bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Benchmarking Six Sigma implementation in services companies operating in an emerging economy
Authors: Augusto Cauchick Miguel Paulo , Monteiro de Carvalho Marly 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The paper reports case studies conducted in services organizations that apply Six Sigma in an emerging economy. Aspects of human resources and full-time specialist, infra-structure, top management leadership, customer requirements, focus on financial and non-financial results, structured method and strategic project selection are investigated. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– Case-based research is employed as methodological approach. Data were mostly gathered through semi-structured interviews with managers involved with Six Sigma implementation. When available, archival data were also used to achieve more evidence towards triangulation. Then, the aggregation of the results was done a posteriori.

Findings
– It was verified that Six Sigma was successfully implemented in those companies, however with some drawbacks. The studied companies adopt Six Sigma in association with other quality management approaches, mainly ISO 9000: 2008 and lean production.

Research limitations/implications
– The study was limited to three service companies. Therefore, the study findings are not subject to generalisation for other similar firms.

Practical implications
– The research shows the importance of Six Sigma implementation in service companies in addition to its contribution to practical application by identifying the relevant aspects of its introduction. It enables practitioners to use the findings on factors that should be taken into consideration when applying Six Sigma.

Originality/value
– It is one of the few studies on Six Sigma analysis in emerging economies. In addition, the empirical results found support in existing theory to some extent.
An investigation of lead benchmarking implementation
Authors: Zeinalnezhad Masoomeh , Mukhtar Muriati , Sahran Shahnorbanun 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore current levels of lead benchmarking implementation and lead performance indicators among Malaysian organizations. Comparing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with large companies, it identifies what benefits and difficulties are present during benchmarking implementation.

Design/methodology/approach
– Descriptive analyses, one-way ANOVAs between and within groups, and parametric and non-parametric tests are used to compare responses obtained from small, medium and large Malaysian manufacturing organizations.

Findings
– Findings suggest that larger organizations have a more progressive approach to lead benchmarking. Strategy and employee development are dominant lead performance indicators of continuous improvement. Large companies experience fewer challenges when implementing benchmarking projects. Perceptions of key benchmarking implementation barriers shift from mere lack of resources toward lack of knowledge and training, information sharing, commitment and trust.

Research limitations/implications
– The sample is specific in nature (Malaysian manufacturing organizations); results should be interpreted accordingly.

Originality/value
– Little is known about lead benchmarking practices in Malaysia, particularly within the contexts of SMEs. The outcomes of this study provide a basis for further improvement and valuable knowledge for top management of manufacturing organizations to refine strategies and advance quality management approaches.
An importance-performance analysis for supplier assessment in foreign-aid funded procurement
Authors: Khan Shahadat , Rahman Shams 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– Using a sample of executing agency executives, donor agency executives and supplying organisation executives, this study aims to identify the critical criteria for the assessment of suppliers in foreign-aid funded procurement in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approach– An instrument with 32-seven-point (1 – rarely, 7 – mostly) Likert-scaled items was employed to gather data on the level of importance assigned by both buyers and suppliers on each supplier assessment criterion. The importance-performance matrix analysis was conducted to assess the gap in expectations between buyers and suppliers and to organise the assessment criteria into four categories such as “low priority”, “possible killer”, “concentrate here”, and “keep up the good work”.Findings– The results indicate that, to provide better service, suppliers must assign tasks to the knowledgeable sales personnel, provide better warranties with well-known branded products, and ensure a reliable level of quality. The supplier organisations should implement a high calibre management system that allows prompt responses to enquiries and the provision of services without buyers having to follow up.Practical implications– With careful considerations, the methodology and results of the study could be adapted to design supplier assessment procedure in other developing countries.Originality/value– This research employs a simple and practical method which purchasing executives will find easy to apply and interpret the findings.
Electroluminescent structures printed on paper and textile elastic substrates
Authors: Sloma Marcin , Janczak Daniel , Wroblewski Grzegorz , Mlozniak Anna , Jakubowska Malgorzata 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– New types of substrates were used for fabrication of printed electroluminescent structures. Polymer foils mainly used as substrates for such optoelectronic elements were replaced with paper and textiles. Printing on non-transparent substrate requires elaboration of printed transparent electrode, while usually polyester foils with sputtered ITO transparent electrodes are used. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– Electroluminescent structures were fabricated with elaborated polymer compositions filled with nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene platelets, dielectric and luminophore nanopowders. Structures were printed as “reverse stack”, where transparent electrode is printed on top of the last luminophore layer. For that carbon nanotubes and graphene platelets filled composition was used, deposited with spray-coating technique.

Findings
– Main issue with new substrates is proper wetting with the use of screen-printing pastes, and much higher roughness especially for textiles.

Originality/value
– Fully functional structures were obtained, but several disadvantages were observed that needs to be eliminated in further studies.
Grey assessment and prediction of the financial agglomeration degree in central five cities
Authors: Li Li , Hu Guo-hui 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– At present, financial agglomeration tendency in domestic and foreign countries is increasingly evident. Therefore, from a comparative perspective, this paper aims to assess and predict the financial agglomeration degree in central five cities.

Design/methodology/approach
– According to the diversity of evaluating indexes and the uncertainty of financial agglomeration, this paper constructs a set of indexes of evaluating the financial agglomeration degree, comprehensively evaluates the financial agglomeration degree of the five cities – Wuhan, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Nanchang and Hefei – in China's middle region from 2001 to 2010 by using the multiple dimension grey fuzzy decision-making model, and predicts their development tendency by using the GM (1, 1, β) model.

Findings
– The results show that the multiple dimension grey fuzzy decision-making pattern cannot only be used to determine the weights of evaluating indexes, but also get the fuzzy partition and ranking order of the financial agglomeration in central five cities. The grey prediction results can objectively reflect the development tendency of the financial agglomeration in central five cities.

Practical implications
– From the results, it is necessary for any competitive city to clarify their relative strengths and weaknesses in order for the accurate location and scientific development, and it also provides a reference for the government decision-making.

Originality/value
– The paper succeeds in using the multiple dimension grey fuzzy decision-making model to measure the financial agglomeration degree of the five central cities and the grey prediction model to predict future trends.
Halifax Community Bank: a learning society within a UK organisation
Authors: A. Eastman Christine 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– Students investigated whether the commonly accepted net promoter score was an accurate way of measuring the quality of service, whether presenteeism was just as corrosive as absenteeism and what internal and external factors contributed to business success or failure. What the paper tried to foster from the outset was the concept of a learning society in order to gauge how students experienced the need to reinforce their arguments with theory. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– The author's interest focused on the link between business and academia, what constituted an academic presence in the workplace and whether or not this academic input helped students to become more effective members of their organisation. The author surveyed 30 students for this qualitative study.Findings– Students welcomed clear direction and an opportunity to translate their experience into a problem-solving exercise. They realised they were in the business of developing themselves and strove to bring clarity to their life and work and to demystify their own texts.Research limitations/implications– This is not a longitudinal study but a sample of questionnaire responses from 30 out of a possible 150 students. The “measurement” is broad, rather than precise.Originality/value– By engaging in a partnership with Middlesex University, the Halifax Community Bank appeared to want to effect radical change in its organisational culture. To the students this was no vacuous public relations exercise but a commitment to getting staff/students to re-examine the contingencies of contemporary business and come up with solutions to a range of business problems.
Is the informal economy an incubator for new enterprise creation? A gender perspective
Authors: Williams Colin , Martinez Alvaro 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether men and women starting a business use the informal economy and do so to test the viability of their venture.

Design/methodology/approach
– To do this, the results of a survey of 595 small business owners in the UK conducted in August 2012 are reported.

Findings
– Of the 22 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women small business owners reporting that they traded informally when starting their business, 66 per cent of the men and 53 per cent of the women assert that a main reason was to test the viability of their business. Hence, just over one in six small businesses started by men and one in 14 started by women (one in eight overall) traded in the informal economy when starting-up in order to test the viability of the business.

Research limitations/implications
– A more extensive survey of a wider range of countries is required to further evaluate the tentative findings of this single country small-scale survey.

Practical implications
– If tax administrations seek to stamp out informal sector entrepreneurship, one hand of government will be eradicating a significant minority of the entrepreneurship that other hands of government wish to foster. Men and women starting-up informally, however, require different policy approaches to help them formalise their business ventures.

Originality/value
– This is the first paper to analyse whether men and women starting a business trade informally at the outset to test its viability.
Is the learning organization idea relevant to higher educational institutions? A literature review and a “multi-stakeholder contingency approach”
Authors: Örtenblad Anders , Koris Riina 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine systematically and reflectively the relevance of four different aspects/types of the learning organization idea to higher educational institutions (HEIs), from three ideal-typical stakeholder perspectives: the managerial perspective, the employee perspective and the societal perspective.Design/methodology/approach– Literature review of 73 prior works on the relevance of the learning organization idea to HEIs, and a systematic examination from different stakeholder perspectives, i.e. an examination based on a “multi-stakeholder contingency approach.”Findings– The learning organization idea needs to be reformulated to some extent to become fully relevant to HEIs.Research limitations/implications– The “multi-stakeholder contingency approach” can be used advantageously in any contextualization study of the learning organization idea as well as in contextualizing any other fashionable management idea.Practical implications– The learning organization idea should not be adopted uncritically by HEIs, nor should it be uncritically rejected. In particular, HEIs should avoid becoming too organic and instead, be moderate when adopting the “learning structure” aspect/type of the learning organization idea.Social implications– It is recommended that the societal perspective be prioritized, in that HEIs are mainly for society.Originality/value– In contrast to the previous stock of literature on HEIs as learning organizations, which, generally speaking, is non-cumulative, uncritical, incongruent and unsystematic, this paper systematically and reflectively examines the relevance of various definitions of the learning organization from diverse and explicit stakeholder perspectives.
Principals and the professional learning community: learning to mobilize knowledge
Authors: Chitpin Stephanie 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to use the Objective Knowledge Growth Framework (OKGF) in the development and maintenance of the Canadian Principal Learning Network (CPLN) to advance principals’ knowledge and skills in the area of decision making. First, the paper presents the inception of the CPLN, to assist principals in making decisions and resolving common problems. Second, the evolution of the CPLN web site is presented and recount the challenges faced and collaborative solved by principals. Finally, the paper describes the OKGF based on the critical rationalism of Karl Popper and how principals, engaging and interacting in an online learning community (CPLN) informed their decision-making process.Design/methodology/approach– The paper mindfully assembled an international team of researchers with administration experience, curriculum knowledge and pedagogy, and whose research interests lay in educational leadership, education administration, change theory, educational policy and professional learning. Also in addition, principals who were current graduate students, and new researchers also joined the research team.Findings– The CPLN web site using OKGF, is a step forward in providing principals with a structure and a venue to be reflective and collaborative. However, getting them to interact with each other in a collaborative, reflective online learning community was not an easy feat at the beginning (Lieberman and Miller, 2008; Louis and Kruse, 1995; Schmoker, 2006; Wagner and Kegan, 2006; Bryket al., 2010; McLaughlin and Talbert, 2002; Stoll and Louis, 2007). The study shows principals find the need for a place to reflect, discuss, experiment, practice and learn and, for this group of principals, that place is the CPLN.Originality/value– This study provides a model for principals’ learning in an online learning community using the OKGF. As well, it shows that powerful leadership does not just take place during preparation programmes, but that principals need to continue to learn as they lead in their respective schools (Mitgang and Maeroff, 2008). Sharing of the challenges faced and the learning that occurred principals are capable of addressing not only the challenges posed in their schools but also, as numerous researchers note (Fryet al., 2006; Levine, 2005; Mitgang and Maeroff, 2008), of surviving the job themselves.
Higher education's flawed recession response
Authors: Patrick Leonard William 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reality that recessions experienced by the larger economy also impact the higher education sector, institutional leaders’ failure to prepare for the inevitable and to introduce proactive steps that should be considered.

Design/methodology/approach
– The author notes that while recessions cannot be accurately predicted, they are inevitable. Without anticipating and preparing for the inevitable revenue shortfall institutional responses tend to be reactive and too often draconian.

Findings
– Yet, institutions routinely prepare for a broad array of liabilities that occur far less frequently. Failing to recognize the inevitability of the next recession and to prepare for its uncertain arrival is a neglect of fiduciary responsibility. To prepare for the inevitable, institutional leaders are encouraged to ask five fundamental questions to minimize the future need to make draconian budget cuts.

Research limitations/implications
– There is a literature gap in the failure to recognize the individual and institutional damage resulting from reactive responses to the business cycle's recession phase.

Practical implications
– As the business cycle's Great Recession of 2008 enters its recovery, phase institutional leaders will have an opportunity to prepare for the next unavoidable recession. Scholars will have accompanying opportunities to track the success or failures of their preparations when the next recession materializes.

Originality/value
– The higher education sector's vulnerability and lack of preparedness has largely gone unnoticed. Proactive preparation, rather than reactive, responses are needed to minimize damage to the institution, its students, faculty and staff.
Process improvement in farm equipment sector (FES): a case on Six Sigma adoption
Authors: Prashar Anupama 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to exhibit how a leading company operating in farm equipment sector (FES) in India utilized Six Sigma statistical tools to reduce field failures of tractor assembly and thereby improved customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study adopted Six Sigma define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC) methodology in order to identify numerous critical process improvements.

Findings
– After completing the define, measure and analyze phase, it was found that the processes of lapping, spring scragging, and assembly of valve body were incapable. The major recommendations made during the improve phase were to change the hydraulic oil; replacement of manual grinder with tool and cutter grinder for flat drill grinding; automation of lapping system; improvement in spring scragging system, change in piston design, etc. As a result of the implementation of remedies, field failure reduced by 95 percent producing a cost saving of almost INR 4.366 million/annum.

Originality/value
– This specific case demonstrates the successful application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in FES for driving down the field failures and improved customer satisfaction.
Managing enterprises and ERP systems: a contingency model for the enterprization of operations
Authors: Clegg Ben , Wan Yi 
Published: January 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems development and emerging practices in the management of enterprises (i.e. parts of companies working with parts of other companies to deliver a complex product and/or service) and identify any apparent correlations. Suitable a priori contingency frameworks are then used and extended to explain apparent correlations. Discussion is given to provide guidance for researchers and practitioners to deliver better strategic, structural and operational competitive advantage through this approach; coined here as the “enterprization of operations”.Design/methodology/approach– Theoretical induction uses a new empirical longitudinal case study from Zoomlion (a Chinese manufacturing company) built using an adapted form of template analysis to produce a new contingency framework.Findings– Three main types of enterprises and the three main types of ERP systems are defined and correlations between them are explained. Two relevant a priori frameworks are used to induct a new contingency model to support the enterprization of operations; known as the dynamic enterprise reference grid for ERP (DERG-ERP).Research limitations/implications– The findings are based on one longitudinal case study. Further case studies are currently being conducted in the UK and China.Practical implications– The new contingency model, the DERG-ERP, serves as a guide for ERP vendors, information systems management and operations managers hoping to grow and sustain their competitive advantage with respect to effective enterprise strategy, enterprise structure and ERP systems.Originality/value– This research explains how ERP systems and the effective management of enterprises should develop in order to sustain competitive advantage with respect to enterprise strategy, enterprise structure and ERP systems use.
Understanding high-value manufacturing in Scottish SMEs
Authors: MacBryde Jillian , Paton Steve , Clegg Ben 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of high-value manufacturing (HVM) concepts in Scottish SMEs and define how they are being used to gain competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach
– Cross-sectional research carried out using a large-scale survey of 435 SMEs and semi-structured interviews of a subset of 50 SMEs.

Findings
– Findings indicate that HVM is not a homogeneous state but an umbrella term for a number of operational models adopted by manufacturers that are progressively moving from simple price-based production; companies must, as a foundation, be operationally excellent in all lifecycle phases before extending their capability by offering a more comprehensive service; HVM is not a static state but a journey that differs in nature for each manufacturer depending on the nature of its market and customer.

Research limitations/implications
– The approach to theory must be more integrated combining aspects of marketing, strategic and operational theory. Research must be carried out using the supply chain, rather than the firm, as the unit of analysis.

Practical implications
– Manufacturing efficiency has now become an order qualifier and competitive advantage should now be sought through the integration of design, production and service activities from strategic levels down to operational levels across all the functions of a business which link seamlessly to customer and supplier activities.

Originality/value
– This paper contains insights into Scottish SMEs and their practice of HVM; defines the activity that makes up HVM at an operational as opposed to an economic or strategic level; proposes a model that characterises the stages of HVM that SMEs transition through.