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Brand name and promotion in online shopping contexts	[ "Internet shopping", "Consumer behaviour", "Brands", "Promotional methods", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: According to the US Department of Commerce, online retail sales were $108.7 billion for 2005 (US Census Bureau News, 2007), an increase of 23.4 percent from 2005. Moreover, in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, online sales increase dramatically (O'Leary and Comiteau, 2003). In 2005, online retail sales were $22.9 billion for the holidays, with an increase of 23 percent over 2004 levels (Guest, 2006). However, online apparel retailers still face tough challenges in attracting their target consumers. Online apparel shoppers have difficulty assessing products and tend to easily abandon the purchasing process because of the inability to examine apparel products directly (Park et al., 2005).\nLiterature review: Stimulus-organism-response (SOR) paradigm\nResearch model and hypotheses: The model of the study (see Figure 1) addresses how brand and promotion influence consumer internal states and behavioral responses in the online apparel shopping context. The sequence of effects in the model is that brand and promotion (S) influence consumers' perceptions of product value and store image (O), finally influencing customer purchase intentions (R). Based on this rationale and the SOR model, the following hypotheses were developed:H1. People who are exposed to a well-known brand name will perceive (a) higher value and (b) more positive store image, as compared to people who are exposed to a website with an unfamiliar brand name.H2. People who receive a completed promotion code will perceive (a) higher value and (b) more positive store image, as compared to people who do not receive a promotion code.H3. Perceived value will be positively related to purchase intention.H4. Perceived store image will be positively related to purchase intention.H5. The relationships (a) between perceived value and purchase intention and (b) between store image and purchase intention will differ as a function of brand.H6. The relationships (a) between perceived value and purchase intention and (b) between store image and purchase intention will differ as a function of promotion.\nMethods: Research design\nResults: Sample description\nDiscussions and implications: The study provided useful knowledge for understanding the mechanism of how brand name influences perceived store image and promotion influences perceived value, consequently affecting behavioral intention in the online apparel shopping context. This study successfully demonstrated the mechanism based on the SOR paradigm. The effect of brand name on store image and the effect of promotion on perceived value were addressed by the relationships between stimuli and organism. The relationships among perceived value, store image and behavioral intentions were explained by the link between organism and response.The results from the study empirically provide evidence demonstrating that a well-known brand name was a powerful factor directly influencing consumers' perception of online store image and finally affecting purchase intention. Although this study did not examine actual purchases, it is reasonable to expect a causal link between purchase intention and purchase behavior. Past research has supported the relationship between intention and behavior (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). When a relatively well-known brand is provided online, consumers are likely to have positive evaluation of it and purchase it as compared to when an unknown brand name is presented online (Porter and Claycomb, 1997).This study suggests that online retailers need to recognize the importance of establishing brand familiarity. Retailers need to ensure that there is consistency in a brand image, advertising messages, product characteristics, and store features over time to increase brand reputation and generate a positive impression of a store by reference to the brand. Creating strong brand reputation and brand familiarity is a competitive marketing strategy for online retailers as well as multi-channel retailers. Multi-channel retailers who are well-known in the offline shopping channel may leverage their strong offline brand reputation in the online shopping channel (Park and Stoel, 2005).The results of the study confirmed that in online apparel shopping contexts price promotion is an important determinant of perceived value. When provided with a promotion code people have more positive perceptions of product value than when not provided with a promotion code (Oliver and Shor, 2003). Online price promotions usually inform consumers of the regular price and discounted price of a product after applying the promotions. The presentation of both prices may increase perceived savings and fair price of a product and generate positive perceptions of deal value (Darke and Dahl, 2003; Hsu and Liu, 1998; Grewal et al., 1998; Gupta and Cooper, 1992).Price promotions are considered an important marketing tool for e-retailers in terms of influencing consumers' purchase decisions (Hsu and Liu, 1998; Oliver and Shor, 2003). Online retailers may need to use effective sales promotions to provide loyal consumers with a reward for their patronage (Sun et al., 2003). Promotions are also effective to attract new consumers and to stimulate them to make an initial purchase (Darke and Dahl, 2003) and to motivate consumers to switch from other brands (Sun et al., 2003).\nFuture research and limitations: This study provides a number of future research possibilities. A possible extension of this research would be to examine the effect of a brand mix on store image. Online retailers (e.g. Macys.com, Nordstorm.com, Bluefly.com) who sell diverse brands need to pay attention to getting the right brand mix. Well-known brands may play an important role in generating a positive store image and finally increasing sales of the retailers. Retailers should consider using well-known brands in advertising and visual merchandising techniques (Porter and Claycomb, 1997). For example, by displaying unfamiliar brands with well-known brands, online retailers may want to leverage the positive image of well-known brands to create positive images for unfamiliar brands (Buchanan et al., 1999). Thus, this study suggests future research on examining the effect of mixed displays of familiar and unfamiliar brands.Introducing a new brand may be another critical issue because consumers do not have knowledge of the brand. When consumers first evaluate a new brand without knowledge or experience of the brand, other environmental cues (e.g. product styles and attributes, layout, website design, services) may influence perceived store image and brand image. Further research needs to focus on examining which environmental cues affect perceived store image when a new brand (versus a well-known brand) is introduced.Much fruitful research on the effect of promotions in online shopping can be conducted in the future. It is possible that promotions contribute to planned buying and impulsive buying. Loyal consumers may make a plan to purchase a product according to a sales promotion schedule. On the other hand, unexpected promotions can be a great surprise to consumers and may stimulate impulsive and unplanned buying. Future research needs to investigate the effect of promotions on impulsive and planned buying behaviors.Although the research found a positive influence of promotion on consumer responses, there is a need for understanding the negative effect of promotions (Raghubir, 2004; Sun et al., 2003). For example, if a free gift is offered with a purchase of a product, consumers may infer that the actual price of a product is likely to be inflated in order to cover the cost of a free gift. In addition, consumers may not be interested in having free gifts because they do not want to use them (Raghubir, 2004). Thus, an important issue is to investigate the positive and negative effect of different promotion types in online shopping.A limitation of the study is the convenience sample, which was relatively small and potentially less accurate than a larger sample. For more generalizable results, a good sampling frame from a representative population is needed. Also, gender differences in online apparel shopping have been found. Women searched more and purchased more online than men (Seock and Bailey, 2008). It would be interesting to examine customer gender effects regarding brand and promotion on perceived value and store image.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The objective of the paper is to examine the effect of brand name and promotion on consumers' perceived value, store image, and purchase intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An experiment with a 2x2 (well known versus unknown brand name, promotion versus no promotion) between-subjects factorial design was conducted and completed by 392 college students.\nFindings: - Brand name had a positive effect on consumers' perceived store image and promotion positively influenced consumers' perceived value. There were positive relationships among perceived value, store image and behavioral intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Since participants were primarily female college students at a Midwestern university in the USA, the results of the study cannot be generalized to the general population of college students.\nPractical implications: - Online retailers should consider the importance of enhancing their brand familiarity in terms of creating positive store image. Effective sales promotions could be used as a reward for loyal consumers and to attract more new consumers.\nOriginality/value: - In spite of prevailing sales promotions and brand names in online shopping, little research has addressed the effect of promotion and brand name on online apparel shoppers' responses. The empirical evidence of this study will contribute to the literature in online apparel retailing fields.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of continuous change in educational organizations	[ "Educational change", "Structural equation modelling", "Continuous change", "Public school teachers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite conceptual richness, theoretical plurality, the question of how to bring successful change to schools is a top concern among scholars and practitioners, as most interventions either have failed to achieve their targets or have not been implemented at all (Cheng and Walker, 2008; Payne, 2008; Meaney and Pung, 2008). Several scholars warned about both the financial and human losses caused by frequent but failing change interventions (e.g. Clegg and Walsh, 2004; Beer and Nohria, 2000). Employee dissatisfaction and low morale, commitment problems, cynicism, high turnover and increased stress are some of the other negative outcomes of failed change related to the human capacity of an organization (Jansson, 2013; Mohrman et al., 2003; Reichers et al., 1997). These problems are recorded into the personal and organizational histories of individuals as negative experiences, and cause a negative impression about possible future change interventions (Author 2).\nTheoretical framework: Scholarly interest in continuous change has emerged relatively recently. However, largely because of high failure rates, there has been growing interest in discussions about continuous change, which, in turn, has resulted in an increase in the attention of educational scholars (Kondakci et al., 2016). Scholars working on continuous change have demonstrated a tendency to borrow different concepts from related fields of organizational science to explain the conceptual bases of continuous change. In their seminal work, Weick and Quinn (1999) utilized learning, improvisation and sensemaking as frameworks for explaining the conceptual bases of continuous change. Recently, Kondakci et al. (2016) added self-organization as another concept within this explanatory framework. These concepts work together to explain the operating the dynamics of continuous change.\nMethods: In this study, the purpose was to reveal the relationships among the antecedents and outcome variables demanded a correlational research design. The cluster sampling method was used in collecting the data. For the schools which are located in and around the residential provinces of the researchers, the data collected by the researchers. The scales were administered in the teachers' lounge of the schools. A smaller proportion of the data were collected by e-mailing the scales to the principals and head teachers and asking these constituencies to distribute the scales through e-mails. The teachers independently filled the questionnaires and returned them to the researchers. As a result of utilizing these two methods, data from 648 teachers working in 28 different cities were collected. The majority of participants were female (62.2 percent), and the mean age was 37.17 (SD = 8.36). Of the participants 1.7, 62.2, and 35.8 percent were, respectively, working in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. Participants' teaching experience ranged from 1 year to 43 years, and only a small portion of them held any administrative experience (17.9 percent) as school principal or vice-principal. When it comes to change-related in-service trainings received, 89.4 percent of the participants responded positively.\nResults: Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations\nDiscussion and conclusions: In this study, the results of the SEM model provide import insights toward fostering an environment conducive to ongoing change and organizational development. The results of this study have highlighted three basic paths toward continuous change. Considering Armenakis and Bedeian's (1999) framework, context (workload, participatory management, trust), outcome (job satisfaction) and process factors (knowledge sharing, social interaction) function through direct and indirect paths to contribute in the prediction of continuous change behavior. However, in the model as a whole, knowledge sharing played a pivotal role in promoting continuous change behavior in schools. Knowledge sharing, together with job satisfaction, directly contributes to teachers' continuous change behavior. Nevertheless, the central role of knowledge sharing does not diminish the role of other contextual and process factors of change. Overall, the SEM model indicated that social interaction, trust and participatory management act to circulate the knowledge available in the organization. As indicated by several continuous change scholars (e.g. Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997; Feldman, 2000; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002), a widened knowledge base provides the basis for ongoing experimentation, alteration and modification of work categories in schools. In addition to the relationships between process factors and continuous change behavior, the results indicated that outcome factor contributed significantly in the prediction of teachers' continuous change behavior by both direct and indirect means. That is, we concluded that higher job satisfaction is related with higher continuous change behavior while playing a mediating role in the prediction of continuing change behavior through perceived workload and knowledge sharing. The paths from process and outcome factors suggest that, first, investing in open and wide communication and broad social interaction contributes to knowledge sharing, and second, teachers' decreasing workload and increasing job satisfaction are two essential management practices for realizing continuous change in organizations. Finally, context factors such as trust and participatory management are mediated by process factors, primarily knowledge sharing, in their contribution to continuous change behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Drawing on and theorizing continuous change, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of continuous change behavior in schools. Relying on conceptual discussions about organizational change (OC), three sets of variables including context (workload, participatory management, trust), process (knowledge sharing, social interaction) and outcome (job satisfaction) were identified as antecedents of continuous change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To test the predictive value of the antecedents for continuous change, a correlational study was design and structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect relationships among study variables. The data were collected from a sample of 648 primary and secondary public school teachers.\nFindings: The results showed that context, outcome, and process factors function through direct and indirect paths to contribute to the prediction of continuous change behavior. Moreover, knowledge sharing either directly or indirectly played a central role in the prediction of continuous change behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: These results suggested that a widened knowledge base provides the basis for ongoing experimentation with, alteration, and modification of work categories in schools. Providing such factors in schools seems to facilitate the ongoing improvement of work practices in schools, even in the absence of a planned change intervention.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the first empirical studies tested the predictive value of antecedents of continuous change in school organizational context, where OC is the norm and change failures are very common.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Equity-oriented design in open education	[ "Open education", "Design research", "Annotation", "CSCL", "Equity-oriented design" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Being honest about designing has the potential to aid us - and others - in acquiring insights for and about learning. By, in effect, holding back on what we suggest are authentic aspects of designing, we wonder if we are limiting the new and improved ideas that could benefit the future of education.Svihla and Reeve (2016, p. 2)\nIntroduction: This paper concerns equity-oriented design in open education. Among the questions about educational equity and openness guiding this study, I ask: How do equity-oriented designs privilege certain types of open technologies as mediating artifacts? How do these designs account for sociocultural practices and contexts when creating and describing openly accessible learning? And what of the political relevance of new social and technical configurations in creating more participatory and agentic learning? As will be discussed, I draw upon the concept of infrastructuring (Bjorgvinsson et al., 2012) to share a design narrative about an open education project that has been shaped over time, by multiple stakeholders, and is of relevance to everyday learning practices. In response to the guiding interest of this special issue - how equity is taken up in discourse and practice across learning settings that feature digital technologies - I detail a design for infrastructuring learning that is simultaneously committed to greater educational equity and educational openness.\nTheoretical perspective: This study's theoretical perspective draws from Bjorgvinsson et al.'s (2012) approach to design. Reporting upon an initiative attuned to the complexities of equity-oriented design is a means, from this perspective, toward \"envisioning emerging landscapes of design through which social and material transformations take place, landscapes shaped by the opening up of questions and possibilities\" (p. 109). For Bjorgvinsson et al., such \"opening up\" occurs through infrastructuring, or a relational approach to socio-material design that spans time, engages both professional designers and participants as co-designers, is ongoing and embraces the unexpected and emergent. While infrastructuring creates, as one outcome, a particular type of designed artifact (a \"Thing\"), such processes of entanglement also modify interactional space - yet not in a universal sense, but in a way that is always partial, marginal and political. Accordingly, infrastructuring is an appropriate perspective through which to perceive equity-oriented design in \"political communities [that] are characterized by heterogeneity and difference\" (p. 116).\nMethodology: Having presented a theoretical perspective on design, sketched a scholarly context and noted a set of motivating research needs, I now accept Svihla and Reeve's (2016) suggestion for more \"designerly work\" in the learning sciences. For the past two years, I have helped shepherd a design-based research (DBR) effort investigating educator participation in an open CSCL environment. Here, I draw upon methodological traditions within DBR of design narrative (Bell et al., 2004) and the \"worked example\" (Barab et al., 2009) to describe the equity-oriented design of an open CSCL environment that has supported educator collaborative discourse about equity topics. My narrative methods attend to design context and detail how tools and activities changed over time. I also highlight principles, data and processes relevant to both design theory and project stakeholders as co-designers. While this initiative - the Marginal Syllabus - has successfully encouraged educator discussion about equity topics, an important distinction is necessary; this paper concerns the centrality of equity-oriented design methods (Teeters et al., 2016) when infrastructuring the Marginal Syllabus, in contrast to reporting inquiry about how educators discuss equity topics as an indicator of their interest-driven professional learning (i.e. Kalir and Perez, 2019). The purpose of this design narrative is to systematically recount and critically consider how mutually supportive commitments to educational equity and openness propelled this effort forward.\nDesign context and principles: In the summer of 2016, I began collaborating with members of a fledgling design team - including a K-12 educator and a representative from a technology organization - to explore how developments in open education might support educators' interest-driven learning about equity. These conversations were grounded in real-world concerns pertinent to the professional lives of educators. Despite dominant media narratives about apathetic educators disinterested in professional growth, we knew of many educators who wanted to read challenging texts, ask themselves and their peers tough questions and engage in robust deliberation - particularly about issues that mattered. Furthermore, and despite dominant professional narratives about educators' diminished capacity to commit limited resources (i.e. time, energy) to interest-driven learning, we had each collaborated with networks of educators who valued opportunities for collaboration across digital spaces. These initial conversations - which have now persisted in various forms and amongst an expanded design team for over two years - prompted infrastructuring of the Marginal Syllabus.\nAn open palimpsest model: Our design team has infrastructured the Marginal Syllabus as an open CSCL initiative by leveraging the open web, fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships, working with open content and engaging professional learning as an open practice. This equity-oriented outcome was possible only because we frequently enacted these design principles in tandem. For example, guiding educator participation in OEP has helped us better introduce and scaffold the use of open-source technology, and vice versa, as the affordances of the open web clarify how we have articulate the breadth and possibility of open practices. Inspired by the social practices of annotation which afford novel perspective on both an original source text and emergent intertextuality (Brown and Duguid, 1996), I now present a second and complementary outcome - the four previously discussed design principles in unison as an open palimpsest model for equity-oriented design in open education (Figure 1).\nInfrastructuring and iterating the marginal syllabus: The open palimpsest model for equity-oriented design in open education emerged from the principle-driven infrastructuring of the Marginal Syllabus. With the model as a reference, my design narrative now presents two key developments in this open CSCL initiative. Rather than presenting a linear review of the Marginal Syllabus from 2016-2017 through 2017-2018, I share notable design decisions that helped iterate the project and better orient our design team's integrated commitments to educational equity and openness.\nDiscussion: This design narrative asserts that there is a need for equity-oriented design in both the learning sciences (and, in particular, domains like CSCL) as well as in open education. A critical perspective on the relationship between equity and digital technology can usefully delineate how equity-oriented design methods encourage collaboration among stakeholders, attune to the dynamics of power and agency and respond to the worldly needs of partners and participants (like educators). In an attempt to help shape scholarly discourse and design, I have drawn upon the design theory of infrastructuring to advance a model pertinent to learning initiatives with dual commitments to educational equity and educational openness. The open palimpsests model for equity-oriented design in open education suggests that design principles may be layered together - in strategic and complementary fashion - so that the relevance of any given principle informs design decisions while, simultaneously, all the principles influence more equitable outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is threefold: to describe the equity-oriented design of a publicly accessible and openly networked computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) initiative that has supported educator discussion about equity topics; to identify design principles for equity-oriented design in open education; and to propose a model for the design of open learning initiatives that are mutually committed to educational equity and educational openness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper draws from design-based research methodology, specifically design narrative and the worked example. The paper is one response to the need for more \"designerly work\" in the learning sciences, generally, and more specifically in domains such as CSCL.\nFindings: Four design principles are identified that informed the equity-oriented creation and iteration of the Marginal Syllabus, an open CSCL initiative: leveraging the open web, fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships, working with open content and engaging professional learning as an open practice. This paper also advances the open palimpsests model for equity-oriented design in open education. The model integrates design principles to assist CSCL and open education designers and researchers in creating or iterating projects to be more equity-oriented learning opportunities.\nOriginality/value: This paper's design narrative identifies Marginal Syllabus design principles and advances the open palimpsests model for equity-oriented design in open education. The design narrative demonstrates how critical perspectives on the relationship between equity and digital technology can encourage collaboration among diverse project stakeholders, attune to the dynamics of power and agency and respond to the worldly needs of partners and participants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service quality and customers' purchase intentions: an empirical study of the Indian banking sector	[ "SERVQUAL", "Service", "Purchase intentions", "Regression" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Regulatory changes in the banking industry have been numerous and have reduced or eliminated barriers to cross-border expansion, creating a more integrated global banking market. Structural changes have resulted in banks being allowed a greater range of activities, enabling them to become more competitive with non-bank financial institutions. Technological changes have caused banks to rethink their strategies for services offered to both commercial and individual customers.\nFinancial sector liberalisation in India and service quality: The structural reforms initiated in the real sector of the Indian economy in 1991-1992, had a corollary in the reform of the financial sector. It was felt that a robust banking sector is essential for achieving the objectives of growth and development. To infuse greater competitive vitality in the system, the liberalisation of entry norms was recommended along with a liberal policy towards allowing private banks and foreign banks to open offices in India (Subramanian and Velayudham, 1997). Since the implementation of many of the recommendations, many new private sector banks have been set up, many foreign banks too have set up shop and many more are waiting in queue to get permission from the Reserve Bank of India. The interest rate structure has been deregulated to a great extent and banks have been given a great degree of freedom in determining their rate structure for deposits and advances, as well as their product range. Banking has become more competitive in respect of the pricing of bank products the number and types of retail banking products offered and the location of points of sale, that is, the branch network. The end result is that market power is getting shifted from banks to their customers. This consequent increase in competition has made service quality a key differentiating factor for banks attempting to improve their market and profit positions. In fact, studies have shown that there is a positive service quality-profitability relationship. However, the link between service quality and profits is not straightforward (Zahorik and Rust, 1992), and in order to delineate and understand the complex relation between the two, it is necessary to investigate the intermediate link. This important intermediate link between service quality and profits is the relationship between service quality and customers' behavioural intentions, which has not been well researched (Zeithaml et al., 1996). As Zahorik and Rust (1992) point out, studying behavioural responses to service quality can help managers estimate the financial consequences of investing in service quality. Hence, in order to better model the impact of service quality on profits, one has to first examine and comprehend how service quality influences behavioural responses. Considering the practical value of research on the link between service quality and customers' purchase intentions, the purpose of this study is to understand the dimensionality of customer-perceived service quality and investigate the influence of service quality on customers' purchase intentions in the Indian retail banking context. Kangis and Voukelatos (1997) had suggested that in the future, the blurring of identity between banks, insurance companies and of other possible competitors that will enter in the market, will accelerate, and that customers will shop around more than ever and profitability will come under pressure. It is within this rapidly changing environment as foreseen way back by Kangis and Voukelatos (1997), that service quality issues are compelling the attention of all banking institutions, and retail banks are striving towards increasing customer satisfaction through improved service quality. This is because it is a well-known fact that high quality service stimulates word-of-mouth (WOM) communications by current customers, enhances customers' perception of value, boosts the morale and loyalty of employees and customers alike and lends credibility to advertising and the field sales force (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991).\nService quality and customers' behavioural intentions: Parasuraman et al. (1985) undertook an exploratory study to investigate the concept of service quality. It was revealed that judgement of high and low service quality depended on how customers perceived the actual service performance in the context of what they expected. In short, service quality as perceived by the customers could be defined as the extent of discrepancy between customers' expectations and their perceptions. Building on the conceptual definition of service the next step was a quantitative research phase to develop an instrument for measuring customers' perceptions of service quality. The result was the development of the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al., 1988) where service quality (gap) scores were measured as the difference between perception scores and expectations scores across each attribute. With regards to operationalising service quality, SERVQUAL is still the most widely used instrument. Not only has research on this instrument been widely cited in the marketing literature, but its use in the industry has also been widespread and it is a popular measure of service quality (Teas, 1994; Lasser et al., 2000; Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002; Newman, 2001; Sureshchander et al., 2002; Zhu et al., 2002; Cunningham et al., 2002, 2004; Iwaarden and Van der Wiele, 2003; Allan, 2004; Sharma and Mehta, 2004; Akbaba, 2006; Voss et al., 2007; Choudhury, 2008; Swetlana, 2009; Padma et al., 2009; Camgoz Akdag and Zineldin, 2011; Azam et al., 2012; Butt and de Run, 2010; Nadiri and Hussain, 2005; Ko and Pastore, 2005; Narayan et al., 2009). In fact, the SERVQUAL instrument, based on the gap model, has dominated research in service quality. The central idea in this model is that service quality is a function of the difference scores or gaps between expectations and perceptions. According to Parasuraman et al. (1988 and 1991), SERVQUAL provides the basic skeleton underlying service quality and this skeleton, when necessary, can be adapted or supplemented to fit the characteristics or specific research needs of a particular organisation, and context-specific items can be used to supplement SERVQUAL. This has also been advocated by other researchers of service quality, who have echoed that contextual circumstances have a bearing on the perception of service quality. Katono (2011) in a study aiming to identify the most important e-service quality evaluation dimensions of ATMs in an emerging market context, found that tangibles, card issues, reliability and location are the most important service quality evaluation dimensions. In short, items used to measure service quality should reflect the specific service setting under investigation. It is necessary therefore to consider which issues are very important to service quality in their specific environments and consequently modify some of the items of the SERVQUAL scale and add or delete items from the SERVQUAL scale as required (Carman, 1990; Finn and Lamb, 1991; Dabholkar et al., 1996).\nMethodology: Sample design and data collection\nResults and findings: Factor analysis of the SERVQUAL scores\nConclusion: The dimensions of service quality\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the dimensionality of customer-perceived service quality and investigate the influence of service quality on customers' purchase intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A modified SERVQUAL instrument was used to capture customers' perceptions of service quality followed by exploratory factor analysis to study the dimensionality of service quality in retail banking. Multiple regression was used to probe the influence of the dimensions of service quality on purchase intentions.\nFindings: The results of the study provide strong support for the predictive power of perceived service quality on customers' purchase intentions and shows that reliability is most important for influencing customers' purchase intentions, followed by employee behaviour, tangibles and convenience.\nResearch limitations/implications: Refinement of the scale for measuring service quality in retail banking is possible based on future newer trends in retail banking. Multiple measures of the purchase intentions construct may also be considered in future research.\nPractical implications: Retail bank managers must realise the importance of reliability as the strongest driver for purchase intentions. Performing the service dependably and accurately is the heart of service marketing excellence. When a company performs a service carelessly, when it makes avoidable mistakes, it shakes customers' confidence in its capabilities and undermines its chances of earning a reputation for service excellence.\nOriginality/value: The study explores the relationship between service quality and purchase intentions by linking both constructs at their dimensional level. This increases the diagnostics of explaining customers' purchase intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Opportunities and constraints: the current struggle with BPMN	[ "Process management", "Modelling", "Standards", "Research work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Since the first lines were scratched into the dirt, people have been drawing pictures to help them explain things. People understand graphics - be it as part of Google Earth, in their Tom Toms, in software development projects, or in the management of business processes. The graphical specification of business operations and transactions in the form of so-called process models is an important tool in the design, re-design, enactment, and evaluation of business activities and regularly consumes a considerable amount of resources and time in process management projects (Indulska et al., 2006).A large number of graphical process modeling languages has been developed to aid organizations in the documentation of their processes. These languages range from simple flowcharting techniques to more advanced languages capable of capturing information required for process simulation and execution. The latest representative from the large camp of process modeling languages has become known under the acronym BPMN - the business process modeling notation (BPMI.org and OMG, 2006). BPMN is a recently published notation standard for business processes. It was developed by an industry consortium (BPMI.org), whose constituents represented a wide range of business process management (BPM) tool vendors but no end-users. Although the \"official\" release date was only February 2006, BPMN has quickly become a de facto standard for graphical process modeling. No other notation has seen such an uptake in such a short time as BPMN has. It is widely supported by both free and commercial process modeling tools (e.g. Pega, SparxSystems, Telelogic, Intalio, itp-commerce, Tibco, IBM Websphere, and Sungard), integrated into the curriculum of education providers (e.g. Widener University, Queensland University of Technology and Howe School of Technology Management), and part of the offerings of modeling coaches and consultants (e.g. Object Training, BPM-Training.com and BPMInstitute.org). Even other standardization bodies (Workflow Management Coalition, 2008) have revised their standard development efforts to incorporate BPMN.In light of this development, both for scholars studying the phenomenon of BPMN and for the wider community of BPM practitioners, three questions emerge that wait to be answered (zur Muehlen, 2008b):1. How can BPMN be used (i.e. what is theoretically possible)?2. How should BPMN be used (i.e. what is recommended for practice)?3. How is BPMN being used (i.e. what do people actually do with it)?A growing body of research has been conducted - and continues to do so - on questions (1) and (2). For instance, research has been published that examines BPMN's capacity to support workflow technology and domain representations (Recker et al., 2009), to facilitate semantic script analysis (Dijkman et al., 2008), and how to generate process (Ouyang et al., 2008a) and software code (Ouyang et al., 2008b) from BPMN. The fundamental question of how BPMN is actually being used, however, has not yet been fully examined. In fact, only a few studies have recently been published that begin to shed light into actual application and usage patterns concerning BPMN, mostly in the form of case studies (Recker et al., 2007a, 2006a, zur Muehlen and Ho, 2008). There is research on the uptake and use of standards in related areas, such as the work on the adoption of Unified Modeling Language (UML) in systems development (Siau and Loo, 2006; Kobryn, 1999; Dobing and Parsons, 2006); however, it remains unclear how many of these insights apply to the BPM context.The purpose in writing this paper is three-fold. First, to provide results from one of the very few large-scale studies of BPMN adopters and to deliver insights in the way BPMN is being implemented and used in business practice. Second, based on the experiences gathered in our research on the BPMN uptake over the last three years, to raise a number of implications and questions about the current and future state of research and practice in process modeling. Third, to stimulate future debate and discussion in the process modeling ecosystem of vendors, standardization bodies and end-users.We proceed as follows. Section 2 briefly introduces process modeling with BPMN and recapitulates the background of the research studies on the basis of which this viewpoint was crafted. Section 3 describes selected results from a global survey of BPMN adopters conducted in 2007. Section 4 discusses a number of BPMN usage problems uncovered during our studies. Section 5 concludes this viewpoint paper and suggests a number of pathways for practice, future development, and research in the area of BPMN.\n2 Background: (A) Process modeling with BPMN\n3 Selected findings: During our survey study, data were collected from BPMN modelers from over 30 countries world-wide. A requirement for participation was that the respondents should have actively developed process models with BPMN. Hence, the sample frame of interest to the survey included BPMN process modelers, i.e. those who develop BPMN process models (as opposed to individuals who merely are confronted with BPMN models, i.e. model readers).We received usable responses from 590 BPMN modelers. The geographic distribution of these respondents mirrors the general distribution of BPM practitioners world-wide (Palmer, 2007; Wolf and Harmon, 2006). Europe, North America, and Oceania account for almost three quarters of all responses (Figure 2). Almost 60 percent of respondents work for private sector companies. More than 40 percent of respondents work in large organizations with more than 1,000 employees, while 22.7 and 26.8 percent of respondents work for middle- and small-sized organizations, respectively. The organizational distribution of BPMN modelers closely mirror the survey of BPM practitioners reported in Wolf and Harmon (2006), who report a somewhat similar organizational distribution (28, 33 and 41 percent, respectively, for small-, medium- and large-sized organizations). The size of the process modeling team, in which respondents work as process modelers, ranges from less than ten members (64.4 percent of respondents) to more than 50 members (3.8 percent of respondents). This would suggest that, even in large corporations, the team of employees dedicated to BPMN modeling is small.Respondents were also asked to comment on the type of training received. Only 13.6 percent of respondents received formal training in process modeling with BPMN (e.g. by means of a licensed professional training provider or as part of university studies in BPM-related courses). Of those that were trained, certified courses through vendors and training providers appeared to be the most popular options (9.5 percent), followed by in-house training (5.1 percent). In contrast, roughly 70 percent of respondents learned BPMN process modeling through self-education or working on the job.While levels of training are arguably low, the respondents varied in terms of their experience with process modeling in general, and with BPMN in particular (Figure 3). The reported average amount of experience in process modeling was 6.4 years (with a median of 5). Experience in BPMN ranged from 15 days to five years (with an average of nine months and a median of four months). Interestingly, half-of-the-responses were obtained from process modelers with less than six months experience in BPMN. The limited amount of BPMN experience is most likely due to the recency of its release. While BPMN has been available in version 0.9 since 2002, only since 2004 was it officially released and announced in public. Moreover, BPMN's ratification as an Object Management Group (OMG) standard was finalized only in 2007.We were further interested in the types of application areas for which BPMN is being used in organizations. Figure 4 shows the most popular purposes for which BPMN is used as per the study participants (note that multiple answers were possible). It would appear that \"classical\" process management applications such as documentation, redesign, continuous improvement, and knowledge management dominate application areas of BPMN, while more technical application areas such as software development, workflow management, or process simulation are not (yet) widespread.Figure 4 also shows how the usage of BPMN varies in accordance to the application areas by indicating for which purpose respondents used either the core set of BPMN or an extended or full set. Overall, 32.5 percent of responded used the BPMN core set only, with a further 33.9 percent of respondents using the full set of BPMN sets and 23.4 percent of respondents using an extended but not full set of symbols.Regarding tool support for BPMN, Table I lists the ten most popular tools in use and also the type of functionality that users expect in a BPMN tool. As can be seen, Microsoft Visio denotes by far the most popular way to model BPMN, followed by itp-commerce's solution, which is in a Visio plug-in that extends the modeling capacities of Visio with a BPMN simulation engine, additional attributes and analysis options. Aside from these small-scaled solutions, a number of familiar names appear in Table I, e.g. SparxSystems, Telelogic, Intalio, IDS Scheer and Casewise. These vendors provide advanced BPM solutions with extended features that stretch beyond pure modeling capabilities. Overall, we notice a fragmented market of tool providers, indicated by the long-tail distribution of tools in use by organizations.Perusal of Table I further shows that end-users make use of extended tool functionality, if available. For instance, BPMN users often use model repositories, model browsers and similar functionality implemented in modeling tools to support the navigation between large numbers of BPMN models - functionality a basic drawing tool cannot deliver. Also, our research indicates that BPMN models are quite often extended with additional symbols (e.g. to articulate process-related risks, organizational information, performance indicators and the like) or even other models (e.g. organizational charts, business rule specifications, data information, or service descriptions). This situation points to BPMN being a pure process modeling language. Users, however, often are concerned with enterprise modeling - the capture of organizational information such as data, resources, risks, documents, etc. beyond the mere depiction of the control flow of their business operations. In fact, a lot of organizational tasks require additional information, be it for workflow specification (resources, data, objects, etc.), or compliance management (risks, mitigation strategies, process owners, etc.).\n4 User problems with BPMN - room for improvement: One of the prevalent objectives in our studies of the BPMN uptake and use was to gather insights about the way BPMN is applied for process modeling, and where certain pitfalls and drawbacks exist.In our study, of the factors explaining and predicting user acceptance of BPMN (Recker, 2008b) we found that user acceptance of BPMN is primarily dependent on two factors: instrumentality (usefulness and performance of BPMN for process modeling) and easiness (complexity of creating BPMN models).Both instrumentality and easiness, in turn, relate to two main characteristics of any modeling language - expressiveness (can I model everything that I deem required to have depicted in my diagram) and complexity (how cumbersome is it for me to select and specify the graphical constructs in my model?). Answers to these questions cannot only provide support to users working with BPMN but also serve as input to future revisions or extensions. And indeed, being an OMG (www.omg.org) standard, BPMN is constantly undergoing revisions and extensions. The updated version BPMN 1.1 was more or less quietly released early 2008, and working groups have already been formed to work on BPMN 2.0, which will come out some years into the future.In light of this ongoing development, our endeavor was accordingly to gather feedback from end-users, not on the strengths of BPMN but instead on its weaknesses - where future releases of BPMN can be improved. The following collection is a consolidated list of user responses we gathered about the issues of modeling with BPMN. Hopefully, these user issues serve as a starting point, not only for the BPMN developers but also for tool vendors, consultants, modeling coaches, and all those who want to identify - and avoid - obstacles when using BPMN for process modeling.(A) Support for business rule specification\n5 Conclusions: (A) Contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The business process modeling notation (BPMN) is an increasingly important standard for process modeling and has enjoyed high levels of attention in business practice. In this paper, experiences are shared from several research projects investigating the uptake and user acceptance of BPMN by analysts world-wide. This personal viewpoint aims to offer a number of implications for business process management (BPM) practice and seeks to stimulate and guide further research and other developments in this area.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper offers a personal viewpoint based on the experiences and findings gathered from survey research and interviews on the use of BPMN. While details on research execution are mostly omitted, references are provided to guide the interested reader to the methodology used in the original studies.\nFindings: - First, statistics are provided on the usage of BPMN by process modelers world-wide. Amongst others, it is shown that the high interest in BPMN has created a massive demand for BPM education and training. Second, a number of usage problems related to the practice of process modeling with BPMN are described and suggestions are provided as to how organizations have developed workarounds for these problems. Third, it is suggested that BPMN is over-engineered and more insights into practical usage are needed for future development.\nResearch limitations/implications: - While being based on empirical research, a limitation of this paper is the lack of detail about research execution; however, references are provided. The paper offers a personal viewpoint on the state of current and future practice of process modeling and discusses a range of implications for future research.\nPractical implications: - The paper describes a number of commonly encountered pitfalls when modeling processes with BPMN. It also provides directions for the organizational implementation and future development of process modeling as well as implications for various BPMN stakeholders.\nOriginality/value: - This viewpoint is derived from some of very few empirical studies on the usage of BPMN specifically and BPM standards generally.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs and regular insulin for diabetes control: a case study in Iran	[ "Diabetes mellitus", "Insulin analogs", "Regular insulin", "Incremental cost-effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Individual and public health is the most important aspect of human life (Sadock and Sadock, 2011). Diabetes is the most prevalent disease caused by metabolic disorders and the fifth leading cause of mortality in Western societies (Pakdaman et al., 2020). It is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide and its incidence is consistently increasing (Mansourghanaei et al., 2005). Type 1 diabetes is a chronic inflammatory disease with increasing prevalence in developed countries over the last few decades, especially among children (Achenbach et al., 2005). Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide (Zandkarimi et al., 2013). Gestational diabetes is another type of diabetes, characterized by carbohydrate intolerance of varying severity and begins or is diagnosed in the course of pregnancy (Sharifirad et al., 2008). Despite recent progress in pregnancy outcomes, women with gestational diabetes are at a higher risk of pregnancy complications (Navaie. et al., 2002). The incidence and prevalence of diabetes vary among societies (Rahimi et al., 2010). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 2.8% in 2000 and is expected to increase to 4.4.% by 2030, and the total number of people with diabetes is expected to rise from 171m in 2000 to 366m in 2030 (Kojaiibidgoli et al., 2009). Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% and type 1 diabetes accounts for 10-15% of all diagnosed diabetes cases (Mansourghanaei et al., 2005). In Iran, the prevalence of diabetes is even higher, with one study estimating it to be about 7.7% in people aged 25-64 years and this number is expected to increase. The prevalence of diabetes also varies among different regions of the country. The Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institutes of the University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, University of Tehran and University of Kermanshah have reported the prevalence of diabetes to be 2-10%, and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education has reported a prevalence rate of 3-11% (Kojaiibidgoli et al., 2009). According to statistics, about 5-6% of Tehran residents aged 3-69 years have diabetes. Studies show that the highest prevalence of diabetes exists in Yazd City (16.3%), which is associated with the dietary habits and lifestyle choices of the people. The prevalence of diabetes and glucose tolerance disorders increase with age (Timareh et al., 2012; Rahimi et al., 2016). Increased prevalence of diabetes over the last few decades has highlighted the need for the prevention and management of this disease (Salehi and Rezvan, 2016). Education can be a cost-effective strategy in vulnerable communities (Tadibi et al., 2020). Exercise and diet along with medical treatment have been recommended for treatment of diabetes (Gharh. and Poresmail, 2016). For decades, traditional techniques have been used for insulin injection. The first long-acting insulin was developed in the 1930s (Oliyaeemanesh et al., 2012). Most diabetic patients require the appropriate insulin for treatment, and the type and delivery of insulin play an important part in this process. The first insulin pen was introduced in the 1980s. The advantages of insulin pens for outpatients are ease of use and cost reduction, which increases patient satisfaction (CBossi et al., 2016). Almost 60% of diabetic patients use insulin pens, although usage varies among countries. For example, 95% of diabetic patients in Japan, China and Australia use insulin pens, while in the United States, they are used by only about 20% of patients (Anderson and Redondo, 2011). Subcutaneous insulin injection is the most common route for insulin administration, although it can cause pain, trypanophobia and tissue destruction. Identifying safe, low-pain pens has challenged healthcare providers for a long time, but it is the best alternative for traditional techniques and can increase the quality of life of diabetic patients (Li et al., 2017). The limiting pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic features of standard insulins, which often lead to hypoglycemia, have generated a renewed interest in insulin analogs with a lower risk of hypoglycemia. In recent decades, insulin analogs have been developed to overcome some of the disadvantages of regular human insulins. All types of insulin analog are produced by recombinant DNA technology, including glargine, as part, detemir and lispro (Oliyaeemanesh et al., 2012). Insulin is lifesaving for people with diabetes and is included on the Model List of Essential Medicines formulated by the WHO. This means it should be available at all times at a price the individual and the community can afford. However, over the past decade, insulin prices have tripled in the United States, while out-of-pocket costs per prescription doubled. High costs of medications can contribute to nonadherence, but the prevalence of cost-related insulin underuse is unknown (Herkert et al., 2019). The present research was conducted to examine the cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs versus regular insulin for controlling type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes as a guide for health policymaking.\nMethodology: The purpose of this descriptive-analytical study was to examine the cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs versus regular insulin (pens/vials) for diabetes treatment using the information from patient records at the Yazd University of Medical Sciences' Diabetes Center, Yazd City, Iran, in 2017 (Diabetes Research Center, 2020). Medical records of 200 patients who used regular insulin and 200 patients who used insulin analogs were reviewed. Data related to the outcomes and effectiveness of these treatments, including patient demographics, type of treatment, level of satisfaction, duration of illness, time of recovery and so on, were obtained through in-person or phone interviews with the patients or their families and by reviewing their medical records.EQ-5D was used to calculate the patients' quality-adjusted life-years (QALY). This questionnaire consists of five dimensions - that is, mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression - with each item having three levels: no problems, some problems, extreme problems. The QALY of patients is scored between 0 and 1 based on the instrument's scoring table. The instrument also has a thermometer-like scale ranging from 0 for the worst imaginable health status to 100 for the best imaginable health status. The respondents can mark the scale to indicate their level of health (Brooks et al., 2003). The dimensions of the instrument are rated between 1 and 3 for the best and worst health status, respectively. To align the health status of the patients with the acquired scores, first the number for each selected option was subtracted from 3 and the result was used to represent the health status of the patients for each dimension, with higher numbers indicating better health and vice versa. EQ-5D was separately completed for each patient and the results were presented in the quantitative form.To calculate costs, the study was conducted from a provider's perspective and the cost information of diabetic patients, including the cost of monthly tests and visits as well as the cost of insulin analogs and regular insulin, was extracted from the patients' medical records. The average cost per patient was determined in Iranian rials (IRR). The TreeAge Software (2011) was used to construct the decision tree as an economic evaluation model and the data related to outcomes and costs were entered into the software. After data analysis, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the interventions was calculated based on Iran's per capita GDP in 2017 as the threshold to determine their cost-effectiveness. Sensitivity analysis for the model was done with a 10% discount rate and a tornado diagram was generated.\nResults: Effectiveness\nCosts: The average cost of medication in every doctor's visit was 238,086 IRR ($2.1644) for patients using insulin analogs and 83,800 IRR ($0.761) for patients using regular insulin. The average cost of tests in every doctor's visit was 65.137 IRR ($0.5921) for patients using insulin analogs and 51,942 IRR ($0.4722) for patients using regular insulin. The average total cost was 355,165 IRR ($3.228) for patients using insulin analogs and 200,879 IRR ($1.826) for patients using regular insulin. Therefore, treatment using insulin analogs was less expensive than treatment using regular insulin (see Table 4).Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER)\nDiscussion: The results of the present research showed that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin. The results of sensitivity analysis indicated that changes in costs had no significant effect on the results. Costs were calculated in IRR, and according to the National Statistics Organization, the GDP of Iran was 6940.8 trillion rials in 2017 (publication central bank, 2004). By comparing the obtained ICERs to Iran's GDP as the threshold, it can be argued that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin.Valentine et al. (2018) determined that analog insulin was associated with an improvement in quality-adjusted life expectancy of 1.01 QALY per patient (12.54 vs 11.53 QALY). Analog insulin was also associated with an increase in direct costs of EUR4,490, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of EUR4,427 per QALY gained versus human insulin (Valentine et al., 2018).Morales et al. (2015) showed that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than NPH insulin for treatment of diabetes. ICER stayed below the EUR30,000/QALY threshold commonly accepted for Spain (Morales et al., 2015). In the present research, the ICER of insulin analogs versus regular insulin was calculated to be 10,258 IRR ($0.0935)/QALY, which, consistent with previous studies, indicates that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin. The results of Ridderstrale et al. (2013) indicated the lower risk of hypoglycemia and less weight gain in treatment with insulin analogs compared to NPH insulin and lead to higher quality of life and cost-effectiveness in the long term (Ridderstrale et al., 2013). In another study, Ramirez de Arellano et al. (2014) showed that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin in Spain due to the higher quality of life and effectiveness associated with analog insulin usage in the long term (Ramirez de Arellano et al., 2014).Although insulin analogs have been shown to be more cost-effective than regular insulin, some researchers argue that treatment with insulin analogs is more costly and, as a result, some patients prefer to use regular insulin. For example, Home et al. (2013) showed that while both types of insulin reduce HbA1c similarly, insulin analogs are more expensive than regular insulin and can become a burden for the healthcare system (Home et al., 2013).The cost-effectiveness analysis performed in the present research is consistent with other studies and shows that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin. Basal insulin analogs have received increasing attention in advanced countries. Pfohl et al. (2012) conducted an economic evaluation of a basal insulin analog (i.e. insulin glargine) compared to NPH in treatment of type 1 diabetes in Germany. They found that this basal insulin increased life expectancy by 0.196 years and improved QALYs by 0.396 units while at the same reducing costs by EUR5,246 per patient after 40 years compared to NPH. Therefore, they argued that insulin glargine was a cost-effective and even cost-saving alternative to NPH (Pfohl et al., 2012).In the present research, the average cost of diabetes treatment was 355,165 IRR ($3.2287) with insulin analogs and 200,879 IRR ($1.826) with regular insulin, which is consistent with previous findings regarding the higher cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs compared to regular insulin. Given that diabetes can occur at any age, there has been a growing interest among researchers to continue examining children with diabetes. For instance, Liu et al. (2016) compared the effectiveness of insulin glargine versus NPH in treatment of children with type 1 diabetes in China. They found that insulin glargine is not only more effective but also a useful alternative for Chinese diabetic children due to greater safety (Liu et al., 2016).Despite the various advantages of using insulin analogs, they may be risky for some patients and in these cases using regular insulin can prove to be safer and more effective. Permsuwan et al. (2016) investigated the long-term cost-effectiveness of insulin glargine versus NPH insulin for treatment of type 2 diabetes in Thailand. The results showed that insulin glargine was not a cost-effective treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes who had uncontrolled blood glucose (Permsuwan et al., 2016).\nConclusion: The results of the present research suggest that insulin analogs are preferable to regular insulin due to being associated with better quality of life and longer life expectancy. Our findings indicate that insulin analogs are more effective and cost-effective than regular insulin. Given the sensitive care that diabetic children and adult require, it is recommended that this technology be supported through government subsidies, primarily for these two age groups. Also, health insurance companies are recommended to offer and cover the costs of analog insulin treatment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: For years, traditional techniques have been used for diabetes treatment. There are two major types of insulin: insulin analogs and regular insulin. Insulin analogs are similar to regular insulin and lead to changes in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The purpose of the present research was to determine the cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs versus regular insulin for diabetes control in Yazd Diabetes Center in 2017.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this descriptive-analytical research, the cost-effectiveness index was used to compare insulin analogs and regular insulin (pen/vial) for treatment of diabetes. Data were analyzed in the TreeAge Software and a decision tree was constructed. A 10% discount rate was used for ICER sensitivity analysis. Cost-effectiveness was examined from a provider's perspective.\nFindings: QALY was calculated to be 0.2 for diabetic patients using insulin analogs and 0.05 for those using regular insulin. The average cost was $3.228 for analog users and $1.826 for regular insulin users. An ICER of $0.093506/QALY was obtained. The present findings suggest that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin.\nOriginality/value: This study was conducted using a cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate insulin analogs versus regular insulin in controlling diabetes. The results of study are helpful to the government to allocate more resources to apply the cost-effective method of the treatment and to protect patients with diabetes from the high cost of treatment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research libraries in a modern environment	[ "Academic libraries", "Transformation", "Research libraries", "Scholarly communication", "Strategic development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The world of research libraries is a quite complicated place to inhabit and investigate. Although it may seem that there is a clear understanding of what a research library is, if we define a research library by its affiliation with a research institution, very few pure research libraries exist in comparison with other types of libraries. In most cases they will hold quite small and focused collections. Because universities are regarded as higher education and research institutions, most academic libraries are also assumed to be performing the functions of research libraries (Curzon and Quinonez-Skinner, 2009). The confusion about research libraries is well illustrated by David Stam (1992) who exemplifies this confusion by citing a correspondence between Donald Gilchrist (the first Executive Secretary of the Association of Research Libraries) and some enquirers: \"My private opinion is\", writes Gilchrist, \"there's no such thing as a research library; ... If you will compare the definitions of the word 'research' in Murray's 'Oxford Dictionary' and Webster's 'New International', you can even make out a case for your own office reference shelf as a research collection.\" Gilchrist then proceeds to explain that the libraries, members of the ARL, are those \"offering wide and rich facilities to scholars\" (Stam, 1992, p. 3). Though this exchange of correspondence took place in 1939, the expressed opinion seems to be supported by the editors and authors of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (3rd ed.) in 2009, as it does not include an article on research libraries. In the general article on Libraries (Weil Arns, 2009, p. 3283), research libraries are not considered as a separate type and are merely included with other special libraries.\nChange in the immediate environment of research libraries: Different forces change the environment and affect organizations including libraries: the globalization of economics, the ongoing financial crisis in Western countries, migratory processes in the world, ecological threats caused by the impact of human activity on the environment, access to national, cultural materials on the international level and so on. Some of these processes are more significant to research libraries than others. The ways in which scientists collaborate are changing, and the institutional, national, and international policies and practices related to intellectual property, ethics and morality evolve under a variety of pressures (Dutton and Jeffreys, 2010). The immediate environment of research libraries is constituted by institutions conducting research. They respond to external political and economic pressures; they appropriate technologically innovative ways of producing knowledge; and, share and disseminate the outcomes of research processes.\nResearch libraries' response to change: Misbalance in the system requires efforts to adapt to changing conditions throughout the library activity system. In this part of the article, new approaches and solutions adopted by research libraries will be presented as follows: changes in understanding library infrastructure; acquisition, collection management and knowledge organization; access provision and services.\nLibrary strategies for development and their influence on the environment: The previous section focuses on the reactions of libraries to changes in the environment. This section introduces activities that are to some extent pro-active. It discusses ways that libraries use to analyze the future and influence possible changes.\nConclusion: The first thing to emphasize as a conclusion is quite trivial; the conditions and environment in which research libraries exist are significantly affected by developments in higher education and research economics, organization, communication technology, and the behavior of research communities. In most cases, the direction of change is difficult to predict even for a short time span.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the monographic literature related to developments in research libraries within recent years and the strategies that they are adopting to deal with change. The main aim is to identify any visibly established directions along which research libraries adapt to their social and organizational environments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative content analysis was applied to identify topics emerging from the texts. The chosen texts were read and topics signifying directions of change in the immediate environment of research libraries were mapped. This initial topic map was used for ascertaining the reactions of research libraries to identified changes. The activities of libraries directed to future anticipated changes were noted separately.\nFindings: The review shows the surprising resilience of research libraries and their ability to change within a short period of time. This ability signifies that research and academic libraries as organizations perfectly adapt to the incessant transformations of current times, contrary to the widely spread stereotypical image of them as conservative institutions. At the same time, they seem to be keeping true to their core of mediating services to researchers and to their place in the chain of scholarly communication.\nOriginality/value: The article identifies the main directions of transformation of research libraries and outlines their potential roles in the future of digital scholarly communication.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
(Responding to) Youth epistemologies to create a third space: a reclamation of learning in an English language arts classroom	[ "Critical pedagogy", "English language arts", "Social justice", "Youth epistemologies", "Third space" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many public schools and, in particular, English language arts classrooms, are currently spaces where \"learning has become disturbingly conflated with achievement\" (Patel, 2016). For many minoritized and marginalized youth, schools, in this way, are dehumanizing spaces. Such dehumanization is no accident; it occurs by a design that prioritizes competitiveness over humanization, high stakes testing over critical thinking and encloses the perpetuation of inequality in the language of \"common sense\" (Kumashiro, 2008; Sleeter, 2008). For many students of color, schools are often oppressive spaces or sites of domination, social regulation and reproduction (Au, 2015; Patel, 2016). The dehumanization of Latinx students and additional minoritized groups is exacerbated by Eurocentric epistemologies that dominate schooling and white middle class norms that predominate the curriculum, pedagogies and assessments (Duncan-Andrade and Morrell, 2008; Ginwright, 2008). Furthermore, as researchers and policymakers search for remedies to address so-called achievement gaps, they often fail to meaningfully engage those directly impacted by changes in policy and practice, namely, students (Irizarry, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2006).\nThird space in education research: We situate our inquiry in scholarship on third space in education research and curriculum construction. Third space theory emphasizes the integration of the first space of home/local community with the second space of more formalized institutions (e.g. classroom/school) (Gutierrez et al., 1999). The construction of a third space illustrates the interplay of two epistemological and experiential realities: the first space, representing the spheres of community and home, and the second space, standing for the discourse and knowledge embedded in formal institutions such as schools (Moje et al., 2004). Anzaldua's (1987) work reconstructs the concept of space and identity by envisioning a hybrid nature of subjectivity of people who live \"in-between,\" \"on the margins\" and \"beyond/along the borders\" of their identities (p. 1). Such marginality becomes a \"site for radical possibility, a space of resistance\" (Hooks, 1990, p. 149) where students imagine their future selves. This in-betweenness is a vague and indeterminate space where contradictory positions and mobility emerge, interact and dwell (Licona, 2012).\nCurriculum in a third space: The positive academic development effects of culturally relevant and sustaining instruction are well documented (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Paris, 2012). Culturally and socially relevant curricula are more effective in raising the intellectual and academic development of marginalized students (Morales Morales et al., 2017). A third space is a bridge between a student's home, community and cultural discourses and practices, and school discourses and practices. Scholars have argued for a \"third space\" conceptual framework (Gutierrez, 2008; Kirkland, 2008) as a meeting of students' funds of knowledge and literacies that does not \"devalue either in the process of school learning and access\" (Paris, 2012, p. 94). In creating curriculum for a third space, teachers and students use personal experiences and cultural and linguistic resources to transform the space and its curriculum. To avoid essentializing culture or imposing a Western lens on minoritized youth, student's voice is crucial to curriculum representation and implementation.\nMethodology: We situated our construction of a third space within a broader ethnography of the \"our literate lives matter\" class we taught at Hillside Vocational High School (HVHS; pseudonym). The university-school partnership involved university-based researchers from the college of education at a public university teaching an ELA class for mostly Latinx juniors. Critical ethnography (Madison, 2011) centered our emphasis on youth engagement for social change and justice, as well as our inquiry on how the classroom space was constructed, shared and navigated by the students and ourselves, who, in this study, were researchers and classroom teachers.\nFindings: As a research team, we designed a culturally responsive curriculum including a YPAR component prepared to shift as the students responded to the curricular content, us as non-school-based educators, as well as our multimodal and experiential course experiences. The resulting experience revealed an opportunity for a reclamation of the English language arts classroom to be an expansive context for learning (Patel, 2016) through the emergence of a third space. Overall, we found that by acting in humility, care and vulnerability, we were able to develop a praxis of ethics (Patel, 2016) for engaging in both critical pedagogy and education research, in partnership with the students. Three themes emerged from the data that demonstrate how instructors and students collectively engaged in a third space. These themes include: cultivating an atmosphere of social justice awareness, developing a praxis of ethics rooted in an ethic of care and the reimagining of our ELA classroom space a transformative educational experience.\nReimagined English language arts classroom: At the core of our engagement in the classroom was an immutable belief in the utility of students' funds of knowledge (Gonzalez et al., 2005). As co-instructors, we approached teaching as a commitment to learn about students' lived experiences, personal and academic background knowledges, ways in which youth navigated every day in and out of their various community contexts, and perspectives or world views inevitably shaped by current sociopolitical, historical and cultural realities. In contrast to the districts' framing of the Latinx student population as chronically underperforming, our intent was to uncover and demonstrate to students the ways \"Latina/o culture [is] positively linked to intellectual thought\" (Romero et al., 2008, p. 135).\nConclusion: Our study engages the creation of a third space in an ELA class for juniors within a high school. The ELA class focused on learning about issues that impacted students' lives, researching topics that were interesting to them, and reading texts that focused on characters who came from similar backgrounds. The students' engagement and our interest in including their ways of knowing, knowledge of the school and community and their interests offer a window into what reimagining an ELA class can look like. For instance, we perceived the need to decenter what we had planned for the ELA class and shift to consider how the third space can be seen as a space that includes educational assemblages, in which youth and their communities are at the center of the classroom/space and curricular materials.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the construction of a third space within a high school. Specifically, the authors consider how youth of color engage the educational context of an 11th grade English language arts (ELA) class as a basis for (re)imagining their history, culture and themselves to construct counter-narratives away from framing their lived educational experiences as failures, deficient and depicted in \"damage-centered\" (Tuck, 2009) ways. The research engages the process and challenges of creating this type of space within a school setting, as well as examining the ways in which students envision these locations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Critical ethnography centered the emphasis on youth engagement for social change, as well as the inquiry on how the classroom space was constructed, shared and navigated by the students and ourselves (Madison, 2005). In addition, the research design reflects critical ethnography through the use of prolonged participation in the field (nine and half months), a focus on culture (specifically school and classroom culture/climate) and a critical theory-based framework [hybridity, third space and youth participatory action research (YPAR)].\nFindings: Three major themes emerged from the data that demonstrate how instructors and students collectively engaged in a third space through the YPAR project. These themes include developing an ethic of care with students and among instructors, cultivating an atmosphere of social justice awareness and the contrast of the classroom space with the wider-Hillside Vocational High School environment.\nOriginality/value: The study engages the use of YPAR within a high school class that became a unique space for students to learn and develop. The ELA class did not just reflect adding the first space and second space together or merging the two. Instead, it seemed to demonstrate the creation of a new type of space or the development of a third space. In this space, students could bring and bridge their out-of-school and in-school experiences to develop new knowledge and ways of seeing the world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An information system model in Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises	[ "Information systems", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Alternative medicine", "Process planning", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: For two decades since the early 1970s, computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) has received a great deal of attention from top management of corporations to officials of government departments responsible for industry in many countries worldwide (Zhou and Chuah, 2002). The overall aim of CIM is to enable different software computer-based functions and processes to be integrated into a coherent system to achieve the business objectives of the firm (Gunasekaran and Thevarajah, 1999).The key to CIM is the word, integration (of information, software, hardware, and human's action).CIM is more than automation and computerisation. It is the integration by means of \"informationalization\" of the manufacturing, management, and business administration functions of the enterprises. Wu (1997), the director of China's National CIMS Expert Team, thinks \"CIM is to use information technology and contemporary management know-how to remould traditional manufacturing industries, to strengthen new and developing manufacturing industries, and to improve market competitive abilities of companies\". In short, CIM is the result of contributions from many disciplines and increasingly, it is viewed as a strategic thrust, an operation philosophy and methodology (Zhou and Chuah, 1999; Spinosa et al., 1995).Today, the CIM concept has been adopted by different industries other than the manufacturing enterprises for which it was originally developed. The distinction between CIM technology and information technology has become rather fuzzy with the advent of MRP and ERP. Strategic formulation, managerial and operational decision making is greatly enhanced with a well-developed information system in place. It is the case of the enterprise's knowledge and source of intelligence helping to push the enterprise's technological progress and management development.In recent years, the Chinese government has been putting great emphasis on enhancement of enterprise knowledge and the concept of the learning organization. It is trying to get across to the Chinese industries the message, \"let informationalization drive the industrialization course of Chinese industries; and in turn, let industrialization promote informationalization\". This will have a profound and lasting influence on the future development of Chinese industries. Compared to the developed countries, China's industrialization has a long way to go to catch up. Although China has gone through two decades at a fast pace of economic growth, she is still very much a developing country. Her next stage of industrialization has many difficulties and challenges. These difficulties include:1. the fundamental installations of many industries particularly the state-owned enterprises are outmoded and backward;2. the degrees of computerization and automation are generally very low;3. the educational levels of employees are low;4. organizational structures and management of many of the enterprises are outdated and ineffective; and5. accounting practice, documentation standards, public information and legal infrastructures are imperfect.These are obstacles that must be overcome in the next stage of industrialization and enterprise development. As a simple example, the well-established management information systems such as MRP II, ERP imported from the developed countries are often unsuitable for the Chinese enterprises because of all the above-mentioned difficulties. Therefore, there is a need to develop information models and systems that can be used by the Chinese enterprises in the present circumstances.This paper focuses on the development of such an information system in the Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises that are typical flow-process industries. Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing has its unique characteristics. In general, the research and development (R&D) of Chinese herbal products is separated from Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing. The R&D of Chinese herbal products needs much larger time and a great deal of investment. The Chinese herbal products require a large amount of toxic characteristic and pharmacodynamic tests and clinical tests before the eventual final product and packing of the \"manufactured herbal medicine\" design. In China, the Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing can be described as a process of turning the \"big, black, and rough herbs\" to \"small, prime looking, and fine\". The consumable form's essential constituent ingredients of the various herbs in the final medicine are to be controlled and measured quantitatively. The different consumable forms of Chinese herbal medicine include tablets, capsules, powder and liquid mixtures. Today, Chinese herbal products have been sold to the international market and are getting extensive acceptance worldwide.However, compared with Western pharmaceutical manufacturing, Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing is quite backward. First, the \"contents\" of the raw materials, i.e. the herbs, may vary as they change with seasons and places of origin. Second, manufacturing facilities are often outdated and low in effectiveness. The quality of the herbal extraction depends on the experience and skills of the operators to some extent. Third, many of these enterprises basically rely on human experience, depend on manual methods and papers to operate and manage the business with little or no computer-based technologies. Finally, the educational levels of these enterprises' employees are generally low. All these will pose difficulties and problems for the implementation of computer-based information technology in these enterprises.This paper deals with the development of an information system model for Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises. It describes its structure and functions, and discusses the implementation problems as well as the accumulated experience.\n2. An information system model: We adopted a generic information system model as shown in Figure 1, based on the analysis of the requirements and characteristics of several typical Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises.In this model, the hardware platform represents an enterprise's local area network (LAN) that includes servers, personal computers and peripheral and auxiliary equipment. On this system, MS windows 2000 operation system, office 2000 tools, SQL server 2000 (database) and a variety of network protocols are installed. Five application modules are developed to support the use of this information system, namely office automation (OA), product technology support (PTS), supply chain management (SCM), quality information system (QIS), and manufacturing executive system (MES).The functional structure of the information system is shown in Figure 2. It consists of five application modules and two support systems, i.e. a network support system and an engineering database system. The network support system uses a star-type topology structure. The trunk network employs 10M/100M rapid exchange Ethernet. The sub-networks connect to the trunk network with intelligent hubs. There are two servers, one for the engineering database, and the other for the document/file management. The network topology structure is shown in Figure 3.2.1 Office automation (OA)\n3. Implementation of the information system model: The information system model described was implemented in several Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises (namely Nanjing Zhongshang Pharmaceutical Plant, Jilin Tonghua Wantong Pharmaceutical Plant, Nanjing Tongrentang Pharmaceutics Ltd Co., etc). During implementation, we encountered many difficulties discussed earlier. The following sections sum up our experience in this project.3.1 Implementation strategy and methodology\n4. Conclusion: In this paper, we have described our recent experience in helping to develop and implement computerized information systems in Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises. We have proposed an information system model for these Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises, taking into consideration their characteristics and special circumstances. Finally, we have discussed the issues and experience of the case implementation of the proposed information system models in the three Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises. We have found that the information system model proposed here is feasible and can be used not only in other Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises, but also in other flow-process industries. The issues discussed in this paper are common to many Chinese enterprises today, particularly the small and medium-size enterprises. Our experience described here provides a useful reference for such enterprises' attempt into technological and management process innovation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper deals with the modelling of an information system for Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises, describes its structures and functions, and discusses its implementation issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case experience is presented.\nFindings: - Enterprises within this industry have big differences in production and management process and practice. The implementing plan must consider these differences and have adaptable solutions to fit the firm's conditions. It has been found that the information system model proposed here is feasible and can be used not only in other Chinese herbal medicine manufacturing enterprises, but also in other flow-process industries.\nOriginality/value: - The issues discussed in this paper are common to many Chinese enterprises today, particularly the small and medium-sized enterprises. The experience described here provides a useful reference for such enterprises' venture into technological and management process innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From forest firefighting doctrine to digital battlefield: a case study	[ "Geographical information system", "Forest fire suppression management", "Means dispatching", "Software system", "Tactical situation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Fires affect forest ecosystems in a recurrent fashion. Except in particularly cold or wet zones, they occur on every continent, including in northern latitude areas such as Canada and Russia. Moreover, the phenomenon is perceived in an ambivalent way:\nResearch on the fight against forest fires: The fight against forest fires covers a wide range of activities that have led to a number of avenues of research that can be classified into four categories: risk assessment, fire detection and observation, simulation, and firefighting management. It is recognized that certain software systems provide features that are relevant to more than one of these categories. There is thus a trend towards the creation of integrated decision support systems.\nDiscussion: It should be noted that the methods and tools introduced above are less often used than one would expect. This situation is easy to analyze:\nProject context: Operational procedures in France\nManual intervention management: Figure 1 shows the two kinds of board available in a CP. This illustrates how operations were managed up to the start of the 2000s:\nDigital intervention management: With the above described situation as a starting point, the objectives of the project were to introduce digital technologies without jeopardizing existing working practices. Accordingly, the two CPs were equipped with the following:\nFunctioning of a planning unit: The planning unit is set up after the intervention management unit and is characteristic of large operations. Fire brigade officers with in-depth experience with interventions are assigned to this unit. They are also frequently advised by experts from the French Forestry Board.\nManual vs digital intervention management: In comparison with manual methods, we believe that computerized intervention management has led to progress on three levels, namely the use of IT networking, the volume of data and the quality of information.\nOther application fields: The fight against forest fires was the initial issue that motivated the creation of the system. However, since the concept of the digital battlefield has a more widespread application, we upgraded the software to enable it to handle other types of intervention, e.g.:\nConclusion: The software is currently used in several French regions which, among others, are all regularly threatened by forest fires (Figure 5). Due to the flexibility of the tool, one can also envisage that its dissemination will extend beyond the areas in question in the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of information technology (IT) in the fight against forest fires in southern France.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The focus is on specifying the infrastructure and equipment used during operational interventions, as well as the role and functioning of the mobile command posts, which represent the nerve centers. As part of the firefighters operational practices, the concepts of the \"tactical situation\" and the \"mobile means board\" are at the heart of operations management. The purpose of the tactical situations is to present a synthetic overview of the theatre of operations through graphic representation on a background map. The function of the mobile means board is to manage the life cycle of the different resources engaged in the operations. The author first shows how these concepts were developed within the framework of manual management only. This is followed by an IT solution using a geographical information system for each of these operational modes.\nFindings: A profound recognition of operational practices was a prerequisite to enable the personnel to accept a progression towards the use of IT techniques.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implemented approach precisely reflects the French forest firefighting doctrine. Application to other countries would thus require some adaptation.\nOriginality/value: The software system provides an easy access to geographical information functionalities for firefighters managing forest fires. This is achieved in the framework of strict compliance with their recognized operational methods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Who is included in VET, who not?	[ "VET", "Inclusion", "Disadvantaged groups", "Switzerland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Like other countries, Switzerland seeks to promote the inclusion of people having difficulties to access the regular educational structures. Considering the importance of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system at upper secondary level, the inclusion in regular VET programmes is of particular interest. About two-thirds of the adolescents in Switzerland choose VET after compulsory education. Accessing and completing regular VET are important steps to gain a foothold in the primary labour market and to continue education and training at tertiary level. Adolescents and young adults with a migration background or with special education needs often face difficulties in taking these steps. Efforts were made in the past 15 years to promote inclusion of these two vulnerable groups in VET by offering adapted programmes and support measures. Before evaluating their effectiveness, some theoretical considerations are presented as well as an overview of relevant policy goals, legal frameworks and of the general situation of inclusion of the two groups (section 2). Then, the various pathways from compulsory school to upper secondary VET in the Swiss education system are described, as well as the support measures provided in the low-threshold two-year VET programmes leading to a nationally recognised certificate (section 3). The accessibility of regular VET through indirect pathways is examined with data from the national monitoring statistics (section 4). Then follows a detailed presentation of the general effectiveness of the two-year VET programmes and the inclusion of students with migration background or special education needs, based on results from national evaluation studies and monitoring data (section 5). Finally, conclusions are taken and the present state of inclusion in VET is discussed (section 6).\n2. Inclusion of vulnerable groups in upper secondary education: Equal opportunities, participation and inclusion are standards to which the United Nations (UN) are committed through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (General Assembly of the United Nations, 2015). The Agenda sets the global goal to secure inclusive, equal and high-quality education as well as possibilities for lifelong learning for all people by 2030. This includes equal access to all levels of education for all, in particular for people with disadvantages or special education needs. Inclusive education means to design, to the greatest extent possible, teaching and learning environments for all people to enable them to gain knowledge, skills and to learn with motivation (Burgstahler, 2015). Applied to VET, the concept of inclusion implies that separative VET tracks should be avoided to allow young people with sociocultural disadvantages or disabilities to be educated and trained in regular VET structures (e.g. Heisler, 2015). The regular system should therefore be more flexibly adapted to the needs of the learners. But critical voices hold that this could eventually rather foster exclusion than inclusion, if low-level programmes are offered which are not regarded as sufficient to prepare young people for the first labour market (e.g. Biermann, 2015). The Swiss Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act (VPETA) stipulates a balancing of education and training opportunities regarding social and regional aspects, equality of women and men as well as the elimination of discrimination of people with disabilities (Swiss Confederation, 2002, Article 3c). However, inclusive education in Switzerland is challenged by a selective system of compulsory education (Scharnhorst and Kammermann, 2018) as well as by a selective apprenticeship-market, driven by economic efficiency, i.e. employers' interests (Di Maio et al., 2019). This dilemma is expressed in the federal guide for two-year VET-programmes which states that specific solutions - also outside the regular VET system - may be needed to meet the requirements of inclusion (SBFI, 2014).The inclusiveness of the Swiss VET system will be addressed separately but generally, education at upper secondary level is remarkably effective. The national monitoring statistics from 2011 to 2016 show that 90% of the students graduated within five years. The rest had either stopped their education (5%) or had not yet graduated (5%). However, the graduation rates differ between the cantons, sexes, migrant status and social origins of the students (BFS, 2018a).A national educational policy goal from 2006 (restated in 2011 and 2015) stipulates that 95% of all Swiss residents should have an upper secondary qualification by the age of 25 years because this is important for stable employment in Switzerland's highly developed economy (EDK, 2006). To reach this ambitious goal, more young people having problems to access the regular education structures at upper secondary level need to be included. 2.1 General state of inclusion of migrants\n3. Ways to access regular VET and alternatives: Figure 1 shows possible direct (continuous arrows) and indirect (dotted arrows) transitions and pathways from compulsory school to educational offers at upper secondary level in Switzerland. Subsequent transitions to the labour market or to tertiary education are also indicated.In Switzerland, VET mainly occurs in the dual form combining in-company training and vocational school. Entirely school-based VET only makes up a small part (Wettstein et al., 2017). The general education tracks at upper secondary level (right side of Figure 1) are not shown in detail as they are not the focus of this article. The centre of Figure 1 shows the dual initial VET programmes with a duration of two, three or four years (see 3.3). The two-year VET programmes (framed in dark grey) are supposed to provide a low-threshold access to regular VET and are crucial for students with low achievement due to sociocultural disadvantages or disabilities. For most of them, accessing and completing a regular two-year VET programme will be the only way to obtain a nationally recognised upper secondary certification. Students who cannot access certifying upper secondary VET or general education programmes directly after compulsory school may first take a transitional programme (light grey bar above compulsory school). Students from special schools for whom a transitional programme is still too demanding may start a practical vocational training of two years (left side of Figure 1, framed in light grey). These trainings are funded by the Disability Insurance, do not lead to nationally recognised certificates and are therefore not part of the regular VET system.Following Figure 1 from the bottom, the indirect pathways for accessing the regular VET system will be presented (3.1 and 3.2) before shortly describing the dual VET programmes of different length (3.3) and the available support measures in the low-threshold two-year VET programmes (3.4). 3.1 Transitional pre-VET programmes\n4. Accessibility of regular VET through indirect pathways: In this section, results from the national monitoring of upper secondary education, especially with regard to VET, are presented to give an account of the participation of students with migration background or special education needs. Generally, the types of upper secondary programmes attended and the students' progression in them are influenced by selection processes in lower secondary education (BFS, 2018a): the chances for being in a more demanding programme and for a regular progression are better for women than for men, for Swiss than for foreign students and for students having well-educated (tertiary qualification) than for students with low-educated parents (no upper secondary qualification). 4.1 Transitional programmes or direct enrolment\n5. Effectiveness of two-year VET and inclusion: The overall graduation rate reported for two-year VET (84%) was not much lower than the one for three- and four-year VET (89%) (BFS, 2018a). However, it varied considerably between vocational fields. Furthermore, about 10% of the graduates of two-year VET originally started a three- or four-year programme but were reoriented (BFS, 2018a). In contrast, 4% of the students in two-year VET were promoted after the first year and continued in a three- or four-year programme (BFS, 2015).Two-year VET programmes were introduced with an inclusive intention by the Swiss Confederation (2003; 2002) and various support measures (see 3.4) are provided to help students with difficulties to complete them successfully. As two-year programmes are a stepping stone to certifying upper secondary VET, two main questions arise:How did two-year VET programmes evolve since their introduction?How successful are they, in general, and for young people with migration background or with special education needs in particular?These questions are addressed in the next sections. 5.1 Evolution of two-year programmes\n6. Conclusions and discussion: In Switzerland, two-year VET programmes and related support measures are intended to facilitate the access to certifying upper secondary education for academically low achieving youth. Their function as a gateway makes these programmes important for the inclusion of students with migration background or special education needs. However, many of these students struggle to find direct access to two-year VET programmes. Their transition is encouraged with specific pre-VET programmes for migrants and PrAINSOS trainings for students from special schools.Young migrants are overrepresented in transitional offers which they may often need but which also delay their entry into certifying VET. A very high risk of delayed entry in VET also exists for young people with a special education background. They are also overrepresented in transitional programmes and often stay in them for more than a year. Alternatively, the competences acquired in PrAINSOS programmes may lead to a job in the primary or in the protected labour market or to an entry in a two-year VET programme. Nevertheless, students with a special education background are at high risk of exclusion from certifying upper secondary VET.Additionally, young migrants are also overrepresented in two-year VET compared to three- or four-year VET. This can be interpreted as a positive result if inclusion is defined by obtaining a recognised upper secondary qualification regardless of its level. However, it can also be regarded as a systematic segregation into a lower level qualification track.Premature contract terminations concern one-fourth of the students in two-year VET - a similar rate as in three- or four-year VET. However, only about half of the two-year VET students subsequently re-enter VET. In particular, foreign students born abroad less frequently resume a VET programme, perhaps due to a lack of a personal and familial network. If young migrants successfully graduate from two-year VET, the difficulties they may have faced to access and complete it are not reproduced: their chances to get a job do not differ from Swiss graduates. This means that an inclusive effect of two-year VET for persons with migration background can be confirmed.The majority of the graduates from two-year VET are satisfied with their education and training and consider it as useful for their current vocational activity. Teachers and trainers are also positive about the evolution of the programmes. The great majority of the students taking the final examinations pass them successfully. A third of the graduates profit from the permeability to enrol in a three- or four-year VET programme and graduate within reasonable time, although students with migration or special education background do so less frequently.Two-year VET is also effective because most graduates eventually find an occupation in the first labour market. Observed disparities regarding labour market entry and NEET status after graduation for persons with a special education background level out in a mid- and long-term perspective. However, graduates of two-year VET with a special education background are at risk of delayed labour market entry and of non-linear, precarious careers with phases of unemployment and job changes - effects that might become stronger in case of an economic depression.Despite many positive results, the inclusion of students with migration background or special education needs in the regular VET system cannot be fully approved based on the presented empirical findings.The effectiveness of the specific support measures should therefore be analysed in more detail to adapt and intensify them if needed, or to develop new forms of support, especially for young people with special education needs. However, it is unclear to what extent intensified or new forms of support are feasible in regular VET. The prevailing educational policy seems rather restrictive in this respect. An example is the reply of the Federal Council (Bundesrat, 2018) to a political motion referring to the CRDP and asking to adapt the laws so that also young people with severe disabilities are entitled to initial VET: it stated that there are already adequate possibilities for education and social participation and therefore, a general claim for initial VET for all persons with severe disabilities funded by the Disability Insurance would not be defendable on socio-political and economic grounds. It was also stressed that VET needs to match a person's potential and that vocational trainings in protected settings would take the reduced flexibility of persons with severe handicaps into account.Inclusion is limited by the clear labour-market orientation of the two-year VET programmes which has been emphasised since their introduction. Consequently, students who still lack the prerequisites to start a two-year VET programme have to be prepared for VET in transitional pre-VET offers (Barmettler, 2008). The dilemma between labour market orientation and inclusion is also expressed in the federal guide for two-year VET programmes which underlines that support measures are offered to enable as many young people as possible to get a nationally recognised certificate but that for other needs - in particular in the domain of inclusion - specific solutions have to be found, also outside regular VET (SBFI, 2014).But there are other voices, of researchers as well as of institutional actors and networks, calling for increased efforts to include more persons with special education needs (e.g. Knopfel, 2018; Pool Maag, 2016) or with migration background (e.g. Imdorf, 2017; Imdorf and Scherr, 2015) in regular VET. To enhance the direct support, inclusive job design, supported education and supported employment are suggested, measures which are welcomed by VET actors (i.e. professional organisations, employers). But they also see limits to realising inclusive workplaces if the relation between support measures and productivity is too disproportional. For example, the idea to integrate the PrAINSOS trainings into the regular system was controversially debated, and VET representatives of most branches pointed out that the strong regulatory requirements would rather restrict than expand the main benefit of these trainings, namely the possibility to individualise them (Knopfel, 2018).These exemplary statements and debates show that a fully inclusive VET system and labour market represents an ideal. The extent to which inclusion is realised depends not only on pedagogical issues like adequate curricula, support measures and qualified staff but also on the prevailing societal norms and values, on the compulsory educational system and, last but not least, on the extent of the economical imprint on the VET system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper describes the Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) system, its crucial role and challenges with respect to the inclusion of vulnerable groups and investigates the effectiveness of the efforts undertaken to promote inclusion in VET so far.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical research focusing on various indicators of inclusion (national monitoring data and own studies) is analysed.\nFindings: The overall findings show that equity and inclusion of persons with a migration background or special education needs in VET have been successfully promoted but can be improved.\nResearch limitations/implications: Long-term, in-depth longitudinal data regarding some issues are still scarce.\nPractical implications: The paper provides information about young people having difficulties to access and complete VET or who are at-risk of exclusion and points out further courses of action.\nOriginality/value: A comprehensive and detailed account of the current state of inclusion in Swiss VET and of related systemic problems is given.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring SME market orientation: an organisational learning perspective	[ "Workplace training", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Market orientation", "Learning industry", "Textile industry", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper discusses research findings associated with at knowledge transfer partnership assignment designed to develop the level of market orientation within a UK based textile company. The study adopts a mixed methods approach for determining the level of market orientation within the firm from an organisation-wide perspective. We are proposing an actionable framework for more accurately determining the level of market orientation within the firm and assessing the gaps in continuity for market orientation between different departments and levels within the firm.The literature on market orientation has been criticised for the lack of clarity provided to companies striving to become more market oriented. Ambiguities in the findings between studies, mixed with confusion over how the subject is conceptualised has led to increased uncertainty with practitioners over application of market orientation concepts (Cadogan, 2003). This work applies a mixed methods approach to identify strengths and limitations of quantitative and qualitative research designs on market orientation, and emphasises the need for the two methods to be applied together to determine an accurate measure of a firm's market orientation position.A key managerial objective of the research, therefore, was to further understand how AB Ltd could become market oriented and this required identifying business processes, activities and behaviours within the company that could support its market orientation position. To achieve this, the researchers aimed to evaluate current levels of market orientation using a holistic perspective of the firm, instead of the single source, or key-person measures of market orientation commonly relied upon in the literature.The work brings together several areas of management thought; organizational theory issues concerning change, planning and learning; as well as the management and marketing literature on small firms, and market orientation theories. Alongside these, research methodology issues are also been considered.\nThe knowledge transfer partnership: The aim of the research project is to strengthen competitiveness and wealth creation by the stimulation of innovation within AB Ltd through a collaborative partnership with the De Montfort University.This two-year KTP focuses on developing marketing and the firm's market orientation on an international scale, with the view to improve the overall financial performance of the firm. From the outset, the collaborative project intended to facilitate the transfer of technological and managerial know-how, thus encouraging industrial investment in training, research and development.AB Ltd is a small textile company, manufacturing elastics, tapes and cords for apparel manufacturers worldwide. AB employed 155 staff in the UK, France, Morocco and Sri Lanka and had an annual turnover of PS7.3 million in 2004.During the last ten years the UK textile industry has been faced with increased international competition from lower-labour cost countries. Many UK manufacturing businesses have been forced out of business, while others have survived by re-locating to Far Eastern-, Eastern European- or Northern African countries. Due to the changes in the global textile Industry, AB Ltd has been faced with a need to change from being a predominantly UK-based production oriented organisation, to become a fully international market oriented business. This need for strategic change was the main drive for the project, and the subsequent academic-practitioner collaborative research into the company's level of market orientation.An \"associate\" was employed to undertake the project, with support from academics at the knowledge base - De Montfort University. The associate, who is based full time within the firm, is ultimately responsible for managing the development of increased levels of marketing orientation within the company. As the company's marketing manager, the associate is in a key position for participating in critical discussions and meetings, with access to a range of information not normally accessible to an academic researcher. Therefore, the richness of the data gathered and the value of the research are increased enormously.The support from the university to the associate was to come from numerous levels. Most directly the associate was to work simultaneously with an academic consultant and a research supervisor, to develop the depth and quality of collaborative work. Beyond this, the resources and skills of the university were also made available for use, as and when further support might be required and available.\nLiterature review: Since the work of Kohli and Jaworski (1990), and Narver and Slater (1990), an increasing number of researchers have introduced models to conceptualise the notion of market orientation (Deshpande et al., 1993; Deng and Dart, 1994; Gray and Matear, 1998, Harris, 1999; Laferty and Hult, 2001).Broadly, the literature can be divided into two camps. A part of the literature essentially builds upon Kohli and Jaworski's (1990) work by emphasising market orientation philosophy (Diamantopoulos and Hart, 1993). By contrast the part of the literature that is most influenced by Narver and Slater's (1990) work tends to highlight behavioural aspects of market orientation (Greenley, 1995; Slater and Narver, 2000). Others have attempted to synthesise the two approaches to develop an all-encompassing measure (Deshpande and Webster, 1989; Deshpande et al., 1993).Cadogan (2003) provides an excellent review of developments in the literature, within which he argues that ambiguity in the subject is largely related to the inability to generate agreed measures of market orientation. This stems from inconsistencies in the way market orientation is conceptualised and linked with organisational processes.Clear links have been established between a company's market orientation and its systems, structures and processes (Ruekert, 1992); however, such links can be detrimental as well as positive. Indeed, Ruekert illustrates how organisational practices may form a barrier against the firm achieving a high level of market orientation. This can lead to the emergence of \"organisational disabilities\" (Schein, 1996) difficult to overcome when organisational transformation is necessary.Therefore in order to enhance levels of market orientation, businesses may need to go through a process of unlearning (Hedberg, 1981), before they can constructively engage in the development of their market orientation capabilities, through organisational learning, that is a \"process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding\" (Fiol and Lyles, 1985).Organisational learning in the marketing context has only recently become an area for increased discussion and interest. (Sinkula et al., 1997). However, the dominance of neo-positivist approaches with a heavy reliance on quantitative research has resulted in a lack of qualitative studies or conceptual developments (Gummerson, 2001; Morgan, 2003).Argyris and Schon distinguished espoused theory, from theory-in-use, to differentiate between perceptions of reality (what we think and say is happening), from behaviour (what we actually do). Ideally, what we say and what we do should be the same, often, however, they are not. \"Furthermore, the individual may or may not be aware of the incompatibility of the two theories\" (Argyris and Schon, 1978).Organisational theory in use, therefore, is inferred from observation of organisational behaviour, which is derived from decisions and actions. These in turn, can be documented through on site observation, participation in corporate activities and through the analysis of corporate documents. Argyris and Schon (1978) claimed that \"Organisational theory in use is encoded in private images and in public maps\". Our task, therefore, was to find a method by which to decode the images of AB Ltd and to understand its mental maps in order to paint faithful picture of where the firm really is in terms its market orientation.Building on the work of Argyris and Schon (1978) stated that many ideas and innovations within companies fail, as they are \"at odds with the mental models prevailing in an organisation\". Fritz (1996), termed this \"creative tension\", stating that the problems with mental models occur when they are \"tacit\" - they are not consciously realised views, but exist below the level of awareness. Creative tension can generate a positive drive for change, however this requires developing an understanding of the present in order to assess the journey required to achieve organisational goals:The problem lies not in the gap but in failing to recognise and tell the truth about the gap. Until the gap between my espoused theory and my current behaviour surfaces consciously, no learning can occur (Senge, 1992).It is this premise of organisational learning that lies at the heart of this research, and the approach adopted for developing the level of market orientation within the organisation. To be able to develop the firm's level of market orientation, in terms of the beliefs of the firm, and the actions and behaviour of employees, current organisational theories in use, or mental models, must be \"surfaced\".According to Cummings and Worley (1997) \"Organisational learning is a process aimed at helping organisations to develop and use knowledge to change and improve themselves continuously\". This approach towards the firm's market orientation was critical, and needed to be incorporated into the firm's planning systems. It formed the basis for the process approach to planning being proposed, where the organisation reviews-acts-reviews their position, to constantly refine and improve the level of market orientation within the firm.\nMethodology: The study uses a mixed method research design. An initial questionnaire was administered to the entire office based workforce in the UK. The intention was to establish the initial views and attitudes within the firm, replicating widely preferred research method in this field. This amounted to a total of 20 questionnaires, a total of 15 usable responses were received, corresponding to a 75 per cent response rate. For the purpose of this paper a single component of market orientation has been considered- customer orientation. Attitudes regarding customer orientation were measured on a five point likert scale. Given the nature of the objective, and the desire to analyse the data more deeply, it was seen as suitable to report findings one more measure of market orientation. The questions relating to the firm's level of customer orientation are shown in Table I.Questionnaires have been a commonly used method for gathering data on a firm's market orientation position. In this field questionnaires are frequently administered in surveys relying on a key person (single source) from each organisation. However, this survey aimed to develop an insight into the way customer orientation (as one element of market orientation) was perceived by all members of AB Ltd. This provides a quantitative evaluation of customer orientation that reflects more accurately what the company does than if we were to ask for the response of a single respondent.This was followed up with a series of nine in depth interviews to determine further the attitudes of employees in relation to the market orientation constructs of Deng and Dart (1994). For this analysis, market orientation was conceptualised using Deng and Darts synthesised model that incorporates constructs from the Kohli and Jaworski (1990), and Narver and Slater (1990) models. Market orientation has been operationalised within these models around the measures of customer orientation, competitor orientation, interdepartmental coordination, profit orientation, intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, and intelligence responsiveness (Narver and Slater, 1990; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Deng and Dart, 1994).This was then further supported by documentary data collection from a range of sources. This included emails (468 in total), customer complaint documentation (summarised in a spreadsheet), minutes from meetings (14), and internal and client presentations (11), internal memos (11), multiple industry reports and newsletter data. The qualitative analysis of such documentary sources allowed for a detailed picture to be built of \"what is said\" and \"what is done\". The purpose of this method is to determine if there is a gap between the espoused theory, and the current/actual behaviour of employees. There is the need to identify if there is a gap before the current level of market orientation within the company can be improved. Which is seen as a necessary step before the firm's business processes, competitiveness, and ultimately profitability can be increased.The combined use of questionnaires, interviews and documentary data enables data source triangulation (Denzin, 1970). Interviews alone, although an excellent source for gathering firm specific data (Creswell, 2007), have been shown to sometimes provide incomplete accounts of the situation (Yin, 1984). The use of data source triangulation in the research allowed us to gain a much more accurate and complete picture of the situation in the firm (Yauch and Steudel, 2003). The multiplicity of methods used and the richness of the data gathered underpin the study in that it provides a rich account of AB's level of market orientation in the early stages of the project. This is essential as it will create the basis against which future plans and operational improvements could be set (Senge, 1990).Data analysis was supported by the use of qualitative data analysis software, N'Vivo 2 (Richards and Richards, 1994). The use of such software enables us to deal with the large amounts of information being collected from a diverse range of sources. The ability to order, link, compare and contrast the mass of information collected during the data collection period was clearly enhanced by the ordering, coding and retrieval functions available in N'Vivo 2 (Wickman and Woods, 2005).\nFindings: Overall reponses from the quantitative survey indicate that there are discrepancies in the views held by staff within the organisation. Only within eight of the 16 questions asked on customer orientation was there significant agreement for the variable being considered. For three questions there was clear disparity in opinions expressed. At the most basic level, this illustrates the possible limitation of adopting a single respondent approach. When comparing the data for the quantitative survey to the data received through the interviews and documentary sources, we start to identify further fundamental discrepancies that highlight the benefits of the mixed methods research design in this case. These differences in data generated are discussed below.Commitment to customers v. sales focus\nConclusions: The research has highlighted wide discrepancies when looking at market orientation from a single person perspective, when compared to an organisation-wide view. The literature emphasises the notion that to try and develop market orientation within the firm without understanding the existing mental models within the firm would lead to failure. The work supports this view, and highlights the danger or inaccuracies that may develop from adopting a single person respondent approach in a purely quantitative evaluation of market orientation.This study has identified through a mixed methods approach large gaps in the measures for market orientation between different departments within the organisation. This links in to the work of Ruekert (1992), who postulated that organisational practices may form a barrier against the firm achieving a high level of market orientation, hence the restrictions within the organisation studied needed to be identified. For AB Ltd, these practices are deeply engrained, and can be described as organisational disabilities (Schein, 1996)\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop and enhance organisational capability through learning within a small firm context. This paper forms part of a KTP project. The paper considers here traditional quantitative approaches (where data was gathered largely through questionnaires received from a single source within the firm) approaches for measuring market orientation against a mixed methods, organisation wide perspective. For achieving this task the role of mental models are considered and the perceptions and beliefs of individuals are translated with actual actions for gaining a more accurate picture of market orientation within the firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Through a mixed methods approach a range of organisational data has been utilised to develop an understanding for not only the firms market orientation position, but also a much greater understanding of the composition of market orientation throughout the firm. Identifying differences in market orientation between departments as well as for the different levels within the firm.\nFindings: - The work provides a framework for better understanding disparities between past studies on market orientation. With many of these past studies being based on single source measures, key person accounts, and snap shot measures at a point in time, they provide valuable insights, but often narrow insights of the firm's position. Through an organisational wide, and longitudinal analysis a more complete understanding can be created.\nOriginality/value: - The work brings together literature from organisational learning, market orientation and research methodology, to provide new insights on an established area of research, offering useful insight for clarifying past discrepancies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Career sustainability during manufacturing innovation: A review, a conceptual framework and future research agenda	[ "Innovation", "Sustainability", "Manufacturing", "Career", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Fueled by advancements in automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the global manufacturing industry is undergoing a transformation, characterized by unmanned production systems and platforms. Use of smart machines and robots with AI is becoming more prevalent (Chin and Liu, 2015; Jiao, Zhou, Gao, and Liu, 2016). According to recent field surveys and interviews (Chin and Rowley, 2018a; Jiao, Yang, Gao, Xie, and Wu, 2016), front-line Chinese workers must update their knowledge and learn how to perform sophisticated tasks using the computer to survive in an increasingly digitalized workplace to avoid losing their jobs. Without a doubt, compared to the fairly simple and repetitive factory jobs of the past, production workers are required to possess a wider range of skills for operating high-tech equipment and electronic devices, and undergo training for fulfilling some critical tasks prescribed in world-recognized international organizations for standardization (e.g. ISO certification) (Chin et al., 2017, 2018).\nThe growth of Chinese manufacturing: employment and career challenges: We present two figures to illustrate the employment dilemma and corresponding career challenges facing manufacturing workers, and to show the importance of the manufacturing sector to the Chinese economy. Specifically, Figure 1 captures the developmental history of Chinese manufacturing; the histogram indicates the contribution of the manufacturing sector to total gross domestic product (GDP) (see values on the right side), while the curve refers to the proportion of the manufacturing employment to the total employment from 1978 to 2016 in China (see the values on the left side). Figure 2 shows a list of the historical values of total GDP and the manufacturing GDP of China from 1978 to 2016.\nA systematic review of the literature on career sustainability: We used the systematic review (SLR) methodology utilized in numerous review articles (e.g. Keupp and Gassmann, 2009; Garza-Reyes, 2015; Rosado-Serrano et al., 2018) to conduct a review of the literature. We identified empirical and theoretical articles published on \"career sustainability\" or \"sustainable career\" by searching five major publisher databases, namely, Science Direct, Emerald Insight, Springer Link, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley online, as well as several well-known online databases such as Inderscience, Google Scholar and EbscoHost. We limited the search to articles published between 1989 and 2018 because the concept of sustainable career seemed to create the momentum for the first time in 1989 (see Arthur et al., 1989). As per Garze-Reyes' (2015) suggestion on constituting a meaningful data set, peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters were included, whereas book reviews, magazine articles, replication works, unpublished conference proceedings, dissertations, short research notes, and articles without clear definition of objectives and results were excluded. We searched by using key words, such as \"sustainable careers,\" \"sustainable career,\" \"career sustainability,\" and \"sustainability of careers.\" We identified 84 articles of which 33 were associated with \"sustainable careers,\" 39 with \"sustainable career,\" and 14 with \"career of sustainability.\" Three articles from \"sustainability of careers\" were the same as identified earlier, so were excluded.\nA conceptual model: characterizing career sustainability during manufacturing innovation: Scholars have pointed out the imperative to apply more provocative, systematic approaches with broader perspectives to theorize about career sustainability (De Vos et al., 2018; Baldridge and Kulkarni, 2017; Hirschi and Valero, 2017; Lawrence et al., 2015). In response to this call, we argue that this conceptual ambiguity may be because the conceptualization of career sustainability is inherently more contingent on the situational and contextual factors that influence individual cognitions on \"sustainability\" rather than on the meaning of careers. Researchers tended to view the evolving essence of career over time as central to characterizing \"career sustainability,\" but underestimated the primary role of sustainability in this conceptualization. Therefore, in this paper, we build our theoretical logic on the definition of Sustainability published by the US Environmental Protection Agency:Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony that permits fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.\nDiscussion: Literally thousands of production workers have experiences similar to Chen and David. Modernization of the manufacturing sector coupled with market forces have resulted in massive layoffs and job hopping to secure a source of income. Our four-dimensional model can be used to walk through the lived experiences of such individuals and thus offers a framework for studying sustainable careers of workers employed in industries undergoing a technological transformation. We discuss the applicability of each dimension, in turn.\nCareer sustainability during manufacturing innovation: implications and future research agenda: The four dimensions of career sustainability, resourceful, flexible, renewable and integrative interact with each other and collectively influence career sustainability. The first and main contribution of our research is to illustrate that amid a highly uncertain, evolving environment where industrial innovation is progressing, it is vital to adopt a more realistic, contingency-oriented view to study the sustainability of careers, as needs and motivations of workers for continuing a specific career keep changing over their life courses and are shaped by external, contextual forces coupled with the resources possessed. Therefore, we suggest that future studies undertake a fundamental rethinking, for instance, incorporating the perspectives of organizational learning and knowledge management into understanding the intricate linkages between individuals' desires for sustainable careers and firms' strategies of managing their employees' careers, which is believed to be very conducive to evaluate the strategic fit and clarify the causal mechanisms between employee career competencies and firm's dynamic capabilities during manufacturing innovation (Jiao et al., 2019).\nConclusion: In this paper, we reviewed pioneering studies on career sustainability, proposed a novel paradigm of career sustainability during manufacturing innovation and suggested promising and innovative directions for future research. While the ongoing radical advancement of digital and AI technologies has and will continue to reform the global manufacturing industry, it is expected that there will be a significant growth in scholarly interest and publications focusing on discussing career sustainability in such a fast-changing context of time and space. However, recent research reveals that the replacement of manufacturing jobs by technology may not always result in a decrease of labor demand. Gregoy et al. (2016) used 27 EU countries as a research setting and reported that the negative effects of technological substitution can be compensated by positive effects driven by the increased productivity and competitiveness, which instead caused an increase of labor demand. While individuals are very likely to stay in more than one career and live far longer than before, it is also imperative to explore the deeper meanings of sustainable careers among older workers or those in late careers. In this sense, organizations should also take employees' career stages and mobility into account when designing jobs and enacting HR policies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Given advances in digitalization and automation, manufacturing employees are facing the increasing threat of being substituted by smart machines and robots. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that explains as well as can be used to study career sustainability of workers in the fast-paced, continuously changing manufacturing landscape.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After tracing the evolution of manufacturing sector in China, the authors review existing literature on career sustainability and then propose a new framework. The authors then describe two fictive cases and illustrate the applicability of the four-dimensional framework in helping understand the lived experience of objects in these fictive cases.\nFindings: The proposed dynamic framework of career sustainability constituted by four intricately interconnected dimensions (i.e. resourceful, flexible, renewable and integrative) is useful in understanding the fictive cases and hopefully will guide future research on career sustainability in manufacturing or similarly fast-past, dynamically changing environments.\nPractical implications: The framework of career sustainability facilitates manufacturing employees to accurately evaluate the sustainability of their careers, whereby they can choose to continue, shift or re-orient their career paths during the transitional period toward digitalized manufacturing; it also enlightens employers to think about how to enhance the job security and engagement of workers by helping prolong their careers and re-design their career plans.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes a novel yet context-specific framework to understand and study sustainability of careers. In addition to helping us understand how careers evolve during transformational periods, it also offers fruitful avenues for further research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of relational selling on life insurance decision making in India	[ "Decision making", "Insurance", "Trust", "Investors", "Agent", "Relational selling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The core competence of any financial service industry can be built by cultivating professional relationships established on interaction intensity, the act of friendship, trust and transparency in financial dealings, and fulfilment of felt and expressed needs and expectations of the customers. In the sphere of insurance marketing, establishing and maintaining effective relationships is essential and appropriate for credence services in which customers are less equipped to understand and evaluate the convoluted features of insurance products (Berry, 1995). Especially in India where 76 per cent of adult Indians were found to be financially illiterate by S&P Global FinLit survey (Klapper et al., 2015), the insurance purchase decisions unduly depend on the advice received from financial advisors. However, 210,795 complaints on unfair business practices or financial mis-selling by these agents have been registered with the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India, the regulator of the insurance industry in India (IRDAI, 2015). The fact that 83.6 per cent of insurance sales are generated by agents who recommend wrong policy highlights lack of transparency and customer centricity (IRDAI, 2015). Therefore, relational selling is the game changer when reputation and corporate image in insurance industry primarily rely on the ethical conduct of the sales representatives (Camerero, 2007). Since customers often develop a dependency relationship with the sales agent for financial advice, agents are expected to fruitfully engage with them by adopting an adaptive sales approach (Chen and Mau, 2009). Individuals would assess the suitability of the policy to meet the financial needs only after gaining confidence and trust in the agents who provide valuable policy information to potential investors (Bove and Johnson, 2001). If the agents misguide and misrepresent the facts about the features of insurance products, the consequent mis-selling jeopardizes the interests of customers as well as weakens the revenue foundation (Inderst and Ottaviani, 2009). Under such circumstances, when companies breach the promise of delivering satisfying services to customers, disconnect in the trust-based relationships between the investors and the agents is inevitable (Kennington and Sekhon, 2000). In spite of the critical role that insurance agents play in closing sales, the effect of investor-sales agent relationships on insurance decision making is less researched. A study on the relational factors contributing to the selection of right insurance products is noteworthy since it provides valuable inputs to the insurance companies on the key relational aspects to be incorporated in specific action plans centred on establishing and maintaining a quality relationship with investors and improving persistency of policies (Materson, 2008). Thus, the primary objective of this study is to understand the impact of relationship selling behaviour such as mutual disclosure, co-operative intentions, interaction intensity, personal rapport and policy information on the insurance decision making. The paper also evaluates whether trust mediates the relationship between the antecedents and insurance decision making. Consequently, the findings of the study would improve our understanding of the important precursors of long-term relationships promoting effective decision making that reduces the incidence of mis-selling.\nMaterials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out in Karnataka to empirically evaluate the proposed research model (Figure 1). The items for each construct in our conceptual framework were taken from established scales on the basis of the theory of relationship marketing (Crosby et al., 1990; Yi et al., 2012; Yu and Tung, 2013). The questionnaire consisted of two main segments: the first section focussed on the demographic profile of the respondents and the second section elicited responses on antecedents of decision making, namely interaction intensity, co-operative intentions, mutual disclosure, personal rapport, covert and overt policy information, and the mediating variable (trust). All items were measured on a five-point scale, ranging from 1 - strongly disagree - to 5 - strongly agree, by scales used in prior studies. Before collecting data, a pre-test procedure was followed. First, a draft of the questionnaire was validated by the experts from insurance, banking and academia who recommended few modifications. For the pre-test, a questionnaire was distributed to 32 policyholders, and the questionnaire was revised on the basis of the feedback received on the comprehension and complexity of the survey instrument. A pilot study (n=166) was also conducted. For the survey, the structured questionnaire was distributed by physical contact and electronic medium. The data collection took place between February 2017 and November 2017. The data were analysed using partial least square (PLS) Smart PLS 3 path modeling approach. The path coefficients and their significance were assessed to test the hypothesized relationships between the research constructs. The coefficient of determination (R2), predictive relevance (Q2) and effect size (f2) was calculated. The PLS-SEM mediator analysis followed the general recommendation by Nitzl et al. (2016). The mediation effect of trust separated the total effect into direct (c) and indirect effect (axb). Initially, the significance of indirect effect (axb) was assessed, and if it was found to be significant, direct effect was examined for significance. The significance of direct effect and a sign of the product of direct, indirect and total effect were considered to establish full mediation or complementary (positive sign) or competitive (negative sign) partial mediation. The importance-performance map analysis was performed to identify the constructs that had a relatively higher importance and strong total effect on the dependent variable.\nResults: The basic characteristics of the respondents, as depicted in Table II, indicate that majority of them belonged to the age group of 31-40 years and lived in the urban area. Nearly 58 per cent were from larger household size (of 4-6 members). Almost 53 per cent of the respondents earned annual income between INR1,00,000 and INR5,00,000 (US$1= INR70.5, January 2018).\nDiscussion: This research is, to the best of authors' knowledge, the first study to examine the influence of relational selling behaviour, namely interaction intensity, co-operative intentions, personal rapport, agent and customer disclosure, overt and covert policy information, on investor decision making in the insurance industry in India. The study also considered the mediating role of trust in explaining investor decision making. Our results show that the data supported few hypotheses, and the explanatory power of the research model was quite high. The apparent factors that were significant in explaining investor decision making were cooperative intentions and overt and covert policy information. Apart from directly affecting investor decision making, trust partially mediates the relationship between investor decision making and interaction intensity, cooperative intentions and overt information, and fully mediates agent disclosure and personal rapport. Thus, H1, H2, H4, H5, H9, H11, H12 and H14 are supported. The hypothesized relationships of the direct effect of agents' disclosure, customer disclosure and personal rapport on investor decision making were not corroborated.\nConclusion: The present study adds to a small, but growing, branch of literature that examines relational selling behaviour and investor decision making in the insurance market. Our research further shows that few dimensions of relationship selling behaviour dimensions, namely interaction intensity, co-operative intentions, and overt and covert information, have an impact on insurance decision making. Trust not only directly affects but also fully mediates the relationship between agent disclosure and personal rapport and investor decision making. Overt policy information stands out as the most important construct that influences decision making. Policymakers should thus accentuate simple product design and financial education of the general public and customer centricity in insurers' operations. As insurance purchases solely depend on agent's advice, the incidence of mis-selling can be dramatically reduced if the insurance companies in India relentlessly try to forge emotional bonds with the customers and address the grievances on a priority basis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The biggest challenge in the Indian life insurance industry is mis-selling and unfair business practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of relational selling behaviour on investor decision making in life insurance market in India. This study also aims to elucidate the mediating role of trust in predicting the purchase of life insurance policies by investors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect quantitative data using a validated structured questionnaire. A total of 813 policyholders of life insurance companies operating in Karnataka, South India, were chosen. The data were analysed using the partial least square method of structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The process of investors' life insurance buying decision is directly influenced by interaction intensity, co-operative intentions of agents, sharing of overt and covert policy information, and indirectly through the partial mediation of trust. Also, trust fully mediates the effect of agent disclosure and personal rapport on decision making by investors. The importance-performance map analysis highlights the pivotal role of overt policy information in investors' decision making.\nPractical implications: The financial mis-selling in India can be curtailed significantly if the insurance companies insist on responsible and relational selling by their sales agents. The companies would also strategically gain by investing in trust-building programs that enhance quality interactions and honest disclosure of overt and covert policy information, unpretentious intention to co-operate in the policy selection, and emphasize emotional connection and personal rapport with customers. These genuine actions and behavioural manifestations would certainly facilitate appropriate decision making by the investors.\nOriginality/value: There is a paucity of research in India which explicates the role of relational selling behaviour in insurers' decision making. As such, this article expands the scope of relational marketing research in insurance by assessing the relational determinants of investor decisions as well as the role of trust as the mediator in influencing insurance decision making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interlending trending: a look ahead from atop the data pile	[ "Interlibrary loan", "Library trends", "Change management", "Libraries", "Resource sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2001, I was fortunate enough to attend the 7th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) conference in Ljubljana where there was a lot of talk about whether ILL had any future. Leaf through the conference program and you will find presentations such as \"When resource sharing used to work\" and \"E-books, the demise of ILL,\" and - my personal favorite - a panel discussion about publishers selling articles directly to end users called \"Two\nFive forces, five years: I have identified a list of five forces that I believe will affect the course of resource sharing operations during the next five years. While the list is certainly not comprehensive, these forces at least lend themselves quite nicely to numerical analysis. By examining hard data, I will forecast how those forces will affect our behavior as resource sharing professionals. How will we be going about our business five years from now, and what will be the nature of that business? The forces under examination are:\nPredictions and conclusions: Now it is time to make a few modest predictions about the way these five forces will actually affect the way we do resource sharing in the next five years.\nILL word cloud: Finally, I made a word cloud out of the titles and abstracts of papers presented at the 12th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply Conference (Figure 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper seeks to explore five forces likely to significantly affect interlending operations in the near term: the transition from print to electronic resources; management of legacy print collections; mass digitization projects; competition from other information providers; and copyright.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses data from authoritative sources to illustrate the effects these forces are having and will continue to have on libraries and ILL operations.\nFindings: The author predicts that most libraries will be slow to divest themselves of print monographs on a large scale; libraries will continue to build new offsite storage facilities but put more thought into their contents; increased discoverability of digitized texts and greater copyright restrictions will drive users to print; librarians will make gray areas of copyright law work for them instead of against them; publishers, librarians, authors, lawyers, and scholars will find a responsible and fair solution to providing digital access to \"orphan\" works; and ILL will persist as a core operation for nearly all libraries.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a unique look at forces that are shaping the future of global ILL activities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Users' experiences of the People's Network workstations in Conwy Public Libraries	[ "Public libraries", "Wales", "User studies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground to the People's Network and its evaluation: Two reports of the late 1990s from the Library and Information Commission (LIC), New Library: The People's Network (LIC, 1997) and Building the New Library Network (LIC, 1998), paved the way for the introduction of 30,000 workstations providing free Internet access in the 4,000 or so public libraries in the UK. The project, known as the People's Network (PN), has revolutionised the delivery of the UK's public library services. Funding for the project was made available from the national lottery through the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) - currently known as the Big Lottery Fund and covered:* technology infrastructure (workstations, networks etc.) - PS120m;* project for the creation of appropriate digital content - PS50m; and* relevant training for all staff working in public libraries - PS20m.The PN was a technology initiative to support government agendas - ICT-related policy goals, social inclusion, participative citizenship, e-government and lifelong learning - and was launched in 2000. By the end of 2002 the network infrastructure for the PN was in place, providing broadband access to 80 per cent of the libraries, and services were being provided to library users. Training for all library staff and content creation projects continued until 2004 as part of the original PN project. Following this the People's Network (www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/) refers to the online services from England's (i.e. not the whole of the UK) public libraries made available via the Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) Council.Various evaluation studies of the PN project (e.g., Brophy, 2002; Brophy, 2004) demonstrated that it had a positive impact on people's lives through learning opportunities and personal development, as well as helping people to contribute to communities. In addition it has broadened the range of library users, increased membership and has also encouraged users to start new formal education courses, gain jobs and acquire new skills. Further reports for NOF and the Big Lottery Fund (Sommerlad et al., 2003; Sommerlad et al., 2004) were based on detailed data collected from 16 case study libraries and found that users of the PN are \"overwhelmingly positive about ICT in libraries\" and that contributions were being made to most government aims.Surveys of users of the PN have also emerged from a range of local authorities. In the London Borough of Bexley, for example, 274 valid responses were received from a distribution of 1,000 questionnaires, comprising 19 questions, for users to self complete (Bexley Council, 2004). Wood et al. (2004) report on an analysis of 906 questionnaires completed in late 2003 by users at the London Borough of Hillingdon (2003), although there is no indication as to how respondents were selected. Similarly in a survey of almost 500 users of the PN in Richmond upon Thames (2002) there was no indication of how respondents were selected. In contrast, a survey of the PN in the libraries of the county of Denbighshire in Wales used quotas based on proportional representation of library users in different geographical areas and surveyed both users and non-users of the PN. These surveys report overwhelming positive comments from users of the PN, although a closer analysis of the qualitative data embedded within the reports indicate clusters of negative comments from users - criticisms of noisy children, misuse of computers and gaps in staff knowledge.The implementation of the PN was the beginning of a period of rapid change in public libraries bringing them more in line with the information society and a digital future. In 2003 several reports were published which highlighted the changing forms and functions of public libraries. For instance, the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published Framework for the Future which outlined a vision for public library development (DCMS, 2003) and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) published Better Public Libraries (CABE, 2003). In the conclusions, Sommerlad et al. (2003, p. 46) noted: \"... a paucity in the collection of systematic evaluation data concerning PN and ICT services, especially in terms of user needs, outcomes, impacts and benefits of services to the user\". The use made of the PN workstations and the experiences of the users are important therefore, not only in order to justify the changes being made but are also necessary in order to refine the changes in line with user needs. This paper reports on the results of research carried out in mid-2004, for a dissertation for a Master's degree in Information and Library Studies, on the use made of the PN within one library authority - Conwy Library and Information Service.\nConwy Library and Information Service and the People's Network: The county borough of Conwy is one of 22 unitary authorities in Wales and covers 37 miles of the northern foreshore of Wales and the hinterland and has a resident population of 111,800, 80 per cent of whom are settled along the coastal strip. Tourism is as important inland as in the seaside resorts and this activity is the area's main employment sector with over 1.2 million staying holidaymakers and 4.1 million day visitors each year.Conwy Library, Information and Culture Service operate via 13 static libraries, one mobile and a housebound facility. PN workstations were introduced into Conwy's libraries in 2002 and there are currently 112, of which six are designated for those with special needs. Figure 1 shows part of the web page describing the computers available at Conwy which are freely available for all.Integrated Computer Access Management (iCAM) systems are used to help manage the computer suites in Conwy's libraries as well as improving overall availability of computers. The iCAM systems also generate reports and statistics on utilisation and a complete usage trail (www.insight-icam.com). By November 2003 iCAM systems had been installed in all but one of Conwy's libraries. Everyone who uses the PN is \"logged\" on via the iCAM software.\nAims and methodology of the research: The broad aims of the research reported in this paper were to investigate:* usage levels and uses made of the PN in Conwy;* motivations for use of the PN;* the subjective experience and users' views about the PN and the library environment; and* outcomes of the PN including the positive and negative experiences of the users.A mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods was used in order to build up a rounded picture of levels of usage as well as the subjective experience of the users.The iCAM system records details such as time of the session, session duration, user name and other relevant information that happens on each workstation. The broad aggregate monthly statistics for a three month period were analysed in order to obtain some quantitative data on the usage of the PN throughout Conwy.A self-completion questionnaire (comprising 21 questions) was designed with care taken to include a mixture of both open and closed questions. Purposive sampling was selected as the most appropriate method of sampling within the constraints of this study. The questionnaire was made available in both English and Welsh so that users could complete it in their preferred language.It was hoped to make the findings of the questionnaire as valid and reliable as possible although it was fully recognised at the outset that the findings could probably only be indicative. As such, the findings were considered to be high on credibility, or face validity, as well as on ecological validity. The findings, however, were considered to be limited regarding transferability (across geographical contexts) and dependability (across historical times). Six libraries of different sizes and in different geographical settings in the county were selected in which to distribute set quotas of questionnaires to male and female adult users of the PN. The rationale was to tap usage in rural (such as Llangernyw) and urban areas (such as Colwyn Bay) as well as to get equal representation of both men and women. Efforts were made to select participants from different age groups as well as across a range of social classes. The questionnaire was piloted on a group of individuals who were familiar with using computers in the library.The study focused on adult (i.e. over the age of 16) users only and non-users of the PN and children were excluded. The survey was undertaken over a two week period in May/June 2004.\nPresentation and analysis of data: The iCAM statistics\nConclusions and implications for Conwy Library and Information Service: Usage levels and uses made of the PN in Conwy\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to explore usage of the People's Network in Conwy Public Libraries in Wales, concentrating on the motivation for use and users' reaction to general and specific issues related to the People's Network and the library environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to build up a rounded picture of levels of usage as well as the subjective experience of the user. The prime instrument for data gathering was a self-completion questionnaire distributed to 82 users.\nFindings: - Indicates that usage levels have increased and at times, demand is high. Data gathered as a base for the investigation shows that the computers are being used legitimately and purposefully. Although reactions to the People's Network are overwhelmingly positive, disadvantages such as disruption, lack of privacy, technical problems and having to wait for computers are identified.\nPractical implications: - A useful exercise in measuring the reaction to the People's Network in one library authority, complementing similar studies in other public library authorities.\nOriginality/value: - This paper offers methods for evaluating user reaction to service development and highlights problems and solutions to the introduction of the People's Network in one library authority in Wales.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Future business schools	[ "Business schools", "Globalization", "Educational planning and administration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: For a long time already business schools have ranked among the most successful and best appreciated institutions of higher education. Students come in large numbers, with high expectations and they go with valuable qualifications. Their segment in the job market appreciates them, students as well as diplomas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Business schools are among the best appreciated institutions of higher education worldwide. They are excellent examples for other academic disciplines in terms of dedication to teaching and learning, performance benchmarking and value for society. Past performance, however, does not guarantee future success. Ranking and accreditation are petrifying existing standards rather than promoting and rewarding dynamic development. High reputation education is hard to change thus hindering the creation of new schools with different programs and profiles. Strong links with leading firms and global corporate trends and cultures do not enhance independent thinking and academic counterculture. In times of crisis and challenge, business schools are invited to reinvent themselves and their mission. This paper aims to investigate these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper investigates under which conditions business schools can continue their success and which choices they should make to stay on track.\nFindings: - The paper finds that thus far the focus of rankings has largely been on past and present standing and reputation, and posits that a broader scope and more variety of standards would be very welcome. It states that at the very least a differentiation of measures should be made, leading to a variety of ranking exercises, each of them using different criteria and supporting different profiles and missions. It suggests that to remain the successful business schools they are, they will have to escape from the lures of high rankings and standardized profiles of the present and to dare to look for new routes to the future.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful suggestions as to the future development of business schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation of service profit chain initiatives in a franchise system	[ "Profit", "Service levels", "Retention", "Sales" ]	[ { "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 aim of this study is to evaluate service profit chain initiatives in a defined franchise system in the home entertainment industry. The objective is to identify the relationship between the service profit chain initiatives and service quality, highlighting opportunities and implications for managers in similar service organizations. Existing research on the service profit chain is dominant in service related industries, yet scant regarding the perception of franchisees in a franchise system. Existing research is predominantly end- user or customer focused, and lends little with regard to franchise system participants. The purpose of this research project is to identify the effect of service profit chain initiatives as perceived by franchisees. Service profit chain initiatives are dominated by retention, related sales and referral strategies, whereas service quality measures include responsiveness, assurance, tangibles, empathy and reliability. The defined franchise system is the market leader in the home entertainment industry on the Africa continent, characterized by high growth, innovation and creativity. Whilst franchising may be seen as an entrepreneurial option enabling the creation and development of ventures, this study involves the sustainability of such ventures. Sustainability includes implementation of appropriate marketing initiatives, such as the service profit chain. Cognizance must however be taken of other marketing initiatives in the system, such as relationship marketing, service quality and best practice initiatives.We review current literature on generic franchising, the service profit chain and service quality. The next stage is the identification and evaluation of distinct service profit chain initiatives within a defined franchise system, followed by empirical analysis of such initiatives. We conclude by synergizing the implementation of service profit chain initiatives and service quality within the franchise system.\nLiterature review: Franchising is an entrepreneurial option toward the creation and development of ventures (Bygrave, 1997). Michael (2003) mentions franchising as a technique for entrepreneurs in service industries to assemble resources in order to rapidly create large chains and gain first mover advantage. Franchisors in many sectors have recognised the benefits of multiple-unit franchisees (Johnson, 2004), and this is seen as an entrepreneurial continuation of the franchise trend. Multiple-unit franchisees are those franchisees with two or more franchised units (outlets) within a franchised system. These franchisees exhibit distinctive differences regarding an entrepreneurial orientation (EO) compared to that of single unit franchisees (Maritz, 2005a). Entrepreneurial orientation refers to those character themes and personality attributes associated with entrepreneurial activity, such as innovation, creativity, risk-taking and proactivity (Bolton and Thompson, 2004). The entrepreneurial orientation of the franchisor is not disputed (Lindsay and McStay, 2004), whereas there has been dispute regarding the EO of franchisees. Recent empirical studies identify the lack of a significant EO among franchisees, despite significant EO among multiple-unit franchisees (Maritz and Nieman, 2005).Despite varying levels of EO within a franchise system, the success of the system is dependant on a conscious effort from franchise system participants (Mendelsohn, 2003). Only franchisors with successful franchisees succeed, and this is due to the importance of relationship marketing in the system (Lindsay and McStay, 2004). Relationship marketing is a distinct requirement in all organisations wishing to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty (Heskett, 2002). Relationships are integrated within the service profit chain, identifying the management of marketing initiatives between all supply and value chain participants (Maranto and Reynoso, 2003).The service profit chain is a well-received model to explain the sustainable competitiveness of many service organisations (Lau, 2000, p. 422). The model attributes a service organisation's financial and market performance to its relationships with its customers and employees (Heskett, 2002). Internal service quality serves as the foundation of the model, igniting a chain effect to an organisation's growth and profit (Silvestro, 2002). The service profit chain is a strategic service vision, whereby there is a strong and direct relationship between customer satisfaction (Andreassen, 1994), customer loyalty (de Ruyter and Bloemer, 1999) and the value (Silvestro and Cross, 2000) of goods and services delivered to customers. In addition, the model also highlights links between customer satifaction and employee loyalty and satisfaction (Heskett, 2002). Furthermore, there is a strong link between these elements and overall profit and growth of an organisation (Heskett et al., 1997). Organisational profit and growth are linked to customer loyalty, satisfaction and value via the strategic implementation of referral, related sales and retention strategies (Heskett et al., 1994).In contrast to economic market forces (Porter, 1998), whereby competitors believe a high correlation between profitability and market share prevail, many management authors (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990) are of the opinion that it is quality of market share which is important (Andreassen, 1994), and a high correlation actually occurs between service value and profitability (Maranto and Reynoso, 2003; Ho and Cheng, 1999). Quality of market share depicts a value add approach, as appose to pure volume share of the market (Heskett et al., 1994). This correlation was evident in Southwest Airlines (USA), who never made the top five largest in its industry, but has over the years been the most consistently profitable (Herbert D. Kelleher, Chairman, President and CEO of Southwest Airline Company). The Service profit chain identifies direct and strong relationships between profit, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and capability (Heskett et al., 1994).The customer value equation is pivotal to the other two elements of the service profit chain, with the employee at one end, and the customer at the other (Ho and Cheng, 1999). The employee links productivity and quality of output with employee loyalty, satisfaction and capability (Andreassen, 1994; Silvestro, 2002). The customer value equation equates results plus process quality against price plus customer access costs, linking profitability and growth with customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Ruyter and Bloemer, 1999). In service settings, these relationships are self-reinforcing; whereby satisfied customers contribute to employee satisfaction and vice versa (Reichheld, 2001).Retention strategies\nObjective and hypothesis: The objective of this research is to determine the relationship and association of service profit chain initiatives to overall service quality. In addition, another goal was to determine the importance of the three service profit chain initiatives (retention, related sales and referrals), as perceived by members of the franchise system (franchisees).The hypotheses being tested are:H1. Service profit chain initiatives are positively associated with service quality.H0. Service profit chain initiatives are not positively associated with service quality.Hypotheses testing include non-parametric testing, indicative of the assumption that the dependent variable does not necessarily have a normal distribution (bell-shaped). Hypothesis tests produce P-values, measuring significance, whereby there is a chance that the null hypothesis is true. Hypothesis tests will include the Kruskal-Wallis one way ANOVA test, together with interaction tests for greater than one independent variables. Service quality, the dependent variable, was measured using similar inferential statistics as the stated hypothesis.\nMethodology: Design process\nData analysis: Descriptive results\nConclusions: These research results suggest the need to better understand the effects of the service profit chain on dimensions of service quality in a franchise system. Despite overall construct results indicating an appropriate satisfaction and service quality outcome, opportunity exists to synergise all the service profit chain initiatives. This research considers the implementation of service profit chain initiatives of retention, related sales and referrals as a key factor affecting service quality expectations. It recognises the importance of these initiatives as classifying criteria of services without the addition of adding multiple alternative dimensions, whilst limiting the evaluation to the perceptions of franchisees in a defined franchise system. Cognisance is taken of a predominant single outlet franchisee base, which in turn represents the lack of significant entrepreneurial orientation. As such, service profit chain initiatives will most likely not be forthcoming from franchisees, albeit not in a proactive mannerism.Service profit chain links and satisfaction is the dominant association, implying significant correlation between employee and customer satisfaction. Retention and relationships are the next most dominant association, implying significant correlation between retaining customers and internal marketing.The research identifies the emergence of gaps between service profit chain initiatives and service quality. Retention and lifetime value of customers are not adequately measured in the franchise system, implying neglect to loyal customers. SPC links and best practice initiatives are not adequately communicated in the system, an implication of poor performance management on behalf of the franchisor. Retention and feedback is depicted as inadequate in the system; implying the lack of optimal customer feedback channels. Overall, despite a few associations being inadequate within the defined franchise system, service profit chain initiatives were positively associated with service quality.The research findings in the defined franchise system are indicative of similar outcomes to other leading service organisations (Heskett, 2002), albeit identifying dynamics within a franchise system. Overall, these dynamics are the process of relationships and behavioural aspects between franchisees and the franchisor. In addition, entrepreneurial orientation of franchisees exhibit certain intents, which in itself may influence implementation of service related initiatives. Since the franchisee is a business owner in his/her own right, it is difficult for franchisor to enforce implementation of service profit chain initiatives within the system. This in turn highlights the importance of communication and internal marketing within franchise systems, not as dominant in normal branch outlet service organisations.\nManagerial implications: It appears that the application of service profit chain initiatives lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty. One must however take a holistic point of view into account, not only limiting initiatives to service quality dimensions of responsiveness, assurance, tangibility, empathy and reliability. Cognisance has to be taken of the dynamics of the franchise system, accommodating the entrepreneurial orientation and relationship paradigms which exist.As an example of this, we can look at the entrepreneurial orientation of franchisees. Since this system is predominantly single outlet based, franchisees fail to depict a significant entrepreneurial orientation. As such, they may lack the innovation, creativity and proactiveness required to implement service profit chain initiatives appropriately. This is where the relationship management aspect of franchise dynamics persist; in motivating, guiding, training and leading franchisees to achieve franchise system objectives. Only when the franchisees successfully implement these initiatives to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty, will the franchise system prosper. Only franchisors with successful franchisees succeed.Specific service profit chain implementations should be synergised within the context of the franchise system marketing plan. Key initiatives include adaptation of referral, related sales and retention strategies. These initiatives include developing and implementing a SPC programme across retention, related sales and referrals within the system; implementing measurement of loyalty within the system, particularly regarding the lifetime value of customers; developing customer feedback and complaint systems (listening posts), such as introducing a franchise toll-free number; communicating the value of SPC enhancement, and the links to profit and growth; entrenching customer value to all employees in the system, identifying the value mix and enhance SPC initiatives, such as spending time with customers, putting employees first, investing in customers and communication the message within the franchise system. The overall objective of the SPC is to link initiatives of retention, referrals and related sales with the other links within the chain. These include satisfaction, loyalty, value and long-term growth.Related relationship associations include integrating and implementing a relationship marketing programme, consisting of customer markets, internal markets, referral markets, influence markets, supplier and alliance markets and recruitment markets; evaluating and identifying areas of discontent within the supply chain with particular emphasis to be placed on areas of trust and reciprocity between franchisees and major suppliers; developing core competencies for internal services marketing, including the measurement of franchisee satisfaction levels and developing alliances with strategic intent; such as alliance with a major take-out fast food chain such as Nando's and supply alliance with international content providers.Service quality managerial implications include communicating technical and functional quality consumer perceptions to franchisees; instilling service quality dimensions as ongoing improvement measures within the system and setting service standards and integration of service quality relationships. This includes developing a system model of market orientation. Related implications include identifying a service quality and internal marketing link, measuring service quality within the system.The overall service quality objective with regard to recommendations and implications is the ultimate link to service loyalty; notwithstanding the importance of a customer centric approach. Similarly, the overall relationship marketing objective is the link to loyalty in the value and supply chain. Service quality and relationship marketing thus go hand in hand with the successful implementation of service profit chain initiatives. It is needless to say that the three concepts are mutually interdependent. Implications of the findings for managers of service organisations, and franchise systems specifically, revolve around the synergised implementation of service profit chain initiatives of retention, related sales and referrals. These initiatives are however a composite of service quality and relationship marketing within the system or organisation.Limitations evident in the study include sampling of a defined franchise system in the home entertainment system, coupled with the majority of marketing strategies at the hand of the franchisor. Recommendations for further research include international application within the home entertainment industry, coupled with that of synergies within other related service industries. Concurrent research opportunities include the implementation of other entrepreneurial marketing initiatives, including relationship marketing and benchmarking for best practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of the service profit chain as an entrepreneurial marketing initiative within a defined franchise system. An objective is also to evaluate these initiatives against service quality dimensions. Despite recognition of the merits and advantages of service profit chain initiatives of retention, related sales and referrals, little research has empirically addressed the perceptions of franchisees regarding these initiatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Methodology includes the empirical analysis of evaluating the effectiveness of service profit chain implementation, primarily based on initiatives of retention, related sales and referrals. Research methodology comprises the survey approach, using electronic media and Surveypro analysis. This is facilitated by descriptive and inferential statistical techniques using SPSS version 11.0 data analysis. Inferential significance tests include the ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis hypothesis test; and the Cronbach's coefficient alpha.\nFindings: - Hypothesis tests highlight the significance of a positive association between service profit chain initiatives and service quality. All service profit chain initiatives were deemed appropriate. Item analysis highlights specific dominant service profit chain initiatives, linking key relationship marketing and service quality themes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Findings are indicative of implementation opportunities, including measurement of loyalty within the system, developing customer feedback and complaint systems, and communicating the value of service profit chain enhancement within the franchise system.\nOriginality/value: - Originality includes cognizance of entrepreneurial orientation, relationships and service quality when implementing service profit chain initiatives. Concurrent research opportunities include the implementation of other entrepreneurial marketing initiatives, including relationship marketing and benchmarking for best practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Owning and implementing labour market research: A partnership of academics, trade unions, equality advocates and local government officers in the UK	[ "Partnership", "Gender", "Employment", "Labour market", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The research partnership discussed in this paper is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) of the European Union (EU). As those who respond to funding tenders know, the nature of a call for proposals can have an important influence on the structure and objectives of any proposed research programme. This is the case here, in two significant ways. First, the call for proposals requested applied-research focusing on solutions, which sat within a broad European commitment to mainstream gender equality. Secondly, the terms and conditions on which the grant is offered made it imperative to involve a large group of partners and to sustain a relationship with them until the project's conclusion.ESF and gender mainstreaming objectives\nThe GELLM research programme: Background to the research topic\nThe GELLM partnership and management arrangements: Partnership organisations\nGELLM research programme design: The GELLM Research Programme is designed with two main research phases, followed by a third \"dissemination and mainstreaming\" phase involving the communication of the research findings and activities to support local authorities to mainstream a gender perspective into their policy-making and service delivery. Two factors underpinned the phased design. First, there is \"opportunistic timing\"; the quantitative phase at the start of the programme capitalised on data from the UK Census 2001, which began to be released in 2003. This represented the most up-to-date and comprehensive source of information about men's and women's employment, family and personal circumstances available at the local level. The qualitative phase of the research is informed by the statistical analysis and began a year later. This staging also allowed time for additional team members to be recruited to undertake the qualitative fieldwork. Mainstreaming relied on robust evidence and an analysis of the gender priorities, which each partner local authority is facing. It started with awareness raising in the form of a dissemination event for each research output. Towards the end of the programme targeted events and meetings are held with key stakeholders and senior managers to secure organisational buy-in and future action.One strong point of the research design is its flexibility; it played to the strengths of the research team. The team included a social statistician with relevant expertise in the Census of Population and other national data sets, able both to analyse and commission special data. Other leading members of the team contributed their own specialist knowledge about different aspects of gender and employment and are able to develop topics for the local research studies, which are relevant to the wider partnership. Ownership and commitment to the programme is achieved both by unleashing individual team members\" interests and passions, and by encouraging each to develop a strand of work, which drew on their personal expertise.Partners are consulted about the focus and content of all three research phases. For example, they contributed local data to the statistical analysis of their labour markets, and suggested topics for the local research studies. They also gave detailed advice to the team about how to pitch Phase 3 so that it would complement other organisational objectives and meet organisational expectations. Their contribution is discussed in more detail below. Holding the whole GELLM Research Programme and partnership together is an underlying, shared commitment to alleviating gender discrimination. The qualitative elements of the research thus put women's voices at the centre of the process, and the team and partners all tried, wherever possible, to include their views, experiences and accounts in the dissemination events.Gender profiles - phase 1: September 2003 to September 2004\nDissemination strategy: The nature of the programme output has already been described. Branding for the published output is agreed at an early stage, with all reports readily identifiable sharing a purple, green and white colour scheme. The reports, which covered a single, specific locality included a foreword from a leading figure in the local authority, confirming high-level endorsement of the findings and a commitment to act upon them. The report style is direct and accessible, designed to be useful documents for practitioners and policy-makers, as well as academically robust and clearly presented. The RPGs played a role in setting the format and aims of the local dissemination events, funded and organised by the local authority and, in some cases, their partners. Although the main focus is on the GELLM team's presentation of the new research findings and their local implications, at most events local partners also spoke about their work in related areas.Dissemination included: the 12 gender profiles (each approximately 50 pages) are launched individually in 11 of the 12 authorities, during autumn 2004 to spring 2005; the local research studies are published as a series of 32 individual locality reports (approximately 20 pages) in spring-summer 2006; a series of six synthesis reports are produced for each local research study, comparing the findings for the four to six different localities in which that study had been carried out (approximately 40 pages), launched alongside the individual locality reports. Dissemination events for the locality reports are held in 10 of the 11 authorities participating in this part of the GELLM Research Programme between April and June 2006. One further event was held in September 2006, and the final one took place in January 2007. Local women and contributors to the research were invited to attend along with local stakeholders, authority officers, representatives from statutory agencies, trade unions and employers.To improve access to the findings, all the reports and profiles have been made available on the Internet in a form which could be downloaded. Copies were sent to every university library, Government Office, and Regional Development Agency in England. The GELLM team subsequently has offered presentations about the findings at a variety of practitioner, policy and academic conferences and events. A final national conference took place in July 2006, hosted by the TUC at its headquarters in London, attended by 320 delegates. The event was chaired by Rita Donaghy, Chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)[9]. Keynote speakers included: Baroness Andrews, Minister of State at the Dept for Local Government and Communities; Frances O'Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC; Baroness Prosser, Chair of the Women and Work Commission; and Jenny Watson, Chair of the EOC. Professor Sue Yeandle outlined the key findings and policy messages from GELLM Research Programme in her speech. The conference included exhibitions by the GELLM local authority partners, highlighting the impact of the research on their policy and practice, some displayed the artwork of women participants. There were 10 parallel workshop sessions, addressing relevant themes, which provided a platform for a further 21 speakers, including representatives of statutory and voluntary sector agencies, academics and other experts in relevant fields (Yeandle, 2006).\nCriteria for success: The success of the research programme as a model of partnership working between academics and policy-makers and practitioners relied on a number of critical factors. Strong direction and leadership is a crucial factor: the vision, energy and academic excellence of the Programme Director is the most important driver for the programme's creation and completion. She skilfully kept the GELLM team and their partners focused on the programme's academic and policy objectives and time frame, when tangential issues arose. The GELLM team comprised academics with expertise and a personal interest in the areas of gender and employment. The membership of the team varied very little over the duration of the project. Their individual commitment to \"making a difference\" meant that they are prepared to contribute more than is asked or expected of them. The team had a range of complementary skills, and every member worked to the full extent of their abilities. For example, each research lead not only managed the data collection process and the staff involved in that study, but they also built and maintained a client relationship with a number of local authority partners, they completed analysis and report writing on time, and they communicated with diverse audiences from local women to chief executives during the research process and at the dissemination events.The local authority lead officers are an equally committed and skilled group of individuals. Many faced uncomfortable questions within their own organisations about the merit and value of the project. They tried consistently and innovatively to engage senior decision makers and to secure organisational endorsement. The position and grade of the lead within the each local authority is significant in determining the extent to which they are able to succeed in securing real commitment from their organisation and lasting impact. Other members of the NAG made important contributions, at key moments. The representatives of the TUC and EOC contributed invaluable additional expertise providing crucial inside knowledge of changes in national policy-making agendas and stakeholders. They are able to publicise the programme within their respective spheres of influence. They also advised the GELLM team on how to position the research findings so that they spoke to up-to-the-minute policy concerns. The three academic advisors commented on the research design from a theoretical perspective. Given the focus of the programme on applied research, their observations and suggestions reminded the team of its academic significance and provided an excellent starting point for academic papers once the programme is drawing to a close.The management structures and channels of communication are robust and sufficient to engender a feeling of partnership among members. Personal allegiances grew between individuals, facilitated by the NAG meetings where participants had time and space to reflect together on the challenges and rewards of the research programme. The constancy of the staff in each authority, national partners and at Sheffield Hallam University also engendered a feeling of shared camaraderie. The approachable, calm and collected GELLM administrator is a vital cornerstone of these partnership relationships. These factors contributed to the partnership's momentum and helped to keep organisations engaged over three years. As the lead institution for ESF funding, Sheffield Hallam University, which hosted the GELLM Research Programme, is responsible for making half-yearly financial claims and ensuring match funding contributions from other partners are appropriately evidenced. The contractual and financial audit arrangements are managed with skill, vision and flexibility by the Programme Director, Business Support Manager at Sheffield Hallam University and the GELLM administrator enabling the partnership to use the ESF funding constructively, without undue bureaucratic complexity.Finally, the research programme is timely and coincided with a growing awareness and recognition at national level that gender equality had not been achieved and is a key cause of national and local economic under-performance. The findings are framed by these emerging and persuasive policy agendas. The GELLM team deliberately used an accessible and concise written style, and convincing and contemporary language, to reach out to practitioners and policy makers.Challenges of delivering the research programme\nConclusion: impact of the GELLM research programme: The GELLM Research Programme produced a highly significant body of research evidence about twelve local labour markets. It has provided valued learning opportunities for local authority lead officers and their organisations and has established a network of practitioners and academics, which remain active through smaller scale activities. The academic advisors undertook an evaluation of the research programme based on their three-year relationship with the partnership. From their first-hand experience they concluded that:The research design for the GELLM project has been innovative and a great strength in terms of laying the foundations for strong partnership arrangements with local authority partners. The strong emphasis on participation of users at all stages of the research process has generated benefits not only for the different partner organisations, but also for the quality of the research programme. In particular, the strong involvement with partner local authorities maximised opportunities for good case-study research access and also contributed to the high response rates obtained in the many surveys undertaken (GELLM, 2006).The GELLM findings reached national policy-makers in a variety of ways, with significant support from the EOC and TUC, for example: the GELLM local research study data is used extensively in the EOC's General Formal Investigation (GFI) on Part-time and Flexible Working 2004-5 and in the EOC's GFI on Black and Minority Ethnic Women and the Labour Market 2005-6; and GELLM findings are cited in the Women and Work Commission official report \"Shaping a Fairer Future\" commissioned by the Prime Minister in 2004, reported in spring 2006. Further details of national level mainstreaming are outlined in the Director's Report (Yeandle, 2006). Table IV is an extract from the Programme's Evaluation Report. It captures examples of the local impact of the research, as reported by the local authority leads.\nNotes: 1. European Commission. Communication \"Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities\", COM (96) 67 final.2. Follow link to \"National Projects\" www.heesf.ac.uk/introduction.htm3. Regional Development Agencies are non-departmental public bodies, sponsored by central government departments, for the development of each of the UK's regions. They are particularly involved in site acquisitions and funding allocation aimed at securing the development, growth and regeneration of underperforming areas.4. Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP) are single non-statutory bodies, often led by the local authority that bring together the different areas of the public sector at a local level, as well as the private, business, community and voluntary sectors in order to tackle local problems. They are central to the Labour Government's delivery of the Neighbourhood Renewal National Strategy Action Plan.5. www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/counties_nonmet_ua.asp6. Unitary/metropolitan councils: responsible for social services, education, housing, libraries, transport (except London boroughs), planning applications and development, leisure, recreation and the arts, environmental health, highways, waste collection, revenue collection.County councils: social services, education, libraries, transport (public and planning), leisure, recreation and the arts, highways, fire and emergency services, refuse disposal.District councils: housing, planning applications and development, leisure, recreation and the arts, environmental health, waste collection, revenue collection.7. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a federation of trade unions in the UK, representing the majority of labour unions. There are 65 affiliated unions with a total of about seven million members.8. Data sources included: 2001 Census of Population (Standard Tables, Commissioned Tables, SARs), Annual Business Inquiry, Labour Force Survey (Annual Population Survey), New Earnings Survey/Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Data on Educational Attainment (supplied by the Department for Education and Skills), Post-16 Destinations re those leaving compulsory education (supplied by Connexions), Social Security Benefits data (supplied by the Department for Work and Pensions), Childcare statistics (supplied by the Children's Information Service), Data on university graduates (supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency).9. ACAS is the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, publicly funded, but independent from government. It has around 730 staff who provide up-to-date information, independent advice, high quality training and we work with employers and employees to solve problems and improve performance.Opens in a new window.Table I\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe the Gender, Employment and Local Labour Market (GELLM) Programme of Research (2003-2006), which is delivered through a partnership of academics, policy-makers, trade unions and practitioners at national and local levels of the UK, directed by Professor Sue Yeandle of Sheffield Hallam University. It discusses the contractual and task-based relationships, which are set up among the partners and the ways in which the research process is designed and executed collaboratively. The GELLM partnership is maintained without complicated information technology or customised training, relying instead on the commitment of the individuals involved and a very clear and well managed face-to-face report-back structure. The paper concludes by analysing the criteria that made this partnership work successfully and the types of impact it is able to achieve locally and nationally on gender equality policy-making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The aims and objectives of the research programme included the production in partnership of gender-disaggregated \"Gender Profiles\" of the labour market in 12 local authorities, awareness-raising about gendered inequality in their local labour markets, and the exploration of specific issues in new, multi-method local research studies whose focus is agreed with the project partners with a view to \"gender mainstreaming\" the research findings.\nFindings: - The GELLM research findings are not discussed as the focus is on the partnership arrangements.\nOriginality/value: - Criteria for the successful working of the partnership, and the challenges faced are discussed in the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cournot-Bertrand competition: a revisit of strategic trade policy in the third-market model	[ "Brander-Spencer model", "Rent-shifting", "Strategic trade policy", "Strategic variable" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The seminal papers of Spencer and Brander (1983) as well as Brander and Spencer (1985) have shown that R\n2. The models: Our models follow all the assumptions of Brander and Spencer (1985) with only two modifications: the two firms produce differentiated products, and the two firms choose different strategic variables. As a result, each of our models is a two-stage game. In the first stage the home government decides the optimal export tax or subsidy to maximize social welfare, and in the second stage each firm chooses the level of its strategic variable to maximize its profit.\n3. Comparative analysis and extensions: 3.1. Comparative analysis\n4. Conclusions: A common but peculiar practice in a duopoly or oligopoly analysis is to assume that all firms choose the same strategic variable. In the case where two firms choose between setting output or setting price we end up with the celebrated Cournot (output, output) model and the Bertrand (price, price) model. While straightforward and intuitively appealing, this kind of practice is flawed both from the theoretical and from the real world points of view. Not only is there no a priori theoretical justification to exclude the possibility that firms may choose different strategic variables, but we cannot observe that firms indeed behave uniformly in the markets of real world. It is therefore interesting and important to bridge this knowledge gap and see what would happen when duopolistic or oligopolistic firms choose to use different strategic variables. This paper is intended to address the problem in the context of strategic trade policy using BS's third-market model. Starting with the duopoly models and incorporating the results of BS and EG, we arrive at the very general, simple rule to determine the optimal policy of the home government for any combination of strategic variables: regardless of the strategic variable of the domestic firm, the optimal policy of the home country is an export subsidy (tax) as long as the foreign firm's strategic variable is output (price). Moreover, the optimal subsidy or tax of the home country moves the equilibrium to what would be the Stackelberg equilibrium where the domestic firm behaves as the leader while the foreign firm behaves as the follower under free trade.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the optimal policy settings of the home government for any combination of strategic variables adopted by home and foreign firms under Brander and Spencer's third-market model framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper follows all the assumptions of Brander and Spencer with only two modifications: firms produce differentiated products, and firms choose different strategic variables. A two-stage game is set and the subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium is deduced following backward induction.\nFindings: The authors arrive at a general, simple rule to determine the optimal policy of the home government for any combination of strategic variables: regardless of the strategic variable of the domestic firm, the optimal policy of the home country is an export subsidy (tax) as long as the foreign firm's strategic variable is output (price). The optimal subsidy or tax of the home country is shown to move the equilibrium to the Stackelberg equilibrium where the domestic firm behaves as the leader while the foreign firm behaves as a follower under free trade. With appropriate interpretations and a suitable caveat, the above results still hold in the case with multiple foreign firms which may choose different strategic variables.\nOriginality/value: This paper fills the gap in the literature, and provides some more general results not easily detected in the original model of Brander and Spencer or Eaton and Grossman.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Illuminating the black box of entrepreneurship education programmes: Part 2	[ "Entrepreneurship education", "Enterprise education", "Entrepreneurship education programmes", "Contextualization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades entrepreneurship education (EE) has grown rapidly in higher education institutions, with the aim of empowering individuals to transform and become better entrepreneurs (Warhuus et al., 2017; Zeng and Honig, 2016; Morris and Kuratko, 2014). From a contemporary EE approach, Hagg and Kurczewska (2016) delineate EE as being in a vogue, with expectations for advancement. They place ideologies that EE has entered a time-era of legitimation, maturation and justification, with particular emphasis on the multi-dimensional approach of components of EE. Furthermore, Shepherd and Patzel (2017) advise of the latest contemporary paths for understanding entrepreneurship, including facets such as exploitation of opportunities, entrepreneurial failure, intersection of innovation, operations management and entrepreneurship, and the link between entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Such contemporary issues are significant in developing learning and teaching initiatives and advancing the scholarship of EE.\nComponents of EEPs: EEPs as an EE scholarship and research component was originally conceptualised by Alberti et al. (2004), and later improved by Fayolle and Gailly (2008). Further developing and improving the integration of EE dimensions, Maritz and Brown (2013) developed an EEP framework consisting of seven components. These integrative components included context, outcomes, objectives, assessment, content, audiences and pedagogy. International scholars have subsequently applied this framework in a multi-disciplinary approach, including hospitality, tourism, health, sport, education and innovation (Deale, 2016; Kenny, 2015; Maritz et al., 2014). This framework was also used within a guiding context in a more recent EEP paper, providing inferences to weaknesses, or rather subsequent exclusions from the framework developed in 2013 (Maritz et al., 2015). The exclusions were framed as limitations due to innovations and activities subsequent to the 2013 framework; such inferences included entrepreneurship ecosystems (Isenberg, 2011), teaching and learning entrepreneurship (Lackeus, 2015), curricular emphasis (Jones et al., 2014), cross-disciplinary emphasis (Maritz et al., 2014), recent contemporary approaches (Shepherd and Patzel, 2017) and technology transfer (Walshok and Shapiro, 2014).\nRecent research and developments in EE: There is a plethora of research and scholarship on EE, yet relatively scant on EEPs (Maritz et al., 2015; Blenker et al., 2014). This research specifically adds to the body of knowledge on EEPs, whilst being mindful of the integration of components of EE within EEPs. To delineate terminology and guide the development of this paper, we provide brief definitions. For this study, \"EE is regarded as knowledge transfer, regarding how, by whom, and with what effects, opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated and exploited\" (Hindle, 2007). EEPs are defined as pedagogical programmes or education that aims to develop entrepreneurial attitudes, skills and personal qualities; which are designed to empower individuals with the necessary tools to initiate a new business (Fayolle, 2010). EEPs may thus be regarded as a larger system within which EE operates, providing inference that EE scholars prefer to publish research based upon individual programmes, rather than the summation of dimensions making up EEPs (Maritz and Brown, 2013).\nMethods: To complement the EE systematic literature review and meta-analysis, we first reflect on a review of existing methods in EE. We believe this appropriate to provide an integrative research framework, similar to the integrative nature of EEPs. To this end, we found the research on EE to be fragmented both conceptually and methodologically, between quantitative and qualitative methods. The former on the extent and effect of EE, the latter usually on single case studies of different courses and programmes (Blenker et al., 2014). Overall, we found that many of these studies had merits of conceptuality and description, but suffered from limited generalisability and teacher-researcher bias.\nDiscussion and development of the EEP Model: The 38 responses provided by international EE scholars were subject to NVIVO analysis following an emergent inquiry approach. Frame analysis was further used to guide the development of the EEP model. Since the objective of this paper is to provide an updated model to legitimise and justify EEPs, we provide an overview of the themes, as provided by the respondents. Narrative and sensory awareness necessitates disclosure that many of the respondents had previous knowledge of the Maritz and Brown (2013) framework; and many had actually either implemented components thereof, or latently applied inferences thereof in their own EEPs.\nConclusion and applications: This paper focussed on the redevelopment of the current Maritz and Brown (2013) framework on EEPs, and is represented as Part 2 of the original paper entitled illuminating the black box of EEPs. The original paper received substantial support, with many authors redeveloping the said framework within context across other disciplines such as sport, health and social entrepreneurship. Recent research and scholarship necessitated updates to the framework, primarily to provide relevance, legitimation and justification of EEPs. In addition, a systematic literature review revealed a depth of EE research, but somewhat scant on the development of EEPs. Significant dimensions of recent EE research and scholarship were introduced to the framework, including dimensions of context, entrepreneurship ecosystems and entrepreneurship content. The other dimensions received upgrades; including EEP outcomes, objectives, assessment, audience and pedagogy. Contextualisation is further enhanced by incorporating EE ecosystems (see Figure 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a justified, legitimate and validated model on entrepreneurship education programmes (EEPs), by combining recent research and scholarship in leading edge entrepreneurship education (EE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review of recent EE research and scholarship is followed by an empirical study to develop a model of EEPs. This was adopted by employing an emergent inquiry perspective incorporating participatory action research, using frame analysis and NVIVO to develop and analyse themes.\nFindings: This research identified three unique dimensions currently excluded from the theoretical and scholarship of EEPs, being distinct contextualisation, entrepreneurship ecosystems and recent content innovation in entrepreneurship. It also identified updates to current EEPs dimensions, such as online technologies, authentic alignment, causation, effectuation and bricolage, technology transfer the entrepreneurial university.\nResearch limitations/implications: The discussion and model presented in this paper may be a starting point for future empirical studies on EEPs, by developing additional validation, justification and legitimisation.\nPractical implications: The study indicates that EEPs are integrative and dynamic, and always limited to contextual and contemporary inferences; providing guidance to developing such programmes. Hence, the applicability to update the original framework developed by Maritz and Brown (2013) as Part 2 of illuminating the black box of EEPs.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a first of its kind empirical study in the development of EEPs frameworks and models, deepening the theory, scholarship and development of such models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory study on how SMEs are open to external sources of information	[ "Open innovation", "SMEs", "Openness", "External sources of information", "Multivariate probit model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Innovation is largely dependent on external sources of information (ESI) (Battisti et al., 2014; Rodriguez et al., 2016). Thus, innovative firms mostly rely on downstream and upstream value-chain ESI such as suppliers and customers (Leiponen and Helfat, 2009; von Hippel, 1988, 2005), on outside industrial-system ESI such as universities (Cohen et al., 2000; Fontana et al., 2006) and on external general sources such as the web, conferences, etc. (Cozzarin, 2006; Walczuch et al., 2000) to introduce new or improved products or services. Innovations result more often from new combinations of knowledge using a wide range of external actors and sources (Chesbrough, 2003; Laursen and Salter, 2006). The use of ESI by firms refers to the firms' openness to ESI (Laursen and Salter, 2004, 2006; Lee et al., 2010; Leiponen and Helfat, 2009). It is based on the number of different sources of external knowledge that each firm draws upon in its innovative activities (Laursen and Salter, 2004). Openness has been widely studied in the context of the USA (Chesbrough, 2003). However, van de Vrande et al. (2009) concluded in their study that a growing number of SMEs are also opening up their innovation process. This trend is confirmed by many studies dealing with the same issue (Hossain and Kauranen, 2016).\n2. Complementarities between external sources of knowledge: This section will first identify and define the external sources of knowledge that SMEs may be open to, and outline arguments related to complementarities among the external sources of knowledge. The openness of firms to ESI may involve four categories of sources (Laursen and Salter, 2006; Lee et al., 2010), namely, market sources, general sources, research sources and regional sources. This diversity of ESI seems to be critical for innovation, as Demirkan (2018) has found in his study, in that keeping a diverse network as a resource is a payoff for the firms, resulting in more innovation.\n3. Determinants of SMEs' openness to ESI: As yet, there are no studies on the determinants of SMEs' openness to different ESI. A better understanding of these determinants is likely to better clarify the factors that contribute to reinforce complementarity effects. In order to explain why SMEs are open to different ESI, this study draws on the resource-based theory of firms (Conner and Prahalad, 1996; Kogut and Zander, 1992) and the attention-based theory (Ocasio, 1997) to consider that SMEs must show efficient use of their resources while focusing their energies, efforts and attention on a limited number of issues to profit from their openness to different groups of ESI. Therefore, this paper seems to be one of the first to include, in a single econometric model, the determinants of four categories of ESI, and hence, it should be considered exploratory. On the openness topic, there is a lack of literature on factors that enable SMEs to show openness to different ESI. However, AC, informal appropriation methods, geographical proximity and vulnerability to clients-suppliers are some variables that could explain the openness of SEMs to different ESI.\n4. Method: 4.1 Data\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The first purpose of this study was to explore whether four categories of ESI, specifically market sources, research sources, general sources and regional sources, displayed complementarity effects. The empirical results of this study suggest that there are complex interactions among various and mutually reinforcing categories of ESI. This leads to an enhanced openness by SMEs that may lead to develop new products, processes or services. Indeed, complementarity effects among various ESI arise because once the openness to one category increases, the impact of augmenting the openness to another category of ESI is greater than would have been the case if the openness to the first category of ESI would not have been increased. Thus, the total effect on SMEs' openness to various ESI that results from increasing the openness to all categories of ESI together is greater than the sum of increases in the individual categories of ESI (Roberts (2004), cited in Ennen and Richter (2010)).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw on recent developments in the open innovation literature to explore whether the openness of SMEs to the four categories of external sources of information (ESI) is complementary, substitute or independent, while assessing the determinants of SMEs' openness to these ESI.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on data from a survey of 451 manufacturing SMEs in the province of Quebec, Canada. Data have been elaborated through a multivariate probit model to empirically show that SMEs are considered to be simultaneously open to different ESI. The results of this study show significant heterogeneity in the determinants of SMEs' openness to these ESI.\nFindings: The study found that the SMEs' openness to different ESI seems to be complementary rather than substitute; and not all variables included in the model explain the SMEs' openness to the different ESI.\nPractical implications: The paper provides practical implications for managers and policy makers including the SMEs' managers' role to recognize the consolidation of different ESI jointly instead of separately. Furthermore, managers and policy makers should attempt to provide a fair context to SMEs to manage their openness ecosystem.\nOriginality/value: This study is virtually the first to investigate both the complementarity and the determinants of SMEs' openness to different ESI using a sophisticated econometric model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The ICT environment, financial sector and economic growth: a cross-country analysis	[ "Communication technologies", "Internet", "Finance", "Economic growth", "Method of moments" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The availability of finance for businesses is very challenging phenomenon especially in the developing world. It is also important that what channels are to be used for improving access to finance. Electronic finance, the e-channel for financial services delivery is an extension of traditional finance, which is defined as \"the provision of financial services and markets using electronic communication and computation\" (Allen et al., 2001). This means, financial services such as internet banking, brokerage, payment, mortgage and other lending, insurance and related services provided over the internet or via other public networks, are considered as a part of e-finance.1.1. Unique characteristics of e-finance\n2. The data: Cross-sectional data for 61 countries averaged over the period of 1990-2001 are used in this study. One advantage of the broad cross-country approach is that it permits a consistent treatment of the level of connectivity and financial system structure across countries thereby facilitates international comparisons. The database[7] is equally divided into three categories, representing the developed, emerging and developing economies. The emerging economies are categorized on the basis of their gross domestic product (GDP) growth, business environment ranking, share of foreign ownership and the level of information technology being implemented in various activities of the economy (see Claessens et al., 2002). Country-specific information for different variables is obtained from various sources such as the International Financial Statistics Yearbook (IFS), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and World Development Indicators.As explained earlier, due to lack of availability of data for e-finance indicators, current study concentrates on factors, which determine the penetration of e-finance services and selects the telecommunication infrastructure of a country as a factor on the basis of previous studies and empirical analysis. One of such studies is conducted by Christiansen (2001) who concludes that high uptake of e-finance is found in most of the English-speaking countries and the Nordic region. He claims that these variations in penetration rates relate largely to national differences in the availability of internet-access. His findings prove a strong positive relationship between internet penetration and e-banking. He further confirms the findings of Cleassens that countries with an internet penetration between 30 and 50 percent are likely to find themselves in the \"take off\" phase for e-banking services. Sachs (2000) and Raihan (2001) believe that emergence and growth of e-finance in a country heavily relies on availability and growth of telecommunication network and its penetration in financial sector along with prevailing business pattern, culture, legal and regulatory framework. Clemons and Hitt (2000) mention the fact that although new trends in payment systems have been observed before the widespread adoption of the internet such as Fedwire payment system started as early as 1918, they have surely been accelerated by the internet.Before moving forward, to fix the idea that telecommunication infrastructure plays an important role in the penetration of e-finance technologies in any economy, bivariate correlation and simple regression analysis are conducted and presented in the Appendix. On the basis of these analyses, we can say that higher is the connectivity, earlier a country reaches the point at which it can get benefits from e-financing technologies.Four connectivity variables, cellular/mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants (PHSUBS); the number of personal computers in use per 100 inhabitants (PCUSE); the number of internet users per 100 inhabitants (INTUSER); internet hosts per 100 personal computers (INTHOST), are used in this study.The indicators of financial development[8] are obtained from King and Levine (1993). The first variable is FD1, a proxy for the financial depth, measured as the ratio of liquid liabilities[9] of the financial sector to GDP. The second indicator is FD2, the ratio of commercial banks domestic assets to the summation of domestic assets of commercial banks and that of the central bank. King and Levine (1993) introduce this variable to emphasize the risk sharing and information services that commercial banks most likely to provide. The proportion of credit allocated to private enterprises is being computed by introducing FD3, which measures the ratio of claims on the nonfinancial private sector to GDP. Although above stated variables have their own limitations, however, we include these financial indicators to maximize the information on financial development in this research.Regarding the growth indicators, two variables are included in this study. First is the average long run real per capita GDP growth (GYP), and the second is the ratio of gross domestic investment divided by output (INV), which is considered as one of the sources of economic growth in the literature.Further, to enhance our confidence in the analysis, it is important to control for \"other factors\"[10]. Following the convention of empirical studies, four variables that control the effects of macroeconomic policies are included in this paper. A proxy of fiscal policy, GOVT is calculated as a ratio of government final consumption expenditure to GDP. Regarding the stance of monetary policy, the average inflation rate (INF) of each country during the relevant period is used, measured as a GDP deflator (annual percentage). To measure the level of openness in a country, a variable (TRD) is included in the analysis, which is measured as the ratio of total trade[11] to GDP. Exchange rate flexibility is calculated as percentage change in the exchange rate (EXCH), which is defined as number of US$ per unit of national currency. To capture the convergence effect highlighted by Barro (1997), the natural logarithm of initial real per capita GDP is included as an explanatory variable in the analysis.\n3. Model specification: In this paper, correlation between financial development variables and connectivity indicators are estimated[12].Although regression analysis deals with the dependence of one variable on the other, it does not necessarily imply causation. Therefore, to detect the direction of causality between any two variables, the Granger procedure has gained a lot of popularity, partly due to its simplicity. In current study, Granger causality test is conducted to measure causal relationship between financial development indicators and connectivity variables, selecting lag length (k) =2[13].Regarding empirical analysis, generalized method of moments (GMM) technique is used in this study and the following equation is estimated: Equation 1 The instruments list includes cellular mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants (PHSUBS), internet users per 100 inhabitants (INTUSER) and all regressors except FD. In the equation, stated above, Gi represents either real per capita GDP growth (GYP) or investment share to GDP (INV) (index \"i\" distinguishes among these dependent variables), FDj stands for financial development indicators and represents either liquid liabilities to GDP (FD1), ratio of the assets of deposit money banks to the total assets of the financial system (FD2), ratio of the claims to the non-financial private sector to the GDP (FD3), GOVT equals government expenditures as a ratio to GDP, TRD is total trade divided by GDP, INF is measured as GDP deflator, EXCH is a percentage change in the exchange rate and LY0 is representing initial income level of any economy.As this paper seeks to examine whether cross-country variations in the exogenous component of financial sector development explain cross-country variations in the rate of economic development. Thus, we use the connectivity determinants as instrumental variables for financial development indicators. Specifically, we select a vector of instrumental variables, Z for the equations specified by equation (1). Assuming that E[e]=0 and that E[ee']=O, where O is unrestricted, implies a set of orthogonality conditions, E[Z\\`[?]]=0. This produces a nonlinear instrumental variable estimator of the coefficients in equation (1). After computing these GMM estimates, we use J-statistics along with kh2-test used to check the orthogonality conditions of the model and to see whether the instrumental variables are associated with growth beyond their ability to explain cross-country variation in financial development. Moreover, in the presence of heteroscedasticity - a common property of cross-section data set - GMM estimation is more efficient than two-stage least squares estimation.\n4. Empirical analysis: This section begins with correlation analysis followed by Granger causality test results and then the findings of the regression equation (1) are examined.4.1. Simple correlation\n5. Conclusion and policy implications: This study addressed very important question that do cross-country differences in the level of connectivity explain cross-country differences in the level of financial system development that is, is the component of financial depth defined by the electronic environment of any country positively associated with long-run rates of economic growth and gross capital formation? Cross-sectional data for 61 countries averaged over the period of 1990-2002 are used in this study. Based on the evidence from simple correlation analysis and Granger causality test results, which states that there exists a significant and causal relationship between connectivity variables and financial development indicators and economic growth, cross-country regression analysis is conducted using the GMM technique.In all the regression results, it is statistically proved that better connectivity, especially by increasing the number of mobile phone subscribers and number of internet users, enhances financial depth, which is a backbone of any country to develop. Based on the empirical findings of current study, it can be concluded that Claessens et al. (2002) might be right in saying that for developing countries to exploit opportunities for leapfrogging even with weak financial system, it is important to investment in ICT sector.Analysis proves that there exist a positive relationship between e-finance and connectivity which means that in countries where e-finance has reached a level that should lead to faster growth, the level of connectivity appear to explain the point of takeoff. Moreover, connectivity variables, when used as instruments for the financial development indicators, enhance economic growth. Therefore, policies directed to improving connectivity environment in a country will likely to stimulate greater financial development and more opportunities for developing countries to enjoy fruits of e-finance. More importantly, among all online financial services, online banking and online brokerage will lead via the cellular mobile phones and internet.Since this analysis is just a first step to revive the importance of e-finance in economic development. Future research can take many dimensions of e-finance technologies ranging from its impact on the productivity of the real sector to the profit margins of the financial institutions. In addition, future research should seek the appropriate development strategy for all countries in general and for developing economies in particular. Moreover, as the internet financial services industry era is relatively young and because systematic information has been relatively difficult to come by, a substantial gap exists in knowledge about internet based activities of financial service industry. Future researches should aim at helping to fill this gap and then analysis can be extended to the application side this industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that, given the financial development of an economy (whether developed or not), e-finance technologies enhance economic growth because they lower processing costs for suppliers and information costs for consumers and therefore increase availability of finance for even low-income borrowers of remote areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To analyze the indirect relationship between the level of connectivity and economic growth via its impact on financial development, generalized method of moments (GMM) is applied to cross section data of 61 countries averaged over 13 years (1990-2002).\nFindings: - In all the regression results, it is found that better connectivity particularly by increasing the number of mobile phone subscribers and the number of internet users significantly enhances financial depth, which is a backbone of any country to grow.\nPractical implications: - Based on the empirical findings of current study, it can be concluded that Claessens et al. might be right in saying that for developing countries to exploit opportunities for leapfrogging even with weak financial system, it is important to invest in the sector of information and communication technology.\nOriginality/value: - the current study is the first of its kind, which provides empirical and global evidence that the component of financial sector developed by better telecommunication infrastructure is positively associated with long run economic growth and gross capital formation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Engaging customers in value co-creation or co-destruction online	[ "Qualitative research", "Co-creation", "Services marketing", "Customer engagement", "Co-destruction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Marketers increasingly regard engagement as an umbrella term for marketing mechanisms that deliver competitive advantages to companies that use engagement strategies (Baldus et al., 2015). With increased application of technological advancements, customer engagement often occurs in online environments (Venkatesan, 2017; Wirtz et al., 2013). Integrated with online environments, the concept of customer engagement is further examined and discussed among practitioners and scholars (Zhang et al., 2017). Despite slight differences in focus, scholars and marketers alike agree that online customer engagement is strongly associated with favorable attitudes and behaviors toward brands or organizations, such as positive word-of-mouth (Baldus et al., 2015), actual purchase behaviors (Malthouse et al., 2016; Ye et al., 2009) and so on.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Online customer engagement\n3. Methodology: The goal of this study is to answer the following questions:\n4. Findings: The research sought to understand customer engagement-induced value co-creation and co-destruction in online channels. The results of the CIT analysis were divided into two sections: value co-creation and value co-destruction. For each section, related themes/trends emerged. Given the rich and broad data, the trends were developed based on the high participation rates and the frequency that the respondents mentioned in their critical incidents. To maintain the emic voice, the participants' statements were directly quoted without modification or correction. The trends were grouped into categories reflecting the targeted customer engagement of value co-creation or co-destruction in online channels. The propositions with conceptual frameworks of customer engagement in co-creating or co-destructing values in online channels were developed through both the literature review and the CIT analysis findings.\n5. Conclusion and implications: This study adopts a qualitative approach to investigate how customers engage online in co-creating or co-destructing values. The rich findings provide valuable implications for academia and practitioners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to develop a theoretical model to understand co-creation/co-destruction of value through customer engagement in online channels. It also investigates the contributing factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The qualitative approach uses the critical incidents technique to answer the research questions. The authors identify 350 critical incidents in which customers expressed online customer engagement-induced value co-creation or co-destruction experiences. The factors and resulting propositions are identified through data analysis. Data coding and analysis are facilitated by using MAXQDA 12.\nFindings: Co-creation through positively valenced engagement behaviors may occur when customers are delighted, feel valued, experience reciprocity, receive organizational incentives, are solicited for feedback, can count on service recovery efforts and interact with helpful, empathetic, polite and responsive employees. Co-destruction through negatively valenced engagement behaviors emerges from rude employee behaviors, indifference, confrontation with company representatives, technological failure, the lack of complaint outlets and customers' desire for revenge.\nPractical implications: Selecting and training employees to be helpful, polite, responsive and empathetic toward online visitors can trigger co-creation. Communication between firms and customers should boost customer approval and delight. Organizations can offer incentives, reliable service delivery and a recovery design to stimulate visitor participation. Soliciting feedback requires sound technological support and direct communication links with visitors.\nOriginality/value: This study presents the conditions and framework contributing to the duality of customer engagement-induced co-creation and co-destruction values in online channels from the customer, organizational, employee, service design and technological perspectives. It also addresses how value is co-created or co-destructed through examples.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Retrospective: the effect of guarantees on consumers' evaluation of services	[ "Service quality", "Service delivery", "Service design", "Cue to quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Our Journal of Services Marketing article (Ostrom and Iacobucci, 1998) was riding a swell of interest and occurrence, on the parts of both companies and customers, of exploring what service guarantees might do to strengthen longer-term purchase engagements. In this retrospective, we first briefly consider the subsequent developments in the academic literature, and then we examine developments in industry.\nBackground: The motivation for the (1998) Journal of Services Marketing article was primarily the juxtaposition that while service guarantees were growing in popularity and prevalence in industry, they had been under-studied and under-represented in the literature to that point. Still, the academy was encouraging; presentations of the topic were well-received as academics recognized the novelty of the contribution. The article undertook the questions of \"How\" and \"When\" service guarantees would affect consumer judgments and influencea customer evaluations. The studies reported therein showed that guarantees can enhance consumer evaluations, particularly for purchases deemed a priori riskier, e.g. with greater variance in service quality provided, and particularly when other cues such as strong brand names were less salient.\nFurther developments in the academic literature: The Journal of Services Marketing article was based on the dissertation of the first author, and was one of the early articles at the nexus of guarantees and services marketing[1],[2]. The academic literature blossomed, confirming the first author's preferences. A literature review in the Journal of Service Research by Hogreve and Gremler (2009) has summarized the major scholarly efforts and findings from service guarantee research published in more than a 20-year period from 1985 to 2008. They define a service guarantee as \"an explicit promise made by the service provider to:\nFurther developments in industry: With regards to developments unfolding in industry, it is perhaps not surprising that in the years subsequent to our 1998 JSM article, the presence of service guarantees has not grown to be universal, given that the granting company must be sufficiently confident of its service provision as to not expect frequent redemption (see McCollough, 2010 for a discussion about service guarantees' continued rarity). Companies that do not provide uniformly excellent service and those that try to address heterogeneous customer segment demands might not find guarantees financially viable.\nConclusion: The Editors have asked us to reflect upon whether we \"got it right in the original article\". Naturally, we would like to say we did, in that we helped establish service guarantees as an avenue for academic study, beginning to put form to the conceptualization of guarantees, and conditions for their use. In addition, we had also structured the conversation around cues to signal quality and means of reducing consumer uncertainty. Service guarantees continue to serve these functions, certainly. It is also the case, as we have explicated in the current article, that customers enjoy more sources of information than ever before, often from complementary perspectives. More information is certainly better, from the customers', and ultimately the companies', point of view.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the status of service guarantees specifically, and cues to quality more generally.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Reflection on the 1998 Journal of Services Marketing article with views both to the academic literature and the presence of guarantees in industry.\nFindings: Service guarantees still exist, sometimes in their original form (e.g. \"100 per cent satisfaction guaranteed!\") and sometimes in a morphed form (e.g. retailers' promises of price-matching). Research has continued to focus on understanding service guarantees yet there are additional questions left to be addressed. There are also numerous other types of information, in addition to service guarantees, consumers may use as cues to quality.\nPractical lmplications: Service guarantees remain an important and useful tool for services marketers to signal their quality to their customers and to reduce the uncertainty surrounding many services purchases. Other information such as online ratings and reviews through social media can also serve as strong informational cues.\nOriginality/value: In providing cues to customers about quality, while marketers have long considered the value of price and brand names, the usefulness of service guarantees is still under-studied.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Skill underutilization and collective turnover in a professional service firm	[ "Professional service firms", "Collective turnover", "Skill underutilization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding the causes and consequences of employee turnover is of considerable importance to management scholars and practitioners. Whereas most of the research on employee turnover has focussed on individual turnover (Griffeth et al., 2000; Mobley, 1982), more recent research has examined collective turnover - \"the aggregate levels of employee departures that occur within groups, work units, or organizations\" (Hausknecht and Trevor, 2011, p. 353). Collective turnover reflects the distinct issues and practices associated with specific groups of employees; as such, researchers have called for more studies on collective turnover across different employment contexts and employee groups (Hausknecht and Holwerda, 2013; Hausknecht and Trevor, 2011; Heavey et al., 2013; Nyberg and Ployhart, 2013).\nLiterature review: Collective turnover and skill underutilization\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Table I presents the descriptive statistics and intercorrelations among the study variables. As expected, collective pay satisfaction is negatively and significantly correlated with collective turnover, whereas collective skill underutilization is positively related to collective turnover. Further, collective turnover is significantly greater for professionals compared to nonprofessionals (r=-0.43, p\nDiscussion: This study addressed calls for research on collective turnover among different employee groups (Hausknecht and Holwerda, 2013; Hausknecht and Trevor, 2011; Heavey et al., 2013; Nyberg and Ployhart, 2013) by comparing both collective turnover and skill underutilization among professionals and nonprofessionals in a sample of 191 groups in 80 offices of a large, international PSF. Specifically, we examined how professionals, as compared to nonprofessionals, respond to skill underutilization - doing work that is perceived to be below their skill levels - in terms of actual turnover. Our results show that collective skill underutilization is greater for professionals than nonprofessionals, and that collective skill underutilization predicts collective turnover one year later, even after controlling for collective pay satisfaction. However, the relationship between collective skill underutilization and collective turnover does not differ between professionals and nonprofessionals. The results of this study provide quantitative support for Bartunek et al.'s (2008) qualitative finding that skill underutilization is an antecedent of collective turnover. Furthermore, we overcome common issues in organizational research resulting from mono-method bias and cross-sectional data by using actual turnover rates for the year following the survey.\nImplications and conclusions: Researchers have found that collective turnover is related to important organizational outcomes including efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profit margin (Heavey et al., 2013), as well as firm performance (Shaw, 2011). Our findings suggest that organizations need to take additional steps to ensure that employees are not experiencing skill underutilization during economic downturns in order to minimize collective turnover. For example, many organizations implemented layoffs during the recession, whereas others have tried to find alternative methods for cutting costs including hiring freezes and transfers (Zatzick et al., 2009). However, an implication of the decision to keep employees rather than conduct layoffs is the possibility of skill underutilization. This becomes a danger for organizations, particularly for PSFs, as professionals demand interesting and challenging work and have professional identities that are closely linked to the work they do. Thus, it is crucial for managers to continue to provide challenging opportunities for employees whenever possible. Further, additional communication from managers may be needed to help employees understand the temporary nature of changes in job demands.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine skill underutilization and collective turnover in a large professional service firm (PSF). The authors hypothesize that skill underutilization is positively related to collective turnover, that skill underutilization is greater among professionals than nonprofessionals, and that the positive relationship between skill underutilization and collective turnover is stronger for professionals than for nonprofessionals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using survey data from a large PSF, the authors test these predictions across 191 groups (professional and nonprofessional) in 80 offices. Collective turnover rates were taken from company records one year after the survey was administered.\nFindings: The authors find support for the prediction that skill underutilization is positively related to collective turnover. In addition, skill underutilization is greater among professionals than nonprofessionals within a PSF. However, the relationship between skill underutilization and collective turnover did not differ between professionals and nonprofessionals.\nResearch limitations/implications: While the authors find that skill underutilization is positively related to collective turnover, future research is needed to measure the group processes that occur among group members and lead to collective turnover. Limitations of this study include the inability to validate the aggregation of data from the individual level to the group level, and the generalizability of findings to other PSFs or to involuntary turnover situations.\nPractical implications: Understanding the antecedents of collective turnover is of particular concern to PSFs, as they are composed of highly skilled, intrinsically motivated professionals, who generate value for the firm. These findings are particularly timely, given the significant levels of underemployment in countries throughout the world.\nOriginality/value: In addition to extending skill underutilization and collective turnover research to the occupational group level, the findings highlight the importance of providing development opportunities for employees during difficult economic conditions in order to minimize collective turnover.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
In search of transparency: ANTi-History, memorials and resistance	[ "Resistance", "Historical research", "ANTi-History", "Historic turn", "Clandestine memories", "Sites of memory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In align with the call for reflections about uses of methodology in management history, this paper seeks to outline and discuss the constitution of the Memorial of Resistance of Sao Paulo (MRSP), by adopting the ANTi-History approach. The MRSP is dedicated to the preservation and sharing of the memories of resistance and the struggle for justice that occurred during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985). By providing greater transparency to the socio-political relations involved in its constitution process and by legitimizing multiple accounts of the past, we emphasize how histories are unstable realities which veracity depends on the strength of their networks.\nANTi-History and the historic turn in management and organization studies: During the second half of the twentieth century, when it developed as a distinct and separate subject, Management and Organizational Studies (MOS) was strongly influenced by the North American scientific view that resulted in History being side-lined and research assuming a singularly ahistorical nature (Kieser, 1994; Usdiken and Kieser, 2004). This situation remained until almost the end of the twentieth century. From the 1990s onward, however, we saw the emergence of a movement to reunite these two fields, which has continued to this day (Zald, 1993; Kieser, 1994; Usdiken and Kieser, 2004; Booth and Rowlinson, 2006; Mills et al., 2016).\nANTi-History as an alternative critical historiography: Created by Gabrielle Durepos and Albert J. Mills in 2009, ANTi-History was a response to the call of the Historic Turn as a historicized methodology. The approach \"draws on and extends beyond three literatures, namely, ANT (Lee and Hassard, 1999; Latour, 2005), the sociology of knowledge (Marx and Engels, 1846/1971; Mannheim, 1968/1985) and postmodern historiography (Jenkins, 1991; Munslow, 2010, 2012)\" as theoretical contours (Durepos and Mills, 2017, p. 53).\nAmodern ontology and social constructionist epistemology: Because of its ontologically amodern nature, ANTi-History draws on ANT and renounces all categorisations imposed by modern thinking, counters dualisms and reductionisms and adopts a relational approach to study phenomena. There is no absolute and universal truth, and there are no beginnings or ends (Durepos and Mills, 2012). Instead, what we have is a continuous process of becoming, as reality is socially constructed by ever-changing actor-networks in continuous translation movements. One can assume, therefore, that different forms of social understanding are always partial, to the extent that they are constructed based on the reference framework of an entity or actor-network and its dynamic relationships.\nRelationalism: Given its ontologically relational nature, ANTi-History seeks to understand emerging social phenomena through interactions among their constituent actor-networks. Social is understood as a verb, as \"an emergent process of becoming\" (Durepos and Mills, 2011, p. 710) and no longer as a noun. In this sense, any phenomenon can only be analysed as part of a set of established relationships and not in a separate way, as its very characteristics and attributes are only obtained because of such associations.\nClandestine memories and sites of memory dedicated to resistance: In the case of the present study, understanding the MRSP's official history, as a black box, using an ANTi-History approach, primarily allows one to recognize the multiplicity of possible versions of the history that led to the creation of this organization, as well as the actors and negotiations involved. It also allows one to recognize the contribution that the MRSP makes as a site of memory in the fight against forgetting and silencing violations against human rights that occurred in the building that once housed the DEOPS-SP.\nMethodology: According to the principles of ANTi-History, by following the movements and focusing on the relationships of different human and nonhuman actors, the researcher privileges the empirical traces over any theoretical, pregiven framework and does not impose, under any circumstance, a precreated plot. Thus, all the associations, translations and negotiation efforts, persuasion and (de)mobilization manoeuvres performed by the heterogeneous actors were identified empirically, after analysing multiple sources. The researchers sought to turn the historical narrative related to the MRSP's constitution process more transparent, putting together one of the possible versions of this phenomenon by (re) assembling the socio-politics of its constituent actors.\nAnalysis: Point of departure\nConclusion: After years of intense negotiations and disputes involving various actor-networks, the Memorial of the Resistance of Sao Paulo was inaugurated on January 24, 2009 - 33 years after the first request to list the building of the old DEOPS/SP. The long process was marked by different (de)mobilizations of multiple actors and an ever-changing actor-network configuration, in a constant process of becoming, marked by translations that made up the social.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to discuss the constitution of the Memorial of Resistance of Sao Paulo (MRSP) by adopting the ANTi-History approach, thereby providing greater transparency to the socio-political relations of multiple actors involved in the constitution of this place as a site of memory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By adopting the principles of ANTi-History, the researchers focused on the socio-politics of different human and nonhuman actors to examine how this site of memory was constituted. The researchers sought to turn the process of constituting the MRSP more transparent, putting together one of the possible historical versions of this phenomenon. The data collected included oral and documental sources (interviews, videos, books, newspapers and websites).\nFindings: The findings support the notion of history as a socially constructed narrative that emerges through associations of heterogeneous actors in a dynamic and continuous process of (re)configuration. Additionally, by exposing the power relations and negotiations manoeuvres used by multiple actors, it allowed the researchers to highlight the complexity of the Memorial's history as a black box, contextualizing them in a period of intense social upheaval, re-democratization and transitional justice within Brazilian society.\nOriginality/value: The paper outlines the process of listing the DEOPS/SP building and the social mobilization movements during the 1980s and 1990s in Brazil, illustrating some of the results obtained from a more extensive research project that dealt with the MRSP's constitution process. It offers an in-depth example of using the ANTi-History approach in Organizational Studies, allowing the researchers to remove the organization's veil of apparent simplicity and to bring back to life voices and actors that have been erased, disguised and silenced by the dominant version of events.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The sustainability of outcomes in temporary co-production	[ "Co-production", "Co-creation", "Capacity", "Creating sustainable outcomes", "Temporary co-production", "Temporary use of vacant spaces" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Building on the research of Mark H. Moore (1995) about creating public value, public administration scholars have recently shifted their attention to the co-creation of public value (Payne et al., 2007; Fledderus et al., 2015; Osborne et al., 2016; Alford, 2014, 2016). When producing and delivering services, both public servants and citizens are co-creating outcomes that provide value for the public. One field of interest is the expectations these co-producers (i.e. the public servants and citizens) hold regarding creating outcomes in the co-production process (e.g. Vanleene et al., 2017; Jaspers and Steen, 2019). However, research addressing the question of whether these public outcomes are produced in a way that leads to sustainable results is lacking. In this paper, we explore this gap in the literature by analyzing the sustainability of public outcomes created through co-production by examining eight cases on the temporary use of vacant spaces and buildings.\n2. Sustainable co-creation of co-production outcomes: 2.1 Co-production in temporary use\n3. Methods: To explore the sustainability of co-production outcomes, we studied eight temporary use cases in a large city in Flanders. In-depth studies were conducted with a variety of actors: public servants, coordinators of the temporary initiative and citizen co-producers. The interview data were analysed with NVivo. We first elaborate on the case selection, population sampling and data collection. In Section 3.2, we discuss the data analysis method.\n4. Results: 4.1 Tackling today's and tomorrow's challenges by temporary co-production\n5. Discussion: The temporary use of vacant spaces invites a number of actors and stakeholders, such as local residents, local organizations, neighbourhood organizations, public servants belonging to a variety of public services and private actors, to co-produce services. The analytical framework that crosses the dimensions of Today-Tomorrow and Problem Solving-Capacity Building directed our attention first to the desired outcomes. Even within singular initiatives, the various actors aim to address various needs in society. For example, the public servants interviewed mostly aim to include and empower citizens, both for today and in the future after the temporary use ends. Citizen co-producers desire to meet people, gain inspiration and have a place for developing their ideas, while they also aim to claim public places and perpetuate their collaborations for \"tomorrow\". Coordinating co-producers experience temporary uses as a way to answer their need to provide places for experimentation with alternative collaborative structures today and hope to contribute to a transition in society wherein they can keep experimenting with these collaborative structures, making experimentation a permanent part of policy making. As the results showed, the actors involved in the temporary initiatives consider their temporary status when they co-create outcomes. Nevertheless, this fact does not inhibit actors from aiming to create sustainable results. For problem solving today and tomorrow, co-production could be a vital component of creating value (cf. Jefferies et al., 2019). However, some issues arise that are identified in the co-production literature; the issue of the homogeneity of participants (e.g. Vanleene et al., 2017) is a sign that inclusion is not created to the fullest possible extent. Our various temporary co-production cases showed that temporary projects often entail that the created value might disappear when no permanent location is found. For outcome creation to be sustained, a permanent location or the embeddedness of the project in service delivery might be crucial. Otherwise, cities risk losing public space for citizens, again decreasing inclusion, and losing the effects of the dynamic injections into neighbourhoods.\n6. Conclusion: We proposed and explored a framework for studying the co-creation of sustainable outcomes. By building on the literature on sustainable outcome creation and sustainable innovation, we study the sustainability of outcomes along two dimensions. The Today-Tomorrow dimension asks co-production not only to aim at the needs of today but also at the needs of tomorrow's society. The Problem Solving-Capacity Building dimension differentiates between the co-producers' expectations for creating public outcomes through co-production and the co-producers' capacity to co-create outcomes. By doing so, this study explores the topic of co-producing sustainable outcomes in co-production, a topic that has been left rather unexplored until now. This paper resulted in a more comprehensive framework (see Table III) in which experimentation through collaboration (on a systemic level) is an important aspect in addressing the needs of society today and tomorrow. Furthermore, co-production requires supporting processes to create sustainable outcomes. We identified the need for providing resources and support and the need to institutionalize these resources through structural budgets. Flexible governing was shown to be a crucial organizational capacity: rules and regulations are necessary, for example, to ensure safety, but flexibility may allow for more tailor-made solutions and processes capable of addressing the specific needs of the initiatives. Finally, on the individual level, public servants play a role in the empowerment of citizens to co-produce through continuous support, appreciation, guidance, motivation and opportunities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The temporary use of vacant spaces as a format to co-produce public services is becoming popular. Research addressing the question of whether the public outcomes created in temporary co-production lead to sustainable results is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential sustainability of public outcomes created through temporary co-production.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper builds on the literature on creating sustainable outcomes in policy making and on co-production to design a theoretical framework that captures the sustainable co-production of public outcomes. Attention is directed to problem solving and capacity building, and to addressing the needs of society today and being responsive to the needs of tomorrow. A study of 8 temporary initiatives set in a large city in Flanders and 35 in-depth interviews with public servants, project coordinators and citizen co-producers provide empirical data for this exploratory study of the creation of sustainable outcomes in temporary co-production.\nFindings: The data indicate that lasting collaborations, institutionalized (flexible) processes and empowered citizens support the creation of sustainable results from temporary co-production.\nOriginality/value: The paper bridges the literature on policy capacity, the co-production of public services and value creation. By doing so, the paper sheds light on the temporary use of vacant spaces as a way to effectively create outcomes. In addition, the paper addresses the paradox of temporary co-production and the creation of lasting outcomes. Finally, the framework presented offers a tool for analysts and practitioners to take into account various conditions for co-production to create lasting effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Embracing the sobering reality of technological influences on jobs, employment and human resource development: A systematic literature review	[ "Robotics", "Technological unemployment", "Endangered jobs", "Human skills", "Skill-polarized workplace", "Technological influences on jobs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In today's high-tech and robotized environment, one can easily observe many examples of rapid changes that significantly influence how we function at home as well as in the workplace. For example, Toyota recently announced an ambitious billion dollar project to develop al-driven cars that cannot be crashed and home robots with higher indoor mobility (Toyota US Newsroom, 2015). The CEO of Ford, Mark Fields also announced that the company will produce 43 million self-driving cars by 2020 (Cava, 2016). The \"pilotless airliner is going to come; it's just a question of when\", said James Albaugh, a retired CEO of Boeing Commercial Airlines (Patterson, 2012). In the academic world, NC State University introduced a high-tech library using robots called bookBots to retrieve books when students make requests. This new technology reduced library storage space by 88 per cent and delivers the books to the students within 5 minutes (NC State University - NCSU Libraries, 2017). The list continues to grow.\nResearch problem and purpose statement: \"Technology-related HRD research has been overly focused on what we can do with IT [Internet Technologies] tools\" (Li, 2016, p. 190) \"rather than the problems that should concern us as educators\" (Reeves and Reeves, 2015, p. 27). The revelation of this focus prompts researchers to also consider a variety of consequences, including the effect on employees and HRD practice. HRD strategists are faced with the dual challenge of using and maximizing workers' current competencies while developing new essential competencies for work in the rapidly changing technological environment, occasionally referenced as the robotics workplace.\nMethod: Research on the technological effect on job outlook (a forecast on the change of employment number in a particular occupation over a period) and work structure of occupations has been published in numerous disciplines with varying levels of rigor and differing methodologies (Frey and Osborne, 2017; Gajewska, 2014; Kalleberg, 1988; Levy, 2010; Roberts and Foti, 1998). Relative to this research, a systematic literature review (SLR) was implemented owing to its replicable, transparent, and scientific methodology. The SLR approach provides researchers with an organized means to analyze and understand research on a particular phenomenon. Accordingly, the SLR has been validated as a common and reliable practice in business and management fields (McFadden, 2015). A rigorous SLR helps researchers illuminate what is known and identify the unknowns that may adversely affect performance. Questions that guided this SLR are as follows:\nResults and discussion: Methodologies of the investigations\nImplications for human resource development: Technological innovation is currently and will continually influence workforce development in an accelerated manner:\nConclusions and recommendations: This research revealed a skill-polarized workplace, a tendency of technological unemployment on middle-skill jobs, and an increased demand for a higher level of human skill set. The discussion of the themes demonstrates the multifaceted and important nature of the issue of technological impact on employment, job outlook, work structure of occupations, and workforce development. On the basis of the context investigated in the literature, key results were generated that lead to four major conclusions. First, technology causes changes in employment and work structures, as well as endangers some jobs. The labor market is becoming polarized with a growing concentration in high-skill level (cognitive non-routine) jobs and low-skill level (manual non-routine) jobs. Middle-skill jobs that involve routine manual works are more likely to be replaced by machines and automations. Second, technology will eliminate some jobs in conjunction with creating new jobs and opportunities, particular for high-skill level jobs. Third, the results of this research reinforce the premise that essential attributes of human behavior cannot be replaced by technology. To clarify, human skills (e.g. creativity, advanced problem-solving skills, advanced communication skills, sense-making skill, and novel and adaptive thinking) cannot be replaced by technology and thus prevents some jobs from being eliminated (e.g. personal care aides and event planners). Workers need to continually develop high-level skills and human skills to stay competitive in the job market. After all, humans are far better at dealing with, and reacting to, changes and unexpected events than robots are (Rotman, 2013). Fourth, although there is a research gap relative to the issue of technological unemployment and endangered jobs from HRD's perspective, it is clear that workers need to embrace technology and elevate human skills to remain competitive in the job market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide a sobering and unique view of technological unemployment and job changes by identifying endangered jobs and skills, as well as the essential up-skills critical to employees' performance, which cannot be replaced by technology.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review, used because it is replicable, transparent, and scientific, was implemented to examine the current and future technological influences on employment, job outlook, work structure, and human resource development (HRD).\nFindings: The study concludes that HRD professionals should promptly reexamine their social responsibility relative to the technological influence on workers by focusing developmental efforts on employees' human skills while assisting workers' transition to a skill-polarized workplace. HRD professionals should play a major role in facilitating employees' coexistence with robots in the workplace.\nOriginality/value: While recognizing the valuable contributions of previous researchers with similar concerns, this comprehensive review provides an amalgamated and updated view, which reveals the escalating and combined challenges of a skill-polarized workplace, a tendency of technological unemployment for those positioned in middle-skill jobs, and an increased demand for employees with a higher level of human skills.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information literacy and learners' satisfaction: The mediating role of social networking technology usage	[ "Literacy", "Social", "Satisfaction", "Technology", "Networking", "Information", "Learners" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Educational scholars have focussed their attention on developing flexible pedagogies that can provide deep knowledge and reliable learning opportunities to learners (Bruce, 1995; Drotner and Kobbernagel, 2014; Hicks and Sinkinson, 2015; Pinto, 2010). These endeavours reflect a remarkable change in how theorists approach the learning process in higher education (Gameel, 2017; Hicks and Sinkinson, 2015; Joo et al., 2014). With the growing development of information technology and social media applications, several Web 2.0 platforms are being used to facilitate learner interactions (Burden and Kearney, 2017; Chow and Shi, 2014). These developments have magnified the need for alternative educational approaches and pedagogies for developing and disseminating information to different learners (Hicks and Sinkinson, 2015) and also pose new challenges for achieving a balance between higher education requirements and learners' satisfaction (Bundy, 2002).\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Information literacy and learners' satisfaction\nResearch methodology: Data collection method\nData analysis: The partial least squares (PLS) approach was used to test the developed model, and the software Smart-PLS version 3.2.0 was used to evaluate the measurement and structural models. A bootstrapping method (with 500 resamples) was applied to verify the significance levels of the loadings and path coefficients (Chin, 2010; Hair et al., 2014).\nDiscussion and implications: The present study examines the interconnection among IL, SNTU and LS with the objective of broadening the understanding of IL and SNTU and their effects on LS within the higher education context. The major contribution of this study is that SNTU mediates the relationship between IL and LS. That is, SNTU enhances the positive impacts of information search, information evaluation, information processing and information communication and dissemination on LS.\nConclusions: In response to the changing and developing information landscape, educational institutions need to educate their students, provide required skills and enable students to adapt to new technological changes. These strategies appear to influence LS, which in turn enhances the competitive position of educational institutions (Gameel, 2017; Joo et al., 2014; Zhou, 2018). This study concludes that abstract availability of IL is not sufficient to support LS due to the reliance of LS on SNTU and the identification of scientific-related knowledge from electronic content (Ezziane, 2007; Frandsen et al., 2017; Roblyer et al., 2010). Therefore, LS could be better supported by increasing the availability of instruments for information evaluation, processing, and dissemination that enhance the effect of IL on LS. Furthermore, this study calls for professional educators and instructors to consider the role of SNTU in enhancing LS (Gameel, 2017; Hicks and Sinkinson, 2015). The research framework shows that SNTU promotes LS, which in turn strengthens the outcomes of the learning process (Andersen, 2013). Therefore, developing pedagogies and curricula based on social networking technology and electronic content is essential for enhancing LS (Staines and Lauchs, 2013).\nLimitations and future research directions: Although this study generates many insights for IL, SNTU and LS research, certain limitations must be taken into consideration while providing scope for further research. First, to achieve its objectives, this study encompasses variables of deep relevance to education and the learning process in their current form. However, the omission of major variables related to the learning process represents a limitation of the work. In particular, it would be advantageous to include other variables that reflect the infosphere of the learning process, such as learning styles and learning delivery modes. Kauffman (Kauffman, 2015) indicates that LS is particularly dependent on students' preferred learning styles. In addition, Larson and Sung (2009) indicate that learners have varying proportions of positive responses towards learning delivery modes (e.g. learning face to face, e-learning and blended). The implications of these variables would broadly reflect the effects of the information landscape on LS. Second, gender differences were not taken into account in this study. It would be interesting for future research to examine the role of gender differences in the model proposed in this study. Third, the findings of this study are built on data gathered from a single private university. Therefore, future studies adopting the proposed model could investigate its variables based on a sample containing universities from both the private and public sectors to enable greater generalization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to empirically examine the relationships among information literacy (IL), social networking technology usage (SNTU) and learners' satisfaction (LS) among university students. The research also aims to determine whether SNTU has a mediating role in the relationship between IL and LS.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the proposed framework, a self-administered questionnaire was adopted to gather data from students at Komar University of Science and Technology. Of a total of 520 questionnaires, 335 were returned and subsequently used for statistical analysis. The collected data were analysed using Smart-PLS software version 3.2.0.\nFindings: The results of the present research indicate that both IL and SNTU have significant effects on LS. Furthermore, the results suggest that SNTU has a mediating role in the relationship between IL and LS and that IL has the ability to strengthen LS via SNTU.\nOriginality/value: This study offers significant insights that could guide educational institutions in their understanding of LS and the key factors that may affect it. Previous studies have not prioritized the impact of IL and SNTU on LS, and thus the results of this study can serve as a basis for enhancing LS in other educational sectors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factor analysis of global trends in twenty-first century leadership	[ "Global leadership", "Organizational challenges", "Zones of leadership", "Leadership", "Corporate strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The corporate world has experienced profound changes in the early years of the twenty-first century. Countless challenges in a rising global economy have forced leaders worldwide into uncharted territory and have perhaps redefined what leaders must do in order to navigate their organizations toward success. Given these corporate realities, leaders may have to adapt their past understandings of what effective leadership means, and need renewed focus on the issues confronting leaders and the skills that make successful leadership more likely. These issues, along with considerations from earlier research on leadership qualities and principles, provided a foundational conceptualization for the current study.\nLiterature review: The literature review involved using Elton B Stephens Company's (EBSCO) Host search engine and Google Scholar to identify articles in leadership, management, and organizational journals over the two years (2007-2008) before the current study's data collection that addressed the distinct qualities embodying the construct of leadership. A citation map approach was used, whereby a small number of the references in articles from this time period were also used to inform the current model of leadership. Through this literature review, a number of key business and leadership themes emerged, forging conceptualizations of the major business issues affecting leaders and of the skills that leaders need to address these issues. This review formed the basis for a provisional leadership model composed of six zones of leadership (see Figure 1), which are each addressed in turn in this literature review. It should be noted that the six-zone model of leadership in this article is not new in the sense that it articulates novel aspects of leadership. This literature review purposely draws from the published (primarily recent) literature to discuss what theorists and researchers have already said about the various dimensions of leadership. The six-zone model is new, however, in that it integrates the various and disparate facets of leadership already articulated. The names of these zones may be different from those of aspects of leadership identified in the early stages of leadership theory's history, but the terminology in this article better reflects the terminology in the current literature, especially in articles published from 2007-2008.Reflection\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Factor Structure of Leadership in the twenty-first century\nDiscussion: Six zones of leadership\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine whether the nature of leadership in the early years of the twenty-first century as conceptualized in the research literature is valid among real organizational leaders across four global regions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A literature review of recent scholarly articles suggested that today's leadership best practices can be sorted into six categories, or zones: Reflection, Society, Diversity, Ingenuity, People, and Business. These six zones became topics for focus groups of organizational leaders that tentatively supported the six-zone structure and provided qualitative data used to create a 42-item measure, the AchieveGlobal Leadership Scale (AGLS). The AGLS was then employed to examine the degree to which 899 leaders in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the USA felt that each zone was important in meeting their organizational challenges.\nFindings: - The data from the 42 items were analyzed using a confirmatory factor analysis, which suggested that the six zones all triangulated on and comprised the larger construct, Leadership in the twenty-first century. Regional differences emerged in the importance that leaders attributed to the zones, in the degree to which leaders effectively demonstrated the zones, and in the order in which leaders ranked their organizations' top business challenges.\nOriginality/value: - The six-zone model of leadership and its differences by geographic region hold potential to help leaders examine and improve their own leadership abilities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Public sector accrual accounting: institutionalising neo-liberal principles?	[ "Public sector accounting", "New Zealand", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In a newspaper article, Stiglitz (2003) argued that the reforms advocated by experts, often backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are \"more often based on ideology than economic science\". Stiglitz warned that although proposed reforms may seem technical, economic policies require choices which favour some groups over others and, therefore, involve political choices which should not be left to technocrats. The economic policy underlying the structural adjustment and reform programmes advocated by such key supra-national agencies as the OECD, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and its allied agencies, and credit rating agencies is distinctively neo-liberal (Kelsey, 1995, p. 17). Economic policies are relatively powerless in the absence of detailed intermediating processes, such as rules and regulations, to bring them into effect (Deakin and Wilkinson, 1998). Arguably, accounting and requirements to observe accounting rules provide another form of intermediating process, and this article considers the role of accounting in such reforms.\nPublic sector reforms, new political economics, and the potential role of accounting: Internationally, efforts to reform the public sector have waxed and waned in popularity. During the 1970s and 1980s, and after a long post-war period of government expansion, the relatively large size of the public sector in member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was viewed as one cause of the reduced economic growth experienced by those countries. Public attitudes increasingly reflected antipathy to government involvement in essentially business activities; market resource allocation mechanisms were preferred over government intervention, and individual and corporate freedom were regarded as crucial to economic and social progress (Mascarenhas, 1991). Privatisation was pursued openly as public policy for a while, but soon became controversial, attracting increasing opposition (Savas, 2000).New political economics (NPE), a body of relatively recently developed, and still developing, theories became popular, those associated academically with the Chicago School in the USA being most relevant to the analysis in this article. These theories apply economics to politics, and include public choice theory, constitutional economics, transaction cost economics, and agency theory, which, in combination, focus on government and the management of government (Jones, 1992, p. 149; Buchanan, 1997). The ideas underlying these theories range from ideas about people's voting behaviour, about how a government operates and ideal constitutional rules, to ideal structures for organising and coordinating activities, and arrangements for controlling relationships within those structures. Much of the analysis focuses on \"bureaucracy, ... regulation, ... corruption, rent-seeking by interest groups, and constitutional provisions ... \" (Rubin, 1992, pp. 131-132). All of these NPE theories rely on the same underlying assumptions, that individuals are self-interested, opportunistic and boundedly rational, and that they will seek \"to maximize their individual utility by whatever means available\" including, according to Rubin (1992, p. 131), \"the possible use of governmental accounting\". These individualistic assumptions reject, or at least ignore the possibility of, any concept of public interest or altruistic behaviour.These NPE adherents believe that institutions (rules) are crucially important (Meckling, 1978, p. 106). An early wave of NPE theories developed from the late 1940s in opposition to Keynesian economics then dominant in Western countries (Jones, 1992). Keynesian economics proposes that governments should try to counterbalance economic cycles and allocate resources to maximise welfare. The NPE theorists, however, argued that Keynesian economics and, in particular, the rules of functional finance theory associated with Lerner, contained an inbuilt bias towards government expansion and caused increased public sector debt and inflation (Buchanan and Wagner, 1978). They proposed a set of rules (meaningful constitutional norms) intended to reverse the rules of functional finance theory and, therefore, the effects of Keynesian economics by tightly constraining a government's access to resources. Those norms included the iron tripod previously mentioned, viz, independently administered anti-inflationary monetary policy; macro-level fiscal disciplines imposed on governments to achieve balanced budgets without incurring debt; and micro-economic reforms to provide incentives for private sector investment (see, for example, Buchanan and Wagner, 1978, p. 176; Buchanan, 1989, p. 56; Jones, 1992, p. 153).Niskanen (1975, p. 617) focused on the micro-level reforms required seeking the pursuit of efficiency through market processes. He believed that government provision of services would always be inefficient when it is the \"only game in town\" and that the cause of this inefficiency was self-interested, budget-maximising bureaucrats. NPE theorists subsequently opposed the \"bureaucratic supply of services\" ... and favoured \"two fundamental dimensions of reform: privatization and competition\" (Miller and Moe, 1983, p. 297).Extensions of Niskanen's work focussed on agenda-control, using either authority-based structures where responsibility lies with individuals or groups, or information-based structures where control is achieved through information asymmetries (Rubin, 1992). From the early 1990s, interest developed in the use of information-based control structures. The theory was that the amount and type of information generated by bureaucrats and made available to policy-makers influences perceptions of the efficiency and effectiveness of a policy proposal, and this, in turn, influences the decisions about the policy. The self interest assumptions suggest ministers and parliamentarians should beware of delegating the power to set rules that determine the information they will receive. The information asymmetry between bureaucrats and politicians can give the bureaucrats enormous power, and the use of information-based control structures carries with it the potential for ministers and parliamentarians to lose control (Bendor et al., 1985).NPE is founded on views that economics and politics are two sides of the same coin (Jones, 1992). Several NPE theorists acknowledge their philosophical stance as key to their economic policy proposals (see, for example, Buchanan, 1989; Breit, 1978; Parkin, 1987, p. 331), but admit those views encounter public resistance (see, for example, Buchanan, 1997). They acknowledge that proposals for reform require symbolic rhetoric (such as economy and efficiency) intended to appeal in the particular government circumstances and political climate (March and Olsen, 1989, p. 76; see also Henisz, 1999). Whereas the policies are intended to increase the likelihood of privatisation and reduce the size of the public sector (see, for example, Buchanan, 1997, p. 42; Buchanan, 1993, p. 57) the objectives are stated using such symbolic terms as economic efficiency and fiscal responsibility. Occasionally, these symbolic terms are acknowledged as minor issues (see, for example, Buchanan et al., 1987, p. 69). Arguably, the rhetorical claims accompanying complicated and seemingly technical reforms represent a form of information asymmetry.In summary, through NPE, the policy directions sought are privatisation and reductions in public sector size and power largely through the use of seemingly technical economic policies. Evidently, monitoring of policy requires the use of accounting both as a means of ensuring compliance with balanced budget constraints and for restoring efficiency through the use of market processes. There is, therefore, as Jones (1992) suggests a potentially normative aspect to governmental accounting developments. Accounting standard-setters claim that accounting provides information specifically not intended to influence decisions one way or another (Leisenring, 1987; IASB (International Accounting Standards Board), 2006, p. 52). However, the information asymmetry assumptions applied in the context of information-based agenda control raise the potential for the construction and use of accounting data to influence policy processes and outcomes in a particular direction.\nComparison of accrual accounting developments in the UK and New Zealand: This section examines and compares the implementation and use of accrual accounting in the UK and New Zealand. Both the UK and New Zealand have implemented neoliberal reforms that include macro-level fiscal controls and micro-level reforms intended to encourage private sector investment and liberalise trade. The adoption of accrual accounting has been a feature of both countries' reforms, and a variety of potential benefits from the use of accrual accounting has been claimed. Evans (1995) identifies a representative set of benefits which include: better measurement of costs and revenues including comparisons between years; greater focus on outputs rather than inputs; more efficient and effective use of resources, for example through charges for fixed assets; full cost of providing a service can be compared with outside suppliers; a better indication of the sustainability of government policy; improved accountability; better financial management; and greater comparability of management performance results. While not denying those benefits, this section identifies inconsistencies that raise questions about further motives. It begins with macro-level fiscal controls before moving on to the micro-level to examine the implementation of business-style accounting in the public sector, the flow-through to competition policies and efforts to use accounting for comparison of public sector full costs with private sector prices, and efforts to link the macro-level controls with those at the micro-level.The UK\nDiscussion and conclusion: Stiglitz (2003) warned that seemingly technical economic policies advocated by such supra-national agencies as the OECD, IMF and World Bank are \"more often based on ideology than economic science\". A detailed consideration of literature on accounting and ideology is outside the scope of this article, but readers might refer, for example, to Tinker et al. (1982). In both the UK and New Zealand, the three legs of the neo-liberal iron tripod are apparent, namely, independently-administered anti-inflationary monetary policy; macro-level fiscal disciplines imposed to achieve balanced budgets; and micro-economic reforms to liberalise trade and to expand the business sector (McKinnon, 2003, p. 316). A strong belief in markets underpins neo-liberalism. Efforts to reduce the size of government would be consistent with the desire to foster and encourage business activities. Accompanying the early neo-liberal reforms were openly-pursued efforts to do this by privatising previously-governmental activities. In both the UK and New Zealand, the early stages of these privatisation efforts mostly involved the outright privatisation of some infrastructure-based industries, and were defended at least partly as a means of reducing government debt. These privatisation efforts were tolerated initially, but they soon became controversial and the subject of considerable public opposition. More gradual, less visible processes seemed to follow, some of which, as suggested above, are buried in seemingly technical details.Advocates of privatisation (for example, Savas, 1982, p. 123) propose various ways to proceed with privatisation gradually which run less risk of \"bruising\" ideological battles than methods pursued openly. These include running down public services and encouraging \"natural forces\" to develop markets in those formerly public services. Arguably, the pursuit of such policies is assisted by the manner in which accrual accounting has been and is being developed in the public sector in both the UK and New Zealand. The fiscal controls and budgeting processes facilitate the withholding and withdrawal of financial resources from public sector operations, thus forcing service reductions and the running down of services. The more detailed accrual accounting requirements, especially revaluation requirements and the imposition of charges based on the revalued assets (depreciation and capital charge) which load the full-costs required for comparison with potential alternative suppliers and are used in the various review processes are biased against continued public sector provision, and thus support and encourage business activity by suggesting public sector services are inefficient. The manner in which accrual accounting has been developed in the public sector has the effect of privileging decisions, which advance the privatisation aspect of the neo-liberal agenda.That an underlying privatisation agenda continues becomes apparent only occasionally. For example, in the UK, the NHS improvement plan states as an objective that by 2008 the independent sector will provide 15 percent of procedures on behalf of the NHS. Occasional policy documents released in New Zealand reveal similar aims but, for the most part, the moves to privatisation seem to depend for their legitimacy on demonstrations of public sector ineptness or inefficiency. The detailed rules designed into the public sector financial management systems in both countries seem likely to cause both, the withholding and erosion of financial resources reducing the capacity of public sector services to function, and the accrual accounting requirements loading reported full costs.This research relates only to the UK and New Zealand, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown's introduction to HM Treasury (Brown, 2002) raises questions about the extent to which similar developments are being pursued internationally.Just as in the mid 1940s a new British economic policy was matched by the high ideas that brought the creation of the World Bank and the IMF, so too at the turn of the century the same high ideals are driving change from debt relief to major reforms in the international financial architecture. We must, at an international level, build a new consensus ... ensuring countries have in place the macro-economic, financial, structural and social policies for long-term success in the global economy. For this reason we have been active in international institutions such as the G8, the IMF and World Bank ... And while much remains to be done before a new international financial architecture is in place, I believe we are making progress.Given Stiglitz's warning, and the findings reported here, issues for continued and future research include scrutiny of the public sector accounting developments advocated and imposed by supra-national organisations, and of the detailed nature of their efforts through the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) to standardise public sector accounting world-wide. Even more important for future research is the need to ensure the fundamental purpose of governmental accounting, protection of public money, receives due attention and is strengthened rather than weakened as seems to be the case, at least in New Zealand (Newberry and Pallot, 2005).Jones (1992) commented that the function of governmental accounting is to control people's behaviour, by encouraging or discouraging particular actions. This makes clear that accounting in the public sector should not be represented or regarded as a neutral technology. It is accepted that there is value in the use of accrual accounting in the public sector, but the manner and form in which accrual accounting has been introduced and developed results in the presentation of accounting data as if it may validly be compared with business sector accounting information. Arguably, this supports advancement of neo-liberal policies of privatisation and trade liberalisation by providing biased and misleading data. If this effect has been brought about knowingly, it might be regarded as exemplifying information-based agenda control through which the amount and type of information produced and made available is intended to influence decisions and policy outcomes (Rubin, 1992; Bendor et al., 1985). The suggestion that this accrual accounting development in the public sector is merely the application of business sector practices intended to provide a \"read across\" or be \"sector neutral\" misleads. Areas for future research include closer scrutiny of the overall effect of public sector financial management reforms, as well as the role of, and implications for, accounting standard-setters (see Table I).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of public sector accounting in implementing neoliberal reforms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The proposition that the adoption and development of accrual accounting in the public sector is a technical development intended to improve transparency and accountability is investigated. The paper compares the development and use of accrual accounting in public sector financial management reforms in the UK and New Zealand.\nFindings: - The findings in this paper suggest that in both countries, accrual accounting, as developed, also provides a means to reduce the government's role to that of procurer of services and enforcer of rules set by others, thus advancing a controversial privatisation and trade liberalisation agenda which is consistent with neo-liberal principles.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper shows that in contrast to more usual claims about the need for accrual accounting to provide a \"read across between the sectors\" or that public interest motives assure the neutrality of accounting, seemingly technical accrual accounting developments seem to function as a political tool to aid a controversial political agenda. There is a need to look at the overall effect of public sector financial management reforms and the role of, and implications for, accounting standard-setters.\nOriginality/value: - The information in the paper applies to accounting the new political economics literature on agenda control and information based structures where control is achieved through information asymmetries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate disclosure and foreign share ownership: empirical evidence from African countries	[ "Equity", "Corporate disclosure", "Frontier markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Management of firms needs to communicate the performance and governance of the firm to outsiders given the divorce between corporate insiders and outsiders (investors) that characteristics listed firms in most stock markets today. Corporate disclosures are important for the proper functioning of capital markets which has implications for the efficient allocation of capital. For developing countries, the added significance of corporate disclosures is the implications for attracting foreign investment (foreign share ownership) and the antecedent economic benefits that foreign investment may in developing economies. As such, institutions created to facilitate and ensure credible disclosure practices (corporate governance institutions) are crucial in capital markets and would be considerably so in developing countries. This study investigates the relation between corporate disclosures and foreign share ownership of three African stock markets: Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. These countries represent economies of significant potential on the African continent outside South Africa, Botswana and the North African states. Although, the cultures are different to an extent, the three countries share a common colonial heritage but this does not eliminates country-level unobservable effects that would implications for panel data studies like this study[1].\n2. Corporate governance institutions and legal regimes: This section reviews the legal and institutional framework that enshrines governance practices of public companies in the three countries considered in this study. Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria are all former British colonies as such they share the common law legal traditions. Considering each country in turn, the key legislation concerning corporate governance in the study countries are detailed below.\n3. Literature review: In this section, we review the academic literature in general on corporate disclosure implications for firm value, and the relation between corporate disclosure and foreign share ownership interest in domestic firms. We start by looking at the theories of corporate disclosure and its relation with firm value. We also consider the literature on what corporate disclosures implies about the corporate governance framework under a firm operates, and last we look the literature on the relation between corporate disclosure and foreign share ownership.\n4. Data and research methodology: 4.1 Data\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Conclusions, implications and recommendations: Corporate disclosures are important for the simple fact that it helps mitigate information asymmetry between company insiders and outsiders. The literature largely considers corporate disclosures as a value relevant activity with caveats that beyond an optimal level, corporate disclosures may be providing ammunition to the competition. Corporate disclosures also become important when company outsiders are not domiciled in the same country as the company insiders. This is the case with non-resident foreign investors in African Stock Markets. In this study, we seek to under the relation between corporate disclosures and foreign share ownership in African using data on Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. Using hand-collected data on disclosures on key company information with respect to ownership, financial reporting standards and board management over 2002 to 2008, we test the relation between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosures. The increase sample allows providing insights beyond Bokpin and Isshaq (2009), Tsamenyi et al. (2007). Indeed, our study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study across African Stock Markets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study aims to seeks to ascertain the impact of corporate disclosure on foreign equity ownership. Corporate disclosures are important to for stock markets because it is an activity that mitigates information differences between company insiders and outsiders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Corporate disclosures assume an even greater important when company outsiders are not domiciled in the same country as the company and the company insiders. In this study, the relation between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosures using data on Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria is examined.\nFindings: The consistent results in this study are that foreign share ownership is positively related to firm size. A negative relation, however, between foreign share ownership and corporate disclosure is found, but this turns out to be related to disclosures about ownership, while disclosures on financial reporting and board management have a positive and insignificant statistical relation taking into account unobserved country, time and firm effects. Further analysis shows that corporate disclosures are very persistent and negatively related to lag foreign share ownership. No consistent statistical relation is found between disclosure and market-to-book values as a proxy for investment opportunities. It is recommended to African-listed firms to pursue adoption of high-quality financial reporting standards and to increase their reporting on board management. The study also recommends that the African Government weighs the benefits of detailed ownership disclosures.\nOriginality/value: The study utilises frontier market data to complement existing literature on how corporate disclosure and transparency influences foreign investors decision to invest in Africa.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of training and empowerment in environmental performance: A study of the Mexican maquiladora industry	[ "Environmental management", "Human resource management", "Environmental performance", "Mexico" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A wide range of forces influence the way in which corporations react to environmental issues. A proactive approach is the model for sustainable business, which seeks to go above and beyond compliance. In fact, regulation, laws, cost factors, stakeholder forces, and competitive requirements drive corporations to adopt proactive environmental management strategies (Bhushan and MacKenzie, 1994; Klassen and Whybark, 1999). This shift has been from a pollution control strategy to a prevention strategy (Brockhoff et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2002; Hart, 1997; Kitazawa and Sarkis, 2000; Klassen, 2001; Porter and van der Linde, 1995). Consequently, many businesses have adopted more proactive strategies to manage their environmental impacts.Several researchers have argued that certain human resource (HR) factors are particularly relevant for successful environmental management (Angell and Klassen, 1999; Chinander, 2001; Daily and Huang, 2001; Zutshi and Sohal, 2003). In particular, authors have espoused the need for examination of issues such as training, empowerment, supervisor support, and teamwork within the context of environmental management (Beard, 1996; Daily et al., 2007; Daily and Huang, 2001; Hart, 1995; Fernandez et al., 2003; Govindarajulu and Daily, 2004; Kitazawa and Sarkis, 2000; Laabs, 1992; Ramus, 2001; Ramus and Steger, 2000; Sarkis, 2001). However, only a few empirical studies have considered these variables in this context (Carter and Dresner, 2001; Daily et al., 2007; Drumwright, 1994; Wee and Quazi, 2005). Although these studies provide important perspectives on the role of HR in an environmental management system (EMS), only Daily et al. (2007) tested a comprehensive model of essential HR factors and offered an explanation of the interrelationship between these factors.Specifically, Daily et al. (2007) examined employee perceptions regarding the relationship of management support for EMS training, EMS rewards, empowerment, and EMS teamwork on perceived environmental performance. Their model explained 66 percent of the variance in perceived environmental performance. Hence, their study provided a new and important direction for researchers interested in issues that impact environmental management. We feel it is worthwhile to extend this stream of research.Our study is similar to Daily et al. (2007) since we examine various HR factors and their role in environmental management. However, our study is different in that we examine managers' perspective of themselves and employees. Hence, the purpose of our study is to propose a model that links the following HR factors: employee environmental empowerment, employee environmental training, employee environmental teamwork, managerial environmental empowerment, and managerial environmental training, to environmental performance as perceived by managers. We propose to test this model in manufacturing firms (Figure 1). Furthermore, our study is conducted across a number of organizations in order to establish the generalizability of HR factors in environmental endeavors (the Daily et al., 2007 study was at a single organization in the USA).Finally, our study takes place in Mexico. This provides a unique contribution by examining organizations in a developing country with significant pollution problems. The border region and maquiladora sector represent an appropriate area facing extensive environmental issues, where environmental management practices are likely to be relevant at a large number of facilities. If simple HR factors can make a difference in environmental management in firms in Mexico, we believe this could make a strong argument for the generalizability of the HR role to other organizations in more developed countries with fewer challenges.This study contributes to both theory and praxis. First, it extends the literature related to environmental management and human resources management. Second, it examines managerial perceptions of the HR role within the firm for both manager/supervisors and hourly/direct workers. Third, our study is one of the first to investigate the relationships between HR factors and environmental issues in Mexican manufacturing firms. Finally, the study has important implications for practitioners in the manufacturing sector.\nThe Mexican manufacturing sector and the natural environment: Mexico still remains a country on the pathway to development, facing numerous environmental, economic, and social problems. In 1989, the USA, Mexico, and Canada formed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to stimulate economic growth by reducing trade barriers. The effects of NAFTA on the three partner nations have included economic, labor, and environmental impacts. Unfortunately, some of these impacts, particularly those related to the environment in the US-Mexico Border Region, have been predominantly negative (Sweedler et al., 2003). The environmental conditions in the border region are in fact worse in comparison to the overall environmental quality of the USA and Mexico as a whole. Industrial facilities in the Mexican maquiladora sector are sources of harmful air pollutants, such as sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, which have exacerbated regional air quality. Additional problems associated with increased industrial activity include hazardous and solid waste generation, which have deteriorated the area's environmental health (US EPA, 2010). Collectively, these environmental problems pose challenges for businesses operating in the region and create a scenario where environmental management truly matters.Despite Mexico's struggles, NAFTA has opened Mexican companies to greater scrutiny and more stringent, international environmental protection standards. The private sector has subsequently responded with its own efforts to improve environmental performance. This has ultimately resulted in an increase in the adoption of green management practices and cleaner technologies by industrial facilities (Barajas et al., 2007). Thus, developing a better understanding of environmental management issues is especially relevant in the Mexican manufacturing sector, particularly along the border, where economies and the natural environment are in many ways interdependent. Our proposed model, therefore, utilizes this contingent setting to demonstrate the effects of HR factors on environmental performance. Below we offer further discussion of these constructs and our hypothesized model.\nA model of environmental performance: Environmental constructs\nMethods: Survey construction\nResults: Prior to testing our hypotheses, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the 27 items of our scales by analyzing a covariance matrix with LISREL 8.80 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993). The kh2, degrees of freedom, and the fit indices were kh2(309, n=205)=1,170.31, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) =0.113, comparative fit index (CFI)=0.98, non-normed fit index (NNFI)=0.97, and the standardized root mean square residual=0.052. All fit indices with the exception of the RMSEA indicate that the model fit the data well (Medsker et al., 1994; Rigdon, 1996). The RMSEA suggests the fit could be improved. Taken all together, the evidence indicates that the model fit the data moderately well. The means, standard deviations, correlations, and reliabilities of the scales appear in Table II.We also subjected our measurement model to several competing models. First, we tested the possibility that our instrument could not detect the difference between training for employees and training for managers. To accomplish this we had all training related items load on a single latent variable. Second, we loaded all environmental empowerment items on a single latent variable to see if our instrument could detect the difference between managerial and employee empowerment. Similarly, we loaded the managerial environmental training and empowerment items on a single latent variable to see if the instrument could detect differences between training and empowerment with respect to managers. Finally, we did similarly with employee environmental training and empowerment. Each of these competing models fit the data less well than our hypothesized model. The associated kh2 and kh2differences and degrees of freedom appear in Table III.Hypothesized structural model\nDiscussion: Our study contributes to theory as well as praxis. It contributes to theory by applying HR constructs to environmental management issues. Our research augments Daily et al. (2007) in that we extended the use of HR constructs to managers' perceptions of themselves as well as employees. In addition, support for H1 and H3 and H2 and H4, respectively, provide evidence that empowerment and environmental training are pertinent to managers as well as employees. Our study also supports previous research (Daily and Huang, 2001; Daily et al., 2007; Marks et al., 2000; Matthews et al., 2003; Ramus, 1997, 2002) that suggests hourly/direct workers manifest environmental training and empowerment in their teams through teamwork.In regards to managers, the direct relationships for managers from environmental training and empowerment to environmental performance have organizational implications. First, institutional resources need to be provided to managers as well as workers in terms of training. Firms may at times place greater emphasize on on-the-job training for hourly workers because it is easy to assume managers may be more versed in environmental management skills. However, our study links level of managerial environmental training to environmental performance. Therefore, firms need to examine if managers are receiving significant levels of education on environmental issues. Second, we also make a case for autonomy in environmental decision making. Managers in our study with the highest levels of environmental empowerment were also the managers perceiving the highest levels of environmental performance. Certainly this parallels classic research in the original construct of empowerment to organizational performance (Kirkman et al., 2004; Kirkman and Rosen, 1999).\nConclusions: Participants in our research also perceived that environmental training and empowerment for employees were related to environmental performance as mediated through teamwork. Hence, an implication for our study suggests that managers need to support employee teamwork as a means for environmental improvement. Moreover, our research supports the theoretical concept that teamwork is the vehicle upon which employees can manifest change to complex environmental problems (Massoud et al., 2009).An interesting finding was that the paths from managers' and employees' training to environmental performance and teamwork, respectively, were stronger than the paths from empowerment to these same variables. This reiterates the need for substantial training specific to environmental management practices in order to maximize improvements.Therefore, while teamwork may be the vehicle to manifest environmental change, our research clearly suggests that empowerment and training are essential catalysts for teamwork to occur. In addition, it appears that training may be the more critical factor.However, adding more training may be burdensome to some organizations on the grounds that they already do large amounts of it already. This, combined with the various financial constraints, may cause many firms to rank environmental training low on a list of priorities. However, it is obvious that without specific environmental training it may be difficult to achieve high levels of environmental performance. Certainly, low levels of environmental performance can lead to costly waste cleanups, hazardous conditions for employees and the community, and possible legal fines. Therefore, companies that have heretofore not ranked environmental training high on their priorities may want to reconsider if they wish to remain competitive.Another unique contribution of this paper is that the survey was administered in maquiladoras in the US/Mexico border region. This area is rife in pollution problems due to the heavy industrialization (US EPA, 2010). Furthermore, the ratification of NAFTA has also increased attention on the need for regulation and oversight for the natural environment on the border in recent years (Barajas et al., 2007). Finally, Mexico exemplifies emerging economies around the globe that are characterized by similar environmental concerns. The results of our research can offer guidance on ways to enhance environmental outcomes to practitioners in these localities as well as Mexico. Furthermore, we believe that if our model can be positively applied in emerging countries such as Mexico, it should be generalizable to firms within more developed countries. Firms within westernized regions generally have greater resources and fewer challenges. Hence, we believe if simple HR factors can make a difference in Mexican maquiladoras it seems reasonable to believe these HR factors could make a difference in most organizations anywhere.This study, like all field research, has limitations. First, our measure of environmental performance was self-report. Managers may be inclined to engage in self-serving bias by rating their company higher than it actually is. The fact that the survey was anonymous should help minimize this type of bias. Second, we caution readers against inferring causal properties for our reported relationships. Only sound theory, appropriate research designs, and corroborating empirical results can allow one to make causal inferences. Even so, we believe that the independent variables in our model serve as antecedents of the dependent variables based upon sound theory. In any case, the results show only that causal relationships are possible and readers should make such inferences with caution. Third, the correlations among our independent variables were rather high in some cases, suggesting the possibility of multicolinearity. This is offset somewhat by the results of our CFA on competing models. Finally, common method variance can be a concern with this type of research methodology. However, this design can be quite useful in providing a picture of how people view their jobs (Spector and Brannick, 1995) and can provide information about the relationships among various feelings and perceptions (Spector, 1994). Spector (1987, p. 438) also states that \"properly developed instruments are resistant to the method variance problem.\" To enhance this resistance, we made efforts to follow the recommendation of Podsakoff and Organ (1986) to eliminate obvious overlap in items across measures. Furthermore, recent empirical evidence casts doubt upon the conclusion that the method itself produces systemic variance that inflates correlations to any significant degree (Spector, 2006). Spector (2006, p. 221) further recommends that:[...] the term common method variance be abandoned in favor of a focus on measurement bias that is the product of the interplay of constructs and methods by which they are assessed.Finally, while we believe our results within the Mexican manufacturing sector can be applied in more westernized settings; the sole focus of our study in Mexico is a limitation. Additional studies are required to expand the range of generalizability, as well as to confirm our findings.An additional area for further research could include examining other HR factors (i.e. rewards, commitment, motivation, employee perceptions of managerial support, etc.) and their impact on environmental management. It is clear that more than just technology and equipment is needed to improve the environment; people must be fully utilized to achieve sustainable and responsible manufacturing worldwide.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study to propose a model that links the following human resource (HR) factors: employee environmental empowerment, employee environmental training, employee environmental teamwork, managerial environmental empowerment and managerial environmental training, to environmental performance as perceived by managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was administered to 220 manufacturing organizations in Mexico. The survey instrument was self-report format with attitudinal variables. Items were adopted from previously published scales. A hypothesized model of the variable relationships with structural equation modelling analysis was tested.\nFindings: - The results suggest that managers perceive that both environmental training and environmental empowerment are important to themselves and employees. In this study, overall environmental training had a stronger relationship with the dependent variables than environmental empowerment. In the case of the employee level, the effects were mediated through environmental teamwork.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to both theory and praxis. First, it extends the literature related to environmental management and HR management. Second, it examines managerial perceptions of the HR role within the firm for both manager/supervisors and hourly/direct workers. Third, the study is one of the first to investigate the relationships between HR factors and environmental issues in Mexican manufacturing firms. Finally, the study has important implications for practitioners in the manufacturing sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Private equity and the UK market: some "real" concerns	[ "Equity capital", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The growth of private equity has been the focus of critical political and press attention over the past 12 months in the UK[1]. The City financial and regulatory authorities have, for a much longer period, been observing and highlighting the need to consider and review private equity practices and disclosures. For example, following on from the lead of the Takeover Panel and its disclosure revisions, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) initiated a review of the UK private equity market[2]; similarly a high profile Treasury Select Committee was appointed to consider the practices of private equity investors and a Treasury review of the taxation of certain types of corporate debt associated with private equity corporate buyout transactions took place[3].The industry itself, through the British Venture Capital Association and a group of major private equity firms, asked Sir David Walker to chair a high level working group to assess the adequacy of disclosure and transparency practices of private equity investors and firms, with a view to recommending a set of guidelines for conformity by the industry on a voluntary basis. The Walker recommendations were issued in November 2007[4].The Walker report confirmed that priority should be given to promoting a better understanding on an industry-wide basis of how private equity operates and of its potential contribution to the UK economy. Such an understanding was deemed necessary in order to counter the mounting public criticism and concerns over perceived unfair tax advantages and short-termism of private equity investors and associated \"buyout\" activity. The well publicised admission by Nicholas Ferguson of SVG capital that private equity bosses generally paid tax at lower rates than their office cleaners, did little to appease public concerns and criticisms.\nThe growth of private equity: During 2007 the growth and impact of private equity continued to increase. For example, in 2007 some of the largest leveraged buyout transactions were announced in both the US (the $45bn acquisition agreement announced by TXU) and the UK (the PS11.1bn bid for Alliance Boots by KKR). This follows on from the record levels of investment in private equity firms in 2005 and 2006 in which UK-based funds raised over PS31bn each year. The UK is now the largest market for private equity outside the United States, with over 250 private equity companies directly authorised by the FSA and a significant number of others who are part of other authorised firms such as investment banks.One of the obvious questions is why has there been such a growth in private equity? This is a complex question and some partial answers include:A sustained period of excessive savings and liquidity in the credit market, pre-the recent \"credit-crunch\"; and world wide low interest rates.A perception that private equity produces higher returns than other classes of investment.A recognition that certain tax rules can be used to enhance the level of returns for private equity investors.A highly innovative financial sector that is capable of structuring products to effectively pass on risks.\nConcerns and response: Despite its growth, or because of its growth, private equity is associated with several concerns that have generated tensions and press and public debate and disquiet. These include concerns over the high levels of reward to private equity firms and partners, supported by tax advantages; the perceived short-termism of private equity investors and the buyout and leverage implications for employees in target companies; and the impact of the very high levels of borrowing and the impact on companies long-term performance, increased vulnerability to interest rate change and ability to maintain company pension scheme commitments.The extent to which these concerns are real or simply press encouraged anxieties is difficult to ascertain. The Walker Report goes as far as suggesting that evidence exists to support a conclusion that private equity investors take a long-term position often enhancing the corporate performance in favour of both investors and employees, and, ultimately, the economy. If one looks at the broad outline of the Walker recommendations it is about disclosure to assist in the understanding and recognition of private equity contributions and planning, with particular emphasis on disclosure to employees albeit without any system or rights of enforcement apart from press and political awareness and comment on private equity firms and investors activities via a scrutiny of the \"voluntary\" disclosure. For example, the Walker recommendations seek to capture, through a voluntary code, the activities of private equity firms authorised by the FSA and other \"portfolio\" companies, essentially companies under the control of private equity companies. The latter will be required to identify and disclosure, on an annual basis, private equity \"owners\" and their corporate strategy in the form of a \"business review\" of trends and intentions in the format and same scope applied to Public Limited Companies under Section 417 of the Companies Act 2006. They will also need to publish a financial review of risks and uncertainties, including their objectives and principal leverage ambitions. Non-portfolio authorised private equity firms will be required to publish, inter alia, details of their structure and investment approach and, at times of strategic change, ensure a timely and effective communication with all employees of affected companies.Possible changes to the favourable tax regime were announced by the Chancellor in his pre-budget statement in October 2007. In that statement, Alistair Darling, specifically identified the need to begin to address a number of tax loopholes that would impact on the perceived tax advantages of private equity. Included within these was a proposed reform of capital gains tax to begin to withdraw tax relief and introduce a flat-rate of 18 per cent, declaring that that would remain one of the most competitive single rates of any major economy. Action would also be taken to remove a non-domicile tax loophole. Such action would need to be \"fair, workable and affordable\"; and consultation would seek views on the following alternative routes:(1) As a first step introducing a charge on non-domiciles after seven years, and a higher rate after ten years.(2) Taking steps to prevent people from claiming that they are out of the Country when they are actually here, of preventing people from disguising income as capital and from claiming in effect, two allowances.(3) Imposing, for completion, a flat charge for everyone.It is claimed that these alternative measures will raise, on average, PS650 million per annum.\nAre these measures enough?: As one might expect, critics express concern that the above changes do not go far enough. The Walker recommendations consist of a voluntary code, developed and \"policed\" by the industry, and provides few rights with no avenues or rights of accountability nor explicit sanctions.The tax changes have caused more concern in the private equity business with a belief that they will drive investors out of the UK market and reduce the competitiveness and attractiveness of the UK for the private equity investor. Against that, of course, is the need to recognise the innovation and inventiveness of both the UK investor market and product development, and associated tax avoidance intelligence. It has also been claimed that a mass exodus from the UK market will not take place for the simple reason that many of the target companies exist and trade on UK markets[5], of course concerns remain over some of the technical tax advantages that remain, despite the proposed changes[6]. These include concerns over interest relief and how income attributable to carried interests of general partners in private equity funds should be taxed.Perhaps the reality and the compromise behind the proposed changes is one that seeks to recognise and balance the growing public and political distrust with the need for the private equity industry to become more transparent and explicit in an attempt to educate the public on the benefits of private equity to the UK economy. In order to complete the understanding in this area, the competitive position of the UK market needs to be recognised. It is disappointing that neither Walker nor the Chancellor make substantive reference to that important global position in what is an important global industry. Perhaps that should be the next step!\nNotes: 1. Such as the Independent (2 page spread, 17/02/07), The Guardian (2 page spread 24/02/07). Titles include revealing terms such as \"Face of the new capitalism\" (independent) and \"corporate buccaneers\", Guardian.2. See 06/06, \"Private equity: a discussion of risk and regulatory engagement\", FSA, (feedback 07/03, June 2007), UK House of Commons Select Committee.3. June 2007 See \"Private equity boss on enemy within\" spread 24/02/07), Titles include revealing terms such as \"Face of the new capitalism\".4. Walker Report (2007), \"Guidelines for disclosure and transparency in private equity\".5. Evidence and opinion submitted to[3], above.6. See \"Written Submission of Evidence on Private Equity to the Treasury Select Committee; July 2007\". The Tax Justice Network UK, available at: www.taxresearch.org.uk\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to look at the growth of private equity and to consider the concerns that the public and media have raised, as well as the response to these concerns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article is an opinion piece based on current and recent trends.\nFindings: - It is difficult to ascertain whether the publics' concerns are real or are media lead. The tax changes have also caused concern in the private equity business with a belief that they will drive investors out of the UK market and reduce the competitiveness and attractiveness of the UK for the private equity investor.\nOriginality/value: - The key may involve more transparency in the private equity industry as this may help resolve some of the growing public and political distrust. The paper also suggests that to attain a better understanding in this area, the competitive position of the UK market needs to be recognised.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Unpacking knowledge management practices in China: do institution, national and organizational culture matter?	[ "China", "Institutional theory", "Knowledge management", "Organizational culture", "National cultures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge is recognized as a core competency, a main source of competitive advantage and value creation for organizations throughout the world. This notion is particular evident in the Chinese context as China positions itself in the knowledge-based economy (Augier et al., 2016), which means that knowledge management (KM) is becoming increasingly important. Indeed, a large number of researchers state that KM is a core competency that determines the success of an organization in this knowledge-driven society (Johannessen and Olsen, 2003; Martinsons et al., 2017). Despite the importance of KM, many organizations are still struggling with its implementation (Chong and Chong, 2009), especially in China. According to The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization (2017), the business potential of the Chinese market is enormous; however, effective KM still faces formidable obstacles. The obstacles may be caused by cultural factors (i.e. national and organizational culture) (Intezari et al., 2016) and the institutional backgrounds (Alers-Tealdi, 2015; Peng et al., 2008). Although KM in China is distinctive, this concept was poorly introduced in the 1990s (Peng et al., 2010). As a result, KM in most Chinese organizations is still at the initial stage, and few studies were undertaken to explicitly examine KM within China (McAdam et al., 2012; Mitra and Ruan, 2014). To narrow this research gap and contribute to the extant literature on KM study in the Chinese context, the present paper investigates how organizations in China implement the KM practices.\nTheoretical background: Since the introduction of KM in the 1990s, this concept has become an important area of research in modern management and leadership for academics and practitioners (De Long and Fahey, 2000; Peng et al., 2007). There is a general consensus among researchers (Chawla and Joshi, 2010; Hussinki et al., 2017; Prusak, 2014; Saifi, 2015) that KM can be seen as a collaborative and integrated approach that facilitates an organization to create, capture, organize, access and use the intellectual asset to gain long-term sustainability and strategic advantage. The commonly stated rationale for emphasis in KM is knowledge's intangibility, which makes it hard to imitate or adopt by competitors (Adams and Lamont, 2003; Meso and Smith, 2000).\nMethods: Site and subjects\nResults: An almost equal gender distribution was found in the study sample; 48 per cent were men and 52 per cent were women. In addition, many respondents held high qualification, with 54 per cent having at least an undergraduate degree and a further 34 per cent having graduate qualifications. This finding indicates that the studied Chinese organizations were enjoying the outcome of governments' continuous education reform since the late 1970s. There is a general consensus that education is the basis of social and economic development of a country (UNESCO, 2015), and consequently, the Chinese Government and organizations place great emphasis on education. As a result, China had a record-breaking eight million graduates in 2017, which was nearly ten times higher than in 1997 (Stapleton, 2017). According the OECD (2016, p. 14):\nDiscussion: Along with the global integration, China has become a knowledge powerhouse and KM has gained great importance. However, studies that systematically investigate KM in the Chinese context are rather limited, and there are calls for more research in this field (Cong et al., 2007; McAdam et al., 2012). Indeed, most of the literature on KM tends to focus on developed countries, with little efforts in understanding this concept in the transition economies (Mohannak, 2011; Nguyen, 2010), especially in China (McAdam et al., 2012; Taminiau et al., 2009; Wei et al., 2010). Furthermore, most KM papers were formulated to test how knowledge, such as technology and management skills, are transferred from one entity to another (e.g. units, departments or subsidiaries) within or across organizations (Han et al., 2006). Some studies concentrated on examining the influential factors of KM or knowledge transfer (Chen et al., 2011a; Lu et al., 2008; Rai, 2011; Saifi, 2015; Wang et al., 2014). Thus, this study was developed to narrow the research gaps by integrating different concepts to examine KM in China with a specific emphasis on the effects of institutional forces, organizational culture and national culture.\nConclusion: In general, this study investigated how some Chinese organizations implemented various KM practices. Given the lack of agreement regarding the KM measurement in China, the present study's findings lend support for the KM scales (i.e. knowledge creation, knowledge organization and knowledge personalization) in the Chinese context. As such, Chinese organizations can easily identify any potential problems associated with KM practices, and in turn, they are more likely to alter their strategies when managing knowledge in the workplace. Although a systematic approach to KM was lacking in the studied Chinese organization, they came to realize the importance of KM strategies and practices and formed a distinctive KM system with Chinese characteristic. In the foreign context, a community of shared interests is often founded on mutual financial benefits, whereas the Chinese are also interested in emotions or feelings. In other words, good relationships or connections are founded on emotions or feelings of individual members (e.g. trust). For example, this emotion could be the feelings toward the organization, colleagues or coworkers. Once a good relationship or connection is established, information or knowledge flows among colleagues, which provide the foundation for KM practices in the Chinese context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to empirically examine knowledge management practices in China with the purpose to provide a holistic view regarding the current status of knowledge management at both national and organizational levels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a survey method, this study collected primary data from organizations across several regions in China. The data were analyzed to detect possible relationships among institutional force, organizational culture and knowledge management process in Chinese organizations. More specifically, to what extent are these relationships moderated by national culture?\nFindings: While knowledge management practices in China were partly influenced by institutional forces, most of the predicted connections between organizational culture and knowledge management were supported. In addition, the dynamic nature of national culture is predominant, that pervasively influencing knowledge management processes and thus contextualization determines how knowledge is being managed in China. Indeed, the ideologies of relationships and trust are key vehicles for knowledge management in the Chinese organizations.\nPractical implications: This study comprehensively reviews existing literature to form an integrative framework, which is under explored in a Chinese context. Such initiative helps scholars and practitioners to gain a full understanding of knowledge management, in general, in the Chinese business environment in particular.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a detailed and empirical insight into the knowledge management practices in Chinese organizations and suggests that knowledge management in a distinctive and yet diverse cultural context should be considered with caution.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership influence on unit performance: Cross-level moderated mediation evidence	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Transformational leadership", "Absorptive capacity", "Cross-level moderation mediation evidence", "Unit performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research on transformational leadership (TFL) indicates that TFL can be defined as the style of leadership that can engage the organization's employees and encourage them to achieve the firm's targets. Transformational leaders can be used to promote better performance by motivating individuals to collaborate in the pursuit of the firm's higher-level objectives (Bass and Avolio, 2000; Sun et al., 2014). Meta analytic researches also indicate that transformational leaders are influential on outcomes at both the team level and the firm level (Lin et al., 2016). Hence, there is merit in further research into the mechanisms through which TFL encourages unit-level performance (Wang et al., 2011).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Leadership theories can be classified into the following approaches - great man theory, trait theory, behavior theory, contingent theory, relational theory, transactional leadership, TFL, authentic leadership, and servant leadership (Singh and Naqshbandi, 2015). The great man theory specifies that leadership in inbuilt. This means a leader is born with great leadership traits. Following the great man theory is the trait theory, which examines main features of leaders who are successful. After this, behavioral theory proposes that managers' leadership can be trained by militating successful managers' leadership competency. Contingent theory focuses on the effects of situational and contextual variables on leaders' behaviors. Relational theory aims to examine the interpersonal relationship process between leaders and organizational outcomes. Transactional leadership focuses on the exchanges between leaders and followers (Burns, 1978; Singh and Naqshbandi, 2015). Authentic leadership emphasizes that leaders can made transparent decisions with high levels of self-awareness when they are clearly aware of their own existence and the context they are operate (May et al., 2003; Singh and Naqshbandi, 2015). Servant leadership refers to leaders with a practice of a guiding vision and purpose, loving, trusting, and empowering others (Singh and Naqshbandi, 2015). TFL has been viewed as one of main leadership theories that are used to facilitate organizational outcomes in competitive environment (Singh and Naqshbandi, 2015).\nThe relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance: the mediating role of unit-level knowledge sharing: Previous studies on TFL indicate that transformational leaders at the firm level can encourage their subordinates to share their knowledge (e.g. Bass, 1985). These studies further propose that transformational leaders at the firm level are critical in facilitating shared ideas and knowledge among subordinates. This is because unit-level employees value encouragement and challenges from their leaders (Bryant, 2003). A TFL style at the firm level encourages employees to be innovative, solve problems, and generate solutions (Bass, 1985). Knowledge sharing at the unit level is not an automatic process and transformational leaders have the potential to affect the extent of knowledge sharing (Srivastava et al., 2006). Transformational leaders can create opportunities and processes that can motivate and encourage knowledge sharing amongst unit subordinates. For instance, by providing new ideas, demanding technical solutions, and inspiring new ways to work, transformational leaders can initiate unit discussions and reviews that lead to unit-level knowledge sharing. Transformational leaders can show by example that the open sharing of ideas and information is crucial to the units' performance and survival. If this role modeling is successful, subordinates are likely to respond in a positive manner, and share their expertise and knowledge with the unit. Moreover, transformational leaders are able to react and respond to new ideas and information and initiate novel approaches to unit tasks. Transformational leaders at the firm level can also offer new solutions and approaches to their subordinates to achieve their expected unit-level goals (Crossan et al., 1999; Shamir et al., 1993). In addition, research on TFL perspectives revealed that transformational leaders at the firm level can predict the extent of knowledge sharing at the unit level (Srivastava et al., 2006). Also, several meta-analyses have indicated that transformational leaders at the firm level have a positive impact on outcomes and performance at the unit level (e.g. Judge and Piccolo, 2004). For instance, Judge and Piccolo (2004) revealed a positive relationship between transformational leaders at the firm level and group and unit performance. Consequently, we expect that:\nThe relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level knowledge sharing: the moderating role of unit-level absorptive capacity: We expect that the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level knowledge sharing will be moderated by the absorptive capacity at the unit level. Unit-level absorptive capacity includes four elements: identifying and understanding external knowledge; sharing external knowledge; incorporating it with existing knowledge; and applying the new knowledge to commercial ends (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Zahra and George, 2002). Previous studies have conceptualized and measured absorptive capacity as a single construct (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Szulanski, 1996). More recently, a meta-analysis treated absorptive capacity as a single variable within the field of knowledge transfer research (e.g. Van Wijk et al., 2008). In line with Cohen and Levinthal (1990), this study conceptualized absorptive capacity as one construct, as all elements are necessary and jointly affect the extent of knowledge sharing among unit members to create greater unit-level performance.\nThe relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance: the moderating role of unit-level absorptive capacity: We expect that a unit's absorptive capacity may also moderate the relationship between knowledge sharing and performance at the unit level. First, previous studies (e.g. Szulanski, 1996) revealed that successful knowledge transfer/sharing was difficult if the recipient had a low absorptive capacity. When a unit has a strong absorptive capacity, it is easier for members to integrate or combine new knowledge into existing routine and practice. This integration generates novel and valuable knowledge (Smith et al., 2005) that can potentially be integrated into unit performance and become more widely applied and accepted. This ideally would lead to a better performance at the unit level. Second, a unit with a higher level of absorptive capacity has stronger communication with and cooperation among its employees (Zahra and Hayton, 2008). Thus, the sharing of knowledge among unit members will be more flexible and faster than a unit with conflicts and poor communication (De Clercq et al., 2010). Also, stronger communication and knowledge sharing in a unit can ensure a healthy examination of the diverse perspectives of an opportunity, leading to a more positive outcome. (Kearney et al., 2009). By contrast, a unit lacking absorptive capacity may need more time to deal with issues and may miss opportunities to obtain and utilize new knowledge, leading to poor performance. Third, a unit with a higher level of absorptive capacity can support unit members in acquiring new knowledge and information regarding their competition in new market segments (Zahra and George, 2002). Moreover, a unit with a strong absorptive capacity normally has the potential to leverage their network contacts (e.g. Tsai, 2001) to keep abreast of the newest trends in products and technologies, and to take this new information and integrate it into the units. This in turn can increase unit-level performance. Finally, a unit with a strong absorptive capacity can learn from failure and will perform with more confidence and expectations of success in the future (Engelen et al., 2014). This reasoning suggests that unit-level absorptive capacity may moderate the influence of knowledge sharing at the unit level on performance in such a way that the effect is stronger when unit-level absorptive capacity is greater. Previous research has explored absorptive capacity as an antecedent for knowledge transfer at a single level (Minbaeva et al., 2003) but has not explored whether it moderates the relationship between unit-level knowledge sharing and unit-level performance. Extrapolating from previous research, we hypothesize:\nMethodology: Data collection and sample\nResults: Hypotheses were tested by undertaking a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis. Table II presents the HLM results for the effects of firm-level TFL on unit-level performance. We followed the test procedures for mediation described in Kenny et al. (1998) and controlled for uniy-level TFL in the analyses. H1 predicted that unit-level knowledge sharing mediates the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance. The results from Model 3 revealed that unit-level knowledge sharing does, indeed, mediate the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance (g=11.56, p<0.01, Model 4, Table II). Thus, H1 is supported.\nDiscussion: In this study, we theorized that firm-level effects of TFL on unit-level performance across levels were positively related to unit-level performance. Unit-level knowledge sharing mediates the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance. A cross-level interaction effect of firm-level TFL and unit-level absorptive capacity showed that a positive unit-level absorptive capacity enhanced firm-level influence of TFL on unit-level knowledge sharing. Unit-level absorptive capacity moderates the positive relationship between unit-level knowledge sharing and unit-level performance.\nTheoretical implications: Overall, three conclusions emerge. First, although previous research on TFL has suggested that transformational leaders are capable of influencing knowledge sharing (e.g. Crossan et al., 1999; Shamir et al., 1993), few attempts have been made to examine this effect. Our findings show that transformational leaders at the firm level are capable of influencing unit-level performance by promoting effective knowledge sharing at the unit level. That is, when firm-level leaders demonstrate TFL behaviors toward their unit subordinates, the unit subordinates are more likely to share ideas and knowledge at the unit level and are more likely to generate innovative ideas in solving unit challenges. This in turn improves performance. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to use unit-level knowledge sharing as a mediating mechanism to explain the performance of TFLs and their subordinates across levels. As such, our findings contribute to the leadership literature by putting in substantive mediator to explain how the effects of TFL influence all levels of a firm (Colquitt and Zapata-Phelan, 2007; Whetten, 1989). Identifying such multilevel effects of TFL deepens our understanding of TFL performance beyond just TFL and employee-performance relationships. Our research also supports the foundation of the TFL theory, which proposes that TFL is particularly useful for different levels of organizations facing challenges (Bass et al., 2003).\nPractical implications: The findings of this study have several practical implications. First, organizations should develop effective training modules to train their top leaders at the firm level in TFL. This would not only result in better performance at lower levels of organizational ladders, but would also assist organizations in identifying those managers with leadership qualities as potential candidates for TFL training (Judge and Bono, 2000). Moreover, human resource departments should set up TFL training courses that include role modeling and mentoring techniques to develop managers. This would allow top managers at the firm level to extend their reach and influence, through TFL (Barling et al., 1996).\nLimitations and future directions: There are several limitations which require further research. First, although our study sample of Taiwanese firms is valuable in promoting the TFL theory, the findings of our study also have limitations in terms of generalizability. Future research can expand our model to similar cultural settings, such as China. Second, the mechanisms between performance at the firm level and lower levels such as units and groups are worth future investigation. Scholars can attempt to explore the mediating variables of other knowledge transfer variables such as knowledge acquisition, knowledge received, or knowledge integration. Through further exploring the underlying blackbox between TFL and performance linkage, the legitimacy of the findings in existing TFL research can be improved (Braun et al., 2013).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of mediation and moderation mechanisms between firm-level effects of transformational leadership (TFL) on unit-level performance across levels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used surveys to collect data from 800 senior managers at the firm level and 1,377 unit managers from 800 units of 100 firms from semiconductors, optoelectronics, computer electronics, and telecommunications industries. The industries were chosen because these firms focus on expanding their businesses and encourage extensive knowledge sharing among the firms and at all levels within the organizations.\nFindings: In this study, the authors theorized that firm-level effects of TFL on unit-level performance across levels were positively related to unit-level performance. Unit-level knowledge sharing mediates the positive relationship between firm-level TFL and unit-level performance. A cross-level interaction effect of firm-level TFL and unit-level absorptive capacity showed that a positive unit-level absorptive capacity enhanced firm-level influence of TFL on unit-level knowledge sharing. Unit-level absorptive capacity moderates the positive relationship between unit-level knowledge sharing and unit-level performance.\nOriginality/value: First, the authors attempt to integrate the leadership and knowledge management research by exploring the critical mediator of unit-level knowledge sharing in explaining the effects of firm-level TFL on employees' performance at the unit level. This approach is important because it extends the research areas of the two fields, and also clarifies issues regarding how and why TFL at the top of the organization positively impacts the performance of employees at a lower level of the organizational hierarchy. Second, the effectiveness of firm-level TFL depends on the absorptive capacity of each unit. The importance of absorptive capacity and the consequences of leadership behaviors have been emphasized in studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring urban retailing and CBD revitalization strategies	[ "United States of America", "Urban areas", "Commercial centres", "Retail marketing", "Redevelopment", "Regeneration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, downtowns or central business districts (CBDs) housed the retail and services core of US cities. Thus, urban retailing was integral to a city's economic and social climate (Hernandez and Jones, 2005). However, following the Second World War, the economic and social stability of CBDs began to decline, and many retailers abandoned their downtown locations for the suburbs. Starting in the 1960s, a few downtown revitalization projects that incorporated urban retailing were initiated to attract shoppers back to the CBD but have produced mixed results in stimulating urban retail development, consumer traffic, and sales (Robertson, 1997; West and Orr, 2003). In many other revitalization projects, urban retail development has been ignored (Warnaby et al., 2004).Academic and practitioner experts advocate that urban retail development encourages consumers to patronize a CBD's recreational, social, and business activities thereby providing added support for both its economy and social well-being (Robertson, 1997; Warnaby et al., 2004). While there is considerable research on rejuvenation of downtown areas (e.g. public buildings, neighborhoods, and business improvement districts), much research consists of descriptive information from case studies of individual cities. Systematic information on integrating successful urban retail development with CBD redevelopment is very limited (Lopilato, 2003). Moreover, since the mid-1980s, academic research on urban retailing has been limited (Robertson, 1997; Warnaby et al., 2002; Whyte, 1988).Considering both the paucity of research and potential economic and social benefits to be gained from incorporating urban retailing within broader CBD revitalization efforts, this research provides an exploratory examination of urban retailing and CBD redevelopment strategies employed by six Western US CBDs. One study objective was to explore each CBD's urban retail marketing and management strategies. A second objective was to examine the role played by urban retailers in assisting stakeholders to plan and/or implement other revitalization strategies comprising each CBD's broader economic redevelopment efforts. Underlying both objectives was a goal to examine which strategies were associated with positive outcomes for both CBDs and urban retailing.\nUrban retail development: Historical overview\nCBD revitalization and urban retail marketing strategies: Three independent categories of revitalization strategies have been suggested as potential contributors to successful CBD revitalization efforts. They include creating a desirable infrastructure, a strategy that encompasses the development of a pedestrian-friendly environment (Filion et al., 2004; Fondersmith, 1988; Robertson, 1997), creation of a plaza designed to incorporate walkways and open greenspace (Kohsaka, 1984), and enacting government-sponsored economic development policies (e.g. business improvement areas, taxes, strategic alliances, etc.) that promote business activity (Moss, 1997; Satterthwaite, 2001; West and Orr, 2003). Other proposed categories of desirable revitalization strategies include offering cultural activities designed to attract consumers to downtown areas and maintaining a CBDs historic character (Filion et al., 2004).In addition to general revitalization strategies associated with CBD redevelopment efforts, two specific recommendations for urban retail development have been suggested. One strategy is to present and promote the downtown shopping area as an integrated unit (Houston and Nevin, 1980) via its market position, accessibility, and range of benefits offered by downtown businesses. Another strategy is to synchronize management and marketing efforts to create a perception that CBD retailers have complementary images and act as an interconnected system of business entities (Brodeur, 2003).\nResearch questions: Descriptive information on CBD and urban retailing redevelopment efforts suggests that varied revitalization strategies have been applied to projects. In addition, the role played by urban retailers in the overall CBD redevelopment effort is not well understood. These factors were considering in the following research questions examined by this exploratory study:RQ1. Are there common retail management and marketing strategies that enhance urban retail development in CBDs?RQ2. What is the role played by urban retailers in working with other stakeholders to plan and execute the broad-based economic revitalization strategies that enhance CBD redevelopment?\nMethod: Data were collected via depth interviews with 18 economic development leaders and 23 retail business owners and/or managers from CBDs in six western US cities. The study was limited to medium-sized western cities (i.e. populations approximately 500,000) to control for similarities in economic, social, and transportation infrastructures. All six cities had experienced declines in their CBDs during the post-World War II era involving loss of downtown goods and services retailers including some anchor stores. In addition, all cities had made varied efforts including the creation of business improvement areas to revitalize their CBDs. The cities included in the study were Albuquerque, New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, Fresno, California, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Portland, Oregon. A map showing locations of each city is shown in Figure 1.Selection of cities\nData analysis: Content analysis was used to identify urban retailing and general economic revitalization strategies. Following transcription of interviews by a professional transcriber, data analysis followed seven steps, the details of which are summarized in Table I. Line-by-line coding was first used to identify unique concepts from each interview. Concepts were then sorted and summarized into subsets of subsequently broader categories of strategies followed by even broader dimensions and themes subsuming each category. This iterative process was completed by independent groups of trained coders and judges. Differences among category assignments by coders and dimension assignments by judges were resolved via researcher-led meetings.\nResults: Three urban retailing management and marketing strategy themes and five economic development strategy themes were identified. These themes, the specific strategy dimensions subsumed by each, the number of comments coded by dimension and/or theme, and the percentage of matching assignments are shown in Table II. Inter-rater reliability for assignments was approximately 96 per cent for dimensions of retailer management and marketing strategies and 87.3 per cent for dimensions of economic revitalization strategies.Research question 1\nDiscussion and conclusions: This research contributes to the urban retailing literature by systematically assessing whether six similar Western US cities employed differentiating urban retail management, marketing, and economic development strategies and by examining the role played by urban retailers in planning and implementing general CBD economic development strategies. Limitations that should be considered when evaluating the results of the study include the qualitative approach used for data analysis which is subject to researcher bias. In addition, the sample of cities was limited to comparable, medium-sized Western US cities. Thus, other city types (e.g. varying in population size, population characteristics, geographic locations) may have different issues and/or resources and, therefore, approach redevelopment efforts using other strategies. Also, while interviewees were selected based on specific criteria (e.g. economic development or retailing employment category, length of time in business, etc.), they represent a convenience sample. Still, the research approach permitted identification of common strategies that consistently differentiated CBDs that had undergone redevelopment and had attained reputations for improving their social and economic environments (i.e. flourishing CBD) from those that had retained their developing reputations despite revitalization efforts. While the study's results cannot be generalized to all types of CBDs, knowledge of approaches that have consistently produced positive results may be useful to academicians and practitioners.The first objective of this exploratory research was to examine urban retailing and marketing strategies being employed in the CBDs. In flourishing CBDs, three dominant themes comprising urban retail management and marketing strategies were identified. City managers and retailers had successfully created a retail mix in each CBD that provided consumers with a unique shopping experience. Consistent with suggestions by Houston and Nevin (1980), these CBDs had diverse retailers including large anchors with established brand names and small, independent retailers. Each retailer played a role by using their brand name and/or unique image to attract consumers. While creating agglomeration shopping effects for consumers, these retailers (acting as a group) were also able to deliver a shopping experience that enabled consumers to associate urban retailing with a city's individual personality. Linking a downtown's identity with the shopping experience being offered is consistent with principles for branding places noted by Hankinson (2007) and Warnaby and Bennison (2006).In addition, in flourishing CBDs, urban retailers worked together and with other CBD stakeholders in complex partnerships to present themselves as part of an integrated whole. This occurred via both formal and informal interactions with strategic partnership agencies similar to those identified by Warnaby et al. (2002, 2004). Partnerships among both public and private CBD stakeholders no doubt also facilitated urban retailers' efforts to become part of their respective cities' plans to deal with ongoing social and economic environmental change. Efforts of urban retailers to create coordinated and integrated management and marketing strategies is consistent with recommendations from other researchers (Brodeur, 2003; Houston and Nevin, 1980; Robertson, 1997; Warnaby et al., 2002, 2004) who noted that some form of centralized management helps to establish complementary images among retailers, attract consumers to patronize the shopping area, and provide increased resources and efficiencies for urban retailers.The study's second objective was to examine the role of urban retailers in assisting to plan and execute strategies that are part of a CBD's broader redevelopment efforts. Results from interviews revealed five major strategic themes that defined revitalization strategies employed in the six CBDs. These included:1. creating an urban design plan;2. emphasizing cultural activities and events to attract consumers and businesses;3. creating shared ownership via collective management;4. creating attractive neighborhoods for urban residents; and5. managing auto and pedestrian traffic flow.In flourishing CBDs, retailers had direct involvement in implementing strategies defined by three strategic themes. For example, flourishing CBDs had created design plans for their urban environments. While adhering to an overall design plan for space and building renovations, including retention of the historic character of each downtown, the plans also incorporated spaces in which consumers were encouraged to walk in the downtown shopping and entertainment districts (Theme 1) and to use the urban environment for multiple purposes that included shopping, dining, and attending cultural and special events (Theme 2). Because the presence of retailing was integral to implementing each strategy, synergies were created to assure that general economic development and retailer needs would be met. The urban design plan found in flourishing CBDs helped establish an image that enabled retailers to offer unique shopping experiences and encourage pedestrian traffic to retail stores via walkways and plazas. In addition, the mixed-use environment in the flourishing CBDs comprising business and entertainment/cultural venues resulted in attracting more traffic to all downtown retail and services business. These findings are consistent with recommendations for incorporating pedestrian-friendly walking areas into CBD renovation projects and featuring entertainment and cultural activities in the downtown area to draw consumer traffic (Filion et al., 2004; Robertson, 1997).Retailer interests were also represented in the collective management style used in flourishing CBDs. Retailers and other types of businesses played an important, cooperative role with other private and government entities via strategic partnerships that orchestrated economic redevelopment and management of the CBD. In doing so, retailers were most likely co-recipients of the civic pride engendered via the combined efforts of city stakeholders to develop and maintain a viable and successful CBD. This finding is consistent with studies conducted in UK cities that found that, to promote urban retailing, retailers needed to participate in formal, informal, and initiative-specific strategic partnerships (Warnaby et al., 2004). Retailers in flourishing CBDs described all three types of partnerships. While Warnaby et al. (2004) reported that increased resources and enhancements in marketing effectiveness and efficiencies were some of the benefits that accrue from strategic partnerships, results from this study also suggests that civic goodwill stemming from collective management of CBD enterprises may be a secondary benefit to urban retailers.Urban retailers did not play direct roles in executing two of the economic development strategic themes. These included creating attractive neighborhoods for urban residents and managing auto and pedestrian traffic flow. However, retailers were beneficiaries of these strategies when successfully implemented in a CBD. For example, all flourishing CBDs had placed priority on development of stable downtown housing under the assumption that a strong residential base was needed for the long-term support of an urban retailing and services infrastructure. Therefore, while urban retailers did not play a direct role with this revitalization strategy, its successful implementation had potential long-term impacts on their financial well-being.In addition, all CBDs (whether flourishing or developing) recognized a need to address automotive and pedestrian traffic flow in the CBD. Particularly in flourishing CBDs, issues related to traffic flow among various districts of a CBD had been addressed more effectively than in developing CBDs. Improving traffic flow and accessibility among a downtown's districts can, in the long-term, encourage greater patronage of urban retail businesses.In summary, this study's results demonstrate that there are similar patterns in the respective economic revitalization and retail marketing and management strategies employed by the flourishing CBDs investigated via this research and the urban retailers located in those CBDs. Moreover, the strategies being employed in the developing CBDs stood in stark contrast to those being implemented in flourishing CBDs. In some cases, economic development managers and retail owners/managers from developing CBDs acknowledged that their inability to utilize some of the strategies being employed in flourishing CBDs may contribute to a poor return on investment for their redevelopment efforts. Combined, these findings strongly suggest that successful redevelopment outcomes may result from the types of strategies employed by the flourishing CBDs examined by this research. In addition, these successful strategies could be adapted to improve CBD and urban retailing revitalization approaches and outcomes across cities.Future research on urban retail development should undertake research to replicate the strategy themes identified via this exploratory study across cities that vary in size and geographic location. Research should also be conducted using probability samples of diverse cities, both from the USA and other developed countries. In addition to qualitative examinations of the revitalization strategies, future research might also use quantitative approaches in order to better understand the relative importance of various retailing and economic revitalization strategies in contributing to successful CBD redevelopment efforts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory examination of urban retail marketing and management strategies employed in six US cities with reputations for having central business districts (CBD) that are either flourishing or developing. It also investigates the roles played by urban retailers in working with CBD revitalization efforts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Depth interviews were conducted with economic development managers and urban retailer owners/managers from each CBD. Content analysis, preceded by a comprehensive review of academic and trade literature, was used to identify key concepts. An iterative coding process resulted in identifying broad strategic themes and related strategies.\nFindings: - Strategies were classified into three urban retailing and five economic revitalization themes. These strategies varied depending on whether cities had flourishing or developing CBDs.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study provided a systematic and comprehensive examination of strategies that may guide theory development and provide practical information on CBD redevelopment. Potential bias in results should be considered when evaluating results due to the use of qualitative methods and convenience sampling.\nOriginality/value: - Information concerning similarities in the redevelopment efforts of six comparable US cities is provided.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development and quality evaluation of health-promoting functional carabeef cookies	[ "Carabeef cookies", "Functional ingredients", "Guar gum", "Orange pulp fiber", "Sodium caseinate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The significant growth of snack food industry over the world has brought a perceptible change in the consumption pattern of food items as well as in profitability of snack food industry. Technological advancement, particularly in the field of processing conditions, packaging and marketing, has brought impressive growth in snack industry. Present global trends and life style factors are currently driving the snack food industry. These factors include extended working hours, different eating times and food choices of family members and increasing perception of food as reward. Snacks are best suited food products for single-person households, working women, school-age children and highly mobile population (Jean et al., 1996). The bakery sector is considered to be one of the very important sectors in snack food industry. Cookies are chemically leavened, ready-to-eat quick snacks with several attractive features, including wider consumption base, convenience and relatively longer shelf-life (Hooda and Jood, 2005). Most of the cookies available in market are cereal based with high calorific content. Cereal-based snack products lack some essential amino acids like tryptophan, threonine and lysine. As a result, most of the desirable bakery products do not form balanced diet which is a serious concern of present day health conscious consumers. A greater interest has been aroused to develop acceptable value-added protein-enriched and energy dense cookies to overcome the problem of protein energy malnutrition, prevalent among lower socio-economical strata people specifically children and women. The 2015 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report ranked India 20th amongst leading countries with a serious hunger situation. Amongst South Asian nations, it ranks third behind only Afghanistan and Pakistan with a GHI score of 29.0 (UNICEF, 2016). Therefore, blending of two or more different materials can help to solve the deficiency problem with cereals.\nMaterials and methods: Deboned buffalo meat obtained from freshly slaughtered buffalo (6-7 years) was procured within 5-6 hours of slaughter. The cuts were packaged in LDPE pouches and kept in refrigerator for about 24 hours. The chilled buffalo meat was shifted to deep freezer (Blue star, FS345, Denmark) for storage at 18+-2degC till further use.\nResult and discussion: Several preliminary trials were carried out to standardize the formulation and processing technology for preparation of carabeef cookies on the basis of literature available. Finally, carabeef cookies prepared by incorporation of 50 percent carabeef powder and baked at 150-160degC for 35-40 minutes were observed to be most acceptable (Goswami et al., 2015). Further attempt was made to improve the functionality of carabeef cookies in terms of fiber enrichment, fat and sugar replacement, where 10 percent orange pulp fiber as natural fiber source, 1.5 percent guar gum powder to replace 40 percent of vegetable fat and 20 percent sodium caseinate as sugar replacer were found optimum on the basis of sensory evaluation. Fiber-enriched low-fat and low-sugar functional carabeef cookies were evolved by incorporating 50 percent of carabeef powder, 10 percent orange pulp fiber as natural fiber source, 1.5 percent guar gum as fat replacer and 20 percent of sodium caseinate as sugar replacer and were abbreviated as T2, and compared with complete product profile traditional refined wheat flour cookies available in the market and normal carabeef cookies, which were abbreviated as C1 and T1, respectively.\nConclusion: The health-promoting functional carabeef cookies were developed by incorporation of 50 percent carabeef powder, 10 percent orange pulp fiber as natural fiber source, 1.5 percent guar gum as fat replacer and 20 percent of sodium caseinate as sugar replacer. These functional carabeef cookies had 4.48 times higher protein, 6.13 times higher IDF, 5.47 times higher SDF and 4.47 times higher TDF, whereas 34.58 percent lower fat, 19.95 percent less cholesterol and 12.5 percent lower energy content as compared to normal RWF cookies. Functional carabeef cookies had comparatively higher mineral content as well as saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in desirable ratio. Developed carabeef cookies were very well accepted by semi-trained sensory panelists in terms of flavor and texture. So it can be concluded that nutritional and functional buffalo meat cookies may be a good option to enhance nutritional status of young growing children, working women and people suffering from various life style diseases. Further research can be carried out to study the shelf-life of developed product under various packaging conditions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and to assess quality characteristics of functional carabeef cookies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Carabeef cookies were prepared with incorporation of 50 percent carabeef powder in a pre-standardized formulation and then were baked at 150-160degC for 35-40 minutes. Developed functional carabeef cookies were incorporated with 50 percent carabeef powder, 10 percent orange pulp fiber as natural fiber source, 1.5 percent guar gum as fat replacer and 20 percent of sodium caseinate as sugar replacer. Cookies were analyzed for various physical properties, proximate parameters physcio-chemical properties, instrumental textural properties, color values, sensory evaluation and complete profile estimation in terms of minerals and fatty acids analysis.\nFindings: Functional carabeef cookies had 4.48 times higher protein, 6.13 times higher IDF, 5.47 times higher SDF and 4.47 times higher TDF as compared to normal refined wheat flour (RWF) cookies. Functional carabeef cookies had 34.58 percent lower fat, 19.95 percent less cholesterol and 12.5 percent lower energy content as compared to normal RWF cookies.\nSocial implications: Functional carabeef cookies had comparatively higher mineral content as well as saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in a desirable ratio. Health-promoting functional carabeef cookies might be a magnificent option to overcome the problem of malnutrition, quite prevalent among lower socio-economical strata people specifically children and women.\nOriginality/value: Health-promoting functional carabeef cookies had higher nutritional content and acceptability, and thus could be commercialized to improve socio-economic status and health of consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of plain packaging format in cigarette labeling on smoking intent and brand likability among young non-smokers in Macau	[ "Brand familiarity", "Brand likability", "Cigarette labeling", "Lab experiment", "Plain packaging", "Smoking intent" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The linkage between smoking and lung cancer has become very obvious ever since the publishing of the findings of Doll and Hill (1950)'s study examining 1,732 cases in 20 hospitals in London. In 1981, evidence was also found about the harmful effect of second hand smoking (Hirayama, 1981). However, the evidence was once muted by the tobacco industry who introduced counter studies to maintain scientific debates on the harmful effect of smoking (Hong and Bero, 2002; Proctor, 2011). Today, however, it has been known without doubts that smoking leads to diseases affecting not only the hearts and lungs but also the mouths, stomachs, livers, pancreas, and bladders (Begg et al., 2007; Weinstein et al., 2004). Most smokers form their smoking habit at an early age, with American Lung Association (2008) figures suggesting that 90 percent of adult smokers in the USA began smoking before the age of 21. An important goal for governments is thus to prevent non-smokers from turning into smokers before they reach adulthood. To achieve that goal, governments have adopted a variety of tools, ranging from using the mass media to educate non-smokers about the dangers of smoking and urging smokers to quit to implementing taxation measures to suppress demand and funding counseling services for those addicted to tobacco. However, the most cost-effective intervention measure is to legislate in the area of tobacco packaging design (Fong et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review: 2.1. General tobacco control studies\n3. Research method: 3.1. Method and sample\n4. Results: Before analyzing the data, we had to ensure that the four treatments had been successfully imposed on subjects through the manipulation. The brand familiarity manipulation was checked with a single statement ranked on a nine-point scale indicating the familiarity of the brand that the subjects had just seen. A significant mean difference was found between the two cells showing the familiar brand and the two cells showing the unfamiliar brand (M\n5. Discussion: 5.1. Internal validity of the study\n6. Limitations and directions for future research: As explained, the study has high degree of internal validity, but the degree of external validity is not as high (a usual tradeoff in experimental study), therefore, additional studies are required to verify the results in other context to strengthen the external validity collectively. This study focusses on the group that governments are most concerned within smoking prevention efforts, i.e. young non-smokers, but it needs to be replicated using smokers as subjects because smokers are more frequently exposed to packaging than non-smokers, and can thus be expected to be influenced by it to a greater degree.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the plain packaging format in cigarette labeling is worth adopting or not.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A lab experiment with a 2 (existing vs plain packaging format) x 2 (familiar vs unfamiliar brand) factorial design was conducted with Chinese subjects in Macau.\nFindings: The plain packaging format in cigarette labeling reduces both smoking intent and brand likability in familiar brand condition but not unfamiliar brand condition.\nSocial implications: When many governments are currently deliberating about whether to follow the plain packaging initiative, this study constitutes a timely investigation of the effects of it on smoking intent and brand likability among Chinese young non-smokers. The positive effect of the plain packaging in familiar brand condition provides the justification of adopting it by the governments.\nOriginality/value: Studies of plain packaging have not been taking brand familiarity into consideration (the only exceptional study used the top three familiar brands and thus failed to examine the familiarity effect) but the study focussed on it. In the data analysis, if brand familiarity is not considered, wrong conclusion will be drawn. Therefore, by having brand familiarity as moderator, the authors are able to correctly conclude that plain packaging format is worth adopting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emotion effects on choice deferral: The moderating role of outcome and process accountability	[ "Emotion", "Anger", "Fear", "Choice deferral", "Outcome accountability", "Process accountability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. (William James)\nConceptual overview and hypotheses development: Choice deferral and incidental affect\nStudy 1: Accountability type moderates emotion effects: The objective of this study is to test H1, H2 and H3, which predict that respondents experiencing negative emotions (anger, fear) versus neutral, will choose avoidant responses differently when they are held accountable for the outcome versus the process of their decision. That is, Study 1 examines the interaction to test whether outcome accountability increases differentiation among emotion states (anger, fear, neutral) while process accountability attenuates these differences across the three emotion states, as predicted.\nStudy 2: Differential information processing mediates choice deferral: Study 2 aims to replicate the results of Study 1 (H1-H3) and, more importantly, collect process measures to test H4. Specifically, it seeks to assess whether the differential levels of certainty and the resulting differences in depth of information processing associated with anger and fear (Tiedens and Linton, 2001), help to explain the observed choice pattern across conditions and explicate the underlying process.\nGeneral discussion: Our research examines the interplay between discrete emotions and accountability type. We find that accountability type (outcome or process) moderates the influence of emotion on consumer choice. Thus, the incidental affect that participants bring to the decision situation not only influences them emotionally but also interacts with their accountability status to yield differential choice patterns across different conditions. We also show that anger and fear, though both negative emotions, lead to different choice patterns under the two types of accountability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Choice deferral (making no choice at all) is a common phenomenon, especially when individuals face a difficult decision. This is further exacerbated in the presence of negative incidental emotions which can have a wide-ranging influence on various aspects of decision-making. Previous research suggests that process (vs outcome) accountability might be more effective at mitigating the effect of irrelevant factors. This paper aims to examine whether accountability attenuates emotion effects on choice and examines the differences in the efficacy of the two accountability types.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses the appraisal tendency framework to propose differences between same valenced emotions on choice deferral and predicts the moderating role of process versus outcome accountability. Two experiments are conducted to test the predictions and the results analyzed using logistic regression.\nFindings: The authors find that outcome and process accountability have different moderating effects on emotion and choice deferral relationship: under outcome accountability, angry individuals are more likely to defer choice while under process accountability, differences in choice across emotion conditions are attenuated. As predicted, differences between anger and fear on the certainty appraisal and thereby information processing, mediate the effects of emotion on choice deferral in the outcome (but not process) condition.\nOriginality/value: This research studies the intersection of two developing research streams, affect and accountability, by focusing on specific affective states (anger and fear) and specific accountability types (outcome and process) in the important context of decision avoidance in consumer behavior. Thus, theoretical understanding in both domains is advanced and the benefits of specific accountability types clarified. Key implications for consumers and future research directions are also discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the development of supply chain international joint ventures	[ "Supply chain management", "Joint ventures", "International relations", "Emerging markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Emerging economies are making valiant efforts to reform their economic systems to boost growth and living standards (El-Said and McDonald, 2001). In Eastern Europe's emerging markets, interests in supply chain partnering across boarders are growing for several reasons. These heavily involve the role of Eastern European markets as: a manufacturing or service provision base from which to supply European, Central Asian and Middle Eastern markets; as a source of raw or processed materials; as a pool of talent and innovation that is readily transferred abroad; as a market for both imports and domestic goods and services; and as a potential joint venture partner anywhere in the world (Erdal and Tatoglu, 2002). For example, the US Department of Commerce designated Turkey as one of the ten \"big emerging markets\" along with China, India, Russia and Brazil, which are expected to offer the greatest commercial opportunities due to their high economic growth and rapidly growing population.Having started the accession talks with the 25-member European Union (Barkey and Tasdemir, 2006), emerging economies in Eastern Europe have been gaining critical importance for supply chain firms knocking on the doors of European markets. However, many Eastern European firms are apprehensive about participating in supply chain international joint ventures (SC-IJVs) due to the foreign partner's lack of commitment to the relationship, conflicting goals, and operational differences (Tatoglu and Glaister, 1999). Research on interfirm relationships reveal that commitment and interfirm conflict management are outcomes of such variables as trust in the partner and reciprocity in resource exchange (Dwyer et al., 1987; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Ring and van de Ven, 1994). However, trust and reciprocity between partnering firms cannot be developed without a history of working relationships. The literature on IJVs pays a great deal of attention to interfirm commitment and conflict management as drivers of SC-IJV stability (Steensma and Lyles, 2000; Inkpen and Beamish, 1997). Others investigate such SC-IJV related issues as partner selection (Geringer, 1988; Luo, 1997; Al-Khalifa and Peterson, 1999), development of trust (Currall and Inkpen, 2002; Madhok, 1995; Fryxell et al., 2002; Gill and Butler, 1996; Boersmaa et al., 2003), and creating knowledge and value (Lane et al., 2001; Mohanram and Nanda, 1996). Much work has focused on theoretical perspectives such as transaction cost economics, strategic behavior, organizational learning, and social exchange theories (Kogut, 1988; Steensma and Lyles, 2000; Pfeffer and Nowak, 1976; Beamish and Banks, 1987) that helps explain issues related to maintenance of JV relationships. However, the role of a previous working relationship in a local firm's decision to participate in SC-IJVs continues to be understudied.We define a SC-IJV as a combination of any two or more firms that create a new entity in a foreign market for the function of distributing product and/or controlling informational flows related to the product or service activity. This is consistent with Mentzer et al.'s (2004) definition of a domestic supply chain. A SC-IJV often comes in the form of the development of a third-party logistics provider (3PL) or fourth-party logistics provider (4PL) that can focus on the distribution needs of the parent companies. Traditionally, firms like FedEx and UPS have been used by parent firms to fill this gap. More recently, firms domestically and internationally have been splitting off strategic business units that fit the distribution context to control firm specific risk but maintain control of the distribution process in an attempt to maintain a competitive advantage. We suggest that these shadow organizations may be the key to long-term success and international expansion in a think global - act local business environment.Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a previous exchange relationship impacts the local firm's decision to participate in a SC-IJV given that there may be different motivations to form a SC-IJV. In doing so, we will first explain how these JVs differ from other types of relationships. Next, we will review the reasons why local firms join a SC-IJVs and examine the relationship between a previous working relationship and motivation to form a SC-IJV. Finally, we will present the results of the study and suggest directions for future research.\nLiterature review and research questions: Joint ventures vs other interfirm relationships\nMethod: Sampling and data collection procedures\nDiscussion and implications: This study opens the door for additional study of SC-IJVs by:* developing an understanding of the role of prior relationship existence in local partner's choice of a SC-IJV partner;* identifying the local partner's various motivations to form a SC-IJV relationship; and* further investigating the interaction between SC-IJV formation given a prior working relationship with the foreign partner.The importance of such relationship attributes as trust and commitment in the formation and maintenance of inter-firm relationships has been emphasized throughout the literature (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). However, trust and commitment are firm's relational resources that accumulate over time (Morgan and Hunt, 1999) - implying the need for a prior working relationship history. In this study, we show that a prior relationship is not a necessity to form certain types of SC-IJVs (exploration-oriented), at least from a local firm's point of view. However, for exploitation-oriented firms, existence of a prior relationship is crucial.Results show that there are two major types of drivers for a local company to form a SC-IJV with a foreign partner. The first are exploration-based factors that drive a local firm's desire to form a SC-IJV. Locally operating firms that want to expand their capacity to innovate either by learning new managerial techniques or by obtaining new technologies through licensing and patents, form joint ventures with foreign firms based on the reputations of the resources they possess such as technology and management skills. These heuristics that are used by the local firm do not require the existence of a prior relationship. In addition, firms with exploration orientation tend to absorb whatever information they can from the firms with which they already have a relationship. Having a brand new partner in a SC-IJV helps them learn new information that they have no chance getting otherwise.The second category is composed of firms with exploitation motivations. Their aim is to obtain competitive advantage and build a stronger image by allying with a foreign firm. They also want access to product markets they do not currently tap. These motivations make it necessary to have a prior relationship with the foreign partner. In the presence of exploitation motivations, the local partner's aim is to minimize the level of possible conflict with the foreign partner to be able to reach its aim of faster globalization. High levels of conflict may jeopardize exploitation-based aims more than exploration-based objectives. Therefore, this group of firms prefers to form a SC-IJV with a foreign partner that they already know via their prior working relationship with whom they can minimize and/or resolve conflicts.The findings indicate that local firms' motivations to form a SC-IJV and prior working relationship are intrinsically linked. This suggests foreign firms that are in the selection stage of a local partner in the markets should think about whether or not they want to form a SC-IJV with a firm that has high exploration orientation. Although it is not necessarily warranted, these firms may have a tendency to lose commitment to the SC-IJV relationship once they explore and transfer in the valuable resources possessed by the foreign partner. As a caution, the foreign partner may desire a more flexible form of a working relationship than a SC-IJV such as an export management agreement or a licensing agreement as an initial step in forming a SC-IJV.\nLimitations and future research: As indicated earlier this is an exploratory analysis. The small sample size is the most important limitation of the study. In addition, limitations of online data collection warrant caution in generalizing these results beyond the population sampled. Further data collection and replication would clearly add weight to the reported findings. Moreover, the existing working relationship variable has been coded as dichotomous variable in this study but the characteristics of the working relationship would shed more light on the findings.In addition to the research questions presented in the study, further analysis of the effects of different types of prior working relationship should be investigated in detail since it has an important part in the formation of a SC-IJV relationship. Additionally, it is important to know the decision-making mechanisms that take place if the local firm is indifferent between exploration-oriented and exploitation-oriented motivations. Are there other heuristics that would be used to decide whether to form a SC-IJV with a foreign partner that prior working relations were already established or find other firms to ally with?It is also essential to explore the association between prior relationship existence and trust before the negotiation and commitment stages of the SC-IJV formation (Boersmaa et al., 2003). Different dimensions of trust may evolve regardless of a history between the two firms and influence commitment to a SC-IJV relationship. Further, empirical work is needed to enhance the understanding of the role, types and formation of trust in different stages of SC-IJV relationships.\nConclusion: This study shows that Eastern European firms can be separated into two categories in terms of SC-IJV goals: those focused on learning (exploration) and those focused on strategic behavior (exploitation). Secondly, the study shows that the firms favoring exploitation prefer a past working relationship with the potential partner, while those favoring exploration did not. The study is exploratory in nature, but provides a solid platform on which to base future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how prior exchange relationships may impact a local firm's decision to participate in a supply chain international joint venture (SC-IJV).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An exploratory study of the influence of prior working relationships using a sample of 32 US and European-based SC-IJVs. First, a cluster method was used to determine the two categories of local firms' motivation to form SC-IJVs with foreign partners. Next, a discriminant analysis revealed the differences between the two categories in terms of the emphasis put on prior exchange relationships when forming SC-IJVs.\nFindings: - Results confirm two major types of motivations for a local firm to participate in a SC-IJV: exploration and exploitation. Moreover, the motivation types are varied in terms of the emphasis placed on a prior working relationship with the SC-IJV partner. While exploitation-oriented firms consulted a previous working relationship experience before forming a supply chain IJV, exploration-oriented firms did not.\nOriginality/value: - This study shows that Eastern European firms can be separated into two categories in terms of SC-IJV goals: those focused on learning (exploration) and those focused on strategic behavior (exploitation). Second, the study shows that the firms favoring exploitation prefer a past working relationship with the potential partner, while those favoring exploration did not. The study is exploratory in nature, but provides a solid platform on which to base future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Independence of judiciary in Bangladesh: an overview	[ "Bangladesh", "Colonial rule", "Executive interference", "Judicial system", "Judiciary", "Judicial independence", "Legal personnel" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Independence of judiciary is certainly a foundation stone of rule of law, good governance and democratic practice all over the world. It protects the weak from the powerful; the minority from the majority; the poor from the rich; yes, even the citizens from excesses of government. However, from time immemorial the demand for separation of judiciary and judicial independence was a much-debated issue among policy reformers, democratic thinkers and legal practitioners in Bangladesh. Since, the present judicial system of Bangladesh is basically a replica of the system introduced by British rulers and the rulers of the early historical periods including British and Pakistan always attempted to control the judiciary through different mechanisms, which include the appointment, tenure and discipline of judges. Therefore, the practice of executive interferences over judiciary is still continuing in Bangladesh. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the meaning and basic principles of judicial independence and to what extent these principles exists in Bangladesh. How did the judiciary finally separate from the executive? After separation of the judiciary, what is the status of executive interference over judiciary in Bangladesh has also been evaluated in this paper.\n2 Meaning of independence of judiciary: In general, independence of judiciary means the freedom of judges to exercise judicial powers without any interference or influence. In other words, independence of judiciary means a fair and neutral judicial system of a country, which can afford to take its decisions without any interference of executive or legislative branch of government. It requires that judges should not be subject to control by the government or by any one rather they should enjoy protection from any threats, interference or manipulation which may either force them to unjustly favor the government or subject themselves to punishment for not doing so (Larkins, 1996, p. 44). A comprehensive definition of judicial independence has been given by Green (1985, p. 135) as below:The capacity of the courts to perform their constitutional function free from actual or apparent interference by, and to the extent that it is constitutionally possible, free from actual or apparent dependence upon, any persons or institutions, including, in particular, the executive arm of government, over which they do not exercise direct control.In this study, independence of judiciary means the judges are in a position to render justice in accordance with their oath of office and only in accordance with their own sense of justice without submitting to any kind of pressure or influence, be it from executive or legislative or from the parties themselves or from their superiors and colleagues (Halim, 1998, p. 299).\n3 Principles of independence of judiciary: The concept of judicial independence includes four basic principles, which have been suggested and recognized through international efforts in this field (Bari, 1993, p. 2). These principles are:1. personal independence;2. substantive independence;3. internal independence; and4. collective independence.The followings are the elaborated version of these four meanings of judicial independence.3.1 Personal independence\n4 Independence of judiciary in Bangladesh: In the context of Bangladesh I have analyzed independence of the judiciary both individually and collectively under the classification of four categories such as:1. appointment of the judges;2. tenure of the judges;3. discipline of judges; and4. institutional independence of the judiciary.4.1 Appointment of judges\n5 Separation of the judiciary from the executive in Bangladesh: The idea of independence of judiciary was first worked out by a French philosopher Montesquieu who articulated the famous \"Theory of Separation of Power\" in sixteenth century[24]. Though, Montesquieu's theory was criticized primarily but the spirit of this theory has been taken for granted in modern debates of the good governance and accepted in many Constitutions throughout the world. This spirit is also inserted in the Constitution of Bangladesh. Separation of the judiciary from the executive refers to a position in which the judicial branch of government can acts from out of any interference and influence of other branches of government particularly from the executive. Earlier part of this chapter depicted that in any aspect of judiciary, like appointment, tenure and discipline of the judiciary is not free from interference of the executive. Such interference by executive is not new in Bangladesh. Rather such domination has evident from the ancient period. However, the demand and efforts for separating the judiciary from the executive also were noticed since the late eighteenth century and continues even now (Ali, 2004). In the following section, an attempt has been made to analyze the major initiatives and impacts of those initiatives regarding separation of judiciary from British period.5.1 British period\n6 How did the judiciary separate finally?: Since the Appellate Division pronounced the judgment in 1999, the successive governments took 23 adjournments to implement the judgment on various pleas up to February 2006. During these seven years time, the government took very slow steps towards the way of separation of judiciary[48].Then the interim caretaker government (2006-2008) headed by Mr Fakruddin Ahmed from the very beginning of his office adopted a positive and firm outlook with a determination to separate the judiciary from the executive. In fact the government took initiatives based on the constitutional principles and 12 point directives of Appellate Division of Masdar Hossain's case[49]. As a result four service rules namely:1. Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission Rules, 2007;2. Bangladesh Judicial Service (Pay Commission) Rules, 2007;3. Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (Construction of Service, Appointments in the Service and Suspension, Removal and Dismissal from the Service) Rules, 2007; and4. Bangladesh Judicial Service (Posting, Promotion, Grant of Leave, Control, Discipline and other Condition of Service) Rules, 2007 were enacted and changes were brought in the existing Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 through Ordinance Nos II and IV of 2007[50].Finally the historic journey of the judiciary separated from the executive started functioning from 1 November 2007[51]. The initiative of Mr Fakruddin Ahmed should be considered as a milestone in the history of judiciary for dispensation of criminal justice at the level of magistracy by the judicial officers and thereby removing all impediments in the separation of judiciary from the executive control. Though, it was considered that separation of judiciary from the executive is a vital factor for complete judicial independence however in principles the judicial system has not been able to function without interference from executive. For instance, on 30 July 2009 the Government of Bangladesh issued a notification, which discloses the fact that President of Bangladesh forced two judges into retirement. However, on 3 August 2009 the government, in a separate notification, cancelled its previous decision of forced retirement of the said two judges. The notification disclosed that there was a procedural mistake concerning the previous decision[52].Therefore, it is very clear to us that despite separation of judiciary, until and unless the government has adequate respect and willingness to implement the verdict of judiciary and all the rules and regulations related to the separation of judiciary, complete independence of judiciary is not possible. Beside this, the provision of Constitution should be amended especially in case of appointment, tenure and discipline or the provisions (original Articles 115, 116) of consultation with Supreme Court should be re-established. On the other hand, it can be conducted by JSC and Supreme Judicial Council in place of by President.\n7 Conclusion: The forgoing discussion reveals an evaluation of the present state of independence of judiciary in Bangladesh. The concept of independence of judiciary includes numerous aspects like - appointment, posting, promotion, tenure, discipline and other forms of informal scrutiny of judges, however; attempts were made in appointment, tenure and discipline of judicial independence in Bangladesh. In this study, it has been found that several constitutional provisions are very crucial and favorable for independence of judiciary in Bangladesh. However, there are some provisions, which contradict to the concept of judicial independence. It has also been found that from British period the judiciary was not separated and independent from the interference of executive as a result the judiciary was not strong enough to control and hold government officials accountable to the legal system of Bangladesh. One of the important findings of this chapter is that despite separation of judiciary still the interferences of executive are continuing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to analyze the status of independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh. It is recognized worldwide that an independent judiciary is the sin qua non of democracy and good governance. However, without separation of the judiciary from other organs of the state absolute independence of judiciary is not possible. An attempt has been made in this paper to sketch the brief historical background of judicial system in Bangladesh through analyzing the meaning and basic principles of judicial independence and to what extent these principles exists in Bangladesh. How did the judiciary finally separate from the executive? After separation of the judiciary, what is the status of executive interference over judiciary in Bangladesh has also been evaluated in this paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is qualitative in nature and based on secondary sources of materials like books, journal articles, government rules, newspaper reports, etc. Relevant literature has also been collected through Internet browsing.\nFindings: - In this study, it has been found that from time immemorial the judicial system of Bangladesh was not completely independent from the interference of the executive branch of the government. It has also been found that from the beginning of the British colonial rule, the question of separation of the judiciary from the executive had been a continuing debate. Presently, even after separation of the judiciary, the interference of the executive over the judiciary is still continuing.\nPractical implications: - This paper opens a new window for the policy makers and concerned authorities to take necessary steps for overcoming the existing limitations of the status of judicial dependence in Bangladesh.\nOriginality/value: - The paper will be of interest to legal practitioners, policy makers, members of civil society, and those in the field of judicial system in Bangladesh and some other British colonial common law countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Neoliberal challenges in context: a case of Hong Kong	[ "Hong Kong", "Accountability", "Privatization", "Neoliberalism", "Government expenditure", "School governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite that its definition is highly contentious, neoliberalism is generally an analytical concept widely used in academia, media and public policy discussions to describe economic and social policies, forms of governance and discourses and ideologies emerging in the global capitalism (Ball, 2013). It is closely associated with a handful of other concepts such as decentralization, accountability, privatization and austerity, which all share the logic of market economy that goods and services are best effectively delivered, and in turn profits are maximized, via free market competition (Chomsky, 1999). We are on a seemingly irreversible trend toward neoliberalism, which has extended its reach to, in breadth, places across the globe, and to, in depth, \"the entire social body and to generalize it inside the whole social system that, normally, does not pass through or is not authorized by the market\" (Foucault, 2008a, b, p. 248).\nNeoliberalism as a multifaceted and context-dependent concept: Neoliberalism as a concept has many variants within and across world regions (Hall, 2011). The so-called orthodox neoliberal model, one with its roots notably in many advanced countries of North America and Western Europe, has placed particular emphasis on adopting a range of austerity policies to reduce public sector debt and enhance budget outcomes, such as restructuring through redundancies and budget cuts in essential public services including education (Davies and Bansel, 2007; Harvey, 2007). On the other hand, cuts in education budget, like other austerity measures, have been discursively supported through the market logic that, for example, using free market principles to enhance school choice will presumably lead to an improved education.\nAn overview of Hong Kong education: Before looking into how neoliberal policies and ideology are manifested in the local schools, we need to briefly analyze the history as well as the social and institutional context of the education development in Hong Kong. Located at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta and bordering on Guangdong, the Southeast coastal province of China, Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years. This place has, since 1997, become the Special Administrative Region (SAR) that exists as part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the \"One Country, Two Systems\" principle. Protected by the Basic Law, the territory's \"mini-constitution,\" the so-called colonial legacy of economic, legal and social systems in Hong Kong would be preserved for 50 years. As a result, Hong Kong has its own education system that is different from that of the PRC, and which is governed by the Hong Kong government, rather than the PRC Government.\nNeoliberal challenges to Hong Kong schools: There have been global trends toward neoliberalism in education over recent decades (De Lissovoy and Cedillo, 2016; Apple, 2001). Hong Kong's schooling is no exception to almost all other systems around the globe that, despite some variations and counterpoints, manifests signs of neoliberal normalization. In the following, we will analyze the major neoliberal challenges and problems that Hong Kong's schools are faced, including school governance, accountability, privatization and government expenditure. It is observed that, convergence, as well as deviation, on neoliberal globalization occurs in the particular context of Hong Kong's context.\nConclusion: Through a systematic and critical analysis on the history and socio-political context of Hong Kong's school policies and practice as well as the official documents and statistics, this paper examines how the impacts of neoliberal hegemony are recontextualized and particularized in Hong Kong's school system. In this paper, four main features of school education in Hong Kong are discussed: school governance, accountability, privatization and government expenditure. Although resource cutbacks and financial constraints - problems that are generally inflicted by neoliberal discourse - are rarely seen in Hong Kong, the neoliberal ways of doing and thinking have become normalized in school practices in various ways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the neoliberal challenges and problems facing public schools in the particular Hong Kong context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a systematic and critical analysis on the history and socio-political context of Hong Kong's school policies and practice as well as the official documents and statistics, this paper examines the impacts of neoliberalism in four main aspects of school education in Hong Kong: school governance, accountability, privatization and government expenditure.\nFindings: Convergence, as well as deviation, on neoliberal globalization occurs in the particular Hong Kong context. School bureaucracy has irresistibly expanded. Policymakers have placed increasing emphasis on instrumentally evaluating schools while decentralizing, diversifying and privatizing education. School leadership has become focused solely on succeeding within those imposed performance management and metrics, pulling ahead of school competitions and prioritizing easily quantifiable and measurable tasks. Teachers have faced a potential threat from the loss of autonomy through the market logic and consumerist metrics. The rise of privatized education has further intensified school practices based on competitiveness and performativity. On the other hand, resource cutbacks and financial constraints - problems that are generally inflicted by neoliberal discourse - have rarely occurred in Hong Kong.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is part of concerted efforts in research that adopts the comparative and critical perspectives emerging from different social contexts to consider and flesh out how neoliberalism look across the school systems, how it challenges the systems differently, and how it evokes various responses from within the systems (Apple, 2001). Taken all the efforts together, a finely nuanced understanding of the trails of neoliberalism can help collectively re-discover school education as a social good, and collectively re-imagine and reshape alternatives for the future.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers an international and comparative perspective and further nuances to an understanding of how neoliberal policies and ideology are recontextualized in countries across the globe given particularities of different local contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Discharge planning in a cardiology out-patient clinic: a clinical audit	[ "Quality Improvement", "Attendance", "Cardiology", "Discharge planning", "Nurse specialist", "Outpatients" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Out-patient (OP) services are a critical component provided to those with a chronic disease. Implementing positive discharging procedures from OP clinics is a key performance indicator (KPI), recommended by the Health Service Executive (HSE, 2009) and is aimed at improving quality, increasing efficiency and accessibility to services for patients. The aim is that \"all out-patients are automatically discharged (DC) after a set number of consultations (typically two for non-chronic conditions) unless some contra-indication or other clinical reasons necessitates further review\" (HSE, 2009, p. 8). Inpatient DC planning has been the focus of a recent HSE initiative (Health Service Executive (HSE), 2008); however, discharging inpatients often requires timely OP follow-up. In practice, non-essential routine patient review within OP services increases waiting times for new and recently DC patients. The HSE national framework on outpatient department operation and management (HSE, 2009, p. 2) was launched with the aim \"to maximise the accessibility of OP services for patients and improve their customer service experience\" by providing targets and policy guidelines for healthcare providers.\nMethods: We audited a general cardiology clinic held weekly, which in 2010 handled 2,661 (40 per cent) of general cardiology OPs, with appointments for 40-60 patients per week and a 1:10 new-to-return ratio. The CNS identified patients attending a nine- to 12-month return visit one week prior to attendance. To determine potential patients suitable for DC, the CNS accessed the previous clinic consultation letter via computer (there was no requirement to pull the patients chart). The reason for return visit, investigation results and potential for DC to the GP at the next visit were documented on a template, which was placed into the patient's clinical notes (Appendix) thereby flagging the patient as a potential DC to the medical practitioner. A coloured front sheet was also attached to the chart to highlight that the patient, as a potential DC, should be seen by a senior clinician. The consultant cardiologist and/or senior cardiology registrar were briefed about how many potential DCs were attending each clinic. The CNS was present at each clinic during the first audit period to inform all physicians about the process and indicate which patients may be suitable for DC. The KPI selected for measurement was total patient DCs for each clinic visit. Business objects reports, which obtain information from the iPIMS patient management system, provided data and Fisher's exact test was used to assess statistical significance.\nResults: The audit was carried out three times (Table I) to reflect the recommended actions carried out after each period (Table II). The tables detail the three audit cycles, CNS pre-assessment process results, usual care and the recommendations implemented prior to re-audit. The first audit demonstrated that whilst total patients DC (15 per cent) was similar to the period before the audit (13.6 per cent), CNS pre-assessment and highlighting to the clinic physician significantly increased pre-assessed patient group DCs to 34 per cent (p<0.0001). Totally, 31 (33 per cent) patients from this group were identified as potential DCs but were given a return appointment. Reasons why suitable patients were not DC were ascertained by obtaining the post-consultation dictated letter: which included stable one-year review (12.7 per cent); no reason documented (6.4 per cent); and risk factor review (5.5 per cent). Over the following two audit periods, total DCs were similar (17 per cent) in period two, but CNS pre-assessed patient DCs fell (22 per cent). In the third period, after the summer NCHD staff changeover, total DCs and CNS pre-assessed DCs reduced to 9 and 10 per cent, respectively. Table III presents data gathered regarding clinic volumes, new to return ratios and patients who did not attend (DNA). The lower clinic bookings per week cannot be attributed to an improved DC rate as the third time frame had the fewest DCs. New patient bookings increased, but this may be due to rescheduling and re-booking return visits. The HSE (2009) report recommend a <10 per cent DNA target. The DNA rates were gathered but this important OP service delivery issue was not our focus and requires separate analysis.\nDiscussion: CNS involvement\nRecommendations: Recommendations from each audit period were implemented (Table II):\nConclusion: Many people will at some stage attend an OP clinic. This audit fills a gap in the literature regarding OP experiences. CNS pre-assessment increased the DCs to primary care compared to usual care; however, if the CNS was not present at each clinic to drive the process then discharging practice reduced from 34 to 22 per cent then 10 per cent in the pre-assessed group, which reflects the need for personnel to be responsible for monitoring and reminding staff. This does not always have to be medical or nursing personnel as the 2012 figures demonstrate. Keeping the process alive appears to be the vital component. A senior clinical decision maker to review and DC patients is critical and as resources become more finite, expanding the nurse's role to ANP is necessary (DoHC, 2011). Not all patients attending the OP service regularly are suitable for DC to PC and each patient has individual clinical needs. The main focus, therefore, is to improve the patient pathway and experience through quality improvement processes. Managed clinics lead to an enhanced visit for those attending and shorter waiting time for new, recently DC and urgent ill referrals. Implementing positive discharging procedures can improve quality, increasing service efficiency and accessibility for patients.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to audit the active discharge (DC) planning process in a general cardiology clinic, by pre-assessing patients' medical notes and highlighting those suitable for potential DC to the clinic physician.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The cardiology clinical nurse specialist (CNS) identified patients' for nine- to 12-month return visits one week prior to attendance. The previous consultation letter was accessed and information was documented by the CNS in the medical record. The key performance indicator (KPI) used was patient DCs for each clinic visit. The process was audited at three separate times to reflect recommended action carried out.\nFindings: The CNS pre-assessment and presence at the clinics significantly increased total DCs during the first period compared to usual care, 11 vs 34 per cent (p<0.0001). During the third audit period, DCs fell (9 per cent) with a reduction in CNS pre-assessed DCs (10 per cent). Recommendations were implemented. The process was continued by clinic administration staff, colour coding all nine- to 12-month returns, resulted in a 19 per cent DC rate in 2012.\nPractical implications: CNS pre-assessment and highlighting DC suitability increased the number of patient DCs. As the CNS presence at the clinic reduced so did the rate of DC. Specific personnel need to be responsible for monitoring and reminding staff of the process; this does not always have to be medical or nursing.\nOriginality/value: Implementing positive discharging procedures is aimed at improving quality, increasing efficiency and accessibility of services for patients. This audit describes a process to promote DC planning from cardiology outpatients.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On the pursuit of clinical excellence	[ "Health services", "Clinical governance", "Patient care", "Best practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"The pursuit of excellence has been my objective in life\" is the inscription on the United States Congressional Gold Medal given in 2008 to the renowned heart surgeon Dr Michael DeBakey by an Act of Congress enacted in 2007 (see Figure 1).\nTechnical pillars: Evidence-based thinking and practice\nPersonal pillars: Interpersonal skills\nFuture pillars: Policy and succession planning\nConclusions: The central tenet of this article is that \"clinical excellence\" is a multifactorial entity, and that the range of relevant factors can be collapsed into three critical domains relating to technical proficiency, personal skills and future legacy. An important feature of the current proposal is its inclusion of \"personal\" pillars, an area that has traditionally been neglected in appraisal and reward systems (Larson, 2007).Around 25 years ago, a Professor of Medicine, Neil McIntyre, and the philosopher, Sir Karl Popper, joined forces (McIntyre and Popper, 1983) to eloquently plead for a \"critical attitude in medicine: the need for a new ethics\". The pillars of excellence outlined in this article should help to provide a stimulus and a distinctive framework that encourages a critical attitude and a new ethics in medicine. This schematic framework may be useful as a personal aide-memoire for clinicians in their professional activities, and may additionally serve as a pragmatic guide for both individual and organizational appraisal, accreditation, revalidation and reward systems. The framework may also be useful as a teaching tool for conveying principles relating to quality of care, not only to medical students but also to a range of health professionals. One might envisage in the future some institutions offering a postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Excellence.A critical, further step would be to gather evidence derived from a checklist or appraisal format that was based on the framework described in this paper, and to then consider not only some form of validation study, but also how easy and acceptable it was to implement evaluations using this framework in standard clinical settings. In this way, we may be able to lay the foundations for a \"science of clinical excellence\", one that is applicable to complex settings such as healthcare delivery, where there are often challenges to implementing excellence in practice (see Gardner et al., 2001).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to offer a pragmatic definition of clinical excellence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a conceptual review of key studies relating to clinical excellence.\nFindings: - The pursuit of clinical excellence can be profitably considered in terms of 15 pillars of excellence comprising \"technical\" pillars, \"personal\" pillars, and \"future\" pillars. The five technical pillars are: evidence-based thinking and practice; professional and peer accreditation; decision support systems; effectiveness and efficiency; learning and risk management. The five personal pillars comprise: interpersonal skills; collaboration and leadership; resilience and stress management; user involvement; moral principles. The five future pillars consist of: policy and succession planning; teaching and training; innovation; research and publications; income-resource generation.\nOriginality/value: - These 15 pillars of excellence may serve as an aide-memoire for clinicians in their professional practice, as a pragmatic framework for both individual and organizational appraisal, accreditation, revalidation and reward systems, and as a teaching tool for a range of health-care professionals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Navy Nurse Corps manpower management model	[ "Manpower planning", "Markov processes", "Recruitment", "Medical management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Navy Nurse Corps (NC) is part of a team of professionals that provides high quality, economical health care to approximately 700,000 active duty Navy and Marine Corps members, as well as 2.6 million retired and family members (Navy Knowledge, 2004). This care is provided while supporting contingency, humanitarian and joint operations around the world with highly trained, dedicated health care professionals. Managing its resources more efficiently continues to be a high priority for the Nurse Corps and for the Department of Defense in general. In 2002, the Chief of Naval Operations released \"Sea Power 21\", a design to create a leaner, more effective Navy (Clark, 2002). In response to this and prior directives, the Navy Nurse Corps has been making adjustments in its officer configuration. The number of nurses needed to staff the Nurse Corps is defined by a manpower readiness model that has been adopted by the Military Health Service to define the most efficient and effective mix of manpower requirements (Bedsole, 2004). Manpower planning is essential to ensuring that the Nurse Corps continues to be able to perform its vital services.Based on guidance from the Chief of Naval Personnel, the Navy Nurse Corps develops an annual hiring plan that determines the recruiting goals. New Nurse Corps Officers may enter through six different hiring sources: Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Medical Enlisted Commissioning Program (MECP), Nurse Candidate Program (NCP), Seaman to Admiral (STA)-21, Direct Accessions, and Recalls. MECP, ROTC, NCP, and STA-21 are training programs wherein the Navy funds promising candidates to be trained as nurses for the Navy. The Nurse corps considers MECP, ROTC, NCP, and STA-21 \"pipeline programs\" and prefers to use these as the primary source for new NC officers. Recalls and direct accessions are not training programs as individuals assessed through them have already completed their nursing degrees. Direct accessions are nurses hired directly from civilian practice who have no prior military experience. Recalls are used to bring nurses who have left the services for the civilian workplace back into the military. These two hiring sources are used as \"valves\" to ensure targeted manpower levels are met, leveling out yearly inconsistencies from the pipeline programs. Two other long-running hiring sources that provided training to complete nursing degrees, Full Time Out Service Training (FTOST) and the Baccalaureate Degree Program (BDCP), have been discontinued.Past research has evaluated the impact of hiring source on a Navy nurse's willingness to stay beyond his or her initial obligation. While there is only one published article (Kocher and Thomas, 1994) there have been many theses conducted at the Naval Postgraduate School on this topic (Jonak and Paradis, 1998; Shigley, 1988; Turner, 1990, Maeder, 1999). It is not clear, however, whether these hiring sources can be used in the manpower planning process to mitigate imbalances seen in the officer ranks - both overstaffing (too many in a given rank) and understaffing (too few in a given rank).Currently there is not a formal model with which to answer this question. In addition, other than historical trends, there is no formal model upon which gain and loss predictions are based (e-mail from CAPT Buda; received 28 September 2004). Both of these issues can be addressed by developing a Markov model of personnel progression during their tenure with the Nurse Corps. The use of Markov models in manpower planning is well established in the literature in general (Bartholomew, 1973; Vajda, 1975; Vajda, 1978; Grinold and Marshall, 1977; Glen, 1977; Raghavendra, 1991) as well as in the military (Davies, 1973; Davies, 1975; Bartholomew, 1979; Davies, 1982; Kalamatianou, 1987; Gass, 1991). Published models are available for the Marine Corps enlisted and officer forces (Marshall, 1977a, b) as well as for the US Army Reserves (Reeves and Reed, 1999).We developed a Markov model of the Navy Nurse Corps, identifying probabilities of promotion and retention from historical data, and exploring the impact of the different hiring sources available to the NC. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine points in a military career where the hiring source was a statistically significant factor in either the promotion or the retention of an officer. Once identified, the Markov model was adjusted for that hiring source, thereby allowing differential progression by hiring source. This Excel-based model can be effectively used to help inform the planning process to ensure that sufficient nurses are available to provide high quality care.Section 2 of this paper describes a Markov model and its applicability to personnel management in a structured environment. Section 3 describes in greater detail the methodology of the paper by presenting the data sources, the statistical analyses, and the Markov model construction for each hiring source. Section 4 provides the results, first focusing on the population descriptive statistics and the results of the regression analysis. Model validation and the baseline model results are presented next. Finally, the model is used to explore alternative solutions in terms of hiring practices to better meet the mandated staffing requirements. Section 5 presents conclusions and recommendations.\n2. What is a Markov model: A Markov model is a simulation wherein the probabilities of future conditions from a given state are independent from the history of the system (Hillier and Lieberman, 1990). Scientists and engineers frequently use these models to analyze both the time dependent development of a system and the characteristics of its steady state, the point at which it no longer changes. A Markov process is composed of a set of states and the movements between them. This process can be depicted in a matrix of transition probabilities wherein the rows and columns represent the states and the coefficients refer to the probabilities with which members move to different states. In personnel planning, the states frequently represent positions or levels within a career track. An individual can move between these states as a result of a promotion, a demotion, or a change in responsibilities. Once the speed with which these changes are made is known, for example it may take two years to move from an entry level position to the next higher level; it is possible to project overall staffing at each level from year to year. This provides not only a forecast of manpower within the personnel structure but also allows exploration of changing institutional conditions or policies by their impact on transitions between levels.In the military, the levels within a career track are represented by rank, which has a linear ascending order. A schematic of the process is shown in Figure 1. New nurses can enter at the ranks of Ensign (ENS), or Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG), or Lieutenant (LT). They also have the option of leaving the service from any of the ranks as well.Within the nurse corps, at any given time period, there are a number of individuals in a specific rank (ENS, LTJG, LT, LCDR). Every year, a certain percentage of individuals will be promoted, a certain percentage of individuals will leave the Navy, and a certain number of individuals will enter the Nurse Corps resulting in a new mix of personnel in each rank. Probabilities of changing to different levels are the promotion rates and attrition rates. The rates of promotion and attrition (not re-enlisting) are known to be dependent on an individual's rank and years in rank as well as other demographic factors. Of primary interest is to see whether hiring source can have enough of an influence on these rates to enable the Nurse Corps to use them to control their manpower base.A simplified, hypothetical example of the matrix of transition probabilities is provided in Table I. In this example, the probability that an Ensign stays at his/her current status as an ENS is 0.50, the corresponding probabilities of his/her changing to other levels, LTJG, LT, LCDR, and leaving the service (Out), are 0.4, 0.05, 0.00, and 0.05 respectively. The matrices of transition probabilities (one for each hiring source) used in the actual model are more complex as they are broken down not only by ranks, but also by years within each rank.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Datasets\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Conclusions and recommendations: Over the four-year period, the difference between the planned imbalance (~1,500) and the best policies when 250 recruits are brought in (~1,470) are relatively small. A 25 percent reduction in the overall imbalance can be obtained by recruiting only ~160 individuals, but this causes understaffing in the rank structure that may not be acceptable. Limiting understaffing causes the number of recruits and the imbalances to increase. The most effective policy would be to use the Recall and Direct Accession sources to recruit individuals at higher grade levels than is currently the norm. This results in a 65 percent reduction in total imbalances and ensures that neither overstaffing nor understaffing is above ~90 spaces at any point in time. Therefore, changes in hiring sources and changes in the entry ranks of recruits can lead to increased efficiency in manpower management.The Markov model demonstrated pre-existing overstaffing of Lieutenants and understaffing of Lieutenants Junior Grade. The prior imbalances can be directly traced to the mandated promotion rates of Lieutenant Junior Grade and Ensign and the Nurse Corps end-strength requirements of each. Specifically, by the end of their 2nd year, 99 percent of Ensigns have left their grade - of these 97 percent promote and 3 percent leave. By the end of their 2nd year, 95 percent of Lieutenants Junior Grade have left their grade - of these 75 percent promote and 25 percent leave. This reflects current Navy policies, which automatically promote Ensigns to Lieutenant Junior Grade after two years of service and automatically promote Lieutenants Junior Grade to Lieutenant after two years of service. Lieutenants typically remain in their grade for five years before they are promoted, though many leave the service before that point. Since Ensign and Lieutenant Junior Grade are promoted in the same time frame and the rate of exiting Ensign is negligible, the only way to avoid either overstaffing in Ensign or understaffing in Lieutenant Junior Grade is for the personnel requirements of the two grades to be equivalent. Historically, the requirements for Lieutenant Junior Grade are double that of Ensign and out-year projections widen this gap. Therefore, given current promotion policy and end-strength requirements, it will be impossible to balance these ranks unless new recruits are brought in at the Lieutenant Junior Grade level. This is possible if the Recall and Direct Accession sources can be targeted to these higher ranks.The pre-existing overstaffing in Lieutenants frequently decreases in the short term, as new recruits will take at least four years to enter this rank. However, over the longer term, the overstaffing in Lieutenants will either remain constant at approximately 90 spaces (best case) or may even start to increase. Given the long time period for promotion, the exit rates, while frequently 10 percent to 25 percent of a given year's cohort, are not sufficient to prevent pressure to build on this grade level. Overstaffing of Lieutenants could potentially be lessened by slowing the promotion rate to Lieutenant and increasing the promotion rate to Lieutenant Commander. However, any changes of this type would require an in-depth policy review since they run counter to current military standards.The rank of Lieutenant Commander seems to be experiencing a chronic low-level shortage in the near term. Except for recruiting directly into that rank, the model does not allow much change to this shortage due the long time it takes to progress to this level. If the shortages are indeed present, it would make more sense to promote from the existing surplus of Lieutenants rather than hiring in from the outside. While a change in the promotion rate itself is possible, it may also be possible to simply promote to fill the vacancies. As this is the current official position, we question whether the observed vacancies are real or whether there have been some other decisions made in regards to this rank. Since so few members of this rank are part of the database, there is a potential for data error as well.The statistical analyses were limited by sample size. Only ten rank/year in rank combinations had enough observations to permit regression analyses. In some of the more unusual rank/year in rank combinations that were sparsely populated, such as cases where individuals remain in rank for more than two years past the norm, the promotion and retention rates could fluctuate from what was calculated. However, given the very small number of nurses this could affect, it is doubtful that this would have much impact on the NC manpower structure.The Markov model uses static promotion rates based on historical trends. Therefore, this model is limited to the extent that these past rates hold in the future. In addition, the model currently precludes changing promotion and retention rates as a force-shaping tool. These decisions have wide ranging policy implications beyond the Nurse Corps itself as promotions of military personnel are centrally set within the Department of Defense and govern all non-exempt occupations across all the military forces.Nurse Corps end-strength targets are only projections. Optimal distribution of both hiring source and rank are dependant upon the degree of acceptable deviation from these targets. The degree of acceptable deviation is difficult to determine and changes with operational tempo (and hence expected workload) over time.Finally, there is limited flexibility in the recruiting system due to requirements in and for the hiring programs themselves. This model currently allows for a flexibility of 10 percent and ensured that recruits were drawn from each hiring source. This flexibility can easily be changed, but requires further discussion to determine exactly how much deviation is acceptable.Changes in the mix of hiring sources are not sufficient to resolve the underlying issues that cause pressure at certain grades nor the overstaffing and understaffing observed within all of the ranks. While hiring sources do have a statistically significant effect on promotion and retention rates, these differences are not practically significant in a Markov model. Small improvements are possible, but policies adjusting promotion and retention rates (i.e. the transition probabilities) would have a much greater effect and potentially handle some of the underlying issues. Policy changes should only be attempted after it has been ensured that the desired end-strengths of each rank are correct. Modeling to improve manpower management may enable the Navy Nurse Corps to more efficiently fulfill its mandate for high-quality healthcare.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The Navy Nurse Corps is part of a team of professionals that provides high quality, economical health care to approximately 700,000 active duty Navy and Marine Corps members, as well as 2.6 million retired and family members. Navy Nurse Corps manpower management efficiency is critical to providing this care. This paper aims to focus on manpower planning in the Navy Nurse Corps.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The Nurse Corps manages personnel primarily through the recruitment process, drawing on multiple hiring sources. Promotion rates at the lowest two ranks are mandated, but not at the higher ranks. Retention rates vary across pay grades. Using these promotion and attrition rates, a Markov model was constructed to model the personnel flow of junior nurse corps officers.\nFindings: - Hiring sources were shown to have a statistically significant effect on promotion and retention rates. However, these effects were not found to be practically significant in the Markov model. Only small improvements in rank imbalances are possible given current recruiting guidelines. Allowing greater flexibility in recruiting practices, fewer recruits would generate a 25 percent reduction in rank imbalances, but result in understaffing. Recruiting different ranks at entry would generate a 65 percent reduction in rank imbalances without understaffing issues.\nPractical implications: - Policies adjusting promotion and retention rates are more powerful in controlling personnel flows than adjusting hiring sources. These policies are the only means for addressing the fundamental sources of rank imbalances in the Navy Nurse Corps arising from current manpower guidelines.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that modeling to improve manpower management may enable the Navy Nurse Corps to more efficiently fulfill its mandate for high-quality healthcare.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Unlocking the laboratory: autonomous wireless sensor authentication in practice	[ "Wireless sensor network", "Mobile technology", "SunSPOT", "Security", "Authentic learning", "Practical", "Learning methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Pervasive networking concepts, where many different wireless networking technologies are transparently integrated into everyday objects and activities, are increasingly prevalent in everyday situations. Looking to the future, it is foreseen that billions of small internet-enabled, ubiquitous devices will provide digital intelligence and connectivity for almost every leisure, commercial and industrial product. Interconnectivity through the internet will facilitate seamless interfacing and interactivity with many aspects of our lives; providing smart operations in both commercial and personal settings. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are hailed as one of the key enabling technologies of this ubiquitous vision and such infrastructure is commonly realised using small, low power, low data rate, wireless devices with sensing and actuating capabilities.In this paper we detail a practical laboratory task where final year undergraduate students design, implement and validate an inferred security wireless sensor access system. We evaluate the students' experience of working with the Sun Microsystems Sun Small Programmable Object Technology (SunSPOTs) and explore how their perception of both ubiquity and security evolves from inception to completion of the activity.Keystone courses aim to provide final year undergraduate students with a learning experience that not only draws on their existing knowledge but also encourages them to engage in the professional practice of self-directed learning that is more common in the workplace. It seems natural to seek to incorporate such experiences into the laboratory-based elements of courses, as they do not sit comfortably in more traditional lecture settings. The assigned laboratory tasks should encourage students to engage with problems that reflect those seen in the workplace; students must make decisions that take them from the initial planning stages of the project, through system design, specification and implementation, to the testing and formal presentation of their final solution. The practical project outlined in this paper seeks to engage students with such learning experiences on a final year module in mobile communications.\n2. Challenges in delivering keystone modules: Accreditation bodies (ABET, 2010) have long emphasised the importance of credible, practical skill building and concept reinforcement as fundamental underpinnings of modern science and engineering programmes. Realisation of such practices frequently necessitates the use of small group and peer learning modalities for practical delivery and assessment of student outputs. Whilst the pedagogical merits of such practices have been well documented in the literature (Huggard and Mc Goldrick, 2006), there is an inherent managerial tension between the competing requirements of the quality and quantifiable outputs of the educational experience, and the \"affordability\" of resourcing such activities. It is increasingly common for the academic and pedagogical goals and aspirations to be subjugated to the more immediately quantifiable \"cost\" of resourcing such \"teaching\" activities.In such circumstances it is incumbent upon educators to strive to maximise the learning and educational outcomes for their student cohorts. In doing so they encounter a somewhat more insidious impediment - the motivation and goal orientation of the individual students. In general students seek a path to quantifiable academic achievement that maximises their likely outcome for any given input. Thus modern academics must design, deliver and evolve modules that challenge, convey and inform the frontiers of knowledge; that imbue practical skills and experience of relevance to enterprise and employers; and that appear both accessible and advantageous to student cohorts.These principles helped inform the conceptualisation and design of a practical ubiquitous computing task as a core element of a final year undergraduate wireless communications module.\n3. Ubiquity, sensors and security: The term ubiquitous computing means different things to different groupings, but most expressions of the concept will extend Weiser's (1998) original articulation (making many computers available throughout the physical environment, but making them effectively invisible to the user) to include wireless communication capabilities. Thus a \"ubiquitous computing\" device will fuse computing (programmability, processing, storage) capabilities with communication (discovery, transmission, reception, routing) competences.A wholly modern realisation of such devices and capabilities can be found in the field of WSD. Individual wireless sensor devices, generically known as nodes, satisfy the primary requirements for ubiquitous computing devices. Thus the use of WSN technologies as a primary hardware vehicle for the task advances our pedagogic goals and, moreover, it contributes to strategic institutional and national aspirations that teaching be \"research-led\" (Trinity College Dublin, 2009; Government of Ireland, 2007).There are many different families of wireless sensors, most of which have their own dedicated programming and interoperability metaphors. At the outset, the students were provided with a wide variety of these wireless sensor nodes and platforms, asked to choose a platform they wished to use for the task and to identify their reasons for doing so. This mirrors the real-world scenario where a professional must identify the most appropriate technology for the task in hand and establish a case for its use.The concept of \"inferred security\" denotes the activity of building or inferring trust from on-going interactions with ubiquitous computing devices. In its simplest form devices about your person spontaneously interact with other devices in the surrounding environment on an on-going basis. The nature and circumstances of these interactions will tend to characterise the communicating entities. It is practicable to exploit information arising from these interactions to infer a measure of certainty as to the likely identity of the holder of the communicating device - thereby enabling basic security and authorisation capabilities.Cellular network location-based service information (Huggard and Mc Goldrick, 2005) may form a subset of the data used to provide inferred security capabilities. Such an articulation is useful as it provides an accessible reference model for students seeking to understand the broader security concept. Moreover it also serves to highlight the nature and scope of information being routinely gathered by State Agencies - thereby engendering valuable societal and ethical debate amongst the students.\n4. Building on prior knowledge: To properly conceptualise and design their inferred security products the student cohort must understand the fundamentals of wireless communication systems; must be cognisant of the practical limitations of generic wireless sensor nodes; must have quantified the \"practical\" security level required for their service; and should have satisfied themselves as to the practicalities of an implementation on their chosen WSN platform.As the task has multifaceted pedagogical objectives (none of which are explicitly programming related) we established the following requirements for the wireless sensor platforms used: the nodes should be programmable by the students using their existing language skills; the nodes should be capable of autonomous operation; the nodes should incorporate existing physical phenomena sensing capabilities; the node platform should include some standard data routing and dissemination algorithms (Mc Goldrick et al., 2009); the nodes should be capable of straightforward interfacing to external devices; the nodes should be capable of computing security and cryptographic primitives in \"near\" real time.From a pedagogic perspective the task is established as a minimally specified problem domain exercise. The students have complete freedom with respect to the hardware employed, the security strategy and constructs exploited, and the language and implementation environment selected. The students are aware that they must quantify and articulate a cogent rationale for their choices and selections in interview at the end of the task.The programmability (and ease thereof) of the wireless sensor devices was established as a key determinant of student selection of hardware platform. As the students had significant prior experience of programming through Java, they chose the Sun Microsystems/Oracle SunSPOT platform (Oracle/Sun Microsystems, 2006) as these devices are programmed through Java/J2 Micro Edition (ME). Moreover this language familiarity also had a significant bearing on their subsequent engagement with the task. The SunSPOT was one of the more capable wireless sensor nodes available so the enforced choice also satisfied the pre-established platform requirements.4.1 The SunSPOT platform\n5. The laboratory assignment: The aggregate task description provided to the students was as follows:Sensor Inferred Security: You'll have all heard and read about the concept of Ubiquitous, Ambient and/or Pervasive Computing. The basic concept is that everyday devices will have built-in wireless sensing and communications capabilities. It is expected that they will be used for personal body networks, health monitoring, etc. For this assignment you will design, implement and validate an inferred security wireless sensor access device.The practical concept: You carry a wireless sensor (e.g. SunSPOT) with you. Devices and structures within your everyday environment are equipped with their own SunSPOTs or functionally (from a communications perspective) equivalent Wireless Sensors. They can interact with each other when within communications range.The algorithm: You should document and clearly explain the algorithm/strategy/approach you are using, and why you believe it to be 'best-of-breed' The challenge: 1. When you arrive at your office door, a wireless sensor interfaced to the lock-mechanism should determine whether the lock opens using information received from your ;opener' node. 2. If your wireless sensor is lost or stolen, the stolen device should not open the office door.Actuation: You will actuate the lock by enabling an 'open' signal/output for three seconds. It is sufficient to demonstrate/simulate this in code, although an actual lock will be used on demo day.A suggested strategy might be: i) use the wireless sensor (e.g. SunSPOT) as the deployment platform; ii) produce a system demonstrator that can open an electric lock mechanism using only inferred information; iii) create, test and validate your demonstrator using the platform emulator BEFORE deploying on actual hardware for testing; iv) identify any requirements/assumptions required by your system; v) provide a short report, with source code, that describes who did what, how your system operates, how secure you believe your system to be, and why, and provides us with feedback on your experiences.5.1 The implementation\n6. Evaluation: When evaluating the success of this laboratory based assignment it was necessary to judge the quality of the learning and technical environment created from a number of perspectives - that of both individual students and groups of students, as well as that of the academic delivering the module. While independent surveys of courses and modules are carried out by the university's quality office at the request of individual instructors, these capture high level information on the students' experience of the module but fail to gather useful data on specific course elements. Hence it was necessary to carry out targeted evaluation exercises to gather qualitative and quantitative data on the students' experience of the WSN laboratory assignment. As part of their report on the assignment students were asked to provide feedback on their experiences. It was made clear to students that this feedback would be used to refine future presentations of this assignment and they were encouraged to be as constructive as possible in their comments.6.1 Quantitative evaluation\n7. Conclusion: A novel WSN laboratory that encourages students to engage with the concepts of ubiquity and security was presented. The lab formed part of a keystone course for final year undergraduates and builds on their prior learning by encouraging them to engage with a real world problem of the type they might experience as professionals in the workplace. The student reaction to the laboratory learning experience was very positive and they particularly enjoyed the practical, hands-on experience with state-of-the art wireless sensor networking technologies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to evaluate a practical laboratory task where final year undergraduate students design, implement and validate an inferred security wireless sensor access system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The quality of the learning and technical environment was evaluated from a number of perspectives using a mixed methods approach where both quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analysed. Two-tailed paired t-tests were used to analyse data on student performance, while a targeted survey was used to assess the achievement of the learning outcomes. The students' experience of working with the Sun Microsystems SunSPOTs was evaluated and the evolution of their perception of both ubiquity and security from inception to completion of the activity was explored.\nFindings: - The results of this study indicate that the students' level of engagement with the assigned laboratory task was higher than with the two other forms of continuous assessment used on the module. Quantitative feedback gathered indicated that the learning outcomes were achieved, while the qualitative data indicated a high level of student satisfaction with the laboratory assignment.\nOriginality/value: - A novel wireless sensor network laboratory that encourages students to engage with the concepts of ubiquity and security is presented and evaluated.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Commentary: do brands compete or coexist? By Sheth and Koschmann. From brand to subcategory competition	[ "Branding", "Brand loyalty", "Brand awareness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The conventional marketing strategy is to engage in what I call brand preference competition, which focuses on making a brand preferred among the choices considered by customers in a defined subcategory. The challenge is to beat competition through incremental innovation, cleverer advertising, more impactful promotions, more visible sponsorships, and more involving social media programs. You win by making your brand preferred.\nSubcategory competition: The subcategory competition starts when a firm creates a \"must have\" that defines or redefines a subcategory. The \"must have\" can involve:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A response to Sheth and Koschmann's Do brands compete or coexist? How persistence of brand loyalty segments the market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a comment piece written in response to Sheth and Koschmann's \"Do brands compete or coexist? How persistence of brand loyalty segments the market\".\nFindings: In their article, Sheth and Koschmann's position on brand competition reinforces the view that vigorous and costly competitive initiative designed to lure customers from one brand to another are futile in nature. Brand loyalty is too high. This note outlines that the only way to grow a business is to create \"must haves\" that define subcategories, manage these subcategories to success and build structural barriers to inhibit competition from gaining relevance. A firm's focus on maintaining existing customers is a sound investment, but attempting to seek growth through attracting customers of competitors will not create growth.\nOriginality/value: This response to Sheth and Koschmann's paper provides a scholarly dialogue centered upon the premise of brand loyalty within the context of market competition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation and user acceptance of research information systems: An empirical survey of German universities and research organisations	[ "Technology acceptance", "Quality management", "Database management", "Research information", "Research information system (RIS)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The volume of research activities, structures and staff is steadily growing, and research institutions must be able to answer to increasing demands on research evaluation and reporting by researchers, funders, authorities and the public change. The usual way to deal with this increasing demand is high-performing research information management (RIM). RIM can be defined as \"the aggregation, curation, and utilization of metadata about research activities\" (Bryant et al., 2017), i.e. processing information about projects, results, structures, persons, infrastructures, equipment, facilities, etc., and it involves human resources (HR) as well as organization and technology in order to produce useful and reliable knowledge about research.\nLiterature overview: The euroCRIS repository[1] contains more than 600 conference papers, articles and reports on current research information systems (CRIS), and several others are referenced by Google Scholar. However, only few deal directly with user acceptance and data quality as key elements of the implementation process.\nMethodology: In order to assess different aspects of data quality and user acceptance of RIS, we conducted a survey with an exhaustive sample of 240 German scientific institutions, i.e. 88 universities[4], 54 academic research institutions[5] and 98 public universities of applied sciences[6]. The institutions were invited to respond to an online-based questionnaire[7] with 47 questions:\nResults: In total, 160 of the 240 contacted institutions responded and completed the online survey, which corresponds to a satisfying response rate of 67 percent.\nDiscussion: Limitations\nConclusion: The reported survey shows that about half of the German universities and academic research institutions have implemented RIS and that they generally consider their RIS as meaningful and useful. While only half of the respondents (49 percent) assess the RIS data quality as high or good, and even if the opinions on the systems' ease of use are variable, a large majority of 86 percent would recommend their system to other institutions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence on the implementation, acceptance and quality-related aspects of research information systems (RIS) in academic institutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a 2018 survey with 160 German universities and research institutions.\nFindings: The paper presents recent figures about the implementation of RIS in German academic institutions, including results on the satisfaction, perceived usefulness and ease of use. It contains also information about the perceived data quality and the preferred quality management. RIS acceptance can be achieved only if the highest possible quality of the data is to be ensured. For this reason, the impact of data quality on the technology acceptance model (TAM) is examined, and the relation between the level of data quality and user acceptance of the associated institutional RIS is addressed.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data provide empirical elements for a better understanding of the role of the data quality for the acceptance of RIS, in the framework of a TAM. The study puts the focus on commercial and open-source solutions while in-house developments have been excluded. Also, mainly because of the small sample size, the data analysis was limited to descriptive statistics.\nPractical implications: The results are helpful for the management of RIS projects, to increase acceptance and satisfaction with the system, and for the further development of RIS functionalities.\nOriginality/value: The number of empirical studies on the implementation and acceptance of RIS is low, and very few address in this context the question of data quality. The study tries to fill the gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Systems, networks, and ecosystems in service research	[ "Systems thinking", "Service ecosystems", "Service systems", "Service networks", "Viable systems approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consider parallel trends that mark modernity. First, global flows of materials, energy, information, money, and people are interconnected. In such a setting, complex, urgent issues cannot be solved in isolation or from a single disciplinary perspective. Challenges ranging from climate change to national-level competitiveness to business growth require a more comprehensive, systems perspective, in which the focus shifts from structural parts to dynamic wholes.\nToward a systems understanding of service: In the last decades, firm managers have focussed their attention on improving firms' performance by relying on very specialized models and standardized techniques and tools (Mitroff and Linstone, 1993), ending up adopting a problem-solving perspective also when facing more complex decision making. Anticipating this problem, Checkland (1981) wondered whether the systems engineering approach, which proved to be highly successful in solving technical problems, could be effectively used by managers facing the complexities of organizational life. Indeed, a management approach excessively focussed on problem solving progressively weakens the capability of decision makers to achieve a holistic view of business dynamics, and their interconnections, which are essential in a globalized and fast changing environment. Yet multiple emerging socio-economic and business trends - including dematerialization, socialization, networking, and servitization, to name a few - together suggest to shift focus from the technical elements of the businesses' structures to their systems dynamics (Porter, 1991; Spender, 1996).\nThe evolving ecology of nested, networked service systems: Service research as the study of an evolving ecology of nested, networked service system entities, from people to families to businesses to nations is the perspective we adopt in this paper. These complex, adaptive, socio-technical systems each possess their own capabilities, constraints, rights, responsibilities (Demirkan et al., 2011; Gebauer et al., 2012), and patterns of interactions. For example, nations, states, cities, universities, hotels, hospitals, cruise ships, businesses, families, and people are all service system entities (Tracy and Lyons, 2013). These service system entities in turn form interconnected networks that give rise, over time, to new entities and innovative interaction dynamics. For example, the collaborative economy and companies like AirBnB that compete with hotels but own no buildings, and companies like Uber that compete with taxis but own no cars. In the processes of formation and change of service networks, the key factors are new mechanisms for value co-creation based on: knowledge; technology; culture; and sharing risk, rewards, and governance across business and society.\nEcosystem thinking: The rise of technology networks is prompting a shift, supplementing the concept of markets with notions of trust networks (Pentland, 2014) and sharing economies (Sacks, 2011). In this setting, an ecological perspective can be informative, because biological ecosystems consist of interdependent organisms, both generalists and specialists that participate in flows of information and resources, during which they experience both positive and negative interactions. However, unlike social or organizational ecosystems, biological ecosystems are not designed or planned. They are amazingly complex and intricate but arise without forethought; they emerge from interactions of individual organisms with one another and their environment, resulting in the rise and fall of populations of diverse species. There is no perfect organism or species - just ongoing change and adaptation (Sagarin, 2011). Learning also occurs at multiple scales. In the biological world, failure means death, and though individuals cannot learn much from their own death, the species can adapt to dynamic environments over time. Likewise, when a business or government fails, those specific entities may not learn much of value, but the broader ecology of organizations and institutions gets shaped by their failures over time. Following this logic, perhaps human efforts to plan and design their ecosystems, based on the pursuit of certainty and control, have gone too far. We need new approaches. We might gain a better understanding of the social and economic dynamics in markets, as well as the formation and change of service networks that we discussed in the previous section, with an ecosystem perspective that allows service system entities (e.g. firms) to move away from a traditional analysis, planning, and control mentality; develop a keener ability to observe (sense); permit strategies to emerge; and use feedback to learn how to adapt better in the future.\nFuture research directions: We imagine three broad sets of directions for service research, each of which comprises subthemes that researchers can attempt to tackle. In doing so, the following discussion aims to provide guidance to what is next as an effort for lifting up the level of analysis in service research in the years to come, seeking researchers to expand the narrow view of service providing future avenues relevant to the reality of increasingly complex social and business configurations (Ostrom et al., 2015).\nConclusion: Businesses, governments, and scientists seek new tools and methods for making better decisions and aligning stakeholders in an increasingly interconnected world with numerous, complex, urgent problems. To supply these tools and methods, the service research community can leverage its unprecedented access to massive amounts of open data about service system entities, their interactions, and outcomes, globally across space, time, and organizational scales. Service research studies based on surveys of hundreds or thousands of stakeholders involved in business-to-consumer interactions have laid the foundation for the next stage of service research, going beyond dyadic interactions to address dynamic systems, networks, and ecosystems, across various interaction patterns (e.g. business-to-business-to-customer, business-to-government-to-citizen, customer-to-customer-to-crowd). A pertinent challenge will be for the service research community to organize and compile open data sets that support the ready development of descriptive, explanatory, and predictive theories.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create awareness on the need for lifting up the level of analysis in service research by focusing on systems, networks, and ecosystems to contribute to the research expansion of the traditionally narrow view of service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper is built upon three blocks. First, the viable systems approach is revised to highlight the survival, viability, and complexity of service systems. Second, the dynamics of service networks is discussed using an ecological view of service with a nested, networked configuration. Third, these two previous perspectives are integrated using the fundamentals of ecosystems thinking.\nFindings: This paper outlines a novel, tri-level approach reorienting and reframing our thinking around systems, networks, and ecosystems. Some research challenges and directions that could expand the body of knowledge in service research are also discussed.\nResearch limitations/implications: The tri-level approach proposed in this conceptual paper could be enriched with other theoretical perspectives and empirical explorations.\nPractical implications: Lifting the level of analysis by focussing on service systems, service networks, and service ecosystems would allow practitioners to expand their business perspective to better face the challenges of complex business settings, enabling them to co-create value for all their stakeholders.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to set the foundation for the next stage of service research by going beyond dyadic interactions to address dynamic systems, networks, and ecosystems across different interaction patterns in complex business configurations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role of school leadership and climate in student achievement: The mediating role of parental involvement	[ "Climate", "School leadership", "Parental involvement", "Students’ academic achievement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 is a comprehensive plan from the Government of Abu Dhabi for the long-term transformation and diversification of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) economy. Fundamental to this plan is the recognition that the skills of the nation's youth are a valuable national asset, and it is therefore important to ensure that high-quality education is available to better equip the substantial youth population to enter the increasingly competitive global knowledge economy (The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, 2008). It is therefore important to ensure high-quality school leadership (Thapa et al., 2012) and that sufficient knowledge and an appropriate curriculum are being delivered by the teachers to the students (Waters et al., 2005). It is also important to encourage the involvement of parents (Eldeeb, 2012). With such changes in the educational climate, senior students in the UAE should be in a unique position (Arrington, 2014). Educational leadership is the process of guiding the energies of teachers, students, and the parents toward achieving common educational goals (Khaki and Safdar, 2010). The president of the UAE believes education is \"a pillar that will enable Abu Dhabi to meet standards of excellence achieved in the most highly educated countries of the world\" (Policy Agenda 2007-2008). As a result, one of the primary goals of the Abu Dhabi Government is to establish a system of education based on the highest standards, with good quality educational leadership.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 School leadership and students' academic achievements\n3. A proposed model: This paper proposes a conceptual framework to analyze the role of parental involvement in mediating the relationship between educational leadership and school climate on students' educational achievements in Abu Dhabi public schools (Figure 1). The proposed model is based on the three hypotheses proposed in Section 2.\n4. Conclusions: Based on the literature review and the conceptual model proposed above, it can be said that students' academic achievements are influenced by a varied set of individual-, group-, and organizational-level variables. Amongst all the variables affecting the academic achievement of students, school leadership, school climate, and parental involvement were found to play a very important role. Such a finding of numerous studies was used to propose three hypotheses, which were later used to propose a conceptual model of students' academic achievements. However, the proposed model in Section 3 is yet to be tested empirically, but it has tremendous potential as far as its academic and managerial implications are concerned. Finally, it is to be concluded that the proposed model of student academic achievements, as depicted in Figure 1, is well grounded in the literature in the field.\n5. Implications: The conceptual model as proposed in this study has implications for both academics and in practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model on students' academic achievement that is well grounded in the academic research in the domain. The paper aims to weave together the divergent research findings into a comprehensive model for use by all the stakeholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It is a literature review-based paper wherein research papers on the factors that influence the academic achievement of the students were studied. The empirical evidence from literature that fits the context of this study was analyzed and used to propose a workable model.\nFindings: A framework to understand the role of factors affecting students' academic achievement was proposed. It was found that school leadership and climate together affect the academic achievement of the students, but mediated by the involvement of the parents of the students.\nResearch limitations/implications: As this paper is a literature review, a framework on the determinants of academic achievements of the students has been proposed but yet to be tested empirically.\nPractical implications: The schools leadership and the policy-makers can effectively leverage the findings of the study to enhance the academic achievement of students in a school context.\nOriginality/value: There are few research-based studies on the determinants of the academic achievement of students. This paper has identified key variables which play a significant role in helping enhance academic achievement of the students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The professional basis of development work: suppose the person you are assisting to learn decides to leave the organization	[ "Mentoring", "Coaching", "Organizational learning", "Development strategies", "Engagement and learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: I have just finished listening to an online lecture where the chairman made a comment about coaching that if the person leaves the organization as a result of the coaching, it would be a bad thing. His suggestion was that this would be a failure by the coach.\nWorking with clients: While working with clients in my current role, I am assisting both groups and individuals. Sometimes people with whom I have worked have decided to leave their organization. This has come about because they have explored the kind of life they want to lead and they may decide on a change in direction. Most times, however, people do not leave their organization after such an analysis. Indeed they may find renewed vigour through examining other options. I have found that people may have a notion that things are better in other organizations and then realize that their own organization is not so bad. Sometimes a person might engage in a more fundamental review of their life and the role of work in it. This may lead them to realize that they can achieve what they want through a new approach to their work in their current organization.\nA positive example: While working, some time ago, with the retail company Sainsbury, we designed a self-managed learning programme for all their human resource (HR)/personnel staff (Broom and Evans, 2000). All staff up to senior management was in groups where they were able to explore what they wanted out of life and work and where they could plan and implement their learning to suit these needs.\nConclusion: My case is that it is a moral imperative for learning and development professionals to help individuals make appropriate life and career choices, and, at a strategic level, it is better for organizations to support this stance. Even if sometimes people choose to move out of the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this article is to challenge some assumptions about development work. It raised moral and ethical dilemma facing learning and development professionals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The article draws on personal experience and theory. It also uses an extract from Sainsbury's case study.\nFindings: Learning and development professionals need to consider their role in relation to people with whom they work.\nPractical implications: The article provides practical advice based on real examples.\nSocial implications: The article is clear about the social implications of one aspect of learning and development work, namely, where the activities of learning and development may cause a person to leave the organization.\nOriginality/value: It appears to be a unique analysis of a real issue, namely, what should learning and development professionals do if a person wants to leave the organization as a result of their learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workaround behaviour in information systems research	[ "IT management", "Information systems (ISs)", "Workaround behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizations are increasingly seeking to improve the level of productivity of their employees, especially with the use of information systems (ISs) and mobile technologies (MT). However, the new information technology (IT) management policies, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for example, which allows employees to use their personal devices while in the organization and to connect them to the corporate network, and the concern with the use of non-authorized technologies inside the workspace, called shadow IT, have manifested the workaround behavior by the employees more intensely (Dulipovici and Vieru, 2016).\n2. Literature review on workaround: IT area allows to organizations high capability to extend, acquire, manipulate and communicate information, being a strategic and fundamental resource to companies, because it ensures the quality of information on the decision-making process, providing operational and strategic benefits to the companies (Rikhardsson and Dull, 2016). Once a certain technology is adopted in the business process, the company's capacity for growth tends to increase (Xiong and Qureshi, 2012). Thus, IS allows filtering the most relevant information to the business, taking into account that around 80 percent of information in organizations are not structured and are found in websites, text documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides and many other formats (Alalwan and Weistroffer, 2012).\n3. Method: We performed a systematic literature review (SLR) based on the model proposed by Biolchini et al. (2007), which includes the following phases: planning, execution and analysis of the results. In addition, the present study follows the guidelines proposed by Webster and Watson (2002) that emphasize that an effective literature review creates a solid foundation for knowledge advance, and it is fundamental for the strengthening of IS research. According to those authors, the research should provide elaborate definitions of their key variables, define the limits of their work, indicate which literature and areas of study were used, clearly present the contributions of the article, and, finally, perform an investigation of all the articles published and not only those published in the most respected journals in the area.\n4. Results presentation and discussion: This section presents and discusses the obtained results in this study, which analyzes how the selected articles relate the concept of workaround in IS.\n5. Conclusions and guidelines for future research: The objective of this study was to analyze how workaround behavior has been approached in IS studies with the intent of verifying its applicability and presenting recommendations for future research. Therefore, to reach this objective, a Systematic Review of the Literature was performed by selecting and subsequently analyzing 20 articles that present the term \"workaround\" in the IS field of knowledge.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the studies about workaround behavior in the Information Systems (IS) area, addressing its positive and negative aspects and raising the key related issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted to verify how workaround behavior has been approached in IS studies. A qualitative method was adopted and implemented in two stages: selection of articles from the time period 2007-2017 in the databases Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Scopus and analysis of the selected articles.\nFindings: The results showed that many studies have been concerned with identifying the principal reasons for the manifestation of workaround behavior and the measures taken to reduce its impacts. Many studies from international journals examined the implementation of an ERP along with the workaround behavior. The need to expand the national studies on workaround behavior is emphasized, because the majority of the identified studies are international.\nResearch limitations/implications: The key limitation is related to the period of analysis, because only articles published since 2007 were selected.\nPractical implications: This paper contributes to both theory and practice, bringing relevant concepts about workaround behavior, and corroborating the importance of the studies on workaround in the IS area. The literature review of the 20 articles analyzed reveals the main features in each article, such as theoretical and methodological aspects that support the research. Based on this analysis, a conceptual map was developed presenting the most relevant points about workaround behavior, where the causes, the negative and positive consequences, the types of solutions and the organizational and individual impacts are presented.\nOriginality/value: Research into workaround behavior has increased in recent years, however very few studies have been conducted in Brazil. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no articles regarding Brazil and this subject were published between 2007 and 2017. Thus, this paper seeks to redress this imbalance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Classification of pork quality by hierarchical cluster analysis	[ "Colour", "Euclidian distance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The problem of quality defects in pork is of interest to scientists and the meat industry. Genetics, on-farm nutrition, pre-slaughter stress and post-slaughter processing are associated with variations in pork quality (Warner et al., 1997, 2010; Barbut et al., 2008; Hughes et al., 2014). The pork may be classified into different quality categories according to its color, texture and exudation. Top-quality meat has a reddish-pink color, firm texture and non-exudative (RFN), which is considered \"ideal\" or \"normal\" quality for producers and consumers. Anomalous conditions may provide pale, soft and exudative (PSE) meat, reddish-pink, soft and exudative (RSE) meat or dark, firm and dry (DFD) meat, which present bad appearance for consumers and are unsuitable for processing (Warner et al., 1997; Faucitano et al., 2010; Van Laack and Kauffman, 1999). The PSE condition is one of the major challenges faced by the meat industry, and because of its economic losses and high occurrence, this phenomenon has been studied for many years (Huff-Lonergan and Lonergan, 2005; Hughes et al., 2014; Swatland, 2004). Brazilian research studies have found incidence between 10 and 46 percent (Culau et al., 2002; Santiago et al., 2012; Maganhini et al., 2007) of pork PSE in meat industries.\nMaterial and methods: Sampling and sample preparation\nResults and discussion: By the criterion of Bendall and Swatland (1988), based only on pH45min value, 32 and 68 percent of total pork samples were classified as PSE and RFN, respectively. However, the hierarchical cluster analysis based on only pH45min formed two groups with 50 percent of total pork samples in each one (Table I). Cluster 1 was formed by all the samples (n=19) classified as PSE with 11 samples classified as RFN, whereas Cluster 2 was exclusively formed by the remaining samples classified as RFN by the Bendall and Swatland (1988) criteria (Figure 1). The frequency distributions of the pork quality categories/clusters differed (kh2=4.18; p=0.04) between these classification methods.\nConclusion: The hierarchical cluster analysis was able to identify groups of pork with different quality attributes, dividing the total samples into smaller subgroups which were significantly different. From the groups formed by cluster analysis, it was proposed that L* values of 44 and 52 can be used to distinguish between dark, reddish-pink and pale meat colors, while drip loss values of 2 and 6 percent can distinguish between dry, non-exudative and exudative meats.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the classification ability of pork quality by cluster analysis in relation to reference criteria proposed in the literature. Verify if clusters were theoretically significant with major pork quality categories. Verify if classificatory parameter values of quality attributes determined \"a posteriori\" may be used for following categorization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 60 pork loins were classified into pale, soft and exudative, reddish-pink, soft and exudative, RFN and dark, firm and dry by reference criteria and hierarchical cluster analyses were performed to identify groups of samples with different attributes, based on only pH45min and on pHu, L* and drip loss.\nFindings: Cluster analysis divided total samples into different (p<0.05) smaller groups. Two groups were formed based on only pH45min and five groups were formed based on pHu, L* and drip loss. By these five groups, L* of 44 and 52 distinguished between dark, reddish-pink and pale meat colors and drip loss of 2 and 6 percent distinguished between dry, non-exudative and exudative meats. Cluster analyses identify pork groups with different attributes and the proposed parameters can be used to distinguish between groups theoretically similar to major pork quality categories.\nOriginality/value: To decide the best destination to pork carcass and to reduce economic losses, the correctly classify of the pork quality is decisive. This study proves that cluster analysis is able to classify pork into groups with significantly different quality attributes, which are significant with major pork quality categories, without unclassified samples.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Design for maintenance accessibility using BIM tools	[ "Facility management", "BIM", "Accessibility checking", "Design for maintenance accessibility", "Revit add-in development", "Solibri model checker" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the development of building information modeling, knowledge sharing between facility management and design professionals has become more possible. BIM technology has been used in the design and construction phases; there is a need to expand BIM beyond the design and construction stages and to consider using BIM for facility management such as in maintenance activities.\nLiterature review: When considered in the early design phase when flexibility is high and design change cost is low, product maintainability can eliminate maintenance cost, reduce downtime and improve safety (Fitzgerald, 2001). The operation phase constitutes approximately 60 percent of the life cycle cost of a construction project. Grobler (2011) studied the real return on investment (ROI) for BIM and found that that the most savings of life cycle cost realized for a construction project using BIM is in the operation and maintenance phase. The main activities during operations are related to maintenance and repair (M&R). Since significant unnecessary expenses occur in current practice, there are ample opportunities for major savings in the operation phase and computerized tools are needed for the improvement of operation and maintenance activities (Akcamete et al., 2010).\nThe problem: Some design defects that make maintenance activities impossible to perform are always hard to foresee in the design phase even if BIM is used and the model has been run through clash detections. For example, current BIM software can only detect the physical conflicts between systems and components; but whether there is enough room for equipment or fittings during the maintenance phase cannot be detected automatically by the BIM clash detection tools. A non-maintenance friendly design is easy to hide in the design phase and can cause big problems in the operation phase. While there is no cost or very low cost to correct such design defects in the design phase, it would lead to a much higher maintenance cost if the non-accessible equipment breaks down in operation. Sometimes the whole system has to be replaced because there is no way to get access to certain components during maintenance. This study focuses on the accessibility issue in the maintainability problem, with the intent of accumulating a knowledge base from facility maintenance personnel about situations they encountered that were not accessible in the maintenance phase, and the sending this information as design requirements to the design team in order to avoid future non-maintenance friendly designs. The case study included herein will illustrate this scenario. A survey has been conducted among industry practitioners about MEP maintainability problems. For the lack of equipment accessibility issue, 44 percent of the respondents indicated the problem happens 25 percent of the time. A total of 33 percent of the respondents indicated this problem happens 50 percent of the time. A real example published by Foster (2011b) is shown in Figure 1.\nMethodology - tools used: A case study of an exhaust fan from Foster's (2011b) article is used to demonstrate how to solve the maintainability problems in the design phase. Revit MEP is used to model the scenario. SMC is used as a partial solution of this problem. A Revit Add-In command named \"Accessibility Checker\" has been developed and implemented to check the accessibility of the exhaust fan. An invisible solid box will be built when running the accessibility checker. All the items that are in the solid box will be highlighted as obstacles inhibiting access to the selected equipment. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 is used to develop the command. The Revit API software development kit sample add-ins and geometry and component relationships an example was used in developing the accessibility checker (Autodesk, 2010; Ye, 2011).\nCase study: exhaust fan example: The use of an exhaust fan shown in red had to be terminated because no solutions could be found to get access to it and fix it (Foster, 2011a).\nDiscussion and future direction: SMC is easy to use as it requires no coding experience. But its ability is restricted by the rule set it offers. It does not guarantee that all the requirements that are needed are already in the rule set. In addition, because of the interoperability issue between SMC and Revit, it always loses information in the IFC model during format transfer. As in the exhaust fan example, all the conduits items are lost. As in such a simple case, it can be compromised by replacing it with pipes. However, when a huge BIM model exported from Revit into SMC, the information lost would be a pain.\nConclusion: BIM has changed the way the AEC industry communicates and cooperates. Knowledge sharing between the facility management and design professionals has become possible with BIM. BIM technology has been used in design and construction phases; there is a need to expand BIM beyond the design and construction phase and to consider using BIM for facility management such as in maintenance activities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the design for maintenance accessibility (DFMA) method, and the opportunities offered by the application of building information modeling (BIM) software to accomplish this design.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper definitions of DFMA are investigated, different BIM tools including Solibri Model Checker (SMC) and Revit Add-in are explored for maintainability problems. Microsoft Visual Studio is used as a tool to develop Add-in applications in Revit for DFMA problem. A case study involving exhaust fan maintenance accessibility is used to validate the proposed solution.\nFindings: Maintenance accessibility tends to be ignored in the design phase. The process of clash detection among building components does not ordinarily detect accessibility issues. SMC can help partially solve this problem if there is a corresponding SMC rule sets available. As a 3D modeling tool associated with a parametric database of components, Revit offers opportunities for designers to explore the background geometry and parametric database to add more functions in the form of Add-in applications which can help facilities managers anticipate and solve maintenance accessibility issues.\nResearch limitations/implications: The add-in tools developed for this paper and the rules used for SMC are specific for the case study. A more general and comprehensive tool or rule set will be the direction for a future study.\nPractical implications: This study shows that maintainability checking is possible in the design phase. Comprehensive maintainability checking in the design phase would result in a big savings in maintenance cost during a facility's lifecycle.\nOriginality/value: The paper illustrates with a case study using two different tools the process of accessibility checking for maintenance in the design phase, which transforms the concept of \"design for maintenance accessibility\" into reality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Anticipation of organizational change	[ "Positioning", "Healthcare", "Anticipation", "Sensemaking", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is well established in organization studies that technology and information technology (IT) implementations affect relationships in organizations (e.g. Barley, 1986; Orlikowski, 1992; Perrow, 1967) and that for an IT implementation to be successful, the receiving organization needs to adapt (e.g. Burton-Jones and Grange, 2013; Orlikowski, 2000). The successful organizational implementation of new technologies is not merely a question of plugging in hardware, installing software and training users. From a health informatics perspective, focus has, e.g., been placed on the organizational consequences of the implementation of electronic health records (e.g. Berg, 2001; Greenhalgh et al., 2013; Lorenzi and Riley, 2010).\nExisting literature--technology and organizations: Since Orlikowski (1992) observed that \"the divergent definitions and opposing perspectives associated with technological research have limited our understanding of how technology interacts with organizations\" (p. 398), it has become increasingly clear that technology and organizations are intrinsically connected. This view is elaborated in the joint article by Orlikowski and Barley (2001), in which they conclude that \"information technology research can benefit from incorporating institutional analysis from organization studies, while organization studies can benefit even more by following the lead of information technology research in taking the material properties of technologies into account\" (p. 145). The main reason for this is that new ways of working and organizing stemming from new technologies and changing institutional contexts can only be understood by including both perspectives.\nResearch site: In 2012, two Danish regions formally agreed to initiate a joint project to upgrade the HIT infrastructure in the two regions. The new HIT infrastructure was envisioned as a shared IT platform that would replace more than 30 outdated and scattered IT systems with a common IT solution, which support paperless workflows and structured clinical documentation, processes and quality control.\nResearch methodology and design: The data of this research project can be split into two overall categories. The formal data primarily consist of open interviews inspired by grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014; Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Silverman, 2011) conducted with clinical staff members and official documents, e.g., on the strategic direction and purpose of the new solution. The informal data are essentially everything else, including conversations at lunch, the atmosphere at events, remarks made at the coffee machine, or what Becker (1998) calls all the quick exchanges made while participating in and observing ordinary activities.\nFindings--the anticipation cycle: Taking a step back, the anticipation of organizational members may appear to be sequential from a strictly logical perspective. Logically, individuals initially engage in sensemaking to determine the features of the organizational landscape, which is logically followed by an effort to position self and others in the landscape. This sequence is logically concluded by the scripting of possible futures based on sensemaking and scripting.\nConclusion and reflections: When these lines are written, the development and deployment of the first wave of the new solution has already been completed. This is typically the point in time when research on the post-implementation phase and on the actual organizational changes caused by the new technology could commence. From a research point of view, it is almost as if nothing important happened before the system was switched on. The three years leading up to the go-live have shown that this is a fundamental misunderstanding.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Existing research on the organizational implications of the introduction of new information technology (IT) has neglected to focus on the anticipation of organizational change. In this paper, the author examines the extended pre-implementation phase prior to the introduction of the largest-ever health IT (HIT) implementation in Denmark. The purpose of this paper is to expand the conceptualization of organizational change to include the neglected pre-implementation phase preceding large-scale organizational change projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is based on qualitative data consisting of interviews, documents and observations gathered during a three-year research project in the Danish health sector. An important source of methodical inspiration has been grounded theory, which has allowed the pertinent interview themes to evolve and allowed for the gradual development of a theoretical framework.\nFindings: The main finding of this paper is that the anticipatory pre-implementation phase is not simply passive waiting time for organizational members. Evidence from a three-year research project demonstrates how organizational members engage in recurring patterns of sensemaking, positioning and scripting of possible futures in preparation for the organizational changes that next generation HIT imposes. The study argues that resistance to organizational change may be better understood as resistance to having to give up institutionalized rights and responsibilities.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers a conceptual model--the anticipation cycle--that enables the systematic analysis of the relational mechanisms at work when organizational members are preparing for pending organizational change. Early analysis based on the anticipation cycle enables organizations and scholars to bring previously black-boxed anticipatory patterns into the equation of organizational change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strengthening knowledge sharing and job dedication: The roles of corporate social responsibility and ethical leadership	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Corporate social responsibility", "Ethical leadership", "Job dedication" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: To date, business organizations are facing serious competition in the knowledge economies around the globe. To successfully tackle such competition, the organizations should effectively synthesize professional knowledge among employees and motivate them to work dedicatedly so as to strengthen the organizations' competitive advantage. Knowledge is widely recognized as a key resource of organizations, which directs their effectiveness and innovation. It is necessary for organizations to strengthen their competitive advantage by boosting knowledge sharing to achieve long-term goals (He et al., 2014). At the same time, employees that are inspired to fully dedicate to their job help promote the best interests and operations of their organization (Van Scotter and Motowidlo, 1996). Collectively, knowledge sharing and job dedication are two major pillars upon which organizational success is built (e.g. Lin, 2010a, b).\n2. Theory and conceptual framework: Drawing upon self-concept theory, this study proposes a model (see Figure 1) that explains the development of knowledge sharing and job dedication from an ethical perspective. Self-concept theory provides a theoretical landscape for justifying how CSR and ethical leadership influence knowledge sharing and job dedication. According to self-concept theory, the influences of CSR and ethical leadership are based on their business morals in connecting employees' self-concept (Kark and Shamir, 2002) to the mission of their organization and thus they become self-expressive or what Hater and Bass (1988) referred to as entirely emotional and cognitive responses such as positive affective tone and cognitive meaningfulness (Walumbwa et al., 2008). The responses of positive affective tone and cognitive meaningfulness exert enduring and powerful influences on employees' work behavior regarding the way they view knowledge sharing positively and the extent they value job dedication.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Subjects and procedures\n4. Data analysis: The survey data were analyzed by two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) approach and regression analysis. Empirical results from each stage are presented in the following.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a moderated mediation model to explain how corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical leadership influence knowledge sharing and job dedication through the mediating mechanism of positive affective tone and cognitive meaningfulness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research hypotheses were empirically tested using a survey of employees from the high-tech industry in Taiwan. The research constructs in this study were measured using five-point Likert scales modified from existing literature. The survey data were empirically analyzed with two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) and regression analysis.\nFindings: The empirical results of this study reveal that CSR and ethical leadership positively relate to positive affective tone and cognitive meaningfulness. Knowledge sharing is positively affected by positive affective tone whereas job dedication is positively affected by positive affective tone and cognitive meaningfulness. While the relationship between positive affective tone and job dedication is positively moderated by job demand, the relationship between cognitive meaningfulness and job dedication is negatively moderated by job demand.\nOriginality/value: This study elucidates the ethical influences from organizations (i.e. CSR) and leaders (i.e. ethical leadership) respectively to explain affective and cognitive processes involved in work situations. At the same time, by clarifying the moderating role of job demand, this study provides valuable implications for managers to effectively leverage job demand for increasing employees' job dedication.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Decentralized decision making and educational outcomes in public schools: Evidence from Pakistan	[ "Retention", "School autonomy", "Budget", "Decentralized decision making", "Parent–Teacher Councils", "Rural primary schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In line with the spirit of devolution of power to the lower tiers of service delivery, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) gave a certain degree of autonomy to all the public schools in the province in 2006-2007. The autonomy granted had three pronged effects, namely: financial autonomy, which empowered the Parent-Teacher Councils (PTC) of the schools to plan budgetary spending on need basis and execute it accordingly; administrative autonomy, which empowered the PTCs to hire a teacher, procure goods and campaign for the betterment of the school; and political autonomy, diluting to a certain extent the political interference and influence in school affairs that has clogged the education system (OPM, 2007; Inamullah et al., 2012; Alif Ailaan, 2014; Dawn, 2016; Adam Smith International, 2017).\n2. Theoretical framework: Some of the commonly cited reasons for low retention (or high dropout) have been categorized as individual, household, school and system-level factors. Individual factors that affect retention are: child's motivation, gender, age, disability or poor health (UNESCO, 2011; Lewin and Sabates, 2010; Brown, 2010; Reddy and Sinha, 2010; Patron, 2008). Household factors include parents' education and occupation, the community where they live, i.e. rural/urban, family size, household wealth or child labor (Lewin and Sabates, 2010; Shindler, 2010; Hunt, 2008; Lloyd et al., 2000). System-level factors refer to government policies, such as number and location of schools, teachers' recruitment, community participation, accountability mechanisms and fiscal and administrative management mechanisms, popularly known as school-based management (SBM). These policies also shape school-level factors such as curricula, trained and motivated teachers, class room size, school condition, administrative practices and procedures, examination system, distance of school from home and type of school (segregated or mix) (Reddy and Sinha, 2010; Hunt, 2008).\n3. Literature review: Review of the literature shows that various forms of SBMs have been adopted by the schools all over the world. They are known as Village Education Committee in India, SBM in the UK and USA, Site-Based Management in Israel, School Management Committees in Uganda and Parent Teacher Association (PTA)/PTC/School Management Committees in Pakistan. The main feature of these programs is the transfer of decision-making power in terms of human, material and financial resources to a school from a centralized government authority (De Grauwe, 2005). However, these programs differ in three major ways: the management strategy involved, the actors involved and levels of authority devolved. In terms of management strategy, some countries have developed SBM as a national policy while others have developed SBM through a local initiative by parents and teachers, due to the lack of government support. For example, in some Latin American countries, communities organize their own schools, which are administered and financially supported by an association of households. These initiatives are known as PROHECO, EDUCO and PRONADE in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. In other developing countries, such as India, Indonesia and Uganda, a statutory body is constituted on behalf of the government to govern the schools (Suryadarma et al., 2006). In terms of the involvement of actors, in some countries it is a local initiative involving parents, teachers, principals and local community members (as is the case in Pakistan and India). In other countries, such as Uganda, the PTA consists of teachers and parents as well as participants from central/district government (Prinsen and Titeca, 2008). In terms of areas of control, in some countries few decisions of importance are transferred to school professionals while in others the parents and the community exercise significant power over decisions concerning the school's management.\n4. Research question, data and variables: The literature review provides essential background to formulate this study's main research question:\n5. Methodology: To address the research question, what aspects of PTC reforms are associated with higher retention rates to the last grade of primary, following data sets were used: EMIS 2007-2012 and PTC survey data 2013-2014. The integration of these data sets resulted in 222 schools. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine whether PTC reforms are related to retention rates.\n6. Results: This study assessed the relationship between PTC reform and rates of retention to the last grade of primary schooling for the time period 2007-2012. Table II contains the coefficients for the regression model for all the independent variables on retention rates for a sample of 222 schools. Of all the independent variables, three variables - fulfillment of formalities for expenditure, separate classrooms and girls' schools - show a statistically significant relationship with retention to the last grade of primary schooling. The model explained around 5 percent of variance in retention rates, which was statistically significant (F=1.7, p<0.05).\n7. Discussion: PTC reforms were initiated in the KP province to grant schools fiscal autonomy (doing away with the centralized procurement system, allocating increased budget for schools and releasing funds on time), administrative autonomy (prioritizing needs and spending budget on need basis) and strengthen community participation. Multiple regressions were conducted to examine whether PTC reforms are related to retention rates in primary education. A range of variables were included in the regression model, some were the opinions of head teachers, and others were collected from classroom observations, school registers and schools' PTC record.\n8. Conclusion: This study makes an important contribution to the limited body of empirical knowledge on SBM/PTC in developing countries. The study used school census and primary data to examine the impact of PTC reforms, implemented in the KP province, Pakistan on retention rates to the last grade of primary for the time period 2007-2012.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Devolution of fiscal and administrative autonomy to public schools is a global phenomenon now. Various models of school autonomy have been adopted both in developing and developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of devolution of fiscal autonomy to public primary schools through Parent-Teacher Councils (PTCs) on retention of primary school children in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two sources of data were used to analyze the research question: Education Management Information System for the years 2006-2011 and 2007-2012, and a specially designed survey questionnaire used to compile information about PTCs from 222 public primary schools in the KP Province. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine whether PTC reforms are related to retention rates. An education production function approach was used to examine the effect of \"inputs\" (PTC reform) on \"outputs\" (retention).\nFindings: The regression results indicate that reforms in procedural mechanisms to spend PTC budget and schools with separate classrooms for each grade level are significant in improving retention to the last grade of primary. The results also indicate that retention in all-girls' schools tend to be significantly lower compared to all-boys' schools.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the integration of data sets resulted in a small sample size, 361 schools, out of which the researcher could visit only 222 schools (10 schools per district) due to time and financial constraints. There may be a probability that with a larger sample size the author findings may look slightly different. However, this is the only current data set collected by the researcher in KP, Pakistan. Second, an ideal way of calculating retention is to track each and every child enrolled in a school over a period of five years and to calculate retention at the end of Grade 5 called true cohort model. However, due to unavailability of such kind of data, a more commonly used method, called reconstructed cohort method, is employed. In this method, data on enrollment by grade are used for six consecutive years, with an assumption that the student flow rates will remain unchanged over time and across grades.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study provide vital policy input to the Government of Pakistan in particular and other developing countries in general. The study reveals that PTCs have critical impacts on educational outcomes, school productivity and return on public sector educational investment thus providing an impetus for further strengthening of PTC and community participation. Besides, this study offers significant implications as to how school-based management programs will lead to outcomes under resource scarcity in developing countries.\nSocial implications: The paper has implications for the role of school leadership and community participation and for how to engender community involvement in marginalized areas where communities often do not have the time, resources or confidence to participate in their schools. Besides, community participation in parent-teacher meetings means that the school budget is spent transparently and with consensus. Hence, the chances of misuse of funds are minimized to a considerable extent, a dilemma faced by many developing countries. Finally, the collection of PTC-related data regularly especially details about budget allocated, spent and, the unutilized budget may result in better record keeping, which was found lacking during the visit.\nOriginality/value: The uniqueness and originality of this paper can be gauged from the fact that no systematic study exists with regards to the impact of school autonomy on students' retention to the last grade of primary in KP province - a poor and conflict-ridden region in a low-income country (Pakistan). Also, the data collection from primary and secondary sources was not an easy task. However, the researcher as a civil servant has to use personal contacts to collect primary and secondary data. Hence, this study is unique and first of its kind in nature. No such research has been conducted so far by any researcher, especially in KP.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managed IT services: the role of IT standards	[ "Communication technologies", "Outsourcing", "Service levels" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business depends on IT to provide a standard operating environment for conducting business activities. Managing complex and diverse IT infrastructure environment is becoming increasingly challenging. Scalability and flexibility of IT systems are important to reduce the time to market and to improve agility of the organization. More and more organizations are contracting managed service providers (MSPs) to manage their complex, distributed IT infrastructure.Managed IT services include a set of services that are required for the day-to-day operation of the IT systems. MSPs offer IT infrastructure management services to multiple clients over a network for a subscription fee. MSPs provide network management and information system management services to IT departments and end-users of their clients.MSPs deliver proactive IT management services to their clients. MSPs have processes that can support remote monitoring and management, service desk operations, incident and problems management, network operation centers, and other workflow management processes to help fix IT problems before they impact operations. Major MSPs have their own proprietary processes developed for delivering services to their clients. These processes could be developed based on their experience in providing years of services to various clients, generally accepted industry practices, client's IT processes, and international IT standards such as ITIL, COBIT, or ISO.According to the IDC forecast, the managed services market is growing at the rate of 20 percent per year. IDC has identified three major sectors within managed services umbrella as emerging growth area: Managed Security Services, Managed Converged Network Services, and Managed Mobile Services. Due to this attractive growth rate, the managed services market is crowded with service providers of various size, expertise, and offerings. In order to gain competitive advantage in the market, MSPs will have to develop mature managed service practice that will enable them to deliver higher value-added services at a higher profit margin. Developing service management processes based on best practices to reduce service delivery costs and to increase efficiency and effectiveness is essential for offering competitive pricing. Implementation of internationally recognized IT service standards will help in this regard. ITIL provides a framework of best practices for managing end-to-end IT services. Clients expect MSPs to demonstrate that their processes align with ITIL best practices.ITIL recognizes that there is no one size fits all solution to the design and implementation of processes for the management and delivery of IT services. The ITIL framework provides a structured approach to the processes involved in IT service management and service delivery. Whether it is the internal IT organization or the external service provider, each organization should adopt the guidelines, principles, and concepts of ITIL and adapt them to suit their organization context.IT leadership uses various types of performance reporting mechanism to measure and communicate IT performance. MSPs mainly use SLAs and Balanced Scorecard for reporting performance. The SLA is an important document that defines the type, performance level, quality, and quantity of services that are delivered by the service provider. The Balanced Scorecard helps an organization to align its management processes to the vision of the organization and focuses the entire organization on implementing a long-term strategy. Alignment of IT strategy with business strategy requires Balanced Scorecard of the enterprise be translated to an IT scorecard. Larger managed service contracts in which one MSP is responsible for providing service support for the whole range of IT services use the Balanced Scorecard in addition to SLAs for monitoring and reporting performance.Published data on implementation of ITIL standards for IT service management and SLAs for performance measurement indicate wide-ranging benefits to enterprises as well as service providers. As an example, service desk at JPMorgan Chase was able to achieve 75 percent first-call resolution and 93 percent customer satisfaction ratings. Eighty percent of the calls coming into the service desk were answered within 20 seconds. The net result of improvement from ITIL implementation was the elimination of 500,000 calls to the service desk by tracking common problems and providing fixes at the root of the problem.In summary, implementation of international IT standards such as ITIL framework for IT service management benefits both internal IT organization and MSP. Availability of a common standard for managing IT services makes the transition of IT service management from the client organization to an MSP or from an MSP to another MSP less painful and helps to reduce or eliminate service disruptions.\nIntroduction to managed IT services: Business depends on IT to provide standard operating environment for its business activities. Managing complex and diverse IT environment is becoming increasingly challenging. Enterprises are faced with paradoxical situations where the IT managers have to provide improved service levels at reduced cost (Reuvid, 2005). Scalability and flexibility of IT systems are also important to reduce the time to market and to improve agility of the organization. More and more organizations are contracting MPSs to manage their complex, distributed IT infrastructure.Under the managed services umbrella, services are fully integrated and centralized. IT services are managed with a life cycle approach from procurement through to disposal as shown in Figure 1. In this approach, IT services are integrated from end-to-end starting from asset procurement to asset disposal.Definition of managed IT services\nBackground: Information Technology services outsourcing was started with the outsourcing of data centre services and facilities management to obtain the benefits of economies of scale. Subsequently, IT service outsourcing has gone through an evolution and the outsourcing was expanded to include the development and management of all IT activities. Major drivers for this evolution include:* Reduce capital investment.* Scalability and flexibility.* Focus on core business.* Economies of scale.* Cost savings.Currently, IT services outsourcing ranges from simple contract to outsource specific service to the full-scale managed services contract. Managed services contract generally includes outsourcing of the entire IT infrastructure management.The commoditization of hardware and software sales and services has resulted in fierce competition and shrinking margin for the value added resellers (VARs) and IT companies. This has lead many VARs, big box retailers, and telecom companies jump onto the MSP bandwagon. Many of these service providers are delivering basic managed services like network monitoring and on-site support while struggling to build up a full-fledged managed services portfolio. Typically, MSPs sell their services not based on per-unit time or per device support, but based on the value they bring to the IT services management. However, a recent trend from various sources shows that new entrants to the MSP business are targeting small and medium sized business (SMB) customers and are offering managed services based on per unit time or per devices support as opposed to value based pricing. The result is the commoditization of managed services, which devalues the true benefits of managed services.MSPs will have to develop mature managed services practice that will enable them to deliver higher-value added services at a higher profit margin. Developing service management processes to reduce service delivery cost is essential for offering competitive pricing while retaining higher profit margin. Implementation of ITIL or other internationally recognized IT service standards will help in this regard. This paper explores the contribution of international IT service standards to the managed IT services practice.\nInternational standards for IT services: Information technology is becoming increasingly crucial to the running of day-to-day business operations in the majority of the organizations. Information technology service management has become complex due to the volume and complexity of the hardware and software applications running on enterprise networks. In order to make the IT operations cost effective and efficient, organizations are increasingly turning to the best practices and industry standards in the field of IT service management. IT standards not only help streamline processes, they also help collaboration among vendors to provide integrated services to the end-users. Deployment of international standards helps the transition of IT service management from customer to outsourcing partners or from one partner to another.Changing roles of IT governance has major influence on the selection of IT standards. Enforcement of IT controls and implementation of IT standards are fast becoming a necessity and no longer considered as optional. Standards that are relevant to IT service management include:* Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).* ISO/IEC 20000.* Control objectives for information and related technology (COBIT).* Distributed management task force (DMTF).Next few sections will elaborate on each of these standards.ITIL\nITIL for managed IT services: ITIL provides a framework of best practices for managing end-to-end IT services. Clients expect MSPs to demonstrate that their processes align with ITIL best practices (Pink Elephant, 2005). According to the data published by IT Service Management Forum (2004), some of the savings from ITIL implementation made by organizations include:* Over 70 percent reduction in service downtime.* ROI up by over 1,000 percent.* Savings of PS100 million per annum.* New product cycles reduced by 50 percent.ITIL recognizes that there is no one size fits all solution to the design and implementation of processes for the management and delivery of IT services. The ITIL framework provides a structured approach to the processes involved in IT service management and service delivery. Whether it is the internal IT organization or the external service provider, each organization should adopt the guidelines, principles, and concepts of ITIL and adapt them to suite their organization context-\"adopt and adapt\" (IT Service Management Forum, 2004).MSPs have two views towards ITIL. First, MSPs can implement ITIL for their internal IT processes like any other company. Implementation of ITIL processes for their internal IT department will benefit them from increased operational efficiency as well as improved credibility in the MSP market. Second, when MSPs gain expertise by implementing ITIL in their organization, they can extend that expertise to implement ITIL processes for their customers. Even though the goals and definitions of ITIL best practices will not change in the external customer environment, they will be implemented from a different perspective.Service support (operational)\nPerformance measurement: IT leadership uses various types of performance reporting mechanism to measure and communicate IT performance. Based on a survey of 371 enterprises conducted by Gartner research in 4Q2005, IT leadership uses various reporting mechanisms to communicate performance and the business value of IT. Figure 5 shows the percentage of organizations using each type of performance report.MSPs mainly use SLAs and Balanced Scorecard for reporting IT service management performance.Service level agreements (SLAs)\nConclusion: Managed IT services market is projected to grow at a healthy rate of 20 percent per annum. The market is crowded with service providers of various sizes, expertise, and offerings. In order to gain competitive advantage in the market, MSPs will have to develop mature managed service practice that will enable them to deliver higher-value added services at a higher profit margin. Developing service management processes based on best practices to reduce service delivery cost and increase efficiency and effectiveness is essential for offering competitive pricing. Implementation of internationally recognized IT service standards will help in this regard. ITIL provides a framework of best practices for managing end-to-end IT services. Clients expect MSPs to demonstrate that their processes align with ITIL best practices.ITIL recognizes that there is no one size fits all solution to the design and implementation of processes for the management and delivery of IT services. ITIL framework provides a structured approach to the processes involved in IT service management and service delivery. Whether it is the internal IT organization or the external service provider, each organization should adopt the guidelines, principles and concepts of ITIL and adapt them to suite their organization context.IT leadership uses various types of performance reporting mechanism to measure and communicate IT performance. MSPs mainly use SLA and Balanced Scorecard for reporting performance. SLA is an important document that defines the type, performance level, quality, and quantity of services that are delivered by the service provider.On the other hand, Balanced Scorecard helps organizations to align its management processes to the vision of the organization and focuses the entire organization on implementing long-term strategy. Alignment of IT strategy with business strategy requires Balanced Scorecard of the enterprise be translated to an IT scorecard. Larger managed service contracts in which one MSP is responsible for managing the whole range of IT services use the Balanced Scorecard in addition to SLAs for monitoring and reporting performance.To conclude, implementation of international IT standards such as ITIL framework for IT service management benefits both internal IT organization and MSPs. Availability of a common standard for managing IT services makes the transition of IT service management from the client organization to an MSP or from an MSP to another MSP less painful and helps to reduce or eliminate service disruptions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the practical issues regarding standards and the management of IT services delivered by external or outsourced service providers called managed service providers (MSPs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Extensive review of published materials from academic and industry sources is carried out to discuss the managed services practice as well as IT standards applicable for managed services.\nFindings: - Implementation of international IT standards such as the ITIL framework for IT service management benefits both internal IT organizations and MSPs. Availability of a common standard for managing IT services makes the transition of IT service management from the client organization to an MSP or from an MSP to another MSP less painful and helps to reduce or eliminate service disruptions.\nPractical implications: - The ultimate objective of this paper is to offer MSPs as well as internal IT organizations a comprehensive discussion on the IT standards that are applicable for managed IT services.\nOriginality/value: - It is believed that this paper will help both MSPs as well as the internal IT organizations to understand the importance of having a common standard for managing IT services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Advancing the Big Five of user-oriented care and accounting for its variations	[ "User satisfaction", "User-oriented care", "Service quality", "Elderly care", "Individualized care", "Person-centred care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A robust finding reported in previous research is that the care process is a strong predictor of user satisfaction in health care (Hall and Dornan, 1988). The care process is defined as the way care is performed at the interpersonal level, that is, how care workers provide care to their clients (e.g. Kajonius and Kazemi, 2015a, b). During the last decade, many countries have been searching for appropriate quality indicators and measuring the care process through extensive regular surveys (Fung et al., 2008; European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, 2010). Among others, these have included how older persons experience treatment, safety, sharing of information, influence, and respect (Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, 2013). Moreover, overall satisfaction with the interpersonal process has become synonymous with user-oriented quality in a variety of service sectors (Rosen and Surprenant, 1998). The present study aims to advance our knowledge about how the interpersonal care process works, what its most essential elements are, and how variations in care can be explained using a qualitative approach combining interviews and observations. The more we know about these processes, the better are the chances for providing high-quality care services in the future.\nStudy 1: Previous research is yet lacking a clear and unambiguous description of user-oriented care at the interpersonal level. The present study aims therefore at describing the essential elements of user-oriented care from the perspective of an impartial third-party observer. Furthermore, as social science studies are often conducted through self-reported questionnaires and observations of actual behaviors in natural settings have been less common (Baumeister et al., 2007), the present study is in some sense a remedy to this general shortcoming by combining observation of care workers' interactions with the older persons in natural settings and interviews with care workers.\nStudy 2: Study 1 presented the basic elements of user-oriented care at the interpersonal care level. The national elderly surveys indicate that there are variations in these, not only at individual level, but also at the care unit - as well as care organizational levels. In Study 2, we aimed at exploring why this occurs by in-depth interviews not only with the care workers but also with the care managers.\nGeneral discussion: The common belief, held by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, the media, and the public opinion in Sweden is that care process variations in elderly care are substantial and systematic (Kajonius and Kazemi, 2014). Our results show on the contrary that most, if not all, care workers fit their care environments (Cooper-Thomas and Wright, 2013) and do their utmost to professionally meet the needs of the older persons. A large part of the variation in what we have called care process quality or user-oriented care at the care worker-older person level seems to occur because of variations in the contingencies of elderly care services, such as care workers' individualities or challenges that the elderly care units are facing. Instead, the present research results support the notion that the elderly care process is well-attended to, in terms of hygiene factors (Herzberg's theory of motivation, in Sachau, 2007). Hygiene factors are the basic needs of treatment and safety. A lack of hygiene factors is what makes people dissatisfied, in contrast to motivational factors which reflect the psychological needs of psychological and social engagement and which make people satisfied. Motivational factors seem to dominate the development and evaluation of the Swedish user-oriented care. Our Big Five taxonomy of user-oriented care is one of the first of its kind to conceptualize and describe the components of care process variation at the interpersonal level (i.e. between the care worker and the older person).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Care process quality (i.e. how care is enacted by a care worker toward a client at the interpersonal level) is a strong predictor of satisfaction in a wide range of health care services. The purpose of this paper is to describe the basic elements of care process quality as user-oriented care. Specifically, the questions of how and why quality in user-oriented care varies were investigated in the context of elderly care.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two municipalities were selected for in-depth field studies. First, in each municipality, the authors interviewed and observed care workers' interactions with the older persons in both home care and nursing homes during two weeks (Study 1). Second, in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of why process quality in terms of user-oriented care varies, the authors conducted interviews with care workers and care unit managers (Study 2).\nFindings: A new taxonomy for categorizing process quality variation, the Big Five of user-oriented care (task-focus, person-focus, affect, cooperation, and time-use), is proposed. In addition, the perceived reasons for process quality variation are reported in our own developed Quality Agents Model, suggesting that variations in care process evaluations may be explained from different perspectives at multiple levels (i.e., older person, care worker-, unit-, department-, and municipality level).\nOriginality/value: The proposed taxonomy and model are useful for describing user-oriented care quality and the reasons for its variations. These findings are of relevance for future quality developments of elderly care services, but also may be adapted to applications in any other enterprise employing a user-oriented approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"How has the dark knight risen?" Chronicle of union revitalization from India	[ "India", "Global South", "Strategies for union revitalization", "Union revitalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The decline of labor unions over the last 30 years has led to an interest in both union decline (Bryson et al., 2011) and revitalization, as researchers have looked for clues as to why unions decline and whether decline can be reversed (Serrano, 2014; Bronfenbrenner, 2005). Considering the latter, contrary to the dominant rhetoric, scholars are not ready to disregard the significance of unions totally, especially against the backdrop of recurring cases of labor unrest[1]. Regardless of the pervasive decline of unions, questions of usefulness and relevance of the collective have yielded a separate strand of studies on labor movement resurgence, converging on causes, processes, and effects of union revitalization largely informed by the mobilization theory, social movement theory (SMT), varieties of capitalism, framing perspective, and the strategic choice perspectives (Frege and Kelly, 2003; Heery et al., 2003; Levesque and Murray, 2006; Kelly, 1998), among others.\nUnion revitalization: The term \"union revitalization\" retains an embedded complexity due to the multiplicity of definitions and meanings assigned to the term (Turner, 2003; see Behrens, Hamann and Hurd, 2004; Lipsig-Mumme, 1999; Frege and Kelly, 2003). It has been studied from the perspective of the power of unions (Behrens, Hamann and Hurd, 2004), ability of unions to adapt and survive (Lipsig-Mumme, 1999), the effective use of resources by unions (Juvarich and Bronfenbrenner, 2000), new forms of unionization (Howell, 2004; Roeche, 2000), semi-contingency schema (Fiorito and Gallagher, 2006), and the impact of transnational activities on unionization (Anner et al., 2006). In all these conceptualizations a narrow meaning is assigned to the term considering organized sector workers as the only entity that gets unionized. According to Sullivan (2010), the focus on union as a constitutive organizational form triggers a narrow conceptualization of union revitalization. In order to widen the conceptualization, every form of workers' organization should be included (Armstrong, 2002; Sullivan, 2010). Thus, we conceptualized union revitalization as an activity carried out by any workers collective, including the trade unions to increase its influence.\nRelevant literature: A large cacophonous literature exists on union revitalization. Given our concern with revitalization strategies and the factors that shape the choice of those strategies, our review of the relevant literature is quite narrowly focused. Our theory-building exercise hinges on certain broad theoretical perspectives that we borrow from interconnected fields.\nGlobal South and why India?: By setting our focus on one national-level industrial trade union from the Global South for the purpose of identifying the factors that help set the tone for a union to choose revitalization strategies, we eliminate the confounding institutional factors. Since there is persistent variation in regional employment relations systems alongside-within region and between sectors differences, all of which tend to widen the variations in union revitalization strategies, restricting our inquiry to one national-level industrial union permits us to examine the specific determinants of a union's choice of revitalization strategies that would not be affected by sectoral or regional variations. However, many of these factors could be linked to the boundary condition where both the external conditions of organizations and the socio-political milieu help to shape a union's choice of revitalization strategies.\nMethodology: We followed the case study method outlined by Eisenhardt (1989) and Yin (1984), and applied the technique outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994) and Cresswell (1998) for analyzing our data. Because of the unavailability of standard measures for union revitalization in the quantitative approach (Behrens, Hamann and Hurd, 2004), the recent studies mostly relied on the case study method (see Czarzasty et al., 2014; Saundry et al., 2012). A national-level industrial union, which is our unit of analysis, was studied following the key research question, (Cappelli, 1985; Bain and Clegg, 1974) i.e., what takes place in the process adopted by the union for making strategic choices in revitalizing itself (Langley et al., 2013). Relying on theoretical and a purposive sampling strategy (Eisenhardt 1989), we shortlisted cases of unions where there are proofs of revitalization, and such unions have kept records for the last five years. While post-consulting union activists and academicians specialized in the field of study on union revitalization, among the nine unions, we selected Alpha (pseudonym[4]), a national-level industrial union formed in Bangalore, which was revitalized around 2013. Formed in early 2006 with the external support of UNI-Global, a global union federation (GUF) representing the service sector internationally, Alpha comprises a national-level federation of employees in the IT/ITeS sector involved in improving labor standards and preventing exploitation of labor in the sector in India. After having been written off during 2012, Alpha bounced back to form registered unions in five Indian states and finally a national-level confederation.\nResults: case study of Alpha's revitalization: Our case study unfolds over three sections. At first we focus on the origin of Alpha, followed by its expansion and subsequent failure. Then we focused on its revitalization process, strategies adopted by Alpha to revitalize, and finally the factors that shaped the choice of revitalization strategies.\nBroad strategies: Our central argument is that a union follows certain broad strategies to revive itself and its choice of strategies depends on factors, some of which are within the control of the union (intrinsic) and others that are beyond the influence and limit of the union (extrinsic). Alpha relied upon restructuring, organizing, and the social movement of unionism as three broad intertwined strategies to revive.\nFactors that shaped choice of strategies: While the strategies outlined in the past enabled the specific framing of unions within \"SAFs,\" our reliance on collective action frameworks brought to the surface some of the critical factors such as a union's identity, its access to resources, and the counter mobilization by other significant actors that shape its responses, broadly categorized into internal and external factors.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Our study draws attention to the individual and joint contribution of the five intrinsic and extrinsic factors in shaping a union's choice of strategies adopted for its revitalization. The three key strategies that we identified are revitalizing through overall restructuring, by organizing with fresh agendas, and embracing social movement unionism.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to delve into some of the key internal and external factors that led to the choice of specific strategies for union revitalization using the theoretical framework built upon framing perspectives, the strategic action field (SAF), and the strategic choice theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used a stringent definition and corresponding operationalization of trade union revitalization. The present research has been carried out on a registered industrial union within the context of Global South, specifically in India.\nFindings: Evidence was found for the trade union adopting a mix of strategies for revitalization, namely, union organizing, social movement unionism, and union restructuring. A mix of both internal and external factors identified informed the choice of revitalization strategies.\nResearch limitations/implications: Specific limitations include the subjectivity of the inference in spite of taking due precautions, and lack of generalizability of the findings based on a single case study.\nPractical implications: A strong identity, coupled with structural vitality and optimum use of resources enables trade unions to frame the need of a strategy for revival in order to counter the strategic action of employers resulting in union revitalization.\nOriginality/value: The theoretical novelty of this research stems from the amalgamation of collective action frames, SAF, and strategic choice framework to understand the union revitalization in the context of Global South.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reengineering the seaport container truck hauling process: Reducing empty slot trips for transport capacity improvement	[ "Transport capacity", "Empty-truck", "Truck appointment system", "Process reengineering", "Transportation", "Transport management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A seaport is considered to be an important part of a supply chain (Heaver, 2002; Bichou and Gray, 2005; Tongzon and Heng, 2005; Wang and Cullinane, 2006; Panayides and Song, 2008, 2009). Since a port is part of a cluster of organizations, including logistics and transport operators, the performance of this network is a team effort that depends on the strategic alignment of the partners and the business processes. Competition between transport chains compels ports to improve the quality of hinterland transport services, especially hinterland access for trucks (Notteboom and Rodrigue, 2005). This access is influenced by the cooperation of a number of actors (Langen, 2004), such as freight forwarders and transport providers.\nEmpty-truck trips problem: A container truck can perform many empty-truck trips in a typical cycle of an export process for the fulfilling of diverse functions. These are described here using a typical export process in Figure 2. The interested reader is referred to DP World (2012) for more information on the export process. However, for an overview of the container transport process, see Steenken et al. (2004) and Notteboom (2004). To initiate the export process, the exporter sends all necessary instructions to the freight forwarder, who contacts the shipping agency to book shipment, and the agency then considers all information. The forwarder in turn informs the shipper, warehouse and trucker. The truck operator asks for an empty container from the ocean carrier, who provides container pickup details to the truck operator and sends an empty container release order to the depot operator. The truck operator browses the seaport web site to generate an event for picking up the empty container. Simultaneously the truck operator provides truck information and selects the time of arrival from the available timeslots. Next, the truck operator releases a truck to pickup an empty container from the empty depot. Once it has arrived, the truck driver exchanges equipment interchange receipt (EIR) with the depot operator. The empty container is released and the truck driver carries that to the warehouse. Meanwhile, the depot operator updates the ocean carrier on the container status. The truck driver exchanges documents for the empty container with the warehouse operator. The warehouse operator begins packing when he receives the empty container, packs the cargo and informs the hauler. The warehouse operator also hands over the packing list to the truck operator and freight forwarder, and lastly, sends an inventory update to the exporter. The truck operator again browses the port web site to generate another event from the available timeslots, but this time for the laden container. Accordingly, the truck operator picks up the laden container from the warehouse, delivers it to the port, and sends the container delivery receipt to the freight forwarder who prepares and sends the House Bill of Lading to the ocean carrier. The ocean carrier sends the Ocean Bill of Lading and packing list to the exporter. Finally, the forwarder deals with the regulators to obtain permit approval.\nResearch methodology: Studies reflect different methodologies for process improvement projects as each methodology is customized to the needs of the project (Klein, 1994). Illustrative examples are available as follows. Adesola and Baines (2005) suggest and test a methodology termed model-based and integrated process improvement (MIPI) to support business process implementation. Kettinger et al. (1997) describe the major stages, which are usually performed during process reengineering initiatives and shows the relationships among the stages. Klein (1994) suggests a set of guide lines to direct the choice of selecting the appropriate research methodology. Vakola and Rezgui (2000) develop, implement and evaluate a methodology that incorporates human and organizational issues, and also emphasise the need for continuous improvement, for successful project implementation. Valiris and Glykas (1999) present a holistic and systematic methodology called ARMA by incorporating principles of the management accounting, IS development and organizational theoretic, to cross the limitations of the existing BPR methodologies. For an example of comparisons and contrasts among suggested methodologies, see Adesola and Baines (2005). The research framework shown in Figure 4 is the outcome of these reviewed studies. This study also follows Harbour's (Harbour, 1994) suggested method for the BPR model. The implementation phase is out of the scope of this paper.\nStudy of a seaport: The port under study is the country's leading port company and it is most significant because of the value of trade handled each year. The value of handled trade is more than 10 percent of the GDP of the economy. Most importantly, this is the largest container port by volume and occupies a very significant portion of the total containerized trade market. For example, annually it handles approximately 890,000 TEU. The port, like other ports around the globe, is currently surrounded by an environment of high complexity and affected by the immediate supply chain networks (Cetin and Cerit, 2010). Activities are often carried out in a disorganized way, with high costs, poor customer services, and sub-optimization of resources (Paixao and Marlow, 2003). These conditions force the ports to adopt strategies such as \"BPR\" to maintain competitive advantage (Paik and Bagchi, 2000). As an example, the port reengineered its truck hauling process from the conventional to BTAS and at later stages to ATAS. The port is continually searching for improvements in transport processes that may lead to leaps in performance improvement. Such reengineered and improved processes are described here.\nTo-be truck hauling process: The insights expressed in developing the to-be model working procedure reflect an adaptation and integration of the basic ideas of earlier shared-transportation articles and case studies (Wolfler Calvo et al., 2004; Kelley, 2007; Morency, 2007; Thaler and Teredesai, 2009; Agatz et al., 2010; Martino et al., 2011). Such studies explore the concepts of shared-transportation (car-pooling, car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing). Many similarities can be drawn between car-pooling companies and container transportation firms. Both are characterized by poor co-ordination among the corresponding stakeholders, high fixed costs for operations, stochastic demand for service, and a limited quantity of slots which generate costs if they remain empty.\nConclusion: The efficiency of a port depends on the proper utilization of its resources. Lack of collaborative arrangements among supply chain partners, especially among the exporters, importers and truckers, encourages inefficient use of limited amounts of container truck capacity and triggers the empty-truck trips problem studied here. The problem has a direct impact on increasing road congestion around seaports, carbon emissions, transportation costs and on decreasing the system-wide truck capacity. The traditional method (BRPB-VRPB) to solve the problem works well under the assumption of a centralized decision maker of a single carrier. Such a solution may become ineffective in a supply chain setting where many carriers are involved. This study adopts a case study approach to suggest a mechanism (TSS) from a decentralized perspective to minimize the number of empty-truck trips to benefit the whole supply chain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Empty container trucks may cause a deficit in transport capacity and contribute to congestion and emissions in the port territory. Reengineering of the container truck hauling process to introduce truck-sharing arrangements using the truck appointment system has the potential of reducing the number of empty-truck trips. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research evaluates the results from an investigation of the truck appointment system using a case study approach. The data collection phase involved primary and secondary sources along with using publicly available data on port operations.\nFindings: The study explores a dynamic truck-sharing facility for a computer-based matching system to assign probable export containers to available empty slots of a container truck. The proposed model reengineers the truck appointment system with a potential to reduce the number of empty-truck trips to increase container transport capacity around seaport gates.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to continuous increases in container-freight traffic, leading seaports of the world are experiencing a capacity shortage resulting in traffic congestion. The research findings are useful in practice as the proposed truck-sharing model can be introduced to enhance capacity in the container transport chain of the port territory.\nOriginality/value: The empty-trucks problem has not been addressed much in studies from a decentralized perspective where all truck operators have an equal chance to contribute to optimize the supply chain in contrast with the typical one-company-based optimization. The solution addressed here uses the shared-transportation concept to cover the research gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do HRD practices affect perceived market performance through operational performance? Evidence from software industry	[ "India", "Operational performance", "Market performance", "Human resource development practices", "Software companies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations are increasingly focusing on improving their human resource development (HRD) practices to enhance their marketing effectiveness and profitability (Chapman et al., 2016; Liao et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2017). These HRD practices comprise of human resource (HR) planning, training and career development among others. However, HRD practices are context-sensitive and may vary extensively from industry to industry, as organizations choose such practices based on the nature of their products and services (Adhikari, 2010; Ngoasong and Groves, 2016).\nTheoretical background: Organizations and scholars have a belief that employees' skills and knowledge affect employee- and organizational-level outcomes. Due to the importance of the organizational performance in the present competitive world, scholars have been devoting much attention to understand the factors affecting an organization's performance. However, they have argued that human capital such as employees' skills, knowledge and abilities in an organization can be a source of competitive advantage (Huselid, 1995; Davis, 2017; Delery and Roumpi, 2017; Boon et al., 2018). For instance, scholars have adopted Barney's (1991) resource-based theory of a firm to understand if HR can be a source of sustained competitive advantage (Wright et al., 1994; Delery and Roumpi, 2017). However, for the competitive advantage, Wright and McMahan (1992) argued that organizations must add value to their production processes through employee performance, develop unique skills, investment on human capital, and HR must not be easily replaceable if they are the source of the sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, the resource-based theory aims at explaining the sustainability and the organizational performance by highlighting the differential ability of organizations to develop new capabilities in the dynamic business environment (Barney, 2001; Nason and Wiklund, 2018). The resource-based theory has been extensively used in the past to study the link between HR management practices and organizational performance (Barney et al., 2001; Delery and Roumpi, 2017). A considerable number of scholars adopted the resource-based theory to empirically examine the links between systems of HR management and firm performance (e.g. Huselid, 1995; Youndt et al., 1996; Delaney and Huselid, 1996). Recently, Saridakis et al. (2017) used the resource-based view to conduct a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. They explored the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance. Similarly, Hitt et al. (2001) applied resource-based theory to examine the relationship between human capital and professional service firm performance. Earlier, Bharadwaj (2000) adopted resource-based perspective to study the role of information technology (IT) capability such as IT infrastructure, human IT resources and IT-enabled intangibles on firm's financial performance.\nLiterature review: The term \"HRD\" was coined by Nadler (1970) in the book Developing Human Resources. The origin of HRD is often linked to the training needs to master the survival techniques and advancement of the human civilization (Nadler and Nadler, 1990; Swanson and Holton, 2001). HRD played a leading role during the Second World War in the USA and the UK (Lee and Stead, 1998; Swanson and Holton, 2001). In that, the \"Training within Industry Report 1940-1945\" report by Dooley (2001) recommended performance-based training, improvement of work process, and the improvement of the job relations in the organizations (Swanson and Holton, 2001). HRD has been used in the initial apprenticeship training programs, initial factory schools and initial vocational education programs to impart learning outside the workplace (Gilley and Eggland, 1989). Later, the scholars of the Association for Talent Development and University Council of Research on HRD founded the Academy of Human Resource Development in 1993 which then fortified the organized study of HRD theories, processes, and practices (Swanson and Holton, 2001).\nHypotheses development: HRD practices and market performance\nMethodology: Participants and procedure\nResults: Reflective measurement model assessment\nDiscussion: The findings of this study are in line with Barney's (1991) resource-based theory of the organization, and the HRD theory, which suggests a positive relationship between HRD and organizational performance. The study found the direct positive effect of HRD practices on market performance and operational performance, and direct positive effect of operational on market performance. Furthermore, the found indirect effect of HRD practices on market performance through the operational performance, indicating the mediating effect of operational performance in the relationship between HRD practices and market performance. These results are comparable with the prior studies. For instance, Katou (2017) found effect of resourcing, development, and reward on operational performance (i.e. productivity, growth and creativity). Vlachos (2008) found positive effect of compensation policy, training and development, selective hiring on perceived organizational performance which include both operational and market performance dimension (i.e. product quality, cost, market share and sales). Delaney and Huselid (1996) found positive effect of training, staffing selectivity, incentive compensation on perceptual dimension of operational performance (i.e. product quality, customer satisfaction and new product development) and market performance (i.e. profitability and market share).\nConclusions and suggestions: Software companies are considering HRD practices as a strategic tool to continuously develop their HR, to meet the requirement of skilled employees, and to stay competitive in the dynamic software industry. Building on the HRD and organizational performance research, this paper empirically tested the notion that comprehensive HRD practices such as HR planning and recruitment, training and learning, reward and recognition, career planning and development, performance appraisal and development, potential appraisal and promotion enhance operational and market performance. Also, it examined the idea that operational performance enhances market performance. Furthermore, this study tested the hypothesis that HRD practices not just directly enhance the market performance of the organization, HRD practices also enhance market performance through the operational. Moreover, the PLS-SEM analysis provided better understanding how the HRD practices enhance the operational and market performance, and how the operational performance mediates the influence of HRD practices on market performance in the dynamic software industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of human resource development (HRD) practices on perceived operational and market performances in the software companies in India, and also the mediating effect of operational performance in the relationship between HRD practices and market performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 516 professionals working in 37 software companies in India. Partial least square (PLS) was used to test the proposed structural equation model.\nFindings: The findings reveal that the HRD practices significantly affect market performance. However, operational performance, as a mediator, was found to have a crucial role in transferring the effects of HRD practices to market performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this study are in line with the theory of HRD which suggests a positive relationship between HRD and organizational performance.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that to enhance the market performance, organizations need to enhance operational performance by meticulously designing and implementing the series of HRD practices.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of its kind to overcome the limitations of earlier studies to examine the effect of comprehensive dimensions of HRD on operational and market performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the conceptualisation of Intangibles in law and accounting in the USA: A historical perspective	[ "Law", "Intangibles", "Taxation", "Accounting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Accounting is a field of research and practice upon which territorial debates and battles have been long formed. Within this plethora of liaisons dangereuses, probably one of the most investigated relates to accounting and law. Indeed, several scholars in accounting, law and sociology have explored the preconditions and manners through which these two fields have interfaced and from time to time juxtaposed and \"competed\" (Bromwich and Hopwood, 1992; Dezalay, 1991). However, the arguments have concentrated on \"typical\" and traditional accounting and legal concepts, such as \"true and fair view\" and \"income nature and measurement\". With the rise of discourses on intangibles which have been defined as \"an identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance\" (IAS 38), it can be noted that at a closer look an intersection between accounting and law can also exist. Indeed, according to IAS 38 and IFRS 3:\n2. The relationship between accounting and law: an investigation into its development: As previously stated, the uneasy relationship between accounting and law is not new. Indeed, it traces back to the middle ages when law started to regulate accounts.\n3. Methodology: In order to investigate the historical preconditions of the relationship between accounting and law in relation to intangibles, a review of the research developed into this field from the beginning of the 1900s until the 1970s in the USA has been carried out. This time span is justified first by the historical-evolutionary perspective that connotes the present work, and second by the trends that research on this topic has revealed during those years. Indeed, as it will be discussed in more detail in the following paragraphs, it has been noted that it is possible to identify \"research waves\", respectively by law, tax and accounting scholars. Although it is acknowledged that several literature reviews and meta-reviews have already been published within the intangibles area (Kaufmann and Schneider, 2004; Swart, 2006; Serenko and Bontis, 2004; Petty and Guthrie, 2000; Zeghal and Maaloul, 2011), in the authors' view they risk to be quite myopic. Indeed, they are limited to the analysis of certain aspects of intangibles, such as IC, to papers published in ad hoc journals, such as the Journal of Intellectual Capital, the Journal of Knowledge Management and Knowledge and Process Management, and they often take into consideration only recently published research. Accordingly, in the authors' opinion, they are neither able to offer an interdisciplinary perspective of the research developed in this arena nor an investigation into the underlying reasons behind the current use of certain concepts.\n4. Intangibles in US legal studies: One of the first trends that emerged in analyzing the papers that have been developed on intangibles within the law arena in the time span considered is that these types of resources were clearly identified and identifiable. Put differently, as opposed to the current situation where a convergence towards a generally accepted definition of intangibles (and IC) is still distant, it seems that the definition referred to as \"intangibles\" was not problematic for scholars and practitioners. Indeed, in view of many, if not most of the legal scholars, they related to \"bonds, mortgages\" and generally to all those \"properties\" that belonged to the individual and (very scarcely) to the company as opposed to tangibles ones, such as \"furniture and clothing\". Concerning this definition there are three aspects that we found to be of particular interest from an accounting point of view. At first, the reference was to \"properties\", as indicating a \"sense of belonging\" of the resources to a person or to an object (an organization). Interestingly to note, this connotation is similar to that provided for IC by many accounting scholars nowadays, which is a resource that is available to an organization and as such is able to yield its benefits to that entity (Zambon, 2000).\n5. Intangibles in US accounting studies: At the beginning of the 1900s research on intangibles in accounting journals developed dimly. Out of the 16 articles analysed, only six appeared on the accounting research stage in the time span from 1900 to 1940, and most of them were dealing with quite diverse topics, ranging from the valuation for tax purposes to the capitalization of drilling costs. A definite, structured and comprehensive thought in relation to these resources was not present as yet.\n6. Intangibles in US taxation studies: Similarly to its epistemological nature, also tax research referred to intangibles can historically be located in the middle of law and accounting, even if influences from the former and the latter have occurred in different periods and almost never concurrently. In this respect, it has been noted that since the beginning of 1900s taxation research has been more closely related to law research. Definitions of intangibles were mainly referred to as individual \"properties\" and the scope within which they were investigated largely relied on the identification of their situs (both in general terms and in relation to inheritance tax) and on the measurement of their tax base.\n7. Intangibles definition and scope of enquiry: a comparative overview between law, accounting and taxation: In comparing the observations achieved within each of the three disciplinary fields, it is possible to note that two research waves in relation to intangibles research can be disentangled, the first one spanning from the 1900s to the 1940s and the second from the 1940s to the 1970s. Accordingly, further cross-disciplinary insights will be proposed in the following paragraphs, especially in relation to the two main features that have been noted as having been subject to major developments, which are the definition proposed for intangibles and the area of enquiry in which they have been \"placed\".\n8. Conclusion: The aim of the paper has been to explore the preconditions and the manners through which the conceptualisation of intangibles have historically entered the complex relationship between accounting and law. As noted at the beginning of the work, despite nowadays there is a quite clear recognition of this interaction also in international accounting standards (e.g. IAS 38 and IFRS 3), no much has been studied in this perspective to date. Research papers and literature reviews, even if proposed by academics and professionals working in an interdisciplinary field such as that of intangibles and IC, have tended to address the topics and issues mainly from their own disciplinary perspective and methodological \"credo\", offering sometimes myopic views.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Over the last decades concepts and practices related to intangibles gained momentum at international level especially within the economic, accounting and management arenas. However, dating back to the beginning of the 1900s, intangibles was a topic that in the USA dominated the law and taxation fields. Indeed, at that time few papers were published in accounting journals and reviews, whereas the majority populated law and taxation publications. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing upon the sociology of the profession, the ways through which lawyers and accountants constructed a \"professional competition and power\" (Dezalay and Sugarman, 2005) upon this arena are here explored. In particular, an in-depth analysis of the papers published on this field from the beginning of the 1900s until the 1970s in the USA is carried out.\nFindings: Notwithstanding the current conceptualisation of intangibles as a field of research and practice at the margins (Miller, 1998) of accounting, the results achieved in the present research suggest that, at least historically, the topic of intangibles was highly intertwined not only within the different streams of accounting studies and practice, but also with the developments in legal and taxation fields that were surrounding the US economic, social and political institutional scenario.\nOriginality/value: The work intends to contribute to the current literature providing insights into the \"genealogy\" (Foucault, 1977) of the intangibles territory and the \"turf battles\" (Dezalay, 1995) it went through in order to become what has been defined as \"a field upon which questions of disciplinary legitimacy have been raised\" (Zambon, 2006) and, consequently, as characterized by \"an intrusion of 'external' specialists into the accounting domain\" (Power, 2001).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Primary health care services: workplace spirituality and organizational performance	[ "Organizational performance", "Workplace spirituality", "Inner life", "Meaningful work", "Primary health care", "Sense of community" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An important business trend amidst the current crises in the western and particularly, European economies, is to stress the need for organizations to be flexible in adjusting to their changing environments. Effective organizations are defined as those that assess the information on the expectations of their stakeholders and then adopt internal processes, objectives, and values that meet these expectations (Cameron, 1998).\nSpirituality in organizations: For a decade, the theme of spirituality in the corporate world has captured the attention of researchers. Earlier the theme was considered by many to be exclusively religious or mystical, but is now regarded as an integral factor of the organizational arena, \"spirituality at work is helping employees, managers and business leaders all over the world find deeper meaning - and deeper rewards - from the workplace\" (Laabs, 1995, p. 60).\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: We started by analyzing the data for normality of the variables. Although the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Shapiro-Wilk tests were significant, the Q-Q plots and the histograms did not depart from the expected forms, thus allowing for the analysis to proceed. To test H1, we computed two regressions, with the total scale of work spirituality as independent variable, and perceived and objective organizational performance as dependent variables. Since the results were significant (R2=0.46, Beta=0.676, p=0.000, and R2=0.12, Beta=0.339, p=0.000, respectively), we computed a hierarchical multiple regression, for each of the dependent variables. In the first block, we entered the control dummy variables for job category and in the second block the independent variables, inner life, meaningful work and sense of community.\nDiscussion: The goal of this study was to analyze the extent to which workplace spirituality as a construct, developed by Ashmos and Duchon (2000), contributed to organizational performance in primary healthcare services. We included the three main dimensions, defined by Duchon and Plowman (2005): inner life, meaningful work, and sense of community.\nLimitations and future research: Interpretation of the results must take the limitations of our study into account. A first limitation stems from the fact that we used a convenience sample (although relatively large), that may not represent the population. It is also possible that scores obtained in the workplace spirituality scale were influenced by the social desirability bias. Although we did not apply a social desirability scale to control for this effect, the scores obtained by work groups and by job category show some significant differences, which suggests that the effect is not very seriously affecting the interpretation of results.\nImplications and conclusion: This research extends the literature in workplace spirituality and organizational change, and has implications for theory and practice. The first is the finding that sense of community stands out as the most significant workplace spirituality dimension in primary healthcare services and mediates the relationship between type of service delivery and organizational performance. Since sense of community encompasses high quality relationships and identification with a team, studies in organizational change should take it into consideration. Second, Duchon and Plowman's (2005) workplace spirituality scale demonstrated good psychometric properties, even though used in a different country with different institutional characteristics, paving its way to be applied in international studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to study the influence of three dimensions of workplace spirituality (inner life, meaningful work and sense of community) on perceived and objective organizational performance in two primary health care settings: health centres (HCs) and family health units (FHUs), differing in terms of work organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data on workplace spirituality and perceived organizational performance were collected from a sample of 266 health care workers (doctors, nurses and administrative staff). Data on objective performance were obtained from the respective regional health authorities. Multiple regression, GLM, and tests of mediation were carried out.\nFindings: In both groups, perceived and objective organizational performance are predicted by sense of community. Additionally, FHUs presented significantly higher values in perceived and objective organizational performance, as well as sense of community and meaningful work. Finally, workplace spirituality and sense of community were found to mediate the relationship between work group and perceived and objective organizational performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study's limitations include the convenience sample, as well as lack of control for the social desirability effect. Patient satisfaction surveys as well as the inclusion of predictive variables such as leadership should be considered in future studies.\nPractical implications: Primary health care services, and particularly FHUs, revealed the importance of workplace spirituality. Work teams with higher sense of community had higher performance results, which may therefore be an input in policy decisions regarding primary health care.\nOriginality/value: This study compared the scores of workplace spirituality and perceived and objective organizational performance in two types of primary health care services, in a setting that approximates the quasi-field experiment. Workplace spirituality emerged as significantly mediating the relationship between work unit type and organizational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The fruits of Business Process Management: an experience report from a Swiss bank	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Automation", "Production processes", "Communication technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business competition in the financial services industry has increased substantially over the last decade. On the one hand, margins have become smaller (due to world-wide competition in some segments), on the other hand customers demand better and faster services. In the era of internet and mobile commerce, customers expect orders to be performed much more rapidly than in the past. In addition, the number of policies and rules imposed by national and international regulatory bodies (e.g. Sarbanes Oxley act) has risen, which contrasts to the customer-oriented expectations for faster services. In this situation process performance of financial institutions has become a key element. To increase the competitiveness, various organizational and technical options must be evaluated. One approach could be to outsource selected processes to a leading firm. As Tas and Sunder (2004) show, business process outsourcing in the financial services industry has increased over the last year and this trend seems to continue. Another approach is to keep these processes internal and to improve them through a combination of organizational and IT-related measures. This crucial link has been emphasized by several authors, see for example Al-Mashari et al. (2001), Bhatt and Trout (2005), Tennat and Wu (2005).The rest of the paper is structured as follows: next section gives an introduction and an overview of the terms business process management (BPM). Followed by the section that describes four business processes of Credit Suisse that were redesigned and are currently supported by different process-related IT systems. Furthermore, it is shown how process modeling, process execution and process performance improvement have been applied simultaneously. From our perspective this integration represents the key to better process performance. The penultimate section discusses the performance-related benefits that have been achieved through the use of BPM. The last section summarizes the lessons learned.\nBusiness process management: a short introduction: The term BPM has been used more frequently in the past few years. However, the various definitions are not always consistent:* Armistead and Machin (1997) write:* There is considerable debate about what BPM means. BPM cannot be considered simply as BPR. Rather it is concerned with how to manage processes on an ongoing basis, and not just with the one-off radical changes associated with BPR.* According to Ovum (2000), BPM is \"a change management and system implementation methodology to aid the continuous comprehension and management of business processes that interact with people and systems, both within and across organizations.\"* Smith and Fingar (2003) emphasize that:* BPM not only encompasses the discovery, design and deployment of business processes, but also the executive, administrative and supervisory control over them to ensure that they remain compliant with business objectives for the delight of customers.* Van der Aalst (2004) defines BPM as follows: \"supporting business processes using methods, techniques, and software to design, enact, control, and analyze operational processes involving humans, organizations, applications, documents and other sources of information.\"The authors of this paper favor the definition given by Van der Aalst (2004) since his characterization of BPM is both broad and tangible. Based on this definition we focus on a more IT-oriented view. From this perspective BMP includes five main IT-related components (Figure 1). These are:1. Process modeling. Business processes are modeled according to a standard notation; e.g. event-driven process chains (EPC) or activity diagrams of UML. The process models are used either by the human actor who carries out the process manually or by a process engine (e.g. a workflow system).2. Process/workflow engine. These IT systems are used as components of process-based applications. They guarantee that processes are performed according to their specification.3. Real-time monitoring. This function addresses the fact that the state of running processes (instances) should be easily identifiable.4. Process performance measurement. To determine the performance of business processes via a given set of performance indicators.5. Business rule management. It aims at extracting business rules from traditional software applications and to store and manage them via a separate component, called business rules engine.\nApplication of BPM at Credit Suisse on four selected processes: Credit Suisse is a global bank, operating in over 50 countries, and headquartered in Zurich. It includes global private banking, corporate and retail banking in Switzerland, global investment banking and global asset management. At Credit Suisse, more than 1,000 software applications are in place, supporting more than 60,000 employees in performing their tasks.In the past, business processes suffered from various shortcomings. One major aspect was that process cycle time was too long. Another issue was that succeeding business processes were not seamlessly integrated which could lead to the entry of the same data twice. The third weakness is related to unsatisfactory guidance of the employees through the processes; and this implies that process participants could not easily identify the state of a certain case/process instance.At Credit Suisse, the concept of BPM has been applied in more than ten major processes so far. Following are four real business processes which are described. They represent examples where the concept of BPM (in combination with BPM systems) has been applied. Each process is characterized, the main reengineered aspects are mentioned and the impact on performance is described.The \"direct trade finance\" process\nSummary: Through the application of BPM and the use of process-oriented IT systems (BPM systems) quality and performance of processes has increased substantially. The most important effects are the following:1. Cycle time has been reduced. This is mainly due to the fact that waiting time has almost disappeared. As soon as a certain process step is finished the case is automatically moved forward by the BPM system. Another element that has reduced cycle time is that employees are actively notified by the system about the work that has to be done.2. Output per employee has increased. All process steps that can be performed by a machine (without loosing quality) are executed by the IT system. For instance, prior to automation, employees had to use long checklists for certain processes to ensure the process was carried out correctly. Today this part has been taken over by the process engine.3. Quality of work products has increased. Quality of the cases performed has improved. Five aspects may have caused this effect:* The processes have been improved (partial re-engineering) as part of BPM.* Today's processes are more clearly defined than in the past.* Process automation enforces correctness of process execution.* The role (includes duty and responsibility) of the process participants has become clearer.* The structure of the processes is more visible to employees.The use of BPM systems has some limitations too. In our case we have been confronted with the following:* In general, the importance of packaged software (commercial off-the-shelf software) is increasing in the field of financial institutions. However, the various systems available do not always offer cost-efficient integration mechanisms for BPM systems.* Almost every BPM system available has its own reporting and performance measurement concept. Some of them are rather rudimentary whereas other systems are provided with broad and user-friendly analysis functions.\nLessons learned: Based on the experiences we have made during the last few years with BPM we learned that:1. BPM makes it possible to re-arrange the \"old\" processes. Existing activities or sub-processes can be newly combined in order to provide new or better services to the customer. This is important because competition in banks depends to a large degree on the services offered.2. The effect of business process re-engineering can be leveraged by the use of BPM systems. In particular, lead time can be reduced to a degree that would never be in scope using traditional methods and tools. Moreover, the use of BPM systems leads to a better conformance; i.e. the processes are executed in a way that is consistent to specifications and rules.3. Automated collection of performance-relevant data is central. Data collection should not be an additional manual task for the employees and real-time information can hardly be gathered manually. In other words, process performance measurement can be applied more efficiently by an integrated approach.4. BPM systems make it possible to monitor critical processes very carefully. This can be important for different reasons:* It may be important to know when and how often service level agreements are violated.* Poor parts of processes can be identified if long-running cases are identified by the system.* If the load of a particular process is known, organizational and technical corrective actions can be taken.* Objective metrics can be used to introduce a performance-based salary scheme.1. BPM is not a question of all or nothing. It is a continuum, which ranges from better process-related know-how of the employees to an organizational and technological solution that covers every aspect. In other words, the use of a BPM system is not a silver bullet for all business processes. For each business process the different performance-related dimensions (in particular the customer perspective and the financial perspective) must be considered.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe how process reengineering, combined with the use of modern process-oriented information technology, can lead to substantial improvements in terms of overall process quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A real-life case study from the financial industry is used to show how process management can take place in a competitive business area. Four processes (each with a different characteristic) are used to explain the approaches implemented.\nFindings: - Through the combination of process restructuring and the application of modern IT, processes can be improved significantly. First of all, cycle times of the restructured business processes have been reduced. Second, reliability of processes has been improved. Third, process-related performance has become more visible, which in turn is a good basis for further enhanced performance.\nOriginality/value: - This experience report illustrates that the concept of process reengineering is applicable, and that the potential of many processes is still considerable. It shows how competitiveness in the service industry can be improved.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fuzzy risk assessment for electro-optical target tracker	[ "Electro-optical target tracker", "Fuzzy FMECA", "Fuzzy risk priority numbers", "Technology index", "Technology readiness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Design and development of electro-optical target tracker system (EOTTS) is most challenging for short-range homing guided missile (SRHGM). EOTTS is part of the target tracking system that acquires and tracks the target until the missile impacts the target (Baker and Zyweck, 2010). The EOTTS provides a bore-sight error signal which is the position of the target relative to the center axis of the missile to generate the control and guidance (C and G) algorithms. The EOTTS device in a missile is \"a system of systems,\" hence its design, development and production phase involve multidisciplinary efforts, most of which are technologically complex. It consists of electro-optical front end (FE), stabilization system (SS) for the FE, image processor (IP) and related software for SS and IP (Das, 2005). It is worth noting that this system is the heart of the missile's guidance and control system which incurs a major part of design, development and realization cost of the missile. It may be emphasized that any sort of failure or under performance of the system leads not only to mission failure but also adversely effects the attrition level, i.e. vulnerability of the missile operator to counter attack by the enemy. Needless to state highly reliable and accurate functioning of EOTTS is imperative to achieve desired performance parameters of the guided missile.\n2. Literature survey: 2.1. TI estimation\n3. Electro-optical target tracking system: The primary functions of the EOTTS under study are as under:\n4. TI of the electro-optical target tracking system: As detailed in the Section 2, TI can be calculated by multiplying DTRL, difficulty level measured in terms of DRD, and a weighing factor TNV based on the assessed importance of a particular technology development. A high value of TI means high uncertainty and therefore leading to cost and time overruns for the technology project in the long run. DTRL, difficulty level measured in terms of DRD, and weighing factor TNV values for major technologies used in ATGM are obtained from an Indian research laboratory. Accordingly, the TI values are estimated for major technologies used in ATGM and are presented in Table I.\n5. Failure modes of EOTTS and their prioritization: Various hardware and software assemblies comprised within EOTTS make it a highly complex system. A failure mode of the EOTTS is defined as the way a system, subsystem or component could potentially fail to perform its intended function. In this section, a systematic analysis of various failure modes of the EOTTS has been carried out by employing knowledge and perspective of the domain experts of various fields in the linguistic manner. All identified failures have been prioritized for the possible mitigation of their effects using FRPN.\n6. Managerial implications: EOTTS is a critical system of short-range homing-guidance missile. The proposed framework as discussed in the study of EOTTS will help the project managers, design scientists, and development engineer to model and predict the system failure behavior. The study of system technology levels and failure modes of EOTTS required the use of subjective judgments and system modeling.\n7. Conclusions: EOTTS is a critical system of short-range homing-guidance missile. It comprises of hardware and software. Accurate functionality of the EOTTS is very important for a successful mission. Therefore, the technology readiness and risk assessment to foresee its technology maturity and potential failure modes and their impact on the mission at the earliest stage of its design and development becomes a vital issue. In this paper, technology readiness assessment was carried out for the technology used in EOTTS in terms of TI. It was found that among all the technologies used in a missile system, the EOTTS system has the highest TI and is therefore the most critical with respect to its performance and reliability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evolve a guideline for scientists and development engineers to the failure behavior of electro-optical target tracker system (EOTTS) using fuzzy methodology leading to success of short-range homing guided missile (SRHGM) in which this critical subsystems is exploited.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Technology index (TI) and fuzzy failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) are used to build an integrated framework to facilitate the system technology assessment and failure modes. Failure mode analysis is carried out for the system using data gathered from technical experts involved in design and realization of the EOTTS. In order to circumvent the limitations of the traditional failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA), fuzzy FMCEA is adopted for the prioritization of the risks. FMEA parameters - severity, occurrence and detection are fuzzifed with suitable membership functions. These membership functions are used to define failure modes. Open source linear programming solver is used to solve linear equations.\nFindings: It is found that EOTTS has the highest TI among the major technologies used in the SRHGM. Fuzzy risk priority numbers (FRPN) for all important failure modes of the EOTTS are calculated and the failure modes are ranked to arrive at important monitoring points during design and development of the weapon system.\nOriginality/value: This paper integrates the use of TI, fuzzy logic and experts' database with FMEA toward assisting the scientists and engineers while conducting failure mode and effect analysis to prioritize failures toward taking corrective measure during the design and development of EOTTS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CEO social capital and contingency pay: a test of two perspectives	[ "Management power", "Remuneration", "Chief executives", "Merit pay" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Chief executive officer (CEO) pay is effectively negotiated between the CEO and the board (Yao and Appelbaum, 2009), yet pay that far exceeds the compensation of the average employee is often seen as \"excessive\" (Scoffield, 2012). While some make claims over whether or not CEOs are overpaid (Kaplan, 2008; Walsh, 2009), others argue that the form of pay is actually more important in influencing CEO behavior than total pay size (Bloom and Milkovich, 1998; Jensen and Murphy, 1990a; Larazza-Kintana et al., 2007).\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Our understanding of CEO compensation begins with agency theory's argument that a CEO's self-interest leads them to stray from the interests of the shareholders because of shirking of responsibility, risk aversion and short sightedness (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Eisenhardt, 1985). Boards use an appropriate combination of short-term cash and longer-term contingency pay (Boyd, 1994) as a means to coax risk-averse CEOs to consider risk-taking to achieve the shareholders' long-term priorities (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Jensen and Murphy, 1990a). Agents are assumed to avoid investments that do not increase the wealth of shareholders, so risk-seeking behavior is encouraged through monitoring, compelling CEOs to share ownership and deferring compensation through contingency pay (Dalton et al., 2007; Nyberg et al., 2010; Hall and Liebman, 1998).\nMethod: Sample\nResults: The variable statistics are listed in Table I, while the correlations are shown in Table II. The sample was effectively reduced by one year because of our use of lagged variables. Our control model for endogeneity is shown in Table III. The endogeneity model used a sub-sample of 1,515 observations. We noted a significant coefficient in the resulting regression model in Table III for contingency pay, thus supporting our contention of endogeneity between contingency pay and social capital. Our hypothesis test is shown in Table IV. The control model is listed as Model 1, while the hypothesized relationship between contingency pay and CEO social capital is tested in Model 2. Including the regressor from the endogeneity model as an endogeneity control in our hypothesis test models resulted in a final sample of 1,004 observations. The positive sign of the regression coefficient for contingency pay in Model 2 supports H1, where boards reward CEOs with social capital with higher proportions of contingency pay. Each extra standard deviation worth of social capital was compensated with an additional 2 per cent or $147 000 in long-term compensation. We found no support for H2, the CEO perspective model that considered loss-averse CEOs minimize contingency pay in an attempt at wealth preservation.\nDiscussion: In this study, we examined the role of a CEO's social capital on their contingency pay. We measured social capital in terms of the number, type and quality of external board directorships. Finkelstein and D'Aveni (1994) argued that boards have to actively balance conflicting entrenchment and unity of command pressures originating from CEO duality and structural power, and we worried that social capital would exacerbate this conflict because it increases a CEO's sensitivity to change (Milbourn, 2003). However, our results suggest no such dichotomy exists with CEO social capital. Boards continue to be correct in emphasizing unity of command over worries about conflict of interest (Finkelstein and D'Aveni, 1994), even when social capital plays a dominant role. Although CEOs may personally prioritize securing essential pay over non-essential pay, and want to act in ways that diverge from the board of director's interest, their social capital does not allow them to do so. Therefore, Boards should encourage CEOs to expand their social capital because it will help them manage strategic contingencies.\nConclusion: In this paper, we asked whether CEOs with social capital are compensated with higher or lower levels of contingency pay. Contingency pay, typically stock options and long-term incentives, is granted only on the achievement of long-term objectives established by the board of directors. We contrasted two predictions, one based on the board perspective that predicted higher proportions of contingency pay, the other anchored in the entrenched CEO power perspective that predicted lower proportions. We found that boards reward CEOs with higher social capital with higher proportions of contingency pay. Based on our sample, each standard deviation increase in social capital is rewarded by an additional $147 000 in long-term compensation. This study extends the literature by suggesting that social capital does not exacerbate agency pressures, and boards reward the long-term benefits of social capital accumulated by CEOs though higher proportions of contingency pay.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide greater understanding of how the composition of pay reduces agency cost to the shareholders by examining how firms pay their chief executive officers (CEOs). More specifically, this study examines the relationship between CEOs' social capital, measured as external directorships, and their contingency pay, the proportion of their compensation that depends on achieving long-term performance goals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a panel sample of Standard\nFindings: CEO social capital does not exacerbate agency pressures. Boards reward the long-term benefits of social capital accumulated by CEOs through higher proportions of contingency pay.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors considered CEOs of well-capitalized, publicly-traded US-based firms. So the results may not generalizable to other contexts.\nPractical implications: Boards do recognize and reward CEOs for their social capital, and use higher levels of contingency pay to lock in CEOs with social capital.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to explicitly examine the impact of CEO social capital on both non-equity and equity compensation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
HRM policies play critical role workers in reducing staff turnover in Chinese hotels	[ "Human resource management practices", "Turnover intention", "Macau", "Hotel employees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A study of hotel workers in the Chinese province of Macau has shown the vital role of human resource management (HRM) in reducing staff turnover. The in-depth interviews with 15 employees revealed that the way in which HR departments implement policies makes all the difference to staff retention rates. The authors said their study demonstrated the powerful role of HR departments in hotels and that hotel employees expected them to play proactive roles in promoting their wellbeing at work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The authors wanted to study hotels because of the alarmingly high turnover of staff, which varies between 22% and 80% across countries. They said previous studies of the importance of HRM had addressed other different sectors in the hospitality industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors carried out semi-structured interviews with eight males and seven females aged between 23 and 52 years old. They were all at junior, or mid-management, level. They had experience of working in a lot of different departments, including marketing, HRM, front office, public relations and finance. The interviews of between 45 minutes and an hour were carried out in cafes. All names were changed in the paper.\nFindings: The in-depth interviews revealed that the way in which HR departments implement policies makes all the difference to staff retention rates. The authors said their study demonstrated the powerful role of HR departments in hotels and that hotel employees expected them to play proactive roles in promoting their wellbeing at work.\nOriginality/value: Studies of the impact of HRM on staff turnover in the hotel sector in China have been rare.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainable goal setting: a large-scale case in management practice	[ "Performance management", "Motivation", "Public administration", "Productivity", "Goal setting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Almost half a century of research on goal setting has yielded many insights on the positive psychological effects of having high and clear goals in one's work (Locke and Latham, 2002). The easiness with which such findings were replicated inside laboratories makes goal setting the most popular foundation of performance management (Latham et al., 2008; Latham and Locke, 2007). At its core, goal setting relies on a set of rather simple behavioral hypotheses: workers work harder when they have clear, focused, and challenging goals. But the apparent simplicity of giving goals to managers and employees evolves into complex social behaviors when confronted with organizational realities. For instance, repeated high goals can antagonize or deplete workers (Mawritz et al., 2014; Welsh and Ordonez, 2014), they can create noxious competition (Poortvliet and Darnon, 2010), and even downright gaming and cheating (Ossege, 2012; Pollitt, 2013). Furthermore, one of the most challenging issues in the implementation of goal setting is the collective resistance of workers who elaborate astute strategies to retain a measure of control or influence in the goal-setting process, such as regulating their efforts to avoid ratchet effects or balancing work and rewards among team members (Cohn et al., 2014; Horton, 2010). In the worst cases, goal setting essentially decreases organizational performance (Pollitt and Dan, 2013; Soman and Cheema, 2004).\nTheory and hypotheses: We start by presenting first the focused framework of the goal-setting theory, which will be checked for validity in our case with an extended statistical analysis, and second a wider performance management perspective within which we can highlight the additional socio-organizational effects of goal setting.\nMethod: Empirical context\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: Results and implications\nConclusion: Originally, we set out to analyze the potential impact of goals and performance management in the workplace, hoping to find a hint of a relationship, but knowing that the complexity of a workplace environment could hide the details of such a connection well below the waterline. But by statistically analyzing detailed performance data from the NEO's internal system, we found a generally strong negative link between indicator scores and productivity, revealing that the productivity of employees moved in response to variation in the indicators used to measure performance in most activities. In and of itself, this relationship cannot directly translate into long-term productivity gains, yet it reveals the importance of goals for motivating workers and to strengthen the culture of performance within the organization. Moreover and in particular, this relationship is sustainable indefinitely, whereas ever-increasing performance targets are not.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give evidence of effective, large-scale, and time-sustained goal setting through the use of performance indicators (PIs) in managing a fairly large and decentralized social-security organization, despite indications that the motivational effects of goal setting are hard to sustain in the long term.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors analyze five years of monthly organizational performance data across 30 regional offices and five activities to identify the links between PIs and productivity.\nFindings: The authors identify correlations that demonstrate a cycle where low performance scores on indicators increase productivity in the next period, but high performance decrease it, thus renewing the cycle.\nResearch limitations/implications: While long-term gains in the productivity are not the direct product of goal setting, the close relationship between goals and productivity illustrates the motivational potential of communicable targets and close feedback that led to a culture of performance within the organization.\nPractical implications: The case studied demonstrates how a performance management system can be designed and managed so that long-term fatigue is avoided while maintaining a dynamic workforce that adapts in the face of environment change by increasing its efforts as needed.\nOriginality/value: This paper answers a call to connect management control studies with managerial work done in practical settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Citation classics published in knowledge management journals. Part III: author survey	[ "Scientometrics", "Academic research", "Serendipity", "Knowledge management", "Author survey", "Citation classics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Systems thinking, end in mind; reverse scenario thinking; holistic approach to topics, when I write a sentence, I pretend I'm the reader and then write the sentence for the reader. This process is repeated over and over. My articles are concise, logical, and some say they are like \"granola.\" I'm a firm believer in first authors, namely if some described a concept for the very first time, Maslow, for example, I cite the first article he published. I'm a compulsive reviewer of my manuscripts and have a list of words that are simple and easy to understand. I use different words that have the same meaning so the reader does not get tired of seeing the same word repeatedly. I use bullet points, number the sections of my writing, and make good use of headings. At the end of each article, there are practical applications and/or recommendations so people can decide how to use the content of my articles. (An anonymous author of KM citation classics sharing his/her experience.)\n2. Theoretical background: To develop the theoretical background for this study and survey questions, the following framework was constructed (Table I). The rest of this section describes this framework in detail.\n3. Methodology and results: 3.1 Methodology\n4. Implications: 4.1 Implication No. 1: an archetype of a knowledge management citation classic author\n5. Conclusion: When reflecting on how to conclude this paper, the authors were struck by the serendipity involved in KM research, especially from the perspective of discovering new and interesting results that are the basis of the KM citation classics. It is true that researchers should never preconceive what they will find, and the serendipity of discoveries is an important factor in disseminating the impact of KM research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper is the third part of a series of works investigating the top 100 knowledge management (KM) citation classic articles. The purpose of this paper is to understand why KM citation classics are well-cited.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The results of a survey of 58 KM citation classic authors were reported as descriptive statistics and subjected to content analysis.\nFindings: An archetype of a KM citation classic author was constructed including demographics, personal characteristics, motivation and work preferences. There is a need for developing novel ideas in KM research. Timeliness of a publication is directly linked to its future impact. Editors should involve citation classics authors as reviewers, and KM researchers should improve their citation practices. Serendipity played a very important role in early KM research, especially from the perspective of discovering new and interesting phenomena.\nResearch limitations/implications: Whereas the importance of serendipity is not questioned, future KM researchers should rely more on a formal, meticulous and well-planned research approach rather than on the hope of making a discovery by accident or luck. KM citation classics authors relied on serendipity to form the foundation of the discipline, but extending their work requires formal and structured inquiries.\nPractical implications: Many authors conducted research to solve a problem to serve the needs of both practice and academia, rather than being overly theoretical.\nOriginality/value: Because KM researchers can no longer rely on past bibliometric theories, this paper helps understand why specific articles are highly cited and recommends how to conduct and develop future KM research that has impact.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Opportunities and opportunism with high-status B2B partners in emerging economies	[ "Socialization", "Partner selection", "B2B relationships", "Foreign-local interfirm relationships", "Partner status", "TSIs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Foreign business-to-business (B2B) firms entering emerging markets face many challenges. One is the selection of a local partner to help the foreign firm strategically navigate the cross currents of connectivity and uncertainty (Liu et al., 2014a, 2014b). Local B2B partners that can provide cultural wisdom, network centrality, regulatory knowledge and additional organizational and financial strengths are preferred (Luo, 1998; Liu et al., 2014a, 2014b; Liu and Gao, 2014; Shi et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 Implicit status in business-to-business guanxi capitalism\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection and sample\n4. Data analysis and results: A hierarchical regression was used to test hypotheses (Baron and Kenny, 1986). Following Frazer et al.'s (2004) procedure, we used centered data and sequentially included the control variables, independent variables, moderators and the interaction terms. Table III presents the means, standard deviations and correlations for the variables used in the study. Table IV shows the resulting four regression models. Because several variables are significantly correlated in Table III, we further assessed variable inflation factor (VIF) scores. The highest VIF was 2.358, well below the accepted value of 10, indicating that multi-collinearity was not a major concern in the results. Additionally, coefficients associated with the two control variables - firm size and relationship duration - are not significant across all the models. Yet, the third control variable - satisfaction with overall performance - appears to be positively correlated with the dependent variable, which, to some extent, suggests that firms having satisfactory performance generally enjoy good relationship outcomes with their exchange partners in the market. This is, in fact, not surprising because firm performance essentially is achieved based upon their successful collaborations with partners.\n5. Conclusion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Limitations and future research: This study is not without its limitations. Like the other researchers, we selected China based on both its global market importance and the implicit status indicators in its culture and B2B guanxi networks (Shi et al., 2014). Indeed, we centered our research in Shanghai because of its observable status consciousness. Yet our line of reasoning requires more research in other non-Western emerging markets to be validated. As an example, Indonesia may be a fruitful context for future research because its largely collectivist culture is stretched across hundreds of semi-autonomous islands and a mix of opportunistic situations and governance systems within its primary ASEAN B2B relationships.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study examines the potential of foreign business-to-business (B2B) firms to select high-status local partners in emerging markets to achieve positive relationship outcomes. Because a domestic firm's high status may also promote opportunism, the study also examines if the foreign B2B firms may mitigate such behavior through either or both transaction-specific investments (TSIs) and socialization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is conducted via a model that suggests a positive correlation between high local partner status and the focal relationship outcomes and the moderating effects of structural TSIs and social governance systems. The model was developed and empirically tested using data collected from 96 foreign firms operating in China.\nFindings: Using multiple regressions, the findings suggest that foreign B2B firms are likely to achieve more beneficial relationship outcomes with high-status local partners. Standing alone, foreign B2B firms' TSIs mitigate the positive relationship outcomes, whereas their socialization with the high-status partners enhances the beneficial outcomes. Most importantly, combining socialization with TSIs increases beneficial outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study adds to B2B marketing, status theory and the application of transaction cost economics (TCE) and social exchange theory to foreign-local B2B exchange relationships in emerging markets. The findings confirm the attractiveness of high status in emerging markets by exploring how the selection, formation and chosen B2B governance processes may lead to competing outcomes of opportunism or success. Future research will benefit from simultaneously securing data from both sides of the dyad.\nPractical implications: The paper suggests that foreign B2B firms consider high status as a key criterion in selecting local partners in emerging markets and the importance of managing high-status partners' potential opportunism by effective governance mechanisms.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the first to apply and explore the workings of status theory in the foreign-local B2B partner selection process and relationship outcomes in emerging markets and thereby contributes to B2B marketing, status theory and both TCE and social exchange theories in the focal foreign-local B2B context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership with innovative behaviour: Examining multiple mediating paths with PLS-SEM	[ "Transformational leadership", "Job autonomy", "Affective commitment", "Innovative work behaviour", "Supportive management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Innovation is a strategic priority for many organisations in contemporary business environments (Slater et al., 2014). However, to achieve this priority, organisations must deliberately engage in novel ways of service delivery to remain relevant, sustain competitive advantage and enjoy long-term growth and survival (Janssen et al., 2004). Correspondingly, research documents that organisational innovation occurs only when employees engage in innovative work behaviour (IWB) (Ramamoorthy et al., 2005). According to Shalley et al. (2004), organisational innovation is founded on novel ideas which are generated, promoted and implemented by employees (Coetzer et al., 2018; de Jong and den Hartog, 2010). Thus, organisational innovation depends on employee IWB (Mytelka and Smith, 2002; Van de Ven, 1986). IWBs are not a critical component of employees' job description; neither are they codified in an organisation's reward system (Janssen, 2000) possibly because they are discretionary extra-role performance behaviours which go beyond employee role expectations (Coetzer et al., 2018; Parker et al., 2006). Accordingly, a stream of scientific research documents that leadership, particularly transformational leadership is fundamental for employees IWB (Afsar et al., 2014; Choi et al., 2016; Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006; Podsakoff et al., 2003; Sanders and Shipton, 2012; Wang et al., 2005).\nTheory and hypotheses development: Transformational leadership\nMediators of the transformational leadership-IWB relationship: Job autonomy\nMethods: Participants and procedures\nMeasures: Transformational leadership\nAnalyses and results: In order to test the study hypotheses, we used partial least square approach to structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0 (see Ringle et al., 2015). There are two approaches to structural equation modelling; the covariance-based SEM which requires the data to be normally distributed and variance-based SEM which does not require multivariate normality (Hair et al., 2014; Garson, 2016). We employed the variance-based approach with PLS-SEM because our preliminary analysis as shown in Table II revealed that our data did not meet the normality criteria. Consistent with Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) and Chin's (1998) two-step approach, we first validated our measures and then proceeded to test our hypothesised model. SmartPLS 3.0 software was used to validate our measures and to test our hypothesised model.\nMeasurement model assessment: Our measurement model included five key latent constructs (i.e. transformational leadership, affective commitment, supportive management, job autonomy and IWB). The assessment of the reflective measurement model includes an evaluation of its reliability and validity in relation to the latent constructs (Chin, 2010; Hair et al., 2017). This includes assessing the linkage between the latent constructs and their observed indicators. We assessed the internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of our model with composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE). Results in Table II indicate that CR of all the latent constructs in our model was higher than 0.70 (Hair et al., 2017). Similarly, Cronbach's a's were all within the acceptable threshold (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). These results indicate that our measurement model exhibits good internal consistency.\nStructural model assessment: After the psychometric properties of our measurement model were met, we proceeded with our structural model assessment. Assessment of the structural model was based on the magnitude and significance of the path coefficients. Bootstrapping procedure with 5,000 resample was utilised. Results of the structural model assessment are presented in Figure 1.\nDiscussion: As noted, prior research has shown that transformational leadership behaviour is positively related to improved employee performance (Bass and Avolio, 1990; Brown and Leigh, 1996). Researchers have also demonstrated that transformational leadership promotes IWB (Afsar et al., 2014; Choi et al., 2016; Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006; Podsakoff et al., 2003; Reuvers et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2005). Although it is important to study factors that promote IWB (de Jong and den Hartog, 2010; Scott and Bruce, 1994; Shih and Susanto, 2017) and understand the mechanisms through which transformational leaders influence their subordinates IWB (Bass, 1997), earlier studies have largely focused on bivariate theorisation of the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB. However, studies which examine multiple mediating mechanisms simultaneously in the transformational leadership and IWB relationship would provide a fine-grained understanding of this theory.\nConclusion: In today's competitive and dynamic work environment, organisations' ability to enable and drive innovative efforts may inextricably be linked to leadership within the organisation. In fact, a primary reason why many organisations are unable to successfully stimulate innovation lies with their leaders - the individuals who are responsible for leading innovative efforts - and their skill and will or lack of it. However, the mechanisms through which transformational leadership behaviours promote employee innovation have rarely been studied. We theorised and empirically showed that job autonomy and supportive management are the individual employee mechanisms that transmit the effect of transformational leadership behaviours of managers and/or immediate supervisors to subordinates IWB, presumably because job autonomy adds a feeling of empowerment to and creates an intrinsic feeling needed for creative tasks (Hennessey and Amabile, 2010) and supportive management reflects employees' psychologically meaningful evaluations rather than physical organisational features (Brown and Leigh, 1996). Taken together, our study results and that of prior research suggest that clearly future research is needed to further enhance our understanding of the effect of transformational leadership on IWB. We hope that our study will stimulate interest in this line of research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine simultaneously multiple mediating mechanisms through which transformational leadership affects innovative work behaviour (IWB). Specifically, the authors test job autonomy, affective commitment and supportive management as the three mediating paths through which transformational leadership predicts innovative wok behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 358 employees working in large retail banks in Accra, the capital of Ghana. A partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was used to estimate the measurement and structural models.\nFindings: Job autonomy and supportive management rather than affective commitment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB. In addition, transformational leadership positively relates to job autonomy, affective commitment, supportive management and IWB.\nPractical implications: By adopting leadership behaviours that seek to offer employees freedom on the job, a feeling of attachment to the organisation and positive perception of leadership support, managers and HR professionals can potentially foster employee innovation. This could stimulate organisational innovation and business success in the financial sector.\nOriginality/value: Although it is important to understand the mechanisms or processes through which transformational leadership behaviour promotes IWB, research in this area is scanty and scarce. This study theorises and empirically examines job autonomy and support management as novel mechanisms through which transformational leadership behaviour translates into workers' innovative behaviour in formal banking institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digimums' online grocery shopping: the end of children's influence?	[ "Children's influence", "Digimums", "Online buying", "Strategy", "Smart shopper", "Online socialisation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Children play a major role in influencing family purchasing (Norgaard et al., 2007; Drenten, 2008; Gaumer and Arnone, 2010; Chaudhary, 2018): Research shows that children influence 80 per cent of family food purchasing (Hunter, 2002). They make up three markets: a primary market (as the consumer), an influencing market and a future market (McNeal, 1992). According to Drenten (2008, p. 832), \"approximately two-thirds of parents include children in their food shopping visits, and nine out of ten parents make purchase decisions specifically because a child likes the item\". However, while these results apply to offline stores, few studies have investigated children's influence on online shopping.The digitisation of the economy has generated many changes for both retailers and consumers. The development of e-commerce has made it easy to buy online and has changed families' attitudes towards physical stores (Belch et al., 2005). In France, e-commerce accounted for EUR72 billion in sales in 2016, an increase of 14.6 per cent in one year, according to a study carried out in 2016 by the FEVAD (a French trade association grouping together companies that are engaged in selling online). Purchasing frequency has increased by 21 per cent to an average of 28 purchases per year. In France, more than 25 per cent of households, or 5.7 million people, used a drive-through service in 2016 (Nielsen Trade Dimensions, 2016). Do these changes in the commercial landscape affect the way parents and children shop (e.g. influence strategies)?While the supermarket was an unavoidable location for food shopping before the advent of the Internet, there are now many questions regarding how the Internet has changed the buying-decision process (Belch et al., 2005). In France, shopping is still overwhelmingly a task for mothers (Barth and Anteblian, 2011), but they are increasingly buying online rather than in physical stores. French families (particularly mothers) with children represent 80 per cent of purchases (in value) in \"click and drive\" grocery stores (where consumers collect their purchases by car after ordering online) but only 35 per cent of spending in physical stores. Such consumers are known as digimums, digital mums or connected mums.In the commercial space, research has highlighted children's active role and the influence they have on their parents (Ayadi and Cao, 2016). Children visit stores from an early age (Thyne et al., 2019). The youngest (5-9 years) prefer stores and supermarkets, whereas the oldest (10-12 years) like speciality stores (e.g. toys, sports goods) (John, 1999). Inside the store, they can influence decisions because they are present and especially because they are aware of their ability to \"trick parents into buying something\" (Muratore, 2002, p. 7). While digitisation has had an impact on behaviour, research into children's influence on family purchases has not focused on this change. While the time spent in the store has decreased (Vanheems and Collin-Lachaud, 2011), few studies have investigated whether children play a role in influencing their parents' online buying.Moreover, if this influence exists, little is known about the shape it takes. In other words, if children still influence their mum when they are shopping online, when and how does it occur? This study investigates children's influence in digimums' online buying process - before, during and after the decision process. We aim to understand how children influence online grocery shopping by digimums in families with children aged between 7 and 11. Firstly, our study expands the literature on children's influence on parents' purchasing by providing insights into how this occurs in online shopping. Secondly, it will help e-retailers to design their website and product assortment by taking into account how children influence their mothers. Thirdly, we offer societal implications with regard to designing e-commerce sites to support children's (online) socialisation.The paper focuses on grocery shopping, as food is the sector where children exert the most influence (Norgaard et al., 2007; Drenten, 2008; Gram, 2015; Page et al., 2018, 2019). In France, click and drive is the main channel for purchasing food online, which is why we choose it for this study.\nLiterature review: Digimums: who are they?\nMethodology: As observed by Norgaard et al. (2007), parents and children have differing views of children's influence during various stages of the buying process. It is therefore essential to collect data from both populations. To understand children's influence during the online buying process (before, during and after), we chose to study the mother-child dyad. Within the typology described in the literature review, we chose to target \"shopping digital mums\", defined as mothers who often buy online. We first met a mother who agreed for us to interview her child and asked her whether she could introduce us to other parents with children aged between 7 and 11. We chose children at the \"analytical stage\" (aged 7-11), as described by Piaget (1947). We also chose parents who already buy through grocery click and drive stores. We picked the grocery sector, as most studies of children's influence on the buying process are related to the food sector; food is clearly identified as a product category over which children exert influence (McNeal, 1992; Norgaard et al., 2007; Drenten, 2008), mostly with respect to products related to them, such as juice and cereal. If food aspect is the core of the topic, other categories may be considered based on the respondent's speech.As our study is explorative and we are attempting to understand the online buying process and children's influence, we used a qualitative approach with separate in-depth interviews with 27 mothers and their children aged 7-11. The interview guide included five major themes: (1) mother's (or children's) online buying experience and behaviour; (2) process followed and influences on online grocery buying for family and children; (3) child's presence and role before, during and after online buying; (4) perceptions of mother's (or child's) Internet expertise, knowledge and behaviour; (5) discussion, influences and behaviour throughout the buying process.Interviews with the mothers lasted 45 min on average, whereas interviews with children lasted around 25 min. We recorded and transcribed all the interviews and analysed the data manually and separately.We built an analytical framework to analyse the data by following the grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The authors read all the transcripts multiple times. This first step allowed for the general orientations or categories to emerge from the data. In the second step, we divided the text into paragraphs, each of which had a specific meaning (Miles and Huberman, 2003). We then regrouped each similar unit of meaning (paragraphs) into the same general category. Finally, the coding process consisted in attributing all units to their categories and subcategories. After re-reading several times the units of data classified into each category, we provided a designation of each category: This is called \"theorization\" (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). We compared our categories with each other to check for differences. Wherever our interpretation differed, we asked a colleague to analyse the data until we reached a consensus. To respect our respondents' anonymity, we refer to them only by their gender and age (cf. Table I).\nFindings: Four main categories emerged that related to mothers' reasons for buying online, children's influence strategies, the online buying process procedure and children's online socialisation.Digimums' reasons for buying grocery online: freedom, convenience and time saving\nDiscussion: The retail environment is moving from bricks and mortar to an online format, which raises questions about the role children play in the family purchasing process. This study highlights the fact that children still influence the buying process online, albeit differently than in an offline environment. During the online process, children learn the importance of the shopping list, prices, discounts, brands and so on. Consequently, they are more reasonable and think about which influence strategy to use for each product type. The children do not necessarily see the product but sometimes ask for it if they have seen their peers with it. Unlike previous studies, this paper highlights one main difference between physical and online buying. In physical stores, children are physically immersed in the store, and their reactions are based on emotional reactions and physical actions (Ayadi and Cao, 2016). For instance, they push the trolley, put the groceries on the belt and so forth (Norgaard et al., 2007). Online, the screen provides a virtual relationship to objects. The screen acts as a \"medium\" that \"filters\" their \"corporeality\". As a result, their reactions are less emotional and physical, and they use different strategies to appropriate this new buying process. They argue more logically (smart shopper). Indeed, they have access to more product information and more time to search for information (Internet, social network, peers and brochures) and use it to negotiate with their mothers by using their arguments to obtain the product they want.Our results highlight that children - especially older ones - find shopping websites unattractive, boring and \"no fun\".Implications for theory\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper investigates children's influence on their mothers' online grocery shopping. As virtual shopping does not provide instant gratification, the authors explore how children between the ages of 7 and 11 are involved in the online purchasing process (before, during and after the purchase) with their digital mothers (digimums).\nDesign/methodology/approach: We collected qualitative data from 27 separate semi-structured interviews of mothers and their children.\nFindings: Children's influence during the online buying process exists and can be active, passive and/or proactive. The findings extend knowledge about children's influence by adding the notion of proactive influence where children use an intended approach to anticipate their mother's needs for grocery shopping and take initiatives. Children use less impulsive requests and become smart shoppers using more rational arguments to explain their requests. The online buying process contributes to children's online socialisation: They learn the importance of the shopping list, prices, discounts, brands and so on. Online socialisation at home might take the physical form of using digital devices (i.e. scanning) and entering the credit card code, which contributes to the children's learning.\nOriginality/value: Online buying virtualises children's relationship to objects, and the screen acts as a kind of filter. This makes their influence strategy less emotional and corporeal and more rational (smart shopper).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Restless and confused: Emotional responses to workplace bullying in men and women	[ "Bullying", "Individual psychology", "Individual behaviour", "Gender", "Workplace", "Canada" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Bullying has been described as a \"persistent pattern of negative acts\" (Lee and Brotheridge, 2006, p. 353). A considerable amount of research over the past decade has found that targets of bullying are likely to experience health problems such as anxiety and physical ailments (Mikkelsen and Einarsen, 2001), diminished mental health (Hoel and Cooper, 2000), and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorders (Leymann and Gustafsson, 1996). Thus, rather than experiencing career success, a sense of calling, and a supportive work environment, all of which contribute to a protean career (Park, 2009), targets of bullying find themselves in a challenging situation.\nTheoretical perspectives and hypotheses: Affective events theory and bullying\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Table I shows the descriptive statistics, internal consistency reliability estimates, and correlations of all variables. Although the men and women in the sample experienced similar levels of belittlement, men experienced higher levels of their work being undermined (p <0.10) and verbal abuse than did women. Moreover, men were more satisfied with their jobs and happier (p <0.10) than were women who, in turn, reported higher mean levels of tiredness (p <0.10) than did men.Regression results\nDiscussion: Overview of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of the emotions experienced by targets of bullying in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sample of 180 employees in Canada took part in a cross-sectional self-report survey study.\nFindings: - The study found that, for men, in the presence of belittlement and work being undermined, verbal abuse was negatively associated with confusion, suggesting an active coping strategy. In contrast, for women, in the presence of belittlement and work being undermined, verbal abuse was positively associated with confusion, suggesting a passive coping strategy.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although this study's cross-sectional methodology provided a static snapshot of the emotions of bullying, it may be informative to capture emotions as they arise in response to specific episodes and forms of bullying as well as in response to repeated acts of bullying.\nPractical implications: - Workers should be offered resources for understanding and coping constructively with their emotions, training in interpersonal sensitivity to become more aware of and responsive to others' feelings, and the opportunity to work in respectful workplace climates.\nOriginality/value: - Specific emotions were examined that are associated with exposure to different forms of bullying, and the career-related implications of these findings are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The acquisition puzzle and mispricing: evidence of over-optimism	[ "Mergers and acquisitions", "Abnormal return", "Valuation", "Acquirers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The extant literature is categorical that acquirers who issue equity to finance their takeover underperform in the long run (Shleifer and Vishny, 2003). It is suspected that such acquirers are overpriced at the time of acquisition (Lin et al., 2011). The interpretation that acquirers who pay for acquisitions using their own equity are overpriced is bolstered by the finding that most have low book-to-market ratios so are deemed glamour stocks. However, there are alternative explanations for long run underperformance post-acquisition and the BTM ratio is open to multiple interpretations. This study aims to provide clear evidence that will confirm or reject the hypothesis that acquirers who issue equity to pay for their takeovers are overvalued at the time of acquisition. It has been observed that acquirers are overvalued when investors are overly optimistic regarding their prospects (Rosen, 2006; Petmezas, 2009; Croci et al., 2010). We exploit the information in analysts' forecasts of earnings to gauge the level of optimism regarding acquirers' prospects (Richardson et al., 2004; Bradshaw et al., 2006). We interpret earnings disappointments subsequent to the acquisition as evidence of over-optimism (Skinner and Sloan, 2002).\n2. Prior literature and hypothesis development: 2.1 Prior literature\n3. Data and research method: 3.1 Data\n4. Results: Table III contains the descriptive statistics for the BHARs of the various categories of acquirers used in the sample. In common with prior research the BHARs have some extreme outliers and are skewed to the right. We deal with this outlier/skewness issue in a number of ways. We use bootstrapped skewness-adjusted t-statistics as used by Lyon et al. (1999) as well non-parametric tests using the full data set. Also, 36 outliers in our sample are identified with Grubb's test and their BHARs are winsorised. Table IV reports conventional t-tests, bootstrapped skewness-adjusted t-tests and non-parametric tests for the null hypotheses that the BHARs of the full sample as well as Glamour, Value, Equity acquirers and Cash acquirers are zero. The results confirm the long-run underperformance of all types of acquirer. The overall sample has a significantly negative mean (median) regardless of whether the data are winsorised or not. Table IV reports that the median BHAR of all classifications of acquirer is significantly less than zero. The average post-acquisition return on cash and hybrid acquirers is not significantly different from zero until we winsorise the outliers. The mean return of value acquires is invariably not significantly different from zero. The results are largely the same regardless of whether we control for skewness or not.\n5. Conclusion: Acquirers that issue equity to finance their acquisition subsequently underperform in the long run. Glamour acquirers have similarly been found to underperform. For both these types of acquirer this gives rise to a suspicion that their shares are overvalued at the time of acquisition and that the acquisition is motivated by the acquirer's management attempting to make gains by timing an issue of their overvalued equity (Loughran and Ritter, 2000; Shleifer and Vishny, 2003). The extant evidence is ambiguous as it pertains to overvaluation since the BTM ratio is open to alternative interpretations and poor subsequent performance can arise when there is no overvaluation. This paper extends the literature by providing clearer evidence that the mispricing of acquirers who issue equity as consideration for their takeover is a primary driver of the subsequent negative abnormal returns. We achieve this by exploiting the results of researchers such as Skinner and Sloan (2002) who note that stocks whose earnings disappoint are those about whom the market previously held over-optimistic expectations. We report that the ability of financing method to explain the post-acquisition BHARs of acquirers is attenuated by the inclusion of variables designed to reflect over optimistic expectations at the time of the acquisition. This finding is a clear indication that the acquirers who choose to finance acquisitions by issuing equity are overpriced in the market. This finding is robust to the inclusion of the acquisition premium, whether the acquisition is a conglomerate, merger waves and other motivations for issuing equity in an acquisition context, in the model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Researchers suspect that the overvaluation of equity issuing acquirers is a major cause of their subsequent post-event underperformance. Definitive conclusions regarding this overpricing hypothesis have not been possible since indicators of overpricing such as the book-to-market ratio and subsequent underperformance are open to alternative interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to corroborate or refute overvaluation as a driver of equity issuing acquirers' subsequent underperformance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The literature has linked overvaluation of acquirers to over-optimistic expectations. The authors use analysts' earnings forecasts to reflect the market's expectations. Over-optimism is indicated by subsequent earnings disappointments. The authors examine the relation between acquirers' choice of payment method and their tendency to report disappointing earnings. The authors also examine the effect of including a more direct measure of over-optimism in a model to explain the long-run post-event buy-and-hold-abnormal returns of acquirers.\nFindings: The post-acquisition earnings of equity issuing acquirers disappoint more often than those of acquirers employing alternative financing methods. This relationship is confined to glamour acquirers. The ability of financing method to predict long-run post-acquisition performance is subsumed when direct measures of optimism are included in a model explaining long-run post-acquisition performance. This result is robust to controls for overpayment and other potential explanations of post-acquisition underperformance.\nResearch limitations/implications: Acquirers' management exploit their information advantage to exchange overvalued equity for the assets of the target company in accordance with Loughran and Ritter's (2000) behavioural timing hypothesis.\nOriginality/value: The study provides new and unambiguous evidence that equity-issuing acquirers are optimistically priced at the time of acquisition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Product brand differentiation and dual-channel store performances of a multi-channel retailer	[ "Product differentiation", "Marketing strategy", "Distribution channels and marketing", "Game theory", "Marketing research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The surge in the growth of information technology has given businesses an unprecedented marketing opportunity for easy and vast access to customers and for firms. According to ComScore Networks, online retail spending in 2006 reached $102.1 billion, marking a 24 percent increase over 2005's $82.3 billion. An estimated 6 percent of all non-travel consumer retail spending (excluding expenditures for autos, gasoline, and food) is spent online. Also, according to Forrester Research, European ecommerce is expected to surge to EUR263 billion in 2011, with travel, clothes, groceries, and consumer electronics all reaching above the EUR10 billion per year mark. Consequently, the rapid development of commerce on the internet has made it attractive for many retailers or individuals to engage in direct online sales. As a result, many retailers or individuals are using or pursuing both online and traditional retail channels to sell products. Multi-channel retailing nowadays is becoming prevalent through the business world. It is not uncommon for many brick and mortar retailers to create e-commerce channels that operate independently from existing physical outlets (Steinfield et al., 1999; Useem, 1999; Venkatesh, 1999). For example, K-mart (bluelight.com), Target and Barnes & Noble, are some of the largest examples which separately run the two channels.When the multi-retailer opens an online channel and lets it operate independently from the traditional retail channel, a side effect is the \"channel conflict\". In general, channel conflict can undermine attempts to develop cooperative relations in the intermediated channel, which may have an effect of lowering the profits of all parties. It is, therefore, to the retailer's benefit to alleviate the channel conflict. Various mechanisms are employed to reduce/eliminate the channel conflict. For instance, some retailers like CompUSA, Levis Strauss, and Best Buy, have pulled back their online efforts, and other retailers, like EggHead.com, have abandoned their traditional retail outlets in favor of purely internet-based retailing, and more often companies use the online channel for information and sales support only while leaving the actual sales to the traditional retail store (Cohen, 2000).The case of marketing the same product or competitive brands in a competitive setting has been extensively studied in the literature. This is the traditional competition model. The case of marketing differentiated product in the dual channel setting (selling different brand products through online and traditional channels, particularly for the technological and industrial products such as TV, DVD players, audios, etc.) arises since multi-channel retailing is becoming more popular throughout the business world and many firms are running their business through a decentralized channel strategy (online channel operates independently from traditional channel). The case has recently gained tremendous interest. For example, while SVSOUND sells audio equipment in the traditional retail channel, it also sells a brand called SBS-01 that is available only online. Target.com sells many products, such as HoMedics Therapist Select Shiatsu+ and Quad-Roller Massaging Cushion, Olevia 42\" LCD HDTV - 542I, which are also available only online. The marketing paradigm of selling different brand products through different channels effectively alleviates channel competition and conflict, particularly when the market competition is more intense. In this paper, we consider this scenario and develop a model to yield optimal decisions.In our research, we focus on the value of brand differentiation between the online and the traditional retail channels of a multi-channel retailer. We first use a game-theoretic model to obtain both the Bertrand and Stackelberg equilibrium pricing strategies and the corresponding profit gains under these two market structures, and then we study the value of brand differentiation for the online and traditional retail channels and show how the price sensitivity and the market base size moderate the effect of product brand differentiation on channel profits. Finally, we contrast and compare channel profits under the Stackelberg and the Bertrand equilibriums. Our results suggest that under all kinds of competitive settings, the optimal market structure is the Stackelberg equilibrium and the optimum strategy is to employ as large as possible a brand differentiation between the two channels, particularly when consumers are not price sensitive and the market base is large.The rest of our paper is organized as follows. The next section provides a summary of the relevant literature. The following section describes our modeling framework. The next section studies the impact of product brand differentiation on the profits of the online and the traditional channels under the Stackelberg and Bertrand competition models, and further shows how the price sensitivity and the market base size moderate the effect of product brand differentiation on channel profits. In the penultimate section, we illustrate the influence of product brand differentiation on the profits of the online and the traditional channels by means of a computational study. The final section has the conclusions and managerial implications.\nLiterature review: Multi-channel competition\nModel framework: In this section, we lay out our basic market structure. We consider a market setting where a multi-channel retailer uses online and traditional channels in parallel to sell products. Each channel store sells a differentiated brand product, and both channels compete with each other. The more differentiated the product brands are, the less the channel competition is (see Figure 1).Customers can purchase products either through the online channel or through the traditional retail channel. We assume that both the online and traditional channels choose their own decision variables, which are the prices of the differentiated brand products, to maximize their respective profits. Customers would compare both prices of the differentiated products to make a purchase decision. Both channels would use a game theoretic approach to the problem. The demand of each channel (online channel or traditional retail channel) depends on its own product price and the price of the product through the other channel. Decision variables for the two channels are the product prices p1 and p2 respectively. We assume that the demand functions are linear in self and cross-price sensitivities, but with different parameters for each channel (Choi, 1996; Tsay and Agrawal, 2000). Specifically, the demand function is assumed to be: Equation 1 Equation 2 Where, Di is the demand of channel i (i=1 is the online channel and i=2 is the traditional retail channel), which depends on its own price as well as its rival channel's price. ais the market base (i.e. potential demand if free of charge), p1 is the price of the online channel for product 1, p2 is the traditional retail channel price for product 2, b1 and b2 represent the marginal channel demand per respective channel price, and c1 and c2 reflect the degree to which the product brands of the two channels are differentiated (the smaller the value of ci(i=1,2) is, the higher the degree of product brand differentiation between the dual channels is). The ci(i=1,2) coefficients effectively capture the degree of product brand differentiation in a dual-channel distribution. We also assume that ci<=bi(i=1,2), so that a channel's self-price sensitivity is greater than or equal to its cross-price sensitivity. All parameters in our model are positive.Profit functions of online and traditional channel stores\nAnalysis of Stackelberg and Bertrand equilibriums: When the two channels are not integrated, they would compete to maximize their market share. In marketing literature, two kinds of competitive settings are generally considered, namely the Stackelberg and Bertrand models. In what follows, we first consider the Stackleberg game setting followed by Bertrand game setting.The Stackelberg competition\nComputational study: In this section we do some numerical analysis to illustrate our findings. We focus on situations where both the online and the traditional channel stores are influenced by product brand differentiation and illustrate the effects of its impact on each channel's profit. To focus on analyzing how the product brand differentiation impacts each channel's profit and to make the results comparable, we set b1=b2=b and c1=c2=c without loss of generality and allow the parameter of c to vary. The computational study will complement our analytical results and give us more managerial insights. The values of the various parameters used in the computational study are given in Table VIII.Figures 2 and 3 show that under both the Stackelberg and Bertrand equilibriums, the profits of both the online and traditional channels are impacted by product brand differentiation. The profits of both the online and traditional channels are negatively related to the value of c. Also, the gap between the Stackelberg and Bertrand equilibriums shows the value of the market structure. It is obvious that both the online and traditional channels have higher profitability when they adopt the Stackelberg mode, particularly when product brands are less differentiated (increasingc).\nConclusions and managerial implications: In this paper, we study through mathematical game theory the strategic role of product brand differentiation for a multi-channel retailer in a dual-channel competitive market. The contributions of this study are both theoretical and substantive in nature. We derive strategies for the online and traditional channels under the Stackelberg and Bertrand equilibriums. The mail results are summarized in Table IX.The results in Table IX indicate that the profits of both the online and traditional channels always increase with product brand differentiation. Also, the value of the product brand differentiation decreases with price sensitivity and increases with market base size, respectively. Furthermore, we show that both the online and traditional channels should adopt a leader-follower strategy to increase their profits, particularly when the product brands are less differentiated. Our simulation examples further verify our analytical findings and provide important managerial guidelines and insights to business managers.Our findings may be useful for multi-channel retailers by helping them identify the value of product brand differentiation when they market products through the parallel online and traditional channels. These businesses may be able to use the insights from our research to improve channel distribution efficiency so that they can benefit the most from improved brand differentiation. Next we summarize the managerial implications of our research.In today's business environment, retailers and individuals are increasingly using online channels to sell directly to customers. The rise of dual-channel competition provides a motivation for many multi-channel retailers to better understand the sales and profit implication of this technology. Since online sales do compete with traditional retail sales and this competition is becoming more and more intense with the rapid development of internet, it is managerially important to develop a mechanism of coordination between the online and traditional channels. This is an intuition-based conclusion. In our paper, we use mathematical model and simulation examples to show that this intuition can be made objective by product brand differentiation. By strategically implementing a brand differentiation policy, the multi-channel retailer can effectively maximize its profit in a competitive market. In the North American business market, K-Mart, Target, etc. are some of the largest examples of multi-channel retailers that have successfully synchronized the brand differentiation strategy across their two channels. Our results and findings also can be applied to Europe and other national environments where multi-channel retailing is becoming more and more popular and firms are running or planning to run their business through a decentralized channel strategy where the online channel operates independently of the traditional channel.The research contained in this study may be updated in a number of different ways. In this paper, our analysis is based on a single period model. Real world businesses are likely to interact with one another over a number of periods. Therefore, for future potential research, it is a good idea to investigate the effects of product brand differentiation on profits in a multi-period environment. In this paper we also assumed all information is known to the online and traditional channels of a multi-channel retailer. However, information could be incomplete. Therefore, we can explore the competitive equilibrium under incomplete information settings. Furthermore, since the subject of channel competition and coordination has been of interest to researchers and practitioners, further research can be carried out on the methods and plans used by the online and traditional channels, such as information sharing, cooperative advertising, etc.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework to help business marketers with online and traditional retail channels (multi-channel retailers) to find the optimal branding strategy and market structure in order to maximize their profits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A game-theoretic model is developed to determine the optimal branding strategy and market structure for the dual-channel stores of a multi-channel retailer.\nFindings: - The paper demonstrates that an optimal branding strategy and market structure exists for the dual-channel stores of a multi-channel retailer. When a retailer uses multiple channels in parallel to sell its product, the optimal branding strategy is to employ as large as possible brand differentiation between the dual-channel stores, particularly when the price is less sensitive for consumers and the market base size is larger. Furthermore, it is also found that the optimal market structure is the Stackelberg mode, especially when the product brands between the two channels are less differentiated.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The present study assumed that all information is known to both the online and traditional channels of a multi-channel retailer. However, information could be incomplete. It is recommended that future research explore the value of product brand differentiation under incomplete information settings.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides a very useful model framework, branding strategy, and market structure for business managers who are using or planning to use multiple channels to sell their products.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fills a conceptual and practical gap for a structured analysis of the current state of knowledge about multi-channel branding strategies. The paper provides practical and solid advice and examples demonstrating the application of product brand differentiation strategies for business managers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"Robots do not replace a nurse with a beating heart": The publicity around a robotic innovation in elderly care	[ "Innovation", "End users", "Human–computer interaction (HCI)", "IT innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the megatrend towards an ageing population, technology is expected to play an increasing role in elderly-care services (e.g. Kapadia et al., 2015; Malanowski, 2008; Peine et al., 2015). There is also a high turnover of nurses and support staff at elderly-care services (Friedland, 2004). Combined with the low number of support workers currently in healthcare, this means that, in future, there may not be enough people to take care of the elderly. As the age structure of society changes, it will become necessary for a smaller number of qualified care workers and other professionals to take care of an increasing elderly population (Cohen-Mansfield and Biddison, 2007). New approaches and innovations in elderly care are thus being sought in response to these challenges. Novelties are being produced for both caregivers and care-receivers. The types of technology most frequently developed for elderly people are applications that compensate for their physical decline and assist them with daily activities (Fozard, 2005; Vichitvanichphong et al., 2018), thereby supporting the objective of independent living.\n2. Related work: 2.1 Acceptance of robotic innovations\n3. Introduction and use of Zora: 3.1 Introduction to the Zora robot\n4. Methods: This study is based on an empirical case study on the implementation of the Zora robot in elderly-care services with the focus on publicity around a robotic innovation. Two different data sets were collected: comments from the media; and interviews of the personnel who worked with Zora. The study followed the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008. The interviewees signed an informed consent form. The two data collection methods are described in chapters 4.1 and 4.2. The data analysis is introduced in chapter 4.3.\n5. Results: 5.1 Media analysis\n6. Discussion: This study investigated attitudes and opinions towards the use of robots in elderly care. Two different data sets were used, but they were both concerned with the same phenomenon: the publicity around a robot pilot. The publicity was considered from two sides: the people who interfaced with the robot (in this case the management, care workers and students), and the people who read about, listened to or watched something and then commented on what they had read, heard or seen (the public). In this modern world where information technology is within everyone's reach, people tend to comment anonymously over the internet about many different things. These anonymous comments were used as our data source for the public opinion.\n7. Conclusion: The study confirms that more research is needed to investigate the opinions of the general public and the reasons behind those opinions. Based on the results, it would seem that the use of robots may not be viewed entirely negatively, but the context of their use in elderly care is the factor of greatest concern. The comments clearly show that the general public will need more information - and also practical examples - on how robots can be used in elderly care. The comments from interviews verified that when there is experience of robots, the response to them is more positive. Thus, the comments on the media seem to be more at an \"opinion level\", whereas the comments from the interviews are based on experience. Based on these results, it was clear that the public also needs reassurance that robots are not intended to replace human nurses, but rather to function as additional tools for elderly users and for professionals, or to provide recreation for the elderly. It is important that the unfiltered views of the public regarding the use of SARs in healthcare are understood so that they can be taken into account when introducing robots into new environments. For example, the public could be involved in the implementation process and in the design of robots' tasks, for instance, by organising joint workshops.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the publicity around the implementation of the Zora robot in elderly-care services in Lahti, Finland. The aim is to discover opinions concerning the use of robots in elderly care as well as the arguments and justifications behind those opinions. Zora is a humanoid robot intended to promote mobility and rehabilitation. The Lahti pilot was the first Zora pilot in Finland in public elderly-care services. It received much publicity, both regionally and nationally.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is based on an empirical case study on the implementation of the Zora robot in elderly-care services. The data consist of interviews with personnel who operated Zora and comments from the general public about the \"Zora\" robot. Two data sources were used: 107 comments were collected from online and print media, and the personnel (n=39) who worked with Zora were interviewed. The data were analysed by means of interpretative content analysis.\nFindings: The results show that public opinion is mainly negative, but that the commentators apparently have little information about the robot and its tasks. The personnel had more positive views; they saw it as a recreational tool, not as a replacement for their own roles.\nOriginality/value: There is clearly a need for more information, for a better informed discussion on how robots can be used in elderly care and how to involve the general public in this discussion in a constructive way.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Political business cycles and economic growth in Africa	[ "Africa", "Economic growth", "Political business cycle" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: For some decades now, economists have focused much of their attention on assessing macroeconomic variations as an interaction between government behavior and market forces. This led to the development of the models of political cycles. Political business cycles (PBCs) are cycles in macroeconomic variables such as inflation, unemployment, output, and so forth, which are caused by the electoral cycle. These models are categorized broadly into the \"opportunistic\" (electoralist) and the \"partisan.\" The \"opportunistic\" has it that all governments, irrespective of their ideological orientation, apply the same expansionary policies ahead of elections in order to increase their popularity and brighten their chances of being re-elected. The \"partisan\" proclaims that right-wing and left-wing governments select different policies and produce different results that reveal the preferences of their class-defined main political electorates. Thus, cycles are caused by differences among parties in their philosophy and economic goals.\n2. Literature review: There has been an extensive argument about the existence of PBCs both in the developed and developing world. Incidentally, the emerging literature has significantly illustrated the presence of PBCs in African countries. In this section, we present a theoretical argument and an up to date review of the suitable empirical literature regarding the existence of PBCs and how it affects economic performance.\n3. Model specification, estimation strategy and data: In addressing the issue of PBCs and money growth, the study investigates the influence of election cycles on money supply in the light of government expenditure. We follow the work of Mosley and Chiripanhura (2016) and consequently estimate the following empirical model:(1)\n4. Data analysis and discussion of results: This paper examines the existence of PBC and how it translates to economic growth in the Africa region. The empirical analysis is as follows.\n5. Conclusion and recommendations: The main objectives of the study were to confirm the existence of the PBC in Africa and to assess how that translates to economic growth in the region. The paper uses the money supply (M) as a policy variable and PGDP to measure economic growth. To measure the impact of government expenditure in an election year on the policy variable, we interacted government expenditure with the election dummy ELE and to see the impact of the policy variable in an election year on economic growth, we interacted \"ELE\" with the policy variable (M) to get ELEGOVEXP and ELEM, respectively. The ELE dummy takes the value 1 if there have been presidential elections in that year and 0 otherwise. To get a minimum error term, we controlled for the phenomena that affect money supply and economic growth. Using Equations (1) and (2), we estimated an unbalanced panel model using data from 39 African countries over the period 1990-2014. We presented robust estimation results of the FE and REMs. The robust estimation was to control for serial correlation and heteroskedasticity. Following Hausman's test acceptance of the null hypothesis of no correlation between the unobserved heterogeneity and the regressors suggesting the appropriateness of the REM over the FEM in Equation (1) and its rejection of the REM in Equation (2), we concentrate on the results from the REM in (1) and on the FEM in (2). We found a positive and significant relationship between money supply and government expenditure in an election year indicating the existence of the PBC in Africa. We also found a negative and significant relationship between PGDP and money growth in an election year indicating that at the aggregate level, PBCs do not translate to economic growth in African countries. We thus conclude that PBC exists in Africa and it does more harm than good to African economies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand both the incidence and the impact of the African political business cycle (PBC) in the light of a literature which has argued that, with major extensions of democracy since the 1990s, the cycle has both become more intense and has made African political systems more fragile. It answers two very important macroeconomic questions crucial to the validity of the opportunistic model. It, first, answers the question of whether election cycles contribute to money growth in the light of government expenditure, and second, whether election cycles have an effect on economic growth in the light of money supply.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs data from 39 African countries from 1990 to 2014 to address these important empirical questions using panel regression techniques.\nFindings: The paper found PBC to be present in Africa. It also found that such cycles do not translate to economic performance in African countries. The paper therefore indicates the need for African policy makers to take measures to eliminate or lessen the scale of PBCs.\nSocial implications: There are many ways in which today's political choices affect future well-being. Recently, economists have concluded that we pass on the inflationary (or deflationary) consequences of current policies to the future generation.\nOriginality/value: This paper is unique in its approach to investigate the objectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Great expectations? Female expatriates' perceptions of organisational performance and development reviews in supporting access to international assignments	[ "Gender", "Women", "Careers", "Expatriates", "Organizational justice", "Performance and development reviews" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Expatriation generates career capital (Dickmann et al., 2018) and acts as a precursor to leadership (Dickmann and Baruch, 2011). Yet, women comprise only 25 per cent of organisationally assigned expatriates industry wide (Santa Fe Relocation, 2018). Thus, impediments in undertaking expatriation are concerning not only to women who wish to pursue leadership roles but also to employers given increased organisational interest in building, maintaining and retaining a more diverse expatriate talent pool (Pinto et al., 2012) and given recognised shortages of international managers (Collings et al., 2007).\nLiterature review: Organisationally assigned expatriation refers to positions in foreign subsidiaries offered to employees by their current employers (Andresen et al., 2014). Commonly used to develop international competencies by employers building multi-national talent pools (Haslberger and Brewster, 2009), expatriation provides career development at managerial levels and leadership preparation (Dickmann and Baruch, 2011). As Suutari et al. (2018) note, while firms recruit to bring in international experience, they are more likely to assign expatriate positions internally. Hence, working in a multi-national institution may bring employee expectations of organisationally assigned international mobility. Given the career potential that is expected from undertaking an international assignment, expatriation should provide an attractive option for individuals to develop career capital (Dickmann et al., 2018).\nMethod: This research represents one strand of a major project on female organisationally assigned expatriation in the UK-based oil and gas industry. A case study approach was selected as this is appropriate for broad research topics that draw upon multiple evidence sources set within complex contextual conditions. Case study research enables in-depth understanding of social phenomena and permits a range of different analysis techniques; it also enables a line of enquiry that can explore unclear boundaries between data subjects and their environment, such as expatriates and their real-life employment contexts, to gain a deeper understanding of contextual issues on individuals' experiences (Richardson, 2017).\nFindings: The policy documentation perspective\nDiscussion: The findings from this research indicate that Oil Co.'s written international assignment and APR/ADR policies do not directly highlight access to expatriate opportunities and thus do not intend to set up automatic employee expectations of international mobility as a means of gaining career growth. Rig Co.'s written international assignment policy suggests access to expatriate opportunities via the APR/ADR processes but the review policies themselves make no mention of expatriate career opportunities. Despite the literature highlighting career benefits from undertaking organisationally initiated expatriation (Suutari et al., 2018), organisational performance and development review policy in the case study firms presents a surprisingly neutral picture. This might suggest the firms are cognisant of uncertainties linked to long-term international mobility and repatriation career problems (De Cieri et al., 2009) or, more simply, that expatriation does not provide a publicly acknowledged route to career development.\nConcluding remarks: Women report a lack of understanding of how annual performance and development review processes are used by top management within organisational succession planning and talent reviews. Nonetheless, women recognise the value of review conversations and use these to ensure their future expatriate ambitions are known. Thus, women's perceptions of organisational justice remain intact while they maintain belief in the efficacy of the procedures used to implement review policies to access expatriation. Notwithstanding this, women are cognisant that annual reviews may be insufficient by themselves to gain access to expatriate positions. Hence, they cultivate other means of raising awareness of their expatriate goals, including informal networking with senior management. Such interpersonal conversations support women's sense of interactional justice in their pursuit of international careers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of organisational performance and development review policy and practice on women's access to international careers via long-term expatriate assignments in the oil and gas industry, with a specific focus on women's perceptions of procedural justice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative cross-sectional case study research design is used to analyse performance and development review, and international assignment policies in two firms, together with in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 Human Resource policy custodians and 21 female long-term current assignees.\nFindings: Women assignees do not see performance and development reviews as effective mechanisms to access expatriate roles. Nonetheless, women use these procedures while also operating within senior male networks to signal their desire to expatriate.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study identifies differences between organisational policy objectives and policy implementation, and female assignees' experiences and expectations of accessing expatriate roles. Women's perceptions of organisational justice are not harmed because women place more emphasis on process and conversations than on policy. Research propositions are suggested extending organisational justice theory.\nPractical implications: Clear articulation of performance and development review processes aids organisational succession planning. Formalised, transparent expatriate career management supports women's access to expatriation. The roles of key personnel in determining access to expatriate career paths require clarification.\nOriginality/value: This paper extends our knowledge of women's organisationally assigned expatriate careers and perceptions of procedural justice. Women use performance and development reviews to access expatriate opportunities. Employer action aligned to policy intent could help increase female expatriate participation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation has the right prescription for diversity: Company earns top slot in annual ranking	[ "Equal opportunities", "Pharmaceutical industry", "Awards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A focused strategic diversity and inclusion plan, the support of senior executives and a commitment to accountability helped Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) - which has doubled the number of women in its top-level jobs in the last five years - to reach No. 1 in this year's DiversityInc top 50 companies for diversity.\nDiversity integrated into talent management and recruitment: In the past year, the company's diversity and inclusion department and the EDIC implemented a strategic-planning process that included an organizational assessment and analysis of both the internal and external landscape. As a result, the company has a new paradigm focused on integrating diversity and inclusion into its processes, including clinical trials and go-to-market strategies, as well as talent management and recruitment.\nCommitment to equal opportunities: NPC's commitment to equal opportunities is consistent with the company's values and behaviors - and has a strong business rationale. As the US workforce becomes more diverse, all companies face the challenge of creating new and better ways of recruiting and retaining talent from all demographic groups.\nMeeting business priorities: \"Diversity and inclusion are foundational to our culture\", said Rhonda Crichlow, vice-president and head of USA diversity and inclusion. \"We believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences bring value in many ways - by helping us to address the needs of patients and customers, enhancing immeasurably our work environment and enabling all associates to contribute fully, maximize their potential and ultimately succeed in meeting our business priorities. We thank our associates for their energy, commitment and collaboration that have brought diversity and inclusion to life in our organization, to support our patients, customers and the communities we serve.\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest, Editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to describe the actions that have helped Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation to reach No. 1 in this year's DiversityInc top 50 companies for diversity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It examines the roles of the company's executive diversity and inclusion council, diversity and inclusion councils, the diversity and inclusion department and employee-resource groups.\nFindings: It reveals that the number of women in top-level jobs at the company has more than doubled in the past five years. Today, women account for more than 50 per cent of executive-leadership positions.\nPractical implications: It advances the view that getting strategic about diversity and inclusion - and making these elements a natural part of the way a company does business - drives innovation and moves the business and people forward.\nSocial implications: It demonstrates that, as the US workforce becomes more diverse, all companies face the challenge of creating new and better ways of recruiting and retaining talent from all segments of the workforce - and creating an inclusive culture where all perspectives are valued.\nOriginality/value: It highlights the key role of diversity at a US affiliate of a multinational pharmaceutical company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Preparing for natural hazards: normative and attitudinal influences	[ "Social norms", "Attitudes", "Natural disasters", "New Zealand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In areas susceptible to experiencing adverse natural hazard (e.g. earthquakes, floods, hurricanes) consequences, adopting protective measures (storing food and water, securing household items and furniture to prevent injury, developing a household emergency plan) in advance of any hazard activity is vital to minimising the risk of injury, death and property damage. Despite the efforts of civic emergency management agencies to make information on hazards and how to deal with available to the public, the goal of ensuring sustained levels of natural hazard preparedness has proved elusive. People living in communities at risk from natural hazards continue to demonstrate poor knowledge of risk mitigation procedures and a reticence to adopt protective measures (Johnston et al., 1999; Lechliter and Willis, 1996; Hurnen and McClure, 1997; Rustemli and Karanci, 1999).A prominent reason for this is that people do not necessarily act on information received, even if it might be in their best interests to do so. It is not information per se that determines action, but how people interpret it in the context of their experience, beliefs and expectations. Perceptions of risks and hazards are culturally and socially constructed, and social groups construct different meanings for potentially hazardous situations (Dake, 1992; Hardin and Higgins, 1996; Marris et al., 1998; Rippl, 2002; Rohrmann, 1994). What constitutes a threat is more to do with individual perceptions than attributes of the risk. This view suggests that, to be effective, risk communication strategies must accommodate these social influences.Recent studies of preparedness for earthquake and bushfire hazards (Paton et al., 2003a; Paton et al., 2006) support for this view. Critical awareness, which measures how frequently people think about and discuss hazard issues, was included as a parsimonious measure of the social influences on preparedness in these studies. However, in each case, it proved to be a significant predictor of decisions both to prepare and not to prepare. While discourse about hazard issues among community members remains important, a more searching analysis of the relationship between it and the social cognitions that inform peoples' behavioural decisions is required. Two candidates for advancing understanding of this relationship are the attitudes people hold regarding hazards and their mitigation and the social norms that influence how they perceive the importance of preparing (Bagozzi, 1992; Bennett and Murphy, 1997; Donald and Cooper, 2001).Attitudes\nMethod: Participants\nResults: The means, standard deviations and ranges of the variables are described in Table I. To test hypothesis one, the relevant variables were entered into a path analysis. The modelling analysis was conducted using the AMOS 5.0 structural equation modelling program. The goodness of fit of the model was assessed through the normed fit index (NFI) and the goodness of fit index (GFI). Values for the NFI are derived from comparing the hypothesised model with a model that is independent of variables in the model. The GFI can be classified as absolute indexes of fit as it compares the hypothesised model with no model at all (Byrne, 2001). For both the NFI and the GFI values range from zero to 1.00, with values close to 1.00 indicating a good fit. The path analysis for the first hypothesis is summarised in Figure 1. The bold lines indicate significant paths, while the dotted lines show non-significant pathways.H1 was supported. The model provided an acceptable fit for the data (kh2 (1)=0.306, p=0.580, NFI=0.99, GFI=0.99). Positive attitudes had direct and indirect influences on intentions to prepare. The influence of positive attitudes and positive subjective norms on intention to prepare was, as predicted, mediated by outcome expectancy. Action coping had an independent influence on intentions to prepare only. Positive subjective norms had no direct influence on intentions to prepare, but had an indirect influence mediated by outcome expectancies. Positive subjective norms regarding hazard preparedness increased individuals' outcome expectancies. That is, it increased their belief in their personal ability to manage hazard consequences. This model accounted for 23 per cent of the variance in behavioural intentions.To test H2, a path analysis was performed using the AMOS 5.0 structural equation modelling program. The results are presented in Figure 2. Significant paths are shown in bold, while non-significant paths are shown with dotted lines. The model provided an acceptable fit for the data (kh2 (1)=1.43, p=0.230, NFI=0.97, GFI=0.99). Neither negative attitudes nor negative subjective norms had direct influences on intention to seek information. The influence of negative attitudes was mediated by outcome expectancy. Negative attitudes to hazard preparedness had a significant negative influence on outcome expectancy. While these results do not provide unqualified support for hypothesis two, they support the role of negative attitudes in reducing the likelihood of preparing.\nDiscussion: The results supported H1. Positive attitudes to hazard mitigation and existing in a social context (social norms) that advocates adopting protective behaviours, belief in the effectiveness of personal mitigation (outcome expectancy) and good problems solving (action coping) skills increase the likelihood of adopting protective measures for earthquakes. Positive attitudes towards hazard preparedness are important, and their influence must be accommodated in risk communication. Additional work is required to identify the origins of these attitudes, as well identifying strategies for attitude change (Bagozzi, 1992). The data highlight the role that significant others play in influencing the adoption of protective measures. Significant others (family, friends etc.) who view favourably the adoption of protective measures can influence individual beliefs regarding the efficacy of adopting protective measures and the effectiveness of individual actions in mitigating the effects associated with earthquake hazards.These results help explain why strategies based on the passive presentation of information to people fails to produce the anticipated change in behaviour. Engaging in discourse with significant others plays an important role in fostering and/or reaffirming beliefs regarding the benefits of adopting protective measures. The more people actively discuss hazards and the protective measures that can be implemented to mitigate their consequences, the more salient hazard issues will become in a community. This, in turn, facilitates the development of attitudes and subjective norms conducive to the adoption of protective measures (Hardin and Higgins, 1996).These findings highlight a need for strategies to encourage discourse regarding natural hazards and protective measures to target communities, groups, families and friends, rather than focussing exclusively on the individual. That is, if they are to increase the likelihood of achieving sustained levels of hazard preparedness, risk communication strategies must include a strong community engagement focus (Paton, 2005).The findings presented here support the utility of the cultural risk paradigm in hazards research. People rank social issues and hazards according to perceived importance (Doll and Ajzen, 1992; Flynn et al., 1999; Paton, 2003). As cultural theory alludes, people align themselves with certain worldviews that confirm and support their own worldview, while in turn providing them with a viable worldview (Marris et al., 1998). This reiterates the need to move away from reliance on the passive presentation of information to people and communities. Rather, strategies for encouraging and sustaining positive discourse about hazards and their mitigation within a community should be prioritized in future risk communication work.The path analysis demonstrated that action coping had an independent influence on intentions to prepare. The more a person is predisposed to believe in their abilities to resolve problems, the more likely they are to form intentions to adopt protective measures. However, positive attitudes, positive subjective norms and outcome expectancies had no influence on action coping. This suggests that action coping is an internal, dispositional characteristic that exercises an influence that is independent of natural hazard issues per se. Again, risk communication strategies based on the passive presentation of information will not lead to positive shifts in levels of this variable. Strategies to facilitate change in action coping should be based on engaging community members in activities that assist the development of their problem solving competencies (Paton, 2005).The data did not provide unqualified support for H2. Negative attitudes were implicated in reducing the likelihood of preparing, with their role in this regard being mediated by their significant, detrimental influence on peoples' beliefs in their ability to mitigate hazard effects through personal action. It is clear that other factors must be at work.Failure to adopt protective measures may arise if people infer from their prior ability to deal with smaller earthquakes a capacity to deal with any future occurrence (Johnston et al., 1999). A failure to prepare could also stem from \"unrealistic optimism bias.\" When confronted with a particular threat an individual may perceive themselves as being less at risk than their peers (Weinstein and Lyon, 1999). While people may acknowledge a need for great preparedness, they attribute this need to others, reducing the likelihood of their acting on information (particularly when presented in a passive format). Not preparing may also be influenced by trait anxiety, which increases the likelihood of people transferring responsibility for their safety to others (Weinstein et al., 2000). Finally, it could also reflect a social-cultural predisposition to place greater emphasis on protecting those citizens perceived as vulnerable (Flynn et al., 1999). This would suggest that people who form intentions to seek information are transferring risk, and thus the need to prepare, to those perceived as the more vulnerable sectors of the community. While this may reflect altruistic motives, it may reduce the likelihood of their accepting a personal need to prepare.\nConclusion: The model presented here is not a comprehensive one. It added to our understanding of the range of factors that influence hazard preparedness and provided additional validation of the need to include the social context in risk communication. The development of more comprehensive models would require the additional inclusion of variables such as trust, sense of community, self-efficacy, and hazard anxiety (Paton et al., 2003a).The present study has significant implications for the development of strategies designed to encourage the sustained adoption of protective measures for natural hazards. The data presented here support the benefits of basing risk communication strategies within a cultural paradigm. In this context, knowledge based strategies designed to influence level of outcome expectancy (e.g. Hurnen and McClure, 1997) must be complemented with community engagement and empowerment strategies designed to influence attitudes, norms and problem solving skills (Paton, 2005).Further research is needed to examine how hazard attitudes are formed, sustained and organized, as well as how they can be changed to facilitate the sustained adoption of protective measures. Work also needs to be directed to identifying those with whom normative comparisons are made and the relative influence of different referents. That is, can referents (significant others) be differentiated with regard to their influence on hazard preparedness decisions? Are some referents more influential than others?Trafimow and Fishbein (1994) drew a distinction between general and specific referents. Referents such as parents and spouses are important irrespective of the behaviour under consideration. This would suggest that family dynamics would represent an appropriate target for intervention (Paton and Burgelt, 2005). Other referents are salient in specific situations or in relation to specific behaviours. For example, a police officer was only a salient referent when one was considering speeding (Trafimow and Fishbein, 1994). Attention must be directed not just to mobilising social resources, but also to considering which social resources should be mobilised to facilitate change in specific behaviours (Paton et al., 2003a). Risk minimisation strategies that focus on significant others may need to consider whether particular referents are given more credence than others. For example, a geologist referent may be appropriate when the focus of intervention is on the relationship between hazards and effective mitigation (important for increasing outcome expectancy). A further consideration is whether sections of the community can be differentiated with regard to the source(s) they find most influential (Latimer and Martin-Ginis, 2005). If groups can be differentiated in this regard, strategies will need to be developed to accommodate this aspect of diversity (Paton, 2005). It will also be pertinent to examine whether referents can be influential vicariously, or whether contact is a requirement.The quantitative approach used here limited opportunities to explore these issues. While providing an appropriate method for examining core influences on preparedness intentions, it precluded more systematic examination of reasoning processes that underpinned the observed responses (e.g. regarding identification of the referents used, how attitudes formed), or how information is processed within complex cultural contexts. Nor does it help identify what is influencing subjective norms in the first place and whether different people or groups are relying on different reference groups. Given the importance of these issues for the adoption of protective actions, future work should be complimented with qualitative analyses of underlying reasoning processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to further develop a model of natural hazard preparedness by examining the role of attitudes to natural hazards and their mitigation and social norms. It aims to examine whether social-cultural factors influence the decisions people make regarding their relationship with natural hazards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey data were collected from 156 residents in Napier, New Zealand. A cross-sectional design was used. Data were analysed using the AMOS 5 structural equation modelling program.\nFindings: - Positive attitudes to hazard mitigation, existing in a social context that advocates adopting protective behaviours, belief in the effectiveness of personal mitigation (outcome expectancy) and good problem solving (action coping) skills increase the likelihood of adopting protective measures for earthquakes. The research identified how attitudes and social norms influence the perception of hazards and how people make preparedness decisions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further research is needed to examine how hazard attitudes are formed, sustained and organized, as well as how they can be changed to facilitate the sustained adoption of protective measures. Work also needs to be directed to identifying those with whom normative comparisons are made and the relative influence of different referents.\nPractical implications: - The findings argue for a move away from reliance on the passive presentation of information to people and communities that dominates risk communication. Rather, strategies for encouraging and sustaining positive discourse about hazards and their mitigation within a community should be prioritized in future risk communication work.\nOriginality/value: - Provides new insights into the relationship between people and natural hazards and provides empirical support for the inclusion of attitudes and social norms in risk communication work. It provides additional support for accommodating the social and cultural context in the development and delivery of risk communication strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An autoethnographic account of a pragmatic inclusionary strategy and tactics as a form of feminist activism	[ "Higher education", "Autoethnographic", "Feminist institutionalism", "Feminist activism", "Pragmatic inclusionary strategy", "Tactics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Universities have historically been hierarchically male dominated institutions with men constituting the majority of those in senior academic and management positions in a masculinised structure and culture, which reinforces women's subordinate position and lack of \"recognition\" (Fraser, 2008). Witz (2013) identified exclusionary strategies which denied women's access to the professions in the nineteenth and twentieth century. She also described inclusionary strategies: \"the upwards, countervailing exercise of power by a social group which is hit by exclusionary strategies, but which in its turn, seeks inclusion within the structure of positions from which its members are collectively debarred\" (Witz, 2013, p. 48). She identified credentialist and legalistic tactics used in pursuit of that strategy. More subtle exclusionary strategies persist in male dominated areas in higher education (HE) while female dominated areas, which are likely to have greater gender equality in terms of leadership, are devalued (England, 2010). This paper is concerned with the identification of a pragmatic inclusionary strategy and tactics to increase gender parity in the male dominated academic professoriate.\nTheoretical framework: The theoretical perspective is that of Feminist Institutionalism (FI) (Mackay et al., 2010; Mackay, 2011). Building on the work of Acker (1990, 2006) on gendered organisations and Connell (1987, 2002) on gender regimes, FI is concerned with \"the gendered character of institutions and the gendering effects of institutions\" including \"mechanisms of continuity, and the promise and limits of gendered change\" (Mackay, 2011, p. 181). It sees gender operating at the structural and cultural level and at the formal and informal level. Gender is seen as a \"constitutive element of social relations based upon perceived (socially constructed and culturally variable) differences between women and men, and as a primary way of signifying (and naturalising) relations of power and hierarchy\" (Mackay et al., 2010, p. 580). It suggests that a devaluation of women is implicit in the very construction of gender. Gendered structures, procedures, practices, processes, criteria and culture normalise and hence implicitly legitimate that devaluation.\nNational context: Ireland is a small country (4.8m) with a strong tradition of clientelism. No woman has ever headed an Irish public university, although a minority have headed/head up public institutes of technology. Public universities operate under the Universities Act (1997) with neoliberal thinking reflected in identifying a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role for the president. The Act requires the promotion of gender balance among staff, the preparation and implementation of a university policy on gender equality and the establishment of related structures. There has been little attempt at effective implementation (a common Irish pattern: OECD, 2012). The HEA has an advisory, review and monitoring role relating to the promotion of gender balance among university staff. Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), a major non-statutory funder of Irish HE identified gender inequality as a social justice issue in the 1990s.\nMethodology: The methodology involves analytic autoethnography (Anderson, 2006). At the heart of all autoethography lies a recognition that it is \"a form of self-narrative that places the self within the social context\" (Styhre and Tienari, 2013, p. 197). Evocative autoethnography involves a personal account of a life (Hearn, 2014) or a response to a specific situation (Yassour-Borochowitz, 2012): \"the mode of storytelling is akin to the novel or biography [...] the narrative text refuses to abstract and explain\" (Ellis and Bochner, 2000, p. 744). Anderson (2006, p. 378) sees analytic ethnography as having five key characteristics: \"complete member researcher status\"; \"analytic reflexivity\", \"narrative visibility of the researcher's self\", \"dialogue with informants beyond the self\" and \"commitment to theoretical analysis\". It has similarities with Liu and Pechenkina's (2016, p. 186) reflective autoethnography in its concern with \"a theoretical understanding of social processes\" (Anderson, 2006, p. 387). As in that work (Liu and Pechenkina, 2016, p. 191) \"lived experiences\", are examined in \"hindsight\", frequently focussing on \"epiphanies\", which are self-claimed phenomena [...] that created long-lasting effects and memories as a result of an experienced \"intense\" situation\".\nNature of the organisation: obstacles and opportunities: The University of Limerick (UL) is a regional public university, with over 13,000 students and 1,300 academic and non-academic staff. One of seven public universities, it operates under the Universities Act (1997), receiving funding from the state through the HEA. It was founded as a National Institute for HE by Ed Walsh to meet the needs of local industry, with a strong focus on applied and interdisciplinary areas, particularly in engineering and technology (Walsh and Fagan, 2011). It was awarded university status in 1989. Its founder remained its president for 28 years and power even in the 1990s, was concentrated in him, although collegial structures and processes existed. The staffing model in the 1980s and 1990s was a business model, at a time when neoliberalism was not part of the Irish HE system. The 1998-2007 period was one of extraordinary internal instability in UL (Thorn, 2017), with the appointment of four presidents and five directors of human resources. A more stable organisational period coincided with the national economic recession (2008-2014). UNITE is the only union recognised in UL. Its strength internally has varied over time, although it has appeared to have little interest in gender equality.\nTactics: vignettes and themes: As De Certeau (1984) recognised, tactics are shaped in specific situations and in response to opportunities. Those outlined below varied in the degree to which they were consciously planned. Although they occurred between 1992 and 2016, they were labelled much more recently: this labelling being done abductively as an analytical device. These tactics necessitated \"border work\": defined by Newman (2013, p. 216) as \"self-work to manage tensions and dilemmas\" arising from being \"inside-outside\", [...] \"shouting from the sidelines\" [...] being \"marginal\", being \"in and against\": reflecting a state of ambiguity arising from being part of and yet separate from the dominant order. At times I was afraid, often angry, frequently exhausted. I avoided burn-out by availing of a research day - normally on a Friday - so that I had a chance to recover over the week-end. I kept a list of what I considered my successes on the back of my office door. I found that position (as a professor and later dean) protected me somewhat from male devaluation, although it also isolated me from female solidarity.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The proportion of women at (full) professor level in UL increased from zero in 1997 to 31 per cent in 2016 -far exceeding the national and EU averages. Using an FI perspective, combing it with Correll's (2017) work on small wins, Meyerson's and Scully's (1995) work on \"tempered radicals\", De Certeau's (1984) work on strategy and tactics, and nuancing Witz's (2013) work on inclusionary strategies, this paper contributes to an FI analysis of the process of organisational change by identifying and elaborating on the concept of a pragmatic inclusionary strategy and tactics in one neoliberal HE context. Using an analytic autoethnographic methodology, it focusses on the limits and possibilities of feminist agency in that male dominated masculinist context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the enactment of a pragmatic inclusionary strategy and related tactics as a form of feminist activism in one university.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses analytic autoethnography.\nFindings: It shows how it is possible for a feminist activist to create limited change in what is typically seen as an intractable indicator of gender equality, i.e. gender parity at full professorial level.\nResearch limitations/implications: Analytic autoethnography as a method has considerable methodological limitations although it also offers insights into insider strategies and tactics.\nPractical implications: The identification of such a strategy and tactics may be useful to activists, decision-makers and policy makers with an interest in tackling any source of inequality.\nSocial implications: The identification of such a strategy and tactics may be useful to activists, decision-makers and policy makers with an interest in tackling any source of inequality.\nOriginality/value: Five tactics, reflecting a pragmatic inclusionary strategy are identified, i.e. provocative misbehaviour; individualised managing management; perverse alignments; resisting silencing and gaining legitimacy; activating latent social movement ties to change national policy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gray marketing and its impacts on brand equity	[ "Brand equity", "Grey marketing", "International trade" ]	[ { "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.\nI. Introduction: Owing to the emergence of trade blocks, such as the European Union and the NAFTA, and the two landmark court decisions in 1998 intended to clarify rules regarding the parallel importation[1], parallel importing has received greater attention in recent years (Dugan, 2001). In the meantime, various anti-gray marketing strategies, such as supply interference and product differentiation strategy, have been proposed to facilitate managerial control in these trade blocks. Parallel importation, or so-called \"gray marketing,\" refers to the selling of trademarked products through unauthorized distribution channels without the manufacturer's consent. Gray markets are, in general, not illegal, as opposed to so-called \"black markets\", which contain stolen or counterfeit goods. Gray goods are not stolen and they are physically \"genuine\", but their distributions and marketing are unauthorized. Gray-marketed goods are illegal only when they violate either the product regulations or the licensing contract of the trademark owner.For gray marketers, the obvious appeal of gray marketing is the higher resale potential for authorized goods in a different market. The price differential of authorized goods in different markets allows gray marketers to source where the authorized prices are low, buying the products from there and selling them in a market where the prices are high (Engardio et al., 1988). Other factors that may lead to gray marketing are:* When the authorized products have established price, performance, and market recognition that ensure demand and minimize consumer education.* When there is a lack of market focus by the authorized channel. Due to the manufacturer's market selection, expansion, and distribution, the branded product may be unavailable or inaccessible to authorized resellers. In this case, consumers may search for unauthorized firms with goods at competitive prices. Gray marketers may view the imbalance of supply and demand as an opportunity to make profits.* When there are major changes in consumer buying behavior that may also create gray marketing opportunities. A typical example is an increased demand for lower-priced goods, which may be accelerated by government policies (Mathur, 1995).Authorized goods and brand names are valuable assets; consequently, manufacturers and authorized agents often invest heavily into patents, product improvements, and warranties to protect them. A strong brand name can yield greater brand equity, and there is plenty of evidence to show that a company's brand equity positively affects future profits, long-term cash flow, and consumers' willingness to pay premium prices (Yoo et al., 2000). For years, international gray marketing on brand values has been a major but unsolved problem in a variety of industries. It has been widely perceived that gray marketing can erode the brand image of the authorized goods, strain channel relationships, and disrupt global planning efforts (Coleman and Militello, 1995; Eagle et al., 2003). Parallel importers are often able to gain a free ride, taking advantage of the market demand and brand image created and maintained by authorized agents without sharing in marketing efforts and expenses (Tan et al., 1997). Although \"free riding\" is not illegal, some people regard gray marketing behavior unethical, because gray marketers are \"squatters\" on the channel, using authorized goods and the authorized firms' identities to achieve their own objective (Mathur, 1995).In the international context, however, gray marketing as an unexpected impact on branding and brand equity, may actually assist in the penetration of foreign products into a domestic market, and it may actually increase the market share of the products (e.g. Mitchell, 1998). Moreover, gray-marketed goods may lead to market segmentation, as these goods are generally sold at a lower price but also with fewer services and warranties as compared to goods from authorized channels. Consequently, risk-averse consumers pay a higher price to buy authorized products; while those who can tolerate the risk buy the gray goods at a discounted price. The impact of gray marketing on brand equity, however, is still rather vague. Therefore it is necessary to determine whether the impact of gray marketing on brand equity is either positive or negative and what the magnitude of this impact might be.\nII. Literature review: Two streams of research provide the theoretical background for this study: gray marketing research and brand equity research.Gray marketing/parallel importing\nIII. Conceptual framework and research hypotheses: Two stimulus factors-source channel and product involvement-and one dependent variable-brand equity are presented in Figure 1. Three research hypotheses are formed and discussed as follows.Research hypotheses\nVI. Empirical study: Design and experimental manipulation\nIV. Results: Effects of source channel and product involvement stimuli\nV. Conclusions: Brand equity or brand value has received much attention since the mid-1990s. Brand equity and value are long-term investments designed by the company to build a sustainable, differential advantage relative to its competitors (Kamakura and Russell, 1993). Most studies in brand equity have focused on brand performance, on conflicting definitions of brand equity, and on seeking ways of measuring the value of equity. More and more studies are switching to examine the nature of equity and factors that may threaten it (Eagle et al., 2003). Two factors considered in this particular study may be of concern to manufacturers and authorized agents: parallel importing and product involvement. The findings presented earlier provide valuable strategic implications to international marketers and policy-makers.First, source channel (authorized goods versus gray goods) has a significant impact on brand equity. There are three sub-conclusions:1. Authorized goods have larger and more positive effects on brand equity than gray goods. This is found to be the case across individual brand equity dimensions. The possible reasons are that a parallel importer provides less service than an authorized agent, that gray goods are not customized for the domestic market, and that a consumer has less confidence in the quality of gray goods. Therefore, the gray goods have lower equity (lower scores) than authorized goods.2. If we split the data into two groups: high involvement and low involvement, it is found that there is no significant effect on the \"Other proprietary brand assets\" dimension in high involvement between authorized goods and gray goods. This supports the previous suggestion that gray goods can increase the penetration of the brand and increase the market share.3. Comparing the estimated value of brand equity in a source channel, it is found that the \"perceived quality\" earns the largest value. This indicates that consumers are most concerned with the difference of \"perceived quality\" between gray goods and authorized goods.Second, there exists significant difference in brand equity between high product involvement and low product involvement. The sub-conclusions here are:* A high involvement product has greater impact on brand equity than a low involvement product. However, this effect is not consistent across individual brand equity dimensions. Only \"brand awareness\" and \"other proprietary brand asset\" differ significantly between high and low involvement products.* If we split the data into two groups: authorized and gray goods, it is found that there is significant difference in \"brand awareness\" between high and low products only in authorized goods. This indicates that high involvement/authorized goods have powerful effects on market recognition, brand knowledge, and brand opinion, compared with low involvement/authorized goods.* Comparing the estimated value of brand equity in product involvement, it is found that \"Brand awareness\" and \"Other proprietary brand assets\" dimensions have significant and larger estimated values. This indicates that consumers perceive high involvement products as having stronger effects on these dimensions than low involvement product.Third, the most notable finding from this study may be that given the levels of stimuli, sourcing channel stimuli were found to have more powerful effects than product involvement on consumer evaluations of brand equity. The F-value of the multivariate measure for source channel is greater than product involvement (F-value is 4.3232 versus 3.9154); therefore, it is concluded that source channel has a more powerful effect on brand equity than does product involvement. This is found to be the case across individual brand equity dimensions, as the F-values and effect size (Eta square) of source channel are greater than product involvement.\nVI. Managerial implications: In accordance with the above conclusions, a variety of managerial implications are possible:* For authorized agents. Authorized agents could emphasize the \"perceived quality\" of their products in order to prevent \"market squatting\" from a gray marketer. Moreover, authorized agents selling high involvement products should give special care to the competition of market coverage from gray marketer.* For gray marketers. The gray goods could diffuse the product and the brand - particularly for products new to the market. Therefore, gray goods could emphasize the brand's knowledge or brand recognition and provide a valid and sensitive reflection of the brand's standing with their customers. Perhaps this is the main reason why there are no significant differences between gray goods and authorized goods in \"brand awareness\" and \"Other proprietary brand assets\".* For manufacturers. Manufacturers could adapt the contents or packaging of their products in order to match consumption behavior in each different country; this can also achieve the purpose of market segmentation.This study does have its shortcomings in research design, which may limit the generalization of the findings. The drawbacks include:* A limited number of product types examined, therefore, it causes a product-specific problem. Further studies may extend to a variety of product classes to investigate this issue.* The nature of sample, students may be likely to shop for gray goods than authorized goods because they tend to be more conscious of price and sensitive to differences in price. They therefore may be less sensitive to the difference of brand equity between authorized goods and gray goods.* The imprecise nature of the \"loyalty dimension\" factor when a subject has never used a particular product brand. To solve this problem, Lassar et al. (1995) suggest that we could use alternative brand equity dimensions as: performance, value, social image, trust, and commitment. The benefit of their measurement is small number of items but also the ability to measure the individual dimensions of brand equity.Gray marketing appears to have also helped the counterfeiting industry that passes fake goods off as parallel imports. It appears to be a serious problem as many counterfeit luxury goods are made in Mainland China. The parallel importation and its impact on the counterfeit goods are issues that need wider exposure. Our study can be extended to examine the relationship between parallel importing and counterfeiting, and their influences on brand equity. Moreover, some demographics variables such as age, sex, and socio-economic condition could be employed as moderating variables to re-examine the relationship between gray marketing and brand equity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of parallel importation on brand equity in high and low product involvement arrangements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A 2 x 2 (authorized goods/gray-marketed goods)x(high involvement/low involvement) between-subjects experimental design is utilized; consumer electronics and ballpoint pens are examined.\nFindings: - The results of this empirical study show that source channel (authorized goods versus gray goods) has a significant impact on brand equity; among the five brand equity dimensions, consumers are most concerned about the difference in \"perceived quality\" between gray goods and authorized goods; given the levels of stimuli, sourcing channel stimuli are found to have more powerful effects than product involvement on consumer evaluations of brand equity.\nPractical implications: - Marketing implications of the study are as follows. For authorized agents: they could emphasize the \"perceived quality\" of their products in order to prevent market \"squatting\" from gray marketers. For manufacturers: authorized goods have a stronger effect on brand equity than gray goods; therefore, manufacturers could adapt the contents and packaging of their products to match consumption behavior in each different country to achieve the purpose of market segmentation and to prevent the products from being diverted. For gray marketers: they should not only emphasize the lower prices of their products, but also highlight their brand knowledge and the brand recognition and provide a valid and sensitive reflection of the brand's standing to their customers.\nOriginality/value: - The most notable finding from this study may be that given the levels of stimuli, sourcing channel stimuli were found to have more powerful effects than product involvement on consumer evaluations of brand equity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interview with Mike Campbell, HR Director of easyJet: Interview by Rachel Brown	[ "Human resource management", "Customer service management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Mike Campbell joined easyJet in October 2005 as People Director. Before joining easyJet Mike worked at Wedgwood in a broad role as Director of People and Brands and Managing Director for Canada, Australia and Pan-Asia. Prior to that Mike worked for 14 years at Fujitsu in a variety of development and personnel roles across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, ending up as Chief Personnel Officer. His early career was in education and research.\nWhat attracted you to working in the field of HR?: I spent my early years in research and really enjoyed the seminars and tutorials I was involved in delivering. I drifted across into teaching after research and got a real buzz from that, so from there, due to a combination of family reasons and financial reasons, I ended up in training delivery. I then spent some time as a training manager and ended up getting a role in what was then called personnel. I grew fairly quickly through a number of roles in personnel and spent a lot of time looking after the creative design, the brown side of the business as well as a lot of the operational side of the business, so it's been a bit of a journey.\nYou delivered a session about branding during your session at the CIPD annual conference. How do HR and marketing come together?: I have a very simple view about enterprises. All enterprises in my view are about demand creation - stimulating, anticipating demand out in the marketplace, and working with creative marketers or advertising people to work out best how to stimulate demand. So there's an aspect to do with demand fulfilment, traditional things like sourcing, production, logistics, manufacturing; so how do you understand what the demand is and how do you fulfil that demand. And there's a third aspect to do with customer intimacy, which is really about the retail stores or the websites, the primary interface with the customer where you can capture that relationship or retain that relationship.Now, in each of the three areas you don't necessarily have to do all these things yourself; you can work with the marketers and advertisers, you can outsource production and all your logistics, you can franchise your retail stores, you can go through concessions or whatever it might be, but ultimately the core of your ability to succeed with that is about knowledge, people and brands. If you can line those things up together when you know who the best in the world at logistics provision is, you understand who the best suppliers might be, or who the best creative organization or ad agency might be, if you've got a clear talented group of people who are able to pull the organization behind that, you've got a frame of reference that's about your brand. This ultimately helps you decide what is or isn't fit about what your propositions to customers are; that's the core to the business.\nIs there a difference between the employer brand of easyJet and the company brand?: One of the things that I think is very important is that you've got an alignment between the two, because gone are the days when you can say one thing internally and a different thing externally. My own view is that everything has to be lined up. You can define us with our employer brand in the same way that you can define us with our company brand to the recipients of the brand - our customers or our current past and future employees.You've only got to look at the web sites that exist for the pilot community, the airline programme that we get involved in, the anecdotal information that goes through Galley FM around the airline industry about what it's like to work for certain companies. The definers of the employer brand are in truth the employees. So what we as an HR function have to do is to make sure we truly understand what it is that employees are saying and that we also then create the platforms to ensure that what they're saying is very positive and is absolutely consistent with what we want them to say, and is consistent with the company brand as well.\nHow can a strong employer brand improve levels of employee engagement?: I wouldn't be so sure as to say that employer brand improves employee engagement, but I think the two work in tandem. We've got an aspiration to be the best at what we do in the world; we've got five clear areas we're focused on. One of these is around safety elements - as an airline it's critical, we can't afford to compromise these and we don't. Operationally we've got to be world class in what we do. Our proposition needs to offer low cost with care and convenience. easyJet itself needs to be a great place to work because if we care for our employees they'll care for our customers, and if you put all these things together, you'll get a superior return on investment.Ultimately our employers have the ability to choose who they work for; we're delighted they choose us because we're really keen to attract and retain talented people. Our customers have a choice to choose who they fly with; we're really pleased they choose to fly with us, and we want them to keep flying with us; and our investors have a choice about who they invest with. If we can line all those three things up we can be on the virtuous circle of employees who are very constructive and who care about the business; we will drive more customers to come back to us more often, which will drive more improvement in company performance, which drives more investment, which drives growth, which attracts more people to come and work for us.\nWhat makes easyJet unique in terms of corporate culture?: Aside from the orange colour, the uniqueness is our people. It's actually quite difficult to try and describe that because words mean different things to different people, and the best way of describing it is to go and experience one of our flights. You only have to see our crew working and you can see the impact they have on the people who are boarding the aircraft, the way they set the tone on board, and the way they create an experience that people want to come back to time after time after time. It's not an expensive flight, our average price is about PS40, a significant number of people can buy it for less than that, what they see is different about easyJet is that we care. We care about our customers by caring for our people.\nWhat is the biggest challenge you have faced in your role recently?: These sort of questions are really difficult because if you focus on one particular answer you belittle the other things. If you read the corporate strategist's view of what distinguishes a business they'll often look for the USP. The USP for easyJet is not any one thing, it's that we do everything well. You can't operate a high volume, low cost business without doing each piece of it really well because it's indispensable across the network. So our aircraft has to be the best aircraft there is, we have the best people and we've clearly got the best customers, so by aligning all those things together, by operating our business in an efficient and effective way across everything we do, that's what makes easyJet successful.If I think back to what I'd like my legacy to be in this business, I'd like to make sure that at the end of my time in easyJet we'll be recognised as a truly European airline. There's a lot of energy and effort going into making this a great European airline. We have institutionalised learning so we don't keep reinventing the wheel, we build learning into our organization because as we're growing we'll need to continue to expand and we'll need to continue to do things we've done very well.\nA big issue in business today is climate change. As an airline you are part of an industry which has a huge carbon footprint. Do you think your employees are disengaged by the current press about climate change, and if so do you take any measures to combat this?: I don't think they're disengaged at all actually; like me a lot of our employees are concerned that the press and the politicians are misleading the public a little bit. That's not to say that airlines don't pollute, we do, but let's get this into perspective. If you look at carbon missions worldwide 20 per cent are caused by lighting, 18 per cent by deforestation, 10 per cent by transport generally, and less than 2 per cent by airlines.Separately, we still have to acknowledge that we have a responsibility for 2 per cent of carbon emissions. We are accountable for them, and our view on that is we all have responsibility to reduce these. We're taking action to do that on a number of fronts, and one of our fronts is by our continuing investment in new aircraft. Our carbon emissions from our new aircraft are much lower than in older ones. We're also putting more of our efforts and energies on the ground, in the air and with our people about trying to reduce carbon emissions, even down to collecting rubbish on board which can be recycled. We have a strong focus on the future and we're investing in research and technology to make sure that the newer craft and technology that's released in 2015 will be much more environmentally friendly.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present the views of Mike Campbell HR Director at easyJet.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper provides an interview with Mike Campbell who has a wealth of experience in development and personnel roles across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.\nFindings: - The paper finds new insights into the methods of people management at easyJet.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides an insightful interview with Mike Campbell.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bond audit, a method for evaluating business relationships	[ "Channel relationships", "Strategic audit", "Service improvements", "Relationship marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A focus on cooperative industrial business relationships has become increasingly important in studies of industrial relationships. Demands for lower prices and an increase in profits, shorter product cycles and global competition are some of the forces affecting suppliers and customers in the industrial market pressing them to have stronger relationships (Holmlund and Kock, 1995). As a result the bonds between the companies become more important. This is due to the fact that bonds are building blocks of relationships that affect the stability in the cooperation between companies. The strength of bonds affects the strength of the total business relationship. Technical, time, knowledge, economic, legal, social, geographical, cultural, ideological, psychological and strategic bonds exist in a business relationship. By breaking up the business relationship and by analyzing and manipulating the bonds it is possible to affect the relationship. If the relationships between companies are strong it is usually a sign that the companies will cooperate for a longer time and that may affect the companies' competitive and financial strength positively (Storbacka et al., 1994). This is true because the focus is on cultivating the current relationship instead of building new relationships. Different bonds that exist between the companies affect the relationships. \"A bond must exist, in however weak a form when economic exchanges take place between supplier and customer\" (Easton and Araujo, 1986, pp.11). But how is it possible to strengthen and weaken relationships? Which parts of a relationship should managers focus on? It is always easy to discuss the importance of having strong relationships and the importance of weakening and terminating unprofitable relationships, but which parts of the relationship should be strengthened or weakened in order to get the desired effect on the business relationship? The purpose of this paper is to build a bond audit for auditing business relationships.The paper continues with presentations of bonds: a general definition and specifications of different bonds in theory. The methodology part includes theories regarding systematic combining that stem from abductive research is presented as well as information regarding the case studies and the interviews conducted. The findings present the bond audit and the method for analyzing bond strength, and also includes' a visualization of the strength of different bonds. The conclusion part includes theoretical conclusions, managerial implications, further research questions, and the limitations of the paper.\n2. Bonds: There are different kinds of bonds that bind the buyer and the supplier together. Bonds can be defined as exit barriers that tie the buyer to the supplier and maintain the relationship (Liljander and Strandvik, 1995). Even unsatisfied customers may have strong relationships to suppliers due to bonds that function as exit barriers (Liljander and Strandvik, 1995). But bonds also have more positive connotations that are important for the continuation of the relationship or for the strengthening of the relationship. Companies have decreased the number of suppliers and have instead started more intense cooperation with the remaining suppliers. The strength of bonds affects the strength of the relationship. The nature of the character of bonds is that bonds may be viewed or perceived differently over time. Bonds are therefore dynamic and change over time. Dynamics refer to the change of bond strength and thus also relationship strength since bond strength affects relationship strength. Bonds do not have to remain as the status quo but may also change in strength so that for instance strong bonds become weak and weak bonds become strong.The model structure containing 11 bonds is the richest and most expanded view on bonds at present. It incorporates findings from sociology and industrial and services marketing, and it bridges gaps that have existed in the industrial business relationships literature. Gaps have existed regarding for instance cultural, ideological and psychological bonds. It is also a manageable structure that is easy to use for analyzing empirical material even though the structure is rich and it is perceived to be the most suitable model for the purpose.2.1 General definition of bonds\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Systematic combining\n4 Findings: 4.1 Bond audit: a tool for analyzing networks and relationships\n5. Conclusions: Bonds were found to be important regulators of business relationships. By influencing the bonds one may have possibilities to strengthen or weaken the business relationship: strengthen the business relationship in order to increase business and revenue, and weaken the relationship in order to terminate business where the revenue is low or where there may be other problems in the relationship. The bond audit can and has already been used as a tool for audits and consulting activity with the aim of strengthening business relationships as well as networks, and to improve business processes. By measuring the strength of different bonds it is possible to strengthen weak bonds in order to strengthen the business relationship. It may indeed be difficult to keep up strong bonds with all counterparts in the cooperation. The company must strategically decide what or which kind of companies it wants to cooperate with and act according to that decision. The decision can be made on monetary profits to be made: is it good for the reputation to cooperate with the company; is it good for technical development, logistics development, and so on? When the strategic decision has been made then it is time to focus on strengthening the weaker bonds to the preferred companies and on keeping the strong bonds strong through investments and adaptations towards the counterpart in the cooperation or to phase out the cooperation in a controlled manner with companies where relationship dissolution is preferred.Another important finding in this paper is that bonds can be divided into core and support bonds. Core bonds are very important bonds that have an immense importance for the relationship and for the continuation of the relationship. The core bonds are bonds that have such an importance for the relationship that if one of these bonds is drastically weakened or put under pressure it can cause the termination of the whole relationship. On the other hand the core bonds may strengthen the whole relationship when they are strengthened. The relative weight of the core bonds is thus higher for the relationship than the support bonds.The support bonds rarely cause the termination of a relationship single-handedly but they can cause the termination of the relationship in the long run when their effect is accumulated. These support bonds do, however, affect the relationship, thus strengthening or weakening the relationship. In cases where a core bond has broken the relationship, support bonds may still exist under the surface as residual bonds, and the relationship may start again thanks to residual social, cultural, knowledge, geographical, ideological or psychological bonds.Bond management can be used to affect the cooperation. Bond management is when bonds between cooperating firms are managed in order to strengthen or weaken the cooperation. By using bond management it is possible to strategically strengthen or weaken the bonds between the cooperating companies in order to strengthen the cooperation and tie the buyer or supplier to the company or to terminate the relationship. Allocating too many resources on a part of the relationship that is of little or no importance to the buyer means that the company is losing money on allocating resources on the wrong issues. Resources should be focused on important parts of the relationship, thus strengthening bonds that are important.The instrument for the management of bonds is to use a bond audit in order to know which bonds resources should be focused on in order to increase or decrease their strength. The difference between a quantitative bond audit built on the qualitative audit and a normal customer satisfaction survey is that customer satisfaction surveys are usually based on several questions that are not very specific. The bond audit is more specified since an interview has been done before in order to find out what questions to ask. The second difference is that the levels of cooperation is measured but at the same time also the importance of the cooperation. These are described on five-grade Likert scales. Discrepancies between the results mean that either too much or too little focus is placed on parts on the business relationship. In cases of discrepancy, less money and fewer resources should be focused on parts that are of little importance for the buyer but score high in the cooperation part. This is followed up by a part that allow for more open answers regarding the most specific elements as well as wishes for future cooperation. The quantitative bond audit is thus more focused and involves the surveyed person more due to its more specific and opens nature.The problem with the bond audit is that it is more expensive to make than a normal customer satisfaction survey due to the fact that interviews should be done with the involved departments. It however results in a more specific instrument that focuses on specific questions that are in line with the surveyed person's daily work. A normal customer satisfaction survey can be done by simply mailing out questions that are connected to the problem but most questions are arbitrary for the result of the study.From a managerial point of view it is possible to use a bond audit in order to grasp the bonds better and then strengthen or weaken them with bond management to achieve the wanted position in the conceptual framework created. By learning more about when risk for relationship termination occurs, companies can prevent relationships from being terminated. In cases where termination is unavoidable, the process of termination can be made as soft as possible both for the supplier and the buyer so that no negative memories remain for either part if there is a chance for the cooperation to continue in the future.There are still many interesting questions left regarding bonds between companies. One avenue for further research would be more vivid descriptions of the effect that bonds have on each other. By creating more vivid descriptions of the effects bonds have on each other it could be made even more possible to split up the whole concept of bonds and increase the understanding for the research of bonds. The framework created could also be used in other industries than in the manufacturing business-to-business industry. The framework could be tested in business-to-consumer, as well as in the services industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to create an audit method for analyzing and improving business relationships. This is accomplished by specifying bonds on a lower abstraction level than in earlier theory regarding bonds in order to classify the different types of bonds and analyze their strength.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The findings are based on 14 case studies in seven different industries. The methodology used is systematic and based on the abductive approach. Qualitative interviews were conducted.\nFindings: - Bonds were found to be important regulators of business relationships in this study. The main finding is that a bond audit can be used as a tool for analyzing business relationships and for consulting activity with the aim of strengthening or weakening business relationships.\nPractical implications: - By influencing the bonds using bond management, companies can strengthen or weaken the business relationship.\nOriginality/value: - The paper describes an audit method for analyzing business relationships by stringently analyzing all parts of it using the bond-auditing tool, and thus auditing bonds more specifically than has been done previously.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Women chairs in academic medicine: engendering strategic intuition	[ "Gender", "Women", "Leadership", "Hospital management", "Management development", "Grounded theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Academic medicine in the USA is searching for ways to \"reframe the narrative\" of diversity and develop a \"strategic diversity leadership\" approach for selecting students, training culturally competent physicians, engaging in relevant research, and providing quality healthcare (Castillo-Page, 2012). The \"bleeding pipeline\" that describes women faculty who are slower to earn tenure, be promoted, and have lower salaries than men with comparable backgrounds (Krefting, 2003; Valian, 1998), also typifies academic medicine. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in 2011, women accounted for 47 percent of matriculated students, 36 percent of all medical faculty, and 19.5 percent of full professors (Nivet, 2011). Although much has been written on the disproportionate lack of advancement of female physicians into senior and leadership positions (Carnes et al., 2008; Carr et al., 2003; Tesch et al., 1995), AAMC data indicate that women are slowly assuming leadership positions in the top echelons of academic medicine. Of all clinical departments in academic medical centers (AMCs) only 11 percent are now led by women (AAMC, 2011). The \"invisibility\" and \"disappearance\" of women (Fletcher, 1999) in papers on leadership in academic medicine is striking as well as any research examining gender and leadership (Grigsby et al., 2004; McKenna et al., 2004; Souba, 2003; Williams, 2001).\nLeadership: Gender differences are constituted through powerful operations of discourse that reflect the symbolic systems of what it means to be female or male (Foucault and Gordon, 1980; Brewis and Linstead, 2009). Because discourse form the object of which they speak, a man or women is subjectified by that discourse (Sarup, 1989). Psychological research demonstrates that implicit biases require stereotypically masculine behaviors for effective leadership (Powell, 2002; Eagly, 2002; Johnson et al., 2008; Dasgupta and Asgari, 2004) summarized by \"think manager, think male\" (Schein, 2001; Eagly and Karau, 2002). Although leadership psychologists focus on the individual and psychological, a social constructionist perspective complements leadership theory (Fairhurst, 2007) as Fairhurst suggests, \"followers construct leaders, just as much as leaders construct followers\" (Tourish, 2007, p. 1732).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Open coding from the original study found 34 initial codes which collapsed into eight axial codes, and then four emergent themes (Isaac et al., 2010). The emergent themes were coded deductively and included: (1) Prior Environment (Motivated by Excellence); (2) the Chair's Tough, Direct, and Transparent Characteristics (Developing Trust); (3) Use of Communal Actions (Creating Diversity of Opinion); and the (4) Ability to Build Power through Consensus (An \"Artful Exercise\"). Participant observations by the first author of interactions of both faculty and small task meetings supported the validation of themes from the interviews. In this study ten new inductive codes were added for a total of 14 codes. They included: (5) gender difficulties, (6) gender NOT, (7) strategies, (8) self-reflection, (9) motivation, (10) mentoring, (11) paradox, (12) leadership defined, (13) golden nuggets, and (14) power. The additional information from the chairs provided modifications to the original themes (added in parenthesis) and added another emergent theme, the significance and insignificance of a female chair.\nDiscussion: The faculty and women chairs narratives were consistent with modifications to the four themes of the previous study: Prior Environment (Motivated by Excellence), Tough, Direct, Transparent (Developing Trust), Communal Actions (Creating Diversity of Opinion), and Building Power through Consensus (An \"Artful Exercise\"). The chairs were criticized by faculty for not making them \"feel warm and fuzzy\" and clearly did not represent androgynous roles (Martin, 1994). These findings resonate with research that indicates that women managers are not less aggressive or competitive than their male counterparts as \"culture privileges natural masculine traits\" (Kerfoot and Whitehead, 1998; Whitehead, 2001, p. 453). However, they knew when they violated social roles when not \"extraordinarily sensitive.\" This self-monitoring of communal actions reduced backlash (O'Neill and O'Reilly, 2011; Rudman and Glick, 2001; Carli et al., 1995) and mitigated perceived hostility because of competence (Okimoto and Brescoll, 2010; Phelan et al., 2008).\nSummary: The findings of this exploratory study are consonant with the research literature and the previous study indicating that women leaders are most successful when they pair stereotypic male (agentic) behaviors with stereotypic female (communal) behaviors, an attempt to dismantle the gender dichotomy (Gherardi, 1995). All three women chairs in this study independently and explicitly stated that \"gender was a non-issue,\" a \"degendering strategy\" (Barrett, 2002, p. 169) that some feminists may view as a \"deliberate betrayal\" (Meehan, 1999, p. 39), yet these women implicitly used strategies for success, \"engendering\" trust and collaboration. A critical feminist outlook for these women leaders was not the focus, but gender was both minimized and subtly affirmed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Because stereotypically masculine behaviors are required for effective leadership, examining female chairs' leadership in academic medicine can provide insight into the complex ways in which gender impacts on their leadership practices. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author interviewed three female clinical chairs and compared the findings to interviews with 28 of their faculty. Grounded theory analysis of the subsequent text gathered comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth information about this case of interest at a US top-tier academic medical center.\nFindings: Four of five themes from the faculty were consistent with the chair's narrative with modifications: Prior Environment (Motivated by Excellence), Tough, Direct, Transparent (Developing Trust), Communal Actions (Creating Diversity of Opinion), and Building Power through Consensus (an \"Artful Exercise\") with an additional theme, the Significance (and Insignificance) of a Female Chair. While faculty members were acutely aware of the chair's gender, the chairs paradoxically vacillated between gender being a \"non-issue\" and noting that male chairs \"don't do laundry.\" All three female chairs in this study independently and explicitly stated that gender was not a barrier, yet intuitively used successful strategies derived from the research literature.\nOriginality/value: This study suggests that while their gender was highlighted by faculty, these women dismissed gender as a \"non-issue.\" The duality of gender for these three female leaders was both minimized and subtly affirmed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stress-strength reliability models involving generalized gamma and Weibull distributions	[ "Generalized gamma distribution", "Weibull distribution", "Maximum likelihood estimation", "Confidence interval", "Stress–strength reliability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The stress-strength probability plays an important role in the reliability theory. If Y is the strength of a system which is subjected to a stress X, then R = P(X < Y) measures the performance of the system. Also, R may be interpreted as the probability of a system failure when the applied stress X is greater than its strength Y. The random variables X and Y also can denote the quality characteristic of interest for two different groups. For example, in the case of jute fibers, Roy et al. (2017) estimate probability that the breaking strength of jute fibers with a gauge length 20 mm (Y) is more than that of a fiber with a gauge length 10 mm (X). One can find a comprehensive treatment of different stress-strength models until 2002 in Kotz et al. (2003).It is often assumed that X and Y are independent random variables and that they belong to the same family of probability distributions. Iranmanesh et al. (2018) dealt with the estimation of R when the random variables have inverted gamma distributions. Wang et al. (2018) developed inferential procedures for the stress-strength probability when the random variables are generalized exponential. Roy et al. (2017) used the generalized half logistic distributions and compared methods of estimation of R. Jia et al. (2017) considered Bayes estimation of R by assuming Weibull random variables. Rezaei et al. (2015) estimated the stress-strength probability based on generalized Pareto models. Abbas and Tang (2014) developed inferential procedure of the Frechet stress-strength model by the objective Bayesian approach. Ali et al. (2012) considered a modified maximum likelihood method and a Bayesian technique to estimate the reliability R when the random variables are four-parameter generalized gamma (GG). Kundu and Raqab (2009) and Kundu and Gupta (2006) presented results for the point and interval estimation of R when X and Y are Weibull random variables. These last three articles, which address the distributions of interest in our paper, present results on distributions with restrictions on parameters and employ data transformations. The purpose of this paper is to improve the estimation for R by not using transformations in the data and eliminate the constraints on the parameters in the case of the Weibull models and provide a closed-form expressions for R in Weibull and GG models.The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, we define the GG distribution and generalized hypergeometric functions and state known results. Section 3 deals with the derivation of R when X and Y are independent GG and Weibull random variables. The maximum likelihood estimation for R and data analysis are presented in Section 4. In Section 5, we deal with two real situations involving different-length carbon fibers and different types of electrical cables. The last section deals with conclusions.\n2. Distribution functions and results: In this section, we give a few definitions and results which will be used subsequently. 2.1 G-function\n3. Main results in reliability: In this section, we prove the main results in reliability. 3.1 GG distributions\n4. Estimation: In this section, we deal with parameter estimation, bootstrap confidence intervals and standard errors. 4.1 Parameter estimation\n5. Applications: In this section, we give two applications using real data analyzed earlier by other researchers. The first application deals with the calculation of the stress-strength probability P(X < Y), where X and Y are independent and represent strength, in gigapascal (GPa), of carbon fibers of length 20 mm (69 observations) and 10 mm (63 observations), respectively. The data, given in Tables I and II, are taken from the article by Smith (1991).Kundu and Gupta (2006) used independent Weibull random variables (densities given by (19) and (20)) for stress (X) and strength (Y) with different scale parameters (thi = 1/bi, i = 1,2), but having the same shape parameter (a = c1 = c2). The authors performed the analyses after subtracting 0.75 from both the data sets. Kundu and Raqab (2009) obtained the probability P(X < Y) using independent Weibull random variables with three parameters having the same shape and location parameters but different scale parameters. They first proposed estimating the location parameter, and after subtracting this value from the data, the other parameters were estimated. Ali et al. (2012) used independent four-parameter GG random variables with only one of the shape parameters different. They analyzed the data by subtracting 1.0 and 1.8 from the first and second data set, respectively.We will use the original data and take independent X ~ GG(a1, b1, c) and Y ~ GG(a2, b2, c). Based on Section 4, we obtained the estimated values of the parameters and reliability along with their standard errors. All the results are given in Table III. In Figure 2, we can see the fits of the GG distribution functions for empirical cumulative distribution functions for each of the data sets. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test was used for each data set of the fitted models. The KS distance between the fitted (Fc) and the empirical (F-) distribution functions for data sets 1 and 2 are 0.0513 and 0.0927 with the corresponding p-values 0.9934 and 0.6511, respectively. The mean square error given by [?]i=1n(F-i-Fci)2/n is 0.3828 x 10-3 and 0.1226 x 10-2 for data sets 1 and 2, respectively. These results indicate that the GG model provides reasonable fit to the data sets.The 95th percentile bootstrap confidence interval of R and parameter vector th have been computed using 10,000 bootstrap samples. The results are shown in Table IV.In the study by Kundu and Gupta (2006), the percentile bootstrap confidence interval and maximum likelihood estimate of R were given as (0.6983, 0.8285) and 0.7624, respectively. Kundu and Raqab (2009) noted that the subtraction of the same constant from the data results in small differences in the estimated value of R. The results shown indicate that R increases as the constant decreases. We do not use transformations in the data, and it is observed that our estimate of R is in accordance with this indication. Kundu and Raqab (2009) also presented results indicating that subtraction of different constants affects the estimation of the R significantly.As a second application, we consider the data of failure voltage levels of two types of electrical cable insulation when specimens were subject to an increasing voltage stress in a laboratory test (Lawless (2003) cited by Krishnamoorthy and Lin (2010)). We estimate P(X < Y) when X and Y follow independent Weibull distributions, as defined in (5), with different scale and shape parameters. The variables X and Y represent the lifetimes of the type I and type II insulations, respectively. The failure voltages for twenty specimens of each type are given in Table V.The well-known maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters of the Weibull distributions were obtained from the fitdist function of the fitdistrplus package, and the estimate of R is obtained from (23) after reparametrization. In Table VI, the estimates along with their bootstrap standard errors are listed.We use the bootstrap procedure of Section 4.2 with 10,000 bootstrap samples. The bootdist function in software R provides the routine for the Weibull distribution. After obtaining the bootstrap replications of c1, b1, c2 and b2 parameters, the reliability is calculated using (22) or (23). Numerical integration was used when the series diverged. The 95th percentile bootstrap confidence interval of R and Weibull parameters are given in Table VII.Krishnamoorthy and Lin (2010) obtained R by numerical integration and used an interval estimation procedure based on the generalized variable approach with coverage probabilities evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation. They computed the 95 percent lower limit for R as 0.747. Using percentile bootstrap, we obtained 0.7885.\n6. Conclusions and remarks: The GG distribution is a flexible distribution and generalizes many other distributions. We provide an expression for calculating reliability in the case of X and Y following GG distributions. This result may be used for other distributions that are particular cases of GG. Our proposal generalizes other works, such as those of Kundu and Gupta (2006), Kundu and Raqab (2009) and Ali et al. (2012) that made use of the Weibull distribution, with parameter restrictions and employed transformations in the data. In the case where X and Y are Weibull random variables with all arbitrary parameters, we present sufficient conditions for the convergence of the infinite series used for computing the reliability, in addition to an expression for R in terms of H-Function.We tested several initial values, and the BFGS method proved to be very robust. In the first application, we then set the initial values for the bootstrap procedure and used the default options for the optim function. In the second application, the default values of the fitdist and bootdist functions were maintained. We considered the convergence of expressions (22) and (23) when the term increase of the series modifies in a difference less than 10-8.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper deals with the estimation of the stress-strength reliability R = P(X < Y), when X and Y follow (1) independent generalized gamma (GG) distributions with only a common shape parameter and (2) independent Weibull random variables with arbitrary scale and shape parameters and generalize the proposal from Kundu and Gupta (2006), Kundu and Raqab (2009) and Ali et al. (2012).\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, a closed form expression for R is derived under the conditions (1) and (2). Next, sufficient conditions are given for the convergence of the infinite series expansions used to calculate the value of R in case (2). The models GG and Weibull are fitted by maximum likelihood using Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) quasi-Newton method. Confidence intervals and standard errors are calculated using bootstrap. For illustration purpose, two real data sets are analyzed and the results are compared with the existing recent results available in the literature.\nFindings: The proposed approaches improve the estimation of the R by not using transformations in the data and flexibilize the modeling with Weibull distributions with arbitrary scale and shape parameters.\nOriginality/value: The proposals of the paper eliminate the misestimation of R caused by subtracting a constant value from the data (Kundu and Raqab, 2009) and treat the estimation of R in a more adequate way by using the Weibull distributions without restrictions in the parameters. The two cases covered generalize a number of distributions and unify a number of stress-strength probability P(X < Y) results available in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Models of work-based learning, examples and reflections	[ "Organizational change", "Higher education", "Work-based learning", "Models of WBL", "WBL partnerships", "Work-related learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nWork-based learning (WBL) in higher education: Among the most significant changes which have occurred in UK Higher Education over the past 30 years is the introduction and development of WBL[1] into the university curriculum. While this has not been fully embraced in all universities it is, nevertheless, now recognised as a key way in which the gap between higher education and the world of work can be bridged. UK governments over the past three decades have also recognised this and have found ways of incentivising universities to develop their WBL provision. The latest initiative is the Higher Level Apprenticeship which places the onus on employer representative bodies to lead on the design of the curriculum and to work in partnership with universities for refinement and delivery.\nHistory of WBL at Chester: WBL was introduced into the University of Chester undergraduate curriculum some 35 years ago as a four-week work placement on a pass/fail basis. In 1990 the University received some government funding to develop a model of WBL for undergraduates on non-vocational degree programmes enabling them to access academic credit for their learning through work (Department of Employment, 1993). The underpinning idea for the original model was the maintenance of a dialogue between the students' learning experiences in the workplace and the more theoretical understandings of the university in order to develop the skills of reflective practice. (This was facilitated by four days per week in the placement and one day per week in the university over an eight-week period.) For example, students would bring back observations about the different ways in which senior staff in the placement organisation managed and led. This would lead to seminars on styles of leadership and management where students would be introduced to theoretical perspectives and encouraged to reflect on their experiences in the light of the ideas, models and concepts of others. Other topics for consideration would emerge on a weekly basis. While this model operated well during the pilot stage it was difficult to integrate it into the systems of the University, to allow students the freedom to undertake placements at a distance from the University, and to satisfy employers who preferred students to be full-time in the workplace. Nevertheless, this principle of reflective practice remained and remains today as the basis of the model of learning through WBL.\nModels of WBL: Since introducing WBIS to the Chester curriculum, a number of different models of WBL have been developed enabling the Centre to work with individual learners and businesses and organisations wishing to offer professional development opportunities to their employees. These can be categorised as follows:\nExamples of the integrated model and the in-house model: The examples have been chosen to indicate the depth and sustainable nature of the work undertaken with two organisations both concerned to offer professional development opportunities to their respective staff and to bring about positive change in the organisations and to address organisational aims and priorities.\nConclusion: The aim of this paper has been to show how one institution of higher education is forging links with the world of business and responding to the claim that university-level learning so often fails to meet the expectations of employers in terms of graduate skills and capabilities. It is also, hopefully, showing how responding to the not unreasonable expectations of government that universities have a role to play in supporting the societies and economies of the communities they serve, is possible. In particular, the paper has tried to show the importance of listening carefully to the requirements of prospective employer partners in order to respond more precisely to meeting their needs rather than presenting them with an inflexible offer. For the majority of employers the university is not the first place they will turn to if they are facing change and feel they need external help and support. Through the means of WBL, it is possible to modify the thinking of employers and their understanding and expectations of what universities have to offer them especially at times when they are facing change and uncertainty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of different models of work-based learning (WBL) in operation at the University of Chester and provides two examples of university-employer partnership where WBL is used as the principal means for bringing about change in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the experience of one UK University with significant WBL provision and outlines the evolutionary development of a number of different models of WBL designed to meet the specific needs of employers and individual students.\nFindings: The paper reflects on the distinctive contribution of WBL in higher education to bring about change to the culture and working practices of two public organisations, thereby improving performance and developing new ways of working.\nPractical implications: It will also consider the impact of WBL on learners often giving them a greater sense of their own identity and professionalism and point to the way in which WBL challenges the university as much as it challenges employer partners.\nSocial implications: Widening access to higher education and increasing participation in HE.\nOriginality/value: The identification and description of a number of different models of WBL in operation in the HE sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service quality scales in online retail: methodological issues	[ "Methodology", "Service quality", "Scales", "Online retail" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales will grow by 17.7 percent in 2015 to reach $177.1 trillion (Emarketer.com, 2014). This growth is due to increasing internet and mobile users in emerging markets, the boom in mobile commerce, better shipping, multiple payment options and entry of major brands in the international markets. Globally, websites are emerging as critical channels for retailers (Ding et al., 2011) and through these websites, e-retailers give correct and up-to-date information, run reliable and secure information systems to assure satisfactory service delivery and fulfillment (Ennew and Binks, 1999; Novak et al., 2000). Attracting and retaining new customers over the internet is costly and difficult, but through better service quality, the online vendor can infuse loyalty among their customers (Gefen, 2002).\n2. Literature review deciphering key methodological issues: Table I depicts the findings of an extensive literature survey sourced from well-known publishers like, Elsevier, Emerald, Routledge, Sage, International Association of Computer Information Systems (IACIS) and reputed conference proceedings. This content analysis includes studies related to the electronic service quality scale development and their underlying dimensions, in context of online retail. Dimensionality of online service quality constructs are also discussed in the conclusion section. Discussion of methodological implications on research and sampling methods, survey administration, item generation and purification, dimensionality, reliability and validity assessment is below:\n3. Observations regarding dimensionality of online service quality constructs: On the basis of literature review, certain observations have been derived and discussed below.\n4. Conclusion and implications: This study reviews prevailing research related to scale development for measurement of service quality in the context of online retail. As a result, present study:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Measuring service quality in online retail is critical. The purpose of this paper is to put in foreground key methodological issues of prevailing research related to scale development for the measurement of service quality in the context of online retail.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Content analysis of 30 research papers sourced from prestigious databases has been done to detect defects within research and sampling methods, survey administration, item generation and purification, dimensionality analysis, reliability and validity assessment. Also observations regarding dimensionality of online service quality constructs have been highlighted.\nFindings: Study revealed deficiencies in sample size and composition, quantitative orientation in research methods, leniency in item generation/purification and negligent assessment of reliability and validity. It was found that e-service quality is multidimensional in nature and there is no consensus on number and nature of dimensions, although security/privacy, website design, reliability, responsiveness and information emerged as most cited dimensions. Electronic and traditional service quality dimensions displayed analogy in direct or adapted form.\nOriginality/value: This paper is first to highlight key methodological issues of prevailing research on e-service quality scale development in context of online retail. Implications for researchers and managers are summarized at the end of the study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A "Tower of Babel"? - interrelations and structure of leadership constructs	[ "Transactional leadership", "LMX", "Consideration", "Transformational leadership", "MASEM", "Laissez-faire leadership", "Initiating structure", "Leadership dimensions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Although considerable theoretical and empirical leadership research efforts have been conducted, there is still much debate as to what leadership exactly is (Mulla-Feroze and Krishnan, 2000). In a comprehensive review of leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259) concluded that there exist nearly as many concepts of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define them. In face of this large number of definitions and leadership paradigms the distinction between leadership theories may be questionable, creating a so- called \"jangle fallacy\" (Kelley, 1927). Numerous theories were asserted to be conceptually and functionally distinct (Bass and Bass, 2008), but researchers have critically identified meaningful overlap and similarities between leadership theories (Antonakis and House, 2002; House and Aditya, 1997; Sashkin, 2004; Yukl, 1989, 1999b, 2002). The body of leadership literature has created a \"tower of Babel\" (see Block, 1995), whereby findings with respect to one leadership theory (e.g. consideration) are ignored in research investigating the same leadership phenomenon but using a different name (i.e. individualized consideration, as defined in the theory of transformational leadership). The present paper sets out to address this limitation in leadership science.\nLeadership theories and constructs: The full range leadership theory (FRLT)\nConvergences of leadership constructs: These brief descriptions of the leadership constructs included in the present study underline the interrelations of these leadership constructs. A considerable amount of research exists that included correlations between transformational and transactional or consideration and initiating structure, but nearly all other possible pairs of leadership constructs have been ignored. For example, only very limited research has explored the relationships between consideration/initiating structure and transformational/transactional leadership. Consequently, there is a conspicuous need for research exploring these relationships in order to gain a more holistic view on leadership and its basic relations. These interrelations can provide a more profound view on potential overlap and permit the classification of the leadership styles investigated into homogeneous meta-categories.\nMeta-categories of leadership: uni- vs two-dimensional models: As can be seen in Table I, the seven different leadership constructs share basic assumptions and elements. For example, in FRLT, the leadership styles of laissez-faire, transactional, and transformational leadership form a continuum from passive to highly active leadership (Antonakis and House, 2002; Avolio, 2002). Despite shared basic elements described above, we still lack a critical review of leadership constructs and paradigms overlap. Humphreys and Einstein (2003) argue that ideas central to transformational leadership are not necessarily new and can be found in writings of earlier management theorists. Meaningful convergences of content between leadership theories have been confirmed in theoretical works provided by Antonakis and House (2002) or Sashkin (2004), suggesting that most leadership constructs represent aspects of the same phenomenon. Thus, the most straightforward idea would be to propose one general factor of leadership that represents the different leadership styles described above sufficiently.\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: As the results in Table II indicate, all leadership constructs investigated show positive, non-zero relationships with each of the other leadership constructs, except laissez-faire, which is negatively correlated with all other leadership constructs. All estimated mean correlations are distinguishable from zero, in that the 90 percent confidence intervals exclude zero. Thus, H1 is supported.\nDiscussion: Summary of findings and implications for theory\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive examination of different leadership constructs investigated extensively, namely transformational and transactional leadership, laissez-faire, consideration, and initiating structure, as well as leader-member-exchange. The theoretical overlap as well as the empirical correlations between these constructs is explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Overall, 735 correlations were analyzed to generate a meta-analytical correlation matrix.\nFindings: The meta-analyses revealed highly interrelated leadership constructs (0.26<\|r\|<0.74). Results of confirmatory factor analyses suggest a one factor solution of leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: The uniqueness and construct validity of leadership constructs is challenged, calling for a revision of the respective leadership theories. Ultimately, an integrative theory of leadership should be developed which accounts for similarities as well as differences between leadership constructs. An integrated theory of leadership would help: researchers to combine their forces and, consequently, organizations across the globe to better select and develop leaders for the future.\nPractical implications: By taking a critical, cross-theoretical compare and contrast approach, the present study yielded a comprehensive picture of the interrelationship and partial redundancy of several of the currently researched leadership constructs.\nOriginality/value: New insights into the overlap between leadership constructs were generated and confirmed by meta-analyses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Text classification: neural networks vs support vector machines	[ "Artificial intelligence", "Neural nets", "Knowledge management", "Document management", "Classification" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The emergence of the current digital age has brought both new opportunities and unprecedented challenges to organizations. Survival in this turbulent and ever-changing networked global world requires organizations to continuously learn and create knowledge. The internet has removed all the geographical, time, and organizational barriers, thus accelerating globalization and innovation.This new global market introduces many new challenges to organizations. One of the major challenges is managing the overwhelming volume of information, a result of the continuous expansion of the Internet, inventions and advances in information technology (IT). Searching through a large amount of information is a challenge and can bring great loss in the form of productivity waste (workers spend about 65 percent of their time searching for information needed to complete their work (Eiring, 2002); missed opportunities (failure to discover patterns and trends); and mismanaging or lack of managing knowledge. Today, most organizations have \"knowledge-based\" relations with other entities including their suppliers, partners, and customers, thus making efficient knowledge creation and sharing a top priority. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations to have intelligent systems for sorting and extracting critical information that is important for managerial decision-making.This study aims to develop an efficient technique that could be used in knowledge creation and management. The study has two major goals. First, it attempts to prove usefulness of neural networks (NNs) as classification tools for text documents. The classification problem is simply the attempt to classify unknown input (such as a web site, data point, or text document) into one of several predetermined categories. Second, and more importantly, this study attempts to prove the advantage of NNs compare to other tools, as they improve the search efficiency by using a greatly reduced size of the documents, without negatively affecting performance. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we briefly review relevant literature. Section 3 describes the methodology used in this study. A description of how the data was prepared for use with NNs, as well as the training process used, is provided. Section 4 discusses the results obtained after the training of NNs. The performance of support vector machines (SVMs) on the same set of data files is also shown which is then compared to the performance of NNs. A discussion of the obtained results and their meaning follows in Section 5. Section 6 briefly summarizes the findings and concludes the study.\n2 Review of relevant literature: With the recent advances in computer technology and systems, the process of collecting information regarding transactions, customers, competitors, and other environmental factors has become progressively easier. Nevertheless, having access to large amounts of data is not sufficient to build competitive advantage for the organization. What is crucial is effectively searching through and analyzing the volume of data, whether they are extracted from internal or external sources and/or the web, to create intelligence and knowledge in a timely fashion. Currently, there are many tools that deal with this issue such as data mining (DM), text mining (TM), SVMs, artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and the semantic web among others. Each of these tools has its own strengths for appropriate applications. DM is used to analyze available data and extract important patterns that could not be otherwise obvious. As defined by Chung and Gray (1999), DM is the discovery of knowledge by identifying \"valid, novel, potentially useful, and understandable correlations and patterns in existing data\". DM has been extensively researched and is being used by a variety of applications such as traffic improvement and business intelligence (Wang and Wang, 2008). DM is a very useful tool in organizations' quest for continuous learning and knowledge creation. A preview of some DM techniques could be found in Lee and Siau (2001).TM is used to extract important information from documents presented in any natural language (e.g. English). TM could also be used to classify available documents into a set of predefined categories and new web sites into a number of popular categories (also known as web mining). Text classifiers are either machine-learning based or statistics based (Zaiane and Antonie, 2002). Currently, the majority of text classifiers are statistics based (Yang and Liu, 1999).SVMs are generally used to separate any available data into two separate mutually exclusive classes. In this type of classification, known as binary classification, the objective is \"to find a decision surface that best separates the data into two classes\" (Yang and Liu, 1999). However, more recent studies have developed tools that use SVMs for multi-class classification problems (Shih and Zhang, 2005).AI tools, including NNs, have been successfully used in several research areas including DM. NN analysis is basically a prediction tool modeled on how human brain works. NNs are trained to recognize certain patterns of behavior when fed by a large data set and then they can determine predictors of a dependent variable. Thus, an NN can be defined as a \"distributed processor\" that can create knowledge based on experience and make that knowledge available for future use (Haykin, 1999).NNs basically learn what is intended, such as classifying inputs into predetermined categories based on the characteristics of those inputs. Numerous studies have applied NNs to solve problems in the management information systems (MIS) area, such as capturing the surfing habits of Internet users, classification of geographical data sets and the automatic categorization of web sites (Zaghloul, 2006). NNs have also been a very effective tool when applied to classification problems (Anagnostopoulos et al., 2004; Berardi et al., 2004; Selamat and Omatu, 2004). Based on these previous studies, our goal in this paper is to ascertain whether NNs can also be used effectively for classification/categorization of text-based documents.\n3 Methodology: In this section, we will describe in detail the system used for text classification (TC) by NNs. We also explain how documents can be prepared and processed into data suitable for analysis by NNs.3.1 Proposed system\n4 Results: In this section, the results obtained from the training and testing of the NNs are presented and discussed. Those results are then compared to the categorization results obtained through the use of SVMs on the same set of text documents.4.1 Training results\n5 Discussions: This research intended to develop a process for using NNs for text categorization. The results of this research showed that using NNs is not only viable option (its effectiveness in categorizing text documents is comparable to the current most advanced method of TM, SVMs) but moreover, it is more efficient compared to SVMs. A major finding, and therefore contribution of this study, is that we can use abstracts, instead of whole research papers, in categorizing documents. This means great savings in computation time and in the amount of processing needed for categorization (better efficiency). In addition, one major challenge in applying NNs to text categorization is the transformation of text documents into a format that could be used with NNs. In this study, we suggest a possible solution for this problem: each text document can be transformed into a set of numbers that represent the frequency of appearance of each of the 100 most frequently appearing terms (in the overall population) in that document.However, there are some unresolved problems. After attempting to train nine NNs, one for each of the nine MISQ categories, four categories (not in Table II) were not possible to train due to the lack of an adequate number of positive examples. One possible solution to this problem is to combine all four categories into one new category that could be labeled as \"Other\".The performance of the five NNs that were successfully trained varied from an accuracy of 59-80 percent. There are several possible causes, or a combination of causes, for this variance. One of the main causes of this variance is the difference in the number of available positive examples for each category (Table I).Even though the performance of each NN was calculated by training each of them 50 different times and averaging its performance over the test, it is expected that the performance of the NNs has some inherent randomness that cannot be eliminated completely. This could have an effect on the performance, even with a minimal effect. A possible solution to this problem is to train the NNs several times to avoid getting inaccurate results (Calvo and Cecatto, 2000). Each NN was trained for 50 training cycles, but with different randomly chosen training, validation, and test sets (Zaghloul, 2005). After the completion of such training, the effectiveness of each NN could be calculated by averaging its performance over all the training cycles.The two categories with the lowest effectiveness were IT and Information systems, even though they had the most available positive examples. A possible explanation for this result could be the fact that these two categories encompass such broad areas that have a large number of sub-categories. With such a large number of sub-categories, the NN would need a larger number of positive examples for training. Another factor could be biasness: the categorization was made by the researchers. Training each NN more times with a different random set of training, validation and test sets could help improve performance.Another limitation of this research that can be further investigated in the future is the fact that this new technique was only applied to one set of documents. To have greater confidence in the proposed system, this technique should be applied to different sets of documents to assess its performance across different types of data sets. The performance of this technique with the data of our study was not affected by the type of documents to be categorized. We expect the technique to be successful for other sets of documents and categories. However, it would be interesting to further investigate whether there are document-specific characteristics that could affect the performance of NNs.Finally, another limitation comes from the fact that our study used only one NN type and design, for all the different categories. Changing the NN type, the number of hidden layers, or the number of neurons in each layer could affect the performance. Studying such effects could be a future research goal of ours.\n6 Conclusion: This study is the first study which lays the foundation for using NNs for TC. Currently, NNs are used to solve classification problems in a variety of areas such as classifying loan applications as good or risky among several other uses (Zaghloul, 2005, 2006). Even though NNs are a very popular and efficient classifier, they have not been used in classifying text documents (Zaghloul, 2006). For TM and classification, SVMs have been considered the best and most effective. In this research we proved that not only NNs are comparable to SVMs in their effectiveness in TC/categorization but, by using shorter documents (e.g. abstracts to classify research papers instead of using the whole texts) and training the system, they could be a more efficient tool. This research provides suggestions on how to format documents in a suitable data format for use with NNs. We also showed how we trained nine NNs to categorize documents into one of the predefined categories. This training was successful for five of the nine categories as the remaining four lacked the sufficient number of positive examples needed for training. The performance of those five NNs was found to be statistically comparable to one of the most popular and effective text categorization tools, SVMs. In future research, it is important to determine any other factors that could be controlled to further improve the performance of NNs in text classification. We expect NNs to become a popular tool frequently used for TC problems.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of neural networks (NNs) and support vector machines (SVMs) as text classifiers. SVMs are considered one of the best classifiers. NNs could be adopted as text classifiers if their performance is comparable to that of SVMs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Several NNs are trained to classify the same set of text documents with SVMs and their effectiveness is measured. The performance of the two tools is then statistically compared.\nFindings: - For text classification (TC), the performance of NNs is statistically comparable to that of the SVMs even when a significantly reduced document size is used.\nPractical implications: - This research finds not only that NNs are very viable TC tools with comparable performance to SVMs, but also that it does so using a much reduced size of document. The successful use of NNs in classifying reduced text documents would be its great advantage as a classification tool, compared to others, as it can bring great savings in terms of computation time and costs.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is of value by showing statistically that NNs could be adopted as text classifiers with effectiveness comparable to SVMs, one of the best text classifiers currently used. This research is the first step towards utilizing NNs in text mining and its sub-areas.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effectiveness of a herbal supplement (Zotrim(tm)) for weight management	[ "Obesity", "Health foods", "Diet" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: State-funded treatment of obesity in the UK is relatively scarce in relation to the problem. An industry-funded audit of 340 Primary Care Organisations (Dr Foster, 2004) found that less than 50 per cent of these offered an obesity service and, where one existed, patients from only 25 per cent of GP clinics were able to access it. The Health Select Committee report (House of Commons Health Committee, 2004) highlighted not only inadequate NHS resources for weight management, but a shortage of effective, evidence-based options. This led to the inclusion of obesity management within the Choosing Health White Paper (DoH, 2004).While NHS provision is under expansion, a considerable number of overweight people continue to seek help from the plethora of diet-related products. A consumer survey (Datamonitor, 2003) reported that the European diet food and drinks market was worth PS62 billion (EUR92 billion) in 2002, with a predicted annual growth of 2 per cent. This market includes herbal supplements that purport to aid weight loss; sales of which exceed PS82 million per annum in the UK. The evidence-base for most products is sparse (Pittler and Ernst, 2005), although there are some data supporting the effects of individual ingredients on weight or energy expenditure, e.g. guarana, pyruvate, conjugated linoleic acid (Ruxton and Gardner, 2005). Most formulation-specific research has been done on a commercially-available product containing the South American herbal extracts, yerba mate, guarana and damiana (YGD).Andersen and Fogh (2001) undertook a randomised placebo-controlled trial on 47 healthy overweight subjects who were instructed to consume YGD tablets before meals in the absence of any other lifestyle or diet advice. A statistically significant weight loss over the 45-day period was seen in the YGD group compared with the placebo group (5.1 kg vs. 0.3 kg respectively). YGD was thought to induce weight loss by impacting on satiety because ultrasound data (n=7) revealed that gastric emptying was 53 per cent slower after YGD than after the placebo (Andersen and Fogh, 2001).These findings were supported by a study testing the impact of YGD in 61 women (Ruxton et al., 2005). The protocol was designed to mimic the experience of consumers using weight management products at home and was not intended to be a controlled trial. Women were given a 28d sample of product and followed up, using telephone interviews, to ascertain any changes in self-reported weight, and waist and hip circumference. Questionnaires employing the Likert scale (ratings of 1-10) were used to track hunger and fullness around mealtimes. Mean weight loss in the group was 1.79 kg (p<0.0001; 0.45 kg per week). Hunger and fullness data suggested that subjects felt less hungry between meals and fuller after meals at weeks 1 and 4 compared with baseline. This is likely to have impacted on energy intake and may account for the weight loss. Mean waist circumference decreased by 4.3 cm (p<0.001).The studies to date suggest that YGD supports modest weight loss, possibly due to an impact on satiety. However, it is not clear what happens to weight, shape, hunger and fullness when provision of YGD is stopped. This led to the present study, the aim of which was to evaluate the impact of YGD provision and removal on weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference and perceived hunger and fullness, in a group of health professionals.\nMaterials and methods: Ethical approval for the study was given by Fife Local Research Ethics Committee. An overview of the study protocol is given in Figure 1. Following screening, baseline measurements were taken and subjects were provided with a six-week supply of YGD. Follow-ups were conducted by telephone at weeks 1, 4, 6 and 10. The methodology and frequency of follow-ups were designed to be similar to the previous consumer study (Ruxton et al., 2005) in order to make comparisons. A decision was made to avoid compelling subjects to stop YGD at the end of the active phase as it was felt that this could not be enforced. Instead, the free supply of YGD was withdrawn and subjects were asked at week 10 whether they had continued to take a supply of the product.Recruitment\nResults: Screened subjects (n=105) generated a baseline sample size of 87, 98 per cent of whom were women. Drop-outs resulted in the sample size reducing at weeks 1, 4, 6 and 10 to 86, 77, 73 and 68 respectively. The overall drop-out rate was 22 per cent, which was less than anticipated. For the purposes of most statistical analyses, the 73 subjects with data for baseline up to week 4 were included. For other analyses, the 68 subjects with data from baseline to week 10 were included. This was done to avoid losing data for the five subjects who completed the six-week \"active phase\" of the study.Reported compliance with YGD was good with 98.7 per cent reporting missing no more than two tablets by week 1. This dropped to 71.2 per cent by week 4 and rose again to 74 per cent by week 6. The main reason for non-compliance was forgetfulness.Anthropometric results\nDiscussion: This uncontrolled trial of a commercial weight management supplement demonstrated statistically significant mean weight loss over a six-week period and clinically significant weight loss for 22 per cent of subjects. The weight loss was modest (0.38 kg per week) but comparable with some other therapies. A randomised controlled trial of four commercial slimming regimes (Truby et al., 2006) reported that mean weekly weight loss in the first eight-week period was as follows: Slim-fast 0.46 kg, Rosemary Conley 0.5 kg, Weight Watchers 0.59 kg, and Atkins diet 0.65 kg. NICE (2001a) reported that studies on Orlistat reported \"relatively small reduction(s) of some 2-5 kilograms per year\" over and above placebo groups, while studies on Sibutramine found a weight loss of around 3 kg at eight weeks and 4 to 5 kg at one year (NICE, 2001b). It should be noted that the anti-obesity drugs were generally tested in conjunction with a low-fat or calorie-reduced diet, while subjects given YGD were not asked to make any other changes to their diet or lifestyle. It would be interesting to evaluate the use of YGD as an adjunct therapy to energy restriction to find out if it improves compliance.Studies suggest that waist circumference, independent of BMI, predicts the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardio-vascular disease (Zhu et al., 2004). In our study, mean waist circumference reduced by 3.4 cm (0.57 cm per week). Again, this is comparable with other therapies. Truby et al. (2006) reported the following mean weekly waist circumference losses: Slim-fast 0.6 cm, Rosemary Conley 0.56 cm, Weight Watchers 0.69 cm, and Atkins diet 0.84 cm. Modest reductions in baseline weight are now recognized as beneficial for long-term health. The definitions of this vary, i.e. 5-10 per cent (Haslam et al., 2006), 10 per cent (National Obesity Forum, 2004), 5 kg (SIGN, 1996).Little work has been carried out on the mechanisms underpinning the effect of YGD. Andersen and Fogh (2001) reported within-person ultrasound data for seven subjects. When exposed to YGD, subjects' gastric emptying was 53 per cent slower (p<0.05). This suggests that YGD works by prolonging satiety, and data from the present study would seem to confirm this. Perceived hunger between meals significantly reduced over the course of the study, while fullness increased. This was found in the four-week study of Ruxton et al. (2005). Questions about control over eating revealed an interesting trend whereby subjects felt better able to resist snacking, control portion sizes and avoid emotional eating. This was reflected in differences in reported snacking in the mid-afternoon and evening periods, perhaps explained by prolonged satiety. Whatever the mechanism (and this should certainly be investigated in a future study), the reduction in weight (0.38 kg/week) implies an energy deficit of approximately 380 kcal/d if it is assumed that a loss of 1 kg requires an energy deficit of 7,000 kcal (Durnin, 1985).It was our intention to measure the impact of YGD withdrawal but, in practice, this was compromised by the 12 subjects who chose to continue YGD after week 6. However, it was interesting to note the lack of significant differences between weeks 6 and 10 for all anthropometric variables except waist circumference. In addition, when the 12 YGD subjects were excluded, reported hunger significantly increased between weeks 6 and 10, while reported fullness stayed constant. These results suggest a loss of benefit when YGD supplementation ceased.The limitations of the present study are acknowledged. It was not a randomised controlled placebo trial, but an intervention designed to mimic the experience of a consumer purchasing and using a product in an unsupervised environment. This design was selected to recreate a consumer setting in order to assess whether the benefits identified by the previous randomised placebo trial (Andersen and Fogh, 2001) could be translated to a less experimental setting. If more funds had been available, it would have been better to increase the sample size and include a placebo version of YGD. However, it is worth noting that the Andersen and Fogh study did not find a placebo effect, i.e. the placebo group lost only 0.3 kg compared with 5.1 kg in the intervention group.While minimal researcher contact reduces bias, it can introduce error through the use of self-measurement. According to the literature, female subjects may underestimate waist circumference compared with measurements made by technicians, although the effect of this on accuracy is small (Hall and Young, 1989; Freudenheim and Darrow, 1991). Weaver et al. (1992) found that self-reported weight, waist and hip circumference were \"highly accurate\". Giving the training of nurses, it is not unreasonable to assume that measurement error in the present study would be less than that found in studies of the general public.As obesity continues to affect greater numbers of people and the market for herbal supplements expands, more patients are likely to try alternative weight management products. Health professionals need to be aware which ingredients and formulations have been tested for efficacy and safety in order to advise patients accordingly. A General Practice symposium identified herbal preparations, functional foods and obesity as three of the challenges for the future (Truswell et al., 2003). A white paper from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy recommended that pharmacists should approach the use of traditional and complementary therapeutic interventions with scientific rigour in order to provide better advice to patients wishing to try herbal products (Miller et al., 2000).As the evidence-base for herbal weight management supplements improves, health professionals will be in a better position to ascertain the role of such products in the management of overweight and obese patients. The present study taken together with the placebo-controlled trial suggests a benefit for YGD, both for weight and waist circumference. Research on possible interactions between long-term YGD use, energy restriction and physical activity would be a logical next step in the process of establishing efficacy. Future studies should be randomised and placebo-controlled where possible.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - There are many herbal supplements on the market claiming to aid weight loss but few are evidence-based. This study aims to test one such formulation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An over-the-counter herbal supplement containing yerba mate, guarana and damiana (YGD) was tested in 73 overweight health professionals for six weeks. Subjects were not asked to make any lifestyle changes.\nFindings: - Self-reported weight, waist circumference and hip circumference reduced significantly, while 22 per cent of subjects experienced a clinically significant weight loss. The anthropometric changes were in line with other commercial diet and exercise programmes. Reported between-meal hunger, and consumption of snacks reduced across the six weeks. Reported satiety after meals increased and subjects claimed to be more in control of snacking, emotional eating and portion sizes. A follow-up at week ten, when 82 per cent of subjects had stopped taking YGD, revealed no additional reductions in weight or hip circumference. Fullness ratings had stabilised, while hunger ratings had increased. There were no consistent adverse effects that could reasonably be related to YGD.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Taken alongside a 2001 randomised, placebo-controlled trial, this study provides evidence that a YGD supplement can aid weight loss and reduce waist and hip circumference, probably by increasing satiety.\nOriginality/value: - The growing market in weight management products brings with it a responsibility for manufacturers to provide evidence that their products work. This paper adds to the evidence base.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Global products marketing strategy of two European MNCs in Vietnam	[ "Market entry", "Product marketing strategy", "Brand performance", "Product standardization and adaptation", "Multinational corporations", "Fast moving consumer goods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Extensive research on the subject of standardization versus adaptation has revealed that the recent literature was able to highlight the significant ambiguity surrounding the achievements of previous investigations (Akgun et al., 2014; Khandai, 2014; Brei et al., 2011; Schmid and Kotulla, 2011; Alashban et al., 2002; Medina and Duffey, 1998). The decision to use standardization or adaptation as the product marketing strategy (PMS) is situation-specific and should be the outcome of thorough analysis of the relevant factors prevailing in a specific market at a specific time (Hakala et al., 2011; Griffith, 2010; Vrontis et al., 2009; Vrontis and Kitchen, 2005; Ryans et al., 2003; Theodosiou and Leonidou, 2003). When using the term \"situation\", scholars embrace both the firm's internal situation such as resources, skills, experiences, competences, product characteristics and brands (Guzman and Davis, 2017; Chatzipanagiotou et al., 2016; Christodoulides et al., 2016; Guzman et al., 2016; Davcik and Sharma, 2015; Davcik et al., 2015; Veloutsou et al., 2013), and the firm's external situation like customers, competitors, culture, social and political system (Truong et al., 2017; Schmid and Kotulla, 2011; Chung, 2007). This research adopts the situational strategic fit concept to investigate the PMS of multinational companies (MNCs) in a newly emerging market. The \"concept of fit\" is necessary because it offers an appropriate theoretical framework for investigating the degree of adaptation versus standardization PMS that influences product performance (Davcik and Sharma, 2016; Hultman et al., 2009; Hultman, 2008; Vrontis and Thrassou, 2007; Zott and Amit, 2006; Papavassiliou and Stathakopoulos, 1997). The situation strategic fit concept exists from two perspectives: internal and external:\nResearch setting and methodology: The investigation utilizes a qualitative research design (Creswell, 2007), as there is a need for deep understanding of the local contextualization, causal inference and exposal of the points of view of the people under study (Babbie, 2007; Miles and Huberman, 1984, 1994). The qualitative research approach is most suitable when studying global PMS that takes place in the MNCs' foreign subsidiaries where the national and company culture, product strategy, local consumer behavior and headquarter-subsidiary relationship are all interconnected.\nResearch setting: This research is based on a comparative longitudinal paired case study of two European MNCs of similar size, close distant origin and which are fierce competitors. This research design enhances the extension of existing research and generates field-based insights (Davcik et al., 2015; Veloutsou et al., 2013). All data used are taken from real-life experience: practice, work and life-as-lived by the executives who were present (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007; Yin, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989). Nestle SA of Switzerland and Anglo-Dutch Unilever NV are both European MNCs penetrating the Vietnamese market at almost the same time. Nestle SA emphasized on food and beverage only. Unilever NV managed a portfolio of food and personal products.\nRisk: Studies on MNCs showed that the choice of PMS is largely influenced by the risks perceived and benefits available (Albaum et al., 2005; Agarwal and Teas, 2001). Risk, uncertainty and imperfect knowledge are crucial determinants in PMS' selections since MNCs, which begin to engage in foreign market activities often lack prior knowledge, experience and adequate information (Albaum et al., 2005). The early days higher risk period was the initial emerging of a free market economy, which did not exist in Vietnam previously. No reliable data on the limited market activity were available, as the country had been in communist isolation since it sank into economic stagnation (Elliott, 2010; Chanda, 1986; Duiker, 1985) after the fall of Saigon in 1975 (Butler, 1985; Hosmer et al., 1978; Terzani, 1976). The beginning of the lower risk period was demarcated from 2001, when foreign firms could gather useable market data and had a more accurate understanding of the local trading environment. Overall, the risk for foreign firms was largely consequent upon the limited knowledge they possessed on Vietnam and the uncertainties they faced owing to the lack of reliable data and experience (Ashwill and Diep, 2005).\nMarket place: Vietnam: In the early 1990s, Vietnam, then with a population of slightly over 70 million inhabitants, offered an attractive market for consumer goods and foodstuffs, despite the per capita income level being low (Dam, 1999; Marr and White, 1988). At the beginning of the 1990s, when Unilever NV and Nestle SA arrived in Vietnam to start operations, close to 60 per cent of the population was living in poverty (Economist, 2008). By 2001, poverty levels decreased to slightly below 30 per cent, which still meant that nearly one of three Vietnamese lived with less than US$1 a day to spend (WorldBank, 2003). The national economy began to grow by 6 per cent per annum in 1992 and reached its all time high of slightly over 9 per cent in 1996. A period of slow aggrandizement followed the Asian crisis in 1997, when the economic growth index stood at 5 per cent (Krugman, 2000). It took Vietnam a few years to recover from the Asian crisis. The economy started to grow more strongly again in 2002 by 6 per cent and in 2003 by 7 per cent per annum. National economic growth above 8 per cent was achieved again after 2005 (Economist, 2008).\nNestle SA: Pharmacist Heinrich Nestle, born in 1814 in Frankfurt, Germany, founded Nestle SA in 1866 in Switzerland (Pfiffner and Renk, 2007; Heer, 1966, 1991). Nestle SA today is the world's largest food and beverage company. Sales at the end of 2012 were 92 billion Swiss Francs (CHF), resulting in an operating profit of CHF 14bn, and a net profit of CHF 10.6bn. Nestle SA, headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, employs around 330,000 people from more than 86 countries and operates close to 500 factories around the world.\nUnilever NV: Unilever NV was founded in 1930 in one of the largest mergers of its time, between Margarine Unie, a Dutch producer of margarine, and Lever Brothers, a British soap-maker. There was industrial logic in this because both businesses shared a common ingredient: palm oil. Growing it in overseas plantations and importing it would benefit from economies of scale (Economist, 2008). The modern Unilever that eventually emerged had sales in 190 countries worldwide totaling EUR51 billion, managed a net profit of EUR5 billion, and employed 173,000 people in 2012. Unilever is unique among big consumer-products companies in that it makes and sells food, household goods and personal care products. Its rivals tend to concentrate on one or two of these segments. For instance, Nestle SA does not sell household goods or personal care products and Procter & Gamble (P&G) Inc. of the USA does not sell much food. Worldwide, in 2008, Unilever NV was firmly in second place in the consumer goods sector (Economist, 2008). Consistently profitable throughout its history, Unilever NV's main strengths have been size and geographical spread. Foods and beverages account for 50 per cent of its global turnover, detergents for 25 per cent and personal care products 15 per cent. Unilever's products usually comprise a mix of internationally known brands and a number of local brands. Table II shows the milestones of Unilever NV's operation in Vietnam.\nData collection: Case study research is characterized by the analysis of various sources of primary and secondary data that help to develop a theory (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). The data collection for this study lasted for four years, from January 2008 to December 2011, and followed the principles of Yin (1984, 2003). For sources of empirical evidence, the investigation relied on the analysis of each MNC's PMS, which were divided into three sections:\nMeasurements: PMS was classified into three categories: standardization, adaptation and semi-adaptation. The PMS was considered as standardization when a subsidiary's product is identical to a product that is sold in the MNC's country of origin (Bayraktar, 2013; Rezvani et al., 2012; Rosenbloom and Haefner, 2009; Ozsomer et al., 1991). The PMS is labeled adaptation when a product was different - in terms of brand name, flavor/taste, form, color, size and/or packaging - from the corresponding product that had been launched previously in the MNC's country of origin and when those changes and modifications were specifically made to fit and meet the Vietnamese market's wants and needs. Semi-adaptation is defined as where a product is different (in terms of taste, flavor, smell, appearance and/or packaging) from that sold in the MNC's country of origin (Chu et al., 2010; Speece and Nguyen, 2005), but has assumed its adapted state after being previously modified for a different foreign market before being sold in Vietnam. In the cases considered here, this type of adaptation was made for the South East Asia region. It is known that there are variations between countries in respect to consumer needs and wants, brand name utilizations, usage conditions, purchasing powers, commercial infrastructures, technological developments, cultures and traditions, online social media, laws and regulations, and social justice and responsibilities (Guzman and Davis, 2017; Chatzipanagiotou et al., 2016; Christodoulides et al., 2016; Dessart et al., 2015). Therefore, when a product is adapted to a South East Asia country it does not automatically imply that it will be well accepted to the Vietnamese market, as these countries had no common border.\nFindings and discussion: Previous research classified PMS into two categories: either standardization or adaptation. The investigation's cases show that a third, midway PMS was used by the two MNCs: semi-adaptation. The following three contexts are responsible for the deployment of one of the three specific PMS during the stipulated time period:\nConclusions: The investigation analyzed how two MNCs faced the challenge of market uncertainty and political system instability in a newly emerging market and how it affected their PMS and product performance. Twelve global brands that were locally manufactured and domestically launched by the two MNCs during the first ten years of their operations in Vietnam were analyzed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how two multinational companies (MNCs) faced the challenge of market uncertainty and political instability in a newly emerging market, and how it affected the impact of their product marketing strategy (PMS) and product (brand) performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A comparative longitudinal paired case study of a market entry by two global MNCs. Twelve global brands (products) were studied, which were locally manufactured and launched by the two MNCs during their first ten years of operation in Vietnam.\nFindings: The authors approached the investigation from a conventional point of view: standardization versus adaptation. The results showed that in addition to these two traditional processes, a third one was also operating, which the authors labeled semi-adaptation, or the midway PMS. Semi-adaptation refers to a product that has been introduced to Vietnam from a neighboring country.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is based on two European MNCs active in the food and consumer-household goods industry in a newly emerging market: Vietnam.\nPractical implications: This primary data indicate that the product standardization, semi-adaptation and adaptation process in practice is a technique applied to fit a product to a newly emerging market more by degree of change than by product category.\nOriginality/value: This paper supports a recent stream of research, which views Standardization or Adaptation as the two ends of the same continuum, where the degree of the firm's PMS can range between them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality of health care: an absolute necessity for public satisfaction	[ "Quality", "Patient care", "Health services", "Assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Pledging quality in health care services ought to be a priority for any health care system. The notion of quality in health services has emerged more strongly because of the rising costs of treatments, constrained resources and evidence of variations in clinical practice (Campbell et al., 2000). A quality health care system is one which guarantees the continuum of care, not merely for curative services, but for health promotion and prevention. Assessment of quality usually focuses on technical concerns as well as the process through which care is delivered. This assessment becomes more authentic and legitimate if based on the application of professional standards integrating the patients' views, experiences and perceptions (Haddad et al., 2001, Aharony and Strasser, 1993). However, an effective system can only function properly if it operates on a regular assessment of people's perceptions and monitors itself based on their feedback. Researchers have shown that when measuring a health care system's performance, the assessment of patient satisfaction is a more sensitive indicator than the traditional measures such as morbidity and mortality patterns and is more reliable than other methods such as physician peer review (Fitzpatrick, 1991). Patient assessment of the health services together with the views of staff in improving the level of quality is in fact respecting the consumer sovereignty (Grol, 2001).\nCurrent context: The World Health Organization (Wilkinson et al., 2004) defined quality of health care through benchmarks of efficiency, cost effectiveness and social acceptability. If the term social acceptability is clearly understood the patients' perspective is clearly highlighted. This is similar to the corporate sector where consumers are identified as being of prime importance in the overall delivery of high quality services. In health services the increasing practice of conducting patient satisfaction surveys may be evidence of the shift from traditional doctor-patient relationship to a provider-client paradigm. Indeed this philosophy of quality of health services, heretofore, may assist in finding the answer to the enigma of collapsing NHS. Thousands of jobs are being shed due to budget deficits and managers are being advised to run NHS like Tesco, a profitable organization, without taking the satisfaction of the public into consideration. The quality of health service in the private sector can also be questioned (Stockdale et al., 2007). A higher pattern of utilization of private sector health facilities is attributed mostly to issues of acceptability for example minimal waiting time, longer and flexible opening hours, availability of staff, comprehensive drug prescribing, better staff attitude and more confidentiality and acceptance of socially stigmatized diseases. The attitude of the health provider and patient satisfaction with the treatment play a role in health seeking behaviour (Stockdale et al., 2007).The dissatisfaction with the NHS actually makes people choose alternative health care. People tend to go to secondary or tertiary level hospitals for minor ailments. This phenomenon has its own repercussions in the form of considerable inefficiency and compromised quality of services in these major hospitals. It is, thus, quite rational to assess patient satisfaction of these public and private health facilities to bring about an overall improvement in quality of services delivered. It is seldom seen that researchers have looked for evaluation of health care services from a consumer perspective. However, satisfaction has been an implicit element in a range of assessments of utilization pattern surveys.\nPatient satisfaction: The satisfaction of the patient is of prime importance to quantify the competency of any health system worldwide. Focusing on mortality and morbidity rate is just one spectrum of reviewing the competency of a health system but asking the consumers (patients) about their satisfaction for services provided is becoming an essential and valuable tool for the optimum evaluation of healthcare providers. Over the past 25 years, the role of consumer satisfaction has gained widespread recognition as a measure of quality in many public sector services. This has become manifest in the NHS in the call by the 1983 NHS Management inquiry to ascertain how well the service is being delivered at local level by obtaining the experience and perceptions of patients and the community. Patient satisfaction is now deemed an important outcome measure for health services; however, this professed utility rests on a number of implicit assumptions about the nature and meaning of expressions of \"satisfaction\". Patients may have a complex set of important and relevant beliefs which cannot be embodied in terms of expressions of satisfaction. Consequently, many satisfaction surveys provide only an illusion of consumerism producing results which tend only to endorse the status quo. For service providers to meaningfully ascertain the experience and perceptions of patients and the community then research must first be conducted to identify the ways and terms in which those patients perceive and evaluate that service.\nService attributes: Reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles are those attributes which are utilised in many sectors dealing with public goods and services. Given that the delivery of healthcare is a public service there is much potential to improve the level of patient satisfaction with the service by tracking these dimensions. Reliability of the service means that the patient is seen when they require a service and that they receive the treatment they perceive to be correct for their disease. A responsive service is one where all patients regardless of their origin, status and background receive prompt attention by the hospital staff. Responsiveness also means that the service is delivered in a courteous manner and that the patient is consulted with in regard to treatment options. The factor of assurance is reflected from the reliance of the patients on doctor and hospital staff, and the confidence on their qualification and competence. The dimension of empathy can be identified as the individual attention given to the patients, calling them by their preferred name and demonstrating a caring attitude towards them. Tangibles account for the cleanliness in the health facility, use of clean instruments and standard procedures in the facility and lastly the prescription for any medication, which should be easy to understand for the patients.\nQuality improvement: Quality improvement is imperative to development and improvement in health care systems in the NHS. The latest health reforms introduced by the present government have emphasized good governance to achieve quality health care. However an authentic system of information has always been a flaw in the entire health care system and further there are no mechanisms on record to check the quality of these services. It is envisaged that through regular tracking of the dimensions of quality of care cited above, health providers and hospitals can receive timely feedback on areas of deficiency which in turn will assist in developing mechanisms to improve patient satisfaction. The efficient delivery of primary, secondary and tertiary health care through the existing health system can lead to improved health conditions only by good clinical governance through public satisfaction. This will also promote the appropriate use of the health services which will cater to needs and aspirations of the community. Thus it is imperative that providers get first hand information from their patients to assist them to re-orientate their services by adopting more client centred approaches, moulding their attitude and introducing convivial ambiance at health service outlets.More or less health care is not always better health care. Similarly reducing waiting lists and offering only cost effective treatment as is currently occurring in the NHS, does not mean patients are absolutely satisfied. Providing good quality healthcare in the presence of satisfied patients is of critical importance for the future economic and overall social well being of this country.\nConclusion: In order to quantify the competency of any healthcare system like the NHS, the satisfaction of the public consumers (patients) must become the sole criteria for judgement. By measuring mortality and morbidity, a health system can only provide unilateral assessment of its competency. Involvement of the patients into the evaluation process will not only create much needed openness in the NHS, but it will also evaluate the patient satisfaction and trust in the healthcare system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the value of consumers (patients) to assess the success or failure of a healthcare system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An evaluation of current healthcare in the NHS from a patient perspective culminating in suggestions and methods to achieve a patient responsive system.\nFindings: - The provision of best quality health services to patients is a difficult task especially when NHS budgets are being cut and jobs are being lost. NHS executives and managers claim that these redundancies will improve the quality of healthcare for the patient. However, running the NHS like a corporate organization is questionable as the way forward. There is no question of making profit (as is the norm in any corporate organization) and saving money at the expense of patient care.\nOriginality/value: - In order to find out the real performance of a healthcare system like the NHS, the satisfaction of the public should be the sole criteria for judgement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Valuing the investment in organizational training	[ "Training", "Return on investment", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's ever-changing business climate, as organizations seek ways to remain competitive they have significantly increased their efforts to develop the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of each employee to maximize their organizational impact. According to the latest report from ASTD (a national professional organization for trainers), organizations spend $109.25 billion annually on workplace learning and performance (WLP). The average annual expenditure per employee in the ASTD's Benchmarking Forum (BMF) sample of large organizations increased to $1,424 per employee in 2005, an increase of 4 percent from 2004, and the average expenditure per employee in ASTD BEST organizations increased 3.7 percent to $1,616. These figures show that BMF and BEST organizations continue to allocate substantial resources to employee learning. In calculating these figures, ASTD uses expenditure per employee, percentage of the organization's payroll, learning hours per employee, and the cost per learning hour. The average number of hours of formal learning per employee in BMF organizations increased from 35 hours per employee in 2004 to 41 hours per employee in 2005. In BEST organizations, the average number of learning hours per employee rose from 36 in 2004 to 43 in 2005 (Ketter, 2006).There has also been a significant shift in who the trainers are and what is being measured as the outcome of organizational training efforts. The companies have become more cautious and concerned about the value of competitive intelligence and have caused organizations to significantly curtail outsourcing of the training activities. According to ASTD, the average percentage of external expenditures in BMF organizations have fallen from 40 percent in 2001 to 24.8 percent in 2005 and in BEST organizations from 27.5 percent in 2004 to 23.9 percent in 2005 (Ketter, 2006). The measurement of the learning function has also shifted from a focus on program-level evaluation to the aggregation of data across the organization that covers learning investments and the value those investments ultimately bring to the organization. Organizations have or are in the process of developing dashboards and scorecards to monitor the results of the enterprise-wide learning function.Unfortunately, in spite of the best efforts of organizations and the professional trainers' associations, there are significant problems in evaluating the true impact of training. The published results of the survey administered to the delegates of the 2006 conference and published by the British Learning Association in May 2006 found that 72 percent of a representative sample of Britain's leading learning professionals considered that learning tends not to lead to change, and only 51 percent of respondents said that the learning and training programs they delivered were actually evaluated after the learning or training took place (The Great Training Robbery, 2006).Various organizations and researchers have tried to value training as an organizational investment and have used simple valuation methods to calculate a Return on Investment (ROI) for their training activities. However, when we look at these valuation attempts, it is apparent that there are two major problem areas associated with this effort and significant amount of controversy surrounding these valuation efforts. The controversy is caused by the problems with the assessment of benefits, and the simplicity of the methodology used in calculating the \"ROI\". Even though it seems relatively easy to identify and assign monetary value to most of the costs associated with training, this does not seem to be the case for the benefits, which some of them are tangible (e.g. reduced number of errors in completing a task, etc.) and others which are not (e.g. improved morale, etc.). What value do you place on improved morale? Reduced stress levels? Longer careers? Better qualified staff? Improved time management? All of these can be benefits - returns - on training investment. Therefore, one can make an argument that, attaching a value and relating this to a single cause (i.e. training) is often impossible and many training ROI assessments are \"best estimates\".\nMeasuring and monetizing benefits and costs of training: Much of the literature on training costs and benefits identifies the costs and benefits directly and indirectly related to the training efforts undertaken. There is some disagreement on which costs should be included. For example, Campbell (1994) argues that expenses, which are necessary for an organization, should be excluded from the valuation, where as Phillips et al. (2007) suggest that training indirect costs should be treated as an allocation of the organization's general overhead expenses.It is in the recognition and measurement of the benefits of training that the divergence of opinion appears to be widest. At the extreme of simplicity, Chang (2003) suggests that for employees directly involved with producing sales revenue it is the change in revenues that is the appropriate measure of benefits. Farrell (2005) recommends instead focusing on employee turnover because the benefits of training will be felt most notably in the measurement of this organizational outcome.At the other extreme Campbell (1994), Phillips et al. (2007), Lengermann (1996), and Tobin (1998) suggest that the benefits of training must be measured in by identifying changes in key operating activities directly related to an organization's goals and objectives. Campbell suggest that these \"hard to quantify\" variables include employee morale, workforce stability, lower absenteeism, job satisfaction, supervisory skill development and improved customer relations. Phillips adds to those activities changes in:* the organization's commitment;* teamwork; and* customer complaints.Lengermann argues that benefits need to be measured in terms of changes in a firm's productivity net of changes in employees' salaries that are result of training. Tobin narrows the focus even more by suggesting that the benefits be measured in terms of changes in business outcomes that are evidenced in improved job performance.ASTD reports that their BEST organizations use employee and customer satisfaction, quality of products and services, cycle time, retention, revenue, and overall productivity as their measures. Further, almost all of these organizations reported improvements during 2006 in these categories, as well as increases in their training budgets (Ketter, 2006).\nCalculating return on investment: Methods used by training professionals\nValuation methods used for other corporate investments: The various methodologies employed by trainers to estimate ROI are somewhat close approximations of two standard models for evaluating organizational investments;, e.g. acquiring a firm; purchasing a new machine; entering a new market. There are two major differences between how trainers calculate ROI and how organizations value their investments. These differences flow from the time value of money and what is assumed as the \"return from the investment\".The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of an investment is a percentage return on an investment (e.g. the cost of purchasing a new machine) where the net benefits are expressed not as a monetary value but as a rate of return. The method compares the cost of the investment to the net benefits expected to be received by the organization, based on the after-tax cash flows (CFAT) resulting directly from the investment that continue over a number of years (n). The annual compound rate of return is calculated by equating the present value of the benefits to its costs, and solving for IRR. Equation 4 where: Equation 5 A second model, Net Present Value (NPV), is also widely used to evaluate investment projects. This model calculates an investment's net benefit in monetary terms and incorporates an \"expected rate of return\" (k) into the valuation. The Net Present Value (NPV) is calculated using the \"Present Value\" equation above and substituting the \"expected rate of return\" (k) for the \"internal rate of return\" (IRR). If the net present value of the benefits exceeds that of the investment's cost, the organization would undertake the investment; i.e. NPV > 0.\nApplying methods used for corporate investments to training investments: In traditional methodologies used to evaluate investments, the percentage returns (or expected return) on an investment reflect the time value of money; i.e. money spent now is more valuable than money spent in the future. Since almost all investments result in benefits received months and/or years afterwards, those benefits received sooner than others are valued more highly. In the methodologies used by the training professionals, discussed above, the time value of money is omitted from the analysis. Thus, training expenditures should be evaluated in terms of their overall contribution to the organization's value by using either internal rate of return (IRR), if using ratios for comparison, or net present value (NPV), if monetary comparisons are preferred (by the organization).Using ratios to value training return of investments\nSummary and conclusions: Statistics generated by the national professional organization for trainers show continual increases in monies spent by the organizations to train their employees and improve the contribution to the organizational effort. However, our study shows that there are significant problems in evaluating the true impact of training. These attempts encounter significant challenges in measurement of the costs and benefits and use valuation methods, which will not be acceptable for valuation of other organizational investments.A review of the training literature suggests that while there appears to be much more rigor in assigning direct and indirect costs of training, and that major inroads are being made to determine the true value of benefits (valued in terms of the organization's goals and objectives), there is no consideration for the time value of money. The omission of how \"time value of money\" and \"hurdle rate\", which are significant components of traditional investment valuation methods, impact valuation of training efforts make the currently used training valuation methods unreliable and incorrect. Because there is no one method uniformly accepted and used by training professionals, the results of currently used methods do not lend themselves to comparative analysis. Thus, the training's ROIs not only be compared to one another but, they are also cannot be used for a direct comparison with the ROI results of alternative investments that organizations are considering - thereby increasing the likelihood those investments in training will be more likely to be rejected by the organization's senior management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a better methodology for evaluating the value of corporate training to make it easier to compare with other organizational investments. The paper also seeks to propose and demonstrate how \"time value of money\" and \"hurdle rate\", which are significant components of traditional investment valuation methods, can and should be incorporated into the valuation of organization training.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The training investment evaluation methods most commonly used by the training professionals were identified and compared to investment evaluation techniques used to measure the value of other investments made to improve and expand business activities.\nFindings: - The survey of training investment evaluation literature showed that there are two major problems in the methods utilized by the training professionals. One of the problems was associated with the measurement and monetization of costs and benefits of the training activity. The other was the non-comparable return values' generated by the non-uniform methodologies used by the training professionals. Both of these issues were addressed and shortcomings of the currently used methodologies where changes should be made to improve this process were identified. A new methodology, which will make the evaluation process more acceptable to the company management, was developed and its use was demonstrated.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Unfortunately, the issues associated with monetization of costs and benefits could not be fully addressed. This is much more organization specific and specific to the type of training provided. However, some examples were provided of how this activity could be uniformly applied.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides a new and more acceptable methodology for the use of training professionals and organizations to evaluate the value of training.\nOriginality/value: - This paper applies a \"financial analyst\" or a Chief Financial Officer perspective to organizational investment in training and provides a tool for evaluating its value the same way organizations evaluate their other investments (e.g. acquisitions, factory expansions, product development).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability-driven innovation and the Climate Savers' programme: experience of international companies in China	[ "China", "Innovation", "Sustainability", "WWF Climate Savers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is clear that sustainability is becoming a major driver of innovation. On the one hand there is growing concern about resources, energy, climate change, pollution and other issues. WWF reports suggest that lifestyles in the developed world at present require the resources of around two planets and if emerging economies follow the same trajectory this will rise to 2.5 by 2050. On the other hand, many commentators point to the considerable opportunities potentially opened up for both process innovations, which increase operating efficiencies and reduce costs, and for product innovations, which exploit the huge potential market space opened up. To illustrate, the global market for \"green products and services\" was recently estimated to be as large as a $3.2 trillion business opportunity.\nLiterature review and methodology of the study: Preoccupation with sustainability and the need for innovation to deal with it is, of course, not new. The notion of \"sustainable development\" was popularised in the Brundtland Report, commissioned by the United Nations (UN) where it is defined as meeting \"the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\" (Brundtland, 1987). The \"limits to growth' debate triggered in the 1970s led to a continuing stream of research (for examples, see Meadows et al., 2004; Cole et al., 1973; Hart, 1995; Bradbury and Clair, 1999; Cowell et al., 1999; Phaal et al., 1999; Jansson et al., 2000; Senge and Carstedt, 2001; Paramanathan et al., 2004; Porter and Kramer, 2006; Tukker et al., 2008; Nidumolu et al., 2009; Hansen et al., 2009). Significantly, investment in sustainability projects has held up throughout the recent recession, suggesting a combination of enforced compliance with increasingly tough legislation and a perception of the major opportunities implicit in this agenda (Stern, 2011). Zenghelis (2012) emphasises the significance of stable policy frameworks, noting however that in spite of uncertainty in this regard \"HSBC forecasts the global low-carbon energy market will triple to US$2.2 trillion by 2020. This is not science fiction. A highly competitive 'green race' has begun with South Korea, China, some parts of Europe, and California in the lead. Mainland China's share of the global low-carbon market is forecast to grow from 17 per cent today to 24 per cent by 2020, moving ahead of the United States\" (Zenghelis, 2012, p. 18).\nFindings: As might be expected from large multinational corporations, there is a strong sustainability message in corporate strategies originating from headquarters, usually associated with specific publicly declared stretch targets for improved efficiencies, reduced carbon footprint, energy savings, etc. These translate in the Chinese context to \"framework\" strategies that set the direction for innovation - for example Packaging's \"4R's\" (renewing, reducing, recycling, responsibility) or Consumer Electronics' \"Road to Zero\" offer shaping slogans and messages within which specific actions can be deployed, although there is a recognition within such programmes that (relatively) new entry and the nature of the local context make realising international level targets difficult. For example, Building Materials and Hotel both place considerable emphasis on measurement and benchmarking across their global operations, and Chinese plants are included in this competitive process. Within the Chinese context these organizations are recognized as leaders in their field in terms of setting and trying to maintain high standards. To exemplify, a leading Chinese online portal, Sohu.com, recognized the role of telecommunications in driving a positive environmental impact and selected Telecom as one of the top five \"green enterprises\" in the country.\nDiscussion: There is activity in the sustainable innovation space within China, most around level 1 (i.e. improvement innovation). But we have also noted a growing number of level 2 activities, partly enabled by the \"clean sheet\" opportunity of building new plant or launching new products to take advantage of the rapid and significant growth in the Chinese market. And this \"clean sheet\" approach also offers some opportunities for moving towards system-level innovation. But arguably, the need to connect elements of infrastructure, to develop social attitudes and to engage with government policy will require much more at this level. In practice the state or central government is both a key enabler and a barrier to think of SDI. In particular, there is a need to invest in education and awareness amongst indigenous players, both in supply chains and on the consumer side. This challenge may have long-term brand building and trust implications that support the short-term costs of doing so. For example, in Packaging China, they explain:\nConclusion: The kind of commitment expressed by Automotive and the other companies discussed in this paper indicates a significant investment in the idea of sustainability-led innovation. In part this commitment results from the bottom-line benefits, which can flow from more sustainable practices, especially where they save energy or resources. As Boons et al. (2013, p. 2) point out, sustainability ideas \"of transforming challenges into business opportunities and new markets has sparked fundamental interest in the business community. The interest is becoming clear from the large increase of capital flowing into sustainable innovations. For example, Ethical Markets Media (2011) reported $2.4 trillion cumulative worldwide investment in eco-innovation during the period 2007-2011, while the expected cumulative investment by the year 2020 was estimated at $10 trillion (Montalvo et al., 2011)\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to explore the experience of eight international companies, focusing on their strategies in sustainable innovations in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This investigation is accomplished using a case study methodology. The research is based on the companies' secondary data and 47 semi-structured face-to-face interviews carried out in Chinese (Mandarin) between September 2010 and March 2012. Access to the selected companies was supported by WWF China.\nFindings: The findings of this study are summarised in a theoretical framework suggesting four different levels of multinational corporations' (MNCs') sustainability-driven innovations in China.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is based on the research population of MNCs being WWF Climate Savers partners in China. The research sample has no Chinese-only companies.\nOriginality/value: From the academic perspective this research is a qualitative analysis of the best practices in sustainable innovation of MNCs in China and an attempt to map them to a theoretical framework. From a policy-making perspective, this paper is a report on existing practices and positive experience in responsible industry leadership. For practitioners this study shows how to create profitable growth in harmony with environmental sustainability and good corporate citizenship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer acceptance and market success: Wal-Mart in the UK and Germany	[ "Retailing", "Consumer behaviour", "International marketing", "Germany", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Wal-Mart entered the European market in 1997 via Germany by acquiring 21 Wertkauf and 74 Spar Handel stores, all of which were changed into Wal-Mart superstores. In 1999, the company's reach was extended to UK through the acquisition of Asda's 219 outlets, which remained trading under their own name. Wal-Mart aspired to climb to number one market position through its winning formula of EDLP (every day low prices), high customer service, strong organisational culture and efficient operations. Speculation was rife amongst retail analysts, academics and practitioners about the effects the retail giant would have on domestic retail market structures (Arnold and Fernie, 2000; Bergmann, 2000; Burt and Sparks, 2001; Gotterbarm, 2004; Rohleder, 1999; Whysall, 2001). The success of the company in North America seemed to foreshadow a new era in European (grocery) retailing. In 2006, however, Wal-Mart announced its exit from the German market and had not achieved market leader position in UK.The study presented here continues the discussion about Wal-Mart's performance in Europe. It aims to assess the company's performance in the two European markets by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal-Mart's market propositions. The constructs of institutional theory are used to interpret consumer data gathered in the period 2002-2003 in two specific regional markets in Germany (Wurzburg) and UK (Manchester). Institutional theory suggests that particular market norms exist. In order to be successful, retailers have to at least comply or better exceed those norms. Thus, by first determining salient norms for shopper patronage behaviour in the selected markets and then comparing incumbent retailers' and Wal-Mart's performance on these norms, it may be possible to explain the American company's position.Although data limited to two cities in Wal-Mart's European trading areas cannot - and is not meant to - be representative of the respective national markets, the results have proved to be indicative of overall trends. Whilst the application of an institutional lens cannot of itself explain international retailer market position, it has emerged as a useful conceptual base especially for the interpretation of international retailer failure.\nThe retail internationalization literature: The retail internationalization literature has traditionally concentrated on who internationalizes, the motives for expansion, the direction of growth, market entry mechanisms, adaptation/standardization of retail offers, post-entry strategies, market exit/divestment strategies and corporate culture (see Wrigley, 2000; Arnold and Fernie, 2000; Burt and Sparks, 2001; Burt and Carralero-Encinas, 2000; Moore and Fernie, 2004; Dawson et al., 2006, for extensive reviews). To date, however, the role of the consumer in the internationalization process has received scant attention beyond the adaptation/standardization debate.Retailer internationalization and consumer acceptance\nStore patronage behaviour and institutional theory: Store patronage behaviour\nWal-Mart in German and UK grocery markets: The German market is renowned for its minimal profit margins and price-led strong domestic competition. Wal-Mart entered Germany at a time when the grocery market was saturated (Gotterbarm, 2004; Senge, 2004) and ten retail companies, covering 55.1 per cent of the market, dominated a relatively fragmented grocery retail landscape. Edeka remained the leading retailer, followed by Metro, Rewe and the two discount chains Aldi and Lidl (Lebensmittelzeitung, data for 2005). Wal-Mart was trailing on 13th place with a 1.5 per cent market share (Gotterbarm, 2004, p. 185).Wal-Mart's German strategy aimed to upgrade the inherited store portfolio, to incorporate high quality customer service to the established EDLP strategy and thus to act as a \"market spoiler\" (Arnold et al., 1998), i.e. change German consumers' preferences in favour of the one stop shop concept. By the time of the current research, however, the German operation was struggling.In contrast the acquisition of Asda, one of the \"big four\" UK grocers, meant initial success. Asda's marketing, operations and organisational culture mirrored that of the US giant (Burt and Sparks, 2001; Arnold and Fernie, 2000) and was regarded as good \"strategic fit\". Consequently, the Wal-Mart strategy for UK was to build on these similarities (Fernie and Arnold, 2002). The EDLP approach was successful in that Asda made impressive market share gains over its less price competitive rivals, Sainsbury and Safeway, and temporarily replaced Sainsbury as the second largest grocery retailer in UK by late 2003. Tesco, however, continued to dominate and widen the gap over the competition.\nResearch design and analysis: The aim of the current study was to assess Wal-Mart's performance in Europe by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of the company's market propositions. Underpinned by the constructs of institutional theory, a questionnaire was administered which aimed to establish:* salient norms for store patronage;* retailer adherence to these norms;* the moderating effect of societal on economic norms; and* the effect of the institutional theory legitimacy construct on patronage behaviour.The survey locations\nComparing results: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion: The study set out to assess Wal-Mart's performance in the European market at the beginning of this decade and explain the different market positions through analysing store patronage behaviour. The following discussion considers the results at three levels:1. The importance of norm variations across markets and its relevance for international retailer strategy is assessed.2. The link between retailer norm adherence and market position is scrutinized.3. The usefulness of institutional theory constructs for analyzing (international) retailer success is evaluated.Norm similarities and variations\nConclusions: Two localised European studies on Wal-Mart's performance using the constructs of institutional theory resulted in first, the establishment of salient patronage norms, second, a discussion of retailer adherence to these norms and third, an evaluation of the relevance of the theoretical constructs employed.With regards to the first issue, five key points emerged:1. Norm saliency in grocery shopping was heterogeneous across markets beyond a couple of key norms.2. Societal norms were not as important as assumed.3. Linked to the previous point was the lack of moderation of economic norms through the community norm.4. There was a near absence of mediation of norms through the legitimacy construct.5. The relationship between retailer norm adherence and market position in a European context was less obvious than the results from North American studies suggested.At a company level it was difficult to clearly relate Wal-Mart's (or most other companies') success purely through the constructs of institutional theory. Other external and internal factors have to be considered. However, there was strong evidence to explain failure and market exit.At the theoretical level, the study highlighted the ability of institutional theory constructs to ascertain insights into patronage norms and to establish the overwhelming significance of economic parameters in grocery shopping at a particular point in time. The complex relationship between norm adherence, patronage behaviour and market position (including success/failure), however, cannot be purely determined by investigating only two social actors (i.e. consumer and retailer).Further studies need to consider the process of norm creation together with external market pressures and internal capabilities as proposed in international retailing concepts, stressing either corporate (Alexander and Myers, 2000) or behavioural (Vida and Fairhurst, 1998) perspectives. This should include the reassesment of the relevance of norms and their attributes taking account of changing market conditions. The institutional theory approach also needs further elaboration in different contexts, for example in fast developing Indian and Chinese markets as well as product categories. Only then can the overall utility of the concept to explain international retailer success be determined. Nevertheless, the current study has highlighted a strong correlation between retailer underperformance on key economic norms and market exit. Thus, investigating norm saliency in patronage behaviour across different markets (and products) can constitute a valuable tool in the repertoire of the divestment and failure literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore Wal-Mart's varying performance in Europe and eventual exit from the German market by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal-Mart's market propositions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses the macro-constructs of institutional theory to interpret and conceptualise micro-level consumer data. Data were collected via telephone surveys in two regional German and UK markets in 2002/2003. Salient patronage norms in each market were established and Wal-Mart's as well as its competitors' performance on those norms were assessed.\nFindings: - In the German context, the institutional theory approach to explaining Wal-Mart's problems clearly foreshadows market failure and exit. In UK market, no clear pattern between retailers adhering to salient patronage norms, patronage behaviour and market position could be established. The constructs of institutional theory were more likely to predict and explain market failure than success.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Research in two regional markets limits the applicability of findings. Nevertheless, some key issues seem to indicate overall market performance. The telephone survey approach carries inherent problems, which however have only marginally impacted on the relevance of the findings.\nOriginality/value: - The use of institutional theory constructs adds a further dimension to the discussion of international retailer success/failure and can constitute a valuable tool in the repertoire of the divestment and failure literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding and overcoming negative impacts of tourism in city destinations: conceptual model and strategic framework	[ "City tourism", "Conflict mechanisms", "Host-guest relations", "Overtourism", "Tourism impact studies", "Visitor management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tourism is subject to massive growth. Projections made by the World Tourism Organisation anticipate a growth to 1.8 billion international arrivals worldwide till 2030. Based on its World Tourism Monitor, IPK states that city tourism is the fastest growing market segment in tourism (IPK International, 2016). The direct and indirect effects of this increase in visitor numbers seem to cause an increase in annoyance among residents, which could lead to conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and inhabitants. The rise of the so-called sharing economy has recently added an additional facet to the discussion. During the past few years various media have reported on incidents, residents protests and the like. However, the humming-up of media may occasionally obscure the difference between actual conflicts perceived in the population and what interested actors in the media make of it. Here, only a careful analysis of the actual situation would help. On the other hand, such conflicts and the discussion about it are neither new nor limited to large cities. Yet, the focus of the discussion has shifted over the last decades: from tourism to developing countries, residents of villages in the Alps which have found themselves into ski-circuses, or greenlanders suffering from the rush of cruise ships. Recently, the discussion has shifted to where a large proportion of tourists go: from and to the European cities. Data from the German Reiseanalyse, an annual survey on holiday travel in Germany (Schmucker et al., 2016), suggest that in 2014, 31 per cent of the population and 33 per cent of German holiday makers were at home in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the cities, holiday travel is more than 80 per cent higher than in the countryside.\nThe domain of tourism impact studies: The study presented here is an example of a tourism impact study. The domain of tourism impact studies has evolved since the second world war, echoing the development of tourism, its characteristics and its perception. During the first phase (1960-1970) the emphasis of tourism impact studies was on the positive economic impacts of tourism. Tourism was mainly seen as a means to strengthen economies. In the 1970s and 1980s, the focus gradually shifted to the negative social, cultural and environmental impacts. This reflected the growing concern of industrialisation, sustainability and quality of life. Ultimately in the 1980s and 1990s the interest of tourism impact studies moved to integrating the economic perspective with the social and environmental one. Tourism had continued to grow, had become more diffuse, and had become more interconnected with societies and economies. The divide in tourism impact studies between economic and social and environmental perspectives, and the emphasis on tourism and destinations as two different worlds impacting upon each other (nicely illustrated in binary terminology such as host and guest) gradually moved to a growing interest into the multidimensional relation between tourism and communities; the process by which tourism is shaped by the interactions between, tourism, host environments, economy and societies; and the meaning of tourism for society (Postma, 2013; Pizam, 1978; Jafari, 1990, 2005, 2007; Butler, 2004; Hudson and Lowe, 2004; Ateljevic, 2000; Crouch, 1999, 2011; Williams, 2009; Sherlock, 2001). This so called cultural turn in tourism impact studies (Milne and Ateljevic, 2001) opened the door to new research areas raising attention on themes and issues that were largely overlooked or marginalised before (Causevic and Lynch, 2009), for instance, \"the multiple readings of local residents while working, living, playing or, in other words, consuming and producing their localities through encounter with tourism\" (Ateljevic, 2000, pp. 381-382).\nSustainable tourism: Although the notion of sustainable development has led to considerable debate since its introduction which in part is due to its vagueness for concrete action, it is incorporated as an important starting point in contemporary policy and planning worldwide. This also applies to tourism, where the basic ideas of sustainable development were gradually translated into the concept of sustainable tourism development. The first ideas were introduced by Krippendorf (1984), and they were elaborated in the Brundtland report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The ideas presented in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and in Agenda 21 guided the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Lanzarote in 1995, where the core principles were established (France, 1997; Martin, 1995). In line with sustainable development, sustainable tourism development tries to establish a suitable balance between economic, environmental and social aspects of tourism development to guarantee its long-term sustainability (World Tourism Organisation, 2004). The World Tourism Organisation's core principles of sustainable tourism development are: to improve the quality of life of the host community; to provide high quality experience for visitors; and to maintain the quality of the environment, on which both the host community and the visitors depend (Mill and Morrison, 2002).\nThe case of Hamburg: The aim of this viewpoint paper is to contribute to the conceptualisation of tourism community relations and to clarify the mechanisms of conflict between residents and tourists and to propose a conceptual model to assess the impact of such conflicts on city tourism and to suggest a framework to develop strategies to deal with such conflicts and mitigate negative impacts. This model was developed for a study in Hamburg that addressed the balanced and sustainable growth of tourism in the city. Hamburg is one of the most popular city destinations in Germany. The city, located in the north of the country, is faced with a gradual increase of visitor numbers, especially during the past few years. Internal papers of Hamburg's Destination Management Organisation, Hamburg Tourismus (HHT, 2015), show that between 2001 and 2015, the number of overnight stays in Hamburg increased with over 150 per cent, which is more than, for example, Barcelona (+112 per cent), Venice (+120 per cent), Amsterdam (+54 per cent) and Berlin (+153 per cent). Although the negative implications of tourism are not as visible as in some other European cities, critiques are getting louder in selected parts of the city, as shown by a regular resident monitoring implemented by HHT. Strategies to distribute tourism flows in time and space could help to prevent or to counteract. The study, commissioned by HHT, is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms behind and the nature of possible conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and residents and the way they can be managed and controlled, for example, by making use of data generated by social media. Based on desk research, a conceptual model was developed which describes the drivers of conflict between residents and visitors. Building blocks of the model are visitors and their attributes, residents and their attributes, conflict mechanisms and areas of conflict between both parties, and indicators of quality and quantity of tourist facilities. Subsequently the model was used to analyse the situation in Hamburg.\nConflict drivers and irritation factors: To develop a better understanding of the mechanism of conflict between tourists, tourism suppliers and residents, desk research was conducted into potential areas of conflict between locals and tourists, which factors would characterize particularly vulnerable residents and particularly disturbing locals, and what would be strategic options to manage and control the (occurrence) of such conflicts.\nModel construction: The results of the desk research were put together in a conceptual framework to conceptualise the complex issue under study, that has largely been unexplored in this way so far. The model helps to identify and visualise possible irritation points on the part of the inhabitants and their (possibly disturbing) interaction with visitors. Just like other models, this conceptual model is a schematic abstraction of reality. It takes individual, relevant aspects into account, while other aspects might be neglected. The intention is not to be complete, but to visualise reality and identify relevant issues. So, the model presented here is abstract and descriptive. It is not a scientific structure or measurement model from which statistical hypotheses can be derived, but rather a \"thinking structure\" for further investigation.\nRelevant characteristics of tourists: Based on the literature and considerations by the researchers, the following relevant characteristics of tourism can be identified:\nRelevant characteristics of inhabitants: On the part of the inhabitants, a fairly large number of potential attributes can be identified in the literature which could influence their attitude towards the tourists.\nConflict mechanisms: Investigations into residents' perceptions of tourism have been approached from several perspectives: the balance between positive and negative perceived impacts (social exchange theory), the shared social representations of tourism with other community members (social representations theory; Moscovici, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988), the speed and intensity of tourism growth, especially in the early phases of tourism development (social disruption theory; England and Albrecht, 1984; Kang, Long and Perdue, 1996) and increasing investments and associated commodification and destruction of the landscape and idyll (theory of creative destruction (Mitchell, 1998)).\nConcrete fields of conflict: The components of the model described in the previous section point at conflicts in a more abstract way (which characteristics and features could lead to conflicts and how does this work in general?). This section will focus on the actual (concrete) conflict fields that can occur. The basis for the collection of these fields of conflict is derived from the illustrated antecedents, yet it is mainly about what has been reported by destinations (especially big cities) and survey results.\nStrategic approaches: Strategic approaches always require a clear objective in order to have any effect. In this study, two objectives are defined:\nConclusions and discussion: Currently tourism is on the rise and city tourism has a large share in this increase. The UN World Tourism Organisation anticipates a further growth during the years to come. Emerging economies play a major role in the vast increase of tourism. Driven by an increase of wealth the middle classes in these economies are discovering the world and for example, in Europe it is evident that this is causing a growing level of annoyance among residents of (urban) destinations. Because of the rise of international tourism it is likely that the situation will worsen if visitor flows are not managed properly. This requires a thorough understanding of the forces, the conditions and mechanisms at work. This paper is an attempt to contribute to this understanding by means of a case study in Hamburg and the construction of a model that could help to manage visitor flows and anticipate possible effects of potential measures. Future studies are needed to refine the model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the mechanisms of conflict between residents and tourists and to propose a conceptual model to assess the impact of such conflicts on city tourism and to suggest a framework to develop strategies to deal with such conflicts and mitigate negative impacts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on desk research a conceptual model was developed which describes the drivers of conflicts between residents and visitors. Building blocks of the model are visitors and their attributes, residents and their attributes, conflict mechanisms and critical encounters between residents and visitors, and indicators of the quality and quantity of tourist facilities. Subsequently the model was used to analyse the situation in Hamburg. For this analysis concentration values were calculated based on supply data of hotels and AirBnB, app-data, and expert consultations.\nFindings: The study shows that in Hamburg there are two key mechanisms that stimulate conflicts: (1) the number of tourists in relation to the number of residents and its distribution in time and space; (2) the behaviour of visitors measured in the norms that they pose onto themselves and others (indecent behaviour of tourists).\nResearch limitations/implications: The model that was developed is a conceptual model, not a model with which hypotheses can be tested statistically. Refinement of the model needs further study.\nPractical implications: Based on the outcomes of the study concrete strategies were proposed with which Hamburg could manage and control the balance of tourism.\nOriginality/value: City tourism has been growing in the last decades, in some cases dramatically. As a consequence, conflicts between tourists, tourism suppliers and inhabitants can occur. The rise of the so-called sharing economy has recently added an additional facet to the discussion. The ability to assess and deal with such conflicts is of importance for the way city tourism can develop in the future. This study is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the mechanism behind and the nature of those conflicts, and the way they can be managed and controlled. Besides it illustrates how data generated by social media (apps) can be used for such purposes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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