bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Extending the molecular clutch beyond actin-based cell motility
Authors: Havrylenko Svitlana , Mezanges Xavier , Batchelder Ellen , Plastino Julie 
Published: October 2014

Abstract
Many cell movements occur via polymerization of the actin cytoskeleton beneath the plasma membrane at the front of the cell, forming a protrusion called a lamellipodium, while myosin contraction squeezes forward the back of the cell. In what is known as the ‘molecular clutch’ description of cell motility, forward movement results from the engagement of the acto-myosin motor with cell-matrix adhesions, thus transmitting force to the substrate and producing movement. However during cell translocation, clutch engagement is not perfect, and as a result, the cytoskeleton slips with respect to the substrate, undergoing backward (retrograde) flow in the direction of the cell body. Retrograde flow is therefore inversely proportional to cell speed and depends on adhesion and acto-myosin dynamics. Here we asked whether the molecular clutch was a general mechanism by measuring motility and retrograde flow for the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm cell in different adhesive conditions. These cells move by adhering to the substrate and emitting a dynamic lamellipodium, but the sperm cell does not contain an acto-myosin cytoskeleton. Instead the lamellipodium is formed by the assembly of major sperm protein, which has no biochemical or structural similarity to actin. We find that these cells display the same molecular clutch characteristics as acto-myosin containing cells. We further show that retrograde flow is produced both by cytoskeletal assembly and contractility in these cells. Overall this study shows that the molecular clutch hypothesis of how polymerization is transduced into motility via adhesions is a general description of cell movement regardless of the composition of the cytoskeleton.
King John and Royal Control in Ireland: Why William de Briouze had to be Destroyed
Authors: Veach Colin 
Published: October 2014

Abstract
This article re-examines King John’s persecution and eventual destruction of his former friend, William de Briouze, a signal example of John’s tyranny on the eve of Magna Carta. Approaching the episode from the transnational perspective of the two men involved, the study uncovers the roots of their dispute in King John’s attempts to introduce English-style royal rule to Ireland. Desperate to extract what he could from his insular possessions following the loss of Normandy in 1204, John’s attempts to increase his authority in Ireland provoked a violent response from its greatest magnates in 1207. John lost this lesser-known baronial revolt, but the most prudent of his barons soon came to terms with him. Not so William de Briouze, who, we are told had his Irish honour of Limerick seized for refusing a summons to court. From that point Briouze’s fall was sudden and violent. King John hounded him across England and Wales, forcing him into a desperate rebellion and exile in Ireland. But 1207 had shown the limit of John’s power, and Briouze was sheltered for two years by his fellow Irish magnates. King John’s expedition to Ireland in 1210 was to finish the business of 1207, and firmly stamp English royal control on Ireland.increase his authority in Ireland provoked a violent response from its greatest magnates in 1207
A holistic and integrated approach to theorizing strategic alliances of small and medium-sized enterprises
Authors: Zhao Fang 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to seek to deliver a new and holistic insight on small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) strategic alliances in terms of the precursor, motivations, selection, governance structure, outcomes and challenges of strategic alliances of SMEs and the relationships between them.Design/methodology/approach– To better understand the entire process of SME strategic alliances, the author takes a novel approach which is based on a combined perspective of entrepreneurship and innovation, resource-based theory, and social network theory.Findings– The author develops a theoretical model which seeks to conceptualize the antecedents, process, and outcomes of strategic alliances of SMEs and the relationships between them.Research limitations/implications– The conceptual framework provides the directions for future empirical testing and further theoretical research.Practical implications– This study may help managers better understand the importance of an integrated approach to entrepreneurship and innovation, and the process and outcomes of enhancing their entrepreneurship and innovation capacities through strategic alliances.Originality/value– To the author's knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that takes a holistic and integrated approach to study SME strategic alliances.
Does ERP integration foster Cross-Functional Awareness? Challenging conventional wisdom for SMEs and large French firms
Authors: Marciniak Rolande , E.L. Amrani Redouane , Rowe Frantz , Adam Frédéric 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of Cross-Functional Awareness (CFA) and to question how firm size influences the impact of ERP implementation strategies on CFA. Specifically, the paper questions whether size moderates the capability of the firm to achieve CFA.Design/methodology/approach– The authors developed and empirically tested a conceptual framework using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach. This study gathered data from a sample of 45 French SMEs and 55 French large firms.Findings– The results show that ERP implementation strategies (flexibility, organizational vision, Business Process Re-Engineering, speed of implementation, and focus on core modules) have a direct positive relationship and, in large firms, an indirect relationship (via data quality improvement) with the emergence of CFA. The study also suggests that firm size moderates the resulting emergence of ERP-enabled CFA. The findings will help researchers understand the factors associated with ERP implementation and use that promote or inhibit successful use of ERP systems.Research limitations/implications– Similar to many published ERP surveys, the sample size is small. In addition, the authors examined CFA in the survey from the perspective of a single respondent per firm. Finally, there may be a cultural limitation linked to the respondents all being French firms.Practical implications– The findings will promote a better understanding of the concept of CFA and its benefits amongst managers, leading to increased productivity and efficiency with ERP. In particular, they will help practitioners identify and manage the right factors during ERP implementations.Originality/value– In the expanding world of Enterprise System research, this paper is significant in that it studies the effect of ERP implementation on CFA rather than investigating the factors affecting ERP implementation or the outcomes of ERP implementations. To the best of the knowledge, this is one of the few papers that theoretically articulates and empirically explores the concept of CFA, and tests the relationship between implementation strategy factors and CFA, including the moderating role of size in the context of ERP. The contribution shows that the firm size effect should be examined at the level of SMEs and larger firms separately, rather than at an overall level.
Introduction of electronic documents: how business process simulation can help
Authors: Leyer Michael , Hollmann Maximilian 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– Many companies still use paper documents within their service processes, which is supposed to be inefficient, and a digitalisation of documents is a promising alternative. However, such a change is expensive and the process typically has to be adapted. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to show how business process simulation (BPS) can be used to forecast the effects of the introduction of electronic documents.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper presents a case study of a German bank, and shows how BPS can be used to evaluate the introduction of electronic documents in financial service processes.

Findings
– The case study shows how BPS can be applied to evaluate the implications of introducing IT systems using the example of e-files. The results reveal that not only cycle time, but also costs and administrative workload, can be reduced, while the number of processed orders increases.

Practical implications
– On the one hand the data generated in the simulation results can form the basis for feasibility studies regarding IT investments, e.g. for the migration of historical data from the old document management system system. On the other hand, further actions can be deduced for sales staff and other processes, which can use employees’ additional free time.

Originality/value
– Real case examples are rare, as many companies do not apply simulations. This paper is the first to analyse the impact of introducing electronic documents in service processes using BPS. The paper provides an approach how to conceptualise such settings.
Exploring location-dependency in process modeling
Authors: Zhu Xinwei , Recker Jan , Zhu Guobin , Maria Santoro Flávia 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– Context-awareness has emerged as an important principle in the design of flexible business processes. The goal of the research is to develop an approach to extend context-aware business process modeling toward location-awareness. The purpose of this paper is to identify and conceptualize location-dependencies in process modeling.Design/methodology/approach– This paper uses a pattern-based approach to identify location-dependency in process models. The authors design specifications for these patterns. The authors present illustrative examples and evaluate the identified patterns through a literature review of published process cases.Findings– This paper introduces location-awareness as a new perspective to extend context-awareness in BPM research, by introducing relevant location concepts such as location-awareness and location-dependencies. The authors identify five basic location-dependent control-flow patterns that can be captured in process models. And the authors identify location-dependencies in several existing case studies of business processes.Research limitations/implications– The authors focus exclusively on the control-flow perspective of process models. Further work needs to extend the research to address location-dependencies in process data or resources. Further empirical work is needed to explore determinants and consequences of the modeling of location-dependencies.Originality/value– As existing literature mostly focusses on the broad context of business process, location in process modeling still is treated as “second class citizen” in theory and in practice. This paper discusses the vital role of location-dependencies within business processes. The proposed five basic location-dependent control-flow patterns are novel and useful to explain location-dependency in business process models. They provide a conceptual basis for further exploration of location-awareness in the management of business processes.
A pricing approach for service companies: service blueprint as a tool of demand-based pricing
Authors: Calabrese Armando , De Francesco Federico 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers’ perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to align their prices to customers’ preferences and to their expenditure propensity. Accordingly, it can generate higher margins than other pricing approaches. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to implement operationally. Consequently, in order to overcome these implementation difficulties, the purpose of this paper is to provide a demand-based pricing approach based on the user-friendly technique of service blueprint (SB).

Design/methodology/approach
– The methodology relies on the design science leads. Design science deals with creating artefacts or models for supporting human or organizational purposes; such artefacts have to be assessed against criteria of utility or value for users. Accordingly, an experimental action research is performed for both implementing and testing the proposed pricing approach.

Findings
– Starting from the main difficulties hindering implementation of demand-based pricing, SB is proved to enable companies to overcome such difficulties and to support its implementation. Moreover, by employing SB, an innovative approach for fixing service prices is provided.

Practical implications
– The proposed approach enables managers of service companies to overcome difficulties of demand-based pricing and to employ pricing strategies according to demand-based drivers.

Originality/value
– In line with a recent call for research on service pricing, this paper develops a new pricing approach, which is able to promote demand-based pricing.
An empirical study of a novel managing customer power model and business performance in the mobile service industry
Authors: Alotaibi Youseef , Liu Fei 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of dividing the companies’ customers into different priority groups to be served according to their payment history and feedback on the business performance areas: service quality (SQ), business process time (BPT), business process cost (BPC) and customer satisfaction (CS).

Design/methodology/approach
– A new numerical model to improve CS service waiting time according to their priority queue class, particularly customers in the high priority queue class will be proposed. To validate the proposed numerical model, a call centre at the selected telecommunication company is used as a case study. An empirical analysis based on data from 130 business and IT managers is used to evaluate and investigate if it has an impact on business process (BP) performance. Bivariate correlation analysis was used to test four hypotheses. The results were subjected to reliability and validity analyses.

Findings
– The results show that managing customer power is positively associated with BP performance. Furthermore, the results indicate that by using the proposed numerical model, the customers’ satisfaction can be improved.

Research limitations/implications
– The paper has some limitations as it is only tested on one real business organizations and one BP service. Furthermore, the study was conducted only in telecommunication companies. The questionnaires were answered only by IT and business managers in Saudi Arabian telecommunication companies. Therefore, the results cannot be used as a standard and might not be directly transferrable to any sized firm and any other country. Moreover, the results may be affected by common method variance as the authors collected the data from participants by using the same survey and at the same time.

Social implications
– The results of this research provide important evidence for business managers and business analysts that managing customers power can enhance the business performance.

Originality/value
– To date, there is only a few researches have been conducted in the area of separating customers into different priority groups to provide services according to their required delivery time, payment history and feedback. However, most of them have not been evaluated in the business environment. Moreover, no previous study has attempted to empirically demonstrate the relationship between creating a BP model which can manage customer power, SQ, BPT, BPC and CS.
After 12
Authors: Dastidar Surajit Ghosh , Jain Nitin Kumar 
Published: October 2014

Subject area
Entrepreneurship.

Study level/applicability
The case is suitable for analysis in an undergraduate/graduate entry level course on entrepreneurship. It may also be taught in a course for non-business majors who are unfamiliar with basic business concepts.

Case overview
Shrey Gupta and Manoj Agarwal were the co-owners of “After 12”, a food facility in the Dhanakwadi area of Pune, India. In only nine months, their food enterprise had become quite popular among the local college going crowd. They were doing brisk business and sales had picked up quite a bit in the last two months. They both were quite pleased with the progress of their business. However, in spite of increasing sales figures in the last few months they hardly generated any profits. The revenue they generated was completely spent on buying raw materials like vegetables and other food materials and the rest was used in the payment of utility bills and wages of the cook and the helper. They only had enough money to continue for another month or so. Both pondered about what is the way to proceed. What can be done to make it sustainable? How would they arrange the extra money to get them going? Should they close down “After 12”?

Expected learning outcomes
The case will aid students to understand: how small businesses are started and may fail; the importance of researching your business idea; and SWOT analysis.

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.
Value communication: low-cost marketing initiatives for “Guru Ki Bani 58282”
Authors: Pandey Neeraj , Singh Gaganpreet 
Published: October 2014

Subject area
Pricing, digital marketing, marketing management and strategic marketing.

Study level/applicability
The case can be used for pricing or digital marketing courses as well as marketing management courses to MBA students and/or for management development programmes.

Case overview
Goldfinch Mobile Solutions, a Hong-Kong based value added services (VAS) and gaming platform provider, had an exclusive tie up with Bharti Airtel in India for providing value added voice applications on an interactive voice response system (IVRS) platform. The Goldfinch flagship service is “Guru Ki Bani” which may be subscribed to by dialing the short code 58282. This “58282” service has a repository of all Sikh religion daily prayers, religious songs, teachings, stories from Guru's life and similar information that is derived from the Sikh Holy book Guru Granth Sahib Ji. As per mutual agreement between Goldfinch Mobile Solutions and Bharti Airtel, the telecom operator had the responsibility to promote Goldfinch's Guru Ki Bani service amongst its subscriber base through its below the line (BTL) promotional channels such as short messaging service (SMS), outbound calls, cell information, notification SMS after call and above the line (ATL) activities such as posters, leaflets, print, promoters, regional TV, outdoors, etc. The revenue sharing arrangement between Airtel and Golfinch was in the ratio of 75 percent and 25 percent. However, with recent changes in the policies of Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), promotional marketing used by telecom operators has been constrained. Declining customer share, decreasing profits (after Bharti Airtel halted promotions) and increasing organization cost per customer have made MD and CEO Mr Newton Bubber think of various options including low-cost marketing initiatives besides digital marketing to promote Guru Ki Bani services. Value communication to its huge potential customer base, i.e. 184.19 million Bharti Airtel subscribers was another challenge facing Mr Newton and his marketing team at Goldfinch.

Expected learning outcomes
The case enables students to learn the concepts and application of value creation, effective value communication, price waterfall analysis, importance of costing parameters in pricing decisions, low-cost marketing strategies and digital marketing.

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 role of reasonable notice legislation in organizational downsizing decisions in Canada
Authors: Chhinzer Nita 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of reasonable notice legislation on organizational mass lay-off practices in Canada.

Design/methodology/approach
– Information regarding 1,147 mass lay-off events in Ontario were examined using aggregate level data analysis and ANOVA to develop an understanding of the role of legislation on mass lay-off practices. The data represent all Notice of Mass Termination provided to the Ministry of Labour from 2001 to 2008.

Findings
– The results suggest that organizations choose to absorb inefficiencies during mass lay-offs to reduce expenses associated with reasonable notice periods. Additionally, the findings suggest that the use of mass lay-offs is polarized, with some organizations executing frequent large lay-offs, whereas others execute infrequent smaller lay-offs.

Research limitations/implications
– This research provides evidence that labour legislation influences organizational decision-making during time of significant organizational change, using an ad hoc review of past organizational event. Further research is required to establish the theoretic basis (motivation, rationalization and perceptions) for these empirical results.

Originality/value
– As downsizing becomes a business norm, the role of government and the concept of reasonable notice remain largely unexplored. Challenges with data availability continue to pose a significant barrier to effectively integrating both internal and external factors that influence organization level downsizing decisions. This article is very timely and extends the current discourse, by providing a preliminary exploratory analysis on the role of reasonable notice legislation.
State of third party logistics providers in China
Authors: Wee Kwan Tan Albert , Yifei Zhao , Zhang Dali , Hilmola Olli-Pekka 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify global trends in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, and with that to find out where the opportunities and challenges lie, what the critical success factors are, and how companies can position themselves well in China. As there is currently very limited knowledge about the 3PL industry in China, this study also intends to shed light in this area.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study is conducted through focus group interviews with senior executives of leading 3PL companies in China followed by a survey with 70 logistics companies.

Findings
– The key strengths of the logistics industry in China include numerous factors such as good connectivity and new infrastructure, while its main weaknesses are a shortage of qualified staff and slow adoption of technologies. There are a number of concerns and issues raised, such as lack of qualified staff, oversupply of warehousing space in China, competition from the influx of foreign 3PL companies to China, and regulations on free trade zones, seaports and airports, all of which may have policy implications.

Research limitations/implications
– As most of the logistics companies in the study are located and dominating in the Eastern and Southern China, it may be useful to conduct similar study in the new emerging western and central regions of China for comparison.

Practical implications
– Managers and investors will appreciate the challenges and opportunities in logistics services in China and have a better insight into Chinese logistics development.

Originality/value
– While China has been viewed as a cost effective place for manufacturing, the logistical costs in China are still very high as compared to other developed countries. This research will highlight the key reasons for the high logistical cost in China.