bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
R&D tax credit and operating performance: implications for managers
Authors: Anandarajan Asokan , Chiang Shuling , Lee Picheng 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on helping managers understand a factor that stimulates investment in R&D, namely, the R&D tax credit.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a sample of firms in Taiwan; the study period is 1999‐2004. Four variables are used to categorize firms in life cycle stages, and these are ranked in a number of ways.FindingsIt is found that the R&D tax credit has an influence of operating performance and that the association of R&D tax credit with operating performance is moderated by the stage of the firm in its respective life cycle. This association is also moderated by the size of the firm.Practical implicationsManagement perspective, managers of small, older firms with sales that are stagnant or declining will benefit most from the R&D tax credit. Managers of such companies should make a greater effort to negotiate tax credits as they will benefit the most.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the literature on life cycle analysis
Competing against online sharing
Authors: Casadesus‐Masanell Ramon , Hervas‐Drane Andres 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer‐to‐peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry, and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyze the evolution of the online content market over the years that followed the widespread adoption of p2p. The paper is based on a teaching case, and builds on two related academic papers that provide the theoretical underpinnings for the analysis.FindingsBased on the early developments observed in this marketplace and the aforementioned theoretical work, the paper argues that it is unfeasible to fully eradicate p2p, and so the industry must embrace it by understanding how consumers derive value from the technologies that enable it.Originality/valueThe developments analyzed here offer relevant insights for the online content marketplace, allow the scope of strategies available to the music industry to be understood better, and may provide lessons for other industries transitioning to online business models.
Electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) as unique open access materials: case of the Kenya Information Preservation Society (KIPS)
Authors: Ratanya Felicitas C. 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give an overview of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) as important and unique collections that facilitate open access.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a brief introduction of the importance of ETD as materials for open access. This is with emphasis on the Kenya Information Preservation Society (KIPS) project which has, since 1993, been digitizing theses from a number of participating institutions across the country. This paper relies heavily on literature derived from existing documentation, online searches and website exploration, and the KIPS's union list of theses and dissertations CD‐ROM. A number of contracted employees (scanning and input) were also interviewed in order to provide statistics about the contributing institutions. Findings – The paper finds that the necessity of showcasing the intellectual research of higher education institutions within Kenya is reason enough to justify making the move towards creating electronic thesis services. The benefits making ETD available outweighs that of print‐only thesis provision due to the potential for enormous dissemination and open access. Research limitations/implications –ETD is a renowned research area for consideration. Librarians should be engaged in digitization of electronic collections that will provide desirable services to end users. Such approaches boost the knowledge economy of any country.Practical implicationsEvidence cited from the strengths of KIPS indicates that its major objective was to compile a national comprehensive database of research on Kenya, and by Kenyans. From available statistics, theses undertaken at postgraduate university levels meet the needs of Kenyan scholars. Originality/value – This paper attempts to give insights for emulating the ETD initiative by KIPS as a way to showcase the unique materials of open access, thereby making them relevant for the modern day library.
The RBV and value creation: a managerial perspective
Authors: Zubac Angelina , Hubbard Graham , Johnson Lester W. 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe paper aims to explain why the customer value construct is important to resource‐based view (RBV) scholars and how one might define it to study it.Design/methodology/approachBy a summary of the ideas behind the RBV and previously applied definitions of customer value, the paper explains why Woodruff's multidimensional definition of customer value is suited to studying customer value from a managerial perspective. To this end, it develops a framework and derives three research questions for studying how managers use the firm's resources to create customer value.FindingsIt was found that to understand how managers invest in dynamic capabilities to create customer value one must identify how a firm's managers develop a shared understanding of their customers' values and the firm's capacity to deliver on them. This shared understanding will need to reflect customers' multidimensional values and what is most important to the firm.Practical implicationsThese phenomena are best studied qualitatively because the focus is on understanding how managers work together and use the resources at their disposal to create customer value. The performance effects of different resource investment decisions can be examined by including high and low performing firms in the study dataset.Originality/valueThe paper describes a framework that can explain how managers map customer value and its different dimensions against the resources at the firm which they believe can deliver an optimal product and service mix to the firm's customers.
Resource capability for local government in managing disaster
Authors: Kusumasari Bevaola , Alam Quamrul , Siddiqui Kamal 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe paper aims to flesh out the capability requirements of local government institutions in pre‐, during, and post‐disaster activities which can act as a useful guide for researchers, bureaucrats, and independent agencies in managing natural disasters.Design/methodology/approachThe role of local government and the capability requirement for this institution have been major concerns in disaster discourse, since local government plays the most active role during disasters. It is the local government's responsibility to protect the community from vulnerability and to reduce disaster impacts. This paper critically summarizes the views of researchers, academicians, and government bodies. The sources of information are articles, books, web sites, and government reports.FindingsIn the critical stage of disaster management, the capability requirements in the mitigation stage are evaluation, monitoring, and dissemination, while in the preparedness stage, planning, exercise, and training are the important requirements in managing natural disasters. In the response stage, the capabilities required are need assessment, information exchange, and logistical expertise. At the last stage, which is recovery, expertise in damage assessment and debris removal and also disaster assistance skills are the capabilities most needed for local government bodies.Originality/valueThis paper develops the capability needed by local government for managing natural disasters. The paper also delineates the role and obstacles of local government bodies dealing in pre‐, during, and post‐disaster stages. These capability requirements can be applied to natural disaster management in developing countries.
Beyond silence and rumor
Authors: Zeelen Jacques , Wijbenga Hieke , Vintges Marga , de Jong Gideon 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of a small‐scale project around storytelling as a form of informal education in five health clinics in rural areas of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The aim of the project is to decrease the stigma around HIV/AIDS and to start an open dialogue in local communities about the disease.Design/methodology/approachThis is an exploratory study using a qualitative approach, which was carried out in 2005/2006, that focused on perceptions of participants from the audience of the project and health practitioners.FindingsThe research findings emphasize the importance of involvement of a storyteller who can play an influential role in local rural communities by breaking the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS and providing people with little or no education with simple but effective messages about the disease. Stories are embedded in local traditions and make use of metaphors, like dialogues between animals. Beside, stories are a form of “edutainment”: education enriched with entertainment.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to budgetary and time constraints insight into the impact of the project on the way the members of the audience protect themselves and deal with the essential issues of sexuality and relationships in their daily life as a result of storytelling was not gained.Originality/valueOwing to its personal approach a project around storytelling in rural areas in South Africa is vital, because it seems to suit the local context better than nationwide health educational programmes which are normally disseminated through mass education.
Using the media to hold accountants to account: some observations
Authors: Sikka Prem 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to broaden discussions about the role of the public sphere in broadening social choices, with particular focus on accountancy magazines and national press in particular.Design/methodology/approachIn replying to the commentary appearing in this edition, the paper shifts the debate to a political economy of media. In action research traditions, it also shows how academic interventions can lead to unexpected outcomes that can enrich research, teaching and social choice debates.FindingsPublic debates can be galvanised through academic interventions.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests possible strategies for fermenting public debates and engaging with the institutions of accountancy.Social implicationsThrough engagement social choices can be broadened.Originality/valueThe paper is based on personal interventions and this offers first‐hand account of some of the public interventions and how these led to new alliances and arrangements to problematise conventional views about accounting and accounting firms.
The financial crisis and mark‐to‐market accounting
Authors: Smith William L. , Boje David M. , Melendrez Kevin D. 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze media storytelling and rhetoric surrounding the credibility of the longstanding accounting practice of mark‐to‐market valuation.Design/methodology/approachThe cascading storytelling model of progressive framing by the media of mark‐to‐market valuation was applied to story subsets of the three types of classic Aristotelian rhetorical appeals.FindingsThe authors found that the media blamed the accounting profession's mark‐to‐market valuation practices as substantive cause of recent corporate problems and declines in market values. In addition, the rhetorical framing of mark‐to‐market accounting practices in the media prompted the Financial Accounting Standards Board to a rush to judgment.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is limited to the analysis of the storytelling included. Different results from other sources may provide another result.Practical implicationsThe failure in the media to address the duality between the logos of accounting and the ethos of the media narratives exacerbated the cascading activation. Understanding this duality may provide a different lens in looking at information dissemination. This is not only relative to stakeholders in making more informed decisions but should also serve as a warning to the profession, to have more voice, to use a rhetorical strategy that can have more saliency in the public arena.Originality/valueThe paper examined storytelling as interplay of retrospective narrative, the presentness of living story, and the antenarratives shaping the future of not only the unfolding economic crisis, but the future of accounting itself. In terms of rhetoric, we extended the application of pathos, ethos, and logos by examining a cascading activation theory model. This is one of the few studies of antenarratives and how through cascade rhetoric the future is shaped.
An empirical study of total quality management in engineering educational institutions of India
Authors: Sayeda Begum , Rajendran Chandrasekharan , Sai Lokachari Prakash 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of quality management practices in engineering educational institutions (EEIs) in India from management's perspective.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed based on a literature review of research in quality management and based on the responses of the pilot survey among the senior faculty/management. The psychometric properties of this instrument were examined using tests of reliability and validity. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the impact of the total quality management (TQM) dimensions on institutional performance (effectiveness).FindingsFindings highlight 27 critical factors/dimensions of quality management, which analyzed the relationship between TQM dimensions and institutional performance, which has been formulated using five dimensions. Positive and significant relationships among the TQM dimensions and institutional performance have been observed.Research limitations/implicationsResults of the study are dependent on the profile and number of the respondents, i.e. on the perceptions of the management.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes a model for achieving institutional excellence from the macro perspective of the management. Two critical factors, i.e. healthy innovative practices and feeder institution partnership have been identified as key enablers in the paper. Institutional performance (effectiveness), as a holistic construct, has been measured by five measures of performance, institution reputation and image, infrastructure quality, faculty excellence, research and industry exposure and stakeholders' satisfaction. The instrument developed can be used as a self‐assessment tool in continuously measuring the overall performance of the institution's processes and systems.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on EEIs. It evolved a holistic framework for institutional effectiveness and formulated a comprehensive instrument with respect to management's perceptions on quality management issues. The paper also identified five critical factors to measure institutional performance and 27 dimensions of TQM in the context of EEIs.
The implementation of face recognition technology and its effect on e‐quiz credibility
Authors: Chen Ruey‐Shin , Kuang Hsieh Kevin , Tsai Chih‐Hung 
Published: September 2010

PurposeCurrent online testing often lacks credibility, integrity, and reliability, though many online tests are implemented. Online testing with face recognition is a relatively new form of web‐based testing model in comparison to current testing. The purpose of this paper is to discuss implementation of face recognition technology to increase quiz efficacy and build credible online quiz systems.Design/methodology/approachWhile existing models of web‐based quiz systems are being improved, most current quiz models do not consider the function of fraud detection during a web‐based quiz. Online testing credibility includes the perceptions of the student and teacher on how the site would meet their expectations and how believable the testing scores are.FindingsIn a survey of faculty (25) and students (257) on online testing credibility, 80 percent of the teachers and 98 percent of the students doubt the score credibility of the current online testing system. After explaining and implementing face recognition system to the subjects, 74 percent of the teachers and 69 percent of the students positively believe the online testing result. According to hypothetical examination, face recognition, practicality, and interaction greatly shape users' opinions regarding online testing credibility.Originality/valueThe most prominent finding in this paper is that face recognition technology positively improves the online testing credibility.
“Quality lives on”: quality initiatives and practices in Australia and Britain
Authors: Burcher Peter G. , Lee Gloria L. , Waddell Dianne 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the incidence of innovative approaches to quality in both Australia and Britain, the reasons behind their implementation, the ways in which they were undertaken and the success factors and the pitfalls encountered along the way.Design/methodology/approachA structured postal questionnaire was sent to 1,000 quality managers in both Australia and Britain. A response was received from 129 Australian and 175 British companies, who reported on why they did or did not introduce a new quality initiative within the past five years.FindingsA comparative analysis shows trends, similarities and differences, and future directions of quality in both countries. The paper concludes by identifying important lessons for senior management needing to make changes in this important aspect of any business. A high proportion of organisations in both countries are actively undertaking new quality initiatives. The impetus to change and the barriers to successful implementation were common to both countries. The type of initiative differed between the two countries, with a preponderance of ISO 9000 in Australia amongst a much wider choice of approaches than in Britain. There is a low take‐up of Six Sigma in both countries, particularly in Australia.Originality/valueThe paper offers a recent insight into quality approaches undertaken in both countries and identifies important lessons for senior management.
Stimulation of Methane Generation from Nonproductive Coal by Addition of Nutrients or a Microbial Consortium
Authors: Jones Elizabeth J. P. , Voytek Mary A. , Corum Margo D. , Orem William H. 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT

Biogenic formation of methane from coal is of great interest as an underexploited source of clean energy. The goal of some coal bed producers is to extend coal bed methane productivity and to utilize hydrocarbon wastes such as coal slurry to generate new methane. However, the process and factors controlling the process, and thus ways to stimulate it, are poorly understood. Subbituminous coal from a nonproductive well in south Texas was stimulated to produce methane in microcosms when the native population was supplemented with nutrients (biostimulation) or when nutrients and a consortium of bacteria and methanogens enriched from wetland sediment were added (bioaugmentation). The native population enriched by nutrient addition included
Pseudomonas
spp.,
Veillonellaceae
, and
Methanosarcina barkeri
. The bioaugmented microcosm generated methane more rapidly and to a higher concentration than the biostimulated microcosm. Dissolved organics, including long-chain fatty acids, single-ring aromatics, and long-chain alkanes accumulated in the first 39 days of the bioaugmented microcosm and were then degraded, accompanied by generation of methane. The bioaugmented microcosm was dominated by
Geobacter
sp., and most of the methane generation was associated with growth of
Methanosaeta concilii
. The ability of the bioaugmentation culture to produce methane from coal intermediates was confirmed in incubations of culture with representative organic compounds. This study indicates that methane production could be stimulated at the nonproductive field site and that low microbial biomass may be limiting
in situ
methane generation. In addition, the microcosm study suggests that the pathway for generating methane from coal involves complex microbial partnerships.
Estimating causal effects using prior information on nontrial treatments
Authors: Bond Simon J , White Ian R 
Published: September 2010

Background Departures from randomized treatments complicate the analysis of many randomized controlled trials. Intention-to-treat analysis estimates the effect of being allocated to treatment. It is now possible to estimate the effect of receiving treatment without assuming comparability of groups defined by actual treatment. However, the methodology is largely confined to trials where the only treatment changes were switches to other trial treatments. Purpose To propose a method for comparing the effects of receiving trial treatments in an active-controlled clinical trial where some participants received nontrial treatments and others received no treatment at all, and to illustrate the method in the PENTA 5 trial in HIV-infected children. Methods We combine the instrumental variables approach, which forms unbiased estimating equations based on the randomization but does not fully identify the contrasts of trial treatment effects, with prior information about the distribution of possible effects of nontrial treatments and of one trial treatment; we do not need to use prior information about the comparisons of trial treatments. Prior information in PENTA 5 was elicited from the investigators. Results In PENTA 5, the prior information suggested that all treatments were beneficial, but there was uncertainty about the degree of benefit. Allowing for this prior information changed point estimates and increased standard errors compared with ignoring nontrial treatments. Limitations The method depends on the correct specification of the causal effect of treatment: in PENTA 5, this assumed a linear effect of dose and no interactions between treatments. This specification is hard to check from the data but can be explored in sensitivity analyses. Prior information would be better derived from the literature whenever possible. Conclusions The use of partial prior information gives a way to adjust for complex patterns of departures from randomized treatments. It should be useful in all trials where nontrial treatments are used and in active-controlled trials where trial treatments are not universally used. Clinical Trials 2010; 7: 664—676. http:// ctj.sagepub.com
Secondary analysis of qualitative data: a valuable method for exploring sensitive issues with an elusive population?
Authors: Long-Sutehall Tracy , Sque Magi , Addington-Hall Julia 
Published: September 2010

This paper aims to demonstrate the process of conducting a secondary analysis of primary qualitative datasets. Whilst there is a well-established tradition of carrying out a secondary analysis of quantitative datasets within social and health research, this has not been the case with qualitative datasets. Despite a recent growth in interest in the secondary analysis of qualitative data, very little information is available regarding the process, as publications tend to focus on the outcomes of analyses. A secondary analysis of 28 transcripts, sorted from two primary datasets containing longitudinal and cross-sectional interview data, was carried out. The choice of applying a secondary analysis fulfilled the aims of: (i) addressing a sensitive area of research; and (ii) accessing a research population that was elusive, factors that may be barriers to carrying out research in areas that are considered to be of a sensitive nature, or topic. Secondary analysis has potentially important implications for qualitative researchers who seek to investigate sensitive topics within health, not least of which is the opportunity it offers to facilitate the training of researchers at all levels.