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Stages of change and consumption of fruit and vegetables among adolescent females: Associations with decisional balance and self-efficacy	[ "Adolescents", "Girls", "Fruits", "Vegetables", "Diets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Diets that include large quantities of fruit and vegetables are believed to protect against various health problems including: coronary heart disease (British Heart Foundation, 2001), stroke (Bradley and Shinton, 1998) as well as cancers (Cancer Research UK, 2002). Indeed, evidence suggests regular fruit and vegetable consumption reduces risks of nearly all types of cancer, including breast cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer (Weisburger, 1991; Block et al., 1992). These cancers are particularly relevant to the female population, and have a high prevalence in the Western World (Weisburger, 1991).Some evidence suggests that adolescent females make healthier food choices than their male counterparts (Gracey et al., 1996) however, this does not necessarily translate into optimal consumption of fruit and vegetables (Crawley and Shergill-Bonner, 1995). The challenge for health education is therefore to change current patterns of behaviour and increase consumption of fruit and vegetables towards recommended daily intake levels.The Transtheoretical Model proposes that behaviour change is a dynamic process that can be divided into five different stages. The first stage of change is referred to as pre-contemplation, where there is no intention to alter currently problematic behaviour in the foreseeable future (i.e. not within the next six months). This could result from a lack of awareness of the need to change behaviour. When a problem with current behaviour is acknowledged and an individual considers making behaviour changes in the future (typically within the next six months), the second stage of contemplation is reached. People can often remain in this stage for some time, continuing to think about changing, but not actually altering behaviour. The third stage is preparation, and this stage is reached when an intention to change behaviour in the near future (usually one month) has developed. Next, the action stage, where behaviour is being modified but healthful behaviour has not yet been maintained for a minimum of six months. When healthy behaviour has been sustained for at least six months, the fifth and final stage of maintenance has been achieved (Prochaska et al., 1992). Progression through the stages of change is not necessarily linear. Stages may be bypassed, or individuals may relapse and regress through previous stages in their attempt to reach the target of maintenance (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982).Also integrated within the Transtheoretical Model is the decisional balance construct. Janis and Mann (1997) conceptualised decision making as a conflict between the pros (positive outcomes) and the cons (negative outcomes) of making a particular decision. The Transtheoretical Model adopts this perspective, holding that individuals mentally weigh the pros of behaviour change against the cons (Prochaska and Velicer, 1997). The model hypothesises that those in lower stages of change, such as precontemplation, will rate the cons of behaviour change as higher than the pros, while those who have moved to later stages, such as maintenance, will rate the pros as higher than the cons. Evidence has supported this hypothesis consistently across many health behaviours (Prochaska et al., 1994). The concept of decisional balance therefore offers some insight into differences in cognitions between individuals in different stages of change. Such observed differences may have important implications for the nature and content of health education interventions. Additionally, the self-efficacy construct is embedded within the Transtheoretical Model. Self-efficacy reflects situation specific confidence in personal ability to successfully make a positive behaviour change, and to cope under difficult circumstances without relapsing to previous problem behaviour (Prochaska and Velicer, 1997). Self-efficacy is an important factor to consider when applying the stages of change to any given behaviour. It is generally expected that those in later stages of change will have greater self-efficacy than those in earlier stages. With relevance to this present study, there is evidence that individuals in the action or maintenance stages of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day have higher self-efficacy than those in earlier stages (Brug et al., 1997).The Transtheoretical Model has been applied to fruit and vegetable intake in Dutch adults (Brug et al., 1997) and adult African-American church members (Campbell et al., 1998), there has been comparatively less attention devoted to fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescent females. It is this population who have the risk of developing cancers of the breast, cervix, and ovaries in later life, and whose current dietary behaviour holds the potential to protect from these diseases. Therefore, this study will attempt to redress this imbalance by applying the Transtheoretical Model to fruit and vegetable consumption among a sample of adolescent females.\nMethods: Participants were 501 students drawn from an all female school in the East Midlands area of England. The participants were aged from 11 to 16 years with a mean age =13.77 (SD =1.37). Participants were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire, which took approximately 15 minutes to complete and which included instructions with examples.In order to classify participants into a stage of change, participants were asked to indicate which of five statements best reflected their behaviour with regards to eating five portions of fruit and vegetables daily. The statements included: \"I do not eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day and at the moment I have no plans to start doing so\" (pre-contemplation); \"I do not eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, but I am thinking about eating more fruit and vegetables\" (contemplation); \"I do not eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, but am planning to start doing so within the next month\" (preparation); \"I am eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, but have been doing so for less than six months\" (action); and \"I have been eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day for at least six months now\" (maintenance). This type of stage algorithm has been used previously for various health behaviours (e.g. Coulson, 2000).A 24-item decisional balance measure (Rapley, 2002) assessed 12 pros and 12 cons of fruit and vegetable consumption. Participants rated the extent to which they agreed with each item on a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) \"strongly disagree\" to (5) \"strongly agree\". A high score on the pros' scale indicated a greater belief in the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables (e.g. \"Fruit and vegetables are good for general health and well being\"; a high score on the cons' scale indicated a greater belief in the costs of eating fruit and vegetables (e.g. \"Fruit and vegetables are boring foods\"). Cronbach's alpha for both these scales was satisfactory (pros =0.74; cons =0.75).Self-efficacy was assessed by a single item (\"How easy do you think it is to eat five portions of fruit or vegetables each day\"). Perception of ease was rated on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from (1) \"very hard\" to (5) \"very easy\". Higher scores indicated greater self-efficacy for eating five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.\nResults: Stage of change and consumption of fruit and vegetables\nDiscussion: According to their own self-reports, the majority of adolescent females in this study were not currently consuming the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables daily. This finding reaffirms the importance of targeting adolescent females and encouraging healthy dietary choices that extend beyond the reduction or elimination of less healthy foods (e.g. foods high in fat), but towards the increase in fruits and vegetables.Inspection of the distribution of stages reveals that over-half (55 per cent) were classified into one of the pre-action stages (i.e. pre-contemplation or contemplation). In addition, contemplation was found to be the most highly populated stage. Of particular concern, however, is the fact that previous studies have found that individuals may remain in this stage for extended periods of time (Prochaska et al., 1992). In other words, although the adolescent females in this study may be contemplating changing their behaviour, they may intend to do this for some time without actually making any changes.A significant relationship between decisional balance and stage of change was found, whereby pros' scores were highest in maintenance and lowest in pre-contemplation, and whereby the converse was true of the con scores. This relationship mirrors findings from previous research, and for various health behaviours (Prochaska et al., 1994). This finding suggests that future health education initiatives should focus not only on increasing the salience of the perceived advantages of consuming fruits and vegetables (pros) but should also work to reducing the perceived disadvantages (cons). For example, attempts to make more explicit links between fruit and vegetable consumption and body appearance (e.g. benefits to skin and hair) as well as activities designed to show that fruit and vegetables need not be boring may be effective.The difference in self-efficacy across the stages of change was found to be significant, indicating that females in the higher stages rated it easier to consume five portions of fruits and vegetables daily. This again supports past research (Brug et al., 1997) and suggests that attention should be given to health education activities which foster self-efficacy. However, this may not necessarily be a straightforward task as we must acknowledge that a certain degree of self-efficacy is reliant on actual opportunity rather than simply being a psychological construct which can be imparted to an individual. For example, it may be harder for some females to consume five portions of fruits and vegetables a day because it is not made available to them at home.Within the majority of self-report studies using the Transtheoretical Model the method of participant classification into stages is crucial. Indeed, some past research has reported large percentages of participants in maintenance with regards to eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, and relatively few in pre-contemplation and contemplation (Campbell et al., 1998). However, such studies may have misclassified participants so that pre-contemplators who were unaware of their unhealthy diets were classed into action stages (Lechner et al., 1998). Lechner et al. (1998) demonstrated that a vague categorisation method could misclassify those in pre-contemplation as being in action stages, whilst a more specific method would classify more accurately. However, the algorithm used in this present study was more specific, similar to that recommended by Lechner et al. (1998), and also by Povey et al. (1999). As a result, the present study may provide a more accurate and informative assessment of the levels of fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescent females. It should be noted that the method of self-report used in this study may still be subject to bias or distortion (e.g. forgetting or self-presentation bias) and as such the findings must be viewed with some caution. Additionally, the extent to which the findings are generalisable (e.g. males, younger/older adolescents) remains unclear and further replication studies would be especially helpful not only from a theoretical perspective, but also for those nutrition educators working with young people.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this study was to apply key theoretical constructs from the Transtheoretical Model to daily consumption of at least five portions of fruit and vegetables among adolescent females.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A self-report questionnaire was designed with regard to daily consumption of at least five portions of fruit and vegetables measuring stage of change, decisional balance and self-efficacy. In total, 501 females aged 11 to 16 years old participated in the study.\nFindings: - The percentage of students classified into each stage was as follows: precontemplation 16.4; contemplation 38.5; preparation 11.8; action 13.4; and maintenance 20.0. Significant differences in pros and cons scores as well as self-efficacy according to self-classified stage of change were revealed (all p<.001). With advancing stage participants' scores for pros and self-efficacy increased while cons scores decreased.\nPractical implications: - The results suggest that nutrition education that targets adolescent females may usefully draw on a stage-based classification system in order to deliver more tailored and personally relevant interventions. Examination of the profile of pros and cons may assist in the identification of salient beliefs that may need to be either strengthened (i.e. pros) or challenged (i.e. cons). In addition, attention should also be given to implementing educational strategies that foster confidence in the ability to consumer at least five portions of fruit and vegetables daily.\nOriginality/value: - This study presents the first application of the Transtheoretical Model to fruit and vegetable consumption in adolescent females. The results of the research can be used for nutrition education planning and development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The psychological impact of agency worker utilisation	[ "Job satisfaction", "Temporary workers", "Organizational commitment", "Employee relations", "Job security" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Agency workers are not a new phenomenon, as they have existed in Europe since at least the eighteenth century, although the modern temporary work industry did not emerge until the late 1940s and early 1950s (Storrie, 2002). Agency workers fall into the category of \"temporary worker\" as their tenure within a company is for a limited period of time (Biggs and Swailes, 2006). When looking to apply a definition to this temporary worker category, the unusual contractual agreement that agency workers possess becomes prominent, as agency workers can be defined as individuals: \"[...] who are employed by or have a contract for services with the employment business and who work on assignment with a third party hirer\" (BERR, 2009, p. 15).\nMotive: When faced with uncertain economic conditions, temporary employment agencies can provide an avenue of staffing support with limited obligation. Engaging these services can help companies to increase their flexibility and protect their permanent staff, but the benefits of flexibility can also extend to the individual agency workers. Research into the motives possessed by individuals employed as agency workers has cited the desire for flexible working arrangements as a strong attraction. Druker and Stanworth's (2004) sample of 42 agency workers presented a variety of different reasons for engaging the services of a temporary employment agency. Among the sample were first-time jobbers who enjoyed the flexibility, people who were planning, engaged in, or who had recently returned from long-haul travel, and people who were seeking, or had just been offered, permanent employment.\nPsychological contract: When applied to a standard employment relationship, the theory of the psychological contract concerns the subjective beliefs that an employee associates with the exchange agreement they make with their employer. Rousseau (2001) highlighted one of the major features of the concept as the individual's belief that an agreement is mutual, as a common understanding exists that binds the parties involved to a particular course of action. Transferring findings from permanent worker samples proves problematic, as reductions in job security are less likely to contradict the psychological contracts dominant among individuals employed on a temporary basis (De Cuyper and De Witte, 2006; Mauno et al., 2005). However, further research has addressed this concern by classifying types of psychological contract into relational (e.g. job security, organisational support) and transactional (e.g. pay, bonuses), in order to better represent the expectations held by individuals towards their employers.\nJob satisfaction: After completing a study into a diverse group of Australian agency workers, Hall (2006) concluded that participants reported lower levels of satisfaction with skill utilisation, pay, autonomy, empowerment, the work itself, and the job overall. In contrast with industry claims, Hall (2006) also found that the surveyed agency workers were no more satisfied than their permanent counterparts in regard to the degree of flexibility they possessed with their working hours, and their balance of work and non-work commitments. Hall (2006) concluded that the workers studied did, on average, exhibit the characteristics of marginal, peripheral workers. Biggs (2003) also discovered that agency workers had significantly lower levels of job satisfaction when compared with permanent staff when their influence was taken into account.\nJob security: When assessing the levels of job security perceived by agency workers, the lack of contractual protection outlined above could be identified as a strong negative influence. Findings from qualitative interviews performed by Druker and Stanworth (2004) included a number of reported experiences of participants being brutally axed by the third-party employer. Forde and Slater (2006) reported similar findings during their study into UK agency employment, as their agency worker participants exhibited higher levels of anxiety about their positions. Agency workers in Hall's (2006) sample reported significantly higher levels of job insecurity in comparison to their permanent worker counterparts. For such workers, the flow of future assignments can also be a source of insecurity. Rogers (2000) found that many US agency workers interviewed demonstrated feelings of insecurity about the unpredictable flow of temporary assignments.\nOrganisational commitment: Organisational commitment is one of the most studied variables in both the practitioner and academic literature (Gallagher and Parks, 2001), yet translating findings into the context of temporary employment can prove problematic. Varying individual motives, shorter tenures, the \"dual\" employer situation, and the increased emphasis that agency workers may place upon transactional rewards in the psychological contract may influence the validity that traditional measures of commitment possess. A study by Von Hippel et al. (1997) reported that individuals hoping to gain a permanent job displayed greater commitment towards the third-party employer, yet no systematic change was demonstrated in their commitment to the temporary employment agency. Research into the motives of agency staff by Connelly et al. (2007) also accounted for the dual employer relationship, indicating suggesting that individuals who pursued temporary employment voluntarily were more likely to formulate feelings of affective commitment towards their agency.\nResearch design: Sample\nFindings: Motive\nJob satisfaction: Reported levels of job satisfaction varied throughout the sample of agency workers. This degree of variation became the subject for P. Nick, who was asked to assess the levels of agency worker satisfaction that he observed as a recruitment consultant:\nJob security: As highlighted in the introduction, the levels of security inherent within agency worker contracts are low when compared to permanent contracts. Penalties for immediately and prematurely ending an assignment are typically absent, making them an attractive prospect to employers attempting to remain flexible. During an assignment, Rejani's employer encountered a sudden and unexpected drop in available work, which led them to send her home for the day without pay. Interviewed soon afterwards, Rejani argued that such treatment should not occur:\nOrganisational commitment: The vast majority of research into organisational commitment has focused upon participants who have been employed by a single company. Primary focus was given to the interviewee's emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in, the organisation (i.e. affective commitment), although obligation to remain with the organisation (i.e. normative commitment) was also considered. As figure one illustrates, agency workers interact with two sets of organisation: the third-party employer (TPE), and the temporary employment agency (TEA). In order to better understand the perceptions of organisational commitment experienced, findings will be divided in order to account for this arrangement.\nDiscussion: Studies into the motives individuals possess when approaching agency work have frequently displayed variety, and the current research was no exception. Findings suggest that the incentives temporary employment agencies can offer allow them to cater to individuals from a wide range of circumstances. The qualitative approaches applied when gathering findings were better suited to account for these variations, and ultimately, to improve the understanding in the area.\nConclusions: Ensuring that the motives which lead individuals into agency work matched the expectations of the role was regarded as central to the jobs of recruitment consultants, yet agency workers often voiced disappointment over their assignments. By providing individuals with clear and transparent presentation of the assignment, recruitment consultants will be better placed to fulfil the motives of the individual, resulting in a happier and better-informed temporary workforce.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Agency work represents a unique form of employment that has received increased attention in recent years. Supporters of the agency employment industry have cited increased accessibility and flexibility at an individual and organisational level, yet critics have highlighted disparities in treatment and the limited protection afforded by the contract. Previous psychological studies into the working experiences of these employees have forwarded a series of findings that have frequently conflicted, so this paper begins by exploring research into the areas of motive, job satisfaction, job security, and organisational support. The purpose of this paper is to better understand how this form of employment can psychologically affect agency workers by focusing upon these key areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study's research design incorporated 25 semi-structured interviews with agency workers, recruitment consultants, and representatives from third-party employers. These interviews were then supplemented by longitudinal data from follow-up interviews conducted with agency workers from the initial sample. During the study, the researcher undertook a number of agency working assignments, and ethnographic analysis of diary extracts represented a third source of data.\nFindings: Results highlighted the importance of motive, as it was found to influence how agency workers viewed their employment. The lack of obligation in temporary contracts was perceived to lead to isolation from permanent colleagues, increase vulnerability, and reduce job security and organisational commitment.\nResearch limitations/implications: Findings strongly supported the claim that the pre-assignment motives of individuals had a significant impact upon their resulting experiences. Agency workers employed in longer-term assignments reported greater integration into the organisation, resulting in increased commitment towards the third-party employer, and improved relationships with permanent staff.\nOriginality/value: The current research incorporated multiple perspectives to create an increased understanding of the agency employment industry and its impact upon individuals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of the Combined Code in Greek soft law: Evidence from 'comply or explain' disclosures	[ "Compliance", "Corporate governance", "Comply or explain", "Corporate governance statement", "Corporate governance codes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past three decades, corporate governance (hereafter: CG) codes are in the spotlight as a remedy on corporate misconduct. Particularly, from the beginning of the first CG code issue in the USA in 1978, a tremendous amount of codes have followed to mitigate the imperfections of the legal system (Aguilera and Cuervo-Cazurra, 2004), an approach that has been promoted by various national and supranational organizations (Aguilera and Cuervo-Cazurra, 2009).\n2. Corporate governance in Greece: The concept of CG[2] was first introduced in Greece in the year 1998, but it spread through the issue of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's code in 1999. This period triggered the Greek institutions, and the issue of two codes, by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission in 1999 and Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) in 2011, followed. However, apart from the adoption and the implementation of these specific forms of soft law, a series of mandatory legislations were embodied in the Greek law, defining the legal framework of the CG (Nerantzidis and Filos, 2014; Spanos, 2005).\n3. Data and research method: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Results: This section presents the results of the research methodology. Particularly, in the first part, the influence of Combined Code (2010) in Greek soft law is presented and analyzed, while in the second part, the companies' compliance with it, either totally or per capitalization, is provided.\n5. Conclusion: The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the Combined Code (2010) in Greek soft law and strengthen the findings of Koutoupis'(2012) case study. Specifically, we examined the similarities between the UK' s Combine code (2010) and the Greek SEV code (2011) to imprint in a more comprehensive manner the impact of the former code to the latter code. Thus, through analyzing the content of both codes, we provided an in-depth understanding of this influence. However, this study goes further and develops a coding scheme of overlapping provisions (between the two codes) to rate the level of compliance.\nGreek laws and regulations: Law 3693/2008\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of Combined code (2010) impact in the Greek soft law (SEV code, 2011) and the adoption of an overlapping set (between the two codes) of best practice provisions in Greece.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Content analysis was conducted to examine the similarities between the UK's Combined code (2010) and the Greek SEV code (2011). Moreover, a sample of 219 Greek listed companies' annual reports was analyzed, and their compliance with a specific number of provisions was evaluated.\nFindings: Through analyzing the content of both codes, it was found that from the total 64 provisions of the SEV code (2011), 45 were matched to at least one of the Combined codes (2010). From these 45 provisions, 26 were characterized as \"in spirit\" influence and 19 as \"in letter\". Based on this evidence, 22 overlapping practices were selected to investigate the compliance and a quite low rate was revealed, an average percentage of 30.46 per cent. These findings indicate that while exogenous forces trigger the development and adoption of a code in Greece, in line with the UK's, the endogenous forces tend to avoid the compliance with that \"exogenous practices\". Moreover, the results support the idea that the Greek national code should be reshaped to fit the different country's characteristics.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research limitations are associated with the content analysis methodology, as well as the reliability of corporate governance (CG)statements.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to understanding in a more comprehensive manner the impact of Combined Code (2010) in Greek soft law. More specifically, based on a previous case study, this paper extends the seven analyzed factors of Koutoupis' (2012) research to the total CG provisions of both codes. However, it goes further and develops a coding scheme to rate the level of compliance of the overlapping provisions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Suits you, sir: Pertemps puts its people in prime position	[ "Incentive schemes", "Gifts", "Recruitment agencies", "Interviews" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but many of us do.\nWearing the correct outfit: UK-based Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) is among the organizations to have successfully used the GCMS to help people looking for work.Amanda Astley, buyer at PPDG, said: \"It is easy to underestimate what a barrier to employment a lack of suitable clothing can be, but it can affect a client's confidence and the way that he or she is viewed by potential employers. We aim to remedy this and break down this barrier to employment with good quality, smart, cost-effective clothing.\"PPDG employs around 700 staff nationally and delivers a range of Government welfare-to-work initiatives and training projects from 38 centers, helping disadvantaged job seekers to access the workplace or self-employment.\"We help unemployed individuals back into long-term, sustainable employment or to access training opportunities. Many initially lack self-esteem, yet our experience has proved that, once worked with and developed, many of these people have exactly the skills that employers want - they are just unaware they possess them.\"\nImproved security: PPDG has a number of ways of offering clients funding. They include purchase orders or through an established supplier base. The organization also occasionally uses paper vouchers.\"The problem with paper vouchers is the security surrounding keeping items of a high monetary value in our centers,\" said Amanda Astley. \"With GCMS, we don't have this issue. We top the card up when the client requires it and it is handed to him or her immediately; before this the cards have no value at all.\"PPDG initially explored the possibility of using a credit account with George at Asda to procure good quality, cost-effective clothing for its clients. Joanne Taylor, at Asda Business Rewards, informed the company about the GCMS.\"It was explained to us that we would have control over our funds and could set up sub accounts for each individual cost code in our organization, making it much easier for us to keep track of spend,\" said Amanda Astley.\"Our coaches identify that a client has a requirement for work or interview clothing and raise a requisition to us at head office,\" she continued. \"We then input the data on to the gift-card manager web site by the required deadlines; the funds are available on the card an hour and a half after the deadline, at which point the client can purchase the required items.\"The scheme has been very successful in our centers because of the cost savings in comparison to alternative suppliers. Our clients are now getting more items for the funding they are given, meaning that their transition into the world of employment is made that little bit easier.\"\nMaking incentives easier: Graham Sellors, director of Asda Business Rewards, said: \"The GCMS is simple yet secure and allows funds to be added remotely by an authorised administrator to new or existing gift cards. The introduction of the GCMS for the Asda gift card means that the business-to-business customer is now in control of the funds on each card while enjoying the benefits gift cards offer.\"Some companies are using cards to manage bonus or commission schemes by remotely loading employees' cards each week or month with the rewards they have earned.\"He listed other benefits of the GCMS as:* round-the-clock access;* security - cards can be suspended if lost or stolen;* remote access - cards can be securely managed from any computer with internet access;* pause-protect - allowing cards to be activated once they have reached the correct recipient;* re-use - all cards can be re-used as many times as necessary, and recipients can top up the cards in-store themselves; and* the gift cards can be used to purchase any product available in Asda stores.\"In addition, time-poor personal assistants and secretaries who need to provide charming gifts and incentives have been taking up an Asda Business Rewards service offering businesses a choice of wine and chocolates.\"It can also be used to provide a 'welcome to the company' gift for somebody's first day in a new job. It's nice to arrive in a new role and find a box of chocolates or bottle of wine waiting for you,\" he concluded.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to consider how Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) uses a gift card management system (GCMS), developed for Asda Business Rewards, to help its clients to buy suitable outfits for their interviews.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper draws on information from interviews with Amanda Astley, buyer at PPDG, and Graham Sellors, the director of Asda Business Rewards.\nFindings: - The paper reveals that Asda is one of the first gift-card issuers in the UK to offer an online management system allowing plastic gift cards to be used in the business-to-business market as an alternative to paper vouchers.\nPractical implications: - The paper highlights the additional security of gift cards over vouchers.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows how the gift cards, mainly used in the incentive, reward and employee-benefit markets, can be used productively by recruitment organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On the use of structural equation modeling in marketing image research	[ "Modeling", "Country image", "Branding models" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The structural equation modeling (SEM) has got special attention from researchers in the marketing field. Over one-third of the articles dealing with marketing research published from 2006 to 2008 were using SEM and over two-thirds since 1995 (Babin et al., 2008). While the SEM practices of many social scientists may be less than optimal, the use of SEM as a powerful tool of data analysis and casual modeling is here to stay (Barret, 2007). Notwithstanding, the sole application of SEM does not guarantee reliable theoretical findings. For the SEM benefits to be caught, the technique must be correctly applied (Chin, 1998). Recent reviews of the use of SEM in marketing have revealed serious flaws (Hair et al., 2012; Shook et al., 2004). The technique is still affected by some old and familiar problems, constraints and misconceptions (Tomarken and Waller, 2005). In line with Chen et al.'s (2008) recommendation and building on previous assessments of SEM use, we review the modelers' common assumptions and practices in respect of SEM in marketing research. The focus in this research is on SEM application in marketing image research. The reasons of limiting the investigation to marketing image research are two-fold. First, image is a latent construct. Its study involves thus the application of the confirmatory/confirmatory and the modeling/model models. Moreover, image constructs and their respective effects have been measured and causally modeled in many ways. Hence, their estimation involves the development/generating models. These three types of models are the most tested via SEM (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993) (see Section 4.3 for more details about these models). The fit of the sample to the objective of the research is thus guaranteed. Second, previous reviews of SEM have assessed samples of models built around different constructs. Knowing that different constructs involve different measures in terms of number and type (reflective vs formative) which impacts the range of minimum sample size requirements, the number of free parameters to estimate and the required method of estimation, which in its turn impacts the quality of the SEM application (Byrne, 2006); structural disparities between the constructs investigated would probably result in obvious differences in SEM application which are due to the inner constructs' disparities and not to the technique's misapplication. Narrowing down the scope of the investigation to models built around structurally similar constructs would lower the bias to get to disparities due to inner structural differences of the constructs instead of the technique's inadequate use.\n2 Most investigated issues in SEM review works: Varying research efforts have attempted to assess the use of SEM in marketing research the last two decades. The objective was to identify the misuse and the best-use of the technique and prescribe recommendations for a more accurate application. Table I reports the most-significant SEM reviews done the last 20 years. Among the reviews cited in Table I, few only that relied on quantitative analysis to advocate for the theoretical issues treated, and none investigated panels of SEM models built around structurally similar constructs. Quantitative evidences are important if a more exact view on the SEM issues is wanted (Martinez-Lopez et al., 2013); and a sample of structurally similar constructs is recommended going to lower bias related to inner constructs' disparities and to evaluate how SEM is applied in different marketing fields (Gefen et al., 2011).\n3 Research methodology: A full-text search of four marketing databases was performed using the keywords of \"marketing\", \"image\" and \"SEM\". These are EBSCO business complete, Emerald full text, ABI/Inform Global and Science Direct. The search was limited to the last five years hoping that: first, the recency of the studies will allow to investigate for the effect those SEM reviews previously published had on the quality of SEM use in recent image research; second, it gives clear insights about the evolution of SEM application over time, and third it enhances the quality of the sample as the authors of these works are likely to have been exposed to the same corpus of SEM assessment studies.\n4 Results and discussions: Various statistics have been computed and included in Table II. These findings will be discussed consecutively. A comparison with the most recent SEM review in marketing is also available in the same table.\n5 Conclusions: With the proliferation of SEM application in marketing research and the heterogeneous fit indices and quality assessment methods used by scholars, it is important to find common roots for the evaluation of SEM based works. This can help both writers and evaluators accurately assess the quality of the results produced. Moreover, mastering SEM tiny specificities would help marketing researchers optimize the use of this technique and undertake simple before-fact and/or after-fact corrective measures that can enhance the quality of the findings (Neter et al., 1990). Though the technique is marvelous, inappropriate application may lead to erroneous findings which are not always easily detectable. Enough details around the technique and its application have to be clearly reported. The rigor of using the method is as important as the outcomes and hence should believe marketing scholars.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the use of structural equation modeling in one specific field of marketing research, the image research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A meta-analysis of a sample of image marketing works using structural equation modeling (SEM). The period of investigation is limited to the last five years to test for possible positive return of previous assessments of SEM use on the current SEM application.\nFindings: Following this work, three major conclusions emerged: the study of homogenous samples of SEM models is required to get to accurate assessment of using the technique; SEM application is getting better probably due to learning from SEM reviews; and the reliance on a conjoint assessment of the various SEM issues is necessary to avoid parsimonious assessments. This study has provided a concise and refreshed view on the use of SEM in one marketing field, the image research.\nResearch limitations/implications: 47 SEM papers and 99 models along five years were examined through this research. Although the authors reviewed four of the most consulted databases in marketing, the authors might miss several interesting works not available in these databases during the investigation. It is interesting to add on the works reviewed in this study and to re-conduct the analysis. The objective is not to doubt the consistency of SEM image research but to provide writers and readers with tools that enable them to produce better quality SEM research. Moreover, the quantitative analysis could be larger. Future research can consider computing other statistics. Finally, in the standards of most of marketing journals, this paper is a bit long. But as suggested by Babin et al., journal editors should allow more space to SEM-based reviews as the nature of the discussion requires lengthening.\nPractical implications: Mastering the statistical tool in marketing research is as important as mastering the conceptual tool. Statistical learning and/or cooperation with statisticians is recommended.\nOriginality/value: A multi-criteria review of works from one specific field in marketing research and across a recent period of time allowing for the test of possible positive return from previous reviews of SEM use on the quality of the current publications of SEM papers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bringing the "right to request" flexible working arrangements to life: from policies to practices	[ "Government policy", "Industrial relations", "Line managers", "Flexible labour", "Family roles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Policies enabling the introduction of flexible working arrangements (commonly referred to as FWAs) spring primarily from the need for employees to engage both in paid employment and to undertake family roles. Recognising the political potency of the work and family clash, governments, including in Australia in 2010 and earlier in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand, have legislated \"right to request\" policies. In some cases, employing organisations have also introduced their own versions of such policies.\nLiterature review: line managers and FWAs: The development and application of flexible work policies and practices for working parents has been an area of rapidly growing, multi-disciplinary, scholarly interest in recent years, in part because employee needs to reconcile work and care responsibilities have put pressure on the \"ideal worker\" model (Acker, 2006) and the policy framework in which it is embedded. In this context, studies of the design and operation of \"right to request\" flexible working policies have been a key concern. \"Right to request\" flexible work arrangements refers to policies which grant employees procedural rights to ask for consideration of applications for flexible schedules, working hours or place of work to accommodate care arrangements. Depending on the context, the flexibility requested might include shorter working hours, compressed schedules and remote working. There is a building scholarship in relation to right to request legislation and policy in various contexts and which points to the history of national systems (Charlesworth and Campbell, 2008; Hegewisch, 2009; Himmelweit, 2007). A key theme has been an analysis of the design flaws of these policies in different national settings, centring on the three issues of the exclusion of some employees, the limitations springing from their procedural (rather than substantive) nature and, thus, the limited enforceability of the \"right\" (Charlesworth and Campbell, 2008; Croucher and Kelliher, 2005; Aybars, 2007).\nMethodology and cases: The research presented in this paper draws upon case studies conducted within two large, multi-divisional, private sector organisations, TeliCo (a large telecommunications organisation) and BankCo (a large financial services organisation). The research was undertaken between November 2012 and June 2014. During this time, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with line managers and employees who self-selected in response to a call for research participants sent out via e-mail through internal networks within the organisations. Each of the line managers and employees we interviewed were screened to ensure they had been involved in either requesting or approving FWAs in the period from 2010 to mid-2014. The interview protocol covered the precise mechanisms used to establish flexible working; what, if any, advice employees took when preparing to request FWAs and the form this took; the role that managers (line, HR, more senior managers, specialist managers) played in the establishment of FWAs; the role of the line manager (or immediate supervisor) in implementing the flexible work arrangement, the outcomes of the request and the terms established by it, as well as reflections on the process. In keeping with ethics requirements, all interviewees were assigned a pseudonym. While we could not pair line managers with employees who had requested flexible work, it is important to note that we collected data about the role of managers in both companies from both the perspective of line managers themselves and from employees who had requested FWAs.\nRight to request policies: The national policy\nResults: knowledge, formality, outcome and impact of FWAs: This section of the paper details our findings in relation to how the right to request a flexible work arrangement is translated from policy to practice. In order to do this, we address three critical aspects of the right to request process: first, employee and line manager awareness and knowledge of policies; second, the request process and the level of formality and informality; and third, the outcome of the attempt to establish FWAs.\nImplications: We undertook our case studies at a time when national legislation in Australia, establishing a formal \"right to request\" flexible working for parents had been recently enacted. Furthermore, in both case study organisations, a mix of bargained and organisational policies establishing workplace flexibility for parents co-existed with these national-level policies, creating a multi-layered policy environment. Three things were clear from our interviews.\nConclusion: Understanding the content of \"right to request\" flexible working policies, established though national legislation, enterprise bargaining and organisational policy, is an important end in itself, given the significant innovation in this space in the past five years in Australia and internationally. In this paper, however, we have attempted to go one step further, to investigate how such policies are brought to life by those arguably most affected by their application; employees and their supervisors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how the \"right to request\" flexible working arrangements (FWAs), located in national policy and in organisational policy contexts, are brought to life in the workplace by employees and their managers. The authors seek to understand the nature and content of requests, the process followed in attending to requests, the scope of the arrangements which resulted and the implications for the work of both employees and managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors employ a case study method, investigating how formal \"right to request\" FWAs policies translate to practice within two large companies in Australia. The primary data focuses on 66 in-depth interviews with line managers, employees and key organisational informants. These interviews are triangulated with legislative, company and union policy documents.\nFindings: Most requests were made by mothers returning from maternity leave. Typically their requests involved an attempt to move from full-time to part-time hours. The authors found a considerable knowledge deficit among the employees making requests and a high level of informality in the processing of requests. As a result, managers played a critical role in structuring both the procedure and the substantive outcomes of FWAs requests. Managers' personal experience and levels of commitment to FWAs were critical in the process, but their response was constrained by, among other things, conflicting organisational policies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The scale of the empirical research is possibly limited by a focus on large companies in the private sector.\nPractical implications: The authors provide insight into the implementation gap between FWA policy and practice. The authors make suggestions as to how to make \"right to request\" policies more accessible and effective.\nSocial implications: The \"right to request\" flexible working is an issue of critical importance to families, employees, managers, organisations and economies.\nOriginality/value: \"Right to request\" FWAs are relatively new in legislation and policy and thus the authors have an incomplete understanding of how they operate and come to life at the workplace level. The authors show a significant implementation gap between policy and practice and point to some of the critical influences on this. Among other things, the authors build new insight in relation to the interaction of formal and informal and the role and place of the direct manager in the process of operationalising the \"right to request\".\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace stress in a foreign environment: Chinese migrants in New Zealand	[ "Culture", "Immigrants", "Stress", "Work", "Chinese workers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding and managing employees' stress at work remains a major stream in the talent management literature because satisfied and motivated employees contribute directly to a company's competitive advantage, and excessive stress can be costly for both individuals and their organisations (Al Aris et al., 2014). At the individual level, stress could be related to a number of physical, psychological and behavioural factors such as major illness, depression (Anderson, 2008), absenteeism (Cooper and Dewe, 2008), substance abuse (Frone, 2008) and a greater risk of workplace accidents (Kalia, 2002). Sobocki et al. (2006) found that the annual total direct organisational cost of workplace stress in the European Union was 41 billion, with 77 billion in terms of productivity losses to the various economies. It is therefore important to address the causes of workplace stress to minimise individual and organisational losses.\nPerceived organisational factors and stress: Studies exploring determinants of workplace stress generally focus on individual socio-demographic factors, individual job characteristics or on predisposing personality traits (Edwards et al., 2000). Yet, recent research has expanded the theoretical stress framework to include perceived organisational sources of stress. A useful approach to is to take a contextual view on the causes of workplace stress. For example, Lasalvia et al. (2009) use a mediation model to investigate the perceived organisational factors on psychiatric workplace stress. When considering stress in the organisational context, it is important to note that the relationship between a stimulus (e.g. a manager's racist behaviour) and a response (e.g. increased stress) is not linear, and is moderated by other processes (e.g. language skills) (Cooper and Dewe, 2008). Therefore, work stress can be viewed as a cycle of processes consisting of demands, moderating factors and responses. While the contextual factors can be evaluated either subjectively or objectively (Kristof-Brown and Guay, 2011), the current study considers only subjective or perceived organisational factors (e.g. individual assessment of the organisational support). Therefore, our aim is to subject these often-mentioned workplace variables to empirical scrutiny.\nMigrants and workplace stress: International migration has increased over the decades to become an important stream of the global workforce (Weishaar, 2008), particularly in receiving countries like New Zealand, Canada and Australia. Foreign-born residents in New Zealand totalled about 30 per cent the country's population in 2013 with Chinese ranked as the second largest group of overseas-born residents (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, 2013). The importance of migrant workers also hinges on their economic contribution, providing an annual fiscal contribution to New Zealand of NZ$3.3 billion and around 25 per cent of government revenue (Slack et al., 2007). It is important to note that the benefits of migrants are not only reflected directly in the fiscal figures, but also in their knowledge which is valuable for global competition in today's knowledge economy.\nThe person-environment (P-E) fit model and research questions: A useful theoretical approach emphasising the interactions between the person and the workplace is the P-E fit model (French et al., 1982) which suggests that job-related stress is the result of a misfit between the characteristics of the person (e.g. value and abilities) and the work environment (e.g. workload and support). The core premise of the P-E fit theory is that stress arises not from the person or environment separately, but rather by their fit or congruence or lack thereof, with one another (Soylu, 2007).\nSubjects and methods: Participants\nData analysis and results: Prior to testing the hypotheses, validity and reliability tests were conducted as part of psychometric properties of the scale measuring construct validity, discriminant validity, Cronbach's a and composite reliability. Construct validity is \" [...] the degree to which an assessment instrument measures the targeted construct\" (Haynes et al., 1995, p. 239), and is commonly tested via exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis as well as SEM (Rubio et al., 2003). Values above 0.5 in a confirmatory factor analysis indicate acceptable construct validity (Hair et al., 2006). Adequate discriminant validity requires all items to load higher on their related factor. Table I shows that all variables loaded as required on their related factors indicating adequate construct and discriminant validities. Further, the table shows that all Cronbach's a and composite reliability measures are above 0.7 indicating acceptability in terms of internal consistency and reliability (Kline, 1998).\nDiscussion and conclusions: Our findings indicate that the hypotheses are supported and that for these Chinese migrant workers, a perceived effective organisational environment can reduce work stress. These findings are in line with the literature, and hence, the first contribution offered here is that the P-E fit model is appropriate in the context of Chinese migrants in New Zealand. Our SEM model clearly showed that the individual's perception of organisational factors directly influenced work performance and intention to quit.\nLimitations and future research: Despite the use of two sampling techniques, the response rate was relatively low and consequently, the sample size is relatively small. A representative sampling frame could be obtained from the governmental agencies such as Immigration New Zealand and Labour Department, and a systematic method could be used to generate a larger sample in future studies. Further, and a factor of the Chinese sample, very few participants responded to the opportunity to comment in the open-ended questions so more information about specific concerns was not identified. Future research could use qualitative approaches to achieve more in-depth information to validate the findings of this study. Finally, due to the exploratory nature of the study, the selection of personal factors is not to fully represent all individual characteristics but to reflect some specific variables as a result of migration and to demonstrate the moderating effect of these personal factors. Future studies could also provide more specific discussions of how different personal/social factors (moderators) affect P-E fit of workplace stress model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of personal and organisational factors contributing to workplace stress among Chinese migrants in New Zealand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on surveys of 88 participants using the theoretical model of person-environment fit.\nFindings: The results reveal that perceived fit of organisational factors has a significant impact on workplace stress outcomes including emotional well-being, work-related health, job performance and intention to quit. Further analysis also shows that personal factors, some as a result of acculturation, play a moderating effect on the perceived relationship between the organisation and workplace stress. Education, advanced language skills and building networks in the new community are all important factors to minimise stress.\nOriginality/value: From an organisational perspective, the study highlights the importance of understanding the factors that cause workplace stress, especially with a culturally diverse working population. This cross-sectional study could be furthered through the use of alternative cultural samples, and through the development of a longitudinal design. In short, this study of the work stress of Chinese migrants in New Zealand contributes to the field of knowledge providing exploratory insights for work stress research in human resource management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Beyond national culture: implications of cultural dynamics for consumer research	[ "Cross‐cultural studies", "National cultures", "Globalization", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Culture has a profound influence on all aspects of human behavior. Its impact may be subtle or pronounced, direct or oblique, enduring or ephemeral. It is so entwined with all facets of human existence that it is often difficult to determine how and in what ways its impact is manifested. Adding to the complexity of understanding the impact of culture is its inherently dynamic nature. Cultural influences change and culture evolves as political, social, economic and technological forces reshape the cultural landscape (Usunier and Lee, 2005). Given the rapid pace of change, it becomes increasingly imperative to take into account the dynamic character of culture and to understand the way the composition of culture is being transformed by global forces.Expanding networks of inter-personal and mass communications, spawned by the growth of satellite communication links, the internet and voice/data networks have altered traditionally static territorially based notions of culture (Hermans and Kempen, 1998) and resulted in greater interchange and linkages between cultural entities. Members of different cultural groupings are moving from one country to another, bringing with them their interests, values, and distinctive behavior patterns and intermingling with others, thus further clouding the spatial and social boundaries of culture (Andreasen, 1990). This results in cultural interpenetration, i.e. the penetration of one culture by another. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify the \"ethnie\" core of a culture due to cultural contamination. Greater commingling and fusion of elements of different cultures at the same time dilutes, enriches, and alters individual cultures.The purpose of this paper is to develop a more thorough understanding of cultural dynamics and the different ways in which new sources of cultural influence are permeating and changing society. Emphasis is placed on examining the components of culture and providing a conceptual overview of the key forces impacting and changing culture. Its metamorphosis from a set of socially independent and geographically isolated units to a more complex, multi-level, intertwined, and evolving organism is examined. This is based on examining previous literature in marketing and related fields, notably global sociology. First, different concepts of culture in marketing are explored. Then ways in which cultural dynamics are influencing the nature of culture are examined. Based on this, some directions for research on the content of culture are discussed as well as how it should be approached.\nCulture and marketing: Culture is a pervasive influence which underlies all facets of social behavior and interaction. It is evident in the values and norms that govern society. It is embodied in the objects used in everyday life and in modes of communication in society. The complexity of culture is reflected in the multitude of definitions of culture. Krober and Kluckholn (1952) in their classic review of culture in the Peabody papers listed over 160 different definitions of culture, and were sufficiently dissatisfied with all of them to add a one more (161) of their own. Of all these definitions, perhaps the most widely accepted is that given by Tylor (1881) who described culture as \"that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society,\" or as later synthesized by Herskovits (1955) as the \"manmade\" part of the environment - i.e. what distinguishes humans from other species.Consumer researchers have largely followed this view of culture. McCracken (1986) adopts an all encompassing view of culture defining it as the \"lens through which the individual views phenomena.\" As such it determines how individuals perceive and interpret phenomena, provides the \"blueprint\" of human activity, determines the co-ordinates of social action and productive activity and specifies the behaviors and objects that issue from both. This view follows closely the interpretative perspective of scholars such as Clifford (1988), Geertz (1973) and Marcus (1999) and their view of culture as interpretation of meaning in a culturally constituted world.This represents a different view of culture from that recently discussed by Leung et al., (2005) which views culture as a multi-layered construct existing at different levels, global, national, organizational and group cultures, which encompass the individual. Attention is focused on aggregate social and group processes, and particularly the extent to which these are converging or diverging across countries, rather than on the individual, which is the heart of consumer culture. Emphasis is placed on the intersection of these aggregate levels and the factors, which facilitate cultural change. Individual characteristics are viewed as a moderating influence rather than the heart of the investigation as is the case in consumer research. Further, the current epoch is viewed as one of partial globalization rather than of cultural convergence.The framework adopted here is based on that developed by Sojka and Tansuhaj (1995) who group research in marketing on culture into three major streams:1. abstract or intangible elements of culture such as values and belief systems;2. material aspects of culture, such as artifacts, symbols and rites; and3. the communication links which bind and perpetuate a cultural system.Each of these perspectives is rooted in a different research tradition. As such each provides a unique and distinct perspective and insights into a facet of culture.In the past, these three elements have often been discussed independently or attention has focused on a single element. They are, however, closely intertwined (Figure 1). Communication provides a means of transmitting the intangible aspects of culture, such as values and beliefs from one person to another or from one generation to another. This communication process is inherently dynamic and at the same time continually evolving. Artifacts ranging from religious icons to shoes or clothing, may also be an expression of intangible beliefs, and at the same time designate membership in a particular culture.The interdependence of the three elements is evident in the lifestyles of teens throughout the world. They are exposed to media advertising as well as movies, music and magazines, communicating shared values such as individualism, independence and self-reliance. Items of apparel such as jeans, athletic shoes, baseball caps, jewelry, and watches, symbolize their membership in this global culture. At the same time, communications, such as advertising or magazines, both reflect and influence cultural values. For example, Nike advertising targeted at teens in the US emphasizes sports and stresses individualistic values and competitiveness - core values of US teen culture. The same advertising aimed at teens in collectivist societies that emphasize relations and interaction with others, suggests and instills new values and may gradually change core beliefs to resemble those of their peers in the western world. This is not to suggest that all teens are subject to western influence, but the impact, to varying degrees, is apparent throughout the world.Values and belief systems\nCultural dynamics: Growing links between local cultures and the increasing permeability of cultural boundaries are changing the nature of culture and transforming its patterning. With advances in communications technology, cultures are increasingly linked by global flows diffusing ideas, products and images across the world at amazing speed. The sociologist Appadurai (1990) has identified five global flows that are transforming the nature of society and muting the effect of divisions and barriers between them. Mediascapes, i.e. flows of image and communication, are the most far-reaching in both influencing consumers and at the same time are subject to influence by marketers. Ethnoscapes, i.e. flows of tourists, migrants, foreign students, are also shaping beliefs and result in direct exposure of members of one culture to another. Ideoscapes, i.e. flows of political ideas and ideologies, exert more subtle influences that take more time to have any impact. Ethnoscapes and mediascapes are the conduits for transmission of ideas and ideologies. The last two scapes, technoscapes, i.e. flows of technology and know-how or linkages between plants and offices throughout the world, and finanscapes, i.e. flows or capital and money, are important forces but less evident for individual consumers. In many instances it is the desire to expand markets for goods and services that sets many of these flows in motion. Technology and capital are critical factors for business as they seek to expand around the globe and their impact is ultimately manifested in the first three scapes. These flows are the primary mechanisms that transmit content from one culture to another.The five global flows dramatically change the character of the global landscape, and in particular, the way in which the cultural context is configured. Traditionally, culture has been viewed as localized and defined by territorial boundaries. Cultural behavior patterns are viewed as delimited within a given locality, with little interaction or overlap with other cultures. The strength of global flows creates a very different landscape in which cultural patterns are no longer concentrated in a given locality, but are rather interconnected across broad geographic areas and multiple groupings as cultural boundaries become less clearly defined. The consequences of these flows are identified in Table I and the remainder of this section is devoted to an elaboration of these consequences.Cultural interpenetration\nImplications for research on culture: Each of the three streams of research identified earlier provides a distinctive aperture and lens to view the intertwined facets of culture. Each is rooted in a specific research tradition reflecting a focus on a particular aspect of culture. As a result, any one perspective provides only a partial glimpse that fails to capture the full richness of cultural influences. As a consequence, findings are often interpreted in terms of a single perspective, ignoring other possible interpretations or insights.The complexity of cultural influences and the numerous ways in which these are changing, suggest the need to adopt a broader perspective. This perspective should capture the richness and diversity of these different aspects of culture and their influence, as well as providing a view of culture that can be applied meaningfully to marketing situations. In addition to thinking about conceptual issues in designing research on culture, research design must also consider the methodological implications of changing cultural dynamics. Both of these are examined next.Conceptual issues in cross-cultural research\nConclusion: The parallel trends of globalization and multiculturalism make it increasingly important to develop a deeper understanding of culture and its various manifestations. Cultural influences are changing dramatically, as cultures are no longer dependent on local resources to formulate their characteristic tastes, preferences and behavior and are increasingly linked across vast geographic distances by modern communication media. Membership in a culture is becoming more fluid as individuals travel widely and both adapt to new cultural contexts while transporting elements of one culture to another. As membership in a culture becomes increasingly transitional, unique elements are less clearly demarcated or distinctive. New hybrid cultures are emerging, blending elements of different origins. The dynamic and evolving character of these cultural influences greatly complicates research designed to disentangle the impact and meaning of culture. For progress to be made, research designs must account for this complexity and span multiple contexts to establish the generality of findings. This will result in improved knowledge of culture and its role in molding consumption behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To develop a more thorough understanding of culture in a rapidly changing global environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The recent literature dealing with ways in which cultural dynamics are influencing the nature and meaning of culture are examined. Different perspectives of culture related to three key components of culture, intangibles, material culture and communication, are explored. Based on this, directions for research on the content of culture are discussed as well as how it should be approached.\nFindings: - Culture is becoming increasingly deterritorialized and penetrated by elements from other cultures. This is resulting in cultural contamination, cultural pluralism and hybridization. It has become more difficult to study culture as it is becoming diffuse. At the same time, it is becoming more important to study it because of its pervasive influence on consumer behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Given that culture is no longer a phenomenon defined by and isolated to a particular locale, research on culture must carefully specify the role of culture, define the appropriate unit of analysis, isolate confounding influences and expand the range of contexts.\nOriginality/value: - The parallel trends of globalization and multiculturalism make it increasingly important to develop a deeper understanding of culture and its various manifestations. For progress to be made, research designs must account for this complexity and span multiple contexts to establish the generality of findings. This will result in improved knowledge of culture and its role in molding consumption behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of organization mission fulfillment and perceived organizational support on job performance: The mediating role of work engagement	[ "Internal marketing", "Human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's increasingly competitive market environment, astute bank managers realize that delivering superior services to customers plays a crucial role in differentiating a brand from competition. Delivery of superior services to customers in the retail banking industry can increase customer retention rates, reduce customer complaints, bolster the image of the organization, and result in a higher market share (Yavas et al., 2007). Due to their boundary-spanning roles, frontline bank employees who have frequent face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions with customers are the most important link in service delivery and complaint handling processes. As highlighted by Bettencourt and Brown (2003) and Yavas (2007), frontline bank employees' job performance (JP) in challenging service encounters determines customers' notion of service quality. Wallace et al. (2011) stress the importance of bank employees' performance since these employees build trust and influence customer behavior. Frontline employees' JP often affects customers' first experience of the bank's brand (Du Preez and Bendixen, 2015). Not surprisingly, bank managers expect these employees to meet customers' expectations and display effective performance in the workplace.\nTheoretical framework, conceptual model, and hypotheses: Theoretical framework\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Measurement model\nDiscussion: Evaluation of findings and theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Drawing from Bagozzi's (1992) reformulation of attitude theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual model that links organization mission fulfillment (OMF) and perceived organizational support (POS) to job performance (JP) via work engagement (WE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data gathered from frontline bank employees with a time lag of two weeks and their supervisors in Northern Cyprus were utilized to test the aforementioned relationships.\nFindings: The results from structural equation modeling suggest that OMF and POS foster WE. WE in turn stimulates employees' JP. In short, WE fully mediates the effects of OMF and POS on JP.\nResearch limitations/implications: Incorporating creative performance into the conceptual model would shed further light on WE as a mediator of the effects of OMF and POS on various performance outcomes. Gathering data from frontline bank employees in similar islands would allow conducting a cross-national study.\nPractical implications: Management of banks can organize workshops where frontline employees can contribute to the preparation of the mission statement. Employees making such contribution will display elevated levels of WE, because they contribute to something which is significant and meaningful. Management should also use selective staffing procedures to hire individuals who are customer oriented and therefore feel energetic and dedicated and are engrossed in their work.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the current knowledge base by linking OMF and POS to JP via WE in frontline service jobs in the retail banking industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Spreadsheets for business process management: Using process mining to deal with "events" rather than "numbers"?	[ "Process mining", "Business process management (BPM)", "Spreadsheets", "Data science" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Spreadsheets are used everywhere. A spreadsheet is composed of cells organized in rows and columns. Some cells serve as input, other cells have values computed over a collection of other cells (e.g. taking the sum over an array of cells). \"VisiCalc\" was the \"killer application\" for the Apple II computer in 1979 and \"Lotus 1-2-3\" played a comparable role for the IBM PC in 1983. People were buying these computers in order to run spreadsheet software (Ceruzzi, 2003): a nice example of the \"tail\" (VisiCalc/Lotus 1-2-3) wagging the \"dog\" (Apple II/IBM PC). After decades of spectacular IT developments, spreadsheet software can still be found on most computers (e.g. Excel is part of Microsoft's Office) and can be accessed online (e.g. Google Sheets as part of Google Docs). Spreadsheet software survived 50 years of IT developments because spreadsheets are highly generic and valuable for many. The situations in which spreadsheets can be used in a meaningful way are almost endless (Jelen, 2005). Spreadsheets can be used to do anything with numbers. Of course one needs to write dedicated programs if computations get complex or use database technology if data sets get large. However, for the purpose of this paper we assume that spreadsheets adequately deal with numerical data. We would like to argue that process mining software enables users to do anything with events. In this paper, we introduce process mining against the backdrop of spreadsheets.\n2. Running example: As an example, let us consider the process of handling customer orders. Customers can order phones via the website of a telecom company. The customer first places an order. Multiple phones of the same type can be ordered at the same time. The customer is expected to pay before the phones are delivered. An invoice is sent to the customer, but the customer can also pay before receiving the invoice. If the customer does not pay in time, a reminder is sent. This is only done after sending the invoice. If the customer does not pay after two reminders, the order is canceled. If the customer pays, the order's delivery is prepared, followed by the actual delivery and a conformation of payment (in any order).\n3. Spreadsheets: history and concepts: Most organizations use spreadsheets in financial planning, budgeting, work distribution, etc. Hence, it is interesting to view process mining against the backdrop of this widely used technology.\n4. Process mining: spreadsheets for dynamic behavior: As argued in the previous section, spreadsheet software can be used to do anything with numbers. However, spreadsheets cannot capture processes and cannot handle event data well. Therefore, we propose process mining as a spreadsheet-like technology for processes starting from events.\n5. Conclusion: Just like the spreadsheet software, process mining aims to provide a generic approach not restricted to a particular application domain. Whereas spreadsheets focus on numbers, process mining focuses on events. There have been some attempts to extend spreadsheets with process mining capabilities. For example, QPR's ProcessAnalyzer can be deployed as an Excel add-in. However, processes and events are very different from bar/pie charts and numbers. Process models and concepts related to cases, events, activities, timestamps, and resources need to be treated as first-class citizens during analysis. Data mining tools and spreadsheet programs take as input any tabular data without distinguishing between these key concepts. As a result, such tools tend to be process-agnostic.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Process mining provides a generic collection of techniques to turn event data into valuable insights, improvement ideas, predictions, and recommendations. This paper uses spreadsheets as a metaphor to introduce process mining as an essential tool for data scientists and business analysts. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that process mining can do with events what spreadsheets can do with numbers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper discusses the main concepts in both spreadsheets and process mining. Using a concrete data set as a running example, the different types of process mining are explained. Where spreadsheets work with numbers, process mining starts from event data with the aim to analyze processes.\nFindings: Differences and commonalities between spreadsheets and process mining are described. Unlike process mining tools like ProM, spreadsheets programs cannot be used to discover processes, check compliance, analyze bottlenecks, animate event data, and provide operational process support. Pointers to existing process mining tools and their functionality are given.\nPractical implications: Event logs and operational processes can be found everywhere and process mining techniques are not limited to specific application domains. Comparable to spreadsheet software widely used in finance, production, sales, education, and sports, process mining software can be used in a broad range of organizations.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides an original view on process mining by relating it to the spreadsheets. The value of spreadsheet-like technology tailored toward the analysis of behavior rather than numbers is illustrated by the over 20 commercial process mining tools available today and the growing adoption in a variety of application domains.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teleworkers in Italy: who are they? Do they make more?	[ "Wage differentials", "Propensity score matching", "Teleworking", "Switching regression model", "J22", "J31", "J81", "C34", "C14" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Concepts as work-life balance, knowledge management and lean organization have received increasing attention in labor and industrial organization. They lead firms to reconsider the traditional work context and often give rise to the phenomenon of teleworking, also called smart working or telecommuting, an innovative results-oriented approach based on a higher flexibility in the organization of labor. Many definitions of teleworking have been proposed in the sociological, psychological and political literature, and they all relate to overcoming the traditional use of physical space and working hours, moving toward results-oriented rewards and letting people \"work where and when as they wished as long as it delivered the right results\" (Clapperton and Vanhoutte, 2014)[1].\n2. Theoretical clues on telework: Here we first provide theoretical underpinnings to investigate who teleworkers (TW) are and whether they face a wage differential with respect to regular workers (RW). We then discuss the main theory-based suggestions to guide the empirical analysis.\n3. Empirical strategy: 3.1 Telework assignment\n4. The data: The Italian labor force survey (RCFL), issued by the ISTAT, is a representative survey that collects information on the main characteristics of individuals such as age, gender, region of residence, education, with special reference to their careers and working conditions, namely, occupation, sector of economic activity, wage, hours worked, type and duration of contracts. We extracted the cross-section referring to the second quarter of each year for the period 2008-2013[12]. We selected civilian employees aged between 15 and 64, working full time with a permanent contract in Italy. We further excluded homeworkers[13], that represent the 0.05 percent of the sample, because no information on their occupation is available, and we dropped workers who did not allow ISTAT to include the family identifier in the database. Once observations with missing data were dropped, we ended up with a sample of 124,830 workers.\n5. Estimation results: 5.1 The determinants of teleworking\n6. Conclusion: We provided novel empirical evidence, grounded on a rigorous theoretical framework, on teleworking in Italy by investigating the determinants of the probability of being a teleworker and by assessing the extent of returns to telework on earnings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the probability of being a teleworker and the extent of earnings differentials between teleworkers and traditional employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is grounded on a theoretical framework depicting endogenous telework assignment and wage variations based on individual bargaining. The empirical strategy allows for non-random telework assignment, generating from individual- and job-specific observed as well as unobserved factors.\nFindings: Results are based on the Italian labor force survey and uncover a key role of gender, higher education and family composition as determinants of the probability of teleworking. Furthermore, teleworkers enjoy a wage premium ranging between 2.7 and 8 percent.\nOriginality/value: Accounting for observed individual and job-specific effects, by both standard linear regression and propensity score matching, largely reduces the extent of wage premium emerging from unconditional descriptives; the results of an endogenous switching regression model however suggest that failing to properly care for unobserved factors leads to the underestimation of returns to telework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Jupiter Hotels helps stars to shine: Employee surveys enable HR to drive and monitor change	[ "Change management", "Employee engagement", "Employee development", "Communications", "Employee surveys", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An hotel chain whose top management is passionate about employee engagement rewards staff who give outstanding effort with PS25 cash on the spot.\nFinding and developing talent: Jupiter Hotels also launched a Rising Stars staff training and development program to run in conjunction with its existing apprenticeship and National Vocational Qualifications schemes. One highlight of Rising Stars is a food- and beverage-based multi-skilled apprenticeship designed to prepare staff for various food- and beverage-related management jobs. The entire training is designed for the hospitality sector.\nOpen and ongoing communication: A new quarterly newsletter gives all employees the chance to find out what is happening in the company. The newsletter contains the results of regular \"snapshot\" surveys that provide insight into employee morale. The HR team occasionally revises its policies in the light of employee feedback.\nComment: This review is based on \"Employee engagement creates a brighter economic future at Jupiter Hotels\" by Gary Cattermole and Jaime Johnson, who are co-founders and directors of the Survey Initiative, and Diane Jackson, Jupiter Hotels head of HR. The paper examines the role and impact of employee engagement in an organization that has undergone major change. It looks in particular at the role of training and of internal communications and shows how HR specialists can monitor and improve staff engagement over time to deliver better business results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Examines the role and impact of employee engagement in an organization that has undergone major change. Looks at how to monitor and increase levels of staff engagement over time to deliver business results.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Draws on six-monthly employee-engagement surveys and a case study to illustrate how HR can drive and monitor change through employee engagement.\nFindings: Follows Jupiter Hotels through a period of major change and reveals how employee surveys helped the firm to keep its employees motivated and engaged.\nSocial implications: Looks at how a major employer in the hospitality sector coped with organizational change during an economic downturn.\nOriginality/value: Offers best-practice material for HR managers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying NLP tools and techniques in an FMCG environment	[ "Psychology", "Organisational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: NLP is advocated as an applied psychology of performance excellence and yet many organisations are still reluctant to utilize its potential or have experienced the tools and techniques and found them to be lacking. A few organisations have been using NLP tools and techniques for many years and training programmes are often littered with the methodology of NLP without actually naming it as such. This viewpoint provides an overview of how NLP has been applied in an FMCG environment and the key lessons learnt. The article also provides practical examples of some of the tools and techniques in application and considers which have been the most effective.\nPacing the organisation's needs: Pacing is a key component of rapport in NLP. Pacing means to match where someone is currently and work alongside them to develop a process of responsiveness that is based on trust. NLP teaches pacing as a process that includes the matching of physiology, voice qualities and key words. Pacing using NLP goes much further than that when we think about pacing an organisation's needs. Some of the questions included in the well formed outcome model of NLP can help pace the organisation by clearing identifying needs that are related to an outcome.Questions\nPacing the organisational stage of development: Organisations are at different stages of development. Some have been operating for many years and have a workforce consisting of long standing employees. Others may have gone through periods of change and have experienced an influx of new personnel that bring new ideas or ways of thinking to the organisation. A new organisation may have been set up and the workforce is becoming used to working with each other. Irrespective of the history of the organisation, one of the key tools in pacing the developmental stage of the organisation is to 'second position' the key players. Second position is taken from the method referred to as perceptual positions, the ability to view situations from multiple perspectives.Perceptual positions\nChampioning from within: Like any methodology, NLP is only as good as the person who utilizes it. Often individuals have attended external NLP programmes as part of an identified learning or personal development need, and only after they have attended the programme, do they begin to recognise how the skills can be applied in a commercial and industrial environment.Initially individuals from within the learning and development section of the organisation attended our open programmes. They were very honest in their feedback of what they had enjoyed and valued in the course and what they considered to be too therapeutic or \"woo-woo\" to be accepted by their workforce.The development of a long term relationship through pacing and leading, perceptual positions and understanding the logical levels of the organisation has resulted in these individuals being supported as they gradually introduce their learning's into the workplace. Through this support and development of a relationship that has enabled them to gain supervision and advice on how they might use their skills in NLP, they have become champions of the methodology. Experience has shown that these individuals need to be of sufficiently high level and with leadership credibility for NLP to be seamlessly introduced. Within the FMCG organisation, the Chief Executive is widely read and trained in NLP, uses an NLP based coach, and a number of the executive team have trained to practitioner level. This has enabled the development of a common language particularly around problem solving. Executive team members now use each other to reflect on difficult situations and are able to support each other to gain alternative perspectives, reframe their experience, anchor positive and resourceful states in a group context, collapse negative anchors where incidents have arisen, and use outcome focused questioning to facilitate towards based thinking.\nDelivery with credibility: NLP is a model of performance excellence therefore it would make sense that the individual who introduces NLP into the workplace has a high degree of credibility. This credibility is within the area of applying NLP to themselves and also with others, it also is within the work context:* Does the person understand the business?* Have the built up sufficient rapport with leaders within the organisation?* Do they do what they say they are going to do?* Have they got a breadth and depth of experience of applying NLP in a range of settings?NLP is currently an unregulated activity and model of applied psychology. As such anybody can call themselves an NLP practitioner or coach. Training can be as little as reading a book or completing a theoretical distance learning course, through to a full 135 hours or more of face to face training to reach practitioner level status. There are a number of bodies that purport to provide a registration body for practitioners, most of which are owned by or directly linked to training organisations. Currently ANLP (Association for NLP) is the only independent umbrella body for NLP practitioners and above.It is possible to complete higher education qualifications in NLP, with some Masters level degrees being entirely or mainly consisting of NLP based training. There are a slowly increasing number of PhD graduates who have focused on NLP as their research topic and the industry is seeing greater calls for the regulation of the profession since the statutory regulation of psychology by the Health Professions Council in 2008.\nDirectly relevant to the workplace: The final piece of the jigsaw that enables NLP to be successfully applied in practice is how it is tailored so that it is directly relevant to the workplace.I have covered each of the NLP topics within my latest book, NLP: Principles in Practice (Wake, 2010), providing practical examples of how each can be applied and, where it is available, the relevant research for each technique. Some of the ones that I would like to draw out where they have been successfully applied within the industrial and commercial sectors are listed in Table I, with a brief description of the tool and how they have been applied given.There are a number of other techniques within NLP that are used mainly in a coaching context and as adjuncts to the techniques summarized above.In my substantial years of experience of applying NLP in heavy industry and commercial contexts, there are some techniques that are inappropriate to use and in some instances may also be unsafe to use. These include some of the more therapeutic or psychological intervention processes including the use of time lining, parts integration, alignment, and advanced coaching processes.\nLessons learnt: NLP can be successfully applied in a commercial and industrial context if it is paced to the world of the organisation. The language or jargon of NLP is a distinct \"put off\" and where the language of NLP can be changed to match or meet the common language of a particular sector it is much more readily accepted.NLP is a powerful tool kit and sometimes it is portrayed as a panacea for all. Like any toolkit, it is only as good as the person who is using it. It has its limitations and there are some areas where it would be either inappropriate or even unsafe to use.NLP still lacks a substantial evidence base, although this is changing as more people are conducting research into this area. Further information on this is available in NLP: Principles in Practice (Wake, 2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to give an overview of how neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) has been applied in a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) environment over a number of years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The article includes practical examples of how tools have been applied and lessons learnt from integrating NLP into a commercial setting.\nFindings: - This paper demonstrates that for NLP to be effectively applied it needs to be: paced to organisational needs; paced to stage of development; championed from within; delivered with credibility; and directly relevant to the workplace.\nPractical implications: - NLP is a \"soft skills\" tool kit which is not necessarily a business priority and therefore needs to be responsive to organisational needs. NLP jargon needs to be changed to make it readily accessible and understandable for most business people. Organisations are at different stages of development and some tools and techniques within NLP are inappropriate. Champions need to have sufficient leadership credibility for the model to be accepted. Credibility of the trainer is a core requirement - have they \"earned their stripes\"? Tools and techniques need to be directly relevant to the workplace.\nSocial implications: - All organisations are reliant on their workforce to deliver business outcomes to a lesser or greater extent. Often training programmes do not directly relate to the competencies required of an employee in a range of contexts or take into account the human factor. NLP provides an evidence based tool kit to harness performance excellence within the arena of soft skills.\nOriginality/value: - The article proposes that NLP can be applied in industrial and commercial environments with success and provides simple examples of how this has worked.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysis of the downward trend in document supply in pharmacology: a case study from INIST in France (part 1)	[ "Document delivery", "Serials", "Electronic document delivery" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction, context and issues: This paper is the outcome of a study conducted by a group of researchers and professionals from different disciplines on a particular issue: trends in indicators concerning scientific serials as a vehicle for disseminating traditional scientific information, in the context of digital libraries.Two further papers are to be released, pursuing our analysis of the results obtained after processing the data to which we had access. The first of these papers will focus on the growing dissociation of document orders from citations, as reflected by online search data. The second will analyse trends in demand for pharmaceutical journals from INIST customers.We should point out here that this paper is not the first to address this theme, since it reflects an ongoing debate on flows of scientific information as recorded since 2000 by INIST, the leading French document supply service (Schopfel, 2003).Working from a well-defined corpus of journals requested through document supply systems, our previous publications (Bador and Petit, 1998; Bador et al., 2000, 2003), essentially focused on the relevance of the well known bibliometric indicator known as the \"impact factor\", in a print environment. Using the results of these studies, we were able to measure the sometimes relative importance of the impact factor within a scientific community and thus to pinpoint its relative influence on patterns in INIST article requests. These results also underlined the key role of INIST in document supply in France, and as a scientific library for the research community.As our discussions progressed, we broadened their scope to include the present-day context, i.e. patterns in the circulation of scientific information and their significance in the digital age.The topic at issue relates to a question that has already been analysed in the literature: the downward trend in supply of print documents as compared to the development of electronic resources (Goodier and Dean, 2004; Jackson, 2004; Kidd, 2003; Salaun et al., 2000). The drop in document supply by INIST is demonstrated by available statistics, as shown in the graph below (Figure 1).These data show that demand for articles from INIST (in all fields) began to slow down in 1999, with a particularly significant drop from 2001. From 1999 to 2004, document supply decreased by 29 per cent.This downward trend in document supply had already been observed and analysed in French university libraries (Boukacem, 2003, 2004). The different professional points of view on the subject were brought to the fore during a meeting on document supply and interlibrary loan organized in Montpellier (Schopfel, 2005). However, the phenomenon is neither isolated nor specific to the French context, as shown for instance by a recent Spanish study (Echeverria and Barredo, 2005).In seeking the reasons for this overall decline, a combination of several factors must be considered which, since 1999, have helped to shape the context in which the decline has occurred:* First, the appearance of e-resources in science and medicine on the web, sometimes as experiments (Hunter, 1996). These resources became increasingly visible to researchers as they were enriched and better organized (Chartron, 2002).* In parallel to this supply-side trend, the arrival of the internet in French university and scientific institutions in 1995 and the expansion of computerised facilities resulted in new uses and practices in connection with the use of electronic resources, and especially electronic journals, for research purposes (Mahe, 2002).* Finally, from the economic angle, the trend was supported by the establishment of the French Academic consortium COUPERIN[1] that was launched in 1999. As a result online scientific literature became increasingly available to French researchers.We can therefore make the assumption, for the purposes of our study, that 1999 was the year when digital information broke away from print. Given this macro-analysis of declining demand, our aim here is to perform a micro-analysis in order to identify the factors associated with it.However, as indicated earlier, we have restricted our analysis to the well-defined field of pharmacology, both for the purpose of our study and because this particular field is of interest per se because of its high use of scientific information.Our analysis drew on the statistical data processing performed for a corpus of pharmaceutical journals from which single article copies had been requested for 12 consecutive years from 1992 to 2003. This approach provided us with an exhaustive and fully representative framework to analyse the context at issue.\n2. The sample of 95 pharmaceutical journals: Our starting point was a corpus of 292 pharmaceutical journals selected during our study of quality criteria in scientific journals, published in 1998 (Bador and Petit, 1998). Since our aim was to work on trends in INIST supply of the most significant international pharmaceutical journals over several years, we narrowed our selection to make up a representative sample.To do so, we used the ISI database Journal Citation Reports (JCR, www.isinet.com), an indispensable international reference. From the selection of journals under the \"pharmacology and pharmacy\" heading, we selected the 95 journals having an impact factor and a citation half-life for the period from 1992 to 2003. These were also journals from which copies of articles had been requested from INIST.The INIST catalogue provided bibliographic information for each journal: title, ISSN, publisher, country of publication, language of publication, language of abstracts, URL, scientific domain, external location and frequency. The INIST document supply database provided the number of requests of single items for each journal per year, together with information about customers.\n3. The decline in INIST document supply orders: To address our chosen topic, we needed to consider a changing context that cuts across the three subject areas that were essential to our analysis of the corpus - orders for journal articles from INIST, trends in the supply of electronic publications, and customer typology.Based on the data supplied by INIST, we were able to represent trends in demand for documents from our corpus of 95 international pharmaceutical journals over 12 years (1992 to 2003).Figure 2 indicates that the general decline in document ordering from INIST is reflected in the orders for pharmaceutical journal articles.A comparison of the curves in Figures 1 and 2 shows that in both cases, the decline begins at the same time after the same peak in demand. Moreover, in both cases, the decline is continuous and proportionately identical.A closer analysis of the processed data from our sample of 95 pharmaceutical journals shows that, like the overall demand curve in Figure 1, 1999 was the critical year when demand, after increasing for several years (+5 per cent in 1999), went into a steady decline. From 1999 to 2004, INIST recorded a 33 per cent drop in orders for pharmaceutical articles.The largest drop during this period (-10.5 per cent) occurred in 2003 (see Figure 2).\n4. Typology of the journals: We decided to draw up a typology of the 95 journals in terms of ordering rates (requests). In order to compare the evolution of requests between the different journals, we first calculated the percentage of orders per year for each title, and then applied a linear regression for each of the 95 order distributions over the years from 1999 to 2003. We chose the year 1999 because, as explained above, this was a critical year for the understanding of the decline in document supply requests.In the following, we describe briefly the statistical approach for this analysis. For each journal of our sample, we drew a regression line fitting best with the real evolution of the supply of requests from 1999 to 2003, applying the method of least squares. A visual comparison of the result revealed more or less significant differences between this best-fitting line and the points of the real curve. Therefore we determined how well the regression fits by the widely used statistic called \"coefficient of determination\" (Pearson test, \"multiple correlation coefficient\"), R2, that identifies how close the points are to the line, and then compared the results with the standard statistical tables, in order to evaluate if the differences were acceptable with a statistical risk of 5 per cent.Note that a coefficient <0 means decreasing requests, and a coefficient >0 indicates increasing requests. We then ranked the 95 journals in ascending order of the linear regression coefficient (see the Table in Appendix AI), as shown in Figure 3. The coefficient varies from -25 per cent (average decline of about 2 per cent per year) to +10 per cent (average increase of about 0.8 per cent per year). Only one journal, the \"Cardiovascular Drug reviews\", had an entirely atypical rate of increase of more than 30 per cent.Figure 3 clearly shows four groups of different sizes and characteristics:1. The first group contains four serials with rapidly declining requests.2. The second group - the most important - contains 79 journals with a modest or insignificant decline of requests.3. The third group includes 11 journals with a slight or moderate increase of requests.4. Finally, one journal has a rather high increase of requests.All groups are described below.To take our analysis further, we calculated for each group the average regression coefficient and the coefficient of variation that reflects the heterogeneous nature of the distribution (in percentage terms). Additionally, we searched the sample serials in the French Union Catalogue (SUDOC)[2] to determine their presence and access in the French university and research libraries.4.1 Rapidly declining requests\n5. Electronic publications: supply and growth patterns: Most electronic resources are from the commercial publishing sector where revenue and volume sales of electronic publications are growing rapidly, especially in health and science (STM). In this section, we outline the main supply-side characteristics, in order to provide insights into the issues they raise in connection with the decline in article orders from our document corpus.The first wave of electronic document supply was a direct outcome of the conclusions drawn by the TULIP[3] experiment. The initial focus was for online versions of printed medical journals, followed by scientific journals. After offering \"previews\" of journal contents, publishers, with Elsevier in the lead, began to post the full text of their print journals on line. Hypertext links soon became the main source of added value for this new way of disseminating information.Initially, the boom in electronic versions of print journals in scientific, technical and medical fields (STM) - which include pharmaceuticals - was closely linked to the new mode of production. The range of products on offer grew rapidly. From 1997, the sector entered its \"industrial age\" (Chartron, 2002). Elsevier, the pioneer in very broad product ranges (over 1000 titles), drew its own lessons from the critical mass generated by the TULIP experiment, and entirely new electronic titles began to appear on the market alongside electronic versions of print journals. The NewJour site reported an overall increase of 9,846 journals in all disciplines from 1991 to 2001[4]. The French COUPERIN[1] consortium, with a corpus similar to our own, offered in 2004 nearly 2,000 journal titles (Elsevier, Springer Kluwer, Taylor & Francis, Thomson, Wiley) representing an acquisition budget of 16 million euros and no less than 17 million annual full text downloads.Through its national portals, INIST provides fee-paying or free access for public research laboratories to the electronic versions of thousands of journals in all disciplines. Of these, 128 titles are indexed as pharmacology serials.\n6. Analysis of the decline in orders by customer type: From the data supplied to us, we identified the customers who have exerted the greatest influence on the overall drop of some 33 per cent in orders for articles from pharmaceutical journals.This analysis produced a customer-based distribution of the decline in orders, thus providing a better understanding of what has been happening.During the period of decline we analysed (1999 to 2003), the largest decline was in the public research sector. Orders from INSERM[5] medical research, for example, dropped by 88 per cent from the beginning to the end of the period.The drop for hospitals, which are among the most frequent customers, was 67 per cent. In higher education, a massive user of COUPERIN, requests dropped by 64 per cent. The CNRS[6] laboratories come next, with a drop of 60 per cent.Requests from other French research organisations and individuals fell by 44 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. Finally, requests from the corporate sector were down by 26 per cent.These figures are consistent with the market trend towards online access to scientific information. The major customer categories described above, where orders are significantly lower, are categories that have opted for online access to electronic journal portfolios, through consortiums or other access systems, such as the BiblioINSERM portal[7]. Opting for services of this sort has often enabled this clientele to extend their catalogues and reduce the use of print as well as associated delivery times.\n7. Conclusion: The decline in orders for pharmaceutical journal articles from INIST is consistent with an overall downward trend in print document supply, which in turn is a consequence of the rapid development of electronic resources and multiple tools and points of access to these resources.Our study, which was based on a triple analysis of the sector (article orders in pharmaceutics, customer typology and supply from publishers), has led us to draw two main conclusions:1. Our analysis demonstrates, on the one hand, the impact on the print medium of policies and commercial strategies for electronic scientific publications. The decline in document supply requests appears to be a symptom of the vertical structure and organisation of the market for scientific information in pharmaceutics, rather than a consequence. As can be seen from the journals in groups 1 and 2, takeovers and mergers between commercial publishers, which entail the disappearance of certain journals, changes in titles or switching to an electronic version only, mainly affect \"core titles\" that are the most in demand.2. Furthermore, large scale online availability of electronic collections and the organisation of fee-paying access systems - portals, consortia and so on - have caused entire research communities to move away from print document supply and the various time-related constraints they imply, and towards direct access. The importance of direct access has changed the document search habits - and therefore the ordering patterns - of an entire community. Regardless of its intrinsic quality, a title also becomes important simply because it is available on line.Beyond our sample, it seems likely that the overall decline of traditional document supply will continue because of the cumulated effect of four factors: All STM publishers are developing the online media (full-text databases). More and more collections are entirely available on the web (retrospective digitisation of the corpus back to Vol. 1 No. 1). Search engines are continuously improving the access to these materials (Google effect). Finally, the pharmaceutical community, like other scientific communities, changed their research practices from traditional library use to the exploitation of digital resources, through online subscriptions (big deals) or retrieval of freely available material (open access, repositories).The forthcoming studies will focus on the characteristics of our sample (journals) and of the requests (customers) in order to give empirical evidence of the underlying dynamics of the evolution of document supply.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The article seeks to investigate the evolution of document supply of print serials.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is based on data from INIST-CNRS - document supply requests and access to electronic resources - of 95 serials with JCR impact factors in pharmacology. Data were collected from 1992 to 2003.\nFindings: - The results distinguish four groups of serials each with a different evolution of document supply requests. Nevertheless, the overall decline from 1999 is a global phenomenon linked to growing access to online journals and there seems little likelihood of a slowdown for the next few years.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first of three articles on a longitudinal study over 12 years on different aspects of the relationship between document supply and impact factor (citations) in pharmacology, a scientific domain with a high use of scientific information.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio: the question of consistency	[ "Real estate", "Portfolio investment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The recent poor performance of the equity market in the UK has meant that real estate is increasingly been seen as an attractive addition to the mixed-asset portfolio. However, investors might question whether the performance of real estate will remain competitive with other assets over varying time periods. For instance, the relatively good returns of real estate in the UK during the 1970s, mainly as a result of the high levels of inflation, were lost in the 1980s. Thus, determining whether the good return enjoyed by real estate is a temporary or long-term phenomenon is a question that remains largely unanswered. In other words, there is little or no evidence to indicate whether real estate would play a consistent role in the mixed-asset portfolio over short- and long-term investment horizons[1]. Consistency in this context refers to the ability of an asset to maintain a positive allocation in an efficient portfolio over different holding periods. Such consistency is a desirable trait for any investment, but takes on particular significance when real estate is considered, as the asset class is generally perceived to be a long-term investment due to illiquidity. From an institutional investor's perspective, it is therefore crucial to determine whether real estate can be reasonably expected to maintain a consistent allocation in the mixed-asset portfolio in both the short and long run and at what percentage.To address the question of consistency the allocation of real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio was calculated over different holding periods varying from five- to 25-years. The incremental impact of including real estate was then examined by comparing the risk of efficient portfolios with and without real estate for the same level of return and the return of portfolios with and without property at the same level of risk. The general conclusions of which are that real estate does fairly consistently provide both return enhancement and risk reduction benefits. While, this does vary to some extent over time, it is broadly consistent over the various investment horizons analysed. The results also illustrate that real estate provides the greatest benefits in the low risk and return optimal portfolios, with the results less obvious at the high risk/return end of the efficient frontier. Finally, the benefit from holding real estate appears to shift as an investor moves along the efficient frontier. At the upper return end of the frontier it would appear that greater benefits are due to the return enhancement qualities of real estate, however, at the lower end of the frontier, the assets risk reduction qualities tend to dominate.The paper is set out as follows. The next section outlines the research design. The following discusses the data used. Section 4 reports the empirical findings, while Section 5 contains concluding remarks.\n2. Research design: Efficient frontiers\n3. Data: The data used in this study are the quarterly returns of equities, government bonds, cash and direct real estate. The returns of equities are represented by the FTA index, government bonds represented by 5-15 year Gilt index, cash is represented by the returns on T-bills and direct real estate is measured by the JLL Index, over the period 1977:Q4 to 2002:Q3[3] a total of 100 observations.Means and standard deviations (SD) are calculated to provide a relative comparison of the different asset classes on both a risk and return basis. Correlation coefficients are then calculated to describe the co-movement between each asset class. The asset with the lowest correlation would usually be a good candidate for risk reduction in a portfolio through increased diversification. The summary statistics are shown in Table I.The average quarterly return and SD for each of the three assets and direct real estate are presented in Panel A of Table I. As observed in Panel A of Table I equities offered the highest returns compensating investors for the highest risk. Direct real estate, as represented by the JLL index, showing a lower risk than bonds even after de-smoothing. Panel B of Table I shows the correlation coefficients between the asset classes. The correlation between the three assets and direct real estate are all about zero and significantly lower than that between equities and bonds (0.44). Consequently, adding direct real estate to these assets should significantly reduce portfolio risk, even after de-smoothing the returns series to account for any appraisal bias.\n4. Results: The empirical results examine the return enhancement and risk reduction benefits of incorporating direct real estate into a mixed-asset framework. As stated in the previous section, initially over the five different horizons, ten efficient portfolios are estimated with the constraints specified, excluding real estate. Real estate is then allowed to enter the portfolios, firstly holding the initially estimated portfolio risk constant, and then the portfolio return. The results reported examine both the estimated allocation of real estate and the level by which firstly the portfolio return is enhanced and secondly how much the portfolio risk is reduced.Consistency\n5. Conclusions: This study has examined the attractiveness of direct real estate in the context of a mixed-asset portfolio compared with portfolios, without real estate, first, holding the risk constant and second, the portfolio return constant. The results highlight a number of issues in relation to the role of direct real estate within a mixed-asset framework. First, the results suggest strongly that real estate has possessed the attribute of consistency in optimised portfolios. Real estate constantly had positive allocations over time periods ranging from five- to 25-years, and for most levels of portfolio return, irrespective of whether real estate is used to enhance returns or reduce risk. Second, the benefits from including real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio tend to increase as the investment horizon is extended. This implies that direct real estate should be considered as a strategic asset in the mixed-asset portfolio especially for those investors with longer holding periods. Third, the position of real estate changes across the efficient frontier from its return enhancing ability to its risk reducing facility. As a consequence the asset that needs to be replaced depends on whether an investor wishes to increase returns or lower risk or both. Finally, the results show that the gain in return from adding real estate to the mixed-asset portfolio is typically less compared with the reduction in portfolio risk. This would indicate that as an investor moves along the frontier the rationale behind the inclusion of real estate alters, with increasing emphasis being placed on the assets risk reduction qualities rather than its return enhancing capabilities. In other words, direct real estate should be considered as diversify rather than a return enhancer in the mixed-asset portfolio.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to address the question of consistency, regarding the allocation of real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To address the question of consistency the allocation of real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio was calculated over different holding periods varying from five to 25 years. For each portfolio and holding period, the percentage of portfolios with real estate was computed, as was the average real estate allocation in the optimum solution. Then, the risk and return differences between the two efficient frontiers, with and without real estate, were calculated to estimate real estate's marginal impact on portfolio performance.\nFindings: - First, the results suggest strongly that real estate has possessed the attribute of consistency in optimised portfolios. Second, the benefits from including real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio tend to increase as the investment horizon is extended. Third, the position of real estate changes across the efficient frontier from its return enhancing ability to its risk-reducing facility. Finally, the results show that the gain in return from adding real estate to the mixed-asset portfolio is typically less compared with the reduction in portfolio risk.\nPractical implications: - The results highlight a number of issues in relation to the role of direct real estate within a mixed-asset framework. In particular, the rationale behind the inclusion of real estate in the mixed-asset portfolio depends on the length of the holding period of the investor and their position on the efficient frontier.\nOriginality/value: - The study examines the attractiveness of direct real estate in the context of mixed-asset portfolio.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Thematic framework of online review research: A systematic analysis of contemporary literature on seven major hospitality and tourism journals	[ "Online reviews", "Literature review", "User-generated content", "Systematic review", "Customer reviews" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online reviews have increasingly become a major source of information that affects consumers' decision-making of hospitality purchases (Sparks et al., 2013). It is reported that 53 per cent of travelers would not commit to a hotel reservation until they check the online reviews about the hotel, and 77 per cent stated they would usually or always refer to online reviews before choosing a hotel (Xie et al., 2014). Businesses are urged to treat online reviews as a new addition to the marketing communication mix (Chen and Xie, 2008). It is thus not surprising that online reviews have recently become the subject of extensive research.\n2. Typical features of online reviews: Consumer reviews are defined as \"a type of product information created by users based on personal usage experience\" (Chen and Xie, 2008, p. 477). They serve two basic purposes: to provide product and service information and to make recommendations. As the Web 2.0 technology evolves, consumer reviews are now predominantly provided on social media platforms (Xie et al., 2014). The most significant difference between social media and prior mass communication platforms is the \"bi-directional nature\" of social media websites, providing a low-cost method for organizations to reach out to consumers on a massive scale, as well as a convenient platform for individual consumers to share their experiences, thoughts and opinions to the global internet community (Dellarocas, 2003).\n3. Methods: A systematic review of relevant literature in hospitality and tourism was used in this inquiry. According to Briner and Walshe (2015), a systematic literature review is different from a traditional or narrative literature review in numerous ways. First, a systematic review usually focuses on specific and practice-relevant questions. Our study has specific goals that are relevant to literature and practices - to achieve an integration of our current knowledge on online reviews and to advance the field by pointing out the possible directions for future studies. Second, a systematic review requires researchers to adopt a structural approach with a set or sets of broad principles. In this study, we analyzed relevant literature according to the aforementioned O'Mahony and Smyth's (2010) framework, which comprises valuation features, reputation features and social features of online reviews. Third, because a systematic review is more structural, it helps researchers to make explicit decisions of what research to include or exclude and integrate the findings, where we only reviewed the relevant literature in major hospitality and tourism journals. Fourth, a structural systematic review is more likely to identify the best evidence available. Through our analysis, we advanced a thematic framework of online review research from our analysis. Finally, a systematic review approach can easily be replicated in the future for continuous updates, which allows us and other researchers to continue our effort in reviewing additional literature. Today, a systematic literature review approach has also been widely adopted by other hospitality and tourism scholars (Fong et al., 2016; Law et al., 2012).\n4. Descriptive results: Out of the eight journals being examined, IJHM published about one-third of the 67 articles being analyzed (22 articles or 33 per cent), followed by TM (17 articles or 25 per cent), JHTR (eight articles or 12 per cent), CQ (six articles or 9 per cent), IJCHM and JTR (five articles or 7 per cent each) and ATR (four articles or 6 per cent) (Figure 1). There was no article about online review published in JST. During our observation period (January 2000 to July 2015), majority of the articles being analyzed had appeared in 2015 (18 articles), followed by 17 articles in 2013, 13 articles in 2014, seven articles in 2012, five articles in 2011, three articles in 2009 and 2010 and one article in 2007 (Figure 2). Among 65 articles (excluding two literature review papers), majority of the articles (72 per cent or 47 articles) focused on online reviews for hotels, 14 per cent or nine articles studied online reviews for travel products such as destinations, resorts, etc., and 12 per cent or eight articles focused on online reviews for restaurants. There is only one article that examined online reviews for events (Figure 3).\n5. Research contexts and methods used in current literature: Figure 4 shows that over half of the research (55 per cent) is contextualized in TripAdvisor, a major online review website for hospitality products (Lu and Stepchenkova, 2012; Levy et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2015, 2013; Stepchenkova and Zhan, 2013; Berezan et al., 2015; Mkono, 2012, 2013a, 2013b). Use of other contexts is distributed among Yelp (Park and Nicolau, 2015; Liu and Park, 2015; Lee and Cranage, 2014) and Dianping.com (Zhang et al., 2010, 2013) for restaurants, as well as Booking.com (Chaves et al., 2012; Radojevic et al., 2015), Facebook (Ladhari and Michaud, 2015; Tsao et al., 2015; Yen and Tang, 2015) and Ctrip (Wang and Hung, 2015; Ye et al., 2009) for hotels.\n6. Synthesized themes: Also being used as the tool to document the authors' coding notes in our systematic review, Table I summarizes the information coded for analysis. Besides the bibliographic information of each journal article, six thematic data were also highlighted, including quantitative evaluation features, verbal evaluation features, reputation features, social features, methodology (the research context / subjects being studied / methods used in the investigation) and lastly, the key findings of each study. The synthesized results of our systematic analysis were then interpreted based on the authors' understanding of the research articles listed in Table I. Particularly, the synthesized results can be used to answer the following questions:\n7. Thematic framework of online review research: Based on our systematic review, it becomes clear that the thematic features of online review are also tied with the key players/factors in the online review phenomenon. As illustrated in Figure 5 (from left to right), reputation features (Theme 3) are associated with those reviewers who write online reviews. Social features (Theme 4) are tied with managers and review readers. Online reviews, situated in the center of this visual diagram, are tied with the quantitative evaluation features (Theme 1) and verbal evaluation futures (Theme 2). The box on the right shows the possible outcomes being examined in current literature.\n8. Summary of suggested directions for future research: Although much is known about online reviews, the advancement of technology is constantly challenging our current understanding and asking for new insights. We reviewed existing online review research and outlined the areas of past research intensity. Such focal areas serve as the pillars that characterize past research accomplishments and serve to map out future directions in online review research. By synthesizing our current knowledge of the domain, we aim to answer what should be the priorities for future research? Which areas have received inadequate attention relative to others, and thus, require additional investigation? And finally, what are the key issues?\n9. Conclusion and limitations: As the effects of social media appear to be more salient in the hospitality and tourism industry today (Zhang et al., 2010; Kwok and Yu, 2016), online reviews become a highly popular topic among scholars and practitioners in the field. It is important to examine the online review research pattern that has emerged over the past 16 years to shed light on how the knowledge has developed over time. This study integrates and synthesizes the research inquiries and themes that have been discussed in extant consumer review literature. The papers discussed in this study are expected to represent the extant research status on online reviews because they are published in seven major hospitality and tourism journals that are widely cited and respected in the field. We observe that the literature on online reviews has enjoyed a rapid growth since 2000. As consumers increasingly rely on online information to make purchase decisions, it is important for marketers to acquire a deep understanding of the concepts and phenomenon connected to online reviews. The literature is still relatively new, and more work is needed to guide a business' online review strategies, but enough is known to identify the large streams of investigation and report early results. Reviewing landmark papers on consumer reviews is important as a prelude to developing a comprehensive understanding of the state of consumer review research. The broad overview of relevant literature provides insights into potential areas for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purposes of this study are to synthesize the current research findings reported in major hospitality and tourism journals and to discuss the knowledge gaps where additional research endeavors are needed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic review approach was adopted to analyze 67 research articles about online reviews that were published between January 2000 and July 2015 in seven major hospitality and tourism journals.\nFindings: This study presents a thematic framework of online review research, which was advanced by integrating the interactions among quantitative evaluation features, verbal evaluation features, reputation features and social features of online reviews with important outcomes of consumer decision-making and business performance. The thematic framework helps researchers identify the areas in extant hospitality literature of online reviews and point out possible directions for future studies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The systematic review approach has a qualitative nature, where relevant literature was interpreted based on the authors' domain knowledge and expertise.\nPractical implications: Practitioners can gain a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relationships among the key influential factors in online reviews, as presented in the thematic framework of online review research. Accordingly, managers will be able to develop effective strategies to leverage the positive impacts of online reviews to the business outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This systematic review synthesizes the findings reported in most recent publications (January 2000-July 2015; also including \"Online First\" articles) in seven major hospitality and tourism journals and develops an integrated research framework, anchoring on four meta-research questions and showing the dynamic relationships among the key players/factors/themes in online review research. This framework provides a visual diagram to practitioners for a better understanding of the relevant literature and assists researchers in developing new research questions for future studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influences of transformational leadership on employee employability: Evidence from China	[ "Transformational leadership", "Employability", "Job characteristics", "Social exchange" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Introduced by Burns (1978) and Bass (1985), transformational leadership (TFL) has gained legitimacy over the last three decades and proved to be an effective and influential enabler in changing employees' attitudes and behaviors, ultimately resulting in better performance of organizations (Garcia-Morales et al., 2008; Katou, 2015; Para-Gonzalez et al., 2018). While there is more of an exchange relationship in transactional leadership behavior with contingent rewards (Burns, 1978), the transformational type requires that the leader encourages employees to alter their attitudes, beliefs and values (Rafferty and Griffin, 2004). TFL is premised on provision of individualized support and enhancement of the intellectual capabilities of employees resulting in better task performance (Lowe et al., 1996; Judge and Piccolo, 2004) or overall improved efficacy of organizations (Avolio, 1999; Avolio et al., 1999; De Groot et al., 2000; Dumdum et al., 2002; Boerner et al., 2007).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Transformational leadership and employability\nMethodology: Sample and procedure\nData analysis and results: We followed the approach suggested by Podsakoff et al. (2003) to control and test common method bias. First, in addition to using the translation-back-translation method and panel discussion to ensure the quality of the items, we also provided detailed instructions about the research purpose and assured the anonymity of participation on the first page of the questionnaire. Second, the results of an exploratory factor analysis on all the measures showed there were 11 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. In addition, the Harman's one-factor test did not identify any general factor that accounted for most of the variance among all the items, because the first factor explained only 35.89 percent of the total variance.\nDiscussion and conclusion: A considerable amount of research attention has been devoted to TFL body of literature. In our research, we empirically tested the relationship between TFL and employability and the study made a number of important contributions. First, this study enriches the literature though the exploration of the mediating factors and illustration of the significance of indirect effects. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study applying job characteristics theory (Hackman and Oldham, 1975) and social exchange theory (Homans, 1958) to explain the effect of TFL on employability. Consistent with previous findings (Camps and Rodriguez, 2011; Van der Heijden and Bakker, 2011), the data supported our hypothesis in that TFL had a positive effect on employees' employability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of job characteristics and social exchange in transformational leadership (TFL) and employability relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample is composed of 760 participants employed in Yangtze Delta and Pearl River Delta in China. The participants have worked under their line manager for more than one year. In order to better prevent data from possible common method bias, two waves of surveys (in 2014) on a stratified sample, included a mix of industries, such as construction, manufacturing, finance, insurance and communications, were used to investigate the proposed relationship between TFL, job characteristics, social exchange and employability.\nFindings: The research has empirically tested the relationship between TFL and employability. While previous research has analyzed the relationship between them, the authors have enriched existing literature by exploring the mediating factors and illustrating the importance of indirect effects. Besides the direct effect, the results of this study showed that TFL could also improve employees' employability through job demands, skill discretion, decision authority, perceived organizational support and team-member exchange, but not leader-member exchange.\nOriginality/value: The study opens up a debate around the employability of employees as it stands apart from the performance measurement. The authors believe that this new mediating model can provide an insight into complex mechanisms of employability enhancement from the perspective of leader development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Short-distance corporate relocation: the employee experience	[ "User involvement", "Relocation", "Employees", "Communication", "Experience", "Office" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Corporate relocation is not a simple exercise, even when done within the same vicinity. Despite being conducted in the same general area with most of the workforce being retained (as opposed to a long-distance move to a new geographic area, for a complete typology see O'Mara, 1999), this kind of short-distance relocation typically involves several stakeholders, phases and decisions, and the process is often described as unsystematic and complex. They are also the most frequent form of firm relocation. Relocation to a new facility can be an opportunity: organisations use relocation and workplace change as a catalyst to introduce elements of organisational change (Inalhan, 2009). At an organisational level, many positive effects of accommodation projects have been identified in previous research:\nRelocation as an organisational change process: Relocation is essentially a form of organisational change, which, in its simplest form, can be defined as \"a difference between new and old settings\" (Weber and Manning, 2001, p. 229). Literature on organisational change, however, often distinguishes between different forms of change such as first order (incremental) and second order (transformational) change. First order changes are more adjustments in the organisation, rather than changes, where the end-state of the organisation is clear and similar to what the organisation already is. Second order changes are changes where the end-state of the organisation is unknown (van Vuuren and Elving, 2008).\nMethods: The research is of qualitative nature and was done as a multiple-case study with five organisations that had relocated within the greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area within the previous 18 months. The case study approach was selected as the most appropriate method as it has a distinct advantage over other methods when \"[a] \"how\" or \"why\" question is being asked about a contemporary set of events, over which the investigator has little or no control\" (Yin, 2009, p. 13). The approach is also useful in early studies of a phenomenon, like here, where the phenomenon's dimensions are being explored and established. The selected cases provide an opportunity to study employee experiences in different settings, as the cases vary in size, ownership of organisation and relocation situation. These differences are useful in exposing the diversity of experiences of employees. However, as in qualitative research in general, the intent of the research is not to generalize findings to individuals outside of those under study. Instead, the value lies in the description and the themes developed in context of a specific site (Creswell, 2009). A brief description of the cases is presented in Table I.\nFindings: This section starts by describing the communication and employee participation approaches adopted by the case organisations, followed by the employees' experiences about the communication and participation (Theme 3). The subsequent two sections will present the employee understanding of the relocation of their organisation (Themes 1 and 2), and the last section will describe the employees' thoughts concerning the process and the outcome (Theme 4).\nDiscussion: Previous literature highlights the importance of communication and participation in workplace change. It also points out that communication should not be just delivery of information but real communication, and that it should focus on the reason (justification) and impact of the change. This article describes the communication and participation approaches applied by the five case organisations where the communication ranged from close to none to regular updates and real-time information in the organisation's intranet, and the employee participation varied from no participation to one-off participation events and employee-based task groups. While some general observations could be made concerning the success of the different cases in terms of employee satisfaction with the process and the outcome, this could and should, nonetheless, not be generalised to the entire staff of that organisation because of the small number of interviewed employees per case. Instead, the contribution of this article lies in how employees as individuals experienced the relocation process. For the purpose of understanding the individual's relocation experience, literature on employee sensemaking provides additional viewpoints. It suggests that the process of making sense of something can be triggered by deliberate initiative but also, for example, discrepancy or uncertainty of the event (Chaudhry et al., 2009), that sensemaking is focused on extracted cues, it is driven by plausibility rather than accuracy and it is grounded in both individual and social activity (Weick, 1995).\nConclusions: This paper looked at individual employees' experiences in short-distance relocation. The study was done as multiple-case study of five organisations in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. To create an understanding of why and how the relocation was carried out, 15 semi-structured interviews were made with company representatives who were involved in the relocation process. Subsequently, to study the employees' experience and perception of the process, 17 employees who did not have an active role in the process were interviewed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine short-distance firm relocations, the most frequent form of relocation, to better understand how employees as individuals experience those relocations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was a multiple-case study with five organisations that had relocated within the same metropolitan area during the previous 18 months. To understand why and how the relocation was carried out, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with company representatives who were actively involved in making decisions and executing the relocation of their organisation. Subsequently, to study the employees' experience and perception of the process, 17 employees who did not have an assigned role in the process were also interviewed.\nFindings: The findings show that even within the same organization, people experience relocation differently; therefore, the employees should not be treated as one object of change but as several individuals who experience change. Further, it was identified that relocation included both location and workplace change aspects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is of qualitative nature and, therefore, the findings should not be generalized to individuals outside of the context of study. Instead, the value lies in the description and the themes developed in the specific context. The findings show that emphasis needs to be put on how the relocation process is managed, and that relocation change management efforts should include both location and workplace changes.\nOriginality/value: This study provides new insight on how individual employees experience the relocation process and augments the previous body of knowledge on employee experiences and satisfaction with various elements in the work environment and/or with new ways of working, and the previous studies on relocation that focus on comparing employees' experiences of the old office with the new one.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Changing mindset to improve results	[ "Leadership", "Accountability", "Collaboration", "Conflict resolution", "Teamwork", "Organizational effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nChallenge: The leadership team of Spandex, a leading supplier of materials, sign systems, displays and equipment to the sign making and graphics industries, had become highly dysfunctional. The team members, some at Spandex headquarters in Brussels and others scattered around Spandex's operations across Europe and Australia, had become preoccupied with internal politics, had stopped listening to each other, and had become dishonest in their dealings with each other. The situation deteriorated to the point that the team had become totally unproductive, leading to an inability to capitalize on business opportunities or solve organizational problems. The problems at the leadership team level cascaded down and were having an impact on the organization as a whole.\nSolution: Spandex President Rod Larson was familiar with Arbinger's approach, but was unsure that it could work given that his multinational team consisted of executives with diverse cultural backgrounds and business perspectives. Rod himself is American and he was not sure how his team of German, Swiss, British, Belgian, Danish and Australians would take to the Arbinger concepts, which had originated in the USA. He nevertheless brought Arbinger in to conduct a two-day workshop with the team, with a focus on building trust and cooperation among the team members.\nResults: According to Rod, the workshop had an immediate and tangible impact on the dynamics of the team, while the implementation support helped sustain that change and reinforced the impact of Arbinger's approach on an individual level. Shortly after the implementation support began, Rod began hearing from the team members who marveled at how the team had begun to function. The team members began saying things like \"that was the best business meeting that I ever participated in\" and \"I've never been a member of a team that has worked so well together\" as well as calling the team the most productive and honest team that they had ever seen.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how it is possible to change a leadership team's mindset from \"inward\" to \"outward\" and how that can lead to dramatically better organizational results.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The leadership team of Spandex received training, coaching and support from The Arbinger Institute.\nFindings: As a result of this work, the Spandex leadership team transformed from a dysfunctional group to a collaborative, high-performing team that produced remarkable business results.\nOriginality/value: This case study is valuable to any organization seeking to improve its results.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of calcium salts on fortified apple juice	[ "Minerals", "Fruits", "Sensory perception", "Nutrition", "Food and drink products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Calcium (Ca) is an essential mineral for human nutrition that participates in neuromuscular function, many enzyme-mediated processes, blood clotting, and, most notably, in the maintenance of bone health (Heaney, 2001, 2007; Nicklas, 2003; Weaver, 1998; World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004). Adequate Ca is implicated in reducing the risk of developing osteoporosis, hypertension, a number of cancers, insulin resistance, obesity and kidney stones. In developed countries such as Western Europe, Canada and the USA, major sectors of the population do not consume the daily recommended amounts of Ca (Barr, 1994; Bruyere et al., 2008; Buttriss, 2000; European Commission, 1998; Francis et al., 2006; Fulgoni et al., 2007; Greer et al., 2006; Nicklas, 2003; Rafferty et al., 2007). Sufficient Ca intake is particularly critical for older children and adolescents, who require Ca for peak bone growth, and for the elderly, due to the increasing risk of osteoporosis. As Western populations age, a concomitant increase in the incidence of osteoporosis has become a major public health issue (Bruyere et al., 2008; European Commission, 1998; Nicklas, 2003; Rafferty et al., 2007; Tucker et al., 1999).In developed countries, adequate Ca intake is strongly tied to the consumption of dairy products (Barr, 1994; Forshee et al., 2006; Lovelace and Barr, 2005; Novotny et al., 2003; Vatanparast et al., 2006). Calcium requirements cannot be met with an otherwise-balanced, dairy-free diet (Gao et al., 2006). One of the challenges of increasing Ca intake by supplementation is the lack of compliance (Tang et al., 2007). Rafferty et al. (2007) suggest that using food fortification to combat widespread nutritional inadequacies is more successful than trying to change eating habits or relying on voluntary nutritional supplements. In order to develop an appealing alternative source of dietary Ca, this study examined the effects of three Ca fortificants (Ca lactate, Ca lactate gluconate and Ca gluconate) on the colour, clarity and Ca content of fortified apple juice under simulated commercial and consumer storage conditions.The ability to fortify fruit beverages with carefully selected Ca salts has been reported by manufacturers and in general interest articles (Gerstner, 2002; Ohr, 2003; Phillips et al., 1998). Over the years, many Ca-fortified foods have appeared on the commercial market, with varying degrees of success (Rafferty et al., 2007). Calcium salt selection is based on cost, compatibility with the food product (including ease of use, stability and sensory effects) and absorbability from the gastrointestinal tract once ingested (Fairweather-Tait and Teucher, 2002; Rafferty et al., 2007; Weaver, 1998). Solubility is essential in clear juices like apple juice because insoluble Ca will give the product a cloudy appearance, settle on the bottom of the juice container, and can produce a gritty mouthfeel (Haro et al., 2006).Calcium carbonate is the least expensive of the Ca salts used in food fortification but it can produce a dry, chalky mouthfeel and lacks sufficient solubility and clarity when used in apple juice that is intended to provide a significant dietary source of Ca (Rafferty et al., 2007; Weaver, 1998). Calcium phosphate salts also have low solubility and a lack of clarity. The solubility of Ca citrate depends on pH. The Ca citrate malate fortificant, which is patented and exclusively licensed to one juice processor (Fox et al., 1991; Green, 1999), possesses considerably greater solubility than Ca citrate and its flavour is compatible with fruit juice (Andon et al., 1996). Calcium chloride possesses the necessary solubility, but its use is limited by objectionable bitter and salty off-flavours at higher concentrations (Lawless et al., 2003). Calcium fumarate has good solubility without off-flavours but it is slow to dissolve, which may be problematic during juice processing (Rafferty et al., 2007). Calcium lactate, Ca lactate gluconate and Ca gluconate are highly soluble over a broad pH range with fewer off-flavours (Rafferty et al., 2007; Lawless et al., 2003).There is limited research on how the Ca content of fortified fruit juices is affected by commercial storage. In vitro Ca bioaccessibility was determined in pineapple and orange juices fortified with Ca hydroxide lactate, emulsified Ca triphosphate, Ca pidolate or Ca amino acid chelate at 120 mg elemental Ca/100 mL after storage for zero, six and 12 months at ambient temperature (Haro et al., 2006). A patent for an acidic beverage containing a mixture of Ca citrate, malate, citrate malate, lactate gluconate and chloride claims it is stable for six months at room temperature and two months at 50degC (Calapini et al., 2006). To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports that evaluate how apple juice fortified with only Ca gluconate, Ca lactate or Ca lactate gluconate is affected by storage duration.\nMethodology: Juice processing\nResults and discussion: Juice processing\nConclusions: Calcium lactate, Ca lactate gluconate, or Ca gluconate were used to fortify apple juice to the level of the Ca in low-fat milk. All three Ca fortificants remained in solution throughout extended storage at both commercial warehouse and refrigerator temperatures. Although this study provides no information on Ca bioavailability, the extended solubility of the fortificants ensures that consumers will ingest the Ca declared on the product label. Sensory analysis confirms that apple juice fortified with any of these three Ca salts is as acceptable to consumers as the unfortified control. While Ca lactate gluconate and Ca gluconate dissolved rapidly in apple juice, Ca lactate was slower to dissolve, which may reduce production efficiency during processing. Thus, apple juice fortified with Ca gluconate or Ca lactate gluconate provides an appealing alternative source of dietary Ca for those who restrict their dairy consumption, especially pre-teens/adolescents and seniors who are at greater risk from low Ca intake. The bioavailability of Ca from these fortificants in apple juice needs to be tested, particularly in light of reports of increased bioavailability of Ca citrate malate in apple juice relative to that from orange juice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the effect of selected calcium salts on the colour, clarity and calcium content of fortified apple juice in extended storage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Apple juice was fortified with calcium lactate, calcium lactate gluconate, or anhydrous calcium gluconate and was processed along with an unfortified control juice. The bottled product was stored at 3 and 18degC for 30 weeks, and was assessed for calcium ion concentration, colour and haze. Consumer acceptance of the juices was confirmed using sensory evaluation.\nFindings: - Anhydrous calcium gluconate and calcium lactate gluconate are easily dissolved in apple juice and are as acceptable to consumers as the unfortified control juice. All three calcium salts remain in solution in apple juice after 30 weeks of storage.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that, unlike a number of commercially marketed, calcium-fortified beverages, these calcium salts stayed in solution in apple juice during extended storage. The ease of dissolution of anhydrous calcium gluconate and calcium lactate gluconate make them excellent candidates for commercial processing; their incorporation should cause minimal disruption to existing apple juice production practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Aging, PEOU, and adoption of communication technology	[ "Aging", "Technology acceptance", "Perceived ease of use" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: America's population is aging as in many countries of the world since people live longer thanks to better medical care and healthier lifestyles. The 79 million baby boomers are aging as one of America's largest population cohorts (US Census Bureau, 2014). With the convergence of these and other factors, America's population is getting significantly older: in 1970, only 9.8 per cent of US residents were aged 65 and over; the figure was 13 per cent in 2010 and is projected to be more than 20 per cent by 2030 (Colby and Ortman, 2014). The US Census Bureau estimated the population aged 65 and older to be 43.1 million in 2012 and projected it to be 83.7 million in 2050 (Ortman et al., 2014).\nLiterature review: The technology acceptance model\nA conceptual framework of aging and perceived ease of use: In this section, we look beyond the chronological definition of aging to focus on aging-related physiological and cognitive variables that may uniquely contribute to predicting PEOU and actual use of technology among older adults. Aging, or the process of getting older, is often defined in terms of chronological age - the number of years a person has lived (Arning and Ziefle, 2007; Porter and Donthu, 2006). However, advancement in chronological age reflects only part of the process of getting older. Aging may be conceptualized in terms of other concerns. One influential conceptualization of healthy aging was developed by Rowe and Kahn (McLaughlin et al., 2010; Row and Kahn, 1987, 1997), in which a primary concern frequently associated with aging is physiological decline (McLaughlin et al., 2010; Row and Kahn, 1987), suggesting that aging can be understood in terms of getting older physiologically.\nMethodology: Data collection\nResults: As can be seen in Figure 2, H1 was supported (b = 0.33, p < 0.001). In support of H3, chronological age was found to have a negative effect on PEOU (b = -0.24, p < 0.001). The direct effect of age on use of communication technology as hypothesized in H5a was also supported (b = -0.18, p < 0.001). These findings seemed to be consistent with previous research (McCloskey, 2006; Porter and Donthu, 2006).\nResearch findings, implications and limitations: Research findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Electronic communication technology can facilitate communications with family, friends and health-care professionals and deliver products and services that can significantly raise quality of life for the aging population. However, technology use by older Americans lags behind that of younger Americans. This paper aims to explore physiological decline and cognitive decline as underlying causes or antecedents that may uniquely contribute to predicting perceived ease of use (PEOU) and actual use of technology over and beyond chronological age among older adults.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected by University of Michigan's 2012 Health and Retirement Study from a national sample of 1,686 respondents age 50 or older. Data were analyzed with the Mplus software package. The conceptual framework was estimated with a path analysis model.\nFindings: Results indicated that physiological decline (vision, hearing and health) and cognitive decline (memory) made a significant unique contribution to predicting PEOU and actual use of technology above and beyond chronological age. Implications for marketing technology-based products and services to older Americans were discussed.\nOriginality/value: This research has identified and empirically tested how variability in physiological decline and cognitive decline could uniquely predict use of communication technologies, directly and indirectly via PEOU, above and beyond chronological age.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ways of learning in the pharmaceutical sales industry	[ "Learning methods", "Workplace learning", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Canada" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: 1.1 The pharmaceutical sales industry\n2 Method: 2.1 Delphi-collaboration: developing a comprehensive list of ways of learning\n3 Findings: 3.1 Work context\n4 Discussion: This research provides a comprehensive list of the ways of learning for work used by agents in a previously unexamined competitive, rapidly changing, knowledge -intensive and geographically distributed workforce. It is one of the first to apply the Colley et al. (2003) framework to document the attributes of (in)formality in the ways of learning perceived by workers to be most effective and frequently employed, and in doing so, confirms that most ways of learning have a mixture of formal and informal attributes. It has been argued that distinguishing formal and informal practices \"is not helpful\" (Billett, 2002, p. 56). We need descriptions of \"how people do learn in their workplaces\" (Gerber, 2006, p. 35). This study provided such a description and developed and applied a framing tool for guiding the reporting of characteristics of \"how people do learn\" (Gerber, 2006 p. 35). The findings suggest that the pharmaceutical sales industry, and perhaps industries with similar work contexts, should support peer learning, perhaps by increasing opportunities for peers to work together, or by creating mentorships or remote peer-support networks. Agents also might benefit from opportunities to share strategies for positioning themselves for intentional incidental learning and ways in which industry-nonspecific learning has been used to develop customer relations.This research presents only a few cases of learners in one industry. Interview participants were not obviously atypical of agents in this industry, but cannot be said to represent any specific proportion of agents. This research may be viewed as a start to a more full understanding of the characteristics of the ways of learning in geographically distributed and knowledge-intense workplaces. The framing tool helps initiate examination of characteristics of ways of learning in different work environments. We now need additional research using and supplementing the framing tool to document the characteristics of perceived frequent and effective learning in other industries. This will aid a more full understanding of how people learn in the contexts of different workplaces. By examining the characteristics of frequent and perceived effective learning in different work contexts, we might be better positioned to support workplace learning in a variety of environments.Previous research (Boud and Middleton, 2003; Davis and Daley, 2008; Davis and Sumara, 2001; Mittendorff et al., 2006; Senge, 2006) has shown the importance of learning on the job from co-located peers. This study illustrates that in this knowledge-intense and rapidly changing industry, geographically distributed peers learn from each other and on the job from their customers. In a labour-market trending toward increasingly distributed workforces, this study suggests that we should support peer learning even in distributed work environments.Much learning in this and other workplaces is applied directly to the job. This study identified another way in which learning can support business objectives: it can be used to develop a worker as a resource to customers in areas outside of the worker's area of specialization. Further research could investigate other non-direct ways in which learning affects business objectives and explore other industries where learning is related to customer-relations development. Industry should consider supporting learning outside of specific job requirements in order to develop its workforce for broadly.An important finding of this research is the intentional nature of incidental learning for agents in this industry. The intentionality of being alert for unexpected learning while engaged in other activities has not been investigated. Further research should explore the ways in which workers position themselves for unpredicted learning opportunities and the level of intentionality involved in incidental learning in other work environments so that we might better understand how work and industry contexts affect the intentionality for incidental learning. Industry might support peer sharing of strategies and outcomes of intentional incidental learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to document the ways pharmaceutical representatives learn for work and report attributes of (in)formality and other characteristics of ways of learning perceived as effective and frequently used.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of agents 20 from 11 pharmaceutical manufacturers across Canada participated in a Delphi collaboration creating a comprehensive list of ways in which they learn for work. In-depth individual interviews with four agents explored the ways of learning they perceived as most frequent and effective. The Colley et al. framework was interpreted, extended, and applied to identify attributes of (in)formality and other elemental characteristics of these ways of learning.\nFindings: - Agents in this rapidly changing, competitive industry worked alone in geographically distributed territories. Learning had a special role in this industry: agents developed themselves broadly as resources to gain customer-access required to promote products. Delphi participants identified 64 ways of learning (five categories). Most ways were self-initiated, self-directed, minimally structured, and may involve intentional incidental learning. Reported frequent and effective ways differed by agent, but all reported frequent and effective learning through self-directed means with mixed (in)formal attributes. Customer facilitated and peer-facilitated learning were common, despite isolation from co-workers.\nOriginality/value: - This paper reports on learning in a distinct and under-researched industry. It demonstrates the importance of peer-facilitated and on-the-job learning even in a distributed workforce and documents intentional incidental learning. It discovers an indirect way in which learning supports business objectives and it provides a framing tool for guiding reporting of characteristics of ways of learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Abnormally long audit report lags and future stock price crash risk: evidence from China	[ "China", "Internal control", "Stock price crash risk", "Abnormally long audit report lags" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper examines the association between abnormally long audit report lags (hereafter, abnormal ARL) and the future stock price crash in China. ARL is defined as the period between a company's fiscal year-end and the audit report date, and it is one of the few externally observable audit output variables that allow outsiders to gauge audit efficiency (Bamber et al., 1993). As the audit report contains the auditor's opinion regarding the credibility of the financial statements, ARL has signaling potential.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: ARL are defined as the number of days between the financial year-end and the date of the audit report (Ashton et al., 1987). Timeliness is crucial to ensure the relevance and usefulness of financial information received by investors and stakeholders (FASB, 2010). The determinants of ARL can be categorized into: audit and auditor attributes, including auditor affiliation, auditor expertise, audit fees, non-audit services, going concern opinion, auditor tenure and auditor changes, audit busy season and IC weakness (ICW); corporate governance variables, for instance, audit committee and board characteristics, and ownership concentration; and firm-specific fundamental variables, such as the complexity of the audit due to client size, foreign operations or number of subsidiaries and client financial condition and organizational risk (Abernathy et al., 2017; Habib, Bhuiyan, Huang and Miah, 2019; MohammadRezaei and Mohd-Saleh, 2018). Capital market research also documents a few determinants of ARL, including analyst coverage and analysts' cash flow forecasts (Fang et al., 2014; Mao and Yu, 2015).\n3. Research design and sample selection: 3.1 Stock price crash risk\n4. Sample selection and descriptive statistics: We retrieve annual financials, audit and ownership information from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR) database. Our sample period spans from 2002 to 2013. We started from 2002 because some of the control variables used in the regression model had a better coverage from 2002 and onwards. We began with an initial sample of 15,799 firm-year observations with non-missing crash risk measures and crash risk-related control variables. We then removed 926 firm-year observations pertaining to finance industries. A further 300 firm-year observations were dropped because of missing ARL data. Finally, missing corporate governance data reduced the final sample size to 14,445 firm-year observations. For IC analysis, our sample size reduced to 8,193 firm-year observations, since the pertinent data only became available from 2008 onwards. Panel A in Table I explains the sample selection procedure.\n5. Results: 5.1 Abnormal ARL and crash risk\n6. Conclusion: We test empirically whether abnormal ARL increases the risk of a future crash. Using a large sample from China, we document a significantly positive association between current-period abnormal ARL and future price crash risk. The finding is consistent with the prediction that excessively long ARL often signals financial reporting quality issues emanating from bad news hoarding by the management. Delayed disclosures of negative news increase heterogeneous investor beliefs and the risk of price crash. We extend our main proposition further by examining whether the positive association is more pronounced for firms with ineffective IC environments. Our results support this prediction. The findings confirm that a strong IC environment signals a strong and reliable management representation and, hence, a higher level of information transparency. This, in turn, leads to a lower abnormal ARL-induced risk of stock price crash. Our study extends the scant literature on the consequences of ARL, and provides some useful insights for the Chinese regulatory authorities when considering the appropriateness of the current filing deadline for listed firms. Finally, the significant moderating effect of the IC environment as documented in this study may have practical implications for the Board of Directors in improving their corporate governance policies and practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although a substantial body of literature investigates the determinants of audit report lag (ARL), scant empirical evidence exists on the consequences of ARL. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between abnormally long ARL and future stock price crash risk.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This quantitative study employed a large scale (14,445 firm-year observations) of annual financials, audit and ownership information for the Chinese listed companies during 2002-2013 which were retrieved from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database.\nFindings: This study finds evidence that abnormally long ARL increases the risk of a future stock price crash. Furthermore, the study finds that this adverse consequence is more pronounced for firms with a poor internal control environment.\nPractical implications: Recently literature started to explore the consequences of abnormal ARL such as going concern audit opinion and restatements in the subsequent periods. This paper reveals that abnormal ARL has consequences for investor wealth losses as well. This is relevant in China, where the ongoing economic growth has attracted, and will continue to attract, a growing body of domestic and international investors. Understanding what factors could expose investors to wealth losses is of paramount importance for allocating their scarce capital.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the scant literature on the consequences of ARL, and provides useful insights for the Chinese regulatory authorities when considering the appropriateness of the current filing deadline for listed firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of environmentally responsible operations: a review	[ "Environmental management", "Operations management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, environmental issues have become critical concerns of operations management arena (Angell and Klassen, 1999; Chinander, 2001; Corbett and Kleindorfer, 2001; Inman, 2002; Newman and Hanna, 1996). For manufacturers especially, compliance with regulations, potential legal findings of financial liability for environmental damage and increasing customer scrutiny of environmental effects related to product manufacture have made the environmental factor a key strategic variable with implications for the design of products, the design of processes and operating procedures (Hanna and Newman, 1995; Pun et al., 2002). According to Inman (2002), complexity in the operations management arena is increased with the imposition of constraints and uncertainties and additional considerations that range from \"compliant with regulations\" to \"proactive\" regarding the environment. Many organisations have been seeking to improve their environmental performance as a result of operations need (Angell and Klassen, 1999; Inman, 2002; King and Lenox, 2001; Rothenberg et al., 2001) and rapidly increasing customer requirements and market pressures (Hutchinson, 1996; Santos-Reyes and Lawlor-Wright, 2001). Ofori et al. (2002) also argue that firms face the challenge of integrating environmental considerations into their production and marketing plans.Hanna and Newman (1995) contend that total quality processes for elimination of waste have significant potential for improvement in environmental performance while simultaneously driving improvements in productivity and reducing costs. Many recent studies (Aboulnaga, 1998; Lawrence et al., 1998; Pun et al., 2002) shown that adopting total quality management (TQM) helps manufacturers to understand the products they are creating, from the point of design, throughout the value chain (both forward and backward) to the ultimate use and final disposal, and respond to increasing pressures for environmental quality improvements. Hanna and Newman (1995) regard such this as the expanded focus of TQM that looks beyond traditional customer satisfaction and internal productivity measures to include concern for the environment in defining and targeting waste in the value chain for elimination.This paper defines environmental responsible operations (EROs) as environmental management efforts that build upon expanded focus of TQM on the design, manufacture and delivery of environmental-friendly products and services. By explicitly linking environmental soundness to the definition of quality, EROs emphasise the synergy and applications of the TQM concepts and tools to environmental issues. The terms \"EROs\" and environmentally conscious or friendly operations, which are interchangeable in many circumstances, and will be adopted in this paper. In this context, the paper discusses the need for EROs and identifies the factors that drive firms to achieve the environmental performance goals. The relevance of these factors to ERO tools/methods is also presented.\nNeed for environmentally responsible operations: The last two decades have seen a remarkable increase in both interest and reactions to the concept of preserving the environment. This was attributable to the increasing statutory requirements of government policies and regulations, the pressure from consumers and the life-threatening of global ecosystem deterioration (Corbett and Kleindorfer, 2001; Pun et al., 2002). For instance, people are increasingly condemning behaviours that cause damage to the environment (Price and Coy, 2001). Public concern on environment has made promoting market value of a clean image and the importance of the public's perception of the environmental friendliness (Chinander, 2001; Hanna and Newman, 1995). The need for more stringent environmental regulations is enhanced by customer demands for more environmentally benign products (Santos-Reyes and Lawlor-Wright, 2001). In the meantime, organisations are constantly under pressure to develop environmentally responsible and friendly operations. The moral sanction enjoyed by organisations doing so may be compounded by business advantages over less principled competitors (Price and Coy, 2001; Pun et al., 2002). Poksinska (2003) also argues that showing care for the environment and establishing a strong environmental image may help organisations to attract environmentally conscious customers and suppliers.According to Hanna and Newman (1995), expanding TQM with environmental issues could be expected to have a pervasive impact on operations management. Just as TQM pursues global solutions to other quality problems, it offers mechanisms for finding global solutions to the environmental quandary of today's manufacturers. Inman (2002) has reviewed the implications of environmental management for operations management and come up with a list of research questions as depicted in Table I. There would have significant differences between industries, countries, or cultural traditions, in reception of and response to environmental management initiatives that deserve attention. Azzone et al. (1997) contend that improvements in environmental performance have been considered as one of the basic priorities, along with costs, lead-time and quality. Maxwell et al. (1997) add that well-formulated environmental strategies can lead to better quality, reduced costs, improved image and the opening of new markets. Besides, product design becomes more complex while process selection is heavily influenced by environmental concerns. Environmental considerations have become a fundamental part of firms' business and operations strategies (Hutchinson, 1996; Newman and Hanna, 1996). There is a challenge for industry practitioners and academicians to examine the need for environmental management practices, and specifically EROs, for potential synergy between effective management of operations through total quality processes and environmental excellence.\nEnvironmental management systems and EROs: The growth of environmental management systems (EMSs) as a process for integrating corporate environmental policies, and programmes has been quite rapid over the past decade. Many companies have adopted EMSs and followed industry standards or international guidelines for integrating corporate environmental policies, programmes, and practices (Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002; Poksinska, 2003; Santos-Reyes and Lawlor-Wright, 2001; Stager, 2000). The two most frequently used guidelines for EMS design and certification are the international standard, ISO 14001, and the European standard, EMAS (Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002). By mid-2003, more than 53,600 organisations worldwide had their EMS certified under ISO 14001 guidelines established by the ISO in Switzerland. In Europe, nearly 3,800 companies have registered under EMAS guidelines (Peglau, 2004). Other companies are adopting major components of industry or international standards for environmental management without formally certifying them (Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002).According to ISO (1996, 2000), EMS is an integral part of an overall management system that includes organisational structure, planning, activities, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining environmental policy. EMSs provide the management framework for setting and reviewing environmental objectives and targets, whereas EROs are concerned with the operations of the system with respect to the conformance to these objectives and targets. An EMS captures the environmental burdens of an entire facility or organisation and encourages continual improvement of environmental performance (Matthews, 2003). It typically consists of policies, procedures, and audit protocols for EROs. For example, an EMS provides each facility with guidelines for operations such as personnel designated with responsibility for environmental issues. If a process produces a hazardous waste, then the EMS will detail how the waste is to be collected, handled, and disposed of; who is responsible for each activity; and what to do if a spill or leak occurs.It is believed that better environmental performance can be achieved when environmental aspects are systematically identified and managed. The goals of implementing EMS/ERO are expanding the TQM philosophy and practices that emphasise continuous improvement, meeting customers' requirements, reducing rework, long-range thinking, increased employee involvement and teamwork, process redesign, competitive benchmarking, constant measurement of results, and closer relationships with suppliers (Powell, 1995; Whitney and Pavett, 1998). Anecdotal information and many recent studies indicate that many companies both perceive benefits and experience positive impacts from adopting EMSs and/or EROs. These benefits include: reduced operating costs; increased access to markets; demonstrated compliance with regulations; improved environmental performance; improved customer trust and satisfaction; enhanced corporate image and credibility; and employee involvement and education (Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002; Ofori et al., 2002; Pun et al., 2002).\nThe ERO tools/methods: Practitioners and researchers advocated various tools and methods to implement environmentally responsible operations with environmental management in industry. Typical examples include life cycle assessment (Lin et al., 2001; Price and Coy, 2001), green quality function deployment (Cristofari et al., 1996; Zhang and Green, 1999; Masui et al., 2003), recycling and remanufacturing (Guide et al., 1997; Lin et al., 2001), green purchasing (Carter et al., 1998; Green et al., 1998; Min and Galle, 2001), green materials requirement planning systems (Menlyk et al., 2001) and green supply chain (Beamon, 1999; Green et al., 1998). These tools and methods were developed to understand what and how to address environmental concerns, and help practitioners to identify opportunities and translate understandings into unambiguous strategies directed to improve and sustain eco-performance of products and operations. Some methods are prescriptive whereas others adopt structured approach that may help organisations to establish a consensus-making process by developing measurable criteria that characterise the defined goals for improvement (Chinander, 2001; Santos-Reyes and Lawlor-Wright, 2001). For illustration purposes, some key features of six selected ERO tools/methods are described as follows:Life cycle assessment\nIdentification of ERO Factors: Methodology\nDiscussion and conclusions: Planning for environmental management is the process of identifying a portfolio of environmental strategy and business processes and determining a better alignment of both (Hutchinson, 1996; Maxwell et al., 1997). Environmental management practices share the TQM principles and compliance requirements of quality management standards on:* environmental policy;* planning;* implementation and operation;* checking and corrective action; and* management review.TQM creates an organisational culture that fosters continuous improvements in everything by everyone at all times, and requires changes in organisational processes, strategic priorities, individual belief, attitudes and behaviours (Dale, 1999). Expanding TQM into environmental management appears to have significant merits by defining customer satisfaction to include environmental issues and treating the environment as a customer (Hanna and Newman, 1995). The ultimate objective of integrating TQM with environmental management is to assist organisations in quest for continuous improvement and better results.The prevalence of environmental management derives the need for adopting EMSs/EROs in industry. Besides pushing from the regulatory side, many organisations are making positive efforts to be more socially responsible and to meet customer expectations for more environmentally conscious products (Schvaneveldt, 2003).When accompanied with a focus on satisfying customer needs, EROs may offer the promise of sustainable solutions with reduced environmental damage and improved productivity and operations capability. the applications of EROs tools and methods (such as LCA, DfRR, GQFD, GP, GSC and GMRP) can have significant impacts on the performance of organisations. However, different tools and methods would have diverted emphasis that might lead to different anticipated results.Competing in a dynamic marketplace, business success depends significantly upon meeting the changing needs of stakeholders. Organisations should align ERO planning with corporate objectives, and identify critical processes and procedures with respect to unique business characteristics. The review of environmental management literature shows that many researchers and practitioners stressed more the operational \"hard\" product/process factors of EROs. These include product and process design, improvement/innovation, materials/waste control, production/operations integration, and 3Rs. The importance of several \"soft\" policy and evaluation factors (such as goals and targets, management leadership, performance measures and impacts on company) is also realised for helping organisations to attain green operations, products and services.This paper discusses the underlining needs for and determinants (factors, tools and methods) of EROs and presents some direction for work in the areas involving an environmental/quality/operations management interface. The findings are useful for implementing EROs and developing a paradigm for integrating environmental, quality and operations management in organisations. Future work shall examine the extent to which the EROs are cross-functional and are used to monitor supply chains and the life-cycle of products and services, and what their impact is on environmental performance improvement. These are several venues that warrant future work, including:* What are the interactions between EROs and firm-level functional areas such as accounting, marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, sales and logistics?* What are the implications for EROs when the focus of environmental initiative is moving outside the traditional boundaries towards the quality/environmental/operations management interface?* What are the factors impacting the ERO development and integration with other functions?* How are environmental metrics used and captured in cross-functional environmental systems?* What are the influences on and by information management, knowledge management and organisational learning with environmental management in general and EROs in particular?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the underlining needs for and determinants (factors, tools and methods) of environmentally responsible operations (EROs) and present some direction for work in the areas involving an environmental/quality/operations management interface.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Six typical ERO tools/methods are described, and the findings of a literature review, of selected journal articles on environmental management and related areas from 1994-2003, are presented.\nFindings: - The review identifies 15 ERO factors under three groupings, namely policy, product/process, and performance evaluation. The relevance of these factors to the ERO tools/methods is also discussed. The findings are useful for implementing EROs and developing a paradigm for integrating environmental, quality and operations management in organisations.\nOriginality/value: - The paper underlines the ERO potentials for environmental, quality and operations management interface and suggests the venues that warrant future work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cross-sectional study of the quality of neonatal care services in Armenia	[ "Quality of care", "Armenia", "Health services", "Quality assessment", "Neonatal intensive care unit", "Neonatal mortality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Advances in care and management have led to the global reduction of under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) by more than half during the era of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Lim et al., 2016; Rajaratnam et al., 2010). Between 1990 and 2015, the global U5MR fell from 91 (90% CI: 89-92) to 43 (90% CI: 41-46) deaths per 1,000 live births with an average decline of 2.9 percent per year (You et al., 2015). Over the same period of time, global neonatal mortality rate (NMR) declined by 47 percent, dropping from 36 (90 percent CI: 35-38) to 19 (90 percent CI: 18-21) per 1,000 live births with an annual rate of reduction of 2.1 percent (Lawn et al., 2012; You et al., 2015). In general, a large proportion of remaining child deaths occurs during the neonatal period (first 28 days after birth) that makes poor neonatal outcomes a substantial public health burden worldwide (Darmstadt et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2016). In 2015, nearly 5.9 million children under the age of five years died worldwide, with 2.7 million of those deaths occurring in the neonatal period (You et al., 2015). Of these neonatal deaths, up to 50 percent was estimated to occur in the first 24 h after birth and approximately 75 percent in the first week, indicating a higher risk of dying around childbirth than in any other period of life (Oza et al., 2014). Furthermore, an estimated 20 million infants born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) and/or with low birth weight (<2,500 g; 96.5 percent of them occurring in developing countries) are particularly at increased risk of dying within the first year of life (Katz et al., 2013).\n2. Method: Study and sampling design\n3. Results: Using geographic information system and the available spatial data, the map of 11 administrative divisions and 62 facilities with their locations was produced to demonstrate the distribution of all hospitals by the level of delivered neonatal care throughout the country (Figure 3) (AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, 2014; Cromley and McLafferty, 2002; Eurasian Geopolitics, 2016). As the map shows 21 study hospitals are located in marzes and 10 health facilities are situated in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. Tables I and II demonstrate the results of the first research question where stratified analysis on a wide range of outcome characteristics for each level of neonatal care are presented. In the 31 study hospitals, 31,976 deliveries were performed with a mean of 1,032 deliveries per hospital, resulting in 31,701 live births and 734 stillbirths. Of the total 31 hospitals, 32.8 percent had <1,000 annual deliveries and 67.2 percent had 1,000 annual deliveries. The overall rate of cesarean section was 27.5 percent which is substantially higher than the range of 10 to 15 percent recommended by the WHO (WHO and HRP, 2015). In this context, a recent study by Tadevosyan et al. (2019) has reported contributing factors associated with the rapidly increasing rates of cesarean delivery in Armenia. Approximately 71.5 percent of all cesarean sections were performed in the capital hospitals.\n4. Discussion: Despite substantial progress made in reducing the neonatal mortality and morbidity rates over the two and half decades in Armenia, there is much still to address for the delivery of high-quality neonatal services across the hospitals with different levels of care (Demirchyan et al., 2017). Improving and/or changing practice patterns in neonatal units has not been and will not be easy to perform because the mechanisms of changes and adaptation are not always as simple and linear as might be expected. Accomplishing profound, long-lasting changes in successful utilization of quality assurance framework in health care facilities requires not only the implementation of wiser, evidence-informed guidance and policies but also substantial and consistent changes in the provision of neonatal health care services. As previous research has documented, the expansion of package interventions alone will not necessarily be sufficient to achieve the desired outcomes and continue to succeed in the future, particularly in the countries where NMRs are relatively lower, therefore it is crucial to focus on improving each component of care quality while delivering neonatal services (Dickson et al., 2014; Mason et al., 2014). This assessment demonstrated that the quality of care for newborn infants was affected by a range of barriers and vulnerabilities, leading to the provision of substandard care in specific areas. Stillbirths and neonatal deaths were highest among tertiary care centers where high-risk newborns were referred (Figure 7).\n5. Conclusion: This study provided the findings of the quality assessment of neonatal care services across 31 hospitals with different levels of care in Armenia. The study described the obstacles which constrained the access of newborn infants to receive the best state-of-the-art care and restricted the potential to achieve the highest quality outcomes, possible for patients with the resources available. While the quality of neonatal health care was substandard or inadequate in specific areas, the general conclusion suggested that delivered neonatal health care appeared not to pose significant hazards to the health of neonates or violation of human rights. In general, hospitals did not have a comprehensive quality assurance framework, leading to the inadequate operational management of the provided neonatal services. Specific indicators such as neonatal resuscitation, early and exclusive breastfeeding, monitoring of newborn conditions, recognition and treatment of hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia and jaundice, parents' access to their child, neonatal sepsis, feeding standards, total parenteral nutrition and infection control and treatment had relatively low mean scores that require further improvements for the overall quality enhancement of the neonatal services in health facilities across the country.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the assessment results of the quality of neonatal care services in Armenia and to describe the identified obstacles to improving the quality of care for newborn infants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study carried out a cross-sectional descriptive design. The data were collected in health facilities with different levels of neonatal care that were selected employing a multi-stage, stratified purposeful sampling design. The quality of neonatal services was assessed using the generic WHO tool. Data collection was performed using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, hospital statistics, medical records and direct observations.\nFindings: In 31 study hospitals, 31,976 deliveries were performed resulting in 31,701 live births and 734 stillbirths. About 85 percent of all neonatal deaths was attributable to early neonatal deaths with over 48 percent occurring during the first 24 h of life. The proportion of neonatal deaths was highest in infants with low birth weight constituting 92.8 percent of all neonatal deaths. The total neonatal mortality rate was 3.50 per 1,000 live births, whereas stillbirth rate and perinatal mortality rate were 22.60 and 25.26 per 1,000 total births in 2015. Specific indicators with relatively lower mean scores included neonatal resuscitation, early breastfeeding, monitoring of newborn conditions, neonatal sepsis, feeding standards, total parenteral nutrition, and infection treatment.\nOriginality/value: Given the limited scope of research on quality assessment, this paper provides valuable information on the status of quality of neonatal care services in Armenian health facilities. This work also extends the existing studies focused on quality assessment through applying the model of Avedis Donabedian with the structure-process-outcomes approach as a theoretical basis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Female knowledge workers and the illusion of working-time autonomy	[ "Knowledge work", "Family life", "Women workers", "Work and non-work practices", "Working-time autonomy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One of the most important developments in the industrialised world has been the increase of the knowledge economy and of knowledge work (Blackler, 1995; Cortada, 1999; Ojala and Pyoria, 2015). Knowledge work is associated with a high level of autonomy in work-time and processes, and hence, knowledge workers can - at least theoretically - adapt their work to suit personal needs (Kelly et al., 2011). Female knowledge workers, who are often in charge of family routines and coordinating schedules around the home, benefit from this time autonomy (Eikhof, 2016). Therefore, female knowledge workers are an interesting focus of analysis. This topic is also of increasing importance given the increase in the number of employees working in knowledge-intensive professions (Kelly et al., 2011; Truss et al., 2012).\nTemporal realities of knowledge workers: Knowledge work has been described as expert work involving design and technical expertise, idea generation and creative problem solving (Blackler, 1995; Cortada, 1999). Also, higher education is a characteristic of knowledge work and knowledge workers. The increase in knowledge work has been visible in most industrialised countries as a result of changing production systems. Since the turn of the decade, an increasing number of employees have worked in positions where work is about handling, producing and coordinating knowledge and processes (Cortada, 1999; Pyoria, 2006). In Finland, 51 per cent of female and 48 per cent of male salary earners worked as specialists, senior specialists or managers in 2014 (Statistics Finland, 2014, p. 13). According to Eurostat (2016), the proportion of knowledge workers in Finland is around 40 per cent of the total employment.\nResearch design: Aim and data\nFindings: The analysis is particularly focussed on the temporal reality of work and the temporal reality of non-work and family life. These themes are particularly read from the view of work-time autonomy and the possible reasons for why autonomous work hours are not used.\nDiscussion: This paper has analysed the temporal realities of female knowledge workers and working-time autonomy in Finland, which has a high level of knowledge workers, a high level of full-time female workers and also a high level of work-time autonomy. The analysis has pointed out that even though female knowledge workers have autonomy over their work time in principle, they do not always use it. The descriptions of working time were concerned mostly with how to balance the demands of work and cope with the pressured work hours; autonomy is overshadowed by hurriedness. Female knowledge workers use reciprocal flexibility, which can be seen as a means to build a new kind of ideal worker. Furthermore, women's reasons for not using working-time autonomy are linked to family life, and its routines and practices, which regulate female knowledge workers' use of, and ultimately, experience with, time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to ask: what are the temporal realities of female knowledge workers? It especially focusses on women's possibilities of using working-time autonomy, and the work and non-work practices that shape their possibility to use work-hour autonomy. In knowledge work, working-time autonomy is usually high, but exercising autonomy is not always possible. The study was carried out in Finland, where full-time work is common also among women, even if they have small children.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data include 19 semi-structured interviews of women who have knowledge-intensive work. The method of analysis is problem-driven content analysis.\nFindings: Female knowledge workers intertwine several temporal realities. The utilisation of working-time autonomy is restricted by unpredictability, continuous interruptions, hurriedness and ineffective work practices. The temporal realities of family life, such as taking children to the daycare or school, other everyday routines and a spouse's working-time autonomy have an effect on women's possibilities to use working-time autonomy. The line between work and non-work blurs.\nOriginality/value: This study sheds light on working-time autonomy among female knowledge workers. It adds an understanding to the temporal realities of work and outside work that influence the use of work-hour autonomy. This information is needed to understand time demands arising from work, which play a role in work-family research in particular.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sensitivity analysis of a three-unit series system under k-out-of-n redundancy	[ "Sensitivity analysis", "Cost-benefit analysis", "Markov process", "K-out-of-n redundancy", "Reliability measures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: In the designing of a k-out of-n system, it is assumed that the failure of any unit does not disturb its functioning. However, in such cases, the efficiency of the system devaluates depending upon the net system condition. So, other units of the system will be stressed with more load resulting in an increase in the failure rate and thus this effect reduces the reliability of a system. Hence, the dependency occurs and as a result, the failure rates of the units go on degrading.\n2. Mathematical modelling details: 2.1 Notations\n3. Particular cases and numerical computation: 3.1 Availability analysis\n4. Results and discussion: Figure 3 shows the behaviour of availability of the system with respect to time. Initially, this system's availability decreases gradually on the increment of time, but after a certain time, it shows nearly uniform behaviour throughout the system. The nature of reliability of the system at different instants is illustrated in Figure 4. It shows that the reliability of the system decreases with the same rate.\n5. Conclusion: The above study shows the behaviour of this system on various aspects. It can be seen that the availability of this system after falling to a certain limit varies uniformly with time. The reliability of the system shows linear decrement with respect to time. MTTF decreases with the variation in failure rate to the minimum for the controller of subsystem B. The expected profit of the system is high for lower service cost. The maximum variation of MTTF sensitivity and reliability sensitivity is seen for the failure rate of subsystem C. So, the failure of subsystem C decreases the reliability and sensitivity of a system and increases MTTF sensitivity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reliability measures, namely, availability, reliability, mean time to failure and expected profit. The authors also analyse the sensitivity of these reliability measures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Depending upon the real industrial relevance, a generalized system which is easily repairable, extremely reliable and of high quality is expected by the rapid growth of the digital economy. Considering reliability, as one of the performance measure, the authors have designed a complex system which consists of three subsystems, namely, A, B and C in series configuration. The subsystem A consists of n numbers of units which are arranged in parallel configuration, subsystem B consists of two sub-subsystems X and Y align parallel to one another, where X is a type of 1-out-of-n:F. Failure and repair rates are assumed to be follow the general distribution.\nFindings: The system is deeply studied by the usage of the supplementary variable technique, Laplace transformation and Markov's law. Various conclusive results such as availability and reliability of the system, mean time to failure, cost and sensitivity analysis have been discussed further.\nOriginality/value: Through the systematic view of reliability measures of the proposed system, performance of the system can be enhanced under high profit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Insights into the issues facing pharmaceutical companies for information provision: a report on the P-D-R special meeting, La Grande Motte, 28-29 February 2008	[ "Document delivery", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Information management", "Outsourcing", "Copyright law" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars each year on research and development and are heavy consumers of scientific information. Information professionals in the industry began meeting 50 years ago in order to promote the exchange of experience among members, assess new and existing products and services, encourage commercial development of new information services and systems, and provide a forum for the information industry (see www.p-d-r.com). Presently, this unique association called Pharma Documentation Ring (P-D-R) counts 23 corporate members, including most of the leading \"big pharma\" companies from Europe and North America.Nearly 40 publications on information-related issues have been initiated or funded by the P-D-R so far (see www.p-d-r.com/publications/publications.html), testifying to the great interest in the new technologies of information and communication. Special interest is paid to copyright and other intellectual property related issues. In 2000, the P-D-R became known to a larger public of LIS professionals because of the Pharmaceutical Model License developed with major STM publishers (Nielsen and Withall, 2000) and updated this year (Ditchfield and Nielsen, 2008).At the 49th annual meeting in 2007, the P-D-R decided that its \"library affairs and copyright topic group\" should organise a special meeting in early 2008 which would deal with \"the complex issues involved in accessing third party full text materials within a global company, including difficulties than can arise from different local copyright situations\" (see www.p-d-r.com/pressa/pressa.html).This meeting took place at La Grande Motte near Montpellier (France) on 28-29 February 2008. The overall theme was titled: \"Beyond the model license: pharma libraries on the move - easy access and use of publishers' content through multiple channels: e-license, DocDel, PPV, Print\".A total of 75 professionals from 21 pharmaceutical companies, 12 major STM publishers and 12 vendors and reproduction rights organisations (RRO) followed the invitation by Sanofi-Aventis and discussed during two days all facets related to access to scientific information by the corporate sector.The very rich and dense program included four sessions with eight keynotes, 12 shorter presentations from publishers, document suppliers and RROs, and five round tables and panel discussions.The meeting participants were welcomed by Oliver Renn (Boehringer Ingelheim), coordinator of the \"library and copyright affairs group\", who showed a picture of rice field where water is the essential resource. He commented that, for pharmaceutical companies, information is the essential resource. It was intended that this meeting would provide a common understanding and some ideas on how to proceed to make information flow as easily as the water through the rice field.\nSession 1: uses of primary literature in pharma companies: The first session (chaired by Oliver Renn, Boehringer Ingelheim) on uses of primary literature in pharma companies was opened by Hans-Ulrich Hausermann (Abbott). Primary literature is used by virtually all knowledge workers in a pharma company in two main ways:1. Internal for personal use and sharing such as research, training, teaching and collaboration.2. External for medical, health authorities or for marketing purposes.Examples include - internal or external use of findings from an article; article purchasing on behalf of key opinion leaders, posting articles on public websites, and the ordering of a small number of copies of an article; this last example represents a new line of business for the library as it is a non-typical reprint situation and one which is not easy to achieve for users or publishers.Henning Nielsen (Novo Nordisk) was the second speaker, providing insight into the PDR model license background and recent developments. He started by presenting a short history of P-D-R/publishing industry stakeholder relations in the last ten years. The partnership started at a special meeting held in May 1998. One outcome was the first working group (1998-2000) that produced a draft model license. The P-D-R task force on copyright, which consisted of representatives from P-D-R companies and publishers, was established in 2006. The purpose of the task force was to establish guidelines around copyright issues that would enable pharma companies to better and more easily comply with copyright on purchased, licensed or other legally acquired copyrighted materials. In 2007, the group issued a new model license. Henning touched on the new parts and revisited parts of the model license as well as what is still missing. In his view, the way to address the issue of what is still missing in the license is to sit down and talk - industry and publishers, and to begin to move away from the \"1,000 publishers = 1,000 models\" to more standardization and possibly to establish consensus guidelines.So how do pharma companies deal with publishers outside the model license at present? This question was addressed by Mathias Staab (Sanofi Aventis) who provided insight on current access routes to published content in pharma companies. He presented the results of a survey of P-D-R companies on their use of the model license, pay-per-view and document supply services. The survey revealed that the use of the model license is not a given at companies. The majority of P-D-R companies have licenses with more narrow conditions than allowed in the model license. One of the reasons for this is that the \"long tail\" of publishers do not offer model license terms, i.e. their terms are more restrictive. Most companies have supplementary license agreements with RRO's (e.g. CCC, CLA, etc.) for print and electronic content. Nearly all companies use some form of pay-per-view (PPV) that offers increased flexibility but at the cost of increased administrative efforts.Linking tools are well-established as one of the key technologies to pull together different types of resources to maximize value. All companies work with external document suppliers with the majority of companies using their internal print collections for document supply. The final topic of the survey dealt with reprints. Most companies do not coordinate the reprints/e-prints activities and most have no insight into the total reprint business in their companies. Those companies that are involved in reprint provision are positioning the need for coordination as a compliance issue.The morning concluded with statements from three publisher representatives: Peter Katz (Elsevier), Robert Kimberley (Wolters Kluwer) and Janet O'Flaherty (BMJ Group British Medical Association). Generally they are supportive of the idea of the model license. The area of bigger concern is the commercial (marketing) use of their materials and reprints. A lively discussion ensued about reprint rights. It was suggested that two major stakeholders were missing from the discussion - the people at publishers who are responsible for this activity and the marketing people at pharma companies who are the main users. Bringing those parties to the table was raised as a potential topic for a future meeting.\nSession 2: global company services out of national functions: The afternoon session (chaired by Peter Flodin, Nycomed) looked at the issues from the perspective of document delivery providers and Reproduction Rights Organizations (RRO's). It began with an informative presentation by Casper Grote, Esq. (BASF). Grote's presentation had three aspects: the basic framework of copyright law, the needs and problems of information centres and a \"way out of the copyright jungle\". The requirements for an ideal document delivery system are: international scope, speed, and simplicity with free internal circulation. Unfortunately no current license exists to provide this. Ideally, RRO's should be able to provide these broader rights to companies, similar to the music model although the difficulty of achieving this was recognised.The program focus shifted next to document suppliers. Are they full-service-providers or just an additional player in the complex game? Representatives from five suppliers were invited to present their views on how they could help integrate services in the future: Petra Labriga (Infotrieve), Peter Derycz (Reprints Desk), Wendelin Detemple (FIZAutoDoc), Mat Pfleger (British Library) and Joachim Schopfel (INIST) provided their views on how document suppliers can help provide more than just access to non-subscribed content.Much of the discussion that followed these presentations focused on DRM, which began to emerge as one of the main themes of the meeting, and why pharma companies are hampered by DRM on the content they purchase from document suppliers who are simply doing what the rights owners (publishers) tell them to do. The rights owners are just concerned that their content is only used by the party that purchases it, in the way that it is intended. Pharma companies just want to deliver content to their users in a way that does not frustrate them and interrupt their workflow.Bob Weiner then gave an overview of the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). CCC is the largest of the RROs and its mission is to make it easy for users to do the right thing. Weiner described the various services offered by the CCC including; copyright.com, Rightslink, RightsConnect, and Rightsphere. He also spoke about new services including DiscoverWorks.org which addresses orphan works; the experimentation space Copyrightlabs.com; and Mia Della (Fried Rights) which offers commercial use licensing for user-generated content (e.g. blogs, photos, videos), the ALA creative commons license and video and imaging licensing.Statements were also made by Des Brennan; of the UK CLA and Francois Gabai, of the French Copyright Center (CFC). Brennan offered an overview of the ABPI Model license for pharma companies. CLA are currently negotiating for the next version of the license which should cover the reuse of digital content, standard terms and conditions, a comprehensive list of digital content included (\"opt-in repertoire\"), usage reporting, auditing and outsourcing. Gabai explained the role of CFC in France. Only CFC can deliver reprographic licenses on French territory. CFC will start offering licenses in 2008 to each pharma company based in France. The license will be limited to CFC-mandated publications. It aims to meet the needs of users while guaranteeing the rights of rights holders.The afternoon concluded with a lively discussion during which two themes emerged. One was around paying multiple times for the same rights and a second around \"the long tail\". Most cases can be dealt with by one or more licenses; what becomes difficult are those things that fall outside the scope of licenses.\nSession 3: outsourcing information management: Friday morning started with a session (chaired by Carel Fransen, Organon) on outsourcing information management. Lisa Brehm Park described the circumstances leading up to Pfizer's decision to create the STM Library Consortium with Infotrieve and other un-named corporate partners. The arrangement allows them to enhance their service delivery while decreasing their costs. Following Brehm Parker, Mick Archer (AstraZeneca) described the pilot they have undertaken with the British Library in which their vision was to become totally virtual. They also wanted to increase the value of their CLA license and the existing collection. Archer described the issues that still need to be addressed: e.g. the need to hold multiple copies, how to deal with DRM, how to make the remote library scalable and transferable.\nSession 4: technical solutions to control, monitor and limit access including missing standards: The final session (chaired by Carmen Burkhardt, Novartis) dealt with technical solutions to control, monitor and limit access including missing standards. Peter Shepherd of the project COUNTER addressed the question of how we can keep track of what we do, now and in the future. The problem with standards and technology is that by the time they are set, things change and they are out of date.Following Shepherd, Steve Swain (GlaxoSmithKline) addressed the DRM issues and how the currently conflicting standards are hurting both the pharma companies and the publishers. The driving force on DRM use by document delivery providers is coming from publishers who are worried about control and usage of their content. The problem is that restrictions imposed by DRM can be stricter than rights that otherwise might apply. The challenges are not just technical (e.g., incompatible systems, plugins, etc.), as information center staff find themselves dealing with the problems. DRM is getting in the way of helping their users achieve their business goals. Most users understand the issues but are frustrated by the restrictions and the technology. The ideal solution would be to abolish DRM when working with document suppliers, but in the meantime, document suppliers should work together to ensure consistency in standards. Rights holders should work together to make sure overly restrictive measures are not being enforced and the pharma industry needs to continue to educate rights holders about their own requirements.The final presentation attempted to describe an ideal system based on the previous discussions. Dan Doran (Roche) laid out the experience of \"Alice the Pharma employee\" as she used the \"iArticle Store\" to purchase an article and the rights to use it. The iArticle Store would be a user friendly system with comprehensive publisher coverage which allows for direct access to articles and their use in most situations e.g., internal document supply and sending to external users, with simple, transparent pricing and payment options that support those available from her company.\nConcluding remarks: In the past, Interlending & Document Supply has published some studies on pharma companies (see Ward, 1996; Delaney, 2003; Kasarab, 2006; Bador et al., 2007). The P-D-R meeting confirmed these companies' constant need for scientific information, expressed their problems with some specific features of document supply, and underlined their interest to find solutions together with the publishers, reproduction rights organisations and intermediaries that are compliant with copyright laws. Concerning document supply, we can highlight five topics:1. Document supply remains (and so far we can see will remain) one option to access scientific information, especially for the \"long tail\" not included in subscription licences and estimated at about 12,000 journals.2. Technical measures of protection (DRM) made obligatory by most of the publishers are generally understood but not accepted, because of technical problems (plugins), mutual incompatibility and a too restricted use of documents compared to other licences (CCC, CLA etc.).3. The diversity and complexity of legal conditions that are generally viewed as partly unnecessary limitations to scientific information access.4. Most document suppliers began to develop vendor partnerships in order to enhance their service offer (networking with other suppliers or with Thomson, Google, Ex Libris/SFX, subscription agencies etc).5. Finally, document suppliers are increasingly considered (and wanted) as partners that offer more than simple document supply, e.g. commercial solutions for the outsourcing of other information services (\"full service provider\").The P-D-R emphasized their willingness to cooperate with publishers, RROs and document suppliers in order to find pragmatic and reasonable solutions to simplify the legal and technical restrictions. Representatives of some major publishers indicated that the DRM may be a matter of discussion and that it may even be removed some day to give the same usage rights through subscriptions, PPV and document supply. Maybe also, as P. Derycz predicted, DRM will become \"technically easier in 2010\".At the last round table of the meeting Bruce Funkhouser (CCC) suggested taking advantage of the actual dynamic and to bring key players together to discuss these issues. A first follow-up will be a meeting of the P-D-R copyright group with CLA and CCC representatives and some document suppliers at the British Library in May or June 2008.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to report on the Pharma Documentation Ring (P-D-R) special meeting 2008 on access and use of publishers' content through multiple channels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After an introduction to the goals and activities of the P-D-R, the paper describes the different sessions of the meeting and then summarises the topics related to document supply.\nFindings: - The paper reports on the use of primary information in pharmaceutical companies, on global services arising from national functions, on outsourcing information management, and on technical solutions to control, monitor and limit access. One of the hot topics of the conference was restriction by digital rights management (DRM) measures.\nOriginality/value: - This report provides insights into the issues currently facing the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is the only corporate sector with a long and profitable tradition of networking between information professionals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Persona missing, feared drowned: the digital persona concept, two decades later	[ "Identity", "Identification", "Surveillance", "Data quality", "Access control", "Entity", "Dataveillance", "Authentication" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The term \"digital persona\" was coined in 1992. It was outlined initially in Clarke (1993a, b), and examined in depth in (Clarke, 1994a), which appeared in a special issue on \"The digital individual\" (Agre, 1994). The original motivation was declared as being that \"we need the construct as an element in our understanding of the emerging network-enhanced world\". The paper recognised a wide range of potential applications of the idea, but focused in particular on its use for the monitoring of people. The term provides an unambiguous way of referring to data collections about individuals that are sufficiently detailed to be used as a basis for decision making in lieu of dealing with the individual themselves: \"the digital persona can be monitored with thoroughness and frequency, and surveillance extended to whole populations\" (Clarke, 1994c).\n2. The original concept: The context in which the term was coined was set by two earlier articles. One article documented the switch in surveillance techniques from physical and electronic means towards surveillance of individuals through the data trails that they generate. The term \"dataveillance\" was coined, to refer to \"the systematic use of personal data systems in the investigation or monitoring of the actions or communications of one or more persons\" (Clarke, 1988). A later paper that distinguishes the various forms that surveillance can take is Clarke (2009c).\n3. Developments - 1992-2012: The intervening two decades have seen substantial change. This section briefly highlights some key developments relevant to the digital persona, and to dataveillance more generally.\n4. Application of the concept - 1992-2012: Great as the need may have been for the term \"digital persona\" to become mainstream, it has not set the world alight. During its first 20 years to July 2012, the primary article garnered only about 150 Google citations. To place that in context, however, there appeared to be no more than five references in the surveillance arena that had more than 500 Google citations, and perhaps only 20 with more than 200. The publications that appeared to be the primary references at that time are identified in Appendix.\n5. Theory extensions: The theory of the digital persona presented in the original 1994 paper was sufficiently comprehensive that subsequent literature, while adding some depth, has not contributed all that much more to the theory itself. There are two areas, however, in which some theory extension is necessary. The need to distinguish open from hidden personae was mentioned earlier and is addressed in the second sub-section below. The first sub-section is concerned with the relationship between the digital persona and human identification.\n6. Responses: Applications of imposed digital personae harbour great threats to consumers and citizens. The question therefore arises as to whether regulatory measures relating to personal data reflect the insights offered by the theory.\n7. The concept's trajectory: For a notion to make a substantial contribution to society, it needs to be noticed, adopted, applied, articulated and adapted. To what extent does the development path of the digital persona notion reflect the insights of epidemiology, memetics and diffusion of innovations theory as discussed in the introduction to this paper?\n8. Conclusions: The various aspects of the digital persona notion have potential applications in many fields, and to good and bad effect, from the viewpoint of the individual to whom the persona relates, of other individuals and of organisations. Clearly there are legitimate applications of imposed digital personae as a tool of criminal investigation and intelligence. Abstract models of targeted categories of people can be derived or contrived, and digital personae tested against those models to generate suspects. Some scepticism is warranted, however. For example, a dispassionate analysis is needed of the effectiveness of trawling passenger data in order to detect drug-mules, and particularly terrorists.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to document the development path of a specific concept during its first 20 years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Evidence was extracted of the citation-counts of relevant articles, uses of the term in other articles that do not cite the original articles, and uses of terms with similar meanings. Examination of the data took into account insights from epidemiology, memetics and diffusion of innovations theory.\nFindings: The concept has had insufficient impact to overcome the weaknesses in theory and practice that it was intended to address. It has lacked champions. It has proven to be sufficiently fit to survive, but not to flourish.\nResearch limitations/implications: Google Scholar has a wide catchment area, and hence provides a basis for tracking the path of development of new ideas. However, the tools remain fairly blunt, and do not, for example, enable efficient extraction of patterns of citation over time, or the nature of the uses made of terms by the citing articles.\nPractical implications: Neologisms take on a life of their own, losing the associations that they were intended to have with other ideas, and shedding their embedment in a body of theory. For a new term to successfully project a meme, its proponent must enthuse a critical mass of early adopters to apply it, and to generate a further round of adopters.\nOriginality/value: Concepts are seldom tracked over time. This paper shows that a new term and its associated body of theory require more than publications in top-level journals if they are to have significant impacts on academic research and industry practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The link between corporate governance and performance of the non-traditional export sector: evidence from Ghana	[ "Corporate governance", "Ghana", "National economy", "Exports", "Export markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The argument has been advanced time and time again that the governance structure of any corporate entity affects the firm's ability to respond to external factors that have some bearing on its performance. In this regard, it has been noted that well governed firms largely perform better and that good corporate governance is of essence to firms. The subject matter of corporate governance has dominated the policy agenda in developed market economies for sometime especially among very large firms. Subsequently, the concept is gradually warming itself to the top of policy agenda in the African continent. Indeed, it is believed that the Asian crisis and the seemingly poor performance of the corporate sector in Africa have made the concept of corporate governance a catchphrase in the development debate (Berglof and von Thadden, 1999). It is believed that good governance generates investor goodwill and confidence. Again, poorly governed firms are expected to be less profitable. Claessens et al. (2003) also posits that better corporate framework benefits firms through greater access to financing, lower cost of capital, better performance and more favourable treatment of all stakeholders. They argue that weak corporate governance does not only lead to poor firm performance and risky financing patterns, but are also conducive for macroeconomic crises like the 1997 East Asia crisis. Other researchers contend that good corporate governance is important for increasing investor confidence and market liquidity (Donaldson, 2003).Becht et al. (2002) identifies a number of reasons for the growing relevance of corporate governance, which includes the world-wide wave of privatization of the past two decades, the pension fund reform and the growth of private savings, the takeover wave of the 1980s, the deregulation and integration of capital markets, the 1997 East Asia Crisis, and the series of recent corporate scandals involving firms such as Enron and WorldCom in the USA and elsewhere.Developing countries are now increasingly embracing the concept knowing it leads to sustainable growth. Indeed, corporate governance in Ghana is now gaining some level of recognition with very little work in the area even in the well-regulated institutions and sectors. The export sector and specifically, NTE, has tremendous governance problems. Apart from ownership problems, in that, most of these firms are individually of family owned, they do not also have in place proper structures to ensure effective line of control and accountability and governance. Some of the firms in the NTE sector have folded up partly as a result of governance problems.The concept of export is of critical importance to developing economies. No wonder, Ghana is heavily dependent on its export sector as an engine of growth within an increasingly competitive global economy. The argument for an export-led growth has been articulated at several fora by key government and private sector officials. The export sector in Ghana is generally categorized into the traditional and NTE sectors, with traditional export comprising cocoa beans, gold and other minerals, unprocessed timber and electricity. The NTE includes all exports from Ghana aside of these traditional exports outlined above.In 1983, under the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), the Government established a clear policy guideline and adopted measures intended to resuscitate export trade by diversifying into NTEs, which at that time comprised exotic fruits, vegetables, tubers, processed and semi-processed wood, agricultural and aluminum products. Again, in 1998, the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and the Ghana Export Promotion Council embarked on a three-year export development plan (1988-1990). This plan resulted in a growth of the NTE sector from US$1.9 million in 1984 to US$62.34 million in 1990, accounting for 6.9 percent of total exports and 1.0 percent of GDP (ISSER, 1997), a level below what was expected, given the incentives and measures that has been put in place.In 2003 however, the export of non-traditional commodities yielded $588.7 million, an increase of 16.8 percent, over 2000. The value of NTEs, number of exporters and number of products all increased in 2002 by 16.8 percent, 3.2 percent and 3.9 percent respectively. (ISSER, 2003). In the context of vision 2020, the government of Ghana expects that the total revenue by the year 2020 should be in the region of about $60 billion and NTEs alone should be contributing about $12 billion of that value.In the light of the foregoing analysis, it is evident that the NTE sector has a major role to play in the context of the Ghanaian economic development and to improve the revenue base of the growing economy. It is in this light that the study is being conducted to investigate corporate issues and to examine whether there is any link between corporate governance and the performance of the NTE sector. Findings from the study will help fine-tune and reshape the sector for meaningful contribution to the country's development process.The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section 2 discusses the literature; section 3 looks at methodology, data analysis and discussion; while section 4 draws conclusions and policy implications.\n2. Review of literature: The theory on corporate governance stems from the thesis The Modern Corporation and Private Property by Berle and Means (1932). The thesis highlights a fundamental agency problem in modern firms where there is a separation between management and finance. It has long been recognised that modern firms suffer from a separation of ownership and control. These firms are run by professional managers (agents), who are accountable to dispersed shareholders (principals). The scenario fits into the well-discussed principal-agent paradigm. The question is how to ensure that managers follow the interests of shareholders in order to reduce cost associated with principal-agent theory. To do that, the principals have to deal with two problems. First, they face an adverse selection problem: that is, they must select the most capable managers. Second, they are also confronted with a moral hazard problem: that is how to adequately motivate the managers to put forth the appropriate effort and make decisions aligned with shareholders interests.Jensen and Meckling (1976) further define agency relationship and identify agency costs. Agency relationship, according to them, is a contract under which \"one or more persons (principal) engage other person (agent) to perform some service on their behalf, which involves delegating some decision-making authority to the agent\". The scenario normally generates a conflict of interests. This conflict of interests between managers or controlling shareholder, and outside or minority shareholders refers to the tendency that the former may extract perks out of a firm's resources and be less interested to pursue new profitable ventures. Agency costs in this case include monitoring expenditures by the principal such as auditing, budgeting, control and compensation systems, bonding expenditures by the agent and residual loss due to divergence of interests between the principal and the agent. Usually, the share price paid by shareholders (principal) reflects such agency costs. To increase firm value, one must therefore reduce agency costs. This is one way to view the linkage between corporate governance and corporate performance. Fama (1980) aptly comments that separation of ownership and control can be explained as a result of \"efficient form of economic organization\".One difference between countries' corporate governance systems is the differences in the ownership and control of firms that exist across these countries. Indeed, systems of corporate governance can be distinguished according to the degree of ownership and control and the identity of controlling shareholders. While some systems are characterized by wide dispersed ownership (outsider systems), others tend to exhibit concentrated ownership of control (inside systems). In the outside systems of corporate governance especially in USA and UK, there exist a basic conflict of interest between strong managers and widely dispersed weak shareholders. On the other hand, in insider systems (notably Germany and Japan), the basic conflict is between controlling shareholders (or blockholders) and weak minority shareholders.2.1 Corporate governance and firm performance\n3. Methodology, data analysis, and discussion: The study uses secondary data based on the financial statements of 100 NTE firms over the ten-year period 1995-2004. The governance data and variables are also obtained through the administration of questionnaire and personal interview. The methodological approach used in most previous word examining the impact of corporate governance on firm performance variables utilize a panel data multiple regression following the econometric model of Miyajima et al. (2003) which is given as follows: Equation 2 where Yit represents firm performance variables for firm i in time t; Git is a vector of corporate governance variables; nit is the residual term; ei are individual specific effects; lt time specific effects and l, the error term.For the purpose of this study, we use a modified version of Miyajima's model as follows: Equation 3 where Yit represents a vector of firm performance variables, as shown below: Equation 4 Git is a vector of corporate governance variables represented in equation 5: Equation 5 Cit is a vector of control variables as appear in the following equation: Equation 6 and l is the error term.(Note: for variable description and measurement, see Appendix).Indeed, in examining the impact of corporate governance on firm value or performance, one major problem that researchers do confront is endogeneity of the governance measures. This is because; if different firms are optimally governed differently, and all firms adopt efficient governance structures, then there will be no direct correlation between governance measures and firm performance, Bernard Black (2001). However, in Ghana it is reasonably acceptable to proceed on the assumption that endogeneity will be less of a concern comparable to firms in developed markets such as the USA or UK. Firms in this sample have always been privately owned with varying degrees of operational difficulty. Therefore, even if firms tend to develop efficient governance structures towards equilibrium over time, this relaxation to equilibrium could not have happened in Ghanaian firms more so the NTE sector within the time frame under consideration. The other argument for this situation is that, managers of firms in Ghana are perhaps seen to normally pursue the objective of obtaining large private benefits rather than maximizing the firm's market value.However, we must indicate that the above reasons do not in any way suggest that endogeneity is probable a smaller problem in Ghana than in a more developed, stable country. Indeed, endogeneity would always be a problem. The contention however is that we do believe endogeneity is essentially of less concern in our specific study.Further robustness check is the inclusion of selected control variables to the regression model essentially due to the fact that the performance of a firm may practically be affected by other variables other than corporate governance structures in place. Hence, we include the age of the firm (AGE), debt structure (DTB), and Size (SZE) as possible control variables. Since sample firms have very wide variation in their asset-base, the log of size is rather used in the regression estimation.Both parametric and non-parametric methodology is employed. The regression is run in a panel manner; various options of panel data regression were run, fixed effects, random effects, OLS, GLS and a dynamic panel. The most robust of all was the GLS panel. Thus, we report results of the GLS panel regression in the subsequent tables.Data analysis and discussion\n4. Conclusion: The relevance of corporate governance cannot be over-emphasized since it constitutes the organizational climate for the internal activities of a company. Corporate governance brings new outlook and enhances a firm's corporate entrepreneurship and competitiveness.The study examined the role of corporate governance and its effect on the performance of NTE firms in Ghana. The mean board size for the sample was found to be five; however there are wide variations in this between the cross-sections. For board composition the mean ratio is 46 percent implying the use of more inside directors on the board in the overall sample. Further implication of this is that boards of NTE firms in Ghana are not deemed independent according to John and Senbet (1998). The sampled firms also showed that they are equally divided between one-tier and two-tier board structures and that most of the firms (about 54 percent) in the NTE sector are owned by non-Ghanaians.The regression results show further that there is an inconclusive result regarding board size and CEO duality and the performance of firms in the NTE sector. However the board composition and the ownership structure have positive impact on performance.From the foregoing analysis, it is evident that there are mixed results regarding corporate governance and various performance measures in the NTE sector. It must however be stated that this is not strange because it is consistent with other studies. However, for efficient performance, firms in the NTE sector in Ghana should have indigenous ownership and must ensure more non-executive directors on their boards.Corporate governance indeed embraces a broader set of variables such as economic and legal environment, proactive practices within an institution, the nature and quality of information flow and the level of involvement of low-level staff in the day-to-day decisions of a corporate entity. These and other issues constitute the focus of a subsequent work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate governance affects performance of firms in the non-traditional export (NTE) sector in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Panel data covering the ten-year period 1995-2004 were analyzed within the generalized least squares (GLS) framework.\nFindings: - For efficient performance, firms in the NTE sector in Ghana should have indigenous ownership and must ensure more non-executive directors on their boards.\nResearch limitations/implications: - More indicators of corporate governance are needed, due to the fact that corporate governance embraces a broader set of indicators.\nPractical implications: - There are practical implications for both academics and practitioners.\nOriginality/value: - Provides an examination of the link between corporate governance and the performance of the NTE sector, which has hitherto not been researched.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The unit train make-up scheme for loaded direction in the heavy haul railway	[ "Heavy haul railway", "Idling period", "Loaded direction", "Make-up scheme", "Unit train" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Because of the advantages of the huge capacity, high efficiency, low cost, energy saving, heavy haul railway system is considered as the future international freight transportation mode, which develops rapidly around the world (Deng and Zhao, 2014; Zhang et al., 2016). Heavy haul railway can not only alleviate the lack capacity but also greatly reduce the cost of railway transportation, especially when transporting coal and other bulk cargo.\n2. Statement of the problem: 2.1 Basic assumptions\n3. Model formulation: In Section 3, the train make-up scheme problem is formulated as a nonlinear 0-1 programming model firstly. However, this formulation makes the proposed model difficult to be solved by some standard solver packages, i.e. CPLEX. Thus, in Section 3.2, the nonlinear 0-1 programming model is reformulated into a linear 0-1 programming in Section 3.2, which can be solved directly be some standard solver packages, i.e. CPLEX.\n4. Case study: 4.1 Basic situation introduction of the case\n5. Conclusions: The unit train make-up scheme problem for loaded direction in heavy haul railway is a complicated and dynamic problem. This paper firstly proposes a nonlinear 0-1 programming model for this problem, and then reformulated it into a linear 0-1 programming model with additional auxiliary variables, which can be directly solved by some standard solver packages, i.e. CPLEX. The proposed model is applied into a case study based on Daqin heavy haul railway. Results show that the proposed model can offer operators an optimal unit train make-up scheme for loaded direction in heavy haul railway. And sensitivity analysis is implemented, which can analyze the effects of the capacity of the heavy haul corridor and the capacities of make-up and break-up stations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the unit train make-up scheme for loaded direction in the heavy haul railway.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 0-1 nonlinear integer programming model with the aim of minimizing the idling period between actual train arrival time and expected train arrival time for all loaded unit trains are proposed.\nFindings: The proposed model is applied into a case study based on Daqin heavy haul railway. Results show that the proposed model can offer operators an optimal unit train make-up scheme for loaded direction in heavy haul railway.\nOriginality/value: The proposed model can offer operators an optimal unit train make-up scheme for loaded direction in heavy haul railway.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The growing permanence of pop-up outlets within the international location strategies of fashion retailers	[ "Retail", "Fashion", "Internationalization", "Pop-up store", "Location strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Pop-up stores are not a new phenomenon (Niehm et al., 2007; Taube and Warnaby, 2017), yet their role within the domestic and international fashion retail location strategies has yet to be systematically analyzed even though internal and external factors suggest that the temporary store can play a significant part in both planned and emergent international retail strategies. Academic and trade literature concur in the view that the pop-up store can be part of an omni-channel retail marketing strategy, with brand communication and experiential enhancement being dominant themes (Scarpi, 2006; Kim et al., 2010; Spena et al., 2011; Surchi, 2011; Jackson, 2013; Morrell, 2014; Chen and Fiore, 2017; Taube and Warnaby, 2017). As an element of international retail strategy, however, the temporary store is perceived rather as an opportunistic, low cost route to market. The Retail Internationalization Report published by Retail Expert Group Ebeltoft (Ebeltoft.com, 2014) puts \"location\" and \"suitable retail concept\" within the top 5 success factors for retail market development. Moreover, the availability of temporary retail space in uncertain economic situations in established markets, continues. This paper contends, therefore, that the temporary store can play an important role not only in the testing and researching stage of market evaluation and selection, but also in informing future adaptations to fashion brand positioning strategy for specific customer markets and that location choice is critical within this.\nLiterature review: Pop-up stores\nMethodology: Given the scarcity of studies on pop-up stores within international location strategy decision making, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted, in the form of a multiple case study. The research sought the how (the form and features) and why (function and relative importance) of pop-up store operations within domestic and international location strategy decision making using case study method to compensate for a lack of extant theory and established principles (Yin, 2014). This methodology is recommended for examining contemporary phenomena within a real-life setting, drawing on secondary data, direct observation of the event and on interviews with people involved (Gummesson, 2000). The research strategy was informed by the theoretical concepts presented in the literature review, specifically, directing sample choice and the interview guide, relevant constructs and structured observations.\nFindings and discussion: General experience with pop-ups\nImplications, limitations and future directions: The originality of this study is that it addresses an underdeveloped research field through the analysis of retailers' assessment of the role of pop-up stores within international retail location strategy. It serves to advance knowledge of pop-up stores within an international context by providing new findings into the factors influencing pop-up store location choice, the importance attributed to location within internationalization and the process of selection.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to establish the role of the pop-up store within the international location strategy of fashion retailers, second, to identify the factors influencing pop-up store location choice and the importance retailers ascribe to it and third, to assess how pop-up locations are sourced and selected.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multiple case study was adopted. Research was conducted using secondary data sources, observation and semi-structured interviews with senior executives with strategic responsibility for store/brand development internationally. Manual content analysis was conducted.\nFindings: Key findings cover the role of Pop-up stores within international retail location strategy, notably features, forms and function, with the latter highlighting the importance of opportunistic market testing and trial, reduced risk, regeneration, ROI- and CRM-driven decisions; the factors impacting location choice and selection, specifically the trade-offs between reactive and proactive approaches and the importance of networks and intuition, and future pop-up directions.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalization outside of the given sector and marketplaces. Several avenues for future research are elucidated including exploration of pop-up transformations including pop-up rebrand, technology enabled, experiential and third place.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to the nascent field of research by providing new insight into the role of pop-ups within international location strategy, the factors influencing location choice and selection and offers a pop-up location taxonomy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Income security, social comparisons and materialism: Determinants of subjective financial well-being among Indian adults	[ "Social comparison", "Demographic factors", "Materialism", "Financial well-being", "Income security", "Structural equation models", "G20", "I31", "C31", "C38" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Significant socio-economic and cultural changes have occurred within India in the last 70 years. In the first two decades after independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru implemented several economic policies that led to the creation of a large and strong public sector industrial base (Balakrishnan, 2007; Nayyar, 2006). The establishment of several public sector enterprises, with assurance of jobs and steady employment, led to the emergence of a new middle class. Salaries and living standards were somewhat moderate, but educational and economic aspirations were high. Because of high import duties and low growth of private enterprise, the availability of material goods for consumption was low, and the propensity to consume was not high.\nLiterature review: We present below a review of the literature related to the main covariates included in this study. First, we present the conceptual framework developed to study FWB. Then, we review the literature that looks at the effect of social comparisons, materialism, IS and demographic variables on FWB.\nMethodology: Questionnaire development and administration\nAnalysis and results: Factors identified\nDiscussion of results and conclusions: FWB is one of the important predictors of subjective well-being and quality of life of individuals. Financial inclusion, financial literacy and financial efficacy have often been the primary concerns of policy makers in developing countries. However, these are all means to an end, i.e. improvement of overall FWB. There are several factors that affect FWB, including environmental factors, such as a strong economy, low unemployment and availability of ready money for consumption as well as investment (liquidity). At an individual level, socio-economic and demographic factors, individual personality traits, cultural values, money attitudes and money-management behaviors affect FWB of individuals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of perceived income security (IS), materialistic values and socially driven aspirations on the financial well-being (FWB) of young Indian adults.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was designed using available scales for FWB and materialism. Questions were incorporated to measure social comparison and IS. A structural equation approach using data from 327 respondents was used to test a hypothesized model of FWB.\nFindings: The IS has the largest positive effect, while unemployment has the largest negative effect on FWB. Overt materialism (OM) negatively affects FWB. Socially motivated aspirations have an indirect negative effect mediated by OM. Among demographic variables, income, education and stable employment increase FWB. Males have lower levels of FWB.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data includes 327 respondents that were polled using convenience sampling. The results may not be generalizable to India at large.\nSocial implications: A common consideration when choosing a job is the salary. However, we find that IS affects subsequent FWB to a much greater extent than income level and materialistic aspirations.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to look at the relative importance of materialistic aspirations vs IS in determining FWB. The results will help policy makers in devising policies and financial service providers in designing products and services that will increase the FWB of Indians.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Management and Michael Polanyi's thought	[ "Economics", "Government", "History", "Capitalism", "Science" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) was a twentieth century polymath, raised in a family of sparkling intellects that included brother Karl, author of the celebrated work of economic anthropology, The Great Transformation. Drucker (1997, p. 126, also Nye, 2011, p. 171) in Adventures of a Bystander recognized the family as \"the most gifted [...] I have ever known or heard of\". Of Michael in particular, (Drucker, 1997, p. 131) observed:\n\"Collectivist planning\": Polanyi (1940, pp. 27-60) elaborated his view of science and society in the 1940 essay \"Collectivist Planning\". He did this in opposition to Marxist and other proponents of planning who contrasted the (apparent) success of the Soviet five-year plans against the dysfunction of capitalist societies in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Polanyi (1940, p. 45, also p. 28, and Nasar, 2011, p. 378) realized that social planning (\"unity achieved by\" central control) appealed to the modern mind as scientific and efficient, whereas individualist liberty gave the impression of \"aimless drifting\". Scientistic minds such as Beatrice and Sidney Webb argued analogically from management of corporations to the economy (production and distribution) being managed according to a central comprehensive plan, ensuring that all citizens have their needs satisfied and a stop is put to the exploitation of resources for commercial gain that characterizes market exchange economies (Polanyi, 1940, p. 29, pp. 47-48, p. 50). Polanyi (1940, p. 29) referred to the Soviet Government as having aspired to direct scientific research and \"all mental efforts\", which policy appealed to Bernal and other members of the \"social relations of science movement\" (Nye, 2011, p. 18). For Polanyi (1940, p. 46, n.1), however, planning of research by the Soviet Government was as much of a sham as was its claim of economic planning. Polanyi (1940, p. 46. n. 1) observed that by 1932, the government had accepted that central planning of science was \"impracticable\", and it claimed that control of research had been handed to \"scientific institutions\" when in fact, said Polanyi, it had passed control to individual scientists. All this affronted Polanyi (1940, pp. 46-47, n. 1) as a \"disgusting comedy\" and a \"pretence kept up for the satisfaction of official requirements\".\n\"The growth of thought in society\": Polanyi's essay \"The Growth of Thought in Society\" appeared in the LSE journal Economica edited by Hayek, the year after the publication of The Contempt of Freedom. The essay was \"occasioned by\" (Polanyi, 1941, p. 428, n. 1) the writing of J. G. Crowther, science journalist with the Manchester Guardian, and included mention of Crowther's social relations of science allies, Lancelot Hogben and Bernal. These people were influencing thinking about science policy in Britain, equating science with utilitarian research, rejecting pure science as untenable and proposing that scientists be divested of freedom to research topics of their choice and directed to conduct research tangibly benefiting society. Polanyi (1941, p. 428, italics added) wrote \"The Growth of Thought\" to explain the social role of ideals of science and \"other aspects of truth\" and - of direct relevance to our topic - \"the principles of organisation\" that serve these ideals. \"Collectivist Planning\" displayed liberal science as a non-managed form of coordination depending on a special type of authority and \"The Growth of Thought\" elaborated on this view of science, and on common law and the market economy as further examples of non-managed orders, with their culture embodying a distinctive kind of freedom.\n\"The republic of science\": Later in his philosophical career, Polanyi described the dynamic/spontaneous order of science as \"The Republic of Science\", being the title of an essay he published in the first issue of the journal, Minerva (1962), edited by his friend Edward Shils. A particular virtue of this essay is that it sheds brighter light on the management of science as a spontaneous order than do any of the other writings of his we have considered. Polanyi (1962, p. 61) used the article to disclose \"the principles of organisation\" that underpin the advance of science and enable \"this vast domain of collective creativity [...] [to] be effectively promoted and coordinated\". Science (Polanyi, 1962, p. 54) he envisaged as a global republic and as \"a highly simplified model of a free society\", and he suggested that it operates under a diffuse type of management, namely, collective self-management.\nConclusion: Theorists of management - most notably Graicunas and, probably, Gulick, Mooney, Henderson, among others - along with military writers - Foch and Liddell Hart - helped Polanyi to develop his thinking on important features of the social landscape: organization, authority and forms of social coordination. As an intellectual resource management theories help explain some of the key ideas he formulated in his philosophical career. In turn, Polanyi's ideas contributed to the discipline of management, affirming scientific opinion based on overlapping neighbourhoods as an organ of collective self-management (Campbell, 1969, p. 328, p. 330; Clark, 1993, pp. 274-277) and developing an understanding of human activity as suffused with tacit knowledge.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of management ideas as a resource for developing a new understanding of science and society.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three important articles of Polanyi are studied in detail.\nFindings: That writings of Graicunas, Foch and Liddell Hart definitely influenced the development of Polanyi's thinking and writings of Gulick, Mooney among other management/organization theorists also likely contributed to Polanyi's thought.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study opens a new seam for Polanyi intellectual - historical scholarship.\nPractical implications: The article sheds light on facets of scientific life, including how scientists themselves participate in the overall management of science.\nSocial implications: This discussion of Polanyi deepens the appreciation of Liberal society's functioning.\nOriginality/value: No other Polanyi scholar has dug deeply into the history of management, considering its intellectual value to Polanyi.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tourism careers take off thanks to BAA (Glasgow): Scottish Ambassadors program gives students wings	[ "Airports", "Students", "Experiential learning", "Partnership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A three-year project at Glasgow International Airport by airport-operator BAA and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) resulted in students reporting a higher level of readiness for working life.\nPersonal-development portfolios link higher education with industry: Many employers are now looking beyond a student's academic performance, for more rounded graduates. Employers seek, in particular, students who demonstrate a willingness to learn, commitment, dependability, self-motivation, teamwork skills and good communication skills.Although CGU students enjoy some flexibility in their work experience on tourism degrees, they are not necessarily immersed in roles directly relevant to their fields of study. Nor are they always stretched beyond their comfort zones.People studying hospitality, tourism and international travel at GCU were therefore offered the chance to take part in some \"controlled\" activities with key industrial partners, including BAA, which would provide meaningful and relevant industrial experience.\nThe expertise of BAA: Glasgow, the busiest international airport in Scotland, has a social agenda fostering links with local communities and their needs. It was from this agenda that the Scottish Ambassadors scheme was born. BAA (Glasgow) wanted to replicate another BAA initiative in Indianapolis, USA, which involved seasonal employment of retired people to help international passengers to make the most of their time at the airport.Glasgow airport wanted to meet identified customer needs, provide exceptional customer service and engage the local community under its sustainability strategy, termed the 3Es - environmental, educational and economic regeneration.For GCU students, the benefits included a sustained period of industrial experience and the chance to make important airport contacts. Media coverage gained by the airport and the university at the project launch also proved useful PR.BAA picked GCU because it already had good contacts with university graduates and staff and knew its courses. Moreover, the university's geographical proximity to the airport was useful, given that the students would sometimes have to start work as early as 5 a.m.The program enabled students to gain interview and selection experience at BAA screening centers. Once provided with security clearance, and having taken part in full BAA training, the first group began their duties with the prospect of continuous seasonal employment over three years, covering the Easter, summer and October breaks, which typically see large influxes of international visitors to Glasgow.A total of 27 students took part in the program, over three years. Most were female, of an average age of 19. They tended to work 35-hour weeks and duties covered customer service for passengers, helping with check-in procedures, promotion of airport facilities, queue control and calming, help with luggage, conflict resolution, linguistic help and first-aid.\nStudents' perceptions: All the students reported that the experience had been mainly enjoyable and worthwhile. Involvement in the program enabled them to \"make sense\" of their course theory and put it into operation in \"real\" life. Many also reported feeling \"special\", growing in confidence and gaining extra motivation to gain their degree and move into the field of work.Two students claimed that the experience \"changed their lives\". All felt that having a company like BAA on their CV before they had even graduated would provide them with a good start in employment.Among the disadvantages the students reported were having to work anti-social hours and occasionally feeling lack of direction because they were new to the role. They did not feel that the program interfered with their academic studies in the way that usual student employment could do, and noted that BAA reminded them that following their degrees was the most important factor at this stage. The students saw the higher education/industry partnership as a real benefit in this respect.\nOperational insights: The employment of students in this exercise encouraged BAA to examine anew its ideas of preferred employee attributes. Instead of looking for \"sparkly\" people whom it had thought best suited to customer service, BAA began to place problem-solving ability and positive attitudes as paramount.Students were required to have previous experience in customer service or dealing with the public. They had to be at least 18 years old, for insurance purposes. They also needed the ability to cope with working anti-social hours in a responsible way. BAA reported that, at times, it felt students wanted the financial benefits of the work but not at the expense of their social lives.One of the main issues that BAA encountered was program participants chatting in groups on the shop floor. Posters were put up reminding students that disciplinary action could be taken on this issue. This became a recruitment factor for BAA, with student initiative and ability to work independently a necessity.Students did not always approach airlines to see how they could help, and therefore their roles were sometimes treated with suspicion in the wider terminal environment. BAA attempted to correct this by briefing supervisors about the program, but information did not always filter to employees on the shop floor.Duties grew for the students over the three years of the program, and BAA felt that the participants generally wanted to do more than they were able within the confines of the job description. BAA made the most of new proposals presented by the students in feedback and used them as fresh eyes.\nWorking with higher education: Initially, BAA reported a noticeable university mentality in the students but, by the end of their experience, they were undoubtedly \"more rounded individuals\". By the time they left, the students felt they had made a real difference to customer satisfaction, and BAA noted that, in general, the students had made a worthy transition into BAA employees.Many of the students were good as individuals but not in a group, as they were very competitive. Some would call in advance of work to enquire who was on their shift, and then complain that they did not want to work with that person. Other concerns surrounded fashion consciousness and vanity, to the extent of complaining about the uniform. As these points were associated with young women, who tend to be in the majority on tourism courses at GCU, there could be potential for more gender-based study in this area.\nMeasures of success: BAA stated that the students had made \"an absolute difference\" to customer-satisfaction levels at the airport, achieving 4.9 (out of a maximum of 5.0) on BAA's quality-service monitoring. BAA concluded that the program had been worth the investment, and plans to continue it in a changed format following an evaluation stage.In particular, BAA is unlikely to continue its exclusive arrangements with GCU, but will probably open the program to students from other universities, to get the best possible candidates for the very popular places.Early challenges of the program centered on differences between private and public-sector working practices. BAA expected quick reaction times, while the university, with its centralized work patterns, was not always able to respond as fast as required. Once both sides had become accustomed to the demands and limitations, a more workable situation emerged.Other issues included student apathy at recruitment stage. Employers are aware of this and are actively sourcing graduates with an edge.However, despite some drawbacks during the program, it has been widely appreciated and is due to be replicated at other UK airports.\nComment: This review is based on \"The BAA/GCU Scottish Ambassadors program (2003-2005): the student/airport interface\", by Scott (2007), in International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. The article gives a clear insight into the advantages and drawbacks of an original program that, overall, has benefited Glasgow airport, university students in the tourism sector, and academic leaders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Provides insight into the three-year Scottish Ambassadors project, involving BAA (Glasgow) and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Describes how the airport employed tourism students, during their studies, to helping with check-in procedures, promotion of airport facilities, queue control and calming, conflict resolution, language and first-aid.\nFindings: - Illustrates the increasing importance of initiatives such as Scottish Ambassadors to modern learning experiences. The students reported a higher level of preparedness for working life from an early stage of their studies. Benefits for BAA were also tangible.\nPractical implications: - Shows how an initiative of this kind can foster links with local communities and how partnerships can be formed between private and public-sector organizations.\nOriginality/value: - Reveals that BAA, as well as the students, learned important lessons from the program.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The governance of corporate social responsibility: Developing an inclusive regulation framework	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Accountability", "Regulation", "Stakeholder engagement", "Government regulation", "Inclusive regulation", "Prescriptive regulation", "Self-regulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The promotion but weak adherence to voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) appears to be the current trend (Ihugba, 2012c; Bondy et al., 2004, 2006, 2008; McInnes, 1996; Truss, 1998; Wotruba, 1997; Diller, 1999; Kolk et al., 1999). Consequently, CSR initiatives have become public relation driven without any coherent sustainable socio-economic development impact (Ihugba, 2012b; Frynas, 2005). Hence this paper examines CSR regulation and suggests a model for improving accountability in CSR practices. Perhaps this weak CSR practice is encouraged by the varied definitions of CSR which emphasise different aspects including power and responsibility (Bowen, 1953; Davies, 1960; Frederick, 1960; Carroll, 1979), human rights and environmental responsibility (Amao, 2007, 2008; Frynas, 2005; Tuodolor, 2007; Wettstien, 2009), corporate citizenship (Matten and Crane, 2005; Matten and Moon, 2008) and reporting of non-financial and environmental aspects of company activities (Gray et al., 1991, 1995; Parker, 1986, 1991). As this paper does not propose to resolve these differences, CSR for our purposes is herein defined as the operation of a business, from production and delivery of products or services to interaction with stakeholders in a manner that promotes and protects ethical values, legal requirements and social expectations (Ihugba, 2012b, p. 36).\nMethodology and structure: This paper draws from the principle of stakeholder engagement - trust-based collaboration that enhances understanding (Andriof and Waddock, 2002; Gable and Shireman, 2005)[1] - to propose that stakeholder participation in the CSR regulation process can enhance the responsiveness, effectiveness and coherence of CSR practices (Arnstein, 1969; Cane and Tushnet, 2003; Ihugba and Osuji, 2011; Ihugba, 2012a). Hence, as a conceptual paper, the following discussion is based on desk research with references to empirical evidence from extant literature. The literature is sourced from reputable online and hard copy journals, texts on CSR, company law, regulation and statutes. It does not present primary empirical evidence but relies on qualitative and logical analysis supported by established facts to support the proposals made in this paper.\nSignificance of the inquiry on CSR and regulation: This conceptual paper is significant because it explores pertinent questions on corporate attitude to CSR regulation and the failure of company law to engender more compliance with CSR. It also makes a significant contribution in its proposal of inclusive regulation as a regulatory framework for improving compliance and enforcement of CSR practices. The importance of regulation in the CSR debate is demonstrated by the plethora of scholars that have written on both sides of the argument for regulation in the promotion of CSR. For instance, some scholars contend that the objective of business is solely profit maximisation (Friedman, 1970; Levitt, 1983), while the social development scholars contend that the ultimate goal of business is human happiness and sustainability (Newell, 2001; Frynas, 2005; Amao, 2008; Wettstien, 2009; Ihugba, 2012a). An important contribution of this paper on CSR and regulation, therefore, is to propose a balance between these competing interests through an inclusive regulatory framework for CSR.\nSelf-regulation: Self-regulation refers to non-legally binding expectations of an elevated standard of behaviour, ethics and responsibility (Sarre, 2002). These include commitment to perform at standards other than that set by state law. Examples of self-regulation are generally voluntary disclosures, corporate culture, codes of conduct, and non-financial auditing and reporting requirements (Zerk, 2010; Paul and Garred, 2000). Promoters of self-regulated CSR, identify its benefits to include that it allows businesses to maintain creativity, discretion and adaptability in aligning their CSR objectives with the prevailing socio-cultural imperatives (Carroll, 1979; Wotruba, 1997; European Commission, 2001). They argue that as such, self-regulation helps in modifying ethical requirements to accord with society's expectations. This is because issues included in self-regulatory schemes usually reflect public opinion and corporate practice or custom. Other benefits are its contribution to the strengthening of prescriptive regulation. For instance, voluntary initiatives, it is argued, help create awareness about societal expectations, identify lapses and develop strategies for avoiding those lapses (Paul and Garred, 2000). Through this approach a degree of certainty is maintained in both the implementation of the legislation and its interpretation by the courts.\nPrescriptive regulation: Prescriptive regulation refers to mandatory statutory laws or judicial decisions (Ihugba, 2012a). Proponents of prescriptive regulation argue that it is not a new concept to CSR because most regulations are intended to protect society from irresponsible conduct of corporate bodies and or individuals[2]. They argue that contrary to popular excuses against prescriptive regulation, it is inexpensive when companies incorporate its principles to its everyday activity (Kolk et al., 1999). The expense arises when defaulting companies are forced to comply with its provisions, especially if they had no existing framework for socially responsible practices. This is necessary because in many cases the threat of sudden and expensive overhaul of a company's corporate practice is the most viable and effective means to encourage companies into willingly incorporating socially responsible practices (Newell, 2001). The occurrence of various irresponsible corporate activities (e.g. Enron, Shell, BP, Gulf Spill and Pollution in the Nigerian Niger Delta and deaths and ill-health associated with tobacco and the 2013 Bangladeshi factory building collapse (BBC News Asia, 2013)) appear to justify this argument.\nImproving the CSR regulatory framework: Drawing from the above, it is evident that for CSR regulation to be effective, it should regulate the external outcomes of corporate activity and its integral corporate governance and business process, i.e. the internalisation of CSR policies in corporate decision-making, production processes, service delivery mechanisms, corporate-stakeholder relationship and employment policies. For example, regulation against child labour, in CSR terms, is ineffective if it only sanctions direct child labour but does not sanction indirect child labour by subcontractors, suppliers or international subsidiaries. The same applies when a company engages in business practices that impoverish its host community, e.g. the devastation of the Ogoni peoples fishing rivers in Nigeria by Shell's oil spillages. In other words, regulations should be able to stop companies from creating environments that either directly or indirectly promote unfair, illegal and unjust practices.\nRecent constructs of CSR regulation: A recent proposition that is directly related to CSR is articulated regulation. Articulated regulation is \"the coming together of different regulatory approaches in ways that are complementary, mutually reinforcing and synergistic, or less contradictory\" (Utting, 2005, p. 8). Articulated regulation claims to offer a better platform for different approaches to interact and complement each other. This approach appears to emphasise private and non-governmental collaboration aimed at promoting corporate accountability. In other words, it pays more attention to the process of enforcement of existing substantive regulation (voluntary or otherwise) with little or no attention to the formation of the regulation. This is a limitation because it fails to recognise that most ineffective laws lose their effectiveness at the formulation and enactment stage.\nInclusive regulation as a more interactive and dynamic approach: Inclusive regulation can be applied to both self-regulation and prescriptive regulation. It is not a type of regulation per se but a framework for developing and enforcing regulation that ensures its effectiveness, coherence and responsiveness. This framework aims to help to ensure that laws are clearer, unambiguous and easier to enforce. It also aims to help eliminate problems like high costs of enforcement, susceptibility to manipulation and also reduce after-the-fact nature of most regulation. Inclusive regulation therefore is one that ensures effectiveness, coherence and responsiveness by including in its making and enforcement the use of:\nConclusion: As shown above, it is time to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of self-regulation and prescriptive regulation as tools for the promotion of CSR. This is justified by the need to prevent the tendency to violate the rights of communities and the destruction of natural resources by unchecked business activity. This paper has so far, demonstrated that there exist feasible ways of ensuring the enhancement (through active stakeholder participation in the regulation process) of the responsiveness, effectiveness and coherence of CSR regulation (Arnstein, 1969; Cane and Tushnet, 2003; Ihugba and Osuji, 2011; Ihugba, 2012a). This is demonstrated by establishing that stakeholder participation in CSR regulation ensures rules are not one-sided or unilaterally imposed. Also, that in order to improve enforcement of laws, the enforcement mechanism should be diversified to empower individuals, corporate bodies and governments to initiate enforcement actions. And finally, the inclusion of positive incentives by way of rewards may help to promote proactive and responsible corporate practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the limitations of promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR) regulation and suggests a model for improving accountability in CSR practices through stakeholder engagement-based inclusive regulation framework that is effective, coherent and responsive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper uses desk-based research to analyse extant literature on the concept of regulation of CSR by looking at examples, benefits and limitations before proposing a framework for improving CSR regulation.\nFindings: The paper finds that the system of promoting CSR through self-regulation or introducing prescriptive regulation without sustainable stakeholder engagement is ineffective and inefficient.\nOriginality/value: The paper is original in its development of a new framework of \"Inclusive Regulation\" as a strategy for limiting the shortcomings of prescriptive regulation and enhancing self-regulation as CSR tools. It thus contributes to both theoretical and policy perspective in the enhancement of prescriptive and self-regulation in CSR-regulation discourse.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Opportunity development as a learning process for entrepreneurs	[ "Entrepreneurs", "Entrepreneurialism", "Learning processes", "Capital ventures", "Mobile communication systems", "Sweden" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Importance of the concept of \"opportunity\" as a key to understanding entrepreneurship and economic change has been identified by key authors including Fiet (1996), Gartner et al. (2003), and Shane and Venkataraman (2000). The term \"opportunity discovery\" has been used in the literature to imply that information sufficient to define an \"opportunity\" exists at a certain point in the process of discovery. For example, Shane and Eckhardt (2003) have argued that at the point of \"opportunity discovery\" the discoverer becomes aware of a profitable opportunity. This implies that there needs to be a certain level of information present to justify speaking of an \"opportunity discovery\". This perception of \"opportunity\" must be comprehensive enough to serve as a cognitive objective for the entrepreneur who perceives the opportunity (Alvarez and Barney, 2005; Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990).However, if the initial perception of opportunity is rudimentary, and thus insufficient to serve as a definite cognitive objective to guide an entrepreneur, the concept of \"opportunity discovery\" might be inappropriate. Such rudimentary opportunities require development to become viable. This suggests that a more appropriate term would incorporate a processual view that encompasses both the creation and the elaboration of an opportunity rather than its mere \"discovery\". The term \"opportunity development\" thus represents a better conceptualisation of this process - because it incorporates the identification, the development, and the evaluation of an opportunity (Ardichvili et al., 2003; Bhave, 1994; de Koning, 1999). Moreover, the term \"opportunity development\" also includes reference to the juxtaposition and convergence of market needs and resources. All of this implies a focus on creation, rather than discovery. As Ardichvili et al. (2003, p. 106) observed, although elements of opportunities can be recognised, \"... opportunities are made, not found\". If this is so, it can also be argued that the relationship between an \"opportunity\" and an entrepreneur's prior knowledge and resources has been under-researched (Davidsson, 2005).Because it is difficult to operationalise the concept of an \"opportunity\", there has been a lack of empirical work in this area. In particular, research on \"opportunity\" has not focused on how, when, and why opportunities are \"discovered\" (Chandler, 2000). Moreover, little is known about the sensitivity of entrepreneurs to opportunities; nor about their self-perceptions in this respect (Hills, 1995). The present study follows the lead of Gartner et al. (2003) in contrasting the development of opportunities with the discovery of opportunities. In doing so, the present study explores the influence of prior knowledge and resources in this development process. The paper addresses three research questions:1. Are initial perceptions of opportunity rudimentary or comprehensive?2. To what extent are opportunities \"developed\" - for example, by becoming more comprehensive and clearer?3. Do prior knowledge and resources influence opportunity development?These questions are examined in an empirical study of 20 start-up ventures in the Swedish mobile internet industry. The study addresses the first question (dealing with initial perceptions of opportunity) using a relatively clear-cut outline of \"opportunity\" derived from the answers to a set of questions based on the extant literature. The second question (whether opportunities are developed over time) is then investigated on the basis that \"development\" should be reflected in the addition of more elements to the initial perceptions of opportunity. The third question pertains to evidence of when prior knowledge and resources have conditioned potential opportunity development. The study provides both theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature on the role of opportunity in entrepreneurship and is organised as follows. The next section presents a conceptual framework for the study including an exploration of the concepts of \"opportunity discovery\", \"opportunity development\", \"prior knowledge\", and \"resources\". The paper then presents the research methodology followed by results of the empirical research. The result are discussed and this is followed with a concluding summary of the main findings and implications.\nConceptual framework: Opportunity discovery\nResearch methodology: Setting\nResults: Initial perceptions of opportunities\nDiscussion: Opportunity discovery or opportunity development?\nConclusions, limitations, and implications: This study of the Swedish mobile internet industry has provided evidence that leads to interesting conclusions with respect to:* prior knowledge and entrepreneurial opportunity;* resources and entrepreneurial opportunity; and* the conceptualisation of \"opportunity\" in terms of \"opportunity discovery\" and/or \"opportunity development\".First, the study has provided evidence that both prior knowledge and opportunism (vis-a-vis an industry \"Zeitgeist\") influenced who discovered an opportunity and the subsequent development of that opportunity. The study has demonstrated that most prior knowledge among respondents consisted of knowledge of ways to serve the market rather than knowledge of customer problems. The study also demonstrated a prevalence of rather rudimentary perceptions of opportunity. Taken together, the study concludes that more market interaction on the part of the entrepreneurs, such as sales activities in a given customer segment, could have facilitated a more rapid and effective development of the opportunities that were perceived. Moreover, in the context of the flight of venture capital that characterised this industry in the early years of the present decade, more market interaction could have improved the long-term future of the firms examined here. For their part, venture capitalists could avoid excessively opportunistic entrepreneurs by discriminating for evidence of prior knowledge of customer problems. Given that entrepreneurs who lack such knowledge are more likely to be motivated by potential financial rewards than by a pragmatic assessment of real market needs. Moreover, the study has indicated that no two entrepreneurs see exactly the same opportunity which highlights the importance of idiosyncratic information in assessing prior knowledge.Second, the study has also found that resources influence opportunities and their development. Because opportunities are developed through the venture process, perceptions of opportunity are always in a state of flux. The inherent difficulty of describing the content of a particular opportunity at a given point in time creates obvious problems for attracting resources. The entrepreneur thus faces a challenge in simultaneously developing the opportunity and maintaining fruitful relations with resource holders. In these circumstances, resource holders must accept that the opportunity might need substantial development. With respect to resources, it has also been found in the present study that entrepreneurs are not necessarily opportunistic (as has been previously posited), but can display loyalty to their employees in managing important human resources.Third, the study has found that initial perceptions of opportunities were often rudimentary, and that most opportunities were developed - both before and after venture foundation. This provides evidence for the conceptualisation of \"opportunity\" in terms of \"opportunity development\". Moreover, the poor performance of many of the ventures indicates the adverse effects of limited perceptions of opportunities, and provides evidence for the contention that it is desirable for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to have more comprehensive perceptions of an opportunity, if possible, before launching a venture. That said, it is conceded that the extraordinary context of this particular industry was an important factor in explaining the initial orientation of the entrepreneurs, which tended to focus on the offer rather than the customers. In many ways, the opportunities examined in the present study reflected the inherent phases of this particular industry; an early focus on technology, followed by a focus on the market, culminating in concerns about resource constraints. Nevertheless, despite the peculiarities of this industry, the tendency to develop the customer rather than the technology is in accordance with the conceptualisation of \"opportunity development\".In summary, the conceptualisation of opportunity in terms of \"opportunity discovery\" seems to align with initial cognitive processes in situations of low risk. In these circumstances, entrepreneurs tend to focus on the offer rather than on potential customers. In contrast, in conditions of uncertainty in which market factors are more important, the conception of opportunity in terms of \"opportunity development\" seems to be more appropriate because it takes into account behavioural aspects and processes under the influence of prior knowledge, resources, and context. It is therefore suggested that a greater emphasis on the conceptualisation of opportunity in terms of \"opportunity development\" would provide an improved basis for entrepreneurial learning and adaptation. As hinted through the article, the main limitation is arguably the research setting. The empirical work is conducted in one industry during a turbulent period, which limits the generalisability of the findings, since industries differ regarding the availability of opportunities (Klevorick et al., 1995).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To contrast and test two conceptualisations of entrepreneurship: \"opportunity discovery\" and \"opportunity development\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Following the development of a conceptual framework for the study, an investigation was conducted through semi-structured interviews with the founders and managing directors of 20 start-up ventures in the Swedish mobile internet industry.\nFindings: - The study illustrates how entrepreneurial learning can be understood from the perspective of \"opportunity development\". This conceptualisation of opportunity incorporates market interaction and real-life processes influenced by prior knowledge, resources, and the industrial context. It is especially appropriate in situations characterised by uncertainty. The alternative conceptualisation of opportunity (in terms of \"opportunity discovery\") is more suitable in situations of low risk when initial opportunity perceptions are comprehensive, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on their products and services, rather than on potential customers and/or appropriation in the market.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study concerns one industry undergoing substantial changes during a specific period, which limits the generalisability of the findings.\nPractical implications: - Entrepreneurs might do well to launch ventures based on comprehensive opportunity perceptions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper takes a novel approach to the discussion of opportunity in entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Devolving healthcare services redesign to local clinical leaders: does it work in practice?	[ "Commissioning", "Devolution", "Leadership", "Service change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Throughout the world, healthcare systems face fundamental well-known challenges: increasing demand, higher expectations and rising costs (Walshe and Smith, 2016; Barlow, 2017). In an attempt to meet these challenges, many jurisdictions have sought to \"redesign\" services, most notably by trying to shift elements of care away from expensive hospital settings into less expensive, out-of-hospital, community settings (Ham, 2018). These latter have the potential to offer local and more integrated care, staffed by multi-disciplinary teams. Many initiatives across different national settings have been designed to achieve these goals by devolving the redesign and reform of healthcare services to local groups of clinicians and managers to own the challenge and to design innovative solutions (Exworthy, 2001). Decentralisation of health services has been a pervasive idea across many health systems based on the proposition that smaller, locally governed structures will be more agile and accountable (Saltman et al., 2007; Currie et al., 2009; Regmi, 2014). Few, if any, of the international attempts to allocate accountability to local clinical groups have been as far-reaching as that found in the English NHS. But it has not been alone in moving in that direction. The Quebec health system has experimented with new institutions in the form of Health and Social Services Centres designed to integrate acute, community and home care (Cloutier et al., 2016). It has tried to shift from a service-based to a population-based approach. However, in that experiment, there was rather less of an expectation that it would be done by clinicians and more of the weight was handed to managers in order to translate grand policy into meaningful action. \"Practice Networks\" in Germany and \"Care Groups\" in the Netherlands are organisations with between 50 to 150 GPs which represent and put forward the GP voice in negotiations with health insurers and the provincial governments which, in a sense, \"commission\" health provision (Busse and Blumel, 2014). In the Dutch system, there are some regional collaborations between hospitals and GP practices and some facilities have a shared entrance. They are funded by the local insurer (Kroneman et al., 2016). In Sweden, GPs groups have jointly developed new models of care in conjunction with hospitals. However, on the primary care side, these initiatives have been limited to individual practices rather than the wide population coverage and scale of the initiatives in the NHS (Anell et al., 2012). In the USA, despite the high-profile cases such as Kaiser Permanente, the dominant model is of professionally managed organisations and systems without any expectation that family physicians would be in a position to lead significant changes (Mossailos et al., 2017). In summary, while many countries have aspects of the locally driven approach to health care reform none have anywhere near the scale and ambition of the recent changes to the NHS in England.\nCCGs in outline: All GP practices (i.e. GPs located together in clinics of around five or so general practitioners) have to be a \"member\" of these local CCGs. These groupings of practices typically have between 25 to 100 GP practices in membership. At the time of the research, 2014 to 2016, there were 210 CCGs across England as a whole. A fairly typical CCG represented around 250 to 900 GPs. The number of patients covered by a CCG could range from around 250,000 up to around 900,000. Following a number of CCG mergers in 2016-2018, the total number of CCGs has been reduced to 195 and further mergers are now being encouraged. The largest CCG now has 177 GP practices in membership and covers a population of 1.34 m people (NHS England, 2018a, b). The groups are given the power and responsibility to commission local services from hospitals and other providers whether in the public and private sectors or a mixture of both. Commissioning refers to a process starting with a systematic assessment of population needs, followed by the planning of appropriate, cost-effective provision using the purchasing power allocated to the CCGs. Initially, CCGs were only authorised to commission for secondary (i.e. mainly hospital) care, but from 2016 onwards, NHS England began to allow CCGs to also commission primary care. By April 2018, 178 CCGs had been given delegated commissioning responsibilities which included primary care (NHS England, 2018b). This had previously been handled by the centre because of concerns about potential conflicts of interest as local GPs would be potentially purchasing services from themselves and each other. This expansion of the CCG remit could be seen as evidence of a further strengthening of devolution and localisation. But as we will see, that is only part of the picture.\nTheoretical perspective: The theoretical perspective we used in order to investigate this activity was based on institutional theory (Thornton et al., 2012). Healthcare takes place within and through institutions. These include GP surgeries, outpatient appointments, mental health institutions, primary, secondary and tertiary care institutions. Emergent health and well-being perspectives extend the institutional field to include local authorities, voluntary agencies, housing associations and so on. These institutions are built over time, they become taken for granted and \"sedimented\": that is, new routines are laid on top of others (Cooper et al., 1996; Scott, 2014). Making changes to the configuration of service provision requires \"institutional work\" - that is, \"purposive action aimed at creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions\" (Lawrence and Suddaby, 2006, p. 217). Working within institutions, actors draw upon \"institutional logics\". These are socially constructed sets of \"assumptions, values, beliefs and rules\" (Thornton and Ocasio, 1999, p. 804). Working within these social rules helps secure legitimacy. \"Legitimacy is a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions\" (Suchman, 1995, p. 574).\nResearch methods: The project proceeded in four phases. The first was an extensive scoping study across 15 CCGs from different parts of England. This work was designed to allow exposure to a variety of conditions such as urban and rural locations and to diverse socio-economic circumstances and to map the range and variety of practice by CCGs under these diverse conditions. The second phase was the design and administration of a national survey of all members of CCG governing bodies. This was undertaken in 2014 and had a response from 79 per cent of all the 210 CCGs and 12.4 per cent of the total population of all 3,800 CCG board members nationally.\nResults: Drawing upon both the case studies and the national survey data, it became evident that the local actors in a large number of CCGs were relatively passive. In these instances, neither GPs nor managers had evidenced any scale of ambitious practice in bringing about service change (despite ambitious plans in some cases). But, in a minority of CCGs, clinical leaders were found who had been more active and had made an impact on secondary care, primary care, or both. Examples are provided below and interpretations made of how these innovations were achieved. CCGs, overall, were constrained by the power and influence of other institutions and they were constrained by competing institutional logics and ambiguities. Operating within the wider landscape of competing institutions, CCGs faced uncertainties about their autonomy, their power and even their future existence. Part of this uncertainty was fuelled by additional new centre-led initiatives which sought to change the institutional landscape. Most notable among these centre-led interventions were two initiatives. The first was a policy document, \"The Five Year Forward View\" (NHS England, 2014). This promulgated centre-led new models of care. However, to accord with the institutional logic of devolved accountability, it set out alternative types and left local jurisdictions with the apparent freedom to choose which they preferred. The new models were variants of more \"integrated care\" approaches which in themselves set a corrective to the erstwhile emphasis on competition and the use of purchasing power by CCGs as a fundamental logic. A year later (December 2015) the centre went a step further and mandated the use of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). These required NHS institutions and local authorities to work collaboratively to produce joint plans which would make efficiency savings by linking health and social care across large geographical areas. In total, 44 areas were designated as the place-based footprints for these plans. The plans, produced usually with considerable input from management consultancies, had to be submitted for approval by late 2016. The STPs were loose collaborations of multiple CCGs and health providers such as hospital trusts alongside their local authorities. They are now termed sustainability and transformation partnerships. Thus, CCGs remain the statutory bodies for commissioning but they are required to work within STPs so as to enable more regional planning. STPs became the approved repositories for transformation funding.\nDiscussion and conclusions: So, has the radical experiment of devolving healthcare leadership to local level with GPs in charge worked? From the evidence we accumulated, the overall answer is to some extent yes but to some extent no. The dramatic policy initiative which disbanded the existing regional and local health authorities in England while putting in their place new local commissioning groups led by GPs did not, overall, bring about the kinds of significant service redesigns that were anticipated. The purchasing power allocated to GPs was handled cautiously by these actors. This, we found, was because many GPs serving on CCGs boards were not convinced that they had the power and influence which the policy documents tended to suggest. This reflects the findings from other sustained studies of CCGs (Holder et al., 2016; McDermott et al., 2017). Our explanation for this is that the new institution of the CCGs had to operate within a field occupied by other players drawing upon other logics. In some cases the experience of ambiguity and lack of impact resulted in disillusionment and a lack of active engagement in the CCGs by GPs. Managers thus came to wield greater influence. The problem, as perceived by many GPs, was that too many non-clinical managers took their lead from NHS England's hierarchical structures and thus the centre-led influence persisted. Moreover, within just a few years of their existence, other major nationally led initiatives and policy priorities took centre stage. Notably, the STPs handed strategic service redesign to larger institutional footprints than the CCGs. The logic and legitimacy qof local action was challenged by an alternative which posited the idea of more strategic action at a less local level. The more dominant recent institutional logic has been the call for integrated care systems with much larger population footprints than those occupied by CCGs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the findings arising from a three year research project which investigated a major system-wide change in the design of the NHS in England. The radical policy change was enshrined in statute in 2012 and it dismantled existing health authorities in favour of new local commissioning groups built around GP Practices. The idea was that local clinical leaders would \"step-up\" to the challenge and opportunity to transform health services through exercising local leadership. This was the most radical change in the NHS since its inception in 1948.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methods included two national postal surveys to all members of the boards of the local groups supplemented with 15 scoping case studies followed by six in-depth case studies. These case studies focused on close examination of instances where significant changes to service design had been attempted.\nFindings: The authors found that many local groups struggled to bring about any significant changes in the design of care systems. But the authors also found interesting examples of situations where pioneering clinical leaders were able to collaborate in order to design and deliver new models of care bridging both primary and secondary settings. The potential to use competition and market forces by fully utilising the new commissioning powers was more rarely pursued.\nPractical implications: The findings carry practical implications stemming from positive lessons about securing change even under difficult circumstances.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers novel insights into the processes required to introduce new systems of care in contexts where existing institutions tend to revert to the status quo. The national survey allows accurate assessment of the generalisability of the findings about the nature and scale of change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Job enlargement, job crafting and the moderating role of self-competence	[ "Employee behaviour", "Organizational behaviour", "Human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: After a fundamental contribution by Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) was published, job crafting received increasing attention within the literature on proactivity. Job crafting has been described as \"an exciting area of research\" (Oldham and Hackman, 2010, p. 470) because of its relevance in terms of rethinking the role of workers in areas such as job design (Oldham and Hackman, 2010), work satisfaction and well-being (Tims et al., 2013a), work engagement and performance (Bakker et al., 2012), quality of work (Leana et al., 2009), proactive adaptations (Berg et al., 2010b), learning (Kira et al., 2010) and change (Petrou et al., 2012).\nJob crafting: The literature on job crafting began with a fundamental contribution by Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001). The authors define job crafting as \"the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or relational boundaries of their work\" (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001, p. 179). They identify three different types of job crafting behaviors: changing task boundaries; changing relational boundaries; and changing cognitive task boundaries. According to this model, the motivation for job crafting arises from three basic individual needs (need for control, need for a positive self-image and the need for human connections). Job crafting may be facilitated or inhibited by job characteristics (i.e. autonomy, interdependence), general motivational orientations (i.e. intrinsic vs extrinsic motivations), or work orientation (i.e. seeing work as a job, a career or a calling). It generates consequences in terms of work design, social environment at work, meaning of work and work identity. Thus, job crafting is a proactive and adaptive process (Berg et al., 2010b) through which employees craft their job by adding tasks, emphasizing tasks or redesigning tasks to respond to unanswered occupational callings, achieve a greater level of task variety and identity (Berg et al., 2010a) and enrich the meaning of their work (Wrzesniewski et al., 2003). Research shows that both personal characteristics, such as self-image, perceived control, readiness to change (Lyons, 2008) and interpersonal dynamics (Leana et al., 2009) may have a significant role in shaping job crafting. Additionally, it is shown that job crafting may lead to improved individual performance (Bakker et al., 2012) or group performance (Tims et al., 2013b) through higher work engagement. A recent study by Tims et al. (2013a) illustrates a positive relation between job crafting, job satisfaction, burnout reduction and workers' well-being. These authors adopt the JD-R job crafting model (Tims and Bakker, 2010), which, in turn, is based on the more general JD-R work model (Demerouti et al., 2001). Tims and Bakker (2010) propose that employees craft their jobs by taking initiatives aimed at changing their job demands and job resources. Job demands refer to the physical, social or organizational job characteristics that require sustained physical and/or psychological effort. Job resources refer to the physical, psychological, social or organizational elements of the job that allow workers to achieve goals and facilitate their personal development (Demerouti et al., 2001). Examples of job demands are workload, time pressure and role conflicts. Examples of job resources are job security, team climate, opportunity for skill utilization, skill variety and autonomy (for a review see Bakker and Demerouti, 2007). Tims et al. (2012) propose a key distinction between social resources and structural resources. Structural resources refer to elements such as autonomy, responsibility, capabilities and knowledge of the job, whereas social resources refer to elements such as support from colleagues, feedback and supervisory coaching. This distinction is particularly important. First, it allows for focus on significantly different job crafting behaviors. Second, it helps to understand how workers proactively relate to different aspects of their working life, such as work and task structure on the one hand, and social structure on the other. According to the JD-R job crafting model (Tims and Bakker, 2010; Tims et al., 2012), workers may attempt to increase their job resources (both structural and social) to obtain valuable individual outcomes (e.g. work engagement and job satisfaction). Additionally, they may try to increase their challenging job demands to achieve mastery experiences, which, in turn, may lead to increased satisfaction and engagement. Finally, they may try to decrease hindering job demands as exposure to such demands may lead to negative consequences, such as burnout and reduced work engagement. Overall, workers craft their jobs to achieve a better balance between demands and resources (Tims et al., 2012).\nResearch hypothesis: The relationship between job enlargement and increasing structural and social resources\nMethods: Participants and procedures\nResults: Table I shows the descriptive statistics and correlations among variables, and provides preliminary support to research hypotheses H1 and H2, i.e., Job Enlargement is positively correlated to both Increasing Structural Resources (r=0.34, p\nDiscussion: As we expected, we found that job enlargement is positively associated with both job crafting behaviors that we considered in our study. This is consistent with previous literature arguing that a more resourceful job may incentivize proactivity (Grant and Ashford, 2008). It is also consistent with COR theory and its \"gain spiral\" argument (Hobfoll, 1989). Thus, a job design practice, such as job enlargement, may have a trigger effect on resource seeking efforts. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find that self-competence moderates the relationship between job enlargement and increasing structural resources. A possible explanation may be found on how the need for competence varies at different levels of self-competence. Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001, p. 183) argued that \"motivation to craft a job most often will result from situations in which employees feel that their needs are not being met in their job as it is currently designed.\" Notably, Sheldon and Gunz (2009) found empirical support for the needs-as-motives hypothesis, specifically in relation to the need for competence. According to their study, a perceived need for competence will increase motivation to fulfill such a need (Sheldon and Gunz, 2009). Thus, it is possible that workers with low self-competence will perceive a comparatively stronger need for competence and, consequently, a stronger motivation to fulfill their need by seeking structural resources. This effect might counter-balance the positive moderating effect that we hypothesized.\nManagerial implications: Our research supports the idea that both the contextual and psychological aspects significantly influence the way individuals craft their jobs by proactively developing their job resources. We found a positive relationship between job enlargement and job crafting behaviors aimed at developing resources. In this perspective, job crafting can be seen as a \"costless form of informal on-the-job training\" (Petrou et al., 2012, p. 1137). Thus, our results suggest that organizations interested in supporting self-regulated forms of personnel development may benefit from implementing job design practices, such as job enlargement, that create organizational conditions favorable to job crafting.\nLimits and further research paths: The most significant limitation of our study is its cross-sectional, single source design. This did not allow us to establish the causal relationship between variables. We hypothesized that enlarged jobs may lead to increased job crafting initiatives (aimed at increasing structural and social resources). However, a reciprocal relationship might also exist. Future research may establish whether our results hold true in longitudinal, multiple source studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between job enlargement and some specific job crafting behaviors and to analyze the moderating role of self-competence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered from 158 workers in a large retail company and analyzed through a regression methodology.\nFindings: Job enlargement is positively related to specific job crafting behaviors, such as increasing structural and social resources. Self-competence does not moderate the relationship between job enlargement and increasing structural resources; however, it does negatively moderate the relationship between job enlargement and increasing social resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a cross-sectional, single source study.\nPractical/implications: Organizations may implement job design policies aimed at facilitating the way workers proactively craft their jobs (increasing social and structural resources) by promoting a collaborative organizational culture and decreasing the social costs of job crafting initiatives.\nOriginality/value: This study clarifies the role of contextual and personal antecedents to job crafting. More specifically, it shows that enlarged jobs and employees' level of self-competence may significantly influence employees' job crafting in the workplace.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determination of the effect of product substitutability on sales performance of integrated and decentralised supply chains through Nash equilibria	[ "Supply chain management", "Game theory", "Stackelberg", "Cournot equilibrium", "Integrated supply chains", "Nash equilibrium" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In marketing theory products can be conceptualised at three conceptual levels (Kotler, 2000; Scott, 2005), the core, i.e. the functional characteristics, the actual level, i.e. aesthetics and at the augmented level, i.e. accessory features associated with the product, nevertheless often independent from it, e.g. warranties. In many industries products are generally differentiated at the \"actual\" level (Scott, 2005), e.g. FMCGs, crude oil, gasoline, automotive, internet services and telecommunications. In these cases exclusive dealership is not uncommon, as pointed by McGuire and Staelin (1983). Brand owners belonging to different supply chains not only compete for resources within the supply chain, for instance for accessing the best suppliers. There is also competition for customers among different supply chains, where contractual exclusivity between suppliers and focus companies would determine chain vs chain competition for consumers' attention and sourcing value.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Supply chain structure and competitive advantage\n3. Two competing supply chains under different industry configurations: We first describe a model in a simple case of two supply chains distributing two substitutable products. To this, a second more complex model will deal with multiple competitors (n>2) competing on the distribution of multiple products. All situations will be modelled within a mix of industry configurations. With the term industry configuration we mean the type of chains competing on the market place, so that we can have all decentralised supply chains \"DD\", all integrated supply chains \"II\" or a mix of decentralised or integrated chains \"DI\" or \"ID\".\n4. Managerial implications: Some implications for the management of supply chains rise from the results of this study.\n5. Implications for marketers: Some implications for the management of marketing rise from the results of this study.\n6. Conclusions and limitations: In this study, we employed a Cournot model to investigate the equilibrium of competing supply chains behaviour in a market characterised by product substitutability. We created a simple model of two supply chains made of a manufacturer and a retailer in order to understand integrated and decentralised supply chain performances under different industry configurations. In some of our models manufacturers take the role of Stackelberg leaders and determined retailers' behaviour. The function we used is a reverse demand function and was assumed to be a common linear downward-sloping function. We analysed the relationships among supply chain structures, degree of product substitutability and overall chain performance. We demonstrated that each individual chain competes with its rival in the same structure, either integrated or decentralised within specific-industry configurations II and DD. This therefore indicates II and DD configurations are Nash equilibria, and maximise the turnover for the whole industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of product substitutability on sales performance of integrated and decentralised supply chains. The authors model supply chain performance effects by applying a Cournot equation to a combination of different industry configurations. The study aims to extend existing equilibria models in different supply chains by including the effects of product substitutability on supply chain performance. By extending existing equilibria models, the authors explore the relationship between the degree of product substitutability, chain structure and chain performance when some actors of the supply chain behave as Stackelberg leaders in a duopoly.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper models a supply chain performance by applying a Cournot equation to different supply chain structures in a duopoly.\nFindings: The findings indicate that, for each specific-supply chain structures in different market configurations, when product substitutability reaches a certain threshold decentralised supply chains outperform integrated chains, in disagreement with common belief in current existing literature.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to the application of differential equations in a competitive market configured as a duopoly. Future studies might extend the same model to a competitive market characterised by more than two actors. The findings imply that current tendency of lean implementations through integrated supply chains does not always favour supply chain performance.\nPractical implications: The paper includes implications for the development of a stronger differentiation strategy based on consumer value when markets are characterised by high-product substitutability.\nOriginality/value: These findings highlight the importance of differentiation and consumer-value generation in markets that follow Nash equilibria as opposed to the current focus on price competition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How Taiwan's semiconductor distributors select strategic partners in China	[ "Taiwan", "China", "International business", "Partnership", "Decision making", "Trust", "Strategic partnership", "Semiconductor distributors", "Analytic network process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: China has become a favorite for foreign investments. Taiwan's semiconductor industry has gradually moved to China, so Taiwan's semiconductor distributors must actively expand the China market in order to maintain their survival. According to the information from the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (2007), strong demand for low prices and high level end products from China raise Taiwan's semiconductor distribution industry. Hence China will be the center of high-tech industries. There are 1.3 billion people in China. The expansion demand policy has been implemented in China recent years, creating a critical growth opportunity and should not be ignored. Taiwan firms have excellent management skills but China's local firms are familiar with what suits the demands of people in China. It is therefore essential for Taiwan firms to find local partners in China. Any business gains operating competence from collaboration with competitors instead of competing in the industry by itself.Although the types of strategic alliance which firms use to achieve their objectives become more complicated, not all strategic partnerships are successful. Strategic alliances are risky. Not choosing the right alliance partners is the main reason why partnerships fail. The reason for failure and high risk: the more the number of firms in alliance are, the more management details have to be considered such as the characteristics of the alliance's target product or service, the decision of the number of firms in the alliance and determining which firms are included. Among the reasons for failure, poor design and management of the alliance generated conflicts among the firms which diminish the alliance's potential value. An acquisition is a shortcut to business growth but is risky and with high failure rate.Besides, from the perspective of the macro economic situation of China, it seems that firms can enter the China market effectively through partnerships with companies in China. However, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the operating characteristics of the market and management style. Therefore, this study focuses on Taiwan semiconductor distributors who want to invest and establish factories in China, and investigates the key factors that are involved in the selection of partners for Taiwan semiconductor distributors.Partner selection is a kind of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Many traditional MCDM methods are based on the additive concept along with the independent assumption, but each individual criterion is not always completely independent (Wu, 2008). The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) can covert the relations between cause and effect of criteria into a visual structural model (Hori and Shimizu, 1999). The DEMATEL has been successfully applied in many fields (Chen et al., 2011; Tsai et al., 2010a, b, c; Tsai and Hsu, 2010; Nasiripour et al., 2010; Dytczak and Ginda, 2009). This paper proposes the important factors for selecting strategic partners based on the DEMATEL and Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach.\n2 Literature review and research framework: 2.1 Semiconductor distributor\n3 Research methods: The ANP method can systemize complicated problems and provide weight value for the assessment criterion through the expert questionnaire which helps find the best solution. Each criterion could be established through literatures, expert opinion or brainstorming. Prior to the ANP analysis, the correlation between various criteria had to be established by experts or through analysis using ISM and DEMATEL methods. Some previous studies adopted the same method for decision analysis. Therefore, the workflow of this study initially involves determining the criteria related to the theme through literature review and modifying them based on the discussion with experts. This is to conduct the first-stage survey with the DEMATEL expert questionnaire after establishing the study framework in order to analyze the results and determine the correlation between various dimensions. It is also to conduct the survey with the ANP expert questionnaire to obtain conclusions through analysis results. To ensure the expert questionnaire's validity, the subjects chosen for this study are those with five-year semi-conductor distribution experience and are managers of businesses in China. This study summarizes the factors from the literatures and the experts' discussion, from which the Taiwan's professional semiconductor distributors base their selection of Chinese partners. The study also develops a hierarchical structure, and then distributes expert questionnaire. Generally speaking, the decision-making group is made up of experts from the relevant fields with the optimal size of five to 15 members (Teng, 2002). The study, of which the questionnaires are filled up by 15 experts with more than five years of working experience, utilizes DEMATEL and Maximum Mean De-Entropy method (MMDE) to construct the causality of the dimensions, which are then taken as the basis for the development of the ANP framework. Finally, it gets the weight values of various factors through the results of ANP, which serves as a proposal to discuss the how Taiwan professional semiconductor distributors select partners in China.3.1 Decision making trial and evaluation laboratory\n4 Empirical analysis and discussions: 4.1 DEMATEL empirical results\n5 Discussion: ANP is relatively subjective as it is usually applied in multi-criteria decision-making and the correlation between its various dimensions and criteria are often determined by the researcher himself. Therefore, the correlation among various elements can be found out by using the DEMATEL method. But in order to simplify the problems when there are too much correlation among the elements in DEMATEL, a threshold is usually set to screen those that are with higher correlation. The threshold can be set by using the mean or by the researcher himself instead of being set in a consistent way, so this study uses MMDE method to calculate the threshold value, making its setting more objective. This study discusses how Taiwan's semiconductor distributors select partners in China to expand the local market. The results of DEMATEL show that complementary resources influence market po sition and organizational management; market position and organizational management influence each other.The ANP analysis results show that mutual trust, company size, market share, etc. have higher weights. If without mutual trust between partners, all other efforts will be in vain. In addition, the small company size and low market share of the partner company will provide little help for Taiwan's manufacturers in entering the Chinese market. According to all the above analysis, a company who is going to enter a market and will be selecting local partners in that area must have certain operational capacity and complementary resources. Moreover, the synergies of partnership cannot be achieved unless mutual trust is established.\n6 Conclusion: This study discusses the key factors considered by Taiwan's semiconductor distributors in selecting partners in China using two research methods, namely DEMATEL and ANP. The four dimensions of DEMATEL show that the most important two dimensions are market positioning and complementary resources. It is suggested that the Taiwan's semiconductor distributors and their business partners may focus on these two aspects: first, the product itself, namely Taiwan's enterprises provide excellent technical service teams cultivated in the past to improve the technical levels for the Chinese enterprises; while the Chinese partners will provide the advantage of market familiarity in the host country to know the demands of customers for products. This will help to improve the quality of products and service, thus making it easier to market the product to the Chinese market and expand the agent line; second, applying innovative technologies to improve the system and service. For example, apply the innovative technology RFID to improve the deficiency of the conventional man-made bar code technology, combine with various resource developing systems to reduce the risks for managing raw materials, increase the operational efficiency of managing inventory and simplify the procurement process, finally improving the distributors' logistics management abilities. However, the results of ANP indicate that the two factors, namely trust and commitment and corporate culture also share rather high proportions. Consequently, regarding trust and commitment, it is suggested that the development, production and marketing can be clearly segmented if necessary apart from establishing complete specification and clearly defined management-related documents to ensure both parties' trust and commitment. This will enable the company to be aware of intellectual property protection issues in the local place in order to avoid partnering up with companies whose main purpose for collaboration is only to steal techniques. For corporate culture criterion, the authority of operations management is given to the reliable manager of the partner company through the existing market channels such as general agents, franchiser, etc. China is a globally important manufacturing hub for electronic products. Most Taiwan semi-conductor distributors have set up in China. The enterprise scale expansion and synergy of these semi-conductor distributors can be achieved rapidly through strategic alliance. Cooperation between cross-strait entrepreneurs is the trend of the future. Therefore, government policies should be more open to prevent limitations and allow smooth strategic alliances between both sides, thus creating a win-win solution for Taiwanese and Chinese entrepreneurs. This study discusses how to select partners only from the perspective of Taiwan's semiconductor distributors. For the subsequent researches, it is suggested that the way to select foreign partners can be discussed from the view of the local manufacturers in China, thus making the studies on the partnership of the semiconductor distributors more complete.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Taiwan's semiconductor industry continues moving out to China, therefore Taiwan's semiconductor distributors must cooperate with the local distributors in China in order to survive. The purpose of this paper is to discover the key factors considered by Taiwan's semiconductor distributors when selecting partners in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study summarizes the factors from the literatures and the experts' discussion, then develops a hierarchical structure. Using DEMATEL and MMDE to construct the causality of the dimensions, which are then taken as the basis for the development of the analytic network process (ANP) framework. Finally, it gets the weight values of various factors through the results of ANP, which serves as a proposal to discuss how Taiwan's professional semiconductor distributors select partners in China.\nFindings: - According to the weight of the ANP, results show that trust and commitment, scale, market share and corporate culture are factors that increase the possibility of collaboration.\nOriginality/value: - China has become a favorite for foreign investments. Taiwan's semiconductor distributors must actively expand the China market in order to maintain their survival. This study focuses on Taiwan semiconductor distributors who want to invest and establish factories in China, and investigates the key factors that are involved in the selection of partners for Taiwan semiconductor distributors. The results can increase the chances of success among cooperative members.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Innovative capability development for entrepreneurship: A theoretical framework	[ "Entrepreneurialism", "Change management", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For managing the complexity of current environment, firms become more entrepreneurial in order to identify and exploit new opportunities (Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990; Cuervo, 2005). Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process involving opportunities, individuals, organizations, risks, and resources (Sciascia et al., 2006). For existing firms this process is called corporate entrepreneurship o intrapreneurship. This process relates opportunities and the development of new ways to manage business and implies changes as alteration in the patterns of organizational behavior of firms (Macri et al., 2002).According to Miller (1983), Zahra (1993), and Covin and Miles (1999) the common dimension in most conceptualizations of corporate entrepreneurship is the innovation. So, corporate entrepreneurship is the process of enhancing the ability of the firm to acquire and utilize the innovative skills and abilities of the firm's members (Rutherford and Holt, 2007; Elche and Gonzalez, 2008.). Considering organizational capabilities as a firm's capacities to undertake a particular activity (Barney, 1991), certain kind of organizational capabilities, as knowledge and routines, are crucial for encouraging individuals and firms to engage in entrepreneurial activities (Akgun et al., 2008; Dickson and Weaver, 2008) and manage changes in organizations (Marks, 2007; Tseng et al., 2008).However, organizational capabilities to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation are critical for competitive advantage; we still do not have a theoretical framework of how to develop them. These capabilities have been discussed as \"dynamic capability\" (Teece et al., 1997), \"core capability\" (Leonard-Barton, 1995), \"combinative capability\" (Kogut and Zander, 1992), \"core competence\" (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990), and \"integrative capability\" (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967), and these authors consider them to be key for competition. However, despite the extensive debate about its importance, there is still limited understanding of \"how\" organizations invest in developing them. As Foss et al. (1995, p. 13) indicate:The question of intentionality becomes particularly salient when considering how a firm sets out to build a given set of capabilities. Because resources that support a competitive advantage are by definition inimitable, and unidentifiability is a sufficient condition for inimitability, it is difficult to say how one should invest to build a competitive advantage. On the other hand, the view that one cannot make such investments purposively is not satisfactory either. Is there a way out of this conundrum?In this paper, we present a critical analysis of three bodies of literature which can be integrated to provide a framework for how organizational capabilities are developed: the literature on organizational capabilities based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, that based on the team-level innovation literature, and that based on the organization-level innovation literature. First, we discuss each body of literature independently, in order to draw on its insights and assess its limitations. We then integrate them, thus providing a better understanding of processes and management practices that support the development of the capabilities to integrate, mobilize, and create knowledge for innovation.\nPerspectives on organizational capabilities in the RBV: The literature on organizational capabilities has its roots in the RBV, whose main argument is that a firm is a bundle of heterogeneous resources and capabilities, which supports competitive advantage and explains the variance in performance across companies. However, as Foss (1997, p. 346) pointed out, one of the main problems with this theory is that there is a considerable amount of \"terminological soup\" for capabilities, with various resource-based theorists using concepts such as \"resources,\" \"competencies,\" \"capabilities,\" and \"assets,\" to capture what is essentially the same concept. Therefore, before discussing what is meant by organizational capabilities, it is necessary to provide some key definitions found in the literature.Definitions of organizational capabilities\nPerspectives from team-level innovation literature: There exists an extensive body of literature that focuses on the project team-level of analysis, where employees form project teams for the purpose of mobilizing knowledge and creating new knowledge for innovation. This field of research recognizes the importance of organizational context (Gladstein, 1984; Ancona and Caldwell, 1992; Hackman, 1987, 2000; Denison et al., 1996). However, the focus is still on project team-level processes, project team management practices, and their outcomes. Similarly to the literature on organizational capabilities, this body of literature stresses the importance of communication and cooperation as facilitators of knowledge mobilization. Studies that focus on the creation process suggest that overlapping knowledge among members enhances the process.Project-team processes and innovation\nPerspectives from the organization-level innovation literature: The innovation literature that focuses on the organizational level also refers to new knowledge creation. As is the case in the team-level innovation literature, knowledge mobilization is critical, and the factors that facilitate this process are communication and cooperation among different functions within the organization. Moreover, organizational slack is also considered important for innovation; in this study it is assimilated into the concept of overlapping knowledge across functions.Organization-level processes and innovation\nIntegrating the three perspectives: organizational capabilities in the RBV, team-, and organization-level innovation: After analyzing the team- and organization-level innovation literatures, it is still not clear how companies develop the capability to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation. On one hand, the team-level innovation literature suggests that the facilitators of knowledge mobilization for innovation may be developed as needed when organized into teams for innovation. On the other hand, the organization-level innovation literature suggests that the development of these facilitators occurs at the organizational level, independent of when they are needed for innovation. Moreover, we do not know which set of practices, the project team management practices or the organization-level management practices, is more effective in developing this capability.In order to construct a complete model of how organizational capabilities are developed, four things are necessary. First, since the capability to mobilize knowledge is a necessary but insufficient condition for creation of new resources, we need to measure both mobilization and creation, and observe which factors facilitate each of these. Second, clarification and integration of levels and units of analyses are required. Third, we need to measure organizational capability. Fourth, we need a testable theoretical framework to understand better the process of development of organizational capability.Linking the capability to mobilize knowledge and the capability to create knowledge for innovation\nDiscussion and conclusions: The study expands the RBV of the firm by providing a theoretical framework of how firms develop the capabilities to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation as an entrepreneurial activity and for managing the changes in organizations. In the process it addresses the following limitations in the theory:* the treatment of the capability to mobilize knowledge vs the capability to create new knowledge, in the discussions of organizational capabilities as sources of competitive advantage;* level and unit of analysis; and* measurement.One of the most critical limitations in the RBV is the lack of a theoretical framework of key factors and management practices that explain how firms might invest in developing the capability to generate new resources, i.e. innovation (Foss, 1997; Foss et al., 1995). Fortunately, the team- and organization-level innovation literatures help to explain how the capability to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation is developed; after all, new knowledge creation and innovation is also discussed in this literature, although their processes and outcomes in terms of capabilities are not. Another advantage of linking these bodies of literature to the organizational capability literature is that they provide empirical support for some of the processes and management practices that facilitate innovation. By integrating these three bodies of literature, we have two models for developing these capabilities. The \"organization model\" requires firms to make an investment at the organization level to generate the supporting organization-level processes, i.e. communication or knowledge sharing routines independent of when the firm organizes employees to generate innovation. The \"project team model\" calls for firms to make just-in-time investment as needed in the process of innovation, in order to generate similar supporting processes that are lacking at the organization level. Empirical testing is required to assess the effectiveness of these models.This paper also contributes to existing theory by bridging the gap between discussions of knowledge (resource) mobilization and knowledge creation, which have different implications for investment in developing capabilities. This study suggests that knowledge mobilization is a necessary but insufficient condition for knowledge creation, and the processes of mobilization and creation are supported by different factors. While mobilization deals with the motivation for knowledge sharing, the creation process deals with the idea that knowledge that is being shared is not automatically absorbed and converted into organizational knowledge in the absence of the absorptive capacity of the recipients. When knowledge that is being shared is not absorbed by the recipients, individual knowledge conversion into organizational knowledge in the form of innovation is problematic. Therefore, in order to develop this capability, facilitators of knowledge mobilization, and creation are also necessary.Moreover, the paper expands existing theory by dealing with the problematic issue of level and unit of analysis, which has been overlooked in other studies. It shows that the level of analysis for organizational capability is the organization, but the unit of analysis is the project team, since teams are the mechanism for knowledge mobilization and creation for innovation. Thus, the two levels of analysis can be integrated, allowing an understanding of how this capability is developed. We show that the organization level and the team level can be integrated, proposing that regardless of the team structures used in the process of innovation, team members remain embedded in the daily context of the organization, meaning that teams are subject to the ongoing organization-level processes. Thus, in organizations where the supporting organization-level processes are built into the organizational context, we might see similar elements of these processes on project teams.Finally, this research addresses the challenge of measuring organizational capability. From the team-level innovation literature, we have as measures efficiency in terms of resources used in the process of achieving a particular innovation, effectiveness in terms of speed-to-market of the innovation, and customer satisfaction with the innovation. From the organization-level innovation literature, we have product and process innovation.Future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to integrate three streams of literature - organizational capabilities based in resource-based view (RBV) and the team- and organization-level innovation - to provide a theoretical framework of how firms invest in developing innovative capabilities for entrepreneurship and change management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This is a conceptual paper based on the RBV and the team- and organization-level innovation literatures.\nFindings: - Linking the three bodies of literature, two main models for developing innovative capabilities are proposed: organization and project team models. The \"organization model\" requires firms to invest at the organization level to generate the supporting organization-level processes, i.e. communication routines, independent of when they organize for innovation, and the \"project team model\" calls for just-in-time investment as needed in the process of innovation. The paper discusses other potential models and provides directions for future research on this important and timely topic.\nOriginality/value: - The paper expands the RBV of the firm by providing a theoretical framework of how firms develop the capabilities to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation as an entrepreneurial activity and for managing the changes in organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The NICE alcohol misuse standard - evaluating its impact	[ "Evidence-based practice", "Service quality", "Service delivery", "Standards", "National Health Service", "Quality standards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Alcohol-related ill-health and harm is high and is increasing in England (National Audit Office, 2008). Alcohol-related harm's total annual cost to English society is estimated at PS21 bn, with alcohol misuse costing the NHS PS3.5 bn a year (Public Health England, 2014). In London, alcohol misuse has been identified as a public health priority (London Health Board, 2013). An average borough in South London is likely to face PS14 m costs each year in alcohol-related health, PS47 m a year in alcohol-related crime and PS30 m a year in alcohol-related reduced productivity. Furthermore, research shows 40 per cent of attendances at emergency departments in two South London boroughs were alcohol-related (Drummond et al., 2014) and admissions to acute care account for 14 per cent within King's Health Partners and 50 per cent of adult mental health admissions in South West London (Barnaby et al., 2003). While measures to address alcohol misuse in the NHS and more broadly are well evidenced (Pilling et al., 2011; University of Stirling, 2013), how to implement these measures is poorly applied and understood (Drummond et al., 2011).\nMethods: To investigate QS11 implementation, we designed a qualitative, structured-interview study of individuals with direct experience commissioning, delivering or using alcohol healthcare services. The methodological orientation underpinning the study was content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) and our geographical focus was Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham London boroughs.\nResults: Directed content analysis\nDiscussion: Our directed content analysis provided information about how widely and how well 13 quality QS11 statements were implemented. Implementation quality and extent varied widely between statements, and for some there were mixed reports about how widely and how well recommended practices were adhered to. For each statement, we asked about implementation barriers and facilitators, which allowed us to explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings. For example, interviewees believed that some differences in implementation quality and extent were attributable to inherent differences between healthcare settings (i.e. primary, secondary and specialist care), different delivery systems for specialist care in different geographical locations (i.e. NHS vs third sector provision) and the key leaders and staff presence or absence promoting healthcare services for people who misuse alcohol. Significantly, the QS11 sections relating to CYP and their families or carers (statements 6 and 12) were noted as being particularly poorly implemented - attributed to a discrepancy between how QS11 prescribes services for CYP to be delivered, and how services were commissioned and delivered locally. Relatively few interviewees spoke at length about CYP services and those who did, mentioned poor focus on alcohol misuse among CYP compared to older adults or other substance abuse (e.g. cannabis and other illegal substances).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore factors affecting implementing the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard on alcohol misuse (QS11) and barriers and facilitators to its implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative interview study analysed using directed and conventional content analyses. Participants were 38 individuals with experience of commissioning, delivering or using alcohol healthcare services in Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham.\nFindings: QS11 implementation ranged from no implementation to full implementation across the 13 statements. Implementation quality was also reported to vary widely across different settings. The analyses also uncovered numerous barriers and facilitators to implementing each statement. Overarching barriers to implementation included: inherent differences between specialist vs generalist settings; poor communication between healthcare settings; generic barriers to implementation; and poor governance structures and leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: QS11 was created to summarise alcohol-related NICE guidance. The aim was to simplify guidance and enhance local implementation. However, in practice the standard requires complex actions by professionals. There was considerable variation in local alcohol commissioning models, which was associated with variation in implementation. These models warrant further evaluation to identify best practice.\nOriginality/value: Little evidence exists on the implementing quality standards, as distinct from clinical practice guidelines. The authors present direct evidence on quality standard implementation, identify implementation shortcomings and make recommendations for future research and practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
SABlockFL: a blockchain-based smart agent system architecture and its application in federated learning	[ "Blockchain", "Federated learning", "Smart agent" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the advance of internet technology and artificial intelligence, more and more people and devices are connected and interacted in a distributed manner (Vlassis, 2007). Technologies such as parallel computing and distributed processing (including distributed artificial intelligence) have emerged and keep growing rapidly over the past 20 years (Bond and Gasser, 2014; Yang et al., 2019a, 2019b).\n2. Related work: 2.1 Federated learning\n3. Smart agent and smart agent system: The conventional distributed computing technology is based on the classic client/server computing model, which decomposes a distributed application into two parts, namely, the client side and the server side. The server side can only provide services after receiving requests from the client side. These technologies are formed in the context of applications that share distributed resources and bear many limitations, especially in DAPP. In this section, we are to propose a new design of smart agent based on the smart contract concept.\n4. Smart agent blockchain-based federated learning: In this section, a demonstration based on the above smart agent system of training FL neural network is implemented. The goal of the system is to effectively train a neural network and protect the local data in a proper manner. Intermediate gradients are stored in the blockchain, making our systems decentralized, reliable and privacy-preserving.\n5. Conclusion and future work: Inspired by the concept of smart contract, this work proposes a smart agent model. A smart agent can actively handle users' adaptive needs and void suffering from the over monitor/control of the third party. Based on this smart agent system, a SABlockFL framework has been proposed, which is not under the vulnerability of the central server's information leakage attack. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the proposed architecture in training a machine learning task in solving a neural network for classic XOR problem. The performance of our designed framework shows that the proposed smart agent architecture is practical and effective in developing secure distributed application.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this work is to bridge FL and blockchain technology through designing a blockchain-based smart agent system architecture and applying in FL. and blockchain technology through designing a blockchain-based smart agent system architecture and applying in FL. FL is an emerging collaborative machine learning technique that trains a model across multiple devices or servers holding private data samples without exchanging their data. The locally trained results are aggregated by a centralized server in a privacy-preserving way. However, there is an assumption where the centralized server is trustworthy, which is impractical. Fortunately, blockchain technology has opened a new era of data exchange among trustless strangers because of its decentralized architecture and cryptography-supported techniques.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this study, the author proposes a novel design of a smart agent inspired by the smart contract concept. Specifically, based on the proposed smart agent, a fully decentralized, privacy-preserving and fair deep learning blockchain-FL framework is designed, where the agent network is consistent with the blockchain network and each smart agent is a participant in the FL task. During the whole training process, both the data and the model are not at the risk of leakage.\nFindings: A demonstration of the proposed architecture is designed to train a neural network. Finally, the implementation of the proposed architecture is conducted in the Ethereum development, showing the effectiveness and applicability of the design.\nOriginality/value: The author aims to investigate the feasibility and practicality of linking the three areas together, namely, multi-agent system, FL and blockchain. A blockchain-FL framework, which is based on a smart agent system, has been proposed. The author has made several contributions to the state-of-the-art. First of all, a concrete design of a smart agent model is proposed, inspired by the smart contract concept in blockchain. The smart agent is autonomous and is able to disseminate, verify the information and execute the supported protocols. Based on the proposed smart agent model, a new architecture composed by these agents is formed, which is a blockchain network. Then, a fully decentralized, privacy-preserving and smart agent blockchain-FL framework has been proposed, where a smart agent acts as both a peer in a blockchain network and a participant in a FL task at the same time. Finally, a demonstration to train an artificial neural network is implemented to prove the effectiveness of the proposed framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementing the balanced scorecard in a local government sport organization: Evidence from Greece	[ "Performance measurement", "Performance management", "Balanced scorecard", "Greece", "Municipal sport organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizational performance has been an important topic in the economics and business literature and gained significant interest from both academics and practitioners, since it can create competitive advantages for firms and improve their sustainability and future prospects (Bean and Jarnagin, 2002; Rhodes et al., 2012; Anderson and Klaassen, 2012). Despite the fact that performance management was initially created for profit-oriented organizations, it was soon employed for the management of public organizations such as municipalities, hospitals, universities and other forms of public organizations. According to Northcott and Taulapapa (2012), public sector organizations use performance management techniques from the private sector in order to improve and demonstrate their performance and accountability to central governments.\nFinancial and non-financial performance measures: Extensive amount of research has focused on the effectiveness of financial and non-financial performance measures, initiating a debate on the appropriateness of these two categories in specific sectors and strategic contents. Perera et al. (1997) argued that traditional performance measures are considered too aggregated, short-term oriented, while on the contrary, non-financial performance measures incorporate strategic priorities such as customer-focus and are more flexible to changes and corporate needs. However, these arguments do not state that classical financial performance measures are inappropriate or ineffective in most cases. Nonetheless, most of the times, the support of financial measures by non-financial measures may provide significant strategic advantages to the organization (Perera et al., 1997). Under this framework, several researchers tried to create theories and quality management tools for supporting classical financial management techniques ranging from system theory to total quality management (Micheli and Kennerley, 2005). For instance McAdam et al. (2002) reviewed six models of non-financial performance measurement implemented in the public sector such as, the business excellence model, Investor in People, benchmarking, BSC, ISO 9000 and charter mark and concluded that these quality frameworks can improve organizational performance over time (Micheli and Kennerley, 2005). In accordance, Neely et al. (2002) developed the \"performance prism\" which is a model adopting a stakeholder view of performance measurement. The research by Adams et al. (2001) indicated that the application of the performance prism in a British charity assisted managers to identify the main drivers of performance in line with stakeholders needs.\nMethodology and data: The current study follows a case study approach as in Nilsson (2010) because this methodology is useful when \"how\" and \"why\" questions are posed, the researcher has little control over events and the focus is on a contemporary issue with real-life context (Yin, 2003; Adams et al., 2006). Adams et al. (2006) argue that the case study methodology focuses on getting closer to the practitioners in order to better understand their daily life and reality. In other words, case study methodology can reveal practitioner's perception and experiences about the organization and its management processes. The present study fits in the main framework of the case study methodology and specifically the main questions, which try to answer is why a municipal organization as DOPAP implemented the BSC performance management methodology, how it was implemented and what was the outcome of this managerial decision. The unit of analysis is the municipal organization of culture, sport and environment of Papagos-Holargos city.\nResults: The results of the implementation of BSC method on DOPAP for the years 2012 to 2014 are presented in Tables I-III. Regarding the first strategic objective, the annual financial reports indicated that DOPAP managed to increase the enrollments relative to the total number of participants by 55 percent significantly above the threshold of 50 percent that DOPAP's board set as an index target for the year 2012 and this index increased to 58 percent in 2013 and 61.3 percent in 2014. Additionally, the new promotion plan that DOPAP's board decided to launch was characterized by success since after a small interview from the new members, staff found that the new members were motivated to enroll mainly by the new promotion plan (55 percent), by friends (30 percent) and by other reasons (15 percent). One of the respondents said \"[...] the promotion plan managed to increase citizens' awareness and participation on the sport programs offered by DOPAP contributing to the improvement of organization's financial results.\" Thus, DOPAP managed to improve its revenues by convincing more citizens to enroll to sport programs. Simultaneously, the second goal of the first strategic objective (controlling expenses within the initial budget) was also achieved since for the fiscal year 2012 DOPAP's balanced its books by achieving a break even result which was maintained for the years 2013 and 2014. Consequently, according to DOPAP's annual financial statements, the organization managed to achieve the financial dimension of the scorecard by improving revenues and holding expenses within the designated constraints (Kosmas et al., 2012).\nDiscussion and conclusion: Contemporary non-profit sport organizations have been developed in multifaceted organizations which confront several performance challenges. These challenges exert significant pressures from all types of stakeholders like the state, customers, athletes, etc. In the case of public non-profit sport organizations, the main challenge was to establish a managerial system, which could meet the varying needs and expectations of citizens and other state authorities, while sustaining an adequate level of service quality (O'Boyle and Hassan, 2014). Especially in Greece, public sport organizations operate under a strict financial environment which allows no deviations from budgetary levels, thus exerting even more pressure on managers to balance financial outcomes and improve the quality of services and operations within those constraints. Consequently, public sport organizations need to progress from a simple administrative operation toward an accountable performance-based management approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of performance management in the public sector and specifically the implementation of the balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology on a public (municipal) non-profit sport organization in Greece. The research provides a discussion on the BSC development process, the goals set on each pillar and the outcome that the organization achieved, in order to be used as a roadmap for other managers in the public sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used information extracted from the municipal board of Papagos-Holargos city in Greece, including board reports, documents and decision transcripts and open-ended interviews related to the implementation of BSC method, as well as to the impact of this decision on the quality of services, citizens' satisfaction and the improvement of internal processes.\nFindings: The results indicated that the citizens of Papagos-Holargos perceived sport services to be of enhanced quality related to/when compared to the previous years (based on a questionnaire submitted by the citizens of Papagos-Holargos at the end of the each sample per year). In addition, the staff improved its skills and abilities by participating in training seminars and, in general, the implementation of the BSC method on the municipal sport organization of Papagos-Holargos city sets the basis for an effective performance management which can enhance its future sustainability.\nPractical implications: Managers of municipal and public sport organizations could use the findings of the study as a roadmap for discussing, evaluating and possibly implementing the BSC approach in their organizations' daily operations.\nOriginality/value: This study fills a significant gap in the existing literature on the implementation of a traditional business performance management tool on a non-profit public sport organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of customer focus on new product performance	[ "Customer focus", "New product performances", "Malaysia", "Manufacturing industries", "Product development", "Customer orientation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It has been reported in the literature that the rate of new product process failure accounted an average of 40 per cent in most industries (Crawford and Benedetto, 2008). In some industries such as large food firms, the failure rate can exceed to 60 per cent (Crawford and Benedetto, 2008). This rate of failure is alarming for organisations to embark on new product development. One of the reasons for the product failures in the market is due to the inability of the manufacturer or the operations functions to implement activities such as product design according to customer requirements (Juran and Gryna, 1993). Therefore, it is important for organisation to design product or services that meet customer requirements. It is argued that the whole organisation needs to agree and work on achieving the customer requirement. As specified by Oakland and Sohal (1996), \"customer satisfaction must be designed into the whole system\". Hence, it is important for the organisation to integrate with marketing as they can provide customer input into the design process of the product. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between customer focus and new product performance. Specifically, this study examines whether customer focus organisations have any influence on new product performance of the organisation.\n2. Research background: 2.1 Customer focus\n3. Methodology: The sample was drawn from the member firms of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) listed in the directory. Senior management of the firms which represent the whole firms or strategic business units of the organisations was chosen as the unit of analysis of the study. Data was collected using mail questionnaire survey approach. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed randomly to the manufacturing firms. The two-wave mailings produced an effective response rate of 31.6 per cent.Questionnaire for customer focus was adopted from past studies (Gray et al., 1998; Madu, 1997; Mokhtar et al., 2009; Narver and Slater, 1990) and was assessed using a six-point itemised-rating scale. It has been discussed in the literature that the customer is at the centre of the business operations in the organisation. Therefore, it is essential that the organisation focuses on customer commitment and satisfaction by providing value to the customer (Gray et al., 1998; Narver and Slater, 1990). Customer focus measures the degree of customer commitment placed by the organisation in terms of their organisational culture and activities. Meanwhile, the new product performance measurement was adapted from various sources of past studies (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1993, 1996a, b, 2001; Sim and Koh, 2001; Singh, 2004; Vorhies and Harker, 2000; Yeniyurt, 2003). New product performance measures the degree of new product success of the firms.\n4. Results: Table I demonstrates the result of regression analysis between customer focus and new product performance. Customer focus explained 13.8 per cent of the variance in new product performance. The results indicate that customer focus has a statistically significant association with new product performance; hence, the proposed hypothesis of the study is supported.\n5. Implications and conclusion: This study attempts to empirically test the relationship between customer focus and new product performance. The target respondent for this study is the senior management of Malaysian manufacturing firms. Hypothesis concerning the relationships of customer focus with new product performance was posited and tested. The findings indicated that this hypothesis was supported; customer focus was found to have statistically significant association with new product performance.Findings of this study is consistent with previous studies that organisation need to consider customer requirements in designing new product and services (Juran and Gryna, 1993; Oakland and Sohal, 1996). This result also supported suggestion by Slater and Narver (1994) that market driven organisation based on customer focus can lead to innovation and new product success. Similarly, a study has also suggested that gaining knowledge about consumers provide good feedback in developing new product (Sondergaard, 2005).The findings of this study also advocates studies by Cooper and Kleinschmidt (2007), which identified that out of the nine critical success factors, the top four critical success factors for successful new product development are:1. a high quality new product process;2. a defined new product strategy for the business unit;3. adequate resources of people and money; and4. R&D spending for new product development.A high quality new product process, which is the first critical success factors involve the organisations to focus on up-front homework that includes market and technical assessments. This market assessment requires the organisation to do preliminary and quick assessment of the (market potential, need level and customer requirements); and carry out detailed market studies such as user needs-and-wants studies, competitive analysis, and concept testing.In general, the present study concludes that focusing on customer requirements had a positive influence on new product performance. Specifically, it adds to the existing body of knowledge that customer focus has a positive relationship with new product performance of Malaysian firms. Therefore, this study provides empirical evidence for practicing managers in their management practices in the organisation to focus on customer. In their efforts to strive for better organisational performance, firms may consider the result of the study by integrating with customer focus as it can provide customer input into the design process of the product.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between customer focus and new product performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Senior management of Malaysian manufacturing firms was the target respondent of this study. Data were collected using mail questionnaire survey approach.\nFindings: - The results revealed that customer focus has a statistically significant association with new product performance; hence, the proposed hypothesis of the study is supported.\nPractical implications: - The outcome of this study provides vital information from Malaysian firms' perspective on the practical relationship of customer focus on new product performance.\nOriginality/value: - This paper offers a better understanding for senior management of manufacturing firms to engage with customers in developing a new product.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trust, caring and organizational learning: the leader's role	[ "Organizational culture", "Leadership", "Organizational learning", "Trust", "Caring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Current policies in many countries emphasize the need for consistent evaluation and accountability for achieving particular outcomes, typically targets on achievement tests (Ravitch, 2011; Ozga, 2013). At the same time, leaders are also expected to be responsible for maintaining a positive school climate in which both students and teachers are emotionally supported (Blankstein, 2004; Murphy and Torre, 2014), and are innovative (Silins et al., 2002). In other words, schools are expected to improve simultaneously on the core work and the quality of relationships. In this paper, we address two simple questions: can principals affect the degree to which their schools exhibit the capacity for organizational learning (OL) that may improve performance?; and how are any associations between principal leadership and OL moderated by the development of positive relationships and school cultures?\nFramework: Effective school leaders are assumed to be instrumental in setting out a vision and goals for increasing student learning (Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger and Heck, 1998), and that this impact is largely felt through the principal's capacity to support teachers in trying out ideas that are connected to that vision (Sebastian and Allensworth, 2012; Printy and Marks, 2006). While much of this has been captured in studies that look at instructional leadership in school settings (Louis et al., 2010; Marks and Printy, 2003), less attention has been paid to looking at the way in which principals cultivate a culture of curiosity and learning that is not as dependent on a direct intervention from the formal leader. One recent study, however, suggested that principals build capacity by cultivating an ethic of trust within the school that provides a foundation for increased capacity for change and reform (Cosner, 2009), which then leads to collaborative learning (Cosner, 2011).\nMethods and data sources: The data for this analysis come from a larger study conducted between 2003 and 2008 that focused on the relationship of leadership to student learning. In particular, we drew on survey data collected in 2008 from 3,900 teachers and their principals in 116 schools in 40 districts in nine states. States were sampled randomly and schools within them were sampled to ensure a representation of larger and smaller districts. The teacher survey was administered to all teachers in the sampled schools during a staff meeting. As part of the larger study, principals and teachers were asked to fill out paper and pencil surveys in 2008. While the surveys were designed to tap most of the concepts that form the basis of this paper, the specific framework was developed after the design of the surveys and, thus, constitutes a secondary analysis. Data about the school's student demographic characteristics were obtained from public sources[4].\nResults: Answering Questions 1 and 2\nSummary and discussion: Our purpose in developing this analysis was both empirical and theoretical. Empirically, we sought to answer four questions using secondary analysis of a survey data set that provided reliable measures of the key constructs. An equally important theoretical goal was to begin an examination of how emerging ideas in positive psychology could lend themselves to the idea of positive school leadership.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether principals can have an impact on organizational learning (OL). The authors use a cultural perspective, based both in the emerging literature from positive psychology and the relatively well-developed research tradition in studying the nature and impacts of OL to address four questions: first, is principal's cognitive trust in teachers' professional capacities related to knowledge sharing/OL among teachers?; second, is principal's trust in teachers' professional capacities related to teachers' reports of being in a caring school setting (relational trust)?; third, is principal caring related to knowledge sharing/OL among teachers?; and fourth, is principal trust particularly important in school contexts with low income students?\nDesign/methodology/approach: An existing database that includes principal and teacher surveys in 116 schools in the USA provides the basis for examining the four questions. Optimized scaling techniques were used to develop measures of principal trust in teachers professional capacities, teachers' perception of principal caring, an indicator of academic support for students that includes a social justice of equity emphasis, and capacity for OL. The demographic characteristics of the student body and school size were used as possible moderating variables. The data were subject to both regression and path analysis.\nFindings: Principal trust was directly related to teachers' perceptions of principal caring, and indirectly related to OL. The measure of academic support for students had the strongest direct effect on OL. While the percentage of non-white students and school size had some relationship to OL, they do not change the overall results. The model, which supports the role that principals play in fostering both equity and OL is sustained when the authors examine student achievement.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations of the study stem largely from the nature of the sample and measures, which are confined to 116 schools in the USA, and a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey database. Because understanding the dynamics of a relationship-based/positive leadership perspective require detailed qualitative studies and longitudinal data, the results are presented as suggestive of issues that should be studied further.\nOriginality/value: Both trust and OL have been extensively studied both in education and other settings. However, few studies have simultaneously examined leadership, different types of trust and OL and none have done so in the context of positive psychology. The contribution of this analysis is thus empirical (extending the boundaries of what is known using concepts that are familiar) and theoretical (beginning the development of a theory of positive leadership that incorporates multiple factors associated with healthy and productive school environments).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of information disclosure by Spanish state-owned enterprises in accordance with legal requirements	[ "State-owned enterprises", "Legitimacy", "Stakeholders", "Information disclosure", "Transparency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The credibility of the public sector entities has been damaged by recent financial scandals and different corruption cases (Guillamon et al., 2011; Saez-Martin et al., 2017). In such regard, different authors have noted that information disclosure practices implemented by public entities are positively associated with increased efficiency, performance and confidence among citizens (Sokol, 2010; Royo et al., 2017). Compared to the private sector, entities of the public sector are called to be more accountable with different stakeholders because they are publicly funded (Greiling et al., 2015). Also, such organizations are required to demonstrate public confidence and credibility (Grossi and Thomasson, 2015).\nLegal and institutional framework: From an international perspective, there is no standardized legislation that regulates transparency and public access to information in the public sector (Garcia-Tabuyo et al., 2016; Saez-Martin et al., 2017). Taking into account the Spanish case, several governmental initiatives have been approved during the last decades in regard to the enhancement of transparency of public institutions, and, particularly, for SOEs (Reverte, 2015). The Article 35 of the Spanish Law 2/2011 on Sustainable Economy mandates SOEs to produce an annual sustainability report according to internationally accepted standards (Royo et al., 2017). This requirement is also indicated in the Spanish strategy on companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices 2014-2020 (Reverte, 2015).\nTheory, variables and hypotheses: Theoretical positioning\nResearch design and methods: Sample\nResults: Table I shows the profile of all Spanish SOEs selected in accordance with whether such companies have their own web page and, in that case, they have also their own Transparency Portal. First, we can note that most of the enterprises analyzed have their own web page in which all type of information could be reported. In general, 78 percent of all Spanish SOEs have a web page in which information could be reported. From a comparative perspective, the proportion of enterprises with their own web page is relatively greater in the case of local and state enterprises compared to enterprises majority owned by regional governments. Second, we can appreciate that 284 of 531 Spanish SOEs have a Transparency Portal on their web page in which information required to be disclosed could be publicly available. This represents only 53 percent of the sample of enterprises with a web page. Meanwhile, this proportion is reduced to 42 percent when referring to all Spanish SOEs selected. Comparatively, the proportion of companies with a Transparency Portal on their web page is greater in the case of enterprises whose ownership is dependent on the central state, compared to the other enterprises publicly owned.\nDiscussion: The purpose of this paper has been to fill a research gap in the emerging field of non-voluntary information disclosure in the public sector accounting research. A first approach to the results of this paper leads us to state that the amount of information reported by Spanish SOEs is reduced and fragmented in certain items, in spite of the obligations of information disclosure contained in the Spanish regulation. These findings are similar to the results of previous studies that have been performed in the context of SOEs both at the national and international level (Sokol, 2010; Royo et al., 2017). Such papers and reports found that the amount of information reported by SOEs is not enough, which suggests non-compliance with the accountability process. From a perspective based on local governments, previous studies also found that the proportion of information reported by municipalities has not increased despite the adoption of a regulation about the disclosure of information (Garcia-Tabuyo et al., 2015; Saez-Martin et al., 2017).\nPractical implications, limitations and future research: The results of this paper have some practical implications for managers of SOEs. One recommendation is associated with the need to rewrite the Spanish regulation on transparency in regard to the inclusion of coercive forces that promote the disclosure of information by SOEs. Another recommendation is to improve the training of citizens in transparency to reduce the lack of a culture of accountability in Spain. Third, the Spanish Government could make more visible those public organizations that are leading in compliance with information disclosure requirements. This could cause institutions like SOEs to be driven to follow that behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how different variables can affect the amount of information reported by Spanish enterprises owned by the central state as well as by local and regional governments, all categorized as state-owned enterprises (SOEs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using, as a reference, the obligations of information disclosure contained in the Spanish Law 19/2013 on Transparency and Good Governance, the authors performed a web-content analysis of web pages of all Spanish SOEs and the authors examined a sample of Spanish enterprises owned by regional and local governments.\nFindings: The results show that the amount of information reported by Spanish SOEs is quite reduced and limited. Among the variables examined, the most influential ones for explaining the amount of information reported are the nature of public ownership and the institutional size.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by exploring the potential determinants of the online disclosure of mandatory information reported by enterprises whose ownership is shared by private and public organizations. Thus, this research could help public managers make decisions and improve public confidence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Decision support for additive manufacturing deployment in remote or austere environments	[ "Decision support", "3D printing", "Additive manufacturing", "Deployable manufacturing", "Remote environments" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. The need for additive manufacturing (AM) in remote or austere environments: AM, also known as 3D printing, is a classification of processes that create physical objects layer-by-layer with a machine, digitized design drawings, and some type of building material, such as powder, metal, or plastic. The general flow of the AM process is illustrated in Figure 1. Some benefits of AM include a reduction in the amount of raw material and safety stock an organization must purchase, store, and manage, reduced lead times for parts, and savings from reduced investment in manufacturing, transportation, and storage facilities since an AM machine and the building material can often be placed close to the point of use for a part. AM has the potential to improve product availability, and reduce supply chain costs. This is particularly useful for operations in remote or austere environments with limited access to material, power, and transportation. This paper details efforts in determining government and industry manufacturing and distribution requirements to support operations in remote or austere environments. These requirements influence two key elements: the establishment of a formal framework of considerations in the execution of deployable AM and the implementation of this framework in a selection tool that assists users with identifying AM capabilities suitable for their unique requirements.\n2. Survey of existing AM process selection techniques: Several scholars have proposed a variety of AM process selection techniques to address the challenge of AM process selection. These techniques vary by their use of different selection theories, and are focused primarily on guiding technology decision based solely on parts' required mechanical properties. For example, Byun and Lee (2005) use a modified technique of order preference by a similarity to ideal solution ranking method to assist users in selection of an appropriate AM process for a specific part. The scoring method is based on a multiple-attribute decision-making model. Their evaluation attributes include accuracy, roughness, strength, elongation, part cost, and build time. The importance of each attribute is weighted using a pair-wise comparison chart. The authors' method is advantageous in that it can successfully rank various AM systems in order of suitability while simultaneously accounting for crisp and fuzzy attributes.\n3. Characterization of considerations specific to deploying AM in remote/austere environments: In order to gain an understanding of the specific needs of deploying AM technologies in remote/austere environments, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with potential \"customers\" of this context. Specifically individuals from AM original equipment manufacturers (OEM's, e.g. ExOne) and US Department of Defense organizations (e.g. the Air Force Research Lab, the Naval Postgraduate Dental School, the Naval Surface Warfare Center - Dahlgren Division, and the Navy Warfare Development Command - Rapid Innovation Cell) were interviewed to gain their expertise of the context-specific needs of the deployed environment.\n4. An AM technology selection decision support tool for deployment in remote/austere environments: The considerations listed in Section 3 are synthesized into a decision tool for selecting an appropriate AM machine and material to be implemented in a remote, deployable context.\n5. Framework/selection tool implementation example: To demonstrate how the proposed framework and decision support tool can be used to select an appropriate AM machine for deployable manufacturing, the authors present an example context here and discuss how the user's needs ultimately determine the final process/machine selection.\n6. Conclusions and future work: In this paper, we have described a decision support framework for AM system selection for deployable manufacturing in remote/austere environments. Stakeholders in both the industrial and government sectors were interviewed, and, from their concerns, a framework was created which clustered key considerations into process, machine, part, material, environmental, and logistical constraints and objectives. A decision support tool, based on a \"tiered funnel\" approach, was implemented in Microsoft Excel to provide users with a method to determine the best machine and materials for their particular deployable context. By allowing the users to exit the tool at any time, it is capable of accounting for a wide variety of user knowledge concerning AM and deployable manufacturing in general.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Additive manufacturing (AM) can reduce the process supply chain and encourage manufacturing innovation in remote or austere environments by producing an array of replacement/spare parts from a single raw material source. The wide variety of AM technologies, materials, and potential use cases necessitates decision support that addresses the diverse considerations of deployable manufacturing. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with potential users are conducted in order to establish a general deployable AM framework. This framework then forms the basis for a decision support tool to help users determine appropriate machines and materials for their desired deployable context.\nFindings: User constraints are separated into process, machine, part, material, environmental, and logistical categories to form a deployable AM framework. These inform a \"tiered funnel\" selection tool, where each stage requires increased user knowledge of AM and the deployable context. The tool can help users narrow a database of candidate machines and materials to those appropriate for their deployable context.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future work will focus on expanding the environments covered by the decision support tool and expanding the user needs pool to incorporate private sector users and users less familiar with AM processes.\nPractical implications: The framework in this paper can influence the growth of existing deployable manufacturing endeavors (e.g. Rapid Equipping Force Expeditionary Lab - Mobile, Army's Mobile Parts Hospital, etc.) and considerations for future deployable AM systems.\nOriginality/value: This work represents novel research to develop both a framework for deployable AM and a user-driven decision support tool to select a process and material for the deployable context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Continuous process improvement implementation framework using multi-objective genetic algorithms and discrete event simulation	[ "Simulation", "Optimization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Operational problems have been augmented due to increased global competition, scarcity of resources, higher customer expectations (in terms of higher quality, low cost, reduced lead times (LTs)) and pressure from the government or other regulatory bodies to reduce carbon emissions and to be more efficient in the energy usage. This has kept manufacturing organizations in the quest for continuous process improvement to reduce the waste by optimizing processes at different levels. This becomes even more important in the current high variety/low volume (HV/LV) manufacturing landscape, where customer demands are extremely volatile both in terms of quantity and variety. There are numerous examples of process improvement approaches those have been applied to various manufacturing/service processes and product types, ranging from small parts/components (engines, tires, fabricated components, etc.) to the whole product (aircraft, coach/bus, automotive sector, service processes - hospitals, banking, educational sector and so on) (Alrashed and Kang, 2017; Bastian et al., 2016; HM Government, 2013; Lage and Godinho Filho, 2016; Yu and Lee, 2018). According to Kang et al. (2013), providing a HV and customer-focused products/services may allow organizations to stay ahead of their competitors. Traditional manufacturing approaches emphasize high production of a single commodity, which is no longer applicable since without having the sufficient variation it does not attract enough customers to increase profitability. On the other hand, HV/LV products escalate manufacturing problems at a higher rate and often problems are more complex in terms of number of variables involved and their interdependencies. Because of this, manufacturing organizations in a wide range of industries face the challenge of providing a high product variety at a very low cost. In fact, a multitude of customizable product options force the manufacturers of these products to deal with a (theoretical) product variety which exceeds several billions of models. For instance, a base model of a car can be modified according to customer requirements such as the addition of a manual or electric sunroof, air conditioning, power windows, etc. (Nazarian et al., 2010). Therefore, existing methods and tools are becoming obsolete due to the increased complexity of modern manufacturing systems, where most of the existing tools are not powerful enough to solve modern manufacturing problems effectively and efficiently especially in HV/LV environments. This has amplified the need for new, efficient and effective tools and techniques to cope with these problems. Researchers have used heuristic-based methods combined with simulation-based approaches to solve both simple and complex operations problems as one solution would not fit for all. Solutions need to be customized due to the varying nature of production systems. For example, the use of heuristic algorithms and simulation modeling to solve hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with mixed batch sizes (Yao et al., 2012). Li et al. (2015) develop a heuristic search genetic algorithm (GA) for job sequencing aiming at minimizing the makespan and total weighted tardiness. Costa et al. (2013, 2014) proposed a mixed integer linear programming model combined with dual encoding and smart-decoding-based GAs framework to address the makespan minimization problem for a hybrid flow shop with a parallel batching system. Aboutaleb et al. (2017) used simulation modeling and data mining approach to develop the standalone closed-loop formula for a throughput rate of normally distributed asynchronous human-dependent serial flow lines. Pfeiffer et al. (2016) used a combination of simulation-based approach and statistical learning methods to improve the predictions of manufacturing lead times. Proposed simulation based simulation based decision support system helped in anticipating near future lead time deviations. Despite using various optimization and simulation approaches, there is one commonality that simulation modeling is adopted to understand/visualize the system behavior and optimization method is customized based on the problem complexity. Kang et al. (2015) compared the production scheduling problem results for a multi-machine scenario using standard scheduling methods (forward by due date, forward by priority, backward by due date, backward by priority, APS forward, APS minimize WIP forward and APS parallel loading) with an integrated approach using modified GAs and simulation. Preactor APS400 (scheduling tool from Preactor International - a Siemens Company) scheduling package was used to model the multi-machine scenario for a wire and cable manufacturing process. Results demonstrate the inability of standard tools to capture the production environment variability and interrelationships between various attributes. In case of multi-objective optimization, modified GA outperforms the standard scheduling approached part of APS400 scheduling package.\n2. Continuous process improvement (CPI) issues: CPI is one of the absolute requirements for organizations to survive in modern competitive and fast-paced business environments. These conditions require tools and techniques that can provide proactive solutions quickly in highly complex and variable environments (Taha et al., 2011; Tasan and Tunali, 2007; Varela et al., 2003; Velumani and Tang, 2017). CPI problems are a well-known subclass of combinatorial optimization problems that exist in all areas, such as in the manufacturing, management and service industries. Researchers have addressed process improvement issues by focusing on the different attributes at the operational level, such as scheduling, sequencing, machine layout, grouping, batch size and buffer size (Kaylani and Atieh, 2015; Li et al., 2016). Most of the associated problems are NP-hard and are combinatorial in nature, where more than one organizational objective is associated. The only practical approaches are heuristic strategies some of the most commonly used approaches are: State Space Search, Branch and Bound, Tabu Search, Simulated Annealing and GA. There are numerous entities involved in the manufacturing environment and most of these exhibits dynamic, unpredictable and complicated relationships among them. This makes the CPI process more vulnerable to failures as the effect of improving one performance measure (PM) needs to be considered on other PMs before deciding over the solution.\n3. Problem description: One of the main aspects of this paper is to highlight the use of combinatorial optimization and simulation modeling as a tool for process improvement. This may help organizations to reduce/manage the effect of variability, as the proposed approach takes advantage of simulation modeling in order to respond to rapid changes in levels of variability. This section illustrates the problem from both simulation modeling and optimization perspectives.\n4. Proposed approach: The application of GAs to real-world problems has interested many researchers (Costa et al., 2013, 2014; Dorndorf and Pesch, 1995; Guo et al., 2009; Kang et al., 2015; Khouja et al., 1998; Li et al., 2015; Niu et al., 2008; Rossi and Dinni, 2007; Varela et al., 2003; Yao et al., 2012) since they seem to offer the ability to cope with the huge search spaces involved in combinatorial optimization problems. The proposed CPI approach combines the GA-based combinatorial optimization and simulation modeling by addressing the job sequence and the buffer size optimization problem. As discussed earlier, the given problem is NP-complete, i.e., there is no algorithm that can possibly solve the problem completely in polynomial time. There are other evolutionary approaches being used by researchers such as the ant colony optimization method (Rossi and Dinni, 2007), particle swarm optimization (Niu et al., 2008), mathematical modeling combined with genetic optimization (Guo et al., 2009), Lagrangian relaxation-based GA (Varela et al., 2003), etc. There are numerous other modified/combined EA and AI-based approach being used, however, comparison of the proposed approach with the other evolutionary algorithms is beyond the scope of this paper.\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Optimization module parameters\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The current research is based on the Lean philosophy derived from the Toyota production system, which defines the scope of this paper by taking forward the concept of CPI. The GA-based integrated approach exemplified in this paper is a part of the Lean problem-solving tool developed during the project. One of the aims of the Lean philosophy remains in targeting manufacturing system problems to reduce waste throughout the system. Therefore, the proposed approach combines the job sequence and buffer size problem in order to cope with high levels of internal and external environmental variability as a part of continuous process improvement. In fact, the process improvement can also be related to the improved decision-making process by finding the optimal job sequences and buffer sizes having the minimal LT and TIHC according to the given levels of variability. It becomes even more important when some of the problem variables are not deterministic, which is the best representation of a real-world problem. For instance, machine failure, processing time and setup time are not always constant. These are subject to change according to the conditions and the variability associated with jobs. Results obtained from the proposed approach have shown noticeable improvement based on the selected PMs and based on different sets of experiments. Having used job sequencing and buffer size together as a part of the combinatorial optimization module allows the system to behave as follows:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Continuous process improvement is a hard problem, especially in high variety/low volume environments due to the complex interrelationships between processes. The purpose of this paper is to address the process improvement issues by simultaneously investigating the job sequencing and buffer size optimization problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a continuous process improvement implementation framework using a modified genetic algorithm (GA) and discrete event simulation to achieve multi-objective optimization. The proposed combinatorial optimization module combines the problem of job sequencing and buffer size optimization under a generic process improvement framework, where lead time and total inventory holding cost are used as two combinatorial optimization objectives. The proposed approach uses the discrete event simulation to mimic the manufacturing environment, the constraints imposed by the real environment and the different levels of variability associated with the resources.\nFindings: Compared to existing evolutionary algorithm-based methods, the proposed framework considers the interrelationship between succeeding and preceding processes and the variability induced by both job sequence and buffer size problems on each other. A computational analysis shows significant improvement by applying the proposed framework.\nOriginality/value: Significant body of work exists in the area of continuous process improvement, discrete event simulation and GAs, a little work has been found where GAs and discrete event simulation are used together to implement continuous process improvement as an iterative approach. Also, a modified GA simultaneously addresses the job sequencing and buffer size optimization problems by considering the interrelationships and the effect of variability due to both on each other.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ian Macneil and relational contract theory: evidence of impact	[ "Competitive strategy", "Decision making", "Strategic management", "Contracts", "Behavioural sciences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the 1960 s, sociologist and legal scholar Ian Macneil (1968), along with fellow scholar Stewart Macaulay (1963, 1962), questioned why many exchange mechanisms in business appear to be non-contractual, especially in light of the reliance on the discrete or written contract to support transaction. Macneil, in particular, questioned the analytical usefulness of generally-accepted neo-classical contracting theory based on \"will\" or \"promise,\" arguing that contract theory as being interpreted lacks utility. He proposed that, while some forms of contract are discrete, other forms of contract are relational in their conception and are in many instances a reflection of societal customs and norms. This idea began a dialogue between scholars and Macneil about the nature of relational contract that would continue for the next four decades - until Ian Macneil's passing in February of 2010.\nThe impact of Macneil's work: a bibliometric analysis: Macneil's impact on management thought can be explored through use of his work by scholars in the discipline. Bibliometrics, defined as the application of statistical and mathematical models to books and other media of communication, is used for this purpose. It seeks to evaluate - in conjunction with peer judgments - publication and citation data to determine the quality and impact of publications (Pendlebury, 2009). When applied in a specific field, this approach can provide insight into the nature of knowledge production and dynamics of knowledge expansion within a discipline. Furthermore, citation analysis and content analysis can combine to illustrate the impact of a particular researcher such as Macneil, or body of work such as relational contract.\nMacneil's early works: the groundwork for relational contract theory: Generation of an idea\nThe evolution of thought: parallel paths to relational contract theory: Macneil's work has much in common with that of other scholars working with relational constructs, in particular the ethics scholars Donaldson and Dunfee (1999) and Freeman (1984) and the economist Williamson (1985). We begin with a targeted comparison of components of Donaldson and Dunfee's integrated social contract theory and Freeman's stakeholder theory to Macneil's relational contract theory, primarily because these theories align with Macneil's theory. Williamson's transaction cost theory is included because of Macneil's frequent comparisons of this theory to his own. General comparisons are also made with rational choice theory to demonstrate a theory that Macneil concludes falls short of being classified as relational contract theory.\nSummary: Drucker (1993) notes that \"(e)very few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation... Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself - its worldview; its basic values; its social and political structures; its arts; its key institutions...We are currently living through such a time.\" This idea raises interesting questions: Is it possible that the type of transformation predicted by Drucker has already occurred and is redefining how work is organized? Has this transformation led to perceptions of a workplace and markets that are more \"relational\"? The evidence based on recent publications (Campbell, 2001; Chen and Miller, 2011; Donaldson and Dunfee, 1999; Gupta, 2011) suggests that this may be the case. Though the role of Macneil in this transformation is beyond the scope of this paper, it is clear that while the debates around his theory moved forward, so did use of the term \"relational.\" A term that was not commonly used by management scholars during the early 1980 s became part of the language of business during the two decades leading up to the twenty-first century.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper seeks to describe the work of Ian Macneil, a legal scholar advocating the use of relational contract theory and behavioral norms to evaluate exchange relations in business. The aim is to show through bibliometric and comparative analyses that Macneil has influenced management scholarship and dialogue about relational contract theory to an extent not recognized by management scholars.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Evidence of impact is evaluated through a bibliometric analysis of primary and secondary citations. This is followed by a comparison of Macneil's theory with four theories - integrated social contract theory, stakeholder theory, transaction cost theory, and rational choice theory.\nFindings: Results indicate that Macneil has had a substantial impact on researchers working in different business disciplines, from marketing to economics and management. Bibliometric analysis reveals that his work is widely cited, suggesting that Macneil's contribution extends beyond legal scholarship to influence business scholarship.\nResearch limitations/implications: Implications are that Macneil's relational contract theory should be considered when developing frameworks for guiding research on workplaces that are increasingly relational, connected and global. This is especially relevant in cases where workplace exchange appears on the surface to be non-contractual and based on societal customs and norms.\nOriginality/value: This paper recognizes the work of a major legal scholar in the formulation and discussion of relational contract theory in business scholarship. It introduces concepts that can support and act as a guide for future research on forms of relational exchange and recognizes the importance of Ian Macneil's work in supporting that research stream.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of parent-subsidiary conflict on ERP implementation	[ "Enterprise resource planning", "ERP", "Multinational", "Conflict", "Transnational" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The process of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation is a key strategic intervention that presents an opportunity for long-term process improvement (Davenport, 1998). ERP has been a broadly researched topic in Information Systems and Operations Management journals. The main topics of recent research in ERP include ERP implementation, optimization, management, the ERP tool, supply chain management, studying the ERP concept, use of ERP in education, and analysis of the ERP industry (Schlichter and Kraemmergaard, 2010). A large body of literature has focused on determining the critical success factors of ERP implementations (Bingi et al., 1999; Chou and Chang, 2008; Dezdar and Sulaiman, 2009; Dowlatshahi, 2005; Finney and Corbett, 2007; Francoise et al., 2009; Gargeya and Brady, 2005; Ho and Lin, 2004; Huang, 2010; Loh and Koh, 2004; Malhotra and Temponi, 2010; Motwani et al., 2005; Nah and Delgado, 2006; Ngai et al., 2008; Plant and Willcocks, 2007). Critical success factors cited in the literature are remarkably consistent, and include top management support, team management and composition, organizational change management, business process reengineering, communication, project management, data migration, and user training.\n2. Theoretical frameworks of conflict: In order to develop a complete picture of the impact of parent-subsidiary conflict on multinational ERP implementations, a literature review was conducted on parent-subsidiary conflict, focusing on theoretical frameworks that explain the causes of conflict, followed by a review of the ERP implementation literature in the context of the MNE.\n3. Research design: This research uses an interpretive case study methodology (Walsham, 1993, 2006; Yin, 2011) to analyse the specific details of an ERP implementation process in a subsidiary of a MNE. The interpretive case study methodology takes the epistemological position that reality is sometimes too complex to be objectively discovered, and a discursive or interpretive approach is a better way to make sense of a very complex reality (Walsham, 1993, 2006). The case methodology has the advantages of relevance, understanding, and exploratory depth, and the disadvantages of difficulty of access and time, triangulation requirements, lack of controls, and unfamiliarity of procedures (Meredith, 1998). Case studies are particularly appropriate when \"the phenomenon can be studied in its natural setting and meaningful, relevant theory generated from the understanding gained through observing actual practice\" (Voss et al., 2002, p. 197). Presence in implementation meetings allows the researcher to collect detailed information beyond verbal exchanges, including situations, personalities, attitudes, expressions, and behaviours along the development of the implementation. As a result, this methodology provides a much richer observation of the process than merely collecting information through interviews.\n4. Case description: This section describes the case and what was observed during the implementation process, including a description of the case setting, the reasons and goals of the ERP implementation, the composition and structure of the implementation team, the implementation methodology used, and the final outcome of the process.\n5. Case interpretation: Evidence collected from this case highlights how multinational conflict has impacted the implementation process. This section interprets the case in light of the theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict including contingency theory, agency theory, and game theory.\n6. Managerial prescriptions: Evidence collected from this case, and the findings of its analysis in the light of the existing theory of parent-subsidiary conflict and ERP implementation generate a set of managerial prescriptions that can lead to a reduction of the negative impact of conflict in ERP implementation. The adoption of these prescriptions can lead to process improvements at the local level, and enhanced global synergy effects.\n7. Conclusion and future research directions: The process of ERP implementation is often the driving force of improvement, triggering a BPR process and questioning the existing business practices and processes in light of a changing competitive and technological environment. The implementation process unlocks the plasticity of the organization, and the new system presents information in new ways that, embraced by management, can provide them the vision to plan future change. While constructive conflict is a necessary condition for ERP implementation, dysfunctional conflict is a common cause of ERP failure. This case has highlighted how multiple theoretical frameworks explain the causes and consequences of parent-subsidiary conflict in ERP implementation. Integrating multiple theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict, recommendations for managers have been developed. Theoretical frameworks, causes of conflict, and managerial implications are summarized in Table II.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In spite of the large body of literature on success factors of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, there is a need to explore its multinational dimension. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the conflict between parent and subsidiary on the process of ERP implementation in a multinational enterprise (MNE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using an interpretive case study methodology, this paper analyses the theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict and applies them to interpret an in-depth case study and generate a set of managerial prescriptions.\nFindings: Theoretical analysis and case evidence suggest that managing parent-subsidiary conflict is a critical success factor of ERP implementation in MNEs.\nResearch limitations/implications: This case relates to a diversified multinational group producing a variety of materials through subsidiaries. The data collection includes multiple sources in the company, and strong theoretical development provides a high level of generalizability. The paper shows that managers should consider the impact of conflict from the planning stages of any multinational ERP implementation.\nPractical implications: A detailed set of practical managerial prescriptions is derived from case and theoretical analysis. These prescriptions provide guidance to multinational managers planning a successful global ERP rollout.\nOriginality/value: Although parent-subsidiary conflict is clearly a major factor in multinational ERP implementations, this topic has never been analysed in detail in the literature. This paper breaks new ground applying grounded theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict to an implementation case, and providing managerial guidance for implementation decisions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysing information security in a bank using soft systems methodology	[ "Information security culture", "Banking security", "Information security management system (ISMS)", "Security governance", "Socio-technical risks", "Soft systems methodology (SSM)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Modern economies are highly reliant on the banking industry, a fact that is amply demonstrated by the 2008 worldwide financial crash, so the importance of maintaining effective information security in banks is critical. Indeed, Raytheon/Websence (2015) concludes that a cyber-crisis at one or more banks could result in financial catastrophe, not only to customers and banks but also to a country's financial system as a whole.\n2. Literature review: This research focuses on socio-technical information security risks in the banking industry. Tarimo (2006) explained that socio-technical systems are characterised by complex systems, i.e. systems which have complex behaviours (such as non-predictability and emergence) and contain parts interacting in a non-linear fashion. Analysing the security of these socio-technical systems requires reviewing the aspects which can harm as well as protect them. It is, therefore, important to analyse the changing socio-technical threat landscape for the banking industry. These show a trend to target the human element of the system. Consequently, the review explores how these socio-technical threats are controlled, highlighting the importance of (and weaknesses in) governance, management and culture.\n3. Methodology: Karlsson et al.'s (2015) systematic review of information security culture research identifies that almost 40 per cent of the papers are theoretical and do not include empirical data. Unlike those papers, this research is based on empirical data, and it is conducted with a qualitative interpretivist approach using an embedded single case study methodology. A Case Study has a particular strength of collecting detail and providing an in-depth illumination of the specific context (Yin, 2009). In addition, it helps to uncover the day-to-day information security practice of the bank rather than specified procedures and policies. The case is of particular interest because it is amongst the biggest banks within the country with a nationwide network of branches and a core banking system providing internet and mobile banking services.\n4. Analysis and discussion: The section explains how SSM was applied to analyse the information security management practices of the bank. Results are presented primarily through the artefacts of SSM, together with supporting text.\n5. Conclusion: The principal aim of this paper was to explore the use of SSM to analyse the socio-technical information security issues in a major bank. A key reason for selecting SSM was that it addresses shortcomings of traditional risk assessment approaches that take a \"hard systems\" approach and which focus on system components rather than the system as a whole. It was reasoned that SSM's holistic view is appropriate, as banking systems are becoming more complex, attacks are increasing in frequency and aimed at employees. SSM is designed for complex and messy situations and has stakeholders (employees) at its heart.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the use of soft systems methodology (SSM) to analyse the socio-technical information security issues in a major bank.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case study research was conducted on a major bank. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of key stakeholders in the business, comprising senior managers, security professionals and branch employees were conducted.\nFindings: SSM was particularly useful for exploring the holistic information security issues, enabling models to be constructed which were valuable analytical tools and easily understood by stakeholders, which increased the receptiveness of the bank, and assisted with member validation. Significant risks were apparent from internal sources with weaknesses in aspects of governance and security culture.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research uses a single case study and whilst it cannot be generalised, it identifies potential security issues others may face and solutions they may apply.\nPractical implications: Information security is complex and addresses technical, governance, management and cultural risks. Banking attacks are changing, with greater focus on employees and customers. A systemic approach is required for full consideration. SSM is a suitable approach for such analysis within large organisations.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrates how important benefits can be obtained by using SSM alongside traditional risk assessment approaches to identify holistic security issues. A holistic approach is particularly important given the increasing complexity of the security threat surface. Banking was selected as a case study because it is both critical to society and is a prime target for attack. Furthermore, developing economies are under-represented in information security research, this paper adds to the evidence base. As global finance is highly interconnected, it is important that banks in such economies do not comprise a weak link, and hence, results from this case have value for the industry as a whole.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The usage of third party logistics in Saudi Arabia: Current position and future prospects	[ "Outsourcing", "Saudi Arabia", "Distribution management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Globalization of corporations and ensuing competitive pressures has placed an increasing dependence on the ability of organizations to deliver customer-adapted products all over the world quickly and on time. This has placed a number of demands on the logistics system and has become a rapidly developing area of investigation. Hum (2000) refers to this as the last frontier in the development of strategic competitive advantage. While many organizations are seeking to manage their logistics operations strategically, they realize that competitive advantage is not achieved as they lack the core competencies. As a result of this, organizations are increasingly seeking to outsource their logistics activities. Apart from this, another important development that is making an impact on the organizations is the increased emphasis on time-based competition (Bhatnagar et al., 1999). In general, time-based competition refers to the speed with which products can be manufactured delivered to the market and serviced.\nLiterature review: TPL originally began during the 1970s as public warehousing, when manager's of warehouses began to sell space to business organizations when it ran out of space during busy seasons (Aghazadeh, 2003). By 1980s TPL expanded into selling not only space but also offering throughput to physical distribution managers who wanted to improve customer service with their current customers (Tompkins, 1999). However, the last decade of the twentieth century was characterized by consolidations by TPL providers to offer logistics support through value-added services and offer opportunities to organizations to reduce costs and provide higher levels of customer satisfaction. With the dynamics of change and organizational issues associated with supply chain management, more recent studies in TPL have focused on the strategy development by TPL service providers (Hertz and Alfredson, 2003) and the process of 3PL integration with customer relationship management (Knemeyer et al., 2003).A further insight into the literature on international logistics providers reveals that there have been three waves of entrants into the TPL market (Berglund et al., 1999). The first wave date backs to the 1980s or even earlier with the emergence of \"traditional\" logistics providers, whose activities usually emerged from a traditionally strong position in either transportation or warehousing. The second wave dates from early 1990, when a number of network players, for example DHL, TNT and FedEx started their logistics activities. The third wave dates from the late 1990s where a number of players from areas of information technology, management consultancy and even financial services are working together with players from first and second waves.Existing literature on TPL has identified a number of factors that affect the usage of TPL services. We group these factors as, decision-making process; extent of use of TPL services providers; perceived performances of TPL service providers; and overall organizational impact on account of TPL usage. All these factors impact the overall usage of TPL providers. Subsequent report on the review of literature focuses on these factors.Decision-making process\nMethodology: A survey was conducted during the last quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2004 to determine the usage of TPL services in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The survey instrument reflected the framework shown in Figure 1, and focused on the following areas:Factors relating to decision making\nData collection: The target population included all firms in Saudi Arabia, which had significant logistics requirements. As a current and comprehensive database of companies was not available, a decision was made to randomly select firms from listing of companies registered with Chambers of Commerce in the cities of Riyadh and Dammam. Most of the nation's economic activities in the central province are carried out Riyadh and in the eastern province; it is mainly concentrated in the industrial cities of Dammam, Jubail and Hofuf. A random sample of 2000 organizations was identified in this manner. The companies were then contacted by telephone to obtain the name of the senior logistics executive and to confirm their addresses. Within two weeks of the telephone contact, the questionnaire, together with the cover letter explaining the survey objective and instructions for completing the questionnaire and a reply envelope were mailed to these companies.Primary data collection poses numerous challenges to researchers in Saudi Arabia. Owing to the closed nature of the Saudi society and its firms, and a general apathy to unsolicited surveys, repeated waves of reminders and call backs were undertaken. Further, due to a preference for formality, research assistants were engaged to make personal visits and to distribute/administer the survey questionnaire in some of the firms which had consented to participate. All these efforts yielded in receiving 496 completed questionnaires, for a response rate of 24.8 percent, which compares very well with response rates from other similar studies on the use of contract logistics services. For example, Sohail and Sohal (2003), Bhatnagar et al. (1999) and Dapiran et al. (1996) reports response rates of 16, 12.6 and 27 percent, respectively.Analysis of the responses is presented in the next section.\nResults: Out of the total of 496 responses, 315 respondents indicated that their firms used TPL services, while the remaining 181 did not use contract logistics services. It is interesting to note that of those firms not outsourcing, 45 percent of them indicated that they considered the possibility of using TPL, while 52 percent of them had no plans to outsource.Factors relating to decision making\nDiscussion and implications: The use of TPL providers can be described as a successful phenomenon, and Saudi Arabia is no exception to this. Results reported in this study indicate that a number of operating units are utilizing the services of contract logistics providers, and have been doing so for several years. Furthermore, many non-users are interested in this approach as evidenced by the 45 percent who are exploring the idea of using the services of TPL providers in future.The initiative to outsource in half of the sample surveyed has been taken at the corporate level, which indicates that logistics is on the agenda of the top management. Private sector in Saudi Arabia is yet to succeed in the fast-approaching global economic integration. In a rapidly changing global economy, the private sector must identify its comparative advantages in order to remain competitive. With a relative decline in firm's competitiveness, logistics development, which has been referred to as the last frontier in the development of strategic competitive advantage (Hum, 2000) might well be what firms in Saudi Arabia are looking for.Surprisingly, although the decision to outsource was a corporate level decision in one half of the instance, managers from other functional areas were routinely involved in the decision making, in about two thirds of the firms surveyed. However, the responses on involvement of functional managers are similar to the trends in Australia, USA and WE (Millen et al., 1997) in that about two-thirds of the respondents in each of these countries indicated the involvement of functional managers. It is also interesting to note in the present study that manager from only one of the functional area was involved at a time, which is in contrast to the practice of involvement of managers from more than an area in all other instances.As regards the information sources, the experience of Saudi logistics executives was similar to their counterparts in most other countries in that they more often became aware of such services through sales call by third party representatives. The next preferred source of awareness of such services is through discussions with other logistics professionals, as was the case in Australia (Dapiran et al., 1996). Direct mail advertising and word of mouth communications are not effective sources of communication of TPL services in Saudi Arabia.The survey also contains useful information for the providers of contract logistics services on the most frequently used services. Functions relating to carrier services, shipment consolidation activities, order fulfillment and product assembly and installation have been the major activities outsourced. Overall, it appears that Saudi firms have been outsourcing those activities which are more \"human\" intensive.That two-thirds of users did not express major reservations in using the services of TPL providers is an indication of the confidence in services of TPL providers. However, some concerns expressed by users include uncertainties about the capabilities of the TPL providers, costs of outsourcing (12 percent) and the potential loss of direct control of logistics activities (10 percent). TPL providers in Saudi Arabia must take note of these reservations. On the issue of usage of TPL services, firms in Saudi Arabia have used for both domestic and international purpose almost equally. These trends are similar to usage reported in Australia (Dapiran et al., 1996). Perhaps, the vastness of geographical area could explain why TPL has been used for physical distribution in the domestic arena; TPL providers could explore further opportunities here.The commitment to usage of TPL services in Saudi Arabia is modest to extensive. Further, two-thirds of the users have been using their services for more than three years. If all these are any indication, TPL is bound to grow in the kingdom. As a word of caution, TPL providers should also take note of the fact that 60 percent of the users have signed contracts, which includes penalty for non performances. There are also rewards for better performances, however. TPL providers should therefore aim to provide efficient services and have a potential to benefit from better services.The percentage of logistics budget allocated to use of services of TPL providers can be described as modest. About half of the users have allocated less than 20 percent of their logistics budget to TPL providers. However, these trends are similar to those I previous studies in other country settings.The analyses of the experience of Saudi firms in their usage of contract logistics services indicates that the market for TPL services in Saudi Arabia has a good potential for further development. An overwhelming majority of firms have been satisfied/highly satisfied with the services of TPL providers. Users have expressed multiple benefits as a result of TPL usage. While there are still a percentage of firms, which have not outsourced their logistics functions, three fourths have them have indicated that they are likely/most likely to use their services. Further, with a very positive impact on firms, we believe that TPL industry is poised to grow in Saudi Arabia.This study provides TPL services providers who are considering Middle Eastern region as a potential market, a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in Saudi Arabia. While this study focuses on the primary determinants of usage of TPL services, the study itself is not entirely free from limitations. The limited sample size, although much better than several similar studies (Millen et al., 1997; Bhatnagar et al., 1999; Sohail and Sohal, 2003; Sohail et al., 2004) is considered small to generalize findings. The results of the study must therefore be treated with caution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - With competitive pressures placing an increasing dependence on the ability of organizations to deliver customer-adapted products quickly and on time, logistics has been an area that has been subjected to investigation. While there is a growing evidence of organizations increasingly seeking to outsource their logistics activities, there have been few comprehensive studies on the outsourcing of logistics in the Middle Eastern region. The purpose of this paper is to examine the usage of third party logistics (TPL) services in Saudi Arabia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Empirical research is used to study the extent firms use the services of logistics companies; the time period these have been used; the decision-making process for choosing contract logistics and its impact on the organization.\nFindings: - Results based on the analysis of data relating to 496 firms in Saudi Arabia indicate that most of these users are satisfied with the services providers and has largely seen positive developments within the organization.\nPractical implications: - The results provide managers with evidence supporting the benefits of logistics outsourcing. The study also contains useful information for the providers of contract logistics services on the most frequently used services.\nOriginality/value: - This study makes a significant addition to literature on logistics outsourcing as little empirical research has been previously reported from Arab world and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia to establish linkages between organizations and TPL providers. Moreover, the results of this study will also serve as a future benchmark for the entire Gulf Cooperation Council region, as Saudi Arabia happens to be the largest country in the Middle East.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the impacts of issue types and employee-organization relationships on employees' problem perceptions and communicative behaviors	[ "Employee-organization relationship", "Employee communication behaviours", "Internal issue management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An increasing number of scholars are recently exploring corporate issues and crisis management from internal perspectives and regarding employees as organizational ambassadors (Adamu et al., 2016; Frandsen and Johansen, 2011; Johansen et al., 2012). This phenomenon is mainly because individual employees, as organizational agents, are likely to share positive or negative aspects of their organization within their personal networks, such as families and friends (Kim and Rhee, 2011). In today's digital era, employees' communicative actions toward their organizations in the media environment are especially important as they significantly affect corporate reputations (Miles and Mangold, 2014). The importance of employees' behaviors is particularly emphasized during an ongoing issue or crisis. Employees' positive words help strengthen organizations during such a period, whereas their negative words may worsen the situation (Mazzei et al., 2012). Therefore, the anticipation and prevention of crises and knowledge on how to strategically communicate with employees is becoming increasingly crucial when experiencing corporate issues. Specifically, public relations and communication scholars have believed that building a positive relationship with employees is a critical factor in reducing the risk of a corporate issue or a crisis (Lee, 2017; Mazzei et al., 2012). That is, employees with positive relationships are likely to engage in positive communication behaviors and are less likely to behave negatively when an organizational issue occurs.\nLiterature review: Internal issue management\nMethods: Participants\nResults: The researchers first divided the respondents into two groups based on issue type they recently experienced - internal (n=178) or external issue (n=185). The study excluded the respondents who experienced both internal and external issues for the past six months (n=20). Next, the study also divided participants based on their perceived relationship quality with their organization. The high-quality relationship group consists of 53 percent (n=193) of participants, whereas 47 percent of participants (n=170) were sorted into the low-quality relationship group. The respondents described the following issues as \"internal\" issues: workplace harassment/abuse/assault/violence/incivility (20 percent), salary/promotion/benefit/compensation (16 percent), workplace discrimination (e.g. race, gender and age) (15 percent), strike/labor union/layoff (12 percent), corporate policy/system/program/ (12 percent) and managerial issue (e.g. CEO, leadership) (7 percent). On the other hand, the following issues were considered as \"external\" issues of their organization by employees: consumer complaints/boycotts (32 percent), negative media coverage (19 percent), lawsuit (11 percent), product problem/budget/market/industry (11 percent), data breach (7 percent) and political issue (2 percent). Table II summarizes the descriptive statistics of the variables used in the study.\nDiscussion: This study introduces notable theoretical and practical insights for corporate communication and issue management. Moreover, this study extends the theoretical understanding of employees' issue-specific perceptions and issue-related information behaviors by building connections between employees' perceptual and behavioral motivations within the context of organizational issues using public relations theories.\nLimitations and future research: This study has several limitations that should be noted. This study focused on types of organizational issues described by employees from self-reports. However, in the original conceptualization of STP and STOPS (Grunig, 1997; Kim and Grunig, 2011), a single issue is identified to measure an individual's perception. Although the current study attempts to extend their theoretical application by identifying different types of organizational issues, the results may not completely reflect employees' perceptions and behaviors toward a particular issue type within an organization. Therefore, based on the applicability of the theories in the context of employee communication demonstrated by the current study, future studies could investigate employees' situational perceptions and behaviors on a single issue by considering situational and cross-situational factors as well as organizational-level ones (e.g. organizational culture). In addition, the results of the study rely on the participants' recall of the most recent internal or external issue within their company. Consequently, a potential response bias caused by differences in accuracy may exist. Thus, future studies may use other methods (e.g. experiments) to identify employees' perceptions and behaviors regarding specific corporate issues in a controlled setting. The present study finds that negative megaphoning is highly influenced by organizations' communication strategies; thus, future studies should examine which types of communication efforts (e.g. authentic and transparent) would be particularly effective in diverse situations leading employees' negative communication efforts. Such efforts may, in turn, increase organizational resilience in terms of employee relationships. Moreover, segmenting employees (e.g. active vs nonactive) in future studies based on the perceptual variables used in this study and on STOPS would be beneficial for scholars and practitioners to attain better communication strategies with employees during periods of corporate issues or crises. Finally, this study focuses on employees from large corporations in the USA. Given that diverse types of organizational issues are likely to occur in small and medium-sized companies in various cultural contexts, future studies should explore whether employees' issue-specific perceptions and behaviors differ based on contextual and organizational factors (e.g. corporate size and culture).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of different types of corporate issues and employee-organization relationships (EORs) on employees' perceptions of the issues and on their communicative actions. Specifically, this study investigates how employees who have experienced an internal or an external issue within their organizations differently perceive the organizational issue and engage in positive and/or negative communicative behaviors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted with 363 full-time employees in large-sized companies in the USA who have experienced any internal or external issues within the past six months.\nFindings: Employees are more cognitively aware of and feel more involved and less constrained in solving an internal company issue than an external one. Experiencing internal issues has led employees to share negative information about their organization externally. The quality of EORs pre-issue significantly increases employees' involvement and positive communication behavior and decreases constraint levels and negative communication behaviors regarding an issue.\nPractical implications: Corporate communication and public relations practitioners should incorporate strategic internal communication strategies to preemptively manage internal issues and to avoid them from evolving into internal crises.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the first to distinguish internal and external issues perceived by internal stakeholders and to examine their impacts on employees' issue-specific perceptions and communicative behaviors. This study also provides significant practical guidelines for corporate communication practitioners and leaders by explicating the strategic role of issue type and employee behaviors in issue management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of message appeals and unrealistic optimism on purchase intentions: The case of heart-disease prevention pills	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Advertisements", "United States of America", "Thailand", "Singapore", "Diseases" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Many goods are often marketed on the basis that they will provide consumers with protection against development of diseases or other negative experiences. For example, auto insurance is sold to protect against the negative financial consequences associated with accidents; homeowner's insurance to protect against financial losses associated with a variety of risks to the home; fire alarms to provide early warnings in the case of fire; auto safety devices to reduce the likelihood that an accident will occur; water filtration systems to provide protection against the effects of ingesting impure water; sun blocks to protect the skin from deleterious effects of exposure to the sun.For the marketers of preemptive products (i.e. products designed to deter or prevent undesirable occurrence), a major challenge is to convince consumers that they do, in fact, face a personal risk that the negative consequence can occur to them. If salience can be achieved, then the possibility of attending to communications and purchasing the goods will be enhanced. If, on the other hand, consumers believe that they are not at risk to the negative event, then the likelihood of purchase is reduced. Marketing communications can be employed to alter the belief, but it remains a question what appeals are more or less effective at doing so.In a study specifically designed to address this important issue in a cross-cultural context, Pornpitakpan and Green (2007) varied four advertisement appeals (expert, priming two hazard-related behaviors, priming five hazard-related behaviors, and control advertisement) on American, Singaporean, and Thai participants using a lotion to prevent premature facial wrinkles as an experimental product. The results confirmed the existence of unrealistic optimism in a marketing setting and showed that lower levels of optimism were associated with higher purchase intentions. Advertisement appeals that primed hazard-related behavior led to higher purchase intentions than did advertisements without priming. In addition, Singaporeans showed higher purchase intentions than did Americans for both the risk priming and the expert advertisement appeals, and they also showed higher purchase intentions than did Thais for expert advertisement appeals. Because the product used in that study is related to a relatively mild risk (premature facial wrinkles), it will be useful for marketers to extend the study to a more serious risk, which is a quite common situation in the marketplace.This study, thus, extends Pornpitakpan and Green's (2007) research by using a product for preventing a critical health hazard, namely, heart disease. It investigates individuals' tendency to believe that they are less prone to potentially negative outcomes than are others - to be unrealistically optimistic. The experiment aims to demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon in a consumer-related context and to examine the impact of different types of advertising messages in coping with the phenomenon and in inducing purchase intentions, which is a consumer response of utmost relevance to marketers. Since marketers are increasingly operating on a global basis, the study is conducted in three countries - the United States of America (USA), Singapore, and Thailand - in order to look into the possibility that the phenomenon will occur to differing degrees across cultures.These countries were chosen because they were used in Pornpitakpan and Green (2007). Besides, they vastly differ on economic development and cultural orientations. Based on Hofstede (1980), Americans are individualist (individualism index = 91) and low in power distance (power distance index = 40), whereas Singaporeans and Thais are collectivist (individualism index = 20 for both countries) and high in power distance (power distance index = 74 and 64, respectively). While Singaporeans and Thais share the above cultural characteristics, they do differ on the level of economic development, work ethics, hedonism, and egalitarian commitment. Comparing these two collectivist cultures with Americans, hence, adds another perspective. In terms of economic development, Thailand's estimated per capita real GDP in US$ at 2005 prices was US$2,917, while Singapore's was US$30,222, and the USA's was US$43,408 in 2007 (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2008). Thus, the sampling frame provided observations from countries that are both individualist and collectivist, and relatively more and less economically developed. More information about the three countries can be found in proprietary online databases, such as Economist Intelligence Unit CountryData and Euromonitor International's Global Market Information Database.\nLiterature review and hypotheses: The research is based on several sets of literature. This section will first present a review of the literature pertaining to unrealistic optimism and in the process defines the construct and the aspects of behavior influenced by unrealistic optimism. It will then review the culture-related literature and the theories that suggest the manner in which various types of message appeal would be most effective in different cultures to overcome the effects of unrealistic optimism.Unrealistic optimism\nMethods: Research design\nResults: Check of endorser expertise and target persons' perceived similarity to self\nDiscussion: This study has demonstrated several aspects of unrealistic optimism and message appeals that have implications for both national and international marketers. The following discussion will first focus on the findings that pertain to unrealistic optimism, followed by a discussion of the findings that relate to the use of priming as an appeal that seeks to reduce unrealistic optimism. Finally, it addresses the cross-national implications of the findings concerning different types of message appeals.Unrealistic optimism\nConclusions: This study has provided strong evidence of the existence of unrealistic optimism across cultures and product categories. It has raised into question the idea that the extent to which unrealistic optimism is manifested is culturally dependent, at least with respect to the individualism/collectivism cultural dimension. The study has also made some potential contributions to the understanding of cross-national receptiveness to advertising messages and the appeals used to convey these messages. The collectivists in this study are more persuaded by an authority appeal than are the individualists. They are also, however, more persuaded by priming, contrary to the hypothesis. These findings suggest a need for further research into the effectiveness of different types of appeals across cultures. Finally, the findings that contradict those of Pornpitakpan and Green (2007) suggest that for difficult to evaluate and/or health-related products, an expert appeal is more effective in inducing purchase intentions than is an advertisement that primes the hazard-related behavior with a view to reduce unrealistic optimism.Many of the foregoing conclusions point to the need for further research to address and clarify the issues that have been studied. The extent to which unrealistic optimism occurs in collectivist and individualist cultures needs clarification: Is there in fact no difference between the two groups as suggested by the findings presented here, or could it have been due to some of the limitations noted above? Are there cultural differences in the extent to which different cultures respond to different appeals, or are differences due largely to the intervening variable associated with the degree to which different groups are exposed to advertising messages?Unrealistic optimism has been confirmed to be a cross-national phenomenon in a marketing context. As such, it potentially interferes with consumers' perceptions with respect to the need to purchase preemptive products that will help to counter the effects of a wide range of negative events. The present study has examined and provided insights related to the existence of unrealistic optimism, as well as ways in which it might be countered, in a cross-cultural context.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to extend a 2007 study by investigating which types of message appeals are more effective in reducing unrealistic optimism (a tendency for people to believe that they are less prone than are others to encounter negative outcomes) and inducing purchase intentions of a life-threatening hazard prevention product in collectivist and individualist cultures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An experiment was conducted with 133 American, 145 Singaporean, and 200 Thai undergraduates, totaling 478 participants.\nFindings: - The findings confirm the existence of unrealistic optimism in the marketing setting and show that first, lower levels of optimism are associated with higher purchase intentions for the product; second, hazard-related behavior priming advertisement appeals lead to lower purchase intentions than do advertisements without priming, contradicting some earlier findings; and third, participants from collectivist cultures (Singaporeans and Thais) show higher purchase intentions than do those from individualist cultures (Americans) for both the risk-priming and the expert advertisement appeals.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The samples, while well matched, consist of undergraduate students who are not necessarily representative of the populations as a whole. The samples also come from only three countries. In addition, the study uses a single message.\nPractical implications: - The study suggests that: external-control/collectivist cultures may be more influenced by advertising, regardless of the appeal employed; different types of cultures may require different amounts of advertising to achieve equal levels of effectiveness; unrealistic optimism needs to be addressed by marketers of preemptive products; and for products that are health-related and difficult to evaluate, advertisements using expert appeals may be more effective than those attempting to counter unrealistic optimism by priming the risk-related behaviors.\nOriginality/value: - The paper has re-affirmed the existence of unrealistic optimism, and that this phenomenon exists internationally with respect to a high-involvement risk product category. It has unveiled relationships between optimism and purchase intentions. Finally, the paper has identified both similarities and differences in terms of the existence of unrealistic optimism and the relative effectiveness of different message types across cultures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are questionnaires a reliable method to measure food waste? A pilot study on Italian households	[ "Questionnaires", "Self-assessment", "Household food waste", "Quantification", "Diary" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food waste (FW) is estimated to account for roughly one third of all food produced globally for human consumption (FAO, 2011). In the Global North, the largest portion of FW occurs in the consumer facing stages of the food supply chain, particularly at the consumption level. The per capita FW produced by consumers in the Global North ranges between 95 and 115 kg a year, while it accounts for only between 6 and 11 kg in sub-Saharan Africa and South-Southeast Asia (FAO, 2011).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Italian data on HFW\n3. Materials and methods: Our experiment consisted of three steps and partially followed the methodology adopted by WRAP in its studies (for a comprehensive synthesis, see WRAP, 2013). As in WRAP's investigations, we were mainly concerned with the results of a diary study preceded and followed by two questionnaires (one before and one after).\n4. Results: 4.1 Description of the samples tested\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Findings reported in extant literature suggest that most questionnaire respondents believe they do not waste food at all, or that they waste only a little. When asked for a quantitative estimate of their HFW, they generally provide a quantity below 1.0 kg of avoidable FW per week. For instance, in Italy, \"Waste Watcher\" estimated HFW to be about 0.63 kg per household per week in 2015. However, diary and waste sorting analysis studies in the literature show that HFW in the Global North amounts to between 1.0 kg and 1.8 kg per person per week, with peak values like those registered in the UK (3.5 kg) and in Canada (4.2 kg, per household). Our study partially confirmed the estimates present in the literature, with a diary-estimated EFW of 1.04 kg per household per week on average. In addition, a substantial difference was observed between the amount of food respondents threw away during the week (1.06 kg on average) and the amount of food they believed they had thrown away when asked two weeks after the experiment (0.33 kg on average).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the reliability of questionnaires as a method of quantifying household food waste (FW), thus providing context regarding the validity of existing Italian estimates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 30 households were involved in a diary study that was conducted for one week. The participating households were first asked about their FW quantities in a questionnaire. Half of the households who filled their diaries properly were then audited through waste sorting analysis performed on their garbage. Non-parametric tests were used to test for differences in FW estimates between audited and non-audited households, as well as differences among estimates obtained through different quantification methodologies.\nFindings: Edible FW was estimated to be 489 grams per week based on questionnaires, and 1,035 grams per week based on diaries. In the audited sub-sample of households, FW estimates were 334 grams per week based on questionnaires, 818 grams per week based on diaries and 1,058 grams per week based on waste sorting analysis.\nResearch limitations/implications: Given the small sample size in the present study, future studies can utilize larger samples to assess whether the differences identified in estimates can be replicated. Future studies can also inquire into the behavioral biases that led consumers to underestimate their FW.\nPractical implications: Results of the present study point against the use of questionnaires to quantify household FW, hence raising some doubt on the reliability of existent Italian estimates. Where waste sorting is unfeasible, the use of adjustment methods or diaries is suggested to better inform policies.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the first on FW quantification that tests three different methodologies on the same sample, and is the first to do so in Italy, where estimates are still very poor.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nutritional and phytochemical content of Swiss chard from Montenegro, under different fertilization and irrigation treatments	[ "Irrigation", "Nutrients", "Fertilization", "Phytochemicals", "Swiss chard" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris ssp. cicla L) is a dark green leafy vegetable (GLV) available throughout the year. Swiss chard could be planted in mid spring and again in late summer, which indicates the possibility of harvesting during a long period (Kolota et al., 2010). Chard is a commonly used food crop which is found along the shores of the Mediterranean, frequently used all over the world due to its nutritional value and delicious taste. Chard is a desirable food crop because it adapts to environments with elevated saline concentrations, and it can grow in soils with scarce availability of water (Kolota et al., 2010; Ninfali and Angelino, 2013). Furthermore, Swiss chard is tolerant to conditions of low light and both cold and hot weather (Kolota et al., 2010).\n2. Material and methods: 2.1 Plant material\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Yield and some plant characteristics\n4. Conclusion: Swiss chard grown in Montenegro is rich in macronutrient components - proteins, dietary fibers and macroelements such as Ca and Mg. Swiss chard grown in Montenegro has low energy value, E=122.75 kJ (mean value)/100 g of fresh Swiss chard. Additionally, the low energy values as well as the low fat content recommend Swiss chard for the use in controlling cholesterol, obesity prevention and weight reduction. Montenegrin chard could be considered as an inexpensive but good source of numerous phytonutrients - vitamin C, chlorophylls, carotenoids phenolic and flavonoid compounds and essential minerals such as - Fe, Zn, Mn. Moreover, tested Swiss chard showed high chlorophyll and total carotenoid content. Swiss chard shows a good antioxidant potential (IC50 values ranged from 2.93 to 4.44 mg/mL of water extract). The present study has shown that irrigation did not affect any of the tested parameters (p>0.05), while interaction between fertilization and irrigation affected only Na and Cu content. The effect of irrigation on tested parameters is therefore likely to be specific to the crop (variety) under study, and it is difficult to evaluate especially under the open filed conditions because of the random effects of rain, wind and water holding capacity of soil. Fertilization significantly affected the protein content in the sense that increasing the level of fertilization gave a higher protein content. Fertilization with the highest fertilizer rate had a positive effect on chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b content (p<0.05), with a significant difference between F150 and F100 treatments. It was shown that fertilization affected vitamin C content (p<0.05) in the way that the treatment of Swiss chard with F150 resulted in significantly higher values for vitamin C concentration, compared to F50 and F100 treatments. Beside this, the fertilization treatment has a positive effect on yield and plant length indicating that fertilization is important factor for plant growth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate both nutrient and phytochemical content of Swiss chard grown under different fertilization and irrigation treatments and the effect of these treatments on the tested parameters.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Samples of fresh Swiss chard were collected from the experimental field of Ljeskopolje, Montenegro, where chard was grown under different fertilization and irrigation treatments. Swiss chard samples were analyzed for nutritional and antioxidant parameters.\nFindings: In this study, the authors found that 100 g of Swiss chard is a good source of total chlorophyll (47.13 mg), carotenoids (9.85 mg), minerals as well as vitamin C (26.88 mg) expressed as mean values. Total phenol and flavonoid compounds content were (138.59 ug gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and 11.91 ug catechin equivalent (CAE) per mg of water extract, respectively), also expressed as mean values. The total antioxidant capacity (IC50 values) determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl assay ranged from 2.93 to 4.44 mg/mL of aquatic water extract. Different fertilization regimes affected the following parameters: phosphorous, protein content, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and vitamin C (p<0.05), while different irrigation regimes did not have any effect on the tested parameters (p>0.05), while interaction effect between fertilization and irrigation was found only for sodium and copper (p<0.05).\nOriginality/value: Swiss chard produced in Montenegro on a sandy clay loam soil with acid reaction contains appreciable amount of minerals, crude fibers, vitamin C, chlorophylls, carotenoids and polyphenols. The nutrient and phytochemical content of chard is equal or superior to other green leafy vegetables which are considered as functional food. It was identified as a potentially rich source of essential nutrients and phytochemical compounds. The promotion of higher consumption and production of Swiss chard may represent a natural and sustainable alternative for improving human health.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceived value, relationship quality and positive WOM intention in banking	[ "Relationship quality", "Perceived value", "Perceived usefulness", "Competence trust", "Continuous commitment", "Positive word-of-mouth intention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is widely accepted that positive word of mouth occurs when favourable news about the organisation is communicated or products are recommended to others (De Matos and Rossi, 2008, p. 580; Gruen et al., 2006, p. 451; Lindberg-Repo and Gronroos, 1999, p. 115). This behaviour leads to benefits for an organisation, such as consumers persuading other consumers to use a product or service, or assist in developing favourable perceptions about the organisation's offering (Buttle, 1998, p. 242; Gruen et al., 2006, p. 451; Parsa and Sadeghi, 2015, p. 1250). Accordingly, a significant number of studies have been conducted over the years to gain a better understanding of the antecedents of positive word of mouth (Abubakar and Mavondo, 2014, p. 855; Das, 2013, p. 95; De Matos and Rossi, 2008, p. 588; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002, p. 240; Lang and Hyde, 2013, p. 2; Lien and Cao, 2014, p. 109; Soltani and Khavari, 2015, p. 1033; Sweeney et al., 2014, p. 350; Teo and Soutar, 2012, p. 678).\n2. Theoretical model development and research hypotheses: For the purpose of this study, perceived value, relationship quality and behavioural intention were considered as theories grounding the research constructs in the proposed model.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Design, target population and sample\n4. Results and findings: 4.1 Demographic profile of participants\n5. Research implications, limitations and directions for further research: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the proposed relationships between perceived usefulness (a dimension of perceived value), the relationship quality factors (competence trust and continuous commitment) and positive word-of-mouth intentions in an electronic banking setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among 511 electronic banking customers.\nFindings: Continuous commitment was found to mediate the relationships between perceived usefulness and competence trust with positive word-of-mouth intention, respectively.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results indicate the role of perceived value and relationship quality in contributing to positive word-of-mouth intention.\nPractical implications: The findings could also guide banking institutions in managing their existing electronic banking customers more appropriately and to encourage them to engage in word-of-mouth behaviour that will convince other potential users of the benefits of the service.\nOriginality/value: Little is known on a mediated model noting the connection between perceived value, the relationship quality factors competence trust and continuous commitment and positive word-of-mouth intention. The findings provide more insight into the matter and accordingly contribute to the developing body of knowledge on perceived value, relationship quality and behavioural intention and their importance to the stream of research on positive word of mouth.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of internal and external drivers for successful implementation of GSCM practices	[ "Supply chain management", "Small- and medium-sized enterprises", "Furniture industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As environmental resources are increasingly depleted, the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection has received more significant attention from scholars of supply chain management (SCM) (Zhu et al., 2008, 2010; Ala-Harja and Helo, 2015). Traditionally, SCM can be defined as a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, the transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers (Ganeshan and Harrison, 1995). Recently, by adding the specific goal of minimizing the environmental impact that supplier has on the end user, the traditional concept of SCM has turned into green supply chain management (GSCM). This concept is strictly related to SCM and its definitions, which has added greater attention to environmental issues. Compared with conventional SCM, GSCM mainly focuses on implementing green development strategy while managing the external enironmental pressures as well as the internal impetus of corporate innovation (Zhao et al., 2017). There are several definitions of GSCM. According to Zsidisin and Siferd (2001), GSCM is the set of SCM policies held, actions taken and relationships formed in response to concerns related to the natural environment concerning the design, acquisition, production, distribution, use, reuse and disposal of the firm's goods and services. Sarkis (2003) revealed that GSCM is a new field of research concerning climate change, unsustainable consumption of natural resources and very high rate of energy consumption. According to Srivastava (2007), GSCM integrates environmental thinking into SCM, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing processes, and delivery of the final products to the consumers. The other authors have their own definitions. In particular, a GSCM strategy requires companies to adopt environmentally friendly purchasing, including taking into consideration the purchasing of materials that consist of less environmentally harmful elements, the use of fewer materials and more renewable and recyclable resources (Guang Shi et al., 2012). Overall, the purpose of GSCM is to eliminate or reduce the negative impact on environment (air, water and land pollution) and waste from resources being used (energy, materials and products) when the enterprise transform the raw materials up to final use and disposal of products (Hervani et al., 2005).\n2. Literature review: In order to identify and group the potential success factors of GSCM practices in SMEs and to formulate hypotheses about the causal relationship between those factors that belongs to internal or external drivers and the success of implementation of GSCM practices, a literature review of several journals was conducted. The result can be seen in the Table I.\n3. Factors influencing GSCM practices: It is not easy to select some critical success factors that significantly influence the implementation of GSCM practice in furniture industries. It is also not easy to draw conclusions about critical success factors that belong to internal and internal drivers from the previous author although Agi and Nishant (2017), Vanalle et al. (2017), Huang et al. (2015), Liu et al. (2012), Trowbridge (2001), Walker et al. (2008) have been significantly differentiated all of the factors into two groups. Not all the factors influencing the GSCM practice in Table I will be used in this study. Since the object of study is SMEs, this study prefers to select the commitment of the member of the organization (such as the leader, middle management and employee), the capability of enterprises which relate to technology, knowledge, and financial as the significant factors influencing the implementation of GSCM that are included in the internal driver. There is enough indication in the literature to propose that the performance of SMEs is essentially associated with the leadership of the leaders (Spinelli, 2006). Leadership is required to move an organization forward among a changing, competitive landscape by imagining, motivating, organizing, managing and leading employees to a higher level of performance (Tucker and Russell, 2004). Consequently, in this case, good leadership indicated by active commitment and involvement will encourage the members of the organization and also result in the success of SMEs in implementing the GSCM practices. Then, according to Pinget et al. (2015), technology, knowledge, and financial are the important barriers for SME to get innovation in environment. Moreover, this study prefers to select the pressure from regulation and customer as the significant factors influencing the implementation of GSCM that are included in the external driver. These two pressures almost always appear in discussions about factors outside the organization that affect the implementation of GSCM practices. It can be seen in Table I. Detail explanation about the effect of each factor on implementation of GSCM practices can be seen in the next section.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 The research context of Indonesia's furniture wooden industry\n5. Data analysis: 5.1 Characteristic of respondent\n6. Data analysis and findings: As an important environmental initiative, the antecedent factors of implementation of GSCM practice, the impact of GSCM practices on enterprises performance, and also the practices of GSCM itself have attracted more and more attention in the literature. However, most of the existing GSCM research is characterized by evolving internal and external factors together, without distinguishing the role of any of factors on the different stages of implementation of GSCM practice. The clarification of the impact of internal and external factors on the different stage of implementation of the GSCM practice is important for extending our understanding of GSCM research on two main fronts. First, some studies in recent years (e.g. Hu and Hsu, 2010; Diabat and Govindan, 2011; Agan et al., 2013; Luthra et al., 2014; Govindan et al., 2014; Dubey et al., 2017; Vanalle et al., 2017) have combined internal and external factors in the same role as the antecedent factor of the implementation of GSCM practices by the enterprises and did not differentiate the stage of implementation of GSCM practices. Others have focused on the GSCM practices by the enterprises (e.g. Liu et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2015; Agi and Nishant, 2017) although they did not differentiate the stage of implementation of GSM practices. Although conceptually correct, this approach may hide some important research contributions as suggested by the results of this present study. Therefore, the first contribution of this study is to provide and test an integrated framework, which incorporates the internal and external factors as the integrated factors influencing the full implementation of GSCM practices. Second, because of the different stages of implementation of GSCM practices (Zhu et al., 2005, 2013), choosing the appropriate factors influencing the early stage of adoption of GSCM practices and the appropriate factors influencing the higher stage of adoption of GSCM practice is challenging.\n7. Managerial and social implications: The findings of this study have some managerial and social implications that could provide valuable insights to SMEs of the wooden furniture industry to understand the significant internal and external factors for implementing the GSCM practices. Managers and decision maker need to know what factors should be focused more to improve the implementation of GSCM practices. In this case, the proposed and empirically supported model provides more specific direction to SMEs of wooden furniture to develop a strategy for implementing the GSCM practices. From the internal side of the enterprises, the main managerial implication of this study is that the SMEs of wooden furniture should develop three combined internal antecedent factors of implementation of GSCM practice, namely, the involvement and support from the top management of SMEs and their employee, technology, and financial factor. It is consistent with previous research conducted by Agan et al. (2013), Govindan et al. (2014), Huang et al. (2015), Dubey et al. (2017), Agi and Nishant (2017) and Vanalle et al. (2017). Understanding how three combined internal factors affect the implementation of GSCM practices should help managers to concentrate their efforts and efficiently allocate resources to attain the objective. In doing so, manager can develop an effective comprehensive environmental strategy, which requires the top management of SMEs show an environment-oriented, allocate a specific person for implementing the GSCM practice and learning about the current technology which can support the environmental design product, and also allocate the specific budget to support the implementation of GSCM practice. Once environment has become a strategic focus, manufacturers can begin to implement sustainability practices with some degree of confidence (Green et al., 2012). Moreover, related to the internal factors, this study also found that financial factor was the only factor with a direct effect on the full implementation of the GSCM practice. Therefore, to encourage full implementation of GSCM practices, the government should help the SMEs of furniture in developing low cost-GSCM implementation techniques and provide easiness to them to get the needed fund for implementing the GSCM practice. Then, from the external side of the enterprise, the major managerial implication of this study is that the SMEs of wooden furniture should pay more attention to the external antecedent factors of the implementation of the GSCM practice, namely regulation and customer pressure. It is consistent with previous research conducted by Lee (2008), Mohanty and Prakash (2013), Agan et al. (2013) and Huang et al. (2015). In doing so, managers can develop an effective, comprehensive environmental strategy based on the external pressure of the enterprise, which requires that SMEs align the practices undertaken by the enterprise with government regulation that related to the implementation of the GSCM practices and also with the demand from the customer.\n8. Conclusions and further research: Our study extends the supply-chain literature by defining the essential drivers for implementing the GSCM practices from the internal and external perspectives. The five dimensions of important drivers (support and involvement, technology, knowledge, financial, and customer and regulation) investigated in this study are broader in the scope covering various dimensions of barrier and challenge for SMEs of furniture to implement the GSCM practices. Our study also extends prior GSCM research by developing and empirically testing a comprehensive model that explore the role of external drivers in the relationship between early adoption and full implementation of GSCM practices. For the first conceptual model, this study found only financial factor has a direct positive effect on the full implementation of GCSCM practices. For the second conceptual model, this study found that internal and external drivers comprising involvement, technology, financial, regulation, and customer pressure have the direct effect on early adoption of GSCM practices. Among those factors, technology has a most significant effect on early adoption of the GSCM practice. Although this study can prove the positive indirect effect of the regulation and customer pressure on full implementation of GSCM practices toward early adoption, the correlation is smaller than the direct effect of regulation and customer pressure on early adoption. So, based on the result of the second conceptual model, this study can conclude that involvement, technology, financial, regulation and customer pressure are the antecedent factors of early adoption of the GSCM practice by the SMEs of wooden furniture and early adoption is the antecedent factor of full implementation the GSCM practices. For the first conceptual model, our findings failed to prove that knowledge has the direct effect on early adoption and full implementation of GSCM practices. Our findings also fail to prove that involvement, technology, regulation pressure and customer pressure have the direct effect on the full implementation of the GSCM practice. From a practical view, the theorized and empirically supported model provides a valuable structured approach to the development of the strategy of implementation of the GSCM practice for the owners of SMEs and the government. Although we have empirically tested the research model in the context of Indonesia's wooden furniture industry only, the results provide an overview to test it in the other sectors of SMEs and the environmental management practices. The main managerial implication of the result of this study is managers and decision maker can concentrate their efforts and efficiently allocate resources to the specific factors that contribute to improve the implementation of GSCM practices. The main social implication of the result of this study is government should have a specific regulation and the consumers should be given information and understanding the important of their environmentally behavior to push the enterprises in doing the GSCM practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the direct effect of internal and external drivers on full implementation of the green supply-chain management (GSCM) practice; and second, to investigate the direct effect of internal drivers and indirect effect of external drivers on the full implementation of the GSCM practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on the data collected from 30 to 35 furniture small and medium enterprises (SMEs) chosen from each surveyed region. In this case, the selected SMEs should have been conducted some GSCM practices. So, the total number of samples used in this study is 100 SMEs. The relationships between internal and external drivers and the success of the implementation of the GSCM practices are analyzed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results of this study have revealed that internal and external drivers, which consist of involvement, technology, financial, regulation and customer pressure, have a direct effect on early adoption of GSCM practices. Among these drivers, technology gives the most significant effect. The results have also shown that only financial factor has a direct effect on the full implementation of GCSCM practices, whereas regulation and customer pressure have positive effect on the full implementation through early adoption of GSCM practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: Among the limitations of this study is related to the sample that was restricted to SMEs of furniture in three regions. The other limitation could be related to variable involved as internal and external drivers. This study has only used involvement, technology, knowledge, financial, and regulation and customer pressure as the antecedent variables of early adoption of the GSCM practices. Moreover, this study has only used the Likert scale as an approach to measure the implementation of GSCM practice management, which could be the source of bias in expressing the level of the implementation.\nPractical implications: From the internal side of enterprises, the top management or the owner of SMEs can develop an effective comprehensive environmental strategy. This strategy requires the top management of SMEs show an environment oriented, allocate a specific person for implementing the GSCM practice and learn about the current technology that can support the environmentally friendly products, and also allocate the specific budget to support the implementation of GSCM practice. Moreover, since the study also found that financial factor was just the only factor having a direct effect on the full implementation of GSCM practices; therefore, the government should help the SMEs of furniture in developing low cost-GSCM implementation techniques and also provide easiness for the SMEs to get the needed fund for implementing the GSCM practice.\nSocial implications: The research has confirmed that regulation and customer pressure have the positive and significant effect on the full implementation of GSCM practices. It may encourage the government to make some policy related to improvement of the implementation of GSCM practice by SMEs of wooden furniture, specifically in the Central Java Province. Another implication would be to encourage the customer to make purchasing oriented decision for the implementation of GSCM practices by the SMEs of wooden furniture.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature of GSCM by combining the critical factors of implementation of GSCM practices toward internal and external drivers and empirically testing the direct and indirect impacts on the level of adoption of GSCM practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integration through cross-functional teams in a service company	[ "Integration", "Brazil", "Cross-functional team", "Service company" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over time, companies have learned to group activities, people and resources into processes, turning functional silos into cross-functional relationships that, through collaboration, are able to meet the demands of the market (Galpin et al., 2007). The concept of cross-functional integration has emerged from the need to facilitate the coordination between departments within an organization that is necessary to succeed in the market place (Rho et al., 1994; Griffin and Hauser, 1996; Morash et al., 1996; Murphy and Poist, 1994; Krohmer et al., 2002; Daugherty et al., 2009; Pimenta et al. (2016).\n2. Research method: 2.1 Research strategy\n3. Literature review: The literature review has two purposes. It has been conducted to provide an overview of the field, but also to serve an important role in constructing an analytical framework. The review is centered on cross-functional integration and CFTs.\n4. Results: This section presents the results obtained with the analysis of the five studied CFTs in the company. As described earlier in the research method section, five CFTs were selected: SDA, PMD, BEC, MRC and DNT. Figure 2 shows a simplified organizational structure of the company and the location of the CFTs studied in this research.\n5. Concluding remarks: This study presents, as a main contribution, a set of categories for characterizing CFTs in different organizational processes in a service company. The studied CFTs can be analyzed from the perspective of four major pillars: constitution of the CFT, task drivers, behavior and attitudes of the team and personal motivators. A CFT can be established through several forms. Positive impacts are generated when the constitution of the CFT is configured to contain more senior members, with high capacity to perform the demanded tasks, good interpersonal skills and mature attitudes. According to the interviewees, the seniority of the team members and their interpersonal skills are important when constructing a CFT. Task drivers contain bricks related to the enablers and barriers for the task assigned to a CFT. The leader of the CFT, even when they take on an informal condition, needs to ensure that the team goals are aligned with the functional goals of its members. If the goals are not aligned between the CFT and functional organizational areas, the leader must conduct negotiations to ensure that team goals are reached.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to characterize the internal dynamics of cross-functional teams (CFTs) in different organizational processes in a service company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study from a Brazilian service company was conducted. CFTs in five different organizational processes (strategy development, product development, portfolio management, sales channels management and business analysis) were analyzed through in-depth interviews, documents and non-participant observation.\nFindings: A framework with four pillars was constructed: constitution of the CFT, task drivers, behavior and attitudes of the team and personal motivators. It was possible to analyze the process of how a group acts and reacts under changing circumstances based on the pillars included in the framework.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is focused on creating analytical generalizability. Several insights in the 12 propositions presented in this study may be investigated in future research to validate the identified relationships among the pillars included in the framework. Moreover, the proposed framework allows the teams to be analyzed through a multidimensional view: structure, processes and impacts.\nPractical implications: If the semantic boundaries of the communication are not well delineated, the differences in understanding can generate manifest conflicts. Moreover, the workload in a CFT seems to be larger and more complex than working in a functional activity; however, members perceive that it reduces the risk of unemployment and increases motivation.\nOriginality/value: The present study contributes to the extant literature with the proposal of a set of new exploratory propositions that can support future quantitative research about the use of CFTs in the service industry context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Human aspects of information security: An empirical study of intentional versus actual behavior	[ "Data security", "Information management", "Information security", "Decision making", "Individual behaviour", "Persuasion psychology", "Protection motivation theory", "Elaborative likelihood model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In Japan, according to the Survey Report of Information Security Incidents released every year by the Japan Network Security Association, 1,032 security incidents happened in 2005, and theft and loss resulting from individual human error accounted for 42 per cent of all incidents and was the largest category. In response to these types of situations, many products aimed at preventing information leaks have become available in the market and management practices, such as ISMS, have been implemented. However, in the 2009 survey, information leakage incidents had failed to decline, with the number reaching 1,539 incidents. Although individual human error incidents had declined to 7.9 per cent, incidents caused by administrative error had increased from 5.1 per cent in 2005 to 50.9 per cent (JNSA, 2010). Based on these statistics, new approaches for information security measures have arisen. One such approach is research focusing on the behaviour of individuals as standard practice and decision-making. In this paper, we analyze a survey on the behaviour of individuals who implement information security measures. In particular, we refer to existing research on attitudinal change using persuasive communication from the field of persuasion psychology.The structure of this paper is as follows. In Section 2, the background to the motivation of our research is discussed. In Section 3, related works and the models our research is based on are discussed. In Section 4, the outline of the questionnaire and the experiment we designed is explained. In Section 5 the results are given as well as an explanation of the analysis and a discussion. In Section 6, this paper is summarized.\n2 Background: A Bot is a malware program which allows a malicious attacker (referred to simply as an \"attacker\" hereinafter) to gain control of a computer for fraudulent purposes. Once a computer is infected with a Bot, the attacker remotely controls the computer externally. Therefore, the user can cause damage to the entire network without recognizing that their PC is infected. The Cyber Clean Center (CCC, 2011) is an organization supported by the Ministry of Economics, Trade, and Industry (METI), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) with the collaboration of ISPs. With the help of ISPs, the CCC sends an attention-grabbing warning email to the users of Bot-infected computers (Figure 1).CCC also provides a cleaning tool on its web site. People who are notified of an infection are expected to download the cleaning tool, install it on their PCs, and take necessary steps accordingly. This activity has proven to be effective, leading to the relatively low rate of Bot-infections in Japan, compared to the rest of the world. However, among the users who received such an email warning from the CCC, those who implemented the recommended measures (i.e. downloading the cleaning tool) account for only about 32.5 percent, thus underscoring the need to improve this rate. Despite being warned of the Bot-infection and urged to implement specific countermeasures, why do only 32.5 percent of users follow the recommendation? The answer might be that users think downloading and installing such a cleaning tool on their PCs might incur costs as well as cause further trouble. One survey in the field discusses the hypothesis that this phenomenon is a \"social dilemma\" and tries to verify the cognitive elements which are the feature of \"social dilemma\" (Komatsu et al., 2010). The results of the survey revealed that a users' attitude (based on stated preference) does not match that users' behaviour (based on revealed preference). For this reason, an analysis of the cause for this difference is necessary. Also, additional surveys and experiences need to be conducted. The authors found that the cognitive element that most affects users' intention is a sense of crisis. Therefore, the authors refer to both protection motivation theory (PMT), which can create the sense of a threat and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), which is a behavioural model using persuasibility in the decision-making process.\n3 Related research and trends: Since 2001, a field of research called \"security economics\" has emerged with Anderson (2001) at the forefront. Far from being a Western-only interest, security economics has also garnered considerable interest in Asia (Sugiura et al., 2008). Also, Egelman et al. (2008) provide an insightful study that creates effective security indicators within the context of phishing. These indicators are clearly needed, as 97 per cent of participants believed in phishing enough to visit the URLs. For the participants who saw the active warnings, 79 per cent chose to heed them and close the phishing sites, whereas only 13 per cent of those who saw the passive warnings obeyed them. Without the active warning indicators, it is likely that most participants would have entered personal information. However, the active indicators did not perform equally. In other words, this study has substantiated the effectiveness of the active warning alerts used in the experiments. A current and important result in terms of potential malware problems also exists. Christin et al. (2011) examined the cost for an attacker to pay users at home to execute arbitrary malware and then asked these users to download and run an executable program they wrote without being told what it did and without any way of knowing how it works.3.1 Persuasion psychology\n4 Survey and demonstration experiment: 4.1 Preparations and questionnaire\n5 Findings and discussion: The survey was conducted over the internet using a web survey environment from Cross Marketing Ltd (2012). The reason we adopted an internet survey was because the topic of this survey was Bot viruses, and people that used the internet had to be selected effectively. The survey period was from 9 March 2010 to 10 March 2010, and the total number of respondents was 2,254. Table I shows the number of respondents per gender and in each age group.From 17 April 2010 to 29 May 2010, we conducted the experiment with three participants at one time, for a total of 35 times. We interviewed the participants about their behaviour in the game after the experiment. As a result, 93 samples were available because seven participants claimed that they did not take the indicated countermeasures because the PC was not their own. Table II shows the results of whether or not participants implemented the measures during the experiment with respect to having the intention for implementation in the questionnaire. 34 participants in the questionnaire responded that they intended to implement the measures, whereas of these, 13 actually implemented the measure and 21 failed to do so.5.1 Findings from result of the questionnaire\n6 Conclusion: We conducted this psychology experiment to observe an actual, individual behaviour after the questionnaire. The difference in intention and actual behaviour was revealed. Several cognitive elements related to PMT and ELM were effective in promoting the implementation of security measures. We will apply the results to activities that promote information security measures. However, the relationship between complex structures remains when considering intention, actual behaviour, and cognitive elements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - A significant amount of empirical research has been conducted on the socio-economic (sociological, psychological, economic) aspects of information security, such as the phenomenon of individuals who are willing to take security measures, but often do not. There is a growing body of research relating to individual behaviour and decision making and the purpose of this paper is to analyze a survey on the behaviour of individuals who implement information security measures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To promote effective information security measures, this paper refers to research on the psychology of persuasion from the field of social psychology. A survey was conducted into determinants for changing attitudes through persuasive messages, and the results were analysed. A questionnaire was used and the authors built a demonstrative experimental environment, which analysed in detail attitudinal changes in an individuals' behaviour.\nFindings: - The authors found differences in behaviour regarding the intent to implement measures discovered from the responses to the questionnaire as well as from actual conduct in the demonstrative experiment.\nOriginality/value: - It is original to adopt a model defined by social psychology, especially Protection Motivation Theory and Elaborative Likelihood Model. The authors conducted both questionnaire survey and the psychological experiment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Addressing the undergraduate internship challenge in developing countries: A "learning-by-doing" project-based online internship model	[ "Digital divide", "Assessing online internships", "Online internship", "Online project-based learning", "Reflective learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internships have been traditionally seen as part of work-based learning of work-related skills, facilitating a student's transition to membership of a profession (Bonk et al., 1998; Darling-Hammond et al., 2002; Greene, 2005; Kee, 2012). The factors that contribute to the quality of internships are well known: a robust curriculum, a focus on strengthening workplace skills, opportunities to practise skills in a safe environment, feedback from mentors and performance assessments (McLachlan and Hess, 2014). In India, however, these features are not systematically addressed in the internships that the undergraduate higher education curriculum, especially in technology, prescribes for its students. This has led to many calls for improvement in design and implementation of internship programs (for instance, Bansal, 2004; Goel et al., 2010; Parashar and Datta, 2012; Pillutla and Mandaleeka, 2015). It has also led, as a survey in 2014 (Chand, 2014) revealed, students to seek out internships, not so much to make the transition to membership of a profession but to engage in short-term projects that offered an opportunity to \"learn-by-doing.\" Such opportunities were inadequate to meet the demand, and the websites which aggregated information on these opportunities did not present any technology-mediated internship openings that could have supplemented the limited onsite opportunities. This absence of online opportunities to engage in \"learning-by-doing\" projects provided the rationale for the model of online internship reported here. We argue that in developing country contexts, such internships, which provide students in higher education learning-by-doing opportunities, can promote reflective learning while simultaneously addressing key concerns in public systems like education and health.\nDesign and methodology: online internship: The design of the model evolved over a two-year period, with the trial round (2014-2015) also incorporating an evaluation of the products of the internship by testing the videos produced for their impact. The repeat round, in the second year (2015-2016), involved a replication of the first year's design with some modifications, and an evaluation of the impact on reflective learning of the interns. Table I provides a summary of the participation and internship task details.\nResults: Results of trial round\nDiscussion, challenges and policy implications: This study was motivated by the absence of technology-mediated internship models in countries such as India that could supplement traditional internship by allowing students to engage in \"learning-by-doing\" projects. The design features - the online orientation of the interns, mentoring and supervision during the internship, and open discussion forums of the interns - were relatively easy to implement. The evaluation indicated positive outcomes both for the products of the model and the impact on the interns. Although we found some positive effect on reflective learning, sustaining these benefits would need projects with longer engagement and mentoring. Even though the reflective learning scale has been widely used in various studies (Chen et al., 2010; Laird et al., 2014; Rocconi et al., 2015), given the limitations of self-reported measures, and the possibility that such measures may capture a \"tendency to reflect\" rather than actual gains in reflective learning, follow-up studies to confirm reflective learning through narrative assessment techniques, interviews and focus group discussions in online environments (Stewart and Williams, 2005; Stieger and Goritz, 2006) may be required. Further, longitudinal studies need to be undertaken to investigate the effects of participating in online internship on future workplace performance.\nStatements on ethics and conflicts of interest: The announcement of the internships indicated the voluntary and the open-access nature of the contribution expected, and the points needed for different kinds of certificates. For the testing of the videos, the consent of the schools, including permission for photography without indicating the identity of the school, was obtained. All the 54 schools contacted readily agreed to participate and no school withdrew during the testing. The schools and children were coded to anonymize the data before analysis. There is no conflict of interest in the research reported here.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The difficulties higher education institutions in developing countries face in finding adequate and relevant onsite student internship opportunities make a case for online internships. The purpose of this paper is to present an online internship model, developed over a two-year period, which challenged students to engage in learning-by-doing projects that addressed a key barrier in the implementation of ICT policies in public education, the paucity of audio-visual content in local languages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The design of the model comprised the development of instructional videos by 340 interns, the evaluation of the videos by two interns and their testing by 31 interns through a field experiment using a between-subjects pre-test - post-test design in 54 schools. The process was repeated the following year with the field experiment replaced by the development of teaching manuals. The changes in reflective learning among 112 of the 119 interns who developed video content in this repeat round were assessed.\nFindings: The field experiment found that the intern-developed videos improved Mathematics and Science scores among school students but not the attitudes to these subjects. Participation in online internships improved reflective learning.\nResearch limitations/implications: The evaluation of change in reflective learning is based on self-reported measures.\nPractical implications: The online internship model presented in the paper can address concerns related to inadequate internship opportunities, while addressing gaps in public policy implementation by systems such as education, health and rural development.\nOriginality/value: The paper outlines the design of an online student internship model and a methodology for implementing it. The study indicates the feasibility of a low-cost, large-scale online model of internship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empowering the regulators in the development of national performance measurements in food safety	[ "Benchmarking", "Regulation", "Food safety", "Data handling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Construct measurement in food safety is still very much in its infancy and has not yet produced instruments of adequate reliability and validity, thereby raising questions about the robustness of substantive findings. Initiatives around the world have tried to assess food safety equivalencies and standards for decades. Some have advocated in favor of a systems approach to evaluate food safety efficiencies amongst nations (Reichard, 2005; Griffith, 2006; Yuska, 2011). Some intra-national efforts have been documented in recent years, but no attempts were taken on the international stage (Grigg and Walls, 2007; Jacxsens, 2010). The World Ranking of Food Safety Performance initiated by a Canadian university in 2006, has attracted some criticism from around the world (Hoffmann, 2010). It was the first known attempt to compare nations based on specific food safety performance measurements.\nRisk, benchmarking and food safety ranking: Traditionally, supply chain performance measurement in food safety has been confined to policy performance, which typically drove regulators to look at specific domestic industries, while generating as few negative variances from standard as possible (Behn, 2003). With the economics of the food industry changing rapidly after second world war, and the theory of risk management by gross financial \"numbers\" becoming increasingly dominant, it's easy to see how performance measurement became solely the province of industry and government. In recent years, other agencies like universities and research organizations have been attracted by food safety performance measurements beyond the life sciences (Ribeiro and Matte, 2010). Performance measures are challenging to set given that how we manage risks has changed since they are now more inherently unpredictable.\nThe Canadian program: The Food Safety World Ranking initiative led by the University of Guelph was meant to allow Canada to compare itself with the rest of the world. The targeted audience was Canada. The project repurposed despite its initial intentions. Many countries studied the benchmarking exercise which led to several meetings with food safety legislators and regulators from around the world. It caught the Canadian principal investigator of the project by surprise.\nFramework and methodology: The exploratory nature of this study means that the task of identifying appropriate supra-national indicators is far from trivial. The usual process of developing indicators, measures, and standards of program quality can be considered a tiered, four-step process. Once topic areas are identified, establishing the indicators that reflect quality for each area becomes of primal importance. Determining measures of the indicators and setting a numeric criterion or standard for the measure would complete the process. For the purpose of this study, the focus was mainly on the establishment of food safety indicators.\nDiscussion: The workshop was intended to bring together several cross-national perspectives in real time and feel the objective was reached. The focus of the exercise was to conduct an empirical assessment of how to set supra-national indicators to measure the effectiveness of food safety programs. Our findings support relations between indicators and the ability for one country to assess, manage and communicate risks. Our findings provide evidence regarding each of the various components of construct validity. The workshop provided evidence that the Canadian study had some merit but could be adjusted based on regional differences. Some regions cope with different climates and have broader regulatory architectures like Europe which may be considered in any benchmarking reports related to food safety policies.\nConclusion: The Helsinki session is believed to be the first international meeting in which benchmarking metrics were discussed in order to rank countries based on food safety risk practices. Ranking programs in food safety remain controversial. Most particularly, risk assessors and the public service remain skeptical about their effectiveness. The Helsinki meeting was not met to alleviate the skepticism around ranking systems, but it did allow many to better appreciate several perspectives from around the world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study proposes a straightforward set of performance measurements for industrialized nations. The aims of this paper are twofold. First, the paper explores the notion of ranking nations based on food safety performances, beyond benchmarking. The paper appraises how a global comparative analysis could contribute to best practices and continuance improvement in food safety. Second, this paper presents an experiment in which a group of regulators took part in a workshop held in Helsinki, Finland in the Fall 2011.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A session was held in October 2011 in Helsinki, and many countries were invited. A total of 17 countries were represented. The following countries were represented: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA. The session was designed to be informative, interactive and flexibly tailored to the delegates' needs and experience. It was also designed to raise awareness and understanding of benchmarking and supra-national ranking systems, what it is and how it can be applied using practical examples from healthcare and across other sectors.\nFindings: The session also introduced the principles of process thinking and illustrated how process benchmarking can be a useful tool for continuance improvement. The session then built upon the theory presented in the introductory portion by focusing specifically on the essence of ranking indicators. In this session, delegates spent time familiarizing themselves with indicators provided by the University of Guelph, discussing how they might implement it within their individual nations and across the trust as a whole.\nPractical implications: The collection of primary data was also debated at the session. Public trust, for example, could easily be an indicator which could be included. Measurement of public trust in food safety might be important for governments. It could provide them with information on the performance of the food safety systems from a consumers' perspective. To be an effective indicator of performance the measurement of public trust in food safety should be liable to change. Therefore, changes in performance of the food safety systems have to be reflected through the measurement of public trust in food safety.\nOriginality/value: The Helsinki session is believed to be the first international meeting in which benchmarking metrics were discussed in order to rank countries based on food safety risk practices. Ranking programs in food safety remain controversial. Most particularly, risk assessors and the public service remain skeptical about their effectiveness. The Helsinki meeting was not met to alleviate the skepticism around ranking systems, but it did allow many to better appreciate several perspectives from around the world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relevance of F.W. Taylor's principles to modern shop-floor practices: A benchmarking work study	[ "Performance measurement", "Operations management", "Benchmarking", "Scientific management", "F.W. Taylor’s principles", "Observation study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Background of the problem\n2. Literature review: This section presents a detailed review of the existing literature. A systematic literature review process was followed to consolidate and synthesize the research in the subject area to identify the research gaps (Tranfield et al., 2003). The review process was conducted in four phases.\n3. Methodology: This section presents the research framework and methodology which is inter-disciplinary in nature and consists of both work study (ILO, 1991) and empirical study.\n4. Data analysis and findings: This section presents the results and findings of the statistical analysis in detail. First, we present the results of the time study observation between the two operators at the aggregate level. We then present the fundamental analysis of data and, last, we present the results of the hypotheses testing in more detail. The analyses were performed in the IBM SPSS Statistics Standard, version 19.0.\n5. Conclusions: An inter-disciplinary approach was aimed at to examine and establish the relevance of F.W. Taylor's principles to the modern shop-floor practices in the context of a manufacturing organization. Accordingly, the standard time study guidelines laid out by ILO (1991) were adopted; further, a random observation was made of two operators who independently performed an identical operation in the shop-floor premises of a particular factory. Our study findings can be summarized under two heads: first, it was observed that modern management has developed the science for each element of the operator's manual work, which was postulated and proposed by the \"Father of Scientific Management,\" in the shop-floor management. For example, the standard operating procedure was developed and implemented for each element of the operator's work. This shows the survival of Taylor's principles in the modern shop-floor practices. Second, it was observed that the operators had performed each element of the manual work equally and independently well. However, the total operating time for completing each operation is more than the standard operating time that was prescribed in the organization's technological process sheet. Hence, it was evident that the completion of the operation on time was necessary for the operators but not as important as the total number of jobs completed during the shift. These empirical findings show the high relevance of F.W. Taylor's principles to modern shop-floor practices. Hence, it can be concluded that the Taylorism is not an extinct advocacy but evergreen research findings that are applicable to the modern shop-floors practices too.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use an inter-disciplinary approach to examine the relevance of F.W. Taylor's principles to modern shop-floor practices in the context of a manufacturing organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Standard time study guidelines laid out by the ILO were adopted and random observations made between two operators independently performing an identical operation in the shop-floor premises of a particular factory.\nFindings: It was evident from the study that modern management has developed the science for each element of the operator's manual work, as postulated and proposed by F.W. Taylor. It was also evident that completion of the operation on time was necessary for the operators but not as important as the total number of jobs performed during the duration of the shift. These empirical findings highlighted the high relevance of F.W. Taylor's principles to modern shop-floor practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors adopted time study observation as the single method to collect real data from real practices but this could be considered as a biased approach. Since the time study observation is a slow, time consuming, and expensive process of obtaining data, the authors restricted the study to only two operators. Further, the study was carried out in a real setting under several assumptions that may limit its wider applications and practical implications. The study findings suggest that measuring the operator's performance in terms of time consumption and resource utilization is necessary but not sufficient to evaluate and improve his/her productivity because operators evaluate their performance in terms of the total number of jobs completed during the duration of the shift. Therefore, it is suggested that the managers on the modern shop-floor measure the output at the aggregate level for the given input, while developing new work methods as well as devising performance management and reward systems.\nOriginality/value: The study has contributed to the body of knowledge by conducting a complete assessment of F.W. Taylor's first principle from its origin to its application in modern shop-floor practices. Also, the authors empirically examined the relevance of Taylor's principles to modern shop-floor practices in the context of a manufacturing organization. The study supports the descriptive work of Freeman (1996), who envisaged the relevance of Taylor's ideas to modern management practices; also, it gives a few directions to test behavioral operations theory in terms of using real operational data to examine an established organization theory (Gino and Pisano, 2008).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Participatory predictors of users' satisfaction with housing infrastructure in Akure, Nigeria	[ "Predictors", "Facilities", "Satisfaction", "Akure", "Housing infrastructure provision", "Users’ participation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Following the waves of unsatisfactory housing infrastructural services in developing countries, the need for users' participation in infrastructure provision has become a necessity. Users' participation has the potential to improve the outcome of urban service provision in addition to enhancing its durability and meeting their needs. User participation in infrastructure provision is the involvement of users in decision-making during inception, planning and implementation of infrastructural projects in their neighborhood. It has the potential to enhance the satisfaction of service users because; they are central to the process of such infrastructure projects. Housing satisfaction indicates good quality of life and that the needs and aspirations of residents are met (Waziri et al., 2013).\n2. Related literature: Housing is the process and outcome of providing large number of residential buildings on a permanent basis, with adequate physical infrastructure and social amenities, in planned, descent, safe and sanitary neighborhoods to meet the basic and special needs of the population (Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, 2002). This shows that housing is more than mere shelter but, rather, includes the concomitant infrastructural facilities, which are very important for the overall habitability of housing environments. Obiegbu (2008) observed that one of the most important objectives of economic development is the improvement of production capacity and welfare through the availability of reliable infrastructural services. This shows that having reliable infrastructural services positively influence the economy of any nation. For instance, the nature of roads have an influence on transportation, proper drainages control flooding, electricity supply is necessary to run businesses and security systems helps to keep people and properties safe. In addition, waste management systems help to keep the environment clean and conducive for activities. Access to safe water supply is very important for human use in several ways and is suitable for personal hygiene (Fakere et al., 2018; Lawal and Basorun, 2015; World Health Organization (WHO), 2006).\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Setting and sampling\n4. Results and discussions: 4.1 Levels of users' participation in infrastructure provision\n5. Conclusion and policy implications of the study: This research examined participatory predictors of users' satisfaction with infrastructure in Akure, Nigeria. It showed low levels of users' participation in the provision of housing infrastructure and, consequently, low level of satisfaction with infrastructure. This study has affirmed the assumptions that users' participation in infrastructure provision is a strong predictor of users' satisfaction, which suggests that participation has a high impact on satisfaction. It has also revealed the importance of users' involvement in the planning and implementation of infrastructure projects to enhance its performance and efficiency for its users. Users' participation should be integrated into housing policies and monitored during execution of housing projects owing to its potential to improve satisfactory housing and infrastructure (Fakere and Ayoola, 2016).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper is based on users' satisfaction with housing infrastructure as a derivative of their participation in evolving the facilities from inception. The paper aims to examine optimal performance of infrastructural facilities with a view to determine the satisfaction of users in the study area.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study reports on a cross-sectional doctoral research study on 304 household heads in the transitional and peripheral zones of Akure, Nigeria. The infrastructure studied were water supply, electricity supply, roads, drainage, waste management and security. A structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and physical observations were used. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, mean satisfaction scoring and categorical regression analysis.\nFindings: Respondents found the infrastructural facilities in their communities to be unsatisfactory; they also indicated low levels of participation in the provision of infrastructure. Residents were most satisfied with waste management and least satisfied with water supply. The results showed a significant relationship between users' participation and satisfaction with housing infrastructure.\nPractical implications: The findings imply that giving adequate attention to users' involvement in the provision process of infrastructural projects can enhance their satisfaction with infrastructure.\nOriginality/value: The study highlights the benefits of involving users in the process of providing housing infrastructure, establishing a positive relation with their satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a defect monitoring system (DMOSYS) for building maintenance at polytechnic	[ "Conventional method", "Information and communication technology", "Building services", "Maintenance management", "Maintenance management system", "Malaysian polytechnic" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Presently, most organisations are still implementing conventional method rather than modern computerised systems to manage the maintenance of building facilities and infrastructure (Supramani, 2005; Dukic et al., 2013). The application of conventional method mentioned in the definition is recognised in this research as a paper-based report or unsystematic computational database for building facility management at Polytechnics. The conventional method is apparently not able to capture long-term business targets (Hassan, 2010). The problems emerged as a result of the need to manage critical and complex facilities; problems can include, for instance, a lack of defect diagnosis caused by an unsuitable system for assessing processes and excessive retrieval time in the recovery of maintenance on facility defects.\n2. Information and communication technology implementation for building maintenance at polytechnic: According to Gabbar et al. (2003) and Sharma and Govindaraju (2010), in the context of global education industries such as Polytechnic, the developed maintenance strategies are commonly implemented and managed within the information system, which is usually separate from the effective operational system (e.g. diagnosis, assessing and decision-making). The classical information system is used to decide the maintenance strategies without having a comprehensive approach to optimise the maintenance management for the facility.\n3. Methodology: The case studies on the eight Polytechnics were undertaken to identify the maintenance management problems, the current approaches to addressing the problems and the ICT implementation and the maintenance management system to obtain information relating to the maintenance identification, assessment, planning and execution processes. Those Polytechnics are selected based on major problems of using the conventional method in the comparison to investigate the maintenance management practices in each Polytechnic. There are around 32 Polytechnics in Malaysia and almost all are using conventional methods (Jabatan Pengajian Politeknik, 2013). The number is considered very big indicating that the use of modern ICT is still very limited compared to other institutions of higher learning (e.g. Universiti Sains Malaysia) in Malaysia.\n4. Limitations of the current practices: The email and \"E-Aduan\" system were the technology used in managing the defects at the Polytechnic. However, both of these technologies were inadequate compared to the modern ICT tools to record the information related to the maintenance assessments into the database system.\n5. Synthesis of good practices: Table IV represents the suggested solutions from the case studies to improve the current practices on the maintenance management by implementing ICT at the Polytechnic. Cases A, C and H suggested improving the particular defect of information in the assessment by combining with the related software technology compared to other cases. In fact, the problem of unspecific information in the assessment delivery also does affect the other Polytechnics to some extent, but the significance of this factor is not that obvious. The customers will use the electronic form to report the defect complete with the data facilities and more detail of the defect explanation to gather accuracy of the inspection works. The other suggestion from the assistant engineer was to provide the information on the specific defective materials and the method used to diagnose the facility at the Polytechnic (Cases A, B, C, D, F and G). However, Cases E and H are not facing the impact of problems for the inspection information management, which is associated with the competent engineer for handling the defect of facilities with less critical and complex building and infrastructure facilities.\n6. Requirements for integrating maintenance management system: There were many problems related to the conventional method at the Polytechnic, such as nonspecific assessment through paper-based form, limited budgets and a time gap of maintenance repairs. The paper-based form wasted a lot of time, effort and materials. The number of students and the long-life span of services required an efficient management to maintain the building facility at the Polytechnic (Yusof, 2010). Therefore, the transformation of the conventional process into the new system is important to improve the maintenance management in the works of inspection and to reduce the budget that was allocated for maintenance repairs especially on the ad hoc and preventive maintenance (Dukic et al., 2013).\n7. The development of a prototype system of DMOSYS: In this research, the development of the system was intended to improve the maintenance management problems and processes at the Polytechnic. Figure 1 shows the components of a maintenance management system, which comprises defect assessment, defect diagnosis, preventive maintenance and report protection.\n8. Processes: There are four key components in the maintenance management processes as described below.\n9. System architecture: The system architecture focuses on the collection of the facility defect information and assessment as well as maintenance planning and analyses the data for the execution reference. The mobile devices such as notebook enable staff to compare and adapt the data at any facility location with the customer's complaint recorded in the prototype system user-interface (MS Visual Basic.NET). The staff will be able to capture the evidence of the facility defect, update about the detailing defect and record the relevant aspect of the defect attribution into the inspection form of the prototype system. This information is stored in a computer database central (MS Access) at the office for further process. The information about the defect is analysed for the maintenance planning and execution using the defect diagnosis and decision-making process. The workflow is illustrated in Figure 6.\n10. Operation of the prototype system: This section describes the interactive portion of the system including input data validation and updates of system database in the information system prototype. The prototype system has four main functions and graphical user interfaces:\n11. Limitations of the research: The main limitations of this research are as follows:\n12. Conclusion: This research was undertaken to overcome the problems of maintenance management using conventional methods such as paper-based form and unsystematic database at the Polytechnics. Based on this purpose, the improvement towards supporting the reliability of building facility was conducted through the development of the new information system for facilitating maintenance management processes equipped with the defect diagnosis and decision-making support system. The aim was accomplished through the following two specific objectives:\n13. Test results and recommendations: The results and recommendations from the previous test include the following:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The current maintenance management method has affected the efficiency of the building facility management at Polytechnics. Many issues such as poor service delivery, inadequate finance, poor maintenance planning and maintenance backlogs have emerged due to the usage of conventional method application (paper-based form and unsystematic database. The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature and case studies project of the technologies in maintenance management at Polytechnic, and subsequently to identify the challenge in improving the current maintenance management technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature and case studies project of the technologies in maintenance management at Polytechnic, and subsequently to identify the challenges of information and communication technology (ICT) implementation for strategic defect diagnosis and decision-making in improving the current maintenance management technologies. Eight Polytechnics are selected on the basis of the major problems of using the conventional method in the comparison to investigate the maintenance management practices in each Polytechnic. There are around 32 Polytechnics in Malaysia and most are using conventional methods.\nFindings: The findings reveal the need for a more sophisticated maintenance management system that provides guidelines for decision-making processes with the implementation of ICT. The interview results also reveal irregularities within the Malaysian Polytechnics' maintenance management database. The system architecture and the information system prototype are presented to integrate the information database and maintenance management processes in improving the building diagnosis approach and decision-making process for managing building maintenance.\nOriginality/value: This new system is expected to become the successful technology in assisting the maintenance contractors, clients and developer for effective management of maintenance defects at Polytechnic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Four-mode channel interactivity concept and channel preferences	[ "Distribution channels and markets", "Internet", "Shops", "Internet shopping", "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: Interactivity has been conceptualized differently across the marketing, social psychology, communication, and computer science disciplines (Fortin and Dholakia, 2005; McMillan, 2002; McMillan and Hwang, 2002). Given the interactive nature of the internet, most recent conceptualizations of interactivity are web-based (Fortin and Dholakia, 2005; Liu, 2003; McMillan and Hwang, 2002; Novak et al., 2000; Stewart and Pavlou, 2002). Web interactivity has revolutionized consumer shopping experience and has led to the development of concepts such as e-customization and avatars (Ansari and Mela, 2003; Burke, 2002; Peterson et al., 1997).It is important to note, however, that interactivity is not solely an internet characteristic. Face-to-face conversations can be interactive, often more so than electronically mediated conversations via instant messaging, online message boards, chat rooms or blogs (Cho and Cheon, 2005; Holzwarth et al., 2007). This is especially true for marketing channels where most of the time consumers can interact directly with salespeople in physical stores but only indirectly in web stores (e.g. web assistants, avatars). The recent growth of lifestyle centers is an evidence for consumers' desire to directly interact with human salespeople (as opposed to online avatars) in small specialty stores and directly socialize with other consumers (Little, 2006). Thus, existing web-based interactivity conceptualizations are unsuitable for assessing offline retail channels in terms of perceived interactivity and for explaining preferences to shop in such channels.In the current work, we introduce an alternative approach to interactivity that synthesizes the literature from several disciplines and distinguishes between four interactivity modes: human, medium, message, and product. A four-mode conceptual framework of channel preferences is developed. This framework opens new avenues for research and can benefit practitioners. As retail channels' interactivity gains importance, consumer decisions on where and how to shop can be assessed using our framework.The paper has three main sections. First, we introduce the four-mode approach to channel interactivity. Then, a framework of channel preferences is developed and propositions for perceptions of and preferences for the four interactivity modes and their impact on channel preferences are offered. We conclude with future research directions and managerial implications.\nThe four-mode approach to channel interactivity: Definition and structure of interactivity\nChannel preferences framework: Companies and scholars debate when consumers prefer the online to offline channels and what trade-offs they are willing to make in terms of interactivity modes (Chiang and Dholakia, 2003; Frambach et al., 2007; Peterson et al., 1997; Verhoef et al., 2007). For instance, when consumers are willing to buy a book online instead of in a physical store, they may be signaling to companies a willingness to trade human- (e.g. speaking to a salesperson) and product-related (e.g. flipping through the book) modes for medium- (e.g. easy accessibility) and message-related (e.g. book rating and reviews) ones. Thus, marketers can gain a better understanding of consumers' channel preferences when they assess consumers' perceptions of and preferences for the four interactivity modes (Frambach et al., 2007).To illustrate how interactivity modes influence consumers' channel preferences, we propose a framework that evaluates consumers' preferences for physical and web stores. These channels were chosen because studies show that consumers interact with them differently (Alba et al., 1997; Frambach et al., 2007; Peterson et al., 1997; Verhoef et al., 2007; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2000). However, the proposed interactivity modes can be used to evaluate other channels (e.g. catalogues).While different kinds of physical retailers exist, we use the term physical stores to denote all types of physical retailers (Alba et al., 1997; Van den Poel and Leunis, 1999). While numerous types of retailers, such as discount (e.g. Wal-Mart), department (e.g. Macy's), and specialty stores (e.g. Best Buy) exist and might vary across interactivity modes, our pretest showed that the average perceived variability within is smaller than perceived variability across retail channels. For that reason and to reduce complexity we use the term physical stores to address all types of physical retailers.Through our framework, we demonstrate the conditions under which consumers prefer to shop only in physical stores, only in web stores, or in both. These preferences depend on consumers' perceptions of and preferences for the four modes of channel interactivity. Empirical studies have demonstrated that consumers' preferences for certain interactivity modes impact their channel preferences (Burke, 1998, 2002). For instance, Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2000) showed that consumers who preferred shopping online enjoyed \"freedom of shopping\" by not interacting with other individuals (e.g. low human-related interactivity mode). Studies have also demonstrated that consumers' perceptions of channels' interactivity modes impact their preferences for these channels (Burke, 2002; Verhoef et al., 2007; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2000). For instance, consumers frustrated with navigation through websites perceive the online channel as low in medium related mode and prefer physical to web stores (Burke, 1997, 2002).Figure 3 illustrates the proposed framework for channel preferences and includes:* perceptions of the four interactivity modes in physical and web stores;* preferences for these modes;* match/mismatch between preferences for and perceptions of the four modes; and* channel preferences.According to this framework, consumers perceive channels in terms of the four interactivity modes and develop preferences for these modes. Consumers' channel preferences depend on the match/mismatch between their perceptions about the channel in terms of the four modes and their preferences for these modes. For example, consumers who perceive web stores as lower on human-related mode of interactivity than physical stores and prefer no human interaction while shopping (creating match for human related mode) will probably prefer to shop in web stores.Perceptions of interactivity modes\nDiscussion and implications: Our approach and framework contribute to the retail channels literature in several ways. Assuming that interactivity exists in online and offline channels, a comparison of such channels becomes possible through our approach. Most research has focused on interactivity perceptions but not on preferences for different interaction modes when assessing channel preferences, a gap addressed by our framework. Finally, our framework improves existing conceptualizations by addressing how consumers interact with products and how this interaction impacts channel preferences. Thus, the approach and framework can guide research on cross-channel strategies and aid companies in the design and implementation of such strategies.Research opportunities\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper has two purposes. First, it aims to propose an alternative conceptualization for interactivity that distinguishes between four interactivity modes: human, medium, message, and product. Second, it seeks to develop a framework of channel preferences that integrates the four-mode concept of channel interactivity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A synthesis of interactivity literature streaming from several disciplines (social psychology, computer science, communication, object interaction, and marketing) was used to develop the four-mode concept. A framework is proposed to illustrate how consumers' perceptions of, and preferences for, the four interactivity modes impact channel preferences.\nFindings: - The propositions developed suggest: channels are perceived as offering different modes of interactivity; preferences for interactivity modes are shaped by personal and situational characteristics; and a match/mismatch between consumers' perceptions of and preferences for the interactivity modes determine channel preferences.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The approach allows an evaluation of particular interactive technologies, an assessment of multi-channel strategies, and an examination of consumers' satisfaction with their shopping experiences.\nOriginality/value: - The authors propose a broader approach than existing ones. It is not restricted to an online channel; it integrates consumers' interaction with products; and it enables a comparison of online and offline channels. In addition, most research has focused on perceptions of interactivity whereas the framework presented in the paper addresses perceptions of, and preferences for, interactivity modes that impact channel choices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An operating environment-based preventive maintenance decision model	[ "Environment", "Preventive maintenance", "Maintenance strategies", "Statistic model", "Maintenance optimization", "Regulations reliability centered maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Operating systems could directly influence the level of service and production for companies. With the rapid development of science and technology, the structure of the core systems becomes increasingly complex and the system functions tend to be more intelligent, automated and specialized (Khan and Wuest, 2019). Therefore, how to maintain the operational systems with non-homogeneous components running continuously and avoid the loss of fault as possible have become the common issues for enterprises. When the core system breaks downs, stagnation of production, interruption of service and other consequences will occur, leading to revenue loss for the companies and sometimes even loss to the whole society (Bradt, 1997). Statistically, the loss of revenue for of enterprises due to system breakdowns could account for 30-40 percent of the total production cost, which is much more than the maintenance cost (Suthep and Kullawong, 2015).\n2. Literature review: Reliability was defined in AGREE (1957) as the ability to complete certain given tasks under a given period of time and condition. The reliability models can generally be divided into probability model and statistical model. The statistical model compiles the data from daily operation, while the reliability obtained from probability model is theoretical reliability, which is independent of the actual life (Zhao and Cui, 2010). The probability model could help optimize the design of system structure and make the optimal maintenance decision according to the internal factors of the system such as the system component types, number and distribution of life.\n3. Preventive maintenance cycle decision model for repairable redundant system based on environmental factors: In this section, we will focus on a repairable redundant system preventive maintenance decision model based on the influence of environmental factors. With combination of the internal and external factors of the system, this model obtains the system reliability and then the optimal maintenance cycle to minimize maintenance cost.\n4. Digital simulation analysis: To better illustrate the applicability of this model, we use the data in simulation system proposed by Coit et al. (2015) as an example. This paper assumes that the redundancy system satisfies the following conditions:\n5. Conclusion and future work: In some industries like aerospace, shipbuilding and communications, where the redundant systems have widely been used to prolong its service life, the core systems are always in condition of inconvenience for maintenance. To improve the prediction of the environmental factors' influence for repairable redundant system, this paper presents a decision model using preventive maintenance method. Combining with consideration of the internal and external influence factors that affect the function of each components and operation of the system, we obtain the system reliability and the optimal maintenance cycle which minimizes the system maintenance cost. The reliability of redundant systems is obtained through DKNCP, while the system reliability with adding environmental factors is attained by the Proportional Hazards Model. When it comes to the calculation of the maintenance cost of redundant system, we propose the maintenance strategy of replacing the entire system during the system sudden failure and only replacing failed components during periodic maintenance. Finally, with the constraints of required reliability, the optimal maintenance period with minimal maintenance cost per unit time is derived with the application of the reliability under the influence of environmental factors. The results of simulation case show that the optimal maintenance cycle with consideration of environmental factors is almost 20 percent shorter than that without consideration of these factors, but the maintenance cost just increases no more than 10 percent. This result is more practical, applicable and consistent with reality. Hence, production managers could adopt our model to better maintain redundant system by considering the impacts of environmental factors to increase the safety and reliability of the redundant model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on finding the optimal maintenance interval and the minimum maintenance cost for redundant system, considering environment factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors propose a decision model with environment-based preventive maintenance for the repairable redundant system. Referring to the k-out-of-n model and Proportional Hazard Model, the reliability analysis is completed for the redundant system affected by internal and external issues. Meanwhile, the maintenance cost for the redundant system is divided into two categories: the fixed maintenance cost involving whole system replacement at the time of system failure, and the cost to replace failure components when the system still functions.\nFindings: Upon the required reliability analysis, an optimal maintenance interval that minimizes the average maintenance cost per unit time is identified. The simulation results indicate that the optimal maintenance interval with consideration of environmental factors is significantly shorter than that without consideration of these factors, with the maintenance cost increase within 10 percent.\nPractical implications: The redundant systems have widely been used in industries including the aero craft control system and warship power system. The model could be applied in the more real case considering the types of components and the operation environment, and help production managers better maintain machines by increasing the safety and reliability of the redundant model with the more frequent inspection.\nOriginality/value: Previous research of redundant system always focuses on internal degradation, while ignoring the reliability analysis for a redundant system with various multiple components under the influence of environment. However, this work could fill the theoretical gap, i.e. simultaneously consider both environmental and internal factors for a redundant system with non-homogeneous components. Meanwhile, the proposed superior model increases the reliability and safety of the k-out-of-n model with reasonable cost. Production managers could benefit a lot from this as well.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Women in the informal sector in Mauritius: a survival mode	[ "Gender", "Women", "Entrepreneurs", "Informal", "Sector" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: High rates of unemployment have meant that a substantial proportion of the poor in developing countries are being left to their own survival strategies to meet their basic needs. These factors have pushed people into informal employment (Bertulfo, 2011). For these people, the informal sector is the only arena in which they can attempt to eke out a living (Jennings, 1994). Given its capacity to generate employment, the informal sector has been viewed as a possible solution to the problems of the poor in developing countries (Moser, 1989). To overcome unemployment and underemployment, women create their own employment by engaging in informal work as street vendors, hawkers or home workers, but which expose them to both financial, social and health risks. Within the informal economy, women are concentrated in jobs associated with low and unstable earnings and with high risks of poverty.\n2. Literature survey: 2.1 Gender and entrepreneurship\n3. A situational analysis of the Mauritian economy after the trade shocks: Mauritius is considered one of the most successful stories in the context of the African continent.\n4. Survey data and methodology: 4.1 Survey data\n5. Characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the sample: Table I provides details on the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in terms of age, education level, marital status and their former income-earning activity. Most of the women entrepreneurs are aged 41 years and above. This is in line with Sookram and Watson (2008) where the average age of women in the informal sector in Trinidad and Tobago is 37 years. Table I also indicates that a large majority of women are married with children as the average family seems to consist of the husband, wife and two children. For around half of the women surveyed, their husband does not work, implying that they may be the sole bread-winner.\n6. The livelihood of women in the informal sector: In this section we analyse the earning of women entrepreneurs in the informal sector. Table IV provides a comparative analysis of the earning of women in the sample and that of their husbands. Out of the total, 77 women entrepreneurs have husbands who are in employment while 42 have husbands who are unemployed. Women entrepreneurs are more likely to be operating in the informal sector when the income level of the husband is low. The findings indicate that women entrepreneurs are more likely to be working when the husband's income is low which emphasises the contribution of women to household income (Table II).\n7. Model specification: We next analyse the factors influencing income earned by women entrepreneurs in the informal sector. The livelihood of women entrepreneurs is analysed via logistic regression techniques. The equation is formulated as follows:\n8. Conclusion: In Mauritius, women have moved in the informal sector as a result of layoffs from their previous jobs but also from the failure of the formal sector to consider their contribution. Findings from this study indicate that retrenched female workers and unemployed women have indeed moved to the informal sector to earn their living. The analysis of survey data reveals that the informal sector has indeed provided a self-employment outlet for unemployed and retrenched women workers. Most of the women-entrepreneurs can be defined as \"necessity\" entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses due to a lack of opportunities in the formal sector.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the characteristics of women entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector in Mauritius and to investigate the impact of women entrepreneurship on their own livelihoods and that of their families.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using survey data on 158 women entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector, the authors analyse whether there has been an improvement in the standard of living of women entrepreneurs as a result of their informal entrepreneurial activities.\nFindings: Findings reveal that the informal sector has provided a self-employment outlet for unemployed and retrenched women in Mauritius. Even if for a majority, their earnings remain low, their informal activity has indeed helped to contribute to their livelihood and household earnings.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research on informal sector businesses is fraught with limitations, given that these firms operate on the fringes of legality and data are thus a major issue. Hence interviewing owners of informal sector businesses to get relevant data is quite challenging.\nPractical implications: The results indicate that informal entrepreneurial activities contribute positively to women's livelihoods, hence policy should be aimed at encouraging women agency even if it is in the informal sector.\nSocial implications: The study helps to shed light as to whether entrepreneurship even if it exists in the informal sector helps to improve the living of these women and their families.\nOriginality/value: This study is innovative as it investigates the livelihood of a vulnerable section of the population, in this case, women entrepreneurs operating in the informal sector. The authors find that the informal sector provides women with higher income when they are married and are more formally educated.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influential spreaders in the political Twitter sphere of the 2013 Malaysian general election	[ "Social media", "Twitter" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The advent of social media has provided individuals traditionally confined to local interactions a means to reach out globally. Autonomous and independent decisions for voicing out opinions, to publish and to subscribe to channels are some of the freedoms that social media provides. Twitter is one such public platform where even 140-more-or-less characters wide service can link people and spread information across the world. This simple micro-blogging platform has contributed huge impacts to billions of individuals in various needs and events.\n2. Methodology: The provision of 140-more-or-less tweets can support the open political communication environment during election campaigns. Here, we base our hypotheses and introduce the methods on the specific political settings in the 2013 Malaysian General Election.\n3. Results: In this section, we test our hypotheses on the Malaysian political Twitter sphere using tweets collected previously.\n4. Discussions: In this paper, a Big Data Twitter architecture developed by our group (Ch'ng, 2014) was used for recording a longitudinal data set associated with the Twitter hashtags #GE13 and #PRU13 during the Malaysian General Election 2013. Our activity-based method differs from existing methods, which analyze the number of followers on the main profile pages of specific Twitter accounts, number of tweets, sentiments trends, etc. In our method, retweeting networks was extracted from tweets, followed by the application of community detection algorithms to investigate political communication patterns within the tweets. We further applied a novel k-shell decomposition method to construct a political propagation Twitter sphere consisting of different layers. The new methods presented here have uncovered the propagation rules of politicians from the main political parties - BN, PKR, DAP, PAS and non-politicians (active citizens) on the propagation sphere of MGE2013. Further analysis and synthesis in the political propagation sphere on Twitter have provided clues for answering the research questions proposed in our study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate political influential spreaders in Twitter at the juncture before and after the Malaysian General Election in 2013 (MGE2013) for the purpose of understanding if the political sphere within Twitter reflects the intentions, popularity and influence of political figures in the year in which Malaysia has its first \"social media election.\"\nDesign/methodology/approach: A Big Data approach was used for acquiring a series of longitudinal data sets during the election period. The work differs from existing methods focusing on the general statistics of the number of followers, supporters, sentiment analysis, etc. A retweeting network has been extracted from tweets and retweets and has been mapped to a novel information flow and propagation network we developed. The authors conducted quantitative studies using k-shell decomposition, which enables the construction of a quantitative Twitter political propagation sphere where members posited at the core areas are more influential than those in the outer circles and periphery.\nFindings: The authors conducted a comparative study of the influential members of Twitter political propagation sphere on the election day and the day after. The authors found that representatives of political parties which are located at the center of the propagation network are winners of the presidential election. This may indicate that influential power within Twitter is positively related to the final election results, at least in MGE2013. Furthermore, a number of non-politicians located at the center of the propagation network also significantly influenced the election.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is based on a large electoral campaign in a specific election period, and within a predefined nation. While the result is significant and meaningful, more case studies are needed for generalized application for identifying potential winning candidates in future social-media fueled political elections.\nPractical implications: The authors presented a simple yet effective model for identifying influential spreaders in the Twitter political sphere. The application of the authors' approach yielded the conclusion that online \"coreness\" score has significant influence to the final offline electoral results. This presents great opportunities for applying the novel methodology in the upcoming Malaysian General Election in 2018. The discovery presented here can be used for understanding how different players of political parties engage themselves in the election game in Twitter. The approach can also be adopted as a factor of influence for offline electoral activities. The conception of a quantitative approach in electoral results greatly influenced by social media means that comparative studies could be made in future elections.\nOriginality/value: Existing works related to general elections of various nations have either bypassed or ignored the subtle links between online and offline influential propagations. The modeling of influence from social media using a longitudinal and multilayered approach is also rarely studied. This simple yet effective method provides a new perspective of practice for understanding how different players behave and mutually shape each other over time in the election game.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hygiene behavior assessment of a hazelnut processing plant	[ "Safety", "Corylus avellana L.", "GMP", "Microbial contamination", "Molds" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Nowadays there is widespread hazelnut cultivation (Corylus avellana L.) in Italy as it produces 120,000 tons per year, which is 20 percent of the global production mainly cultivated in Turkey, Italy and Spain. In modern fruit production, hazelnuts are mainly cultivated in mountainous and hilly areas. As far as Italy is concerned, hazelnuts are one of the most important fruit crops in the Latium region especially in the Cimino-Sabatini hills where the \"Tonda Gentile Romana\" cultivar is grown.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Experimental procedure\n3. Statistical analysis: A two-factor analysis of variance was performed to evaluate the main effect of the physical and microbiological analyses (sampling points and time). The least significant difference was calculated for an appropriate level of interaction (p0.05). Minitab, Inc. software version 17 was used.\n4. Results and discussion: Among the work areas examined, cold storage rooms (1, 2 and 3 in Figure 1) were usually kept at 8degC (+-1degC) with an RH of approximately 63 percent (+-3 percent). On the other hand, as the remaining work areas were not equipped with temperature and RH control systems, external environmental factors definitely affected the internal environment parameters, thus inducing instability depending on seasonal climate. More specifically, the greatest temperature and humidity fluctuations between January and July were observed in the shelling and sorting areas (T=14+-2degC up to 24+-2degC; RH=52+-3 percent up to 81+-3 percent). Consequently, the total microbial loads observed during the summer were largely due to the rise in external temperatures and RH. In fact temperature is known to be the most important factor affecting indoor industrial areas where food is handled. Therefore total temperature and RH control and efficient air recirculation are definitely factors which may limit or prevent microbial growth (bacteria and fungi) and minimize biological risks in every phase of hazelnut handling and processing (Rajasekar and Balasubramanian, 2011).\n5. Conclusions: Elevated microbial counts and some potential producer species of mycotoxins such as Aspergillus and Penicillium were mainly detected in the shelling and sorting areas of a hazelnut processing plant while the results obtained from the work surface analyses were in accordance with the reference data.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possible microbiological contamination in terms of total counts and representative microbial groups found in the hazelnuts as well as in work areas and on the working surfaces of a hazelnut processing plant.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Some microbiological parameters related to the manufacturing process (e.g. aerobic colony count yeast and fungi) were evaluated. Indoor air samples were tested in order to evaluate the possible contamination of fungal strains (i.e. mycotoxin producing fungi).\nFindings: The results showed that the highest values (>of 500 CFU/m3) for bacteria and fungi were only observed in the shelling and sorting areas. Some species such as Aspergillus and Penicillium (potential mycotoxin-producers) as well as some noxious colonies of Aspergillus fumigatus were detected along the processing line. No occurrence of aflatoxins was observed in the finished product. Microbial loads obtained through surface analyses were in accordance to the reference data.\nOriginality/value: The aim of this study was to monitor and improve the procedures currently used in a hazelnut processing plant.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
We are healthy so we can behave unhealthily: A qualitative study of the health behaviour of Dutch lower vocational students	[ "The Netherlands", "Students", "Personal health", "Diet", "Exercise", "Adolescents" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity is increasing in The Netherlands (van den Hurk et al., 2007). During the period of adolescence, the adolescent gradually gains more independence and autonomy as parental control lessens. As a consequence, the influence of peer norms becomes more important. In this period, the adolescent also gains more financial independence (Bauer et al., 2004, 2008; Brug and van Lenthe, 2005). These changes have an impact on health behaviour patterns: participation in sports clubs decreases (Riddoch et al., 2004; van Mechelen et al., 2000) and eating habits become unhealthier, due to eating more snacks and soft drinks, skipping breakfast, and eating less fruit and vegetables (Lytle et al., 2000).Behaviour which develops during adolescence is likely to influence long-term patterns of health behaviour (Bauer et al., 2004). For this reason, specific interventions for adolescents are needed. Although parents are considered to be primarily responsible for their children's health and body weight, the school setting is also important when it comes to stimulating healthy behaviour (St Leger, 2001). However, implementing health promoting activities in schools has proven to be difficult and the long-term effects of interventions are still disappointing and equivocal. Interventions could be more effective if they are tailor-made, lead to changes in the physical and social environment, appeal to all students and become a lasting part of school policy (Brown and Summerbell, 2009; Doak et al., 2006; Summerbell et al., 2005).Previous research shows that an integral approach at school with the participation of the most important stakeholders, students, parents, teachers and school staff, is promising (Leurs et al., 2008). However, it is unclear how these school-based interventions meet the perceptions, needs and ideas of the targeted adolescents. Therefore, it is important to develop tailored interventions that are easy to implement in daily life and agree with adolescent experiences and ideas to increase their compliance and participation in the interventions. This study investigates perceptions of 12-14 year old second grade lower vocational students concerning benefits, barriers and strategies of healthy eating and physical activity, thereby gaining insight in their motivation and strategies for healthier behaviour and preventing overweight.\nMethods: Respondents and recruitment\nResults: A report of the key questions is made. Comments are categorized using the EnRG-framework. The most important issues are summarized in Table II.Health and health behaviour\nDiscussion: Although the respondents could point out the basic principles and the importance of a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating, matters concerning health had no priority in their decision making. Being overweight was considered being negative in terms of health and social well being, but respondents did not take any specific actions to prevent from gaining weight.The respondents expected their parents to stimulate a healthy lifestyle by providing healthy meals and opportunities and means to play sports and to cycle. Therefore, they felt no responsibility for actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle and felt free to make unhealthy choices at school or when being with friends. Being able to have a choice was important. Related to food, the unhealthy choice was often more tempting. Although physical activity was labelled as positive, the respondents also had a lot of screen time.According to the respondents, strategies to stimulate healthy behaviour at home consisted of their parents not providing unhealthy snacks and candy on a daily basis, stimulating physical activities and parents setting a good example. At school, healthy food should be made more attractive and cooking lessons could focus more on health. Also, the school should offer more opportunities to be active especially for adolescents who do not like participating in sports. Almost all strategies mentioned by the respondents concerned environmental conditions, which were under responsibility of parents or school. There were no suggestions regarding the creation of more awareness or a healthier social group norm.Cognitive mediators\nConclusion: This study shows that adolescents find health and a healthy weight important and like to have a choice when it comes to health behaviour. The choices they make, however, are often unhealthy, especially when related to food. The risk perception of these adolescents is low; as long as they feel healthy, they feel no need to change their behaviour.Parents are held responsible for providing opportunities for healthy behaviour. At the same time, parental influence lessens and adolescents start to develop unhealthy habits, usually under the influence of a peer group. As adolescents continue to place the key responsibility for their healthy behaviour with their parents, they need to be made more aware of their own role in this process.By developing an integral school health policy, the school can make a major contribution, seeing that adolescents accept the pedagogical role of the school staff. Using different methods, such as active learning, involving adolescents in the design of activities in the school environment and setting a good example, schools can enhance adolescent responsibility, facilitating healthy choices by making them easier and more attractive.This study only focuses on the perceptions and ideas of 14-year-old students. As it turns out, these adolescents place key responsibility for healthy behaviour with their parents and accept the interference of school, meaning there are good opportunities for school-based interventions. Subsequently, more information is needed about the perceptions of parents and school staff regarding stimulating healthy dietary and physical behaviour in these adolescents. Moreover, a better understanding is needed of what is necessary to implement and preserve integral school health interventions successfully.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions of second grade lower vocational students concerning benefits, barriers and strategies of healthy eating and physical activity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Focus group discussions are conducted with 37 adolescents, from three schools in The Netherlands. A semi-structured questioning-scheme is used. Recorded data are transcribed, analysed using Atlas.ti and arranged in the EnRG-framework.\nFindings: - Adolescents find health and a healthy weight important and like having a choice when it comes to health behaviour. The choices they make, however, are often unhealthy, especially when related to food. The risk perception of these adolescents is low; as long as they feel healthy, they feel no need to change their behaviour. Parents are held responsible for providing opportunities for healthy behaviour. At the same time, parental influence lessens and adolescents start to develop unhealthy habits, usually under the influence of a peer group. Adolescents accept the interference of school, meaning that there are good opportunities for school-based interventions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The number (37) of respondents may not be representative for the different personalities of peer-students.\nPractical implications: - Adolescents need to take on greater responsibility for their own health behaviour, especially in the school setting where they are more autonomous than at home. More information is needed about the perceptions of parents and school staff regarding stimulating healthy dietary and physical behaviour to develop, implement and preserve integral school health interventions successfully.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides information on adolescents' perceptions on their responsibility for their health behaviour, which is needed to develop school-based health intervention consistent with their needs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making engineering standards available at the University of the West Indies: perspectives of a developing country	[ "Technical regulations", "Budgetary control", "Financing", "Developing countries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The mission of university libraries is to support teaching, learning and research while the role of a Faculty of Engineering is to train engineers and prepare them for the world of work. Access to technical documentation such as current standards and codes of practice is a critical part of this process. If the academic library is to fulfil its mission, it faces the dilemma of deciding which standards should be collected, in what format, what type of collection development policy it should adopt and how to manage these highly specialised and extremely expensive resources.Many published articles have discussed the role of industry standards in academic libraries and provided guidelines for developing these collections (Musser, 1990; Ricci, 1990; Schlembach, 2001; Taylor, 1999). Although in many respects standards are no different than any other collection of material on a specific subject, they do present a challenge because of the diversity of organizations which publish them, the variety of formats in which they are published, the cost and a frequent lack of adequate description of the needed standard (Pellack, 2005). There is even the difficulty of how to catalogue the standards, as a monograph or a pamphlet and where in the system they should be catalogued and, of course, where the paper copies should be physically stored.What is clear in all discussions is that a modern university needs to provide timely access to a wide range of standards, codes and practices, as well as relevant indexes. These documents are critical to a science and technology curriculum as well as have value and relevance to the wider society that a university serves. It also is necessary to have available for student use textbooks outlining the need for standards, how to apply them and in some cases the history of their development. Guides outlining how to search for the required standard are also critical. Optimisaton of available resources in the context of an academic library in a developing country does not equate to a library merely having vast numbers of standards on limited shelf space.This paper continues the debate on the management of standards in academic libraries in the electronic age (Musser, 1990). In this regard it examines the challenges and experiences of the Main Library of The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine Campus, Trinidad, and in so doing provides insights into the perspective of a developing country university library.\nStandards defined: The US National Standards Policy Advisory Committee defines a standard: \"A prescribed set of rules, conditions, or requirements concerning definitions of terms; classification of components; specification of materials, performance, or operations; delineation of procedures; or measurement of quantity and quality in describing materials, products, systems, services, or practices,\" (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Standards Code and Information, Office of Product Standards Policy, 1987). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2010) has identified no less than eight types of standards: basic standards, terminology standards, testing standards, product standards, process standards, service standards, interface standards and finally a listing of data requirements for a product or service for which values need to be obtained (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Standards Code and Information, Office of Product Standards Policy, 1987; Breitenberg, 1987). These standards are developed primarily by regional and international bodies, governments (national standardization agencies) and professional bodies.Need for standards\nThe academic experience of use of standards (and misunderstanding) - anecdotal evidence: Standards are excellent teaching tools often encapsulating the key concepts that lead to a full understanding of the scope of needs, and the breadth of the problem faced and how associated difficulties may be overcome. Young engineers must very early on in their preparation come to understand how failure to adequately manage technical information in the real world has disastrous financial and health and safety consequences.A perfect illustration of this is that of the European Airbus, whose component parts are built in geographically disparate locations. Unfortunately the fuselage and wings were (surprisingly!) unknowingly being built to different standards and did not mesh together when the mating was first attempted (Wong, 2006). Another alleged apocryphal story is the misinterpretation of different calendars during the battle of Austerlitz (Battle of the Three Emperors), 1805, where the Austrian and Russian commanders said see you on \"20 October\". But the Austrians followed the Gregorian calendar, whereas the Russians still employed the older Julian calendar. In 1805 the difference was 12 days. So while the Austrians expected the Russian army to arrive on October 20, the Russians did not expect to join the Austrians until November 1 on the Austrian calendar although precise on theirs: thus Napoleon won! Calendar standardisation which still is not practised worldwide, might have changed history! (Weider History Group, 2010).Academic staff at the Faculty of Engineering of The UWI, St Augustine with decades of teaching and research experience, describe numerous encounters of standards. Undergraduate students are involved in an engineering project or research activity resulting in a report that demonstrates both mastery of the subject matter and a high level of communication skills. A year-long level 3 final year compulsory 6-credit design or research project accounts for 20 per cent of the total weighted GPA. Student projects over the years have ranged from designing and building a wheelchair for an injured dog, a personal air conditioner, a folding wooden boat, a solar water distiller, go carts, design of a methylamine plant, to a human powered nebulizer or producing cheap, clean biodiesel (Trinidad and Tobago News, 2004; Caribbean Daily News, 2010).Apart from involvement in an independent research project, students at the Faculty of Engineering students are exposed to standards in routine assignments and classroom discussions. One recent example was an assignment involving an article discussing the phenomenon of people on average being heavier than they were some 30 years ago (United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive, 2008). This meant that, for instance, in 1980 the safety weight in a lift for say ten people was 800 kg or that a lifeboat could take 14 persons. Now, in 2010, these limits will be exceeded more often than in 1980. It also means that the number of people getting into the lift or lifeboat must be reduced or the lift will not operate (weight) or all the people will not fit into the lift, or lifeboat (volume), but the items were built to the (then) current standards. Students were asked to review the document and write an essay discussing this problem before developing wider arguments. Such an intellectual exercise clearly illustrates to students the evolutionary nature of standards and the need for the manufacturer, in our case the lift manufacturer or safety lifeboat supplier, to be conversant with changes and trends.Graduate students harness standards, patents and technical reports in their research projects, theses, and dissertations. An example of purposes and situations where reference to a standard was necessary was when an accurate temperature measurement at 1200 K was required. Thermocouples and other thermometers such as infrared instruments needed to be calibrated. For this wide temperature range the melting point of gold is used for the high end, and at lower temperatures around 500 K mercury in glass thermometers can be referred to but need careful stem corrections. All the calibrations required a careful adherence to international standards (Dawe and Smith, 1970). Another experiment when determining some physical properties of a series of complex mixtures required a standard for liquid viscosity. The viscosity standard is based on a definition of that for pure water at given temperatures and pressures, and again standards are needed (Grattoni et al., 1993). Yet another pertained to oil-well blowouts and drilling equipment. Here the API recommended practice and standards were needed to see exactly what the operators and suppliers have to work to for equipment to be effective (API, 2006).Timely access is mandatory, otherwise the window of opportunity for solving the problem faced by the student is missed, and the academic library fails in its mandate to supporting teaching, learning and research. The research gets delayed and the deadlines evaporate, tempers start to fray and letters of complaint to university authorities start to flow.\nThe UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad: The University of the West Indies (UWI) is a tertiary higher educational institution aiming to serve the educational needs of the English-speaking Caribbean. The UWI is a four-campus institution with campuses located in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago (St Augustine), Jamaica (Mona), and Barbados (Cave Hill) and a virtual campus for the 12 remaining English-speaking territories. The University currently has a total enrolment of over 39,000+ students. The St Augustine Campus has five Faculties including Engineering, Medicine, Social Sciences, Humanities and Science and Agriculture which are serviced by the Main Library, the largest of the ten libraries on the Campus (UWI, 2010). The Main Library's clientele includes undergraduate (UG, 10,000+), postgraduate (PG, 5,000+) and research (1,000+) and each group has different needs.The Main Library collection comprises over 410,000 monographs, 10,000 e-books, 50,000 bound volumes of serials and 770,000 unbound serial parts. There are approximately 15,000 serial titles on register of which over 2,000 are current. Annual book additions total approximately 8,000 volumes. The electronic resources collection consists of 200 databases, 50,000 e-journals, in addition to CD-ROMs, DVDs, microfilm, sound and video recordings. These provide access to e-books, conference proceedings, dissertations, standards and thousands of journal titles in all disciplines. Many of these research tools offer 100 per cent full text access while others provide partial full text, while yet others offer bibliographic access supported by document delivery services (Papin-Ramcharan and Dawe, 2006).Even with a reasonable annual purchasing budgetary support, it is still impossible to satisfy all information needs and provide full text access to all desired resources. The UWI librarians could easily spend the entire limited library budget on just some of the needs for only one group. However, this is not unique to The UWI, as libraries around the world have similar funding problems. Libraries try to satisfy demand but are having to cut journal titles, book purchases or acquisition of electronic resources. Standards collections in particular are not strongly used by students, with usually only a few major ones being in constant demand. This has to be balanced with the fact that students need to know about standards and how they are applied, but in reality do not have to have sight of or actually need to study too many, until they enter the \"world of work\".The standards conundrum for The UWI Main Library, St Augustine\nThe way forward for the UWI: The topic of standards is important to engineering education, but what can the librarian do?As a regional University serving all the English-speaking territories of the Caribbean, The UWI and its single Faculty of Engineering has a responsibility to its stakeholders to always provide the most current and relevant information. 24/7 digital access in the new millennium is also critical as is stringent adherence to copyright.Within this context the Main Library at St Augustine must chart a way forward to ensure that members of faculty, students and researchers have access to the most current standards necessary to achieve their specific ends. Immediate enhancements would include enhanced access through integration of standards holdings (regardless of format) into the online catalogue and increased security in the form of tattle strips for the physical documents that are in the collection. Efforts in this regard are in the early stages as auditing of the extensive collection is in progress as is the application of security strips. While the Library will continue to liase with TTBS and other specialised agencies and government ministries on a limited basis for the acquisition of local, regional (Caribbean) and national standards. To deal with standards from professional bodies and international agencies, a deposit account has been set up with IHS Standards Store whose database has been discussed above. This account provides real time access to standards thereby eliminating the usually lengthy processing and handling time for acquiring standards not in the current collection.Indexes\nConclusions: The cost of technical information remains one of the greatest challenges for academic libraries in developing countries. What is clear is that real time electronic access to such resources is key if the academic library is to maintain its relevance. Clearly no library can hold all, because of insufficient space and money, but access is paramount. One must be able to search for a desired standard. For a researcher often a quick glance can tell whether that is sufficient, and need not be perused further. Otherwise money, time and effort can be rapidly wasted and little value obtained if the (unseen) standard is not suitable. Thus an extended abstract is essential for screening.Every dollar spent must be beneficial to as many library clients as possible. Spending significant sums on a single document may not be really fully beneficial for the library, and perhaps another source, albeit slower, might be satisfactory. There is still this other ingredient that is absolutely essential - people. They form a critical element in the standards debate. There must be a good librarian fully trained in all aspects of standards collection development management. Additionally, upper management must be supportive with suitable budget generosity. There must be space and some funding. There should also be knowledgeable, reasonable customers, who are prepared to appreciate that their needs might not always be met (instantly), and they must make reasonable requests.If these people and support are in place, then it can be amazing what can be achieved.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to continue the discussion of the difficulties that librarians face in creating a relevant and useful collection of standards. For developing countries the magnitude of the available standards and the huge costs make this task daunting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The types of standards, their role in ensuring that the World's structures, facilities, goods, etc. conform to ensure health and safety, the ranges and finally the needs of the University of the West Indies (UWI) are discussed. The UWI Main Library's approaches to grappling with the relevant issues are then explored.\nFindings: - The electronic age offers speedy access to information resources provided that there are financial resources. Electronic access to such documents as and when they are needed (just-in-time philosophy) seems the most viable option, given the cost constraints. Other options could be customised collections crafted to suit the needs of students and faculty, or electronic clearinghouses externally subsidised by a philanthropic body to obtain the articles via an Internet system. Any of these could be developed and ensure cost-effective seamless access, so giving a world-class service anywhere in the World. Of course, knowledgeable librarians and good abstracts are also essential.\nPractical implications: - The cost of these technical documents is prohibitive for a developing country library to be able to have a large collection of standards but, if there is good internet access and a sound database to obtain abstracts, and if sufficient funds are in place, an efficient procedure could be developed for \"just-in-time\" access.\nOriginality/value: - The paper examines some of the best options available to the Main Library of The University of the West Indies to ensure that engineering students gain access to current standards.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Small-town consumers' disconfirmation of expectations and satisfaction with local independent retailers	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Consumer behaviour", "Retailers", "Small enterprises", "Communities", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade retailing practices and channels have changed dramatically. Paramount among these changes is the development of the large discount retail format (e.g. Wal-Mart) and the use of the internet to source and sell merchandise. As retailing formats continue to evolve, there is concern about the survival of the small independent retailer. One-third of new retailers do not survive the first year of business and two-thirds do not continue beyond three years. Most failures involve small independent retailers (US Department of Commerce, 2002). Small independent retailers in particular have suffered economic losses to \"big box\" discount merchandisers (Ryan, 2002).Several researchers have recommended that small-town independent retailers adopt specific strategies to increase their chances of success. Those strategies emphasized outstanding customer service (Stone, 1995; McGee and Rubach, 1996; McGee and Festervand, 1998), offering high-quality merchandise (Stone, 1995; McGee and Festervand, 1998), and demonstrating community attachment (Miller and Kean, 1997; Kilkenny et al., 1999; Besser and Miller, 2001). Investigating whether successful independent retailers, in competition with one or more big box stores, were implementing any of business strategies recommended by Stone (1995) and Lee et al. (2004) found retailers had implemented much of what Stone had recommended concerning merchandising, marketing, customer service, customer relations, and business operations. However, it is unknown whether implementing any of these or other business strategies results in consumer satisfaction and subsequent in-shopping. Successful independent retailers consider customer satisfaction as an important tool of differentiation and as a powerful competitive defense against large discount retailers. The objective of our study was to identify small-town consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers and the subsequent relationship of consumer satisfaction to in-shopping, community attachment, and support of local independent retailers.\nRelated research: Impact of big-box stores on small-town communities, independent retailers, and consumers\nResearch model and hypotheses: Figure 1 shows the basic model and hypotheses tested in order to identify small-town consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers and the subsequent relationship of consumer satisfaction to in-shopping, community attachment, and support of local independent retailers. The hypotheses and conceptual definitions of the variables follow.Oliver's (1980) concept of an expectancy-disconfirmation approach to satisfaction was used as the framework to investigate factors that influence small-town consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers. Oliver's expectancy-disconfirmation approach has been the most influential model among theoretical frameworks that have been proposed to explain consumer satisfaction. According to the model, satisfaction refers to an affective state representing an emotional reaction to a product or store. Satisfaction has three main antecedents: expectation, disconfirmation, and perceived performance. Expectation represents an anticipated level of performance. Disconfirmation is defined as the discrepancy between consumer expectation and retailer's actual performance. Disconfirmation predicts consumer satisfaction. Oliver (1980) assumed that consumers form beliefs about product or store performance by comparing it to their initial expectations. If performance exceeded expectations (i.e. if there is positive disconfirmation), an increase in satisfaction was hypothesized, whereas if performance fell short of one's expectations (i.e. if there is negative disconfirmation), a decrease in satisfaction was expected. We adopted the concepts of satisfaction and disconfirmation from Oliver's expectancy-disconfirmation model. On the basis of Oliver's model, we predicted that consumer satisfaction with local independent retailers would be affected by possible disconfirmation between consumers' expectations and independent retailers' performance (e.g. customer service, product, promotion, and store environment). Therefore, we posited the following hypothesis:H1. Consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers increases if independent retailers' performance exceeds consumers' expectations (positive disconfirmation).A large proportion of the research on small-town consumers is concerned with factors influencing consumer out-shopping (i.e. the practice of leaving a local retail trade area to purchase a product or service) and in-shopping (i.e. shopping within the local trade area). While the reasons for out-shopping versus in-shopping are not necessarily inversely related (Miller and Kean, 1997; Miller et al., 1998), consumer dissatisfaction with local shopping facilities and product selection results in more out-shopping than in-shopping (Samli and Uhr, 1974; Papadopoulos, 1980; Samli et al., 1983; Schrank, 1986; Miller and Kean, 1997).Researchers have examined consumer satisfaction with local independent retailers and have found that satisfaction predicted small-town consumers' in-shopping behavior. Both Samli et al. (1983) and Hozier and Stem (1985) found that consumer attitudes about local independent retailers predicted in shopping better than consumer demographics. Examining rural patronage behavior related to home furnishings and apparel, Miller and Kean (1997) and Miller et al. (1998) also found the higher consumers' level of satisfaction with local independent retailers and their product offerings, the greater their intention to shop locally. Therefore, the following hypothesis was formulated:H2. Consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers is positively related to in-shopping.Community attachment has been investigated relative to understanding relationships between local consumers and small-town independent retailers. Community attachment is defined as the commitment of individuals to their places of residence (Stinner et al., 1990). According to Stinner et al., community attachment includes several dimensions: amity or social bonds (the solidity of an individual's local friendship structure), sentiment (the level of satisfaction with their community), and involvement (the level of participation in community activities). Researchers interested in community attachment have demonstrated that consumers who were actively involved in their community did shop at local small stores (Miller et al., 1998; Miller and Kim, 1999).From the retailer's perspective, community involvement as a dimension of community attachment could involve a variety of activities from sponsoring local sports teams to donating items for local fundraisers. While it has been proposed that the level of a retailer's community involvement has a direct influence on retailers' success, research findings examining community involvement have been inconsistent. Miller and Besser (2000) found rural retailers who demonstrated community involvement were able to continue to be successful when a big box retailer entered into their trading area. In contrast, focusing on consumer intentions, Miller and Kean (1998) found no relationship between the community involvement of rural retailers and consumers' intentions to shop locally.Multiple aspects of a community, including the local market system, determine individuals' satisfaction with and attachment to the community (Wilkinson, 1991; Filkins and Allen, 2000). Filkins and Allen (2000) found that aspects of consumer services in the community (e.g. retail shopping) significantly predicted community satisfaction. In other words, when consumers were satisfied with the local retailers, their satisfaction with and attachment to the community increased. Therefore, we predicted that the greater consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers, the stronger their attachment to the local community would be and consequently, the stronger their support of independent retailers. Accordingly, we hypothesized the following:H3. Consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers is positively related to community attachment.H4. Consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers is positively related to their support of these retailers.\nMethods: Procedure\nAnalyses and results: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion and implications: Our results support the work of other researchers (Stone, 1995; Fiorito and Laforge, 1986; McGee and Peterson, 2000) who also found that product, service, and store environment aspects of independent retailer strategies were important in enabling local stores to compete with big box retailers (H1). The data confirming H2 lends support to Miller and Kean (1997) and Miller et al. (1998), in that small-town consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers predicted their in-shopping behavior. Small-town consumers' satisfaction with independent retailers had also a significant positive influence on the community attachment concept of sentiment (H3) and consumers' support of independent retailers (H4).Owing to the presence of the internet and the increasing clout of large national discount chains, small-town consumers have more choices than ever before. Small-town consumers can be less loyal, less tolerant, and more willing to explore other distribution channels in their search for satisfaction. Most strategies performed by small-town independent retailers did not meet their local consumers' expectations. Specially, merchandise assortment and availability, such as offering a unique and large selection of products, good quality products, and having products in stock showed the largest discrepancy between respondents' expectations and retailers' performance. This finding indicates that independent retailers were not meeting their consumers' needs in these areas. Merchandise assortment and availability were also the most influential predictors of small-town consumer satisfaction with their independent retailers. In such areas as product assortment and availability, the small independent retailers inherently cannot compete with the large discount retailers due to the advantages of the discounter in terms of economies of scale and efficiencies in supply chain management. Therefore, it is essential that independent retailers know their local customers and trading area and exploit niche merchandise assortments that big-box retailers do not provide.We document the key role that store environment plays in influencing small-town customers' satisfaction with their local independent retailers. The negative disconfirmation of the store environment aspects indicates that small-town consumers expected more from a store's environment than what they were being provided by local independent stores. Store image provides informational cues about merchandise and service quality and influences consumers' perceptions of value and willingness to buy (Dodds et al., 1991). Small-town retailers could distinguish their business from their large discount competitors by offering memorable and unique shopping environments to consumers. Future researchers could investigate this aspect of retail strategies and identify effective shopping environments that meet small-town consumers' expectations.Interestingly, promotion strategies of independent retailers including their in-store signage and promotional events did not significantly influence consumer satisfaction. While positive disconfirmation between consumers' expectation and the perceived performance of promotion strategies indicated that independent retailers' performance of promotion strategies exceeded consumers' expectations, this finding needs to be carefully interpreted considering that small-town consumers held low expectations concerning promotion strategies (m=0.21) relative to expectations concerning merchandise assortment and availability (m=1.40), service (m=1.09), store environment (m=1.15), and community involvement (m=0.73) strategies. Promotion strategies may be used as a marketing tool to increase customer traffics to the stores, but these strategies should not be overemphasized because they may not be critical to increasing consumers' satisfaction.Just as previous researchers have not found consistent support for the relationship between community involvement of independent retailers and consumers' in-shopping behavior, we found that independent retailers' community involvement did not significantly predict consumer satisfaction. Unlike Miller and Kean (1997), our findings suggest that independent retailers' performance on the tangible side of the exchange (product, service, and store) has more significant and positive influence on local consumers' satisfaction than their performance on the intangible side of the exchange (community involvement). Although these consumers were highly dissatisfied with independent retailers' community involvement, community involvement was not a critical influence on their satisfaction with independent retailers. For these small-town consumers, satisfaction with independent retailers was driven by retailer performance concerning product, service, and store environment.However, we note that the measures of community involvement we employed were based on Miller and Besser (2000) and limited to two items (i.e. local store's financial or technical assistance to community organizations or schools, local store's support for community events). Other measures of community involvement including local retailers' leadership, attachment, and sense of responsibility toward their community might demonstrate a relationship between retailer community involvement and consumer satisfaction. A study by Landry et al. (2005) introduced the concept of a retailer's community embeddedness as an extension of the concept of community involvement and reciprocity. They found that relationally embedded retailer's strategies increased consumer patronage of a retailer. Utilizing a relational embeddedness perspective, retailers could increase perceptions of their community membership and enhance the overall perception of belonging to the community by addressing unique needs of the community and making themselves locally relevant. Such strategies could include stocking items that are locally grown or manufactured or offering their store as a meeting place conducive to community social interaction. Additional research is required to elaborate the relationship between a retailer's community embedding activities and consumer satisfaction and to explore how independent retailers can successfully implement relational embeddedness in their business strategies.Findings of our study suggest that independent retailers need to continuously examine their business strategies in order to meet the changing expectations of their local consumers. Small-town consumers' expectations of local independent retailers are shifting due to varying dynamics of retail environment including the entry of a big-box retailer in a community and the ease of shopping online. While big-box retailers utilize single-minded strategies in their store formats, merchandise mixes, and operating and marketing processes, small-town consumers are rebelling against cookie-cutter chain stores that lack unique characteristics. The small size of the independent store has the advantage in customizing their offerings to local markets, rolling out different types of stores, a distinct merchandise mix, and providing alternative approaches to pricing, marketing, staffing, and customer service. A niche strategy tailored to the local target consumers is essential.We drew our convenience sample from consumer mailing addresses of independent retailers located in three rural communities in a Midwestern state. Since, the sample for this study was particular retailers' customers, their responses might be limited in evaluating specific retailers' product and store. The respondents might not represent other potential consumers who would likely shop in other local stores. As a result, generalizability of the results of this study might be limited. Further, research would verify the findings of our study by expanding the empirical base to include other geographical locals and potential in-shoppers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To identify factors that influence small-town consumers' satisfaction with local independent retailers and the subsequent relationships of consumer satisfaction to in-shopping, community attachment, and support of local independent retailers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Oliver's expectancy-disconfirmation model (1980) was used as the framework to predict consumer satisfaction. Consumer mailing addresses were attained from independent retailers in three small Midwest communities in the USA wherein at least one big box retailer was located. A survey questionnaire was sent to 903 consumers of independent retailers. The return rate was 36 per cent with 328 responses.\nFindings: - Most strategies performed by small-town independent retailers did not meet their local consumers' expectations. Specially, merchandise assortment and availability, such as offering a unique and large selection of products, showed the largest discrepancy between respondents' expectations and retailers' performance, indicating that independent retailers are not meeting their consumers' needs in these areas. Participants who were satisfied with their independent retailers, shopped locally, were strongly attached to their communities, and were willing to support their local independent retailers.\nPractical implications: - Small-town independent retailers need to continuously examine and re-examine their business strategies to meet the changing expectations of their local consumers. Small-town consumers' expectations of local independent retailers are shifting due to varying dynamics of retail environment including the entry of big-box retailers. It is essential that independent retailers know their local customers and exploit niche strategies that big-box retailers do not provide.\nOriginality/value: - The authors adopted the concepts of satisfaction and disconfirmation from Oliver's expectancy-disconfirmation model. On the basis of Oliver's model, the authorss predicted that consumer satisfaction with local independent retailers would be affected by possible disconfirmation between consumers' expectations and independent retailers' performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effective logistics alliance design and management	[ "Cooperation", "Strategic alliances", "Collaboration", "Literature review", "3PL", "Logistics service providers", "Logistics (business)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite the proliferation of logistics alliances (Daugherty, 2011; Stank et al., 2011), many do not meet the partners' expectations and may even be considered failures (Kampstra et al., 2006; Stank et al., 2011; Wilding and Juriado, 2004). Logistics scholars have spent considerable efforts to explain why some logistics alliances are successful, while others are not. However, major gaps remain in our understanding of these arrangements. There are a number of reasons for these gaps, including incomplete alliance models offered by the nascent logistics discipline (Daugherty, 2011), a lack of practical knowledge on how to manage logistics alliances successfully (Lambert et al., 1999), and limited interest in cooperation-related pitfalls and risks (Cruijssen et al., 2007a; Lambert et al., 1999; Zineldin and Bredenlow, 2003). An additional explanation for these perceived gaps could be the sheer quantity and variety of contributions, which are often based on the heterogeneous usage of terms, constructs, and theories that follow different methodologies and research traditions. Although this variety and heterogeneity can be enriching, it can also hinder progress. One step toward a better understanding of logistics alliances is to systematize and consolidate extant scholarship to offer a platform for more targeted research.\nLogistics alliances and LSP: Despite the lack of a common definition of logistics alliances, there is consensus in terms of describing logistics alliances as long-term (Bagchi and Virum, 1998; Cruijssen et al., 2007a; Gentry, 1996b; Nyaga and Whipple, 2011; Nyaga et al., 2010; Park et al., 2003; Schmoltzi and Wallenburg, 2011, 2012) and voluntary (Park et al., 2003; Schmoltzi and Wallenburg, 2012) relationships between two or more independent actors of a supply chain. We understand logistics alliances as formalized long-term, cooperative relationships between at least one LSP and other legally independent actors in a supply chain striving for mutual competitive advantage. LSPs are \"companies which perform logistics activities on behalf of others\" (Delfmann et al., 2002, p. 204). From an LSP perspective, such logistics alliances can either be horizontal (LSP with other LSP) or vertical (LSP with client). Both types of alliance have attracted substantial attention in the logistics literature.\nMethodology: review scope and selection criteria: In order to arrive at a broad, comprehensive, and scholarly relevant literature basis for our analysis, we reviewed high-ranking academic journals with primary domains of logistics, operations management, and supply chain management (Mentzer et al., 2008). The focus on these domains enabled us to capture a broad scope of logistics scholarship along its functional (planning, controlling, and executing intrafunctional activities), cross-functional (operations management), and cross-organizational management levels (SCM) (Mentzer et al., 2008). Because there is no global consensus regarding which logistics journals should be considered \"top-tier,\" we consolidated a list of 40 high-ranking journals based on three ranking systems that are widely acknowledged beyond their countries of origin. These are: first, the journal citation reports provided by Thomson Reuters; second, the JourQual2 ranking published by the German Academic Association for Business Research; and third, the logistics and transportation journal ranking from the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) at the University of Sydney (see Table I).\nReview results along the key research categories: Scholarly interest in logistics alliance design and management has increased in recent decades (see Figure 1). The number of articles on the subject indicates that it has drawn particularly high interest from the more strategy-oriented logistics journals (see Table I). The majority of the selected studies have applied a quantitative research design (15 vertical, six horizontal logistics alliance articles). The next most common research designs were qualitative (ten vertical), mixed quantitative and qualitative (four vertical), analytical (two vertical, six horizontal), and conceptual (three vertical, two horizontal) (see Table II).\nVertical logistics alliances: Alliance composition in client-LSP alliances\nHorizontal logistics alliances: The literature on horizontal alliance design and management can be systematized along the same major categories regarding the explanation of alliance effectiveness as the literature on vertical alliances.\nSynthesis and research agenda: Our review findings inform both practice and research on effective logistics alliances design and management. The reviewed studies have primarily focussed on understanding four individual components of logistics alliances: first, their composition (absolute and relative partner characteristics); second, the organizational structure that links the alliance partners; third, the partners' relational behavior toward each other; and fourth, the design of the underlying operational value-adding activities and processes that ultimately drive the alliance benefits. Our review has identified relevant performance impact factors of logistics alliances. However, guidance on their effective deployment for an increased logistics alliance performance is lacking. To address this gap, we now derive and discuss our review implications. We do so by leveraging the hitherto neglected cross-fertilization potential of research results from horizontal for vertical logistics alliances, and vice versa. We also formulate concrete managerial implications from our review results that should aid logistics alliance practitioners (see the lists: managerial implications for horizontal logistics alliances; managerial implications for vertical logistics alliances). In addition, our research agenda highlights a number of research opportunities that we believe have the strongest impact on logistics alliance performance and may guide further research.\nConclusion: Alliances are a well-studied phenomenon in the logistics field. By analyzing both research streams of vertical and horizontal logistics alliances, we identified four main categories in the domain of effective logistics alliance design and management: alliance composition, alliance structure, relational behavior, and operational process design. Within these categories we present the current state of research by identifying the major impact factors and their effects on alliance outcomes and by consolidating their understanding and conceptualizations discussed in the logistics literature. In line with Daugherty (2011) stating that \"previous research provides a solid foundation for future research, and there still seem to be ample research opportunities\"(Daugherty, 2011, p. 27), we provide a comprehensive consolidation of these findings that contributes to both academia and practice by adding to our understanding of logistics alliance performance. First, practitioners get a systematic overview of relevant performance impact factors providing insights into potential managerial levers to improve alliance performance. Second, our consolidation acts as a starting point for scholars who may be encouraged by our developed research avenues inter alia benefitting from cross-fertilization between vertical and horizontal alliance literature or may be supported by a comprehensive picture on the state of the research. Overall, these research opportunities will enable scholars to gain additional, meaningful results on logistics alliances and their successful functioning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that the productive analyses of logistics alliances in the literature have led to a multitude of heterogeneous contributions. These should be consolidated and systematized in order to synthesize the existing findings in a meaningful way and guide future research for effective design and management; and improve logistics alliance performance in practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a systematic literature review to screen and consolidate current knowledge on effective design and management of logistics alliances.\nFindings: This paper categorizes the logistics literature on vertical and horizontal alliances into four key areas in order to systematically consolidate key performance factors, their sub-constructs and performance effects to identify implications for both research and practice.\nResearch limitations/implications: Within the research agenda, the authors develop concrete research opportunities in four areas: horizontal logistics alliances; vertical logistics alliances; transfer of new research streams into the context of logistics alliances; and the incorporation of impediments and negative effects.\nPractical implications: By consolidating existing research results, the authors provide guidance for managers looking to establish or adapt logistics alliance structures and management systems.\nOriginality/value: The consolidation of key performance impact factors on logistics alliances (both vertical and horizontal) provides a platform for further research. The developed agenda offers specific research opportunities to improve the understanding of logistics alliance performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Beaverbrooks sparkles in the workplace: Strong sense of "family" boosts business performance	[ "Retailers", "Quality awards", "Employee relations", "Leadership", "Communications", "Training", "Benefits" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: High-street jeweller Beaverbrooks has earned a lifetime-achievement award for being among the top companies in the Sunday Times \"Best Companies to Work For\" for the fifth year running.\nA wealth of development opportunities: The company, established in 1919, employs some 720 people at more than 60 locations throughout the UK.\"We believe in encouraging each member of every team to develop his or her knowledge and skills to achieve full potential,\" said Mark Adlestone.All new branch people attend a structured, three-day induction program at one of the firm's regional training centers. This involves an introduction to the company, product knowledge and selling techniques. These skills are then further developed in-store. On successful completion, employees receive a PS1,000 pay rise.Employees have the opportunity to apply for the company's management-development program. This consists of two stages, with plenty of ongoing support from both the participant's own store and placements in other branches.\"The success of this course has meant that 100 percent of store-management positions are filled from within,\" Mark Adlestone commented.Ongoing training covers all aspects of the business, from sales to communication to operations.Last year, for example, the company teamed up with corporate and personal-development company Advance Performance to work with store managers in the run-up to an ambitious Christmas sales campaign. Advance provided performance techniques linked to culture, leadership, behavior and sales, with particular focus on providing additional sales impetus over the Christmas period, and consultancy at the top level of the business.The pre-Christmas development program was followed by a further bespoke training initiative early in 2008, which coincided with the annual Beaverbrooks managers' conference in February, which set out the company's strategy for the next 12 months.Simon Clarkson, a director at Advance, commented: \"The Beaverbrooks management has a great belief in constantly striving to improve.\"Daniel Brown, a director at Beaverbrooks, added: \"The training offers a wonderful blend of theory, fact and real-world experiences. It helps us to reaffirm the values that we want our people to embrace - that they are a special bunch of people who have something special to offer.\"A comprehensive development-review system through monthly one-to-one meetings keeps the focus on continual development. All employees are encouraged to develop business-related skills through relevant professional bodies.\nBenefits and rewards: \"Making it special\" is the adage by which staff are trained to deal with customers, and the process starts with how employees themselves are treated. There are monthly incentives and prizes, and an annual prize of PS500 to the top performer in each branch, an extra PS500 for the regional top performer, and PS500 more for the company top performer. Regional managers of the year each receive a PS1,000 prize, while PS5,000 is awarded to the overall manager of the year. There are awards for long service - employee turnover, at 18 per cent a year, is low for the sector - and team nights out for store and department achievements throughout the year.There are also rewards for suggestions from employees. In 2007, almost 50 percent of suggestions were implemented and rewarded.The company offers a range of employee and family benefits, including staff discounts, a contributory pension and life-assurance cover, private health care for management, a health-care scheme for other employees, an enhanced maternity package, a return-to-work bonus after maternity, child-care vouchers, and employee and family support and counseling.\nTeamwork and communication: Beaverbrooks carries out regular focus groups and internal surveys to help it to measure employee satisfaction. Executives and directors visit stores to discuss up-and-coming issues. Mark Adlestone dedicates 90 percent of his diary time to talking with teams. The firm openly encourages people to highlight bullying, favoritism or prejudice, and refuses to work with companies that allow these to happen in their workplace.The business monitors the hours worked by its management to ensure that they do not become excessive.\nFundraising for charity: Beaverbrooks gives 20 percent of post-tax profits to charity, lets staff use work time to help charitable organizations and doubles any money they raise for them. Events such as tuck shops, taking part in local charity events, fun days, the Beaverbrooks 10 km Fun Run, a sponsored bicycle ride and a Race for Life all encourage people to donate to charity.\"Some are even prepared to go that extra mile by climbing mountains and throwing themselves out of aeroplanes!\" said Mark Adlestone.\"The Sunday Times award is testament to the strong sense of family at Beaverbrooks that runs throughout the company,\" he concluded. \"We pride ourselves on the quality of service and care we offer employees and customers.\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe the policies that have helped high-street jeweller Beaverbrooks to win a lifetime-achievement award for being among the top companies in the Sunday Times \"Best Companies to Work For\" for the fifth year running.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Details the company's policies in the areas of training and development, benefits and rewards, teamwork and communication, and charitable giving.\nFindings: - Reveals a strong emphasis on management development and recruiting for top positions from within the company. Also reveals that the managing director dedicates 90 percent of his diary time to talking with teams.\nPractical implications: - Reaffirms that employees who are treated well are more likely to give good customer service.\nOriginality/value: - Highlights the strong sense of \"family\" among employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International trade union networks, European works' councils and international labour regimes	[ "Trade unions", "Works councils", "Labour", "Industrial relations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Just when labour movement academics, activists and researchers were becoming familiar with the complex social and economic trajectories of neo-liberalism, neo-liberalism, discourse and practice, entered a period of global turmoil. Until 2008, the UK Government's assumption was that Britain could be held up as the successful future for the rest of Europe; a way to protect post-war social gains in however limited a form. This was curious because for the last 30 years the assault upon variant forms of the post-war social settlement across Europe, witnessed in large measure, the preservation of patterns of regulation that have sustained highly intricate relations between states, employers and workers via their trade unions. While we should obviously not ignore the ability of labour unions in Britain to protect a range of post-war gains, often in attenuated fashion, nevertheless, the peculiarities of the political economy in the UK, initially Thatcherism and then its evolution into New Labourism (Blatcherism) was the original space where the first wave of neo-liberal attacks upon the post-war settlement took on a quite distinct shape.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this editorial is to introduce this special issue on \"International trade union networks, European works' councils and international labour regimes\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The editorial provides an overview and introduces the papers which make up the special issue.\nFindings: - These papers allow us to consider the social, political and institutional dimensions of grass roots organising across countries and continents.\nOriginality/value: - The issue adds new insights into the topic in addition to the more typical focus on institutional levels of union engagement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Defining sustainability metric targets in an institutional setting	[ "Sustainable development", "Universities", "Targets", "Measurement", "Higher education", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A vast international effort is presently underway across campuses (University of Edinburgh, 2008; Australian National University, 2008; Concordia University, 2007; Michigan State University, 2007) and other institutions (e.g. the Global Reporting Initiative) to collect quantitative data on sustainability. These raw data provide the necessary information for concurrently developing sustainability metrics that provide some indication of what is, or is not, \"sustainable.\" For instance, repeated measurements of energy use, and associated carbon emissions, comprise the metrics that policy makers can reference to track progress towards values that are sustainable. However, rigorously and scientifically defining this potential sustainable end-state has had far less investigation than developing metrics (Valentin and Spangenberg, 2000; Lozano, 2006). While much discussion has occurred on the etymology of sustainability (Brown et al., 1987; Wright, 2002), more effort needs to occur in defining what is sustainable in relation to the metrics collected.Many metric targets are constructed relationally. That is, a university will look at its peers and associates, identify what has been done, and then construct its own metrics. International, national, and regional goals also provide context when developing a sustainability goal (Rauch and Newman, 2009). Further refinement occurs as economics, technological feasibility, and stakeholder values are accounted for. Certainly, setting targets this way heads towards sustainability, and the approach provides consensus amongst these viewpoints. However, this approach does not directly address the underlying, fundamental question of \"what is sustainable?\"While visionary statements, such as carbon neutrality, perhaps suggest a long-term answer to the question \"what is sustainable?\", the path towards a sustainable vision is dynamic and hard to define. What may be a reasonable target at one point in time may not be so 15 years in the future. Corporate average fuel economy standards in the USA are a good example. Dynamism also exists in the time horizon of \"sustainable\" that is set (Worster, 1993). Does one want to sustain for 10, 50, or 200 years or more? The time horizon can dictate the ultimate metric targets that an institution may choose.Acknowledging such dynamism, sustainability can be thought of as a process, as opposed to an end-state (Parker, 2002). The authors present a process framework for application of scientifically grounded sustainability targets, in development of Graedel (2002). The process framework is then applied utilizing real data from a US university of 12,000 students. The methods of the process framework are the true value of this work. Every institution has its own unique set of circumstances, and the process framework is designed for application to developing each institution's own metric targets.\nBasic methodological framework: While Graedel (2002) states 50 years as an approximate sustainability time frame, here a process framework is offered for setting sustainability targets that is adaptable in time and among institutions. Different institutions may exist at different points along a continuum with regard to a particular metric. For instance, one institution may already be carbon neutral (i.e. no net carbon emitted to the atmosphere from institutional operation due to zero net fossil carbon use), while another is only beginning a greenhouse gas inventory, let alone setting targets for emission reduction. The general framework is illustrated in Table I.Initial development of any goal or target will by necessity take into account the existing circumstances of the institution. Though the traditional institutional timeframe is 5-15 years, sustainability challenges this mindset by asking institutions to think in longer timeframes. The initial goal is likely to be on a shorter time horizon, developed through multiple stakeholder inputs and consensus building to derive a mutually achievable target. Although targets already set on the local, state, regional, national, and/or global scale often provide needed guidelines, emphasis should be placed upon the most local geographic and political context available.Because sustainability necessitates long-term thinking by definition, medium-term generational and visionary targets should also be set, and a path laid out on how to navigate from short to medium to long-term. While it is fairly certain these targets will require revision sometime in the future, they provide a reference point from which to work, as opposed to leaving future generations to set a new metric target without any guidance. In the medium time frame, the authors suggest utilizing \"green\" scenarios as generated by scientific models. What constitutes a \"green\" scenario may be subject to interpretation, so care should be taken to vet the choice of \"green\" scenario. If unavailable, a rough in-house calculation can be developed that may be as simple as projecting historic trends into the future. In the long-term the intention is for the visionary sustainable target to be achieved.\nApplication of the process framework: Potentially hundreds of sustainability metrics can be tracked (Cole, 2003), ranging in topic from material and energy management to community and governance, and many would be amenable to the general process framework proposed. However, the actual task of applying the process framework to even just one metric can be quite intensive. Certain metrics are more qualitative and not as conducive to the application of the proposed process framework. In as much as Graedel (2002) provides frameworks for calculating sustainability metric targets for the two broad categories of use (energy, water, material resources, land) and emissions (water, land, and air), this paper focuses upon only four popular sustainability metrics:1. air emissions (carbon dioxide);2. energy use;3. water use; and4. material resource output (waste and recycling).These four metrics were chosen based upon data availability and the popularity of these metrics across institutions. In addition to building upon the methods of Graedel (2002), a layer of complexity is added by applying the methods to actual data.Greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) emissions\nConclusion: lessons and perspectives for process framework application: While the metric target results proffered use one US university's approximate set of data, the intent of relaying these results is to illustrate the applicability of the methods described. Once an institution has an adequate data collection system in place for sustainability metrics, it should be able to follow the same methods outlined above to arrive at its own sustainability metric targets. The process framework for developing these metric targets is designed to provide a scientific and logical process methodology, but at the same time to adapt to the unique circumstances that exist at each individual institution. Because sustainability is both global and local, developing metric targets should also follow a process that is global in its scope, but specific in its result. For example, an institution that already recycles over 50 percent of its discards is much further along the path to zero waste than another that presently only recycles 20 percent of its discards, and would adopt a different target path.The general framework outlined, and the specific application of the framework to certain sustainability metrics, also reconciles shorter-term institutional and generational sustainability goals with longer-term visionary targets. For many institutions, it is not practical today to envision a carbon neutral or zero waste campus, despite the grandest hopes. Institutions set shorter-term targets that go out as far as technology, economics, and their present situations allow. Moving from multiple stakeholder-based targets in the near-term, to projections and scenario modeling in the medium term, provides a target path to follow toward the long-term ideal. And while scenario modeling and historic projection have their own inaccuracies, the target paths they present are vested in logical and scientific reasoning.Sustainability forces one to think across generations. Setting sustainability targets that may not be achieved in a lifetime is necessary to remain true to the very ethos of sustainability. Short and medium-term targets, to achieve long-term sustainability goals, provide a process path to creating a sustainable institution. Future generations might or might not achieve the targets set, and they will very likely redefine what \"sustainability\" means in the context of a particular metric, but the least we can do in the present is orient a reasonable path from which they can navigate the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to expand on the development of university and college sustainability metrics by implementing an adaptable metric target strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A combined qualitative and quantitative methodology is derived that both defines what a sustainable metric target might be and describes the path a university might take to get there. Local to global spatial scales and short to long-term time scales are accounted for. Four popular metrics are developed: carbon emissions, water use, recycling rate, and energy use. Sustainability metric data available from Yale University are utilized to show the applicability of this metric target strategy.\nFindings: - Targets for sustainability metrics may be set at short, medium, and long-term time scales. While quantitative targets may be set for sustainability metrics, these are often long-term ideals that offer no information on the path to achieve them. If a path to achieving these targets is outlined, it is often arbitrary quantitatively, if not also qualitatively. This paper finds that sustainability metric targets can be founded upon clearly delineated, rigorously quantified targets. At the same time, the process framework for developing sustainability metric targets is adaptable to the unique situation of a particular university. This adaptable metric target strategy reflects the ideals of sustainability to be at one time both local and global in scope. The metric target strategy is globally applicably, but the sustainability metric targets produced will be unique to each institution.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The process framework for developing sustainable metric targets is only outlined for four popular metrics. Achieving these four targets alone will certainly not define a university as sustainable. Further development of other sustainability metrics utilizing the framework presented would be helpful.\nPractical implications: - The application to real metric data shows the feasibility of this approach for use at other universities and colleges. They can define their own sustainability targets using the approach outlined.\nOriginality/value: - This paper highlights how sustainability metrics being collected by universities may be used to define a target path towards sustainability. The process framework presented has the potential to provide unique solutions for each institution while remaining a universal methodological approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigation of maintenance performance for a gasification process unit using Weibull analysis	[ "Reliability", "Failure distribution", "Hazard function", "Weibull analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In highly competitive world with stringent environmental and safety regulation has increased the importance of strategic maintenance planning for chemical process plants in order to maximize profit, improve plant reliability and reduce safety and environmental hazards. A chemical plant manufactures chemical products from raw materials that going through chemical and biological transformation and separation process which is usually on large scale. The chemical plant uses specialized equipment and units with advanced technology in the manufacturing process. The operating equipment in the process plant has to perform maintenance activity based on its operating condition and performance. Maintenance activities can be carried out either during normal plant operation or shutdown. The latter is also known as shutdown maintenance or turnaround maintenance which usually involves huge amount of maintenance cost with extensive maintenance planning.\n2. Methodology: 2.1. Gasification process unit\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1. Weibull analysis\n4. Conclusion: Weibull analysis is useful to identify maintenance performance such as failures, reliability and hazard rate of the processing plant. Two important parameters in Weibull analysis are b and e factors. The b values represent the condition of the component as indicated by bath tub curve. From the findings, all b values exceeding 1, which means that many components were most probably in worn-out state. Meanwhile, e factor represent how much failure the component can withstand through its life cycle. The optimized life times for the components are needed to estimate number of PM activities. Thus, these two parameters in Weibull analysis are important to predict future planning of maintenance activities. The number of PM activities is within 20-50 activities per month and the size of labour is between 60 and 130 workers per month to perform maintenance activities on all components in gasification plant. It is suggested that, deeper maintenance research techniques should be carried out to understand the pattern of failures and what types of maintenance action to perform at specified time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate maintenance performance of a gasification process unit by identifying reliability, failure and hazard rate. The prediction on the number of preventive maintenance (PM) activities and size of labour are being analysed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study collects maintenance data for 4,000 hours operation to perform Weibull analysis in order to determine two key factors which are beta shape factor, b and characteristic life, e.\nFindings: The results for estimation of failure, reliability and hazard rate show that the pump was most likely contributed to the biggest failure. On the other hand, reaction chamber was able to maintain the longest operation among other components. It is estimated that the total PM activities should be within 20-50 activities per month for whole processing plant. Meanwhile, the estimation of size of labour should be within the range of 60-130 numbers of workers per month for all components.\nOriginality/value: The method of Weibull analysis for investigating current maintenance performance has been analysed using real case study data. The data collection is obtained from a typical gasification process unit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Resilience and effectuation for a successful business takeover	[ "Small and medium sized enterprises", "Effectuation", "Business takeover", "Entrepreneurial resilience" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: William Gartner (1988), discussing the entrepreneurial process, wrote, \"How do we know the dancer from the dance?\" This critical question was intended to orient research on behavioral as opposed to trait-based approaches, considered by Gartner to be unfruitful. Instead, Gartner (1988) claimed that research in entrepreneurship should focus on what the entrepreneur does and not on who the entrepreneur is. As he explains, because entrepreneurship is complex, in a behavioral approach \"we do not artificially separate dancer from dance\" (Gartner, 1988). Following this point of view, this study aims at understanding how resilience dimensions, at a psychological level, interact with logics of action (process level) to accomplish an entrepreneurial project in a context of high uncertainty.\nTheoretical background: Psychological resilience as a dynamic process\nResearch method: The objective of this research is to understand the roles that entrepreneurial resilience plays in the effectuation/causation change. In the next section, we present the context of the research and the methodology developed.\nResults: During the research process, the entrepreneur faced several problems including negative thoughts, frustration, and feelings of distress that could have been discouraging and make the entrepreneur return to the job market. However, instead of abandoning the project the entrepreneur developed a resilient behavior that, combined with effectual logic, allowed a refocus to continue the search until a satisfactory outcome was achieved.\nDiscussion: In the literature in entrepreneurship, effectuation is defined as a logic of action (Sarasvathy, 2008; Sarasvathy et al., 2014). It assumes that under conditions of uncertainty, entrepreneurs adopt a different operating logic in which the entrepreneurial behavior is based on the availability of resources rather than on predetermined objectives. Also, adversity and uncertainty are overcome by the development of resilience (Bullough et al., 2014; Sutcliffe and Vogus, 2003). Therefore, the entrepreneur needs resilient attitudes and effectual behaviors to deal with uncertainty.\nConclusion: For individuals creating or taking over a business, one crucial aspect is how to deal with uncertainty. This study can help entrepreneurs to succeed in a business creation or takeover by improving knowledge of the relationship between resilience and logics of actions. It sheds light on the way to overcome adversity during the start-up process. It seems that emotional resilience, the capacity of the individual to regulate emotions during periods of stress, enables the necessary space to develop cognitive resilience (cognitive adaptation to solve a problem).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how resilience can support entrepreneurs in uncertain environments. The study's objective is to show how different dimensions of resilience (emotional/cognitive) are dynamically connected to different logics of actions (causation/effectuation) allowing the development of a successful entrepreneurial project.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a qualitative analysis of a blog written by an entrepreneur during the first 17 months of a search, negotiation, and financing process for a company takeover.\nFindings: The results highlight that in high uncertainty, strong entrepreneurial resilience and shift of logics of action can contribute to the success of a business takeover. This study identifies forms of resilience during the business takeover process that helped the entrepreneur overcome adversity and succeed. Moreover, these forms of resilience seem to be related to effectual and causal logics.\nPractical implications: This study could help future entrepreneurs succeed in the creation or takeover of an organization by improving knowledge of the relationship between resilience and logics of actions.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes a different approach to the study of entrepreneurial resilience by analyzing it in relation with the logics of action (causation/effectuation). Moreover, the study offers a modern methodological approach by using an internet blog as a data source.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gynecology healthcare professionals towards safety procedures in operation rooms aiming to enhanced quality of medical services in Greece	[ "Quality improvement", "Hospital care", "Medical errors", "Safety in surgery", "Surgical counting and counting documentation report", "Surgical safety checklist" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Human error\" is used to describe a situation in which a planned sequence of mental and/or physical activities by a person fails to achieve its intended purpose and as an outcome this individual is responsible for the consequences of that conduct (Meister, 1993). Errors occur commonly in every sector involving human activity including the healthcare settings that involve humans in both the mental decision-making and physical care delivery and thus will always be prone to human errors (Gruen, 2001; McNutt, 2002; O'Connor et al., 2013).\nMethods: Our team conducted a quantitative survey during 2016 in which healthcare professionals including midwifes, midwife interns, physicians and others were recruited to express their opinions about surgical counts and surgical safety in general with the use of a well-designed questionnaire.\nResults: The questionnaire was administered to a total of 238 healthcare professionals and a total of 227 of them agreed to participate (95.37 percent response rate). This final group of 227 respondents consisted of 105 midwifes, 104 midwife interns, 4 physicians and 14 other healthcare professionals (Table I). It should be noted that: not all the 227 participants responded to all the questions and some participants gave more than one correct answers in some questions. This explains why figures in the Tables do not sum up to the total number of participants in some questions (presented with superscript a or b, respectively).\nDiscussion: The aim of our study was to investigate the attitudes of healthcare professionals toward fundamental practices that ensure safety in gynecological ORs in Greece, an objective of study with limited to none investigation so far.\nConclusions: In general, our study revealed that even though most of the healthcare professionals consider safety in ORs to be extremely important, it seems that there is an important gap in knowledge of the fundamental safety practices and protocols among surgical personnel in Greece. This can be explained by the limited implementation of safety standardized operating procedures in most ORs in Greece and the low personnel awareness of the WHO Guidelines and Checklist for Surgical Safety that were extrapolated from the self-reporting questionnaires. Methodological plans and effective strategies are required for a better implementation of surgical safety protocols and higher universal awareness of the surgical personnel toward fundamental standardized attitudes that focus on improved quality and safety of the provided healthcare services in ORs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of healthcare professionals in Greece toward safety practices in gynecological Operation Rooms (ORs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to surgical personnel asking for opinions on safety practices during vaginal deliveries (VDs) and gynecological operations (e.g. sponge/suture counting, counting documentation, etc.). The study took place in Hippokration Hospital of Thessaloniki including 227 participants. The team assessed and statistically analyzed the questionnaires.\nFindings: Attitude toward surgical counts and counting documentation, awareness of existence and/or implementation in their workplace of other surgical safety objectives (e.g. WHO safety control list) was assessed. In total, 85.2 percent considered that surgical counting after VDs is essential and 84.9 percent admitted doing so, while far less reported counting documentation as a common practice in their workplace and admitted doing so themselves (50.5/63.3 percent). Furthermore, while 86.5 percent considered a documented protocol as necessary, only 53.9 percent admitted its implementation in their workplace. Remarkably, 53.1 percent were unaware of the WHO safety control list for gynecological surgeries.\nOriginality/value: Most Greek healthcare professionals are well aware of the significance of surgical counting and counting documentation in gynecology ORs. However, specific tasks and assignments are unclear to them. Greek healthcare professionals consider surgical safety measures as important but there is a critical gap in knowledge when it comes to responsibilities and standardized processes during implementation. More effective implementation and increased personnel awareness of the surgical safety protocols and international guidelines are necessary for enhanced quality of surgical safety in Greece.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Search broadly or search narrowly? Role of knowledge search strategy in innovation performance	[ "Innovation performance", "Innovation orientation", "Firm age", "Knowledge search strategy", "Search breadth" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Firms find it increasingly difficult to achieve successful innovation on their own. External knowledge sourcing has been suggested as an effective method for addressing the increasing complexity and uncertainty of innovation activity (Arora et al., 2014; Terjesen and Patel, 2017; West et al., 2014). To improve the flexibility and adaptability to environmental changes, it is suggested that firms broaden their knowledge base by acquiring external knowledge from diverse sources (Arora et al., 2014; Cruz-Gonzalez et al., 2014; Katila and Ahuja, 2002; Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001). However, external knowledge is unevenly distributed and cannot be obtained for free (Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001). The strategic question of how open should a firm be to acquire external knowledge (i.e. search breadth - SB[1]) has become critical (Martini et al., 2017).\n2. Theory and hypothesis development: 2.1 Theoretical background\n3. Data and methods: 3.1 Data and sample\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive data analysis\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Given the mounting evidence on the performance-enhancing effects of the open innovation paradigm, external knowledge search has become a vital approach for enhancing innovative output. However, the questions of how broadly a firm should organize knowledge search activity and how to exploit the positive side of SB in innovation process are understudied. Overall, the empirical results of this study suggest that the SB-IP relationship is an inverted U-shaped curve. That is, broad searching helps to boost IP; however, there are limits to the beneficial effect of SB. Moreover, the latent mechanisms underlying the SB-IP relationship are not homogeneous for all firms but depend on and are intertwined with an individual firm's IO and age (AGE).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to shed some new light on the mixed findings of previous empirical studies on the effect of knowledge search breadth (SB) on firms' 2019 innovation performance (IP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a contingent approach that examines the two organizational factors in determining the shape of the SB-IP curve. The empirical study is based on survey data gathered from 414 Chinese firms. In dealing with concerns on simultaneity and reverse causality, perceived time-lag between outcome variable and explanatory variables was introduced.\nFindings: This study reveals that knowledge novelty and absorptive capacity are two functions underlying the SB-IP relationship. The results also indicate that innovation orientation and firm age moderate the SB-IP relationship in different ways: the more innovation-oriented the firm, the steeper the inverted U-shaped SB-IP relationship will be, while the older the firm, the flatter the SB-IP relationship will be. Interestingly, there is strong evidence for the shape-flip phenomenon of the SB-IP curve: SB has an inverted U-shaped effect on IP when a firm is young; however, SB has a U-shaped effect when the firm is older than 37 years.\nOriginality/value: By revealing two underlying functions and two moderators of the association between SB and IP at the firm level, this paper contributes to shed some new light to the mixed results reported by previous empirical studies that have examined the effect of knowledge search on firm innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards the next stage of intellectual capital	[ "Intellectual capital", "Corporate governance", "Decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There is a need for a greater consciousness of the changes in the field of intellectual capital (IC). The first stage of IC named intellectual capital as a significant ingredient in all organizations and developed a perspective defining the basic IC elements and uniqueness. Those efforts were principally carried out by practitioners and charted the ground and general context of the field as we know it. That was the necessary groundwork for the field to come into existence. While the founders of the field marked out the significance of IC there remained fundamental questions as to how to make IC into working set of principles and practices that could be utilized in a full range of specific situations to show how the value of intangibles is created, captured and leveraged for strategic gain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to look at how the papers of the Special Issue provide a perspective for the current state of the field of intellectual capital and a departure point for further research explorations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses the other papers in the Special Issue and draws conclusions.\nFindings: - The papers composing this Special Issue are from a very broad geographical set of regions yet have the common element of being direct reflections on the implementation of intellectual capital initiatives.\nPractical implications: - This body of papers demonstrates that the field is maturing to one where there are existing initiatives that are in operation or in the process of implementation. The implication is that researchers will need to be aware that there is a transition in the field and to recognize that a new era of intellectual capital is under way.\nOriginality/value: - This paper identifies three stages in the evolution of the field of intellectual capital - i.e. definitional, expansion of the theoretical basis, and implementation - and notes how the papers in this issue embody the transition to the third stage, where the focus will link to implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Researching public libraries and the social web, 2006-2012	[ "Public libraries", "Librarians", "Social web", "Library 2.0" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years the emergence of participatory media and cultures online has attracted a great deal of attention from the public library sector. Current trends in library development - combining user-driven change with social media applications such as blogs and social networking sites - have been described as an attempt to create a Library 2.0 (Casey and Savastinuk, 2007), adopting the very discourse of \"Web 2.0.\" This new direction in librarianship has been the subject of numerous books and conferences, as well as animated discussions in the community of library and librarian blogs commonly referred to as the \"biblio-blogosphere.\" The interest has remained constant despite a growing criticism toward Web 2.0 in libraries (Godwin, 2012) and the gradual replacement of the \"2.0\" epithet by other near-synonymous terms, such as \"social media\" or \"participatory media.\" Although these notions might not be perfectly interchangeable, they are indicative of transitions and emerging discussions in the public library sector. For pragmatic reasons that will be further explained below, this paper uses the umbrella term social web to encompass all these related phenomena and concepts.\n2. Scope and procedure: The literature search was conducted through the Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) full-text database, the ISI Web of Science database and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The general-level search included general key phrases, such as \"social web,\" \"Library 2.0,\" \"Web 2.0\" and \"social media,\" while the intermediate-level search used specific types of applications, such as \"social networking sites,\" \"blogs,\" \"blogging\" and \"micro-blogs/'micro-blogging.\" The narrow-level search included the names of particular sites and services, e.g. Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. These search-terms were all used in conjunction with the phrases \"public libraries\" or \"public library\" (see Appendix 1). Searches were limited to academic journals within the chosen year-of-publication time-range. This search procedure was complemented by chain searches based on the reference lists of the selected articles. By combining these two search methods - keyword searching and chaining - a substantial selection of literature was obtained for analysis.\n3. Findings: 3.1. A survey of the research\n4. Discussion: The analysis of research on public libraries and the social web, published between 2006 and 2012, reveals six major recurring themes: conceptual research; institutional identity and organizational practices; professional roles and experiences; knowledge management, organization and dissemination; technologies and tools; and implications for information and digital literacy. These themes cover a considerable segment of the broader field of LIS research and a wide range of topics, underlining the diversity of the analyzed research. However, although these themes differ with regards to the overarching questions they address, the sample reveals consistent tendencies running throughout all the themes, if not through all the articles. I will now turn to discussing these tendencies, in both in what is present and absent throughout the research, toward answering my final research question. I will then turn to the question of journals acting as common venues for this type of research in LIS.\n5. Conclusions: The relatively small sample of research on public libraries and the social web analyzed in this paper exhibits a richness and diversity in research directions that hardly corresponds to its limited size. The topics addressed cover a variety of segments within the LIS field - a variety that is further illustrated by the dispersion of articles in a wide range of journals. Despite this diversity, some central tendencies can be identified with regards to the implicit assumptions about the social web and the state of the public library institution. In general, theoretical discussions on the authors' understanding of technology and its role in society and practice are lacking, as well as empirical work that explores the consequences of social web for public libraries in situ. Also absent (with a few exceptions) are considerations of outside research on the broader political economic conditions of the public library institution in late modernity. Furthermore, the status of librarianship and the professional expertise of librarians, in light of Library 2.0, need to be further addressed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to sketch out the general tendencies, gaps and opportunities within the body of research studying the social web as a new facet of public librarianship in order to delineate the findings so far and suggest directions for future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature searches were conducted through the Library, Information Science and Technology Abstract database, The ISI Web of Science database and the Directory of Open Access Journals. A selection process in two steps resulted in 44 articles that were subjected to a two-stage analysis and coding process: a coding analysis based on the stated aims or research questions of each article and analysis of the articles as clusters around a shared theme.\nFindings: The articles, exhibiting a richness and diversity in research directions, are dispersed in a wide range of journals and the topics addressed cover a variety of segments within Library and Information Science. Despite this diversity, research exploring the consequences of the social web for public libraries in situ and considerations of research on the broader political economic conditions of the public library institution in late modernity is largely lacking. Furthermore, the status of librarianship and the professional expertise of librarians, in light of the social web, need to be further addressed.\nOriginality/value: The rising interest and investment of library professionals into the practices, principles and technologies of the social web calls for further studies into the consequences of this ongoing development for public library services. This paper gives a preliminary overview of the research done 2006-2012 and identifies gaps in the literature that may serve as a point of departure for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sociodemographic differences affecting insufficient fruit and vegetable intake: a population-based household survey of Thai people	[ "Thai population", "Fruit and vegetable intake", "Socio-demographic factors", "Non-communicable diseases" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) is one of the major causes of death and disability worldwide and an important determinant of overall cardiovascular risk and certain cancers. Based on World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, insufficient intake of FV is estimated to cause about 14% of gastrointestinal cancer deaths, 11% of ischemic heart disease deaths and 9% of stroke deaths globally [1].Thailand is among the top 10 best-performing countries for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. Thailand achieved 12 of the 19 indicator targets (up from eight in 2015) according to the WHO NCD Progress Monitor 2017 [2]. This made Thailand the best performer in Asia and placed the country on a par with Finland and Norway for NCD control. Despite its achievement, Thai progress in implementing policies to address the shared and modifiable NCD risk factors, such as an unhealthy diet and, in particular, low FV consumption, has been insufficient.A large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted in 2014 showed that most (74.1%) of the Thai population aged 15 years or older did not consume sufficient FV (at least five portions per day) [3]. The median number of FV servings consumed was 3.3 per person per day. According to the most recent estimate, this underconsumption accounted for 341,000 disability-adjusted life years and 21,650 Thai deaths in 2014 [4].There is considerable evidence of associations between certain sociodemographic factors and FV consumption in industrialized countries [5, 6] as well as in developing countries [7, 8]. The results of worldwide investigations generally show that the level of FV consumption varies according to place of residence, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, occupation, household income and other non-modifiable factors such as age, gender and ethnicity. However, there is little information about relationships between demographic characteristics of members of the Thai population and insufficient FV consumption.In response to accelerating progress toward achieving the NCD prevention and control targets, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between sociodemographic characteristics and insufficient FV consumption in Thailand. This information should help the relevant Thai government agencies to understand the precise dynamics and potential sociodemographic correlates of FV consumption, which can, in turn, help guide the development of more effective FV policies, interventions and promotion strategies targeting the Thai adult population.\nMethods: Data collection and study population\nResults: A total of 7,075 adults aged 15 years or older agreed to be interviewed. Of those, 6,991 adults successfully completed the interview. The composition of the study sample in terms of sex, age, place of residence and education attainment in comparison to the general population according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census of Thailand (http://web.nso.go.th/en/cen.htm) is shown in Table II. While the composition of the sample was consistent with the same composition in the 2010 census, the sample population was noticeably older than the census population. This may be due to the sampling frame used for this study which was kept up to date in response to population growth in 2018.Sociodemographic information of the study sample is presented in Table III. The mean age for the study participants was 46.7 years (SD = 48). A vast majority of the participants were married (69.2%), had an education level that was lower than secondary school (51.0%) and a monthly cash income lower than 10,000 baht (US$1 = 32 baht) (64.1%). One-third (32.2%) of the study participants were unemployed. The demographic characteristics of the sample were similar to those reported in the national population survey of the Thai population by the National Statistical Office [12].FV intake\nDiscussion: In a nationally representative sample of the Thai adult population, this study examined the prevalence of insufficient FV consumption and sociodemographic factors associated with insufficient FV intake. Despite a slightly higher FV intake (compared with similar studies), the prevalence of insufficient FV intake is still high, accounting for 65.5% of the sample. Mean FV intake was still below the recommended level with 336.9 g per day.In general, this study's hypothesis was that sociodemographic characteristics are related to insufficient FV intake. All eight sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, marital status, place of residence, geographic region, education, occupation and income) were found to have significant associations with insufficient FV intake. Consistent with prior research, Thai men were found to be more likely to have insufficient FV intake than that of Thai women [7, 8]. That finding may reflect gender differences in health consciousness and awareness of the need for a healthy diet. Also, Thai gender norms may give women better access to food resources [13]. By contrast, Thai men tend to be more concerned about projecting a \"macho\" image than having a healthy diet [14]. In some studies in other countries, the masculine role was linked with the men's preferences for consumption of meat, energy-dense foods and alcohol (such as beef burgers, fries, pizza and beer) [15]. This finding suggests that gender can be used as a strategic factor for FV promotion for both sexes. The government can promote vegetables and plant-based proteins that appeal to men by linking the benefits of these foods to masculinity goals. For example, some vegetable nutrients promote muscle growth.Age was another demographic factor that was related to insufficient FV intake, with the youngest (15-29 years) and oldest (60 years or older) age categories being more likely to have insufficient FV intake. This was not surprising and is consistent with published research. After the transition out of adolescence, young adults begin independent living and are potentially vulnerable to unhealthy eating behaviors such as snacking, skipping main meals and displaying other facets of poor dietary behavior [16]. It is therefore important to promote healthy diets including sufficient FV consumption in adolescence so that healthy habits are learned and persist into adulthood [17]. Such health behavior will not only affect their own health but also the health of their partner and/or children. According to a scoping review [18], insufficient FV intake of older persons could be due to disability or mobility impairment which creates barriers in acquiring, preparing and eating FV. These physical conditions are aggravated by social isolation and inadequate transportation. Another possible reason is a high level of tooth loss in Thai older people, with 8.7% and 31% of Thai older people aged 60-74 and 80-85 years having no teeth, respectively, according to the 2017 National Oral Health Survey. This poor oral health may reduce sense of taste, cause reduced appetite and contribute to poor eating habits including low FV consumption. Accordingly, it is important to develop appropriate interventions that target-specific barriers faced by older adults in obtaining and consuming FV in the community setting. Importantly, the standard recommendation on FV intake for older people should be reviewed by the relevant government agencies since the existing standard may not be appropriate for many of today's senior citizens. Each individual should be assessed based on their individual needs and health conditions and not age alone.The findings of this study are consistent with the literature [19, 20] suggesting that unmarried people were more likely to have insufficient FV intake than married people. This may be due to the tendency for a committed romantic relationship to be associated with mutual health-promoting behaviors by the couple [20]. In marital relationships, both individuals learn more about their own and their partner's healthy or unhealthy behavior patterns, and this may help the individual to be more conscious of their own actions and possible adverse consequences for themselves and their partner [21]. Another possible reason is the presence of children in the household that need care to promote their healthy eating behaviors. As noted, this study found a statistically significant association of being single (i.e., never married) with insufficient FV intake. Thus, interventions to promote FV eating among single adults are important. In particular, programs need to prioritize single people who live alone. However, this study did not find any association of marital status of divorced or separated participants with insufficient FV intake. This contradicts the findings of previous studies that found an association of marital dissolution with a reduction in FV variety and quantity of intake, particularly in men [19]. This outcome may be due to other factors that should be taken into account such as time of marital transition or duration of marital status and remarriage. Moreover, the Thai family is typically in regular contact between households. People whose marriages fail may receive emotional and practical support from family members so that their health and dietary behaviors are not too adversely affected.There was a significant variation in FV intake across the geographic areas. That finding is consistent with previous studies [22, 23], and this may reflect significant differences between urban and agricultural areas where lifestyle and cultural standards can vary widely. Thus, it is unsurprising that residents living in Bangkok were more likely to experience insufficient FV intake than those living in other areas. This may be because daily life in Bangkok is constrained by commuting schedules and limited time for lunch breaks. Also, since a majority of the Bangkok labor force works outside the home, employees may not be able to access fresh FV as easily as their counterparts elsewhere [24]. Another possible reason is eating out behaviors of people due to modern daily living and a busy hectic lifestyle. These lifestyles are often associated with a higher frequency of dining out at restaurants, which also tends to be associated with lower FV intake. It is noteworthy that residents living in a provincial urban area were less likely to have insufficient FV intake than the residents in rural areas. This may be explained by the fact that the provincial urban residents live in an environment where markets are convenient and there is abundant fresh FV. Also, most of the organized healthy-eating campaigns have occurred in provincial urban Thailand. Accordingly, interventions should focus more on promoting healthy food environments. There is also a need for greater attention to, and targeted solutions for, Bangkok and the rural settings especially the more remote communities.Participants who worked in a company were more likely to have insufficient FV intake compared to those working in other workplace settings. According to previous studies, while people spend much of their time at work, the business workplace provides an environment where unhealthy food is frequently available [25]. Coworker behaviors, consumption of unplanned meals, time constraints and worker stress were found to be the most significant barriers to healthy workplace eating [26]. This suggests that despite available workplace-based interventions for healthy diets, several areas should be targeted to improve Thai workers' healthy diets and, in particular, FV consumption. For example, there could be a workplace policy to promote a healthy and productive workforce by providing convenient access to a balanced diet, counteracting coworkers' influence, managing time better and coping with work-related stress.People with higher educational attainment were less likely to have insufficient FV consumption. This could be explained by the fact that the level of education might be associated with a higher level of nutrition knowledge [27], which in turn, tends to be associated with favorable attitudes about healthy food habits. However, according to the theory of planned behavior [28], education alone that produces knowledge is not a reliable determinant of individual behavior formation. In addition to gaining knowledge, individuals need to go through the following process for sustained behavior change: attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and, finally, behavioral intention to adopt a behavior as part of everyday life. Therefore, on top of the level of education, there could be other factors (such as easy access to FV and FV availability at home and worksite) that enable and facilitate people to translate their knowledge into FV consumption.Consistent with many studies [29, 30] is the finding that there was a positive association of income with FV consumption. This could be explained by the fact that income indicates material resources [31] and that can shape food habits by providing more opportunity and affordability to purchase healthy food, including FV. In our study, the absolute poverty group (no income) is the ones who suffer mostly from insufficient intake of FV. Even though individual incomes matter to consumption, having a monthly cash income of less than 10,000 baht was not associated with insufficient FV intake among the Thai population. Although some minimum amount of money matters for FV consumption, people do not need to be well off to attain healthy eating behaviors. Some FV are cheap and readily available in areas where people reside and FV can be easily grown at home at little cost. Accordingly, the Thai government needs to formulate a policy to create an enabling and supportive environment to increase access to FV and motivate people to increase that component of their diet. Financial incentives should be considered to help households grow kitchen gardens with nutritious FV.Despite the population representativeness of the survey, this study has limitations. Firstly, all data, including FV intake, were self-reported, which might lead to bias and inaccuracy in recall and reporting. This limitation should be taken into account when interpreting the results. Secondly, this study used the WHO definition of insufficient FV intake which means that the results can be compared directly to other insufficient FV intake prevalence studies, both locally and internationally. However, using different definitions might give different results in the analyses. Thirdly, the cross-sectional study design renders any causal inferences implausible. Nevertheless, this study is an important first step in the exploration of sociodemographic determinants of insufficient FV intake in Thailand. The findings can help inform future studies of a similar nature and help identify entry points for public health policies for the government. Lastly, this study did not include community-health promotion and policy-level data which is needed to allow a better understanding of how insufficient FV intake is related to or influenced by community and national-level health policy and whether and how it interacts with sociodemographic characteristics. Future studies should place more emphasis on policy-level determinants of insufficient FV intake and overall policy effectiveness in the context of people's socioeconomic situation. Also, the specific mechanism of the sociodemographic determinants affecting insufficient FV intake should be further investigated for a better understanding of their causal relationship that would require longitudinal studies to investigate the individual change in FV intake and draw out the causal relationship.\nConclusions: The current study contributes to the extant FV intake literature by documenting a high prevalence of insufficient FV intake among a representative sample of the Thai population. Findings also indicate important differences in FV intake among study participants across geographic areas, and several sociodemographic characteristics are associated with insufficient FV intake. Collectively, the findings from this study suggest that both government and local agencies need to consider FV promotion policies and develop intervention and prevention strategies by taking into consideration the potential sociodemographic characteristics affecting insufficient FV intake of Thais. Since little is known about the specific mechanism by which sociodemographic determinants affect insufficient FV intake, studies are needed to identify predictors of insufficient FV intake. Longitudinal data are also needed to investigate the causal relationship between the sociodemographic determinants and insufficient FV intake.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The sociodemographic determinants of insufficient fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption in the general population in Thailand remain understudied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between sociodemographic characteristics and insufficient FV consumption in Thailand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This nationally representative survey employed a cross-sectional multi-stage sampling design. A total of 6,991 individuals aged 15 years or older participated in the study. Information on participants' FV consumption and sociodemographic characteristics were collected via questionnaire. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression.\nFindings: The overall prevalence of insufficient FV consumption in the study sample was 65.6%. Age of the participants, sex, marital status, place of residence, occupation, income and education were found to be significantly associated with insufficient FV consumption among this sample of the Thai population.\nOriginality/value: Findings suggest the need for promotion of FV consumption and intervention policies aimed at increasing FV intake by taking into account sociodemographic characteristics of the population.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer-oriented financial service personalization	[ "Financial services", "Customer orientation", "Mass behaviour", "Customization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Personalization is a differentiation strategy that cannot be easily replicated by competitors. A good personalization strategy can increase sales by improving customer conversion ratio, enhance customer loyalty by improving relationship with customers, or in other words, increase revenue and profit. The heart of personalization is to serve individual customers' unique needs. However, customers' needs are hard to pin-down; every customer is unique and so are his or her needs. With the constraints of traditional production methods, standardization combined with mass production was the outcome. There has long been a trade-off between satisfying more customers and better meeting the needs of every individual customer. With the evolution of technology, such trade-off is gradually diminishing. It is now economically feasible to obtain both the breadth, i.e. serving more customers, and the depth, i.e. better satisfying the needs of individual customer, in market coverage strategies. Such phenomenon has been manifested in mass customization, in which tailoring to individual customers' needs can be deployed on a massive scale. To achieve mass customization, companies generally have an inventory of \"parts\" of a product instead of the assembled whole products. Given a variety of choices for each part of the product, customers have the liberty to decide, to an extent, how the whole product is to be assembled.The idea of mass customization is not new, and businesses now want to go beyond tailoring products to tailoring every interaction between customers and the firm, from marketing promotions to after-purchase customer service. Their goals are captured in the idea of \"personalization\". Not only are businesses individually producing products based on specific customer requests, they are attempting to predict individual customer's needs in order to better serve customers and strengthen company's competitive advantage. Personalization is not limited to encouraging new sales; a successfully implemented personalization allows a company to improve both the effectiveness and efficiency in serving established customers as well. By better knowing the mind of a customer, companies can target customers' needs with much more accuracy and reduce futile efforts.Personalization is not a difficult task when it is done on a small scale. Human communication uses personalization all the time. Personalization becomes much more difficult when it is applied on a large scale. Automation is mandatory if a company is to apply personalization on large scale, but the complexity involved has barred businesses from automated personalization for decades. With the advance of information technology, applying personalization on a large scale is getting closer to reality (Sampson, 1998).As personalization is still a nascent addition to business practices, many personalization-related concepts are still forming and businesses are experimenting with personalization features. Despite the promises of personalization, some people have doubts about or even feel negatively towards personalization (Kambil and Nunes, 2001). Therefore, it is the objective of this paper to explore on why certain personalization practices are embraced by customers while others create nothing but nuisances. This is best achieved by examining what customers, not companies, think of current personalization practices. Suggestions then can be derived from customer perspective. After all, for personalization practices to be \"personal\", the customer's perspective should far outweigh the company's perspective.\nLiterature review: What is personalization?\nA product-process framework: Personalization in the financial industry\nDelphi investigation: The Delphi method is appropriate in this study because there is an insufficiency of well-established models for personalization strategy in the financial industry. The Delphi method aims at distilling and structuring opinions from panel participants until a consensus or pattern is formed (Helle et al., 2003). The Delphi method has the advantage of using a committee while dissuading the adverse effects of group conference situations (Bookbinder et al., 1994). Further, it is appropriate for collecting opinions from geographically dispersed experts (Helle et al., 2003). The size of a Delphi survey depends on the homogeneity of the expert population and whether the study searches for qualitative or quantitative results (Delbecq et al., 1975). As this research searches for qualitative information that may help construct a personalization strategy model, a small group of ten participants is considered adequate.Panel selection\nConclusion: There are important findings that can effectively guide financial companies toward better personalization practices. First of all, information personalization with channel flexibility is the key area for personalization effort, while transactions require little personalization consideration. Secondly, since a cost-benefit imbalance is perceived by customers, and product and process are inseparable in their minds, practitioners should clearly know what the costs and benefit erosions are. Lastly, according to the prioritized list in Table I, the most important guideline is \"do not intrude on customer privacy.\" Companies should take it seriously and sincerely, even when the laws and regulations have not quite caught up with customers' expectations.The costs, benefit erosions, and the prioritized list are not difficult to understand or accept. However, many financial institutions have treated them too lightly; the performance of personalization practices should not have been unsatisfactory. In order to have a firm grasp on an effective personalization approach, practitioners should emphasize three areas of disciplines when pursuing personalization: the promise of personal privacy, the accuracy and relevancy of personalization results, and a convenient feedback channel.Promise of personal privacy\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper derives a personalization framework for financial services by a literature review and examines the framework against the customer's perspective via the Delphi method.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The framework exhibits a product-process viewpoint, while the panelists express a cost-benefit viewpoint.\nFindings: - Concludes that financial firms should transform the content of relevance from product-process dimensions to cost-benefit dimensions. For customers to weigh benefits over costs, financial services should raise the level of service sophistication by keeping the promise of personal privacy, improving the accuracy and relevance of personalization results, and providing a convenient feedback channel that empowers customers by granting them full control over the accuracy of their personal information.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explores why certain personalization practices are embraced by customers while others create nothing but nuisance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Segmentation of Chinese parents based on food risk perception dimensions for risk communication in rural area of Sichuan province	[ "China", "Parents", "Risk communication", "Food risk perception", "Risk perception dimensions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food safety is closely related with the quality of life, social harmony and national image. Numerous facts have confirmed that food safety outbreaks could trigger a series of unexpected negative influence not only on individuals, but on the whole society. During the past 15 years, China has continuously suffered from food safety outbreaks and scandals, which have showed their significant impacts on risk perceptions of lay public.\n2. Literature review of food risk perception dimensions for risk communication strategy: Covello et al. (2001) proposed four theoretical models (risk perception, mental noise, negative dominance and trust determination) which contributed as the foundation for effective risk communication. As for the \"risk perception theoretical model,\" since risk communication was a two-way, interactive process, it was necessary to acquire information about the interests and concerns of stakeholders. The level of their worry, anger, anxiety, fear and hostility can significantly determine whether the risk communication activity were successful or not. The importance of knowing the public risk perception situation has been attached by many countries (Fein et al., 2011). Take the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as an example, as the institution in charge of food risk communication mission throughout Europe, EFSA has paid much attention on how European citizens perceive food risks and their overall confidence in public authorities. It has carried out large-scale surveys in 2005 and in 2010. As for the survey in 2010, a representative sample of 26,691 adult individuals in all 27 member states were interviewed (European Food Safety Authority, 2010). Quite a lot of literature studied on the risk perception factors which have direct relevance to risk communication (Kjaernes et al., 2007; Hohl and Gaskell, 2008; Kher et al., 2013; Amin et al., 2014). Covello et al. (2001) listed 15 detailed risk perception factors out of the previous three, which included voluntariness, controllability, familiarity, equity, benefits, understanding, uncertainty, dread, trust in institutions, reversibility, personal stake, ethical/moral nature, human vs natural origin, victim identity and catastrophic potential, could affect the risk communication effect. But since 1980s, researchers have tried to summarize the factors down to key dimensions. Slovic et al. (1981) used the psychometric paradigm to sum up three risk perception factors: dread, familiarity and exposure. Sandman (1987) even tried to combine all the characteristics into one factor: outrage. Yeung and Morris (2001) and Hornibrook et al. (2005) concluded the consumer perception on food risks in chicken and beef, respectively, into following dimensions: health, financial, time, lifestyle, product performance, social and psychological loss. Hu (2010) used psychometric approach to measure the perception of consumers in Hangzhou city in China toward risks from pesticides residuals in the vegetables, and summarized three risk perception dimensions: serious consequences, out of personal control and out of government control.\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Survey and sample description\n4. Research results: 4.1 Ranks of parents' concerns about food in an overall assessment of risks\n5. Research discussion: Using factor-cluster analysis and cross-tabs analysis with kh2 tests offers a deeper understanding of segmentation because it considers multiple dimensional perception attributes. The insight derived from this method describes a deeper image of parents groups, helping risk communication launchers to pinpoint risk perception dimensions and develop effective risk communication plans to the target parents.\n6. Research conclusion: Communication on food risks was critical for avoiding public unnecessary risk perception bias, irrational purchasing behavior and even a long-term erosion of social trust in institutions and industries. Since food risks are systemic risks and public perceptions toward the risks consist of multiple dimensions, launching an effective risk communication need to tailor the information for the target audience not only based on their risk perception level but also based on their perception dimensions. In this study, we took 2,673 parents in the rural area of Sichuan province as our research target to identify their risk perception characters. Our results did prove that there existed different clusters of rural parents with representational perception and demographic characteristics. Some of the characteristics were similar to urban consumers in China, such as \"sensitive\" and \"institutional distrust,\" parents of these clusters showed extremely worried about the food safety problems. But at the same time, some of the characteristics have typical Chinese cultural features and were only found in rural parents in China, such as \"dependent\" and \"familiarity oriented.\" Especially for the familiarity-oriented parents, instead of worrying about food safety problems, they even showed optimistic attitude and did not worry about them at all. This phenomenon was very common in rural China and deserved to pay much attention to change this perception.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate risk dimensions affecting food risk perceptions and to develop effective risk communication strategies based on their risk perceptions dimensions. The reason for writing this paper is that applying single risk communication strategy for public often fails because food risks are systemic risks and public perceptions toward them consist of multiple dimensions. Launching an effective risk communication need to investigate the perception dimensions of the target audience.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 2,673 parents of 3-14-year-old children from the rural area of Sichuan province in China were chosen as target audience. Based on the survey conducted about parents' food risk perceptions, this study used factor-cluster analysis method to segment parents to sub-clusters with significantly different risk perception dimensions. Parents' representative demographic characteristics within each cluster were further identified through cross-tabs analysis with kh2 tests.\nFindings: All the parents could be segmented into four sub-clusters, namely, sensitive parents, dependent parents, familiarity-oriented parents and institutional distrust parents, according to their risk perception difference on five dimensions. A series of risk communication strategies were specifically designed for each cluster based on their risk perception features as well as demographic characteristics.\nOriginality/value: The insight derived from this study described a deeper image of public risk perceptions and provided suggestions for risk communication launchers to pinpoint the risk perception as well as perception dimensions of the target audience and accordingly develop effective risk communication strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Marketing implications from a behaviourism perspective of consumption dynamics and socio-demographics of wine consumers	[ "Market segmentation", "Consumer behaviour", "Socio-demographics", "Behaviourism", "Consumption metrics", "Marketing implications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The world we live in today is a rapidly changing environment in which new trends are emerging more often and tend to develop at a much faster rate than ever before. Marketing has had to keep pace with ever-changing markets and in doing so, evolved from mass or consumer marketing in the 1950s that had become largely futile as a result of the social changes of the 1960s and caused fragmentation of the consumer market. Hence, today successful marketing efforts are increasingly based on an in-depth understanding of consumer needs (Wells, 2014). Marketers need to understand the buying behaviour of consumers and what prompts (or stops) a consumer to purchase a particular product in order to do well. Moreover, for each attempt at changing consumer activities and lifestyles there is a need to better understand the determinants of consumer behaviour (Foxall, 1999, 2001; Kotler and Keller, 2012).\nLiterature review: In considering the success of marketing, Foxall (2001) states that \"the narrowness of its theoretical position is a potential weakness\" (p. 169) and argues that behaviourism (the focus on an individual's behaviour) has a very important role to play in consumer and marketing research. Moreover, in their seminal study to identify the pivotal theories in marketing and their characteristics, Van der Merwe et al. (2007) concluded that theories used in marketing are rooted in various other academic disciplines, which suggests that marketing is not as domain specific as many other disciplines are. Over time marketing has compiled a large body of theoretical knowledge which it largely puts to use to solve/explain practical issues when facing them. This in turn underlines that theory and practice cannot be totally separated. It is this aspect of \"circularity\", namely that theory exists to give meaning to something, explain something, etc. but that practice informs theory in turn and is therefore instrumental in theory's evolvement, that prompted us to execute the current research study. To illustrate this and provide context, we use the wine product category as an application vehicle as it represents a very good example of a packaged consumer good.\nResearch method: The data for this study were collected through computer-assisted telephone interviewing from a national database using randomly selected households in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, representing Australia's main metropolitan markets. Trained interviewers collected the data using a maximum of five call-backs per household. Including refusals to participate, early terminations, and no answers, the response rate was 11 per cent. Household members were first screened in order to identify the person who was the household's main wine buyer, and had purchased wine in the last three months prior to the interview. In this way, the most appropriate respondent from each household was identified.\nResults and discussion: Socio-demographics of consumers\nConclusions, implications and recommendations: This study investigated the marketing implications of differences between male and female and age generation-related wine consumer behaviour, wine type preferences and retail buying behaviour and the nature of these differences in the Australian wine market. What emerged in the broader sense is that females bring significant sensory preference and behavioural differences to their engagement with wine as opposed to males and these differences appear to diminish with increasing experience with wine. Males drink more wine than females and they spend more per month on purchasing of their wine. They also tend to drink more red wines than females. Female consumers purchase significantly more of their wine from restaurants and bars/pubs in the on-premise sector and consume more white wine than males. There were some indications, although they could not be statistically proved, that younger Millennial consumers tend to buy higher priced wine per bottle which could well represent a RRS.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to facilitate a better understanding of the insights provided by adopting a behaviourism perspective of the socio-demographics, consumption dynamics and retail channel patronage of wine consumers and the potential marketing implications these have.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Systematic random sampling yielded 811 surveys of wine consumers collected at households across Australia's three main consumption metropoles. A hierarchical multiple regression model is used to test the predictive ability of the socio-demographical variables, gender and age, on personal wine consumption.\nFindings: Specific differences exist in the consumption behaviour and wine type preferences of males and females, and between generational cohorts, specifically Millennial and older consumers. There are gender significant differences in wine type consumption, which in turn is moderated by not only the \"classical\" socio-demographic variables, but also the retail outlet types preferred for product purchase. Younger Millennial females place more importance on external choice cues in making their buying decision than males. The gender and age generation socio-demographic variables are not strong predictors of personal wine consumption.\nPractical implications: Opportunities exist for niche-marketed brands targeted at specific segments such as young females and this study highlighted their specific needs and consumer behaviour dynamics.\nOriginality/value: This study illustrates through carefully executed wine consumer behaviour research, directed by questioning from the extant literature, how information derived from a behaviourism perspective can intelligently inform marketing strategies. In the process, it also provides \"baselines\" for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical examination of online restaurant reviews on Yelp.com: A dual coding theory perspective	[ "Dual coding theory", "Online restaurant review", "Review enjoyment", "Review usefulness", "Textual and imagery cues" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The spread of smart tourism is a result of the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in tourism (Gretzel et al., 2015) and online review websites (e.g. TripAdvisor, Yelp, Citysearch and Virtualtour). These technologies can provide comprehensive information and influence the attitudes of online review website users in tourism and hospitality business settings (Liu and Park, 2015). As a type of electronic word of mouth (e-WOM), online reviews are an important information source that allows review website users to search for specific and detailed information (Chung and Koo, 2015; Mudambi and Schuff, 2010; Racherla and Friske, 2012). In particular, in the tourism and hospitality industry, because of the intangible and complex characteristics of experience, goods and services, consumers rely heavily on other customers' reviews to evaluate service quality before consumption; thus, online consumer reviews are considered essential to purchase decisions (Ghose and Ipeirotis, 2011; Korfiatis et al., 2012).\nTheoretical background and hypothesis development: Dual coding theory and review presentation formats\nResearch methodology: Data source and sampling\nAnalysis: Data analysis\nDiscussion and conclusion: Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of two types of presentation formats (textual and imagery) involving online restaurant reviews (ORRs). The study examines ORRs on the basis of review usefulness and review enjoyment; the study investigates the effects of the two presentation formats on review usefulness and review enjoyment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from 1,776 reviews were collected from Yelp.com using a Web data-harvesting technique. Hypothesized relations in the model were tested by Tobit regression analysis.\nFindings: Empirical results show that different formats of ORRs affect review usefulness and review enjoyment in different manners; whereas both attributes of textual format (review length and readability) affect review usefulness, both aspects of imagery format (physical environment images and food and beverage images) are positively related to review enjoyment. However, review length and food and beverage images are the most important factors affecting both review usefulness and review enjoyment. In particular, the relation between the two formats of ORRs and review usefulness is mediated by review enjoyment.\nResearch limitations/implications: The focus of this study is the two formats of ORRs in terms of dual coding theory and the mediating role of review enjoyment. The findings help online review website organizers manage the operation of various review formats in a proper manner. Managers can effectively select those formats that would achieve the desired effect.\nOriginality/value: Unlike previous studies on the relation of attributes to online reviews, this study examines the perceptions of ORRs' usefulness and enjoyment. In addition, this study encompasses diverse ORR factors (review length, review readability, physical environment images, food and beverage images) for a more comprehensive interpretation of ORRs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Application of Six Sigma methodology to a diagnostic imaging process	[ "Six Sigma", "Radiology", "Image", "Repeats", "Cost", "Health services", "Quality improvement", "Turkey", "Medical diagnosis", "Image scanners" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Imaging systems, using different types of radiation and supported by modern microelectronics produce images of the living organisms, are today a permanent feature of medical diagnostics. Different forms of medico-technical systems have been developed to meet the needs of different diagnostic techniques (Krestel, 1990).With the advent of a number of new procedures in the last few decades, X-ray diagnostics as originally developed by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen in the year 1895 has undergone major changes. Today's total image format has been possible since the advent of the Anger camera in 1958. The first total image unit for ultrasound diagnoses appeared in 1966 and in 1972 followed the development of computed tomography (CT) by G.N. Hounsfield. In 1973, P.C. Lauterbuhr introduced magnetic resonance tomography, which was followed by the introduction of such systems to the market in early 1980s. The decades to follow produced a steadily increasing stream of innovation including the advent of positron emission tomography (PET), picture archival communication systems (PACS), radiology information systems (RIS), digital mammography, molecular imaging, speech recognition, ultrasound, CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Krestel, 1990).The rapid developments in microelectronics of the last few decades have contributed significantly to improvements in medico-technical systems. These include improved image quality, made possible by the introduction of microchips, greatly simplified system operation, a considerable extension of the range of applications, and a substantial reduction in size and weight (Krestel, 1990). Such advancements opened up life-saving possibilities for patients, allowing diseases to be detected and treated earlier and with more success. With the availability of faster technologies, however, came a sharp rise in consumer demand, a growing need to recruit and retain qualified technologists between advancing technologies and traditional workflow. It seemed that although the industry had continued to evolve from a technological standpoint, the processes surrounding diagnostic imaging services had not kept pace with the science delivering better equipment and information systems.Today's workflow is full of inefficiencies. The losses to the organisation and ultimately the patients are not fully realised. The examination repeats are one of those efficiencies. Even with the latest equipment installed, many radiology units still face human errors resulting from the misinterpretations of the images by radiologists. Errors and variability can obviously undermine the delivery of safe and effective patient care (Buck, 2001; Kohn et al., 2000). Hospitals can combine process management with information technology to redesign patient flow for optimal efficiency and clinical outcomes (Mahaffey, 2004).The etiology of radiological error is multi-factorial. They fall into recurrent patterns and may arise from poor technique, failures of perception, lack of knowledge, misjudgements, system failure, bad quality of image, anatomy of patient and improper calibration. The work of diagnostic radiology consists of the complete detection of all abnormalities in an imaging examination and their accurate diagnosis. Every radiologist, technician and physician should understand the sources of error in diagnostic radiology as well as the elements of negligence that form the basis of malpractice litigation (Pinto and Brunese, 2010).An accurate diagnosis in radiology is pre-requisite to effective patient care. However, diagnostic errors are often caused by both imaging equipment and radiologists. Technology changes human tasks and shift workloads, and tends to reduce or eliminate human decision making. Radiologists are the easiest targets for blame in the wake of a major system failure, although the real problem often lies in poor system design. On the other hand, there is always the risk of variation since the reading may change from observer to observer.The domain of errors by medical practitioners has received considerable attention in recent years. The number of repeated procedures, costs and deaths caused by such errors is alarming (Revere and Black, 2003). According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 people die in different American hospitals every year because of errors committed by medical professionals (Bion and Heffner, 2004).Many new imaging technologies are introduced to the healthcare market each year. These modalities deliver increased image quality and provide diagnostic confidence to physicians to more accurately treat patients. However, this is generally achieved only at considerable additional expense. To optimise the performance of the workflow, design and diagnosis, technology must not only be the leading edge, but it should also be appropriately aligned with the medical professionals and process steps that are involved in the delivery of safe and cost-effective patient care.The radiology unit of a recently founded private hospital has been suffering from the cost of repeated sessions and delays although the equipment implanted was of the most recent technology. If these errors in the radiology process are not immediately found and the patient receives inappropriate treatment or no treatment, those errors can lead to a number of types of adverse events.In this study, technical strategies offered by the Six Sigma methodology are implemented in a radiology unit to eliminate the repeated procedures.Although the process improvement in radiology departments using Six Sigma methodology has been studied by many researchers in the literature (Benedetto, 2003; Cavagna et al., 2003; Chan et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2005; Corn, 2009; Elsberry, 2000; Gorman et al., 2007; Kang et al., 2005), this study is the first attempt to apply Six Sigma in a medical imaging department in Turkey.\nSix Sigma methodology: Sigma methodology is one of the most powerful performance improvement tools that are changing the face of modern healthcare delivery today. It is embraced by many organisations and industries involved in manufacturing and services as a cost-effective way to improve quality and productivity. As a method to eliminate variation and defects, Six Sigma makes use of a structured approach named DMAIC to find the root causes behind problems and to drive processes toward near-perfection (Cherry and Seshadri, 2000).The define, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) is a five-step improvement cycle with the aim to continuously reduce errors:1. Define the problems, clarify scope and define goals.2. Measure the current performance, gather and compare data, refine problems/goals.3. Analyse by identifying sources, gaps and root causes of errors and analyse best practices.4. Improve by conducting trials to eliminate root causes, testing various solutions, measuring results, standardising solutions and, implementing the improved processes by designing creative solutions to fix and prevent problems.5. Control the performance of the new process by institutionalising improvements and putting a mechanism for ongoing monitoring in place (Park and Antony, 2008).\nDMAIC for diagnostic imaging: Applied to diagnostic imaging, Six Sigma approach focuses on optimising time, human and equipment resources; improving service delivery (to patients by technologists, radiologists, referring physicians); and reducing costs while enhancing revenue. Using the DMAIC methodology can eliminate non-value-added steps that cause delays and bottlenecks, pinpoint root causes for errors, repeats and variability, and remove inefficiencies and redundancies that can undermine a department's best efforts.In manufacturing, it is quite possible to reduce or even eliminate (in some cases) most of human variability through automation (Riebling, 2005). In the healthcare industry, however, the delivery of patient care is largely a human process, and hence the causes of variability are often difficult to identify and quantify (Sehwail and DeYong, 2003). This difficulty can be overcome by Six Sigma methodology.Define phase\nConclusions and discussion: Process improvement and workflow adjustments using Six Sigma can have a measurable impact on cost and quality of services. Addressing additional areas such as providing specialised training for technologists also helps the diagnostic imaging department gain advantages by minimising cost and loss, and accelerates their return on investment for equipment such as the ultrasound, CT scanners, PET and MRI.Diagnostic imaging departments must recognise and respond to new market realities. In the US, the business of radiology in all its various forms is growing at a rate of 10 per cent each year, driven by an aging population and increasing demand for services. This growth is continuing to strain the ability of healthcare organisations to maintain adequate services. Thus, diagnostic imaging departments and facilities must recruit experienced radiologists for increasing diagnostic accuracy and cost effectiveness.Training of the staff resulted in an increase in patient volume and decrease in repeated examinations by 9.5 and 84.12 per cent, respectively. It also resulted in reductions in patient's turnaround times. Patients' waiting time, which had averaged 22 minutes from when they had arrived until they began being processed, was reduced to 7 minutes on average. Repeated examinations due to positioning of the patient or movement of the patient was eliminated. Competency on the RIS/PACS system was improved. The decrease in repeated examinations resulted in the fall of scrap film costs. Quality and interpretation of the images was improved. Distribution of the survey resulted in the reorganisation and improvement in staff scheduling. Departmental efficiency is improved.The hospital management understood that achieving optimal efficiency, service quality, customer satisfaction and financial success in diagnostic imaging required more than the installation of superior equipment and RIS/PACS system. It also entails adopting a performance-improvement approach that incorporates both a technical and cultural strategy to realise significant, and long-term results. Therefore, additional recommendations for the imaging department to avoid radiologic malpractice can be listed as follows:1. Establish a clear understanding of current operations.2. Focus on key metrics and success factors such as the calibration of the equipment.3. Do not underestimate the importance of the control phase. Always monitor the process.To conclude, the adoption of Six Sigma helped the hospital management and the imaging department to evaluate several processes, determine the risks involved and correct the errors before adverse events took place.\nGlossary: * Bias. Deviation of results or inferences from the truth, or processes leading to such systematic deviation.* Bottleneck. Equipment working continually with work to be processed still waiting.* Failure modes. Different ways in which the process or sub-process can fail to achieve its purpose.* Rolled throughput yield. A measure of yield throughout an entire process.* Sensitivity. The proportion of persons with the disease who are correctly identified by defined criteria.* Specificity. The proportion of persons without a disease who are correctly identified by defined criteria.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to apply the Six Sigma methodology to improve workflow by eliminating the causes of failure in the medical imaging department of a private Turkish hospital.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Implementation of the design, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) improvement cycle, workflow chart, fishbone diagrams and Pareto charts were employed, together with rigorous data collection in the department. The identification of root causes of repeat sessions and delays was followed by failure, mode and effect analysis, hazard analysis and decision tree analysis.\nFindings: - The most frequent causes of failure were malfunction of the RIS/PACS system and improper positioning of patients. Subsequent to extensive training of professionals, the sigma level was increased from 3.5 to 4.2.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The data were collected over only four months.\nPractical implications: - Six Sigma's data measurement and process improvement methodology is the impetus for health care organisations to rethink their workflow and reduce malpractice. It involves measuring, recording and reporting data on a regular basis. This enables the administration to monitor workflow continuously.\nSocial implications: - The improvements in the workflow under study, made by determining the failures and potential risks associated with radiologic care, will have a positive impact on society in terms of patient safety. Having eliminated repeat examinations, the risk of being exposed to more radiation was also minimised.\nOriginality/value: - This paper supports the need to apply Six Sigma and present an evaluation of the process in an imaging department.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Apprentices keep Dinamiks at the cutting edge of technology: Product development takes account of young people's viewpoint	[ "Innovation", "Software development", "Apprenticeships", "Young people", "Technology companies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Fixed Graphic\nWell presented and capable: Sam developed into a well presented and very capable young man who had responsibility for all customer concerns with our product. He was articulate on both the telephone and in his written communication and explained things clearly to our customers with no jargon. It was quite a loss when he decided to move on.\nEager to embrace new technologies: Product development always demands that you use the latest technology just to stand still; both Sam and Chris had natural abilities in their own areas and have been eager to embrace new technologies for developing and supporting our existing product.\nOptions for the future: We have benefited from the energy of youth, a different style of conversation and innovative individuals who have the ideas to move the product, and therefore the company, on. New ideas have been introduced for the products and given us options for the future we had not thought of before. In our apprentices, we have a development skill that enables us to create a new HR product without retained, biased knowledge that could result in an old-style product being developed.\nPreparation for the wider world: The primary focus of our delivery of our apprenticeship program is to prepare our apprentices to go out into the wider business world and be a valuable contributor in whatever field they ultimately choose.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Describes the advantages that technology company Dinamiks gains from its apprenticeship program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Gives the managing director's viewpoint of the benefits of apprenticeships to a small company.\nFindings: Reveals that apprentices have enabled Dinamiks to tap into the technology innovations and ways of working with technology that many young people take in their stride and to learn what of that needs to be included in its products.\nPractical implications: Details how the company has benefited from the energy of youth, a different style of conversation and innovative individuals who have the ideas to move the product, and therefore the company, on.\nSocial implications: Explains that the program prepares apprentices to go out into the wider business world and be a valuable contributor in whatever field they ultimately choose.\nOriginality/value: Highlights the winning combination of apprentices, who bring new ideas and ways of working, with seasoned employees, with their business acumen gained through years of experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stationarity and stability of underwriting profits in property-liability insurance: Part I	[ "Underwriting", "Property insurance", "Insurance liability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The cyclical nature of insurers' profits has been discussed by a number of authors. Venezian (1985) showed that underwriting profits for individual lines and the aggregate in the USA had cyclical behavior and followed an AR(2) process. Cummins and Outreville (1987) subsequently showed that underwriting profits for 13 countries followed an AR(2) process, and concluded that underwriting cycles existed across countries. Lamm-Tennant and Weiss (1997) and Chen et al. (1999) followed Cummins and Outreville (1987) using international data, and confirmed the results. However, Leng (2000) found that an AR(2) process for underwriting margin does not fit well for the entire period 1952-1997.Earlier studies assumed that the data followed stable processes and used statistical methods appropriate for that assumption. Our analysis started with an attempt to validate that assumption. Since time series data are used for studying underwriting cycles, we begin by checking the stationarity and stability of the series. A time series is stationary if its mean and variance are constant over time, and the covariance for any two time periods (t and t+k) depends only on the interval between two time periods (k), not on the starting time (t). A standard regression analysis of a non-stationary series is problematic because it is a spurious regression from random numbers. A time series is stable if no structural change occurred in the sample period. If a time series is not stable, the regression result from the whole period will have poor explanatory power for the series. Thus, if a series is not stationary or not stable, the results of the regression analysis will be unreliable and will lead to errors in forecasting and interpretation.Early papers on the underwriting cycles tried to account for the non-stationarity of the time series in various ways. Venezian (1985) detrended underwriting margins after policyholder dividends in his analysis. Cummins and Outreville (1987) used a deterministic time trend as an independent variable in their regression. However, a time variable in their model is used to reflect the downward movement of underwriting expenses, not to adjust for non-stationarity. Lamm-Tennant and Weiss (1997) and Chen et al. (1999) adopted a time variable in their analyses as well. However, Nelson and Plosser (1982) and Stock and Watson (1988) have pointed out that there are two kinds of non-stationary processes: the trend-stationary (TS) process, and the difference-stationary (DS) process. A time series has to be a TS process in order to use the detrending method. If a time series is a DS process - that is, the series has a stochastic trend - then the remedy is to take differences until the series is stationarity. Because of the different remedies, the correct type of process needs to be identified in order to adopt the right method to adjust for non-stationarity.Recent articles have examined the stationarity of some insurance series. Niehaus and Terry (1993) tested written premiums, losses paid, and surplus from 1946 to 1988, and found that the hypothesis of a unit root was not rejected and is not inconsistent with stationarity. Haley (1993, 1995) tested the stationarity of underwriting margins from 1930 to 1989 and from 1949 to 1992, and the unit root hypothesis was not rejected. Grace and Hotchkiss (1995) used quarterly series from 1974 to 1990 for the combined ratio, real gross domestic product, short-term interest rates, and inflation, and found that none of these variables rejects the unit root hypothesis. Fung et al. (1998) also showed that written premiums, losses incurred and loss adjustment expenses, and surplus from 1946 to 1989 are also consistent with a unit root. These articles did not, however, investigate the stability of the respective series.The intent of this article is to state all possible scenarios and to test them in order to get a more clear understanding of underwriting cycles.\nData: The analysis is conducted by using combined ratios (CR)[1] of the industry from 1952 to 1997 and by line from 1973 to 1997, except medical malpractice (from 1975 to 1997) and reinsurance (from 1977 to 1997). Data were obtained from various issues of Best's Averages and Aggregates. Table I lists all lines of insurance, their abbreviations, and the data periods.Analyses in this article are based upon a longer data period for the industry (from 1952 to 1997)[2] and more recent data for individual lines (most lines are from 1973 to 1997) compared to Venezian's 21 years (from 1960 to 1980) and Cummins and Outreville's 23 years (from 1957 to 1979). More recent data can show whether the characteristics of underwriting cycle have changed since the previous research, and the longer data period allows us to check whether the underwriting margin is stationary and stable over time.For comparison purposes, we try to use the same time period for each line of business. To study stationarity and stability, it is essential that data should be reported on a consistent basis. Thus, the data period was chosen based on the data that are available for the most lines on a consistent basis. The combined ratio for the industry as a whole is available for a longer period than for the by-line data. The events of the Second World War, wartime price controls, and enactment of the McCarran-Ferguson Act may well have created a period of abnormal and unstable practices. Therefore, the data period is from 1952 to 1997 to avoid this problem.For individual lines, the starting year is 1973 - the year that the reporting basis changed for auto insurance. This choice was made because auto insurance constitutes a substantial portion of the property-liability insurance market[3], and because after 1973 the classification of each line is relatively stable. The data reported in Best's Averages and Aggregates for private passenger auto liability and private passenger auto physical damage were not separated until 1973. The same reporting changes also affected commercial auto insurance. It is important to have separate data for auto liability and auto physical damage because the movements to no-fault in the 1970s and to tort reform in the 1980s may have affected the liability part of the business much more than the physical damage part. Medical malpractice was separated from other liability beginning in 1975. Similarly, reinsurance was separated from miscellaneous insurance beginning in 1977.The measure we have chosen - the combined ratio - differs somewhat from variables used in earlier research. Venezian (1985) measured underwriting profit as one minus the combined ratio minus the ratio of policyholder dividends divided by premiums earned[4]. Cummins and Outreville (1987) used the ratio of premiums to losses as the dependent variable.If insurance companies pay policyholder dividends when they have profits, then the profit margin after policyholder dividends, used by Venezian (1985), fluctuates less than the profit margin without policyholder dividends. If the decision on paying policyholder dividends is endogenous[5], including policyholder dividends in underwriting profit does not affect the amplitude or phase of the underwriting cycle. Since underwriting cycles should be beyond the insurer's control, the combined ratio without policyholder dividends provides a better measure of insurers' underwriting results than other variables used by previous studies.Even though it is highly correlated with the combined ratio, the ratio of premiums to losses is not the best profit indicator because it shows neither the trend of expenses over time nor the expense differences among lines. Since the expense ratio is available, we are not forced to assume the reasons for trend in the dependent variables as in Cummins and Outreville (1987).If only data from stock insurers were used, the result would have ownership bias (Fama and Jensen, 1983a, b; Myers and Smith, 1988). Gron (1994) pointed out that stock insurers account for more than 70 percent of market share for the industry. However, mutual companies are important in specific lines, such as private passenger auto liability and private passenger auto physical damage. Moreover, even potential entry exerts price discipline in markets. A small segment of existing competition may be important if its cost structure is different. Therefore, the combined ratio including companies of all organizational forms is used.Data implications\nHypotheses: In this section, we explain the procedures for testing the stationarity and stability of the combined ratio. Figure 4 summarizes the hypotheses-testing procedures.Hypothesis 1: the combined ratio has a unit root\nConclusion: From preliminary analysis, the underwriting profits of the property-liability insurance industry are possibly non-stationary, or not stable, or both. By testing each possible scenario addressed by these hypotheses, the next part of this two-part series will offer results and details for further analysis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To examine whether the properties of the combined-ratio series, an indicator of underwriting profitability in property-liability insurance, have changed over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using the autocorrelation function (ACF) and partial autocorrelation function (PACF), we check whether combined ratios are stationary.\nFindings: - Underwriting profit has worsened in recent years, and combined ratios are non-stationary. This characteristic of combined ratios needs further analysis for its impact on underwriting cycles.\nPractical implications: - Traditional concepts of underwriting cycles, such as predictable cycle lengths and trends, may have changed.\nOriginality/value: - The possibility of a non-stationary combined-ratio series is recognized, and the possible existence of non-stationarity and breaks in combined ratios is introduced.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Purchase decision: does too much choice leave us unhappy?	[ "Purchase intention", "Need for cognition", "Emotional response", "Choice variety" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the emphasis on customers' benefit, producers are encouraged to provide various products in an attempt to satisfy each customer's diverse needs and gain market share (Ha and Jang, 2013; Herrmann et al., 2009). Currently, consumers tend to be overwhelmed by the vast number of choices at their disposal and are compelled to make purchase decisions among these choices when shopping (Huber et al., 2012; Nicholls and Lee, 2006). Literature involving this choice paradox has framed multiple choices as both beneficial and costly to consumers (Herrmann et al., 2009; Kaplan and Reed, 2013; Schwartz, 2006a). Thus, a variety of choices can not only motivate consumers to purchase, but also demotivate them from purchasing.\nTheoretical issues: Emotions' important role in consumption processes\nResearch method: This study adopts a 2 x 2 experimental design to examine the influence of the interaction of two constructs, choice variety (high/low) and NFC (high/low), on positive and negative emotions, as well as test for a mediating effect of consumption emotion between choice variety and purchase intention. Choice variety is manipulated by the number of products in the experiment, and a median split divides participants into high or low NFC. The experimental shopping scenario involves the choice of a hypothetical brand; participants imagined that they planned to buy a cell phone and chose among options in an online store setting. They were randomly assigned to the high or low variety condition at the beginning of the experiment and completed measures of perceived choice variety, consumption emotions, purchase intention and NFC.\nResults: Reliability and validity\nDiscussion and implications: Prior research indicates that product variety increases consumer welfare (Chong, 1998; Herrmann et al., 2009) and that consumers' emotional states can be evoked by cognitive evaluations of an object or stimulus (Bagozzi et al., 1999; Damasio, 2001; Lazarus, 1991). The current study combines these notions, linking cognition activities to emotional responses to choice variety and introducing an individual difference as a moderator. Unlike studies that debate whether greater product variety enables consumers to enjoy a diversity of options (Abdul-Muhmin, 1999; Kahn, 1998; Simonson, 1990) or confuses them and increases consumer regret, anxiety or stress (Mick et al., 2004; Schwartz, 2006a), we argue that variety is not an absolute benefit or burden. Rather, its influence depends on individual traits. Respondents with higher NFC tend to express more positive emotions and higher purchase intentions in high variety conditions than those with lower NFC. In contrast, respondents with lower NFC tend to express more negative emotions in high variety conditions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine how and when choice variety influences consumers' willingness to purchase, according to a personal emotion perspective. The choice paradox indicates that although having many choices can be beneficial, it can also cause customer decision paralysis and unhappiness. This article proposes that the desire and motivation to process information vary from person to person, and emotional factors are relevant.\nDesign/methodology/approach: With a 2 x 2 experimental design, this study examines the influence of the interaction of choice variety with need for cognition (NFC) on positive and negative emotions, and then tests the mediating effects on purchase intentions. The sample includes 214 college students, assigned randomly to self-assessment questionnaires.\nFindings: Both high NFC respondents in the high variety condition and low NFC respondents in the low variety condition exhibit more positive emotions than low NFC respondents in the high variety condition but not more than high NFC respondents in the low variety condition. Positive (negative) emotions increase (decrease) consumers' purchase intentions.\nResearch limitations/implications: The experiment was conducted in a virtual store, which may not match real-life store environments or reflect participants' actual purchase behaviours, so additional research should consider the influence of involvement further.\nPractical implications: The results offer suggestions for developing more effective communication with emotions, increasing involvement to maintain consumers' positive emotions and relieve their confusion, and managing product variety.\nOriginality/value: This article meets the identified need to study how choice variety influences consumers' willingness to purchase from a personal emotion perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employee benefits and high-tech fatherhood	[ "Employee benefits", "High-Tech", "Work-Family", "Gender", "Fatherhood" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This study illuminates some social circumstances of employee benefits: compensations provided in addition to wages, formulated and implemented in a social context, conferring advantages like health insurance, pension, sick leave, vacation and flextime. While legislation in developed countries obligates employers to provide certain benefits hence standardizing employees' welfare, many provide additional, non-mandatory benefits and raise it (Dulebohn et al., 2009; Kelly, 2006). Thus employee benefits offer a valuable opportunity to foster relations between organizations and their socio-cultural environment. Work-family benefits that underscore the value of working time do so especially.\nGender diversity and work-family benefits: The inflow of millions of women into the paid economy has done little to transform gender values in society as a whole. Allocating unpaid family and domestic work primarily to women and assigning breadwinning to men is still a powerful ideology embracing two prevailing models. That of the ideal worker is based on a male protagonist hardly constrained by non-job demands, who can therefore comply with job commitments including maximum involvement, availability and willingness to work long hours. This corresponds to masculine stereotypes like individualism, competitiveness and technical skills that are further infused into this model. At the same time feminine stereotypes like tenderness, caring and interpersonal skills are often underrated in the world of paid work. That model confronts the second, deep-seated model of the ideal mother, chiefly responsible for the family's wellbeing as the principal caregiver (Acker, 1990; Bailyn, 2006). The ideology is often indistinct because each sphere is evaluated in different terms: the public-economic sphere is believed to be competence based, while the private domestic one is often considered \"natural.\" These asymmetries often obscure the fact that work organizations consist of relations between people in a social context, and are therefore inevitably gendered (Acker, 1990). The gendered reality has resulted in a double burden for employed women, triggering demands for work arrangements to help them balance paid and unpaid work.\nFathers and the work-family interface: Fatherhood has been socially structured in contrast to motherhood as authoritative, emotionally distant, removed from domestic life (Craig, 2006; Dermott, 2008) and primarily identified with breadwinning (Lewis and Humbert, 2011). The ability to generate financial means is an imperative of masculinity (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005, p. 840), and fatherhood turns it into a compelling moral obligation (Dermott, 2008; Haas and O'Brien, 2010). Recently scholars have noted the transformative potential of women's employment to increase young fathers' participation in domestic and family duties. Some have debated whether this potential has brought about new, more willingly involved, fatherhood (Henwood and Procter, 2003; Holter, 2007). Despite moderate changes, it has been shown repeatedly that regardless of nationality, race, and class differences, and irrespective of the extent of mothers' employment and of variations in welfare regime, the effect of gender norms is unrelenting, constraining fathers to become the chief generators of family income (Biggart and O'Brien, 2010; Goldberg et al., 2009; Coltrane, 2004; Thebaud, 2010). This towering effect also shapes the view of employed fathers (Gatrell and Cooper, 2008). Most clearly, it is reflected by job commitment and presenteeism that maintain the focus of fathers on breadwinning (Langvasbraten and Teigen, 2006; Collinson, 2007).\nHigh-tech as a gendered workplace: Research on the social circumstances of the high-tech industry reveals a masculine inclination evident primarily in its worldwide, well documented gender composition, with a vast majority of male workers[3]. Employees are for the most part engineers in R\nThe research setting in context: Although highly diverse, Israeli society values traditional family life. Women's labor force participation is fairly high (51 percent) but gender occupational segregation is apparent and in most households the traditional division of domestic work persists. Typically the school day is short (8:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m.), forcing parents to resort to pricey childcare arrangements, which drives nearly 37 percent of employed women into part-time jobs. Overall, traditional family is a key value, and is stronger than in other post-modern societies (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2011; Katz and Lavee, 2005). Israeli engineers, like other professionals, rank family and work as their most important activities (Harpaz, 1990), implying the significance of both fatherhood and breadwinning.\nMethods: Research on the work-life interface is overwhelmingly quantitative. This study, takes a different, qualitative path, making space for high-tech managers to express themselves openly and to organize their views authentically without constraint into predetermined categories (Kreiner et al., 2009; Neal et al., 2005). Friendly conversations allowed the issue of DWFB to surface naturally, and its weight in the manager's view received adequate expression. Relying on the phenomenological approach, the study elicited the managers' conceptual worlds, aiming to grasp their shared experience of the work-family interface of R\nA fathers' place: \"he can't leave early because the baby needs a sitter\": Remarkably, all managers structured the interviews in a similar sequence, indicating agreement over the different situations in 25 firms, and started with expressions of fondness for the traditional family:\n\"Fun dads:\" non-financial DWFB: The interviewed managers clung to the earning power of high-tech men as a sign of fatherly devotion[5]:\nDiscussion: fatherhood, organizational strategy and social change: Having observed how DWFB help construct high-tech fatherhood, this section considers the workplace perspective, how social values are applied and reproduced in businesses. The interviewed managers constructed a salient image of high-tech fatherhood well embedded in the ideology of the separate spheres (Lewis and Humbert, 2011). Excessive presenteeism helps increase profits and produces distant, uninvolved high-earning fathers who together with the businesses that employ them, compensate children with material benefits which, in turn, reaffirm the fathers' success as breadwinners. Today such fatherhood is challenged. Confusing behaviors were discussed regarding daily communication, tolerance of grievances, leisure, educational activities and the gap between overbearing practices that defend traditional fatherhood and thoughtful expressions of empathy. This last indicates environmental pressure - a modest social change, suggesting the emergence of a \"new,\" more willingly involved father. The consequent paradoxical experience shared by most engineers is noticed and handled by the managers in-house, as a workplace interest. DWFB reflect managerial attempts to connect with children on a social basis, constructing \"fun,\" not necessarily more involved, fathers alongside the breadwinners. Yet in the family, parenthood often remains traditionally gendered. Thus in the high-tech workplace the \"new\" father is more rhetoric than real protagonist, giving rise to a business-society discontinuity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study, inspired by the theory of the separate spheres, considers the social circumstances of employee benefits, examining the needs of fathers in dual-earner families to cope with work and family responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how high-tech managers view the work-family interface of R\nDesign/methodology/approach: Relying on the phenomenological approach, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 22 private-sector managers disclosed their shared perception and experience, revealing the informal level at which underlying social principles becomes business strategy, often intuitively.\nFindings: Values of gender are assimilated into the informal environment and reflected in the selection of benefits which have been effective in attracting labor in demand. Recently these values have been challenged by new ideas of more involved fatherhood, and these are inadequately addressed by the package of benefits.\nResearch limitations/implications: Larger samples from various socio-cultural settings are needed.\nPractical implications: Managers are advised not to be blinded by the financial worth of discretionary employee benefits and consider how these meet the actual, as opposed to stereotypical, needs of employees and their family members. Observing social dynamics and considering non-financial consequences of employee benefits are essential for business-society continuity. Also, organizations of relatively low-social diversity should not alienate themselves from their multicultural environment.\nSocial implications: The study unveils the reciprocity between organizations and people. Traditional fatherhood is being contested and negotiated at the work-family interface, as embedded to ongoing changes in the social meaning of gender. That employee benefits help to maintain the masculinity of high-tech, reflects also on gender segregation in the workplace.\nOriginality/value: The study illustrates how businesses apply social values and describes how such values are processed and reinstated in society as employee benefits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Direct-to-consumer advertising and young consumers: building brand value	[ "Advertising", "Brand identity", "Young adults", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Prescription medicines" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.While advertising expenditures continue to grow every year in the USA, marketers, executives, policy makers, academics, and the general public continue to debate its merit (Macias and Lewis, 2003). Although personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations are important elements of promotional activities within the marketing mix, advertising is likely the most visible and noticeable component (Coulter et al., 2001). This is clearly exemplified in the pharmaceutical industry where expenditures on promotions have grown from $2.64 billion in 2002 to $3.2 billion in 2003 (Slaughter, 2004). There is little doubt that the average American has seen an increasing number of advertisements from pharmaceutical firms (Findlay, 2001). For example, for heavily advertised brands, increases in consumer awareness levels have ranged from 40 to 75 percent over previous years for drugs such as Viagra, Allegra, Lipitor, and Zoloft (Slaughter, 2004). Additionally, Parker and Pettijohn (2003) suggest that information regarding DTCA for pharmaceutical products will continue to grow as the baby-boomer generation continues to age. In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified the benefits of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) as, creating increased levels of awareness, involvement, compliance, reach, and client-patient interaction (Food and Drug Administration, 2004). As a result, medical patients are recognized as an evolving market segment in terms of influence. Further noted by Mintzes et al. (2002, p. 279) \"Patient requests for medicines are a powerful driver of prescribing decisions\".\nBackground: Direct-to-consumer advertising research\nMethodology: Research instrument and subjects\nResults: H1 predicts that there is a positive relationship between age and attitudes toward DTCA and was supported (p<0.05) as the ANOVA shows, attitude toward DTCA was significantly related to age (F-value=5.520, p<0.020). Mean differences were examined to test if the relationship was in the expected direction. As expected, younger consumers (25 or less) hold less positive attitudes toward pharmaceutical advertising with a mean score of 3.0236 than older consumers, with a mean score of 3.1688.H2 examined the relationship between younger consumers and interest in DTCA. A correlation revealed no significant relationship (r=-0.024, p=0.733) between younger consumers and interest in DTCA. Based on these results H2 was not supported.H3 was tested in a one-way MANOVA with health status used as the independent variable. The analysis shows that the set of dependent variables (interest and attitudes) was significantly related to health status (Wilk's l4,392=0.918, p<0.05). Given the positive MANOVA findings for the main effects, follow-up univariate ANOVAs and Tukey-HSD paired comparisons were performed on each interest and attitude measure (Hair et al., 1998). Health status was significantly related to attitude and interest (H3a and H3b) across the three categories of health status (p<0.05). Therefore, H3, H3a, and H3b were all supported. MANOVA and ANOVA results are summarized in Table I.Pairwise comparisons of each dependent variable on health status is displayed in Table II. These results further revealed that the differences between the groups were as hypothesized. Those in poor health had higher interest levels (with a lower mean indicating higher interest levels). Although significant overall (p<0.05), the mean score for good health was higher that the mean score for average health in relation to attitude toward DTCA. In terms of attitudes, it seems those in good and average health have similar views toward DTCA, with those in average health with slightly less positive attitudes than those in good health.H4 predicted a positive relationship between interest in DTCA and recall. A one-way ANOVA was utilized to test the significance of the variables. Interest in DTCA was significantly related to recall (p<0.001). Younger consumers who indicated interest in DTCA were able to recall more pharmaceutical ads (F-value=42.274, p<0.000). Given these results, H4 was supported.The hypothesized positive relationships were examined between attitude toward DTCA and prescription drug use (H5a); and interest in DTCA and prescription drug use (H5b) among younger consumers. ANOVAs were utilized to test both hypotheses and the relationship between attitude and prescription drug use was marginally significant, p<0.10 (F-value=3.551, p<0.061), and the relationship between interest and prescription drug use and was not supported (F-value=0.012, p<0.912). Further, the results of these tests revealed that prescription drug use has a marginally significant positive effect on younger consumer's attitudes. Prescription drug use does not, however, relate significantly with interest in DTCA. Therefore, H5a was partially supported and H5b was not supported.To test H6 and H7, which predict that there is a positive relationship between attitudes toward and interest in DTCA and inclination to seek additional information, univariate ANOVAs were utilized. H6 was not statistically significant, (F-value=0.920, p<0.538). However, H7 was statistically significant, (F-value=7.521, p<0.007), with interest in DTCA being a significant predictor of younger consumers propensity to seek additional information regarding pharmaceutical drugs. Therefore, H6 was not supported and H7 was supported.The hypothesized positive relationship was examined between concern for family member and interest in DTCA (H8). Univariate ANOVA was utilized to test the hypothesis and the relationship between concern for family member and interest in DTCA among younger consumers was statistically significant, p<0.0001 (F-value=21.978, p<0.000). As expected, younger consumers who are concerned about a family member is a significant predictor of interest in DTCA.\nDiscussion: This study examines the relationship between DTCA and young consumers' attitudes, interest and inclination to seek out additional information regarding pharmaceutical drugs. Overall, the results of this study confirm and extend previous research by developing and empirically testing these relationships and the findings support the role of age in the relationship between attitudes and interest in DTCA. Attitudes of younger consumers toward DTCA were related to age, health status, and prescription drug use. Moreover, younger consumers' attitudes toward DTCA were not related to recall of DTCA or inclination to seek additional information. This research also demonstrated that younger consumers were just as likely to have an interest in DTCA. However, this interest was not related to inclination to seek out additional information which implies that younger consumers are paying attention, moving through the initial stages of the AIDA model, but have not progressed to the desired stage of the model.These results are of importance because both attitude and interest can serve as important indicators of the attractiveness of DTCA advertisements for younger consumers. These results indicate that younger consumers are aware of pharmaceutical products and are taking a participative role in DTCA. Additionally, relationships were established between health status, ad recall, and prescription drug use among younger consumers with regard to interest in DTCA.Our study of younger consumers was partially consistent with the research of Williams and Hensel (1995) which found DTCA to elicit positive attitudes among older consumers. Thus, this study supports previous findings and suggests a generally positive attitude toward DTCA existing across different age groups. While the relationship between younger consumers and older consumers with regard to attitude toward DTCA was not as strong as previous findings, younger consumer attitudes are still an important component of DTCA as both future consumers and caregivers. This is particularly clear as our study found a significant relationship with younger consumers' attitudes toward DTCA.Research done by Williams and Hensel (1995) found that a negative relationship existed between health status and attitudes toward DTCA, and our results in examining the same relationship revealed the same relationship among young consumers. Thus, as health status decreases, attitudes and interest in DTCA increases. Williams and Hensel (1995) further suggested that the theory of selective attention explains this relationship. Consumers, in general, pay attention to advertising which is meaningful and relevant in different situations. Since younger consumers overall are exhibiting positive attitudes toward advertising, this finding would imply that further research is warranted to examine the precise relationship between perceived health status of younger consumers and attitudes toward DTCA.\nManagerial implications: In general, pharmaceutical marketers, health care advisors, and academic researchers should note the strongest relationships within this study concerned interest in DTCA. This implies that DTCA is influential in attracting attention from not only older consumers, but also younger, and more importantly, future consumers. This finding is important not only because younger consumers are undertaking care-giving roles, but also as the younger population group begins to age, they become a stronger customer base for the wide range of pharmaceutical products. With increases in purchasing power over time, these consumers will already posses a heightened awareness of various products and brand names associated with pharmaceuticals. Similarly, as products move through their patent cycle to become over-the-counter (OTC - e.g. Claritin, Claritin-D) or generic drugs, younger consumers will be more familiar with the brand names of these medications. As such, it is important for pharmaceutical marketers to educate and provide access to information to build brand value with younger consumers. Researchers and managers should recognize that the attitude formation process clearly begins with younger consumers who are not necessarily current users of prescription drugs but will be in the future and as caregivers may have influence over current users.In contrast, interest in DTCA and relationships between ad recall, health status, and prescription drug use were all significantly related. The relationship between ad recall and interest in DTCA is also positive for younger consumers such that the greater the ad recall, the greater the interest in the advertised product. This finding is interesting and merits further exploration of this relationship by pharmaceutical marketers since this confirms earlier results found with older consumers, but younger consumers have not been identified as primary users of pharmaceutical drugs. This provides a unique opportunity because younger consumers are taking an interest in DTCA, and pharmaceutical marketers can channel their efforts toward building their brand by creating an awareness of pharmaceutical drugs in new market segments.Firms that take advantage of building their brand should likely benefit in a couple of different ways. First, firms should be able to reach this audience and establish a market for products that are currently unknown to this segment but could be appropriate at a future date. Second, establishing the brand name is an important means to reach consumers who care for and attend to older family members. With consumers entering their senior years, it is reasonable to assume that while the current market consists of these consumers, a secondary target would be the care-givers. Information and branding learned through DTCA would be valuable in establishing the firm's brand with this secondary target audience for top of mind awareness. Through communication and influence, caregivers can be more informed with the daily decisions that face the older population.\nLimitations and directions for future research: Despite some potentially important implications of this study, there are some limitations. While the sample for the study consisted of a convenience sample, this approach provided a relatively good basis for comparison among younger consumers. Future studies should assess generalizability of the results to younger consumers across a larger geographical area. Furthermore, despite efforts to insure reliability, it should also be noted that the measures for attitudes toward DTCA utilized in this study were those developed by the NCL (2003) study. The measures obtained through the NCL (2003) study, particularly the assessment of attitudes toward DTCA, only provided acceptable reliabilities and would need improvement in the measures for DTCA. Although the NCL study included a large population group, the strength of various items within the dimensions associated with attitude were not clear and merit attention before utilizing the measures in subsequent studies. Therefore, pharmaceutical marketers and researchers should coordinate their efforts and take a careful look at the measurement and formation of attitudes by consumers toward DTCA.\nConclusion: This research has added an important component to extant literature concerning attitudes, recall, and an intention to seek additional information regarding DTCA from target market segments and younger consumers. Despite certain limitations, our results also add to understanding the multidimensional nature of DTCA. A significant amount of DTCA targets older adult consumers because they tend to be heavy consumers of prescription medications (Everett, 1991; Williams and Hensel, 1995; Menon et al., 2004). However, DTCA is found across a multitude of media outlets geared toward a broad audience base.Therefore, examining younger population segments are important for understanding how potential consumers are moved along the \"path to purchase\" in an effort to build value for the brand. In particular, investigating younger consumers further establishes the impact of DTCA on both caregivers and potential users instead of limiting the audience to current users of pharmaceutical drugs (Shufeldt et al., 1998). Younger consumers are just as likely as older consumers to receive drug information through mass media. Furthermore, the emphasis of building brand value among younger consumers with regard to DTCA should be further extended to ensure young consumers attitudes and interest in DTCA is positive.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is a pervasive element in society today. Consumers have responded accordingly by becoming more knowledgeable, developing specific perceptions and attitudes toward DTCA. The purpose of this article is to examine direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising issues among younger adults as both consumers and caregivers to determine whether companies are, or should be, taking advantage of building brand value through DTCA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sample of 225 young adults answered questionnaires to measure the effects of DTCA. The questionnaire was based on a study by the National Consumers League and only the items that were most central to the current study were utilized and/or modified to measure the following key variables: age; current health status; prescription drug use; attitudes toward DTCA; interest in DTCA; DTCA recall; and inclination to seek additional information.\nFindings: - The findings show that demographics influence attitudes and interest in DTCA, as well as younger consumers' interest and propensity to seek additional information for themselves and family members. Details of the statistical analysis of the study are given.\nOriginality/value: - The implications of the findings for pharmaceutical marketers, health care advisors, and academic researchers are discussed in the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improvement of manufacturing operations at a pharmaceutical company: A lean manufacturing approach	[ "Trinidad and Tobago", "Lean production", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Manufacturing systems", "Lean manufacturing", "Cycle time", "Inventory management", "5‐whys", "5S", "Value stream mapping", "Cellular manufacturing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Manufacturing industries around the world are being affected profoundly by emerging technologies resulting in a significant increase in competition in local, regional and global markets. Companies recognize that consistent and disciplined application of lean manufacturing strategies with the emphasis on waste elimination and process streamlining can lead to business excellence (Mejabi, 2003; Taj, 2008; Rahman et al., 2010). Lean is a manufacturing paradigm based on the fundamental goals of Toyota Production System (TPS), which is aimed at continuously minimizing waste to maximize flow (Vinodh et al., 2010). According to TPS, the seven most common wastes are overproduction, waiting, transport, inappropriate processing, unnecessary inventory, waste of motion and defects (Ohno, 1988). This was endorsed by the study of Hobbs (2004). Work cells are created to facilitate one-piece flow production, where a work cell consists of a close arrangement of people, machines, and/or workstations as per the processing sequence (Dolcemascolo, 2008; Satoglu et al., 2010).In pharmaceutical manufacturing, quality standards are very stringent as good manufacturing practices focuses mainly on the manufacturing of safe and quality products (Greene and O'Rourke, 2006). World Health Organisation (WHO) defines current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) as \"that part of quality assurance which ensures that products are consistently produced and controlled to the quality standards appropriate to their intended use and as required by the customer\" (A WHO Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice Requirements, 2010). Further, the report states that \"the concepts of quality assurance (QA), cGMP and quality control (QC) are interrelated aspects of quality management.\" In this regard, cGMP says that quality is built into a product, and not just tested into a finished product. This can be achieved through several ways: controlling the quality of the production facilities, starting materials, production at all stages, product testing methods, controlling the identity of materials by adequate labelling; controlling the quality of products by adequate storage, etc. Stubbs (2008) has emphasized the need for integration of the compliance objectives of Food and Drug and Administration's (FDA's) \"pharmaceutical GMP for the 21st century\" initiative with the business goals of increasing efficiency and reducing costs. In order to achieve product and process quality in pharmaceutical plants, Miller (2008) recommended a holistic and systematic approach in incorporating lean manufacturing principles. This assists in eliminating wastes both within the firm and across the value chain (Suarez-Barraza and Ramis-Pujol, 2010).Leanness is associated with reducing lead times in production (Rahman et al., 2010). Based on this, global manufacturers are implementing lean manufacturing techniques (Matt, 2008; Anand and Kodali, 2008; Chen et al., 2010) towards improvement in on-time product delivery to customers (Brown et al., 2006). Lean manufacturing techniques such as 5S, Kanban, Kaizen, total productive maintenance, total quality management, failure mode and effect analysis, quality function deployment (QFD), value stream mapping (VSM), cellular manufacturing (CM), etc. are currently under implementation (Vinodh et al., 2010). On the other hand, implementation of VSM and CM combined with cGMP are found to be feeble in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. In this context, this case study has been carried out. In the case study presented in this paper, it has been shown that the wastes such as unnecessary inventory and setup times, improve production time. In order to accomplish this task, the managers of the organisation have to implement approaches like 5S, VSM, CM, etc. Thus, in order to build quality into products, lean tools together with cGMP helps the practitioners to visualize the wastes occurring in the organisation and the future possibility of reducing/eliminating them. In addition, the integrated cGMP and lean environment create an environment of clear communication and provide a system that allows a simple flow of products to reduce production time and cost. The knowledge gained as a result of conducting this case study will be presented in the rest of this paper.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Lean manufacturing\n3 Research methodology: The methodology followed to conduct this research study is as follows: as presented in Section 2, literature review has been performed on lean manufacturing tools and cGMP. This is followed by the selection of an appropriate production line at the selected pharmaceutical manufacturing for carrying out the lean study. After identifying the line, the problems existing within the line have been analysed through the 5-why method. Thereafter, the current state VSM has been developed and analysed. Following this, various strategies for improving the leanness of the organisation has been formulated and validated with the company managers to develop the future state map. After the development of the future state VSM, various inferences that would improve the production line have been drawn.\n4 Case study: The company selected for the study is a local manufacturer and distributor of a wide range of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products. The plant is situated in a 10,000 square feet area and began operations in 1991. The company has a small production staff of 12 floor workers, two process operators and two supervisors and together produces a variety of products on four production lines in an eight hour day shift. The company is also involved in the contract manufacture of an antiseptic disinfectant liquid (ADL) for an international company and has involved in numerous products to meet a variety of market needs.4.1 Problems at the selected organization\n5 Results, discussion and inferences: 5.1 Managerial outcomes\n6 Conclusions: The cGMP regulations for finished pharmaceuticals are sought to implement new manufacturing philosophies, and the rigorous controls to be used for, the manufacture, processing, packing, or holding of a drug to assure that such drug meets the customer requirements. Research has shown that the \"5 whys\" method was employed to reveal the root causes of various manufacturing hurdles (Chen et al., 2010). Many production/operation managers have implemented or will be implementing lean principles because of the waste elimination benefits reported by other companies where efforts are mainly aimed at the optimization of total SC costs (Choudhury et al., 2004; Lummus et al., 2006; Anand and Kodali, 2009; Schaeffer et al., 2010). VSM framework in manufacturing cell environment has potential to identify types of focused process stages where lean controls are sought (Huang and Liu, 2005; Saurin et al., 2010). In this regard, our paper presents a case study that focuses mainly on the application of VSM in the CM environment for pharmaceutical operations. Several lean strategies in the context of waste elimination/reduction such as 5S, inspection at suppliers' door step, and eImS have been proposed. It has been noted that the lean strategies on deployment has benefited the company in terms of considerable reduction in idle time, inventory costs and significant improvement in on-time delivery due to reduction in TCT. Based on the practical validation performed, it could be stated that application of VSM framework in a CM environment is an effective lean manufacturing approach, which could be employed in a pharmaceutical manufacturing situation for facilitating continuous material flow, thus assisting the firm to accomplish leanness in cGMP environment. Furthermore, VSM and CM tools have assisted the company management to envisage the process wastes stirring in their production shop and the means and ways of reducing them.Reduction/elimination of wastes via the adoption of lean manufacturing principles and methodologies may lead a company to world-class competitor status in a particular market niche. Further research is necessary in studying the advantages which determine the implementation benefits such as improved quality, on-time delivery, and improved employee morale in a cellular environment, for several manufacturing firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) are followed in the pharmaceutical sector to ensure that products are consistently produced and controlled to the appropriate quality standards as required by the marketing agencies. The purpose of this paper is to share improvement experiences due to implementation of lean principles combined with cGMP in a pharmaceutical company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To conduct the study, an intensive review of literature has been conducted. For analysis of the problems existing in the selected production line, the 5-whys methodology was followed. The current state value stream map (VSM) has been developed after making several company visits and necessary computations. For improvement of the system, various lean strategies have been proposed and the future state VSM developed.\nFindings: - The methodology assisted this company in reducing lead times, cycle times and WIP inventory in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, the storage area was reduced by 38 per cent and production staff was reduced by 50 per cent.\nPractical implications: - The prime purpose of a lean strategy is to eliminate wastes and to search for continuous improvement in processes. The proposed lean strategies indicated scope for improvement in production efficiency and effectiveness of manufacturing operations.\nOriginality/value: - The guiding principle of cGMP is that quality is built into a product, and not just tested into a finished product. This paper makes several contributions to the pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The proposed lean strategies are considered to be highly valuable for implementation in similar manufacturing industries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Considerations for the design and management of property database in opaque markets: Viewpoints from Lagos, Nigeria	[ "Valuation", "Database", "Lagos", "Data debacle", "Market data", "Opaque market" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Unlike the stock markets where data on current market prices of shares are easily accessible by simply consulting the pages of newspapers, calling a broker, logging into a website or watching TV news, property market data are scarce. Data concerning sale prices, lease terms and any other agreements, which are part of a transaction, are usually not available to individuals who are not party to the transaction (Fisher and Martins, 2007; Olapade and Olaleye, 2018, 2019). This, coupled with infrequent transaction and heterogeneity of property, makes it difficult for participants in the property market to acquire information on the market (Huges, 2015). The market participants are thereby constrained from searching and analysing the necessary property data due to the lack of reliable and accessible sources of information (Yang et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: Data are collections of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalised manner suitable for communication or processing by human beings or by computer (Intra-governmental Group on Geographic Information, 2005). Data, as used in this study, relate to property data and, in particular, transactional data, which include the sales price and rent of property and other information in concluded transactions. Databank/Database , however, is the collection of data arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval. It relates to a collection of property transactional data on a web-based computer application arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval (Boyce et al., 2006; Gordon, 2007). The presence of a centralised database of property transactions will no doubt increase the availability of comparable evidence needed in valuation and investment analysis (Rowley et al., 1998a). The consequence of this is improvement in the quality of services being rendered to clients by practitioners.\n3. Methodology: The survey research design was used for this study. The studied population consisted of the professional property practitioners referred to as estate surveyors and valuers in Nigeria. The choice of the population was because they are the main users of property data and one of the potential users of the database when developed. Questionnaires were administered on estate surveying and valuation (ESV) firms to obtain relevant information relating to the objectives of the study. To access the ESV firms, this study made reference to the 2015 directory of corporate individual members and registered ESV firms of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV). The directory revealed that 382 registered ESV firms had their head offices located within the Lagos property market. This figure, therefore, represented the sample frame. From the sample frame of 382 firms, a total of 191 firms in the study area were selected, representing approximately 50 per cent of the sample frame. The choice of the fraction of the sample size was in line with the submission of Watson (2001) that suggested a sample of 50 per cent of the population for a homogenous population above 100. The identified offices were physically visited, and the survey instruments were administered to each firm. Although cumbersome and resource consuming, this approach ensures data reliability and enables the researcher to clarify ambiguities and difficulties respondents might encounter in completing the questionnaire.\n4. Findings and discussions: The result of the research is presented in this section. It is divided into three parts: the first part is on the background information of the respondents, whereas the second part focusses on the consideration in the design of the central database. The last part of this section examines the management of the central database.\n5. Conclusion: Access to property data improves transparency and reduces the problem of information asymmetry in the property market. It also improves the quality of valuation and investment analysis services in the market. However, the nature of property makes access to data difficult. The creation of a central database of concluded transactions has, however, been identified as a panacea to resolving the data availability and accessibility problem that property market participants in emerging market grapple with. In a bid to enhance property data assemblage and storage, through the creation of a centralised database, this study examined the design consideration and management for such database. The result shows that the respondents favour an on-line central database into which property practitioners could record details of transactions and from which any practitioner could retrieve these transaction details thereby resolving the data availability constraints and opaque classification of the Nigerian property market. This will enable scientific-based property analysis with potential for increased cross-border investment into the Nigerian real estate market that will consequently allow the real estate sector to contribute more to the growth of the country's economy. It will also improve the quality of valuation and investment analysis services provided by property practitioners. Meanwhile, the design of the property database without the consideration for the preferences of the practitioners who will be the major potential users of the database might affect the acceptability and sustainability of the database when designed. The design considerations should, therefore, be emphasised when designing the database.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Earlier studies have suggested the creation of a central database of concluded property transactions as a panacea to the property data debacle. It is in this regard that the purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of potential users of centralised property database on the consideration for the design and management of such database.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were administered on 190 property practitioners (referred as estate surveying and valuation firms) in Lagos property market. Frequency index, frequency distribution and percentage were employed for data analysis.\nFindings: The result showed that respondents preferred a web-based databank and free access to the information in the databank by those who recorded their market data in it. They also preferred uniform recording standard in the databank, an interface that must be user friendly and secure to prevent unauthorised user from gaining access, amongst others. The practitioners also preferred that their professional body manage the databank when it is created.\nPractical implications: The paper provides useful insights into creating a property database that will improve accessibility to property data in opaque markets.\nOriginality/value: There is still little or no empirical research on framework/end-users' requirements for the creation of property transaction database in emerging property markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants in the adoption of new automobile modular platforms: What lies behind their success?	[ "Product design", "Automotive industry", "Global manufacturing networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The influence of product design in production systems is a relevant topic for production research (Fixson, 2005; Jose and Tollenaere, 2005; MacDuffie, 2013; Asadi et al., 2017). Any significant novelty in product architecture is interesting from both an academic and an applied approach. Although modular platforms have been used in different industries (Sanchez, 2004), their recent adoption by automobile manufacturers amounts to a revolution in product architecture in the automobile industry (Buiga, 2012; Lampon et al., 2017).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The modular platform concept and design\n3. Empirical research: 3.1 Methodology and data\n4. Discussion of results and conclusions: The paper's main contribution to the research literature is the combination of traditional product architecture with the manufacturing network approach to analyse the influence of product design on production systems, especially regarding the adoption of the new automobile modular platforms. This combination allows us to explore the impact of the key elements of product architecture - product variety, platform and modularity - on manufacturing network outputs, which has received little attention in the literature relating product architecture and global operations networks.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key factors behind the adoption of new automobile modular platforms from the perspectives of product design, manufacturing network and production systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An in-depth and qualitative cross-case analysis of European manufacturing networks was performed based on the modular platforms of seven automobile manufacturers.\nFindings: The adoption of modular platforms has changed automobile product architecture helping automobile manufacturers to improve their manufacturing network outputs. The results show that operational flexibility and scope and scale economies at manufacturing network level depend on the platform design - degree of modularity - and the manufacturer's product and manufacturing network conditions. This new product architecture allows for the new production systems to be efficient in terms of flexibility and versatility without overinvestment.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution to the research literature is the combination of traditional product architecture with the manufacturing network approach to analyse the influence of product design on production systems, especially regarding the adoption of new automobile modular platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mental representation of brands: a schema-based approach to consumers' organization of market knowledge	[ "Cognition", "Consumer behavior", "Brand meaning", "Mental representation", "Schema theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: Identifying how knowledge about the market is represented in consumers' mind is fundamental to understand and explain a multitude of consumer behavior phenomena. In a highly complex market landscape, replete with competing propositions and persuasive messages, consumers utilize their knowledge about the various market elements in an instrumental way to enable the efficient organization of incoming information and facilitate decision making. Given that branding is a marketing priority and that consumers get constantly exposed to branding activity, it becomes reasonable that people use brands as the central organizing mechanism of market information (Fournier, 1998; Davcik et al., 2015; Keller, 2009). Low and Lamb (2000) stress the fact that consumers use knowledge at the brand level to process incoming information and make purchase decisions, while Puligadda et al. (2012) observe that society as a whole increasingly uses brands as heuristics to make judgments. In line with this reasoning, Keller (2003) argues that memory-stored brand knowledge is directly linked to the effectiveness of brand strategies, as it influences what comes to mind every time a consumer thinks of a brand and determines subsequent reactions (Brannon and Brock, 2006; Keller, 2003). However, extant literature regarding consumers' mental representation of brands is fragmented among either complementary or oftentimes overlapping approaches (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2008), leading to ambiguous or tautological assumptions and preventing comparison across studies. Against this background, we propose that schema theory may act as unifying conceptual framework to overcome relevant weaknesses.\nFoundations of schema theory: The concept of schema has a long history in the philosophical and psychological investigations of human cognition. Its origins can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosophy, which inspired the writings of Immanuel Kant that had a strong impact to early psychological research (Marshall, 1995; McVee et al., 2005; Puligadda et al., 2012). As one might expect, the meaning of the term schema has been given several interpretations over the course of history. Yet, regardless of the perspective adopted, its evolution has been characterized by important continuities that provide scholars an essential construct to study how knowledge is represented in people's mind.\nConsumer schemata: typology and structure: To simplify the environment, consumers organize and store market-based knowledge in categories and schemata. The process of categorization is a fundamental cognitive activity that enables consumers to efficiently store, retrieve and utilize information (Blanchard et al., 2012; Lajos et al., 2009; Sujan and Dekleva, 1987). Thus, the various pieces of information are not stored in a random manner. Instead, they are classified into categories which are associated with a concept in the consumer's mind[1]. In general, the set of associations attached to a specific market-based concept constitutes a consumer schema (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2008).\nMental representation of brands: The brand is considered to be one of the most valuable assets a company possesses (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2009; Kim et al., 2006). A well-managed brand takes over a distinctive position in the market that insulates the brand from competition and enhances market performance (Davcik et al., 2015; Su and Tong, 2015). Everyday consumers face numerous marketing stimuli, including advertising, in-store displays, packaging, word-of-mouth communication and personal experience. The vast majority of these stimuli are brand-specific and are based on a company's efforts to generate brand meaning (Kim et al., 2006; Park et al., 1991). Puligadda et al. (2012) highlight that marketers strive to centralize all associations of their products around the brand. The importance of managing and communicating brand meaning over time cannot be emphasized enough (Keller, 2003, 2009; Kim et al., 2006; Park et al., 1986; Su and Tong, 2015).\nTheoretical and managerial relevance: The present paper puts forward schema theory to describe how knowledge about the market can be represented in consumers' mind, placing particular emphasis on the conceptualization of brand knowledge. Out of the various theoretical approaches found in the literature, schema theory may offer a comprehensive account of how and what consumers know about brands. Yet, its application in this respect is limited. The notion of schema has a long history in the investigation of human cognition, and its underpinnings permeate several scientific domains pertinent to knowledge and information organization (Marshall, 1995; Puligadda et al., 2012). A cognitive schema specifies the parameters of knowledge content, discriminates between different types of information and indicates how the various pieces of information relate to one another. Importantly, the internal structure of schemata remains stable across conceptual domains. This may facilitate comparative investigation, as it will allow researchers to treat schematic properties as integral components of the same theoretical system that can be effectively applied in various different contexts and in conjunction with other concepts.\nLimitations and future research: Schema theory may provide a unifying and consistent framework to describe consumer knowledge about brands. Researchers can draw on schema theory to inform their theoretical predictions; develop new hypotheses; and gain a deeper understanding of how consumers perceive, organize and respond to brand information. However, future research is essential to substantiate this proposition and to investigate how it can translate into more practical knowledge. For instance, on the basis of the attribute interrelations, future studies could empirically test whether and to what extent can potential changes to a salient brand schema attribute may predict changes to other, interrelated attributes. This could be particularly relevant in the implementation of brand rejuvenation and repositioning programs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the notion of schemata in consumer behavior, placing particular emphasis on the conceptualization of brand knowledge, and illustrate how schema theory may act as a unifying conceptual framework to study what consumers know about products and brands. Extant research on how consumers conceptualize brands lacks a single, coherent theoretical framework. The literature is fragmented into different approaches that may prevent comparisons across studies and make it difficult to draw conclusive results.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper discusses the central tenets of schema theory and then presents the structure of schematic knowledge and the main typology of consumer schemata. It focuses on the brand schema, delineating its internal properties and drawing analogies with other approaches used to describe consumers' mental representation of brands.\nFindings: Schema theory can provide a comprehensive framework to analyze how consumers perceive brand information. A cognitive schema specifies the parameters of knowledge content, discriminates between different types of information and indicates how various pieces of information relate to one another. Importantly, the internal structure of schemata remains stable across conceptual domains, allowing to investigate brand-specific knowledge in different contexts and in conjunction with superordinate and subordinate knowledge structures.\nOriginality/value: This is the first systematic review of the notion of schemata in consumer behavior. It thoroughly describes how schema theory from psychology has been applied in marketing research to describe the organization of market knowledge and illustrates how it may function as an analytical tool.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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