bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The lean-performance relationship in services: a theoretical model
Authors: Hadid Wael , Afshin Mansouri S. 
Published: July 2014

Purpose– The extant literature on lean service reveals a noticeable lack of theoretical models establishing the core constructs of lean service, their interrelation and impact on organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by proposing a theoretical model in which lean constructs are identified and operationalized to establish their interrelation and impact on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach– This paper synthesizes information drawing on a systematic review of the literature on lean service, other relevant academic literature to develop a theoretical model and a set of propositions. Drawing on the universal theory, socio-technical systems theory and contingency theory (CT), the paper highlights and clarifies the potential impact of lean service on operational and financial performance.Findings– This study identifies a comprehensive set of lean technical practices, lean supportive practices, inhibitors and expected outcome of lean service. Expected relationships among those constructs are established by developing a conceptual framework with several propositions based on the relevant literature and the socio-technical system theory, the universal perspective and the CT, when relevant. Moreover, six influential contextual variables on the lean-performance relation are identified based on a review of the management accounting literature, organizational strategy literature and diversification literature to overcome limitations of previous studies.Originality/value– This paper covers a gap in the literature by identifying and operationalizing lean service constructs and offering a theoretical model with several propositions that establish relationships between lean constructs and overcome limitations in previous studies by identifying six contextual variables that are important factors in the lean-performance associations.
The effect of the regulatory framework on the competitiveness of the dairy sector in Tanzania
Authors: Charles Urassa Goodluck 
Published: July 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of the regulatory framework on the competitiveness of the dairy sector of Tanzania. More precisely, it attempts to identify the main regulations governing the dairy industry and examines areas in which they overlap. The paper explores the effect of the regulatory framework on the business enterprises operating in the sector and highlights ongoing initiatives for harmonisation of the regulations affecting the dairy sector.Design/methodology/approach– The study that culminated in the paper was qualitative in nature, being based on case studies of two enterprises operating in the dairy industry, secondary data, in-depth discussions with industry stakeholders through personal interviews and focus group discussions. The paper also draws on observations made of the advocacy project that is going on to review regulations in the dairy sector.Findings– The dairy sector in Tanzania is facing significant regulatory challenges, leading to the high cost of doing business. The main regulatory burdens facing the sector are: multiple inspections of premises, multiple testing of products, multiplicity of licences for premises and products, and the use of regulations as a source of revenue. Bureaucratic roadblocks add costs to businesses and reduce the competitiveness of products and services, as well as the potential for business expansion and job creation. While the private sector appears to succeed in creating awareness of the issue, it has not yet succeeded in pressurising the government to take action to bring about policy change.Practical implications– The findings of the paper will inform policy makers and the private sector on how the regulations affect the competitiveness of the dairy industry. The paper will also aid advocacy initiatives by private sector organisations by providing empirical evidence concerning the damaging effect of the regulatory framework and will contribute some ideas on how to carry forward the ongoing dialogue between the private and public sector.Originality/value– The paper fills the gap resulting from the lack of empirical evidence regarding the impact of the regulatory framework on the competitiveness of the private sector in the context of a developing economy. It demonstrates how systematic research on advocacy issues raised by the private sector could be used to generate evidence that informs and motivates policy change. The paper also applies the theory of regulation to a specific industry to show how regulatory reforms could be attained.
Shopper perception and loyalty: a stochastic approach to modelling shopping mall behaviour
Authors: Wei Khong Kok , Sim Ong Fon 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The study of shopping mall patronage behaviour includes concepts such as mall attributes and attractiveness, motivations and patronage choice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of shopper loyalty and perception towards shopping malls.

Design/methodology/approach
– A survey using a systematic random sampling method was conducted on mall shoppers in major shopping malls in the most developed urban centres of Malaysia. Using a series of multivariate techniques, a stochastic model was developed to measure the impact of perception of malls on patronage loyalty. The model also estimated the mediating effects of brand trust and brand affect on patronage loyalty. Reliability and validity tests were conducted to measure the internal consistency and validity of the constructs.

Findings
– The results provided support for the hypothesised relationships between perception and loyalty. The results also suggested that malls generally have their own loyal patrons who not only perceive the malls positively but also stay loyal.

Research limitations/implications
– Some limitations of the study and future research directions were discussed subsequently.

Practical implications
– This stochastic model can be used by practitioners as a tool to predict possible outcomes via a series of market simulation and scenario planning. In short, marketers can optimise patronage loyalty by adjusting the parameters in the model in a predefined environment.

Originality/value
– This paper suggests that the survey instrument used in the study is reliable and valid. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to define the measurement models. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was used to develop the stochastic model. A series of mathematical equations were derived when constructing the model.
Intention to use mobile customer relationship management systems
Authors: Karjaluoto Heikki , Töllinen Aarne , Pirttiniemi Janne , Jayawardhena Chanaka 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral intentions of business-to-business (B2B) sales managers to use mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems in the course of their day-to-day activities.

Design/methodology/approach
– An extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of mobile CRM system adoption is developed and tested with data from 105 international sales managers representing five B2B companies.

Findings
– The study extends the TAM framework with three additional constructs derived from mobile technology and sales force automation literature, namely personal innovativeness in the domain of IT, perceived risk, and perceived reachability. The model demonstrates that personal innovativeness and perceived reachability have significant effects on the TAM framework.

Research limitations/implications
– The relatively small sample size limits the generalization of the results.

Practical implications
– Sales managers’ intention to adopt mobile CRM can be explained by the extended TAM framework. Understanding the key factors that influence intention to adopt a mobile CRM system will aid companies in implementing it among their sales force. Companies willing to foster adoption of a mobile CRM system among the sales force could focus on communicating the usefulness of using the system and benefits gained from enhanced reachability. Recruiting sales people with strong personal innovativeness is beneficial.

Originality/value
– This study responds the calls for studies on mobile platforms and on the use of mobile B2B applications in sales force management. It is among the first attempts to incorporate variables derived from mobile technology acceptance literature among the sales force into the TAM framework, to better explain acceptance of mobile CRM systems.
Do we measure what we expect to measure? Some issues in the measurement of culture in consumer research
Authors: Sun Gong , D’Alessandro Steven , W. Johnson Lester , Winzar Hume 
Published: July 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems in the measurement of culture in consumer studies and offers suggestions for remedies.Design/methodology/approach– Drawing on literature from related fields, the paper discusses some general issues in the measurement of culture and draws consumer researchers’ attention to the flaws in the common cultural measures in consumer research. Implications for future research are also provided.Findings– The paper highlights two main shortcomings of commonly used culture instruments which are seldom taken into account by consumer researchers. Specifically, the commonly used culture dimensions in consumer studies do not have clear conceptual boundaries. Moreover, important differences between the different approaches to culture measuring (self- vs group-referenced and values vs practices) are always overlooked. The paper suggests that consumer research needs more focussed and refined measures and discusses which approach is better in which context.Originality/value– This paper explores the issues of conceptual ambiguity and approach inconsistency in order to draw consumer researchers’ attention to the flaws in common measures of culture. Only when one measures what one expects to measure will the relationship that one observe between these cultural dimensions and consumer behavior be valid.
Drivers of attitudes toward luxury brands
Authors: Yi-Cheon Yim Mark , L. Sauer Paul , Williams Jerome , Lee Se-Jin , Macrury Iain 
Published: July 2014

Purpose– Limited attention has been paid to the cultural influences on the formation of consumer attitudes toward luxury brands (LUX). The purpose of this paper is to investigate this relationship by developing a model that additionally employs the constructs of susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence (SNII) and brand consciousness (BCO).Design/methodology/approach– Sample data were gathered through surveys administered to 383 college students in the UK and Taiwan. The model of cultural influences on attitudes toward luxury brands was empirically tested using multi-group structural equation modeling to evaluate its applicability across the two countries.Findings– Results are presented in two parts: first, the exogenous construct part of the model establishing the reliability and validity of the cultural dimension constructs (horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism) that are antecedent to consumer SNII and 2) the endogenous part of the model in which consumer SNII affects LUX through the mediating role of BCO.Research limitations/implications– The findings in the current study are limited to a sample of college students in the UK and Taiwan, which, through representing western and Asian countries, each housing different cultures, do not span the greater number of cultures found across these countries, much less across the world. Furthermore it is assumed that there are a number of subcultures in both the UK and Taiwan that are not accounted for in this study.Practical implications– An individual level of cultural orientation (e.g. horizontalism and verticalism) rather than traditionally adopted regionally defined or nationally based (Hofstede, 1980) cultural criteria should be investigated to identify more accurate market demand patterns in order to best target consumers in these markets (Sharma, 2010). In addition, appealing, vertical ad messages would be more effective in stimulating consumer motivations for consumption of luxury brands. Conversely, horizontal ad messages would be effective in demarketing approaches.Originality/value– The current study is the first of its kind to explore the effect of cultural-orientation on the formation of LUX cross-nationally. As such it provides future cross-cultural researchers with valid and reliable culturally based constructs that can be used to predict consumer SNII in developing LUX. In addition, establishing the mediating role of BCO in the relationship between SNII and LUX helps marketers better understand the equity of their luxury brands, particularly in Asian countries.
Cross-cultural validation of switching costs: a four-country assessment
Authors: A. El-Manstrly Dahlia 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop a cross-cultural scale of customers’ perceived switching costs (PSCs). Customers’ PSCs function as a powerful defensive marketing tool that restrains customers from switching.

Design/methodology/approach
– Four sets of survey data were collected in the UK, Egypt, Germany, and China. An overall response rate of 86 percent was achieved across the four countries. Cross-cultural equivalence of the PSCs scale was assessed using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings
– Tests of configural, metric, and factor variance invariance confirmed that the PSCs scale is appropriate for meaningful cross-cultural comparisons.

Research limitations/implications
– Data were collected in four countries from the financial service context. Future researchers should test the short-form PSCs (PSCs-S) scale across different cultural and industrial contexts to enhance its generalizability.

Practical implications
– The cross-cultural PSCs-S scale presented here will enhance international marketing researchers’ ability to test theory containing customers’ PSCs as central variables, and provide managers with a measurement tool that they can use to better segment and manage their customers.

Originality/value
– This study is one of the first to develop a cross-cultural PSCs scale. Despite the growth of research into customers’ PSCs, research on the topic has been limited by the lack of a cross-cultural measurement instrument. The latter now furnishes the research community with the opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of switching behavior, to establish the scale's generalizability, and to make meaningful comparisons of PSCs across cultures.
Modeling variation in global consumers’ participation behaviour intentions using an institutional market index
Authors: Hendrik Schumann Jan , Nijssen Ed , Lentz Patrick 
Published: July 2014

Purpose– Enhancing customer participation behaviour (CPB) is critical for service firms. However, in a global context, cultural and local market factors are relevant. The purpose of this paper is to detail how and why global service firms can and should account for such factors. Prior research relied predominantly on cultural value differences to account for cross-national variation. The present study uses an index of consumers’ institutional logics of market action (CILMA) as an alternative approach to segment international markets.Design/methodology/approach– In total, 1,910 customers of financial services in 11 countries were surveyed on their CILMA as well as on costomer participation behaviour intentions (CPBI) and cognitive and affective trust as drivers. The 11 countries are then grouped according to their levels in the CILMA index. Finally a structural equations model on the drivers of CPBI is tested for direct and moderating effects of the CILMA index by comparing the two segments with a relation- vs contract-dominated CILMA.Findings– The study reveals that the CILMA index explains differences in consumer participation behaviour intention and moderates relational mechanisms; in particular, in more relational vs contractual markets, CPBI is higher, and also the effect of cognitive trust on CPBI is stronger in such settings. Global marketing managers thus should adjust CPB strategies according to observed CILMA index scores. Segmentation for CPB approaches could rely on CILMA index variations.Originality/value– The newly proposed CILMA index combines both relation- and contract-based governance dimensions to describe complex institutional fields. This index differentiates relation- from contract-dominated markets and supports the application of the CILMA scale to many nations at the same time. The CILMA index can be applied to segment international markets to explain customer cocreation behaviour and its drivers.
Snake robots
Authors: Bogue Robert 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– This paper aims to provide details of recent snake robot research, products and applications.

Design/methodology/approach
– Following a short introduction to snake robots, this paper considers a selection of key research activities and then describes a number of commercial products. Examples of applications are then provided and are followed by brief conclusions.

Findings
– In contrast to many other classes of robots, snake robots are being studied by only a relatively small number of academic groups. Despite their unique abilities, commercialisation has so far been very limited. Real and potential applications exist in fields that include the nuclear power sector, security and defence, aerospace, oil and gas, civil engineering and urban search and rescue.

Originality/value
– This paper reviews the preset-day status of snake robot research and provides details of commercial products and their applications.
Robust generalized predictive control of the Orthoglide robot
Authors: Andres Lara-Molina Fabian , Maurício Rosário João , Dumur Didier , Wenger Philippe 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to address the synthesis and experimental application of a generalized predictive control (GPC) technique on an Orthoglide robot.

Design/methodology/approach
– The control strategy is composed of two control loops. The inner loop aims at linearizing the nonlinear robot dynamics using feedback linearization. The outer loop tracks the desired trajectory based on GPC strategy, which is robustified against measurement noise and neglected dynamics using Youla parameterization.

Findings
– The experimental results show the benefits of the robustified predictive control strategy on the dynamical performance of the Orthoglide robot in terms of tracking accuracy, disturbance rejection, attenuation of noise acting on the control signal and parameter variation without increasing the computational complexity.

Originality/value
– The paper shows the implementation of the robustified predictive control strategy in real time with low computational complexity on the Orthoglide robot.
Vision-based calibration of a Hexa parallel robot
Authors: Dehghani Mehdi , Ahmadi Mahdi , Khayatian Alireza , Eghtesad Mohamad , Yazdi Mehran 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a vision-based method for the kinematic calibration of a six-degrees-of-freedom parallel robot named Hexa using only one Universal Serial Bus (USB) camera and a chess pattern installed on the robot's mobile platform. Such an approach avoids using any internal sensors or complex three-dimensional measurement systems to obtain the pose (position/orientation) of the robot's end-effector or the joint coordinates.

Design/methodology/approach
– The setup of the proposed method is very simple; only one USB camera connected to a laptop computer is needed and no contact with the robot is necessary during the calibration procedure. For camera modeling, a pinhole model is used; it is then modified by considering some distortion coefficients. Intrinsic and extrinsic parameters and the distortion coefficients are found by an offline minimization algorithm. The chess pattern makes image corner detection very straightforward; this detection leads to finding the camera and then the kinematic parameters. To carry out the calibration procedure, several trajectories are run (the results of two of them are presented here) and sufficient specifications of the poses (positions/orientations) are calculated to find the kinematic parameters of the robot. Experimental results obtained when applying the calibration procedure on a Hexa parallel robot show that vision-based kinematic calibration yields enhanced and efficient positioning accuracy. After successful calibration and addition of an appropriate control scheme, the robot has been considered as a color-painting prototype robot to serve in relevant industries.

Findings
– Experimental results obtained when applying the calibration procedure on a Hexa parallel robot show that vision-based kinematic calibration yields enhanced and efficient positioning accuracy.

Originality/value
– The enhanced results show the advantages of this method in comparison with the previous calibration methods.
Rao-Blackwellized visual SLAM for small UAVs with vehicle model partition
Authors: Wang Tianmiao , Wang Chaolei , Liang Jianhong , Zhang Yicheng 
Published: July 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a Rao–Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF) approach for the visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Design/methodology/approach
– Measurements from inertial measurement unit, barometric altimeter and monocular camera are fused to estimate the state of the vehicle while building a feature map. In this SLAM framework, an extra factorization method is proposed to partition the vehicle model into subspaces as the internal and external states. The internal state is estimated by an extended Kalman filter (EKF). A particle filter is employed for the external state estimation and parallel EKFs are for the map management.

Findings
– Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach is more stable and accurate than other existing marginalized particle filter-based SLAM algorithms. Experiments are also carried out to verify the effectiveness of this SLAM method by comparing with a referential global positioning system/inertial navigation system.

Originality/value
– The main contribution of this paper is the theoretical derivation and experimental application of the Rao–Blackwellized visual SLAM algorithm with vehicle model partition for small UAVs.