bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prolonged Response in Patient With Multiply Relapsed B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Monosomy-7 to Bortezomib, Lenalidomide, and Dexamethasone
Authors: Vundamati Divya , Bostrom Bruce
Published: June 2016

Isolated monosomy-7, a rare cytogenetic abnormality in patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), portends a worse prognosis. Despite improvements in treatment, outcomes for patients with relapsed ALL remain poor. Novel treatments adopted from the B-cell malignancy multiple myeloma may have a role in treatment of ALL. Bortezomib is one such agent currently in phase III trials for B and T ALL. This study presents a patient with B-cell ALL and monosomy-7 who relapsed off therapy. The combination of bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone was used to attain remission before bone marrow transplant after conventional relapse therapy failed. A recurrence after bone marrow transplant was controlled for a prolonged period with the same therapy. The case supports the hypothesis that bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone should be further explored in the treatment of B-cell ALL with monosomy-7.
Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy for a Lung Metastasis in a Child With Ewing’s Sarcoma
Authors: Amsbaugh Mark J. , Bertke Matthew , Cheerva Alexandra , Silverman Craig , Dunlap Neal
Published: June 2016

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy delivers a high dose of radiation to a small volume over several fractions. Although most commonly used as a treatment alternative to surgery in adult patients with primary lung cancer, its use has now been reported in children with metastatic disease to the lungs. We present the case of a child treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy to pulmonary metastases in preparation for a salvage stem cell transplant. The patient was treated to a dominant pulmonary nodule and successfully received his stem cell transplant, however he developed clinical and radiographic findings consistent with pneumonitis several months after treatment.
Imaging in Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Dimou Anastasios , Sherman Carol , Wrangle John
Published: June 2016

Treatment advances have improved outcomes in patients with lung cancer, with a number of targeted therapies and immunotherapies now approved for patients with metastatic disease. Along with longer survival, modern treatment paradigms have increased therapeutic decision-making complexity underscoring informative imaging as paramount in guiding clinical care. In this review, we summarize challenges the thoracic oncologist encounters in common clinical settings. In addition, we explore unmet needs for future investigations with particular focus on positron emission tomography technology and immunotherapies.
Arrested coalescence of viscoelastic droplets: polydisperse doublets
Authors: Dahiya Prerna , Caggioni Marco , Spicer Patrick T.
Published: June 2016

Arrested droplet coalescence produces stable anisotropic shapes and is a key mechanism for microstructure development in foods, petroleum and pharmaceutical formulations. Past work has examined the dynamic elastic arrest of coalescing monodisperse droplet doublets and developed a simple model of doublet strain as a function of physical variables. Although the work describes experimental data well, it is limited to describing same-size droplets. A new model incorporating a generalized description of doublet shape is developed to describe polydisperse doublet formation in more realistic emulsion systems. Polydisperse doublets are shown to arrest at lower strains than monodisperse doublets as a result of the smaller contribution of surface area in a given pair. Larger droplet size ratios have lower relative degrees of strain because coalescence is arrested at an earlier stage than in more monodisperse cases. Experimental observations of polydisperse doublet formation indicate that the model under-predicts arrest strains at low solid levels and small droplet sizes. The discrepancy is hypothesized to be the result of nonlinear elastic deformation at high strains.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation’.
Morphological variation inHomo erectusand the origins of developmental plasticity
Authors: Antón Susan C. , Taboada Hannah G. , Middleton Emily R. , Rainwater Christopher W. , Taylor Andrea B. , Turner Trudy R. , Turnquist Jean E. , Weinstein Karen J. , Williams Scott A.
Published: June 2016

Homo erectuswas the first hominin to exhibit extensive range expansion. This extraordinary departure from Africa,especially into more temperate climates of Eurasia, has been variously related to technological, energetic and foraging shifts. The temporal and regional anatomical variation inH. erectussuggests that a high level of developmental plasticity, a key factor in the ability ofH. sapiensto occupy a variety of habitats, may also have been present inH. erectus.Developmental plasticity, the ability to modify development in response to environmental conditions, results in differences in size, shape and dimorphism across populations that relate in part to levels of resource sufficiency and extrinsic mortality. These differences predict not only regional variations but also overall smaller adult sizes and lower levels of dimorphism in instances of resource scarcity and high predator load. We consider the metric variation in 35 human and non-human primate ‘populations’ from known environmental contexts and 14 time- and space-restricted paleodemes ofH. erectusand other fossilHomo. Human and non-human primates exhibit more similar patterns of variation than expected, with plasticity evident, but in differing patterns by sex across populations. The fossil samples show less evidence of variation than expected, althoughH. erectusvaries more than Neandertals.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.
The shaping of human diversity: filters, boundaries and transitions
Authors: Mirazón Lahr Marta
Published: June 2016

The evolution of modern humans was a complex process, involving major changes in levels of diversity through time. The fossils and stone tools that record the spatial distribution of our species in the past form the backbone of our evolutionary history, and one that allows us to explore the different processes—cultural and biological—that acted to shape the evolution of different populations in the face of major climate change. Those processes created a complex palimpsest of similarities and differences, with outcomes that were at times accelerated by sharp demographic and geographical fluctuations. The result is that the population ancestral to all modern humans did not look or behave like people alive today. This has generated questions regarding the evolution of human universal characters, as well as the nature and timing of major evolutionary events in the history ofHomo sapiens. The paucity of African fossils remains a serious stumbling block for exploring some of these issues. However, fossil and archaeological discoveries increasingly clarify important aspects of our past, while breakthroughs from genomics and palaeogenomics have revealed aspects of the demography of Late Quaternary Eurasian hominin groups and their interactions, as well as those between foragers and farmers. This paper explores the nature and timing of key moments in the evolution of human diversity, moments in which population collapse followed by differential expansion of groups set the conditions for transitional periods. Five transitions are identified (i) at theoriginsof the species, 240–200 ka; (ii) at the time of the first majorexpansions, 130–100 ka; (iii) during a period ofdispersals, 70–50 ka; (iv) across a phase of local/regionalstructuringof diversity, 45–25 ka; and (v) during a phase of significant extinction of hunter–gatherer diversity and expansion of particular groups, such as farmers and later societies (theHolocene Filter), 15–0 ka.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.
The origins of the Acheulean: past and present perspectives on a major transition in human evolution
Authors: de la Torre Ignacio
Published: June 2016

The emergence of the Acheulean from the earlier Oldowan constitutes a major transition in human evolution, the theme of this special issue. This paper discusses the evidence for the origins of the Acheulean, a cornerstone in the history of human technology, from two perspectives; firstly, a review of the history of investigations on Acheulean research is presented. This approach introduces the evolution of theories throughout the development of the discipline, and reviews the way in which cumulative knowledge led to the prevalent explanatory framework for the emergence of the Acheulean. The second part presents the current state of the art in Acheulean origins research, and reviews the hard evidence for the appearance of this technology in Africa around 1.7 Ma, and its significance for the evolutionary history ofHomo erectus.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’.
Comment on Smaerset al.(2016): A nonviable phylogenetic comparative method hampered by circularity, inaccuracy, and bias
Authors: Griffin Randi H. , Yapuncich Gabriel S.
Published: June 2016

Smaers, Mongle & Kandler (2016) (Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 118: 78-94) introduced a new phylogenetic comparative method, multiple variance Brownian motion (mvBM), for reconstructing ancestral states given a phylogenetic tree and continuous trait data. The authors conducted a simulation study and argued that mvBM outperforms constant variance Brownian motion (BM) when rates of evolution vary across the phylogeny. In this comment, we argue that mvBM is not a viable statistical method because it is fundamentally a circular analysis that overfits phylogenetic branch lengths to the data. We further argue that the comparison of mvBM to BM under conditions where the assumptions of BM are clearly violated is not an informative performance analysis, and that the simulation study of Smaerset al. (2016) exaggerates the performance of mvBM by focusing on a narrow range of simulation conditions and reporting aggregated accuracy metrics that obscure severe inaccuracy and bias in its ancestral state estimates. Our arguments are supported by simulation results. We conclude that mvBM is not a viable phylogenetic comparative method.
Cardiorespiratory physiological perturbations after acute smoke-induced lung injury and during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in sheep
Authors: Chemonges Saul
Published: June 2016

Background

Numerous successful therapies developed for human medicine involve animal experimentation. Animal studies that are focused solely on translational potential, may not sufficiently document unexpected outcomes. Considerable amounts of data from such studies could be used to advance veterinary science. For example, sheep are increasingly being used as models of intensive care and therefore, data arising from such models must be published. In this study, the hypothesis is that there is little information describing cardiorespiratory physiological data from sheep models of intensive care and the author aimed to analyse such data to provide biological information that is currently not available for sheep that received extracorporeal life support (ECLS) following acute smoke-induced lung injury.

Methods

Nineteen mechanically ventilated adult ewes undergoing intensive care during evaluation of a form of ECLS (treatment) for acute lung injury were used to collate clinical observations. Eight sheep were injured by acute smoke inhalation prior to treatment (injured/treated), while another eight were not injured but treated (uninjured/treated). Two sheep were injured but not treated (injured/untreated), while one received room air instead of smoke as the injury and was not treated (placebo/untreated). The data were then analysed for 11 physiological categories and compared between the two treated groups.

Results

Compared with the baseline, treatment contributed to and exacerbated the deterioration of pulmonary pathology by reducing lung compliance and the arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio. The oxygen extraction index changes mirrored those of the PaO2/FiO2ratio. Decreasing coronary perfusion pressure predicted the severity of cardiopulmonary injury.

Conclusions

These novel observations could help in understanding similar pathology such as that which occurs in animal victims of smoke inhalation from house or bush fires, aspiration pneumonia secondary to tick paralysis and in the management of the severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans.
Familiarity Facilitates Feature-based Face Processing
Authors: di Oleggio Castello Matteo Visconti , Wheeler Kelsey G. , Cipolli Carlo , Gobbini M. Ida
Published: June 2016

Recognition of personally familiar faces is remarkably efficient, effortless and robust. We asked if feature-based face processing facilitates detection of familiar faces by testing the effect of face inversion on a visual search task for familiar and unfamiliar faces. Because face inversion disrupts configural and holistic face processing, we hypothesized that inversion would diminish the familiarity advantage to the extent that it is mediated by such processing. Subjects detected personally familiar and stranger target faces in arrays of two, four, or six face images. Subjects showed significant facilitation of personally familiar face detection for both upright and inverted faces. The effect of familiarity on target absent trials, which involved only rejection of unfamiliar face distractors, suggests that familiarity facilitates rejection of unfamiliar distractors as well as detection of familiar targets. The preserved familiarity effect for inverted faces suggests that facilitation of face detection afforded by familiarity reflects mostly feature-based processes.
Continuous-scan capability at SSRL and applications to X-ray diffraction
Authors: Li Chunlei , Kiss Andrew M. , Van Campen Douglas G. , Garachtchenko Alex , Kolotovsky Yuriy , Stone Kevin , Xu Yahong , Zhang Wenjun , Corbett Jeff
Published: June 2016

Typical X-ray diffraction measurements are made by moving a detector to discrete positions in space and then measuring the signal at each stationary position. This step-scanning method can be time-consuming, and may induce vibrations in the measurement system when the motors are accelerated and decelerated at each position. Furthermore, diffraction information between the data points may be missed unless a fine step-scanning is used, which further increases the total measurement time. To utilize beam time efficiently, the motor acceleration and deceleration time should be minimized, and the signal-to-noise ratio should be maximized. To accomplish this, an integrated continuous-scan system was developed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). The continuous-scan system uses an in-house integrated motor controller system and counter/timer electronics.SPECsoftware is used to control both the hardware and data acquisition systems. The time efficiency and repeatability of the continuous-scan system were tested using X-ray diffraction from a ZnO powder and compared with the step-scan technique. Advantages and limitations of the continuous-scan system and a demonstration of variable-velocity continuous scan are discussed.
Serial crystallography captures enzyme catalysis in copper nitrite reductase at atomic resolution from one crystal
Authors: Horrell Sam , Antonyuk Svetlana V. , Eady Robert R. , Hasnain S. Samar , Hough Michael A. , Strange Richard W.
Published: June 2016

Relating individual protein crystal structures to an enzyme mechanism remains a major and challenging goal for structural biology. Serial crystallography using multiple crystals has recently been reported in both synchrotron-radiation and X-ray free-electron laser experiments. In this work, serial crystallography was used to obtain multiple structures serially from one crystal (MSOX) to studyin crystalloenzyme catalysis. Rapid, shutterless X-ray detector technology on a synchrotron MX beamline was exploited to perform low-dose serial crystallography on a single copper nitrite reductase crystal, which survived long enough for 45 consecutive 100 K X-ray structures to be collected at 1.07–1.62 Å resolution, all sampled from the same crystal volume. This serial crystallography approach revealed the gradual conversion of the substrate bound at the catalytic type 2 Cu centre from nitrite to nitric oxide, following reduction of the type 1 Cu electron-transfer centre by X-ray-generated solvated electrons. Significant, well defined structural rearrangements in the active site are evident in the series as the enzyme moves through its catalytic cycle, namely nitrite reduction, which is a vital step in the global denitrification process. It is proposed that such a serial crystallography approach is widely applicable for studying any redox or electron-driven enzyme reactions from a single protein crystal. It can provide a `catalytic reaction movie' highlighting the structural changes that occur during enzyme catalysis. The anticipated developments in the automation of data analysis and modelling are likely to allow seamless and near-real-time analysis of such data on-site at some of the powerful synchrotron crystallographic beamlines.
Crystal structure of an unknown solvate of (piperazine-κN){5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(benzoyloxy)phenyl]porphyrinato-κ4N}zinc
Authors: Nasri Soumaya , Ezzayani Khaireddine , Turowska-Tyrk Ilona , Roisnel Thierry , Nasri Habib
Published: June 2016

The title compound, [Zn(C72H44N4O8)(C4H10N2)] or [Zn(TPBP)(pipz] (where TPBP and pipz are 5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(benzoyloxy)phenyl]porphyrinato and piperazine ligands respectively), features a distorted square-pyramidal coordination geometry about the central ZnIIatom. This central atom is chelated by the four N atoms of the porphyrinate anion and further coordinated by a nitrogen atom of the piperazine axial ligand, which adopts a chair confirmation. The average Zn—N(pyrrole) bond length is 2.078 (7) Å and the Zn— N(pipz) bond length is 2.1274 (19) Å. The zinc cation is displaced by 0.4365 (4) Å from the N4C20mean plane of the porphyrinate anion toward the piperazine axial ligand. This porphyrinate macrocycle exhibits majorsaddleand moderaterufflingdeformations. In the crystal, the supramolecular structure is made by parallel pairs of layers along (100), with an interlayer distance of 4.100 Å while the distance between two pairs of layers is 4.047 Å. A region of electron density was treated with the SQUEEZE [Spek (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 9–18] procedure inPLATONfollowing unsuccessful attempts to model it as being part of disorderedn-hexane solvent and water molecules. The given chemical formula and other crystal data do not take into account these solvent molecules.
1-(5-Nitro-1H-indazol-1-yl)ethanone
Authors: Boulhaoua Mohammed , Essaghouani Abdelhanine , Benchidmi Mohammed , Essassi El Mokhtar , Mague Joel T.
Published: June 2016

In the title compound, C9H7N3O3, paired ribbons of molecules running in thea-axis direction are formed by intermolecular C—H...O and offset π-stacking interactions.
Case B (Sequel) – GMR: deciding future alliance strategy for airports
Authors: Dubey Rita
Published: June 2016

Subject area

General management/strategy.

Case overview

Case B: On April 4, 2013, the meeting of GMR’s Group Executive Council (GEC) was scheduled to take place. Srinivas Bommidala, G.M. Rao’s son-in-law and Chairman of GMR’s airports business, was gearing up for the meeting. The meeting was called to discuss a proposal for bidding for an upcoming airport project in the Philippines. It had been more than a decade since GMR entered the airport infrastructure sector. The organization had built substantial airport operating expertise during that period. It adopted a joint venture (JV) model for expanding into the airport infrastructure business. Until now the organization had always formed JVs for all its airport projects. JVs, with existing airport operators, were necessitated by the bid conditions that required a certain minimum airport operating experience for qualifying as a bidder for various projects. In some cases, JV with a local player helped GMR with market knowledge for functioning in a foreign market. GMR also used JVs to access the capabilities it lacked for operating in this sector and gradually learnt from its partners for building capabilities in-house. The group now had the required operating expertise in the sector to qualify as a bidder. One of the key issues the GEC was contemplating was: Whether GMR should continue to form JV for bidding for the upcoming project or should it go solo? Further, if it had to form a JV then, in which areas should it seek a partner?

Expected learning outcomes

Case B: To help students understand how companies use alliances as growth strategies; to understand the rationale for formation of various alliances; to explore various factors managers consider when deciding on alliance strategy of an organization; to understand the challenges associated with using alliances as a strategic option; and to understand the pros and cons of internal development (i.e. going solo) vis-à-vis strategic alliances.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.
HRD interventions, employee competencies and organizational effectiveness: an empirical study
Authors: Potnuru Rama Krishna Gupta , Sahoo Chandan Kumar
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of human resource development (HRD) interventions on organizational effectiveness by means of employee competencies which are built by some of the selected HRD interventions.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrated research model has been developed by combining the principal factors from the existing literature. The HRD interventions chosen are training, performance management and career management (development). The validity of the model is tested by applying structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to the information collected from 290 executive and non-executive employees working in two medium size cement manufacturing companies. The reliability and validity of the dimensions are established through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the related hypotheses are tested by using SEM.

Findings

The result indicates that the selected HRD interventions have an impact on building of employee competencies, which in turn is instrumental in improving organizational effectiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The research is undertaken in Indian cement manufacturing companies which cannot be generalized across a broader range of sectors and international environment.

Practical implications

The findings of the study have potential to help decision makers of manufacturing companies to develop strategies which will enable them to improve employee competency, to formulate effective HRD interventions and to enhance the capability of the employees to achieve desired goals and objectives of the organization.

Originality/value

The research is unique in its attempt to measure employee competencies for organizational effectiveness by combining the existing scales of individual competences. The article contributes to the HRD literature, integrating HRD interventions and employee competencies into a comprehensive research model that influence organizational effectiveness.
Islamic banking contribution in sustainable socioeconomic development in Indonesia
Authors: Pratiwi Ari
Published: June 2016

Purpose

As a prominent actor in terms of achieving sustainable socioeconomic development, especially in rural areas, Islamic banks are urged to pursue their main objective. It is required to set the objective accordingly from time-to-time to continuously make a positive contribution to the sustainable socioeconomic development. Hence, the integration of the external factors such as government’s economic target (macro) into Islamic banking’s objectives (micro) is needed.

Design/methodology/approach

This research attempts to identify factors that might prevent the sustainable economic development activities within the micro–macro circular causal model established by Tawhidi String Relation (TSR) methodology.

Findings

The research clearly found that the existing Islamic banking’s business and directions had an uncorrelated connection with Indonesia’s economic objective. Nevertheless, the Islamic banking’s Musharakah and Mudharabah contract for Usaha Mikro Kecil Menengah [(UMKM) (Micro, Small Medium Enterprises)] was showing the positive correlation to their financial performance indicator. Hence, Islamic banking is strongly suggested to be more focused on these two types of partnership financing contract to UMKM. Furthermore, its value and volume is needed to be expanded to build Indonesia’s sustainable socioeconomic foundation. Then the positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be achieved.

Originality/value

The existing research covering the sustainability index is mainly only based on the macro perspective, while in this research, the integration between the micro and macro perspectives between government objectives and Islamic banking objectives is needed. This interaction and integration between the two are in line with the concept of the TSR methodology.
The determinants of the choice of Islamic banks in Tunisia
Authors: Ltifi Moez , Hikkerova Lubica , Aliouat Boualem , Gharbi Jameleddine
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine the explanatory factors for the selection of Islamic banks and evaluate the moderating role of demographic characteristics. This study seeks to better understand these determinants in Tunisia, a country with a developing Islamic finance system and a culture different from those in other Muslim countries studied in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors developed a two-sided approach: a quantitative survey and 12 semi-structured interviews based on four customer segments identified by the quantitative study. For the survey, data were collected from 180 Islamic bank clients in Tunisia. The factors adopted for the selection of an Islamic bank are service quality, trust, and compliance with Sharia (Islamic) law. The authors identified and measured the selection criteria using a factor analysis, regression analysis, and demographic characteristics analysis.

Findings

– Customers consider several factors while choosing an Islamic bank: the quality of service offered by the financial institutions, trust, and (especially) compliance with Sharia law. Moreover, gender and age appear to be the only moderators between the selection of an Islamic bank and these determinants.

Practical implications

– This study offers Islamic banks a better understanding of how Tunisian customers select financial institutions. These banks must consider the different determinants of choice in order to create value for consumers and prepare their marketing strategies. The authors identify four customer segments based on gender and age by which the banks may improve their positioning and market share, thus contributing to the development of Islamic financial institutions in Tunisia.

Originality/value

– This is the first study of its kind in Tunisia, where the market share of Islamic finance remains low. The study enriches the Islamic marketing literature on the quality of Islamic financial institutions’ service, trust, and compliance with Sharia law. It also tests demographic characteristics as moderators. The results and implications of this research can be applied to countries similar to Tunisia.
Entrepreneurial networks across the business life cycle: the case of Alpine hospitality entrepreneurs
Authors: Strobl Andreas , Kronenberg Christopher
Published: June 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to deliver a detailed understanding about the dynamics of entrepreneurial networks along the enterprise life cycle of hospitality enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study research was conducted, using in-depth interviews with hospitality entrepreneurs and additional material (e.g. website information). The data were analyzed applying the qualitative method GABEK (GAnzheitliche BEwältigung von Komplexität – holistic processing of complexity) which enables researchers to reveal concepts and attitudes of interviewees.

Findings

Networks of hospitality entrepreneurs shift from local ties to industry-specific actor groups to local and non-local ties to actor groups inside and outside the industry. Throughout the enterprise life cycle, entrepreneurs prefer strong ties. The transition from one family generation to the next and changes in the competitive environment are important triggers of network configurations.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should reproduce the findings and investigate the proposed relationships in representative samples from different regions and industries. The influences of different actors within networks provide fertile research opportunities.

Practical implications

Networks provide viable means for tackling the challenges of growth in the hospitality industry. The research provides managerial implications for how networks should be configured for meeting resource dependencies of different development stages.

Originality/value

Building on resource dependency theory, this research emphasizes which challenges the enterprise life cycle imposes upon network management in the hospitality industry. While past research has focused upon the early stages of the enterprise life cycle, this study investigates also later stages. Furthermore, triggers of network management are identified.
Exploring the motivations of tourism social entrepreneurs
Authors: Mottiar Ziene
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations of social entrepreneurs. It explores the case of the Gathering in Ireland in 2013, when against a backdrop of recession, the national Government encouraged individuals and communities to organize events and invite the Diaspora to visit Ireland as a way of helping the country to revitalize. Some 5,000 events took place across the country during the year, and this paper examines this in the context of social entrepreneurship. Three research questions are posed: Who were these tourism and social entrepreneurs who organized events as a result of the Gathering? What motivated them to engage in these activities? Will this social entrepreneurship activity be maintained beyond 2013 and how has it been impacted by the Gathering?

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical research was conducted in two counties in Ireland, Co. Kerry and Co. Westmeath. The research tools used were key informant interviews, a survey of event organizers and focus groups.

Findings

Key findings show that the Gathering has resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs, but it has also had a positive impact on those who had run their events before, as it made them be more strategic in the way they planned and ran their event and also resulted in them thinking about these events in terms of tourists rather than just the local community. They also developed new skills which will aid their future development. It is clear that social entrepreneurs can play a fundamental role in the development of tourism destinations, and this is an important topic for researchers in tourism to be concerned about.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper lies in the fact that it addresses the issue of motivation of social entrepreneurs and challenges us to think more about how these types of entrepreneurs identify the problem that they will address. Furthermore, this case shows that the motivation for such action can be prompted by a national strategy, rather than as the literature heretofore represented it as an innate motivation that materialized and developed within particular individuals.
Learning with the market
Authors: Sigala Marianna
Published: June 2016

Purpose

Although the generation of social value is the focus of social entrepreneurship, little research attention is paid on how social value and transformation can be created. By adopting a market approach, this study aims to develop a framework showing how social enterprises in tourism/hospitality can generate social value and transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

A thorough literature review revealed that a market approach is an appropriate lens for understanding social entrepreneurship. Consequently, a framework based on “learning with the market” is proposed as a useful tool for identifying, managing and also creating (new) opportunities for social ventures. The justification and the theoretical underpinnings of the market-based framework are further supported by discussing various other theories and concepts.

Findings

The framework identifies three capabilities that social entrepreneurs need to develop for generating social value and transformation: network structure, market practices and market pictures. Several examples from tourism and hospitality social enterprises are analyzed for showing the applicability and usefulness of the framework.

Research limitations/implications

The paper proposes a conceptual framework as well as several research directions for further testing, refining and expanding it.

Practical implications

By applying the framework on several tourism and hospitality social enterprises, the paper provides practical implications about the capabilities that social enterprises should develop for engaging with other market actors to identify and exploit (new) market opportunities for social value co-creation, and influence market plasticity for forming new markets and driving social change.

Social implications

The suggested framework identifies the capabilities and the ways in which (tourism/hospitality) social enterprises can engage with and form markets for co-creating social value and escalating their social impacts through social transformation.

Originality/value

The paper provides a new marketing approach (that overcomes the limitations of traditional economic theories) for understanding how social enterprises can shape, manage and engage with social markets for generating social value.
Mixed-gender ownership and financial performance of SMEs in South Africa
Authors: Simo Kengne Beatrice Desiree
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the presence of women among owner-stakeholders affects firms’ financial performance. Particularly, it extends the corporate governance literature by linking stakeholder theory and gender differences to explain why gender composition of ownership matters for firms’ performance. As the management of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) revolves around owner-managers and their individual characteristics that are likely to affect their achievements, the study further investigates the relationship between the gender composition of ownership and the firm survival.

Design/methodology/approach

Using survey data on SMEs for 2007 and 2010, this study uses a panel-level heteroskedasticity technique and a probit methodology to assess the effect women’s presence among owners may exert on SMEs performance and survival, respectively.

Findings

Results indicate that firms jointly owned by men and women appear to perform better than those owned by men although the presence of women among owners does not correlate with firm survival.

Research limitations/implications

While the findings of this study shed some light on the performance impact of gender composition of firm ownership, reports based on the presence of women among owners may not present the full picture. Whether the ownership is shared equally between different genders might provide further insides on the magnitude and/or robustness of such effect. Moreover, a small sample period (T = 2) was used to analyse a single industrial sector (manufacturing), and even though the Hausman test confirmed the use of random-effects specification, caution should be taken when generalizing the findings to other cases.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that the leadership in mixed-gender context propels a perspective of women as a valuable resource within SMEs, but relying on it to sustain the survival would be unwise.

Social implications

South Africa scores particularly high on positive actions towards women entrepreneurship, and this is compounded in the SMEs sector by managerial attitudes that could offer positive developments for women.

Originality/value

The positive and significant relationship between women’s presence among owners and SMEs financial performance in South Africa complements the almost exclusively reported negative impact of gender diversity on firm performance. Consequently, mixed-gender owners’ team can be used as a fulcrum to promote SMEs growth in South Africa.
Demand uncertainty and inventory turnover performance
Authors: Hançerlioğulları Gülşah , Şen Alper , Aktunç Esra Ağca
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of demand uncertainty on inventory turnover performance through empirical modeling. In particular the authors use the inaccuracy of quarterly sales forecasts as a proxy for demand uncertainty and study its impact on firm-level inventory turnover ratios.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors use regression analysis to study the effect of various measures on inventory performance. The authors use a sample financial data for 304 publicly listed US retail firms for the 25-year period from 1985 to 2009.

Findings

– Controlling for the effects of retail segments and year, it is found that inventory turnover is negatively correlated with mean absolute percentage error of quarterly sales forecasts and gross margin and positively correlated with capital intensity and sales surprise. These four variables explain 73.7 percent of the variation across firms and over time and 93.4 percent of the within-firm variation in the data.

Practical implications

– In addition to conducting an empirical investigation for the sources of variation in a major operational metric, the results in this study can also be used to benchmark a retailer’s inventory performance against its competitors.

Originality/value

– The authors develop a new proxy to measure the demand uncertainty that a firm faces and show that this measure may help to explain the variation in inventory performance.
Leadership and elite interviews
Authors: Schara Tomaz , Common Richard
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the constructivist-grounded theory in elite interviews, the methodology used for this research.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research is about the challenges of the EU rail industry integration in the context of EU integration as seen and told by the involved actors. In particular, the integration process requires leadership in the multi-level governance context of the EU and in the transition from state monopolies to businesses providing services on the integrated market. This provides a potential source of theoretically and practically relevant research questions; and second rigorous grounded research methodologies will bring insight that transcends the currently accepted formal and public statements about the phenomena. The work is situated within social constructivist ontology, enacted through a rigorous grounded theory approach to understanding the current challenges of the industry and seeking more effective developments for the future.

Findings

– Findings place the concepts of leadership and debt into a relationship that could offer profound understanding of certain social relations and contribute to the growth of theory and practice. These findings are also elaborated in this paper as reflections on the methodological process.

Research limitations/implications

– Contribution to theory and practice supports the relevance and rigor of “constructivist-grounded theory in elite interviews” as a methodological approach.

Practical implications

– In particular, it supports qualitative research in complex political environments, such as the multi-level governance structures of the EU.

Social implications

– A clearer understanding of leadership within such dynamic contexts can make a substantial contribution to better policy-making in the EU and better outcomes for its citizens.

Originality/value

– Further analysis and research of the concepts of leadership and debt and their relationship could offer profound understanding of certain social relations and contribute to the growth of theory and practice.
Building an organizational culture when delivering commercial experiences – the leaders’ perspective
Authors: Eriksson Maria , Ingelsson Pernilla
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify, present and analyze the strengths and weaknesses mentioned by leaders when describing how their organization works with creating customer value in commercial experiences. Furthermore, the overall research purpose is to explore the creation of customer value in commercial experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

An interview study with eight managers focused on how their organization creates customer value when offering commercial experiences. Results were analyzed with regard to creating customer value, customer involvement and development of new experiences.

Findings

A literature study confirms an increasing interest in commercial experiences both financially and because of customer demand. The conducted interview study found several areas of improvement where the greatest potential was in the building of a strong organizational culture based on values to ensure co-creation of customer value between the organization and the customer. Also found to be important were working with customer involvement when co-producing the experience, discovering customer expectations and measuring the results of the delivered customer value.

Originality/value

When it comes to commercial experiences, one of the keys to creating customer value is the element of surprise and delivering the unexpected. This advocates studying the theory of attractive quality, discovering the unspoken needs of the customer.
A systematic review of quality of student experience in higher education
Authors: Tan Adrian Heng Tsai , Muskat Birgit , Zehrer Anita
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthesize major streams of research on quality of student experience in higher education, to present an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a systematic review of research published in high-quality journals during the period 2000 to 2014 in the areas of quality of student experience and higher education.

Findings

Findings highlight current research trends on the quality of student experience in higher education. Results show five prevailing research streams: exploration of learning experience; exploration of student experience; gender differences in assessment of higher education experience; improvement in quality of student experience; and student satisfaction with higher education experience.

Research Limitations/implications

The identification of the five research streams provides the basis for a synthesis of key issues identified within each research stream. In addition, the identification of purposes and limitations in existing research supports attempts to address issues of the quality of student experiences in higher education.

Practical Implications

Literature currently portrays the quality of student experience as a student-centric idea. Together with the purposes and limitations identified in existing research, the paper proposes an agenda for future research that increases the variety of research streams to provide a deeper understanding of the student experience and to enhance the delivery of quality in higher education.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the research scene by providing important insights in terms of the current trends and focus of existing research in the area of quality of student experiences in higher education.
Exploring human (in-)security from a gender perspective
Authors: Sasaki Shinobu , Kusakabe Kyoko , Doneys Philippe
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Using the concept of human security, the purpose of this paper is to explore the subjective perception of insecurities experienced by Thai subcontracted workers in industrial value chains and examines how they mitigate these insecurities.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper uses a qualitative approach and analyses the narratives from in-depth interviews with 23 female subcontracted workers in low-income communities in Bangkok, Thailand. Four male subcontracted workers were also interviewed to compare gender differences. Five key informant interviews with NGOs and academicians were conducted.

Findings

– There are three main findings. First, subcontracted workers’ economic insecurities are influenced by their work and personal trajectories in the labour market. Second, many of their health and care-related insecurities are fuelled by relational rather than individual experience; that is, they are worried they will not be able to provide care for their children, to fulfil their responsibility as mothers, or they are concerned with the effects of their hazardous work environment on their family members. Third, most subcontracted workers mitigate their insecurities using their immediate relational network in the absence of formal protection.

Originality/value

– While earlier literature on subcontracted workers’ vulnerabilities in Thailand discussed the issues from a politico-economic perspective, this paper uses the concept of human security, which enables us to better understand their insecurities as context-specific experiences in their daily lives.
Developing competitive advantage using the triple bottom line: a conceptual framework
Authors: Schulz Steven A. , Flanigan Rod L.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for a sustainability model to be used by industrial companies for establishing a competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature is replete with sustainability models for business; however, few of these models are specific to the industrial supply chain market sector. The authors propose a novel approach for comparing/normalizing data from all three components of the Triple Bottom Line (3BL) sustainability model.

Findings

A shortcoming of the 3BL sustainability model has been that the data cannot be easily normalized and compared across the three categories of the model. The findings of this paper suggest that it may be possible to develop a model that includes both environmental and social responsibility scales, combined with the more traditional financial data, as a tool for competitive advantage using generalizable data.

Practical implications

As the industrial companies continue to put increasing pressure on both the upstream and downstream suppliers in their supply chain to demonstrate sound sustainability practice, this model could serve to provide a company with competitive advantage.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a novel approach to assessing environmental, social and financial impact as a tool for competitive advantage.