bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Residential properties, resources of basic education and willingness price of buyers
Authors: Zhang Hao , Li Zhong-fei 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– China's resource allocation mechanism in education has become an important factor in determining residential access to educational resources. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts made by the individual natures of buyers, the external environment, as well as the characteristics of residential properties on the willingness price of buyers. The study's aim is to lay theoretical foundations for the determination of problems related with the matters under consideration.Design/methodology/approach– Using the panel data of 54 districts and counties in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the study unifies macro factors and micro factors in a model for empirical analysis.Findings– Basic education resources can affect housing prices via the “capitalization of education.” The degree of those educational resources’ influence on willingness price changes according to personal income levels, standards of living, housing price fluctuations, the convenience of the residential area and the degrees of urbanization in a district. The greater the buyer's income and standard of living is, the higher is their willingness price. Buyers in urbanized areas prefer increases in educational resources. Increased educational resources increase the values of residential downtown areas. In developed areas with private educational facilities, the role of educational resources in influencing property prices is relatively small.Originality/value– This paper uses data concerning the consumption and investment of residential properties to build a theoretical model for the willingness price of buyers. It unifies macro factors and micro factors in a single model and presents new results about basic education resources and the willingness price of buyers under different conditions.
International market expansion and diversification opportunities for KBB Resources Berhad Malaysia
Authors: Ameer Rashid , Ayomi Marveys Willfred 
Published: August 2014

Subject areaInternational business.Study level/applicabilityBachelor level.Case overviewThis case study simulates a real life management decision. It explores the planning, organizing and controlling challenges associated with developing an internationalization strategy. Top managers planning to expand “internationally” contemplate about potential international markets should understand the risks and opportunities they present and how best to deal with them. Often organizational design is neglected prior to embarking on internationalization strategy. The case provides contrasting perspectives and entry options, to highlight the importance of an in-depth evaluation of alternatives.Expected learning outcomesAnalyze and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of business prior to exploiting international opportunities. Discuss key success factors, each of which has a different degree of importance in formulating a domestic and multinational business strategy. Understand economic, social, cultural, and political risks, and how a company can use of market research to identify and manage such risks. Formulate an internationalization strategy based on the evaluation of the costs and control provided by different international entry options.Supplementary materialsTeaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or emailsupport@emeraldinsight.comto request teaching notes.
Shopping centre Europa – when threats become opportunities
Authors: Kvedaravičienė Ieva , Vilkanciene Lilija 
Published: August 2014

Subject area
Real estate economics, strategic management.

Study level/applicability
BA, undergraduate year 3, 4

Case overview
The case aims to raise an issue of the effects of the economic crisis on Europa shopping centre in Vilnius, Lithuania, and its owner, Baltic Property Trust (BPT) Secura. For the first time since its opening in Vilnius, the company faced rapidly decreasing flows and turnover. Falling revenues meant that most stores within the shopping mall had been struggling to maintain their cash flow and profitability. The major idea of the case is to show that shopping centre management is a complex process covering interrelated relationship among owners, tenants, customers and society in general.

Expected learning outcomes
Learners will be able: to apply knowledge of retail segment functioning specifics; to apply knowledge of retail property management (in various economic and market cycles); and to apply strategic management principles in property management.

Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Fuala: a success story of an entrepreneur
Authors: Al Hosani Mohamed , Ahmad Syed Zamberi 
Published: August 2014

Subject area
This case can be used in entrepreneurship, small business management, project management, strategic planning, and strategic management courses.

Study level/applicability
The case is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate business students (bachelor and master levels).

Case overview
People's relationship to chocolate starts in childhood. Parents often motivate their kids simply by promising them a piece of chocolate. The making of candy is more of an art than a business, and managing a chocolate business requires more than just management skills. This case study highlights the success story of an entrepreneur called “Radwan Al Hosani”, who managed to transform his dream into practice through insistence and hard work. His chocolate shop “Fuala” was the first in this field to be made in the UAE, and he managed to enlarge his business from small shop in 2002 to 16 branches locally and internationally within ten years. The story in this case study serves as a source for imitation for those willing to start a new business as it illustrates real-world challenges that beginners may face.

Expected learning outcomes
This case study will expose students to a strategically successful example of expansion and critical thinking beyond the daily operation of a business. The students will be able to apply five forces business models.

Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Practo Technologies: the online way of life!
Authors: Chauhan Roma , Kumar Amit 
Published: August 2014

Subject area
Innovation, information technology, e-marketing and sales, strategy and entrepreneurship.

Study level/applicability
The case is intended for use in advanced graduate and executive education level management and technical programs of study. The case is high inter-disciplinary appropriate for all courses dealing in use of innovation, information technology, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales and strategy.

Case overview
Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd is a company established in 2008 by entrepreneurs Shashank, N.D. along with Abhinav Lal. At Practo Technologies engineers practice to create technology that supports healthcare industry. In India, there is not enough assistance given to the patients in terms of searching for appropriate doctors and fixing an appointment with them easily. The patient's data lie scattered in reports and the patient's medical history goes unrecorded. Practo provides a robust platform for doctors and patients to collaborate together under one umbrella. It provides patients with open basket of doctor profiles and special search based on doctor's specialty. The case showcases the journey of transformation healthcare sector in India has gone through. The change was resisted, it never came that easy! The case explores issues in implementing information technology for clinics and hospitals in India. This case illustrates interesting facts Indian healthcare and the preparation they need to equip with to manage global technology tide.

Expected learning outcomes
The case can be used for teaching service innovation. Managing innovative practices and low-cost online business models is illustrated. In particular, it deals with how the early start up employs innovation to set up new working ideas. The case is designed to stimulate discussions of broad array of issues regarding deployment of IT services specifically in the hospitals and clinics across India. Evaluate the advantages and liabilities of expanding globally at a very early start up stage. The case focuses on Practo early development with only concept in hand and transforming it into a profit generating business. Evaluate the advantages and challenges of innovation, technology development, deployment and training of manpower to use it. The case offers students opportunity to understand and take view of strategically building early start up and management of concerns with no prior experience. To identify business opportunities and explore various possibilities of expansion into IT healthcare business. The students are given base to explore sales and marketing strategies for online model. The students get overview of cutting edge business offerings and surviving the dynamic competition in the era of globalization.

Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
The damned dam
Authors: Dastidar Surajit Ghosh , Menon Sindhuja , Dutta Arundhati 
Published: August 2014

Subject area
Power and politics.

Study level/applicability
This case is suitable for all levels of students, undergraduate MBA to Executive MBA classes and practitioners. Assignment questions are designed from the perspective of teaching this case to a business student audience.

Case overview
A raging dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam was in the national spotlight after mild tremors shook nearby areas. The Mullaperiyar Dam was located in Idukki district of Kerala in India. The dam was filled to its maximum permissible level of 136 ft. Tamil Nadu wanted the storage capacity to be increased by raising the dam height from 136 ft (41.5 m) to 142 ft (43 m) as per a 2006 Supreme Court directive to meet the growing irrigation needs of the state. The dam was vital for people living in the drought-prone districts of Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram of Tamil Nadu. It irrigated about 220,000 acres and supplied drinking water to Madurai city and several towns. Kerala on the other hand wants a new dam as it feared that a strong earthquake might damage the existing dam. Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy said: “I strongly believe that only a new dam can provide safety to the people of Kerala. We are only concerned about the safety of the people. But, unfortunately, there is a feeling in Tamil Nadu that the situation of panic here is a created one. That is not at all correct”. However, Tamil Nadu Government said the dam was safe as it had undergone periodic repairs during 1980-1994 with Kerala Government's approval. With the Kerala Government screaming loud over the danger that could be caused by the alleged obsolete 116 year old Mullaperiyar Dam on safety grounds of people who live downstream, why is Tamil Nadu defiant on any debate that cites the decommission of the controversial dam? Is the Tamil Nadu Government overlooking the issue for its personal benefits by putting the lives of 3 million people at stake?

Expected learning outcomes
The case would fit in a course for power and politics. It would also be appropriate for a modular course on regional development planning.

Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Cognitive style and innovation in organizations
Authors: E. Ettlie John , S. Groves Kevin , M. Vance Charles , L. Hess George 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to validate cognitive style (i.e. linear, nonlinear, and balanced thinking) with innovation intentions and behaviors. It was hypothesized that a balanced linear/nonlinear thinking style and the inclination toward more innovative intentions are strongly related.Design/methodology/approach– A survey questionnaire of business students in the USA and France was employed. Formally validated measures of thinking style and innovation were replicated in this project.Findings– The results of an analysis of 186 respondents found a significant, direct relationship between balanced thinking style and innovative intention and behavior measures.Research limitations/implications– The results demonstrate that cognitive style and innovation are related, but the direct validation of actual innovative behaviors, in situ, needs to be included in the next step of this research stream. Further, the composition of groups can also be evaluated using these measures.Practical implications– This is the first successful attempt to validate cognitive style measures with innovation outcome measures. These measures are now available for organizational testing, field research, and assessing team composition.Originality/value– This is one of the first criterion-validity assessments of a cognitive measure related to linear and nonlinear thinking style. There are two important implications of these results. First, the authors now have a better understanding of one the links between cognition and innovation. Second, the authors have established a solid base for future research on this subject, including the importance of this effect in practice.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Authors: Groeger Lars , Buttle Francis 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– The paper aims to provide a theoretically informed critique of current measurement practices for word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) campaigns.Design/methodology/approach– An exploratory field study is conducted on a real-life WOMM campaign. Data are collected from two generations of campaign participants using a custom-built Facebook app and subjected to social network analysis (SNA). We compare our theoretically informed measure of campaign reach with industry standard practice.Findings– Standard metrics for WOMM campaigns assume campaign reach equates to the number of campaign-related conversations. These metrics fail to allow for the possibility that some participants may be exposed multiple times to campaign-related messaging. In this exploratory field study, standard metrics overestimate campaign reach by 57.5 per cent. The campaign is also significantly less efficient in terms of cost-per-conversation. SNA shows that multiple exposures are associated with transitivity and tie strength. Multiple exposures mean that the total number of campaign-related conversations cannot be regarded as equivalent to the number of individuals reached.Research limitations/implications– SNA provides a sound theoretical foundation for the critique of current WOMM measurement practices. Two social-structural network attributes – transitivity and tie strength – inform our critique. A single WOMM campaign provides the field study context.Practical implications– The findings have significant implications for the development and deployment of WOMM effectiveness and efficiency metrics and are relevant to WOMM agencies, agency clients and the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.Originality/value– This is the largest field study of its kind having collected data on >5,000 WOMM campaign-related conversations. Participants specified precisely whom they spoke to about the campaign and the strength of that social tie. This is the first SNA-informed critique of standard WOMM campaign measurement practices and first quantification of offline multiple exposures to a WOMM campaign. We demonstrate how standard campaign metrics are based on the false assumption that word-of-mouth flows exclusively along intransitive ties.
Regulatory congruence effects in two-sided advertising
Authors: Cornelis Erlinde , Cauberghe Veroline , De Pelesmacker Patrick 
Published: August 2014

Purpose
– The aim of this study is to contribute to previous research by investigating the principle of regulatory congruence in two-sided advertising messages. Additionally, it addresses the underlying mechanisms of the congruence effect.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study encompasses two experiments: a two-level between-subjects design, manipulating the message’s frame (prevention vs promotion), while measuring respondents’ chronic self-regulatory focus (prevention vs promotion), and a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, manipulating processing depth (central vs peripheral) and message frame (prevention- vs promotion-oriented), while measuring individuals’ chronic self-regulatory focus (prevention vs promotion).

Findings
– Study 1 shows that in two-sided messages, the effect of regulatory congruence on attitudes toward the message depends on individuals’ self-regulatory focus: a congruence effect was only found in promotion-focused individuals. This congruence effect was driven by processing fluency. The second study builds on the first one by exploring the absence of a congruence effect found in prevention-focused individuals. Its results show that in prevention-focused individuals, processing depth influences regulatory congruence effects in two-sided messages. Under peripheral processing, prevention-focused individuals have more positive attitudes toward the issue when two-sided messages are congruent with their self-regulatory focus. Under central processing, on the other hand, a regulatory incongruence effect on attitudes occurs.

Originality/value
– This study complements prior research by examining the validity of the regulatory congruence principle in the context of two-sided messages. Moreover, it addresses the underlying mechanisms driving regulatory (in)congruence effects. As such, our study contributes both to the existing research on two-sided messages and that on regulatory focus.
National versus local brands
Authors: Jean Jeon Hyo-Jin , P. Dant Rajiv , M. Gleiberman Aaron 
Published: August 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this research is to investigate differences in customer perceptions of quality between credence and experience industries. The paper expands on the implications of national versus local firms and does so within a franchise context.

Design/methodology/approach
– Based on a sample of 349 consumers, three core SERVQUAL dimensions (reliability, security and tangibility) were analyzed to determine customer perceptions of quality. A mixed-factorial designed was used to evaluate different scenarios of purchasing intentions, measuring the main and interactive effects of service type and criticality among franchised and local brands.

Findings
– Significant differences were found in customer perceptions of quality between experience- and credence-based services. A significant moderating effect of the level of criticality was shown to play an important role in customers’ perceptions.

Research limitations/implications
– This experimental laboratory study highlights the importance for managers to understand the differences in perceptions of customers when dealing between service types and acting under conditions of varying criticality. This holds true for both franchised and non-franchised businesses.

Originality/value
– This study offers one of the first investigations of customer perceptions of quality in specific industry types (i.e. credence and experience) within a franchise system. Depending on the industry type, customers have different expectations of quality. The authors offer several specific ways in which managers can use this knowledge to their advantage.
Voluntary helpful organizational behavior
Authors: P. Bandura Randall , Johnson Richard , R. Lyons Paul 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– The purpose of the paper is to examine employee-helpful behavior that is voluntary and given freely without anticipation of reward or recognition. The authors have labeled this voluntary behavior in all its forms as v-hob, or voluntary helpful organizational behavior. They seek to define and explain the behavior and attempt to discern measures that will help to discover individual’s predispositions to offer v-hob.Design/methodology/approach– The authors examine current theory/constructs and offer a detailed empirical study in identifying measures that may provide some means for assessing employee predisposition toward helpful, voluntary behavior on the job. The format of the work is reflective of a typical research study with hypotheses.Findings– The authors learned that, within limits, it is possible and practical to identify direct measures to discover one’s predisposition toward v-hob. They also have identified regression equations that use several variables to help predict one’s predispositions toward this valued behavior.Practical implications– This study brings to the manager and/or human resource (HR) practitioner the substance of contextual performance, that is, behavior that goes beyond task performance in the support of individual and organizational goal attainment. This research demonstrates several means by which trainers, managers and HR professionals may assess an employee’s or a recruit’s predisposition to offer voluntary, helpful behavior.Originality/value– This research, unlike most of the empirical, academic research in the domain of contextual performance, speaks directly to practitioners. The authors' definitions, explanations and study clearly demonstrate the practical features of contextual performance.
Firm characteristics and balanced scorecard usage in Singaporean manufacturing firms
Authors: Liu Ling , Ratnatunga Janek , J. Yao Lee 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– This study aims to examine the effects of balanced scorecard (BSC) usage on performances in the context of four contingent variables in Singaporean manufacturing firms. The results show that firms are more likely to adopt BSC if they are large in size, have products at an early product lifecycle (PLC) stage, operate in highly uncertain environments or adopt differentiation strategies. However, the adoption of BSC improves performance only in firms that are large or have products at an early PLC stage. The results suggest that contingent factors in which a firm operates can exert significant effects on the results of adopting BSC.Design/methodology/approach– Survey data are collected, then the authors check data correlations, principle components analysis, run regression analysis and ANOVA.Findings– BSC use is positively and significantly correlated with PLC stage, external environment and performance. Size and strategy are positively correlated with BSC usage, but are not statistically significant. Higher BSC use is found in large firms with products at an early PLC stage or operating in a highly uncertain environment. Companies with a cost leadership strategy are significantly associated with BSC use.Research limitations/implications– This study has small sample size and uses survey research method. The measurements to capture all aspects of BSC usage are non-exhausting. Future research can use different methodologies, such as field studies, case studies and lab experiments, to examine other industries than manufacturing.Practical implications– The authors results show the positive association between BSC use and certain firm characteristics. Firms with those characteristics should get insights about the benefit of using BSC and extract the maximum benefit from their investment on the BSC use and those firms which don’t have BSC in implication may think of implementing the BSC use.Social implications– Firms’ contingent factors affect the value of adopting BSC. With the authors research result, firms will be aware of how to extract the most value out of BSC and improve the social wealth of the manufacturing industries.Originality/value– The authors paper is the first paper to use survey method to examine the association between BSC and firms’ contingent factors in the Singaporean manufacturing firms setting.