bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
National port competitiveness: implications for India
Authors: Jim Wu Yen‐Chun , Lin Chia‐Wen 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to perform an international comparison of logistics/port operations with a main focus on India.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the transportation and freight service industry during 2000‐2005, this study first conducts revealed comparative advantage (RCA) analysis to investigate India's logistics competitiveness and then uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze the efficiency of India's container port operations.FindingsThe study's findings suggest that in terms of India's logistics competitiveness, its freight industry is relatively competitive while its transportation industry is not. Overall, while the study indicates that India's largest container port (Jawaharlal Nehru) is not very efficient; the RCA analysis shows that India still has a relative comparative advantage over its industrialized counterparts except for Japan and France in the transportation service industry. Interestingly, the DEA results also indicate that the efficiency value of the container port in India is second only to the US port of Los Angeles among the ports examined in industrialized countries.Research limitations/implicationsRCA indicators are only able to examine past and present industry conditions based on export results, and do not provide a detailed explanation of the reasons for changes in levels of competitiveness. As for DEA analysis, this study focused only on land and equipment as input variables primarily because of a lack of data on worker efficiency. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for an overhaul of port equipment if India wants to accommodate the growing volume of imports and exports in the future.Originality/valueThis paper provides a first step toward gaining insights into India's current logistics/port competitiveness position in comparison with other emerging markets and advanced economies. This paper also contributes to providing a better understanding of the competitiveness of emerging economies (BRICs & Next 11), which are viewed as rising stars and have not yet been fully investigated in the existing literature. Several recommendations are also provided.
Monte Carlo simulation and a value‐at‐risk of concessionary project
Authors: Du Xiaofeng , Li Amory N. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive approach to the valuation of an infrastructure concession right and quantitative risk management projects in the People's Republic of China.Design/methodology/approachThe paper outlines a methodology, incorporating an economic model to appraise the dynamic value and risk of concession investment in the context of the design of concession contracts.FindingsThe framework of the study simulates the present value of net cash flow and identifies probability with different parameters in concession contracts as a way to establish a correlation between parameters and net present value distribution. Moreover, the paper uses the technique of value‐at‐risk to set up an economic model to appraise the dynamic value and risk of a concession investment and analyse the key issues in the concession contracts design phase.Research limitations/implicationsIt is difficult to estimate precisely the distribution of parameters in the model. In particular, estimating shortfalls in the rate of return of the concession project, the appreciation rate of the future operating cash flow and the market rate of return all have significant impact on the results.Practical implicationsThis study frames examines the concession rights mode in a traffic infrastructure construction project and provides potential developers and potential host governments with a reasoned approach to evaluating risk and capital investment in potential concession projects.Originality/valueThe paper offers insights into the risk management, financing and valuation of infrastructure concession rights concerning the Guangshen Freeway in China.
Exploring maintenance strategies in Chinese product manufacturing companies
Authors: Gebauer Heiko , Pützr Felix , Fischer Thomas , Wang Chunzhi , Lin Jie 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore maintenance strategies for manufacturing equipment in Chinese firms.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from Chinese companies using a questionnaire administered during face‐to‐face interviews and two established methodologies in strategic management research, exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis, were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results suggest that despite increasing competitive capabilities of Chinese firms, their maintenance strategies are often restricted to corrective maintenance. Only very few Chinese firms have already implemented predictive maintenance approach, total productive maintenance programs or the strategic outsourcing of maintenance activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitations stem from typical issues related to the use of exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis (for example reliance on the subjective judgment of the researcher or the provision of clusters although no meaningful groups are embedded in the sample).Practical implicationsThe findings highlight potential strategies for Chinese firms to improve their maintenance management.Originality/valueThis paper deals with a neglected area of operations management by exploring the maintenance approaches in fast growing Chinese manufacturing industries.
Human resource management practices and workers' job satisfaction
Authors: Ileana Petrescu Alina , Simmons Rob 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and workers' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses British data from two different cross‐sectional datasets. It estimates probit models with overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with pay as subjective dependent variables.FindingsAfter controlling for personal, job and firm characteristics, it is found that several HRM practices raise workers' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay. However, these effects are only significant for non‐union members. Satisfaction with pay is higher where performance‐related pay and seniority‐based reward systems are in place. A pay structure that is perceived to be unequal is associated with a substantial reduction in both non‐union members' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay. Although HRM practices can raise workers' job satisfaction, if workplace pay inequality widens as a consequence then non‐union members may experience reduced job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe data sets used in the analysis are cross‐sectional, presenting a snapshot of impacts of HRM practices on job satisfaction at a particular point in time. Dynamic effects are therefore not captured.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the empirical literature on effects of HRM practices, focussing on impacts on both overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with pay. A novel feature of the paper is the use of two separate data sets to develop complementary empirical results.
The role of organizational context and infrastructure practices in JIT implementation
Authors: Bayo‐Moriones Alberto , Bello‐Pintado Alejandro , Merino‐Díaz‐de‐Cerio Javier 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze which factors determine the use of just‐in‐time (JIT) in companies. More precisely, the paper aims to study the role played by two variables of organizational context (size and age) and three infrastructure practices (advanced manufacturing technologies – AMT, quality management, and work organization).Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested using data collected from 203 manufacturing plants with at least 20 employees. Data were collected by means of personal interviews with plant managers. Regression analyses have been performed to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results reveal the existence of diversity in the factors that affect the use of the different components of JIT. Infrastructure practices are shown to be more determining than contextual factors. This happens in particular with AMT, basic quality tools and the management of the relationships with suppliers and customers.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of the research are those derived from the cross‐sectional character of the data and from information coming from surveys, especially when the measures are subjective.Practical implicationsThe paper stresses the need to develop adequate infrastructures in technology management, quality management and work organization to obtain all the benefits of JIT implementation.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the role of organizational context and, especially, infrastructure practices in the incidence of JIT in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, the identification of different dimensions of JIT systems makes it possible to conclude that the influence of the different factors considered is not uniform across all JIT elements.
Product development and innovation for developing countries
Authors: Chandra Mahesh , Neelankavil James P. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeBetween the lack of incentives for larger international companies and the lack of resources of the local companies the majority of the people in less developed countries never benefit from new products. International companies generally offer modified product offerings to consumers in developing countries. To date, their attempts to penetrate the developing country markets have not been successful. The reasons for this failure in their attempts to succeed in these markets include the prohibitive cost of developing entirely new products for this market and the low‐income levels of the families in these countries. To succeed in developing countries, international companies have to observe and study their customers' needs and uncover the problem areas. There are many approaches available to accomplish this process including systematic innovation and the seven R's. Each approach focuses on the consumer and suggests a radical approach to developing new products. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction and overview of new product development in emerging countries.Design/methodology/approachChallenges, process, and success strategies are explored.FindingsTo succeed in developing countries, international companies have to observe and study their customers' needs and uncover the problem areas. The authors suggest an approach that focuses on the consumer and suggests a radical approach to developing new products – the limitations/constraints point of view. The single biggest constraint in developing products for less developed countries is affordability (price). Unlike the new product development process that is practiced in industrialized countries, international companies wanting to be successful in less developed countries should start with the customers' affordability and value‐added point of view and then work backwards to develop products/services for these countries.Practical implicationsInternational companies are provided with an approach to new product development in emerging countries.Originality/valueNew product development in emerging countries is likely to become increasingly important, and there is very little research on the topic. The value of this paper is in its overview of the challenges of new product development in emerging countries, and suggested solutions.
Exploring four generations' beliefs about career
Authors: Dries Nicky , Pepermans Roland , De Kerpel Evelien 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether four different generations (Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y) hold different beliefs about career. Career type, career success evaluation and importance attached to organizational security are to be scrutinized for each generation.Design/methodology/approachA total of 750 people completed a vignette task, rating the career success of 32 fictitious people. Each vignette contained a different combination of five career features (functional level, salary, number of promotions, promotion speed, and satisfaction) at two levels (low and high). Furthermore, several items were added in order to determine each participant's career type and the extent to which they attached importance to organizational security.FindingsThe majority of participants still had rather “traditional” careers, although younger generations seemed to exhibit larger discrepancies between career preferences and actual career situation. Overall, satisfaction appeared to be the overriding criterion used to evaluate other people's career success. No significant differences were found between generations. With regard to importance attached to organizational security, the Silent Generation and Generation Y scored significantly higher than the other generations.Research limitations/implicationsThe convenience sampling strategy led to large differences in sample size per generation. Using a vignette design limited the amount and richness of information that could be offered to participants. Perhaps other criteria relevant to real‐life career success evaluation should have been incorporated in this study.Originality/valueThe study raises questions about the validity of career success operationalizations frequently used in research. It is the first study to examine career success evaluation by means of vignettes.
Social reporting, engagements, controversies and conflict in an arena context
Authors: Georgakopoulos Georgios , Thomson Ian 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate relationships between engagement activities and social reporting practices in a controversial and environmentally sensitive industry. The interactions investigated were not restricted to stakeholder relationships but included other communications between different stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a case study approach framed within a contested political arena. Data were gathered using multiple methods including interviews with salmon farming organisations, stakeholders, rule‐enforcers, issue amplifiers and political institutions.FindingsAll arena participants used social reports in their interactions to communicate the social, environmental and economic consequences of salmon farming. Different social reporting practices appeared to be reflexively related to the competing motivations of different stakeholders. However, social reporting in Scottish salmon farming was fragmented, driven by many different factors and did not necessarily lead to a resolution of the conflicts within this arena.Research limitations/implicationsResearching social reporting should consider the co‐existence and co‐evolution of different social reports, competing motivations and engagement tactics of stakeholders. This paper identifies the construction of holistic reports from multiple reports and issue amplification as two research methods to engage in social and environmental policy debates.Originality/valueThis paper presents empirical evidence from an under‐researched industry, which has the potential to develop the theoretical understanding of social reporting. It also introduces the arena concept as a useful tool in further social reporting research.
The transition to financial capitalism and its implications for financial reporting
Authors: Arnold A.J. , McCartney S. 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThere are two main alternative explanations in the literature for the patterns of financial reporting during the period of the British Industrial Revolution (BIR). Rob Bryer sees the new social relations of production in which manufacturing entrepreneurs strove to increase the productivity of wage‐labour as leading to a distinct capitalist “calculative mentality”, focused on the return on capital employed; Dick Edwards argues from agency precepts that financial reporting emerged with the transition from “industrial” to “financial capitalism”. This paper aims to reappraise these theorisations using new archival evidence.Design/methodology/approachCanals, the crucial transport network during the BIR, were owned by limited liability companies financed by outside investors, with clear separation of ownership and control, yet were not capitalist in Bryer's sense because their profits came from a form of rent (tolls on freight) not from the exploitation of wage‐labour. The paper reviews the financial statements of seven major English canals from the 1770s to the 1850s, and uses these findings as a basis for appraising the above‐mentioned theories.FindingsThe financial statements of English canal companies do not distinguish profit or enable users to calculate rates of return on capital employed and so assess the performance of management. This sharply conflicts with agency theory but is consistent with Bryer's thesis.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the authors' understanding of how and why corporate financial reporting emerged, and the relationship between this process and the transition to the capitalist mode of production.
In brief: the National Retail Planning Forum Briefing Paper series
Authors: Findlay Anne , Sparks Leigh 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to make sense of recent developments in retail planning with reference to the changing agendas on retail planning, the disparate nature of participation in the retail planning debate and the diversity of literature on the subject.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on the work of the National Retail Planning Forum. Specifically, it examines the Briefing Paper Series using it as a way of seeing how the agenda has been changing and policy challenged.FindingsThe paper underlines the importance of distinguishing between evidence based research and rhetoric or advocacy in evaluating policy in retail planning.Originality/valueThe paper provides an accessible short tour of recent issues on the policy agenda whilst also counterpoising some of the underlying retail planning policy issues.
Prognosis and mitigation strategy for major landslide‐prone areas
Authors: Uniyal Aniruddh 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to present a discussion on prognosis and mitigation of major landslide zones in an attempt to minimize the impact of such disasters in future. A case study on the sequence of sliding events of Varunavat Parvat, Uttarkashi (India), response of masses and administration and causative factors of sliding events has been presented in detail for prognosis and mitigation of large slide zones.Design/methodology/approachThe prognosis and mitigation strategy discussed is based on the monitoring of mass wasting zones through field investigations and satellite image analysis (of pre‐ and post‐landslide period images) and experiential learning and interaction with village elders in landslide hazard‐prone Himalayan terrain.FindingsThe paper finds that Himalayan habitations such as Uttarkashi (which is situated in an area of fragile rocks, complex tectonics, seismic activity and cloud burst‐prone unstable hill slopes with colluvium and old slide zones) should have minimum anthropogenic activity in the form of slope cutting for road or building construction.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper reflects the author's individual understanding of causative factors and indications of landslides in Varunavat Parvat area in Uttarkashi township of Uttarakhand (India).Originality/valueThe paper calls for amalgamation of experience‐based local knowledge of villagers of landslide‐prone areas and modern scientific and technical know‐how and above all the coordinated efforts of community and authorities for prognosis and mitigation of large‐scale landslides in the inhabited areas. It has been further emphasized that sensitization and awareness programs and strict implementation of land‐use regulations are vital components of effective mitigation strategy.
Public relations before “public relations” in Spain: an early history (1881‐1960)
Authors: Rodríguez Salcedo Natalia 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the origins of Spanish public relations from the end of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Although the term “public relations” was an export to Europe by the end of the second world war (with some exceptions), its philosophy had already been practised in some countries, and countries not always under a democratic regime, as the Spanish case shows.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken is a literature review of the first Spanish communication journals, oral interviews with the pioneers in the field and documentary research of the unpublished professional archive of the first Spanish agency, established in 1960.FindingsThe first “public relations” campaigns did not appear until the very late 1950s. However, a closer look reveals the existence of precedents in the first half of the century though under other names such as “educational” and “prestige” advertising, or “propaganda” campaigns. Despite being considered as isolated experiences, they prove the phenomenon precedes the name of “public relations”.Practical implicationsThis paper places special emphasis on two lines of emergence for public relations. First, the profession in Spain naturally evolved and stemmed from advertising and, due to historical reasons, it was also related to communicative initiatives known as “propaganda”. Second, once the practitioners heard about the American term “public relations”, the precedents seemed to be ignored and were replaced by the influence of other countries' experiences, thanks to the wide vision of the pioneers.Originality/valueThere is little research on the origins of public relations in Spain and none on the precedents. This paper fills in some of the gaps.
And did those feet? Getting medieval England “on‐message”
Authors: Croft Robin , Hartland Trevor , Skinner Heather 
Published: November 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to gain an understanding of the nature and extent of the practice of “public relations” in history.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses an analysis of popular narratives (in particular rumour, legend and myth) to inform a detailed case study of Glastonbury abbey in the medieval period.FindingsGlastonbury Abbey worked in partnership with the Crown to develop a detailed promotional campaign based on powerful narratives. As a consequence it was able to grow to become one of the wealthiest communities in the country. The Crown, meanwhile, consolidated its position by being able to engender a whole national “brand” around the mythical corpus.Research limitations/implicationsMethodologically, using folklore and other popular narrative material is useful as to an extent it is outside official control, but also provides information about the story tellers and the audiences.Originality/valueThe research builds on Watson's recent work on St Swithun and Winchester, taking the ideas forward several hundred years (and finding many of the same patterns). It finds new developments in terms of co‐branding and brand revivals.