bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modeling desired behaviors: do leaders need new technology?
Authors: Brown Jo Ann E. , Jo White Barbara
Published: March 2009

Purpose

Leaders model behaviors they want followers to emulate, and they use various technologies to enhance their message, but which tools are most effective? Using two studies, this paper sets out to compare the effectiveness of newer and older computer technologies used by leaders for describing and demonstrating desired behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

The first study, an interdisciplinary experimental design, involved 110 students across two college campuses and data were analyzed using a 2 (modeling and no modeling)×2 (older and newer technology) between‐subjects ANOVA. The second study further explored modeling with both technologies on one campus, and data were analyzed with independent samples t‐tests.

Findings

Newer technology was more effective than older technology in increasing desired behaviors but only when coupled with modeling of those behaviors by the leader. However, after the novelty of the new technology had worn off, no significant difference in production of desired behaviors was observed.

Practical implications

Justifying the expense of purchasing new technology to replace functional older equipment is an important consideration for businesses and universities. Organizational leaders need factual, unbiased data to guide their decisions about allocating limited financial resources.

Originality/value

The studies were designed to provide decision‐makers with some much‐needed empirical data.
Leadership in a multicultural Arab organisation
Authors: Butler Colin
Published: March 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate supervisor‐subordinates relations in a multicultural organisation and establish relationships between the background of employees and leader‐member (LMX) exchanges.

Design/methodology/approach

A large‐scale survey was designed and distributed to 300 employees of the national university in the United Arab Emirates. Quantitative data analysis using regression was conducted on SPSS.

Findings

The quality of exchanges and relations between supervisors and subordinates is related to the work experience of employees. Leadership should be top‐down and emphasise charisma to win employees' admiration and increase satisfaction. Commitment to the organisation is related to the quality of supervisor‐subordinate relations.

Research limitations/implications

The research does not analyse supervisor‐subordinate dyads across multidisciplinary boundaries. All dyads work within the same discipline.

Practical implications

In a multicultural organisation, transformational leadership in supervisor‐subordinates demonstrates care for the personal relationships with a diverse group of people that in turn builds better leader‐member exchanges, trust and organisational commitment.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the understanding of how employees in a multicultural organisation perceive leadership and relations with supervisors.
Social capital and leadership development
Authors: McCallum Shelly , O'Connell David
Published: March 2009

Purpose

As organizations face volatile and virtual environments there is a growing need to equip emerging leaders with skills to generate, utilize and maintain social capital. This paper aims to examine five recent, large leadership studies to clarify the role that human capital or social capital capabilities play in present day and future leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Researchers review five recent large leadership studies, assessing the human capital and/or social capital orientation of identified leadership capabilities.

Findings

The analysis indicates that, although there is a primary focus on human capital capabilities, social capital skills have begun to receive more attention as components of a leader's skill set.

Research limitations/implications

The review focused on five published studies and does not reflect the comprehensiveness of a meta‐analysis. Hence conclusions may not apply to all situations. Further exploration and longitudinal study of the efficacy of various developmental approaches and the differential impacts of human and social capital approaches on leaders' effectiveness is suggested.

Practical implications

The growing value placed on leadership social capital capabilities is further addressed here through the presentation of specific social capital skill development initiatives that may be implemented within an organization.

Originality/value

The paper suggests that social capital skills have received more attention recently, yet remain undervalued compared with human capital as important leadership components and offers suggestions for enhancing leadership development initiatives through specific foci on social capital skill development including adopting an open‐systems organic mindset, leveraging relational aspects of leadership development, and building networking and story‐telling skills.
Enhancing the success of organizational change
Authors: Self Dennis R. , Schraeder Mike
Published: March 2009

Purpose

This paper seeks to provide guidance on specific ways by which organizations can overcome resistance by matching readiness strategies with forms of resistance.

Design/methodological approach

The paper summarizes literature on resistance to change and readiness to change, leading to the development of specific recommendations for reducing resistance through specific readiness strategies.

Findings

Resistance, though common, may be more effectively managed if specific readiness strategies are matched with requisite sources of resistance.

Practical implications

The paper provides guidance on addressing primary sources of resistance by matching them with specific elements proposed by Armenakis et al. that lead to readiness for change.

Originality/value

The synthesis of literature related to creating readiness for change and resistance to change leads to a resistance to change typology, including three domains. While these domains have been addressed in change literature, the paper further expands on these domains by offering potential sources of resistances within each domain. This should lead to future research that explores these domains and sources within each domain in greater depth.
Action research for practising managers
Authors: French Steven
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The paper seeks to develop a coherent model for the application of action research to problems in the field of management.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.

Findings

No model of the process of conducting an action research programme is extant in the literature. Several scholars have commented on this anomaly. Action research has many applications and the methodological choice should be determined by the research problem. This paper provides a working model for researchers in the field of management to apply to their research problem, given that they have a reasonable understanding of the problem and can develop their research question by conducting a literature review.

Practical implications

Researchers in the field of management can rely on the academic validity of following this model.

Originality/value

The ideas of several respected researchers in the field of action research have been combined to provide a coherent approach to the conduct of an action research programme.
Re‐framing strategic thinking: the research – aims and outcomes
Authors: French Steven
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to justify the research programme and describe the conclusions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a summary of the aims and results of the research published in two special issues of Journal of Management Development. It argues that there are three fundamental issues that must be examined in order to resolve the conundrums of business strategy: the semantics; the structures; and the epistemology and ontology of the subject. To achieve this aim, four papers (Part 1) cover the literature that allows for a research aim to be developed. In the subsequent papers (Part 2), strategic thinking is reframed. An inductive frame is created to develop a model to help small business principals understand the need to think strategically about their business. The proposition that better strategy can be generated if answers are found to quality questions, rather than quality solutions found for poorly posed questions, is examined. A deductive frame of fundamental questions is created based on this concept and finally a reflective frame, which is “critically anti‐management”, provides the mechanism for the inductive and deductive frames to be applied to small business. The methodology is presented by French in “Action research for practising managers” in this issue and this paper is the summary of the research.

Findings

A research aim is developed: to examine critically the theory of business strategy and reframe strategic thinking in order to develop and test a viable small business strategic process. Thus, strategic thinking is (critically) reframed and emergence explored beyond the (modernist and postmodernist) “box” of traditional strategic management.

Practical implications

Small business principals have access to an integrated system of strategic frames that have been developed and tested using action research. Consequently the small business principal can be confident that the strategic process has both academic and practitioner credibility.

Originality/value

Parker suggests that little work has been done in the field of strategy in any non‐modernist paradigm. The author believes that this may be one of the early comprehensive studies in this field to utilise both critical theory, in the form of critical management studies, and to apply this epistemology to firms that are considered to be complex self‐adapting systems. The consequence is that there is now a theoretical answer to the problems of both Mintzberg, because there is now a mechanism for emergence, and of Hamel, because there is no longer a gap in the strategy discipline, we have a mechanism for strategy creation.
The inductive frame
Authors: French Steven
Published: March 2009

Purpose

This paper seeks to develop a coherent model for small business principals to understand their management behaviour, with the intent to move their focus from an operational to a strategic perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Action research (AR) was undertaken to develop the model.

Findings

AR is utilised to develop a model that explains in conceptual terms how a business can be deconstructed such that the structure of any business can be explained. By deconstructing the business, small business principals are able to understand the nature of their managerial behaviour. This behaviour is almost entirely operational. They must also understand the nature of strategy and how they can think about their firms from a strategic perspective.

Practical implications

Small business principals are provided with the opportunity to recognise their reliance on operational solutions to their business problems and opportunities, and accept the proposition that they must also think strategically.

Originality/value

The paper discusses the AR development of a unique tool to support the needs of small business principals move from an operational to the strategic level of their business.
Advanced analytics: opportunities and challenges
Authors: Bose Ranjit
Published: March 2009

Purpose

Advanced analytics‐driven data analyses allow enterprises to have a complete or “360 degrees” view of their operations and customers. The insight that they gain from such analyses is then used to direct, optimize, and automate their decision making to successfully achieve their organizational goals. Data, text, and web mining technologies are some of the key contributors to making advanced analytics possible. This paper aims to investigate these three mining technologies in terms of how they are used and the issues that are related to their effective implementation and management within the broader context of predictive or advanced analytics.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of recently published research literature on business intelligence (BI); predictive analytics; and data, text and web mining is reviewed to explore their current state, issues and challenges learned from their practice.

Findings

The findings are reported in two parts. The first part discusses a framework for BI using the data, text, and web mining technologies for advanced analytics; and the second part identifies and discusses the opportunities and challenges the business managers dealing with these technologies face for gaining competitive advantages for their businesses.

Originality/value

The study findings are intended to assist business managers to effectively understand the issues and emerging technologies behind advanced analytics implementation.
An exploration of marketing tactics for turbulent environments
Authors: Mason Roger B. , Staude Gavin
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose that the choice of marketing tactics is influenced by the company's external environment. It aims to illustrate the marketing tactics suggested for a complex, turbulent environment, when marketing and the environment are viewed through a complexity lens.

Design/methodology/approach

A marketing mix model, derived from complexity literature, was assessed via a multiple case study to identify the type of marketing mix suggested for a complex, turbulent environment. The study was exploratory, using in‐depth interviews with two companies in the IT industry.

Findings

The results tentatively confirmed that the more successful company used a destabilizing marketing mix, and suggest that using complexity theory to develop marketing tactics could be helpful in turbulent environments.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are limited by the study's exploratory, qualitative nature and the small sample. Generalizing should be done with care and therefore further research with larger samples and in different environments is recommended.

Practical implications

The paper will benefit marketers by emphasizing a new way to consider future marketing activities of their companies. The model can assist marketers to identify the tactics to use, dependent on the nature of their environment.

Originality/value

Most work on complexity in marketing has concentrated on strategy, with little emphasis on tactics and the marketing mix. Therefore, the paper is an important contribution to the understanding of marketing mix choices, of interest to both practising marketers and marketing academics.
Supplier selection under uncertainty: a switching options perspective
Authors: Wu Liang‐Chuan
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze supplier selection from an economic perspective. The conventional view of cost benefit analysis is that the cost dimension is static, and companies are urged to pursue the lowest bid price when choosing suppliers. However, this perspective does not consider uncertainty, which is an important characteristic of supply chains. To overcome this shortcoming, a model is proposed that views supplier selection under uncertainty.

Design/methodology/approach

The study proposes a model that analyzes supplier selection from an economic standpoint based on the switching options approach.

Findings

The results show that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the buyer's choice of supplier makes a significant difference under conditions of uncertainty, and naïvely accepting the lowest bid price is not necessarily the best option.

Research limitations/implications

The study extends the literature by quantifying previous studies of the buyer‐supplier relationship. This enhances understanding by quantifying the relationship under conditions of uncertainty, a topic that has been largely ignored by previous works.

Practical implications

The economic perspective, which considers uncertainty, helps managers examine their supply chain relationships in depth when choosing suppliers. In addition, this study could also help buyers access alternative supply chain partners. Managers can make the calculations easily by using Microsoft Excel software.

Originality/value

The paper presents an original discussion about viewing supplier selection from the switching options perspective. The modeling and analysis of switching options help managers better understand the supplier selection process from an economic perspective, and improve competitiveness by helping them to make appropriate decisions.
Customer segmentation based on commitment and ICT use
Authors: Gil‐Saura Irene , Ruiz‐Molina Maria‐Eugenia
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine and characterize groups of retail customers, based on their perception of commitment to the retailer and the degree of use of its technological equipment.

Design/methodology/approach

A CHAID algorithm is performed and differences between the resulting segments are tested through the analysis of variance.

Findings

Four segments are obtained that differ significantly in commitment to the retailer and level of use of the store's information and communication technology (ICT) facilities, as well as in other variables related to the retailer‐consumer relationship. In particular, customer segments differ in their use of retailers' payment facilities.

Practical implications

The study provides a typology of consumers that enable retailers to take efficient decisions regarding their technology investments and to design effective marketing strategies.

Originality/value

Although literature concerning interorganizational relationships has reported that commitment is influenced to a great extent by supplier investment in technology, the relation between these variables in retailing has received little attention. The paper explores the relationship between commitment and use of retailers' ICT solutions for retail customers.
Internet‐based ICT adoption: evidence from Malaysian SMEs
Authors: Sin Tan Khong , Choy Chong Siong , Lin Binshan , Cyril Eze Uchenna
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovative characteristics, benefits, and barriers influencing internet‐based information and communications technology (ICT) adoption among the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire‐based survey was used to collect data from 406 managers or owners of SMEs in the southern region of Malaysia.

Findings

The results suggest that internet‐based ICT adoption provides a low cost yet effective communication tool for customers. However, security continues to be a major barrier. Finding on cost as a barrier is mixed. The inferential statistics reveal that relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and security are significant factors influencing internet‐based ICT adoption.

Research limitations/implications

The study focuses only on the SMEs in the southern region of Malaysia.

Practical implications

The findings offer valuable insights to policy makers in general and to the SMEs in particular on the significance of the measured characteristics and the associated benefits and barriers of internet‐based ICT adoption.

Originality/value

The study is perhaps one of the first to comprehensively address internet‐based ICT adoption among the SMEs through the use of a wide range of variables.
Mobile internet and SMEs: a focus on the adoption
Authors: Balocco Raffaello , Mogre Riccardo , Toletti Giovanni
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the adoption of business to employee (B2e) mobile internet (MI) applications in Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose is twofold: to analyze the diffusion of these applications underlining the main adoption barriers and to describe the impact on the corporate environment and the decision‐making process leading to the introduction of B2e MI applications.

Design/methodology/approach

The diffusion of mobile solutions is gauged through a survey of 646 Italian SMEs in the manufacturing industry. Multiple case studies of 28 Italian SMEs that have adopted 33 B2e MI applications have given insight into the impact and the adoption process of such technologies.

Findings

The adoption of MI technologies is still limited in Italian SMEs. Two different kinds of solutions (classified into connectivity‐based and application‐based) lead to different processes of adoption.

Research limitations/implications

The study has been conducted only in an Italian scenario. As for the survey, only firms belonging to the manufacturing industry have been interviewed.

Practical implications

The main adoption drivers/constraints have been identified. The paper also provides information and communication technologies vendors with guidelines on how to increase the use of the applications in Italian SMEs.

Originality/value

The paper is based on a double methodology in order to provide a full analysis of the adoption of mobile technologies in a business environment: the survey is used to quantify the adoption of the technologies and the case studies are used to investigate the adoption process.
Influence of the reinforcement on penetration and perforation of concrete targets
Authors: Shiu Wenjie , Victor Donzé Frédéric , Daudeville Laurent
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a discrete element model is used to predict the penetration depth and the perforation caused by a non‐deformable missile against a thin reinforced concrete slab.

Design/methodology/approach

Initial calibration of the model was done with a series of flat‐nose missile tests. Additional simulations were performed with varying the percentage of reinforcement. The present numerical model is compared to experimental test data provided by the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA) and the French Electrical Power Company (EDF).

Findings

For thin concrete slabs, the evolution of the penetration depth in terms of percentage of reinforcement was compared with experimental results: quantitatively the results are very coherent.

Originality/value

The modeling scale is higher than the heterogeneity scale, so the model may be used to simulate real structures, which means that the discrete element method is mainly used here for its ability to account for discontinuities; an identification process based on quasi‐static tests is used, so the quasi‐static behavior of concrete is reproduced. This identification process is the key point, to allow a complete predictive computation for complex impact configurations, especially when the missile diameter and the thickness of the concrete slab are on the same order in size.
Partitioning based reduced order modelling approach for transient analyses of large structures
Authors: Markovic Damijan , Ibrahimbegovic Adnan , Park K.C.
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe reduced order modelling based on dynamic flexibility approximation and applied to transient analyses.

Design/methodology/approach

This work is based on a recently proposed flexibility‐based component modes synthesis (CMS) approach which was shown to be very efficient for solving large eigenvalue problems. The model reduction approach is based on partionning via the localized Lagrange multipliers method, which makes it very appropriate to handle coupled problems.

Findings

In particular, it is demonstrated in this paper how the utilised model reduction method can be applied only to one part of the structure and efficiently coupled to a full finite element model. The performance of the method is investigated on numerical examples of plate and 3D problems.

Originality/value

The proposed flexibility‐based CMS approach can be used as a very efficient tool for complex engineering structures under dynamic load where the mode superposition method applies. The efficiency of the computations is brought about by the model reduction.
Model adaptivity for finite element analysis of thin or thick plates based on equilibrated boundary stress resultants
Authors: Bohinc Uroš , Ibrahimbegovic Adnan , Brank Boštjan
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address error‐controlled adaptive finite element (FE) method for thin and thick plates. A procedure is presented for determining the most suitable plate model (among available hierarchical plate models) for each particular FE of the selected mesh, that is provided as the final output of the mesh adaptivity procedure.

Design/methodology/approach

The model adaptivity procedure can be seen as an appropriate extension to model adaptivity for linear elastic plates of so‐called equilibrated boundary traction approach error estimates, previously proposed for 2D/3D linear elasticity. Model error indicator is based on a posteriori element‐wise computation of improved (continuous) equilibrated boundary stress resultants, and on a set of hierarchical plate models. The paper illustrates the details of proposed model adaptivity procedure for choosing between two most frequently used plate models: the one of Kirchhoff and the other of Reissner‐Mindlin. The implementation details are provided for a particular case of the discrete Kirchhoff quadrilateral four‐node plate FE and the corresponding Reissner‐Mindlin quadrilateral with the same number of nodes. The key feature for those elements that they both provide the same quality of the discretization space (and thus the same discretization error) is the one which justifies uncoupling of the proposed model adaptivity from the mesh adaptivity.

Findings

Several numerical examples are presented in order to illustrate a very satisfying performance of the proposed methodology in guiding the final choice of the optimal model and mesh in analysis of complex plate structures.

Originality/value

The paper confirms that one can make an automatic selection of the most appropriate plate model for thin and thick plates on the basis of proposed model adaptivity procedure.
Novel anisotropic continuum‐discrete damage model capable of representing localized failure of massive structures
Authors: Brancherie D. , Ibrahimbegovic A.
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a finite element model capable of describing both the diffuse damage mechanism which develops first during the loading of massive brittle structures and the failure process, essentially due to the propagation of a macro‐crack responsible for the softening behaviour of the structure. The theoretical developments for such a model are presented, considering an isotropic damage model for the continuum and a Coulomb‐type criterion for the localized part.

Design/methodology/approach

This is achieved by activating subsequently diffuse and localized damage mechanisms. Localized phenomena are taken into account by means of the introduction of a displacement discontinuity at the element level.

Findings

It was found that, with such an approach, the final crack direction is predicted quite well, in fact much better than the prediction made by the fracture mechanics type of models considering combination of only elastic response and softening.

Originality/value

The presented model has the potential to describe complex damage phenomena in a cyclic and/or non‐proportional loading program, such as crack closing and re‐opening, cohesive resistance deterioration due to tangential sliding, by using only a few parameters compared to the traditional models for cyclic loading.
Novel anisotropic continuum‐discrete damage model capable of representing localized failure of massive structures
Authors: Kucerova A. , Brancherie D. , Ibrahimbegovic A. , Zeman J. , Bittnar Z.
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the identification of the model parameters for constitutive model capable of representing the failure of massive structures, from two kinds of experiments: a uniaxial tensile test and a three‐point bending test.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed development of the ingredients for constitutive model for failure of massive structures are presented in Part I of this paper. The salient feature of the model is in its ability to correctly represent two different failure mechanisms for massive structures, the diffuse damage in so‐called fracture process zone with microcracks and localized damage in a macrocrack. The identification of such model parameters is best performed from the tests under heterogeneous stress field. Two kinds of tests are used: the simple tension test and the three‐point bending test. The former allows us illustrate the non‐homogeneity of the strain field at failure even under homogeneous stress, whereas the latter provides a very good illustration for the proposed inverse optimization problem for which the specimen is subjected to a heterogeneous stress field.

Findings

Several numerical examples are presented in order to illustrate a very satisfying performance of the proposed methodology for identifying the corresponding material parameters of the constitutive model for failure of massive structures.

Originality/value

The paper confirms that one can make a very good use of the proposed identification procedure for estimating the corresponding parameters of damage model for localized failure of massive structure, and the advantages to using the experimental results obtained by testing under heterogeneous stress field.
Security aspects of vertical actions on bridge structure
Authors: Kožar Ivica
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate internal forces in bridges induced by moving vehicles and compare them to earthquake loading.

Design/methodology/approach

Dynamic analysis of bridges is performed for moving support actions, for spectral method with Eurocode 8 parameters and for moving vehicle influence. Results from all three methods have been compared on two examples and conclusions have been made. Moving vehicle analysis could be based on the moving force and on the moving mass approach where the later one requires rather accurate knowledge of structural accelerations. It has been shown that the classical Newmark formulation produces accelerations of low accuracy and a novel impulse acceleration method has been devised.

Findings

It is found that the actions induced by the moving load could be comparable or larger than those caused by the earthquake on bridges whose mass is not too large in comparison to the vehicle mass.

Research limitations/implications

The developed method will be applied to a broader choice of examples and more reliable conclusions made.

Practical implications

There are bridges where it would be appropriate to perform moving vehicle dynamic analysis, in which case the vertical earthquake actions could be neglected in the analysis.

Originality/value

In order to assess actions from moving vehicles, Newmark method has been generalized in a novel way. Paper describes vector formulation of Newmark method that permits free mixing of integration parameters that could vary from node to node. The method is advantageous for moving load analysis where loading conditions of nodes change in time.
Failure model for heterogeneous structures using structured meshes and accounting for probability aspects
Authors: Hautefeuille M. , Melnyk S. , Colliat J.B. , Ibrahimbegovic A.
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the inelastic behavior of heterogeneous structures within the framework of finite element modelling, by taking into the related probabilistic aspects of heterogeneities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper shows how to construct the structured FE mesh representation for the failure modelling for such structures, by using a building‐block of a constant stress element which can contain two different phases and phase interface. All the modifications which are needed to enforce for such an element in order to account for inelastic behavior in each phase and the corresponding inelastic failure modes at the phase interface are presented.

Findings

It is demonstrated by numerical examples that the proposed structured FE mesh approach is much more efficient from the non‐structured mesh representation. This feature is of special interest for probabilistic analysis, where a large amount of computation is needed in order to provide the corresponding statistics. One such case of probabilistic analysis is considered in this work where the geometry of the phase interface is obtained as the result of the Gibbs random process.

Originality/value

The paper confirms that one can make the most appropriate interpretation of the heterogeneous structure properties by taking into account the fine details of the internal structure, along with the related probabilistic aspects with the proper source of randomness, such as the one addressed herein in terms of porosity.
Nonlinear impact dynamics and field transfer suitable for parametric design studies
Authors: Ibrahimbegovic Adnan , Hervé Guillaume , Villon Pierre
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide the methodology for structural design of complex massive structures under impact by a large airplane.

Design/methodology/approach

Using case studies, the issues related to multi‐scale modelling of inelastic damage mechanisms for massive structures are discussed, as well as the issues pertaining to the time integration schemes in presence of different scales in time variation of different sub‐problems, brought by a particular nature of loading with a very short duration) and finally the issues related to model reduction seeking to provide an efficient and yet sufficiently reliable basis for parametric studies which are an indispensable part of a design procedure.

Findings

Several numerical simulations are presented in order to further illustrate the approaches proposed herein. Concluding remarks are stated regarding the current and future research in this domain.

Originality/value

Proposed design procedure for complex massive engineering structures under impact by a large airplane provides on one side a very reliable representation of inelastic damage mechanisms and external loading represented by the solution of the corresponding contact/impact problem, and on the other side a very efficient basis obtained by model reduction for performing the parametric design studies.
Multiscale in time and stability analysis of operator split solution procedures applied to thermomechanical problems
Authors: Kassiotis C. , Colliat J.‐B. , Ibrahimbegovic A. , Matthies H.G.
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the partitioned solution procedure for thermomechanical coupling, where each sub‐problem is solved by a separate time integration scheme.

Design/methodology/approach

In particular, the solution which guarantees that the coupling condition will preserve the stability of computations for the coupled problem is studied. The consideration is further generalized for the case where each sub‐problem will possess its particular time scale which requires different time step to be selected for each sub‐problem.

Findings

Several numerical simulations are presented to illustrate very satisfying performance of the proposed solution procedure and confirm the theoretical speed‐up of computations which follow from the adequate choice of the time step for each sub‐problem.

Originality/value

The paper confirms that one can make the most appropriate selection of the time step and carry out the separate computations for each sub‐problem, and then enforce the coupling which will preserve the stability of computations with such an operator split procedure.
The impact of name changes on company value
Authors: Mase Bryan
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of name changes on the value of UK companies. Previous research in the USA suggests that there is little effect associated with a name change, except for a small sample of Dot Com companies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses an event study methodology to measure the short‐term abnormal returns associated with the announcement of company name changes. It uses a calendar time methodology to measure the corresponding long‐term abnormal returns. It distinguishes between amendments and radical name changes, as well as those that signal that a firm is diversifying or re‐focusing.

Findings

Contrary to the existing research, there is evidence of consistent abnormal returns following name change announcements, particularly when a distinction is made between amendments and radical name changes, and whether the name change reflects a company that is diversifying or re‐focusing.

Research limitations/implications

This research suggests that companies should reflect on the nature of a proposed name change. Company name changes that drop part of an existing name are not well received by shareholders, whereas those that add to the existing name are. In addition, adding or dropping the term “group” from a company's name can also have considerable effects on the share price, both in the short and long run.

Practical implications

This paper shows that shareholders' perceptions of the implications of a company's name change are important. Name change announcements should therefore be regarded as influential signals to investors.

Originality/value

This paper finds significant abnormal returns associated with company name change announcements. Further, it shows that the type of name change is important in determining the sign of these resulting abnormal returns.
Accounting conservatism and the cost of equity capital: UK evidence
Authors: Chan Ann L.‐C. , Lin Stephen W.J. , Strong Norman
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic consequences of different dimensions of accounting conservatism: ex ante (balance sheet or unconditional) conservatism and ex post (earnings or conditional) conservatism. It is argued that the two dimensions of conservatism convey different information to the market about the quality of accounting numbers and have different associations with equity investors' required rates of return.

Design/methodology/approach

The cost of equity capital estimates are based on the Ohlson and Juettner‐Nauroth model. The paper applies a regression model to examine the relationship between the cost of equity capital and accounting conservatism controlling for other risk factors.

Findings

The findings indicate that ex ante conservatism is associated with higher quality of accounting information and lower costs of equity capital and that ex post conservatism is associated with lower quality of accounting information and higher costs of equity capital.

Research limitations/implications

The firm‐level conservatism measures may suffer from measurement error. Future studies can be more specific in determining proxies for ex ante and ex post conservatism.

Practical implications

The results imply that conservative accounting signals information to investors about the quality of a firm's current and future earnings. Investors' required rates of returns may be higher for conservative reporting firms that are more susceptible to opportunistic management discretion.

Originality/value

The paper provides the first UK evidence on the effect of different dimensions of conservatism on equity investors' required rates of return.
Golden parachutes, managerial incentives and shareholders' wealth
Authors: Brusa Jorge , Lee Wayne L. , Shook Carole
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of golden parachutes on shareholders' wealth when the measure is used as a compensation device instead of a takeover defense. The results show that the adoption of the measure has a negative influence on shareholders' wealth. These negative results are more prevalent for firms with an operating performance above their industry peers and are significantly influenced by the previous performance of the firm and the size of the golden parachute.

Design/methodology/approach

Event study and regression analysis.

Findings

The results show that the adoption of the measure has a negative influence on shareholders' wealth. These negative results are more prevalent for firms with an operating performance above their industry peers and are significantly influenced by the previous performance of the firm and the size of the golden parachute.

Practical implications

Investors will have more information about the reaction of stock markets at the announcement of golden parachutes.

Originality/value

The paper presents a new evaluation of the adoption of golden parachutes on shareholders' wealth when the measure is used as a compensation device instead of a takeover defense.
Identifying the non‐normality premium of an investment
Authors: Hood Matthew , Nofsinger John R. , Small Kenneth
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a non‐normality premium (NNP) to identify the extra return that will compensate an investor for a non‐normal return distribution. The NNP quantifies the economic significance of non‐normality to complement a statistical significance test of non‐normality, such as the Jarque‐Bera test.

Design/methodology/approach

The NNP is patterned after the risk premium, the amount that compensates an investor for the risk of an investment. The theoretical NNP is examined on the margins with Taylor series approximation and applied to hedge fund data.

Findings

An increase of 1 in the skewness has the same effect on an investor as an increase in the mean of 2.5 basis points per month. An increase of 1 in the kurtosis has the same effect on an investor as a decrease in the mean of 0.15 basis points per month. A sample of 716 hedge funds revealed that while 72 per cent statistically reject normality, only 29 per cent require more than a single basis point per month difference in the mean to compenscate an investor for the non‐normality.

Originality/value

The NNP allows for a valuation on the higher moments (skewness and kurtosis) of an investor's return distribution. The evaluation is tailored to the individual through use of a utility function. Once applied to an alternative investment vehicle, it is learned that rejecting normality is not sufficient grounds to suspect that the non‐normality is important to investors.
Conference contrasts
Authors: Seadle Michael
Published: March 2009

Purpose

This editorial seeks to compare the German Bibliothekartag, the American Library Association Annual Meeting, and the International Federation of Library Associations meeting.

Design/methodology/approach

The method relies mainly on anthropological observation.

Findings

Conferences in cities with public transit, good restaurants, and decent technology, including wireless internet and projection in the meeting rooms, offer better opportunities for the social bonding that encourages repeat attendance.

Practical implications

Conferences at locations without these features risk losing regulars as technology increasingly enables communication without travel.

Originality/value

Interaction with the conference environment is not the only factor in making a conference experience successful but, without positive interactions, the option of doing business electronically becomes far more attractive.
Making the new OPAC seamless: dealing with the transition from “finding” to “getting”
Authors: Denholm Carmel , Kauler Leto , Lavelle Jan , Sokvitne Lloyd
Published: March 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the process of development undertaken by the State Library of Tasmania to provide a new generation OPAC – TALISPlus.

Design/methodology/approach

The methods developed and used to meet the “getting” needs of clients in the new OPAC are described, with examples based on the alternatives investigated and the results achieved.

Findings

During this development process the State Library established, through client consultation and feedback, that the process of item discovery within the new OPAC was incomplete unless accompanied by new methods that ensured that the desired item could in turn be easily found and physically accessed by clients. The need to address both the finding and getting requirements of clients is of major importance to the State Library of Tasmania which provides a state‐wide public lending system with one collection spread across 49 branches.

Originality/value

The paper argues that the development of a successful next generation OPAC is not limited to the provision of new searching functionality. Rather the success of a new OPAC is linked to its ability to provide existing clients with a seamless tool that delivers the ability to both find and get the desired item. The provision of this seamless access will require additional and significant development resources. However, the high levels of client satisfaction with the new OPAC witnessed by the State Library reinforce and validate this approach.
Subjecting the catalog to tagging
Authors: Mendes Luiz H. , Quiñonez‐Skinner Jennie , Skaggs Danielle
Published: March 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the implementation of LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL) in an academic library and analysis of usage of LTFL data and their potential for resource discovery in the catalog.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the literature on social tagging and incorporation of third‐party user‐generated metadata into the library catalog. It provides an assessment based on the analysis of total absolute usage figures and frequency of use of LTFL data.

Findings

Based on the data available, usage of LTFL data in the catalog is low, but several possible contributing factors are identified.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on the implementation of LTFL in an academic library and provides usage statistics on LTFL data. It also provides directions for future research about tagging in the catalog.
Accessing information in a parliamentary environment: is the OPAC dead?
Authors: Missingham Roxanne , Brettell Rina , White Shirley , Miskin Sarah
Published: March 2009

Purpose

Access to library collections in an era where users want to “get” rather than “find” offers particular challenges. This paper seeks to explore users' needs for bibliographic records in a primarily full text environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the need for access to parliamentary and library information from the Australian Parliament and its use by Senators and Members. It then outlines the approach taken to develop and implement a new search system, ParlInfo, which applied a repository and search system that provides integrated access to bibliographic and full text information. Launched in September 2008, it offers facets, alerts, RSS feeds and other Web 2.0 functionality to both the Australian public and Parliamentary Network users accessing library collections and parliamentary collections.

Findings

The paper offers insights into solutions which meet the information needs of Senators and Members and the public; and the application of library/web 2.0 solutions. It is relevant to organisations seeking to offer a single gateway to their collections.

Research limitations/implications

The paper offers an approach based on understanding the whole needs of users, rather than applying a traditional assumption that resource discovery should be based only on catalogue records through an OPAC.

Practical implications

The paper provides a model based on integrated access to resource through metadata, full text “crawled” from web sites and full text resources, such as Hansards, that can be applied in many organisations.

Originality/value

The paper's value is in thinking about how the catalogue can be “turned inside out” for the twenty‐first century users' needs.