bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dynamic PET of Human Liver Inflammation: Impact of Kinetic Modeling with Optimization-Derived Dual-Blood Input Function
Authors: Wang Guobao , Corwin Michael T. , Olson Kristin A. , Badawi Ramsey D. , Sarkar Souvik 
Published: February 2018

ABSTRACTThe hallmark of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is hepatocellular inflammation and injury in the setting of hepatic steatosis. Recent work has indicated that dynamic 18F-FDG PET with kinetic modeling has the potential to assess hepatic inflammation noninvasively, while static FDG-PET did not show a promise. Because the liver has dual blood supplies, kinetic modeling of dynamic liver PET data is challenging in human studies. This paper aims to identify the optimal dual-input kinetic modeling approach for dynamic FDG-PET of human liver inflammation. Fourteen patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease were included. Each patient underwent 1-hour dynamic FDG-PET/CT scan and had liver biopsy within six weeks. Three models were tested for kinetic analysis: traditional two-tissue compartmental model with an image-derived single-blood input function (SBIF), model with population-based dual-blood input function (DBIF), and new model with optimization-derived DBIF through a joint estimation framework. The three models were compared using Akaike information criterion (AIC), F test and histopathologic inflammation score. Results showed that the optimization-derived DBIF model improved liver time activity curve fitting and achieved lower AIC values and higher F values than the SBIF and population-based DBIF models in all patients. The optimization-derived model significantly increased FDG K1 estimates by 101% and 27% as compared with traditional SBIF and population-based DBIF. K1 by the optimization-derived model was significantly associated with histopathologic grades of liver inflammation while the other two models did not provide a statistical significance. In conclusion, modeling of DBIF is critical for dynamic liver FDG-PET kinetic analysis in human studies. The optimization-derived DBIF model is more appropriate than SBIF and population-based DBIF for dynamic FDG-PET of liver inflammation.
Predicting consumers’ intention to purchase sporting goods online
Authors: Chiu Weisheng , Kim Taejung , Won Doyeon 
Published: February 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB) as a research framework to investigate consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase sporting goods online.

Design/methodology/approach
Mall intercept sampling was used to collect data from Korean consumers who have the experience of purchasing sporting goods online. After the elimination of invalid responses, total 314 valid questionnaires were used for further analysis.

Findings
The results revealed that attitude, subjective norm, positive and negative anticipated emotions had significant influences on consumers’ desire to buy sporting goods online. Moreover, the frequency of past behavior and desire played significant roles in influencing on Korean consumers’ intention. Further analysis revealed that male consumers had higher levels of positive attitude, subjective norm, positive and negative anticipated emotions, desire, intention, frequency of past behavior toward the online purchase of sporting goods than female consumers did. It also found that male consumers’ desire had a significantly stronger influence on behavioral than female consumers did.

Research limitations/implications
The study suggests the benefit and gender-based targeting strategies in marketing sporting goods online. The primary limitation of this study was that respondents were all Korean online consumers of buying sporting goods. Future research should apply MGB to different countries or regions to generalize the results of this study.

Originality/value
The findings of this study provide a better understanding of Korean consumers’ intention to purchase sporting goods online and gender differences in their decision-making process.
Examination of customer-centric measures among different types of customers in the context of major Canadian ski resort
Authors: Haverila Matti J. , Haverila Kai Christian 
Published: February 2018

PurposeCustomer-centric measures such as customer satisfaction and repurchase intent are important indicators of performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine what is the strength and significance of the path coefficients in a customer satisfaction model consisting of various customer-centric measures for different types of ski resort customer (i.e. day, weekend and ski holiday visitors as well as season pass holders) in a ski resort in Canada.Design/methodology/approachThe results were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach for the four different types ski resort visitors.FindingsThere appeared to differences in the strength and significance in the customer satisfaction model relationships for the four types of ski resort visitors indicating that the a priori managerial classification of the ski resort visitors is warranted.Originality/valueThe research pinpoints differences in the strength and significance in the relationships between customer-centric measures for four different types ski resort visitors, i.e. day, weekend and ski holiday visitors as well as season pass holders, which have significant managerial implications for the marketing practice of the ski resort.
What differentiates successful strategic marketing among manufacturers in an emerging vs developed market?
Authors: Brooksbank Roger , Subhan Zahed , Miller Steven 
Published: February 2018

Purpose
Emerging markets present strategists with a unique set of challenges that result from a business environment that is quite different from that which characterises developed markets. Yet, little is known about marketing’s contribution to successful strategic decision making in emerging markets. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the usage of conventional strategic marketing practice, as it relates to developed markets, within groups of higher- and lower- performing manufacturers in the emerging market of India, comparing it against that of their counterparts in the developed market of the USA.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on separate web-hosted questionnaire surveys conducted in India and the USA, yielding samples of 71 and 84 self-reported manufacturing companies, respectively. Data analyses were conducted using independent-sample t-tests and logistic multiple regression, and sought to compare and contrast successful strategic marketing decision making in each country.

Findings
The results confirm that conventional strategic marketing plays a vital role in facilitating the competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, they also suggest that differences in the strategic environments faced by manufacturers in both countries necessitate quite different priorities for success at each stage of the strategic marketing decision-making process.

Research limitations/implications
Due to relatively low response rates, the extent to which the study samples are representative of the population under scrutiny remains unknown. Also, differences in the respondents’ interpretation of certain questions and some of the marketing vocabulary and terminology used cannot be ruled out.

Practical implications
The research highlights the important contribution that conventional strategic marketing makes to the achievement of competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, it also identifies several specific practices that differentiate higher firm performance in the two countries, drawing into question the direct applicability of the conventional model of strategic marketing within an emerging market.

Originality/value
As far as is known for the first time, the applicability of the conventional model of successful strategic marketing within an emerging market is assessed. As a result, a new model is forwarded.
The impact of cultural dimensions on customer complaint behaviours: an exploratory study in Antalya/Manavgat tourism region
Authors: Ergün Gözde Seval , Kitapci Olgun 
Published: February 2018

Purpose
The study was carried out to better understand the behaviour of tourists from different cultures and backgrounds, and to provide strategic solutions for tourism managers. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between the cultural dimensions of Hofstede and customer complaint behaviours.

Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory factor analyses were carried out separately for national culture and complaint behaviour scales and the factor structuring was then tested using a confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test theoretical correlations and a conceptual model was created to put forward the correlations between national cultural dimensions and complaint behaviours, as well as to examine the impact of variation in one dimension on the other.

Findings
Significant correlations were observed between power distance and both public action and no action behaviours, uncertainty avoidance and public action and private action, as well as individualism/collectivism and public action.

Research limitations/implications
The sample population of the study included foreign tourists visiting Manavgat district in 2015. Manavgat as a destination is preferred by foreign tourists, rather than domestic tourists. In addition, many accommodations in the region only host guests from particular nationalities. For this reason, domestic tourists were not included in the survey. A limitation of the research is the fact that it focused only on hotel management. Extending the scope of the study in future research—the study could be carried out for a wider area and include other sectors—would increase the effectiveness of the study.

Practical implications
The results shed light on the fact that customers perform different complaint behaviours depending on variation in national cultural dimensions. In this context, the findings contribute to the hotel management literature and to the development of management strategies such as staff training, effective complaint solution methods, increasing customer complaints, using indirect resources effectively and decreasing the cost of solutions. The research also aims to create awareness in hotel managers by highlighting the importance of this issue.

Originality/value
In many of the studies where customer complaint behaviour and culture are analysed together, culture is regarded primarily as a geographical region, or as ethnical origin. Using Hofstede’s national cultural dimension scale, and taking into consideration all the national cultural dimensions, adds originality to this research. This study is one of the first to explore the impact of cultural dimensions on customer complaint behaviours in Turkey. This is also one of the first studies on complaint behaviour in the hotel industry.
Supply chain alignment as process: contracting, learning and pay-for-performance
Authors: Selviaridis Kostas , Spring Martin 
Published: February 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how buyers and suppliers in supply chains learn to align their performance objectives and incentives through contracting.Design/methodology/approachTwo longitudinal case studies of the process of supply chain alignment were conducted based on 26 semi-structured interviews and 25 key documents including drafts of contracts and service level agreements.FindingsThe dynamic interplay of contracting and learning contributes to supply chain alignment. Exchange-, partner- and contract framing-specific learning that accumulates during the contracting process is used to (re)design pay-for-performance provisions. Such learning also results in improved buyer-supplier relationships that enable alignment, complementing the effect of contractual incentives.Research limitations/implicationsThe study demonstrates that the interplay of contracting and learning is an important means of achieving supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment is seen as a process, rather than as a state. It does not happen automatically or instantaneously, nor is it unidirectional. Rather, it is a discontinuous process triggered by episodic events that requires interactive work and learning.Practical implicationsDevelopment of performance contracting capabilities entails learning how to refine performance incentives and their framing to trigger positive responses from supply chain counterparts.Originality/valueThe paper addresses supply chain alignment as a process. Accordingly, it stresses some important features of supply chain alignment.
Strategic adoption of logistics and supply chain management
Authors: Sweeney Edward , Grant David B. , Mangan D. John 
Published: February 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a thorough understanding of the adoption of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in practice, particularly at a strategic level, through an investigation of the four perspectives taxonomy of the relationship between logistics and SCM.Design/methodology/approachBased on a comprehensive literature review, three specific research questions are proposed. The empirical work addresses these questions and comprised three phases: focussed interviews, a questionnaire survey and focus groups.FindingsThe findings provide a usage profile of the four perspectives and indicate a divergence between the understanding and adoption of logistics and SCM principles and concepts at a strategic level in firms. The findings also identify the critical success factors (CSFs) and inhibitors to success in addressing this divergence.Research limitations/implicationsThe insights generated using the authors’ methodologically pluralist research design could be built upon to include case studies, grounded theory and action research. Replicating the research in other geographical areas could facilitate international comparisons.Practical implicationsThe findings allow practitioners to compare their perspectives on the relationship between logistics and SCM with those of their peers. The CSFs and inhibitors to success provide a rational basis for realising the strategic potential of logistics and SCM in practice.Originality/valueNew insights are generated into practitioner perspectivesvis-à-vislogistics vs SCM. A fresh understanding of those factors which drive and hinder the adoption of strategic SCM is also developed and presented.
Supply chain learning of sustainability in multi-tier supply chains
Authors: Gong Yu , Jia Fu , Brown Steve , Koh Lenny 
Published: February 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how multinational corporations (MNCs) orchestrate internal and external resources to help their multi-tier supply chains learn sustainability-related knowledge.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory multiple case study approach was adopted and three MNCs’ sustainable initiatives in China were examined. The data were primarily collected through 43 semi-structured interviews with managers of focal companies and their multi-tier suppliers.FindingsThe authors found that in order to facilitate their supply chains to learn sustainability, MNCs tend to orchestrate in breadth by internally setting up new functional departments and externally working with third parties, and orchestrate in depth working directly with their extreme upstream suppliers adopting varied governance mechanisms on lower-tier suppliers along the project lifecycle. The resource orchestration in breadth and depth and along the project lifecycle results in changes of supply chain structure.Practical implicationsThe proposed conceptual model provides an overall framework for companies to design and implement their multi-tier sustainable initiatives. Companies could learn from the suggested learning stages and the best practices of case companies.Originality/valueThe authors extend and enrich resource orchestration perspective (ROP), which is internally focused, to a supply chain level, and answer a theoretical question of how MNCs orchestrate their internal and external resources to help their supply chains to learn sustainability. The extension of ROP refutes the resource dependence theory, which adopts a passive approach of relying on external suppliers and proposes that MNCs should proactively work with internal and external stakeholders to learn sustainability.
How the reverse supply chain impacts the firm’s financial performance
Authors: Larsen Samuel Brüning , Masi Donato , Feibert Diana Cordes , Jacobsen Peter 
Published: February 2018

PurposeAlthough manufacturers have traditionally viewed reverse supply chain (RSC) activities as a costly nuisance, more recent research has found that the RSC can contribute to the firm’s financial performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify how the RSC can contribute to the firm’s financial performance and examine the exogenous contingency factors decisive for the contribution’s size. Because the exogenous factors are outside the control of the firm’s operations and supply chain management, the factors influence the RSC’s financial contribution irrespective of managerial policies and design decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies a systematic literature review using the sequence of planning the review, searching and screening literature, extracting information from the selected literature, and synthesizing and analyzing findings. In total, 112 papers were included.FindingsThe study has identified 15 distinct opportunities for RSC-contribution to the firm’s financial performance. The study has identified 56 contingency factors. These are related to market segmentation, customer behavior, product design, and the firm’s distributor network. The study includes an interrelationship network between factors and the RSC’s contribution.Practical implicationsFor managers, the paper shows how the RSC can increase the firm’s financial performance and which contingency factors determine whether operating a RSC will be financially viable if implemented.Originality/valueWhile extant literature includes several reviews about RSC-related managerial policies and design decisions, this paper contains the very first collection of RSC-contribution opportunities available to manufacturers as well as the first review of exogenous contingency factors.
Institutional discrimination of women and workplace harassment of female expatriates
Authors: Bader Benjamin , Stoermer Sebastian , Bader Anna Katharina , Schuster Tassilo 
Published: February 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate workplace gender harassment of female expatriates across 25 host countries and consider the role of institutional-level gender discrimination as a boundary condition. Further, the study investigates the effects of workplace gender harassment on frustration and job satisfaction and general job stress as a moderator.

Design/methodology/approach
The sample is comprised of 160 expatriates residing in 25 host countries. The authors test the model using partial least-squares structural equation modeling.

Findings
The results show that female expatriates experience more workplace gender harassment than male expatriates. This effect is particularly pronounced in host countries with strong institutional-level gender discrimination. Moreover, the authors found significant main effects of gender harassment on expatriates’ frustration and job satisfaction. Further, the authors identified a significant association between frustration and job satisfaction. No significant moderation effect of general job stress was found.

Research limitations/implications
The study’s data are cross-sectional. Future studies are encouraged to use longitudinal research designs. Further, future studies could center on perpetrators of harassment, different manifestations of harassment, and effective countermeasures.

Practical implications
The study raises awareness on the challenges of harassment of female expatriates and the role of the host country context. Further, the study shows the detrimental effects of gender harassment on female expatriates’ job satisfaction which is a central predictor of variables crucial to international assignments, for example, performance or assignment completion.

Originality/value
The study is among the first endeavors to include institutional-level gender discrimination as a boundary condition of workplace gender harassment of female expatriates, and therefore puts the interplay between macro- and micro-level processes into perspective.
How to scope configuration projects and manage the knowledge they require
Authors: Shafiee Sara , Kristjansdottir Katrin , Hvam Lars , Forza Cipriano 
Published: February 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the use of the knowledge management (KM) perspective for configuration projects. Configuration projects implement configurators as information technology systems that help companies manage the specification process of customised products. An effective method of retrieving and formalising knowledge for configurators is essential, because it can reduce the risk of unsuccessful implementation and the time and effort required for development. Unfortunately, no standard KM frameworks are available specifically for configuration projects. This study identifies the knowledge necessary for different phases of a configuration project (which knowledge, for what purpose and from what sources), examines how it is transformed during a configuration project (what KM activities and tools are used) and establishes how the knowledge can be documented for future maintenance and updates.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes a four-step framework for making the KM process more efficient in configuration projects. The framework is based on the literature, developed in collaboration with industrial partners and tested on four configuration projects in two engineering companies. The framework is a structured KM approach designed to save time for both domain experts and the configuration team. The authors have used a qualitative exploratory design based on multiple data sources: documentation, workshops and participant observation.FindingsThe proposed framework comprises four steps: determination of the system’s scope, to establish the project’s goal based on stakeholders’ requirements and prioritise the required products and processes; knowledge acquisition, to classify the knowledge according to the desired output and identify different knowledge sources; modelling and knowledge validation; and documentation and maintenance, to ensure that the KM system can be maintained and updated in the future.Research limitations/implicationsBecause the framework is tested on a limited number of cases, its generalisability may be limited. However, focusing on a few case applications allows us to assess the effectiveness of the framework in detail and in depth to identify the practical challenges of applying it. The results of the tests support the framework’s validity. Although the framework is designed mainly for engineering companies, other industries could benefit from using it as well.Practical implicationsThe individual steps of the framework create a structured approach for the KM process. Thus, the approach can save both time and resources for companies, without the need for additional investment.Originality/valueA standard framework is lacking in the literature on KM for configuration projects. This study fills that gap by developing a KM framework for configuration projects, based on KM frameworks developed for IT projects, and KM tools.