bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A weighted similarity coefficient technique for manufacturing facility design
Authors: John Elwyn , Kuznecov Anton , Thomas Andrew , Davies Alan
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Using the weighted similarity coefficient (WSC) technique in the design of manufacturing facilities provides the system designer with a suitable method for the creation of efficient manufacturing cells. The formation of such well designed machine cells will then hopefully ensure that the achievable cost reduction benefits, in terms of lower operational costs incurred via the transfer of components between machines, are obtained by companies that wish to use cellular manufacturing in their approach to production operations. The aim of this paper is to outline and evaluate the application of a particular WSC equation to the formulation and design of cellular manufacturing systems.

Design/methodology/approach

By using a pragmatic approach, the paper chronicles the design and development of a particular weighted similarity coefficient as a means of defining a possibly useful methodology for cell design in manufacturing systems. The technique outlined is subsequently evaluated for its generic nature, applicability and effectiveness via the use of previously published synthetic production data and a comparison with the results of several alternative approaches.

Findings

The development of the proposed weighted similarity coefficient to manufacturing cellular design is outlined in the paper and the appropriateness of the technique is subsequently evaluated in order that the benefits obtainable by its use to a host organisation are highlighted. In addition, the results show how the approach can lead to useful improvements in cellular manufacturing performance if adopted by manufacturing system designers and implemented in their designs.

Practical implications

The design, development and application of the WSC proposed and its use in manufacturing cellular design provides a simple yet highly effective approach to achieving useful improvements in production system performance through improved work‐part transfer efficiency and associated cost savings. The paper offers practising manufacturing managers and engineers a technique whereby manufacturing cell productive efficiency and output can be improved whilst at the same time achieving a reduction in operational costs.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on the proposed WSC technique which contributes to the existing knowledge base on production cell design and may also provide impetus, guidance, support and encouragement for designers to achieve improved output performance and reduced costs in their manufacturing system designs.
Reflections on seven years of critical perspectives on international business
Authors: Cairns George , Roberts Joanne
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this extended editorial is to reflect on the journey of critical perspectives on international business over the past seven years and to look forward to future issues and potential concerns of the journal. In addition, the contents of the current issue are introduced.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the form of a conversation between the journal's co‐editors, the development of the journal and features of its content over the last seven years are discussed, and related to the ever changing external context. The current trends and concerns emerging in the field of international business are used to speculate on the future direction of the journal and its prospective content.

Findings

By tracing key points and features of the development of the journal over the past seven years, this paper identifies a growing need for critique of international business in all its various forms, and, especially from inter, multi and trans‐disciplinary perspectives.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to evaluate critical perspectives on international business. As such, it offers a foundation from which to speculate on the future development of both the journal and the field of critical studies on international business.
Michailova and Jormanainen, “Knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms: whose absorptive capacity is in question?”
Authors: Gurkov Igor
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The paper aims to provide comments on Michailova and Jormanainen's paper, “Knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms: whose absorptive capacity is in question?” (CPoIB, Vol. 7 No. 3).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper offers a critical analysis of issues regarding knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity in the context of business interactions between Russian and Western firms.

Findings

The paper argues that knowledge transfer between Russian and foreign firms is a two‐way road, and the role of “competence brokers” is very important.

Research limitations/implications

The paper invites scholars to examine knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms with a more “stereoscopic view” by distinguishing various kinds of actors within both Russian and foreign firms.

Practical implications

Researchers are invited to put less emphasis on citing theoretical articles and to bring more attention to cases, documentary evidence of firms' actions and articles in less popular journals focused on East European management.

Originality/value

The commentary provides a more detailed view on knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms.
A commentary on “Knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms: whose absorptive capacity is in question?” by Snejina Michailova and Irina Jormanainen
Authors: Shabrova Victoria
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to the viewpoint by Michailova and Jormanainen under the title “Knowledge transfer between Russian and Western firms: whose absorptive capacity is in question?” (CPoIB, Vol. 7 No. 3).

Design/methodology/approach

The author reflects on her own business experience through the lens of the key terms used in the viewpoint.

Findings

Based on what the author has experienced in her interaction with Western business partners, she concludes that knowledge transfer needs to be perceived and understood as a two‐way learning process.

Practical implications

Many of the business projects conducted jointly by Russians and Westerners would not have failed if knowledge transfer is understood and practised as a learning process that goes both ways, from Westerners to Russians and vice versa.

Originality/value

The commentary provides the author's view as a practitioner who is involved in numerous business projects with Westerners. Such a view is of value, it is hoped, to researchers who study the themes of knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity.
The quiet revolution: health service reform and its impact on drug and alcohol services in England
Authors: Roberts Marcus
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications for drug and alcohol treatment of radical policy changes being implemented by the government, particularly the proposed transition of responsibility for treatment from the National Treatment Agency to a new public health service from 2013.

Design/methodology/approach

It is argued that this is a critical moment in the development of substance misuse services in England, particularly given the impact of health service reform. Concerns are raised about the lack of reference to drug and alcohol treatment in key policy documents, such as the Department of Health's White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People. The removal of the “ring fence” from the pooled treatment budget may result in national disinvestment at a time when public spending cuts are likely to reduce local authority spending on drug and alcohol treatment. It will be challenging to deliver on the vision of recovery in the “Drug strategy 2010”.

Findings

The new public health structures and the commitment to recovery create new opportunities to improve services too – for example, the potential for joint working through Health and Wellbeing Boards. It is also positive that Healthy Lives, Healthy People stated that the NHS Constitution will apply to the public health service.

Originality/value

While these changes could provide a platform for improving outcomes, there is a genuine risk that substantial disinvestment in drug and alcohol services will be witnessed.
Providing drug and alcohol services to female offenders: exploring gender and geographical barriers
Authors: Moore Stephen
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore the views and experiences of female offenders with problem drug/alcohol use living in rural areas and to provide their perspectives on shortcomings in support services.

Design/methodology/approach

The research used in‐depth interviews with (ex) female offenders with problem drug/alcohol use living in rural areas in the East of England.

Findings

The research indicates that the barriers to adequate provision of services for women in rural areas have distinct, but overlapping, gender and geographical elements. Gender issues centre on the failure to see the female offenders in the context of their roles as mothers and partners. The geographical element includes a significant and under‐reported lack of public transport and childcare support.

Research limitations/implications

Given the localised and opportunistic nature of the study, no attempt is made to claim that one can necessarily generalise from these results to all rural areas.

Practical implications

Increased recognition of women attending drug/alcohol support services as mothers with children, faced with problems of organising childcare, or accessing public transport. This is exacerbated by inadequate, public transport provision.

Originality/value

The importance of service providers recognizing the insight which clients could provide through their own lived experiences as users of services. In a rural situation with thinly spread provision, the importance of women‐only provision should not take precedence over quality of service provision.
Mephedrone, “Bubble” and unidentified white powders: the contested identities of synthetic “legal highs”
Authors: Measham Fiona , Moore Karenza , Østergaard Jeanette
Published: October 2011

Purpose

In this fourth paper in a series on emergent drug trends in the UK (2006 ketamine, 2009 MDMA powder/crystal, 2010 mephedrone), the authors consider how the pharmacological landscape has changed since substituted cathinones (including mephedrone) were controlled in April 2010 and in particular assess the prevalence of mephedrone in the general night time economy (NTE) and its relationship to the use of established illegal drugs.

Design/methodology/approach

Surveys were conducted with a convenience sample of 207 adults stopped at random in four town and city centres on Friday nights in Lancashire in November 2010.

Findings

Of the adults surveyed, one in ten reported having taken mephedrone within the past year and one in 20 within the past month. Those who used mephedrone were also significantly more likely to report using ecstasy pills, cocaine and amphetamines. Regarding the next generation of “legal highs”, no clear substitute for mephedrone had emerged; instead, there was uncertainty, confusion and a degree of disinterest. In this vacuum, “Bubble” has emerged and evolved as a generic term in the north west of England to refer to any unidentified white powders which are synthetic stimulants.

Social implications

Despite an emotional investment by advocates and opponents alike in mephedrone being an ecstasy‐type substitute, research now points towards more amphetamine‐type characteristics at a time when national prevalence of amphetamines is at an historic low. The emergence of unidentified white powders sold as “Bubble” in the North West of England is a graphic illustration of the unknown content, effect and risk of current (by contrast with previous) “legal highs”, and the resultant challenges for health service providers and criminal justice agencies. Bubble may be indicative of the enduring popularity but increasingly indiscriminate use of cheap stimulants.

Originality/value

For this cohort of NTE customers, the paper's analyses indicate that mephedrone was added to existing polydrug repertoires, rather than significantly displacing use of established illegal drugs or acting as a gateway for initiation into drug use.
Estimating the costs and benefits of an alcohol treatment requirement
Authors: Fox Chris , Albertson Kevin , Williams Karen , Ellison Mark
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper seeks to report on a project to estimate the costs and benefits of implementing an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) in Stockport. The work is designed to support the development of a Payment by Results (PbR) approach to funding.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper summarises existing literature on the potential impacts associated with ATRs, broader alcohol treatment, relevant offender interventions and calculates the costs associated with negative outcomes.

Findings

A model of the potential cost savings to the Criminal Justice System and the National Health Service is set out which suggests that an ATR would need to achieve a 12 per cent reduction in re‐offending to break even.

Originality/value

The methodology and findings will be of interest to drug and alcohol service providers and commissioners who are considering PbR
Usage and success factors of commercial recommendation agents
Authors: Aljukhadar Muhammad , Senecal Sylvain
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Since their inception, which took place more than two decades ago, product recommendation agents (RAs) still attract very few consumers. Notably, most of academic work in the field had an empirical quantitative structure. In addition, no research has developed a comprehensive model to explain the adoption and usage of commercial RAs. The purpose of this paper is to follow a qualitative approach to investigate the factors behind the adoption and usage of commercial RAs, explore the effect of user age, and deduce the success factors of these RAs.

Design/methodology/approach

This research followed a qualitative approach. Qualitative research aims to form an in‐depth understanding of human behavior. It is essential for building grounded theory and for proposing comprehensive models for future examination. As such, in four discussion groups, participants provided their input following the shopping trial for a product using a factual RA (MyProductAdvisor.com). Discussion groups were used because they outline an important aspect of qualitative research and because they are ideal for both the inception and development of products and services.

Findings

Underlying the major themes, the analysis first provides insight in consumers' RA use and the products consumers regard as adequate to be offered using a commercial RA. The analysis then delineates some important factors that can be considered by developers to enhance the usability and trustworthiness of commercial RAs. Further, the analysis suggested four higher‐order factors that can be considered the success factors of a commercial RA: users appear to require a commercial RA that is friendly, smart, trusted, and informational. The themes that emerged from participants in the youth and the older discussion groups were rather invariant.

Originality/value

This is one of the few qualitative studies that focused on commercial RAs. The commercial RA success factors and their determinants are summarized in the form of a general framework to guide future work. This qualitative work provides a cornerstone that is of importance to theory development in the field of intelligent RAs and assistive technology. The results have important implications for RAs' developers and researchers.
Consumer adoption of social networking sites: implications for theory and practice
Authors: Lorenzo‐Romero Carlota , Constantinides Efthymios , Alarcón‐del‐Amo María‐del‐Carmen
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study factors affecting the acceptance of social networking sites (SNS), analyze users' practices and behavior in these environments and assess the degree of acceptance of SNS in The Netherlands.

Design/methodology/approach

An extended technology acceptance model (TAM) was used to analyze the factors influencing the level of acceptance and use of SNS applying a structural equation modeling technique. Data were collected by means of an online national survey among Dutch SNS users.

Findings

Results support all hypotheses with positive relationships and influence between analyzed constructs; the only exception was the hypothesis on the relation between perceived risk and perceived usefulness.

Research limitations/implications

The survey was conducted in The Netherlands. This research can be considered as the basis for a more extensive research, covering other geographical areas, that will produce results allowing more specific and accurate predictions regarding the acceptance of SNS as marketing management tools.

Practical implications

The findings reveal a number of issues that are important for companies eager to explore the potential of the SNS as a strategic tool and as a means of improvement of their managerial processes in the area of marketing strategy.

Social implications

SNS are considered of great importance, both for individuals and businesses, since they support and expand existing social or business networks and allow the creation of new ones. The study underlines the importance of these networks as a communications and customer engagement channels.

Originality/value

The traditional TAM has been widely studied to analyze the adoption of new technologies. However, the adoption of SNS has been so far very little studied. The study provides new insights in this adoption process. Alongside this, the study added two personal variables of SNS users (i.e. trust and perceived risk), improving the traditional TAM approach.
Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship research and theory
Authors: Granados Maria L. , Hlupic Vlatka , Coakes Elayne , Mohamed Souad
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed analysis of the social enterprises (SE) and social entrepreneurship (SEship) literature that has been published in international journals from 1991 to 2010, determining the intellectual structure of both fields and their maturity as academic fields of study.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a quantitative methodology for literature study, named bibliometric analysis, relevant papers were obtained from three important international databases, and SE and SEship journals. An initial number of 1,343 records were identified and, after applying various filters, a total of 286 papers were studied for bibliometric indicators and epistemological orientation.

Findings

The study identified a significant increase in the scholarly investigation of SE and SEship in recent years, together with greater collaboration and international research. It was demonstrated that some countries are dominating the SE and SEship research area, such as the UK and the USA, whereas institutional and individual research output is spread more equally. Currently, no author or institution dominates the SE and SEship literature. The epistemological orientation suggests that the published literature is largely of a theoretical and descriptive nature in both fields, with only a small number of predictive papers.

Originality/value

This paper provides important contributions. First, it presents an intellectual structure of SE and SEship as a discipline. Second, it determines the current maturity of the field based on its epistemological orientation, concluding that SE and SEship are maturing, with theory development followed by empirical testing and validation generating an increase in consensus on the boundaries of the field.
Angels on the head of a pin
Authors: Lane Michelle D. , Casile Maureen
Published: October 2011

Purpose

By proposing a comprehensive measurement framework, this paper attempts to move the nascent body of theoretical and empirical work on performance measurement in social entrepreneurship ventures (SEVs) into reach for practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to help social entrepreneurs and academics put current knowledge to work to gain usable feedback about the success of operations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper offers a framework for measuring firm survival, social action, and social change in SEVs based on a review of theoretical and empirical work.

Findings

Early work in SEV performance measurement shows consensus that social impact is at least as important as organizational viability, albeit more difficult to measure. The SEV measurement framework developed herein creates the link between firm viability (Survival), direct social action (Action), and long‐term social impact on the technical, political, and cultural aspects of society (Change) leading to the SAC framework.

Originality/value

The framework proposed in the paper gives practitioners a guide for comprehensive performance measurement based on their unique organizational mission using the SAC model. Widespread use of a measurement tool that addresses viability, action, and impact, may ultimately improve the efficiency with which SEVs attack social problems.
Multi‐stakeholder co‐operatives in China: a resource mix structure approach
Authors: Zhao Li , Gijselinckx Caroline
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the emergence of new, multi‐stakeholder co‐operatives in China and identify their resource mix structure, as well as the influence of institutional environments. The empirical observations are related to a conceptual rationale of social enterprises as private businesses, and it is suggested that the new rural co‐operatives found in China are increasingly caught in a “co‐operative trilemma” and an emerging public–private “welfare partnership”.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is developed from a conceptual rationale of social enterprises as private businesses that are not primarily driven by financial profit but by a combination of economic and social objectives, whereby stakeholders from various institutional spheres (market, state and civil society) are increasingly involved. Based upon this, the paper analyses and synthesizes the main findings from 20 cases investigated during fieldwork conducted in China. Data were gathered through a combination of semi‐structured interviews with key figures in the field and documentary analysis.

Findings

The main findings show that new co‐operatives in China indeed combine multiple resources, including members’ contributions and institutional capital, public financial support and market sales, as well as private non‐market resources such as volunteering and donations. This empirical observation provides further evidence of the transformation process of Chinese rural co‐operatives from classic mutual aids to a new model with a more outward community orientation and a multi‐stakeholder character. Moreover, it was found that institutional environments facilitate or discourage co‐operatives’ multiple resources formation. Based upon this empirical evidence it is seen how new Chinese rural co‐operatives are caught in a “co‐operative trilemma”, finding themselves “at the crossroads of market, public policy and civil society” and involved in an emerging public‐private “welfare partnership”.

Research limitations/implications

The research has implications for research on co‐operatives and social enterprises in China, as well as policy implications with regard to the development of more favourable institutional support for co‐operatives as rural third‐sector organizations.

Originality/value

By addressing three research questions the paper contributes to the literature on the emergence of multi‐stakeholder co‐operatives in China (and in developing countries more generally) and contributes to the literature on the capital structure of co‐operatives from practice and policy perspectives. Based upon evidence from China, the paper helps to explain how these newly emerging rural co‐operatives in China, which are struggling against capital constraints when facing a highly competitive environment and trying to catch up through a process of diversification, just like many contemporary co‐operatives in the West, are finding themselves caught in a new co‐operative trilemma.
The basis of valuations for secured commercial property lending in the UK
Authors: Crosby Neil , Hughes Cathy
Published: October 2011

Purpose

In the context of the financial crash and the commercial property market downturn, the purpose of this paper is to examine the basis of valuation used in the UK commercial property lending process. Post‐crisis there is discussion of countercyclical measures, including the monitoring of asset prices; however there is no consideration of a different approach to property valuation. This paper questions this omission, given the role that valuations play in the bank regulatory process.

Design/methodology/approach

The different bases of valuation available to lenders within international valuation standards are identified as market value (MV), mortgage lending value (MLV) and investment value (IV), with MV being the most used in the UK. Using the different bases in the period before the financial crisis, the UK property market is modelled at a national office, retail and industrial/warehouse sector level to determine the performance of each alternative valuation basis within the context of countercyclical pressures on lending.

Findings

Both MLV and IV would have produced lower valuations than MV, although there are some practical issues involved in adopting the different bases for the bank lending.

Originality/value

The use of a different valuation basis could provide lenders with tools for more informed and prudent lending.
Real estate employability
Authors: Hoxley Mike , Poon Joanna , Fuchs Willow
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Employability is likely to be at the forefront of any degree applicant's mind in England and Wales due to an impending large increase in the cost of tuition. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a Centre for Education in the Built Environment‐funded project which has investigated real estate graduate competencies and employability. The paper concentrates on significant differences in emphasis by graduates from undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an extensive literature review, 72 competencies have been identified and the Confederation of British Industry classification of knowledge, skills and attributes has been adopted. An online survey of 639 graduates (half UG and half PG) asked respondents to complete five‐point Likert attitude scales to rate how their course enabled development of the 72 competencies. Themes developed from the results of the questionnaire study have been explored in greater detail with five real estate education providers and the human resource managers of four large London employers.

Findings

Rather surprisingly, UGs rated their gaining of the vast majority of the competencies more highly than PGs. This finding seems to be at odds with the impression given by the educators and employers, both of whom perceive a preference for the greater maturity and commercial awareness of graduates from PG courses.

Originality/value

Real estate course providers can use the results of this study to ensure that their programmes of study adequately address what is likely to become the crucial factor in the choice of any future programme of study – employability.
A generic conceptualization of the cultural distance index
Authors: Yeganeh Hamid
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This article aims at offering and validating a theory‐driven conceptualization of the cultural distance index.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the cultural distance index is conceptualized, its conceptual properties are discussed, and a generic formula is proposed. Subsequently, the generic formula is applied to Schwartz's and Hofstede's frameworks. Finally, using the new formula the cultural distance is calculated, its robustness is examined, and its advantages over the Kogut and Singh's measure are inspected.

Findings

Through this paper it is found that by considering issues such as cultural dimensions' alignment and their relative weight, it is possible to build a more accurate index of cultural distance. Moreover, based on the generic formula it is understood that collectivism/individualism and power distance in Hofstede's framework and conservatism, egalitarianism in Schwartz's model are important cultural dimensions and account for a considerable weight in the cultural distance index.

Research limitations/implications

The index is based on cultural dimensions and naturally it carries all shortcomings attributed to dimensionalization such as symmetry, linearity, stability and causality. In addition, it can be recognized that while alignment is a legitimate method, it should be interpreted cautiously because cultural dimensions are essentially nebulous concepts.

Practical implications

Researchers may use the proposed index to test the implications of cultural differences for a wide range of cross‐national issues such as joint ventures, entry mode choices, mergers, negotiations, organizational behavior, and technology transfer.

Originality/value

This article offers a novel and theory‐driven approach to building the cultural distance index. Considering the popularity of the Kogut and Singh's index in international business, the paper is of major significance.
Firms' customer responsiveness: relationships with competition, market growth, and performance
Authors: Pehrsson Anders
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine important relationships pertaining to customer responsiveness of the industrial firm.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on strategy and competitive dynamics literature, a contingency model is developed. Hypotheses were tested on 432 Swedish industrial firms that market to business customers in growing or mature markets. Clean technology markets represented growing markets, while miscellaneous markets represented mature markets.

Findings

The relationship between the attention paid to customer responsiveness by the industrial firm and the attention paid to volume by the main competitor is negatively reinforced if the firm operates in a growing market. The relationship between the attention paid to customer responsiveness by the firm and competition‐based customer access obstacles in terms of supplier loyalty is positively reinforced if the firm operates in a growing market. The relationship between the firm's customer responsiveness attention and its financial performance is positively reinforced if the firm operates in a growing market.

Practical implications

The industrial firm may find an efficient customer responsiveness strategy if the firm operates in a growing market. Because customer responsiveness does not improve firms' financial performance in mature markets, competition relationships are only important to examine in growing markets. Thus, customer responsiveness is more complicated than previously thought in the literature.

Originality/value

The paper presents a new model that integrates relationships among industrial firms' attention to customer responsiveness, competition, and performance. By including the market growth contingency, the model explains mixed findings in the literature regarding relationships between customer responsiveness and performance.
Successful strategy making in Bupa not‐for‐profit provident
Authors: Ghobadian Abby , O'Regan Nicholas
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The focus of extant strategy literature is on for‐profit organisations and within these group public organisations. There are other forms of organisations and following the deep recession of 2008 there is greater interest in other forms of organisation. In this case study and interview the aim is to examine strategy, strategic decisions and strategic management of a not‐for‐profit provident.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on documentary evidence and a semi‐structured interview with Ray King, chief executive of Bupa. The perspective of CEO is key in strategy and such perspectives are relatively rarer.

Findings

Bupa invests its surplus to provide better healthcare. Free from the pressures of quarterly reporting and shareholders it can pursue long‐term value creation for members rather than short‐term surpluses.

Research limitations/implications

The case study and interview offers a unique insight into strategy‐making within a successful mutual provident that has grown organically and externally becoming an international leader in health insurance.

Originality/value

This case study sheds light on strategy‐making within a not‐for‐profit provident that has diversified and grown significantly over the past six decades. Furthermore, very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of a chief executive who has successfully managed a business in a turbulent environment.
Healthcare matching: conditions for developing a new service system
Authors: Nordgren Lars
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline the conditions for a new service system in healthcare, which will be able to match the available capacity in and between healthcare units, in order to match the need of care for the patients.

Design/methodology/approach

By drawing on statements from patients, experiences from similar services (a literature review), empirical research into the effects of the reforms on free choice and the care guarantee and a theoretically informed discussion drawing on value‐creation and service productivity, it is claimed that a matching system is needed to be developed.

Findings

As healthcare lacks incentives and structures of matching capacity between various care providers, and for coordinating episodes of care for the patient, the result is management of capacity that is difficult and uncertain for patients. Continuity and coordination during all the healthcare process are seen as important values by patients. It is valuable for patients to be matched in the coordination of contacts with providers and specialists.

Practical implications

Healthcare matching generates the supportive data for innovative service research. For management, it could be applicable in different organisational areas, for patients in their choices of provider and for the providers, when matching the needs for patients. In further research, it would be of value to discuss the barriers of matching.

Originality/value

Outlining the conditions for a service system, healthcare matching, has not been done before.
Happy people manage better in adverse services
Authors: Hellén Katarina , Sääksjärvi Maria
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the formation of service perceptions in services that are stressful and unpleasant for customers, e.g. healthcare services. The authors set out to show that customers' happiness, here conceptualized as a stable perception of happiness one has towards one's life, predicts how customers manage adverse services.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a survey in a healthcare setting and analyzed the data with partial least square modeling.

Findings

The results show that happiness is indirectly linked, through mood, to perceived service quality, trust and service outcome. Thus, the results suggest that happy consumers are less vulnerable to distress in adverse services.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that, to enable service providers to offer adequate support in adverse service situations, service management would benefit from taking into account different customers' different levels of happiness. It is recommended that providers of adverse services segment their customer base according to the level of happiness and allocate resources to foster trust and expectations to less happy customers that would benefit from more support.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the service literature by providing an understanding of how service perceptions are formed in adverse service situations. As happiness is relatively stable across time and situations, this study also contributes to understanding the role of personality traits on evaluation.
Continuous improvement put into practice
Authors: Swartling Dag , Olausson Daniel
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing body of knowledge about what distinguishes effective continuous improvement (CI) approaches and to explain some of the mechanisms which create a successful quality program.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical data were collected from interviews with employees at several levels in seven companies. The companies were deliberately selected to represent different types of resource consumption and outcome from a quality program.

Findings

The implementation approaches of the studied companies were classified according to four different categories: parallel, integrated, coordinated and project approaches. Companies that adopt a project approach tend to fail to achieve anything more than minor improvements, while companies that take parallel and coordinated approaches realise significant improvements but use more resources than companies that utilise an integrated approach.

Practical implications

This paper illustrates and explains why the project approach ought to be avoided. The paper also highlights the benefits of an integrated approach that is focused on learning.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to theory and practice by providing an empirically‐based explanation for the outcome of alternative implementations of CI in practice.
Salesperson preference among Hispanic and Asian immigrants
Authors: Eunjung Kwak Lynn , Sojka Jane Z.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences between Hispanic and Asian immigrants and their preferences in the appearance of and interaction with salespeople.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 171 female Hispanic and 153 Asian female retail consumers in a midwestern city, who immigrated to the USA, were surveyed. Salesperson‐customer interaction and preference for salespeople with a similar ethnic appearance were assessed.

Findings

Findings from F‐tests indicated that in this study Asians have a significantly greater preference for a salesperson similar in appearance to themselves and Hispanics have significantly greater preference for salespeople who offer attentive service.

Practical implications

Retailers will benefit by understanding and capitalizing on differences which will encourage customer loyalty to their retail stores.

Originality/value

Extending the observable characteristics facet of the buyer‐seller similarity model, the research results suggest that buyers from different ethnic groups will assess salesperson characteristics differently.
The role of shopping sophistication in creating satisfying purchase outcomes
Authors: Newell Stephen J. , Wu Bob T. , Titus Philip A. , Petroshius Susan M.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: are sophisticated consumers more likely to be satisfied with their purchases? Are consumers who are more knowledgeable more apt to feel in control of their purchase decisions? Are they more likely to believe the transaction was fair? Are they less likely to have cognitive dissonance post‐purchase?

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study examining the role of consumer sophistication on consumers' purchase satisfaction was conducted with a national sample of approximately 700 home purchasers.

Findings

The results revealed that shopping sophistication is a key determinant of whether consumers are satisfied with their purchase experience. Sophistication not only seems to affect satisfaction but also customer perceptions of control, fairness and dissonance.

Practical implications

Implications for marketing strategy and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Originality/value

This paper suggests that perception of sophistication plays a much more important role in affecting consumer purchase satisfaction than previously understood. Consequently, businesses need to be much more active in educating consumers so that they are better able to make more informed purchase decisions. Ultimately, by helping to facilitate this information flow, consumers will be more satisfied with the products and services they purchase, develop a greater loyalty to the company providing the data and be more likely to purchase similar products and services in the future.
Creative managers and managing creativity: a hermeneutic exploration
Authors: Granot Elad
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how executives assimilate creativity in business‐to‐business (B2B) services.

Design/methodology/approach

The author employed an inductive, qualitative research approach to elicit and explore the definition and interpretation and individual meaning of the creative process by top‐level advertising agency executives.

Findings

The findings show that an understanding of creative cultures and processes can enable their application in other business functions.

Research limitations/implications

In‐depth interviews may involve interview effects that influence the information elicited, despite adequate measures to conduct interviews in situ at the workplace and in a detached, impartial manner.

Practical implications

The results suggest that creativity in B2B services incorporates a complex set of results‐driven interactive components. These components simultaneously affect and are affected by the interaction of artistic and aesthetic elements, as well as business strategy.

Originality/value

Creativity is critical to developing and implementing business strategies. However, creativity in advertising as a B2B service has scarcely been examined.
A look into accessible public transportation for people in Toronto who have acquired brain injuries
Authors: Elsayed Nadia
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the transportation needs of adults in Toronto who have acquired brain injuries (ABIs).

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was completed by staff working with clients in a community brain injury organization.

Findings

The survey showed that that some people with ABIs who do not use mobility devices and/or do not have obvious physical disabilities, could benefit from the city's door‐to‐door accessible public transit service (Wheel‐Trans). They are currently excluded from Wheel‐Trans based on the eligibility criteria for this service.

Research limitations/implications

This survey only looks at people with ABIs who are accessing services from an ABI community agency, thus it overlooks those who are not and may not be doing so due to lack of transportation. Also the survey is completed by staff rather than ABI clients, which may lead to different answers/perspectives.

Practical implications

A change to the eligibility criteria of Wheel‐Trans could increase the independence of some people with ABIs and could also increase their participation in society.

Originality/value

Based on a literature review by the author, there is no existing research that examines transportation and ABIs in Canada.
“Lost and altered consciousness” – a headache for many
Authors: Sandford Paul , Cooper Ed , Shepherd Jim
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This is the second instalment of a two‐part paper that aims to consider the assessment criteria for incapacity benefit (IB) and employment and support allowance (ESA) and to analyse how this benefit applies to claimants who are unable to work because they experience episodes of lost or altered consciousness.

Design/methodology/approach

In the first part of the paper, which featured in Social Care and Neurodisability, Vol. 2 No. 1, the authors considered the legal meaning of lost or altered consciousness and explained how the IB/ESA appraisal and appeals system operates. This second instalment gives practical guidance to advisers who are assisting their clients in applying for ESA and appealing negative decisions to the tribunal (given its ever increasing importance, this paper focuses on ESA; however, the same considerations apply to IB cases).

Findings

The paper highlights the complexities and limitations of the benefit system for those suffering with lost and altered consciousness.

Practical implications

Advisers need to think laterally when assisting their clients.

Originality/value

The paper should provide a useful reference point for advisers.
Substance misuse among offenders in a forensic intellectual disability service
Authors: Plant Amie , McDermott Emily , Chester Verity , Alexander Regi T.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

There have been few studies about the prevalence of substance abuse and links to offending behaviour among those with intellectual disabilities. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This baseline audit describes: the prevalence of alcohol and substance misuse in patients within a forensic intellectual disability service; and the introduction of a Drug and Alcohol Awareness Course. In total, 74 patients were included in the audit.

Findings

Roughly half of the patients audited had co‐morbid harmful use or dependence with the problem being equally prevalent in men and women. Whilst alcohol and cannabis were the commonest drugs of abuse, cocaine, stimulants and opiates were abused by a small but significant number. Of those with harmful use or dependence, 35 per cent had used the drug in the immediate lead up to their index offence. A diagnosis of personality disorder and past history of convictions for violent offences was significantly more likely to be present in the group with harmful use or dependence. There were no differences on major mental illnesses or pervasive developmental disorders.

Practical implications

The high prevalence of substance abuse makes it an important risk factor that could determine treatment outcomes. Forensic intellectual disability units need replicable substance abuse targeted treatment programmes that can be formally audited and evaluated.

Originality/value

Findings are discussed in relation to service planning and treatment outcomes from forensic intellectual disability services.
The Good Thinking! course – developing a group‐based treatment for people with learning disabilities who are at risk of offending
Authors: Goodman Wendy , Leggett Janice , Bladon Emily , Swift Charlotte , Treasure Teresa , Richardson Mike
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Mainstream offender treatment programmes are mainly inaccessible to offenders who have learning disabilities, which may mean those convicted of offences either receive inappropriate treatment or no offender treatment at all. There is developing, but patchy, provision of community‐based specialist offender treatment for people who have learning disabilities. This paper seeks to describe the evolving process of developing the Good Thinking! course, a group‐based offender treatment programme which aims to help address this need.

Design/methodology/approach

The Good Thinking! course comprises 23 two‐hour sessions run once a week in a community setting. It is based on the premise that people who commit offences are often trying to meet ordinary life goals through anti‐social means. It aims to help participants identify and understand their goals, develop the social skills necessary to attain them and teaches a problem‐solving strategy for more complex problems.

Findings

This paper describes the process of developing the course material, providing the course and adapting it in light of feedback from participants, referrers and carers. A description of the course and a case study are provided. Insufficient data have been produced to enable a formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the Good Thinking! course; as more data are generated, the team plan to achieve this.

Originality/value

The paper aims to inform and encourage clinicians and commissioners working in this field to increase the availability of specialist community‐based treatments for offenders who have learning disabilities.