bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Supply chain opportunity in an uncertain economic recovery
Authors: Olson Eric G.
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to discuss opportunities that businesses have to grow their operations in a more scalable way with a higher level of investment in variable‐cost resources and assets. For most companies around the world, resources have been reduced, inventory drained, technology spending curtailed, and core processes scaled back in order to adjust to the current reality of reduced demand. In an uncertain recovery, supply chain operations need to be more scalable and flexible as they anticipate economic recovery and increase capacity. Moreover, this can be easier to achieve coming out of a severe recession.

Design/methodology/approach

This work first explains why scalability and flexibility benefits are potentially easier to achieve when rebuilding supply chain operations out of a severe downturn. Second, a rationale is provided to show how a scalable and flexible supply chain mitigates multiple risks from economic uncertainty during a recovery where a more traditional fixed‐cost approach does not. Third, a four‐step approach is described that businesses can follow to identify and capture supply chain opportunities where a scalable and flexible model might be most sensible to consider.

Findings

More scalable, variable cost supply chain operations have clear advantages over more traditional cost ones, especially when the economic recovery includes a high level of uncertainty and there is a risk of reentering a renewed recessionary period. There may be no better time than now for enterprises in any industry to consider adopting a more variable cost supply chain to limit risk and capture the most revenue growth opportunity.

Originality/value

The concepts of centralization, utilizing temporary and part‐time labor, and outsourcing are certainly not new ones and many companies have already benefited from adopting these ideas in their supply chains. However, it has not been widely recognized that these same concepts pose heightened and renewed opportunity for any business across industries because of how the global recession has changed their business landscape. Since companies have already downsized labor forces, drained inventory levels, closed facilities, and cut other costs dramatically, there is a tremendous opportunity to evaluate new, more variable‐cost business models as they grow operations to meet renewed demand.
Knowledge management as an ephemeral management fashion?
Authors: Hislop Donald
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to understand how interest in the topic of knowledge management has evolved in the decade between 1998 and 2008 and to evaluate the claim that knowledge management is a management fashion.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the academic publications database to investigate academic interest in the topic of knowledge management between 2000 and 2008, and company web sites to evaluate level of contemporary interest among global consultants and professional service firms in knowledge management.

Findings

The data presented challenge the idea that knowledge management can be regarded as a transient fashion, showing that academic interest in the topic has been sustained throughout the first decade of the twenty‐first century. However, in contrast to this, there has been a significant decline of interest in knowledge management among global consultancies and professional service firms.

Research limitations/implications

The data on levels of academic interest in knowledge management were taken from only one source (ABI Proquest) and data on the level of interest among consultants and professional service firms were based on an analysis of their web sites.

Originality/value

The paper provides the first systematic evaluation of the level of interest in the topic of knowledge management in almost a decade.
Knowledge management initiatives in Indian public and private sector organizations
Authors: Chawla Deepak , Joshi Himanshu
Published: October 2010

Purpose

There is no single way of achieving business success. The concept of knowledge management (KM) builds on the existing management practices, integrating them into a philosophy for improving performance. This paper aims to understand the various dimensions of KM and how they differ in public and private sector organizations in India. It also attempts to identify the dimensions where one sector is better than the other and areas needing improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a sample comprising 16 private and public sector organizations. A convenient sampling scheme was used. The extent of KM practices was evaluated with respect to dimensions, namely process, leadership, technology, culture and measurement.

Findings

The paper empirically shows that private sector organizations fare better statistically on all dimensions compared to public sector organizations. Although the private sector is ahead of the public sector on the raw mean scores of various dimensions, it has still a long way to go as the scores are below four on a scale of five. The scores are just satisfactory and there is further scope for improvement.

Research limitations/implications

The study uses a sample of four public sector organizations and the findings may lack generalization. Therefore, it would be interesting to verify the findings using a larger sample size.

Practical implications

The paper can serve as a best practice document for public and private sector organizations interested in adopting KM for improving performance.

Originality/value

The paper tries to bring forth concern areas for KM in Indian public and private sector organizations.
Attitudes towards knowledge transfer in an environment to perform
Authors: Gururajan Vijaya , Fink Dieter
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper seeks to determine attitudes that impact on knowledge transfer between academics (university teaching and research staff) employed in today's competitive, technology‐based university setting.

Design/methodology/approach

The study generated a rich set of data by conducting, first, an exploratory, qualitative study followed by a confirmatory, quantitative study. Through this process, an initial list of 402 attitudes to knowledge transfer was derived which was narrowed to 75 for the quantitative survey which, through factor analysis, was further reduced to 24 variables. The 24 variables were grouped into four factors for which trust and motivation are more relevant to the knowledge provider and absorptive capacity and knowledge regeneration for the receiver.

Findings

High levels of agreement were found for the propositions that senior academics lacked compensation for mentoring activities, and hence, the motivation to transfer knowledge, and that a heavy teaching load prevented the absorption of transferred knowledge. By contrast, disagreement was found with the propositions that an elderly age impeded the transfer of knowledge or adapting to new ways of transferring knowledge.

Practical implications

From the responses obtained it was possible to identify those rated highly and from which conclusions could be drawn that may assist the university concerned to improve knowledge transfer among its academic staff. Compensation to senior academics for their time and effort was seen as the most important pre‐requisite for knowledge transfer. A reduction in teaching loads and the range of expectations to which academics are subjected would also facilitate knowledge transfer as would increasing academics' use of ICT and ability to assess its effectiveness, as well as recognising that knowledge transfer during social interactions may ameliorate the lack of knowledge transfer in the more formal, technology‐based environment.

Originality/value

The paper identifies key attitudes of academics to transferring knowledge to colleagues in the changing work place at universities in which academics are expected to perform at a high level in diverse activities and use technology to maximise their efficiency and effectiveness.
Industry culture influences pseudo‐knowledge sharing: a multiple mediation analysis
Authors: Cameron Cockrell R. , Stone Dan N.
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The paper seeks to extend self‐determination theory (SDT) and the triple helix model of knowledge sharing to predict that between‐industry differences in financial rewards and the quality of knowledge‐sharing motivation will explain the extent of useless, pseudo‐knowledge sharing.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants are certified management accountant (CMA) survey respondents in two industries: finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE; n=52) and higher education (n=50).

Findings

Consistent with predictions, the results indicate more pseudo‐knowledge sharing occurs among FIRE than among higher‐education CMAs, and, financial incentives and the quality of knowledge‐sharing motivation fully mediate the effect of industry on pseudo‐knowledge sharing.

Research limitations/implications

A larger sample, and triangulating the survey data with archival and non‐self‐reported measures, would strengthen the inferences and conclusions.

Practical implications

Industry culture, through its influence on financial rewards and organizational knowledge culture, may affect the success or failure of organizational knowledge‐sharing initiatives.

Originality/value

This is among the first investigations to define and investigate “dark”, pseudo‐knowledge sharing, which can impede organizational goals.
Knowledge‐based integrated production management model
Authors: Muniz Jorge , Dias Batista Edgard , Loureiro Geilson
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a model of production management that integrates knowledge management, as a third dimension, to the production and work dimensions and to identify factors that promote a favorable context for knowledge sharing and results achievement in the production operations shop floor environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The model proposed is built from opportunities identified in the literature review.

Findings

The factors in the model integrate its three main components: knowledge management, production organization and work organization, providing a representation of the dynamics of the workplace and shop floor environment.

Practical implications

The proposed model and its factors allow managers to better understand and to improve the organization activities, because it integrates knowledge management with the production organization and work organization components of traditional models.

Originality/value

Literature acknowledges the role of knowledge as competitive advantage, but it is still dealt in an implicit way within the traditional models of production management. This paper proposes a model and factors that provide a favorable context for tacit knowledge sharing and results achievement in the production operations shop floor environment. The model explicitly integrates knowledge management with traditional models' components.
Defining a knowledge management conceptual model by using MADM
Authors: Kazemi Mostafa , Zafar Allahyari Maral
Published: October 2010

Purpose

To survive high‐level management needs business intelligent information to efficiently manage corporate operations and support its decision making. Knowledge management (KM) is recognized as one of the most critical factors for obtaining organizational competitive advantage. A variety of factors determines significant success ingredients for successful implementation of KM in any organization. The primary challenge in KM initiation is how to integrate the above factors with organizational and personnel constraints and capabilities. This paper aims to develop a priority framework based on multi‐criteria decision making (MCDM) to help organizations build awareness of the critical influential factors affecting successful implementation of KM.

Design/methodology/approach

To identify critical influential factors, the authors studied and reviewed relevant literature from numerous fields of study associated with the essential issues of KM projects implementation. These cover the factors that affect a KM implementation based on comprehensive analysis of KM literature from numerous research studies. Research methodology used in this study is based on a combination of other methodologies such as action research, group discussion, documentary study and questionnaire research. For this purpose a group of experienced managers were selected and discussion sessions were held to set objectives and road map the study. Finally group analysis hierarchy process (GAHP) was used to analyse questionnaires and prioritize influential factors.

Findings

The conceptual framework presents a roadmap for success of KM programs in the organizations. The paper identifies eight major aspects, 44 influential factors and a conceptual framework to assisting managers to design and implement a KM system in their organizations. The results show top management, executive management and culture have great impact on success of KM implementation among main aspects. The conceptual framework presents guidelines for success of KM implementation in organizations.

Practical implications

The result of this study not only validates theory with reality, but it also provides a reference for the academic as well as the business world. It is hoped that the factors proposed in this study help organizations to manage knowledge activities effectively and implement knowledge projects smoothly in order to maximize benefits from KM projects and returns from knowledge assets.

Originality/value

This study is the first to provide an integrated perspective of critical success factors in KM implementation in Khorasan Science and Technology Park (KSTP). It gives valuable guidelines for top managers and leaders to accomplish KM projects effectively.
Investigating the role of social capital in innovation: sparse versus dense network
Authors: Alguezaui Salma , Filieri Raffaele
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the literature on social capital and its contribution to innovation performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an intensive review of the literature, the paper first analyzes the origin of the concept of social capital. It then explains the contribution of social capital within the organization and management studies. Further, social capital is considered the facilitator of knowledge search and knowledge sharing activities, which are considered of capital importance to innovation outcomes. Further, the paper clarifies the implications of social capital to two types of innovation: radical vs incremental innovation. Finally, the paper analyzes the structural dimension of social capital by focusing on the contribution of two different configurations and their effect on innovation: sparse vs cohesive networks.

Findings

The paper contributes to the literature by uncovering the positive, but also the negative, drawbacks of social capital. Moreover, the paper focuses on the structural dimension of social capital and it discusses the controversial results of two different configurations of social capital (sparse vs cohesive networks) to the innovation performance.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review on both the positive and negative effects of social capital on innovation performance. The paper links social capital to the new innovation model, emphasizing the importance of social capital to knowledge search and sharing activities, and then to the innovation process. The authors suggest investigating the contribution of social capital according to firms' innovation scopes.
Social network productivity in the use of SNS
Authors: Magnier‐Watanabe Rémy , Yoshida Michiko , Watanabe Tomoaki
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on the effect of intranet‐based social networking services (SNS) on the activity of the firm, in particular on the change in the number of business connections and on the time and cost‐savings brought about by such SNS.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors hypothesize that the use of intranet‐based SNS positively influences “social network productivity” defined as the relationship between interconnectedness and knowledge performance, whereby an increase in the number of business contacts may result in a shortened and less costly retrieval of work‐relevant knowledge. Drawing on a large sample of Japanese respondents, a taxonomy based on levels of organizational social capital and innovativeness was used to assess the moderating effects of social capital and innovativeness on social network productivity.

Findings

SNS were found to mildly improve efficiency in accessing knowledge or in increasing the number of business contacts. More importantly, this study reveals that in using intranet‐based SNS, companies with both higher social capital and innovativeness displayed higher social network productivity.

Research limitations/implications

The use of SNS was treated implicitly and should therefore be measured independently, and detailed data on the respondents' organizations would be useful to reveal organizational clusters.

Practical implications

Because fostering social capital and innovativeness rests largely on the firm's organizational culture, leaders who want to implement SNS effectively should pay special attention to the culture of their organization.

Originality/value

In the use of business SNS, practitioners need to consider particular organizational characteristics that may affect the effectiveness of intranet‐based SNS.
Creating abafor generating self‐transcending knowledge
Authors: Kaiser Alexander , Fordinal Birgit
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new type of ba, called “vocation ba” and to describe the main aspects of this type of ba as well as its methods.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the literature in the field of self‐transcending knowledge and the concept of ba and shows the main aspects for the design of a new methodology and framework. Additionally it analyzes experiences with the new method from several case studies.

Findings

First the concept of vocation ba describes a space on the individual level as well as on the collective level for the generation of self‐transcending knowledge. Second the method of Vocation‐coachingWaVeis a helpful method within the vocation ba. The experiences with these two new concepts from several case studies are very encouraging.

Research limitations/implications

The number of case studies at the collective level is still limited, as the authors have been working with the method of Vocation‐coachingWaVeat the collective level for two years. At the moment further research is done in larger systems.

Practical implications

This study gives insight and information about the method of Vocation‐coachingWaVeand the concept of vocation ba.

Originality/value

The paper presents one of the few studies, which theoretically and practically deals with the aspect of self‐transcending knowledge in the context of vision development processes and knowledge‐based management on the individual level as well as on the collective level. The method of Vocation‐coachingWaVeat the collective level is a continuous approach of a bottom‐up vision development process.
The means‐end cognitions of web advertising: a cross‐cultural comparison
Authors: Fu Chen‐Su , Wu Wann‐Yih
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The paper, based on the concepts of means‐end chain (MEC) theory and high versus low‐context cultures, aims to understand whether the differentiation of culture connotations is directly reflected in the design of web advertisements and whether the text content of web ads is a reliable indicator of different context cultures (e.g. implicit and explicit).

Design/methodology/approach

Changing consumer attitudes toward the use of credit provides huge business opportunities for credit card issuers. Obviously, credit card issuers have continued their efforts to persuade large numbers of people to obtain and use the cards. Credit cards can thus be considered a successful intercultural marketing case of product internationalisation. Therefore, this paper used web ads for credit cards as research subjects. This paper adopts MEC theory and the distinction between high‐ and low‐context cultures to identify whether the cultural context directly affects the design and content of web advertisements.

Findings

Through examining the advertising copy of credit card web sites, this study found that the higher the cultural context, the more complicated the cognitive attribute‐consequence‐value structures of web ad design. Thus, web design analysis reveals that marketers living in countries with high‐context cultures normally communicate indirectly with their target audience, leading to highly complex attribute‐consequence‐value linkage structures with many layers.

Originality/value

This is the first study to integrate the concepts of MEC theory and high versus low‐context cultures for understanding the impact of culture on web advertising. By understanding the differentiation of web ad designs across various cultures it is possible to provide marketers with valuable insights for developing advertising strategies in global markets.
Supporting information access in e‐learning by integrating digital libraries and ontology
Authors: He Daqing , Peng Yefei , Mao Ming , Wu Dan
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the integration of digital library (DL) technologies with ontology‐based knowledge representation in providing semantic rich information access (IA) in e‐learning. DL technologies have powerful and flexible content management and access functionalities, whereas ontology helps teachers and students to link content materials to their learning objectives. This paper demonstrates that the integration provides a powerful and meaningful e‐learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach

DiLight is designed as an interactive e‐learning system that integrates DL and ontology technologies. By conducting comparative experiments involving DiLight in students' actual learning process, the authors examined the advantages and limitations of DiLight in e‐learning.

Findings

Compared to a widely used e‐learning environment, DiLight can provide significantly better support for students' complex IA tasks because DiLight is more useful for relationship discovery and problem solving. DiLight is also effective even when students were either less familiar with tasks or felt that they were more difficult. There is no single best access method for all learning situations. Therefore, multiple IA methods should be built into e‐learning systems. Although most of time the search was the first choice of the students, ontology‐based methods were useful in supporting them to complete their tasks too.

Originality/value

This is a comparative empirical study using an interactive e‐learning system called DiLight to explore the usage of integrated DL and ontology in e‐learning. The experiment results demonstrate the value of the multiple IA methods provided by DL, and the usefulness of integrating DL with ontology.
Performance evaluation and comparison of the five most used search engines in retrieving web resources
Authors: Deka Sanjib K. , Lahkar Narendra
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the five most used search engines, i.e. Google, Yahoo!, Live, Ask, and AOL, in retrieving internet resources at specific points of time using a large number of complex queries.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to examine the performance of the five search engines, five sets of experiments were conducted using 50 complex queries within two different time frames. The data were evaluated using Excel and SPSS software.

Findings

The paper results highlight the fact that different web search engines, which use different technology to find and present web information, yield different first page search results. The overall analysis of the findings of different measures reveals that Google has a significantly higher rate of performance in retrieving web resources as compared with the other four search engines. Yahoo! is the second best in terms of retrieval performance. The other three search engines did not performed satisfactorily compared with Google and Yahoo!

Originality/value

The paper will provide important insight into the effectiveness of major search engines and their ability to retrieve relevant internet resources. This paper has produced key findings that are important for all web search engine users and researchers, and the web industry. The findings will also assist search companies to improve their services.
Knowledge exploration with concept association techniques
Authors: Liu Chen‐Chung , Fan Chiang Shih‐Hsun , Chou Chih‐Yueh , Chen Sherry Y.
Published: October 2010

Purpose

Exploratory learning is regarded as an important ability for developing knowledge from open environments. During the exploration, learners not only need to acquire new information based on their current interests, but also they need to form new perspectives by incorporating new knowledge into their previous knowledge. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

To this end, this paper proposes an approach that includes a concept association bank to recommend related concepts in a domain based on the goal of an exploration. By doing so, learners' knowledge can be expanded beyond their current understanding. An experiment was conducted to investigate how the proposed approach facilitated the learners' exploration.

Findings

The results indicated that the concept association bank is a useful mechanism to help learners gain new understanding, including providing exploration directions, reducing complexity and cognitive load, facilitating data‐ and goal‐driven exploration strategies, and commenting on new understanding. The implications of these results are discussed.

Originality/value

Current recommendation systems emphasise a data‐driven strategy, which seeks isolated pieces of information, instead of suggesting directions related to their exploration goal. The problem with such an approach is that learners' exploration will be limited by their existing knowledge. Thus, this paper presents an approach to support both data‐ and goal‐driven strategies.
The JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool – virtues and vices
Authors: Jacsó Peter
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is an advisory body to the higher and further education funding councils for England, Scotland and Wales, and the Department of Education of Northern Ireland in matters related to the use of information and communications technology in education and research. In the world of committees, it has been offering remarkably practical digital information products and services for colleges and universities (www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/whoweare/valueimpact.aspx) for a variety of very large‐scale projects. One of the services helps librarians in comparing and selecting digital information resources for licensing. The JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (JISC ADAT) – created for JISC by DataSalon – is offered free of charge under a Creative Commons license agreement so it is available to any type of library (and any user) anywhere in the world, not just for JISC members in the UK. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the major features, advantages and shortcomings of the promising initiatives of JISC ADAT, and recommends some essential content enhancements to increase its utility for the perennial and daunting task in academic, public, special and school libraries of selecting databases based on their source coverage and essential features of their software platform. Here only the journal coverage aspects are discussed.

Findings

JISC ADAT is a promising idea, and indeed JISC is the organisation in the UK that can handle it. However, it still would not suffice, as users would need to learn about the depth of coverage of each journal by the databases, not just about the time span of coverage, and in particular the gaps which may have very different implications. It should show the number of records taken from the journals in the specific database. For nearly 100,000 journals, it seems to be impossible to do, but it could be limited to the active journals, and the process could be automated by a series of macros launching federated searching using the existing journal names and/or ISSNs, and visualising the hit counts in tiny sparkline graphs in a very compact way to make the differences in the real coverage of journals by various databases really stand out.

Originality/value

The paper offers insights into the JISC ADAT, outlining its virtues and vices.
Managing technological innovation: China's strategy and challenges
Authors: Irfan Sabir Raja , Moazzam Sabir Raja
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of industrialization and its role in realizing technological innovation leading towards economic development. China has made a 15‐year plan to develop an innovation driven economy, for which it requires a strong and a structured industrial base. An overview of China's industrial strategy has been provided, followed by the challenges and the possible measures needed to be taken in order to achieve its long‐term goals.

Design/methodology/approach

Phenomenology, exploratory research and inductive approach for analysing management of technological innovation, industrial clusters and economic development, and, China's innovation plan.

Findings

China has emerged as the fastest developing economy and is currently in the transition stage from factor driven to investment driven. In order to stabilize and move towards the investment driven and then to the innovation‐driven stage, China requires a strong industrial base. In order to do so, China needs to cope with the challenges of: a weak system of intellectual property management: lack of skilled and technical labour and adequate financial resources: slow pace in competence and competitiveness upgrading: a weak educational system: industrial pollution; and, lack of basic research.

Originality/value

The paper serves as a guide to students and researchers by presenting a summary of global trends regarding technological innovation, industrial clusters, and China's industrial policies to develop an innovation driven economy.
Resource‐based model of e‐business adoption in China: an empirical investigation
Authors: Voola Ranjit , Carlson Jamie , Yin Wong Ho , Hou Jiun Li Jeffrey
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effects of market orientation and organizational learning on individual e‐business adoption functions and firm performance in the context of Chinese firms.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross‐sectional design was adopted for the study, whereby a sample of companies was selected from the province of Sichuan, China. The questionnaire was distributed via a personally administered method to senior managers. Partial least squares was used for analysing the data.

Findings

It was found that market orientation affected e‐order‐taking, whereas organizational learning affected e‐communication, e‐procurement and internal administration through e‐business technologies, and firm performance. Whilst market orientation was found only to effect e‐order‐taking and e‐communication was found to have a positive influence on firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of the study is the sample size and obtaining the convenience sample from one province in China. A larger size and broader representation of provinces in China will be a direction for future research.

Practical implications

The findings of this study highlight the need for creating an internal organizational culture, which facilitates the adoption of e‐business technologies. Specifically, they should develop capabilities such as organizational learning and market orientation prior to the adoption of e‐business technologies.

Originality/value

The contribution of the study is that the findings provide insight into e‐business adoption in China from a resource‐based perspective.
The influence of environmental practices on ethical attitudes: internal principles vs external factors
Authors: Sheng Chieh‐Wen , Chen Ming‐Chia
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of individual internal principles and perceived external factors on the ethical attitudes toward environmental practices, on the part of Taiwanese environmental business managers.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis of 295 pretest samples, moral intensity on environmental issues was divided into “perception of environmental harm” and “perceived immediacy and stress”. Following this, a questionnaire survey of environmental managers from the top 1,000 enterprises was conducted with 203 valid samples analyzed by a structural equation model.

Findings

The research findings demonstrated that moral intensity concerning environmental issues is not as significant as expected, and had less influence than environmental ethics. Assuming that part of the reason for this is that moral intensity is generally based on a viewpoint of teleology, the paper proposes some discussion and suggestions.

Research limitations/implications

Some limitations existed during this research, especially in the data collection or analyzing process. However, besides teleology, there are many other viewpoints of moral philosophy.

Practical implications

Environmental ethics is regarded as an internal principle, whereas the perceived moral intensity of managers on environmental issues is treated as an external factor. People's ethical decisions might be based on different views of moral philosophy such as teleology, deontology, or virtue ethics.

Originality/value

Since there was no suitable questionnaire related to moral intensity on environmental issues in the past, the paper presents a new questionnaire which used exploratory factor analysis to allocate moral intensity concerning environmental issues into two components: “perception of environmental harm” and “perceived immediacy and stress”.
CSR and sustainable community development in Nigeria: WAPCO, a case from the cement industry
Authors: Adewuyi Adeolu O. , Olowookere Afolabi E.
Published: October 2010

Purpose

Following the scarcity of studies in the developing countries, particularly Africa, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable community development, this paper intends to examine the case of a major cement company, WAPCO plc, and its host communities.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 15 CSR factors covering the three elements of sustainable development (economic, social and environment) were adopted, and with data extracted from the company's annual reports the contributions of WAPCO to sustainable development in the host communities in Nigeria were analysed.

Findings

Analysis of 15 CSR factors shows that WAPCO has gone beyond assistance and community development per se to sustainable development in the host communities; its recent inclusion as a member of Lafarge SA may have attributed to this. However, the position of WAPCO seems not to be clear in the area of social and environmental reporting, and codes of conduct on bribery and corruption. Some areas such as health seem not to be given priority in the WAPCO's CSR expenditure. Further, WAPCO's CSR activities are observed to be directly related with its turnover; however, CSR as a ratio of turnover is less than 0.5 per cent throughout the study period.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of this study lies in the fact that although the firm used as a case study accounted for over half of the output in the industry, this study is based on a single firm in the cement manufacturing industry. Besides, data extracted from the company's annual reports are taken as given. Thus, caution needs to be exercised in the interpretation and generalisation of the results and conclusions/recommendations.

Practical implications

WAPCO and polluting firms in general should devote more resources to CSR activities. Besides, there is the need to design a clear policy/strategy and enforcement mechanism in the area of social and environmental reporting, and codes of conduct on bribery and corruption. The area of health needs to be given priority in a firm's CSR expenditure and regulations.

Originality/value

The study adopts both theoretical and empirical approaches to analyse the contributions of a firm (which generates negative externalities) to sustainable development of its host communities so as to forestall crisis between the two stakeholders. To the authors' knowledge, no previous study in a developing continent such as Africa has taken such an approach to analyse the case of a firm in the cement industry.
Linking strategic logistics change to labor rights
Authors: Björklund Maria
Published: October 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to describe how research literature and logistics practitioners respectively describe the link between logistics and corporate social responsibility, focusing on the link between strategic logistics change (location, capacity and number of facilities as well as the design of supplier and customer network) and labor rights.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review on the topics corporate social responsibility, green logistics and sustainable supply chain management was performed. A mail survey (103 respondents) was conducted in order to explore how strategic logistics changes have influenced corporate social responsibility. Step‐wise regression analyses were used to identify relationships between strategic logistics decision making and the influence on labor rights.

Findings

There is a general unanimity in literature that logistics is an important area with regards to corporate social responsibility. Eight significant relations were identified linking strategic logistics changes to changes in the consideration of labor rights.

Practical implications

The study provides an understanding of how corporate social responsibility, focusing on labor rights, is influenced by strategic logistics changes. This can increase the understanding and the need for taking labor rights aspects into consideration in strategic logistics decision making as well as identification of what aspects of labor rights that are most important to consider in different types of logistics changes.

Originality/value

This study shows the importance of considering social responsible aspects regarding labor rights in strategic logistics decision making. Furthermore, as the empirical data are based on a Swedish sample it is an important complement to current, often American, studies within the field.
Corporate social responsibility of the top ten: examples taken from the Warsaw Stock Exchange
Authors: Aluchna Maria
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The paper aims to attempt to track the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice of the ten largest Polish listed companies. The CSR activity of the top ten companies may not only help to solve or ease several social problems, but it could also increase the awareness among Poles and contribute to the rebuilding of a civic society.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzes CSR policies in Poland using the case of the ten largest (in terms of market capitalization) companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The analysis covered the CSR (programs), reporting (web site) and the business strategy with reference to CSR.

Findings

The collected evidence suggests that the ten largest Polish companies present a passive approach to CSR activities. The majority of these companies are involved in charities and provide money for a given group of people. A more proactive approach of delivering solutions to social problems is definitely less common. The widely defined sponsoring, targeting different areas and groups remain the most popular CSR activity.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis covers only the ten largest Polish listed companies. Further research should also refer to other listed companies as well as small and medium companies.

Originality/value

The paper discusses the CSR activities of the largest listed Polish companies and refers these initiatives to the main social challenges resulting from the transition process, the implementation of a liberal economic policy and state withdrawal in the case of a weak and inefficient state and institutions and the lack of a civic society.
Carbon reduction and commercial leases in the UK
Authors: Bright Susan
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The paper aims to explore the potential impact that the introduction of the UK's carbon reduction commitment (CRC) energy efficiency scheme will have on: energy use in the tenanted commercial built environment; and the idea of the net lease.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews various background documents preceding the implementation of CRC in order to identify the abatement incentives established. The common structure of commercial leases and the early property market reaction to CRC are also considered in order to explore how effective the CRC scheme is likely to be in achieving the twin goals of carbon saving and landlord‐tenant collaboration.

Findings

Key to the success of the CRC scheme will be the way in which the financial and reputational drivers established by the CRC scheme incentivise landlords and tenants to make technological and social changes to reduce energy consumption. Given the variety of ways that energy is supplied to tenanted commercial property, the complexity of the CRC scheme, the traditionally adversarial relations between landlords and tenants and the “split‐incentive” of commercial leases, energy abatement opportunities are found to be significantly more limited in the leasehold context than for owner‐occupied properties. Nonetheless, the paper notes that the introduction of the CRC scheme has begun an important conversation and is an important step towards tackling energy efficiency.

Originality/value

The paper brings together understandings of the legal framework of commercial leases, of the property market and practice, and the landlord and tenant relationship – to consider how the CRC scheme will help to deliver the UK's goal of reducing carbon emissions.
Building information modelling: the UK legal context
Authors: McAdam Brodie
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the legal problems posed by full adoption of building information modelling (BIM) for construction design, and to propose a potential procurement solution for implementation in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

Legal problems associated with BIM implementation are identified from a literature review, which is then drawn on to outline a potential best practice model for BIM procurement. Two US BIM procurement initiatives – American Institute of Architects (AIA) Document E202 and ConsensusDOCS 301 – are then analysed in relation to their fit with the model for BIM procurement in the UK market.

Findings

Drawing on lessons learned from the AIA and ConsensusDOCS initiatives, the paper concludes that collaborative procurement, perhaps by way of partnering, appears to be an appropriate model for BIM procurement in the UK. However, it notes that empirical research is required in order to identify precisely the best legal approach.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a scoping work, identifying the ground which needs to be explored before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Originality/value

The legal aspects of BIM procurement remain a relatively unexplored field, and this analysis instructively draws together many of the key threads.
Use of moral theory to analyse the ethical codes of built environment professional organisations
Authors: Poon Joanna , Hoxley Mike
Published: October 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of moral theory as a philosophical analytical framework for built environment organisations' ethical codes of practice. The identified moral theories under consideration are “deontology”, “consequentialism” and “virtue ethics”.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a case study to examine the use of moral theory to explain the ethical codes of practice of built environment professional organisations. The chosen organisation is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The approach for conducting the case study is through semi‐structured interviews with experienced RICS members which gather views on the application of moral theory to explain the RICS ethical principles.

Findings

The case study revealed that there are mixed views on the use of moral theory to explain the RICS code of practice. The general view is that deontology is the most suitable theory to explain the fact that the work or process has been undertaken correctly. On the other hand, there is also a view amongst senior professionals that virtue ethics is most appropriate as it addresses the importance of both the correct “result” and the correct “process”.

Research limitations/implications

The paper uses a case study approach to examine the ethical code of one built environment professional organisation. This research does not therefore claim empirical generalisation but instead provides illustrations on the use of moral theory to explain the code of practice of a built environment professional organisation. The paper is based on a series of interviews. The findings should be understood as the aggregated opinions of the interviewees.

Originality/value

The paper makes an original contribution to existing literature on the theoretical analysis of codes of practice for built environment professional organisations. It describes research which is the first to use moral theory as a framework for analysing rules of conduct of built environment professional organisations.