bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Value‐creation initiatives in buyer‐seller relationships
Authors: Hammervoll Trond , Toften Kjell 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and explore important value‐creation initiatives in buyer‐seller relationships (BSRs).Design/methodology/approachFollowing a literature review and the presentation of an appropriate conceptual framework, an exploratory study of 14 BSRs in a variety of European industries is undertaken using in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with key informants.FindingsThe findings justify a distinction being drawn between two types of value‐creation initiatives: those that are important in transaction‐based arrangements (in which efficiency is paramount); and those that are important in interaction‐based relationships (in which effectiveness is paramount). Of the ten value‐creation initiatives identified in the literature review, seven were found to be of importance in the BSRs of the present sample.Research limitations/implicationsDespite genuine attempts to select a heterogeneous sample, most of the data did come from sellers. Future studies could look more deeply into buyer data to explore these issues in BSRs.Practical implicationsThe paper provides managers with practical guidance on the selection of appropriate value‐creation initiatives in various types of BSRs.Originality/valueThe paper reports the first known empirical study of value‐creation initiatives in BSRs.
Challenges of sustainable recovery processes in tsunami affected communities
Authors: Wiek Arnim , Ries Robert , Thabrew Lanka , Brundiers Katja , Wickramasinghe Anoja 
Published: September 2010

PurposeSustainable housing and community recovery processes in the aftermath of tsunamis have to cope with direct impacts, such as fatalities, destroyed buildings, and loss of economic assets, as well as indirect impacts caused by shortcomings in recovery management. Recent studies on post‐tsunami recovery tend to focus on direct impacts, ranging from monitoring to prevention studies. Less attention is paid to recovery as a complex bundle of multi‐agent processes causing subsequent problems.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents results from field studies evaluating post‐tsunami recovery processes in Sri Lanka against the concept of sustainable housing and community recovery. Semi‐structured observations and interviews were conducted on eight sites in the south‐western part of Sri Lanka during field visits 2005‐2006. The research involved beneficiaries and other citizens, representatives from government and administration, field workers (non‐governmental organizations), and scientists.FindingsEmpirical findings identify subsequent problems for specific capital forms, across different capital forms, and across different administrative levels. Moreover, critical issues refer to conceptualizing temporal horizons, comprehensive planning and decision making, stakeholders' involvement, and institutional embedding of recovery processes.Originality/valueAgainst this empirical background, the paper indicates improvement potentials referring to literature on comprehensive and adaptive planning to address the sustainable recovery challenges identified. The paper provides guidance for researchers, decision makers, planners, and field workers engaged in post‐disaster sustainable development.
Food marketing in Irish schools
Authors: Kelly Colette , Clerkin Pauline , Nic Gabhainn Saoirse , Mulvihill Maureen 
Published: September 2010

PurposeSchools are thought to represent a growing marketing opportunity for food advertisers in many countries. Marketing of unhealthy food to children is linked to the increased prevalence of obesity worldwide. This paper aims to explore ways in which schools respond to commercial activity around food marketing.Design/methodology/approachA census survey in the Republic of Ireland was employed to investigate the extent of commercial activity in post‐primary schools in Ireland, with a focus on food marketing. School policies related to commercialism and promoting healthy living to children and respondents' attitudes to these issues were explored.FindingsFood sales are a prevalent form of commercial activity in schools with 81.4 per cent operating shops or canteens that sell snacks, 44.7 per cent drinks vending machines and 28.0 per cent snack vending machines. A total of 38 per cent of schools reported that they accept for‐profit sponsorship and the primary reason was inadequate funding for equipment (91.6 per cent), especially sports equipment. The majority (87.3 per cent) agreed with establishing a national voluntary code of practice in relation to industry sponsorship, which is recommended by the Irish National Taskforce on Obesity. Few schools have policies that refer to commercial sponsorship (7.0 per cent), but schools would welcome receiving guidance and support in developing such policies.Practical implicationsThe extent of commercial activity in schools and the possible effect on children and their families need to be disseminated widely. A mechanism for monitoring the type and volume of commercialism, and food marketing in particular, in schools in Ireland is necessary.Originality/valueThese findings provide a baseline to monitor the future direction of commercialism in Irish schools.
Accounting in the media
Authors: Samkin Grant 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction and overview of the various papers in this special issue.Design/methodology/approachThis takes the form of a discussion paper that explores a number of issues relating to accounting in the media.FindingsThe paper describes a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches used in the papers for this special issue. In addition, the paper suggests that although the media have provided a rich source of data that has informed accounting research, the use of media and media texts will remain a fertile area of research.Practical implicationsThe portrayal of accounting in the media is of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors.Originality/valueThis special issue provides a range of examples of accounting in the media and sets an agenda for future research.
From operational efficiency to financial efficiency
Authors: Kanghwa Choi 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the conceptual relationship between operational, competitive market and financial performance of a company.Design/methodology/approachA model presented is designed on hand data envelopment analysis (DEA) and causal loop diagram (CLD).FindingsSome of the paper's findings are that: a company which is located closer to the operational frontier will also be located closer to the market frontier; a company which is located closer to the market frontier will also be located closer to the financial frontier; the relationship of operational performance on financial performance is no weaker than that of market performance; firm‐specific financial risk is more influenced by such variables as quality, speed and flexibility than by cost‐related variables.Originality/valueThere are various papers about efficiency frontier analysis with DEA tools separately, but few about performance, market and financial frontier integrated using DEA and CLD. Unlike many quantitative papers, this paper uses DEA and CLD to analyze the conceptual relationship between operational, competitive market and financial performance of a company.
Security conscious AI‐planning‐based composition of semantic web services
Authors: Gholam Hassan Tabatabaei Sayed , Vahid Dastjerdi Amir , Wan Kadir Wan M.N. , Ibrahim Suhaimi , Sarafian Elahe 
Published: September 2010

PurposeAutomated composition of semantic web services has become one of the recent critical issues in today's web environment. Despite the importance of artificial intelligence (AI)‐planning techniques for web service composition, previous works in that area do not address security issues, which is the focus of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to achieve security conscious composition of semantic web services.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed approach called security conscious composition of semantic web services (SCAIMO) is based on the prior work, i.e. AIMO. The AIMO is an effective approach for web service discovery and composition based on AI‐planning, web service modeling ontology (WSMO), and description logic (DL). In this paper, definitions of secure matchmaking and web service composition are formalized based on DLs. Moreover, security capabilities and constraint types in the proposed SCAIMO framework are presented.FindingsThis paper proposes a secure task matchmaker which is responsible for matching security conscious tasks with operators and methods based on WSMO and DL to support the proposed SCAIMO framework. In addition, the paper implements and evaluates the SCAIMO using a test case and the result shows that the approach can provide an applicable solution.Originality/valueThe key contribution of this paper encompasses the new framework to support security capabilities and constraints during composition of semantic web services as well as the new secure task matchmaker.
Corporate social reporting: empirical evidence from Indonesia Stock Exchange
Authors: Veronica Siregar Sylvia , Bachtiar Yanivi 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of board size, foreign ownership, firm size, profitability, and leverage on corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and the possible effect of CSR reporting on a firm's future performance.Design/methodology/approachAnnual reports were analyzed by content analysis method and multiple regression was used to test hypotheses.FindingsEvidence was found that board size has a positive and non‐linear (quadratic and concave) relationship with CSR. This result confirms predictions that a larger board will be able to exercise better monitoring, but that too large a board will make the monitoring process ineffective. Firm size has a positive effect on CSR. This suggests that larger firms have more resources to devote to social activities and a larger asset base over which to spread the costs of social responsibility. They also face more pressure to disclose their social activities for various groups in society. Profitability and leverage, however, do not have significant influence. Little evidence was found of positive impact of CSR on future performance. This result could encourage firms to disclose their CSR activities because there seems to be a positive affect on future performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe measure of CSR may involve subjective judgement and is only limited to annual reports.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that it is important for a company to increase its awareness on corporate social activities and also its disclosure in the annual report.Originality/valueThe paper shows that board size has a positive and non‐linear effect on CSR, which has been rarely examined in previous research.
Is there a tactical level of business processes?
Authors: Henriksen Bjørnar , Andersen Bjørn 
Published: September 2010

PurposeAs companies are facing an increased need for knowledge creation, innovation, improvement, and change, the processes that enable these matters should be identified. The purpose of this paper is to identify and find a way of classifying these processes.Design/methodology/approachThe paper conducted literature studies to identify what could be the tactical processes. This has then been exemplified through a case study in the automotive industry where the focus has been on the formal process descriptions and how decisions and roles are distributed.FindingsFrom the case study the paper can identify processes that could be classified as tactical, as they are not only “something between” the strategic and operational processes, but also different by nature, as they are related to certain dynamic elements of a company, such as knowledge creation, innovations and improvements.Research limitations/implicationsTo some extent the research is based on formal descriptions in systems and documents from a case in the automotive industry. Interviews have been conducted but more cases and interviews would provide a better picture of the tactical processes and how they are designed and implemented.Practical implicationsThe paper argues that there is a level of processes that could be classified as tactical as well as strategic and operational. These processes are increasingly important as they represent activities within R&D and improvement, which are important aspects of, for example, lean strategies. Design, responsibilities and ownership of these tactical processes are important strategic decisions.Originality/valueThe original value of the paper is that introducing the tactical level could facilitate the identification, analyses and decisions regarding the processes that play an increasingly important role in manufacturing strategies.
Responding to the student voice: a case study of a systematic improvement strategy
Authors: Sid Nair Chenicheri , Bennett Lorraine , Mertova Patricie 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of collecting and acting on student feedback as a key component of quality improvement in higher education. The paper seeks to outline a systematic improvement strategy adopted at a faculty level within a large university in Australia but will be of interest to leaders and practitioners of quality assurance programmes across the sector.Design/methodology/approachA strategy to achieve quality improvement was designed and carried out jointly by the University Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ) and the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) with staff in one of the smaller faculties at the University. The faculty mean for student satisfaction lagged significantly below the means of other faculties, and five units (subjects) which were deemed to be “poorly performing” against the University's agreed target were selected for some intensive improvement. The guiding principles which underpinned the adopted strategy included: utilising student feedback data; targeting poorly performing units as a priority; linking staff and student development support; and documenting and demonstrating improvement as a consequence of the actions taken.FindingsA post‐test evaluation of the five target units showed improvement in the form of increased student satisfaction. The strategy adopted at the University underlined the significance of collecting student feedback in quality enhancement, acting on the feedback and supporting academic staff in implementing improvements. Overall, the strategy signalled the interconnection between student evaluations and the quality of education programmes.Practical implicationsThe successful implementation of a unit improvement strategy at a faculty level within the University demonstrated the value of the approach and recommended its application as an improvement strategy across the whole institution, provided that the internal context of individual faculties is taken into consideration. This case study may also offer some guidance to other tertiary institutions looking into utilising evidence‐based planning and decision making as a way of driving quality improvement.Originality/valueMany tertiary institutions around the world are currently collecting student feedback. However, the interconnection between the student feedback and actual institutional change is not always evident or addressed. Therefore, this University case study offers some direction towards a more effective utilisation of student evaluation data.
An examination of festival attendees' behavior using SEM
Authors: Hoon Kim Young , Kim Mincheol , Ruetzler Tanya , Taylor Jim 
Published: September 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine and clarify the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in a small festival setting and applying a structural equation model (SEM).Design/methodology/approachThis paper utilizes survey research and is designed to measure perceived value, satisfaction, and intention to revisit a small festival using SEM to test the hypotheses that: attendees' satisfaction can be predicted by perceived value; intention to revisit can be predicted by perceived value; and intention to revisit can be predicted by satisfaction.FindingsBased on the sample of 424 participants, SEM confirms that all three hypotheses have a statistically significant relationship.Originality/valueThe results are consistent with previous studies, however, this paper is limited to a single small festival and the results may not be transferrable to festivals in other locations, of different sizes, and longer durations of time. The results are valuable to festival managers to increase the propensity of participants' intention to revisit the event by examining factors that lead to increased satisfaction and perceived value.
Designing and delivering compelling experiences
Authors: Kale Sudhir H. , Pentecost Robin D. , Zlatevska Natalina 
Published: September 2010

PurposeJoseph Pine and Jim Gilmore coined the term “experience economy” to describe a paradigm shift in consumption. To survive in this new economy, businesses must provide customers with memorable consumption experiences. The purpose of this paper is to suggest eight ingredients that need to be incorporated into a compelling experience. Commercial experience providers, not‐for‐profit organizations, and political entities stand to benefit by integrating these elements in the experiences they provide to their targeted constituencies.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative phenomenological case study approach is employed using the 2008 Democratic National Convention as the referent for dissemination of a compelling experience.FindingsEight attributes were distilled that together constitute an unforgettable experience: planning, resourcing, targeting, anticipating, enabling, empathizing, framing, and engaging.Practical implicationsAll experience providers desirous of creating compelling customer experiences for their targeted audiences would find it worthwhile to actively incorporate each of these elements in their product.Originality/valueThe paper uses a well‐planned and well‐executed political convention to uncover the building blocks of a compelling consumer experience.
Temperature-Dependent Requirement for Catalase in Aerobic Growth of
Listeria monocytogenes
F2365
Authors: Azizoglu Reha Onur , Kathariou Sophia 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT

Listeria monocytogenes
is a Gram-positive, psychrotrophic, facultative intracellular food-borne pathogen responsible for severe illness (listeriosis). The bacteria can grow in a wide range of temperatures (1 to 45°C), and low-temperature growth contributes to the food safety hazards associated with contamination of ready-to-eat foods with this pathogen. To assess the impact of oxidative stress responses on the ability of
L. monocytogenes
to grow at low temperatures and to tolerate repeated freeze-thaw stress (cryotolerance), we generated and characterized a catalase-deficient mutant of
L. monocytogenes
F2365 harboring a
mariner
-based transposon insertion in the catalase gene (
kat
). When grown aerobically on blood-free solid medium, the
kat
mutant exhibited impaired growth, with the extent of impairment increasing with decreasing temperature, and no growth was detected at 4°C. Aerobic growth in liquid was impaired at 4°C, especially under aeration, but not at higher temperatures (10, 25, or 37°C). Genetic complementation of the mutant with the intact
kat
restored normal growth, confirming that inactivation of this gene was responsible for the growth impairment. In spite of the expected impact of oxidative stress responses on cryotolerance, cryotolerance of the
kat
mutant was not affected.
Contribution of Chitinases to
Listeria monocytogenes
Pathogenesis
Authors: Chaudhuri Swarnava , Bruno Joseph C. , Alonzo Francis , Xayarath Bobbi , Cianciotto Nicholas P. , Freitag Nancy E. 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT

Listeria monocytogenes
secretes two chitinases and one chitin binding protein. Mutants lacking
chiA
,
chiB
, or
lmo2467
exhibited normal growth in cultured cells but were defective for growth in the livers and spleens of mice. Mammals lack chitin; thus,
L. monocytogenes
may have adapted chitinases to recognize alternative substrates to enhance pathogenesis.
RNA Polymerase Trafficking inBacillus subtilisCells
Authors: Ishikawa Shu , Oshima Taku , Kurokawa Ken , Kusuya Yoko , Ogasawara Naotake 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTTo obtain insight into thein vivodynamics of RNA polymerase (RNAP) on theBacillus subtilisgenome, we analyzed the distribution of the σAand β′ subunits of RNAP and the NusA elongation factor on the genome in exponentially growing cells using chromatin affinity precipitation coupled with gene chip mapping (ChAP-chip). In contrast toEscherichia coliRNAP, which often accumulates at the promoter-proximal region,B. subtilisRΝΑP is evenly distributed from the promoter to the coding sequences. This finding suggests that, in general,B. subtilisRNAP recruited to the promoter promptly translocates away from the promoter to form the elongation complex and proceeds without intragenic transcription attenuation. We detected RNAP accumulation in the promoter-proximal regions of some genes, most of which can be identified as transcription attenuation systems in the leader region. Our findings suggest that the differences in RNAP behavior betweenE. coliandB. subtilisduring initiation and elongation steps might result in distinct strategies for postinitiation control of transcription. TheE. colimechanism involves trapping at the promoter and promoter-proximal pausing of RNAP in addition to transcription attenuation, whereas transcription attenuation in leader sequences is mainly employed inB. subtilis.
A Conserved Acetyl Esterase Domain Targets Diverse Bacteriophages to the Vi Capsular Receptor of
Salmonella enterica
Serovar Typhi
Authors: Pickard Derek , Toribio Ana Luisa , Petty Nicola K. , van Tonder Andries , Yu Lu , Goulding David , Barrell Bart , Rance Richard , Harris David , Wetter Michael , Wain John , Choudhary Jyoti , Thomson Nicholas , Dougan Gordon 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT

A number of bacteriophages have been identified that target the Vi capsular antigen of
Salmonella enterica
serovar Typhi. Here we show that these Vi phages represent a remarkably diverse set of phages belonging to three phage families, including
Podoviridae
and
Myoviridae
. Genome analysis facilitated the further classification of these phages and highlighted aspects of their independent evolution. Significantly, a conserved protein domain carrying an acetyl esterase was found to be associated with at least one tail fiber gene for all Vi phages, and the presence of this domain was confirmed in representative phage particles by mass spectrometric analysis. Thus, we provide a simple explanation and paradigm of how a diverse group of phages target a single key virulence antigen associated with this important human-restricted pathogen.