bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A sustainable continuous improvement methodology at an aerospace company
Authors: Bhuiyan Nadia , Baghel Amit , Wilson Jim
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a continuous improvement methodology developed in an aerospace company that is successfully being used by other companies in various industries.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study was undertaken at a medium‐sized aerospace company for over a span of one year. Data was collected through in‐depth interviews, attendance at formal and informal meetings, observation, and company documentation.

Findings

The paper provides an overview of a continuous improvement methodology known as Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE™), which aims to achieve world‐class quality in products and processes. The paper describes in detail the tools and techniques needed to implement and maintain the methodology. It was found that the company is very successful in addressing a wide range of aspects in the organization, always with the viewpoint that the customer is number one. This methodology is successful to the point that it is being used by other companies in various industries.

Practical implications

The approach of the ACE™ methodology can be applied to a variety of companies.

Originality/value

This paper presents for the first time the comprehensive Continuous Improvement methodology ACE™. The paper should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs who are interested in a comprehensive approach to achieving excellence.
Trends in the efficiency of Singapore's commercial banking groups
Authors: Sufian Fadzlan
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the long‐term trend in the efficiency of the Singapore banking sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilises the data envelopment analysis (DEA) window analysis methodology, which allows us to distinguish between three different types of efficiency namely, technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies. Given that the sample population is small, the DEA window analysis allows for a greater degree of freedom to the sample. The paper further examines whether the Singapore banking groups were drawn from the same environment during two sub‐periods by performing a series of parametric and non‐parametric tests. Finally, the paper attempts to investigate the consistency of the estimated DEA efficiency scores by examining its relationship with the traditional measures of banks’ performance.

Findings

During the period of study, the results suggest that the Singapore banking groups have exhibited mean overall or technical efficiency of 88.4 per cent. It was found that the Singapore banking groups’ overall efficiency was on a declining trend during the earlier part of the studies, before increasing dramatically during the later period.

Research limitations/implications

The paper could be extended to consider the production approach along with the intermediation approach, which has been applied in this paper. Investigation of changes in productivity over time as a result of technical change or technological progress or regress by employing the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Index, could be another extension to the paper.

Originality/value

This paper provides new empirical evidence on the long‐term trends in the efficiency of the Singapore banking groups.
Performance of banks in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council
Authors: Ramanathan Ramakrishnan
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of banks in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Design/methodology/approach

Performances of 55 banks operating in countries of the GCC are examined in this study using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity index (MPI). When DEA is used, the bank(s) that registered the highest efficiency is used as benchmark and the performance of other banks are evaluated relative to this benchmark. Two outputs and four inputs are employed for the performance measurement. MPI is used to analyze the patterns of efficiency change over the period 2000‐2004.

Findings

DEA efficiencies are calculated for the year 2004. Results show that only 15 of the 55 banks are rated as efficient under constant returns to scale (CRS) assumption, and all the GCC countries have at least one efficient bank. The analysis using MPI has shown that banks in four of the six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) registered productivity improvements during 2000‐2004. The selected banks in Bahrain have shown the highest productivity improvements during this period, while the selected banks in Qatar have registered the highest reductions in productivity during this period. Interestingly, all the countries seem to have registered reductions in productivity in terms of technology change.

Research limitations/implications

More banks could not be considered in this study due to non‐availability of consistent data. Since performance of banks in more than one country have been compared, we have used a common unit of monetary measurement.

Originality/value

This study is first to study the performance of banks in the Middle East, with the exception of a study of selected banks in Kuwait.
Implementing a balanced scorecard framework in a not for profit SME
Authors: Manville G.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of a performance management system using the balanced scorecard (BSC) within a not for profit small and medium sized enterprise (SME).

Design/methodology/approach

This is a casebased methodological approach exploring the perceptions of two management stakeholder groups. This ensured that the issues were appraised in both an operational and a strategic context.

Findings

The findings of this research are that balanced scorecards can be implemented within a SME context. However, the motivations for the adoption of the scorecard were both internal and external due to the heavily regulated nature of the organization.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this research are that only one SME was compared with the body of knowledge relating to larger organizations and this could be viewed as a potential mismatch.

Originality/value

Currently there is a lack of published research on BSC implementations within this sector.
Stormy productivity weather ahead?
Authors: Heap John
Published: January 2007

Purpose

To explore the factors underpinning economic productivity (at a national level) and related concepts such as competitiveness and identify key lessons for governments and organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

Analyses published data and identifies internal and external, contemporaneous influences which might help explain those data. Draws general conclusions from the analysis.

Findings

It is possible to identify factors acting on a nation that explain the economic performance of that nation. Some of these factors are internal, such as government policy and action; some are external and “interfere” with current government policy and action. These external factors can act as a catalyst to improved performance.

Practical implications

Governments must be aware of their role in establishing a “climate” which offers the potential to create high productivity organisations. This is a delicate balance between providing an appropriate productivity infrastructure and over‐regulation. Organisations attempting to improve productivity must be aware of the “productivity infrastructure” and ensure that their approach maximises ways in which it can be exploited.

Originality/value

Shows the importance of national economic factors in creating a potential for high productivity. Demonstrates the partnership that must exist between government and organisations to ensure competitiveness.
The critical business of corruption
Authors: Brown Ed , Cloke Jonathan
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to set out an agenda for promoting collaboration between researchers in critical geography and critical management studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is divided into two main sections. In the first, a detailed discussion of the nature of critical perspectives in the two traditions is advanced which focuses upon the nature of the two disciplines, the contested meaning of “critical” approaches and our relationship with the wider political world. The opportunities for collaboration are explored in more specific detail through consideration of the ongoing attempts to develop a new perspective on the current international pre‐occupation with corruption and anti‐corruption initiatives, which is both critical and multi‐disciplinary.

Findings

In trawling through the political economy of the development of an idea, corruption, the paper demonstrates, not just the part that a critical geographical narrative has to play in informing policy, but also the vital links that geography has to develop with the critical appraisal of business, business management and economics. The paper calls for the combining of insights from both traditions to better assess what is signified by corruption, how the concept is used in the business world and how to convince policymakers that, in this area at least, there is no such thing as a consequence‐free policy.

Originality/value

This paper's originality lies in: its bringing together of two distinct research traditions in geography and management studies; and the novel approach it espouses in relation to refining our understanding of the meaning of corruption and its place in broader debates about economic policy and broad patterns of development.
“The people” and resistance against international business
Authors: Otto Birke , Böhm Steffen
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to analyse the organisation of the Bolivian “water war” in Cochabamba that saw a social movement resist international business and the privatisation of public goods. The implications for the study of resistance in management and organisation studies will be evaluated.

Design/methodology/approach

Laclau's discourse theory is used to analyse the organisation of resistance and the establishment of a new discourse of “the people”. A range of primary and secondary data are drawn upon.

Findings

The study shows how the resistance movement was successfully organised in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Through various “horizontal” and “vertical” methods of organising, the Coordinadora, the overarching resistance organisation, was able to unite formerly disparate discourses into a single demand. This establishment of a united front was a key element in the formation of the discourse of “the people”, which successfully challenged neo‐liberal privatisation and management discourses put forward by the government, multinational companies and international finance institutions.

Research limitations/implications

The research was primarily focused on studying the discursive shift that occurred during the Bolivian “water war” in 1999 and 2000. The paper was not able to discuss the aftermath of the successful resistance movement, and the various problems the new municipal water organisation ran into after it regained control of the water resources in Cochabamba.

Practical implications

The primary audience of practitioners are participants in social movements that are engaged in resistance struggles against multinational companies and governments. Drawing on the experiences from the Bolivian “water war”, the paper offers a range of practical insights into how to effectively organise resistance movements. This paper might also be useful to policy makers and managers in the area of water management.

Originality/value

This is one of the first papers that analyses the Bolivian “water war” to consider its implications for the study of resistance within management and organisation studies.
Globalised marketing and the question of development in the Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)
Authors: Dominic Nkamnebe Anayo
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper seeks to answer the basic question of the fate of Sub‐Sahara Africa's development in the context of the emerging marketing system that is anchored on the globalisation orthodoxy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws from literature to argue that the emerging globalised marketing system is an advanced stage of colonisation, neo‐colonisation, and re‐colonisation of Sub‐Sahara Africa by the developed economies.

Findings

Based on this premise, the paper submits that the new system possesses the potentials to impoverish SSA unless innovative marketing and development paradigms that are Afro‐centric are developed, to tactically respond to the challenges posed by the emerging marketing system that favours the rich countries of the world.

Practical implications

The paper proposes some strategic choices open to Sub‐Sahara Africa for adapting to the new order. Only through this means can the region actively and positively participate in this “juggernaut called globalisation”.

Originality/value

In providing a view of the impacts of globalisation on Sub‐Sahara Africa from within the region, this paper offers an alternative to the largely “developed world” academic discourse.
Investors' response to mutual fund company mergers
Authors: Allen David E. , Parwada Jerry T.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to examine mutual fund investors' response to mergers of Australian mutual fund companies.

Design/methodology/approach

Two matching‐control techniques are employed to analyse the impact of mergers on excess money in and out of open and closed funds involved in the transactions. The paper employs cross‐sectional regression analyses to examine the impact of mergers on different types of parties to mergers.

Findings

The results suggest that mergers are not accompanied by increased money flows. Instead investors withdraw from the target funds prior to and after the merger. Funds belonging to specialist mutual fund companies record more gains in assets under management than declines following mergers, and that money inflow gains at competing funds induce reductions of management expense ratios at target funds.

Research limitations/implications

This paper studies mergers in only one industry in a single country. Future studies may extend to other industries and economies.

Originality/value

This paper extends prior research on the flow effects of mergers at individual fund level by considering the issue at the corporate level.
Survey research in finance
Authors: Neuhauser Karyn L.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

To provide an introduction for the special issue on surveys, to give an overview of the survey literature and debate, and to provide direction for future research using the survey method.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey of the relevant literature.

Findings

The survey technique can be productively applied to a large number of finance topics but researchers must be careful to incorporate the same degree of rigor used with other research methods.

Originality/value

Summarizes and ties together the papers included in the special issue and explains the overall contribution of the special issue on surveys.
Translation and validation of the Graham‐Harvey survey for the Brazilian context
Authors: Alencar Abaide Balbinotti Marcos , Benetti Cristiane , Renato Soares Terra Paulo
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on the systematic translation and content validation method used to produce the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Duke Special Survey on Corporate Policy by Graham and Harvey.

Design/methodology/approach

In accordance with the requirements for cross‐cultural application of surveys, the paper accounts for obvious differences in language, culture, and the institutional setting and employ well‐known techniques from the field of psychology, such as the use of backtranslation, to ensure faithfulness to the original survey. A panel of experts served as judges in evaluating the clarity of language and the practical pertinence and theoretical dimensions of the questionnaire. Coefficients of content validity for each item and for the instrument as a whole are reported.

Findings

The results illustrate how a questionnaire designed for one country should be rigorously translated and validated prior to use in another country.

Research limitations/implications

Although the content validity of the translated version of the Duke Special Survey on Corporate Policy for use in Brazil is generally satisfactory, a few items may prove to be a challenge for the Brazilian CFO to answer, particularly those questions concerning features that are uncommon in the Brazilian financial market.

Originality/value

This paper explores the field study method in finance by borrowing from the vast experience of psychology research in the rigorous translation and validation of survey instruments. This study also highlights the similarities and differences in the interpretation of questions between emerging and developed markets.
Decision processes in German mutual fund companies: evidence from a telephone survey
Authors: Drachter Kerstin , Kempf Alexander , Wagner Michael
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The performance of actively managed mutual funds is largely dependent upon the investment decisions of the fund managers. The purpose of this study is to examine the decision processes in German fund companies and their impact on fund performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a telephone survey to assess the behavior and attitudes of German mutual fund managers. The design of the survey allows a linkage of fund manager data with information about mutual funds and fund management companies.

Findings

The evidence shows firstly, that it is possible to conduct a high quality survey study even though managers know that their answers will be linked to their performance and secondly, that the behavior of managers depends heavily on the characteristics of the funds and the characteristics of the fund company.

Research limitations/implications

In the paper, factors are identified which influence the short‐term performance of fund managers. In further studies, one should examine whether these factors also determine the long‐term performance of fund managers.

Originality/value

This is the first survey study that attempts to link the information provided by fund managers to information about the funds and fund companies.
The perception of dividends by Canadian managers: new survey evidence
Authors: Kent Baker H. , Saadi Samir , Dutta Shantanu , Gandhi Devinder
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to analyze survey results on the perception of dividends by managers of dividend‐paying firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

Design/methodology/approach

Managers from a sample of 291 dividend‐paying TSX‐listed Canadian firms were surveyed about their views on dividends.

Findings

The most important factors influencing dividend policy are the level of current and expected future earnings, the stability of earnings, and the pattern of past dividends. Despite dramatic differences in the level of ownership concentration between Canadian and US firms, their corresponding managers' views on the determinants of dividends are similar. Canadian managers believe that dividend policy affects firm value but express little agreement with the theory of a residual dividend policy. They express strong support for the signaling and lifecycle explanations for paying dividends, but not for the bird‐in‐the‐hand, tax‐preference and dividend clientele, agency cost, or catering explanations. Compared with non‐dividend payers, Canadian dividend‐paying firms are significantly larger and more profitable, have greater cash reserves and ownership concentration, and have fewer growth opportunities.

Originality/value

This study updates and expands previous survey‐based research on dividends and provides new evidence from managers of Canadian firms.
The impact of individual‐owners on currency speculation: the case of Danish non‐financial firms
Authors: Aabo Tom
Published: January 2007

Purpose

To investigate the extent to which finance managers in non‐financial firms speculate in the currency markets and particularly to investigate the effect of individual‐owners on such speculation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses survey data in order to analyse the extent of currency speculation in non‐financial firms. It uses survey data and publicly available data in an ordered probit regression analysis in order to analyse the decisive factors behind the extent of currency speculation in non‐financial firms.

Findings

Currency speculation is widespread among non‐financial firms and takes the form of selective hedging as well as speculation not related to the underlying business. The extent of speculation is positively related to the size of the firm, to the international involvement of the firm, and to the conservatism of its capital structure. If an individual (often the founder or a descendant of the founder) is the largest shareholder in the firm, the extent of such speculation is significantly reduced.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on Danish, non‐financial firms listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper is to provide evidence on the negative relationship between individual‐owners (ownership structure) and the extent of currency speculation in non‐financial firms and more generally to investigate the factors behind such speculation.
Risk and decision making by finance executives: a survey study
Authors: Coleman Les
Published: January 2007

Purpose

When finance managers face decisions, they do not always make clinical evaluations using rational methodology, but systematically depart from utility maximisation. This article addresses biases that are related to risk propensity, and categorises them under five headings: decision makers' characteristics and perception; reference levels; mental accounting and the assumption of mean reversion; the longshot bias or overconfidence; and the desire for immediate gratification. The research reported in the paper seeks to understand the mechanisms of these biases using a study of decision making by Australian finance executives in a setting that is representative of a typical business decision.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a case study that was designed to identify why decision makers facing choices will prefer a risky alternative. Data were collected using e‐mail contact and an electronic survey. Respondents (n=67) provided demographic data, and answered questions that probed their attitudes and decision styles. Risk propensity was quantified by respondents' attitude towards a risky decision, and was explained using independent variables related to decision maker traits.

Findings

Just over half the executives proved willing to take a risk, and almost half the variance in their risk propensity was explained roughly equally by respondents': endowment, perception of risk's role in decisions, assessment of alternative choices, and expectation of the decision's outcome. Manipulation of the cases along four dimensions varied the decision's facts, but they proved only marginally significant to risk taking.

Originality/value

The study provides a practical explanation of the risk taking behaviour of finance executives; confirms that context is more important to decisions than their content; and adds to the growing body of applied behavioural research in finance.
Modeling relationship quality in the parcel delivery services market
Authors: Palaima Tomas , Auruškevičienė Viltė
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The aim of this study is to develop a structural model and test it in the parcel delivery services business‐to‐business market in order to identify how services quality influences relationship quality and to determine the interactions between constructs of relationship quality.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural model was developed using frameworks suggested by Gwinner et al., Hennig‐Thurau et al. and Bingguang et al. Online survey research was employed to survey the respondents. Structural equation modeling was employed to estimate structural model and test hypotheses.

Findings

The research demonstrated that services quality does not have direct influence on commitment, but impacts it indirectly through various relational benefits. The results imply that services quality is not enough for commitment‐based loyalty to develop. Relational benefits are essential. The results demonstrated that special treatment benefits, social benefits and confidence benefits are intricately related and have effect on each other. Main findings of the study demonstrated that in parcel delivery services industry there exist context‐specific relationships between constructs of relationship quality. The research found out that the interactions between constructs of relationship quality in parcel delivery services industry are different. Moreover, the empirical study confirmed the existence of industry‐specific direct and indirect loyalty drivers.

Research limitation/implications

The developed relationship quality model is intentionally limited to parcel delivery services industry in order to examine industry‐specific relationships between the constructs. The model could be extended in order to model competition and effects of change in relationship quality on customer life‐time‐value.

Practical implications

The model can be used by managers of parcel delivery companies to assess loyalty and commitment of clients.

Originality/value

This study is the first attempt to identify how services quality influences relationship quality, test relationships between constructs of relationship quality and examine context‐specific relationship in the parcel delivery market.
Polish financial reporting principles in transition
Authors: Leśko Dariusz
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the evolution of Polish financial reporting principles in its historical context, this providing the reader with basic understanding of what has been influencing the shape of Polish accounting rules and how they evolved from the communist times until the accession of Poland to the European Union. This in turn should help in understanding the way in which Polish corporate governance system has evolved.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach taken is a general review and analysis of the issues surrounding Polish accounting rules transition.

Findings

Throughout the transition period Polish financial reporting principles managed to successfully convert from socialistic to financial‐market oriented thus providing both financial managers and investors with a powerful governance tool.

Practical implications

Full understanding of the development of modern financial reporting principles, especially in the transition/emerging economies, is not possible without sound knowledge of the socio‐economic context of their formation.

Originality/value

Both business practitioners interested in collaboration with companies from Poland (or another transition country) as well as academics working on financial reporting/management issues in international setting should find the paper useful.
Determinants of capital structure of banks in Ghana: an empirical approach
Authors: Amidu Mohammed
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics involved in the determination of capital structure of banks in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs panel regression model in examining the capital structure of banks in Ghana.

Findings

The results of this study show that profitability, corporate tax, growth, asset structure and bank size influence banks' financing or capital structure decision. The significant finding of this study is that, more than 87 per cent of the banks' assets are financed by debts and out of this, short‐term debts appear to constitute more than three quarters of the capital of the banks. This highlights the importance of short‐term debts over long‐term debts in Ghanaian banks' financing.

Originality/value

The main value of this paper is identification of factors that determine capital structure of banks in Ghana.
Leadership in different kinds of regional development networks
Authors: Harmaakorpi Vesa , Niukkanen Harri
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of network leadership in meeting the requirements for regional development networks imposed by the network society.

Design/methodology/approach

A new framework of three different archetypes of regional development networks was devised. The characteristics of the different networks and the requirements they set for network leadership were assessed as a case study in the Lahti Region, Finland. A special panel of experts of three highly experienced network leaders was organized as part of the present study. Their task was to assess the differences concerning network leadership in different regional development networks. The session was conducted in the (niin sanottumeans it was not an inspiration) Inspiration Center in the Lahti Region. Inspiration Center is a platform for brainstorming and stimulation, designed especially to arrive at ideas and form opinions through teamwork. The method used was a half‐structured group discussion, planned especially for the purpose of the present study. The method was used to form a convergent expert assessment among the participants.

Findings

The essential differences of the types of regional development networks make it insufficient to talk about network leadership as a general concept. It is important to identify and understand the differences in network leadership required by the different archetypes of regional development networks.

Originality/value

The paper combines leadership, network leadership, and regional development in a novel way.
Action research as culture change tool
Authors: Marcinkoniene Romualda , Kekäle Tauno
Published: January 2007

Purpose

To report experiences of changing cultures in three Lithuanian schools by means of action research.

Design/methodology/approach

This took the form of action research in the schools. Culture change measured by a culture survey (developed by Harrison and Stokes) in the beginning and towards the end of the three‐year change project.

Findings

The cultures of the primary and vocational schools have clearly changed towards the general total quality management culture traits of achievement and individual problem solving during our project. The culture of the secondary school has not changed similarly. A possible explanation for this may lie in the very strong power orientation of this third school; in our discussions, some teachers state that some are forcefully against change out of fear of losing their power position. However, even here the power orientation has weakened and the respondents generally are in preference of an achievement culture.

Research limitations/implications

Only three case schools were studied. Schools as organizations are quite different to companies, but could be comparable to other public organizations. Furthermore, Hofstede culture studies would suggest certain similarity between Lithuanian and some other Baltic states' work culture (e.g. Poland, Latvia) but differs clearly from some others (Finland, Estonia, Russia); this does not disqualify the action research methodology but makes the results basically incomparable.

Practical implications

Culture change takes time, and some post‐communist public organizations such as schools are even slower to change – but with persuasion and patience and well‐planned change programme, culture can be changed.

Originality/value

This is an original empirical study in a managerially‐demanding environment.
Teaching qualitative research methods: I'm beginning to see the light
Authors: Humphreys Michael
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the problems of teaching qualitative research methods to large culturally‐mixed groups of postgraduate business school students.

Design/methodology/approach

After a consideration of some current relevant pedagogical issues the author presents an autoethnographic account of his own parallel experiences of teaching qualitative research methods and learning to play a musical instrument. Emotional aspects of teaching and learning are highlighted in an analysis of the dynamic interaction between the two activities. This is presented as an example of how the “use of learning stories” can increase sensitivity to the anxieties of students.

Findings

Finds that the core of the argument lies in the value of self‐reflexivity to the business school teacher and that looking inward at personal learning experiences is invaluable for informing current and future teaching practice. Recent learning experiences seem to have the most potential and learning something that is found difficult may be the richest source of empathy and insight.

Practical implications

It is argued that reflexive analysis by research‐methods lecturers of their own learning experiences can develop synergies which would not only improve the effectiveness of their teaching but also enrich the learning experience of their students.

Originality/value

The paper is an attempt to generate some original ideas about teaching research methods in business schools via a mix of autoethnography and music. The core of the argument lies in the value of self‐reflexivity to the business school teacher.
On the edge of social constructionism
Authors: Shotter John
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline a distinctive kind of qualitative inquiry, strongly influenced by Wittgenstein's very practical philosophical investigations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes how there is a very clear, but not yet fully recognized, difference between (at least some crucial forms of dialogically‐structured) qualitative research and current more quantitative forms – a difference that is not fully captured in characterizing it as more focussed on subjective experience and as context‐oriented.

Findings

Central to this approach is a kind of poetic writing that requires a special kind of slow reading that leads us, not to a referential‐representational understanding of the text, but to a relationally‐responsive understanding of it, a shift from being concerned with the extra knowledge or information that one is left with after reading a text to a concern with what can happen during one's reading of it. Its focus is thus on the provision of detailed portrayals rather than on accurate representations, and with how ‘striking’ expressions remembered from our reading of such portrayals can come to in‐form our ways of perceiving, acting, talking, thinking, and evaluating events occurring around us.

Originality/value

Through this way, the seemingly merely descriptive inquiries of the kind Wittgenstein advocates can be applied, for example, in making sense of knowledge creation and innovation in organizations.
A therapeutic journey?
Authors: Haynes Kathryn
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of undertaking research on both participants and researcher.

Design/methodology/approach

Taking an auto/ethnographic approach, the paper provides a reflexive account of the impact of research on identity construction, especially in relation to the specific areas of the accounting profession and motherhood.

Findings

There are potential therapeutic effects of undertaking and participating in research.

Originality/value

The paper provides an analysis of a little considered area in qualitative research, namely the effects of the research on those involved.
Analysis of flexibility requirements under uncertain environments
Authors: Pramod M. , Garg Suresh
Published: January 2007

Purpose

In the complex environment of manufacturing system, it is proper to design a production system which meets the market requirements in the most economical and competitive manner. Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is one of the options to meet the uncertainty in demand and high variety of products. This paper aims to review the definition, classification, and measurement of manufacturing flexibility concerned with manufacturing flexibility management.

Design/methodology/approach

The selection process consists of the synthesis and critical evaluation of the concepts put forward in the extant literature. As a consequence of this process, three primary flexibility dimensions are identified: volume, variety and machine. Simulation approach is used to study the behavior of FMS under different demand scenarios and levels of flexibility.

Findings

Four hypotheses are tested in five different flexibility levels. The following conclusions are obtained from the study. For any flexibility level, as the traffic density (TD) increases, the system utilization increases; as the TD increases, the throughput time increases; and as the number of part type increase, the system utilization decreases. A comparison between five flexibility levels showed that flexibility level 4 is best in terms of system utilization and throughput time. Flexibility level 2 perform second best, better than flexibility level 3 and flexibility level 5 which is not in line with initial assumption. Lastly, from the above results it is concluded that partial flexibility is better as compare to no flexibility and total flexibility.

Originality/value

It is felt that the contribution of the paper lies in demonstrating the usefulness of simulation technique in quantifying the aspects related to FMS. The effect that a specific design variable has on a specific system level flexibility type can change with the level of part processing flexibility present and flexibility trade‐off in manufacturing systems is not inevitable. This would help the planners of FMS to think and design FMS in a holistic manner.
An actor‐dependency technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management due to information systems adoption
Authors: Misra Subhas C. , Kumar Vinod , Kumar Uma
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Because of the competitive economy, organizations today seek to rationalize, innovate and adapt to changing environments and circumstances as part of business process reengineering (BPR) efforts. Irrespective of the process reengineering program selected and the technique used to model it, BPR brings with it the issues of organizational and process changes, which involves managing organizational changes (also called “change management”). Change management is non‐trivial, as organizational changes are difficult to accomplish. Though some attempt has been made to model change management in enterprise information systems using conventional conceptual modeling techniques, they have just addressed “what” a change process is like, and they do not address “why” the process is the way it is.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach presents an actor‐dependency‐based technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management that provides the motivations, intents, and rationales behind the entities and activities.

Findings

A case study illustrates this approach.

Originality/value

This approach is novel in the sense that there is no similar intentional modeling approach for change management to the best of our knowledge. The approach is expected to be valuable because using this approach one can reason about the opportunities and changes that are associated with BPR and can incorporate prominently the issues related to change in the process of system analysis and design.
Modeling customer support performance in Indian IT hardware industry
Authors: Shankar R. , Vijayaraghavan P. , Narendran T.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Customer support assumes strategic importance in India for branded IT‐hardware products. An authorized service center and a stream of specialized service centers undertake field services and represent a sale‐territory's support network. “Time constrained” service men have to deliver customized service meeting a promised time‐standard. The stochastic demand for support services severely mars the customer response resulting in poor service quality. A manufacturer has to address the following decisions under these conditions: what is the ideal staffing level in a territory considering restricted server availability? What will be the impact of changing the staffing levels on customer service level? This study develops an analytical model to address these decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The study identifies the variables underlying stochastic service demand through a field survey and determines the demand distribution. Applying stochastic principles the study derives relation between field staffing level and customer response considering server time constraint. Study performs statistical analysis to validate this model with real time data on variables collected from the field survey.

Findings

The outcomes of analysis reveal the following findings: this model can be applied in service systems where a time constrained server has to deliver expected level of performance (research implication); and increasing field staffing levels obscures the significant difference between the customer waiting times under very high levels of uncertain demand (practical implication).

Originality/value

The study derives relation between the staffing levels and customer waiting time considering uncertain demand with restricted working hour conditions.
Moral cover for capitalism
Authors: Gerde Virginia W. , Goldsby Michael G. , Shepard Jon M.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber chronicled how seventeenth‐century religious tenets expounded by John Calvin inadvertently laid the ideological groundwork for the flourishing of eighteenth‐century capitalism. In this early work on the rise of capitalism, Weber examined the changes in attitudes of business and accepted ethical business behavior and the transition of justification from religious tenets and guidance to more secular, yet rational explanations. The purpose of this paper is to contend this transition from religious to secular moral cover for business ethics was aided by the harmony‐of‐interests doctrine, which provided moral, but secular, cover for the pursuit of self‐interest and personal wealth with an implicit, secular rationalization of promoting the public good.

Design/methodology/approach

Although Weber used Benjamin Franklin as an exemplar of the earlier Calvinist Protestantism and spirit of capitalism, advocates a case study of Robert Keayne, a seventeenth‐century Boston Puritan Merchant, as being more appropriate for Weber's thesis. The paper uses passages from Keanye's will to illustrate the seventeenth‐century Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism, Franklin's writings to illustrate the eighteenth‐century Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism, and various historical prose to demonstrate the legitimation of the harmony‐of‐interests doctrine which allowed for the secular moral cover for the pursuit of capitalism in the following centuries.

Findings

The original (seventeenth‐century) spirit of capitalism identified by Weber is reflected in the rational way in which Keayne conducted his business affairs and in the extent to which his business behavior mirrored Calvinist tenets.

Originality/value

This earlier spirit of capitalism is important in setting the stage for the emergence of the eighteenth‐century spirit of capitalism embodied in Franklin as seen through his writings of acceptable and moral behavior without the use of explicit religious explanations.
The ethos of business in H.G. Wells' novel The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
Authors: Costea Bogdan , Amiridis Kostas
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way in which H.G. Wells' 1914 novel The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman might be interpreted as an “essay” illustrating some key aspects in the articulation of the ethos of business and management in the cultural context of early twentieth century capitalism.

Design/methodology/approach

Approaching the novel as a piece of cultural history, the paper analyzes its characters and themes, as well as its form and style, to investigate fundamental ethical aspects of business as an occupation and form of organization. The novel (one amongst countless examples in the last century) stimulates reflection upon the purposes of “businesses” (as institutions) and of “business people”.

Findings

H.G. Wells explores, in the rich form of a tragic novel, the relationship between the pursuit of profit, family life, and social integration. This problematic is not simply of historical interest. It has become intensified over the last century, yet is poorly represented in recent texts of “business ethics” which “hide” its complexity behind a search for simplistic, transcendental frameworks.

Originality/value

This is a new source for a wide historical contextualization of key aspects of business ethics by relating domestic life, entrepreneurial behavior, and social responsibility at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The whistle‐blowing zone: applying Barnard's insights to a modern ethical dilemma
Authors: Nam Dae‐il , Lemak David J.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply Chester Barnard's ideas about authority in organizations to the modern phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing” and highlight insights that can advance contemporary theory in business ethics. The paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” and uses it as a way to capitalize on Barnard's insights and to offer a conceptual framework that can help business ethics scholars explain the phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach

By comparing and contrasting Barnard's ideas with contemporary research, the authors argue that he provides a number of insights that can advance modern business ethical theory and research. Implications about the origin and mechanism of whistle‐blowing are discussed.

Findings

First, it is found that Barnard's theory of authority, specifically the notion of a “zone of indifference” is applicable to the modern phenomenon of whistle‐blowing. Second, the paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” to explain why and how whistle‐blowing occurs. Finally, the paper develops a conceptual framework to capitalize on Barnard's insight to explain the phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing.”

Originality/value

This paper is the first paper to examine Barnard's writings in the context of the modern business issue of whistle‐blowing. It is believed that the study of business ethics can be enhanced by applying Barnard's work. His concept of authority in formal organizations actually provides the theoretical foundation to examine and understand the phenomenon of whistle‐blowing in ways that have not appeared in the literature to date.