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Are online communities on par with experts in the evaluation of new movies? Evidence from the Fandango community	[ "Evaluation", "Decision making", "User participation", "Virtual community", "Web 2.0" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although many different factors influence a movie's market performance, critics and audiences seem to be vital to this relationship. Indeed, Eliashberg et al. (2006) note that \"the fickle reactions of audiences and critics make it difficult to accurately predict revenues and profits; each movie is unique\" (p. 642). In addition, the emergence of movie-based online communities potentially changes the role which audiences play in a movie's market performance. Audiences have benefited from the emergence of such communities, which has increased the amount of readily available movie-related information. As many industries shift their attention to consumer online communities (Kozinets, 1999; Pitta and Fowler, 2005), the role of online communities (movie-based) in the motion picture industry has never been explored before even though the number of movie-based online communities is growing rapidly. Thus in this study we investigate the potential role of a movie-based online community in the evaluation of new movies.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1. Evaluation of new movies and box office performance\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. The selected online community\n4. Analysis, interpretation and discussion of results: An analysis of the data collected from various sources was performed using statistical analysis techniques such as Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regressions. All the variables (Table I) used in these analyses are numerical variables (interval scales and ratio scales) thereby allowing us to carry out correlational and regression analyses. The PASW Statistics 18 software was used for these analyses, and the results are presented in the form of Tables II-V. We begin by presenting the correlation results with respect to expert (film reviewers) and CE in order to fulfil the first objective of this study (i.e. to verify whether CE are on par with expert evaluations). Next, we present the regression results in order to explore whether box office performance closely mirrored expert evaluations or CE.\n5. Conclusions, implications, limitations and further research: This study compares evaluations provided by film reviewers and a movie online community. Our empirical findings demonstrate that CE do not correlate significantly with those of film reviewers suggesting that film reviewers and the communities evaluate movies differently. The results confirm that box office revenues reflect CE more closely than expert evaluations especially during the opening week (during which film reviewers' evaluations were found to be insignificant). This result is surprising because the perception among movie producers is that film reviewers influence moviegoers particularly on a movie's opening weekend, which is why producers provide special screenings for film reviewers. The findings also support the assumption that if an online community meets the conditions of diversity and heterogeneity of community members; provision of aggregation mechanism in the community; and having an independent governance structure, it can provide reliable and accurate movie evaluations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate two questions. First, are movie-based online community evaluations (CE) on par with film expert evaluations of new movies? Second, which group makes more reliable and accurate predictions of movie box office revenues: film reviewers or an online community?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a movie-based online community Fandango for a 16-month period and included all movies released during this time (373 movies). The authors compared film reviewers' evaluations with the online CE during the first eight weeks of the movie's release.\nFindings: The study finds that community members evaluate movies differently than film reviewers. The results also reveal that CE have more predictive power than film reviewers' evaluations, especially during the opening week of a movie.\nResearch limitations/implications: The investigated online community is based in the USA, hence the findings are limited to this geographic context.\nPractical implications: The main implication is that film studios and movie-goers can rely more on CE than film reviewers' evaluation for decision making. Online CE can help film studios in negotiating with distributors, theatre owners for the number of screens. Also, community reviews rather than film reviewers' reviews are looked upon by future movie-goers for movie choice decisions.\nOriginality/value: The study makes an original contribution to the motion picture performance research as well as to the growing research on online consumer communities by demonstrating the predictive potential of online communities with regards to evaluations of new movies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Complainer characteristics when exit is closed	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Complaints", "Monopolies", "Demographics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades, consumers have become increasingly critical of corporate actions and more demanding with respect to marketplace reforms. In this context, consumer complaint behaviour has been increasingly recognised as having significant implications with respect to core business activities - including the measurement of service quality, the development of innovative service solutions, repurchase intention and brand loyalty, and general market strategy (Day, 1984; Fornell and Wernefelt, 1987; Lovelock, 1996; Tax and Brown, 1998; Johnston, 2001; Stauss and Friege, 1999).Most models of consumer complaint behaviour presume that complaining is a result of dissatisfaction. Such complaint behaviour can be defined as multiple sets of behaviour and non-behavioural responses, triggered by a unsatisfactory purchase episode (Singh, 1990a). However, several studies have demonstrated that many customers fail to complain or seek redress when confronted with a problematic purchase (Andreasen and Best, 1977; Day and Ash, 1979; Warland et al., 1975). This failure to complain indicates that dissatisfaction is a necessary, but not sufficient, cause for consumer complaining (Singh and Pandya, 1991). Researchers have tried to explain this phenomenon in terms of variations in market structures (Hirschman, 1970; Andreasen, 1985), variations in product and service characteristics (Day, 1984; Landon and Laird, 1977), and variations in the costs and benefits of complaining (Andreasen, 1988; Richins, 1980). In addition, certain characteristics of consumers have been proposed as antecedents to complaint behaviour - such as attitudes to complaining (Bearden and Oliver, 1985; Singh, 1990a), assertiveness (Bolfing, 1989; Richins, 1987), personality and emotions (Day and Bodur, 1978; Kowalski, 1996), and demographic and socio-economic variables (Singh, 1989; Moyer, 1985; Bearden, 1983).Consumer complaint behaviour varies across different markets (Best and Andreasen, 1977), and research has demonstrated that market structure affects complaining (Hirschman, 1970; Andreasen, 1985; Singh, 1990b). Most studies of complainer characteristics have been undertaken in competitive markets or in markets characterised by a loose monopoly (for example, health care). There has been little research, if any, into the characteristics of complainers in monopolistic governmental services - in which consumers have little or no opportunity to withdraw from the relationship. This is particularly important when the monopolistic governmental institutions are responsible for welfare and social benefits. In these circumstances, complaining is the only means whereby consumers can express their opinion of the monopolistic service provider.It is generally accepted that obtaining feedback from consumers is always important. This is especially so when the poor quality of a service or product threatens to induce a customer defection (Fornell and Wernefelt, 1987). If the provider fails to obtain valuable feedback in these circumstances, the opportunity to remedy the problem and retain the consumer is lost (Hirschman, 1970). Moreover, the provider's reputation can suffer damage from negative word-of-mouth (WOM) among dissatisfied consumers (Richins, 1983). It is thus often asserted that lack of feedback from dissatisfied consumers represents a loss of potential and current customers. However, this might not always be the case in monopolistic governmental services (for example, welfare services and social benefits), because the primary aim of the service provider is not necessarily to attract and retain customers. Nevertheless, the aim should be to provide the consumers with high service quality, and this is likely to retain their trust.The purpose of this study is to discover whether the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of complainers in a monopolistic market are different from those in a competitive market. Following this introduction, the paper proceeds to a literature review of demographic and socio-economic characteristics of complainers. The paper then reviews differences in industry structure with a focus on monopolistic market structures. The methodology, measures, and context of the study are then described. Further, the paper describes the differences in characteristics between complainers and non-complainers. Finally, the results are presented and the paper concludes with a discussion and managerial implications of the research.\nLiterature review: Complaining behaviour\nMonopoly: Based on the work of Andreasen (1985) and Singh (1990b) identified six key characteristics of industry markets - availability of alternatives; restricted information; consumer knowledge; long purchase cycles; lack of impact; and psychological cost. On the basis of these characteristics, markets in service industries have been categorised as (Singh, 1990b):* \"grocery retailing\" (representing a competitive market);* \"automobile repair\" (representing a restricted or concentrated market); and* \"medical care services\" (representing a loose monopolistic market).Competitive and monopolistic market structures can be described as opposite constructions with respect to the six key characteristics. In a competitive market, there are a large number of buyers and providers, each buyer or provider is relatively small in comparison with the total market, and if any individual increases purchase or output, this does not affect the balance between demand and supply. In such a market, each party possesses \"perfect information\" about available alternatives, and buyers and sellers are both price takers. Thus, if a seller decreases the quality of a product or a service, or attempts to raise the price, that seller will experience a decrease in demand for its output. This is because a competitive market structure implies that there is no barrier to a consumer leaving the service provider. According to Johnson (1998), high competition leads to high satisfaction among consumers.In contrast, in a monopolistic structure, there is a large number of buyers but only one provider. Each buyer is relatively small compared with the total market, and each buyer has no affect on the total demand in the market. Because there is no alternative to the products and services of the provider, a decrease in quality does not lead to any change in demand for the provider's output. A monopolistic market structure thus lacks corrective factors with respect to volume of demand and quality of service - because a consumer does not have the option of leaving the provider.In a loose monopoly structure, there is a large number of buyers, only a few providers, restricted information and a high perceived switching cost. Hirschman (1970) proposes that a loose monopoly could be described as a condition where providers of a product or service hold a near-monopoly control of supply but where a small amount of competition exists and that these providers will be largely isolated from self-policing mechanisms in the marketplace.Some research has been done on how consumer complaint behaviour varies across different industries (Best and Andreasen, 1977). Several studies have reported that services entail greater dissatisfaction than products (Best and Andreasen, 1977). Moreover, in a market structure with little or no competition, consumer satisfaction is lower (Anderson, 1994; Fornell and Johnson, 1993). Fornell et al. (1996) supported these findings in their study of the \"ACSI\" - noting that there were differences in satisfaction among competitive manufacturing companies, service companies, and the governmental/public administration sector. During a three-year period, on a scale of 0-100, these sectors had satisfaction scores of 81-82 (manufacturing companies), 73-76 (service companies), and 66 (governmental/public administration). These results demonstrate that the governmental/public administration sector had a significantly worse result in terms of consumer satisfaction than competitive manufacturing and service businesses (Bryant and Cha, 1996). Johnson et al. (2002) have reported similar results in their studies of customer-satisfaction indexes in the USA, Sweden and Germany.There is evidence that market structure has an influence on complaint behaviour (Hirschman, 1970; Andreasen, 1985; Singh, 1990b, 1991; Kolodinsky, 1993, 1995). Singh (1991) and Kolodinsky (1995) found that the incidence of complaints is greater in industries that have greater competition. Tax and Brown (1998) have shown that, on average, only 5-10 per cent of dissatisfied customers in a competitive services market actually complain. Andreasen (1988) reported that, within a specific purchase category, the rate of dissatisfaction and \"problems\" is approximately 15-25 per cent of all items. Day et al. (1981) compared two studies of consumers who experienced high dissatisfaction with services. They found that 59-78 per cent of customers took action (exit and/or voice). Of the highly dissatisfied consumers who did take action, 33-51 per cent left the relationship (\"exited\") and 59-67 per cent made some sort of complaint (\"voicing\"). Most of the voicing was negative WOM (25-29 per cent) and only 11-13 per cent of the highly dissatisfied consumers actually made a complaint.Andreasen (1985) studied a loose monopoly situation - a medical service in which there were limited numbers of physicians and services and little advertising of price and quality. He found that sophisticated consumers who voiced complaints simply switched providers, whereas other consumers remained. Singh (1991) found that consumers are less likely to make public complaints and are more likely to make private complaints about industries that have the characteristics of a loose monopoly. Kolodinsky (1995) also found that consumers who were dissatisfied with loose monopoly services (medical) were twice as likely to take no action, as compared with dissatisfied customers in a competitive market service (auto repair). Kolodinsky (1995, p. 50) concluded that: \"Consumer characteristics ... are important in explaining variation in complaints in a less competitive industry\".Asymmetric power - different set of rules\nMethodology: Data collection\nFindings: Characteristics of complainers\nDiscussion: In this section, the theoretical contribution, social and cultural patterns of consumer behaviour and managerial implication will be discussed and suggestions for future research will be given. The purpose of this study is to get an understanding of complainer characteristics in a monopolistic market structure, when exit is closed. The literature review shows that a typical complainer in a competitive market structure has demographical and socio-economic characteristics that match consumers belonging to a higher socio-economic layer of society. The empirical findings in this study with a monopolistic service provider do not support these assumptions.Research contribution\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to investigate whether the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of complainers in a monopolistic market are different from those in a competitive market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A literature review is undertaken, with particular emphasis on the socio-economic characteristics of complainers. An empirical study is then presented. The empirical study consists of a large survey of satisfaction among consumers of the Norwegian Office for Social Insurance - a monopolistic governmental service provider.\nFindings: - The study reveals that complainers in this monopolistic market belong to lower socio-economic groups. They typically have low incomes, are outside the labour market, have a modest standard of accommodation, and live alone.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study analyses only one type of monopolistic institution in only one country. The generalisability of the findings might, therefore, be limited. The study demonstrates that consumer complaint behaviour in this monopolistic market differs from behaviour reported in competitive markets. Moreover, the study indicates that complainers in this monopolistic market are confronted with different complaint barriers when exit is closed.\nPractical implications: - The findings of the study suggest that a monopolistic institution should encourage dissatisfied consumers to complain, and should make internal switching possibilities known to consumers.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is the first to study complainer characteristics in a monopolistic market structure empirically. The paper questions previous assumptions that complainers necessarily belong to upper socio-economic groups.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Systematic response errors in self-reported category buying frequencies	[ "Negative binomial distribution", "Category purchase metrics", "Response errors", "Self-reported purchase data" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Buyers purchase packaged goods categories at different rates following a negative binomial distribution (NBD) that is notable for its \"reverse J\" shape consisting of many lighter buyers and a few heavier buyers (Ehrenberg, 1959; Schmittlein et al., 1985). At any given time, the population contains a heterogeneous mixture of buyers within the category. More frequent category buyers have experience with more brands (Ehrenberg, 2000) and are more likely to purchase new products (Taylor, 1977; Tanusondjaja et al., 2016). Infrequent category buyers, despite having much less category and brand experience, are a likely source of category growth (Anschuetz, 1997, 2002). For these reasons, knowing whether individuals are relatively heavier or lighter buyers of a specific product category is important for setting expectations with regard to their knowledge of brands and of the category. For example, information that is of interest to a light category buyer may not concern a heavier buyer.\nBackground: The accuracy of survey-based category metrics - such as penetration (B) and average purchase frequency (W) - relies on respondents' ability to correctly recall their frequency of buying within a specified timeframe. Surveys that collect these buying metrics often include such questions as \"How many times have you bought toothpaste in the last six months?\" (Buchanan and Morrison, 1987). According to a number of validation studies respondents tend to be inaccurate in their behavioural frequency estimations (Wind and Lerner, 1979; Ferguson, 1994; Belli et al., 2000; Hu et al., 2000; Bhandari and Wagner, 2006; Nenycz-Thiel et al., 2012). An understanding of how buyers retrieve frequency information can help to identify the reasons for this inaccuracy and potential ways to correct for it.\nResearch method: The research method involves a two-step validation approach. First, the survey-based category metrics (B and W) and the distributions of buying frequencies were compared with recorded longitudinal purchase data from the Kantar Worldpanel. Second, the survey-based data were validated with the NBD theoretical norms. A matched sample approach was used (similar to that of Degeratu et al., 2000) to test for differences between the survey response frequency and panel records. It involved using a survey-sampling frame that represented the household sample in the longitudinal panel. The section on \"Survey data: sampling and data collection\" details the specific approach used.\nResults: Comparisons of survey (2011) with panel records\nSummary of results: The panel validation results indicate that self-reported purchase frequencies, when translated to the key metrics B and W, were significantly over-reported. On average B was over-reported by 22 per cent and W by 89 per cent across all categories. The analysis of the purchase distributions revealed three types of errors that systematically contributed to the over-reporting. The first error is consistent with forward telescoping (Cook, 1987), whereby infrequent buyers of the category included purchases that had occurred outside the six-month timeframe of recall. In a shorter distribution, the over-reporting error dominated the statistics because there were fewer higher purchases to outweigh these misreports. The second error is consistent with more frequent buyers engaging in a rate-based estimation of frequency (Blair and Burton, 1987) of making purchases once or twice a month, leading to over-reporting in multiples of 6 and 12. The third error is a typical rounding effect (Cook, 1987); that is, respondents use the availability heuristic to estimate frequent buying, which led to over-reporting at round numbers (ten times buying). The error among non and light buyers correlated negatively with purchase frequency, whereas the error for heavier buyers was relatively consistent across categories. The following section examines and tests an approach to diminish over-reporting in survey key metrics.\nOverall discussion and theoretical implications: The purpose of this paper is to explore the systematic nature, size and direction of response errors in retrospective reports and to improve the accuracy of aggregate survey category purchase metrics. This research makes two novel contributions to the literature by investigating errors in infrequent and frequent buyer groups and by using the NBD to validate and adjust the aggregate over-reporting error in the key metrics B and W.\nManagerial contributions: There are two ways this work contributes to the field of survey accuracy. First, understanding how respondents answer questions about their previous buying behaviour can aid in the design of better survey questions. Second, a method has been suggested for correcting errors in aggregate-level metrics by using the NBD.\nLimitations and future research: The authors acknowledge the limitations involved with using a matched sample approach for survey accuracy studies and encourage future researchers to consider using single source data, if available, for this purpose. Further, to ensure the generalisability of the findings, there is need to understand boundary conditions of the studied effects and underlying mechanisms, which can be gained through replication and extension.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the growing availability of scanner-panel data, surveys remain the most common and inexpensive method of gathering marketing metrics. The purpose of this paper is to explore the size, direction and correction of response errors in retrospective reports of category buying.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Self-reported purchase frequency data were validated using British household panel records and the negative binomial distribution (NBD) in six packaged goods categories. The log likelihood theory and the fit of the NBD model were used to test an approach to adjusting the errors post-data collection.\nFindings: The authors found variations in systematic response errors according to buyer type. Specifically, lighter buyers tend to forward telescope their buying episodes. Heavier buyers tend either to over-use a rate-based estimation of once-a-month buying and over-report purchases at multiples of six or to use round numbers. These errors lead to overestimates of penetration and average purchase frequency. Adjusting the aggregate data for the NBD, however, improves the accuracy of these metrics.\nPractical implications: In light of the importance of purchase data for decision making, the authors describe the inaccuracy problem in frequency reports and offer practical suggestions regarding the correction of survey data.\nOriginality/value: Two novel contributions are offered here: an investigation of errors in different buyer groups and use of the NBD in survey accuracy research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Utilizing cash-to-cash to benchmark company performance	[ "Supply chain management", "Benchmarking", "Cash flow" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Firms looking to augment their own core competencies, with the competencies of others, increasingly rely on supply chain partners using a process of supply chain integration. Firms accomplished at such supply chain integration generate competitive advantage (Francis, 2008; Lambert et al., 2004; Fugate et al., 2006). The substance of this integration is the ability of these firms to align processes and information flows using supply chain management (SCM) techniques that generates superior competitive advantage (Fugate et al., 2006; Gunasekaran et al., 2008; Bernabucci, 2008). This collaboration trend, combined with the timeless challenge of effective cash flow management, motivates the assessment of cash-to-cash (C2C) strategies, touted as the first multi-dyadic supply chain metric (Hutchison et al., 2007), in a supply chain finance environment. Supply chain professionals need to be aware of the advantages of cash flow maximization as an element of supply chain strategy, and how these techniques provide value to their manufacturing and merchandising partnership (Ambler, 2006; Tsai, 2008; Aberdeen-Group, 2006).This paper provides a method to utilize C2C variables as a means to benchmark company performance. It offers three case studies where firms have benchmarked to:1. review their internal accounts payable policies;2. link results of their benchmarking to profitability to help focus implementation efforts; and3. serve as a call to action to proactively seek improvements with key trading partners.\n2 Benefits of SCM and benchmarking: Effective SCM offers firms additional opportunities to compete through both low cost and differentiation strategies (Porter, 1980; Esper et al., 2007; Towill, 2002; Goldsby et al., 2006). Efficient SCM leads to cost efficiency (Bowersox, 1990; Womack et al., 1990), product differentiation (Towill, 2002; Levitt, 1980; Morash, 2001), and value-added services (Gunasekaran et al., 2008; Lambert and Burduroglo, 2000). World class firms, such as Wal-Mart, Toyota, and Bose, have benchmarked the competition around them, leveraged SCM to create differential advantage and achieved cost and product leadership in comparison to their market peers (Liker and Choi, 2004; Segars et al., 2001; Arnold, 2002; Blanchard et al., 2008). These firms have shown that effective SCM, effective understanding of competitors and sound benchmarking techniques drive processes which lead to cost reduction while at the same time increasing quality (Manning et al., 2008; Choy et al., 2007; Kahn et al., 2006).Successful benchmarking and performance measurement is a central element generating accountability and performance in SCM (Griffis et al., 2007). To date, supply chain managers have engaged in auditing efforts such as asset utilization, earned value analysis, and activity-based costing using industry benchmarking data (Delpachitra, 2008; Spekman et al., 2002; Lin et al., 2001; LaLonde and Pohlen, 1996). There appears to be a confluence between the trend towards supply chain benchmarking and implementation of SCM techniques, such as C2C. In a period of constrained growth and increasing cost pressure, the examination of this intersection is both timely and important for theory and practice. Supply chain financial techniques, such as C2C, represent increased profit through harvested overlooked finance costs savings.SCM relies on a total cost approach aimed at gaining efficiency and effectiveness by focusing optimization efforts at increasingly higher level units of analysis (LeKashman and Stolle, 1965). What began as logistical efforts to benchmark activities and capture opportunities to increase efficiency within the firm through cross-functional process control has moved to focus on the integration of inter-firm cross-functional management (de Luca and Atuahene-Gima, 2007; Bowersox and Daugherty, 1987). Catching these opportunities requires effective performance measurement and benchmarking techniques.This approach is particularly important in times of tightened profits and restricted markets. These supply chain cost reduction strategies require:[...] aggressive construction of efficient-scale facilities, vigorous pursuit of cost reductions from experience, tight cost and overhead control, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, and cost minimization in areas like R and D, service, sales force, advertising and so on (Porter, 1980, p. 35).In low margin, high-volume industries, even minor cost reductions can have significant impact on profitability. As fuel cost rise firms are looking for new ways to offset these costs and avoid passing them, at least in total, on to the consumer (Katz, 2008; Schaumburg, 2008).The management of cost requires an awareness of current performance and a direction for the future performance (Francis, 2008; Choy et al., 2007). SCM offers a number of performance measurement and benchmarking tools to assist firms focused on efficient cost reduction (Griffis et al., 2007). Such benchmark programs have been used successfully in various supply chains to drive continuous improvements (Manning et al., 2008; Lapide, 2008). Research suggests an increased focus on benchmarking techniques in supplier relationships (Tsai, 2008). Companies who rely on various performance measurements to benchmark and improve profitability (Griffis et al., 2007; Lapide, 2008) can use augment those efforts with effective C2C management.C2C addresses one of the greatest difficulties in effective benchmarking within your own industry, the ability to capture useful data, and to act on that data in a cooperative fashion (Lapide, 2008; Hanman, 1997). This paper discusses how firms have used publicly available financial data to benchmark C2C and SCM finance performance.\n3 C2C defined: There are three financial variables involved in the C2C calculation. Each of these utilizes publicly available GAAP data found on the balance sheet: inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable; and the income statement: revenues and cost of goods sold. To generate a C2C calculation the supply chain professional may standardize the data by converting the financial variables from dollars to days in order to produce a common measure for analysis: Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Finally, C2C is calculated using these variables: Equation 4 The C2C calculation standardizes each variable in terms of days. This baseline may be a positive or negative number of days as shown in Figure 1. The number of days indicates how much time capital is expended measured against receipt of funds associated with the exchange. From the individual firm perspective, a positive number is bad for that firm, that number indicates how many days of the firm's capital is expended while awaiting payment from a customer. A negative number shows how many days the firm receives cash from sales before payment to suppliers is required. The goal for most firms is to be close to 0 days (or negative) for C2C, since it reflects firm efficiency and profitability.The metric has been touted as the first multiadic SCM metric because it uses days of accounts receivables to link the financial relationship with customers, the metric uses days of accounts payables to link the financial relation with suppliers, and the metric is bridged by days of inventory within the firm's own operations (Hutchison et al., 2007). The combination of the three measures performance between three firms increases efficiency of integration and alignment of SCM efforts. Dell Computer is recognized as a company which has effectively managed its supply chain to its competitive advantage (Magretta, 1998). In its quarterly and annual financial reports, Dell uses these C2C variables to reflect changes and improvements in its supply chain performance. Investors are readily able to identify changes in these performance areas.There are three techniques the firm may employ to improve financial metrics associated with C2C. The first technique is to reduce inventory (e.g. use real-time inventory tracking, synchronized supply/demand planning, etc.), the second technique is to reduce accounts receivable (e.g. require full or partial payment at time of order, delay sales commissions until receivables are paid, etc.), and the third is to extend accounts payable (e.g. utilize electronic payments, take advantage of beneficial vendor terms, etc.).\n4 C2C benchmarking analysis - three case studies: Benchmarking using C2C variables offer a variety of positive results. The following three case studies reflect how management's attention was guided toward specific opportunities through analysis and comparison of industry or trading partner C2C variables. The first case study shows how C2C benchmarking guided a firm's management to review their payment processes. The second case study shows how a firm conducted an overall C2C assessment then linked increased profitability to changes in individual C2C variables to target where to focus its improvement efforts, and the third case study shows how a firm's C2C benchmarking identified longitudinal C2C improvements by their top customers and suppliers resulting in a call to action to be aware that their trading partners likely would approach the firm seeking improvements and to proactively identify such gain-gain exchange improvements.4.1 Case study: guiding management to review payment process\n5 Managerial implications: The implications to management are five-fold. First, one of the greatest difficulties of effective benchmarking within your own industry is the ability to capture useful data. The C2C variables utilize publicly available GAAP financial data found in the basic balance sheet and income statement. Subsequently, as long as a pool of competitors are publicly traded, SEC reporting requirements make the data available to conduct C2C benchmarking which likely is representative of the industry.Second, through the use of benchmarking C2C, specific performance by companies may be identified and compared against industry performance.The third implication of this benchmarking process is that management may identify where best to focus improvements and quantify potential benefits ahead of time for their firm or for their trading partners.The fourth implication is that by analyzing industry performance and correlating performance for each variable against changes in profitability as a benchmark, a firm may determine which changes to the C2C variables will offer the greatest impact to profitability.Finally, as a part of SCM initiatives, firms may also benchmark changes in C2C performance by key customers and suppliers to identify trends by these key trading partners which will impact the supply chain. Some of these changes may benefit the trading partner but may be detrimental to the overall supply chain. Effective SCM should seek to benefit all trading partners; supply chain finance techniques such as C2C provide a mechanism to do so. Early identification of supplier and customer changes may influence how the overall supply chain is managed.\n6 Limitations: There are two limitations of the use of C2C as a benchmarking tool. First, calculating C2C uses data from publicly traded companies which legally must release financial data to the public. This may limit the benchmarking of private firms due to the inability to gather the data. In many cases, if there are enough public firms, performance by private firms may be inferred but cannot be considered conclusive.The second limitation is that financial data are reported in aggregate. Most firms have multiple product lines, operating units, or divisions. Owing to aggregate reporting, financial data may not reflect an accurate picture of specific products for direct comparison. As such, the C2C benchmarking may not be precise but does provide a starting point from which to guide and direct further investigation.\n7 Future research: The use of C2C as a supply chain metric continues to evolve. Future research should investigate C2C performance over entire supply chain networks to determine if overall supply chain profitability is tied to overall supply chain C2C performance. In doing so, it may be possible to benchmark types of supply chains so they can more effectively compete.As firms consider the C2C performance with key trading partners additional opportunities may develop from which to guide overall supply chain finance effort. Shared relationships may develop that encourage inherent advantages of cooperative SCM among trading partners. For example, one firm may have a lower weighted average cost of capital than its trading partner. By adjusting accounts payables and accounts receivables between the trading partners, the supply chain can benefit from the lower cost of capital and each firm may increase their profitability. Similar opportunities may also result from differences in inventory carrying cost. Future research should consider how the supply chain can benefit from these opportunities.\n8 Conclusion: It is important for supply chain professionals to consider how a systems approach to SCM may embrace C2C management strategies to increase overall competitive advantage for the supplier networks. As SCM attempts to increase the efficiency in which goods flow through the channel, so to can the efficiency of C2C flows be improved. The key contribution of this paper is the use of C2C as a benchmarking technique to help further supply chain research and practice. Firms that adopt supply chain financial benchmarking programs generate greater profits, and do so through a process that drives increased inter-firm integration and collaboration.Effective application of fundamental supply chain techniques, such as C2C benchmarking, provides supply chain professionals an additional mechanism to affect profitability. C2C works because it is highly coherent with the fundamental tenets of SCM, make decisions at the aggregate, open up the flow of information, and encourage commitment among partners to make decisions that result in the best value for the customer while improving partner profitability. In The Practice of Management (Drucker, 1954) suggested that when the firm takes care of its customers by providing superior value, profits will take care of themselves. The use of supply chain benchmarks, such as C2C, extends that axiom. This case study has shown when the firm, and its partners, provides their customer superior value, profits, for the firm and its partners, will take care of themselves.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how the cash-to-cash (C2C) metric may be used to benchmark supply chain performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper utilizes C2C variables as a means to benchmark company performance.\nFindings: - Three case studies are offered where firms have benchmarked to: review their internal accounts payable policies; linked results of their benchmarking to profitability to help focus implementation efforts; and served as a call to action to proactively seek improvements with key trading partners. The models developed in this paper provide a benchmark approach to inter-firm supply chain financial management. These models have direct application in a cost conscious economy and represent a non-zero sum gain for cooperating corporations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - C2C variables are readily available for use in benchmarking.\nPractical implications: - C2C benchmarking allows the firm to identify where to focus improvements with their supply chain trading partners.\nOriginality/value: - C2C has been touted as the first multi-dyadic supply chain metric.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of focus, function, and features of shared knowledge on re-use in emergency management social media	[ "Social media", "Emergency management", "Blogs", "Knowledge re-use", "Mass communication theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social media is increasingly being used to share knowledge during contingencies, disasters and emergencies (Leidner et al., 2009; Simon et al., 2015; Yates and Paquette, 2011). This includes knowledge sharing to and from the public (Palen et al., 2011) and also between organizations, including government, non-government and corporate (Alberghini et al., 2014; von Krogh, 2012; Graham et al., 2015; Leidner et al., 2009; Yates and Paquette, 2011). Although social networks have been more popular for public knowledge sharing, social media such as wikis blogs has enabled different parts of an organization or multiple different organizations that are loosely connected but interdependent (Majchrzak et al., 2007) to find knowledge others have and reuse it quickly for their own decision-making purposes (Shan et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2012).\nLiterature review: The combination of a post-9/11 response mindset with lessons learned from a series of worldwide disasters in the 2000s has made both researchers and practitioners aware of the need for better inter-organizational knowledge sharing during emergencies (Leidner et al., 2009; Majchrzak et al., 2007; Simon et al., 2015; Turoff et al., 2004). Leidner et al. (2009) note that decision makers need a lot of information quickly, yet shared knowledge can be difficult to interpret. Cumbie and Sankar (2012) and Turoff (2002) note that every emergency is different, and the inter-organizational knowledge sharing necessary requires open coordination. For example, Xia et al. (2011) explain that the increased task complexity faced by decision makers in emergencies requires specific tools and strategies for knowledge sharing, else response actions may fail. Majchrzak and More (2011) showed that marked-up Google maps shared between citizens and first responders significantly improved the availability of valued information and led to knowledge re-use. Majchrzak et al. (2007) specify that in emergencies, organizations need a mechanism by which to share their perspectives and knowledge, a common platform that enables swift-trust type sharing, and a means to develop a running narrative of what has occurred to aid in shared understanding. Thus, although emergencies create a mandate for organizational knowledge sharing and re-use, they also create conditions which make those processes difficult.\nModel development: According to Alberghini et al. (2014), social media in organizations (such as weblogs) creates informal networks of knowledge re-users, who adapt knowledge shared by others by making sense of it and applying it to their own knowledge needs. In an emergency, management tasks differ in their complexity and routineness, suggesting multifaceted knowledge needs (Xia et al., 2011). Thus, a model is needed that identifies the various ways knowledge may be re-used in emergencies and which theorizes the reasons why that knowledge would be more or less useful in emergencies. The model described below develops three categories of factors which potentially influence re-use - knowledge focus, knowledge function and knowledge features (which may be features of the poster, the post itself or users' needs). These three categories, building on a foundation of knowledge re-use, social media and emergency management, offer a way to differentiate and test the value of knowledge contributions in emergencies for subsequent re-use. When organizational users share knowledge via social media, they understand that others, potentially individuals unknown to them with different purposes, will access and re-use that\nMethodology: An emergency management blog used for a variety of contingencies and emergencies rather than a single emergency (Shan et al., 2012) was sought to test the hypotheses. This blog would have the advantage of more regular usage instead of a burst of activity (Yang et al., 2012). An emergency management blog operated by the US Defense Information Systems Agency stated that the Strategic Knowledge Integration Web, or SKIWEB, was an ideal platform for the study. SKIWEB connects users across the Department of Defense, who share knowledge in real time about ongoing contingencies, disaster response and emergency activity. This knowledge includes a range of posts from transactional details of operations status and news items to insightful analysis of intelligence, world events and anything that might be of interest to others subscribed to the blog. SKIWEB connects users worldwide in tactical (field) units, operations centers and staff agencies alike. Although not specifically focused on any particular emergency or crisis, SKIWEB use is typical of how emergency responders communicate with systems such as WebEOC and Sahana and how Turoff (2002) describes the prototypical emergency management system.\nResults: Table II shows the results of the multiple regression. Overall, the predictors explained 30.7 per cent of the variance in re-use (F = 22.915, p < 0.001). We found significant results for non-event (b = 0.275, p < 0.001), image file (b = -0.119, p = 0.002), organizational poster (b = -0.307, p < 0.001) title word count (b = -0.16, p < 0.001), keywords (b = 0.372, p < 0.001) and title length (b = -0.128, p = 0.001). Additionally, mobilization (b = 0.078, p < 0.02) and KML file (b = -0.085, p = 0.04) were significant at the 0.05 level; however, these were not considered significant results after the Bonferroni adjustment. Re-running the model with event and information included and non-event and correlation excluded yields a significant impact for event (b = -0.287, p < 0.001) but not information.\nDiscussion: The results offer interesting insights of how knowledge is shared and re-used during contingencies, emergencies and disasters via social media. The mass communication theory offers a way to classify posts based on how users might re-use knowledge but does not offer explanations for which different types of focus, function or features might be more or less valuable, particularly during emergencies. This paper extends the mass communication theory by identifying how and why focus, function and features impact re-use. Results show that contrary to expectations, non-event posts are re-used more often than event posts or time-based posts. Why are non-event posts seen as more valuable? It may be that the unpredictable circumstances of emergencies invoke environmental scanning behavior in users (Frishammar, 2002), who \"don't know what they don't know\". Users are less clear on how non-events (which report news and intelligence) will be impactful; thus, paradoxically, users are more interested in them. Events may be more actionable but ironically be seen to have less potential for re-use. Conversely, an alternate explanation is that users are better able to evaluate events from the information contained in the post title; thus, there is little incentive to click through to view the full post. Consistent with what Ajith and Chakrabarti (2011) refer to as \"bounded awareness\", in a crisis, users may be less interested in looking for new knowledge if it disconfirms their own understanding. If this is the case, it suggests that:\nConclusion: This study attempted to dig deeper into the type of knowledge shared and re-used via social media in the context of emergencies, providing a categorization scheme and hypothesizing factors which lead to re-use. Although some of the results were contrary to expectations, the study has succeeded in its aims. Social media has proven its worth as an enabler of knowledge sharing and re-use for several contingencies, disasters and emergencies of late. Improving our understanding of the effectiveness of this sharing and re-use, qualified by features of the shared knowledge, offers insights for greater research in this area, as well as improvements for both emergency management social media design, and its employment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how organizations use social media such as blogs to share and re-used knowledge during contingencies, disasters, and emergencies. The factors related to the knowledge itself - rather than the media - which lead to more and less re-use (particularly in the fast-paced and uncertain context of emergencies) are not well known.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Integrating theories of social media, knowledge management and mass communication, the author develops a model of the characteristics of knowledge (focus, function and features), characteristics of knowledge sharers and the user's needs, which influence the extent to which knowledge is re-used.\nFindings: A study of 645 blog posts revealed why some knowledge is re-used in emergencies more than other types of knowledge. Surprisingly, non-event-related knowledge is re-used more often than event-related knowledge, perhaps because users are less certain about how they would re-use non-event knowledge and, thus, are paradoxically more interested in what it might offer. Results also indicate several other factors which impact re-use.\nPractical implications: Traditional mechanisms used to evaluate knowledge for reuse such as rank and organizational status are less important than the focus and function of the knowledge itself; they offer practitioners strategies for more efficient knowledge sharing during emergencies and identify opportunities for more effective employment of emergency management social media.\nOriginality/value: One of the first studies to dig deeper into factors of knowledge shared and re-used during emergencies, this research integrates several theoretical streams to explain why some knowledge is more valuable for re-use. It increases the understanding of knowledge sharing during disasters and offers strategies for development of knowledge systems for future emergencies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions and use of cloud in academic activities: a study of a public university in Bangladesh	[ "Cloud computing", "Bangladesh", "Developing country", "Teaching and learning", "Faculty members", "Dhaka University" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Background and introduction: Nowadays, cloud platform in business, service sectors and in education has stood the test of time in most of the developed countries. Cloud computing (CC) has brought many opportunities and offered plethora of noticeable features for facilitating research and academic activities. Three platforms, namely, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) of CC, have been well explained in many studies (Mell and Grance, 2011; Cho, 2011). Storage facilities, services, virtual hardware, availability of networks and utility computing have led these platforms more popular these days. Cloud features bring out the opportunities for the developing countries to do which they could not do earlier with the computers and internet (Goundar, 2018). With this ubiquitous computing tool and a powerful platform, developing countries can use it for teaching, learning and other educational purposes (Kshetri, 2010). Universities can use the cloud platform like Software as a Service (SaaS) e.g. Google Apps that includes Gmail for e-mail and Google Docs for research collaboration and presentations. Faculty members, researchers and students in these countries can work on the same document at the same time to make corrections as well as improve it dynamically in a collaborative manner (Thomas, 2011). But universities in developing countries are lag behind with the ICT and other modern technologies. Compared to the developed world CC in university setting in developing countries is not well discussed, and it is still in infant stage. It is because of limited access to resources, internet facilities and lack of awareness of using clouds (Greengard, 2010; Okai, et al., 2014; Kshetri, 2010).\n2. Literature review: Use of CC has been an area of research for many years. There have been many discussions on CC and no widely accepted definition are arrived yet (Grossman, 2009). However, Mell and Grance's (2011) definition is treated as commonly used definition where they define CC is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources with minimal management effort.\n3. Objectives of the study: In academic activities, we often rely on many cloud services which is a model where resources are delivered via the Internet. For the present study, we had focused on the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. Akande and Van Belle (2014) found that SaaS is the most common CC service model adopted by higher education institutions (HEIs). Under SaaS model, most of the free cloud applications are Gmail, GoogleDocs, Spreadsheets, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Slides, Messenger, Microsoft Cloud service (Live@edu), OneDrive (SkyDrive) and Dropbox. These tools are widely used by the faculty and students in the HEIs. SaaS facilitates the creation of personal learning and research environment for both faculty members and students and improves the accessibility of education and research. Both patrons can access, edit and share learning materials through various devices such as computers, iPads, laptops or their smart phones. The primary aim of the present study is to know the initial perceptions and use of cloud in teaching and learning by a public university in Bangladesh. To address this, we have come up with couple of research questions which guides the study as well.\n4. Methodology: Considering these three factors, e.g. clarifying the purpose of the study, the population on which it should focus and the resources that are available, the study used survey method. It is in line with the Hoinville and Jowell's (1978) findings of survey research practice where they discussed these three factors determine to choose survey method. To reach out a wide pool of faculty members whose contact details were accessible through the university website, survey questionnaire method was chosen. Measuring the initial perceptions and use of cloud in a wide number of faculties in Dhaka University, survey is the best suited.\n5. Results of the study: 5.1 Demographic information\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The faculty members had the high awareness, wide perceptions and used very frequently of cloud services which lead the study to get closer with the findings that using cloud has significant impact on faculty members in Dhaka University. It had enhanced their interest and engagement in teaching. For the present study, we set out few research questions and it brought out a rich set of findings. Out of a total 125 faculty members who responded to this survey, 117 respondents are aware of cloud under awareness categories. The study found that faculty members, in general, are familiar with the cloud services and mostly they use cloud for research purposes. Vast storage facilities, mobility and easy way of communications of cloud were the primary reasons of using it for research purposes. Among many applications of cloud, Gmail, Google Drive and Dropbox largely used applications for teaching and learning purposes. The findings supported by Cholakian et al. (2017) where they discussed how these tools enhance the clinical teaching. By a large margin, the most frequently used cloud app was Gmail. Faculty uptake of other mainstream Google apps such as Forms, Slides, Drive was lowest. Probably the lack of faculty knowledge and insufficient in-service preparation were secondary factors limiting extent of use. The majority of faculty using the cloud typically made greater use of several forms of teaching practice. For supporting student academic activities, sharing course materials, supporting presentations and sharing/supporting research data and projects were the most common student activities that made use of the cloud. The findings also showed that majority of the faculty members agreed that cloud improves teaching and learning by collaboration, interaction and engagement. Using cloud the most pervasive shift in pedagogy reported was the increased use of collaborative teaching and learning practices. Cloud use increased the amount of faculty collaboration. It is in line with the Wideman's (2013) study where it was found that collaboration with peers was an important element in cloud implementation. Additionally, there were some significant differences among faculty members in terms of designation and education in aspect of student supporting activities and research collaboration among the colleagues.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the initial understanding of what perceptions have the faculty members of Dhaka University and how they use cloud for academic activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect responses from the faculty members of Dhaka University. An online questionnaire was sent out to the faculty members of Dhaka University via e-mail. The questionnaire was both open and close-ended. Overall, 125 respondents participated in this survey and convenience sampling method was used. Mann-Whitney and chi-square test were carried out to see the influence of demographic characteristics on cloud use for teaching and learning activities.\nFindings: The results showed that faculty members are generally aware of cloud computing, and they are using some of the cloud applications for teaching and learning purposes. They use cloud for research, collaboration, faculty-students engagement, student supporting activities and sharing course materials. They identified limited wireless access or internet facilities, lack of ICT infrastructure and lack of cloud training and knowledge as major constraints. However, these constraints are mainly related to the poor IT infrastructure and limited access to internet, which may also lead to other constraints.\nOriginality/value: This is the first time an attempt has been made to explore the perception and use of cloud among the faculty members in a public university, Bangladesh. The findings of this study may shed light to other align research areas of cloud computing in Bangladesh.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers' willingness to buy food through the internet: A review of the literature and a model for future research	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Internet", "Food products", "Lifestyles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Purchasing via the internet is one of the most rapidly growing forms of shopping (Levy and Weitz, 2001; Limayem et al., 2000; Shim et al., 2001). In principle, the internet can be used to facilitate purchase transactions among all kinds of actors: among consumers, among businesses, between businesses and consumers. But by far the biggest and most successful area of application has been in the business-to-business domain. In the business-to-consumer area, business development has been more concentrated on certain niche areas (Butler and Peppard, 1998). Many of the sites run with a deficit or have even had to close down. Especially in connection with the sale of food and other products for daily use on the internet, there have been few breakthrough successes. The UK may be the market where food purchasing on the internet has advanced most (Ellis Chadwick et al., 2002), whereas other markets have watched spectacular failures, like www.webvan.com in the USA, which, with more than $122 million in initial funding, went bankrupt in July 2001 after two years of operation and an expense of more than $1.2 billion (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=7&articleid=448).In this paper, possible reasons for the willingness or unwillingness of consumers to buy food via the internet are reviewed. First, relevant literature on the topic is reviewed. After that, drawing on the literature review and on relevant theoretical insights from consumer behaviour theory and social psychology, a comprehensive model that can guide future research on consumer willingness to buy food via the internet is presented. A consumer-oriented approach is chosen, i.e. consumer perceptions which can impede or further the tendency to shop via the internet are in focus. Our approach is thus different from approaches concentrating on questions like the development of appropriate business processes (Bello et al., 2002), channel organisation (Tamilia et al., 2002), or creating functional and appealing web sites (Eastlick and Lotz, 1999; Yang et al., 2003).E-commerce is not a clearly defined term. For example, Choi et al. (1997) distinguish in their e-commerce model three elements: product, agent and process. Their argument is that traditional trade takes place with a physical product, a physical agent (e.g. a grocer) and a physical process. All transactions where one of the above elements involves the internet will be e-commerce, whereas pure e-commerce takes place when all three parts are virtual. According to this definition, buying food from a vending machine with a smart card can be seen as e-commerce (Turban et al., 2002). Peterson et al. (1997) and Butler and Peppard (1998) mention three channels in which marketing activities occur and where internet operations can substitute traditional operations: Distribution (which is the physical movement of products and services), transaction (which generates sales activities between buyer and seller), and communication channels (which enables communication between buyer and seller). The distribution channel can be online only for certain product types (e.g. software, music and electronic books), but for the other two channels the internet can substitute or complement traditional channels for all types of products. Vijayaraman and Bhatia (2002) define e-commerce as the process of buying and selling goods electronically through computerized business transaction. Since they do not mention what is meant by \"computerized business transactions\", this definition is less operational.In this paper, treatment is restricted to consumer buying where the ordering process and at least part of the communication occurs via an internet web site. Thus, transactions where the internet is used for communication, but the ordering has to take place by traditional means, are not dealt with. As for the distribution of the goods bought and the way of payment, no restrictions are imposed, and thus all kinds of options are dealt with including that goods are being delivered to the consumer, have to be picked up at certain points, or have to be collected in a traditional shop and that the payment occur via the internet, the bank or in connection with delivery.\nLiterature review: In organising the literature review, a model by Sindhav and Balazs (1999) is adapted. They see the growth of e-commerce conditioned by three factors: the company, the environment, and the perceived consumer benefits. Perceived consumer benefits are, in their model, in turn seen as related to the medium, the product, and the consumer.While firm and environment may be assumed (as Sindhav and Balazs do) to have a direct impact on the growth of e-commerce, it is here additionally assumed that they will have an indirect effect also by affecting the three determinants of perceived consumer benefits. Figure 1 shows a modified model that delineates five groups of factors affecting perceived consumer benefits.Medium\nPerceived consumer benefits and willingness to buy food via the internet: towards a theory-based approach: In the model depicted in Figure 1, adapted from Sindhav and Balazs (1999), it is assumed that the factors discussed above affect the benefits that consumers perceive in internet shopping. It is further assumed that these perceived benefits will determine consumers' willingness to actually engage in such shopping.The findings reviewed above have generated many interesting insights, but no coherent picture. Part of this may be due to the fact that none of the studies reviewed above build on a theoretical approach aiming to explain how benefits are perceived and how these perceptions affect intentions to act. The theoretical approaches invoked (to the extent that the studies were in fact theory-based) have had different emphases: some were concentrating on consumer information processing theory and its implications for information search and decision-making on the internet (e.g. Alba et al., 1997), some employed an innovation adoption framework (e.g. Eastlick and Lotz, 1999), and still others drew on transaction cost economics (e.g. Liang and Huang, 1998) or on theory regarding the formation of trust (e.g. Gefen, 2000). While all of this provides interesting insights, there is a need for more research specifically taking its point of departure in a theoretical approach dealing with the formation, change, and impact of consumer beliefs about benefits or the lack thereof when shopping via the internet.Such a theoretical approach would need three components. First, it needs an intention formation component, dealing with how intentions to act - to shop for food via the internet - are formed based on the existing set of beliefs. Second, it needs a learning component, dealing with how beliefs are formed based on information one is exposed to, attention to it, understanding and inference-making. Third, it needs a belief change component, dealing with how beliefs about shopping for food via the internet change in the course of experience with this form of shopping.Intentions to shop for food via the internet: applying the theory of planned behaviour\nDiscussion and implications: Based on a review of the literature on consumer internet shopping, a model explaining consumer intention to buy food via the internet has been suggested. Intentions were explained by four types of beliefs: perceived benefits and disadvantages, beliefs about others' reactions, beliefs about availability of resources, and beliefs about personal abilities.In the literature reviewed there was most evidence on the first type of beliefs, and mainly with regard to two aspects: type of product bought, and convenience. In the food area we have an increasing proportion of products with intangible or invisible qualities, like health-related or process-related qualities, and internet channels have the potential of providing information that can aid consumer judgements on this type of qualities better than traditional retailing channels. As for convenience, this is often named as a major driver in consumer adoption, and since traditional food shopping involves considerable outlays in terms of both mental and physical energy, the combination of internet ordering and home delivery certainly appears to have the potential of being regarded as a major benefit by those segments of consumers who demand convenience. As for beliefs about available resources and personal abilities, there was evidence on the importance of the perception of the technical constraints once one has access to internet, and the perception of one's own abilities in handling them. There was little evidence in the literature on the relevance of beliefs about others' reactions, although it is quite conceivable that social web dynamics (chat groups etc.) may have an impact.Different consumers will have different beliefs about food shopping on the internet. These differences were linked to two domain-specific lifestyle constructs and a personality construct. The lifestyle constructs, food-related lifestyle and wired lifestyle, express which role food and IT, respectively, play in how consumers attain their life values. People with a wired lifestyle, i.e. consumers where IT-based tools are an integrated part of their lives, used in many contexts, are expected to also have more positive beliefs about food shopping on the internet. Which type of food-related lifestyle encourages positive beliefs about electronic food shopping is much less clear a priori and has to await further research. The personality construct, risk aversion, seems to be of general importance in explaining adoption of internet shopping, not only for food.Clearly, it would be desirable to see research where this model is being used as a basis for empirical work. Since most constructs in the model are readibly measurable, its application is rather straightforward. As a start, cross-sectional studies comparing populations of consumers with different degrees of experience with buying food over the internet, or comparing groups of consumers in countries which have advanced to different degrees in the incidence of internet food shopping, would be of considerable interest. In the more ambitious realm, a longitudinal study, showing how consumer beliefs change due to developing experience with this type of shopping, and with different internet sellers, would be highly interesting. And since the design and implementation of the web sites used is so decisive for the experiences made and hence the beliefs formed, one could also imagine laboratory studies, where characteristics of web sites are systematically varied in order to see how that affects consumers' beliefs and intentions.A better understanding of factors affecting consumer interest in food shopping via the internet is crucial for the food sector if more disappointments about the non-use of available services are to be avoided. The preliminary conclusions from this paper suggest that internet providers combining convenience for consumers with an emphasis on information intensive products may have the best case (which may explain the success of some internet sellers of box schemes with organic products), and that there will be considerable differences in consumers' literacy in using such services. However, research based on the model proposed would yield much more detailed and useful insights into which business concepts will be successful.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to review literature on factors that may have an impact on consumers' probability to buy food over the internet, and to suggest a model that can guide future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Determinants of consumer intention to buy food via the internet are sorted into the categories medium, product, consumer, firm, and environment. In order to draw the various results together and provide a coherent framework for future research, a model is proposed that combines the theory of planned behaviour and the lifestyle construct.\nFindings: - While a lot of scattered evidence is available, there is a need for a coherent, operational, theory-based model that can summarize findings and guide future research.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The proposed model is operational and can be used in future empirical research on consumers' food shopping via the internet.\nPractical implications: - The literature review suggests that concepts combining convenience and an emphasis on information intensive food products will be most successful, and that consumers having a \"wired lifestyle\" are the most likely users. However, much more detailed insights will be possible by using the proposed model.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is the first comprehensive summary of evidence on consumer food shopping via the internet. It will be useful basis for future research on this topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prescriptive versus non-prescriptive prison design briefs: Architect responses to interpreting Australian private prison design briefs	[ "Prisons", "Design", "Private sector organizations", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the 1990s, a number of Australian states embarked on the delivery of prisons facilities by the use of private correctional providers. The projects employed alternative delivery methods, such as Design-Construct, which can be used as an umbrella term for its variants, such as BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer), BOO (Build Own Operate), DCFM/DCMF (Design Build Finance Manage) and DBFO (Design Build Finance Operate). However, the controversy lay in the suitability to deliver facilities such as prisons, using a delivery method that was generally untried in Australian prison design and construction.The study (Consoli, 2003) involved the intensive interviewing of 22 private prison architects. The private prison projects included in this study spanned four Australian States that were procured between 1990 and 2000. As a result of such interviews, architects highlighted a number of issues related directly to the design briefs that were issued as part of the \"Requests for Proposal\" (RFP) in the private prison projects. The research showed that the design brief plays a critical role in how architects operate, and the successes they have in prison projects. This paper will discuss1. the concept of a \"design brief\";2. the methodology of the study;3. the organisational structure and scope of Australian prison projects, through a comparison of the private and public prison delivery methods;4. the resulting private prison design briefs; and5. architect responses to the appropriateness of non-prescriptive briefs to prison design.\nDesign briefs: The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA, 1998) Advisory Notes define a design brief as:... a written statement which details the client's expectations and the functions of a prosed building. It should describe the facilities to be provided and the activities to be performed and also clearly identify the broad policies within which these are to be achieved in respect of the time, cost and quality of the facility.RAIA states that the objectives of the brief is to provide \"... a contextual basis for the development of the design, documentation, construction and commissioning of the building\" (RAIA, 1998). The brief is also considered a \"... dynamic document which is refined throughout the design process\" (RAIA, 1998). It is also important to note that even though the design process generally is in response to the brief, there may be necessary overlap between the finalisation of the brief, and the commencement of the design process (RAIA, 1998). Indeed, Ryd (2004) reports that there is a trend to view the briefing process as an \"... integrated part of the entire construction and management process, and not just part of an early stage\" (Ryd, 2004).Ryd (2004) finds that there is an interest in the role of briefing in achieving good building design. Ryd (2004) reports that prior research regarding briefing has revolved around \"... developing prescriptive methods for writing a clear statement of specifications at the beginning of a project\" (Ryd, 2004 in reference to Markus, 1969; Kelly et al. 1992). She concludes that the role of the brief is \"... both underestimated and insufficiently researched\" (Ryd, 2004). This is further intensified when considering prison facilitation.Farbstein (1986) states that the briefing (or \"programming\" as it is referred to in the United States) in the design of correctional institutions involves the development of information in relation to how the building \"... should perform in response to the requirements of the functional program\" (Farbstein, 1986, p. 317). In other words, the brief is to state \"... what the building should do, rather than what it will be like\" (Farbstein, 1986, p. 318). Farbstein (1986) believes that the prison design brief is more than just a listing of the spaces required for the building; the brief is a \"... statement of intent for the facility, an exploration of values, needs and requirements\" (Farbstein, 1986, p. 313). Fairweather (2000a) further stresses the role of the architect and the need to \"... do much more than merely design to a stereotyped brief\" (Fairweather, 2000a, p. 66).\nMethodology: The objective was to find a method that evaluated the effects of privatisation upon the processes of planning, design and construction of prisons, via an examination of the beliefs of those within the private and public correctional industry (Consoli, 2003). The resultant data-collection method used in the study was participant interviews using a semi-structured interview questionnaire (Moser and Kalton, 1973; Babbie, 1973; de Vaus, 1990; Minichiello, 1995).Interviews allowed an in-depth discussion and the extraction of beliefs from participants in the private and public prison design and construction processes, hence enabling a detailed understanding of such processes. A two-stage method of investigation was utilised. Firstly, interviews were conducted. This process involved preliminary telephone contact, derivation of research instruments, submission of questionnaires to participants, and conduct of telephone interviews. Secondly, interview data was analysed, with conclusions drawn from a comparison of the beliefs and theories of participants in private and public prison projects. The analysis of results was carried out by the identification and development of critical ideas from the results. This established linkages between ideas, from which the hypotheses could be tested and conclusions drawn.\nAustralian prison projects - overview: Public and private prison delivery methods\nArchitect responses: All architects were concerned with the \"... government's arms length ... \" approach during the bidding stage. Although all considered that they had satisfied the projects requirements, they also considered the information in the briefs as \"... exceedingly lean ... \". This point raised two conflicting beliefs. Firstly, a small number of architects considered the briefs adequate because they were non-prescriptive. This was deemed beneficial because it allowed greater scope for design innovation. Secondly, and in contrast, others believed briefs were too vague, and left the designer with more questions than answers. This created frustrations and aggravated the design process. Each of these viewpoints will be examined separately.Non-prescriptive design briefs being adequate\nConclusion: Architects considered the design brief played a critical role in how they operated and the successes they had as architects in the prison projects. Nevertheless, their responses showed conflicting reports. Those in support of the non-prescriptive design and construction brief argued that it was the most appropriate tool to encourage and achieve innovation in both the design and construction components of the facility. As there was greater reliance on the consortia to both understand prison management issues and achieve these requirements in the built form, there was perceived greater likelihood at achieving an innovative scheme. It also encouraged the consortia to develop their own briefs or evolve their existing briefs.However, the majority of participants in the study considered prescriptive briefs inadequate for the design and construction of prison facilities. The principal belief was that as the State had not fully defined their outcomes, this had a number of repercussions. Firstly, this impacted upon the design process. Architects argued that it allowed the contractors to manipulate the process and outcomes, and allowed for personalities to adversely influence, which made it difficult to reach compromises within the consortia. Secondly, was the impact upon the design and construction outcomes. Architects believed that the non-prescriptive brief led to an excessive amount of guessing, which caused dangerous omissions in the schemes, to the ultimate detriment of the prison facility and its users.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To report on architect reactions to the use of non-prescriptive design and construction briefs in the delivery of private prison projects in Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The introduction of the private prison projects in Australia saw the introduction of alternative delivery methods, such as Design-Construct, for the delivery of prison facilities. The resulting design brief, forwarded as the \"Request for Proposal\", was typically a non-prescriptive document. Those architects who participated in such private prison design projects were interviewed using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. Beliefs regarding the use of such briefs were gauged from the interview data.\nFindings: - The interviews revealed conflicting beliefs regarding the usefulness and appropriateness of the design brief. The responses were divided between a minority who found the briefs adequate, owing principally to the belief that it facilitated innovation. However, the majority considered the briefs as inadequate for prison construction. They believed that it allowed for manipulation by contractors, and that it compromised the design process and the integrity of the facility. As architects question the suitability of such design briefs for the delivery of prison facilities, the paper highlights the advantages and limitations in using prescriptive and non-prescriptive prison design briefs.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fulfils a need for data regarding the role of design briefs in prison design and construction. It offers a valuable comparison of the diverse approaches that can be taken, and the impacts this has upon how architects operate in prison projects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A methodology for modeling and monitoring of centrifugal casting process	[ "Centrifugal casting", "Fault detection and diagnosis", "Hotelling T2 control chart", "Monitoring statistic", "Partial least squares regression", "Process monitoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Process monitoring is the key for detection of abnormal behaviors of a process which is of paramount importance for production of good quality end products. Process monitoring schemes have been evolved around two different strategies, namely, model-based methods (Chen and Tsou, 2003; Isermann, 2005; Luan et al., 2005; Luan and Zhao, 2008) and data-based methods (Hamrol, 2000; Kano and Nakagawa, 2008; Yu and Xi, 2009). Model-based strategies rely on an explicit mathematical formulation of the ensuing process whereas data-based strategies rely on process history data for building statistical or data mining model which is subsequently employed for monitoring the concerned process. For construction of mathematical model, in-depth know how about the functional relationships among the responsible process and quality characteristics is required, which for most of the complex processes are tough to decipher. On the other hand, a plethora of data are collected during regular production in complex processes like casting those can be analyzed using statistical or data mining models. Hence, for most of the complex processes, notably for the chemical processes (Nijhuis et al., 1999; Simoglou et al., 2000; Saavedra and Cordova, 2011) which can churn out huge plethora of data, data-based strategies are considered the most preferred choice. The data-based monitoring strategies mainly include artificial neural networks (Cook et al., 2006; Yu et al., 2009; El-Midany et al., 2010; Salehi et al., 2011) and statistical techniques (Smeti et al., 2007; Nezhad and Niaki, 2010; Ghosh and Maiti, 2014).\n2. Methodology: The methodology comprises three modules, namely, nominal model building, detection of faults or abnormal behavior, and diagnosis of the detected faults or abnormal behavior. Figure 1 provides the flow chart for the methodology where the steps involved in each of the three modules are enumerated. The detailed description of each of the modules is presented below.\n3. Case study: 3.1. Process detail\n4. Comparative analysis: A comparison of the proposed monitoring strategy has been carried with multivariate control charts of the quality characteristics, namely, the Hotelling T2 and generelized variance charts and MEWMA. The comparison of the strategies are made with respect to three key criteria's, namely, ease of development, type of fault and detection speed, and diagnostic ability.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: The important considerations which should be borne in mind while developing a monitoring strategy include: the ease of development and the ease of implementation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to build a monitoring scheme in order to detect and subsequently eliminate abnormal behavior of the concerned casting process so as to produce worm wheels with good quality characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this a study, a process monitoring strategy has been devised for a centrifugal casting process using data-based multivariate statistical technique, namely, partial least squares regression (PLSR).\nFindings: Based on a case study, the PLSR model constructed for this study seems to mimic the actual process quite well which is evident from the various performance criteria (predicted and analysis of variance results).\nPractical implications: The practical implication of the study involves development of a software application with a back-end database which would be interfaced with a computer program based on PLSR algorithm for estimation of model parameters and the control limit for the monitoring chart. It would help in easy and real-time detection of faults.\nOriginality/value: This study concerns the application of a PLSR-based monitoring strategy to a centrifugal casting process engaged in the production of worm wheel.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Specification of core competence and associated components: A proposed model and a case illustration	[ "Competences", "Skills", "Resources" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Core competence is a concept well known to academics, business practitioners, and consultants in strategic management. It was originally invented as a tool for justifying business diversification at large companies, and for supporting internal processes such as product development (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). Scholars have acknowledged the importance of the concept by advancing it in multiple directions: by connecting it to conceptual notions of learning (Lei et al., 1996), by suggesting core competence models to sustain competitive advantage (Petts, 1997; Hafeez et al., 2002), by building on the concept's basic notions to invent similar concepts (Sanchez and Heene, 1997; Eden and Ackermann, 2000; Sanchez, 2004), and by developing processes for its identification (Javidan, 1998; Eden and Ackermann, 2000). The importance of the concept is also acknowledged when testing the implementation of core competence as strategy (Clark, 2000; Clark and Scott, 2000). However, it has recently been suggested that there is a lack of knowledge about the concept, since only a few empirical studies exist (Wang et al., 2004).One category of existing studies focuses on ways of identifying core competencies empirically, using company task-forces, and using the associated concepts (resources, capabilities, and competencies) as part of the identification process (Javidan, 1998; Eden and Ackermann, 2000). The concept is often perceived as vague, and it is mixed up with other strategic concepts (Clark, 2000); there is, therefore, a need for scholars to focus attention on improving the clarity of the concept. One major benefit for the identification process is that employees survey the organization's different parts, which increases organizational awareness of ongoing and latent activities. A setback in the process is the indistinct use of the associated concepts. For instance, their characteristics are not kept separate, either in conceptual discussions or in practical actions. This is unsatisfactory to those interested in core competence matters, since the characteristics of the associated concepts may enhance our comprehension of the core competence conceptions. The present paper contributes to this gap in knowledge by investigating those characteristics which discriminate between and signify the associated concepts. In addition, while the identification process per se and the label \"associated\" imply links between the associated concepts and a core competence, these links are still only assumptions in existing research; theoretical and empirical discussions and validations are lacking. Such links, however, are of major importance, since they involve potential influences. The purpose of this paper is to outline a core competence model by exploring links between core competence and the associated concepts of competencies, capabilities, and resources, and by proposing refinements to the characteristics of these concepts.This study was conducted in a single case; a Scandinavian company which is especially well suited for studying core competence matters due to its diverse product and market mix. The company's products originate from several significantly different core competencies. This study focuses on a particular core competence, selected for several reasons: it is generic and has been established for more than 50 years; it is essential to all company divisions and business undertakings; and it is familiar to the employees and customers of the company. By basing the study on this core competence, it was made possible to identify and separate the associated concepts and their characteristics, as well as their links to the core competence.This study contributes to resource-based and core competence-based theory firstly by outlining a core competence model, and secondly by proposing specific and significant characteristics of the concepts of competence, capability, and resource which have significance both for research matters and for practical matters, in developing and specifying the concept of core competence.The paper is structured as follows. An initial model is introduced together with the theoretical presentation of the focal concepts. Next follows a discussion of the method by which the empirical data were collected. The data are then presented and discussed along with proposed refinements, suggested by the discussion, of the initial model. The paper ends with conclusions, managerial implications, and suggestions for further research.\nThe initial model: In this paper, core competence is defined as a competence that fulfils three criteria (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990): contributes significantly to the customers' benefit from the product, is competitively unique, and provides potential access to a wide variety of markets. There are several benefits of selecting these criteria as a definition: they are part of the concept's original notions, and they conceptually link a core competence to a competence, deferring the necessity to empirically identify both.There are nearly as many definitions of the associated concepts as there are scholars in the domain of strategic management research. This dilemma has recently been acknowledged by researchers (Hafsi and Thomas, 2005); it poses a major problem for practical issues such as operationalization: which definition is most accurate? Definitional issues are pertinent to the present paper, since the characteristics of the concepts are dependent on them. Thus, there now follows a discussion of the definitional issues, starting with competence, which is already conceptually linked to a core competence. For the other two concepts, capability and resource, we have to take a step back and first discuss whether they can be linked to a core competence at all.Competence\nMethod: This exploratory study was conducted in one company, which facilitates a deeper understanding of the context (Yin, 2003) and is crucial for general core competence comprehension (Eden and Ackermann, 2000). The context is also critical to the associated concepts: scholars have demonstrated them to be context-specific, and shown that in-depth empirical studies are needed to characterize them at a micro level (Ethiraj et al., 2005). Researchers also emphasize the importance of making the research methodology slice vertically through the organization, to capture data and perspectives from different levels and perspectives (Leonard-Barton, 1995); an approach similar to the survey process recommended for core competence identification (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Javidan, 1998; Eden and Ackermann, 2000).Data collection\nThe case: The Transfer Company\nThe proposed model: The findings from the empirical case suggest refinement of existing characteristics and core competence links. Existing competence theory focuses merely on development characteristics: functional competencies belonging to markets and technologies, and integrative competencies. Since, almost all empirical competencies in the case company could be categorized as functional and integrative competencies, there was a clear need for refinement. Adaptation is proposed as a new characteristic; it explains how it is possible to initiate, maintain, and develop customer loyalty. A second proposed new characteristic is transfer, by which is meant internal transfer of competencies, for instance between divisions. The capability concept is linked to the core competence concept by support from systems and routines, a linkage which was also emphasized by the empirical case. The assumed capability characteristic of systems and routines was insufficient to describe their support for the empirical core competence. A capacity characteristic is therefore proposed, along with a communication characteristic. The former refines the capability concept by adding accuracy; the latter refines the same by adding an active direction for the support. Finally, it was not possible to refine the resource concept in itself; all we were able to add was the proposed intermittent link to core competence.The empirical core competence\nConclusions: This study was conducted in a single case; a Scandinavian company especially well suited for the investigation of core competence matters due to its diverse product and market mix, which originates from several significantly different core competencies. The study contributes to resource-based and core competence-based theory by outlining a core competence model and proposing specific and significant characteristics of competence, capability, and resource concepts which have significance both for research matters, in refining current characteristics and links, and for practical matters.We propose that competence is linked to the core competence concept not only theoretically, but also empirically. It was not necessary to separate competencies into first-order and second-order characteristics; competencies in the empirical case were both the former and the latter. Competence adaptation and competence transfer are therefore proposed as supplementary characteristics. We also suggest that capability is theoretically and empirically linked to the core competence concept. In accordance with the discussion, we propose a refinement to the capability concept: its characteristic involves routines/systems and capacity in combination. Further, a communicated characteristic, which can initiate organizational change, should also be included. Resources are of importance, via the value process, to a core competence, both in theoretical and empirical regards. The link, however, is merely of intermittent character.\nImplications and further research: The findings in this paper can help managers more fully understand the concept of core competence. The empirical core competence exemplifies the importance of knowing the characteristics of competencies, since they encapsulate the power of organizational development. Transfer competencies have the potential to leverage market or technology competencies into new contexts. Adaptation competencies are of critical concern for organizations having creation of customer loyalty as catalysts, but also for those having difficulties achieving differentiation in products and markets. Managers also need to pay attention to the influences of capabilities: capabilities not only support organizational processes (if up-to-date), but can also initiate change. The most critical issue concerning resources is not to neglect their importance to the value process.The findings from this paper highlight primarily the importance of competencies, but also that of capabilities. In the case company, it was apparent that adaptation competence boosted some competence development, such as technology, but it also seemed to hinder others, such as competence transfer. Thus, we lack understanding of how the different characteristics of a competence can influence organizational processes: to what extent do competencies hinder or reinforce organizational development? Furthermore, a capability's support notion is proposed as having a more active conception: the initiation of change. Thus, there is a need for more research on how the characteristics influence core competencies: to what extent can capabilities be used to manage core competencies?Our findings would preferably be enhanced using quantitative methods of analysis, with large-sample cross-industry studies, an approach that will further test and refine the characteristics of the concepts. Development of hypotheses is a related approach that will refine the categories further. Furthermore, this study focused on one core competence only; future studies need to incorporate several core competencies in order to study how the links of the associated concepts vary. It was not possible to refine the characteristics of resource, and this concept therefore needs attention in future research.This study has empirical limitations, since the only identifiable phenomena of the associated concepts that were detected as data were those of strategic concern, which implies that redundant, tacit, latent, and operational phenomena were ignored. Future studies would preferably fill in this shortage by using a different empirical approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To outline a core competence model by exploring links between core competence and the associated concepts of competencies, capabilities, and resources, and by proposing refinements to the characteristics of these concepts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case study based primarily on personal interviews.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that competencies, capabilities, and resources are all linked to core-competencies; the first two continuously, and the third intermittently; motivate refinement of the competence concept, by adding adaptation competence as governing customer loyalty, and transfer competence as managing transcendental integration; and motivate refinement of the capability concept, by adding capacity as a quality characteristic, and communication as a characteristic that can actively initiate organizational change.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper outlines a core competence model and propose refinements of the characteristics and links of the concepts, contributing to both core competence theory and resource-based theory.\nPractical implications: - This work informs managers of the details of the core competence concept, of particular interest to managers with a customer-focused standpoint. An empirical core competence exemplifies the importance of knowing the characteristics of competencies, since they encapsulate the power of organizational development. Managers also need to pay attention to the influences of capabilities, since they not only support organizational processes (if up-to-date), but also initiate change.\nOriginality/value: - The development and specification of the core competence concept.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sharing information now vs later: The effect of temporal contiguity cue and power on consumer response toward online reviews	[ "Social media marketing", "Online reviews", "Personal sense of power", "Review trustworthiness", "Temporal contiguity cue" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the growth of the sharing economy, understanding consumers' information sharing behaviors on social media websites has become an increasingly important topic for the contemporary hospitality industry (Economist, 2013; Leung et al., 2013). In recent years, advancements in information technologies reshaped how consumers share information about their hospitality consumption experiences on social media websites (Law et al., 2014, 2004). Instead of waiting for weeks or even months after their hospitality consumption experience, consumers can now post reviews during their consumption experience. Moreover, several hospitality and tourism firms have begun to encourage on-site review posting behaviors. For example, some hotels and restaurants put up signs at check-in encounters to generate on-site review postings.\n2. Theoretical background: The current section of theoretical background first reviews previous research examining the impact of online reviews on consumer behavior (Section 2.1). Next, synthesized review of literature on the effect of temporal contiguity cue on human perceptions, in particular the literature on consumer perceptions, is outlined (Section 2.2). Following an overview of research on consumers' personal sense of power (Section 2.3), the interaction effect of temporal contiguity cue and consumers' personal sense of power is proposed (Section 2.4). Last but not least, the psychological mechanism that drives the interaction effect is explained (Section 2.5).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Design\n4. Results: Descriptive statistics of the major variables such as personal sense of power, purchase intention and review's perceived trustworthiness are summarized in Table I.\n5. Theoretical contributions: Social media is becoming an increasingly important ground for theoretical consumer research in hospitality and tourism. Different from other marketing channels, social media platforms heavily rely on consumer participation in the processes of content generation and information sharing (Leung et al., 2013). The constant advancement of smartphone technology further reshapes the way consumers share information (Gretzel et al., 2015). Combined, scholarly research is urgently needed to bring new insights on customer-to-customer influence processes in online information sharing (Leung et al., 2013). Joining such a mega trend of social media research in the contemporary hospitality literature, the current study examines a new phenomenon of consumer information sharing on social media websites: posting reviews during rather than after a travel experience. Although consumers are more and more likely to share information online during (vs after) a travel experience, it is not necessarily beneficial for hospitality firms. Arising from such a background, an important question that must be answered is: will online reviews posted during (vs after) a travel experience lead to higher levels of consumers' purchase intentions? Addressing this timely topic, the current research examines how the presence (vs absence) of temporal contiguity cue in a review changes consumers' purchase intentions toward the reviewed business. Although highly relevant in the contemporary social media environment, the factors of linguistic cues and temporal information are largely ignored in the extant body of hospitality marketing literature. As such, the current research makes important contributions that advance the theoretical knowledge of online review management and customer-to-customer influence processes in the social media era.\n6. Managerial implications: The findings of this study also provide important implications for practitioners in the contemporary hospitality industry. In the contemporary global hospitality industry, social media is becoming an increasingly important information source (Chung and Koo, 2015). Online reviews posted on such social media websites can greatly influence consumers' buying behavior (Leung et al., 2013). Thus, managing online reputation, that is, managing what consumers post and the reviews other customers are exposed to, becomes the key for the survival of many hospitality businesses. The results of this research identify new managerial focus for firms' online marketing practices, namely, the timing of consumers' review posting and the inclusion of temporal contiguity cue in reviews.\n7. Limitations and future research: There are limitations and opportunities for future research to be acknowledged for the current research. Although temporal contiguity cue may assume numerous forms, the current research follows previous studies and examines only the explicit and linguistic forms of temporal contiguity cues (e.g. \"We just checked-in and the resort is great!\"). Hence, this question should be answered: Do temporal contiguity cues in other forms (e.g. implicitly conveyed by date of consumption and date of review posting) generate similar effects? Future research may assess this possibility. Second, the current research focuses on a generic type of hospitality business without differentiating the business type. Hospitality consumptions are significantly different in terms of temporal duration. Although certain consumptions last over two weeks (e.g. cruise trip), other consumptions may last for only several hours (e.g. restaurant dining experience). Future research could identify whether the temporal duration of hospitality consumption further complicates the effect of temporal contiguity cue. Finally, the current study did not assess the influence of the consumer-reviewer relationship. The temporal contiguity effect could be considerably stronger when the consumer and reviewer share more (vs less) similarity. This could be another potential topic for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to address a novel information sharing phenomenon among many hospitality consumers, that is, sharing information during, rather than weeks after, a hospitality consumption experience. Specifically, this study tests if including a temporal contiguity cue in a review can significantly enhance the purchase intention of other consumers toward the reviewed business.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2 (personal sense of power) x 2 (temporal contiguity cue: manipulated to be absent vs present) quasi-experiment was conducted in this research. Floodlight analysis with the Johnson-Neyman technique was used to test the interaction effect. Hayes' PROCESS procedure was used to test the mediation effects.\nFindings: The study found that, for powerless consumers, temporal contiguity cue can effectively enhance the perceived trustworthiness of the review and purchase intention toward the reviewed business. Conversely, for powerful consumers, temporal contiguity cue can significantly reduce the perceived trustworthiness of the review and purchase intention toward the business. Mediation test further revealed evidence for the underlying psychological mechanism for these effects.\nOriginality/value: Revealing the mixed effects of a novel factor, temporal contiguity cue, on consumer responses toward online hospitality reviews, the current research contributes to the expanding stream of theoretical and managerial knowledge on online review management in social media platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A viewpoint from the trenches	[ "Innovation", "Transition", "Viewpoint", "Evolution", "Observation", "Case study method", "First-hand account" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although unique in a sense, peer-reviewed academic journals, just like any other product or service, are not immune to failure; thus, much care and thoughts must be put into positioning and managing them to survive in a constantly changing and competitive environment. Good academic journals that publish peer-reviewed articles (for free of charge to the authors) must strategize to attract high-quality manuscripts that will increase their impact, which in turn will help to attract more high quality manuscripts. What steps has Journal of Services Marketing (JSM) taken to position itself and ensure its success? This viewpoint is an attempt to answer this question.\nLiterature review: The social sciences and marketing, for that matter, have benefitted from a long tradition of first-hand knowledge acquired through researchers being embedded in the environments or situations that they study (Atkinson and Hammersley, 1994; Herbert, 2000; Moeran, 2007). Studies of social movements such as \"Occupy Wall Street,\" the \"Dissent Network!\" and NTAC (Never Trust a Cop) have been beneficiaries of accounts from participant observers (McCurdy and Uldam, 2014) who have educated both scholars and other interested parties on what makes these movements \"tick.\" However, the objectivity of participant observers has long been a source of tension.\nEvolutions in marketing: There is unanimity among those who have had the benefit studying, teaching or observing marketing, both as a business activity and as an academic discipline, that it has evolved rather significantly over the years. This evolution comprised both the broadening of the marketing concept and the boundaries of marketing (Kotler and Levy, 1969; Kotler, 1972). While these changes were seen in some circles as progress, others saw it as marketing's identity crisis (Bartels, 1974) (for a concise history of marketing evolution, see El-Ansary et al., 2018).\nMethodology: My viewpoint draws on observations through my association with the Journal. This viewpoint has been supplemented by limited qualitative data analysis (limited content analysis), which consists of examining the keywords and reading the abstract to each published article in JSM in the past 25 years (1992-2018). Because I wanted to document the shifts/changes as they unfolded, I conducted the analyses working backwards and started with 1992. These analyses were conducted to determine the themes/issues covered by the Journal during the period and to note changes/shifts in themes/issues, if any. In doing these, I also documented the stylistic changes that have occurred in the Journal during the period. While an article has several keywords, reading the abstract allowed me to determine the overarching theme of the article. I read the entire article, where reading the abstract together with the keyword was not sufficient to determine the overarching theme of the article.\nResults: I noted that a total of approximately 1,100 articles, minus editorials, were published during the period under review (1,077 articles by hand count). There have been 12 Special Issues of the Journal during this period (Table I).\nPhase 3 - the future: The future (in the classification scheme that I used) is 2019 and beyond. So, the question now is what does the future hold for JSM? If the past is any indication of the future, then one can say that the future is bright for the Journal. It has changed over the years to reflect either changes in the marketing ecosystem or changes in its managerial philosophy, and this willingness/commitment to change bodes well for the future.\nLimitations: While this viewpoint is intended to be unbiased, by its very nature, viewpoints contain some implicit biases. Furthermore, because the delineation of the Phases is arbitrary, the use of other timelines will yield different results. Also, because the author used his subjective assessment to classify the published articles, a further study that relies on more than one individual to classify the articles will be an improvement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present the author's viewpoint on the developments in the Journal of Services Marketing (JSM) during the past 25 years of his association with the Journal. The paper documents the evolution in the Journal, highlights significant changes and makes some prognostications for the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper relies on the first-hand account of the author, which is supplemented by limited qualitative data analysis that consists of analyzing keywords and the abstract of articles published in JSM during the past 25 years.\nFindings: The first-hand account shows that JSM has undergone changes that reflect changes that have taken place in the field of marketing. The issues/topics of manuscripts submitted and published in the Journal have become interdisciplinary and so are the analytical techniques. This expanding scope of the Journal positions it well for the future in which collaborative research will be more pervasive in the academy.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a first-hand account with limited data analysis and therefore could suffer from the writer's biases even though they might be unintended.\nPractical implications: This paper documents the expanding scope of the Journal that may have been the result of explicit steps taken to make the Journal more successful in the future.\nOriginality/value: As a first-hand account, this study is original.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ten commandments of Lean Six Sigma: a practitioners' perspective	[ "Six Sigma", "Lean", "Continuous improvement", "Lean Six Sigma", "Process excellence", "Ten commandments" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Whilst a number of continuous improvement methodologies exist in the literature, the most renowned as successful are Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, which could meet the evolving organisational needs through continuous process improvements. The synergies of Lean and Six Sigma have been highlighted by multiple researchers in the past 15 years or so. As an integrated methodology, Lean Six Sigma (LSS) includes the speediness of Lean through smooth flow of processes and robustness of Six Sigma through a disciplined and systematic approach to problem solving. Over the past 15 years, LSS is implemented worldwide in a variety of processes starting from manufacturing, engineering to service organisations like healthcare, financial services to public sector such as police force, higher education, etc. Whilst the success stories speak for themselves, at the same time there were critics who have highlighted the failure of LSS due to various reasons (Albliwi et al., 2014; McLean et al., 2017). As more and more organisations are joining the journey of LSS, the failure of this initiative is also surfacing from various organisations. Though there are significant research evidence available on critical success and failure factors of LSS implementation in organisations, these aspects have been merely restricted to the tactical side of LSS. There is lack of literature in linking the strategic perspectives of management principles to LSS implementations. Though organisations initially realized LSS as an effective tool kit with a collection of problem solving tools for process improvements, later the evolution of understanding clarified LSS as an organisation strategy and a leadership gizmo for imbibing the quality culture in organisations. In this paper, the authors present Ten Commandments of LSS which need to be essentially considered for a successful LSS implementation and deployment in organisations.\n2. Ten commandments of Lean Six Sigma: 2.1 Alignment of Lean Six Sigma with organisational strategy\n3. Conclusion: Although a plethora of articles on LSS have been published in a wide variety of sources, the authors have observed that there are no general guidelines provided yet to organisations to take into consideration for implementing and sustaining this powerful continuous improvement strategy. This paper presents Ten Commandments of LSS from the perspective of practitioners, researchers and academics who have been involved in the training, teaching, research and consultancy on various topics of quality and continuous improvement such as Lean, Six Sigma and LSS. These commandments can serve as a practical guide for senior managers and executives for achieving operational and service excellence in various manufacturing, service and public sector organisations despite of their size. One of the major limitations of the article is that the views expressed are based on four practitioners and this limitation can be addressed by pursuing a global study to critically evaluate these commandments using various leading academics and practitioners of Lean and Six Sigma topics.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide lean and six sigma professionals and researchers of tomorrow with Ten Commandments of Lean Six Sigma (LSS).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The Ten Commandments of LSS are based on several years' experience of four authors who act as researchers, LSS Master Black Belts, consultants, practitioners and trainers on various topics of Lean, Six Sigma and general quality management and continuous improvement.\nFindings: The Ten Commandments in our opinion include: alignment of LSS initiative with organisational strategy, LSS project selection and prioritisation, selection of top talent for the project execution, leadership for LSS, effective training and design of appropriate curriculum for different LSS roles, development of reward and recognition system, LSS sustainability, Linking LSS with Organisational Learning and Innovation, Linking LSS with Environmental Management System Standards and finally LSS and Big Data.\nResearch limitations/implications: The key features outlined in this paper are based on the practitioners of LSS. The authors of this article are planning to pursue a global study to critically evaluate these commandments by various practitioners of LSS.\nOriginality/value: The senior managers and executives of various businesses can use these commandments of LSS as a guide to achieve and sustain competitive advantage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Foresight for E-paper development in Taiwan	[ "Stakeholders", "Delphi", "E-paper", "Flexible display", "STEEP" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Flexible display is an evolution of a glass-based flat panel display or it can be termed the next generation of the display industry that is using plastic-based substrate. A flexible display offers potential advantages because it is thin, light, rollable, bendable, unbreakable; features low power consumption; requires no backlight; and is less harmful to the human eye compared to a traditional glass-based display. Unlike a flat panel display, flexible display can be produced by a rapid roll-to-toll manufacturing process at low production cost that removes limitations on length, making it ideal for large-scale display production. Flexible display is expected to herald a prosperous future for the traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) industry. Additionally, e-books (e-paper) can reduce the weight of students' hand/back carriers and enhance the academic e-environment.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Benefits of e-paper\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research process\n4. Results: 4.1 Delphi-STEEP analysis\n5. Conclusion and suggestions: 5.1 Key success factors\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to analyse the impact of e-paper on many existing industries including paper, publishing, book distribution, display, handheld device manufacturers and content service providers. Flexible display has been studied by many institutes, firms and market research companies. Some believe that e-paper is an exceptional application for flexible display, and the need for flexible display development for handheld devices and cloud-based e-book content is indisputable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses the Delphi technique and STEEP (Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political aspects) with a panel to analyse a business model and the opportunity for the development of e-paper in Taiwan up to the year 2020.\nFindings: The study concludes that e-paper content and customised digital services are an essential part of e-paper development, while hardware and cloud data are no more than a mechanism to show, compute and store data. Thus, whether the screen of a handheld device is flexible may not be of importance. Although e-paper will affect the display industry, it will not substitute for handheld devices and traditional bookstores.\nOriginality/value: This research can be used as a reference for government, academics, industry and international investors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Market policy and destructive network effects	[ "Interaction", "Policy", "Networks", "Resources", "Seafood", "Relationship development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Networks and industrial policy: Policy makers have always sought to intervene in the business landscape. A discussion of industrial policy is also a discussion of the role of the \"state\" vs the role of the \"market\". This balance has shifted throughout history: from Adam Smith's \"invisible hand\" where the market is seen as ensuring a stability between supply and demand and the state being a facilitator more than an actor in the economic exchange, to Keynesian economics in the post-war era where the state becomes an active participant in terms of direct ownership, market regulations and industrial policy making. This historical development is also reflected in different theoretical perspectives on how the economic exchange should be organised. In the first industrial revolution, market exchange advocated by classical and neo-classical economists was the predominant logic. In the second industrial revolution, large integrated hierarches benefitting from economies of scale as identified by Chandler (1977) became the dominant economic perspective. With the third industrial revolution (Rifkind, 2011) from the 1970s onwards, hybrid or network-like organisations and industrial collaboration came into focus. Webster (1992) sees such hybrid organisations at somewhere between \"markets\" on the one side, and \"hierarchies\" on the other side. In this typology of organisations, business actors co-operating in close relationships are benefiting from the stability and interdependence that is commonly associated with hierarchical structures, whereas they also have independence associated with the market perspective. With the new focus on hybrid organisations came new theories about how industrial interfaces should be organised: transaction cost economics theory (Williamson, 1975, 1981), principal-agent theory (Laffont and Martimort, 2002), economic cluster theory (Porter, 1998), marketing channels and supply chain management theory (Christopher, 1992; Stern and Reve, 1980) and industrial network theory (Hakansson and Snehota, 1995; Hakansson et al., 2009) all represent different theoretical perspectives on organising customer-supplier relationships.\n2. Salmon farming and mackerel trading: two types of industrial policies: Seafood is a natural resource of great national economic importance. For Norway, seafood is the second largest export industry, oil and gas exports being number one (Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, 2012). It is therefore given that policy makers seek to exert some control over how resources related to this vital industry are developed and exchanged. This is also the case for the salmon farming industry and the pelagic industry. Yet, there are different perspectives concerning the ways in which these two industries are organised. In the salmon industry, there is regulation on the production side in terms of operating licenses. A similar logic is found in the organising of the Norwegian oil and gas industry, where operating licenses are given to a number of oil exploration and production companies, in annual rounds. Traditionally, salmon fishing up-rivers was seen as an expensive leisure activity and only small numbers of fish were caught and traded for commercial purposes. However, in the 1970s, industrial entrepreneurs started experimenting with farmed salmon. The combination of a product with a high-nutritional content, a high-end image and production locations in sheltered fjords along Norway's long coast-line, proved to be an industrial success. This development was strongly aided by the government giving licenses to a growing number of salmon farming companies in an attempt to aid the development of this industry. Today, the salmon farming has become a mature industry and the Norwegian salmon producers are increasingly involved in farming activities abroad, such as in Chile, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand.\n3. Policy and interaction in the seafood industry: In political science, we come across the term \"quango\" (quasi autonomous non-governmental organisation). First introduced in the UK in the 1960s, it is used to describe a certain type of non-governmental organisations (Deacon and Monk, 2001). Quangos are often publicly funded and undertake public policies (van Thiel, 2004), and are introduced to carry out certain tasks such as service delivery, licensing, policy advising, regulatory and policy elements (Massey, 1997) as well as represent the interests of certain groups (Deacon and Monk, 2001). They have access to significant resources (financial, capabilities and information) and have important roles to play (Delmas and Terlaak, 2002). One universal characteristic of quangos are that they are designed to influence a particular industry (Cantillon, 2010). The NSS and the pelagic auction system has several of these characteristics. NSS is an organisation which has been given certain rights by the authorities. However, it is a cooperative, set up by the fishermen, not by the politicians. It is designed to facilitate the exchange of fish between sellers and buyers, but it also protects the interests of the sellers in particular. Thus it represents both the underlying free market logic, but it is additionally a political entity helped to infiltrate the markets, resembling what Pliatzky (1992) refers to as political attempts to intervene in the market economy, or a domesticated market in terms of Arndt (1979). Overall, it reflects microeconomic principles suggesting that firms operating in a free market can be helped, whether directly by law or indirectly by policies and regulations.\n4. An analytical device: the actors, resources and activities (ARA) model: Central to the IMP approach to business marketing is the interaction between the ARA models. In this perspective, interaction in business relationships can be defined as the degree to which actors develop and share resources, perform joint activities and build mutual actor bonds (Hakansson et al., 2009; Hakansson and Snehota, 1995). The economic logic behind interaction here is that actors will benefit mutually by sharing and combining resources and activities across firm boundaries, instead of regarding them as internal matters (Dubois, 1998; Hakansson and Waluszewski, 2002). Resources will be more valuable as they are combined with resources of other actors and activities are performed more efficiently when adapted to the activities of other actors (Gadde, 2004; Hakansson and Waluszewski, 2002; Jahre et al., 2006). For this to take place there have to prevail strong actor bonds such as trust, mutual understanding, learning and a cooperative atmosphere. This requires some degree of stability and predictability in the connected relationships because mutual investment in resources and activities needs protection and the benefits from increased interaction is also a question of time and long-term commitment and adaptation (Brennan et al., 2003). Additionally, for interaction to develop, there must be some degree of shared understanding between the actors about how resources should be utilised and how activities should be performed across different relationships (Abrahamsen et al., 2011). With limited interaction, the actors have to take it upon themselves to coordinate activities and develop resources, whereas with increased interaction there is a coordination of resource development and activity performance at the network level.\n5. Methodology and research design: 5.1. Methodological considerations\n6. Case study and analysis of results: In the reporting of the case study, we first look at the how the resources (mackerel and salmon) are made available to the actors in these two networks, and how these resources are used by Japanese consumers. We then describe how the relationships within these two boundaries are organised. Here we give an overview of the distribution network and the roles of the various actors involved. We then present a more detailed analysis of key interaction characteristics. This description is organised around the following themes that became apparent when analysing our data: product quality and control; information and traceability; organisation of purchases; number of actors involved; and trust and commitment. Towards the end of the section, we use the ARA model to make a cross-case comparison of the main interaction characteristics.\n7. Implications for policy: The research question in this paper concerns how different policy perspectives or logics regarding industry organising affect network interaction, with particular focus on how the availability of resources is organised. If we look at Table III summing up the interaction characteristics in these two cases, there are clear differences in the way the actors interact. An interesting question is then to what extent these differences can be attributed to the different conditions by which the key resource - fish - is made available? Care should be taken when comparing these results as our case study analyses two different seafood industries at different points in time. Nevertheless, the role of governmental policies is central in both cases, and our study suggests that policy shapes the actors' abilities to interact.\n8. Conclusion: In this paper, we have studied how different policy perspectives or logics regarding industry organising affect network interaction. Our results indicate that these effects are distinct and important. In one of the cases, Norwegian industrial policy implies interventions and restrictions. Here, policy entails the use of an auction system, which in turn creates a market-type situation prohibiting the development of business relationships. This results in uncertainties about the availability of resources for the Norwegian producers, which in turn affects their ability to supply their Japanese buyers. The interaction is thereby directed towards solving the volume (quantitative) problem in an attempt to reduce the uncertainty created by the unstable and restricted resource supply. In the second case, there are less restrictions in developing relationships for the important raw material. Here the interaction with the Japanese customers is directed towards the customers' problems in terms of, for example, utilising qualitative dimensions of the raw material because resource availability is stable and the actors can broaden their scope of interaction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse how different policy perspectives or logics regarding industry organising affect network interaction, with particular focus on how the availability of resources is organised.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine this, the authors compare two cases from the Norwegian seafood industry: in the pelagic industry, the main resource (mackerel) is caught at sea by fishing vessels and trade is restricted by an auction system, whereas in the salmon industry, the main resource (farmed salmon) is an industrial product produced at fish farms and there are no such restrictions.\nFindings: The results indicate that conditions under which resources are available to a network have strong effects on connected relationships: in the pelagic industry, interaction in the network becomes supplier-directed in an attempt to reduce the uncertainty created by unstable and restricted availability of resources, whereas in the salmon industry the interaction becomes customer directed as resource availability is stable and predictable. Here the actors can broaden the scope of interaction and they can direct their efforts to solve their customers' problems, whereas this is difficult in the pelagic industry. The authors conclude that policy considerations play a major role in these effects. If the resource (fish) is seen as a commodity and the interaction is seen as a market mechanism, the policies designed to facilitate the exchange of resources will be beneficial for the actors directly involved, but may have unintended negative consequences for indirect relationships.\nOriginality/value: For policy makers this implies that whenever developing an industrial policy there are strong reasons to look beyond the single transaction in order to create policies that are effective and/or beneficial for all involved and connected parties.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The mediating role of overall fairness perception: a structural equation modelling assessment	[ "Distributive justice", "Procedural justice", "Mediating effect", "Interactional justice", "Overall fairness perception" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the myriad of benefits pertaining to organisations and individuals, organisational justice has received significant research attention since 1990s (see Cowherd and Levine, 1992; George and Wallio, 2017; Ohana and Meyer, 2016; Suliman and Al Kathairi, 2012). It enhances employees' trust towards their supervisor and their commitment towards their organisations, it improves employees' performance, increases employees' citizenship behaviour, and boost employees' and customers' satisfaction (Cropanzano et al., 2011; Elamin and Tlaiss, 2015; Folger and Cropanzano, 1998). It is argued that individuals who experience unfair situations are likely to leave their workplace, tend to be less committed and are inclined to demonstrate counterproductive behaviour that can harm the whole organisation and its citizens (Gupta and Kumar, 2012; Huong et al., 2016; Nurse and Devonish, 2006). Therefore, it is crucial to understand how employees form their perception of justice as a key factor to understand their behaviour inside an organisation (Ambrose and Schminke, 2009; Patel et al., 2012). According to Greenberg and Colquitt (2005), organisational justice is employees' perception of fairness at the workplace. More specifically, it concerns employees' perception of fair treatment in relation to their jobs and the extent to which their awareness influences work related variables (Moorman, 1991).\n2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development: 2.1 Fairness heuristic theory\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection procedure and sample\n4. Findings: Partial least squares path modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the hypothetical model developed in this study (Figure 1). Urbach and Ahlemann (2010) argued that PLS-SEM is useful for prediction, and is comparatively less sensitive to the multivariate assumption. Moreover, it can handle both reflective and formative models (Hair et al., 2014). Additionally, PLS-SEM helps to maximise the explained variance in an exogenous construct (Hair et al., 2017). Additionally, PLS-SEM is a better means for exploratory approach (Chin, 2000; Mohammad et al., 2016). These characteristics of PLS-SEM are in line with the objectives of this study, thus SmartPLS 3.2 (Ringle et al., 2015) was used to analyse the data. Following the recommendations of Anderson and Gerbing (1988) two-stage analytical procedures were implemented. Initially, the measurement model was evaluated in terms of its validity and reliability, followed by an evaluation of the structural model relationships (Hair et al., 2014). Bootstrapping procedures with 5,000 resamples was applied to examine the significance of the loadings and path coefficient (Hair et al., 2014) (Figure 2).\n5. Discussion: The main concern of this study is to contribute to organisational justice literature in a non-Western culture, more particularly in the Malaysian context. Since Malaysia is comprised of three different races, namely, Malay, Chinese and Indians, it serves as a good platform to study non-Western culture. To accomplish this objective, the contribution of various type of justice in forming OFP is examined. Moreover, the mediating role of OFP in relation to workplace outcome in term of PSY and OCB was tested. Additionally, the predictive ability of OFP was also verified. Results from PLS-SEM analysis reveal that DJ contributes more in explaining the variance in OFP compared to PJ and IJ, thus H1 is accepted. This result is in line with past studies that found similar result in Asian culture like Chain and Korea (Kim and Leung, 2007). Possible explanation for this result can be ascribed to the power distance framework. Particularly, in Malaysian culture individuals tend to be more tolerant for unfair treatment from organisation due to the hierarchical structure that clearly distinguishes between individuals based on their position on the hierarchy. Accordingly, individuals' expectation in term of respectful treatment and fair practices from authorities is less, but high in term of equal distribution of outcomes.\n6. Theoretical contribution and practical implication: This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by developing comparatively new relationships; particularly, the mediating role of overall fairness between three types of justice and workplace outcomes; and the predictive ability of overall fairness on individuals' attitudes (psychological ownership) and behaviour (citizenship behaviour). Additionally, this study reveals that all type of justice contributes significantly and positively in forming OFP, nevertheless, DJ weight more heavily in forming overall fairness among Malaysians due to cultural values embedded in the collectivism and power distance models. Most importantly, this study has successfully supported its hypothetical model by employing theories that have been developed in Western cultures, i.e., fairness heuristic theory and norm of reciprocity. Thus, confirmed the usability of these theories in non-Western context.\n7. Conclusion, limitation and future study direction: A theoretical model has been developed based on fairness heuristic theory and tested empirically using structural equation modelling partial lease squares approach. The output of this research provides empirical support for all hypotheses. Although this study has its own strength, it is not free from some limitations. However, these limitations can be the direction for future studies. This study targeted only financial organisations in Malaysia. Future studies can replicate this study in different contexts and across different countries. This is likely to enhance the generalisability of the findings. Furthermore, the study collected data from respondents at the same time, which can raise questions about the cause-effect relationship between the variables. Future studies can opt for a longitudinal study to identify the direction of causality. Additionally, future studies can collect data from multiple sources such as for independent variables data can be obtained from employees and for dependent variables data can be obtained from their corresponding supervisor.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Most of the past studies related to organisational justice focussed on different types of justice, such as procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice either separately or collectively. Still, further investigation on the overall concept of fairness is required to extend theoretical generalisability. Moreover, researchers argued that overall fairness rather than a specific type represents more concrete situation about employees' perception of fairness within an organisation. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of overall fairness perception (OFP) in relation to workplace outcome as well as its predictive ability on employees' attitude and behaviour in term of psychological ownership and citizenship behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of financial institutions in Malaysia, which yielded 150 completed usable responses. Smart PLS (version 3) software and SPSS were utilised in order to analyse the data.\nFindings: The results revealed that overall fairness plays a crucial role as a mediator as well as a predictor. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.\nPractical implications: This study provides useful insights for the mangers of financial institutions. It also suggests strategies about how to manage justice and workplace outcomes at workplace.\nOriginality/value: This paper is among the pioneers to address the mediating role of OFP in relations to workplace attitude and behaviour in non-western context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What a difference a writing centre makes: a small scale study	[ "Skills", "Written communications", "Students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Writing centres are increasingly a feature of higher education (HE) support in the UK to help address the issue that \"large numbers of contemporary British undergraduates lack the basic ability to express themselves in writing\" (Murray and Kirton, 2006, p. 7). Writing centres are usually centrally rather than departmentally located and provide tuition and support for academic writing to all undergraduate and postgraduate students. The concerns coming from authors such as Murray and Kirton (2006) have placed a focus on academic writing as a fundamental skill set. It is arguable that such learning development/writing centres have become more important with the emergence of the \"ME generation\". Twenge (2009) suggests that the \"ME generation\" (particularly those born since 1980) are a group \"increasingly optimistic about how they will perform in the future\" but that the optimism and self-confidence do not automatically result in success. She also cautions that the overconfidence of the ME generation can lead to greater failure. Therefore, centres that provide opportunities for students to develop their academic skills, and thereby maximise their potential, are increasingly valuable when student confidence in their own skills is not matched by their performance on their courses.In HE, good academic writing skills are regarded as indispensable from the outset. Academic writing is:[...] written for a specific audience and attempts to put forward a well balanced view about the topic under investigation. It constantly refers to published work (with appropriate referencing), theory and results (White, 2000, p. 133).This broad, non-discipline specific description highlights the universal importance of academic writing as the central means of communication for all subjects and disciplines (LearnHigher, 2009). Being able to clearly articulate one's thoughts and demonstrate clear comprehension of concepts whilst meeting the objectives of a piece throughout, is an essential skill (Torrance et al., 1999), and one that is expected by graduate employers (Harvey et al., 1997 cited in Knight and Yorke, 2003, p. 6). The \"ability to express ideas in writing appropriately and accurately\" is listed as one of the 28 competencies in the generic competency category in the IRS Employment Review IRS (2003). Employability runs deeper than accumulating competencies and in reconceptualising it Knight and Yorke (2003, p. 8) note that:It could be objected that higher education is primarily about developing advanced understandings of worthwhile subject matter, not about employability. However, learning, teaching, assessment and curriculum experts regularly say that good subject matter understanding comes from the active construction of meanings [...]Writing can be thought of as an integral part of the process of active meaning-making and it is in this constructivist sense that we suggest that writing helps to underpin graduate employability. As well as being an essential communication skill, it is widely considered that having good subject-specific academic writing skill facilitates students' intellectual growth and development in addition to enabling assessment. When students become more able in academic writing, they are also more able to read, absorb, comment and critically evaluate other literature in the field. This again supports students' academic development and, from their contribution to it, the academic development of their field. However, the importance of good academic writing reaches beyond academia. Brauer (2003) claims that one's approach to academic writing has an impact on career development and life chances supporting the case that academic writing is central to graduate employability, and to forming a fundamental and transferable skill set (Avery and Bryan, 2001).Despite the weight attached to academic writing, it appears that mastery of it is at an insufficient level in many institutions. This may be exacerbated by five central issues. First, the changing nature of HE is concurrent with a rise in student numbers in the HE sector. Between 1987 and 1992, the number of students attending HE grew by 100 per cent (LearnHigher, 2009). Student populations are now more diverse than before, meaning that students now arrive at university with a much wider range of speech and language abilities (Russell, 2003). This may include mature students, students from non-traditional backgrounds, and overseas students. Whilst the student population is increasingly diverse, the second issue demonstrates a contradictory trend. The job market is becoming more specialised and graduate employers are increasingly expecting specialised skills particularly in academic writing (Ashton, 2007; Russell, 2003; Wason, 1980). Third, little direct tuition and guidance in academic writing appears to be offered to students throughout their period at university. It may be that universities expect that students will either have developed the necessary skills through school or can be relied upon to simply absorb information on academic writing throughout the course of their education (Russell, 2003). Fourth, many students find writing difficult and hence may postpone it to the last minute, not helped by the lack of tuition in academic writing. The process of writing can take time to set in motion and can be fraught with problems of grammar and structure. On completion, many feel they have failed to achieve the quality of writing that they pictured at the beginning of the task (Wason, 1980). Finally, due to the rise in student numbers, staff and learning resources are increasingly under pressure and overloaded. It seems that these five issues are preventing appropriate teaching provision for academic writing in HE. They highlight the need for a strategic intervention, the kind of intervention that writing centres may be able to provide.Writing centres offer access to support in academic writing, often located within learning development or study skills centres, and they also facilitate access to other support programmes, for example in maths and statistics. Writing centres provide individual consultations led by peer tutors identified as having an advanced skill in academic writing (Brauer, 2003). As such, writing centres become increasingly established within UK university campuses, examining their effectiveness through evaluation processes is becoming more and more important (North, 1984, cited in Bell, 2000, p. 8).Writing centres need evidence of their efficacy for several reasons. They should be able to enhance the student learning experience, promote themselves in order to encourage receipt of funding and provide evidence to those who dispute their value (North, 1984, as cited in Bell, 2000, p. 8; Bell, 2000). Evaluation refers to \"[...] the systematic collection and interpretation of evidence, leading [...] to a judgment of value [...]\" (Beeby, 1977, cited in Wolf, 1990, p. 8). Writing centres often fall short on evaluations due to both a lack of resources and range of research designs. Commonly used methods such as surveys tend to be insufficient in their rigour and meaning to draw reliable and valid conclusions (Bell, 2000).Several types of evaluation exist, for example Bell (2000) describes consumer-, adversary-, management-, naturalistic-, participant- and objective-orientated evaluation (Bell, 2000). Although some are deemed more suitable than others even this extensive range does not extract the type of information that writing centres need and need to convey. Given the limited research resources at their disposal, Bell (2000, p. 16) suggests that writing centres should \"conduct a series of carefully limited evaluations which, pieced together after a few years, create a fairly comprehensive picture\". These are known as small-scale evaluations and is what the research described here has attempted. Small-scale evaluations are characterised by several elements. They concentrate on one primary feature of the writing centre program in such a way that easily allows future replication especially in terms of the centres resources. Each small-scale evaluation must also form a component of and thus take the centre a step further towards a full evaluation of the centre, whilst remaining credible to a centre's funding body.Writing centres tend to be independent and perhaps optional additions to the core university work of discipline-based teaching and research and may therefore lack the financial security blanket of university faculties and major schools of study. To date, much evaluation of them has been qualitative. While this gives an important measure of customer satisfaction and insight into the issues and processes involved in supporting student writing, but it does not address the increasingly salient issue that \"cold, hard proof is required\" for their survival (Field-Pickering, 1993, p. 2). This means quantitative research should be increasingly employed to diversify the literature and ensure that writing centres can point to measurable outcomes to support intuition and qualitative data (Carino and Enders, 2001). Although employability is a long-term concern, there are many difficulties in obtaining reliable employment data beyond the very limited six months after graduation snapshot. At this stage, a focus on more immediate outcome measures was thought to be important.In view of this, the current quantitative study into the efficacy of writing centres using the small-scale study model was undertaken. In order to measure the efficacy of writing centres, two primary measures of student success were used. These were student progression, whether the student continued to year two of their course, and student achievement, the grade achieved for the particular module. These measures were chosen as they are key performance indicators for first-year students and something that support programmes would reasonably expect to impact on. In view of this, the following experimental hypotheses were investigated:H1. Writing centre attendance will be positively associated with student achievement.H2. Writing centre attendance will be positively associated with student progression.Additional exploratory analyses were carried out using demographic information to investigate whether particular demographic groups were advantaged or disadvantaged in terms of grade or progression by attending the writing centre.\n2. Method: 2.1 Design\n3. Results: The analysis of the data followed two stages, first to consider whether writing centre attendance is associated with higher student grades, and second to consider whether writing centre attendance is associated with a higher rate of student progression. For each of the two stages, additional exploratory analysis was carried out to see if particular demographic groups were advantaged in terms of achievement or progression by attending the writing centre.3.1 H1. Writing centre attendance and student achievement\n4. Discussion: Academic writing centres offer a potential way to address the lack of writing skills in some undergraduates and their effectiveness needs evaluation. Generally, writing center evaluations have taken a qualitative approach. In light of this, the current study took a quantitative approach and examined two experimental hypotheses. First, that attending the academic writing centre will increase student achievement. The results of this study confirmed the first hypothesis as students from the \"attendee group\" had significantly higher levels of achievement (grades) than those in the \"non-attendee group\". Second, it was hypothesised that attending the academic writing centre will increase student progression. Although a trend was found in this direction, there was no significant difference between the \"attendee group\" and the \"non-attendee group\". Overall, the vast majority of students progressed into the second year. Finally, an additional exploratory analysis that examined the effect of belonging to a particular demographic group revealed some interesting results. This exploratory analysis will be considered after discussion of the experimental hypotheses.4.1 Writing centre attendance and student achievement\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Academic writing is often considered to be a weakness in contemporary students, while good reporting and writing skills are highly valued by graduate employers. A number of universities have introduced writing centres aimed at addressing this problem; however, the evaluation of such centres is usually qualitative. The paper seeks to consider the efficacy of a writing centre by looking at the impact of attendance on two \"real world\" quantitative outcomes - achievement and progression.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data mining was used to obtain records of 806 first-year students, of whom 45 had attended the writing centre and 761 had not.\nFindings: - A highly significant association between writing centre attendance and achievement was found. Progression to year two was also significantly associated with writing centre attendance.\nOriginality/value: - Further, quantitative evaluation of writing centres is advocated using random allocation to a comparison condition to control for potential confounds such as motivation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service quality and global competitiveness: evidence from global service firms	[ "Service quality", "Firm size", "Firm age", "Global competitiveness", "Global environmental factors", "Service firms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Service quality's contribution to firms has been widely acknowledged in numerous settings. For example, it is found to be a strong determinant for customer satisfaction (Brady and Robertson, 2001; Cronin and Taylor, 1994), price insensitivity (Zeng et al., 2011), firm reputation (Zeithaml, 2000), willingness to recommend (Headley and Miller, 1993; Ladhari, 2009), positive attitude (Chenet et al., 2010), and customer relationship (Bell et al., 2005). While these findings unanimously support that service quality should be a key driver that enables the firm to achieve competitive advantages, in global settings, service quality's role received much less attention. In particular, studies involving service quality of global service firms are scant although these firms are becoming more important players in global business. In current global markets, country borders are increasingly blurred due to the fast spread of new business concepts and models (Kraus et al., 2015). This trend leads to the global expansion of service companies along with product-oriented companies (Hitt et al., 2006). Prior research about quality in international markets tends to concentrate on product-based firms. However, the literature suggests that service-based global business expansion should be equally emphasized because service has its own distinctive characteristics (Ueltschy et al., 2007). Exploring service quality in the global competition clarifies its role and helps global service firms strategically analyze their situation and properly deploy corporate resources.\nTheories and hypotheses: Competitive advantages and global competitiveness\nData and measures: The data are collected from two sources. The first is Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies (WMAC). This data source has been adopted by a number of management and marketing research (e.g. Cho and Pucik, 2005; Luo and Bhattacharya, 2009). The WMAC data set is collected annually and covers a set of questions related to firm reputation, corporate social responsibility, assets management, people management, product/service quality, innovation, financial soundness, and long-term investment. WMAC also investigated the global competitiveness of multinational firms. Each firm is given a rank score indicating its relative position within an industry. However, there are two cautionary notes when using WMAC in analysis. First, the WMAC firms are ranked within each industry, which have varied number of sampled firms. An advised approach is to normalize the scores in each industry and thus make the scores comparable across industries (Roberts and Dowling, 2002). Second, Brown and Perry (1994) indicate that WMAC scores may has a performance \"halo\" in that people tend to rank a high performance firm to be one with high score of quality or high global competitiveness. In this sense, the influence of performance in the scores should be removed in order to exclude the halo effect (Roberts and Dowling, 2002).\nAnalyses and results: To estimate the analytical model, we took a stepwise approach in that we first estimated the model with only control variables and then added the main effects and finally the full model. The results are shown in Table II. The R2 of the control model is 0.203. Adding the main effects significantly improve the explanatory power by increasing R2 to 0.544. The addition of interaction term contributes an extra 0.068 in R2. We also did a series of partial F-tests that shows that the significant addition of moderating effect of firm size (F=4.49, p<0.05), munificence (F=9.37, p<0.01), dynamism (F=8.33, p<0.01), and complexity (F=7.85, p<0.01). We checked the variance inflation factors and found none of them was higher than 4. This indicates multicollinearity is not a concern. The full model test (Table II, Model White SE-Cluster) shows that ROA and asset growth are significantly and positively related to global competitiveness. Complexity is also found to have a strong positive impact on global competitiveness (b=0.16, p<0.01). This is in line with previous findings such as the study by Raven et al. (1994). Our results show that large firms are more competitive in global markets (b=0.29, p<0.01). Gatignon and Xuereb (1997) show similar findings in that when a firm grows in its size, it gains competitive advantages.\nDiscussion: While global competitive advantages of product-focused firms have received intense emphasis, the global competitiveness of service firms has received less attention in the international marketing literature. This paper explores the importance of service quality for service firms in achieving their global competitiveness, which is the key determinant of firm global performance. Service quality may be particularly important for service firms for several reasons. First, the heterogeneity of service offering determines that consumers should have a more varied perception on firm's quality, therefore ensuring that a high level of service quality is likely to drive the perception in a positive direction and lead to a position that competitors find hard to imitate. Second, the requirement of co-production between the service providers and consumers creates a unique avenue that a service firm can utilize to secure its market position. The quality of managing this interaction is a necessary basis for creating operations and social complexity that are not analyzable by competitors. Third, service firms in global markets are facing competition from both global and local competitors, making the competition more intense. Service quality then becomes an essential instrument that a global firm might resort to because it has the nature of enhancing reputation, building relationships, reducing price sensitivity, and improving the problem-solving capacity. Our findings strongly support that, for global service firms, service quality is a powerful determinant that secures the firm's competition position in global markets.\nConclusion: Service quality has been extensively studied in terms of its contributions to firm's performance. However, in the global marketing setting, how service quality improves a firm's competitiveness is less investigated. The current study theoretically demonstrates this aspect of service quality and empirically confirms that it indeed is one beneficial factor that marketing managers should consider when they are competing in global markets. Furthermore, the current research demonstrates that the effect strength of service quality on global competitiveness is not uniform. Rather, it differs while the firms have different sizes and they are operating in diverse global market environments. In particular, service quality has been found to help the firm when the environment poses challenges to the firm. These findings indicate service quality represents a critical strategic resource that protects the firm from increasingly demanding global competition.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between service quality and firms' global competitiveness in the service industry. A set of moderating effects is formulated to further reveal how the relationship varies under different situations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper tests the model with data collected from multiple sources such as World's Most Admired Companies and COMPUSTAT. Two types of robust regressions for panel data are employed in the empirical model estimation.\nFindings: Service quality is found to significantly drive global competitiveness. Specifically, its impact is stronger for large service firms and when the global environment is characterized as low munificence, high dynamism, or high complexity.\nPractical implications: The paper provides a set of implications for managers of service firms regarding global expansion and quality management. It generates useful guidelines of maximizing the power of service quality when a firm's global competitive advantage is considered.\nOriginality/value: This paper takes the first attempt to formulate service quality's influence on firm's global competitiveness with a consideration of specific situational factors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Branding strategy and consumer high-technology product	[ "Brands", "Perception", "Consumer behaviour", "Product image" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: Branding of high-technology products has evolved along with the development of mass production and mass marketing. However, particularly in recent years, a remarkable infusion of technologies into businesses, schools, and even homes has changed the way life is constructed (Temporal and Lee, 2000). New technology has become included in every single channel of people's lives, resulting in a technology culture (Winkler, 1999). The pervasive impact of technology has had an affect on almost everything and everyone in every field of endeavour, whether people like it or not. In terms of businesses, this development called for strong brands, which win people's trust while offering ideal solutions to their consumers. As a matter of fact, most companies founded in the past, e.g. Ivory or Coca Cola, managed to establish their strong brand in the consumer's mind and became one of the market leaders in their own market segment. Brands in the high-technology segment follow the same rule, whereas with the increase of companies competing within each segment, the image of a strong brand has always provided something that could not be copied easily (Keller, 2003). As a result, names like Hewlett Packard, Sony, Toshiba, IBM, or Apple are well known and the products of those companies have enjoyed a high perception of quality and reliability.1.1. Problem definition\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Brands and technology\n3. Framework and hypotheses: 3.1. The justification of the study\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Type of research\n5. Data analysis and findings: 5.1. Validation of the data\n6. Discussion of the findings: 6.1. Price\n7. Limitations: Every research has limitation and this paper is no exception. The focus of this survey was to discover the incentives behind the adaptation process based on the differences between branded and non-branded products, which narrow the possibility to use the findings made for more general purposes. In addition, the small amount of already existing knowledge had a direct impact on each stage of the project too. Because of the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, no previous research on this particular area has been done, the collection and evaluation of data was very difficult, which again, influenced the way the research was designed.\n8. Managerial implications: Considering the main findings made in this survey, the proven increased frequency of high-technology adaptation require a new thinking regarding the design of branding strategies for high-technology products. The resulting recommendations to managers are therefore not to focus on or invest in single product campaigns or price competition but more on general image building and strengthening. An apparent way of implementing this rather general recommendation would be introducing product families and reflecting a brand image and its philosophy on new and existing products. This recommendation is also supported by the fact that present-day consumer focus on the purchase expected prestige or a feeling of social belonging. Another point in this context is that especially young consumers became less risk averse, follow trends more easily and evaluate product information differently than the members of the older generation. Hence, managers, by designing a new branding and communication strategies, should take those findings into account and respond to this development by creating images. Furthermore, as the study demonstrated the high-technology market has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, which has had a direct impact on the general behaviour of our society. The discovered change in people's perception of high-technology products, therefore, needs to be discovered more than at any other time, in order to understand and monitor customer's buying behaviour and to be able to react accordingly. In other words, managers should increasingly focus on investing into research on this topic and develop the insight in this, as well as an understanding of the connections to related fields further.The recommendations made will enable managers to improve the understanding of their consumers immensely and, as a result, make their profession much easier.\n9. Conclusion: The objectives for this paper were as follows:* Discover consumer's behaviour in terms of adaptation of high-technology products in order to improve the design of marketing strategies for high-technology brands.* Analyse people's buying behaviour and determine the main drivers for adapting high-technology products.* Examine a change in the generational perception and involvement regarding high-technology products.* Discover and evaluate the perception of branded and non-branded high-technology products.A model was proposed to provide a simplified view of the relations between four areas (price, use, quality, culture) regarding the adoption of high technology and branding strategy. Of the four variables, usage and culture exhibited the prophesied impact and therefore suggest how branding strategies can be improved. The study concluded that:* people do not purchase high technology products primarily to satisfy particular needs, but rather for prestige (usage); and* perception change of cultures affected the adoption process of high technology (culture).The proven increased frequency of adoption of high technology suggests a revisit is necessary regarding the design of branding strategies for such offerings. The paper findings suggest the recommendation to focus on general image/brand building and strengthening (e.g. product families or emphasis on new products) rather than investing in single product campaigns or price competition. The change in consumer perception of high technology increases the significance and value of consumer behaviour research in this area, especially segmenting between younger and older consumer groups.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to propose a model to investigate the relationships between price, use, quality, and culture regarding the adoption of high-technology branding strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the identified areas of influence - price, use, quality and culture - a questionnaire was designed and randomly sent out to 70 respondents via e-mail. At the same time, those respondents were asked to pass on the e-mail, resulting in a total number of 94 people from 21 different countries responding to the request. The findings were evaluated and analysed by using the computer-aided data analysis programme SPSS.\nFindings: - The study concluded that people purchase high technology products primarily for prestige (usage) rather than to satisfy particular needs, and perception of change (culture) affected the adoption process of high-technology.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Because of the focus of this survey to discover the incentives behind the adaptation process, the possibilities of using the findings for more general purposes were narrowed down. In addition, the small amount of already existing knowledge in this area made the collection and the evaluation of data very difficult, which again influenced the way the research was designed.\nPractical implications: - In a globally competitive business environment the value of a strong brand in high-technology marketplace is well documented. The difficulty in maintaining a basis for differentiation, and heightened consumer price consciousness reveals the necessity to understand consumer evaluation and purchase decision processes. Therefore, this study discovered and revealed the reasons behind individual buying decisions of high-technology products.\nOriginality/value: - To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous research has been done on this particular area, which makes the outcome of this survey very valuable. Furthermore, the practical implications of the findings show a high relevance regarding the design of present-day business strategies while providing suggestions of improvement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hybrid purposes of performance appraisal in a crisis	[ "Global crisis", "Performance appraisal", "Purpose", "Contextual variables" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Evaluating and measuring employee performance in the workplace has interested researchers and practitioners for many years and it has received significant attention (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). The evaluation of employees' performance on at least a yearly basis is widely established and it is viewed as an important and valuable instrument throughout the corporate world (Harvey, 1997; Milliman et al., 2002). The use of performance appraisals is almost universal in the global context with most multinational corporations (MNCs) subscribing to the practice (Festing et al., 2010).\nImplications for practice: The principal inference that can be drawn from this analysis is that there is a failing in the design and substance of the performance appraisal research. The international appraisal is not exclusively conditioned by culture but also by the numerous contextual-organizational, institutional and economic factors found in the typical MNC (Chiang and Birtch, 2010). As a consequence of this limitation, the solutions suggested by researchers to improve the purpose of the appraisal have only limited application for practice. Six recommendations are proposed that may assist practitioners rectify this oversight.\nConclusion: This paper has sought to illuminate the importance yet scarcity of literature on the purpose of the international performance appraisal. I consider that this is a constructive undertaking as it will, hopefully, stimulate more interconnected and tenacious research on the purpose of the appraisal in the cross-border setting. At this stage, this paper has some degree of implications for practice. However, an empirical study as outlined above has the potential to give most valuable information to human resource managers about the importance of the implementation of the purpose of the appraisal in the cross-border setting of an MNC's activities. Updating and extending our understanding of how both culture and contextual variables are likely to influence the purpose of the performance appraisal will be a vital advancement of performance management theory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine one aspect of the implementation of the performance appraisal with a focus on its operation in an economic downturn and particularly a global economic crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It identifies the stated purposes of the performance appraisal in multinational corporations (MNCs) and explores the unstated purposes of the performance appraisal, which emerge during performance evaluation and feedback stages. The paper then investigates the different expectations employees and managers have of the performance appraisal and finally examines the changes to these expectations in an economic downturn.\nFindings: The principal conclusion that can be drawn from this analysis is that there is a weakness in the design and substance of the performance appraisal research. The international appraisal is not exclusively conditioned by culture but also by the numerous contextual-organizational, institutional and economic factors found in the typical MNC.\nPractical implications: It is suggested that possible strategies could include careful implementation of performance appraisal with attention to both the cultural and contextual environment. It is argued that by addressing both cultural and contextual variables the appraisal will be effective in helping achieve not only the MNC's strategic goals in a time of global economic crisis, but also recovery and survival following economic crisis.\nOriginality/value: This paper adds to the body of knowledge of international human resource management research by illuminating the consequences of an uncertain economic environment on performance management across borders and also paves the way for future research in this important area of management research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fresh perspectives on customer experience	[ "Dynamic", "Customer experience", "Practice-based approach", "Customer role", "Holistic" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer experience has become a key focus of both contemporary service research and management practice. Indeed, creating a meaningful customer experience is considered pivotal for achieving competitive advantage and satisfied customers (Bolton et al., 2014; Verhoef et al., 2009). While much of the research on customer experience has focused on hedonic consumption emphasizing the individuals' \"extraordinary\", \"critical\" or \"peak\" experiences (Friman et al., 2001; Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Schouten et al., 2007), customer experience is increasingly recognized in more mundane situations and across a range of contexts, such as in business-to-business settings (Klaus, 2014), and with users of public services (Hardyman et al., 2015; Radnor and Johnston, 2013; Olsson et al., 2013).\nCustomer experience conceptualization: Customer experience research remains fragmented with still relatively little known about the phenomenon. Most customer experience knowledge is derived from practitioner-oriented journals or management books (Holbrook, 2007; Verhoef et al., 2009), for example, Rawson et al. (2013). Consequently, the focus is largely on managerial actions and outcomes rather than on theories underlying the antecedents and consequences of customer experience. Customer experience is commonly defined as holistic in nature, involving the customer's cognitive, affective, emotional, social and physical responses to any direct or indirect contact with the service provider, brand or product, across multiple touch points during the entire customer journey (Bolton et al., 2014; Meyer and Schwager, 2007). In other words, customer experience is created not only by elements that the service provider can control (e.g. service interface, atmosphere, assortment, price), but also by elements outside of their control, such as the influence of other customers or devices like smartphones that customers chose to use in various situations.\nBroadening customer role: In today's interconnected world, the boundaries between customers, organizations and other suppliers are becoming blurred (Achrol and Kotler, 2012). Customers can no longer be regarded as merely passive recipients of what an organization does for or to them, but as co-creators and ultimate determiners of value (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2012; Vargo and Lusch, 2008). Today's customers increasingly provide ideas for service innovations; design, co-produce and deliver customer experiences (Witell et al., 2014); significantly influence other customers' decisions (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015); and even shape organizations' internal processes (Jaakkola and Alexander, 2014).\nTaking a practice-based approach: We argue that as customers are changing their roles and behaviors, they exercise greater influence on the experience formation of not only themselves but also other customers, stakeholders and service providers, which in turn warrants further research (van Doorn et al., 2010). We posit service experiences as co-created by customers with other actors at the service encounter and in their own service ecosystems (Jaakkola et al., 2015; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015). The recognition that customers can collectively shape each other's experiences has been paralleled in other fields, such as consumer culture theory (CCT) (Schau et al., 2009) and Service Dominant (S-D) Logic (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2012). Consequently, we need to move away from a dyadic, firm-to-customer perspective to a broader view that potentially includes multiple actors (Frow et al., 2014).\nHolistic and dynamic: across all touch points over time: Recent research indicates that customer experience is a dynamic phenomenon, emerging during various phases of the customer journey, including, for example, search, purchase, consumption and after-sale encounters, typically involving multiple channels and multiple touch points. Customers have contacts with service providers with different purposes and goals to fulfill, and we know very little about how this forms a process. To gain a more comprehensive view of the customer experience, we need to deeply understand all direct and indirect interactions customers have with the service provider, service or the brand at various touch points over time (Bolton et al., 2014). But as we go further, we argue for the need to explore the level of emotional attachment or investment the customer has in the customer experience process (e.g. a customer is likely to have a lower level of emotional attachment purchasing fast food compared to having medical treatment).\nSummary of promising directions for future research: The research agenda related to these domains is summarized below in following list which provides research questions around the three key promising directions for future research, namely:\nConclusion: This paper highlights the importance of taking a multi-party co-created view of customer experiences, arguing that service providers need to understand that customer practices are broadening in scope and that the customer experience goes beyond the traditional firm-to-customer dyadic conceptualization. Fresh perspectives for understanding the customer experience that can inspire future research and advance managerial practice are outlined.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide directions for future research on: broadening the role of customers in customer experience; taking a practice-based approach to customer experience; and recognizing the holistic, dynamic nature of customer experience across all touch points and over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach is conceptual identifying current gaps in research on customer experience.\nFindings: The findings include a set of research questions and research agenda for future research on customer experience.\nOriginality/value: This research suggests fresh perspectives for understanding the customer experience which can inspire future research and advance theory and managerial practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance measurement due to IT adoption	[ "Performance measurement", "Banking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The purpose of information technology (IT) adoption is to make profit or all stakeholders and thereby ensure growth and future of the organization. The spirit of IT is increase in performance, performance by revitalizing the manpower, mobilizing the resources, restructuring the process and availing the opportunities to serve customers better than the competitors. Customer's needs and expectations are at the center of all IT process and activities. Aim of the business process model under IT strategy is achieving superior business results, an means are transparent system, motivated people, customer-focussed processes and organizational commitment for continuous growth (Na et al., 2007).\n2. Review of literature: There are many factors governing the overall performance of service firms. It is necessary to study all the factors and their effectiveness on the performance (Lima et al., 2013). IT definitely plays a major role in performance at the era of e-Banking. Almost all the service firms in India geared with complex IT systems to handle core-banking functionalities. This will also create awareness in the general public that it is important to acquire basic IT skills before seeking employment (Chan and Ngai, 2010). Finally, it can contribute in turn to enhance the IT literacy level of the general public. However, the usage of IT at the branch, other than the core-banking application has not been studied (Chen and Tsou, 2012).\n3. Methodology: This research developed a survey method. The total design method (Larso et al., 2009) was used to develop survey items and the survey administration. Survey items were adapted from previously published studies, wherever available. Multiple item measures were developed for each construct (IT adoption and performance measures) included in the research work (Jun and Cai, 2010).\n4. Results: 4.1. Relationship with efficiency\n5. Discussion: There is a significant positive relationship between the tenure of IT adoption and increase in firm performance. There is a positive relationship between the IT application and the increase in effectiveness of the services provided. Again, IT application level in the firm and the efficiency of internal resources is positively related. It is also noted that tenure is significant positively related with profitability of the service firms.\n6. Conclusion and implications: Our research provides practitioners with managerial insights in the following aspects:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis on the relationship between information technology (IT) adoption and its usage and firm performance (banking and software firm) in India. Firm performance was measured with the help of three important variables: efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Each one of the above has been described with a set of pretested questionnaires. Banks in India, in particular are geared for comprehensive banking solutions with extensive branch networks. Result from statistical analysis was validated with that achieved from ANN modeling.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey instrument was pilot tested. The pilot survey was administered to 20 randomly selected Indian service firms, whose Standard Industrial Classification codes were 6,021 (nationalized commercial Banks) and 7,371 (software firms). A 50 percent response rate was received. Internal reliability using Cronbach's a was carried out for the entire set of responses from the pilot study. In addition, qualitative follow up from respondents was done. Unreliable items were deleted and modifications wherever necessary were made.\nFindings: The research finds two important results with respect to IT adoption and firm performance. The first result is that service firms who implemented IT tools and techniques early achieved more turnover thereby greater market share from innovation/adoption (world-first and, to some extent India-first). These firms are able to better commercialize their service even if their most important innovations/adoptions supported by vendor's to some extent. The second result is that service firms, which introduce new services, even if the service is already on the national or international front, derived more commercial sales from innovation, thus achieving more firm performance. Therefore, late followers (firm-first) would have higher sales from innovation by introducing services with high original content.\nOriginality/value: Performance is measured due to IT adoption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the impact of Investors in People: A focus on training and development, job satisfaction and awareness of the Standard	[ "Job satisfaction", "Training and Development", "Investors in People (IiP)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Commonly cited as key factors in the drive to increase competitiveness, are the development and acquisition of skills and the nurturing of a \"positive\" training and development culture within the workplace (Alvesson, 1993; Kono and Clegg, 1998; Mayo, 1946; Paille et al., 2011; Parker, 2000; Schein, 1997). The Leitch Report (2006), which reviewed skills and education in the UK, has been one of the more recent initiatives in this domain. Since the economic turmoil of 2008 and beyond, Lord Leitch's words have become more prescient: \"Without increased skills, we would condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all\" (Leitch Report, 2006, p. 1).\nAn overview of IiP: history, claims and evidence: IiP - an overview of the standard\nMethods and research design: This paper focuses on an examination of the perceptions and understandings of IiP using a multiple case study approach (Blumer, 1969; Hussey and Hussey, 1997; Denzin, 1998; Schwandt, 2000; Charmaz, 2000, 2006, 2008; Yin, 2003; Corbin and Strauss, 2008; Denzin and Lincoln, 2008; Stake, 2008). In total, 35 semi-structured interviews gathered the in-depth data across a set of six UK-based research organizations (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008; Bryman and Bell, 2011). Importantly, the respondent base of managers and front-line employees in the four large organizations provides an approach rarely focused upon within other IiP studies. There was no predetermined requirement concerning who could be interviewed and the sample included respondents from a wide range of disperse roles and departments/areas. Within the two small organizations, key informants from senior management were used to gain the insights necessary. The data purposefully covered a diverse range of organizational backgrounds in order to illustrate the extensive presence and operation of the issues and factors identified within the literature review. Interviews lasted roughly 45 minutes to an hour, with the shortest interview being 35 minutes and the longest being one hour and 30 minutes. None of the respondents invited to interview declined to be involved. The following presents brief organization details, a categorization of the interview respondents, and dates of initial IiP recognition (Table I).\nFindings: The research data analysis examined the responses and accounts of how participants experienced IiP within their organizations. These observations generally concerned issues that fell within three recurrent emergent themes:\nDiscussion, conclusion and implications: The purpose of this paper was to explore how far respondents felt there to be a causal relationship between IiP and training and development, and IiP and job satisfaction. To further explore these issues, an understanding of staff awareness of IiP was examined.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Investors in People (IiP) is a UK government-backed scheme aimed at enabling organizations to develop their training and development cultures and, thereby, their competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions and understandings of individuals in six organizations undergoing IiP to explore recent claims within the literature concerning the Standard's impact on training and development, and job satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from 35 semi-structured interviews among managers and employees of six diverse organizations were gathered and analysed.\nFindings: The paper identifies three key findings in response to recent literature: first, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and training and development; second, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and job satisfaction; third, and to support the other findings, the results indicate little employee awareness of IiP.\nPractical implications: If IiP - UKCES are to realize the potential of their Standard, it needs to find a way to ensure it has a direct and positive impact on skill development.\nOriginality/value: While much of the previous research has identified associations between IiP and various outcomes, this paper seeks to identify the extent to which these associations can be considered to be causal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Open-plan office post-occupancy evaluation: inquiring Algerian gender specificity	[ "Gender differences", "Environmental psychology", "Post-occupancy evaluation", "Office design", "Open-plan offices", "Workspace comfort" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There was a significant shift in the Algerian economy towards the open market in the 1990s. Consequently, a new service sector was developed, most of it operating in newly built offices, some of which are infill buildings, the bulk of them situated on the outskirts of major cities. A majority of these offices are organised with an open-plan layout; however, due to technological construction constraints (Boussabaine and Duff, 1991) and persistent \"archaic\" office work organisation, they are not as large and technically equipped as those existing in most developed countries (Duffy, 1997). This study aims to identify occupants' attitude towards local open-plan office (OPO) discomfort problems (Boukerma et al., 2016).\n2. Literature review: The term \"office\" contains the meanings of furniture and the environment that came to be known as workspace after the Second World War. In 1959, brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2016) invented in Germany the landscape office (Burolandscap) around a workspace without any barriers and walls that might hinder communication so as to make the environment more desirable and, therefore, improve work efficiency. By 1960, many countries were relying on this kind of offices. But 20 years after, complaints were made by employees as regards the repercussions of workspace management related to open-plan type (Van Meel, 2011). Many problems appeared, such as professional exhaustion and a high index of anxiety, discomfort and distress caused by such a working environment, leading to aggressiveness and, in some cases, lower productivity (Haynes, 2008; Seddigh et al., 2015; Sundstrom and Sundstrom, 1986; Van Der Voordt, 2004; Vischer, 2007). Subsequently, several questions about this type of environment and the potential relevance for employees were raised (Wineman, 1986). Nevertheless, in 1990, a return to the open office in the Western world was noticed and a new highly technological label was given to it (Finch, 1998). This time, the use of this type of office was merely due to the economic considerations associated with high cost of land for the construction of offices, as it could represent an economy of used space compared to previously allocated offices. Another reason was to comply with the requirements of new information and communication technologies. Because of different symptoms that appeared as a result of workers' accumulation in OPO, several ideas emerged condemning this configuration of workspace that continued to affect staff mental health, referring back to research that suggested the importance of humans' environment and that it could lead to more suitable work-effectiveness (Mawson, 2002; Preiser and Vischer, 2005). More recently, developed countries have been using activity-based working (Kojo and Nenonen, 2016), which Leesman's team (2017) describes as a transformational business strategy that provides people with a choice of setting, rather than forcing individuals to work at a single desk location. Leesman's team considers this strategy as a long-term solution that addresses modern workforce needs in terms of comfort and aligns with business objectives.\n3. Methodology: The research, through POE, aims to address the subject of staff perception of the OPO work environment and its impact on their cognitive, emotional and behavioural attitudes. The hypothesis would be that the OPO environment affects such attitudes differently according to gender.\n4. Results: 4.1 Analysis approach\n5. Discussion: The present discussion relates to users' attitude towards the OPO environment explored throughout the study, taking into consideration gender differences. The results of the questionnaire are here linked back to relevant literature review indicators.\n6. Conclusion: The literature review revealed that the evaluation of the OPO environment is related to both physical and psychological factors. OPO studies are continuously evolving and showing more interest in psychological evaluation. Various psychological aspects linking occupants to their environment were investigated, with a special focus on gender difference. Occupants' attitude towards OPO is linked to various dimensions, which enable the environment to be objectively evaluated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the impact of an open-plan office (OPO) space organisation on a user's attitude in the Algerian context; more specifically, it investigates gender differences in the occupants' perception of such working environment. It, principally, aims to explore the employees' reaction towards OPO and sees how much such local office type complies with indoor environment quality (IEQ) and psychological comfort.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework of the study is mainly related to environmental psychology referring to the interaction between users and their environment. Post-occupancy evaluation was carried out using exploratory study and questionnaires, followed by statistical analyses. It was performed on a large-scale sample of employees (296 employees) working in recently built OPO situated in Oran (Algeria).\nFindings: Fundamentally, women appear to show more concern regarding comfort. They do not show much reluctance to be mixed with men in a large office space as opposed to more conservative reaction towards mixing up in outdoor public space environment. As for environmental factors (IEQ), indicators have shown the inadequacy of most buildings in terms of thermal, light or noise comfort. The study has also revealed that a majority of users recognise the professional advantages of the OPO, although it is suggested that their preferred type would be the individual office.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides a concise starting point for future research interested in developing Algerian context OPO design in terms of both indoor environmental and psychological comfort.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of ethical leadership: the theory of planned behavior	[ "Attitude", "Ethical leadership", "Theory of planned behaviour", "Perceived behavioural control", "Norm" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Despite the urgencies of ethical leadership in organizations, ethical transgressions are commonplace in many parts of the world. Leaders in organizations such as Enron, Worldcom, Hollinger International, Tyco and Yahoo (Forbes, 2013) have failed to act and behave ethically. A more recent instance is the Volkswagen emission scandal (Hotten, 2015) often referred to as \"dieselgate.\" In each of these examples, leaders did not consider the widespread consequences of their flawed decision making (Kaiser et al., 2008) and at the same time were also setting norms for unethical standards. Yet, leaders play an integral role as ethical role models for employees. The examples raised above illustrate the need for ethical leadership in organizations. The Volkswagen scandal alone has been estimated to have had a $450m social cost (Barrett et al., 2015) and a $30bn company cost (Reiter and Behrmann, 2017). Brown et al. (2005) defined ethical leadership as \"the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making\" (p. 120). Ethical leadership has been shown to be beneficial for many important employee outcomes (Babalola et al., 2018; Mayer et al., 2012; Ng and Feldman, 2015; Stouten et al., 2011).\nTheoretical background: The TPB (cf., Ajzen, 1991) suggests that individuals' behavior is driven by their behavioral intentions, which depend on the extent to which those individuals have a favorable attitude toward that behavior, a favorable subjective norm and a greater perceived behavioral control in the occurring situation of that particular behavior. This behavioral intention, which is preceded by actual behavior, indicates, \"how hard people are willing to try, of how much of an effort they are planning to exert, in order to perform the behavior\" (Ajzen, 1991, p. 181). TPB indeed has been shown to predict several domain-specific behaviors and behavioral intentions in the specific domain such as managers' willingness to undertake unethical behaviors (Chang, 1998), salespersons' ethical intentions (Kurland, 1996), and ethical intentions of banking professionals and individuals (Buchan, 2005). A meta-analytic study also showed that TPB predicted intentions and behavior in a wide range of domains (Armitage and Conner, 2001).\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Confirmatory factor analysis\nDiscussion: In this paper, we examined how TPB can contribute to understanding antecedents for ethical leadership. More specifically, we examined how leaders' attitudes toward ethical behavior, subjective norms about ethical behavior, and perceived behavioral controls may contribute to ethical intentions and in turn ethical leadership. The results of a two-wave field study demonstrate general support for our hypotheses and the utility of TPB in ethical leadership literature. Specifically, our findings illustrate that when leaders had a favorable attitude toward ethical behavior and perceived behavioral control, their intention to act ethically was likely to be increased, in turn fostering the demonstration of their ethical leadership.\nConclusion: The present study draws on the TPB to examine the antecedents of ethical leadership. We find that leaders' favorable attitudes toward ethical behavior and perceived behavioral controls are important antecedents of ethical leadership. In doing so, we provide a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of ethical leadership.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of ethical leadership by drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The authors hypothesized that a leader's attitude toward ethical behavior, subjective norm about ethical behavior and perceived behavioral control relate to his/her ethical intention and subsequently to the follower's perceptions of ethical leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors found general support for the model using data collected from a two-wave and two-source field study involving 119 supervisor-subordinate dyads.\nFindings: The results demonstrated that the leader's favorable attitude toward ethical behavior and perceived behavioral control predicted his/her ethical intention and subsequently to the follower's perception of ethical leadership, whereas the subjective norm did not.\nPractical implications: The findings of the study provide important insights into developing relevant training and intervention programs in organizations to cultivate ethical leadership. These can be done by encouraging leaders' ethical intentions through changing their attitudinal and control beliefs regarding ethical behavior. Study findings also provide important insight on developing the recruiting device in a way that would help selecting individuals who may have favorable beliefs toward ethical behavior and thus have the potential to be an ethical leader.\nOriginality/value: This study first demonstrates the applicability of the TPB in examining the antecedents of ethical leadership.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Citizens' perception of modern pig production in Germany: a mixed-method research approach	[ "Animal husbandry", "Citizens’ expectations", "Pig production", "Population groups" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Animal husbandry and the welfare of farm animals is becoming more and more present on TV, in magazines and on the internet, and are thus increasingly gaining public awareness. Many citizens have romantic images of agriculture which accompany retrospective, nostalgic views. These perceptions are based on memories of their own childhood and on infants' picture books. The agri-food sector itself profits of such image by using pictures from idyllic farms and rural landscapes on food packages and in promoting their products. These pictures sharply contrast with the reality of modern animal husbandry; a sector which has experienced remarkable technical progress and significant change in the last 10 to 15 years, and which is now characterised by a high degree of specialisation and mechanisation (DLG, 2009; WB, 2015).\n2. Literature review: What do people have in mind when thinking and talking about animal welfare and conditions in animal husbandry systems? The answer to this question depends on whether people were asked as citizens or consumers. In principle, this approach requires to separate four different groups: society or citizens, consumers, producers and other groups or stakeholders. Everyone living in a certain country is a member of its society. Subgroups of society are people paying taxes or who have civil rights and, thus, can be called citizens of the country. Hence, consumers as well as producers are always part of this society and usually citizens of the country under discussion. Not every citizen is a consumer, e.g. a vegetarian does not consume meat. Moreover, producers are not just part of the society and potential citizens, they are also consumers. The same holds for stakeholder groups such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), retailers or processors who have specific expectations and definitions regarding animal welfare and \"animal welfare\" products. Therefore, finding an answer to the question about what people have in mind when they talk about animal welfare is not easily answered. In the following literature review, studies that have considered issues relevant from the citizens' and consumers' perspective regarding animal husbandry were covered.\n3. Methodological approach and data: The present research followed a mixed methods research (MMR) approach by combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Due to their specific strengths, the combination may provide additional insights by neglecting the traditional premise of using either exclusively quantitative or qualitative methodology (Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2010). The two approaches may be combined within the same research project (Bryman, 2004) or by using separate studies, distinct from each other but linked by a joint superior topic (Brennan, 2000). By using MMR, the researcher has the option of taking different perspectives and hence of increasing the validity of results, of increasing confidence and/or of utilising convergent or complementary effects of different approaches. A differentiated picture of the whole can be obtained by including and examining the various aspects (Bryman, 2004; Ritchie, 2003). \"The key goal in studies that pursue complementarity is to use the strengths of one method to enhance the performance of the other method\" (Morgan, 1998). The research topic under consideration determines the choice of the most appropriate method or method mix from a large number of options (Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2010).\n4. Results: 4.1. Focus groups\n5. Discussion and conclusion: Results presented show that many people express concerns about modern animal husbandry, i.e. pig production. This is in line with earlier research, which reported a low societal acceptance of modern pig production (e.g. Eurobarometer, 2005; Boogaard et al., 2011; Krystallis et al., 2009). Main topics discussed referred to the lack of space often linked to the lack of outdoor access, the intensive and often prophylactically administered medications, and the lack of care (i.e. farmer-animal interaction). These outcomes are similar to earlier scientific studies, which indicate that lack of space and use of antibiotics significantly impacted on consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (e.g. Liljenstolpe, 2008; Morkbak et al., 2010; McKendree et al., 2013; Pozo et al., 2012; Olynk et al., 2010; Nilsson et al., 2006).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The wide divergence of the people's expectations and agricultural reality results in conflicts between the agricultural sector and the general public. Contemporary animal husbandry systems are being increasingly critically addressed by media; however, there is no information about peoples' perceptions and attitudes concentrating precisely on specific animal husbandry systems. The purpose of this paper is to explore citizens' perceptions, expectations and main points of criticism in regard to intensive pig production in Germany, and to identify and describe distinct population groups reflecting different attitudes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed method approach combining qualitative focus groups with a quantitative online survey has been employed. Focus groups capture a wide variety of opinions and concerns in an exploratory manner. Based on these findings, the quantitative survey (n=1,500 citizens) allowed the identification and characterisation of population groups with identical attitudes regarding pig husbandry.\nFindings: Qualitative research uncovered a huge range of criticism on pig husbandry, e.g. lack of space, frequency and prophylactic use of medications as well as a lack of care. A relationship was seen between the lack of space, widespread use of medications and behavioural disorders. Consumer preferences for buying cheap meat were believed to be part of the problem since this behaviour fosters the development of larger farms. Quantitative research confirmed the generally critical perception and identified three population groups. Only one third of the population was really concerned about animal husbandry. Younger people and people with better knowledge of agriculture were stronger opponents of intensive pig husbandry.\nPractical implications: Results indicate that increasing people's knowledge may have an adverse effect on their acceptance of modern farming systems. More communication and better information strategies will probably not improve societal acceptance by itself. Instead, agricultural production systems need to be improved to meet better consumers' expectations whereas communicating these improvements to consumers and the general public in a well-targeted manner will be required as well.\nOriginality/value: When considering options for enhancing public acceptance of modern animal husbandry, a combination of different strategies by different stakeholders is needed. The agricultural sector should improve its communication with the general public and rethink its production practices against the background of public expectations. The government and its agencies urgently need to improve monitoring of the compliance of actual production practices with existing laws and to enforce them. Additionally, adjustments of current regulations of animal husbandry in light of public expectations should be considered.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Paths to marketing's future: a sub-first tier GATORE principle perspective	[ "Marketing", "Stakeholder analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marketing, where are you going? This question has been raised and addressed by numerous omnipotently endowed scholars from many of the best first tier colleges and universities. While anyone of these addresses, when viewed individually, may appear to have captured the answer, confusion results when they are viewed in juxtaposition. Therefore, this article will attempt to reduce the above noted confusion by:* identifying a few of the most noted alternative paths to marketing's future;* bringing transparency to the alternative paths and as a result reveal the innate value of their divergence and confluence in forecasting marketing's future; and* conceptualizing a path which serves to blend the fruitful landscape mapped by the first tier scholars and represents a twenty-first century collaborative stakeholder's perspective.\nAlternative paths: The paths to marketing's future can be viewed as a continuum where death occupies one extreme and forms of conditionally defined existence at the other multiple extremes - Figure 1. Thus, the future of marketing is presented as an optimization decision characterized by alternatives ranging from merely amending the status quo i.e. modification of the traditional marketing mix (4Ps) (Booms and Bitner, 1981; Goldsmith, 2004) to the more extreme of engineering a major paradigm shift away from a traditional transaction, exchange, marketing concept and logical positivism/empiricism and more toward consumer relationship management (CRM) (Mazur, 2000), customer-centric marketing (Sheth et al., 2000), network marketing (Achrol, 1997; Snow, 1997) and critical realism (Easton, 2002).These views are proposed both explicitly and implicitly by marketing practitioners and academics residing on a number of continents. While some do suggest that marketing is simply in the throes of a mid-life crisis (Brown, 1995; Clarke and Mount, 2001), others offer a more pessimistic diagnosis of a critically ill state (Holbrook and Hulbert, 2002), brought on by potentially devastating maladies such as the duality in purpose of marketing (Bagozzi and Nataraajan, 2000), epistemopathology - diseased, sick and bad knowledge (Thomas, 2000), and the failure of marketing as a discipline to communicate very well with its various constituencies (Camey and Williams, 2004; Malhotra et al., 1999; Razzaque, 1998). Therefore, it is not surprising that after reading the literature, one would be at a minimum somewhat perplexed if not totally mystified when attempting to contemplate the future of marketing.\nPaths' transparency: Attempting to discern acknowledgment of the origin of marketing reveals one of the first elements (if not the core) of the above noted confusion. Although many scholars subscribe to Bartel's pronouncement (Bartels, 1962) that the early 1900s mark the origin of marketing (Bagozzi and Nataraajan, 2000; Bussiere, 2000; Wilkie and Moore, 2003), there are a number of others who put forth equally justifiable and thus valid dates. Brown (1995) suggests that it was somehow appropriate that marketing should be facing a mid-life crisis in at that time its fortieth year. Holbrook and Hulbert (2002, p. 726) provide some levity by implying a need to carbon date test marketing as a means of uncovering its age:[...], recognizing that marketing is as old as original sin,One of the most in-your-face challenges to Bartel's pronouncement is the rebuttal posited by Dixon (2002, p. 88):The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term to the 16th century; it certainly did not originate in the United States between 1905 and 1911 (Bartels, 1962).In this particular case, Dixon is also unearthing a subterranean attitude held by some that the writings of many American scholars implicitly lay claim to having proprietary rights over the past, present and future development of marketing. Possession of such rights would thus serve to subjugate all other opinions and views to a second class status. Therefore, the debate over when marketing originated has more to do with giving credit, credibility and divine authenticity to a given linear path. Given this insight, what appears to be an on going directional tug-of-war conflict is transformed into a transparent state of expanding enlightenment characterized by forward moving divergence and confluence.If for the sake of argument, the German Historical School of Economics is assumed as the ground which served to germinate marketing as a formal academic discipline (Jones and Monieson, 1990), then Figure 2 reflects the present day international perspective of marketing. The richly valued diversity of this perspective further serves to make moot many of the other apparent conflicts found in the marketing literature i.e. marketing's philosophical basis (science/art), the applied domain of marketing (narrow/broad), number of marketing schools of thought 12 (Sheth, 1988) vs 4 (Wright, 2002) and of course the perpetually increasing multitude of marketing definitions.\nStakeholders' perspective: One can not read the literature without being amazed by marketing's strong condition of health and growth despite the disjointed behavior of its stakeholders in both the Educational and Practitioner sub-environments. Figure 3 depicts the disjointedness of theses stakeholders. To no great surprise, the Practitioner sub-environment holds three major components (political, social and economic) and their respective agents which have been purposefully configured by each Nation State as a means of promoting the welfare of their own citizenry. Although there may appear to be enormous zero sum game differences among the Nation States, there does exist a modest and productive level of continuing interdependent exchange which is here symbolized by the dashed line enclosing the Practitioner environment. Ignoring the United Nations' inconsistent potency, its mere existence attests to this productive exchange. The Nation State Practitioner enclaves - because of their own individual orthodoxies - present diversely important challenges to those who are endeavoring to advance marketing as a formal discipline. Examination of these challenges is beyond the designed scope of this article.Within the Educational sub-environment there are four major groups of actors (administrators, academicians, teachers and students). These actors find themselves locked in a permafrost state capable of preserving a herd of Wooly Mammoths - a state of deep seated disharmony, destructive competition and non-retractable conflict. Collectively these stakeholders can take little solace in the fact that many other educational domains, to a greater/lesser degree (psychology, political science, legal studies, medicine and management), are also afflicted by this state of affairs. In addition, one is left to believe that those in the marketing domain are characterized by a tin ear since that domain was enriched (some 40 plus years earlier) by the conceptually perfect pitch of Theodore Levitt's marketing myopia classic (Levitt, 1960).A more detailed examination of the marketing educational domain as portrayed in Figure 3 reflects a body of innocent student stakeholders:* within a domain which has at best a deficient and limited relationship with the practitioner sub-environment;* wedged between the ideological clash of academicians in pursuit of empirical findings and teachers debating the supremacy of opposing pedagogical tools; and* ill served by the short sighted resource allocation decisions of a transient body of administrators seeking to secure prestigious positions at first-tier universities.Predictably, these behaviors and their concomitant by-products are to be expected when the synthesis of education is supplanted by the rigor of indoctrination as the modus operandi because of the on going investment made in \"Physics Envy\" (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005).\nA sub-first tier perspective: Attempting to prophesize the definitive path to marketing's future is an act of benign presumptuousness which resides beyond the egotistical nature of the author of this article. However, addressing the questions of what should and can be done to promote the natural evolution of marketing does fall just within the fringes of this author's sub-first tier abilities.What should be done?\nConclusion: So marketing, where are you going? The answer is clear, toward the stars and beyond. Given this response, the question which now remains is how fast will marketing proceed? It is this latter question which served as the major theme for this article - a theme framed by the questions of what should and can be done to promote the natural evolution of Marketing. To this end, a normative model and a recommendation to subscribe to a self-selected set of measures designed to combat Physics Envy were proposed.Acting upon both proposals initially falls within the unilateral prerogatives of every marketing stakeholder and should be viewed as only the first step. Of equal importance, is the active adoption of these proposals by each stakeholder group. Although achieving the proposals at warp or light speed may be overly optimistic, the speed of sound is literally very reasonable. Given academics (academicians/teachers) and practitioners are the two most important shapers of marketing knowledge (Razzaque, 1998), the natural evolution of marketing can reach and sustain the speed of sound through accelerating the permeation of joint dialogue and collaboration between these two stakeholder groups.In conclusion, the onus of initiating and perpetuating the adoption of the prescription and subscription proposed within this paper rest with us academics. Even if the best interest of our students is not motivation enough to adopt these proposals, surely our sincere love of being marketers can drive us to act. But recognize, our failure to shoulder this responsibility will not prevent marketing from evolving - be it at the speed of a sloth. Marketing in its various manifestations has been, is and will continue to be of enormous human benefit. Therefore, the periodic vocalized incarnations of marketing's demise - to paraphrase Shelby Hunt (Hunt, 2001, p. 117) - are nothing more then attempts by some to be profound resulting in the obscure.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to propose steps marketing stakeholders should and can take to facilitate increasing the speed at which marketing proceeds to evolve - toward the stars and beyond.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Drawing from the literature advanced by first-tier scholars the confusion surrounding marketing's future is examined.\nFindings: - Marketing, in its various manifestations, has been, is, and will continue to be, of enormous human benefit.\nOriginality/value: - This paper recommends that all marketers subscribe to the normative marketing stakeholders' model presented and the open-minded exchange is prescribed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social justice leadership, instructional leadership, and the goals of schooling	[ "Instructional leadership", "Goals of schooling", "Social justice leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social injustice often characterizes today's western schools, where white, straight, middle-class and physically able students reach higher achievements, drop out less and are more likely to attend higher education institutions than their counterparts from other races, gender orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds and disability statuses (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Sweet et al., 2010). School leaders are considered to have the power to make socially just changes. Therefore, they are asked to explore gaps in academic success between students grouped by race, ethnicity, culture, neighborhood, parental income or home language (Johnson and Avelar La Salle, 2010; Place et al., 2010), and then they are asked to work as change agents to eliminate inequities in school policies, procedures and practices (Brown, 2006; McKenzie et al., 2008; Theoharis and Causton-Theoharis, 2008). In fact, they are expected to serve as social justice leaders, who support students from diverse groups with a wide range of needs (Brooks et al., 2017; DeMatthews and Mawhinney, 2014) and ensure that all students are treated equally, without discrimination or favoritism of any kind (Dantley and Tillman, 2010; Jean-Marie, 2008).\nMethodology/structure: To theoretically examine the relationship between social justice leadership and instructional leadership, this paper delves into a crucial question about the main goal of schooling: Toward what ultimate goal does \"good\" education strive? Identifying the primary objective of schooling holds wide-ranging implications, both theoretical and practical. Yet, schooling's main goal has hardly been investigated. Biesta (2009) pointed to \"the remarkable absence in many contemporary discussions about education of explicit attention for what is educationally desirable [...]. There is very little explicit discussion, in other words, about what constitutes good education\" (p. 36). In particular, the ultimate target of schooling has barely been examined in direct relation to its conceptual ramifications for social justice leadership and instructional leadership (Shaked, 2018).\nPart I - the goals of schooling: Seeking to describe the fundamental goals of educational institutions, Lamm (1976, 1983) identified the three possible super-goals of schooling - socialization, acculturation and individuation - which were widely discussed by Harpaz (2010, 2014). The first super-goal, socialization, aspires to educate students in order for them to function and succeed in a particular society. To this end, students must acquire the ability to earn a living, learn to get along with others, understand the meaning of living in a democratic society, and so on. Thus, the image of \"the educated person\" underlying socialization is someone who can integrate into social structures appropriately. The second super-goal, acculturation, strives to impart values and principles that shape character traits and control behaviors. These lofty values and principles are embodied in texts representing a preferred culture, which are internalized and become \"second nature.\" Thus, the image of \"the educated person\" underlying acculturation is that of people who have freed themselves from their crude impulses, prejudices and misconceptions. The third super-goal, individuation, differs fundamentally from the previous two in that it does not uphold a standardized one-size-fits-all education. The image of \"the educated person\" underlying individuation is someone who functions authentically or autonomously. Instead of being defined by specific behaviors or beliefs, individuation as a super-goal defines \"educated persons\" as fulfilling their own particular nature or as creating their own unique world.\nPart II - social justice leadership and the goals of schooling: School leaders are perceived today as those who can transform school environments into spaces where all students thrive, regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, ability or disability, sexual orientation, age or other potentially marginalizing characteristics (Rigby, 2014; Theoharis, 2009; Theoharis and Causton-Theoharis, 2008). Therefore, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners expect school leaders to become social justice leaders, who ensure that social justice concepts are realized in schools so that they provide equal opportunities for all students (Brooks et al., 2017; Dantley and Tillman, 2010; DeMatthews and Mawhinney, 2014). Social justice leadership requires \"the moral use of power [...] [to] challenge structures built upon the so-called neutrality of objective reality and acknowledge that the systems we have in place represent and, subsequently, reproduce the dominant culture and values in society\" (Bogotch, 2002, p. 140).\nPart III - instructional leadership and the goals of schooling: In recent decades, researchers and practitioners alike have long argued that school leaders should demonstrate instructional leadership in their schools (Hallinger and Wang, 2015; Kaparou and Bush, 2016). Such leadership may be explained succinctly as the school leaders' deep and direct involvement in promoting best instructional practices. School leaders who act as instructional leaders are intensely engaged in curricular and instructional issues (Brazer and Bauer, 2013). Simply put, school leaders are expected to focus on improving teaching and learning for all students (Hallinger, 2011; Neumerski, 2012).\nPart IV - discussion/conclusion: linking the points: This paper sought answer to the question of how contemporary school principals' two main roles - social justice leadership and instructional leadership - get along conceptually. To this end, it investigated the relations between each of these two frameworks and the goals of schooling. What is the relationship between instructional leadership and social justice leadership vis-a-vis their schools' goals?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: School principals should see themselves as social justice leaders, who have the ability to allow all students to succeed, regardless of their characteristics and backgrounds. At the same time, school principals are also called upon to demonstrate instructional leadership, which emphasizes the teaching and learning aspects of school principalship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between these two roles of today's school principals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To investigate the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership, this paper adds the question of the goal of schooling to the mix. After identifying possible goals of schooling, the paper conceptualizes social justice leadership and instructional leadership, respectively, while also examining their relations with schools' major goals. Possible commonalities and contradictions between social justice leadership and instructional leadership are discussed.\nFindings: The prevalent expectation that school leaders should give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes may be seen as reducing school leaders' involvement in some aspects of social justice leadership, such as nurturing students' active citizenship.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper opens new research avenues. Based on the findings of this paper, the connection between principals' perceptions regarding the goals of schooling and their leadership behaviors should be explored.\nPractical implications: It seems advisable to discuss the interplay between social justice leadership and instructional leadership with prospective and current principals, as well as with other school stakeholders.\nOriginality/value: Insofar as the relations between social justice leadership and instructional leadership have not been explored so far, this paper narrows a gap in the available knowledge.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementing an integrated ABC and TOC approach to enhance decision making in a Lean context : A case study	[ "Case study", "Activity-based costing", "Lean context", "Product-mix", "Theory of constraints" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, many manufacturing companies have adopted Lean manufacturing to meet increasing competitive pressures. These companies have moved from mass production to producing small batches customised to the demands of customers. This change in the manufacturing environment has led researchers and managers to search for explanations, which could account for why increasing efficiencies is not associated with increasing profitability and competitiveness. Many Lean companies get into financial troubles not because of bad products or services, but because they lack appropriate cost accounting systems. They often find that the emphasis of traditional costing system on labour efficiency and utilisation promotes non-Lean behaviour such as manufacturing large batches, building high inventories, hiding waste, and focusing on financial rather than operational performance measures (Carnes and Hedin, 2005).\n2. Literature review: Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, many manufacturing companies have faced dramatic changes in their business environment. Customers today demand high-quality products with varying production requirements, and often require deliveries in small lot sizes with short-lead times (Fullerton and Wempe, 2008). In response to these demands, manufacturers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of modern management philosophies which can provide them with competitive advantage. They have realised that improving quality and productivity on a continual basis and serving customers in a timely manner are the keys to successfully compete in the business environment. In the current fierce competitive environment, Lean manufacturing has come to improve customer satisfaction as well as organisational effectiveness and efficiency. The emergence of Lean concept has been one of the major developments in management practice in the last two decades and became a part of the fabric of doing business (Corbett, 2007).\n3. Theoretical framework: Lean production and lean accounting\n4. Methodology: Methodology is defined as the overall approach to the problem which could be put into practice in a research process from the theoretical underpinning to the collection and analysis of data (Remenyi et al., 2003). Saunders et al. (2009) defined research strategy as \"the general plan of how the researcher will go about answering the research questions\".\n5. Results and analysis: The developed income statement shows that product C5 and product C6 are unprofitable at their current selling prices. Product C1 and product C5 are profitable while products C2 and C3 are quite profitable and could survive for any competitive price cuts if necessary. XYZ Company should investigate the market feasibility of increasing the selling prices of the C5 and C6 products in conjunction with reducing the overhead resource consumption of these products. Moreover, the investigation of the income statement revealed that some activities had significant unused capacities. This confirms the fact that the XYZ Company is an unconstrained enterprise as a result of adopting Lean manufacturing techniques, but the company still needs to exploit unused capacities. The authors realised, during the action research, that in order to increase throughput and profits, the company would have to increase the capacity of the \"soft activities\" such as: customer service and vendor relations, by hiring a person who could work in both activities.\n6. Conclusion: In a Lean context, traditional cost accounting methods fail in providing accurate, timely and reliable information to managers in order to make decisions about pricing, production line development, process improvements and product-mix. Each company has its own capacity and capability in producing several products but is uncertain what products and quantities it should produce in order to become more profitable. In this paper, a case study illustrates why a Lean company needs accurate cost information to make strategic decisions and how the proposed approach helps fulfill this need. Through the systematic use of the integrated ABC and TOC approach, the case company has been found producing mispriced products. Underpricing is as bad as overpricing because if a company is selling overpriced products it will likely not to be competitive and it might lose its business, and if the company is selling underpriced products it will lose money. The analysis showed that two main products have a negative net income per unit. The researchers urged the company to consider raising the price or further improving the process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to implement an integrated activity-based costing (ABC) and theory of constraints (TOC) approach to enhance decision making in a Lean company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the literature, this paper proposes an integrated ABC and TOC approach and applies it to a Lean plastic manufacturing company to improve its product-mix decision.\nFindings: The results of the case study show that the current conventional product-mix decision used by the company and the proposed integrated approach can give significantly different results concerning the optimal product-mix and the associated bottlenecks. Moreover, the paper suggests that managers who implement Lean production without utilising a supportive management accounting system may experience disappointing financial results.\nResearch limitations/implications: The validation of the suggested method is based on a single case study with an action research approach. For future research, the authors suggest the implementation of the approach in different industries.\nPractical implications: Overall, the integration of ABC and TOC provides managers with an accurate, timely and reliable tool that can help in making decisions about pricing, production line development, process improvements and product-mix.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to Lean and management accounting literature by demonstrating the value of a method of integrating ABC and TOC. Also a case study is chosen for the empirical aspect of the study as there are no case studies available in the literature that illustrate a real life case of integrating ABC and TOC within Lean companies as an alternative to the current used cost accounting systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning, connectivity and networks	[ "Social networks", "E-learning", "Online learning", "Networked learning", "Social learning", "Ubiquitous learning", "Learning networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Connectivity is a theme that resonates with many approaches to teaching and learning, and to information science: connecting teachers to learners, people to resources, master practitioners to apprentices and ideas across domains. This paper is concerned with the learning outcomes associated with this connectivity, considering primarily connectivity through online networks, and the effects of open, online exchange. These exchanges are not limited to the educational sphere, and thus, this paper is not exclusively focused on application in educational settings. Indeed, addressing how, where and with whom we currently learn also entails attention to the wider societal changes associated with contemporary information practices with the learning happening in and through formal and informal online learning spaces. The theme of connectivity is used here to capture both the detailed specificity of relations that define networks of learners and the ambient effect of wide accessibility to resources and people through open, online forums.\nSocial learning, social networks: Social network analysis\nConclusion: The wide-ranging effects on learning of open, online connectivity through networks begin at the relational interaction that creates a learning tie between people and builds up to the learning outcomes of networks as they become learning communities and hold knowledge among network members. At all layers of this spectrum, learning is affected by contemporary changes in the pace of change in technologies, the availability or resources and people and the dynamics of open contributory practice. The result is a transformation in who learns what from whom, where, when and under what circumstances.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This is paper is concerned with the learning outcomes associated with connectivity through online networks, open online exchange and wider changes associated with contemporary information practices. The theme of connectivity is used here to capture both the detailed specificity of relations that define networks of learners and the ambient effect of wide accessibility to resources and people through open, online forums.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper follows the idea of a network from the ground up, outlining the social network perspective as a way to consider the foundational bases of learning and networks, as well as the effect of ambient influence. The paper addresses the ways learning may be viewed as a social network relation, an interpersonal relationship and an outcome of interaction and connectivity, and how network connectivity can be used as input for design for learning.\nFindings: The paper presents a range of perspectives and studies that view learning from a social network and connectivity perspective, emphasizing both the person-to-person connectivity of a learning tie and the impact of contemporary data and information sharing through the dynamics of open contributory practice.\nPractical implications: The outcome of connectivity in the service of learning is bound up with digital information practices, including individual practices of search, retrieval, participation, knowledge dissemination, knowledge construction and more. This paper provides a network perspective on learning relations that accommodates analysis in online and offline environments, but incorporates attention to the open, online retrieval and contributory practices that now influence learning practices and which may support design of new learning environments.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers insight into the way social networks and connectivity combine to show network relations, relationships, outcomes and design input at the actor, network and societal levels.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Budgetary participation and performance: some Malaysian evidence	[ "Budgetary control", "Management effectiveness", "Organizational effectiveness", "Perception", "Malaysia", "Public sector organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The present study, on budgetary participation and performance (BPP), was conducted in the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). The Ministry is a large complex, mechanistic organization with a bureaucratic administrative structure. Thompson (1967), as cited in Williams et al. (1990) challenged researchers to examine budgetary behaviour in such public sector organizations, as the budgetary behaviour may be different in these organizations compared to the behaviour in profit-making and less bureaucratic organizations. Similarly, Williams et al. (1990, p. 241) suggested that future BPP research in the public sector is important as \"...[though] there may be a universal set of [budget-related behaviour] factors which apply with equal facility to both sectors, but that particular combinations dominate depending on the state of other organizational variables. This is a rich foundation for future research\". Moreover, the budgetary behaviour in public sector organizations in the developed countries might be different from what is observed in developing countries. However, the literature to date, has largely neglected to investigate the budgetary participation and performance relationship in the public sector, especially in developing countries.Furthermore, many of the prior studies on the BPP relationship have produced conflicting results[1]. According to Nouri and Parker (1998), the inconsistent findings led researchers to examine intervening variables which may better explain the link between budgetary participation and performance. Consequently, a number of intervening variables[2] were studied. Likewise, this study includes intervening variables - organizational commitment (OC) and perception of innovation (POI). It is crucial to understand the intervening effects of OC on the BPP relationship. This is because MINDEF has been implementing participative budgeting, thus research findings that budgetary participation enhances OC and performance will have important implications for MINDEF, other public sector organizations in Malaysia and other developing countries generally. Meanwhile, examining POI is timely given the calls in the Malaysian civil service for an innovative culture in the public sector (Triantafillou, 2002). Additionally, recent public sector reforms in Malaysia have also included a move towards decentralization to improve efficiency and performance therefore budgetary processes in the Malaysian public sector, including MINDEF have been more participative. Therefore it is important to gather evidence on whether managers' perception of innovation to their organisation will mediate the BPP relationship.To summarise, the purpose of this study is to explore the BPP relationship in a large, complex public sector organization, MINDEF in a developing country, Malaysia and to examine the intervening effects of OC and POI on the BPP relationship. The paper is structured as follows: The next section provides a review of the literature. Section three presents the theoretical framework and the research hypotheses. Section four describes the research method, sample selection, survey procedure and measurement of variables. Results are presented in section five. Finally, section six concludes with limitations of the study and avenues for future research.\nPrior literature: Research on the budgetary participation and performance relationship\nTheoretical framework and development of hypotheses: The present study proposes that managers who participate in the budgetary process will exhibit higher OC, and this will lead to improved managerial performance. Nouri and Parker (1996, 1998) and Subramaniam and Mia (2001) found that budgetary participation has a positive and significant relationship with OC. Nouri and Parker (1998) argue that when managers are involved in the budgetary process, it will lead them to be better able to accept the budgetary objectives and the organizational goals, thus enhancing their OC.The literature, albeit in the private sector, argues that OC is positively related to managerial performance (Manogran, 1997; Nouri and Parker, 1998). This is a reasonable expectation since more committed managers would be more dedicated to their jobs, hence resulting in better performance. This logic is also applicable to the current context in the MINDEF.Additionally, we propose that managers who participate in the budgetary process will have a higher POI, and this will lead to improved managerial performance. Williams et al. (1990) found similar results within the public sector; however, the authors tested the association between budgetary participation and innovation, not POI. In the context of this study, innovation is difficult to measure in the MINDEF. Also, since the MINDEF is a mechanistic organization, innovation may be considered to be relatively low in comparison to private organizations. Nevertheless, due to the new recent measures by the Malaysian government to facilitate innovation, POI of the managers may paint a different picture. Therefore, allowing budgetary participation instils the perception of managers that they are innovative as their ideas seem to be valued by their organization. Such perception becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and actualizes in the managers' performance. To summarize, the relationship between budgetary participation and managerial performance is mediated by OC and POI. The framework for the study is depicted in Figure 1.Based on the review of literature, we frame the following alternate hypotheses:H1. Budgetary participation and organizational commitment have a significant positive relationship.H2. Budgetary participation and perception of innovation have a significant positive relationship.H3. Organizational commitment and managerial performance have a significant positive relationship.H4. Perception of innovation and managerial performance have a significant positive relationship.H5. Budgetary participation and managerial performance have a significant positive relationship.\nMethod: Sample selection\nResults and discussion: Demographics\nConclusions, limitations and suggestions for future research: This study aimed to provide some empirical evidence about how OC and POI mediate the relationship between budgetary participation and managerial performance. This study focused on budget managers in the MINDEF in a developing country, Malaysia. This was done to allow for a more in-depth examination of the budgetary participation and performance relationship in the public sector, and in a developing country. Further, the examination of two intervening variables, OC and POI, contribute important additional insights into the effects of these variables on the BPP relationship.The results suggest that budgetary participation has a direct relationship with managerial performance. Thus the public sector, even bureaucratic and mechanistic organizations such as the MINDEF, should encourage budgetary participation as it is evidenced to have an effect on performance. The results also suggest that budgetary participation indirectly affects managerial performance through the mediating variable of OC. However, the results do not support managers' POI as a mediating variable in the budgetary participation and managerial performance relationship, although budgetary participation is positively related to POI. It is an interesting finding that in a public sector organization, at least in a mechanistic organization like the MINDEF, further initiatives may be required, such as reward schemes, in order for POI to have an effect on performance.However, the results of this study need to be interpreted with caution. The study has several limitations. First, the present study aims to explain the intervening effects of organizational commitment and perception of innovation on the budgetary participation and performance relationship. Although the inclusion of the intervening variables serves as a strength of the present study, other variables which may also influence the relationship were not examined. For example, job satisfaction and motivation. Future work may consider incorporating these variables. Second, the study merely uses the intervening variable model view to explain the relationship. Future studies may utilize other theories such as goal-setting theory or motivation theory to explain the budgetary participation and performance relationship. Third, the present study was a study of one organization, thus the generalisability of the results to other public sector organizations in Malaysia, can be questioned. However, the budgetary process in the MINDEF may be expected to be largely similar to that in other large public sector organizations in Malaysia and other developing countries, and thus, the results may have direct and significant practical implications for such organizations in these countries. The results may also be of some value to public sector organizations in developed countries as the direct relationship between OC and performance suggested in prior studies in developed countries is affirmed in the present study. Fourth, the use of a self-rating scale for managerial performance may result in a higher leniency error or personal bias. This will reduce the objectivity of the data. Therefore, future studies may utilize superiors' ratings for managerial performance, in order to minimize subjectivity and personal bias. Fifth, the study did not attempt to assess two possible response biases; i.e. order response bias and social desirability responding. Finally, the present study only used a questionnaire survey to collect the data. In future, studies should make use of between-method triangulation and obtain data through various methods i.e. surveys and interviews, to ensure richer and more credible data (Modell, 2005).Despite these limitations, the present study has several important implications for top management in public-sector organizations. First, the results suggest that budgetary participation has a positive effect on managerial performance. This suggests that the budgetary process should not be authoritative or top-down in nature. Instead, top management must make an attempt to elicit feedback from subordinates at various levels, in developing an organization's budget. Secondly, the results suggest that when managers are allowed to provide inputs to the budgeting process, they would be more committed to the organization, and such commitment will also lead to enhanced managerial performance. Thus, the MINDEF needs to ensure that they continue to practice participative budgeting and to try to further increase the level of involvement and participation of its budget managers in the budgetary process as this has strong positive effects on managerial performance. As such, top management needs to understand that the positive impact of budgetary participation on managerial performance works both directly, as a consequence of management involvement in the budgetary process, as well as indirectly, when managers' commitment to the organization increases due to their participation and involvement in the budgetary process. However, managers' POI does not contribute to better managerial performance. This needs further research to identify the possible reasons. One plausible reason is the mechanistic and complex organizational structure of the MINDEF. Such a mechanistic structure may alleviate any positive influences that managers' POI has on performance. Thus, the Ministry and other similar public-sector organizations need to try to resolve this problem because one would expect that when managers have high POI, it would logically lead to enhanced performance. Certainly further research in this area is needed. Similar studies, using different populations and different variables, would greatly be of benefit.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the budgetary participation and performance (BPP) relationship in a public sector organization in a developing country, Malaysia. It also attempts to examine whether organizational commitment and perception of innovation mediate the BPP relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 111 budget managers in the Ministry of Defence, Malaysia, participated in the survey. Response rate was 74 per cent. A path analysis was utilised to examine the direct and indirect effects of budgetary participation on managerial performance.\nFindings: - Budgetary participation affects managerial performance via the mediating variable of organizational commitment but not perception of innovation. There is a direct relationship between budgetary participation, managerial performance, organizational commitment and perception of innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a study conducted in the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), thus results may not be generalizable to other organizations. It involves only two intervening variables; organizational commitment and perception of innovation and uses the intervening variable model to explain the budgetary participation and performance relationship. Budgetary participation improves managerial performance in MINDEF in two ways; directly, as a consequence of management involvement in the budgetary process, as well as indirectly, when managers' commitment to the organization increases due to their participation and involvement in the budgetary process.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fills a gap in the literature as very few studies have examined budgetary participation in a developing country and in a public sector organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between investments in lean practices and operational performance: Exploring the moderating effects of operational intellectual capital	[ "Operational intellectual capital", "Operational performance", "Investments in lean practices", "Lean production", "Empirical research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Lean practices have been adopted by companies across the world and there is a considerable body of work which has investigated the relationship between lean manufacturing adoption and organisational performance (Jasti and Kodali, 2015; Negrao et al., 2016). The objective of lean manufacturing is to maximise customer value while minimising waste. The ultimate goal of implementing lean production in an operation is to increase productivity, enhance quality, shorten lead times and reduce cost. Negrao et al. (2016) argue that most of the research to date has focussed on the technical aspects of lean (i.e. practice implementation and its effect on performance), rather than the \"people\" related issues. More recently, researchers have shifted their focus towards \"why\" lean works (or not), and in particular addressing human resource management (HRM) practices (Vivares-Vergara et al., 2016). For example, Bonavia and Marin-Garcia (2011) note that the majority of recent studies have concentrated on examining the HRM practices needed to sustain lean implementation over time, but little is known as to whether or not the HR function can have a more strategic impact on lean practices. Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede (2014) argue that in order to achieve sustainable lean implementation, companies need to focus on building dedicated and specialised knowledge and creating a broader structural grouping of intellectual capital (IC). Similarly, Reed et al. (2006) contend that knowledge and the management of IC has become a key factor of growth and sustainability in firms, allowing them to become more adaptable and responsive. Although prior research has shown that IC leads to improved organisational performance (Menor et al., 2007; Hsu and Wang, 2012; Lu et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2014), there has been no empirical studies of how IC influences the implementation of lean practices. More specifically, the question of how specific elements of operational intellectual capital (OIC) can influence the efficacy of lean practices has not been studied.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: 2.1 The Impact of lean practices on operational performance\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and procedures\n4. Results: 4.1 Scale validity\n5. Discussion and implications: The objective of this study was to empirically test if the OIC (in terms of human, structural and social) contribute to the efficacy of ILP. Although partial support was found for the hypothesised relationships (three out of four hypotheses were supported), our findings provide a significant contribution to the lean management theory in adopting a KBV of the firm. The significance of these contributions is discussed below.\n6. Limitations, further research and conclusion: This study has some limitations. First, we suggest further refining the measurement items of OIC to holistically capture the dimensions of OIC. Second, we investigated the impact of ILP on operational performance; however, the use of additional performance measures, such as financial- and market-related performance, could be merited. Third, the existing literature on lean practices does not address the innovativeness of lean practices and how these practices should be managed in different ways. Third, our analysis provides limited theoretical insights into how to use OIC resources differently, given how far a company has progressed on its lean journey. It may very well be the case that if a company is new to lean implementation, then this would be viewed as radical innovation and as such, HUC would play an important role in its implementation. If the company has progressed on its lean journey, then the STC and SOC might provide stronger support in increasing the efficacy of lean practices. Thus, further investigation of the relationship between the maturity level of the lean practices and the level of investments in OIC is worthy of consideration. Fourthly, our study did not consider the interrelationships among HUC, STC and SOC. Future studies could investigate how the interaction between these dimensions yields the highest impact on the efficacy of ILP. In addition, other contextual variables should be used in order to see if the impact of OIC on the efficacy of ILP varies across them. Finally, our sample framing design is likely to be non-random. Although we have the benefits of a large-scale cross-country data set, the data collection is subject to this limitation, which needs to be considered when interpreting the results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Prior research has shown that operational intellectual capital (OIC) and investments in lean practices (ILP) lead to better operational performance. However, there have been no empirical studies on the synergetic effects between OIC components and ILP. More specifically, the question - can the efficacy of ILP be increased through OIC? - has not been studied. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to report the empirical results of potential synergetic effects between OIC, as a knowledge-based resource, and ILP.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical data used for this study were drawn from the fifth round of the Global Manufacturing Research Group survey project (with data collected from 528 manufacturing plants). The hypotheses are empirically tested using three ordinary least square (OLS) models.\nFindings: The authors' findings highlight the importance of leveraging a system of complementary knowledge-based resources (OIC dimensions) and addresses the need for the reformulation of lean theory in terms of the emergent knowledge-based view of the firm. The results facilitate greater understanding of the complex relationship between ILP and operational performance. Building on the contribution of Menor et al. (2007), the authors argue that OIC represents a strategic knowledge-based resource that is valuable, hard to imitate or substitute and, when leveraged effectively, generates superior operational and competitive advantage.\nPractical implications: From a managerial standpoint, this study provides guidelines for managers on how to leverage OIC to enhance the efficacy of ILP. The authors argue that firms consider investing in OIC to increase the return from ILP, which, in turn, will enhance their operational performance and provide competitive advantage. The authors findings provide strong evidence of the importance of human, social and structural capital to enhance the efficacy of ILP.\nOriginality/value: This is the first research paper that extends the application of the intellectual capital theory in lean literature, and argues that the OIC contributes to the efficacy of ILP. The analysis facilitates greater understanding of the complex relationship between OIC dimensions, ILP and operational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the decision to offshore human resource activities: a coevolutionary perspective	[ "Outsourcing", "Human resources", "Offshoring", "Drivers", "Administrative activities", "Coevolutionary model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Offshoring has been and indeed still is being studied extensively in the field of strategic management (for a review, see Kedia and Mukherjee, 2009; Lewin, Massini, Perm-Ajchariyawong, Sappenfield and Walker, 2009; Pisani and Ricart, 2016). Offshoring, as well as outsourcing, have affected many administrative activities in the firm including HR management (Anderson, 2015; Demirbag et al., 2012; Gonzalez-Loureiro et al., 2014). However, the particular nature of the HR function and its strategic value have not been included in a model helpful for decision making related to the phenomenon of the offshoring of this function.\nTheory: Outsourcing and offshoring administrative activities\nA coevolutionary model of HR offshoring: Based on the theory of the offshoring phenomenon and supported by, on the one hand, the results from the ORN data (described in the previous section) - which seem to show differences between the strategic and efficiency drivers when considering whether to offshore HR or other administrative activities - and, on the other hand, the dynamism reflected in the DuPont case, we develop a model for understanding the HR offshoring phenomenon. We adapt the model created by Baron and Kreps (1999), which was designed for understanding the appropriateness of outsourcing the HR function.\nConclusions and implications: In this paper we focus on an HR function and a company's decision to externalize, offshore or both. The HR function is peculiar because of its high level of interaction with other corporate decisions as well as because of its strategic content. It is well known that many processes of the HR function are very strategic, giving rise to the so-called strategic HRM function. Previous literature has shown that issues of quality and trust influence the ability of companies to seek external help and outsource part or all of this function.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Offshoring has been studied widely in the literature on strategic management and international business. However, apart from its consideration as an administrative activity, scant attention has been paid to the offshoring of the human resource (HR) function. Research in this regard has instead focussed on outsourcing (Reichel and Lazarova, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of companies' decisions to offshore HR activities. It adapts the outsourcing model of Baron and Kreps (1999) by including the HR offshoring phenomenon and a dynamic perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: While the analysis is mostly conceptual, the authors ground the author's arguments in offshoring data from the Offshoring Research Network, to explore whether the drivers for offshoring HR differ from the drivers for offshoring other administrative activities. The idiosyncrasy of the HR function is supported by the authors' exploratory analysis and also by the descriptive case of a multinational and its experience with offshoring.\nFindings: A coevolutionary model is proposed for understanding the behaviour of companies offshoring their HR activities. This study contends that companies should address their decision to offshore HR activities from a dynamic perspective, being aware of three processes that are in constant change: the evolution of the HR function, the evolution of service providers, and the evolution of offshoring decisions.\nOriginality/value: This study seeks to make a threefold contribution to the international business, strategy, and HR management disciplines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation of innovative technologies in small-scale construction firms: Five Australian case studies	[ "Australia", "Innovation", "Construction works", "Construction systems", "Construction materials", "Construction operations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Innovation in construction\nResearch approach: Innovation is essential to the retention and rejuvenation of industry competitiveness. While the construction industry remains a key contributor industry to Australian GDP, it continues to be dominated by small firms. The evidence suggests that small firms are less well placed to innovate, and this in turn portends a decline in construction industry competitiveness over time, if significant innovation fails to emerge from small firms. This research aims to provide an insight into actual experiences of small firm innovations that directly benefit the innovator, or \"user-based construction innovation\". It also attempts to identify the factors that are either encouraging or discouraging innovation in the construction industry. This will enable stakeholders in the industry to be further aware of the importance of continuous improvement in providing a more efficient industry and promote the assistance of user-based innovation. Therefore specific research objectives are as follows:\nCases: The following is a presentation of the five cases:\nAnalysis and discussion: The development of small firm construction innovations undergo a process that begins with a motivation for innovation, developmental assistance in realisation of that innovation, and ends with an introduction to and implementation within the market place. Problems and difficulties can be experienced at any stage, but those towards the end of the process remain less within the control of the original innovators (Figure 1).\nConclusions and recommendations: The aim of this research was to investigate the implementation of user-based innovative construction technologies being developed in Australia, and to assess whether the construction industry is providing an environment where innovation is being supported and encouraged. As invention is not an innovation until it has been used (Slaughter, 1998), it was the implementation of these construction technologies that was the focus of the study. It can be seen that although all examples of implementing innovative construction technologies have experienced set backs on the path to implementation and commercialisation, the users of construction technologies such as the builders, trades people, and installers are a strong potential source of innovation that should be supported.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The users of construction technologies such as builders and trades people have been acknowledged as sources of potentially important innovations. These innovations may be in the form of safer, less labour intensive, or cheaper methods and processes. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the Australian construction industry is providing an environment where user-based innovation is being supported and implemented.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An explorative study was undertaken to provide an insight into actual experiences of the implementation of user-based innovation. The data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews providing case studies on multiple aspects of the implementation of innovative construction technologies. The cases involved a cross section of advances, including product, tool, and system technologies.\nFindings: The main motivation behind developing the technologies was problem solving. The associated industries of manufacturing and retail, as well as consultants within the construction industry present the greatest barriers to implementation.\nOriginality/value: This research provides a better understanding of the factors that are preventing the successful implementation of user-based innovative construction technologies in small firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
S&T&I priorities for the Russian natural resources sector	[ "Priority‐setting", "Russia", "Natural resources", "Long term planning", "Foresight", "Project planning", "Innovation", "Technology led strategy", "Sciences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, studies focusing on the identification of science, technology and innovation (S&T&I) priorities have become an integral part of government policy making in almost all developed countries, including the efficient use of natural resources and environmental protection. However, approaches and techniques used to identify priority areas for S&T&I development in various countries strongly depend on local peculiarities, socio-economic policy objectives, the availability of natural resources, the state of the environment, and various other socio-economic factors.The prospects and problems of the natural resources sector constitute a major section in most national science and technology foresight studies. Many individual foresight exercises are specifically devoted to the rational use of natural resources and environment protection. These aspects are also analysed during the course of various foresight studies undertaken in such sectors as transport, energy, agriculture, etc.In the last ten to 15 years, Japan (National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, 2010), Finland (University of Joensuu, 2010), the UK (Loveridge et al., 1995), Norway (Nordic Innovation Centre, 2007), Canada (National Research Council Canada, 2005) and other developed countries have accumulated significant experience with such projects. Many international organisations, including the European Commission (2004a, b, 2003), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2006), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (2007), and OPEC (OPEC Secretariat, 2010), have been active in the development of long-term strategies for the rational use of natural resources and in the sphere of environmental protection.Russia possesses significant reserves of minerals. Over a third of the world's natural gas, coal and iron ore reserves are located in the Russian Federation, along with about one tenth of the world's oil, and many other mineral resources. Russian fresh water reserves amount to 20 per cent of the total global stock; Russia also has significant forest resources.However, the Russian economy still remains resource-oriented. Mining of natural resources generates more than 20 per cent of the total output, while the mineral resources sector's share of total Russian exports is as high as 80 per cent (Russian Federation, 2009). All Russian hydropower plants together generate just 20 per cent of the electricity produced in the country (Russian Energy Strategy: 2030, 2009).The natural resources sector includes numerous players (federal and regional government agencies, public and private companies and industrial enterprises, R&D centres, environment protection organisations, and the general public). Their relations with each other are often affected by their opposing interests, which - given the weak legal system - engenders many problems. In particular, these include problems with the efficient utilisation of natural resources, environmental protection, and management of the natural resources sector.Russian companies that are active in the natural resources sector routinely display high emissions figures - several times higher than in other countries. Accordingly, a difficult environmental situation has been developing in Russia over the decades, which negatively affects the quality of life, health and life expectancy. Currently about 40 million Russians live in unfavourable environmental conditions, and one million reside in regions where the level of pollution is dangerous for health.The only efficient way to deal with these and many other problems, and to respond to these challenges, is by radically increasing innovation activities in the natural resources sector. However, accomplishing this is not an easy task due to a number of reasons, the most important of which include the low level of innovation activities of Russian companies, an underdeveloped innovation infrastructure, inefficient legislation, etc. Therefore, identifying S&T and innovation priorities for the natural resources sector has become an extremely important issue, especially for policy makers.In 2007, the RF Ministry of Education and Science initiated the National S&T Foresight until 2025 to identify S&T priorities (Sokolov, 2008a, 2009). The final objective was a preparation of policy recommendations on the basis of the S&T priorities; however, this objective was not totally achieved. Additional information concerning assessing the required resources (human, financial, technological, etc.) and a description of specific innovation projects was required for policy decision-making. Therefore for this additional investigation the RF Ministry of Education and Science initiated the second cycle of the National S&T Foresight until 2030. Within the implementation of this foresight study it was realised that S&T priorities should be complemented by innovative priorities for corresponding development of the Russian management system in the field of natural resources, otherwise the S&T priorities could not be fully implemented. The third foresight study commissioned by the RF Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology was devoted to exactly this task: the identification of innovative priorities for the development of the Russian management system.So, in Russia, three foresight projects related to the topic of natural resources were conducted. They were interconnected and the results of the earlier projects were used in the subsequent studies to accomplish the overall objective, i.e. to prepare recommendations for shaping Russian national S&T and innovation policy in the sphere of natural resources and environmental protection. This policy must promote the advanced development of priority technological areas, which would contribute to increasing the growth rate of the economy, environmental safety and the competitiveness of Russian companies, and help to deal with the most acute social problems.The analysis of these three Foresight projects is presented below.\n2. Methodology: The methodology of the paper includes several steps:* characterisation of the projects;* analysis of the interconnection of the projects' structures and their results; and* an assessment of their impact on policy-making.For characterisation of the projects, several dimensions are used. First of all an aim of the project is highlighted, then we describe foresight studies that created a base for our analysed projects. The structure of the project, including analysed S&T areas and levels of analysis, is characterised in the next step. Then we present the project's methodology (methods used, stages, number of experts engaged and main criteria for analysis). Finally the main results are described and illustrated.In the second step of the analysis the interconnection of the structures of the projects is explored. Then we investigate the issue of the interconnection of the results of the projects. For this objective, three characteristics are used:1. the research focus, meaning the main research objective of the study;2. the main results, where we specify the key received results of the project and conclusions made on the basis of this results; and3. questions for further investigation - on the basis of the main results and conclusions of the project we identify directions for further analysis in order to increase the impact of the project's results on policy-making.So, in the framework of this analysis we show how the results of one project are added to the results of the following project, and why the following project was initiated.Finally, the impact of the projects on policy-making is assessed. For this assessment the following scale is used:* Indirect impact - This means that the project results (such as lists of priorities, the most important research topics, policy recommendations) were used for informing policy-makers. In this case project materials are used as one information source among others, and do not have direct influence on policy-making.* Direct impact (medium) - This means that the project results were used directly for decision-making at Ministry level (corresponding decisions could concern the forming of a research agenda, budget allocation, etc.).* Direct impact (high) - This means that the project results were used directly for decision-making at government level for the development of national strategic documents.To identify the impact of the projects considered according to this scale, different documents (like project materials, reports and documents on their basis) were analysed and interviews were conducted with heads of project teams.\n3. Russian FS approaches: 3.1 National S&T Foresight: 2025 (FS1)\n4. The influence of the foresight studies on policy decision-making: As can be seen above, in the FS1 framework a large database of promising S&T areas was created; this allowed policy makers to derive a wide range of an information, for example:* key areas to strengthen positions of Russian producers in global markets on the basis of technological advantages;* estimates of the level of Russian R&D vis-a-vis the world leaders for major S&T areas;* possible time periods for obtaining R&D results, their commercial use and expected outcomes; and* measures to support R&D and their commercialisation for all major S&T areas.These FS1 results were used as an information source for many political purposes:* revision of National S&T Priorities and Critical Technologies;* design of large-scale innovation projects;* identification of research projects to be funded within federal and sectoral goal-oriented S&T programmes;* designing sectoral strategies for industries;* regional priorities for innovation development; and* priorities for international S&T co-operation.However, the real contribution of the Delphi study results to the development of policy documents was mostly indirect because they were used only as one information source among others and we could not assess the real contribution of these materials. So according to our scale (see section 2) the influence of FS1 on policy-making was indirect.In order to prepare direct recommendations for shaping S&T and innovation policy it is necessary to have more detailed and precise information about resource requirements, the evaluation of emerging markets, promising innovation projects and other information required for policy decision-making. These tasks were solved in the FS2 framework.This study provided a more profound knowledge of national competitive advantages, the resources required for development of the most important S&T areas, and perspective innovation projects for investment.The project-based recommendations for Russian S&T policy were used to adjust decision-making to future trends, whereas the technology roadmaps for perspective product groups created a background for particular measures aimed at development S&T. The RF Ministry of Education and Science used the lists of the most important innovation and research projects as a basis for the selection of projects to be funded. So in terms of our scale, the results of FS2 had a medium direct impact on policy-making because the results were used for decision-making at the level of the Ministry.At the same time, the FS2 project showed that for full use of the priorities identified for the natural resources sector, Russia also needs to implement relevant institutional changes, and create an adequate management system for the sector. It was for this purpose that the FS3 project was realised.In the framework of this study proposals to amend the relevant RF Ministry of Natural Resources strategic documents (for example, Ecological Doctrine of the Russian Federation, Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Land Code of the Russian Federation, federal law \"About Environmental Protection\" and others) were prepared in accordance with the selected priorities and major tasks for each component of the natural resources sector. Also the RF Geologic Strategy and Water Strategy were developed on the basis of the innovation priorities for the Russian natural resources sector. Therefore, we can conclude that the results of FS3 had a high direct impact on policy-making.The summary of the projects' influence on policy-making is shown in Table IV, in which the relative evaluation of this influence is given.\n5. Conclusion: The problems and major challenges that the natural resources sector is facing, its significant scale, and the large number of players, imply the need to use integrated approaches for identifying S&T and innovation priorities for this sector.The innovation and S&T priorities for the Russian natural resources sector were identified in the framework of three connected foresight projects.The first of these projects identified major S&T results in the \"Rational Use of Natural Resources\" area, assessed the current level of Russia's S&T development, and the country's international S&T co-operation potential through the development of a national innovation system. The study significantly extended the information basis for policy-making, which however could not be used directly in decision-making. A clear need was highlighted for more detailed analysis of future demand for human, financial and other types of resources for S&T development.The results of the FS2 project included the evaluation of technology groups and the identification of those that had the best prospects and conditions for further advancement; the most promising markets (and their segments) for Russian natural resources companies. Assessment of personnel, financial and technological requirements, and the potential for further S&T development identified the need to increase appropriate investments significantly. Also, major innovation projects were identified with the promise of high economic and social return. On the basis of this project recommendations for Russian S&T policy which include the most important research and innovation projects were prepared. The RF Ministry of Education and Science used the lists compiled as a basis for selection of the projects to be funded. However, according to summarised expert opinion, the FS2 policy recommendations are impossible to realise without solving problems in the management system.The FS3 course identified the innovation priorities and corresponding tasks for improving the management system the Russian natural resources sector, which would contribute to its innovation-based development and help to solve major environmental problems. The results of this project were strongly related to policy decision-making, and some strategic documents (Geologic Strategy, Water Strategy) were prepared on the basis of the output of the study.So, the analysis showed the synergy of all three projects help to achieve results that had a strong influence on policy decision-making. Therefore for better connection to policy decision-making one might conclude that a common, widespread national Delphi survey for the identification S&T priorities (which was our FS1) should be complemented by the identification of key long-term demand for resources (which was our FS2) and a reshaped management system (which was our FS3). This could be the step from just informing policy to designing policy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to analyse three individual foresight projects referring to the natural resources sector in Russia, their interconnection and influence on policy decision making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The three foresight studies used different methodologies depending on the project's goal. First the projects' interconnections are explained. Second, each of the studies is characterised from different viewpoints, including their aims, structures, methodologies and results. Finally their influence on policy-making is evaluated.\nFindings: - The paper concludes that implementation of these three interrelated studies allows identification of S&T&I priorities that have a strong connection with policy decision making. Therefore, on the basis of this experience, it is suggested that a widespread national Delphi survey for the identification of science and technology (S&T) priorities should be complemented by the identification of key long-term demand for resources and reshaped management systems.\nOriginality/value: - For the first time the paper presents an analysis of Russian foresight projects connected to the natural resources area and an evaluation of their influence on policy decision making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimal pricing in retail: a Cox regression approach	[ "Cox regression", "Markdown strategies", "Optimal pricing", "Retailers", "Pricing policy", "Survival analysis", "Discounts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In much biomedical research the use of survival analysis to model the time to a certain event is common (Fleming and Harrington, 2005; Kalbfleisch and Prentice, 2002). In a survival context Cox regression is used to measure the influence of covariates on the survival rate. The same approach can be used in economic situations where we have supply and demand. In that case, we study the time it takes for an article to be sold given the price of the article. We characterise the distribution of the time to event for a given set of articles, and we compare different marketing policies for the articles. For example, a commercial price discount for a particular set of articles for a limited set of time versus a control set of articles with no discount at all.Price is a covariant and one would like to find out whether the law of demand holds for the price and the time to event (Theil, 1976). If this law holds, then low-priced articles have short event times and high-priced articles have long event times. In our study we use T-shirts as the fashion article category that stands for most retail-fashion goods. Given the fact that in retail the selling price is in principle the cost price plus a markup, we can only optimise the profit when the law holds (Afriat, 1987).In survival analysis the data are collected over a finite period of time, for retail this is a season, and consequently the time to event cannot be always observed. Fashion mostly sustains for just one season. If the product is not sold at the end of the season we have so-called censored data. Because of censored data the normal summary statistics do not have the desired statistical properties such as unbiasedness (Zhang, 2005).Right censoring is a simple example of censoring. When there is shortage, the potential demand is higher than the available supply; we are confronted with more complicated censoring. Calendar and event times are not necessarily the same. With different time entries for the supplies to stores we have also left truncation. The event time is the difference between birth (supply) and death (selling) time. The supply of the inventory is in bulk and consequently we have to deal with tied entries. The price is time covariant and we have to address this in our estimates. With time-dependent covariance the hazards are no longer proportional. As in biomedical applications there are good reasons in retail to use the apparatus of survival analysis (Fleming and Harrington, 2005; Zhang, 2005), due to the fact that:* calendar and event times are not the same;* possibly censored data;* tied entries; and* time covariance.We study the optimal pricing problem and propose a framework based on Cox regression analysis to determine optimal markdown paths. The framework allows one to determine when and how much to markdown in order to optimise expected total profit given the available supply. When the law of demand holds at a disaggregated level, i.e., the individual retailer, we can also optimise the markdown path. We illustrate this framework by a case study on a large department store. The case study shows that significant revenues can be generated when applying this framework.\n2. Cox regression: We give three formulas: the hazard, the survival function, and a derived relation between the markdown and the price elasticity estimate. The hazard and the survival estimates are common in most commercial software and directly available for operational use (SPPS Inc., 2010). Cox regression estimates the proportional hazard. The hazard rate is the instantaneous rate of failure at time t given that an individual is alive (at risk) at time t. In a retail context, it is the instantaneous rate of selling the product at time t given that the product is available (at risk) at time t, i.e.: Equation 1 In Cox regression the hazard function estimates the relative risk of failure. The hazard function is a rate, it is not a probability. The Cox regression is used to determine the influence of predictor variables on a dependent variable. The x is the covariate, in our context the realised retail price. The b is the regression coefficient. Common in most software is to use the partial likelihood to estimate the regression coefficients. The proportional hazard model implies that the effect of the covariate on the relative hazard is constant over time. If there is non-proportionality over time we have to create a time-dependent covariate. The time-dependent covariate can then be used to fit a non-proportional hazard model in which time is included as a predictor h0(t).The base rate is to be estimated independently from the proportional hazard: Equation 2 The survival function is an estimate of the probability of surviving longer than a specified time. In the retail context, this is the probability that the article has not yet been sold. As we can see, the survival function and the hazards are related. The definition of sell-through is given by: 1-\"survival rate\". Given the sell-through, we can derive at time t the required price difference to aspire to a desirable sell-through at time t, given by: Equation 3\n3. Data preparation: The necessary input data for the regression analysis must be carefully prepared. First, we had to derive for every article the event time. An article arrives in an outlet in multiple amounts. In our data preparation we use the first in - first out principle. This means that the item first arrived is considered to be sold first. Because of the arrival in bulk we have tied data. In the literature there are several suggestions to address the problem of tied data. Tied data means that the different items of the same article have the same arrival time and cannot be individually followed (Kalbfleisch and Prentice, 2002; Zhang, 2005). We index the different items and interpolate the event times. When during the season the article is not sold, then the event time is censored. We distinguish two types of markdowns. When the markdown is temporary, we have a commercial discount. When the markdown is permanent, we have a seasonal markdown. This means that in the data, the retail price after a calendar time does not jump back to the full initial retail price. Notice that the retail price still can be reduced additionally during the calendar time. Shrinkage and customer returns of the article are considered censored. Before estimating, we create a time-dependent covariant. For all non-censored events we multiplied the full retail price with a descending index of event time. To put the time covariant on the same scale as the price we divided by 1,000. The Cox regression now takes place on the realised (turnover) price and the time-related covariant.\n4. Dataset: We gathered a dataset from a department store in The Netherlands for the first half year of 2011. We examined 206,714 items for women and 175,430 items for men. In total there were 101 different brands. We measured in days, so a season is about 185 days. One can find more detailed information in Table I.The distribution of the price points are given in Figure 1. The average price for men was 32.01 and for women this was 40.86.\n5. Results from estimation: In Table II one can see a sample of the available data after preparation. A naive approach would be to get rid of the censored data and then to estimate the survival probabilities. We entered 235,997 times, the number of terminal events was 185,405. A naive estimate gives us 185,405/235,997=0.67. The survival rate would be 1-0.67=0.33. The right estimate that corrects for censored data gives 0.29. The naive approach is over-estimating the true survival rate and is too pessimistic for the sell-through. Correcting for censored data is important for getting unbiased results. Here we analysed 5,962 different T-shirts items for both men and women in different colours and sizes during one season. A first estimate without dealing with time-related covariance would be a regression on the realised retail prices. We do not intent to use the different characteristics like colour or size as regression factors, while the influences are implicit in the event times. Our main goal is to find the price-elasticities and use them in optimal pricing.Statistics for T-shirts status\n6. Optimal markdowns: We can use equation (1) of Section 2 to optimise the expected sell-through related to the needed intensity of the markdown. Finding the optimal path can be done with Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) but is beyond the scope of this article. In Figure 2(a) we notice that the basic survival curve also could be estimated parametrically. The Weibull distribution is flexible enough and can be used as a reference norm illustrating the possibilities. Because residuals in survival analysis as a counting process are martingales we can use the Doob-Meyer decomposition. The decomposition counting process = compensator + martingale is analogous to the statistical decomposition: data = model + noise (Therneau and Grambsch, 2000), and is given by: Equation 4 The Ni(t) is the counting of the event at time t, Mi(t) is the residual, and Yi(x) li(x) is the model.We can use the analogue to model the hazard rate in relation to the price variation. The residuals as the difference between the true survival rate and the estimated base survival curve capture still the not yet identified influence of the covariates (prices). We find this depicted in Figure 3(b). We used a smoother to identify the relation captured in the residuals and price. See for example the remarks in Therneau and Grambsch (2000) for the importance of smoothing and identifying relations.Price differences give us an explanation for the variation in survival (sell-through). So we have a relation for the change in sell-through for a change in price which is just the definition for the price elasticity for an article.We use the Weibull distribution (Zhang, 2005) at the start of a new season to have a norm sell-through curve. If a particular article lags behind this norm, then we can derive, given the norm, how much markdown is needed to fill the gap between planned and realised sell-through via: Equation 5 As an example, let us process the articles for which at calendar time t=100 days the sell-through lags behind the Weibull norm. The mean norm at calendar day 100 for our articles was 0.48 (see Table IX). The mean sell-through for the articles at calendar day 100 was 0.43. We found 782 articles items for which the sell-through lags behind the expected norm. It confirms our results, low-priced articles have a higher sell-through risk compared with high prices articles.When we apply equation (1) we get the results in Table X. The Dp in equation (1) is related to the norm and the existing survival and existing retail price. Our estimated price-elasticity is now a universal constant. If the norm S0>=S1, then Dp is negative. So the necessary markdown is dependent on the difference (gap) between the norm and the actual survival weighted by price and price-elasticity. Contrarily, it can also be argued that when the norm stays behind the actual survival, there is a risk for shortage and price increase could theoretically be an option.Equation (1) opens the way for optimal pricing where we already noticed that finding the optimal path at the beginning of the season in principle could be done in a Markov Decision Problem context. The Weibull curve in our approach is used as a prediction so that we can use it as our expected value that illustrates the potential for a more rational approach in the retail price strategy. While we do not explore the potential of MDPs, we can still illustrate the considerations to be done when a markdown is suggested. We can find the opportunity costs, i.e., the profit lost when we have markdowns and the profit lost when at the end of the season we write-off the articles not sold.Notice that the Weibull curve in this context gives us a prediction of the sell-through without markdown. The prediction of the sell-through with markdown is just to apply the Cox-regression model derived with the change in price at calendar time t. At calendar time t=100 we calculated for 3,348 articles the opportunity return while their actual sell-through lagged behind the Weibull-norm. The return is defined as the \"realised retail price\"-\"cost price\". The cost price is given and constant and the realised retail price changes as a consequence of the planned markdowns.We compare the weighted return with markdown and without markdown. The weighting is based on the expectations of the sell-through. We examined a -0.30 markdown. For only 4.3 per cent of the articles the expected return with markdown was not profitable compared with a write-off of the articles not sold at the end of the season. The average return with markdown compared without markdown and write-off increased with 3 per cent. Given these preliminary results further investigation to derive an optimal allocation of prices is warranted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to study the optimal pricing problem that retailers are challenged with when dealing with seasonal products. The friction between expected demand and realized demand creates a risk that supply during the season is not cleared, thus forcing the retailer to markdown overstocked supply.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors propose a framework based on a Cox regression analysis to determine optimal markdown paths. They illustrate this framework by a case study on a large department store.\nFindings: - The framework allows one to determine when and how much to markdown in order to optimize expected total profit given the available supply. When the law of demand holds at a disaggregated level, i.e. the individual retailer, it is also possible to optimize the markdown path.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides a framework for the complex dynamic pricing problem in retail using transactional data. The case study shows that significant revenues can be generated when applying this framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Progression and development of information and communication technology research in hospitality and tourism: A state-of-the-art review	[ "Tourism research", "Technology applications", "Systematic literature review", "Information and communication technologies", "Hospitality research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As technology has been transforming our society, we have distinctly witnessed how information technology (IT) in general and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in particular re-engineer the operational and strategic management of the hospitality and tourism industries over the recent years. Statista (2018) reports that the global digital travel sales increased from US$470bn in 2014 to US$629bn in 2017. Many industry studies assert that the shift from offline to online booking can become pronounced in the coming years because of improved mobile-based experiences (Phocuswright, 2017; Travelport, 2017). Aside from transforming the distribution landscape, ICTs are disrupting industry structures and operations. Although hospitality and tourism industries are widely acknowledged as human intensive, self-service and robotic technologies have been increasingly deployed in the operations of airports, hotels and restaurants (Murphy et al., 2017). The conception of having fully robot-operated hotels is also proven to be attainable after Henn-na Hotel (www.h-n-h.jp/en/) was launched in 2015. As technological advances have been and will continue to be empowering tourism actors to form new markets, operational strategies and strategic practices, Xiang (2018) envisions that technologies can assign new meanings to tourism management.\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Data collection\n3. ICT research from consumers' perspective: 3.1 Technology adoption\n4. ICT research from suppliers' perspective: 4.1 Promotion\n5. Discussions and conclusions: 5.1 Discussions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to present a state-of-the art review on information and communication technology (ICT) research in hospitality and tourism published between 2014 and 2017.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 288 full-length articles from eight top-tier hospitality and tourism journals were gathered by harnessing a systematic literature search approach. Subsequently, the authors used a qualitative content analysis to review, analyse and assign all included articles into a framework with six consumer-related and five supplier-related research streams.\nFindings: In terms of volume (i.e. the amounts and ratios of ICT research in top-tier journals by publication year) and variety (i.e. the diversity of research topics), a significant progression of ICT research in hospitality and tourism is observed. However, some old and new knowledge gaps are still inadequately addressed, thus requiring scholars and practitioners to conduct additional research in the future.\nPractical implications: The accumulation of knowledge and actionable clues in this study is expected to keep practitioners updated with the overwhelming volume of ICT research.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by accelerating the accumulation of knowledge on research topics and setting forth an agenda for future research. The findings also complement prior literature reviews by providing an overview of how knowledge on ICT research in hospitality and tourism has progressed since 2014.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating Six Sigma methodology to improve logistical measures of food distribution SMEs	[ "Six Sigma", "Supply chain management", "Quality management", "Food service", "Small- and medium-sized enterprises", "Logistics management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As the food industry becomes increasingly global and expands to meet the demands of a growing world population, so does the increasing need for competitiveness within and between food supply chains with growing consumer driven value (Zokaei and Hines, 2007). The global food supply chains and logistics network of today are particularly fragile and complex and may be easily subject to risk of poor quality, higher cost and increased lead time due to complex network of different entities (Dani and Deep, 2010). With globalisation and expansion, consolidation also often follows and as a result, the small-players within the food sector, that characteristically deal with logistics and distribution, face increasing competition and will need to continually improve to survive. This is exacerbated by the fact that like many other sectors, the food sector is dominated by a large proportion of the market being supplied through a large number of small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), defined for the purposes of this study using the UK definition as any organisation with <250 employees (European Commission, 2003 and Department of Trade and Industry DTI, 2005 cited in Kumar et al., 2009). It is vital then that SMEs are able to distinguish themselves from their competitors through aspiration for quality, customisation and continuous improvement. However, this remains a challenge since many SMEs run on very tight margins, with low staff resources and see quality and performance management as a luxury rather than necessity. This made less research interest in this area and especially related to the food distribution SME sector. The motivation behind this research study is thus to examine how SMEs in the food distribution sector might be able to adopt an appropriate quality and business improvement initiative throughout its integrated functions of purchasing, transportation and storage which extends to assuring effective customer service, total cost efficiency, competitive advantage and ultimately enhanced organisational performance (Mentzer et al., 2008).\n2. Background literature: The growing interest of Six Sigma as an ever-increasing integration of quality and business strategy is acknowledged by researchers (Grigg and Walls, 2007; McAdam and Lafferty, 2004) in that the competitive nature of supply chains demands quality and perfection in both production and service. The increase of the scope of the Six Sigma literature is reflected in studies covering service sectors (Delgado et al., 2010; McAdam and Hazlett, 2010), business functions and SMEs (McAdam and Hazlett, 2010). Six Sigma is recognised as a means of managing global competitiveness to pursue continuous improvement (Kumar et al., 2008) and is described by Johannsen and Leist (2009) both as a top-down strategic improvement programme and as a set of quality tools or techniques. It is also described as a business excellence strategy (Antony et al., 2007) and as being a customer-driven (Nakhai and Neves, 2009; De Konning and De Mast, 2006), a project-driven (Assarlind et al., 2012; Kwak and Anbari, 2006) or a business-driven (Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007) methodology, which focuses on decision making based on quantitative data (De Konning and De Mast, 2006) and statistical and non-statistical tools (Manville et al., 2012), to lead towards improving the organisation's product, process and service (Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007), financial performance (Nakhai and Neves, 2009) or general business strategy (Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007). This significant relationship between a customer-focused practice with supply chain capability and financial improvement was acknowledged by research studies (Lado et al., 2011).\n3. Research background and methodology: In the food supply chain, food distribution is a crucial part of the overall logistical operations for products that may have a very short shelf life and require fast moving supply channels. Minimising \"defects\" and minimising waste is thus a crucial element in this part of the chain and it is recognised as one of the most important processes within a food supply chain, since it can directly affect the whole supply chain's performance in terms of quality, cost, flexibility, dependability and speed (Ahmad et al., 2005). In the light of this, it is important to know whether the application and use of Six Sigma in a food distribution SME can help improve performance in this particular sector.\n4. Result and discussion: 4.1 Questionnaire analysis\n5. Conclusion: The research gap in Six Sigma application in food service SMEs and lack of attention in research studies in relation to integrating Six Sigma with food supply chain and logistics have been highlighted by this study. It was concluded that despite of lack of attention in literature, any food distribution SME with high value in customisation has capability to meet required KSFs and to be enabled to potentially implement Six Sigma in order to improve their logistical measures. It was also concluded that Six Sigma is more reliable methodology to improve the business performance of the food distribution SMEs in comparison with Lean and ISO9000 as two most used tools and techniques in the sector.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of the Six Sigma methodology as a systematic business strategy and quality initiative to improve the critical logistical measures within small-to-medium-sized food distributors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The first stage was the conducting of structured questionnaires to verify the applicability in terms of capability, resources and culture in the targeted industry. The second stage was the implementation of two industrial case studies to investigate the impacts of Six Sigma on logistical measures.\nFindings: It was found that Six Sigma is applicable and beneficial in small-to-medium-sized food distributors. It was also found that required training, personal characteristics of managers, size of the organisation, education level and workplace of the employees are the most effective elements to adopt Six Sigma for these organisations.\nResearch limitations/implications: Cultural factors including high level of secrecy in information exchange, ambiguity and lack of knowledge, sampling population and requirement of ISO9000 were found as key issues in implications of this research programme.\nPractical implications: Six Sigma programme can be used as a problem solving practice, a performance measurement tool and a business strategy in small food distributors through more simplified approach to improve the ultimate food supply chain.\nOriginality/value: This research paper studies the application of Six Sigma in food logistics SME sector by having integrated research approach, and also provides a practical scientific and rigorous quality and profitability improvement methodology for smaller food distribution organisations with limited resources.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Uneven partners: managing the power balance	[ "Case study", "Value creation", "Partnerships", "Dual-value appropriation", "Asymmetry", "Value distribution" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globalization, technological advances and capital constraints put pressure on firms to innovate in a collaborative manner. Firms cannot compete in isolation anymore. Developing long-term relationships with partners has become a clear route to success, as illustrated by many researchers from different fields who have tried to advance our understanding of alliances and business relationships. One specific case is the buyer-seller relationship, which must strive to respond to intensified competitive pressures.\nValue creation and distribution in asymmetric partnerships: Collaborative relationships encompass a variety of organizational forms, such as partnerships and alliances. These relationships can be understood as complex organizational forms and are usually viewed as incomplete contracts (Anand and Khanna, 2000). In alliances, we can expect the knowledge base of all parties to expand. We also expect new applications and the commercialization of new products with the objective of achieving competitive advantages for each partner through productivity, quality improvements and significant innovation. Partners work together to complement their resources and achieve what they cannot do on their own. Partnerships usually involve the transfer of know-how between firms, especially their skills and knowledge (Ballantyne et al., 2011; Anand and Khanna, 2000). Alliances provide firms with opportunities for value creation as they interact, exchange, combine and develop new knowledge.\nThe case study: To achieve the objectives of this paper, a case study approach is used to illustrate our ideas. This method allows us to study a phenomenon in relation to its context and enables us to identify variables and to study their interactions. To ensure the quality of the method, we followed the recommendations made by Yin (1994). A set of interviews were carried out with key informants (the CEO of our focal firm, the commercial manager of one of the biggest suppliers and with the SCM manager of one of the firm's distributors). Preliminary reports were sent to key informants, professional experts and university colleagues for revision to ensure the quality of the study.\nStrategies for creating value in asymmetric partnerships: Faced with significant points of difference, it is not uncommon for asymmetric partnerships to fail. However, we propose that there are practical and systematic approaches that small firms can adopt to effectively engage with large partners in creating value. Figure 1 summarizes our arguments organized around three main steps, namely: select a reduced number of key partners, build relational capital and develop reciprocal value propositions.\nDiscussion: Because of competition in global markets, it is increasingly difficult for firms to create value in isolation. As a result, inter-firm relationships and alliances have proliferated. In their never-ending battle to reduce cost, improve quality, access new markets and technologies, firms develop a portfolio of partnerships where asymmetric relationships increasingly play a more significant role.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Research suggests that asymmetry has a negative impact on value creation and value distribution and assumes that the smaller partner has an inferior position and must defend itself from value misappropriation. However, industries are plagued with a range of business relationships of varying degree of imbalance. Ambitious and growth-oriented small firms enter relationships with larger counterparts, tolerate the imbalance and learn to achieve successful outcomes. In spite of the increasing importance of asymmetric partnerships, there are still many research and conceptual lacunas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Ideas and conclusions of this paper are based on the authors' experience as well as on evidence from a qualitative case study conducted at a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and one of its key larger partners.\nFindings: Findings reveal that asymmetric partnerships may offer a clear route to value creation and innovation for firms. Moreover, both partners can fully appropriate the value jointly generated.\nOriginality/value: Asymmetric partnerships, generally characterized by large dissimilarities between firms, offer the possibility of moving beyond the zero-sum game, where firms obtain value at the expense of their partners. By examining the development and dynamic aspects of these partnerships, we found a novel concept, \"dual-value appropriation\", and addressed the issues of how and under which conditions dual value emerges to explain the success of asymmetric partnerships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An innovative decision support tool for liquefied natural gas supply chain planning	[ "LNG", "Contract assignment", "Decision support tool", "LNG supply chain", "MILP", "Tramp shipping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Natural gas is considered to be an important alternative energy source for many countries, which is forecasted to have a global share of approximately 25 per cent among other energy sources by 2040 (BP, 2019). This share is projected to increase in the following years, when upcoming regulations aiming at the reduction of carbon emissions come to force. Liquefaction of natural gas and transportation in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is proven an advantageous procedure, with regard to the feasibility and economic efficiency of its transportation. As a result, global gas demand may lead to further LNG infrastructure projects, which may affect the future state of the LNG market. The deployment of LNG supply chains enables flexible supplies in terms of volume, destination and pricing. Already, short-term trade accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the total LNG trade (IGU, 2019), indicating that the competition will intensify, and market volatility will grow.\n2. Planning within the liquefied natural gas supply chain: 2.1 The liquefied natural gas supply chain\n3. The proposed decision support tool: 3.1 Problem description\n4. Case study: An application of the proposed DST was conducted with a twofold aim of validating the proposed solution approach, and analysing the impact of various problem parameters on the solution quality. The mathematical model was implemented using MATLAB and computations were performed on a 2.0 gigahertz dual-core processor and 8 gigabyte RAM computer running on Windows 10 environment.\n5. Conclusion: In this paper, a real-life problem for the optimisation of LNG supply chains stimulated the formulation of a DST. The tool was designed to include as input data a variety of technical parameters regarding the export/liquefaction and import/regasification terminals and the vessels. All those components of the midstream LNG supply chain may be combined in numerous configurations under specific constraints imposed to the objective function, at the core of the mathematical model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to improve the tactical planning of the stakeholders of the midstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain, using an optimisation approach. The results can contribute to enhance the proactivity on significant investment decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A decision support tool (DST) is proposed to minimise the operational cost of a fleet of vessels. Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) used to perform contract assignment combined with a genetic algorithm solution are the foundations of the DST. The aforementioned methods present a formulation of the maritime transportation problem from the scope of tramp shipping companies.\nFindings: The validation of the DST through a realistic case study illustrates its potential in generating quantitative data about the cost of the midstream LNG supply chain and the annual operations schedule for a fleet of LNG vessels.\nResearch limitations/implications: The LNG transportation scenarios included assumptions, which were required for resource reasons, such as omission of stochasticity. Notwithstanding the assumptions made, it is to the authors' belief that the paper meets its objectives as described above.\nPractical implications: Potential practitioners may exploit the results to make informed decisions on the operation of LNG vessels, charter rate quotes and/or redeployment of existing fleet.\nOriginality/value: The research has a novel approach as it combines the creation of practical management tool, with a comprehensive mathematical modelling, for the midstream LNG supply chain. Quantifying future fleet costs is an alternative approach, which may improve the planning procedure of a tramp shipping company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Barriers for people with disabilities in visiting casinos	[ "Disabled people", "Consumer behaviour", "Casinos", "Barriers", "Macao", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Disability has been historically defined as the loss of bodily function. The World Health Organization (2007) defines disability as any restriction or lack of ability (resulting from an impairment) to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Disability is defined by the American Disability Act (ADA) (US Department of Justice, 1990) as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. In China, \"a person with disability\" refers to one who:\nLiterature review: Research on the barriers encountered by people with dishabilles in the tourism and hotel sectors\nMethodology: This study adopted the qualitative research approach for three reasons. First, there was a lack of existing research on this topic. Second, the use of in-depth interviews is appropriate when addressing sensitive issues (Poria et al., 2010, 2011). Third, this research approach is recommended for studying both minority groups and people with disabilities (O'Day and Kileen, 2002), particularly in tourism (Poria et al., 2010, 2011). In-depth interviews were conducted in two stages between September and October 2011. First, one-on-one interviews with 12 visitors who had mobility disabilities (wheelchair and crutches) and visual impairment were conducted. They were Macao residents and all had experiences in visiting casinos in Macao. Participants were recruited through the investigator's clinical and community networks and personal referrals (snowball technique). In selecting the respondents, attempts were made to ensure that respondents represented their sector well. For instance, about three to five respondents with disabilities from each of the visually and physical impaired sectors (including those who needed to use wheelchairs or who were dependent on crutches) were selected. They came from different age groups (18-27, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64) and represented both genders. Some difficulties were encountered in finding the respondents with disabilities. First, not many of them were willing to attend an interview, perhaps due to being afraid of answering some sensitive issues. Second, few people from this market segment have the chance to visit and play at a casino. Three senior students at the University of Macau were trained and recruited to conduct the interviews. Several demonstrations and training workshops were given before they began conducting the interviews. The interviews were conducted in person in private locations such as the homes of the respondents, or in parks or the centers/associations for people with disabilities that the respondents belonged to.\nFindings: Visitation patterns\nDiscussion and managerial implications: Discussion\nConclusion: As with other research, this study is not without its limitations. First, the sample is limited to Macao participants. Second, the sample size of our interviewees is small, and may consist of individuals who have subjective opinions and bias toward the research issue. Also, our respondents with disabilities are focused in the 35-44 and 45-54 age ranges and were mostly unemployed. Third, a qualitative key informant research method can cast some light on the tentative findings, but it cannot represent the whole population. Future studies could pursue the same line of enquiry by interviewing more respondents with disabilities and conducting quantitative surveys to seek a wider range of views. It is suggested that those with hearing disability and intelligence deficiency should be interviewed in future studies, as they are not included in this research. Finally, this study only interviewed local persons with disabilities. Further research should also include tourists with disabilities, because they may encounter other types of difficulties that the local people do not run up against (e.g. relating to the travel agent or tour guide service and assistance).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers identified by people with disabilities in visiting casinos.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 people with disabilities recruited from the investigator's clinical and community networks and personal referrals, and 18 casino supervisors and dealers who attended a casino diploma course offered by a university. The data were subjected to thematic content analysis.\nFindings: The results indicated that customers with disabilities faced physical, human and financial barriers during their visit to casinos. The six barriers that were commonly identified by all participants included: the physical barriers in game playing; insufficient facilities and accessibility; insufficient space; entrance blockage; poor staff service; and insufficient information and communication. There were two other barriers reported only by the participants with disabilities - social exclusion and financial barriers. Differences in comparison to the barriers that this market segment had encountered in other tourism contexts are also discussed.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample is limited to Macao participants and the sample size is small.\nPractical implications: This study offers recommendations for casino operators and government authorities with regard to specific physical, financial and interpersonal means to alleviate apparent difficulties faced by people with disabilities when visiting a casino.\nOriginality/value: This study fills the research void in the literature regarding the barriers encountered by people with disabilities in visiting a casino. It also broadcasts the genuine voice of this market segment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The primacy of theory	[ "Marketing environment", "Marketing theory", "Research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In this issue of EJM, we provide the first of what we anticipate will be a regular and ongoing series of Editorials. We have waited until now to write our first piece, primarily because we wished to get a \"feel\" for the submissions as they came in, as well as to decide how best to discharge our responsibilities as Editors. However, to be completely honest, the reason has also been partly because we have been delighted with the sheer number of manuscripts which have been submitted so far. Thus, with the change to an online system and all that was associated with it, we simply have had very little time to sit back and reflect on EJM as a whole. We would firstly like to humbly thank all of the scholars who have submitted their work to EJM, and also most especially the superb team of reviewers who have helped us in moving forwards. As befits a new editorial team, many of these reviewers are new additions to our ad hoc panel, and we will be moving forwards with continuing changes to the EJM editorial system, board, and ad hoc team as the year moves on. More information on this will be provided soon. As authors and reviewers will know, since the beginning of 2008, we have moved to a fully on-line submission and review process, using Manuscript Central. We would like to thank authors and reviewers for adapting so smoothly to our on-line process. Already we have seen the benefits of this process, particularly in terms of efficiency and speed. Inevitably there have been some initial \"teething\" problems, and we thank colleagues who have experienced these for their patience and perseverance. We also thank Darshan Kitare, our editorial assistant, for her calm and good-humoured efficiency, as well as Richard Whitfield, Mary Miskin, and Andrea Watson-Lee at Emerald, for helping us find our feet.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this editorial is to provide indicative guidance to prospective EJM contributors of the importance of theoretical development to the success of submissions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors use a combination of conceptual thinking and theoretical literature to present key concepts of theory and its relevance to a manuscript's contribution to knowledge.\nFindings: - The authors propose some guidelines for researchers who wish to publish the results of their work in EJM, and these also have relevance to other top academic journals.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The topic of theoretical conceptualisation and development is a complex one. Because of space constraints, the coverage of many issues is necessarily brief in this article.\nPractical implications: - Scholars should find the thoughts contained in this article to be of significant benefit to their publication efforts in EJM and other top journals.\nOriginality/value: - While other top marketing journals have in the past provided similar guideline-style pieces, this is one of the few to be written from an inclusive perspective, with the explicit focus on the theoretical development stage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Irish universities: male-dominated? Limits and possibilities for change?	[ "Management culture", "Gender", "Universities", "Change", "Irish", "Women", "Ireland", "Diversification", "Change management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Universities present themselves as gender-neutral meritocracies, concerned with the transmission and creation of scientific, objective knowledge. However it is now widely accepted that they are in fact gendered organisations (Deem et al., 2008; Collinson and Hearn, 1996; Brooks, 2001; Cockburn, 1991). Oakley (2001) suggested that: \"We know that whatever is represented as gender-neutral is likely to obscure the power relations of gender [...]. Women 'fail' to gain inclusion because they are judged in systems set up by men reflecting male standards and criteria\". It has been suggested that the barriers women face include those related to male definitions of merit and male dominated career paths; a \"chilly\" organisational culture premised on homosociability, male life styles and priorities; and women\nMethodology: In this paper quantitative data comes from three sources:\nAre universities male-dominated?: The gender profile of professorial, senior management and governance positions in universities is important because those in these positions are most likely to be involved in the creation and validation of knowledge inside and outside the universities. Their gender profile is also important in providing young people with role models: same-sex role models being important in women students\nGendered organisational cultures: limits of change: The concept organisational culture has been used to refer to the existence and importance of a complicated fabric of management myths and values that legitimise women\nSummary and conclusions: The qualitative data in the present study draws on a purposive sample of 40 of those in senior management in Irish universities, with a response rate of 85 per cent. As seen particularly by the women, it was an organisational culture where men were, for the most part, most comfortable working with other men, and which was conformist and homosocial. Thus as in Currie and Thiele\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide a quantitative picture of the extent to which Irish universities are male-dominated at senior management, professoriate and governance levels; to locate this pattern in an international context; and, drawing on qualitative data from a purposive sample of Irish university senior managers, to explore the limits and possibilities of change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The quantitative data at senior management level draw on a largely web-based study, supplemented by interview data from a purposive sample of 40 people (85 per cent response rate) in senior management positions in all seven universities funded by the state - including those at Dean to Presidential level, men and women, and academics and non-academics. The interview schedule used in the qualitative study was devised by the eight-country Women in Higher Education Management Network (WHEM).\nFindings: Irish universities are very male-dominated at senior management, professoriate and governance levels. The qualitative data suggest that the limits to change are an organisational culture that is homosocial and conformist, where women and their attitudes and priorities are seen as \"the problem\". Yet there was a striking level of endorsement of various discourses suggesting that having women in senior management makes a difference.\nResearch limitations/implications: The failure of the Higher Educational Authority to collect data on the gender of those in senior management in Irish universities has necessitated the use of the web. This is an effective pragmatic response, but obviously not as satisfactory as official data.\nPractical implications: It has been widely recognised that diversity in management teams is positively associated with innovation. In this context the absence of such diversity in the senior management teams in Irish universities raises concerns in the context of the challenges facing Irish society in general and the university sector in particular. The references to the organisational culture as conformist and homosocial raise fundamental questions about the universities\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first specific study of senior management in Irish universities. It echoes and specifies the nature of the organisational culture - but also highlights the existence of legitimating discourses endorsed by senior managers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The reading public in the United Arab Emirates	[ "UAE", "Determinants", "Fiction", "Multivariate probit", "Leisure reading", "Spirituality and health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The human mind is the centre of development and the book is the tool used to renew the mind. A nation can never grow without a renewed mind and lively, knowledgeable spirit - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum[1](The National, 2016).The importance of reading, literature and literacy in society (as implied by the above quote) spans the economic, political, spiritual and social-cultural spheres. Several authors have highlighted specific contributions of reading and literature. For example, Jiyoung (2013) reports that reading global literature positively impacted L2 learners' development of literacy ability and intercultural sensitivity among groups of young Korean Second Language Learners of English as Foreign Language. In their observation of adult literacy program participation on household consumption in Ghana, Blunch and Portner (2011) cite a positive influence on economic livelihood. Aubry (2011) asserts that Americans find contemporary fiction cathartic and therapeutic in combatting their lonely and dissatisfied lives. Furthermore, scholars (such as Bloom, 2001; Felski, 2008; Zapf, 2016) from various perspectives and in varying degrees, advocate not only why literature matters, but also how we should read and interpret literature.\n2. Data: The study uses survey data from the two largest emirates in the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Dubai). The survey was administered by Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC)[3], based on a questionnaire designed by the authors, using a Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing survey system. The questionnaire, which was administered in 2012 as part of the country's first, and currently only, comprehensive Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, had both English and Arabic versions. Some 1,377 interviews, consisting of 650 and 727 households from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, were completed. The sample frame was designed to be representative of the structure of the adult population in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the final sample closely matched the set quota profile. A response rate of 10 and 17 percent for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, was achieved. This is in line with response rates for telephone interviews. For example, Pew Research Center's (2012) report indicates a typical telephone survey response rate of 9 percent in 2012. The survey, which covered residents (locals and expatriates), was conducted with respondents within regular dwelling units only and did not cover any irregular, casual or provisional shacks or shelters. Within the households, only family members and resident relatives were interviewed, thus excluded lodgers, domestics or house-helpers.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Theoretical model\n4. Results: 4.1 Summary characteristics of key variables\n5. Conclusion: The study identifies some important determinants of the interest to read, as well as actual reading. Overall, gender is found to be important. A distinct gender bias in favor of women is identified. Females show significantly more interest in reading than males in all the three genres (fiction, religion and spirituality and health and fitness) analyzed. Females are also significantly more likely to read novels and short stories than men. This is unsurprising and of itself may not be a cause for concern. Studies such as the National Endowments for the Arts (2015) find the same trend in the USA. However, other studies (Fryer and Levitt, 2010; Hoel, 2014) have also identified a reverse gender gap in performance, with girls outperforming boys in elementary school math in many MENA countries, including UAE, unlike other countries, such as the USA. Together, these results point to a gender disparity that is a cause for concern.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the socioeconomic factors that influence the public's reading interest in specific genres of literature, as well as what the public actually reads or listens to in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey of 1,377 households, consisting of 650 and 727 from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, was conducted in 2012 as part of the country's first, and to date only, comprehensive Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. A multivariate probit model is applied to analyze factors that influence interest in reading fiction, religion and spirituality and health and fitness. In addition, factors that influence public's likelihood to read novels, short stories and poems are also assessed.\nFindings: The results indicate that ethnicity, gender and education level significantly influence both the interest in reading, and actual reading habits. For example, while Asian and Western expatriate groups show more interest in fiction and health and fitness literature, Emirati are more likely to read poems. A gender difference is identified with females more likely to read.\nResearch limitations/implications: The survey focused on regular dwelling units and within a household, family and resident relatives. Hence, it excludes a segment of residents, such as domestic workers and unauthorized migrants.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to empirically assess the factors influencing the public's interest and reading habits across a range of genres of literature in the UAE.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of opportunistic maintenance policy towards optimal maintenance system (OPTOMS) model: A case study	[ "Preventive maintenance", "Corrective maintenance", "Maintenance optimization", "Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Maintenance system in theory vs in the industry: The basic objective of maintenance activities is to ensure that production equipment and support items are in good condition, serviceable and safe to operate. The key for achieving an effective and successful maintenance system is to have optimal maintenance activities planned and scheduled according to machine specification and production planning (Parida et al., 2015). However, the optimization process is the major challenge in the maintenance system as the industrial environment is characterized by various uncertainties (Jardine and Tsang, 2006). There is a big gap between theory and practice in a maintenance optimization as discussed by Dekker (1996). The gap is discussed in six main aspects.\n2. Focus and motivation of OPTOMS model: The focus for the development of the OPTOMS model is to effectively apply OM policy in the real industry in the effort to achieve the optimal maintenance system. OM is a combination of preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM) in the scheduling of maintenance activities (Ab-Samat and Kamaruddin, 2014). As mentioned in the earliest publications on OM by Rander and Jorgenson (1963) as well as by McCall (1963), OM policy is described to the use of the concept of \"opportunity.\" The concept is illustrated in Figure 1. It can be chronicled with an occurrence of a failure of a component in a system or on a machine during operation that will result in downtime and stoppages of the whole system. Nevertheless, this situation can be used as an opportunity to conduct PM simultaneously on the other component in a similar system. However, the key to be observed is that the preventive task selected should satisfy a few rules in order to have an optimal maintenance system.\n3. OPTOMS model: The term \"model\" here refers to a range of concepts, principles and methods that are structured together to achieve certain objectives. The model is developed in five main phases. The first phase in the OPTOMS model is developed with the emphasis on the idea that maintenance is an important element in a company operation. Therefore, the steps in this phase are related to identifying maintenance objective that is consistent with the company's mission and vision. Once identified, maintenance tasks planned will be focusing on the performance measures that relate to the company's aim and future plan. Then, next phase proposes that critical or important machine in the whole operation is to be selected for implementation of OM policy. Selection criteria can be either by the experience of maintenance engineer or analysis of failure occurrences of machines. The one with the highest downtime will be chosen for improvement.\n4. Phase I: identification of maintenance objectives based on company's mission and vision: The first phase of the model is aimed at the fact that all maintenance tasks are conducted with the company's mission and vision as its guidelines for improvement. To change the mentality that a maintenance system is a non-added value for an organization, the system performance should be measured and improved according to what company's aims to achieve in the future. The relation between a company's mission and vision with the maintenance system is best shown by Al-Turki (2011) as linked in Figure 4.\n5. Phase II: prioritization of system/machine: For manufacturing plant, it is definitely a common practice to have more than one process to produce a product. Therefore, production plant consists of a series of machines and equipment that make it a complex system to begin an improvement process. And, due to cost, time and resource constraints, it is impossible for maintenance management to analyze and conduct improvement on all machines at once. For that, any implementation should be conducted stage by stage in order to simplify the process as well as to ease observation. Thus, the best solution is to identify and select one critical or important system or process as an initial study point. The second phase of OPTOMS model involves the selection of a system or machine to apply the OM policy. For the OPTOMS model, the selection process starts with the identification of the main issue that occurs in a manufacturing plant. In this phase, stacked-bar chart is selected as the analysis tool and the prioritization process is developed in three steps.\n6. Phase III: assessment of preventive maintenance (PM) activities and failure analysis: Once the critical machine is identified, the OPTOMS model is directed further to analyze and study the PM's plan for the machine. This phase also includes the analysis of failures using the FMEA method. The motivation of this phase is to have complete maintenance information that can be referred when planning maintenance activities according to OM principle and rule in the next phase.\n7. Phase IV: opportunistic maintenance (OM) principle and rule selection: In the previous phases of OPTOMS model, first maintenance objective was derived from the company's mission and vision. Then, a machine with the highest downtime was selected for analysis and application of OM policy. Subsequently, PM activities and previous failures underwent by components in the machine were listed and studied to find the component's relation to one another. Now, the fourth phase aims to deliberate the rules, assumptions and limitations that are needed to be observed when conducting OM policy. First, Step 1 premeditates on the application of a component proximity rule based on a dependency factor that will be used in decision making. Then, Step 2 lists the assumptions and limitations in applying the OM policy in the OPTOMS model. The rules, assumptions, and limitations work as information and guidelines in using the model. In the model, this information is significant for the proper and structured decision-making process when performing maintenance tasks. The steps in this phase will incorporate OM principle and concept during analysis of data. Further descriptions are provided in the next subsections.\n8. Phase V: measurement and control of optimal maintenance system (OMS): Maintenance performance is defined as the state or condition of the action or process in conducting maintenance function when measured from time to time. Levels of maintenance effectiveness toward manufacturing operation illustrate the performance, and it is necessary to establish appropriate metrics for the purpose of measuring the maintenance performance (Chan et al., 2005). Suitable and effective maintenance performance measurement is crucial to monitor the maintenance activities and the planning for more successful improvement. And, maintenance tasks should be conducted effectively to reduce downtime and increase machine availability without compromising its reliability and at the lowest cost possible.\n9. Model validation in a case study company: In order to use the concept and principle of OM policy in the industry, the best research method is to conduct a series of a case study in the industry as to test the developed model in real situations. A case study is a useful method to test theoretical models by using it in real-world situations. Operating as a subcontracting company, Company A offers different packages of processes for product manufacturing based on customer demand and specifications (packages). The company comprises a full range of support and services from circuit design, prototype fabrication, and mass production up to board assembly. Most of the products produced in this company are in the form of a panel and can be commonly found in electronic products like car headlamps and taillight and antenna. The company's mission and vision are to focus on productivity as demand is high for their product.\n10. Discussion: In proving the viability of the OPTOMS model in the real industrial application, a validation process is conducted in a case study company with a multi-component system to test the component dependency and proximity principles in the OM policy. The maintenance policy measured in this process is related to the machine's availability by reducing machine failure rate. The validation of the OPTOMS model in the multi-component system is hoped to mirror the real situation in the industry. It is worth to be noted that OM applications described in the literature are based on a single component or a few components. Yet, the real industry uses equipment with the multi-component and multi-unit system. Because more maintenance activities plan for more components in a system, and then, more OM activities can be applied when opportunities arise.\n11. Conclusion: An OPTMS model is developed as a decision support system for the application of OM policy based on practical theory. As the effort to reduce the gap between theory and practice, the model can be used in the decision-making process toward the idea of having an optimal maintenance system. The optimal system can be catered to suit the company mission and vision. The concept opportunity in the model is the time or the moment at which PM tasks can be carried out on an un-failed component without having adverse effects of a unit shutdown being incurred. As discussed, this research provides the detail analysis of OM as a maintenance policy. OM was found to be originated from ARP and BRP concepts, and then developed based on both concepts of age-related system performance with component relation and proximity to decide for maintenance activities and opportunities function. However, this concept is not directly addressed in publications and the study of the evolution both in theory and in real industry application is very much lacking. Therefore, more research works are needed on the issue so that OM can be more practical and easy to be implemented.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Opportunistic maintenance (OM) policy is a prospective maintenance approach that instigates for a more effective and optimized system. The purpose of this paper is to provide the steps and methods used in model development processes for the application of the OM policy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Dubbed as opportunistic principle toward optimal maintenance system (OPTOMS) for OM policy toward optimal maintenance system, the model is devised as a decision support system model and contains five phases. The motivation and focus of the model resolve around the need for a practical framework or model of maintenance policy for the application in an industry. In this paper, the OPTOMS model was verified and validated to ensure that the model is applicable in the industry and robust as a support system in decision making for the optimal maintenance system.\nFindings: From the verification steps conducted in a case study company, it was found that the developed model incorporated simple but practical tools like check sheet, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), control chart that has been commonly used in the industry.\nPractical implications: This paper provides the general explanations of the developed model and tools used for each phase in implementing OM to achieve an optimal maintenance system. Based on a case study conducted in a semiconductor company, the OPTOMS model can align and prepare the company in increasing machine reliability by reducing machine downtime.\nOriginality/value: The novelty of this paper is based on the in-depth discussion of all phases and steps in the model that emphasize on how the model will become practical theories in conducting an OM policy in a company. The proposed methods and tools for data collection and analysis are practical and commonly used in the industry. The framework is designed for practical application in the industry. The users would be from the Maintenance and Production Department.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
I am an internationalising teacher: A Chinese English teacher's experiences of becoming an international teacher	[ "Chinese teachers", "International education", "Teacher identity", "International teachers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite their obvious significance to the international education industry, international teachers remain under-represented in the international education literature (Bailey, 2015). Whilst recent journal articles (e.g. Burke, 2017; Savva, 2015) and books (e.g. Blyth, 2017; Cooker et al., 2018) have started to focus on the personal narratives and identities of international teachers, little attention has been paid to the voices of local teaching faculty, particularly those of Asian ethnicity. The international teacher is still largely constructed in western-centric terms. Whilst the international teacher workforce was once comprised of predominantly native English speakers from the UK and the USA (Hayden, 2006), globalisation has brought about profound changes to the international education landscape that has altered the demographic of the international teaching workforce. One manifestation of this change is the emergence of a new type of international school, which Hayden and Thompson (2011) label type C non-traditional international schools (or internationalised schools). For the affluent middle class of many developing countries such as China, an international education is considered to be both superior to that available in their own national system (Hayden and Thompson, 2013), and a means to securing a competitive edge for their children (Hayden, 2016). This, coupled with the aggressive expansion of the International Baccalaureate Organisation into the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in China (Bunnell, 2014), has resulted in a far more heterogeneous international teacher workforce than ever before, with Chinese faculty working alongside western expatriate faculty in the delivery of international curricula, such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and Cambridge's International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE).\nLiterature review: International teachers\nMethodology: Given the focus on identity and identity development, in-depth, phenomenological interviewing (Seidman, 2013) was selected as the main instrument for data collection. Unlike other forms of qualitative interviewing which tend to assume that social phenomena are objects that exist in the social world, phenomenological interviewing is more concerned with the subjective significations that individuals' attach to their experiences in the form of lived experience. Developed by Seidman (2013), phenomenological interviewing is predicated upon four themes: the temporal and transitory nature of human experience; the participants' subjective understanding of their experiences; a focus on lived experience; and an emphasis on meaning and meaning in context, which foregrounds the role of language and discourse in the construction of meaning. These themes correspond with the conceptualisation of identity offered in the previous section, which underscored the social nature of teacher identity construction and the significations that individuals attach to the experiences from which identity is constructed. The fourth theme, meaning in context, is particularly significant to this paper, as it highlights the need to place an experience into the larger context of individuals' lives (i.e. Experience with a capital \"E\"). According to Seidman (2013), in order to achieve the depth required to explore meaning in context it is necessary to conduct three separate interviews. The first interview focusses on an individual's life history, exploring early experiences of family, school, university and friends. The second interview concentrates on the concrete details of the participants' present lived experiences, focussing on details rather than opinions. The third interview involves participants being asked to reflect on the meaning of their experience, focussing on how the factors in their lives interact to bring them to their current situation.\nDiscussion: Daisy's presentation of herself as an \"internationalising\" teacher can be understood in terms of a \"borderland discourse\" (Alsup, 2008). The use of the present continuous (ing) signals a liminal identity stage through which Daisy is moving from an \"examination orientated\" identity to an \"international teacher\" identity. Despite this tension, Daisy is comfortable embodying a middle-ground or liminal identity, recognising quite pragmatically that it is a necessary step or evolution in her teaching career. Daisy's identity as an \"internationalising\" teacher is temporary, or as Ybema et al. (2011) term it, in a state of \"transitional in-betweeness\". Significantly, the professional and cross-cultural experiences from which Daisy constructs her emerging identity as an international teacher do not clash with or negate her previous experiences of knowledge transmission approaches to learning English. Rather, these identity positions take on a dialectical structure in which an examination-orientated approach is positioned as the antithetical element that informs the emergence of a new totality in the form of an integrated international teacher identity. Daisy's prior learning experiences are thus shown to be integral to her identity as an international teacher, thereby reflecting the findings from the teacher identity literature (Alsup, 2008; Day and Kington, 2008; Schutz et al., 2018) which emphasises the \"fiction of continuity\" (Pynchon, 1975, p. 306) across past, present and future selves. One of the strengths of utilising identity as a lens through which to explore the implementation of international education in a non-western context like China is the fact that it is rooted in the lived experiences of individuals. It would appear that Daisy is able to balance seemingly antithetical identities because her cross-cultural experiences of teaching the IBDP alongside western colleagues has fostered intercultural awareness, thereby leading to the fusion of opposites and the construction of a hybrid identity.\nConclusion: This paper represents the beginnings of a critical project. Researchers could adapt the conceptual framework used in this study to fit other international teaching contexts, both in and outside of China. Although it was necessary to focus on one teachers' voice in this paper due to length restrictions, future research needs to adopt a more overt comparative framework by bringing together the voices of both expatriate and Chinese faculty in a type C non-traditional international school in order to highlight areas of consonance and dissonance within and between these two groups of teachers. The on-going aim of this project will be to show that the presence of expatriate and local teaching faculty creates many opportunities within type C non-traditional international schools for developing critical intercultural hybridity that could be used to interrupt and rewrite westernising normative discourses that marginalise Chinese faculty's teacher identities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper was written in response to the tendency for the international education literature to position the international teacher in essentialist and western-centric terms. The international school landscape has changed significantly in the last 20 years, leading to the rise of type C non-traditional international schools, which requires a reconceptualisation of the international teacher. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a Chinese English teacher (Daisy) in an internationalised school in Shanghai constructed her identity as an international teacher.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper drew upon concepts from the teacher identity literature in order to construct a comparative conceptual framework comprised of personal, professional and cross-cultural domains of experience. Commensurate with this framework, in-depth phenomenological interviewing and member-checking were utilised in order to gain access to the participant's lived experiences. Member-checking and data analysis became a dialogic and recursive process in which rapport was continually maintained and strengthened through the sharing of raw and analysed data, with additional comments and suggestions being fed back into an emerging interpretation in order to generate more data and enhance validity.\nFindings: The findings highlighted how Daisy was active in not only constructing her identity as an international educator but also mobilising this identity to challenge the western-centric nature of international education. The findings also revealed moments of discursive dissonance. Daisy simultaneously constructed an identity as an \"internationalising\" teacher, but was also constructed as an international teacher through a discourse that presented international education as constructivist, and therefore western-centric, in nature. Implications and recommendations are made for practice and research based on these findings.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers an alternative perspective on the international teacher experience, which continues to be western-centric in focus, by exploring the development of an international teacher identity from a Chinese perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Product carbon footprint developments and gaps	[ "International standards", "Supply chain management", "Environmental regulations", "Emissions", "Carbon footprint", "Environmental standards", "Sustainability", "Green supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Over the past few decades, increasing attention has been drawn to the expected severe effects of global warming (IPCC, 2007a). The increasing concern puts pressure on companies to reduce their environmental impacts, not only for a particular focal company but for entire supply chains. This is evident from the trend that companies more and more are being held responsible for environmental problems caused by their suppliers (Koplin et al., 2007). Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of outsourcing and share of value being created at supplier level stresses the need for evaluating the environmental performance of the entire supply chain (Koplin et al., 2007). The need for integrating environmentally sound choices and actions into supply chain management (SCM) has lead to the development of green supply chain management (GrSCM). From a SCM perspective the environmental component is added to the existing literature and issues treated (Srivastava, 2007). As a result there is a need for incorporating research from the environmental literature into SCM. According to Ameta et al. (2009) multi-disciplinary research is necessary for the achievement of a definition of sustainable products, including environmental concerns. Various definitions of GrSCM can be found (Carter and Rogers, 2008), but in this paper the definition provided by Srivastava (2007) is adopted:\n2 Methodology: This paper is based on both a literature review and a review of international standards for PCF. The literature review is based on a search in the scientific library database EBSCO Host Research Database (Academic Search Premier), Emerald, Science Direct, and SpringerLink with the purpose of identifying methodological contributions and developments within the field of PCF. For structuring the literature, a five-step process of analysis was performed following the steps of Srivastava (2007):\n3 Literature review: The literature search identified 147 articles using the keyword \"Carbon Footprint\" and 25 articles using the keyword \"Product Carbon Footprint\", summing up to a total of 172 articles. In continuation of this, 33 articles were excluded from the literature review given the criteria specified in the delimitation and the fact that 24 articles reappeared in searches. This reduced the number of articles to 115 unique articles which were grouped according to the publishing date as well as the journal. Given that contributions were identified in 69 different journals, it was decided to provide two tables for overview. Table I presents contributions from journals containing the highest number of articles published whereas Table II presents the articles published within operations and logistics journals.\n4 Standards: According to Fabbe-Costes et al. (2005) logistics systems are designed, developed and coordinated upon standards, and standards have always been seen by logisticians as means for improving operational compatibility and interoperability. Consequently, the development of standards is considered important for shaping future practices in supply chains and in logistic networks. This also applies for the future practice of measuring and reducing emissions of GHGs arising from supply chains. Globally more than half a million published standards exists (Bredillet, 2003) and lists can be found that include standards for sustainability (Ameta et al., 2009). The development of environmental standards, such as International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14040 standard for life cycle assessment, lead to the current development efforts within PCF. For an overview and description of the selected standards see Table III.\n5 Implication and recommendation for SCM: By providing a framework and a consistent method for performing PCFs, each of the selected standards contributes to the standardization efforts of measuring emissions of GHGs in supply chains. However, when taking a broader perspective on all standards it becomes evident that consensus concerning the modelling framework to be applied is still missing between the traditional standards that also cover LCA, on one hand, and the standards, specifically for PCF, on the other. The delimitation in specific standards for PCF from the consequential approach comes as no surprise, given the previous statement that developments around PCF are a result of the search for simplification of the original LCA. However, the development efforts provide a challenge for future standardization efforts since it leaves supply chain and logistics practitioners with the choice of using a simplistic or holistic approach to assessing environmental impacts in supply chains with possible differences in results. The challenge will be in discerning how to compare future PCFs performed from the simplistic approach in contrast to the holistic. From this point of view, the standardization process will not necessarily lead to high consistency in PCFs nor support the need for a standardized way to measure and report environmental performance in supply chains. Furthermore, if environmental assessments are performed with the purpose of communication to a non-technical audience such as most consumers, and these groups are to make decisions based on information about products created from different supply chains using different PCF standards, they cannot be expected to know the difference, and therefore should be protected against misleading communication (SETAC, 2008). Companies performing PCFs according to current standards will experience that the requirements in standards most likely focus exclusively on primary data from the focal company, whereas secondary data, in most cases, can be used instead of primary data for suppliers. In addition, the standardization process is expected to end with more consistency in the use of secondary data by providing requirements and advice regarding sources to be used. With only secondary data requirements from suppliers, the expected primary focus will be on reducing the focal company's emissions of GHGs since this produces a direct difference in the PCF. However, if the importance of environmental performance in supply chains increases, it could affect the practice in supply chains. With high consistency in secondary data, the focal company would have to prioritize the use of primary data from suppliers to differentiate themselves from competitors. The challenge would be to make suppliers perform better than the secondary data sources and substitute these with more competitive primary data, thereby going beyond compliance with the requirements of the current standards.\n6 Final remarks: Based on the literature and analysis of standards, a paradox clearly exists in the development of a standardized way to perform PCF in supply chains. Theoretically, the paradox concerns the idea that the more in agreement the standards become, the more redundant each standard becomes until only one prevails. In contrast, the more differentiated the standard becomes, the less standard the overall method will be for performing PCFs. Weidema et al. (2008) discuss whether there is a need for an additional standard, in this case PAS 2050, and provide both \"yes and no\" as an answer. From the Weidema and co-authors point of view, a new standard would be redundant if it covers the same areas. According to Schmidt H.J. (2009) there is, in principal, no need for additional standards for calculating PCFs since the current standards for LCA already fulfil this purpose. However, it is argued in this paper that, given the broader focus in LCA compared to PCF in terms of the number of impact categories considered, differences exist in the scope that could legitimate the coexistence of standards for LCA and PCF. However, in the case of standards specifically for PCF, it becomes evident that they are similar in requirements which create the challenge of redundancy. This conclusion is, however, only valid given the limitations in the comparison. Weidema et al. (2008) acknowledge that, as long as a new standard provides more stringency without losing existing progress, it should be welcomed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Over the last decade, multiple initiatives have been undertaken to learn how to capture the carbon footprint of a supply chain at a product level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the process of standardization to secure consistency of product carbon footprinting (PCF) and to outline how the current developments in PCF support the need for a standardized method to measure and report environmental performance in supply chains.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a literature review and a review of international standards for PCF which brings knowledge of PCF to the existing literature of green supply chain management.\nFindings: The multiple initiatives for standardization each improve the understanding of standardized methods of conducting PCF. At the same time, however, important differences exist between the standards in terms of the modelling framework to be used when conducting a PCF, and a paradox exists concerning methods for securing future standardization of PCF.\nResearch limitations/implications: Standards for evaluating emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in supply chains are evaluated without consideration of other environmental impacts. In addition, the research only compares international standards, thereby excluding national initiatives.\nPractical implications: Standardization efforts can be expected to shape the future practice of measuring emission of GHGs in companies and supply chains which provides a framework for reducing impacts.\nOriginality/value: Papers that outline the standardization process for PCF have been examined, but this paper adds value by categorizing the field, outlining the latest standards, and by being the first paper to compare standards for PCF on selected criteria and identify gaps.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of suppliers' trust and commitment on customer involvement	[ "Commitment", "Trust", "Customer involvement", "Relational governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: More and more suppliers are considering customers as important sources of information, knowledge, and competence (Alfaro et al., 2004; Helpman, 1992; Im et al., 2003; Shaw, 1992). Hence, in a business-to-business (B2B) environment, involving customers into new product development (NPD) is important for suppliers. First, involving customers aids suppliers in uncovering true latent needs through proactive learning from customers (Deszca et al., 1999; Leonard and Rayport, 1997; Martin and Horne, 1995; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000; Thomke, 2003). Second, involving customers helps suppliers gain competitive advantages over their rivals through lowering product development cost (Fitzsimmons, 1985), saving product development time (Alam, 2002), improving productivity, effectiveness, and quality (Lovelock and Young, 1979; Mills et al., 1983; Mills and Morris, 1986; Song and Adams, 1993). Third, customers involved into the product process are more likely to be satisfied with the supplier (Bendapudi and Leone, 2003; Fournier and Mick, 1999; Keiningham et al., 1999). Fourth, involving customers exhibits positive performance effects (Narver and Slater, 1990) and creates continuous superior marketplace performance for suppliers (Deshpande and Farley, 2000; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2003).\n2. Theory background and hypotheses: 2.1. Drivers of customer involvement\n3. Method: 3.1. Samples and data collection\n4. Results: We employ structural equation model (SEM) to test our hypotheses and overall research model. Amos8.0 is used to generate SEM estimates. Figure 2 shows the results of SEM. Multiple indices of fit, including kh2/df=2.435, TLI=0.951, CFI=0.962, SRMR=0.0612, RMSEA=0.082, were acceptable (Hu and Bentler, 1999).\n5. Discussions, theoretical contributions, and managerial implications: 5.1. Discussions\n6. Limitations and future research: This study has several limitations that need to be addressed in future research. First, this study focuses on only two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, to be antecedents of customer involvement. Other relational factors, such as relational norms (Liu et al., 2009), interdependence (Fynes et al., 2005), are not considered. Future research could analyze the effects of these relational factors on customer involvement.\nAcknowledgement: The author thanks to the Editor and the two anonymous referees. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61174171), the Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 13YJC630031), the PhD Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20136102120066), the Humanities and Social Sciences and Management Promotion Fund of Northwestern Polytechnical University (No. RW201307), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among suppliers' trust and commitment, transaction-specific investment, switching cost, and customer involvement within the context of relational governance mechanism and the social exchange theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use survey data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms and employ the structural equation model to verify the conceptual model.\nFindings: Relational governance benefits customer involvement. Transaction-specific investment mediates the relationship between trust and commitment of suppliers. Switching costs negatively moderate the relationship between suppliers' trust and customer involvement, but positively moderate the relationship between suppliers' commitment and customer involvement.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors focus on two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, but neglect other relational factors, such as relational norms and interdependence.\nOriginality/value: These findings broaden the understanding and present new directions for the implementation of customer involvement from the perspective of relational governance and social exchange theory.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A two-way approach of congruent behavior between leaders and staff in the employeeship concept: Test of model, questionnaires, and influence on climate	[ "Leadership", "Employees behaviour", "Employeeship", "Psychological climate", "Leader‐follower behavior", "ELR model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1.Introduction: Leadership theories attempt to understand the impact of leaders on employees and organizations. Many leadership theories address predominately the leader side. It is a perspective that too often struggles to describe direct leadership, which is a complex interaction between leaders and the people they lead. This assumption is in line with the discussion of Jonsson et al. (2009) and Bertlett et al. (2011) on how a two-sided leader-follower approach most likely explains the perceived work climate and organizational outputs better than one-sided approaches. It is also in line with the results of Pearce and Sims (2002) as to how shared leadership is a better predictor of team effectiveness than vertical leadership, of Hollander (1992b), that leadership and followership require synchronization, and of Uhl-Bien (2006), that leadership occurs when leaders and followers develop effective relationships.Even though there is much research on situational leadership (Dansereau et al., 1975; Evans, 1970; Fiedler, 1978; Hersey and Blanchard, 1993; House, 1971, 1996) and followership (Hollander, 1992a, b), little has been done to incorporate the full potential of a leader-follower interaction where both leader and follower behaviors are measured simultaneously. Thus, there is a slight lacuna in the literature that needs to be filled with a concept and model that comprise both leaders and followers. This paper presents some of the conceptual research that has been carried out to help reduce the need, including a previously presented model, and instruments that make it possible to jointly study the expected behaviors of both leader and follower (see Bertlett et al., 2011). New empirical data are presented in order to analyze the covariation of leader and follower behaviors relative to the perceived climate on the individual level, that is, the psychological climate (Glick, 1985). According to Schneider (1975), psychological climate is a useful factor in the study of individual behavior.1.1 Conceptual background to an equal leader-follower approach\n2. Method: 2.1 Participants\n3. Results: Leadership style adaptability had statistically significant positive correlations to all ten climate dimensions of which challenge/motivation (r=0.46; p<0.001), support for ideas (r=0.51; p<0.001), trust/openness (r=0.42; p<0.001), debate/diversity (r=0.34; p<0.001), absence of conflicts (r=0.33; p<0.001), and idea time (r=0.36; p<0.001) are presented here. These results support H1.Peer employee style adaptability had statistically significant positive correlations to the six climate dimensions used in this presentation: challenge/motivation (r=0.37; p<0.001), support for ideas (r=0.32; p<0.001), trust/openness (r=0.21; p<0.05), debate/diversity (r=0.29; p<0.01), absence of conflicts (r=0.22; p<0.05), and idea time (r=0.27; p<0.01). These results support H2.Congruent leader-follower style had statistically significant positive correlations to nine of the ten climate dimensions of which challenge/motivation (r=0.51; p<0.001), support for ideas (r=0.53; p<0.001), trust/openness (r=0.35; p<0.001), debate/diversity (r=0.27; p<0.01), absence of conflicts (r=0.32; p<0.001), and idea time (r=0.47; p<0.001) are presented here. These results support H3.H4 suggested that congruent behavior makes a unique contribution to psychological climate. The results are presented in Table IV. Adding congruent leader-follower style to leadership and peer employee style adaptabilities improved the percentage of explained variance by 10 percent for challenge/motivation, 10 percent for support for ideas, 4 percent for trust/openness, 1 percent for debate/diversity, 2 percent for absence of conflicts, and 17 percent for idea time. Three of the six presented results were statistically significant. The peer employee style adaptability also improved the goodness of fit with a statistically significant result regarding challenge/motivation.When the same analyses were performed in two steps, leadership style adaptability followed by congruent leader-follower style, the congruence variable improved the goodness of fit in five of the six analyses. When the steps were reversed and the leadership variable was entered last, both for the two- and three-step regression models, leadership style adaptability improved the goodness of fit in one of the six models. In short, the results support H4 partly to fully.\n4. Discussion: The most important findings in this study are the indications that there is a relation between peer employee and congruent leader-follower behaviors on the one hand and psychological climate on the other, the YEQ measures behaviors relevant to the ELR Model, and the ELR Model brings new knowledge to the field and thus merits continued empirical interest.According to H1, H2, and H3, it was assumed that leadership behavior, peer employee behavior, and congruent leader-follower behavior correlate with psychological climate. All the results support these hypotheses. Concerning leadership (H1), the results indicate a relationship to all ten dimensions. It is clear that leadership is an important factor relating to how the employees perceive their climate. This places responsibility on leaders to monitor, stabilize, and even facilitate those dimensions.Referring to peer employee behavior and psychological climate (H2), the relationships are more uneven. Still, the correlations that are considered important for productive relationships by means of task and social abilities are statistically significant. Considering that the six selected climate dimensions regard what employees are able to contribute and how they handle the interactions at work, the results indicate that there is a connection between peer employee behavior and psychological climate, which was assumed based on the work of Moller (1994) and Ekvall (1999) and the YEQ measures employeeship according to the conceptualization of Moller (1994) and Bertlett et al. (2011). It is not possible to state that the YEQ tests all aspects of the ELR Model, but the results are at least consistent.The congruence factor (H3) is about how the behaviors of followers and leaders match each other in collaborative settings. It is considered a matter of task and role clarity and situational awareness. This means that followers and leaders have to know each other well enough to know what to expect from each other. It creates a clear picture of where they stand, and given an assignment, facilitates the process of how to solve it. The relationships between congruent behavior on the one hand, and challenge/motivation, support for ideas, and idea time on the other have a large effect on psychological climate; between congruent behavior and trust/openness and absence of conflicts, a medium effect; and between congruent behavior and debate/diversity, a small effect (Cohen, 1992). The results are in line with earlier research and support the importance of task and role clarity when considering the psychological climate (Ekvall, 1996, 1999).The final hypothesis (H4) assumed that congruent leader-follower behavior augments the value of leadership behavior in explaining the psychological climate. The results presented in Table IV show that congruent behavior adds unique variance, improving the goodness of fit in three of the six analyses. When the congruence variable is entered into the regression models, there are no statistically significant relationships between leadership behavior and the climate dimensions challenge/motivation, support for ideas, and idea time. This could mean that leadership behavior is not related to these dimensions when checking for congruent behavior between leaders and followers if the independent variables do not co-vary. But since they do, the results instantly become more complex to interpret.There is a sound theoretical and logical explanation. The results support the findings of Hollander (1992a, b) that leadership and followership need synchronization and that leader and follower behaviors have a reciprocal impact. They also support the findings of Moller (1994) and Tengblad et al. (2007) that leadership has to be regarded as an aspect in the employeeship concept; and of Uhl-Bien (2006) that leadership occurs when leaders and followers are able to develop effective relationships. In addition, there is a logical explanation of the covariation between leadership, peer employee, and congruent leader-follower behaviors. Leaders and followers who have the required abilities to adapt their behaviors relative to the situation also have the abilities to adapt relative to the behaviors of other leaders and/or followers. Good adaptability of leadership and peer employee behaviors are necessary in order to establish congruent leader-follower behavior. Thus, it is not possible to conclude that leadership and peer employee behaviors are of little importance just because their results are not statistically significant when congruent leader-follower behavior is. Still, the results in Table IV indicate that most regression models are best explained when leader and follower behaviors are considered as one interactive function. It is also stated in the notes of Table IV that when the congruence variable is entered as a first step, it has a stronger b value than the leadership variable in four of the six analyses. Overall, this supports H4 and hence it seems that the two-way leader-follower approach of employeeship is a more important factor regarding psychological climate than the leadership factor (something that has to be tested with more complex experimental methods before it is possible to conclude). A possible consequence of this, in reference to other studies about climate, is that congruent behavior may also relate positively to organizational competitiveness (Godard and Delaney, 2000; Ichniowski et al., 1997), productivity (Ekvall, 1999; Miller and Monge, 1986; Zwick, 2004), innovation and profit (Ekvall, 1999), safety climate (Neal et al., 2000; Silva et al., 2004; Zohar, 2002), and safety behavior (Katz and Kahn, 1978): needless to say, the last two are of vital importance for the aviation sector in which this study took place.4.1 Conclusions and practical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The authors have developed the Leadership-Employeeship-Relationship Model and a questionnaire following their conceptualization of the employeeship concept. It is possible to separately study leadership, peer employee, and interactive leader-follower behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the conceptualization and operationalization, as well as between the model and psychological climate.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In total, four organizations operating at an airport participated. The quantitative approach involved data gathered from expected leadership and employee behaviors and psychological climate attitude questionnaires. The leadership and peer employee variables are separately based on the leadership and employeeship questionnaires, whereas the leader-follower variable is based on the results of both questionnaires. All analyses were made on the variable level.\nFindings: - The results show that expected leadership, peer employee, and congruent leader-follower behaviors all have a positive correlation with psychological climate. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that congruent leader-follower behavior had augmented value to leadership behavior and its relationship to psychological climate.\nPractical implications: - Congruent leader-follower behavior plays an important role in the overall improvement of psychological climate. Steps toward congruent behavior are to allow followers to participate in leadership development and that the issue of shared responsibilities and authority is best managed in collaboration between management and staff.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is the first to demonstrate empirically the relation between the interactive leader-follower employeeship perspective based on the expected behaviors of both leaders and followers and psychological climate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Benchmarking in Maltese internal audit units	[ "Internal auditing", "Benchmarking", "Malta", "Total quality management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Even though the number of internal audit (IA) units is limited in a small island like Malta, such units are not insulated from the general shift in orientation away from traditional assurance towards consulting and value-added services of IA. One of the pressures pushing IA in this direction is the entry of accounting firms into IA. This is inducing IA units to safeguard their professional status by reviewing the quality of their operations (Dittenhofer, 2001b) and expanding their role into operational and managerial audit (Guoming, 1997). Internal knowledge makes IA a helpful ally in the early detection (Xiangdong, 1997) and solution (Bencini, 2003) of modern business problems. Ultimately, the status of IA is determined by its value (Xiangdong, 1997).A number of researchers, such as Flesher and Zanzig (2000), found evidence that some audit customers do not recognise the value of IA, and may even restrict the internal auditor's role to internal control evaluation over traditional areas such as accounting and finance. Indeed, unless IA moves into value-added activities, the IA function risks being perceived as an overhead, and even worse, being outsourced (Liu et al., 1997). The new operational and consulting orientation of IA elicits the question of whether IA units are sufficiently equipped with resources and expertise to fulfil their role as consultants (Nagy and Cenker, 2002).In addition, the string of debacles that followed the Enron scandal in the USA, including the Worldcom, Adelphia and Parmalat cases, reminded managers, board members and other stakeholders of the need to focus on internal controls. Cadbury Committee (1992) attributed failures of quoted companies to control failures. In the USA, a report by the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO, 1992) had also reinforced and re-emphasised the proactive role of IA in establishing and maintaining an effective and efficient internal control system. IA is the principal mechanism through which the board of directors and management monitor the quality of internal controls. Such a proactive role of IA also allows external auditors to place reliance on the work of IA and to reduce the extent of external audit work (IFAC, 2003). IA quality also takes on a new dimension in today's competitive environment, by ensuring that internal controls are strong enough in times when business risk is augmented by organisation-wide change (Liu et al., 1997).As corporate conduct deficiencies call for corrective action, the IA function is being driven to participate in the organisation-wide quality revolution labelled total quality management (TQM): \"Under the TQM concept, internal auditors are viewed as part of the management team, helping others work towards achieving long-term, overall welfare of the organisation\" (Rezaee, 1996, p. 320). The auditing profession is no longer insulated from the worldwide phenomenon of consumer empowerment. It needs to focus on customer needs and to provide services that customers value (Cooper, 2003). IA units that want to withstand the pressures acting on modern IA must learn to love change. Change drives continuous improvement, which is the underlying philosophy of TQM. In order to counter such challenges, opportunities and pressures acting on the IA function, internal auditors need to become conversant with the theoretical and practical aspects of TQM techniques (Hawkes and Adams, 1995). A study by Rand (1994) revealed weak familiarity with, and low usage of, TQM techniques by a majority of the surveyed IA managers. However, Vinten (1996) states that the IA function in general is willing to adopt such modern management concepts. For example, in the UK, the Institute of Internal Auditors' (IIA, 2004a, para 1300) Attribute Standard No. 1300 requires chief IA executives to \"develop and maintain a quality assurance and improvement program that covers all aspects of the internal audit activity and continuously monitors its effectiveness.\"A major modern TQM approach to IA performance evaluation is benchmarking, which may be defined as: \"the process of continuously measuring and comparing one's business processes against comparable processes in leading organisations to obtain information that will help the organisation identify and implement improvements\" (Andersen and Pettersen, 1996, p. 4). Benchmarking is what Peters (1989, p. 229) calls \"creative swiping\" - learning other companies' best practices and doing new things or doing old things in a new way. As one of the most effective business strategies that is working for organisations of all sizes in all industries, benchmarking \"has the potential to propel quantum improvement in internal auditing\" (Julian, 1993).This paper sets out to determine the awareness of this process in Maltese IA units, its perceived major benefits and problems and also major barriers in its implementation. The results indicate that Maltese IA executives are only poorly aware of the benchmarking concept and that current IA evaluation techniques are mere rudimentary comparisons, essentially backward and inward-looking in nature. Maltese IA executives appreciate the benefits of benchmarking as an effective IA quality tool but are divided as to its limitations. In addition, the study identifies organisational and cultural barriers that are keeping them out of reach of its potential benefits.The paper is organised as follows. The next section reviews the relevant literature on the area. Followed by the section that discusses the methodology used in the study. The penultimate section presents the results and implications. The final section presents a summary and conclusion of the findings and limitations of the study.\nLiterature overview: Alternative IA quality evaluation techniques\nResearch methodology: Research instruments\nResults of the study: Awareness of IA benchmarking\nDiscussion of findings: The types of benchmarking\nSummary and conclusions: This study set out to establish the awareness of benchmarking in Maltese IA units and to determine the need for, benefits of and barriers in the performance of this exercise. This objective was achieved through a series of interviews with 12 Maltese IA executives representing the majority of Maltese IA units.This study concludes that Maltese IA executives have a weak grasp of the benchmarking process and that current IA evaluation techniques are mere rudimentary comparisons, essentially backward- and inward-looking in nature. Maltese IA executives appreciate the benefits of benchmarking as an effective IA quality tool but are divided as to its limitations. In addition, there are organisational and cultural barriers preventing them from attaining its potential benefits.It can also be concluded that although benchmarking awareness is weak and that the technique is as yet little used, there is a general willingness to adopt the benchmarking concept in the future. If Maltese IA executives want to protect their professional status and start being perceived as value-adding agents, they need to expend more effort to become more organised and to ward off cultural complacency by mutual learning and going outside their IA box.Hopefully, it will not be too long before benchmarking overcomes its barriers in Malta and becomes a normal IA practice, thus establishing another milestone to a rapidly evolving profession.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The organisation-wide drive towards total quality management (TQM) and the call for sound corporate governance require that Maltese internal audit (IA) units benchmark their operations as a first step towards the critical evaluation of their processes and the management of change. The purpose of this paper is to determine the awareness of this process in Maltese IA units, its perceived major benefits and limitations and also major barriers in its implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The objective of this study is achieved through a series of semi-structured interviews with 12 Maltese IA executives representing most Maltese IA units.\nFindings: - This study concludes that Maltese IA executives have a weak grasp of the benchmarking process and that, current IA evaluation techniques are mere rudimentary comparisons, essentially backward- and inward-looking in nature. Maltese IA executives appreciate the benefits of benchmarking as an effective IA quality tool but are divided as to its limitations. In addition, there are organisational and cultural barriers preventing them from attaining its potential benefits.\nOriginality/value: - In addition to the analysis of major obstacles to the implementation and development of this TQM tool in a European ministate, this study points to possible regulatory and organisational changes for future improvements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competitor concentration, networking, and customer acceptance: The case of small firms in Vietnam	[ "Vietnam", "Competitor concentration", "Customer acceptance", "Networking with competitors", "Networking with government officials" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For many businesses, location is one of the most important strategic and marketing decisions (Kotler, 1997). From a marketing perspective, a good location improves the firm's competitive advantages by facilitating customers' access to the firm's products, minimizing the firm's transportation costs, and mitigating competition (Kotler, 1997; Porter, 2000; Rocha, 2004). However, these competitive advantages are meaningful only when the firm meets one basic sociopolitical condition: its identity and offerings are recognized by the general public as being legal and conforming to societal norms (Peng, 2001; Scott, 1995). Yet, previous studies on locational benefits tend to focus largely on competitive advantages, taking for granted the fact that the sociopolitical acceptance of the firm is easily obtained. This is unfortunate since in transition economies obtaining sociopolitical acceptance of the firm's identity and offerings is not an easy task (Peng, 2001).\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Background - economic geography perspective\nMethod: Qualitative interviews\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: Our results suggest that competitor geographic concentration benefits firms mostly in facilitating competitor networking, lessening the need for political network, and developing customer acceptance. Particularly, in transition economies where the presence of small private firms remains challenged, such acceptance building appears critical. However, in looking at what actually builds performance, we have found that performance does not hinge on effort to achieve acceptance. The effort to locate in competitor concentrated areas may help firms build acceptance and survive initially, but this act may be detrimental to firm performance in the long run.\nConclusion: In the transition economy of Vietnam, many different authorities recognize the need for promoting private businesses. The need to facilitate the growth of these businesses is increasingly important. Many private firms in transition economies have located in competitor concentrated areas as a way to gain customer acceptance; such choices over the long run appear to inhibit private entrepreneurial firms' growth. We set out in this research to examine strategic costs and benefits of competitor geographic concentrations for small businesses. We expect that this research will open new streams of research into geographic concentration and marketing in transition economies. The foundation here should be one that encourages more exploration of this important topic.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether competitor concentration relates to better customer acceptance of the firm's offerings and better networking of the firm with competitors and government officials.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is conducted in the context of the transition economy of Vietnam, using a combination of methods. Qualitative interviews are followed by a survey of 199 small firms in Hanoi, Vietnam. Since competitor concentration is count data, Poisson regression is used to test the relationship between networking, customer acceptance, and competitor concentration.\nFindings: The results show that locating in a competitor concentration area improves customer acceptance of the firm's offerings and increases networking with competitors, while decreasing networking with government officials. Competitor concentration does not help improve firm performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: A sample of 199 businesses in the food, furniture, and jewelry sectors in Hanoi may not be representative of all private businesses in Vietnam. The use of cross-sectional data could not establish causational relationships among variables.\nPractical implications: Small firms in transition economies should be aware of the trade-offs between initial customer acceptance and negative consequences of being in a competitor concentrated area. Thus, once the firm's offerings are generally accepted by customers, the firm may consider moving out of competitor concentration areas to expand and differentiate.\nOriginality/value: This paper points out that in the absence of effective market institutions, businesses want to be located near a concentration of similar firms as a means of gaining initial customer acceptance. This initial acceptance does not necessarily help firms improve business performance beyond the firm's survival.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparing the levels of performance of small scale local government contractors in Northern Nigeria with international practice	[ "Management effectiveness", "Construction management", "Performance management", "Performance measures", "Performance monitoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The performance levels of small scale local government contractors (SSLGCs) posed a challenge to sustainable development of indigenous small scale construction businesses that serve as a catalyst for employment generation, national growth, poverty alleviation and economic development particularly in developing countries (Mohammed and Obeleagu-Nzelibe, 2013). The performance level of SSLGC is critical to the development of the construction industry in general and vital to the completion of any construction project in particular; it is the contractor who converts designs into practical reality. Proper performance levels of SSLGC lead to increased client satisfaction, improved reputation and enhanced competitiveness in the construction industry (Pheng and Chuan, 2006). The performance levels of SSLGCs have been criticized due to the frequency of project delays, cost and time overruns, projects abandonments and projects not meeting specifications (Alarcon and Mourgues, 2002; Cox et al., 2003; Masrom, 2012). The performance levels of contractors are characterized with the firm's level of efficiency, effectiveness or quality of works executed by contractors. The quality levels are ranged from poor/very low to excellent/very high performances. Performance is an anticipated destination of any contractor, and level of performance is considered as a journey toward such destination (Elgar, 2008). Generally, the level of contractor's performance depends on three major factors: financial, technical and management performances of the firms/contractors (Elgar, 2008). Pinto and Pinto (1990) stated that performance or destination of a contractor includes the efficient utilization of the firm's financial, technical and management resources. The firm's level of performance is defined as a journey so far achieved by the firm in terms of project cost psychosocial outcomes which refer to the satisfaction of interpersonal relations between project client and contractor and among other participants in the project team. The success of any contractor is to deliver a project within the budgeted cost, time that conforms to client's expectations, meets specifications, attains good workmanship and minimizes construction defects and conflicts (Songer and Molenaar, 1997). The performance or destination of a contractor can be achieved by assessing the performance levels of projects executed and identifying areas that need improvement (Kumaraswamy and Thorpe, 1996).\n2. Literature review: The overall or general contractor performance comprises three key areas of performances: financial, technical and management performances (Hatush and Skitmore, 1997; Alarcon and Mourgues, 2002; Singh and Tiong, 2005). These areas of performances have significant impact on the overall/general performances of SSLGC in developing countries (Singh and Tiong, 2005).\n3. Research method: This study is a quantitative in nature; a questionnaire survey was administered to 550 small scale contractors, consulting firms and project clients in northern part of Nigeria. The region comprises of 19 states and federal capital territory Abuja. The region represents almost 80 percent of the total country's land mass (744,249.08 Sq Km) and a population of about 95 million peoples (National population commission, 2000).\n4. Data analysis and results: The analysis and discussion of the data obtained for this study is presented in this section.\n5. Discussions and findings: IBM SPSS software was used to achieve the aim of this study. One-way ANOVA with post hoc SPSS program was used to evaluate group levels of contractors' performance by considering three performance practices of contractors namely: financial, technical and management. The contractors' performance groups were classified into very low performing group, low performing group, average performing group, high performing group and very high performing group. The contractors' level of performance is the metric that determined which group a contractor belonged to. The metric is based on the assessment of three major stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry (contractors, clients and consultants). The assessment was based on the items contained in the research survey instrument. The stakeholders were asked to assess and rate the items in the questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale, i.e. ratings from very low performance practice to very high performance practice. The performance groups' practices and performance ratings were adapted from the studies of Team leadership (2010), Oyewobi and Ogunsemi (2010), Bassioni et al. (2004) and that of Luu et al. (2008b). The overall contractors' performance practices comprised of financial, technical and management practices (Hatush and Skitmore, 1997; Alarcon and Mourgues, 2002; Singh and Tiong, 2005).\n6. Conclusions and recommendations: The study considered three performance practices, namely: financial, technical and management with the view to identify contractors' areas of weaknesses and improve upon it. The study also serves as a wake-up call and to provide awareness to SSLGCs in Northern Nigeria as well as project clients in the public and private sectors to assess the levels of performance practices of potential contractors in the region before any invitations to tender. The study further found that SSLGCs in northern part of Nigeria were average performing contractors as compared to contractors in Japan, USA and UK, and had similar performance capabilities with small scale contractors in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. It was also revealed that there were significant differences and effects among the five levels of contractors' performance practices. The performance of SSLGCs in Nigeria as compared with international contractors was average. The study recommended the introduction of a mediating variable that would cancel out the effects of factors contributing to the poor performances of SSLGCs in Nigeria. Most of the factors identified here are more or less related to financing of projects. It would be conceivable perhaps to consider the introduction of upfront or advance payment' system to the contractors to purchase plant and equipment, train staff and recruit qualified project managers and generally have sufficient resources to embark on project with minimal constraints related to capital and finance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance levels of small scale local government contractors (SSLGCs) in northern part of Nigeria with international practice. Previous studies focused attention primarily on benchmarking the performance of contractors, but were mostly conceptual rather than from empirical findings. This continuous to pose a challenge to the sustainable development of the construction industry, particularly, in developing countries like Nigeria. There is therefore a need to identify, assess and compare performance practice levels of small scale contractors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The performance of each contractor was evaluated using a five-point Likert scale used in obtaining mean performance levels in respect to three classes of performance practices. A questionnaire survey was administered to major parties in the industry; clients, contractors and consultants who were selected by using a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The contractors' performance was compared by using ANOVA with post hoc.\nFindings: The results indicated that the SSLGCs in Nigeria were average performers and there were effects and differences among the various contractors' levels of performance with international practice.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to SSLGCs in northern part of Nigeria.\nPractical implications: The study provided the criteria for evaluation of SSLGCs' performance in Nigeria and other developing countries that faced similar problems.\nSocial implications: The study created bases for self-evaluation and competition among small scale contractors in Nigeria for the enhancement of productivity particularly in rural areas and general national development.\nOriginality/value: This study emanated from the governmental reports and past researches in the area of performance management on the persistence of the poor performance of small scale contractors in construction industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Advancing campus and community sustainability: strategic alliances in action	[ "Higher education", "Sustainability", "Partnerships", "Applied research", "Campus operations", "Sustainable community development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainability remains a key strategic priority for many organizations despite challenging economic times (Haanaes et al., 2012). The benefits of integrating sustainability into business practices, plans and reporting across a triple bottom line are well established. Sustainability is seen as a driver for innovation that can result in more efficient operations and business processes, reduced costs and environmental impacts (Capozucca and Sarni, 2012). Partnerships are one mechanism through which businesses can address complex sustainability challenges and minimize economic, environmental and social impacts (Capozucca and Sarni, 2012; Haanaes et al., 2012; Lacy et al., 2010).\nKey sustainability drivers: Climate risk, regulatory requirements, public awareness and stakeholder interest are among the drivers of sustainability across multiple sectors (Haanaes et al., 2012). While UBC's leadership commitment to sustainability has supported the sustainability imperative, a unique set of conditions at the Okanagan campus has created the necessary tension and opportunity for sustainability that might not have otherwise existed.\nLessons learned: This article has provided examples of partnerships and initiatives led by representatives of University of British Columbia Okanagan campus to advance the sustainability agenda. Campus sustainability drivers have underpinned the development of many sustainability initiatives on campus and in the community. Leadership support and capacity has provided the necessary conditions to overcome institutional silos and develop innovative solutions to sustainable development on campus and beyond. It is hoped that insights shared will be of value to other institutions of higher education.\nConclusion: There are many drivers for growth and change within higher education. Among these are drivers for sustainability that have the potential to impact campus operations and the research mandate on campus and in the community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Universities can provide a leadership role to develop and mobilize knowledge to meet societal needs. In fulfilling this mission, universities can also serve as agents of sustainable development on campus and in communities they serve. The purpose of this article is to describe the drivers that have advanced the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus' operational and academic sustainability objectives; the initiatives and partnerships developed on campus and in the community in response to these drivers; and the outcomes and lessons learned.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article summarizes the experience of the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus in leveraging key drivers to develop sustainability initiatives and partnerships for greater operational efficiencies, cost savings, environmental stewardship and applied research. The university's leadership commitment to sustainability, economic opportunities and provincial legislative requirements are among the drivers discussed. This paper also provides an innovative partnership framework to support sustainable community development.\nFindings: Drivers of sustainability in higher education can contribute to the development of sustainability initiatives and partnerships that benefit institutions and communities and achieve operational and academic sustainability mandates.\nPractical implications: This article provides information that can be applied by institutions of higher education to advance sustainability within the context of current economic conditions and societal needs.\nOriginality/value: The experience of the campus and the partnership framework presented in this paper is original. The framework provides a mechanism to engage students, faculty and the community in sustainable community development research. Key insights from multiple perspectives and lessons learned are shared.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ex-post effects of circuit breakers in crisis and calm markets: Long horizon evidence from wide-band Malaysian price limits	[ "Circuit breaker", "Price limits", "Trading halts", "Malaysia", "Financial crisis", "D43", "D47", "D53" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Circuit breaker is an umbrella term used in finance literature to denote an array of constrictive and/or cessative levers employed by regulators to confine intraday price movements within a preset or discretionary channel. Circuit breakers are broadly of two types: trading halts (suspension of trade) and price limits. This praxis in financial markets has skirted controversy since inception and subsequent adoption since late 1980s. After inchoate postulations of theoretical benefits of such microstructure barriers by the Brady Commission Report (1988) and several academics, concerns about innate conceptual flaws and unintended detriments of the practice surfaced in the wake of budding empirical findings in mid-1990s. Since then, theoretical development in the discipline has stagnated. Instead, academia's focus shifted primarily to empirical testing of emergent hypotheses in various geographical regions and sampling periods. The findings, often conflicting or ambiguous, were criticized for design flaws and lack of statistical power. Thus, though the theoretical ennui wasn't reversed by producing an overarching framework of circuit breakers' effects, a quasi-consensus emerged around hypothesized disadvantages of circuit breakers. These include possibilities of circuit breakers encouraging splashing of volatility into future trading days by stifling trade on the trigger day, causing delay in discovery of equilibrium price, interference in traders' strategized trading plans, and inducing an ex-ante gravitational pull toward the trigger. The four hypotheses are now formally known--respectively--as volatility spillover, delayed price discovery, trading interference, and magnet effect. Empirical tests of the ex-post hypotheses trio spur more debate than settle. That prices continue in the same direction as the limit has been documented via positive return autocorrelation in multiple studies done on Seoul, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Istanbul (Bildik and Gulay, 2006; Henke and Voronkova, 2005; Shen and Wang, 1998). Reversals too have been observed in Taiwan, Shanghai, and Shenzhen (Chen et al., 2005; Chou et al., 2006). Volatility spillover has been recorded in Taiwan and Tokyo (Kim and Sweeney, 2002; Wong et al., 2008), while opposite findings were reported in Shanghai and Seoul (Berkman and Lee, 2002; Kim et al., 2013a, b). For futures markets, Chou et al. (2005) show that whether price limits are effective depends largely on risk appetite of investors. In Malaysia, price limits have been shown to aggravate order imbalance, worsen information asymmetry, and contribute to delayed arrival of informed traders to the limit order queue (Chan et al., 2005). As for the ex-ante (magnet) effect, the lure of accelerated trading activities near the trigger point beyond a certain threshold has been demonstrated for stocks in Taiwan (Cho et al., 2003), Istanbul (Bildik and Gulay, 2006), China (Wong et al., 2009), and Japan (Nobanee and Al Hajjar, 2017). The opposite is recorded in Taiwan (Huang et al., 2001), Spain (Abad and Pascual, 2007), and China (Kim et al., 2013a, b). As for futures, mostly repellant effect (opposite of magnet effect) has been observed in US Treasury Bond Futures (Arak and Cook, 1997), Nikkei 225 Futures (Martens and Steenbeek, 2001), and Orange Juice Futures on NYBOT (Hall and Kofman, 2001).A distinguishing feature of ex-post vs ex-ante effect studies is that due to the inherently intraday nature of the magnet effect, end-of-day closing price data sets are ineffective in capturing the existence of a gravitational pull of the trigger point in hastening order flow (Sifat and Mohamad, 2018). Yet, many early researchers, presumably due to dearth of granular data, improvised with daily data sets by using overnight returns or jumps as a predictor of magnet effect the following day. These attempts, though necessary at the time, remain methodologically suboptimal. As for the ex-post hypotheses, daily data sets are adequate and traditionally used to compare volatility, price reversal, and trading activity performances on and after the trigger-hit day. In this approach, the trigger-hit group is pitted against a control group (pseudo-hit or quasi-hit) to determine whether volatility worsens, price discovery is delayed, and traders' activities are hindered (Sifat and Mohamad, 2018).The locus of current circuit breaker research focuses on amassing empirical evidences for or against circuit breaker efficacy in various markets. Considering the gamut of studies conducted so far, one market stands out as a puzzle in the empiric corpus: Malaysia, a life-long exponent of an unusually wide +-30 percent price limit. The most widely cited major study conducted on price limits in Malaysia focuses on order imbalance, informational arrival, and asymmetry (Chan et al., 2005). While these issues are important to market microstructure literature, the authors--surprisingly--avoided all the major ex-post and ex-ante circuit breaker hypotheses. What's more, the study's sample size consists of two years: 1995-1996, a period when the-then Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) was a diminutive floor-trade bourse of scant global relevance. Besides, since 1996, the bourse fine-tuned its limit metrics a few times, underwent demutualization, instituted market makers, introduced short selling, and moved to an automated trading platform. Malaysia, too, graduated from \"frontier\" status and now--apart from being a regional finance hub--commands global attention owing to high capital inflow. Also, since 1996, Malaysia endured two major crises: Asian Financial Crisis (AFC: 1997) and Global Financial Crisis (GFC: 2008). Therefore, aside from the all-purpose questions of Malaysian limits' efficacy, crisis-centered investigation of whether price limits aided in achieving regulatory objectives of curbing volatility, enhancing price discovery, and promoting trading activities makes Bursa Malaysia an exciting laboratory for testing the ex-post hypotheses. To bridge this gap, this paper utilizes a proprietary daily data set from 1994 to 2017 and examines whether the most prominent objections to circuit breakers hold across crisis and calm periods.The rationale for choosing Malaysia as the venue for this research is manifold. First, Bursa Malaysia uses a very wide band of price limit, set at 30 percent. This is considerably wider than most other venues and therefore more interesting. Besides, a large swathe of empirical testing on price limits' efficacy is conducted on predominantly narrower price limit bands, which some consider overly restrictive. Thus, the question of whether price limits are good or bad can be further narrowed down to whether narrow/wide limits are bad/worse. Lastly, examining a wide band limit contributes to the ongoing debate on the optimum range of a price limit. Though it may be intuitive that wide price limits may be innocuous, prior widening experimentation by Thailand and Korea in the late 1990s yielded ambiguous results (Sifat and Mohamad, 2018). Consequently, understanding the repercussions of a wide band limit remains a significant policy issue and warrants a deeper scrutiny due to its regulatory and policy-related import.This paper is organized as follows. First, we discuss our data properties and outline subperiod designation. Next, we adumbrate the hypotheses and techniques to test them, followed by presentation of results. Lastly, the findings are recapitulated, and suggestions are advanced for future research in the area.\n2. Data and subperiod assignment: Daily data is retrieved from the bourse's proprietary package that includes all opening, close, high, low, volume, shares outstanding, and open interest information for all instruments from 1994. The 23-year sampling period (Jan 1994 to Jan 2017) involved two major crises: AFC and GFC. For precise regime dates, exponentially weighted moving average cross-over technique was employed on daily composite index (FBMKLCI) values to detect change points in 1997-1998 and 2007-2008.(1)EWMA= s2= lt-12+(1-l)rt-1,t2l here is a memory parameter with a value between 0 and 1. A high l implies longer memory, meaning higher look-back days are needed to incorporate new changes. Experimenting with different l values, the crisis periods were consolidated as February 24, 1997 to September 1, 1998 and January 11, 2008 to August 16, 2008. The resultant subperiods and sample summary stats are presented in Tables I and II.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Hypotheses\n4. Empirical findings: 4.1 Volatility spillover\n5. Implications: The findings of this study are mixed but marginally favor the regulatory practice of +-30 percent limits in Malaysia. Previous empirical results from Malaysia and other emerging markets broadly indicate deteriorated ex-post market quality. Based on this paper's results alone, a case cannot be made for abandonment of price limits. Instead, fine-tuning the limit mechanism further should be on the cards. The asymmetric nature of ex-post effects of upper and lower limits suggests that asymmetric limits may be used. By far, the limits perform worse in bearish scenarios--a scenario that they are designed to perform well in. Like most emerging markets that are \"mostly long\" or \"long only,\" Bursa Malaysia regulators are less likely to be worried about a miscalibrated price limit for upper limits. Hence, it is suggested that the exchange, leveraging its own access to granular data, investigates the timing of the lower limit hits for a much larger time period, preferably since the early 2000s, when sophisticated trading platform arrived at Malaysia. For fund managers, the asymmetric findings highlight the need for risk minimization strategies and weight assignment techniques during portfolio reshuffling stages--especially if turbulent markets are anticipated. For traders, cues on taking profit or cutting losses can be derived in extraordinary price swing scenarios.\n6. Conclusion: Empirical works on price limits' efficacy are no longer scarce. Though we accede that such attempts are merited in normal market situations, limits' potency in achieving the declared regulatory objectives warrants greater scrutiny in stressful times. Puzzlingly, nearly all circuit breaker researchers omitted this crucial angle. To redress this, we test price limits' role in curbing volatility, easing price discovery, and interfering with trading activities in Malaysia in both tranquil and crisis periods since 1994. Our findings suggest a comprehensive performance of limits in tempering volatility in bullish markets (crisis or otherwise) but mixed to poor results in bearish scenarios. The limits also appear to delay discovery of price equilibrium after large price moves. In terms of interference, the price limits do not appear to inhibit traders' trading activities when prices are moving up in tranquil markets but display mixed results when prices fall. However, they do appear to severely impede trading activities in crisis periods. Table XIV consolidates the variegated results of all tested hypotheses.Explaining causality of the surfaced patterns is beyond the scope of this paper. For instance, what role did Prime Minister Mahathir's capital control play in post-1997 panic? Did introduction and thereafter brusque banning of short selling in the 1990s contribute to trend in earlier subperiods? What about reintroduction of short selling in the new millennium and restricting it again later? Moreover, the role of Shariah consonant investment (a subdiscipline of finance/investment rooted in Islamic values--of which Malaysia is a major global exponent) funds and strategies (which heavily favor housing, power, and manufacturing sectors) could provide exciting insights into the matter. We also encourage the cognoscenti to link the findings to fundamental aspects of firms, possible roles of ownership structure, dividend pay-out policy, and--on a broader level--potential roles of regulatory variables such as microstructure control, changes in surveillance/monitoring regimes, and so on.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite regulatory claims of straitening volatility and preventing crashes, evidences on circuit breakers' ability to achieve so are nonconclusive. While previous scholars studies general performances of circuit breakers, the authors examine whether Malaysian price limits aggravate volatility, impede price discovery, and interfere with trading activities in both tranquil and stressful periods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a combination of parametric and nonparametric techniques consistent with Kim and Rhee (1997) to examine the major ex-post hypotheses in circuit breaker research.\nFindings: For calm markets, the authors find significant success of upper limits in tempering volatility with low trading interference. Lower limits show mixed results. Conversely, in crisis markets limits fare poorly in nearly all aspects, particularly for lower limits.\nPractical implications: Ramifications of the paper's findings are discussed through highlighting the asymmetric nature of price limits' ex-post effects. The paper also contributes to regulatory debate surrounding the quest for an optimal price limit.\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first of its kind in documenting long-horizon evidence of ex-post effects of a wide-band price limit. Moreover, the paper is unique in its approach in bifurcating circuit breaker performance along the line of market stability periods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effectuation, innovation and performance in SMEs: an empirical study	[ "Innovation", "Networks", "Effectuation", "Design thinking", "Firm performance", "Affordable loss" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Ever since Schumpeter (1934), practitioners and scholars alike have sought to understand the drivers of innovation and their effect on firm performance. Some of the dispute revolves around the explication of the concept of innovation within the firm, with researchers interpreting innovation as culture (e.g. Tellis et al., 2009), behaviour, innovation inputs or innovation outputs (Rosenbusch et al., 2010). As a result, innovation's impact on firm performance continues to remain ambiguous (Kyrgidou and Spyropoulou, 2013; Story et al., 2014). In a similar fashion, scholars have also sought to understand the drivers of entrepreneurship (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000; Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005). However the quest to link entrepreneurship theory to firm performance has also remained somewhat elusive. Although there has been much progress in the past few decades, there is still plenty to be understood about entrepreneurship, innovation and their relationship to firm performance.\nTheoretical background: Although there is intuitive appeal to the notion that innovation is an effectual process, little research has been conducted into this relationship. Besides this glaring disconnect, our review of effectuation literature concludes that empirical research has been hampered by the suitable explication of effectuation as a construct; and inadequate scale development.\nHypothesis development: Innovativeness\nMethodology: Sample size and characteristics\nDiscussion: This research establishes a relationship between firm-level innovativeness and effectuation. This is accomplished through the use of the three most widely used measures of firm-level innovativeness and emergent effectuation scales. Thus the first contribution of this research is to discriminate between innovation orientation and product/service innovation. This study indicates that innovativeness separates cleanly into these two distinct sub-constructs, with the former presenting itself as a cultural propensity towards innovation, while the latter reflects a behavioural predisposition to produce innovative products/services. We believe this is an important finding on its own, since it provides a more parsimonious explication of innovativeness as a construct within the firm.\nLimitations and future research: Effectuation theory as it relates to innovation is in its infancy. Whether firms employ an effectual or causational approach to innovation likely depends on several factors, such as firm size, age, governance, network/partnership arrangements and/or types of innovation pursued. However, given the historical dominance of predictive and causal approaches to innovation research, understanding how organizations encourage and nurture effectual processes within their innovation activities leave abundant avenues for future research.\nConclusion and managerial implications: This research has several managerial implications, beginning with the fact that an effectual approach to innovation appears to have an impact on the innovation performance. Our model indicates that collaboration with network partners, combined with an experimental approach to innovation, appears to lead to superior products/services and ultimately firm performance. This could have practical significance since it establishes that not only should firms be culturally predisposed to innovation, but also that the collaborative and iterative ways firms use to develop their products or services may ultimately impact both the performance of the innovation and that of the firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Ever since Sarasvathy's (2001) seminal article, scholars have sought to test effectuation's affect on firm performance. Although recent work has begun the arduous process of testing effectuation's effect on entrepreneurial performance, there is still much to learn about its impact on firm performance. One such area is the relationship between effectuation and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to first, propose a scale suitable to the explication of the effectuation construct relative to innovation. Second, it proposes a more parsimonious scale for the measurement of innovation. Third, these scales are tested relative to firm performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper develops and tests a structural model, which investigates aspects of effectuation as mediators between innovation orientation and product/service innovation. This is accomplished using a sample of 169 electronic product manufacturing-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Subjective measures of performance are used as the dependent variable.\nFindings: The three most widely used measures of innovativeness were found to break cleanly into two sub-constructs, namely innovation orientation and product/service innovation. Effectuation measures included means (who I know), leverage contingencies (experimentation), pre-commitments and affordable loss. Means and leverage contingencies were found to positively mediate innovation orientation and product/service innovation leading to increased firm performance. Affordable loss did not show a mediating role, but had a direct effect on firm performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study establishes two distinct sub-constructs of firm-level innovation; namely innovation orientation and product/service innovation. Second, by testing an innovation-centric effectuation model, this research establishes an empirical relationship between effectuation, innovation and firm performance.\nPractical implications: Practical implications include establishing a relationship between means, leverage contingencies and innovation-performance, indicating that the ways through which small and medium-sized enterprises use their innovation networks may affect innovation outcomes and ultimately firm performance.\nOriginality/value: This research establishes an empirical relationship between effectuation, innovation and firm performance, extending effectuation theory from the entrepreneurship to the innovation literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender roles and organizational citizenship behaviors: effects on managerial evaluations	[ "Performance", "Gender", "Managers", "Gender stereotypes", "Management roles", "Organizational behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Gender roles regarding masculine (agentic) and feminine (communal) behaviors expected of men and women can bias perceptions of employees and managers (Eagly and Carli, 2007). Gender-based incongruent behaviors (men acting relationally/women acting aggressively) often result in stereotype based bias in evaluations of performance (Eagly and Karau, 2002). Men are expected to act aggressively and decisively while women are expected to act more relational and communal (Schein, 2001). Further supporting the importance of gender roles, stereotypes of successful managers and stereotypes of men are more similar than stereotypes of women and successful managers (Schein et al., 1996; Stockdale and Nadler, 2010). The end result is that after adjusting for experience, education, performance, and seniority, men make more than women for the same jobs and men are more likely to be promoted and awarded larger raises than women (Bayard et al., 2003; Blau and Kahn, 2003; Eagly and Carli, 2007).\nOCBs: history and current conceptualization: OCBs are optional pro-social behaviors of an individual, aside from official job requirements and duties which are not necessarily present in a job description and benefit others and the organization (Organ et al., 2006). OCBs have been shown to be positively related to organizational success (Dunlop and Lee, 2004; Organ et al., 2006). Although OCBs are not a part of employee's job description, research indicates OCBs can influence managerial evaluations (Podsakoff et al., 2000; Whiting et al., 2008). Reasons OCBs influence employee evaluations include a belief that OCBs are essential to the success of the organization, voluntary participation in OCBs being perceived as a sign of organizational dedication, and general expectation that OCBs should be performed and therefore aggregated into overall job performance (Organ et al., 2006). Whiting et al. (2008) suggest research has indicated that OCBs are often as equally important to workplace performance appraisals as actual task performance.\nGender stereotypes in the workplace: Gender stereotypes exist within the workplace and affect the perception of male and female behavior within an organization (Cooper and Lewis, 1995). Additionally, the way in which males and females behave can be influenced by these stereotypes and the manner in which their behavior is evaluated. Biernat and Manis (1994) suggest that shifting standards theory highlights why men and women may be perceived differently despite being engaged in similar behaviors. Biernat and Manis found that when a stereotype exists, disseminating two groups on the same measurement, an a priori expectation of a difference is perceived by the evaluator. This suggests that men and women, performing OCBs equally, may be evaluated differently based on the stereotypical perception of how women and men are supposed to act based on gender roles.\nOCBs and gender stereotypes: Research from Lovell et al. (1999) suggests that employees who participate in pro-social behaviors (OCBs) are more likely to be rated higher in performance evaluations than employees who do not participate in OCBs. The more often an employee engages in OCBs the higher their rating on the evaluations. Unfortunately a precipice exists for female employees. Although overall, employees who performed OCBs were rated higher on evaluations, female employees continued to experience lower ratings than those of male coworkers (Lovell et al., 1999). Further analysis found that women were participating more often than men in altruistic behaviors yet the evaluations did not reflect this higher OCB performance. Raters were generally attending to the greater number of OCBs performed by women and employees (men or women) who performed OCBs more often were rated higher. What was troubling was that despite women outperforming men on OCB participation the men were given higher ratings on overall job performance (Lovell et al., 1999). Allen and Rush (2001) found that OCBs performed by women may go unappreciated because it is perceived as expected and congruent with gender role expectations. On the other hand, not being expected by gender roles, OCBs may be highly noticeable and appreciated by raters when performed by a man. Johnson et al. (2009) found that women are also more comfortable with a larger portion of overall performance being ranked from OCB participation compared to men. These studies taken together suggest that women are more likely to perform OCBs and are more willing to have OCBs utilized in rating the performance; however, men are more likely to benefit from performing OCBs.\nCurrent research: The relationship between gender stereotypes, OCB participation, and employee evaluations is an area that needs further study. Gender stereotypes have been found to affect employee evaluations both in experimental settings (Eagly and Karau, 2002) and real world performance ratings (Bowen et al., 2000). Specific dimensions of OCBs can be conceptualized as more or less congruent with men and women's gendered expectations of behavior (Kidder and Parks, 2001). Additionally, women can be under credited for OCBs while men can be over credited for the same behaviors (Allen and Rush, 2001). The extent that certain dimensions of OCBs are perceived as masculine or feminine as well as the gender differences in perceptions of OCBs are both areas needing further exploration.\nHypotheses: H1. OCBs will differ in perceptions of masculinity and femininity; specifically OCBI will be perceived to be more feminine.\nMethods: Participants\nResults: Preliminary analysis\nDiscussion: Evidence from previous studies indicated that managers value and highly rate employees who perform OCBs (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997). This study's findings are consistent with past research. Managers who did not participate in OCBs were rated significantly lower in overall evaluations than managers who did participate. Additionally, employees that participated in OCBs were seen as communal and those that did not participate in OCBs were seen as agentic. Not only did OCBs affect perceptions of organizational citizenship, this study finds further evidence that OCBs spill over to specific task focused ratings supporting the importance of OCBs in employee evaluations.\nLimitations and future directions: Limitations exist within this study as the portrayed managers were only placed within one context, retail management. Kidder and Parks (2001) have suggested that evaluations are not only influenced by the gender of the person being rated but also depend upon the gender perceptions of the behaviors and the gendered nature (occupational sex segregation) of the profession (Stockdale and Nadler, 2013). It is possible that the profession of retail manager may not have been perceived as gender-neutral by the student sample. The 2009 US Department of Labor Statistics rated retail management in the top ten most common professions for American women, but women were still underrepresented compared to men. Retail was primarily chosen due to its familiarity to the study's sample, college students. Future studies should examine OCB behaviors in both male and female dominated professions.\nConclusions: This study extends research on the effect of OCBs on employee evaluations. Previous research has indicated the effect OCBs have on the evaluations of employees (MacKenzie et al., 1993; Podsakoff et al., 2000; Whiting et al., 2008). The present findings confirm that participation in citizenship behavior, considered beneficial to the organization, is also beneficial to the employee in the form of better evaluation ratings. Employees, whether they were male or female, upon participation of OCBs were given higher ratings than employees who did not participate in OCBs. Predictions made about gender influencing the ratings did not materialize and highlight the potential intricacy of gender effects and OCBs. Special attention should be paid in future studies to the gender perception of the career and the saturation of citizenship behaviors presented to the rater.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are defined as non-required workplace behaviors that have potential positive organizational impact. This study examined gender roles and differences in employee evaluations based on OCB participation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: College students (n=160) rated male and female managers, who did or did not participate in OCBs, on the evaluation of behaviors and possessed gendered traits (agentic and communal). Additionally, participants rated the gendered nature of OCBs.\nFindings: OCB participation had a direct effect on managerial ratings and OCBs were perceived to be more feminine than masculine. Gender did not predict differences in ratings; however, women were seen as more likely to participate in OCBs compared to men. Additionally, the gender roles associated with OCBs were measured and OCBs were perceived to be mostly feminine in nature.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results indicated the importance of OCBs in managerial ratings and established that OCB behaviors are more aligned with stereotypes of women than men. Gendered expectations regarding OCB behaviors may further bias subjective workplace evaluations.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to establish the perception that OCBs as commonly categorized in research studies are perceived to be associated with feminine behaviors. OCBs had a strong effect on evaluations of managers and OCBs are more associated with feminine gender roles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying critical success factors for sustainable growth of Indian banking sector using interpretive structural modeling (ISM)	[ "Interpretive structural modelling", "Indian banking sector", "Legal and environment compliance", "Sustainable banking", "Sustainable collaboration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance of sustainability for the development of a nation has been well documented in recent times. It has been widely accepted that the adoption of sustainability policies is a key for the overall development of India as a nation. Environmental and social issues are playing a major role among the lenders and borrowers. Major corporations have started realising the importance of sustainability in their daily affairs and started paying more attention towards it. Similarly, stakeholders are also moving towards environment friendly corporations to achieve the desired results.\n2. Indian banking sector and its contribution in the growth of Indian economy: As mentioned by Chakraborty (2010) and Shimizu (2010), under the economic reform policy of 1991, India's financial sector has undergone major reforms. In the words of Dinodia Capital Advisors (2013), the financial system of any economy, especially the banking sector, plays an important role in running the economy smoothly as per the laid down standards.\n3. Literature review: Birindelli et al. (2015) argued that banks are making a move towards becoming a socially responsible industry and can enhance their approach of being social by disclosure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the adoption of the approach of triple bottom line. But in case of global consensus, affirmations and evidence, there is a need for improvement. Much of the international standards and principles are not yet followed and hence there is a need of more ethical/quality certifications and inclusion.\n4. Sustainable banking dimensions: In total, 11 dimensions of sustainable banking are identified from available literature and expert's opinion. Out of these 11 dimensions, growing environmental concerns, business opportunities, lenders liability and borrower's ability to meet financial obligations are taken from the framework suggested by International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) and rest of the seven dimensions were identified from the literature. These dimensions are described in brief in the section given below.\n5. Research methodology: 5.1 The method\n6. Results, analysis and discussions: 6.1 Structural self-interaction matrix\n7. Conclusion: The factor \"legal and environmental compliance\" has been determined as an independent factor which clearly signifies that legal and environmental compliance does not depend on any other factor for its functioning. It can also be stated that this is the most important factor among all the factors which have been selected. This is the only reason that this factor is being considered as a driver which is driving all the other available sustainability factors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors for sustainable growth of the Indian banking sector and develop a model for Indian banks by using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). It suggests some of the critical measures of sustainability for Indian banks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper aims to establish a relationship among the factors of sustainable banking through the opinion of experts from the banking sector. ISM approach is applied to bring down the complexity of relationship among factors. ISM ranked the factors as per their ability to facilitate and dependence on other factors and helps to develop a comprehensive, systematic model based on the relationship amongst those factors. After developing the model, second reviews by the experts are conducted for their comments and thus, the final model comes into existence.\nFindings: Legal and environmental compliance is determined as the key factor which is driving the other factors of sustainable banking. It will surely going to pose a challenge for business concerns for initiating various sustainable steps that will be a motivational factor for generating business opportunities and sustainable collaboration.\nPractical implications: The study provides a comprehensive framework of sustainable banking which can be applied to various Indian banks. It helps to develop coherence between conventional and sustainable dimensions of banking.\nOriginality/value: The ISM is applied for the first time in case of sustainability in the banking sector to bring about a model for sustainable banking in India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of descriptive social norms, organisational norms and personal norms in explaining solid waste management behaviours in workplaces	[ "Personal norms", "Social norms", "Metropolitan solid wastes", "Organizational norms", "Waste management behaviours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Environmental problems caused by metropolitan solid waste (MSW) disposal have caused concern for many groups of people, especially public authorities who have a direct responsibility MSW. The volume of MSW, referring to garbage that is mainly generated by households and businesses, has been increasing rapidly in developing countries (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, 2001). Many big cities around the world also face a massively increasing trend of MSW and have suffered the relevant adverse impacts such as landfill gas explosions, crop damages caused by soil contamination, odours, polluted ground water, polluted air and global warming (Lisk, 1991; El-Fadelf et al., 1997). The city of Bangkok in Thailand is facing waste management problems due to inadequate landfills for waste disposal and massively increasing MSW (Department of Public Cleansing, 2015). In response, the city has attempted to create innovative and sustainable ways to effectively manage solid waste. Promoting people's positive waste management behaviours (WMBs) is considered to be one such sustainable strategy. WMBs could play an important role in reducing the volume of solid waste and properly eliminating waste by minimising potential impacts on the environment (United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), 2013).\n2. Theoretical context: 2.1 WMBs\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Participants\n4. Results: 4.1 Associations between social norms, organisational norms, personal norms and WMBs\n5. Discussion: The results of the path analysis revealed that organisational norms and descriptive norms created by people in the workplace had the strongest effect (both direct and indirect) on individuals' WMBs. In contrast, descriptive social norms, which were created based on the influence of general unknown people (i.e. the general population), did not have a significant direct effect on individuals' WMBs; however, they did have a strong effect on organisational norms. This result implies that descriptive social norms created by the influence of affectively important people such as leaders and colleagues in the workplace have a stronger effect on people's decisions to engage in WMBs than the norms crated by people who are not affectively important. This finding coincides with Doran and Larsen's (2016) finding that descriptive social norms generated by important people had a strong effect on people's intention to choose green travel options. Though descriptive social norms of general unimportant people did not have a direct effect on WMBs, they did have a strong effect on organisational norms. Therefore, enhancing environmental social norms could enhance organisations' environmental norms, influencing people's decisions to engage in WMBs.\n6. Conclusion: This study carried out a path analysis to test how social norms, organisational norms and personal norms affects people's decisions to engage in WMBs. The results showed that organisational norms had the strongest effect on individuals' WMBs. Therefore, the role of organisational norms should be widely promoted in order to enhance people' engagement in WMBs. Specifically considering the role of organisational norms, the result of multiple regression analysis revealed that the norm created by general staffs in the company, and the norm created by colleagues in the same department were a significant predictor of WMBs. This result can lead to the conclusion that both local and subjective norms are important to promoting WMBs in a workplace. They should be considered in the development of communication campaigns for promoting WMBs. The results of the path analysis also showed that personal norms had a significant effect on WMB with almost the same significance level as organisational norms. Therefore, enhancing people's feelings of obligation to environmental protection potentially contributes to people's decision to engage in WMBs. To strengthen personal norms, this study suggests that communication campaigns should emphasise the dissemination of information about the potential environmental impacts of improper waste disposal and information about the adverse impacts of human behaviours on the environments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Waste management behaviours (WMBs) play an important role in minimising metropolitan solid waste generation and reducing the environmental impacts caused by waste disposal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social norms, organisational norms and personal norms in explaining individuals' engagement in WMBs, which include waste avoidance, green purchasing, reusing and recycling and waste disposal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The metropolitan city of Bangkok, Thailand was selected as a case study - it faces waste management problems caused by a massive increase in waste over the past decade. This study distributed questionnaires to 193 public and private officers residing in the city of Bangkok. Path analyses and a multiple regression analysis were performed to test the effect of each norm and the association of various norms on individuals' engagement in WMBs.\nFindings: The results revealed that organisational norms had the strongest effect (both direct and indirect) on WMBs. Personal norms also had a direct effect on WMBs. In contrast, social norms did not directly influence WMBs; however, they did have an indirect effect on WMBs through organisational norms.\nPractical implications: This study suggests that the role of organisational norms should be heavily emphasised in promoting the WMBs of public and private officers.\nOriginality/value: This study found that the role of organisational norms is the most significant factor influencing WMBs in workplaces. In addition, both provincial and subjective environmental norms in organisations significantly affect WMBs. They should be enhanced in order to promote WMBs in organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How librarians make decisions: the interplay of subjective and quantitative factors in the cancellation of Big Deals	[ "Academic libraries", "Qualitative data", "Big Deal", "Centralized collection management", "Journal cancellation", "Quantitative data" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past two decades, large commercial publishers have succeeded in establishing a stranglehold over the dissemination of scholarly research (Lariviere et al., 2015). In addition, scholars are writing more articles and looking for places to publish them, and publishers have responded with producing more journals Beverungen et al., 2012; Tenopir and King, 2009). Through mergers and acquisitions over the past 30 years, five major publishing companies have emerged that produce more than 50 per cent of academic output for both natural and medical sciences and social sciences and humanities (Lariviere et al., 2015). For instance, in 1973, commercial publishers (as opposed to society and professional publishers) accounted for 20 per cent of all papers published. By 2013, three commercial publishers accounted for 47 per cent of all papers published in the natural and medical sciences (Elsevier, Wiley and Springer) (Lariviere et al., 2015). Having a near monopoly on academic scholarship has made it difficult both for scholars to ignore the journals they produce and for libraries to cancel them.\nBackground: In the spring of 2016, Western Libraries in London, Ontario, was faced with cutting a projected 20 per cent of the acquisitions budget, roughly equating to CA$2m brought about by the decline of the Canadian dollar in 2015. Facing such a massive deficit, Western Libraries were forced to confront the unbundling of the \"Big Deal\", as most Big Deal journal publishers (i.e. Sage, Springer, Wiley and Elsevier) were unwilling to consider alternative licensing options. Following the methodology of the Universite de Montreal Bibliotheque to identify essential titles, a cancellation process was worked out (Gagnon, 2016).\nLiterature review: Big Deals pose a challenge to academic libraries. On the one hand, they are often considered a good deal by libraries, as they provide access to a large number of resources for considerably less than the cost of individual subscriptions. But as the cost of the Big Deals continues to increase, often at a much higher rate than inflation or the annual budget increases of libraries' materials budgets, combined with dips in the economy and, in Canada's case, the decline in the value of the Canadian dollar, library administrators feel that Big Deals are no longer sustainable and that they need to be cancelled or, at least, unbundled.\nMethodology: After the ethics protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board at Western University in late May of 2017, we sent recruitment emails out to all the 25 librarians involved in the Wiley cancellation project. If they agreed to participate, they were asked to complete a short online survey that collected information about their collection subject responsibilities, level of knowledge of their subject area, their relationship with faculty and their confidence in the cancellation process. They were also asked to rank the factors they used to evaluate the journals. These included cost, faculty consultation, importance to discipline, faculty survey data, impact factor, librarian subject knowledge, programme reviews, usage, cost per use and any other factor not included in the list. Cost, cost per use, usage and faculty survey data had been provided by the CFRRSC and applied to all the titles in the Wiley package and entered into the spreadsheet that was distributed to the librarians. The extra factors listed in our survey were intended to elicit more subjective factors that may have influenced their cancellation decisions. Fifteen librarians completed this survey and 13 agreed to be interviewed--a 50 per cent participation rate. The interview participants consisted of seven librarians whose subject area was in the sciences, three librarians in the social sciences and arts & humanities and three librarians who worked in two of four embedded libraries on campus: the music library and the business library. Participants were each interviewed in June in an office in one author's building. The length of the interviews ranged from 30 min to 52 min, with an average of 42 min. Both authors interviewed eight participants together, whereas the second author interviewed five on his own. The interviews were transcribed by a commercial transcription service and checked by the authors for errors. We coded the interviews using a list of codes developed ahead of time based on the factors included in the survey. Themes that emerged from the interviews were also coded. NVivo software was used to manage the coding of the transcripts and the analysis.\nFindings: In this section we will relate the findings from the online survey and the interviews. The survey findings were used as a starting point in the interviews to explore with the participants how they impacted their decisions.\nInterviews: We identified several themes from the interviews that elaborated the findings from the survey questionnaire and give added depth to the factors that affected the participants' decision-making process during the cancellation project. These included the following:\nDiscussion: Librarians have been discussing and predicting the breakup of the Big Deal since its inception nearly two decades ago (Frazier, 2001) and, for the most part, have formed the common opinion that the Big Deal is no longer a good deal. Although many institutions may hold that the Big Deal still represents the most economical means of acquiring the most content, and others may prefer to keep quiet for fear of reverting to paying list prices, most librarians in our study agreed that the model is fundamentally flawed and needs to change. The question now being asked is \"how?\" Western Libraries built a quantitative analysis process as an emergency measure to help facilitate unbundling as the value of the Canadian dollar declined abruptly, and found that purely quantitative solutions were not sufficient to complete the project. Arming librarians with Excel-= skills, usage data and algorithms was not enough. Although the librarians in our study were overwhelmingly opposed to the Big Deal and felt that prices charged by commercial publishers were unsustainable, an economical alternative to the Big Deal was not offered. The librarians could not agree on cancelling enough titles that would make the cancellation cost-effective. Cancelling the package and buying back only the most highly used titles might work for some faculties but would disadvantage others, such as arts & humanities faculties, which do not publish as often as science faculties. However, even the science librarians were sceptical of basing decisions on the quantitative factors alone and wanted to be the final arbiter of what gets cancelled. Years of experience and subject knowledge appear to be closely associated with librarians' reluctance to make collection decisions based on numbers alone. Another impediment to making cancellation decisions is the fear of the backlash they could get if journals deemed important to faculty got cancelled. Are these valid concerns? Will taking collection decisions out of the hands of subject librarians and giving them to a small team of collections specialists, removed from regular interaction with faculty, make these decisions easier? Would faculty object to lower-ranked journals being cancelled if they were aware of the cost of these journals? Do faculty need to have access to multiple high-cost journals that cover the same topic? Can faculty adapt to a situation where they will not have instant access to every single article they are interested in? Does it make sense for larger institutions to exit consortially negotiated Big Deals and repurchase titles at list price? Will a \"haves and haves-not\" dichotomy develop among university libraries when not all can afford to provide comprehensive access to ejournal resources? These are important questions to ponder as libraries and librarians attempt to weaken the hold of commercial publishers in the scholarly communication ecosystem.\nConclusion: The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the decision-making process that librarians at Western Libraries underwent during the unbundling of the Wiley ejournal package. As the unbundling project did not go forward, it gave us an opportunity to learn from the librarians' points of view the issues that prevented them from cancelling enough journals to make the exercise cost-effective. Our main finding was that the librarians who participated in the study could be divided into two groups - a data-driven criteria group and a subjective criteria group - based on their ranking of the factors used to make their cancellation decisions. We found that those participants who had a closer relationship with the faculties in their subject areas or worked in the embedded libraries had more difficulty in cancelling journals. Only in a very few cases did participants feel that they could rely on the quantitative data alone in their decision-making. These participants often had a more distant relationship with faculty and less subject knowledge. Although most of the participants were in favour of cancelling the Big Deals and lessening the power of the big publishers, very few offered any solutions that would correct the power imbalance. The participants felt, however, that if faculty were more involved in collection decisions and more aware of the challenges faced by academic libraries, a dialogue could be created between the two groups that could lead to working together to devise a solution. Future research, therefore, should start this dialogue by examining the attitudes of faculty towards the scholarly publishing industry and their willingness to give up access to some resources in the interest of creating a more sustainable scholarly communication model. Future studies should also extend this research beyond one university to several to determine whether librarians at other institutions face similar difficulties in cancelling large journal packages and whether a workable process can be developed to make breaking apart the Big Deal easier.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the decision-making process of librarians at the University of Western Ontario who attempted to cancel the Wiley Big Deal. The aim of the study is to reveal the underlying factors that affected their decision-making process. By understanding the decision-making process of librarians, it may be possible to devise a system that takes into consideration not only quantitative factors but also the subjective or qualitative factors that impact librarians' decisions and thus make it easier to cancel these Big Deals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study involved administering an online survey to 25 librarians involved in the cancellation project. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 of these librarians to understand at a deeper and more nuanced level the factors that influenced their decisions.\nFindings: The main finding was that the librarians who participated in the study could be divided into two groups - a data-driven criteria group and a subjective criteria group - based on their ranking of the factors used to make their cancellation decisions. Most librarians interviewed used a mixture of quantitative factors and qualitative factors when making their cancellation decisions. The authors found that those participants who had greater professional experience and a closer relationship with the faculties in their subject areas had more difficulty in cancelling journals. Very few librarians relied on quantitative data alone.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of few that have examined the subjective factors that influence librarians' decisions regarding cancellation of Big Deals. It has implications regarding the movement towards centralized collection management and reliance on quantitative data alone when making collection decisions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is Uppsala model valid to fashion retailers? An analysis from internationalisation patterns of fast fashion retailers	[ "Internationalization", "Fashion retailers", "Fast fashion retailers", "Psychic distance", "Uppsala model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Among the abundant internationalisation theories, the Uppsala model has been by far one of the most highly used theories used to explain foreign market selection patterns. This model has been well established since its inception and its popularity arises from its straightforward and simple use of explanatory variables to explain firm internationalisation and its applicability to many diverse industries. The Uppsala model suggests that firms gradually increase their commitment to international markets, and this systematic sequence has been confirmed in many divergent industries such as, manufacturing (Bilkey and Tesar, 1977), pharmaceuticals (Fina and Rugman, 1996), raw materials (Pillania, 2008), the service industry (Eriksson et al., 1997), and retailing (Vida et al., 2000).\nLiterature review: The Uppsala model\nDoes every firm follow the patterns Uppsala model suggests? Challenges to the Uppsala model: Although there is ample research that supports the gradual internationalisation of firms in terms of speed of internationalisation and market selection like the Uppsala model suggests, there is also literature that challenges this internationalisation model (Anderson, 1993; Aspelund and Butsko, 2010; Forsgen, 2002; Keen and Etemad, 2012; Mitra and Golder, 2002; Morgan and Katsikeas, 1997; Stray et al., 2008). In particular, Forsgen (2002) argues that as a whole, the Uppsala model is limited in its ability to explain particular patterns of internationalisation behaviour of firms. Similarly, Aspelund and Butsko (2010) recognise the limitations of the Uppsala model at explaining internationalisation decisions of Norwegian small- and medium-sized enterprises, and suggest that the Uppsala model is more useful at explaining internationalisation when paired with Dunning's (1980) eclectic paradigm of international product (OLI model; ownership, location, internalisation).\nMethods: Operationalisation\nResults: Analysis on speed of internationalisation\nDiscussion and implications: This study started with an idea that factors such as firm strategies (e.g. targeting niche markets) and firm resources (e.g. brand image and asset specificity) may be related to why the Uppsala model is not fully explaining fashion retailers' internationalisation patterns. Based on this, this study posits that the Uppsala model may not be applicable to the fashion industry. In other words, fashion brands that target similar consumers globally, have a strong brand image, and have asset specificity in their unique product offering or unique business model may not follow a gradual and linear internationalisation process. Overall this study found that the Uppsala model only partially explains fashion retailer internationalisation. The summary of findings includes:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Uppsala internationalisation theory is highly utilised due to its simplicity and applicability. However, there are contrasting results on its assumption that firms follow a gradual internationalisation process. Literature shows that firm strategies (e.g. targeting a niche market) and firm resources (e.g. brand image and asset specificity) may decrease barriers of entry. Global fashion retailers possess these characteristics and may not follow a gradual internationalisation pattern. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether fashion retailers that target a niche market, have a strong brand image and asset specificity will follow a gradual internationalisation pattern suggested by Uppsala.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two aspects of internationalisation (speed of internationalisation and market selection) were analysed. Market selection was measured by three aspects of distance (geographic distance, economic distance, and culture distance). Data were collected utilising secondary sources and internationalisation patterns were calculated using existing formulas.\nFindings: Overall, results provided partial support for Uppsala model. After cautious expansion early in internationalisation, fashion retailers experience a period where rapid expansion exists. During initial internationalisation, geographically and economically close markets were chosen, which mirror the Uppsala model. However, no incremental patterns were observed thereafter. In addition, after initially moving to culturally close countries, firms moved to countries with close cultural proximity to each other rather than close to home market.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings are based on three cases of fast fashion retailers; thus, for further generalisation, if the findings will be applicable to other fashion firms which have different strategies and resources needs to be examined.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the first attempts to research the applicability of Uppsala model to fashion retailers. By investigating fashion retailers that target niche markets, have strong brand image and asset specificity; the paper adds additional empirical evidence of situations where internationalisation does not follow the linear pattern that Uppsala model argues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Music, scent and time preferences for waiting lines	[ "Queuing", "Store ambience", "Music", "Financial services", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite the best efforts of financial marketers to create a favorable image of a service organization, the first impression by the consumer of a bank branch may be a line of waiting, frustrated and possibly angry consumers. This problem of waiting for service has become more important for marketers due to the reduced tolerance for waiting among many consumers.Basic characteristics of financial services mean that waiting lines or queues cannot be avoided (Zeithaml et al., 1985). In some countries this has been exacerbated by widespread closure of bank branches; these closures are the result of ATMs, telephone banking and internet banking. If service provider staff (e.g. bank tellers) are unoccupied or non-service staff are visible to the customer, then many customers become more annoyed, because they feel that those staff should be serving to reduce the queue (Gurney, 1990). Some banks have learnt to conceal any staff not serving customers waiting in a queue because the visible presence of those staff makes many customers more annoyed with their wait.This study found evidence that anger and frustration was even more likely at bank branches and financial institution service centers than many other service contact points. Focus group members stated that they were likely to become annoyed after four or five minutes waiting in a bank branch. In the words of one respondent: \"I think, to me, the banks are such boring, uninteresting places. That's why I can't stand to wait there. Two minutes seems like an eternity.\"Many banks base their promotion strategies on the quality of service they promise, yet the author was denied co-operation in this research by every bank approached. Indeed a bank executive suggested that with the much lower cost of Internet and telephone banking, the bank was not very interested in enhancing the customer experience at branches. As a result the experiment was conducted at a non-bank customer service center where financial transactions occur and customers are required to wait in lines in a similar environment to a bank branch. While the physical layout is the same, a caveat is appropriate as to the applicability of the findings in bank branches.A strategy sometimes used to alleviate the effects of waiting is to employ distractions such as live entertainment or video. Katz et al. (1991) studied customer perceptions of waiting under different conditions in a bank setting. They found that customers overestimate the waiting time and as the perceived waiting time increases, customer satisfaction decreases. Information on expected waiting time does not increase satisfaction but distractions do. However there is conflicting evidence on the effectiveness of using video/TV and it is not always suitable in service environments.This study investigates two simple environmental changes for their effect on the perception of time spent waiting and consequently on customer satisfaction.Can a scent change our emotions, like anger and frustration, while we are waiting in a queue or line or could it have any effect on how long we think that we are waiting? How strong is the effect of music on our emotions and can music affect our perception of time? If ambient scent and background music have these effects, does this translate into higher levels of customer satisfaction?\nBackground and previous research: Customer evaluation of many services is critically influenced by waiting time. Many studies have revealed the negative effect of waiting lines on consumers (Katz et al., 1991; Taylor, 1994; Hui and Tse, 1996, inter alia). It is common for consumers to overestimate the time that they spend waiting (Hornik, 1984), especially in banks. As the perceived time of waiting increases, customer satisfaction typically decreases (Katz et al., 1991). Customers do not evaluate service quality solely on the outcome of a service, but also on the process of service delivery. Some research on customer service satisfaction found that time was more important than quality in determining customer satisfaction in service experiences (Davis and Vollmann, 1990; Friedman and Friedman, 1997). Consumers are increasingly willing to use waiting lines as an indicator of poor service because they value time more than ever. The consequences of the trend to value time more include the explosion of convenience goods, convenience stores, the number of consumers who use convenience as a primary basis for making purchase decisions (Berry et al., 2002) and it is a contributory factor to brand loyalty. Double income time poor families want to outsource household chores (Dudley, 2000).Consumers in a modern society have been becoming less tolerant of waiting and of firms that are perceived to \"waste\" the consumer's time (Katz et al., 1991; Taylor and Claxton, 1994; Hui and Tse, 1996). The media have reported queue rage or anger over waiting in lines as well as telephone rage with increasing frequency and media reports range from counseling for service staff to murders committed over waiting in a line (Fraser, 2005). There are more time pressed demographic groups (such as married, employed women with children and two income families) today than a generation ago. Even those groups that actually have more free time today than a generation ago, perceive that they have less time (Robinson and Godbey, 1997).\nA new basis for market segmentation: Previous approaches by marketers to the problem of waiting assume that the negative effects of waiting are the same for all customers and all customers are treated alike. However one of the strongest changes in marketing has been to recognize that all customers are not alike and this study raises the question whether all consumers react the same way to waiting. If they do not, there may be an opportunity for marketers. This study introduces a new concept to the marketing literature on waiting, namely, the need for time management. The need for time management is a cognitive variable involving a structure of beliefs held by the individual at any one time. These beliefs concern their perceptions of time and its value to them. This concept is incorporated into a model to describe the relationship between the need for time management by the individual, their emotions and their evaluation of the service.The need for time management is based on a Time Structure Questionnaire (TSQ) developed by psychologists Bond and Feather (1988). The TSQ measures the extent to which respondents perceive their use of time as structured and purposive. Bond and Feather (1988) found five dimensions from their factor analysis of the TSQ:1. sense of purpose;2. structured routine;3. present orientation;4. effective organization; and5. persistence.The higher the individual's TSQ score, the more the individual prefers to have their time highly organized, and the greater their need for structure in the management of their time. McDonald (1994) adapted the TSQ to study time use in shopping. He contended that the subjective experience of time is a perceptual characteristic of individuals, which can contribute to more effective retail marketing strategies. In this study, this concept is called the need for time management and it is proposed to adapt the concept to the study of waiting for service. This concept could be used as a new basis for segmenting consumers. By matching the need for time management with readily identifiable demographic characteristics, marketers could identify groups who are more likely to feel aggravated while waiting for a service and more likely to respond to marketing communications that address the growing need of many consumers to have their time respected by marketers.The following hypotheses are proposed:H1. Consumers' need for time management is a significant causal factor influencing their reported level of discomfort when waiting in a line.H2. Consumers' level of discomfort is a significant causal factor that influences their evaluation of the service while waiting in line.H3. Consumers' need for time management has an effect on their evaluation of the service, with their level of discomfort a mediating factor.These relationships are illustrated in Figure 1. This model will also be used to test a new approach, using an environmental intervention, to alleviating the anger felt by customers while waiting in lines.\nEnvironmental interventions to modify perceived time: The traditional approach to the problem of customer waiting by service businesses was to use queuing theory and the manipulation of supply and demand. As we observe every day, these approaches have had limited success, and so recently, attention has been directed to understanding why the customer's perception of a wait differs from the actual wait time. Understanding these perceptions opens the door to understanding how the service provider can make a wait seem better or worse, without actually changing the length of a wait. The issue is important because waiting has an effect on customer satisfaction, through its effect on the customer's emotions. The effect of customer satisfaction on factors critical to the success of firms, such as loyalty, is well documented.Apart from operations management, previous studies on waiting and its effects on customer satisfaction have tended to focus on customer perceptions of the wait and how this might be affected by: filled wait time (Taylor and Claxton, 1994); service provider control (Taylor, 1994; Tom and Lucey, 1995; Baker and Cameron, 1996); waiting duration or queuing information (Hui and Tse, 1996); lighting, color, music, temperature (Baker and Cameron, 1996); music (Chebat and Filiatrault, 1993; Baker and Cameron, 1996). The effect of time fillers on perceived waiting time is generally small and dependent both on the context studied and whether a field or laboratory experiment is used (Antonides et al., 2002).This paper discusses a new approach using scent, not previously considered in the marketing literature, to reduce the wait time as perceived by the consumer. The study compared the use of scent with the use of music and a control group with no intervention in a service environment.Music\nResearch method and analysis: Measures\nFindings: The measurement models\nConclusions and suggestions for future research: The three latent variables\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Waiting for service by customers is an important problem for many financial services marketers. The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach proposing that customer evaluation of the service can be increased with an ambient scent. The paper also aims to identify a cognitive variable which differentiates customers by the way they value time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Pre-tests included focus groups which highlighted financial services and a pilot test of 105 subjects. These were followed by a main sample of 607 subjects. Structural equation modelling and multivariate analysis of covariance were used for analysis.\nFindings: - Two environmental interventions, music and scent, can increase customer satisfaction among customers kept waiting in a line and reduce queue rage.\nPractical implications: - Service contact points can reduce incidence of \"queue rage\" and enhance customer satisfaction by either or both of two simple modifications to the service environment or a preventive strategy of offering targeted customers an alternative.\nOriginality/value: - A new environmental intervention for customers waiting in line and a potential new method of segmentation are proposed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination	[ "Industrial services", "Innovation", "Operations management", "Oil industry", "Gas industry", "Norway" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: The owners of advanced, complex and integrated products used in capital-intensive industries face stringent performance targets and often require more support in terms of diagnostics (control over the technical condition of the equipment), prognostics (prediction of failures and estimation of residual life of equipment) and forensics (analysis of failures to find root causes) services. In addition, services are required for enhancing operational skills and improving product performance (Andersen et al., 2003; Markeset and Kumar, 2005; Markeset and Kumar, 2003; Mathieu, 2001a, 2001b; Patton and Bleuel, 2000; Lele and Karmakar, 1993). Collaboratively they are looking for solutions for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the operation, maintenance and support processes, for reducing costs as well as for improving health, safety and environmental conditions.In general, outsourcing and insourcing are gaining importance in all industries (Pai and Basu;, 2007; Jenster et al., 2004) as well as in the context of facility management (Hui and Tsang, 2006). Outsourcing an activity or a function is a strategic decision and the responsibility and control over these activities are partially transferred to the service provider (Lysons and Gillingham, 2003; Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 2002; Bragg, 1998). Some of the typical advantages of maintenance outsourcing include increased labor productivity, reduced maintenance costs, focus of using in-house personnel on core activities, etc., whilst some of the disadvantages include loss of control, increased dependence on suppliers, loss of knowledge and competence, etc. (Bertolini et al., 2004).The increased outsourcing and in-sourcing, as well as increased needs for support services due to increased complexity of industrial products and production processes, results in increased interdependence between service provider and receiver to meet performance targets. A service provider is often required to customize services to individual customer needs and to respond positively to changing customer requirements. Changing customer needs, rapid technology development, and increased competition drives the service providers to continuously innovate and to focus on creatively using technology, knowledge and its networks to provide services that create value for a customer (van Riel and Lievens, 2004; Kandampully, 2002).For the production facility owners, the value could be operation and maintenance process effectiveness, improved maintenance quality, improved safety, reduction in costs, reduction in execution time resulting in reduced downtime, improved availability and quality of production output, etc. Innovation in general is a process that may result in new/improved physical products, extended products (Kuusisto and Meyer, 2003), new/improved internal processes and organization, or improved networking, marketing and sales, etc. (Tidd and Hull, 2005). In this paper innovation in services refer to a process of creation of new services and/or in improvement of existing services.Impact of innovation on operation and maintenance process effectiveness in the Norwegian oil and gas industry\nTheoretical framework for research: In the theoretical framework for research, the following issues were considered, namely: innovation models, drivers for innovations and innovation process and activities.Innovation models\nMethodology: The purpose of the research was to identify important drivers for industrial service innovations, innovation process management activities, and understand industrial services innovation management processes in the Norwegian O&G industry. Information and data were collected using a survey and guided face-to-face interviews with top and middle managers in major O&G operating companies and industrial service companies.Survey\nStudy findings: Drivers for innovation\nDiscussion of findings: The study revealed that the recent developments in the Norwegian O&G industry have created a need to find innovative solutions to complex technological and organizational challenges. Table I shows that market needs and customer initiatives and feedback are the most important drivers for innovation. Service providers and facility owners are often collaborating to create innovative solutions which can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operational, maintenance and support processes. The creation of new services and/or the improvement of existing services were the result of interaction. This is in accordance with the findings Kuusisto and Meyer (2003) and Gronroos (2000), which conclude that the co-production of knowledge and joint problem solving processes are key issues of service innovation and performance improvement.Table I also shows that the introduction of new technology is an important driver for innovation processes. With respect to operations and maintenance it is observed that condition monitoring technology and software for handling complex information has accelerated the service innovation process. New/improved information and communication technology (ICT) facilitated more use of expert support for diagnostics, prognostics and forensic analysis, and also the collaboration between experts often located in different parts of the world. This enables more effective and efficient operation and maintenance processes and should also to reduce costs and manning levels.In complex and integrated production processes, there is naturally greater focus on technology development. This is also shown in Table II where the development of new technology was considered the second most important source of ideas for innovating new services. However, the most important source was ideas from the employees. This is natural since they are in continuous interaction with the customers, knows the service content, the delivery process and the needs the best.The service innovation was indicated as a continuous process. The mapping activities provided useful information with respect to idea collection and making effective decisions in the new service creation process. Table III indicates that mapping of market needs, mapping of costs, risks and opportunities are considered as two most important activities by the case study participants. Table IV, indicates that the return on investments and the availability of internal resources were considered the two most important decision-making factors.Many of the industrial services are based on advanced technology or knowledge, but most often a combination of both. Development of such services requires multi-disciplinary expertise. Therefore, it is considered natural and essential to have cross-functional and multifunctional teams. Moreover, the operator companies had long-term contracts with some of the service providers. They considered it necessary to involve such service providers in the innovation processes. The involvements of customers, employees and using multifunctional teams in the services development process have also been highlighted by De Jong and Vermeulen (2003).The study indicated that the service providers interacted regularly with the customers at different organizational levels and in different functional departments. They also interacted with its suppliers and sub-suppliers. Some of the service companies preferred to place their employees with the customers for helping the customer to define service requirements, to customize the services, and to communicate more effective and efficiently. Constant interaction between the involved parties, between various departments, and between the employees involved in the innovation process was considered essential. According to Matthing et al. (2006), the interaction is not only the focal point of the services development, but the essence of customer involvement.The study indicated that the services innovations were most often directed at a limited number of customers and were customized to individual customer needs. Therefore, the focus was on obtaining feedback from involved parties in the development process to improve the content, delivery or service performance. Table V indicates that the feedback from the customer and interaction between employees were considered as most important activities to encourage service innovations.Based on the conceptual framework for innovation processes and activities presented in Figure 2, the findings in the study and the discussion, as well as interaction with different players in the Norwegian O&G industry, a modified framework for service innovation management and coordination is proposed as illustrated in Figure 3.The first activity in a service innovation management and coordination process is the Idea collection and developing a service concept. The evaluation and decision stage indicated in Figure 2 is in this framework included in the feasibility analysis stage. The development activity corresponds to new service development and implementation to test piloting and commercialization and service improvements/market introduction. As also suggested by Yazdani and Holmes (1999), we suggest that the different activities can be started simultaneously. By enabling the use of multi-skilled integrated teams and facilitation for intense communications and information exchange between the participants and the processes involved, one would encourage integration and coordination of activities. This is indicated by the many bi-directional vertical arrows between the activities. Therefore, it will be of importance that the participants have an excellent understanding of the goals and the work processes. The process is a cyclic and interactive process. The feedback from the customer, suppliers, and employees as well as from previous or subsequent activities can be very useful for improving the process at each stage and for developing value added services and managing improvement in existing services.Since the activities in the service development cycle, unlike the product development cycle, would not be clearly defined and overlapping, a strong management team is required to manage and coordinate the development process. The intangibility of the service product could further complicate the management process. Therefore, to manage and coordinate the process, it will be necessary to have evaluations or checkpoints at different stages to monitor and control the process. Zeithaml et al. (2006) also proposes stage gates for controlling the services development process. It may be noted that the evaluation gates in the proposed framework are not similar to the ones proposed in different stage gate models for product development. The gates in the stage gate models have been criticized for increasing bureaucracy and time of development (see also Stevens and Dimitirades, 2005). In sequential process models, the process often has to be stopped before crossing the gates due to lack of definition of stage output, lack of description of how to organize development teams, and fulfillment of some requirements. In the proposed framework, the purpose of the evaluation gates is to control the complex process and to add specificity. It would also facilitate changes in the multidiscipline and/or cross-functional teams, if considered utmost necessary.\nConcluding remarks: Innovation in industrial services becomes increasingly important for optimization of operations and maintenance of complex production facilities. The increase in outsourcing of non-core activities and in-sourcing of expertise has created growth in the service industry and a more competitive market. Therefore, it is more important than ever for companies to become innovative to achieve competitiveness and to sustain growth. A service innovation process is a complex process requiring management and coordination of large number of interorganizational activities and interactions at different levels in organizations. The process for creation of new/improved services requires careful planning and thorough understanding of the customer's needs, wants and preferences.A modified framework for service coordination and management is suggested to guide managers for service innovation management and coordination. Improvement efforts are a continuous process, and all opportunities should be exploited to improve service content, delivery and performance to create value for the customer. However, to ensure success the efforts need to managed and coordinated in and cost effective and efficient way.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to identify different service innovation drivers, innovation process activities and to understand industrial services innovation management and coordination, as well as to develop a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study involved collection of information and data from the literature and the Norwegian oil and gas (O&G) industry. A survey was conducted to get an overview of existing practices and guided interviews were conducted to confirm the findings of the survey.\nFindings: - The study indicates that the market needs are considered the most important innovation process driver, feedback from the customers is the most important activity to encourage service innovations, whilst return on investments is the most important decision-making factor in evaluating innovation feasibility. Employees are the most important source of innovation ideas. Furthermore, interactions between different companies, as well as involvement of customer, employees and suppliers in the innovation process are becoming increasingly important.\nPractical implications: - The study shows that service providers and receivers often collaborate in the innovation processes, and that many of the activities are performed simultaneously. This results in the collaborative parties needing to put resources on managing and coordinating the innovation process in a structured, effective and efficient way. The proposed framework for service innovation management and coordination provides practitioners with a structured approach to manage industrial service innovations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings are based on the data collected from a number of companies from the O&G industry in Norway.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies different innovation process drivers and activities and proposes a modified framework for industrial services innovation management and coordination based on the study analysis, interaction with the practitioners and using available literature on innovation management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Inter-firm differences in mergers and acquisitions: a study of the pharmaceutical sector in India	[ "Acquisitions", "Mergers", "Indian pharmaceutical sector" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: For any business to thrive in the competitive scenario, a firm needs to grow in business, either by internal expansion or by external expansion. Internal expansion is a gradual process over time when a firm acquires new assets, replaces obsolete technology and equipments and establishes new line of products. On the other hand, in the external expansion, a firm collaborates with a running business and grows overnight through corporate combinations. These combinations are in the form of mergers, amalgamations, acquisitions and takeovers, and, hence, become an important feature of corporate restructuring. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are strategic decisions taken for the maximization of a firms' growth through various revenue maximizing and cost-minimizing routes. A merger is \"the union of two firms to form a single new business.\" This definition follows with an assumption that firms are usually similar in size and, hence, the arrangement is more collaborative. According to Griffin and Egbert (1991), a merger is somewhat akin to a marriage. The identities of two firms are merged into one with the full consent of the board of directors of the agreeing firms.\n2. Related literature: Trautwein (1990) summarizes theories related to M&A and broadly classified into five categories, such as efficiency theory, monopoly theory, valuation theory, empire building theory and process theory. Given these theories of M&A, several attempts have been made by researchers to understand the motives and determinants of M&A activities. In line of this, Venkiteswaran (1997) emphasizes on the Indian corporate sector in explaining the factors related to corporate restructuring. From Kumar (2000), 35 percent of acquisitions involved buying out local joint venture partners by multinationals, 5 percent acquisitions increased stakes in their affiliates or subsidiaries and 7 percent of mergers happen to the existing affiliates following merger of patents[3]. Danzon et al. (2004) studied the determinants of M&A by separating the worldwide M&A database into small and large firms (based on the enterprise value). They used multinomial logistic regression to determine if the firm will undergo merger activity using excess capacity due to pipeline gaps, firm size, Tobin's q, multinational affiliation and cash to sales ratio. The determinants were slightly different for large and small firms. Large firms use mergers as a response to excess capacity due to anticipated patent expiration and gap in the firm's product pipeline, whereas small firms use mergers as an exit strategy when they are financially incompetent. The effects of mergers are further seen using propensity scores to control for endogeneity. Large firms that merged did not experience any significant change in enterprise value, sales, employees and R&D relative to non-merged counterparts, whereas smaller firms that merged experienced slower growth in R&D relative to similar firms those did not merge, implying that post-merger integration may divert cash from R&D to others.\n3. Data and variables: According to Mishra and Chandra (2010), the use of panel data not only helps in raising the sample size and degrees of freedoms considerably, it also incorporates the dynamics of the firms' behavior in the market place. Unlike an unbalanced panel data, this study uses a balanced panel for the empirical analysis. However, use of such a structured data, restricts us to identify entry and exit pattern of firms in the same sector, and thereby M&A behavior. However, this allows to check the consistency of firm behavior and, hence, the results can be compared with existing studies for a better understanding of M&A activities. According to our knowledge, such an exercise is not attempted for the Indian pharmaceutical sector. Data are collected from the CMIE[4] Prowess database, accessed during August 2014. The collection of data involves the two-step process. First, firm characteristics are collected from the annual audited balance sheet and second, information related to M&A activities are collected from the M&A section of the CMIE Prowess database.\n4. The empirical analysis: The empirical analysis of the paper is divided in three sub-sections. The first sub-section focuses on the determinants of M&A based on different strategies as explained in the earlier section. Most of the recent studies related to the Indian economy in general, and for the pharmaceuticals sector in particular, attempted to understand the determinants of M&A activities as a single strategy. However, this study distinguishes different strategies in M&A activities related to the financial pathways adopted by firms. The second sub-section is focused on similar exercise using an Ordered Probit Framework, to distinguish between types of deals and their determinants at firm level. The third sub-section explains post-merger benefit at firm level, by using a matching technique. We have carried out important statistical inferences to figure out the distributions of the sample, and characteristics of the linear estimator that is presented in Table AIII. From the table, we can see that multicolinearity is expected in case of estimates related to merger alone, merger or acquisition, both merger and acquisition, and acquisition by share. For other two cases, multicolinearity is not detected for the linear estimates, whereas in most of the cases heteroscedasticity is detected and from the Ramsay test we confirm that nonlinear combinations of the fitted values help explaining the response variable for all the models. As we have used a balanced panel data, we also test for the cross-sectional dependency of the sample. The results indicate that the sample cross-sectional dependent, hence, allows us to use binary choice models for the empirical analysis.\n5. Conclusion: The study seeks to add to the existing literature in the field of M&A, by not only looking at determinants that motivate a firm to merge and/or acquire, but also the post-M&A benefit of a firm related to its profit margin. This study concludes that export intensity is an important factor for the pharmaceutical firms in India, since exports are a major proportion of firm's total revenue. Knowledge capital such as technology imports and R&D at firm level are very important for the drug manufacturers in corporate restructuring. The growth of the pharmaceutical industry depends on the close collaboration between small R&D units that lack resources to sell their work and large business houses, both domestic and foreign affiliated that will provide them the required market. The results of this study are similar to Danzon et al. (2004) in estimating through PSM. M&A activities are profitable for firms related to capital and labor intensity when controlled for firm size, R&D intensity and technology intensity. Further, international orientation such as multinational affiliation, import and export activities of firms are found to be important determinants in corporate restructuring. Given the recent announcement of 100 percent FDI approval by the Government of India, this industry has higher possibility of corporate restructuring through M&A. M&A are one of the pathways of the domestic firms in India to restructure based on the recent policy changes. From the policy point of view, smaller and bigger firms should be given more emphasis to participate in such activities so that they can maximize their profit function and participate in the international competitive markets. The growing size of the Indian economy allows Indian pharmaceutical firms a bigger market and, hence, technology transfer and R&D are crucial for this sector for future growth. Hence, from the policy front, necessary fiscal measures should be taken for the small and bigger firms to motivate them to increase export volume and become globally competitive through M&A activities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are common strategies of firms to increase its performance. Although the motives of M&A are different, the determinants are discreet. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors affecting M&A activities in the Indian pharmaceutical sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a balanced panel data of the pharmaceuticals sector in India, this study arrives at the determinants of M&A. The authors use regression techniques such as panel probit models, ordered probit models and matching techniques for a comparable and robust estimates for the factors related to M&A activities at firm level.\nFindings: The empirical findings suggest that export intensity, import intensity, firm size and R&D intensity as the major determinants of M&A in the Indian pharmaceutical sector. In the context of acquisition, there is a riskiness associated with the any business strategy, for to which a firm may choose to finance the deal either via cash, stock or assets. This study further looks at the firm's decision on the types of acquisitions and arrives at the determinants of such decisions. The factors such as capital intensity were found more important when acquisition by share was undertaken compared to others. The success of the M&A is observed by considering the financial performance of the firm measured in terms of the profit margin at firm level. Using the propensity score matching technique, this study concludes that M&A have a positive effect on the profit margin in the post-M&A scenario.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study seeks to add to the existing literature and empirical work done in the field of M&A, by not only looking at determinants that motivate a firm to merge and/or acquire but also if the decision of the firm is reflected positively in the firm's performance. The study concludes that export intensity is an important factor for the pharmaceutical firms in India since exports are a major proportion of firm's total sales. Technology transfers as technology imports and R&D conducted by the firm are both very important for the drug manufacturers. Any gap in the flow of drugs to the market would hamper the growth of the firm. The growth of the pharmaceutical industry depends on the close collaboration between small R&D units that lack resources to sell their work and large business houses, both domestic and foreign affiliated that will provide them the required market. However, all comprehensive work has been done in this study to cover all aspects of M&A including the financial pathway taken by the firm yet, the study has certain limitations as it does not take into account the entry and exit of firms from the industry.\nPractical implications: Policies related to small and large firms should aim at making them export oriented and multinational affiliated to compete at the international market with corporate restructuring through M&A. This will help in firm's growth and sharing of knowledge capital.\nOriginality/value: No such study is conducted that differentiate type of M&A and their determinants for the Indian pharma sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Spatial health and life sciences business ecosystem: a case study of San Diego	[ "Innovation", "Business ecosystem", "Health and life sciences", "San Diego", "Spatial context" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Structural changes of traditional industries, while facing increasing research and development (R\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Business ecosystems and spatial innovation\n3. Method: This research is based on the case study method (Yin, 2009). The empirical data for the case was acquired through interviewing key informants with in-depth knowledge on San Diego's health and life sciences ecosystem. In addition to interviews, secondary data sources were utilized. These secondary sources included observations and information gathering, and verification by participating in local events and following local media during a six-month period of field research. The research approach is built on a literature review, against which San Diego's case is reflected. The review deals with business ecosystems, innovation in spatial contexts, and previous studies of San Diego.\n4. San Diego's health and life sciences ecosystem: 4.1. Ecosystem structure\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Cities and regions can be viewed as spatial units for innovation. This study addressed health and life sciences in San Diego as a spatial business ecosystem. The ecosystem structure and dynamic mechanisms were identified. Clearly, San Diego's success in health and life sciences is based on various factors and it would be difficult to replicate in other spatial locations. However, our study raises several points that should be considered by researchers and decision-makers who contribute to the design of innovation policies, since policy efforts have typically focussed on fostering knowledge ecosystems with an assumption that development of business ecosystem follows. However, previous research indicates this assumption to be questionable (Clarysse et al., 2014). For example, a balance should exist between genuine risk financing and public support.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Increasing competition in global markets requires many countries to seek new growth sectors. In addition, the nature of competition is changing. This paper applies the business ecosystem concept and studies San Diego as a spatial health and life sciences ecosystem. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues that should be considered in design of innovation policies and regional industry development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research approach is built on a literature review of business ecosystems and spatial innovation. The empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews, observations, and information gathering and verification during field research.\nFindings: The results include a description of the ecosystem structure and dynamics. This paper demonstrates the bottom-up nature of San Diego's health and life sciences ecosystem without a dominant lead actor, and presents prerequisites for fostering spatial ecosystems.\nResearch limitations/implications: A single case may not be able to offer a generalized picture of this topic. However, the study raises several considerations for researchers and decision-makers involved in innovation policy design. Future work should extend the study and involve other spatial and substance contexts to compare findings and to pursue a more generic picture of innovation ecosystems and networks.\nOriginality/value: This paper demonstrates that applying the concept of business ecosystems to the spatial context provides new insights in terms of dynamic mechanisms and factors contributing to economic growth in a particular location. Understanding how to facilitate the creation of successful spatial ecosystems is in the focal point of innovation policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of users' verbal/imagery cognitive styles on their Web search behavior	[ "Search engines", "Information seeking behaviour", "Web search behaviour", "Information search", "Verbal/imagery cognitive styles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Web has become the most important information retrieval systems for many users since it contains various types of information in different formats. Students, professionals, academics and researchers search the Web to meet their information needs. As Ford (2000) points out, \"virtual environments allow greater flexibility of navigation than do their physical counterparts.\" There is no longer a route to find a particular information source; however, there are a variety of means through which users can access information. In addition, more facilities and functionalities have been provided for users to make their autonomous decisions in searching. Hitherto, various studies (e.g. Palmquist and Kim, 2000; Wang et al., 2000; Ford et al., 2009) suggested that on the one hand, with the advent of new environments, users' information searching behavior have changed and expanded their search performance in these systems. On the other hand, individual differences and characteristics of users have affected their information seeking behavior and Web searching.\n2. Related studies: A large and growing body of literature has investigated the impact of different factors on information seeking behavior, including context (e.g. Kari and Savolainen, 2007; Mansourian, 2008), level of experience (e.g. Hoelscher and Strube, 2000; Lazonder et al, 2000; Thatcher, 2008), domain knowledge (e.g. Hsieh-Yee, 1993; Potelle and Rouet, 2003; Wildemuth, 2004), search strategies (e.g. Fidel et al., 1999; Ford et al, 2002a, 2005; Thatcher, 2006, 2008), nature of search tasks (e.g. Bystrom and Jarvelin, 1995; Kim, 2001; Vakkari, 2003; Xie and Joo, 2012), formulation of query (e.g. Wildemuth, 2004; Guo et al., 2010), features of the information systems (e.g. Farrell and Moore, 2001; Minetou et al., 2008), demographic factors (e.g. Ford et al., 2005, 2009) and cognitive styles. All these factors assist us to identify search methods of users on the Web. Particularly, since cognitive processes have played far important a role in HCIs, it is crucial to understand cognitive styles and their impact on information seeking behavior, including searching the Web.\n3. Research hypotheses: Based on the main goal and variables of this research, we have two main hypotheses:\n4. Methods: 4.1 Participants\n5. Results: 5.1 Users' cognitive styles\n6. Discussion: Based on the key findings of the study, 48 strategies in four categories of behaviors have been identified. Also, it is determined that there are relations between users' cognitive styles and information searching behavior. A number of the strategies shown in the present research seem to be consistent with other research that found strategies in interacting with the Web (e.g. Hawk and Wang, 1999; Kim, 1999; Fidel et al., 1999; Thatcher, 2006).\n7. Conclusion: The goal of this study was to examine the effects of users' verbal/imagery cognitive styles on their Web searching behavior. We developed four behaviors in searching the Web and presented a conceptual pattern of cognitive style and Web searching. This study has shown the importance of understanding cognitive styles in Web search behavior. However, it was only a small-scale study. Further studies need to be undertaken with a larger sample to provide additional evidence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of verbal-imagery cognitive styles of information searching behavior of users in using the Web.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In all, 44 participants were recruited for this study. The participants' cognitive styles were measured by using Riding's Cognitive Style Analysis test. Three search tasks were designed based on Kim's search task definitions. Moreover, an individual lab session was arranged and then participants' memos were analyzed using content analysis.\nFindings: In all, 48 strategies in four categories of behaviors in searching the Web were identified. There were associations between users' cognitive styles and their information searching behavior. The participants' selection of the search initiation behaviors varied, so that imagers suffered from more varied initial behavior than verbalizers. The verbalizers tended to search in a narrow area, then broadening the area and following structured navigation and reading behavior to process information, while imagers tended to search in a general area, then narrowing down the search and adopting mixed navigational styles and mixed behaviors to process information. This study revealed that there was a difference in search performance of verbalizers and imagers descriptively, as verbalizers spent more time compared to imagers and imagers visited more nodes than verbalizers for the tasks completion. In addition, the task was an important variable influencing the search performance. Based on the key findings (search initiation behaviors, formulating search queries, navigational behaviors, information processing behaviors), a conceptual pattern of Web searching and cognitive styles is presented.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study provides a new understanding of Web users' information search behavior based on cognitive styles which contributes to the theoretical basis of Web search research. It also raises various questions within the context of user studies\nOriginality/value: The paper adopted a mixed approach in the area of information searching on the Web. A valuable contribution lies in the methods developed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Waking ourselves up! Re-examining the role of OD practitioners - a challenger perspective	[ "Organisational development", "Relume", "Challenger Spirit", "OD practitioner" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Work paradoxically does not ask enough of us, yet exhausts the narrow part of us we do bring to its door (David, 1994).\nWhat is our task?: Joanna Macy, in her compelling book \"Active Hope\" (Joanna and Chris, 2012) suggests that we are moving through what she calls a Great Turning in the world and that business is a deep and significant part of that need for change. To survive and thrive, our establishment institutions need to adapt commercially and culturally and that provides OD a great opportunity to be supporting and challenging leaders on the edge of their and our learning. An exciting and slightly scary prospect!\nWitnessing our own establishment first: We can only do this if we are truly awake to what is actually going on. This is not always as straightforward as it sounds as to truly bear witness, honestly, openly, without judgement and without trying to interfere takes courage, it sometimes takes perseverance, it sometimes takes a willingness to tune in to things, like our senses, that defy neat and corporate sounding descriptions. To look freshly at something as though we are seeing it for the first time.\nThe work in practice: I wish I had had this model to hand nine years ago when I found myself exhausted by the process of doing battle with the establishment I was part of at the time.\nWhat does colluding with the establishment look like?: ticking boxes, and getting things done initiative by initiative;\nWhat does being a challenger look like?: taking a wider systemic view, paying attention to the whole not just the parts;\nAnd the rebel position?: making a stand but for yourself and your own agenda as priority;\nWitnessing your own establishment: a first step: It is inevitable that the way we witness things is filtered, influenced and changed by our own individual beliefs and experiences. So my encouragement to you is to work simultaneously on both your inner self (the way you are inside) and your outer self (the way you relate and respond to the way things are around you)\nAn example of our practice in action: Recently at an OD conference we ran a workshop for about 40 delegates where we experimented with some different ways of seeing. By different, we mean things that are outside the norms of cognitive explanation within which we typically operate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing role of OD practitioners. Given the many significant challenges faced by organisations and their leaders, never has the role of OD been more important; it is vital that OD practitioners are able to identify the paradigm shift that is required if they are to provide the relevant challenge and support that organisations and leaders need.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The OD role is explored through the Challenger pattern of behaviour known as Witnessing the Establishment - the ability, and the willingness, to see things as they really are, not as we wish them to be. The authors are often so much a part of the organisational system ourselves that the underpinning assumptions, beliefs, routines and rituals that exist are so transparent we can not see them for what they are.\nFindings: This paper focuses on one of the six patterns of behaviour identified in Challenger leaders in the book \"Challenger Spirit: Organisations that disturb the status quo\" by Khurshed Dehnugara and Claire Genkai Breeze, LID Publishing, 2011.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is not an academic paper but instead a consultant/practitioner perspective grounded in day-to-day work with leaders and OD professionals in client organisations.\nOriginality/value: A number of suggestions are given for applying the perspectives discussed, through a series of questions, diagnostic processes and models. These are directly applicable to OD practitioners themselves and can also form the basis of further conversations with the leaders and colleagues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From Ludlow to Chattanooga and beyond: A century of employee representation plans and the future of the American Labor Movement	[ "Trade unions", "Industrial relations", "Management history", "Employee participation", "Collective bargaining", "Employee rights", "Employment law", "Labour and employment relations", "Unions", "Law and policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In April 1914, members of the Colorado National Guard attacked and burned an encampment of striking miners at Ludlow, Colorado, killing two women and 11 children. The result was an armed conflict that overturned civil government in the state and led to an insurrection which gained national attention, eclipsing media coverage of the First World War (Gitelman, 1988). Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, owned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr, led the coalition of employers opposing the strike. Following Ludlow, Rockefeller was vilified throughout the nation, and President Woodrow Wilson sent federal troops to restore order in Colorado. As a condition of federal involvement, Wilson demanded that Rockefeller and other mine owners take steps to mediate future labor-management conflict (West, 1915). Wilson assumed that Rockefeller would negotiate with the United Mine Workers and accept unionization, but Rockefeller and his associate, former Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, devised an ingenious scheme featuring an \"employee representation plan\" to avoid a formal union relationship (Rees, 2010). Their strategy, which evolved into the \"company unions\" of the 1930s, continues to impact US labor relations (Hogler and Grenier, 1992).\nMethodology and analytical framework: An understanding of the issues surrounding employee representation in the workplace requires a historical appreciation of its origins, its legal status in the American labor law regime and the prospects it offers organized labor. This study examines the rise in employee representation initiated by Ludlow and Rockefeller's response to that crisis, the transition from the early twentieth century to the Depression Era plans under the NIRA and the policy justification for bans on such schemes under the 1935 Wagner Act. It then examines legal developments from the 1930s to the current VW-UAW case, illustrating how administrative agencies and courts have interpreted the law. Beginning in the late 1970s, unions began a period of decline that accelerated throughout the 1980s and by 2014 had fallen to the lowest density in six decades, and coincident with that decline, income inequality in the USA rose to levels not occurring since 1929. If innovative representation schemes are viewed as a panacea for the labor movement, a change in the NLRA is necessary to legalize such schemes.\nFrom Rockefeller to Wagner: In the aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre, Rockefeller and King arrived in September 1915 at the mining camps near Walsenburg, Colorado; their mission was to placate President Wilson and his demands for labor reform while simultaneously resuscitating Rockefeller's public image (Gitelman, 1988). Without notice or publicity, they dressed in work clothing purchased from the mine store and immediately began promoting their vision of sound labor relations to miners. Rockefeller visited mess halls, mines and community centers, and personally interacted with the same workers who a few months ago had been engaged in open warfare with mine guards and soldiers. Rockefeller quickly converted the miners' hostility into admiration for his openness and good will. At one camp, for example, Rockefeller attended a dance at the local hall. He asked every woman at the event to dance and even held a pair of infant babies while a young mother participated in the festivities. Within days, he had convinced his employees that he took their interests seriously and proposed to create a system of fair and open dealings with them (Hogler and Grenier, 1992).\nLegalizing workplace representation: As the foregoing discussion indicates, company unions have remained a contentious issue under American labor law since the early stages of the New Deal. The National Labor Relations Board adheres to a strict prohibition of employer-dominated workplace representation schemes, and the US Supreme Court has tended to uphold the Board's approach. Lower federal courts, in contrast, have indicated a more accommodating view of labor-management cooperation. In the leading case of Streamway Division, Scott & Fetzer v. National Labor Relations Board (1982), the Seventh Circuit court of appeals criticized the NLRB's \"per se\" approach to company unions which disestablished any dominated entity regardless of employee support. The court emphasized that labor relations could be cooperative as well as adversarial under the modern view of workplace dealings. The idea gained attention throughout the 1980s and 1990s under the guise of \"employee involvement\" programs. Because NLRB doctrine favored a strict interpretation of Section 8(a) (2), Congress attempted to weaken the prohibition against company unions and related forms of employee participation.\nThe need for labor law reform: Because of its instantiated historical context, Section 8(a) (2) of the NLRA is an impediment to ongoing relations between groups of workers and an employer in the absence of formal NLRB certification. From the earliest days of the Wagner Act, the Board has taken a position against employer-dominated forms of organization that might discourage outside union representation. In the Board's first published decision, it ordered the Pennsylvania Greyhound Line to disestablish the company's \"Employee Association\" because it interfered with employees' freedom of choice to form an independent organization. The US Supreme Court upheld the Board's decision as an appropriate interpretation of the Act and an affirmation of the statute's \"ruling purpose\" which was:\nConclusion: Eighty years on, the New Deal collective bargaining model has run its course. Labor unions presently lack the power to equitably distribute the productive output of American industry, and middle class wages have been flat or declining for decades. The result is a steady immiseration of most wage earners and the concomitant rise of a small group of exceptionally wealthy citizens. Prior to the Wagner Act, capitalists such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr and others stood on moral principles to improve the working lives of their employees through methods of representative participation in the enterprise analogous to representative participation in our democracy. The crisis of the Great Depression brought profound changes to the industrial landscape, most notably the ascendancy of macroeconomic objectives as the goal of labor policy. Wagner's statutory scheme left no space for internal organizations, regardless of employee preferences. Our political economy is approaching a point of crisis as inequality of wealth escalates, while workers suffer lower incomes and less material security. If the problems of the future are shaped by the past, policy makers should acknowledge the contributions of the employee representation schemes and simultaneously relieve labor unions of the obligation to win certification elections before dealing with employers on behalf of workers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of employee representation systems in the USA from the Ludlow Massacre of 1914 up to the events in 2015 at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The study begins with the strike at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation which led to the deaths of several women and children. In the aftermath of Ludlow, John D. Rockefeller, Jr, visited the mines in 1915 and persuaded workers that an internal employee representation plan would serve their interests better than an outside trade union. Rockefeller's influence shaped American industrial relations until the passage of the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act in 1935, when company unions were outlawed. The ongoing decline of unions and collective bargaining has prompted academic speculation that a return to internal workplace committees might lead to a rejuvenated labor movement in the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses both archival materials and secondary sources to construct a narrative of one important element of industrial relations. It explains Wagner's ban on company unions as a component of his economic agenda. Company unions provided a voice for a firm's workers, but Wagner believed they were powerless to redistribute corporate wealth. The decline of American unions is so profound that they no longer serve an economic role in our capitalist system, but workers' voice in the workplace remains an important consideration.\nFindings: The key finding of this paper is that employee representation plans are not merely an industrial relations anachronism but continue to be relevant to today's workplace. The paper compares an influential representation plan developed in 1914 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr, to current schemes of representation and argues that labor law should be modified to permit modern versions of the older \"company unions\".\nResearchlimitations/implications: Works councils play a crucial role in European labor relations, and they could do so in America if labor laws were modified to permit it. An exposition of the deep historical context of representation helps to legitimate the concept. Future research into specific cases, including an international perspective, would add to an understanding of the benefits and costs of representation.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper is its combination of a historical event and a contemporary case study that brings together a theme present in managerial history for over a century. By emphasizing the aims of Rockefeller, Jr. in 1914 and the objectives of the Volkswagen Company in 2014 in establishing a participatory workplace, we gain a long-term framework through which to evaluate a particular managerial technique. The paper also suggests ways to bring our labor laws into conformance with the idea of employee representation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Choosing action plans for strategic manufacturing objectives using AHP: Analysis of the path and pitfalls encountered - an exploratory case study	[ "Analytical hierarchy process", "Case studies", "Strategic manufacturing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Manufacturing strategy is usually focussed on setting strategic objectives for operations processes rather than exploring how to translate the objectives into actions (Tan and Platts, 2001; Chatha and Butt, 2015). Starting from the typical classification of manufacturing objectives into dimensions such as cost (or productivity), quality, time and flexibility (Esturilho and Estorilio, 2010; Belvedere and Grando, 2017), several authors have studied and developed many strategic objectives for the manufacturing context (Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2001; Grossler, 2007; Chavez et al., 2017; McAdam et al., 2017). However, a review of the literature on manufacturing strategy shows little discussion on ways to advise managers in the process of objectives deployment, translating strategic manufacturing objectives into concrete action plans for further development. It is unlikely that the selection of the right action plan will be simple because the strategic criteria such as economic return, risks, budget and many others are too aggregated (Leong et al., 1990; O'Regan and Sims, 2007) to direct decision making. Unless the decision-making process is very top-down and concentrated in just one or a few decision makers, determining the right action plans can lead to a multitude of possible subjective interpretations (Kim et al., 2014). Kim et al. (2014) found that in practice, most managers generate and evaluate action plans based on previous experience and intuition. According to Tan and Platts (2001), this could introduce bias causing a failure to ensure that the objective is properly deployed with the right action plans. Therefore, the process to choose action plans and their deployment to meet objectives should be as objective and analytic as possible to reduce business risks and uncertainty. This strategic process leads to a decision-making path where managers have to prioritise the possible actions and balance trade-offs among resources and other issues. Indeed, resources dedicated to the different actions are not unlimited and inevitably managers have to decide how to allocate such resources. For instance, an aspired increase of productivity could be achieved through investments in new technologies as well as taking on and training new staff but evaluating which solution is best for the company is not simple.\nLiterature review: A debate on manufacturing strategy issues arose in the 1980s and 1990s and manufacturing strategy continues to stir debate (Chatha and Butt, 2015). Several studies in those years focussed on business strategies and their alignment. Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) started investigating manufacturing strategy as a structured pattern of decision making in the manufacturing processes linking the pattern to business strategies.\nResearch methods: A case study approach to observe how some managers deal with the process of deploying a specific strategic objective into action plans has been carried out. A typical case study is exploratory in nature. According to Mills et al. (2010, p. 373):The exploratory case study investigates distinct phenomena characterized by a lack of detailed preliminary research, especially formulated hypotheses that can be tested, and/or by a specific research environment that limits the choice of methodology.\nAnalysis and discussion of the case study: The case study is based on a medium-sized manufacturing company located in Italy, which has 230 employees, of whom 180 work in the operations processes; it has a turnover of around 55 million euros. The company manufactures oil and gas components such as valves, pipes and containers under pressure. The organisational chart comprises a CEO with his own office and administrative, human resources, ICT, sales and operations departments. The operations department is the biggest department and it comprises engineering, production, supply chain, logistic, quality, safety and environment departments.\nConclusions: This exploratory research wanted to break new ground concerning less subjective ways in which managers can select one action plan from several different action plans for deploying strategic objectives linked to a manufacturing context. Through a case study, this exploratory research identified a specific path (see Figure 1) for strategy deployment made up of five steps. Three out of the five steps summarise how to issue the action plans, how to decide on the criteria or factors for choosing the action plan and how to prioritise and choose the right one. In particular, when an appointed team and the CEO or top manager have to choose an action plan, we employed the AHP methodology to prioritise the plans for the first time.\nAgenda for further research: Due to its limitation of being a single manufacturing case study, this case study opens several avenues for further research. First, the AHP methodology should be tested in other similar contexts in order to evaluate its contribution to the decision-making process for choosing one action plan for deploying strategic objectives. There are obvious limitations of the methodology and in particular when the CR is more than 0.1 like in this case study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology can help in the decision-making process of choosing action plans linked to manufacturing strategy. The research also analyses the path which some managers followed for defining and selecting the action plans as well as the organisational obstacles and pitfalls the managers encountered.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted an exploratory case study in a medium-sized Italian manufacturing company. The authors collected, coded and discussed data from the AHP implementation. Furthermore, during the observation of how the managers dealt with the decision-making path, the authors collected, coded and discussed the qualitative data.\nFindings: Results showed that AHP made the decision-making process of choosing between alternative plans more objective. However, the authors observed obstacles and pitfalls mainly linked to organisational aspects such as creating team and staff's awareness, involvement and commitment as well as staff's skills. Other interesting findings are linked to the creation of managers' consensus and the top manager's managerial style and how the latter could affect the AHP consistency ratio.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is based on a case study. The findings need to be tested by other scholars and practitioners in different organisations. Moreover, issues such as management consensus and negotiation in manufacturing organisations and managerial style need further research.\nPractical implications: AHP methodology can help practitioners who are dealing with the deployment of strategic manufacturing objectives and who are trying to employ methods for choosing the right action plan. Besides, practitioners are aware of specific organisational obstacles and pitfalls encountered on the strategic deployment path.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes for the first time the use of the AHP methodology for choosing between action plans derived from strategic manufacturing objectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Pigeonholing or learning instrument? Test takers' reactions to personality testing in management development	[ "Management development", "Reflection", "Personality", "Personality testing", "Learning instrument", "Test takers’ reactions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Personality tests are a commonly used tool in management development (MD) programs. However, participants react in different ways when they are presented with personality test feedback as part of a MD program. Some learners are overly enthusiastic about the feedback and its development opportunities (Clinebell and Stecher, 2003; Scharlau, 2004); others are more concerned about privacy and skeptical towards its value and utility (Boyle, 1995; Michael, 2003; Pittenger, 2005). This variety in reactions could interfere with the learning outcomes of MD programs.\nTheory: Test takers' reactions: A number of different factors influence the way test takers react to personality testing, as established in empirical studies in management selection (Gilliland, 1993; Fluckinger, 2010; Beermann et al., 2013; Fluckinger and Snell, 2016), leadership development (Harland, 2003) and assessment-based feedback literatures (Ryan et al., 2000; Atwater and Brett, 2005; Atwater et al., 2007). These studies refer to the domains of fairness, learning and behavioral change, all of which link to the use of personality testing in developmental contexts. Although many different influencing factors to test takers' reactions are suggested as part of these domains, not all of these are equally important in the MD context where transfer of training (Burke and Hutchins, 2007; Blume et al., 2010; Bates et al., 2014; Choi and Roulston, 2015) and the application of adult learning principles play a role (Chalofsky, 2007; Garavan et al., 2015; Fenwick, 2016). Therefore, only those factors that are closely linked to the MD context were selected for the present study (Table I).\nMethods: To explore differences among test takers' reactions to personality testing in the context of MD, a qualitative approach with a working population, involving participatory observations and semi-structured interviews was used. This approach was chosen to gain insights into the lived experiences of working professionals and their reactions in a natural workshop setting that they attended as part of their MD. Further, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) was selected to conduct a systematic cross-case comparison using pre-determined influencing factors as discriminating conditions.\nFindings: The findings section contains two parts. First, findings from the cross-case comparison on test takers' reactions will be displayed. Next, additional emerging influencing factors that were not previously discussed in literature will be offered for further exploration.\nDiscussion: The aim of this paper was to explore factors that can explain differences among test takers' reactions to personality testing in the context of MD. Through this exploratory cross-case comparison of 11 participants from two settings, three established and two emerging factors were found that help explain why test takers react differently to the use of personality tests in MD (Figure 2).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While factors that influence test takers' reactions to personality testing in selection contexts have been well researched, little empirical research evidence exists to determine whether these factors also apply to test takers' reactions in the context of management development (MD). The purpose of this study is, therefore, to explore what explains different test takers' reactions in the context of MD programs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative longitudinal approach with three phases of data collection was used, resulting in participatory workshop observations and 11 semi-structured interviews with participants from two different contexts. Data were analyzed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).\nFindings: The findings show that test takers' reactions vary; some are more accepting, others are more neutral or rejecting, where perceived usefulness, clarity of purpose and perceived respectfulness are identified as distinguishing factors. Individuals also differ in terms of their awareness of assumptions and their perceived emotional safety, two emerging factors that are relevant in the MD context.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data were collected during the MD workshops and three months after, but no records of immediate test takers' reactions were included, which could be an addition for future research.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study suggest that human resource development (HRD) professionals have significant impact on test takers' reactions when it comes to encouraging self-reflection and learning along personality tests.\nOriginality/value: This study adds to existing research by offering insights into factors in MD settings where participants are concerned about aspects of fairness, learning and behavioral change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are winemaker consultants just another source of knowledge for innovation?	[ "Canada", "Innovation", "Wine industry", "Winemaker consultants", "Knowledge sources" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past decade, there has been much interest in understanding how external knowledge sources matter for the development of innovations (Bogers et al., 2017; Vivas and Barge-Gil, 2015; Todtling et al., 2013; Vega-Jurado et al., 2009). It is assumed that innovation occurs within a system of interacting firms, institutions, research organisations and government agents that share knowledge and contribute individually and collectively to the development of innovation (Lundvall, 2007; Edquist, 2010).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Innovation\n3. Method: 3.1 Research design and sample\n4. Analysis and robustness check: 4.1 Results\n5. Discussion and conclusion: 5.1 Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the effects of multiple external sources of knowledge and of the use of winemaker consultants on innovation in the Canadian wine industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data for the study are taken from an original survey of wine firms in Canada covering the 2007-2009 period. The survey was carried out by computer-assisted telephone interviews, and it was addressed to winery firms that are engaged in growing grapes and producing wine.\nFindings: The results show that the use of winemaker consultants positively affects all forms of innovation. At the same, as far as external knowledge sources are concerned, marketing sources positively affect all types of innovation, while research sources and general sources have a positive influence on particular forms of innovation. The results also show that winemaker consultants interact with other knowledge sources. Nevertheless, there are important nuances with regard to which type of knowledge sources is more compatible with the use of winemaker consultants for which type of innovation.\nOriginality/value: To date, there is no empirical evidence of the extent to which the use of external winemaker consultants and external knowledge sources interact together and what are their impacts on the introduction of different forms of innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk management and firm performance: the moderating role of supplier integration	[ "Financial performance", "Supply chain risk management", "Supplier integration", "Operational flexibility", "Operational efficiency", "Information processing theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Modern supply chains operate in the complex and rapidly changing environment (Chen et al., 2013; Wiengarten et al., 2017). Meanwhile, firms apply increasingly sophisticated operations practices (e.g. lean manufacturing, rapid responsiveness and global outsourcing) to gain competitive advantage (Blome and Schoenherr, 2011; Kauppi et al., 2016). The fast-changing environment and firms' complicated operational strategies together contribute to a higher level of supply chain risks. As a result, supply chain risk management (SCRM), which is defined as the identification and management of risks in the supply chain through coordinated approaches (Kauppi et al., 2016; Juttner et al., 2003), is widely adopted by firms to cope with increasing risks (Lavastre et al., 2014; Manuj et al., 2014; Kauppi et al., 2016). Prior theoretical studies have suggested that firms can gain performance benefit through the implementation of SCRM (Narasimhan and Talluri, 2009; Thun and Hoenig, 2011; Manuj et al., 2014). The main arguments in the extant literature are that SCRM is beneficial to firms' financial performance by lowering operations accidents and preventing supply chain disruptions (Ritchie and Brindley, 2007; Narasimhan and Talluri, 2009; Thun and Hoenig, 2011; Manuj et al., 2014). However, the implementation of SCRM generally requires up-front investment and additional costs for excess inventories, extra capabilities, back-up suppliers and alternative transportation modes (Premkumar et al., 2005; Tang, 2006; Colicchia and Strozzi, 2012; Bode and Wagner, 2015; Kauppi et al., 2016), which may weaken financial performance. To our best knowledge, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on how SCRM practices actually influence financial performance. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the links between SCRM and financial performance.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: 2.1 SCRM and firm performance\n3. Research method: 3.1 Sample\n4. Results: In this study, we used the SEM to test our proposed H1-H3, so that we can get the estimation of all hypothesized paths simultaneously. To test the moderating effects (H4a and H4b), we applied the latent moderated structural (LMS) equations approach, which is competent when the moderator is a multi-item latent variable (Kelava et al., 2011). The LMS technique is a distribution-analytic approach, in which the non-normal distribution of the latent outcome variable is approximated with a finite mixture of normal distributions and the coefficients for the first-order and interaction effects are then estimated (Klein and Moosbrugger, 2000). Simulation studies show that LMS provides efficient and unbiased estimation of latent interaction effects (Hancock and Mueller, 2013; Patel et al., 2012). Besides, the LMS technique is regarded as superior to the multi-group approach since it does not require splitting the sample, which eliminates the risk of sequencing the moderating effect (Wiengarten et al., 2017). Mplus 7.4 was used to run the LMS approach to analyze the latent interaction effects generated by SCRM and supplier integration.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Conclusions: This study extends previous research on the relationship between SCRM and firm performance through the lens of IPT. Our results suggest that SCRM practices directly contribute to the improvement of operational efficiency and flexibility, and have indirect effect on financial performance. The findings clarify the performance effects of SCRM and enhance the understanding on the link between SCRM and firm performance. Moreover, this study incorporates the role of supplier integration in the implementation of risk management. By focusing on two aspects of operational performance, this study reveals that supplier integration significantly enhances the impact of SCRM on operational flexibility but does not moderate the SCRM-operational efficiency relationship due to the different information processing requirements for achieving operational efficiency and flexibility. Compared to the regular operations information required by operational efficiency, the information required by operational flexibility is more complicated and sophisticated. The results reveal the different roles of supplier integration in the effectiveness of SCRM and further support the standpoints of IPT. Thus, supplier integration practices (e.g. information sharing, IT technologies and systems) should be conducted by firms, so that they can deal with uncertainty and achieve better operational flexibility.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the performance effects of supply chain risk management (SCRM). Besides financial performance, two aspects of operational performance are examined: operational efficiency and flexibility. Moreover, the authors explore the moderating role of supplier integration in the relationship between SCRM and operational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey-based methodology was adopted. Based on the data from an international survey, this study applied the structural equation modeling and latent moderated structural equations approach to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results indicate that SCRM positively influences both operational efficiency and flexibility, and has an indirect effect on financial performance. In addition, supplier integration enhances the impact of SCRM on operational flexibility, but does not moderate the relationship between SCRM and operational efficiency.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the performance effects of SCRM. It also provides managerial insights on both risk management and supplier integration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Good faith in franchising: The perceptions of franchisees, franchisors and their lawyers in the French context	[ "France", "Qualitative research", "Franchising", "Good faith", "Relational contracts", "Civil law" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Franchising is \"a contractual arrangement between two independent firms, whereby the franchisee pays the franchisor for the right to sell the franchisor's product and/or the right to use [the franchisor's] trademark at a given place and for a certain period of time [...]. [T]he relationship between franchisor and franchisees 'includes not only the product, service, and trademark, but the entire business format itself - a marketing strategy and plan, operating manuals and standards, quality control, and continuing two-way communication'\" (Lafontaine, 1992, p. 264). The definition provided by the European Code of Ethics for Franchising (www.eff-franchise.com/Data/Code%20of%20Ethics2.pdf) adds \"Franchising is [...] based upon a close and ongoing collaboration between legally and financially separate and independent undertakings, the Franchisor and its individual Franchisees [...].\" These definitions hint at the underlying complexity of the franchisor/franchisee relationship - a legal relationship which accommodates not only intricate commercial arrangements but also the challenges inherent in an ongoing personal relationship.\n2. Good faith in franchising under the French Civil Code: 2.1 Good faith and contracts\n3. Methodology: In order to assess the perceptions of franchisees, franchisors and specialist franchise lawyers regarding good faith in franchising, we used a qualitative approach and, more specifically, in-depth interviews. Qualitative approaches have often been adopted by researchers interested in franchising, for instance to analyze plural forms (Perrigot and Herrbach, 2012), multi-unit franchising (Weaven and Frazer, 2007), know-how management (Perrigot et al., 2017), communication strategy toward franchisee candidates (Perrigot et al., 2011), resale pricing strategy (Perrigot et al., 2016), internationalization strategy (Forte and Carvalho, 2013) and due diligence in franchising (Buchan et al., 2017).\n4. Findings: There was among franchisors, franchisees and their legal advisors a general understanding of the imbalance in the relationship as a result of the franchisor's superior power and knowledge, and of the role of good faith in the franchise contract. However, as outlined below, there were more diverse expressions among interviewees as to the meaning of the term and its practical application.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Summary of findings\n6. Conclusion: Our research confirms that good faith is particularly important in franchising because of the knowledge and power disparity between the franchisor and its franchisees. Good faith is not only a legal notion, but is also a notion that is linked to the personal relationship between the franchisor and its franchisees. It is a very important aspect in the day to day management of the franchisor/franchisee relationship and the strategic management of the chain as a whole. This paper demonstrates that no single shared understanding of good faith amongst franchise practitioners exists. Although notions of transparency, trust, loyalty, fairness and equity amongst the franchisees, fair play, frankness, respect, ethics, kindness and best efforts feature prominently the precise meaning of good faith is nevertheless elusive.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The relational nature of franchising flowing from the contract between franchisor and franchisee which enshrines a close, continuing relationship raises the issue of good faith. While there are academic papers analyzing good faith, these do not capture the practical understanding and expression of the concept and the manner and application in which it operates in the real world of franchising. The purpose of this paper is to assess how good faith is defined and understood by franchise practitioners - franchisees, franchisors and their legal advisors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have adopted a qualitative approach by conducting and analyzing a series of 18 in-depth interviews with franchisees, franchisors and lawyers specializing in franchising.\nFindings: The findings show that good faith is particularly important in franchising because of the disparity in the knowledge and power of the parties. They suggest that good faith is not only a legal notion but also a notion that is linked to the personal relationship between the franchisor and its franchisees. It then plays an important role in terms of management of this relationship and of the system as a whole. Moreover, they demonstrate that there is not one single shared understanding of good faith amongst franchising practitioners. Indeed, franchisees, franchisors and specialist franchise lawyers suggested that good faith can refer to transparency, trust, loyalty, fairness and equity amongst the franchisees, fair play, frankness, respect, ethics, kindness, \"best efforts\" and personalities.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the research lies in the fact that good faith is examined through the voice of franchising practitioners who explain how they define and understand good faith rather than through a detached academic lens.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Complementarity between innovation activities and innovation performance: Evidence from Spanish innovative firms	[ "Spain", "Manufacturing industries", "Manufacturing technology", "Service sector", "Organizational innovation", "Innovation activities", "Innovation strategies", "Complementarity", "Innovation performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Innovation has long been acknowledged as one of the critical driving forces in enhancing social welfare, as well as being crucial for the long-term survival and growth of the firm (Schumpeter, 1939; Baumol, 2002). Indeed, faced with increasing international competition, innovation has become a central focus in the long term strategies of firms (Veugelers and Cassiman, 1999). However, managing innovation is not a straightforward exercise (Tushman et al., 1997; Van de Ven et al., 1999), but becomes a complex process when designing and implementing an innovation strategy directly related to the multitude of objectives such a strategy implies (Faems et al., 2005).Traditionally, the literature has identified two main innovation activities: \"internal\" innovation and \"external\" knowledge acquisition (Veugelers and Cassiman, 1999; Cassiman, 2004; Cassiman and Veugelers, 2006), which has been called in the literature the \"make or buy\" decision (Perrons and Platts, 2005; Chang, 2003; Cassiman and Veugelers, 2006). More recently, a body of literature has identified the existence of a third innovation activity, the cooperation with other partners for the development of innovations (Navarro Arancegui, 2002; Hull, 2003; Chen and Yuan, 2007), which can be considered a hybrid form between internal and external innovation (Pisano, 1990).Today, concurrent with performing internal innovation, firms tend not only to \"buy\" but also to \"cooperate\" to obtain all the capabilities they need, ranging from research and design, manufacturing, and marketing to after sale service, in order to profit from their innovations (Teece, 1986; Hartung and MacPherson, 2000; Rigby and Zook, 2002). In this context, strategic selection and utilization of resources in the innovation network has turned into a key factor for firm competitiveness and survival. However, deciding on an optimal balance between innovation activities is a complicated issue (Chen and Yuan, 2007). Consequently, when deciding which innovation strategy is the optimal one, firms tend to combine the three innovation activities, a fact which suggests that these alternatives represent complements rather than substitutes. From a theoretical point of view a relevant factor that supports the hypothesis of complementarity is the existence of what Cohen and Levinthal (1989, 1990) called \"absorptive capacity\". According to this concept, external knowledge is more useful when a company engages in its own R&D, or, when a firm has a stock of prior knowledge at its disposal (Kamien and Zang, 2000). Therefore, we can explain that firms that tend to combine internal external and cooperation will be in the best condition to succeed in its innovative processes (Freeman, 1991; Leiponen, 2005; Tether, 2005). Attempts to empirically compare these ideas have led to conflicting results, because while some studies confirm the existence of complementary relationships between some of the sources of innovation implementation (Becker and Peters, 2000; Casisman and Veugelers, 2002, 2006; Beneito, 2006; Schmiedeberg, 2008), other studies have found them to be substitutes (Veugelers, 1997; Jirjahn and Kraft, 2006; Laursen and Salter, 2006). It is therefore necessary to provide a more detailed examination of the effects of different innovation activities, and the effects that these strategies have on their innovation performance.Along these lines, the objective of this paper is to analyze the existence of complementarity between these three innovation activities (internal innovation, external knowledge acquisition and cooperative R&D), as well as their impact on firms' innovation performance. The existing empirical literature has mainly focused on the complementarity between internal and external innovation activities. Our empirical study, however, also includes the third, or hybrid, form of innovation: cooperation. The analysis of this innovation activity is one of the contributions of our paper to the existing literature. The interest of the inclusion of the cooperation activity in the analysis is justified for the Spanish case because it is used by a significant percentage of firms. Along this line, although the external innovation activity is the most used activity (70 percent) followed by the internal one (47 percent), a total of 19 percent of the firms use cooperation innovation activities. This percentage is high enough to consider the study of cooperation as a third innovation activity and to include it in our analysis. The other contribution of this study is the inclusion of the service sector in our sample. This is in contrast to the bulk of the research carried out to date which has centred almost exclusively on the manufacturing sector. We study the existence of complementarity by carrying out a regression of innovation performance on innovation strategies (combinations of innovation activities) following the \"Productivity Approach\". To accomplish these objectives the empirical research used firm level data from the Third Community Innovation Survey (CIS-3) for Spain. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: in Section 2 we review the literature on complementarity in innovation strategies. In Section 3 we explain the empirical analysis through the presentation of the data sources, the methodology and the variables used. The empirical findings are presented in Section 4, and the final section contains the conclusions, implications and limitations of the research.\n2 Literature review of complementarity in innovation activities: In this section we review the literature that has focused on the study of the complementarities between innovation activities. Traditionally, the literature has identified two main innovation activities: \"internal\" and \"external\" (Veugelers and Cassiman, 1999; Cassiman, 2004; Cassiman and Veugelers, 2006). As far as internal innovation is concerned, it represents a traditional innovation activity that mainly consists on the development of innovation activities based on the use of firm's internal capabilities (Vega-Jurado et al., 2009) where the own-generation of knowledge is fully internalized (Frenz and Ietto-Gillies, 2007) and can be defined as formal expenditures inside the firm (Beneito, 2006). The external innovation activities are related to the access to knowledge external sources trough licensing, R&D outsourcing, company acquisition, or the hiring of qualified researchers with relevant knowledge (Arora and Gambardella, 1990). More recently, cooperation on innovation activities has grown significantly (Navarro Arancegui, 2002; Hull, 2003; Chen and Yuan, 2007). This is a result of both the importance for companies to developing a body of knowledge in a context of innovation processes, and the fact that this has become increasingly uncertain, costly and complex (Chang, 2003). This type of the development of innovative activities is considered a hybrid form (Pisano, 1990) between internal and external sources. The strategic alliance literature stresses that it can contribute for a firm's competitive advantage allowing firms to gain access to knowledge and capabilities they do not possess (Al-Laham et al., 2008).In more precise terms, this literature review has focused on the effects on performance of these different possible innovation activities (internal, external and cooperation), and distinguishes between those that occur when these sources are pursued exclusively, on the one hand and combined, on the other.2.1 Effects on performance resulting from the use of individual sources of innovation development activities\n3 Empirical study: This section presents the data sources and the methodology that includes the explanation of the variables and the empirical model.Data sources\n4 Empirical results: Frequencies of innovation strategies\n5 Conclusions, implications limitations and future research: This study aims to find empirical evidence for the idea that various innovation activities are, by nature, complements rather than substitutes, and that the use of different innovation activities is related with innovation performance. We differentiate between the type of innovation strategy (only internal innovation, only external innovation, only cooperation and all the possible combinations of them) and consider a performance measure: the percentage of the firm's turnover generated by new or substantially improved products in the period 1998-2000. The empirical study is carried out using data on Spanish manufacturing and service firms from the CIS-3 for Spain.Theoretical and research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the existence of complementarity between innovation activities (internal innovation, external innovation and cooperative R&D), as well as their impact on firms' innovation performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Drawing on the Third Community Innovation Survey (CIS-3) for Spain, a multiple regression model is used to study the existence of complementarity between innovation activities and their impact on innovation performance. The sample for the study is 3,964 innovative firms.\nFindings: - First of all, the empirical results propose that the complementarity appears only between internal innovation and either external or cooperative innovation - but not with both together, which is in-line with the \"absorption capacity\" notion. Second, the use of external and cooperation innovation in isolation does not yield positive effects on innovation performance. This finding contradicts the substitution argument and supports the absorptive capacity argument. Finally, innovation strategies do not seem to be dissimilar between industries.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The main limitation of the paper is the use of cross-section data, which implies less robust results as an empirical test.\nPractical implications: - The empirical results allow the authors to recommend company managers and public administration officials to improve and support internal innovation. These activities should be combined with the high levels of external acquisitions that Spanish firms have in order to increase their innovation performance as the absorption capacity theory and this paper's empirical results suggest.\nOriginality/value: - The first contribution of the paper is the inclusion of the third form of innovation: cooperation. The second contribution refers to the inclusion of the service sector in the authors' sample.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A critical model of brand experience consequences	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Brands", "Product differentiation", "Brand experience", "Brand credibility", "Brand attitude", "Brand equity", "Purchase intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although, the concept of brand experience is not a new phenomenon, it has attracted a renewed focus from academicians and practitioners of recent times (Brakus et al., 2009). Around three decades ago, Holbrook et al. (1982), introduced the concept of experience in the marketing literature, and since then it continues to influence multiple disciplines such as economics (Pine and Gilmore, 1998), consumer behaviour (Addis and Holbrook, 2001), and marketing (Brakus et al., 2009; Caru and Cova, 2003; LaSalle and Britton, 2003; Schmitt, 1999).\nLiterature review: Brand experience\nMethodology: Survey design\nDiscussion: The significance of understanding brand experiences as a marketing offer is evident by the fact that it has taken a position of strategic importance in contemporary brand management. Nonetheless, staging consumer experiences that can create sensations and stimulations require resources. Therefore, both marketers and researchers need substantial empirical evidence that these contexts bound experiences, when created, can penetrate deeper into the consumer's long-term memory and subsequently influence their brand related perceptions and attitudes. One of the primary objectives of this research was to empirically establish the presence of such influences.\nLimitations and future directions: This study was conducted for product brands and thus might not correctly reflect the case of service brands. It will be interesting to explore the difference between service and product brands experience and its consequences. Thus, the future research may incorporate both service and product brands. Furthermore, data was collected using convenience sampling. Hence the generalizability of results requires further validation. The product involvement is also an important and relevant construct that shall be incorporated as a moderator in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the direct and indirect influence of brand experience on a customer's brand attitude, brand credibility and customer-based brand equity. Design/methodology/approach\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 400 users of mobile hand sets, using convenience sampling technique. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling procedure to test the proposed relationships in the model. Findings\nFindings: The results indicate that the data were a good fit to the proposed model. All the paths in the model remained statistically significant. Although, Chi square test was not significant (6.10, df, 2, p\nResearch limitations/implications: This research investigates the proposed model for a single product category. Future researchers can test the model for other product and service categories. Also, this research only explores the three most critical outcomes of brand experience; however future researchers can incorporate satisfaction, loyalty and commitment as the possible outcome of brand experience.\nPractical implications: This study demonstrates that brand experience can directly and indirectly influence some of the most important concepts in branding literature. This model will help managers to understand how investments in different aspects of branding process lead towards brand differentiation.\nOriginality/value: This research is the first of its type that incorporates brand credibility, attitude and equity as the consequences of brand experience in a single causal model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The glass ceiling in Irish healthcare: a nursing perspective	[ "Nursing", "Glass ceilings", "Health services", "Ireland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Modern nursing emanates from the early nineteenth century, a time when women positioned themselves as the guardians of morality and considered that men were to be controlled but at the same time obeyed (Phillips, 2003). It is from this position that nursing as a female profession continues to take its direction in relation to the predominantly male profession of medicine (Ohlen and Segesten, 1998). More recently, the twentieth century, witness the entrance of another player to the healthcare arena this player was general management, a principally male dominated profession. Since then general management has successfully sought to establish itself and continues to do so by dominating and controlling nursing (Attree, 2005).Nursing in the healthcare system is part of a corporate culture (McDonald, 2005) that traditionally and currently defines nursing as powerless (Toofany, 2005). Unlike most modern organisations, with their flatter, less hierarchical organisational structures, most healthcare organisations still support the classical vertical hierarchical model. Nursing within that structure, because of its numbers and pervasiveness, is the major healthcare supplier. However nursing does not have well defined hierarchical power and generally has no real power in the authority pyramid (Jasper, 2002; Fradd, 2004), where it is found a minor player in strategic influence and decision-making (Carney, 2004; Davies, 2004). In addition, top-level nurses, unlike their colleagues in medicine and general management, have narrowly defined authority which is generally restricted to nursing issues only; rarely do they have any real power over wider organisation matters (Fedoruk and Pincombe, 2000; Fradd, 2004).Within these structures nursing in its current position is dominated by both medicine and general management (Traynor, 1999) and faces a barrier, which may be referred to as a \"glass ceiling\". The term first used to describe an invisible barrier that prevented women near the top of the corporate ladder reaching the top of the corporation (Morrison et al., 1992). This barrier found is commonly found in organisations such as healthcare, which are developed from a model of gender-based segregation in which the traditionally male occupations of medicine and general management occupy the upper levels and the traditionally female occupation of nursing is at the lower levels. Within such organisations the issue of the glass ceiling in relation to the future development of the profession of nursing is of the utmost importance (Stubbings and Scott, 2004).Current attempts by nursing to crack the glass ceiling in terms of organizational issues has met with more opposition from general management than from medicine (Witz, 1992). However, in relation to its current professional attempts to move nursing away from its \"assistantship\" to medicine (May and Fleming, 1997, p. 1097) by independently developing frameworks of care in primary nursing, nursing theories and research based expertise has created tension between nursing and medicine (Walby et al., 1994).\nMethodology: This study is qualitative in approach, using grounded theory methodology (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978, 1992). It was designed to describe and explore the experiences of top-level nurses holding the position of director of nursing. The intention of the study was to understand from the perspectives of participants their perceptions and interpretations of their experiences including placing nursing in the context of the Irish healthcare system, a system which currently is undergoing significant organisational change including the implementation of general management frameworks. The study in keeping with grounded theory methodology was designed to be open and sensitive to the discovery of what did exist in the participant's world and what applied conceptually, with the understanding that by doing this the research problem would emerge (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978, 1992).Data collection was by means of semi-structured interviews. To provide a credible view of top-level nurses' experiences, sampling took place across a variety of settings throughout the Republic of Ireland. The purpose of this sampling frame was to represent general and psychiatric nursing. In total 50 directors were selected for inclusion, 39 from the general nursing sector, with 24 from acute services and 15 from non-acute services, 11 from the psychiatric nursing sector. All participants consented to audio recording; all interviews were conducted privately; case numbers were assigned to each recorded interview; and verbatim transcripts were made of all recordings.Data analysis\nResults: From this study's findings in placing nursing in the context of the Irish healthcare system five major themes were developed. These themes were: nursing, gender and society; nursing, medicine and general management; politics and policy-making; nurses and economic and social changes; and finally nursing: where to from here? This paper focuses on the theme: nursing, medicine and general management.Strategic decision making\nConclusion: From the perspective of participants in this study and current evidence, the healthcare structure which traditionally functions with three separate structures involving nursing, medicine and general management has in recent times, despite major changes, done little to alter the imbalance of power that exists between the three. Nurses although the largest group, are in practice asymmetrical to the other two in their power base and are also the most vulnerable (Traynor, 1999). Overall this study's findings indicated that despite the recent developments in nursing, there has been no visible alteration in the submissive behaviour of nursing. Many participants felt that changing this behaviour is primarily the responsibility of nursing and suggested that the initial step in shifting the power balance requires nursing to take measures to alter its own behaviour:A lot of doctors here ... would see the nurses as their handmaiden, and a lot of the nurses ... would set things up for doctors rather than having the vision of: 'I could be doing this' ... I think, until we change ourselves, we're not going to be able to change how other people view us (Director 50; pp. 1327-1345).\nRecommendations: This study's general perspective supports Torres (1981) opinion that, in the natural order of the world, neither medicine nor general management is going to share its influence and power, nor are they just going to grant influence and power to nursing. In order to crack the glass ceiling Fawcett-Henesy (Keighley, 1998) suggests nursing needs to be proactive and create its own opportunities. The key issue and challenge for nursing is its willingness and ability to win influence and power for itself. This for nursing is a significant issue if its future survival as a profession is to be assured in changing healthcare arena.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to describe and explore from the perspectives of top-level nurses holding the formal position of director of nursing their perceptions and interpretations of their experiences in the Irish healthcare system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper presents some findings from a nation-wide study, which is qualitative in approach using grounded theory methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 directors of nursing representing general and psychiatric nursing.\nFindings: - The study in this paper was conducted in the context of a changing healthcare system, which emphasises the flattening of organisational pyramids. However, this study's findings indicate that, while structures might be changing, behaviours remain unaltered. In particular, the medicine nursing power base remains unchanged, while the power shift between nursing and general management continues to widen in favour of general management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Research in this paper shows that directors of nursing who chose to participate in this study may have different perceptions of experiences from those who chose not to participate.\nOriginality/value: - In the paper the reality is neither medicine nor general management, individually or collectively, are going to share or devolve power and influence to nursing. This study's findings indicate that nursing needs to confront this power imbalance. Nursing needs to take the first steps towards shattering the glass ceiling by really examining its own behaviours, in maintaining the status quo, in the traditional balance of power.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparison and evaluation of the user interfaces of e-journals	[ "User interfaces", "Electronic journals", "Comparative tests", "Function evaluation", "Slovenia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Background\n2. Theoretical foundation: 2.1 IR system interfaces\n3. Expert study of the user interfaces of e-journals: The expert study of the four chosen IR systems was carried out at the Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies at University of Ljubljana in September and October 2003 by the first author.The criteria according to which the expert study was performed were defined after a review of the literature. The criteria were divided into two groups:1. those dealing with the general features of user friendliness; and2. those pertaining to the functionalityThe detailed criteria are discussed below.3.1 Criteria for the expert study\n4. Results: 4.1 General interface features\n4. Discussion: 4.1 The findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Aims to present a comparison and evaluation of four user interfaces of web-based e-journals (Science Direct, ProQuest Direct, EBSCO Host and Emerald).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The systems were assessed in an expert study according to accepted guidelines regarding user friendliness and functionality. User friendliness features studied were: language(s) and type(s) of interface; navigation options; personalization; and screen features. Functions inspected were: database selection; query formulation and reformulation; results manipulation; and help.\nFindings: - Many similarities were found, but some differences among the systems were also discovered and analysed in detail. The greatest differences were found in the area of query formulation, and between the interface languages and types.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The user interfaces of four full-text IR systems offering e-journals which are accessible at the University of Ljubljana are surveyed.\nPractical implications: - The interfaces are surveyed and assessed in order to discover their characteristics, advantages, and potential downsides and/or mistakes which may hinder use by an average user.\nOriginality/value: - The study serves as a basis for a subsequent user study of the information behaviour of the users of these systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating the alternative paradigms of manufacturing competence: an empirical study	[ "Hayes-wheelwright model", "Manufacturing capability", "Manufacturing competences", "Strategic manufacturing effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Manufacturing is a crucial determinant of success for several industrial nations. Increased competition has created a great deal of interest in manufacturing competence. Thus, it is imperative to improve the manufacturing function to achieve competitive success in the market. This can be achieved by strengthening both the structure (e.g. capacity, facility, technology and vertical integration) and infrastructure (e.g. work force policies, planning and measurement systems and incremental process improvements).\n2. Literature review: Pertinent literature related to strategic manufacturing effectiveness, manufacturing capability development path such as trade-off, cumulative and integrative perspective, PC and classification of companies are discussed next and research gap identified.\n3. Research design: The use of field based empirical methodologies in manufacturing strategy area has been steadily increasing over the past few years. One of the most prominent among these is the survey research methodology which has been used to capture data from manufacturing organizations. This study also employs survey research methodology to test different paradigms of manufacturing competence. Our unit of analysis is at individual plant level. The statistical software SPSS is used in this paper to analyze data using regression, correlation and cluster analysis. In addition, importance-performance mapping of capabilities is carried out to show the market alignment. Next we describe the formulation of research objectives and propositions (Section 3.1), constructs used for strategic manufacturing effectiveness, manufacturing capabilities, competitive priorities, PC, overall performance of manufacturing and improvement programs (Section 3.2), method used to understand capability development path (Section 3.3) and data collection method (Section 3.4).\n4. Analysis, findings and discussion: In this section, we analyze the data and test the various propositions formulated in Section 3. Statistical methods of regression analysis, correlation analysis, cluster analysis and importance-performance mapping were employed to analyze the data to examine different propositions. Next we discuss the findings.\n5. Summary and conclusions: Many paradigms of manufacturing competence are available in manufacturing strategy literature such as competitive priorities, manufacturing capability, PC, strategic manufacturing effectiveness, alternative modes of capability development (e.g. trade off, cumulative or integrative), strategic grouping of companies and capability building through improvement programs. However, very few empirical research are reported in the literature to test these paradigms individually and to further understand relationships among them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness utilizing the four-stage model of Hayes and Wheelwright (H-W) with overall performance of manufacturing, market alignment and production competence (PC). In addition, it attempts to understand the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness with manufacturing capability development modes, strategic groups of companies and the nature of improvement programs being employed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structured questionnaire was used to capture data from manufacturing organizations. Responses from managers of 47 Indian manufacturing companies were used to test the seven propositions that were developed to examine the paradigms of manufacturing competence.\nFindings: The analysis revealed that the strategic manufacturing effectiveness of manufacturing companies based on H-W's four-stage model has significant positive correlation with the overall performance of manufacturing and PC of the company. Further, the analysis substantiated the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness with capability development process and the nature of improvement programs.\nResearch limitations/implications: This exploratory study is based on a small sample of manufacturing companies with diversity and hence it may not be representative of all industry sectors. Second, it has used several scales for measuring the relevant constructs which themselves are not proven, hence, the findings should be taken with caution.\nOriginality/value: This is an initial research focussing on the relationships among different elements of manufacturing competence such as manufacturing capabilities, PC, manufacturing capability development mode and overall performance of manufacturing with strategic manufacturing effectiveness using H-W model. H-W model was primarily proposed as an audit tool for managers, was hitherto not adequately studied in relation to other paradigms of manufacturing competence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
No one can whistle a symphony: how hospitals design for daily cross-boundary collaboration	[ "Hospitals", "Collaboration", "Teamwork", "Coordination", "Organizational design" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Hospitals in general find it difficult to foster collaboration across occupational and departmental boundaries (McIntosh et al., 2014) because of organizational and occupational silos (Mintzberg and Glouberman, 2001), patient input uncertainty (Argote, 1982), ad hoc health care teams (Andreatta, 2010), and claims that care cannot be standardized (Adler and Kwon, 2013). Patient and public demands for fast, coordinated, safe, and high-quality care (Institute of Medicine, 2013), however, make it essential to identify ways to foster collaboration among interdependent health professionals working to solve a collective task (Valentine and Edmondson, 2015).\nTheory: Collaboration through coordination\nMethods: Research approach and case selection\nResults: Designed collaboration bundles\nDiscussion: Bundling organization design features to facilitate collaboration and care delivery\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and with which mechanisms health care professionals in practice design for collaboration to solve collective hospital tasks, which cross occupational and departmental boundaries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An in-depth multiple-case study of five departments across four hospitals facing fast to slow response task requirements was carried out using interviews and observations. The selected cases were revealing as the departments had designed and formalized their daily hospital operations differently to solve collaboration and performance issues.\nFindings: Local collaboration across occupational and departmental boundaries requires bundles of behavioral formalization elements (e.g. standardized plans, resource allocation decisions, assigned formal roles, and handoff routines), and liaison devices (e.g. huddles, boards, and physical proximity), which are used in parallel or sequence. The authors label this \"designed collaboration bundles.\" These bundles supplement the central organizational structures, processes, and support systems less capable of ensuring fluent coordination at the front line.\nPractical implications: Health care professionals and hospital managers can consider designing bundles of organizational design features to proactively develop and ensure collaboration capable of solving collective tasks and bridging departmental and occupational silos to improve health care delivery.\nOriginality/value: This research paper addresses the fundamental organizational challenge of how to achieve efficient collaboration by studying how formal structures and processes are used in combination on the hospital floor, thereby going beyond previous research that studies these mechanisms individually.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Status or fun? A cross-cultural examination of young consumers' responses to images of champagne and sparkling wine	[ "Young consumers", "Rituals", "Symbolism", "Sparkling wine", "Images", "Myth" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Images are powerful components of marketing campaigns because they help solidify consumers' perceptions of brand identity. In the modern world, visual images - much more robustly than words - form the interface between products or brands and consumers (Schroeder et al., 2006), although a comparative analysis of advertising suggests that consumers in different markets favour different visual components (Cutler et al., 1992). In order to understand how consumers reconstruct visual meanings, marketers must recognise consumers' diverse cultural backgrounds and the relationships consumers from different cultures have with product images and the products themselves.\nLiterature review: Culture and consumer behaviour\nYoung consumers and wine: This paper examines young consumers' attitudes towards advertising and print images of champagne and sparkling wine. The study's focus on younger consumers reflects the growing significance of this target market for the wine industry, especially given the aging of Baby Boomers - the leading wine consumer cohort for a long time, and evidence that Generation Y consume more wine than the previous generation at a similar age (Fountain and Lamb, 2011). Furthermore, Generation Y has been brought up in a world of visual images, creating a propensity towards visual type of information that speaks effectively to this generation (Hammond et al., 2011), making this demographic an interesting subject group for the current study.\nPurpose: The current study aims to investigate the interaction of cultural values and consumer behaviour by examining how the core manifestations of culture relate to young consumers' interpretation of images of champagne and sparkling wine - a product category with a strong symbolic function.\nMethod: Research design\nFindings and discussion: A two-stage exploration of the data is presented below, looking first at cross-cultural responses around the conceptual foundation of the study and then offering an analysis of how value itself is constructed in the consumption of champagne and sparkling wine, based on a dichotomy between status and fun.\nMarketing implications: This research has provided insights into the perceptions and experiences of young consumers regarding champagne and sparkling wine, with a key implication being the cultural variation in consumer perceptions of and the impact that it has upon marketing strategies. The findings are of practical value in that they provide insights to producers on how to market this product category to younger consumers in different markets. The distinct differences that young UK consumers showed suggest that a focus on the product itself, as well as the heritage and tradition of the product, should be applied in this market. By contrast, New World young consumers value more enjoyment and fun associated with consumption of champagne and sparkling wine, and are more concerned with the overall impression of the advertisements. It is interesting to note, however, that champagne was seen as \"traditional\" amongst all young wine consumer markets, raising questions about the open-mindedness of young consumers to innovation when it comes to champagne, compared to other wine styles (cf. Fountain and Lamb, 2011; Mueller et al., 2011; Thach, 2011).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test Luna and Gupta's (2001) investigative framework on the interaction of cultural values and consumer behaviour by conducting a cross-cultural comparison of young wine consumers' interpretation of images of champagne and sparkling wine. The research examined consumer responses to the images through the prism of the relationship between symbolism, ritual and myth, as well as other related values.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In a series of focus groups with consumers from four anglophone countries (the USA, New Zealand, Australia and the UK), six images of champagne and sparkling wine were used as stimuli to encourage affective and cognitive perspectives on the topic.\nFindings: Overall, the UK market showed distinct differences from the other markets, due very much to its cultural context. The UK consumers valued traditional advertising; focused mainly on the product itself; and did not associate champagne with fun. Respondents from the New World focused on the general impression of the image and on enjoyment and fun associated with consumption of champagne and sparkling wine.\nPractical implications: The most crucial implication of this research is the cultural variation in consumer perceptions of champagne and sparkling wine and the impact that it has upon marketing strategies on how to market this product category to younger consumers in different markets.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the study of cultural values and consumption behaviour, as well as image effectiveness in forming perceptions of the product category.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The level of information systems integration in SMEs in Irish manufacturing sector	[ "Small and medium‐sized enterprises", "Information systems", "Manufacturing systems", "Ireland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Successful communication with customers, business partners and between internal divisions is critical for any organisation. It should be supported by efficient data and information flow between computer systems, applications and business units and an easy access to business information stored within and across the entire organisation. IS integration enables this communication and improves information sharing throughout the business (Bhatt and Troutt, 2005, pp. 532-58).This research focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in manufacturing sector in Ireland. It investigates the information systems supporting their business processes and operations and the integration level of these systems.\n2. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): 2.1 The role of the SMEs in the economy\n3. Information systems integration: 3.1 The genesis of information systems integration\n4. Research methodology and methods: This paper aims to answer the following questions:Q1. What is the level of IS integration in SMEs operating in manufacturing industry in Ireland?Q2. Are the owners and senior managers of Irish manufacturing SMEs aware of the problems related with disparate information systems and do they understand the benefits of systems integration?4.1 Research hypotheses\n5. Data analysis and findings: 5.1 Introduction\n6. Conclusions: 6.1 Introduction\n7. Recommendations for future research: When considering the recommendations for the future research, there are several possible areas, which could be investigated further. First of all, the level of internal ICT expertise among Irish manufacturing SMEs could be examined in more detail. There are many independent factors that build internal ICT expertise, as described by Fillis et al. (2003). Furthermore, conducting similar research focusing on SMEs, but operating in areas other than manufacturing industry, would also prove beneficial. Do companies operating in the ICT sector (software, services, etc.), because of their expertise in the area, have their IS integrated in a more efficient way than companies operating in different sectors? Finally, research targeting IT staff specifically, as opposed to general business management, could shed a different light on IS integration issues within manufacturing SMEs. It is possible that senior management see the final effect of intensive efforts to integrate IS and may not be fully aware of all cleansing, synchronising and integrating work done before they access data and information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to investigate the role of information systems integration in Irish small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the manufacturing sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Research was conducted through a review of literature and subsequent primary research involving qualitative (semi-structured interviews) and quantitative (questionnaires) research strategies.\nFindings: - The paper reveals the sophistication of internal IT infrastructure within Irish manufacturing SMEs and whether the IT systems are integrated with one another, and, if so, how well that integration is done. Moreover, the owner-managers' and senior managers' attitude to IS integration issues is explored, including the reasons that prompt them to integrate IT systems within their businesses, their expectations of IS integration, the challenges they recognise when integrating the systems and their criteria regarding IS integration.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research focuses on manufacturing SMEs operating in Ireland; other sectors are not investigated.\nPractical implications: - The paper helps the owner-managers and senior managers to understand the issues of IS integration and points towards possible solutions to the problem of disparate IT systems.\nOriginality/value: - The negative impact of disparate systems and the benefits of integrating them in an SMEs environment have not been thoroughly examined to date.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The west wind vs the east wind: instructional leadership model in China	[ "China", "Instructional leadership", "Primary school principals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As reflected in the development of international student assessment systems such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in Mathematics and Science Study, policy makers increasingly share the sentiment that nations whose students excel today will become winners tomorrow (Forestier and Crossley, 2015). Governments around the world are thus attempting to initiate and sustain changes that go beyond transient, superficial success stories to deeply influence classroom practices (Mertkan, 2010). Enhancing principals' instructional leadership to improve teaching and learning has become a widely adopted policy measure (Goldring et al., 2009; Leithwood et al., 2010; Walker and Hallinger, 2015).\nInstructional leadership: The theory of instructional leadership originated from studies conducted in US schools in the 1980s, which offer substantial and diverse empirical evidence that instructional leadership has indirect but significant effects on student outcomes (Hallinger and Heck, 1996a,b; Leithwood et al., 1990; Robinson et al., 2008; Smith and Andrew, 1989). This substantial body of knowledge on instructional leadership mainly derives from major western societies such as the USA, the UK and New Zealand (e.g. Hallinger and Murphy, 1985; Robinson et al., 2008). The Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale developed by Hallinger and Murphy (1985) is one of the most enduring models of instructional leadership. The authors created a model of instructional leadership with three dimensions: defining the school mission, managing the instructional programme and developing the school learning climate.\nThe reform context in China: The Chinese education system has traditionally been highly centralized and uniform. Prior to the 1990s, the governance of education was centralized at the Ministry of Education in Beijing; that is, schools had limited autonomy. There was one national curriculum, one set of national textbooks and one national college entrance examination (Gaokao) (Zhao, 2007). The major function of schools was to prepare students to achieve high marks in exams and send them to good higher-education institutions. Teaching was considered to be a collective task (Harris et al., 2009). Subject-based teaching-research groups (jiaoyanzu) were in place in every school. This organizational structure was borrowed from the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and has since been instituted in almost all Chinese schools to ensure a high quality of teaching and enable teachers to support each other (Hu, 2005).\nThe study: A qualitative approach was taken in the study, with interviews used to collect the data. The purposes of the study were to provide in-depth insights into the ways in which principals understand and enact their instructional leadership, and consequently to construct an initial model of instructional leadership in China. The model constructed should be considered rudimentary - it is a first step towards understanding how Chinese principals lead instruction.\nFindings: Based on points of overlap between the narratives of the 22 school principals, we constructed an initial model of instructional leadership as perceived and enacted by Chinese principals. The scope and length of this paper prevent the inclusion of a detailed description of each dimension of the model. Therefore, we provide only a brief overview of the model in this section, focussing on three instructional-leadership dimensions that seemed particularly relevant to the principals' context. We end the section with analysis of the ways in which the principals located their instructional-leadership practices relative to traditional expectations and the requirements of the new reforms.\nDiscussion: The aim of this study was to contribute to the emerging literature on educational leadership in China (e.g. Qian and Walker, 2013; Qian et al., 2017; Walker and Qian, 2011, 2015; Walker et al., 2012; Wong, 2012; Yin et al., 2013). An initial model of instructional leadership in China was constructed, and the ways in which Chinese principals perceived and enacted their instructional leadership were illustrated. Some leadership dimensions with context-specific meaning were explored in detail. In this section, we discuss the limitations of the study and then outline its implications.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a preliminary model of instructional leadership in the Chinese educational context and explore the ways in which Chinese school principals locate their instructional-leadership practices in response to traditional expectations and the requirements of recent reforms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 selected primary school principals in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. A qualitative analysis was conducted to categorize the major leadership practices enacted by these principals.\nFindings: An initial model of instructional leadership in China with six major dimensions is constructed. The paper also illustrates and elaborates on three dimensions with the greatest context-specific meanings for Chinese principals.\nOriginality/value: The paper explores the ways in which Chinese principals enact their instructional leadership in a context in which \"the west wind meets the east wind\"; that is, when they are required to accommodate both imported reform initiatives and traditional expectations. The paper contributes to the sparse existing research on principals' instructional leadership in non-western cultural and social contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information systems and creativity: an empirical study	[ "Information systems", "Systems software", "Music" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The study reported here sought to explore ways in which information systems might be designed effectively to support creativity. A number of creativity support systems have been developed, yet still the relationship between information systems and creativity - and the question of how systems might be developed effectively to support creativity - are neither straightforward nor well researched. At a more fundamental level, creativity is a driving force in commerce and industry, as well as in the arts. Therefore, this is a significant and important area of research. A particular concern of the current study was to explore ways in which information systems currently impede creativity and hence, ways in which those impedances can be reduced or removed.This paper reports the findings of a research investigation designed to illuminate the relationship between creativity and computer-based systems - in particular to identify any tensions between the use of such systems and the processes of creativity. In three related case studies, composers were observed and interviewed as they worked with computer-based systems on a number of compositions, and a number of such tensions were identified. These observations and their findings are reported in sections 3-5 of this paper. In order to address these tensions, a novel architecture for system design - which in important ways runs counter to currently accepted \"best practice\" - is proposed in section 6.The particular area of creative activity studied was electroacoustic music composition. This was considered an area that is both rich in creativity and to which the use of computer-based support systems is central. Although computer-based support systems for music composition exhibit a number of functions specific to that particular area of activity - for example, the ability to mix sounds - such systems also exhibit a number of key features and design approaches generic to information systems. Indeed, the conclusions drawn from this research are discussed generically in relation to creativity support not restricted to one area.Our definition of \"information systems\", in the context of creativity support, is also generic to multiple areas of activity, and relates to software that can enable the storage, description, accessing and processing of data and information. We use the concepts \"data\" and \"information\" relatively - that is, \"information\" represents items of data organised into some higher order structure. Such information may be regarded as data for yet higher order structuring, and so on (Figure 1). Information systems enable the storage of both data and information, and their description via some sort of metadata such that they can be accessed for processing. Such processing may entail their exploration or manipulation including, for example, aggregation, merging, or sequencing into higher order structures.In the case of music composition software, data may consist of sounds, and higher order structures representing sequences or mixtures of sounds - still higher order structures representing musical compositions. In the case of systems designed to support artistic activity the data may, for example, be shapes or colours, higher level structures representing artistic works. In other contexts, data may consist of archaeological artefacts, engineering, design or architectural components, etc.\n2. Related work: Creativity and information systems\n3. Aims and research questions: The study reported here aimed to develop a model of the interactions between creative activity and software support systems, and to identify features of these interactions that might inform the design of more effective systems.The specific research questions addressed were:RQ1. In using software to assist in the composition process, can tensions be perceived to exist between software usage and the creative process?RQ2. To what extent can knowledge of any such tensions inform the design of novel software better to support creativity?\n4. Research design: Methodological issues\n5. Results: The following sections report the main themes to emerge from the data obtained in the three observations. These themes address the first of our research question, namely: \"In using software to assist in the composition process, what if any tensions can be perceived to exist between software usage and the creative process?\"Use of multiple audio applications\n6. Implications of the results from a database perspective: With the caveat relating to the tentative nature of the model presented above and the need for further systematic study, it would appear to have potentially important implications for the design of information systems to support creative activity. This discussion addresses the second of our research questions, namely: \"To what extent can knowledge of any such tensions inform the design of novel software better to support creativity?\"This section discusses implications of the preceding analysis, with respect to the requirements of software environments for composers. We take a database system perspective, since this a common approach for design systems, apparent in much computer music software and information systems for supporting creative activity in a wide range of areas. First we reiterate \"textbook\" basics of database systems and then re-examine these basics in the light of some of our findings.Classic database design\nConclusions: The naturalistic study of electroacoustic composers at work presented here represents a preliminary attempt to understand the relationship between creative users and the computer systems designed to support their work. Though the study is limited in scope, the richness of the data collected has provided insights into tensions that can occur in such situations. These reinforce much of the generic understanding of creativity reviewed in the related work section, but also suggest that the causes stem from what would normally be considered \"good software design\", thus providing criteria for improved systems. We hope that the tentative model presented here will motivate further research to test and elaborate our findings. In particular, it would be interesting to establish if our findings have generality across other areas of creativity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report research that sought to understand the requirements of information systems designed to support people engaged in creative intellectual activity. The research aimed to provide empirical evidence based on a case study of a particular arena of creativity, namely electro-acoustic music composition. However, it also sought to identify issues that may apply more widely to other arenas of human creativity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research was based on a related series of three in-depth studies of electro-acoustic music composers at work. These studies entailed the collection of qualitative data from interviews, observations and \"think aloud\" protocols. These data were analysed inductively to reveal concepts and relationships that formed the basis for a model of interactions between the composers and the information systems with which they were working.\nFindings: - The paper presents a model of relationships between information system features and use, and the resulting effects in terms of the extent to which creativity was perceived by the composers to have been facilitated and inhibited. In particular, a number of tensions were identified which suggest that conventional \"best practice\" in the design of data-intensive information systems may be fundamentally at odds with the requirements of such systems to support important aspects of creativity.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations associated with in-depth qualitative research based on small samples is acknowledged, relating in particular to its lack of ability to generalise on the basis of statistical probability. However, such an approach arguably offers the complementary strength of being particularly suited to exploratory research aimed essentially at charting new territory and identifying rich and possibly unanticipated constructs rather than testing hypotheses based on existing theory. The resultant findings, however, must remain tentative and provisional pending further systematic investigation designed to establish the extent to which they are generalisable.\nPractical implications: - As well as identifying limitations in conventional approaches to designing data-intensive information systems, an alternative architecture is proposed which seeks better to map onto the requirements of creativity support. It is hoped that both the criticisms of conventional approaches and the proposed novel architecture may be of practical use to those engaged in the design of data-intensive creativity support systems.\nOriginality/value: - The research reported here offers a novel perspective on the design of information systems in that it identifies a tension between conventional \"best practice\" in system design and the requirements of important aspects of creativity support. It has the advantage of being based on the in-depth observation of real composers in action over protracted periods of time. It also proposes a novel system architecture which seeks to avoid reduce such tensions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding determinants of cloud computing adoption using an integrated TAM-TOE model	[ "India", "TOE", "TAM", "Cloud computing", "Technology adoption" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cloud computing can be viewed as a way to deliver IT enabled services in the form of software, platform and infrastructure using internet technologies. Cloud computing is defined by NIST, 2009 as \"Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.\" The major driver for this widespread adoption is the economic benefit that cuts expenses for existing applications (Sandhu et al., 2010). The emergence of the cloud computing concept has changed the way IT services are developed, deployed, used, maintained, and paid for (Marston et al., 2011). It is significant for its service-oriented architecture, virtualization, utility and autonomic computing (Subashini and Kavitha, 2011; Benlian and Hess, 2011; Misra and Mondal, 2011). While a lot of research is currently taking place in the technology itself, an increased number of studies are witnessed to address business-related issues of cloud computing (Marston et al., 2011). Some studies focus on the opportunities and risks of adopting cloud computing but without going into details to importance and effectiveness of adoption factors, their affect on customer decision and response to these factors, and how companies try to handle these issues (Benlian and Hess, 2011).\nTechnology adoption models: Based on the literature review, this study takes into consideration two of the adoption models, i.e. TAM model and TOE framework based on their relevance to cloud computing adoption. These models are explained as follows:\nProposed framework: Based on the literature, adoption variables relevant to the cloud computing are selected to propose a conceptual framework and their hypotheses.\nMethodology: Objective of the study is to identify the factors affecting cloud computing adoption in organizations using integration of TAM model and TOE framework. For this, questionnaire-based survey method was followed in which data were gathered from the organizations those have implemented cloud computing. For the variables identified from the literature (Table I), the questionnaire was comprised of two parts: company profile and adoption variables. The items were framed on five-point Likert scale. Two consecutive rounds of pre-testing were conducted in order to insure that respondents can understand the items used in the study: first, the questionnaire was reviewed by the academic researchers experienced in questionnaire design and next, the questionnaire was piloted with IT experts known. Further, responses on the questionnaire were collected from the top and middle-level IT professionals of the companies who in the process of adoption (potential adopters). This way, purposeful sampling was used for the data collection in which the respondents were approached through e-mail and/or telephone to know whether they are aware of cloud computing and if yes, whether they are willing to adopt cloud computing or they are in the process of adoption. If so, a suitable time was decided with an appointment for data collection. Most of the responses were collected through personal visits to the respondents and a round of conversation was held before seeking their responses on the questionnaire. Other responses were collected through e-mail. This conversation was aimed to understand their preparedness for cloud computing adoption and their related future plans.\nData analysis: A Questionnaire survey was used to collect the empirical data for this study. The list of 1,000 random organization was obtained from the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and of Industry of India. Mails or telephone calls were then made to screened the organizations on the basis of questions like they are aware of cloud computing, whether they are willing to adopt cloud computing or they are in the process of adoption. Out of total 1,000 organizations, 433 were found to be eligible for this survey on the basis of screening question. Most of the responses were collected through personal visits to the respondents and a round of conversation was held before seeking their responses on the questionnaire. Other responses were collected through e-mail. Out of 433 organizations, 330 responses were gathered and 280 responses were found valid. For the data analysis, several data analysis techniques were applied.\nDiscussion: The study identified relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, organizational readiness, top management commitment, and training and education as important variables for affecting cloud computing adoption using PEOU and PU as mediating variables. Also, competitive pressure and trading partner pressure were found directly affecting cloud computing adoption intentions.\nConclusion: This study witnessed the factors affecting cloud computing adoption in organizations. To underpin the basis of these factors in existing literature, the study chose TAM for its wide acceptance in technology adoption literature. Since the relevance of TOE framework is found increasing in the recent literature, this study developed an integrated TAM-TOE framework for cloud computing adoption. It extended TAM using a set of TOE variables relevant to cloud computing adoption as external variables of TAM, i.e. relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, organizational readiness, training and education, and top management commitment; which have direct effect on either of the two constructs of TAM or both, and has indirect effect on adoption. Thus, the two constructs of TAM act as mediating variables for external variables of TAM. Further, competitive pressure and trading partner support were proposed to have direct impact on adoption. Findings show that PU, PEOU, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, organizational readiness, training and education, top management commitment, competitive pressure and trading partner support are important determinants for cloud computing adoption in organizations. Also, it integrated TAM model and TOE framework using variables of TOE as external variables of TAM. The proposed hypotheses were empirically tested and results were interpreted. Further, an integrated model approach resulted in IT adoption literature by proposing novel way of integrating two popular adoption frameworks. This model addresses the key concerned areas of cloud computing adoption and has relevance to the IT professionals by enabling them to consider effective concerned areas so that they can take effective course of actions during cloud computing adoption in their organizations. Thus, this study is a special attempt to contribute in cloud computing adoption literature. This study is limited in terms of using limited set of variables and exclusion of non-adopters. Future research should validate findings of the study in other contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to integrate TAM model and TOE framework for cloud computing adoption at organizational level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A conceptual framework was developed using technological and organizational variables of TOE framework as external variables of TAM model while environmental variables were proposed to have direct impact on cloud computing adoption. A questionnaire was used to collect the data from 280 companies in IT, manufacturing and finance sectors in India. The data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Further, structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model.\nFindings: The study identified relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, organizational readiness, top management commitment, and training and education as important variables for affecting cloud computing adoption using perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) as mediating variables. Also, competitive pressure and trading partner support were found directly affecting cloud computing adoption intentions. The model explained 62 percent of cloud computing adoption.\nPractical implications: The model can be used as a guideline to ensure a positive outcome of the cloud computing adoption in organizations. It also provides relevant recommendations to achieve conducive implementation environment for cloud computing adoption.\nOriginality/value: This study integrates two of the information technology adoption models to improve predictive power of resulting model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-crafting vegetable snacks: testing the IKEA-effect in children	[ "Children", "IKEA-effect", "Vegetable consumption" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Vegetables are considered as an important part of healthy diets, as evidence suggests that substantial consumption of vegetables can reduce the risk for future chronic non-communicable diseases and obesity (World Health Organization, 2003; Robertson et al., 2004; Leenders et al., 2013; Bazzano et al., 2002). Despite these positive health effects, globally most children do not consume sufficient amounts of vegetables (World Health Organization, 2003); for instance in the Netherlands virtually none of the children aged four to six years meet the recommended daily amount of vegetables (Ocke et al., 2008). Hence, increasing vegetable consumption in children has become an important research topic.\nMethods: Participants and design\nResults: Comparability of the conditions\nDiscussion: The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of self-crafting vegetable snacks on vegetable consumption and liking in children aged four to six years, as a novel strategy to promote vegetables in children. The present study replicates and extends previous studies on the IKEA-effect by testing whether the IKEA-effect exists in children and also holds for products that are generally disliked by the target group. Children crafted a peacock with beads or with vegetables and were both exposed to an example peacock made of vegetables. Children who crafted a peacock with vegetables were invited to consume vegetables from their own creation and children who crafted a peacock with beads received a vegetable peacock crafted by others. It was hypothesized that children have an increased consumption of and liking for self-crafted vegetable snacks, rather than vegetable snacks crafted by others. However, results illustrated that self-crafting vegetable snacks did not significantly impact the amount of vegetables consumed and did not significantly increase vegetable liking in children.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test whether the IKEA-effect (Norton et al., 2012) - better liking for self-crafted products than for identical products crafted by others - can be exploited to increase liking and consumption of vegetable snacks in children.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A between-subjects experiment was conducted at an after school care facility. In total, 86 children aged four to six either crafted a peacock with vegetables or with non-food objects following an example. After the task, children ate snack vegetables ad libitum, and rated their liking for the vegetables and pride in crafting the peacock.\nFindings: No significant main effect of the vegetable snack creation on consumption and liking was observed. Also, perceived pride did not mediate the effect of self-crafting vegetable snacks on consumption of and liking for vegetables.\nResearch limitations/implications: Vegetable consumption did not differ between children who were either simply exposed to vegetable snacks while crafting or those who were crafting the vegetable snacks themselves. The equal consumption might suggest that this is caused by simple exposure, but more research is needed comparing self-crafting and exposure to a condition where there is no initial exposure to vegetables.\nOriginality/value: Although the IKEA-effect has been demonstrated in adults, this is one of the first studies evaluating the IKEA-effect in children and as a means to increase liking for a generally disliked product in this target group, i.e. vegetables. The IKEA-effect could not be replicated under these more stringent conditions, where the experimental set-up enabled disentangling exposure and crafting effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The internationalization of venture capital	[ "Venture capital", "Globalization", "Gravity equation", "Path dependence", "Cross border flows" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"The Great Divide - A Narrow Majority of VCs Go Global While the Rest Stay Focused Stateside, the United States is Still the Top Destination of Choice\" (Global Trends in Venture Capital 2006 Survey, Report Sponsored by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP).\n1 Introduction: Venture capital (VC) is long-term, hands-on equity investment in privately held, high-growth-potential companies, initiated and managed by professional investors (see Lerner (2001) and Gompers and Lerner (2001) for evaluation and reviews of the recent literature). While VC firms and the companies they own are not significant in terms of employment generation or capital under management, the role of VC in the economy should not be underestimated. Many of the top US technology companies got started with VC funds and some of these same companies even use VC-style investments to enter into foreign markets (Dow Jones, 2009). In addition, VC directed investment seems to be especially potent in the innovation process. This role was confirmed by Kortum and Lerner (2000), who examined the influence of VC on patented inventions in the US across 20 industries over three decades. They found that VC investments in an industry are associated with significantly higher patenting rates than regular R&D by almost a 7 to 1 ratio. Countries around the world have taken note, and attempted to replicate the success of the US VC industry on their home soil, both by encouraging inward investment from foreign players and by growing capacity locally.While the VC sector in the USA has been large and vibrant for many years, the rest of the world (ROW) saw very little growth in VC activity until the mid 1990s[1]. Since that time, the internationalization of the VC sector has been driven both by general factors driving globalization as well as historical facts specific to VC. As Figure 1 shows, a great deal of growth in international activity occurred starting in the late 1990s around the time of the US-centered technology bubble, some of which was driven by an oversupply of funds to US VC firms who may have gone international in the search of deal flow. A lesser known fact, visible in Figure 2 is that while US VC firms went abroad more actively over this period, foreign VC firms also came to the US for investments in US based companies in greater numbers. While a bubble may have driven the growth VC funding out of and into the US, the destinations of these flows have not been random, and the continuing significance of cross-border flows as well as the continued growth of domestic VC capacity in countries which had almost none previous to the late 1990s is further evidence that the globalization of the VC industry is here to stay[2].The purpose of this paper is to investigate the increasing internationalization of VC investments in recent years and to assess the factors which determine the destination of cross-border VC investment flows. To address these issues, we rely primarily on the Thomson VentureXpert database - a comprehensive data source for deals done worldwide that includes over 30 years of historical data. It draws its information from quarterly surveys of private equity (PE) firms; government filings; public news releases; and Thomson reporters as they interact with PE practitioners[3]. Each deal in our sample includes the names of the investors and the locations of their offices, the name of the target company and their location, as well as some details on the stage of the deal, the industry in which the company operates, the total value of the deal (amount of cash invested), and the timing[4]. With this information, we can calculate the volume of deals done in a given country in a given year, and the bilateral flows of deals between countries, defining as the source country the home country of the investment firm and the destination country as the home country of the target company. All total, there are just over 100 countries represented in the dataset, both as source and destination countries (see Data Appendix, available at NBER Working Paper No. 14344, and Sections 2 and 3 for further details).Before continuing, a few definitions are in order. The terms PE and VC are not well defined and have conflicting uses in the financial press. Much of the practitioner community uses the term \"private equity\" to refer to both venture financing and other private placement deals such as buyouts and acquisitions of private companies. Our definition of VC is in line with that used at Thompson VentureXpert, the European Venture Capital Association, and the American National Venture Capital Association, three definitive industry sources. We define VC by the stage of the investment and include seed, startup, early stage, and expansion stage deals[5]. These are the preliminary stages a company goes through in its initial journey to becoming a functioning corporation with steady revenues and a well defined product and customer base that has the potential to issue shares through an IPO. The rest of the deals in the VentureXpert dataset are PE. These include buyout, buy-in, merger, acquisition, late stage, turnaround/rescue, PIPE, and many other types of deals that are not focused on funding startup and growth[6]. We do not use these deals in the current analysis.We start in Section 2 by evaluating the overall trends, inferred by aggregating the deal-level data. The internalization of VC is an ongoing trend but prior to the early 1990s, as a first order approximation, the VC industry was confined to the USA. Hence, we focus on the years 1990-2007, and explore the internationalization of both VC through the cycle of the 1990s IT bubble, the subsequent crash, and the more recent period of activity occurring after 2002.In summary, we find that the late 1990s bubble's effect on deal volumes was to increase the total volume by roughly 4-5x in our three series: domestic only deals, domestic deals with some foreign VC funding, and foreign deals with some US funding. The percentage of deals in the US which featured any foreign participation increased dramatically from around 10 percent to over 25 percent as foreign investors were drawn in at the height of the bubble. However, this ratio was slow to recede to its pre-bubble level and was still over 15 percent in 2007. The bubble may have also driven US firms to go more abroad more aggressively, especially into Asia and Europe. This trend also has not completely reversed after the bubble (though it is not clear to what extent this trend is a facet of the ongoing globalization of IT vs an element of the late 1990s bubble). The number of VC partners per deal and average deal size grow over the course of the bubble with both sets of series staying noticeably higher after the bubble crash.In addition to the changes in investment patterns over the course of the bubble, crash, and recovery, we also look at systematic differences between domestic and international deals. Domestic-only deals appear to be smaller on average, with foreign funded US deals and US funded foreign deals successively larger (a pattern that holds up before, during, and after the bubble). US VC firms going abroad tend to have more investor partners (over 4 on average) compared to 2-3 for US based deals with or without foreign participation (we do not know if the foreign funded deals done in the US feature more investor partners than deals done in the foreign market without international participation, due to very limited data on these deals). Finally, foreign funded deals in the US are the most likely to have been in the high-tech sector followed closely by US domestic only deals. Since both these ratios are over 80 percent for most of the sample, they are not much increased by the bubble; however, in foreign deals with some US funding, which started with less that 60 percent of deal volume occurring in high-tech deals caught up rapidly, increasing to near 80 percent where it remained after the crash. This final trend may be partly accounted for by the apparent increase in US participation in Europe and Asia after the crisis (Figure 6), which experienced strong bio-tech and IT based growth, respectively.We continue in Section 3 with an econometric assessment of the factors explaining the number of international VC deals between countries. We apply various versions of the gravity model to the patterns of flows. The empirical gravity structure has been widely applied in the international trade literature (see the review by Anderson and Van Wincoop (2004)) and to model international financial flows of FDI (Aizenman and Marion, 2004), portfolio equity (Portes and Rey, 2005), and sovereign lending (Rose and Spiegel, 2004)[7].We find in the full sample that distance is negatively related to deal volume and to the number of VC deals, indicating the location bias in these types of investment activity. This result is not surprising in light of the intensive monitoring and advisory roles that these types of investments require. Conversations with practitioners indicate that even purely US based VC's will often choose only a few cities in which to operate, sourcing several deals in each city so as to economize on travel to that area. Language connections between countries and colonial relationships are also significant predictors of VC deal counts, possibly being a proxy for the extent of social and business networking between the source and destination countries as well as for the similarity of institutions, levels of trust, and communication costs. We find evidence of persistence in VC flows even when controlling for source and destination country effects indicating the possibility of network spillover effects, herding, and/or \"beachhead\" effects related to fixed costs of commencing activity in a given country. We confirm that VC tends to flow to countries with more high-end human capital, with a better institutional environment, and deeper financial markets (especially stock markets, which facilitate exit from venture investments via IPO). We find that these same factors are also associated with increased flows from the country. There is also evidence defense expenditure and VC activity may be complementary[8].In regressions with the US as the sole source or destination of the deal, the patterns are largely similar, with some interesting differences. When the US is source, distance is actually positively and significantly associated with deal flow, and distance is insignificant in the regression with US as destination. Largely this reflects the US's unique geographic position, distant from most of the VC deal centers in Europe and Asia. Dummy variables for the source country having been a colonizer, and any shared language also have opposite the expected sign in these two regressions. The US may also be special in regard to these two variables. Only the Philippines has the US as a colonizer in our sample; and few of the developed countries where VC deals are done have English as an official language despite its wide spread use among business professionals.Section 4 concludes with a summary of the results and the implications for future work.\n2 Trends and features of the data: The patterns of the international movement of VC funds are interesting in their own right and have not gotten much attention in the academic literature. Here, we attempt to document the aggregate patterns as they appear in our data. We focus on three types of deals: US based deals with international VC funding, foreign-based deals with US VC funding, and US based deals funded purely from domestic based VC funds, mainly to provide basis for comparison. Except for Figure 6 where we attempt to estimate actual cross-border flows, we generally calculate total volumes of funds invested in deals including funds from both foreign and domestic investors[9]. Since most deals include both domestic and foreign investors, these volumes are not necessarily good indicators of the level of cross-border investment flows into these deals but the variation in these flows is likely highly correlated with cross-border flows.2.1 Data set and data limitations\n3 Regression analysis: In the previous section we have documented the increase in cross-border VC flows and volumes, and the unique nature of cross-border deals (i.e. larger and involving more investors). The globalization of VC is clearly well underway and has potential to be an important source of funds for funding innovation and financial reengineering around the world. In this section of the paper we seek to measure what fundamental factors are associated with VC outflows, inflows, and better connections between countries (i.e. gravity variables).3.1 Regression specifications\n4 Conclusion: A crude simplification of the history of VC is that, in its origin, it was largely a US grown phenomena. It helped in facilitating the remarkable takeoff of the IT revolution, and has had the US as it is center. At this point, the VC industry has internationalized driven by a variety of forces.Countries which are more often VC deal destinations do not necessarily feature better institutional environments but have more developed stock markets which may facilitate IPO exits and have more widespread computer and cell phone deployment which may indicate better infrastructure where high-tech firms can flourish.We find that the countries which have more often been the sources of international deals have better institutional environments, more developed financial markets, high computer penetration, and more university graduates than countries which have lagged in generating deals. These features likely create a conducive environment for financial companies to form and raise capital thus facilitating the supply side of this market.We also find a positive relationship between military expenditures and VC deals, which is robust even when the US is the destination, implying that US military expenditures are not driving this result. This last result is consistent with the conjectures that public sector involvement stimulating the demand for IT services, and policies aimed at the formation of proper human capital may have a positive role in driving the development of the VC and IT sectors. Studying and testing these conjectures is left for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors which affect the market for international venture capital (VC) investments, relying on comprehensive deal-level data sources, covering three decades and about 100 countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A gravity analysis indicates that distance, common language, and colonial ties may have been significant factors in directing these flows.\nFindings: - The paper documents major shifts in the nature of international flows. The presence of high-end human capital, a better business environment, military expenditure, and deeper financial markets are important local factors that appear to attract international VC. There is some evidence indicating network effects and/or fixed costs of entry may be at work. France, Israel, Canada, India and China were consistent net importers of VC deals, with China emerging as the largest net importer of VC.\nOriginality/value: - The paper investigates the increasing internationalization of VC investments in recent years and assesses the factors which determine the destination of cross-border VC investment flows.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How consumers with disabilities perceive "welcome" in retail servicescapes: a critical incident study	[ "Disabled people", "Critical incident technique", "Consumer behaviour", "Perception", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers can be found at the end of this article.It is generally understood that when customers enter a retail servicescape, they immediately make judgments as to whether they belong or are welcome there. As they move through the servicescape, they have multiple points of contact that further communicate whether they are welcome or not. There is a lack of empirically based research that examines what those factors are that signal welcome, though some researchers have proposed what those factors might be. For example, in developing the concept of self-congruity, or the mental match between a customer's image and his/her image of the \"type\" of customer that is supposed to patronize a particular retail store, Sirgy et al. (2000, p. 128) indicate that \"type and quality of merchandise, prices, store ambiance, and so on\" are likely to have an impact on whether a person feels like he/she \"fits\" in the setting. However, no known previous research has verified inductively and empirically what the servicescape attributes are that signal welcoming. This research helps to fill that gap with a focus on one specific population: consumers with disabilities.\nBackground literature: Self-congruity and the retail servicescape\nMethod: The critical incident technique (CIT)\nResults: The 218 incidents were first analyzed to determine if informants were interpreting welcome in the same way it was defined for the study. The verbatims suggest that the informants understand the concept, which is revealed through their vivid descriptions of what welcome means to them. Consider the following discussion between an informant and interviewer about a welcoming experience:... I get treated like a normal customer ... Nobody stares or says anything about my leg. The customers are at the store to shop for what they want to shop for and I am there for what I want to shop for. And, if I need help finding something, I'll ask an employee and he/she will help me and be on their way. After I find what I'm looking for, I get in my car and go home.Interviewer: What specifically made you interpret this encounter as welcoming?It is just the fact that I hate when I can tell other people are looking at me, and I look up at them and they look away as if I didn't already see them. Don't get me wrong, I never say anything about it, but it just tweaks me a little when it happens over and over in a day. It just feels good when I walk into a store and I get treated like everyone else. I even like it sometimes if the employees are mean to me. At least I'd know they aren't trying to help me or be overly nice because I'm different (20, Caucasian female, prosthetic leg).This informant interpreted welcome to mean \"treated like everyone else\" and not \"different\". The feelings used to describe unwelcoming were sometimes vivid and poignant:Uncomfortable is not the word. I guess left out of the experience is a better way to describe it (48, Caucasian female, amputee).These informants, as well as the others, clearly understood the welcome concept as being accepted, normal, and expected in the environment and a participant in creating the experience.Next, the incidents were read to determine the factors informants use to ascertain welcoming/unwelcoming. After reading the incidents through several times, it became apparent there were many similarities in the reported welcoming/unwelcoming experiences. These similarities were grouped into four primary factors common to all incidents. Consumers were concerned about:1. the treatment they received from the service personnel;2. the physical environment of the store;3. other customers present in the retail setting; and4. the product and services assortment.Many informants attributed welcoming to more than one primary factor.The data further show there are unique issues related to customers' disabilities that influence perceptions of welcome/unwelcome. Disabilities or impairments become salient only after these \"triggering\" primary factors bring the condition to the forefront of the encounter. Therefore, the four primary factors required further division into those secondary factors that related to the consumer's disability and those that did not (as defined by the informants and expressed in his or her narrative). For example, a typical incident report would follow the chronology of the individual's experience. The consumer would enter the retail environment thinking of his/her needs for products and services, not focusing on his/her disability, unless something happened that caused the disability to become an issue. \"I entered the store to get a few things on sale\" was a typical report, but then something would happen that triggered feelings of welcome or unwelcome. \"The clerks wouldn't even look at me\" is an example of the service personnel factor coming to the forefront of this customer's experience. Whether or not this lack of service was related to the individual's disability can be determined only through the reported perceptions of the consumer. These attributions varied. Some individuals reported that they did not think the poor service was related to their condition because, for example \"everyone who came into the store was ignored\". Others attributed the treatment to the service personnel's \"lack of training regarding people with disabilities\", or something similar. These particular cases were then recorded as relating to either \"Service Personnel - Disability, No\" or \"Service Personnel - Disability, Yes\" accordingly (see Figure 1, which illustrates the decision process for classifying incidents).Factors that cue welcome/unwelcome\nDiscussion: Important linkages between servicescape signals and consumers' perceptions of welcome are demonstrated in this study. The paper began by asking the question, how do customers with disabilities determine if they are welcome or included in the servicescape? This study reveals that customers perceive welcome (or not) by evaluating signals in the servicescape that cue whether they belong. As congruity theory predicts (Sirgy et al., 2000), the shopper uses the servicescape characteristics to see if they match the expectations of the type of customers that are expected. The particular servicescape elements customers use to determine welcome are store personnel, the store environment, other customers, and the product/service assortment. Further, as the consumer response model predicts (Baker et al., 2001; Kaufman-Scarborough and Baker, 2005), the shoppers' interaction between the servicescape characteristics and their personal characteristics influence the assessment of the environment as enabling or disabling. That is, each servicescape element may interact (but not always) with a person's disability and the environment is read as either enabling or disabling.In qualitative research, it is the framework, not the findings, that is generalizable (Penaloza, 1994). The framework in this case is the servicescape elements consumers use to determine welcome and to assess the servicescape as enabling or disabling (i.e. meeting my personal needs or not). This framework suggests an extension to Bitner's (1992) servicescape conceptualization in that it specifies that the assessment of an environment as enabling or disabling is important for at least some customers in deciding whether they should stay, go, or return to a particular servicescape. The servicescape has not previously been considered as \"enabling or disabling\" and the specific servicescape factors that lead customers to that assessment has not been previously examined.Importantly, these results show that response to a disability is not automatically a primary factor in the consumer's perception of welcome/unwelcome. Rather, the consumer's disability only becomes important when there is some type of interaction between the disability and one of the primary servicescape factors that signal welcome. This interaction reveals that consumers with disabilities should be considered consumers first, and as possessing a disability only under those conditions where the interaction of the servicescape element(s) and the disability warrant special attention. For instance, in the servuction service model, Langeard et al. (1981) identified three of the four factors discussed here (inanimate environment, contact personnel, and other customers) as relevant to how all customers evaluate the benefits received in the service environment. Thus, the servuction service model lends further support to the finding that customers with disabilities should be treated as customers first. Further, it should be noted that there is tremendous variation between how different disability types interact with the factors in the servicescape. All people with disabilities are not the same and all people within different disability types are the same. That is, not all people with visual impairments are the same, nor are all people with mobility impairments the same. This suggests that disability type should not be the first variable used in segmenting customers into groups.When consumers with disabilities are unwelcome in the retail servicescape, they feel excluded from the mainstream and perhaps unable to have agency in decisions that affect their daily lives. These feelings of unwelcoming and exclusion for consumers, and even groups of consumers, may serve as barriers to fulfilling the inclusive intent of the ADA. If consumers with disabilities leave a retail servicescape feeling unwelcome or excluded, this experience can foster perceptions of discrimination on the basis of disability. Although there may be objective tests for discrimination, most consumers are influenced more by their own perceptions than by objective reports. In other words, if the consumer perceives that the unwelcome service encounter is related to his or her disability, then that perception is likely to have attitudinal and behavioral consequences, regardless of any objective evidence of such discrimination.Designing welcoming servicescapes\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to extend understanding of the cues that customers with disabilities use to judge inclusion/welcome (or not) in interactions in retail stores.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Critical incident interviews were conducted with 115 informants who provided rich descriptions of 113 welcoming incidents and 105 unwelcoming incidents. Interview transcripts were content analyzed to determine inductively the cues customers with disabilities use to perceive welcoming.\nFindings: - Four primary situational factors explain to what perceptions of welcome/inclusion are attributed: service personnel; store environmental factors; other customers; and product/service assortments. Further, a disability becomes salient only when there is an interaction between these situational factors and consumers' disabilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings suggest an extension to Bitner's servicescape conceptualization in that it specifies that the assessment of an environment as enabling or disabling is important for at least some customers in deciding whether they should stay, go, or return to a particular servicescape.\nPractical implications: - The results reveal that consumers with disabilities should be viewed as customers first, and only as possessing a disability in particular interactions in the customer-firm interface.\nOriginality/value: - This research presents the views of a set of customers who are under-represented in research samples. It discusses how not all people with disabilities are alike and begins to develop a deeper understanding of their behavior as consumers. The research is valuable for retail managers and service providers who need useful information for training employees, for designing servicescapes that are welcoming for consumers with disabilities, and for fulfilling the inclusive intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It will also be of interest to academics who are engaged in research that attempts to improve the quality of life for consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The romance of the follower: part 2	[ "Leadership", "Career development", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consider the CEO who is a successful leader but terrible follower: she will eventually run afoul of her Board of Directors or shareholders with predictable consequences. Or consider the middle manager who follows well but cannot lead: he may appear valuable to his boss as long as he can oversee every part of his staff's work, but this is unsustainable, bad for staff development, and reduces overall effectiveness. Creative, successful organizations depend on a confluence of excellence in leadership and followership - since most people are both, most could benefit from training in both (see Figure 1).Followership is an equal partner in the value-creating dance. Indeed dancing is an apt analogy. Imagine for a moment watching a couple burn up the dance floor doing a hot South American tango. It can be a breathtaking flow of harmony and quick steps, where each dancer plays a specific part to make the whole work - one of them leads and the other follows. If you have ever taken dance lessons then you know it takes time, dedication, and effort to learn to lead or follow effectively. Unless both partners are proficient at their respective roles the final result is diminished. Having a strong leader push his partner around the floor is barely dancing. Having a strong follower pull her leader around is, at best, mediocre. Only the combination of technical mastery of the steps with good leader/follower partnership skills creates a winning combination.To summarize, here are the key points from the previous paper and this one:1. Leadership and followership are separate and independent roles.2. Most people do both.3. Followership is critical to organizational and personal effectiveness.Because of this, individuals should make it a personal priority to further develop their own leadership and followership competencies; managers should be able to coach followership within their teams; HR departments should provide resources to support it; and organizations should make followership an area of emphasis. We believe this positive view of followership is important enough to require rebranding and, to that end, we prefer to use the term \"followship\" instead of \"followership\" to represent effective followers. Followers are not sheep, they are not passive recipients of a leader's directives, and they are definitely not a personality type as has sometimes been suggested (i.e. the ludicrous claim that someone is a follower because they want to follow - following is a role not an attitude). Rather, followers are active partners in a relationship, and whose followship skills are critical to achieving the group's goals.The challenge, however, is knowing what followship entails. For example, followship skills and behaviours are often conflated with those of leadership. Consider the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research project, the largest and most comprehensive world-wide study on leadership ever undertaken (House et al., 2004, Chapter 8; see also the online reference under GLOBE Survey Instruments, n.d.). It was a collaboration of almost 200 social scientists spanning 62 cultures during a ten-year period - over 17,000 middle managers were surveyed and the results were then analyzed to see how beliefs about leadership varied across countries, cultures, and socio-demographic factors. In one part of the survey (the full survey consisted of 753 items) middle managers were asked to rate characteristics or behaviours relevant to outstanding leadership on a scale from 1-7; a score of 1 meant the characteristic greatly inhibited the person from being an outstanding leader, while a score of 7 meant it greatly contributed to being an outstanding leader. Table I contains some of the characteristics measured in the GLOBE survey but without the descriptives given in the original.Using the same scale of 1-7, fill in the first column, \"Score L\", of Table I. Note: items with an asterisk were not part of the GLOBE survey but score these items the same way.Once you are finished, cover up the left-hand column and picture a really strong follower, perhaps one of your staff or a peer who was recently promoted. Thinking about the attributes that make them a strong follower, put a score in the last column, \"Score F\", where 1 means it greatly inhibits being a follower, and a 7 means it greatly contributes to being an outstanding follower.Now compare the leftmost and rightmost columns. Which attributes received the same scores? Did any differ by two or more? If you are like most people who have taken this abbreviated survey, some attributes will receive the same score but not others. Also, if you share the survey with a colleague, we expect it will generate some interesting debates over the differences. Partly this is because each attribute can be interpreted contextually: Is being able to inspire subordinates the same skill as being able to inspire a leader? Partly it could be due to cultural differences as is discussed extensively in the analysis of the GLOBE data. The main reason, however, is because many of these characteristics are not specific to leaders or to followers. Effective leadership and followship both require a high degree of \"intelligence\", \"enthusiasm\", and \"creativity\" while others, such as \"inspirational\", are clearly more relevant to one role over the other. This overlap explains some of the confusion between followship and leadership; they are different, but good employees regardless of role have many shared attributes. The role-specific attributes explain why leadership training is insufficient for building strong followship skills.We have found that the set of role-specific attributes of a follower can be organized into two core competencies: \"personal manageability\" and \"leader support\". We will describe these two competencies shortly and then show how other followship models fit into this framework. In our third and final paper, we will describe how to use this framework in improving organizational effectiveness, employee morale, and personnel development.\n2. Core competencies: \"Personal manageability\" is about behaviours which are effective with any leader in any organization. When the situation is new - a management change, job move, or merger and acquisition (M&A) - these behaviours do not change. The simplest way to visualize personal manageability is to consider what would still need to be done and how it would be done if there were no leaders. Such behaviours include always fully encompassing the accountabilities of the job; never undermining decisions made by someone else (especially those of your leader); staying positive about the job, peers and the company; and providing solid decision support and then supporting decisions once they are made.\"Leader support\" is about adapting to the leader, the department, the organization, and the culture. This is done through understanding, promoting, and being passionate about the same goals; championing the organization and its culture; supporting the broader objectives that are external to your role; thinking outside the box while thinking inside the leader's box (often what is meant by being strategic); and by working hard to appreciate and align to the leader's style. Whenever a situation changes the follower must rethink leader support behaviours while retaining personal manageability ones.Tables II and III provide an outline of some of the core aspects of each competency. In reviewing the list notice how the \"definition and examples\" of each are specific to following, and independent of leading. For example, communication is a general skill but here we only highlight aspects such as the dictum of \"no surprises\", which is specifically relevant to upwards communication by followers.\n3. Integrating other models: In the first paper we discussed trait-based and attribute-based models of followship. The main trait-based models were: engagement (Kellerman, 2007; Kelley, 1992), courage (Chaleff, 1995), independent thinking (Kelley, 1992), dominance and activity levels (Zaleznik, 1965), and relationship and performance initiatives (Potter et al., 1996). Although these traits are not specific to followship, it is easy to see how each can be made follower-specific and incorporated into one or both of the two core competencies.Specific attributes of good followers by earlier authors are listed in the first paper in this series. We now categorize these behaviours as personal manageability, leader support, or relevant to being a good employee regardless of the role (leader, follower, team member).1. Personal manageability* develops themselves;* drives own growth;* believes in the importance of being a good follower;* values their own independence;* a balancing act - follows while offering up ideas, self-motivated and self-directed;* does not blame the boss; supports and does not undermine;* accepts responsibility (when given it);* does homework; gives boss the information to make a decision; anticipates questions;* tells the truth and does not quibble; your boss will be giving advice up the chain of command based on what you said;* when making a recommendation, remembers who will probably have to implement it. This means you must know your own limitations and weaknesses as well as your strengths;* keeps your boss informed of what is going on;* makes a decision and runs it past the boss;* complies with orders and initiates appropriate actions in the absence of orders;* develops a sense of responsibility and takes responsibility for own actions;* keeps leader informed;* understands the task and ethically accomplishes it;* displays loyalty.1. Leader support:* develops leaders;* anticipates (leader's needs);* is a player for all seasons;* looks beyond themselves;* is familiar with their leader and his job, and anticipates his requirements;* team member, not a yes man.1. Good employee:* gets involved;* generates ideas;* willing to collaborate;* fights in private and keeps it private;* stays current;* if a problem is seen, fixes it;* puts in more than an honest day's work, but does not forget their family;* is technically and tactically proficient;* sets the example for others;* considers integrity of paramount importance;* functions well in change-oriented environments;* functions well on teams;* makes sound and timely decisions and recommendations;* thinks independently and critically.The above items were compiled from Bossidy (2007), Thody (2000), Meilinger (2001), Infantry magazine (as quoted in Townsend, 2002), and Latour and Rast (2004).It is interesting to note how few elements fit in the leader support category. We believe that that there are just as many attributes associated with leader support but that it has received little attention. Partly this is because followers are often thought of as junior employees; people do not usually use senior leaders - in the executive suite or just below - as models when they generate followship attributes. This is unfortunate as these top talents are often the best followers. With this cohort in mind, it is easy to create a much larger and more robust list of attributes including adapting and quickly aligning to a new leader, being very aware of the goals of the leader, or adapting to a culture change that more experienced staff tend to be good at.\n4. Conclusion: As Coyne and Coyne (2007) point out in their HBR article, \"Surviving your new CEO\", what a new leader looks for in their direct reports are behaviours that have little to do with traditional performance measures such as technical proficiency or leadership. Their advice is distilled into seven messages: show your goodwill, leave your baggage at the door, study the CEO's working style, understand the CEO's agenda, present a realistic and honest game plan, be on your \"A\" game, and offer objective options. This is generally sound advice but it is by no means comprehensive. As an alternative, we have presented a structured model based on two core competencies - personal manageability and leader support - that add substance to, and organize, such lists.In the final article we will show how this competency framework can be used to diagnose specific workplace issues both for individual employees and at the organizational level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to progress beyond Part 1, in which the research on followership was surveyed, showing it has significant practical importance in enhancing career and organizational value. Part 2 aims to present a comprehensive framework to understand followership and clarify how and where followership is different (and the same) as leadership. It seeks to show how previous research fits into this new framework, as well as highlighting gaps and opportunities. Part 3 aims to present examples of how this model can used as a training tool, in mentoring, for performance appraisals, and for designing HR solutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents a new framework for followership, articulates its features, and puts it into the context of previous ideas about followership.\nFindings: - There are real and important differences between leadership and followership. Some attributes and characteristics are unique to good followers while others, such as intelligence are generally applicable to all employees. Finally, followership can be understood as two separate competencies: leader support and personal manageability, which refer to situation-specific and generic followership behaviours respectively.\nPractical implications: - The three articles are of particular interest to senior executives and HR departments.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents a new way of understanding followership, and of putting it into perspective with leadership. As such, the three articles are of particular interest to senior executives and HR departments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring situationally inappropriate social media posts: An impression management perspective	[ "Organizational change", "Behaviour", "Interpretivist research", "Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recent industry reports suggest that organizations are increasingly sophisticated in their use of social media technologies (Kane et al., 2014). Organizations adopting social media anticipate a number of strategic benefits (Kane et al., 2014; Leonardi et al., 2013) and it has become common practice to use social media to communicate a favourable impression of a firm's operations to external audiences (Kane et al., 2014; KPMG International, 2011). In order to create the right impression increasing efforts and resources are being devoted to ensure that messages, commonly referred to as posts, are carefully constructed and communicated. Many organizations now assign social media-specific roles to individuals. For example, Goldman Sachs (\nImpression management: The notion of impression management refers to the efforts made by individuals to control information in order to influence the impressions formed about them in the minds of others (Goffman, 1959; Schlenker and Wowra, 2003; Giacalone and Rosenfeld, 1990). The sociological and organizational literature has paid much attention to impression management during face-to-face interactions, where individuals collude to maintain a version of social reality amongst their work peers and the general public (Westphal et al., 2012; Hunter-McDonnell and King, 2013; Raghuram, 2013). Erving Goffman's (1959) seminal text, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, describes these commonplace organizational interactions using a dramaturgical metaphor. In this analogy individuals are compared to actors who arrange themselves into troupes to present a particular, pre-agreed version of reality, while concealing any evidence that might contradict the official construction (Raghuram, 2013; Hunter-McDonnell and King, 2013).\nMethods: In light of our aim to explore the triggers of contextually inappropriate posts to social media platforms, our research strategy was built on gathering accounts of the lived experiences of informants who could elucidate the situations in which their own inappropriate posts were made. Our approach was guided by an interpretivist philosophy (Walsham, 1993) assuming a subjective world-view in which social reality is constructed through human action and interaction (Ravishankar, 2013). Given the emergent state of research on social media in organizational contexts we employed a qualitative methodology to gather empirical insights informed by social media practice.\nAnalysis: Despite their best efforts our informants reported that they were not always successful at fostering favourable impressions on social media. Permeating our data were many accounts of inappropriate postings and subsequent embarrassments. While some of these incidents involved key individuals saying the wrong thing on the company's business account others revolved around the reputational damage caused to the business by employees' indiscretions on their personal accounts. Our analysis highlighted four key triggers of inappropriate social media posts. Our data will now be presented in relation to each of the situational triggers.\nDiscussion: Our findings show how four triggers associated with social media use can lead to contextually inappropriate posts. Social media complicate normal encounters in impression management by being \"situation-like\" (Goffman, 1979; Rettie, 2009). Goffman (1979) refers to technologically enabled encounters in this way because they do not provide all the information and cues available in typical, face-to-face situations and encounters. Where a rich set of cues are available it is possible to sense the type of performance to give (i.e. whether a front or back-stage style is appropriate). During social media encounters (at least on the platforms currently available in the market) it is not possible to observe physical cues (such as facial expression, tone of voice or temporal setting) that might enable users to select a more appropriate style of performance when making posts. In the absence of a rich array of social cues, individuals seem less able to select an appropriate script to follow for their social media performances. Some platform providers attempt to supplement the user experience by introducing alternative tools, such as emoticons, which enable individuals to make the emotions they are experiencing more explicit in their posts (Tchokni et al., 2014). However, these do not give users the same subtlety of expression and audiences still may not understand how to interpret the posts they read (e.g. it may not be clear whether a smiley face has been used ironically). Platform providers have made attempts to address some of the other challenging aspects of social media use, such as the difficulties of communicating with one's social network simultaneously (by providing features allowing users to segment their contact lists) or the interruption caused by the expectation that posts will be responded to quickly (by providing the ability to automate posts). Despite these efforts, continuing reports of slip-ups suggest that the fundamental problems faced by those incorporating social media in to their organizations may not have been fully resolved.\nConclusion: The aim of this paper was to explore the triggers of inappropriate social media posts that impact organizations. Goffman's (1959) notion of impression management helped us highlight key aspects of face-to-face communication and contrast it with typical social media encounters. Our findings highlighted four key triggers of contextually inappropriate posts made to social media accounts. We also extended Goffman's assertion that technologically enabled interactions are \"situation-like\" by connecting it with the concept of sociomateriality, which provides a more nuanced understanding of why the four triggers complicate impression management on social media. We advocate the view that social media and its related phenomenon be treated as sociomaterial constructions, a position which enables social media scholars to more clearly articulate the fundamental nature of a social media encounter. Our study demonstrates the ways in which social media can have an impact on individuals enacting their professional roles and thereby have consequences on the organization. By understanding and managing the four triggers of inappropriate behaviour teams posting to social media have a better chance of presenting a consistently favourable impression in a society that is increasingly interacting online.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social media technologies are used by many organizations to project a positive image of their strategies and operations. At the same time, however, there are an increasing number of reports of slip-ups linked to poor situational awareness and flawed self-presentations on social media platforms. The purpose of this paper is to explore the triggers of inappropriate social media posts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected during a qualitative study of social media use in 31 organizations in the UK and interpreted using concepts from Erving Goffman's theory of impression management.\nFindings: The findings point to a series of demanding triggers, which increase the likelihood of insensitive and contextually inappropriate posts and also damage fostered impressions.\nOriginality/value: The authors identify four triggers linked to inappropriate social media posts, namely: speed and spontaneity; informality; blurred boundaries; and the missing audience. The authors also discuss how extending the notion of what Goffman refers to as \"situation-like\" encounters provides useful insights into impression management on social media.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers and technology in a changing world: the perspective from subsistence marketplaces	[ "Base of the pyramid", "Technology adoption", "Low-income consumers", "Subsistence marketplaces", "Technology development", "Bottom-up innovation", "Low-literate consumers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: We are honored to be invited to write an article for this timely special issue examining consumers and technology in a changing world across the economic spectrum (Lowe et al., 2018). This changing world is also reflected in contexts of low income that we term subsistence marketplaces. Indeed, in one sense, such contexts represent a throwback to yesteryears when compared to today's advanced settings. But in another sense, they are not; they represent the old and the new primarily because of technology, particularly information and communications technology, acting as a bridge between the old and the new in these settings.\nInsights from subsistence marketplaces: In this section, we describe our understanding of low-income contexts from the vantage point of a bottom-up approach. This section is organized into a brief overview of the defining characteristics of poverty, micro-level insights ranging from the cognitive to the affective, behavioral and social and our own experience with technology in the course of designing and delivering social and educational innovations.\nLessons for design and development of technological solutions: The subsistence marketplaces approach has a number of insights to offer on designing and developing products (Viswanathan and Sridharan, 2012; Viswanathan, 2016). This begins with understanding the need. Given the unfamiliarity of designers, engineers and managers with such settings, understanding the need or the consumer in isolation is not adequate. The underlying drivers and the larger context elements need to be understood as well. What are the proximate causes that make a need so stark? What are the elements of the larger setting or context in which the need occurs? By doing so, the need or problem is understood at a deeper level. Similarly, it is important to understand not only the customer but the community and the larger context (Figure 1).\nA case study of improved cookstove technology: Cookstoves have found their place in consumers' homes, in various forms, since the beginning of civilization. More than three billion households, mostly in subsistence settings, continue to cook their daily meal in primitive stoves made of clay using solid biomass fuels such as wood and dung cakes (Langbein, 2017). The use of solid biomass fuels in traditional cookstoves has serious negative health consequences due to the resultant indoor air pollution (Martin et al., 2011). Access to modern fuels and the cost of modern cooking technology are two major limiting factors in adoption of cleaner cookstoves (Rehfuess et al., 2014). To overcome these limitations, various improved cookstove technologies have been developed that use solid biomass fuels readily available to households, but are more efficient and less polluting than traditional cookstoves. However, the success of such improved cooking technologies has been mixed (Khandelwal et al., 2017; Mobarak et al., 2012), with multiple barriers to technology adoption suggested as reasons for failure. The second author was involved in the design and implementation of an improved cookstove technology in India and East Africa, that reached several thousand households over a period of five years (Sreekumar, 2015; GACC, 2013). We summarize the micro-level elements (cognitive, affective, behavioral) that impact the perception and adoption of cookstoves, and the meso-level factors (social, cultural, marketplace) that enable or impede technology adoption. We then describe the bottom-up aspects of our approach to enhance technology adoption.\nTechnological innovation from subsistence marketplaces: Reverse innovation is an arena of technology - referring to innovations flowing from developing to advanced economies (Govindarajan and Trimble, 2012). Reverse innovation refers to how innovations in developing contexts can be translated to advanced economies, describing an opposite direction to traditional flow of innovation. Creating innovations for subsistence marketplaces can, in turn, lead to innovations from subsistence marketplaces for advanced economies (Govindarajan and Trimble, 2012; see also Ray and Ray, 2011).\nDiscussion: Summary\nConclusion: At a broader level, we note that technology is not a magic bullet. Technology has the potential to include and to exclude. Like everything else, it comes down to how technology is used. We emphasize the importance of understanding marketplaces and designing and implementing technological solutions based on bottom-up insights. Such an approach enables technology to blend into culture and the social milieu. This means using technology to address central needs, in a way that can be easily shown and used, and to enable people to amplify their connections. Thus, technology can provide the what or the medium in a way that facilitates and enables the how and the why, the latter two arising from traditions, norms and human values that have endured over the centuries. Indeed, technology too is a double-edged sword just as we have noted elsewhere that social connections in subsistence marketplaces can be double-edged swords. It comes down to how we take forward our ideas into technological solutions in ways to empower rather than inhibit or suppress.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on consumers and technology in a changing world using insights gained from subsistence marketplaces. Consumers in a changing world are on different parts of the economic spectrum and are also reflected in contexts of poverty that is termed subsistence marketplaces. \"Data\" comes from pioneering the subsistence marketplaces stream of research, education and social enterprise.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors study the intersection of poverty and marketplaces, beginning at the micro-level, and take a bottom-up approach to deriving implications.\nFindings: The authors cover both aspects - what micro-level insights about thinking, feeling and coping mean for technology perceptions and usage in general and what specific insights are derived for designing and implementing solutions that have bearing on the use of technology. In the course of all endeavors in research, education and social enterprise, technology, particularly information and communications technology, has been central.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors discuss implications for research at the confluence of a variety of uncertainties inherent in the context of subsistence marketplaces, in environmental issues and climate change and in the nature and speed of technological change and progress.\nPractical implications: In this paper, the authors discuss what subsistence marketplaces mean for consumers and technology in a changing world, lessons learned for the design and development of technological solutions, technological innovation from subsistence marketplaces and a broader discussion of the importance of bottom-up approaches to the intersection of subsistence marketplaces and technological solutions.\nOriginality/value: The authors use insights developed from pioneering the arena of subsistence marketplaces and creating synergies between research, education and social enterprise.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relational governance in B2B electronic marketplaces: an updated typology	[ "Electronic commerce", "Business‐to‐business marketing", "Governance" ]	[ { "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.\nElectronic marketplaces: typology and functions: \"An e-marketplace allows a supplier [to] provide goods and services to [a] customer[s] in a transaction partially or fully automated by information technology\" (Bailey and Bakos, 1997) and shares the three basic characteristics of any traditional marketplace:1. bringing buyers and suppliers together;2. facilitating transaction logistics and settlement; and3. providing an institutional infrastructure by way of regulations and laws (Bakos, 1998).Starting with the basic functions that traditional \"offline\" intermediaries perform, i.e. matching buyers and suppliers, e-marketplaces can offer a range of advanced services online, from auctions, contract management, providing industry information to sophisticated logistic solutions by closely integrating the activities of buyers and suppliers.E-marketplaces lend themselves to various, and sometimes overlapping, classifications according to the level of industry specialization, type of ownership, openness of participation, and type of functions performed. Past classifications distinguish between vertical e-marketplaces (e.g. Covisint in the automotive sector or Elemica in the chemical sector) that bring together sellers and buyers within the same industry, and horizontal e-marketplaces, matching sellers of general goods, such as office equipment or maintenance and repair products, with buyers in a wide variety of industries (Grieger, 2004; Son and Benbasat, 2007; Wang and Archer, 2007). From an ownership perspective, e-marketplaces can be owned by a group of buyers (as Covisint was initially formed) or sellers (Elemica) or by a third party (Grieger, 2004). E-marketplaces are public (e.g. Alibaba.com, a global import-export marketplace) if they allow open participation from a variety of businesses, or private if they allow only selected businesses to participate in the exchange (e.g. GEPlastics, Chemconnect) (Stockdale and Standing, 2002; Grieger, 2004). Functional differentiation of e-marketplaces range from assorters or aggregators (e.g. Globalsources.com) to yield managers and consortia (e.g. Covisint and Elemica) (Phillips and Meeker, 2000; Kaplan and Sawhney, 2000). Yet another taxonomic attempt based on level of transaction automation and its impact on marketing activities proposed four categories:1. channel enabler;2. commerce hub;3. dynamic marketplace; and4. community portal (Piccinelli et al., 2001).Not surprisingly, developments in this dynamic industrial arena over the past few years have rendered many of these initial classifications and electronic marketplace types obsolete. Presently, the industry landscape is dominated by three types of players:1. independent exchanges;2. consortia; and3. private exchanges.These three e-marketplace archetypes have developed sequentially, with independent exchanges emerging in the late 1990s, followed by industry consortia in 2000, and private exchanges in 2001 (Accenture, 2003). In the ecology of B2B e-markets these various forms are not incompatible with one another. Indeed, one firm can operate in all three categories simultaneously, developing a complex network of relationships to serve its various needs by taking a portfolio approach to e-market participation (Haapaniemi, 2001a). In the following sections, we analyze each of the contemporary types of e-marketplaces, first from a functional perspective and later from a relationship governance perspective.Independent exchanges\nThe relational continuum: three types of relational governance: The analysis offered so far focuses primarily on the functional characteristics of each of the three types of e-marketplaces. While many researchers focus on applying web-enhanced technology to streamline the operational side of initiating and completing exchanges (see, for example, Lancioni et al. 2003), this functional perspective represents only a part of the e-marketplace activities. E-marketplaces must apply technology to address both types of exchange activities: the functional or operational tasks involved in trading, and the governance or control tasks of assuring that trading commitments are fulfilled.Clearly, e-marketplaces have the potential to improve the functional aspects of the exchange: the speed and efficiency of processing orders, the acts of billing, approving credit, or transporting and other exchange activities of its trading members. However, web-based technologies and software automation procedures can also greatly streamline and reduce the cost of governing exchange transactions. For example, an e-marketplace should also provide an institutional infrastructure to the exchange process by way of regulatory actions rendered in the form of partner selection, monitoring, and enforcement of trading agreements. As an intermediary that exists to facilitate exchanges, the very existence of any e-marketplace rests on smooth functioning via good governance. A trading institution can be a marketplace only when it undertakes both, the functional as well as governance activities. The following section explains the theoretical underpinnings of the relational governance structures.Relational governance - a theoretical evolution\nManagerial implications and future research: The present paper proposes relational exchange theory for the study of governance processes in e-marketplaces as an alternative to transaction cost theory (Williamson, 1975) and the resource dependency approach (Rasheed and Geiger, 2001). Akin to the previous two approaches, relational exchange theory has the advantage of a fully developed body of knowledge in which the research field of e-marketplaces can be grounded. It also offers a rich potential for cross-fertilization, in terms of theoretical insights, empirical results, and practical prescriptions.The three types of e-marketplaces discussed in this paper represent archetypes. E-marketplaces are a dynamic concept and continue to evolve into different forms with advancing technology and the demarcations that we have suggested between the three types may not always be clear. Although this study was based on a research of tens of websites, it is a conceptual study and data about the evolution and growth of these e-marketplaces would enhance its value to managers. An empirical study of these e-marketplaces could shed additional light on the specific capabilities of each and enable a more specific classification.Nevertheless, considering the tremendous impact that the 2001 recession had on the B2B e-marketplace landscape, it becomes imperative to better understand the effects of the industry environment on the firm's relative reliance on the three e-marketplace archetypes. The network of relationships between firms is changing all the time as a result of dynamic industry conditions. Furthermore, the form of these electronic marketplaces is constantly changing (Skjott-Larsen et al., 2003) with rising global trade. Environmental uncertainty affects both, the functional and relational sides of transactions. From a functional perspective, environmental uncertainty will impact the magnitude of economies of scale and economies of scope effects (Thompson and Formby, 1993). From a relational perspective, since bounded rationality makes it difficult for parties to foresee all possible circumstances to be included in the contract, an uncertain environment, such as a fast developing global trade environment makes, opens the door to opportunistic tendencies of the trading partner (Klein et al., 1990).A highly uncertain industry environment, characterized by partner diversity and technological change (Dess and Beard, 1984; Sharfman and Dean, 1991), has the potential to weaken the relationships between partners and to favor increased transactions on independent exchanges. For instance, the emergence of new trading partners in the newly industrializing economies, such as those of China, Russia, and India, requires an adjustment of trading practices and a slower development of relationships due to cultural differences, which could require a shift from trading in consortia to independent exchanges. On the other hand, a stable environment, characterized by abundant demand and a homogeneous set of industry players, might facilitate long-term planning horizons and establishment of close relationships among partners, which implies increased growth of private exchanges.Consequently, the focal firm's relative reliance on one or another of the e-marketplace types will change accordingly, in terms of share of trading, volume of transaction, or strategic emphasis. For these reasons, both practitioners and scholars predicted that firms will likely adopt not just one type, but several types of e-marketplaces (Haapaniemi, 2001a; Holland and Lockett, 1993). Son and Benbasat (2007, p. 58) maintain that when firms adopt e-marketplaces with legitimacy motives, i.e. based on \"social norms and institutional expectations\", they do not become active participants in the marketplace unless they realize transaction cost efficiencies. Therefore, we summarize our findings by proposing factors that companies should take into account in considering adoption of electronic marketplaces for trading.Both practitioners and scholars predict that firms will likely adopt not just one type but several types of e-marketplace (Haapaniemi, 2001a; Holland and Lockett, 1993). In the process of adopting technology and moving their existing relationships online, companies should not overlook the need to match the type of relationships supported by a particular type of e-marketplace with the current state of their own relationships. While any of these forms of e-marketplaces can facilitate to mere trading of commodity products or maintenance, repair, and operations services (MRO), it is the trading of non-commodity and specialty products and the relational aspects of trade that require careful consideration in selection of compatible e-marketplaces.For those firms intending to adopt an e-marketplace to achieve savings in transaction costs, it might serve well to analyze the possible savings offered by various types of e-marketplace before selecting the most suitable one. If the objective of joining an e-marketplace is merely to realize some savings in costs by expeditiously locating buyers or sellers, one of the more basic marketplaces will serve the purpose. An example of a marketplace that appears to be serving this objective well is Alibaba.com, which has become the largest B2B electronic marketplace by virtue of providing a vast directory of buyers and suppliers, enabling expeditious matching (Son and Benbasat, 2007).While some researchers hold that the e-marketplace environment is not conducive to trust and commitment (Wang and Archer, 2007), we argue that more substantial and long-term savings may be realized only by associating with a consortium or a private exchange, which go beyond the matching function to provide a platform that can facilitate trust and commitment and also provide advanced governance functions. Trust and commitment develop as a result of information exchange and the relationship goes beyond achieving supply chain efficiencies to collaboration on, for instance, planning, forecasting, and design (Grieger, 2003).On the other hand, engaging in close relationships with preferred trading partners on a private exchange is not free from drawbacks. Increased interaction with similar players over time leads to the creation of network cliques - densely connected subgroups of firms with strong reciprocal ties (Brass et al., 1998). A firm over-embedded in a clique is removed from interaction with other groups and might miss important industry developments and opportunities to learn. Sometimes functional and governance objectives might be at odds. For example, a consortium might want to grow by attracting as many small and medium enterprises as possible. However, too large a number of players would inhibit the reputation mechanisms by making monitoring difficult and cluttering communication channels.In sum, our analysis advocates a portfolio approach, with firms transacting on multiple types of e-marketplaces based on the varying strengths of their connections with different industry partners. This portfolio approach to e-marketplace adoption also implies a new type of segmentation, based on the place that the trading partner occupies on the relational continuum.In terms of future research, in addition to the questions the above discussion raises, it is necessary to examine the exact nature of the transaction cost savings that e-marketplaces have the capability to generate. Are the savings likely to be more in certain types of industries as compared to others? What characteristics of companies induce them to adopt this new technology? These are just some of the questions that could generate interesting future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to apply the relational exchange framework, updated by insights on interimistic relationships, to analyze governance implications for the three types of e-marketplaces currently in operation: independent exchanges, consortia, and private exchanges. These three archetypes are analyzed from a functional perspective and, more importantly, from a relationship governance perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is conceptual in approach.\nFindings: - The three e-marketplace archetypes currently in existence correspond to different levels of operational integration and, in turn, to three different types of inter-firm relationships. Moreover, the three types of relational structures proposed offer different solutions for governance processes such as partner qualification, monitoring, and enforcement.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The network of relationships between firms is changing all the time as a result of dynamic industry conditions. The relational continuum proposed can explain the focal firm's shifting reliance on one or another of the e-marketplace types as a result of industry volatility.\nPractical implications: - The analysis advocates a portfolio approach to e-marketplace adoption, based on the varying strengths of their connections with different industry partners. This approach also implies a new type of segmentation, based on the place that the trading partner occupies on the relational continuum.\nOriginality/value: - When analyzing e-marketplaces, a focus on technology and functional parameters alone misses an essential aspect: when choosing among various e-marketplace formats currently in operation, firms cannot overlook the inter-firm relationships that characterize these marketplaces and give them their identity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation of strategic green orientation in supply chain: An empirical study of manufacturing firms	[ "Product development", "Supply chain management", "Firms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With increasing environmental regulations firms are expected to fulfill socially responsible business practices (Cetindamar, 2001; Pilkington and Dyerson, 2006). Producing environmentally sound products (ESP) and servicing them to the final customers demand effective coordination throughout the supply chain. In an effort to address supply chain activities centered on environmental awareness, there has been a research stream, green supply chain management, which conceptualizes commitment on environment initiatives (Cheng et al., 2008; Robinson and Wilcox, 2008). Green supply chain management is to enhance firms' environmental performance through inter-organizational collaboration with business partners and increase efficiency by cost saving programs and proactive risk management practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Rao and Holt, 2005; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007).Such high level of internal and external collaborations expects that firms take strategic approach. Strategic green orientation (SGO) is also innovation-driven. SGO requires inter-organizational innovation initiatives that intend to ensure complex performance outcomes through effective product design, supply chain integration and business processes. In response of the end-of-life vehicle directives global firms engage in major inter-organizational innovation initiatives to enhance their environmental performance and revamp their production and delivery processes (Funazaki et al., 2003; Castell et al., 2004). Such an increasing level of environmental requirements impacts the nature of collaborative efforts from suppliers and distributors. Global manufacturers conduct more open R&D in collaboration with the broad external innovation eco-system, reinvent their production process and reorganize supply chain structures for the implementation of product lifecycle management (Chesbrough, 2003; Krikke et al., 2004; Seitz and Peattie, 2004; Adner, 2006; Gerrard and Kandlikar, 2007; Bordoloi and Guerrero, 2008; Tang and Qian, 2008).Although such needs of SGO have been mentioned, little research attention has been paid to constructing a research model that defines the complex relationships of business practices and validates it through empirical data in the context of green supply chain. This paper fills this research need by:1. presenting a research model that defines relevant constructs and their inter-relationships;2. empirically validating the hypotheses that describe the complex relationships; and3. discussing theoretical and managerial implications.This paper examines the following research questions:RQ1. Does competitive market environment impact the way firms commit to SGO?RQ2. What are the critical business practices that SGO builds on?RQ3. What are the meaningful performance outcomes that are impacted by SGO and related business practices?\nThe research model: A model of the SGO and its impact, through its direct and indirect impacts (via integrated product development (IPD) and supply chain coordination (SCC)) on green performance outcomes (GPO) and business unit performance (BUP) is depicted in Figure 1. The definitions of each variable and the relevant literature base are depicted in Table I.Competitive market environment (CME)\nHypothesis development: Any serious organizational initiatives require strategic commitment, which makes the integration of diverse business processes and manufacturing practices possible in the context of rapidly changing competitive market environment (Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2001; Ketchen et al., 2008). Effective responses of firms to the changing market reality are strategic in that the entire organization is involved beyond the short period of time. In this sense, green orientation naturally expects strategic commitment that clarifies order winner conditions for environmentally sound products, designs environmental programs, and implements improvement goals for desirable environmental performance outcomes (Ackerman, 1975; Aldas-Manzano et al., 2005; Hervani et al., 2005; Ketchen et al., 2008; Seuring and Muller, 2008a).Therefore:H1. The more intense the competitive environment is, the more the firms are committed to strategic green orientation (SGO).Increasingly, firms are competing on more than low costs. In the past, firms competed based on their cost, quality and product innovativeness (Trueman, 1998; Beal and Lockamy, 1999; Denton, 1999; Shepherd and Ahmed, 2000). However, the competitive landscape is changing in relation to environmental requirements. Outstanding firms are committed to green orientation to produce environmentally sound products. Firms that are less committed to green orientation do pay enormous costs for their environmental disasters (Rao and Holt, 2005; Linton et al., 2007; Zhu et al., 2007). Environmentally sound products (ESP) require diverse perspectives of cross-functional teams and suppliers in translating complex customer requirements through product design. Cross-functional teams conduct front-end planning practices for effective product concept, define clarity of project targets, and integrate engineering and manufacturing (Gonzalez et al., 2003; Hong et al., 2005).Therefore:H2a. The greater the strategic green orientation (SGO), the more the firms engage in integrated product development (IPD).Creation, delivery and disposal of green products include cross-functional efforts within a firm, its suppliers and successful coordination of entire supply chains including distribution and recycling efforts. Since final products include component parts from multiple tiers of suppliers, ESP is possible through the collaborative involvement of suppliers in the areas of designs of product component parts. Strategic green orientation (SGO) requires effective coordination of all levels of suppliers and manufacturing processes. Therefore, commitment for green products involves supply chain coordination (SCC) (Helper and Sako, 1995; Humphreys et al., 2005, Albino et al., 2009).Therefore:H2b. The greater the strategic green orientation (SGO), the more the firms engage in supply chain coordination (SCC).SGO is more than strategic intent or mere planning of the future actions. Rather, in this paper we define green orientation as the integrative commitment of past program records, present program implementation and future initiatives and program plans. Such commitment over a time period is based on the actual results of performance outcomes. Firms that commit their long-term green orientation therefore have top management support and actual program implementation. Thus, firms with such strategic commitment generally expect sound and measureable green outcomes.Therefore:H2c. The greater the strategic green orientation (SGO), the more the firms produce green performance outcomes (GPO).Firms that implement IPD (firm-specific internal practices) take active steps for supplier coordination (intra-firm external practices) (Birou and Fawcett, 1994; Ellram et al., 2007). IPD operates through the active involvement of suppliers for effective integration of component parts into their final products. In such high level of inter-organizational interactions, supplier coordinations naturally occur in greater extent (Rosenzweig et al., 2003; Rungtusanatham and Forza, 2004). Since IPD involves cross-functional teams (design, process and manufacturing) across organizational boundaries, these cross-functional work experiences naturally promote the broad level of SCC as well (Fawcett and Myers, 2001; Koufteros et al., 2007).Therefore:H3. Firms with a high level of integrated product development (IPD) tend to have a high level of supply chain coordination (SCC).IPD and SCC are targeting multiple measures of performance outcomes which customers regard important - not only by providing ESP but also providing better customer services. With such collaborative efforts across functions, with other suppliers and customers, employee satisfaction tends to be greater (Prater et al., 2001; Lummus et al., 2003). The development of stronger linkages between engineering and operations can provide earlier and better opportunities to minimize the environmental impacts of both production processes and products during use (Trueman, 1998; Angell and Klassen, 1999; Rungtusanatham and Forza, 2004; Ellram et al., 2007). Environmental hazards can be determined in design phase, and integration of suppliers and interaction of customers will either prevent or mitigate related risk (Angell and Klassen, 1999; Linton et al., 2007; Zhu et al., 2007; Venkata, 2009).Therefore:H4a. The higher the level of integrated product development (IPD), the higher the level of green performance outcomes (GPO).H4b. The higher the level of supply chain coordination (SCC), the higher the level of green performance outcomes (GPO).GPO is comprehensive sets of performance outcomes, which may enhance firms' standing in the market; therefore, such superior market reputation may facilitate the achievement of financial performance goals better (Fawcett and Myers, 2001; Albino et al., 2009). Consumers pay more attention to the environmental issues, and environmentally sound green product will appeal more to consumers by providing competitive advantage in a market (Gungor and Gupta, 1999; Albino et al., 2009). Consumers have been aware of their environmental issues. Therefore, purchasing environmentally sound and green product will be of great interest to customers. Customer loyalty obtained from increased satisfaction will be a crucial intangible asset, which will positively affect a firm's competitiveness in the long run (Milgrom and Roberts, 1986; Ferrell et al., 2008).Therefore:H5. Green performance outcomes (GPO) positively affect business units performance (BUP).\nThe research methods: An extensive literature review is conducted to ensure that the research model and measures are grounded in the theory of SGO, IPD and SCC. In order to examine the relationships between product development practices and performance outcomes, empirical evidence was drawn from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS), a worldwide research project involving 711 manufacturing units of 24 countries throughout the Asian Pacific, European, North American, and South American regions. Over the years numerous papers have been published using IMSS I, II and III in reputable OM and SCM journals (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Acur et al., 2003; Cagliano et al., 2005, 2006; Silveira and Cagliano, 2006). This paper uses the most recent IMSS IV data (Hong and Roh, 2009). All firms included in the study are considered to be manufacturers according to International SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code standards. Specific manufacturing industries included:* fabricated metal products;* machinery and equipment;* office, accounting, and computing equipment;* electrical machinery;* radio, television, and communication equipment;* medical, precision, and optical instruments;* motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers;* other transportation equipment; and* other miscellaneous manufactured products.Firms were contacted prior to mailing to assess participation interest. The response rate varied by country, however, all exceeded 25 percent, which is commonly considered as adequate for a survey method research. The definition of each variable and the relevant literature is illustrated in Table I.\nResults: The data analysis followed Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) two-step approach. First, the measures and the measurement model were analyzed. Second, the structural model's model-data fit was assessed and, as it was found to be adequate, substantive hypotheses H1-H5 were tested. The instruments used in the large-scale survey are illustrated in Table II.Assessment of measures and measurement model\nDiscussion and implications: This study positioned SGO as a firm's thrust to improve business performance. Drawing from literature review, this research constructed a research framework that highlights the impacts of SGO on BUP. Although prior research has reported the positive influence of SGO on firm performance, little attention has been paid to the essential roles that IPD and SCC play in green management context. This research model has theoretical support and its empirical results suggest that IPD and SCC mediate SGO to business performance. Theoretical and managerial implications follow as below.Theoretical implications\nConcluding remarks: In this increasingly competitive business environment, firms are required to pursue and implement green management practices. This is strategic imperative of many firms. This paper provides a research model that identifies the key constructs of green management practices in the context of dynamic competitive environment. This paper also demonstrates how internal and external program integration is feasible to implement strategic green orientation (SGO). The empirical tests of the model by using international data are helpful to examine the validity of SGO as organizational initiative for real commitment.One single paper cannot handle all the needed inquires. Future papers would extend some of the following research issues:* refinement of measures of SGO. The next round of IMSS V addresses more on these environmental innovation practices;* in depth case studies on how SGO is formulated and implemented.* industry level analysis of SGO - particularly in the areas of automotive, electronic, and bio-chemical industries; and* comparative study of advanced and developing countries in terms of SGO.Particularly, the comparative study may include countries like China, India, Brazil, and Russia as well as developing countries.Examining complex phenomena like green initiatives of firms in the context of value chains may not suffice with a single research method either case study or survey instruments. Rather, multiple research methods may give better lights on complex dynamics of product life cycle issues of diverse sets of products from concept to disposal. Future research may explore further how country or industry specific characteristics may impact firms' commitment to green orientation. These contextual factors may indicate different product design and supply chain practices. Furthermore, an increasing level of globalization draws research attention to developing countries and emerging global economies. Therefore, conducting a comparative study in terms of green orientation in diverse contexts might be quite meaningful. Future papers might address some of these issues further.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a research model that defines the inter-relationships between strategic green orientation, integrated product development, supply chain coordination, green performance outcomes and business unit performance. This paper aims to address innovation issues by integrating strategic orientation, internal business practices, supply chain coordination, and performance outcomes measures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The international data of 711 firms accessed through the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS IV) are used to validate this model.\nFindings: - A firm's strategic green orientation involves past green practices, implementation of innovative environment improvement program and future commitment for environmental practices. This strategic green orientation is supported by a set of inter-organizational innovation practices such as integrated product development practices, effective coordination of supply chain network and relevant and measurable performance outcomes.\nOriginality/value: - The model, variables, empirical tests and results in this paper suggest a new understanding about strategic green orientation and its relationships with product development practices and supply chain coordination. The framework is intended both to explicitly inform senior executives of the importance of inter-organizational innovation practices such as strategic green orientation in terms of past, present and future practices as well as to the factors that effectively implement such strategic direction and commitment. It is also intended to provide a lens with which further research can be directed to enhance environmental reputation and outcomes of firms through new product development practices and supply chain network coordination and the sustainable long-term competitive advantages of the firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Human factors paradigm and customer care perceptions	[ "NHS", "Thematic analysis", "Patient safety", "Human factors", "Customer care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2012, Eales-Reynolds and Clarke examined a novel educational intervention designed to raise healthcare professionals' customer care (CC) awareness. Some participants were sceptical about the reasons for introducing a CC framework, whilst others began to consider patients as having rights. Thus, they regarded CC within a modernisation and consumerism framework, rather than in one that improves patient safety (Newman and Vidler, 2006). This may have led to their poor engagement with the organisational CC framework. To address this, the current study explores if staff perceptions of barriers to good CC map to a theoretical HF framework, thus demonstrating a direct relationship between good CC and patient safety.\nBackground: In the UK, there has been a government drive since the late 1990s to modernise public services (Needham, 2006). John Reid (2004), then Health Secretary, suggested that public services should be organised to meet public expectations. Indeed, an opinion poll found that 80 per cent of respondents agreed that Britain's public services needed to adopt the private sector's approach to CC (Ipsos MORI, 2006). The term CC soon became common language throughout central and local government for whom it meant tailoring services for the user and changing service provider perceptions (Needham, 2006). The healthcare CC literature tends to focus on modernising healthcare in a consumerism light with patients reconceptualised as a consumer or customer (Newman and Vidler, 2006). However, generally there appears to be no agreed CC definition, although a Google search shows the term is commonly used to mean putting systems in place to maximise customer satisfaction with the business in question. A literature search found one healthcare-related article (Grace, 2003, p. 1), which suggests:\nMethod: A data set, collected through an online questionnaire, was interrogated and mapped to the HF framework proposed by Vincent et al. (1998). Data were provided by 373 NHS staff attending a CC workshop who completed a pre-workshop questionnaire online. Free text responses in the questionnaire asked participants to identify barriers to good CC in their work environment; i.e., \"Please list those factors that enable good customer service in the trust (NHS hospitals are autonomous trusts), list those things that work against providing good customer service and within current resources what could their staff do to enable better customer care\", were subjected to thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Participant demographics were obtained from the workshop registration documentation. The study received appropriate ethical approval from the university ethics committee and participants provided written informed consent at the workshops. To demonstrate academic rigour in the data analysis, each author independently analysed the qualitative data in relation to the HF framework. Data were imported into the qualitative analysis software MAXQDA and allocated to seven categories identified within the HF framework described by Vincent et al. (1998). Within these categories, sub-categories were identified. The authors then discussed and negotiated sub-categories and placed data until a consensus was reached. These categories and their associated sub-categories are shown in Table I with the responses each elicited.\nResults: In total, 300 participants were female and most in the sample were healthcare professionals (n=176); nurses (n=86), healthcare support workers (HCSW, n=50), allied health professionals (AHPs, n=38) and doctors (n=2). The next largest group was administration and support staff (n=145) of whom 41 were employed in clinical areas. The remaining participants were managers. In total, 292 participants completed an open question: \"List those things that work against providing good customer service in the trust\"; it was not possible to correlate demographic information with questionnaire responses because the questionnaire was anonymous. Each participant was assigned a unique ID based on the session they attended and a SurveyMonkey log number; e.g., the eighth person to log in for the fourth session was coded 04-08. Participants identified 597 issues that they considered barriers to good CC. Direct quotations have been anonymised; e.g., (01-08) is a quote from participant eight in the first workshop. To ensure sense is maintained, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors have been corrected but indicated by parentheses [ ].\nDiscussion: We argue that CC should not be viewed as just political rhetoric or only applicable to retail settings and consumerism, but that CC directly correlates to patient safety. This study demonstrates that all the issues identified by healthcare professionals as barriers to good CC map onto a HF framework previously used to investigate patient safety events (Vincent, 1998). However, current research shows that communication is a common theme across several categories. Thus we propose that it should be a category in its own right since it includes communication between individuals (including patients), within and between teams and between the organisation and the management.\nLimitations: Snapshot sampling staff perceptions of barriers to CC from one hospital trust can be viewed as a limiting factor. Indeed, convenience sampling has the potential to introduce bias in a study, although such sampling facilitates engagement with difficult to access participant groups. However, the current data are consistent with the literature and adverse event findings for patient safety. Including data from diverse professional backgrounds means that findings are not easily transferable to specific professional groups, or individual teams but healthcare's inter-professional nature in the NHS means that individuals with diverse professional backgrounds observe and are exposed to similar experiences. Thus we suggest the data are sufficient to demonstrate a relationship between CC and patient safety, enabling further informed discussion concerning the importance of good CC in healthcare institutions. Future research in this area would benefit from purposive sampling among teams, professional groups and institutions.\nImplications for practice: This study demonstrates a strong congruence between good CC and patient safety both in practice and the literature. Consequently, we suggest these findings demonstrate that regarding CC as healthcare consumerisation could be dangerous and ultimately compromise patient safety. Therefore, healthcare managers having or intending to implement CC policy should acknowledge this unity within such policies and during staff training. As noted by Eales-Reynolds and Clarke (2012), successful CC training is dependent upon culture and staff motivation, we believe that emphasising the links between CC and patient safety will help to improve practice by improving staff motivation to alter or challenge poor CC where necessary. Such an emphasis may help remediate poor quality, often viewed as the patient safety softer side, before becoming a lapse or error resulting in harm to a patient; i.e., emphasising the real association between CC and patient safety will help to fill the quality chasm.\nOriginality: This work provides an original perspective on the link between CC and patient safety. Previous studies tend to distance patient safety from CC despite having a similar aetiology. Vincent (2010) suggests that patient safety is quality's dark side whereas we argue they are both on the same side; poor customer care can be remedied whereas unacceptable quality leads to lapses in good practice/ judgement and errors; care becomes unsafe and a risk to patient safety that may not be possible to remedy. Acknowledging this important link has the potential to re-focus CC and possibly prevent failures such as those in Mid Staffordshire. Caring for patients and patient safety are healthcare staff core functions and embedded into their culture. Our study identified issues which, when analysed within an HF Framework, demonstrated strong congruence between healthcare workers' CC and patient safety perceptions. Therefore, it has been suggested that developing and implementing CC policies should acknowledge this to improve workplace CC and patient safety. Data give a strong signal that the HF framework should be extended to include communication as a category in its own right.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine if customer care (CC) can be directly linked to patient safety through a human factors (HF) framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from an online questionnaire, completed by a convenience healthcare worker sample (n=373), was interrogated using thematic analysis within Vincent et al.'s (1998) HF theoretical framework. This proposes seven areas affecting patient safety: institutional context, organisation and management, work environment, team factors, individual, task and patient.\nFindings: Analysis identified responses addressing all framework areas. Responses (597) principally focused on work environment 40.7 per cent (n=243), organisation and management 28.8 per cent (n=172). Nevertheless, reference to other framework areas were clearly visible within the data: teams 10.2 per cent (n=61), individual 6.7 per cent (n=40), patients 6.0 per cent (n=36), tasks 4.2 per cent (n=24) and institution 3.5 per cent (n=21). Findings demonstrate congruence between CC perceptions and patient safety within a HF framework.\nResearch limitations/implications: The questionnaire requested participants to identify barriers to rather than CC enablers. Although this was at a single site complex organisation, it was similar to those throughout the NHS and other international health systems.\nPractical implications: CC can be viewed as consonant with patient safety rather than the potentially dangerous consumerisation stance, which could ultimately compromise patient safety.\nOriginality/value: This work provides an original perspective on the link between CC and patient safety and has the potential to re-focus healthcare perceptions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Satisfaction with teaching and learning and the role of psychological need fulfillment	[ "Education", "Emotions", "Satisfaction", "Training", "Quality", "Psychological needs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Higher education has important economic implications. Expenditure in member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development averaged 1.6 percent of GDP in 2010. Export earnings attributed to international students studing in Europe have increased as the number of higher education students have risen from 1.38 million in 2005 to 2.03 million in 2011 (OECD, 2013). Against a background of free trade agreements, internet-based distant delivery modes, reduced public spending and decreasing enrollments, competition for enrollments among institutions and countries is increasing (Ghosh et al., 2008). Therefore, improving understanding of how student or participant satisfaction can be measured and influenced should be a priority for education managers.\nUnderstanding satisfaction: It is generally accepted that satisfaction is a key metric in determining the viability and performance of institutions, programs and employees (Bloemer and Kasper, 1995; Giese and Cote, 2000; Homburg and Giering, 2001; Mittal and Wagner, 2001; Szymanski and Henard, 2001; Vesel and Zabkar, 2009). Satisfaction has been shown to influence positive word-of-mouth recommendations, reduce complaining behavior, and predict re-purchase intentions (Brookes, 1995; Chandrashekaran et al., 2007; de Matos and Rossi, 2008).\nBPN: SDT assumes that people are active organisms who have an innate propensity toward psychological growth and development but require ongoing nutriments from the social environment in order to function effectively. The social context in which an individual functions can either assist or hinder the process of active engagement and psychological growth, and it is the interaction between the active organism and the social context that allows predictions about behavior (Deci and Ryan, 2000b).\nResearch model and propositions: Despite the considerable amount of work on SDT carried out to date (Arnone et al., 2009; Kaufman and Dodge, 2009; Martyn et al., 2005; Podlog and Dionigi, 2009), we have not found any studies that have direct implications for the present research. Prior research that has examined the BPN - emotion relationship has found that needs influence positive but not negative emotions (Sheldon et al., 1996). A study by Sheldon et al. (2001) revealed that needs predicted positive emotions for student samples from both the USA and South Korea, but negative emotions only for the South Korean sample. The authors did not elaborate on or offer a possible reason for this finding, but nationality has been shown to influence the way emotions are displayed and regulated (Markus and Kitayama, 1991; Mesquita, 2001; Mesquita and Walker, 2003), which may explain the result.\nMethod: Sampling procedure and data collection\nResults: Figure 2 displays the path coefficients and R2 values of the model. The predictors explained 56 percent of the variance in overall satisfaction. A kh2 statistic of 3.63 with 1 degree of freedom (p=0.056) was produced with a CFI (0.991), NFI (0.989), TLI (0.975) and an RMSEA (0.049) indicating a good model fit to the data. The path need to satisfaction was non-significant at any conventional level and was therefore removed. P1 can be only partially accepted as the relationship between BPN and satisfaction was found not to be significant.\nDiscussion and implications: This study has made two major contributions to education research and literature. First, it offers a parsimonious model of satisfaction. Second, it is the first study to elucidate the way in which global psychological needs influence classroom emotions, perception of quality and satisfaction. The implications of these findings from a theoretical and practical perspective are now addressed.\nConclusion and future research: The findings presented in this paper confirm the importance of emotions in influencing how classroom satisfaction judgments are formed. This has implications for both the evaluation and management of the learning and teaching experience. Additionally, levels of basic need fulfillment have been shown to influence the antecedents of satisfaction, and consistent with the extant literature it was found that students with high levels of need fulfillment experience higher levels of positive emotion, perceptions of quality and satisfaction, and lower levels of negative emotion.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to assess participant satisfaction of a teaching and learning experience. Additionally, the way innate psychological needs influence the satisfaction formation process will be examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional, quantitative approach was chosen and path analysis and t-tests were used to analyze the data.\nFindings: Satisfaction is formed by two related constructs, emotions and perception of quality, and together explained 53 percent of the variance in satisfaction. Higher levels of psychological need fulfillment were shown to positively influence emotions and quality perceptions and indirectly influence satisfaction judgements.\nPractical implications: These findings have relevance for education and training providers. First, they provide a comprehensive way for educationists to manage and measure satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: Many teaching and learning evaluations are based on quality judgement and single measure of satisfaction. This study shows the important role positive and negative emotions play in determining satisfaction judgements. Additionally, and for the first time, the influence of different levels of psychological need fulfillment on satisfaction has been reported.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The hidden cost of digitization - things to consider	[ "Project management", "Copyright", "Obsolescence", "Digital repositories", "Digitization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a digital revolution and as such, the exponential advancement of technology over the past few years has meant that the way libraries look and operate now, is not going to be what they will look like in the future. Even the concept of a book, once a concrete term that meant a very particular thing, has now taken on multiple meanings. One can read a \"book\" on a tablet, an e-reader, a computer screen or as a phone app. Libraries and cultural institutions have to contend with growing born-digital assets and need to quickly learn ways to file, sort and store these assets. In addition, there is also a push to take those analog items that are either paper or cultural artifacts and make them accessible digitally. These days, the advantages of having ready access to information are clear; our patrons also expect this from us.\nPlanning: The key to successful digitization is to create a comprehensive plan - as much as possible in the beginning stages. The initial step an organization needs to take before embarking upon a digitization project is to employ a practice used in journalism which is to ask about the who, what, where, why and how. Who are the intended users? Who will benefit the most by accessing these digital files now and into the future? Who will be responsible for maintaining the files? What specifically should we digitize? What are the long-range benefits of digitizing? Where will the digital files be kept and accessed? Why should we digitize? How will we obtain all of the necessary resources to effectively maintain the repository into the future? With time and money so scarce these days, a lot of care and thought needs to go into assessing the most benefit using the fewest resources. An internal digitization project will certainly look much different from a project intended for use by the community outside of the library or institution. Those stakeholders in the digital project need to analyze available resources in the present and then need to conceptualize what might be required to sustain the project over the long term. Planning is hard and in this case it is even harder, as the plan needs to include long-range projections for what might be needed in the future. As we all know, sometimes even the best laid plans can backfire, but spending some time thinking about these points and making plans accordingly is an essential step in the digitization process.\nThe rights and wrongs of copyright: The biggest issue since the very beginning of the wave of digitization has been the question of copyright. So much of what we think we know about copyright laws and ownership have been upended with the digital revolution; the old rules and laws do not match with the demands and needs of users. The laws, which were written when books were simply paper editions, do not fully take into account the expectations of the digital user despite the recent updates and amendments to the law. On the contrary, the updates have created even more questions. Ironically enough, American copyright laws originated in sixteenth century Britain, when Queen Mary Tudor allowed a group of printers in London the rights to print only publications approved exclusively by the monarchy. These printers in turn established the notion that perpetual exclusive rights belonged to the first to print a particular work (Warwick, 2002, p. 236). Early American proponents of copyright sought to promote learning and prevent monopoly. How could a democracy thrive if its citizens did not have access to information? The library would be the great \"democratizer\" - it was the place that upheld the notion of free and continued access to information while being an arbiter of copyright laws.\nConclusions: As we move forward into the future under the rosy glow of technological advancement and ease of access, it is difficult to resist the lure of jumping on the digitization bandwagon. We should not resist completely; we just need to be more cautious with clear goals in mind. By no means exhaustive, this article was an attempt to explore some things to consider when formulating a digitization project, while analyzing various aspects of a repository's long-term sustainability. Embarking on a digitization project is not easy, nor is it clear cut, but by looking closely at the long range goals and making a plan, the project can progress more smoothly.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to explore some of the hidden costs of these endeavors through an exploration of some the current literature. Despite the perceived ease of creating digital access, the road to digitization is long and fraught with a number of obstacles.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Some of the key ideas researched are the steps to consider when planning a digitization project, the long-term sustainability of such projects and issues of copyright and ownership. This article will benefit any institution planning to embark upon a future digitization project.\nFindings: More research needs to be conducted as the needs of users change and as the technology shifts and changes.\nOriginality/value: This paper will benefit any institution planning to embark upon a future digitization project.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can lean contribute to work intensification in healthcare?	[ "Process improvement", "Work intensification", "Lean healthcare", "High-performance work systems", "Public healthcare management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The use of Lean in publically funded health services has become popular due to its promise of reducing costs while promoting efficiency (Radnor et al., 2012). However, the majority of process improvement research tends to come from a technical perspective, rather than a focus on the people-related perspectives or the social processes that are integral to Lean's success (Delbridge, 2007; Bamber et al., 2014). Lean has been described as a socio-technical system that requires the simultaneous management of technical and work organisation aspects of production to capture Lean's benefits (Shah and Ward, 2007). Lean uses a range of HRM techniques, also known as high-performance work systems (HPWS), which include practices such as team-work and multi-skilling to engage and involve employees in continuous improvement activities (Delbridge, 2007). For healthcare, part of Lean's attractiveness is this focus on involving employees (Balle and Regnier, 2007). However, the Lean healthcare literature has tended to focus on the use of Lean's tools or its technical applications (Radnor, 2011), with few articles describing the workforce's engagement and its effects (Joosten et al., 2009; Holden, 2011). The social and workplace aspect of Lean healthcare is an area of increasing interest in the health services and public management literature (Sloan et al., 2014) in part due to the differences between healthcare and Lean's manufacturing origins (Young and McClean, 2008) and as part of an effort to better understand how and why Lean works - or does not - in different contexts (Walshe, 2007).\nThe theory of Lean and healthcare: Lean is a management system originally developed as a competitive strategy by the Toyota Motor Corporation (Holweg, 2007) emerging to be an influential feature of modern management (Delbridge, 2007). Lean operates by specifying value in terms of the customer and identifying the elements that maximise that value through waste reduction and workflow improvement (Womack and Jones, 1996). Table I presents the principles of Lean which are operationalized through the application of a number of tools or procedures used to identify and reduce waste and optimise productive capability (Bicheno, 2008; Radnor, 2010). Improvement tasks are undertaken by workers supported by a complementary organisational culture (Kaplan et al., 2014). Crucial to Lean is the determination of value, which is defined by customers and focusses on the production or service processes to increase these value adding activities and reduce those that do not, i.e., waste (Womack and Jones, 1996). To achieve this, a significant part of Lean's focus is on continuous improvement activities underpinned by a culture that aims to grow leaders and develop workers (Liker, 2004) by using multi-skilled teams and team-working (Drotz and Poksinska, 2014). While Lean tends to be more associated with repetitive high volume tasks it is able to be implemented in lower volume and higher variety contexts such as software development, small scale manufacturing and in healthcare (DeHoratius and Rabinovich, 2011).\nThe negative impacts of Lean: Lean's productive superiority is underpinned by a combination of improvement practices and HPWS techniques such as team development and employee engagement (Delbridge, 2007; Crowther and Green, 2005). It is claimed that these strategies lead to improved workplace conditions, employee morale and worker autonomy (Worthington, 2007). This claim has been challenged by a number of Lean studies, which have found a range of negative impacts (see Table II). Some of the worst excesses of these negative impacts are seen to occur when Lean is implemented without its necessary social components (Longoni et al., 2013).\nWI and Lean healthcare: Though most of what we know of the social aspects of Lean in healthcare comes from accounts of patient flow and wait time improvement studies, some are now beginning to identify social or professional issues arising in workplaces (Mazzocato et al., 2012; Timmons et al., 2014; Waring and Bishop, 2010; Rees, 2014) and examine Lean's conditional nature (D'Andreamatteo et al., 2015; Andersen et al., 2014). In addition, there are suggestions that not only does Lean not meet its promise for healthcare (Radnor et al., 2012), it struggles to show positive associations with patient satisfaction, patient flows, patient safety and is negatively associated with worker satisfaction (Moraros et al., 2016). This has led to the suggestion that while healthcare may \"benefit from interventions that have some resemblance to lean operations\" (McCann et al., 2015, p. 1573), its wholesale application across a healthcare organisation may be inappropriate.\nExamining the Lean healthcare literature for indicators of WI: As the literature indicates, WI is a possibility when Lean is used in a workplace. An examination of the Lean healthcare WI literature finds instances of Green's (2001) WI dimensions and Beynon et al.'s (2002) and White and Bray's (2003) processes for introduction. Table III provides a summary of the WI dimensions instances, while Table IV summarises the instances of the processes of introduction.\nTowards understanding Lean associated WI in healthcare: The starting point of this paper is that Lean has the potential to intensify work. The manufacturing literature contains evidence of this phenomenon, with cases also reported in both service industry and public service contexts (Sprigg and Jackson, 2006; Carter et al., 2011a; O'Donnell et al., 1998). Lean has been recently introduced into healthcare and little is known of how and why it works. If, like manufacturing, Lean's use in healthcare brings similar negative effects, then this will limit its effectiveness as a healthcare quality improvement and productivity strategy. A scan of the Lean healthcare WI literature found instances of WI's dimensions and the process by which it is introduced into health workplaces. The literature also reveals a limited regard for implementing Lean's necessary social components pointing to the reliance on Lean's tools and technical practices, without necessarily considering the significant relationship that the technical side has with the social side. Effective deployment requires a genuine appreciation of the implications of Lean for the organisation's culture, evaluating Lean's processes and impacts from a user perspective as well as from the patient's (Radnor and Osborne, 2013). Thus, a workplace culture in which staff are genuinely considered and their suggestions discussed and adopted would be advantageous, but this must be weighed against the practicalities of introducing such a workplace system in an environment of already heavy workloads and insufficient resources (McCann et al., 2015). As the literature has revealed, Lean implementations are contingent on a number of factors that affect its progress and practicalities. Issues such as staff reductions as a cost management measure, clinical and non-clinical processes and the re-definition of roles and jobs contribute to implementation variations and differences in the reported outcomes for staff. This variability also makes judgements on whether Lean \"works\" in healthcare more subjective and further increasing the attractiveness of narrow research objectives examining cause and effect interventions in response to distinct bottlenecks (McCann et al., 2015), rather than exploring specific operating practices, their management (DeHoratius and Rabinovich, 2011) and change within a volatile organisational context (Stanton et al., 2014). This leads to the first proposition of the paper:\nConclusion: This paper has argued that not enough is known about Lean healthcare to discount its role in the advent of WI. While much of Lean healthcare literature explores Lean's implementation in a range of contexts, on many occasions the effects on the workforce are ignored. Indeed, much of the literature tends to gloss over important cultural and situational factors within healthcare workplaces, particularly the vulnerability of lesser skilled staff who are more likely to acutely feel the effects of WI. Many of these study sites are now well past their implementation phases and, if returned to, may provide a rich source of data from which to understand mature Lean healthcare work.\nResearch implications: There are few rigorous studies of Lean work and its negative impacts (Parker, 2003; Longoni et al., 2013). Of those that have been published, most find some degree of negative impact on the workers (Cullinane et al., 2012), although there is a consistency issue due to the many variations between Lean implementations and workplaces (Parker, 2003). This could lead us to believe that implications such as WI are indeed inevitable and the question now becomes one of minimising the negative effects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the effects of the introduction of lean into healthcare workplaces, phenomena that have not been widely investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper draws on discussions and findings from the literature. It seeks to bring the few geographically dispersed experiences and case studies together to draw some conclusions regarding lean's negative effects.\nFindings: Two recurring themes emerge. The first is there is little evidence of Lean's impact on work and the people who perform it. The literature therefore suggests that we understand very little about how work conditions are changed and how Lean's negative effects arise and may be managed in healthcare workplaces. A second observation is that Lean's effects are ambiguous. For some Lean seems to intensify work, while for others it leads to improved job satisfaction and productivity. Given this variety, the paper suggests a research emphasis on Lean's socio-cultural side and to derive more data on how work and its processes change, particularly in the context of healthcare team-working.\nOriginality/value: The paper concludes that without improved understanding of social contexts of Lean interventions its value for healthcare improvement may be limited. Future research should also include a focus on how the work is changed and whether high-performance work system practices may be used to offset Lean's negative effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of the consistency between objective and perceived environmental uncertainty in supply chain risk management	[ "Supply chain risk management", "Consistency", "Relationship flexibility", "Perceived environmental uncertainty", "Logistics flexibility", "Objective environmental uncertainty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Factors including rapid technological development, shorter product life cycles, more diversified customer demands and fierce market competition make today's business world increasingly unpredictable and risky. Some firms develop effective supply chain risk management (SCRM) strategies in response to the uncertain environments, such as dynamic pricing, product assortments, multi-sourcing strategies, and vendor managed inventory (see Tang, 2006 for a comprehensive review), while others fail to do so. To the extent that flexibility constitutes an adaptive response to environmental uncertainty and operational risks (Sreedevi and Saranga, 2017), it is important to understand when and how such a response actually arises.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The definition and dimensions of supply chain flexibility\n3. Method: 3.1 Sampling and the measure of objective environmental uncertainty\n4. Case analysis and propositions: 4.1 Environmental uncertainty, logistics flexibility and relationship flexibility\n5. Discussions and implications: Motivated by the question of how firms implement their flexibility strategies in response to environmental uncertainty in their SCRM, this paper conducted a case study of four companies from two industries in China. We interviewed two companies from the environmental instrument industry and the other two from the power generation industry in China, coded and compared their objective environmental uncertainty, subjective environmental uncertainty, consistency between two types of environmental uncertainty, relationship flexibility strategy and logistics flexibility strategy, among other characteristics of these case companies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how the consistency between objective and perceived environmental uncertainty might affect supply chain flexibilities that cope with supply chain risk.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study adopted a case study of comparative four companies in order to obtain an in-depth knowledge of the environmental conditions under which the companies implement different types of supply chain risk management (SCRM) strategies: logistics flexibility and relationship flexibility.\nFindings: The case analysis not only distinguished the different effects of objective and perceived environmental uncertainty on supply chain flexibility, but also established the propositions about the effects of the consistency between objective and perceived environmental uncertainty on logistics flexibility and relationship flexibility in SCRM.\nOriginality/value: In principle, supply chain flexibility aims to cope with complex and turbulent environments. Yet, empirical findings about the effects of environmental uncertainty on supply chain flexibility are inconclusive. This study addressed this question by differentiating between objective and perceived environmental uncertainty as well as between logistics and relationship supply chain flexibilities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Planned and spontaneous orders in the emerging network society	[ "Information society", "Communication technologies", "Information networks", "Economic processes", "Social economics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: The emergence of a \"network society\" due to the recent revolution in information and communication technologies has prompted an intense discussion about the changing organizing principles of economic activity (Castells, 1996). Generally, the network society is seen to emerge as a result of a new technological paradigm based on advances in information and communication technologies. In the network society, knowledge-based productivity is argued to elevate organizational effectiveness and efficiency to an entirely new level. Castells (1996, pp. 61-3) defines the new technological paradigm through its informational character, networking logic, flexibility, functioning as an integrated system and the societal pervasiveness of its effects. However, there seems to no consensus on the actual changes in the organization of economic activity in the era of \"global digital capitalism\".The emergence of the network society reveals an important paradox that can be associated with the tradition of dichotomising between planned and spontaneous orders in the organization of economic activity. The dichotomy was already highlighted in the Austrian Economics (AE) of the 1930s and 1940s (e.g. Hayek, 1937, 1945), and has aroused interest in various areas of social science. Despite the simplifying nature of this polarization, we think it is a useful starting point for scrutinizing the emerging organization of economic activity in the network society. Most importantly, we are interested in the role and interplay of various forms of planned and spontaneous orders.The few texts that address the role of planned and spontaneous orders in the network society have more or less emphasized the role of planned order, e.g. the creation and management of diverse networks of tightening relationships with few strategic partners (e.g. Castells, 1996, p. 160-6, cf. Gilpin, 2000 for other contexts). Spontaneous order through markets in their various phases of maturity seem to have received less attention. Furthermore, it seems that the novel intertwining of planned and spontaneous orders has been neglected. For instance, networks as emergent, spontaneous phenomena have only received scant attention. There is also a lack of knowledge concerning the new co-existence and co-evolution of markets, networks and hierarchies. These issues are of more or less obvious relevance for marketing researchers and practitioners especially in the field of business-to-business marketing.In this article, we are investigating what literature has proposed about the role and interplay of planned and spontaneous orders in the emerging network society. Consequently, the aim of the article is to identify emphases and knowledge gaps in this discussion. The contribution lies in the conceptual structuring of the discussion regarding the key features of the emerging organization of economic activity in the network society.Our primary research materials consist of recent academic and managerial articles and books on the subject labelled under such headings as \"network society/economy\", \"new economy\", \"digital economy\" or \"intellectual capital economy\". These sources are listed in the Appendix, together with an explication of our method of bibliographical analysis. While acknowledging the theoretical and empirical scatteredness and tentativeness of much of this material, we still argue that it constitutes an emerging discourse in its own right. Instead of providing a mere descriptive literature review, our aim is to provide a conceptualization of the types of economic orders the literature advocates related to the key systemic levels of analysis it dwells on the global economic system as a whole, industries, interorganizational relationships and firm strategies. For B-to-B marketing, the key contribution of the article is to show how the obviously relevant level of interorganizational relationships is embedded and interconnected to the big picture of changes occurring at all of the mentioned levels. Moreover, the viewpoint of planned and spontaneous orders derived from Austrian Economics provides a novel conceptual angle to B-to-B marketing.\nThe role and interplay of planned and spontaneous orders in the organization of economic activity: The question of the organization of economic activity classically relates to the question of which institutions will most efficiently cope with the calculation, incentive and coordination problems introduced by economic change (von Mises, 1936). Alternative or complementary terms to the notion of the organization of economic activity that partly operate at different levels (e.g. industries, firms, business units, even individuals) and with different units of analysis (e.g. strategic groups, networks, firms, contracts, transactions) are numerous. They include at least such generic notions as economic organization, economic order, and economic system. For instance, researchers working within the \"governance paradigm\" in organizational economics have typically been interested in how economic activities, most notably activities related to exchange and production, are organized through different modes of governance ranging from markets to networks to hierarchies (see, for example, Williamson, 1985; 1996). They focus broadly on key social institutions (laws, norms, contracts, standard procedures, routines, attitudes, beliefs etc.) that enable and constrain exchange in any economic system.While acknowledging the potential conceptual fruitfulness of combining viewpoints from, e.g. various strands of institutional theory with the ones presented here more systematically, we have limited our attention to planned and spontaneous orders, the central tenets of Austrian Economics (AE). In AE, an explicit discussion concerning planned and spontaneous forms of economic order exists.To stress the role of markets in the functioning of the modern society, Hayek (1937) introduced the concept of spontaneous order - the idea that a harmonious, evolving order arises from the interaction of decentralized, heterogeneous, more or less calculative economic agents with limited knowledge. This order could not be designed by a social planner, but merely emerged spontaneously from a seemingly complex network of interaction among agents with limited knowledge. In other words, a spontaneous order emerges as a result of the cognitive limitations of economic agents to deal with the huge amount of ambiguous and fragmented information relevant to the exchange situation. A market develops as an institution, which economizes on each agent's scarce resources of cognition and focuses the attention of that agent on a particular range of options (Loasby, 2000, p. 299). Despite the apparent centrality of the concept, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the content and evolution of markets as social institutions (Callon, 1999; cf. Braudel, 1979). This observation also applies in the area of marketing research, which is somewhat astonishing.On the other hand, Hayek referred to planned order when discussing the purposefully designed governance structures in a societal context, e.g. in a planned socialist economy. In addition to institutions at the level of the society or the economic system as a whole, the notion of a planned order can be used to refer to most phenomena traditionally of interest to the students of marketing, organization and management. For instance, such contemporary topics as mergers and acquisitions, networks, strategic alliances, partnerships, and long-term business relationships primarily fall in the category of more of less purposefully designed orders.In Hayek's (1988) view, the \"fatal conceit\" of socialism was that it was believed that a viable economic (and societal) order could be designed by a planner on the basis of \"scientistic\" analyses of supply and demand conditions, without realizing that a price system evolved spontaneously as a result of lack of knowledge. The same limited knowledge that afflicts any individual economic agent's predictive power must necessarily constrain the planner's as well.A central issue related to the role of planned and spontaneous order is their inevitable interplay in the development process of any organization of economic activity. Simply put, the development of any economic order always involves both evolution and design. In order to understand how markets develop under the dual influence of both spontaneous and planned orders, the Austrians offer the concept of the market process as an alternative to the traditional equilibrium models of markets. Thus, the concept of the market process, involving elements of both planned and spontaneous order, can be seen as analogous to our conceptualization of how the organization of economic activity develops.Individuals, within the institutions of a market economy, trade and cooperate to achieve their own, deliberately (purposefully) chosen goals. Through these exchanges, they gain new knowledge, causing them to continuously revise their original plans. The market process is this \"series of systematic changes in the interconnected network of market decisions\" (Kirzner, 1973, p. 10).Equilibrium models assume that firms act solely with respect to the market data (prices, product specifications, supply and demand information etc.). From the Austrian viewpoint, in the \"perennial gale of creative destruction\", firms must constantly prepare for changes in the rules of the game induced by innovations (Schumpeter, 1942). Entrepreneurs are the individuals who discover and implement those innovations. Entrepreneurship \"incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one, in a process of 'creative destruction'\" (Schumpeter, 1942, p. 84).Through the market process, economically relevant knowledge is coordinated and put to use, helping economic actors (should they be states, strategic groups, firms, individuals etc.) to achieve their own goals (e.g. Foss, 1994, ch. 6). The market is necessary precisely because it is an institution for mobilizing existing knowledge and making it available to market participants who are not omniscient. Attempts to replace or control the market lead to a more or less severe knowledge problem.Solving the knowledge problem requires not only explicit (scientific and generic) knowledge of, for instance, production processes and technologies, but also local (often tacit) knowledge, \"knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place\" (Hayek, 1945, 1948). However, the Hayekian problem of planned order is not merely a computational one (cf. Simonian bounded rationality) that could be resolved in the informational economy through the use of ICT in its various forms. Despite the claim that new information and communication technologies improve the codification of knowledge, not everything can be captured using information processing mechanisms. The context and processes of converting tacit knowledge into codified information and the role and nature of epistemic communities are key issues in understanding the market process (Steinmueller, 2000; Ancori et al., 2000). This has been a key issue in recent organizational learning discussion (Loasby, 1983, 1999).Given that tacit knowledge has a significant role in the organization of economic activity, the market process does not necessarily lead only in the direction of standardized and defined market-like exchange contexts. Even in the Austrian view, the market process can also lead towards the deterioration of spontaneous orders.A key argument of researchers investigating the social systems of production (see, e.g. Hollingsworth and Boyer, 1997) in different societal settings is that there is no single best institutional arrangement for the organization of economic activity. Instead, the economic institutions of capitalism exhibit a large variety of institutions that complement and embed each other. It is argued that the market should not be considered the ideal and universal arrangement for coordinating the organization of economic activity. In our view, this stance is not at all in disagreement with the AE view highlighting the specific roles of both planned and spontaneous orders as well as their interplay in any economic system (see Hayek, 1988). Making the routine connection between AE and the tendency of mainstream economics to overemphasize the market mechanism is thus perhaps not completely justified.In conclusion, it can be stated that aspects of both evolution and design are necessarily present in the emergence of any new organization of economic activity. The role and interplay of planned and spontaneous orders as highlighted in this section provides a useful conceptualization of this market process.\nThe role and interplay of planned and spontaneous orders in the emerging network society: In order to analyse what has been said about the role and interplay of planned and spontaneous orders in the network society, we need to distinguish between the relevant levels of analysis present in the literature. In this article, we adopt a simplistic distinction between the following systemic levels of analysis: the global economic system as a whole, the level of the industry, the level of business relationships, and firm-level strategies. All of these levels are obviously relevant from the viewpoint of B-to-B marketing.In our discussion, we attempt to provide examples of the types of topics that epitomize the way the literature relates to planned and spontaneous orders. Thus, our aim is not to provide an exhaustive listing of issues that have been identified as central by different authors at the various levels of analysis.General global trends\nConclusions: It was initially proposed that the network society literature under review in this study would primarily emphasize the role of planned order, whereas spontaneous order would receive less attention. On the basis of our study, this proposition proved out to be somewhat false. Despite the fact that most managerially oriented, normative texts strongly emphasize the planned nature of the networking phenomenon, many other texts focus on issues that can be more or less directly linked to spontaneous ordering in the evolution of the network society. Furthermore, it was proposed that the novel intertwining of planned and spontaneous orders would receive only scant attention. This proposition seems to hold. The contribution of this article is to identify interplay issues that can be seen to stem from the trajectories of change identified in literature.Across the levels of analysis incorporated in this study, at least the following five general themes can be identified in the literature. In our opinion, all of the following issues seem to manifest the increasing role of spontaneous order in the evolution of the network society:1. Increasing complexity and heterogeneity of economic activity.2. Decentralized and entrepreneurial decision making.3. Networking and alliance formation as key success mechanisms.4. Fragmentation and intensity of information in economic exchange.5. Shift towards customized, non-standard offerings.Whereas the role of spontaneous order seems to be apparently reinforced in numerous ways, three principal trajectories of change seem to reinforce planned order in the emerging network society. These are:1. Increasing agglomeration of economic activity.2. Emphasis on the systematic building of competencies.3. Increasing normative and prescriptive orientation to business.Despite their generality, all of the identified issues and changes have significant strategic implications for B-to-B marketing.Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the emergence of the network society from the perspective of planned and spontaneous order.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Conceptual analysis based on extensive familiarization with literature.\nFindings: - The network society does not increase either planned or spontaneous ordering of economic activity, but their interplay.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper produces a number of research implications at global, industry, relationship and firms levels of analysis.\nPractical implications: - Businesses should craft practical strategies and policies on the assumption of constant change, build networking capabilities and be reactive to discontinuities in technologies and business models.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a unique multi-level account of the impact of the network society on the type of economic ordering it creates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CEO change and the perception of enhanced product: an implicit theory perspective	[ "CEO change", "CEO origin", "Implicit theory", "Product failure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research in CEO turnover has found that the likelihood of CEO turnover increases with the decrease in firm performance. For example, research finds that there is an inverse relationship between the probability of top management change and firm's performance (Warner et al., 1988). CEO changes are extremely important decisions, particularly because the role they have in shaping the organization (Luo et al., 2014). CEOs can have a considerable impact on the organization's strategy (Jensen and Zajac, 2004) such as company reorientation (Keck and Tushman, 1993), internationalization (Matta and Beamish, 2008), entry-mode decisions (Reuber and Fischer, 1997) and product decisions (Smith and White, 1987).\nTheoretical background: Product enhancement and CEO change\nStudy 1: Study 1 examined the combined influence of the change in CEO and implicit self-theories on the purchase intention of the enhanced product introduced after product failure.\nStudy 2: Study 2's purpose was to examine whether participants' belief in the likelihood of future success was driving the effect (H1b). We expected that incremental (vs entity) theorists would believe that the CEO change would lead to the future success of the firm, which would lead them to have a greater purchase intention toward the enhanced product. To test the robustness of our Study 1 results and to ensure generalizability of our findings, we switched to a different product (i.e. TV). Generalization or generalizability can be defined as the extension of research findings and conclusions from a study can be generalized to another under similar theoretical and the proximal similarity model (Trochim and Donnelly, 2005). Generalization is important and necessary for scientific research. It provides a basis for studying marketing behavior and thus leads to the advance in marketing knowledge (Leone and Schultz, 1980; Uncles and Wrigh, 2004). Numerous experiments conducted by behavioral psychologists or marketing researchers provide convincing evidence that generalization does occur. Prior research suggested that replication is the key to generalization and knowledge development (Leone and Schultz, 1980 cited by Hubbard et al., 1999). Unreplicated research findings, even those that are highly statistically significant, are only speculative in nature (Hubbard and Armstrong, 1994). To validate the research findings, replicating the research model in other product types is recommended (Zboja and Voorhess, 2006). We followed this paradigm of generalization in Study 2. We selected TV to test our research model, as the product quality review and enhanced product design are applicable to this product type (Chao, 1998).\nStudy 3: This study tested investigated the effect of an external CEO (a new CEO hired from outside the company) vs an internal CEO (a new CEO hired from inside the company) on the observed effects. As entity theorists find confidence in external assurances, we proposed that they are more likely to believe that the company will succeed when an external (vs. internal) CEO is hired. This, in turn, would increase their purchase intention for the enhanced product. However, this will not affect incremental theorists as they believe that both changes equally signal growth for the company.\nGeneral discussion: This research shows that the impact of CEO change on the perception of enhanced products is guided by consumers' implicit self-theories. Incremental theorists perceive that the CEO change after product failure will impact the firm's performance positively and therefore have a higher purchase intention towards the enhanced version of the failed product after the CEO change. This occurs because incremental theorists believe that traits can be improved with effort, and they perceive CEO change by the firm after product failure as the firm putting in effort to perform better. Conversely, entity theorists believe that traits are fixed and cannot be improved with effort. Therefore, they perceive that the CEO change to be ineffective in changing the product quality of the enhanced product. We find that this effect cannot be replicated by changing a key employee responsible for the product failure such as a product manager (Study 1), and that this effect is mediated by consumers' belief regarding the likelihood of success of the firm after the CEO change (Studies 2 and 3). Furthermore, as entity theorists feel more confident when they receive external assurances, an external CEO replacement (vs an internal CEO replacement) after the product failure provides them the external assurance that the firm will perform better in the future. This leads them to have a higher purchase intention of the enhanced product when the new CEO is external rather than internal (Study 3). However, as incremental theorists believe that personal traits are increasable with effort, they perceive both the internal and the external CEO change as equally effective and are indifferent toward the enhanced product when the CEO origin is internal or external.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the influence of implicit self-theories and the change in CEO of a firm after product failure on consumers' preference of the enhanced product.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three experiments were conducted involving product failure and CEO change scenarios.\nFindings: Studies demonstrate that incremental theorists prefer the enhanced product after the CEO change (vs no change), whereas entity theorists do not prefer the enhanced product after the CEO change. This effect is mediated by consumers' perception of the likelihood of success of the firm after the CEO change. Furthermore, entity theorists prefer the enhanced product only when the CEO change is external (vs internal).\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research could investigate if the impact of CEO change on product perception depends on the severity of the situation, and identify boundary conditions under which the CEO change is not beneficial.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that organizations can take advantage of the leadership change by introducing new products strategically around the period of leadership change. Marketers can induce incremental mindset in their advertisement material during the period of leadership change to ensure that all consumers have a positive perception of the enhanced products.\nOriginality/value: This is the first research to investigate how consumers respond to leadership changes made by organizations. The findings show that different signals (internal vs external CEO change) can generate different reactions across different receivers (incremental vs entity theorists).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A review on visual criteria of pure milk packaging for parents and their children (case study: Tehran, Iran)	[ "Milk", "Buying behaviour", "Customer perception", "Packaging design", "Visual criteria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Milk as an important dietary regime for children has always been at the canon of parents' attention and its continuous consumption is of much necessity for children. But in comparison to flavored milk, pure milk (despite greater nutritional value) is being consumed less (Pelsmaeker et al., 2013). Regarding this, the packaging of pure milk could be considered as an important factor for attracting the customers from the consumers' perspective (Azad and Hamdavipour, 2012). On the other hand, many factors influence on consumers behavior which understanding them is of utmost importance to marketing managers (Esmailpoor, 2004).\n2. Literature review of subject: Numerous studies have been conducted in the field of packaging and its main influential factors on customers, almost all of which has been conducted mainly on the role of standards and effects on consumers' behavior. For instance, Rettie and Brewe (2000) have studied the effect of actions, features and visual standards on packaging. Also, Silayoi and Speece (2007) have demonstrated the effect of packaging through their research on the importance of packaging and the consumers' behavior. In another important research, Azad et al. (2012) has demonstrated the role played by the characterization of children's food packaging and its impact on parents' purchase decision. In a study conducted on the major packaging standards in dairy products, Azad and Mohammadi (2013) revealed that the standards in various functions of the products' packaging are very important in dairy industry. Study in the field of packaging's role in customers' behavior is among the researches that has explored the analysis of customers' behavior in detail (Mitul and Bhavesh, 2012). Among these are: study on consumers' behavior (John, 2000, pp. 100-112), the role of labeling on the way of wine consumption (Renaud, 2007), packaging as a communicational tool (Lincoln, 1965), the effect of packaging on consumers' perception of product quality (Rigaux-Bricmont, 1982), the effect of packaging size on consumers' application (Wansink, 1996).\n3. Material and methods: 3.1. Research methodologies\n4. Result: 4.1. Font style variable\n5. Discussion: If we want to point out some reasons why the significant differences appear, these reasons could be classified in any of the variables and analyzed either separately or linked together. As the first reason, the degree of awareness and knowledge could be mentioned among both target groups compared to the material variable.\n6. Conclusion: In this study, the influential independent variables (e.g. logo, illustration, form and color) were investigated to attract and perceive the packaging through two groups of parents and children; and the significance difference value were determined among these groups using Independent t-test. The differences showed that the levels of product's attractiveness could be adjusted differently based on each variable's mean in two groups. Also, it was found that choosing priorities and packaging perception are done differently. This findings could be of great help to the marketers and designers to identify buying behavior and based on which the importance of each variable could be considered for each group differently, depending on the product. Based on this study, the designers can investigate the graphic and volumetric structure of products and help the marketers to adapt appropriate distribution and advertisement strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare and find the significance of aesthetic standards related to the packaging design of pure milk among two groups of parents and children in order to help the designers and marketers to identify these two groups of consumers well.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The results of questionnaire were used to get the required data. The selected samples were divided into two groups of 110 parents and children aged between seven and 14 years old who responded to the questions. The subjects were compared and evaluated within the convenience stores in the cosmopolitan city of Tehran based on four independent variables as the influential factors in packaging attractiveness. Data were analyzed through the statistical analysis software using the Independent t-test analysis.\nFindings: The results of analysis showed that all the variables vary significantly among these two groups. Besides, the importance and priority of variables were determined for each group based on the mean score of each variable.\nOriginality/value: According to the results of this study, it could be concluded that the selection criteria and packaging attractiveness varies among children and parents, and the aesthetic factors of packaging could be used with different priorities for these two groups. And also at the end of research some practical recommendations are presented in order of importance based on parents' preferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards whole person learning through sustainable executive performance	[ "Experiential learning", "Action learning", "Master of Business Administration", "Executive education", "Sustainable performance", "Whole person learning", "Corporate athlete" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Whole person learning is required for today's leaders who are often experts in their field, yet can be novices in other key areas, including their health and fitness, which are critical to their sustainable performance. We believe that without sufficient personal mastery in physiological areas as well as the physiological-psychological link, often without the scope of conventional management development programmes, performance is unsustainable in the long term.In this paper we describe our approach to experiential, whole person learning for management education, which we have called sustainable executive performance (SEP) and attempt to situate that, both within the global context of sustainability, and of management education.We present our experiences in the development and delivery of SEP, implemented within several custom and executive MBA programmes over the past 18 months with companies including Rabobank, Nestle and Oracle. Departing from an increased awareness of the physiology of the modern-day manager we examine the dynamics of physical, emotional and mental states and how this affects executive function, highlighting concepts and providing tools to improve performance and well-being. The increasing proliferation of web technologies and an electronically connected 24\\7 world re-emphasises the need for managers to pay attention to their body-mind balance, and combat the sedentary, information-overloaded lifestyles that lead to sub-optimal performance and burnout. Further, the unsustainable pressures experienced by managers are often promoted in the way that the management development industry designs and delivers learning experiences. For a typical management development programme, SEP has two main aims: an immediate one of helping attendees through an intense and demanding module with improved energy levels, and further, providing tools to improve their health, well-being and performance when they return to their normal working environment. The mission is to help form sustainable leaders, capable of taking the long-term view of their own performance and position within the firm, as a basis for considering the sustainability of their own enterprises and the relationship and responsibilities it holds with wider society.\n2. The operating context: 2.1 The business and society context: sustainability\n3. SEP: We now discuss the SEP programme, presented in the form of the experiential action learning cycle developed as a means of guiding programme delivery. Taking into account the low level of exposure to SEP elements as well as various misconceptions of its aims and validity for management education we consider the steps of awareness and legitimacy critical for moving to action (Figure 1).After reflecting on the development of SEP we view such a cycle as offering a suitable frame for describing our own experiences and providing insight to the evolution, supporting literature and content associated with the programme.3.1 Awareness: origins and trends\n4. Conclusions and future work: Our own learning in the past 18 months of programme integration at IESE has been rapid, and we have been able to take an iterative approach to development, fine-tuning each subsequent programme with the rich experiences gained in the previous one. We will further develop our evidence base and delivery in the coming months and years, and make a stronger link to learning efficacy in other areas of our programmes, as well as partnering with companies on a direct basis for SEP-focused delivery. We further hope to conduct research using our programme attendees as the empirical and case base for new conclusions and programme design. Research directions include making a stronger link between physiological profile and learning, such as heart rate variability during programmes, as well as using more advanced measurement tools to track progress across longer time-frames in multi-module programmes. The general context of sustainability as introduced at the outset of this paper will continue to provide a valuable anchor for our endeavours, taking inspiration from fields including design thinking. It has been said that design cannot be passively learned. We aim to maintain an active, experiential and rigorous approach in our management development as a means of contributing to the learning methodologies and workspaces of the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the authors' approach to managerial experiential learning, sustainable executive performance (SEP) and attempt to situate the concept within the business, societal, and managerial development context. SEP focuses on whole person mastery, particularly physiological and physiological-psychological elements which are largely ignored in management education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The narrative is based on several custom and executive MBA program implementations over the past 18 months within a leading global business school. In total, SEP has been delivered to over 500 senior managers in leading multinational companies. Such program experiences are backed up by the relevant literature in the field and wider executive education experiences over the past ten years.\nFindings: - The authors present SEP in the form of the experiential action learning cycle employed during its delivery. The stages of awareness, legitimacy and action provide insight to the evolution, supporting literature and content of the program.\nOriginality/value: - Although the core content of the SEP program builds on existing work, the authors believe the trans-disciplinary and integrative approach taken to be highly unique in management education on a global scale.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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