bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimal retail pricing of a store brand
Authors: Chan Choi S.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to provide a practical methodology for a retailer's pricing decisions for a store brand in relation to the corresponding national brand's price.

Design/methodology/approach

Demand functions for the national and store brands are derived by mixing two consumer heterogeneity distributions: reservation price and quality‐price trade‐off. Unlike the existing theoretical models, a flexible gamma distribution is employed for practicality. A numerical approach is proposed for finding an optimal price for the store brand.

Findings

The proposed methodology is flexible and computationally straightforward, and is based on economic models. Instead of deriving generalized theories, however, a numerical approach using survey data is developed for more practicality.

Practical implications

The proposed methodology allows managers to find the optimal price for a store brand using survey data.

Originality/value

The proposed methodology overcomes the limitations of the existing methodologies, i.e. the discontinuous nature of the conjoint analysis‐based approach and the theoretical nature of the economic model approach.
The changing price of brand loyalty under perceived time pressure
Authors: Jensen Marlene , Drozdenko Ronald
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This study sets out to investigate the price premium brand‐loyal customers would be willing to pay over expectations in order to remain loyal.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 385 consumers were asked price expectations and brand preferences for ten different products. Non‐brand‐loyal consumers were asked whether they would buy the cheapest brand or the cheapest brand with a name they recognized. Brand‐loyal consumers were asked to imagine they went to buy each product only to discover a higher price than expected. These consumers gave the maximum price they would pay to buy their preferred brands under two conditions – time pressured and not.

Findings

For non‐brand‐loyal consumers, just 14‐43 percent (depending on the product) would buy the cheapest offering, while 57‐86 percent would buy the cheapest brand whose name they recognized. Brand‐loyal consumers would pay a mean of 15.4 percent more than expected (not rushed) or 37.0 percent (rushed). Findings differed by product category with HDTVs garnering just an 8.8 percent price premium (not rushed) and 19.1 percent (rushed), while shirts/blouses showed the highest (21.9 percent not rushed and 53.2 percent rushed).

Research limitations/implications

It is unknown how consumers would respond to categories not studied.

Practical implications

Recognizable brand names are able to attract more buyers than lower‐priced unknown brands, even among “bargain shoppers”. Consumers are willing to pay more to buy preferred brands, and even more in rushed situations.

Originality/value

This study puts a dollar value on consumers' desires to avoid search under time pressure.
Brand image of company names matters in ways that can't be ignored
Authors: Rotfeld Herbert Jack
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to discuss the conceptual problems of family brands, and how conflict of images can work to the detriment of the entire line.

Design/methodology/approach

Case examples are presented of a few brands that keep different “levels” of product quality apart by different brand labels contrasting with one company that decided to make it all one name.

Findings

Companies often worry more about generating a well‐known brand than about what the brand means to consumers.

Practical implications

Consumers can discern the value of related brands of hotels or cell phones or internet service belonging to the same company even if they have different names built around distinct images in each category.

Originality/value

Names matter beyond simplistic managerial thinking of brand name awareness.
A question answer system based on confirmed knowledge acquired from a mailing list
Authors: Watanabe Yasuhiko , Nishimura Ryo , Okada Yoshihiro
Published: April 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to report a QA system that can answer how‐type questions based on confirmed knowledge acquired from mails, posted to a mailing list. It aims to propose a method of detecting incorrect information in mails posted to a mailing list (ML) by using mails that ML participants submitted for correcting incorrect information in previous mails.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses a problem of acquiring knowledge from natural language documents, then proposes a method to give these mails three kinds of confirmation labels, positive, negative, and other, depending on their credibility.

Findings

The paper shows a QA system based on the confirmed knowledge. It finds mail questions that are similar to the user's question and gives answers and their confirmation labels to the user. By using the confirmation labels, the user can easily choose the information that can solve his or her problem.

Originality/value

The study describes a method of detecting incorrect information in mails posted to a mailing list and acquiring confirmed knowledge from them.
Taking sides: user classification for informal online political discourse
Authors: Malouf Robert , Mullen Tony
Published: April 2008

Purpose

To evaluate and extend, existing natural language processing techniques into the domain of informal online political discussions.

Design/methodology/approach

A database of postings from a US political discussion site was collected, along with self‐reported political orientation data for the users. A variety of sentiment analysis, text classification, and social network analysis methods were applied to the postings and evaluated against the users' self‐descriptions.

Findings

Purely text‐based methods performed poorly, but could be improved using techniques which took into account the users' position in the online community.

Research limitations/implications

The techniques we applied here are fairly simple, and more sophisticated learning algorithms may yield better results for text‐based classification.

Practical implications

This work suggests that social network analysis is an important tool for performing natural language processing tasks with informal web texts.

Originality/value

This research extends sentiment analysis to a new subject domain (US politics) and a new text genre (informal online discusssions).
YouTube: an opportunity for consumer narrative analysis?
Authors: Pace Stefano
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to discuss a possible extension of narrative analysis to a new medium of expression of consumer behaviour, specifically YouTube.

Design/methodology/approach

Marketing and consumer behaviour studies often apply narrative analysis to understand consumption. The consumer is a source of introspective narratives that are studied by scholars. However, consumption has a narrative nature in itself and consumers are also storytellers. YouTube is a new context in which subjects tell stories to an audience through self‐made videos and re‐edited TV programs. After defining the pros and cons of different approaches to the study of YouTube, narrative analysis is presented as a possible means of understanding YouTube.

Findings

Some preliminary evidence is presented by discussing several YouTube videos. These indicate that YouTube content can be better understood as stories, rather than example of other approaches, such as visual analysis, media studies, videography, and others.

Research limitations/implications

From the analysis conducted, preliminary managerial implications can be drawn. It seems unlikely that normal TV broadcasters will be substituted by YouTube videos. For the most part, YouTube content draws its sense and shared meaning from the major TV shows and series. The discursive nature of YouTube is also an indication of how to deal with this new medium as a company or researcher.

Originality/value

The paper is an attempt to open up new applications of interpretive market research in the form of narrative analysis. It explores a new context that is gaining relevance in both the marketing literature and managerial practice.
Introducing structuration theory in communal consumption behavior research
Authors: Algesheimer René , Gurău Călin
Published: April 2008

Purpose

In community research, there is a large gap between theoretical developments and empirical proves. Especially, in micro‐macro contexts, where the interaction between micro‐ (the community member) and macro‐(the community) level variables have significant effects, no comprehensive theoretical approach that explicitly frames micro‐macro phenomena has been considered in empirical methodology. This study attempts to present a multilevel theoretical framework which explains the complex interrelationship of various elements that shape consumption experience and market institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on practical questions related to community research, where individuals act in communal contexts, shape the community and are influenced by the community, the importance of studying micro‐macro phenomena are discussed. These preliminaries form assumptions that are integrated into theoretical and methodological developments. It is shown how structuration approaches meet the assumptions on communal consumption research and how multilevel analyses fit into the assumptions that are raised by the structuration approach.

Findings

The paper develops and presents a multilevel model, which represents the interplay among various cultural levels that influence consumption experience and the evolution of consumption trends. This model proposes a theoretical framework which explains structuration in consumer research contexts.

Originality/value

Academics can use this study to understand the link between communal consumption theory to methodology. They have access to a research framework that integrates micro‐macro effects and receive some ideas on possible structures and variables they can analyze. Practitioners learn that within communal research consumption patterns do not only influence individuals, but they also determine the community's structure that in turn shapes the behaviour of its members.
Optimal inspection and preventive maintenance policy for systems with self‐announcing and non‐self‐announcing failures
Authors: Chelbi Anis , Ait‐Kadi Daoud , Aloui Houda
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose and model an inspection and preventive maintenance policy for randomly failing systems that alternate operating and idle periods according to their mission profile.

Design/methodology/approach

A maintenance policy is defined and modeled mathematically. The paper focuses on finding the age T for inspection which maximizes the stationary availability of the system.

Findings

Except for the case of only self‐announcing failures, there always exists a finite optimal strategy T*. Two sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of such an optimum are also derived.

Practical implications

Many productive systems alternate operating and inactive periods, their failures may be self‐announcing or not self‐announcing (detected only through inspection). This paper presents a maintenance strategy for such systems in order to maximize their stationary availability. The proposed strategy suggests submitting the system to inspection when its age reaches T units of time.

Originality/value

This paper states a general expression of the system stationary availability which is considered as the performance criterion. Conditions of existence and uniqueness of an optimal strategy are developed.
Optimal disassembly sequencing strategy using constraint programming approach
Authors: Zwingmann Xavier , Ait‐Kadi Daoud , Coulibaly Amadou , Mutel Bernard
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to identify all the feasible disassembly sequences for a multi‐component product and to find an optimal disassembly sequence, according to specific criteria such as cost, duration, profit, etc.

Design/methodology/approach

Taking into account topological and geometrical constraints of a product structure, an AND/OR disassembly graph is built. Each graph node represents a feasible subassembly. Two nodes i and j are connected by an arc (i, j), called a transition, if the subassembly j can be obtained from the subassembly i by removing one or several connectors. Constraint programming approach is used to generate the feasible subassemblies and related transitions.

Findings

If a cost zij is incurred to perform a transition (i, j), an optimal disassembly sequence can be generated for a given subassembly, using the shortest path algorithm or a linear programming model.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed approach performs very well compared to other approaches published in the literature, even when applied to products requiring parallel disassembly and including a large number of parts.

Practical implications

This approach has been successfully applied to assess the wheelchair maintainability at the design stage and will be implemented in CAD systems. One other application, regarding the disassembly process and total revenue maximization for product recycling, is now under consideration.

Originality/value

Applying constraint programming to efficiently generate the set of the feasible subassemblies constitutes the main contribution in this paper. This process is the hardest step in the disassembly sequencing problem.
Integrating Six‐Sigma with other reliability improvement methods in equipment reliability and maintenance applications
Authors: Al‐Mishari Salman T. , Suliman Saad
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address reported weaknesses with existing equipment reliability improvement methods through their integration into the Six‐Sigma DMAIC methodology.

Design/methodology/approach

The evaluation was done by assessing the weaknesses of traditional methods such as reliability centered maintenance (RCM), evaluating what Six‐Sigma could potentially offer to close the gaps, and testing potential improvements through an example application.

Findings

It is concluded that Six‐Sigma addresses many RCM flaws and weaknesses. It is also concluded that Six‐Sigma, if integrated with other reliability techniques, can produce results that are far more objective and dependable.

Research limitations/implications

Six‐Sigma, however, still bears its own cons and limitations. It requires good data which are sometimes unavailable. Six‐Sigma is also lengthier and consumes more resources per single problem since it focuses at one problem at a time.

Originality/value

The introduction of Six‐Sigma into equipment reliability/maintenance applications is quite original since this methodology has traditionally been limited to manufacturing and only recently to administrative processes. The outcome is of significant value as it opens up a new perspective into the development of reliability improvement measures for plant equipment.
Age, proactivity and career development
Authors: van Veldhoven Marc , Dorenbosch Luc
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to shed more light on the role of employee proactivity (self‐starting, action‐orientated behaviours aimed at greater organisational effectiveness) in relation to aging and career development. It aims to do this in two ways. First, by investigating how age and HR practices for development initiated by the organisation influence proactivity. Here, proactivity it seeks to study as a career‐relevant outcome. Second, by examining how age, proactivity and HR practices for development influence employee experiences of career opportunities. Here, it aims to use proactivity as career‐relevant predictor.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 619 employees from 47 departments completed a questionnaire, including two scales on proactivity (on‐the‐job and developmental proactivity) as well as a scale on career opportunities. HR and line managers in these departments were interviewed about HR practices directed at career development of the employees. The data combine information from two levels (employee, department) as well as three different sources (employee, line manager, HR manager), and are analysed using multi‐level analysis.

Findings

First, the paper presents the results on proactivity as an outcome: age is positively related to proactivity on‐the‐job but has no association with proactivity towards development. HR practices targeted at career development are positively associated with both types of proactivity. Second, the results on proactivity as a predictor show that career opportunities have a negative association with age, a positive association with proactivity, and a positive association with career development‐orientated HR practices. An additional negative effect on career opportunities is found for the cross‐level interaction between HR practices and age.

Originality/value

This study is original as it combines individual, psychological, and HR perspectives in researching age‐related career issues. It contributes to the literature by showing that age has no negative, but rather a positive impact on proactivity. Proactivity furthermore is sensitive to HR practices for development, implying that organisations can influence the proactivity of their employees. For older employees the study implies that, although organisations tend to offer them fewer HR practices for development, they can offset this disadvantage to some extent by increased proactivity, and thus retain career opportunities.
Short‐ and long‐term consequences of age in work teams
Authors: Gellert Franz J. , Kuipers Ben S.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of age in work teams on short‐term team consequences, such as satisfaction, involvement, mutual learning, decision making and feedback, and long‐term team consequences, such as quality, sick leave and burnout, and to consider their implications for team management and human resource management (HRM) policies in team‐based organizations facing an ageing work force.

Design/methodology/approach

The study elaborates on the framework of Milliken and Martins, further examining the effects of both average age and age differences. The authors collected objective data as well as data through questionnaires among 150 work teams with more than 1,500 white‐collar and blue‐collar workers from an automotive company in Sweden. With these data the authors conducted correlation and step‐by‐step hierarchical regression analyses.

Findings

The analyses showed significant positive effects of average age on both short‐term and long‐term consequences. No significant effects of age differences were found.

Research limitations/implications

Conducting a longitudinal study in an automotive company in Sweden resulted in monocultural findings. The use of a sample from one organization may limit the generalization of our findings. Future research should pay more attention to effects of age in teams, compared to individual age effects in organizations and to explore more advanced models that help to understand the dynamic processes of age in teams.

Practical implications

The results have implications for management of teams and HRM policy in organizations relating to recruitment, early retirement, training developments and team composition in general.

Originality/value

The paper suggests positive effects of age in work teams and contributes to the literature about the ageing workforce working in teams.
Postponing job retirement?
Authors: Zappalà Salvatore , Depolo Marco , Fraccaroli Franco , Guglielmi Dina , Sarchielli Guido
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The study seeks to investigate individual preference for early or late retirement. The aim is to determine the impact that variables at personal, work and organizational, and retirement‐related levels exert on such preference.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was submitted to 275 Italian workers, aged from 45 to 63. The “preferred” and “expected” retirement ages were measured, and a preference for retiring before or after the expected age was computed. The questionnaire included personal (e.g. age, income), work and organizational (e.g. work importance, job demands and control), and retirement‐related variables (level of information on pensions and attitudes to retirement). Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses were conducted to test the impact of such variables on the preference for early or late retirement.

Findings

The results show a significant preference for retiring on average three years before the expected age. The preference for postponing retirement is related to chronological age and perception of income adequacy, but also to work variables (work importance, firm policies supporting aged employees) and attitudes to retirement.

Practical implications

Political and organizational strategies concerning old employees should take into account the widespread preference for early retirement. It is, however, possible to encourage late retirement by developing interventions aiming to meliorate working conditions, organizational perceptions and retirement attitudes.

Originality/value

The difference between preferred and expected retirement age may be useful to identify employees preferring late retirement. It is also suggested that certain psychosocial factors are related to such preference. This knowledge is relevant for European policies encouraging employees to stay longer in the workforce.
Time for change: empowering organizations to succeed in the knowledge economy
Authors: Switzer Cameron
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a more effective way for businesses to compete successfully in the rapidly‐evolving global market.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of published literature in the field of management has been used to develop guidelines that should assist companies in making necessary changes from a traditional management style to a knowledge management approach in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.

Findings

Due to the rapidly changing global economy, businesses need to consider a serious change in strategy, and begin to focus more on knowledge management even at the mundane line levels. The new “knowledge managers” and their supervisors must take on new responsibilities and roles of self‐direction. Workers, managers and executives will need to change the way they view the company. Management requirements should be transferred to the worker, freeing the managers to act more as leaders and coaches. In order to retain intellectual capital, companies must create an environment that allows the holders of the knowledge to feel comfortable in sharing it with the organization such that this asset can become a “fixed” capital asset.

Originality/value

This research brings together the key points required to understand why a successful change from traditional management styles to knowledge management methods is crucial to future success. By better understanding these key points, executives and managers in the organization should be able to develop a business plan for a transition to the Knowledge Organization.
Knowledge fusion for technological innovation in organizations
Authors: Heffner Michael , Sharif Nawaz
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to present a guiding integrative framework for knowledge management that encompasses a fusion process for creating new knowledge and technological innovations, as well as to propose a method for applying the framework in a managerial decision making process.

Design/methodology/approach

The framework integrates multiple perspectives of knowledge formation and technological innovation from both researchers and practitioners. The framework, which the authors label the knowledge fusion process, is presented as an organizational learning cycle, which encompasses sub‐processes for knowledge acquisition and formation, technological embodiment of knowledge, entrepreneurial application of technologies, and assessment of knowledge‐in‐use by an organization. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is then proposed as one method to apply the framework for managerial decision making in an operational context.

Findings

Knowledge, usually embodied in technological innovations, is a strategic resource for organizations in all areas of human endeavor. The framework includes the premise that the most competitive organizations are those that can learn to learn – to incorporate learning processes, including knowledge creation, into everyday operations and management. Much of the learning involves converting knowledge from tacit to explicit forms, especially technologically embodied forms – tools, skills, facts and methods that are the knowledge‐in‐use within organizations.

Originality/value

The framework integrates a number of heretofore disparate research streams, thereby providing a structure for examining the knowledge management activities of organizations against current thinking about knowledge management. The framework also can be applied to categorize observations about an organization in order to support managerial decision making – a method for applying the framework is demonstrated.
Qualified ageing workers in the knowledge management process of high‐tech businesses
Authors: Ebrahimi Mehran , Saives Anne‐Laure , Holford W. David
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to aim to characterise the knowledge management process of the ageing human capital, within the sectors of aeronautics and bio‐technologies in Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology consists of: cross‐search of literature towards the elaboration of a theoretical map; and collection of data involving semi‐directed interviews followed by a thematic and statistical analysis of the textual data.

Findings

Management's knowledge of social and relational knowledge, especially those of ageing workers, appears to be scarce, thus resulting in ageing workers being perceived as surpassed by technological and scientific progress. This conception deprives the company of an important source of knowledge capitalisation. A model relevant to the evaluation of company practices related to inter‐generational aspects of knowledge management should include six basic dimensions, namely: management philosophy (a managerial style favouring projections and proximities), strategic analysis (knowledge, memory and learning strategy), organisational analysis (information management system and knowledge creation process), operational analysis (places of socialisation), competencies (relational and communicational know‐how, individual memory and capacity of judgement), and the role of ageing personnel (activation of organisational and human resource networks).

Research limitations/implications

Further validation is required across an enlarged population, with the aim of operationalising the observed concepts within a practical evaluation guide of company practices related to inter‐generational aspects of knowledge management.

Originality/value

By centering the analysis on highly qualified ageing individuals, the authors discerned a phenomenon showing that even within highly technological contexts knowledge management is far from systematically integrating those recognised a priori as carriers of knowledge.
A cultural perspective on knowledge management: the success story of Sarkuysan company
Authors: Zamantılı Nayır Dilek , Uzunçarşılı Ülkü
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how effective knowledge management practices combined with a unique corporate culture have enabled the company Sarkuysan to cope with the challenges it has faced throughout the years and made it an extremely successful company.

Design/methodology/approach

A company case was chosen to explain the influences of cultural determinants on the success of knowledge management. This objective was achieved by conducting several interviews with the top managers of the company.

Findings

The findings of the article are, that effective knowledge management practices combined with a unique corporate culture can enable companies to instill a lasting knowledge management culture.

Research limitations/implications

The article is based on a case study, which limits the possibility of making general conclusions. Whereas many studies discuss knowledge management primarily as an IT problem, this study focuses on the topic as a cultural issue.

Practical implications

Most current literature on knowledge management deals with multinational companies with Western management structures. This article describes how knowledge management is applied in an emerging market context, which does not necessarily share the culture, structures and ideals of the organizations on which current theories are based.

Originality/value

This article focuses on the concept of knowledge as a cultural issue, rather than a problem that can be solved by sophisticated information technology infrastructures. The paper deals with a firm from an emerging market/country, i.e. Turkey.
Italian and Australian local governments: balanced scorecard practices. A research note
Authors: Farneti Federica , Guthrie James
Published: April 2008

Purpose

New public management changes in both the Australian and Italian government sectors have affected their modus operandi. This research aims to illustrate how the balanced scorecard (BSC) has been used in both Italian and Australian local government organisations (LGO), focusing on implementation and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study method is applied which was chosen to illustrate the use of the BSC model in both an Australian and an Italian LGO. These specific organisations were chosen as the authors are familiar with their experiments with the BSC.

Findings

The main finding was that the BSC was used internally in both the Italian and Australian cases and little material was used for an external accountability reporting technology.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is limited to two LGOs locations, thus no generalisation can be implied.

Originality/value

Few studies have reviewed, in the public sector, BSC practices, particularly for local governments.
An explanation of human capital disclosure from the resource‐based perspective
Authors: Abhayawansa Subhash , Abeysekera Indra
Published: April 2008

Purpose

Although the importance of human capital (HC) in firm value creation is firmly established in the literature, the level of emphasis placed on human capital disclosure (HCD) by preparers of financial statements and sell‐side analysts is minimal. The purpose of this paper is to address this dilemma by critically analysing the conceptualisation of HC in disclosure literature and introduce a more suitable explanation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper begins by reviewing the literature on intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) to examine the level of HCD in various company media and the use of such information by the capital market. It then critically analyses the conceptualisation of HC in those studies with a view to forming an opinion about the adequacy of that conceptualisation. Then the resource‐based view is justified as providing a more appropriate conceptualisation of HC to meet demands of the capital market.

Findings

Substantial ICD literature conceptualises HC using HC theory as a collection of knowledge and competences possessed by employees individually and collectively in firms. This has resulted in HC disclosure scores being considerably low compared to external and internal capital disclosure and does not portray HC in a way that is useful to the capital market. A resource‐based perspective enables HC to be depicted in a way that closely resembles the value creation potential of firms' employees.

Practical implications

Guidance is provided for future HCD and ICD studies to operationalise HC and to reflect its value creation potential by encompassing not only the firm specific stock of knowledge and capabilities of employees, but also the strategic HC management practices. Thus the corporate culture and the idiosyncratic systems and practices of the firm which are in place are enabled in to reaping the benefits of these.

Originality/value

ICD literature portrays HC as the least important intellectual capital subcategory. However, anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. This study is the first attempt to clarify and provide an explanation to this dilemma.
Public planning and science policy: new versions
Authors: Richardson Jacques
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to advise the reader of non‐governmental efforts to help form national/international science policies, using as a highlight the endeavor of the Citizen Science Foundation.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is journalistic: science policy is explained, what is had led to in innovative research, what specialized yet non‐official groups are doing to supplement official science policy, especially the ethical implications of science leading to sometimes controversial technology.

Findings

The efforts of public participants (societies, associations) in this line are explained, with particular consideration for the ethics of the new biotechnologies. A brief history of the origins of science policy leads to the citing of multiple, current but non‐official initiatives to make new research ethical, environmental and in the service of humankind.

Originality/value

This is a topic seldom seen in even interdisciplinary media, establishing thereby an originality of its own. The text is accessible to non‐scientists. The topic has not previously been treated in foresight.
How to solve a wicked problem? Furniture foresight case study
Authors: Navarro Jesus , Hayward Peter , Voros Joseph
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on how foresight methods are being used to address a “wicked problem” for the global furniture industry: “What are we going to do in the furniture industry in high cost countries (HCC) to maintain our future competitiveness with respect to the competition coming from low cost countries?”

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores one sectorial initiative, CEFFOR® (Furniture Foresight Centre, headquarters in Valencia, Spain), that attempts to mitigate the negative impact of globalisation on the competitiveness of the furniture industry in HCCs, by creating a vision of a preferable future through the use of a set of qualitative foresight tools (structural analysis, morphological analysis/field anomaly relaxation, and cross impact analysis) involving a worldwide expert panel.

Findings

This paper examines the set‐up phase of the CEFFOR initiative, and describes the main elements of the morphological space developed to profile possible future configurations of the global furniture industry. Future papers will report on further model development and the subsequent take‐up of this work.

Practical implications

The approach used could be adapted to a variety of other industrial sectors. While this study examines a traditional industrial sector, there is no conceptual limitation on its use in other sectors, although such adaptation should clearly remain alert to the unique aspects of any industry.

Originality/value

The novelty of this initiative is the application of a normative foresight approach in a traditional industrial sector in order to generate a shared vision of a sustainable future, and to integrate this foresight approach with an existing business intelligence system.
Speculation on the long‐term future of Israel and a Palestinian state
Authors: Baker Schaffer Marvin , Schaffer Belay Leslie
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to postulate a political structure for Israel and a Palestinian State 25‐50 years from now.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper speculates that a Middle East Union modeled after the EU could enable stability and prosperity on a scale not now envisioned.

Findings

The paper speculates that oil will no longer be the global fuel of choice in 50 years. It is also speculated that long‐ and short‐range missile defenses will be reliable unlike today's systems. These will create new opportunities for successful collaboration in the Middle East.

Originality/value

The paper speculates that transportation, water, and power will be the key new elements of infrastructure needed to facilitate a Middle East Union. Nuclear desalination is postulated for the water and power and a light rail system connecting 15 cities in the Palestinian areas will be required.
Beware of proud ambition offered as foresight
Authors: Richardson Jacques
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how admonitions to apply forethought in planning and execution may trap, deceive or discourage even the most circumspect of experienced managers and leaders.

Design/methodology/approach

A series of real‐life experiences are cited, in most of which foresight, evoked and encouraged by personalities of recognized authority, largely failed to hold its promise.

Findings

With determined intentions behind their conception, design and materialization, some processes and creations do not fulfil their promise because of human or other failing.

Research limitations/ implications

Space available is the limiting factor here for the presentation of case examples.

Practical implications

The instances cited are expressly concrete failures in applied foresight. Avoiding such pitfalls should be the best way of profiting from the instances used as illustrations.

Originality/value

Planners, strategists and designers should be able to take advantage of the illustrations used – especially in those cases when foresight goes completely wrong
Worldwide support found for measuring true wealth of nations
Authors: Henderson Hazel
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a survey by GLOBESCAN for Ethical Markets Media, LLC which was released at the “Beyond GDP” Conference in the European Parliament, 19‐20 November.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is survey based.

Findings

Three‐quarters of people in ten countries agree that their governments should look beyond economics and include health, social and environmental statistics in measuring national progress.

Originality/value

This paper is contrary to the accepted view of appropriate national growth measures.
Are “skills” all there is to learning in organizations? The case for a broader framework
Authors: Cunningham Ian
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an antidote to a narrow focus on skills and to show how learning for organizational development needs a broader framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is based on work done in a variety of organizations as well as published sources.

Findings

Governments and educational bodies too easily keep attention at the level of individual learning and also address only short‐term needs: organizations need to take a broader view.

Practical implications

The article has real practical implications for leaders/managers and learning and development professionals. Organizations need to consider learning from a more holistic perspective and not just pay attention to short‐term skill needs.

Originality/value

The article will be of value to managers and learning specialists as it raises important issues about the need to focus on this under‐explored problem.
Founders, leaders, and organizational life cycles: the choice is easy – learn or fail!
Authors: Santora Joseph C. , Sarros James C.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide executives and other organizational leaders with a six‐stage organizational life cycle and its components at each stage.

Design/methodology/approach

This article uses the case study method to show the impact of the organizational life cycle on the founder of a nonprofit organization who over time lost the drive and desire to remain competitive.

Findings

Founders and organizational leaders who fail to understand the consequences of not remaining vigilant will cause their organizations to suffer the consequences.

Practical implications

Leaders will learn about the issues associated with an organization's life cycle, and will be shown strategies that can be implemented in order to deal with these issues.

Originality/value

This article informs leaders about the importance of learning the steps in the organizational life cycle to help them avoid failure.
Extended scenario role‐playing: cumulative learning for supply chain participants
Authors: Pepper Matthew P. , Clements Michael D.
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of a staged cumulative learning mechanism as part of a role‐play model for the teaching of supply chain concepts.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents the preliminary testing of an alternative model for the facilitation of supply chain learning within organizations. Following on from this, initial feedback is discussed before future stages of development are considered.

Findings

Through the structured implementation of complex supply chain interactions, practitioners can provide effective training that leads to deeper understanding of the interactions and communication skills necessary to balance an organizations successful operation in a modern supply chain.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is to invite the reader to consider the use of extended role‐playing as a mechanism to facilitate the development of cumulative learning outcomes which provide employees with a toolbox of understanding to better approach interaction activities within and between supply chain partners.
Trends in winter sport tourism: challenges for the future
Authors: Unbehaun Wiebke , Pröbstl Ulrike , Haider Wolfgang
Published: April 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to survey climate change impacts on winter sport tourists' activity and destination choice, to estimate shifts in customer demand and to provide recommendations and decision support for destination management.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 540 skiers from Vienna, Austria were surveyed with a standardized online questionnaire. The survey also contained a discrete choice experiment a stated preference method which forces respondents into trade‐off behavior between various possible combinations of destination profiles.

Findings

The results show a strong preference for destination attributes promising sufficient (natural) snow conditions. In winters that lack snow, resorts in high destinations gain importance and travel distances lose some relevance. A large proportion of skiers would forgo skiing if it becomes more expensive. Snow independent substitutes are accepted as a short time compensation but not for the whole winter holiday. When asked to trade off additional costs and additional travel distances for a snow secure destination, the majority of winter sport tourists are willing to incur some additional cost but the majority reach thresholds at about 10 percent additional cost and 2h additional driving.

Originality/value

The survey shows, that a discrete choice experiment is a suitable method to cover the complexity of activity and destination choice. Therefore it is an unique individual‐oriented approach to consider customer demand and to evaluate the success of offer setting in tourism management. The sequential presentation of three related choice sets is a novel contribution in the field of choice experiments, and appears to be well suited to simulate climate change‐related effects.
Extension and evaluation of JXTA protocols for supporting reliable P2P distributed computing
Authors: Xhafa Fatos , Barolli Leonard , Fernández Raul , Daradoumis Thanasis , Caballé Santi
Published: April 2008

Purpose

In any distributed application, the communication between the distributed processes/nodes of the distributed systems is essential for both reliability and efficiency matters. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue for distributed applications based on JXTA protocols aiming at extending and evaluating the protocols of the JXTA library for reliable P2P computing.

Design/methodology/approach

After a careful examination of the current version of JXTA protocols, the need was observed for improving the original JXTA protocols such as pipe services to ensure reliable communication between nodes of the grid platform and the discovery and presence service to increase the performance of the applications. Using a mixed P2P network based on broker peers and client peers architecture, which served as a basis to extend the JXTA protocols, was the basis of the approach.

Findings

The original JXTA protocols are extented/re‐implemented to support the development of reliable P2P distributed applications.

Practical implications

The proposed approach has been validated in practice by deploying a P2P network using nodes of PlanetLab platform and testing each of the re‐implemented protocols using this real P2P network. The extended JXTA protocols can be used to develop reliable P2P distributed applications.

Originality/value

Is of value by showing how to improve both efficiency reliability of JXTA protocols and services.
Young adults' food motives: an Australian social marketing perspective
Authors: Piggford Tegan , Raciti Maria , Harker Debra , Harker Michael
Published: April 2008

Purpose

Understanding the drivers of young adults' healthy food choices is vital to addressing the public health issue of obesity. The healthy eating motives that underlay such consumer choice behavior are particularly important to the well‐being of society. This research is novel in that it aims to investigate the food motives of young Australian adults in relation to five socio‐demographic factors, namely place of residence, gender, age, gross income and work hours. While overseas studies have examined some of these factors, the Australian context and its nuances is one that is notably absent. Thus, this research aims to provide meaningful contributions to the extant literature from an Australian perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

For this study of 18 to 24‐year‐old Australians, quantitative data from a total of 310 respondents (93.7 percent response rate) were collected using quota sampling.

Findings

The paper finds that gender and work hours significantly influenced food motives; however, place of residence, age and gross income while successful with young adults in other countries, did not influence healthy food choices in Australia.

Research limitations/implications

While the findings corroborate some aspects of overseas studies, they contradict others and also add new information. Collectively, they contribute useful insights for social marketing intervention strategies concerned with influencing food choice among young Australian consumers.

Originality/value

This study indicates that intervention campaigns that are based upon residence, age and gross income in relation to healthy eating, while possibly successful with young adults in other countries, are likely to be ineffective in Australia.