bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Testing the theory of constraints in UK local food supply chains
Authors: Oglethorpe David , Heron Graeme 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– The purpose of the research is to identify the observable operational and supply chain barriers and constraints that occur in local food supply chains, especially with smaller producers, as they seek to increase market penetration across a wider geographic area.Design/methodology/approach– The research adopts a multiple case study approach using mixed methods of data collection where case study companies are interviewed and complete a questionnaire. This process allows us to create a supply chain map and create a narrative which records the burdens and impacts occurring in local food supply chains and smaller producers looking beyond local markets. This evidence is then set against the theory of constraints (TOC) to provide a theoretical underpinning and to examine consistency of the findings.Findings– Seven broad categories of constraint type are observed: constraints due to the nature of the market; due to scale and the nature of products; constraints related to employment and skills; institutional constraints; constraints in supply chain relationships; certification, policy and regulatory constraints; and constraints around personal beliefs and anthropomorphism. Each is described as to its origin, its limitation to business and where possible, how it might be remedied. The constraints point to some counter-intuitive results as far as common perceptions of local food are concerned but suggestions for improvement are made through collaborative producer efforts, alternative institutional intervention, supply chain re-engineering and logistics innovation.Practical implications– Practical suggestions are made to improve the inclusiveness of distribution networks, to better utilise regional food groups (RFGs), to develop opportunities to set up autonomous supply chain centres, or to broaden the function of farmer co-operatives. The paper also provides an alternative model of the TOC specifically adapted for local food producers, the focus of which plays to their strengths and focuses on building competencies across, up and down the supply chain.Originality/value– The adaptation of the TOC provides an advancement of knowledge in the area of food supply chain analysis and is done in a way that is more practical in use. The paper also provides the opportunity to take a similar approach to examining other niche supply opportunities in the sector, which may be dependent on other geographically defined barriers, such as seasonal or ethnic products.
Purchase offering quality
Authors: Ramsay John , Wagner Beverly , Kelly Stephen 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– This paper aims to explore the supply chain management problem of understanding the response of suppliers to buyer behaviours and characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reviews the relevant literature in search of references to critically assesses the effects of applying the mirror images of the concepts of customer value, satisfaction and product or service quality, developed in the field of marketing, to the field of operations management.

Findings
– The study suggests that the new concept of purchase offering quality is worthy of further development in the supply chain management area and that supplier value and supplier satisfaction are useful concepts for understanding supplier behavioural intentions.

Practical implications
– The study will help organisations to improve supply chain performance through an enhanced ability of organisations-as-buyers to influence supplier behaviour by modifying aspects of their own behaviour. It should be of particular interest to all organisations in their dealings with recalcitrant and unresponsive suppliers, or buyers with very low levels of power trying to improve the responsiveness of more powerful suppliers.

Originality/value
– The paper introduces two new concepts: “purchase offering quality” that describes supplier perceptions of the characteristics and behaviours of buyers offering supplier benefits, and “supplier behavioural intentions” that is a term referring to the responses of suppliers to buyer characteristics and behaviours. This work can form the foundations of an extensive area of new study into organisational supplying behaviour.
Extending the use of institutional theory in operations and supply chain management research
Authors: Kauppi Katri 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– Increasing empirical evidence suggests organizational actions are not always driven by economic efficiency considerations, contrary to the rational decision making viewpoint dominant in the field. Institutional theory, examining the causes of isomorphism within organizations, provides an alternative viewpoint to the adoption of strategies and practices in managing operations and supply chains. Applications have so far been limited to few topics, such as quality management and adoption of electronic tools. This study aims to contribute to an increased understanding of the theory's explanatory value in the field by presenting central research avenues yet unexplored.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper begins with a review of the past institutional theory studies in the field. Important new contexts and research directions are then identified with the aim to increase understanding of how institutional factors operate in the field. Finally, a critical evaluation of empirical data collection and construct formation in the past and future studies is provided.

Findings
– The paper identifies three major institutional theory related research avenues in the field with a potential for theoretical and practical contributions. Two of these – role of uncertainty and relationships between institutional pressures – serve to contribute to how the theory applies to different operational contexts. The third one recommends a reflection on the role of academia as a source and target of institutional pressures.

Originality/value
– The discussion, debate and analysis offered is intended to stimulate and drive further institutional theory studies in the field with an increasing scope as well as more refined measurement in empirical work.
Sport, the Northern Ireland peace process, and the politics of identity
Authors: Bairner Alan 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (GFA) through the lens of sport, particularly football, and with reference to theoretical literature on peace-making processes.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper is structured in such a way as to review theoretical literature, to consider the nature of the Northern Ireland problem and its implications for sport, to critique the current settlement and to demonstrate its failings using sport as an exemplar. The methods used are a critical review of relevant literature combined with reflections on the author's own involvement in sport and community relations.

Findings
– The paper argues that the GFA has resulted in a consociational “solution” to the Northern Ireland problem. The example of sport, and especially the standing of the Northern Ireland football team, indicates that such a settlement fails to address the central problem of two divided communities with different political aspirations and attitudes towards national identity.

Research limitations/implications
– The analysis is limited to the extent that it adopts an essentially top down approach. The findings deserve to be confirmed (or indeed refuted) at some future point by a gathering data from football fans and others. However, the implications are that the terms of the GFA should be revisited in the light of evidence of the failings of the current settlement not only as found in this paper but based on recent political developments.

Practical implications
– The Irish Football Association has to address the perception that appears prevalent amongst some Catholic players that they are not wanted by the national association. Politicians need to renew their efforts to create greater mutual understanding instead of fooling themselves that so long as they can talk to each other, the communities they represent will remain peaceful.

Originality/value
– I doubt if any academic author has had the same degree of involvement in relation to the role of sport in the Northern Ireland peace process. What gives the paper its particular value, however, is the fact that it is probably unique in looking at sport in Northern Ireland with specific reference to political science peace-making literature.
Cricket, violence and social conflict: an Eliasian examination
Authors: Malcolm Dominic 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the claims made for the potential of sports such as cricket to reduce social conflict and engender peace.Design/methodology/approach– The use of an Eliasian sociological perspective to analyze historical documentary sources and contemporary media analyses of narratives of the role of violence and its regulation in cricket.Findings– Violence and its regulation interweave with the broader development of cricket and remain central concerns in status conflicts between competing social groups involved in the game. This ranges from evidence of an increasing internalization of expectations regarding the regulation of violence to the stratification of social groups according to beliefs about differing uses of and attitudes towards violence.Originality/value– This paper provides the first long-term analysis of violence trends in relation to cricket, and provides clarification of some problematic aspects of Elias’ sociological framework.
Personal competency of selected women construction project managers in Malaysia
Authors: Liyana Othman Nur , Jaafar Mastura 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– The aim of the current research is to assess the personal competency level of women project managers in the Malaysian construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study used stratified random sampling design on the listed Grade 7 contractor companies in Peninsular Malaysia. The questionnaire survey approach was used to collect data on 15 women project managers in Peninsular Malaysia.

Findings
– The results revealed that experience is the first criterion being used in selecting women project managers, whereas the three main personal competencies they exemplify are honesty and integrity, alertness and quickness, and decision-making ability.

Practical implications
– The result can be used as a guidance to measure the level of personal competency of women project managers.

Originality/value
– The current study provides insight into the competency exemplified by women project managers in Malaysia.
Teaching engineering and technology: cognitive, knowledge and problem-solving taxonomies
Authors: Barak Moshe 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– This paper aims to explore the objectives and methods of teaching engineering and technology education (ETE) through the lens of three educational taxonomies in cognitive, knowledge and problem-solving perspectives. This analysis is useful in light of today's increasing interest in teaching engineering and technology in K-12 education, instead of crafts or manual skills.

Design/methodology/approach
– This is an exploratory study. Technology and engineering education is a relatively new area in K-12 education, and little has been written about the use of general educational taxonomies for analysing and designing the teaching and learning of this subject.

Findings
– The literature analysis teaches us that fostering students' higher-order capabilities such as design and problem solving in engineering and technology cannot take place in isolation from specific knowledge. Instruction should be designed to: develop a certain degree of factual, procedural, conceptual and meta-cognitive knowledge in relevant areas of technology, science and mathematics; and engage learners in assignments of increasing cognitive levels, from simple to complex ones.

Originality/value
– This work is original and valuable in that it explores ETE through tools often used in the educational literature and research, rather than regarding technology education as an exceptional school subject. This could encourage making engineering and technology a core component in the overall curriculum.
Application of CAD and reverse engineering methodology for development of complex assemblies
Authors: Afeez Abdul , Sanjay Sanjay , Kumar Anjani 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– In the present paper, a CAD and reverse engineering (RE) methodology has been adopted for the development of a complex assembly of a TFC 280 crane cabin. A different approach has been adopted to eliminate fouling as well as interference with other components of the crane such as boom, gantry, front drum, rear drum, etc. with its cabin. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– A dummy 3-D CAD model of the assemblies has been made using assembly constraints of Master Assembly and then checked for fouling and interference using IDEAS NX 12 to validate cabin design. In fabrication industries, one of the critical challenges is to maintain close geometric tolerances in finished products, which have been taken care of by the use of accurate value of K-factor.

Findings
– Ergonomics of the re-engineered crane cabin has also been improved by providing rear vision and improvement in operator's forward visibility from 165° to 180°.

Originality/value
– The work has been carried out using RE methodology un-used in this part of the world (Jamshedpur, India).
Stage-specific effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Authors: Ecer Sencer , Khalid Salman 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to empirically demonstrate that drivers of venture capital (VC) investments are different across three broadly defined sectors: high-technology manufacturing, medium-technology manufacturing and services, and low-technology services. Moreover, such differences also exist across industries within each of these sectors.

Design/methodology/approach
– The basic hypothesis is that “not only different stages of VC investments have different drivers, but VC investments in different sectors of the economy are also driven by different drivers.” The paper tests this hypothesis using a Poterba (1989) type supply and demand framework in the multivariate time-series regression analysis.

Findings
– This paper empirically demonstrates that drivers of VC investments are different across three broadly defined sectors: high-technology manufacturing, medium-technology manufacturing and services, and low-technology services. Moreover, such differences also exist by stages of investment and across industries within each of these sectors. In particular, the paper finds that the importance of the number of VC-led initial public offering (IPO) transactions as the main driver of VC investment decreases with the level of technology involved in the sector. IPO transactions are particularly important in software, networking and equipment, and business products and services industries. In contrast to earlier literature, however, the paper do not find a more pronounced effect of IPOs for seed and late stages of VC investments. Similarly, the positive impact Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 – which mainly impacts public companies – also intensifies with a decrease in the level of technology involved in the sector, and the paper do not find a negative impact. The Act is important particularly for VC investments in medium- and low-tech sectors and in early or expansion stages.

Originality/value
– In analyzing the determinants of VC in a supply and demand framework as in Poterba (1989), the paper differentiates between different sectors (17 industries) and stages of VC (four stages: seed, early, expansion, late). Such level of differentiation is novel and allows more refined and better targeted public policy measures.
Social layers of customer-to-customer value co-creation
Authors: Rihova Ivana , Buhalis Dimitrios , Moital Miguel , Beth Gouthro Mary 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– Approached from the customer-dominant (C-D) logic perspective, this paper aims to extend current value co-creation discussions by providing conceptual insights into co-creation within customers' social sphere. Focusing on socially dense contexts in which customers consume together in dyads or collectives, the paper seeks to provide recommendations of how service managers can facilitate customer-to-customer (C2C) co-creation.Design/methodology/approach– The paper bridges current thinking on value within the C-D logic with service management perspectives on C2C interactions and social science concepts on consumer communities. Examples from literature and practice are drawn on in the discussion.Findings– The proposed framework reveals C2C co-creation as a dynamic, multi-layered process that is embedded in customers' social contexts. Value emerges in four distinctive social layers: “detached customers”, “social bubble”, “temporary communitas” and “ongoing neo-tribes”.Research limitations/implications– This paper is conceptual. Further validation of the framework in a variety of socially dense consumption settings is needed, using field-based qualitative methods such as participant observation and interviews.Practical implications– Awareness of the multi-layered nature of C2C co-creation and specific practices in which value is formed provides service managers with opportunities to create value propositions that help facilitate such co-creation. Service managers across various sectors benefit from understanding how customers can be “nudged” into more socially immersive co-creation layers.Originality/value– The paper contributes by introducing a C2C co-creation perspective, conceptualizing the social layers within which value is formed, and providing specific propositions to service managers with regard to servicescape structuring and other strategies that facilitate C2C co-creation.
Customer activity in service
Authors: Mickelsson Karl-Jacob 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– Customer activity in service has mainly been understood within the boundaries of interactions with service providers. This paper goes beyond this view to focus on the customer's independent activity, of which interaction is only a part. Moreover, the concept of customer activity remains largely unexplored and undefined. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to develop the concept of customer activity and to show how it can be applied in an empirical study.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reviews the concept of customer activity in service marketing. It then goes on to characterise and operationalise the concept, and finally apply it to an explorative study. The study contrasts customer activity from the provider's interaction-centric point of view with customer activity from the customer's own point of view.

Findings
– This paper defines customer activities as discrete sequences of behaviour that aim at creating or supporting some types of value in the customer's life or business. A customer-dominant perspective on customer activity allows companies to understand the role of their service in the various activities of different types of customers.

Originality/value
– The paper contributes to service research by bringing attention to the concept of customer activity and contrasting it with alternative concepts. The paper is the first to show how customers combine different activities (where service interaction is only one type) into systems, which they maintain to create value for themselves. By profiling customers according to activity systems, providers can understand their own role in the customer's network of value-creating activities.
Understanding participation in company social networks
Authors: Sofia Martins Carla , Patrício Lia 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of company social networks (CSNs), which constitute people connected to a company or brand through a social networking site. To this end, the research addresses both participation goals and CSN attributes that drive participation in CSNs.Design/methodology/approach– With a grounded theory approach, this research begins with an exploratory study of the page maintained by a large retailer for six months, followed by a qualitative study featuring in-depth individual interviews and focus groups with 26 members of the CSN.Findings– The results highlight differences between CSNs and other types of online communities (OCs). Members rely on the company to help them achieve their goals; few count on their CSN peers, with whom they maintain weak ties. Unlike in brand communities (BCs), most members are not enthusiasts but instead engage in a pragmatic relationship with the brand.Practical implications– CSNs can create value for both the host company and its members; active management is necessary to unlock that potential. The implications for CSN management include strategies to foster participation and increase value for companies and members.Originality/value– Although the previous research has studied OCs, specific research on CSNs is scarce. This study characterizes CSNs and provides details regarding participation factors in this new context, as well as relevant implications for CSN management and service research.
Reading and learning from screens versus print: a study in changing habits
Authors: Stoop Judith , Kreutzer Paulien , G. Kircz Joost 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to research the difference in reading and learning from print versus electronic media in a professional and educational setting. To what extent does the materiality of the medium influence the efficiency and effectively of the reader? What is needed to create “digital born” information rich texts? In part 2 changing presentations of educational texts on paper, LCD screen and through a mind map are addressed.

Design/methodology/approach
– In depth comparative tests with a great number of subjects between print-on-paper, e-ink screens and LCD screens. In part 2 the results of learning from differently structured texts from paper, screen and mind maps respectively are reported. The subjects had to read the texts and subsequently had to answer knowledge questions about the content. Group discussions have been carried out thorough the test.

Findings
– All tests show that print-on-paper is still a superior medium for learning and digesting complicated and elaborate texts, while electronic screens are appreciated for quick information gathering, communication and navigation. Electronic representations of information and knowledge demands that the structure of the writing has to change.

Research limitations/implications
– Given the rapid development in electronic displays, many issues – in particular ergonomical – become a “moving target”. An important limitation – which is one of the quests of this research – is the lack of sufficient genuine digital born texts.

Practical implications
– The need is to start and review the writing process; the appearance but also the structure of information and knowledge rich texts. A second issue is the need to develop easy capabilities to make electronic texts as easy a “tool” as the print text with underlining, comments and notes.

Originality/value
– This is deep qualitative research in comparison with quantitative tests and a comparison between professional information acquisition and learning