bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Protecting financial investment: agriculture insurance in Ghana
Authors: Nunoo Jacob , Nana Acheampong Bernand
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present readers with information on the state of provision of agricultural insurance as a means of protecting financial investment in agricultural productivity in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper reviews interventions in the provision of agricultural insurance in Ghana and then examines what is currently being done in this area. The paper looks at issues arising from empirical evidence on agricultural insurance provision and links them to scholarly articles on these issues.

Findings

– This paper shows that there has been considerable effort from the German Development Cooperation, the Ghana National Insurance Commission and government ministries and agencies, the Insurance sector in Ghana and stakeholder institutions leading to the creation of an agricultural insurance provider in Ghana. It is, however, evident from the results that the system is facing major challenges resulting primarily from the inability of the state to provide the needed policy and regulatory support that will assist the insurance sector in the development and delivery of the agricultural insurance products.

Originality/value

– Even though there has been some research that has touched on agricultural insurance in Ghana, none of them has actually examined the current systems of providing the insurance since its inception. The paper therefore fills the gap of providing information on the current ongoing interventions for the provision of agricultural insurance for individuals and organizations that invest in the agricultural sector in Ghana.
Multiple-peril crop insurance: successes and challenges
Authors: Barnett Barry
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine international experience with multiple-peril crop insurance (MPCI). Named peril crop insurance is available in most countries but MPCI is less common. While named peril insurance is widely successful, MPCI has a checkered history. In most cases, MPCI actuarial experience has been poor and large premium subsidies have been required to incentivize purchasing.

Design/methodology/approach

– International experience with MPCI is reviewed with a particular focus on the USA which has the largest MPCI program in the world. Rationales for government involvement in facilitating MPCI offers are examined and future challenges are explored.

Findings

– In most cases, MPCI actuarial experience has been poor and large premium subsidies have been required to incentivize purchasing. MPCI purchasing has increased dramatically in recent years but so have government expenditures to support MPCI programs. Significant challenges remain with providing cost-effective MPCI coverage for crop farmers.

Originality/value

– While previous articles have reviewed MPCI in the USA, this paper also considers experiences in other countries. Future challenges and research needs are described.
Quantitative information processing of nutrition facts panels
Authors: M. Soederberg Miller Lisa
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Quantitative information on nutrition labels (nutrition facts panels (NFPs)) is often conveyed in the form of absolute weights (i.e. milligrams or grams) and reference values (i.e. per cent daily values (%DVs)) which provide information regarding nutrient levels within the context of a total daily diet. Some evidence suggests that %DVs are preferred over the weights and may be better at communicating nutrition information. However, age differences are often neglected in past work, thus limiting the understanding how effectively NFPs communicate quantitative information across adulthood. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using eye tracking methodology, the present study examined age and preference differences in attention to weights and %DVs on NFPs during two healthfulness judgement tasks. The extent to which attention predicted judgement accuracy was explored and findings were compared to two additional predictors, prior knowledge and NFP numeracy skills.

Findings

– Although individuals paid attention to both types of quantitative information, attention to %DVs, but not weights, predicted accuracy, on both tasks. For older adults only, preferences for %DVs were related to %DV attention, and this in turn supported accuracy on the single-NFP task.

Originality/value

– These data show that %DVs are important for healthfulness judgements across age but that preferences for %DVs, together with attention to %DVs, are particularly important for older adults.
A conceptual framework for examining HRD and NHRD linkages and outcomes
Authors: Alagaraja Meera , Kotamraju Pradeep , Kim Sehoon
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to review technical vocational education and training (TVET) literature, identify different components of the TVET system and develop a conceptual framework that integrates human resource development (HRD) and national human resource development (NHRD) outcomes. The renewed focus on technical vocational education and training (TVET) is important for human resource development (HRD), as it expands current understanding of its role in economic development through workforce training. National human resource development (NHRD) perspectives recognize the role of TVET in linking regional and national economic development strategies. Furthermore, TVET’s focus on literacy education, poverty alleviation and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations emphasizes social development outcomes that are critical for NHRD. Using this background, the integration of HRD and NHRD outcomes into one conceptual TVET framework for addressing workforce, economic and social development outcomes has been proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

– A targeted literature review approach was used for exploring relevant research on TVET systems, identifying the components which support and/or inhibit its effectiveness and an integrative framework that connects education, workforce development, social development and economic development was developed.

Findings

– Three major themes were identified. The first theme identifies nine sub-themes that make an effective TVET system. These are as follows: national TVET policy, regional TVET policy, training, participation, curriculum, coordination of stakeholder institutions, individual and institutional attitudes toward skill development, managing supply-demand mismatches and economic and social development outcomes. The second major theme underlines the increasing overlap and connection between workforce development, social development and economic development strategies. In the third and final finding, effective TVET systems are positioned as the linking pin connecting the four TVET components (skills, education, innovation and knowledge) to the strategic goals of workforce development, economic development and social development.

Originality/value

– Integrating national and organizational-based HRD strategies is a unique focus and reflects the broader examination of the differences in the relationship between corporate HRD and more traditional TVET systems. It is argued that the role of TVET in social and workforce development at the regional and societal level cannot be ignored. HRD and NHRD outcomes were integrated by utilizing TVET as a framework for linking economic, social and workforce development strategies.
Examining the dominant, emerging, and waning themes featured in select HRD publications
Authors: Ghosh Rajashi , Kim Minjung , Kim Sehoon , L. Callahan Jamie
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to identify how themes and contributions featured in the four scholarly journals sponsored by the largest human resource development (HRD) research association (the Academy of Human Resource Development, AHRD) reflect the changing identity of the HRD field.

Design/methodology/approach

– A frequency and content analysis of articles published during the period 2002-2011 was conducted to identify the dominant themes and research trend. Further, comments were made on the aims and scope and editorial discretion for each journal to understand how the journals influence the direction of scholarship in HRD.

Findings

– It was found that the boundaries of the field are constantly expanding with some of the older and mature themes losing momentum and new themes coming to the forefront of scholarly interest. The journals were found to play a critical role in setting the future direction for the field.

Research limitations/implications

– Future researchers can examine if the waxing and waning themes identified in the findings remain same after analyzing contributions featured in journals that are not sponsored by the AHRD, but publish articles on topics closely related to HRD. Also, the findings can guide further examination of the editors’ leadership role in driving the evolution of the HRD field.

Practical implications

– Considering the characteristics of HRD as an applied discipline, the findings can guide future researchers to explore if the thematic changes as identified in the study are associated with the needs of HRD practice.

Originality/value

– The study attempts to understand the landscape of HRD research by looking at how the field’s identity boundaries have shifted over time and how different entities, like authors and editors publishing scholarly articles in the four HRD journals in the past decade, have interacted to contribute to the shift.
Energy performance of aquatic facilities in Victoria, Australia
Authors: Rajagopalan Priyadarsini
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper investigates the energy performance of aquatic centres in Victoria.

Design/methodology/approach

– Physical and occupancy characteristics and energy consumption from various centres were analysed to understand the interrelationship between numerous factors that contribute to the energy consumption of these facilities.

Findings

– The energy usage intensity of the facilities ranged from 632 to 2,247 kWh/m2 or 8 to 17 kWh/visit. Primary and secondary indicators were examined to find the key performance indicators.

Research limitations/implications

– This study sheds some light into the overall energy performance of aquatic centres in the temperate climate of Australia. More samples need to be collected to perform rigorous statistical analysis leading to a reliable benchmark model. System-wise investigation of energy consumption is required to determine where the energy is being used and the saving potentials of each system.

Practical implications

– This study has arisen from the need of managers of large aquatic and recreation facilities to benchmark the energy consumption of their own facilities. This study will fill the gap that currently exists in the area of energy rating systems for aquatic centres.

Social implications

– The results of this study showed that aquatic centres consume around seven times more energy than a commercial office building. Thus, if the energy consumption of aquatic centres could be reduced by as little as only 10 per cent, at least 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission can be reduced.

Originality/value

– Environmental design standards for aquatic centres have generally been overlooked due to the complex nature of these buildings. As a result, this sector suffers from a general lack of both qualitative and quantitative information and benchmarking.
Mitigating climate change in the building sector
Authors: T.I. Lam Patrick , H.W. Chan Edwin , T.W. Yu Ann , C.N. Cam Wynn , S. Yu Jack
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate how unique features of built facilities would affect the application of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading, and to explore what adaptive measures may be taken for emissions trading to be applied to the built environment. Emissions trading is a financial tool to encourage GHG emissions reduction in various industries. As the building sector is responsible for a large amount of GHG emissions, it is valuable to explore the application of emissions trading in built facilities.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analysis is based on a comparative study reviewing the current emissions trading schemes (ETSs) in Australia, Japan and the UK covering the building industry, and to evaluate the approaches adopted by the schemes to tackle the problems related to buildings and facilities management.

Findings

– The research findings reveal that the small energy savings of individual building units, the large variety of energy-saving technologies and the split incentives and diverse interests of building owners and tenants would be the barriers hindering the development of emissions trading. To overcome these barriers, an ETS should allow its participants to group individual energy savings, lower the complexity of monitoring and reporting approaches and allow owners and tenants to benefit from emissions trading.

Originality/value

– This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current emissions trading practices in the built environment. Besides, it raises the attention and consciousness of policymakers to the need that building characteristics and facilities management should be taken into consideration when designing an ETS for the building sector.
The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer relationship management system; a case study of Ghavamin Bank
Authors: Rezghi Rostami Alireza , Valmohammadi Changiz , Yousefpoor Jahan
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between customer relationship management (CRM) system and customer satisfaction in branches of Ghavamin Bank in the capital city of Iran, Tehran.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on the review of literature a questionnaire was designed. After the verification of its validity and reliability, the data were collected from statistical population, the customers of selected branches at Tehran city. The data were analyzed using inferential statistics and the SPSS software, and frequency distribution, distribution indexes, Pearson's correlation, and regression methods were also used.

Findings

– The results revealed that the four factors of CRM system, i.e. service quality, service characteristics, level of service access, and handling complaints have a positive effect on customer satisfaction in the surveyed branches of Ghavamin Bank.

Research limitations/implications

– The sample is restricted to only one city, so in generalizability of the obtained results caution should be taken.

Originality/value

– Given the ever growing importance of banking industry in Iran as a developing country, the results of this study could help policy makers of the surveyed bank to realize the importance of CRM's criteria and characteristics in increasing customer satisfaction.
Trust and risk-taking in a pension investment setting
Authors: Carlsson Hauff Jeanette
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of trust on financial risk-taking in a pension investment setting. Further: to delineate the effects of varying levels of individuals’ financial knowledge and involvement on risk-taking, and on the trust-risk-taking relation.

Design/methodology/approach

– Questionnaire to a subsample of Swedish bank customers, thereafter statistical analysis using multiple moderated regression.

Findings

– Support the notion of trust being an influential variable in explaining risk-taking, and show that highly knowledgeable and highly involved individuals take on more risk. That individuals defined by knowledge and involvement have a different trust-risk-taking relation, however, not verified.

Research limitations/implications

– Adds to the body of research emphasising the importance of “soft”, emotionally tilted input to consumers’ decision making, even concerning financial tasks such as risk-taking. Narrowly defined pension system environment may hamper generalisations since many constructs tested are situation specific.

Practical implications

– From a practical perspective, individual investment behaviour is of increasing importance for the individual as retirement saver and for the financial industry in its attempt to tailor-make financial products to its customers. From a legislators’ perspective, the dimensions of knowledge and involvement describe the type of consumer supposedly most vulnerable: the uninterested individual with low levels of financial knowledge.

Originality/value

– Tests the importance of trust on choice of risk level in a pension setting and is able to expand previous results into the area of consumer behaviour regarding pensions. The paper further manages to assess the specificities as regards the relation between trust and risk-taking for individuals with varying levels of knowledge and involvement.
Illusion or delusion – Lean management in the health sector
Authors: McIntosh Bryan , Sheppy Bruce , Cohen Ivan
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– There has been considerable interest in the implementation of practices imported from manufacturing into healthcare as a solution to rising healthcare spending and disappointing patient safety indicators. One approach that has attracted particular interest is Lean management and the purpose of this paper is to engage with this topic.

Design/methodology/approach

– Secondary research.

Findings

– Despite widespread enthusiasm about the potential of Lean management processes, evidence about its contribution to higher organisational performance remains inconsistent.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper engages with the major Lean concepts of operations management and human resource management, including just-in-time, total quality management, total productive maintenance and does not engage in-depth with concepts related to employee empowerment, and training.

Practical implications

– This paper contributes to the organisational management literature in healthcare by showing that although Lean management seems to have the potential to improve organisational performance it is far from a panacea against under performing hospitals.

Social implications

– It informs policy making by suggesting that a progressive managerial philosophy has a stronger impact on healthcare performance than the adoption of practices from any particular managerial approach.

Originality/value

– This paper provides a critical evaluation of the impact of Lean practices in informing healthcare policy. The paper contributes to the organisational management literature in healthcare by showing that even though Lean management in healthcare appears to have the potential to improve organisational performance; there remain problems with its application.
Essentials of total quality management: a meta-analysis
Authors: Mohammad Mosadeghrad Ali
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify critical successful factors for Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

– A literature review was conducted to explore the critical successful factors for TQM implementation between 1980 and 2010.

Findings

– A successful TQM implementation need sufficient education and training, supportive leadership, consistent support of top management, customer focus, employee involvement, process management and continuous improvement of processes.

Research limitations/implications

– The review was limited to articles written in English language during the past 30 years.

Practical implications

– From a practical point of view, the findings of this paper provide managers with a practical understanding of the factors that are likely to facilitate TQM implementation in organisations.

Originality/value

– Understanding the factors that are likely to promote TQM implementation would enable managers to develop more effective strategies that will enhance the chances of achieving business excellence.
Exploring barriers in lean implementation
Authors: R. Jadhav Jagdish , S. Mantha Shankar , B. Rane Santosh
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of research on lean focusing on barriers in its implementation through a systematic literature survey.

Design/methodology/approach

– A literature survey of peer-reviewed journal articles, survey reports, master theses, doctoral theses and paradigmatic books with managerial impact is used as the research methodology.

Findings

– The findings derived from the evaluation of the publications analyzed have led to the identification of 24 lean barriers. The success of lean implementation will not be entirely based on application of appropriate tools and techniques alone but also on the top managements' involvement and leadership, workers' attitude, resources and the organizational culture.

Research limitations/implications

– This literature survey is primarily focused on lean implementation in the manufacturing sector.

Practical implications

– This paper explores barriers for successful lean implementation and provides a concise description of the barriers that will be helpful for further studies in the domain of lean manufacturing.

Social implications

– Government of many countries around the world is encouraging and helping small- and medium-scale industries to understand and implement lean systems by preparing accessible database of lean consultants, providing financial assistance for training by professionals and establishing professional associations. However, many industries experienced failure in lean implementation. This research work provides a launching pad to develop a strategy to tackle barriers for successful lean implementation.

Originality/value

– This paper puts forward the key barriers that should be tackled for successful lean implementation. It might represent new opportunities for rigorous and relevant research that would contribute to more translucent knowledge of lean being gained.
Employability of higher education graduates in Europe
Authors: Pavlin Samo , Svetlik Ivan
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Employability of higher education graduates in europe” from the perspective of global changes.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirically based papers of the special issue address six main areas related to the transition of graduates from education to the labour market: employment and employability, job (mis)match, development of particular areas of competency, new certificates of higher education, along with the disciplinarity and status of the self-perceived role of academics in supporting graduates’ careers.

Findings

– This issue provides empirical findings relevant to various stakeholders of higher education systems which are essential for strategic development in the area.

Originality/value

– The selection of papers proposes an interdisciplinary scientific approach in the areas of bridging (higher) education with the labour market.
Employability of young graduates in Europe
Authors: Laetitia Garrouste Christelle , Rodrigues Margarida
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to measure the potential role of the field of education and the fact of having worked during studies on the employability of the higher educated (ISCED 5-6) cohort targeted by the ET2020 graduates’ employability benchmark.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using the same data source as the benchmark (i.e. the annual LFS microdata from 2004 to 2010), and exploring the additional transition questions collected in the LFS 2009 ad hoc module, the authors define and test four hypotheses using a probit approach on each EU country.

Findings

– The degree plays a significant role in the employability of young graduates across countries and time. In terms of probability of employment, the leading field is health and welfare. In terms of type of contracts, the leading fields are social sciences and engineering. Moreover, what labour markets seem to value the most is the capacity of higher educated students to combine high-level studies and work, i.e. a high workload capacity and intellectual flexibility.

Practical implications

– Reaching the new European target of a minimum of 82 per cent of employment of young graduates will require countries to invest wisely in the most “employable” fields of education. This analysis will help policy makers in their future orientations towards that target.

Originality/value

– The originality of this work lies in its exploration of the exact same extraction of microdata used for the computation of the ET2020 Benchmark indictor and in its immediate political implications for the monitoring of this benchmark.
Association between performance measurement systems and organisational effectiveness
Authors: Upadhaya Bedanand , Munir Rahat , Blount Yvette
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of performance measurement systems in organisational effectiveness in the context of the financial services sector within a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using the mail survey method data were collected from 69 financial institutions operating in Nepal. Multivariate analysis, in particular multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

– The results suggest that non-financial measures and feedback are tightly intertwined with organisational effectiveness. While institutions are focused on using the performance measures concerning internal business process perspective, less emphasis is placed on using customer and employee-related performance measures because they are considered less significant to organisational effectiveness. The findings also reveal that strategy-related feedback is considered more critical by management, as opposed to performance and staff. The study also provides evidence that 40.58 per cent of the financial institutions in Nepal had implemented the Balanced Scorecard, which is considered to be high when compared with other developing countries.

Practical implications

– The findings provide managers with valuable insights pertaining to the role of non-financial performance measures and the importance of feedback in improving organisational effectiveness, which could assist them in (re) aligning their performance measurement practices.

Originality/value

– The findings of this study contributes to the limited management accounting literature on performance measurement and the impact on organisational effectiveness by providing evidence from the financial services sector within the context of a developing country.
Fighting the fire: improvisational behavior during the production launch of new products
Authors: Gross Uwe
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Short-term problem solving during production launch may result in extended lead times and increased overall costs of new product development, thereby reducing the overall profitability of a new product. While the previous literature suggests formalized procedures and systematic problem solving approaches, empirical analyses indicate improvised, non-systematic, and ad hoc responses actually being used in firms’ real world problem solving processes. The purpose of this paper is to explain the role of such non-systematic approaches for the efficiency and effectiveness of problem solving processes during production launch.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper empirically explores the impact of improvisational problem-solving behavior on a firm's production launch efficiency and on the success of new products. Moreover, the paper investigates the moderating role of technology familiarity, project complexity, and the number of occurring problems during production launch.

Findings

– The paper finds evidence for a positive curvilinear effect of improvisational problem-solving behavior on new product success and production launch efficiency. Additionally, the paper finds that improvisation is especially reasonable in complex and familiar projects or in the case of many unplanned changes during production launch.

Research limitations/implications

– The study provides evidence for the relevance of routinized and improvisational behavior during production launch.

Practical implications

– Improvisational behavior decreases the performance of the production launch and the financial performance of a new product in the case of frequent product changes or complex projects.

Originality/value

– For the first time behavioral theory is applied to the phenomenon of production launch and problem solving.
Three conceptualizations of hybrid management in hospitals
Authors: Byrkjeflot Haldor , Kragh Jespersen Peter
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to bring the discussion on the relationship between management and medicine a step forward by focussing on: first, how the notion of hybrid and hybridity has been used in the literature on healthcare management. Second, the authors have mapped the alternative ways that the concept have been used in order to conceptualize a more specific set of possible combinations of managerial and professional roles in healthcare management. Hybrid management is a topic that ought to be important for training, communication among researchers and for identifying areas of future research: in management, in healthcare reforms, in sociology of professions and in theory of organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors provide a systematic literature review in order to map the various conceptualizations of hybrid management. The authors have searched for “hybrid leadership,” “hybrid management” combined with hospitals and health care in a whole range of journals, identified in Google scholar, Academic Search Premier, Academic Research Library and Sage Publication. The authors have also used already existing literature reviews. The search has resulted in more than 60 articles and book titles that have been classified according to whether they make a fit with three alternative ways of conceptualizing hybrid management. The authors are aware that they might have missed some relevant literature but the literature included is quite comprehensive.

Findings

– In the literature the authors have found three conceptualizations of management. The clinical manager who combines professional self-governance with a general management logic. The commercialized manager who combines professional self-governance with an enterprise logic. The neo-bureaucratic manager who combines self-governance with a neo-bureaucratic logic.

Originality/value

– In most analyses of hybridity in management and organization the notion of hybrid has been used in a rather superficial way. By mapping the various uses of hybrid in the literature and suggest how a professional logic may be combined with a set of alternative logics of management the authors provide a platform for developing the concept of hybrid management into a more useful tool for analyses of changes in healthcare management.
Organizational form and efficiency of franchise chains
Authors: Piot-Lepetit Isabelle , Perrigot Rozenn , Cliquet Gérard
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a new model allowing the implementation of a benchmarking process that jointly measure the efficiency of franchise chains and determine their optimal organizational form.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology is based on a non-econometric technique developed by management scientists on economic concepts for evaluating the performance of decision-making units and implementing a benchmarking process. An extended model is developed in the paper for evaluating the efficiency and determining the optimal percentage of company-owned outlets (PCO) of each franchise chain.

Findings

– First, results showed that the PCO has a positive impact on franchise chain efficiency; even if other chain characteristics have a larger impact. Second, the optimization of the PCO allows for additional improvements in efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

– Even though this study has some limitations (e.g. sample and variable selection), it contributes to the literature on franchising by providing an approach allowing us to answer to the question of Shane (1998) on the optimal proportion of franchised units given other firm characteristics.

Practical implications

– By developing a model that allows for the joint evaluation of franchise chain efficiency and optimal PCO, this study offers to franchisors a new benchmarking process allowing for both a competitive and functional benchmarking.

Originality/value

– The originality of this research can be found in the new model developed for allowing a benchmarking of franchise chains that allows an evaluation of efficiency jointly with a determination of their optimal organizational form.
Exploring the urban consumer's perception of local food
Authors: Penney Ursula , Prior Caroline
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the perception and attitudes of urban consumers in the UK towards local food.

Design/methodology/approach

– Four focus groups were conducted with participants from Birmingham, UK. A pre-focus group questionnaire was issued to participants to gather demographic data and to provide participants with the “Making Local Food Work” definition of local food. Following on from the focus groups, participants were e-mailed to enquire whether they had any additional comments to provide.

Findings

– The results of the study revealed that despite urban consumer interest in local food, this did not necessarily translate in to purchase behaviour. Convenience of the “one-stop” offered by supermarkets along with availability, price and food labelling were found to be key barriers to the purchase of local food. Alternatively, key drivers were identified as freshness, health benefits and improved quality.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings are limited with respect to the lack of male participants and younger consumers (pre 45 years old) within the sample whose perceptions of local food may differ from those studied.

Practical implications

– Findings support the need for supermarkets to increase their offering of local food for the urban consumer. In addition, supermarkets should improve merchandising, signposting and labelling of local food to encourage increased levels of purchase behaviour from the urban consumer.

Originality/value

– The paper explores the somewhat “disconnected” urban consumers’ perceptions and attitudes towards local food. On the whole, previous studies of local food have not specifically explored this particular group of consumers.
ICTs and maternal healthcare utilization. Evidence from Ghana
Authors: Abekah-Nkrumah Gordon , Guerriero Marta , Purohit Purnima
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Traditionally, the role of technology on health services has been argued from the supply side. The purpose of this paper is to use a demand side perspective to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the use of maternal health services in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

– Study used data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys and binary response regression models to examine the effect of women's access to ICTs on maternal healthcare utilization in Ghana. Three variables on maternal healthcare utilization were employed: use of contraception, antenatal care and place of delivery.

Findings

– Results from the study show that the effect of the use of technology is both positive and significant. In particular, among the other ICTs (i.e. landline phone, listening to radio, watch television, color television in household, computer in household), the coefficients of mobile phone ownership tends to be consistently significant across all four reproductive health services. Therefore, ICTs have a good capacity to influence women's demand of health information. This needs to be taken into account when designing maternal health policies and interventions.

Originality/value

– This is one of the few papers examining the effect of ICTs on utilization of maternal health services from the demand side compared to the popular supply side argument often found in the literature.
Internationalisation patterns of border firms: speed and embeddedness perspectives
Authors: J.B. Jørgensen Eva
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide new insight concerning a relatively understudied phenomenon in the medium sized enterprise (SME) internationalisation and international entrepreneurship literature; the internationalisation of firms crossing the border to only one adjacent foreign country. These firms are called border firms. This study explores the variety of internationalisation patterns of border firms.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based on theoretical perspectives related to speed of internationalisation and country embeddedness, and uses empirical data from seven Norwegian case companies operating across the border between Norway and Russia.

Findings

– Three different internationalisation patterns of border firms are empirically identified and described; an early single-country path, a born-again border path and a born border path. Then, a model of the distinctive cross-border pathway is developed.

Research limitations/implications

– Several limitations of this study have implications for further research, such as sample size and setting, the new perspective on country embeddedness and questions related to generalisation of the findings.

Practical implications

– The study has implications for both entrepreneurs and policy-makers. It demonstrates that internationalisation is not always about “going global” and is sometimes simply a matter of “hopping” across the nearest border. The model demonstrates different possible patterns for how to achieve or support this in practice.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to theory-building in the field of SME internationalisation and international entrepreneurship in three ways. First, it identifies and defines an interesting but neglected type of international venture; border firms. Second, it explores the different start-up patterns of these firms, their speed and embeddedness. Third, it offers a theoretical framework of the distinct cross-border pathway of internationalisation.
The ethics of “smart” advertising and regulatory initiatives in the consumer intelligence industry
Authors: L. Finn Rachel , Wadhwa Kush
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to study the ethics of “smart” advertising and regulatory initiatives in the consumer intelligence industry. Increasingly, online behavioural advertising strategies, especially in the mobile media environment, are being integrated with other existing and emerging technologies to create new techniques based on “smart” surveillance practices. These “smart” surveillance practices have ethical impacts including identifiability, inequality, a chilling effect, the objectification, exploitation and manipulation of consumers as well as information asymmetries. This article examines three regulatory initiatives – privacy-by-design considerations, the proposed General Data Protection Regulation of the EU and the US Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013 – that have sought to address the privacy and data protection issues associated with these practices.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors performed a critical literature review of academic, grey and journalistic publications surrounding behavioural advertising to identify the capabilities of existing and emerging advertising practices and their potential ethical impacts. This information was used to explore how well-proposed regulatory mechanisms might address current and emerging ethical and privacy issues in the emerging mobile media environment.

Findings

– The article concludes that all three regulatory initiatives fall short of providing adequate consumer and citizen protection in relation to online behavioural advertising as well as “smart” advertising.

Originality/value

– The article demonstrates that existing and proposed regulatory initiatives need to be amended to provide adequate citizen protection and describes how a focus on privacy and data protection does not address all of the ethical issues raised.
Modeling of underwater wet welding process based on visual and arc sensor
Authors: Chen Bo , Feng Jicai
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper was to use visual and arc sensors to simultaneously obtain the underwater wet welding information, and a weld seam-forming model was made to predict the weld seam's geometric parameters. It is difficult to obtain a fine welding quality in underwater welding because of the intense disturbances of the water environment. To automatically control the welding quality, the weld seam-forming model should first be established. Thus, the foundation was laid for automatically controlling the underwater welding seam-forming quality.

Design/methodology/approach

– Visual and arc sensors were used simultaneously to obtain the weld seam image, current and voltage information; then signal algorithms were used to process the information, and the back propagation (BP) neural network was used to model the process.

Findings

– Experiment results showed that the BP neural network model could precisely predict the weld seam-forming parameters of underwater wet welding.

Originality/value

– A weld seam-forming model of underwater wet welding process was made; this laid the foundation for establishing a controller for controlling the underwater wet welding process automatically.
The power of purpose
Authors: Martin Dick
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– One of a business strategist’s most fundamental responsibilities is to help define the corporation’s highest purpose. This column explains why that duty has an even greater importance in a business environment plagued by “short-termism”.

Design/methodology/approach

– Personal viewpoint.

Findings

– The current business environment places such a high premium on short-term financial results that a corporation’s true customer-centered purpose can get lost.

Originality/value

– This is a personal viewpoint, informed by research and 32 year’s experience, more than 12 in the highest ranks of one of the world’s largest corporations.
Expatriates in the UAE
Authors: AlMazrouei Hanan , J. Pech Richard
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Sending staff to international locations can be costly for employers as well as employees if the expatriate staff members fail in their ability to assimilate themselves or are unable to work within the construct of the foreign culture. From a strategic perspective, failed overseas deployments can have serious implications in both the firm’s reputation and unnecessary costs. We examine this issue within the context of deployments to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Design/methodology/approach

– Questionnaires are used to examine the factors relating to expatriate leader adjustment in the UAE. The experiences of expatriate managers in the UAE are discussed.

Findings

– Our study found that well-structured pre-departure training had a positive effect on expatriate managers’ adjustment to working in the UAE. Mentoring was also considered to be highly effective as a means of preparing employees for an overseas deployment. A number of useful guidelines have been developed from the experiences of the expatriate managers surveyed in our research.

Research limitations/implications

– Practical implications The results provide notable implications for organizational leaders facing a posting to the UAE and human resource management specialists preparing people for work in the UAE. It also provides a practical model to be used by expatriate leaders to facilitate their adjustment to the UAE culture.

Originality/value

– Although there has been much research on cross-cultural adaptation, relatively little has been written on practical managerial adaptation, specifically in the UAE. This article helps address this imbalance.
Successful leadership in a rural, high-poverty school: the case of County Line Middle School
Authors: W. Klar Hans , A. Brewer Curtis
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– In this paper, the authors present a case study of successful school leadership at County Line Middle School. The purpose of the paper is to identify how particular leadership practices and beliefs were adapted to increase student achievement in this rural, high-poverty school in the southeastern USA.

Design/methodology/approach

– After purposefully selecting this school, the authors adapted interview protocols, questionnaires, and analysis frameworks from the International Successful School Principalship Project to develop a multi-perspective case study of principal leadership practices at the school.

Findings

– The findings illustrate the practices which led to students at this school, previously the lowest-performing in the district, achieving significantly higher on state standardized tests, getting along “like a family,” and regularly participating in service learning activities and charity events. A particularly interesting finding was how the principal confronted the school's negative self-image and adapted common leadership practices to implement a school-wide reform that suited its unique context.

Research limitations/implications

– While the findings of the study explicate the specific ways the principal adapted leadership strategies to enhance student learning, this study also highlights the need to understand how principals become familiar with their community's needs, cultures, norms, and values, and exercise leadership in accordance with them.

Practical implications

– The case offers an example of the need for context-responsive leadership in schools. In particular, it illustrates how this principal enacted leadership strategies that successfully negotiated what Woods (2006) referred to as the changing politics of the rural. To realize this success, the principal utilized his understanding of this low income, rural community to guide his leadership practices. Critically, part of this understanding included the ways the community was connected to and isolated from dominant sub-urban and urban societies, and how to build enthusiasm and capacity through appeals to local values.

Originality/value

– While it is widely acknowledged that school leaders need to consider their school and community contexts when making leadership decisions, less research has focussed on understanding how this can be achieved. This case provides rich examples of how this was accomplished in a rural, high-poverty middle school.
Evolution of government portals in India: mapping over stage models
Authors: Tripathi Rakhi , Gupta M.P.
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the e-government stage models that have been developed in last one decade give a true indication of e-government growth in a developing country like India.

Design/methodology/approach

– This exploratory study was conducted through a survey questionnaire from 300 portals of government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) in India.

Findings

– Results show that on e-government stage model; only 28 per cent of the surveyed government department have achieved the transactional stage whereas 58 per cent have reached at least a minimum level of vertical integration. On the other hand, 74 per cent PSUs are at transactional level and 69 per cent have achieved at least a minimum level of vertical integration.

Practical implications

– For achieving a one-stop government portal, integration stage can be achieved before the transaction level. Reason behind this being nature and requirement of the portal. There are fundamental differences in social and political factors of various countries that demand more customized local models.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to examine the evolution of government portals in India. The results lead to a number of insights such as there are few government portals that do not follow the proposed stage models and achieve the integration level before attaining the transaction level.