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Returning to work after injury: factors that influence the timing
|
[
"Commitment",
"Employee compensation",
"Return to work",
"Workplace injury"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Occupational hazards are an unfortunate way of life for workers in many industries. For some, the risk of serious injury or illness is considerable. More positive is the decline over recent decades in the number of such incidents reported.\nWorkplace injury and its costs: However, in Western nations the cost of injury or illness at work remains substantial. Statistics show that in European Union (EU) countries, it can range between 2.6 per cent and 3.8 per cent of GDP.\nWhen to return: Incentives and pressures: Employees in North America will, on average, receive around two-thirds of their salary while absent from work through injury or illness. In contrast, most of their counterparts in Italy are compensated to the tune of 100 per cent of their pre-injury earnings. The only potential loss is overtime pay. Firms in the country pay premiums to the Italian national workers' compensation agency (INAIL). This organization pays part of the disability benefits while an individual is off work. The remainder has to be met by the employer. Laws and union rules determine these compensation levels for injured Italian workers.\nEmployee-related characteristics: It is probable that the pressure to RTW early varies between different employee groups. That companies have to bear a proportion of the compensation paid to injured workers means it will benefit them if RTW times can be shortened. Gain is even greater where higher-earning employees are concerned, as it costs the company more when they are absent.\nComment: The review is based on \"Injured workers and their return to work: Beyond individual disability and economic incentives\" by Galizzi et al. (2016). Factors that might influence employee RTW following injury are explored in this comprehensive article. Italy is the setting for the investigation and the authors conclude that certain groups of workers are likely to feel pressured to return sooner than ideal, largely because of the economic implications to their firm.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"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: Occupational hazards are an unfortunate way of life for workers in many industries. For some, the risk of serious injury or illness is considerable. More positive is the decline over recent decades in the number of such incidents reported. However, in Western nations the cost of injury or illness at work remains substantial. Statistics show that in European Union (EU) countries, it can range between 2.6 per cent and 3.8 per cent of GDP. Regulations and conditions within specific labor markets help determine where these costs are absorbed. There are wide variations across countries in terms of how injured employees are compensated during their time off work.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Improving care coordination using organisational routines: Care pathways as a coordination mechanism
|
[
"Hospitals",
"Standardization",
"Coordination",
"Care pathways",
"Organizational routines",
"Organization-of-care"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Coordination of care is essential to provide good patient outcomes (Argote, 1982) and deliver high-quality care in hospitals (McDonald et al., 2007; Ovretveit, 2011). Improving coordination is also considered central to accelerate progress towards continuous learning, best care and lower costs (Institute of Medicine, 2013). However, coordination across departments and functions in hospitals is a challenge (Institute of Medicine, 2001, 2013; Hofmarcher et al., 2007).\nCoordination of care: the case of standardised care pathways: Care pathways are used in the delivery of all types of hospital work which include out-patient, in-patient or acute care. A care pathway is defined as \"a complex intervention for the mutual decision-making and organisation of care processes for a well-defined group of patients during a well-defined period\" (European Pathway Association, 2014). Importantly, standardisation of work processes and multidisciplinary teamwork are central in a care pathway (Vanhaecht et al., 2010). A care pathways usually take the format of formalised written artefact (Cabitza et al., 2008) where the degree of detail varies from detailed to generic (De Bleser et al., 2006); i.e. offering less and more professional autonomy, respectively.\nThe challenge of coordination in organisations: division of work, specialisation and interdependence: Division of work is fundamentally about specialisation (Smith, 1776/1976). Specialisation in hospitals means that health care services or processes are divided into sub-tasks that are carried out by different medical specialities, health care professionals and others. Specialisation is driven by the objective to provide highly specialised and high-quality care to patients and to meet advances in health care technology (Strauss et al., 1997). Specialisation also leads to productivity gains through the resulting benefits of dexterity and learning-by-doing (Darr et al., 1995).\nCoordination: management of interdependencies: Coordination is about managing interdependencies to achieve a shared goal (Malone and Crowston, 1990). One way of conceptualising coordination is to categorise it into programmed and non-programmed mechanisms (March and Simon, 1958). Coordination is programmed if choice and decision making are prespecified responses to predefined stimuli. A standard operating procedure is one such coordination mechanism (Cyert and March, 1963).\nOrganisational routines: a repetitive pattern of collective actions that share ten characteristics: Organisational routines are important to organisations because they offer advantages such as coordination, uncertainty reduction, truce and organisational memory (Nelson and Winter, 1982). In the next paragraphs are routines defined and described by highlighting their ten characteristics (Becker, 2004) and the connection between routines and coordination is elaborated.\nBringing theory of routines to bear on care pathways: a systematic analysis using the ten characteristics of routines: The following analysis systematically relates the ten characteristics of routines to care pathways. The explanatory power of routines is used to develop theoretically guided propositions that provide insights into and identify ways to address open questions in the care pathway literature about the coordinating and organising role of care pathways, the way they change and can be replicated, the relation between care pathways and the organisation they are embedded in and how such standardised work processes can influence health care professionals.\nDiscussion: The present paper systematically relates the characteristics of routines to care pathways and uses the explanatory power of the former to develop theoretically guided propositions. The following divides the propositions into five categories and argues that these can be useful starting points for future empirical research of care pathways. In relation, future areas of research about emergent coordination and care pathways and the hospital as a contemporary organisation are discussed. Finally, other hospital processes that could be relevant to investigate using the theoretical backdrop of routines are discussed.\nConclusion: This conceptual paper systematically applies the ten characteristics of routines to the widely used hospital concept known as care pathways in order to provide insights into open questions in the care pathway literature.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to systematically apply theory of organisational routines to standardised care pathways. The explanatory power of routines is used to address open questions in the care pathway literature about their coordinating and organising role, the way they change and can be replicated, the way they are influenced by the organisation and the way they influence health care professionals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Theory of routines is systematically applied to care pathways in order to develop theoretically derived propositions.\nFindings: Care pathways mirror routines by being recurrent, collective and embedded and specific to an organisation. In particular, care pathways resemble standard operating procedures that can give rise to recurrent collective action patterns. In all, 11 propositions related to five categories are proposed by building on these insights: care pathways and coordination, change, replication, the organisation and health care professionals.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is conceptual and uses care pathways as illustrative instances of hospital routines. The propositions provide a starting point for empirical research.\nPractical implications: The analysis highlights implications that health care professionals and managers have to consider in relation to coordination, change, replication, the way the organisation influences care pathways and the way care pathways influence health care professionals.\nOriginality/value: Theory on organisational routines offers fundamental, yet unexplored, insights into hospital processes, including in particular care coordination.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Proposal for a new Shari'ah risk rating approach for Islamic banks
|
[
"Basel III",
"Sharīʿah non-compliance risk",
"Rating models",
"Islamic banking industry",
"Sharīʿah supervision"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Islamic banking customers tend to pose a highly relevant question pertaining to the Islamic banking business: Are banks labeled as \"Islamic banks\" really Islamic? Dar's (2013) question \"Is Islamic banking as exploitative as conventional banking?\" reflects the fact that there is still skepticism among customers about the practice of Islamic banking and that it extends to the issue of Shari'ah compliance of Islamic banks. Islamic banks address this concern by sharing the fatwas (Islamic legal rulings) of their respective Shari'ah boards or other competent authorities on the Shari'ah compliance of their business activities. Islamic banks tend to place high emphasis on the eminent personalities who constitute the members of their Shari'ah boards to assure the public of their Shari'ah compliance. In practice, bank customers do not rely solely on the fatwa or credentials of the Shari'ah board members validating the banks' financial products in their decision to patronize Islamic banks. Nonetheless, the aspect of Shari'ah risk - that is, the risk of Shari'ah non-compliance - is an important factor to which customers pay special attention in their decision to endorse Islamic financial products. Moreover, it is argued that the level of Shari'ah compliance of a bank cannot be qualified in absolute terms as \"yes\" or \"no\"; rather, there should be a rating system which scores an institution's Shari'ah compliance across a range; for example, high, satisfactory, weak and non-compliant. This is deemed commercially attractive, as banks with higher levels of Shari'ah compliance should be able to fetch higher ratings and enjoy a better market positioning in Islamic financial markets.\nResearch objective: The objective of this paper is to develop a Shari'ah risk rating model to measure the Shari'ah risk of Islamic banks. It aims at answering the question relating to Shari'ah compliance of Islamic banks in a more satisfying manner to convince a larger set of customers that are still skeptical about the Islamic banking industry. The scope of this paper is limited to reviewing the existing risk rating models with respect to their relevance to measuring Shari'ah risk, coming up with a more relevant Shari'ah risk rating model, testing the model on Islamic banks for its accuracy, and finally providing a risk score that represents the Shari'ah and financial risk of an Islamic bank. It is noted that the model does not calculate financial risk, which is already available from the ratings of conventional rating agencies. The overall score derived from the model can be used by customers to evaluate the level of Shari'ah compliance of Islamic banks and by the banks to determine the adequate amount of capital that should be allocated to mitigate this risk.\nReview of existing rating models: Existing market practices to evaluate banking sector risk and Shari'ah compliance revolve around three areas, notably:\nProposed methodology: The proposed rating model has two parts:\nTesting of the Shari'ah risk rating model: The newly developed Shari'ah risk rating model was applied to three banks to evaluate their degree of Shari'ah compliance. These ratings were conducted on an unsolicited basis. The summary of results is provided in Table III.\nConclusion: The Shari'ah risk rating model proposed in this paper includes 14 Shari'ah risk rating factors to determine the degree of Shari'ah compliance of an Islamic bank. The model has clearly differentiated the banks on basis of Shari'ah non-compliance risk. The weights assigned in the model were based on personal judgments, and these were correct to the extent that the end score calculated for each bank has clearly highlighted their strengths and weaknesses. This model can be used by individuals and the public to check the Shari'ah compliance score of any bank. This rating will introduce a healthy competition among Islamic banks to comply with Shari'ah laws and regulations. Further research is required to apply the model to more Islamic financial institutions.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Customers of Islamic banking industry continue to be skeptical on Shari'ah compliance of Islamic banks despite receiving fatwa from the competent authorities. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the Shari'ah risk taken by Islamic banks, so that customers are better informed on the level of Shari'ah compliance that will help in removing the persistent level of skepticism toward Shari'ah compliance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research has used the scorecard based modeling approach to build the Shari'ah risk rating model, which consists of 14 factors that capture Shari'ah risk and are grouped in 5 major areas revolving around regulatory support, quality of Shari'ah supervision, business structure, product mix and treatment of capital adequacy ratio. The score calculated by applying the model is grouped into 4 tiers reflecting the level Shari'ah compliance at bank as non-compliant, weak compliance, satisfactory compliance and high level of Shari'ah compliance. Three case studies were conducted by applying the model to Islamic banks from Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.\nFindings: The final Shari'ah risk scores calculated by the model clearly differentiate the 3 banks on basis of their Shari'ah risk. The underlying scores also highlighted the areas where banks need to improve to reduce their Shari'ah risk.\nOriginality/value: This model can be applied by customers of Islamic banks who are interested in understanding Shari'ah-related aspects of Islamic banking industry. This model can be applied on standalone basis or as an extension to the conventional counter party risk rating models. This model can benefit management of Islamic banks toward allocation of capital against Shari'ah risk under Basel III, and regulators can apply the model to measure industry wide risk of Shari'ah non-compliance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Value creation measures: an industry-based study
|
[
"Shareholder value",
"Industry analysis",
"Economic value added",
"Market value added"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The ever-increasing search for excellence, efficiency, and performance enhancement by the management of organisations seems to be fuelled by new performance measures, accounting systems, reporting requirements, and business standards that are created by academics, consulting firms, and stock broking research houses. Consulting firms make sweeping statements regarding the effectiveness of their products. Academics continuously and unabatedly conduct research on products and measures that are created by themselves (and consulting firms), whilst government and government agencies contribute in their own way towards the growing complexity of measuring business performance.\nLiterature review: There are various reasons for the popularity of shareholder value as a research topic in financial management. Maybe the most obvious reason is the most predominant feature of shareholder value measure research, namely the vast number of measures that has been created over the past decades. Apart from traditional accounting-based measures such as ROE, ROA, or EPS, there has been a proliferation of economic-based shareholder value creation measures developed by management consulting firms. Myers (1997) listed measures such as Stern Steward's EVA, Holt's CFROI, Boston Consulting Group's total business return, McKinsey's Economic Profit, and LEK/ALcar's shareholder value added.\nResearch methodology: The industries selected for the analysis, the dependent and independent variables, and the statistical techniques applied, are discussed in this section. All for this study were obtained from INET BFA, a South African supplier of quality financial data.\nResults and discussion: The empirical results of this study are discussed by first commenting on the descriptive statistics, followed by the empirical results (the latter based on a number of rounds of statistical calculations). Findings, analysis, and interpretations of the results are considered throughout.\nConclusion: The present study set out to refine the search for a fair and equitable shareholder value creation measure, namely a measure that is applicable to a particular industry or firm. To achieve this objective, the study analysed more shareholder value creation measures than have been addressed in previous studies, and applies these shareholder value creation measures to nine different categories of firms.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the shareholder value creation measure best suited to express shareholder value creation for a particular industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis was performed on 192 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, classified into nine different samples or industries. Five shareholder value creation measures were examined, namely market value added (MVA), a market-adjusted stock return, the market-to-book ratio, Tobin's Q ratio, and the return on capital employed divided by the cost of equity.\nFindings: An analysis of the nine categories of firms led to the identification of different measures that are suited to express value creation. Stock returns did not provide an appropriate value measure. Instead, depending on the specific industry, Tobin's Q ratio, MVA, and the market-to-book ratio should be used to measure and express value creation.\nPractical implications: For management, the value drivers identified for each industry present a clear indication of industry-specific variables upon which they can focus in operating activities to most efficiently increase shareholder value.\nOriginality/value: Unlike previous studies that use only one or two different shareholder value creation measures as dependent variables, this study uses five different value creation measures. Another contribution of this study is the compilation of a unique set of value drivers that explain shareholder value creation separately for each of the nine different categories of firms.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Supervisor support and turnover in hotels: Does subjective well-being mediate the relationship?
|
[
"Hospitality industry",
"Turnover intention",
"Subjective well-being",
"Perceived supervisor support"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The common adage that \"employees do not leave places, they leave managers\" is often used to explain turnover. Managers and their actions and behaviors, which are part of an employee's work environment, can help retain employees or cause them to leave (Davidson and Wang, 2011; Hinkin and Tracey, 2000; Mohsin et al., 2013). In this light, person-environment fit posits that the relationship between people and the environment together, rather than separately, impact outcomes such as attitudes and behavior (Iplik et al., 2011), and supervisors are part of the workplace environment. Studies have shown that support by supervisors can directly impact turnover (Hinkin and Tracey, 2000; Karatepe, 2014; Kim and Jogaratnam, 2010; Nichols et al., 2016). However, turnover has also been found to not be directly impacted by supervisor support (Cho et al., 2009; Eisenberger et al., 2002; Kang et al., 2015; Mathieu et al., 2016), but rather indirectly through factors such as perceived organizational support (Cho et al., 2009; Eisenberger et al., 2002), job satisfaction (Mathieu et al., 2016) and organizational commitment (Kang et al., 2015; Mathieu et al., 2016). However, these mediators are all aspects of the workplace and not necessarily employee-centric characteristics. Therefore, this study aims to not only reconcile the theoretical and empirical discrepancies of the supervisor support-turnover intention relationship by introducing a mediator but also to explore a mediator that pertains to the employee, which is subjective well-being (SWB).\nLiterature review: Subjective well-being\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults: Prior to the analysis, the data were screened including missing data analysis, descriptive statistics and reliability. List-wise deletion was used where any cases with missing data for the three main constructs were not used in the analysis resulting in 187 usable surveys. Correlations were found among the three variables indicating that relationships are present. The correlation between SWB and PSS was positive and modest (r = 0.452). The correlation between SWB and turnover intention was negative and modest (r = -0.357) and the correlation between PSS and turnover intention was also negative and modest (r = -0.416). Reliability of each variable was checked using Cronbach's alpha with 0.70 or higher used as the cut-off (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The SWB variable had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.797 and the PSS variable had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.924. The turnover variable's initial reliability was 0.561 due to the item that was reverse coded. This item was dropped and the Cronbach's alpha improved to 0.763. Therefore, the turnover variable ultimately included only two of the three items. Table II outlines the means, standard deviations, reliabilities and inter-correlations among the variables.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether employee subjective well-being acts as a mediator in the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention within the context of select-service hotels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample included hourly employees in select-service hotels in the Midwest USA. The significance of the relationships was assessed using regression, and both the Sobel test and bootstrapping methods were performed to test the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention.\nFindings: The results confirm subjective well-being acted as a partial mediator in the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention. Employees who perceive higher levels of support from their supervisors are less likely to leave their organizations. At the same time, supervisor support also positively affects subjective well-being, which reduces turnover intention.\nPractical implications: Actions by supervisors' impact the well-being of their employees, which in turn may influence whether an employee stays with the organization. Organizations could use management training and employee feedback on supervisor support to improve employee support mechanisms. Organizations should also pay attention to improving employee subjective well-being beyond the work place. Improving the well-being of employees and supporting employees can help reduce turnover and may increase employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction and profits.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to show that subjective well-being mediates the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention; and one of the few within the hospitality context to examine the constructs of subjective well-being, supervisor support and turnover together.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Three-stage supply chain allocation with fixed cost
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Distribution management",
"Genetic algorithms",
"Fixed cost transportation problem",
"Factorial design"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into finished products and the distribution of these products to customers. For any supply chain, logistics or distribution plays a key role in its success. Eskigun et al. (2006) observe that logistics costs amount to 30 per cent of the total production costs. Huq et al. (2010) suggest that most of the inefficiencies associated with supply chain management (SCM) costs are due to the wasteful practices such as inefficient, unnecessary, or redundant stocking practices, or inefficient transportation. To gain a competitive edge in the market, supply chains must overcome these inefficiencies. According to Jain and Benyousef (2008), in future, the competition will not be between individual enterprises, but between competing supply chains. The performance of a supply chain depends mostly on the effective and balanced allocation of customers to distribution centres. Hence, designing an effective production-distribution network is of vital importance for firms aiming to reduce their logistics costs and maintain their competitive positions.This paper focuses on a distribution allocation problem in a three-stage supply chain model with fixed cost. Fixed charge problem or fixed cost problem is a practical problem in the industry (Jawahar and Balaji, 2009). The fixed-charge transportation problem (FCTP) is a special case of traditional transportation problem (TP) (Adlakha and Kowalski, 1999). Unlike TP, FCTP considers a fixed cost for a route in addition to the unit cost which depends upon the quantity of goods transported that is constant for a particular route. Fixed costs include the toll fee on the highways, the reward given to the driver, landing fee at the airport, permit fees or property taxes, etc. When fixed cost is also taken into account, the TP is known as FCTP.The objective of any FCTP model is to find that combination of routes, which can transport goods or services minimizing the total cost. The presence of fixed cost causes discontinuity in the objective function which makes FCTP more difficult to solve. The problem cannot be solved by direct application of the transportation algorithm and it has been shown to be non-deterministic polynomial (NP) hard (Clover et al., 1992). Hence, the solution methodologies adopted in the literature are heuristic algorithms and meta-heuristic algorithms such as GA, tabu search, and simulated annealing extensively.Most of the works in the literature consider the allocation problem in a single-stage supply chain. A single-stage supply chain consists of a set of manufacturing plants and a set of distributors (or customers). Adlakha and Kowalski (1998) consider a TP with the more-for-less (MFL) paradox and Adlakha and Kowalski (1999) analyse a FCTP model with MFL. An MFL paradox occurs when it is possible to ship more total goods for less or equal total cost while shipping the same amount or more from each origin to each destination, keeping shipping costs non-negative. Adlakha and Kowalski (2000) discuss the problem in the order of loading when multiple absolute points are present while solving an FCTP. Using Hungarian and Vogel approximation methods, Adlakha and Kowalski (2003) solve a single-stage FCTP as a small FCTP. Kannan et al. (2008b) formulate a TP of a single-stage supply chain with fixed charge and obtain optimum results using a local search heuristic known as Nelder-Mead method. Raj and Rajendran (2009) propose a simple heuristic algorithm for solving a single-stage FCTP wherein the performance of the algorithm is compared with the existing best method by making use of benchmark problem instances.GA is applied for combinatorial optimization problems. GA is found to be a very effective means to solve location-allocation problems in supply chains (Gen et al., 2001). Han and Damrongwongsiri (2005) apply GA to derive optimal solutions for a mathematical model of a stochastic multiple-period, two-echelon inventory with the many-to-many demand-supplier network problem. GA has been widely used by researchers to find optimal solutions for an FCTP. Gottlieb and Paulmann (1998) propose a GA-based permutation representation for the FCTP. Gen and Li (1998) develop spanning tree based-GA (st-GA) for TP using Prufer number encoding. Gen and Li (1999) use the st-GA approach for FCTP. Jo et al. (2007) consider a non-linear FCTP for a single-stage-supply chain consisting of a plant and a customer. This work depicts the transportation graph of a non-linear FCTP as a spanning tree with the use of Prufer numbers. The model is solved using st-GA. Kannan et al. (2008a) have commented on the work of Jo et al. (2007) stating an error in the total transportation cost. Gen et al. (2005) summarize the recent research work on network design problems that use GA.It is evident from the literature that researchers have mainly focussed on a single-stage FCTP with a set of manufacturing plants and a set of distributors. In the two-stage FCTP, the entities involved are manufacturing plants, distributors, and retailers. To the best knowledge, only Jawahar and Balaji (2009) have developed a two-stage distribution model with fixed cost. GA-based heuristic is proposed for the solving the two-stage model. Hence, there exists a research gap for solving an allocation problem in an FCTP supply chain model with three or more stages. This paper deals with the modelling and analysis of a more general FCTP supply chain model with three-stages comprising of manufacturing plants, distributors, retailers, and customers.In most of the studies pertaining to the area of FCTP, GA is found to perform better. In GA, there are two categories of parameters, namely structural and numerical. The chromosome representation, operator types and termination criterion are some of the structural parameters. The initial population, population size, number of generations, crossover probability, and mutation probability are the numerical parameters. The performance of GA depends on the numerical parameters. With the same structural parameters, if the numerical parameters in GA are not chosen properly, the population may converge prematurely to a local optimum that is hard to escape from. Hence, there is a need to design the parameters to be used in GA. Furthermore, researchers use the most commonly adopted parameter value in the literature or the trial-and-error method to adjust parameter design manually. To the best knowledge, there is no research work reported on the methodology for parameter design for GA in a three-stage FCTP. This research adopts factorial design as a systematic parameter design method to effectively obtain the best combination of the numerical parameters of GA.Considering the above research aspects, this paper deals with an allocation problem in a three-stage FCTP supply chain model. A supply chain comprising of a set of five manufacturing plants, five distributors, five retailers, and five customers is considered for detailed investigation. This supply chain represents a medium sized supply chain encountered in practice. A fixed cost for a distribution route between two entities (manufacturing plant-distributor, distributor-retailer, and retailer-customer) is taken into account. An integer programming model for the three-stage supply chain is formulated. The model is solved using GA-based heuristic. The best combinations of the numerical parameters are determined using the factorial design concept. Thus, the contribution of this work is two-fold:1. it models and solves a three-stage FCTP supply chain; and2. it identifies the best combinations of numerical parameters in the GA-based heuristic.The organisation of this paper is as follows. Section 2 describes the problem formulation. Section 3 explains the solution methodology. Section 4 provides the analysis of results. Section 5 discusses the conclusion.\n2 Problem description: The problem considered is a multi-echelon supply chain allocation. The supply chain includes entities such as manufacturing plants, distributors, retailers, and customers. The product is manufactured in the manufacturing plant, transported to the distribution centres, to the retailers, and then to the customers. A random demand for the product occurs at the retailer end. The model assumes that the demand is satisfied from the local inventory at the retailer. The retailer can replenish its inventory from multiple distributors. Similarly, the distributor can replenish its inventory from multiple plants. Figure 1 shows this three-stage supply chain network.The mathematical formulation for this three-stage supply chain with a set of m plants (i=1, 2, ... , m), a set of d distributors (k=1, 2, ... , d), a set of r retailers (l=1, 2, ... , r), and a set of n customers (j=1, 2, ... , n) taking into account a fixed cost for a distribution route is described in this section.2.1 Assumptions\n3 Solution methodology: The problem is solved using a permutation based-GA. Generally, GA consists of a string representing the points in the search space, a set of genetic operators for generating new search points and a stochastic assignment to control the genetic operations. It typically consists of four phases described as follows.3.1 Step 1: coding phase\n4 Results and discussion: A supply chain comprising of five plants, five distributors, five retailers, and five customers is considered for the purpose of illustration. This supply chain represents a medium sized supply chain observed in the real-world. As discussed in Section 2.1, the present work also discusses the method for the selection of numerical parameters in GA so as to provide a better solution.A sample problem data is generated according to uniform distribution as follows:* Unit cost of transportation in each stage: U (5, 10).* Fixed cost for a transportation route in each stage: U (10, 100).* Capacity of suppliers: U (100, 300).* Demand of customers: U (100, 300).The data thus generated is shown in Tables I-V.The code for GA-based heuristic is developed in MATLAB 7.8.0. Using the GA code, the distribution allocation problem in the three-stage supply chain with fixed cost is solved. The allocation is given in Tables VI-VIII.After the allocation with GA-based heuristic, the TORA software (Taha, 2008) is used to find the lower bound value for the problem. The FCTP model is converted to RTP and is used in TORA. The allocation using TORA is given in Tables IX-XI.A comparison of total cost is made for the following:* RTP model solved using TORA (i.e. considering equivalent cost).* FCTP model solved using GA-based heuristic.* The allocation obtained for the RTP model using TORA (i.e. considering the fixed cost and variable cost for the allocations).The results of comparison thus obtained are shown in Table XII.The total cost obtained using GA-based heuristic is the actual total cost since it considers the fixed cost and the variable cost of transportation. In the reduced problem, the fixed cost and variable cost are used to derive an equivalent cost and the problem is solved using this equivalent cost. Hence, even though the total cost for the reduced problem is slightly less than that of the total cost (actual cost) for GA-based heuristic as shown in Table XII, it is not the actual cost. Thus, GA-based heuristic provides an attractive solution methodology for solving the FCTP.4.1 Parameter design for GA-based heuristic\n5 Conclusions: Supply chain system is an integrated production system which aims at quick and efficient service towards the customers. In a supply chain system, distribution plays a significant role in maintaining the uninterrupted flow of goods and services between the manufacturer and the customers. The performance of a supply chain depends mostly on the effective and balanced allocation of customers to distribution centres. In this study, supply chain modelling and optimization is perceived as determining the allocation of distribution activity between partners. In today's world, managers have to cope up with the growing markets and greater customer expectations. The measure of success of any company is in terms of lower costs, shorter lead time, lesser stock, reliable delivery and better customer service. This can be achieved by the effective allocation of customers among the different facilities. The FCTP has been studied extensively because of the considerable merit of practice, even though it is a non-polynomial deterministic problem. The objective of an FCTP is to find the combination of routes that minimizes the total costs while satisfying the supply and demand constraints.This study models a three-stage supply chain allocation problem with fixed cost. The formulated model is solved using GA-based heuristic and a systematic method is carried out for the parameter design of the proposed GA-based heuristic. The parameters are kept at various levels and using the factorial design concept, it is found that the optimum population size for the selected problem is 100. The mutation probability for better solution is found to be 0.30. The objective function value at the above mentioned levels is better than that obtained at the other combinations. Factorial design provides the best combination of levels of the factors that are investigated. Thus, the present study provides a better insight to managers about the FCTP in a three-stage supply chain and design of numerical parameters for GA. This is a significant contribution to the literature.In the present study, the mathematical model developed for the three-stage supply chain assumes a single product environment in a single period with the consideration of transportation costs. This work can be extended to include costs of production and inventory. Further, a multi-product, multi-period environment can also be investigated. In the parameter design of GA, the levels selected are three or four. More levels can be selected so that more combinations can be experimented and better values can be obtained.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is of two-fold. First, the authors propose the application of genetic algorithm (GA)-based heuristic for solving a distribution allocation problem for a three-stage supply chain with fixed cost. Second, a methodology for parameter design in GA is discussed which can lead to better performance of the algorithm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mathematical model is formulated as an integer-programming problem. The model is solved using GA-based heuristic and illustrated with a numerical example. An investigation is made for determining the best combination of the parameters of GA using factorial design procedure.\nFindings: - The optimum population size for the selected problem size is found to be 100. The mutation probability for a better solution is 0.30. The objective function value at the above mentioned levels is better than that obtained at the other combinations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This work provides a good insight about the fixed cost transportation problem (FCTP) in a three-stage supply chain and design of numerical parameters for GA. The model developed assumes a single product environment in a single period. Hence, the present study can be extended to a multi-product, multi-period, and varying demand environment. In the parameter design, three distinct numerical parameters are considered. The parameters, population size and mutation probability are set at four levels and the parameter, crossover probability is set at three levels. More levels can be selected so that more combinations can be experimented.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents the formulation and solution of a distribution-allocation problem in a three-stage supply chain with fixed cost for a transportation route.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Restaurant dependence/autonomy in the supply chain and market responsiveness: The moderating roles of information technology adoption and trust
|
[
"Information technology",
"Trust",
"Market responsiveness",
"Restaurant dependence/autonomy",
"Restaurant-supplier relationships"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Beginning in the 1990s, the year-over-year growth rate percentage of annual restaurant sales in the USA has remained relatively flat with few exceptions (e.g. the snack and non-alcoholic beverage categories; NPD Foodservice, 2016). During the 12-month period of 2014-2015, the number of independent restaurants declined by 3 per cent compared with a 1 per cent growth reported by chain restaurants. This resulted in a 1 per cent net loss in growth of \"Total Restaurant Units\" (NPD Group/ReCount, 2015).\nConceptual development and hypotheses: Restaurant relationships with suppliers: dependence and autonomy\nControl variables: Extant research has suggested that several factors beyond dependence and autonomy can have significant effects on the operators' ability to respond to market conditions. The variables we see as most critical are as follows: \"Business environmental dynamism,\" referring to the degree of instability of business environments that are significantly associated with length of product life cycles, speed of the development of new products (Dess and Beard, 1984); \"Business environmental competitiveness,\" or to the degree of competition derived from the number of competitors in the market (Miller, 1987); and \"Business size\", commonly measured in numbers of employees or average revenue (Spence, 1999). Therefore, to control for the effects of such variables upon market responsiveness, we included four control variables representing environmental dynamics, environmental competitiveness, number of employees and customer average check. The relationships hypothesized above along with the control variables are presented in Figure 1.\nMethod: Sample and data collection\nResults: Measurement assessment\nConclusions: Theoretical implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to understand how restaurant dependence and autonomy within the supply chain influence market responsiveness. An examination of influences related to improving market responsiveness was also conducted by investigating the moderating roles of information technology adoption and trust.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression models were developed to test the hypothesized relationships. In particular, data were obtained from only independent restaurant owners and managers because of their ability to select and determine their own suppliers.\nFindings: Results revealed that restaurant autonomy from suppliers has a more positive effect on market responsiveness than supplier dependence. The moderating test results revealed that information technology adoption significantly improved the relationships between restaurant dependence and market responsiveness, while exhibiting no significant moderating effect. Restaurant trust in suppliers significantly improved the positive effect of autonomy upon market responsiveness; however, it had no significant moderating effect on this link.\nOriginality/value: This study was conducted to identify what types of supplier relationships should be pursued to improve the independent restaurant's ability to effectively respond to market conditions. The findings regarding the moderating effects of information technology adoption and trust provided clear evidence that buyer-supply relationship strategies should be developed in consideration of those distinguishable characteristics unique to the operations and environment of independent restaurants.\nPractical implications: Findings can be applied to developing desirable relationships with suppliers characterized by restaurant dependence or autonomy and contribute to improving managerial actions for independent restaurants involving adopting information technology and building trust.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The importance of co-operatives to the New Zealand economy: Constructing a co-operative economy
|
[
"Co-operatives",
"Co-operative advantage",
"New Zealand co-operative sector",
"Size of co-operative sector",
"Value added methodology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper measures the size of New Zealand's co-operative sector, in terms of its direct contribution to output and employment as well as its indirect impact (the multiplier effect), using a very basic and transparent methodology. The findings here are based on data derived largely from surveying the co-operative sector in 2012. It revises prior and incomplete estimates produced by Statistics New Zealand and those available through the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), based on earlier estimates provided by the New Zealand Co-operative Association in 2007 (now known as Co-operative Business New Zealand) (New Zealand Co-operative Association, 2012).\nWhat is a co-operative: According to the ICA, the governing body of co-operatives worldwide (International Co-operative Alliance, 2015a):A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise [...]. Co-operatives are businesses owned and run by and for their members. Whether the members are the customers, employees or residents they have an equal say in what the business does and a share in the profits. As businesses driven by values not just profit, co-operatives share internationally agreed principles and act together to build a better world through co-operation.\nCo-operatives and the world economy: The largest 300 co-operatives in the world contributed USD2.2 trillion to the world economy in 2012, which we estimate to be about 2.2 percent of World Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is argued that this represents about 80 percent of the entire output of the co-operative sector. Hence, it is possible that the co-operative sector contributed 2.8 percent to total world output (2.2/0.80). The USD2.2 trillion is equivalent to the size of the Brazilian economy (GDP) (derived from International Co-operative Alliance, 2015b; World Co-operative Monitor, 2015a, b).\nA very short history of co-operative business in New Zealand: While the first recorded co-operative was established in Fenwick, Scotland in 1769, the generally accepted foundation of the modern co-operative model is from Rochdale England. In 1844 a group of consumers came together to achieve lower prices on basic necessities by buying in bulk and developed a set of value bound rules to govern their business, which have become known as the Rochdale Principles (Rochdale Pioneers Museum, 2016). These principles have been used as the basis for governance of many co-operative businesses throughout the world and have been incorporated into the ICA's own set of core values that co-operative should uphold (Co-operative Business New Zealand, 2016).\nPolicy: Co-operatives were recognized legally in 1996 when the Cooperative Companies Act was passed. This act differentiated co-operatives from IOFs in a number of ways. Mainly it allowed for powers relating to the control and issue of shares. For example, it gave co-operatives the power to issue shares at nominal values. Further, it prevented non-co-operative firms from having the title \"co-operative\" or any variation of this within their name. Beyond what is laid out in this act, co-operatives are subject the same legal requirements and restriction as an IOF as laid out in the Companies Act 1993 (Ministry of Economic Development, 2013).\nEconomic impact of co-operatives: In 2012, the New Zealand Co-operative Association (now Cooperative Business New Zealand) and the Ministry of Economic Development (now Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment) commissioned Statistics New Zealand to estimate the contribution of co-operatives to New Zealand's GDP. The report that was issued found that co-operatives contributed 5.8 billion New Zealand dollars to GDP, or approximately 3 percent of New Zealand's GDP in 2009. The report also found that 35,937 people were employed by co-operatives in New Zealand (New Zealand Co-operative Association, 2012)[2]. These are the most rigorous estimates thus far produced on the co-operative sector.\nRevising estimates for the New Zealand's co-operative sector: This study develops, we would argue, a more robust measure of the contribution of co-operatives to New Zealand's GDP. A thorough survey was conducted on co-operative businesses in New Zealand that encompass co-operatives large and small. This survey collected data on the revenue, assets, employees, members, and employees employed by members. It is based on a list of firms provided to us by the New Zealand Cooperatives Association. Also used are the annual reports of co-operatives, where available. The results of this survey are aggregated and presented in Table I[3].\nConclusion: Our revised estimates of the size of the co-operative sector, using a combination of surveys and annual reports, suggest that New Zealand's co-operative sector is much larger than previously thought, both in terms of output and employment. These estimates are carefully constructed using value added methodology and also taking care to introduce assumptions, where necessary, that err on the side of generating lower-bound as opposed to upper-bound estimates. Therefore, our much higher revised estimates are lower-bound. These estimates contribute to efforts by the ICA and the United Nations to generate robust estimates of the contribution of the co-operative sector to the economy. It is important to note that our estimates are for 2012 and not all firms are covered, albeit these are the smaller players. Needless to say, revisions and improvements to our estimates are warranted.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the size of New Zealand's co-operative sector, in terms of its direct contribution to output and employment as well as its indirect impact. This adds to the construction of a rigorous representation of the global co-operative economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The findings here are based on data derived largely from surveying the co-operative sector in 2012. A value added approach is used to estimate the co-ops sector's contribution to New Zealand's GNP.\nFindings: The author estimates suggest that the cooperative sector is much larger, even in its direct impact on the economy, than the prior estimates indicate.\nResearch limitations/implications: Assumptions were made on the size contribution of missing firms and the value added contribution of co-ops. These assumptions need to be interrogated and improved upon, albeit the assumptions are designed to generate lower bound size estimates.\nPractical implications: The methodology adopted in this paper can be used to develop more rigorous estimates of the size of the co-op sector globally.\nSocial implications: The results empirically challenge the worldview of conventional economics that co-ops are not economically sustainable, where co-ops offer a more equitable and democratic mode for production and development.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents revised, relatively robust, and methodologically transparent estimates of the size of New Zealand's co-operative sector. These estimates suggest a much larger sector than previously thought. The methodology developed here can contribute to developing more robust estimates of the size of the co-op sector globally.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Dimensions of price salience: a conceptual framework for perceptions of multi-dimensional prices
|
[
"Prices",
"Perception",
"Pricing policy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Consumers are frequently exposed to prices that consist of more than a single number (e.g. \"$729 dish washer, plus $45 installation fee and $99 delivery charge\"). Estelami (2003a, b) broadly defined such a price as a multi-dimensional price (MDP). Some examples of MDPs include price discounts (e.g. \"$599 regular price, 25% off\"), partitioned pricing where a total price is divided into two mandatory parts (e.g. \"$799 airline ticket plus $50 airport charge,\" see Morwitz et al., 1998) and pennies-a-day pricing where the aggregate one-time expense is divided into a series of ongoing smaller expenses (e.g. \"$299/month for 36 months,\" see Gourville, 1998). A unique aspect of MDPs is that consumers must perform a computation in order to assess the total price. Ample research findings show that consumers subjectively perceive even uni-dimensional prices (e.g. Compeau and Grewal, 1998; Grewal et al., 1998). Thus, perceptions of MDPs should be even more subjective.\nPerceptions of multi-dimensional prices: The way prices are presented to consumers influences consumers' processing of price information and evaluation of the offer (see Krishna et al., 2002 for a recent review). The impact of price presentation on deal perception has been investigated in various research streams including the work on MDPs (Estelami, 2003a; Morwitz et al., 1998; Gourville, 1998).Although Estelami (2003a) proposed six types of MDPs (see Table I), for clarity and brevity we re-cagoterized them into three groups: discounted prices, surcharged prices, and per unit prices. Discounted prices refer to prices that have a percentage- or dollar-based discount. Surcharged prices are prices that consist of a base price and a surcharge or surcharges. Per unit prices contain a dollar dimension that is distributed or aggregated over a unit dimension. The unit dimension typically consists of time or product quantity (e.g. $30/month for 24 months or five apples for $5). In the sections below, we draw on existing research to show how price perceptions are formed and what their consequences are in these three categories of MDPs.Discounted prices\nPrice salience: Salience in pricing research\nDimensions of price salience: In this section, we propose and discuss four basic dimensions of price salience:1. visual;2. semantic;3. computational; and4. magnitude.We will use three groups of MDPs (i.e. discounted, surcharged and per unit prices) as examples to explain different dimensions of price salience. We feel it is important to state here that these four dimensions are not mutually exclusive and can co-occur in various combinations and to a continuum of degrees. Table I and Figure 1 summarize characteristics of each price salience dimension and practical implications. Thus, practical implications will not be discussed in detail in this section. Further, based on our discussion of the four dimensions of price salience, we offer several propositions.Visual salience\nGeneral discussion: In this research, we identify the four basic dimensions of price salience:1. visual;2. semantic;3. computational; and4. magnitude price salience.Although previous research employed price salience as a key variable, no systematic conceptualization of what makes a price salient was provided. Our framework of how different dimensions make a price salient has important implications for both researchers and practitioners.Our conceptualization of price salience is the first to integrate existing findings of the role of price salience. Different researchers examined different dimensions of price salience. Thus, \"price salience\" was loosely used in research. We have shown here that \"price salience\" is not a one-dimensional construct. We integrated isolated and scattered findings of price salience into a conceptual framework that enables researchers to systematically tackle issues related to price perception.However, the different dimensions of price salience are not mutually exclusive. A dimension can interact with another dimension to further influence price salience. For instance, magnitude salience augmented with visual salience should together cause a greater increase in price salience than when either dimension is used separately.This research also underscores the need for more research on perceptions of MDPs. Price salience is integral to perceptions of MDPs because consumers tend to pay attention to and process only salient components of MDPs - the more salient MDP components are, the more accurate consumers' processing becomes. In other words, high price salience increases consumers' elaboration.For practitioners, this research provides a guideline to understand how their price presentation influences consumers' processing of price information. By utilizing the findings of this research, practitioners can better devise price presentation tactics by identifying how and when to make a price component less or more salient.Finally, we must acknowledge an ethical dilemma in this research: we in effect provide tactics to manipulate price salience that can be taken advantage of by unethical marketers.It is apparent that if used deceptively and unethically, marketer-controlled salience manipulations could further influence price perceptions. Thus, consumer protection becomes a crucial issue. The Depository Institutions Deregulations and Monetary Control Act of 1980, in general, protects consumers from confusion that may stem from marketer-driven manipulation. Further, the Federal Trade Commission guidelines protect consumers from the abuse of manipulation of price presentation (for discussion see Kaufmann et al., 1994). For example, if a retailer makes a price presentation such as \"Was $999, Now $99!\", the reference to the old price is intended to make the new price salient. However, if the retailer has never sold a product at the old price, and if the demand significantly increases due to the old price, then the pricing tactic may be deemed deceptive under the FTC guidelines.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to conceptualize dimensions of price salience. Price salience influences price perceptions and deal evaluations. This is especially true when a price consists of more than a single number (multi-dimensional prices). Yet, the very notion of what makes a price salient remains unanswered. By providing a clear conceptualization of different dimensions of price salience and their influence on price perception, we integrate and extend extant research findings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - By drawing on extant research on price salience and salience in general, the paper develops a framework of how different dimensions of price salience are defined and influence price perception.\nFindings: - The paper identifies the four basic dimensions of price salience: visual, semantic, computational, and magnitude salience. It is argued that each dimension has a unique influence on price perceptions.\nResearch limiations/implications: - Although widely employed as a key variable in pricing research, price salience has not been clearly defined and issues related to price salience are scattered in the literature. By integrating those issues under a single rubric, the paper enable's pricing researchers to tackle issues related to price salience in a systematic way. Further, it offers several propositions regarding price salience that future research could examine.\nOriginality/value: - This article helps practitioners by providing a clear understanding of how each dimension of price salience influence price perceptions. By digesting this article, practitioners can better understand how their price presentations work and better formulate their pricing strategies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Knowledge sharing and firm innovation capability in Croatian ICT companies
|
[
"Croatia",
"Knowledge sharing",
"ICT companies",
"Firm innovation capability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Innovation is defined as the development and implementation of new ideas by people who engage in transactions over time with others within an institutional order. The need for understanding and managing innovation appears to be widespread (Van de Ven, 1998). Innovation is no longer the sole province of a company's research and development division. Companies that have mastered innovation (well-known industry leaders such as Google, Apple, BMW, P&G) have gone beyond R&D to ensure that innovation is an integral part of their organizations and their extended value chains. In doing so, these companies have not only achieved notoriety but also significant and valuable competitive advantage. Nowadays other companies are looking and learning from these innovation leaders (Yadav et al., 2007).\n2. Theoretical framework: Previous research has listed different factors that facilitate knowledge-sharing behavior. In this research knowledge-sharing enablers will be categorized into three general factors, individual, organizational, and technology factors. Individual and organizational factors will be examined through two main subfactors, enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy as individual factors, and top management support and organizational rewards as organizational factors. Related to technology factor, ICT use will be examined as a subfactor.\n3. Methodology: Method used for collecting the sample is non-probability sampling by purposive sampling which indicates selecting samples based on specific criteria (Sekaran, 2003). Employees in ICT firms in Republic of Croatia was criteria used on sample selecting in this research. Total sample counts 196 employees.\n4. Findings and conclusion: 4.1 Data analysis and results\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically distinguish the influence of the individual factors (enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy), organizational factors (top management support and organizational rewards) and technology factors (information and communication technology use) on knowledge-sharing processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a survey of 196 employees from large ICT companies in Croatia, and structural equation modeling was used to investigate the research model.\nFindings: Results of the empirical research indicate that enjoyment in helping others as an individual factor, top management support as an organizational factor, and ICT use as a technology factor significantly influence knowledge-sharing processes. The results also suggest that the willingness of employee to donate and collect knowledge enables the firm to improve innovation capability. No influence of the individual factor knowledge self-efficacy on the employee knowledge-sharing behavior was found within this research.\nResearch limitations/implications: Subjectivity of respondents, Likert scale - perception, and future research can include higher number of population and examine how personal traits (such as age, level of education, and working experience) and organizational characteristics (such as firm size) may moderate the relationships between knowledge enablers and processes.\nPractical implications: From a practical perspective, the relationships among knowledge-sharing enablers, processes, and firm innovation capability may provide a guide regarding how firms can promote knowledge-sharing cultures to sustain their innovation performance.\nOriginality/value: This study identifies several factors essential to successful knowledge sharing, and discusses the implications of these factors for developing organizational strategies that encourage and foster knowledge sharing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evaluation of an online "teachable moment" dietary intervention
|
[
"Behavioural change",
"Dietary behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The importance of a healthy diet\nMethod: Participants\nResults: The results were analysed to describe participant demographics, and to assess the impact of the intervention on intentions to eat healthily, healthy eating behaviour at one month follow-up, and target health outcome (weight or symptoms) at one month follow-up.\nDiscussion: Maintaining a healthy, balanced diet is important for good health and may be particularly beneficial for a range of health problems, including overweight and food intolerance. Through adjusting the focus of the motivation to suit individuals with differing problems (overweight and food intolerance) the intervention successfully increased intentions to eat healthily in both groups. It was also successful in increasing healthy eating behaviour, with similar findings for the intention-to-treat and explanatory analyses. According to Cohen's (1992) guidelines, the intervention had medium and large effects on healthy eating behaviour and intentions, respectively. Previous research has retrospectively described the mechanisms related to behaviour change and has suggested that teachable moments may trigger change that can be sustained in the longer term (Epiphaniou and Ogden, 2010; Ogden and Hills, 2008; Ogden and Jubb, 2008; West and Sohal, 2006). This study extends previous research to show that individuals can be encouraged to see everyday events as a \"teachable moment\", and that this in turn can be used to produce changes in intentions and reported eating behaviours in two diet-related areas.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an online \"teachable moment\" intervention to promote healthy eating for overweight and food intolerance symptoms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study involves a 2x2 factorial design with two conditions: group (weight loss vs food intolerance) and condition (intervention vs control). The intervention aimed to generate a \"teachable moment\" by providing knowledge regarding the relationship between food and the problem (overweight or food intolerance), focussing on the negative aspects of the problem, creating a behavioural model, and encouraging hope and reinvention. Participants receiving the intervention (n=22) completed measures of dietary behaviour and either weight or food intolerance symptoms before receiving the intervention and again one month later. Control participants (n=20) provided measures but did not receive the intervention.\nFindings: There were no significant reductions in weight or food intolerance symptoms. However, compared to control participants, participants in the intervention conditions reported greater intentions to eat healthily (p=0.01) and improved healthy eating behaviour over time, following both an intention-to-treat (p=0.046) and explanatory analysis (p=0.042).\nPractical implications: Encouraging individuals to perceive their everyday situation as a time for change and adopt healthier behaviour early on, may prevent future diet-related medical events. This has benefits for both the individual and for health care costs.\nOriginality/value: A quick and easy-to-administer online \"teachable moment\" intervention improves dietary behaviour and can be minimally adapted to suit individuals with differing health needs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Benchmarking the efficiencies of Indonesia's municipal water utilities using Stackelberg data envelopment analysis
|
[
"Benchmarking",
"Data envelopment analysis",
"Indonesia",
"Artificial neural network",
"Municipal water utility",
"Serviceability",
"Profitability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In their effort to meet Millennium Development Goals, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) set the national target for piped water service coverage at 68.87 percent of Indonesia's total population by 2015 (78.19 percent of the urban population and 61.60 percent of the rural population; Ministry of Public Works, 2010). However, while the GoI did make considerable progress in this area - urban and rural coverage in 2009 were 47.23 and 11.5 percent, respectively, indicating increases from the 2004 levels of 41 and 8 percent, respectively - it fell short of its initial targets by about 13 and 18.5 percent, respectively.\n2. Indonesia's water supply sector: The history of Indonesian MWUs may date back to as early as the Dutch colonialism of the nineteenth century; however, the real precursor of contemporary MWUs was established in 1962, when the GoI enacted Act No. 5, which regulated local enterprises, including those responsible for waterwork systems. The responsibility for providing water, from production to distribution, traditionally rested with the central government; with the establishment of a number of waterwork agencies, some functions were delegated and the central government was only responsible for water treatment plants. However, this sharing of responsibilities did not always work smoothly, due to agencies' limited resources.\n3. Benchmarking efficiencies in the water sector: Benchmarking, according to its simplest definition, is the search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance (Camp, 1989). Inherent in this definition are two issues: who is the best and what are best practices? (Bell and Morey, 1994) and whom it is compared against and what is compared? (Barber, 2004). Benchmarking is more formally defined as the continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against the company's toughest competitors, or against companies recognized as industry leaders (Camp, 1992).\n4. Research methodology: In this section we will explain the research methodology we used to meet our objectives. This section mainly consists of model development, a brief overview of how the leader-follower model was applied, identification of input and output measures and exogenous variables, data collection, and data analysis methods.\n5. Results and discussion: When serviceability was treated as the leader (Model 1), the LP solutions yielded the first-stage DEA scores. These scores ranged from 16 to 100 percent, with a mean of 55 percent. The scores for the second stage ranged from 0 to 100 percent, with a mean of 32 percent. The overall efficiencies were between 0 and 100 percent, with a mean of 20 percent. These levels of performance indicate sizable opportunities for improvement. A total of 19 and five DMUs had first- and second-stage DEA scores of unity, respectively, but there was only one performer with a perfect overall score of 1.00 (MWU Banyuwangi, see Table II). Again, due to the length constraint on the present paper, Table II only presents the 20 best performers based on overall efficiency scores.\n6. Concluding remarks: We have presented a yardstick comparison of efficiencies for 269 of Indonesia's MWUs, under the framework of a two-stage Stackelberg leader-follower DEA model. A substantial number of MWUs were found to be operating at inefficient levels as compared to their peers. Our analysis indicates that systematic and comprehensive measures to enhance the country's water-sector efficiencies are urgently needed, especially if the GoI is concerned about achieving MDGs. Due to the limited resources of both central and municipal governments, the highest priority for technical and financial assistance should be assigned to MWUs suffering from below-average efficiencies for both serviceability and profitability. The next-highest priority should be given to MWUs that are performing poorly at either for either serviceability or profitability.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a yardstick efficiency comparison of 269 Indonesian municipal water utilities (MWUs) and measures the impact of exogenous environmental variables on efficiency scores.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two-stage Stackelberg leader-follower data envelopment analysis (DEA) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were employed.\nFindings: Given that serviceability was treated as the leader and profitability as the follower, the first and second stage DEA scores were 55 and 32 percent (0 percent = totally inefficient, 100 percent = perfectly efficient), respectively. This indicates sizeable opportunities for improvement, with 39 percent of the total sample facing serious problems in both first- and second-stage efficiencies. When profitability instead leads serviceability, this results in more decreased efficiency. The size of the population served was the most important exogenous environmental variable affecting DEA efficiency scores in both the first and second stages.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present study was limited by the overly restrictive assumption that all MWUs operate at a constant-return-to-scale.\nPractical implications: These research findings will enable better management of the MWUs in question, allowing their current level of performance to be objectively compared with that of their peers, both in terms of scale and area of operation. These findings will also help the government prioritize assistance measures for MWUs that are suffering from acute performance gaps, and to devise a strategic national plan to revitalize Indonesia's water sector.\nOriginality/value: This paper enriches the body of knowledge by filling in knowledge gaps relating to benchmarking in Indonesia's water industry, as well as in the application of ensemble two-stage DEA and ANN, which are still rare in the literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Reflections on the PING! table tennis initiative: Lessons and new directions for sports development?
|
[
"Public sector",
"Ethnography",
"National governing bodies",
"Sports development",
"Table tennis",
"England"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: The management of public sector sports provision has grown increasingly complex due to the multiple layers of government that are involved, including local and sub-regional government, national governing body of sport (NGB) organisations, national policy departments and the quasi-non-governmental agencies (Devine, 2012; Green and Collins, 2008; Houlihan, 2005; King, 2012; Sam, 2009). Within this complex landscape, NGBs play a central role in the implementation of the dual, and sometimes conflicting, goals of achieving elite sporting success and mass participation (Bloyce and Smith, 2010; Green, 2009; Hogkinson and Hughes, 2012; Mackintosh, 2011). The extant literature has focused on factors that determine elite sporting success (De Bosscher et al., 2006), critiques of NGB governance structures (Taylor and O'Sullivan, 2009), athlete talent development systems (Stotlar and Wonders, 2006), the workforce implications of government policy change (Lusted and O'Gorman, 2010) and strategy and management practices related to organisational performance (Bayle and Robinson, 2007).\nData and methods: The research combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies both involving primary data collection. This included a brief, participant survey supported by qualitative ethnographic case studies. The cities of Birmingham and Liverpool were selected by the NGB as the choice of focus for the research as one had been involved in the previous year and the other was a new partner city. Only two cities were chosen due to the constraints of time and resources. ETTA staff and PING! volunteers administered the survey across multiple sites in each city. Questions focused on understanding the participant's profile, satisfaction levels and future participation intentions. A total of 375 valid surveys were collected across the two cities, which were double inputted into SPSS 19.\nResults and key findings: Participant motives, profile and past playing experience\nDiscussion and conclusion: The research project examines the impact of the PING! initiative which was established amidst an increasingly target driven and evidence-informed performance management culture of NGBs in England (Bloyce and Smith, 2010; Collins, 2010; Houlihan, 2005). This is part of a wider NGB trend that has also been identified in many other international public policy contexts (Bayle and Robinson, 2007; Piggin et al., 2009; Sam, 2009). In England Collins (2010, p. 374) identifies rather problematically that \"increasing participation has been a role for some NGBs, but for many their raison d'etre has been to win matches and develop performance athletes\". Thus this paper is both timely and of significance to the NGBs striving to increase participation in the UK and beyond in international settings.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the impact and effectiveness of the national PING! project implemented by a national governing body of sport (NGB) and key public sector partners in England. It establishes lessons learnt and areas to improve future programme development in this area of public sports management. In addition it is also evidencing a new approach to engaging with physical activity and sports development in local communities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research study is based on a user survey with 375 respondents and two qualitative ethnographic case studies in two of the eight cities that were involved in the programme. These case studies encompassed 30 individual or group interviews, informal observations and site visits across the two cities.\nFindings: The research project has identified some of the key factors that lie behind the positive outcomes of the scheme, including a strong sense of participant community, diverse participant profiles, a hidden workplace impact and building an entry point for non-engaged sports participants to sport and physical activity. In addition, lessons have been learnt in terms of future programme management, design and development in this field of informal and recreational sports project. These include strengthening opportunities for sustainable continued participation, sharing information with other NGBs that are beginning to work in this style of delivery and building alternative pathways to the traditional club as an outlet' for novice participants.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is based in England and is limited to a one year research project. The qualitative case studies were also only conducted in two of the main partner cities.\nOriginality/value: Very few empirical studies have examined this growing trend towards informal table tennis programmes and facilities. Likewise the paper also offers a novel evaluation approach for NGBs to gain richer more insightful depth of research lessons. It is also part of the growing literature that is questioning the foundations of \"traditional sports development\" practice and its associated sphere of public sector activity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Perceived quality and intention to revisit coffee concept shops in Malaysia: A mixed-methods approach
|
[
"Perceived quality",
"Service",
"Experience",
"Product",
"Coffee shop",
"Intention to revisit"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although luxury coffee might have once regarded overtly expensive, consumers today see it as an affordable extravagance. Subsequently, perceived quality (PQ), including the added value, has become an indispensable component to define the success of coffee businesses (Giacalone et al., 2016; Woodruff, 1997). Hence, the ability of coffee concept shops to deliver superior quality is essential to consumers' favourable behaviours (Ting and Ramayah, 2016). When products are perceived as of high quality, they will likely convert intangible responses into tangible behaviours, such as repurchase and revisit (Kang et al., 2011; Wakefield and Blodgett, 1996).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 PQ\n3. Methodology: In order to understand the intention to revisit coffee concept shops in developing markets between the regular and irregular consumers, the framework proposed by Pine and Gilmore's (2000) is adopted along with the TRA as the basis to look into the effect of PQ of the product, SQ and EQ on intention to revisit. In terms of the research design, mixed-methods approach which assumes pragmatism is used to complement the findings and articulate the implications of the study (Creswell and Clark, 2007). Particularly, sequential explanatory design is adopted whereby a qualitative study is conducted to confirm, complement and triangulate the findings from the quantitative study (Venkatesh et al., 2013). The inclusion of a qualitative approach is believed to be able to validate the quantitative results and provide more practical insights (Granek and Nakash, 2015).\n4. Findings and discussions: 4.1 Preliminary study\n5. Implications and conclusions: The present study utilises TRA to provide some valuable insights into the perceptions on PQ, SQ, EQ and intention to revisit coffee concept shops in a developing market. Although Pine and Gilmore's (2000) framework is generally supported, there is little evidence to suggest that PQ and SQ are less important than EQ for regular consumers. Nevertheless, EQ plays a crucial role in augmenting the product and service, thus reinforcing consumers' intention to revisit coffee concept shops (Clark and Wood, 1998; Walls et al., 2011). As such, it is imperative that managers of coffee concept shops devise comprehensive strategies to reinforce PQ, SQ, and EQ simultaneously without losing sight of its core business. It is a challenge not only to the coffee concept shops, but also the food and beverage industry in general to meet consumers' changing needs and wants by providing added values to their core products.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of perceived quality on intention to revisit coffee concept shops among regular and irregular consumers. Specifically, the framework developed by Pine and Gilmore (2000) is adopted to look into the effect of product, service and experience qualities on intention to revisit.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used to articulate the intention of consumers to revisit coffee concept shops. A preliminary study was conducted to define regular and irregular consumers. Self-administered questionnaire was first administered before using interview to elicit more insights and triangulate the findings.\nFindings: The combination of both quantitative and qualitative findings show that the experiences of regular consumers at coffee concept shops include personal routine activities, while the experiences of irregular customers are composed of occasions with specific and collective purposes. While the intention to revisit of the former is related to the product and service quality, the intention of the latter is largely affected by its service and experience quality.\nOriginality/value: Given the rapid rise of coffee concept shops in the developing markets, the use of a mixed-methods design provides more insights into the intention to revisit of the regular and irregular consumers. It underscores the importance for the organisations to know what really matters to the diverse consumers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The potential effect of end-users on energy conservation in office buildings
|
[
"Energy conservation",
"Simulation",
"Office buildings",
"Electricity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Throughout the world, energy conservation is ranked as a high priority on the environmental agenda. Because of its large share of overall energy consumption (30-40 per cent) and the potential for economic improvements, the property presents a major energy conservation opportunity (Georgopoulou et al., 2006; McGregor, 1994; Hanemann and Farrell, 2006; UNEP, 2007).One of the dilemmas of energy conservation in buildings is the minor financial significance energy represents in most end-user organisations. In office buildings, the energy costs are often dwarfed by the initial investment cost or the rent of the premises (Davies and Chan, 2001). Often, even the most profitable energy improvement measures, remain unimplemented. The contrast is even more extreme when the energy costs are compared with labour and other operating costs of the end-user organisation; the energy costs are typically less than one percent of the running costs of an office organisation (Junnila, 2004; Kats et al., 2003; Leibowitz, 2001).However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the proportion of building occupants that demand greater control over their space (McGregor, 1994; Ornetzeder and Rohracher, 2004). Many companies appear committed to energy conservation based on their environmental or other values (Nousiainen and Junnila, 2006; Nousiainen and Junnila, 2005). This group of sophisticated office occupants could open new possibilities for energy conservation in building sector.To date, energy conservation studies in buildings seem to have focused on technologies (Georgopoulou et al., 2006; Davies and Chan, 2001; Kowalczyk, 1985; Smith and Fazzolare, 1979) and, to some extent, on the end-user involvement in the design phase of the building (Ornetzeder and Rohracher, 2004; Lukas, 2000; McGregor, 1994). Some authors have also drawn attention on the post-occupancy evaluation as a tool for more sustainable production and consumption of the built environment (Cooper, 2001). Few studies have focused on quantifying the end-user effect on the energy conservation of offices. At the same time many managers are still considering the end-user's influence on energy consumption to be negligible or insignificant (Lukas, 2000).The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of end-users effect on energy conservation in office buildings. The study estimates the current level of energy management of four end-user organisations and quantifies the energy conservation potential of their offices by simulating several end-user scenarios for energy conservation.\nMethods: Research design\nThe cases and scenarios: All of the four case organisations were banking industry organisations occupying a relatively similar size of office stock (ranging from 160,000 net m2 to 270,000 net m2) in four Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway). Most (60 to 80 per cent) of the occupied building stock is in all cases built before the 1990s, the share of new buildings built after 2000 is low, ranging from 0 to 10 per cent. The facilities management in all of the organisations had a relatively active history in energy conservation (routinely using energy audits of office buildings). The current level of annual electricity consumption in organisations varied from 120 to 180 kWh per net m2 with the average being 144 kWh per net m2.The energy conservation potential of the organisations was estimated by comparing the current energy consumption of office equipment and lighting (Base Case) to the developed energy conservation scenarios. The energy conservation scenarios contain several simultaneous energy conservation actions. The order in which the energy conservation actions were applied to the scenarios was first suggested by the researcher but ultimately determined (heuristically) by the organisation representatives based on the feasibility of each action. The energy conservation scenarios were calculated separately for office equipment and lighting. The tested energy conservation actions are presented in Table II, and the cumulative scenarios in Tables III and IV.\nResults: Office equipment\nDiscussion and conclusion: Currently, the wide-ranging literature on energy efficiency of office buildings does not provide good data for estimating the energy conservation potential through improved end-user-energy management. This study estimated the potential magnitude of end-user influence on the energy consumption of four banking organisations in the Nordic countries by quantifying the impact of nine end-user-energy-conservation scenarios. The study found that noticeable potential for energy conservation exists in the proper end-user-energy management. The potential for energy conservation through enhanced use of office equipment and lighting was found to be around 40-50 per cent equalling approximately 20 per cent of the overall electricity consumption of the organisations.The magnitude of estimated savings (some 20 per cent, in energy consumptions through the end-user actions alone) is already close to the amount, 20-40 per cent, often presented in the literature as a easily reachable goal for energy conservation in new office buildings by employing energy saving techniques (Lockwood, 2006; Edwards, 2006; Diamond et al., 2006; Bodart and de Herde, 2002). Although the user behaviour may be more challenging to manage than pure technology, it could be quite profitable. All the energy conservation actions included in the study involved only measures with no or very low investment costs, but at the same time, they would save around EUR0.3 to 0.5 million every year for the case companies, when calculated with the current price of EUR60 per MWh for electricity in moderately large energy users (EU, 2006). Another positive implication of end-user-energy management is that the competence gained there is linked to the organisation and not to the facility. Even if the end-user moves to new premises, the improved performance in energy management stays with the organisation. Furthermore, the end-user-energy management would offer an excellent means for service industry to realise their environmental targets. The electricity consumption of offices is assessed to be the largest single source of environmental impacts in service sector organisations (Junnila, 2006a; Junnila, 2006b). In many occasions, with 20 per cent conservation in the end-user-energy consumption alone, the services industry companies could fulfil the targets of 7 to 8 per cent suggested by the Kyoto protocol for EU and the US (Kyoto Protocol, 1997).The scope of the study was limited to the end-user's interest and possibilities for energy conservation. It is highly probable that similar or better energy saving measures could be found in other areas of energy management, such as by adjusting the operating hours of ventilation plant. Moreover, in the best case scenario, it was also assumed that all of the energy conservation actions would be implemented simultaneously. In practice, it would probably take several years to implement all of them. Thirdly, the simulation methods used, especially for lighting, only give an estimation of the \"best case\" type of situation for all tested scenarios, in which it is assumed that all the end-users would start to behave according to the scenario In practice, all individuals can hardly ever accomplish such a best case behaviour. Fourthly, it seems that the relatively similar results in some of the cases are due to the quality of source data used for calculations. For example, only two of the four cases had specific information for the lighting power density and control practices of their buildings, thus for others, industry average data based on the construction year of the building had to be used. Similarly, only one organisation had specific data about power consumption of the different modes of their PCs. Again, for all the other organisations, an industry average data had to be used. Finally, the multiple case study focused only on four Nordic countries and banking organisations. As the banking industry tends to be more conservative than many other industries, and on the other hand, the Nordic countries are relatively advanced in energy conservation, the saving potentials assessed are not necessary valid for offices in other industries and countries.However, based on the results, it seems that proper end-user energy management (using automation to replace the users' lack of activeness in energy conservation or involving users in energy conservation behavioural training) could offer a new opportunity for improving the energy efficiency of office buildings. For service sector companies, such as banking, in which office related work constitutes a major part of the operations, end-user-energy conservation could also have some financial significance. Especially, the energy conservation actions involving no investments, such as enabling the power management options of office equipment, could be highly feasible in the competitive company environment. The future studies could concentrate more on the actual management of end-user energy. In particular, it would be interesting to determine the best party to provide the end-user-energy management: could it, for instance, be a facilities management organisation that could provide the end-user-energy management as a new commercial service.In the future, further analysis of actual energy consumption of equipment and lighting through exact localised monitoring would be needed in order to have an access to more accurate consumption data. Practical recommendation for office organisation could be to organise their end-user electricity management, at least in the organisations occupying large amounts of office space, just like any other multi-million euro operation in the company. In addition, for those companies that have environmental objectives, the end-user-energy management could offer a cost-effective way for complying with their targets. Finally, the smaller companies could start to improve their end-user energy management as well, if the suggested EUR2 per m2 business with 20 per cent profit would comprise a meaningful improvement for their business.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the study is to estimate the potential of end-user effect on energy conservation in office buildings. The study quantifies the energy conservation potential and estimates the current level of energy management in four banking organisations in the Nordic countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The multiple case study employs quantitative scenario analysis for estimating the energy conservation potential of office equipment and lighting, and uses a qualitative model for estimating the current level of end-user energy management in the organisations.\nFindings: - The study found that noticeable potential for energy conservation exists in the end-user energy consumption. The tested scenarios significantly decreased the yearly electricity consumption of office equipment, for some 70 per cent, from 21 kWh per m2 to 6 kWh per m2. The electricity consumption of lighting was also noticeably improved, for some 30 per cent, from 38 kWh per m2 to 27 kWh per m2, equalling a 29 per cent reduction there. Altogether, the identified savings equal an improvement of roughly 20 per cent in the overall electricity consumption of the organisations. At the same time, the evaluation of current energy management showed that the management practices implemented represent only a rather modest level of end-user energy management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The multiple case study focused on four Nordic countries and banking organisations only. As the banking sector tends to be more conservative than some other industries, the results are not necessary valid in all industries. The simulation tools used, especially for lighting, only give estimation of the \"best case\" type of situation for tested scenarios, in which it is assumed that all end-users would start to behave according to the scenario.\nPractical implications: - This study implies clearly that end-user-energy-management services are needed in FM. Although the user behaviour is more challenging to manage than pure technology, it can be quite profitable. For example, in the studied organisations, the savings found in end-user energy would equal yearly profits of roughly 1.7 million EUR, i.e. some 20 per cent of the overall electricity budgets of the companies.\nOriginality/value: - Most of the quantitative energy conservation studies in the offices have concentrated so far on new constructions and building system improvements. This study quantifies the potential influence of good facilities management with the end-user activation on the energy efficiency of office buildings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Usage control architecture options for data sovereignty in business ecosystems
|
[
"Architecture",
"Business ecosystem",
"Design science research",
"Data sovereignty",
"Usage control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The on-going digitization process of the industrial sectors brings with it disruptive developments for how enterprises conduct business. The explosion of the volume of data influences business models at their core. In the digital world, enterprises need to build business ecosystems to be able to share data to provide products and services (Acatech et al., 2014). A central issue with data is the simplicity with which they are copied or shared. For example, in the music industry, songs in MP3 format can easily be shared between people without taking into consideration the owner's copyrights (Ma, 2017). Business will grow ever more codependent and form digital business ecosystems. Therefore, the questions about the capabilities of being self-determined concerning its data will become more critical for businesses. The required capabilities are summarized under the term data sovereignty (Otto et al., 2017). Business partners do not only need to specify access rights toward shared data but also need to set usage control (UC) policies, which specify how third parties can use their data (Karafili and Lupu, 2017).\n2. Background and related work: 2.1 Approach for literature review\n3. Research design: 3.1 Case setting and description\n4. Requirements for data sovereignty and usage control policies: In this section, the authors analyze existing literature for data sovereignty and usage control policies requirements. Furthermore, they conduct a case study to survey requirements from the industry.\n5. Usage control architecture options in business ecosystems: The following section comprises an introduction to the used policy enforcement framework and the different architecture options to implement data sovereignty by using this framework.\n6. Evaluation: For evaluating the feasibility and industrial applicability of the developed architecture options, the authors perform a case study with practitioners from the automotive industry. Although representing different companies, the participants have taken on both perspectives, because they are both data providers and data consumers. In a one-day workshop (see Workshop D in Figure 1), the following steps are conducted as a focus group discussion: (Step 1) assessment of the most suitable architecture option for the CSCRM use case, (Step 2) discussion of implementation prerequisites and implications in practice, (Step 3) feasibility assessment of the architecture options. The discussion of all three steps is based on the data sovereignty requirements (see Table II) and the UC policies (see Table III) from Section 4.\n7. Conclusion: The digitization of business brings with it new challenges for inter-organizational collaboration, e.g., in the exchange of data to develop digital products and services.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Current business challenges force companies to exchange critical and sensitive data. The data provider pays great attention to the usage of their data and wants to control it by policies. The purpose of this paper is to develop usage control architecture options to enable data sovereignty in business ecosystems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The architecture options are developed following the design science research process. Based on requirements from an automotive use case, the authors develop architecture options. The different architecture options are demonstrated and evaluated based on the case study with practitioners from the automotive industry.\nFindings: This paper introduces different architecture options for implementing usage control (UC). The proposed architecture options represent solutions for UC in business ecosystems. The comparison of the architecture options shows the respective advantages and disadvantages for data provider and data consumer.\nResearch limitations/implications: In this work, the authors address only one case stemming from the German automotive sector.\nPractical implications: Technical enforcement of data providers policies instead of relying on trust to support collaborative data exchange between companies.\nOriginality/value: This research is among the first to introduce architecture options that provide a technical concept for the implementation of data sovereignty in business ecosystems using UC. Consequently, it supports the decision process for the technical implementation of data sovereignty.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Cognitive and behavioural determinants of trust in small and medium-sized enterprises
|
[
"Cognition",
"Channel relationships",
"Trust",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"Electronics industry",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The forces associated with the development of business relationships have received considerable attention because of the recognition that it is possible to increase profitability through relational exchange (governed by norms of long-term cooperation, mutual satisfaction, shared trust and open communications) rather than discrete transactional exchange that is at arm's length, short-term and centred on self-interest (see for example Storbacka et al., 1994; Weitz and Jap, 1995). As a result research related to the study of establishing, developing and maintaining successful business relationships between customer and supplier firms has grown considerably (see special issues on the subject of Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Management, and Journal of Business Research). Within this domain, a construct that has received particular attention within the domain of b-to-b relationships is trust (Ganesan, 1994; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Doney and Cannon, 1997; Geyskens et al., 1998). Empirical evidence presented in numerous academic and practitioner articles has consistently shown that trust reduces conflict, increases commitment, propagates cooperation and enhances longevity in business relationships (see for example, Anderson and Narus, 1990; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Andaleeb and Charles, 1996).Focusing on SMEs, two main reasons support the proposition that such companies should pay particular attention to the development of inter-organisational trust. First, mostly SMEs have a weak performance record and need trust as a \"device for convincing/reassurance\" to attract potential partners, investors and customers (Johannisson, 2001). Therefore trust can help SMEs to leverage their less-known profile which gives them a \"soft edge\" in being competitive. Second, particularly within an asymmetric set-up where SME could be vulnerable and exposed to larger firm's actions, some sort of security is needed. Trust, by infusing predictability (through enhanced information sharing) and mutual understanding into a relationship, provides a cushion against uncertainty (Luhmann, 1995; Huston and Burgess, 1979). In turn, this provides a safety net for financially-constrained SMEs which cannot put in place tangible assurances in the form of mutual investments but can rely on inter-organisational trust.However, despite the above, review of trust-related literature has highlighted that the research contributions so far have largely addressed the behaviour of trust in business relations between large organisations and that the study of trust within SME business exchanges has been largely ignored. Although some literature examining relational exchange within SMEs exists (Buckley, 1989; Lee and Jang, 1998; Perren, 1998; Silversides, 2001; Chiou et al., 2004; Houghton and Winklhofer, 2004)) the study of trust in SMEs is considered to be both scant and underdeveloped (Hu and Korneliussen, 1997; Lee and Jang, 1998; Coulter and Coulter 2002). With the exception of Chiou et al. (2004) the SME trust studies reviewed were found to: be treating trust as a unidimensional construct mostly operationalised using single item measures; be limited in scope in terms of examining trust related constructs; and be based on small scale studies thus raising questions regarding the generalisability of the reported results. Responding to these observations this study aims to provide a systematic examination of the importance of trust developing constructs and the impact of trust on long-term orientation (LTO) within the domain of SME business relationships.\nResearch framework and research hypotheses: In order to achieve the above stated aim, the research model presented in Figure 1 and grounded in related literature has been developed.Conceptualisation of trust\nResearch methodology: The research took the form of a self-completion survey of SMEs within the UK electrical and electronic industry. The sector was chosen because: it is characterised by an abundance of SMEs; the dynamic and volatile disposition of the sector makes it suitable for inter-business trust based relationship study; and specialist and capital-intensive products evoke long-term exchanges. The Electronics and Electrical Buyers Guide 2001/2002 published by CMP Information Limited provided the sampling frame that included over 5,000 entries. For each entry, in addition to contact details, the publication provided a wide variety of information such as annual turnover, number of employees, names of executives etc. Given the lack of widely accepted definition of SMEs we employed the criteria of less than 250 employees used by the DTI, the European Commission and specified in the UK Companies Act 1985. Systematic sampling of those fulfilling the above criterion resulted in a sample size of 987 potential respondents.Most of the research measures were borrowed from research papers published in the top ranking journals (Hult et al., 1997) (see Appendix for source of measures). Because the \"borrowed\" measures were developed in studies focused on large organisations, a small-scale pilot test was carried out that indicated no serious problems with the adopted operationalisations. In total, using a seven-point Likert scale, information on 37 items representing the seven model constructs was collected. Potential respondents were requested to consider their major customer when completing the questionnaire. All measures were considered to represent reflective latent variables (see guidelines provided by Jarvis et al., 2003).Given the wide dispersion of the target population, it was decided to use a self-administered postal questionnaire for the collection of the data and the questionnaire was addressed to the highest ranked manager in each of the selected companies. In total 229 completed questionnaires were received. After allowing for unusables a 36 per cent response rate was obtained which is comparable to other similar studies (see Klass et al., 2002; Chiou et al., 2004) and provides an adequate basis for analysis (Hair et al., 1998). The usual tests of non-response bias (i.e. limited follow-ups, comparison of early and late responses etc.; Armstrong and Overton, 1977) were carried out and we were satisfied as to the representativeness of the sample.\nAnalysis and results: Given that the constructs have been operationalised as multi-item scales, before testing the model each construct, except trust, was assessed for unidimensionality. For each construct Table I presents the initial number of items and the final number of items after purification. The Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability values for all constructs were above 0.70, in addition for construct with more than three items the GFI values associated with confirmatory factor analysis were above 0.90.Trust was tested as a second order construct of benevolence and credibility. The results confirmed its second order status in terms of overall fit (kh2 = 0.64; df = 1, p=0.422; GFI = 0.998; AGFI = 0.984; RMSEA = 0.001) and significance of the Trust-Benevolence (0.84, p < 0.001), and Trust-Credibility (0.68, p < 0.001) pathways. Consequently, it can be concluded that the results support the proposed structure of the constructs employed. In terms of validity the average variance extracted values associated with each construct were in excess of the recommended benchmark of 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) and the square root of a construct's AVE is considerably higher than its bivariate correlations with the other constructs (see Table II). As a result of the above we are satisfied with the psychometric properties of the measures and proceed to test the structural model.The results related with the research model presented in Table III indicate that although the solution has some merit (e.g., GFI and NFI values greater than 0.90) there are also concerns (e.g. significance of the kh2, GFI marginal and RMSEA above 0.08; Hair et al., 1998; Byrne, 2001). Consequently, substantive revisions to the research model were carried out through deletion of non-significant pathways and examination of the impact that additional theoretically justified pathways have on the solution.The revised model meets the various goodness of fit criteria, more specifically the kh2 is not significant, GFI, AGFI and NFI are above 0.90 and the RMSEA below 0.08. In terms of pathways, the only original pathway not supported is that of Skill-Trust while three additional pathways have been incorporated in the original model (Skill-LTO, Skill-Credibility and Coercive Power-LTO).\nConclusions and discussion: The research reported here has attempted to provide a systematic examination of the importance of the proposed trust determinants and the impact of trust on the development of LTO within the domain of SME business relationships. Grounded on extant literature a research model has been developed and tested. On the strength of empirical evidence some limited modification of the research model has been deemed necessary before a satisfactory solution was obtained. Before we proceed to debate the solution related to the revised model we should state that, overall the results obtained are very much in line with those reported from research based on business relationships between large companies thus confirming that the boundary conditions of such trust related literature extends to SMEs.The proposed conceptualisation of trust as a second order construct of credibility (cognitive) and benevolence (behaviour) dimensions has been supported. This, in conjunction with subsequent debate, implies that the development of trust requires a balanced approach that comprises both cognitive and behaviour elements or actions. In addition, given that, with the exception of skill, none of the trust antecedents included in the model have been found to be significantly related to either of the two trust dimensions further supports the claim that trust should be treated as a single higher order construct. Focusing on the proposed antecedents of trust we observe that reputation has the greatest impact on the development of trust, thus confirming the importance of reputation in initiating and developing trust within the SME domain. This in turn implies that SMEs should concentrate on the development and consolidation of their product reputation, brand reputation and individual's reputation especially the reputation of the managing director/owner who is considered to have a strong influence on the company's image and identity (Blomqvist, 2002). Given earlier debate as to the specific strengths of SMEs in terms of flexibility, it is not surprising to find that this was the second most important determinant of trust. Consequently, SMEs should aim to maintain and/or further develop fast responding capabilities and adaptable organisational structures that will allow them to react to uncertainty and market changes quickly. It is considered that such flexibility, by allowing discretion, gives more space to the relationship especially when there are contradictions between values, attitudes and emotions.Although the provision of both informal and formal information have been found to be significant determinants of trust, as already hypothesised, there is evidence of differential behaviour between these forms of communication. Consistent with earlier debate the provision of informal communications has been found to be more important than formal communications. Consequently we suggest that the sharing of informal information reduced uncertainty which in turn develops and preserves shared and improved understanding of the relationship through regular and open dialogue (something that is consistent with the notion of social exchange). At the same time the provision of timely and relevant formal information should not be overlooked because it helps to add a tangible element to informal modes of communication (see for example impact of Websites; Houghton and Winklhofer, 2004). The latter is considered to be especially important in sectors, such as the one under examination, that are characterised by rapid technological development where the need for continuous exchange of information related to design details, product specifications is especially acute (Metcalf et al., 1992; Metcalfe and James, 2000).The proposed relationships between coercive power (negative) and transaction specific investments (positive) and trust have been supported. We consider that these results are complementary because they reflect the (relatively) weak financial and bargaining position of SMEs. Consequently, efforts should be made towards accommodative behaviour that in turn signals that the business partner cares for a relationship and is willing to invest time, effort and irrecoverable resources as a demonstration of trusting behaviour. Such actions engender reciprocal actions that safeguard against opportunistic behaviour, reduce risk perceptions and consequently lead to higher levels of trust. The importance of power is further highlighted by its significant direct impact on LTO (i.e. the impact of coercive power on LTO is both direct and indirect through trust).In terms of the final antecedent of trust, as already stated, the behaviour of skill does not conform to expectations (i.e. the Skill-Trust pathway was not significant). Instead skill has been found to have a significant direct effect on credibility (the only antecedent to directly affect either of the trust dimensions) and LTO. It is suggested that these findings imply that, unless a business partner has the necessary skills or competencies a capability gap develops that raises doubts about the customer's ability to use the goods or services provided (i.e. lack of credibility). The relative lack of resources available to SMEs and, in some cases, the small scale contracts undertaken means that efforts by the supplier to bridge such gaps are not always cost effective. The converse applies to cases where customers have the necessary skills. This ensures increased effectiveness and leads not only in the development of trust but also to intention to remain within a specific business relationship. Finally, the positive relationship between trust and LTO has been supported thus we confirm that established behavioural control enhances relationship predictability and transparency that reduces opportunism and inculcates LTO. Through trust improved understanding of the relationship is acquired by working through partner's strengths and weaknesses. This moves the relationship from a short-term into a long-term phase.The results presented here must be considered contingent on a number of limitations. First, the scales used in the operationalisation of the model constructs were largely borrowed. Even though all the scales met accepted reliability and validity criteria there is still danger that they may contain inherent shortcomings when measuring a complex phenomena such as trust in a new environment (Zaltman et al., 1982). Second, the results may be confounded by the nature and scope of the research, consequently research is needed in order to examine the moderating impact of the type of the customer organisation (i.e. whether another SME or a large organisation). Third, the stability of the results reported here in terms of the development of both upstream and downstream business relationships needs to be examined. Finally, the impact of time on the manner in which trust develops merits attention (Silversides, 2001). Not withstanding the above, it is hoped that this paper will generate further interest into SME trust-based research and in particular the examination of multi-dimensional trust across various levels of distribution channel and within different industrial sectors.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic examination of the importance of trust-developing constructs and the impact of trust on long-term orientation within the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) domain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A theoretically grounded model has been developed that comprises three cognitive (reputation, skill and transaction specific investments) and three behavioural (information exchange, coercive power and flexibility) antecedents of trust, which in turn is posted to be a determinant of long-term orientation. The model has been tested using 229 responses obtained through a postal survey carried out in the UK electrical and electronic industry.\nFindings: - With the exception of the skill to trust, all other hypothesised relationships have been supported. In relative terms, reputation followed by flexibility have been found to be the most important determinants of trust.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The moderating impact of company size and length of relationships have not been examined. The potential for differential behaviour of upstream and downstream business relationships also merits examination.\nPractical implications: - The results indicate that development of trust can best be affected by a balanced and coordinated set of activities designed to enhance both cognitive and behavioural aspects of trust. Advice as to how this can be achieved is offered.\nOriginality/value: - Despite the extensive study of trust between large organisations there is a general lack of corresponding research with the SME domain. The results reported here provide support for the claim that related findings based on large organisations can be extended to apply to SMEs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Innovation and ICT use by firms and households in the EU: A multivariate analysis of regional disparities
|
[
"Internet",
"Technology adoption",
"Diffusion theory",
"Digital divide",
"Information society",
"IT penetration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) have become cornerstones for economic growth at the regional level in the European Union (EU). The Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 program considers these to be two of the main drivers of regional development in Europe (European Commission, 2010a). Together with product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation (OECD and Eurostat, 2005), the Europe Strategy 2020 defines innovation more broadly as any \"change that speeds up and improves the way we conceive, develop, produce and access new products, industrial processes and services. Changes that create more jobs, improve people's lives and build greener and better societies\" (European Commission, 2010b, p. 1). In turn, the Digital Agenda for Europe (European Commission, 2010c) highlights the need to enhance ICT access and use to boost innovation and promote innovation activities associated with ICT adoption. In this context, the EU aims to reinforce synergies between both areas. From the \"smart specialization strategies\" perspective (Camagni and Capello, 2013; European Commission, 2010a) both innovation and ICT use are sources of competitive advantage associated with local knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion that may increase competitiveness and economic growth at the regional level.\n2. Conceptual framework and empirical evidence: From a theoretical perspective, the important role played by innovation and ICT use in the creation and diffusion of knowledge has attracted the interest of academic literature to examine their determinants. Within the scope of the regional development literature, the so-called linear model emphasized the role played by research and development (R&D) activities to generate innovations. However, the regional innovation system (RIS) approach (Cooke and Morgan, 1994; Lundvall, 1992; Nelson, 1993) considers innovation to be the result of an interactive and complex set of relations among different actors: people, firms, and institutions. Innovation is not only the result of R&D activities, but is the consequence of the interaction between a large number of social, institutional, and economic structural conditions. These regional features that may favor knowledge flows constitute what some authors refer to as \"social filters\" (Rodriguez-Pose and Crescenzi, 2008). Other strands in the literature also highlight the role played by location and spatial proximity (Gossling and Rutten, 2007) as they facilitate face-to-face communication and the diffusion of tacit knowledge (Storper and Venables, 2004), and knowledge spillovers (Fujita and Mori, 2005; Tappeiner et al., 2008) that are relevant in generating regional innovations. Several academic strands have thus highlighted the importance of R&D, the institutional framework, and specific socio-economic and spatial features as key drivers for innovation activities at the regional level (Rodriguez-Pose and Crescenzi, 2008; Todtling et al., 2013).\n3. Research model and methodology: Our main research questions are as follows:\n4. Data and variables: The data used in our analysis are taken from two different European data sets. The variables about ICT adoption by workers have been obtained primarily from the European Working Conditions Survey 2010 (Eurofound, 2012). This survey is conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, which is an autonomous agency of the EU. The survey collects information about the adoption and use of computers and the internet by workers within firms in the EU-27 with a sample of more than 40,000 interviews. This information is used to measure the level of ICT use by workers (computers and internet) in the main paid job at the regional level in the EU, and it is considered a proxy of ICT use by firms. The rest of the data used in our analysis are taken from the database of the European regions (Eurostat, 2013), at the first level of disaggregation, according to the Nomenclature d'Unite Territoriales Statistiques (NUTS1) defined by Eurostat. The study group contains all 27 member countries of the EU, totaling 97 regions.\n5. Empirical analysis: 5.1 Factor analysis\n6. Conclusions and discussions: In this paper, we have aimed to identify interpretable, combined patterns of innovation and ICT use by firms and households in the European regions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of patterns that combine innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) use, and the factors explaining them in the European Union.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use data for firms and households at the regional level in the EU-27. Factorial and cluster analyses are used to the determine combined patterns for both dimensions and to elaborate a taxonomy of the European regions, respectively. Finally, the multiple discriminant analysis serves to identify the factors that characterize the patterns detected.\nFindings: The results show the existence of three regional clusters that capture different combinations of patenting and ICT use. Research and development (R&D) expenditure in the business sector, government quality, gross domestic product per capita, the number of researchers, and employment by the highest level of education attained are the key variables explaining the disparities in innovation and ICT use in the European regions.\nResearch limitations/implications: The conclusions point to the key role played by business R&D and knowledge resources within an institutional framework that facilitates actions oriented to benefiting regions through both knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion derived from the combined activities of innovation and ICT use.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides for the first time a characterization of the European regions that jointly considers innovation and ICT use. It also contributes to the literature by exploring differences in ICT use by households and firms, and the factors explaining them. The study can provide new insights into the design of public policies that may consider the common factors that explain combinations of innovation and technology use.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A putative East Asian business model
|
[
"Asian studies",
"Economic models",
"Globalization"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: There is as much literature on the East Asian economic \"miracle\" model as on its sudden, fierce \"meltdown\" since the 1997 Asian crisis, checkmating its relevancy (Richter, 2000). The Asian crisis is symptomatic of emerging geoeconomics, geopolitics and creative destruction of new technology, altering growth trajectories. East Asia including Northeast and Southeast Asia is diverse and heterogeneous in levels of economic growth and development, cultural and socio-political contexts. First-generation Northeast (Japan, Korea and Taiwan) and second-generation Southeast Asia (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN) developmental states took off in different environment[1]. Many ASEAN economies have yet to make the transition from the old to new economy. Even matured Northeast Asian economies seemed unable to cross the paradoxical divide to first world political economy democracies for all their industrial and socio-economic achievements.Efficacy of institutions, processes including business systems affect responses to challenges and issues to balance internal balance in employment, price stability and growth with external balance in exchange rate and balance of payments equilibrium in open, interdependent economies. This paper aims to distill from both sets of developments before and after the Asian crisis a generic East Asian business model in the context of globalisation, information communication technology, knowledge-based economy, deregulation and emerging competition. The generic business model considering the creative and innovative nature of intellectual capital is a qualitative macroeconomic development model rather than a quantitative or econometric micro-level business modeling for firm or industry-level. Section 2 reviews what worked before the Asian crisis, what went wrong after, to evolve the putative generic business model in Section 3, followed by customised, national idiosyncratic models in Section 4. Comparative business model analysis in the concluding section on how East Asia does it in its way may be an alternative to Anglo-Saxon business models.\n2 What worked, what went wrong: 2.1 Growth models/theories\n3 Emerging East Asian generic business model: Generically, the new Asian model is a hybrid management model though the cultural root of management is not easy to change or set free from history. As Asian firms find their traditional management, including neo-Confucianism management less suited to the new economic environment, they look West to reinvent. From the West, Asian businesses learn product knowledge, technology, and management models in quest for excellence and need to catch up. As in not throwing out the baby and with the bath water, Asian firms must modernise management practices without jeopardising cultural foundations.The role of the developmental state and the political economy of power and legitimacy it wields for the politicians may be a price to consider. A permeable network combines the stability of traditional business network with flexibility of market transactions. The traditional Asian business model must take an intermediate role between its closeness and the market way of openness and interlocking with other networks. As a network of networks, such a permeable intertwining describes the logic of cooperation and alliance of firms. To a certain extent, Northeast Asian business model as in keiretsu and chaebol may have reached a more matured level of alliance capitalism. But both Japanese and Korean business models have to be more open. Not only are mergers and acquisitions of keiretsus a break of the traditional pattern as in asset swaps among chaebol, they have to go further and deeper outside their own networks.Strategic alliances across borders and cultures help internalised product knowledge and culturally-based organisations and management adopt and adapt Western best practices and ways of doing business. Alliances act as catalysts for new organisational behaviour within firms with some convergence to American and European corporate cultures. Alliances have been the Japanese way to catch up and leapfrog, from technology to management alliances. Strategic alliances and organisations with permeable, multiple boundaries within an economic field of closely interconnected firms is more appropriate with business networks and mergers and acquisitions.The short-term agenda to fix Asian management weakness concentrates on core business, discard preferential financing and restrict government influence. The long-term agenda is to adjust the strength of Asian management as a third way to Anglo-Saxon restructuring. As short-term results must impress shareholders by layoffs, plant closure and asset sale, the long-term agenda requires the generic Asian business model to review the possibility of structural high unemployment in the context of some institutionalised welfare state.The middle ground is for the generic Asian model to retain a strong sense of responsibility to the collective, look West for ideas on technology and management as in entrepreneurship, venture business and globalisation have proven in multicultural environment. Good media and investor relations constitute a matter of best practice too. Openness and transparency would help share price to build up, gain investor confidence to access to funds. Asian family business financing traditions to keep both ownership and control ignores the efficiency of larger external capital markets. Accepting globalised capital markets is, however, neither easy nor comfortable as best practices in governance and accounting are demanded by shareholders.In general, proactive transparency would reduce nepotism and opaque practices. Governance in generally becomes acceptable as accountability and accounting practices are measured on global scale. Result-oriented reporting system, new technology like internet are common, but important tools in opening to greater transparency and improving information asymmetry with universal access. The basic social structure may, however, remain regardless of economic and political change if such information access and symmetry are means and facilitators to the end or quest of a better Asian business model.Modern technology for personal communication, internet and mobile phones have reinforced the Asian system of mutual trust by removing some of the obstacles to the diffusion of personalised knowledge. Instead of the rule of law in West, uncodified information regulates Asian transactions. Humanistic trust beyond immediate sphere of influence, beyond family and network members linked through crossholding, even overseas markets. To a certain extent, more efficient and effective information communication technology may make quanxi and relations-based practices less relevant if information is more accessible and symmetrical. In reality, personalised information and networks still matter as the cultural glue, not the means of communication.\n4 Customised, national idiosyncratic models: 4.1 Matured Northeast Asian business\n5 Conclusion and putative East Asian business model: One redeeming virtue in East Asia culture and value is the ethical, moral dimensions of integrity. A global moral architecture amidst global capitalism, global marketplace and globalisation suffers from a misuse or failure of moral capital. Maybe corruption, cronyism and nepotism in East Asia is no better as ethical governance than Anglo-Saxon corporate scandals like Enron or Worldcom. Many questions remain like whether effective democratic checks-and-balances in the political system, legal, judicial and institutional processes can help reinforce the moral economy. Another is as East Asia arrives at the first world economy league, conventionally benchmarked by OECD economies, how well would East Asia accept controversial Western definitions and concepts of democracy, human rights and such. Would it continue to have the first world economy, but third world political culture or suffer the paradoxical divide? Would it compatible and comfortable with its familial and communitarian culture, values and networks and Asian and Anglo-Saxon business systems agree to disagree in their respective environments? How does East Asia defend its economic miracle to economic meltdown, even Japan not crossing the paradoxical divide and not resuming its economic trajectory? While democracy is not the ultimate solution even in highly Western capitalist economies which are not crisis-resistant or without moral hazard, how does East Asia defend its moral capitalism? Many more economic, social, cultural, technological and other trends can be discussed, but the point is the ever-changing environment which affects the design of any generic or customised business model in East Asia.\"Glocalisation\" of morals looks to formulate universal guidelines of behaviour while respecting the richness of cultural pluralism and dignity of difference between nations. Morality does matter. Its upgrading requires a paradigm shift in mindset from individuals to public and private institutions. Some moral virtues or ethical standards are universal or near universal, but they still have to be interpreted in the light of different cultural mores. John Eatwell noted the \"market is as good servant of the people, but a bad master\" and Edward Burke similarly observed civil liberty could only flourish if individuals \"put moral chains on their appetites\" (Dunning, 2003, pp. 366-7). The lesson is for the generic East Asian business model to have both market and moral capital in tandem, rather than the ubiquitous developmental state alone.Two sets of conclusions are presented, the first relating to repackaging what is inherent in various Asian business models in recognition of path dependency, politics of the political economy and certain fundamental Asian values and management practices. Whatever the business model, some overarching criteria with regard to good governance and democratisation and concerns with innovation and social security and social welfare, remain. All are faced with the same domestic challenges including demographics impinging on employment and employability, economic and social competitiveness and such. More important is the external challenge as in globalisation, information communication technology, deregulation and competition. Another over simplification as it may be, the more enlightened East Asian developmental state or mature industrialised economy would have grasped the challenges and issues better and faster to set change in motion with all resources, transformative capacity and political will they can muster. The relative speeds and quality of change and reinvention of respective business models between true reformers and laggards is as much a function of the political economy for better or worse as recognising the need to move from inertia to change.The second set of conclusions is related to hybridisation and fusion as benchmarking and best practice can be adapted and learnt from Anglo-Saxon, Western models. East Asia has always learnt from the technology of the West through DFI and MNCs. These features plus the reliance on trade with the USA and Europe despite growing intra-Asian trade, are likely to influence both business environment and business models in East Asia for a long time to come. Political will and transformative capacity to garner the resources for change provide the wherewithal. There will be economic, social and political costs. Paradoxically, a more democratised mature setting with possible alternative government and opposition parties as well as a functioning civil society, may take more time and will before the right things get done. An authoritarian state may perverse just take command and act so long as it is a benign hegemon and institutes the developmental state once more to get to another growth trajectory.A moral economy, a technologically innovative and creative society for sustainable long-term growth and prosperity is desired regardless of East-West or developing-developed country divide. Best practice and benchmark as identified for global competitiveness may be a good starting point and it id not a cultural or value issue unless it pertains to how regions measure up as well as size, which matter as noted in Chapter 6. The common good whether in the collective or individual form cannot be so different as human wants and aspirations are universal even if the standards and barometers may differ somewhat. Even human rights or environmental standards may still be controversial as they are also a function of development or underdevelopment, prosperity or poverty.Learning and adapting from each other in business models and systems become inevitable in the new networked economy, more so than the old already internationalised via trade, capital, labour, technology and other flows. With greater interdependence as driven by globalisation, information communication technology and the new economy, there is as much collateral resources to be garnered and shared as there is collateral damage. There is some truth to greater uncertainty and risk as a collateral damage. When a crisis strikes, contagion spreads from sheer herd instinct or market sentiment or what Keynes referred to as \"animal spirit\". There is no insulation, only cooperation and collaboration to deal with collateral damage. Having best practice and benchmark from each others' business models would help as a basic understanding is already forged.Nothing is ever definitive and final about any business system and model. Future research is continuing research in all aspects of socio-economic and political economy aspects, as well as in technology which paces most business systems and models. The research agenda has to be holistic as in being comprehensive in all areas, integrated as in taking policy-making and implementation across-the-board in a multidisciplinary way and systemic issues and problems tackled as well. More national studies which incorporate robust conceptualisation and quantitative methods of measurement and evaluation should come about as this study is merely a qualitative first cut at best.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to distill from both the Asian \"miracle\" and the \"meltdown\" since the Asian crisis, a generic East Asian business model which is changing in the context of globalisation, information communication technology, knowledge-based economy, deregulation and emerging new competition.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The generic business model considers the creative and innovative nature of intellectual capital in a qualitative macroeconomic development model rather than a quantitative or econometric micro-level business modeling for the firm or industry. Diverse and heterogeneous both within the whole of East Asia and distinguished as Northeast and Southeast Asia, the putative generic business model is further differentiated in terms of customised idiosyncratic models in more mature Northeast developmental states in Japan, Korea and Taiwan contrasted with Southeast \"captured\" developmental states as in Indonesia and Malaysia entrapped by ethnic politics.\nFindings: - City-states Hong Kong and Singapore are exceptional because of their size and resultant globalised states. To each its own may be the conclusion in terms of customised national systems and models, but East Asian ethical and moral dimensions of integrity may generally offer a version moral capitalism of which is suited to global capitalism not of the brute Darwinist kind. In the final analysis, East Asia is increasingly exposed to the global marketplace, competition and globalisation backlash, such that some common denominator comes from DFI and MNCs from multicultural political economy dimensions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents a putative East Asian business models.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Private label brands: a relationship perspective
|
[
"Supply chain",
"Private label brands",
"Buyer–seller relationships"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Australian retail market has traditionally been dominated by two players - Coles and Woolworths, both have vast networks of stores and marketing and distribution channels, which have seen their dominance in the $112bn grocery market continue to grow (Kruger, 2012). As a result of this dominance, suppliers are highly dependent on these retail markets to maintain a viable operation, especially owing to the lack of other alternatives in the highly isolated Australian market (Ferguson, 2012). Coles and Woolworths are marketed as \"full-service\" supermarkets, and therefore, these stock a full range of premium \"branded\" products. Although, shelf-space is being increasingly taken up by \"private label\" brands, currently accounting for 20-25 per cent of the total stock for Coles and Woolworths, this number is expected to rapidly increase (Battersby, 2013).\nPrivate label brands: Private label brands are the supermarkets' own products, which are sold exclusively on their premises in direct competition with the established \"branded\" products. Historically, in the Australian market, these products have been predominantly targeting the lower end of the market, with basic packaging and lower-quality and extremely low prices (Williams, 2011). Owing to the perception of low quality attached to these products, they did not pose a significant threat to the \"premium\" branded products, and were usually competing against only staples such as flour and sugar. However, over time, private labels have evolved significantly to target the higher end of the market, with Coles and Woolworths now emphasizing on their quality, rather than their price (Battersby, 2013).\nTheoretical underpinnings: In more traditional economic theory, the underlying focus of a business is assessing costs and risks with the aim of producing the greatest returns (Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). While this remains very important, more recently, the importance of networks and the various relationships associated with a firm have been identified as key to business success. One underlying concept that has been developed by the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group since the 1980s is the interaction approach (Ford, 1998; Blomqvist et al., 2002). This approach takes into account a range of key relationship dynamics such as trust, commitment, power, etc., thus focusing on the early stages of the relationship and how dynamics are established. Previous theories such as the transaction cost approach had emphasized a transaction-based model, which focuses on building value through single transactions, a very short-term perspective (Williamson, 1981). The concept behind the interaction approach is that firms can add value through establishing and building these long-term connections over time. This is key to business success, as firms have limited resources, which can only be changed slowly and at a significant cost, and so traditionally, retailers have kept a close set of suppliers as part of a long and fruitful partnership.\nMethodology: The aim of this study is to understand the influence of private label brands on the dynamics of the relationships between supermarkets and their suppliers. Given that private label brands are a relatively new phenomenon in the Australian market, there is little prior research in this area. It was therefore decided to use a qualitative, exploratory approach, as this allowed more in-depth knowledge to be gathered through interviews with suppliers (Gillman, 2000). A flexible qualitative approach was considered most appropriate.\nDiscussion of findings: As previously mentioned, the catalyst for undertaking this study was the rapid growth in private label products and their ever-increasing presence on supermarket shelves. The interviews reveal more in-depth knowledge on the background of this growth, as well as the effects on suppliers and what is being done to respond to this significant issue. The main themes to emerge from the analysis were pursuit of higher margins for supermarkets, supermarket tactics, supplier consolidation, supplier business model, relationship dynamics, the political/legal environment and innovation. The following section will discuss these themes in more detail.\nConclusions: The findings support the proposition that the intense level of concentration in the Australian supermarket industry has wide-ranging effects on supplier-retailer relationships. Furthermore, the sheer geographical size of Australia means that in some product categories, it is simply not possible to produce in one area and distribute for sale in another area, for example, milk, which faces significant logistical challenges not relevant in smaller and less geographically diverse countries such as the UK. The other significant geographic issue, which makes the Australian supermarket landscape unique is its isolation, meaning that there is a lack of alternative markets for suppliers and consumers to turn to. As such, while some European countries have a high concentration of supermarket players, suppliers have the option to enter countless other neighboring countries to seek a better deal or simply to achieve greater economies of scale. There is no such dependence on the major players in one's own country.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The Australian supermarket industry has long been dominated by two players - Coles and Woolworths. Most recently this dominance has increased significantly and the \"Big 2\" have used their power more effectively and have introduced an ever-increasing number of \"private label\" products on supermarket shelves. This study aims to investigate the effect these products have had on the relationship between the supermarkets (buyers) and their suppliers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative study used in-depth, high engagement interviews with a range of suppliers. An extensive data analysis process was carried out to ensure the coding of the key insights into themes, which helped to answer the aims and objectives of the research.\nFindings: A key contribution of this study has been to highlight the ability of supermarket chains to increase existing dominance by using their ever-increasing private label brand portfolio. The findings indicate an uncertain future for food suppliers, with the situation likely to continue to worsen further as the supermarkets continue to exercise and abuse their power.\nOriginality/value: This paper's main contribution lies in providing a greater understanding of the significance of the effect of private labels on relationships and the implications of these effects. The impact of the supermarket dominance on innovation is especially interesting, given that this has not been previously discussed in the literature. Additionally, the deterioration in trust is significant in this context and to an extent that is rarely seen.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Orchestration of innovation networks in collaborative settings
|
[
"Innovation",
"Destination management organization",
"Tourism destination",
"Abductive analysis",
"Network orchestration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Few research papers address innovative activities among tourism actors. This is the case for two reasons. First, the notion of innovation in tourism is fuzzy, a condition which may be attributed to the wider problem of identifying, measuring and managing innovation in services. This problem partly stems from the genesis and evolution of innovation studies primarily within technology and manufacturing. It is only recently that attention has been brought to bear on innovation in services (Atrostic, 2008). The second reason for the shortage of conceptual frameworks to explain collaborative innovation activities among tourism actors relates to the diverse and heterogeneous nature of the supply-side tourism \"system.\" This system is a network of private, public and third sector actors such as accommodations, dining, attractions, transport, retail and destination management organizations (DMOs) who collaborate to deliver seamless tourism experiences to visitors. The difficulty inherent in capturing what exactly constitutes the tourism production system (TPS), and further, the role played by DMOs, uniquely challenges research to understand collaborative innovation activities in these settings. To address this gap, the study uses an abductive approach to analyzing perspectives from select tourism actors who are members of a loosely coupled system of collaborators engaged in innovation activities within a tourism destination.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Destination management organizations and the tourism destination\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Abductive analysis and the qualitative approach\n4. Findings and implications: 4.1 Contextual findings\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Network orchestration and collaborative innovation: a model for tourism\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Few papers address innovation activities among tourism entities. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the extent to which the theoretical framework of network orchestration can explain the system of relations underlying roles and behaviors of tourism actors in collaborative innovation settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using interview data collected from destination management organizations and their destination partners within two polar-sampled North American destinations, this study identifies relationships which underlie the behaviors of tourism and hospitality actors engaged in collaborative innovative activities. To understand these relationships, this study abductively imposes the emergent theoretical framework of network orchestration and offers practical implications for conducting successful innovation among tourism collaborators.\nFindings: First, orchestration of knowledge mobility processes in collaborative innovation settings is associated with trust, perceived fairness and the search for experts within the network. Second, orchestration of innovation appropriability processes is associated with forging shared ownership and knowledge exchange with \"dissimilar\" partners. Third, orchestration of network stability processes is associated with enhancing the reputation of influential actors within the tourism destination, and shared visioning of future innovation outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the collaborative innovation landscape by testing the emerging theoretical framework of network orchestration and proposing practical implications for hospitality and tourism actors engaged in innovative activities. The research further demonstrates the value of abductive reasoning for elucidating theory from interview evidence and proposes a model for future studies on collaborative innovation networks.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Purchase of global shampoo brands and the impact of country of origin on Lebanese consumers
|
[
"Country of origin",
"Lebanon",
"Cosmetics",
"Consumer behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Globally, the cosmetics industry represents an attractive business opportunity with sales estimated at US$230 billion in 2003 and projected growth of 4 percent per year through 2009 (Briney, 2005). Though the global growth trend is positive North American and Western Europe markets will face discounting and price wars while growth opportunities will exist in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin American, and the Middle East (Briney, 2005). The shift in personal care and cosmetics markets from developed to emerging markets has created the challenge of gaining entry into new markets and meeting the demands of new customer bases (Ortega, 1998).The largest sub-segment in this industry is hair care with a 22 per cent share of total consumer expenditure followed by skin care (16 percent) and make up (13 percent), oral hygiene (12 percent), fragrances (12 percent) and other (25 percent) (Weber and Capitant de Villebonne, 2002). This paper investigates country of origin (COO) effects among Lebanese consumers in respect to shampoo. It will test the correlations between country of manufacture and consumer behavior, purchase intent; and product quality evaluations of various shampoo brands sources from different countries.The Lebanese shampoo market\nLiterature review of country of origin relevant to the global cosmetics industry: Country of origin research dates back to 1965 and Schooler's research in Guatemala (Schooler, 1965). Darling and Kraft's (1977) research on Finnish consumers supported the hypothesis that the country of origin of a product affects the attitudes of consumers towards the product. Papadopoulos et al. (1987) found that country of origin perceptions affect the purchasing choice of buyers and shoppers. Darling's (1987) work confirmed the existence of country perception differences even within a certain country. In the same year, a study on Saudi consumers and retailers found that both groups prioritize price and quality over country of origin perceptions (Al-Hammad, 1988). Hong and Wyer investigated the mental exercises associated with the processing of on pack information such as country of origin in the minds of consumers, and found that country of origin is sufficient to impress the evaluation of a consumer, whether this information comes alone or in conjunction with other product eleventh information (Hong and Wyer, 1989). Han (1990) shed light on the dynamics of the \"halo effect\" hypothesis, finding that the halo construct of a country is based on the relative status of economic, political, and cultural characteristics of the exporting country versus that of the importing market as viewed by consumers in the latter.The next study of Arab consumers came from Ghadir in 1990, when he studied price, quality and risk perceptions of Jordanians towards domestic and foreign products. Ghadir suggested that marketers must adopt separate strategies for products sourced from developed countries on one hand and those manufactured in more developed ones on the other. In 1992, Roth and Romeo studied the effectiveness of certain cues in shaping consumer product evaluation. They found that the importance of cues varies from one product category to another. A year later, Liefeld et al. (1993) studied the effects of various extrinsic and intrinsic information cues involved in the product choice decision; and reached similar conclusions as Roth and Romeo (1992); that the extent to which a specific cue affects the final decision is very much a function of the product category. Consumer ethnocentrism drives their willingness to pay more for their home country products, and significantly superior product quality as compared to domestic products will convince consumers to switch their purchase decision in favor of the imported products (Knight, 1999). Kim and Pysarchik (2000) re-assessed the topic and concluded that the relationship between the above attributes and the purchase decision was product specific. Hui and Zhou's (2003) paper concluded that in the case of known brands, the country of origin of a product has no significant effect on consumer evaluation if the country of manufacture is congruent with the brand name. However, whenever the country of origin of a product is less reputable, consumers will evaluate the product to be of lesser quality. In that same year, Bhaskaran and Sukumaran (2007) reviewed 96 published COO studies and concluded that the mixed results could be attributed to differences in research methodology; the authors suggested that future research should conducted from the target consumer point of view and incorporate other potential influences. Ahmed and d'Astous (2008) studied consumers in Canada, Morocco and Taiwan, the authors found that familiarity with products made in a country was the strongest predictor of country perceptions. The major limitation of this study was the all male sample.\nResearch hypothesis and model: A series of four hypotheses were developed based on the literature (see Figure 1). The first hypothesis concerned the quality perceptions of shampoo brands sourced from different countries varies based on demographic variables (Dornoff et al., 1974; Heslop and Wall, 1985). The second hypothesis stated that purchase intention of shampoos sourced from different countries id different (Darling and Kraft, 1977; Yaprak, 1978; Darling, 1987) while the third research hypothesis stated that evaluation of specific attributes differs based on difference in the country of origin of a specific shampoo brand (Roth and Romeo, 1992), Liefeld et al., 1993; Kim and Pysarchik, 2000). The fourth hypothesis stated the evaluation of the overall quality of shampoo products differed based on difference in the country of origin of the brand (Papadopoulos et al., 1987, Han and Terpstra, 1988; Hong and Wyer, 1989, Han, 1990, Hui and Zhou, 2003, Thakor and Lavack, 2003, Chattalas, 2007).\nMethodology: The research was conducted in three phases; first a questionnaire was prepared by identifying the key attributes which are involved in shampoo purchase decisions, second, a data collection phase was launched, and finally, the data were prepared for analysis and hypothesis testing. A convenience sample consisting of 18 Lebanese consumers was used to obtain interviews to gather in-depth information on shopper behavior during shampoo selection. The subjects comprised 12 females and six males with ages ranging from 18 to 55 (seven were 18-25, four were 25-30, two were 31-35, two were 36-40, and three were 41-55). The subjects were initially asked \"If you are buying shampoo, what do you look at when making the purchase decision?\" Later, each element was probed to understand the reasons why a certain attribute was listed, and which key factors they take into account when choosing a certain brand or shampoo product.The less frequently mentioned attributes were: specific benefits such as anti-dandruff; country of origin; mother company name; and advertisements. Although members of both genders agreed on the list of the key attributes, a significant difference between the genders was the prioritization of price among males (67 percent of males giving high priority to price versus 33 percent among females). On the other hand, females gave higher importance to the visual, touch and olfactory pleasures of the shampoo (83 percent of females mentioned at least two experiential elements versus only 50 percent of the males did so). Furthermore, a significant difference between consumers less than 30 years of age and those who are older than 30 years of age was evident as members of the \"younger\" group were more experience driven than the older (82 percent and 43 percent respectively). The results of these interviews were used develop the final version of the questionnaire.The next step was the formulation of a detailed questionnaire (see Appendix). This aimed to expose the effect of country of origin in relation to the purchase of hair care products among the Lebanese. The questionnaire was divided into four key sections demographics, awareness and perceptions, brand specific, and comparison and habits.On the completion of the draft questionnaire, a pilot test was run. The survey was administered to 20 individuals. Based on the results of the pilot, and in order to optimize the actual data collection phase, two key changes were made: the survey language and format was further simplified to allow self-administration and the questionnaire was translated to Arabic. Its availability in both English and Arabic languages facilitated the data collection process and increased the number of individuals who could accurately participate in the survey.A sample of 332 subjects was given surveys; all surveys were hardcopy and self-administered. The majority of participants were intercepted in the shampoo category of major supermarket outlets. Out of the 332 surveys distributed, 92.46 percent (307) were completely filed out and returned resulting a response rate was 86.2 percent. The collected and accepted questionnaire data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The four sections of the questionnaire were analyzed based on the type of variable. First a demographic profile was developed, next the open ended questions related to the shampoo brands were analyzed based using frequencies as well the results of a respondents curiosity about country of origin, perceptions of quality of shampoo products from various countries and various brands, and a importance of attributes in selection of shampoos, next brand specific attributes under different scenarios were analyzed, finally purchase intentions and comparison of shampoo products from differing countries were analyzed.\nProfile of respondents: Demographic profile\nResearch hypotheses/results: Research hypotheses\nDiscussion, conclusions and global marketing implications: In a low consumer involvement category such as shampoo country of origin is not one of the key attributes affecting the choice of Lebanese consumers. Purchase is either driven by practical objectives such as benefits, or by experiential pleasures. These results in respect to country of origin perceptions are in line previous research. As such, as a low involvement product, shampoo has low loyalty rates; 90 percent of Lebanese consumers buy shampoo at least once every month, and shift from one brand to another. Thus, marketers should strive to develop a leadership position in consumer minds. Marketer's should attempt to leverage or build brand awareness.Top of mind brand awareness, usage in the past six months, and currently used shampoo reveal a split among the key brands. For example, Pantene enjoys leadership share of consumer awareness and the highest percentage of consumer usage. As such, it can be hypothesized that as brands improve their position in the consumers' mental shampoo list, they increase their chances of being chosen during the spontaneous product choices. Amidst this mental activity, the source of the product seems to be of secondary importance. This is also seen in the case of Pantene, where its actual source (KSA) is evaluated to be a source of lower quality shampoo, products, but brand still performs ahead of many of its competitors.Lebanese consumers are more prone to use quality; ingredient, and scent cues; therefore these product attributes should be used as points of differention versus the competition. Thus marketers should focus on packaging and product attributes in this market.The research found some significant differences between the various demographic variables and the evaluation of consumers of the overall quality of shampoo brands sourced from different countries, and product evaluation. The data also confirmed that there are no differences in either the overall quality perceptions of the product or the attribute evaluation of shampoos sourced from different countries; but the purchase intent of consumers for certain brands is affected by changes in the country of origin of the shampoo from one country to another.This research was able to compensate some of the deficiencies in the literature in respect to consumers in the vitally important Middle East market for the cosmetics industry.However, the reader should be cautioned that more research should be done to develop a detailed understanding of the mental constructs and the psychological influences that affect the purchasing behavior of this Middle Eastern country. Further research may want to use brands not currently in the market (Phau and Suntornnond, 2006).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The global cosmetics industry is an attractive business opportunity. This paper aims to study country of origin effects among Lebanese consumers' purchase of shampoo.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research tests four hypotheses in respect of country of origins' impact on shampoo purchase decisions and concludes with marketing implications. A questionnaire was administered to 332 consumers to test four hypotheses concerning the impact of country of origin.\nFindings: - The data confirmed that there are no differences in either the overall quality perceptions of the product or the attribute evaluation of shampoos sourced from different countries; but the purchase intent of consumers for certain brands is affected by changes in the country of origin of the shampoo. In a low consumer involvement category such as shampoo, country of origin is not one of the key attributes affecting choice of Lebanese consumers. Purchase is driven either by practical objectives such as benefits or by experiential pleasures.\nPractical implications: - Marketers should strive to develop a leadership position in consumers' minds. Marketers should attempt to leverage or build brand awareness.\nOriginality/value: - Globally the cosmetics industry represents an attractive business opportunity. The growth trend for industry is positive with new growth opportunities in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The study provides insight into one growth area and indicates that more research in this area would be of value.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Market structure and pricing objectives in the services sector
|
[
"Marketing strategy",
"Quantitative research",
"Field study"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Momparler et al. (2015) and Weisstein et al. (2016) argued that pricing is a critical element for the success of any company operating in a service industry. Similarly, authors such as Hoffman et al. (2002) have stated that pricing is the only element of the marketing strategy that generates revenues and profits for any service firm, while all the other elements of this strategy are associated with costs.\nLiterature review: Pricing objectives\nConceptual framework and research hypotheses: In line with the aforementioned difficulty in developing a universal way to measure market structure, a review of the existing literature reveals a lack of empirical studies regarding the impact of market structure on pricing decisions in general and pricing objectives specifically. Nevertheless, it is expected that different market characteristics may lead to differences in pricing objective formulation, suggesting that it might be useful to study how pricing objectives may differ across different market conditions and situations. The present study tries to contribute to this underresearched area. Figure1 presents the conceptual framework of the research, in which the impact of market structure and sector of operation on the formation of pricing objectives is examined.\nResearch methodology: Selection of industry sectors and population of the study\nData analysis and research results: Pricing objectives\nDiscussion and implications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and future research directions: Although the current study represents an empirical attempt to examine the impact of market structure on pricing objectives pursued, its findings and implications should be viewed in light of a number of limitations. More specifically, the context of the study (Greece) is an obvious limitation, since it limits the ability to generalize the results to other countries. Thus, future research that replicates the current study in other national contexts could further improve the understanding of the major concepts that were presented in the current study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing objectives (e.g. customer-related objectives, sales-related objectives, profit-related objectives) that service companies pursue to set their prices and to examine the impact of market structure on these objectives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To achieve the research objectives, data were collected from 184 companies operating in four different service industries, namely, logistics companies, financial services providers, information technology companies and airlines.\nFindings: The findings indicate that the companies that were investigated in the current study seem to follow a hierarchy of pricing objectives, in which their main focus is on the maintenance of the existing customers and the attraction of new ones to ensure their long-term survival in their market without, however, disregarding financial issues and objectives. The study also revealed that the market structure, along with the sector of operation, has an impact on the pricing objectives pursued, as different market conditions were found to lead to different pricing objectives.\nPractical implications: The above findings indicate that managers responsible for setting prices within their firms should be guided by the unique characteristics of their markets.\nOriginality/value: Given the lack of similar studies within the existing services sector literature, the originality/value of the paper lies in the fact that it presents one of the first attempts to empirically examine this issue from a marketing point of view.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Do works councils improve the quality of apprenticeship training? Evidence from German workplace data
|
[
"Apprenticeship training",
"Training quality",
"Works council"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The dual apprenticeship system is an important education track in Germany and an essential component of the successful integration of young adults into the labor market. Every year, close to 60 percent of the school cohort starts an apprenticeship (Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), 2015). This number indicates that the popularity of apprenticeships remains high among young adults in Germany. One reason is the high quality of apprenticeship training, which is acknowledged worldwide (The Economist, 2014; Lazear and Janssen, 2016). However, direct empirical evidence about the quality of apprenticeship training in Germany beyond the often-praised low youth unemployment rates is scarce. Soskice (1994) argues that the cooperation between the chambers on the one hand and works councils and unions on the other hand is a necessary determinant for a high quality of training in Germany. Although many researchers have found a positive association between a firm's participation in apprenticeship training, unions and works councils (e.g. Beckmann, 2002; Bellmann et al., 2011; Dustmann and Schonberg, 2010; Stegmaier, 2012), no studies directly investigated whether such institutions are also associated with different dimensions of training quality.\n2. Theoretical considerations and literature: 2.1 Theoretical considerations\n3. The quality model: With regard to the operationalization of the quality model of vocational training at the workplace, we draw on the work of the Expert Committee on Costs and Financing of Vocational Training (1974), the so-called \"Edding Commission.\" In their study on the quality of training in firms, the Edding Commission distinguished between the input, process and output quality of training. Indicators for measuring input quality included the organization of training, the training technology and the qualifications of the training staff. Process quality referred to the training methodology and the intensity of training. Output quality was measured using four factors: formal aptitude, job-related aptitude, work-related aptitude and societal aptitude. Munch et al. (1981) examined the extent to which job-specific interdependencies of learning location structures and output quality can be determined. The authors viewed the learning location structure as the central factor of input quality, while they expanded output quality using post-training employment outcomes (i.e. the retention rate of apprentices).\n4. Data and empirical strategy: 4.1 Data\n5. Results: The results of our matching procedures reveal that there were no statistically significant differences between workplaces with and without works councils in 2007, except with regard to their retention rates. Workplaces with a works council retain a higher proportion of former apprentices three and five years after training (between 9 and 13 percentage points) compared to workplaces without works councils (Table II). Although the ATT point estimates are lower compared to the ATE estimates, their point estimate still falls well within the 95% confidence interval of the ATE estimate.\n6. Conclusions: The high quality of the German apprenticeship system is a necessary condition for it to remain an attractive educational pathway for the non-college-bound youth and to ensure a sufficiently large supply of qualified skilled workers to the labor market. We investigate whether works councils are associated with the quality of apprenticeship training in the workplace, a question that was not previously addressed in the empirical literature. Our results suggest that works councils are associated with better output training quality, as measured by a higher retention rate of graduated apprentices and fewer illness-related absences in the 2012/2013 survey. Thus, our results suggest that works councils provide some assurance that apprentices are offered permanent work after their training contracts, particularly in times when unemployment is high and external opportunities for graduated apprentices are limited. However, we find no robust evidence for an association between works councils on the one hand and input- and process-quality indicators or the dropout rate of apprentices on the other hand.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Works councils have the legal right to participate in a firm's training process and, where necessary, call for a replacement of training instructors. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether works councils are associated with a higher quality of apprenticeship training - or its inputs or outputs - in Germany.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use two representative cross-sectional surveys of German workplaces in 2007 and 2012/2013 that were conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Germany. To account for selection on observables, the authors apply nearest neighbor matching models to estimate the extent to which works councils are associated with training quality.\nFindings: The results shed light on the influence of works councils on the quality of apprenticeship training in Germany. Based on a quality model, the authors show that works councils are associated with a (moderately) higher output quality of apprenticeships, particularly with respect to the share of retained apprentices. However, the authors do not find empirical evidence for a positive association between works councils and input- and process-quality indicators.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the identification of causal effects due to the existence of works councils is difficult and cannot be fully addressed in the analysis, the authors can use a number of important control variables at the workplace level. The results suggest that a works council only plays a moderate role in enhancing the quality of the German apprenticeship system.\nOriginality/value: The authors provide the first direct empirical evidence of how the existence of a works council is associated with the input-, process- and outcome-quality measures of the German apprenticeship system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Restructuration of architectural practice in integrated project delivery (IPD): two case studies
|
[
"IPD",
"Architecture",
"Integration",
"Design management",
"Case study",
"Integrated project delivery",
"Integrated practice",
"Architectural practice",
"Restructuration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Project delivery methods and contracting configurations in the construction industry have been changing to increase the project value for owners and transfer project risks to competent designers and builders (Miller et al., 2000). Nevertheless, conventional project delivery still suffers from communication inefficiencies and poor performance due to adversarial relationships (Kent and Becerik-Gerber, 2010). Improving this situation was the motivation for integrated project delivery (IPD), a paradigm shift in project procurement that changes the conventional relationships of contracting parties through integration and collaboration (Cleves and Dal Gallo, 2012; Duke et al., 2010). IPD is still relatively new since its standards of practice (dependable norms or routines) are not yet fully formed or fixed. While IPD is a specific contractual form in the USA, the construction industry, globally, is trending toward integrated practices where the routines of architects, engineers and builders are redefined to improve performance (Jamieson et al., 2011). In this paper, the authors will refer to \"integrated practice\" to reflect on this trend toward collaborative delivery methods and routines that project participants need to develop and enact.\nLiterature review: IPD: definition and characteristics\nFindings: This section presents the case studies through three themes: team formation, design leadership and collaboration, and architectural services. In both cases, the hospital owners established expectations for collaborative practices early on through the procurement of the project team (team formation). These practices varied between the two cases as the Quality Hospital had a sequential procurement process, while High Tech requested that architect-contractor teams create process-based proposals together. In both cases, the owners challenged the designers' early design processes with user group workshops and user-led design ideation (design leadership and collaboration). In this new context, architects synthesized, explored and analyzed ideas from the users such that new design practices emerged where architects facilitated, translated and guided owner decisions that shaped and honed the design. These new practices were characterized with more frequent and informal iterations of the design with engineers and builders. While both cases saw early involvement of engineers and builders in design, the negotiated practices around the development of project documentation diverged (architecture services). While on Quality Hospital the architect reduced the amount of drawings they produced (having the subcontractors take on the architectural scope of detailed drawing production), in the High-Tech Hospital, the architects expanded their scope by creating models to support construction methods and prefabrication.\nDiscussions and implications: The findings illustrated that IPD settings enable project parties to negotiate and restructure some important dimensions of architectural practice. These include: team formation, design leadership and collaboration, and architectural services. Although previous research on IPD discussed that the interplay between formal and informal contracting provisions in IPD can lead to differences in team dynamics, communication behavior and collaboration in IPD projects (Bygballe et al., 2015; Dossick et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2013), this research contributes to the body of knowledge by evidencing that IPD settings can be momenta for even more drastic restructuration, which can change the conventional roles, responsibilities and services of project participants, especially architects.\nSummary and conclusion: The main contribution of this study is highlighting that, despite emerging as a new delivery method, IPD does not necessarily predetermine changes in architectural practice, but it can be a context for restructuring architectural practices that are negotiated through new actions with other project participants. These dimensions in this study included team formation, design leadership and collaboration, and architectural services. Accordingly, this paper offers two main theoretical propositions. First, the changes that occur in architectural practices in response to IPD provisions (e.g. collaboration and liability waivers) are not fixed, limited or predetermined, but may lead to unprecedented strategies for restructuring project roles and responsibilities. Second, by restructuring the boundary of practices in IPD, project participants may locally create and redefine conventional project activities (e.g. design briefing and proposal preparation), and documentation (e.g. design intent drawings vs fabrication-ready models).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify that while integrated project delivery (IPD) methods can be momenta for restructuring architectural practice, they do not predetermine specific patterns of restructuration for the roles, responsibilities and services of architects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a multiple case study design; two IPD projects were theoretically sampled and studied. The data collection methods included semi-structured interviews and observations. An inductive data analysis approach was applied to frame the phenomena, conduct cross-case comparisons and develop propositions.\nFindings: While IPD implementations set expectations for new structures for practices, it is the project participants' situated decisions that lead to the restructuration of some dimensions of architectural practice. The dimensions in this study included team formation, design leadership and collaboration and architectural services. IPD project participants locally changed and redefined conventional roles, responsibilities and project artifacts (e.g. drawings and models) that concerned design development and coordination.\nPractical implications: IPD context, by itself, does not predetermine a fixed pattern of change in establishing designers' roles, responsibilities and services because restructuration is highly negotiated amongst the IPD parties and can lead to different responses to this contractual setting. Contracts set expectations for collaborative behavior, but the fulfillment of these expectations is situated and emerging as project participants negotiate to develop practices.\nOriginality/value: While IPD research and guidelines aim to provide recipes for IPD implementation, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by clarifying that IPD is a context in which unprecedented ways of practice restructuration could emerge.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Capability/maturity based model for logistics processes assessment: Application to distribution processes
|
[
"Logistics",
"Distribution",
"Assessment",
"Capability/maturity",
"CMMI",
"FD X50-604"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Logistics processes evaluation is a major priority for business, a task that is difficult for a company given the complexity of these systems due to the large scope of involved processes and actors. It is assumed that such assessment should be guided by a clear and coherent vision and needs to have structured and appropriate methodological tools. The literature review we conducted allowed us to divide the research models dealing with logistics processes evaluation into two categories: performance measurement driven models, maturity measurement driven models.\n2. Methodology: To test the hypothesis stated in the introduction and thus respond to the main research question, we have adopted a two-step approach. The first step aims to support the validity of the proposal at the theoretical level. Thus we studied the conceptual coherence of CMMI and X50 to measure ILP maturity. To achieve this goal, we first tried to understand and synthesize the concepts of CMMI (Table I) and their relationships (Figure 1). We focused mainly on the concept of capability level, generic goals, generic practices and typical indicators of achievement (Table II). The result of this study is presented in Section 3. Then we tried to understand and synthesize the concept of \"ILP\" as it is presented in X50 standard. We have focused on the six stages of this process (Figure 2) as well as the concepts used by the standard (Section 4.1) to describe these steps and their relationships (Figure 3). The result of this study is presented in Section 4. Finally, we conducted a comparison of the two formalisms to highlight the differences and similarities. To achieve this goal, we examined whether the generic practices of CMMI already classified by capability level are covered by the practices of each stage of X50. The result of this comparison is presented in Section 5 (Table III).\n3. CMMI model presentation: 3.1. Key concepts\n4. The X50-604 (X50) standard presentation: 4.1. Key concepts\n5. Coherence between the X50 standard and the CMMI model: The proposed approach is based on the coupling of a capability/maturity assessment model (CMMI) and a benchmark for logistics processes best practices (X50). This paper is the first to analyze the differences and similarities between these two models. Table III shows the correspondence, between the CMMI generic practices and the X50 standard practices, on the basis of their identified common practices: planning, programming, execution, control and correction proposition, standardization, capitalization, setting goals, monitoring performance and improvement. Five cases are possible, as explained in the legend of Table III:\n6. Case study: 6.1. Distribution logistics practices analysis\n7. Discussion: Results show a partial coherence between the CMMI and the X50 standard for assessing the maturity of the ILP. In fact, the analysis of Table III shows that:\n8. Conclusion: To conclude, the present research work provides, in general, a proof that a logistics processes capability/maturity assessment approach based on the coupling of CMMI, as a maturity model, and the X50 standard, as a source of logistics best practices is pertinent at level 2. As an illustration, it presents a particular application of this approach to distribution logistics activities and a case study in a furniture factory. We estimate that this work has several implications. In the practical scope, it provides a new logistics evaluation approach that is a practical, verifiable, repeatable and extensible to other logistics process areas. In the research scope, it provides a comparative analysis between the formalism of the CMMI model and the X50 standard practices; and highlights the X50 standard limits against the CMMI model requirements.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study how a general standardized processes assessment capability/maturity model, such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), can be combined to a standardized benchmark of logistics processes best practices, such as FD X50-604, to propose a new approach that evaluates logistics processes capability/maturity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, an analysis study of CMMI model and X50-604 standard is performed. In order to prove their coherence, a deep comparative analysis of CMMI and X50-604 practices is conducted. As illustration, the paper focuses on a particular application of this approach to evaluate capability/maturity of distribution logistics activities. An industrial case study that aims the validation of this particular application is finally conducted in a furniture company.\nFindings: The authors estimate that the paper findings provide an operational guide for industrials to evaluate their distribution processes that is a practical, verifiable, repeatable and extensible to other logistics process areas and an interesting opportunity to evolve the standard FD X50-604 regarding CMMI requirements to assess capability/maturity of logistics processes.\nOriginality/value: In general, the few capability/maturity-driven models analyzed in literature present some limits that do not allow their diffusion in the industrial level, especially in logistics. This study proposes a new approach based on standards that provide an operational guide for industrials to evaluate their distribution processes based on capability/maturity concept.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Initiating service encounter-based innovation by word-of-business
|
[
"Case studies",
"Innovation",
"Cognition",
"Empirical study",
"Business-to-business marketing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Service innovation in the business-to-business (B2B) context has recently become an important topic in business marketing. State-of-the-art reviews have explored the areas and topics of service innovation pertinent to B2B, both with regard to networks (Mustak, 2014), and to adoption and diffusion processes (Makkonen and Johnston, 2014). The service innovation area is considered emergent and fragmented between many perspectives and disciplines. Nevertheless, innovation researchers in business marketing agree that service innovation is a topic of vital importance to marketing thinking, as the locus of study has shifted from innovation as being embedded within the firm to the external relationships between the firm and its partners and stakeholders. This emergent area of research has been termed service innovation in networks (SIIN). It comprises the processes of combining ideas, knowledge, capabilities and technologies of more than two connected actors (Syson and Perks, 2004). Service innovation is of particular relevance for industrial firms where new product development (NPD) must be combined simultaneously with new services development (NSD). The underlying innovation processes may comprise different, so-called modes of innovation (Gallouj and Weinstein, 1997) defined as how the characteristics of a product or a service are \"changed\" over time. As industrial innovation follows a trajectory of different modes before being a success on the market (Gremyr et al., 2014), it becomes crucial to achieve a fit between the particular mode of innovation and the processes used to bring it about (Gremyr et al., 2014). Hence, to better understand the dynamics of co-innovation in B2B relationships, it seems important to study the interactions in innovation processes at the micro level (Mustak, 2014).\nMethod: a natural experiment as action research: Background: data collection\nResults: inducing a framework of cognitive distance: All transcriptions from recordings of follow-up sessions and written memos from the consultants and sales managers found in reporting formats during the period 16 November 2010 until the final meeting on 30 August 2011 were read by this author with the aim of pinpointing all concrete business leads. General comments without much specification about \"new information\" or the like were not recorded. The list of all business leads, which had been corroborated by the informants (consultants), was first partitioned into two sub-groups, namely, being part of the job or being beyond its scope. The business leads in the latter sub-group were then analyzed one by one. By comparing the concrete business leads individually, the idea of \"cognitive distance\" as a discriminating dimension arose. The concept was first defined in geography and psychology as a distance estimate made by individuals on the basis of their beliefs about a certain distance stored in memory (Ankomah and Crompton, 1992). In this way, it is a mental representation of actual distances. Measurement models of such distances have differentiated between perceptual (space visible) and cognitive (space not visible) distance (Montello, 1991). More recently, cognitive distance has been defined as the distance between the specialized knowledge bases of the actors involved in collaboration (Nesta and Saviotti, 2005). Important effects of cognitive distance on learning and innovation between industrial partnerships (Wuyts et al., 2005) and their propensity to outsource R\nConclusions: initiating service encounter based innovation by WoB: In line with recommendations by von Koskull and Strandvik (2014), the longitudinal action research project reported here was set up as a natural experiment of information gathering. The \"intervention\" took the form of a new reporting format and procedure for managing business leads under three metaphorical headings: map, smoke and mirror. The final reporting format (guide) resulted in a remarkable improvement in information quality. The three-part thematic structure was easy to use. Texts generated by consultants became more integrated over time, more holistic, and richer. This can be interpreted as a learning outcome, which was highlighted by the managing director in a follow-up interview 21 March 2011. He saw \"[...] that two goals had been met: the guide and a new way to train consultants\". Through our theoretical approach to service encounter-based innovation (Sorensen et al., 2013), we were able to set up practiced-based innovation, improved the front office innovation climate and spurred creativity among the informants by training them. Hence, the organizational conditions as regards innovation according to the model were met.\nManagerial implications: In this final section, we will discuss how our framework of cognitive distance may be used in a strategic way to strengthen the client relationship and initiate co-innovation. We will hypothetically suggest a simple categorization of strategic intervention consisting of three different modes of action, proactivity, adaptability and reactivity. Proactivity in our understanding translates into unilaterally making a plan of immediate action. Adaptability, on the other hand, would be to wait for an opportunity to interact and then to be prepared to find a common course of action. Last, reactivity, would be to \"wait and see\" and possibly develop contingency plans for negative commercial developments.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to set up a natural experiment as action research and to develop a framework of cognitive distance of informants to improve the initiation of service encounter-based innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Natural experiment as action research in one Scandinavian case company is used. This paper includes a longitudinal study over 10 month's duration.\nFindings: An organisational support system and an improved front-office innovation climate were set up which generated a new system for information gleaning. A framework of cognitive distance was induced from transcriptions of interviews and transcriptions.\nResearch limitations/implications: Only one Scandinavian company and a limited number of informants were activated. Also, the time period only included the initiation phase of service encounter-based innovation.\nPractical implications: Three different strategies are suggested to respond to different types of word-of-business.\nSocial implications: Cognitive distance is a generic concept which relates to all human interaction and communication. It can explain why it is so difficult to \"get things across\".\nOriginality/value: This paper presents a new theory in an emerging innovation field, open/user-driven innovation. Theory from business marketing, service encounter and innovation is also used.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Entrepreneurs and trade names: evidence from the United Arab Emirates
|
[
"Trade names",
"Entrepreneurs",
"United Arab Emirates"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Businesses dedicate substantial resources to develop trade names that are attractive, convey the business benefits, and meet the demands of a greatly diversified global market (Wanke et al., 2007). Since names elicit meanings, associations, and images choosing a name becomes an important factor in building equity (Lerman and Garbarino, 2002). Surnames, for instance, have been shown to suggest specific personality assumptions (Mehrabian and Piercy, 1993) while the names' phonetic variations seem to create different brand perceptions (Yorkston and Menon, 2004). Beyond phonetics, entrepreneurs often attempt to make use of semantics through developing names with inherent meanings that enable the development of favourable and unique associations.The many possibilities that exist for choosing business names create considerable debate, at both academic and business levels, over what makes a good name. On the one hand, some believe that the best names are the abstract ones, upon which an image can be crafted. Others think that names must be informative to allow consumers to easily comprehend what the business is about. Coined names, on the other hand, are perceived by some to be more memorable than names that use actual words. Others believe these names are less memorable.Generally, entrepreneurs choose business names through one or more of three general naming alternatives: novelty (choose a name after careful deliberation and consideration of the various business prospects), translation (translate from/into other languages), and convenience (copy and modify existing trade names, i.e. copy/paste names). Since the later option is straight forward and inexpensive, it is commonly adopted by many entrepreneurs.Although entrepreneurs seem to know the major considerations in naming a business, they appear to lack the ability to put that knowledge to use when naming their businesses. Thus, this study aims at helping them to overcome the naming difficulties through developing a name-creation model that is easily understood and applicable in a wide variety of naming situations. This model can be used to select names that communicate the expertise, value and distinctiveness of the product or service provided.\nLiterature review: The literature review section is devoted to discussing the value of trade names, the scenery of trade names in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), trade names in international literature, and trade name translation.Trade name value\nResearch design: The research design section is devoted to explain the various steps that have been undertaken in order to acquire the needed data. In this section, the research objectives are stated and the development and administration of the questionnaire is described.Research objectives\nResults and discussions: The data analysis and discussion section is composed of three parts. The first part is devoted to discuss the naming problems that Arab entrepreneurs face. The data used in this part were the actual trade names of participating entrepreneurs and they were analyzed qualitatively. The second part was devoted to the development of the four stages of optimal naming model as stated in the research objectives. The third part is dedicated to explaining the implications of the research results to both entrepreneurs and academicians.Classification of naming problems\nConclusion: Traditionally, a corporate name was simply a trade name that described an industry, a service or a product and, most often, the corporate name was that of the founder's, i.e. Ford and Mercedes-Benz. As companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of corporate reputation, their newly created names are now designed to evoke associations with a set of core corporate values that typically focus on themes such as life, competence, unity, vision, and performance.While there is no dearth of studies on branding and trade names, this is the first study in the field that aims to construct a model for choosing a trade name. Researchers have focused mainly on equity and value; very few studied the naming process as a mechanism for value-creation.The results of this study show that the majority of entrepreneurs in the UAE understand the importance of a good name in jump-starting a business. Unfortunately, that understanding is not put into use. The flood of the not-so-carefully chosen trade names continues to overflow the Arabian markets, alienating both local and international prospects, as well as, wiping out any real possibility of internationalizing Arabic names.The optimal name development model discussed in this study was based on the feedback received from entrepreneurs who demonstrated in their answers that they knew what a good trade name should look like. Yet, a quick analysis of the names they have chosen for their businesses will shock even the most novice observer; poorly translated names, names deeply buried in long-forgotten local traditions, names chosen solely for legal documentations, offsprings' names, spouses' names, tribal names that are dreaded by the other competing tribes, etc. Most of these names are doomed to obscurity. They are difficult to promote, hard to read and pronounce, and building the necessary associations and image around them could prove to be very costly.Why do those entrepreneurs acknowledge the importance of names, while not putting this precious knowledge into practice when naming their businesses is a question that is outside the scope of this study. However, what this study has sought to achieve is classifying the major naming problems in the UAE and providing a procedure, a process, or a way of naming that enables both entrepreneurs and practitioners to overcome these problems and develop names that improve businesses' chances of success.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper aims to classify the problems associated with the various types of trade names, identify Arab entrepreneurs' approaches to naming, and to construct a model that enables entrepreneurs to develop optimal names.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A self-administered questionnaire is distributed to 150 Arab entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates. Qualitative name-analysis is combined with quantitative analysis of the data and the results are used to answer the research questions.\nFindings: - Responses show that entrepreneurs know the major naming considerations but lack the ability to use that knowledge; the naming process remains informal with minimum investments, and clear dependence on translation, tribal names, and imitation in naming businesses.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study includes only Arab entrepreneurs in a country where nearly 70 percent of entrepreneurs are non-Arabs. The survey is administered by Arabic speaking research assistants. Future research can focus on other groups using multilingual research assistants to overcome the language barrier and understand the country's entrepreneurial diversity.\nOriginality/value: - The paper develops a detailed model for use in developing trade names, helps entrepreneurs identify and avoid the problems associated with the different types of names, offers insights into the state of affairs of trade names in an emerging market that has gained increased international recognition, and expands the scope on trade name study and development.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Norms, cognitive dissonance, and cooperative behaviour in laboratory experiments
|
[
"Cognitive dissonance",
"Laboratory experiments",
"Social norms",
"Experimentation",
"Individual behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: It is a common finding in laboratory experiments that cooperative behaviour, i.e. behaviour to the benefit of others, occurs more frequently than an analysis of the underlying monetary incentives would suggest (see, for example, Camerer, 2003, for a summary of large parts of the evidence). As laboratory experiments in economics mostly try to reduce all allusions to the subjects' social context to a minimum in order to facilitate the attribution of observed behaviour to the remaining strategic incentives, the motivation for such behaviour is usually sought in the agents' general fairness concerns or inequity aversion (Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Bolton and Ockenfels, 2000). However, while such arguments undoubtedly capture many aggregate effects quite well, they are often less explicit about specific behavioural patterns and usually provide only a rather rough intuition for why people should care for the utility of others.In the present paper, I take up the discussion about the individual driving forces behind cooperative and other-regarding behaviour in the lab and emphasise a potential psychological source of (selfish) incentives to act to the economic benefit of others. In particular, taking as given the general importance of social institutions[1] and in particular social norms for economic development (North, 1990, 1993; Putnam, 1993), I will argue that subjects should exhibit a general inclination to cooperate also in the rather anonymous setting of the lab - at least to begin with - in order to avoid negative feelings connected with norm-disobedient behaviour (often summarised as a \"guilty conscience\"). More specifically, I will invoke common arguments in terms of identity consistent behaviour (Akerlof and Kranton, 2000, 2005; Wichardt, 2008, 2011) and cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957; Nail et al., 2004; Harmon-Jones and Mills, 1999) to argue:*that people who identify with common cooperative social norms will have a kind of internal enforce device for norm-obedient behaviour; and*that the conditions necessary to trigger this device are usually satisfied in the lab.Moreover, as I hope will become clear for the subsequent discussion, the argument provides not only a possible rationale for the appearance of other-regarding behaviour - anchoring such behaviour in the subjects' individual (and selfish) desire to comply with the internalised social norms. As the behavioural effects around cognitive dissonance have received considerable attention in the psychology literature over the years (Harmon-Jones and Mills, 1999; Nail et al., 2004), it also allows for some more differentiated predictions regarding the occurrence of cooperation and the specific behavioural patterns in connection with deviations from the norm; and, as I will argue below, these predictions indeed appear to be consistent with a variety of empirical evidence. In fact, emphasising the importance of the social aspects of a decision, the argument also indicates a potential rationale for why certain behavioural patterns appear to depend strongly on whether subjects play with other subjects or a computer (see, for example, Bohnet and Zeckhauser, 2004; see Fehr, 2009, for a more general discussion focusing on the determinants of trust), namely because only the social interactions (but not interactions with a technical random device) will trigger associations with the internalised social norms, the associated feelings and psychological enforcement mechanisms and, eventually, the respective tendency towards other-regarding behavioural patterns.Finally, I want to emphasise that although cognitive dissonance as discussed below may, in various respects, be interpreted as similar to feelings of guilt, the present discussion differs in at least one major respect from common arguments in terms of guilt aversion and psychological games (Geanakoplos et al., 1989; Charness and Dufwenberg, 2006; Battigalli and Dufwenberg, 2007). In particular, while the avoidance of negative feelings - cognitive dissonance/feelings of guilt - is central to both types of argument, the main focus of the present one is on why and when such feeling are likely to arise, in particular in the lab, and how they will influence behaviour during the course of an experiment. Questions about the behavioural responses against beliefs about the intentions of others, by contrast, are at most considered indirectly. Nevertheless, I hope that the subsequent discussion about the influence of social norms in the lab and the importance of their perceived relevance, which may serve as an anchor for the subjects' beliefs about the intentions of others, will also provide some interesting insights for the ongoing research on psychological games and guilt aversion.The rest of the paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, I briefly review some of the common behavioural effects in connection with cognitive dissonance and identity and argue how they will interact with cooperative social norms; based on this discussion, I then outline some implications for behaviour in cooperative lab experiments. In Section 3, I demonstrate how these implications square with the empirical evidence. Section 4 concludes.\n2 How social norms matter in the lab: This section is devoted to a discussion of the interplay between social norms and cognitive dissonance and the corresponding behavioural effects as far as relevant for the interpretation of behaviour in cooperative lab experiments. The main implications of the argument are summarised at the end of the section.2.1 Norms and cognitive dissonance\n3 Empirical evidence: In the sequel, I illustrate the implications of the above argument by means of some common empirical findings. The first part of the discussion (Section 3.1) is devoted to more the general aspects of behaviour as considered in Implication 1. More specific aspects concerning the individual behaviour in response to non-cooperative behaviour, considered in Implication 2, are taken up in the second part (Section 3.2).3.1 The general impact of norms\n4 Concluding remarks: In this paper, I have argued that and how social norms can induce cooperative behaviour in the lab even against the agents' own monetary incentives, namely via cognitive dissonance (the threat of a \"guilty conscience\"). In particular, drawing on common findings in social psychology, I have discussed under which conditions such cognitive dissonance effects are most likely to occur and how they may change during repeated interactions, especially if the setting is such that social norms cannot be enforced effectively (e.g. because neither institutional nor individual punishment of deviators is possible). Furthermore, in order to support and illustrate the argument, I have considered a variety of empirical findings and shown how they square with hypothesised aggregate and individual effects.Of course, the basic idea, namely that social considerations are important for individual decision making is not new. And, naturally, large parts of the evidence taken by themselves are also consistent with the various models of fairness and reciprocity (Rabin, 1993; Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Charness and Rabin, 2002; Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger, 2004; Falk and Fischbacher, 2006) or guilt aversion (Charness and Dufwenberg, 2006)[23]. Different from many of these approaches, however, the primary goal of the present paper was not too argue that social preferences matter and what type of aggregate effects this may induce. Rather I wanted to emphasise and illustrate the individual enforcement mechanisms at work and the conditions necessary for them to be effective. Put differently, taking effects such as inequity or guilt aversion as given, the present discussion can be seen as an enquiry into the driving forces behind such phenomena asking why and when they will be most effective and why and when they will not.Summing up, on a general level, the present argument suggests that social connotations have a tangible influence on behaviour even in situation where they are reduced to a minimum such as the rather anonymous atmosphere of most lab experiments. In that sense, it emphasises the importance of context-effects for behaviour suggesting that a stronger social framing inducing more cooperative behaviour (as it increases the salience of common social norms). Accordingly, one conclusion that can be drawn from the present discussion is that any model of utility that eventually aims to capture what is commonly referred to as social preferences (such as fairness considerations) should be context dependent - at least to some degree - and predict other-regarding behaviour to be more visible in instances for which social aspects of the interaction are more pronounced and where the necessary conditions for cognitive dissonance to occur are satisfied (Section 2).Moreover, the reliance of the present argument on general social norms strongly suggests that, in order to understand the driving forces behind other-regarding individual behaviour in the lab, analysing the data alone is not enough. Instead it seems that these data have to be appropriately combined with what is known about the subjects' frame of reference, in particular the social norms they are used to. In that sense, I am for example sceptical regarding claims such as the one made by Fehr and Fischbacher (2003, p. 785) about the determinants of altruism (defined as the costly act to confer economic benefits to others), namely that sound knowledge about the specific motives behind altruistic acts predominantly stems from laboratory experiments. In fact, with the present discussion in mind, I would rather be inclined to argue that it is only the combination of the empirical evidence (from the lab) with the intuitive knowledge all of us possess about common social interaction, i.e. the social institutions and social norms involved, that shapes our understanding of the specific motives behind altruistic/cooperative acts[24].Finally, a more specific conclusion that is suggested by the preceding argument is that observing convergence to Nash in lab experiments, i.e. a more pronounced focus on economics outcomes, does not contradict or conflict with the existence of social preferences. In fact, as argued before, once the subjects recognise the inapplicability of common social norms in the lab through non-cooperative experience, this will increases their perceived external justification for own deviations from the norm (and thereby weaken the deterrent effects of cognitive dissonance). Thus, if economic incentives remain constant in absolute terms, their relative importance will increase. In other words, while social preferences often have a strong impact on behaviour in early rounds, monetary incentives eventually will take over as non-cooperative experience in the respective context adds up. In that sense, the present discussion also indicates bridge between common arguments in terms of social preferences and the equally common claim that people eventually will learn to \"play Nash\", i.e. to rationally respond to economic incentives.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper emphasises the general relevance of social norms and social associations for cooperative behaviour in less or non-social economic contexts, focusing in particular on economic laboratory experiments, and to illustrate the underlying psychological driving forces.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The argument focuses on the interplay between social norms, their psychological enforcement mechanism (cognitive dissonance) and context effects. Drawing on findings from both (social) psychology and experimental economics, it emphasises the relevance of social norms for cooperative behaviour also in less or non-social environments as often created in economic laboratory experiments. Moreover, the conditions for cognitive dissonance effects to occur are summarised and the corresponding behavioural effects are both highlighted and exemplified by means of various examples including the analysis of a specific data set.\nFindings: - The discussion strongly suggests that the influence of common cooperative social norms is difficult to \"anonymise away\" in laboratory experiments or other less socially focused decision environments. Moreover, it provides a possible explanation for the occurrence of a variety of behavioural patterns often found in such settings, such as initially high but decreasing willingness to cooperate in social dilemmas.\nPractical implications: - Emphasising the far reach of social aspects in economic decision making, the discussion may help in the design of institutions as it illustrates a widespread source of non-economic individual incentives.\nOriginality/value: - The argument addresses the idiosyncrasies of individual cooperative behaviour in situations where economic incentives should hinder such behaviour. Adding to earlier arguments which explain such cooperation, for example, by reference to fairness concerns or inequity aversion, the present discussion emphasises in particular the specific psychological driving forces behind such behaviour. In doing so, it establishes a clear link to the research on cognitive dissonance in psychology.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Senior citizens' requirements of services provided by community-based care facilities: a China study
|
[
"China",
"Service",
"Briefing",
"Community-based facility",
"Senior citizen",
"Embedded retirement facility",
"ERF"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Population ageing, with urbanisation, has become one of the greatest challenges throughout the world in the twenty-first century. The effects of China's 37 years of the one-child policy, combined with significant improvements in health-care services, have made the country's population grow more rapidly than those of nearly all other countries. Although the government has been facilitating social reform of the industry and service for the aged since 2011 to face the rapid ageing situation (that is, \"9073\" and \"9064\" retirement patterns: 90 per cent of the senior citizens obtaining home-based care with the help of relatives or trained workers, 7 or 6 per cent using community-based services such as day care, the 3 or 4 per cent remaining staying in nursing homes (Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources & Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, 2015; The People's Government of Beijing Municipality, 2008; The People's Government of Shanghai Municipality, 2007), which have been formed during the past years), the Chinese Government still has many difficulties in catering to senior citizens' needs regarding ageing in place.\n2. Literature review: Physical environments significantly impact individuals of all ages, especially senior citizens, who rely on their immediate locality for support and assistance. Age-friendly housing design, supportive neighbourhoods and connections to families and communities are overarching themes that may help in dealing with the social isolation of senior citizens (Biggs and Carr, 2015; Buffel et al., 2012; Chan et al., 2016). Given that these individuals spend most of their time in homes and communities, they are likely to be sensitive to the services provided by community-based facilities.\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Document analysis and brainstorming session\n4. Analysis results: 4.1 Characteristics of respondents\n5. Discussions: 5.1 Senior citizens' requirements of services provided by embedded retirement facilities\n6. Conclusion: Population ageing results in an increasing demand for services meant for senior citizens. From the perspectives of humanities and political economy, promoting senior citizens' participation in building ERFs not only fosters quality and social justice but also ensures that public policies safeguard the rights of senior citizens. Although senior citizens are the end users of community-based facilities, their needs are easily overlooked by decision-makers and facility managers. In addition, senior citizens in China are predominantly passive and relatively silent in formal and informal civic participation because they normally hope that policy-makers can notice and satisfy their requirements.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to identify senior citizens' requirements related to \"embedded retirement facilities (ERFs)\", which are small-scale, multi-functional and community-based care facilities for senior citizens in mainland China, and to discuss whether senior citizens' perceptions are influenced by their backgrounds.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire type of research was administrated to gain senior citizens' rankings of services that should be provided by ERFs. Non-parametric statistical models were applied to analyse the collected data.\nFindings: Results reveal that health care services for senior citizens are considered the most important. Requirements regarding rehabilitation and entertainment and daily life assistance are ranked second and third, respectively. Culture-related activities are the least important. Differences in the senior citizens' background also influence their choices.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is based on a questionnaire survey completed in northeast China. Opinions from other areas of mainland China will be collected in the future study. Furthermore, the key items identified in this research, which was completed by participants from the built environment discipline, can be further elaborated by combining interdisciplinary feedback.\nPractical implications: This study explores services that are supposedly provided by ERFs. Findings will provide useful perceptions from senior citizens and will enable decision makers to prioritise services for senior citizens.\nSocial implications: Although senior citizens are the end users of ERFs, their needs are easily overlooked. This study calls attention to their needs from ERFs, and the results are likely to serve as references for stakeholders in building improved facilities.\nOriginality/value: ERFs have been provided in mainland China to cater to senior citizens' needs since 2014. However, few studies have identified senior citizens' requirements for provided services. The survey-based results of this work will serve as references for various stakeholders in making enhanced decisions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Business streamlining - an integrated model of service sourcing
|
[
"Outsourcing",
"Purchasing",
"Buyer-seller relationship",
"Sourcing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The outsourcing of business processes is an increasingly important type of service purchasing. This implies that a broader range of business services are being externalized, including R&D, IT, administration, facilities management and even the sourcing function as such (Agndal et al., 2007; Nordin and Agndal, 2008). Such externalization can often be regarded as a strategic decision that can lead to effects throughout the entire organization, such as improved financial performance, a heightened focus on core competencies and an increased ability to respond to environmental changes (Gilley and Rasheed, 2000). Consequently, the involvement of purchasing organizations in services is changing and growing (Ellram et al., 2004, 2007; Van der Valk and Rozemeijer, 2009).\nLiterature review: Service sourcing\nMethodology: To grasp the relational and behavioral dimensions of service sourcing over time, the fieldwork of the present study has focused on two case studies that were followed over a period of 18 months. To develop an integrated model, we have adopted so-called \"grounded theory\" methodology (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978, 1998, 2001, 2006).\nResults: business streamlining - an integrated model of service sourcing processes: The model that emerged from the data analysis after several iterations consists of a general pattern, or basic social process (Glaser, 1978, 1998, 2001, 2006) that is termed \"business streamlining\". This category describes how actors resolve their main concern, which is to manage their business by streamlining, that is by making business processes simpler, more effective and/or more productive. The main purpose of business streamlining is to allow for further attention and focus on the core processes of the organization, while simultaneously allowing for an external party to take over functional responsibilities that were previously performed in-house. This is done by managing four complementary and evolving sub-processes or activities. The activities involved in the business streamlining process are represented by the four following interrelated categories:\nConclusions: This study has indicated that contemporary service sourcing processes are complex and multidimensional endeavors, in which the actors involved ultimately manage various activities through a process that is best described as \"business streamlining\". In accordance to the grounded theory methodology, this basic social process describes the involved actors' main concern and the processes by which it is continuously resolved.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purchasing of services is a significantly under-researched area. The purpose of this study is to suggest a conceptual model of service sourcing relationships, including the post-contract phase.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative methodology involving two longitudinal case studies that were analyzed with a grounded theory approach to build a conceptual model was applied.\nFindings: The proposed model consists of a core process that is termed \"business streamlining\" and denotes the process by which four interrelated dimensions are managed to making the business processes of the buying organization simpler and more effective and/or productive.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the research methodology is qualitative and does not allow statistical generalization, the study does provide valuable insights into the management of the service sourcing process.\nPractical implications: The model proposed in this study can be utilized by managers to impose a useful conceptual structure on otherwise fluid and intangible processes, which makes them easier to analyze and facilitates strategic corporate decision-making.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes a model that grasps the dynamics and reality of service (out-) sourcing relationships, including the ongoing relationship management process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Measuring resource efficiency and resource effectiveness in manufacturing
|
[
"Sustainability",
"Manufacturing",
"Performance indicators",
"Performance measures",
"Resource efficiency",
"Resource effectiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"Humankind has consumed more aluminium, copper, iron and steel, phosphate rock, diamonds, sulphur, coal, oil, natural gas, and even sand and gravel over the past century than over all earlier centuries put together, and the pace continues to accelerate\" (Tilton, 2003). With rapidly increasing consumption of energy and material resources in the developed as well as the developing world, the issue of resource scarcity is becoming vital. The resource efficiency (RE) programme by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emphasise that to meet the needs of the growing population, it is necessary to \"decouple resource use and environmental degradation from the economic growth\". This will necessitate consumers in making social and environmental concerns, part of their buying decisions. It will require producers to change their design, production and marketing processes (UNEP, 2014). Duflou et al. (2012) argue that while the manufacturing sector plays a vital role in the world economy, it consumes significant amounts of energy and other natural resources and releases solid, liquid and gaseous wastes that lead to increased stress on the already fragile environment. Parker (2007) observes that unless new approaches to manufacturing are found and implemented, global population growth alone is expected to cause emissions and waste production to increase by at least 40 per cent by 2050.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 RE and resource effectiveness\n3. Research methodology: As depicted in Figure 1, the research methodology consists of three stages: gap identification, development and testing. The research is based on the foundation of two streams of investigation: literature survey and industry survey. Apart from identification of some of the existing REMIs, the literature survey aimed to understand the \"resources\" that are relevant for achieving \"environmental sustainability\" in manufacturing. It also aimed to understand the contextual background of measuring RE and/or resource effectiveness in achieving \"environmentally sustainability\". Both these lines of investigation are used to identify gaps in some of the existing REMIs that are used for the development of a \"new indicator\".\n4. Results/findings: 4.1 Findings of the analysis of 40 REMIs\n5. Conclusions: To summarise, none of the 40 analysed REMIs that were identified through the literature survey, capture both, the \"resource use\", and \"waste generation\" using 100 per cent operational data in its measurement. Also, none of these REMIs provide incentives to encourage circularity in recovery, reprocessing or reuse of waste. 78 per cent of surveyed manufacturers agreed that a good \"resource effectiveness\" indicator should include both, consumption of key natural resources and waste generation in its measurement. Also, 54 per cent of the manufacturers agree that a good \"resource effectiveness\" indicator should be based on operational data. Both these responses clearly validate the hypothesis. Finally, the inverse correlation established between the Gate2Gate OREft index and the RIPU and the WIPU of a foundry and plastic products manufacturing unit, comparison of the Gate2Gate OREft indices of these two units with each other and with four existing REMIs, validates the output generated by the new OREft indicator. The OREft indicator is a \"new indicator\" of \"operational resource effectiveness\" suitable for manufacturing units. Unlike many REMIs, the new OREft indicator is based on readily available operational data, not assumptions. In addition to the fact that the proposed indicator captures \"resource consumption\" and \"waste generation\" in its measurement, inclusion of \"circularity factors\" that capture the circularity of resource use and recovery and reuse of waste streams is the key distinguishing feature of this indicator. In terms of its practical implications, the proposed indicator can be used for comparing the operational resource effectiveness of individual factories over a period as well as with other manufacturing units. It also captures useful information such as resource intensity per unit and waste intensity per unit, which also reflect operational RE or resource productivity that can be used to initiate improvement action. Adoption of this indicator across manufacturing supply chain can lead to an overall improvement in the RE, resource productivity, as well as resource effectiveness across the supply chain.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and analyse existing resource efficiency (RE) and resource effectiveness measures and indicators (REMIs); and second, to identify gaps and develop a new indicator of \"operational resource effectiveness\" (OREft) suitable for manufacturing units.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research methodology consists of three stages: gap identification, development and testing. Through review of academic literature, 40 REMIs are identified and analysed. A survey of manufacturers is carried out to validate the hypothesis and seek inputs on the development of the new indicator. The proposed indicator is tested by comparing OREft index of two manufacturing units with each other, with resource intensity per unit (RIPU), waste intensity per unit (WIPU) and with four other REMIs.\nFindings: Analysis of 40 REMIs clearly points towards the absence of a hypothesised REMI. In total, 78 per cent of manufacturers surveyed in north England substantiate the hypothesis. Inverse correlation established between the proposed OREft indicator, RIPU, WIPU and other comparisons is likely to validate the output generated by the proposed indicator.\nResearch limitations/implications: Testing of this indicator is limited to two dissimilar manufacturing units that shared data.\nPractical implications: The proposed indicator is useful for comparing the operational resource effectiveness of individual factories over a period as well as with other factories. RIPU and WIPU captured in this indicator also represent operational RE that can be used to initiate improvement action.\nOriginality/value: Inclusion of both, the resource consumption and the waste generation along with discount/multiplying factors that capture the circularity aspects is likely to be the distinguishing feature of this indicator.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Exploratory study of academic excellence associated with persistence in ODL setting
|
[
"SEM",
"Persistence",
"Academic excellence",
"Exploratory design",
"IPA-CSI"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper is the reinforcement of previous study on the relatively similar structure with quite different respondents and also with modified attributes primarily in the seven foremost variables as previously introduced by Sembiring (2016). The issues however are still tightly relatable to the students' persistence and attrition by pondering to Tinto (1997) and Bean (1983). Students' persistence, including loyalty (Kunanusorn and Puttawong, 2015), is an integral part of satisfaction as identified by Brown (2006). Satisfaction in academic excellence is also frequently attached to the service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Arokiasamy and Abdullah, 2012). These conceptions, including in educational sectors, and more specifically in higher education context, are widely adopted (Petruzzellis et al., 2006; Rojaz-Mendez et al., 2009; Bharwana et al., 2013). These efforts are essential since many students strived to pursuing their degree and in fact mostly ineffectual to persist (Roberts and Styron, 2009). It just happens so as the service provided and delivered are understandably below the standard and also below of the students' expectation. These perceptions are plausibly relevant in the open distance learning (ODL) environment (Sembiring, 2014).\nThe operational framework: The conceptual or exploratory framework (Figure 1) is then used as a tool of weighing up satisfaction and its inference noticed from academic excellence perspectives. This would let the university to modify the important aspects of operations to accommodate students' need and expectation. It might focus on the institutional directions to accomplish the students' need so that the university is able to maintain and make progress on the size and growth of student body as previously projected and officially stated in the operational plan document of the university. In other words, this is the way on how the university is searching for proper and adequate approach and orientation to maintain the student body.\nMethodology and the design: This study utilizes mixed-methods approach, i.e. exploratory design (Creswell and Clark, 2011). It is conducted under qualitative approach first and then followed by quantitative sequence. Two instruments are established - they are list of questions for interviews and/or focus-group discussions (for qualitative purpose) and questionnaires (for quantitative purpose). Table I is utilized as a basis to develop required and relevant instruments and sent to 600 out of 1,954 overseas students to be completed. All questions (X11-X72) were simultaneously answered two times by the respondents. The first and second answers are to measure excellence level and its importance degree, respectively. The rests (Y11-Y42) were answered once by the respondents to view the impact of academic excellence related to the students' persistence, loyalty and their expected future careers.\nResults and arguments: Before conversing to the end results, it is valuable to represent the respondent characteristics as illustrated in Table II. This will enrich the perspectives on the outcomes obtained later. Other elaborative analyses are detailed in the next clarification, including Tables III-IV and Figures 3-4.\nRemarks for future actions: The research has created both qualitative and quantitative frameworks of academic excellence and its dimensions in Universitas Terbuka milieu with respect to their links extended from a comprehensive analysis of educational perspective and student behavior. The framework was validated using SEM through assessing empirical data by the survey of 184 respondents (Universitas Terbuka students domiciled overseas). The study ascertains that academic excellence leads to persistence and loyalty and then followed by future careers. Additionally, academic excellence is affected by evaluation systems, referral schemes, academic counseling, learning materials and student orientation. Under the IPA-CSI procedure, one aspect that should be cautiously noticed in anticipating and fulfilling students' needs and expectations is on the feedback mechanisms.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study observes that academic excellence associated with satisfaction leads to persistence, loyalty and future careers as perceived by students in an open distance learning framework. The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the influences of academic excellence as the origin of satisfaction, and how and in which routines those associated factors were interconnected.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The inquiry employed the mixed-methods (exploratory design) approach. It was qualitatively identified first that academic excellence included student orientation, academic counseling, learning materials, tutorial supports, evaluation systems, feedback mechanisms and referral schemes. These seven factors had repercussions on students' persistence, loyalty and future careers. Quantitatively, seven factors of academic excellence and the latter are independent and dependent variables, respectively. Respondents were randomly selected to accumulate data through a survey from the overseas students of Universitas Terbuka Indonesia. Importance-performance analysis and customer-satisfaction index were concurrently applied to measure the excellence level and its importance degree. Ten hypotheses were established and then examined using structural equation modeling to encapsulate the interrelations intensity among the engaged factors.\nFindings: Eight out of ten hypotheses were statistically validated by the analysis excluding tutorial supports and feedback mechanisms factors. It was inferred that evaluation systems were the most critical factor and orderly followed by referral schemes, academic counseling, learning materials and student orientation. Academic excellence had an impact on persistence and loyalty, followed by career advancement.\nOriginality/value: The study identified minor disparity of qualitative and quantitative results. Further query with wider perspectives was needed by also enlarging the sample to minimize the gaps.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Narratives of cooperation, resilience and resistance: workers' self-recovery in times of crisis
|
[
"Cooperation",
"Italy",
"Self-management",
"Narratives",
"Social resilience",
"Worker-recuperated enterprises"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPremise: This paper is based on an inquiry on Italian worker-recuperated enterprises, a phenomenon that has acquired growing importance in the country since 2008, following the Great Recession that hit most of the western economies.\nAims and methodology: narrative approaches to social action and change: The adoption of a narrative approach in this research is methodologically consistent with an ontological and epistemological position that considers society made of meaningful actions and interpretation as the principal mode of inquiry. As \"knowledge by interpretation assumes that there are multiple realities that are socially constructed\" (Erol Isik, 2015, p. 120), narratives provide a dense account of the reality perceived by the actor himself and how structure and agency are interrelated.\nDefinitions: Italian worker-recuperated enterprises are mostly the result of WBO, intending with this expression a corporate restructuring, recovery or conversion process in which the employees buy a share of the company that previously employed them (Vieta, 2016).\nA brief overview of Italian worker-recuperated enterprises: The WBO mechanism in Italy has its foundation in the law 49/1985, so-called \"Marcora law\", amended by law 57/2001 and integrated in more recent times by the Ministerial Decree 4 December 2014 (so-called \"new Marcora\").\nWorker's narratives of self-determination, resistance and resilience: In order to systematize the comparison between the different types of Italian worker-recuperated enterprises, this section focuses on four crucial analytical dimensions: resilience/resistance, relationship with the territory, relationship with the market and workplace democracy.\nFinal remarks: We believe workers-recuperated enterprises, in their various forms, provide an interesting example of how to strengthen the opportunities for self-realization and self-employment of workers. The policy of supporting workers' cooperatives promoted by the Marcora law supports the employment levels, and, in its amended version (law 57/2001, art. 12), it does so without impacting on public spending, since the funds provided by the financial companies must be repaid within 10 years. These policies generate a virtuous circle that can be summarized in four main components: support to employment, savings in social safety nets, tax revenues, preservation of local production.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Worker-recuperated enterprises have appeared in Europe with increasing frequency since 2008, following the Great Recession that hit the western economies. The purpose of this paper is to depict the phenomenon of worker-recuperated enterprises in Italy, focusing on two different types of business recovery, that of workers buyouts and that of recovered social spaces. The paper compares these on the basis of four analytical dimensions: resilience/resistance, relationship with the market, relationship with the territory and workplace democracy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The corpus of the research is based on the cross-sectional analysis of workers' narratives. These were collected, within a small sample of theoretically relevant cases, in order to retrace and analyse the path from the crisis of the former companies to establishment of the workers' cooperatives and their social and economic features.\nFindings: The collected narratives allowed for a multi-level comparison between different types of worker-recuperated enterprises, providing some insights on their emergence, their features in terms of resilience and resistance, their relationship with the market economy and their outcomes in terms of workplace democracy and support to employment.\nOriginality/value: Worker buyouts are gaining ground in Europe as an effective mechanism to oppose the fall of the employment rate in consequence of economic crises. This research intends to offer some data and arguments to the current international debate on the effectiveness of these mechanisms in coping with economic shocks and opening up to a sustainable and cooperative work-driven economy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate social responsibility reporting in the mining sector of Tanzania: (Lack of) government regulatory controls and NGO activism
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Globalization",
"Neo-liberalism",
"Transnational corporations",
"Regulatory structures",
"Non-government organisations (NGOs)",
"Tanzania"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recent years have witnessed a considerable increase in the variety and volume of literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (see, e.g. Belal and Owen, 2007; Cooper and Owen, 2007; Unerman and O'Dwyer, 2007). This literature has emerged from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, philosophy, accounting, management, finance, law and politics (see Banerjee, 2007, 2008; Jones, 2008; Vogel, 2005). Within the accounting literature, CSR has been considered as part of social accounting, which overlaps with social and environmental accounting (Beck et al., 2010; Gray et al., 2001). CSR in this context is viewed as a potentially benign mechanism which may be used to mobilise meaningful organisational changes but may lead to less unethical and unsustainable business practices (see Dey, 2007, p. 424). However, notwithstanding the increasing attention being given to CSR in the literature as a postulate for accountability and for the promotion of ethical and responsible business practices, most studies have been primarily western-centric (e.g. Gray et al., 2001; Guthrie and Parker, 1989, 1990). In developed countries, comprehensive environmental regulations are in place, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are relatively active in scrutinising corporate conduct, and labour unions campaign for workers' rights (see Moon and Vogel, 2008; O'Donovan, 2002). These pressure groups arguably generate \"invisible\" pressures that drive companies to adopt voluntary CSR reporting practices (see Hilson, 2012, p. 132).\n2. Overview of the literature on CSR practices: Despite CSR's long history, it has become a much-debated topic in the contemporary era of globalisation (see Puxty, 1986; Spence, 2007, 2009; Tinker et al., 1991). Parker (2005, p. 844) has described the literature on CSR as voluminous, disparate, diverse and exciting, but without a commonly agreed philosophical and methodological standpoint. In the accounting literature, CSR reporting has been considered as part of a wider system of societal governance that requires corporate responsibility to address and disclose issues such as accountability, ethics and sustainability, as well as socio-economic, ecological and humanitarian problems (Gray et al., 2001; Sikka, 2010). The literature indicates that increased awareness of socio-economic and environmental crises, corporate failures and collapses, and the recent financial crisis, have raised further questions about the regulation and morality of capitalism and the complexity of business-society relationships, leading to demands for enhanced corporate accountability and social responsibility (Bakan, 2004; Puxty, 1986; Tinker et al., 1991). Thus, making TNCs socially responsible and accountable has become a major issue in contemporary capitalist society (see Sikka, 2010; Spence, 2009).\n3. The mirror: theoretical perspectives: In order to understand the complexities associated with CSR reporting, scholars have adopted a range of theoretical frameworks, such as stakeholder, legitimacy, institutional and political economy frameworks, and these have provided some insight into both the social and environmental problems relating to corporate activities (Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Guthrie and Parker, 1989). Although stakeholder and legitimacy theories have often been used as theoretical frameworks for understanding CSR practices, the extent to which these theories can explain the contradictions and dilemmas faced by developing countries with respect to CSR practices has remained problematic. Thus, while such theories may provide useful frameworks for explaining and understanding business-society relationships, they pay little attention to the broader socio-political, economic, historical and power structures that shape CSR reporting practices (see Banerjee, 2007; Cooper and Sherer, 1984; Tinker et al., 1991). Banerjee (2007, p. 28), for example, has criticised these theoretical frameworks for ignoring the many social and economic conflicts that exist in different societies. For instance, from a legitimacy theory perspective, social and environmental disclosure is perceived as a strategy employed by corporate entities to gain society's acceptance of and approval for their operations. However, this has become questionable, especially in developing countries where, despite the increasing social and environmental impact of corporate activities, companies continue to carry out these activities relatively unchallenged (see Banerjee, 2007). In order to understand CSR practices in a developing country such as Tanzania, it is necessary to adopt an appropriate methodological framework that takes into account the social, political and economic contexts in which business organisations conduct their activities (see Banerjee, 2007; Kuasirikun and Sherer, 2004; Scherer and Palazzo, 2007; Tinker, 1980; Tinker et al., 1991). The methodological framework adopted should be able to shed some light on the role played by local government regulations and nationally organised NGO activism in relation to the global economic and political processes that shape social relations, as discussed in the next section.\n4. The Tanzanian socio-political and economic context: Like many other developing countries, Tanzania has had to integrate its economic system into the contemporary global capitalist system. However, as a peripheral state, Tanzania needs capital, technology, skilled labour and financial resources and, like other developing countries, it has had to open its economy to TNCs (see Harris and Seid, 2000; Hoogvelt, 2001). Neo-liberal policies, implemented as a way of opening up the economy, have had serious implications for the Tanzanian Government's ability to promote CSR practices. This section considers the socio-political and economic environment of Tanzania as a background for understanding CSR reporting practices in the gold-mining industry.\n5. Analysis of empirical evidence: This section considers some evidence from the Tanzanian mining sector, a sector dominated largely by TNCs. It analyses the reporting practices of the two largest gold-mining companies and draws attention to the need to demystify the serious social and environmental ills often concealed within CSR reports. It argues that, as a developing country, Tanzania's legal and regulatory frameworks and NGO campaigns and advocacy have not been sufficiently strong to bring about a positive impact on corporate social and environmental practices in the mining sector. In order to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of CSR reporting in the mining sector, it is necessary first to consider the socio-political, economic and regulatory context within which these dynamics occur.\n6. Summary and conclusions: This paper has demonstrated the importance of adequately regulating social, environmental, labour and human rights issues, and the huge difficulties faced by a developing country, namely Tanzania, in seeking to implement regulatory forms that are acceptable to the TNCs involved and to the wider political and economic interests they represent. The evidence of this paper reveals that, despite gold-mining companies' initiatives to increase their social and environmental disclosures, such reporting has remained selective, and a business-as-usual attitude prevails. The increasing evidence of social and environmental problems in the Tanzanian mining sector raises questions about the adequacy and effectiveness of the legislative and regulatory frameworks, as well as the role played by pressure groups, and NGOs in particular. The persistence of socio-economic and environmental problems in the Tanzanian mining sector points to a neo-liberal crisis at both global and local levels (see Campbell, 2012). This is attributable to the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies in the Tanzanian mining sector that have not only created oligopolies in the sector but have also imposed constraints on government regulatory capability.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing debate on governance, accountability, transparency and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the mining sector of a developing country context. It examines the reporting practices of the two largest transnational gold-mining companies in Tanzania in order to draw attention to the role played by local government regulations and advocacy and campaigning by nationally organised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with respect to promoting corporate social reporting practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper takes a political economy perspective to consider the serious implications of the neo-liberal ideologies of the global capitalist economy, as manifested in Tanzania's regulatory framework and in NGO activism, for the corporate disclosure, accountability and responsibility of transnational companies (TNCs). A qualitative field case study methodology is adopted to locate the largely unfamiliar issues of CSR in the Tanzanian mining sector within a more familiar literature on social accounting. Data for the case study were obtained from interviews and from analysis of documents such as annual reports, social responsibility reports, newspapers, NGO reports and other publicly available documents.\nFindings: Analysis of interviews, press clips and NGO reports draws attention to social and environmental problems in the Tanzanian mining sector, which are arguably linked to the manifestation of the broader crisis of neo-liberal agendas. While these issues have serious impacts on local populations in the mining areas, they often remain invisible in mining companies' social disclosures. Increasing evidence of social and environmental ills raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory frameworks, as well as the roles played by NGOs and other pressure groups in Tanzania.\nPractical implications: By empowering local NGOs through educational, capacity building, technological and other support, NGOs' advocacy, campaigning and networking with other civil society groups can play a pivotal role in encouraging corporations, especially TNCs, to adopt more socially and environmentally responsible business practices and to adhere to international and local standards, which in turn may help to improve the lives of many poor people living in developing countries in general, and Tanzania in particular.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes insights from gold-mining activities in Tanzania to the existing literature on CSR in the mining sector. It also contributes to political economy theory by locating CSR reporting within the socio-political and regulatory context in which mining operations take place in Tanzania. It is argued that, for CSR reporting to be effective, robust regulations and enforcement and stronger political pressure must be put in place.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
New design for reducing interfacial stresses of reinforced structures with FRP plates
|
[
"Interfacial stresses",
"Taper",
"Shear stress",
"FRP composites",
"Strengthening"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The use of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) plates in strengthening damaged structures offers an effective and rapid repair solution. This has made bonding an excellent alternative for conventional reinforcing techniques such as welding, riveting, bolting, etc., due to their excellent material properties in terms of strength-to-mass ratio, environment resistance and cost effectiveness (Balendran et al., 2001; Leung et al., 2003). The studies of Moy and Nikoukar (2002) and Tavakkolizadeh and Saadatmanesh (2003) confirmed the efficiency of this strengthening technique. However, one of the typical and important failure modes in this technique is delamination between the FRP plate and the structure, occurring within the adhesive layer according to Herakovich (1998), Mukhopadhyaya and Swamy (2001), Denton (2001) and Stratford (2004), which depends mostly on the interfacial stress concentration at the edge of the composite plate due to the geometrical and structural discontinuity according to Roberts (1989) and Taljsten (1997). In addition, several possible failure modes at different places in the adhesive joint are more likely to occur in case of steel beams. A low-order analysis can be used to predict the interfacial stress in the bond, such as the work of Wu et al. (1997), Jones et al. (1988), Saadatmanesh and Malek (1998), Triantafillou and Antonopoulos (2000), Ascione and Feo (2000), Smith and Teng (2001), Yang et al. (2004), Deng (2004), Tounsi and Benyoucef (2007), Stratford and Cadei (2006), Edalati and Irani (2012), Bensaid et al. (2013), Kerboua et al. (2013), Ghafoori (2013), Brairi et al. (2018), developing different theories of predicting the interfacial stresses in the adhesive layer of a bonded structure with FRP plates. On the other hand, many other researchers have been focusing on reducing the interfacial stresses by either altering the physical properties of the materials or enhancing the geometrical design of the structure. The first technique involves using altered adhesive at the end of the bond known as the bi-adhesive technique or multi-adhesive joint by using softer adhesives or stiffer adherends. The study of Bouchikhi et al. (2013) investigated the effect of homogenous adhesive joints and mixed adhesive joints (bi-adhesive) under UDL load and concluded that mixed adhesive joints can reduce the magnitude of the interfacial stresses significantly. Calik and Yildirim (2015) introduced the effect of combined spew fillet with bi-adhesive and parallel slot in adherend on the stress distribution along the length of adhesive-bonded single lap joint under pure tension. However, due to the greater complications of the surface preparation, this technique is not the most advantageous technique. Instead, it is best to adjust the geometry of the reinforcement plate that is much more robust to reduce stresses concentration in the adhesive layer according to Deng (2004), Cadei et al. (2004), Stratford and Chen (2005). In addition, a spew fillet in the adhesive should be left around the edge of FRP plate according to Frostig et al. (1999). Deng (2004) introduced a solution to predict the interfacial stresses with a tapered FRP plate under mechanical as well as thermal loads. Deng and Lee Marcus (2005) tested different cases and factors influencing the strength of the metallic beams reinforced by different types of CFRP plates and suggested the use of longer tapered plates as a solution for improvement. Haghani et al. (2009) conducted a study on the effect of using normal and reverse taper with and without adhesive fillets on the interfacial stress magnitude in the adhesive layer under mechanical load only. Belakhdar et al. (2010) used a numerical solution to calculate the interfacial stress distribution in beams strengthened with an FRP plate having a tapered end with different taper configurations subjected to mechanical load. Calik (2016) performed a numerical analysis considering nonlinear tapered end concluding that the effect of rounding the taper in the bond end on the stress reduction is significant. These studies have concluded that an inverse taper is, by far, the most effective method of reducing stress adhesive. Furthermore, this paper presents a new taper design simulated using the Abaqus software package based on the FE method to determine the interfacial stresses in the adhesive layer incorporating the shear deformation (shear lag) in the structures and the effect of fibre orientation in pre-stressed layered composite with new enhanced taper design on both adhesive and FRP plate under the combination of mechanical and thermal loads. Finally, different physical and geometrical properties of the beam and the bonded plate are studied to determine the optimal design for reducing the interfacial stresses.\n2. Finite element (FE) analysis: 3D FE analysis has been used to study the effect of taper design on interfacial stresses of structure, using the Abaqus software package (ABAQUS Inc., Providence, US-RI). The modelling method in Abaqus involves defining the numerous components of the model; for example, the beam, adhesive layer and FRP plate are defined as parts, each linked with the other in order to provide a complete analysis with detailed information's.\n3. Conclusion: This paper has studied the impact of a new taper and fillet design on the reduction of the interfacial stresses, including new parameters that were not covered by previous studies. In fact, introducing thermo-mechanical load on the structure and pre-stressed FRP plate with the proposed design has been found to be of great importance for reducing the interfacial stresses. Numerous geometrical parameters were studied to investigate the behaviour of these factors on the interfacial stresses' values. It has been found that the effect of pre-stressing the FRP plate with taper has reverse results of both the thickness of the adhesive and the FRP plate elasticity modulus. The new taper design applied will further enhance the strengthening of beams reinforced by FRP plates that are subjected to coupled loads (mechanical, thermal and pre-stressing), and this is achieved by modifying the geometries in both the adhesive and FRP plate. It is noticed that new materials of composites FRP and different fibres orientation with shear lag and taper effect play an important part on the stress's values, mainly at the edges of the reinforcement zone.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The sustainability of the structures is not only a technical goal, but also a matter of social and environmental values. This requires the researchers to use very rigid, highly durable and corrosion-resistant composite structures in order to achieve the technical, environmental and social goals. The purpose of this paper is to present an original work on reducing the interfacial stresses of bonded structures with fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) plates based on new taper design.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this proposed concept, the effect of combined taper is investigated on reducing interfacial stresses, attempting to enhance the structure performance and address the debonding problem that comes with reinforcing techniques. This research is carried out by using finite element analysis, incorporating many new parameters.\nFindings: As a result, a new solution is discovered that combined taper in both adhesive layer and composite laminate, which significantly reduces the interfacial stresses at the end of the FRP plate. Additionally, a parametric study is carried out in order to determine the optimal configurations of taper dimensions as well as other parameters that influence the stress concentration distribution at the edge of the adherends.\nPractical implications: This new design regarding the reduction of interfacial stresses will help in increasing the lifespan of damaged structures reinforced by FRP composites, preserving thus its technical, historical and social values.\nOriginality/value: The paper uses straight, concave and convex fillets with inverse taper as a new design solution with new parameters including thermo-mechanical loads and pre-stressed FRP plate with multi-layer, fibre orientation and shear-lag effects.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Competitive strategies and their shift to the future
|
[
"Competitive strategies",
"Hybrid form of competitive advantage",
"Hybrid strategies",
"Hybridization",
"Strategic purity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The perspective of business-level strategies in 1980 was a milestone in the strategic management and marketing literature. Until then, strategy was not able to answer the question of how to create competitive advantage in each business unit (also known as the strategic business unit [SBU] level) of a company. Among many theoretical typologies of business-level strategies (or generic or competitive), Porter's (1980) typology of low-cost, differentiation and focus strategies is widely accepted, both academically and practically (Jacome et al., 2002). Nevertheless, just after the birth of these mutually exclusive generic competitive strategies, researchers have raised considerable debate (Li and Li, 2008), and their influence on performance has been critically examined in a wide range of business settings in countries worldwide (Salavou, 2013). Research work reveals firms' choices from a single emphasis on cost, differentiation or focus towards more elaborate repertoires and concludes on the best performance outcomes. In particular, together with studies exploring the issues of choosing the most successful pure strategy (the original idea argues that only strategic purity leads to superior performance), researchers extended investigations to understand firms successfully pursuing the combination of these strategies, the so-called hybrid, mixed, integrated, combination or mixed-emphasis strategies (Campbell-Hunt, 2000; Salavou and Halikias, 2009; Spanos et al., 2004). Numerous works revolve around two major aspects (Acquaah and Yasai-Ardekani, 2008; Claver-Cortes et al., 2012; Gonzalez-Benito and Suarez-Gonzalez, 2010; Kim et al., 2004; Pertusa-Ortega et al., 2009), namely, the compatibility or incompatibility between pure strategies and the convenience of combining pure strategies to improve organizational performance and better adapt to the environment. The initial empirical evidence favoured strategic purity. Nevertheless, today, we are experiencing an era characterized by a shift in emphasis from the pure to the hybrid form of competitive advantage. The evidence in favour of the hybrid strategy combinations is ever-increasing, especially in Europe, stressing that they suggest more successful choices than pure and strategy-less ones.\nThe original idea: Porter's (1980) strategic purity: Until 1980, strategy was thought of on two levels: the corporate and the functional. Corporate strategy concerns the long run and suggests a technique for attaining the long-term goals of a company as a whole. Functional strategy concerns the short run and refers to a technique serving the goals of each separate business function, such as marketing, sales, production and finance, on an annual basis. In 1980, Michael Porter published Competitive Strategy, the most influential book on strategy of the time (Gonzalez-Benito and Suarez-Gonzalez, 2010). His book introduced the idea of competitive (or generic or business-level) strategies for ascribing particular attention to an intermediate level, the business or SBU level. After the publication of the book, corporate strategy involved questions of in what businesses the corporation should be involved and how the corporate level should manage its array of business units (Porter, 1987). Competitive strategy concerned the question of how to create competitive advantage in each of the business units in which a company competes.\nThe revised idea: hybridization: As this paper is one of the few stressing conceptual issues on the hybrid form of competitive advantage (Pertusa-Ortega et al., 2009), this section will discuss why hybrid strategies appear and their relation to organizational performance. To detect the studies on hybrid strategies from 2000 onwards, we conducted an initial search using Scopus database in late 2013. We also checked the references of these studies to confirm the results of the database and find more relevant studies. Both electronically and manually, the only restriction was that a study be published from 2000 until today.\nDiscussion: This article focuses on conceptual issues of hybrid strategies stemming from Porter's (1980) model within the competitive strategy literature. To do so, it explains the shift in emphasis from the original idea of strategic purity to the revised idea of hybridization. The accumulated evidence of the empirical record until 2000 suggests that, in practice, firms adopt a greater variety of competitive strategies that go far beyond the three single-emphasis strategies created by theory. To fill the gap of time until today, this paper conducts a thorough overview and confirms that hybrid strategies, especially in Europe, suggest prevailing and high-performing strategic choices in the ever-increasing body of empirical evidence. Nevertheless, some researchers (Thornhill and White, 2007) believe that empirical research has failed to resolve the basic strategy question of \"Does strategic purity pay?\" This claim is somewhat misleading, as the basic strategy question related to the original idea of competitive strategies was completely different to the one related to the revised idea. In particular, the question in 1980 was to identify the most effective pure strategy, whereas the revised question, some years after the distinction between stuck-in-the-middle and hybrid strategies, is whether pure strategies outperform hybrid strategies or vice versa.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This article aims to describe the valuable work conducted most recently on competitive strategies. Its purpose is to elaborate on suggestions for theorizing the hybrid form of competitive advantage and stimulate the interest of scholars.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As this article emphasizes hybrid strategies, both electronic and manual methods have detected 15 studies focusing on competitive strategies and their relation to firm performance from 2000 until today.\nFindings: This article underlines the need to deal more thoroughly with combined-emphasis competitive strategies, which have seriously enhanced Porter's paradigm, defined in 1980 with three single-emphasis strategic choices. The era in which combining competitive strategies was synonymous with stuck-in-the-middle alternatives has been left behind, and the era in which hybrid strategies suggest the most attractive choices, at least in some circumstances, has already begun.\nOriginality/value: This article is one of the few stressing conceptual issues of hybrid strategies that emerged from Porter's (1980) model. No matter how many years pass by, research on competitive strategies will continue, as it considers businesses of any age, size, sector or country. The global challenge of today is how scholars will revise theory to better capture reality. This article intensifies the need for a theoretical framework embracing the full variety of competitive strategies, namely, single-emphasis, mixed-emphasis, no-distinctive-emphasis and stuck-in-the-middle. Nonetheless, due to their complex and multidimensional nature, hybrid strategies receive particular attention.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of Sino-western cultural differences on IT products consumption
|
[
"China",
"Culture (sociology)",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Marketing management",
"Technology led strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the past decade, relationships of consumption and culture have received considerable attention by consumer behaviour scholars. Many studies draw attention to the cross-fertilizations and transformations experienced as a result of cultural and economic globalization (Sandikc and Ger, 2002; Arnould, 1989). Globalization, as a relatively recent phenomenon, brings the opportunity of the growth of global consumer segments (Dawar and Parket, 1994; Hassan and Katsanis, 1994):... paralleling the growth of global segments is the emergence of global consumer cultures, shared sets of consumption-related symbols that are meaningful to segment members (Dana et al., 1999).China, as one of the largest emerging markets, has attracted tremendous foreign investments from all over the world. Effectively, on the one hand, western-style consumption behaviour has been gradually affecting Chinese people's shopping styles unconsciously. On the other hand, however, the distinctive feathers of each national culture still have a great impact on customers' shopping behaviours. Therefore:... looking at different consumer behaviour with different eyes is the attitude to be recommended in international and global marketing (Usunier, 2000, p. 123).New communication technology has made the world a global village, doing business globally has been recognized as the long-term goal by many organizations. With increases of foreign investments flowing into Chinese market, China is becoming one of the fast-growing IT product markets in the world. A number of top IT brands, like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, etc. have successfully entered this blooming market and are gaining considerable profits. Notably, instead of evaluating the impact of national culture on consumer behaviour properly, some of the IT manufacturers and sales agents over emphasize convergescence of consumer behaviours across countries, and somewhat ignore its divergences. As a result, IT markets in some sense are misled in Chinese markets. According to Mooij (2004, p. 2), \"customer behavior varies substantially across borders\". Although some scholars believe that \"culture is adaptive\" (Blackwell et al., 2006), national culture and ethnicity still strongly affect how individuals make their buying decisions.The primary aim of this paper is to examine distinguishable consumer features by comparing Chinese consumers and western consumers underlying Chinese IT market. This paper is structured as follows: firstly, the relevant consumer behaviour and national culture literatures are critically reviewed. Secondly, research methods conducted in this study are detailed. Data analysis and discussion, as subsequent section, are explored afterwards. Finally, results and conclusions, as well as research limitations and practical implications are provided at the end of this paper.\nLiterature review: From the time we learn to walk and talk, we are involved in consumer behaviour, it affects nearly every aspect of life (Blackwell et al., 2006). As the key issues, consumer behaviour and consumer research has been intensively conducted by marketing researchers. Kardes (1999, p. 5) defines consumer behaviour as \"the study of human responses to products, services, and the marketing of products and services\". Understanding customer's behaviour completely helps organization developing better products and delivering good services, therefore, it is essential to find out customers' value and tests to products and services.Values determine consumer behaviour\nPhilosophical notion and research methods: This research was designed to investigate the impact of Sino-western culture differences on IT products consumption. Both primary survey data and secondary data were employed in this study. To better understand and explain the research problem, secondary data, particularly in relevant to US IT customers' consumer behaviours, were collected from institutional and associational reports to complement the primary data. To ensure the quality of the secondary data, the reliability of the information were checked in the best possible way. Instead of using qualitative approach, mail survey was employed for primary data collection in this empirical investigation. The questionnaire asked respondents to reveal their IT consumer behaviours, particularly focusing on cell phone and personal digital assistants (PDAs), from three main aspects: customer's attitude to cell phone and PDAs brands; what customer's shopping behaviour is shaped underpin cell phone and PDAs products purchase; and how are these consumer decisions made differently by Chinese and IT US customers.Owing to the huge territory, massive population, and very complex social status in China, the decision on sample framing were carefully made for this survey. On the one hand, by considering the large-scale geographic area of China, two largest modern cities, Beijing and Shanghai, were selected for this survey. Believably, IT consumers' behaviours at these two big cities can largely reflect the common IT consumption trends of other cities in China. On the other hand, Chinese IT consumers' behaviour varies greatly by age; occupation and educational levels. To cover wide ranges of different levels of consumers, respondents' social backgrounds were taken into account for this survey as well.The final sample of the customers for this survey was constructed from both Chinese IT customers and US IT customers in Beijing and Shanghai. About 200 questionnaires were mailed out. Each questionnaire was accompanied by a cover letter explaining the aims of this research; meanwhile, the guarantee of anonymity of the survey results was also highly emphasized. To maximize the survey response rate, two weeks after the mail was mailed out, the reminder letter were sent to the customers who had not responded yet. As a final result, 62 valid responses were received to the mail survey, and response rate achieved 31 per cent.Data analysis and findings\nDiscussions and conclusions: In this paper, we attempted to examine the impact of Sino-western culture differences on IT products consumptions. Through the investigation, we explored the different purchase behaviours between Chinese and US customer from four aspects:1. preferences of using SMS;2. believes about brands distinctiveness;3. attitudes towards buying PDAs; and4. decision-making in IT products choices.It has been recognized in the study that national culture, such as values, ideas, artifacts, and other meaningful culture symbols, plays an important role in shaping consumers' purchase decisions.Conservativeness versus openness culture values\nSocial identity versus individualism: Social identity is concerned with when and why individuals identify with social group. As a key principle, Chinese people value being filial, modesty and austerity as virtues, unique personality is discouraged (Pan and Zhang, 2001). Embracing Confucian norms, they are reluctant to highlight their personal characteristics to avoid being different from majority of people surrounding them. Reflecting these values and norms to consumer behaviours, Chinese people feel much more comfortable to use the same style of IT products as others used within their social groups. The result of this study confirmed that Chinese cell phone users would definitely consider buying the brands that their friends or relatives currently own. For example, if most of people surrounding them own a cell phone with color screen, digital camera and beautiful ringing tones, effectively, these Chinese consumers will buy one with the same functions even if they would never use these functions. If every body chose Nokia, for another example, people would consider buying a Nokia product immediately.By emphasizing individual values, personal achievements are highly highlighted in their society. Americans believe that everybody has his own unique characteristics. They were born with self-awareness and pursue personal identity rather than social identity. Americans would not easily give up their own unique life style. To express their unique personal characteristics, US IT customers normally choose the product matching their personality the most and ignore other people's tests or styles. That is why US customers' preferences of five top cell phone brands are not centrally focus on one or two brands as like Chinese users (47 per cent of top one brand users).Different emphasis on social status\nLimitations and suggestions for future research: This study suffers from two important limitations. First, the samples in small amount of response rate are not wildly representative of the general populations of IT customers in Chinese market because of the limited sample sizes. Secondly, the investigation came from only cell phone and PDAs products in particular; hence the generalizability of the results is somewhat limited to stand for IT customer's consumer behaviours in general. In spite of the above limitations, this research still provides insights into IT industry and market by comparing customer consumer behaviours between Chinese and US customers. The results can be a guide for IT products manufacturers who particular are interested in the Chinese markets. The major implementations of this study can be summarized in three aspects. Regarding the cell phone markets in China, as the research indicated, Chinese customers have strong preferences in sending text messages; consequently, IT manufacturers who are particularly interested in Chinese cell phone market must take this feature into great account in their R&D and market development. Moreover, this research signals people with low income in China fancy Nokia 1100 (price is around RMB 480) while rich people are proud of using Nokia 9500 (RMB 6800 or above). Furthermore, foreign brands are very attractive to Chinese IT consumers; foreign manufactures can take this advantage to promote their cell phones in Chinese IT markets.Secondly, smart-phone is becoming more popular among Chinese cell phone users recently. There is huge potential market for this product in China. To enter this infancy market, PDA manufactures should invest money to develop new PDA with simple functions as most of PDA holders in china just use it as smart-phone with good-looking in graceful colors, like gold and black. Finally, IT manufacturers or companies should not promote their IT products relying on personal direct selling since most Chinese consumers do not believe what salesperson says. Various soft advertisements, like public testing report or detailed formal products introduction are welcome. Culture is a complex concept and varied from nation to nation, consequently, more culture elements should be taken into account in the future research. Although there are some limitations relating to this research, the authors believe the results still obtain great valuable messages to help both Chinese and western IT manufacturers and companies to well understand how to market their products and services to consumers in China, and other Asian countries with similar culture values with China.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - Fast-developed IT products have had a great impact on high technology business. With increases of foreign investments flowing into Chinese IT markets, the impact of national culture and ethnicity on consumer behaviour has become a recognized issue. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese and western national culture differences significantly influence IT customers' purchasing decisions underlying Chinese IT markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A structured survey was used for this study. Owing to the difficulties of covering huge geographic areas in China, the two largest and modern cities, Beijing and Shanghai, were chosen as the target cities where the 200 questionnaires were distributed to both Chinese and western customers.\nFindings: - By sampling US customers as representative of western nations, different choices regarding using text message service, cell phones and personal digital assistant are compared between Chinese and US customers. The results indicate that the Chinese customer tends to be more a follower of his \"friends\" than to be \"myself\" compared with western customers.\nOriginality/value: - The significant impact of national culture differences on IT products has not been fully acknowledged yet, particularly vis-a-vis of the Chinese markets. This research provides insights into the IT industry and market by comparing consumer behaviours between Chinese and US customers. The results can be a guide for IT products manufacturers who in particular are interested in high technology business in mainland China.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Survey of Venlafaxine prescriptions following the 2004 NICE guidelines on depression
|
[
"Medical treatment",
"Depression",
"Antidepressants",
"Primary care",
"Secondary care",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In December 2004 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, (NICE), in the UK, published its guidelines on the management of depression in primary and secondary care (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2004). Both NICE, and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (Duff, 2004), commented on the safety of the antidepressant, Venlafaxine.These guidelines were developed because of concerns that Venlafaxine can cause dose-dependent significant increases in blood pressure (Feighner, 1995; Thase, 1998). There have also been reports in the literature that Venlafaxine may be cardiotoxic in overdose (Blythe and Hackett, 1999).An audit was developed to determine the local prescribing practice of Venlafaxine in Leicestershire, using criteria as set out in the NICE guidelines. The audit examined whether patients were receiving the correct blood pressure and electrocardiogram, (ECG) measurements.\nMethod: The authors examined a total of 123 sets of notes.Of the patients, 6 per cent had had an ECG done, and 48 per cent had a clearly documented blood pressure prior to starting the medication. On discharge none of the patients on higher doses of medication had received regular BP monitoring.\nDiscussion: The NICE guidelines on Depression had set clearly defined criteria for the prescribing of Venlafaxine. However, in effect the publication of the NICE guidelines led to a reduction in Venlafaxine prescriptions in secondary care because of the difficulties of organising and interpreting ECGs. This is especially relevant for outpatient populations who have not been investigated in this survey. Although many local psychiatrists expressed a belief that the evidence base for requiring ECGs in patients prescribed Venlafaxine is poor, they remained reluctant to prescribe.The criteria used in this survey were taken directly from the NICE guidelines. All of the criteria are supported by grade C evidence, which indicates that \"directly applicable clinical studies of good quality are absent or not readily available\". Although on reviewing the evidence for the need to do blood pressure monitoring, there have been several papers (Feighner, 1995; Thase, 1998) which appear to be of good quality, which show a very definite dose dependent increase in blood pressure, with statistically significant rises in blood pressure at higher doses. After examining all available evidence NICE concluded that Venlafaxine has a less favourable risk: benefit ratio than other antidepressants, and should therefore only be used after two failed trials of better-tolerated antidepressants.In May 2006 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, (MHRA), published a further set of guidelines (MHRA, 2006). These now conclude that only patients with a known very high risk of cardiac arrhythmia or with uncontrolled hypertension should not be prescribed Venlafaxine. The MHRA has also suggested that baseline ECG is not an effective risk minimisation measure and should be removed from the product information. This further set of guidelines, is unlikely to have the same impact as the NICE guidelines. It is also likely to lead to considerable confusion about Venlafaxine prescribing until NICE reviews its own more widely read guidelines.Despite being unable to re-audit, following a change in guidelines there were still two clear recommendations that came out of this survey. The first was to educate staff in Leicestershire Partnership Trust about the NICE and new MHRA recommendations on Venlafaxine, and the second was to educate staff about the dose dependent increase in blood pressure, and therefore the need to organise routine blood pressure recordings for patients on doses of Venlafaxine over 200 mg/day.This paper highlights how rapidly clinical guidelines can change, and the difficulties this can cause in auditing and implementing a change in practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This survey was initially conceived as an audit to highlight the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (UK), guidelines on depression in 2004. In particular, the audit was to examine the guidance on the prescription of Venlafaxine, which required an electrocardiogram (ECG), and blood pressure measurements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A retrospective case note review by the authors, of 123 patients prescribed Venlafaxine within Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust was completed.\nFindings: - Nearly 50 per cent of patients had a blood pressure measurement prior to starting Venlafaxine compared to only 6 per cent of patients receiving an ECG.\nPractical implications: - The audit cycle could not be completed following the publication of a further set of guidelines that removed the need for ECG recordings.\nOriginality/value: - This paper highlights how difficult it is for clinicians to keep up-to-date, and implement rapidly changing guidelines.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Code of ethics and employee governance
|
[
"Ethics",
"Governance",
"Social behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Business and society have entered a new world in a new century by the confluence of a range of different factors such as technology, growth of big business, environmentalism and human rights. In this new world, the business entity known as the firm or corporation is consequently changing. The watershed was strengthened by 9/11, politically, and Enron, economically.The world has truly become a global village wherein work practices and production methods have become more harmonised. A different enterprise culture has arrived characterised by firms offering flexible working hours, minimal fringe benefits, retraining opportunities, subsidised child care - while encouraging tele-working, outsourcing, sub-contracting and part time working practices. It is an enterprise culture interspersed with contract workers, contingent workers and \"portfolio workers\", an enterprise culture within which it is predicted that \"the supply of enterprise seems destined to outstrip the demand\" (McNutt, 1994, pp. 194-5). It is an enterprise culture that has evolved globally without an ethical foundation.The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relation between individuals not in terms of \"using others\", but in terms of duties and obligations. Insofar as they possess a rational will, both management and workers in a Kantian world, are not merely subject to the forces that act upon them; they are not merely means to ends. They are ends in themselves. All means to an end have a conditional worth because they are valuable only for achieving something else - traditionally, profits in a Neo-classical firm. But many employees, either unilaterally or through new firm-specific governance guidelines, are entering a new world of work ethics and work effort.\n2 Morally right actions: The clearest example of morally right actions within a firm are precisely those in which an employee's determination to act in accordance with duty overcomes their evident self-interest and obvious desire to do otherwise. McNutt (1994) outlined how the \"desire to do otherwise\" could impact positively on measured productivity within a company. In this new century, modern firms are engaged in batch production and niche marketing. Smaller production sites, short production runs and a growing division of the workforce by reference to a skills hierarchy and to the duration of employment are fast becoming the norm.2.1 Ownership\n3 Kantian ethics: In trying to reconcile Arrow's dilemma in defining the firm, the worker-stakeholders should be redefined as having (property) rights short of ownership, in the firm. The entrepreneurial skills of management and the workers within the firm are co-special assets; in other words, the skills, reminiscent of Becker's firm-specific human capital, complement the asset value of the s-firm. And herein lies a moral dilemma for management in the deontological sense - management have a duty to workers.3.1 Categorical imperative: well-defined property rights\n4 A code of ethics, values and beliefs: Inextricably linked to the organisational culture within a stakeholder firm is the degree to which an ethical code supports the culture. A code of ethics can be thought of as a set of moral principles or guidelines, which govern behaviour and which enshrine a set of values and beliefs (McNutt, 2002, pp. 21-30). A code of ethics is, therefore, concerned with what is good and bad and right and wrong in the organisation's decision-making, and often does reflect senior management's attempts to mould the culture of the organisation. Therefore, if workers see that management are behaving in an unethical manner, perhaps by artificially inflating revenue figures by in appropriate revenue recognition policies, then workers ultimately end up following their lead. Before too long the entire organisation is producing below potential and X-inefficiency can creep in to the organisation.Ethical codes can be considered within the context of an organisation's culture. In Brown's world, for example, ethics, through beliefs and values, forms the basis of his \"basic assumptions\", which in turn form the building blocks of organisational behaviour. Values and beliefs are part of the cognitive sub-structure of an organisational culture. Values are intimately connected with moral and ethical codes, and determine what people think ought to be done. For example, individuals and organisations that value honesty, integrity and openness, consider that they (and others) should act honestly, openly and with integrity because that is the right thing to do.4.1 The value set as the code of ethics\n5 Hofstede and national culture: Do nations have cultures? There is a significant literature, which assumes that each nation has a distinctive and describable \"culture\". In an employee-attitude study conducted by Hofstede (1980), national cultures and their influence on corporate practices were examined in great detail. He believed that culture was \"the software or collective programming of the mind\". He had identified principles of characterisation to a set of senior management in a variety of countries. In this paper, we briefly examine each of three of these principles in the context of our search for a general moral duty of trust and obligation within the stakeholder firm.5.1 Power distance (low vs high)\n6 Concluding comments: In the adaptation of a Kantian code of ethics for all employees two important sources of organisational culture have to be recognised - the national cultural identity of the country wherein the firm or company operates and whether or not a sense of duty and obligation permeates as a rule based code within the organisation in either an overt or covert manner. The sources of organisational culture can influence employee corporate governance in firms in various countries and societies. A successful code of ethics depends on the apportionment of obligation amongst, and acceptance by, all employees. Therefore, good governance at the employee level has been obtained when rational individuals in a state of nature would freely have agreed to the contract or arrangement within the s-firm that obligates them to do X.Hofstede referred to culture as the \"software\" or \"collective programming\" of the mind and the programming of ethical values. Of course if the culture of a society fails to provide individuals with the ethical foundation for a rule based code of ethics then core values within a firm or organisation may be hard to change, as these tend to be central to the stability of society. Obligation and duty within the s-firm may have to inform obligation and duty within society and not vice versa. Therefore, a value set theory of the firm allocates responsibilities between all employees in such a way as to maximise joint effort. There is ethical symmetry between management and workers: they \"share the end of the action\", Kant (1967). The s-firm teaches people morality. This is the quintessence of employee governance.The idea has its origin in the liberal tradition, in that it emphasises that society and its institutions, including the firms and corporations, have no inherent or natural rights over the individual. In effect, they have only those rights that the individual considers at a Rawlsian original position. While it may be possible to introduce a Pareto improvement by improving the position of one of the contracting parties in the firm the greater challenge is to improve the position of both contracting parties. The reforming efforts across the world economies in the post-Enron era are already laying the foundations for good governance. As much emphasis should be placed on employee governance as on governance at board level - not only for the benefit of the s-firm, but above all, for the benefit of society. As the Roman jurists said, it is certus an sed incertus quando (it will certainly happen, but it is not certain when).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to add to the debate on governance and, second, to describe a value set theory of the firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methodology has centred on good governance amongst employees - management and workers alike.\nFindings: - It is noted that committees are appointed in firms to ensure that good governance is practised across a range of issues to do with audit, remuneration and appointment. However, the debate on governance has largely overlooked the importance of good governance amongst all employees. It was found that governance at the employee level requires a code of ethics that is not just about right and wrong, but emphasises a contractual sense of duty to fellow employees as stakeholders in the firm. This defines the essence of obligation and duty within the stakeholder firm, the s-firm.\nPractical implications/limitations: - One practical implication of the paper is that the practice of good governance at the employee level should begin by asking whether the employees as rational individuals in a state of nature would freely have agreed to the contract or work arrangement within the firm that obligates them to do X. A value set theory of the firm could assist employees by allocating responsibilities among all employees in such a way as to maximise joint effort.\nOriginality/value: - The paper proffers a new approach to understanding governance and it concludes that every rational being is in the state of being an end in itself - a firm should teach people morality. An s-firm teaches people morality. This is the quintessence of employee governance. The paper should be of value to shareholders, workers, management, trade unions and commentators on the theory of the firm.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Wavelet and multiple linear regression analysis for identifying factors affecting particulate matter PM2.5 in Mumbai City, India
|
[
"Statistics",
"Outlier",
"Principal component analysis",
"Wavelets",
"Regression",
"Air quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is a growing need of controlling the pollution levels in major cities in India and also understanding on identifying the behavior of various pollutants in a city. Studies have shown that particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) plays a significant role in affecting respiratory-related illness (Burnett et al., 1997). Burnett et al. (1997) studied the correlation among various pollutants such as NO2, CO, SO2 with PM2.5 and PM10. There are several such studies that have been done on the effects of health and detailed review has been provided by Kima et al. (2015). Environmentally friendly products are essential and have become the priority of customer as shown by survey analysis (Kianpour et al., 2014), and also the need of green manufacturing in industries such as cement manufacturing is analyzed and discussed in Shrivastava and Shrivastava (2017). Thus, the importance of going green is of utmost priority. To do so, it is highly important to know what factors (air pollutants and environmental factors) contribute to increase in PM2.5 and PM10 levels. As stated in the WHO (2013) report on health effects of particulates, PM10 and PM2.5 include inhalable particles that are small enough to penetrate the thoracic region of the respiratory system. The air quality index comprises of various variables that include PM10 and PM2.5 and other pollutants. However, as particulate matter PM2.5 is more harmful to human health, the focus is on understanding the significant factors that affects PM2.5. By understanding the set of factors that affect PM2.5, stringent measures can be undertaken and this could be achieved by creating multivariate control charts. The difficulty with air pollution data arises due to the non-stationary nature (changes in mean, variance and other parameters occur at varying intervals of time) and for such data analysis, monitoring and forecasting becomes a complex process. Further complication arises when identifying factors that affect the response in this case PM2.5.\n2. Mathematical description of multiresolution analysis and regression model: 2.1 Wavelets\n3. Methodology: The whole objective of the work was to obtain stationary data using wavelets and conduct regression analysis for the stationary data and based on the analysis, identifying significant factors which affect PM2.5. As can be seen from the literature that air pollution data are partly non-stationary, and thus, to conduct regression analysis, there is a need to obtain stationary data. One such method is by applying wavelets that have been widely used in filter banks and MRA. The purpose of this methodology section is to explain how wavelet and regression analysis are combined.\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Wavelet and multiresolution analysis\n5. Conclusion: The methodology primarily focuses on extracting stationary data using wavelet analysis and analyzing the stationary data using multiple regression analysis, when wavelet-based multiresolution analyzing coupled with denoising and reconstruction is applied and a signal with important features is obtained; this includes the data set which has variance changes, mean changes and stationary data set. In case of Mumbai PM2.5 variance changes, outliers and stable mean areas where obtained, confirming that signal is non-stationary and analyzing a sample which encompasses a stationary data set based on the reconstructed signal would be a sound procedure. Multiple regression analysis was conducted for sample of stationary data and it can be seen that that NO2, NOx, SO2, benzene, AT (AT, SR and WD) play a significant role in affecting PM2.5. The model is a sound fit with R2 of 91.9 percent,\n6. Future scope: It is to be to mentioned that the application of wavelet and multiresolution can lead to look at the data set into areas where data set is stationary, non-stationary and where extreme values exist, and this leads the researcher to apply all the three different areas that typically are not seen in previous work wherein the focus was on looking at these areas independently. However, data set encompasses all types for which wavelets provide an opportunity to extract all these features making the analysis easier.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify significant factors of environmental variables and pollutants that have an effect on PM2.5 through wavelet and regression analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to provide stable data set for regression analysis, multiresolution analysis using wavelets is conducted. For the sampled data, multicollinearity among the independent variables is removed by using principal component analysis and multiple linear regression analysis is conducted using PM2.5 as a dependent variable.\nFindings: It is found that few pollutants such as NO2, NOx, SO2, benzene and environmental factors such as ambient temperature, solar radiation and wind direction affect PM2.5. The regression model developed has high R2 value of 91.9 percent, and the residues are stationary and not correlated indicating a sound model.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research provides a framework for extracting stationary data and other important features such as change points in mean and variance, using the sample data for regression analysis. The work needs to be extended across all areas in India and for various other stationary data sets there can be different factors affecting PM2.5.\nPractical implications: Control measures such as control charts can be implemented for significant factors.\nSocial implications: Rules and regulations can be made more stringent on the factors.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in the integration of wavelets with regression analysis for air pollution data.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Radio frequency identification and food retailing in the UK
|
[
"Radio waves",
"Food industry",
"Retailing",
"Supply chain management",
"Control systems",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades the UK's major food retailers have been very much at the forefront of technological innovation and development within the retail sector of the economy. The introduction of article numbering and scanning from the early 1980 s onwards, for example, which revolutionised buying and supply chain management, brought a range of customer service benefits and provided rapid and detailed evaluation of advertising and marketing campaigns, was led by a number of food retailers (Jones, 1985). In June 2004 an Institute for Grocery Distribution survey of over 130 retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, packaging suppliers and logistics companies revealed that just over two thirds of the major players in the UK's food and grocery industry believed that radio frequency identification (RFID) would produce a wide range of benefits for them including greater speed and efficiency in stock operations, better tracking throughout the chain and enhanced forecasting (IGD, 2004). In a similar vein Deloitte (2003) have argued that the benefits of RFID could be truly transformational and they stress that EU legislation due in force in January 2005 requires both producers and retailers to keep detailed information about all food products as they move through the supply chain. This \"case note\" outlines the characteristics of RFID technology, and discusses some of its perceived benefits and challenges for food retailers in the UK.\nThe characteristics and origins of RFID: RFID is the generic name for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify and track objects. These objects can be cases, trays, pallets, cages, containers or individual items. There are several methods of identifying items using RFID but most systems consist of a tag, which is made up of a microchip with a coiled antenna, and an interrogator or reader with an antenna. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves that form a magnetic field when they \"couple\" with the antenna on the RFID tag. The tag draws power from the magnetic field and uses it to power the microchip's circuits. The chip then modulates the waves that the tag sends back to the reader, which the reader converts into digital data. The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location details and/or specific information about the product such as price, colour and date of purchase. The tags are very flexible in that microchips measuring less than a third of a millimetre wide can now store a wide range of unique product information, they can be read from a distance and through a variety of obstacles. RFID technology can also allow some but not all the data held on a tag to be read and the tags can be updated after the original data has been loaded. The tags also offer security in that they can be made virtually tamper proof. However, RFID does have some limitations. There can be environmental problems in that radio waves can be absorbed by moisture in the product or the environment, they can be hidden, distorted or reflected by metal and the noise from electric motors and fluorescent lights can interfere with RFID communications. At the present time the cost of tags is a limitation on the widespread use of RFID and on the speed at which they may be adopted by the retail industry but these costs are declining rapidly and seem likely to decline further as the technology evolves and as adoption rates rise. In 2000 consultants McKinsey and Company reported that the price of tags were at about $1, by early 2004 they had fallen to $0.25-$0.35 and at that time Hewlett-Packard predicted that as more suppliers began to implement RFID the price would fall to around $0.05.RFID technology had its origins in military applications during the Second World War but its commercial applications only began to be realised from the early 1980 s onwards. During the following 20 years RFID was increasingly widely employed, for example in highway and bridge tolls in the USA, Italy, France, Portugal and Norway, in tracing livestock movements, tracking and control of nuclear inventories, in tracking air freight and in motor car manufacturing where managers wish to track individual vehicles through the assembly line. That said, until relatively recently the technology has been too expensive and too limited for widespread mass commercial applications but as the price of tags, tag readers and the associated equipment continues to fall so a growing number of retailers have begun to explore the introduction of RFID and this in turn seems likely to bring the technology into more everyday use.\nRFID interest among food retailers: RFID technology seems to have numerous applications in food supply chains and it can be used to track batches of agricultural products as they move into and through the supply chain and it has begun to seize the imagination of the retail world. In June 2003 Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, for example, has instructed its top 100 suppliers to place RFID tags on all its pallets and cases, though not on individual items, by January 2005, and a year later the company announced that this requirement would be extended to a further 200 suppliers by January 2006. Within the UK a growing number of major food retailers including Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, ASDA and Tesco have been experimenting with RFID technology. Karkkainen (2003), for example, reported on an RFID tagging trial for short-shelf life goods conducted by Sainsbury's as early as in 1998 and concluded that a supply chain wide RFID initiative could provide a quick payback on capital investment. Marks & Spencer trialled RFID in its food supply chain in 2002 and following the success of these trials the company announced plans to roll out RFID in all its depots during 2004 and to start to deploy RFID enabled systems in store in 2005.By the end of 2004 Tesco, the UK's largest food retailer, had installed an RFID network that tracks non-food shipments from its central distribution centre to all 98 of its Tesco Extra superstores and the company plans to install RFID throughout its supply chain by 2007. More generally within the food industry the initial focus will be on the introduction of the RFID tagging of pallets, cases and re-usable transit packaging and the finalisation of the first agreed global standards for RFID in June 2004 should help to speed up the adoption process.\nPerceived benefits: A wide range of perceived benefits are being claimed for RFID technology within food retailing including tighter control and management of the supply chain and of inventory management with attendant cost savings; reduced labour costs; improvements in customer service; reductions in shrinkage; and the clearer tracking of customers and the tracking of their purchasing behaviour. Deloitte (2003), for example, argue that deploying RFID will \"maximise economic value added\" by addressing \"all four major levers of value creation\". Thus, it is claimed that RFID will first increase on-shelf availability and improve customer service thereby contributing to increased revenue. Second, by eliminating manual physical inventory costs, increasing transport efficiency and accuracy, faster picking in the warehouse and improving stock visibility and saleability the employment of RFID will reduce overall operating costs. Third, it is suggested that reductions in inventory levels and warehousing and improved productivity through \"just-in-time\" delivery and information sharing will optimise the assets employed. Finally, RFID is seen to be able to bring benefits of reduced shrinkage, faster response to product recall, reduced exposure to public safety risks, and better monitoring of international food movements and increased visibility into recycling which will enhance safety, quality control and customer satisfaction.Initially, supply chain applications appear to be the fastest growing area of RFID within food retailing and the technology certainly appears to have the potential to revolutionise the efficiency, accuracy and security of the supply chain. RFID tags can be used for example to track the movement of food products from the \"stable to the table\". The basic argument is that the more tightly the food retailers can integrate their supply chain the less likelihood of errors. The real time data generated by the tags can provide manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and food retailers with up to the minute information on inventory, logistics and freshness. FRID will facilitate improved use of warehouse and distribution centre space for food retailers in that goods will not need to be stored according to product type for manual location but they can be stored in the most efficient manner based on space and size. Where appropriate warehouse and distribution staff will be able to use hand held devices to locate goods and to improve the efficiency of picking goods. Retailers will be able to tell where pallets and cases are, ensure that they are not stolen or missing, identify products that have been recalled, respond quickly to unforeseen changes and problems in the supply chain, check on expiry dates and determine when products will arrive in store. Food retailers often check the delivery of goods into their stores by hand but RFID will allow them to be checked virtually automatically and almost immediately.In addition to the economic benefits outlined above there are also powerful claims that the introduction of RFID technology will facilitate traceability, namely, the ability to trace and follow food, feed, food producing animal or ingredients through all stages of production and distribution, which will, in turn, allow food retailers to comply with increasingly strict national and international regulatory requirements. By January 2005, for example, all companies operating in the food supply chain will have to be able to identify the origin and destination of food products and be able to provide immediate information to national governments as part of the European Health and Consumer Protection Directorate. RFID tags are currently seen as the best way of fulfilling this requirement. FoodTrace, the EU funded concerted action group, whose primary objective is to develop a practical framework to identify every item as it passes through the food chain, increasingly seems likely to harness the power of RFID technology. Benefits are also claimed for RFID technology in relation to food safety regulations. While such regulatory frameworks do not specify the use of RFID tags their employment will enable companies to find specific goods in warehouses, distribution centres, retail outlets and in transit and will thus enable rapid responses to government inquiries and public concerns.\nChallenges: While the advent of RFID technology seems to offer a wide range of benefits to major food retailers within the UK its introduction is generating a number of challenges. If RFID technology is to bring about \"truly transformational\" (Deloitte, 2003) changes within the food supply chain then a number of key challenges must be addressed. First, if food retailers are to maximise the benefits outlined above they will need to undertake a fundamental strategic review of their business processes and of their relationships with suppliers and distributors. A comprehensive review will be vital here and the accent will need to be on the total costs of establishing an RFID infrastructure throughout the retail supply chain and weighing the attendant costs, for example the cost of tags, readers and associated infrastructure and of the application integration that needs to be installed, against the anticipated benefits. Second, food retailers will surely also want to reflect on their ability to handle and make effective use of the data captured by RFID systems. These systems will automatically collect a massive and continuous stream of real time data and the storage and transmission of this data will place severe strains on many retailers' current ITC infrastructure. At the same time retailers will also need to integrate their RFID systems and the data they generate with their other functional databases and applications such as accounts and customer relationship management. Third, the introduction of RFID technology will also generate major training needs for food retailers and their suppliers and distributors, to allow their employees to use the new systems and master new job functions. Fourth, while retailers' plans to introduce RFID on individual items within the consumer goods sector have provoked a range of privacy concerns from civil liberties groups this is perhaps much less of an issue for food retailers where pallets and cases, rather than individual items themselves, will be tagged. Nevertheless, in what seems very likely to be a rapidly evolving arena food retailers will be well advised to maintain a close watching brief on such consumer privacy concerns and on the introduction of voluntary or statutory regulatory frameworks.\nConclusion: The advent of RFID technology has been heralded as offering food retailers a range of powerful benefits through all stages of the supply chain while also facilitating compliance with traceabilty protocols and food safety regulation. At the same time food retailers will need to address a number of operational and strategic issues and challenges before they can fully realise these benefits. The speed and extent to which RFID is adopted by food retailers seems likely to be influenced by a continuing analysis of the costs and benefits and by changing public perceptions and acceptance of what is clearly a powerful technology. Looking to the future the introduction of RFID by food retailers offers a wide range of research opportunities and those companies and organisations involved in all elements of the food supply chain as well as IT practitioners, civil liberties groups and academics from arrange of disciplines will want to keep a watching brief on its progress.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to offer an outline of the characteristics of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and briefly discusses some of its perceived benefits and challenges for food retailers in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper draws material largely from trade and practitioner sources and illustrates general themes with specific retail examples.\nFindings: - The paper suggests that RFID has the potential to offer food retailers a wide range of benefits throughout the supply chain including tighter management and control of the supply chain, reductions in shrinkage, reduced labour costs and improved customer service while also facilitating compliance with traceability protocols and food safety regulations. At the same time food retailers will need to address a number operational and strategic challenges and consumer privacy concerns before they can fully realise these benefits.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides a brief and accessible outline of the RFID developments in food retailing which will interest non-specialists working in and in association with this sector of the retail marketplace.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Nudge your way to higher value
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Decision making",
"Consumer marketing",
"Sales"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: I confess: it was the cover of the book that caught my eye. Bright yellow, with a single-word title: Nudge. In black silhouette, a mama elephant gives her baby a shove on his rump with her trunk.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to discuss an approach to strengthening sales and customer relationships by making it easier for customers to buy from you.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Building on the work of Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein in the book Nudge, the paper acknowledges the importance of \"choice architecture\" in human decision-making. It then applies the concept to business situations and develops five lessons for executives and strategy officers to apply to their own companies. The author uses case studies of companies successfully optimizing choice architecture in the areas of industrial products, business services, retailing and consumer services.\nFindings: - The key lessons from the case studies are in five areas: maximizing visibility and personal interaction with customers; using service personnel to support sales efforts; removing barriers to purchasing; simplifying customer decision-making; and optimizing web site interactions.\nOriginality/value: - The key message of this paper is that small changes in the way a product is offered to customers can have a disproportionate effect on customer buying behavior. Companies and executives who understand the role of choice architecture in buying behavior will be well positioned to out-perform peers and deliver incremental value to shareholders.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Gender differences in brand commitment, impulse buying, and hedonic consumption
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Gender",
"Brands",
"Marketing strategy",
"Men",
"Women",
"Gender differences",
"Impulse buying",
"Brand commitment",
"Hedonic consumption"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: Gender is one of the most common segmentation criteria used by marketers. This makes sense, given that the male-female divide is \"easy to identify, easy to access, and large enough to be profitable\" (Putrevu, 2001, p. 1). Yet while there is a large body of work on gender differences in the psychology literature, relatively little research has been done on gender differences in consumer behavior. This is surprising, as today's men have taken on many of the shopping obligations that women chiefly performed in the past (Harnack et al., 1998). The present study investigates gender differences in brand commitment, hedonic consumption, and impulse buying. We base our hypotheses on tenets from the field of evolutionary psychology, which over recent years has emerged as a valuable perspective for the study of consumer behavior (Hantula, 2003; Miller, 2009; Saad, 2007).1.1 Gender differences in personality\n2. Method: The study participants were 257 students (M age=29.9, SD=6.7) from a large Israeli college. The sample included 153 males and 104 females. Socio-demographic data collected from participants included age, gender, family income in comparison to the national mean (1=well below average, 2=below average, 3=about average, 4=above average, 5=well above average), and maternal and paternal education (1=no formal education, 2=elementary education, 3=high-school education, 4=higher education). Parental education was computed as the average of maternal and paternal education.Brand Commitment was measured using a scale developed by Knox and Walker (2001; 2003). First, participants were asked how committed they were to particular brands for three types of products (paper towels, breakfast cereal, and a daily newspaper). Participants ranked their commitment on a Likert scale from 1 (not at all committed) to 5 (very committed). For each product, participants were then asked what they would do if their preferred brand was not available when needed: 1=happily buy a different brand, 2=reluctantly buy a different brand, 3=not buy the product until the next time you shopped, 4=try a different shop, 5=keep trying different shops until you got the brand you wanted.The Impulsive Trait scale and the Hedonic Consumption scale (Hausman, 2000) included seven items each. Participants were asked how much they agreed with each statement on a Likert scale from 1 (disagree) to 5 (agree). Sample items are: \"I often buy things without thinking\" (impulsiveness) and \"I go shopping to be entertained\" (hedonic consumption). Both scales have face and construct validity (Hausman, 2000).\n3. Results: 3.1 Reliability and validity\n4. Discussion: The study results showed that in comparison to men, women had higher levels of brand commitment, hedonic consumption, and impulse buying. These results can be explained, at least in part, by evolutionary reasoning. Cross-cultural studies provide strong evidence for a fundamentally sex-based division of labor (Wood and Eagly, 2002). The present-day division of labor appears to continue a prehistoric divide starting in the Upper Paleolithic (Kuhn and Stiner, 2006), in which women's major roles consisted of parenting and gathering while men's major roles involved hunting and guarding the clan.Since women, as those with responsibility for the day-to-day care of young children, tend to be more risk averse than men, we hypothesized that they would show higher brand commitment. The greater commitment among women found in this study is in accordance with other research - for example, findings showing that women use supermarket loyalty cards more than men (Bellizzi and Bristol, 2004). We further hypothesized that women would show higher rates of hedonic consumption and impulse shopping. This was indeed the case. We explain these findings as stemming, in part, from the workings of natural selection. Over the millennia, a genetically-based tendency to enjoy behaviors relevant for gathering would have been selected for in women. These genetic tendencies ultimately gave rise to today's phenomena of hedonic consumption and impulse buying. Meanwhile, behaviors that today give rise to impulse shopping would have been selected against among ancestral men, as such behaviors would have been damaging in a hunting context.The need to understand gender differences in shopping behavior is exemplified in the fashion industry. Today's fashion retailers understand very well that for women in particular, shopping is not just about making the right purchase, but also about the experience. With more couples shopping together, it is imperative to design stores in a way that will serve both parties. Women need the right atmosphere, space, and time to find just the right item. Men want to get the job done. Some fashion retailers have designed their stores so as to keep conflict down and sales up, by, for example, including in their store designs areas where male clients can relax with a coffee, and read magazines or watch sports broadcasts while their partner shops.4.1 Limitations and future research\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Gender is one of the most common forms of segmentation used by marketers. However, not enough data on gender differences has been collected in the field of consumer behavior. Based on tenets from evolutionary psychology, the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize that in comparison to men, women will report higher levels of brand commitment, hedonic consumption, and impulse buying.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In total, 257 students (153 males and 104 females; M age=29.9, SD=6.7) completed questionnaires.\nFindings: - As hypothesized, women had higher levels of brand commitment (t(254)=2.32, p < 0.05, Cohen's d=0.31), hedonic consumption (t(254)=4.19, p < 0.01, Cohen's d=0.53), and impulse buying in comparison to men.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was conducted on shopping in general, while gender differences may be product-dependent.\nPractical implications: - Since women have higher levels of brand commitment than men, retailers should promote high quality brands for their female customers. Since women have higher levels of impulse buying in comparison to men, and since impulse buying is triggered by sensual cues, retailers can accentuate sensory cues in stores whose products tend to appeal to women. For example, sale assistants might encourage women to touch products, so they can experience the product tactilely as well as visually. On-site ads and pop displays should have a stronger impact in women's departments, due to increased impulse buying.\nOriginality/value: - Gender differences in consumer behavior, though recognized as an important topic, have attracted only limited research attention. This paper helps fill that gap while incorporating an evolutionary viewpoint, which is emerging as a valuable theoretical perspective in the field of marketing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A new empirical approach for balance sheet management effects on performance and financial variables development
|
[
"Financial management",
"Methodology",
"Business development",
"Management development",
"Management strategy",
"Business analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The literature on the unconventional management development at the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate has relatively stimulated research and has led organizations to comprehensively extend the understanding of financial management and governance. In this perspective, Bernanke et al. (2004) suggested three approaches that can be conducted when the nominal interest rate hits the zero lower bound. These strategies are: management that raises investor confidence and keeps lower the short rate in the future; management that alters the composition of the balance sheet through the change of the supplies of securities supplies; and management that increases the size of the balance sheet, referred to as quantitative easing. Borio and Disyatat (2009) summarized these approachs by the term balance sheet strategy, depending on their objectives such as to mitigate credit stress, stimulate market confidence and real productivity, and raise liquidity. Moreover, previous studies related to the effects of balance sheet management were indeed mostly focused on quantitative easing as a distinctive. Bernanke et al. (2004) defined quantitative easing as an increase in the supply of reserves via purchases of securities.\n2. Data: We use monthly data from developed markets and Asia pacific market. Our panel of emerging business markets consists of Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Korea, Malaysia, Philipines, Singapore and Thailand. The sample period spans 96 months from November 2008 to December 2014. We collected different data frequency from Monetary International Fund's International Financial Statistics, International Monetary Fund, Bank for International Settlements, Morgan Stanley Capital International, World Development Indicators and Chinn-Ito index. We consider one regime during which the funds' rate becomes binding at the zero lower bound, and the Open Market Committee conducted financial strategy primarily by altering the size and composition of the balance sheet. Our measure of the balance sheet management is captured by the term spread between 10-years and 3-months treasury yield.\n3. Empirical methodology: In this section, we present the empirical approach used to estimate the spillover effect of balance sheet management on Asia pacific market for performance, financial and exchange rate channels. In addition, we also analyze whether these effects depend on market-specific features. Our methodologies includes two approaches. First, as noted above, our structural panel management follows Pedroni (2013) with long-run restriction[10] in order to account for examining the specific shocks and common shocks of the balance sheet perturbation on EM performance and financial factors. In other words, we examine how the impulsive response coefficients vary across EM. Lastly, we use the mean group estimator developed by Perasan and Smith (1995) which allows for both dynamic heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence, to examine the specific characteristics among EM.\n4. Empirical results: We first examine the unit root test and the CD across countries. The cross-sectional dependence was examined using CD test developed by Pesaran (2004). The unit root test was investigated with CADF test (cross-sectionally augmented Dickey-Fuller) (Pesaran, 2006)[12].\n5. Conclusion: In this paper, we examine whether the co-movement in the balance sheet management had a spillover effect on the performances and financial aggregates of market models such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In this regard, we set up a structural panel management (Pedroni, 2013) that estimates the spillover effect for three channel transmissions. The use of the structural panel was motivated by the fact that it takes into account the heterogeneity in response to the balance sheet shocks. By doing so, our methodology is consistent with Mishra et al. (2014) and Ammer et al. (2016) which find that the international spillover effect depends on the strength of each channel transmission, performance fundamentals, depth of the financial market and performance prudential strategies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate empirically and by empirical means, the empirical effect of the balance sheet management at the zero lower bound on the interest rate on performance and financial variables.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper has an empirical approach to examine whether the movement in the balance sheet has had a spillover effect on the performance and financial variable. The empirical method used is a \"structural panel management,\" being appropriate for the analysis. This has never been used in strategic and management development.\nFindings: The paper presents the following interesting results: the balance sheet management explains a significant portion of the changes in performance and financial variable during the non-conventional strategy approach; the performance fundamentals as the development and the opening of the financial market deal with the heterogeneity of the business in relation to the responses of the balance sheet shocks; the positive advantage of the balance sheet management may not be profitable in context characterized by low liquidity, low exposure to global markets and low stability of performance fundamentals.\nOriginality/value: Based on a heterogeneous structural panel data management over a sample spanning the balance sheet management model, the author find some evidence of small cross-border effects on the decline of long-term bond yield, an increase in performance, an increase in the stock market prices, local currency appreciation and increase in credit growth. Yet, the quantile responses show that there is substantial heterogeneity in the Asia pacific business market responses to the governance's shocks over all response periods. Accordingly, the effects vary across Asia pacific market and are time-varying, depending on their performance fundamentals, exposure to global markets and financial market depth. The balance sheet management on performance and financial variables could be an excellent reference for future researches and practices in Schools of Management and Finances.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Accounting for the "working poor": analysing the living wage debate in Aotearoa New Zealand
|
[
"Social accounting",
"Income inequality",
"Pragmatic sociology",
"Accounting for inequality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Accounting discourses, rationales, technologies and calculations, have long been recognised as supporting the hegemonic discourses of capitalism and neo-liberalism (Catchpowle et al., 2004; Cooper, 1995; Rose, 1991). Until recently, however, accounting has been largely silent on the relationship between accounting and economic (in)equality (Sikka, 2015; Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015)[1]. Ravenscroft and Denison (2014, p. 91) argue that \"accounting narratives have been silent on corporations' role in expanding income inequality\" even though this is \"a phenomenon which causes significant problems for individuals, and could threaten the survival of our tradition of democratic institutions\". The crucial significance of this issue, and the role of accounting in the allocation of firm resources (and in transparency and accountability in relation to this allocation), has led to recent calls for social accounting, with its stated agenda of social emancipation, social justice and progressive social change, to engage with issues of economic inequality (Sikka, 2015; Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015). We respond to these calls and contribute to studies which examine (and problematise) the relationship between accounting and economic inequality.\nAccounting and economic (in)equality: As noted, previous research on the relationship between accounting and inequalities of income and wealth is surprisingly limited (Ravenscroft and Denison, 2014). Indeed, the topic has remained \"on the periphery of social accounting research\" (Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015, p. 113). This is likely to change as we see increasing attention to this issue across civil society, increasing acknowledgement that accounting is implicated in creating and legitimating inequalities, and increasing calls for accounting to engage with this critical contemporary issue (see Sikka, 2015; Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015).\nIncome and wealth inequality and the rise of the living wage: While increasing inequality has been a feature of many western societies for the last thirty years (Forster and Mira d'Ercole, 2005; OECD, 2008; Piketty and Saez, 2006), public and academic attention to the issue has recently risen sharply. This attention can be traced in part to the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the public outrage - expressed most starkly in the \"we the 99%\" rhetoric of the Occupy movement - over the disparities between the high rates of pay for some, and the hardship experienced by those in precarious, part-time and low-paid work. Public concern has also been sparked by studies that posit a relationship between high levels of inequality and a wide range of negative consequences, including the erosion of social cohesion and trust (OECD, 2011a; Uslaner, 2008), reduced democratic responsiveness (Bartels, 2008), decreased levels of overall happiness, and poor public health outcomes (Wilkinson, 1996). Indeed, concern over existing levels of inequality is no longer restricted to the \"usual suspects\" on the political left, but include a wide range of organisations and institutions, including the IMF (Ostry and Berg, 2011), the OECD (2011b) and the World Economic Forum (Mohammed, 2015; World Economic Forum, 2014).\nTheoretical framework: Boltanski and Thevenot's pragmatic sociology is selected for our analysis because it offers a useful \"tool box\" to analyse the different ways in which critiques and justifications are made (the ways in which legitimacy is disrupted or secured) in contested contexts marked by multiple, competing sets of values (Patriotta et al., 2011; van Bommel, 2014; Cloutier and Langley, 2013; Jagd, 2011). Its insistence that critiques and justifications are expressed not just in words and ideas, but also through the status accorded to material objects and practices, is particularly useful to our analysis.\nResearch context and approach: Inequality and living wage debates in Aotearoa New Zealand\nFindings and analysis: While recognising that the arguments on either side of the living wage debate need to be understood in relation to each other, for the sake of clarity we analyse them here separately.\nDiscussion: Our analysis has shown how actors on either side of the living wage dispute have constructed their critiques and justifications of existing low-wage practices. Here, we draw on pragmatic sociology's conceptual tool-kit once again to show how these critiques and justifications are made not just through words and ideas, but how they also incorporate the objects, beings and forms of proofs deemed qualified by the different orders. We bring together Boltanski and Thevenot's theoretical framework, our findings above, and a consideration of current accounting discourses and practices to address our RQ2 and RQ3[7].\nConcluding comments: We have analysed the debate surrounding the living wage in Aotearoa New Zealand with the purpose of further understanding and problematising (Dillard and Vinnari, 2017) the currently under-explored relationship between accounting and income (in)equality. Specifically, we have analysed the claims and justifications made in the debate surrounding the (inequitable) distribution of income and wealth and have empirically analysed how accounting naturalises and perpetuates the current prominence of the market order of worth in a way that privileges certain objects, certain actors and certain measures of performance. Through our use of Boltanski and Thevenot we have demonstrated how critiques of low wages draw on a specific combination of competing orders of worth that suggest alternatives - new visions and possibilities for accounting discourse and practice. In short, we have shown how the arguments for a living wage can help imagine and construct new forms of accounting that would support the more equitable distribution of income and wealth.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse justifications for, and accounting's role in, arguments for and against the living wage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic content analysis of arguments made for and against the living wage in a range of secondary data sources is conducted. Boltanski and Thevenot's typology of \"orders of worth\" provides the framework for analysis.\nFindings: Arguments for a living wage are found to draw on a range of orders of worth. These arguments hold that while market signals have a valid role in informing wage decisions, such decisions should also take into account the civic order's emphasis on collective outcomes, the industrial order's emphasis on long-term organisational performance, and an emphasis on the inherent dignity of the human worker drawn from the domestic and inspired orders. Business arguments against a living wage hold that the current weight given to the tests and objectives of the market order is optimal and that a living wage would undermine firm competitiveness and, ultimately, collective well-being. Justifications of existing low-wage practices are shown to be reflected in, and naturalised by, accounting discourses and practices.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the emergent literature on the relationship between accounting and inequality. It elucidates accounting's role in supporting the market order of worth and thus the stabilisation and perpetuation of income inequalities. Its analysis of the orders of worth invoked by those calling for a living wage contribute to the task of imagining and constructing an alternative, more equitable, accounting discourse and practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Examination of the relationship between servant leadership and agency problems: gender matters
|
[
"Gender",
"Cyprus",
"Servant leadership",
"Ethical leadership",
"Agency problems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Accountability, transparency and public criticism are important discussion topics with the increased media reporting of the corporate scandals (Leslie and Canwell, 2010). Although it is required by organisations to \"enforce ethics\" (Jones, 2011, p. 500), evidence suggests that some executives act opportunistically by manipulating the accounts in order to obtain dishonest benefits (Carnegie and O'Connell, 2014; Salter, 2003). It is notable that executives from Enron, Global Grossing, Qwest, Siemens and WorldCom were found to be involved in \"creative accounting\" practices and agency problems for self-interest benefits (Tassadaq and Malik, 2015). In relation to the current study, the financial institutions in Cyprus suffered damages of between 4.6 and 8.0 billion euros (Orphanides, 2014).\nLiterature review and hypotheses: Constructs of agency problems\nSubjects and analytical procedure: Sample\nMeasures: Independent variable\nResults and test of hypotheses: Table II depicts the correlations among the variables investigated in this study for the entire sample (n=276) testing H1. As shown in Table II, the correlations between servant leadership and the first-order constructs of the agency problems are uniformly near zero across the model (excluding the asset substitution) not supporting H1.\nDiscussion: This study contributes towards understanding the relationship between servant leadership and agency problems in the financial sector during a period of financial crisis in Cyprus. The findings indicate that servant leaders do not necessarily affect positively or negatively the agency problems, not supporting Politis' (2015) conceptual model which argued there is a negative relationship between agency problems and servant leadership. The results, however, reveal that the servant leadership behaviour of female managers/supervisors brings the desired negative influence on the constructs of agency problems. The strong, negative and significant relationship between agency problems and the servant leadership behaviour of females (gfemale=-0.42, p<0.01) suggests that female managers are inclined to support moral actions addressing opportunistic behaviours (Tassadaq and Malik, 2015) in financial service organisations, which by extension could lead to the reduction of agency problems. This finding is consistent with Ho et al.'s (2015) argument, in that females create stronger ethical leadership and by extension ethical work environment. The finding is also consistent with Francis et al.'s (2013) suggestion that servant leadership female executives are inclined to practice less earning management practices, which could shirk costly agency problems through the feminine socialisation (Noddings, 2003). These results suggest that leaders need to adopt what Beck (2014) called the communal servant leadership approach of altruistic calling, emotional healing and organisational stewardship, which could bring ethics in financial reporting and accounting practices, even in the periods of financial crisis. In addition, it was found that the servant leadership behaviour of males exhibits more positive and significant influence on the agency problems than that of females, which is more negative and significant. Thus, the results of this study support Beck's (2014) argument, in that the masculine constructs of servant leadership (i.e. wisdom and persuasive mapping) may have contributed to more risky investment decisions, leading to agency problems, or even financial scandals, especially in the periods of financial crisis.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between servant leadership and agency problems. Also, the paper seeks to determine whether gender plays a role in this relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey of 276 employees was carried out to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of servant leadership and the constructs of agency problems of 36 male and 22 female managers/supervisors in the banking sector months before the financial crisis in Cyprus. The responses were subjected to a series of correlational and structural equation modelling analyses.\nFindings: The study revealed three major findings. First, the relationship between servant leadership behaviour and agency problems is near zero and not significant. Second, the servant leadership behaviour of female managers/supervisors brings the desired negative influence on the constructs of agency problems. Finally, the servant leadership behaviour of males has a more positive and significant influence on agency problems than that of females. These findings should be interpreted with caution, because more female than male participants rated the male managers/supervisors, and salient traits might cause followers to feel that female managers display more servant leadership characteristics, regardless of whether they exhibit them or not.\nResearch limitations/implications: The conclusions cannot be generalised because the research was conducted in a country undergoing a financial crisis. However, this study provides a springboard to further explore whether the findings are valid if the sample is taken from a country not facing financial crisis, and if an equal number of male and female participants involved in rating male managers/supervisors.\nPractical implications: These findings provide evidence that servant leadership is not a gender-neutral ethical construct, and practitioners should focus to develop or recruit managers who possess an ethic of care that could bring the desired negative outcome on the constructs of agency problems.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study empirically investigating the agency problems - ethical leadership relationship in Cyprus. Moreover, the potential role played by gender for the aforementioned relationship was empirically examined.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How to run successful e-internships: a case for organizational learning
|
[
"Mentoring",
"E-internship",
"Virtual internship",
"Organizational learning",
"Diversity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasingly, organizations utilize new technologies so they can offer internship schemes with distant interns. These e-internships offer employers the opportunities to access a larger pool of candidates and talent than they might locally. In addition, e-internships are facilitated via many computer-mediated programs that support electronic human resource management and are part and parcel of telework and virtual work (e.g. online recruitment, e-mentoring, online platforms for collaborations and support). These features make e-internships particularly promising options for small businesses that lack certain expertise in their local area or lack office facilities to accommodate interns. At the same time, such e-internships may not feature the same potential for face-to-face interaction, opportunities to learn by shadowing others or by the development of long-lasting relationships.\nInsights from the experts: Very little is known about the prevalence and characteristics of e-internships or organizational practices to date (but see Jeske and Axtell, 2014). To address this knowledge gap, we decided to find, recruit and interview13 individuals with direct experience with e-internships, focusing on their management practices and the organizational learning outcomes. Interviewees included representatives of a dozen small and medium enterprises (SMEs). As the interviewees were located across the USA, the UK, Ireland, Romania and India, all interviews were conducted online. The semi-structured interview guide focused on selection and recruitment, organizational learning experiences and the extent to which e-interns can provide an important source of inspiration, feedback and staff development. Interviewees were also asked for recommendations for the design of e-internships. In this paper, we focus on opportunities for organizational learning and the recommendations.\nE-internships as learning experience for organizations and interns alike: E-interns can bring diversity into an organization, as they can be any age and their motives for taking up e-internships can be wide ranging. These motives include gaining experience following university, changing careers, managing work-life balance due to family obligations, and managing college classes in addition to obtaining work experience when doing both locally is not feasible. In addition, some individuals may not be able to finance a traditional internship or have certain disabilities that make it more difficult for them to commute or relocate for internships. This diversity represents a wonderful opportunity for managers to learn more about regions, languages, cultures, different software packages and benefit from different (creative, marketing, computing and other) skill sets taught or used by various schools and professionals. This diversity can increase the learning experience of all staff working with these e-interns.\nRecommendations for the implementation of e-internships: Our interviewees made the following recommendations for the implementation of e-internships in organizations.\nConclusions: E-internships can provide unique learning opportunities for the managers, staff and colleagues of these interns by increasing diversity at work, opportunities for mutual learning and meaningful experiences that increase interns' employability (Gault et al., 2010). In addition, e-interns can be a source of creativity and new ideas. The organization gets unique opportunities to access talent from different regions, disciplines and can obtain valuable feedback on processes, technology and ideas. Especially for more specialized or geographically remote SMEs and start-ups, well-organized and supportive e-internship schemes can therefore provide these organizations with a unique opportunity to reach talent regardless of size, reputation or office space.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline unique learning experience that virtual/e-internships can offer small and medium-sized enterprises and start-up organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed 18 experts on e-internships (interns and managers of internships) across several countries to learn more about the learning experiences for both organizations and interns. The information from these interviews was also used to formulate a number of recommendations.\nFindings: The interviews outlined the various development opportunities that e-internships may produce for interns, managers and staff within these organizations. One important benefit pertains to the skill development of both interns and managers. The interns get unique working experiences that also benefit the organizations in terms of their creativity, input and feedback. In return, managers get a unique learning experience that helps them expand their project management skills, interpersonal skills and mentoring.\nPractical implications: The authors outline a number of recommendations that consider skill development, the benefit of diversity in numerous forms as well as mutual benefits for enterprises and start-ups.\nOriginality/value: The discussion of the various benefits and conditions under which virtual internships will succeed in organizations provides practitioners an insight into the organizational opportunities available to them given the right investment into e-interns and internship schemes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Reach out and touch: student training community projects for sustainability - a case study
|
[
"Case study",
"Capacity building",
"Empowerment",
"Sustainability",
"Academic outreach",
"Student training projects"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable development at universities has recently received quite some attention. Recent research has recommended that implementing sustainable development at universities can result from concrete actions in five general domains, namely, internal operations, institutional framework, research, education and empowerment (Adams et al., 2018; Leal Filho, 2011; Lozano et al., 2015). The domains of internal operations and institutional framework refer to the sustainability of the university in business operations, management, vision and mission (Lozano et al., 2015). As institutes for higher education are, in this respect, not different from any other company or organisation (Blanco-Portela et al., 2017), these two domains of sustainability are extensively covered in the existing literature (Bellou et al., 2017; Cohen et al., 2018; Cruz, Barata, Ferreira, and Freire, 2017; Tangwanichagapong et al., 2017; Washington-Ottombre et al., 2018). The domains of research and education refer to the sustainability of the university in its core businesses of scientific research and education. These two domains are intertwined (Lambrechts and Van Petegem, 2016), and additional studies are being devoted on sustainable research and sustainable education in institutes for higher education (Lozano et al., 2015; Velazquez et al., 2005; Wals, 2010).\nBackground: Capacity building and empowerment are multidimensional concepts that have been defined in various ways (Merino and De los Rios Carmenado, 2012). Much like 'sustainable development', the appeal of these concepts might well be that the concepts can mean different things to different people - be it as an integrating force or as an empty slogan (Cairncross, 1991; Lusthaus et al., 1999; Van Dam and Apeldoorn, 1996). For example, capacity building has been defined as the process whereby 'individuals, groups, organizations, and societies enhance their capacities in terms of human, organizational, institutional, and social capital' (Lavergne and Saxby, 2001; Nair, 2003) or as 'the development of human resources (knowledge, skills, individual and group attitudes) for the purpose of developing and managing certain areas in society' (Enemark and Ahene, 2003, p. 0). Most scholars agree that in the area of sustainable development at universities, capacity building and empowerment include one or more of the concepts of educating by providing tools and competences for social learning about, and through, systems behaviour. Therefore, this is used as a working definition of capacity building and empowerment for sustainable development at universities.\nMethod: an illustrative case study: As part of their education, all students from the Wageningen University were required to fulfil an academic consultancy training module. In the academic consultancy training module, interdisciplinary groups of five to six MSc students from varying educational backgrounds were requested to formulate potential solutions to real-life issues. Every study period, companies, NGOs, policy makers, and community groups hold discussions with the university. There, the related parties discuss issues that they encounter in their daily practices and that they would like to be dealt with in the academic consultancy training module. Students can then subscribe to the issues that they would like to address in their academic consultancy training, and the university combines interested students into interdisciplinary teams in such a way that their different programs cover the main elements of the issue.\nResults: The findings of this study are summarized in Table II. Firstly, it was suggested in the literature that student training projects can provide a continuous base for capacity building and empowerment of sustainable development because continuity is related to roles rather than to individuals. Indeed, in the feedback session, the community members did not mention having experienced the change in academic supervision. This is because throughout the project, the community members' only contact with university representatives was with and through the students. Community members also did mention considering a follow-up project, although they were well aware that this would involve other students and possibly different supervisors. This suggests that community members indeed see the continuity of their interaction with the university independent from the interaction with individual university actors.\nDiscussion: Various sustainability declarations in higher education call for community collaboration by institutes for higher education (Copernicus Alliance, 2011). Thus far, literature has translated this as a need for direct personal involvement (Barnes and Phillips, 2000; Peterson, 2009). The present research provides a new suggestion on how capacity building can be organized: indirect involvement by academics through institutionalised student projects may be an alternative effective and efficient way to organize community collaboration. With a case study to illustrate its point, the present research reveals that curricular student training projects such as the academic consultancy training may be an effective way of community collaboration for sustainability. Such student training projects can have several advantages: they do not depend on individual academics and/or research grants, they may stimulate creative independence, they allow community members access to academic resources and they can create a power balance between the university and the community. Student training projects may thus be a tool to successfully develop sustainable university-community collaboration without the drawbacks that existing possibilities encounter.\nConclusion: Student training projects seem to be an interesting and potential future method to organize academic outreach. Such projects may overcome challenges that are related to academic research protocols and provide new opportunities for universities, students and community members. The results of this case study, summarised in Table II, suggest that student training projects in community sustainable development may overcome many issues that negatively affect staff-based projects. Hopefully, this spurs the interest of scholars to study the potentials and, if there are any, the weaknesses of student training projects as a promising method to integrate capacity building and empowerment in community sustainable development in higher education.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As one of the five concrete actions recommended for implementing sustainable development at universities (internal operations, institutional framework, research, education and capacity building), capacity building has received the least research attention. Although capacity building can be a tangible implementation of outreach that offers empowerment to universities, it is currently unclear how capacity building can be operationalised in concrete activities and which parties represent the university and the community. The purpose of this study is to provide the idea that capacity building can be organised through student training projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To provide support for our suggestion that student training projects can act as an implementation method for capacity building, an illustrative case study is presented. The case study concerns an academic consultancy training project for students in the domain of sustainable development.\nFindings: The case study analysis reveals that, as an implementation method, student training projects can provide benefits for both universities and communities. It appears that student training projects do not depend on individual engagement, on individual university staff members or on research grants and that they provide community members with access to resources, expertise and experiences of academics. Moreover, student training projects overcome the major challenges of both power distance and continuity.\nOriginality/value: To summarise, student training projects may provide a new, promising avenue as an implementation method for capacity building that provides substantial benefits and overcomes the challenges of other methods mentioned in the existing literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The landscape of Chinese open educational resources research
|
[
"Social network analysis",
"Citation analysis",
"Open educational resources"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the aim of providing a range of opportunities to share knowledge, improve education fairness and expand higher education participation (UNESCO, 2002), the open educational resources (OER) movement is booming worldwide. In recent years, increasing numbers of OER projects in different countries have been initiated, which has extended the OER movement more deeply and broadly (Gong, 2012).\n2. Literature review: The OER movement began in 2002 based on OCW from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). So far, the development of the OER movement has experienced two phases. The early stage was from 2001 to 2012 and focused on the implementation of OER. From the international point of view, the implementation of the OER movement consists of five aspects: open standard and license, open source software, open course management system, open access content and open sharing consortium (Albright, 2005). Since 2012, the massive online open course has pushed the OER movement to second place. Much attention has been paid regarding how to form a complete online learning mode behind OER.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Method\n4. Research results: 4.1 Publication year\n5. Conclusions: As there is a lack of empirical research in a Chinese OER context, this paper can provide a contextual basis for future studies as well as provide practical implications for OER practitioners. We can draw conclusions according to the research as discussed in the following points.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: After the official definition of Open Educational Resources (OER) at the Forum on Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries in 2002, the concept was soon introduced to China and popularised among scholars, practitioners, and educators. After ten years of proliferation, it is important to explore the landscape of Chinese OER research. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper adopts social network analysis (SNA) to analyse the network defining the citations of 133 OER journal articles published in China.\nFindings: The findings illustrate that the academic circle of OER in China is small, which leads to restricted innovation. Most publications are produced by researchers working at comprehensive universities and normal universities (teachers colleges).\nResearch limitations/implications: In these universities, a number of active OER researchers are emerging, but no OER research team can be identified from their citation networks. Currently, most OER research is still descriptive research, and only few case studies are being to gradually be conducted.\nPractical implications: As the Chinese OER research is still in the initial stage, more research projects in OER need to be explored to construct higher quality and more influential open content to achieve deep openness.\nOriginality/value: In the literature, no one has adopted the SNA to analyse the citation network of Chinese OER research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Expanding the academic discipline of real estate valuation: A historical perspective with implications for the future
|
[
"Real estate",
"Asset valuation",
"Modern history",
"Property marketing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Our intent in this paper is to use a historical perspective to trace the evolution of the academic discipline of real estate valuation and to use the resulting lessons to provide insights to the likely future evolution of the field. We will build off the fundamental idea of the universality of the concept of value in human society, regardless of location or condition. However, the interpretation and application of the concept of value has evolved independently, depending on individual circumstances, needs, and societal perspectives. Value concepts evolved not only across societies, as society and economies became more complex, they evolved for separate purposes, ranging from transactions to tax assessments to financing. Moreover, though initially value theory was pragmatic, evolving in an ad hoc fashion to serve the purpose at hand, the various approaches eventually became associated with a paradigm and a \"discipline\" that provided a consistent framework for undertaking the exercise of valuation. Thus, the early days of value theory and practice as it applied to real estate were ones of spreading and branching, as an amoeba, to meet needs as they arose. Education and training in the field during the childhood and adolescent phase of development evolved also - from informal oral traditions handed down among those involved with various aspects of real estate, to more formal apprenticeships, then to the written word and formation of associations, to professional training, and finally to an evolving formal academic discipline within our institutions of higher learning.The maturation phase of valuation has been - and is being - characterized by integration, consolidation, and unification. This integration has occurred both across applications, geographic and societal boundaries, and disciplines. It has been closely associated with the integration going on within the world order itself, with economic, political, technological, and legal dimensions. Professional discipline and formal training, too, is evolving from \"training\" and technological \"number crunching\" to holistic approaches that synthesize methodologies and view each application as a special case within a broader overarching valuation paradigm which spans its full dimensions. Moreover, the rate at which this integration is proceeding is becoming increasingly rapid, driven by the forces of globalization and technological and institutional advancement, to become apparent easily within the span of one's professional life.Viewed from this perspective, we argue that there is on the immediate horizon a convergence of real estate valuation theory and application that will bring these disparate parts into close proximity. Our \"mom and pop\" balkanized approach to the field of valuation will within our lifetimes be replaced by a unified/ integrated world that will embrace variations across applications, political boundaries, and educational paradigms.\nHistory of valuation thought and education[1]: Pre-history to the classical civilizations\nConclusion: the future of the valuation discipline: What has clearly occurred in the most recent period of 30 years or so is nothing short of a full flowering of research in real estate valuation theory and practice. This flowering has benefited in part from the broader contributions of the \"rocket scientists\" - financial economists steeped in the arcane mathematics of the stochastic calculus and the pricing of derivative products. This \"brave new world\" of real estate valuation provides considerable promise of finally treating real estate not as the poor orphan stepchild relative to other economic goods and financial assets, but as a full-fledged member of the club. As a result, it will gain all of the attendant rights to such membership, including sufficient sources of capital at competitive prices on both the debt and equity sides of the market, and more efficient transaction processes, both for individual assets and pools of assets, both domestically and internationally, and across a variety of asset classes. That is not to say that all is rosy with the future of valuation from a professional practice standpoint or with our ability in general to do a significantly better job of making value estimates. Caveats emerge from several directions:* Caveat 1 - real estate is \"real\". The \"rocket scientists\", although steeped in the complex mathematics associated with the pricing of real estate security interests, are too often oblivious to the fact that underneath all those stochastic cash flows are risks that are specific to real estate assets in individual markets. Today, there are a number of hedge funds, REITs, and investment pools that are heavily involved in acquisitions of the \"B-pieces\" (lower- or unrated tranches of CMBS issues) and in managing portfolios of commercial or subprime mortgages who have acquired such assets at historically low spreads to Treasuries without ever experiencing the \"stress test\" of a widespread market turndown.* Caveat 2 - the appraiser as dinosaur. At the same time, the professional appraisal community is threatened to be left behind - or even with extinction - as a dinosaur that has not evolved with the changing market and technology. Theory - and the market itself - have outrun practice. We have returned to that point in the nineteenth century when the theorists in the universities and the evolving market makers on Wall Street and Main Street had far outrun the ill-equipped real estate professional's ability to obtain valuation estimates of any degree of consistency or quality. By and large, for the vast bulk of appraisers and assessors world wide, most of the evolving methodologies and factors influencing values that I have cited above have not made it into the appraisal report. That report (or at least 99 per cent of it) is typically undertaken today in exactly the same way that it was 30 years ago! The results of this state of affairs for the profession are many: In the residential mortgage market, sophisticated statistical underwriting tools employed by the GSE's (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), including accurate computerized valuations of property, have dramatically changed the demand for and price of residential appraisals. Today, complex expert witness assignments and appraisals of large properties, portfolios of properties, and specialized real estate interests, are too often not undertaken by traditional appraisers. Instead, a whole new breed of real estate or financial economists, conversant in the mathematics and jargon associated with the new way of structuring property ownership, has stepped into the picture. In the case of tax assessment professionals, those persisting in traditional one-off \"re-valuation\" approaches to the assessment of individual properties, are increasingly finding themselves out of the picture, with the contract going to the firm with the most up-to-date soft- and hardware and defensible statistical tools to undertake the assignment in a more timely, accurate, and cost-effective way.* Caveat 3 - The \"black box\" and \"garbage in=garbage out\" dangers. The appraisal profession also remains more enamored with the idea of high-tech tools, both hardware and software than with either a full understanding of those tools or a recognition that the most sophisticated statistical packages are meaningless in the face of incomplete and inaccurate data (garbage in=garbage out). There has been an underinvestment in acquiring and maintaining the databases necessary to overcome this deficiency. In some cases, this is due to industry resistance to share such data; in other cases it comes from the short-term cost associated with getting an ongoing data collection system going. However, over time, these short-term market frictions will be overcome, given the increasing availability of tools such as GIS, in-the-field real-time data entry capabilities, and comprehensive jurisdictional data base management tools. The market has insured that such information is already being used by the most sophisticated B-piece buyers, whose very existence relies on their ability to do a better job than the next guy of assessing anticipated property performance.\"Why can't we all just talk to each other?\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to trace the evolution of the theory and practice of valuation of real estate interests. Using a historical perspective, especially in the context of recent events, it identifies an emerging unification of thought and application that has important implications for the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper identifies and synthesizes the contributory literature to the philosophical underpinnings of value theory and practice as applied to real estate. From pre-history to the present, it traces classical concepts and the way these are related to the recent innovations in economic and financial valuation theory.\nFindings: - Recent contributions to value theory hold the promise of unifying and transforming the practice of real estate appraisal to one that is state-of-the-art in terms of its contemporary relevance. However, numerous issues remain as obstacles, including insufficient recognition of the \"real\" nature (as opposed to \"capital\" nature) of real estate; a lag in educational standards to bring the profession up to date; an excessive reliance on models and data rather than judgment and common sense; and \"silo-ization\" of specialties. Promising directions for future research are identified.\nOriginality/value: - The task of valuation of interests in real property has taken on an increasingly important role, as the market for real estate has grown and become more liquid and complete. This paper provides a perspective on where it has come from and where it must go in the future in terms necessary changes in theory and practice to remain viable and relevant.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Implementation of SDGs at the University of South Africa
|
[
"Distance education",
"Sustainability in higher education",
"SDGs",
"Campus greening",
"SDG implementation",
"Unisa"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Background\nThe role of universities in sustainable development goals implementation: Universities are uniquely placed to lead the cross-sectoral implementation of the SDGs by providing an invaluable source of expertise in research and education across all SDGs (El-Jardali et al., 2018). Different faculties at universities, for example, faculties of agriculture, education, science and technology, health and epidemiology, ecology and others, can address various SDGs through each faculty's mission and role at the institution. Bhowmik et al. (2018) emphasised that universities can play a pivotal role in SDGs implementation through teaching and learning, research, community involvement and curriculum orientation towards SDGs. Universities have a long history of extensive research and community engagement. They are trusted by various stakeholders in terms of partnerships for addressing environmental problems; hence they have an added advantage in addressing SDGs (EL-Jardali et al., 2018).\nResearch design and methodology: The research was informed by a mixed methods research design and was based on a case study (Yin, 2003) of Unisa. Data collection was based on qualitative techniques (Creswell, 2003) including interviews, document analysis and campus observations. The interviews were either telephonic or face-to-face. Data collection took place from March to September 2018. Semi-structured interviews (Alverson, 2003) of Unisa Florida campus director, sustainability officer, campus operations manager and BSc Honours in Environmental Management students were conducted to solicit information on sustainability initiatives at the institution. The interview questions were varied across all interviewees. The interview guideline for the Unisa Sustainability Office had questions which cover Unisa sustainability policies, implementation, sustainability planning and projects. Questions for Unisa operations manager focused on campus environmental management, while BSc Honours in Environmental Management students were asked about their involvement in sustainability initiatives at Unisa.\nResearch limitations: This research was limited to one institution, Unisa, owing to time limitations. While this might seem like the research was too selective, it was intentional as the aim was to research a distance education institution. The research targeted staff involved in campus operations at Unisa's Florida Campus which is located in Johannesburg. Interviews were limited to students undertaking the BSc Honours in Environmental Management. This was a methodological decision to contain the research, but making sure that the targeted respondents were the most informed. Individual case studies are often critiqued for being insufficiently representative to allow generalisations to other contexts (Jupp, 2006). This applies to this research in terms of \"populations and universes\" (Yin, 2003, p. 10), but generalisations to \"theoretical propositions\" (ibid) are possible.\nResults: A summary of initiatives\nCommunity-engagement initiatives: In 2013, Unisa adopted a Community Engagement and Outreach Policy which guides its various community projects (Unisa, 2015). Unisa's Department of Environmental Sciences (College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences [CAES]) is involved in the Parks and People project in which it partners with the Johannesburg City Parks and Zoos (JCPZ). The project focuses on food gardening and school greening initiatives. It also involves engaging staff, learners and community members in educational workshops on nutrition, the importance of trees and how to plant and care for vegetables, trees and ornamental plants. This resonates with SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 4 (quality education) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The project funding is however limited, and since its implementation, it ranged from R 43,000 to 90,000 per year (US$3,000- 6,200). This limits the scale of implementation of the initiative.\nTeaching and learning: CAES introduced a cross-faculty environmental management degree programme in a bid to \"green\" the curriculum in the year 2000 (SDG 4) when institutionalisation of sustainability in most developing countries was still minimal (Unisa, 2015). The programme was implemented in response to an industry need of a bachelor's degree which equips students to fulfil the role of coordinators and facilitate community involvement and participation in environmental decision making (Pretorius, 2004). As an open distance education and learning (ODeL) institution, the programme is accessible to a broader student audience compared to resident institutions, including students outside South Africa's borders. Distance is not a barrier to learning as long as there are computers and internet access.\nResearch initiatives: Unisa promotes sustainability research at honours, master's, doctoral and postdoctoral levels (Unisa, 2015). Most postgraduate programs offered by Unisa are through research dissertation, for example, Master of Science in Environmental Science or Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science. Areas of research range from green transport, green economy, climate change, climate smart agriculture, sustainable tourism, water quality, ecotoxicology, bioremediation, air quality, green universities and ecology, among others. These topics cover many SDGs, e.g. SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13. Staff members are also involved in these and related research.\nOther initiatives: According to the Unisa (2015), 63.3 per cent of the total student enrolment are females compared with 36.7 per cent who are males (SDG 5 - gender equality). In a way Unisa is providing opportunities for the upliftment of women and empowerment of the girl child. This also applies to its staff complement whereby 57.5 per cent are women (2016 figures).\nDiscussion: The findings of this paper reveal that Unisa has initiatives which cover most of the SDGs. The paper is not exhaustive, as it is based mostly on research at only one of the campuses. Chances are high that the institution has more and diverse initiatives on the ground at its other campuses.\nConclusion: Unisa started to walk the sustainability talk because of the influence of Agenda 21; MDGs and various sustainability declarations which emphasised that higher education should participate in sustainability implementation. Since then, the university has never stopped. Though some of the sustainability initiatives were taking place at a small scale, they provided the institution with a starting point. The recently announced SDGs then gave the institution further impetus to scale up the implementation of its sustainability initiatives. Unisa, as an ODeL institution with almost 400,000 students under its guidance, has the potential to reach out to a broader population and assist in sowing the seeds of change in terms of sustainable consumption, conservation, climate change literacy, etc., among the South African populace and beyond through its curriculum and research mandates. Unisa, however, lacks direct student involvement in sustainability projects on its campuses owing to the fact that it is a distance education institution. Most students interviewed mentioned that they are involved in sustainability and SDGs through curriculum and research activities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how universities can play a pivotal role in implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs). It recognises the advantage that universities have in responding to social challenges through their functions and operations, mainly through research and innovation and academic prowess. Not much guidance is available on how they can contribute to SDG implementation. The research is a case study of the University of South Africa, a distance education institution. It showcases how its science campus in Johannesburg has incorporated SDGs in its operations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through interviews with campus operations managers and sustainability office managers, a survey with environmental science honours students was conducted and observations of the Unisa Florida campus environment were undertaken to establish practices that contribute towards SDG implementation. Document analysis assisted in complementing the data collection process. Data were analysed by aligning practices with SDG indicators.\nFindings: The research revealed a number of practices that align with SDGs in teaching, research, community engagement and campus operations management. Unisa is however challenged by financial limitations and as an open distance education and learning (ODeL) institution, it struggles to involve students in these projects. The paper concludes that while the most obvious contribution of universities to SDGs is towards quality education (SDG 4), higher education, including distance education institutions, can play an active role in implementing other SDGs as well.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research was limited to one institution, Unisa, owing to time limitations. While this might seem like the research was too selective, it was intentional, as the aim was to research a distance education institution. The research targeted staff involved in campus operations at Unisa's Florida Campus, which is located in Johannesburg. Interviews were limited to students pursuing BSc Honours in Environmental Management. This was a methodological decision to contain the research, but making sure that the targeted respondents were the most informed. Individual case studies are often critiqued for being insufficiently representative to allow generalisations to other contexts (Jupp, 2006). This applies to this research in terms of \"populations and universes\" (Yin, 2003, p. 10), but generalisations to \"theoretical propositions\" (ibid) are possible.\nOriginality/value: There are few studies in Africa which researched implementation of SDGs in universities, let alone in ODeL institutions. The research revealed the challenge of involving students in sustainability practices in distance education institutions and serves as a testimony that such institutions can still have successful projects on and off campus. It suggests involving students in applied research based on the current sustainability projects on and off campus.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Factors predicting the US birth rate
|
[
"Demographics",
"Expected unemployment",
"Forecast evaluation",
"Marital formation",
"Michigan Surveys of Consumers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Declining birth rates continue to pose a challenge for policymakers in developed countries. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (2013) Factbook, Australia, Canada, and all of the developed East Asian countries have birth rates lower than replacement. France is the only country in Europe with a birth rate that exceeds replacement. The birth rate in the USA is hovering around replacement. A low birth rate brings with it a whole host of economic and social problems, in addition to public policy obstacles. For instance, the US Social Security Administration reports that, in concert with higher life expectancy, falling birth rates have reduced the ratio of workers to social security beneficiaries from 16.5 to 2.9 over the past 60 years.\n2. Related literature: Early contributions in estimating the responsiveness of the birth rate to various economic variables include Drakatos (1969) for Greece, using cross-section data and Ben-Porath (1973) for Israel, using time-series data. They reach opposite conclusions as to whether birth rates are pro- or counter-cyclical, but Ben-Porath is notable for examining the time-series links between childbearing and a number of different economic variables, including per-capita income, unemployment, and industrial output. Later, Schultz (1985) analyzed county-level wage shocks in Sweden to show that birth rates are pro-cyclical for younger men, but counter-cyclical for older men - the two effects are of approximately equal magnitude and basically wash each other out. Jones and Tertilt (2008) use US cross-sectional data to show that birth rates have declined with income increases across many generational cohorts. In contrast, Black et al. (2013) use exogenous income shocks related to energy prices to argue that birth rates are pro-cyclical.\n3. Data and alternative forecasts: The birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 population, and the marriage rate is the total marriages per 1,000 population. The monthly birth and marriage rates reflect enumerated counts from official records rather than survey data, and they come from various issues of the National Vital Statistics Report (published by the National Center for Health Statistics, 2008, only up to December). The unemployment rate data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the expected change in unemployment index is available on the Michigan Surveys of Consumers website. This survey probes consumer sentiment on personal finances, buying and business conditions, and expectations[1]. Utilizing a randomly selected sample of at least 500 US households, the survey collects individual responses to approximately 50 core questions. One question asks, \"How about people out of work during the coming 12 months - do you think that there will be more unemployment than now, about the same, or less?\" Using the individual responses, the survey calculates the index values (=less-more+100). We utilize this index as the measure of expected change in unemployment (EU\n4. Forecast evaluation test results: Our evaluation focusses on answering the following four questions:\n5. Conclusions: Declining birth rates are at the forefront of many policy discussions, from pension insolvency to declining crime rates. Thus, understanding the factors that underlie the time-series fluctuations in birth rates is important for policymakers both for predictive and for management purposes. In this study, we have taken a forecasting approach to examine these factors.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to take a forecasting approach to examine the relationship between the US birth rate, marriage rate, and economic conditions (measured by both realized unemployment and expected unemployment). The expectation data come from the Michigan Surveys of Consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Utilizing monthly data, the authors first specify a univariate and three augmented autoregressive integrated moving average forecasting models for 1975-2001. Second, the authors use recursive estimation to generate multi-period forecasts of the birth rate for 2002-2008. Third, the authors employ standard evaluation methods to compare the predictive information content of the forecasts.\nFindings: First, the birth rate is pro-cyclical. Second, the marriage rate contains useful predictive information for the birth rate. Third, controlling for past information in the birth and marriage rates, both realized and expected unemployment embody useful information for predicting the birth rate. Fourth, expected unemployment is a more informative indicator than realized unemployment.\nPractical implications: The finding that the birth rate is pro-cyclical emphasizes the importance of economic stability in promoting childbearing, and the authors suggest counter-cyclical macroeconomic policy to shield families from major shocks. A stable economy, and especially one where families are optimistic about the future, promotes childbearing. The results also empower policymakers to analyze systematically the impact of changes to the structure of marriage on childbearing.\nOriginality/value: This appears to be the first study that utilizes a forecasting approach to better understand the complex relationships between childbearing, marriage, and macroeconomic conditions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Construction service quality and satisfaction for a targeted housing customer
|
[
"Service quality",
"Construction",
"Customer satisfaction",
"Housing",
"Expectations",
"Product quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Service quality is linked to the increasing dominance of the services sector in meeting customer satisfaction and marketing needs (Lusch, 2011). In construction contracting, service quality may compete with more obvious customer criteria such as price and product needs. Here, service quality is likely to be important to customer satisfaction during the changing dynamics, unexpected events and different personal relations that occur during construction activities onsite. Consequently, the question asked in this research is whether a customer who starts out being price and product oriented, changes to being service quality oriented, during the delivery of construction contracting services onsite? The research aims to more successfully understand the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction at a conceptual level - especially in terms of identifying contextual variables that influence the relationship and can be used for hypothesis testing in future research. The relevance of this study is apparent in the problematic and repeated calls over an extended period of time for a more customer driven approach in the construction industry (Egan, 1998; Latham, 1994; UK Department of Business Innovation and Skills, 2013).\nWho is the customer?: Many types of customers exist and can be defined according to market characteristics as well as behavioural traits. The focus of this research is on customers within the detached housing construction market, being the dominant form of housing in Australia (Reserve Bank of Australia, 2014). This freestanding housing is built on an individual allotment of land, owned and occupied by a private individual householder, who will eventually occupy the house once construction is completed. The relatively small scale of such projects and avoidance of the complexity common in larger multi-unit residential developments, affords a more customer driven approach to contracting the construction work and a high degree of customer input in terms of what, when and how the housing is delivered. For instance, such housing is not based upon speculative development or the involvement of professional property developers. Further, there are no shared walls, spaces or shared ownership with other owners, thus allowing a high degree of individual decision making by the customer.\nService quality concepts: Service quality tends to be conceptualised in terms of behaviour theory as distinct from economic theory. It is often seen as positive or negative perceptions that customers have in terms of their attitudes towards service quality (Bednall and Kanuk, 1997; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Patterson and Johnson, 1993; Zeithaml, 1988). The service delivery process can be broken down into specific stages that can be measured according to gaps between customer perceptions, as benchmarked against customer expectations. This was first conceptualised by Parasuraman et al. (1985) in their so called Gap model, which has subsequently been adapted for construction in various ways, including Winch et al.'s (1998) approach to total quality, and then Forsythe's (2008) adaption to suit the Australian detached housing construction market. The latter provides a process model that defines the timing of service quality evaluations during a housing project and differentiates briefing, design completion, construction execution and the final product. This study focuses specifically on the construction execution stage, leading up to the final product.\nCustomer satisfaction concepts: Despite certain similarities with service quality concepts, customer satisfaction research comes from different theoretical origins (Oliver, 1993). Expectancy theory plays a strong role and began when disconfirmed expectancy was first illustrated in the book When Prophecy Fails (Festinger et al., 1956) and shortly afterwards in A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). It creates a state of psychological discomfort when the outcome arising from a given situation contradicts what an individual expected to happen (Festinger, 1957). The individual then experiences competing cognitions of what they believe should have happened, vs what actually happened.\nPast research on profiling pre-purchase expectations: In order to more accurately try and logically separate the way customers respond to these dimensions, it is useful to draw on past research that defines different types of pre-purchase expectations for customers in the Australian detached housing construction market. Forsythe (2007a) developed understanding via a conceptual model of pre-purchase expectations, and then profiled how real world customers variously conformed to the model (Forsythe, 2012). His model (Forsythe, 2007b) reflects a set of rational steps in the pre-purchase process, including identifying needs, searching for appropriate contractors, calling for tenders, and ultimately selecting a contractor to execute the construction for them. His profiling (Forsythe, 2012) then shows different sets of behaviour during these steps, where the greatest contrast was between price and product oriented customers (as focused upon in this study) and service quality oriented customers. Each profile is provided in more detail below.\nResearch method: A single case study methodology has been adopted for the targeted customer, to observe and record their behaviour concerning service quality and customer satisfaction, in extreme detail. The customer therefore represents the primary unit of analysis with the relevant construction service providers being the head contractor and associated subcontractors.\nResults: The reporting of results is in the order of the previously mentioned data gathering points of floor, superstructure, linings and practical completion stages. At each stage, a graph (e.g. Figure 1) is used to present gap scores for customer satisfaction and service quality - arrowheads show the current gap score and arrow tails show any movement in score since the last data gathering point. The bracketed section on the graph shows the period of incidents influencing gap movement.\nIntegrated analysis of data covering all stages of construction: It is clear from all stages that service quality gap scores consistently influenced customer satisfaction when focusing upon active service quality dimensions. With regard to this:\nConclusions: This study supports the finding that for a customer with price and product oriented pre-purchase expectations, active service quality dimensions are closely related to customer satisfaction during construction. This is despite the premise detailed at the beginning of the study, that such customers should theoretically have very limited interest in service quality. The association appears to be prompted by the customer's level of exposure to both positive and negative service incidents that occur dynamically during the construction process. The ratio between the two appears to direct the size and direction of gap scores. For instance, the customer in this study started off the project expecting to be a passive observer during construction, but due to poor service quality throughout much of the process, had been forced into more dynamic involvement. Here, it seems that that the longer a customer is exposed to incidents, the more likely that service quality will have an impact on their satisfaction. Notwithstanding this, once the finished product materialises and is distinguishable to the customer, then the reason for needing the service quality fades, and the customer gradually focuses more on what the finished product means to them, long term (Note: the low level of technical experience of the customer in question meant that realisation of the finished product was hard to interpret for them until late in the construction process). Based on these observations, it seems that service quality is primarily a phenomena of importance to customer satisfaction as a means, rather than an end, in itself.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction during detached housing construction in Australia is investigated for a targeted customer - one whose expectations focus on \"price and product\" and not \"service quality\". The purpose of this paper is to see if service quality impacts on customer satisfaction during construction, despite the apparent conflict in expectations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A detailed single case study methodology is used, focusing on the aforementioned customer as the unit of measure. A longitudinal design is employed by measuring customer satisfaction and service quality \"gap scores\" at four stages during construction, using a survey instrument adapted from the consumer research literature. This is coupled with qualitative interview data coded into a linked set of definable service incidents.\nFindings: The study finds that irrespective of having price and product oriented pre-purchase expectations, customer satisfaction is closely related to perceptions of service quality during onsite construction. This only occurs for a selective set of \"active\" service quality dimensions - especially responsiveness and reliability dimensions. These dimensions appear to be driven by the customer's underlying level of exposure to both positive and negative service incidents, and the ratio between the two appears to direct the strength and direction of \"gap scores\". Once the physical end product materialises, the customer gradually focuses more on the objectivity and realisation this offers, and less on service quality.\nOriginality/value: The paper facilitates theory development in terms of generating testable variables effecting the dynamic relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, during construction. The approach enables an increased ability to identify and explain how contextual variables, linked to specific customer types, impact on the relationship. The generalisability and validity of the findings are discussed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Economic role of politics and corporate governance: reforms captured in Malaysia's setting
|
[
"Malaysia",
"Politics",
"Corporate governance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The phenomenon of global financial crisis has caused numerous failures in the corporate sector which, lead to the increasing number of research on corporate governance decision-making and reformations. Corporate governance failures have been among prominent discussion of the possible causes of the crisis. This study examines the economic role of politics on corporate governance reforms in one of emerging market, namely, Malaysia. In the absence of accurate and reliable corporate governance structures, the best practises might not be adequate and effective, especially during 1997/1998 when there was a real attention given to Asian financial crisis (AFC) (Johnson et al., 2000). Following to that, Liew (2007) had reported Malaysia promoted international corporate governance reforms, and in this paper, the study conceptualise the economic role of politics as the dominant driver for the reforms. This paper argues that the role of politics as the \"revolving door\" for the corporate sector to enhance their corporate governance function since it is mainly because the setting of the country itself is based on the relationship-based market system. In addition, the role of politics in the Malaysian corporate sector is likely to be different from other emerging economies because of the nature of political interventions in which started even before the crisis.\nInstitutional background in Malaysia' setting: One of the most important events in 1963 was the merger of the states in Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore that formed a country called Malaysia (Hooker, 2003). However, due to the inefficiency of this political entity, on 9 August 1965, Singapore exited from Malaysia and became an independent country (Saw, 1999). Today, Malaysia is a multicultural society, with considerable divisions based on ethnicity, religion and language. It is estimated that in 2016, Malaysia will have about 30,661,000 million people (Department of Statistic, 2014). Bumiputera[1] accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the population, followed by Chinese 22.6 per cent and Indian 11.8 per cent with the remainder comprising other ethnic groups including non-Malaysian citizen. Each ethnic group maintains their separate ethnic identities and has continued practising their culture, behaviours and economics. The past decade has seen the diversity of the ethnic are relatively tolerant of each other and create stability for the country as studied by Guan (2000). Previous studies have reported that since pre-independence, each ethnic group has played an important role in the development of the Malaysian economy (Tan and Sendjaya, 2007). Since the nineteenth century, Chinese people in Malaysia dominated the business field particularly in the wholesale trade, retail and tin mining. The report from Economic Planning Unit (2000) indicated that at the time of independence in 1957, Chinese business dominated almost 30 per cent of the ownership shares of limited companies. A possible explanation for this is the businesses were largely family-owned, and the family members were heavily involved in all major aspects of business operations. On the other hand, the Indian business communities and Bumiputera were not as established as the Chinese communities. This is evidenced by Economic Planning Unit (2000), which reports that in 1957, Bumiputera, even though comprising a majority of the population, accounted for less than 3 per cent of Malaysian economics, whereas the equity held by the Indian communities was far behind.\nThe New Economic Policy: The NEP was launched in 1971 as an affirmative policy with the objective to reduce the gaps in employment, wealth and income between the economically disadvantaged Bumiputera and other ethnic groups (Salleh et al., 2005). Dixon (1991) has previously documented that the NEP had two main objectives: firstly, to eradicate poverty and, secondly, to increase Bumiputera ownership of economic assets from 2.4 per cent in 1970 to 30 per cent by 1990. Furthermore, new statutory bodies and government-linked companies (GLCs) were formed to assist the policy, and this is the establishing the widespread growth of political connections in the Malaysia's setting.\nThe privatization policy: During the 1980s, Malaysia experienced severe recessionary conditions as the earlier PEs caused financial and administrative burdens on the government. This was due to the fact that major significant projects were incurring losses leading to large public sector budgetary deficits. According to Gomez and Sundaram (1999), the situation worsened, as it was aggravated by mismanagement, economic inefficiency and the incompetence of boards, and these led to a change in the government's attitude towards PEs. The Privatization Policy launched in 1983 was designed to make privatized entities a mechanism for achieving the 30 per cent target of Bumiputera participation in the economy Unit (1991). Due to this, government divested state enterprises, largely to Bumiputera, in various key sectors such as utilities, power, transportation and telecommunication (Bruton et al., 1997).\nThe Asian financial crisis 1997/1998: The AFC of 1997-1998 proved that Malaysia suffered from agency conflicts which demonstrated the need for monitoring mechanisms even in a high ownership environment. There were a few examples of high profile cases of unethical and misconduct during the crisis such as Renong, Perwaja Steel, Renong, Technology Resources Industry and Malaysia Airlines System. Thus the government introduced governance reforms to regain investor's confidence such as Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG), derived from Cadbury (1992) in the UK. According to Zhang (2009), Malaysian capital markets have not converged with the Anglo-American model and have instead diverged significantly from the model of financial liberalism due to political influence. As suggested by Ball et al. (2003), the extent of political connections may be a factor contributing to the low quality of financial reporting in Malaysia.\nMalaysian government-linked companies: Previous research by Ab Razak et al. (2008) reported that Malaysian GLCs that are essentially privatized the public sector enterprises were established to meet social and economic needs could not be appropriately handled within the traditional structure of the government. Essentially, Malaysian GLCs are defined as \"companies that have a primary commercial objective and in which the Malaysian Government through government-linked investment companies (GLICs) have a direct controlling stake\" (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2014). This is more specifically defined by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia as follows:\nThe economic role of politics in Malaysian corporate sector: It is very clear that the business environment in Malaysia is heavily influenced by political interference, and as discussed above, this has implications for the development of corporate governance in Malaysia. It is become very challenging for the regulators to reform and promote good corporate governance due to the complexity of the political patronage network. There have been cases in which corporations do not abide by the law, and it seems difficult for corporate governance to be fully carried out due to political interference and politically influential businessmen as Porta et al. (1999, p. 21) comment:\nCorporate governance reforms: Malaysia: One of the countries that was most affected by the AFC was Malaysia. The crisis saw the stock market and currency values drop by more than 40 per cent. A major factor recognized as a cause of the crisis was the poor corporate governance in the private sector (Johnson et al., 2000). As a result, the Malaysian government appointed a High-Level Finance Committee in March 1998 to develop a framework for improved corporate governance. This resulted in the MCCG being introduced. The MCCG required listed companies to have audit committees:\nCorporate governance and economic role of politics in Malaysia: Malaysia is well known as a synonym for the relationship-based market system, which was set up due to the multicultural state of the community. Therefore, one control instrument is needed to ensure that this political role does not overly control corporate business affairs. There have been various corporate governance recoveries since the AFC in 1997-1998, including the implementation of the MCCG as part of the Bursa Malaysia listing rule. Various studies conducted in Malaysia have shown quite consistent results. For instance, Wahab et al. (2007) find that performance of the firms has been significantly higher after the incorporation of the MCCG in 2001. In addition, Haniffa and Hudaib (2006) find various corporate governance mechanisms that have positive effects on firm's performances. Thus, it has been shown that corporate governance matters to mitigate the agency problems and thus improve firm's performance.\nDiscussions and concluding remarks: In this paper, the institutional setting of the study which shows clearly the relationship between business and politics and corporate governance in the Malaysian setting. The intervention of politics and the distinctive of ethnic make-up of the country are well documented. The ethnic divisions into their key sectors caused inter-ethnic tension competition for economic resources and political power. Due to this, it seems hard in the Malaysian context to separate business and politics. Thus, it is very important for Malaysian companies to implement improved corporate governance to support the idea of corporate transparency. Following the AFC, better corporate governance has been emphasized to bring the standards up to the highest level, but the nature of economic role of politic is seen as an issue in Malaysian's corporate sector. According to Gomez and Sundaram (1999), the lack of monitoring and control by the authorities among the reason there why the disease of \"cronyism\"[8] has continued to spread up to the present day. This phenomenon is among the causes of economic downturn in 1997. There is much evidence from prior studies suggesting that further improvements are needed in the Malaysian corporate sector, especially to address the issue of the political environment in Malaysia.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the economic role of politics on corporate governance reforms in one of emerging market, namely, Malaysia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based upon a literature review analysis.\nFindings: The Malaysian economic, political and social settings have resulted in undue state and detrimental political influence on business, and yet the corporate governance reforms undertaken seemed not be able to resolve the matter. It is suggesting that it would be beneficial for Malaysia to have more independent regulatory bodies representing a wide variety of stakeholders to improve the transparency and accountability to ensure that the reforms are effectively enforced without conflicting with the political agenda. Legal institutional reforms also may be needed to improve the structure, capacity and performance of judicial system, as it is capable to capture reliance of economic role of politics and promoting accountability in Malaysia.\nResearch limitations/implications: The economic role of politics on corporate governance reforms is merely to broaden the political strategy in the corporate sector as the change in politics can improve the effectiveness of corporate governance reforms. Moreover, the economic role of politics raises the tone of the corporate governance reforms, and it implies that policymakers need to have effective corporate governance strategy in dealing with the reforms initiatives in areas that have strong political interventions.\nOriginality/value: Regulatory and judicial implications are offered as a means to improve corporate governance in Malaysia.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Exploring multimodal writing in secondary English classrooms: a literature review
|
[
"Writing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over the past two decades, literacy researchers, responding to changes in society and literacy studies, have explored the notion of multimodality, the mixture of communicative modes such as audio, video, images or gesture and the ways in which these modes interact and influence meaning when they are mixed (Cope and Kalantzis, 2009). While multimodality is not a new phenomenon, it has gained increased attention as the ubiquity of digital technologies and changing social practices impact the ways in which literacy functions in the twenty-first century (Lotherington and Jenson, 2011). Indeed, researchers commonly conceptualize multimodality not just as a textual feature, but as part of a group of \"social practices characterized by a new 'ethos'\" (Knobel and Lankshear, 2014, p. 98) of collaboration, decentralized authority and discursive participation. While many researchers have explored socially situated, multimodal practices in out-of-school spaces (Hull and Schultz, 2001), less is known about the ways in which such practices impact students in classroom settings (Howell, 2018; Mills, 2010; Pandya et al., 2015). Addressing this gap, this literature review explores recent research on multimodal composition in the context of secondary English classrooms.\nMethods: To conduct this search, the author used a keyword search in Education Source, ERIC, and Academic Search Complete using the following terms: \"writing OR composition AND multimodal AND secondary OR high school OR middle school.\" Following the search, the author read the abstracts of the 165 search results, including articles based on the following criteria:\nFindings: How has multimodality been incorporated into writing instruction in secondary English classes?\nDiscussion: This review of the literature found classroom incorporations of multimodal composition largely in line with theoretical definitions not only of multimodality but also thinking about new literacies more broadly (Jewitt, 2008; Kress, 2008). At the same time, these incorporations appeared in diverse ways, with teachers modifying traditional writing assignments, creating entirely new ones and reimagining whole courses. Across studies, researchers reported shifting understandings both of how semiotic resources could be used across modes and the role of such resources in school spaces.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore recent research (2007-2017) on the implementation of multimodal writing instruction in secondary English courses. It seeks to highlight the varied ways in which theoretical conceptions of multimodality have been implemented in writing instruction and the impacts of these implementations on students' experiences in classrooms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author used a keyword search of relevant academic databases to identity articles within the search parameters. This was followed by bibliographic branching to identify additional articles and two rounds of open coding to identify themes for analysis.\nFindings: The literature revealed a diversity of approaches to incorporating multimodal writing in classrooms; teachers mixed modalities within assignments, paired writing in print with multimodal composition and redesigned entire units or courses around multimodality. Studies showed the impact of multimodality on student learning through shifts in conceptions of communication, increases in student engagement, composition for real audiences and an increased role for students' interests and identities.\nPractical implications: This review has implications for teachers and researchers interested in developing multimodal writing curricula. It highlights the specific ways in which multimodal writing can be incorporated into instruction and the changes in student learning that result from this shift.\nOriginality/value: While theoretical writing on multimodality is abundant, multiple researchers have noted the difficulty of finding research on classroom implementations of multimodality (Howell et al., 2017; Smith, 2017). This review is intended to address this difficulty by contributing to a body of literature that teachers and scholars can draw on as they conceptualize and design multimodal writing experiences for students in the future.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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The existence of a stable money multiplier in the small open economy of Kazakhstan
|
[
"Lending channel",
"Credit view model",
"Money multiplier"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper investigates, for a small open economy of Kazakhstan, the existence of a stable long-run relationship between the money stock and monetary base, as embedded in a \"mechanistic\" version of the money multiplier model. This model, which was put forth by Friedman and Schwartz (1963)[1] and developed formally by Brunner and Meltzer (1964), postulates that there is a stable relationship between the monetary base and money stock, and that a central bank can control the monetary base rather closely, thereby controlling the money stock as well as the provision of bank credit to private sector to stabilize an economy. Since the 1980s, two broad transmission mechanisms have been suggested regarding the money multiplier: the \"money channel\" and the \"credit channel[2]\". The standard \"money view\" suggests that the volume of deposits that banks supply helps determine the overall interest rate, which clears the money market thereby affecting the borrowing and lending behaviour in the economy[3]. Bernanke and Blinder (1988) proposed the \"credit view\", in which the volume of bank loans helps determine how close the interest rate on bank loans is to the interest rate on marketable securities[4]. This view emphasizes that in the process of creating money, banks extend credit (make loans) and their willingness to make loans has its own independent impact on aggregate spending. One implication of the standard money multiplier is that if banks found themselves with excess reserves they would try to lend the money out, thereby increasing the availability of credit, driving down the borrowing rates for private sector and hence stimulating economic activity in the economy. Yet this relationship between the monetary base and money stock (and bank lending) collapsed in the major developed countries, the USA, UK and Euro area during the international crisis and recession of 2008-2010[5]. Besides, the prior relationship between the underlying variables could not be reinstated to stimulate the economy when the authorities undertook measures to use this relationship to expand the money stock (and bank lending) by force-feeding the banks with the monetary base[6]. Abrams (2011) demonstrates through a variant of the credit view money multiplier model that \"holding constant the money supply following various financial sector shocks, including an autonomous drop in the money multiplier, is insufficient to prevent aggregate demand from decreasing\".\n2. The multiplier model: In a mechanistic form, the money multiplier may be represented as follows:(1)\n3. Literature review: Empirical work on the standard money multiplier has broadly followed three main strands[11]. The first strand relates to work conducted, inter alia, by Burger et al. (1971), Burger (1972), Bomhoff (1977), DeRosa and Stern (1977), Johannes and Rasche (1979), Buttler et al. (1979), Fratianni and Nabli (1979), Hafer et al. (1983) and Hafer and Hein (1984). These studies develop alternative models for forecasting the multiplier. The earliest works carried out by Burger et al. (1971) and Burger (1972) use the regression method[12] to predict the US M1 multiplier. Burger et al. (1971) forecast each month's money multiplier on the basis of the three-month moving average of the past multiplier values, the reserve adjustment magnitude to capture the effects of reserve requirement changes and the dummy variables to account for seasonality. Burger (1972) follows a similar approach extending the regression model to incorporate as input only those variables that he claims the Fed can be assumed to know without error. The multiplier forecast model he tests incorporates the lagged percentage change in the Treasury bill rate instead of the reserve adjustment magnitude. Subsequent studies carried out by Bomhoff (1977), DeRosa and Stern (1977), Johannes and Rasche (1979), Buttler et al. (1979) and Fratianni and Nabli (1979) apply aggregate time series and component models to forecast the multiplier. Employing the Box-Jenkins (BJ) method, Bomhoff (1977) finds that his forecasts of the US M1 multiplier are approximately 30 per cent more accurate than those reported in the earliest studies. Using a similar method to forecast different multipliers for the Netherlands, he concludes that \"if the Dutch Central Bank invested more resources in the collection of data from the banks, then predictions could be made sufficiently accurate for use in the control of the money stock\". A similar approach is used by Buttler et al. (1979) and Fratianni and Nabli (1979) to forecast the money multiplier for Switzerland and seven EEC countries, respectively. In contrast, Johannes and Rasche (1979) employ a component approach and find results suggesting that their multiplier forecasts generated based on the behavioural components are more accurate than those reported by earlier studies. Hafer et al. (1983) compare the forecasting ability of the BJ method with that based on the Kalman filter and produce an improvement in the multiplier forecasts when the latter method is used. In contrast, Hafer and Hein (1984) compare aggregate time series and component models in forecasting the US M1 multiplier and show that \"the components approach is more accurate in forecasting, because it accounts for certain ratio-specific changes that are masked in the aggregate model\".\n4. Sample data and cointegration results: The existence of a stable long-run multiplier is tested for Kazakhstan using monthly data on the monetary base and M1, M2 and M3 measures of money covering the period 2000:01-2017:06[14]. One reason for choosing this period is that there had been several shifts in monetary policy over this period from targeting monetary aggregates to targeting inflation, thereby creating an environment unlikely to be conducive for a stable multiplier. Second reason is that over this period the country had undergone several episodes of currency crises, an environment quite unfavourable for the multiplier. Notwithstanding such opposing economic situations, the casual observation (as shown in Figure 1) supports the existence of the multiplier, since the underlying series appear to move together over time. Moreover, as shown in Figure 2, although the M2 and M3 multipliers move upward together, they seem to fluctuate around their long-run (average) values over time. This is also supported by unit root tests as shown in Table I. Clearly, although these multipliers fell sharply due to different currency events, including the international financial crisis of 2008-2009, they did pick up their values after each event. This evidence sharply contrasts with the multiplier behaviour in the USA[15]. Moreover, there seems to be no big difference between the pre-crisis and post-crisis behaviour of the multipliers. The M1 multiplier tends, however, to move downwards over time, albeit it fell below unity and failed to recover in 2014 when the country moved to floating exchange rates.\n5. Conclusion: This paper has examined the existence of a stable money multiplier in Kazakhstan. The results of three tests of cointegration are strongly supportive of the money multiplier when broad money is used rather than when narrow money is used. Not only is the null of no cointegration between the money stock and monetary base rejected on the basis of these tests but also are the coefficient restrictions (h>0 and b=1) not rejected.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a long-run stable money multiplier exists in Kazakhstan. It also investigates whether different episodes of currency shocks, including the financial crisis and recession of 2008-2010, have affected the working of the money multiplier in Kazakhstan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The long-run multiplier is tested employing three cointegration tests: Engle-Granger (1987), Phillips-Ouliaris (1990) and Johansen and Juselius (1990).\nFindings: The results of cointegration and coefficient restrictions tests are consistent with the money multiplier when broad money (M2 and M3) is used rather than when narrow money (M1) is used. The relationship between broad money and monetary base is structurally stable when examined on the basis of a dynamic (an error-correction) model. However, the M2 multiplier performs better than the M3 multiplier.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is restricted to testing a mechanistic version of the money multiplier and its stability using both narrow (M1) and broad money (M2 and M3) supplies. Thus, the paper focusses on the money view of the multiplier rather than the credit view of the multiplier.\nPractical implications: One implication that emerges from the findings of this paper is that the National Bank of Kazakhstan can control M2 by controlling the monetary base, and hence the latter can serve as an indicator for monetary policy.\nSocial implications: The validity of the money multiplier implies that monetary policy can be conducted to control the money supply and the provision of bank credit to private sector to stabilize economic activity, thereby leading towards social stability in the economy as well.\nOriginality/value: In addition to offering a coherent survey of the literature on the standard money multiplier, this paper is a first attempt to find a stable money multiplier for Kazakhstan.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Open supply? On the future of document supply in the world of open science
|
[
"Academic libraries",
"Open access",
"Service development",
"Research data",
"Open science",
"Scientific information"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The best way to predict your future is to create it. (Abraham Lincoln)\nWhat is the business?: The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) defines document supply as \"making information in all formats available throughout the world through a variety of resource sharing and document supply techniques\"[2], or more generally, \"shared use of individual library collections [...] supply of loans and copies between libraries\"[3]. Usually, this is true for lending of returnables (books) and copy delivery (journal articles), not only to and via libraries but also to the end-user. Interlending & Document Supply (ILDS), the leading journal in the field, describes its scope as:\nWho are the customers?: The scope of traditional document supply is narrow and large at the same time. Narrow, insofar as it is designed above all for public higher education and research communities, with their specific information needs and usage. At the same time large, because one part of the service is supplied for the industrial R&D sector, a great consumer of scientific information with various objectives and constraints. With open science, the focus shifts towards an even larger target, including unaffiliated knowledge workers (Brown, 2016) and people involved in citizen science, i.e. public participation in scientific research conducted at least partly by amateur or non-professional scientists (Hand, 2010).\nWhat is the value for them?: What do customers appreciate? Studies on document supply reveal several aspects, such as a broad range of information, high-quality information, simple discovery and ordering, timeliness, legal compliance, control, (re)-usability and reasonable and affordable pricing; some customers are also concerned with privacy issues or request confidential and secured processing to protect strategic interests. Customers want the requested item anywhere, at any time, in a format that fits with the intended use (Dehlez et al., 2005), which may be simple reading, import in resource management systems and also reuse in patent or new drug application or for promotion, conferences, publications or educational issues.\nWhere is the business going?: Open science emphasizes the importance of dissemination and curation, to improve and guarantee findability, discoverability, accessibility and reusability of research results. The political and societal challenges are Ebola and Zika, global warming, new energies, etc., and the objective is to accelerate and generalize availability of scientific publications and data to foster innovation. Open science shifts the focus from acquisition and access to dissemination, related to activities early in the value chain of scientific communication, and upstream of usual document supply.\nWhere should document supply go?: Crucial for the success of Sci-Hub are easy usage, immediate and free access to documents and rich content. Of course, Sci-Hub is not an option for document supply, for at least three reasons:\nConcluding remarks: As far as we can see, open science is here to stay. It will shape our way of seeing and doing research, and it will impact the dissemination of scientific information. Basically, open science is not a library-based or even library-friendly project. Open science does not offer a solution for the actual problems of document supply. During some years of transition, document supply can continue as before, doing the same business as usual. Why? - the open science policy deadline is 2020, and there are still four years to go. Also, as this policy concerns above all public-funded research and journal publishing, significant parts of scientific output remain more or less \"out of scope\", as, for instance, corporate or privately funded research, grey literature, older print material, etc. Third, the EU Member States produce \"only\" one-third of the worldwide scientific articles and, moreover, this percentage is slowly eroding (between 2010 and 2015 from 32 to 31 per cent[9]), while the share of China and India is increasing (from 15 to 18 per cent)[10] - a fact that limits the impact of the EU policy on the free availability of global scientific information. Document supply will remain useful for some years at least, and for one part of scientific literature.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a personal viewpoint on the development of document supply in the context of the recent European Union (EU) decisions on open science.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper provides some elements to the usual questions of service development, about business, customers, added value, environment and objectives.\nFindings: The EU goal for open science is 100 per cent available research results in 2020. To meet the challenge, document supply must change, include more and other content, serve different targets groups, apply innovative technology and provide knowledge. If not, document supply will become a marginalized library service.\nOriginality/value: Basically, open science is not library-friendly, and it does not offer a solution for the actual problems of document supply. But it may provide an opportunity for document supply to become a modern service able to deal with new forms of unequal access and digital divide.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Court referral and Nigeria's Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts (FRACE)
|
[
"Nigeria",
"Dispute resolution",
"Sharīʿah compliance",
"Sharīʿah governance",
"FRACE",
"Sharīʿah advisory council",
"Islamic finance disputes",
"Sharīʿah issues",
"SAC"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Islamic finance has assumed an important place in Nigeria's banking and finance scene since its formal and full-fledged commencement in 2012. It is today a multibillion naira industry that comprises several institutions offering Islamic financial products and services. These include one standalone Islamic bank (Jaiz Bank Plc), two Islamic windows of conventional banks (Sterling Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank), two takaful (Islamic insurance) companies (Jaiz Takaful, Noor Takaful) as well as sovereign sukuk (Islamic investment certificates) issuances (by state and federal governments) among other Islamic capital market activities. In addition, there are a few Islamic asset/fund management and investment companies that operate in the country. The industry comes with tremendous economic gains for Nigeria. The development and growth of the Islamic finance industry certainly bring about the chances of disputes in the transactions. So long as Islamic finance subsists as a viable alternative to the conventional financial system, the resolution of its disputes remains fundamental and needs to be catered for in that regard.\nResearch questions and methodology: The research will delve into the following questions:\nShari'ah governance and inalienable fundamentals of Islamic finance: Islamic finance is generally defined as conducting financial dealings in accordance with the rules of Shari'ah. In other words, it is a financial system governed by Shari'ah. Shari'ah governance is said to encompass a series of organisational as well as institutional mechanisms established by regulators and players of the finance industry through which an institution offering Islamic financial services (IIFS) provides and safeguards effective independent supervision over processes and structures of governance to ensure it complies with the Shari'ah (IFSB, 2009). The rules of Shari'ah prescribe certain criteria of prohibitions and permissibility in dealings among people generally. The rules here basically comprise those on prohibition of riba (usury and interest), maysir (speculation) and gharar (uncertainty including excessive risk). Additional prohibitions include iktinaz (hoarding), ihtikar (monopolies), deception, gain without work or appropriate risk-taking for it, and investment in assets or activities that are non-halal (non-permissible) including gambling and alcohol (Ghassen and Lahrichi, 2017). The prohibition of these activities is an inalienable fundamental of the Shari'ah. Unlike in conventional finance, where these activities are legal, the Shari'ah provides alternatives that link capital and work in participatory operations so that the responsibility to pay/work for legitimate products and services and lawful risk-taking offset those prohibited activities. Everything not contrary to the precepts of the Shari'ah is considered permissible. The Shari'ah is meant to bring yusr (ease) to people, and Islamic finance is meant to offer a just and innovative financing alternative in accordance with the dictates of the Shari'ah (Ayub, 2007; Ainley et al., 2007; Ahmed, 2014; MIFC, 2014; Rusni, 2016). Shari'ah governance in Islamic finance embodies compliance with Shari'ah in the way and manner institutions that offer Islamic financial services are operated. This includes how their financial contracts, services and products are initiated, conducted and concluded. In other words, Shari'ah governance is synonymous to the end-to-end requirement of Shari'ah compliance in Islamic financial practices and the operations of IIFS.\nRelevance of courts in the adjudication of Islamic finance disputes: It is obvious that the objective of end-to-end Shari'ah compliance in Islamic finance practices could be defeated if such compliance cannot also be assured at the judicial dispute resolution stage (Rasyid, 2013). Regardless of whether Shari'ah compliance has been attained at the level of products/services development or contract performance, it is vital to ensure Shari'ah compliance during judicial dispute resolution for a couple of reasons. A properly equipped court of law will facilitate the attainment of end-to-end Shari'ah compliance by compelling Shari'ah governance with judicial force. Conversely, an ill-equipped court may negate the attainment of that objective by its omission or commission. This could arise in the event a Shari'ah-compliant Islamic finance product/service becomes the subject of a pronouncement and/or interpretation of its enabling law by the court in the light of other existing laws[6].\nEstablishment of FRACE, Shari'ah governance and ascertainment of Shari'ah in Nigeria's Islamic finance industry: As a governance strategy, certain mechanisms are established by the CBN via regulatory guidelines to provide for Shari'ah governance as well as ascertainment of relevant and applicable rules of Shari'ah for Islamic finance practice in Nigeria. These mechanisms are located at the level of both individual financial institutions and the CBN. They are bodies of Islamic finance experts which regulations require individual IFIs (including Islamic windows of conventional banks) and the CBN to establish and maintain in their respective domains. The composition and power of these governance bodies vary between those of individual IFIs and that of the CBN.\nCourt referral and role of expert opinions to adjudicate Shari'ah issues in Islamic finance disputes: Based on the foregoing and given the circumstance of civil courts handling Shari'ah issues in Islamic finance disputes, court referral to FRACE would ordinarily stand a workable option so that FRACE can serve as a source for obtaining experts' opinion to adjudicate on such issues. In this way, much can be gained to develop adjudication of Islamic finance disputes with predictability and certainty of legal safety and Shari'ah compliance. Generally, the idea behind it is that of a ready-made, harmonised and standardised national source of opinions and ijtihad (legal reasoning). The idea can be materialised by tapping from the pool of experts in FRACE to adjudicate and determine Islamic finance disputes in Nigeria. This idea would prove handy, having regard to the general dearth of experts in Islamic commercial jurisprudence to share in opinions. Moreover, the civil courts are saved the trouble of receiving conflicting opinions by different experts over the same matter.\nThe way forward for adjudication of Islamic finance industry disputes in Nigeria: Certainly, expert opinion has been relevant in adjudication yet it can be unreliable to base a decision solely on its merit due to the fact that it is highly influenced by subjectivity in individuals' conviction as well as variations of their understandings from the perspective of a particular school of jurisprudence (madhhab). Consequently, it is not always the best as a source of guidance for civil courts to decide on Shari'ah issues in Islamic finance disputes, even where it is the only available source of guidance to the courts. However, expert opinion can be unified, harmonised and standardised via an appropriate authority, at least for consumption of a particular Islamic finance jurisdiction. Therefore, regardless of jurisprudence and interpretation, it appears safer and more convenient for a single voice to serve as the source of expert opinion for all persons, businesses and authorities. This will not only steer the quest for certainty and stability in sharing expertise but will also promote standardisation of the myriad of juristic differences when it comes to issues of Islamic finance generally.\nRecommendations and conclusion: Shari'ah compliance is an essential feature of Islamic finance, one that truly identifies it as Islamic in object and purpose. Ensuring Shari'ah compliance of Islamic financial dealings is, therefore, an important regulatory priority in any Islamic finance jurisdiction. However, Shari'ah compliance would be a mirage if it cannot be ensured at the dispute resolution stage. Ensuring Shari'ah compliance in the event of dispute resolution is paramount as it enables projecting Shari'ah governance as an end-to-end requirement that fosters not only compliance but also legal certainty and safety of investments. As the Islamic finance system grows and develops in Nigeria, so also does the possibility of Islamic finance litigation, with a tendency toward complication and sophistication. Thus, the courts and judges responsible to handle the situation should be prepared with equal or greater sophistication. This is with a view to ensure the sustainability of the system and investments therein.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to highlight resolution of Islamic finance dispute by common law-oriented courts in Nigeria with respect to Shari'ah non-compliance and legal risks thereof, as well as the lesson to learn from Malaysia in that regard. This is with view to ensuring Shari'ah compliance and legal safety of Islamic finance practice as prerequisites for sustainability of the Nigerian Islamic finance industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative method was used; interviews were conducted with different categories of experts and primary data collected in relation to Shari'ah non-compliance and legal risks in adjudicating Islamic finance dispute by civil courts and the role of expert advice as basis for court referral to Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts. A doctrinal approach was adopted to analyse relevant legislative provisions and content analysis of secondary data relevant to applicable provisions in matters of finance before civil courts.\nFindings: The paper discovers an indispensable role of conventional financial regulations in sustaining Islamic finance industry. Appropriate laws for Islamic finance under the conventional framework foster legal safety and Shari'ah compliance of Islamic finance activities in related cases handled by courts. Nigeria civil courts can aid sustainability of Islamic finance when so equipped and enabled by laws that address apparent Shari'ah non-compliance and legal risks in judicial dispute resolution. Inadequate legal provisions for dispute resolution breeds Shari'ah non-compliance and legal risks in Islamic finance, undermine its prospects and stand inimical to its sustainability.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is limited by its focus on Shari'ah non-compliance and legal risks alone, which emanate mainly from judicial resolution of Islamic finance dispute by Nigerian civil courts.\nPractical implications: This research seeks to motivate a determined and deliberate regulatory action and change in approach towards addressing apparent risks associated with Islamic finance while resolving disputes therein by civil courts. It has implications on common law jurisdictions generally that adopt similar approach as Nigeria's while introducing Islamic finance into their conventional finance framework.\nOriginality/value: Dispute resolution and other regulatory functions of civil courts are important to Islamic finance though apparently overlooked while introducing Islamic finance in Nigeria as in other emerging jurisdictions. This research ascertains the role of the civil courts as indispensable for Islamic Financial Institution (IFIs) operations and demonstrates that such courts are needed for the development and sustainability of Islamic finance industry. The research demonstrates the end-to-end requirement of Shari'ah compliance of Islamic financial transactions as absolute and needs be ensured and guarded at dispute resolution level by properly equipped courts.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Personality predictors for the use of multiple internet functions
|
[
"Internet use",
"Education",
"Big-Five",
"Gender",
"Personality",
"Multiple internet functions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increasing use of the internet is unprecedented. According to Internet World Stats (2012), close to 34.4 percent of the global population are internet users. In highly wired countries such as Korea, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Sweden, the penetration rate ranges from 75 to 90 percent. With the internet pervading our lives, users access the web for a range of internet functions such as searching for information, reading news, and buying and selling products. New forms of human interaction are occurring on the internet through instant messaging, social networking, and internet forums. As such, accessing and using the internet has become integrated into people's daily lives that, for many, nowadays it is difficult to imagine how we can cope without it (Amichai-Hamburger and Vinitzky, 2010).\n2. Methods: 2.1. Sample\n3. Results: The frequency and percentage of types of internet functions used, along with the number of internet functions used, are presented in Table II. According to the summary, Koreans use the internet to browse products (74.7 percent) more frequently than for other internet functions. This is followed by searching for information (63.4 percent), reading news (60.2 percent), using e-mail (52.3 percent), using forums (21.9 percent), using SNS (20.9 percent), using blogs (7.0 percent), and using cloud services (4.1 percent). The number of internet functions used indicates that the largest proportion of internet users tend to use four functions (20.2 percent), followed those who use zero (15.7 percent), two (14.0 percent), five (13.8 percent), three (13.2 percent), one (11.3 percent), six (7.9 percent), seven (2.9 percent), and eight (1.0 percent) functions.\n4. Discussion: The purpose of the exploratory study is to examine the influence of personality factors on using multiple internet functions. The analysis involved using data from a Korea survey that measured overall media behavior. The data differs from past studies in that the setting is not western, and it captures a sample frame that is representative of the population.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Big-Five model of personality traits relates to the use of multiple internet functions and test if the relationship differs by gender, age, and education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To test the research questions, this study uses data from a large-scale survey of 9,479 Korean media users. Poisson's regression is applied to model the count data, which accounts for the number of internet functions used. In the regression models, the first block entered is socio-demographics followed by a second block including personality traits.\nFindings: Results indicate that openness to experience and conscientiousness are positively related to using multiple internet functions, whereas emotional stability has a negative relationship. The findings differed depending on age and education. The younger age cohort, with higher levels of conscientiousness and extraversion, are likely to use more internet functions. In addition, the relationship between conscientiousness and using multiple internet functions is relevant for users with higher education levels.\nOriginality/value: The present paper is the first that uses multiple internet functions as a critical variable to study individual difference factors. Overall, this study provides evidence that individual difference factors such as socio-demographics and personality traits have a strong role to play in internet research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The guanxi ties of managers in mainland China - a critical analysis based on gender
|
[
"China",
"Gender",
"Social networks",
"Guanxi",
"Managerial career"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: China is a rapidly developing emerging economy with world-wide economic and political influence. In China, manufacturing is nowadays often compensated for by higher technology and professional services, which requires employees with high level skills, well-developed managerial and leadership capacities together with a global mindset in many business sectors (Cooke et al., 2016). The growing investment level and competitive labor markets provide careers opportunities, often international, also for women (Berik et al., 2007). However, the reforms and social changes in China can still be understood in the context of paradoxes in 'people-management', including Western and Eastern oppositions (Warner, 2011, 2009) and the need to underpin HRM with social reality in China exists (Warner, 2011). Within China, some weakening of working conditions has also been reported like growing income insecurity (Berik et al., 2007).\nConceptual background and literature review: Nature of guanxi\nData and methods: In this study, it is used a methodological approach that combines both a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. The interviews were used because we accept that concepts concerning network building might be culture dependent and need discussion and definitions, and we used a questionnaire because we needed some quantitative data to build up the network structures for composition comparison. Both methods were based on earlier studies concerning the guanxi networks. This dual approach, therefore, was meant to increase both the validity (the conceptual clarifications) and the reliability of the study using triangulation. The interview data could also be used to some extent independently, describing the experiences and feelings expressed by the participants of the study; that is, to study guanxi from a qualitative perspective (Zhai et al., 2013).\nFindings: Questionnaire\nDiscussion: The relatively limited size of women's guanxi networks\nConclusion: When Western models of HRM get more foot-space in Chinese management practices (Cooke, 2009), that may foster advanced formal issues like equality and protection against discrimination.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Inadequate social networks are often seen as an explanation of the under-representation of women in management. Networks contain culture-specific features, as in China where the term guanxi is used, defined as a shared common identification held by two or more individuals (Jacobs, 1979). In several studies, guanxi has been found to relate positively to success at work both for the individual and the organization, but little is known about it from gender and career perspectives. Referring especially to the earlier studies by Chow and Ng (2004), the purpose of this paper is to address the meaning of guanxi networks for top women IT managers in mainland China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors collected data from 21 women managers in mainland China, using a questionnaire about the composition and structure of their core guanxi networks and face-to-face interviews which allowed ample opportunity to elaborate the participants' responses to items included in the questionnaire and their perspectives to using guanxi in general. The authors used both data in an interpretive analysis.\nFindings: It was found that: there is a significant effect of female-to-male dyads concerning power and work-related guanxi bases, such as influence; there is a significant effect of female-to-female dyads concerning questions of private life and crisis, and women IT managers have a relatively limited guanxi base. The findings of this paper support Ibarra's (1993) suggestion that a common strategy for women is to use and develop a functionally differentiated network. Based on findings, the authors further suggest that in building a successful managerial career, women managers in China need to reflect their gender, be gender-sensitive in building up their networks and stay incorporated at the core networks in the organization whatever gender they represent. They also suggest that because networks are dependent on culturally bound definitions (like guanxi), even the guanxi practices may vary locally in different parts of China.\nResearch limitations/implications: Women managers are important role models for younger female candidates and the possibility to close connections with them is relevant. Because networks are dependent on culturally bound definitions (like guanxi), even the guanxi practices may vary locally in different parts of China. For further studies, the authors suggest to focus on the consequences of guanxi practice limitations to women managers' careers, especially from the perspective of private life responsibilities and the possible problematic nature of power ties between the gender(s).\nOriginality/value: Even if working life is becoming more and more global, the local and culture-based nature of networking remains. This paper contributes on the extensive research on social networking practices in China, often described in terms of guanxi, which has seldom been investigated using critical gender perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does migration make financial sense? The case of domestic workers from Vietnam to Taiwan
|
[
"Finance",
"Vietnam",
"Taiwan",
"Migrant workers",
"Labour migration",
"Domestic workers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are different kinds of migrants. Permanent or temporary, skilled or unskilled, irregular or regular and asylum seekers or refugees (Iredale et al., 2003). Research on labour migration in East and Southeast Asia show workers migrating from countries such as Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia to countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan (Asis, 2003; Ho, 2012; Ishizuka, 2013; Skeldon, 2006). Researchers have addressed issues such as motivations to migrate, working conditions in host countries, existence and enforcement of legal rights in host countries, human capital development through migration and resettlement and reintegration on return to home country (Asis, 2003; Goss and Lindquist, 2000; Ge et al., 2011; Kusakabe and Pearson, 2010; Huang and Yeoh, 2003; Gmelch, 1980; Kveder and Flahaux, 2013). In this paper we focus on a specific category of migrants, i.e. domestic workers, migrating legally under a bilateral treaty between the governments of Vietnam and Taiwan. Taiwan is the host country and Vietnam, the home country.\nReview of literature: Trends\nDesign, methodology and approach: The research question was investigated in the context of domestic workers migrating from Phu Equation 3 Province in Vietnam to Taiwan. The choice of context was driven by two considerations. First, Phu Equation 3 is one of the poorer provinces chosen by the Vietnamese Government in which to promote migration. The province was home to many migrant domestic workers who had worked for varying lengths of time in Taiwan. Second, the first author of this paper has her ancestral home in the province which facilitated access to respondents.\nFindings and analysis: Reasons to migrate\nConclusions: Domestic workers, predominantly women, form an important category of international labour migrants in Asia. Labour treaties provide a platform for facilitating flow of domestic workers from labour surplus and poorer countries to labour deficit and richer countries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Adopting a view that migration is an investment, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the risk-adjusted returns that migrant domestic workers from Vietnam to Taiwan can expect to earn.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study analyses data obtained through interviews of a sample of migrant domestic workers, all from Phu Tho in the north of Vietnam, who had migrated to Taiwan.\nFindings: The study found that migrants were driven strongly by financial motivations. Analysis of the typical costs of migrating, wages in the host country, average length of stay and especially, uncertainties affecting the length of stay, found that the investment in migration is a highly risky one for migrants. In most cases, migration does not pay.\nResearch limitations/implications: Estimates of costs and benefits can be improved with larger samples of respondents and data sources that can help validate the interviews.\nPractical implications: There is a need to improve financial literacy among migrants to help them better assess their investment in migration.\nSocial implications: This paper highlights the inequity in risk allocation in the context of migration.\nOriginality/value: To the knowledge, there is no research of the financial costs and benefits of migration as domestic workers, especially from Vietnam to Taiwan.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
ERP systems in lean production: new insights from a review of lean and ERP literature
|
[
"Enterprise resource planning",
"Lean production"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: It is generally accepted that lean production improves manufacturing processes with the application of recognized tools and techniques, and equally assumed that contemporary enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are essential for companies seeking efficiencies through organizational integration. Traditionally, ERP systems have been implemented in order to integrate business processes and support managerial decision making. While the integration objective seems to fit with the holistic approach that is typical for lean, ERP systems have often been classed as sources of waste within lean production literature (Bell, 2006; Bruun and Mefford, 2004; Hicks, 2007; Sugimori et al., 1977). For example, Piszczalski (2000) describes manufacturers as being \" torn between two opposing camps\", and Halgari et al. (2011) suggest that ERP systems have been considered a hindrance to lean manufacturing efforts and have been criticized for encouraging large inventories and slow production.\n2 Research methodology: The research methodology employed for investigating the application of ERP within lean production is literature survey. Literature has been collected primarily through journals within the area of operations management. For rigorousness, textbooks, conference papers, white papers and dissertations have been excluded from the analysis. A list of journals and the number of articles from each journal is presented in Table I.\n3 Classification of the literature on ERP systems in lean production: In this section, a classification scheme is proposed that can be applied by researchers and practitioners for studying the applications and implications of ERP in lean production. By closely examining the scientific literature on ERP systems and lean production, a number of recurrent themes were identified. These themes form the areas for the classification of the literature:\n4 Review of the literature on ERP systems in lean production: In this section, the literature available on ERP and lean production has been reviewed based on the previously described classification scheme. A summary of the literature is given in Table II.\n5 A research framework for ERP in lean production: towards a concept for ERP-enabled lean: A critical evaluation and categorisation of the literature has helped to identify six major areas which should be considered when investigating the application of ERP systems in lean production. The literature review has also provided theoretically grounded insights which have been used for the development of a research framework that identifies future research directions regarding the application of ERP systems in lean production (Figure 1). We suggest that the framework can be used to assist researchers and practitioners in identifying the potential areas of development for the successful application of ERP systems as an enabler of leaner production, or ERP-enabled lean.\n6 Conclusion: This paper has presented a thorough and critical review of literature with the objective of bringing out pertinent factors and useful insights into the role and implications of ERP systems in lean production. The academic literature available on ERP and lean production was critically reviewed and classified into the most prominent subject areas, which were:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Faced with increasing global competition and growing customer expectations, manufacturers looking for significant performance improvements often look to one of the two choices: implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, or applying the tools and techniques associated with lean production. In fact, many companies are today applying both approaches in an attempt to realise competitive advantage in the global marketplace. However, there seems to be an ongoing debate within the academic literature as to whether lean and ERP are complimentary or contradictory technologies. This paper aims to present a thorough and critical review of literature with the objective of bringing out pertinent factors and useful insights into the role and implications of ERP systems in lean production and to develop a research framework that can be used by researchers and practitioners for studying the value of integrating ERP with lean.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methodology employed is literature survey. Literature has been collected primarily through journals within the area of operations management. For rigorousness, textbooks, conference papers, white papers and dissertations have been excluded from the subsequent analysis. Though older literature has been considered to define the scope of this investigation, only literature published after the year 2000 has been considered in the analysis in order to be current in the research field.\nFindings: The paper proposes a classification scheme for the current research on ERP and lean production, which identifies six major areas in the extant literature. The literature survey is used to find existing research gaps and provides a research framework for future research directions regarding applications and implications of ERP systems in lean production.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study the interactions between ERP systems and lean production.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Exploring effective work unit knowledge management (KM): roles of network, task, and KM strategies
|
[
"Network structure",
"Task characteristics",
"Knowledge management strategy",
"Knowledge management effectiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many organizations have initiated knowledge management (KM) practices to improve the effectiveness of knowledge creation, transfer and utilization, as knowledge has been acknowledged as a sustainable basis for competitive advantage in organizations (Zack, 1999; Teece, 2000; Wong et al., 2015; Downes and Marchant, 2016). Much attention has been given to KM practices (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Brown and Duguid, 2001; Hansen et al., 1999; Kim et al., 2014), as well as how knowledge is used to create value within organizations (Gold et al., 2001; Lee and Choi, 2003; Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2014). While prior studies have deepened our understanding of successful KM at the organizational level (Hansen et al., 1999; Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Zack et al., 2009; Krylova et al., 2016), less attention has been directed at KM practices at the work unit level. Considering that a typical employee spends most of his/her work days interacting with other members within the same work unit, there is a vital need to integrate knowledge from various work units to effectively manage the process of knowledge exchange within an organization. Such focus on a work unit level is also expected to expand our understanding of the unit's boundary-spanning role and its extensive interaction with other units for overall KM success. Recognizing the significance of this work unit-level perspective, few studies have attempted to examine why some work units within the organization are more effective in their use of knowledge than others (Sabherwal and Becerra-Fernandez, 2003; Cummings, 2004). More empirical work and theoretical considerations that focus on the unit of analysis on the work unit level are needed to expand insights on KM effectiveness (Bosch-Sijtsema et al., 2009).\n2. Research models and hypotheses: We developed two research models to address the two research questions. As shown in Figure 1, the first model attempts to study the influence of inter-unit network structure on KM effectiveness. The overarching theoretical basis for this model is the social network perspective, which has been successfully applied to explain KM process and effectiveness (Song et al., 2007; Kankanhalli et al., 2011; Tortoriello, 2015). The social network literature widely discusses the impact that social networks have on social capital (Appendix 2), including KM phenomena (e.g. knowledge sharing and utilization) (Hansen, 2002; Lin and Lo, 2015). Researchers (Reagans and McEvily, 2003; Nakauchi et al., 2017) have postulated the impact of network characteristics on organizational effectiveness by mainly focusing on knowledge sharing or transfer. We, however, believe that network characteristics significantly relate to all KM activities - knowledge creation, acquisition, transfer and utilization - across organizational subunits. Thus, our research model proposes that the network structure represents a vital social capital (Coleman, 1988; Hollenbeck and Jamieson, 2015) and posits that the presence of a social component can enhance overall KM effectiveness.\n3. Research methodology: The survey method was used to empirically test the hypotheses. We developed the items in the questionnaire by adapting previously validated instruments. We administered two survey forms: a member-survey form that obtained responses from members of each work unit and a leader-survey form issued only to the leader of each unit to obtain his/her perception on inter-unit communications. The sample frame consists of experienced knowledge workers, which typically includes managers and professionals. Drucker (1994) defined knowledge workers as high-level employees who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge, acquired through formal education, and who have a habit of continuous learning. Managers and professionals hold the typical characteristics of knowledge workers and were found to play key roles in KM (Choi and Lee, 2003; Janz et al., 1997). A pilot test was undertaken with 12 experienced knowledge workers, which resulted in some refinement to the questionnaire.\n4. Discussions and conclusions: We have proposed two research questions to examine the relationship between inter-unit network structures and KM effectiveness, as well as a set of four hypotheses to investigate the effects of intra-unit task environment on KM effectiveness, through different KM strategies. The results of testing hypotheses are summarized in Table VII.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the potential contribution of inter-unit network structure and intra-unit task environment to the overall knowledge management (KM) effectiveness of an organization through different KM strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The survey method was used to empirically test the hypotheses. The authors administered two survey forms: a member-survey form that obtained responses from members of each work unit and a leader-survey form issued only to the leader of each unit to obtain his/her perception on inter-unit communications.\nFindings: The findings indicate that both a unit's boundary-spanning role and its extensive interaction with other units help promote the unit's overall KM effectiveness. In addition, the authors found that task variety was significantly related to the use of both personalization and codification of KM strategies in the unit, and that a unit's KM strategy played a mediating role between intra-unit task characteristics and KM effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: Few studies have attempted to address what makes some work units within an organization more effective in their use of knowledge than others. This study provides an understanding of the influence of inter-unit social network structure on KM effectiveness, as well as the influence of intra-unit task environment and KM strategies on KM effectiveness. The findings suggest that inter-unit knowledge exchange and a unit's brokering role can be a vital component of a work unit's KM strategy, and that for successful KM in a work unit, an organization should not only establish appropriate inter-unit relationship but also develop the unit's own KM strategies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Capital structure as a control mechanism of a CSR entrenchment strategy
|
[
"Earnings management",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Capital structure",
"Managerial discretion",
"Entrenchment strategy",
"M14"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, customers, employees, suppliers, community groups, governments and some shareholders have devoted greater attention to the strategic implications of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Companies are increasingly more responsive and encouraged to integrate and participate in CSR issues in which a wide range of stakeholders are included (McWilliams et al., 2006).\n2. Capital structure, managerial discretion and corporate social responsibility: hypothesis development: The capital structure decision has occupied academics and raised various theories, which range from the traditional view based on the trade-off theory to the pecking order theory (Myers, 1984), through the propositions of Modigliani and Miller (1958), not forgetting agency theory. Regarding the first, the trade-off theory postulated the existence of an optimal financial structure, in which debt would reduce the average cost of capital and maximise the value of the company. The pecking order theory, for its part, assumes a hierarchy of preferences for the use of funding sources based on information asymmetries, there being no optimal capital structure, and advocating that the capital structure is affected by the management's choice of a source of capital because of the transmission of information to the market. Thus, it was argued that the adverse selection costs associated with asymmetric information are higher for equity than for debt (An et al., 2013). Modigliani and Miller (1958) suggested that a company's choice of financing is unimportant and does not affect the value of the company in the context of perfect capital markets. However, later, the same authors cautioned that each replacement share for debt leads to an increase in value derived from tax savings (Modigliani and Miller, 1963), concluding that there is an optimal capital structure, which is a mixture of debt and equity that maximises a firm's return on capital, thereby maximising its value (Miller, 1977). Finally, theories such as agency theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) suggest that the optimal capital structure is one that minimises the agency costs among all the stakeholders.\n3. Method: In this section, we describe the data set and present the variables that we use to capture separately the capital structure, the CSR commitment and the diverse scenarios of managerial discretion considered. Finally, the methodology and model of analysis with which we test our predictions are described.\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics results\n5. Conclusions: The aim of this research is based on two closely related issues:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the use of level of debt as an external control mechanism against an entrenchment strategy based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a database of 1,916 international companies for the years 2002 to 2010.\nFindings: The evidence obtained confirms in a context of asymmetric information, bounded rationality and divergent interests, the use of debt as a control mechanism of managers' discretionary comportment. In other words, CSR practices can be used by managers as an entrenchment strategy and self-defence with the aim of decreasing the possibility of being identified by those shareholders and stakeholders whose interests have been damaged. In this context, the market demands higher debt levels to solve agency frictions, playing an active role in monitoring the management. Moreover, the demand of higher debt as a control mechanism that minimises the expropriation risk by managers through CSR is lower in contexts of greater investor protection.\nOriginality/value: The findings reveal that CSR engagement can be explained by the hypothesis of being a strategy of entrenchment and self-defence. Overall, this study differs from previous literature in this field by taking an alternative approach to CSR practices, in contrast to the conventional wisdom of the benefits of CSR practices. The authors contribute by empirically testing the theoretical model proposed by Cespa and Cestone (2007) who suggest the discretionary use of CSR from an agency perspective. They also give empirical relief showing the use of CSR as an entrenchment strategy. Moreover, they demonstrate that the capital market of debt decreases in a context with a greater degree of investor protection, likewise under CSR promoted as an entrenchment tool, the demand for debt as a disciplinary mechanism is less necessary to control managers. In addition, the study is enriched by the database analysis.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A framework for designing retrieval effectiveness studies of library information systems using human relevance assessments
|
[
"Evaluation",
"Information retrieval",
"Library systems",
"Digital libraries",
"Information systems",
"Online catalogues",
"Discovery systems",
"Relevance assessments",
"Search results"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: When it comes to information seeking, users expect modern library information systems (LISs) \"to look and function more like search engines\" (Connaway and Dickey, 2010, p. 5). Typical user information behaviour is characterized by a strong preference for the first results in the ranked search results list, short queries of only two to three terms, and users relying on default search settings. This can be observed in both web search (Barry and Lardner, 2011; Jansen and Spink, 2006; Pan et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2009) and library search (Antelman et al., 2006; Asher et al., 2013; Hennies and Dressler, 2006).\nLiterature review: In this section, we review the literature on standard methods of IR evaluation and their application to web search evaluation; on approaches taken to evaluate LISs; and on empirical findings from studies concerning these systems.\nMethods: We developed a framework for designing and conducting retrieval effectiveness studies with LIS-specific data, based on the conventional procedure for retrieval effectiveness tests following the Tague-Sutcliffe (1992) approach. Although this approach is system oriented, adopting it is a first step towards establishing retrieval effectiveness studies in the LIS context. Our framework is partly overlapping with the comparable framework for web search engine retrieval tests by Lewandowski (2012), as we also consider the issues that derive from web search engines. This is due to the fact that LISs nowadays deal with large data sets from multiple, heterogeneous sources (so-called web-scale discovery systems) or have implemented search engine technology, and moreover, the similar user behaviour in search.\nA framework for designing retrieval effectiveness studies of LISs: When evaluating LISs, specific characteristics of library collections should be taken into account. Library materials nowadays not only contain data from heterogeneous sources including surrogates, they also link to full texts available via open access or via subscription content as well. Since discovery systems are based on search engine technology and library materials also involve typical \"web content\" to a large extent, e.g., electronic articles, videos, and audio files, the logical consequence would be to apply standard IR evaluation methods that have already been used in the context of web search engines. IR evaluation methods must nonetheless also take into account traditional library holdings such as printed materials. Metadata (surrogates) and full texts, both print and digital, provide different levels of information as the basis for assessing the relevance of a document to a search query and/or information need. These different types of data generate some comparability issues that need to be considered and decisions that have to be made before the beginning of the evaluation. These decisions involve five issues that are reflected by the five parts of the framework: at first, we need search queries to produce search results that can be assessed by assessors during the testing phase in order to perform the data analysis. Within these parts or steps, there are several issues to be taken into account and questions to be answered, such as \"Who should be assessing what in which way?\" In the next sections, we answer these questions and show examples in the context of library materials, both electronic and printed. Since individual questions arise across all five parts, the subtopics of the framework have not been presented in a strict chronological order. Figure 1 depicts the overall framework.\nConclusion and limitations: With the development of advanced LISs as user-oriented, web-scale search systems, the need to evaluate their retrieval effectiveness has also increased. Prior LIS research often neglected to follow the standard procedures for IR evaluation. These criteria and methods must first be adapted to LISs evaluation, whereas further research on retrieval evaluation methods of LISs needs to adopt user-oriented evaluation features, as pointed out in interactive information retrieval evaluation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to apply traditional information retrieval (IR) evaluation methods based on standards from the Text REtrieval Conference and web search evaluation to all types of modern library information systems (LISs) including online public access catalogues, discovery systems, and digital libraries that provide web search features to gather information from heterogeneous sources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors apply conventional procedures from IR evaluation to the LIS context considering the specific characteristics of modern library materials.\nFindings: The authors introduce a framework consisting of five parts: search queries, search results, assessors, testing, and data analysis. The authors show how to deal with comparability problems resulting from diverse document types, e.g., electronic articles vs printed monographs and what issues need to be considered for retrieval tests in the library context.\nPractical implications: The framework can be used as a guideline for conducting retrieval effectiveness studies in the library context.\nOriginality/value: Although a considerable amount of research has been done on IR evaluation, and standards for conducting retrieval effectiveness studies do exist, to the authors' knowledge this is the first attempt to provide a systematic framework for evaluating the retrieval effectiveness of twenty-first-century LISs. The authors demonstrate which issues must be considered and what decisions must be made by researchers prior to a retrieval test.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Immigration detention and liberal democracies: Is it all about power or money; if money, why, if power, why not?
|
[
"Privatisation",
"Detention",
"International human rights law",
"Liberal democracy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Detention as a matter of law means deprivation of liberty. It means confinement in a pre-arranged place such as prisons, closed camps, receptive centers or other restricted areas with certain restraints that inhibits detainees from the pursuit of their normal activities (Goodwin-Gill, 1986; Jennings and Watts, 1992; Bloch and Schutter, 2005; Grant, 2011). The right to liberty is \"ubiquitous in human rights instruments in protecting all individuals from arbitrary arrest and detention and any such deprivations of liberty require the strongest possible justification\" (Costello, 2012). It is trite to say that States have rights in law to control immigration and ancillary to the power to control immigration is the power to detain. Nonetheless:\n2. Liberal democracy, defined: Liberal democracies have salient features and values, which regulate their character and behavior, and these are briefly explored for the purpose of categorization. A liberal democratic government is limited in its powers and mode of acting, first, by the rule of law and most especially by a fundamental law or constitution and ultimately by the rights of the individual (Plattner, 1998; Zakaria, 1997). Zakaria in his thesis postulated that in the West and for almost a century ago, democracy has been synonymous with liberal democracy, a political system characterized \"not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law [...]\" (Zakaria, 1997). For him, liberal democracy consists of two strands, constitutional liberalism and liberalism itself where the two strands woven in the western political fabric are falling apart given that democracy is flourishing while liberalism is not (Zakaria, 1997, p. 23). Dahl's seminal work on Polyarchy emphasized that democracy was primarily concerned with the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens (Dahl, 1971). The idea is that by making government accountable to the people, it presupposes that the government would guarantee to uphold the law thereby supplying the essential link to liberal democracy (Foweraker and Krznaric, 2000).\n3. The contours of immigration detention: The detention of migrants pending removal and/or deportation is currently a common practice amongst liberal states, which has assumed exponential dimensions. In fact, it has been posited that States have resorted more frequently to detention for longer periods as a response in part to large volume of migrants entering their territories (Wilsher, 2004). As Sawyer and Turpin observe:\n4. Detention and liberal democracies: trends and turns: The detention of migrants in the UK was first undertaken under the 1920 Aliens Act, which gave enormous powers to immigration officers to deport aliens. This was further elaborated under the 1971 Immigration Act (1971 Act) as provided under Schedule 2 and 3 to the 1971 Act[13]. This power, as observed by Johnston, can be exercised in conjunction with any of the three administrative acts notably examination, removal or deportation (Connor, 2009). In the view of Block and Schuster, \"the powers to detain are very wide and not subject to any automatic scrutiny of the lawfulness, appropriateness or length of detention\" (Bloch and Schutter, 2005). The 1971 Act authorized detention in several situations concerning examination, decision to grant leave and administrative removal[14]. In Khan v. SSHD[15] the court confirmed that the prohibition on removal pending the pursuit of an asylum claim does not preclude the exercise of the power of detention[16].\n5. Plowshares and the pruning hooks: the macro-economic benefit of immigration detention: It is advanced that with the character, style and involvement of liberal democracies in immigration detention, it could be argued that there is in existence, a deeper structural and macro-economic factors necessitating immigration detention rather than the purported avowed reason of immigration control (Bacon, 2005). Is it a display of power or is it for monetary gains? There might be no smoking gun, but smoke is in the air (Calavita, 1998). This is even so as the main underlying reason for detention is that immigration officers at ports tend to match potential detainees to the number of available bed spaces which smacks of a market driven reason rather than a principled administrative approach or necessity (Weber, 2002/2003; Weber and Gelsthorpe, 2000). Hayter (2004) adds that the best advice for any asylum seeker would be to remain at the back of the queue at immigration counters as officials simply fill up available spaces in prisons and detention centers and give the more fortunate late comers, temporary admission. This emanates from the concerns that the growth of immigration detention may not be based solely on restrictive asylum and immigration policies but can be attributed to the involvement of private companies whose concern is to win and maintain contracts and to keep their facilities full (James et al., 1997; Coyle et al., 2003). In the UK, the Labor Party at a time vehemently opposed the Conservatives' policy on private prisons and stated that it is morally unacceptable for the private sector to undertake the incarceration of persons emphasizing that this is an area where a free market should not exist. However, within a week of being elected in 1997, the Labor Party made a dramatic U-turn. Jack Straw on May 8, 1997 announced he would sign contracts to get new prison accommodation run by private companies and in a speech to the Prison Officers Association the following year Straw stated that all new prisons would be privately built and run[38].\nConclusion: This paper has shown that there are deeper structural and macro-economic factors necessitating immigration detention rather than the purported avowed reason of immigration control. This relieves the argument that immigration officers at ports tend to match potential detainees to the number of available bed spaces, which smacks of a market driven reason rather than a principled administrative approach or necessity. This finding is consistent with the involvement of private companies whose concern is to win and maintain contracts and keep their facilities full. In essence, allowing the private sector to run immigration detention means an ever-increasing number of people coming into the system, which makes the companies, seek to maintain and expand their markets. It is rather curious that liberal democracies with respect to immigration detention are less concerned with protecting the rights of migrants than using them as \"pawns on a chessboard\" for macro-economic benefits - the more people in detention, the merrier. The more a State delights in detention of migrants, the more it builds detention centers, as studies have led to an emerging consensus that factors of demand and supply are inextricably intertwined and therefore play a key role in the detention of migrants. Here lies the fundamental contradiction or paradox at the heart, veins and arteries of a liberal democracy, which enunciates universality and the same time, indulge in the practice of closure.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Liberal democratic states have involved the use of private companies for purposes of detention and the debate is whether such involvement is only for immigration control or whether they are primarily for macro-economic benefits. This paper aims to present the argument that a State wishing to detain migrants must do so within the purview of immigration control and in conformity to international human rights standards rather than other latent reasons such as macro-economic benefits. The exponential growths of immigration detention over the years, this paper argues, smack of latent reasons with unarguably macro-economic benefits accruing to these States.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is doctrinal research focusing on immigration detention and privatization. Doctrinal research is library-based and reliance will be placed on primary and secondary materials such as legislations, case laws, soft laws on the one hand and textbooks, journals, articles, legal encyclopedia, databases and many valuable websites on the other hand.\nFindings: Findings have been made of similarities in State practice between the UK, the USA and Australia and conclude that the trend is worrying given that privatization of the detention estate lends credence to the fact that growing international prison industry influences prison and detention policies.\nResearch limitations/implications: These have portent implications for the violations of the rights of detainees and weaken the protection of rights under international human rights law.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in its ability to unravel the legitimacy of immigration detention in the face of privatization and macro-economic benefits accruing to States, thereby querying the availability of the rights of migrants within the remit of State practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Merger repair: when M&As go wrong
|
[
"Acquisitions and mergers",
"Integration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: I am currently coming into a M&A situation which was managed very poorly and am having to clean up messes two-years following an acquisition (respondent to the 2006 \"Current state of M&A integration\" survey).\nClear symptoms: How does a company know if it is in need of \"merger repair?\" The signs can sometimes be subtle, but more often than not in our experience, there are clear indications of issues caused by a poorly conducted integration effort. Missed timelines and integration activities that continually languish in some state of incompletion are direct evidence of problems. But more importantly, most businesses will exhibit alarming operational, financial and organizational symptoms that are a dead give-away. The list below identifies ten of the most common symptoms of a company needing merger repair:1. Service levels are suffering. Front line employees are still using the merger as an excuse for not having answers for customers.2. Customers are confused and defecting. They do not know which company they are buying from or how to get their questions answered.3. Performance targets have not been achieved. Key cost, revenue, product, and/or productivity targets built into the deal pro forma are missed.4. Stock price is languishing. Analysts blame the merger or acquisition for poor company performance.5. Integration project milestones have slipped. Key integration activities are behind schedule.6. The organization cannot handle additional acquisitions. Another transaction is identified, but management and employees are visibly and vocally confused and stretched thin dealing with the issues created by the previous acquisition.7. Roles and responsibilities overlap. Management and employees are confused about who should be performing which tasks.8. Key executives and employees are leaving. From both the acquired and acquiring company.9. Company core values are not being demonstrated. By management and employees from the acquired company.10. Management and employees keep referring to \"us and them\". When talking about people from the \"other\" organization.\nMerger integration results assessment: When an organization experiences any of the ten symptoms described above, chances are the firm probably does need at least some level of \"merger repair.\" In order to be sure whether or not repair is needed, a prompt merger integration results assessment should be conducted. Using the template in Figure 3, data should be quickly collected about the current state of the organization as it relates to the effectiveness of an integration effort or multiple integration efforts, as the case may be. Data sources to complete the assessment can include:*observations;*employee and management interviews;*customer surveys and/or interviews;*workforce turnover statistics;*employee and management exit interviews;*projected versus achieved deal performance targets;*organizational charts;*analyst comments; and*stock price trends.\nTwo tracks of merger repair: Based on the outcome of the integration results assessment, there are two key tracks of merger repair that management must focus on. The first response to a need for \"merger repair\" is \"emergency surgery\" to address the business issues (i.e. low customer service levels, lower-than-desired productivity, lack of cost control, and/or needed revenue improvement) created by an M&A integration effort that has gotten off track. What is needed in this case is to repair the business, and action must be taken quickly. This is no time for a lengthy study involving layers of people, multiple approvals, and lengthy project plans. This business needs repair and management must act fast. \"Rapid action\" teams, simplified executive decision-making, and 100-day projects are the key components of \"merger repair.\" The essence is to identify the critical business issues, assign a key executive to take ownership of fast solutions, task a small number of essential resources, and focus on results and results alone over an aggressive timetable. Successive iterations of business improvement follow this \"merger repair\" action to achieve longer-term and sustainable solutions.The second track of merger repair can be compared to a merger integration \"wellness program\" that relies on diet, exercise, and a variety of healthy habits to build the organization's integration muscles and future capabilities to accomplish merger integration better and better with each successive deal. Both components of \"merger repair\" are described in more detail below.Track one - merger repair rapid action projects\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The company closed the deal over two-years ago, but the organization is still not operating as one company: results are lagging, customers are defecting, and shareholders are restless. Management thought that they checked off all of the right deal actions, including: a thorough due diligence (operations, finances, systems, and people); assigning appropriate integration resources early and keeping them available throughout the integration process; developing and executing detailed integration plans; and measuring, tracking, and reporting implementation progress against the integration plans. But, somewhere, somehow, something went wrong - and it has to be fixed, or else. The transaction itself was completed too long ago for any action now to be truly considered \"post-deal integration.\" The situation the company now faces is \"merger repair.\" Unfortunately, they are not alone. Numerous, well-intentioned deals have gone sour either due to gross negligence or because of a series of small - but in aggregate very powerful - mistakes and/or delays. This article provides a method to identify whether or not a company is in need of \"merger repair,\" and an approach (including supporting tools and templates) to perform the needed \"repairs.\"\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In working with numerous clients on merger integration efforts we have identified that, not only do many companies struggle with their immediate M&A integration efforts, but they also suffer chronic performance issues caused by past integration efforts that have been allowed to linger and/or have been managed poorly.\nFindings: - Conducting M&A integration efforts poorly creates lasting business performance issues (e.g. poor customer service, lower than desired productivity, lack of cost control, and/or unrealized revenue improvement) long after a deal is closed. Almost half (49 percent) of the respondents to The University of Dallas Graduate School Of Management's, 2006 Mergers and Acquisitions Survey - The Current State of M&A Integration (including 124 executives and managers from 21 different industries), indicated that their company is in need of \"merger repair.\" There are two key tracks of \"merger repair\" companies can pursue to first get the business back on track, and then to improve the organization's future M&A integration competency.\nOriginality/value: - This article advances the current theory and practice of post-merger integration that, up to this point, has focused exclusively on integration activities conducted immediately (i.e. within the first 6 to 12-months) of deal close. This article also addresses how to identify and address integration issues that still exist two or more years after a deal is closed, by providing pragmatic tools and templates that practitioners can immediately apply to both identify and resolve situations of \"merger repair.\" Lastly, the approach described has broad application to companies across multiple industries and geographies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Quality assurance staffing impacts in military aircraft maintenance units
|
[
"Quality assurance",
"Maintenance",
"Personnel administration",
"Performance measures",
"Aircraft industry",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Practical implications: An aircraft maintenance quality assurance unit requires personnel that collectively possess expertise across a wide variety of functional disciplines. Military aircraft maintenance managers must provide these experts from within their own organization, but budget pressures and high operations tempos have left many maintenance units understaffed - forcing managers to either leave quality assurance slots vacant or to assign people with mismatched skills. Our research introduces a new metric, quality assurance staffing effectiveness, together with a method for measuring its value. This metric provides management with the tools necessary to make informed decisions when assigning quality assurance personnel with high-demand, low-density expertise.\n2. Introduction: A typical Air Force combat aircraft wing requires thousands of maintenance technicians to safely launch, recover, and service aircraft between flights. Wing leaders rely on a cadre of about 25 experts - the quality assurance unit - to provide daily maintenance oversight, on-the-spot correction, training, an investigative capacity, and a mechanism for formal feedback.The key to an aircraft maintenance quality assurance unit's effectiveness are the skills and experience-based qualifications of personnel assigned to the limited positions. Accordingly, the Air Force performs extensive manpower studies to determine the authorized quality assurance unit composition that can best perform its exercise, peacetime, and war duties. The resultant list of authorized positions and associated required expertise for a particular quality assurance unit is called its Unit Manning Document (UMD).Such efforts are important because the Air Force relies heavily on inspection-based quality assurance. Poorly executed quality assurance can have disastrous consequences-for example, an F-15 aircraft crashed with loss of plane and pilot after a mechanic incorrectly installed flight control rods, and another mechanic failed to catch the miscue (Grier, 1998). In 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 caught fire in-flight and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 110 people. The crash was attributed to contract maintenance personnel improperly rendering safe and shipping oxygen cylinders in the cargo hold of the aircraft. A key finding was that ValuJet failed to adequately oversee the maintenance subcontractor, and this failure was the cause of the accident (Langewiesche, 1998). Catching such issues and ensuring that critical inspections are performed correctly are fundamental to the quality assurance function.There exists a considerable literature on quality assurance staff selection and on task-skill mismatching. McCormick et al. (1992) discuss the merits of contracting consultants for skilled management oversight positions, versus using in-house staffing. Srivastava (2005) shows how a systemic, up-front quality assurance planning and execution approach enabled two major nuclear power plants to rapidly achieve goals with 1/3 fewer quality assurance manpower positions. Vessely (1984) presents guidelines for quality assurance manpower requirements throughout a nuclear power plant's production and operations life cycle. Van den Beukel and Molleman (2002) argue that depending on managerial policies and team social dynamics, employee multifunctionality can lead to both underutilization of skills and task overload. Zeng and Zhao (2005) introduce an optimization-based approach for analyzing role-resolution policies used in current workflow management practice and propose new policies. However, they assume that all staffing decisions have already been made. MacDonald et al. (1996) report the results of an internal quality assurance pilot program at 16 Indonesian hospitals, with the goal of motivating hospital staff to assume greater responsibility for their quality of service. They provide several recommendations for success, including comprehensive (versus product-focused) programs, use of dedicated coaches, and visible leadership from top executives.A key assumption throughout the literature is that necessary personnel can be readily acquired. Military aircraft maintenance organizations are characterized by the need to build specialized technical and military skills that require years to develop, in an environment with a high rate of personnel turnover (approximately five years per maintenance technician). However, the military cannot generally hire this skilled labor, but must develop it internally (Dahlman et al., 2002). Furthermore, managers must provide the experts to fill the quality assurance jobs from within their own organization--an expert assigned to the quality assurance unit is then unavailable to perform maintenance duty. A complication is that the organization may already be undermanned or lack technicians with particular skills or qualifications (known as specialty codes). Therefore, managers must understand the potential mission impact of either leaving authorized quality assurance manpower positions unfilled or of assigning personnel with mismatched specialty codes against these positions.\n3. Methodology: Our research was completed in four distinct phases. In phase one, key maintenance metrics were identified and a staffing effectiveness matrix was constructed. Phase two consisted of acquiring historical staffing data for 16 Air Force bases and applying the staffing effectiveness matrix to this data. In phase three, data on the subject aircraft flying units' key performance metrics were compiled and analyzed to determine any relationship with the computed quality assurance staffing effectiveness. Phase four introduces potential mitigating strategies for use by aircraft maintenance managers.3.1 Phase one: identifying the metrics and building the effectiveness matrix\n4. Discussion: The magnitude and direction of the nine metric coefficients identified in Table V generally agree with our intuition. Of note is the finding that Cannibalization rates show a moderately strong negative relationship to unit quality assurance effectiveness (cannibalization is the act of removing a serviceable part from one aircraft to replace an unserviceable part on another). Cannibalization can be an effective supply strategy, but it does create extra maintenance effort and thus should not be used to mask supply system deficiencies. The regression result was supported by the correlation analysis for individual units, which was most evident for one-to three-month lags (i.e. effective quality assurance actions this month appear to mitigate cannibalization actions in the next few months). On the other hand, Key Task List Pass rates, Maintenance Schedule Effectiveness rates, and Quality Verification Inspection (QVI) Pass rates all showed weak negative relationships to unit quality assurance effectiveness. These findings were consistent with the mixed positive and negative individual unit correlation analyses. This result could possibly be attributed to individual quality assurance unit management strategies, as suggested by one Delphi panelist (Moore, 2005) - i.e. more effective quality assurance units are \"tougher\" when performing these critical inspections, and thus these rates would be expected at least initially to be lower. The counter argument is that more effective quality assurance units will influence maintenance personnel to be more thorough in task accomplishment before calling the inspectors, which should be reflected in a positive relationship between these metrics and quality assurance staffing effectiveness. More research is needed.Podsakoff and Organ (1986) mention potential problems with self-report based research. For example, potential biases are inherent in perception-based surveys because respondents can stage their responses in an overt or unintentional attempt to affect the results. To mitigate this, we provided only basic instructional guidance on our surveys. A second issue was the lengthy amount of time required to complete our staffing effectiveness Delphi surveys. According to Podsakoff and Organ (1986), respondents taking long surveys can experience \"transient mood states\" where a consistent bias may be introduced across measures. To control for this, we provided a \"Save & Return Later\" function in our Delphi surveys.A final survey issue is the potential bias attributable to trait, source and methods. For example, a Delphi panelist may have had consistently higher or lower expectations on how effective somebody possessing their same specialty code may perform other jobs (e.g. an electrician respondent may feel that an average electrician would be more apt than people with other skills to expertly handle any type job they are assigned, and thus may inflate their quality assurance effectiveness ratings for electricians. We controlled for this potential bias by stressing that the panelists base their inputs on \"average\" personnel performance, and by ensuring that our Delphi panel was diverse: our panel members possessed different military ranks, different job specialty codes, had different maintenance backgrounds, and represented different organizations.From our research, we propose several recommendations. First, managers should use the staffing effectiveness metric to understand the relationship between quality assurance skill-task mismatching and organization performance. Air Force combat aircraft maintenance units can use our derived matrix; other organizations should first determine their own effectiveness matrix and associated unit performance measures. Second, military aircraft maintenance quality assurance unit managers should perform analyses to determine the strength and direction of any relationships between their unit's measured quality assurance staffing effectiveness and their unit's performance on the nine identified metrics. This will help them assess quality assurance staffing effectiveness as a potential contributing factor for deficient areas indicated by their metrics, and enable them to make the appropriate personnel decisions. Finally, we believe this general method has applicability to any organization that seeks to understand how their personnel resources correlate to their key performance indicators.Our future research efforts will concentrate on replicating this method and performing benefit-cost ratio analyses with other military or civilian service organizations with high-demand, low-density personnel resources. This will help validate our method's robustness and range of application. Secondly, the metric relationships that were indicated in this study will be investigated through a structural equations modeling technique to uncover potential additional linkages. We were unable to obtain sufficient data in our initial research to pursue this approach.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper summarizes our research into the impact that current Air Force quality assurance staffing practices have on key unit performance metrics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Interviews and Delphi surveys culminated in the development of a quality assurance staffing effectiveness matrix. The matrix was used to calculate historical quality assurance staffing effectiveness at 16 Air Force combat aircraft units. Effectiveness scores were then regressed with unit historical data for 25 metrics.\nFindings: - Nine metrics were deemed statistically significant, including break rates, cannibalization rates, flying schedule effectiveness rates, key task list pass rates, maintenance scheduling effectiveness rates, quality verification inspection pass rates, repeat rates, dropped objects counts and safety/technical violations counts. An example benefit-cost analysis for changes in quality assurance staffing effectiveness presents compelling evidence for maintenance managers to carefully weigh decisions to leave quality assurance personnel slots empty, or to assign personnel possessing other than authorized credentials.\nOriginality/value: - Maintenance managers can use this method to help determine personnel assignment strategies for improving quality assurance unit performance with respect to similar metrics, and other managers could adopt this general approach to more effectively link personnel resources to their organization's key performance indicators.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Is there information content in corporate asset writedowns?
|
[
"Asset valuation",
"Stocks",
"Bonds",
"Financial performance",
"Financial information"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate asset writedowns are viewed as official acknowledgment of a firm's impaired assets. Whether these writedown announcements have information content for the securityholders has been the focus of several studies. Past studies document that asset writedowns have negative information content for stockholders[1]. Some studies have also shown that the relative size of the writedown, which is considered to be indicative of the degree of impairment of the firm's assets, plays a key role in explaining the stock price response to asset writedown announcements (see Elliott and Shaw (1988), Francis et al. (1996), and Elliott and Hanna (1996)). The impairment of the firm's assets should also be important to bondholders whose collateral has been reduced as a result of the writedown. However, Strong and Meyer (1987) examining bond excess returns of 32 debentures at asset writedown announcements find that the two-day announcement bond excess return of -0.07 percent is not significantly different from zero. This evidence suggests that the reduction in bondholder collateral is not important to bondholders and is therefore, inconsistent with the result of a negative stock price response to write-off announcements. Extant studies present conflicting, and somewhat puzzling, evidence on the relevance of asset writedowns to stockholder and bondholder wealth.Our study extends the current literature on corporate asset writedowns in two directions. First, there is an absence of a convincing explanation in the current literature for the significant negative stock price response to write-off announcements. While some financial economists argue that asset writedowns are indicative of resolution of the firm's travails, others state that an asset writedown, being discretionary in nature, is a financially anticipated, non-informative, event. If the latter view is correct, then the negative stock price response at the announcement is indicative of semi-strong inefficiency. This study attempts to provide an explanation for this apparently anomalous result.We believe that prior studies ignore some important signaling implications of corporate asset write-offs by failing to distinguish between financially distressed firms and healthy firms. Arguably, the market can gauge the prospects of healthy firms much better than their financially distressed counterparts. Moreover, to the extent that asset writedowns made by financially distressed firms convey valuable new information to market participants, the accompanying unexpected increase in leverage and the concomitant decrease in debt capacity have ramifications for the firm's ability to raise financing, its competitive position, and its ultimate survival. We, therefore, hypothesize that the information content of an asset writedown announcement is more likely to have a significant effect on the securities (stocks and bonds) of financially distressed firms.The second contribution of this study is to provide evidence on the information content of asset writedowns for bondholders. Asset writedowns can be interpreted to be an official acknowledgment by the firms' insiders about the impaired value of corporate assets. Therefore, they also represent impaired bondholder collateral that critically affects the bondholders. However, very little research exists in the literature on the information content of asset writedowns to bondholders.This paper extends Strong and Meyer's study in that we use a larger bond sample that includes both subordinated and nonsubordinated issues, as well as a longer bond excess return period (event period). We also use the more refined and widely accepted daily bond event study methodology used by Handjinicolaou and Kalay (1984), which adjusts for the common problem of infrequent bond trading and any shifts in the term structure of interest rates[2].Consistent with our logic, we find that while asset writedowns are a non-event for healthy firms, writedown announcements have significant information content only for the securityholders of financially distressed firms. Our analysis reveals that both stockholders and bondholders of financially distressed firms experience significant losses at the writedown announcement, while neither stockholders nor bondholders of healthy firms are affected. This implies that the market has already anticipated the asset writedown event for financially healthy firms. The bond and stock event-study results also suggest that market participants find it more difficult to reliably ascertain the true prospects of financially distressed firms from publicly available information, and therefore, the information content of downward revaluation of corporate asset base is an important signal for the securityholders of such firms. In addition, the significant negative response of bonds for distressed firms is most likely impacted by the higher risk the bondholders will bear given the higher leverage arising from the writedown of assets.Cross-sectional analysis indicates that bond characteristics (such as, the term to maturity, the bond's priority status, and its rating) play an important role in explaining the effect of the writedown on bondholder wealth. We show that non-subordinated bondholders are unaffected by the announcement while subordinated debtholders suffer a significant adverse wealth effect at asset writedown announcements due to reduction in the firm's asset base (collateral).Long-run analysis indicates that a writedown's impact on firm performance is a function of the firm's financial health and that the improvements in performance are quicker for healthy firms than for financially distressed firms. We also find that financially distressed firms experience a permanent increase in leverage as a result of the writedown implying that such announcements effectively result in a one-time significant shift in the riskiness of the bondholders.The paper is organized as follows: in the next section we develop empirical predictions of corporate asset writedowns on securityholder wealth. Section 3 describes our sample formation process and data characteristics. Section 4 presents the research methodology. The empirical findings are presented in Section 5. Conclusions follow.\n2. Corporate asset writedowns and securityholder returns: 2.1 Different viewpoints on asset writedowns\n3. Sample formation and data description: 3.1 The sample\n4. Research methods: We use Handjinicolaou and Kalay's (1984) mean adjusted returns methodology adapted for bonds to estimate bond excess returns. The corporate bonds are matched with treasury bonds according to maturity and coupon rate to adjust for shifts in the term structure of interest rates. The adjusted bond return (ABRi,d) is calculated as follows: Equation 1 where BRi,d is the holding period bond return for bond i for day d and TBRi,d is the return over the same period for an equivalent treasury bond. The holding period return (BRi,d) for corporate bond i for day d is calculated as follows: Equation 2 where Fi,d is the price for corporate bond i for day d[8].A 17-day interval before the event is used to estimate the comparison and announcement period returns. The day the initial announcement of asset writedown appeared in the DJNRS is identified as day 0 in event time. The comparison period is from day t-18 to day t-2. The mean comparison period return (Ri,cp) for bond i as derived by Handjinicolaou and Kalay (1984) is as follows: Equation 3 where (dk - dk-1) is the number of trading days that elapsed between two successive trades. Since bond returns are a series of single and multiple day returns they are adjusted to yield equivalent single day returns and standardized as in the following equation: Equation 4 where BERi,d is the daily standardized excess return for bond i and Si is the estimated standard deviation of the comparison period returns for bond i computed as follows: Equation 5 where k is the number of trading days for bond i during the event period.The standardized mean excess return (SMBERd) for the portfolio of bonds for day d is then estimated over the entire 39 day period and is given by: Equation 6 where N is the number of bonds trading on day d. Assuming that individual standardized excess bond returns are cross-sectionally independent and normally distributed, the appropriate test statistic for any event day d can be computed as follows: Equation 7 which is approximately distributed unit normal.To determine the stock price reaction to asset writedowns, we use the mean excess returns generated by the market model. The estimation period for the market model parameters is from day -250 to day -61.\n5. Empirical evidence: 5.1 Corporate asset writedowns and stockholder wealth\n6. Conclusions: Current literature has thus far failed to resolve the anomalous results on information content of corporate asset writedown announcements on stockholders and bondholders. This is the first study to address this issue by examining the information content of asset writedown announcements for both stockholders and bondholders. Past studies document a significant negative stock price response to asset writedown announcements, while there is no bond price response to such official acknowledgment of asset impairment. Our analysis corroborates the significant negative stock price response reported in previous studies for asset writedowns.To gain further insights into the anomalous results, we examine both stock and bond price responses to asset writedown announcements by partitioning the sample according to the firms' financial viability. This analysis is based on the logic that it is more difficult to assess the prospects of firms in financial difficulty from publicly available information. Our study reveals that asset writedowns have no information content for stockholders of healthy firms. However, such announcements have a significant adverse effect for stockholders of firms in financial distress. Our results, therefore, suggest that the significant negative stock price response is solely due to writedowns made by financially distressed firms. This provides an explanation for the anomalous results reported in previous studies.We also document that bondholders of financially distressed firms experience significant losses at the writedown announcement, while bondholders of healthy firms are unaffected. In general, our results based on both stock and bond price analyses reveal that the market interprets an asset writedown announcement by a financially distressed firm as a strong negative signal about the firm's prospects.Cross-sectional analysis indicates that the firm's financial health, the subordination status of the bond, the bond's maturity, the bond rating, the amount of the write-off undertaken by a firm in distress, and the leverage change experienced by the firm are all important determinants to bond price response. Long-run analysis reveals significant differences between healthy and financially distressed firms undertaking asset writedowns. We find that financially distressed firms are unprofitable for four consecutive years (years -1 through year +3), whereas healthy firms experience decline in profitability only in the year of the asset writedown. Further, the decline in the performance of healthy firms is much smaller than that observed for distressed firms. Healthy firms' improvement in performance occurs much quicker, suggesting that any restructuring measures undertaken by financially distressed firms are not sufficient for a quick recovery. Financially distressed firms experience significantly larger declines in both asset and sales growth which indicate that their problems are more acute than their healthy counterparts. Finally, we document that financially distressed firms experience large increases in leverage across the year of the writedown. Moreover, these firms do not reduce their reliance on debt financing in the two years following asset writedowns suggesting that the bondholders of financially distressed firms face a one-time significant increase in risk as a result of the leverage increase.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to extend the current literature on corporate asset writedowns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper explains the anomalous price responses to asset writedowns by examining both stock and bond price responses. It applies bond and stock event study methodologies using daily prices. Firms are analyzed by partitioning them according to their financial viability. This analysis is based on the logic that it is more difficult to assess the prospects of firms in financial difficulty from publicly available information.\nFindings: - The study reveals that while asset writedowns have no information content for stockholders of healthy firms, stockholders of financial distressed firms suffer a significant adverse effect. This differential stock price reaction provides an explanation for the anomalous results reported in previous studies. Similar price responses are found for bondholders. The results indicate that the market interprets an asset writedown announcement by a financially distressed firm as a strong negative signal about the firm's prospects. It is also found that the firm's financial health, the subordination status of the bond, the bond's maturity, the bond rating, the amount of the write-off undertaken by a firm in distress, and the leverage change experienced by the firm are all important determinants to bond price response. Long-run analysis reveals significant differences in performance and leverage change between healthy and financially distressed firms undertaking asset writedowns.\nPractical implications: - The paper resolves the anomalous results on information content of corporate asset writedown announcements on stockholders and bondholders. Broadly, the findings have important implications for both finance and accounting literatures in terms of semi-strong market efficiency and security market signaling issues and the importance of considering financial viability of firms when testing market efficiency in the presence of publicly available information.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to address this issue by examining the information content of asset writedown announcements for both stockholders and bondholders. Past studies document a significant negative stock price response to asset writedown announcements, while there is no bond price response to such official acknowledgment of asset impairment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Relationship marketing strategy: Policy formulation and curricula development to enhance quality of care in the health sector of Ghana
|
[
"Quality healthcare",
"Policy making",
"Curricula",
"Customer service/care",
"Relationship marketing orientation/strategies",
"Training institutions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is the need to develop a suitable and more humane approach to healthcare service delivery to enhance quality care and patient satisfaction (Alrubaiee and Alkaa'ida, 2011). Some analysts anticipate that paying attention to the perspectives of clients, improving the competencies and skills of providers, working environment and motivating staff among others could help improve quality of care (Bannerman et al., 2002; Turkson, 2009). The lack of these attributes is why there is perceived poor delivery of healthcare services in hospitals and clinics in Ghana. Even under the current National Health Insurance Scheme dispensation, healthcare providers are perceived to be rude, uncaring, disrespectful and unfriendly (Turkson, 2009). These, coupled with other factors, have created the assumption that healthcare providers are not customer friendly, giving rise to self-medication and other unethical means of healthcare service consumption (Gyasi et al., 2011).\nLiterature review: RM orientation can enhance patients' satisfaction with the reception they receive from health personnel (Palmatier, 2008). RM strategy provides the basis for a business entity to realise that any attempt to underestimate the supremacy of the customer (patient) will lead to other competitors having competitive advantage (Palmatier, 2008). In the healthcare environment, patients consider the time spent with the doctor/health personnel as very crucial due to consumerism (Fang et al., 2008). RM strategy to healthcare service delivery will ensure the appreciation of the exchange relationships that must exist between healthcare providers and clients/patients of healthcare services (Enyeart and Weaver, 2005).\nMethods: Data were gathered using qualitative and documentary reviews between June and September 2015.\nAnalysis of findings: The analyses of the findings based on the themes that emerged from the interview data in respect to the objectives of the study are presented in the next subsections.\nDiscussion: The study argues that there is a difference between customer service/care and RM. Customer care/service is a temporary interaction with patients; the current \"work in progress\" concept being promoted in the public health sector. RM is a long-term/sustained relationship. The difference can be seen in the ability of RM to attract, establish, maintain and enhance a long-term relationship between healthcare providers and patients in the health sector (Berry, 1983). Using this premise, the key findings of the study are discussed in relation to the concepts of collaboration and commitment; and relationship and trust.\nConclusion: This study explored how strategies were put in place to formulate policies regarding the introduction and implementation of RM as a policy in the health sector; and how RM strategies were designed as part of the curricula for the training of prospective health professionals. Generally, the findings showed that there was no policy framework on RM in the health sector nor was it included in the curricula of health training institutions. Although a large body of research theoretically asserts a positive association between RM orientation and business performance, a valid measure of RM orientation has not yet been proposed and systematic analysis of its effect on business performance has thus far not been possible as indicated (Sin et al., 2002). Nonetheless, attempts were being made to introduce \"customer service\" in the health sector. This could be used as a basis to develop the policy and curricula frameworks for RM towards improving quality of care, patient satisfaction and performance in the health sector.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how strategies are put in place to formulate policies regarding the introduction and implementation of relationship marketing (RM) in the health sector, and how RM strategies are designed as part of the curricula for the training of prospective health professionals in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered using interviews and documentary review. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit policy makers and health educationists in Accra for in-depth interviews. Qualitative interviews were analysed using framework analysis.\nFindings: The findings revealed that, currently, there is no policy framework on RM in the health sector nor included in the curricula of health training institutions in the country.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to limited time and funding constraints, the study could not include many policy makers, educationists, health providers, facilities and regions outside the Greater Accra region of Ghana. This means that the authors missed out on useful insights from other relevant policy makers/educationists who would have added to the knowledge that this study contributes. There were still some areas that this study could not cover, including the lack of an exploration of the perceptions of health providers and patients.\nPractical implications: Evidence from the current research provides the basis for scaling up of a similar study to the whole country to address the perennial RM or quality of care/patient satisfaction issues persisting in health facilities in the country. The outcome of this large-scale study would help to confirm the findings of the current study on the adoption and incorporation of RM into both policy framework and curricula of health training institutions in Ghana. The findings would culminate in the preparation and utilisation of guidelines on RM for client-centred service delivery in the health sector of the country.\nSocial implications: This paper argues that RM orientation could enable health professionals to improve upon their healthcare service performance and quality of care so as to enhance patient satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: The study recommends that RM should be adopted by health policy makers and designers of curricula for health training institutions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
What drives the disintegration of the loan origination value chain in the banking business
|
[
"Lending",
"Value chain",
"Information sharing",
"Vertical scope",
"Banking",
"Credit information"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past, most banks adopted an integrated value chain model, in which a single bank conducted all the phases of lending production and distribution. A single bank originated the loan, subscribed it on its own, managed it and held it to maturity. The individual stages of the lending value chain were integrated into a single banking firm: gathering and processing information on borrowers, provision of financing, carrying out the monitoring of credit exposures, collection and management of cash flows, review of credit lines and litigation management.\n2. Literature review and theoretical approach: Several theoretical and empirical studies have analyzed the integration and disintegration processes in different industries. The vertical integration and disintegration is a complex issue that has significant implications not only on the shaping of the boundaries of firm business models, but also on the industry competitive dynamics.\n3. The credit information market and business models in lending: Loan origination is the credit asset creation that starts with a loan application and ends with a loan approval (Figure 1). The different activities in the loan origination are: application, processing, credit assessment and approval.\n4. Information sharing mechanism in the credit information market: In this section of the paper I shall analyze the information sharing mechanism in the credit information market that helps better understand the dynamics of the loan origination value chain.\n5. The vertical disintegration of the loan origination value chain: a firm- and industry-level analysis: The appearance of the credit information market in the lending business poses the basis for the disintegration of the loan origination value chain. In this section of the paper I shall examine the drivers underlying the creation of markets in the loan origination stage.\n6. Summary and implications: In the transaction cost perspective the main driver of vertical disintegration is asset specificity. With specific assets vertical integration leads to higher performance (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1985). In addition, contractual and environmental uncertainty, lack of standards, opportunistic behavior, increase transaction costs and the incentive for make decisions.\n7. Conclusion: In the past, most banks adopted an integrated loan origination value chain. Nowadays, financial innovation and new technologies are increasingly putting the basic assumptions of integrated banking business models under pressure. Technological, organizational, institutional and financial innovations offer opportunities to transform banking structures and processes as part of a dynamic competitive environment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the vertical disintegration of the bank loan origination value chain. This paper conducts a study on the credit information market from the perspective of the bank's decision to vertically disintegrate the loan origination value chain. The main aim is to identify the relevant drivers of the decision to vertically disintegrate the credit assessment phase in the lending business.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Transaction cost economics and information asymmetry are the typical perspectives of analysis of the vertical scope of business value chains.\nFindings: This paper argues that in order to capture the drivers underlying the dynamic evolution of the vertical scope of bank loan origination business models, the above perspectives must be combined and integrated further with a resource-based view and the modularity perspective. Combining managerial and financial perspectives, this paper offers an examination of the drivers of vertical disintegration in the lending value chain and, specifically, in the credit assessment phase.\nOriginality/value: Although the existence of substantial research on value chain vertical integration/disintegration in the literature, none has directly focussed on the credit assessment value chain. It leaves a gap that the paper aims to overcome. The value chain disintegration has deep managerial and financial implications at firm and industry levels, and the comprehension of the rational underlying it is critical to maintaining competitive business model configurations in the bank lending industry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Intra-organizational communication, understanding, and process diffusion in logistics service providers
|
[
"Logistics service providers",
"Organizational implants",
"Process diffusion",
"Intra-organizational",
"LSP performance",
"Cognitive congruence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ideas for process improvement and innovation within supply chains are often born from collaboration between firms (Cabanelas et al., 2013; Mackelprang et al., 2018; Piercy, 2009). This is especially true in supply chains where partners work together to design customized solutions (Oke et al., 2013). In the case where a logistics service provider (LSP) and customer are working together, characteristics other than information sharing may be necessary for value creation (Mackelprang et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2016). Whatever the initiatives to value creation may be, both parties should benefit from new knowledge or process development or enhancement.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Knowledge, whether new or existing, has long been recognized as a key resource within a firm because of its potential to create a competitive advantage (Grant, 1996). This is because heterogeneous knowledge bases and capabilities among firms can be the main determinants of differences in competitive performance (DeCarolis and Deeds, 1999). Therefore, effective knowledge management represents a valuable strategic asset for firms. Kogut and Zander (1992) dissected organizational knowledge into two parts: information and know-how. Information is typically classified as easily codifiable and transferable if mechanisms exist which allow its flow. Know-how is the accumulated practical skill or expertise that allows something or someone to perform a task smoothly and efficiently (von Hippel, 1988). Know-how is often considered harder to transfer because of the accumulation and experience needed to generate it. Kogut and Zander (1992) succinctly defined information as knowing what something means and know-how as the ability to know how to do something.\nMethodology: Measurement development and sample\nResults: The results of the hypothesis testing are shown in Table IV. After testing the model, the research team contacted four respondents to the survey for follow-up interviews. Three of the interviewees were implanted at customer warehouse locations, while one interviewee was located at her customer's home office. The purpose of the interviews was to learn more about why the proposed relationships are present.\nImplications: Managerial implications\nConclusion: The findings from our study paint a promising picture for service providers looking to develop improved, modified services to market to their customers. Even though existing, tightly collaborative relationships may have specific directives for the focal relationship, there is no reason why \"wins\" from customized relationships should not be diffused throughout a firm's customer network. The current study reports that task interdependence, intra-organizational face-time and cognitive congruence all work together to improve process diffusion; enabling firms to become more efficient and robust.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate, using survey data, how a firm may be able to leverage innovation or processes specifically developed for one customer across its entire customer network using on-site, or implanted, employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data collected from a survey of 309 implanted logistics service provider (LSP) representatives are analyzed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The findings show that intra-organizational task interdependence and face-to-face communication can lead to a greater understanding of firm processes developed for specific customers and greater diffusion of these new processes to other customers. Rather than separating customers that require implanted employees, these implants can be a conduit of valuable information and process enhancements that can positively impact a firm's customer network.\nOriginality/value: The current research shows how LSPs can effectively use their customer networks to provide process improvements for multiple customers. Specifically, transferring processes between customers can lead to efficiencies and contribute to supply chain robustness not possible without process diffusion.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Effectiveness of flipped classrooms: A case of management education in central India
|
[
"Collaborative learning",
"Active learning strategies",
"Decision-making skills",
"Flipped classroom model",
"Management education in India"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With more than 762 universities, 48,215 colleges and 36m students, almost 20 percent of students worldwide, the Indian higher education sector holds a significant position globally. The higher education segment in India is under tremendous pressure to expand due to a huge appetite for education among India's youth (Education and Training, India Brand Equity Foundation, 2016). The Indian higher education, which has undergone considerable growth in recent times, is estimated to reach $145bn by the year 2020. India will attain the mark of the largest tertiary-age population and will have the second largest number of graduates worldwide within a short span of time (Heslop, 2014). Although it has progressed considerably over the last decade, the Indian higher education is still facing several challenges, as presented in Figure 1.\n2. Review of literature: For the present study, the literature is broadly classified into three categories, namely, traditional teaching methodology and its effectiveness, flipped classroom model: definitions and concepts and, evaluation of flipped classroom model. Although traditional teaching (or lecture-based teaching) is, possibly, the oldest known instructional method and researchers (Staton, 1960; Barker and Slingsby, 1998; Novak, 1998; Nandi et al., 2000) have assessed the usefulness of this time-honored method of instruction in varied subject contexts, the area of FCs and the use of active learning strategies have drawn attention of various researchers (Hunaiti et al., 2010; Andrews et al., 2011; Roehl, 2013; Abeysekera and Dawson, 2015; Jensen et al., 2015) during last decade only. Figure 2 represents the broad literature classification in context of present research work.\n3. Literature observations and the need for present study: The following salient observations are made on the basis of the systematic literature analysis.\n4. Research methodology: Figure 3 illustrates a detailed flowchart of the research methodology adopted for the present research work. Subsequent sections discuss each stage of the research methodology adopted for the study in detail.\n5. Results and findings of the study: The results of the study are promising and substantiate the previous research studies (Lage et al., 2000; Strayer, 2007; Tucker, 2012; Roehl et al., 2013; Kong, 2014; Flores et al., 2016). In order to judge students' engagement level in traditional as well as FC teaching, meticulous observations of students' IC behavior were made by carefully examining lectures recorded through hidden cameras installed in respective classrooms. The major findings of this study are as follows:\n6. Discussions: It is evident that the results of the study are promising and encouraging in context of management education. The implementation of FC pedagogy led to improved students' engagement and IC involvement, more comprehensive content understanding, enhanced academic performance, superior cognitive abilities, collaborative learning environment and a sense of excitement toward teaching and the learning process. The results of the study are in congruence with the findings of the early research works in this area (Stone, 2012; Mason et al., 2013; McLaughlin et al., 2013; Jensen et al., 2015).\n7. Implications of the study: This research work has several significant implications for academicians, research scholars, students and management institutions, as discussed below:\n8. Limitations of the study: The scope of the present work was to evaluate the effectiveness of FC teaching over traditional teaching methods at a prominent management institute of central India. A preliminary management subject, that is management principles and practices, was considered for the present study. The findings of this research are valid for small class sizes (= 40 students). Research should be carried out in specialized subject domains (marketing/finance/HR/operation) with a greater number of students to generalize the findings in the context of Indian management education. Further, the present study has judged the implementation FC model by considering students' perspective only. Researchers may investigate the subject of FC by involving other stakeholders' perspective as well. In other words, viewpoints of faculties, institute's management/administration and recruiters should be incorporated in future, which will provide a clearer and holistic picture of FC model.\n9. Concluding remarks: The present research work attempted to assess the effectiveness of FC approach over traditional teaching in a preliminary management course on the basis of student's engagement level, understanding of course content and students' performance in surprise test and viva voce. It also judged students' perception and learning experience in an FC setting using a structured questionnaire survey.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the flipped classroom (FC) model over traditional lecture-based teaching. It also proposed a tool to measure students' perception toward the flipped approach in context of Indian management education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study employs an experimental research design to assess the effectiveness of the FC pedagogy over traditional teaching methods. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in order to judge student engagement, content understanding, students' perception and student academic performance. Experimental research design, along with survey research, is implemented in order to judge the students' perception toward FCs.\nFindings: The study proposes a six-dimensional tool to measure learning in an FC setting. These dimensions are as follows: students' in-class involvement, comprehensive content understanding, students' academic performance, students' cognitive capabilities, collaborative learning environment and students' inclination toward teaching and learning process. Results of this research are promising and encouraging toward the adoption of the FC model.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present research work is limited to assess the effectiveness of FC teaching for a management subject. Future studies may be carried out in other management subjects and other streams.\nPractical implications: The present study provides several valuable insights for future researchers, academicians and management institutions. Although implementation of flipped approach leads to a collaborative learning environment and prepares students for self-learning, it also offers educationalists to remodel their teaching pedagogy as per students' learning and understanding needs.\nOriginality/value: The research demonstrates the successful implementation of qualitative and quantitative research techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of FC model in context of management education in India.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Analogical reasoning and regulatory focus: using the creative process to enhance consumer-brand outcomes within a co-creation context
|
[
"Creativity",
"Consumer Behaviour",
"New product development",
"Regulatory fit",
"Regulatory focus",
"Co-creation",
"Analogical reasoning",
"Consumer psychology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers desire creative experiences and expect to have a voice when it comes to the development of new products, which is often expressed in the form of co-creation (Chang and Taylor, 2016; Cui and Wu, 2016). More specifically, co-creation occurs when an organization and its stakeholders collaboratively solve problems (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). These collaborative endeavours often take the form of consumers envisioning, prototyping, and offering up new product ideas. As a result, while new product development (NPD) was once conducted within the boundaries of an organization, emphasis has recently been placed on the merit of involving consumers in the co-creation of ideas (Chang and Taylor, 2016; Cui and Wu, 2016; Luo and Toubia, 2015; Schreier et al., 2012).\nConceptual development: Creativity and analogical reasoning\nStudy 1: Study design\nStudy 2: The purpose of Study 2 is threefold. First, it seeks to enhance realism by priming analogical thinking using photos as inspiration, which has been noted as a potentially helpful method of encouraging far-thinking and is more managerially useful (Gentner and Kurtz, 2006). Second, Study 2 explores the interplay between analogical distance and regulatory focus on purchase intentions. Lastly, the study concludes by providing further evidence of the proposed underlying psychological serial mediation process.\nConclusion: The present research makes several noteworthy contributions to the literature on new product development ideation in the domain of consumer behavior. First, the research seeks to propel the recent emphasis on firm benefits of including consumers in the co-creation of ideas (Chang and Taylor, 2016; Cui and Wu, 2016; Luo and Toubia, 2015; Schreier et al., 2012) by investigating regulatory focus as a consumer-centric factor that influences one's ability to reason analogically. Second, findings deepen our understanding of the motivation to engage in co-creation, which has been cited as a critical component of co-creation (Hoyer et al., 2010). Specifically, findings demonstrate how analogical reasoning increases creative ideas and purchase intentions for cognitively flexible promotion-focused consumers, compared to less cognitively flexible prevention-focused consumers. Third, because analogies are capable of being modified (Gentner et al., 2001; Gentner and Kurtz, 2006), the current research investigates how such modifications can be developed to match specific consumer-centric factors, such as regulatory focus. Specifically, a connection between analogical distance (i.e., near vs far) and regulatory focus is established and shown to influence downstream responses. Third, the study builds upon prior scholarship (Barczak et al., 2009; Dijk et al., 2014; Fuller et al., 2009; Gemser and Perks, 2015; O'Hern and Rindfleisch, 2010; Mantovani et al., 2018) by revealing the mediating role of internal processes on the observed effects. Lastly, the research expands our current understanding of how purchase intentions and consumer creativity can be enhanced through creative tasks such as analogizing.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: New product development (NPD) is increasingly being delegated to consumers, yet little research has investigated consumer-centric factors that may influence this delegation. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to uniquely combine regulatory focus and analogical reasoning to investigate new product ideation and downstream consumer-brand responses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A series of experiments were undertaken.\nFindings: Study 1 revealed that promotion-focused consumers (as opposed to prevention-focused consumers) have significantly greater purchase intentions if given an analogical reasoning task before engaging in new product ideation due to their cognitive flexibility. Study 2 tested the effects of near vs far analogies and found that promotion-focused consumers use analogical thinking to a greater extent and have significantly higher purchase intentions if primed with far analogies because regulatory fit is enhanced. However, analogical thinking and purchase intentions significantly drop if primed with near analogies. In contrast, prevention-focused consumers use analogical thinking to a greater extent and have significantly higher purchase intentions if shown near analogies, compared to far analogies, because of improved regulatory fit. Both studies confirm a serial mediation chain involving task engagement, self-brand connection, and brand sincerity.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research extends current understanding regarding the role of creative tasks within consumer NPD. It also uniquely links regulatory focus and consumer task engagement in NPD to increase favorable brand responses.\nPractical implications: Findings offer managerial insights that can positively increase consumer-brand outcomes during NPD.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies to demonstrate the importance of analogical thinking and consumer-centric factors (i.e., regulatory focus) during the NPD process. This avenue of research is important, as most studies have neglected ways in which to increase consumer NPD task engagement, leaving resources unutilized.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Does urban form influence grocery shopping frequency? A study from Seattle, Washington, USA
|
[
"Geographic information systems",
"Grocery shopping",
"Shopping frequency",
"Urban built environment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As the retail branch of the food system, grocery shopping habits link retail management and marketing, public health, and sustainability. Research concerning the frequency of grocery shopping has implications for understanding consumer behaviour and spending tendencies, fresh food intake, and food waste. While research regarding the effect of the urban environment on grocery shopping has tended towards discussions of obesity, policy, and health, studies investigating the consumer behavioural component of grocery shopping tend towards decisions made in the store and shopping demographics, but not the built environment. This study investigates grocery shopping frequency as it relates to urban form using survey data from Seattle, Washington. Because this research is situated between retail management and the public health sector concerned with fresh food access, it has utility for both areas.\nBackground: Grocery shopping is an important economic activity. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, people living in the Seattle metropolitan area spent 12.8 per cent of their average annual expenditures on food in 2011-2012, which is close to the national average of 12.9 per cent. In comparison, Los Angeles averages 13.6 per cent and San Francisco, 11.5 per cent - all at the 95 per cent confidence level (BOL Statistics, 2014). Grocery shopping is also a very important non-work travel which constitutes a substantial part of people's travel activities. According to the 2009 National Household Travel Survey, \"Buy goods: groceries/clothing/hardware\" was the second most common travel activity in the USA, which was ranked after \"Go home\" and before \"Go to Work\" and accounting for 12, 34, and 11 per cent of all reported US household trips, respectively. Grocery shopping was identified as the most frequent \"Buy goods\" activity for American households compared to clothing and hardware shopping (Krumm, 2012). Food Marketing Institute's research reveals a national average of 1.6 trips per week to the supermarket with time and health concerns identified as barriers to shopping (HartmanGroup, 2014).\nMethods: Theoretical framework\nResults: Descriptive analysis\nDiscussion of results: Both the binary and ordered logit model showed that the travel frequency to the primary grocery store was associated with individual socioeconomic characteristics, attitudes towards food, general shopping behaviour, and the urban built environment around the home and primary grocery store. With at least two variables significant in the final regression models, the respondents' socioeconomic variables clearly affected travel frequency. Variables in the attitude and general shopping behaviour category exerted a very strong influence on travel frequency. All six variables in this category were significant in both models. The built environment variable had a direct, but modest influence on travel behaviour, which confirmed findings in previous studies (Ewing and Cervero, 2010; Bhat and Guo, 2007; Cao et al., 2009; Milakis et al., 2015a).\nConclusion: The study showed that individual travellers' socioeconomic status, attitude, and general food shopping behaviour (e.g. thinking food should be inexpensive, shopping at high-cost stores, driving to grocery stores, or money and time spent per store visit), as well as the urban form surrounding both their homes and their primary grocery stores, were correlated with travel frequency to their primary grocery stores. Among them, people's attitude and general food shopping behaviour had the strongest influence on grocery shopping frequency. Driving to stores, thinking food should be inexpensive, and the network distance between homes and stores had a major negative impact on grocery shopping travel frequency, while the urban built environment factors had a modest influence on travel frequency.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how elements of the built environment may or may not influence the frequency of grocery shopping.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from the 2009 Seattle Obesity Study, the research investigated the effect of the urban built environment on grocery shopping travel frequency in the Seattle-King County area. Binary and ordered logit models served to estimate the impact of individual characteristics and built environments on grocery shopping travel frequency.\nFindings: The results showed that the respondents' attitude towards food, travel mode, and the network distance between homes and stores exerted the strongest influence on the travel frequency while urban form variables only had a modest influence. The study showed that frequent shoppers were more likely to use alternative transportation modes and shopped closer to their homes and infrequent shoppers tended to drive longer distances to their stores and spent more time and money per visit.\nPractical implications: This research has implications for urban planners and policy makers as well as grocery retailers, as the seemingly disparate groups both have an interest in food shopping frequency.\nOriginality/value: Few studies in the planning or retail literature investigate the influence of the urban built environment and the insights from the planning field. This study uses GIS and a planning framework to provide information that is relevant for grocery retailers and those invested in food distribution.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The impact of private label foods on supply chain governance
|
[
"Greece",
"Supply chain management",
"Private label",
"Cheeses",
"Feta",
"Supply chain governance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Across the globe, private label (PL) market share is growing. In Europe, the economic downturn has already led to changes in shopping patterns, the customer shift from branded to PL foods being a pertinent example of these changes (Euromonitor, 2012b). In Eastern Europe, the market share of PL food has escalated from zero to almost 20 per cent (Stanton and Meloche, 2011). Despite of the rapid PL growth, its impact upon the supply chain governance is still an open question.\n2. Literature review: Food supply chain management\n3. Methodology: Justification of case research\n4. Findings: First, four case studies present the results from the within-case analysis. Then, the cross-case analysis is presented. Table III presents the results from the within-case analysis and Table IV presents the cross-case analysis.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Evidence from case studies provides insights of the importance of PLled food in managing and controlling the supply chain. The introduction and the development of PLs are closely intertwined with the competition between retailers and manufactures as well as the related governance mechanisms of power and contracts. During the decade 2000-2010 many retailing and trading companies included cheeses in the PL arsenal.\n6. Limitations and recommendations: The exploratory nature and use of case study research are the major limitations of this research. Case-study research is often considered as being less valuable than quantitative studies since findings cannot generalised from a single case to a the population. Although, statistical significance is powerful, the practical knowledge derived from case-study research can be more valuable than theoretical knowledge. In order to overcome the inherent limitation of the specific research design, a quantitative study using a survey could offer insights for the population.\n7. Conclusions: All retailing companies reported that the introduction of PL food had an effect on supply chain governance by outsourcing production to small producers or processors. In doing so, they are able to skip the large national dairy and feta manufacturers, which was the dominant player in this traditional PDO product. The consumer preference for in-bulk feta instead of packaged one was turned against branded feta producers sold by large manufacturers since they were not able to establish a brand loyalty by producing in bulk. Instead, retailers were able to reduce transaction costs by standardising quality and processes and re-designing the complete logistics system that supported the production of both in-bulk and processed feta. After establishing themselves as a significant player, they aimed to gain control of packaged feta products market share, an achievable goal in various ways. The result of the above supply chain evolution was a swift towards a two-member supply chain: large retailers and small producers, singling out the so-far established manufacturing companies that have had heavily invested in product quality during the past decades. This governing mechanism have the advantage of improved supply chain integration: retailers set forward standards and procedures, in some cases supported by training and development of small suppliers, which allows the better coordination and synchronisation of the supply chain. Further, logistics system was re-organised by retailers based on Athens, creating new warehouse and processing units near to their central warehouses.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the introduction of private label (PL) foods upon the governance of the food supply chains.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a multi-case study research examining the launch and development of PL cheeses in four large national-wide retail chains. The paper focused on the category of Products of Designated Origin (PDO) cheeses, including the popular feta cheese. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and secondary sources of information. Data analysis involved single-case and within-case analyses.\nFindings: There is a strong motive to launch and develop PL cheeses due to increasing consumer demand. Retailers choose suppliers based on criteria such as: compliance to quality assurance standards, modernisation of processing facilities, implementation of legislation, credibility, experience, and reputation. Retailers use contracts and prefer small suppliers than medium-sized companies. Supply chain governance turns from market to hierarchy status, which performs better in terms of supply chain cost, food quality, and consumer satisfaction. The structure of food industry is also affected by pressure put on medium-sized food companies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is based on a multiple case study design that does not provide static generalisations, yet it offers a stepping stone to building new theory about supply chain governance, how it evolves and its effects on supply chain performance.\nPractical implications: The introduction of PL cheeses favours small and dynamic cheese processing units willing to adopt retailer standards and prices over larger units, which poses a real threat to the survival of regional-wide food companies.\nOriginality/value: Few studies have examined how supply chain governance evolves and what triggers a change in governance structures.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Plan for supply chain agility at Nokia: Lessons from the mobile infrastructure industry
|
[
"Agile production",
"Supply chain management",
"Project management",
"Demand forecasting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Global markets are becoming more turbulent and volatile in most industries. The importance of ability to adapt to rapid and unexpected changes is, therefore, growing extremely fast. It is no surprise to notice how many operations managers have included \"agility\" in their latest development road maps. Also Lee (2004) encourages companies to pay more attention on supply chain agility, as demand and supply tend to fluctuate more rapidly and widely today than they used to. Agile supply chain is not any novel concept as such, but has its origin back to flexible manufacturing systems in late 1960s. Christopher (2000) defines supply chain agility broadly as a business-wide capability that embraces organizational structures, information systems, logistics processes and, in particular, mindsets.In the mobile infrastructure industry supply chain agility is already considered a basic competitive requirement - not any sustainable differentiation opportunity. During the recent years the industry has been characterized by frequent market changes and varying, unique customer requirements of large operators. System vendors have to be able to quickly respond to short-term changes in demand. On one hand, they are forced to have an in-built ability to constantly adapt their supply chains to rapid and unexpected changes in the markets or technologies. On the other hand, the vendors are expected to be fast and flexible while delivering customized products and services with high-standard delivery accuracy. The way agility is implemented into vendors' operations implicitly defines the cost-effectiveness and competitiveness of their supply chain.Building agility into operations is not a trivial trick for any vendor. At minimum, it requires an agile operations strategy and in-built process capabilities to respond short-term changes in demand or supply quickly. To be agile in the eyes of a customer, the vendor has to somehow be prepared for the demand. In other words, agility does not just happen, but operations need to be planned for it. If realized customer demand were a complete surprise to the vendor, it would be far too late to execute received orders with short lead-times and keep the customer satisfied. Based on our experiences in the industry, a continuous, customer driven planning process is actually a pre-requirement for being agile in supply chains.Planning is anticipatory decision making before real action is required. More sophisticated and accurate is the planning better possibility the vendor has in creating process agility in a cost-effective way. In our industry both manufacturing and service operations should be included in the vendor's planning process. It is highly important to ensure that material and resource plans are always aligned. A recent AMR study shows the great importance of demand forecasting and planning; demand forecast accuracy creates high responsiveness and cut costs right through the supply chain (Friscia et al., 2004). According to the study, companies that are best at demand forecasting, maintain on average 15 percent less inventory, 17 percent stronger perfect-order fulfillment and 35 percent shorter cash-to-cash life cycles.This paper describes how demand planning can increase agility in supply chains. The key theme \"plan for agility\" highlights the fact that supply chain agility does not just happen but requires continuous planning. The paper contains a short theoretical review on supply chain agility, different planning and forecasting concepts and explores the linkages between them. Our focus is merely on project business environment. The special interest is on effectively utilizing project plans for aligning the supply chain. Empiric evidence in collected from mobile infrastructure industry in Nokia Networks. Main lessons are primarily taken from integrated project management (IPM) program that is to implement a truly customer-focused delivery process in Nokia Networks.\n2 Supply chain agility and demand planning: 2.1 Agile supply chain strategy\n3 Creating agility via Nokia integrated project management: 3.1 Business environment\n4 Lessons learnt from collaborative planning: Based on our experiences an agile supply chain is a basic competitive requirement in the industry and building agility into operations requires continuous planning process together with customers. Owing to intensive market dynamics in mobile operator markets, it is difficult also for the customers to predict the future. Proper forecasting process generally requires excessive focus in customers' organization. Also cultural issues and contractual clauses with certain customer may increase this difficulty. By nature forecasting is challenging and there are only a handful of customers who are really committed to accurate forecasts. It is, therefore, why true process collaboration with all stakeholders participating the mobile network deployment and expansion is so crucially important. The consolidated demand plan is shared in a continuous manner with all the organizations contributing to its fulfillment. Continuous planning is practically the only way to make supply chain for effective and efficient.It seems that for common rollout planning is the most natural way for the customers to share future demand information between the supply chain players. It is also fairly obvious that a properly set-up and duly maintained rollout plan is the most reliable source of data for the volume demand plan; only in cases where this link is really ensured we see positive results in terms of customer's forecasting accuracy. Everybody understands that in this business environment a request for detailed demand plan many months ahead cannot be very realistic. Therefore, rollout planning is mainly to tackle short horizon and not touching demand beyond three months ahead to the future.Rollout planning using collaborative IT applications is bringing the much needed formalization to the process, for instance ensuring that project data is continuously captured into demand plans. To enable correct demand planning the customer has to be involved in the process; to achieve the maximum benefits from the process the customer has to be committed on planning on a site-based basis.Customer collaboration should happen throughout the whole organization, on all levels. At headquarters' level for demand created in the top-down manner while at projects' regional level in bottom-up. Despite potential discrepancies in the information, suppliers should be able to utilize the consolidated demand. Sharing the consolidated plan back to the customers in a transparent manner has proven to be facilitating the process and increasing the reliability of the plan itself. Key point is that collaborative planning should be seen as a process of continuous development that will systematically improve itself in the course of time.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe how demand planning can increase agility in supply chains. The paper builds on a case study from mobile infrastructure industry with explicit focus on project business environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper contains a short theoretical review on supply chain agility, different planning and forecasting concepts and explores the linkages between them. Empiric evidence is collected from Nokia Networks as a case study. Main lessons are primarily taken from integrated project management program that is to implement a truly customer-focused delivery process in the case company.\nFindings: - Suppliers should pay more attention on effectively utilizing customer's project plans for aligning their supply chain. Supply chain agility does not just happen but requires continuous planning.\nPractical implications: - Common project planning is the most natural way for customers to share future demand information between the supply chain players. Instead separate and often laborious demand forecasting process, suppliers should utilize customer's project plans in building agility in their supply chains.\nOriginality/value: - Focuses on the importance of the ability to adapt to rapid and unexpected changes and asserts that a continuous, customer driven planning process is a pre-requirement for being agile in supply chains.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A new approach to talent management in law firms : Integrating performance appraisal and assessment center data
|
[
"Talent management",
"Performance appraisal",
"Assessment center",
"General performance factor",
"Law firm",
"Rating bias"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As knowledge worker firms (Drucker, 1959), law firms rely on lawyers' knowledge and talents to provide value to clients and to build organizational uniqueness (Buckingham and Vosburgh, 2001). Human resource management has always been essential to law firm success, but it is the new normal (Davis, 2009) economic instability scenario that brought to light the talent management paradigm. The new context pushes law firms into a competitive business environment (Muir et al., 2004), focussed on profitability. Reductions in demand resulting in stymied growth - and in some cases costs related to internationalization (Stumpf, 2007) - require greater productivity and lawyer mastery of additional competencies beyond legal skills. Project management and business development skills are critical (Manch and Mottershead, 2010), whereas fewer career opportunities and restricted access to partnerships are common. Addressing these challenges, a paradigm exchange is occurring in law firms, one from investing in people as a necessary burden to unleashing human capital as the most important firm asset. Talent management advocates attraction, identification, retention, and development of the right assets (Collins, 2001; Ready et al., 2010) for law firms' long-term sustainability (Boudreau and Ramstad, 2005; Mottershead, 2010). Increasingly common is the presence of talent management at law firms either in the form of programs or departments (Manch and Mottershead, 2010). Its relevance to driving firm performance is also stressed by law firms' specialized press: \"Talent management is job-one for all law firms today [...]. It's certainly not a stretch to say that what you do now to attract, retain, and develop human capital directly determines your law firm's future\" (Isom-Rodriguez, 2007, p. 2). The Lawyer reported on one of the many conferences organized for firm practitioners, stating \"Law firms need to implement solid talent management schemes to get through the credit crunch intact\" (Moshinsky, 2008, p. 8).\n2. Background: The talent management paradigm drives law firms toward skills-based approaches (Polden, 2012) regarding recruitment, performance appraisal, career management, and development. Lawyers' job profiles go beyond hard skills related to legal knowledge, analysis, and legal solutions. Soft skills such as skills related to client and business (e.g. communication, relationship with client, project management, and business development (Stumpf, 2007) and advanced leadership skills related to firm management (e.g. teamwork, and financial and people management (Bock and Berman, 2011; Maister, 1993; Mottershead, 2010) are also critical. Identification of behavioral descriptions of skills required for success is a practice increasingly found in law firms (Polden, 2012), executed by weighing the most talented lawyers' skills, firm culture (Manch, 2010), strategic goals, and benchmarking with other firms. Acknowledgment of critical success skills provides a shared vision of necessary behaviors, and both partners and lawyers share a roadmap for development and career advancement. It also provides standards for human resources management regarding recruitment, performance appraisal, development, career management, and reward. Both variations in economic forecasts and firms' unpredictable evolutionary challenges change the relative importance of skills constantly. Assessment and development of a full job profile might be an important strategy to ensure business readiness (Haserot, 2004). Enhancing job profile complexity, high productivity is imperative for profitability, from junior to partner levels. Disparate from other business structures, partners operate as both managers and firm owners, but remain important producers (Pinnington and Morris, 2003). Continuation of a partnership model in the future suggests the relevance of assessing three broad areas of a lawyer's job profile that this study identifies (i.e. hard skills, soft skills, and productivity). Indeed, professional service firms represent exemplary models regarding governance (Greenwood and Empson, 2003), and the literature clearly identifies a positive relationship between organizational performance and the partnership model (Durand and Vargas, 2003; Greenwood and Empson, 2003; Greenwood et al., 2007). The partnership model is based frequently on a model of organic growth (Muzio, 2004; Pinnington and Morris, 2003), itself based on an ascending, linear career plan for associates. Annually, lawyers in the same cohort (i.e. same post-qualification experience in years) are comparatively evaluated to verify progression potential for the next seniority level. High performers advance for the next career level while underperformers - especially in elite firms (Malhotra et al., 2010) - might be encouraged to leave the firm (Stumpf, 2007). Headcount is restored with recruitment of trainees. This up-or-out career advancement model identifies and retains the highest performing and talented lawyers, \"those who will make partner in the future\" (Brittain, 2005, p. 21). Career advancement decisions associate frequently with evaluations (i.e. performance appraisal systems) and have significant impacts on both lawyers' careers and firms' reputations and performance (Hitt et al., 2001).\n3. Proposed model and hypotheses: We propose a new approach to talent management in law firms that consists of averaging performance appraisal and assessment center ratings. We expect the new approach to identify both overall talent of each lawyer (acknowledged by the general performance factor) and each lawyer's relative talents (three broad areas of a lawyer's job profile revealed through varimax rotation of the three factors extracted from PCA). The general factor is expected for all ratings (i.e. performance appraisal, assessment center, and the new approach's ratings), though with larger magnitude in performance appraisal ratings due to the bias inflation. Two additional factors are expected only with the new approach, given that the lower and more variable assessment center ratings reduce performance appraisal rating bias inflation. Only one additional factor is expected in the performance appraisal and assessment center models: in the former because rating biases inflate the variance of the first factor, and in the latter because a reduced form was used for the job profile.\n4. Methods: 4.1. Setting and data\n5. Results: H1. Table III shows means and standard deviations for performance appraisal, assessment center, and new approach ratings. Paired-sample t-tests suggest differences between overall assessment center and performance appraisal ratings, and differences at the dimension level between the two methods (p<0.01); therefore, the assessment center yielded lower ratings.\n6. Discussion: In the context of fewer career opportunities and restricted access to partnership, identification of the most talented lawyers is critical. Objectivity in lawyer evaluations is important for both management decision support and feedback, making it possible for each lawyer to benchmark talent and manage his/her career (Duarte, 2009). Important decisions concerning lawyer careers cannot be perceived as random (Baden-Fuller and Bateson, 1990) since the most talented lawyers, the firm's critical assets (Collins, 2001; Ready et al., 2010), may resign. Performance appraisals based on top-down evaluations (Scullen et al., 2000) suggest the importance of well-informed management. Partners should be responsible for evaluations of the lawyers with whom they work and should take the leading role in talent management. However, biases in performance ratings prevent appraisals from addressing talent management challenges as a unilateral source of information. For practitioners, a talent-management paradox is possible, but the new approach addresses the paradox. We examine and confirm adjustment of a new approach as a leading method for talent identification by integrating contextual information from partners and assessment center external, benchmarkable, objective information, which participants generally accept well (Cascio and Aguinis, 2011). Relying on external assessors with no knowledge of lawyers' backgrounds is an advantage in comparison to other methods used for performance evaluations (e.g. 360-degree feedback) (Meriac et al., 2008). The large inflation effect of the general performance factor from peer ratings (63 percent) in comparison to supervisor ratings (33 percent) (Viswesvaran et al., 2005) may discourage law firms from using 360-degree feedback.\n7. Conclusion: Increased importance of talent identification for business sustainability and long-term success made talent management a popular topic among law firms, though empirical studies are few. This study (we are unaware of other empirical studies of talent management in law firms) supports introduction of a new approach that consists of averaging performance appraisals and assessment center ratings into a law firm talent management framework that reveals and manages up-and-coming talent. Strategic human resources practices such as career management, development, talent mapping, high-flyers' identification, succession planning, team composition, and diversity analysis may be informed by this method and benefit from objective and accurate information regarding lawyer talent. Differentiation of lawyers according to overall talent is acknowledge by the existence of a general performance factor and evidenced in this study of evaluation ratings. This paper confirms the utility of using assessment centers for early identification of talent during recruitment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to talent management that consists of averaging performance appraisal and assessment center ratings for in-depth identification of lawyers' talents.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach's adjustment was examined using a 61 senior-lawyer sample from a Portuguese law firm. Comparisons between assessment center and performance appraisal ratings were analyzed using paired-sample t-tests and a kernel density function, and predictive validity was assessed with Pearson correlations. Evidence of both a general performance factor and two additional factors was verified using principal component analysis. Varimax rotation was used to verify three broad factors with job profile's three broad areas.\nFindings: Results suggest support for the assessment center's predictive validity. Its lower and more variable ratings overcome performance appraisal rating bias. Adjustment of the new approach to lawyers' overall talent identification (the general factor) and each lawyer's relative talents (three broad factors) was observed.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the substantive existence of a general performance factor, and adds to empirical research concerning talent management, which is lacking. However, generalizability requires broader samples and replication.\nPractical implications: The approach is a methodology that informs career management, high-flyers' identification, talent mapping, development, succession planning, team composition, and diversity analysis. For lawyers, objective feedback allows benchmarking talent and managing one's career.\nOriginality/value: This study pioneers empirical research that develops methods for identifying talent in law firms, vital for firm sustainability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Backpacking and hostel-picking: an analysis from Canada
|
[
"Tourism",
"International travel",
"Hospitality services",
"Canada"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: of all tourism worldwide, 20 percent is from the youth and student market, according to the World Travel Organization (Tourism, 2003). The Hostelling International, the largest low budget accommodation network in the world, states that there are approximately 35 million hostel beds affiliated with their network worldwide (Chandrasekaran and Paterik, 2002). This number does not take into consideration the numerous non-affiliated hostel accommodations worldwide. The Federation of International Youth Travel Organization estimates that the youth tourist backpacking market generates US$8 billion revenue annually (Kim and Jogaratnam, 2003).The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is one of Canada's main gateway regions for international backpackers. There are approximately 1,400 hostel beds, within the GTA, available during peak season. To date research focusing on the profile and service preferences of the backpackers who visit Canada and the GTA is non existent. Using the GTA, this paper provides information on customer service and service related issues that the GTA hostels could utilize for future growth and success.\nLiterature review: Most of the recent research, conducted mainly in Australia, New Zealand and to a lesser degree Europe, suggest that the backpacker market is made up of two sub segments:1. the youth tourism backpacker - between 15 and 29 years; and2. the contemporary tourism backpacker - 30 years and older (Loker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995).Youth tourism backpackers comprise the majority of backpackers staying at hostels. This sub segment increased 20 percent to 25 percent each year in Canada during the 1990's (Tourism, 2003). In Canada, the backpacking travel segment has been the only segment within the hospitality industry to experience growth since 2001 (McCullough, 2003). Several surveys indicate that the majority of backpackers are considered as youth tourists. Some of these surveys include the \"Young Independent Traveller Survey,\" (Travel and Tourism Analyst, 2003), Loker-Murphy's (1996) survey and 8 surveys. However, the classification of youth tourist seems to be somewhat contentious among youth tourist researchers. Statistics Canada defines youth tourists as those between 15 and 25 years of age (Tourism, 2003). As well, the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) and Association of Leisure and Tourism Education (ATLAS) categorize youth tourists as those between 15 and 25 years of age (Travel and Tourism Analyst, 2003). Regardless of various definitions, youth tourists are considered the more traditional backpacker.The demographic barriers are coming down with \"Peter Pan\" travellers in search of their second youth (Loker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995) and the \"baby boomers\" who are either rediscovering hostels and/or who want to travel but are on a retirement income (Moschis, 2002). The older, more affluent contemporary backpacker may ensure both growth and revitalization for those hostels willing to accommodate the changing needs of this new class of customers. Regardless of segment, backpackers are travelling with laptops, credit cards and cell phones (McCullough, 2003). They are better educated, better travelled and expect the latest in communications, entertainment and facilities. They are seeking a grown up version of hostels with a better standard of cleanliness, security and customer service (Travel and Tourism Analyst, 2003). The Accor Hotels has realized the potential of these travellers and recently became the first hotel chain to develop hostel accommodations, known as \"Base Backpackers\" (Hospitality Net, 2003).While backpackers traditionally spend less per day, owing to relatively longer average stay, they spend more overall for their travels than other tourist segments. The average backpacker visiting Canada spends Canadian $3,366 during the course of a trip according to the Youth Tourism Consortium of Canada (Tourism, 2003). Vancouver in the West Coast of Canada has also realized the opportunities available in catering to the hostelling/backpacking market segment. According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, over the next ten years, 550 rooming house rooms in Vancouver will be converted to hostel rooms (Skelton, 2004). Renovating rooming houses to hostels requires minimal capital.With backpacking becoming less about chronological age and more about travel style choice, the contemporary backpacker is a potentially vast, minimally tapped market. In particular, there are two different travel market areas to focus attention on:* the \"Peter Pan\" travellers (Locker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995); and* the \"Baby Boomers,\" (Moschis, 2002).Over the next 30 years, 78 million \"time rich\" baby boomers worldwide will control the leisure travel marketplace due to shear volume alone (Moschis, 2002). However, with boomer ability to finance travel not as strong as once predicted, this market has become more important for the hostels (Moschis, 2002). At present, 15 percent of all Thailand's backpackers are over 55 years of age and Lonely Planet Publications, a budget-travel publisher of backpacking guides, has recently developed an \"Older Travellers\" chat room (Prystay, 2004). Hostels are also starting to become more in tune with the \"Peter Pan\" travellers by offering private rooms and washrooms. However, there is much more work to be done to understand the demands of these markets.\nMethodology: As the first step, all relevant literature on the subject was reviewed. Key information gathered were summarised in the previous two sections of this paper.As the second step, personal interviews with 20 experienced backpackers (those who had backpacked through a minimum of three different countries) were conducted to collect the initial primary data required to develop a list of potential service attributes. The group was evenly composed of male and female backpackers. The backpackers' countries of origin were diverse and representative of the backpacking population. The countries encompassed Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, South Korea, the UK and the USA. The 20 in-depth interviews produced 15 critical backpacker requirements as reflected in Table I.From the critical backpacker requirements, a questionnaire was developed which consisted of three parts:1. demographics;2. psychographics; and3. service preferences.As the third and final step, the final questionnaire was administered to respondents staying at three different hostels in the GTA, in June 2004, the peak summer season. In total, 385 questionnaires were completed by backpackers staying at these hostels.\nFindings: Demographics\nRecommendations: The study did provide initial answers to the service preference question. Most notably, the study illustrated that service preferences were based on three vital demographics:1. gender;2. age; and3. country of origin.To view the backpacking segment as homogenous would provide a fallacy and disservice to both the backpackers and those working with this segment. The study also provides hostels in GTA with some future direction related to four key factors.1. Technology factor\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This research paper aims to better understand the characteristics of backpackers who stay at hostels in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada, and their current service preferences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Primary data were collected by carrying out interviews with 20 experienced backpackers from seven countries. As a result, 15 critical backpackers' requirements were identified and used as the base for the questionnaire developed for the next phase of field research. At this phase, 385 backpackers from 35 countries completed the questionnaires.\nFindings: - The backpackers cannot be treated as a homogeneous group, and there are differences due to demographics of gender, age and country of origin. The traditional youth tourist backpacker (15-25 years of age) viewed backpacking as more a social and cultural experience than the transition backpacker (26-29 years of age) or contemporary backpacker (30 years of age and older). As age increased, so did the backpacker's desire and willingness to pay for privacy. Asian and North/South Americans required more hotel type services than Australians and Europeans.\nOriginality/value: - In conclusion, the paper provides hostels in GTA with future directions grouped as four key factors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Building sustainability strategy in business
|
[
"Corporate sustainability",
"Accounting for sustainability",
"Australian ASX 200 companies",
"Business strategy alignment",
"McKinsey seven S’s framework",
"Sustainability policy and strategy adoption and implementation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The growth in sustainability thinking is challenging businesses to change how they operate. This paper explores the extent and the nature of environmental sustainability (eco-sustainability) policy and strategy in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 200 companies. It shows how these companies implement their eco-sustainability policy and strategy and what influences the extent of their eco-sustainability strategy implementation.\nSustainability: Organizational sustainability is concerned with the ability to meet the current needs of both the organization and its stakeholders while being able to meet the future needs of stakeholders. It also refers to the enterprise's capacity to maintain economic prosperity without compromising its environmental responsibility and social stewardship (Brundtland, 1987; Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002).\nResearch design: To assess what influences the extent of company eco-sustainability strategy implementation, this research used interviews with senior management in a sample of ASX 200 companies (Creswell, 2009). The research used semi-structured interviews and an interpretative approach to data analysis (Yin, 2009). Semi-structured interviews allow greater breadth than the more focused and \"structured\" interviews (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005), generate \"richness\" of the data and provide opportunities for both the researcher and interviewee to discuss the research in a more detailed manner (Creswell, 2009).\nDiscussion: The executives in this sample of ASX 200 companies recognized that climate change was real and that it was important for them to effectively respond, adapt and manage the risks associated with climate change. They recognized that climate change affected:\nConclusion: The management of organizational eco-sustainability has become strategically important to the profitability, growth, competitiveness and sustainability of firms in the long term. There has been increasing discussion on environmental considerations about how firms transform their conventional business process and model. However, research in this area from a holistic approach and strategic perspective remains scarce.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore environmental sustainability (eco-sustainability) policy and strategy adoption and implementation in Australian companies. Specifically, it assesses what influences the extent of organizational eco-sustainability strategy implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research used semi-structured interviews with senior executive from a list of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 200 companies in banking, materials, real estate and transportation industry groups. A purposive sampling method was used to select the most appropriate participants. The \"elite\" interviewing method was adopted with persons who are recognized as the expert in the topic under investigation. Finally, an interpretative approach to data analysis was used.\nFindings: The paper shows the importance of eco-sustainability strategy alignment with the overall business strategy. Similarly, organizational structure and systems are recognized to be equally important. The senior executives also agreed that shared values, passionate skilled and experienced staff, the Board and senior management, as well as governance, are critical in ensuring a successful adoption and implementation of organizational eco-sustainability policy and strategy.\nPractical implications: This research provides some understanding of how organizations implement their eco-sustainability policy and strategy and what influences the extent of their eco-sustainability strategy implementation, and answers to why each dimension is important for a particular organization was gained through interviews with the senior executives. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the relative importance placed on each dimension as a factor influencing eco-sustainability adoption and implementation.\nOriginality/value: Drawing on theories from various disciplines and the McKinsey Seven S's framework, this paper strengthens the foundation for industry practitioners to understand what influences the success of the eco-sustainability strategy adoption and implementation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Business management software in high-tech firms: the case of the IT services sector
|
[
"General management",
"Computer software",
"Information services",
"Service industries",
"Technology led strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Information technologies (IT) are playing an important role in the service sector, improving accessibility to important information and its organisation and communication. Traditional business structures have been transformed by rapid technological development, leading to new kinds of business, such as high-tech firms, and innovative systems of relationships, such as e-mail, EDI, CRM, ERP, SFA, etc. (Quelch and Klein, 1996; Senecal et al., 2007; Richey et al., 2008). The introduction of some IT causes dramatic changes in the market share of firms (Woodside and Biemans, 2005), so the chances of business survival depend on firms' capability to implement new IT successfully (Lehmann, 1997) and on their ability to take advantage of the opportunities it offers in the managerial and organisational areas (Brady et al., 2008).High-tech firms are growing at a higher speed than the economy as a whole, and have generated significant returns for their shareholders in recent years. However, despite their profitability, knowledge rapidly becomes obsolete in many high technology markets, making it imperative for firms to constantly renew their technological bases as an essential factor in their dynamic capability (Narasingham et al., 2006). Moreover, the high-tech sector is comprised of firms from several major technology-based industries, performing in different environments and exhibiting subtle differences. Therefore, its analysis should be focused on a single technology-based industry (Lau et al., 2008).Recently, new management software has been produced which, in addition to facilitating the performance of basic management functions, permits firms to share information with the agents with whom they interact in the course of their activities and converts the flow of information into a bi-directional flow through the use of the internet. Increasing the intensity of use of this software can help firms develop a sustainable competitive advantage by implementing technological resources that are difficult to imitate (Richey et al., 2008). Nevertheless, despite its numerous advantages and its presentation as an attractive business tool, this software has not been generally accepted by firms, has been criticised, and its implementation has been subject to serious failures (Wu and Wang, 2006; Park et al., 2007; King and Burgess, 2008). Furthermore, research in this field has been generally lacking, perhaps due to the disparity of the many different tools (as Riemenschneider and Hardgrave, 2001, state). The software that we analyse in this paper is related to the performance of the main organisational functions: customer relationship management, financial accounting, budgetary management and after-sales service.The aim of the present study is to analyse the acceptance of business management software by high-tech firms belonging to the service sector and dedicated to information technologies (IT high-tech firms, defined as SIC 737). The firms analysed have experience in this software and are in charge of its management and maintenance.IT high-tech firms are a driving force in the technology environment. Their level of technological development is higher than that of their traditional counterparts since they possess considerable experience or know-how, which leads them to behave differently to other service sector firms. In spite of this, studies of IT high-tech firms based on behavioural models are in short supply. An ad-hoc analysis about how firms that produce IT as an output also use it as an input in their productive process is essential to study the perceptions affecting IT acceptance and the synergies derived from the previous use of other systems. To this end, we have applied an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) that includes variables related to previous experience, namely, technological compatibility and the use of web procurement. Moreover, we have focused on the point-of-view of the firm's decision-maker.The article is divided into four parts. In the first section, we describe the model employed in this study. We focus on the TAM, the factors used to expand it and the construction of verifiable hypotheses. In the methodology section, the sample is presented and the scales employed are described. In the third section, the results are offered and, in the final section, the conclusions and implications for research and management are discussed.\nLiterature review and proposal of hypotheses: In recent years, several studies report the existence of various critical factors which influence the acceptance of IT by firms, including previous experience, market structure, ease of use or compatibility (see summary in Table I). Some of these studies have focused on theories of behaviour that explain the actions of users on the basis of their beliefs and/or attitudes, for example, the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the innovation diffusion theory (IDT). Among these theories, the technology acceptance model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1989) has been one of the most successful models in the last few years. As has been demonstrated in several meta-analyses (Lee et al., 2003; Sun and Zhang, 2006), TAM achieves the highest explanatory power in IT acceptance through the study of a reduced number of variables. Moreover, its adequacy has been checked in a wide range of different IT from the e-mail (Karahanna and Straub, 1999; Gefen and Straub, 2000) to PCs in the workplace (Moore and Benbasat, 1991; Thompson et al., 1991; Igbaria et al., 1995).The technology acceptance model (TAM)\nMethodology: Sample description\nReliability, dimensionality and scale validity: Initial analyses\nResults: Having verified the measurement model, we tested the structural relationships proposed in the working hypotheses. It was verified that the model presents an adequate goodness-of-fit: GFI=0.895; RMSEA=0.058; NNFI=0.980; CFI=0.985; Normed X2=1.176.The results demonstrate that, firstly, ease of use modifies the perception of the usefulness of business management software (b1=0.55), but does not directly influence intention to use. Thus, H1 is confirmed and H2 is rejected (Figure 2). PU has a significant effect on intention to use (b3=0.54) and H3 is verified. It must be highlighted that PEOU has an overall effect upon intention of 0.30, due to the indirect influence exerted via PU.With regard to technological compatibility, this positively affects the perception of ease of use (b5=0.95), while its effect upon the percentage of web procurement is not significant. H5 is therefore fulfilled and H7 rejected (Figure 2). The existence of compatibility between the technologies already introduced and the new management software increases the perceived ease of use of the latter and, thus, those firms which have previous experience find it easier to handle the new IT. Nevertheless, such experience has no direct influence upon web procurement. This is probably due to the fact that other factors like the structure and the degree of IT acceptance of the supply market are more relevant when analysing web procurement. This IT depends on the practices within the environment of the firm, so that its use may not be a question of compatibility within the company but compatibility with its network.Compatibility directly and indirectly modifies the intensity of use of management software (0.72 and 0.16, respectively), and H6 is fulfilled. Thus, intensity of use is encouraged by the compatibility existing with IT already familiar to the company.Web procurement modifies the intention to use management software (0.23), while its indirect influence upon intensity of use, although significant, has a very low value (it fails to reach 0.1). H8 is confirmed.Finally, intention to use modifies intensity of use (0.33), and H4 is thereby satisfied. It is important to emphasise the strong explanatory power achieved by the variables introduced into the model, both for intention to use (R2=0.53) and for intensity of use (R2=0.88).\nDiscussion and conclusions: The aim of the present study is to analyse the acceptance of business management software by IT high-tech firms. To this end, we have applied an extended TAM, which includes variables related to previous experience and compatibility with other IT (the internet, e-mail, EDI and web procurement).Firstly, we emphasise that ease of use has a significant effect upon perceived usefulness, which affects intention to use. At the same time, intention to use influences intensity of use. Therefore, PU has a significant influence on behaviour, while ease of use does not directly modify intention to use. The rejection of this relationship is coherent with the basic TAM formulation (Davis et al., 1989) and the results later obtained by other studies (Gefen, 2000; Liu and Wei, 2003), which consider that once the user has adopted the IT and has experience with it, the influence of ease of use on intention only takes place indirectly through PU. In fact, some of the most recent research, aware of its lack of significance, does not even formulate the direct relationship between PEOU and final behaviour (Ahn et al., 2004; Yu et al., 2005). The IT high-tech firms analysed know the management software because it is closely linked with their business activity. Therefore, the most important perception when defining their intention to use is the usefulness that might be acquired through its use. As Keil et al. (1995) concluded, \"no amount of ease of use will compensate for low usefulness\" (p. 89).In addition to the basic TAM perceptions, we have introduced other factors. The first of these is the web procurement that the company undertakes. As our results demonstrate, if a company acquires its products through this channel, it will employ management software more intensively. It would seem logical to think that the firms with a greater predisposition to obtain supplies through the internet, will have more intentions of applying the new IT in their management because they know how to use it and the benefits it brings for their business activities.The second factor incorporated has been termed technological compatibility, and accounts for the influence of the technological knowledge acquired by a company due to the application of some IT that precedes management software. The IT included comprises a spectrum of knowledge too wide to be encompassed in a single factor. As expected, the results demonstrate that its effect is divided into two dimensions, on the basis of the level of complexity of the IT involved, i.e. basic technologies, generally accepted by the majority, and complex technologies, which require a more intensive learning process.We should emphasise the importance which technological compatibility acquires as a concept to explain IT high-tech firms' behaviour. The relations of this factor have the highest values in the model. Thus, prior investment in IT similar to or necessary for the application of new software, encourages the acquisition of knowledge, which will allow the firm to achieve important synergies in their use. The approach applied in this paper brings together the two main currents of research into technological compatibility. On the one hand, we have demonstrated that this variable acts as an antecedent of ease of use, since the development of a technological culture prior to the implementation of management software facilitates its learning. These results are coherent with those of Agarwal and Karahanna (1998), Achjari and Quaddus (2003), and McFarland and Hamilton (2006).On the other hand, we have considered that compatibility has an important direct effect upon the intensity of final use (as seen in Agarwal and Prasad, 1997; Wu and Wang, 2006), because the acceptance of previous IT contributes knowledge and experience that improve the later technological development of the firm and the adoption of new IT. In other words, compared to other variables that only alter final behaviour, compatibility directly affects PEOU and intensity of use, being the most important motivation for continued technological use to take place.\nImplications: Research implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of the paper is to analyse the acceptance of business management software by focusing on high-tech firms dedicated to information technologies and belonging to the service sector (IT high-tech firms).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors have applied an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) which includes variables related to technological compatibility and web procurement. It has been tested through structural equation modelling.\nFindings: - The results show that IT high-tech firms must understand the interrelationships that exist between different information technologies (IT) and must, therefore, acquire technological know-how. This technological knowledge permits firms to improve their perceptions of ease of use and usefulness, obtaining better results when computerising their management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - IT high-tech firms must be aware that investment in a specific IT may affect the subsequent performance of other IT, due to the synergies derived from the application of complementary systems. Therefore, continuous investment in IT encourages the acquisition of technological knowledge that can be exploited in the computerisation of the main organisational functions and lead to greater overall efficiency.\nOriginality/value: - Studies of IT high-tech firms based on behavioural models, such as TAM, are in short supply. An understanding of how firms that produce IT as an output also use it as an input in their productive process, allows us to evaluate the importance of acquiring technological knowledge. Moreover, IT high-tech firms have repercussions in almost all the sectors of the economy because they usually handle the implementation, maintenance and development of IT in other firms.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Artificial intelligence arrives in the library
|
[
"Services",
"Libraries",
"Librarians",
"Artificial intelligence",
"Virtual"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Artificial Intelligence (AI),\" a term first officially coined in the 1950s, but perhaps imagined by some at an even earlier point in time, has reached a position in its continuing development where, today, software is being written to allow it to perform many of the \"human\" tasks initially only dreamt of, into reality. Generations of science fiction readers have their own memories as to what the term means to them and movie fans can rattle off a countless list of the films using AI concepts that have led to a film's conclusion where either the world is saved by it or is nearly destroyed by its power. Today, many rely on answers to questions using AI devices such as Amazon's Echo, Google's Home or Apple's Homepod, all selling at retail for a price reasonably affordable by many consumers. Academic librarians, who have been brought up in a college's research and development-heavy environment, welcomed this development as it is a profession known for accepting cutting edge concepts, of not just information delivery, but technology as well. Will the development and provision of AI become a trend in libraries?\nThe artificial intelligence lab at the University of Rhode Island: A trend must begin somewhere, so, in January 2018, when it was announced that the University of Rhode Island had planned to place its AI lab in its library, there would undoubtedly be great excitement elicited by this news within that academic library community. In its forward thinking manner, the university understood that the background and training of librarians could bring great benefit to the partner projects that would emanate from the installation of such a lab:\nUsing artificial intelligence to influence library services: Not only can AI influence the partnerships the library can enjoy with its colleagues in academe within the areas of research and scholarship, but also librarians have an opportunity to discover the many areas of services it provides to offer further enhancements, and therefore, remain as a progressive hub of technology. More and more, the public's expectation of the library stands as an academic support institution. At Stanford University Business School, for example, the university is:\nSummary: The future implications for AI in libraries can be viewed as exciting and disruptive all at the same time. Disruptive to some because, as it has been argued, the very nature of AI could lead to corrupting the very mission of the library, and perhaps, even reading itself. However, this charge has been leveled at libraries with every new iteration of technology it offers and certainly has led to fascinating debates. Regarding AI, however, the jury is still out, so to speak, on a definitive accounting of at what level the latest technology will eventually affect research and reading. The very disruptive nature of any new technology could be viewed as a threat to many institutions, including the library, but with the eventual acceptance and incorporation of AI into its services, it is certainly possible to speculate that this latest technology \"intrusion\" could offer many potential positive enhancements into a multitude of library services, many of which are only being examined, considered and piloted in its early stages of development.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this column is to examine artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential relationship to the library.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature review and commentary on this topic have been addressed by professionals, researchers and practitioners.\nFindings: The very disruptive nature of any new technology could be viewed as a threat to many institutions, including the library. But with the eventual acceptance and incorporation of AI into its services, it is certainly possible to speculate that this latest technology \"intrusion\" could also offer many potential positive enhancements into a multitude of library services, many of which are only being examined, considered and piloted in their early stages of development.\nOriginality/value: The value in exploring this topic is to present a look at the potential of using AI in the library and to open a discussion of its potential benefits.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Creating cross-functional strategic consensus in manufacturing facilities
|
[
"Survey research",
"Manufacturing management",
"Internal supply chain management processes",
"Organizational information processing theory",
"Strategic consensus"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Manufacturing firms in every industry are increasingly faced with intense global competition. Over four decades ago, Skinner (1969, p. 136) noted that the manufacturing function can be either \"a competitive weapon or a millstone\" because certain properties of the manufacturing function could be exploited for competitive advantage. This advantage could be attained by linking the functional strategies (specifically marketing and manufacturing) with the corporate strategy. Subsequent scholars have refined the manufacturing strategy construct. Hill (1987) viewed manufacturing strategy as a coordinated approach to achieve consistency between functional capabilities and policies for success in the marketplace. Blackstone (2010) defined it as a \"collective pattern of decisions\" regarding the deployment of manufacturing resources. Dangayach and Deshmukh (2001) provide an extensive literature review of research regarding manufacturing strategy.\nResearch model development: Cross-functional strategic consensus\nMethodology: This study was conducted via an online cross-sectional survey of manufacturing facilities in the USA. As in prior OIPT research (Gattiker, 2006; Flynn and Flynn, 1999), the unit of analysis for this study was the individual manufacturing facility, chosen because it represents the smallest grouping within a manufacturing firm that still contains the three focal departments.\nDiscussion: These results exemplify the challenges of research regarding strategic consensus, as highlighted by Kellermanns et al. (2005) and Gonzalez-Benito et al. (2012). The construct labeled as \"strategic consensus\" currently encompasses a variety of definitions, theoretical premises, and contexts. There is much work to be done in future research to clearly conceptualize and define this key construct. Coming to agreement on the definition of \"strategic consensus\" would allow researchers to converge upon appropriate measurement instruments and advance a variety of fields, including but not limited to management, strategy, organizational behavior, and operations management.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and tests a model that plant managers can use to develop cross-functional strategic consensus between purchasing, production, and logistics. The mechanisms studied are grounded in Organizational Information Processing Theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The model is tested using a cross-sectional survey of 120 manufacturing facilities. Path Analysis is used to determine the strength of the relationships and the model fit.\nFindings: The mechanisms studied have a positive effect on the level of cross-functional strategic consensus. Some mechanisms have an effect on consensus on goals, while others have an effect on consensus on priorities. The results suggest that a plant manager must implement these mechanisms in combination to achieve the best result.\nResearch limitations/implications: The survey respondents are all from US manufacturing facilities. Although reasonably representative of the US population of manufacturing firms, results of a similar study in other countries would further refine the knowledge concerning the effects of the mechanisms on developing strategic consensus at the operating level.\nPractical implications: The results of this paper provide plant managers with guidance regarding the mechanisms that can enhance cross-functional strategic consensus. In a hypercompetitive and dynamic environment, these mechanisms can help the Plant Manager create a streamlined and efficient operation.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents practitioners with mechanisms that can promote consensus between key supply chain departments. The results highlight the need to implement combinations of mechanisms in order to address both dimensions of strategic consensus. For academics, it provides an empirical test of antecedents to strategic consensus at the operational level.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Gender and change drivers: an exploratory study
|
[
"Organizational change",
"Change drivers",
"Change management",
"Gender differences"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations continue to face rapid and ongoing change in their external environments, and also continue with a variety of internally planned change initiatives. Yet, successful organizational change remains something of an enigma (Burke, 2008), with estimates of failed change initiatives as high as 80 percent (Kotter, 2008; Sirkin et al., 2005; Lucey, 2008). Prior research (Porras and Hoffer, 1996; Kemelgor et al., 2000) notes, as one challenge in organizational change, the lack of agreement about the efficacy of independent variables, or change drivers, used to implement desired organizational change. \"Change drivers are events, activities, or behaviours that facilitate the implementation of change\" (Whelan-Berry et al., 2003), and are key to successful organizational change. Change drivers are a key resource in terms of facilitating individual employees' adoption of values, attitudes and or behaviors inherent in organizational change initiatives. Examples of change drivers explored in prior research includes leaders' change related actions, change related employee participation, change related training, change related communication, and alignment of human resources practices and or organizational structure and control processes with the change initiative (Whelan-Berry and Somerville, 2010; Somerville, 2009; Longo, 2007; Whelan-Berry et al., 2003).A key aspect in organizational change is the change that must happen on the part of individual employees (Sullivan et al., 2002; Coghlan, 2002; Robertson et al., 1993; Marshak, 1993). Minimal prior work explores whether the effect of change drivers varies based on employee diversity, such as gender, age, race/ethnicity, years of experience, or position. For example, an electronic keyword search of Women in Management Review and Gender in Management journals finds 86 articles that refer to or focus on organizational change in some way, 13 articles that focus on or refer to the change process, and three articles with the phrase \"drive change\", and zero with the words \"change driver\" or \"change drivers\". The papers that focus on organizational change or change process were not focused on understanding the effect of change drivers, the focus of this study. For example, Singh et al. (2006) investigated UK women's corporate networks and found that more senior women were likely to drive change, and Rindfleish and Sheridan (2003) in an Australian study focused on whether women who have achieved higher level positions choose to initiate change of gendered organizational structures or facilitate the entry of other women to higher levels, and found that the women did not engage in such intentional or planned change. Mavin and Grandy (2012) in their theoretical paper focus on doing gender differently and well through culture change, and refer to the change process and what such change might require. This and other such prior research refers to organizational change, but does not explicitly study or test change drivers.Prior research does specifically identify the need to better understand how organizational change may be gendered, as well as need to better understand the change process and various aspects of it (Linstead et al., 2005; Kark, 2004; Paton and Dempster, 2002). This exploratory study seeks to resolve this gap by focusing on change drivers and asking a two-part question:1. Does employee gender affect employees' perception of the significance of change drivers?2. Does employee gender affect the association of these different drivers with employees' individual adoption of the change initiatives?The original study, completed in the corporate audit (CA) department of one of the largest US banks, developed a case over three years. Survey data, gathered at multiple points over the middle 24 months of the study was included as well, along with similarly timed interviews with a small sample of employees. The primary focus of the study was the change process and the optimal allocation of resources or change drivers during that process. In this paper, only two specific initiatives of the overall organizational change are used, both of which changed the audit work processes and had similar timing in terms of implementation. The first of these initiatives involved a reorganization from geography to product in terms of what would be audited by a given team, and the second involved a change in how audit work would be completed - a change to a more iterative and risk-based approach with a fully electronic audit documentation and coordination system. These data allow an exploratory analysis of gender and change drivers, as other demographic characteristics were either not present in the organization (for example, minimal race/ethnic diversity) or data were not gathered (for example, education or past experience with organizational change).This paper first reviews the limited literature on gender and change and change drivers, followed by a summarized review of the literature on change drivers and their link to individual employees' adoption of change initiatives. The methodology is then described. After presenting the data, the discussion first focuses on gender and change drivers, and then focuses on four specific change drivers: change vision, change related communication, change related leadership, and positive outcomes (as a result of the change initiative). The paper provides an empirical exploratory analysis of change drivers and gender, identifying differences that are worthy of further study. The paper concludes with the limitations of this study and possible directions for future research.\nLiterature review: The existing literature on gender and organizational change, and gender and change drivers is more limited, in contrast to the literature on organizational change and change drivers. This paper explicitly focuses on change drivers' relationship with individual employees' adoption of change initiatives.Gender and change\nMethodology: This paper uses data from a larger research project that studied a planned, major organizational change in the CA department of first bank corporation (FBC; a pseudonym), hereafter FBC, one of the 20 largest banks in the USA. The larger project was designed to answer a number of questions about the change process, including questions related to the optimal allocation of resources or change drivers during the change process. It involved three primary data sources:1. the FBC case which tracked the ongoing change implementation;2. survey data gathered from all FBC CA employees at four times; and3. qualitative interviews conducted with a sample of CA employees following each of the first three surveys.This paper uses the case, data from the third survey, and interview data.The FBC case\nCase and data analysis: First an overview of the FBC case is provided and then the two initiatives are described. Then, the results of the data analysis for change drivers and gender and position are presented.FBC, a pseudonym for one of the 20 largest financial/banking institutions in the USA, has more than $80 billion in assets and more than 1,000 locations and 30,000 employees. The research specifically focused on a major department-wide change in the CA department. The banking and finance industry and large banks, like FBC, have faced and continue to face constant, major, and rapid change in the banking and financial industry. The impetus for change was internal resulting from several factors, including industry trends, ongoing analysis of overall FBC CA efficiency and effectiveness, concerns about the CA performance appraisal process, the availability of new technology to support audit processes, and ongoing executive leadership dialogue and reflection. In this paper, the shift to a product structure and the change to a fully automated audit system are used for analysis. These two initiatives were chosen for analysis because the first meant a change in what products and services of the FBC a specific team or individual audit members would audit, and the other changed the how or automated the work process for audits.The LOB initiative\nData analysis and results: Individual adoption of change initiatives\nDiscussion: The data raise a number of points related to change drivers and gender.Gender and change drivers\nLimitations and direction for future research: The analysis of the case did not include all change drivers identified in the literature, in particular:1. changes in human resource performance criteria and systems; and2. leadership turnover, which have also been identified as change drivers (Somerville, 2009), could not be evaluated in this change case.In addition, communication was seen as insufficient in this particular case, and thus further study is needed of a more positive example of change related communication. Further, a more extensive study specifically focused on gender and change drivers would allow exploration of nuances of change drivers and variance by gender that the data in this paper did not allow. Such work could more intentionally build on related work in understanding the change drivers, for example, gender differences in communication and communication related change as a change driver, or whether and how leaders change related actions vary for male and female leaders and then vary as a change driver for male and female employees.The survey questions about the change adoption combined understanding of and adoption of the change initiative. More specific measures could further distinguish change drivers in terms of drivers that create understanding and intent to change work values, attitudes or behaviors, from those change drivers that result in actual changing of the work values, attitudes, or behaviors. These data do not allow a robust exploration of whether the timing of change driver changes creates further differences by gender.Much of the research on change management focuses on top management in terms of leading and managing change. Given that women continue to increase as part of the labor force, these exploratory results that focus on employees and gender and not exclusively on change leadership become a consideration for the ongoing research and practice of change. If change management continues to be handled as it has in the past and if change management is indeed gendered, as other research and this research suggests, change management could become even more challenging. The results do suggest that further work exploring gender and the organizational change process, change management, change drivers is definitely needed.While highlighting a need for further work, our study and analysis of gender was exploratory. Further work could explore gender dynamics in more detail and for a variety of change management issues. This paper supports the need for further research in terms of employee diversity, change drivers and change management. Diversity was not an original primary focus of this study, and our design only included gender; however, differences may exist based on other aspects of diversity.\nConclusion: The paper provides an exploratory analysis of change drivers and gender, and found that the efficacy of change drivers do vary based on gender. The data provide initial evidence that women employees perceive change drivers differently than male employees. As women continue to increase in the workforce, further understanding how gender impacts the management and implementation of change will become even more important. Change remains challenging for organizations and change leaders and effective allocation of change drivers can ease or facilitate the change implementation process. The results suggest change management might be impacted by other employee demographics as well, and thus an understanding of such differences is important to successful change.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Change drivers are events, activities, or behaviors that facilitate the individual adoption of change initiatives and the implementation of organizational change. The purpose of this paper is an exploratory study of whether gender differences exist for change drivers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper involves a three-year study of an organizational change in the banking industry, and uses survey and interview data.\nFindings: - Data show that the mean perceived significance of change drivers to the understanding and adoption of change initiatives by male and female employees is similar and does not vary at a statistically significant level. Statistically significant gender differences do exist in terms of the relationship between change drivers and employees' reported individual adoption of change initiatives. Qualitative data from the interviews support those quantitative findings, showing gender differences in how change drivers are perceived; differences in change-related vision, leadership, communication and positive outcomes as drivers are discussed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is an exploratory study and needs to be replicated with other organizational changes in a variety of industries with varied employee demographics and differences in change leadership gender.\nPractical implications: - Change drivers are a form of resource allocation. Better understanding of gender differences in terms of the perception of and significance of change drivers to individual employees' understanding and adoption of change initiatives can result in more effective allocation of resources by change leaders.\nOriginality/value: - Very limited prior research explores gender or other demographic differences for change drivers. This research provides an empirical study of gender and change drivers and extends prior research on change drivers and the change process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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How to inspire customers via social media
|
[
"Customer inspiration",
"Social media",
"Vividness of ads",
"Media richness",
"Social influence",
"Promotion focus"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recently, social media has emerged as a new communication channel enabling customers to share data, create contents and generate thoughts (Kietzmann et al., 2011). Many companies have included social media in their marketing strategies (Zhang et al., 2017), and have expended tremendous efforts on using social media to advertise their brands and products. For instance, Bottger et al. (2017) explained how Pinterest, a major social media website in America and \"the world's catalogue of ideas\", has inspired customers. By displaying products \"in use\" (e.g. cooking recipes, DIY instructions), Pinterest provides its customers with new possibilities for consumption that they may not have thought of before. It stimulates customers' imagination and motivates them to make purchases following those ideas. Seventy percent of Pinterest users have said that being 'inspired by what to purchase' was their primary reason for using this social media site (Silver et al., 2012). As a result, Pinterest has had a high conversion rate for sales. The Pinterest example illustrates that social media have become a critical source of customer inspiration, which has boosted customers' purchasing intention.Knowing how to inspire customers is essential to marketers, as the aim of marketing is to utilise advertisements and other means of communication to elicit customers' imagination, broaden their mental horizons and inspire them to take actions in relation to advertised products and services (e.g. making purchases) (Khan and Ghouri, 2018). Customer inspiration is described as 'a customer's temporary motivational state that facilitates the transition from obtaining a marketing-induced idea to the intrinsic pursuit of a consumption-related goal' (cf. Bottger et al., 2017, pp. 116). As social media is becoming prevalent, understanding the source and consequences of customer inspiration via social media is important for both researchers and marketers. However, little has been done to empirically examine customer inspiration in the social media context. Specifically, the process through which customers become inspired and motivated by social media to purchase the advertised products remains elusive. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to explore factors influencing customer inspiration via social media and to examine the impact of customer inspiration on customers' behavioral intention.Drawing upon theories from information systems and marketing, we extend the conceptualization of customer inspiration into social media marketing and identify the antecedents of customer inspiration from three perspectives: informational, social and personal. Specifically, we identify the vividness of ads (Pfeiffer and Kirkegaard, 2005) and media richness (Daft et al., 1987) as two informational factors that influence customer inspiration in social media marketing. Following the theory of regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997), we propose promotion focus as a personal characteristic that influences customer inspiration in social media marketing. We also acknowledge the unique feature of sociability of social media and propose social influence as a social factor contributing to customer inspiration. We propose a research model on customer inspiration in social media and test the model via large-scale survey.Our research aims to contribute to the literature by (1) extending the customer inspiration framework into the social media context; (2) examining both the source of customer inspiration and characteristics of customers being inspired to identify factors influencing customers inspiration in social media; (3) empirically investigating the role of customers inspiration on behavioral intention. The results of this study can also shed lights to companies embarking on social media marketing to advertise and promote their products or services.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Inspiration and customer inspiration\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Summary\n5. Conclusions: Recently, companies have recognised the enormous power of social media to inspire customers and have increasingly utilised various social media systems to advertise and promote their offerings. This study has provided strong empirical evidence of how companies can inspire their customers to purchase by evoking customer inspiration. The results suggest that the vividness of ads, social influence and promotion focus are important factors that cause customers to become inspired and thus foster their buying intentions. This study provides the first evidence of customer inspiration in social media and therefore has significant implications for both research and practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Social media has emerged as a new marketing channel and an important source for customer inspiration. Understanding the sources and consequences of customer inspiration via social media is important for both researchers and marketers. However, little has been done to empirically examine customer inspiration in the social media context. Specifically, the process through which customers become inspired and motivated by social media to purchase the advertised products remains elusive. Therefore, this study extends the conceptualisation of customer inspiration into the social media context, and explores the antecedents of customer inspiration from three perspectives: informational, social and personal. This study also examines the impact of customer inspiration on customers' behavioral intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey methodology was used and data from 679 respondents were collected in China. To examine the hypothesized relationships, partial least squares (PLS) was used to analyse the data and Smart PLS 3.0 was used for data analysis.\nFindings: The study findings demonstrated that the vividness of ads, social influence and promotion focus had positive impacts on the \"inspired-by state\", and subsequently the \"inspired-to state\", which in turn positively influenced customers' purchasing intentions. However, media richness has a negative impact on the \"inspired-by state\".\nOriginality/value: This study provides the first evidence of customer inspiration via social media and examines its antecedents and consequences. Practically, this study offers useful guidelines and suggestions for firms on how to inspire customers using social media.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Workgroup diversity: Surface-level actual similarity and deep-level perceived similarity in leader-member relationship communication
|
[
"Performance measurement",
"Multilevel",
"LMX",
"Group",
"Leader-member communication",
"Perceived similarity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory assumes that the relationship quality between a workgroup leader and a workgroup member has a direct effect on the performance ratings of the workgroup member. However, prior research has pointed out that the direction of such performance ratings is not straightforward. Extant research is also unclear about the specific conditions that link leader-member relationships and workgroup member performance. While some LMX research suggests that the actual and perceived similarity of workgroup leaders and members relates to higher quality relationships (and eventually leads to higher performance ratings given by the leaders; Nahrgang et al., 2009), other studies find no support for the similarity association between performance ratings and leader-member workgroup relationships (Martin et al., 2016).\nTheoretical background and hypothesis: Leader-member dyadic communication\nHypothesis development: The interaction between surface-level actual similarity and leader-member dyadic communication agreement\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Primary analyses\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\nConclusion: In summary, this study examines how communication, relational norms, and perceived similarity moderate the relationship between leader-member dyadic communication agreement and group member performance evaluations in a Malaysian organization. By examining organizations in Malaysia, this study adds to the growing body of intercultural communication research in Southeast Asia, which, to date, remains a comparatively understudied region (e.g. Bakar and McCann, 2014; Ota et al., 2012). Finally, this research highlights the importance of taking a truly dyadic approach in both theory and methodology. Our analysis provides a number of insights into the importance of relational-norm congruence and its effect on the relationship between leader-member dyadic communication and perceived similarity and performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether surface-level actual similarity interacts with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at earlier time periods in a work group's development. Additionally, this research examines whether deep-level perceived similarity interacts with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at later time periods in a work group's development. The relationship between shared cultural context and perceived and actual similarity is also investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research analyzes longitudinal data from the study questionnaires at five occasions in a Malaysian organization.\nFindings: Results based on a sample of 28 group projects and 141 matching dyad who completed the study questionnaires at 5 occasions reveal that there is no interaction between workgroup relational ethnicity and workgroup relational gender with leader-member dyadic agreement at early time periods in a workgroup's development. Therefore, H1 is not supported. H2 posited that deep-level perceived similarity will interact with leader-member dyadic communication agreement in predicting group member performance ratings at later time periods in a workgroup's development. H2 is supported. Results reveal that the interaction between leader-member dyadic communication agreement and perceived similarity explains 36 percent of the variance of perceived group members' performance ratings. This is after accounting for the control variable and the independent variables. From a cultural standpoint, the findings in this study underscore that conversations based on the Malaysian cultural norm of \"budi\" reflect not only a cultural basis of communication, but also that this shared cultural context leads to perceived similarity between ethnic Malay, Chinese, and Indians, and also both genders in the Malaysian workplace.\nResearch limitations/implications: Leader-member dyadic communication agreement reflects the social appropriateness and relationship quality between individuals, as well as the context of the leader-member workgroup interactions. The findings of this study underscore the premise that conversations reflect not only a cultural basis of communication, but also that shared cultural context leads to perceived similarity. This study specifically examines the role of ethnicity in Malaysia organizational workgroup (e.g. ethnic Malay, Chinese Malay, and Indian Malay) as well as gender.\nOriginality/value: This study systematically examines the influence of actual and perceived similarity in leader-member dyadic communication from a longitudinal and multilevel standpoint.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Assessing environmental competencies of primary education pre-service teachers in Spain: A comparative study between two universities
|
[
"Education for sustainable development",
"Environmental education",
"Higher education",
"Teacher education",
"Teacher development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The professional preparation and performance of teachers is the cornerstone for the appropriate functioning of schools; it is the factor that most affects the quality of school education (Hattie, 2003; OECD, 2005; Barber and Mourshed, 2007). It is therefore not surprising that any strategy aimed at integrating environmental education (EE) into the school system considers teacher training as one of its main strategic elements, and it was defined as the \"priority of priorities\" in the United Nations Programme (UNESCO-UNEP, 1990).\nTheoretical framework: The new challenges and objectives of school as educational institution arise from its role as mediator of the new knowledge and skills required to make current society (Southwell, 2013). Basic knowledge, that school should transmit, has passed from the \"basic literacy\" to a new and more complex literacies that teachers must face and that pass, largely, on their own literacy and training.\nMethodology: Participants\nCoding of the answers and data analysis: To correctly process the data, the values of some variables (indicated below) were refined, recoded and reversed. The questions that measured the environmental knowledge of the participants in relation to EC1 were recoded with value 1 for correct answers and 0 for incorrect answers. The minimum and maximum possible values ranged between 0 and 15, respectively. To set the levels of the total number of correct responses, it was calculated and established, from the frequencies of correct responses and the cut-off points for each category, so that the accumulative percentage of each answer was approximately one-third of the total. According to these, three levels of knowledge were identified:\nResults: Competencies related to environmental knowledge\nDiscussion: This research is a comparative study between final year pre-service teachers who study in two universities with varying degrees of curriculum greening - the UoBI as an example of SEOSP and the UoG as an example of HEOSP. The statistical tests applied in relation to EC revealed that there is no difference between the students of both universities. This indicates that, in general terms, Spanish universities are not influencing the promotion of these competencies among prospective teachers.\nConclusions and limits of the study: An environmentally educated person, a person with the ECs needed to participate in the resolution of environmental problems, is one who acts in favour of the environment (Roth, 1992). Achieving this involvement is the ultimate goal of EE (UNESCO-UNEP, 1978). The results do not support the conclusion that future primary teachers enrolled in the classes examined in this study have acquired these competencies. If teachers lack the knowledge, attitudes and skills and commitment to act in favour of the environment, they are unlikely to encourage their students to be environmentally literate citizens (NAAEE, 2010; Hollweg et al., 2011). New greening curricula designed in the process of convergence to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have little weight in the acquisition of EC among students of DPE, as it seems to point out the fact that there are no significant differences in the acquisition of ECs among students in the two studied universities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In this paper, the results of an investigation aimed at analysing and comparing the environmental competences of future teachers undergoing training in two universities are presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the difference in the acquisition of environmental competences amongst two groups of students enrolled in two universities with different levels of introduction of the environmental education (EE) and sustainability contents in their curriculums. This objective is inserted into a wider finality: to provide recommendations regarding the redesign of pre-service teacher training curricula and learning programmes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A specifically designed questionnaire was used in this study to analyse the environmental competencies of students in the final year of their degree in primary education in two Spanish universities. One of them had a highly environmentally oriented programme, and the other had a scarcely environmentally oriented programme.\nFindings: Results show that no significant differences were observed in the results related to the greening level of the training programmes. Pre-service teachers have insufficient environmental knowledge, but with quite positive, responsible attitudes towards environmental issues, and pro-environmental actions that could be categorised as moderate. Results point to the need for further and better pre-service teacher training in environmental issues.\nOriginality/value: One of the main factors in the appropriate treatment of EE in schools is teacher training. Despite this principle being widely recognised, not all pre-service teacher training programmes adequately address EE. The added value of this paper is the comparison established between the students that followed a degree with a high impact of the environmental competences in its curriculum and another one that has very few references to these competences in the curriculum.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Validating a framework of stakeholders in connection to business sustainability efforts in supply chains
|
[
"Supply chain",
"Business sustainability",
"Stakeholder",
"Networks"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The impact that companies have on the physical environment, society and the economy is inarguable. This impact is visible in widespread economic hardship, inequality between members of society and a deteriorating physical environment. According to Evans and Sawyer (2010), companies are still being driven by the profit objective, but changes in economic, societal and environmental conditions have led to a situation where profitability is not the sole objective of many of these companies anymore. White (2009) also contends that the expectation that companies should be accountable and act sustainably towards the environment are becoming much more pronounced.\nBusiness sustainability in context: Different perspectives on business sustainability and related practices of companies in the marketplace, society and in their business networks are presented. The section also makes reference to extant literature and frameworks addressing sustainability.\nFraming the company's stakeholders: The section addresses the theory, categorisation and relationship benefits associated with the company's stakeholders in relation to the sustainability efforts of the company in the marketplace, society and in their business networks.\nStakeholders and business sustainability efforts in Spanish companies: Previous research in corporate Spain on the relationship between companies and their stakeholders has proven to be important. Countless studies on the connections between stakeholders and business sustainability efforts have been conducted in Spanish companies (Alvarez-Gil et al., 2007; Plaza-Ubeda et al., 2009; Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito, 2010; Plaza-Ubeda et al., 2010; Priego et al., 2014; Agudo-Valiente et al., 2015; Retolaza et al., 2015; Herrera Madueno et al., 2016). A common denominator reported in these studies is that stakeholders really do influence companies, and thus, managers must manage relationships with stakeholders appropriately to gain insight into the market and societal environment.\nMethodology: This study is based primarily on the stakeholder framework and the empirical findings reported by Svensson et al. (2016), but also draws on the diversity of findings in a series of previous studies, all of which have revealed numerous aspects relevant to companies' efforts at business sustainability. These findings have been derived from qualitative approaches, such as case studies (Dos Santos et al., 2013; Hogevold and Svensson, 2012; Hogevold et al., 2014; Svensson et al., 2016, Svensson and Wagner, 2011, 2012 and 2015; Wagner and Svensson, 2014). This study applies a quantitative approach to test the validity and reliability of the findings reported in these studies.\nEmpirical findings: The corporate characteristics of the sample are summarised in Table I, which indicates that the nature of business of the Spanish organisations in this study transcends across industries and sectors of the economy. Consequently, the sample represents a broad spectrum of Spanish organisations.\nResearch implications: Several studies have recently been reported within a business sustainability context, such as: case studies that provide meaningful and valuable contextual insights into this matter (Cambra-Fierro and Ruiz-Benitez, 2011; Dos Santos, 2011; Hogevold, 2011; Hogevold and Svensson, 2012; Svensson and Wagner, 2011, 2012); and models to frame stakeholder considerations, related to the context, and sources, related to the process, (Wagner and Svensson, 2014).\nManagerial implications: Because of changes in economic, societal and environmental conditions, companies should drive their efforts not solely in terms of the profit objective. Managers should also undertake their activities in ways that are much more responsible with respect to the environment and society. Thus, chief executive officers should consider sustainability as a competitive advantage which contributes significantly to strengthening its strategic position.\nConclusions and contribution: This study has been performed among large companies across industries and sectors in Spain. The first research objective of this study was to determine the extent to which companies' efforts aiming at sustainable business practices consider different stakeholders within their organisations and business networks, the marketplace and society.\nSuggestions for further research: The current study contributes to the validation of a framework of stakeholders in supply chains in connection with business sustainability efforts within focal companies, their business networks, the marketplace and society (Svensson et al., 2016). Nevertheless, further studies are needed to verify the validity and reliability of the empirical findings across contexts and over time. Studies in non-European and non-Western countries would provide a complementary contribution to further assess the validity and reliability and, in extension, generality of the five dimensions of stakeholders.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the extent to which companies' efforts aimed at sustainable business practices consider stakeholders in their organisations and business networks, the marketplace and society; and to validate or refute a stakeholder framework of business sustainability efforts within focal companies, the marketplace, society and business networks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a questionnaire survey targeting large companies across industries and sectors in Spain. The sample consisted of 231 companies generating a useable response rate of 38.5 per cent. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on a cross-industry sample to test a five-dimensional framework.\nFindings: This study reports on the validation of initial and refined factor solutions. The factor analysis confirmed five stakeholder dimensions related to business sustainability efforts of organisations, their business networks, marketplace and society. The validated results indicate satisfactory convergent, discriminant and nomological validity and reliability through time and across contexts.\nResearch limitations/implications: The stakeholder framework in connection with business sustainability efforts in supply chains consisting of five factors was validated: the focal company, downstream stakeholders, societal stakeholders, market stakeholders and upstream stakeholders. Suggestion for further research is provided.\nPractical implications: The validated framework of stakeholders allows an insight into the environment in which stakeholders operate and how they influence the focal company.\nOriginality/value: The manuscript contributes to the validation of a stakeholder framework of business sustainability efforts within focal companies, their business networks, the marketplace and society. The measurement properties provide support for acceptable validity and reliability across contexts and through time.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
An investigation into respiratory health problems of workers at stone crushing industries in Bangladesh
|
[
"Bangladesh",
"Respiratory problems",
"Spirometry",
"Silicosis",
"Lung fibrosis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Occupational exposure to dust is a major concern for the health safety of workers in developing countries. The workplace health hazard and safety issues get less attention in public health discourse, academic debates and health policies in Bangladesh. This study investigates the respiratory health problems among workers in stone crushing industries in Lalmonirhat district, about 360 km north of Dhaka, the capital of the country. It also explores the extent and nature of respiratory health problems among workers.\nMethods: This cross-sectional descriptive research was conducted by adopting a multi-method approach. It was approved by the Ethical Review Committee from the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine. Data were collected by using a questionnaire survey, in-depth interview and spirometric examinations between July and August 2016.\nResults: There are 26 stone crushing plants in Burimari Land Port area of Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat. About 600 workers are engaged in the plants. Of them, 240 permanent workers took part in the research. The majority (48.80 percent) of the respondents were aged between 26 and 35 years. Of them, 76.70 percent were male and 23.30 percent were female. The majority of the respondents (52.50 percent) were smokers while 47.50 percent were non-smokers. It was found that 28.30 percent of respondents worked at stone crushing sites for 12 months or less; 32.50 percent worked for 13-36 months; 35.00 percent for 37-60 months; and 4.20 percent for more than 60 months. On average, the respondents worked at the plants for 34.18 months. Of them, 74.2 percent worked eight hours a day, while 20.00 percent worked for 10 hours and only 5.80 percent worked six hours a day. Overall, the findings show that coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing and tightness of chest are the main problems related to respiration developed in the respondent's body. According to Figure 1, coughing is the most prevalent respiratory problem among the workers. About 28.33 percent (68) of the workers suffered from cough, 4.58 percent (11) from shortness of breath, 2.29 percent (7) from wheeze and 1.68 percent (4) from tightness of chest. It is notable that 63.12 percent of the workers did not suffer from any respiratory problems.\nDiscussion: Findings show that coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing and tightness of chest are the main problems related to respiration developed in the workers' bodies. It also reveals that chronic exposure to dust at stone crushing plants increase the risk of respiratory problems and impaired lung function of workers. The prevalence of restrictive types of respiratory problem is higher compared to obstructive types of problems. Obstructive types of respiratory problems are developed due to COPD and silicosis. A simple chest X-ray can differentiate between COPD and silicosis. On the other hand, restrictive types of respiratory problems develop due to bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory issues. According to the results, there is a significant relation between the pulmonary function of participants and duration of work. It also reveals that there is a significant relation between respiratory problems and inhalation of dusts and cigarette smoking, while smoking habits and personal protection against dust/use of PPE are also highly correlated with pulmonary functions. Additionally, occupational exposure to dust can also affect other organs. There is a possible link between dust inhalation and skin problems[13], cardiovascular deaths[14] and heart disease[15].\nConclusion: Chronic exposure to dust at stone crushing plants may increase the risk of respiratory problems and impaired lung function. Employers lacking in appropriate safety measures against dust are at higher risk of the problem. The risk is high among the workers who smoke cigarettes. Exposure to dust and smoking for long periods of time can develop silicosis in the human body. The symptoms of silicosis include fever, cough and shortness of breath, weight loss, respiratory insufficiency, heart failure and, finally, death. It may often cause chronic cough-like symptoms, but not tuberculosis. Raising awareness of the workers could reduce the health hazard of the worker. The government should make a national policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis so that primary prevention can be ensured. Raising awareness of the workers and plant owners could reduce the health hazard. The government should make a national policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis. The results would help to raise awareness of the issue.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: Occupational exposure to dust is a major health and safety concern for workers in developing countries. Such laborers are often exposed to dust without being aware of its threat to their health. In the process of crushing stone, mineralogical materials are released into the environment. The material includes dust, fumes, ashes or other industrial waste which may constitute toxic elements. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the respiratory health problems of stone crushing industry workers in Bangladesh.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional descriptive research study was conducted by adopting a multi-method approach. Data were collected by use of a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, in-depth interview and spirometric examinations. Focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys were conducted among 240 workers. The respondents were divided in six groups for the spirometric examination. The questionnaire was formulated by following standards set by the American Thoracic Society Division of Lung Disease questionnaire and European Coal and Steel Community. Data on respondent's height, weight and smoking habits were collected by using a structured checklist. Meanwhile, lung functions were assessed by spirometry. A Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyze the data.\nFindings: The results show that there was a significant relation between respiratory problems and inhalation of dust and particulate matter and cigarette smoking. It also shows that coughing was the most common problem among the respondents. The majority of respondents suffered from obstructive types of respiratory problems.\nOriginality/value: Findings of the study reveals that chronic exposure to dust at stone crushing plants increases the risk of respiratory problems and the impaired lung function of workers. It also reveals that there is a significant relation between respiratory problems and inhalation of dusts and cigarette smoking. Raising awareness about health risks amongst workers could reduce these health hazards. The government should make a national policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis. The results would help to raise awareness of the issue. Finally, it would raise awareness on respiratory health problems of workers at stone crushing industries in Bangladesh and help the government to make a policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis, and thus enhancing public health policy and practices in the country.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Decision making process of community organic food consumers: an exploratory study
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Organic foods",
"Trust",
"Canada"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: The last two decades were driven by two major trends in the agriculture industry:1. an increase in food-related diseases such as mad-cow disease and bird flu; and2. an increase in the use of genetically modified food.The organic farming \"industry\" eliminates a number of concerns that consumers hold towards conventional food production. This industry integrates all aspect of a pesticide-fertilizer free production process using specific standards and is subject to a rigorous certification system. Moreover, this industry is one of the fastest growing areas of the food market in Europe, the USA and Australia. Many countries show growth rates of 20 to 30 percent annually (Lampkin, 1999). Levels of growth have important implications for this specific market in terms of certification procedures, the reforming of the whole supply chain and the need for deep organic consumer knowledge (Kristallis and Chryssohoidis, 2005).The traditional marketing approach and specifically consumer marketing theory are not sufficiently prepared to handle the advent of new types of consumers such as organic food (OF) consumers. These consumers are looking for more than a product, i.e. they are looking for different added values linked to the product (Baker, 2003). Moreover, the literature to date is of great interest but offers little insight into the influence of the development stage of an organic food market (and its characteristics) on the ranking of motives to buy organic food. Organic food consumers could thus be studied under two perspectives:1. big cities where organic products are available and where trust is based mainly on consumers' knowledge of the certification process; and2. community setting where trust is based on the relationship between the farmer and the consumer.This new market reality is here carefully explored.The paper starts with a discussion of the literature surrounding the organic food consumers and the factors that affect organic food purchases. The methodology section describes the data collection and analysis procedures used. The results are then presented, followed by a discussion underlining the major findings. Last, a conclusion presents the majors points and the limits of this exploratory study.\nConceptual background: Organic versus natural and environmetal\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Focus groups interviews were analyzed using content analysis. This technique, i.e. content analysis, allows the researcher to include large amounts of textual information, methodically identify its properties by detecting the more important structures of its content, and determines the frequencies of most used keywords. Hence, we started by analyzing the content of the five themes defined in Table I.What is organic?\nDiscussion: This study provides mainly theoretical implications. It contributes to the actual body of literature by providing an in-depth understanding on how organic food consumers in small communities behave, and proposing a conceptual model of decision making with regard to OF. A discussion about what is organic, OF identification, motivation, trust, and distribution issues follows.This study reveals that the standard definition of OF has to be revisited and it should read:OF is a product that has been produced without using pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, or GMOs. Further, compared to regular products, OF products are tastier, more nutritious, colorful, look fresh and not uniform, and lastly it is not only produced locally but also not mass produced. OFs are marketed using the shortest channel hence favoring local products over national/international products. This helps sustaining local communities and local farmers.This is mainly rooted in consumers' attitudes, motivations, and knowledge with regard to OF. First of all RC and non-RC have two different recognition schemes. These schemes are based on point of purchase differentiation, i.e. specialty stores versus conventional groceries stores, and product categories, i.e. non-packaged food versus canned or wrapped food. Second, issues related to knowledge clearly influence the way consumers buy. For instance, non-RC professing their willingness to buy OF may actually not do so because of price differentials and valued benefits in OF consumption. Moreover, RC argue that the value of consuming OF outweighs the cost of buying them hence taking over price sensitivity.The study also reveals that both RC and non-RC consumers consider health as the most important reason for buying OF. Having said that, there is an important sustainability consciousness argument that drives consumers' choice. This is more specifically in line with the idea of supporting local community, which did not appear in previous studies (Roddy et al., 1994; Baker et al., 2002; Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002; Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002). Compared to Hamzaoui and Zahaf (2006) this study also shows clearly that the city size moderates the effect of some variables. Small communities tend to favor more their local economy and hence support local OF products. This is also explained with the low penetration rate of OF product in major superstore shelves in small communities; the OF channels structure is too short, i.e. it is a direct channel: OF marketed directly to consumers; and the low level of trust toward superstores and big companies versus farmers.Distribution, certification and labelling are all somehow linked to consumers' confidence and level of trust when consuming OFs. Consumers emphasize the importance of certification standards, even though they still do not know to what degree the Canadian certification process is controlled, and would like to know more about it. This also explains the close and direct link between farmers and consumers at the community level.Finally, we propose a conceptual model that summarizes our findings and position our study in the current literature. We have shown that OF consumers' decision-making process is partly based on elements pertaining to green consumer behaviour models. The model has an integrative and complex structure because it integrates consumer behaviour variables as well as macro-variables. The decision-making process of OF consumers is not only rooted in how, what and why consumers buy/don't buy OF but also in more macro-environmental forces such as support for local farmer which lead to sustainable communities. This might be even a more pronounced or noticeable tendency in smaller cities.\nConclusion: In conclusion, given the increasing demand for organic food, analyzing and understanding the behaviour of community market OF consumers is no longer a marginal issue. This research adds new components to the definition of what an OF product is, as perceived by these consumers. Nevertheless, results indicate that consumers lack deeper knowledge with regards to OF products. Conducting in-depth interviews through focus groups led us to the major contributions of this study namely, OF consumers' main motivations, attitudes towards the OF industry and trust with regard to OF products, labelling and certification process in community markets. The findings of our research underlines that cultural values cause consumers to give priority to different values and means of achieving those values when making the decision to buy organic food. The study also enables us to develop a deeper understanding of consumers' motivations and attitudes that can help marketers define and adjust their positioning, distribution and communication of organic food offer which seems to differ from community markets to urban markets.One important limitation of this research is the data collection that was conducted in one location not taking into account the situation in other provinces (except an urban city in a previous study), thus highlighting the necessity to extend this research to other small communities and major urban city centers in different provinces. This study being exploratory, the results are only a spring-board for future research in an area growing in theoretical and practical importance. Deepening the understanding of organic consumers' decision making process on one hand, and on the other hand addressing implications of the consumption food behaviour for the marketing practitioner and public policies should be addressed by conducting conclusive studies using quantitative approaches.\nManagerial implications and applications: It is clear that the organic industry is moving from a niche market industry to a mainstream industry. Several distribution and pricing issues still need to be addressed. Our study provides insights to marketers and managers on how to market organic food products in a new emerging market identified as community organic food market. Moreover, community organic food consumers have specific needs and behave differently from standard organic food consumers. These consumers care less about price when it comes to buying locally produced food. Further they look for the shortest channel of distribution for two main reasons, they want to:1. buy directly from farmers to strengthen their trust relationship; and2. minimize the food mileage problem.It is clear that the traditional marketing approach can not handle the advent of new types of consumers such as community organic food consumers.For marketers, as well as for organic food producers and retailers, there is here an explanation of major barriers/motives that limit/enhance the demand for organic food in community markets; a description of the structure of the community organic food markets; and a proposition of a decision making model for small community OF consumers that depicts the major steps involved in OF purchases. Further, this deeper understanding of community organic food consumers, their perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge will help marketers define a more specific strategy for positioning, communication, pricing and distribution of organic food within the food chain, and to develop activities that focus on capitalizing on the strength of the linkages between organic food attributes and relevant personal and psychographic characteristics. This will in turn help to understand the implications of the consumer food consumption behaviour theory on issues like trust in the source of organic foods.Finally, this will also have direct implications at the provincial and federal levels in terms not only of certification and labelling but also in terms of sustainable community development, i.e. help local farmers and producers competing in the actual market.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Substantial changes in the organic food sector and recent studies on the Canadian organic food market are showing promising trends. However, community organic food markets are different from organic food mainstream markets. In a domain growing in theoretical and practical importance, the main objective of this paper is to develop an understanding and analysis of \"community organic food market\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Focus groups were conducted and data collected were analyzed using content analysis.\nFindings: - Five main themes emerged and brought contributions in terms of: organic food definition and recognition, organic food consumers' motivations, trust with regard to organic food, labeling and certification process, organic food distribution channels, and the proposition of a conceptual model of decision making with regard to organic food consumers in small communities.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Data collection was conducted in only one small community location and should be extended to other small communities as well as urban city centers.\nPractical implications: - This study provides some insights to managers in terms of the market mix and target marketing of organic food niche markets.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores the difference between an organic food mainstream market and an organic food niche/community market using a consumer behaviour perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Management - decision and interpretation
|
[
"Management technique",
"Rhetoric",
"Influence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There has been a recent interest in the relation between rhetoric and management. This is based on the idea that rhetoric is about persuasion and management is about persuading people to do things in one way rather than another. The underlying assumption is that persuasion rather than coercion is the way to manage. Again, this has to do with changes in the conception of management. When scientific management hold sway it was all easy, because you only had to secure higher pay for the actions you as manager wanted, then they would be forthcoming. The relation between worker and management was in that paradigm determined solely by the economic and financial facts in that relation. If you wanted quality and that paid you would get it. With the demise of scientific management things changed and there was a place for rhetoric. Soft talk would matter, and the talk of money was not the only type of talk or the only language that management could speak.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the main characteristics of the model of persuasive management, comparing it with the model of scientific management and the model of rational management. The paper also offers a model of management education based on the education of leaders in the classical world, which involves three kinds of abilities: skills of persuasion (rhetoric), knowledge and practice of virtues (protreptics), and knowledge of science, society and conceptual and practical instruments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach taken is a conceptual and historical analysis.\nFindings: - The paper finds the identification of the characteristics of persuasive management, and the skills that it requires.\nOriginality/value: - Beyond the scope of many research papers, the paper offers a systematic view of the aspects of management that involve persuasion.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
IAS-38 disclosure compliance and corporate governance: evidence from an emerging market
|
[
"Corporate governance",
"Intangible assets",
"Mandatory disclosure",
"IAS 38"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This study investigates the possible corporate governance attributes that can influence companies in Ghana to disclose intangible assets in their annual reports to stakeholders. International Accounting Standard (IAS, 38), require business organizations to recognize intangible assets in their statement of financial position. The author chose to analyze the requirements of IAS 38 because of the importance of assessing and reporting intangible assets to the users, on one hand, and the interest showed lately by the studies on IFRS implementation on the other hand. It is expected that entities disclose detailed information on intangible assets, in the context of their increasing importance. IAS 38 is one of the most innovative standards both in theory and in terms of performance impact (Teodori and Veneziani, 2010). Patel and Narain (2009) posit that firms with higher levels of intangible assets fared better during the recent financial crisis.\n2. Theoretical framework and literature review: 2.1 Disclosure theories\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Levels of IAS 38 compliance\n5. Conclusion: This paper uses agency theory to study the relationship between corporate governance attributes and compliance with IAS 38 requirements. A data set from 110 firms in Ghana for the year 2016 was used. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the disclosure of intangible asset information index. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis, which forms the main data analysis method. This report provides evidence of the actual information provided by companies in Ghana about their intangible assets. More specifically, it captures both the accounting for and the disclosures provided by the sample firms under IAS 38.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the possible corporate governance attributes that can influence companies in Ghana to disclose intangible assets in their annual reports to stakeholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A data set from 110 firms in Ghana for the year ending of 2016 was used. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the disclosure of intangible asset information index. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis, which forms the main data analysis method.\nFindings: A large proportion of companies disclosed that the useful lives of intangible assets (either acquired or internally generated) are finite and also disclosed their useful lives or the amortisation rates used. Auditor type, industry type and leverage were the factors influencing the compliance with IAS 38 disclosure requirements.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study in Ghana that considered the impact of corporate governance factors on IAS 38 information disclosures. This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure by showing that the disclosure of intangible asset information in Ghana is associated with Auditor type, industry type and leverage.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
"There is total silence here" Ethical competence and inter-organizational learning in healthcare governance
|
[
"Healthcare",
"Management",
"Governance",
"Inter-organizational learning",
"Ethical competence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the last decades a series of actions and reforms have been introduced to increase cost efficiency and improve quality in Swedish healthcare. For instance, a market-inspired organizational model in the self-governing county councils has been implemented and the number of publicly funded private providers has increased. General management reforms have been implemented in the care-providing organizations. The quality measurement and audit has also increased, and quality measurement and audits now influence how organizations and work processes are designed (see e.g. Power, 2003; Sahlin, 2017); hence, standardized work processes have become an ideal. Also, the administrative control system has expanded (see e.g. Forssell and Ivarsson Westerberg, 2014). In fact, those reforms have led to a transformation of the healthcare system and a cultural change. Business parlance and management principles have become the basis for healthcare management and governance. Arguably, this development threatens to undermine important prerequisites for taking ethical responsibility. In Sweden, the county/region of Stockholm has pushed the market-inspired and business-oriented development the furthest.\nPrevious research: In the fields of political science and public administration there has been an extensive debate since the 1970s regarding the importance of ethics as they relate to the civil servant role. Among other things, responsible administration requires a solid knowledge base and objectiveness, a willingness to act impartially, and an ability to make good decisions (see e.g. Cooper, 2012; Lundquist, 2011, 2012; Plant, 2013). In recent years, the concept of ethical competence has also been analysed in relation to public service leadership (e.g. Cooper and Menzel, 2013; Plant, 2013).\nResearch questions: Yet politicians, civil servants and CEOs have different organizational affiliations, mandates, roles and tasks, which may present challenges when it comes to collaborating and defining common ethical responsibilities. In the county/region of Stockholm, the current organization is functionally divided, so that politicians and civil servants are responsible for ordering healthcare, and the caregiver organizations are responsible for delivering it. A care agreement that caregivers cannot easily influence regulates the caregivers' commitment. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the ethical problems within the healthcare provider organizations, at least the essential parts, stem from the regional level of governance and management. It is also reasonable to suppose that the decisions made by the three key groups of actors and the extent to which they collaborate to defend ethical values can either facilitate or obstruct work performed at the clinical level. Therefore, the politicians, chief civil servants and CEOs are the main focus of this paper. The intention is to examine what individual and collective ethical competence they have developed and used. The present (qualitative) study takes an organizational pedagogical point of departure, which is suitable when analysing ethical competence related to different tasks and responsibilities - and the conditions for the development and use of such competence - within a specific organizational context.\nTheoretical framework: Ethics concerns issues of \"good\" and \"bad\" and \"right\" and \"wrong\" in human co-existence. Generally speaking, ethical responsibility (to ground all decisions in ethical consideration to ensure that ethical requirements are met) is important for the social trust in a society and its institutions. Decision makers thus need to be able to justify their decisions. Such ethical responsibility needs to be supported and requires an adequate ethical competence related to a specific organizational context (Falkenstrom and Hoglund, 2018).\nDesign and method: The results presented in this paper are part of a larger qualitative study that comprises document analyses, interviews and observation studies (a multi-method design). The empirical findings in this paper are primarily based on interviews but also on meeting observations from the county council in Stockholm. Individual interviews were conducted with 13 influential informants from the Stockholm region. To ensure variety in the data and to acquire rich and nuanced empirical material, the informants were chosen by a strategic selection (purposive sampling) based on defined criterias. In this case, the politicians were included to represent different parties, the chief civil servants should have varying educational backgrounds and areas of responsibility. The CEOs should represent various caregiver organizations. A variety in terms of gender, age and experience was also pursued by the strategic selection. The informants represented a large number of influential and deciding bodies in the region/county council. Finally, a chairperson of the board of a large caregiver organization was included to possibly add further perspective on the research questions.\nFindings: The data material were extensive and rich and reflected a complex reality with different kinds of experiences. According to the informants, the collaboration between the three key groups was distinguished, on the one hand, by many strong wills, competition, unethical behaviour and power games, and on the other hand, by good cooperation and deep expertise. Below, we present the four most prominent categories that emerged from the content analysis. The categories, which are not exclusive but sometimes overlapping, were:\nDiscussion and conclusion: In this paper, a certain ethical competence was assumed to be necessary to be able to take ethical responsibility for healthcare governance and management tasks. The aim of the paper was to analyse individual and collective ethical competence related to healthcare governance and management tasks and to analyse the conditions that facilitated or constrained the development and use of such competence at the regional/county level.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse ethical competence related to healthcare governance and management tasks at the county/regional level in Sweden. The paper also discusses conditions that support or constrain the development and application of such competence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on original qualitative data from 13 interviews and 6 meeting observations. Three key groups of actors were included: politicians, civil servants and CEOs in publicly financed health-provider organizations. An abductive analysis was carried out by a stepwise method guided by thematic research questions.\nFindings: The informants viewed themselves as having a high degree of ethical responsibility for healthcare practice. However, they did not integrate ethical reflection and dialogue into their work decisions (e.g. regarding budgets, reforms and care agreements). The current organization, control systems and underlying business principles, along with the individuals' understanding of their own and others' roles, tended to constrain the development and use of ethical competence.\nPractical implications: Qualities of an appropriate ethical competence related to healthcare governance and management, and conditions to develop and use such competence, are suggested.\nOriginality/value: Hardly any empirical research has examined ethical competence related to healthcare governance and management tasks. The paper integrates ethics and theories on learning in organizations and contributes knowledge about ethical competence and the conditions necessary to develop and practise ethical competence in an organizational and inter-organizational context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Effect of halal awareness, halal logo and attitude on foreign consumers' purchase intention
|
[
"Purchase intention",
"Buying behaviour",
"Attitude",
"Halal awareness",
"Halal logo",
"Foreign consumers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Halal industry is one of the rapidest growing businesses in the global market. It includes finance, tourism, service and food. Food is considered one of the most important factors for interaction among various ethnic, social and religious groups (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004). Food is a general need among people and the market potential. People are concerned about the food they consume. For example, Muslim people hunt for halal foods, Jewish people hunt for kosher foods and Christian people hunt for forbidden foods. Thus, Food consumption is generally infused with religious rules, social meaning and cultural rituals (Bonne and Verbeke, 2008). Food is further an important part in human life as well as the market potential for halal food. Halal food is a very promising aspect in Islam as the rapidest growing religion in the globe (Ismail, 2015). As reported by the Stated of The Global Islamic Economy Report in Thomson Reuters (2014), halal food market is one of the largest consumer markets in the globe.\nReview of the literature: Halal (Hll)\nConceptual research model and hypotheses: The present study explains the way in which people's beliefs or perceptions are determined or influenced by their desire to perform their buying behaviour. In this study, it is, therefore, predicted that people perform certain behaviour based on a predicted conceptual model as suggested by researcher. The researcher proposed three major components that may affect consumer's purchase intention and buying behaviour towards halal food products. The proposed conceptual model comprises of independent variables (halal awareness, halal logo and attitude) and dependent variables (purchase intention and buying behaviour). This paper develops a structural model as shown in Figure 1. The purpose of the framework is to examine the effect of halal awareness, halal logo and attitude on intention to purchase halal products. Each component of the model was selected based on the previous literature review. Accordingly, five constructs were conceptualised to fit into the current study setting.\nResearch methodology: A quantitative methodology was used whereby self-administered questionnaires were conducted with 230 foreign consumers who bought halal foods from halal various markets. Foreign consumers are people who reside in South Africa including migrants, refugees, traders, employees, labours and students. They come from various countries around the globe, including African countries, such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Libya and Congo, Asian countries, for example, Malaysia, India, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, and European countries like France and Germany. Foreign consumers are involved in buying halal food products. Targeted respondents of the current study were selected based on some criteria. For example, only consumers who are foreign consumers (non-South Africans) prefer to consume halal food products were invited to participate in this study (Bashir et al., 2018). The reason for selecting this group for the study is to have a clear understanding of the effect of halal awareness, halal logo and attitude on foreign consumers' intention and buying behaviour. Respondents were chosen using a random sampling method. This method was employed in order to increase the representation of sample (Malhotra, 2010). This is because when choosing a sample randomly, any person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the study (Singh and Masuku, 2014). A set of items to create questionnaire were administrated based on the previous literature. The questionnaire was initially written in English.\nData analysis and results: Respondents' socio-demographic analysis\nResults: The results of descriptive variables\nResults of hypotheses testing: Table IV provides many indicators of the quality of this conformity are produced of halal food scale, and then the scale of data is accepted or rejected. These measures are comparable to R2 in regression, and they are as follows: in respect of RMSEA, the model fit value is about 0.088, which indicates that the model corresponds to a reasonable degree of sample data (acceptable fit values), and it can be accepted model as seen in Table IV. It can be seen from this table also that the less value of kh2/degree of freedom (CMIN/df) is about 2.624 of the scale of halal food products, which is the range of acceptable fit values. The CFI has value of 0.914 as seen in Table IV, it is in the range of acceptable fit values that expresses a better match of the scale of halal food products with the sample data. This table illustrates also that the GFI relates to the extent to which the scale of halal food products corresponds to field data (actual); the value of this index reached 0.909, which lies in the range of acceptable fit values. This indicates that the quality of the halal food products scale is an accepting model. As shown in Table IV that the normative fit index has a value of about 0.911, and it lies in the range of acceptable fit values, which indicates a good quality of the scale of halal food products with the sample data.\nDiscussion: The objective of this study was to determine the factors that the influence of halal awareness, halal logo and attitude on foreign consumers towards halal food products in South Africa. Four hypotheses were proposed. The hypotheses have been supported in a significant way. Along with the study's findings, there was evidence that halal awareness influences foreign consumers' intention towards halal food products as shown in Figure 2. This finding is in agreement with H1. In addition, this result is in line with findings of the studies (Aziz and Chok, 2013; Bashir et al., 2018; Hamdan et al., 2013; Krishnan et al., 2017; Zakaria et al., 2017). It may be because foreign consumers know the concept of halal, and they are more aware of their halal food consumption or they may be well educated to make rational decisions to purchase halal food products. Another reason is the availability of halal food products in the local market.\nManagerial and theoretical implications: This study has several significant implications. Regarding the theoretical implication, this study is important because of its contribution towards an insight on how foreign consumers are aware of halal logo and halal food products. The finding of the study can be used to develop halal products to attract both Muslim and non-Muslim consumers who are foreigners to a particular country. From a managerial perspective, the current study will help marketing managers and halal food makers to understand foreign consumers' purchasing intention and buying behaviour with regard to food products branded with halal logo. The current study's findings will help managers in halal organisations and halal traders to learn more about the most influential factors encourage foreign consumers to make purchase decisions towards purchasing halal food products and services. Additionally, the study will assist academics, marketers and halal food manufacturers to be familiar with the perception of foreign consumers towards purchasing halal food products. From an academic perspective, this study is expected to expand the literature related to the study of halal food, which can be developed for further research. This study will allow researchers to bridge the knowledge gap by comparing South African foreign consumers with local consumers towards purchasing halal food products in the future.\nConclusion: The present study found that factors (halal awareness, halal logo and attitude) have a significant effect on purchase intention and buying behaviour. Based on the study' results, halal logo and attitude with equal values were determined as the most significant factor that influences the purchase intention towards halal food products, followed by halal awareness. Consequently, these results lead to the conclusion that these factors are good to predict and measure the purchase intention and buying behaviour. This may attribute to the fact that foreign consumers are sufficiently aware and educated enough about halal concept, as well as halal foods benefits. By understanding foreign consumers purchase intention and buying behaviour on halal food products particularly, it helps the decision makers in the food industry sector to better understand factors that significantly influence foreign halal consumption behaviour.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that affect foreign consumers' purchase intention towards purchasing halal food products in South Africa. These factors are halal awareness, halal logo and attitude, which are important factors in affecting the intention of consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected via a self-questionnaire with a sample of 230 foreign consumers. For analysing these data, a structural equation modelling technique was used in this study.\nFindings: Based on the study's results, all factors significantly influence foreign consumers' intention towards purchasing halal food products and, subsequently, their buying behaviour. Interestingly, the study found that attitudes and halal awareness of non-Muslim consumers are very high compared with those of the Muslim consumers. Although the study addressed halal food consumers, most of the respondents participated in the study were non-Muslims and the majority of them were Christians.\nResearch limitations/implications: The respondents were only limited to the Cape Town city in South Africa, and the focus was only on five variables related to halal food consumers, namely, halal awareness halal logo, attitude, purchase intention and buying behaviour.\nSocial implications: This study can be used to develop halal food products to attract both Muslim and non-Muslim consumers, who are foreigners to a particular country.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the first studies seeking to determine the factors that affect foreign consumers with regard to the purchase of halal food products in South Africa. It is regarded one of the first attempts to determine halal awareness, halal logo and attitude and how purchase intention and buying behaviour can be influenced.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards on the UK investment market: one year on
|
[
"Market value",
"Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)",
"MEES regulations",
"EPC assessors",
"UK property market"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The single most significant piece of legislation to affect our existing building stock in a generation.(John Alker, 2016)\nIntroduction: On the 1 April 2018, the pricing and value of lettable real estate in the UK changed forever. As of this date, new legislation, known as the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) was introduced and applied to all investment buildings, domestic or non-domestic. It is now illegal to let buildings on new leases with the lowest two energy efficiency ratings (Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)) of \"F\" and \"G\" and the price of such properties in the marketplace has begun to fall accordingly. But, it is not just pricing and valuations that are affected, it impacts on all aspects of the property market. The nature of leases, dilapidation settlements, bank lending, property management strategies and investment portfolio selections will all be affected by MEES. It is a \"game changer\" and not a transitionary piece of legislation.\nEnergy Performance Certificates - the backbone of MEES: The UK has some of the oldest building stock in the world. Although there are many buildings in the UK with high energy efficiency ratings, many occupied properties are much less efficient and will need substantial retrofitting to meet the ever more stringent regulations.\nEPC Assessment Regime: EPCs in the UK are an asset rating using a simplified Standard Assessment Procedure. Essentially this is a fabric and services method. Ratings or A to G are given to different aspects of the building (fabric) and all lighting, heating and other plant and machinery (services). Different levels of assessment (and assessors) apply according to the complexity of the building. According to the Green Construction Board (2016), the approximate breakdown of all properties by ratings is shown in Table I.\nEPCs, MEES and Property Pricing: As of the 1 April 2018, the UK Government introduced MEES on investment buildings (in England and Wales[2]) for all new lettings. There is a schedule to extend these regulations to continuing lettings in 2020 for domestic buildings and 2023 for non-domestic buildings. The deadline of April 2018 will only apply to lease renewals and new lettings. However, from 1 April 2023 (2020 for domestic property) it will apply to all current leases.\nThe EPC Register and MEES: Although, EPCs in the private sector are only required when a trigger occurs at the point of selling, renting or building a property. In relation to MEES, which applies to all newly let property then the vast majority of properties being considered will already have an EPC or will need one with a new trigger event. Obviously, with the new legislation only applying only to new lettings, there are a few unintentional loopholes where EPCs are not required but, moving forward, it will be the norm for EPCs to be required and to be registered.\nMEES exemptions: So, the landlord, if they wish to let the property legally, must take action to improve the energy efficiency rating to the minimum standard, by installing \"relevant energy improvement measures\". If that is not feasible at a reasonable cost or with the agreement of all the parties concerned, then the landlord can apply for a temporary (five year) exemption. However, such exemptions have to be approved and there is a central register for landlords to apply for exemptions from MEES with full appropriate supporting evidence (www.prsregister.beis.gov.uk).\nMEES and enforcement: As with any legislation, its impact is not only in the statue itself, it is in the enforcement of the law. The regulations will be enforced by Trading Standards Officers. Penalties will be based on the rateable value of the property, up to a maximum of PS150,000, per occasion. It is fair to say that, to date, there has been very little enforcement and, when you contact Trading Standards, you are referred to the Business Companion website that explains what law Trading Standards enforce. This link will take you to a guidance document on the MEES requirements for non-domestic rented property (www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/miscellaneous/energy-efficiency-of-rented-property-non-domestic).\nMEES and Existing Property Law: Although a detailed analysis of the impact of MEES on existing Landlord and Tenant Law, the law of dilapidations and other property law is outwith the brief of this paper, it is important to note that, going forward, all new leases should be drafted to take into consideration possible risks associated with MEES. This may relate to fit out, recovery of costs in the service charge, dilapidations and reinstatement or a host of other potential MEES/EPC-related issues.\nMEES legislation in the future: Thus to recap, in theory, the poorly rated properties would either be retro-fitted or redeveloped (or temporarily exempted) and the low ratings of (say) F and G would disappear from the main markets due to the laws of supply and demand. It is also likely that values will be affected not just for those with F or G, but over time, as the calibration of EPCs and the standards become more stringent, it will affect all property. E rated property is already seeing falls in value as investors recognise that it is likely that they will be the next rating to become non-compliant.\nConclusions - MEES and the property market: As noted above, the MEES legislation has been, and will continue to be, a driver that has affected every aspect of the property market. In theory, everything that is happening now should have happened prior to the implementation of the legislation but markets have a way of ignoring consequences until the last minute. It is fair to say that the UK property market, post-April 2018, is looking at the EPC rating of properties with increased and suspicious scrutiny. Many of the larger players, such as pension funds, are future proofing their portfolios and changing their investment strategies to buying mainly \"C\" buildings and above. Similarly, where applicable, the same organisations are disposing of assets at below this rating.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on how the 2018 energy efficiency legislation in the UK, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), is impacting upon the UK market with a particular emphasis on the investment market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This practice briefing is an overview of the 2018 legislation and comments on how market awareness has changed since its introduction and the potential impact upon prices of affected properties moving forward.\nFindings: This paper discusses how capital and rental values are beginning to be discounted in the market to allow for current and future liabilities under the MEES legislation. This has a significant impact on strategies for property investment.\nPractical implications: The role of the property professional is to ensure that clients are fully conversant with their statutory obligations and to advise on appropriate investment strategies to optimise their property portfolios.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides insights on the requirements of MEES legislation to aid the property professional.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Customer orientation, social consensus and insurance salespeople's tolerance of customer insurance frauds
|
[
"Taiwan",
"Insurance companies",
"Sales force",
"Employees behaviour",
"Ethics",
"Fraud",
"Customer orientation",
"Social consensus",
"Salespeople"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer insurance fraud is a serious problem in the insurance industry (Crocker and Tennyson, 2002; Derrig, 2002; Dionne and Gagne, 2002), and the amount of empirical insurance research on customer insurance frauds has been increasing (Tennyson, 1997, 2002, 2008). Previous studies in this area have also mentioned the key factors that influence customers' intentions to commit frauds. For example, Tennyson (1997) found that customers' perceptions of the insurance companies are related to their attitudes toward exaggerating an insurance claim. Tennyson (2002) further found a negative relationship between customers' insurance experience and the customers' tolerance of insurance frauds. Dean (2004) showed that female customers perceived exaggerating an insurance claim to be significantly less ethical than male customers did. Miyazaki (2009) pointed out that higher deductible amounts may lead to stronger perceptions that filing exaggerated claims is fair to the insurer, weaker perceptions that the exaggerating behavior is unethical, and higher proposed claim award amounts. Among the literature, the customers' ethical attitudes toward customer insurance frauds has been identified as one of the crucial factors that affect the consumers' intention to carry out the frauds.However, it has been found that some customer insurance frauds were not only related to customers' ethical attitudes, but also associated with the questionable decisions made by some insurance salespeople (Picard, 1996, 2000; Morley et al., 2006; Jou and Hebenton, 2007). Since the duties of insurance salespeople include selling new policies to customers, making sure the policies are continually renewed and helping customers settle insurance claims, it is possible for insurance salespeople to have some private information about the customers (Ross, 1980; Viaene and Dedene, 2004; Skipper and Kwon, 2007). Yagil (2008) further pointed out that overstating the importance of customers may lead to service people's tolerance of customer misconducts. Thus, given that today the marketing channels in the insurance industry are largely made up of insurance salespeople and the concept of customer orientation is highly recognized in the insurance market, we think insurance salespeople may experience conflict in dealing with customer frauds.Yet, although the idea of customer orientation is widely recognized by service industries (Brown et al., 2002), there has been a lack of investigation into how the recognition of customer orientation may affect the service people's attitudes toward customer misconducts. As a result, our knowledge about the potential impacts of customer orientation philosophy on the ethical decisions by service people could be insufficient. Hence, by using life insurance salespeople in Taiwan as an example, the present work investigates service people's tolerance of two types of customer misconducts (opportunistic frauds and planned frauds) and how those service people would react to the customer misconducts based on their marketing philosophy (customer orientation).Moreover, many of the studies have addressed the idea that social consensus is related to ethical decision making (Chia and Lim, 2000; Bennett and Blaney, 2002; Thorne et al., 2004). Social consensus is defined as \"the degree of social agreement that a proposed act is evil or good\" (Jones, 1991, p. 375). It is argued that most people are influenced by the extent to which others (e.g. peers) agree or disagree with their behavior. If peers in the organization agree that the behavior is acceptable, then the perceived social consensus may motivate an individual employee to act in the same way. Researchers have also found a significant impact of social consensus on the ethical decision-making process (Schmidtke, 2007). Thus, it seems that social consensus may affect insurance salespeople's ethical attitudes toward the customer insurance fraud problems. However, little insurance research has directed attention on how social consensus would affect insurance insiders' (such as insurance salespeople or claim adjusters) decision making in the customer insurance frauds. We therefore investigate this issue in the research.Finally, it has been found that the magnitude of consequences is related to the ethical attitude toward an ethical issue (McMahon and Harvey, 2006; Hayibor and Wasieleski, 2009). Magnitude of consequences refers to \"the sum of the harms (or benefits) done to victims (or beneficiaries) of the moral act in question\" (Jones, 1991, p. 374). It was proposed that a low magnitude of consequence (e.g. a small consequence) may cause decision makers to underestimate the perceived immorality that results from an unethical action (Singhapakdi et al., 1996). Some researchers also found a significant relationship between magnitude of consequences and ethical decision making. For example, Tan (2002) found that a lower perceived magnitude of consequences of using pirated software may be related to a higher consumer intention to buy the pirated software. The magnitude of consequences has been examined as a key factor influencing ethical decision making. Hence, we think there is a significant relationship between fraud size (the sum of the fraudulent claim that is proposed by the customers) and the salespeople's tolerance of customer frauds.To date, no clear evidence has emerged to suggest how insurance salespeople would react to customer insurance frauds, while the relationship between customer orientation and salespeople's tolerance of customer misconduct is also unclear. This study may lead to a better understanding of these issues. The remainder of this paper has been organized as follows. The next section introduces the conceptual development of the hypotheses, followed by the methodology. The findings are then presented and discussed. Finally, the paper concludes with discussions, implications and limitations.\nLiterature: Customer orientation and salespeople's tolerance of customer claim frauds\nMethodology: Questionnaires have been used as a data gathering instrument in the insurance fraud studies (Tennyson, 1997, 2002; Dean, 2004; Brinkmann and Lentz, 2006; Miyazaki, 2009). The questionnaires with scenarios method was used because it allows for a greater degree of control over the independent variables and saves time by summarizing customer fraud problems that might be difficult to observe in reality (Dean, 2004; Miyazaki, 2009). Moreover, using questionnaires with scenarios helps to standardize the information that is received by the respondents and, at the same time, is one of the simplest procedures that allows a large number of questions to be investigated (Dooley, 2001). Using anonymous questionnaires can also promise the anonymity and confidentiality of the respondents when investigating some sensitive issues (such as salespeople's attitudes toward customer claim frauds). Finally, since different questionnaires with different manipulations (fraud sizes) need to be assigned in the research design, using questionnaires with scenarios is suggested (Dooley, 2001). For these reasons, we think that the questionnaire is an appropriate methodology for our research topic.We have three versions of questionnaires (versions A, B and C) and each version of the questionnaire contains two scenarios. Before reading the scenarios, each responder was asked to answer some questions about their customer orientation. The questions, such as \"I try to help customers achieve their goals,\" were asked (see Table XI). When the questions were answered, responders turned to the next page, which presented the two scenarios (Tables I and II). At the beginning of the scenarios, all responders were told that \"We are interested in understanding what insurance salespeople think about customer claim frauds. Please read the following scenarios carefully and imagine that the event happened to you, and then answer the following questions.\" We also reminded the responders that the questionnaire is anonymous, and there were \"no right or wrong answers\" to help them avoid social desirability bias.Fraud types (opportunistic frauds and planned frauds) and fraud sizes were manipulated in the scenarios. Scenario 1 contained an opportunistic fraud and scenario 2 contained a planned fraud. In this study, the definitions of the opportunistic frauds and planned frauds have been adapted from Weisberg and Derrig (1993). Opportunistic frauds normally involve attempts to get excessive payments for an insured event that is otherwise legitimate, while planned frauds refer to a systematic effort to gain insurance payments by falsifying an accident or injury. Fraud size was manipulated in three degrees (30 NT dollars is about 1 US dollars in April of 2012), as can been seen in Tables I and II.In scenario 1, the customer tended to get excessive payments for an insured event. The misconduct in the scenario is a kind of opportunistic fraud (Weisberg and Derrig, 1993). We told the responders who received questionnaire version A that, although Andy (the hypothetical salesperson) knew that the actual loss was 5,000 NT dollars, Andy also knew that the claims department was totally unaware of this and would pay the full hospital charges immediately. This kind of incident could occur in reality because insurance salespeople could have private information about the customer and the claim management procedure. In fact, some life insurance salespeople often sell insurance products to friends and family members. Hence, it is possible for some salespeople to know the actual loss of the event.In scenario 2, the customer would like to submit a false medical record to the insurer and apply for the insurance money. The salesperson in the scenario knew that the customer cheated on the insurer purposely (the misconduct in the scenario is a kind of planned fraud), and also knew that the claims department was totally unaware of this and would pay the full claim immediately. Again, the fraud sizes were manipulated in the scenarios at three levels.Conceptual diagram and measurement\nFindings: Correlations\nDiscussions: Researchers have found a significant link between customer orientation and ethical decisions by salespeople (Howe et al., 1994) (Table XI). The finding underscores the importance of customer orientation in sales management and sales ethics. However, although there have been some findings on the influence of salespeople's customer orientation on the salespeople's ethical decision making, those studies have normally focussed on the misconducts by the salespeople, while few studies have examined the relationship between customer orientation and salespeople's tolerance of \"customer misconducts.\" There is also little insurance fraud research linking social consensus and salespeople's attitudes toward customer insurance frauds. However, insurance salespeople are substantially involved in the claim application process while highly encouraged to be customer oriented at the same time. Therefore, we think the relationship between customer orientation and their attitudes toward customer claim frauds should not be ignored in insurance fraud research.This study therefore examined whether customer orientation, perceived fraud size and social consensus relate to the insurance salespeople's decision making in two types of customer insurance frauds. The findings showed that high customer orientation may not enhance insurance salespeople's tolerance of customer claim frauds. Instead, the results indicated that a high customer orientation may be associated with a lower tolerance to the customer insurance frauds. The findings also provided support for the concerns that unethical decisions are most significantly influenced by perceived fraud size and social consensus. Furthermore, perceived fraud size and social consensus are correlated to each other. The findings in turn showed that small fraud size may lead to the belief that peers would accept the salesperson misconduct in the scenarios, and that may influence the responders' ethical decisions. This study may extend the results of Howe et al.'s (1994) empirical research (which found that customer orientation may hold a positive influence on the ethical behavior of salespeople) by showing a negative relationship between customer orientation and salespeople's tolerance of customer misconducts. The results of this study also propose some empirical observations about the relationships among customer orientation, social consensus and salespeople's decision making in opportunistic frauds and planned frauds, which may extend Weisberg and Derrig's (1993) study. In short, this could be the first time that customer orientation and social consensus have been studied in insurance fraud research. This study may provide a useful addition to the insurance fraud literature and help insurance companies and insurance regulators to understand salespeople's decisions in cases of customer insurance frauds.Implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The idea of customer orientation is widely recognized by service people. However, there has been a lack of investigation into how the recognition of customer orientation may affect the service people's attitudes toward customer misconducts. As a result, our knowledge about the potential impacts of customer orientation philosophy on the ethical decisions made by service people could be insufficient. Hence, by using the life insurance salespeople in Taiwan as an example, the purpose of this paper is to investigate service people's tolerance of two types of customer misconduct (opportunistic frauds and planned frauds) and how those service people would react to the customer misconduct based on their marketing philosophy (customer orientation), perceived fraud size and perceived social consensus.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The sample of this study comes from life insurance companies in Taiwan. Questionnaires have been used as a data gathering instrument.\nFindings: - The results showed that customer orientation of the responders is negatively associated with the responders' tolerance of the customer claim frauds. The responders' unethical decision is most significantly influenced by perceived fraud size and social consensus.\nOriginality/value: - The duties of insurance salespeople include helping customers settle insurance claims. However, insurance salespeople's tolerance of customer claim frauds is less mentioned in the insurance literature. Few studies have examined the relationship among customer orientation, social consensus and insurance salespeople's tolerance of customer claim frauds.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Data-based school improvement: The role of principals and school supervisory authorities within the context of low-stakes mandatory proficiency testing in four German states
|
[
"Organization",
"Principal leadership",
"School supervisory authority",
"Test-based school-reform"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: State-wide mandatory proficiency tests with a feedback function have been firmly institutionalised in recent years in order to assure quality of instruction in German schools (Maier and Kuper, 2012). These tests (in Germany so called Vergleichsarbeiten or in short VERA) support the introduction of competence-oriented educational standards (Klieme, 2004). Feedback of test results to schools provides empirically founded information about the extent to which pupils fulfil the proficiency expectations of educational standards (Koller, 2008). Schools are expected to engage in an active discussion of the performance feedback in this test-based reform in order to improve or stabilise their performance in the tested subjects (Kultusministerkonferenz, 2010). School supervisory authorities in the individual states have gained an increased advisory function with the introduction of the test-based reform that aims to support a professional use of the feedback information in the schools (Butzke-Rudzynski and Bachorz, 2013). In contrast to countries such as the USA, England or the Netherlands, in which external tests have been in use since decades for public monitoring of schools, there are no rigorous consequences for German schools with below- (state-) average testing results (low-stakes testing). Since data are not published, individual schools carry responsibility for the use and interpretation of external test data.\nTheoretical framework: The question of how principals implement strategies of data-based school reform is closely linked to the assumption that they have an indirect effect on the proficiency development of their pupils. This is supported in empirical School Effectiveness Research (in summary: Scheerens, 2012). There, leadership is designed as a process variable, its effect on pupil performance reaching a magnitude of 3-5 per cent explained variance after controlling for pupils' social background. According to Creemers and Reezigt (1996), this corresponds to a percentage of one-quarter of the performance variance that can be explained by variables on the school level. There is consensus in the perception of principals as a distal condition for student learning. Its effect is mediated by proximal conditions of the quality of teaching-learning settings, such as organisations of academic learning, the teaching environment and professional competence (Leithwood et al., 2004).\nQuestions: Empirical findings show that the use of external test data for school improvement are dependent upon distal factors (attitude, data use competence of teachers, etc.) as well as upon actions of principals and supervisory authorities. So far, most of the available studies are conducted in countries with a high-stakes context. It becomes apparent from these examples that a proactive coordination of test data usage by school supervisory authorities and leaders can be successful (see Chapter 2). Research findings also suggest that data-based school improvement is associated with school organisation structures that have been described in the concept of Managed Professional Organisations. However, there is little empirical evidence whether these findings are applicable to the German low-stakes context. Most studies in the German context focus on the usage of test-based feedback by teachers and neglect the multi-level aspect of the school organisation. The aim of this study is to investigate the role and actions of principals and supervisory authorities in terms of VERA in the low-stakes context of Germany. To this end, we draw on the concepts of the Autonomous Professional Organisation and the Managed Professional Organisation. The following research questions are posed:\nDesign of the study: 4.1. Sample\nFindings: This section describes the analysed categories from the interviews with principals, teachers and school supervisory officials in the case studies. Principal leadership is explicated on the basis of two organisational models (Chapter 5.1). In addition, the interviews with school supervisory officials extend the perspective on leadership by an external view (Chapter 5.2). This holds the possibility to assign the principals' statements to one of the organisational models. Along with exemplary interview quotes, the principals' perception and usage of mandatory proficiency test data is described in the following part (RQ1).\nSummary and discussion: 6.1. Summary and discussion of results\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how principals and school supervisory authorities understand and use feedback from mandatory proficiency tests (VERA) in the low-stakes context of Germany. For the analysis, the authors refer to a theoretical model of schools that differentiates between Autonomous and Managed Professional Organisations (Thiel, 2008a).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical basis of the qualitative research are contrastive case studies which are focusing on individual schools and on school supervisory authorities. The selection of cases was oriented on Theoretical Sampling according to Glaser and Strauss (2005). For the analysis, the authors used a sample of upper track secondary schools (Gymnasien), four from Berlin and five each from Thuringia, Brandenburg and Baden-Wuerttemberg. In total, the authors conducted 229 structured interviews over two periods in 19 schools with different protagonists on all levels of the educational system (principals, heads of subject departments, teachers and school supervisory officials). The interview data were descriptively analysed according to procedures of qualitative content analyses (Mayring, 2010).\nFindings: The analyses show a clear tendency in the direction of the Autonomous Professional Organisation within the context of VERA. However, some principals reported activities according to a Managed Professional Organisation. The traditional decoupling remains and the supervisory authorities retain their picture of the individual school as an Autonomous Professional Organisation. Both levels have a major deficit in a competent use of VERA and lack profound experience with accountability and evaluation processes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sampling has certain restraints: schools of a particular type, few schools within one state, four of 16 states.\nOriginality/value: Even though German test-based school reforms have been in progress for one decade, systematic analyses of the reform's relevance for leadership and for school supervisory authorities' actions in a low-stakes context have not been conducted yet. The analysis meets this lack of research with an explorative reconstruction of principal leadership within the context of test-based school reform as well as the corresponding school supervisory officials.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Assessing relationship between quality management systems and business performance and its mediators: SEM approach
|
[
"SEM",
"Business performance",
"Information quality",
"ISO",
"QMS"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the last couple of decades, organizations around the globe have implemented several quality management systems (QMS) as a strategic tool to improve processes, enhance competitiveness and improve business performance. These QMS include several quality management (QM) practices and standards, such as standards set by \"International Organization for Standardization (ISO),\" total quality management (TQM) tools, technical specification (TS) standards and aerospace standards (AS). The QMS helps organizations control costs as well as quality of products, thus increasing their competitive advantage (Radovilsky and Hegde, 2011). Hence, implementation of QMS is necessary to survive in today's competitive world.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Reasons for implementation of quality standards\n3. Research model and proposed hypotheses: As discussed in Section 2, implementation of TQM practices and ISO standards can affect and improve business performance. Several authors have reported that implementation of TQM practices and achieving ISO certification results in improved business performance. However, published literature has not examined the role that the mediating constructs (operating performance, information quality, product quality, design performance, environmental performance and competitive priorities) play in improving business performance, in a single model. Hence, we propose a model that includes the effect of implementation of QMS on business performance, through mediating factors (operating performance, information quality, product quality, design performance, environmental performance and competitive priorities). Based on literature review, the following section proposes a research model and hypotheses that aim to study direct and indirect effect of implementation of QMS on mediating factors and on business performance.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Survey instrument\n5. Results: First, we evaluated the descriptive statistics of items and constructs used in our research. Table I lists mean, standard deviation and correlation values among constructs considered in our research. The mean value of 3.91 for the construct, implementation of QMS, shows that QMS are used by organizations in daily practice. The correlation values between constructs are statistically significant at 99 percent confidence level. Since all the correlation values are less than 0.8, multicollinearity does not seem to be an issue among constructs used in our research.\n6. Discussion: In this research, we studied how implementation of QMS affects business performance, through improvement in several mediating factors. The research contributes substantially to field of QM. First, this is one of the rare research study that investigates whether QMS are used in daily practice, while studying the impact of implementation of QMS. We believed that this is necessary since most of the organizations have implemented TQM practices or ISO standards these days, but whether they actually use these practices in daily operations or not, is important. The effect of motivation to implement these practices on performance is already well-established (Withers and Ebrahimpour, 2000; Douglas et al., 1999). In addition, organizations must use QMS in daily practices to reap maximum benefits. In our research study, the mean value of 3.91 of implementation of QMS factor (Table I) shows that organizations of respondents of our research study do use QMS in daily operations.\n7. Conclusions, limitations and future directions: The proposed research reflects the empirical results between implementation of QMS and business performance, including several other constructs in a single hypothetical model. The analysis used survey responses from 120 professionals who are working or have worked in area of QM/engineering. The analysis shows that organizations do use QM practices after implementation. Empirical evidence is found regarding indirect effects of implementation of QMS on business performance, through improvement in other factors. The proposed model included nine hypotheses, which were tested using SEM approach. All nine hypotheses were found to be statistically significant. Although most of the fit indices showed good model fit with the empirical data, indices such as p-value and RMSEA values did not showed good fit. On further analysis, some of the direct paths were added to the final model. The strength of this work is the inclusion of several new factors, such as design performance, operating performance, environmental performance, information quality, etc., in a single hypothetical model, and assessing their direct and indirect impact on business performance of organizations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between implementation of quality management systems (QMS) and business performance, through mediating factors (operating performance, information quality, product quality, design performance, environmental performance and competitive priorities). Most of the published literature examines the direct impact of implementation of QMS on business performance, and on some of the above stated factors. However, the impact of implementation of QMS on business performance, through these mediating factors has not received much attention. Accordingly, the authors develop a theoretical framework depicting impact of implementation of QMS on business performance through the above stated factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper proposes several hypotheses linking implementation of QMS, mediating factors and business performance. The hypothesized model is empirically tested using data collected from 120 professionals working in quality engineering/management in India and North America. The collected data are analyzed with the aid of structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.\nFindings: Information quality and design performance have emerged as the important factors in the research. Information quality directly effects design performance, operating performance and environmental performance. The model indicates that besides a well-designed product, managers need to focus on the operating performance to improve overall product quality. Empirical evidence is found regarding direct and indirect effect of implementation of QMS on above stated mediating factors and on business performance.\nOriginality/value: The research fills a gap in the literature by considering several mediating factors that aid in improving business performance with implementation of QMS.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The safety of wooden cutting boards: Remobilization of bacteria from pine, beech, and polyethylene
|
[
"Hardwoods",
"Softwoods",
"Plastics",
"Hygiene",
"Food safety"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Wood and utensils made from it, e.g. wooden cutting boards, have been banned for many years from production sites in meat and poultry processing settings. Despite the work of Ak et al. (1994) and the lack of evidence of the presumed better sanitation properties of plastic utensils (Raloff, 1993; Carpentier, 1997) there are still resentments and oppositions to the use of wood during many stages in food processing. In contrast, to date, quite a number of publications plea in favour of wood and demonstrate that plastic is not necessarily better (Gehrig et al., 2000; Prechter et al., 2002; Boursillon and Riethmuller, 2005). However, it seems that the type and processing of wood play a role as to its aptitude to be used in conjunction with foods (Milling et al., 2005). It is generally recognized that microorganisms penetrate the pores of the wood where they are trapped. In addition, Schoenwaelder (1999) and Schoenwaelder et al. (2002) demonstrated that wood, especially pine, expresses antimicrobial activity. This activity is, however, rather slow. Boucher et al. (1998) showed that the use of cutting boards made of maple was not advisable because of supposed protective properties of wood against bacteria. On the other hand, previous work showed that pine performed slightly better than beech and plastic boards when used under optimum circumstances, i.e. the boards were clean and dry (Boursillon and Riethmuller, 2005). In an epidemiological study, Kass et al. (1992) stated that people using wooden cutting boards were less prone to contract food borne infections than when using non-wooden boards. This raises the question to learn more about the influence of wood types on survival and remobilization of microorganisms. In this study, pine as a softwood, beech as a hardwood, and polyethylene as a plastic were tested in order to determine the extent of remobilization, the corresponding circumstances and to allow a statement on the use of wooden and plastic utensils with foodstuffs.\nMaterials and methods: Bacterial strains\nResults: The results are presented in the Tables I to IV.The results from Tables I and II principally substantiate the findings of previous studies. Table I shows that on wood the recovery of bacteria decreases with time, whereas bacterial numbers remained higher on plastic. Visual observation showed that the contaminated solution was absorbed more rapidly with pine than with beech, which is attributed to the different porosity of the two tested wood types (Schoch et al., 2004). Pine performed better than beech, which may be explained by the fact that pine is a softwood with a wider pore structure than beech. It is remarkable to note that despite identical spiking levels after only 2 h one E. faecium and three E. coli colonies could be counted on RODAC plates from pine whereas on all other plates colony growth was confluent. On beech colony growth decreased slightly within 24 h, on polyethylene colony growth remained confluent at all times. Plastic is a non-porous material and the time of the experiment was not long enough to allow drying and dying off of the bacteria, although after 24 hours time all surfaces were dry in appearance. The results in Table II show that the recovery of bacteria from pine increases directly after cleaning, but to a lesser extent the longer the inoculum was allowed to settle before cleaning. Cleaning a pine cutting board within four hours of use remobilizes more bacteria than cleaning after eight hours. In any case 30 minutes after cleaning only few bacteria could be retrieved. This demonstrates that bacteria can be remobilized from the inner parts of the wood when the wood is moistened but that the remobilization decreases with time. No statement as to reduction and remobilization on beech can be made as the bacterial level remained too high both before and after cleansing. Unexpectedly, the same applied to PE.Table III shows that remobilization of bacteria on pine and beech through soaking diminishes when time after inoculation increases. It also shows that there are differences in remobilization of bacteria: the reduction rates are greater on pine than on beech. With pine the recovery of E. faecium was different to that of E. coli. However, overall reductions were higher than on beech. To find out whether this was due to a better retention or to an antimicrobial effect of wood compounds, the survival experiments were carried out. In these experiments (Table IV) the chippings were very thin, so it was assumed that retention by the lignin matrix of the wood was much reduced. Hence, failure to recover bacteria was attributed to dying off. Despite the fact that the test conditions were aggravated by adding defibrinated sheep blood to the bacterial suspension, the results show that at the beginning of the test the recovery rates of E. coli were approximately constant and that a faster decrease could be observed on pine than on beech. No discernible reduction could be seen on the cardboard controls. In opposite, the recovery rates of E. faecium were diverging and fewer bacteria could be recovered from pine and cardboard as compared to beech. Nonetheless, the reduction was more pronounced on pine than on beech and on the cardboard controls. After 24 hours the chippings appeared dry.\nDiscussion: The results show that plastic is not as easy to clean as often stated, which confirms that the better cleanability of plastic is in part anecdotic (Felix, 1993). From a previous study (Boursillon and Riethmuller, 2005), it was known that beech, pine, and PE were suitable when used dry and clean, i.e. adequately. Best results were obtained with cleaned boards after 24 hours of drying. The findings of this study again disprove the disadvantage of wood (Boucher et al., 1998), as well as the putative advantages of plastic over wood. One reason for the controversial opinions is certainly the fact that the wood type, as shown here, plays a role so that results depend very much on which wood is used. In this study, the advantage of beech over PE is almost indiscernible. Conversely, pine outperforms beech and PE by far, probably due to its marked retention potential, as well as its antimicrobial properties. The findings presented in Table IV show that the assumption that the bacteria could not be trapped within the wood matrix of thin chippings may not hold true for E. faecium. The lower recovery may not be attributed to some very fast killing mechanism since the following reduction rate was too slow. On pine the inoculum was readily absorbed and it is assumed that this lead to the poor recovery due to fast and tight trapping of E. faecium within the pores of the wood matrix. The exact reasons are not known and may be attributed to pore size, physical or chemical properties promoting the trapping of Gram-positive bacteria as suggested by Schoenwaelder et al. (2002). On cardboard the same mechanisms may be responsible for the poor recovery at the beginning. With time, the soaked cardboard became soft and the matrix of the paper fibres lost its stiffness, which explains the higher recoveries after four and eight hours. On beech the inoculum took time to be absorbed so that it took one day to observe a decrease in colony counts. The reductions on wood can be attributed to antimicrobial properties of wood, which confirms the findings of Schoenwaelder (1999) and Renol-Junelles et al. (2005). We assume that in addition to drying out bacteria on wood are trapped and killed and that the wood type plays a role: Pine exerts better trapping and antimicrobial properties than beech. The main trapping mechanism is commonly attributed to absorption through capillarity, but adsorption through physical properties of wood or bacteria cannot be ruled out. The wider the pore structure, the faster the absorption takes place. We assume that the wider structure of pine wood allows fast trapping of bacteria as shown in Table I, whereas the close structure of beech allows only slow absorption. With this respect woods with a dense pore structure can be compared to synthetic materials and hence have similar hygienic properties. PE does not have absorbing properties and without cleaning bacteria can remain viable in high counts for at least 24 hours (Table I). But even after cleaning with detergent the bacterial load could not be reduced to a clean level (Table II). This is partly due to the fact that plastic board surfaces are often structured (Boursillon and Riethmuller, 2005) to allow grip or even for esthetical reasons. However, the crevices can serve as niches for bacteria. This is enhanced when the boards get used and scared.The findings of this study demonstrate that the type of wood may not play a role with regard to its aptitude to be used on food production sites since beech performs at least as good as PE. The use of some wood types like pine in kitchens and food production sites could enhance safety, above all in the home where hygiene measures may be difficult to put into effect. In food processing settings the use of less hazardous wood types may be a further step to improve HACCP concepts.\nConclusions: In the presented experiments the remobilization rate of E. coli and E. faecium was tested in order to assess the ability of wooden cutting boards and utensils to be used safely in food production sites and kitchens. E. coli is a member of the Enterobacteriacaea along with Salmonella sp., Yersinia sp. and several other bacteria. E. coli serves as a strong hygiene indicator and is widely used in various testing protocols. The same applies to E. faecium which is generally less susceptible towards several adverse conditions. Only one strain of each bacterium was used in this study although different strains of the same species may react differently. The use of wood being still controversial, it could be shown that: the wood type plays a role so that the choice of the wood type may improve safety; and the better cleanability of plastic boards is not as significant as often stated. It must be noted, however, that the disinfectability of plastic boards has not been addressed in this study.Further research involving the testing of several new and used wood and plastic types and different strains of test bacteria are on the way along with microscopic measurements of pore structure and microscopic evaluation of retention efficiency.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to compare the aptitude of pine as a softwood and beech as a hardwood, regarding their different retention and antimicrobial performances as compared to polyethylene.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Four sets of tests were carried out: recovery, cleaning, remobilization and survival experiments. For all experiments wood and control blocks or chippings were spiked with bacteria and tested at set intervals for bacterial counts using standard procedures.\nFindings: - Overall, wood performed at least as good as polyethylene. Polyethylene is not as easy to clean. The problematic cleansing capabilities of wood are compensated by its open structure. Pine exerted antimicrobial abilities faster than beech and showed better performance than both beech and polyethylene. The differences between beech and polyethylene were only marginal.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings may help along with further research to re-establish the value of wood in some food processing settings and in the home. However, only new materials were used so that no statement on the performance of used wood and plastic utensils can be made. Besides, only two types of woods and one type of plastic were used in this study.\nOriginality/value: - This article is written with the expertise of the authors and will be of interest to those in the field.\n",
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