bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Performance measurement in a changing environment
Authors: Barclay Pat , Conyers Angela , Creaser Claire , White Sonya 
Published: June 2012

PurposeIncreased use and changes in the way e‐resources are delivered led some libraries to question the detail of some of the definitions used and particularly to suggest that statistics required by SCONUL did not always match the requirements or practice of the libraries themselves. The purpose of this paper is to explore a set of e‐measures.Design/methodology/approachA pilot project was set up to test a set of e‐measures, sufficiently robust to give confidence in their use in a national/international context and in benchmarking individual libraries. A total of 20 SCONUL members made quarterly returns during 2009‐10. During the year, categories and definitions were adjusted in the light of comments received. A workshop was held to exchange views and inform the decision on what went into the new return.FindingsIt was clear from the start that practice varied, and compromise would be required. Foremost among the changes are: inclusion of e‐resources held within databases in the count of titles; count of free titles or titles purchased in previous years; inclusion of database searches; separation of costs of different types of e‐resource.Originality/valueThe SCONUL statistics are a tool and servant of the members, helping libraries to run more effectively, and at the same time providing valuable evidence on UK academic libraries and their activities to the wider world. The new e‐measures questions will provide a reliable picture of the use of e‐resources across the sector and be useful to libraries individually or in benchmarking groups in assessing their own usage.
What business are we in? Value added services, core business and national library performance
Authors: Broady‐Preston Judith , Swain Wendy 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report results of a research project which investigated how two UK National libraries categorise their core business purpose together with an assessment of the role and relevance of additional (or value‐added) services in their strategic thinking, future planning and performance measurement.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative interpretive study, using a collective case study methodology, with the National Libraries of Wales and Scotland as the core cases. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with senior managers in both institutions, together with focus groups with librarians and library assistants, selected using purposive sampling. All instruments were piloted; data from the respondents were recorded, coded, classified and cross‐checked to ensure validity and rigour, using themed interview schedules to facilitate analysis.FindingsIt is difficult to be definitive as to core and additional services as individuals have differing interpretations of the terms. Changing customer demands and expectations, technological developments and the impact of a dynamic and complex economic environment suggest it is more meaningful to reconceptualise services according to the extent to which they contribute to achieving basic business purpose at any one time.Originality/valueLibraries must demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness in service provision, and in relation to achieving primary purpose and resource priorities in order to survive. Examining the relevance of defining and distinguishing core and added‐value services in relation to performance assessment and strategic vision addresses a gap in existing knowledge.
Comparing China Mainland and China Hong Kong contractors' productive efficiency
Authors: Hung Chiang Yat , Li Jing , Choi Tracy N.Y. , Fai Man King 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to present and compare the productive efficiency of China Mainland and China Hong Kong contractors, and to identify and investigate the components and sources of their efficiency under different economic and institutional environments.Design/methodology/approachData envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non‐parametric approach to examine the relative efficiency among different firms. This study employs DEA based Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) to compile the efficiency scores of 20 construction companies listed in the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Limited (HKEx) from 2004 to 2010.FindingsA decomposition of MPI suggests that catch‐up effect has contributed more to contractor's efficiency than frontier‐shift effect. Compared to their Mainland counterparts, Hong Kong contractors have higher MPI mainly due to higher efficiency scores in catch‐up effect.Practical implicationsHong Kong contractors have advantage over Mainland contractors in their managerial and strategic capabilities. Hence Hong Kong contractors should lever on their managerial expertise in accounting, financing and legal services when exporting their services. Meanwhile, Mainland contractors should improve their efficiency by making the most use of their technological and human resources, thus improving upon their international entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis study is the first attempt to apply MPI to compare the productive efficiency of listed contractors in China Mainland and China Hong Kong. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge for productive efficiency measurement.
Managerial perception of service innovation in facility management organizations
Authors: Scupola Ada 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate innovation in the facilities management sector by conducting an empirical study.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative research approach to investigate the research question. Data collection includes qualitative semi‐structured interviews with key facility management managers and directors, secondary material such as company brochures and reports and participation to workshops and conferences on facility management.FindingsThe main results are that big service providers perceive innovation as a strategic activity and see themselves as innovative companies. Facilities management (FM) service customers with their own FM department present mixed results. Some perceive innovation as a strategic priority and have clear innovation strategies. Others perceive themselves as not being innovative, even though they might be. The organizations belonging to the category “ICT Supplier/consultants” perceive themselves as innovative organizations and their innovations are both driven by the user needs and by the desire to improve their competitiveness. The types of perceived FM innovations found in the study can be mainly categorized as service, contract, process and business model innovations. Finally, the study shows that ICT is perceived to be a driver of FM innovations and that FM organizations use both closed and open innovation strategies.Practical implicationsThese results can be used by FM managers, innovation researchers and FM researchers alike. For FM managers the results provide some useful information about how innovation is addressed in FM provider and customer companies. FM researchers can get a picture of what is going on in the FM innovation landscape in Denmark. Finally, service researchers can get some insights about service innovation in a specific and under‐researched service field: facility management services.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the understanding of innovation and innovation types in facility management companies.
The economic theory of international business: a supply chain perspective
Authors: Casson Mark , Wadeson Nigel 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a way of addressing unresolved issues in international business theory.Design/methodology/approachA new model of the multinational enterprise as a coordinator of supply chains is presented.FindingsThis paper identifies a new market‐seeking strategy that is an alternative to conventional strategies, such as exporting, licensing and foreign direct investment, and analyses the conditions under which it will be adopted by firms. The new strategy involves the offshoring of production and the out‐sourcing of research and development, and is implemented through co‐operation between a source country firm and a host country firm.Originality/valueThis paper presents a new way of modelling international business as a supply chain system, which can be easily extended in various ways.
Antecedents of MNE performance: blinded by the obvious in 35 years of literature
Authors: Matysiak Lars , Bausch Andreas 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize theoretical insights about key antecedents of multinational enterprise (MNE) performance and to review and synthesize empirically researched antecedents of MNE performance.Design/methodology/approachDominant strategic management approaches to explaining the performance of firms in general are the market‐based view and the resource‐based view. The dominant theory of the MNE from the field of international business is internalization theory. Integrating these three perspectives, this paper elaborates where key antecedents of MNE performance can be expected. Furthermore, this paper reviews empirical research on antecedents of MNE performance published in three top business journals of major importance to the field of international business between 1976 and 2010, thereby synthesizing the most widely accepted knowledge about antecedents of MNE performance.FindingsThe paper reveals that theory suggests that key antecedents of MNE performance can be expected at the industry, country, and firm levels. Empirical research, however, hardly offers insights concerning antecedents at these three levels of analysis. Instead, empirical studies have predominantly focused on the intermediate variable of multinationality.Originality/valuePrevious research on antecedents of MNE performance has, by and large, been blinded by the obvious: multinationality has been researched innumerable times, without considering essential theories regarding performance and the MNE. This paper points out that there is much promise in going back to fundamental theories regarding performance and the MNE in order to advance our understanding of key antecedents of MNE performance.
How to attract Chinese online game users
Authors: Fan Liu , Gu Ja‐Chul , Suh Yung‐Ho , Lee Sang‐Chul 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to develop and test a model explaining users’ intention to adopt online games in China. Through theories from diverse fields of information systems research, the authors aim to examine and validate antecedents of users’ intentions to play online games.Design/methodology/approachThe model proposes subjective norms and perceived control as antecedents to technology acceptance model (TAM) related beliefs, while suggesting convenience of operator, reality of design, provision of information and sense of belonging as antecedents of flow. The authors study the causal relations between the antecedents and usage intention by using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the causalities in the proposed model.FindingsThe results indicate that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), flow and subjective norms are direct predictors of Chinese online games users’ intentions. Subjective norm and sense of belonging are shown to be important predictors of PU, while provision of information reveals an important negative influence on PU. At the same time, system quality shows no significant influence on PU. Perceived control and convenience of operator are both antecedents of PEOU. Furthermore, except for the sense of belonging, the proposed four antecedents of flow are tested for their effect on PU.Originality/valueThis research systematically includes relevant antecedents in MIS research to test online game users’ intention to adopt online games. It also provides some managerial insights that can guide Chinese online game companies to improve their games to attract users, and help foreign online game companies to make strategic plans to enter the huge Chinese online game market.
An evaluation model of business value for research and development of technology to improve the competitiveness of companies
Authors: Lee Sang‐Chul , Im Kwang‐Hyuk , Park Sang‐Chan , Fan Liu 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to establish an evaluation model for business value of a company's existing patents portfolio to improve the performance of the technology development and the company’s competitiveness through identifying the right direction for technology development.Design/methodology/approachThis research targets 11 leading companies in ten manufacturing industries and one e‐business industry and evaluates their existing patents portfolios. This research developed a core business model set by using clustering and classification. For comparative analysis, this research sets NAVER as a leading company and DAUM as a following company in e‐business industry.FindingsThis research proposes nine business model components to evaluate a patent from business perspectives. Second, by evaluating a company's existing patents portfolio in view of business model components, this research proposes the importance of business model components and developed six core business models. Through these role models, companies can analyze the directions for development in the future and find companies with similar characteristics.Originality/valueThis research develops a methodology to provide the direction for technology development of a company by evaluating technologies through the patents portfolio of a company rather than evaluating the value of a single patent. It is different from previous research that evaluates R&D from technology perspectives; this research takes account of the business value of technologies by developing tools in view of business model components.
Extraction procedure of competitive advantage factors in a target business area for conducting self‐assessment and re‐design of quality management system
Authors: Kaneko Masaaki , Munechika Masahiko 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a extraction procedure of competitive advantage factors that a company needs to have organizational capabilities, and leads the company to make a sustainable business success. By using the proposed method, a company can conduct a self‐assessment based on the factors, and re‐design its own quality management system, then realize the competitive advantage in a target business area.Design/methodology/approachBy collecting and analyzing the strategy data of six business areas in company A and conducting the interview to the project team in each business area for six months, the decision‐making mechanism and its pattern of the competitive advantage factors are examined, then the self‐assessment method of quality management system is proposed.FindingsThe decision‐making mechanism for competitive advantage factors is clarified. The customer value that is one of elements in the mechanism is categorized. And the analyzing method for specifying the core customer value and the organizational capability that leads customers directly to select a company's own product is established.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is in establishing a self‐assessment method that follows the concept of “evaluation design.” This means not using pre‐established evaluation criteria for all companies in all types of business, as is done in conventional research, but rather, designing criteria based on the competitive advantage factors in a target business area and then reflecting those factors into its own quality management system.
Research on product reliability improvement by using DMAIC process
Authors: Cheng Chuen‐Sheng , Kuan Chi‐Ming 
Published: June 2012

PurposeDefine, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) and define, measure, analyze, design and verify (DMADV) are two Six Sigma methodologies that improve quality in a process or product. In general, if the product design improvement in reliability cannot satisfy the failure‐free performance of Six Sigma, the DMADV process is used to create or redesign new product designs. However, the original function may be affected, and the product development cycle time may be enhanced due to a redesigned process. This paper aims to propose a new procedure to combine the reliability parameter and critical to quality (CTQ) to improve a product's reliability and to reduce the number of engineering changes without redesigning.Design/methodology/approachThe study influences the failure parameter to find out the mean time to failure (MTTF) tree and utilizes the DMAIC process for improvement. It is important to maintain the function while improving time. This study looks at a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) case.FindingsThe CCFL case uses the DMAIC process finds that important root cause improvement can increase MTTF twofold.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information on product reliability improvement using the DMAIC process.
An exploratory study of 5S: a multiple case study of multinational organizations in Mexico
Authors: Suárez‐Barraza Manuel F. , Ramis‐Pujol Juan 
Published: June 2012

PurposeDerived from work conducted on the topics of Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizensome management practices or techniques, such as the 5Ss, have recently become important in this research. The reason for this is that more and more of the companies that apply Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizenare using the 5Ss as an essential step in their implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the implementation of the 5Ss in multinational organisations in Mexico empirically, in order to analyse and compare them against the respective theoretical frameworks. The research question that governs the study is: “How are the 5Ss implemented in an organisational context such as that of a multinational company in Mexico?”Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory multiple case study was conducted. Three multinational companies, which have been established in Mexico for at least 20 years, were selected. Two of these companies were from the automotive sector (suppliers) and the third was a company manufacturing hygiene and cleaning products. Four methods were used to gather data: direct observation, participative observation, documentary analysis, and semi‐structured interviews.FindingsBased on cross analysis findings, a group of reasons was found for applying the 5Ss in the multinational organisations analysed, along with a group of drivers and inhibitors responsible for enhancing or blocking the successful implementation of the 5Ss. Finally, a conceptual framework was also established, based on the results of comparing theory and fieldwork: this provides a glimpse into the relationship of the 5Ss with other improvement programmes, known as Lean‐thinking or Lean‐Kaizen, in the organisations analysed. In particular, the framework show the importance betweendo(way: philosophy) andjyutsu(techniques) during the implantation process of 5Ss.Practical implicationsDerived to describe three case studies on how to implement the 5Ss within a programme or model for the Lean‐thinking or Lean‐Kaizenapproach, it may prove to be of value to practitioners and managers involved in the field. Similarly, a section on managerial implications has also been included.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the limited existing literature on the 5Ss through research that seeks to understand how this technique is implemented in a context of multinational organisations, particularly emphasising the main drivers and inhibitors that enhance or block it during the implementation process. It also includes a theoretical framework that can demonstrate the relationship of the 5Ss with the Lean‐thinking and Lean‐Kaizenprogrammes in this context: In particular for Latin America and Mexico, where virtually no academic studies of this type have been conducted.
Examining the implementation of Six Sigma training and its relationships with job satisfaction and employee morale
Authors: Lang Cheng Jung 
Published: June 2012

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the impact of implementing Six Sigma system on job satisfaction and employee morale, and how job satisfaction, employee morale and Six Sigma implementation are to support each other.Design/methodology/approachThe paper builds a research framework which includes the variables of Six Sigma, job satisfaction, and employee morale. The research methodology is the use of a field survey questionnaire of a Taiwanese company.FindingsThe paper finds that the method of Six Sigma implementation in Taiwanese company was by a top‐down approach, where is the managers received the training and then were expected to pass on the relevant knowledge to their subordinates. It also reveals that one key issue in Six Sigma implementation is which organizational departments should first receive the Six Sigma training. the field study found that the first departments related to logistics management, and then onto production line departments. Implementing Six Sigma training has impact on organizational job satisfaction and employee morale. The performance of Six Sigma training was able to achieve job satisfaction and employee morale, but the employees who participated in Six Sigma training were more positive with regard to job satisfaction and employee morale.Originality/valueEvery organization has their special characteristics in relation to the Six Sigma system, job satisfaction and employee morale. The organization should aim to better understand the relationship and content of job satisfaction and employee morale with regard to successful Six Sigma implementation.
Sociomaterial practices in engineering work
Authors: Styhre Alexander , Wikmalm Leena , Ollila Sanne , Roth Jonas 
Published: June 2012

PurposeEngineering work is a specific form of sociomaterial practice, drawing on and combining social and material resources to accomplish desirable effects, often combining technological and social resources. A study of an electrical engineering development project suggests that the work unfolds as a process whereby technological artefacts are verified on the basis of testing procedures and whereby events concerning technological failure, what has been called the “back‐talk” of technology, are handled using joint problem‐solving. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of a new product development project at a multinational telecommunications company.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic case study of a new product development project at a major multinational telecommunications company was undertaken.FindingsEngineering work is based on distributed know‐how and joint collaborations, emerging as a patchwork of activities where one single person may know a lot, but not everything, about the technology‐in‐the‐making. The paper concludes that joint concern for the technology, manifested as its gradual advancement, is what serves as the glue holding the community of engineers together.Originality/valueThe paper presents an original study of the work of a team of electrical engineers and inquires into how engineers combine technical and social resources when attempting to make the technology work.