bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sustaining success in an American school: a case for governance change
Authors: Jacobson Stephen L. , Johnson Lauri , Ylimaki Rose , Giles Corrie
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to revisit a successful school to see how the principal had sustained success over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a case study research design similar to the 2005 report.

Findings

The old findings revealed a principal who had used direction setting, developing people and redesigning the organization, as well as the enabling principles of accountability, caring and learning to turn around a failing, high poverty urban school. The new findings revealed that, while the same core practices and enabling principles were still in place, a significant change in governance structure had been required to sustain the school's success. Specifically, the school converted from a traditional public school to a charter school in order to protect investments made in teacher professional development. The resulting initiatives, introduced to stem teacher turnover, led to the emergence of greater teacher leadership and professional self‐renewal processes that sustained the school's success.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the literature on sustaining school success and the utility of governance change.
The International Successful School Principalship Project: success sustained?
Authors: Moos Lejf , Johansson Olof
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the findings of the follow‐up studies of successful school principals in six countries – Australia, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, and the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were categorized according to stakeholder expectations, the concept and practice of leadership, and the sustainability of leadership.

Findings

The synthesis revealed that several similar factors contribute to sustained successful leadership, although there were also differences that appeared to be associated with two groupings of countries – Australia, England and the USA on the one hand, and the Nordic countries, on the other.

Originality/value

The paper brings together data gathered from the same schools five years apart and facilitates a better understanding of the sustainability of successful school leadership.
Retail web site interactivity
Authors: Roy Dholakia Ruby , Zhao Miao
Published: October 2009

Purpose

Since web sites are collection of several features, this paper examines web site interactivity – objective and subjective – at the feature level in terms of three underlying dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to understand the distinction between objective and subjective interactivity and to investigate their effects on customer satisfaction, behavioral intention, and telepresence.

Design/methodology/approach

An experimental approach is used to study online shopping behavior from two retail web sites created to represent high and low interactivity. Student subjects, recruited from US universities, are given a task to purchase a product/gift certificate within a given budget. Analysis of variance and Lisrel are used to analyze the effects of interactivity.

Findings

Empirical results support objective and subjective interactivity as distinct constructs and while both positively impact online shoppers' satisfaction and behavioral intentions, only subjective interactivity influences telepresence. The Lisrel analysis also indicates that telepresence directly affects behavioral intentions and satisfaction does not fully mediate its impact.

Research limitations/implications

The direct relationships between objective and subjective interactivity is not examined in this paper and this relationship is likely to be more complex in the external world than can be included in an experimental setting. However, by being able to design each web site feature along the three dimensions of interactivity, it is possible to more effectively demonstrate the impact of objective and subjective interactivity as well as the merits of feature‐level interactivity.

Practical implications

If interactivity is viewed only at the overall level, then it is difficult to decide how to build an interactive web site. By employing the underlying theoretical dimensions of interactivity at the feature level, this paper addresses challenges faced in the design of web sites, particularly issues regarding whether and how to make a feature interactive.

Originality/value

Despite the growing attention to interactivity, there is limited understanding of its influences and impacts. The distinction between objective and subjective interactivity is able to shed deeper insights into the relationship between interactivity and satisfaction. This is one of the first such studies to investigate the effects of interactivity on telepresence, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, key outcome measures in online retailing.
An exploratory study of sales promotions for multichannel holiday shopping
Authors: Oh Hyunjoo , Kwon Kyoung‐Nan
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how consumers respond to price promotions in stores and on internet channels during a holiday season. Since holiday shopping has long been considered promotion intensive and multichannel shopping is increasing, it is important to understand whether consumers respond differently to price promotions from these two different channels. The paper aims to examine whether the extent of price promotions that consumers perceive in online and offline channels and their sensitivity to such price promotions influences their holiday spending in each channel.

Design/methodology/approach

A public telephone survey was conducted to collect data during the month of December 2006. Using random sampling in Florida, a total of 501 responses were collected.

Findings

Overall, the findings support the effectiveness of price promotions during holiday periods. Such awareness of the extensive practice of price promotions at stores can encourage holiday spending offline; additionally, sensitivity to price promotions on the internet can be transferred into increased holiday spending online.

Practical implications

The results of this paper extend knowledge of how holiday price promotions affect consumer spending and provide important insights into how retailers should develop price promotion programs that are well tailored to consumer behaviors in different channels.

Originality/value

This paper addresses an untapped issue on how price promotions are perceived in multichannel holiday shopping contexts.
Consumer‐factors moderating private label brand success: further empirical results
Authors: Glynn Mark S. , Chen Shaoshan
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the category‐level differences of both risk perception and brand loyalty effects on consumer proneness towards buying private label brands (PLBs).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper extends the work of Batra and Sinha by also examining the PLB effects of brand loyalty and price‐quality by product category using a mall‐intercept survey.

Findings

The results indicate that quality variability, price consciousness, price‐quality association and brand loyalty influence consumer proneness to buy PLBs. In addition, income, education and household size are moderators of PLB purchasing.

Research limitations/implications

This research confirms the importance of price consciousness and quality variability on PLB purchasing. The importance of these determinants depends on both the product category and the PLB market share within the category.

Practical implications

Retailers and manufacturers need to consider the effects of PLB in relation to the product category. For retailers, the value of a PLB is less relevant in some categories but appealing to the price conscious consumer is important. Manufacturers should note in some categories that brand loyalty is important but not as much as price consciousness. Customer income is still an important determinant of PLB purchasing.

Originality/value

The paper shows that it is important to consider product category differences which make it more difficult to generalize about PLB purchasing.
Consequences of competition between national brands and private labels
Authors: Olbrich Rainer , Grewe Gundula
Published: October 2009

Purpose

A proliferation of private labels in European food retailing has been evident for several years now. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of competition between national brands and private labels on product variety, prices and turnover.

Design/methodology/approach

Within the empirical study, a product group from the ready‐meals category is analysed over a total period of six years (between 2000 and 2005) based on scanner data from different German outlet formats. The empirical study contains time series as well as regression analyses.

Findings

The empirical results indicate that, in all studied outlet formats, there is evidence of decreasing product variety and increasing prices over time. Moreover, the results show that the turnover in the supermarkets and especially in the hypermarkets is in decline. A positive turnover trend can only be found in the discount stores.

Originality/value

This empirical study is the first that covers such a long period of time (six years) and several outlet formats. Previous studies have mostly been static or short‐term and predominantly only covered one outlet format.
Moderating role of involvement in building a retail brand
Authors: Swoboda Bernhard , Haelsig Frank , Schramm‐Klein Hanna , Morschett Dirk
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on one of the main antecedents of consumer behaviour concerning its role in building a retail brand. It addresses how consumer involvement influences perception of retailer attributes, which affects customer‐based retail brand equity when considering retailers as brands.

Design/methodology/approach

A model is developed that includes the impact of central dimensions of the perception of retailer attributes, their effects on customer‐based retail brand equity and the moderating role of consumer involvement. The empirical study is based on a sample of 3,000 consumers spread over five retail sectors (grocery, clothing, DIY, electronics and furniture).

Findings

Using multiple‐group structural equation modelling, the intersectoral relevance of involvement as a moderator in building a strong retail brand is demonstrated. In retailing, consumer involvement has a moderating effect on the influence of retailer attributes on retail brand equity. The direction of this influence differs, however, from one perceived retailer attribute to the next. Whereas the influence of price, communication and store design is greater on highly involved consumers than on those with low involvement, the influence of service and assortment is greater in consumers with low involvement. Since consumers with a different level of involvement have a different perception of retailer attributes, this factor is relevant to retail branding.

Originality/value

Understanding retailers as brands – conceptually – a basic model shows how to build retail brand equity using the dimensions of retailer marketing instruments, and this model is stable enough to test different antecedents, including involvement for the first time in this context. The five sectors surveyed distinguish the study methodologically from those that focus only on one sector. Finally, the results show that the retailer attributes relevant to retail brand equity differ between customers with high involvement and those with low involvement. This aspect must be considered in the preliminary stages of retail brand building.
Retailer premium own‐brands: creating customer loyalty through own‐brand products advantage
Authors: Huang Ying , Huddleston Patricia
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model which investigates antecedents, consequences, and contingency factors of retailer own‐brand product advantage. The paper develops propositions and managerial implications.

Design/methodology/approach

It summarizes an empirical work related to the key constructs of the theoretical model and identifies gaps in the literature. The paper provides definitions of each antecedent and outcome of retailer own product advantage and discusses managerial implications of the proposed framework.

Findings

Retailers who have higher degree of customer participation, innovation, and brand orientations are likely to have a stronger own‐brand product advantage. In turn, those retailers are more likely to have loyal customers and superior own‐brand financial performance. These relationships will be influenced by retailer image, market power, number of national brands and category size, technology complexity, and competitive intensity.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding the key outcomes of own‐brand product advantage will facilitate management's evaluation of current retail product development strategies. If outcomes of the current own‐brand strategy are not satisfactory, an assessment of customer participation, innovation, and brand orientation effectiveness may be warranted.

Originality/value

The authors are the first to define a retailer premium own‐brand. Based on the theory of resource‐based view, it is proposed a new theoretical framework that pinpoints three business orientations as antecedents of and customer loyalty and brand performance as consequences of retailer own‐brand product advantage. The framework also suggests some contingency factors at retailer, category, and market levels.
Marshall Field's becomes Macy's: understanding retail brand
Authors: Lavin Marilyn
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the controversy surrounding the 2006 extension of the Macy brand to the Marshall Field's stores. Initial reactions, as well as on‐going resistance, to the re‐branding provide a means of understanding of the strength of retail brand, how it is established and whether “symbols and traditions” may be separated from retail brand per se.

Design/methodology/approach

The effort of Federated Department Stores (later Macy's Inc.) to rebrand Marshall Field as Macy's offers a unique opportunity to understand retail brand. This paper relies on news accounts for a chronology of events leading up to and following the Marshall Field's re‐branding as Macy's. In addition, analysis of postings to the customer‐originated fieldsfanschicago blog is used to understand, from the consumer's viewpoint, how retail brand is formed and to consider the strength of retail brand.

Findings

The paper concludes that retail brand may be as strong as product brand, that personal experience, as well as retailer‐controlled variables, is strongly associated with retail brand, and that retailer “symbols and traditions” are an integral component of retail brand.

Originality/value

This paper examines retail brand in the context of the extension of family brand. The use of blog posts permits a first‐hand account of how customers perceive retail brand and of how intense their attachment to such brands may be.
Offshore BPO at large captive operations in India
Authors: Penter Kevan , Pervan Graham , Wreford John
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards development of a management framework for offshore business process outsourcing (BPO).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper utilises longitudinal case studies to identify success factors in managing offshore BPO via the captive model (i.e. wholly‐owned subsidiary).

Findings

Success in offshore BPO is based on a combination of cost savings, technical service quality and strategic issues, is specific to business context and will change over time. Choice of engagement model (e.g. captive operation or arms‐length contracting) is an important success factor. Advantages of captive centers arise from higher levels of relationship quality, trust and collaboration effectiveness.

Research limitations/implications

This paper focuses on two global companies in two industry sectors (airlines and telecommunications), and both have adopted one particular BPO model (i.e. captive operation).

Originality/value

The paper contributes to scarce literature on offshore captive BPO operations, the most common but also least researched engagement model. The findings have practical implications for managers designing offshore BPO strategy.
Offshore‐onsite subgroup dynamics in globally distributed teams
Authors: Mattarelli Elisa , Gupta Amar
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The increased use of distributed work arrangements across organizational and national borders calls for in‐depth investigation of subgroup dynamics in globally distributed teams (GDTs). The purpose of this paper is to focus on the social dynamics that emerge across subgroups of onsite‐offshore teams and affect the process of knowledge sharing.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study of eight GDTs working around the clock is conducted. These GDTs are part of organizations involved in offshoring of knowledge intensive work.

Findings

The evidence shows that the specific status cue of being onsite drives status differentials across subgroups; these differentials are reduced when the client is directly involved with the activities of the team. The negative effect of high status differentials on knowledge sharing is mitigated by the presence of straddlers, who assist in the transfer of codified knowledge. Conversely, when status differentials are low, straddlers hamper spontaneous direct learning between onsite members and offshore members.

Practical implications

This work has practical implications for organizations that want to use GDTs to achieve a faster (and cheaper) development of products and services. Managers should carefully design the organizational structures of GDTs and consider upfront the trade offs related to client involvement in teamwork and the use of straddlers across sites.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on subgroup dynamics, applying and extending the theory of status characteristics theory.
Entrepreneurship and leadership in hospitality
Authors: Naipaul Sandra , Wang Youcheng
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights and implications for hospitality management and education through an interview with an entrepreneur, leader, hotelier, and philanthropist in Central Florida – Mr Harris Rosen.

Design/methodology/approach

The study takes a qualitative approach along with a personal interview, which was used as a tool for data collection. An open‐ended interview protocol was designed to facilitate data collection.

Findings

The study presents insights of Mr Rosen on several key issues in hospitality management and education, including: entrepreneurship, leadership, education, and philanthropy. Implications and discussions are provided based on his perspective.

Originality/value

The study provides fresh ideas and perspectives on many relevant issues related to hospitality management and education. The insights and discussions provide prompt critical thinking on hospitality industry career development and various existing education systems.
The effect of perceived fairness toward hotel overbooking and compensation practices on customer loyalty
Authors: Hwang Johye , Wen Li
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of hotel overbooking and compensation practices on customers' perceptions of fairness and loyalty and examine the effects of customer gender, reservation time, membership status, length of stay, payer source, and reservation channel on perceived fairness toward overbooking.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilized a scenario‐based survey on grocery shoppers to identify relationships between overbooking, fairness and loyalty.

Findings

The findings show that customers who perceive a hotel's overbooking and compensation practices to be unfair are less likely to be loyal to the hotel in the future. Women were more likely than men to perceive the practice of hotel overbooking as unfair. All other factors had no effect on customers' perceptions of fairness.

Research limitations/implications

A longitudinal field study that collects response from real hotel guests being bumped should be considered for future studies about customers' reactions to the consequence of overbooking.

Practical implications

Considering the invisible cost of overbooking, it is important for hotels to consider additional compensation policies to help positively influence walked customers' perception of overbooking and thus their loyalty and ongoing patronage.

Originality/value

This is one of the first research papers looking at the invisible costs of overbooking in terms of customers' long‐term behavior by addressing questions of whom to walk and how to compensate the walked.
Using data envelopment analysis to select strategies that improve the performance of hotel companies
Authors: Neves João C. , Lourenço Sofia
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the value of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for strategic analysis and performance management in the hotel industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a world‐wide sample of hotel companies and two cases to illustrate how DEA can be used to develop strategic guidelines to improve organizational performance.

Findings

The study shows that DEA can be used for strategic design and performance management through the analysis of two cases. Additionally, for the sample of 83 hotel companies, there are three main conclusions: a focused strategy performs better than a diversification strategy; for the bulk of the sample, the scale efficiency is higher than the pure technical efficiency, hence hotel managers should concentrate on productivity improvements (that is how to transform inputs into outputs) and not on scale issues (such as increases or decreases in the size of operations); and the majority of the hotel companies in the sample are operating under decreasing returns‐to‐scale, which implies that a decrease in the size of the companies would have a positive effect on the average efficiency level of the industry.

Research limitations/implications

The paper has two limitations: the performance index created from the efficient frontier of the DEA model is a function of the hotel companies in the sample rather than an absolute measure; and the variables used as inputs and outputs for the DEA model were exclusively taken from the financial statements, which limits the strategic analysis.

Practical implications

The DEA allows managers to analyze performance in terms of productivity and scale, to identify benchmarks (or peer units), to determine the targets (or optimum values) for inputs and outputs, and to detect slacks in the usage of resources or the production of outputs. Therefore, this methodology provides more insights for performance management than the traditional ratio analysis commonly used in the hotel industry.

Originality/value

The study is one of the few in the hotel industry to use DEA. The paper contributes to that corresponding literature by using: a larger sample size; a world‐wide sample of hotel companies; a longitudinal analysis (three years); and two illustrative cases to show how the information of a DEA model can be used for strategic analysis and performance management.
Factors affecting the online travel buying decision: a review
Authors: Wen Ivan
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on theories affecting consumers' online purchase intention of travel products. It seeks to explore the literature on the theoretical foundation of factors influencing customers' online purchase intentions in general and in the travel industry specifically. It also suggests areas for further research on online travel buying decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual framework of factors affecting customer online buying decisions – including customers' attitudes, quality of web site design, customer satisfaction, and customer trust – is developed by examining the theoretical foundation for each online purchase intention of travel product. The theoretical foundations and literature review include discussions of the theory of planned behavior, consumer trust literature, quality of travel web site design, and consumer satisfaction literature.

Findings

The paper identifies antecedents of consumers' online purchase intention, including three domains of measuring e‐commerce web site design – consumer trust, consumers' attitude perception, and consumer satisfaction – and applies them to the travel and tourism field.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a conceptual framework of factors affecting online consumer travel purchasing. Using actual data, researchers can empirically test relationships among the factors in this framework and identify possible future research areas for each factor.
Understanding attributes affecting selection of private kitchens
Authors: Chan Eric S.W. , Lam Louisa
Published: October 2009

Purpose

Private kitchens have grown significantly in the past few years in Hong Kong and have become popular in the catering industry. This study aims to examine the expectations and perceptions of private kitchen diners regarding their dining experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

A descriptive research design and a cross‐sectional survey were used. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 167 respondents in four main business districts in Hong Kong. The first section of the questionnaire included some screening questions. In the first part of the second section, respondents were asked to rate their expectations on each of the attributes of private kitchens using a seven‐point Likert scale. In the second part, respondents were asked to rate their perceptions of the same attribute in private kitchens using the same measurement scales. Section three of the questionnaire included questions about the respondents' demographic characteristics.

Findings

Most of the private kitchen diners valued the undisclosed dining area as the best thing about private kitchens, followed by privacy and a special dining feeling. The results of a paired‐samples t‐test indicated that private kitchen diners' perceptions of private kitchens fell short of their expectations in general. An exploratory factor analysis was also employed, resulting in the identification and interpretation of four factors that are likely to influence people's intention to dine in private kitchens. They were: responsiveness to guest needs; professional chef and staff; homely feeling and privacy; and intimate dining experience.

Research limitations/implications

The major limitation of this study is that respondents were asked to rate the perceived dining attributes in terms of expectations and perceptions at the same time, as it was technically difficult to ask for the same respondents to complete the questionnaire before and after dining in a private kitchen. Still, this study is useful for other researchers to undertake further studies on private kitchens, such as customers' repeat patronage and loyalty.

Originality/value

There have been few studies on private kitchen businesses, although this sector has become very popular especially in the Hong Kong catering industry. The findings of this study can be viewed as a preliminary step to understand the private kitchen business.
Descriptive menus and branding in hospital foodservice: a pilot study
Authors: Hartwell Heather , Edwards John
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumer's perceptions towards descriptive menus and branding in hospital foodservice. This research is unique in its focus; earlier work has tended to concentrate on palatability and the variety of the menu rather than on dish description.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire in both medical and surgical wards (n=42). In addition, qualitative comments were sought from patients and foodservice management to enhance and add weight to results and conclusions drawn.

Findings

Menu description was welcomed with patients preferring familiar foods. The general consensus was that an unfamiliar dish would not be selected on brand name alone.

Practical implications

The potential impact of the proposed work could be significant with regard to hospital foodservice strategy particularly as greater emphasis has been given to the role of food in clinical outcomes. Any initiative such as improved dish description or use of familiar branded products that alleviates patient concern and concurrently leads to greater acceptance and consumption must be one that is regarded with favour.

Originality/value

A full review of the literature on menu description has been undertaken and no research to date has been conducted to identify patient's perceptions of menu rhetoric design and the effect on food acceptance. This research will bring new information based on empirical evidence about the benefits of dish descriptive style and hints towards a procurement policy for enhancing patient satisfaction. The potential value of this research, therefore, to inform hospital foodservice practice and strategy is identifiable.
The supply chain crisis and disaster pyramid
Authors: Glenn Richey R.
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The research on supply chains concerning disaster and crisis situations is in its infancy, but rapidly expanding on the backs of top researchers in the field. As with most young research streams there is very little theoretical grounding in extant studies. The purpose of this research is to integrate four prominent existing theoretical perspectives to provide a concise yet holistic framework for grounding future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The development of the disaster recovery pyramid is completed following an extensive review of the resource, risk and crisis/disaster recovery, and preparedness literature. Additionally, literature from the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm, communication theory, competing values theory, and relationship management theory are canvassed. Business professional and academics are also interviewed to validate the pyramid.

Findings

The proposed framework is a call for future studies in the supply chain management and logistics disaster, and crisis management arena. The findings suggest that much of the work in supply chain disaster and crisis preparedness and recovery can be theoretically supported in combination of four mature theoretical perspectives: the RBV of the firm, communication theory, competing values theory, and relationship management theory.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to theoretically support the areas of supply chain disaster and crisis preparedness and recovery. The motivation of this paper is to both develop a framework and support a drive for growing multiple research streams in the area. Avenues of future research and theoretical grounding are suggested in a graphic representation.
Floating stocks in FMCG supply chains: using intermodal transport to facilitate advance deployment
Authors: Dekker Rommert , van Asperen Eelco , Ochtman Geerten , Kusters Walter
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of temporary storage offered by intermodal transshipment points to position some stock of fast moving consumer goods in advance of demand; this floating stock concept combines transport and inventory management. Intermodal transport is compared with direct road transport for a supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

First an analytical comparison is made which shows that the floating stock concept has advantages in inventories over pure road and intermodal transport. Next, a simulation study of a real case is made which quantifies the cost‐differences in detail.

Findings

It is found that both storage costs can be lowered and shorter response times be gotten by sending shipments in advance to intermodal terminals. The advance positioning can offset the disadvantage of a longer transit time in intermodal transport.

Research limitations/implications

Demand needs to be somewhat predictable. The pooling effects depend on geographical layout of the customers. The availability of intermodal transport options is based on the situation in Western Europe.

Practical implications

The floating stock concept considers both the transport and inventory issues. By positioning some of the stock at transshipment points close to the customer in anticipation of demand, the concept can yield lower inventory costs as well as a lower customer lead time. The benefit for logistics service providers is a more regular supply chain. Using intermodal transport provides an opportunity to green the supply chain as the environmental impact per ton/kilometer is lower than road transport.

Originality/value

This paper draws on the areas of logistics and inventory management to consider the choice of transport mode; most studies look at these issues in isolation. Considering the holding and storage costs in addition to the distribution strategy enables a more thorough comparison of the transport modes.
Assessing the effectiveness of supply chain partnering with scalable partnering as a moderator
Authors: Rajagopal Premkumar , Zailani Suhaiza , Sulaiman Mohamed
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the significant determinant for supply chain partnering (SCP) that can be applied by the firms to increase their effectiveness in SCP efforts. Next, the paper intends to examine the impact of scalable partnering towards the effectiveness of SCP.

Design/methodology/approach

To address the research problem, a survey instrument is developed and a structured model is hypothesized and tested using SPSS tool. Data are collected from a field research on a sample of 584 companies in Malaysia.

Findings

The result of this research indicates that resource sharing have positive influences on SCP. Increasing scalable partnering would also lead to increases in the effectiveness of SCP.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of the study is that the use of a single key informant for the data collection from the respective companies. A more stringent test of the relationships between scalable partnering and its impact in SCP requires a longitudinal study.

Practical implications

Managers must also recognize the influential role of scalable partnering which actually motivates channel partners to continue their investment in SCM initiatives. Thus, managers should pay more attention to the need of channel member to generate a higher level of confidence in scalable partnering.

Originality/value

While SCP and its determinant exist in prior research, this paper contributes a new variable “Scalable Partnering” towards strengthening the relationship among the supply chain partners.
Supply chain financing: using cash‐to‐cash variables to strengthen the supply chain
Authors: Randall Wesley S. , Theodore Farris M.
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how firm financial management techniques may be used to improve over all supply chain profitability and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a case‐based approach to demonstrate how supply chain financial management techniques, such as cash‐to‐cash and shared weighted average cost of capital (WACC), can reduce the financial costs experience by a supply chain.

Findings

This paper provides a methodology to identify and quantify the potential opportunities to increase profitability throughout the supply. Scenarios are offered that illuminate potential supply chain improvements gained by collaborative management of cash‐to‐cash cycles and sharing WACC with trading partners.

Research limitations/implications

These financial techniques are readily available for use in collaborative supply chain structures.

Practical implications

Coordinating financial management across the supply chain is a potential tool to align and improve the financial performance of collaborating firms. This method extends to the supply chain those historically firm‐centric financial management concepts such as return on capital and cash flow. The impact is reduced overall cost generated by leveraging the financial strength of the entire supply chain. During economic downturns and times of tight credit proactively managing financials across the supply chain may be the only way some suppliers remain afloat.

Originality/value

Two firm level financial management approaches are extended and they are adopted for use across the supply chain: cash‐to‐cash management; and leveraging a shared supply chain financing rate. This paper builds on the increasing body of research and practice that suggests trading firm‐optimized for supply chain optimized performance reduces overall cost and improves customer value.
Developing a consensus definition of supply chain management: a qualitative study
Authors: Stock James R. , Boyer Stefanie L.
Published: October 2009

Purpose

Without the adoption of a uniform agreed upon definition of supply chain management (SCM), researchers and practitioners will not be able to “advance the theory and practice” of the discipline. An integrated definition of SCM would greatly benefit researchers' efforts to study the phenomenon of SCM and those practitioners attempting to implement SCM. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the qualitative analysis software NVivo, this study examines 166 definitions of SCM that have appeared in the literature to determine important components of an integrated definition of SCM.

Findings

Three broad themes of SCM are identified, including: activities; benefits; and constituents/components. An encompassing definition of SCM is developed from the qualitative analysis of these definitions.

Research limitations/implications

While a large number of SCM definitions have been included in the research design, there may be additional definitions that are excluded given the very large number of SCM publications.

Practical implications

A consensus definition of SCM will allow researchers to more precisely develop theory and practitioners to identify the scope and boundaries of SCM.

Originality/value

This paper is the first attempt to include a large number of SCM definitions for the purpose of developing a consensus definition of the concept. Previous literature has included only a subset of published SCM definitions.
The role of competence in initiating the transition from products to service
Authors: Bjurklo Margareta , Edvardsson Bo , Gebauer Heiko
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to suggest a new competence‐based framework for describing and analysing the initiation of the transition of goods‐dominant companies to service providers. The paper seeks to illustrate the relevance of the new framework in an empirical study of a knowledge‐intensive mechanical engineering company.

Design/methodology/approach

A single‐case study of the world's leading maker of tool steel forms the empirical basis for the paper. A study based on a qualitative research methodology, involving inductive inquiry and a field study over six years focusing on “narratives from the field” was conducted.

Findings

New competencies are needed to initiate the transition from products to service and to manage service‐based offerings. The findings are summarised in two categories. The first, “customer value socialisation”, refers to the sharing of experiences and knowledge among employees. The second, “customer value management”, refers to management's ability to encourage employees to create value‐in‐use for the customers.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by: focusing on issues related to competence (rather than organisational structures and strategy); identifying “customer value socialisation” and “customer value management” as the important dimensions for engendering competence in employees; and introducing the concepts of “unfreezing”, “movement”, and “refreezing,” into the management of the necessary cultural change that must accompany the transition.
Retail service dynamics in a rural tourism community
Authors: Hurst Jessica L. , Niehm Linda S. , Littrell Mary A.
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of retail customer service as a value added component and potential success strategy for rural tourism retailers. More specifically, service quality expectations and perceptions as a means for segmenting tourism markets are to be examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using a case study methodology in an established rural tourism community. Local customers, tourist customers, and retailers participated in the study. A canvassing approach was employed for administering a hand‐delivered, self‐report survey that examined parallel sets of service quality expectations and perceptions among the three groups, along with service satisfaction outcomes (i.e. retailer loyalty and purchase intentions). Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, t‐tests, and regression analysis were conducted.

Findings

Local and tourist customers' prior expectations for retail service quality were similar; however, local and tourist customers' post‐experience service quality perceptions differed significantly. A modified version of the SERVQUAL scale represented two service quality perception constructs important to local customers and retailers and one service quality perception construct for tourist customers.

Research limitations/implications

Generalizability of findings may be limited as the in‐depth study was conducted within a single rural tourism community in Iowa.

Practical implications

The study sheds light on service quality perception dimensions that are salient to local customers, tourist customers, and retailers. Results aid in the development of customer relationship management strategies for both local and tourist customers and enhanced competitive options for rural tourism retailers.

Originality/value

Findings provide baseline information regarding customer relationship management strategies aimed at establishing rural tourism retailer sustainability by simultaneously meeting service expectations and enhancing service perceptions for local and tourist customers.
Natural convection flow of non‐Newtonian power‐law fluid from a slotted vertical isothermal surface
Authors: Hossain Anwar , Subba Reddy Gorla Rama
Published: October 2009

Purpose

The paper's aim is to investigate the natural convection flow of an Ostwald‐de Waele type power law non‐Newtonian fluid past an isothermal vertical slotted surface.

Design/methodology/approach

The Keller‐Box method is used to solve the governing boundary layer equations for the natural convection flow of an Ostwald‐de Waele type power law non‐Newtonian fluid past an isothermal vertical slotted surface.

Findings

As the slip parameter increases, the friction factor increases whereas the heat transfer rate decreases. Owing to increase in the value of the Prandtl number, Pr, there is decrease in the value of the skin‐friction coefficient, and augmentation of heat transfer rate. As the viscosity index n increases, both the friction factor and the heat transfer rate increase.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is valid for steady, two‐dimensional laminar flow of an Ostwald‐de Waele type power law non‐Newtonian fluid past an isothermal vertical slotted surface. An extension to three‐dimensional flow case is left for future work.

Practical implications

The method is useful to analyze perforated plates and wire netting such as perforated wings in order to reduce the drag by suction of the boundary layer, filtration or air‐conditioning.

Originality/value

The results of this study may be of interest to engineers interested in heat transfer augmentation and drag reduction in heat exchangers.
A numerical investigation of developing flow and heat transfer in a curved pipe
Authors: Nobari M.R.H. , Amani E.
Published: October 2009

Purpose

This article aims to study numerically three dimensional developing incompressible flow and heat transfer in a fixed curved pipe.

Design/methodology/approach

A projection algorithm based on the second order finite difference method is used for discretizing governing equations written in the toroidal coordinate system.

Findings

The effects of curvature and governing non‐dimensional parameters consisting of Reynolds, Prandtl, and Dean numbers on the flow field, entrance length, and heat transfer are studied in detail. The numerical results indicate that the entrance length depends only on the Reynolds number for the curvature ratios greater than 1/7 and therefore, Dean number is not a pertinent parameter in this range.

Research limitations/implications

For heat transfer analysis, two different thermal boundary conditions, i.e. constant wall temperature and constant heat flux at the wall are implemented. The results are calculated for the Dean numbers in the range of 76‐522 and for the two prandtl numbers of 0.5 and 1.

Practical implications

The results can be used in designing heat exchangers, piping systems, and cooling of gas turbine blades.

Originality/value

The numerical results obtained here concentrate on the detailed investigation of flow and temperature field at the entrance region by a quantitative analysis of hydrodynamic and thermal entrance length. The effects of different thermal boundary conditions and different inlet profiles on the flow and temperature fields are studied in the circular curved pipe for the first time.
Studying preparedness in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences, 2006
Authors: Shojaei Parisa , Reza Maleki Mohammad , Bagherzadeh Rafat
Published: October 2009

Purpose

Hospitals are all required to be prepared against crisis, while according to studies, most hospitals are not prepared enough to encounter disaster problems. Therefore, each hospital should have an established programme to face earthquake and other catastrophes. This paper aims to investigate this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This descriptive study was carried out in teaching hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences. Data collection was done using a checklist including general information, as well as information on demography, security, supplies and equipment, evacuation and communication. This procedure was done through observation and interview with hospital managers, etc. and the data were analyzed by SPSS software.

Findings

In the hospitals four dimensions of planning were studied and the following mean scores were obtained. On security, Hazrat Rasul hospital scored the highest (88.4) while Navab Safavi, Haftome Tir and Ali Asghar hospitals scored the lowest (51.4). On supplies and equipment, Navab Safavi and Haftome Tir hospitals obtained the highest score (66.6) and Hasheminejad, Shafa Yahyaeian, Firoozgar and Hazrat Rasul hospitals got the lowest score (60.0). On evacuation, Hazrat Rasul and Haftome Tir hospitals scored the highest and lowest respectively (64.2), (47.0). On communication, Hasheminejad hospital scored the highest (63.2) while Firoozgar hospital scored the lowest (36.6). In general from among ten hospitals under study the most and the least prepared hospitals were Hazrat Rasul and Navab Safavi respectively (65.65), (54.3).

Originality/value

The paper shows that most hospitals under study were not prepared enough against crisis and communication is found to be the weakest aspect although it is regarded as a basic principle in planning. Hazrat Rasul hospital was well prepared against crisis due to its disaster plan.