bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Corporate responsibility for individual, cultural, and biodiversity
Authors: Ketola Tarja
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how corporate responsibility (CR) could be utilized to manage and develop individual, cultural, and biodiversity and turn them into business strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Case studies of two multinational forest companies are used to demonstrate present and possible corporate values, words, and actions of diversity.

Findings

Forest companies tend to react on external pressure in diversity issues. They often take a confrontational or minimum legal compliance approach. Biodiversity, cultural diversity, and individual diversity form an intertwined hot topic all over the world.

Practical implications

For future prospects, forest companies should take initiative in diversity enhancement and become entrepreneurial, particularly as pulp and paper production is a declining industry and new business visions are needed. In cooperation with indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, governments, and other stakeholders forest companies could replace monocultural tree plantations with multicultural forest gardens, which provide many ecosystem services, natural products, and employment, and participate in large‐scale forest leasing for conservation. Multinational forest companies could also make better use of their diverse individual and cultural resources.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to build a CR/diversity framework by studying different kinds of diversity issues through CR and by analyzing corporate values, words, and actions. Integrating diversity into CR helps companies to turn it into a business strategy.
An analysis of Islamic CSR concept and the opinions of Malaysian managers
Authors: Siwar Chamhuri , Hossain Tareq
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine the relation between the concepts of Islam with the Malaysian managers' opinion regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nearly, 1.6 billion Muslims believe that Islam is not only a religion, but also a guideline for the complete way of life. As Islam is a complete code of life, it needs to discuss each and every part of life. Indeed, values and principles that have been central to Islam since the time of the holy Prophet Mohammed may serve as a foundation for the notion of CSR similar to those in the West.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper compares the perceptions of managers about the responsibility of a corporation to society in Malaysia with the Islamic concept. An open‐ and close‐ended questionnaire was distributed to 50 listed organizations in Malaysia, including multinational, government link, non‐government link and SME companies.

Findings

A similarity between the Islamic concept and top executives' opinion about CSR was found.

Originality/value

The survey findings and annual report analysis are expected to provide guidelines to the managers of other organizations for those who want to follow Islamic CSR.
Disrobing the emperor: mainstream CSR research and corporate hegemony
Authors: Jones Marc T.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to utilise a typological matrix as the basis to categorise various corporate‐society interventions. It aims to argue that an instrumental version of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is hegemonic in both the theoretical and normative domains of mainstream research, and that this hegemony underpins an intellectual blockage that prevents the field from achieving critical reflexivity and ultimately, a justifiable raison d'eˆtre.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reflects on the extant CSR literature in the context of globalisation; presents a two‐dimensional typological matrix to be used in positioning corporate‐society interventions; provides examples of particular activities relevant to each quadrant of the matrix; and considers the wider political economy of CSR research.

Findings

The logical implications of the corporation as an institution behaving in increasing accordance with the normative expectations of mainstream CSR scholarship will likely lead in the direction of increasing corporate hegemony.

Practical implications

The paper proposes the adoption of the more theoretically coherent and empirically precise terms enlightened self‐interest and corporate social irresponsibility in CSR and related research streams, as well as the institutional relocation of much future CSR research to disciplinary areas outside of the business school.

Originality/value

The typological matrix presented in this paper offers a new way of locating corporate‐society interventions. The partial abandonment of the term “CSR” by researchers, as well as the institutional relocations of much CSR research, are original notions.
Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the operational performance of the wafer fabrication industry in Taiwan
Authors: Chen Yu‐Shan , Chen Bi‐Yu
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the efficiency of the wafer fabrication industry in Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach

The input variables are total assets, operation costs, and operation expenditures, and the output variable is net sales. This study uses the Pearson correlation to indicate positively correlation between input and output variables, applies DEA to analyze the efficiency scores, and utilizes Mann‐Whitney U‐test to compare the efficiency score of stock exchange market group (SEM group) with that of over‐the‐counter market group (OTC group). Moreover, this paper explores the efficiency performance over different periods by use of the Malmquist productive Index (MPI).

Findings

This study indicates that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) has the most relative efficiency in the wafer fabrication industry of Taiwan. In addition, this study finds out the average constant returns to scale (CRS) efficiency of the Taiwanese wafer fabrication industry from 1999 to 2003 is 84.98 per cent, and the average CRS efficiencies of all nine wafer fabrication companies are over 70 per cent. This study finds out that net sales and scale efficiency of SEM group are higher than those of OTC group. Moreover, this study shows that the main inefficient causes of four companies of SEM group except TSMC and Nanya are from the inefficiency of variable returns to scale efficiency, while the main inefficient causes of all companies of OTC group are from the inefficiency of scale efficiency. Finally, according the results of the MPI in this study, the wafer fabrication industry should introduce the new technology to improve its technology change effect.

Originality/value

This study provides a valuable reference for wafer fabrication companies not only in reviewing their efficiency, but also in enhancing their operational performance.
A strategic analysis of the mobile telephone industry in Mainland China
Authors: Chang Ching‐Yi , Wang Fanghua , Fu Hsin‐Pin
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose some competitive strategies as a reference for domestic mobile phone corporations (DMCs) so that dominant mobile phone corporations can develop advantageous business strategies to effectively compete with international corporations within the China market.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes case studies and the analysis hierarchical process to analyze the competitiveness of the domestic mobile phone industry (DMI) within the China market from a value chain perspective.

Findings

The study finds that the competitive strengths of the domestic mobile phone players lie in manufacturing and customer service, while the weaknesses are in research and development (R&D), distribution (DIST) and marketing and sales (MS) in terms of competing with international brands already within the Chinese market.

Research limitations/implications

The paper samples experts familiar with the mobile phone market in the Shanghai area, and therefore may not be applicable to the entire Chinese market. A wider study is suggested, with samples sourced from the entire market, to fill in the remaining gaps.

Practical implications

The surveyed experts emphasize that R&D, DIST and MS capabilities need to be addressed immediately. In turn, some competitive strategies are proposed for the DMI to employ, taking into account their individual features and strengths.

Originality/value

The study assists the dominant corporations in the DMI to better understand their competitive weaknesses through the comments provided by the surveyed experts. Some competitive strategies are proposed as a reference for DMCs.
Homeworkers' usage of mobile phones; social isolation in the home‐workplace
Authors: Lal Banita , Dwivedi Yogesh K.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

When working remotely, homeworkers are provided with various technologies which may help them to avoid experiencing feelings of social isolation from colleagues. These include the mobile phone, which provides homeworkers with the means of engaging in interaction with colleagues irrespective of time and location. This paper aims to investigate how the mobile phone is used by homeworkers for social interaction purposes.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from 25 respondents working in a telecommunications organisation using in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews.

Findings

Upon analysis, it emerges that a significant number of respondents use their mobile phone for retaining social interaction with colleagues outside of their designated work time and space. It also emerges that certain organisational factors help to explain why interaction is maintained in this way.

Practical implications

Implications for organisations employing homeworking are also presented, together with how the limitations of the paper can be overcome in future research.

Originality/value

The results challenge the common assertions concerning social isolation made within homeworking literature; these are discussed within the paper, which also addresses how the findings of this paper aim to aid, as well as to direct, theoretical progression within this area.
Current trends in modeling inter‐organizational cooperation
Authors: Albani Antonia , Dietz Jan L.G.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

Modern enterprises face a strong economical pressure to increase competitiveness, to operate on a global market, and to engage in alliances of several kinds. In order to meet the requirements and challenges of participating in such alliances, companies must be able to cooperate effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of some major directions in inter‐organizational cooperation.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to cope with the challenges of inter‐organizational cooperation, to share innovative research issues and to facilitate profound discussions about them, the authors organized a series of workshops on Modeling Inter‐Organizational Systems (MIOS‐CIAO!) starting at the annual OTM Federated Conference and Continuing at the Annual CAiSE Conference. This paper summarizes the results of the workshops.

Findings

This paper provides an overview of what has been established and what is going on regarding the cooperation of enterprises in networks. The focus has been on the modeling of cooperation, from the business level down to the implementation level.

Practical implications

This overview is a useful source of knowledge for those who want to have a quick insight in the relevant aspects of cooperation, and in many well‐known modeling approaches and techniques. It is also an inspiring source for those who want to investigate yet unsolved or unsatisfactorily solved problems. Although developments, both in theory and in practice, will go on, no landslides are expected. Particularly for practice, the value of this report will therefore last for a considerable time.

Originality/value

Several core notions in the area of inter‐organizational cooperation are clarified, such as collaboration, cooperation, enterprise network, choreography, and orchestration. The whole process of developing or investigating an enterprise network is covered.
Performance measures and metrics for e‐supply chains
Authors: Sambasivan Murali , Abidin Mohamed Zainal , Nandan Tamizarasu
Published: April 2009

Purpose

e‐Supply chains are fast becoming a reality. In order to manage such supply chains efficiently and effectively, traditional measures of supply chain performance are not adequate. The literature search revealed lack of measures and metrics for e‐supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to develop new measures and metrics for monitoring the performance of e‐supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework based on the benefits of e‐supply chains has been used to develop the metrics and measures. The study makes use of focus group discussion by assembling eight experts and practitioners in the field of e‐supply chain to come up with the measures and metrics. A questionnaire is designed with these measures and metrics and is sent to about 300 electronic component manufacturing companies in Malaysia to obtain feedback from the industry practitioners. Appropriate reliability and validity tests are conducted to measure the reliability of the instrument and validity of the constructs.

Findings

Through the focus group discussion, this study identifies six metrics and 21 measures. Further validation through the industry practitioners, reveals that these measures are important and some are in use by the industries. The six metrics are: web‐enabled service, data reliability, time and cost, e‐response, invoice presentation and payment and e‐document management metrics.

Originality/value

The study uses a simple framework and a sound methodology to develop new measures and metrics that are relevant for e‐supply chains.
Quantifying coordination work as a function of the task uncertainty and interdependence
Authors: Nuñez Alba N. , Giachetti Ronald E. , Boria Giacomo
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of coordination in business processes by quantifying how the coordination load is affected by changes in task structure and task characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

A model is presented that quantifies the amount of coordination work as a function of the task characteristics analyzability and variability and the task structure factor of interdependence. To test the model, a management simulation game is used with a full factorial design of experiments. Two replications are conducted for each treatment. Validated questionnaires and time studies are used to obtain the data.

Findings

Analyses of the experimental results indicate that as task analyzability decreases and task interdependence increases then the coordination load increases. The increase in coordination load is greater for changes in task interdependence than for changes in task analyzability.

Practical implications

The experimental results indicate the time savings from doing tasks in parallel versus sequential are less than what would expected due to the increased interdependence between tasks and the resulting requirements for coordination. These results can be used to understand the trade‐offs of different process configurations, primarily how coordination load changes when a process is changed from sequential to parallel.

Originality/value

This research deviates from previous research in that the coordination load difference is measured when going from a sequential process to a parallel process. Most previous studies have shown differences but not the magnitude of the difference. Moreover, most previous studies have been at the organization level, while this research focuses on the business process level.
Exploring performance attribution
Authors: Dick Gavin P.M.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

Accreditation to the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Standard has proven to be a persistent and growing phenomenon in services and manufacturing, yet to date little attempt has been made to explore how performance results in cross‐sectional research may be attributed to different causation mechanisms and how their influences may alter over time. This paper aims to fill this gap.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper defines four possible causation mechanisms before searching and analysing the empirical literature on quality management system certification to ISO 9001 and business performance for evidence of their causal influence.

Findings

From the analyses, it is found that the benefit that can safely be attributed to the treatment‐effect of ISO 9001 accreditation is lower waste; while the benefits of lower costs and better quality are less likely unless motives for adoption are developmental rather than externally driven. From an analysis of longitudinal studies a strong selection‐mechanism is found where more profitable firms have a greater propensity to adopt than less profitable firms. From the finding propositions are developed to show how the influence of these mechanisms change over time.

Research limitations/implications

The existence of the selection‐mechanism has profound implications for interpreting business performance achievements because the benefits that are attributed to the treatment‐effect from adopting quality management system standards are likely to be greatly inflated by the influence of the selection‐mechanism. The author suggests that richer theory is needed that can incorporate bi‐directional influences and new research is needed to explore the underlying causes of the selection effect.

Originality/value

The paper is believed to be the first to systematically explore attribution of performance in the ISO 9001 literature. Its findings provide new insights into the complexities of attribution of performance in studies of new practices and systems.
Discovering effective performance measurement for e‐business
Authors: Hinton Matthew , Barnes David
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to identify the features of an effective e‐business performance measurement system, as well as the practices in organisations with distinctive e‐business performance metrics. From this it was hoped to identify a set of best practice recommendations.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study methodology is used to examine the performance measurement practices of 12 potentially exemplar organisations that have made efforts to develop distinctive performance metrics for e‐business. Qualitative data are collected from interviews with key informants from each organisation, with supporting data generate from company documents.

Findings

The study has uncovered a variety of approaches to e‐business performance measurement, with no common framework apparent. Whilst the case organisations show significant differences in the level of success achieved in developing suitable measures, there is evidence of a common concern to link e‐business performance to organisational objectives. However, there is a general unwillingness to embark on major overhauls of existing performance measurement systems.

Research limitations/implications

The acknowledged weakness of case study research is that it can only investigate a limited number of situations. This raises the issue of the generalisability of the findings to a wider population. However, in the absence of empirical work in this area, the case organisations provided examples of superior practice in e‐business performance measurement when compared to organisations more generally.

Practical implications

This study identifies several gaps between the academic literature and current management practice, suggesting that researchers should consider the impact of theory on the process of organisational performance management. It also offers advice for organisations with respect to absorbing e‐business measures into their current performance measurement systems.

Originality/value

This paper offers empirical understanding of the application of performance metrics to e‐business and identifies several inconsistencies between academic theory and real‐world practice.
Performance management from multiple perspectives: taking stock
Authors: Holloway Jacky
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to summarise key conclusions from a multidisciplinary review of the state of the art of research into organisational performance management, in particular how research can aid and involve practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach

This Special Issue incorporates papers that address current performance management challenges for managers and academics from a relatively small selection of academic disciplines. This particular paper locates the others in a wider context of a cross‐disciplinary study, identifying shared strengths to be found within the academic community.

Findings

In spite of a number of barriers to knowledge transfer, and tensions and gaps within the performance management research portfolio (described in the paper), much progress has been made that will advance further through active involvement with practitioners and across discipline boundaries. Specific suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of performance management practice are included.

Practical implications

Research has already provided useful knowledge for practitioners, with the potential for greater value provided that performance management researchers are open to more collaboration in order to tackle the complex questions facing practitioners and theoreticians alike.

Originality/value

The paper provides an overview of the conclusions reached in a substantial and original multidisciplinary review, providing readers with the flavour of that publication.
New thinking on the financial crisis
Authors: Allen Roy E. , Snyder Donald
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to expand understanding of the current global financial crisis in light of other large‐scale financial crises.

Design/methodology/approach

The phenomenon of large‐scale financial crisis has not been modeled well by neo‐classical general equilibrium approaches; the paper explores whether evolutionary and complex systems approaches might be more useful. Previous empirical work and current data are coalesced to identify fundamental drivers of the boom and bust phases of the current crisis.

Findings

Many features of financial crisis occur naturally in evolutionary and complex systems. The boom phase leading to this current crisis (early 1980s through 2006) and bust phase (2007‐) are associated with structural changes in institutions, technologies, monetary processes, i.e. changing “meso structures”. Increasingly, purely financial constructs and processes are dominant infrastructures within the global economy.

Research limitations/implications

Rigorous analytical predictions of financial crisis variables are at present not possible using evolutionary and complex systems approaches; however, such systems can be fruitfully studied through simulation methods and certain types of econometric modeling.

Practical implications

Common patterns in large‐scale financial crises might be better anticipated and guarded against. Better money‐liquidity supply decisions on the part of official institutions might help prevent economy‐wide money‐liquidity crises from turning into systemic solvency crises.

Originality/value

Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners might appreciate the more comprehensive evolutionary and complex systems framework and see that it suggests a new political economy of financial crisis. Despite a huge scholarly literature (organized recently as first‐ second‐ and third‐generation models of financial crises) and a flurry of topical essays in recent months, systemic understanding has been lacking.
The crisis: a return to political economy?
Authors: Wong Loong
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the current financial crisis, suggesting that most analyses have attributed the crisis to a lack of business ethics, the rise of greed and lax regulation. Prescriptions offered to address this crisis draw accordingly on the need for greater regulation of market behaviour, business practices and boardroom pay. Whilst these reforms are necessary, they fail to recognise that such business practices have their roots in an extreme political and economic ideology – neoliberal market fundamentalism. This paper seeks to suggests that a greater appreciation of the nexus between politics, philosophy and economics is critical in order to develop a different practice. As such, the author provides a socio‐historical and political context for understanding the present crisis before offering a critique and reform of the business educational agenda. The author argues that such a context would engender greater understanding of business practices and systems for both students and practitioners and would go some way in enabling them to fashion a more critical reflexive and engaged practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on a critical‐historical review of the literature on the crisis. In so doing, the paper opens up the analysis to philosophical and political approaches to understanding financial crises.

Findings

The paper finds that explanations for the crisis can be found through a critical appreciation of philosophical and political texts. This finding also suggests that current business and management education and practices can benefit from an incorporation of these historical strands of thought.

Research limitations/implications

In drawing on various strands in philosophy, politics, economics and sociology, the paper finds that a singular account for the crisis is flawed. The paper also finds that a richer and deeper appreciation of the crisis can be found through a critical‐historical positioning of the crisis. This necessitates an understanding of politics and philosophy in business practices and education.

Practical implications

In explaining the crisis, the paper suggests that many of the current financial “innovations” are problematic and a more critical approach is needed to engage with these “new” innovations.

Originality/value

The paper seeks to open up new vistas for business education and practices. Through a critical‐historical interrogation of the crisis, the paper opens up new spaces for understanding international economics and business practices. This reflexivity is often missing in international business studies and most management practices.
The Kindleberger‐Aliber‐Minsky paradigm and the global subprime mortgage meltdown
Authors: Rapp William V.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper sets out to analyze the current global financial crisis that originated in the US subprime mortgage market through the lens of the Kindleberger‐Aliber‐Minsky (KAM) paradigm as set forth in Kindleberger and Aliber's Manias, Panics and Crashes, to first examine the bubble's origins in the displacement caused by the internet collapse, the subsequent US recession, and the aggressive lowering of US interest rates. It shows how these events, combined with other technological and regulatory factors, resulted in a US housing bubble fueled by the aggressive securitization of mortgages by many large financial institutions, a reduction in their credit standards, and a lack of regulatory oversight. In this way it assesses the prime players in the process in terms of motivation and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores how the process peaked and began to unravel as cash flows at the base of the financial pyramid built through securitization slowed. Once the supporting cash flow came under pressure and was questioned, several major players went bankrupt or took tremendous losses. It became apparent that risk and innovation had been improperly balanced, a prime characteristic of the KAM paradigm. Indeed, greed, innovation, and technology had combined to substantially reduce credit quality and increase leverage, vastly expanding the likelihood of a liquidity crisis and a substantial drop in the value of asset‐backed securities.

Findings

The analysis then examines why this effect had significant global dimensions, unlike, for example, the Japanese real estate and stock market collapse or the US internet boom and bust. The analysis also shows how market reactions have been in line with what might be expected under the KAM paradigm. It also conforms with what Robert Shiller and Edward Gramlich anticipated and with normal bank behavior in a credit crisis.

Originality/value

The paper assesses the policy responses to the crisis and their likely success under a KAM paradigm analysis. The proposed remedies already include the aggressive fiscal and lender of last resort monetary responses typical of the KAM paradigm but regulatory measures too. Further, as KAM notes, almost all booms and crashes involve scandals and scams. So not surprisingly there has been growing recourse to the courts seeking criminal and civil remedies. Also typical of such a dramatic boom and bust, governments are examining regulatory and legislative actions to address the current difficult economic and credit situation and to make sure that similar things do not occur in the future. But politics and a US presidential election are driving significant differences in approach. Under these circumstances what can the lens of the KAM paradigm tell us about the actions taken or proposed and what is or is not likely to work?
An economic wonderland: derivative castles built on sand
Authors: Cloke Jon
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper seeks to use the way in which markets in derivatives have developed historically to examine how neo‐classical market‐oriented economic theory has been used as a stalking‐horse to create an illusionary market in the increasingly complex derivatives that have brought about the current global financial crisis and which threaten liberal democracy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyses the current global financial crisis using three separate themes in the development of derivatives themselves: the development of financial derivatives themselves; the subversion of risk analysis; and the co‐opting of the concept and analysis of fair value by the financial services industry and its support network. These themes are used to show how self‐regulation, supervision and the perception of risk have effectively been abandoned in the creation of an immensely profitable market based on an imaginary product. The study uses a combination of available facts and figures from professional literature and from international financial institutions and financial services organisations, as well as comparative analyses outlining financial services praxis.

Findings

It is suggested that in an effectively unregulated, globalising capitalism this crisis and others like it are inevitable, and that the self‐regulating capacities of capitalism suggested by neo‐classical theory are non‐existent.

Originality/value

The paper uses facts and figures provided by the financial services industry to illustrate the poverty of the theoretical justification of the market in financial derivatives and the critiques of various practitioners and experts to point out that the crisis came foretold.
International business and the crisis
Authors: Toporowski Jan
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the effects of the financial crisis on international business.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper argues that international business is differentiated by line of business and country of operation.

Findings

The crisis will therefore affect international business according to how exposed such business is to international finance. Alongside the financial implications of the crisis, falling investment will reduce profits and liquidity in all business sectors.

Originality/value

The most original feature of the paper is an argument that recent developments in international business have been led by financial market inflation, rather than by the autonomous managerial strategies of international businesses.
MUREX
Authors: Jiang Jehn‐Ruey , King Chung‐Ta , Liao Chi‐Shiang , Liu Ching‐Hao
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose MUREX, a mutable replica control scheme, to keep one‐copy equivalence for synchronous replication in structured peer‐to‐peer (P2P) storage systems.

Design/methodology/approach

For synchronous replication in P2P networks, it is proper to adopt crash‐recovery as the fault model; that is, nodes are fail‐stop and can recover and rejoin the system after synchronizing their states with other active nodes. In addition to the state synchronization problem, the paper identifies other two problems to solve for synchronous replication in P2P storage systems. They are the replica acquisition and the replica migration problems.

Findings

On the basis of multi‐column read/write quorums, MUREX conquers the problems by the replica pointer, the on‐demand replica regeneration, and the leased lock techniques.

Originality/value

The paper proves the correctness of MUREX, analyzes and also simulates it in terms of communication cost and operation success rate.
Human‐computer interaction in ubiquitous computing environments
Authors: Abawajy J.H.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore characteristics of human‐computer interaction when the human body and its movements become input for interaction and interface control in pervasive computing settings.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper quantifies the performance of human movement based on Fitt's Law and discusses some of the human factors and technical considerations that arise in trying to use human body movements as an input medium.

Findings

The paper finds that new interaction technologies utilising human movements may provide more flexible, naturalistic interfaces and support the ubiquitous or pervasive computing paradigm.

Practical implications

In pervasive computing environments the challenge is to create intuitive and user‐friendly interfaces. Application domains that may utilize human body movements as input are surveyed here and the paper addresses issues such as culture, privacy, security and ethics raised by movement of a user's body‐based interaction styles.

Originality/value

The paper describes the utilization of human body movements as input for interaction and interface control in pervasive computing settings.
The nonlinear relation between agency costs and managerial equity ownership
Authors: Jelinek Kate , Stuerke Pamela S.
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of managerial equity ownership on return on assets as a measure of profitability and two financial statement‐based agency cost measures, i.e. asset utilization and an expense ratio, which proxy for management's efficiency in use of assets and perquisite consumption, respectively.

Design/methodology/approach

Multivariate tests are constructed to examine the nonlinear relation between managerial equity ownership and both profitability and agency costs, using interaction terms to capture the relation at various levels of managerial ownership.

Findings

The paper documents that managerial equity ownership is nonlinearly and positively associated with return on assets and asset utilization, and nonlinearly and negatively associated with the expense ratio, after controlling for firm size, leverage, corporate diversification, institutional ownership, research intensity, firm age, and executive stock options.

Research limitations/implications

The results imply that the ability of managerial equity ownership to reduce agency costs decreases as levels of ownership increase. Further, the results indicate that, in some industries, high levels of ownership lead to increased expense ratios, suggesting increased perquisite consumption. Finally, these results suggest that, above a certain level in some industries, managerial equity ownership only marginally encourages efficient asset utilization but does not significantly deter excessive spending.

Originality/value

The paper provides a link between research that demonstrates a linear relation between managerial equity ownership and financial‐statement based profitability and agency cost measures and research that finds a nonlinear relation between managerial equity ownership and Tobin's Q, a proxy for firm performance.
Board of directors' size and performance in the banking industry
Authors: Belkhir Mohamed
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between board size and performance in a sample of 174 bank and savings‐and‐loan holding companies, over the period 1995‐2002.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to examine the relationship between board of directors' size and performance in the banking industry, the paper uses various statistical tools, including panel univariate analyses and panel data techniques.

Findings

Contrary to theories predicting that smaller boards of directors are more effective, increasing the number of directors in banking firms does not undermine performance. In contrast, the evidence is in favor of a positive relationship between board size and performance, as measured by Tobin's Q and the return on assets. The paper investigates whether this positive association is due to the fact that banks reduce the number of their directors in the aftermath of poor performance by testing for the relationship between board size and performance. The findings show that the number of directors leaving the board and the number of those joining the board for the first time increase following a poor performance, but the net change in board size is not affected by past performance.

Research limitations/implications

The paper recognizes that a number of factors that are not controlled for in this study might be behind the positive empirical association between board size and the performance measures used.

Practical implications

The results of this study suggest that the calls to reduce the number of directors in banks might have adverse effects on performance.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the banking literature by investigating the relationship between an important governance mechanism, the board of directors, and performance in banking firms.
World and regional factors in stock market returns
Authors: Pattarathammas Suluck , Khanthavit Anya
Published: April 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to test the hypothesis that the national stock market returns are driven by a world factor, regional factors and idiosyncratic factors, and to measure the importance of each factor.

Design/methodology/approach

The state‐space model is applied to describe the sample returns and estimate a world factor, regional factors and idiosyncratic factors by Kalman filtering. Weekly and daily returns calculated from MSCI country indexes from January 1988 to December 2004 of 11 national stock markets in four regions, i.e. North America (the USA and Canada), South America (Brazil, Mexico and Chile), Europe (the UK, Germany and France), and Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) are used.

Findings

The results support the hypothesis that national market returns are driven by a world factor, regional factors and idiosyncratic factors. National markets do not always respond mainly to the world factor; regional factors and idiosyncratic factors play important roles as well. They also respond to world news at a slower rate than regional news.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does not identify the source or origins of news directly but the factors are assumed as random variables and are estimated under certain strict assumptions.

Originality/value

This paper applies Kalman filtering to estimate a world factor and regional factors and test the importance of each factor directly, an extension of previous studies that mostly showed strong independence among markets.
Towards an approach to sustain web services high‐availability using communities of web services
Authors: Maamar Zakaria , Sheng Quan Z. , Tata Samir , Benslimane Djamal , Sellami Mohamed
Published: April 2009

Purpose

In any critical system, high‐availability of software components like web services has so far been achieved through replication. Three replication strategies known as active, passive, and hybrid, describe for example how many replicas are needed, where to locate replicas, and how replicas interact with the original web service and among themselves if needed. The purpose of this paper is to show how replicates could be substituted with components that are similarly functional to the component that needs back‐up in case of failure.

Design/methodology/approach

After examination of the different existing replication strategies, it was decided to test the suitability of the proposed web services high‐availability approach based on communities for each strategy. To this end, the specification of web services using two behaviors, namely control and operational, was deemed appropriate.

Findings

The active replication strategy is the only strategy that could support the development of a web services high‐availability approach based on communities of web services.

Practical implications

The proposed approach has been validated in practice by deploying a JXTA‐based testbed. The experimental work has implemented the active replication strategy.

Originality/value

Software component high‐availability could be achieved by components that are similarly functional to this component, which permits the common limitations of existing replication strategies to be addressed.
Fast and efficient computation of reachability queries over linked XML documents' graphs
Authors: Sayed Awny
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The increasing popularity of XML has generated a lot of interest in query processing over graph‐structured data. To support efficient evaluation of path expressions structured indexes have been proposed. Extending the proposed indexes to work with large XML graphs and to support intra‐ or inter‐document links requires a lot of computing power for the creation process and a lot of space to store the indexes. Moreover, the efficient evaluation of ancestors‐descendants queries over arbitrary graphs with long paths is a severe problem. This paper aims to propose a scalable path index which is based on the concept of 2‐hop covers as introduced by Cohen et al.

Design/methodology/approach

The problem of efficiently managing and querying XML documents poses interesting challenges on database research. The proposed algorithm for index creation scales down the original graph size substantially. As a result a directed acyclic graph with a smaller number of nodes and edges will emerge. This reduces the number of computing steps required for building the index. Thus, computing time and space will be reduced as well. The index also permits ancestors‐descendants relationships to be efficiently evaluated. Moreover, the proposed index has a nice property in comparison to most other work; it is optimized for descendants‐or‐self queries on arbitrary graphs with link relationships.

Findings

In this paper, a scalable path index is proposed. It can efficiently address the problem of querying large XML documents that contain links and have cycles. Cycles in the graph stress path‐indexing algorithms. An overview about 2‐hop cover and the algorithms that used to build the index are given.

Research limitations/implications

This paper works on the updating problem. Since the construction of the index is quite complex its construction make sense for some time. However, this means it is currently dealing with the problem of updating XML‐documents.

Originality/value

This paper presents an efficient path index that can test the reachability between two nodes and evaluate ancestors‐descendants queries over arbitrary graphs with long paths.
Synthesizing correlated RSS news articles based on a fuzzy equivalence relation
Authors: Soledad Pera Maria , Ng Yiu‐Kai
Published: April 2009

Purpose

Tens of thousands of news articles are posted online each day, covering topics from politics to science to current events. To better cope with this overwhelming volume of information, RSS (news) feeds are used to categorize newly posted articles. Nonetheless, most RSS users must filter through many articles within the same or different RSS feeds to locate articles pertaining to their particular interests. Due to the large number of news articles in individual RSS feeds, there is a need for further organizing articles to aid users in locating non‐redundant, informative, and related articles of interest quickly. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a novel approach which uses the word‐correlation factors in a fuzzy set information retrieval model to: filter out redundant news articles from RSS feeds; shed less‐informative articles from the non‐redundant ones; and cluster the remaining informative articles according to the fuzzy equivalence classes on the news articles.

Findings

The clustering approach requires little overhead or computational costs, and experimental results have shown that it outperforms other existing, well‐known clustering approaches.

Research limitations/implications

The clustering approach as proposed in this paper applies only to RSS news articles; however, it can be extended to other application domains.

Originality/value

The developed clustering tool is highly efficient and effective in filtering and classifying RSS news articles and does not employ any labor‐intensive user‐feedback strategy. Therefore, it can be implemented in real‐world RSS feeds to aid users in locating RSS news articles of interest.
Migrants' remittances and mobile transfer in emerging markets
Authors: Mirabaud Nicolas
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the solutions provided by mobile money transfer (MMT) technology to facilitate migrants' remittances to their home country. The paper seeks to identify the main difficulties faced by migrants when sending money home and how mobile money addresses them. It also seeks to understand how some telecom companies have managed to be successful in their implementation of MMT services in emerging markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents two successful cases of mobile money service in the Philippines and in Kenya and analyses the MMT Initiative, a lobbying group in which telecom companies gather to secure their position on the market. It is based on data collected from internet sources, articles, reports and case studies.

Findings

Owing to their size, remittances have a massive impact on developing countries economies, communities and individuals. The market's large potential attracts vast number of telecom companies rushing to get the first move advantage. The study of the two examples explains their success through their ability to adapt to local needs taking in consideration cultural, economical and distribution systems specificities. If social benefits are provided through integration of part of local population in the economical life, profit‐oriented business strategies pursued might be dangerous on a longer term.

Practical implications

This study identifies successful business models. While similarities in lack of infrastructure of developing countries favors generalization, international expansion will only be made possible by real transnational strategy adapted to local needs.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates how implementation of new technologies can provide social benefits in emerging markets. It encourages entrepreneurs to strongly take into consideration local responsiveness in order to be able to achieve sustainable growth.