bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Archival records of Cambodian genocide: the Cambodian Genocide Program
Authors: Giese Diana
Published: April 2007

The Cambodian Genocide Program, a joint venture of Yale University and the University of New South Wales, aims to preserve and make available electronically documentation of the Pol Pot regime, specifically as related to atrocities against the people of Cambodia. Using the CDS/ISIS database program, visual, textual and statistical records are being collected and processed to provide a complete historical record of this period. The program includes establishment of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, and training of local people in historical methods and documentation techniques. The main Web site is at  with a text‐only interface at 
Chinese Australian oral history: a project of the National Library of Australia
Authors: Giese Diana
Published: April 2007

This article describes the National Library of Australia oral history project, Post‐War Chinese Australians, its coverage, procedures and some outputs to date. The importance of community involvement in the project is emphasised. Its broader importance in leading to a re‐examination of the mainstream historical record is also highlighted.
Pursuing the wind of change
Authors: Roach Patrick , Morrison Marlene
Published: April 2007

This paper reports on a British Library‐funded project, Public Libraries, Ethnic Diversity and Citizenship. The project examiend how public library services have responded to the implications of ethnic diversity in the way that services are constructed, managed and reviewed. The findings, based on feedback from both information professional and community members, raise a number of difficult issues to be addressed by the public library sector in Britain, and the authors highlight these areas in their discussion.
Steps in forecasting with seasonal regression: a case study from the carbonated soft drink market
Authors: Caruana Albert
Published: April 2007

Forecasting enables the efficient utilisation of a firm’s resources. There are various types of forecasting models that can be built. Illustrates the steps involved in building a forecasting model utilising seasonal regression with a practical example. The model obtained for the carbonated soft drink brand under consideration estimates a growth rate of 3,568 units per month during the last five years and identifies the seasonal effect during each month of the year. The model also computes the cannibalisation effect that the introduction of a brand extension has had. The development of such models can provide a useful input to both marketing and operations planning.
Justifying profitable pricing
Authors: Urbany Joel E.
Published: April 2007

Economic theory depicts a price‐setter who is cognizant of both the incremental profit implications of changing price and likely competitive reactions. Marketplace observations suggest otherwise; several studies and anecdotal evidence find a tendency for pricing to be driven by cost and market share rather than marginal profit. Further, recent evidence suggests that competitive reactions are often overlooked. This paper develops an explanation of these observations via decision accountability. The literature on accountability is based on the premise that in any social or organizational context, people are compelled to make decisions that can be justified. This justification involves searching for criteria on which those decisions will be judged by others and decision making which can be rationalized on those criteria. New evidence reviewed here suggests that people tend to justify decisions on the basis of more familiar and less ambiguous criteria, giving too little weight to more ambiguous but important considerations. The omission of future profit projections and competitive behavior in decision making, then, can be explained by ambiguity surrounding the estimation of these factors (relative to more concretely measured and familiar internal criteria). I examine three case studies that illustrate how firms have changed information strategy, culture, and competitive thinking in the interest of making profitability and competitive information more justifiable inputs for pricing decisions.
Achieving enhanced learning, greater re‐usability and wider acceptance for multimedia learning environments
Authors: Kinshuk  , Patel Ashok , Russell David
Published: April 2007

Researchers frequently come across teachers who distrust a learning environment as embodying the beliefs of the designers and not their own pedagogy. Following the lead provided by user modelling work carried out in the field of human‐computer interaction, there has been much research on student modelling and adaptivity to individual learners; however, the role of the teacher as the manager of the learning process and hence a much more significant user of a learning environment has been ignored. This paper discusses the need for a human teacher model in any computer‐based learning environment and recommends configurable, incremental and re‐structurable contributive learning environments (CIRCLE) architecture to ensure wider acceptance and greater reuse of the phenomenal creative effort that goes into designing a good learning environment.
Providing Web access to the Space Business Archives through DB/text WebPublisher
Authors: Dahlstrom Neil
Published: April 2007

The Space Business Archives uses DB/TextWorks, Version 3.0, to catalog and maintain internal control of its astronautic collections. In order to make those collections available to a larger audience, the Archives uses DB/Text WebPublisher in conjunction with Web query forms and query result report created with DB/TextWorks to allow users to search document abstracts on the Web. DB/Text WebPublisher is a piece of software that provides mechanisms to query a textbase created with DB/TextWorks via Web query forms and deliver query results dynamically. DB/Text WebPublisher enables the Space Business Archives not only to make its collections accessible worldwide, but also to provide users with valuable tools for distance research.
Report from the trenches – the 8th International Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Workshop
Authors: Medeiros Norm
Published: April 2007

Recounts the 8th International Dublin Core Metadata Workshop held in Ottawa, Canada, October 4‐6, 2000. It provides overviews of the working group process, and developments within the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). NISO standardization, Dublin Core qualifiers, application profiles, administrative metadata, agent qualifiers, DC‐Education, DC‐Registries, DC‐Citation progress, and Extensible Open RDF Toolkit were main discussion topics of this workshop. This article also describes future goals of the DCMI, including additional qualifiers, multi‐lingual issues, and documentation policies.
Article metadata standards: an historical review
Authors: Cave Francis
Published: April 2007

It has been 20 years since the first commercial application of SGML was launched by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for its Electronic Manuscript Project. Defining an SGML representation for journal articles was one of the project’s objectives. Since then a series of attempts have been made to develop standards for the publishing industry to encode article content and metadata. This article traces the development of these SGML and XML‐based standards.
XML for scientific publishing
Authors: Murray‐Rust Peter , Rzepa Henry S.
Published: April 2007

This article addresses the opportunities that XML can offer to the publishing scientist and explores why there has been such a relatively slow take‐up. XML can revolutionize the way that scientists publish their work, but few publishers have shown enthusiasm for it. This article also describes the development of XML‐based tools and technologies as alternative methods for scholarly communication in several science fields. These methods include combined data and text (datuments), robotic validation and the combination of markup languages. The authors believe that these methods will certainly challenge the current publishing practices and transform the librarian’s role in providing e‐journal services.
The DLF electronic resource management initiative
Authors: Chang Sheau‐Hwang
Published: April 2007

The electronic resource management initiative (ERMI) is one of the Digital Library Federation’s (DLF) active initiatives. The purposes of this initiative are to develop XML‐based metadata schemata/DTDs and tools for managing data associated with licensing issues. Developing workflow, identifying best practices, promoting the standards, and engaging library system vendors to implement this system are the other goals of ERMI. This article describes the recent progress made by ERMI.
Using the Internet for B2B activities: a review and future directions for research
Authors: Gattiker Urs E. , Perlusz Stefano , Bohmann Kristoffer
Published: April 2007

Illustrates some of the challenges that electronic commerce practitioners and researchers face. A theoretical framework for Web users’ behaviour is developed. Research themes or questions concerning relationships between cross‐national differences, demographics, perceived threats and Web use; assessment of on‐line information for different categories of product; influence of people’s technology resistance on attitudes toward, and behaviours regarding, online shopping; and how these factors affect people’s attempt to externalize costs (e.g. transaction costs) are outlined. The article analyses different decisional contexts for Web shopping, comparing commodity products to products that require engineering support; while the hype is generally on the first, customized and specialty products may be more attractive from a business perspective. Internet commerce of technical products, in the context of corporate purchasing, has been largely ignored. After reviewing the existing literature, the article concludes by presenting future research challenges and practical implications for organizations willing to take advantage of the opportunities the Web offers.
Measuring the mean Web page size and its compression to limit latency and improve download time
Authors: Destounis P. , Garofalakis J. , Kappos P. , Tzimas J.
Published: April 2007

Web traffic is doubling every year, according to recent global studies. The user needs more information from Web sites and wants to spend as little time for downloading as possible. Simultaneously, more Internet bandwidth is needed and all ISPs are trying to build high bandwidth networks. This paper presents a case study that calculates the reduction of the time needed for a Web page to be fully downloaded and delivered to the user. Presents a way to calculate the reduction of data transfer, bandwidth resources and response time when the HTTP/1.1’s compressing feature is enabled (either in plain hypertext files or the text output of CGI programs or dynamically generated pages). Measurements are taken from five popular Web sites in order to validate our statement for reduction in transfer time. The definition of the mean size of a Web page that commercial Web sites have is additionally in the scope of this paper.
Access control for agent‐based computing: a distributed approach
Authors: Antonopoulos Nick , Koukoumpetsos Kyriakos , Shafarenko Alex
Published: April 2007

The mobile software agent paradigm provides a generic, customisable foundation for the development of high performance distriubuted applications. An efficient, general‐purpose access control mechanism is required to support the development of a wide range of applications. This is achievable if the design of the access control system is based on the principles of simplicity, programmability (customisation) and reusability. However, existing mobile agent architectures either neglect this issue, or offer centralised schemes that do not support adaptive access control on a per‐agent basis and do not address the issues of secure knowledge sharing and reusing. In this paper a simple, distributed access control architecture is presented, based on the concept of distributed, active authorisation entities (lock cells), any combination of which can be referenced by an agent to provide input and/or output access control. It is demonstrated how these lock cells can be used to implement security domains and how they can be combined to create composite lock cells.
A Voice from Pari
Authors: Liotta Elena
Published: April 2007

In this issue the “Voice from Pari” is that of Dr Elena Liotta, a Jungian analyst involved in local politics, who has been influential in guiding the direction of the Pari Center for New Learning. Her article reflects on the nature and future of education but in a much wider setting, that of society, and its values, as a whole and, in particular the growth and education of young children. The Jesuits are supposed to have said that, if they could have the education of a child for the first seven years of its life, they could then show you the man. While it is true that many of the issues faced in university education today are the result of economic pressures within a changing world, there is also the fact that students who enter university are less free and inquiring minds than minds that have already been conditioned by our primary educational system and current social values. If we are to address the future of education, we must do this at all levels.
NextEd Offers Multiple Services for Hitting Asian Marketplace
Authors: Lorenzo George
Published: April 2007

NextEd, an international education and training infrastructure company started in 1998, with offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia, currently has business relationships with 25 higher education institutions and commercial training providers located throughout the world.
Creating strategic plans with the power to win
Authors: Black Dennis A.
Published: April 2007

Strategic planning in many companies has become an impotent process, largely devoid of imagination. These companies must revamp their thinking if they are to create truly innovative strategy embodied with the power to win. The author postulates four fundamental business laws that form the foundation for achieving outstanding results: the law of thinking first and thinking different; the law of anticipatory thinking and disciplined execution; the law of trusting in and respecting people; and the law of customer enthusiasm. The article includes specific corrective actions that an organization can take to alleviate current deficiencies.
Becoming a digital business: ‐ it’s not about technology
Authors: Slywotzky Adrian , Morrison David
Published: April 2007

Many senior executives equate “going digital” with specific phenomena such as the advent of the personal computer, the proliferation of e‐mail, the growth of enterprise resource planning systems, or the popularity of the Internet. But to think of digital business design as the sum total of the high‐tech innovations multiplying around us is a fatally incomplete view. The discipline of digital business design is about serving customers, creating unique value propositions, leveraging talent, achieving order‐of‐magnitude improvements in productivity, and increasing and protecting profits. Learn from the companies that have created great value propositions for customers and employees, achieved significant improvements in productivity, created a robust profit model, and protected both their profit streams and their customer relationships from being eroded by competitors.
The new operating‐finance partnership:
Authors: Mand Martin G. , Whipple William
Published: April 2007

Good things often happen to organizations in which the operating and finance people work together as equal partners, or what the authors call “partnering for performance” (PFP). In the absence of such collaboration, other organizations pay a heavy price. The basic reason for PFP is value creation. All organizations must be prepared to demonstrate their ability to create value, that is, to add value faster than it is being destroyed. Otherwise, they will be unable to attract the funding needed to attain their objectives and will cease to exist. The authors outline the potential contribution of an operations‐finance partnership for various organizations and discuss some recent developments that underscore its growing importance.
Invented competitors: a new competitor analysis methodology
Authors: Fahey Liam
Published: April 2007

If your company develops and tests strategies to outmaneuver the competition, do you fall into the trap of focusing on just traditional rivals, or worst, on just their historic strategies? To avoid this danger, use an innovative approach that several leading companies have adopted: create an “invented” competitor and then consider what type of strategy the invented competitor might employ. Using “invented competitors” opens up a view into the future that is likely to challenge the preconceptions and obsessions of your current worldview. This approach can identify new business opportunities and surface limitations and vulnerabilities in your company’s current strategies and operations. For a number of leading organizations, the invented competitor is proving to be a spur to bold and innovative thinking. An invented competitor is a rival that could exist some time in the future and has two related features that current rivals do not have: unique marketplace strategy and organizational configuration (two examples: a different network of relationships or value chain structure). Invented competitors help managers to reflect about the future in novel and insightful ways. Although the process of inventing a competitor varies, depending upon the context and purpose, it typically has five elements: how the competitor might come to be; what its strategy might be; how it might execute its strategy; why it might win or fail; and the strategy implications for our firm.
How corporations learn from scenarios
Authors: Fahey Liam
Published: April 2007

This article shows how scenarios provide a powerful methodology to identify, connect, and assess the critical strategic and knowledge uncertainties they inevitably contain within them, the seeds of any organization’s future marketplace opportunities. Although these two types of uncertainties are quite distinct, scenarios furnish a proven means for senior managers and others to surface and grapple with these uncertainties as a means not just to learn about plausible futures that may confront them but also to better understand the current and emerging competitive context. The outcome is the capacity to upgrade the quality of the inputs to all phases of strategy development and execution.
“Experience rules”: a scenario for the hospitality and leisure industry circa 2010 envisions transformation
Authors: Erdly Marvin , Kesterson‐Townes Lynn
Published: April 2007

During the next decade and beyond, hospitality and leisure companies will embrace business models that focus on mass customizing travel experiences. As a result, in 2010, travel will be about engaging in powerful, seamless personal experiences that are carefully tailored to learning and catering to the tastes and demands of individual travelers. Two key forces are driving this trend on both the demand side and the supply side: globalization that allows more people to go more places, and technological advancements that will fuel economic growth and enable companies to provide experiences on demand. Most travel and leisure companies will need to make significant changes to be successful participants in this new experience marketplace. Travel companies that wish to offer differentiated experiences must do the following between now and 2010: promote customer‐experience centricity; brandish the brands: aggressively launch measures to re‐affirm the brand positioning; personalize with precision; focus on the fundamentals: guest service, revenue management, and brand building to offer a better quality product and more customized guest service with a lower cost structure; shift focus of personal: use technology for transactional tasks; refocus employees on value‐added guest services; reinvent sales and distribution using an integrated direct connect mechanism (IDCM); leverage technology advances in numerous aspects of the operations.
Strategy for the critical first 90 days of leadership
Authors: Watkins Michael
Published: April 2007

The actions taken during the first three months of a new job will largely determine whether you succeed or fail in the long term. The goal should be transition acceleration, not just failure prevention. This article offers a blueprint for addressing the linked challenges of personal transition and organizational transformation that confront all leaders in their first few months in a new job. Five propositions are: (1) The root causes of transition failure always lie in a pernicious interaction between the situation (with its opportunities and pitfalls), and the individual (with his/her strengths and vulnerabilities); (2) There are systematic methods that leaders can employ to both lessen the likelihood of failure and reach the breakeven point faster; (3) The overriding goal in a transition is to build momentum by creating virtuous cycles that build credibility and by avoiding getting caught in vicious cycles that damage credibility; (4) Transitions are a crucible for leadership development and should be managed accordingly. They strengthen diagnostic skills, demand growth and adaptation, and test personal stamina. Transitioning is a teachable skill; (5) Adoption of a standard framework for accelerating transitions can yield big returns for organizations. Everyone (bosses, direct reports, and peers) needs to speak the same “transition language”. Match leadership strategy to situation – methodically diagnose the situation and match your strategy to it: Step one – Diagnose the business situation. The four broad types of business situations: start‐up, turnaround, realignment, and sustaining success. Each presents a distinct set of challenges. This article defines actions for each. Step two – create a 90‐day transition acceleration plan. A framework of the ten key transition challenges is included in the article.
Value creation logics and the choice of management control systems
Authors: Sheehan Norman T. , Vaidyanathan Ganesh , Kalagnanam Suresh
Published: April 2007

Most, if not all, management control tools were formulated for firms employing an industrial value creation logic (i.e., Ford, McDonald’s, and Wal‐Mart). We argue that given the growth, both in number and importance, of firms employing a knowledge value creation logic (i.e., Accenture, Goldman Sachs, and Clifford Chance) and firms employing a network logic (i.e., Verizon, eBay, and Expedia) that these control tools should be revisited in light of this potentially critical contingency. This paper outlines the key characteristics of knowledge intensive firms and network service firms and then examines how these contingencies impact Simons’ (1995) Levers of Control and Kaplan and Norton’s (1996) Balanced Scorecard. We find that whilst each lever/perspective is still relevant for each value creation logic, the relative importance and thus intensity of use should vary between logics.
“Experiential” research methodology: an integrated academic‐practitioner “team” approach
Authors: Grant Ken , Gilmore Audrey , Carson David , Laney Richard , Pickett Bill
Published: April 2007

Considers how to research small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs’ decision making in the context of their own environment, in order to reach some in‐depth understanding of such phenomena. Previous work has called for the use of more appropriate methods for understanding and assessing SME management decision making. The discussion takes account of the characteristics of SME entrepreneurs, academic researchers’ approach to carrying out research and the contribution that can be made by consultant researchers with experience of SMEs. A research design incorporating the contribution of all three parties (entrepreneurs; academics; practitioner consultants) is described, detailing the research process in action. Finally the advantages of such a research design is illustrated.
Rapid Prototyping – The Future
Authors: Wohlers Terry
Published: April 2007

Highlights the future potential of rapid prototyping (RP) and
manufacturing around the world. The US manufacturing industry may be on
the rebound; this will help accelerate the sale of RP systems. Strong
market growth in the US and, to a lesser extent, Europe and Japan, will
come as a result of awareness, erasing myths, technical enhancements,
personnel and organizational issues, complimentary processes and
technologies and CAD solid modelling. The ratio of price to performance
will continue to improve, but not as dramatically as it has in the past.
New RP products will be made available in 1994 and 1995. As the market
expands, entrepreneurs will identify niche opportunities for
after‐market products. The prospects for growth in the RP industry are
now better than ever.
Enabling team wellness: monitoring and maintaining teams after start‐up
Authors: Groesbeck Richard , Van Aken Eileen M.
Published: April 2007

Describes a methodology to monitor and maintain team wellness, focused on critical team processes to sustain teams after launching. The approach includes a structured assessment tool to measure team member perceptions of critical team processes, selection and implementation of improvement initiatives guided by graphical portrayal of assessment results, and re‐assessment of team processes to measure impact of initiatives. Illustrates this approach and associated assessment and portrayal tools through an application with two work teams in a telecommunications company. This approach provides a structured method for monitoring team wellness, or health, which can complement business results‐focused measures of a team’s performance.
Competence‐based team management
Authors: Denton D. Keith
Published: April 2007

Examines training programs within several companies worldwide.
Proposes that more than ever today companies should be working toward
improving quality, owing to changes in market conditions. Presents a
seven‐step process toward problem solving with the company. Concludes
that, to maintain continuous improvement within an organization, it is
important to recognize any weaknesses it may have and address them.
A general purpose consensus problem‐solving model
Authors: Harley William B.
Published: April 2007

Investigates a census problem‐solving model developed, by the
author, to provide team members in an organization with a
people‐centered vision. Provides and discusses 11 steps to the consensus
problem‐solving process. Concludes that this process helps a team to
develop as such, where ideas are shared and discussed.
Team‐work to green small and medium‐size enterprise?
Authors: Palmer Jason , Andrews Lisa
Published: April 2007

Managing change is the crux of reducing the environmental impact of organisations. Teams are often used in large organisations to drive forward a process of change. But in small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs), where issues of formulating and communicating change can be different, is there still a rôle for change management through teams? The authors present case studies of three SMEs that are active on the environmental agenda. We construct an “ideal‐type” team from established literature in the field and compare it with teams used in these case study organizations. Describe how they choose priorities and communicate, how working groups or teams form and relate together, the extent to which teams and organizational structures are defined formally, and how successful the companies have been in engineering environmental change. Find no clear link between an organizations’ use of teams and success at environmental management.
The “ideal” team compensation system ‐ an overview: Part I
Authors: Zobal Cheryl
Published: April 2007

Teams have become a popular way to organize business because they offer companies the flexibility they need to meet the demands of the ever changing business environment. While many companies have been quick to organize their workforce into teams, they have not been as eager to implement team‐based compensation systems. The problem is that if team‐based organizations continue to utilize old, individually‐oriented pay systems, they will not realize fully the benefit of highly cooperative and motivated work teams. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ÒidealÓ team compensation system. To do this, the paper will first review the basics of both teams and compensation and then explore the ideal team compensation system from three levels ‐ framework, critical elements, and other, operational considerations. Given the scope, this entire review will be divided into two separate articles. This article, Part I, provides information through the ideal team compensation system framework.
The high‐cooperation hospital project team
Authors: Gent Laura , Parry Arthur E. , Parry Mark E.
Published: April 2007

The authors analyze surveys completed by 181 members of 59 project teams from 57 hospitals. Results indicate that members of high‐cooperation teams were more likely to communicate informally; spend time brainstorming, exchanging project‐related information, and receiving performance feedback; positively evaluate the status of their project; and have positive feelings about their participation on the project team. Cooperation levels were highest when team leaders clearly explained project objectives and team member responsibilities; team leaders confronted conflicts among team members and worked to resolve those conflicts; team members clearly understood project objectives, responsibilities, and rewards; and team members did not have reservations about the project and its outcomes. Results also suggested that, in some groups, active involvement by senior managers negatively affected cooperation levels. This result may reflect a deference in some groups to the authority of senior management.
The “ideal” team compensation system ‐ an overview, part II
Authors: Zobal Cheryl
Published: April 2007

Teams have become a popular way to organize business because they offer companies the flexibility needed to meet the demands of the changing business environment. While many companies have been quick to organize their workforce into teams, they have not been as eager to implement team‐based compensation systems. However, if team‐based organizations continue to utilize old, individually‐oriented pay systems, they will not fully realize the benefit of highly cooperative and motivated work teams. The purpose of this two‐part article is to examine the “ideal” team compensation system. Together, both parts will review the basics of both teams and compensation and then explore the ideal team compensation system from three levels ‐ framework, critical elements, and other, operational considerations. Part I provided information through the ideal team compensation system framework. This article, Part II, looks at the critical elements and other, operational considerations.
Cost‐optimized maintenance of the elevator – single unit case
Authors: Yamashina Hajime , Otani Shunsuke
Published: April 2007

Elevator manufacturers are responsible for securing the safety and maintaining the performance, cleanliness and cosmetic appearance of the elevators which they sell.The purpose of this paper is to develop a cost‐optimized after‐sales strategy for the maintenance of an elevator part. First, in order to find an optimum maintenance method, the replacement probability and the inspection probability of the part are theoretically derived using each of the three maintenance methods: Time Based Maintenance (TBM), Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), and Breakdown Maintenance (BM). Then, the approach to plan a cost‐optimized maintenance method is presented and the relationship between the failure characteristics of the part and the cost‐optimized maintenance method is discussed.The results of using the proposed approach are compared with those obtained by Online Quality Engineering (Taguchi methods). Finally, from numerical experiments, it is shown that this approach can provide a more cost‐effective and better maintenance method than the method provided by Online Quality Engineering.
Reliability analysis of triple modular computer systems with redundant voters and restricted maintenance
Authors: Dhillon B.S. , Subramanian P.
Published: April 2007

Presents five newly developed models for a Triple Modular Redundancy system having zero, one, two, three, and N voters. Expressions for reliabilities and mean time to failure with and without repair are developed. The plots for state probabilities, reliabilities and mean time to failure are shown.
Practical models for condition monitoring inspection intervals
Authors: Sherwin David J. , Al‐Najjar Basim
Published: April 2007

Markov models find optimum inspection intervals for phased deterioration of monitored complex components in a system with severe down time costs. The number of (pseudo)‐phases can be increased, but in most cases, simple models tracking actual states and their perception by the user will suffice, because of paucity of data and near‐constant rates. The matrix is cyclic; it includes renewal and regression to earlier states, simplifying solution and matching observation. An example involves roller bearings in paper mills with three phases, no defect, possible defect, and final deterioration towards failure. In the last phase, continuous monitoring is used.
Designing for MFOP: towards the autonomous aircraft
Authors: Cini Paul F. , Griffith Paul
Published: April 2007

BAe Airbus has studied the application of the maintenance free operating period (MFOP) concept to Airbus aircraft in order to meet a growing demand for autonomous operation. This concept can apply to both civil and military aircraft and, most recently, has resulted in Airbus Military Company including the MFOP as part of its formal proposal for a new military transport aircraft. The paper concludes that it is difficult to predict the progress in further improving the levels of MFOP achievement, but that the final solution is likely to be a “pick and mix” of techniques, technologies and disciplines integrated under a “supportability” banner.
The unfashionable Drucker: ethical and quality chic
Authors: Bowman James S. , Wittmer Dennis L.
Published: April 2007

Representing the soft and hard sides of management, ethics and quality are core aspects of an organization. Both are a philosophy as well as a process that seek to optimize behavior through clarifying the purpose and nature of work. This study examines Drucker′s treatment of these central components of management. Following a discussion of the methodology employed, each concept is analyzed. The implications of the findings are then explored.
A history of legally required employee benefits: 1900‐1950
Authors: Jerrell Tamela D.
Published: April 2007

Between 1900 and 1950 most of today’s legally required employee benefits were developed. Political and social forces influenced a transformation of individual and societal value systems, including a shift of substantial personal welfare responsibility from the individual to governments and businesses. Workers’ compensation, America’s first social insurance, ushered in legally required strategies designed to provide for workers’ particular needs. In addition, the Social Security Act of 1935 provided old age retirement payments and created an unemployment insurance program, among other things. Each of these came into being amid much debate, and America’s political, economic, social, and business structures were changed forever with their passage.
Human nature, tradition and law: a Burkean perspective in public administration
Authors: Haque Akhlaque U.
Published: April 2007

The article introduces Edmund Burke’s world‐view and its implications for public administration. From Burke’s idea about human nature, tradition, law and representation, it has been argued that in a Burkean world, administrative discretion is essential and inevitable. By using their discretionary power, Burke emphasized that public administrators as virtual representatives will meet the ends of the law made by elected representatives. Also to build a tradition and ethical foundation for administration, Burke argued for a unified administration. Given human fallibility and self‐interest such a unified body can internally check administrative actions. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Burke’s thought, the paper compares and contrasts this Burkean view of public administration with the views of other influential scholars in public administration. Important similarities exist that show that his views continue to demonstrate fruitful application in the art of governance.
A coming of age
Authors: Halliman Robert W.
Published: April 2007

This study sought to determine if the much lauded values and beliefs of the baby boom generation would result in a significant change in bottom‐line impact. Organizational financial performance, as measured by average return on assets (ROA) and average net margin (MAR), were compared for baby boom CEOs, those born between 1946 and 1964, and CEOs born prior to 1946. The study found no significant differences in ROA and net margin.
Rapid prototyping: current technology and future potential
Authors: Hull Charles , Feygin Michael , Baron Yehudah , Sanders Roy , Sachs Emanuel , Lightman Allan , Wohlers Terry
Published: April 2007

Recent developments in rapid prototyping provide evidence of the maturing of some areas of application. New applications continue to surface and new systems/processes are being introduced on a regular basis. The Fifth International Conference on Rapid Prototyping (Dayton, Ohio, 1994) provided an opportunity to bring together leaders in the commercial development and application of RP technology and to hear their perspectives on the current capabilities and future directions. A “Manufacturers round table” provided the forum for the audience to submit questions. Relates participants’ responses.
Rapid prototyping and manufacturing in the USA
Authors: Anderson Carol
Published: April 2007

Reports on some of the latest developments in the Rapid Prototyping Association/Society of Manufacturing Engineers (RPA/SME).
Culture: a missing perspective on small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise development?
Authors: Choueke Richard , Armstrong Roger
Published: April 2007

This paper precedes the final stages of a five‐year research project the aim of which was to seek explanations as to reasons for “organizational growth” and “business success” in the small and medium size enterprise (SME) sector. The groundwork for the empirical study comprised a literature review of existing perspectives on SME growth and development. The authors originally identified two major perspectives. The first of these focused upon a group of writers whose explanation was informed by “growth model” literature. This perspective identifies clear stages of growth and development over time, each of which generates a trigger for organizational growth. The second perspective on business growth and development was through explanations focusing upon individual agency and entrepreneurship. However, during the work on the literature review, the attention of the authors became focused on research that dealt with the influence of “organizational culture” on the performance of companies within the corporate sector. Moreover, what was apparent from the literature review, was a clear gap, the lack of reference as to the effects of organizational culture on the development of SMEs. Initial analysis of the empirical data indicates several differing views as to the actual meaning of the term of “organizational culture” from amongst the research sample. In the majority of cases respondents who identified unique “cultures” in their organizations believed that those “cultures” had a positive effect on the performance of their companies. This effect was even more clearly articulated by those respondents who perceived their companies to be “growth orientated”. The focus of this paper is a consequence of the journey from the literature review through to the initial findings of the empirical work and subsequent evaluation and reflection.
Designing and sustaining an entrepreneurial role for the human resource function: strategic choice or competitive conditions?
Authors: Clark Ian
Published: April 2007

This paper provides a case study of a previously unresearched industry, Engineering Process Plant Contracting, it examines how a project management firm responded to heightened competitive pressures through a process of entrepreneurial innovation. A key component in this focused on the corporate human resource function as a full business partner in project management and its contribution to the “bottom line”, a clear recognition of its positive strategic significance. The evidence suggests that prevailing competitive conditions determine the nature and direction of HRM’s strategic integration with a firms entrepreneurial goals. Where cost reduction strategies prevail the function is likely to institutionalize entrepreneurial goals determined elsewhere. Where cost containment and the reduction of internal inefficiencies prevail a more positive integration between the function and the firms entrepreneurial goals is necessary.
Entrepreneurial context and behaviour in SMEs
Authors: Kirk David
Published: April 2007

This paper examines the entrepreneurial decision making of two manufacturing enterprises, a Scottish telecommunications component producer and a Polish marine pump manufacturer. Although identified as located in contrasting situations of environmental context and organisational configuration, the emergent organisational behaviours of both display convergence tendencies. Their common entrepreneurial problem is how to promote the appropriation of innovative learning across the organisation. The paper draws tentative conclusions regarding the importance of dominant entrepreneurial leadership and of setting stretching goals to provide conditions for divergent learning.
The learning organisation in small and medium‐sized enterprises
Authors: Choueke Richard , Armstrong Roger
Published: April 2007

This paper is a consequence of several years of research and management learning activity with small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), which focused on the development of the organisations and the concomitant development of managers within those organisations. The empirical study sample revealed a preference by owner managers and directors for action learning as a medium for the development the organisation and its people. In situations in which action learning was operational, the owner managers and directors in the sample were positive about the effect on organisational effectiveness. The authors conclude with the proposition that the development of a learning organization is a journey, which might never be completed, however, the decision to embark on the journey and the process leading to embarkation provide the organisation and its people with an increasingly effective compass through which the company is able to navigate itself through the hostile uncertainty of the business environment.
Bringing entrepreneurship back in: Explaining the industrial dynamics of Hong Kong with special reference to the textile and garment industry
Authors: Fu‐Lai Yu Tony
Published: April 2007

Applies Kirzner’s concept of entrepreneurship to explain the economic success of Hong Kong. The city economy possesses neither natural resources, nor sophisticated technologies, and yet it has successfully developed into one of the most prosperous economies in East Asia. This study argues that Hong Kong’s industrial dynamism relies mainly on a large number of adaptive entrepreneurs who are constantly alert to opportunities, maintain a high degree of flexibility in their production and respond rapidly to change. In the textile and garment industry, firms survived by pursuing a product imitation strategy, operating at a small‐scale, extensively utilizing subcontracting networks, producing customer label garments as well as performing spatial arbitrageurship. Employing these adaptive entrepreneurial strategies, Hong Kong manufacturers have learnt from foreign firms and imitated their products. By selling improved commodities at lower prices, they have competed against the original suppliers from the western advanced countries. Furthermore, to exploit new profit opportunities, Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs have shifted their production activities from one product to another, from one industry to another, from higher cost to lower cost regions, from traditional fishing and agriculture into manufacturing, and then to finance and other services. Their efforts have brought about structural transformation in the economy and enabled Hong Kong to catch up with early industrialized nations.
Selecting the location of distribution centre in logistics operations: A conceptual framework and case study
Authors: Van Thai Vinh , Grewal Devinder
Published: April 2007

This paper presents the outcomes of a study of the choice of location for distribution centres in logistics operations. A conceptual frame work of location selection for distribution centre is worked out through three main stages. At the first stage, a general geographical area for distribution centre is identified based on the Centre of Gravity principle, taking into consideration socio‐economic factors. The second stage of the selection process involves the identification of alternative locations for the distribution centre and the airports and seaports to be used for in bound and out bound cargo flows within the defined general geographical area. The third stage focuses on specific site selection among the identified alternative locations for the distribution centre based on the quantitative approach. This involves a mathematical model which aims to optimise either the total distribution cost or the integration of total distance transport with given relevant volumes of cargo. In order to illustrate the conceptual frame work, a case study of a logistics service provider will be provided. Data from the case study proved that the conceptual framework for selection is valid and can be of value to logistics companies in their operations and management.
Complaints of Asian shoppers toward Global Retailer: A content analysis of e‐complaining to Carrefour Korea
Authors: Park Cheol
Published: April 2007

In the discount store area, foreign large retailers such as Wal‐mart, Carrefour, and Costco fight hard with domestic retailers in Korea. The Korean customer is a judge in the centre of such a difficult fight. Therefore, foreign retailers who are willing to win the game should pay attention to what Koreans say and respond to the complaint as fast as they can. This study monitored e‐complaints of customers towards Korea Carrefour through analysing contents of the bulletin board in an anti‐Carrefour site. Upon examining e‐complaints by category and retail attributes, there were found to be more complaints in electrical goods and food and groceries by product category, and in employee attitudes and store atmosphere by retail attributes. The implications for successful retail strategies of foreign discount stores in Korea are discussed and further research is suggested.
Partners relationship management of e‐logistics networks
Authors: Vlachopoulou Maro , Manthou Vicky , Folinas Dimitris
Published: April 2007

The establishment of an integrated Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system can potentially address several aspects of channel collaboration in a digital environment and offers a wide range of benefits to the members of the logistics networks. In this paper, a logistics partnerships typology is suggested related to the channel management in a virtual environment. Fur ther more, the basic components and an architectural platform of an integrated E‐Logistics PRM solution are designed. The proposed integrated e‐Logistics PRM solution offers a systematic process for ensuring that specific partnerships criteria are developed and managed in the most beneficial way.