bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Engagement in M&A deals: a best practice guide
Authors: Baynham Peter 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the various practices in achieving successful cultural integration in the merger and acquisition (M&A) activity of global organizations, with a focus on factors enhancing employee engagement, viewed as a fundamental aspect of deal value and long‐term business results.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on interviews with human resource (HR) leadership, isolating best practices consistent with successful integration within the organizations.FindingsThe interviews and Mercer research helped to codify four core elements of an approach to M&A cultural integration, including employee engagement factors that were highly consistent and reinforced in the various examples.Practical implicationsOrganizations that embrace this consistent approach – or variations thereof – to cultural integration in their M&A activity will improve the probability for success in creating sustainable value in the merged organizations.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information on how to achieve cultural integration in M&A activity with sustainable value in the merged organizations.
Contextual intelligence: overcoming hindrances to performing well in times of change
Authors: Kutz Matthew 
Published: April 2011

PurposeIntelligence is the adaptation to the environment. Therefore, intelligence rests on an individual's capacity to diagnose their context and not necessarily on IQ, test performance, or intellectual ability. This means that failure to diagnose the environment accurately can lead to the kind of mistakes that have a detrimental effect on an individual and an organization.Design/methodology/approachThis article focuses on the complexity of contextual intelligence, focusing on the behaviors that can both hinder and encourage contextual intelligence to address how to generate top performers across multiple contexts.FindingsLeadership is becoming so nuanced and idiosyncratic it is impossible or at best difficult to lead outside of a defined context. Therefore, a new set of skills is necessary that will enable its users to perform well in a variety of contexts. Intuition is quickly becoming a commodity that can have long‐term transferable value. However, developing a reliable sense of intuition takes time. In other words, intuition is of little value without experience.Practical implicationsTop performers must be able to recognize and diagnose when the context shifts or a new context emerges and quickly adapt. Failure to adapt, even to the smallest shift, increases the risk of becoming obsolete or irrelevant.Originality/valueIn times of contextual shift, intuition becomes a very valuable asset. Practicing contextually intelligent behavior is a way to accelerate experience and eases the burden of change, perhaps even allowing an individual to perform well during a shift in context.
Action learning: reflections of a first‐time coach
Authors: Loon Hoe Siu 
Published: April 2011

PurposeIn recent years, action learning has been widely adopted as a problem solving and leadership development tool. The purpose of the article is to reflect on key learning points when initiating action learning sessions and provide tips on what to expect from such sessions.Design/methodology/approachDocumentation of the author's initial first‐hand action learning coaching experience and sharing of lessons learnt in organizing and coaching action learning sessions.FindingsThe paper offers a view on how action learning practitioners can overcome initial coaching issues to run more effective sessions.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the existing action learning literature by providing a deeper understanding of key factors affecting action learning. These factors include team member selection, role of the coach, questioning techniques and desired outcomes.
Barriers to employee training and learning in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)
Authors: Panagiotakopoulos Antonios 
Published: April 2011

AbstractPurpose The purpose of this paper is to review critically the HRD literature in the small business context in order to identify the main barriers to employee training and learning and recommend ways to overcome them.Design/methodology/approachThe paper highlights the potential barriers to training and learning among small firms, looking at organizational constraints such as lack of time or limited financial resources, as well as negative attitudes towards employee training and its importance for business survival.FindingsThe available studies indicate that better access to information on the applicability and usefulness of HRD to small firms can be crucial to overcoming the barriers to skills development that exists among such firms. The analysis suggests that a key challenge for policy makers in this area is to facilitate changes in owner attitudes, improve access to training interventions and create the necessary institutional conditions to encourage SMEs to move to high value‐added trajectories.Practical implicationsSMEs need to invest in innovation to face fierce national and international competition and achieve an above‐average return. This article provides guidance for implementation of innovation practices that may help SMEs to overcome some of the barriers to successful innovation.Originality/valueThe human resource development (HRD) literature has tended to focus on larger organizations in order to develop an understanding of workforce skills development. However, it has been acknowledged that a healthy small business sector is fundamental to every corporate economy. This article helps to explore the HRD processes in these types of organizations.
Intermediate products and the regionalization of trade
Authors: Curran Louise , Zignago Soledad 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to exploit a new trade database to explore the extent to which trade, and the industrial division of labor which it represents, is regional in nature.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis focuses especially on intermediates trade, in three key regions – the EU, NAFTA and ASEAN+3 – which together represent 78 percent of global trade.FindingsThe results indicate that levels of regional integration in trade and changes in that integration vary by region and by direction of flow. Notably, the EU has higher levels of intra‐regional trade than the other two. These results vary by technology, with high‐tech trade less regionally biased than others.Originality/valueTrade data has been little used in the debate on the regionalization of business activity. In addition, the paper highlights trends, not just in total trade, but within intermediate products and by technology.
The importance of rhetoric in conceptualising IS adoption
Authors: Huang Jimmy , Galliers Robert D. 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to outline the importance of organisational rhetoric as a valuable theoretical lens to examine and conceptualise IS adoption.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a critical, yet selective, review of some relevant literature on rhetoric and IS adoption.FindingsThe paper outlines four distinctive yet interrelated elements of rhetoric, namely, different types of rhetoric and their implications; the role of stakeholders; the notion of rhetorical congruence; and rhetorical situations and strategies. These provide a means of operationalising the rhetorical dimension in researching IS adoption.Originality/valueThe paper's main contribution is to enrich the existing repertoire of IS adoption theories and perspectives by adding the dimension of rhetoric.
Scanning practices and information sources: an empirical study of firm size
Authors: Franco Mário , Haase Heiko , Magrinho André , Ramos Silva Joaquim 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the environmental scanning practices and information sources used by large companies as well as by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), the latter being relatively absent from scientific scrutiny. In doing so, it endeavours to contribute to a better understanding of the scanning and information‐gathering behaviour of SMEs, in order to develop measures to overcome their potential disadvantages in this respect.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from 165 Portuguese firms. Respondents were required to evaluate their use of 11 different environmental scanning practices and 12 information sources. For data analysis, the variables were classified using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the retained components and variables underwent a one‐way variance analysis.FindingsResults indicate that smaller firms do not scan as broadly and as frequently as their larger counterparts. Although external information sources are used equally by larger and smaller enterprises, in general there is also a positive relationship between the exploitation of information sources and firm size.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are taken from the Portuguese context, with its own idiosyncratic economic structure and climate. Generalisations should therefore be made with caution.Practical implicationsAs the “size effect” influences the propensity for environmental scanning, SMEs are urged to adopt inter‐firm strategies in order to achieve a critical mass. The importance of building scanning and information networks among SMEs must be highlighted.Originality/valueResearch on environmental scanning in SMEs and comparative studies of the firm size effect have been relatively scarce. The findings reveal that firm size matters, insofar as the use of different scanning practices and information sources mostly augments with increasing firm size.
Market regimes, sectorial investments, and time‐varying risk premiums
Authors: Liu Peixin (Payton) , Xu Kuan , Zhao Yonggan 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to extend the Fama and French (FF) three‐factor model in studying time‐varying risk premiums of Sector Select Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) under a Markov regime‐switching framework.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the original FF model is augmented to include three additional macro factors – market volatility, yield spread, and credit spread. Then, the FF model is extended to a model with a Markov regime switching mechanism for bull, bear, and transition market regimes.FindingsIt is found that all market regimes are persistent, with the bull market regime being the most persistent, and the bear market regime being the least persistent. Both the risk premiums of the Sector Select ETFs and their sensitivities to the risk factors are highly regime dependent.Research limitations/implicationsThe regime‐switching model has a superior performance in capturing the risk sensitivities of the Sector Select ETFs, that would otherwise be missed by both the FF and the augmented FF models.Originality/valueThis is the first research on Sector Select ETFs with Markov regime switching.
Liquidity risk, credit risk, market risk and bank capital
Authors: Varotto Simone 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between liquidity and credit risk, and employ the findings to estimate the Incremental Risk Charge (IRC), the new credit risk capital add‐on introduced by the Basel Committee for banks' trading books. The IRC estimates are compared with stressed market risk measures, derived from a sample of corporate bond indices encompassing the recent financial crisis. This can determine the extent to which trading book capital would change in stress conditions, under newly proposed rules.Design/methodology/approachThe Basel II and the proposed Basel III capital requirements for banks' trading books, with a sample of bond portfolios, are implemented.FindingsThe findings show that, although the (incremental) credit risk in the trading book may be considerable, the capital needed to absorb market risk‐related losses in stressed scenarios can be more than ten times larger.Originality/valueThe data, methodology and purpose are all original.
Exchange rate regime shift and price patterns
Authors: Andrén Niclas , Oxelheim Lars 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe financial crisis starting in 2008 made many European countries opt for a change of exchange rate regime. The choice of price measure as an entry requirement to the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and as input in the monetary policy decision process re‐appeared as an important political and research issue. This paper aims to argue that, considering the importance of producer prices in international competition, their role is underplayed by policy makers and researchers.Design/methodology/approachProducer prices are analyzed in the transition from national exchange‐rate regimes to the EMU for 13 two‐digit manufacturing sectors in the first 11 countries to adopt the Euro.FindingsIt was found that significant price convergence before 1993‐1998, but no or modest evidence of convergence after 1998‐2005 when the Euro was introduced. This pattern is partly different from what prior studies have found for consumer prices, and is consistent with the change of exchange rate regime to a monetary union anchoring inflation rates. A conditionalβ‐convergence analysis reveals effective exchange‐rate changes and differences in cyclicality as important determinants of price convergence, suggesting that import of inflation is an important determinant of price developments in the EMU.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper concludes that considering the role of producer prices and their deviating pattern from consumer prices, producer prices are underplayed in the research and deserve more attention. It is argued that increased attention to producer prices is warranted.Practical implicationsFocusing monetary policymaking on consumer prices alone appears inefficient. Rather, then, support for the trade‐off approach in monetary policy‐making is supported.Social implicationsIn considering different solutions to the financial crisis, increasing attention should be paid to the development of producer prices.Originality/valueThis is the first study to focus on producer prices in the research on the transition from a national exchange rate regime to a membership of a monetary union.
Financial flexibility and the impact of the global financial crisis
Authors: Bancel Franck , Mittoo Usha R. 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain some insights into how managers perceive and achieve financial flexibility and its value in coping with the 2008 global financial crisis. The study focuses on the following questions: What are the sources and measures of financial flexibility? Do financially flexible firms suffer a lower impact from the crisis? Is financial flexibility related to business flexibility? and Is financial flexibility important for the firm's capital structure decision?Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs two methods: a questionnaire survey and interviews with chief financial officers (CFOs). The results are used to examine the relation between the firm's financial flexibility level and the impact of the global financial crisis on its liquidity, investments, capital structure and business operations. The results are used to analyze the robustness of different financial flexibility measures constructed from the survey data to identify an appropriate financial flexibility measure.FindingsThe main finding is that firms with high financial flexibility suffer lower impact from the crisis. The results show that firms with greater internal financing are likely to have lower leverage, higher cash ratios, and suffer a lower impact from the crisis on their business operations. The analysis indicates that an index based on the firm's leverage, liquidity, and operating ratios, similar to the Altman Z‐score, might be a better financial flexibility measure than long‐term debt ratio. The evidence also suggests that financial flexibility is a part of the firm's business strategy and is important for its capital structure decisions.Originality/valueA major challenge for researchers is how to measure the firm's financial flexibility level, as it is unobservable and difficult to quantify. The innovation of this paper is to directly ask managers about the firm's financial flexibility, from both internal and external financing, construct several financial flexibility variables based on the survey data, and examine their correlations with the global financial crisis impact, to identify a robust financial flexibility measure. The research also provides unique data to investigate the value of financial flexibility during a severe credit crisis.
A query language for selecting, harmonizing, and aggregating heterogeneous XML data
Authors: Näppilä Turkka , Moilanen Katja , Niemi Timo 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an expressive query language, called relational XML query language (RXQL), capable of dealing with heterogeneous Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents in data‐centric applications. In RXQL, data harmonization (i.e. the removal of heterogeneous factors from XML data) is integrated with typical data‐centric features (e.g. grouping, ordering, and aggregation).Design/methodology/approachRXQL is based on the XML relation representation, developed in the authors' previous work. This is a novel approach to unambiguously represent semistructured data relationally, which makes it possible in RXQL to manipulate XML data in a tuple‐oriented way, while XML data are typically manipulated in a path‐oriented way.FindingsThe user is able to describe the result of an RXQL query straightforwardly based on non‐XML syntax. The analysis of this description, through the mechanism developed in this paper, affords the automatic construction of the query result. This feature increases significantly the declarativeness of RXQL compared to the path‐oriented XML languages where the user needs to control the construction of the result extensively.Practical implicationsThe authors' formal specification of the construction of the query result can be considered as an abstract implementation of RXQL.Originality/valueRXQL is a declarative query language capable of integrating data harmonization seamlessly with other data‐centric features in the manipulation of heterogeneous XML data. So far, these kinds of XML query languages have been missing. Obviously, the expressive power of RXQL can be achieved by computationally complete XML languages, such as XQuery. However, these are not actual query languages, and the query formulation in them usually presupposes programming skills that are beyond the ordinary end‐user.
An emerging paradigm in confronting the rise of an innovative China
Authors: Foo Check‐Teck 
Published: April 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to suggest an emerging paradigm by synthesizing what is presented at an Asian Productivity Organization (APO) study meeting. The meeting focuses on business strategy development. The author acts as the Chief Facilitator during the meeting. The paradigm is intended to help CEOs of firms in Asia to re‐model their businesses in light of rising, innovative China.Design/methodology/approachThe APO (Japan) and China Productivity Center (Taipei, Taiwan) recently organized a Taipei study meeting. The theme of the meeting was on “post‐global financial crisis, (small, medium sized enterprises) SMEs' business development strategy”. In‐depth, rich experiences were shared during the discussion following the presentations. Founding CEOs, Presidents and senior leaders from industry were involved from the following countries: India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Reflecting upon the materials presented, the author develops, through synthesis, an emerging Asian paradigm for evolving newer business models as part of organizational strategy development.FindingsPeople always compete in the future. For businesses, besides keeping old customers, it is about the winning of contracts. For example, in the telecom industry, there is intense competition to produce newer, more innovative hand‐held devices. In the coming years, products using Chinese innovation will actively compete in the global marketplace. This pan‐Asia paradigm is useful for CEOs to begin to think about re‐shaping their business model to compete in the next wave.Originality/valueSince the industrial age and up to very recently, ideas, concepts, methods, techniques, inventions, innovations and business models have been “borrowed” from the West by Asians and adapted to local environments. With the global crisis and consequently a deep weakening of Europe and the USA, there is a growing consensus among top management in Asia: that new thinking on management, for example in business modeling, ought to be drawn from the East. Thus, it is timely for the APO to be organizing such a study meeting.
Achieving competitive advantage in service supply chain: evidence from the Chinese steel industry
Authors: Hua Song , Ranjan Chatterjee Samir , Jingliang Chen 
Published: April 2011

PurposeHigher market complexity and increasing competitive intensity are forcing traditional trading companies to change their positions in the goods delivery services supply chain by continuously extending the service business through interaction with customers. However, the existing literature tends to be somewhat vague in defining interaction behaviors with different customers and a service strategy for the service integrator wishing to move along the continuum. The purpose of this paper is to identify service strategies that correspond with specific customer demands.Design/methodology/approachUsing multiple methodologies and data sources, the study highlights three different service strategies including resources supply capability, demand management and strategy fit with buys.FindingsThe study finds that these strategies have different impacts on competitiveness for different types of downstream enterprises. For large enterprises, resources supply capability and strategy fit are significant factors – while for small and medium‐sized enterprises, resources supply capability, as well as demand management play an important role to supplier's competitiveness.Originality/valueBased on the research, the paper draws the conclusion that it is important to understand the buyer's demand and offer the service that the buyer really needs.