bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Asset specificity in make or buy decisions for service operations
Authors: Espino‐Rodríguez Tomás F. , Lai Pei‐Chun , Baum Tom 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis work analyses make or buy decisions from the transaction cost economics perspective and the resource‐based view of the firm. The aim is to analyse the extent to which the presumptions of the two theories are valid in the service sector in terms of specific assets.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted on a representative sample of hotels in Scotland, UK. Each of the surveyed hotels was asked for information about 13 operations or hotel processes. A comprehensive model is developed that establishes the relationship between asset specificity and operation performance and hotel or business performance, moderated by the form of governance (make or buy). Moreover, the relationship between asset specificity and outsourcing in the hotel sector is also examined. The different hotel processes are classified according to the asset specificity. The factors that could lead to an increase in the outsourcing strategy are also analysed.FindingsThe results indicate that, the relationship between asset specificity and operation performance is weaker when the operations are executed in‐house. In the case of the relationship between specific assets and performance, the findings regarding non‐financial performance are not contradictory since it is slightly higher when the operation is outsourced. The factors determining an increase in outsourcing would be those related to the quality of the operation and to non‐financial performance.Research limitations/implicationsPrevious studies have not considered the relationship between specificity and business performance, which gives extra incentive to complement and expand the literature on service operations. Future research should analyze other theories on organisations and outsourcing. The findings should also be tested in other geographical regions and use sources of information other than the hotel managers.Practical implicationsThe work generates knowledge and aids managers in their “make or buy” decisions for the principal processes in the hotel industry according to the asset specificity.Originality/valueThe paper develops a specificity‐outsourcing matrix and identifies each of the hotel operations. Apart from testing the model in the hotel sector, which is an important sector of the service industry, the work offers a better understanding of outsourcing decisions based on the two basic theories used in the literature on services management. The paper also makes an innovative contribution by analysing relationships between operation specificity and performance that are previously untested in the service sector.
Scientific identity in top journals of services marketing: review and evaluation
Authors: Svensson Göran , Slåtten Terje , Tronvoll Bård 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe objective of the paper is to describe the “scientific identity” of the “top” journals in services marketing by reviewing and evaluating the methodological approaches and the geographical affiliations of authors published in selected journals.Design/methodology/approachA sample of “top” journals in services marketing is selected on the basis of expert opinion. The selection includes the International Journal of Service Industry Management (IJSIM), the Journal of Services Marketing (JSM), the Journal of Service Research (JSR), Managing Service Quality (MSQ), and the Service Industries Journal (SIJ). The review and evaluation considers all papers (a total of 1,107) published in these journals over a six‐year period from 2000 to 2005. The papers are categorized and the geographical affiliations of the authors are noted. The compiled results are analyzed for patterns that reveal the “scientific identity” of each of the selected journals.FindingsThe “scientific identities” of JSM and JSR are revealed as being built upon quantitative research designs and the North American paradigm of research values. MSQ and SIJ are found to be largely based upon a mix of empirical research designs and the European paradigm of research values. IJSIM is found to be based on a mix of empirical research designs and a mix of European and North American research values. However, no journal is found to be narrowly focused, and the variety of “scientific identities” among the journals studied here bodes well for ongoing scientific enquiry in services marketing.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies of the “scientific identity” of individual research journals are required in other sub‐disciplines of marketing.Practical implicationsScholars will benefit from insights into the “scientific identities” of the “top” journals in services marketing. In particular, scholars can note the particular features of individual journals while acknowledging the paradigmatic flexibility and richness of research designs that are present in all of these journals.Originality/valueThis is the first review and evaluation of the “scientific identity” of “top” service‐marketing journals in terms of categories of papers published and geographical affiliation of published authors. The study provides valuable insights into the nature of academic publishing in the burgeoning area of services marketing.
The future of distributed leadership
Authors: Gronn Peter 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the empirical utility and conceptual significance of distributed leadership.Design/methodology/approachThree main sources of evidence are drawn on. The paper reviews some neglected commentary of an early generation of distributed leadership theorists. It also discusses a strand of social science writings on emergent small number management formations. An alternative interpretation of the findings of three recent empirical studies of distributed leadership is provided. Some unresolved issues are considered.FindingsDistributed leadership arose in reaction to understandings of leadership that emphasised heroic‐like individual behaviour. It has achieved a high level of theoretical and practical uptake. This paper, however, argues for reconsideration. Distributed leadership is shown to be largely unremarkable, especially in light of the continuity between current writings and those of early generation scholars. This claim is also reinforced by the inability of most current scholars to develop the emergent potential of a tradition of writings on the division of labour in small groups (emanating mainly from the work of Georg Simmel). Finally, the paper argues that a more appropriate descriptor for recent leadership analyses may be “hybrid”, rather than “distributed”.Originality/valueConceptually and empirically, there is still work to do. First, leadership's distributed status now aligns it with power and influence, each for some time recognised as distributed, although the preference for leadership as a vehicle of analysis ahead of power and influence still lacks sufficient justification. Second, while distributed leadership is sometimes thought of as synonymous with democratic organisational leadership, the latter is shown to be conceptually distinct.
Functionally adequate but causally idle: w(h)ither distributed leadership?
Authors: Lakomski Gabriele 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to argue that leadership, including distributed leadership, is a concept of folk psychology and is more productively viewed as an emergent self‐organising property of complex systems. It aims to argue the case on the basis that claims to (distributed) leadership outrun the theoretical and empirical resources distributed and other leadership theorists can offer to support them.Design/methodological approachThe paper employs contemporary scientific as well as traditional philosophical criteria in determining the knowledge claims made by distributed leadership theories. Of particular importance are the coherence theory of evidence that employs the super‐empirical virtues, especially coherence to establish the scientific virtue of theory, and the conception of leadership as part and parcel of folk psychology.FindingsWhen considering the basis of claims to distributed leadership from a neuroscientific and empirical perspective, there is little basis in fact about the existence of (distributed) leadership as an ontological category. Talk of leadership is a conventional, commonsense label for vastly more complex and fine‐grained causal physiological and neuronal activities within certain social contexts. In this sense distributed leadership is a conception available for reduction.Originality/valueThe significance and originality of this paper lies in the fact that it proposes causal investigations of social phenomena such as leadership; demonstrates the importance and necessity of interdisciplinary research; and outlines exciting new research agendas that both question traditional taken‐for‐granted conceptions of social explanations and suggests directions of where solutions may be found in the future that are defensible by the best of current science.
Distributed leadership: according to the evidence
Authors: Harris Alma 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to provide an overview of the literature concerning distributed leadership and organisational change. The main purpose of the paper is to consider the empirical evidence that highlights a relationship between distributed leadership and organisational outcomes.Design/methodological approachThe paper draws on several fields of enquiry, including organisational change, school effectiveness, school improvement and leadership. It systematically analyses the evidence in each field and presents a synthesis of key findings.FindingsThe evidence shows first, that there is a relationship between distributed leadership and organisational change, second, that there is evidence to suggest that this relationship is positive and third, that different patterns of distribution affect organisational outcomes.Originality/valueThe significance and originality of this paper lies in the fact that it: takes a normative position on distributed leadership and is chiefly concerned with the question of organisational impact; demonstrates the importance and necessity of further research about the way in which distributed leadership influences organisational outcomes; and acknowledges the methodological challenges in conducting research on distributed leadership but argues that such research will make a significant contribution to knowledge and theory generation in the leadership field.
Taking a distributed perspective
Authors: Spillane James P. , Camburn Eric M. , Pustejovsky James , Stitziel Pareja Amber , Lewis Geoff 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper is concerned with the epistemological and methodological challenges involved in studying the distribution of leadership across people within the school – the leader‐plus aspect of a distributed perspective, which it aims to investigate.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the entailments of the distributed perspective for collecting and analyzing data on school leadership and management. It considers four different operationalizations of the leader‐plus aspect of the distributed perspective and examines the results obtained from these different operationalizations. The research reported in this paper is part of a larger study, an efficacy trial of a professional development program intended to prepare principals to improve their practice. The study involved a mixed method design. For the purpose of this paper a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, including an experience sampling method (ESM) principal log, a principal questionnaire (PQ), and a school staff questionnaire (SSQ) was used.FindingsWhile acknowledging broad similarities among the various approaches, the different approaches also surfaced some divergence that has implications for thinking about the epistemological and methodological challenges in measuring leadership from a distributed perspective. Approaches that focus on the lived organization as distinct from the designed organization, for example, unearth the role of individuals with no formal leadership designations in leading and managing the school.Research limitations/implicationsLimited by the data set, the paper focuses on only four operationalizations of the leader plus aspect of the distributed perspective rather than taking a more comprehensive look at how the leader plus aspect might be operationalized.Originality/valueThe primary value of this paper is that it will prompt scholars to think about the entailments of different ways of operationalizing the leader plus aspect when using a distributed perspective.
The relationship between distributed leadership and teachers' academic optimism
Authors: Mascall Blair , Leithwood Kenneth , Straus Tiiu , Sacks Robin 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe goal of this study was to examine the relationship between four patterns of distributed leadership and a modified version of a variable Hoyet al.have labeled “teachers' academic optimism.” The distributed leadership patterns reflect the extent to which the performance of leadership functions is consciously aligned across the sources of leadership, and the degree to which the approach is either planned or spontaneous.Design/methodology/approachData for the study were the responses of 1,640 elementary and secondary teachers in one Ontario school district to two forms of an online survey, xx items in form 1 and yy items in form 2. Two forms were used to reduce the response time required for completion and each form measured both overlapping and separate variables.FindingsThe paper finds that high levels of academic optimism were positively and significantly associated with planned approaches to leadership distribution, and conversely, low levels of academic optimism were negatively and significantly associated with unplanned and unaligned approaches to leadership distribution.Originality/valueThis study provides as‐yet rare empirical evidence about the relationship between distributed leadership and other important school characteristics. It also adds support to arguments for the value of more coordinated forms of leadership distribution.
Distributed leadership: democracy or delivery?
Authors: Hargreaves Andy , Fink Dean 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis article aims to discusses the nature and benefits of lateral approaches to educational change, especially in the form of distributed leadership, that treat schools, localities, states, or nations, as “living systems” interconnected by mutual influence.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a conceptual discussion of the interrelated ideas of living systems, communities of practice and networks. Research examples from England, North America, and Finland are used to underscore the article's argument.FindingsThe article underlines how, within this conception, distributed leadership operates as a network of strong cells organized through cohesive diversity and emergent development rather than mechanical alignment and predictable delivery. However, more deeply and more critically, the chapter also investigates whether, in practice, these lateral strategies are being used to extend democratic public and professional involvement in developing the goals and purposes of education or whether they are being primarily used as motivational devices to re‐energize a dispirited profession into producing more effective and enthusiastic delivery of imposed government performance targets?Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information on developments in distributed leadership.
A study of the supermarket industry and its growing logistics capabilities
Authors: Kumar Sameer 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze and identify commonalities and differences between the supermarket industry and its logistics capabilities in developed economies such as North America, the European Union and Japan, as well as the emerging Asian economy of India.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative analysis, based on data, other pertinent information gathered from reports on various economies within the supermarket industry and personal interactions with a few supermarket chains managers, is used to derive various insights of strategic value in retailing and distribution. Major industry practices and logistics trends are examined and answers are sought to important business questions.FindingsThe results of analysis show that the supermarket industry is customizing operating strategies. Efficient consumer response (ECR) standards are becoming a common method used to increase the supermarket supply chain efficiencies that are driving logistics trends within the industry. The trends include expanded service requirements, mass customization, customer loyalty and private labeling, delivery options and increased challenges in diverse markets. Reverse logistics, electronic point of sale data collection and management of supply chain by third‐ and fourth‐party logistics providers are also becoming increasingly important for the supermarket industry.Practical implicationsAdvancements in transportation and storage technologies, including breakthrough technologies to improve supermarket operation to the level of leading automobile manufacturers, present increased challenges and opportunities to the supermarket industry. In addition, changing consumer tastes offer companies in developed countries as well as developing countries like India, the chance to garner increased revenues. It is imperative for supermarkets to heed changing buying habits, particularly in developed countries, which have highly mature/competitive markets. Although supermarkets within developed and developing countries may face different challenges, consumers everywhere still focus on value, convenience, variety and a better shopping experience.Originality/valueThis paper provides increased understanding of the strategic retailing and distribution issues present in the supermarket industry and examines a number of significant business questions pertaining to logistical trends. A unique juxtaposition of the supermarket industry within developed and developing economies provides various insights into the commonalities and differences within various countries studied.
Ethnic marketing for Turks in Germany
Authors: Erdem Kutay , Schmidt Ruth Ä. 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper sets out to provide an evaluation of population characteristics and historical trends for immigrant Turks within the mainstream German population with a view to informing target marketing strategies aimed at this growing and important segment.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a literature review. The history of Turkish immigration into Germany from the 1960s onwards is discussed. Differences in motivation, life aims, economics potential, language skills and media use between the first and second generation are assessed and the implications for marketing and retail practice evaluated.FindingsFindings indicate significant differences between the Turkish subculture and German mainstream culture. The importance of trust as a core family value, continuing affiliation with the “homeland” the emergence of a proliferation of Turkish language media and a comparatively youthful and affluent segment profile provide an argument for the value of ethnic marketing campaigns aimed at this consumer group as well as accommodation in the retail land service sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is secondary‐source based only.Originality/valueA thorough analysis of the history and characteristics of this segment is provided to add to the English language literature on ethnic marketing.
Maps and the representation of urban shopping destinations
Authors: Warnaby Gary 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the use of town centre guides as a device for the representation of urban shopping destinations.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a review of the relevant academic literature in the areas of cartography and place marketing, the paper considers the use of graphic interface elements of scale, projection and symbolisation in the specific context of maps in town centre guides. The guides are drawn from various UK locations reflecting different levels of the retail hierarchy and different locational “archetypes” as identified by URBED.FindingsThe level of detail and content of maps in town centre guides studied varied significantly. All the graphic interface elements of scale, projection and symbolisation were incorporated. Projection was usually oblique, and in some maps isometric. Regarding symbolisation, the most important variables were shape and hue.Research limitations/implicationsThis is an exploratory investigation using a limited number of town centre guides. An agenda for further research, focusing on issues in relation to the production and consumption of maps in this context, is presented.Practical implicationsThe paper provides place marketing practitioners with guidance as to the development of town centre marketing/promotional material, which may incorporate maps.Originality/valueTown centre guides are an important and commonly used promotional mechanism for urban retail provision. This paper considers issues relating to the use of a crucial component of these guides, namely cartographic representations of the town cente.
International expansion and retail sales: an empirical study
Authors: Etgar Michael , Rachman‐Moore Dalia 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of international expansion on the sales volumes of large‐scale retailers.Design/methodology/approachSales data of 200 largest retailers from around the world reported in the 2004 Deloitte “Global Retail Power” survey were analyzed with regression analyses.FindingsIt was found that: even though internationalization makes a positive contribution to retailers' sales volumes its impact is small; this effect is not impacted by the moderating factor of the degree of retailer specialization along product lines; while another moderating factor, namely the identity of the retailer's country of origin, does make a difference.Research limitations/implicationsThe research methodology and the nature of the data precluded the use of more “soft” measures such as measures of managerial cognitions, perceptions and attitudes to analyze their impact on the effectiveness of internationalization for retailers. The research used cross‐sectional data and further research should compare results in additional time points to capture the possible dynamic changes in this industry.Practical implicationsRetailers seeking to expand their sales volumes should not rely too much on internationalization but consider also other strategic options. They should therefore analyze carefully whether large investments in overseas operations are justified. This is particularly relevant for US retailers.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on the issue of internationalization as a viable retail strategy to achieve larger sales volumes. The study reaches its conclusions on the basis of an analysis of data from a large population of diverse, domestic‐only and international retailers from around the world from different sectors and countries of origin, who – the international retailers – operate in different countries.