bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Negative emotions and their effect on customer complaint behaviour
Authors: Tronvoll Bård
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This study aims to investigate pre‐complaint situations and has a threefold purpose: to identify a set of negative emotions experienced in unfavourable service experiences, to examine the patterns of these negative emotions and to link these negative emotions to complaint behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

To fulfil the threefold purpose previously outlined, the study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. A critical incident technique is applied. The empirical data are derived from 25 in‐depth interviews and the results of a questionnaire survey of 3,104 respondents.

Findings

A total of 20 observed negative emotions are reduced to a second‐order construct with five latent categories of negative emotions: shame, sadness, fear, anger and frustration. These categories coincide with three categories of negative emotions in the agency dimension: other‐attributed, self‐attributed and situational‐attributed. The study finds that the negative emotion of frustration is the best predictor for complaint behaviour towards the service provider.

Research limitations/implications

The results are limited by the fact that the data are entirely self‐reported. Moreover, the generalisabilty of the results is limited by the fact that the findings relate to one service industry in one country.

Originality/value

The study provides a comprehensive conceptual understanding of both pre‐complaint negative emotions and how these emotions affect customer complaint behaviour.
Playstations and workstations: identifying and negotiating digital games work
Authors: Ashton Daniel
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present qualitative research with higher education games design students to explore situated understandings of work and the negotiation of “work” and “non‐work” boundaries.

Design/methodology/approach

Situated understandings of work are examined through interviews and focus groups with games design students in the UK and contextualised with interviews with games industry professionals and attendance at industry careers events. The theoretical approach of “occupational devotion” is used to explore work practices and motivations, and “technological action” is then used to draw out the significance of relations with games technologies in this negotiation.

Findings

The main finding concerns the continued significance of a fixed field of “work” for students intending to progress from education into “work”. The importance of “work” was identified in how students positioned themselves (occupational devotion) and engaged with games technologies (technological action). This is contrasted with the emphasis on co‐creative relations and broadbrush assertions of blurring boundaries between work and non‐work.

Research limitations/implications

A larger sample of students that ranged across different digital gaming disciplines within higher education (programming; art) would add breadth and further perspectives. Further research would connect student perceptions of the games industry, from attending events such as careers fairs, and the industry promotional discourses and representational strategies. A longitudinal study would be valuable for tracing changes in recruitment strategies and industry and education intersections.

Practical implications

The paper provides insights into how higher education students engage with the games industry and articulates their personal development and employability attributes.

Originality/value

This paper makes a case for research with students as a means to explore boundaries of “work” and “non‐work”. It questions the blurring of “work” and “non‐work”, and provides conceptual pointers, combined with empirical research, that indicate the continued purchase of fixed notions of “work” for workers‐in‐the‐making. This is relevant for scholarly research into the sociology of work, higher education pedagogy, and industry‐education relations.
Do avatars dream of electronic picket lines?
Authors: Blodgett Bridget , Tapia Andrea
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to define and articulate the concept of digital protestainment, to address how technologies have enabled boundaries to become more permeable, and in which this permeability leads to the engendering of new cultures.

Design/methodology/approach

Two case studies, within Second Life and EVE Online, are examined to see how digital protestainment, through the lens of cultural borderlands, creates a hybridized culture. Recorded interviews and textual analysis of web sites are used to illustrate the concepts of play, work, and blended activities.

Findings

Within virtual environments the process of hybridization is not only increased in size, scope, form, and function. The borderlands process draws in cultural elements through a complex interchange between the online and the offline, in which hybridized cultural bits are carried out into other spaces.

Research limitations/implications

The success of the cases does not represent all digital protest examples and so this study is limited in its ability to generalize to the population of virtual protests. This study limits the realm of digital protestainment to virtual worlds but the concept could be applied to any form of virtual community.

Practical implications

Companies that host these worlds will need to become aware not only of what their audience is but also how that audience will mobilize and the likely outcomes of their mobilization. Virtual worlds offer organizational leaders a new resource for training, support, and recruitment.

Originality/value

The theoretical concept of cultural borderlands is expanded to the digital environment and introduced as a potentially new and useful tool to internet researchers.
Enacting engagement online: framing social media use for the museum
Authors: Kidd Jenny
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight and reflect on the increased use of social media in the museums sector in the UK and beyond. It seeks to explore the challenges of utilising such media for institutions steeped in discourses of authority, authenticity and materiality.

Design/methodology/approach

Arguments are illustrated using examples of practice and policy from across the museums sector, and are informed by critical theory. In particular, Erving Goffman's frame analysis is used as a means for understanding and articulating the current use of social media by museums.

Findings

There is currently a gulf between the possibilities presented by social media, and their use by many museums. This leads to forms of frame misalignment, which can be intensely problematic. It is crucial that museums increase their understanding of the frames within which such activity is being encouraged and experienced.

Research limitations/implications

The paper does not offer a comprehensive mapping of social media use by museums at the current time. Rather, it uses notable examples to foreground a number of concerns for exploration through further research.

Originality/value

The paper calls into question the naturalised discourse surrounding social media use in the museums sector. It calls for a re‐appraisal and re‐framing of such activity so that it might more genuinely and satisfactorily match the claims that are being made for and about it.
To disclose or not: publicness in social networking sites
Authors: Bateman Patrick J. , Pike Jacqueline C. , Butler Brian S.
Published: February 2011

Purpose

Social networking sites (SNS) are changing the methods of social connectivity – and what it means to be public. Existing literature hints at competing perspectives on how the public nature of these sites impacts users. The question of how the perceived publicness of SNSs influences users' self‐disclosure intentions is debated in the literature, and the aim of this paper is to answer this debate.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper theorizes competing perspectives on the role of publicness on self‐disclosure. Competing perspectives are tested using data collected via an online survey.

Findings

The study finds support for the perceived publicness of a SNS negatively influencing users' self‐disclosure intentions. Additionally, exploratory analysis of self‐disclosure items ubiquitous to most SNSs found that perceived publicness negatively influences users' intention to self‐disclose items related to users' likes and affiliations.

Research limitations/implications

Variables of the study were self‐reported and, as such, are subject to the typical limitations of cross‐sectional, survey‐based research. Future research should seek to examine how perceived publicness and other variables impact self‐disclosure in SNSs over time.

Practical implications

Business models utilizing social networking technologies rely on users' willingness to engage in self‐disclosure. This research provides a theoretical link between the public nature of a social networking environment and users' willingness to self‐disclose. Highlighting perceived publicness as an important aspect of an environment could be one way to address the need to elicit and manage users' self‐disclosure.

Originality/value

The paper utilizes a unique, but established, method of competing hypotheses to understand the role of the public nature of SNSs.
An evaluation of construction skills in Tanzania
Authors: Kikwasi Geraldine John
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a study related to availability of construction skills in Tanzania.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey and interview were designed to assess the availability of construction skills at management/supervisory and operative levels in Tanzania. At both levels skills were carefully selected for the respondents to rank and open‐ended questions were designed to investigate how employers obtain employees and test their competences.

Findings

Findings from the study indicate that at both management/supervisory and operative levels some skills are available on special arrangements. Furthermore, 60 per cent of employers neither enquire about the training background nor test the competence of skilled workers before engaging them.

Research limitations/implications

This study was mainly affected by low response to e‐mailed questionnaires.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide an insight on the skills status in Tanzania and the study also proposes a skills screening process for employers.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a screening and grouping of operatives process for use by employers in testing and improving competences of prospective employees and to establish their training background.
Coworkers' response to occupational health and safety
Authors: Lingard Helen , Cooke Tracy , Blismas Nick
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The paper's aim is to document a survey of Australian construction workers that was conducted to examine whether conditions of within‐group homogeneity and between‐group heterogeneity in perceptions of coworkers' safety response were satisfied. The factor structure of coworkers' safety response is to be explored and the relationship between workgroup members' perceptions of their coworkers' safety response and the workgroups' injury rate is to be examined in three organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

A safety climate survey was conducted within three organizations. Retrospective and prospective workgroup injury data were collected from company records. The factor structure of coworkers' safety response was analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). Within‐group homogeneity and between‐group heterogeneity were examined using inter‐rater agreement and analyses of variance respectively. Bivariate correlations were used to explore linkages between perceptions of coworkers' safety response and workgroup injury rates.

Findings

Two distinct factors were indicated by the PCA were labeled “Coworkers' actual safety response” and “Coworkers' ideal safety response”. “Coworkers' actual safety response” demonstrated significant between‐group variance and within‐group consensus in two of the three organizations. No significant between‐group variation was found for ‘Coworkers' ideal safety response'. Neither aspect of coworkers' safety response was consistently significantly correlated with workgroup injury rate.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should examine the relationship between coworkers' safety response and workgroup safety performance using measures other than reportable injury rates.

Practical implications

The confirmation that “Coworkers' actual safety response” is a facet of group safety climate suggests that interventions to develop coworkers' support for safety within workgroups may be helpful. In particular, strategies to speed up the process of assimilation into workgroups through induction and teambuilding exercises should be evaluated.

Originality/value

The study builds on previous research examining group safety climate in construction, providing further evidence that coworkers' safety response items should be included along with supervisors' safety response items in the measurement of group safety climate. The findings suggest important directions for future empirical evaluation of the impact of coworkers' response on workgroup safety climate and performance in the construction industry.
Changing roles of the clients, architects and contractors through BIM
Authors: Sebastian Rizal
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to present a general review of the practical implications of building information modelling (BIM) based on literature and case studies. It seeks to address the necessity for applying BIM and re‐organising the processes and roles in hospital building projects. This type of project is complex due to complicated functional and technical requirements, decision making involving a large number of stakeholders, and long‐term development processes.

Design/methodology/approach

Through desk research and referring to the ongoing European research project InPro, the framework for integrated collaboration and the use of BIM are analysed. Through several real cases, the changing roles of clients, architects, and contractors through BIM application are investigated.

Findings

One of the main findings is the identification of the main factors for a successful collaboration using BIM, which can be recognised as “POWER”: product information sharing (P), organisational roles synergy (O), work processes coordination (W), environment for teamwork (E), and reference data consolidation (R). Furthermore, it is also found that the implementation of BIM in hospital building projects is still limited due to certain commercial and legal barriers, as well as the fact that integrated collaboration has not yet been embedded in the real estate strategies of healthcare institutions.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the actual discussion in science and practice on the changing roles and processes that are required to develop and operate sustainable buildings with the support of integrated ICT frameworks and tools. It presents the state‐of‐the‐art of European research projects and some of the first real cases of BIM application in hospital building projects.
The impact of private label brands on customer loyalty and product category profitability
Authors: Pepe Michael S. , Abratt Russell , Dion Paul
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of private label resources possessed by a supermarket retailer on the shopping behavior of loyal customers. The study examines whether or not private label products can help in the overall enhancement of product category performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the performance of a supermarket retailer in the Northeast United States that operates over 100 stores and generates a total yearly sales volume in excess of $3 billion. Data obtained from the Supermarket's point of sale information were used. The paper then developed a research model from the literature review and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings show that overall dollars spent by loyal customers significantly impacted overall profitability.

Research limitations/implications

The data collected pertained to the supermarket's grocery department that is comprised of center store dry grocery products, frozen food products, and refrigerated dairy products. Perishable departments such as deli, seafood, meat, bakery, floral, general merchandise, health and beauty care, etc. were not researched in this study. Also, data obtained were from one individual supermarket chain.

Practical implications

Although private label products may represent increased profitability for retailers, consumers prefer a full assortment of merchandise; an over emphasis on private label brands may result in diminishing category performance.

Originality/value

The paper examines the performance of a supermarket retailer in the Northeast United States that operates over 100 stores and generates a total yearly sales volume in excess of $3 billion. The use of scanner data has value as it measures actual shopping behavior.
Framing online promotions: shipping price inflation and deal value perceptions
Authors: Chatterjee Patrali
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This research seeks to examine differences in perceived shipping charge inflation associated with online promotions presented as reducing base product price, reducing shipping surcharge, or reducing all‐inclusive price and its impact on deal values for shipping charge skeptics and non‐skeptics.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from research on multi‐component pricing and mental accounting, a laboratory experiment investigates if shipping charge skeptics differ in their perceptions of shipping charge inflation for different presentations of online promotions from non‐skeptics, and if they differ in perceived deal value of economically equivalent promotions presented as reduced product price, reduced shipping charge promotion, or reduced all‐inclusive price for high and low priced items with small or large shipping fees at retail websites.

Findings

Analyses show that shipping charge skeptics differ from non‐skeptics in their perceptions of shipping charge inflation and deal values for different online promotions only when the surcharge is large relative to the base price. Reduced price promotions are most attractive for high‐priced items with low surcharge but least attractive for large surcharge sizes. For large surcharge sizes, shipping charge skeptics prefer reduced all‐inclusive price promotions to reduced shipping promotions, while non‐skeptics prefer reduced shipping promotions to reduced all‐inclusive price promotions.

Research limitations/implications

The results suggest that the effectiveness of various promotion frames at online stores differ based on base price, surcharge size, and consumer skepticism of shipping charge. Robustness of the results obtained at different levels of discount sizes need investigation.

Practical implications

Online retailers that have to charge high shipping fees can use promotions to shift the referent price component used by consumers to calculate savings and mitigate perceptions of shipping or base price inflation. For equivalent dollar savings, retailers can use reduced shipping charge promotions to communicate higher deal values to shipping charge non‐skeptic consumers than reduced base price or reduced all‐inclusive promotions.

Originality/value

This research examines how consumer perceptions of deal values differ, even though objective savings and financial outlay is the same, when promotions are presented as reducing product price versus surcharge.
Henry Mintzberg: still the zealous skeptic and scold
Authors: Allio Robert J.
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an interview between Strategy & Leadership with the veteran observer and outspoken critic of corporate follies, Henry Mintzberg, Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, about the state of management and management education.

Design/methodology/approach

The questions are asked by Robert J. Allio, who has been both a senior academic and executive at Fortune 500 companies.

Findings

Professor Mintzberg comments on troubling trends in leadership and managing, the lack of effective management, inappropriate management education, the impossibility of teaching leadership, the process of creating strategy, the current management crisis and the dangers of shareholder value management.

Practical implications

As an alternative approach to leadership education, McGill University has developed the International Masters in Practicing Management (www.impm.org). In this program practicing managers share experiences with their peers.

Originality/value

Mintzberg blasts a variety of targets: “US corporations are seriously sick.”
The reinvention of management
Authors: Denning Stephen
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The author believes that business leaders and writers are increasingly exploring a fundamental rethinking of the basic tenets of management. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzes five shifts: the firm's goal (a shift from inside‐out to outside‐in); role of managers (a shift from controller to enabler); mode of coordination (from command and control to dynamic linking); values practiced (a shift from value to values); and communications (a shift from command to conversation).

Findings

Among the most important changes being proposed are five basic shifts in management practice.

Research limitations/implications

This paper offers a creative analysis of current business thinking.

Practical implications

The raison d'être of the firm shifts from reducing transaction costs to scalable collaboration, learning and innovation.

Originality/value

By adopting a people‐centered goal, a people‐centered role for managers, a people‐centered coordination mechanism, people‐centered values and people‐centered communication the leaders of a firm can focus on the people who are its customers.
Leading adaptive change by harnessing the power of positive deviance
Authors: Leavy Brian
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This is another in a series of Strategy & Leadership “Masterclass” papers that aims at bringing senior managers up to speed on an emerging topic – in this case, leading adaptive change by harnessing the power of new tools such as positive deviance.

Design/methodology/approach

Noted strategic management observer Brian Leavy analyzes new tools and concepts for adaptive change offered by strategists Richard Pascale, Michael Beer and others.

Findings

The paper leads executives through the formidable challenge of uncovering positive deviant behaviors –that is, individual learning breakthroughs–and translating them into “collective learning.”

Practical implications

The positive deviance approach has shown itself to be effective in a wide variety of seemingly intractable challenges including elimination of MRSA in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh and the reversal of chronic sales underperformance at Merck, Mexico.

Originality/value

Senior executives seeking to manage adaptive change will welcome this thoughtful guide to newly available tools.
The art of rapid, hands‐on execution innovation
Authors: Tuulenmäki Anssi , Välikangas Liisa
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model of “rapid execution innovation” designed to increase the likelihood of achieving the kind of breakthroughs that develop into successful new business models developed by the authors.

Design/methodology/approach

Their recent field experience indicates that companies should scrap the comforting safety of new product planning and stage‐gate schedules. Instead, company leaders should learn to practice high‐speed innovation experimentation, from ideation to operational execution, in order to offer products and services with unique customer benefits.

Findings

In their model, companies start this process by conducting experiments that promote a radical rethinking of a business opportunity and then continue experimenting as the original idea evolves into a product.

Research limitations/implications

This paper draws on an ambitious research project in Finland called MIND (Managing Industry‐Changing Innovations, see www.mindspace.fi), which seeks to “make Finland the world leader in strategic business innovation.”

Practical implications

This is a sample how‐to; practical experiments show whether the fundamental assumptions about radical innovation are correct.

Originality/value

Although seemingly simple, such an experimental approach to business model innovation is rarely practiced even in businesses dedicated to innovation.
Innovating low‐cost business models
Authors: Kachaner Nicolas , Lindgardt Zhenya , Michael David
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The authors warn of an emerging competitive crisis. Multinationals are disrupting competitors and pioneering new price points and applications in the developed world with low‐cost offerings created for rapidly developing economies. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explains how smart low‐cost players invest in true innovation targeted at the large, low‐income segments of the population.

Findings

The paper charts a process for implementing low‐cost innovation.

Practical implications

Corporate leaders too often underestimate the power of low‐cost models to affect their business and wrongly focus their innovation on new products that are more sophisticated, and, thus, more expensive than the models they replace.

Originality/value

A low‐cost innovation might cannibalize some of your current profit, but, most likely, it will also expand your market scope in a significant way.
Enterprise education in schools and the role of competency frameworks
Authors: Draycott Matthew , Rae David
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The period 2002‐2010 has seen significant growth in enterprise education in schools in England, accompanied by the growth of guidelines and frameworks to provide educational and assessment structures. This paper intends to explore the questions: What does “enterprise” mean in the context of 14‐19 education? What is the purpose and contribution of competence frameworks and related structures for the learning and assessment of enterprise education? How effective are they? and How might enterprise education frameworks evolve in response to changes in the post‐ recessionary economic, employment and educational landscape?

Design/methodology/approach

The paper conducts a critical review of competency frameworks introduced in England to assist with enterprise education primarily for the 14‐19 age group. These are compared on the basis of their educational purpose and rationale (“why?”), their content (“what skills and knowledge they include”), and the approaches to teaching, learning and assessment they recommend (“how?”).

Findings

The analysis discusses the following questions to reflect on the progress and direction of enterprise education: How broadly or narrowly should enterprise be defined? How useful is the term? Are the skills and related knowledge and attributes too broad or too soft?; and Is there too much emphasis on assessable outcomes, rather than on how enterprising learning takes place?

Practical implications

The paper contributes to the development of enterprise education for researchers, policymakers and practitioners in schools at an important point in the economic, educational and political cycle.

Originality/value

Enterprise education in schools requires critique of and reflection on what has been achieved, together with consideration of its future purpose, value, orientation and nature. There is a concern that the “delivery” of enterprise education takes place in ways which are not “enterprising” forms of learning, and that assessment drives the curriculum. Changes to definitions, frameworks and pedagogy are needed to clarify its future educational role.
Concepts into practice: meeting the challenge of development of entrepreneurship educators around an innovative paradigm
Authors: Gibb Allan
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to explore a range of conceptual and practical challenges faced in delivering an innovative programme targeted at staff of UK higher Education (HE) and further education (FE) institutions. The two major foci of the programme are: on the pedagogies and organization of knowledge required to provide a true “feel” for the life world, values and ways of behaving of entrepreneurs in very different academic disciplinary contexts; and on strategically and operationally making things happen in the participant institution.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is action research‐focused. Its aim is to explore the validity of a concept of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education which is truly interdisciplinary. It tests out in practice a “Mastery” model of an entrepreneurship educator in HE and FE.

Findings

The basic structure of the model is found to be appropriate as is its social constructionist view of education upon which it is founded. Importantly it values learning through practice, which may not be a total reflection of what is taught on the programme, equally with the application of programme knowledge.

Originality/value

The conceptual model and resultant programme are arguably unique in their total focus on behaviours in different organizational and disciplinary contexts.
Graduate entrepreneurs are different: they access more resources?
Authors: Pickernell David , Packham Gary , Jones Paul , Miller Christopher , Thomas Brychan
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether, and in what areas, graduate entrepreneurs are significantly different from non‐graduate entrepreneurs, both generally and in terms of external resources (advice, finance and public procurement contracts).

Design/methodology/approach

The available literature was evaluated to identify issues affecting enterprise generally, and external resource access and use and educational attainment specifically. The data used were generated from the 2008 UK Federation of Small Businesses Survey, providing over 8,000 usable responses for this analysis. Quantitative analysis identified significant general characteristics of graduate entrepreneurs compared with non‐graduate entrepreneurs. Factor analysis was then used to identify the sets of advice, finance and public procurement customers of greatest interest, with independent samplest‐tests used to compare graduate and non‐graduate use thereof.

Findings

Graduate entrepreneur‐owned firms were statistically significantly more likely (than non‐graduate‐owned firms) to have younger owners, be younger and more export‐oriented businesses, in high knowledge services, to have intellectual property, make more use of web sites and be of high growth potential. In terms of external resources, graduate‐owned businesses were more likely to have received beneficial business advice from informal networks/trade associations, government business services, friends and family, customers and suppliers, and to have public procurement customers at the national/international level.

Originality/value

The study provides important empirical baseline data for future quantitative and qualitative studies focused on the impact of enterprise education specifically.
Entrepreneurial learning in family business
Authors: Hamilton Eleanor
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards understanding how entrepreneurial learning might be understood as being socially situated, embedded in everyday practice in the context of family business. The study is framed by three main principles drawn from situated learning theory. First, the family and the business are examined as overlapping communities of practice, as sites of practice‐based knowledge. Second, the concept of legitimate peripheral participation is explored in relation to members of the family business. Finally, how practice is both reproduced and transformed over time is examined in the context of two generations' participation in a family business.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on an empirical study of two generations from five families, the founders of a business and their successors. The interview approach adopted phenomenological techniques. A thematic analysis identified conceptual frameworks to make sense of the data in a “quasi grounded” approach. Finally, the three main principles introduced from situated learning theory – communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation, and cycles of reproduction and transformation provided a conceptual framework to analyse the empirical material.

Research limitations/implications

This is an interpretive, qualitative study based on a small sample of families based in the North West of England. The findings are not intended to be generalised to a population, but to offer empirical insights that extend theoretical frameworks in order to better understand the entrepreneurial phenomenon.

Practical implications

The experience of the second generation both in the family business and in overlapping contexts of learning‐in‐practice brings innovation and change as well as continuity. The study also suggests that the complex process of succession might be informed by the understanding of the importance of the nature and extent of participation in the family business over time.

Originality/value

This paper introduces conceptual frameworks that capture the social complexity of intergenerational entrepreneurial learning and contributes an empirical illustration of situated learning theory within the context of family business. The situated learning perspective contrasts with much of the existing entrepreneurial learning literature, which has tended to focus on “the entrepreneur” and individual learning processes. This study demonstrates that applying a learning lens brings theoretical insights to the study of family business.
Human capital and growth in Romanian small firms
Authors: Lafuente Esteban , Rabetino Rodrigo
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact that certain human capital variables have over employment growth of small firms in Romania.

Design/methodology/approach

The human capital components considered in this paper are education, previous work experience, employment motivations, the presence of entrepreneurial teams, and the presence of family members in the firm. To attain the objective of the paper we carry out a regression analysis using a rich data set of 635 Romanian firms for the year 2006.

Findings

Consistent with different employment growth measures, the empirical findings indicate that human capital matters for explaining small firms' employment growth. Previous work experience, the presence of entrepreneurial teams and the proportion of family members working in the business appear as determinant components. In addition, the results indicate that an active involvement of the entrepreneur in managerial tasks increases the intensity with which the entrepreneur makes use of his/her human capital, and this leads to higher employment growth rates.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of the paper lies in the absence of a longitudinal analysis that could have given a greater perspective to the study. In order to enrich the analysis, future research should attempt to further explore the impact of human capital components on small firms' growth in other transition economies.

Originality/value

The paper increases the literature dealing with the determinants of small firms' growth in transition economies. The results of the paper also have important implications for academics and support institutions in Romania, as they suggest that, in the Romanian context, small firms may obtain significant benefits from support policies more oriented towards the formation of human capital.
Sustainable SMEs network utilization: the case of food enterprises
Authors: Jämsä Päivi , Tähtinen Jaana , Ryan Annmarie , Pallari Maarit
Published: February 2011

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine how sustainable SMEs utilize their networks. Here utilization refers to activities SMEs perform in network and how the SMEs are influenced by and influence networks. While the importance of networks has been acknowledged in SME marketing research, linking sustainability to SME networking has been a more neglected area of research.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple case study of two Finnish SMEs operating in the food sector was conducted for this study. The main methods applied to gather the research data were group and individual interviews.

Findings

This study shows that SMEs utilize their networks as a source of opportunities and resources and their networks can serve as an avenue for change towards sustainability. Moreover, learning in the network was identified as a key process through which the enterprises and the network evolve.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this paper is that the case study interviews were conducted at a single point in time and thus the study is based on historical instead of follow‐up data.

Practical implications

SMEs are encouraged to develop skills (e.g. willingness to solve problems), which on the one hand, help them to utilize the network as a source of opportunities and resources and, on the other hand, influence the network to develop it further.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that SMEs utilized their networks to bring about enhanced sustainability, a perspective less understood in previous research. Moreover, the study connects sustainability to SME networking, which is also less studied, but a highly valuable way for resource‐constrained SMEs to enhance social and ecologic sustainability.
Growth and economies of scale among timber haulage companies
Authors: Soirinsuo Juho , Mäkinen Pekka
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to help growth‐oriented timber haulage entrepreneurs to recognise the problems of growth and understand its implications.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 30 companies were retrieved from their financial statements between 2001 and 2006. The relevant literature consists of the company growth theory, strategy analysis and definitions of entrepreneurship. In this empirical study a resource‐based approach was used as the theoretical background. The research method was purely financial analysis.

Findings

Economies of scale exist in the sector but are limited and do not evolve hand‐in‐hand with company size. There is an optimum size for a timber haulage company at which it can operate efficiently. However, the sector may be polarised.

Research limitations/implications

The data used in the study do not clarify the particular entrepreneurial actions taken in companies as they grew.

Originality/value

This empirical study covers new ground and offers new information about the sector. The results can be used to assist in the development of the sector, which has been studied very little. In addition, the results can be used as a background for further studies, and also by growth‐oriented companies' management when considering the option of growth.
Benchmarking of North Indian urban water utilities
Authors: Singh Mamata R. , Mittal Atul K. , Upadhyay V.
Published: February 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a suitable benchmarking framework that encompasses multiple criteria of sustainable water supply services for assessing the performance of select North Indian urban water utilities and also to arrive at potential for input reductions (or efficient input levels).

Design/methodology/approach

The study considers 35 North Indian urban water utilities pertaining to two union territories (Chandigarh and Delhi) and three states (Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh) for sustainability‐based performance assessment using input‐oriented variable returns to scale data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. Important criteria considered for sustainable water supply services are service sufficiency, service reliability, resource conservation, staff rationalization, and business viability which in turn address the key sustainability dimensions (social, environmental and financial).

Findings

The approach when applied to a sample of 35 North Indian urban water utilities shows low‐performance levels for most of the utilities, with significant scope for reduction in operation and maintenance expenditure, staff size and water losses. State/UT‐wise analysis of sustainability‐based average efficiency presents the highest score for Chandigarh and the least score for Haryana, whereas the rest of the three states/UT score in between them.

Research limitations/implications

Limited data availability has constrained the incorporation of other sustainability criteria (such as services to the poor, tariff design, customer services, revenue functions, etc.) for efficiency analysis of urban water utilities. Also, estimation of efficiency scores does not encompass the effect of exogenous environmental factors which are beyond utilities' managerial control (such as topography, population density, water source, ownership status, etc.).

Practical implications

This framework would be useful for the regulator or operator of the facility to rank the utilities and devise performance‐linked incentive mechanism or price cap regulation.

Originality/value

This paper is a significant departure from the other international benchmarking initiatives/studies as it develops a holistic framework for benchmarking in the water sector that encompasses multiple criteria of sustainable water supply services using DEA as a tool.
The Requirements on statistical techniques in QS‐9000
Authors: Yamada Shu
Published: February 2011

QS‐9000 was established by Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and some Truck Manufacturers to solve problems of efforts to prepare original standards for each company. When we compare the requirements in QS‐9000 with those in ISO 9000, we may observe that those of QS‐9000 are more specific, since the user of the standard is limited to the automobile industry. In particular, the requirements on stastistical technique are described in more detail. In this paper, we present the requirements on statistical techniques in QS‐9000. Specifically, we review the contents of QS‐9000 and explore the philosophy and the minimum requirement on statistical techniques behind the description.
Design Criterion for Estimating Mean and Variance Functions
Authors: Lim Yong B.
Published: February 2011

In an industrial process, the proper objective is to find the optimal operating conditions with minimum process variability around the target. Vining and Myers (1990) suggest to use the separate model for the mean response and the process varian linear predictor τi = log σi2 is unknown and should be estimated. Noting that the variance of τi is heterogeneous, another appropriate D‐opportunity criterion D3 based on the method of generalized least squares is proposed in this paper.
A survey for research and application of quality science in CHINA
Authors: Xu Jichao
Published: February 2011

Quality science may be defined as the subject promoting both quality and productivity, which may include quality management, quality engineering and technology innovation. The research and application of quality science have been in existence for many years in China. This report first reviews its recent history as well as the analysis of the status quo. Finally, a prospectus and comments section for the future of quality science points out the development trends and its significant effectiveness on China’s modern economics.
A Test For Trend Change in Failure Rate Using Censored Data
Authors: Joo Kim Jae , Sung Jeong Hai , Hwan Na Myung
Published: February 2011

The problem of trend change in the failure rate is great interest in the reliability and survival analysis. In this paper we develop a test statistic for testing whether or not the failure rate changes its trend using random censored date. The sasymptotic normality of the test statistic is established. The efficiency values of loss due to censoring are discussed.
A Practice on performance testing for web‐based systems Hyperlink testing for web‐based system
Authors: Chang Wen‐Kui , Hon Shing‐Kai
Published: February 2011

This paper investigates the issue of performance testing on web browsing environments. Among the typical non‐functional characteristics, index of link validity will be deeply explored. A framework to certify link correctness in web site is proposed. All possible navigation paths are first formulated to represent a usage model with the Markov chain property, which is then used to generate test script file statistically. With collecting any existing failure information followed by tracing these testing browsed paths, certification analysis may be performed by applying Markov chain theory. The certification result will yield some significant information such as: test coverage, reliability measure, confidence interval, etc. The proposed mechanism may provide not only completed but also systemic methodologies to find any linking errors and other web technologies errors. Besides, an actual practice of the proposed approach to a web‐based system will be demonstrated quantitatively through a certification tool.
Self‐evaluation model for TQM activity
Authors: Osada Hiroshi , Yamazaki Masahiko
Published: February 2011

Objective evaluation is necessary for the company to know the level of its TQM activity and to improve it. This article proposes self‐evaluation model for TQM activity through comparison study of the examination viewpoints for the Deming Prize with criteria of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. Proposed self‐valuation model consists of three evaluation categories i.e. management system, management performance and survey/audit system. Evaluation on these categories is done for process and performance by using scoring method. This self‐evaluation model is useful for checking the progress of TQM and make company recognize the strength and weakness of its TQM activity, namely, positioning analysis.
Control chart pattern recognition using average of cumulative sum
Authors: Cheng Chuen‐Sheng , Chen Shin‐Jia
Published: February 2011

The statistical process control chart is a monitoring technique useful in determining whether a process is behaving as intended or if there are some unnatural causes of variation. A process is considered to be out of control if a point falls outside the control limits or a series of points exhibit an unnatural pattern (also known as nonrandom variation). Analysis of unnatural patterns is an important aspect of control charting. It is well known that a particular unnatural pattern on a control chart is often associated with a specific set of assignable causes. Identification of unnatural patterns can greatly narrow the set of possible causes that must be investigated, hence facilitating the rapid diagnosis and corrective action.