bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Modelling sustainability maturity in corporate real estate management
Authors: Masalskyte Rasita , Andelin Mia , Sarasoja Anna-Liisa , Ventovuori Tomi 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– Sustainability in corporate real estate management (CREM) has been lately recognized as an integral part of almost every business. However, its perception might extremely differ in various industries. Sustainable CREM practices have been extensively analyzed in recent studies, yet real estate is an ambiguous field and the practices still lack holistic understanding. This research aimed to summarize and systematize the present sustainable CREM practices and propose a generic sustainability maturity model for CREM.Design/methodology/approach– The research process was implemented in accordance with the grounded theory approach. Research data were collected in semi-structured interviews with major Finnish companies, recognized for their environmental work. The scope of the research was nine interviews.Findings– The result of this research is the generic sustainability maturity model for CREM. It consists of 18 most typical sustainable CREM practices at the companies interviewed. The model demonstrates the value of implementing sustainable CREM.Originality/value– Sustainability maturity model for CREM is an indicative tool for sustainability maturity assessment in CREM. The model demonstrates how CREM contributes to company's sustainability and provides a holistic approach towards the existing sustainable CREM practices. Additional practical implications of the model include sustainable CREM benchmarking and communication with stakeholders.
Best practice, best model, best fit
Authors: Kämpf-Dern Annette , Pfnür Andreas 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to team broadly accepted general management frameworks with the specific situation of corporate real estate and suggest a holistic configurations framework for CREM that takes into account the highly diverse context parameters.Design/methodology/approach– Based on general management frameworks and research on CREM issues, a CRE management framework – the “CREM map” – is suggested that guides a study on which parameters drive CREM and how they are integrated. A qualitative approach is used that collects data from large European corporates. The analyses are performed through computer-assisted qualitative data analysis.Findings– Multiple parameters form heterogeneous context constellations that make it necessary to individually configure a CREM system. While some “general principles” regarding CREM targets, strategy, organization, and controlling systems and their relationships can be identified as “best practices”, the key finding is that a holistic concept for CREM needs to be guided by “best fit” considerations, resulting in at least several, context-specific designs of CREM.Practical implications– The CREM-map and CREM principles provide orientation in the process of design, implementation, and running of the CRE management system and its alignment to corporates' context and business needs. Connected line diagrams illustrate how “best fit” CREMs can look like.Originality/value– First study takes a holistic view on the organization of the CREM function regarding its alignment with the business strategy and including why different designs are chosen. This can assist to improve the performance of CREM and sets the stage for further research on CREM configurations.
Organisation and supply chain for quality control in luxury companies
Authors: Brun Alessandro , Moretto Antonella 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify the organisation of the quality department and the management of the supply chain (SC) used by luxury companies to achieve quality requirements.Design/methodology/approach– The paper follows an exploratory approach using a case-based methodology. Data are collected through eight case studies with French luxury companies.Findings– The paper offers insights into the management of quality for luxury companies. The paper illustrates the main determinants of the adoption of the specific quality organisations; moreover, the paper identifies the main approaches adopted by luxury companies at the SC level to control the quality along the whole chain. For example, the paper raised that all accessible and aspirational luxury companies present a full-time quality department whereas a part-time approach is identified for high-luxury companies. In high-luxury companies, quality issues are perceived as critical elements to be monitored not just by one specific department but by each and every company employees; on the contrary, in the other companies the approach towards quality is more similar to the one of mass-market companies.Research limitations/implications– The research provides initial insights into the important role of quality in luxury companies. To date, the analysis is predominantly qualitative and not sufficiently statistically significant to generalise the results.Practical implications– This paper raises a number of important issues for luxury companies who are not advance yet in structurally managed quality issues into their companies but especially their SCs.Originality/value– This paper is one of the first attempts to study quality management specifically applied to luxury companies, with a main focus on the organisation of the quality department as well as the SC.
A phenomenological study of CSR policy making and implementation in developed countries
Authors: Ogiri Itotenaan Henry , Samy Martin , Bampton Roberta 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– Over the last few years, governments in the developed countries have increased their level of involvement in promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities through policy making and implementation. Using a qualitative research approach, underpinned by a subjective ontology and an interpretive epistemology, this paper aims to examine the relevant characteristics of CSR frameworks applied across the developed countries, with particular reference to The Netherlands and Sweden.Design/methodology/approach– The study adopted a thematic analysis and developed a rigorous phenomenological design to reveal the insights to CSR policy making. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with policy makers and implementers. The NVivo 9 software was used to analyse the data.Findings– The findings indicate that adoption of international guidelines that regulate companies working across borders, active participation of international government bodies, effective government collaboration with stakeholders, and provision of financial and technical support to companies to determine the level of CSR activities.Originality/value– The study revealed that: voluntary CSR implementation and reporting; transparency; and execution of national policy statement on CSR, are the process indicators of CSR implementation in developed society. The results of this study could have policy implications for both executive and MPs of national governments in developed society for CSR regulatory policies.
Incentives and performance measures for open innovation practices
Authors: Joachim Breunig Karl , Helge Aas Tor , Maria Hydle Katja 
Published: April 2014

Purpose–To guarantee alignment between ongoing activities and organizational goals, innovation management theory emphasizes management control and explicit innovation strategies as prerequisites for innovation performance. However, the theory on open services innovation emphasizes individual autonomy and incentives to foster open innovations. The aim of this paper is to explore this inconsistency.Design/methodology/approach–An explorative research design involving 25 semi-structured interviews in five large scale-intensive service firms is explored. Scale-intensive service firms are strategically sampled for this study since these firms experience tension between open service innovation characteristics and efforts to standardize.Findings–The authors show how individual autonomy facilitates the internal and external networking required in open innovations. However, individualized incentives do not suffice to motivate, mobilize and direct the collaboration and collective effort needed to ensure successful implementation of open innovation processes. Innovation performance is a collective effort, and the findings suggest that firms' business strategy works as a collective incentive system.Practical implications–The findings imply that firms should not rely on individualized incentives alone to implement open innovation processes successfully. The implementation of more collectively oriented incentives is also necessary to motivate the collective effort required to succeed with open innovation.Originality/value–The study extends previous work and shows how innovation practices are collective efforts that also involve the mobilization of external resources. The incentives observed have an effect on individual behaviour, while performance measures, to a larger degree, cater to the collective level. The authors present three propositions for further empirical investigation.
Measuring value creation: VAIC and EVA
Authors: Iazzolino Gianpaolo , Laise Domenico , Migliano Giuseppe 
Published: April 2014

Purpose
– This study proposes a comparison between Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) and one of the most important performance evaluation methods, the Economic Value Added (EVA), starting from a re-interpretation of the VAIC.

Design/methodology/approach
– The empirical data were gathered from AMADEUS Bureau van Dijk and consist of 2,596 companies operating in Northern Italy, from six different economic sectors, observed for the year 2011. A correlation analysis was carried out in order to highlight whether there is a relationship between the two concepts of VAIC and EVA.

Findings
– Results show that EVA and VAIC have no significant relationships; as a matter of fact, EVA is based on financial theory, whereas VAIC is focalised on the assessment of Intellectual Capital Efficiency (ICE).

Practical implications
– Managers could be misled due to the fact that they often make decisions by taking into account only financial indicators such as EBIT, EVA, etc. Although methods like EVA have improved modern accounting systems, they do not take into account information linked to ICE. Therefore, these two perspectives can be useful in a context in which firms' performances are measured through multi-criteria methodologies (i.e. Balanced scorecard).

Originality/value
– The proposal describes the differences between VAIC and EVA considering these two concepts as not contrasting. In fact, in order to better measure firms' performances, it could be useful to consider VAIC and EVA as an integrated vision in order to develop multi-criteria evaluation systems, rather than consider them separately.
Assessing the link between revenue management and performance: insights from the Italian tourism industry
Authors: Di Foggia Giacomo , Lazzarotti Valentina 
Published: April 2014

Purpose–The aim of this paper is to analyse the role and scope of revenue management and its impact on performance of Italian tourism industry. The paper takes into consideration exogenous factors that may enable or prevent business success. Prior research shed light from different lens.Design/methodology/approach–Research design relies on an empirical analysis, information is gathered using a web survey. Variables are grouped into dependent (performance related items), independent and dummy, consistent with findings of existing literature. A questionnaire was e-mailed to a range of companies according to their NACE Rev.2 codes. The conceptual model is developed considering prior analysis of the literature.Findings–This study provides new insights for practical business management operating in the tourism industry. Indeed, it clarifies the role of the revenue manager and shows its usefulness within SMEs.Research limitations/implications–This study was conducted in only one sector and one country (Italy) and considered only SMEs.Originality/value–Although interesting suggestions can be drawn by literature, to the best knowledge of the authors the empirical analysis is one of the few attempts to explore the topic in Italy in an extensive way.
A study of the relationship between person-organization fit and employee creativity
Authors: Saraç Mehlika , Efil Ismail , Eryilmaz Mehmet 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– Like all other human behaviors, creativity must be examined by considering both personal and situational influences. “Person-organization fit” (POF) provides a suitable theoretical perspective to investigate the congruence between persons and organizations in the domain of creativity. However, few studies have examined the effects of POF on creative behavior. Although the majority of these studies have identified a positive relationship between POF and creativity, it is suggested that congruent individuals are less likely to be inventive. The current study will examine the positive relationship between POF and employees' self-rated creativity in the Turkish context. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– Subjective POF measures and a creativity measure were adapted for this research, and multiple regression was used to calculate whether and how POF relates to creativity.Findings– Two important conclusions were found from the analyses. One of these significant interaction effects was found on employee creativity. And the second is congruence between personal values and current organizational values would effect employee creativity positively. Detailed findings and contributions have been discussed.Research limitations/implications– Although providing an important contribution to POF and creativity literature, this study had some limitations. In this study, self-rating method has been used to measure employee creativity. However, supervisor rating is the most common way in field studies and gives more objective results than self-rating method.Practical implications– The findings provide valuable information for human resource practitioner about the importance of situational factors as far as personal characteristics for enhancing creative behavior in organizations.Originality/value– As far as it is known, there are few studies to examine the relationship between POF and creativity empirically. The majority of these researches examined the complementary fit (demand-abilities, need-supply, value-supply fit). On the other hand, this study specially has focused on supplementary fit (POF), rather than complementary fit and examined its relationship with employee creativity by considering a wide set of values in the Turkish context.
Adoption of green strategy by Danish firms
Authors: Moini Hamid , J. Sorensen Olav , Szuchy-Kristiansen Eva 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this study was to examine the issue of corporate environmentalism from a managerial perspective, specifically in connection to top management commitment and the need for competitive advantage, which can be integrated into the decision making of environmental strategies.Design/methodology/approach– This study uses data from a recent online survey of 77 Danish firms. Surveyed firms in the study were divided into two categories based on their adoption of a green strategy. Univariate analysis of variance and step-wise discriminant analysis were used to identify variables that discriminate between these firms.Findings– The results revealed that systematic planning to develop a green strategy coupled with each firm's view of the importance of formulating and implementing a green strategy are the key factors discriminating between the two groups of firms.Research limitations/implications– Since this study did not consider external factors such as, governmental regulation, NGO pressure, etc. the authors do not rule out the importance of these factors. But it makes sense to conclude both internal and external factors (no necessarily equally) contributing to a successful adoption of green strategy.Practical implications– It appears that adoption of a green strategy is a result of, mostly, internal factors. These factors are certainly within the control of management. Adopting any new strategy requires a wide range of knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, many managers and employees are deficient on their views about the importance of formulating and pursuing a green strategy. They need to be informed that half-hearted efforts in adopting a green strategy make the process both slow and difficult.Social implications– Management commitment to systematic planning to develop and implement a green strategy is essential. Committed managers systematically explore the possibilities of gaining competitive advantages through a proactive strategy by transforming the nature of their products and organization. However, the management mindset does not change solely due to inner managerial drives, but in a more complex interplay with outside stakeholders, including customers, consumers, and non-governmental bodies. Therefore, the riskiest venture occurs when the firm and its management are not totally committed.Originality/value– Developing a foundation for adopting a green strategy and verifying the results should contribute to a more comprehensive managerial understanding of how green strategies should be adopted by firms.
CSR report assurance in the USA: an empirical investigation of determinants and effects
Authors: H. Cho Charles , Michelon Giovanna , M. Patten Dennis , W. Roberts Robin 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– The authors aims to examine, first, what factors appear to lead those US companies that do obtain assurance on their CSR reports to do so, and second, whether this assurance appears to be valued by market participants.Design/methodology/approach– The authors use logistic regression analysis to determine what factors explain the choice to seek assurance. For the second stage of the analysis, the authors rely on Aboodyet al.'s market valuation model to examine the association between CSR report assurance and firm value.Findings– The authors find that industry membership and disclosure extensiveness both appear to influence the choice to attain third-party assurance on CSR reports in the USA. However, the results also indicate that the assurance is not associated with higher market value for report-issuing companies.Research limitations/implications– The authors examine only large firms and limit the investigation to a single year. Further, the authors do not examine market valuation effects where a broader stakeholder orientation might influence these relations.Practical implications– The results suggest that improving the incidence of CSR report attestation in the USA may require efforts from the assurance community to better identify the potential benefits of the practice.Originality/value– This is the first study to focus on CSR report assurance in a setting where country-level influences appear to limit adoption of the practice. As such, the findings are potentially important for understanding both the low incidence of assurance and what might be necessary to increase its use.
Accountants' construction of CSR competencies and commitment
Authors: Caron Marie-Andrée , Fortin Anne 
Published: April 2014

Purpose– The article's main purpose is to investigate the relationship between organizational and professional commitment and accountants' construction of corporate social responsibility (CSR) competencies.Design/methodology/approach– A survey of accounting professionals in Canada (chief financial officers/finance directors) was conducted to ask them about their organization's CSR position, their openness to CSR, involvement in related activities, the codified knowledge they use and their organizational and professional commitment.Findings– The results show the dominance of normative commitment to the profession or organization and its relationship with professional CSR training. Professional CSR training and organizational and other CSR training activities are also related to the professional's openness to CSR.Research limitations/implications– The study's main limitation is the small number of participants. Future research is needed to investigate the conditions under which normative commitment is developed.Practical implications– The results make a practical contribution by suggesting that organizations seeking to involve accounting professionals in CSR activities might want to consider encouraging them to get CSR training using professional resources because of its link to both forms of normative commitment. Further, the findings indicate that the profession could integrate CSR issues more extensively in its accreditation process to enhance its role as a resource provider in the construction of accountants' CSR competencies.Originality/value– To the authors' knowledge, the study is the first one to investigate the relationship between organizational and professional commitment and accountants' construction of CSR competencies.
Effects of large native herbivores on other animals
Authors: Foster Claire N. , Barton Philip S. , Lindenmayer David B. 
Published: April 2014

Summary

Large mammalian herbivores are major drivers of the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems world‐wide, and changes in their abundance have resulted in many populations being actively managed. Many empirical studies have identified that abundant mammalian herbivores can have negative impacts on biodiversity, but there has been no specific review of the impacts of native mammalian herbivores.

We assessed the peer‐reviewed literature on the effects of large native herbivores on other animals. We aimed to quantitatively synthesize current knowledge, identify gaps and limitations in the literature, and highlight priorities for future research.

Most empirical studies of herbivory effects compared only two levels of herbivory (76%), and meta‐analysis showed that very high densities of herbivores, when compared with very low densities, had mostly negative effects on other animal species. These negative effects were usually attributed to changes in the quantity and/or structure of vegetation. Only 24% of papers studied animal responses across a gradient of herbivore densities, and nonlinear responses to herbivory, as well as responses to low and moderate herbivore densities, remain poorly understood.

The literature also was dominated by short‐term studies (76% sampled animal responses for 2 years or less), and there was a high incidence of confounding factors among studies (38% of studies). In addition, many studies used only coarse metrics to assess effects (e.g. only 33% of studies assessed species composition) and few included community‐level synthesis (only 31% of studies reported results from more than one animal class).

Synthesis and applications. Critical questions remain for both basic ecology and the management of large native herbivores for biodiversity. Key knowledge gaps include (i) nonlinear responses to herbivore pressure, (ii) how responses differ between different herbivores, (iii) the spatial and (iv) the temporal variation of responses, (v) how the effects of herbivores interact with other land management activities and (vi) the mechanisms driving cascading effects through ecosystems. We identify ways to address these gaps and emphasize the need for studies which employ contrasts over a gradient of ecologically relevant herbivore densities and biologically meaningful time frames.