bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Maternal Ω‐3 Supplementation on Fatty Acids and on Visual and Cognitive Development
Authors: Hurtado Jose A. , Iznaola Carmen , Peña Manuela , Ruíz Josefa , Peña‐Quintana Luis , Kajarabille Naroa , Rodriguez‐Santana Yessica , Sanjurjo Pablo , Aldámiz‐Echevarría Luis , Ochoa Julio , Lara‐Villoslada Federico ,   NUGELA Group
Published: May 2015

Objectives:

The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether a dairy drink enriched with ω‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC‐PUFA) could have an impact on the lipid profile of the mother and the newborn, and also whether this intervention could affect the newborns’ visual and cognitive development.

Methods:

A total of 110 pregnant women were randomly assigned to one of the following intervention groups: control group (n = 54), taking 400 mL/day of the control dairy drink, and supplemented group (fish oil [FO]) (n = 56), taking 400 mL/day of the fish oil–enriched dairy drink (including ~400 mg eicosapentaenoic acid–docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]/day). During the study, the mothers’ diets were supervised by a nutritionist to encourage compliance with present recommendations of FA intake. Blood fatty acid profiles were determined in the mother's (at enrollment, at delivery, and at 2.5 and 4 months) and newborn (at delivery and at 2.5 months) placenta and breast milk (colostrum and at 1, 2, and 4 months). Pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) (at 2.5 and 7.5 months) and Bayley test (at 12 months) were recorded.

Results:

DHA percentage was higher in plasma, erythrocyte membranes, and breast milk samples from the FO group. The ratio of nervonic acid was also higher in plasma and erythrocyte lipids of the mother and newborn's blood samples from the FO group. No differences were observed in the Bayley test. No differences were observed in VEPs between both groups. We observed a shorter latency, however, in the lower visual angle (7.5′) in the boys of the supplemented group.

Conclusions:

Omega‐3 LC‐PUFA dietary supplement during pregnancy and lactation influenced the mother and newborn's fatty acid profile and nervonic acid content but did not show effects on visual and cognitive/psychomotor development.
Short Sleep Duration Is Related to Emerging Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Obese Children
Authors: Navarro‐Solera María , Carrasco‐Luna Joaquín , Pin‐Arboledas Gonzalo , González‐Carrascosa Rebeca , Soriano José M. , Codoñer‐Franch Pilar
Published: May 2015

Objective:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of sleep duration on cardiovascular risk factors in obese children.

Methods:

Cross‐sectional analysis of 90 obese children ages 7 to 16 years. Anthropometric and clinical evaluation with specification of dietary and lifestyle habits was carried out during an office visit. Sleep duration was evaluated by the BEARS (B = bedtime issues, E = excessive daytime sleepiness, A = night awakening, R = regularity and duration of sleep, S = snoring) questionnaire on children's sleep characteristics. Sleep time adequacy by age was assessed according to the criteria of the National Sleep Foundation. Biochemical blood variables indicative of metabolic risk (glucose, lipid profile, and insulin) were obtained. Emergent new factors of metabolic risk, including high‐sensitive C‐reactive protein, γ‐glutamyltranspeptidase, homocysteine, retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4), thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH), inflammatory markers, and the adipokines leptin, adiponectin, and ghrelin were also evaluated. The relations between the duration of sleep and these variables were analyzed by general lineal model analysis. Significant variables were introduced in logistic regression analysis to determine the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of cardiometabolic factors with respect to sleep.

Results:

Children who slept for short duration were significantly more at risk of severe central obesity. In the regression model, the mean arterial pressure (odds ratio [OR] 1.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.17, P = 0.008), homocysteine (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.08–1.84, P = 0.013), RBP4 (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.15–2.78, P = 0.010), and TSH (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.21–3.34, P = 0.007) remain as significant independent predictors related to short sleep duration. We did not find any association between sleep duration and inflammatory markers or adipokines.

Conclusions:

Short sleep duration increases the severity of obesity and is related to cardiovascular risk factors in children.
Triplet–triplet annihilation in highly efficient fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes: current state and future outlook
Authors: Kondakov Denis Y.
Published: May 2015

Studies of delayed electroluminescence in highly efficient fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) of many dissimilar architectures indicate that the triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) significantly increases yield of excited singlet states—emitting molecules in this type of device thereby contributes substantially to their efficiency. Towards the end of the 2000s, the essential role of TTA in realizing highly efficient fluorescent devices was widely recognized. Analysis of a diverse set of fluorescent OLEDs shows that high efficiencies are often cor-related to TTA extents. It is therefore likely that it is the long-term empirical optimization of OLED efficiencies that has resulted in fortuitous emergence of TTA as a large and ubiquitous contributor to efficiency. TTA contributions as high as 20–30% are common in the state-of-the-art OLEDs, and even become dominant in special cases, where TTA is shown to substantially exceed the spin-statistical limit. The fundamental features of OLED efficiency enhancement via TTA—molecular structure-dependent contributions, current density-dependent intensities in practical devices and frequently observed antagonistic relationships between TTA extent and OLED lifetime—came to be understood over the course of the next few years. More recently, however, there was much less reported progress with respect to all-important quantitative details of the TTA mechanism. It should be emphasized that, to this day and despite the decades of work on improving blue phosphorescent OLEDs as well as the recent advent of thermally activated delayed fluorescence OLEDs, the majority of practical blue OLEDs still rely on TTA. Considering such practical importance of fluorescent blue OLEDs, the design of blue OLED-compatible materials capable of substantially exceeding the spin-statistical limit in TTA, elimination of the antagonistic relationship between TTA-related efficiency gains and lifetime losses, and designing devices with an extended range of current densities producing near-maximum TTA electroluminescence are the areas where future improvements would be most beneficial.
Photon upconversion sensitized by a Ru(II)-pyrenyl chromophore
Authors: Deng Fan , Lazorski Megan S. , Castellano Felix N.
Published: May 2015

The near-visible-to-blue singlet fluorescence of anthracene sensitized by a ruthenium chromophore with a long-lived triplet-excited state, [Ru(5-pyrenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)
3
](PF
6
)
2
, in acetonitrile was investigated. Low intensity non-coherent green light was used to selectively excite the sensitizer in the presence of micromolar concentrations of anthracene generating anti-Stokes, singlet fluorescence in the latter, even with incident power densities below 500 μW cm
−2
. The resultant data are consistent with photon upconversion proceeding from sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) of the anthracene acceptor molecules, confirmed through transient absorption spectroscopy as well as static and dynamic photoluminescence experiments. Additionally, quadratic-to-linear incident power regimes for the upconversion process were identified for this composition under monochromatic 488 nm excitation, consistent with a sensitized TTA mechanism ultimately producing the anti-Stokes emission characteristic of anthracene singlet fluorescence.
Singlet-to-triplet interconversion using hyperfine as well as ferromagnetic fringe fields
Authors: Wohlgenannt M. , Flatté M. E. , Harmon N. J. , Wang F. , Kent A. D. , Macià F.
Published: May 2015

Until recently the important role that spin-physics (‘spintronics’) plays in organic light-emitting devices and photovoltaic cells was not sufficiently recognized. This attitude has begun to change. We review our recent work that shows that spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields that may be present in the organic layer dramatically affect electronic transport properties and electroluminescence efficiency. Competition between spin-dynamics due to these spatially varying fields and an applied, spatially homogeneous magnetic field leads to large magnetoresistance, even at room temperature where the thermodynamic influences of the resulting nuclear and electronic Zeeman splittings are negligible. Spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields are naturally present in many organic materials in the form of nuclear hyperfine fields, but we will also review a second method of controlling the electrical conductivity/electroluminescence, using the spatially varying magnetic fringe fields of a magnetically unsaturated ferromagnet. Fringe-field magnetoresistance has a magnitude of several per cent and is hysteretic and anisotropic. This new method of control is sensitive to even remanent magnetic states, leading to different conductivity/electroluminescence values in the absence of an applied field. We briefly review a model based on fringe-field-induced polaron-pair spin-dynamics that successfully describes several key features of the experimental fringe-field magnetoresistance and magnetoelectroluminescence.
Multiple exciton generation in quantum dots versus singlet fission in molecular chromophores for solar photon conversion
Authors: Beard Matthew C. , Johnson Justin C. , Luther Joseph M. , Nozik Arthur J.
Published: May 2015

Both multiple exciton generation (MEG) in semiconductor nanocrystals and singlet fission (SF) in molecular chromophores have the potential to greatly increase the power conversion efficiency of solar cells for the production of solar electricity (photovoltaics) and solar fuels (artificial photosynthesis) when used in solar photoconverters. MEG creates two or more excitons per absorbed photon, and SF produces two triplet states from a single singlet state. In both cases, multiple charge carriers from a single absorbed photon can be extracted from the cell and used to create higher power conversion efficiencies for a photovoltaic cell or a cell that produces solar fuels, like hydrogen from water splitting or reduced carbon fuels from carbon dioxide and water (analogous to biological photosynthesis). The similarities and differences in the mechanisms and photoconversion cell architectures between MEG and SF are discussed.
Kinetics of thermal-assisted delayed fluorescence in blue organic emitters with large singlet–triplet energy gap
Authors: Dias Fernando B.
Published: May 2015

The kinetics of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is investigated in dilute solutions of organic materials with application in blue light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). A method to accurately determine the energy barrier (Δ
E
a
) and the rate of reverse intersystem crossing (
k
Risc
) in TADF emitters is developed, and applied to investigate the triplet-harvesting mechanism in blue-emitting materials with large singlet–triplet energy gap (Δ
E
ST
). In these materials, triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) is the dominant mechanism for triplet harvesting; however, above a threshold temperature TADF is able to compete with TTA and give enhanced delayed fluorescence. Evidence is obtained for the interplay between the TTA and the TADF mechanisms in these materials.
Genome-wide activities of Polycomb complexes control pervasive transcription
Authors: Lee Hun-Goo , Kahn Tatyana G. , Simcox Amanda , Schwartz Yuri B. , Pirrotta Vincenzo
Published: May 2015

Polycomb group (PcG) complexes PRC1 and PRC2 are well known for silencing specific developmental genes. PRC2 is a methyltransferase targeting histone H3K27 and producing H3K27me3, essential for stable silencing. Less well known but quantitatively much more important is the genome-wide role of PRC2 that dimethylates ∼70% of total H3K27. We show that H3K27me2 occurs in inverse proportion to transcriptional activity in most non-PcG target genes and intergenic regions and is governed by opposing roaming activities of PRC2 and complexes containing the H3K27 demethylase UTX. Surprisingly, loss of H3K27me2 results in global transcriptional derepression proportionally greatest in silent or weakly transcribed intergenic and genic regions and accompanied by an increase of H3K27ac and H3K4me1. H3K27me2 therefore sets a threshold that prevents random, unscheduled transcription all over the genome and even limits the activity of highly transcribed genes. PRC1-type complexes also have global roles. Unexpectedly, we find a pervasive distribution of histone H2A ubiquitylated at lysine 118 (H2AK118ub) outside of canonical PcG target regions, dependent on the RING/Sce subunit of PRC1-type complexes. We show, however, that H2AK118ub does not mediate the global PRC2 activity or the global repression and is predominantly produced by a new complex involving L(3)73Ah, a homolog of mammalian PCGF3.
Crystal structures of four indole derivatives as possible cannabinoid allosteric antagonists
Authors: Kerr Jamie R. , Trembleau Laurent , Storey John M. D. , Wardell James L. , Harrison William T. A.
Published: May 2015

The crystal structures of four indole derivatives with various substituents at the 2-, 3- and 5-positions of the ring system are described, namely, ethyl 3-(5-chloro-2-phenyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-phenylpropanoate, C25H22ClNO2, (I), 2-bromo-3-(2-nitro-1-phenylethyl)-1H-indole, C16H13BrN2O2, (II), 5-methoxy-3-(2-nitro-1-phenylethyl)-2-phenyl-1H-indole, C23H20N2O3, (III), and 5-chloro-3-(2-nitro-1-phenylethyl)-2-phenyl-1H-indole, C22H17ClN2O2, (IV). The dominant intermolecular interaction in each case is an N—H...O hydrogen bond, which generates either chains or inversion dimers. Weak C—H...O, C—H...π and π–π interactions occur in these structures but there is no consistent pattern amongst them. Two of these compounds act as modest enhancers of CB1 cannabanoid signalling and two are inactive.
Crystal structure ofp-toluenesulfonylmethyl isocyanide
Authors: Bano Huma , Yousuf Sammer
Published: May 2015

The molecule of the commercially available title compound, C9H9NO2S, has crystallographically imposed mirror symmetry, the mirror plane passing through the isocyanide group and thepara-C atoms, the methyl C atom and the S atom of the methyl 4-tolyl sulfone moiety. In the crystal, C—H...O hydrogen-bond interactions link the molecules into chains running parallel to thebaxis.
Crystal structure of 4-amino-2,6-dichlorophenol
Authors: McDonald Kyle J. , Desikan Vasumathi , Golen James A. , Manke David R.
Published: May 2015

The title compound, C6H5Cl2NO, has a single planar molecule in the asymmetric unit with the non-H atoms possessing a mean deviation from planarity of 0.020 Å. In the crystal, O—H...N hydrogen bonds lead to the formation of infinite chains along [101] which are further linked by N—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming (010) sheets.
Crystal structure of the Fe-member of usovite
Authors: Weil Matthias
Published: May 2015

Crystals of the title compound, with the idealized composition Ba2CaFeAl2F14, dibarium calcium iron(II) dialuminium tetradecafluoride, were obtained serendipitously by reacting a mixture of the binary fluorides BaF2, CaF2and AlF3in a leaky steel reactor. The compound crystallizes in the usovite structure type (Ba2CaMgAl2F14), with Fe2+cations replacing the Mg2+cations. The principal building units are distorted [CaF8] square-antiprisms (point group symmetry 2), [FeF6] octahedra (point group symmetry -1) and [AlF6] octahedra that are condensed into undulating2∞[CaFeAl2F14]4−layers parallel (100). The Ba2+cations separate the layers and exhibit a coordination number of 12. Two crystal structure models with a different treatment of the disordered Fe site [mixed Fe/Ca occupation, model (I),versusunderoccupation of Fe, model (II)], are discussed, leading to different refined formulae Ba2Ca1.310 (15)Fe0.690 (15)Al2F14[model (I)] and Ba2CaFe0.90 (1)Al2F14[model (II)].
Statistical correlation properties of the SHIBOR interbank lending market
Authors: Luo Yong , Xiong Jie , Dong Lie Gang , Tang Yong
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the statistical correlation properties of the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (SHIBOR) interbank lending market.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors apply methods of correlation analysis, random matrix theory (RMT) and minimum spanning tree (MST) to investigate the correlation properties of Chinese interbank lending market and analyze how the SHIBOR panel banks behave in different market periods.

Findings

– First, the largest eigenvalue λ
1 is the index to describe the market mode of the whole market when all banks behavior collectively and λ
1/N is a good estimator of the average correlation  of the correlation matrix. Second, notably, the authors find the “market mode” is weakened in two crises periods of 2008 stock market crash and 2009 Global Financial Crisis. This is significantly different from other market where the “market mode” is normally strengthened in crises periods. Third, the authors subtract the contribution of λ
1, the second and third eigenvalue, λ
2 and λ
3, will fall outside of the predicted interval. And both λ
2 and λ
3 are getting times larger in the crises periods than in “Non-Crisis” period. Fourth, and in the MST analysis, the authors find again that the average distances of the MST are the times larger in crises periods than in “Non-Crisis” period and the second largest eigenvalue is a good estimator of the average distance of the MST.

Originality/value

– According to the best knowledge, this paper is the first work on the study of the statistical properties of an interbank lending market using quotation level data of panel banks, which allows us to analyze the properties of the interest rate formation and how all panel banks behavior in different periods. This work is also the first study on the SHIBOR market using econophysics methods of correlation analysis, RMT and MST.
Stock returns and volatility dynamics in China
Authors: McMillan David G , Evans Pornsawan
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of equity ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for over 2,000 listed firms in China. The paper examines both the pattern of state ownership and the dynamics of stock returns and volatility. Firms under the control of SOEs dominate the Chinese stock markets and currently account for over three-quarters of total market capitalisation. Central SOEs are focused in strategic industries, while Local SOEs concentrate on pillar industries relating to consumer goods and services.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors obtain firm-level data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets and using panel estimation techniques examine the dynamics of returns, volatility and their relationship.

Findings

– The authors report an increase in state control among listed firms compared to earlier reported figures. This is contradictory to the expectation of a lower state influence following China joining of the World Trade Organisation in 2001. In examining the behaviour of stock returns the authors find evidence of daily and monthly autocorrelations that are larger and of a different sign to that reported for western markets. The authors also report evidence of volatility persistence but little evidence of volatility asymmetry, again in contrast to that often reported for other markets. Finally, the authors find evidence of either no or a negative relationship between returns and volatility (risk) that differs from our usual view of risk aversion.

Originality/value

– It is hoped, knowledge of these dynamics will increase the understanding of the Chinese equity market, which in turn is important for those engaged in international portfolio management and micro-structure modelling.
Managing social innovation in for-profit organizations: the case of Intesa Sanpaolo
Authors: Altuna Naiara , Contri Anna Maria , Dell'Era Claudio , Frattini Federico , Maccarrone Paolo
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– Social innovations are defined as innovative products or services motivated by the goal of meeting a social need, with the opportunity to create new social relationships or collaborations. Although developing social innovations has been the primary concern of non-profit organizations so far, there are signs of an increasing involvement in this type of innovations of for-profit firms, in an attempt to accomplish their corporate social responsibility strategies. This notwithstanding, there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide exploratory evidence to fill this gap.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper presents and discusses a case study of a firm that has been involved in social innovation for years. It is Intesa Sanpaolo, a for-profit organization that leads the Italian banking sector.

Findings

– The case study points to the existence of three managerial antecedents of a superior ability in social innovation: integrating CSR in its business strategy with a strong commitment from the top management; separating the activities concerned with the development of social innovations from the rest of the organization, following to the structural ambidexterity model; applying the principles of open innovation to the development of social innovations, by involving in particular non-profit organizations as a source of ideas for new social innovation projects and leveraging them to enable adoption of the new products and services.

Originality/value

– So far there is very limited knowledge on how for-profit organizations can develop a capability to manage social innovation projects. This paper provides exploratory evidence to fill this gap.
Does patenting influence SME sales performance? A quantity and quality analysis of patents in Northern Italy
Authors: Agostini Lara , Caviggioli Federico , Filippini Roberto , Nosella Anna
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– In today’s economy, intangibles have become more important than physical assets for firm success. In particular, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) registered an increasing trend in patenting, exceeding large firms in the number of patent registrations. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between patents and SME sales performance, taking into consideration also patent quality.

Design/methodology/approach

– The approach uses panel regression model to investigate the relationship between patenting and sales, controlling for firm size and firm age. The authors adopt a purposive sampling technique focusing on a sample of Italian SMEs in the mechanical industry.

Findings

– The results show that the count of patents do not have any effect on sales performance, while the number of jurisdictions where the protection is extended produces a positive and significant result.

Practical implications

– The main implication for SME entrepreneurs and managers is that relying on a large number of patents does not automatically lead to higher performance; instead, filing those patents which protect particularly valuable innovations could be more productive in terms of SME sales performance Moreover, the results suggest that a longer time lag between patent filing and SME sales performance might be possible.

Originality/value

– This paper is one of first attempts to shed light on the issue regarding SMEs patent quality. It is notable that the quality of patents in terms of geographical scope is positively associated to SME sales performance.
Open innovation actions and innovation performance
Authors: Greco Marco , Grimaldi Michele , Cricelli Livio
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the recurrences in the empirical evidences that link open innovation (OI) actions and innovation performance in European countries. It provides managers with useful strategic suggestions, emphasizes the limitations of the state of the art, and recommends future directions of research.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors systematically reviewed empirical articles linking OI actions and innovation performance in European countries, published on peer reviewed journals from January 2003 until May 2013. The authors organized the evidences according to a novel taxonomy grounded in the literature.

Findings

– The paper shows an increasing interest in the research of empirical evidence regarding OI and innovation performance. Nonetheless, evidence of the role played by outbound OI activities are extremely rare. The authors found that process innovations are more likely to benefit from coupled OI activities rather than inbound activities. Moreover, the effect of coupled depth actions on both product and process innovation performance was always positive in the reviewed articles. The authors also discuss how scholars measure innovation performance, pointing out the criticalities.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper allows analysing the empirical evidences found in the literature, emphasizing the limitations of the state of the art and recommending future directions of research.

Practical implications

– The systematization of the empirical evidences found in the European literature provides managers with useful strategic suggestions to improve their organizations’ innovation performances.

Originality/value

– The paper contains a complete and extensive analysis of empirical OI literature with respect to European countries. The articles and their findings are organized according to a novel taxonomy useful to identify evidences and recurrences in a synoptic manner.
Investor sentiment, customer satisfaction and stock returns
Authors: Peng Chi-Lu , Lai Kuan-Ling , Chen Maio-Ling , Wei An-Pin
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to investigate whether and how different sentiments affect the stock market’s reaction to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) information.

Design/methodology/approach

– The portfolio approach, with time-varying risk factor loadings and the asset-pricing models, is borrowed from the finance literature to investigate the ACSI-performance relationship. A direct sentiment index is used to examine how investors’ optimistic, neutral and pessimistic sentiments affect the aforementioned relation.

Findings

– This paper finds that customer satisfaction is a valuable intangible asset that generates positive abnormal returns. On average, investing in the Strong-ACSI Portfolio is superior to investing in the market index. Even when the stock market holds pessimistic beliefs, investors can beat the market by investing in firms that score well on customer satisfaction. The out-performance of our zero-cost, long–short ACSI strategy also confirms the mispricing of ACSI information in pessimistic periods.

Research limitations/implications

– Findings are limited to firms covered by the ACSI data.

Practical implications

– Finance research has further documented evidence of the stock market under-reacting to intangible information. For example, firms with higher research and development expenditures, advertising, patent citations and employee satisfaction all earn superior returns. Literature also proves that investors efficiently react to tangible information, whereas they undervalue intangible information. In summary, combining our results and those reported in the literature, customer satisfaction is value-relevant for both investors and firm management, particularly in pessimistic periods.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to investigate how sentiment affects the positive ACSI-performance relationship, while considering the time-varying property of risk factors. This study is also the first to show that ACSI plays a more important role during pessimistic periods. This study contributes to the growing literature on the marketing–finance interface by providing better understanding of how investor emotional states affect their perceptions and valuations of customer satisfaction.
Impact of product differentiation, marketing investments and brand equity on pricing strategies
Authors: Davcik Nebojsa S. , Sharma Piyush
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to show the effect of brand equity, marketing investment and product differentiation on price in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), multinational companies (MNCs) and retailers (private labels). Academics have been researching brand equity, return on investment and effects of product differentiation for many years, but there has been little work that has taken a holistic view.

Design/methodology/approach

– The author studied an aggregate data set for 735 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, taken from Nielsen (10,282 households). Regression analysis was used in the first step, a cluster analysis in the second step of modeling procedure.

Findings

– The study suggests that brand equity, marketing investment and product differentiation are closely associated with price. Using a cluster analysis, the authors found that the premium price is significantly associated with product differentiation based on innovation and company type.

Practical implications

– The managerial implications of the models estimated by regression analysis are discussed as well as the results of the cluster analysis and possible research enhancements.

Originality/value

– The role of the value in brand performance output has not been investigated in the financial context, only in consumer or marketing mix context. Little is known about how price strategy depends on brand equity, product innovation activities or marketing investments intended to improve brand performance, neither how this strategy improves brand performance among different players in the market (retailers, SMEs and MNCs).
Price promotions and brand loyalty
Authors: Empen Janine , Loy Jens-Peter , Weiss Christoph
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– This article aims to estimate the relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions on the German yoghurt market. It considers consumer loyalty to various corporate brands and their respective sub-brands to analyze promotional strategies between and within certain corporate brands with a larger loyal consumer segment and a moderate strength of consumer loyalty are well suited for effective price promotions following the idea of loss leader by Lal and Matutes (1994).

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper’s approach follows Allender and Richards’ (2012) and extends to explicitly considering the product line management of every manufacturer in the market. In the first step, a random coefficient logit specification is estimated to compute measures of brand loyalty for each brand. In the second step, the relationship between brand loyalty measures and the frequency and depth of price promotions is analysed.

Findings

– The results suggest that weaker corporate brands are promoted more aggressively supporting the model hypotheses by Koças and Bohlmann (2008). Within the manufacturer’s product line, sub-brands with a larger loyal consumer segment and a moderate strength of consumer loyalty are more often used for effective price promotions which reflects the idea of loss leading first introduced by Lal and Matutes (1994).

Research limitations/implications

– The results are limited to a static relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions. Analyzing the dynamics of the relationship between brand loyalty and price promotions should prove fruitful in enhancing the understanding of retailer strategies and provides additional implications for managerial decisions in retailing.

Practical implications

– Managers need to be more aware of the linkages between product line management and promotional strategies. Changes in the product line management may require a redirection of the promotional measures and strategies.

Social implications

– Consumer behavior with respect to brand loyalty to some extent determines price promotional strategies of retailers. The promotional strategies provide opportunities to save expenditures, especially for non-loyal and low income households.

Originality/value

– Matching and analyzing two detailed (consumer, retail) scanner data sets to investigate the relationship between the measures of brand loyalty and the retailers’ price promotional strategies. Novel is the modeling of two different dimensions of brand loyalty (size and strength) and the consideration of sub-brands. The results clearly show that promotional strategies vary not only between corporate brands but also between sub-brands of the same corporate brand.
“Change in schools it’s more like sort of turning an oil tanker”
Authors: Gardner Belinda , Ollis Debbie
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to add to the evidence of best practice in the implementation of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework by examining the process of creating readiness for change in a large international school in South-East Asia. Using a settings-based approach and guided by readiness for change theory the data collected reflects which factors were most influential in the decision of the leadership team (LT) to adopt a comprehensive HPS model. It follows the process of creating readiness in the early stages of adopting a HPS approach and captures the critical factors effecting leader’s beliefs and support for the program.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research is a case study of a large pre-K-12 international school in South-East Asia with over 1,800 students. A mixed methods qualitative approach is used including semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The participants are the 12 members of the LT.

Findings

– Readiness for change was established in the LT who adopted a HPS approach. That is, they adopted a comprehensive model to address health-related priorities in the school and changed the school’s mission and accountability processes to specifically include health. Uncovering the reasons why the LT supported this change was the primary focus of this research. Building the motivation to change involved establishing a number of key beliefs three of which were influential in bringing about readiness for change in this case study. These included the belief that leadership support existed for the proposed change, a belief that there was a need for change with a clear discrepancy in the present and preferred operations in relation to addressing the health issues of the school and the belief that HPS was the appropriate solution to address this discrepancy.

Research limitations/implications

– Adopting a HPS approach is the first phase of implementation. Long-term research may show if the integrity of the chosen model is maintained as implementation continues. The belief construct of valence, that is, the belief that the change will benefit the change recipient, was not reliably assessed in this research. Further research needs to be conducted to understand how this construct is interpreted in the school setting. The belief construct of valence was not reliably assessed in this research. Further research needs to be done to understand how this construct fits in the school setting.

Practical implications

– This paper provides a promising example of how health can be integrated into the school’s Mission and Strategic Learning Plan. The example presented here may provide strategies for others working in the field of HPS.

Originality/value

– Creating readiness is an often over-looked stage of building sustainable change. International schools cater to more than three million students are a rarely researched in regards to health education. It is predicted that the numbers of students in international schools will grow to more than six million in the next ten years.
Are altruistic leaders worthy? The role of organizational learning capability
Authors: Mallén Fermín , Chiva Ricardo , Alegre Joaquín , Guinot Jacob
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors, organizational learning capability and organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The sampling frame consists of several databases or listings of business that consider people as a key element of the organization and are considered by their employees to be good firms to work for or organizational environments where human resources management has high priority (n=251). The authors use structural equation modeling to test if the relationship between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance is mediated by organizational learning capability.

Findings

– Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates between altruistic leader behaviors and organizational performance. Thus, organizational learning capability plays a key role in explaining how altruistic leader behaviors affect organizational performance, essentially because it facilitates the creation of a creative, participatory and dialogue-based environment that promotes organizational learning.

Research limitations/implications

– The database used in the study is very heterogeneous. Future research might delimit the database by organization size or sector. Qualitative studies may also improve our understanding of the relationships studied and enable other concepts to be included.

Practical implications

– This study provides evidence of the positive relationship between altruistic leaders and performance. However, recruiting and fomenting altruistic leaders is not sufficient on its own to improve performance, and should be accompanied by implementing other facilitating factors of organizational learning such as dialogue or experimentation.

Originality/value

– In recent years some studies have linked leadership with organizational learning. However, this is one of the first studies to concentrate on altruistic leader behaviors as such, a concept that has received scant mention in the literature despite its importance in a number of leadership styles, and its relevance today as an alternative to the egotistic leader. The authors offer empirical evidence of the role of altruistic leader behavior as an antecedent of organizational learning capability and subjective measures of performance.
The acceptance of newly introduced HR practices
Authors: Stirpe Luigi , Bonache Jaime , Trullen Jordi
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– HR practices are only effective if they are well accepted by employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of two forms of support on the acceptance of newly introduced HR practices (NHRPs): that of top managers and of supervisors. In addition, the authors analyze how these two forms of support work in conjunction with one another. The authors argue that a lack of consistency between the two impairs NHRP acceptance. The authors also explore variations in acceptance under different organizational climates.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analysis is based on an original sample of 307 employees from nine multinational companies operating in Spain. Multilevel regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

– The authors found that top management support, supervisor support, and innovation climate are all predictors of NHRP acceptance. The authors also found that low supervisor support reduces the effect of top management support. Finally, the authors found that innovation climate is not a substitute for management and supervisor support.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest that top management and supervisor behavior is critical to gaining employee acceptance of NHRPs, no matter how well designed such practices are or how well they address the needs of the organization and its employees. The findings also indicate that top managers and supervisors should coordinate the introduction of NHRPs, since employees perceive support signals from these two agents not only individually but also in conjunction.

Originality/value

– Recognizing that employee acceptance is an important determinant of the effectiveness of HR practices, the authors make a unique contribution to the literature by investigating some critical contextual enablers of acceptance.
Unpaid overtime in the Netherlands: forward- or backward-looking incentives?
Authors: van der Meer Peter H. , Wielers Rudi
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to test forward-looking incentives against backward-looking incentives.

Design/methodology/approach

– Wage growth model to estimate forward-looking effects of unpaid overtime and a probit model of participation in unpaid overtime controlling for excessive pay to estimate backward-looking effects. The authors use data form the OSA labour supply panel (years 1994, 1996 and 1998).

Findings

– The importance of backward-looking incentives is demonstrated in an empirical analysis of participation in unpaid overtime. The authors show that employees who have relatively good wages now or who have had relatively good wages in the recent past participate more often in unpaid overtime. The authors also show that participation in unpaid overtime does not lead to extra wage growth.

Research limitations/implications

– These results imply that involvement in unpaid overtime is to be explained from backward-looking incentives, not from forward-looking incentives. The paper concludes that backward-looking incentives deserve more attention in the economic literature, especially as they are well-accepted as work motivation devices by employees. Limitations are the length of the panel study (four years) and the fact that the data are restricted to one country (the Netherlands).

Social implications

– Personnel policies should focus more on the intrinsic motivation of personnel rather than on extrinsic motivation.

Originality/value

– This is the first paper to test both forward- and backward-looking incentives simultaneously.
Why do servitized firms fail? A risk-based explanation
Authors: Benedettini Ornella , Neely Andy , Swink Morgan
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– In an effort to further explain why manufacturing firms that move towards service provision often do not achieve the financial benefits they would expect, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of service additions on the risks affecting the firm.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using data drawn from a sample 129 bankrupt manufacturers (75 servitized and 54 non-servitized) and a categorization framework of failure risks, the study explores the impact of the presence of a service business on environmental and internal bankruptcy risks that a manufacturing firm must face.

Findings

– The study finds that the presence of a service business leads to a greater number of bankruptcy risks for the supplying firm. This is essentially because of greater internal risks. In addition, two types of service offerings are identified – demand chain and product support services. When firms offer demand chain services, they are also exposed to greater environmental risks.

Research limitations/implications

– The study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between servitization and bankruptcy risks, and on how this is influenced by the type of service offering. The research should be extended by a more comprehensive assessment of organizational risks in order to further validate and develop the conclusions.

Practical implications

– The study suggests that, as adding services introduces new risks for firms, managers have to seek means of mitigating these risks to ensure successful introduction of services.

Originality/value

– The paper addressed the gap in the literature for structured analyses of the risk consequences of service strategies.
Towards supply chain coordination and productivity in a three echelon supply chain
Authors: Eltantawy Reham , Paulraj Antony , Giunipero Larry , Naslund Dag , Thute Abhinay A.
Published: May 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of supply management coordination among a prominent contact lens company (customer), its carton supplier (first tier), and paperboard supplier (second tier). Adopting concepts within the theory of swift and even flow, the authors integrate the physical (material) and information flow among these supply partners to ensure higher productivity through timely production and distribution of the cartons, which reduced the lead-times and inventory levels at the three companies in this supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study uses a longitudinal case study (action research (AR)), which combines qualitative and quantitative analyses. Observations over time, documents such as contracts, joint agreements, meeting agendas and minutes, personal conversations, and in-depth interviews were mainly used, with quantitative measurement of operational performance.

Findings

– The complete solution to eliminate waste and improve the existing system is provided, as well as the ordering process solution in the form of service level models. The results of the study proved supply management coordination to be a pioneering approach in reducing inventory, reducing the safety stock at the buyer’s facility, improving the forecasts, lowering the product delivery lead-times, and establishing an information system throughout the three tiers of the supply chain.

Originality/value

– The paper draws upon real-life data from a three echelon supply chain in the manufacturing industry. Combining this triadic focus with action-based research makes it a unique opportunity to reveal insights into the issue of coordination among supply chain members and consequent performance outcomes.