bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Determining temperature regulating factor for apparel fabrics containing phase change material
Authors: Bendkowska Wiesława , Tysiak Janusz , Grabowski Leszek , Blejzyk Albert
Published: May 2005

Purpose

In order to characterize the temperature regulating ability of fabrics containing phase change material (PCM), the test instrument has been designed and built.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess temperature regulating ability, temperature regulating factor (TRF) is determined. TRF is defined by Hittle as a quotient of the amplitude of the temperature variation of the hot plate and the amplitude of the heat flux variation divided by the steady state heat resistance of the fabric.

Findings

The test instrument presented here is intended to be used for testing steady state and transient state characteristics of the apparel fabrics containing the PCMs.

Practical implications

This test instrument can be used in quality control during the manufacture of fabrics containing PCMs. TRF can be used in clothing industry to establish the criteria for comfort parameters of textiles.

Originality/value

The instrument can provide information for the fabric and garment designers and be useful in quality control during the manufacture of fabrics with the microPCMs. The TRF can be used in the clothing industry to establish the criteria for the comfort parameters of textiles.
Protective clothing – test methods and criteria of tear resistance assessment
Authors: Witkowska Beata , Frydrych Iwona
Published: May 2005

Purpose

The state‐of‐the‐art of existing methods of tear resistance (static and dynamic) of clothing has been described, also presented are the parameters of static tear resistance for protective and work clothing depending on its application.

Design/methodology/approach

For chosen group of fabrics the introduction of a new parameter of dynamic tear resistance was proposed. For research, five static tear test methods and the dynamic one were chosen. In order to find the relationship between the results of mean tear forces for the six described methods Kendall's agreement coefficient was calculated. The comparative measurements for results of static tear resistance and dynamic tear resistance for protective and work clothing were carried out. On the basis of this, the value of tear dynamic force for these fabrics was established.

Findings

When establishing the criteria for the tear strength for protective and work clothing, the most significant was fabric end‐use and the minimal value of tear strength associated.

Practical implications

The value of dynamic tear resistance can be the criterion for assessment of fabrics with regard to textiles exposed to tearing during application. It was the first comparative analysis of the measurement of tear resistance methods.

Originality/value

Investigating test methods for the assessment of clear resistance.
Assessing behavior before it becomes behavior
Authors: Söderlund Magnus , Öhman Niclas
Published: May 2005

Purpose

Intentions are often included in service research, but researchers have paid little attention to a discussion in psychology in which different intention constructs are distinguished. This study is based on the belief that different intention constructs capture different aspects of the customer's assessments of his or her future repatronizing behavior – and that intentions measures based on different intention constructs are not equally correlated with firstly, the customer's global evaluation of the supplier, such as satisfaction, and secondly, his or her overt repatronizing behavior. The specific purpose is to examine if such variation is at hand in with regards to two specific intention constructs: intentions‐as‐expectations and intentions‐as‐wants.

Design/methodology/approach

A first questionnaire was used to collect data on satisfaction and intentions in a restaurant setting, and a second questionnaire – distributed to the respondents one month after the first questionnaire – captured behavioral data. These data were used to assess associations between the main variables (satisfaction, intentions, and behavior).

Findings

The analysis shows that the two intention constructs produced different strength in the association with customer satisfaction and with repatronizing behavior. In addition, the findings suggest that the two constructs are characterized by different levels of assessment volition, and this also serve as our main explanation of the results.

Originality/value

The findings imply that service researchers should pay careful attention to how intentions are conceptualized and operationalized, because an incautious selection of one intention construct over another may affect the role of intentions as mediators of the link between satisfaction and behavior.
Video‐based methodology: capturing real‐time perceptions of customer processes
Authors: Echeverri Per
Published: May 2005

Purpose

A recurring problem for research into services is the question of validity – i.e. knowing which quality factors really are relevant for measurement and analysis. Retrospective data collection of customer perceptions has shortcomings in “fuzzy” and dynamic service processes. This paper focuses on the customer experience as an active resource for developing service systems.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a video‐based methodology for collecting naturally occurring data and a “think‐aloud” methodology for collecting real‐time user perceptions, the study reveals concrete cues in the service environment that determine quality from a customer perspective. The study then presents an empirical case to test and develop this methodology.

Findings

The study involves able‐bodied and disabled passengers using public transport and identifies environmental and processual factors that are critical for the customer base.

Research limitations/implications

The study demonstrates the potential for more advanced observational methods in exploring service phenomena. The methodology used here has a higher face validity than traditional retrospective methods.

Practical implications

Using the sort of naturally occurring data presented in the present study, marketers and environmental designers could have a tool for obtaining more detailed, authentic and dynamic information on the actual purchase and consumption of service processes.

Originality/value

The described video‐based methodology gives rise to new ideas on how to develop research into services. In particular, it provides a tool for getting close to the essence of the service phenomenon. Such advanced observational methods are especially promising for investigating the contextual and processual aspects of service provision.
The interaction of bioconvection caused by gyrotactic micro‐organisms and settling of small solid particles
Authors: Kuznetsov A.V. , Geng P.
Published: May 2005

Purpose

To investigate numerically the settling of small solid particles in a suspension of motile gyrotactic micro‐organisms in order to evaluate the possibility of using bioconvection to slow down settling and enhance mixing between particles.

Design/methodology/approach

Numerical computations are performed at the North Carolina Supercomputing Center utilizing an Origin 2400 workstation. A conservative finite‐difference scheme is used to discretize the governing equations. A staggered uniform grid with the stream function and vorticity stored in one set of nodes and the number densities of micro‐organisms and solid particles stored in another set of nodes is utilized. CPU time required to investigate plume development until it attains steady‐state for 36 × 36 uniform mesh is about 50 h.

Findings

It is established that small solid particles that are heavier than water slow down bioconvection. Extremely small particles (nanoparticles) that have negligible settling velocity do not have any noticeable impact on bioconvection, very large particles (that have negligible diffusivity), or very heavy particles (that have very large settling velocity) also do not have any impact on bioconvection because they simply settle at the bottom. However, if the particles are of the optimal size and density (gravitational settling must compete with Brownian diffusion to create an exponential number density distribution of solid particles with the maximum at the bottom of the chamber), these particles can effectively slow down bioconvection.

Research limitations/implications

The question how solid particles may affect the wavelengths of bioconvection patterns requires further investigation.

Practical implications

The finding that solid particles slow down bioconvection may be important in using bioconvection to enhance mixing in fluid microvolumes.

Originality/value

The paper provides a model and numerical data about the effect of bioconvection on mixing of small solid particles. These data are valuable for researches working in fundamental fluid mechanics, multiphase flow, and applications of bioconvection.
Effect of geometry on flow field and oil/water separation in vertical deadlegs
Authors: Habib M.A. , Said S.A.M. , Badr H.M. , Hussaini I. , Al‐Bagawi J.J.
Published: May 2005

Purpose

Corrosion in deadlegs occurs as a result of water separation due to the very low flow velocity. The present work aims to investigate the effect of geometry on flow field oil/water separation in deadlegs in an attempt for obtaining the conditions for avoiding formation of deadleg.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigation is based on the solution of the mass and momentum conservation equations of an oil/water mixture together with the volume fraction equation for the secondary phase. A fluid flow model based on the time‐averaged governing equation of 3D turbulent flow has been developed. An algebraic slip mixture model for the calculation of the two immiscible fluids (water and crude oil) is utilized.

Findings

Results are obtained for different lengths of the deadleg. The inlet flow velocity is kept unchanged (1.0 m/s) and the deadleg length to diamter ratio (L/DB) ranges from 1 to 7. The considered fluid mixture contains 90 percent oil and 10 percent water (by volume). The results show that the size of the stagnant fluid region increases with the increase of L/DB 1≈3DB.

Practical implications

Deadlegs should be avoided whenever possible in design of piping for fluids containing or likely to contain corrosive substance. When deadlegs are unavoidable, the length of the inactive pipe must be as short as possible to avoid stagnant or low‐velocity flows.

Originality/value

The model solves the continuity and momentum equations for the mixture, and the volume fraction equation for the secondary phase utilizing an algebraic expression for the relative velocity.
Measuring value added in higher education
Authors: Rodgers Timothy
Published: May 2005

Purpose

The United Kingdom (UK) has recently published secondary education value added measures. This paper examines whether the approach used could also offer a possible method for measuring value added in higher education (HE).

Design/methodology/approach

Previous attempts to measure HE value added in the UK, such as comparative value added (CVA), met with criticism relating to their estimation of the “expected” degree class (DegCL). This paper examines whether the recent experiences in secondary education give any insights into solving this problem.

Findings

The paper identifies that the techniques applied in secondary education are remarkably similar to those used by CVA, and it argues that they appear to suffer from similar pitfalls. It is shown, through a statistical analysis, that in practice a whole range of factors have a significant influence on degree performance.

Research limitations/implications

The data set used in the statistical analysis of HE performance is relatively old. Future research could repeat this study with recent data.

Practical implications

The development of an accurate measure of value added in HE will need to apply measuring techniques that are significantly more sophisticated than those used for UK secondary education.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is that it identifies key issues that will need to be addressed before a credible measure of value added can be developed for HE.
Quality in accounting education: what say the academics?
Authors: Watty Kim
Published: May 2005

Purpose

To provide a view of quality in accounting education from the perspective of a critical stakeholder group – academic accountants. The identification of this view adds to the growing discussions around quality, and how it is assured in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying a framework for defining quality in higher education to an accounting context, a postal survey questionnaire was sent to academic accountants at 39 Australian universities to gather data about their views of quality in accounting education.

Findings

Academic accountants view quality, as currently defined and promoted in their immediate working environment, differently to their views about how quality should be defined and promoted. As a consequence, quality assurance and improvement systems may be currently designed to assure quality that is promoted in accounting education, rather than quality that ought to be promoted.

Research limitations/implications

Using a postal survey to gather data on the complex issue of “quality” might not always provide the richness of data that may be collected during face‐to‐face survey interviews.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide valuable input into the discussion around the design of quality assurance and improvement systems in higher education generally, and for accounting education specifically.

Originality/value

In the absence of any previous empirical research that has sought to identify these perceptions, the findings fill the gap in the literature by clearly identifying the views of quality in accounting education from a key stakeholder group – academic accountants.
Leadership best practices for sustaining quality in UK higher education from the perspective of the EFQM Excellence Model
Authors: Osseo‐Asare Augustus E. , Longbottom David , Murphy William D.
Published: May 2005

Purpose

To deepen the understanding and to encourage further research on leadership best practices for sustaining quality improvement in UK higher education institutions (HEIs).

Design/methodology/approach

The literature on leadership provides the theoretical context for the survey of quality managers from 42 UK HEIs. A mix of questionnaires, interviews, and hypothesis testing, was used to explore the critical factors for effective leadership and to obtain descriptive accounts of leadership best practices, which led to the development of a conceptual framework for effective leadership for academic quality.

Findings

Identifies and categorizes leadership practices into “weak”, “good”, “best”, and “excellent” on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness of each practice in sustaining academic quality improvement. It provides a conceptual framework for improving “weak” leadership practices.

Research limitations/implications

The exact nature of the association between “effective leadership” and sustainable “levels of academic quality improvement” has not been explained. This requires further research. International generalization of the findings would require the sample size of 42 UK HEIs to be extended to include institutions from other countries with similar education systems – such as the USA and Australia.

Practical implications

Academic quality planners will become more aware of the need to improve the tasks and activities constituting leadership processes. The emphasis on a structured approach to self‐assessment of leadership performance has the potential to reverse the ranking of leadership second to processes in UK HEIs.

Originality/value

It provides explicit definitions of “weak”, “good”, “best” and “excellent” leadership practices, which UK HEIs adopting the excellence model developed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) may find useful in the assessment and improvement of leadership performance towards academic excellence.
Manageability of stress among construction project participants
Authors: Ng S. Thomas , Skitmore R. Martin , Leung Tony K.C.
Published: May 2005

Purpose

The purpose is to report the results of research on ascertaining whether the various stakeholders in construction projects can adequately cope with the stresses they are confronting.

Design/methodology/approach

Thirty‐three stressors covering various aspects of project implementation, such as organisation policies, working relationships, communication and personal factors, are identified and the manageability of the common stressors faced by management of construction projects in Hong Kong is assessed by means of a questionnaire survey. The relationships among individual stressors are similarly examined. The extent to which stress effects combine and accumulate when related stressors coexist is also considered.

Findings

It is shown that the most difficult stressors to manage are “bureaucracy”, “lack of opportunity to learn new skills”, “work‐family conflicts” and “different view from superiors”. The results also revealed that the patterns of stress manageability differ between clients, consultants and contractors. The relationships among individual stressors are similarly examined. The extent to which stress effects combine and accumulate when related stressors coexist is also considered.

Originality/value

The research reported constitutes a significant step towards the understanding and management of potentially stressful situations and their influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of construction industry participants.
Immobility of tacit knowledge and the displacement of the locus of innovation
Authors: Yakhlef Ali
Published: May 2005

Purpose

The paper seeks to identify the drivers behind the displacement of the locus of innovation from a hierarchical model to a distributed environment including customers, (lead) users, intermediaries and other external stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

Exploring the corporate, technological and contextual transformations the paper combines ideas from innovation (taking Rothwell's 1994 fifth‐generation innovation process as a point of departure) with knowledge management theories.

Findings

Immobility of tacit knowledge – a prerequisite for innovation – is a crucial factor behind the increasing disintegration of the R&D function. Innovation‐related activities will tend to be allocated between companies and other external sources (customers and users, etc.) depending on the location of tacit knowledge underlying them. Increasingly, customers are taking over more and more of firms' innovation‐related activities because of the high costs of importing to the R&D department the tacit knowledge underlying them. Firms, in their turn, will retain those (manufacturing) activities of which they possess experience‐based knowledge.

Research limitations/implications

The present research is explorative in nature; thus, the propositions tentatively developed are in need of further elaboration and empirical investigation.

Practical implications

To the extent that innovation is displaced into distributed environments, one of the crucial implications for organisations is how to build the necessary competencies to effectively exploit, coordinate and streamline knowledge flows from different sources and turn them into new ideas and innovations.

Originality/value

The value of the paper is its extension of Rothwell's Fifth generation innovation process model.
The appraisal of urban regeneration land
Authors: Adair Alastair , Hutchison Norman , Burgess Jim , Roulac Stephen
Published: May 2005

Purpose

The value of land for development is normally estimated by the use of the comparative method or the residual approach. The aim of the paper is to examine appraisal practice, in particular the bases of valuation, availability and utilisation of data, reporting of the value figure and the management of risk.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports the findings of a survey of valuers from leading practices throughout the UK, bank lenders and developers. An example of an appraisal of an urban regeneration site is included in order to highlight the key issues within the discussion.

Findings

A variety of reporting practices is found from a tightly drawn range of values to single‐point estimates along with a detailed explanation of the assumptions employed. Developers and lenders favoured the latter, but they appeared to be open‐minded about a range of values or an expression of uncertainty being reported, provided that there is a clear and well supported justification. Risk management approaches are underdeveloped within the profession.

Originality/value

The valuation of urban regeneration land is said to be one of the most vexed issues in the appraisal of projects due to a lack of data transparency in urban regeneration markets, shortcomings in traditional appraisal methodologies and complexities of public sector grant procedures.
An investigation into the expression of uncertainty in property valuations
Authors: Joslin Alexander
Published: May 2005

Purpose

Valuation is a “snapshot” in time. It is an assessment of the market price at a single point in time. It is an estimate and any estimate is uncertain. This paper aims to investigate how the property profession conveys this uncertainty to their clients. Uncertainty must be dealt with in a professional manner in order to offer a reputable service to the general public. It is argued that uncertainty must be expressed within the valuation to offer each party a thorough understanding of the circumstances that surround that particular valuation. It is suggested that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) should develop a standard approach to uncertainty expression, not only for the valuer's peace of mind, but in order to offer the best possible service to the general public.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports the findings of a survey of valuers from leading practices throughout the UK. Examples of uncertainty are included in order to highlight the key issues within the discussion.

Findings

The concept of uncertainty within a valuation is poorly understood and is rarely conveyed to the client in any coherent form.

Originality/value

“What additional information does one need a valuer to provide, apart from the figure of his valuation?” In the majority of cases, the valuer's expression of uncertainty is integral, whereby one must express the amount of uncertainty present when undertaking a valuation. In order to offer a client an accurate valuation, the valuer should make clear the background to the value presented and offer evidence about which factors may affect the figure, with regard to variation.
Stakeholder theory in perspective
Authors: Pesqueux Yvon , Damak‐Ayadi Salma
Published: May 2005

Those who use stakeholder theory as a reference are both underlining the correlation between facts and a certain conceptualization thereof, and trying to make the necessary shift from a “panoptic” analysis akin to a panoramic vision of texts and positions, to an “in‐depth” one geared towards an understanding of their foundations. As a “theory of organizations”, stakeholder theory helps to nourish a relational model of organizations by revisiting questions about “who” is actually working with (and in) the firm. Stakeholder theory is part of a comprehensive project that views the organization‐group relationship as both a foundation and a norm.
Towards the relational corporation: from managing stakeholder relationships to building stakeholder relationships (waiting for Copernicus)
Authors: Lozano Josep M.
Published: May 2005

The starting point of this paper is the traditional view of stakeholders (encompassing the binomial affecting – affected by the company), and identifies the analytical, managerial and normative dimensions implicit in this view. It goes on to suggest that all stakeholder approaches should make explicit their models, what we call a company model, a management model, a description model, a values clarification model and a legitimacy model. The next issue raised is how far most stakeholder approaches are constructed from a view of the corporation focused inwards, at the center of a universe with stakeholders revolving round it. The complexity of contemporary society (the network society) may require us to learn how to interpret the company’s economic and social relationships system, so that thinking about the company means thinking about it both within and without the network. This is why we propose the term relational corporation, to refer to a corporation that changes its approach to links with its stakeholders, moving from managing relationships to building relationships.
The stakeholders’ perspective on the international business school
Authors: Stähli Albert
Published: May 2005

This article describes the contribution of the international business school to anchor ethical behavior maxims in the heads of the economic decision makers. Successful management training means that knowledge is not only obtained, but that the learning processes and the key qualifications which can be reached are located in the center of the globally aligned education. The management Andragogik – the science of knowledge transfer to adults – has proven itself as a goal‐oriented training form. Against this background the article presents the six constitutive elements of a successful international business school and discusses the role and the influence of the associated stakeholders: students and promoters, partner universities, members of the faculty and, last but not least, the enterprises of the economy in their triple role as idealistic sponsors of the international business school, as active members of the advisory board and as future employers of the graduates.
Organizations which make a difference: a philosophical argument for the “people focused organization”
Authors: Weymes Ed
Published: May 2005

Traditional management theory is grounded in the concept of bureaucracy which provides a platform for managers to control behavior. When behavior is controlled, personal freedom and the ability to innovate are curtailed, yet creativity is a key driver competitive advantage. Creativity is unleashed when individuals are provided with the opportunity to express their individual freedom, when they feel their actions make a difference. Organizations, bounded only by economic motives, fail to provide such an environment, but when an organization extends its focus to encompass society and the environment, members of the organization can be inspired to share the dream of the organization. This paper explores the traditional management concepts, and presents the reader with a philosophy that both encourages individual freedom and maintains an ordered society. The paper concludes by applying the philosophy to a model for organization design, which facilitates individual freedom and retains the controls necessary to meet performance targets.
Lead, respond, partner or ignore: the role of business schools on corporate responsibility
Authors: Gardiner Louise , Lacy Peter
Published: May 2005

A number of recent trends are influencing business schools towards better teaching and accounting for the role of “business in society” (BiS). The following article looks at selected results from the most comprehensive survey ever of BiS teaching and research in European academic institutions – undertaken in 2003 by the European Academy of Business in Society and Nottingham University Business School’s International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR), with the support of the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd). The survey found, among other things, that there is a clear demand from business and students for research, education and training on BiS issues; that teaching on the role of BiS is still far from being “mainstream” to the business curriculum; and that the diversity of European approaches and terms signal both a strength and a challenge for the BiS debate. The article looks at how a wide range of initiatives are being undertaken by both business schools and business, and often in unique partnerships, to address these challenges and move the BiS research and education agenda forward. Finally, the thorny issue of accreditation is tackled. Improving accreditation processes will play an important part in bringing the business education community up to speed with the new roles and responsibilities they are being asked to fulfill by a wide range of stakeholders (students, society, business and government). As both educators and mediators in the debate, business schools have a valuable contribution to make. In turn, they too are increasingly being made accountable for their own social and environmental impact. The article argues that business schools can choose whether they want to lead, respond, or partner with business to meet these challenges. However, it seems they can no longer afford to ignore it as a passing fad.
Some philosophical issues in corporate governance: the role of property in stakeholder theory
Authors: Bonnafous‐Boucher Maria
Published: May 2005

Focuses on what can be referred to as the “fundamental philosophical issues of corporate governance”. Outlines the interdependence of various kinds of governance. Demonstrates that corporate governance is part of a bundle of governances and that, in this respect, it occupies a leading place to the degree that its principles are becoming consolidated. Then discusses in a more detailed manner what is meant by the term “dominant functionalism”. Then deals with the question of the equilibrium between sovereignty and legitimacy from the point of view of corporate governance. In effect, rules of governance (considered as the designation of a sovereign power) are searching for a legitimizing instance originating outside the framework of those rules. Finally, covers the proprietarialist origins of stakeholder theory, origins which correspond to a moderate liberal tradition.
Managing through measures: a study of impact on performance
Authors: Bourne Mike , Kennerley Mike , Franco‐Santos Monica
Published: May 2005

Purpose

This study investigates the use of performance measures and how performance measurement impacts performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted through multiple case studies in a single organisation. Comparisons are made between performance measurement practices in comparable high and average‐performing business units.

Findings

The findings suggest that current research into the impact of performance measurement on performance may be too simplistic in its approach as much of the research relies on studying the physical and formal systems used, ignoring the types of factors found to be important in this study.

Research limitations/implications

Being based on a single organisation, the wider applicability of the specific findings from this study should be questioned. However, if, as we suggest, the interactive nature of the use of the measurement system is important, future research will need to find ways of observing, measuring and quantifying this interactivity to allow a richer picture of the impact of performance measurement on performance to be developed.

Practical implications

The differences observed between the high and average‐performing cases was in the way they managed with the measures. Average‐performing business units used the performance measurement system as a simple control system, whereas, high performing business units were using the measurement system much more interactively.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the importance of using performance measures interactively and suggests further research into Simons' concept of “interactive control”.
Formalising the ordering process to achieve responsiveness
Authors: Welker Gera A. , de Vries Jan
Published: May 2005

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on the question whether formalisation of the ordering process can be helpful in achieving responsiveness, while remaining efficient.

Design/methodology/approach

Three dimensions of the ordering process are discussed, namely logistical control, information processing and the organisational setting of the ordering process. Data were gathered from case studies at five different production companies.

Findings

It is suggested that a highly formalised logistical control structure is essential in achieving responsiveness and efficiency. From the formalisation strategies applied by the companies it can also be concluded that a formalised organisational setting of the ordering process is necessary for being responsive in case the logistical control is characterised by a low degree of formalisation.

Originality/value

The paper presents a detailed operationalisation of the formalisation of three dimensions of the ordering process. This is helpful in formulating guidelines for structuring the ordering process to become more responsive.
Modelling complexity in the automotive industry supply chain
Authors: Turner Kevin , Williams Geoff
Published: May 2005

Purpose

In most countries the distribution system for new cars has remained unchanged for many years, with the main emphasis on supplying customers from stock held at dealers. Despite high stocks, the performance of the supply chain has failed to meet customer expectations in terms of delivering the exact specification desired within an acceptable timescale. This paper investigates changes to the design of the supply chain which potentially offer significant improvements in performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A simulation of the supply of new cars, from ordering through the assembly plant and finished vehicle stocking to customer delivery, has been used to develop further understanding of the dynamic performance of the supply chain. The application of the simulation model is demonstrated through scenarios drawn from research into the UK car market.

Findings

The findings demonstrate the benefits of central stocking (storing new cars in distribution centres, rather than at dealers) for both manufactures and customers, supported by recent industry data.

Research limitations/implications

The results presented are based on a representative vehicle model manufactured and sold in the UK; a range of alternative scenarios and changes to the supply chain design can be investigated using the simulation model.

Practical implications

For the automotive industry, the research supports the introduction of central stocking, and demonstrates a methodology for assessing future changes to the supply chain.

Originality/value

The research extends the range of applications of simulation to investigating supply chain design, and demonstrates the feasibility of this approach in modelling complex supply chains.
The role of logistics in linking operations and marketing and influences on business performance
Authors: Sezen Bülent
Published: May 2005

Purpose

This study explores the individual and joint effects of operations, marketing, and logistics functions on the level of business performance. The main purpose is to test whether the business performance achieved when logistics function is in complete coordination with operations and marketing functions is superior to the performance when the functions operate in a less coordinated manner.

Design/methodology/approach

Study hypotheses regarding the links between coordinated and non‐coordinated performances and overall business performance are evaluated through a survey of automobile manufacturers in northwest Turkey. Separate regression analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

It is shown that overall business performance achieved when there exists an effective coordination between the functions can be well above the performance achieved when the tasks are performed individually. Specifically, results from regression analyses performed to test the validations of study hypotheses indicate two important implications: coordination between operations and logistics functions in the specific sample is the most prominent issue for achievement of high performance; and logistics function carries an important role in linking the two most important functions of a company namely, operations and marketing.

Originality/value

This study adds some value to the current literature such that it empirically shows the links between coordinated and non‐coordinated functional performances and overall business performance, and eventually raises the importance of logistics function in a manufacturing‐oriented business environment.
Mobilising for pure prestige? Challenging Federal census ethnic categories in the USA (1850–1940)
Authors: Schor Paul
Published: May 2005

The US census is characterised, among other features, by the importance it gives, to this day, to race. There is an ongoing debate on the use of racial categories to underpin affirmative action policies, but their presence in the census is little discussed. This tends either to mask the functions of racial and ethnic categories in the pre‐civil rights era or to lead to consideration of such categories as a mere residue of historical discrimination. Yet it would be unfortunate to write a history of such census categories that reduces them to these two functions: to identify, first, groups of non‐European origin and then ‘new immigrants’ subject to official discrimination, and later their supposed descendents in order to include them within the scope of compensatory policies. Such an approach would elide the more complex and still largely neglected history of the social construction of ethnic and racial categories. This article examines several cases in which groups mobilised to demand that government agencies should take account of their existence in a different way, in a context where no material advantage was at stake. In so doing, it historicises the statistical categories of race and ethnicity, which cannot be understood solely by reference to their current usage.
Mulattoes andmétis. Attitudes toward miscegenation in the United States and France since the seventeenth century
Authors: Fredrickson George M.
Published: May 2005

This essay surveys and compares American and French attitudes toward miscegenation ormétissagesince the extensive contacts with non‐European peoples that began in the Atlantic world of the seventeenth century. It develops a typology of possible responses to such race mixture and argues that the English colonies that became the United States quickly developed a highly restrictive attitude toward racial intermarriage, especially between blacks and whites, that has persisted through most of American history and is still influential today. The French in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early‐to‐mid twentieth century often adhered to concepts of race as innate or biologically determined, but their attitudes toward interracial marriage or concubinage tended to be more pragmatic. In some situations French theorists of race and empire defended and even advocated certain forms ofmétissage. The difference can be summed up as follows: white Americans have historically pursued the ideal of racial purity with much more intensity and consistency than the French. The difference is best explained with reference to the unique status of African‐Americans as a colour‐coded pariah group with no real equivalent in metropolitan France.
Targeted policy in multicultural societies: accommodation, denial, and replacement*
Authors: De Zwart Frank
Published: May 2005

Targeted redistribution in multicultural societies can pose “the dilemma of recognition”: the beneficiary groups have to be officially recognised, defined, and sometimes mobilised, which accentuates group distinctions and thus threatens to contribute to conflict, discrimination, and inequality instead of combating it. Many governments are well aware of this dilemma, and to resolve it they modify the category system used in redistributive policies. This paper analyses the options governments have – accommodation, denial, and replacement – and concentrates on the latter. Replacement means that a government constructs the targets of redistributive policies so as to avoid accentuation or recognition of inconvenient group distinctions, but still allow redistribution that benefits these groups. The question is, does it work? Replacement is increasingly in demand, in countries around the world, but its effects are little researched. This paper elaborates on two exemplary cases – India and Nigeria – which have experimented with replacement ever since the 1950s and provide ample opportunity to research its long‐term effects.
Preparing to Be Colonized: Land Tenure and Legal Strategy in Nineteenth-Century Hawaii
Authors: Banner Stuart
Published: May 2005

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, throughout the Pacific Rim, European and American colonizers reorganized indigenous systems of property rights in land to make them look more like European property systems, with disastrous effects for the indigenous people involved. The very first of these schemes, however, was the Māhele of 1845–1855, which took place not in a colony but in the independent Kingdom of Hawaii. Why did the Hawaiians do this to themselves? I argue that the Māhele was a sophisticated and partially successful response to the prospect that Hawaii would soon be colonized. The object of the Māhele was to ensure that in the event of annexation, Kamehameha III and other elite Hawaiians would not be dispossessed of their landholdings. The strategy was to convert those landholdings into a legal form that would be recognized by an incoming colonial government—whether American, British, or French—as private property.
What's So Special about Specialized Courts? The State and Social Change in Salt Lake City's Domestic Violence Court
Authors: Mirchandani Rekha
Published: May 2005

The nationwide growth in specialized or problem-solving courts, including drug courts, community courts, mental health courts, and domestic violence courts, among others, raises questions about the role of the state with respect to social change. According to social control theories of the state, especially theories of technocratic or rationalized justice, law is increasingly about efficiency, speed, and effectiveness. Specialized courts, however, take on a social problem approach to crime, seeking to address crime's “root causes” within the individual, the society, and the larger culture in ways more characteristic of social movements. Are specialized courts about social control or social change? This study examines state action in a specialized court in domestic violence in order to examine this question. I focus on a domestic violence court that arose in February 1997 and four years later employed full-time judges, prosecuting and defense attorneys, and numerous other staff to handle all misdemeanor domestic violence cases in Salt Lake County, Utah. I ask how legal, political, and community officials justify the court and its operation in order to examine some important issues about the role of the state and social change. Ultimately, I suggest that my findings about the complementary roles of social control and social change within domestic violence courts have implications not only for critical theories of technocratic justice and for the battered women's movement but also for democratic theories of the state.
Authorizing the Production of Urban Moral Order: Appellate Courts and Their Knowledge Games
Authors: Valverde Mariana
Published: May 2005

Using some appellate courts' reviews of projects to maintain moral order in the city as the main source of data, this article shows that an analysis of legal knowledge production that (1) is dynamic and (2) refuses to treat people and texts as totally different entities, one studied by social scientists and the other studied by lawyers, can tell us much about such familiar but seldom theorized legal maneuvers as judicial review and constitutional challenges. Choosing to analyze the dynamics of knowledge processes is inspired by Actor Network Theory (ANT), Bruno Latour's work in particular. This methodological choice is particularly appropriate because judicial review tends to avoid making judgments about the content of impugned laws or ordinances, focusing instead, as Latour does, on form and process. But insofar as legal processes in general privilege form and process to a greater or lesser degree, a more general argument is made about the appropriateness of using tools from ANT to study legal and quasi-legal knowledge networks.
Same-Sex Unions and the Spectacles of Recognition
Authors: Rollins Joe
Published: May 2005

The boundary between homo- and heterosexuality once stood solidly in our cultural imagination, marked off by a set of assumed differences that were purportedly made manifest in real, material ways. Gays and lesbians, so the story went, were verifiably different from straight people, but gradually, the perceived boundary between the two sexualities has eroded. It has been 30 years since the American Psychological Association cured us of our homosexuality with the stroke of a pen. Despite the enthusiastic application of scientific and statistical technologies, the efforts of researchers such as Dean Hamer, Peter Copeland, and Simon LeVay (just to name a few), have failed to show conclusively that our ears, fingers, brains, or genes actually reveal anything concrete about our choices of sexual partners. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) has knocked down Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) as well as the remaining sodomy laws, expanded the right of privacy to include same-sex sex, and in the wake of Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (2003) Massachusetts has begun allowing same-sex couples to marry. In contrast to many European nations, gay and lesbian parents in the United States are winning legal victories with increasing frequency, gaining greater access to adoption and child custody despite jurisdictional variation. For that diminishing segment of the population that still desperately wants a clear marker of its sexual superiority the news is not good. Fortunately for them, heterosexuals still have one clearly identifiable social sanctuary where they can remind themselves that they have something that non-heterosexuals do not: marriage. With a minimum of effort and expense, one man and one woman can enter into a relationship with the state that brings about numerous legal benefits, obligations, and privileges. Despite some advances, marriage thus stands as one of the last clearly exclusive, forcefully bounded, brightly illuminated enclaves where gays and lesbians may not tread; it remains for heterosexuals only (or at least, for those who want to appear that way).
Seed and fruit selection by harvester ants,Messor barbarus, in Mediterranean grassland and scrubland
Authors: AZCÁRATE F. M. , ARQUEROS L. , SÁNCHEZ A. M. , PECO B.
Published: May 2005

We analyse diet and propagule selection by the harvester antMessor barbarus(L.) in Mediterranean grassland and scrubland in central Spain.

Diet was estimated by the identification of worker‐transported prey in 34 colonies per system type, and compared with seed and fruit availability in the foraging areas. Propagules were characterized by six morphological traits: total weight; weight of seed content; the three main dimensions; and shape.

The effect of propagule attributes on selectivity was analysed after transforming data into phylogenetically independent contrasts. Propagules from a small number of species dominate the diet ofM. barbarusin the study area, in terms of both frequency and contribution in seed weight. In grassland, prey selection depends on ln(prey length) and ln(prey weight) (R2 = 0·57). In scrubland, ln(prey length) explains 64% of selection. Long and heavy propagules are preferred.

This pattern of selection can be a mere effect of a time‐saving foraging strategy, as apparent preference for long propagules can be expected even if workers forage in a non‐selective way.

Messorants are likely to play a role in the plant composition of Mediterranean grassland and scrubland, limiting the abundance of long propagules and thus indirectly favouring small‐seeded species without dispersal appendages.