington (2003) laid the theoretical foundations of a strategizing/organizing (S/O) duality. The term \"strategizing\" refers to continuous processes that ensure daily business strategy operations, such as strategic planning, monitoring and resource allocation. The term \"organizing\" refers to continuous processes that define and organize the daily operations of a firm, including the efforts of internal resources to maintain, create and develop these activities (e.g. stakeholder coordination, internal structural practices). Whittington viewed strategizing and organizing as two interrelated processes, distinct from traditional approaches that treat them separately. The S/O duality has become a major research challenge in current strategy as practice (SAP). Consequently, Whittington stressed the importance of developing a research agenda to empirically explore the making process of this duality. Considerable research has helped identify the practices and/or practitioners involved in the process of strategizing and organizing. However, many questions remain unanswered. Among these are the making process of this duality, the precise locations of this process in the firm and the skills or the tools and techniques required.\nStrategizing and organizing through an innovation perspective: The SAP has gained considerable momentum in recent years (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007). Its objective is to refine the understanding of strategy making, notably through a processual approach of practices (Johnson et al., 2003). However, this research agenda remains broad, and the lack of empirical validation marks the main limitation. In addition, research involving practices has focused on strategy or organization, but rarely both, and the arrangement and dynamics of the relationship between strategizing and organizing practices remain unknown. The processual analysis used to study the S/O duality remains also to deepen because to the best of our knowledge, no study identifies the various stages of the making process of the S/O duality. Thus, to address these limitations, we propose to use the processual analysis (Pettigrew, 1997) by mobilizing the analytical framework of the innovation process.\nMethodology: Kamafu case study: This research focuses on a single company, Kamafu[2], which resides on the outskirts of several cultural industries: video games, animation movies, publishing, Internet and events. Our interest in studying a company in this sector lies in the innovation dynamics of the cultural product: the combination of art and industrial challenges involves (for actors) many decisions regarding strategizing, organizing and the innovation-making process. Therefore, it is a suitable environment to analyze and identify practices in the S/O duality.\nStrategizing and organizing practices in the innovation process: In this section, we present the results of our single case study in two stages:\nDiscussion: In light with results, we discuss two elements:\nConclusion: The objective of this research was to analyze the strategizing and organizing practices in the innovation process. Our case study highlights the role of phases in this process that allocate administrative, discursive and episodic practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the strategizing and organizing practices in the innovation process by using a processual approach. Three types of practices are examined: discursive, episodic and administrative. Their arrangement and their influence are also studied in the innovation process. The final objective is to understand the making process of the strategizing/organizing (S/O) duality, which remains today one of the major challenges of the strategy-as-practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a longitudinal and qualitative methodology applied to a single case study. Primary data are based on 18 semi-directive interviews during a three-year period. Secondary data came from various meeting and reports, Web sites, newspapers and newsletters.\nFindings: The results show that strategizing and organizing practices are preconditioned by the phases of the innovation process. In the idea generation, commercialization and diffusion phases, strategizing takes precedence over the organizing, whereas in the R\nPractical implications: This research offers guidance to practitioners of innovation who want to attain a deeper understanding of the innovation-making process and its close ties with strategizing and organizing.\nOriginality/value: The authors empirically validate the making process of the S/O duality and examine the theoretical and empirical relevance of an innovizing concept, when the innovation-making process implicitly generates the production of a new inseparable S/O duality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prevalence and growth characteristics of Bacillus sporothermodurans in UHT milk	[ "Bacillus sporothermodurans", "UHT milk" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Some UHT milk processing plants often experience contamination with Bacillus sporothermodurans, which are detected in some commercialised UHT milk packages (Tabit and Buys, 2011). B. sporothermodurans spores have been found to possess high thermal resistance, with D140 ranging from 3.4 to 7.9 seconds; hence, the ability of this species to survive UHT processing (Huemer et al., 1998). Although B. sporothermodurans are not pathogenic, their presence in UHT milk packages constitutes a quality problem that can cause considerable economic losses (Scheldeman et al., 2002). B. sporothermodurans can grow at pH ranging from 5.7 to 6.8, without affecting the pH of milk substantially (Pettersson et al., 1996; Klijn et al., 1997). Proteolysis in milk can be due to the presence of extracellular bacterial proteases that can resist UHT treatment, resulting in a bitter flavour and age gelation of milk during storage (Topcu et al., 2006). The growth of most Bacillus strains in milk often result in the production of extracellular and intracellular proteinase that can exhibit proteolytic activity in milk (Chen et al., 2004).\n2. Materials and methods: Retail UHT milk\n3. Results: Prevalence of B. sporothermodurans in UHT milk\n4. Discussion: B. sporothermodurans contamination was generally prevalent in retail UHT milk, but inconsistent contamination and growth patterns make it difficult to predict period of high contamination across the seasons, as in the case of Bacillus cereus (Vissers et al., 2007). With Bacillus cereus, it has been estimated that a 99 per cent reduction in contamination can be achieved during the grazing period, if all farms minimise teat contamination and optimise cleaning (Vissers et al., 2007). The highest B. sporothermodurans counts in contaminated UHT milk packages were recorded in Summer and Autumn, and this coincides with the period of high grazing activities in South Africa, during which the growth activity of the vegetation is high (Du Toit et al., 2011). The fact that B. sporothermodurans was detected (at a threshold of 0 cfu/10 ml of UHT milk sample) in the UHT milk packages of 50 per cent of retail brands, across the different seasons, implies that B. sporothermodurans contamination was prevalent. The finding of this study is similar to that of a previous research, in which B. sporothermodurans was detected in six out of ten different brands of UHT milk packages analysed (Busatta et al., 2005).\n5. Conclusion: This study inquired into some of the quality changes that can occur in UHT milk due to the growth of B. sporothermodurans. The contamination of retail UHT milk packages by B. sporothermodurans was found to be prevalent. The growth of B. sporothermodurans in spiked UHT milk reached a maximum of 1.9x105 cfu/ml, but significant proteolytic activity in UHT milk, due to B. sporothermodurans, only occurred long after the exponential growth phase had been attained. Furthermore, the growth of B. sporothermodurans in UHT milk did not lead to significant changes in the headspace volatiles profiles of spiked UHT milk samples. Proteolytic activity in retail UHT milk packages contaminated with B. sporothermodurans was significantly higher when the use-by dates had been reached. The findings of this study may be of interest to UHT processors because it raises the awareness that UHT milk contaminated with B. sporothermodurans may not have the same storage stability for extended duration when compared to those not contaminated with B. sporothermodurans. More studies need to be conducted to determine the effect of B. sporothermodurans induced proteolysis in milk on the structure and functional properties of casein micelle in milk after long-term storage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence of Bacillus sporothermodurans in UHT milk brands in South Africa and to analyse the level of proteolysis in UHT milk due to the growth of B. sporothermodurans during short-term and long-term storage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Different brands and batches of commercially available retail UHT milk packages were bought from different supermarkets, during different seasons and tested for the presence of B. sporothermodurans. Sterile UHT milk was spiked with B. sporothermodurans vegetative cells and incubated at 37degC for up to 172 hours. Total plate counts, pH, spore counts, UHT milk proteolysis and the headspace volatiles dynamics were analysed at different intervals.\nFindings: The contamination of retail UHT milk packages by B. sporothermodurans was found to be prevalent. The growth of B. sporothermodurans in spiked UHT milk reached a maximum of 1.9x105 cfu/ml; however, the significant proteolytic activity in UHT milk due to B. sporothermodurans only occurred long after the exponential growth phase had been attained. Furthermore, the growth of B. sporothermodurans in UHT milk did not lead to significant changes in the headspace volatile profiles of spiked UHT milk samples. Proteolytic activity in retail UHT milk packages, contaminated with B. sporothermodurans, was significantly higher when the use-by dates were reached.\nPractical implications: Significant proteolysis in UHT milk means the assurance of high-quality UHT milk with extended storage stability for up to 10-12 months is compromised. Proteolysis of casein may lead to rapid sedimentation in UHT milk compared to UHT milk without sedimentation.\nOriginality/value: This paper is of interest to manufacturers because it raises the awareness that UHT milk containing B. sporothermodurans may not have the same storage stability when compared those without B. sporothermodurans. The presence of B. sporothermodurans in commercial UHT milk packages may lead to international and national trade restrictions for manufacturers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A phenomenology of university service quality experience: Uncovering the essence of meaning among business undergraduates in Malaysia	[ "Higher education", "Service quality", "Descriptive phenomenology", "Service experiences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The higher education sector has undergone significant changes particularly in the last decade with intense competitive pressures from the globalised environment, reduced public funding and elevated expectations from stakeholders which give rise to the emphasis of service quality management in higher education service offering (Greenaway and Haynes, 2000; Abdullah, 2006; Smith et al., 2007; Voss et al., 2007). The growing attention given to measuring and managing service quality is also driven by its potential impact upon improved student satisfaction which leads to increased loyalty in the form of referrals (Alves and Raposo, 2007; Angell et al., 2008; Carter, 2009). This shift reflects how student consumer power is becoming the dominant driver of developments in the areas of quality assurance, curriculum design and universities' marketing efforts. Therefore, from a commercial perspective, service quality is seen as a critical factor towards an institution's sustainability and a source of competitive advantage.\nReview of literature: The meaning of quality in the service sector\nMethod of study: A phenomenological study was conducted to gain in-depth insights into service quality experiences in the higher education institutions. This method of inquiry is rarely employed in the services literature although it is considered to be essential to approach a complicated phenomenon in service experience particularly in a high-involvement setting as in the higher education context (Gronroos, 1984; Dabholkar et al., 1996). The phenomenological study is seen to be essential towards providing an in-depth understanding on the nature of USQ experience amongst undergraduate students.\nResearch findings: The analysis of the 15 protocols produced a set of themes describing the service quality experience as shared by the participants. The themes that emerged from the data analysis can be classified according to illustrated expectations which constitute their conceptual beliefs on what/how the USQ experience should be (i.e. USQ as a luxury and USQ as citizenship rights) and specific service contexts where service experience was figural (i.e. USQ as nurturing apprentices, USQ as administrative relief and USQ as utility consumption). The five themes define the essential aspects of USQ experience, although at any one moment, an individual may be aware of only one aspect of the experience. Participants were also more likely to describe their experience of USQ in terms of a combination of themes. It is to be emphasised that although each theme captures significant aspect of USQ experiences, they are not mutually exclusive and can be better understood as providing a perspective on the overall experience. The number of significant statements featured in each major theme is presented in Table II.\nDiscussion of findings: The phenomenological findings suggested that USQ is a multi-dimensional phenomenon which is complex in nature and qualitative evidence underscores the relevance of existing theories which posit that perceived quality is derived from the confirmation/disconfirmation of students' expectations (Athiyaman, 1997; Cadotte et al., 1987; Gronroos, 1984; Oliver, 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1985). The sharing of USQ experiences was often times made with reference to their initial expectations upon enrolment in the universities, which were influenced by word-of-mouth communication, the media, past educational experiences and future anticipations (i.e. associated to \"USQ as a luxury\" and \"USQ as citizenship rights\"). To some extent, an individual's state of motivational orientation prior to higher education enrolment has a bearing upon their USQ perception.\nKey implications and conclusion: Overall, the findings of this study suggest that students' service quality experiences could be understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon with students expressing context-dependent service expectations and outcomes. The complex nature of USQ evaluation inevitably poses challenges to the university service providers in service quality management. As highlighted by Berry et al. (1988), service quality issues arise when there is a discrepancy between customer expectation and the management's understanding of customer expectations. Furthermore, even if the management understands customers' expectations fully, some expectations may be perceived as unrealistic and impossible to be met. For instance, from the theme \"USQ as a luxury\", students tend to expect higher education pursuit as an upgraded lifestyle with freedom from rules and restrictions, independence and more relaxed schedules relative to high school experiences. This may seem to be an unrealistic expectation especially in higher education services where students need to labour through challenging assessments within tight deadlines and conform to university expectations. However, it is worth noting that there exists various opportunities for reducing service gaps through fulfillment of students' fundamental rights to respect, equality and safety as expressed in the theme \"USQ as citizenship rights\" and ensuring critical service contexts deliver the expected outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex nature of perceived quality by employing a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of University Service Quality (USQ) as experienced by the business undergraduate students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper employs a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of USQ from the undergraduate students' perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 business undergraduates from public universities, local private universities and a foreign branch campus in Malaysia. Data gathered were analysed using the procedure suggested by Colaizzi (1978) for descriptive phenomenological analysis.\nFindings: From the qualitative data, the essential structure of the USQ experience was constructed based on five major themes which are \"USQ as a luxury\", \"USQ as citizenship rights\", \"USQ as nurturing apprentices\", \"USQ as administrative relief\" and \"USQ as utility consumption\". The findings suggest that students' service quality experiences could be understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon with students expressing context-dependent service expectations and outcomes.\nPractical implications: The outcome of the paper highlights the nature of students' expectations which may vary according to service contexts, and their perception of self. Therefore, an integrated effort in various service domains is necessary to enhance service quality experience in higher education.\nOriginality/value: Although previously explored by Dabholkar et al. (1996) in the retail services, the phenomenological-based methodology is rather uncommon in the service quality inquiry, particularly in the higher education context. The insights gathered from the phenomenological study provided access to understanding some persistent issues in USQ such as standards of expectations and perceived role by students in the higher education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From hierarchies to networks: Possibilities and pitfalls for educational reform of the middle tier	[ "Change", "Educational policy", "Networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There have been numerous attempts to create more networked and collaborative arrangements within education systems around the world. The underpinning rationale varies from striving for more organically coherent systems (Fullan and Quinn, 2015) to creating more equitable education systems (Ainscow, 2016), and enhancing professional learning (Bryk et al., 2015) and student outcomes (Chapman and Muijs, 2014). The drive towards networking is also, in part, a recognition of the fact that although more traditional school improvement programmes and top-down national policies have demonstrated some impact, they have not succeeded in addressing inequity in performance between high and low socioeconomic (SES) schools. In Scotland, the nation on which this paper is based, with its history of strong educational performance in international comparisons, equity in attainment continues to be an \"overarching issue\" (OECD, 2015, p. 96). This paper incorporates the emergence of networks as a vehicle for equity.\nTheory: A socio-cultural approach (the emergence of the middle tier)\nUnderstanding educational reform and school improvement: developing a networked perspective at all levels: Historically, education systems tend to have been set up as bureaucratic hierarchies with schools, as single organisations, being both the key unit of delivery and the primary unit of analysis in terms of understanding improvement, judging effectiveness and formal accountability (high social regulation/high social cohesion). However, the broader context in which schools operate has changed. Understanding of the interrelationship between educational improvement, service provision and community needs has evolved as ideas about what social relations should have been changed. Rather than thinking hierarchically it has become more useful - and more culturally appropriate - to think laterally to understand improvement, effectiveness and accountability (Hargreaves, 2010; Gilbert, 2012). The framework of within-, between- and beyond-schools which was originally developed to help describe emerging forms of leadership (Chapman et al., 2008) is now helpful in the context of improvement and collective impact. Many national governments, including Scotland see the future of education as resting with self-supporting and self-improving organisations (low social regulation/high social cohesion), supported by or composed of middle tier activity.\nScotland's educational reform: building a networked system: Context\nFindings - issues, tensions and dilemmas associated with reforming the middle tier: As the developments in Scotland outlined above have evolved, key issues, tensions and dilemmas have emerged across the education system. Some were predictable; others have been unexpected. All raise questions for consideration in Scotland, and internationally, for any government facing up to the challenges of cultural and system reform. Some of these issues and dilemmas have been identified as long-term challenges within education (Ogawa et al., 1999):\nDiscussion - reflections on moving beyond hierarchies: possibilities and pitfalls: So, a complex educational reform agenda is surfacing a number of issues, tensions and dilemmas which will either accelerate or undermine the implementation of reforms. Returning to Douglas' (1982) grid group theory, its application to public service organisations (Hood, 1998) and to education in particular (Hargreaves (1995), it is possible to reflect on how these reforms may play out in practice, noting that where \"no choice\" is not an option in response to a dilemma, hard decisions may have to be made (Ogawa et al., 1999).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Historically, the school effectiveness and improvement movement has focussed its attention on \"within school\" factors associated with effectiveness and improvement and on the individual school as the primary unit of analysis for improvement and scrutiny purposes. More recently, research has focussed on school-to-school collaboration and engagement with a broader range of services and providers has highlighted the need for more adaptive and nuanced forms of collaboration and partnership. The purpose of this paper is to explore this complex landscape from the perspective of educational reform of the middle tier in Scotland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper draws on perspectives associated with socio-cultural theory, its application to public service settings and insights gained from research and evaluation outcomes over a five-year period.\nFindings: This paper focusses on the establishment of Regional Improvement Collaboratives in Scotland; an example of an attempt to generate system-wide change and a shift from the hierarchical cultures characterised by bureaucratic organisations to more egalitarian cultures characterised by mutualistic, laterally networked organisations. It highlights the importance of structure and cultural change, identity and agency, leadership capacity, outward perspectives, primacy of learning and teaching and variations and complexities in creating a more networked and collaborative education system. It offers cautions concerning potential unintended consequences in the quest to develop a \"self-improving\" or \"learning system\".\nPractical implications: This paper highlights the importance of maintaining and building social cohesion between different stakeholders within educational systems in order to support the implementation of educational reform.\nOriginality/value: This is the first documentation and reflective analysis for an ambitious reform agenda for the middle tier in Scotland. Its value lies in the lessons and considerations it offers to other systems embarking on reforms that endeavour to build more cohesive and agile education systems, without opening them up to neo-liberal approaches to education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A computer-based participatory model for customization in the UAE housing market	[ "Architecture", "Housing", "Mass customization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Introduced in the early twentieth century, mass production created the conditions for rapid expansions in modularity and repetition to the building industry. Since the 1960s, and with the integration of information technologies, digitization brought the possibility of customization. Diversity, difference, and individuality could now be implemented with the same ease as mass production. Accordingly, building components could be mass customized, allowing for optimal variances to respond to differing local conditions, and enabling the production of uniquely shaped and sized structural components.\nTheoretical background: the concept of mass customization: Salvador et al. (2009) argued that the key to success in mass customization is to view it as a process of aligning an organization with the customers' needs. In other words, mass customization is not achieved through reaching an understanding of the needs of individual customers and then manufacturing personalized goods to fit this description. Rather, it is more fundamentally about implementing technological and organizational capabilities that can direct a business toward specific goals.\nThe housing market in UAE: According to reports by Asteco (2014); a leading real estate service company in the Middle East, the housing market in the UAE has witnessed dramatic changes since the peak in 2008, to a low point in 2011/2012, reaching to recent market state in 2014 and 2015. These changes have affected the strategies by which developers approach homebuyers, and lead to creating a new relationship between sales and rental market. For instance, the end of 2014 witnessed rental properties becoming more dominant, as landlords took advantage of high tenant demand and increased their rates. Nevertheless, within this paper we focus primarily on sales market, being the one that allows for pre-sales customization.\nA comprehensive model for mass customization: Developing a system for the mass customization of housing is a multi-disciplinary process that requires different levels of expertise, and involves handling a large amount of information. The homebuyer, architect, and developer/builder are the three main participants active in the customization process. As mentioned previously, the success of a mass customization system hinges upon utilizing an efficient means of communication and data transfer within the design, sales, and construction processes, so as to engage homebuyers and manufacturers in a comprehensive dialogue.\nThe economy of customization: cost of implementation: The debate around the idea of offering customers greater control and choice, without increasing costs and complexities has signaled along with early development of mass customization as production approach. Many researchers have pointed out the need for a cultural shift to focus on long-term relationship with customers, rather than quarterly financial results. Accordingly, companies tend to develop strategies that offer limited level of customization to stay competitive, while controlling cost.\nReflections and future work: The analysis of the UAE real estate market reveals interesting growth that encourages application of cutting-edge technologies not just in construction methods, but also in new modes of integrating homebuyers in a participatory dialogue for a sustainable outcome. For instance, Estidama Guidelines-2008 call for innovation in design as a main driver toward providing performance enhancement above and beyond systems, and features in current building practices. In compliance with such a trend, the notion of participatory design allows for greater control over the process, through employing advanced technologies in design, and communication. Additionally, empowering homebuyers to become an active player in the design of their homes at early stages minimizes the need for future iteration of spaces and finishes. This can be achieved by following the concepts of modularity in design, which is a core aspect when designing for mass customization, opens new opportunities in flexibility and adaptability in design, on macro and micro levels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel framework and a systematic group of methodologies for constructing a computer-based design system that could support homebuyers' participation in the design of their dwellings in the UAE housing market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to construct the framework, the paper first presents an overview of current applications of mass customization in the realm of architecture, with focus on successful models in North America. Second, the authors analyze the housing market in the UAE, focusing on challenges and opportunities. This leads to structuring the proposed advanced configuration system based on ideas of technology transfer from other industries. Finally, the profile matching model emerges as a logical consequence of the proposed advanced configuration model.\nFindings: The analysis of the UAE real estate market reveals interesting growth that encourages application of cutting-edge technologies not just in construction methods, but also in new modes of integrating homebuyers in a participatory dialogue for a sustainable outcome. Within the study, the authors call for new roles, digital design and information management technologies can play to enable participatory design. Additionally, the authors propose a new business model that requires extensive studies of the market, and buyers/developers behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: The framework proposed in this paper is considered generic and flexible. It raises various issues regarding its applicability, specifically with regard to market readiness. One of the first challenges is possibility of gathering precise data about the housing market in UAE to measure its size and readiness. Additionally, there are also challenges in finding focused developers and builders that are ready to engage in a dialog toward adopting mass customization as a business model.\nPractical implications: Mass customization implies adopting a flexible, technology-oriented business model. This raises multiple implications: developing configuration systems, the number of design alternatives has to be limited to three or four options in order to avoid additional overhead cost; implementing a digital platform for customization requires investment in tools, systems, and accordingly operators. Higher cost associated with mass customization occur both in sales and customer interaction as well as in manufacturing; and conducting a financial framework for implementing the proposed system requires intensive market studies which is considered challenging.\nOriginality/value: The proposed framework derives its novelty by analyzing mass customization theories, technological enablers, various research endeavors in housing, and currently adopted online marketing and sales strategies in the UAE housing market. The implementation of the proposed system would represent a mile stone in the UAE housing market, being capable of redefining the process through which homebuyers, architect, and housing and developers communicate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparison-based perceived attribute performance as a better antecedent of satisfaction, value and loyalty	[ "Customer perceived value", "Importance-performance analysis", "Customer satisfaction", "Brand loyalty", "Product performance", "Attribute performance", "Brand positioning", "Comparative performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Regarding functional positioning in marketing (Bhat and Reddy, 1998), from the consumers' perspective the brand with a better positioning is the one that outperforms other brands with respect to the most relevant purchase decision attributes. Furthermore, a brand needs to ascertain the degree to which consumers perceive its level of performance, compared to other brands. Thus, a scale is required to measure the attributes of perceived performance within a group of rival brands. Current procedures of perceived performance measurement found in the literature are based mostly on non-comparative evaluations, which tend to not take clearly into consideration the consumer's perceptions of other brands when assessing a particular brand. This paper aims to show that comparative performance measurements of a brand's attributes can have an advantage over traditional methods. A brand's perceived attribute performance has been established as an important antecedent to customer satisfaction, perceived value and customer loyalty, among other variables (Busacca and Padula, 2005; Ryu et al., 2012; Beneke et al., 2013; Jin and Bennur, 2015; Chen and Ann, 2016). Therefore, perceived attribute performance plays an important role in many empirical and theoretical explanatory models dealing with brand loyalty. Perceived attribute performance can relate to either a product or a service performance. Empirical models have non-linearity issues (addressed below) involving the relationship between perceived attribute performance and other constructs (Matzler et al., 2004; Busacca and Padula, 2005; Tontini et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018). These issues may arise in part because the traditional measurement of perceived attribute performance has insufficient explanatory power over these constructs. This study investigates this gap, proposing a way to measure perceived attribute performance that may improve the statistical relationship between these variables and the expected outcomes, such as satisfaction, value and loyalty measurements, thereby reducing non-linearity.\nBackground: Functional brand positioning and product attribute performance\nResearch approach: As noted above, multi-attribute-level analysis has driven several studies that use assessment to explain other attitudinal and behavioural outcomes. Thus, overall customer satisfaction (Zeithaml et al., 1996; Matzler et al., 2004; Slevitch and Oh, 2010; Slevitch et al., 2013; Chen and Ann, 2016; Mikulic et al., 2017), customer satisfaction in different cultures (Jin and Bennur, 2015), buying preference (Sethi and Chandel, 2015), service provider choice (Mikulic et al., 2017), perceived value (Ryu et al., 2012; Beneke et al., 2013), customer loyalty (Chen and Ann, 2016), behavioural intentions over time (Mittal et al., 1999) and intention to return (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2005) among other factors have been established as consequences of the multi-attribute performance level of the products and services. In all these studies, perceived attribute performance was assessed through NCAP, which has been the standard procedure in academic marketing research.\nMethodology: To test these hypotheses, customers of two different product categories were selected. Due to its high symbolic and cultural value for Mexicans (like Scotch whisky for natives of Scotland), consumers are more invested in tequila than in liquid dishwashing detergent, a commodity used daily. Nevertheless, in this study, the moderating effect of product involvement is not tested. The two chosen product categories, that is, tequila and liquid dishwashing detergent, were only used as an example to demonstrate how the same results can be obtained in two different product categories. Thus, our sample contained n=295 Mexican tequila consumers and n=239 Mexican liquid dishwashing detergent consumers. In both cases, respondents had to be regular consumers of these products, respectively, defined as daily users of the detergent and those who identified tequila as one of their favourite alcoholic beverages, imbibed at least twice per month. In addition, testing two different product categories serves as a form of cross-validation for the results. In the questionnaire, the participants were asked to evaluate the brand they had most recently purchased for their personal use. As a form of common method bias control, all participants were made to respond to both types of items (i.e. NCAP and CAP). To reduce a possible cross-influence between these two forms of measurement, NCAP and CAP appeared in different sections and pages of the questionnaires. Specifically, NCAP items appeared at the beginning of the questionnaires, and CAP items appeared in a later section. Based on Olsen's (2002) findings, placing two groups of items in different pages/sections of a questionnaire can effectively eliminate the influence of the first group over the next group. In total, 49 per cent of the sample of tequila consumers was composed of women aged between 18 and 30 years (note: in Mexico, 18 years is the legal age for alcohol consumption). This sample was brand-controlled, that is, composed in nearly equal proportions of consumers drinking one of the three well-known, rather expensive, tequila brands (Jose Cuervo, Don Julio and Herradura). In this survey, assuring that participants were frequent drinkers of one of these brands was a way to confirm their involvement with this product category. Similarly, consumers of liquid dishwashing detergent were queried about Axion and Salvo, the two primary brands in Mexico. For this product category, the selected participants were between the ages of 25 and 55. Although this sample was originally intended to be gender-balanced, 68 per cent of the respondents were women. In both cases, participants were chosen by convenience at nearby shopping malls and universities. Although not useful for statistical extrapolation, these two samples offered an empirical test for the hypotheses. The participants selected were not representative of any specific population. Since the participants' ages guaranteed that they were frequent buyers and consumers of the two products, sample selection was simplified.\nMeasurements: A set of relevant purchase decision attributes was determined to measure products' comparison-based and non-comparison-based perceived performances. To detect these attributes, a preliminary study was conducted, wherein unstructured, in-depth, one-to-one interviews for each product category were conducted. Interviews were held with consumers for each product category, with the same characteristics as the samples described above. For each product category, 20 consumers were interviewed. Interviews were designed using projective questions to maximise the flow of information and to generate conditions for attributes in a natural, unforced form during the interview. An example of the type of projective question used in these interviews is as follows: \"What would the perfect liquid dishwashing detergent be like for you?\" The items developed for these attributes are presented in Tables II-V.\nResults and conclusions: Regression analyses were used to test the first three hypotheses (H1-H3), concerning whether either NCAP or CAP had the greater effect on the dependent variables (satisfaction, functional value and loyalty). With six-factor analyses (one for each construct within each product category), the items for each of the dependent variables were reduced to a single factor (Table I). This made it possible to obtain a single dependent latent variable for each of the regression models. Thus, a single factor was extracted in all six cases (three dependent variables for each product category). In these six-factor analyses, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficients revealed high levels of explanation (for detergent: satisfaction: 0.86, value: 0.79 and loyalty: 0.88; and for tequila: satisfaction: 0.94, value: 0.92 and loyalty: 0.96). Significant p-values under 0.01 in the Bartlett test made it possible to work with a single factor for each of the six groups of observed dependent variables. Since there are independency issues among the items of attribute product performance, single CAP and NCAP factors for each product category were obtained, similar to the method used for the dependent variables (Table I). These four factor analyses also indicated KMO coefficients with acceptable levels of explanation (detergent NCAP: 0.69, detergent CAP: 0.75, and tequila NCAP: 0.82, tequila CAP: 0.91) and significant p-values under 0.01 in the Bartlett test. Hence, these NCAP and CAP factors (latent variables) were used as independent variables in the regression models. Tables II and III present the results of the regression analyses for the tequila product. Corresponding results for the liquid dishwashing detergent product appear in Tables IV and V.\nDiscussion and implications: Certain studies describe how the use of comparison-based measurements over non-comparison-based measurements affects business performance assessments. To define a pricing strategy, Noone et al. (2013) analysed relative (comparison-based) price positioning and fluctuation as two key elements. Their results revealed that using a comparison-based price position and, in particular, maintaining a higher price than the competition resulted in the strongest revenue performance. Another example of how comparison-based measurements may outperform non-comparison-based assessments is found in market-share and performance theory (Buzzell et al., 1975; Buzzell and Wiersema, 1981). Numerous studies have indicated that relative (comparison-based) market-share measurements (relative to competitors) tend to provide higher statistical determination of financial performance than the absolute (non-comparison-based) market-share indicators (Shepherd, 1972; Hall, 1987; Schwalbach, 1991; Davis et al., 1993; Szymanski et al., 1993). Comparative approaches have been found to be useful in certain aspects of research on consumer perception. For example, when analysing the importance of attributes, attitudinal scales have been found to be difficult to assess by consumers, whereas comparative approaches such as the best-worst method (respondents are asked to choose the most important and the least important element from a set of attributes) allow respondents to evaluate attribute importance more easily and more accurately (Pinto et al., 2019).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Product performance measurements have been used to explain other business performance variables. The purpose of this paper is to propose that, regarding Mexican consumers, the \"comparison-based perceived attribute performance\" (CAP) approach is a better predictor of outcomes, such as satisfaction, value and loyalty, compared with the traditional measurement of \"non-comparison-based perceived attribute performance\" (NCAP). These two forms of assessing attribute-level performance may be considered as different constructs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using these two approaches, empirical tests were performed to attribute performance measurement and were conducted on products from two different categories: tequila and liquid dishwashing detergent. Regression analyses were performed using Mexican consumer samples of n=295 and n=239, respectively.\nFindings: As opposed to NCAP, CAP measurements yielded higher statistical levels of satisfaction, value and loyalty for both product categories. In the case of tequila, factor analysis indicated a clear separation between the two types of measurements, suggesting that they should be considered distinct constructs. However, this was not found for the other product category.\nOriginality/value: CAP, which has better potential to predict outcomes than NCAP, could have relevant implications in brand positioning assessment and importance-performance analyses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving screening for diabetes in cystic fibrosis	[ "Quality improvement", "Annual screening", "Cystic fibrosis", "Cystic fibrosis related diabetes", "Oral glucose tolerance test" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD) is a complication associated with malnutrition, rapid decline in lung function (Milla et al., 2000), higher mortality rates (Marshall et al., 2005) and macrovascular and microvascular complications (Schwarzenberg et al., 2007). As overall survival is improving in CF patients, earlier CFRD identification and treatment has become a priority. Cystic fibrosis (CF) related diabetes is present in 20 percent of adolescents and up to 50 percent of adults with CF (Moran et al., 2009). Owing to reduced pancreatic beta-cell mass, insulin insufficiency develops and progressively worsens over time (Moran et al., 2010a). The time which this impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) develops into frank CFRD varies. Hence, annual CFRD screening by oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT) is recommended for all children with CF greater than ten years (Moran et al., 2010b). Some centers start the annual screening process at an earlier age (greater than 6 years) so the IGT can be recognized earlier and these patients followed more closely (Ode et al., 2010; Mozzillo et al., 2012). There are challenges with annual OGTT screening and parents tend to delay testing their children owing to time and effort involved with the testing procedure (Kern and Prestridge, 2013). The 2011 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) patient registry data shows that the national average for compliance with annual OGTT screening is 31.5 percent for all children greater than ten years. This could potentially lead to a delayed CFRD diagnosis and thereby increase long-term complication risks in CF patients. There are many possible reasons for poor adherence to annual OGTT among eligible patients; including: scheduling an OGTT appointment separate from a clinic visit; stress associated with frequent venepuncture; prolonged fasting periods, inadequate co-ordination between referring centers and laboratories and insufficient awareness of screening's importance for CFRD among patients and their families. Our CF center targeted this as a parameter for improvement in care and launched a quality improvement (QI) project to improve annual OGTT screening compliance.\nMethods: We used the Dartmouth Microsystem Improvement Ramp method (originally developed at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice) for this QI initiative (Godfrey et al., 2003). A collaborative working group (CF center physician, nurse coordinator, social worker, dietician, nurse practitioner and pediatric endocrinologist) was formed. Based on the 5P framework (purpose, patients, professionals, processes and patterns), we established the review and compliance improvement with annual OGTT at our CF center for all children six years and older as our global aim. A process map was created to outline the steps involved in OGTT procedure at the start (Figure 1). As part of understanding cause and effect relationships, a fishbone analysis was performed to identify factors and resources to implement new interventions (Figure 2). Wedecided to start annual OGTT screening at six years because of concerns about missing patients<10 years who may start to show early abnormalities in their glucose metabolism and may go undetected for several years (Mozzillo et al., 2012; Ode et al., 2010). This could be especially important for certain high-risk patients such as those with poor weight gain or rapid decline in lung function. Once the new interventions were implemented, a second flow chart was developed to reflect the changes we had made to our process (Figure 3). We also attempted benchmarking to identify how staff in other CF centers addressed this problem.\nResults: Based on the above interventions, our CF center's compliance with completed annual OGTT improved significantly over a two-year period. Prior to these interventions, 21 percent of eligible patients had a completed annual OGTT and after the intervention it rose to 72 percent (Figure 8). At the start of the study period, 81 patients were eligible for screening and by the end, 75/78 (96.1 percent) patients had received the prescription for OGTT (three patients transferred to adult CF center). The initial completion rate with the prescription being given in clinic was only 50 percent, but it improved steadily to 54/75 (72 percent) in response to 40 reminder letters that were sent six weeks after the initial script was given. Another 15 patients with CFRD high risk factors for low BMI or higher age) were sent a third reminder letter. In total, 13 of 54 (24 percent) OGTTs were abnormal; six patients required a repeat OGTT on follow up.\nDiscussion: Annual screening for CFRD with an OGTT is recommended for all children greater than ten years (Moran et al., 2010b). This helps to detect this significant CF complication early (Moran et al., 2009) and allows the healthcare team to closely monitor patients with IGT over time. Reduced adherence to OGTT among all age groups has been reported in annual CF patient registry reports (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2013). We felt that there was a need to improve adherence to this annual testing procedure to enhance our CF patients overall health and improve our center's outcomes. We chose to target all children greater than six years and older in our CF center to improve IGT detection and to follow these patients more closely (Ode et al., 2010; Mozzillo et al., 2012).\nConclusions: Adherence with annual OGTT for CF patients can be improved by close tracking and reminder letters, with a special emphasis on high-risk patients. More studies are needed to better define the optimal age for starting CFRD screening. There should be a special emphasis on screening for CFRD in high-risk CF patients (those with low BMI or higher age). Our QI initiative brought about several operational changes in the annual OGTT screening process that have now become standard operating procedure.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Annual screening for cystic fibrosis-related-diabetes (CFRD) using oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is recommended, but national testing rates are low. The purpose of this paper is to implement the quality improvement (QI) initiative to improve cystic fibrosis (CF) annual screening rates among patients at one CF center.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To improve screening for CFRD at the CF Center, the authors used the Dartmouth Microsystem Improvement Ramp method and formed a collaborative working group. A process map was created to outline the steps and a fishbone analysis was performed to identify barriers and to utilize resources for implementing new interventions.\nFindings: Prior to these interventions, 21 percent of eligible patients had completed annual screening and after the intervention, it rose to 72 percent. The initial completion rate with the first prescription was only 50 percent, but it improved steadily to 54/75 (72 percent) in response to reminder letters sent six weeks after the initial script was given.\nPractical implications: Close tracking and reminder letters can improve adherence with annual OGTT screening for CFRD among CF patients, with special emphasis on high-risk patients.\nOriginality/value: There should be a special emphasis on screening for CFRD in high-risk CF patients (those with low BMI or higher age). This QI initiative brought about several operational changes in the annual OGTT screening process that have now become the standard operating procedure at the center.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social entrepreneurship and the negotiation of emerging social enterprise markets: Re-considerations in Swedish policy and practice	[ "Social enterprise", "Civil society", "Social entrepreneurship", "Public management", "Public governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The relatively large public sector dominated the provision of social services in Sweden during the latter part of the twentieth century. Private for- or non-profit organizations provided only little and complementary services (Tragardh, 2007; Wijkstrom and Zimmer, 2011). A policy shift has however occurred whereby public-sector activities have become subject to competition. This development has rapidly increased the number of public services that are provided by private for- and non-profit actors. Nonetheless, in the case of Sweden, these welfare services are financed by public funding distributed by public procurements and/or through customer vouchers.\nThe so-called Swedish model and current policy development: The tradition of organizing different types of social initiatives has a long history. In Sweden, as well as in several other countries, the development of such initiatives has been rather systematic, especially as public welfare structures emerged during the twentieth century under what has been referred to as the Swedish welfare model. This approach has been called the third way or Folkhemmet (translated as \"people's home\"). This model illustrates what Esping-Andersen refers to as the social democratic welfare regime and is characterized by a general public social security system and a high level of social services provided by the public sector. Social security and social services are primarily funded by a tax system based on individuals' income and contain redistributive features to facilitate equality between citizens (Esping-Andersen, 1990).\nSocial entrepreneurship and roles in society - a motley and ambivalent field: The review of the Swedish setting indicates a complex interplay between politics and other factors such as ideological trends, economics and institutional structures. The field of social entrepreneurship departs from an actor perspective, focusing on change and paying little attention to structures (Gartner, 1988; Schoonhoven and Romanelli, 2001). With regard to roles in society, for instance in relation to different aspects of social welfare, social entrepreneurship meets structures and theories emphasizing an institutional approach that focuses instead on continuity (Garud et al., 2007). However, even if these theoretical perspectives partly form an ambivalent, even ambiguous, framework, both approaches represent parts of the dynamic in society commonly referred to as development.\nMethodology: This paper is based on a study on policy development in Sweden and studies on social entrepreneurship initiatives within the same setting. This method was developed using social science terminology and the narrative approach to organizational and entrepreneurship studies (Czarniawska, 1998, 2004; Silverman, 2001; Steyaert, 2004). The empirical gathering of material that has been transformed to data has been conducted since 1997 through participatory observations with interactive features, semi-structured interviews and analysis of a variety of documents (including documents dated before 1997). More specifically, the empirical foundation of this analysis may be divided into a study of policy development in this field and a study of entrepreneurial cases operating within this context.\nEntrepreneurial initiatives' responses to the policy debate: In this section, the entrepreneurial initiatives included in this analysis are presented, and a short account of their response to current policy development is provided.\nConcluding discussion - negotiating emerging social enterprise markets: The issues addressed by social entrepreneurship, social enterprises or public welfare actors are not simple or easily translated into services of any type. We have observed how attempts to cope with and manage these issues have been executed in slightly different ways over time. This study is based on Sweden but we know that even if it varies between countries some influences are global, such as the focus on competition and financial growth during the last decades.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Sweden, and many other countries, has, during the twentieth century, developed a rather large public sector providing social welfare services to citizens. Only to a small extent were private for- or nonprofit organizations providing these services. During the last decade we have seen a shift towards more services being provided by private for- and nonprofit actors. This shift means that roles are reconsidered, renegotiated and reconstructed. In this debate social entrepreneurship, social enterprises and innovation are emphasized. The aim of this paper is to problematize and analyze how social entrepreneurship and social enterprises relate to public sector management and governance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the paper theories on (social) entrepreneurship and innovation is combined with theories focusing on welfare structures. Empirically, the analysis is based on the current policy development in Sweden and five social entrepreneurship initiatives.\nFindings: The analysis discloses the relationship between the public sector and social entrepreneurship as negotiation of emerging social enterprise markets in which aspects as the creation of value, dependencies and innovation are emphasized. Even if the study has a geographical focus both theoretical contributions and implications for policy and practice can be of use also in other contexts.\nOriginality/value: Through combining social entrepreneurship with welfare services and public management this empirically based study contributes both to problematize and align the emerging field of social innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evidence-based re-engineering: re-engineering the evidence: A systematic review of the literature on business process redesign (BPR) in hospital care	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Health education", "Quality", "Quality improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In health care, business process redesign (BPR) is used to implement organizational transformations towards more customer-focused and cost-effective care. Business process redesign was developed by industry staff and can be defined as \"the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality and speed\" (Hammer and Champy, 1993, p. 32). Although BPR was originally introduced as a major change to the total process flow, the concept has been used in many different ways (Davenport and Stoddard, 1994; McNulty and Ferlie, 2002; Locock, 2003). Despite an increasing number of redesign projects in health care, little is known about their effectiveness. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) teaches us that practice should be based on sound evidence that has been derived from clinical data captured in experimental studies of the highest quality and preferably also validated in observational studies (Walshe and Rundall, 2001). In an effort to extend this topic, we collected evidence on redesign projects in healthcare delivery. Against this backdrop, we decided to review all interventions in patient flow or capacity planning directed towards the process of patient care or health care outcomes. Our goal in this study was a structured literature review of innovations related to re-engineering in patient care. Anticipating the scarcity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (Campbell et al., 2000), we also included non-randomized studies. In RCTs there is preferably no intervention in the control group. However, environments change over time, and we deemed it necessary to have multiple measurements in experimental and control groups in order to provide evidence of effectiveness. Since many studies did not provide concurrent controls, we considered a comparison between a before-and-after intervention situation the minimum methodological prerequisite for inclusion (Figure 1).To evaluate whether results meet expectations, redesign studies should have clearly stated objectives (Bokhoven et al., 2003). Ideally, the objectives have been specified in relevant parameters with unequivocal and measurable targets, which is one of the aspects we wanted to examine in our review. We focused on interventions in patient flow or capacity planning with the objective of improving health care services for patients. Improvements should have been related to process characteristics and should have resulted primarily in benefits for patients. For this reason, our review focused on interventions in patient logistics and health care redesign with respect to logistic parameters. From the literature we defined logistics as \"the organisation and coherence of process with the aim of making available the right resources in the right place at the right time, with acceptable effort and costs.\" For example, improvements in patient logistics focus on the sequences of diagnostic examinations, coordination in multidisciplinary patient care and capacity planning that should lead to quicker access, reduced waiting times and/or visits among others. The specific review objectives were to report:* the main characteristics of redesign studies in health care (publication year, country or region, study setting and journal);* their contents (i.e. objectives for redesign in patient logistics and process parameters targeted, intervention types, and types of results reported and process parameters measured); and* research method and publication quality (their research designs, and compatibility between stated objectives and reported results).\nMethods: We conducted a systematic review of the BPR literature. From a pilot study we learned it was impossible to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful innovations. Many publications contained little or no information on study design, intervention, studied population or results. Reported results were mutually incompatible owing to differing and often unclear definitions of measured parameters. Furthermore, there appeared to be a strong publication bias in favor of successful case studies (Easterbrook et al., 1991). Based on the pilot study, we redefined our inclusion and exclusion criteria and ultimately defined our search strategy.Search strategy\nStudy objectives and results: We collected the following process-related parameter(s) from the descriptions of the objectives: \"patients that leave without being seen\" (mostly used in emergency departments), reduction of waiting times somewhere in the process, reduction of length of stay/visit time, reduction of number of hospital visits and the flow-related parameters mentioned in Figure 2.In addition, we looked for other outcome benefits mentioned in the study objective but that were not directly related to process parameters. The following categories were found in the objectives:* patient satisfaction;* staff satisfaction;* medical outcomes;* resource utilization; and* cost reduction.The same process parameters and outcome categories were used for reported results.Interventions in studies\nResults: Search strategy\nObjectives and results in the studies: Frequently, the aim of the studies was stated as an effect evaluation of an intervention - for example, \"to evaluate the impact of a fast-track triage system for patients with acute myocardial infarction\" (Pell et al., 1992, p. 83) - without specifying the desired quantitative results. Sometimes a more specific target was mentioned in the study design, such as \"comparison in delays for admission\" (Pell et al., 1992, p. 83). If so, we used this for further evaluation of the study. In only six studies did we find an objective clearly mentioning parameters and quantified aims for improvement: for example, \"In April 2002, 75% of eligible patients should receive thrombolysis within 30 minutes of arrival at hospital\" (Qasim et al., 2002, p. 1328). In 36 studies we encountered a specific subject: for example, \"to reduce waiting time intervals\" (Spaite et al., 2002, p. 168), but it was not quantified. All other articles mentioned non-specific study objectives such as \"to develop team working and improve the service offered to patients\" (Grimes, 2000, p. 99). In the objectives of 86 studies, 58 (67 percent) explicitly mentioned one (46 studies) or two (12 studies) process-related parameters from our list (see Table III). The most frequently found aim was to reduce the lengths of hospital stays, followed by the goal of reducing waiting times. In eight studies we found parameters not included in our list that had some relation to \"logistics\": for example, the amount of time an emergency department was overcrowded (Miro et al., 2003) or the number of admissions during a certain time interval (Schwarcz et al., 1998). Of the 86 studies, 47 (55 percent) mentioned one or more outcome measures from our list in their objectives. Twenty studies (23 percent) mentioned objectives that were categorized into two or three outcome categories. Cost reduction and resource utilization were the most frequently found outcome categories in the study objectives. In 13 studies, the terms stated in the objectives could be categorized neither under process parameters nor under one of our outcome categories. All articles reported successful projects, and by definition (selection criteria), all articles reported results on at least one process-related parameter. One (of 58 studies), two (of 26 studies) or three (of three studies) process parameters were found in the studies. In 15 studies (17 percent) we found process-related parameters that had not been included in our criteria, for example different process times or the number of patients waiting. In 62 articles (71 percent), a result addressing one or more outcome measures from our list was reported; 34 studies (39 percent) mentioned results that were categorized into two or three outcome categories. Resource utilization, cost reduction and patient satisfaction were the most frequently found outcome categories in the reported results. Table III gives a complete overview of the number of results found in each category.Interventions\nDiscussion and recommendations: We found 86 studies in care process redesign that met our inclusion criteria, but only a minority mentioned quantifiable objective parameters. The methodological quality of the studies was disappointing, and many showed inconsistencies between objectives and reported results. Three RCTs were found. Knowledge on BPR is not clearly documented, and accessing relevant studies appears to be difficult owing to multitude locations and journals and lack of MeSH terminology. No specific MeSH headings for finding BPR projects in hospitals were available. A total of 14 different MeSH headings were used in Medline and 16 subject headings were used in Embase to search for articles. In Business Source Premier, 41 logistics and planning-related subjects were combined with 34 health care-related subjects. In order to select 88 articles, we had to review the titles and abstracts of 7,428 papers, and read 250 articles in their entirety. It is clear that the processes for attaching keywords to articles are not well developed in this area.At the cost of specificity, we elected for a search strategy using broad inclusion criteria. Abstracts were particularly unclear about the presence of quantitative data and about the exact nature of the intervention. In cases of doubt, we obtained the article's full text. By using this sensitive and systematic selection process, we presumably retrieved the most relevant articles. Our search resulted in a relatively fair kappa statistic.Compared with the large number of abstracts, relatively few studies were identified. Most articles were excluded owing to a lack of systematically described empirical data. Consequently, only 88 articles were eligible for review, in which 86 different studies were described. Of this selection, 70 percent were published in the US or in the UK. We found a relatively small number of articles from the rest of Europe or from Australia and New Zealand. Only a minority mentioned quantifiable parameters, and if process parameters were mentioned, the most frequent target was reducing length of hospital stays (LoS). The most frequently mentioned outcome parameters were cost reduction and resource utilization. Although LoS may certainly be advantageous for patients, the driving force behind starting these projects frequently appeared to be cost reduction. Parameters related to patient flow were almost never used. If hospitals really want to introduce a patient-focused approach, a more integral view of the whole hospital process should be taken into account. Relevant, more flow-related logistic performance indicators should be considered, such as reducing access time, time to diagnosis, time to treatment, or number of hospital visits (see Figure 2). In the majority of studies, multiple interventions were combined, which made it difficult or even impossible to analyze individually the effects of specific intervention types. This also limited the possibilities of comparing interventions between hospitals and learning which interventions have the greatest potential benefits.Only a few RCTs were found. In practical terms, however, it is often not feasible to use two different process organizations simultaneously and to randomly assign patients to either an old or a redesigned care process (McNulty and Ferlie, 2002). Processes in other hospitals are usually not sufficiently comparable to serve as useful controls (Harten et al., 2000). To overcome these methodological difficulties, studies frequently used a before-after design. The major design drawback is that existing trends and accidental changes over time remain unrecognized. Also, we cannot assess whether biases have been introduced, which would hamper the comparability of the study groups. Therefore, when a randomized controlled trial design is not feasible, the next best option would be a time series measurement design to rule out changes in the study parameters over time (Eccles et al., 2003). Preferably, measurements should be done for at least two different periods before the intervention and two different periods after the intervention in order to exclude confounding variables. The inconsistency between the study objectives and the reported results was another qualitative deficiency. Many more results were reported than had been mentioned in the study objectives (this happened in 57 studies). Also, ten studies mentioned targets for which no results were reported.We believe there is tremendous activity in this area of health care improvement and innovation. Compared to the amount of activity, however, little has been published, publications are hard to find and the evidence is scattered and almost impossible to compare. One reason for this might be that many of these activities are performed by companies that are not as likely as public organizations to make details about methods and results available in the public domain. Worthy of note is the virtual lack of reports on negative studies. We are all probably aware of projects that failed to deliver the intended results, but the literature does not provide any information on this subject. An important contributing factor to this poor state of affairs is the lack of mature methods for describing and reporting health care innovation results. This impedes learning from other hospitals and interferes with the development of a mature discipline in the research of redesigning hospitals or care processes. In the UK, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (see www.nice.org.uk) makes use of activities for disseminating clinical innovation but has not paid particular attention to communication methods. In The Netherlands, the Good Healthcare Innovation Practice Institute (see www.ghip.nl) has developed an outline for a common language in order to disseminate innovation initiatives. The problems we encountered in identifying relevant studies may also be attributed to underdeveloped terms. Many of the critical topics cannot be captured appropriately in the present MeSH or subject headings. To support developments in this field of research and to stimulate an exchange of experiences, there is a need for more high-quality, accessible studies. We propose introducing some specific MeSH headings to improve the tractability of redesign studies. Furthermore, we would like to suggest BPR case-study authors follow the CONSORT statement where applicable (Begg et al., 1996). This statement is originally meant to give guidelines for reporting RCTs, but most topics are appropriate for other kinds of studies. Publications should explicitly mention key features, including:* the research question;* methods (participants, test methods and statistical methods);* results; and* a discussion about the applicability of study methods and results.Only when accessibility and comparability of the studies increase can we learn from experiences, build on these results and develop a mature research field. We agree with Mittman (2004, p. 897), who wrote that \"researchers, journal editors and funding agencies must co-operate to ensure that published evaluations are relevant, comprehensive and cumulative.\" Not only do we need the evidence for reengineering, we also need a reengineering of the evidence reported in these studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Business process redesign (BPR) is used to implement organizational transformations towards more customer-focused and cost-effective care. Ideally, these innovations should be carefully described and evaluated so that \"best practices\" can be re-applied. To investigate this, available evidence was collected on patient care redesign projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The Ebsco Business Source Premier, Embase and Medline databases were searched. Studies on innovations related to re-engineering patient care that used before-after design as minimum prerequisites were selected. General characteristics, logistic parameters and other outcome measures to determine the objectives and results and interventions used were looked at.\nFindings: - A total of 86 studies that conformed to the criteria were found: a minority mentioned measurable parameters in their objectives. In the majority of studies, multiple interventions were combined within single studies, making it impossible to compare the effects of individual interventions. Only three randomized controlled trials were found. Furthermore, inconsistencies were noted between the study objectives and the reported results. Many more issues were reported in the results than were mentioned in the study aims. It would appear that publications were hard to find owing to a lack of specific MeSH headings. Nearly 7,500 abstracts were scanned and from these it was concluded that clear and univocal research methods, terms and reporting guidelines are advisable and must be developed in order to learn and benefit from BPR innovations in health care organizations.\nOriginality/value: - This appears to be the first time available evidence about redesign projects in hospitals has been systematically collected and assessed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employing continuous quality improvement in community- based substance abuse programs	[ "Substance abuse", "Organizational change", "Quality improvement", "PDSA", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Alcohol and other drug use among the youth exact a high toll in communities as they are linked to increased violence, accidents and crime. Evidence-based community-oriented substance abuse prevention and treatment programs can improve these outcomes and recoup treatment costs (NIDA, 1997). They need to be comprehensive and implemented well to reap these benefits, however (Backer, 2001). One way to improve program quality is to use evaluation data. While substance abuse program practitioners may have process and/or outcome evaluation data, they often lack capacity to use them to improve programming. Putting evaluation results to work in this manner is a Continuous quality improvement (CQI) core tenet. While practices similar to CQI have been associated with better outcomes in community-based substance abuse program researcher-led evaluations (Durlak and DuPre, 2008), communities remain challenged by evaluation tasks and how to apply data to systematically improve programs. Given CQI's positive impact in industry and healthcare, it would appear beneficial to build capacity among community-based organizations to use similar practices and improve programming quality. In this article, we assess quality improvement process acceptability and feasibility in ten community-based, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.\nContinuous quality improvement: Continuous quality improvement can be defined as a planned approach to transform organizations by evaluating and improving systems to achieve better outcomes (Colton, 2000). Historically, US CQI began in manufacturing, using Shewhart's ideas (Colton, 2000). In the 1980s and 1990s, CQI was adapted for healthcare, stimulated by multiple factors such as Medicaid cost containment (Burda, 1988); the National Demonstration Project in Quality Improvement in Healthcare (McLaughlin and Simpson, 1994) and the Joint Commission (1996) requiring hospital managers to have CQI programs in place.Many CQI models have been used in industry and healthcare to provide systematic and ongoing feedback. For example, Balanced Scorecards (BSC - Kaplan and Norton, 1996) were developed to assess company performance in financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and business expansion domains. Whole System Measures (Martin et al., 2007) are similar metrics developed in healthcare to measure quality and performance using relatively few high-level indicators. Dashboards are increasingly popular, which update performance data in real time and aggregate them at individual, program and organization levels. Another common CQI model, developed by Shewhart and refined by Deming (2000), recently made popular by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle - a method in which individuals, drawn from the organization, make small, repeated and rapid changes to organizational function, test their impact and then decide whether to incorporate the change permanently. Recently, PDSA cycles were tested in the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx), small, community-based organizations providing substance abuse treatment. In the NIAtx effort, tools and technical support were provided to help improve access and retention in substance abuse treatment settings. The NIATx agency published several case studies demonstrating PDSA's feasibility when ongoing technical assistance and support are provided (McCarty et al., 2007, 2009). The CQI effort we describe differs from NIATx, which only involved treatment programs, dictated CQI work focus and only included programs that met stringent criteria. In this CQI project, most programs were prevention, the staff chose the CQI focus and all program staff wanting to participate were included. All the QI approaches share three common principles (Miller et al. (2008):1. determining baseline effectiveness;2. engaging in deliberate practice such as setting objectives; and3. providing direct feedback on performance to make adjustments and set new objectives.\nPurpose and method: We demonstrate a certain CQI approach; i.e. PDSA cycles, in substance abuse prevention and treatment programs typical to community-based organizations. Manufacturing industry-based CQI techniques were adapted to make them appropriate for traditional healthcare settings (Colton, 2000). The same effort is needed to adapt CQI for community-based settings, which typically lack resources to collect and manage quantitative outcome data. We highlight CQI development for community settings and present evaluative data from CQI workshops with program staff and three waves of qualitative interviews with program participants to assess feasibility, acceptability and resources required in community-based settings.Study site\nDeveloping CQI: The CQI process described below resulted from study investigators collaborating with Council staff and incorporating concepts and tools popularized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (i.e. PDSA); RAND's work in improving practice guideline implementation in the US Army's medical systems (Nicolas et al., 2001), and RAND's collaborative quality improvement projects with Phoenix House, a national substance abuse treatment organization. However, these concepts and tools needed to be adapted because in community-based organizations, measuring quality - a task central to CQI success - was challenging. Process and outcome indicators were more difficult to identify and track. In community-based organizations delivering substance abuse prevention services, outputs are services delivered rather than tangible manufactured products or a specific medical procedure. Despite these challenges, many techniques and tools developed in business and healthcare fields were applicable (with some adaptation). Although many Council programs had developed process and outcome measures using the GTO model in a previous study (Chinman et al., 2008), most still faced challenges when using evaluation data to make systematic improvements. With leaders, we developed a broad CQI process: developed and planned CQI activities during semi-annual CQI Workshops and used the time between Workshops (called Implementation Periods) to implement the strategies (Figure 1).Starting in November 2006, a CQI Workshop Planning Committee met eight times before the first CQI Workshop (spring, 2007). The Planning Committee included representation from over half the participating programs staff and collaboratively worked on developing the workshop agenda, activities and CQI tools - worksheets developed by modifying previously created instruments (Phoenix House materials, Ishikawa or fishbone diagrams) and creating new ones. All were designed to help program staff progress the PDSA cycle. A key Planning Committee decision was to ask program staff to summarize their process and outcome evaluations for the CQI Workshops. Some tools were developed to assist program staff to summarize evaluation information. The Planning Committee reported progress and got input at regularly scheduled monthly meetings with all ten participating program directors.Study investigators served as CQI coaches, helping to refine processes and tools. At the first CQI Workshop, study investigators, Planning Committee members and the Executive Director for the organization all played key roles explaining CQI's value. Then staff, in small break-out groups, answered questions about CQI and how it could be implemented and sustained. Using their evaluation summaries, staff from each program developed specific CQI actions to implement using the PDSA cycle with input from the study investigators and executive director. After this workshop, the first implementation period got underway when program staff started their CQI actions. The executive director asked participants for CQI updates at monthly staff meetings.Council staff asked study investigators to facilitate a second half-day CQI workshop (fall, 2007) to educate 17 new staff. Previous workshop participants were not required to attend. This workshop focused on developing or refining CQI actions rather than didactic GTO or CQI presentations. After, program staff continued their revised CQI actions (i.e. the second implementation period). In May 2008, a third, full-day CQI workshop was conducted for all 19 participating program staff. Participant numbers varied over time as the budgeting and staffing changed year-to-year. After a CQI refresher, cross-program groups were formed and developed an organization-wide CQI action to improve referrals between programs, based on staff requests to work on an issue that cut across programs. Staff also refined old or developed new, program-specific CQI actions. The study ended after the third workshop. Additionally, two study investigators attended monthly staff meetings to provide further coaching and to answer questions. Following the first workshop, study investigators contacted program staff quarterly to administer an interview protocol and provide additional technical assistance (e.g. tips to improve program recruitment, easy to use techniques for coding data from open-ended survey questions). These calls lasted 45 to 90 minutes.There are key differences between our CQI process and those used in other studies. For example, many screened and then selected participants (or CQI proposals) with higher capacity; provided participants with significant additional funding to carry out CQI activities; and/or stated a priori what organization staff would work on (e.g. McCarty et al., 2007; Rubenstein et al., 2006). In our study, all participating organization programs were included, no additional funding was provided and research staff (as coaches) worked collaboratively with program staff to focus their CQI efforts. We took this approach because we were interested in assessing the degree to which CQI could be undertaken in real world situations (i.e. no additional funding) and we believed that consistent with organizational change theories (Green et al., 1980), extensive collaboration and tailoring to meet local staff needs would promote greater CQI process uptake.Measures\nResults: CQI workshop evaluations\nDiscussion: We assessed the feasibility of using traditional CQI techniques in community-based substance abuse prevention and treatment settings. While there were challenges, we found that it is feasible for staff to use CQI techniques when supported. Staff in ten participating programs developed several CQI actions, involved most program staff, secured additional resources in half the CQI actions, forged collaborations with other Council programs or outside entities in about a quarter of the CQI actions and spent on average between 2.33 to 3.75 hours a week on CQI activities over the nine-month period. Two-thirds completed their CQI actions; i.e. progressed through the entire PDSA cycle. Although progression is not equivalent to program impact, we argue that it is an important proxy (necessary, but not sufficient) for program impact to occur. Program staff were generally positive about using CQI; enthusiasm, while declining over nine months, was high overall. Staff ratings of opportunities to develop new ideas declined in the second and third workshops. This finding is consistent with how the workshops were run. All time in the first workshop was spent on generating new ideas, whereas the subsequent workshops split time between generating new and refining old ideas. Qualitative data showed that program staff felt the CQI process helped them become more organized and accountable. As such, results indicate that these CQI methods can be a bridge between conducting self-evaluation and making concrete changes to improve programming.We learned several lessons that have implications for using CQI in community-based settings. Much progress getting CQI off the ground followed significant support from Council leaders, which resulted from having a multi-year relationship with Council staff in which data value and improvement were discussed often through using the GTO model. From there, CQI organization champions emerged, playing a key role shepherding the process. Having local organizational support (Colton, 2000; Heller and Arozullah, 2001) and champions present (Shortell et al., 2004) have been cited as key factors for adopting quality improvement activities. Outside facilitators (GTO staff) were critical to engaging and supporting Council staff and helping to launch the CQI effort. At the outset, Council staff asked for assistance in using their evaluation data to improve programming, signaling a readiness to begin a CQI process, but needed help getting started. In this case, GTO staff played an important role engaging program staff to participate in CQI development and planning for their organization, training Council staff in CQI fundamentals, establishing CQI basic structure (i.e. repeated workshops with intervening implementation periods) and providing ongoing support. This technical assistance or facilitation is becoming widely accepted and necessary for translating research findings into practice (Stetler et al., 2006). Several successful CQI studies in various domains have included this support (McCarty et al., 2007; McBride et al., 2000; Ockene et al., 1996; Carney et al., 1992).Continuous quality improvement activity may impact its likelihood for success in these settings. The CQI actions, larger in scope (i.e. changing a program significantly), were completed at a lower rate than smaller strategies. After reviewing 55 CQI studies across several domains, Shortell et al. (1998) also found that negative results were more common when applied to more complex care processes. The choice to significantly alter programs may undercut a PDSA cycle's key component: making small, low-risk changes in the clinical setting (Powell et al., 2008). Choosing large-scale changes put staff in situations where they needed significantly more resources beyond their own ideas and ingenuity to implement those changes successfully. Establishing CQI activities involves making decisions about issues on which program staff often have strong opinions. Many implementation theories suggest that failing to incorporate local stakeholder input can undermine new practice implementation (Fixsen et al., 2005) and we submit that starting CQI is no different. Therefore, we believed it was critical to collaborate with Council staff and leaders throughout the CQI implementation. Although study investigators broadly outlined the CQI process, Council staff made important contributions to many CQI tools and CQI workshops. This facilitated staff \"buy-in\" from most and ensured the resulting process and tools were tailored to fit their organization.Conclusions, limitations and future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to describe continuous quality improvement (CQI) for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs in a community-based organization setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - CQI (e.g., plan-do-study-act cycles (PDSA)) applied in healthcare and industry was adapted for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs in a community setting. The authors assessed the resources needed, acceptability and CQI feasibility for ten programs by evaluating CQI training workshops with program staff and a series of three qualitative interviews over a nine-month implementation period with program participants. The CQI activities, PDSA cycle progress, effort, enthusiasm, benefits and challenges were examined.\nFindings: - Results indicated that CQI was feasible and acceptable for community-based substance abuse prevention and treatment programs; however, some notable resource challenges remain. Future studies should examine CQI impact on service quality and intended program outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was conducted on a small number of programs. It did not assess CQI impact on service quality and intended program outcomes.\nPractical implications: - This project shows that it is feasible to adapt CQI techniques and processes for community-based programs substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. These techniques may help community-based program managers to improve service quality and achieve program outcomes.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of the first studies to adapt traditional CQI techniques for community-based settings delivering substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hurricane Sandy mortality in the Caribbean and continental North America	[ "Caribbean", "Disasters", "Continental North America", "Fatalities", "Hurricane Sandy", "Natural hazards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Central and North America's east coast is one of the most hazardous tropical cyclone zones in the world (Blake et al., 2011), sustaining extensive human losses and economic damages (Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas, 1995; Hebert et al., 1996; Rappaport, 2000; Pielke et al., 2008; Blake et al., 2011). Although related fatalities were found to present a general decreasing trend (Rappaport, 2000; Czajkowski et al., 2011), during the last decade catastrophic tropical cyclones like Katrina (Brunkhard et al., 2008; Jonkman et al., 2009), Ike (Zane et al., 2011), Ivan (Ragan et al., 2008), Irene (Avila and Cangialosi, 2011), Rita (Zachria and Patel, 2006) and others have affected North America (Blake et al., 2011) and the Caribbean (Pielke et al., 2003) with disastrous effects on public health.\n2. Data and methods: 2.1. Data\n3. Results and discussion: A total of 233 fatalities related to Hurricane Sandy were identified occurring in eight countries including Cuba (11), Jamaica (two), Haiti (54), the USA (159), Canada (two), Bahamas (two), Puerto Rico (one) and the Dominican Republic (two). Deaths occurred in various locations along the path of the hurricane, spanning from 24 of October 2012 to 28 November 2012 (Figure 2), long after the storm subsided, as victims passed away after long hospitalization or were fatally injured during clean-up operations.\n4. Conclusions: This work provides an overview of fatalities caused by Hurricane Sandy in North America and the Caribbean during October and November 2012, analyzing the conditions under which fatalities occur.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Tropical storms pose a significant threat to population despite the noteworthy improvements in forecasting and emergency management. Following the effects of Hurricane Sandy in the continental North America (USA and Canada) and the Caribbean, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mortality caused by the hurricane, focussing on differences in human vulnerability between these two regions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors developed a database of 233 deaths, consisting of variables that provided a description of the circumstances under which the fatal incidents occurred and demographic details of the victims.\nFindings: Analysis of the database showed higher percentages of female and young victims in the Caribbean than in continental North America, where mortality increased progressively with age and the ratio of males to females was higher. The majority of deaths occurred outdoors especially during clean-up and in vehicle crashes related to the storm. Physical trauma and drowning were identified as the most common causes of death, followed by carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and others, although substantially different percentages were recorded between the two regions. Overall, indirect deaths presented a higher percentage than direct ones. Among the latter, incidents caused by storm surge and tree falls showed the highest numbers. Power failure and car crashes were the most common cause of indirect incidents.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides a thorough analysis of the circumstances under which fatal incidents occurred. It identifies parameters that affected the vulnerability of human life to the storm and discusses the differences between the Caribbean and continental North America.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mediators of transformational leadership and the work-family relationship	[ "Transformational leadership", "Resources", "Work-family enrichment", "Work-family conflict" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Given the high cost of ineffective work-family management on employees, organizations, and societies, understanding factors that contribute to (in)effective work-family management is of significant concern (O'Neill and Davis, 2011). Leaders have the potential to drastically influence employees' work experiences, positively or negatively (Arnold et al., 2007; Perry et al., 2010). As such, leadership has been identified as an important factor for employee overall well-being (Arnold et al., 2007), and a growing body of literature has indicated the influence of leaders goes beyond the workplace (Hammer et al., 2011). As transformational leadership (TL) \"has been the dominant focus of contemporary leadership research\" (Judge et al., 2006, p. 204), it is important to understand its potential effect on employee work-family management, in particular.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Because of the nested data structure (411 employees in 37 hotels), we examined the data using multi-level modeling. We estimated empty multilevel models to obtain the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for all variables, an index of the proportion of the variability at the hotel level relative to the total variability (Raudenbush and Bryk, 2002). In general, ICCs were very low across all variables (0.00 to 0.08). Thus, over 90 percent of the variability was due to differences between individuals rather than organizations. Furthermore, the empty model for WFC indicated no significant random variation across hotels. This suggested the MLM approach was not warranted and attempts to model the data using MLM may result in problems with model convergence. Therefore, we limited analyses to the individual level.\nDiscussion: Summary and implications for theory\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which leaders influence follower's work-life management. Specifically, the authors propose that personal (positive affect), social (managerial support for work-family balance), and job (autonomy) resources mediate the relationships between transformational leadership and work-family conflict (WFC) and enrichment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample included 411 managers in 37 hotel properties across the USA.\nFindings: The relationship between TL and WFC was mediated by autonomy, positive affect and managerial support for work-family balance, whereas the relationship between TL and WFE was mediated by managerial support for work-family balance and positive affect.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study constructs a foundation for future integration of leadership and work and family literatures. It also provides preliminary support for work-family enrichment theory (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006), as well as the value of examining leadership through a resource-based perspective.\nPractical implications: Interventions designed to enhance leadership may be effective not only in the workplace, but also for reducing WFC and promoting enrichment.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to directly examine the effect of transformational leadership and both WFC and enrichment. Further, it specifies mediating variables that underlie these relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What counts for quality in interdisciplinary accounting research in the next decade: A critical review and reflection	[ "Performance management systems", "Academic researchers", "Algorithmic bots", "Interdisciplinary accounting researchers", "Metrics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recently the AAAJ Editors wrote to their editorial board members to express their concern about contemporary developments in judging an accounting academic's value and his or her research quality. What prompted their concern was the announcement of Clarivate Impact Factors, being a new proprietary system for measuring journal and research quality. The results for AAAJ prompted them to reflect on the oft perceived unfairness and misrepresentation of quality in national and international rankings of interdisciplinary accounting journals. They recalled how often transdisciplinary accounting research has suffered when science and medicine research dominates universities. And they reflected upon the way universities - and governments - privileged science and medicine focussed impact factors, that excluded most of our accounting journals from the rankings, particularly from the Web of Science, in which accounting journals are poorly represented.\n2. Contextualising measurement disruption: In previous AAAJ commentaries, we have highlighted several significant developments that provide the backdrop to our discussion on the changing measurement criteria used to judge quality in an intensely networked and interdisciplinary world. Here we explore four developments: turbulence and disruption for the accounting profession and academics in a rapidly changing digital world; the importance of interdisciplinary accounting research and scholarship; the changing nature of publishing scholarly articles; and the changing metrics for determining academic accounting research quality.\n3. What counts as a quality accounting journal and why care?: As editors and authors, we are familiar with controversies surrounding what counts as quality academic work at national, institutional, discipline and individual evaluation levels. In Australia, most universities use the ABDC list to judge the quality of accounting journals. Table AI lists the most recent (2016) ABDC accounting journals (total=124), ranked in descending order of four bands or categories (A*=9; A=21; B=29; C=65)[3]. Additionally, Table AI includes comparative data with the latest European CABS 2018 Academic Journal Guide (AJG), and comparative citation data from Clarivate's 2017 JCRs (five-year and 2017 impact factors), Scopus' 2017 CiteScore, SCImago's 2017 Journal Rank indicator (SJR) and Google Scholar's five-year h-index as at October 2018.\n4. In pursuit of status and self-worth: The answer to the above questions, we suspect lies in part in threats to our fundamental sense of self-worth, and the apparent fundamental need for status recognition. The desire for status - the respect, admiration and voluntary deference individuals are afforded by others - appears to be a fundamental universal human psychological motive (Maslow, 1943; Anderson et al., 2015). Similarly, competitive behaviour seems to be inherently bound up in the need to make social comparisons - to evaluate oneself in comparison to others (Festinger, 1954; Garcia et al., 2013).\n5. A flourishing interdisciplinary accounting research community: Carnegie and Napier (2017, p. 1642) argue that \"a flourishing interdisciplinary accounting research community\" is a primary outcome of AAAJ's 30 years. They offer a unique insider perspective on the historical developments of AAAJ and its impact on accounting scholarship. In contrast, Dumay et al. (2018) explore AAAJ's impact from within and outside the community by analysing the most cited and upcoming AAAJ articles over the past 30 years. Thus, Dumay et al.'s (2018) article relates more to how scholars outside the community look inside rather than an insider's view. This multi-perspective understanding and insight into interdisciplinary accounting scholarship draws on viewpoints from the full range of research stakeholders including authors, editors, readers, subsequent researchers and so on.\n6. In conclusion: This commentary's reflections on the impact of research performance management systems on accounting scholars is consistent with prior studies examining the increasing emphasis on academics' research production (Broadbent, 2016; Martin-Sardesai and Guthrie, 2018b). It also reflects on the findings of studies that indicate increased academic workload and related stress levels as a result of the various performance management systems instigated by universities over recent years (Martin-Sardesai and Guthrie, 2017, 2018b; Martin-Sardesai et al., 2017b). What scholars urgently need is a better appreciation of the rankings and metrics to which they are being subjected, an ability to interpret and critique their bases and relevance, and a strategic understanding of how they can better manage their scholarship and careers in this research measurement and evaluation context. What the administrators of academic performance measurement systems need to do is understand that first and foremost it is scholarship through academic freedom that produces insightful and innovative research that can change practice and enhance society. Trying to make square pegs fit into round holes of the highest ranked, and mainly US-based accounting journals, will not bring insights and innovation. The most interesting accounting questions relate to how accounting influences society and how society influences accounting - and that the US-based perspective focusses mainly on a very small part of society - the market. The really interesting questions can only be investigated by the interdisciplinary community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the focus and changing nature of measuring academic accounting research quality. The paper addresses contemporary changes in academic publishing, metrics for determining research quality and the possible impacts on accounting scholars. These are considered in relation to the core values of interdisciplinary accounting research - that is, the pursuit of novel, rigorous, significant and authentic research motivated by a passion for scholarship, curiosity and solving wicked problems. The impact of changing journal rankings and research citation metrics on the traditional and highly valued role of the accounting academic is further considered. In this setting, the paper also provides a summary of the journal's activities for 2018, and in the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on contemporary data sets, the paper illustrates the increasingly diverse and confusing array of \"evidence\" brought to bear on the question of the relative quality of accounting research. Commercial products used to rate and rank journals, and judge the academic impact of individual scholars and their papers not only offer insight and visibility, but also have the potential to misinform scholars and their assessors.\nFindings: In the move from simple journal ranking lists to big data and citations, and increasingly to concerns with impact and engagement, the authors identify several challenges facing academics and administrators alike. The individual academic and his or her contribution to scholarship are increasingly marginalised in the name of discipline, faculty and institutional performance. A growing university performance management culture within, for example, the UK and Australasia, has reached a stage in the past decade where publication and citation metrics are driving allocations of travel grants, research grants, promotions and appointments. With an expanded range of available metrics and products to judge their worth, or have it judged for them, scholars need to be increasingly informed of the nuanced or not-so-nuanced uses to which these measurement systems will be put. Narrow, restricted and opaque peer-based sources such as journal ranking lists are now being challenged by more transparent citation-based sources.\nPractical implications: The issues addressed in this commentary offer a critical understanding of contemporary metrics and measurement in determining the quality of interdisciplinary accounting research. Scholars are urged to reflect upon the challenges they face in a rapidly moving context. Individuals are increasingly under pressure to seek out preferred publication outlets, developing and curating a personal citation profile. Yet such extrinsic outcomes may come at the cost of the core values that motivate the interdisciplinary scholar and research.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a forward-looking focus on the critical role of academics in interdisciplinary accounting research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact mechanism of direct supervisor's leadership behaviors on employees' extended use of information technologies	[ "Transformational leadership", "Job autonomy", "IT extended use", "IT innovativeness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past decade, rapid technological advances in digitization and data analytics have reshaped the business landscape and enabled the emergence of new business innovations and fierce cross-boundary competitions (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017). With the intense competition and globalization of external marketing environments, organizations are faced with transformation with new forms of information technologies (IT) to achieve competitive advantage in the digital age (Albanese and Manning, 2016). In the past few years, more and more firms have implemented and utilized new forms of IT, such as cloud computing, Internet of Things and data-driven business intelligence (BI) in support of business strategies and operations. According to the statistics of Gartner, the global IT investment has achieved 3,470bn dollars in the year of 2017. It is estimated that organizations' investments in digital IT will keep growing in the next few years (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Transformational leadership\n3. Research model and hypotheses: Drawing upon the extant literature, this study integrates transformational leadership and job autonomy in one research model, in order to examine their joint influences on IT extended use. It is proposed that transformational leadership is beneficial to enhance employees' perception of job autonomy, which, in turn, positively influences their extended use of IT. Considering the differences of personal innovativeness in IT use this study considers IT innovativeness as a significant moderator in the research model, and argues that the relationship between transformational leadership and IT extended use will be strengthened when employees possess a higher level of IT innovativeness. The research model is described in Figure 1. The theoretical logic of the path relationships will be described in the next section.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Questionnaire design\n5. Research synthesis and implications: Overall, this study makes three major contributions to the extant literature. First, this study examines the influences of transformational leadership behaviors on employees' extended use of IT. Previous literature mostly considered transformational leadership as a second-order construct, and examined its influence on organizational-level IT success (Ke and Wei, 2008; Alshamaila et al., 2013; Shao et al., 2012, 2016; Shao, Feng and Hu, 2017). Thus, there is limited understanding regarding the specific influences of transformational leadership behaviors on IT extended use at the individual level. While this study considers the four dimensions of transformational leadership (specifically idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and interpersonal consideration) as first-order constructs in the research model, and empirically examines their separate influence on IT extended use. The empirical findings can extend the literature of IT leadership from the organizational level to the individual level. Second, this study uncovers the mediating mechanism between transformational leadership behaviors and IT extended use. Although previous studies have posited the significance of transformational leadership in achieving IT success in the adoption and implementation phases (Ke and Wei, 2008; Alshamaila et al., 2013; Shao et al., 2012, 2016; Shao, Feng and Hu, 2017), to our knowledge, few studies have examined the impact mechanism of transformational leadership behaviors on employees' IT extended use in the post-adoptive phase. By introducing job autonomy from organizational behavior literature, this study posits that supervisor's transformational leadership is beneficial to promote an autonomous work environment in the IT-enabled work system, which further facilitates employees' extended use of IT. The empirical research findings can enrich the literature of IT extended use from a job characteristics theoretical lens. Third, this study reveals the moderating effect of IT innovativeness between transformational leadership behaviors and IT extended use. Although previous literature has identified personal IT innovativeness as a significant individual characteristics in the research framework (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Chou et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2013), few studies have examined its moderating effect between leadership behaviors and individuals' IT use in the post-adoptive phase. Drawing upon leadership contingency theory, this study considers personal IT innovativeness as a significant moderator in the research framework, and confirms its accelerating effect between transformational leadership behaviors and employees' IT extended use. The empirical results can further extend the boundary condition of the proposed research model.\n6. Conclusions and future research directions: Drawing upon transformational leadership, this study develops a research model to examine: the mediation mechanism of job autonomy between supervisors' transformational leadership behaviors and employees' IT extended use; and the moderating mechanism of IT innovativeness between supervisors' transformational leadership behaviors and employees' IT extended use. A survey was conducted in China and 299 valid data were collected from employees who use IT to deal with daily work. Structural equation modeling method was used to examine the research model and the corresponding hypotheses. The empirical results demonstrate that direct supervisors' leadership behaviors of inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and interpersonal consideration are beneficial to increase followers' perception of job autonomy, which, in turn, promote their extended use of IT. Meanwhile, the influences of inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation leadership behaviors on IT extended use will be strengthened when employees possess a higher level of IT innovativeness.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of job autonomy on the relationship between direct supervisor's transformational leadership behaviors and employees' extended use of information technologies (IT). In addition, this study considers IT innovativeness as a significant moderator in the research model, in order to examine if the relative influences of leadership behaviors on IT extended use are contingent upon employees' IT innovativeness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A field survey was conducted in China and empirical data were collected from 299 employees who use IT in support of daily work. Structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the research model and corresponding hypotheses.\nFindings: The empirical results indicate that: three dimensions of transformational leadership, specifically interpersonal consideration, intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation, are significant antecedents of employees' IT extended use; perceived job autonomy partially mediates the relationships between transformational leadership behaviors and IT extended use; and employees' IT innovativeness positively moderates the effects of transformational leadership behaviors on IT extended use.\nPractical implications: This study can provide first-line managers with a better understanding of how to stimulate employees to make an extended use of IT by granting them more freedom in job assignments. Furthermore, the managers also need attend to subordinates' personal IT innovativeness when exhibiting transformational leadership behaviors.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the extant literature of IT extended use through the lens of transformational leadership and job characteristics theory. In particular, this study identifies the boundary condition of the proposed research model by uncovering the moderating effect of IT innovativeness between transformational leadership behaviors and IT extended use.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical investigation of service recovery in e-retailing: An operations management perspective	[ "Operations management", "Service recovery", "E-retailing industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: E-retailing, which is defined as retailing services delivered on the internet, is developing quickly all over the world. In 2013, the worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sales grew 18.0 percent over the previous year to $1.248 trillion. It is projected to increase by 20.1 percent to reach $1.500 trillion in 2014 (e-marketer, 2014). E-retailing sometimes fails to meet the expectations of customers, which may incur many damaging customer actions such as negative word-of-mouth and service provider switching (Robinson et al., 2011), ultimately reducing the e-retailer's market share. More importantly, e-retailers suffer more than their brick-and-mortar counterparts from these negative impacts of service failures because customers can easily switch to another e-retailer with only one click. In addition, negative word-of-mouth spreads much faster online (Reichheld and Schefter, 2000). Therefore, successfully taking actions to undo these damaging outcomes is essential for e-retailers and may afford opportunities to restore customer satisfaction and loyalty (Holloway and Beatty, 2003; Sousa and Voss, 2009; Lee and Park, 2010; Wang et al., 2011; Kuo and Wu, 2012; Chang et al., 2012; Hsieh, 2013).\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1. Recovery system structure\n3. Hypotheses: Conditions such as standards for service delivery are shown to significantly affect employees' behavior in organizations, as positively contributing towards employees' affect and performance (Gountas et al., 2013; Hennig-Thurau and Thurau, 2003; Susskind et al., 2003). Sternberg (1992) proposed that empowerment of employees positively influences their attitude and behavior. Giving employees the authority to decide the best way of carrying out the task will improve their satisfaction and increase their OCB (Gist and Mitchell, 1992; Hartline and Ferrell, 1996; Morrison, 1996). Therefore, we propose that an integrated recovery system (high in formality, empowerment, accessibility, human intensity, and system intensity) will provide employees a better environment to successfully implement service recovery, thus leading to high job satisfaction and positive employee behaviors:\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Sample and data collection\n5. Discussions: For years, service recovery is seen by both academics and managers as a critical part of e-retailing, with the main focus being customer perception. In the last two decades, several authors theoretically suggested to fully understand the entire process of service recovery from an operations perspective. An integrated recovery system is regarded as the key to successful recovery and effective organizational outcomes (Hart et al., 1990; Smith et al., 2010, 2012). Thus, long-term competitiveness requires e-retailers to incorporate an integrated approach that facilitates employee satisfaction and performance, with the ultimate objective being improved service quality and market performance.\n6. Limitations and future research: This study has certain limitations as with any other research and opens direction for future study. First, the generalizability of our findings is limited because our sample was restricted to a single e-tailer. To generalize the results of the study, samples from more e-tailers would be desired. In addition, our findings revealed the impact of a well-established service recovery system on e-retailers' capability improvement and market performance. More studies would be needed to generalize the findings to other e-tailer service recovery systems with various degrees of maturity. Future study can replicate this study in other service sectors or different countries and reveal the differences and similarities. Second, since the data collected was limited to the employee perspective, we cannot determine the actual level of effectiveness of recovery system and the extent to which customers are re-satisfied from recovery activities. Thus, it would be advisable to include more formalized input from the customers' perspective as a secondary means of assessing performance. Third, this study is based on the cross-sectional survey that all of the construct data are measures at one point in a time. Thus, it will be beneficial to take additional measures over an extend period of time to detect the effect of integrated service recovery system and capture the impact of employees' attitudes and behaviors on organization profitability. In addition, future research may consider some other recovery outcomes perceived by employees (e.g. self-confidence) and mediating variables in the relationship between the recovery system and employee perceived outcomes (e.g. organization culture) to build a better understanding of recovery system in the e-retail industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: E-retailing grows rapidly in recent years. The majority of previous research on e-retailing service recovery has been mainly focussed on the customers' perspective. The purpose of this paper is to examine service recovery from the operations management perspective of the e-retailing industry in order to investigate the impact of an integrated service recovery system on e-retailers' capability improvement and market performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical data consists of a sample of 256 employees from a leading e-retailer in China. Structural Equation Model was used to verify the relationship between the integrated recovery system and employees' job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as well as e-retailers' capability improvement and market performance.\nFindings: The empirical results reveal that e-retailers need to pay attention to establishing an integrated recovery system. The system can facilitate employee job satisfaction and OCB, ultimately the e-retailer's market performance. However, the relationships between job satisfaction and OCB as well as market performance are found to be low in the context of e-retailing in China.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the effectiveness of an integrated service recovery system in the context of e-retailing and the important role played by employees during recovery process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cultivating virtual communities of practice in KAFKA	[ "Bayesian network", "Knowledge artifact", "Rule-based system", "Sense of virtual community", "Virtual communities of practice", "Wearable technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Communities of practice have been defined as groups of people bound by informal relationships sharing common practices (Brown and Duguid, 2001). The notion of CoP has been used in the past to define the spontaneous arising of knowledge centers in organizations, which overcome the traditional division into business units.\n2. Related work: As highlighted by Sutanto et al. (2011), virtual communities of practices have been developed as useful alternatives to company information and commerce websites. Although many tools are available for promoting such communities, the real challenge is how to keep the community alive. Preece and Shneiderman (2009) pointed out that, although billions of people participate in online social activities, most of them participate as readers of discussion boards, searchers of blog posts, or viewers of photos. Few users become contributors of user-generated content by writing consumer product reviews, uploading travel photos or expressing political opinions.\n3. Knowledge contributors and seekers in KAFKA: In this section, we will describe the main methodological issues of our research. First of all, we will offer a conceptual introduction to KAFKA, focusing on the components involved in the virtual community promotion. Then, we will discuss on the role of KA-Developers and KA-Users in KAKFA adoption. It is important to notice that deeper information about KAFKA are out of paper scope: further details can be found in Sartori and Melen (2016, 2017).\n4. Case study: promoting PA in potentially risky subjects: The proportion of the population over 60 is growing rapidly, as highlighted in the United Nations' report on world population aging[2]. Consequently, the Public Health will have to face significant improvements of costs in the next future, primarily related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular and respiratory malfunctions, cancer, diabetes and obesity. PA has been identified as a crucial protection factor against NCDs; despite this, large part of the population does not know and/or follows the suggested PA guidelines, continuing to conduct a sedentary life (Hallal et al., 2012). While traditional behavioral interventions have produced scarce results from the PA promotion point of view (Conn et al., 2011), the availability of new technologies, in particular wearable technologies, can be exploited to develop new applications to support people in modifying their PA behavior.\n5. Results and discussion: Measuring how technology influences the evolution of communities of practice is not trivial, being necessary to evaluate quantitatively the concept of SOVC. Virtual communities face a different environment than traditional, \"offline\" communities. For example, they are characterized by anonymity, and the possibility to transgress social boundaries in case no sanction occurs (Schroeder and Axelsson, 2006).\n6. Conclusions and future works: Communities of practice have been always conceived as important centers for knowledge sharing and creation inside organizations. Thus, disciplines like knowledge management are interested in developing tools to support their promotion and maintenance. The continuous improvement of mobile technologies, as well as their availability at relatively low costs offers new possibilities to support them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for cultivating virtual communities of practice in distributed environments. The framework is based on the integration of knowledge artifacts and wearable technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed knowledge artifact is based on the correlation between conceptual and computational tools for the representation of different kinds of knowledge.\nFindings: In this way, it is possible to make deeper the collaboration between knowledge seekers and contributors within the community, given that seekers and contributors share, at least in part, design choices at the knowledge modeling level.\nOriginality/value: A practical application of the framework has been described, to show its originality with respect to traditional knowledge management systems. In particular, it has been demonstrated how lurking phenomenon inside communities of practice can be significantly reduced. To this aim, opportune indexes have been defined from existing ones in literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Urbanising facilities management: the challenges in a creative age	[ "Facilities", "Town planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Creative cities and corporations\nOf citizens and customers: sciences and practices of dealing with people, places and society: Internal FM-discussion on scientific knowledge\nLife between the offices - new facilities for informal social interaction: Designing spaces for creativity\nThe urban dynamism of \"vague spaces\" - new facilities through informal social activities: In the above, we have seen how the attention towards social life in urban planning from the 1970s and on might be of relevance for contemporary facilities management and office design in the creative industries. Now we want to turn to a recent trend in urban culture and discuss not only how it is included and interpreted in \"creative\" urban planning, but also which role the FM industry and research play vis-a-vis this urban phenomenon. In this, we will draw on the earlier discussion of FM as \"a science and practice of dealing with people, places and society\" and the pivotal questions of societal reflection this raises.Already noticed in the late 1960s by Jacobs (1969), the density and diversity of urban life in a city has today become a major and verified line of reasoning in the practice and theory of planning for \"creativity\" (Florida, 2003; Hall, 2000; Hospers, 2003; Landry, 2000). However, recent trends within urban culture have brought forth new aspects, which are pivotal to the planning for \"creativity\". These trends yield important clues as to how to further develop our grasp of planning for the \"creativity\" and, eventually, the \"urbanity\" of the city.Vague spaces and urban catalysts\nConclusions: In dealing with people and places, FM bears much resemblance with the discipline of urban planning. Because of this, a glance at the developments and challenges of this discipline yields much inspiration. For one thing, as an important step in establishing an urbanised FM research agenda, more knowledge should be included from the field of social theory in order to develop more elaborate answers to questions such as: What is the subject matter of FM research? Is it the study of the industry bearing the name FM, that is, as it is defined and redefined by the professionals in the field? Or is it the study of a temporally and spatially specified aspect of the relation between people, practices and places, that is, as it could be defined and redefined by researchers in relation to general theories of society? Or something in between? A discussion of the experiences drawn from urban FM and CbFM could be the place, where these questions find firmer answers within FM.Further, there is much inspiration for the facilitation of creative environments in the perspective within urban planning called \"the life between the buildings\". The perspective developed as a critique of the objectifying gaze on the city within \"functionalism\". Today, cities planning for creativity draws on much the same tenets in trying to create spaces for informal social interaction. As organisations in the creative age becomes urbanised, these aims find their way to the spatial design of creative corporations. Creating an informal social atmosphere of serendipity is an age-old challenge of urban planning.However, facilitating creative environments may not only be a question of intentionally designing new creative spaces for organisations. Innovative energies might come from the most ignored and left-over spaces. The more recent trends of urban sub-cultures shows that the temporary use of \"vague spaces\" can yield the most innovative of cultures. This invites new perceptions of refurbishment processes within FM, but it also opens the eyes toward the possibilities in linking up with a surrounding context of informal urban spaces. Approaching these spaces in the same way as, and in relation to, the socially disadvantages neighbourhoods dealt with in CbFM might even produce a significant innovation within urban planning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the challenge of the creative economy for FM practice and research. It seeks to do so by comparing developments in FM with developments in the related discipline of urban planning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research is based on a comprehensive literature review as well as action research in relation to urban planning.\nFindings: - The growth of the creative economy has meant a close connection between corporate and urban development. This means that FM, in order to facilitate creative environments, can find inspiration from trends in urban planning, and look at the urban context as a part of its facilities. However, including the urban context in FM, and studying it, comes with possibilities as well as challenges. FM needs what is called a thematic as well as epistemological \"urbanisation\" in order to recognise creative and social possibilities and needs.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Whereas the research is thoroughly founded in urban and social theory and sketches out important considerations in establishing an urbanised research agenda for FM, it does not include all recent developments within subjects such as new ways of working, place design and management.\nPractical implications: - The urban perspectives unfolded show avenues of development regarding both strategic considerations for place design and necessities of and possibilities in corporate social responsibility within FM through community and research collaboration.\nSocial implications: - The paper provides ideas of how an urbanised FM can play an active role in creating a positive change of neighbourhoods at the same time as facilitating a creative development for corporations.\nOriginality/value: - In relation to community-based FM, the possible interaction between FM and the urban context has been discussed from an FM point of view. This paper brings this discussion a step further: it illustrates how urban planning knowledge holds the potential for a further social and urban development of FM research and practice in a creative economy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"The ability to get a job": student understandings and definitions of employability	[ "Employers", "Employability", "Curriculum", "Enterprise", "Careers education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Why is employability an issue?\nMethodology: Study context\nDiscussion: The students' articulations of employability obtained in this study provide four noteworthy insights. First, the definitions demonstrate a differentiation in the student perspectives of their own employability as they progress through their studies moving from definitions being about potential employer to definitions being more about oneself. This can be seen as a shift from an extrinsic to an intrinsic focus. Second, they show a changing sophistication in how they define the term employability. Third, the learner definitions reveal differences in emphases to the definitions of employability of other stakeholder groups. Finally, a brief exploration of the career plans of the students are discussed which reveal a degree of uncertainty and short-term career plans emerging among third-year students. These insights will now be explored.\nConclusions: The definitions of employability offered in this research indicate that, as they progress through their studies, student definitions of employability become more sophisticated. In their first year of university, the students tended to articulate their employability using simplistic language, and focus their definition extrinsically, on what an employer thinks of the applicant. By their third year, a wider range of terms were used to talk about employability, suggesting a more developed and sophisticated understanding and definitions were also more likely to be expressed intrinsically, i.e. what they had to offer to employers. This mirrors the findings of Tymon (2011) with students showing greater ownership of the term. However, none of the definitions provided by the students in this study encompassed the more holistic and multi-dimensional views of employability reflected in academic and employer definitions. The similarity in findings to that of Tymon (2011), who worked with business students, also suggests that there is no discernible \"discipline\" dimension to the definitions of employability offered by the Marine Sports students in this study.\nLimitations: There are a number of limitations that should be highlighted concerning this study. First, approaching employability from the students' perception does not provide any understanding as to why students perceive their employability in a particular way. It, therefore, limits the ability for HEI's to implement specific actions. A second limitation is that like many studies in employability, this study used a case study approach which offers little opportunity in the way of generalisability, making it difficult to extrapolate or compare findings (Finch et al., 2013). Finally, there were difficulties in collecting data from recent graduates which led to low participation numbers in this population.\nFuture research: This study also provides several recommendations for future research. These include the application of a student's perceived employability in future research as it \"integrates all possible personal and structural factors and their interactions\" and provides an initial indication on the labour market position (Vanhercke et al., 2013, p. 599). Also, a need to address the difficulty in collecting data from graduates which has led to a lack of information available around the graduate transition from HE in to employment (Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore employability in the context of higher education (HE) from the students' perspective. Limited attention has been paid to student understandings of their own employability in a Sport Science context and Tymon (2011) refers to them as \"the missing perspective\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents the findings of a study of Marine Sports Science students (n=63) at a post-1992 HE institution which through the qualitative element of a mixed methods survey explored their changing articulations of their employability as they progressed through their studies. The students surveyed were in receipt of a comprehensive programme of enterprise and employability activities embedded within their programme.\nFindings: Qualitative results showed that Marine Sport Science students' articulations of employability expanded in vocabulary as the students progressed through their studies. Definitions also shifted from those that centred on what employers want (extrinsic) to what the student had to offer the employer (intrinsic).\nOriginality/value: There are very few examples of studies that explore employability from the students' perspective and this paper adds understanding on this \"missing perspective\". It also addresses a specific discipline area; Marine Sport Science, which has yet to feature in any literature on employability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The success of strategic planning in health care organizations of Iran	[ "Iran", "Health care", "Successful implementation", "Strategic plan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The health care environment is dynamic, complex, complicated and challenging. Health care organizations are nowadays faced with serious challenges, particularly concerning quality, effectiveness and efficiency (Mosadeghrad, 2005). Accordingly, health care managers and leaders should adopt new approaches to adapt their organizations with the changing internal and external environments and match the complexity of the health care industry. Strategic management is an appropriate response to these challenges and helps managers to take advantage of any changing environment and achieve optimum outcomes.\nMethod: Purpose and objective\nResults: In total, 99 questionnaires were received (90 percent response rate). Of them, 93 organizations were hospitals and the remaining were health centers. Almost 68.7 percent of organizations were public. The average number of hospital beds was 193 beds (min. 39 and max. 1,100 beds). Health care organizations had 510 employees in average.\nDiscussion: This study aimed to examine the success of strategic planning in Iranian health care organizations. Using strategic plans was not common in health centers. Hospitals basically used strategic plans as a perquisite of accreditation system. The findings showed that strategic planning was moderately successful in Iranian health care organizations. The most and the least success was observed in planning and employee management constructs, respectively. Process management, organizational culture and customer management had the most effect on the success of strategic plans.\nConclusions and recommendations: The effects of strategic planning on organizational performance were studied in a sample of Iranian health care organization. Furthermore, a conceptual model of management and organizational performance was confirmed empirically in this study. While strategic planning is a tool for achieving organizational goals, some managers consider it as a goal. As a result they just formulate a strategic plan and pay less attention to the quality of the plan and its proper implementation. Consequently, we see that in spite of many health care organizations in developed countries where implementing strategic plans are linked to positive organizational performance, in those health care organizations that strategic planning is treated as a goal, there will be no considerable success. Furthermore, implementing a strategic plan without upgrading the organizational structures, culture and processes may result in less improvement in performance and early abandonment of the strategic plan. Finally, lack of an appropriate model to guide managers and staff in implementing strategic plans is also a contributor to the strategic planning failure. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive model for formulating and implementing strategic plans to improve health care organizational performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although strategic planning promised to boost organizational performance, many health care managers found it difficult to implement it successfully. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the success of strategic planning in health care organizations of Iran.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 using a valid and reliable questionnaire completed by 99 health care managers in Tehran province, Iran.\nFindings: Strategic planning was positively related to organizational performance including employees' and patients' satisfaction and organizational productivity. However, strategic planning was moderately successful in enhancing organizational performance of Iranian health care organizations (score of 2.84 out of 5). The most and least success was observed in the planning and employee management constructs of organizational performance. Process management, organizational culture and customer management constructs had the most effect on the success of strategic plans in health care organizations.\nPractical implications: Strategic planning is effective and provides a clear focused direction for health care organizations. Understanding the success factors of strategic planning would enable managers to develop more effective methods for developing, implementing and evaluating strategic plans in health care organizations.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance and offers suggestions on how to develop and implement strategic plans to achieve higher organizational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sense of virtual community and knowledge contribution in a P3 virtual community: Motivation and experience	[ "Virtual communities", "Uses and gratification theory", "Experiential marketing", "Sense of virtual community", "Knowledge contribution", "Marketing", "Information technology", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: More recently, the peer-to-peer problem solving (P3) virtual community (VC) in Taiwan has become one of the most important VC type, many people prefer to use P3 VC for solutions seeking and knowledge sharing. Thus, how to lure more community members to contribute more valuable knowledge, has become an important online business issue. With the development of Web 2.0, the internet is no longer only a tool for information search; it has become an important part of our lives. VC, a new and ubiquitous medium of online social groups, has been given much attention by researchers and managers and grown rapidly during the last several years (e.g. Koh and Kim, 2003; Lu et al., 2010). Rheingold (1993) describes VCs as computer-mediated social groups in which various users can freely communicate and exchange information with each other. VCs are networks in which online users share common interests and interact together voluntarily and socially for information and resource exchange (Gu et al., 2007; Rheingold, 2000; Romm et al., 1997; Sanchez-Franco and Rondan-Cataluna, 2010). People have different interests and motivation; thus, various types of VCs, such as social, tourist, information technology, gaming, and professional networks, have emerged recently.These VCs emphasize collaboration and sharing among users, and they provide unprecedented opportunities for users to share their opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other interactively and collaboratively through many different forms, including text, photos, audio, and video (Dearstyne, 2007). Ku (2011) also argued that a VC also places a high value on knowing the participants to achieve the best possible solutions for their participants. It enables businesses to become engaged with and have insight into the customers' request and their special experience.One of the most significant benefits offered by VCs is a rich amount of knowledge to satisfy curiosity or solve problems, such as P3 VC mentioned in Mathwick et al.'s (2008) study. Ku and Fan (2009) pointed out that knowledge sharing is an important means to create value. In order to enhance the competitiveness of VCs, VC managers are attempting to encourage their users to contribute knowledge in order to provide value to other members and ensure sustainable development. Mathwick et al. (2008) consider that knowledge exchange can be regarded as the core of a virtual problem-solving community. Although knowledge exchange may be important to communities, it is not a goal of all communities. In some cases, emotional support or entertainment may be more important than sharing know how or know what. However, we are interested in knowledge-exchange issues, such as knowledge-contribution intention, rather than communication in general within VCs. We thus seek to investigate the knowledge sharing issue in the P3 VC context. Most P3 VCs fail mainly due to the reluctance of users to share knowledge within them. This has led to the investigation of knowledge sharing in VCs by some researchers in an effort to determine what factors are significant to knowledge-sharing and knowledge-management success (e.g. Chiu et al., 2006; Fang and Chiu, 2010; Hsu et al., 2007; Koh and Kim, 2004; Lin et al., 2009; Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Yu et al., 2010). In order to make VCs sustainable and maintain a sufficient number of members, Blanchard (2007) argues that community managers need to generate a certain degree of members' sense of virtual community (SOVC) to make members feel that they belong to a unique group; such meaningful relationships retain existing community members and further attract potential newcomers. Keng et al. (2011) also consider the consumer in the process of post-purchase, reinforcing the SOVC for consumers can reduce post-purchase dissonance and enhance the loyalty. SOVC refers to the feelings of attachment and belonging that members have for their VC. Higher SOVC will nurture and strengthen the relationships between a VC and its members (Blanchard, 2007). To our knowledge, the relationship between SOVC and knowledge contribution has not been investigated sufficiently. This study intends to examine the effects of SOVC on P3 VC members' knowledge-contribution intention through empirical data collection.With the growth of online participation in social networking sites, members have become the kernel and the driving force behind VCs. The success of a P3 VC depends on its members' responses, which involve why they use the P3 VC and what they perceive through usage of the P3 VC. In order to improve the attractiveness of a P3 VC to its existing and potential customers, the customer experience of using the P3 VC should be addressed. Recently, several marketers have changed their strategy from merely selling products or services to selling consumers an experience. This aspect of consumer economy, which has significant effects on customers' attitudes toward sellers, has been given much attention by several researchers (e.g. Grewal et al., 2009; Pine and Gilmore, 1999; Schmitt, 1999). Although customer experience can be regarded as playing an important independent role in explaining customers' attitude formation, this study instead intends to investigate the antecedents of P3 VC members' attitude formation through the interaction between their motivations and experience. Based on Baron and Kenny's (1986) arguments, a moderating variable, which is also a kind of independent variable, plays a more important role than a pure independent variable in explaining the dependent variable. Moreover, Baron and Kenny (1986) argue that moderating variables can be introduced when the relationship between independent variable and dependent variable is weak or inconsistent. In this study, the motivational factors do not necessarily lead to attitude formation. The motivational factors and customer experiences can be regarded as expectations prior to (why users use) and perceptions after (what users perceive) P3 VC usage, respectively. This study employs the uses and gratification (U&G) theory proposed by researchers from the communication field to explicate why members use a community as an efficient means to fulfill their various needs. When an individual's experiences are congruent with his/her prior expectations, a favorable attitude toward a certain P3 VC will be developed.With the above motives, this study intends to investigate the roles of customer experience and motivation in forming attitude toward P3 VCs as well as the effects of attitude and SOVC on knowledge contribution. This study employs a survey in an online information technology forum to test the research model.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 SOVC and knowledge contribution\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Analyses: 4.1 Convergent and discriminant validity\n5. Conclusion: 5.1 Summary of results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to employ the perspectives of uses and gratification theory and experiential marketing to investigate the antecedents of virtual community (VC) members' attitude formation and knowledge-contribution intention through the sense of virtual community (SOVC) and the interaction between their motivations and experiences in a peer-to-peer problem solving (P3) VC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study chose a well-known professional IT VC in Taiwan, the ITHelp community, as the target for data collection. An online survey linked from the homepage of this community was used through the cooperation of the vendor of this community. This study employs the partial least squares (PLS) method to examine the research model.\nFindings: - The results show that members' attitudes toward their VCs are determined by the interaction between their motivations for and experiences with P3 VC usages. Moreover, SOVC plays full mediating roles in the relationship between attitude toward P3 VC and knowledge-contribution intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: - VC managers need to aim at creating pleasant experiences for their members and foster their belongingness and consciousness to form higher SOVC. The conclusions are restricted to a VC that involves IT-related issues, which focuses problem solving rather than being socially oriented. Members of IT P3 VCs are usually highly innovative and enthusiastic about new IT products, which is quite different from the membership of other P3 VCs.\nOriginality/value: - Extant studies seldom considered the effects of SOVC and members' experiences on knowledge-contribution behavior. The mediating role of SOVC and the interaction between motivations and experience can enhance our understanding about online knowledge-contribution behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
It's never too late to learn	[ "Informal learning", "Ageing workforce", "Later career learning", "Visual elicitation methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The future of the workplace is grey. Workers classified as later-career workers, that is, those over the age of 50, currently comprise 20 per cent of the European workforce and will represent 30 per cent by the end of the current decade (Fenwick, 2012a). The principal causes of workforce ageing can be attributed to improving life expectancy and the need to manage the worker-pensioner dependency ratio by extending working lives. Drawing upon projections from Eurostat, Barabasch et al. (2012, p. 310) noted that whereas, in 2011, the ratio of those considered to be of prime working age people to those over 65 was four to one, by 2060, the ratio is forecast to be just two to one. The weakening of many private pension schemes and a general trend in developed economies to delay access to state provided pensions is estimated to mean that \"50-80 per cent\" of the current workforce \"will delay retirement for economic reasons\" (Fredericksen, 2006, p. 131). However, there is some evidence that workers are also positively \"wishing to participate more and for longer\" (Billett et al., 2011, p. 1250). Workers perceive benefits of working later such as an extended life-expectancy compared to those retiring early (Harford, 2014).\nExisting research: An initial hurdle facing those researching the working and learning experiences of older workers is defining exactly what is meant by older workers or, to use our preferred term, later-career workers. The threshold age for defining \"older\" workers ranges from 45 and above, to 55 and above (Billett and Van Woerkom, 2008; Luger et al., 2012; Angotti and Belmonte, 2012). Moreover, considerable debate surrounds whether age is a biological, personal-psychological, economic, historical or socio-cultural construct (Hodkinson, 2010). Thus, different definitions of older worker characterise different national and organisational cultures and different industries. In the current research, the pragmatic definition adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Luger et al., 2012, p. 256) has been applied, whereby workers in the second half of their working lives are regarded as later-career workers.\nThe empirical study: A qualitative and largely inductive methodological approach was adopted, aligning with the exploratory aim of the research. A cross-sectional research design involved purposively sampled middle-manager participants who were selected as an exemplifying case (Yin, 2014). Recruitment of these participants was based upon them meeting the key criteria of being \"later-career\" workers using the definition of being aged over 50 and holding a middle-management role. This paper reports the findings from ten quite different participant managers. Half of these participants were private sector managers and the other half were public/not-for-profit sector managers. Some were from professional backgrounds such as social work, police and engineering, while the remainder were more general career managers with such responsibilities as business development, project management and quality assurance. Three of the participants were female.\nFindings: The data illustrate the diverse and complex sources of learning experienced by the later-career middle-manager participants, and key findings from the interviews are detailed below. However, the following vignette, Andrea's tale, provides an introductory overview, deriving the interview with one participant, of the experiences of later-career learning evident in the accounts of most participants.\nVignette: Andrea's tale: Andrea is a city council manager aged in her early-50s. An accountant by training, she is currently a Project Manager. In her mid-40s, Andrea had decided to take the opportunity offered to her by her employers, of pursuing an MBA. However, since completing this course, \"the training budget has been completely hacked\". Nonetheless, Andrea admitted that she had not proactively sought out further formal courses, conceding that from formal courses she had \"learnt an awful lot that I didn't need to learn and that I've forgotten since\". Nonetheless, austerity and the subsequent lack of opportunities for course participation had, Andrea suggested, constrained the learning available to her. Moreover, she felt that learning opportunities had been further limited through the significant changes brought about in city administration recently as a result of austerity, notably more top-down decision-making and accountability and work overload. Andrea thus explained how \"cos everyone's under the thumb [...] you just do what you're told\". However, despite the perceived lack of learning opportunities, Andrea was clearly experiencing personal development through significant informal learning helped by her desire to \"discover new things\", to \"stretch myself a bit\" and by a naturally reflective disposition. Andrea considered that her years of experience allowed her to learn reflectively through being \"more prepared ask the seemingly daft question\". In addition to such personal experiential learning, Andrea spoke of the importance of \"developing informal connections\" and reflected on the significance of such connections for learning noting that,\"you look at what others' do and you ask yourself 'how and why'?\" Andrea further reflected that throughout her career she had been constantly \"doing things that I'd never done before [...] learning on the fly\". Andrea noted that while traditionally in the context of a city council she would now be near retirement age, in the current context \"I could be here until I'm 68\". Therefore, she felt that \"if something comes along, I will have a go\". However, Andrea had to some extent accepted the limits to her remaining working life, concluding that \"what you've got to remember is everyone has a shelf-life\".\nConclusions: DeCroo (2014) proposed that the challenge of an ageing workforce needs to be \"tackled [...] from another angle\" than has conventionally been the case (n.p). Specifically, he argued for \"a new and positive narrative [...] that defies the negativity and transforms our ageing populations from a problem into an asset\" (n.p). Ageing populations need to be seen as a key, growing, natural asset rather than, as typically construed today, a liability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This article aims to review the changing demographics of employment and it proceeds to critically examine the existing literature on later-career workers' experiences of training and development. Population ageing in developed economies has significant implications for workplace learning, given suggestions that most occupational learning for later-career workers occurs on-the-job within the workplace. The literature suggests that later-career workers receive very little formal occupational training. However, significant gaps are revealed in the existing research knowledge of the extent and nature of older workers learning particularly with regard to incidental learning in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative empirical investigation has been conducted among later-career managerial workers and the visual elicitation methodology adopted is detailed.\nFindings: The results of the investigation show how the later-career managers in question were learning extensively, albeit incidentally, from workplace challenges specifically those associated with their responsibilities and from interacting with their managers, teams and external stakeholders.\nOriginality/value: The article draws conclusions for policymakers and those tasked with ensuring the continued learning and development of an ageing workforce.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Globalization and its impact on China's technology innovation system	[ "China", "Globalization", "Transnational companies", "Technology management", "General system theory", "System approach", "China's integration in global economy", "China's technology innovation system", "Transnational corporations", "Foreign investment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: 1.1 General\n2 Globalization, TNCs and integration of China's economy in the globalizing world: 2.1 Economic features of globalization\n3 China's technological innovation system to-date: 3.1 General China\n4 Analysis of China's technology innovation system: 4.1 General\n5 Prospects of China's technology innovation system and concluding remarks: 5.1 Prospects of China's technology innovation system\n6 Concluding remarks: China has been successful in its reform and opening in its economic system, but technology system and social system are two other system with mutual interaction among each other. Although the top leadership of China have a high awareness to create an innovative nation, but the advanced countries also focused very much on innovation and established an innovation strategy built around five priorities, they are:1. Improving people to innovate;2. Unleashing innovation in firms;3. Creating and applying knowledge;4. Applying innovation to address global and social challenges; and5. Improving the governance and measurement of policies for innovation.Therefore, China will also need to compete with the global society on implementation of innovation strategy in a dynamic globalizing world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the general trend of globalization, the role of transnational corporations in the process of globalization and China's integration in the global economy through the linkage of trade and foreign direct investment. China's governmental national technology innovation system and also the progress of R&D system of enterprises of various ownership systems to date are described and analyzed. China's technology innovation system is analyzed both from the macro side and from the micro side within the context of globalization, and the prospect of China's technology innovation system is projected.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Philosophical concept applied to analysis of the theme and structure of this paper is based on the philosophy of Lao-tzu, yin and yan concepts in Chinese, and dialectic in Western terminology. Concepts of general system theory or system approach are used throughout this paper.\nFindings: - The major finding in this paper is that both necessary and sufficient condition should be created for China to establish an innovative country.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is original and analyzes simulation ship between ownership system and technology innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling and forecasting oil price risk: the role of implied volatility index	[ "OVX", "Forecast encompassing", "Oil price volatility", "Range-based RV measures", "RV models", "WTI oil price futures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Oil embodies a prominent role in the international economy as it continues to remain world's leading fuel accounting for 32.9 percent of global energy consumption[1]. Variations in crude oil price are thus likely to bring uncertainty for the global economic development and growth. Since oil market is reported to be one of the most volatile markets, several researchers have examined how and to what extent oil price volatility affects the overall economy. For example, Bouri (2015a) argues that oil price shocks can spill over into equity markets leading to immediate disturbances in financial markets and distant disruptions of economic activities. Vo (2011) also demonstrates that an increment in oil price leads to higher production costs which affect inflation, consumer confidence and hence economic growth. In addition, Chiou and Lee (2009) contend that if oil price has an impact on real output, an increase in oil price will depress aggregate stock prices suggesting a significant association between oil prices and equity market returns. Besides, Zhang and Tu (2016) report that metal industry is highly oil-intensive and hence oil price volatility certainly affects the metal markets and hence the overall economy. Therefore, crude oil is considered a key commodity for the national and international economies.\n2. Related literature: A growing body of literature pays a special attention to modeling and forecasting the oil price volatility considering its huge importance on the global and regional economies. Cortazar and Schwartz (2002), for instance, propose a parsimonious three-factor approach of the term structure of oil futures prices that can be easily estimated from available futures price data. The model is executed using daily prices of all futures contracts traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange between 1991 and 2001. The findings of the in-sample and out-of-sample tests show that the model fits the data extremely well. Fong and See (2002) forecast the volatility of crude oil futures prices using a Markov regime-switching model over the period 1992-1997. The regime-switching approach is based on the ARCH/GARCH model allowing for jumps in the conditional variance between regimes. The out-of-sample tests document that the regime-switching model performs remarkably better than the non-switching models regardless of evaluation criteria. While exploring the association among 10 prices series of heavy crude oils and 14 price series of petroleum products in Europe and Americas during the period 1994-2002, Lanza et al. (2005) analyze the crude oil and product price dynamics using cointegration and error correction models (ECM). They also consider the ECM specification to predict crude oil prices over the horizon January 2002-June 2002. The study further compares the forecasting performance of ECM with a naive model in first differences which does not exploit any cointegrating relation.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Measuring RV\n4. Data: The crude OVX, an important tool for trading oil price volatility, is published by the CBOE from the middle of 2007. The OVX considers real-time bid/ask quotes of nearby and second nearby options with at least eight days to expiration, and weights these options to derive a constant, a 30-day estimate of the expected volatility of crude oil prices (Liu et al., 2013).\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 In-sample fitting\n6. Conclusion: Since oil is considered one of the most important production inputs in an economy, it is essential to reduce the oil price risk. Doing so requires precise predictions of the oil price direction. Despite the fact that a large number of scholarly works make decent attempts to find appropriate methods to forecast oil price volatility, there is no real consensus on the preferred approach. In this study, unlike the previous research, we investigate whether the variance of oil market returns can be explained using the information content of crude OVX, a measure of oil price uncertainty. In doing so, we consider applying several range-based measures to frame the RV of crude oil futures returns. Our main objective is to observe the predictive power of OVX when modeling the realized variance of oil market returns.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While numerous empirical studies have tried to model and forecast the oil price volatility over the years, such attempts using the crude oil volatility index (OVX) rarely exist. In order to conceal this void, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether including OVX in the realized volatility (RV) models improve the accuracy of predictions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: At the empirical stage, the authors employ several measures to frame the RV of crude oil futures returns. In particular, the authors use three different range-based RV estimators recommended by Parkinson (1980), Rogers and Satchell (1991) and Alizadeh et al. (2002), respectively.\nFindings: The findings reveal that the information content of crude OVX helps to provide more accurate volatility predictions in comparison to the base-line RV model which contains only historical oil volatilities. Besides, the forecast encompassing test further suggests that the modified RV model (when OVX is introduced in the base-line RV model) forecast encompasses the conventional RV forecast in majority of the cases.\nPractical implications: Since forecasting oil price volatility plays a vital role in portfolio optimization, derivatives pricing, optimum asset allocation decisions and risk management, the findings of this study thus carry important implications for energy economists, investors and policymakers.\nOriginality/value: This paper adds to the existing literature, since it is one of the initial studies to explore whether OVX is informative about the realized variance of the US oil market returns. The findings recommend that the information content of oil implied volatilities should be taken into account when modeling the US oil market volatility. In addition, range-based measures should be utilized while estimating the RV.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of marketing in today's enterprises	[ "Firm performance", "Market orientation", "East and West", "Importance of marketing", "Marketing department", "Marketing function" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The role and influence of marketing departments has received much attention in both the popular press and academic literature in recent years (Dixon et al., 2014; Gummesson et al., 2014; Strandvik et al., 2014). These articles commonly assert that the marketing function has been diminished (Verhoef and Leeflang, 2009; Webster et al., 2005), that marketing has lost its strategic role (Murphy, 2005), and that marketing departments are now engaged in tactical rather than strategic decision making (Sheth and Sisodia, 2005; Klaus et al., 2014). Fournaise Marketing Group, a London-based global marketing performance measurement and management firm, surveyed the chief executive officers (CEOs) of 1,200 large corporations and small- and medium-sized firms in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Their findings clearly demonstrated the bleak status of marketing in today's enterprises: 80 percent of the CEOs surveyed either ranked marketers lowly in the hierarchy of their organizations' executive committees, or did not include them at all (Lukovitz, 2012). Further, 64 percent of the \"marketer-unhappy\" CEOs reported that they have removed critical responsibilities from marketing's traditional core functions, including product development, pricing and channel management (Lukovitz, 2012).\nLiterature review and model development: Consistent with prior conceptualizations, we define marketing's role within a firm as the impact of the marketing department, relative to that of other departmental functions, on strategic decisions important to the success of the business unit and/or organization (Homburg et al., 1999; Merlo, 2011). Over the last two decades, several conceptual and empirical studies (see Table I) have explored the role of the marketing department in firms. While the terminology in the literature varies (e.g. marketing power, marketing emphasis, marketing influence), we use these terms interchangeably and define them as the influence of the marketing department on a firm's strategic decision making.\nEmpirical study: Sample and data collection\nAnalysis and results: Measures and correlations\nSummary, implications and further research: In response to the ongoing discussion in the popular press and the assertion that the importance and role of marketing departments is diminishing, the first objective of this study was to examine the status and role of marketing in today's firms. The second objective was to understand the determinants and consequences of a marketing department's influence by surveying a global cross-industry sample of firms. Prior empirical research has investigated both the antecedents of the marketing department's influence as well as the marketing department's relationship with market orientation and firm performance. However, a limitation of these studies is their use of country-level data. Our study is the first to compare both antecedents and consequences of the marketing department's influence across the West (the USA and Europe) and the East (Asia).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of marketing in today's enterprises and examines the antecedents of the marketing department's influence and its relationship with market orientation and firm performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from the West (i.e. the USA and Europe) and the East (i.e. Asia). Partial least squares (PLS) was used to estimate structural models.\nFindings: The findings support the idea that a strong and influential marketing department contributes positively to firm performance. This finding holds for Western and Asian, and for small/medium and large firms alike. Second, the marketing department's influence in a firm depends more on its responsibilities and resources, and less on internal contingency factors (i.e. a firm's competitive strategy or institutional attributes). Third, a marketing department's influence in the West affects firm performance both directly and indirectly (via market orientation). In contrast, this relationship is fully mediated among Eastern firms. Fourth, low-cost strategies enhance the influence of a firm's marketing department in the East, but not in the West.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper assumes explicitly that a marketing department's influence is an antecedent of its market orientation. While the paper finds support for this link, the paper did not test for dual causality between the constructs.\nOriginality/value: Countering the frequent claim in anecdotal and journalistic work that the role of the marketing department diminishes, the findings show that across different geographic regions and firm sizes, strong marketing departments improve firm performance (especially in the marketing-savvy West), and that they should continue to play an important role in firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Drawing negative inferences from a positive country-of-origin image: Consumers' use of COI and price levels to assess counterfeit drugs	[ "India", "Image", "Switzerland", "International business", "Country-of-origin", "Counterfeiting", "Country-of-origin image", "Counterfeit goods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Within the literature, the efficacy of the country-of-origin (COO) heuristic has generated much debate (Usunier and Cestre, 2008; Magnusson et al., 2011; Usunier, 2011). Proponents of this heuristic have demonstrated that COO can influence consumers' perceptions of brands (Diamantopoulos et al., 2011; Usunier, 2011) and products (Herz and Diamantopoulos, 2013). Consumers can use the COO to reduce their uncertainty regarding the quality of the product by applying a positive COO image toward creating positive perceptions of the product (Han, 1989; Haubl, 1996; Laroche et al., 2005). Opponents of the COO heuristic counter that country-of-origin image (COI) is not relevant because consumers fail to connect products or brands with any particular country (Magnusson et al., 2011; Samiee et al., 2005; Liefeld, 2004). In other words, prior work has made the argument that the COO is simply not a significant cue when assessing a product.\nConceptual framework: A positive COI is built, in part, on the consumer's assessment of products from the COO (Parameswaran and Pisharodi, 1994). If the consumer has a positive experience with that country, or if their knowledge of products from that country is positive, then the country COI is enhanced (Parameswaran and Pisharodi, 1994). Prior work has done well to establish that a country's legal and socioeconomic conditions can affect the economic development within it (Gould and Gruben, 1996). If the environment has a strong regulatory component, then product quality is enhanced, which translates into a better standard of product for the consumer (Majid and Bapuji, 2012) and, in turn, enhances the COI. We argue that a positive COI indicates a standard of quality for products and can serve as an attribute that helps consumers to distinguish risky or illegal products from legitimate ones.\nResearch context: We use the global market for counterfeit products as the research context for our study. According to statistics on goods seized, over 1.5 billion euros worth of goods were seized by authorities within the European Union between 2012 and 2013 (European Commission - Taxation and Customs Union, 2014). In the USA almost $1.1 billion worth of goods was seized by customs authorities in the same period (US Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The counterfeit markets cover a wide variety of products, from designer sunglasses to medicines, with products originating from over 50 nations (US Department of Homeland Security, 2013).\nHypotheses development: Our hypotheses reflect the perceptions consumers form and the choices they make when they receive information on the COO and they in turn seek to avoid the purchase of a high-risk product. We test these hypotheses in a high-risk setting - the purchase of a malaria medicine. In this study, high-risk products are represented by counterfeit drugs, and price variations are represented by a price of $6 for a low-priced item and $15 for a higher priced item. Our rationale for choosing these two price points will be explained during our discussion of the methodology used.\nMethodology: Study 1\nDiscussion: The debate over the relevance of the COO has valid arguments, both for and against. Opponents argue that the COO is simply not a relevant feature in consumers' decision-making processes (Samiee et al., 2005). However, when a product crisis occurs, especially one that concerns products manufactured abroad, the media is quick to point toward the COO as a factor linked to the manufacture of the harmful products (Bapuji, 2011). To illustrate this point, we cited the example of toys manufactured in China using lead-based paint and the subsequent negative attention given to their COO. Through a scan of media reports, our study found that this was also the case with counterfeit goods. While we agree that, in regular purchases, the COO may not be a salient factor that consumers use to evaluate the product, the potential for harm that arises in the case of a poorly made or counterfeit product will make the COO salient to consumers who seek to avoid purchasing a sub-par product.\nConclusion: Consumers may not think of the COO when they purchase branded goods such as cars or electronics. For the consumer, the COO may simply not stand out as a prominent or differentiating attribute. However, depending on the product and the issue, COO can sometimes represent a significant factor, as evidenced by the recent case of lead-painted toys manufactured in China. When the COO becomes salient, its impact on consumers' product perceptions and choices depends on whether the product violates the consumer's pre-existing expectations of the country. When these expectations are violated, a positive COI can become a liability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how a positive country-of-origin image will impact consumer perceptions for a high-risk product when the price is unexpectedly low.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental approach was used with consumers from the USA and India. Consumers were divided into groups and given two scenarios that involved purchasing medicine that may have been counterfeit. In one scenario manufacturing took place in India, the other in Switzerland. They were asked to state the probability that certain goods could be counterfeit if they originated from the stated country and then make choices based on those perceived probabilities. An analysis of variance was conducted to test for differences between groups.\nFindings: The authors found that in both samples consumers attached greater probabilities toward low-priced medicines if they originated from Switzerland vs India. Conversely, the higher priced medicines were more likely to be counterfeit if they originated from India vs Switzerland. When given a choice scenario consumers chose more versions of the cheaper products from India than from Switzerland.\nOriginality/value: When country-of-origin is salient then it is believed that a positive country-of-origin image will benefit products that are produced from that country. Consumers expect that more expensive products come from a country with a positive country-of-origin image. The results demonstrate that when there is a conflict between expectations of the country and the price of the product the outcome is lowered perceptions and consumption of the product. This holds true for consumers from a high-cost economy (USA) and consumers from a low-cost economy (India). The authors add to the literature on country-of-origin by demonstrating that a positive image can be a liability when consumers are wary of purchasing a high-risk product.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital literacies: preparing pupils and students for their information journey in the twenty-first century	[ "Learning", "Digital", "Information", "Literacies", "Technologies", "Lifelong" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In a fast-moving world where technology has become intertwined with our daily lives, meaning information is available at our fingertips. Information overload (Khabsa and Giles, 2014) is just one of many challenges that this technological overhaul has presented. In the realms of education, becoming a confident navigator of information is key to successful lifelong learning; we are living in the \"Information Age\", also referred to as the \"Computer Age\", \"Digital Age\" or the \"New Media Age\". Humanity is evolving. Essentially, this era is an era based on information, and the acquisition and ownership of information is a defining trait of this age. This article shares practical strategies for promoting the smarter use of information - and a shorter journey - for these \"travellers\" along the way.\nMethodology: To gather appropriate literature around digital literacies, the authors conducted a systematic review. Key search words on the Elton B. Stephens Co. online database included information, lifelong learning and digital literacies. To show how, longitudinally, learning can be supported, articles that used samples of either primary school-age children (4-11 years old) or students and adult learners were selected. To keep this paper recent and relevant to contemporary debate around digital literacies, most articles were drawn from the past five years, but to present historical context - and to share some more seminal works, such as Prensky's (2001) \"digital natives\" - some older works are included.\nHow modern technologies change the experience: The information journey takes us from print, to the realm digital information \"and beyond\" (Yousuf Ali, 2016, p. 67). We need to deal with information as we encounter it along the journey, but how we interact with information at different touchpoints is a significant aspect of the information journey. By considering how we interact with information, it is only then we can review how to make these interactions more purposeful, more enjoyable and more efficient.\nChildren: starting the information journey: Literacy practices for children are constantly developing, and this means that the implications for how they deal with the influx of digital information that they receive are far reaching (Burnett, 2016). Digital devices are part of everyday life for many children and can be some of their earliest literacy experiences. Young children are engaged in a variety of multimodal, multimedia practices from an early age, and it is imperative that educators help them to manage the amount of information they receive and how they portray themselves online. Many texts that they encounter are from outside of school or family and are often formed around popular or consumer culture. Their engagement with these electronic texts can allow them to outmanoeuvre or subvert the instructions of adults (Carrington, 2005).\nConstructing texts in multiple modes and media: The exposure that children have to new technology allows them access to a greater range of texts and they quickly develop skills to navigate internet sites and other forms of communication technologies. A possible problem with this is that the multimedia practices of children at home are growing more rapidly than they are in school (Arrow and Finch, 2013). The changes that have occurred in technology has meant that everyday practices in reading and writing have changed which means that children today can construct texts in multiple modes and media and move easily from one mode to another (Arrow and Finch, 2013). Although traditional texts are considered as multimodal as they contain a variety of drawings, photos and diagrams, changes in digital technology have expanded the reading material that children engage with which has meant that the skills they need to read such texts have changed. Screen-based texts are \"complex multimodal ensembles of image, sound, animated movement\" (Jewitt, 2005, p. 316) and children need to be able to engage meaningfully with them. Burnett et al. (2014, p. 162) feel that \"It is important that they are able to be equipped to select, critique and use different modes and media and use them creatively, persuasively and for different purposes\".\nPractice, networks and identity: Burnett and Merchant (2011), whilst acknowledging that critical literacy within digital texts may be problematic, put forward a model to demonstrate that it may be possible within the primary classroom. Their model has three notions: practice, networks and identity. \"Practice\" focusses on what children do in new environments; they feel that critical practice is more about a consideration and evaluation of what we and others do on and offline rather than a consideration of digital technology. Burnett and Merchant (2011, p. 51) feel that new media are characterised by:\nStudents: continuing the information journey: For students in higher education (HE), the information journey has significantly evolved over recent decades. Technology has transformed learning at the postsecondary level and significantly increased the prevalence of digital learning environments (Sharp, 2018, p. 153). Students in HE need to take ownership of their search for information in their chosen academic field and will need to spend considerable time searching for information, discovering research and making sense of the literature in a particular area (EMIDIRS, 2012, p. 38). For students, there is now the dilemma of finding what they need versus needing what they find. HE institutions should help to support students with shortening the duration length of their information journeys, as well as more efficient strategies for operation. One possible solution here is that of the contested \"open access journals\" and open education resources.\nStudents and language: Pegrum and Thomas (2011) emphasises that language-based literacy is an umbrella term for several other skills, including \"texting literacy\" - the ability to decode abbreviated words in text form - and \"hypertext literacy\", the skill of navigating online text that uses hyperlinks to link to other online areas. \"Hypertext literacy\" is a key part of using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), where, on a weekly if not daily basis, students need to access module pages, find readings recommended by tutors, upload electronic assignment submissions and interact with peers in wiki spaces.\nGathering and filtering: students and information: When it comes to information literacies, there are several skills that students will require to avoid being saturated by information overload. These include \"search literacy\" (the ability to search effectively for information online), \"tagging literacy\" (labelling or tagging online materials so they are findable), \"information literacy\" (being able to critically evaluate sources and information), \"filtering literacy\" (knowing how to manage information overload) and \"attention literacy\" (knowing when to switch off as well as on) (Hockly, 2012).\nStudents and connections: These include knowing how to manage your digital identity or online persona (\"personal literacy\") and \"network literacy\", which helps you filter information received from your online networks, whereas you yourself become a node in these networks by passing on relevant information or news (Pegrum, 2010). \"Participatory literacy\" involves being able to create and produce digital content; this in turn includes \"cultural/intercultural literacy\" when working with international virtual teams. Students need to be aware of how to manage their \"personal literacy\", their digital identity, as they may have profiles on their institutions VLE, or perhaps set up professional social networking pages such as \"LinkedIn\". Students also need to develop \"network literacy\", which involves the skill of filtering information that is sent through their online networks, judging the validity or importance of such information and then passing on the relevant parts to other users along the network (Pegrum, 2010).\nStudents and the skill of re-design: As Hockly summarises, the skill of redesigning consists primarily of \"remix literacy\", a \"macro literacy which includes the ability to recreate and re-purpose already-made digital content in innovative ways\" (Hockly, 2012, p. 120). This essentially involves helping students to develop abilities in finding new ways to carry out tasks with new tools - an important skill in the ever-changing face of technology. As Bawden (2008) warns, however, we must appreciate that digital literacies are a \"state\" or \"condition\" that inevitably will shape and shift over time as modern technologies evolve. As new technologies are used, new skills must be mastered to accommodate these innovations.\nConclusion: Regardless of whether a learner is a child in their first years of statutory primary education, or an adult learner embarking on a degree programme or course in HE, educators must see it as part of their role not only to inspire and teach but also to equip learners with the autonomy to navigate their own quests for information. Critical reading and writing are key, and with the blossom of digital resources, critique of a source is also essential. Essentially, good information flow is stimulated by appropriate organisational culture (Westrum, 2014) and, in turn, information flow is also a useful indicator of the organization's functioning. The primary school setting must prepare pupils to be enquiry-minded researchers. At HE level, institutions must refine clunky, front-end LPs and ensure that new tools are trialled and adopted where necessary to support students' \"mobile literacy\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In a fast-moving world where technology has become intertwined with our daily lives, meaning information is available at our fingertips, information overload (Khabsa and Giles, 2014) is just one of many challenges that this technological overhaul has presented for learners from the primary classroom up to studies within higher education (HE). This paper aims to present skills needed by both pupils and students to navigate their information journey, and discusses how educators can support the acquisition and development of these skills.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on key literature in the fields of education and academia through the process of systematic review and adopting the analogy of a journey to represent lifelong learning, this bipartite paper explores how both primary school pupils and university students are required to access information in their very own information journeys in this \"Information Age\".\nFindings: The similarities and differences between child and adult learners are considered. This paper shares practical strategies for promoting the smarter use of information - and a shorter journey - for these \"travelers\" along the way. This paper essentially aims to raise questions in the minds of educators as they help to prepare their learners to learn.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers an interesting insight for teachers and lecturers as the crossover between two sets of learners, primary-age pupils and students in HE, is considered in terms of how we, as educators, can help to provide more effective and efficient information journeys, and therefore promote successful learning. A five-stage model is presented for the information journey.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mental models of the bibliographic universe. Part 1: mental models of descriptions	[ "Bibliographics", "User studies", "Cataloguing", "Cognition", "Slovenia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: As libraries hold increasing amounts of information, it is of utmost importance to design library catalogues to help users find the information they seek more efficiently. Since same works can be found in libraries in many different versions, it would be of benefit to allow for a display of, among others, shorter lists of results rather than the long and usually puzzling lists of different editions of different works in no particular order. However, current cataloguing practices, following standards based on card catalogues, cannot efficiently support the user tasks of finding, identifying, selecting and obtaining resources/information in a consistent manner. Therefore, a fresh look at the bibliographic universe is needed.One possible answer is the functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR) model. FRBR is a conceptual model of the bibliographic universe, which was developed by International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and published in 1998. It is the first \"official\" model of its kind and at least in theory it could form the conceptual basis for a new and improved catalogue design. However, FRBR is more than a decade old and has not yet been proven. Just as important is the distinct lack of user studies concerned with the model.Therefore, we performed a study of the non-librarians' mental models of the bibliographic universe, which allows for comparison of user views with the FRBR conceptual model, more specifically with the Group 1 entities, described later in the paper. We wanted to see whether the FRBR structure would be confirmed by mental models of individuals. The study was split into three tasks: card sorting, concept mapping and comparison task, in order to get a well-rounded view of mental models of the bibliographic universe, but also to test the techniques. Participants were asked to work in two very different contexts; with real-life materials in hand (for comparison task) and with only descriptions (for the other two tasks). Although none of the three techniques is well used in library science, card sorting is fairly frequent in information science. While our use of card sorting was straight forward, we used a relatively fresh approach for the other two tasks. For concept mapping, we asked the participants to establish connections between the cards used in the card sorting example. Comparison task was based on semi-structured interviews, during which we were able to observe the elements of the books that were mentioned by the participants and also to obtain all possible reasons for the two items in a pair not to be substitutable. The second part of the task consisted of ranking pairs of items according to perceived substitutability/similarity of the items in a pair. In this paper, we present the results of the first two tasks.\n2 Background: 2.1 FRBR\n3 Motivation: While FRBR is declaratively user oriented, there were no user studies performed during its creation process. In fact, the IFLA Study Group decided not to perform user studies for practical reasons, given the timeframe and the international scope of the study (Madison, 2005). That does not imply that the Study Group had no user data to work with. On the contrary, all of the individuals involved with the creation of the FRBR conceptual model are world-class experts in their respective fields and have encountered many users and usages of catalogues along the way. However, no formal user studies that would look into the phenomenon of bibliographic universe were performed and therefore we cannot really know how catalogue users and others will react to FRBR. As Carlyle (2006) states: we do not know whether FRBR will meet its goals. In fact, Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control proposed to stop activities connected with resource description and access as long as FRBR, which should form the conceptual basis of cataloguing in the future, is not further explored. Others realize this as well. A Delphi study by Zhang and Salaba (2009) found that experts rank the need to verify that FRBR is appropriate with user studies very highly among the issues in the area of the FRBR model.There appear to be two possible ways to study users in connection with FRBR. The more practical one would be performing user studies of systems which take FRBR into consideration. However, there are as of yet no true FRBR-based catalogues, which would work on larger scale. As paradoxical as it may sound, one of the biggest reasons for this situation lies in the fact that FRBR has not been user tested yet. However, even if we had a full FRBR implementation to perform a user study on, the results would be influenced not only by FRBR, but also by the particular implementation. While a handful of FRBR-based, or rather FRBR-like, implementations exist and early studies indicate enthusiasm for such catalogues on part of the end-users (Kilner, 2005; Jepsen, 2007) we still cannot really claim to know much about how users view the bibliographic universe.The second, far more theoretical, solution is to study mental models of the bibliographic universe. This was the approach chosen and the main research question was formulated as:RQ1. Do mental models of individuals resemble the FRBR conceptual model of bibliographic universe?Since this was an exploratory study, we wanted to get general results. We decided to use different methods, with particular emphasis on the ability of each individual method to elicit mental models. We were also interested in the effects of combining different methods of mental model elicitation to get a more compact picture of the phenomenon observed.We wanted to see whether we would be able to find a structure similar to FRBR in people's mental models. Then, we could safely assume that the FRBR model is appropriate, at least for the population studied, and that, if correctly implemented, users will have no trouble using FRBR-based OPACs.Imperfect conceptual models and/or imperfect mental models do not necessarily equal unusable systems. Bawden (2003) in a slightly different context, gives a telling example: doctors treated diseases, although admittedly not necessarily to full effect, long before they knew what caused them. Much more to the point, current catalogues work without a true conceptual model. However, that does not mean that they cannot be improved.\n4 Review of literature and related studies: 4.1 Card sorting\n5 Research: 5.1 Methods\n6 Task 1: card sorting: 6.1 Data collection\n7 Task 2: concept mapping: 7.1 Data collection\n8 Conclusions: The first thing that one notices when viewing the results of the card sorting and concept mapping tasks is that the participants did not have a common mental model of the bibliographic universe: not only did different individuals have different mental models, elicited mental models also changed, not only with tasks but also between the card sorts in Task 1. However, concept mapping task did produce a \"cumulative\" mental model that highly resembled FRBR. Also, generally speaking, the mental models that were most alike were the most FRBR-like. This represents the most important finding of this part of the broader study and provides an answer to the basic research question. We also saw that in both exercises the original expression was often given a special position, not bundled with the other expressions but rather much closer to the work in question. In fact, in some cases it seemed to be considered as a surrogate of work. This indicates that the original expression requires a special consideration within any conceptual model of the bibliographic universe and should be addressed in any future developments of FRBR.While card sorting did not work as well as we had hoped, since participants did not exclusively sort based on the criterion that was asked of them, we did gain some important, information. It was clear that the dual (concrete/abstract) nature of the bibliographic universe is not something that lay people generally focus on or even think about (unlike, e.g. language and format). However, that should not imply that FRBR is not needed.As we wanted to get a well-rounded view of the bibliographic universe, results of the third task, comparison task, which is to be presented in a separate article, are also important. Therefore, a more thorough examination, taking into account all of the results of the study, is to be published in that article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to present the results of the first two tasks of a user study looking into mental models of the bibliographic universe and especially their comparison to the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) conceptual model, which has not yet been user tested.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper employes a combination of techniques for eliciting mental models and consisted of three tasks, two of which, card sorting and concept mapping, are presented herein. Its participants were 30 individuals residing in the general area of Ljubljana, Slovenia.\nFindings: - Cumulative results of concept mapping show a strong resemblance to FRBR. Card sorts did not produce conclusive results. In both tasks, participants paid special attention to the original expression, indicating that a special place for it should be considered.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was performed using a relatively small sample of participants living in a geographically limited space using relatively straight-forward examples.\nPractical implications: - Some solid evidence is provided for adoption of FRBR as the conceptual basis for cataloguing.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first widely published user study of FRBR, applying novel methodological approaches in the field of Library and Information Science.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using role-playing games to broaden engineering education	[ "Education", "Water", "Sanitation", "Gaming", "Active-learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Meeting sustainable development goals means that future engineers will need to be proficient at developing creative solutions to complex problems. Indeed, the industry is increasingly demanding a wider set of skills from engineers (De Graaff and Ravesteijn, 2001). In addition to possessing factual knowledge and skills to respond to standard situations, engineers need to have the competence to analyze the whole complexity of the context of application and, if needed, come up with solutions that adapt to changing conditions (Hoffmann et al., 2010). Engineering education, therefore, needs to better prepare students to understand complexities related to technical management by applying a systems perspective (Ramaswami et al., 2007); recognizing different stakeholder perspectives, values, attitudes and behavior, including their own (Kiparsky et al., 2013; Shephard, 2008; van Vliet et al., 2010); social dynamics affecting technology choice (Obrist et al., 2006), including organization and management (De Graaff and Ravesteijn, 2001); and other issues related to planning and implementation (McConville et al., 2010). In general, there is a growing trend toward diversifying engineering education with skills related to policy, society and sustainable development (Gopakumar, 2014). However, integrating complex design criteria, sustainability issues and decision-making parameters into curricula can be challenging (Collins and Kearins, 2007; Mulder et al., 2012). The issues are often too multi-faceted and context-specific to be properly addressed in traditional lectures and textbooks. Rather than learning by rote, students need to learn how to think broadly and creatively to find solutions. This requires new learning techniques.\nGame design: The game used in this study was originally developed within the Sanitation and Water Supply in Peri-Urban Areas (SanWatPUA) network[1] of Swedish experts working with sanitation and water supply in peri-urban areas. The aim of the game was to communicate challenges particular to these areas and stimulate creative problem solving. Service provision in the peri-urban areas surrounding cities in the developing world is often a challenge, as these areas are at the fringes of urban planning, both physically (e.g. long distances and low-levels of servicing) and politically (e.g. unclear jurisdictions). The game was designed by members of the group and first piloted within the network. The initial feedback from the network was used to refine the stakeholder roles, budgets and the scoring system. In general, members of SanWatPUA were pleased with the game and felt that discussions during gameplay reflected the complexity of the situation even if time constraints meant that game-play did not allow for development of complete solutions.\nMethod for game evaluation: The constraints of an already packed education context did not allow for any elaborate before-and-after design of the game evaluation. It was not possible to test the students beforehand to establish a baseline against which to compare the students' competence after having played the game. Playing the game was, furthermore, part of a wider group-learning activity, which made it difficult to isolate the learning originating from the gameplay. Evaluation, therefore, had to rely on the judgment of the course participants, seeing them as the experts (Rossi et al., 1999) of what learning actually had been taking place.\nResults: Learning as perceived by students\nDiscussion: As pointed out in the introduction, higher education, and engineering in particular, needs to provide students with a better understanding of societal issues and sustainable development. According to the student surveys, majority of the students felt that the game considerably increased their understanding of diverse stakeholder perspectives, social interactions in decision-making and issues of socio-technical interconnections within the system. More significantly, they considered the game as the most useful learning component of the course. While it is difficult to capture exactly what each individual student learned, it is obvious that the game was a memorable experience and that students valued the knowledge they gained from it.\nConclusions: This study has found that a role-playing game can be successfully used in an engineering curriculum to support learning of complex socio-technical knowledge. The critique received can most probably be met through improvements in game-flow and better integration with other learning methods in the course. By sharing experience from playing this game in a Master's course, the authors hope to contribute to an increased use of such active learning techniques in engineering education. As Moizer et al. (2009) point out, awareness-raising and sharing of successful practices can overcome the barriers to the use of games in higher education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In today's complex society, there is an increasing demand to include a wider set of skills in engineering curricula, especially skills related to policy, society and sustainable development. Role-playing and gaming are active learning tools, which are useful for learning relationships between technology and society, problem solving in complex situations and communication. However, use of these learning methods in higher education, and in engineering particularly, is limited. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a role-playing game for learning about complexities related to sustainable water and sanitation management within a civil engineering curriculum.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The game has been used during three consecutive years in a Masters' level course. Surveys and course evaluations were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this method from both teacher and student perspectives.\nFindings: The results show that students gained knowledge on complex subjects, and both teachers and students had positive experiences. Better integration of the game within the rest of the course could strengthen its effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: The experiences gained from this study should assist others in the development and use of such active learning techniques in higher education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Work disengagement among SME workers: evidence from India	[ "Resilience", "Disengagement", "Exhaustion", "JD-R", "Conservation of resources", "Job complexity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly being considered as the backbone of modern economies (Ajayi et al., 2017). Not only do they stimulate economic growth, but are also likely to absorb shocks during economic downturns (Psychogios et al., 2016). Particularly in the developing and emerging economy contexts, SMEs are known to generate employment and contribute significantly to a nation's gross domestic product and export earnings (Javalgi and Todd, 2011; Saini and Budhwar, 2008).\nTheory and hypotheses: While the practitioner literature is inundated with concerns about employee disengagement (Allenbaugh, 2003; Johnson, 2004; Momal, 2003; Pater, 2013), academic research has not kept pace (Wollard, 2011). The focus of academic research rather has been on employee engagement with multiple perspectives being pursued. To name a few prominent ones, they include the role theory approach (Kahn, 1990), burnout approach (Maslach and Leiter, 1997; Schaufeli et al., 2002), and the social exchange theory approach (Saks, 2006). In the process, disengagement at work has received scant attention (Dawsey and Taylor, 2011).\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nDiscussion: The objective of this research was to empirically examine two alternative explanations of disengagement simultaneously. In doing so, this paper put to test the JD-R model partially as well as the process model of burnout. Accordingly, job complexity and exhaustion were examined as the predictors of disengagement, respectively. The results suggest that both these models are valid explanations of disengagement at work. Further, the research sought to examine the COR framework in proposing resilience as a moderator. The findings indicate at least a partial support for the moderating role of personal resources. In this section, findings are discussed in the light of the extant literature. Further, contextual explanation is provided for counterintuitive findings. This is followed by an elaboration on implications for research and practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the two alternative theoretical explanations of disengagement at work. Following the job demands-resources (JD-R) perspective, the relationship between job complexity and disengagement is tested. In accordance with the process model of burnout, the association between exhaustion and disengagement is examined. The paper also examines conservation of resources (COR) as an integrative framework as far as the moderating role of resilience in both these relationships is concerned.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey-based quantitative methodology was followed. A total of 138 employees of an agro-processing unit in North India were surveyed, and 119 usable responses were obtained. Besides the constructs of interest, the questionnaire also sought responses on the relevant demographic variables.\nFindings: Both job complexity and exhaustion predicted disengagement at work. However, contrary to a negatively hypothesized relationship between job complexity and disengagement, a positive association was found. Resilience was found to be negatively moderating exhaustion-disengagement relationship. No influence of resilience was found on the complexity-disengagement association.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings could be specific to the sample and to India. Caution should be exercised while generalizing. Future researchers should validate the findings across contexts.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that complexity may not necessarily be perceived as a resource. Hence organizations must invest in training and skill development programs for their workers. Further, managers should assess resilience as an important component while selecting workers.\nOriginality/value: Contrary findings vis-a-vis job complexity and disengagement could have implications for the JD-R perspective. Further, this research integrates alternative explanations of disengagement employing the COR framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using a skill-building tool to enhance employee engagement	[ "Employee engagement", "Job performance", "Skill-charting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In organizational settings, the concept of employee engagement is important but is in its infancy. Considerable research and opinion have been written about the topic, but there is no single definition that has generated much agreement. Also, there are few instances where highly specific advice is offered to practitioners regarding how managers can quickly and directly stimulate, encourage and assist employees to reach higher levels of engagement. This article provides some bounds to the concept of engagement, explains how it links to job performance and offers a training tool that can assist a manager and her/his employees attain higher levels of work engagement.\nEmployee engagement: What it is, what it isn't\nConnections between engagement and performance: What can go right?\nWhat can motivate engagement?: A path to change\nA practical means to stimulate engagement: skill-charting: Employees and manager create performance improvement\nConclusions: Space limitations do not afford a more thorough description of additional benefits of the SC approach. For example, the activities contained in the effort enable employees to:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide some bounds to the concept of employee engagement, explain how it links to job performance and offer a practical training tool, skill-charting (SC), that can assist a manager and her/his employees attain higher levels of work engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The discussion of SC and employee engagement is based on a literature review of recent research.\nFindings: In the realm of opportunities for managers to encourage and enhance employee engagement, the learning and problem-solving tool, SC, presents a practical means to achieve positive results in several domains.\nOriginality/value: There are few instances in the literature where highly specific advice is offered to practitioners regarding how managers can quickly and directly stimulate, encourage and assist employees to reach higher levels of engagement. The approach suggested in this paper can be of much value to both manager and employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of restaurant manager emotional intelligence and support on front-of-house employees' job satisfaction	[ "Leader’s emotional intelligence", "Leader support", "Service under pressure", "Job satisfaction", "Service performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As service employees in the hospitality industry play a vital role in establishing a store's brand awareness and meeting customers' needs, service staff's job satisfaction is strongly related to each unit restaurant's performance (Bettencourt and Brown, 1997). Numerous studies have confirmed that employees' job satisfaction and job commitment have a significant impact on their job performance to customers in the service industries including the hotel industry (Lam and Chen, 2012). Service employees' motivation, which is defined as the desire or willingness to achieve individual and organizational goals, is a significant predictor of their job satisfaction (Herzberg et al., 2011). Employee motivation is classified as extrinsic motivation (EM) as well as intrinsic motivation (IM). EM is when a person is motivated to do something based on external causes, such as money or promotional opportunities. IM is defined as motivation that originates from personal value or pleasure in the job itself, exists within the individual and does not rely on any external stimuli.\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Leader's emotional intelligence and job satisfaction\nResearch methods: Multilevel analysis\nResults: Validity and reliability of measurements\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the influence of restaurant manager's emotional intelligence (EI) and manager support on service employees' attitudes and performance by applying affective event theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The multi-level research approach incorporates three different levels of analysis: employees' job satisfaction and service performance; manager's EI and support; and) restaurant unit level service under pressure. Data were collected from wait staff employed in full-service restaurants in the southeastern region of the USA. This research uses the hierarchical linear model to process the survey data.\nFindings: The findings indicate that manager EI and support have a significant impact on employees' job satisfaction, and further leads to high levels of service performance. The moderating effect of service under pressure between leader's EI and employees' job satisfaction is not statistically significant.\nPractical implications: Results suggest practical management implications to restaurant managers and frontline service employees. This study's research findings imply management training and development programs should help managers regulate their own and better understand service employees' emotions. Findings further highlight the important role manager support has upon employee's job satisfaction and frontline service performance.\nOriginality/value: The present study offers a comprehensive perspective to better understand the variation of employees' job satisfaction that arises from three different sources: between individuals, between teams and between restaurants. The findings also provide new insight into EI scale development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From armed conflict to disaster vulnerability	[ "Disaster", "Natural hazard", "Armed conflict", "Disaster assessment", "Disaster vulnerability", "Disaster prevention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is a long literature focussing on the interrelationships between natural hazards, disasters, and political and economic development. Natural hazards such as droughts, floods, or earthquakes can destroy livelihoods, cause social misery, and create humanitarian disasters when appropriate mitigation and adaptation mechanisms are lacking. One particular factor that can aggravate the negative effects of natural hazards is the presence of conflict. There are two ways that conflict can elevate the damage from natural hazards. Some natural hazards can be deliberately brought about by warring parties, like diversions of rivers or weather modifications (Davis, 1972). More generally, however, existing conflict can increase a society's vulnerability to natural hazards. This paper is concerned with this latter aspect, or as Wisner et al. (2004, p. 74) rightly call it, \"war as a dynamic pressure\" on natural hazards.\n2. Literature review: One significant part of the literature focusses on how natural hazards can provoke social conflict, while another part examines how the interaction of natural hazards and conflict can often lead to humanitarian disasters. This section will focus first on the literature examining the link from natural hazards to conflict and then review the literature relevant to the causation from conflict to natural hazard based disaster vulnerability.\n3. Data and methodology: This study is interested in determining how many deaths can be attributed to armed conflict preceding a disaster. A first step is to synchronize CRED's country observations with the countries included in the 2011 World Bank Development Indicator Database. We build a panel dataset using ten five-year summary observations for each country present at the end of 2010. This means that countries that no longer existed in 2010 were not included in the analysis. Countries that came into existence after 1961 are included in the data from the date of their inclusion in the dataset. The first five-year observation is the period 1961-1965, the last period is 2006-2010. Condensing observations into five-year periods helps obtain a more balanced panel dataset by reducing the bias in favor of developed countries, which generally collect and report data more frequently. While using five-year periods may appear arbitrary, they are frequently used in empirical studies using large panel data in which missing observations would otherwise create an estimation bias (see, e.g. Li and Zou, 1998). The variables in our dataset are armed conflict events, disaster events, and standard socio-economic control variables. Our final dataset contains 11,016 observations. Table I summarizes the variables, abbreviations, descriptions, and sources.\n4. Empirical results: We begin our empirical discussion by presenting descriptive characteristics of the nexus between armed conflict and subsequent human disaster vulnerability. Table III presents the disaster profile per region. It shows that floods, storms, and extreme temperatures top the list of disasters in most regions. The exception is Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), where epidemics rank before floods and storms by considerable margins.\n5. Conclusions: The literature on the relationship between disasters and armed conflict is predominantly concerned with political violence as a consequence of natural hazards. Our paper adds to the literature which focusses on the reverse causation, from armed conflict to disaster deaths. We examine and estimate the legacy effects of armed conflict events that have occurred within a ten-year period prior to a disaster.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect of armed conflict on the vulnerability to natural hazards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors employ panel estimates of disaster deaths on a lagged indicator of the presence of armed conflict.\nFindings: Disaster deaths following armed conflict are on average 40 percent higher compared to disasters that are chronologically detached from armed conflict events; a legacy of armed conflict accounts for roughly 14 percent of the approximately five million disaster deaths between 1961 and 2010.\nPractical implications: A global estimate of the relationship between armed conflict and disaster vulnerability can help disaster management planners identify policy priorities associated with disaster prevention and management.\nOriginality/value: The analysis reinforces the findings in previous qualitative studies of a causal link between armed conflict and increased disaster vulnerability and provides a quantitative estimate of the average magnitude of this relationship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of industrial service offerings: a process framework	[ "Manufacturing industries", "Services", "Service levels", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasingly, across many industries, manufacturing companies are extending their product offerings with services (Davies, 2004; Gebauer et al., 2005; Kowalkowski et al., 2009; Mathieu, 2001; Matthyssens and Vandenbempt, 2008; Penttinen and Palmer, 2007). Competition from, among other things, low-cost countries decreased margins for traditional product sales due to commoditization, and increased customer demand, drives companies to extend their business with new service offerings. Market-leading capital goods manufacturers are in a good position to take advantage of the possibilities of increased service content, due to their often substantial installed base with a long life cycle and their in-depth product knowledge (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). Research implies that companies in the manufacturing industry are moving towards a \"servicification\" (Normann, 2001) or \"servitization of business\" (Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988), meaning that companies are not only augmenting their product offering with services, but are also developing new offerings where the product is not necessarily at the center of the value proposition. For example, instead of primarily selling warehouse trucks, truck manufacturers are turning to various forms of rental agreements using new revenue models through investing in service and maintenance activities as well as financing and insurance (Kowalkowski, 2008).However, manufacturing companies have typically exhibited a product and technology orientation and many of them are relatively new to a service logic and to service innovation. Service development often becomes more complex in manufacturing companies than it is in pure service firms since manufacturing companies have a core product that has traditionally carried most of the value and which is heavily embedded in the company culture. As a consequence, manufacturing companies may need to manage the symbiotic relationships of having two different business logics; a service oriented and an industrial, product oriented one (Gebauer et al., 2005). The tension between a service and a product/manufacturing culture is likely to be a constant challenge particularly for companies undertaking a goods-services transition and choosing to bundle goods and services, thus affecting management commitment and resource allocation to new service development (NSD).The process of NSD is generally complex and can be problematic to define and articulate (Perks and Riihela, 2004) and there are a number of unique aspects of service development that need to be taken into account that do not necessarily exist in manufacturing companies' new product development (NPD) processes. For example, typically, services do not require the same initial investments as products (e.g. physical prototypes and manufacturing facilities) and services typically require more interaction with and feedback from customers (Edvardsson et al., 2006; Gallouj and Weinstein, 1997). Compared with NPD, technology and related processes such as patent applications are not at the center of the NSD process (Cooper and de Brentani, 1991) and in opposite to high-tech product development, service firms usually do not pursue conventional research and development (R&D) (Hipp and Grupp, 2005; Hollenstein, 2003). However, technologies such as internet and communications technologies can be at the center of service offering innovation. Drejer (2004, p. 560) concludes that \"a manufacturing based technology-focused product-process approach to innovation is too limited within services\" since the co-production aspect of services requires, among other things, a more customer-centric approach.Furthermore, the actual delivery of services, the service interaction with co-created value-in-use, is a pivotal part of a service, whereas the actual delivery of the product is often of less value, i.e. value-in-exchange only (Normann, 2000, 2001; Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Nevertheless, studies of NSD and NPD tend to make comparisons between service firms (NSD) and manufacturing firms (NPD) (Hollenstein, 2003; Sirilli and Evangelista, 1998), thus neglecting to recognize that that the division into service and manufacturing firms is becoming increasingly blurred (The Economist, 2005) and that many NSD projects take place in companies that are in the manufacturing industry.Innovation literature has on one hand, predominantly focused on products (Utterback, 1994) and studies of service innovation are still in a relatively early development phase due to \"decades of neglect [...] in relation to manufacturing innovation\" (Drejer, 2004, p. 551). Existing NSD literature on the other hand, has had a focus on either consumer markets or on professional service firms (Edvardsson et al., 2006). Hence, there exists a gap with regard to NSD in the context of manufacturing companies selling to industrial customers, where products most often are the pivotal part of the companies' offerings.This paper recognizes the need for a development process for service offerings in a manufacturing context. The purpose is to propose a service development framework that is particularly adapted to manufacturing companies and to discuss its implications for companies with a traditional focus on product development and product sales. Examples from ten market-leading manufacturing companies in different industries illustrate critical aspects in each stage of the development framework.\nTheoretical framework: NPD and NSD are often managed as two separate, albeit similar, processes. In NSD literature, focus has traditionally been on financial services (Scheuing and Johnson, 1989), on consumer services, and on professional service firms without any tangible products (Droege et al., 2009; Edvardsson et al., 2006). Today, services are a pivotal part of many industrial markets and yet there are few studies of NSD in this setting. These industrial services are often created sequentially, that is, they are not managed strategically, tend to be developed ad hoc, and are generally added once the product deal is landed, without much integration with product development and other business functions. This reduces the potential impact of the services and the complete offering (product-service bundle), and also reduces both efficiency and effectiveness for supplier as well as buyer (Kowalkowski, 2008). The reality and challenge for many industrial companies is to simultaneously develop both products and services (Johne and Storey, 1998) and thus approach what Shostack (1982) terms hybrid entities that balance both these aspects. A more complete offering (Stremersch et al., 2001) addressing a greater part of the customer's problem, typically includes higher levels of service components, thus emphasizing the need to address both NPD and NSD simultaneously. In these cases, the offerings are widened and become more complete.An increased servicification also has implications for the recognition of the role of the customer. With a service perspective (Edvardsson et al., 2005), the customer is no longer regarded as a passive transaction-oriented actor that interacts with the supplier in brief sales and delivery moments but rather an active relationship-oriented actor with a long-term perspective in the interaction (Tuli et al., 2007).A four-stage framework\nMethodology: This research was exploratory with the aim of studying a complex context-bound contemporary process; the development of industrial service offerings. Based on this, a case study approach was deemed to be an appropriate research strategy (Yin, 2003). The research was empirically grounded with an aim to discover emerging patterns and practices (Meredith, 1989). Through an iterative process, this research takes advantage of a systematic combining and matching of theory and empirical data, which can be regarded as an \"abductive\" approach to case research (Dubois and Gadde, 2002). Employing cases as illustration for a conceptual discussion is valuable, and Siggelkow (2007) argues that research involving case data overcomes a number of shortcomings of purely conceptual arguments.Selection of cases\nDiscussion: Not only in NSD literature but also in the companies studied, is the NSD process concentrated to the development stage (and possibly also the market sensing stage) with a focus on designing NPD-like process models with similar gates and evaluation criteria. Often, the NSD models are designed from existing, very detailed, and rather complex NPD models. However, as we have seen in the companies studied, it is critical to manage all four stages (Figure 1) in the NSD process (Table I). Several of the case companies explicitly mentioned the failure of successfully developed services to generate revenue, due to poor sales performance and/or inadequate service infrastructure. For example, many services are regarded as add-ons that can be supplied for free in order to close a product deal, even if this comes at the expense of overall profitability (Anderson and Narus, 1995; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). Furthermore, at one case company performance problems of one of their service offerings were due to delivery problems such as uneven quality, poor delivery processes as well as internal miscommunication, primarily between sales and the service delivery functions. This illustrates the need to be aware of, and manage, all stages and their interdependencies.Customer involvement is not only important in the initial stages, and the case company with the most pronounced service focus emphasizes the involvement of customers in all four stages of the proposed framework. Another important factor for all stages of the framework is organizational learning and companies that invest in organizational learning tend to benefit from greater internal collaboration (Le Meunier-FitzHugh and Piercy, 2007). Neither organizational learning nor NSD are linear processes (Stevens and Dimitriadis, 2004) and the empirical evidence highlight the importance of facilitating organizational learning at different organizational levels. This also indicates that, although a formal NSD process is vital, NSD must not be conducted only as a centrally managed, \"clinical\" development project with rigid structures, phases and gates; involvement from not only customers, but also from the local organization, is needed. This, among other things, creates a sense of ownership, increases understanding for the services and also increases the possible sources for innovation. In some of the companies influential subsidiaries take on a vital role as lead generators for service development, whereas others can be regarded as \"receiver country\" subsidiaries. However, even in these local organizations, exploration takes place, although to a notably lesser extent.Stage 1. Market sensing\nConclusions: Research on NSD processes tends to emphasize the earlier parts of the services life cycle primarily addressing development aspects. In this paper, we argue that the latter stages of that life cycle, sales, and delivery, must be equally in focus in order for companies to become successful service offering suppliers. In our proposed NSD framework, we also include an initial market sensing stage to address the fact that the impetus for service innovation to a great extent emanates from customer needs. In addition, many companies in our context, which is different manufacturing industries, currently have a number a services in their portfolios but these are unstructured and often supplied free of charge to increase product sales. Further, findings show that service innovation also emanates from local subsidiaries and great potential exists in scaling up those innovations to a larger market.The framework proposed here is not to be regarded as a process model with discrete phases (Scheuing and Johnson, 1989) but rather a framework with four overlapping stages (Edvardsson and Olsson, 1996). Although companies need to have structured NSD processes in place, the complexities associated with various modes of service innovation (Gallouj and Weinstein, 1997) means that it is critical to have the capability to also sense and seize emerging innovation opportunities in a less formal, ad hoc manner. Thus, depending on the company and the market situation, the steps within each of the four stages are likely to differ notably. Nevertheless, we have seen that including all four stages (in one form or another) in NSD facilitates the success of not only developing new service concepts, but also of taking the innovative concept to the marketplace.Managing NSD proactively and strategically is vital in order to achieve momentum and sustain competitive advantage as services are increasingly becoming a key differentiator. Compared to traditional NPD, NSD requires less initial investment in Stages 1 and 2 but Stages 3 and 4 are typically more time-consuming, resource intensive, complex to manage, and also costly. It is therefore important to consider and manage these latter stages before launching a service.Future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a service development process that is adapted to manufacturing companies and to discuss its implications for companies with a traditional focus on product development and product sales.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper looks at new service development (NSD) literature and argues for a rationale to study NSD processes in a manufacturing context. Next, a generic NSD framework for manufacturing companies is presented. Examples are given based on an explorative multiple case study (ten companies) with in-depth interviews and focus groups. The analysis reveals organizational requirements and other critical factors related to each stage of the NSD process.\nFindings: - A four-stage service offering development framework is presented. Critical aspects of NSD in a manufacturing context are highlighted. The importance of considering both NSD and new product development (NPD) together is also emphasized.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations are based primarily on methodology; the case studies focused only on the service organizations of the manufacturing companies studied.\nPractical implications: - Managers need to be aware of the inter-relationship that exists between NSD and NPD and on the specificities of service development in companies where an industrial logic dominates. A number of managerial implications are proposed and discussed.\nOriginality/value: - The paper emphasizes the importance of latter stages in NSD, something that has not previously been extensively studied or addressed. In addition, to explicitly discuss NSD in a manufacturing context is novel.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A process perspective on trust in buyer-supplier relationships. "Calculus": An intrinsic component of trust evolution	[ "Dynamics", "Affective trust", "Calculative trust", "Calculus", "Cognitive trust", "Relationship phases" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A recent study shows that good customer - supplier relationships enable firms to increase productivity by 3-5 per cent (Purchasing Decisions, 2011). It is frequently noted that in business-to-business (B2B), year t's sales are based on 90 per cent of the clients in year t-1. Within this perspective, trust in a partner plays a role in maintaining the relationship, and consequently profitability; trust is a major construct in sound partnership building (Das and Teng, 2001). For the past 30 years, trust has been the subject of a vast body of literature that is rich, constantly developing and sometimes mixed. The concept has its roots in various disciplines, including social psychology (Deutsch, 1960); Lewicki and Bunker, 1995), sociology (Lewis and Weigert, 1985; Granovetter, 1985; Zucker, 1986) and economics (Dasgupta, 1988; Kreps, 1990; Williamson, 1993). With few exceptions, \"trust has usually been studied as a static, rather than dynamic variable\" (Lewis and Weigert, 2012, p. 27). In B2B marketing, trust has become one of several relational constructs tested using structural equation modeling, conceptually restricted to scales based on a small number of item measures or combined into higher-order constructs such as relationship quality. However, as in other disciplines, a process perspective of trust in B2B marketing remains understudied. Notwithstanding the growing corpus of research into relational and trust dynamics (Svensson, 2005; Andersen and Kumar, 2006; Ekici, 2013; Huang and Wilkinson, 2013), we lack full understanding - in a B2B marketing setting - of the transition from lower-degree to higher-degree forms of trust over time. A question that arises when addressing trust dynamics is why B2B marketing researchers exclude calculus and economic variables from conceptualizations of trust.\n2. What stands beyond calculus?: The status of trust among economists has taken a different direction from that of other disciplines, as trusting relationships are not accepted in neo-institutionalist thinking and are even considered contradictory and irrelevant. This is particularly the case with the theory of transaction costs, the leading proponent of which suggests that use of the term trust is superfluous and should be prohibited because it is confusing (Williamson, 1993). For Williamson, situations in which economists have resorted to using the concept of trust are only special cases of risk-bound transactions; the traditional tools that economic theory has constructed for analysis are easily applied.\n3. Evolution of trust: a multi-form conceptualization: 3.1 Temporal perspective\n4. Discussion and implications: Most scholars agree that trust is fundamental during exchanges, enabling collaborative actions in the dynamics of inter-firm relationships, but B2B marketing research on trust dynamics remains scant. This is a critical gap in the buyer - supplier relationship literature, given the trend toward cooperative inter-organizational relationships (Jap and Anderson, 2007). Addressing this void, this article differentiates and then integrates calculative trust in a framework of trust evolution in buyer - supplier relationships. Our reasoning includes three ideas:\n5. Conclusion, limitations and future research studies: The process perspective on trust according to the phases of a relationship that this study follows allows better conceptualization and management of buyer - supplier relationships. The highlighting of calculative trust, its determinants and various forms of trust improves understanding of the relationship process between buyers and suppliers. We believe that by integrating various forms of trust within relationship phases with a contextualization of the study of trust, theorizing becomes both accurate and relevant. For example, a replication of Visentin and Scarpi's (2012) study of a firm's intention to upgrade its contract with a supplier by using a less undifferentiated concept of trust such as the multi-form conceptualization proposed in this article would be valuable. Because the issues faced during the early phases are different from those in a long-established relationship, it is paramount to understand the frames in which the exchange parties consider trust regarding each relationship phase before broadening the scope of a contract.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show that, within a process perspective, calculus is not only compliant with trust but also that trust forms are integral to its dynamics. Having demonstrated the theoretical bases of compatibility between reputation, economic interest and trust, and the necessary inclusion of a social context in business-to-business (B2B) exchange, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that will enable us to understand a multi-form concept of trust.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach to the topic is one of theoretical analysis and conceptual development.\nFindings: This proposal indicates that the presence of calculus in the earliest stages of exchange relationships gives way to other forms of trust that are more cognitive and affective in nature. The elucidation of the evolutionary nature of trust shows that calculus and trust theory are complementary and provide, respectively, insight for the whole process.\nResearch limitations/implications: The presented research by incorporating forms and time dimension adds theoretical insights and produces an incremental step toward better understanding of trust dynamics in industrial and business markets. The main challenge to the proposed model will be the empirical test.\nPractical implications: This conceptualization should help managers understand trust creation better, and provide them with valuable information for understanding the evolution of relationships with suppliers. Segmentation based on relational phases requires tailoring each form of trust strategy, and, hence, accurate identification of a relationship phase could help categorize and subcategorize customers regarding calculative, cognitive or emotional dominant forms of trust.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the discussion on how integrative approaches (calculative and non-calculative) improve our understanding of buyer-supplier relationships and promotes the emergence of a coherent vision of trust evolution.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of food-related consumer decision-making styles	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Consumer decision-making styles", "Food product involvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Identifying basic characteristics of decision-making styles is central to consumer-interest studies (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). As consumers are exposed to abundance of information, advertising, variety of goods, brands and stores, and have greater choice of purchasing opportunities, decision making in purchasing food products have become more complex and even more important nowadays than in the past (Hafstrom et al., 1992; Yasin, 2009). Food marketers are therefore interested to understand consumers' shopping behaviour, segment the consumers in meaningful segments and approach them more efficiently.\n2. Literature review: In consumer behaviour literature, there are three approaches that characterise consumer styles: the psychographic lifestyle approach; the consumer typology approach, and the consumer characteristics approach (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). Following consumer characteristics approach, Sproles and Kendall (1986) combined decision-making traits and developed the forty-item instrument inventory (CSI). The CSI concept assumes that consumers approach the market with eight basic decision-making styles, including: \"Perfectionism, high-quality consciousnesness\"; \"Brand consciousness\"; \"Novelty-fashion consciousness\"; \"Recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness\"; \"Price consciousness\"; \"Impulsiveness\"; \"Confusion by overchoice\"; \"Habitual, brand-loyal purchasing orientation\".\n3. Conceptual model of antecedents of food-related CDMS: 3.1 Perfectionism, high-quality consciousnesness\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Data collection\n5. Results: Results of eight regression analyses explain how antecedent variables affect food-related CDMS (see Table IV).\n6. Conclusions and discussion: The results of the analysis have interesting theoretical and managerial implications. The first contribution of this study is the identification of factors that significantly predict each of food-related CDMS.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the impacts of demographic variables (gender, age, income, education) and food product involvement (FPI) on food-related consumer decision-making styles (CDMS).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Original Sproles and Kendall's CSI instrument (1986) was applied in the food-product context. Data were collected using consumer phone survey. Eight separate regression analyses were conducted to test hypotheses. In each model independent variables were socio-demographic variables and FPI, while dependent variables were eight food-related CDMS.\nFindings: Regression analyses indicate that each of food-related CDMS are affected by different antecedent variables. Perfectionism, high-quality consciousness was affected by gender, age, income and FPI; Brand consciousness by age, income and FPI; Novelty consciousness by FPI; Recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness by gender, age and FPI; Price consciousness by age, education and income; Impulsiveness by age, education and income; Confusion by overchoice by education and FPI, and Brand loyalty by education, income and FPI.\nOriginality/value: The study applies modified Sproles and Kendall's CSI instrument (1986) in the food product context. The present study also provides a more definitive conclusion about the relationships between demographics, FPI and food-related CDMS. The analysis determined how demographics and FPI affect food-related CDMS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tackling the sustainability iceberg: A transaction cost economics approach to lower tier sustainability management	[ "Transaction cost economics", "Case studies", "Lower tier sustainability management", "Multi-tier supply chains", "Perceived sustainability risk", "Sub-suppliers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Buying firms are often held responsible for sustainability-related misconduct in their supply network by various stakeholders (Hofmann et al., 2014). This \"chain liability effect\" (Van Tulder et al., 2009) places focal firms in danger of suffering reputational damage and financial loss from misconduct that occurs beyond their direct control (Seuring and Muller, 2008). Consequently, many buying firms have adopted strategies and practices to ensure sustainable business conduct of their suppliers (Wilhelm, Blome, Bhakoo and Paulraj, 2016).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 LTSM\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results: In Section 4.1, we present eight LTSM approaches that emerged during data analysis. These were clustered into three overarching categories according to their resource intensity (Table II). In Section 4.2, we identify six contextual factors that drive a focal firm's PSR and which are clustered according to the TCE dimensions. Finally, we provide insights into how firms chose between the available approaches (Section 4.3).\n5. Discussion: Prior research highlighted the importance for focal firms of extending sustainability to their lower tier suppliers (Wilhelm, Blome, Wieck and Xiao, 2016). However, the literature reports that few buying firms apply genuine LTSM approaches because these are time consuming and costly (Grimm et al., 2014). Moreover, a strong resource commitment toward indirect business partners must be considered. Such action is partly in conflict with the traditional recommendations of TCE in order to determine the boundaries of the firm. To provide answers regarding the contextual variables that drive PSR and to delineate TCE within the lower tier supplier context, an abductive, multiple case study approach was applied. This approach allowed us to make predictions concerning the choice of LTSM approaches based on the observed PSR factors and to provide several theoretical and practical contributions.\n6. Conclusions: As most of the environmental and social burden is caused in lower tiers of supply networks, focal buying firms rely on an enriched bouquet of LTSM approaches in order to effectively tackle their sustainability iceberg. This study provides eight approaches to sustainable LTSM grouped into three categories: direct-in-house (holistic, product-, region- and event-specific), indirect-hybrid (multiplier-, alliance- and compliance-based)# and neglect-market (tier-1-based). Focal firms choose between these different approaches depending on the strength of observed contextual factors which are stakeholder salience, structural supply network complexity, product and industry salience, past supply base incidents, socio-economic and cultural distance and lower tier supplier dependency, leading to PSR.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buying firms manage their lower tier sustainability management (LTSM) in their supply networks and what contextual factors influence the choice of approaches. As most of the environmental and social burden is caused in lower tiers, the authors use the iceberg analogy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Findings from 12 case studies and 53 interviews, publicly available and internal firm data are presented. In an abductive research approach, transaction cost economics (TCE) conceptually guides the analytical iteration processes between theory and data.\nFindings: This study provides eight LTSM approaches grouped into three categories: direct (holistic, product-, region-, and event-specific) indirect (multiplier-, alliance- and compliance-based) and neglect (tier-1-based). Focal firms choose between these approaches depending on the strength of observed contextual factors (stakeholder salience, structural supply network complexity, product and industry salience, past supply network incidents, socio-economic and cultural distance and lower tier supplier dependency), leading to perceived sustainability risk (PSR).\nResearch limitations/implications: By depicting TCE's theoretical boundaries in predicting LTSM governance modes, the theory is elevated to the supply network level of analysis. Future research should investigate LTSM at the purchasing category level of analysis to compare and contrast PSR profiles for different purchase tasks and to validate and extend the framework.\nPractical implications: This study serves as a blueprint for the development of firms' LTSM capabilities that suit their unique PSR profiles. It offers knowledge regarding what factors influence these profiles and presents a model that links the effectiveness of different LTSM approaches to resource intensity.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the application of TCE and adds empirically to the literature on multi-tier and sustainable supply chain management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Website communications for campus sustainability: an analysis of Canadian universities	[ "Canada", "Sustainability", "Communications", "Higher education institutions", "Sustainability plans", "Website communications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Websites are being used by higher education institutions (HEIs) to share information and engage the campus community in sustainability efforts (Ferrer-Balas et al., 2008). They can enhance interaction, networking and communication among students, staff, stakeholders and the community (Buhalis and O'Connor, 2005). Increasingly, websites are also a source to learn about environmental issues and sustainability (Bortree, 2011). However, to a large extent, what and how HEIs are communicating about sustainability online remains unknown (Ott et al., 2016). The first large-scale content analysis of websites from 700 institutions of higher education in the USA showed limited communication of sustainability, with only 21 per cent having an institutional wide sustainability website (Dade and Hassenzahl, 2013). A comparable investigation of Canadian HEIs has not been conducted, to the best of the authors knowledge.\nLiterature review: Higher education institutions in Canada and sustainability\nMethodology: Data collection\nResults: Characteristics of Canadian universities\nDiscussion: This study sought to better understand the communication of sustainability information by Canadian universities. It was guided by three research questions and here the authors discuss the key findings associated with them in relation to scholarship.\nConclusion: It is encouraging that several Canadian universities have recognized the importance of campus sustainability and of using the internet to communicate information regarding campus sustainability. It is anticipated that these practices will continue to build as the demand for action and transparency increases and as the internet continues to develop as a relied-upon means for communication. This research captures the current focus of sustainability websites and sustainability plans of Canadian universities. This research offers practical implications for institutions to enhance their websites to encourage interaction and engagement in campus sustainability. Specifically, using features that encourage relationship building between HEIs and the campus community, such as social media accounts, opportunities for users to provide feedback, voting polls and surveys to gather input, mechanisms for users to subscribe for information and ways for users to volunteer. More interactive features offered are not necessarily better and it is paramount to focus on optimizing their quality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to better understand the communication of sustainability by Canadian universities, specifically the use of websites, interactive features and sustainability plans.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 95 Canadian universities were included in this study. The mixed-methods approach sought to capture the communication of sustainability via websites, the interactive features used, as well as to evaluate the quality of sustainability plans.\nFindings: The study revealed that 67% of universities address sustainability on their websites. On average, universities offer three to four interactive features on their sustainability-related Web pages, and the average score of the quality of campus sustainability plans was 29 (out of 41).\nResearch limitations/implications: This study does not investigate the extent to which interactive features enhance the involvement and participation in sustainability efforts or the extent to which the sustainability plans were put into practice by universities.\nPractical implications: The findings assist with understanding how higher education institutions (HEIs) can enhance their sustainability communication via their websites to encourage interaction and engagement in campus sustainability. The findings can also help universities to enhance the effectiveness of sustainability plans.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research to assess sustainability content and the interactive features on sustainability-related pages of Canadian universities' websites. The quality of sustainability plans is also evaluated. The study informs the present understanding of communicating sustainability by Canadian universities and provides a basis for future investigations in HEIs in Canada and beyond.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leaders can find more 'surreptitious' methods to promote diversity	[ "Diversity", "Equality", "Informational justice", "Time pressure", "Ethnic minorities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Researchers from Australia have shown how organizational leaders can encourage an openness to diversity without making explicit reference to 'diversity' initiatives. The authors argue that more 'surreptitious' approaches are more effective than direct methods because they don't inspire defensive reactions in dominant cultural groups. The key is to create an inspiring and open environment, they argue. Leaders should convey information clearly and candidly, and they should promote an inspiring organizational vision that does not make excessive demands on workers. In such a positive, empathetic environment, everyone is able to imagine a meaningful future vividly. As a result, members of the dominant cultural groups are more receptive to diverse communities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The researchers wanted to find out if leaders could promote diversity in the workplace without even speaking about it. Their theory was that creating a more open, empathetic and positive environment reduced bias against minorities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors asked 177 recruits to fill in questionnaires online. They analyzed the data to respond to two hypotheses. The first was that \"informational justice, manageable job demands, equality in status and a clear vision of the future should foster openness to diversity\". The second hypothesis was split into two. One part suggested that meaning in life mediated relationships between workplace practices and openness to diversity. And hypothesis 2B suggested the same for clarity of the future.\nFindings: After analyzing their data, the researchers said the results vindicated Hypothesis One. Hypothesis 2A, concerning meaning in life, was also confirmed. However, 2B, concerning future clarity, was not significantly associated with openness to diversity.\nOriginality/value: The value is in showing managers and leaders that there are effective alternatives to 'diversity' initiatives, which are often unpopular with dominant groups and promote defensive attitudes. Concentrating on improving the general culture of the workplace decreases suspicion towards minorities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effort to explore the potential use of palmyrah fruit for functional food	[ "Functional food", "Antioxidant", "Palmyrah fruit", "Palmyrah fruit pulp", "Mesocarp pulp" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L.) is one of the important palm trees for people of some countries. Almost all parts of the plant are used for many purposes. The sugar sap from flower of the plant and the endocarp of the unripe fruit are harvested for food, while the ripe fruit is commonly used for feed.\nMaterials and method: Raw materials and pulp extraction\nResult and discussion: Extracted pulp yield\nConclusion: The fresh pulp of palmyrah fruit contains high content of antioxidants, i.e. carotenoids (609.10 mg per kg of pulp), vitamin C (461.40 mg per kg of pulp), polyphenols (270 mg per kg of pulp) and anthocyanin (53.90 mg per kg of pulp). Carotenoids and vitamin C partly lost during drying process of the pulp; however, free radical scavenging activity of the dried pulp (water content of 11.60 percent) was 93.4 percent. Pulp macerated with 2 g/L of fermentative microbial starter for 24 hours caused 52.5 percent of polyphenols decrease. Macerating the pulp with 106 g/liter of sodium carbonate for 24 hours was the optimum condition in reducing polyphenols content for about 90 percent. Chips, stick cracker, and jelly sweet have positive response from panelist and hence they could be the potential food products developed from debiterred palmyrah pulp. This effort offers opportunity for farmers to use the palmyrah pulp for functional food.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purposes of this paper are to determine the nutritional composition of the pulp and its antioxidant activity; study the effect of drying and storage on the nutritional composition and antioxidant of the pulp; investigate the effect of de-bittering using fermentative microbes, sodium carbonate and polyethylene glycol (PEG) on antioxidant of the pulp, and to study the shelf-life and sensory evaluation of de-bittered pulp products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The ripe fruits of palmyra (Borassus flabellifer L) were collected around Kupang city, Indonesia. The pulp was extracted with different techniques. The fresh pulp was directly analyzed for its nutritional and antioxidant properties. The rest of the pulp was de-bittered, dried and used for further treatments and products development. The de-bittered pulp was used to make chips, stick cracker, and jelly sweet. Fresh products were sensory evaluated by 30 semi-trained panelists. For shelf-life analysis, products were wrapped and/or packed with different thickness of food grade plastic, plastic-alumina foil, or mica stopples and kept at different temperatures (30, 40 and 50oC) for one month.\nFindings: The fresh pulp contains carotenoids (609.10 mg per kg of pulp), vitamin C (461.40 mg per kg of pulp), polyphenols (270 mg per kg of pulp) and anthocyanin (53.90 mg per kg of pulp). Free radical scavenging activity of the dried pulp (water content of 11.60 percent) was 93.4 percent. Several techniques including fermentation, sodium carbonate, and PEG treatment have been successfully developed to reduce the bitterness of the pulp without significantly reducing its antioxidant activities. Food products (chips, stick cracker, and jelly sweet) have then been developed and have got positive response from panelist.\nResearch limitations/implications: Pulp of fruit is a potential source of antioxidants, i.e. carotenoids (pro vitamin A), vitamin C, and polyphenols. The pulp potentially can be used in fresh and dried form for functional food. The bitterness of the pulp can be significantly reduced using fermentation, sodium carbonate or PEG treatment. The pulp can be utilized for producing chips, crackers, and semi moist food products.\nPractical implications: First, pulp of the palmyrah fruit can be easily extracted using water. Second, the bitterness of the pulp can be reduced by using traditional fermentation starter. Third, many type of food products can be developed using the palmyrah pulp.\nSocial implications: This effort offers opportunity for farmers to optimize the use of palmyrah pulp for functional food. It will provide new jobs and increase the income of farmer at East Nusa Tenggara Province.\nOriginality/value: The study has revealed that pulp of palmyrah fruit is a source of antioxidants: carotenoids (pro vitamin A), vitamin C, and polyphenols. The pulp potentially can be used in fresh and dried form for functional food. The bitterness of the pulp can be significantly reduced using fermentation, sodium carbonate, and PEG. The pulp can be utilized for producing chips, crackers, and semi moist food products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Association between performance measurement systems and organisational effectiveness	[ "Balanced scorecard", "Developing country", "Organizational effectiveness", "Financial services sector", "Performance measurement system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the mid-1980s, radical changes in organisational environments, such as advancements in information technologies, product innovations and increased competition, have significantly transformed the way organisations function (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987; Kravchuk and Schack, 1996). Value creation for stakeholders has become a key focus for managers. These changes have also led academics and practitioners to argue for the need of a systematic approach to measure performance that goes beyond the scope of the individual stakeholder, and the need to integrate measures with the strategic planning process, which requires stringent management control systems (Langfield-Smith et al., 2012). Without adequate and appropriate management control systems, of which performance measurement system (PMS) is an important element, organisations are at risk of failing (Turner and Weickgenannt, 2009), with retrenchment, downsizing and financial losses. It follows that an adequate and appropriate PMS can protect organisations from potential risks and losses, and improve organisational effectiveness (Fitzgerald, 2007; Turner and Weickgenannt, 2009; Munir et al., 2013).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 The nature of organisational effectiveness\n3. Research method: To collect the data a mail survey (questionnaire) method was used. Nepal's financial services sector was selected because the sector has witnessed a radical improvement in the performance of financial institutions after the enactment of Nepal Rastra Bank Act 2002. For example, prior to the implementation of this Act, the entire financial sector had a non-performing loan portfolio of over 59 per cent with a deficit of approximately US$435 million, which was equivalent to 7 per cent of the gross domestic product (World Bank, 2004). However, after financial sector reforms beginning in 2002, such as the introduction of a credit monitoring system, implementation of human resource development programmes, establishment of IT platforms, and setting up accounting and auditing practices, and a new performance measurement culture, the non-performing loans of the entire financial services sector declined to 10.85 per cent with significant performance improvement of financial institutions in recent years (Adhikary et al., 2007; Dhungana, 2005; World Bank, 2004; Ministry of Finance, 2012).\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Conclusion: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of PMS in organisational effectiveness in the context of financial services sector within a developing country. The study assessed organisational effectiveness in the context of the financial services sector by evaluating the extent to which 20 different outcomes were attained, thereby contributing to the literature concerning PMSs as most of the prior literature has only assessed organisational effectiveness of manufacturing organisations. Further, the findings of the study also contribute to the literature concerning PMSs by providing evidence on the adoption of the BSC in a developing country. The findings reveal that 40.58 per cent of the financial institutions in Nepal had implemented the BSC by the end of 2012. The BSC usage rate in the financial services sector of Nepal can be considered quite high compared to the BSC adoption rate in some other developing countries, such as 10 per cent in Bangladesh by the end of year 2011 (Khan et al., 2011) and 8.7 per cent in Malaysia by the end of year 2008 (Jusoh et al., 2008).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of performance measurement systems in organisational effectiveness in the context of the financial services sector within a developing country.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using the mail survey method data were collected from 69 financial institutions operating in Nepal. Multivariate analysis, in particular multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results suggest that non-financial measures and feedback are tightly intertwined with organisational effectiveness. While institutions are focused on using the performance measures concerning internal business process perspective, less emphasis is placed on using customer and employee-related performance measures because they are considered less significant to organisational effectiveness. The findings also reveal that strategy-related feedback is considered more critical by management, as opposed to performance and staff. The study also provides evidence that 40.58 per cent of the financial institutions in Nepal had implemented the Balanced Scorecard, which is considered to be high when compared with other developing countries.\nPractical implications: The findings provide managers with valuable insights pertaining to the role of non-financial performance measures and the importance of feedback in improving organisational effectiveness, which could assist them in (re) aligning their performance measurement practices.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this study contributes to the limited management accounting literature on performance measurement and the impact on organisational effectiveness by providing evidence from the financial services sector within the context of a developing country.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge exchange and management research: barriers and potentials	[ "Barriers", "Management research", "Knowledge exchange", "Relevance debate", "Interesting research", "Discoveries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Alongside research and teaching, knowledge exchange is now well-established as a key mission for universities and business schools. Knowledge exchange encompasses a wide variety of activities such as commercialization and incubation activities, joint research and development projects, consultancy, training activities and community engagement.\nMaking sense of the relevance debate: The relevance of management research for managers and practice has long been a discussion point. The growing volume of management research and published scientific papers does not automatically diminish the gap between management research and practice; it may even widen the gap: \"The greatest challenge facing management scholars is the presence, extent, and growth of the gap between research and practice\" (Banks et al., 2016, p. 2205). The reasons for this development are many such as increasing publication pressures on researchers, a tendency to auto-communication in the research community, and changed publication criteria in top management journals favoring rigor rather than relevance.\nThe growth of researcher involvement in knowledge exchange activities: Since 1990, European universities and business schools have experienced a drastic change in their framework conditions. Universities have become mass universities with a growing amount of enrolled students. At the same time, public funding to universities has tended to stagnate, implying that public funding to research activities has tended to decline. Moreover, an increasing share of the public research funds is allocated competitively through application rounds.\nMode 2 research and its output in peer-reviewed journals: The observed mixed character of knowledge exchange activities suggests variation in the potential for research output across subfields. Particularly interesting is the empirical category called 'collaborative research' in the UK system. This type of research is typically problem-oriented and multidisciplinary in character and involves researcher-practitioner collaboration, also called Mode 2 research in contrast to classic single-disciplinary Mode 1 research (Gibbons et al., 1994). Van de Ven and Johnson (2006) label this type of research 'engaged scholarship' defined as \"a collaborative form of inquiry in which academics and practitioners leverage their differential perspectives and competences to coproduce knowledge about a complex problem or phenomenon\" (Van de Ven and Johnson, 2006, p. 803). This implies that there, ideally, is a take-away for both researchers and practitioners aligned with the dominant logic in their field: academic publication for researchers and problem solution for practitioners (Kieser and Leinar, 2009).\nCase study of a training project for small business managers: During 2012, 2013 and 2014, more than 700 growth-oriented small business managers were trained across Denmark with the purpose of enhancing their growth ambitions and competences to manage growth processes. The selected firms should be small (5-50 employees) and the managers should be interested in growing their firms and enhance their personal competences. The training program, which was called Growth through Management, consisted of a mixture of consultancies, seminars and networking activities in groups of about 25 managers. The project was primarily financed by the Danish Government and project execution was handled by five regional business promotion centers in collaboration with three national business associations and a university department. The project was predominantly practice-oriented, but contained a research component with a priori funds for research and transfer activities. These activities, including a PhD project, were only sketched a priori and had to be defined during the process.\nOrganizational and methodological barriers for improved research output from knowledge exchange activities: The case illustrates that knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners can lead to 'interesting' research ideas through dialogue and knowledge creation processes, but it also points at a number of organizational and methodological factors which are likely to be barriers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.\nConcluding remarks and recommendations: The relevance debate has focused on the separation of the 'world of science' from 'the world of practice' in terms of limited practical impact of academic publications and weaknesses in the communication between the two sides. This debate has tended to neglect that knowledge exchange activities have grown rapidly over the past decades and resulted in intensified knowledge transfer through 'action' rather than 'talking'. Moreover, the debate has tended to neglect the reverse transfer process, asking the question: why is the growing researcher involvement in knowledge exchange activities so limitedly reflected in academic outcome?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The growing involvement of management researchers in knowledge exchange activities and collaborative research does not seem to be reflected in a growing academic output. The purpose of this paper is to explore barriers for the limited academic output from these activities as well as the potential for 'interesting' papers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses secondary data and statistics as well as an illustrative case study to trace knowledge exchange activities and barriers for academic output based on these activities.\nFindings: The paper identifies a number of barriers for the turning of data derived from knowledge exchange activities into academic papers such as low priority of case study research in leading management journals, a growing practice orientation in the research funding systems, methodological challenges because of limited researcher control and disincentives for researcher involvement in knowledge exchange activities. The paper also identifies a potential for 'interesting' research and discoveries through collaborative research.\nResearch limitations/implications: Diminishing the barriers for collaborative and case-based research and exploring the potential for 'interesting' discoveries has the potential to increase the number of published papers with a high level of scientific rigor as well as a high level of relevance for practice.\nOriginality/value: An outcome focus on the relationship between knowledge exchange activities and management research is to the author's knowledge new in the debate about weak practical relevance of management research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lean can be a survival strategy during recessionary times	[ "Recession", "Customers", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Shifting a traditional manufacturing business towards lean enterprise during the time when market is touching the sky is an exciting experience. Lean generates prosperity, new customers, market penetration ... all good things. In today's recessionary times, one might ask, \"How do I transform to lean now?\" The answer is almost the same as in a good economy. An industry need to be flexible enough to quickly change their strategies to meet the customer's expectations and to reduce the price of their product but at the same time companies need to be careful not to compromise with quality of the product and this is possible only when they follow lean principles. Through this paper the meaning and effects of recession are explained and an attempt has been made to propose a survival strategy for recessionary time in the form of lean guidelines.\nRecession and its effect: At this time everyone is talking about recession. We stick to newspapers, television news channels, and business reports only to discover \"what next\" in recession. Technically, recession means decline in GDP or Gross Domestic Product of a country for two consecutive quarters. According to Financial Dictionary recession means a drastic slowing of the economy. The Americans, who are good at making precise definitions, often apply the term to a situation where gross national or domestic product has fallen in two consecutive quarters. A popular distinction between recession and depression is: \"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job and depression is when you loose your job\". The global market has been hit very hard due to recession. The recession has hit almost every industry like information technology (IT), automobile, semiconductor, service sector including banking sector, aviation industry, tourism industry, insurance companies and consulting companies. IT industry has been badly affected and many small payers have closed their operations. Everywhere salary cut, job cut were seen in the IT Industry. Many companies increased their working hours in order to increase productivity per employee. Business travels were reduced and other expenses were minimized. Real state industry also got severely affected and drastic slow down in property rates is seen everywhere. Automobile industry also got affected, in spite of reduction in cost of almost all model of Maruti Suzuki, their net profit is 31.4 per cent less in fiscal year 2008-2009 as compared to 2007-2008 in India (www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews) and similar type of scenario are there with other players in this sector. Business at shopping malls got affected due to decline in the purchasing power of people. Aviation industry also suffered by this economic meltdown, and lots of layoffs, were done by JET Airways and Kingfisher Airways in November-December, 2008. Tourism industry also could not keep itself away form recession and decline in its business was noticed. Many employees who could not bear the stress of being laid off lost their lives.\nOverview on recession: During a deep recession in the early 1990s (Makunnas and Maliranta, 2003) studied job and worker flows in the Finnish business sector. The data set covers effectively the whole work force. The gross job and worker flow rates were found to be fairly high. The evidence suggests that the adjustment of labor input has happened through a reduced hiring rate rather than through an increased separation rate (Kocak and Edwards, 2005) explored the importance of entrepreneurial behavior and inter-firm co-operation for small firms seeking growth in a volatile, recession-hit environment. Inter-firm co-operation includes both horizontal and vertical relationships (Kambil, 2008), examined how managers can respond to recessions and navigate their companies to success looking at the last two recessions in the US and found those organizations that sustained their focus on revenue growth and market share, and where managers had broad mindset and considered a broad set of options for action were most likely to succeed, in contrast to those who did across the board staff and cost cuts (Finkelstein, 2008) explained how executives misread the competitive landscape, fall into the trap of believing in their own strategy in the absence of confirming evidence, and sometimes engage in desperate decisions to try to remedy fundamental problems that cannot be so easily resolved (Young, 2009) presented his views on how to survive a recession in the form of a list of basic principles to follow, such as, lower your outgoings, lower your stock holding, cash flows, hold your nerve and manage your people which he suggests might help save businesses. Further he suggested all industries, not to stop marketing activities as people tighten the string of their purses and existing customer base may shrink during recessionary time. So industry needs to continue investing in marketing activities to grab a share of this decreasing pie.\nOverview on lean: Lean production is able to manufacture a larger variety of products, at lower costs and better quality, with less of inputs, compared to traditional mass production: less human effort, less space, less investment, and less total cycle time as it utilizes optimal skills of the workers, by giving them multiple task, by integrating direct and indirect work, and by encouraging continuous improvement activities (Dankbaar, 1997). As per the study done at automobile industry (Womack et al., 1990) has given several features of lean:* lean is a dynamic process of change driven by a systematic set of principles and best practices aimed at continuous improvement;* lean refers to the total enterprise, from the shop floor to the executive suite, and from the supplier to end customer;* lean eliminates all non-value-added activities from whole chain; and* becoming lean is a complex business as there is no single thing that will make an organization lean.Five principles of lean as given by (Womack and Roos, 1996):1. Value - The traditional definition of value is the end product that the customer purchases. In the lean model, value is not just the end product, but, the chain of activities that are required to perform in order to produce an end product/end service to be delivered to the customer.2. Value stream - Value is identified through value stream mapping (VSM). This stream is comprised of each step that is performed from raw material to end product and every step is designed, in order to fulfill customer expectations at minimum price. Every role, functions, and responsibilities are designed to make the delivery mechanism more responsive with minimum resources.3. Flow - Flow is the efficiency of the process that transforms raw material into an end product. This involves analyzing every step in the process that touches and does not touch the end product and goal is to provide a continuous flow without any bottlenecks.4. Pull - Traditionally, manufacturing companies built inventories and customers bought inventories. The \"pull\" concept states that nothing should be built until and unless it is pulled by down stream customer. And the end customer must be the driver of the value stream.5. Perfection - The improvements in the identification of value, the analysis and flow of the value stream, and the pulled product/service can be felt and seen at all levels of the organization.Operational, administrative and strategic improvements are clearly seen and the benefits to the organization are realized with satisfied customers. According to (Comm and Mathaisel, 2000) in order to compete in this new economy companies must have: \"quality beyond the competition and technology before the competition\" and as per (Watson, 1993) costs below the competition will help the industry. In other words, companies must strive to be better, faster, and cheaper than their competitors. Lean terms used in this paper are given in Table I.\nMethodology: Author is pursuing research on \"Lean manufacturing implementation issues in Indian environment\", as he is in day to day touch with lean methodology and principles and interacting different type of industries regarding lean implementation issues. This generated a strong view point in authors mind that lean can propose a survival strategy for recessionary time. He discussed the matter with his supervisors and had a brain storming session with them on this topic. Finally summarized the collective views in the form of this paper.\nLean guidelines for industry: Recessionary time is the time for industries to follow lean guidelines and to look in to their business chain from raw material to end customer in order to remove all types of waste.* Cross-trained employees: this will help in dealing lay offs during recessionary time and increases the manpower flexibility in the organization.* Cut down cost to attend the clients in service industry: six sigma techniques can be applied to reduce the average handling time (AHT) of a customer in service industry.* Identification of money drain point: Money drain point can be identified from balance sheet of any industry with the help of VSM and measure can be taken to eliminate them. This will help industry to save extra expenses.* Improved customer communication: it will encourage involvement of customer during all stages of product growth and by using technique like QFD customer's voice may be built in products. This will lead to customer satisfaction and generate new customer, which is foremost requirement of any industry during recessionary time.* Improved flexibility in reacting to changes: this will reduce the response time to market and you can offer variety to our customers and strengthen your customer base.* Improved vendor support and quality: lean emphasize on this as on time defect free delivery is not possible without reliable vendors. This will save cost of reprocessing of defects and attending complaints.* ISO 2000 and ITIL (Information technology and information library) framework can be used for determination of SLA (service level agreement) properly. This will reduce latter disagreement with clients and attract more clients for better business* Operation cost reduction: this can be done by perfectly mapping all activities/processes required by an industry for production of particular product/service with the help of VSM technique. VSM will clearly tell about value added and non value added activity/process.* Overhead cost reduction: this can be done by proper coordination and understanding between different department of an industry and by empowering employees for reducing all types of possible overhead.* Pareto's principles can be applied for stratification and identification of commodities with maximum waste in departmental store to cut cost.* Reduced obsolescence: lean technique help to reduce obsolescence that may be due to extra stock, obsolete technology or continuous changing taste of customers.* Reduced scrap and waste: waste and scrap are not at all desired at any time and their reduction definitely improves productivity which is need of this time.* Reduction of hold up money: this can be done by reducing inventory with effective use of Kanban and deliberately exposing the system by reducing working inventory.* Self-directed work teams: lean stress for self-directed work team that will help industry to enter in any new area during this time and also save time of instructional delay.* Total quality management (TQM) principles can be adopted to raise quality consciousness among the workers to decrease rejection due to poor quality and it can help to boost up profit.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss a survival strategy for industry in recessionary time by means of lean principles and philosophies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents the views of the authors regarding the application of lean principles and philosophies to overcome recession, followed by interaction with industrial personnel about recession, its effects and prevention.\nFindings: - Recessionary time is the time for industries to follow lean guidelines and to look in to their business chain from raw material to end customer in order to remove all types of waste.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides some real help as to how to survive in recession as there is little published research on this topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Networking inside the organization: a case study on knowledge sharing	[ "Networking", "Knowledge sharing", "Multinational companies", "Case studies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Multinational corporations (MNCs) have typically sustained superior performances either by exploiting traditional economies of scale and scope (mainly in purchasing and marketing) or by taking advantage of discrepancies among the world's goods, labor and capital markets. In today's global markets, dominated by large, international firms with similar resources, MNCs are pushed to search for new sources of competitive advantage. These firms have to simultaneously shorten their time-to-market, improve their product quality, follow and satisfy evolving customer needs, create new businesses and exploit new markets. Building this higher-level adaptation capability has become the central focus of strategic management today. The most important factors in the new \"capabilities-based competition\" are speed and agility. In this context, sharing knowledge across geographically dispersed organizational units has become even more crucial.\nThe company: GoodFood is a French multinational food and beverage company manufacturing and selling dairy products, baby food and bottled water. For many years its products included glass bottle manufacturing. During the 1970s and 1980s the company increasingly focused on food by selling off the glass business and acquiring Italian and Spanish food companies. The company, in its current form, is the result of many mergers and acquisitions over the past forty years. The most significant merger took place in 1973, resulting in the creation of the biggest food company in France. An acquisition in 1986 of an international biscuit company galvanized the firm's development. During the following ten years the company multiplied efforts to expand internationally and developed East European, Asian, Latin American and South African markets through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships with local producers and distributors.By the mid-1990s, GoodFood had a broad product offering, but, in spite of its efforts to develop internationally, it remained mainly a French-Spanish group, with sales in the French market corresponding to as much as 42 percent of its turnover. The new CEO, appointed in 1996, decided to focus on three strategic objectives: product differentiation, improved efficiency, and international development. He started by redefining the company's identity. In line with changing consumer needs and preferences, it was decided that GoodFood was to become a \"health and nutrition\" company. The product portfolio was consolidated from nine to three categories and the company was restructured from nine divisions into three worldwide business units along the main product lines - dairy products, biscuits, and beverages. Each of the business units was also subdivided into geographic regions[1], with increased autonomy given to middle managers locally. Subsequent to this reorganization, the company maintained its leadership position in two of its three main businesses, allowing it to pursue its international strategy through further alliances and acquisitions.By 2000, GoodFood had become a global leader in fresh dairy products and beverages. Present in 120 countries, it had also reached its objective to become truly international, with new markets developed in Asia, Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Almost half of its 90,000 employees were employed in the Asia-Pacific region. However, this geographic dispersion, along with the need to increase its flexibility and reactivity, created new challenges for the company. It now needed to increase the rate of adaptation for the large variety of local needs while maintaining global efficiency and high profitability. To beat the competition, GoodFood needed to react faster than its competitors. As stated by the CEO, GoodFood's new goal was to become the \"fastest-moving food company\". This meant that new pathways to facilitate efficient knowledge flows across geographically dispersed business units had to be created. To meet this challenge, in 2002 the executive vice president of human resources initiated the Networking Attitude project.\nNetworking attitude: The objective of the Networking Attitude project was to facilitate and speed up knowledge-sharing across business units in distant geographical locations based on two separate \"tools\": knowledge \"marketplaces\" and \"message in the bottle\" sessions.Knowledge marketplace\nThe impact of the networking attitude project on performance: The Networking Attitude project was designed from the start to be measurable. It had to demonstrate a positive impact on the firm's performance. For example, the number of exchanged checks or nice stories (knowledge transfers that gave tangible results in the recipient unit) demonstrated that starting from the first year following implementation, the project was a great success. According to the organizational development director, between 2003 and 2005, 1,729 first-line managers participated in 12 knowledge marketplaces with 5,652 \"transactions\" generated between \"givers\" and \"takers\" and 2,700 good practices shared. The precise number of transactions was measured using the number of checks exchanged between the givers and the takers. Examples of some best practices exchanged and successfully implemented are described below. During the same period, 1,431 managers asked for help in resolving their operational problems and obtained help from their colleagues during 61 Message in a Bottle sessions. The precise impact of the Networking Attitude project was estimated on the basis of financial savings due to transfer of best practices, direct increase in the product/market development, enhanced strategic flexibility, and improved employee motivation.Economic performance and financial savings\nBeyond the networking attitude: The ultimate objective of the Networking Attitude project was to increase strategic flexibility and speed up innovation rates through efficient knowledge-sharing. While the Knowledge Marketplace is a \"push\" process (a person has a good practice and shares it with others), Message in a Bottle is a \"pull\" process (a person has a problem and asks for help). These two processes are complementary and mutually reinforcing. In the first stage of the project, 1,431 managers shared problems and solutions during 61 Message in a Bottle sessions and 1,729 managers participated in 12 Knowledge Marketplaces during which 5,652 \"transactions\" were made with 484 good practices validated and formalized as Nice Stories. The project enhanced two essential elements of learning: connectivity and receptivity. Connectivity - creating the links among managers from different business units and functions - affects knowledge transfer; and receptivity - managers' openness to accept knowledge created elsewhere - increases knowledge integration and reuse.Frequently, knowledge-sharing processes are controlled by top management. Management often decides what knowledge is to be shared, when and by whom. In the Networking Attitude project, top managers admitted that, faced with the immense variety of problems to be solved, best practices to be shared and pieces of information to be exchanged, inter-personal networks cannot be controlled top-down. The project was meant to be a peer-to-peer or a bottom-to-bottom process in which top management gave the initial idea but did not attempt to control its evolution.Autonomy given to first-line managers enhanced the cycle of knowledge-sharing. It is important to note, however, that autonomy is not a miraculous solution to knowledge-sharing. GoodFood's Networking Attitude clearly illustrates the importance of top management decisions to create efficient knowledge-sharing routines. In the case of the Networking Attitude project, top managers would frequently participate in knowledge marketplaces and message in the bottle meetings. Their personal involvement and active participation gave the project the necessary legitimacy in the eyes of other participants even before the economic benefits were known and communicated across the company. Therefore, the balanced mix of top down mechanisms and autonomy appears to be the most important condition for the development of internal knowledge networks.The Networking Attitude also had some unexpected effects. Focus on specific business problems resulted in the formation of groups of people, called communities of practice, with the same professional interests who, after having participated in the marketplaces or the message in the bottle meetings, started to communicate with one another on a regular basis. In the second year of the Networking Attitude project, we identified 85 of these communities sharing practical knowledge and disseminating good practices outside the project. For example, one community formed around issues relative to packaging dairy products and their collaboration very quickly resulted in the creation of new technologies and tools. Another community focused on the supply chain in the biscuit division. In this community, composed of first-line managers located all over the world, people simply started to talk about problems and share solutions to many different supply chain problems without having to participate in the meetings, simply because they found it enriching to exchange ideas with other colleagues and know where to turn immediately for help when needed.A direct result of the Networking Attitude project at GoodFood is that today one manager in five regularly participates in theme-based groups addressing issues ranging from R&D and quality to purchasing, production and more. All managers can participate in these meetings and it is up to them to decide if the meeting theme corresponds to their specific needs. Through the publication of electronic brochures describing the best practices transferred and successfully implemented, everyone in the company has access to the information and can contact a person \"in the possession\" of the best practice even if he or she did not participate in the meeting. The wide accessibility of knowledge is enhanced by the creation of specialized portals, web conferences and chat rooms (for example, a group-wide directory showcasing individuals' expertise and willingness to pitch in to find solutions).The complex, unpredictable and fiercely competitive global environment of multinational corporations requires the implementation of processes allowing for continual development and renewal. This is particularly important when combined with the necessity of local adaptation. The Networking Attitude project helped the process of knowledge creation, transfer and integration, developing a truly learning organization, capable of improving its performance and sustaining its competitive advantage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper illustrates, on the basis of a case study of a multinational corporation, the positive impact of intra-organizational networking on the capacity to sustain competitive advantage in a highly volatile environment. It aims to provide researchers, consultants and managers with insights on how to design an organization leveraging internal resources and capabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - One original case is presented, along with a series of analytical points drawn from this study. The research design is based on action research methods (one author participated in designing and implementing the \"networking attitude\" project) as well as primary (interviews) and secondary data (internal documents). The paper makes several basic points on the relationship between inter-unit knowledge sharing and renewing competitive advantage in multinational corporations.\nFindings: - The critical findings relate to the importance of creating effective inter-personal networks for enhancing knowledge sharing, and to the direct positive impact on overall strategic performance of transferring knowledge across organizational units. The bottom line is that knowledge is detained by people and it cannot be coordinated in a top-down centralized manner, but rather requires organizational designs based on greater autonomy, efficient incentive systems and strategically coherent organizational cultures.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings of the paper are based on a single case study of a firm that successfully managed to create intra-organizational knowledge-sharing networks that resulted in significant improvements in overall performance, and hence generalization and robustness of the results would require the analysis of additional - successful and unsuccessful cases.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides insights on the creation of effective knowledge-sharing networks in multinational corporations.\nOriginality/value: - The data, approach, and analysis are all original. This paper enriches the existing theory on knowledge management and strategy formation by highlighting the direct link between leveraging internal resources and improved performance. It addresses the problem of knowledge sharing in multinational corporations and emphasizes the importance of interpersonal links and autonomy in organizations. The model of knowledge sharing described in the paper can easily be adapted in different contexts and should therefore be of value to managers. To researchers it offers a comprehensive framework integrating internal capabilities and strategy implementation perspectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The rough journey into arts entrepreneurship: Why arts entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy in the UK and Germany	[ "Higher education institution", "Arts entrepreneurship education", "Fine art lecturers", "Fine artists" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research aim\nResearch design and methodology: The analysis of fine art students' educational situation at HEIs in the UK and Germany is conducted in two steps: first, a literature review provides an overview of the current state of arts entrepreneurship education, followed by the second step of a cross-sectional survey by questionnaires among fine art lecturers to capture their perspectives of fine art students' professional preparation. The survey was conducted from 20 January to 17 February 2015. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the current educational situation from lecturers' perspectives, an exploratory and inductive research approach with a survey strategy has been taken. This approach is needed because there are hardly any empirical findings in the UK and Germany to explain what skills need to be how developed to prepare art students to successfully enter the professional and entrepreneurial career path to make a living in the arts. The study's findings will contribute to the academic literature due to still lacking research in the field of arts entrepreneurship education.\nLiterature review: Literature findings are only able to assume a poor state of arts entrepreneurship education at HEIs. The reasons remain diverse.\nKey findings and interpretation: Lack of entrepreneurial skills\nConclusions, limitations and further research: Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the current state of arts entrepreneurship education at higher educational institutions (HEIs) by reviewing the relevant literature and surveying lecturers in Fine Art.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis of fine art students' educational situation at HEIs in the UK and Germany is conducted in two steps: first, a literature review provides an overview of the current state of arts entrepreneurship education, followed by the second step of a cross-sectional survey by questionnaires among fine art lecturers to capture their perspectives of fine art students' professional preparation.\nFindings: The study confirms the assumed poor state of arts entrepreneurship education at HEIs by showing evidence that an entrepreneurial education of fine art students is definitely not implemented at HEIs, neither in the UK nor in Germany.\nPractical implications: The findings stimulate the discussion of HEIs' task and responsibility to professionally prepare fine art graduates for their entrepreneurial and professional career.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to knowledge by presenting relevant findings related to fine art curriculum and current state of fine art graduates' vocational preparation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
WeScratch: an inclusive, playful and collaborative approach to creative learning online	[ "Online learning", "Collaborative learning", "Teacher professional development", "Computational thinking", "Coding", "Scratch" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, interest in coding has been rapidly increasing in education at all grade levels (Meyers, 2019). In particular, Scratch has been widely adopted in schools, libraries and community centers as a way to introduce young people to coding and computational thinking across subject areas (Resnick and Rusk, 2020). Scratch is designed to support creative learning experiences by engaging young people in making projects that are personally meaningful, in collaboration with others, in a playful spirit (Resnick et al., 2009). The broader goals of Scratch are to enable learners to develop creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills (Kafai and Burke, 2014).\nOur approach to online learning: The typical approaches to online professional development for teachers use a presentation format where one person goes through a series of slides, explaining concepts and giving instructions to follow. For example, in some online introductions to Scratch, the focus begins by describing the importance of learning to code and defining basic computer science concepts (such as algorithms) - even before showing what Scratch looks like and what people can create with it. Introductory lessons often explain the interface of Scratch by going through the list of possible programming blocks. Then very detailed instructions that participants are supposed to follow step-by-step to recreate the identical project are given. Some participants interact with the speaker by asking questions or placing comments in the chat. Overall, the experience is one of passively watching someone give an overview with little or no opportunity to try it themselves or engage in peer learning.\nContext: WeScratch workshops are mainly offered as part of a global outreach effort called Learning Creative Learning (LCL) - a free online course and community of educators who explore the principles of creative learning (Gabaree et al., 2018). The online nature of LCL and WeScratch allows a large number of people from all over the globe to participate and connect with a community of people with shared interests.\nPlatform: WeScratch is presently hosted on Unhangout, an open-source online learning platform specifically designed to support online community gatherings rather than online lectures (Schmidt et al., 2014). It consists of a main \"lobby\" where participants interact through a text-based chat while hosts broadcast pre-recorded or live stream videos. From the main lobby, participants can join breakout rooms to participate in small group video calls, where they can share their webcam video and screens.\nStructure: Each WeScratch session is 90 min long and is composed of three parts: greet, make and share.\nFacilitation: Throughout the workshop, participants are supported by a team of facilitators. Facilitators are not Scratch experts, but they are familiar with the structure of the workshops and with the pedagogical values underlying Scratch and the WeScratch community. Their main role consists in guiding participants through the process, assuring that everyone feels comfortable and heard and occasionally helping with technical troubleshooting (Roque and Jain, 2018).\nActivities: WeScratch activities are open-ended and designed around a generative theme or a creative prompt. Examples of activities include creating interactive animations of the letters of your name, developing an animated story or making a project to share your love for someone. Because WeScratch activities invite open-ended exploration around a shared theme, participants are always welcome to join, regardless of their previous attendance. Additionally, activities can be enjoyed multiple times by the same person because they can inspire a different project and lead to learning something new.\nDiscussion: During the past year of WeScratch workshops, participants have shared their experiences and reflections, revealing how the environment and community have influenced their perspectives and practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many educators currently face challenges when trying to engage students in creative learning experiences online, where it can be particularly difficult to move beyond the transmissive approach typical of video lessons and webinars. The purpose of this paper is to present WeScratch, online workshops designed as welcoming, playful and peer-supported spaces where educators can experience first-hand an alternative approach to learning online, as they actively learn to create projects using the Scratch programming language.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The WeScratch experience is designed as a hands-on, creative online workshop where participants spend most of their time making projects while they share ideas with peers. The authors describe the structure, platform, facilitation and activities of WeScratch workshops, highlighting the main design choices and their underlying motivations.\nFindings: This study discusses how this environment has engaged educators from around the world to experiment with Scratch in a playful way. The authors give examples of how educators have described the value of the experience, both as learners developing their skills and as designers developing similar learning experiences for their students.\nOriginality/value: WeScratch provides a model for how to design online learning environments to be more inclusive, playful and collaborative. Although WeScratch workshops are designed to support learning to create with code, the authors see the wider potential for applying this approach to other online learning environments to broaden participation, build connection and expand creative expression.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of IT in automotive supplier supply chains	[ "Automotive industry", "Information technology", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Background\n2. Theoretical background and research hypotheses: 2.1 Research framework\n3. Methodology: We test our hypothesis using data from an online survey of automotive suppliers in Europe. For the analysis, we used the partial least squares (PLS) approach.\n4. Results: 4.1 Measurement model\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Contributions to theory\n6. Conclusion: With the growing awareness of the advantages of IT implementation, it is important to understand what impact IT has on performance. The provision of timely, accurate, and reliable information has enhanced the conditions for business relationships worldwide. The present study focused on the relationships among IT capabilities, supply chain capabilities, and supplier performance using empirical data from automotive suppliers in Europe. Our findings show a strong relationship between these three perspectives. Data capabilities contribute to supply chain capabilities through a positive impact on functional capabilities. Internal process excellence has the strongest impact on supplier performance, but the effects of regular and adequate information sharing should not be underestimated. These findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of IT implementation on firm performance, for instance, that the impact of IT within specific automotive supply chains is comparable to the impact of IT on \"average firm\" supply chains. Furthermore, the findings underline the value for automotive suppliers of promoting IT implementation as a performance enabler.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of information technology (IT) on supply chain performance in the automotive industry. Prior studies that analyzed the impact of IT on supply chain performance report results representing the situation of the \"average industry.\" This research focuses on the automotive industry because of its major importance in many national economies and due to the fact that automotive supply chains do not represent the supply chain of the average industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A research model is proposed to examine the relationships between IT capabilities, supply chain capabilities, and supplier performance. The model divides IT capabilities into functional and data capabilities, and supply chain capabilities into internal process excellence and information sharing. Data have been collected from 343 automotive first-tier suppliers. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares is used to analyze the data.\nFindings: The results suggest that functional capabilities have the greatest impact on internal process excellence, which in turn enhances supplier performance. However, frequent and adequate information sharing also contributes significantly to supplier performance. Data capabilities enable supply chain capabilities through their positive impact on functional capabilities.\nPractical implications: The findings will help managers to understand the effect of IT implementation on company performance and to decide whether to invest in the expansion of IT capacities.\nOriginality/value: This research reports the impact of IT on supply chain performance in one of the most important industries in many industrialized countries, and it provides a new perspective on evaluating the contribution of IT on firm performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Library staff recruitment and retention for managerial positions in Vietnam	[ "Academic libraries", "Recruitment", "Public libraries", "Succession planning", "Retention", "Vietnam" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employee recruitment and retention are playing an increasingly important role in promoting organisation and individual efficiency (Level and Blair, 2006). It will cost time and money to recruit and train new candidates for managerial positions if suitable candidates depart from the library. In terms of staff recruitment, it is interesting that different cultures have different criteria to recruit staff (Council of Europe, 1999). In Western countries, some recruiters assume that someone's resume indicating many career changes would mean that the candidate is active, is creative and always looks for challenges, leverage and promotions in a new career. This becomes one of the criteria to be considered in the recruitment process (Bills, 1990). In contrast, in the government organisations or units of Asian countries, lifetime employment is highly preferred (AsiaPulse News, 2010; Ono, 2010). In Vietnam, recruitment strategies set the priority recruitment policy for those who have voluntary work commitment of at least five years in remote and mountainous areas (Vietnamese Government, 2008). Furthermore, it is mandated that employees must work for at least as much as three times the allocated study time when the organisation allows them to study for higher degrees or any course or training programme (Baker, 1997). Also, in the job application documents, a five-year working declaration is required if the candidate is from a different province than in which the recruiting organisation is located (Langson People Committee, 2011; Ministry of Finance, 2011). Vietnamese libraries and information centres are not excluded. In particular, when the budget for training and continuing education is limited, the library recruiters pay much attention to the candidates' commitment to lifetime employment.\nLiterature review: Staff recruitment for managerial positions\nMethodology: This study was underpinned by transformational leadership theory, which was initiated by James McGregor Burns in 1978 and developed by Bernard M. Bass in 1975. One of the four components of the theory (idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration) helped to form the questionnaire for data collection. It was individualised consideration which focuses on providing learning opportunities to satisfy followers' unique needs and desires. According to Northouse (2007), transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people by assessing subordinates' motives, satisfying their needs and treating them as full human beings. Satisfaction is paid much attention because it has a close relationship with managing employee retention. In addition, satisfaction is also an element that encourages staff to join an organisation, thus leading to recruitment success.\nFindings and discussion: How to recruit qualified staff for managerial positions\nConclusion: Library qualified staff recruitment for managerial positions in Vietnam is mainly from inside the organisation because of engagement and retention purposes. This research result provides support for the idea in the literature that libraries should nurture their own potential leaders and managers. For recommendation, qualified staff from outside libraries altogether and professional librarians moving between libraries could be considered as potential candidates for recruitment in succession planning. In Vietnam, qualified staff should also keep on performing well, so as to be in the succession planning list. There is a mutual relationship between recruitment and retention. Lifetime employment is one of the recruitment requirements in government organisations and units. Succession planning is considered as a good way to retain qualified staff for the library. In reality, staff retention relies on differing factors, of which salary was considered the most important by several participants. However, succession planning itself may be a good way to keep qualified employees who would like to be promoted. For those employees attracted by high salaries rather than future managerial positions, supplemental income is believed to be a possible solution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to conduct an exploratory research of recruitment source and professional staff retention for succession planning, as well as suggests some experiences of keeping qualified staff in Vietnamese libraries. It stems from the context of academic and public libraries in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research draws on transformational leadership theory initiated by Burns (1978) and expanded by Bass (1985). It was conducted through a multi-method case study approach at 13 public and 4 academic libraries in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Data collection consisted of an online survey with 162 responses and 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews.\nFindings: Research result indicates that staff recruitment for managerial positions in Vietnamese libraries is mainly from within the organisation. Staff retention relies on differing factors, of which salary was considered the most important by several participants. However, succession planning itself may be a good way to keep qualified employees who would like to be promoted. For those employees attracted by high salaries rather than future managerial positions, supplemental income is believed to be a possible solution.\nResearch limitations/implications: A larger research coverage will be suggested to further research, so as to get further information about staff recruitment and how to retain qualified staff in Vietnamese library settings.\nPractical implications: This study aims to benefit library leaders by providing good insights into which recruitment source is suitable to look for qualified staff for managerial positions in Vietnam. Most importantly, the research would inform library leaders and the local government in the Mekong Delta of the possible reasons for staff turnover. This study also helps to raise library leaders' awareness of how to retain their qualified professional employees within a highly dynamic environment.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to literature about qualified staff recruitment and retention in an Asian country context, which has not been discussed so far. It also helps to raise awareness of library leaders about applying some practical strategies, including succession planning, into retaining managing employees in their organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The inseparable nature of working and learning: peripheral management practice that facilitates employee learning	[ "Managers", "Management development", "Everyday learning", "Organizational learning", "Situated learning", "Work-based learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: For many organizations learning at work still, rather narrowly, refers to attendance at training events. Despite a considerable expansion of the workplace learning literature, noticeably less attention has been given to the role that frontline managers play in aiding employee learning at work.\nSituated and everyday learning: Situated learning implies that learning is \"situated\" and entwined within the context of its construction and that the collective or group is central to learning, thus turning a \"classroom-centric\" approach to learning on its head.\nManagement practice and the inseparableness of working and learning: For many frontline managers and their employees the separation between working and learning is often not apparent. There appears to be no clear distinction between when they are working and when they are learning. For most of them, engaging with others, talking about work, sharing and telling stories as well as actively participating in a community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991) are rarely acknowledged as learning. Nevertheless, this is often what is occurring naturally as \"part and parcel\" of working, and as such, frontline managers rarely see themselves as assisting learning in isolation, rather they might well be facilitating learning, motivating, providing feedback, rewarding, correcting and directing all as part of the same manager-employee interaction. In their eyes, they are managing and assisting their employees, helping them to perform their jobs better. Explicit learning, for the employee, may well go unnoticed, and likewise for the manager. Thus, promoting and facilitating employee learning may be peripheral, intuitive or simply deeply embedded in being a good manager.\nRecognizing and implementing employee learning: From an organizational perspective having more frontline managers that are able to recognize and implement, an employee learning intervention is clearly advantageous. From a practical perspective, there are a number of interventions that Organizations can undertake to aid greater frontline management involvement in employee learning. The following provides some guidance, or starting point:\nComment: While it is acknowledged that frontline managers play a critical role in facilitating learning for their employees as much as, if not more than, the HRD function, the view that the frontline manager should be the \"keeper of all knowledge\" or the \"single point of reference\" for all learning appears somewhat dated (Beattie, 2006, p. 101). Rather, frontline managers who are effective at promoting and facilitating employee learning create conditions, through the use of practical data and tools and also awareness, thus learning occurs naturally, as part of all the things that the team and its members do. Frontline managers who lead employee learning at work seek learning opportunities for their employees in nearly all workplace activity and the learning is enmeshed in the roles and culture of all members of the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to look at the peripheral management practice that facilitates employee learning. Such management practices are embedded or inseparable to working and being a good manager.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Point of view.\nFindings: For many frontline managers and their employees, the separation between working and learning is often not apparent. There appears to be no clear distinction between when they are working and when they are learning.\nPractical implications: Better development of organizational managers.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the informal nature of learning and working and builds on the understanding that much of the learning that occurs at work occurs as part of a social act, often involving managers and their employees. In this way, employee learning that is identified and facilitated by frontline managers is so often entwined in other management activity. Furthermore, this paper outlines some practical actions that organizations can undertake to aid greater frontline management involvement in employee learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Harnessing skills of the overqualified: Building human capital pool for competitive advantage	[ "Retention", "Human capital", "Strategy", "HR strategy", "Organization effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When deciding who gets hired for a job and who does not, firms make a series of choices regarding the types of candidates it considers for employment. Each organization decides which candidates are initially screened in or out for job interviews and then which of them are offered jobs. So far so good.\nEarly leadership investment provides vital time advantages: Far-sighted organizations look to grow their business and gain an advantage in advance of the next business turn-around. Hiring overqualified candidates allows them to better prepare for the next business upturn and for future expansion opportunities. For example, overqualified job candidates can bring intellectual capital in the form of new market and/or product knowledge, along with the relational capital needed to access critical business networks. Together, this valuable human capital can help firms grow sales.\nEconomic downturn results in highly skilled people not easily placed in jobs: They propose that bypassing overqualified job candidates deprives organizations of a potentially large, highly skilled, and easily available source of human capital and ultimately hurts their ability to build competitive advantage. As a result, firms believing that they are guarding their best interests when taking the traditional hiring approach that screens out overqualified job candidates, are actually reducing their ability to build their human capital pool and their long-term competitive advantage.\nPotentially dissatisfied employees allowed to make more job-related decisions: Consequently, the message is that overqualified job candidates (i.e. those with highly-developed KSAs) can provide firms with the opportunity to build their human capital depth. Higher human capital levels help firms provide more innovative products and services, better quality, and improved customer service. In the near term, these business improvements are likely to lead to increased organizational effectiveness. Over time, this consistently greater organizational effectiveness can potentially provide a long-term competitive advantage. However, maintaining a competitive advantage is reliant on the firm's ability to retain the increased human capital.\nComment: This review is based on \"Reimagining overqualified human resources to promote organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage\" by Sikora et al. (2016). The authors propose a conceptual framework, stating that there are powerful benefits to hiring overqualified job candidates. By not hiring them, organizations are missing out on a large, easily available, and potentially lower-cost source of highly-skilled human capital.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many organizations hold the traditional view that due to the potential of higher job dissatisfaction and employee turnover rates, hiring overqualified job candidates is risky. The purpose of this paper is to take an alternative perspective, using human capital and resource-based theories to propose that hiring overqualified job candidates adds to a firm's human capital depth. This additional human capital depth, in turn, enables firms to improve near-term organizational effectiveness and, ultimately, build long-term competitive advantage. Thus, the conceptual framework makes reference to deployment of the overqualified as an under-used source of human capital.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper reviews theory and proposes a conceptual framework for reimaging overqualified human resources.\nFindings: There are powerful benefits to hiring overqualified job candidates; however, by not hiring overqualified job candidates, organizations are missing out on a large, easily available, and potentially lower cost source of highly skilled human capital.\nOriginality/value: This paper uses human capital and resource-based theory to propose a conceptual framework which makes four key contributions. First, the authors propose that hiring overqualified job candidates increases an organization's human capital depth. Next, this increased human capital leads to near-term improvements in employee performance and organizational effectiveness. In turn, firms using career development exercises such as job crafting, mentoring, and/or informal leadership to retain overqualified human capital are more likely to convert near-term organizational effectiveness into long-term competitive advantage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the links between talent philosophies and talent management in service organizations	[ "Talent", "Talent management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the current competitive market environment, service organisations have recognised the importance of human resources and competent human capital for achieving organisational success and gaining a strong competitive advantage (Zheng, 2009). The central argument of the relevant studies is that rare and non-imitable human abilities and qualities assist business organisations to produce superior services and differentiate from competitors (Zheng, 2009). It is thus imperative for service organisations to capitalise on personnel's capabilities and develop their special competencies, as well as to effectively manage their employees in order for them to reach high levels of performance as well as positive employee results (Pandita and Ray, 2018).\nLiterature review and formulation of research hypotheses: Talent in the context of business organisations\nMethodology: All measurement instruments of the examined constructs were adopted from Dries et al. (2014) and Pantouvakis and Karakasnaki (2018). The innate vs developable talent philosophy was operationalized using eight items (Dries et al., 2014). Sample items included: \"The kind of person someone is, is something very basic about them and it can't be changed very much\". The exclusive vs inclusive scale comprised three items (Pantouvakis and Karakasnaki, 2018), such as \"A talent is not something everyone possesses, but just the lucky few\". As far as the measurement instrument of \"Reliance on first impressions in the identification of talent\", the scale consisted of four items. A sample item was \"If I do not consider a person talented at a first evaluation, the odds of me considering him or her talented at a next evaluation is small\". Finally, the dimension of \"Reliance on personal judgement rather than standardized talent assessment\" was measured with three items, i.e. \"In evaluating the talent of employees, personal judgement is the best standard\". All items were measured on a seven-point Likert type scale.\nResults and discussion: Exploratory factor analysis\nConclusions and managerial implications: This study responds to the limited amount of empirical studies in talent management issues and empirically examines the associations among talent philosophies and the way talent is managed in the context of business organisations. Specifically, we focussed on the two dominant talent philosophies as identified in the literature, which address the innate/developable and the exclusive/inclusive nature of human talent, as well as on two specific dimensions of how talent is identified and assessed in organisations, namely, the reliance of first impressions in the identification of talent and the reliance on personal judgement rather than standardized assessment of talent.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In line with recent trends in the human resource management literature that address talented employees and their management, the purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between talent philosophies (innate/developable and exclusive/inclusive) and the way talent is identified and assessed in the context of service organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire was administered in shipping companies located in Greece and 125 questionnaires suitable for further use were collected. Moreover, the measurement instruments of the constructs under examination were adopted from relevant studies in the literature. Finally, the data were analysed through exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: The findings showed that the different talent philosophies impact upon the way talent is managed (i.e. identified and assessed). Specifically it was found that managers who adopt mainly innate and exclusive talent philosophies tend to rely more on their first impressions in the identification of talent and to focus in a greater extent on their personal judgment rather than standardized procedures in talent assessment.\nOriginality/value: Despite the increased academic voices on exploring the concepts of talent and talent management in the context of business organisations, the field is still lacking empirical evidence. Therefore, this study contributes to the limited empirical studies on talent issues and provides evidence on the links between the dominant talent philosophies and the way talent is identified and assessed in organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Capacity building for post disaster construction and demolition waste management: A case of Sri Lanka	[ "Capacity building", "Disaster waste", "C\n\t\t\t\t\t&\n\t\t\t\tD", "Post disaster" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction[1]: Disasters with devastating impacts occur in the world at an increased frequency (Shakuf, 2007). Impacts of disasters have both human and environmental dimensions. Casualties including people being killed, injured and misplaced are major human impacts while property damage, collapsed buildings, infrastructure and crop destruction are some major environmental impacts including psychosocial impacts (Shaw, 2006). The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) identified physical damages that create enormous amounts of demolition waste through destruction of buildings and infrastructure as a grave consequence of disasters (United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2008; United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 2007). Brown et al. (2011a) and Shibata et al. (2012) revealed that construction and demolition (C\n2. Post disaster waste management: C&D waste: The EPA of USA identified soil and sediments, building rubble, vegetation, personal effects, hazardous material, mixed domestic and clinical waste and human and animal remains that pose a risk to human health as several items of waste generated in most post disaster circumstances (EPA, 2008). In addition, it includes waste from relief operations, damaged boats, cars, buses, bicycles, unexploded ordnance (e.g. landmines), waste from disaster settlements and camps, pesticides, fertilisers and healthcare waste (JEU, 2010). The type of waste generated mostly depends on the type of disaster and impacted built environment (FEMA, 2007; EPA, 2008). Hurricanes, tsunamis and floods create most typical debris streams, such as vegetation and household waste, while earthquakes, wildfires and ice storms mostly create specific items such as building rubble (C\n3. Research methodology: Data collection was mainly conducted in four phases, as illustrated in Figure 2.\n4. Conceptual framework for capacity building in post disaster C&D waste management: Figure 3 illustrates the conceptual framework developed for post disaster C\n5. Research findings: The research findings from the case studies and expert interviews, along with an analytical framework, are disscused under three sub headings, as follows.\n6. Conclusions: The entire world is facing frequent and severe disasters. In a disaster, generation of waste is unavoidable and critical as it differs from a normal situation in terms of quantity and composition. Thus, improper waste management is a major environmental issue in any post disaster scenario, specifically when it is contaminated with toxic substances leading to environmental degradation and health problems. Therefore, measures to control waste generation and management of waste are needed for proper disaster waste management, being an important aspect of disaster management. This study investigated disaster waste management and prevailing challenges in Sri Lanka. Capacity building was identified as vital for post disaster waste management in Sri Lanka due to visible capacity gaps. Thus, this study proposed a theoretical framework for capacity building in post disaster waste management with a special emphasis on C\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework for capacity building in post disaster construction and demolition (C\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered through pilot interviews, case studies and expert opinion surveys representing government, non-government and other sector organisations involved in post disaster waste management.\nFindings: The study revealed unavailability of a single point of responsibility and provision for disaster waste in existing policies and capacity constraints in prevailing peace time solid waste management practices which were identified as major capacity gaps. Establishment of a regulatory body and enforceable rules and regulations with necessary levels of capacities was identified and presented in a theoretical framework comprising of seven identified areas for capacity building in post disaster waste management.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is limited to disaster C\nOriginality/value: The research enabled analysis of existing capacities and presents approaches for capacity building for identified gaps in post disaster C\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Food markets visitors: a typology proposal	[ "Barcelona", "Satisfaction", "Apathetic-market visitors", "Food markets", "Food-market lovers", "Tourist icon" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Gastronomic tourism is the current trend and the volume of gastro-travellers increase day by day. It is defined as that trip that focuses its interest on exploring and enjoying meals and beverages, to experience local cultures. Therefore it is a kind of tourism that connects travel, leisure and food (Smith and Xiao, 2008) and provides travellers with memorable experiences (Hashimoto and Telfer, 2006; Okumus et al., 2013).\nLiterature review: Previous literature attempts to understand motivators for attendance, levels of satisfaction and revisit intention at food festivals (Kim et al., 2010; Young et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2010). These researches focus the attention on perceived value as a key aspect to predict satisfaction and intention to revisit (Zeithaml, 1988; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Chang and Wildt, 1994; Kim et al., 2009, 2011a). Other enquiry notes that food is often an integral part of the tourism experience (Kim et al., 2011b), and food festivals provide not only an eating experience, they also offer a complete tourism experience (Yuan et al., 2005). Thus, experiencing a specific region's local cuisine or a special wine or food type has been found as a major travel motivation for many visitors (Park et al., 2008). Additionally, the association of food with health concern, the significance of locally made items or locally grown specialties of the region are frequently highlighted at food festivals (Everett and Aitchison, 2007; Lee and Arcodia, 2011). And lastly, it is also shown the socialisation, interaction with locals and hospitality of inhabitants as other explanatory variables of tourism motivators.\nMethodology: Data collection\nResults: Basic profile of respondents\nDiscussion and conclusions: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Focusing on food markets popularity among tourists, the purpose of this paper is to differentiate clusters of tourists based on their behaviour during their visit of these food halls.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Factor-cluster analysis is the segmentation method used to identify food markets groupings related to their motivations, while ANOVA was performed to determine differences between clusters when it comes to perceived authenticity, satisfaction and revisit intention. La Boqueria in Barcelona (Spain) is the paradigmatic food market used to conduct 196 survey respondents based on factor importance.\nFindings: Two homogenous clusters were identified and labelled as apathetic-market visitors and food-market lovers.\nPractical implications: Segmentation proposal provides insights to be taken into account for future Destination Management Organisation's policies, related to promotional activities and destination branding development. They could create effective tailor-made promotional campaigns and adequate business strategies to further attract more food lovers markets, without removing apathetic-market visitors.\nOriginality/value: Fill the gap in the existing knowledge on the tourism interest of local markets in destinations and identify through factor-cluster analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
After the crisis: repairing a corporate image	[ "Corporate reputation", "Crisis communications", "Stakeholders", "Public trust", "Crisis messages", "Image repair" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the past decade, the entire Arab region witnessed unprecedented political, social and economic crises. These crises are associated with noticeable deficiency and reluctance from governments and organizations in providing the public with clear and reliable information about what was happening or what is likely to happen. Some referred to this period as the Arab Spring (Sawalha and Meaton, 2012). During crises, it is important to keep stakeholders adequately informed to maintain mutual trust. If stakeholders and the general public feel that they have been disregarded, misled or marginalized, the reputation of an organization is at risk.\n1. Background: In today's dynamic and unpredictable business environment and in the digital age, corporate reputation is becoming one of the most important organizational elements, if not the most. Reputation is a vital component of the value system and it functions as a factor that reduces uncertainty and builds trust between the organization and its stakeholders. Corporate reputation is an intangible asset that enables an organization to differentiate itself from its competitors and compete in the marketplace. It is a driver for increasing sales, enhancing stock price and creating strategic partnerships (Ma and Osiyevskyy, 2017; Eckert, 2017).\n2. Methodology: To investigate how image repair theory is/can be practiced by real organizations and how image-repair strategies are applied in real-case scenarios, three case studies from three different sectors have been selected and presented.\n3. Discussion: In an emerging economy, such as Jordan, each and every single working day reflects on the GDP, and the business performance of the country and any discontinuity will cause financial and non-financial losses. The suspension of work on the January 9, 2019, following Arabia Weather's announcements not only affected business organizations but also negatively affected universities, high schools and major retail outlets. Arabia Weather was held responsible for this disruption and for issuing imprecise and unauthenticated information.\n4. Conclusion: Corporate reputation or public image is an asset that cannot be compromised. It reflects the identity of an organization and enables it to compete in the marketplace and generate profits. A recent study on bottled water consumers showed a strong positive correlation between top of mind recall of brands and sales volumes (MacLeod, 2014). This indicates that brands that enjoy trustworthy and positive reputation generate more cash and have larger sales volumes than those which have impaired corporate reputation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effectiveness of image-repair strategies adopted by organizations to restore their public image and reputation following crisis situations, the lessons learned from these cases and the significance of contextual factors that are likely to affect image-repair efforts and strategies adopted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three cases have been reviewed in this paper: Weather, Jordan; Nestle Waters, Jordan; and Victoria College School, Jordan. Information was obtained from published materials, such as YouTube commentaries, local newspapers and online news agents, primarily the Jordan Times, which is considered the number one daily in the country. The discussion of these cases is original and based on academic theory and literature.\nFindings: Organizations differ in terms of the ways they respond to corporate crises and the strategies they are likely to adopt to restore/recover their reputation and public image.\nPractical implications: Corporate reputation or public image is an asset that is built over time. Organizations within all industries seek to secure positive images in the minds of people. The image of an organization however can be threatened by crises. Trust and public image decline when stakeholders feel they have not been adequately informed in times of crises regarding the different attributes of the situation or how the organization is dealing with the crisis. Organizations have the choice to adopt one image-repair strategy at a time or a combination of strategies according to the requirements of the situation.\nOriginality/value: Image-repair strategies have been examined in American and European contexts but have, to the author's knowledge, never been examined in the context of Arab organizations and more specifically in the context of Jordanian organizations. This paper therefore provides a new insight into how to apply these strategies in a unique and new context and will also motivate future research in this regard.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Embedding hospital-based medication review: The conflictual and developmental potential of a practice	[ "Patient safety", "Qualitative research", "Implementation", "Medical professions", "Ethnographic methods", "Medical practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The role of objects in everyday work practices has received growing attention as work in today's organizations has become more and more collaborative, knowledge-driven and object-centered (Nicolini et al., 2012). Objects, both material and intangible, mediate how practitioners work across boundaries, thereby acting as motivators for collaboration, but also as sources of tensions and conflict within organizations. According to the activity theory, all practices are object-oriented where activity objects provide directionality for participants' actions and activities (Engestrom, 1995). Contemporary work is increasingly carried out in purposive organizations that are \"built and maintained around partially shared, partially fragmented and partially disputed objects\" (Engestrom and Blackler, 2005, p. 310). Healthcare work in particular is characterized by its complex, distributed and highly interdependent nature with multiple actors collaborating in patient care (Dixon-Woods and Pronovost, 2016). Further, clinical practice at the micro-level is shaped by managerial techniques such as auditing, clinical guidelines, standards or protocols implemented at the organizational level (Numerato et al., 2012). These management systems have been commonly portrayed as organizational measures of control which threaten professional autonomy and professionalism (Hoggett, 1996), thus framing professional and managerial or organizational logics as conflicting with each other (Waring and Currie, 2009). However, it has been argued that current clinical work is confronted with organizational demands beyond these managerial systems, such as providing evidence-based high quality and safe healthcare services in multi-professional and multi-agency work contexts (Noordegraaf, 2011). Therefore, a new understanding of organizing professional work in organizations is called for (Evetts, 2011). Organizations have become more relevant for professional development (Muzio and Kirkpatrick, 2011) as they are central sites for translating rules and standards into practice and for the formation and transformation of professional identities (Cooper and Robson, 2006). Thus, there is a need to explore organizations as sites where professional practices are being formed and reworked and which, in turn, maintain and change professions and organizations (Faulconbridge and Muzio, 2008).\nTheoretical framework: activity theory: The activity theory highlights the historical, culturally mediated and transformative character of collective activity. Rooted in Russian cultural-historical child development psychology (Vygotskij and Cole, 1978), the approach was further expanded for studying learning, organization and work practices (Engestrom, 1995, 2000; Miettinen and Virkkunen, 2005). According to activity theory, human and organizational phenomena can be understood by examining an activity system of actors as they work toward a common object. Central to this is the object of activity shared by practitioners which provides meaning and orientation to - and determines the values of - collective practices (Kaptelinin, 2005). This object is considered partly given and partly actively constructed by actors, and is constantly evolving and reproduced through ongoing practice (Engestrom and Blackler, 2005). Actors are connected with the activity object through a collective intentional relationship in the sense of purposive action, closely related to a profession's purpose, its normative features and, thus, concepts of professional responsibility (Fenwick and Nerland, 2014). Professional agency, then, emerges in \"value-laden practices\" (Edwards and Daniels, 2012, p. 41) where professionals recognize and respond differently to a practice's motives and negotiate activities and outcomes with other practitioners.\nTwo empirical case studies: This work is part of a larger ethnographic study exploring practitioners' practice understandings and everyday enactments of medication review in a hospital context (Reichenpfader et al., 2018a, b). This paper draws on two cases of different organizational clinical units at two teaching hospitals in southern Sweden (a department of surgery and an emergency department, ED). National regulations on medication review prescribe the provision of medication review within 24 h of admission (or at every outpatient care visit). Formal rules effective in the study region, such as the national and regional guidelines as well as local directives, require that medication review be conducted with every patient irrespective of age and number of medications. Dissemination meetings and discussions with clinicians focusing on regional implementation goals and medical documentation had been conducted at both sites prior to conducting this study (Region Ostergotland, 2015). Ethical approval was granted by the Regional Ethics Board (Dnr 2015/194-31).\nFindings: Based on our analysis centering on manifestations of contradictions in discourse and situated actions related to medication review, in this section, we provide accounts of tensions embedded in activity systems. The accounts show the conflictual and developmental potential related to three characteristics of the object of activity; these interrelated characteristics can be described as contested, fragmented, and distributed. We illustrate how practitioners construct these objects which, rather than being purely \"given,\" are the result of their negotiations of differing interests and conceptualizations connected to the object, originating from and further triggering contradictions. In this section we focused on object-related contradictions and show how tensions and disruptions were attended to by practitioners' embedding medication review, struggling with, but also continually adapting and transforming the object of activity.\nDiscussion: In this paper, we have used the notion of contradictions in activity systems to show how hospital practitioners engage with and respond to tensions and disruptions when embedding hospital-based medication review. In further examining these object-related contradictions, we showed the directedness and normative value system expressed in practitioners' work practices and how these interacted with organizing practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the embedding of hospital-based medication review attending to the conflictual and developmental nature of practice. Specifically, this paper examines manifestations of contradictions and how they play out in professional practices and local embedding processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using ethnographic methods, this paper employs the activity-theoretic notion of contradictions for analyzing the embedding of medication review. Data from participant observation (in total 290 h over 48 different workdays) and 31 semi-structured interviews with different healthcare professionals in two Swedish hospital-based settings (emergency department, department of surgery) are utilized.\nFindings: The conflictual and developmental potential related to three interrelated characteristics (contested, fragmented and distributed) of the activity object is shown. The contested nature is illustrated showing different conceptualizations, interests and positions both within and across different professional groups. The fragmented character of medication review is shown by tensions related to the appraisal of the utility of the newly introduced practice. Finally, the distributed character is exemplified through tensions between individual and collective responsibility when engaging in multi-site work. Overall, the need for ongoing \"repair\" work is demonstrated.\nOriginality/value: By using a practice-theoretical approach and ethnographic methods, this paper presents a novel perspective for studying local embedding processes. Following the day-to-day work of frontline clinicians captures the ongoing processes of embedding medication review and highlights the opportunities to learn from contradictions inherent in routine work practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Approaches to developing health in early years settings	[ "Health education", "United Kingdom", "Children (age groups)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Concerns about the health and wellbeing of children and young people\nMethods: Overview\nFindings: Current activity to promote health-related work in early years settings\nConclusion and recommendations: Overall, findings from this study show that much work has already been done in promoting health and well-being in early years settings and that such work can fit well within the Early Years Foundation Stage and within the holistic child-centred approach of early years services. They also indicate the particular challenges of working within the diversity of the sector, and highlight what needs to be done to further develop health-related work for the early years. Recommendations include:* Health promotion activity in early years settings should build on existing curriculum and regulatory frameworks.Close links between early years health-related work and curriculum and regulatory frameworks - particularly the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and existing Quality Assurance (QA) Schemes - will not only minimise the burden of additional work, but is likely to benefit early years providers in other ways. Such links would help early years settings in implementing the EYFS and in providing evidence of good practice for Ofsted inspections and for parents. It would also support developing practice and contribute to accreditation for those providers participating in QA Schemes. In recognition of such potential benefits, many local Healthy Schools Programmes have developed a Healthy Early Years Programme linked to current early years frameworks.The EYFS, which was being developed during the course of the study, now includes a greater focus on health and is seen as \"a very positive mechanism for health to be mainstreamed into the early years system\"6. If sufficient resources are available, Healthy Schools Programmes could offer valuable support, training and advice to help early years providers implement the health aspects of the EYFS.* Closer working relationships need to be developed between health and early years specialists.Establishing partnerships at local and regional level between early years and health specialists is likely to be of real benefit, as it could potentially extend the expertise of both groups. The Healthy Schools Programmes may be well placed to facilitate such partnerships, and working together in this way would reflect the government's desire to see greater integrated working across professional groups (Department for Education and Skills, 2004). At a more practical level, the development of partnership working could mean that more settings could be reached and the sector's diversity more easily accommodated than might otherwise be possible if the NHSP were to be formally extended to early years settings.Rather than the local Healthy Schools Programmes supporting the setting directly, the findings of this study suggest that it may be preferable for early years specialists to take on this role with support from their local Healthy Schools Programme. The local Programme could also offer training opportunities for early years practitioners and/or early years specialists. One advantage of providing support in this way would be that early years specialists are already known to a setting and have established their credibility with practitioners. Furthermore, the setting would have one person fewer visiting them in order to provide support. However, care would need to be taken to ensure that both early years specialists and local Healthy Schools Programmes have the capacity and resources to take on these complementary roles.* Systematic health promotion work in early years settings needs to be adequately resourced.Currently, local Healthy School Programmes are not specifically resourced to support early years settings as well as schools, and those that have done so have generally accessed other sources of funding, for example through local Sure Start programmes. Supporting and advising early years specialists rather than supporting settings directly would involve local coordinators in less additional work, and could perhaps be phased in as schools achieve \"healthy school\" status. In addition to the issue of resourcing in local Healthy Schools Programmes and early years teams, any health-related work would need to take into account that the biggest provider of early years provision is the private, voluntary and independent sector, and that many settings in this sector are not well resourced. Furthermore, the early years workforce in general, aside from the maintained nursery sector, has a low level of training and is poorly recompensed relative to teachers, albeit that steps are being taken to address these issues (HM Government, 2005). It will be important to ensure appropriate training and support for early years practitioners, particularly in the private, voluntary and independent sector.* Both parents and early years practitioners need to be engaged in health promotion work.The study highlights the importance of all staff in an early years setting feeling \"ownership\" of the health promotion activities, and suggests that a \"top down\" approach is unlikely to be the most productive. Parents and carers also need to be involved, both so that they support the work in the setting and to encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle at home with their children. Parents play a particularly crucial role in children's health at this young age, and early years settings are often particularly well placed to work with them, despite the challenges.One of the five key outcomes of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is that children \"Be Healthy\". Almost all young children in the UK attend an out-of-home setting - childminder, nursery, preschool playgroup or children's centre - before they start school, and such settings can play an important role in establishing healthy habits early and laying the foundations of good health, as part of a lifespan approach to health promotion (World Health Organization, 2002). By bringing together the existing expertise of early years organisations, early years specialists and health specialists, such as those working within the NHSP, there is a real opportunity to help early years practitioners to develop wider and deeper understandings of health and well-being with the potential to reap long term benefits for the public health.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to consider the opportunities and difficulties in developing health-promotion work in early years settings in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - As the first study of its kind conducted in the UK, a multi-method approach was adopted involving: an overview of health-related guidance and of effective interventions in early years settings to promote health among young children; 26 interviews with key informants in the early years and health fields, regional coordinators for the National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) and Foundation Stage regional advisers; a survey of 145 local Healthy Schools Programme coordinators with a response rate of 75 per cent; and six case studies of early years settings representing promising practice in the promotion of health and wellbeing.\nFindings: - There is considerable enthusiasm for health promotion work within early years organisations, and interest in developing such work in early years settings. The study suggests that building on existing early years curriculum frameworks, developing partnerships between health and early years professionals, engaging both parents and practitioners, and adequate national and local resourcing will facilitate development of health promoting work in the early years sector.\nPractical implications: - This paper and the outputs from the study offer useful evidence for health and early years professionals who are developing health-promoting work in early years settings.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reports on the first study of its kind in which the perceptions of both early years and health professionals are brought together to consider the issues involved in developing healthy early years practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modelling rain risk: a multi-order Markov chain model approach	[ "Rainfall", "Precipitation", "Derivative markets", "Hedging", "Risk analysis", "Daily simulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nearly, the entire industrialized world is in some way affected by variations in weather patterns. However, local weather is only predictable on timescales up to ten days. Fluctuations in temperature and precipitation have financial impacts on producers and consumers of products and services which are affected by weather, thus leading to the desire to minimize as much of this risk as possible.Weather derivatives contracts have been receiving significant attention in recent years as the industrial world continues to realize the possibilities in risk management that these contracts posses. In contrast to temperature derivatives the market for precipitation derivatives is still rather small. The slow growth compared to temperature contracts does not reflect a lack of interest or demand. In fact, end-users such as farmers and hydroelectric power producers are very keen on precipitation contracts to smooth their income (Price Waterhouse Coopers, 2007). Basis risk and a lack of reliable statistical models hindered financial institutions to quote prices over these derivative products.Obviously there are significant differences between analyzing rainfall and temperature. Rainfall is a binary event and therefore evolves much more erratically than temperature changes. Very important is also that there is usually a high geographical correlation structure found for temperature. However, for rainfall this is often not true for locations very close by. Most of the existing applications of rainfall insurance estimate the probability of a rainfall index directly, assuming an appropriate distribution function (Skees et al., 2001; Turvey, 1999). Cao et al. (2004) suggested to calculate the derivative payoff from a stochastic process of daily rainfall. In the case of daily rainfall modelling both the frequency and the intensity of rain has to be considered. The focus of previous studies was the fitting of appropriate distribution functions to the observed intensity process and using a simple first-order Markov chain model for the frequency process. In this paper, more emphasis will be put on the best model choice for the frequency process by investigating the influence of the proper order of a Markov chain model for the daily precipitation occurrence. As to the knowledge of the author for the first time a multi-order model is developed and applied to evaluate a put option of a rainfall index.Data\nA multi-order daily precipitation model: The probability distribution of the weather variable Y at the time of expiration is crucial to the assessment of any weather derivative since it is the major driver for the derivative payoff and hence derivative price. For the pricing of temperature contracts studies have shown that daily simulation is the superior choice compared to other methods (Brix et al., 2002). Daily simulation models of temperature-related derivatives are often used in the literature (Alaton et al., 2002; Brody et al., 2002; Caballero et al., 2002; Cao and Wei, 2000). Despite the very different nature of the underlying stochastic process for the temperature and precipitation variables, recent studies suggest that it is promising to apply a daily modelling approach in the context of rainfall-based insurance (Odening et al., 2007).In this paper, the daily simulation method is applied and compared to burn analysis results. Its basis is a statistical model for the underlying stochastic process of the weather variable. The specific weather index can then be derived from the simulation path of daily precipitation amounts summed over the relevant accumulation period. This procedure possesses several advantages:1. Daily models are very flexible because practically all pay-off structures (e.g. different accumulation periods, considering only dry spells or extreme precipitation events) can be built in easily. This is in contrast to estimating a specific weather index distribution which is valid only for a particular index.2. The accuracy of the model is potentially higher since a larger amount of data is used in the calibration process.3. It is possible to incorporate weather and seasonal forecasts into the model to reflect deviation from the climatologically mean in the pricing process of a weather derivative.In contrast, burn analysis is built on the empirical distribution of recorded rainfall and no statistical model is required. This makes this method easy to implement and it is therefore widely used. However, the following caveats have to be taken into account: burn analysis is only backward-looking assuming that the historical index time series is stationary, and statistically consistent with the prevailing climate during the contract period (Turvey, 2005). Studies show that this technique is rather sensitive to the number of observations used and extreme weather events are not adequately reproduced (Jewson and Brix, 2005).A precipitation model which underlies the pricing of a derivative should be able to capture the basic rain climatology of the weather station used to calibrate the model. Especially, the seasonal cycle and the sequence of wet and dry days have to be reproduced. Finally, the absolute and seasonal volatility patterns have to be properly reflected in the model outcome. The stochastic process can be decomposed into two parts, which answers the questions: did it rain? And how much did it rain on the days it rained? Thus, first a time series of random binary numbers, statistically resembling real rainfall occurrence data, has to be generated using, e.g. a Markov chain as an algorithm. Second, the daily precipitation amount has to be simulated. This is accomplished by adopting a statistical model for the non-zero rainfall amounts, yielding a sequence of random variables defined on the Markov chain, called a chain-dependent process (Katz, 1977). Commonly a gamma distribution is fit to the precipitation amounts on wet days (Richardson, 1981; Stern and Coe, 1984). The tacit assumption that precipitation amounts on consecutive days are independent has turned out to be a reasonable approximation (Stern and Coe, 1984). Generally, both the Markov chain transition probabilities and the parameters of the distribution describing the precipitation amounts change through the year. The seasonal cycles can be handled by fitting separate sets of parameters for each of the 12 calendar months (Wilks, 1989), or by representing them using smoothly varying functions (Stern and Coe, 1984). Inferences concerning properties of longer-term precipitation quantities (e.g. the monthly frequency distributions of number of wet days, or of total monthly precipitation) which are usually needed for the derivative pricing can be drawn from the parameters of the chain-dependent process that governs the daily precipitation series. In the following both the frequency and the intensity process are described in more detail.Frequency process\nHedging effectiveness: In this section the question is investigated if it would be attractive for a farmer to buy such an put option presented in the previous sections. Farmers usually are interested in smoothing their income since yield and wheat prices are highly volatile. Therefore, agricultural producers asses the value of a weather derivative contract not in terms of diversifying an investment portfolio but in terms of the optimal minimization of yield and price risk. There is a quite compact correlation between the wheat yield and the precipitation in the growing season between March and September with a correlation of 0.59. Figure 5 shows this relationship between the winter wheat yield and the precipitation in the growing season. A total of 73 years of yield data were available - in other regions of the world only time series of yield data are available up to 15 years or shorter. Also a linear fit applied to the data are shown which is used to estimate the parameters k and o of the production function: Equation 16 Q(I) gives the amount of wheat (in bushels/acre) depending on the outcome of the rainfall index I with k=0.032 and o=9.64. Therefore, the risk reduction of an agricultural producer can be measured by comparing the revenue distribution of a producer with and without having bought the respective weather derivative. Following Odening et al. (2007) the value of revenues R with a output of Q (depending on the rainfall index I ) and holding a position of a weather derivative with the price F is defined by: Equation 17 C is the product price, which is assumed to be constant. Note that the risk-reducing potential of any weather derivative type insurance depends on the correlation between the weather index I and the considered agricultural product. For the investigation of the hedging effectiveness the mixed-order and the much less complex first-order Markov chain model are used. The strike level is set to the expected value of the index. The tick size is set to 1EUR/dt. When simulating the stochastic revenues according to equation (13) a constant price C of 20EUR is assumed. Note that the hedging effectiveness also depends on this product price, which was chosen such that the hedging effectiveness is maximized. Table V shows the mean, standard deviation and the 5 and 95 per cent percentile, respectively, of the derived revenue function with and without the put option for both models. Although the mixed-order model results in a slightly better hedging profile, the results are obviously quite similar for both models.This analysis implies so far a perfect correlation between the yield and rainfall index, i.e. the scatter shown in Figure 6 is discarded. In this case obviously a significant reduction of the variability of the revenues are archived using the hedge. The reduction in volatility expressed by the standard deviation in Table V is around -47 per cent for the mixed-order model. To account for and to assess the basis risk using the put option the exact yield-rainfall index relationship is stochastically disturbed by adding an error term e to the production function Q: Equation 18 The error term e is derived by a normally distributed stochastic component: e[?]N(m;sk). The mean of the normal distribution is chosen as m=Q(I) and its standard deviation as sk=Q(I) * k/100. The effect of this stochastic component is shown in Figure 6. The hedging effectiveness is given in terms of the ratio of the standard deviation of the unhedged to the hedged revenue distribution heff(k)=sk/sk* as function of the parameter k. It is obvious that the ratio heff strongly depends on the quality of the yield-rainfall index relationship. With s=0.1 * m the un-hedged revenue distribution has only a 30 per cent higher volatility than the hedged revenue distribution and at s=0.25 * m the advantage of the weather derivative is almost vanished. The yield-weather index correlation is also easily deteriorated by geographical basis risk since there is usually a weaker correlation of precipitation than temperature between weather stations. In this study, no attempt is made to estimate the geographical basis risk of the weather index used to price the put option. Correlations between weather stations nearby (Lamar, 41 km; Las Animas, 95 km; Lakin, 78 km) were calculated giving only values between 0.56 and 0.78. The quality of the correlations would strongly affect the estimation of the production function Q. The reader is referred to several other studies (Odening et al., 2007; Vedenov and Barnett, 2004).\nSummary: In this paper, the influence of the frequency assumptions of the rain process to price a precipitation derivative was investigated. A mixed-order Markov chain model was presented where the proper order was chosen by a BIC criteria applied to rainfall station data. The comparison of models with different order indicate that there is only a slightly better representation of the rain statistics in the theoretically best mixed-order Markov chain model. Clear differences between the daily simulation and the burn method are found when pricing a put option on a rainfall index. For temperature modelling daily simulation is the preferred choice in the literature because the technique yields smaller confidence intervals compared to other approaches. However, for rainfall all models underestimate the volatility of the monthly rainfall amount especially in the summer months. This effect has significant influence if the model is used for risk analysis (e.g. for extreme event cover). There are only limited measures to reduce the bias available up to now. To assess the magnitude and geographical dependence of this bias a systematic analysis of the technique presented here could be applied to more weather stations across the USA in further studies. The hedging effectiveness was investigated based on the relationship between winter-wheat yield and precipitation data showing the usefulness of precipitation derivatives to smooth out the income of agricultural producers. However, the hedging effectiveness strongly depends on the compactness of the yield-precipitation relationship. Here, the inclusion of additionally weather variables may help to minimize the basis risk.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best frequency description of a chain dependent Markov process for the daily simulation of precipitation. The influence of the order of the Markov chain model to simulate daily precipitation occurrence is evaluated. A mixed-order model is constructed and compared to a simple first-order model to evaluate the importance of the model order for the pricing of a rainfall index put option.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - For the first time a mixed-order Markov chain model is presented where the monthly varying order was chosen based on a Bayesian information criteria analysis of rainfall data for one weather station in the US. The outcome of this model is compared to simpler Markov models and to burn analysis results.\nFindings: - The comparison indicate that there is only a slightly better representation of the rain statistics in the theoretically best mixed-order Markov chain model compared to a more simple first-order model. Clear differences between the daily simulation and the burn method are found when pricing a put option on a rainfall index. All daily simulation models underestimate the volatility of the monthly rainfall amount especially in the summer months.\nResearch limitations/implications: - To assess the robustness and any geographical dependence of the bias in the volatility a systematic analysis could be applied to more weather stations across the US in further studies.\nPractical implications: - The bias in the volatility has significant influence on the price of the put option considered here and limits the use of such a model for risk analyses, e.g. for an extreme event cover.\nOriginality/value: - For the first time a multi-order Markov chain model is applied to price a precipitation derivative. While the focus of previous studies was the appropriate choice for the intensity process, the importance of the frequency process is investigated in this paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial literacy and investment decisions of UAE investors	[ "Financial information", "Literacy", "Investments", "Investors", "United Arab Emirates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Financial literacy has in recent years gained the interest of various groups including governments, bankers, employers, community interest groups, financial markets, and other organizations, especially in developed countries. The importance of improving financial literacy has increased due to factors including the development of new financial products, the complexity of financial markets, and the changes in political, demographic, and economic factors.As a result of the increase in oil prices, the real gross domestic product per capita of the UAE has rapidly increased: for example, it was AED 72,878 (about US $19,847) in 2001 and AED 148,944 (about US $40,562) in 2006. Therefore, many locals now have extra money to save or invest, and look for investment opportunities. Moreover, with the highly competitive banking industry in the UAE, obtaining credit has been relatively easy. All the above factors make providing financial education an urgent issue. It should be noted here that individual investors represent a large proportion of the trading value, for example in 2006 they represented 81.3 percent of the total trading value in Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM 2006) and 85.3 percent in Dubai Financial Market (DFM, www.dfm.ae).This study assesses the financial literacy of the individual UAE investors who invest in the local financial markets. It also examines the effect of demographic factors on financial literacy, specifically age, gender, education, monthly income, employment status, and work activity. In addition, it examines the relationship between financial literacy and the influence of the factors that affect the investment decision.\n2 Literature review: Financial literacy has been studied from different aspects. Government entities and private organizations in developed nations have conducted surveys to measure the financial literacy level of their population. A study by the OECD (2005) reviewed financial literacy in 12 countries including the USA, the UK, European countries, Australia, and Japan. The study found that all of the surveys conducted in those countries concluded that financial literacy is very low for most respondents.Having an interest to extend their previous work in this field, Chen and Volpe (1998) examined the personal financial literacy of 924 college students from 13 campuses located in the USA. In addition, they investigated the relationship between the financial literacy level and gender, age, nationality, race, income, work experience, academic discipline, and class rank. The results of the study indicated that subgroups of academic discipline, class rank, and years of work experience were significantly different in terms of financial literacy level. Non-business majors, students in the lower class ranks, and those with little work experience had lower levels of financial literacy. In addition, women were far less literate than men, and foreign students were less knowledgeable than the US citizens.Volpe et al. (2002) argued that online investors should have more knowledge than normal investors to succeed in the securities markets, because they are more likely to be surrounded by financial misinformation and manipulation. Therefore, the authors examined investment literacy of 530 online investors and the difference in the literacy level among various groups of participants using age, income, gender, education, and previous online trading experience as variables. The study demonstrated that the level of financial literacy varied with people's education, experience, age, income, and gender. Particularly, women had much lower financial literacy than men and older participants performed better than younger participants. As well, online traders had higher knowledge than others. Moreover, investors with higher income had more knowledge in investment than those with lower income, and investors with college or higher degree performed better than those with low education.Mirshekary and Saudagaran (2005) assessed how different users of financial statements use the information items disclosed in the annual reports, as well as the importance of different sources of information in making investment decisions. They distributed a questionnaire to seven different groups of users of financial statements in Tehran including stockbrokers, bank investment officers, and institutional investors. In general, respondents ranked the annual reports as the main influential source of information. The second most influential source of information was oral information and the third was published daily share price. On the other hand, the respondents ranked the least influential factors in sequence of importance: advice of friends and acquaintances, tips and rumors, and stockbrokers' advice. Mirshekary and Saudagaran concluded that the annual reports are used regularly in Iran as a basis for making investment decisions.ACNielsen Research (2005) conducted a national survey of adult financial literacy in Australia. The main results of this survey indicated that the lowest levels of financial literacy were associated with people who have lower education, unemployed or unskilled workers, and people with low income, single people, and those at both extremes of the age profile. On the other hand, the 2005 results showed an overall improvement in the financial literacy of Australians.The first research on the financial literacy level of the Singapore population was carried out in 2005 by the Money SENSE Financial Education Steering Committee, established by the government. The survey measured whether Singaporeans are knowledgeable about common financial products and services and whether they have been making effective decisions in managing their finances. The research revealed that Singaporeans have a healthy attitude toward basic money management, financial planning, and investment matters. Most Singaporeans save, monitor their spending, and have done some basic financial planning.Volpe and Chen (2006) surveyed 212 benefit administrators in charge of personal finance programs in the US-based companies in order to specify important personal finance issues for working adults and assess their level of knowledge. The results revealed that the least important areas were estate planning and investment. Specifically, the least important topics were having knowledge of mutual fund prospectuses, mutual fund fees, and expense ratios. The participants also indicated that working adults were actually least knowledgeable about the same topics that they viewed as least important. In general, the benefit administrators indicated that the level of knowledge of working adults was relatively low.Al-Tamimi (2006) investigated the most and least influencing factors on the UAE investor's behavior by surveying 343 individual investor. The most influencing factors were, in order of importance: corporate earnings, get rich quickly, stock marketability, past performance of the firm's stock, government holdings, and the creation of the organized financial markets. In addition, two factors had unexpectedly the least influence, namely religious reasons and family member opinions. However, the author did not consider the relationship between financial literacy and investment decision, which will be dealt with in the current study.Maditinos et al. (2007) examined the techniques and methods used by six different groups of Greek investors: official members of the Athens Stock Exchange, mutual fund management companies, portfolio investment companies, listed companies, brokers, and individual investors. The results revealed that on average the participants ranked their instinct/experience as the most important factor followed by fundamental analysis and the movement of foreign financial markets. Noise in the market and portfolio analysis were considered the least important.Five sets of general conclusions emerge from this literature review. The first refers to the low level of financial literacy regardless of the stage of economic development of the country.The second refers to the relationship between financial literacy and demographic variables. The researchers discovered a strong relation between financial literacy level and gender, education, income level, and experience. There is evidence provided by researchers that women are less literate than men in financial matters. Besides, that, less educated individuals and those at the lower end of the income distribution are less literate about financial matters.The third refers to the relation between the financial literacy level and investment decisions. It has been proven that highly literate investors prefer and use different criteria when making an investment decision than low-literacy investors. Highly literate investors prefer to use financial publications, whereas low-literacy investors relay more on advice from family, friends, and stockbrokers.The fourth refers to the relationship between the factors that determine the investment decision and the investor type, portfolio size, and investment strategy. Individual investors rely on advice from friends, stockbrokers, rumors, their instinct/experience, and newspapers/media.The last conclusion refers to the gap which exists in previous work, on the relationship between financial literacy and investment decisions. In the current study, there is an attempt to examine the relationship between financial literacy and investment decisions.\n3 Research questions and hypotheses: This study attempts to answer the following questions:RQ1. Is the financial literacy of UAE-national investors within the acceptable level?RQ2. What are the most influential factors that affect the investment decisions made by UAE-national investors?It is assumed that answering the first question will help to explore the level of financial literacy of UAE investors. It is also assumed that answering the second question will help to find out the most influencing factors in the decision-making process of UAE investors.Based on the stated purpose of the study and on the research questions, the following hypotheses are formulated:H1. The UAE-national investors' knowledge is well below the needed level.H2. There is a positive significant relationship between financial literacy and age, gender, employment status, workplace activity, income, and education level.H3. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their gender.H4. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their age.H5. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their monthly income.H6. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their employment status.H7. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their workplace activity.H8. There is a significant difference between the level of financial literacy of UAE-national investors based on their education level.H9. There is a positive significant relationship between financial literacy and investment decisions of UAE-national inventors.H1 will be tested rather informally, whereas the other eight hypotheses will be tested via a formal regression model.These hypotheses have been formulated to examine whether or not the financial literacy level of UAE investors is at an acceptable level. If it is not, how may it be improved? For financial literacy improvement, what is the educational program most needed, and at whom should it be directed? For example, do women need more financial education than men and in what age group or at what income level? For financial literacy improvement, it is also might be important to consider the effect of education level, the type of work, and employment status. Finally, the relationship between individual investment decisions and financial literacy will be also considered, and this is reflected in H9.\n4 Research methodology: 4.1 Questionnaire design\n5 Data analysis and results: 5.1 The profile of the study's respondents\n6 Conclusions and summary of findings: In this study, the financial literacy level of UAE individual investors and the factors that influence their investment decision were examined. The research findings can be summarized as follows:* The financial literacy is far from the needed level.* The UAE investors were more knowledgeable about the benefits of diversification while they were least knowledgeable about the type of UAE financial markets indices.* The financial literacy level was found to be affected by income level, education level, and workplace activity.* A significant difference in the level of financial literacy was found as well between the respondents according to their gender. Specifically, women have a lower level of financial literacy than men.* The top four most influencing factors on investment decision were religious reasons, reputation of the firm, perceived ethics of the firm, and diversification purpose, whereas the least four influencing factors were rumors, family member opinions, ease of obtaining borrowed funds, and friend recommendations.* Financial literacy affected significantly the investment decisions of the individual investors. Specifically, financial literacy had a negative effect on each of the five categories that affect the investment decision, with the exception of the accounting information category. The effect of financial literacy on the accounting information category was positive but statistically insignificant.It is worth mentioning here that the reported results were affected by the social, political and economic culture of the UAE. As an example of this, the most influencing factor of investors' behavior was the religious factor. Another example is the high income of investors of which more than 50 percent of the monthly income (i.e. tax free) was higher than $5,000.Further research can be conducted by extending the scope of the study to cover the banking sector including Islamic banks as some people have no clear idea about the features of each type of bank, the conventional and Islamic banks. Furthermore, the study can be extended to cover financial literacy in the Gulf region.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial literacy of the UAE individual investors who invest in the local financial markets. In addition, it examines the relationship between financial literacy and the influence of the factors that affect the investment decision.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A modified questionnaire has been developed divided into three parts. The first part covers demographic variables. The second part identifies 37 factors affecting the investment decision of the UAE investors. The third part is devoted to financial literacy using exam-type questions of true or false and includes 18 questions. A convenient sample of 290 of UAE national investors is used.\nFindings: - The results indicate that the financial literacy of UAE investors is far from the needed level. The financial literacy level is found to be affected by income level, education level, and workplace activity. High-income respondents hold high educational degrees, and those who work in the field of finance/banking or investment had as expected a higher financial literacy level than others. Whereas, financial illiteracy exists regardless of the age of the respondents. A significant difference in the level of financial literacy was found as well between the respondents according to their gender. Specifically, women have a lower level of financial literacy than men. Finally, the results indicate that there is a significant relationship between financial literacy and investment decisions. The most influencing factor that affects the investment decision is religious reasons and the least affecting factor is rumors.\nOriginality/value: - The current study is considered the first of its kind conducted on the UAE. To the best of our knowledge, no such studies have been conducted regarding measuring financial literacy in the UAE or the relation between financial literacy level and the factors that influence the investment decisions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Rapid manufacturing in the spare parts supply chain: Alternative approaches to capacity deployment	[ "Manufacturing systems", "Supply chain management", "Spare parts", "Aircraft industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The most difficult problem in supply chain management is the need to present an ever more valuable service to the customers, while at the same time cutting the delivery and production costs (Christopher, 1992). In particular, supplying spare parts is challenging as stock-outs of critical parts disrupt customer operations. As a response, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have attempted to develop increasingly sophisticated service supply chains (Cohen et al., 2006).The emphasis in service supply chains has been positioning spare parts inventory better and increasing inventory turnover, but progress is constrained by information availability, production lead-time, as well as manufacturing batch constraints, and delivery lead-times. The introduction of innovative new manufacturing concepts (Peres and Noyes, 2006) and supply chain designs (Kilpi et al., 2009) potentially reduce these constraints. Aligning spare parts supply chain design closely with the equipment user operations are of great commercial interest especially for OEMs of products with long life cycles and delivering value to customers using integrated solutions (Davies, 2004) and product service systems (Baines et al., 2007). Today, rapid manufacturing (RM) technologies - the ability to produce parts on demand without tooling and setup - offers an alternative path for OEMs to reduce supply chain costs while at the same time improving service (Peres and Noyes, 2006; Tuck and Hague, 2006; Reeves, 2008).The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential impacts of RM methods on service supply chain design. The paper outlines centralized and decentralized deployment of RM in the spare parts supply chain. The aircraft spare parts supply chain and aircraft maintenance is used as an illustrative example of potential benefits. Before concluding the paper the feasibility of the deployment alternatives of RM is discussed, emphasizing trade-offs and variables that matter. To conclude the practical implications are drawn and directions for further research are outlined.\n2 Background: RM technology: RM is the utilization of sophisticated manufacturing methods to produce physical goods (Hopkinson et al., 2006). These sophisticated manufacturing methods are the same methods that have been used since 1988 to produce prototypes under the heading rapid prototyping. RM systems produce parts from three-dimensional computer-aided design data. The three-dimensional design is first converted to a complete set of horizontal two-dimensional layers (typically every 0.1 mm). RM equipment make the thin layers one at the time on top of previously produced layers completing the three-dimensional object. There are many different RM methods to make the layers and consequently the whole objects (Peres and Noyes, 2006; Wohlers, 2008). Also many different materials, including many metals and plastics, are available for RM applications. In addition to 3D-CAD, the initial three-dimensional data can be generated by computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or using 3D digitizing systems (Wohlers, 2008).With a RM system a user can make almost any shape parts without typical manufacturability limitations. Additionally, series of parts with individual changes can be made as easily as identical parts. These fundamental features lead to following special benefits for RM type of production:* No tooling is needed significantly reducing production ramp-up time and expense.* Small production batches are feasible and economical.* Possibility to quickly change design.* Allows product to be optimized for function (for example optimized cooling channels).* Allows economical custom products (batch of one).* Possibility to reduce waste.* Potential for simpler supply chains; shorter lead times, lower inventories.* Design customization.Currently, there are a few large-scale applications of RM, and many of these are for producing personalized products in the medical field (Strategic Directions, 2008). The motivation for using RM in the majority of cases is that the special technological capabilities of RM are needed to make customized parts that would be otherwise excessively expensive or impossible to produce. Most of the major manufacturers of hearing aids are using RM to mass customize their products in high volumes. Some of these companies produce more than 1,000 in-the-ear hearing aids per day, each being unique in its shape and size. A silicone rubber impression of the ear channel is digitized with an optical scanner; an electronic product model is produced and used for the rapid production of the hearing aid shell (Wohlers, 2008; Wohlers and Grimm, 2002a). In addition, dental industry has customized production applications for RM. Invisible custom teeth aligners are mass produced utilizing the unique capabilities for RM. Also the manufacture of teeth crowns and bridges is converting at least partially to these digital techniques.One of the best publicized applications of RM is in the aircraft industry, although the production is applied in the batch mode. The air ducting for Boeing F18 military fighter jets is done with a half dozen of Selective Laser Sintering machines from 3D Systems by a company named On Demand Manufacturing. One of the main drivers in this application is that the designs are optimized for function and are not limited by traditional manufacturing capabilities (Wohlers, 2009).RM in tool-making has benefits ranging from the short time needed for production and the wide range of shapes that are possible, such as freeform surfaces (Ides, 2008). This field of application is called rapid tooling. Tooling for injection moulds is the most common application area of Direct Metal Laser Sintering; it is used as a standard and reliable tooling method for functional prototyping and short run series production (Hanninen, 2001, p. 24).The introduction of information and communications technology has a potentially revolutionizing effect on the provision of spare parts (Kennedy et al., 2002). The potential effect of RM in spare parts supply chain management has been discussed (Walter et al., 2004; Peres and Noyes, 2006). It is seen as especially valuable in situations where valuable equipment is in isolated settings, and the numbers of product individuals are low and life-cycles long. In a more general context, the introduction of RM technology can be seen as continuing the academic discussion of using computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce spare parts to order (Burbidge et al., 1987), and the practice of using CNC technology for producing rarely needed spare parts to order (Wysk, 2009).However, the deployment alternatives for a spare parts supply chain that uses RM technology is an issue that has not yet been elaborated. The paper of Peres and Noyes focuses on the feasibility of introducing RM, but does not discuss supply chain design. Design alternatives for the spare parts supply chain is an issue that is discussed under the heading of service supply chain management (Cohen et al., 2006). The research of Cohen et al. (2006) deals with dynamic asset deployment, i.e. the pre-positioning of resources needed in service delivery and the design of enabling of information and communications systems. Kilpi and Vepsalainen (2004) and Kilpi et al. (2009) focuses on the differences between different types of collaborative designs for the spare parts supply chain in the airline industry.\n3 Concept development: RM deployment in the spare parts supply chain: This chapter proposes two alternative approaches for deploying RM in the spare parts supply chain. In the first alternative, the RM technology is introduced to replace inventory in a central inventory location. In the second alternative, the technology is introduced to replace distribution and inventory holding altogether. To conclude the benefits of the alternative designs are illustrated in the context of the airline industry.3.1 Centralized RM to replace inventory holding\n4 Feasibility: trade-offs and key variables in deploying RM in the spare parts supply chain: This section provides an overview of the feasibility in terms of trade-offs, issues at stake, and key variables for the deployment of RM in the spare parts supply chain. There are two additional trade-offs that need to be considered together with the trade-offs between centralized vs distributed deployment of RM. These are mass-production vs on demand production, and specialized vs general purpose RM. The key variables to be considered are material and production costs, distribution and inventory obsolescence costs, and life-cycle costs for the user.The first trade-off to focus on is batch production vs on demand production. We will first return to the feasibility of RM in the aerospace industry. In addition to the large-scale F18 air ducting application mentioned above, there are many low-quantity production applications in commercial, military, and space (shuttle) sections of this industry (Wohlers, 2008, 2009). To our knowledge none of these applications operates in a real on-demand type non-batch mode; all of them make parts to inventory. A significant hurdle for on demand applications is strict certifications needed for flight worthiness. For example, every batch of F18 air ducts are built with test sample pull-bars that are used in the process of verifying the duct mechanical properties. Obviously a similar approach of building sacrificial test samples will be required for on-demand spare part production.In a more general context, the key variables involved in the trade-off between cost of materials, cost of manufacturing capacity, and inventory holding cost. Conventional production methods are in most situations significantly cheaper than RM for mass production. Many types of parts that could be produced in RM systems do not qualify due to the higher material costs and costs of production capacity costs. Simple parts, such as bolts and nuts can be produced using traditional mass production methods and it makes sense to produce these parts in large quantities and distribute to decentralized storage locations close to the point of use. However, Hopkinson et al. (2006) present situations where it is economically feasible to use RM to produce standard parts in series of up to 20,000 and customized parts in series of hundreds of thousands using RM system. This form of RM in a mass production mode can be very cost-effective and the process far more flexible than conventional manufacturing when the form of the parts are complex and requirements for materials are special.A high cost of obsolescence of parts in inventory shift the advantage towards deploying RM in an on demand production mode. The underlying reasons are that obsolescence costs can be eliminated using on demand production, and that RM costs are not linked to the length of production runs. Using conventional production methods the manufacturing costs are higher the more complicated the shape is to produce, and the shorter the production run is. In RM, the shape of the part and the length of the production run of a particular part does not affect costs. Rather it is the size of the parts produced that is the primary cost driver. Note also that it is not necessary to produce a number of identical parts in the build envelope. Instead all the individual parts for an assembly can be produced in one production session. As a consequence, complex small parts and assemblies can be produced on demand cost competitively using RM (Hopkinson and Dickens, 2001).The second trade-off to be considered, and the focus of this paper, is centralized vs distributed deployment. In this consideration the life-cycle cost of the user is key. In situations where the value of keeping equipment operational is very high the distributed deployment of RM becomes interesting. For example, in space and military applications RM is very likely to be applied as soon as it is technically feasible (Peres and Noyes, 2006). But also in commercial settings, where the cost of equipment failure is high, distributed deployment is potentially attractive. However, the use of LRUs is a practice that can already today successfully be used for highly responsive first line maintenance. In such situations, such as in aircraft maintenance, the centralized or distributed deployment of RM systems depends on the expected utilization of RM capacity. With a low expected utilization centralized technology deployment becomes the more feasible alternative.Mobile RM can be considered a third type of deployment. However, mobile RM presents many more problems than stationary systems, as current machines are not constructed for use in a mobile environment. Atmospheric differences, calibration difficulties, and reliable energy supplies pose challenges for mobile RM (Wohlers, 2008).The third trade-off is between RM capacity that is specialized or general purpose. This becomes significant as investments in general purpose equipment can be pooled between more users, in a similar manner as airlines now pool spare parts. Specifically for aircraft maintenance, deployment of general purpose RM will reduce the need for pooling spare parts between airlines, and there can even be pooling of RM capacity, between airlines and other industries with expensive critical equipment. A service provider of RM could very well provide both aircraft engine spare parts and spare parts for generator turbines, paper machines and other advanced mechanical equipment. For OEMs, the reduced need for physical inventory would open up the window for re-organizing the delivery of spare parts, and focusing efforts on developing new value offerings for customers, such as the assured availability of equipment or assured output (Holmstrom et al., 2000).Other important issues at stake in the introduction of RM in the spare parts supply chain is the intellectual property rights of parts. How can OEMs retain control of their intellectual property if the production of parts are distributed close to the point of use? Additionally, trust is an issue for spare parts of highly critical equipment. For example, in capacity pooling arrangements how can different parties rely on pooled capacity being available when required, and that the quality of parts is sufficient. These issues are analogues to the problems encountered by airlines pooling parts (Kilpi et al., 2009).Based on the above analysis, our position is that on demand RM is an increasingly feasible and attractive alternative for spare parts that are not well-suited for mass-production, and where the cost of inventory obsolescence is high. The initial deployment of RM is likely to be by OEMs in centralized locations. The investment in RM is not attractive for end-users, as responsive first line maintenance can be achieved using simpler approaches, such as LRUs. The distributed deployment of RM in the spare parts supply chain hinges on RM systems being general purpose, rather than specialized. This would enable pooling RM capacity close to the point of use. Both end-users and original equipment manufactures could rely on specialized rapid manufacturers close to the point of use.\n5 Conclusion: The paper combines previous research on spare parts supply chain design (Cohen et al., 2006; Kilpi et al., 2009) and rapid technology deployment for spare parts production (Peres and Noyes, 2006) to propose two alternative approaches to introduce RM in the spare parts supply chain. Considering the trade-offs involved, on demand and centralized production of spare parts is proposed as the most likely approach to succeed. However, if RM technology develops into a general purpose technology the distributed approach becomes more feasible. Local service providers would then manufacture spare parts on demand close to the point of use. The potential benefits would be most evident for parts required for second and third line maintenance.The practical implication of the analysis is to outline two alternative paths for introducing RM in the spare parts supply chain. OEMs can benefit independently from other supply chain actors by pursuing a centralized deployment. However, by collaborating with other OEMs, providers of RM service, and end-users the distributed approach is also feasible.Further research is needed to develop conceptually the development of RM in the spare parts supply chain. However, the greatest challenge for research is empirical research. Field research and case research is needed to describe actual solution designs considered by different OEMs, as well as collecting empirical evidence on the effects and challenges of introducing RM in the spare parts supply chain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate the potential approaches to introduce rapid manufacturing (RM) in the spare parts supply chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Alternative conceptual designs for deploying RM technology in the spare parts supply chain were proposed. The potential benefits are illustrated for the aircraft industry. The general feasibility was discussed based on literature.\nFindings: - The potential supply chain benefits in terms of simultaneously improved service and reduced inventory makes the distributed deployment of RM very interesting for spare parts supply. However, considering the trade-offs affecting deployment it is proposed that most feasible is centralized deployment by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), or deployment close to the point of use by generalist service providers of RM.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limited part range that is currently possible to produce using the technology means that a RM-based service supply chain is feasible only in very particular situations.\nPractical implications: - OEMs should include the consideration of RM in their long-term service supply chain development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies two distinct approaches for deploying RM in the spare parts supply chain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are supply chains global or regional?	[ "Supply chain management", "North America", "Globalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In an era of globalization it has been assumed that supply chains are global. But are they? What is the empirical evidence? We investigate the supply chain activities of the world's largest firms from the perspective of recent empirical work suggesting that these firms operate regionally rather than globally. We define globalization as worldwide economic integration and a supply chain as the upstream and downstream activities of a firm.The benefits of economic integration are to offer economies of scale and cost savings. If economic integration is global then a global supply chain should be able to realize these benefits. In turn, this thinking leads the firm to adopt a global strategy, provided that, the managerial costs of global supply chain management and global risk assessment are less than the perceived benefits of operating a global supply chain.In contrast to this thinking, recent studies by Rugman and Verbeke (2004) and Rugman (2005) have suggested that for downstream activities, most multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate within their home regions of the North America-European Union (EU)-Asia triad. Specifically, based on sales information of 380 MNEs among the world's 500 largest firms, Rugman and Verbeke (2004) found that only nine firms adopt global strategies (defined as MNEs with sales of 20 percent or more in each of the three parts of the triad). Only 25 firms use bi-regional strategies (defined as MNEs with at least 20 percent of their sales in each of two regions in the triad, but less than 50 percent in any one region), while the majority of the firms - 320 out of 380 MNEs - use a home region-oriented strategy (defined as MNEs with at least 50 percent of their sales in their home region).An explanation for the regionalization phenomena of sales activities is that although non-home region countries provide potential market opportunities for MNEs, the high costs of realizing such market potential may have prevented MNEs from using purely global strategies. Within each of the North American, EU, and Asian regions, the formation of trade organizations, and the similarities in economic, political, social, and cultural aspects have substantially reduced the costs and risks in doing business, thus facilitating the development of a regionalization strategy by firms.Following this regionalization perspective, we speculate that for the majority of MNEs, their supply chains are likely to be regional instead of global; that is, they will conduct the majority of upstream and downstream activities in their home regions. We also propose that firms that have regional supply chains are likely to have better performance. Empirically, we first identify a list of the 183 largest North American firms in terms of their geographic scope of sales and that of assets. We obtain the locational distributions of their sales and assets data in 2006 and find that more than 85 percent of North American firms have most of their sales (proxy for downstream activities) and assets (proxy for upstream activities) in their home region (i.e. North America). The combination of these results on upstream and downstream activities confirms our theorizing that MNEs tend to pursue regional supply chains.We then gather the information on intra-regional activities and financial performance of a larger set of 273 North American firms during 2000-2006. We test the relationship between intra-regional activity and performance. We control for the firm specific advantages (FSAs) such as size, research & development (R&D) intensity, advertising intensity, and financial slack resources. We find that having more strategic focus in terms of sales within a firm's home region contributes to higher performance measured by Tobin's Q. The implication is that focusing on the home region market will improve the financial performance of North American firms.We review the literature and present the theoretical framework in the next section. In Section 3, we present the method and findings on the issue regarding whether North American firms have regional or global supply chains. In Section 4, we analyze the performance implications of supply chains of North American firms. Last, we discuss the results and the implications for firm strategy in Section 5.\nLiterature review and theory development: The regionalization literature\nSupply chains of North American firms are regional, not global: To examine whether firms have global or regional supply chains, we choose the empirical context in North America. In this section, we investigate both the upstream and downstream activities in the supply chains of the large North American firms.Empirical method\nRegional supply chains and firm performance: In this section, we investigate how regional supply chain activities, including both upstream and downstream ones, affect firm performance.Empirical method\nDiscussion and conclusion: In this paper, we have examined whether firms have global or regional supply chains and the performance implications of the supply chains. Empirically, we first analyzed the upstream and downstream activities of the 183 large North American firms in terms of sales and found that more than 85 percent of these firms have regional supply chains, that is, their main upstream and downstream activities focus on North America. Second, we found that the market value of a firm is improved by regional, rather than by global sales, although upstream asset performance is insignificant. Our results confirm the reasoning in Rugman and Verbeke (2004) as we find that firms that employ a regional strategy and focus their sales in North America tend to perform better. In summary, we find that the supply chain is regional, not global. We also find that regional downstream sales activities improve performance but that regional upstream activities do not affect performance.Our findings have important managerial implications. North American firms should pursue a strategy of regional supply chains in order to take advantage of the economic integration between Canada, Mexico, and the USA as well as the similarities in economic, political, and social norms. Such a regional focus will present substantial opportunities for regional economies of scale while limiting the costs and risks in managing relationships among supply chain partners. This regional supply chain ultimately improves the competitive advantages of firms and their financial performance. Firms should never underestimate the challenges in managing global supply chains. Indeed, in our sample of North American firms, only 1 percent of firms have sales in the global market and only 3 percent locate their upstream activities in the global market.This empirical evidence supporting regional supply chains presents a contrast with the popular view that supply chains are global. This view is closely related to the fact that many of the world's largest 500 firms outsource to emerging markets in China, India, and Southeast Asian countries in order to reduce costs and increase operational efficiency. Despite the potential outsourcing opportunities, the reality for North American firms, as suggested by our findings, is that most of them persist with suppliers within North America. This implies that most North American firms lack the capability to manage supply chains outside of North America, which in turn, suggests that there is a liability of inter-regional foreignness. These findings are consistent with internalization theory (Rugman, 1981) and regional theory (Rugman and Verbeke, 2004). The strong FSAs of a firm need to be considered along with the country specific advantages (CSAs). This implies that North American firms can exploit most of the relevant supply chain CSAs within their home region. Moreover, we found that North American firms tend to perform poorly when they have more global sales. In other words, focusing on a global supply chain does not necessarily improve the performance of North American firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to investigate the following questions: Are supply chains global or regional? What are the performance implications for firms?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper classifies 183 large North American firms into home-region oriented, host-region oriented, bi-regional, and global firms by using geographic distributions of their upstream and downstream activities. The performance implications of the regional supply chains of a broader set of 273 firms by using Tobin's Q and data on intra-regional sales or assets are further evaluated.\nFindings: - It is found that the evidence to support the regional nature of supply chains - that is, over 85 percent of firms in our sample - have their supply chains within North America. The paper also finds that a regional focus of firms in terms of sales contributes to improved performance as measured by Tobin's Q.\nOriginality/value: - The regionalization perspective proposed by Rugman and Verbeke to develop and test the regional nature of supply chains is applied.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mired in deception: escalating an environmental disaster in Colombia	[ "Environmental disasters", "Reputation", "Deception", "Concealment", "Crisis response strategies", "Organizational crisis management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: On Thursday, January 31, 2013, an independent Colombian journalist was the first to reveal an unprecedented case of wrongdoing by a major coal company on his personal Web blog. He included impressive images of a coal-bed barge and crane throwing shovel loads of coal into the sea off the Colombian Caribbean coast; these images were in turn widely broadcasted by the Colombian media. These pictures alluded to a strange operation that the multinational company Drummond Ltd. (DCOL) deployed near its own loading port, located very close to the tourist beaches of Santa Marta City. Contrary to what DCOL had likely hoped, the media soon revealed the company's irresponsible and illegal actions, which in turn triggered serious consequences. The company had been concealing the dumping from the Colombian people since they began 18 days before and never intended to reveal its actions. Unavoidably, DCOL had to face the unpleasant and difficult task of communicating its actions (and omissions) to its various stakeholders, turning an environmental incident into a significant crisis. Instead of alleviating the situation, DCOL's subsequent and unsustainable reactions generated a compounding effect that exacerbated the crisis.\nA brief look at the context: Rather than trusting in public institutions, Colombians place their confidence in the country's private sector. Colombia has one of the world's highest levels of trust in business (92 per cent), with 70 per cent of citizens believing that companies should be the drivers solving most of society's issues (Edelman Intelligence, 2016). Even sensitive industries like energy, oil, gas and mining, which necessitate the exploitation of valuable and often non-renewable natural resources, are admired (Merco.info, 2017) and deemed responsible regardless of pressing concerns such as sustainable development and common property issues.\nWhat really happened and what the company said (and did not say): As part of an apparently routine operation in Puerto Drummond and taking into consideration bad weather conditions in the area, one of the company's barges, initially loaded with 2,957 tons of coal, was towed and left moored to a buoy at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 13, 2013. The idea was to wait for the weather to improve before resuming operations but the storms and high waves continued and water began to enter the moored vessel, causing instability. Five to seven hours later, DCOL's supervisor observed that the semi-submerged barge was in critical status and was having difficulty remaining stable. He activated an emergency alarm and as part of the company's rescue protocol cranes were deployed to remove the coal so the barge could recover its buoyancy (Drummond Ltd., 2015). At the end of this operation, nearly 1,900 metric tons of coal were dumped into the sea because of the actions and decisions of the company's managers (Molinski, 2013). This was a clear environmental disaster and, while the public deserved to be informed, that is not what happened at all.\nWhy is reputation always important?: It is almost axiomatic that companies with better reputations will outperform their competitors. This is why reputation is considered a strategic asset that is rare and difficult to imitate. However, it is not a fixed asset, but one with a liquid nature. In other words, and using Alsop's (2004) metaphor, a company's reputation can be understood in terms of a bank account. A company's favorable pre-crisis reputation represents a positive balance in the account that the company can use to defend its reputation against the negative effects produced during/after a crisis. In the same sense, an unfavorable or neutral prior reputation means there is no balance from which a company can draw during a crisis. This logic implies that a company with a more favorable prior reputation will still have a stronger post-crisis reputation and be more credible in dealing with stakeholders. Conversely, a company with a poor prior reputation will be even more affected in terms of its post-crisis reputation and its credibility among stakeholders will fall.\nConcealing and deceiving is like being stuck in quicksand: Deception implies conveying messages and/or information knowingly transmitted to create a false impression or conclusion. Deceiving or lying is universally considered unethical behavior for any type of entity (individual, organization, institution or government). However, despite this rational negative connotation, deceiving is not always considered negative. In fact, Plato did not believe that all lying was unjustifiable (Plato, 2003). The concept of a \"true lie,\" which he raised in his work The Republic, makes a certain level of deception noble or pious, ergo, acceptable. For Plato, this interpretation is valid as long as the deception is in the service of obtaining a sense of social harmony that would otherwise not be there.\nCompany crisis response: Once a crisis occurs, companies are subjected to stakeholder pressures. There is considerable finger-pointing and many questions and complaints arise, making it difficult for the company to address the crisis through official responses. Ideally, these responses have to be framed according to some basic crisis communication guidelines. Like any other management issue, these guidelines should be planned and prepared in advance. Thus, the main purpose of the company crisis response is to repair the company's reputation and/or prevent (further) reputational damage.\nConclusion: Crises are inevitable and managers prepare for such incidents. DCOL's case represents a good example of where every guideline on how to address a crisis, in terms of responding to stakeholders, was totally dismissed. By understanding that in a crisis scenario, every company has the right (and duty) to defend its strategic interests, a company with a dubious reputation may see no other way but to mislead its stakeholders. Nevertheless, such a company may then acquire a dynamic that gradually pulls it into some kind of \"delusional quicksand,\" taking it to the point of no return. In this case, DCOL's responses were delayed, inconsistent and erroneous, which in turn, generated the perception of the company lacked confidence, credibility and transparency. The final result was an overdrawn reputational account with a company's image severely affected (even to the present date), because of the way in which its executives addressed the crisis at hand, even more so than by the crisis per se.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyze concealment and deception in self-defeating organizational crisis response strategies and the possible consequences of their adoption on a company's reputation. It represents an example of where every guideline to address stakeholders after a crisis was dismissed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper investigates a major environmental incident that took place in Colombia in 2013 and studies how the responsible company responded to the incident through the examination of company reports, media statements and national and international newspaper articles.\nFindings: The analysis shows that in addition to environmental damage, the company's reputation was affected by the way the company responded during this crisis.\nResearch limitations/implications: The outcomes highlight the importance of the manner in which a crisis response is managed, as these types of mistakes often aggravate reputational damage.\nPractical implications: This paper is an invitation for companies to be quick, consistent and transparent with their responses when facing their stakeholders in moments of crisis. Not doing so may aggravate not only social but also economic and environmental impacts.\nOriginality/value: Contrary to other contributions on the subject, this study implies that a misleading crisis response, including concealment and deception, can be an even greater challenge to a company's reputation than the crisis itself.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of environmentally conscious purchase behaviour and green scepticism in organic food consumption	[ "Scepticism", "Environmentally conscious purchase behaviour", "Organic food consumption" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Reasons for consuming organic food that relate to fulfilling functional needs (e.g. health, nutrition) have been researched extensively (e.g. Hemmerling et al., 2015). However, given the increasing concern about sustainability issues in consumption among consumers and citizens (Prothero et al., 2011), sustainable motivations have become relevant as well. Since organic food consumption is increasingly being associated with environmental friendliness, such consumption has become part of a way of life (Du et al., 2017). Consequently, organic food marketers and researchers should focus on changes in sustainability orientations as well as the potential of reported proenvironmental behaviours to spillover into motivating organic food consumption (e.g. Kareklas et al., 2014). These shifts have encouraged researchers to start linking organic food consumption to higher-level personal and social motivations and general proenvironmental behaviours (e.g. Du et al., 2017; Magnusson et al., 2003). Moreover, since a sustainable orientation is reflected in environmental and altruistic claims, which have become an indisputable part of organic food marketing, the question also arises as to how consumers accept such claims and how they affect organic food consumption (Eden et al., 2008; Kareklas et al., 2014).\nTheoretical background: Motivation for consuming organic food\nResearch model and hypotheses: Variables in the research model\nMethodology: Context of the study, sample and data collection\nResults: Measurement model\nDiscussion and conclusion: General discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite numerous scholarly attempts, there is a lack of consensus regarding the relevance of various factors used to promote organic food consumption. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of environmentally conscious purchase behaviour (ECPB) and green scepticism on organic food consumption. Moreover, the paper examines the indirect impact of attitudinal and contextual forces on organic food consumption (through ECPB).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper develops a conceptual model of organic food consumption. Data were collected through an online survey on a sample of 462 consumers in Slovenia. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised relationships.\nFindings: The findings indicate that ECPB positively and green scepticism negatively affects organic food consumption. In addition, ECPB is positively influenced by personal and social norms, perceived availability and consumer sustainability orientation. Interestingly, the social norms exert the strongest indirect effect on organic food consumption.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study informs organic food producers and policy makers about the relative importance of ECPB and scepticism for increasing organic food consumption. It also highlights the role of general attitudinal and contextual factors for ECPB and organic food consumption.\nOriginality/value: The proposed model enables a better understanding of the relevance of ECPB, its antecedents and green scepticism as (direct or indirect) determinants of organic food consumption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Disabled employees in Jordanian public sector: an exploratory study	[ "Public sector", "Jordan", "Disabled employees", "Disabled facilities", "Disabled satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employers always seek to hire and retain the most qualified employees to meet their strategic objectives. Employment is considered crucial for people's life and especially for the disabled ones. According to the American with Disability Act of 1990, a person is considered to have a disability if he (or she) has a \"physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his (or her) ability to carry out normal day to day activities.\" World Health Organization (WHO, 2015) defines disabilities as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. According to the Jordanian Law for the Welfare of Disabled Persons 2007, disabled refers to any person with a permanent, partial, or total impairment in any of his senses or physical, psychological, or mental abilities to the extent that the ability to learn to be rehabilitated or to work, is limited in a way which renders him/her short of fulfilling his/her normal daily requirements in circumstances similar to those of non-disabled persons. Accordingly, disability is defined as physical or/and mental impairments which have substantial and long-term impact that limit the person's ability to carry out normal daily activities. The most common types of disabilities among employees include blindness, deafness, speech disorders, mobility impairment, motor, and muscular or neurological.\nThe situation of disabled people in Jordan: Jordan signed the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. Jordan has undertaken a general obligation to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all individuals with disabilities without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. Under the chapter entitled \"Rights and Duties of Jordanians,\" Article 6 of the Constitution declares the equality of all Jordanians, without any distinction among them. Article 23 of the Constitution also states that work is the right of every Jordanian citizen, thus the government takes on its responsibility to provide opportunities and enact legislation. However, it does not obviously protect this right for people with disabilities (Bitar, 2013). In addition, Jordan has developed laws aiming to allow people with disabilities to have easy access to employment. However, the reflection of this in practice is also quite different (Bitar, 2013). According to Jordan Disabled People's Rights Law (31) for 2007, disabled is \"every person who has full or partial disability either in any of his senses or physical, psychological or mental abilities to the extent that limits his ability to learn, rehabilitate or work so he becomes unable to meet his basic requirements under the same conditions of the non-disabled people.\" Based on the nature of work, the law requires any public and private organization that employs 25-50 workers to hire at least one disabled worker and if the number of workers exceeds (50), it shall allocate a percentage not less than (4 percent) for disabled workers of the total number of workers in the organization. Article 4 (C) of Jordan Disabled People Rights Law states that disabled people should be provided with appropriate vocational training to develop their capabilities to meet the requirements of the labor market. In addition, they should be provided with equal opportunities regarding employment. Disabled persons expressed key reason for their dissatisfaction, including lack of income and the insecurity of that income. Evidence from fieldwork shows that disabled persons' participation in the Jordanian economy remains clearly limited and the majority of disabled people, including those who are well trained or qualified, are unemployed or employed in low-skilled and low-paid work (Turmusan, 1999). In addition, the preference for employing non-disabled people remains strong. The situation is little different whether in the public or the private sector.\nLiterature review: As mentioned earlier, the current study aims to investigate the attitudes of a sample of disabled employees toward the availability of facilities designed for disabled people, treatment of other employees, and the work conditions in public organizations. Previous research showed different attitudes toward hiring disabled employees. For example, Shapiro (1994) and Peck and Kirkbride (2001) reported that employers have a negative attitude toward hiring disabled applicants. However, Levy et al. (1992) found favorable attitudes of 341 Fortune 500 corporate executives toward disabled people and their employability. Tse (1994) also found that employers in Hong Kong perceive disabled employees as reliable, honest, responsible, well motivated, and efficient. In the following, hypothesis development of each dimension of the current study will be presented.\nMethodology: According to Higher Council for Disabled People Affairs in Jordan (2015), the total number of disabled people and their characteristics has no exact official number. The study population consisted of all disabled employees working in public organizations in Jordan in 2013. A purposive sample of disabled employees from all Governorates of Jordan was selected to participate in the study by filling the questionnaire. As a non-probability type, the purposive sample was selected for this research because it focusses on particular characteristics of a population (disabled employees) that are of interest, which will be best to answer the research questions. There are no official statistics of the total number of disabled employees and their employing organizations in the Jordanian public sector. Accordingly, research assistants, under the full supervision of the researcher, went to several public organizations searching for the disabled employees and asking them to answer the designated questionnaire. The total number of questionnaires distributed was 233 and 198 returned with a response rate about 85 percent. Having a high-response rate can be attributed to three main reasons. First, respondents showed a high interest in the research topic that encouraged them to report their voice to the policy makers about their circumstances in the Jordanian public sector. Second, pre-contact was made by sending a letter to each department informing respondents about the survey and asking to set up an interview. Third, research assistants put their best efforts in the follow-ups with the respondents.\nData analysis and findings: The participants of the present study are full-time public employees who responded to the designated survey. Data analysis showed that 78 percent of the respondents were males. Nearly 60 percent of respondents indicated they hold an administrative task compared with 40 percent who hold a technical task. Technical task refers to jobs and assignments that require the use of machines, equipments, and materials to make products. Administrative task refers to mainly clerical and office assignments that require the use of soft skills such as communication and human relations usually to provide services. More than half of the respondents 62 percent were aged between 30 and 45 years, and about 50 percent reported they have more than 11 years of work experience. About 48 percent reported they held less than a bachelor degree, while 10 percent of the participants held master or PhD degree. There are two main bases for hiring in the Jordanian public sector: social and humanitarian bases and merit bases. According to the social and humanitarian system, candidates who have the minimum qualifications are hired because they are disabled, orphans, very poor, have no any source of income in their family, etc. While according to the merit system, candidates are hired based on competition (skills, knowledge, and abilities). An interesting information is that 45 percent of the participants were hired based on their qualifications and merits compared with 55 percent were hired based on social and humanitarian bases as a result of their disability case. The findings showed that most of the respondents work in low-skilled, low-paid work such as call center, receptionist, office boy, data entry, etc. A very handful of respondents were working as engineers, accountants, teachers, etc. According to the report of the Jordanian Civil Bureau (2012), the total accumulative number of disabled applicants was 1,384 and only 174 (about 13 percent) were hired in 2013.\nDiscussion, practical implications, and future research: The current study aims to examine the attitudes of a sample of disabled employees toward the availability of facilities designed for disabled people, treatment they receive from other employees, and the work conditions. The current study provides insights into the disabled employees work in the Jordanian public sector. The research obtained results revealed that disabled employees reported relatively moderate level of satisfaction with the availability of facilities designed for disabled people. One explanation to that is most of the study participants are employed in low-status and low-skilled jobs that do not require a high-educational level. These jobs, such as office boy and call center, require little or no special facilities for the disabled employee. In addition, organizations comply clearly with the Jordanian laws related to disabled employees by providing reasonable facilities for the disabled employees. These findings come in accordance to Pagan and Malo (2009) by reporting high satisfaction of Spanish disabled employees due to the fact that they have lower expectations. On the contrary, The National Centre for Human Rights (2010) in Jordan reported that the main problem and obstacle faced by disabled employees is the general lack of facilities for accommodating at work. Uppal (2005) found a clear lack of several facilities that make more problems to disabled employees at work which in turn influenced their satisfaction in Canada. Also, these findings are not consistent with the findings of previous research mainly Al-Mathhab and Al-Qhtani (2000), Al-Hmodi (2012), and Uppal (2005). Al-Mathhab and Al-Qhtani (2000) and Al-Hmodi (2012) reported a clear shortage of the disable employees work facilities in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, respectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of disabled employees toward availability of work facilities, treatment of other employees, and the working conditions in the Jordanian public sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A purposive sample of disabled public sector employees (198) was selected to participate in the study by filling the designated questionnaire.\nFindings: Disabled employees reported a relatively moderate level of satisfaction about the availability of facilities. Also, participants are satisfied with the treatment of their supervisors and colleagues and of the working conditions. Disabled female participants and those who hold graduate degrees reported high-satisfaction level about the treatment they receive from their colleagues at work. The findings also showed that 55 percent of the participants were hired based on humanitarian bases as a result of their disability cases compared with 45 percent who were hired based on their qualifications and merits.\nPractical implications: This research significantly contributes to the scarce knowledge that currently exists in the position of disabled employees in the Arab world. Policy makers and human resource managers should develop a clear strategy to provide the facilities for disabled people to accommodate at work. In addition, they should provide professional guidance and rehabilitation training programs aiming to enhance disabled employees' participation and involvement in the labor market.\nOriginality/value: The study is one of the first to investigate the status of disabled public sector employees in Jordan and in the Arab world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Net shareholder value	[ "Internet", "Retailing", "Electronic commerce", "Worldwide web", "Organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today, if you took a poll of individual stock market investors about prospects for shareholder value creation from the Internet, you would probably wind up with some pretty gloomy responses.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Most investors and business leaders understand that the internet has created a few high-profile success but many more start-up businesses that have destroyed rather than created value. As a result, many executives have dampened expectations for the transformational potential of internet-based commerce, and have cut back investments accordingly. In this column, Stuart Jackson makes the observation that while many internet start-ups have crashed, most of the biggest e-commerce successes have come from established companies with a loyal base of customers who have added internet capabilities to supplement traditional channels. Traditional retailers and B2B businesses who have yet to grasp the full potential of the internet have untapped opportunities to create what might be called \"net shareholder value\" by using the Internet to supplement existing channels. The author proposes four key strategies for companies considering going down this path.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this article, Jackson considers a number of the assumptions that were used to justify massive (and in many cases, outlandish) valuations of Internet businesses in the late 1990s. Jackson then evaluates the extent to which each of these has been proven true in the light of recent history. The author then draws lessons that can be applied broadly across any business considering e-commerce strategies to supplement existing channels to market.\nFindings: - Companies should not think of e-commerce as a separate business from traditional channels. E-commerce and off-line businesses selling the same products are competing in the same strategic market segment. Competitive advantage will go to those who can achieve overall scale benefits (taking account of customer acquisition costs as well as physical infrastructure and operating overheads) superior to the competition. In most situations, the best way to achieve this will be through an integrated offering leveraging multiple channels.\nOriginality/value: - By looking in detail at e-commerce successes and failures and the reasons behind those, this article provides valuable lessons for companies in how to increase competitive advantage and create shareholder value by leveraging the Internet for their business.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Obstacles to children developing as mature persons	[ "Poverty", "United States of America", "Children (age groups)", "Child welfare", "Socialization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It is no secret that parents, teachers and school administrators, pediatricians, and public officials including the police for many years have been gravely concerned that being born and raised in poverty are serious obstacles to the growth and development of the child and make the process of becoming a mature, responsible adult more difficult and hazardous. Statistics on poverty among children only heighten this concern. In 2006, the most recent year for which these data are available, the poverty rate among all children under age 18 was 17.3 percent. Among pre-school age children, the rate hovered around 20 percent. Further, there were 5.5 million children living in families with annual income below one-half of the official poverty threshold (Table I). For a family of four with two children under 18, the 50 percent threshold means living on $200 a week.\n1 Home and health: 1.1 Home\n2 School and neighborhood: 2.1 School\n3 Conclusions: The data reported herein from Census Bureau sources - in every instance the most recent data available - confirm the second part of the dual proposition stated at the outset: there are millions of children in families with incomes above the poverty threshold whose growth and development are not assured. In the following, we draw attention to four conclusions organized along lines of the four obstacles identified in our introductory comments: home, health, school, and neighborhood.First, the 20.6 million children in single-parent families suggest that some children are held back in their growth and development even in families with incomes above the poverty threshold. Further, regarding obstacles in the home, parents of families with incomes above the poverty line stated that 10.4 million of their children required more time than they anticipated, and 1.3 million children made them angry. An estimated 6.0 million children had no limits imposed on their TV viewing, with nonpoor children outnumbering poor children by 5:1.Second, with regard to health obstacles to growth and development, the census data suggest with few exceptions that American children are generally in good health. Specifically, the general health status of more than 95 percent of all children was reported as excellent, very good, or good. The data on health have to be handled with great care because they are based on information provided by the household respondent and not by a health-care specialist. For children ages five to 15, there were 2.7 million who were said to have a sensory, physical, mental, or self-care disability. The most common disability by far was mental disability which beset 2.5 times as many children in nonpoor families than in poor families.Third, with respect to school, there were 1.8 to 2.5 million school-age children who did not like school, were not interested in school, or did not work hard in school. Nonpoor children outnumbered poor children by 4:1. Further, 26.9 million six to 17 year olds did not participate in sports, 31.9 million did not take part in clubs, and 33.2 million did not take lessons such as music or dance. Nonparticipating children in families above the poverty line greatly outnumbered nonparticipants from families below that line.Fourth, regarding the neighborhoods in which they live, 33.9 million of all children under age 18, according to the household respondent, agreed that there were neighboring people who might be a bad influence and 15 million who agreed that children are kept indoors to protect their personal safety. Smaller numbers, but still as many as 10.3 million, were said to disagree that neighbors help neighbors, people watch other children, there are people one can count on, adults who would help, or safe places to play.Perhaps, more than any other findings, these data on the neighborhood coupled with the data on extracurricular activities indicate that for many children, whether poor or not, there is little support in their growth and development outside their own family.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on obstacles to the development of children into mature, responsible persons whether those children are classified as poor or not.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper concentrates on four obstacles: home, health, school, and neighborhood.\nFindings: - Regarding home-based obstacles, parents with incomes above the poverty line stated that 10.4 million of their children require more time than they anticipated, and 1.3 million children make them angry. As to health obstacles, with few exceptions, American children are generally in good health. Specifically, the general health status of more than 95 percent of all children is reported as excellent, very good, or good. With respect to school-based obstacles, there are 1.8 to 2.5 million school-age children who do not like school, are not interested in school, or do not work hard in school. Nonpoor children outnumber poor children by 4:1. Finally, regarding the neighborhoods in which they live, 33.9 million of all children under age 18 agree that there are neighboring people who might be a bad influence and 15 million who agree that children are kept indoors to protect their personal safety. As many as 10.3 million disagree that neighbors help neighbors, people watch other children, there are people one can count on, adults who would help, or safe places to play.\nOriginality/value: - This analysis is based on the dual proposition that in the USA there are large numbers of children - millions in some instances - whose development is not assured and their numbers include many children in families with incomes above the poverty threshold. The data refer to all American children under age 18 and derive entirely from Census Bureau surveys published in 2004 to 2007.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Possibility thinking: lessons from breakthrough engineering	[ "Design", "Thinking styles", "Management strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: One of the tenets of design theory is that great designs occur at the intersection of possibilities, constraints and uncertainties. This article focuses on possibilities, the all-important front end of design. Business strategists, both in academia and practice, tend to be well-versed in the identification and analysis of constraints. Similarly, interest in managing uncertainty has received significant attention of late and methodologies such as scenario planning and options theory have been developed in response. But what of possibilities? If the ability to see new possibilities is fundamental to creating innovative designs, whether of products or cities or business strategies, what do we know about state-of-the-art possibility thinking? Not much, it seems.\nChallenging: Challenging assumptions and defying convention are often the first steps in creative engineering. To produce something original, the engineer raises questions about the way things are done and entertains doubts about what is assumed to be necessary, natural or customary.\nConnecting: Making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas is also often at the heart of creative engineering. Novelty can result from going outside a single field or discipline and bringing together diverse concepts, tools, capabilities and ways of thinking.\nVisualizing: Making something new, for an engineer, often means first thinking about how it might look - picturing it in the mind\nCollaborating: Many engineering innovations are the product of cooperative effort and could not be developed any other way. A group of people brings together a range of talents and capabilities, applying them to generate results that reflect both individual skills and a collaborative creativity that is more than the sum of the separate endeavors.\nHarmonizing: In every area of human effort, creativity is intimately associated with the quest for beauty. This is most obvious in the fine arts, but it is no less true in the practical arts like architecture and engineering. Here, especially, there is an aesthetic quality that often lies in harmony, in fitting the products of human ingenuity agreeably into their environment.\nImprovising: Engineers, like most of us, are sometimes at their most creative when they are forced to be. Circumstances may require solving problems quickly or may place overwhelming constraints on what seems possible. To improvise is to create \"on the fly,\" and the results can be most ingenious.\nReorienting: New possibilities can emerge from new formulations of problems rather than new solutions. When people change goals or revise notions of what is important and what is not, different priorities and approaches may be more appropriate. New knowledge can lead to a reevaluation of results and a reorientation of effort.\nPlaying: To an extent that is often unrecognized, even by engineers and designers, play is a key element of the creative act. Many significant technical achievements have their origins in playful experimentation. Think of the architecture of Frank Gehry. His famous flowing curtain walls, as in the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, are the product of the highest order of structural engineering, but channeled in ways directed by playful experimentation. Gehry comes from an architectural tradition of modeling, and this tradition itself has a core element of play attached to it. Playful engineering, as it has been called, revolves around the capacity to simulate and model wide varieties of possible approaches. So Gehry\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The ability to see new possibilities is fundamental to creating innovative designs - but what do we know about state-of-the-art possibility thinking? The purpose of this paper is to look at this topic, which the strategy field has largely ignored in favor of analytics, by examining a selection of breakthrough engineering projects. Out of these, the paper aims to draw eight different ways of illuminating new possibilities - challenging, connecting, visualizing, collaborating, harmonizing, improvising, re-orienting, and playing - and discuss what each of these might look like if applied to business strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper explores eight different engineering projects that are regarded as especially innovative. It then explores the lessons of these for business strategists.\nFindings: The paper finds that innovative business strategy development has many parallels with engineering approaches.\nPractical Implications: Some of the advice resulting from this perspective includes: take an absolute industry \"truth\" and turn it on its head; look outside the boundaries of your usual world; put the numbers aside and get some images down on paper; find a partner and work together; push yourself beyond the \"workable\" and try to get to \"intriguing;\" act as if necessity truly was the mother of invention; formulate a different definition of the problem; and go out and conduct some low cost experiments instead of forming a committee.\nOriginality/value: The creative front-end of the process of innovation is revealed to be more than a mysterious \"black box.\" Instead, eight systematic ways to generate possibilities, using concrete examples from both the world of engineering and business, are described to help managers begin to see new possibilities for themselves.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impacts of leadership support and coworker support on employee creative behavior	[ "Innovation", "Creativity", "Employee productivity", "Leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Employees' creative behavior is critical for modern organizations (Lin and Wong, 2014; Wong and Ladkin, 2008). Individual creativity constitutes a foundation for innovation, effective work practices and organizational competitiveness (Campo et al., 2014; Tajeddini and Trueman, 2012). Generally defined as the generation of novel, useful ideas (Beth and Amabile, 2010), creativity also entails an ability to produce work that is both novel and useful (McLean, 2005). Because creativity drives innovation, growth and competitiveness (Chang et al., 2011; Gong, Kim, Zhu and Lee, 2013; Gong, Zhou and Chang, 2013), most organizations invest heavily in and search for effective ways to encourage employees' creativity (Liu et al., 2012), especially when they confront competitive, dynamic business environments. For example, service providers seek to foster employee creativity as a means to deliver high-quality services (Kim and Lee, 2013; Wang et al., 2014; Hon and Lui, 2016). In such service industries, employees can add substantial value if they are able to generate, exploit and implement creative ideas (Lepak and Snell, 2002). Accordingly, creativity constitutes a key driver of service companies' success and competitiveness (e.g. Campo et al., 2014; Lim, 2016; Mittal and Dhar, 2016).\n2. Theory and hypothesis development: 2.1 Coworker support and individual creativity\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data\n4. Results: The data analysis involved two steps. First, we estimate a measurement model to confirm the reliability and validity of the constructs. Second, we derive the structural model to test the relationships predicted in our theoretical model in Figure 1.\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Main findings\n6. Limitations and further research: As does all research, our study has some limitations that point to potential directions for research. First, we relied solely on quantitative methods for this study. It would be beneficial for further research to combine quantitative and qualitative methods and thereby gain richer insights into these studied relationships. Second, we conducted this research in Kuwait. Accordingly, it would be interesting to replicate our research with comparative studies conducted across various countries, especially nearby places such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Bahrain. Third, the current research offers new opportunities to examine and exploit other variables that have the potential to moderate or mediate the relationships of leadership and coworker support with employee creativity. Fourth, we found a positive relationship between employee creativity and job performance, whereas Gong, Kim, Zhu and Lee (2013), Gong, Zhou and Chang (2013) argue that employee creativity does not necessarily have a strong, direct impact on firm performance. Therefore, it would be helpful to adopt moderating and mediating approaches, in attempts to explain and understand the nature of the relationship between employee creativity and job performance in more depth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Previous research has emphasized how leadership style and collegial relationships can foster creativity in the workplace; in a related sense, understanding how support from leaders and coworkers affect the creativity process is critical too. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to seek a deeper understanding of how leadership support and coworker support influence employee creativity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was conducted among 299 employees working at eight organizations in a non-western country.\nFindings: The results of this research revealed that both leadership support and coworker support exert positive influences on employee creativity, moderated by several additional variables. Specifically, employee engagement and tenure both strengthen the relationship of leadership support with employee creativity. Furthermore, individual creativity has a positive impact on job performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: These findings offer theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for further research\nOriginality/value: This research examined the impacts of leadership support and coworker support on employee creative behavior and individual performance. To better understand the nature of these impacts, the authors introduced two moderators such as employee engagement and tenure. To the best of our knowledge, there are no empirical evidences regarding whether and how leadership support and coworker support interact with employee engagement and tenure to influence employee creative behavior and individual performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.