bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Revealing the expectations and preferences of complaining customers by combining the laddering interviewing technique with the Kano model of customer satisfaction
Authors: Gruber Thorsten , Reppel Alexander , Szmigin Isabelle , Voss Roediger
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on complaint satisfaction with a particular emphasis on the qualities and behaviours that affect customers during personal complaint handling encounters.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a literature review of complaint satisfaction and the role of customer contact employees in complaint encounters, an exploratory study using both the laddering interviewing technique and Kano questionnaires is presented.

Findings

The laddering results indicate that being taken seriously in the complaint encounter and the employee's friendliness, listening skills and competence are particularly important. The fact that interpersonal factors are highly regarded indicates that customers want to satisfy these process needs first and their outcome expectations second. The Kano results show that employees' active listening skills are the only must‐be requirements while the two concepts “Apology” and “Respectful Treatment” are close to being must‐be criteria. In addition, the employee's feedback after the complaint handling encounter can almost be categorized as an excitement factor.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to the exploratory nature of the study and the scope and size of the chosen sample, the results outlined are tentative in nature.

Originality/value

By combing two research methods, this paper develops an area of research that could reap considerable benefits for researchers interested in the area of customer complaint satisfaction.
To have and to hold: managing channels in UK high street financial services
Authors: Dawes Farquhar Jillian , Panther Tracy , Tiu Wright Len
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine multiple channels in retail banking and demonstrate how qualitative market research investigations can inform strategic decision making. Research into customer acquisition and retention has only recently begun to consider them as part of a single marketing process Inviting exploratory qualitative expert investigation.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the literature suggested an outline guide for interviewing a selection of expert informants, from a variety of high‐street banks and building societies. The interview data were analysed using both computer‐aided and manual techniques in parallel as part of strengthening the findings.

Findings

The analysis of the interview data suggest five themes of that make up the management of channels in UK high‐street banks that have an impact on customer acquisition and retention and which are as follows: customer groups, interaction style, relationship and loyalty, networks and service and satisfaction.

Originality/value

The themes identified in this preliminary investigation provide a model that maps five aspects that underpin customer acquisition and retention in traditional high‐street banks including for the purposes of this research, building societies in the UK.
The impact of ICT on the work patterns of managers and their organisations
Authors: Birchall David W. , Giambona G.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The main aim of this paper is to present the results of a study examining managers' attitudes towards the deployment and use of information and communications technology (ICT) in their organisations. The study comes at a time when ICT is being recognised as a major enabler of innovation and new business models, which have the potential to have major impact on western economies and jobs.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was specially designed to collect data relating to three research questions. The questionnaire also included a number of open‐ended questions. A total of 181 managers from a wide range of industries across a number of countries participated in the electronic survey. The quantitative responses to the survey were analysed using SPSS. Exploratory factor analysis using Varimax rotation was used and ANOVA to compare responses by different groups.

Findings

The survey showed that many of the respondents appeared equipped to work “any place, any time”. However, it also highlighted the challenges managers face in working in a connected operation. Also, the data suggested that many managers were less than confident about their companies' policies and practices in relation to information management.

Originality/value

A next step from this exploratory research could be the development of a model exploring the impact of ICT on management and organisational performance in terms of personal characteristics of the manager, the role performed, the context and the ICT provision. Also, further research could focus on examining in more detail differences between management levels.
Proposals for the financing and development of Greek farms based on a clustering method for categorical data
Authors: Menexes George , Angelopoulos Stamatis
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The aim of the study is to propose certain agricultural policy measures for the financing and development of Greek farms, established by young farmers, based on the results of a clustering method suitable for handling socio‐economic categorical data.

Design/methodology/approach

The clustering method was applied to categorical data collected from 110 randomly selected investment plans of Greek agricultural farms. The investment plans were submitted to the “Region of Central Macedonia” administrative office, in the framework of the Operational Programme “Agricultural Development – Reform of the Countryside 2000‐2006” and refer to agricultural investments by “Young Farmers”, according to the terms and conditions of Priority Axis III: “Improvement of the Age Composition of the Agricultural Population”. The input variables for the analyses were the farmers' gender, age class, education level and permanent place of residence, the farms' agricultural activity, Human Labour Units (HLU) and farms' viability level. All these variables were measured on nominal or ordinal scales. The available data were analyzed by means of a hierarchical cluster analysis method applied on the rows of an appropriate matrix of a complete disjunctive form with a dummy coding 0 or 1. The similarities were measured through the Benzécri'sχ2distance (metric), while the Ward's method was used as a criterion for cluster formation.

Findings

Five clusters of farms emerged, with statistically significant diverse socio‐economic profiles. The most important impact on the formation of the groups of farms was found to be related to the number of HLU, the farmers' level of education and gender. This derived typology allows for the determination of a flexible development and funding policy for the agricultural farms, based on the socio‐economic profile of the formulated clusters.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of the current study derives from the fact that the clustering method used is suitable only for categorical, non‐metric data. Another limitation comes from the fact that a relative small number of investment plans were used in the analysis. A larger sample covering and other geographical regions is needed in order to confirm the current results and make nation‐wide comparisons and “tailor‐made” proposals for financing and development. Finally, it is interesting to contact longitudinal surveys in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the funding policy of the corresponding programme.

Originality/value

The study's results could be useful to practitioners and academics because certain agricultural policy measures for the financing and development of Greek farms established by young farmers are proposed. Additionally, the data analysis method used in this study offers an alternative way for clustering categorical data.
Retail store branding in Turkey: its effect on perceived quality, satisfaction and loyalty
Authors: Gürbüz Esen
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to build and test a model of the impact of a store brand name on perceptions of service quality and on customer satisfaction, the latter being the driver of perceived quality or at least a key determinant. It also aims to examine the role of all three variables in the generation of customer loyalty to a store brand.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected by questionnaire from 490 customers of three furniture stores in one city in Turkey were analysed by structural equation modelling, to test and measure the interrelationships in the specified model.

Findings

Results suggest that both perceived service quality and customer satisfaction are influenced by a store's brand name, that the former is influenced by the latter, and that a positive perception of service quality (but not the level of customer satisfaction) contributes to the development of store loyalty.

Research limitations/implications

Because the model was tested on customers of three stores in one city in one country, and the mediating influence of price was not investigated, the findings can be generalised only with due caution. Further studies could focus on individual causal relationships within the model, build in price as a variable, collect data more widely, stratify the sample, compare different types of store, and extend the investigation into other areas of retailing and services in general.

Practical implications

The store brand name has a direct, positive relationship with perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. Retailers with a strong and well maintained branding strategy should therefore gain considerable competitive advantage, provided marketing tactics and communications reinforce brand values rather than diluting or contradicting them, over time.

Originality/value

Successful store‐name branding is very likely to provoke competitive responses. Retail marketing strategists therefore need a means to the end of understanding the consumption behaviour of target customers, especially in economies and societies broadly comparable to Turkey's.
The driving forces of internet adoption
Authors: Carlos Pinho José , Macedo Isabel Maria
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the driving forces that either favour or inhibit internet adoption by organisations operating in the non‐profit sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a quantitative methodological approach, a national survey was applied to a sample of 392 Portuguese non‐profit organisations to empirically test the proposed conceptual model. Logistic regression, which enables to test models to predict categorical outcomes with two categories was used to analyse the data.

Findings

Findings drawn from this study identify key factors that facilitate or inhibit internet adoption by non‐profit organisations. The internet is perceived as a potential tool for the dissemination of social values and programs of action, the improvement of public image, the enhancement of customer satisfaction, and the improvement of service delivery. By contrast, lack of expertise and start‐up costs have been identified as the most significant inhibitors. In addition, size, age and international affiliation are shown as important internet adoption facilitators.

Practical implications

This study offers the opportunity to rethink existing policies and to set forth specific measures that can be designed to encourage and foster the use of the internet by non‐profit organisations.

Originality/value

The relevance of this study is set against a lack of consistent, detailed research on the factors determining internet adoption within the context of the non‐profit sector.
Region‐based business strategies: a Portuguese case study
Authors: Cadima Ribeiro José , Freitas Santos José
Published: September 2008

Purpose

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) located in particular geographical areas are producing and selling regional products to domestic and foreign markets. Most of the local activities are embedded in historical tradition and geographic, cultural and social specificity. This article aims to investigate the effect of local environment on the success of two Portuguese SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use case study methodology to understand whether local environment influences the nature of the competitive advantage of the small firms and their ability to gain access to resources that enable them to compete with the industrial low price substitutes produced by larger firms.

Fingings

The key conclusion of the study is that the two firms analysed rely strongly on the specific characteristics of the local environment and on partnerships with local producers (raw materials or products) in order to achieve the economic scale that allows them to compete in the domestic and foreign markets.

Originality/value

Due to the limitations of the present analysis concerning the way buyers affect small suppliers' ability to maintain core artisanal knowledge, future research should also examine how this influence works. For example, how firms learn from their network links and how belonging to a network might drive them to internationalisation, and the choice of countries made. In addition, future research should explore the impact of the region of origin concept on new business formation and internationalisation.
EU e‐inclusion policy in context
Authors: Timmers Paul
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to give an overview of EU‐level e‐inclusion policy providing elements for the context for reflection on the role and shape of universal service.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides an account of the drivers and principles of EU e‐inclusion policy.

Findings

The paper finds that e‐inclusion – at this stage – needs a comprehensive and coherent approach addressing any social and economic exclusion factor with the help of ICT, addressing the risk of ICT as a factor of exclusion, bringing together the market, society, and user perspectives and seeking a “triple‐win”, and pro‐actively and forward‐looking combination of policy tools that can help to realize e‐inclusion.

Originality/value

The paper provides a contribution to the discussion on universal service from the wider perspective of EU e‐inclusion policy.
From universal service to universal network access?
Authors: Xavier Patrick
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The current approach to universal service involving the provision of specific services (such as fixed voice, public payphones, ability to make emergency calls, etc.) needs re‐thinking in a convergent, NGN environment. This paper seeks to be part of that re‐thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

Questions addressed include: Should we move to a focus on universal access to communications infrastructure, allowing consumers to dictate preferred services? Since access to the full range of NGN services, including VoIP, requires broadband connection, should the scope of USOs be “upgraded” to include broadband?

Findings

A shift towards universal network access seems sensible provided that a number of conditions exist. One is that traditional services defined under universal service obligations (USOs), remain available. In particular, a shift to VoIP raises questions about whether present features of universal service (quality, ability to make emergency calls, etc) can be sustained. Another condition is widespread access to broadband. Another condition is that consumers are empowered to exercise the increased choice of services that will be available in an NGN environment. Such consumer empowerment requires that market power, information asymmetry, barriers to “switching”, as well as “systematic bias” in consumer decisions be effectively addressed.

Originality/value

Stimulates the policy reconsideration that is needed in regard to universal service in an NGN environment.
Investment dimensions in a universal service perspective: next generation networks, alternative funding mechanisms and public‐private partnerships
Authors: Falch Morten , Henten Anders
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine the investment dimensions of next generation networks from a universal service perspective in a European context. The question is how new network infrastructures for providing access for everyone to communication, information and entertainment services in the present and future information society will be funded.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper starts by looking at the range of policy measures available for promoting broadband access. This is followed by an overview of existing and upcoming access network technologies. Before concluding, there is a section on alternative funding mechanisms, including a sub‐section on the potential of private public partnerships (PPP) in providing funding for broadband access infrastructures.

Findings

Although there is nothing in principle hindering the development of universal service policies from those that include a specific service and its underlying network technology towards more general access, other policy measures are likely to become more important in practice for the fulfilment of the universal service goal. Wide diffusion and de facto universal service will, to a higher degree, have to rely on other measures: alternative funding mechanisms and a wider range of policy measures to expand broadband take‐up.

Originality/value

The value of the paper is in its combination of two issues often discussed separately: alternative funding mechanisms and universal access. Furthermore, the implications of NGN are examined.
Universal service obligations and spectrum policy
Authors: Cave Martin , Hatta Keiko
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how spectrum policy can support the changing objectives of universal service in communications services.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a review of current universal service obligations, analysis of how they will change, and identification of spectrum policy responses.

Findings

The study reveals that, in future, universal service will be delivered in a technologically neutral way; this will require a re‐appraisal of the way it is provided and the development of spectrum management techniques to ensure that it is provided efficiently.

Practical implications

The paper contains advice to European and other regulators about medium‐term universal service policy.

Originality/value

The paper explores the linkage between two previously separated areas of research.
Widening universal service in Korea to include broadband and mobile communications
Authors: Kim Daeho
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the scope of universal service has been extended from voice telephony to include broadband and mobile communications in Korea. This paper addresses how Korea's approach to broadband and mobile service utilizes different strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is an analysis of universal service policies. It applies five criteria for reviewing whether broadband and mobile communications could be included in the scope of universal service.

Findings

This paper addresses Korea's approach to broadband and mobile service utilizes different strategies. An information society policy was applied to broadband diffusion, while a regulatory policy was applied to mobile service diffusion. Korea's universal service expansion policy shows a government and industry integration model.

Originality/value

This paper shows Korea's unique approach for universal service. It deals with how universal service has been driven forward as a part of an information society plan and information divide bridging policy in Korea. With flexible approaches, broadband and mobile services could start to be regarded as universal services.
The eclipse of the universal service obligation: taking broadband to Australians
Authors: Given Jock
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success and continuing relevance of the universal service obligation (USO) in delivering voice telephony, basic digital data capability and broadband services to all Australians.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines the background to the National Broadband Plan being implemented by the Labor Government elected in November 2007. The costs of this plan and other funding programs implemented since 1996 are annualized and compared to the cost of the USO.

Findings

The paper reveals that the USO has been eclipsed as a policy tool for making basic telecommunications services universally available in Australia, at least for the time being. It survives as a policy mechanism, but is contained to fixed line telephony, payphones and basic digital data capability. Its declared costs have fallen. The proposed national broadband network continues the trend towards using government funding to achieve telecommunications policy goals. This trend was initiated by the previous government with some of the proceeds from privatizing the former government monopoly, Telstra. The national broadband network also supplements this trend with a reversion to a degree of state participation in a facility (a fibre‐to‐the‐node network serving 98 percent of the population) likely to have strong natural monopoly characteristics.

Originality/value

The paper considers the USO as just one of many tools available to ensure basic telecommunication services are universally available and the debates about it in Australia less as arguments about where an old concept should go in the future, and more about what a very young concept really means.
Telecommunications universal service in Finland
Authors: Wirzenius Arno
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the objectives of telecommunications universal service have been achieved in Finland, largely without any formal universal service regulation.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is a historical one, showing the evolution over time of service take‐up and use, as well as legislative changes. A range of people were interviewed with first‐hand knowledge of the development of Finland's telecommunications sector, and drew on a range of published data sources.

Findings

Fixed telephony is now used by a minority of households in Finland, having been superseded by mobile and broadband. The paper finds that the European framework, which Finland was required to adopt added no value to previous practices. The potential for any losses due to universal service to be financed by the state in fact has created an adverse investment incentive.

Originality/value

Since universal service has been a “non‐issue” in Finland, this is thought to be the first attempt to describe how universal service has in fact been achieved there. Besides displaying aspects of the Finnish experience that other countries could learn from, the paper raises a number of useful questions for policy makers.
Telecommunications universal service in France
Authors: Berne Michel
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The paper aims to show how the introduction of the concept of universal service in the French telecommunications sector was impacted by the existence of a strong national tradition of public services. It also aims to show that universal service, as it is defined by the European telecom regulatory framework, was not the only possible set‐up. It also seeks to show how the concept of universal service was adapted to the French national situation and spread beyond the telecommunications sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach of the paper is chronological, starting with an analysis of the French tradition of public services and then showing how the discussion developed in France on the topic of universal service in the telecommunications sector. Then the paper deals with the practical implementation of universal service in the telecommunications sector and other sectors in France.

Findings

The paper shows that even though the French traditional views on public services did not make it easy to implement the European version of universal service in the telecommunications sector, it nevertheless happened. Universal service even spread beyond the telecommunications sector in France.

Research limitations/implications

The paper concentrates on French views on the topic and does not study the opinions of other stakeholders (the European Commission, other member states) as regards the French national tradition of public services.

Practical implications

The paper can be used as a guide to ongoing discussions on the evolution of universal service in Europe as it provides alternate views on the topic.

Originality/value

The paper provides a comprehesive review of the topic.
Universal service: between socio‐political mythology and economic reality – an international cross comparison EU‐USA of the regulatory‐economic framework
Authors: Paul Simon Jean
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the history of the notion of universal service in the USA and the EU.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of an historical account based on desk research and interviews.

Findings

The paper finds that the concept looks “universal”, so to speak, but is grounded in different legal and economic traditions. From an historical perspective, the conditions appear to be highly differentiated on either side of the Atlantic. Ironically, the main point in common, beyond the mere use of the same term, is the discrepancy between the alleged goal and the socio‐economic reality, which has existed for some decades.

Originality/value

The paper puts into an historical perspective the notion of universal service. It identifies strengths and weaknesses of the implemention in the EU and the USA.
Re‐thinking European universal service policy for the digital era: Editors' conclusions
Authors: Milne Claire , Feijoo Claudio
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to give conclusions from the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.

Design/methodology/approach

A summary of the themes, trends and new concepts about universal service is compiled from the varied viewpoints introduced in the issue. The editors also appraise the mobile and broadband universal service candidates under the different perspectives in the issue, point out a number of questionable assumptions and gaps in the universal service stories, and touch on the international currents of influence in universal service policy. Finally, a succinct vision of a universal service policy for Europe is outlined.

Findings

This special issue aims to provide support to the policy process with regard to universal service in a digital context. The papers in the issue highlight developments that are shaking up the current universal service model. They consider universal service from a set of different dimensions, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations. Also a comparative outlook draws lessons from a representative set of existing regulatory models.

Originality/value

The paper provides a summary of the main avenues for the upcoming universal service policy debate.
Clinicians, market players or bureaucrats?
Authors: Abbott Stephen , Procter Sue , Iacovou Nicci
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the variety of mechanisms applied since 1991 to engage English and Welsh general practitioners (GPs) in local health services planning and implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

Three qualitative case studies.

Findings

The paper identifies three types of mechanism: separation, alliance and integration. “Separation” characterises the relationship between most GPs and health authorities during the 1990s; alliance refers to the cooperative arrangements between groups of GPs and health authorities such as GP commissioning pilots, total purchasing, primary care groups and local health groups; integration refers to the integration of most health authority functions with primary care organisations (primary care trusts – PCTs and local health boards). Alliance models appear to have been most successful in promoting GP engagement in local planning and implementation; the necessarily bureaucratic nature of PCTs an local health board has alienated many.

Practical implications

As yet, the National Health Service (NHS) lacks organisational arrangements which permit GPs a primarily clinical focus while ensuring that their knowledge and advice is available to those carrying out administrative functions. Practice‐based commissioning may provide a means of improving such arrangements.

Originality/value

The paper combines a number of features in health services and policy research. Few studies of primary health care organisations in the mid‐2000s have been undertaken; the Welsh NHS is very under‐researched; organisational analysis of the NHS is more often based on analysis from the outside rather than grounded in the felt experience of NHS personnel; and the historical perspective is often neglected.
Outsourcing in public health: a case study of contract failure and its aftermath
Authors: Young Suzanne
Published: September 2008

Purpose

Outsourcing has been used in Australia as part of the new public management agenda with the aim of increasing efficiency and decreasing costs. In the public health sector its use has been problematic and the purpose of this paper is to explore the largest Australian health contract at the time; investigating the reasons, the processes and the outcomes. Specifically, it investigates why the contract failed and the lessons to be learned from its subsequent awarding.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a case study approach to investigate in depth the outsourcing decision.

Findings

Alongside savings in costs, changes to work practices and reduction in union power, it was found that the outsourcing contract produced problems with service quality, sharing of culture, relationships between contract and internal staff, and in managing the contract and staff; and reductions in trust and morale of both internal and contract staff. Inadequate contract specifications and subsequent under pricing was the cause of contract termination, poor quality, and difficulties in contract management.

Practical implications

The paper provides important lessons for decision makers when outsourcing in public health.

Originality/value

The paper investigates the largest outsourcing contract in public health in Australia in the 1990s. It investigates the failure of the initial contract and its subsequent awarding to another vendor. The case study approach provides an in‐depth analysis of this decision.
Innovative doctors in Germany: changes through communities of practice
Authors: Bosa Iris M.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The healthcare sector faces new financial and managerial accountability demands, along with their clinical accountability. Various studies show strong opposition by clinicians to new accountability tools, new structures and new ways of working. Less attention is paid to the innovative roles doctors can play in leading changes that use new managerial tools and techniques. The purpose of this paper is to analyse two original case studies illustrating how general practitioners (GPs) in Germany have led radical change.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws upon original research in Germany to present two case studies using a qualitative method, which are analysed using Glaser and Strauss' conventions of grounded theory, structured by Wenger's communities of practice framework, supporting a comprehensive literature review.

Findings

GPs are found to be able to lead radical change in healthcare delivery models and organisation using entrepreneurial talents developed in their practice businesses and to embrace modernising tools and techniques and in the process redefine their identities to include management process in addition to medical competences.

Originality/value

The paper presents two original case studies of radical change leading to an integration of healthcare services in Germany. The approach adopted by the German GPs reveals important general lessons for practitioners, as does the analytical framework employed in the paper.
Non‐price competition in NHS secondary care contracting: empirical results
Authors: Gray Keith , Bailey Mark F.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is, for English acute NHS hospitals, to investigate how they operate their governance systems in the area of secondary care contracting and identify the key determinants of relationship building within the contacting/commissioning of secondary care focusing upon non‐price competitive behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument was designed and mailed to a sample of all acute NHS hospitals in England of whom 35 per cent responded. This survey was then analysed using logit techniques.

Findings

The analysis suggests that: those NHS Trusts offering volume discounts, non‐price competitive incentives or having a strong belief in performance being by “payment by results” criteria are significantly more likely to offer augmented services to secondary care purchasers over and above contractual minima; those NHS Trusts strongly believing in the importance of non‐price factors (such as contract augmentation or quality) in the contracting process are more likely to offer customisation of generic services; and those NHS Trusts using cost‐sharing agreements to realign contracts when negotiating contracts or who strongly believe in the importance of service augmentation in strengthening relationships, or that increased hospital efficiency is the most important aspect of recent NHS reform are more likely to utilise default measures to help realign contracts.

Originality/value

This paper fills a gap in the area of non‐price competition in English NHS acute secondary care contracting.
The performativity of the service management discourse
Authors: Nordgren Lars
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The formation and spreading of market‐, management‐ and individual‐rights discourses into society, as well as the movement of consumerism, have paved the way for a transformation of the linguistic usage. The transformation suggests that the view of the care seeker has shifted from a waiting patient, via a consumer to a customer creating value. Another example of the process is that the former medical meeting between patient/doctor now is described as a service meeting. With this background, the purpose of this paper is to explore the transformation of linguistic usage and to analyse the performativity of the service management discourse in health care.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept of performativity (Butler) supported with discursive formation and subjectivization (Foucualt) is used as theoretical framework. The performativity of the discourse is understood as a vehicle within the discourse, which influences people on an ontological level that names and makes them active subjects in line with what the discourse is saying.

Findings

When the service management discourse travels into the world of health care, discursive tensions between medical‐, care‐ and management discourses follow. These become apparent in the distinction between the different discursive constructions of patient – related to passivity, and customer – related to the performative image of active participation in value creating health. Even if the customer in service management discourse is imagined as an agent for himself with power and individual responsibility it is doubtful if people view themselves as customers. The dialectics between the use of the customer concept in commercial service meetings and the patient – doctor meeting, which is illustrated, point to unexpressed and implicit presumptions of an ontological kind in the ways service management researchers describe service meetings. Recent health care research can be interpreted as if a majority of patients have a desire to be part of their value creating processes. Since the responsibilities and tasks of the professions in health care however are regulated by law and institutionalised, the process of delegating tasks to patients seems not to be a matter of course.

Practical implications

It seems to be problematic to replace the patient concept with the customer concept in general. This concept gives hardly much room for the vulnerability that characterises a sick person. A reasonable approach would of course be to use the customer concept in a nuanced way.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates that the performativity of service management theories, through the use of discursive analysis, is valuable in order to understand shifts in linguistic usage.
Lekking displays in contemporary organizations
Authors: Braithwaite Jeffrey
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to draw on scientific models in conceptualising the evolutionary bases of contemporary behaviours, and make cross‐species comparisons, to account for male managerial activitiesin situin health organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

In the animal world, males of many species display in order to induce females to mate. Such lekking behaviour involvesinter alia,strutting, puffing out, catching attention via the use of ornamental physical characteristics, exhibiting gaudily‐coloured body parts, singing or splashing, and other courting and wooing strategies. The paper applies these behavioural repertoires as an explanatory device for male‐dominant organizational lekking in a set of contemporary settings. It draws on six studies of managerial talk, appearance and behaviour in order to do so.

Findings

Within the organizational lek male managers display mainly by power dressing, positioning, and exercising power and influence via verbal and behavioural means. Social and religious mores prohibit overt sexual coupling in organizations but lekking for other rewards is nevertheless pursued by male managers. The paper explores this managerial patterning, compares it to the lekking behaviour of other species, and discusses points of comparison and departure. It shows how male managers display within various sub‐habitats, and discusses the central issues of appearance, tasks and work assignment, physical interaction structure, and talk and physiognomy.

Practical implications

Understanding what makes people tick via deep explanations than are customarily rendered is a vital contribution of scholarship to the practical world of management.

Originality/value

The evolutionary bases of contemporary behaviours, and cross‐species accounts, may prove useful paradigms for other theorists and empiricists in organizational studies, and could encourage the development of a new field that might be labeled evolutionary organizational behaviour.
Seventh circuit “disapproves” Gartenberg, but is this new approach fundamentally different?
Authors: Anne Copenhefer Lea , Joseph Roger P. , Sterling Joshua B.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the implications of the May 19, 2008 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Jones v. Harris Associates.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the 1982 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Gartenberg v. Merrill Lynch Asset Management, summarizing the Harris Associates opinion of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the paper also discusses the criticisms by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals of the earlier Gartenberg decision, and makes observations on why other courts may not be persuaded by the Harris Associates decision, and provides guidance to mutual funds and their directors and advisers in light of the Harris Associates opinion.

Findings

The findings in the paper are that the Harris Associates opinion suggests that a court need only determine whether the adviser to a mutual fund negotiated its advisory fee in a manner consistent with its fiduciary duty to that fund. However, the paper also finds that it would be premature for directors and advisers to conclude that they should abandon or substantially lessen the processes they have implemented to satisfy the Gartenberg standard, including requesting and evaluating such information as may reasonably be necessary to evaluate the terms of an advisory contract and reviewing an adviser's performance and compensation carefully. In addition, their opinion does not relieve mutual funds of their obligations to discuss – in their shareholder reports and proxy statements – the material factors considered and the conclusions reached in approving advisory contracts.

Originality/value

The paper is a practical guidance by experienced securities lawyers.
Summary of selected FINRA Regulatory Notices and disciplinary actions, April‐June 2008
Authors: Davis Henry A.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide excerpts of selected Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notices issued from April to June 2008 and a sample of disciplinary actions during that period.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides excerpts from FINRA Regulatory Notice 08‐16, Third Party Research Reports; 08‐17, Customer Complaint Reporting; 08‐18, Unauthorized Proprietary Trading; 08‐21, Partial Redemption of Auction Rate Securities; 08‐22, Definition of Public Arbitrator; 08‐27, Midleading Communications about Expertise; 08‐30, Illiquid Investments; 08‐31, Trading Ahead of Customer Orders; and 08‐33, Minor Rule Violation Plan Amendment.

Findings

Useful information may be found in each of these notices.

Originality/value

The paper provides direct excerpts designed to provide a useful digest for the reader and an indication of regulatory trends. The FINRA staff is aware of this summary but has neither reviewed nor edited it.
Perspectives of productivity growth in Indian food industry: a data envelopment analysis
Authors: Kumar Mukesh , Basu Partha
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure the Malmquist Productivity Index and its different components such as technological change, technical efficiency change and the change in scale efficiency in the Indian food industry during the period spanning 1988‐1989 to 2004‐2005. Further, it examines the variation in productivity and its components with respect to the factors internal to the firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The technique of data envelopment analysis has been used to measure productivity index and its different components under the assumption of variable returns to scale. Further, log‐linear regression model has been used to explain the variation in productivity and its components with respect to certain factors internal to the firms.

Findings

In spite of a strong agricultural base and being the third largest producer of food products in the world, India's food processing industry is far from tapping its full potential as a result of a low rate of technological progress/regress on the one hand and increasing inefficiencies of the firms on the other hand. It is necessary to encourage imports along with R&D to ensure faster technological progress in the Indian food industry. However, the technological possibilities depend on the mode of organization and various economic and institutional factors. Therefore, bold institutional changes are to be made side‐by‐side in order that inefficiency is substantially reduced.

Originality/value

The present study evaluates the contribution of technological change, technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change to total factor productivity growth in the Indian food processing industry by using the firm‐level data, collected from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). It further examines the impact of some common factors internal to the firms on their performance.
Firm operation performance analysis using data envelopment analysis and balanced scorecard
Authors: Chen Tser‐yieth , Chen Chie‐Bein , Peng Sin‐Ying
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study showing how the selection of performance indices affects performance results and the evaluation of a firm's performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs a data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework using four kinds of performance indices selection, which include basic input/output items, balance scorecard (BSC) indices, balanced scorecard with risk management, and traditional financial indices, to evaluate banking operations.

Findings

Shows that a DEA‐based evaluation of performance produces a similar view of the firm's well‐being as does an analysis of financial indices; however, a BSC‐based evaluation produces a different assessment.

Research limitations/implications

This study was based on the following assumptions: first, when organizational units achieve technical efficiency, they will improve their organizational performance. Secondly, the inputs and outputs selected for the data envelopment analysis provided an indicator of the changes of bank's technical efficiency over the six‐year period.

Practical implications

This research was based on the data envelopment analysis approach to find different performance efficiency to apply four performance indicator selections, which include basic inputs/outputs items, balanced scorecard indices, balanced scorecard with risk management, and traditional financial indices, to evaluate bank operation.

Originality/value

Combines the balanced scorecard concept with data envelopment analysis measurements (model information) to generate measures of technical efficiency for a Taiwanese bank. It shows how comparisons can be made within and across companies on the basis of balanced scorecard measures.
Evaluation of technical efficiency and ranking of public sector banks in India
Authors: Kumar Sunil , Gulati Rachita
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent of technical efficiency in 27 public sector banks operating in India and to provide strict ranking to these banks.

Design/methodology/approach

Two popular data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, namely, CCR model and Andersen and Petersen's super‐efficiency model, were utilized. The cross‐section data for the financial year 2004/2005 were used for obtaining technical efficiency scores.

Findings

The results show that only seven of the 27 banks are found to be efficient and thus, defined the efficient frontier; and technical efficiency scores range from 0.632 to 1, with an average of 0.885. Thus, Indian public sector banks, on an average, waste the inputs to the tune of 11.5 percent. Andhra Bank has been observed to be the most efficient bank followed closely by Corporation Bank. Further, the banks affiliated with SBI group turned out to be more efficient than the nationalized banks. The regression results incisively indicate that the exposure to off‐balance sheet activities, staff productivity, market share and size are the major determinants of the technical efficiency.

Practical implications

The practical implication of the research findings is that apart from the proportional reduction of all inputs equivalent to the amount of technical inefficiency, most of the inefficient public sector banks need to reduce the use of the physical capital and augment non‐interest income to project themselves on the efficient frontier.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to provide a strict ranking of Indian public sector banks on the basis of super‐efficiency scores.