bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Harnessing the hidden enterprise culture of advanced economies
Authors: Williams Colin C. , Windebank Jan 
Published: September 2006

PurposeIn the majority (third) world, informal employment has been long viewed as an asset to be harnessed rather than a hindrance to development. The purpose of this paper is to show how a similar perspective is starting to be embraced in advanced economies and investigates the implications for public policy of this re‐reading.Design/methodology/approachDocuments the shifts in how informal employment in western economies is conceptualised in both the academic literature and public policy.FindingsThis paper reveals that the representation of informal employment as an exploitative, low‐paid sweatshop realm is being replaced with a depiction of such work as a hidden enterprise culture that needs to be harnessed. Evaluating how this might be achieved, the need for a shift in public policy away from a deterrence approach and towards an approach that combines deterrents with enabling initiatives to pull this hidden enterprise culture into the formal economy is identified. Specific enabling measures to achieve this in the context of advanced economies are then discussed.Practical implicationsThis paper displays how western governments can harness the hidden enterprise culture by setting out specific initiatives to enable its transfer into the formal economy.Originality/valueThis paper provides one of the first attempts to re‐read informal employment as a hidden enterprise culture and to evaluate its implications for public policy.
Tackling informal employment: the case of southern Italy
Authors: Bàculo Liliana 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper os to reveal the complex characteristics of informal employment and the difficulties of implementing policies to counteract this phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachSections 1 and 2 review different theories on the causes and effects of informal employment, drawn from the international literature on the subject. Sections 3 and 4 present the results of field research conducted in Southern Italy with the intent of exploring the nature of informal employment. Section 5 illustrates and analyzes some cases of regularization processes drawn from further field research conducted in Southern Italy.FindingsThis paper reveals that the key factor to facilitate successful regularization is not only the willingness of entrepreneurs and/or workers to abide by the law but also other important variables such as entrepreneurial skills, the presence of welfare programmes and the business environment within which business activities take place. The main conclusion of this paper is that informal employment is often the result of a complex interaction of economic, psychological and social factors.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this conclusion are that, in order to successfully tackle informal employment, regularization policies have to be “tailored” to the specific context of their implementation.Originality/valueThis paper evaluates the wider applicability of the regularization policies used in Italy to harness informal employment.
Collaborative relationships in facility services
Authors: Lehtonen Tero 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe aim of this study is to identify success factors of collaborative relationships and the attributes that distinguish collaborative relationships from arm's‐length relationships in facility services. Additionally, in order to understand why companies are moving towards the more collaborative approach in managing relations with their facility service providers, the underlying problems in earlier practices are analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe research is qualitative, based on semi‐structured and focus group interviews. Representatives from both client and service provider companies were interviewed.FindingsCollaborative relationships in the facility services context are by nature similar to those in other areas of supply chain management. The prerequisite for the successful establishment of a collaborative relationship is that both parties have a particular readiness for it. This includes both capability for co‐operation and a collaborative mindset. Instead of self‐seeking behavior and short‐term contracts, mutual trust, commitment, openness, the involvement of different organizational levels, continuous development, and the promise of mutual benefits are needed. In the long run, relationship success is guaranteed by co‐operation, two‐way information sharing and goal congruence. In addition to the business perspective, relationship success includes the end‐user perspective. Earlier practices have suffered from poor communication, shortcomings in service management and lack of development activity.Originality/valueAs well as contributing to the current body of knowledge on inter‐organizational relationships, this study offers potential benefits to both facility service providers and buyers in terms of describing how to formulate successful relationships and to improve the performance and efficiency of collaborative relations.
How do you quickly load cases and trays with tough to handle product?
Authors: Bloss Richard 
Published: September 2006

PurposeTo report on the design and development of a robotic product carton packing system that handles both soft plastic pouches or bags and small individual serving boxes and places into shipping cartons.Design/methodology/approachA food processing equipment OEM teamed with a control and servo drives supplier to create a high speed, flexible packing robot‐based system. Together they selected the drives and controller needed and developed special software for the application.FindingsEven tough to handle packages such as soft plastic bags or pouches, small boxes or even bottles can be efficiently packed into shipping cartons or crates with careful engineering of grippers and robotic handling.Practical implicationsTeaming with a full product line automation controls supplier can speed an OEM's development of complex robotic equipment and help insure that the system meets project goals.Originality/valueKnowing what others have accomplished can provide not only a project plan but can also bring fresh ideas to other projects. Helps designers think outside the box for new ideas.
Industrial robots in the Japanese automobile industry – Robot equipment trends in a time of steady growth
Authors: Yagi Takashi 
Published: September 2006

PurposeReports on trends in the design and application of robots in the Japanese automotive industry.Design/methodology/approachSurveys the business practices of Japanese automotive manufacturers and their plants in Japan and overseasFindingsSince, the 1990s, Japanese auto‐manufactures have expanded their main business activity in the overseas countries where they had to construct new factories with robot equipment. It was difficult because many new problems were experienced. But the production engineers devised the approach of improving efficiency in domestic factories and then quickly constructing overseas factories based on their experience and connections formed in the 80s. Incremental improvements in practices and the application of off‐line programming characterise recent developments.Originality/valueHighlights the technical and strategic developments by major robot users.
Automatic construction of 2D and 3D models during robot inspection
Authors: Gramegna Tommaso , Cicirelli Grazia , Attolico Giovanni , Distante Arcangelo 
Published: September 2006

PurposeAims to make a mobile robot able to build accurate 2D and 3D models of its environment while navigating autonomously.Design/methodology/approach2D map building is performed using a laser range scanner. The map is used by the robot to both localize itself and recognize places already explored. This is the well‐known simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. 3D model reconstruction, instead, uses computer vision techniques based on feature extraction and matching.FindingsThe experimental results illustrate the validity and accuracy of the reconstructed maps of the environment and enable the robot to navigate autonomously in indoor environments, such as museums, hospitals, airports, offices and so on. Such a robot can play a major role in different tasks such as surveillance, image‐based rendering, remote fruition of hardly accessible sites, monitoring and maintenance applications, reverse engineering in construction. In these areas accurate 3D models in addition to 2D maps can convey a lot of very useful information.Originality/valueThe main contribution of the paper is an interesting integration of different algorithms in an experimental platform that performs 2D map building using a laser range scanner, autonomous navigation and 3D reconstruction of the areas of particular interest.
Unpacking performativity: a case study of patriarchy and the elderly in China
Authors: Powell Jason , Cook Ian G. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeTo analyse the relationship between China, patriachy, ageing, and social theory grounded in Judith Butler's notion of performativity.Design/methodology/approachThis is a novel theoretical framework to examine instances of patriachal identities by using China as a case study.FindingsPerformativity, we suggest, offers productive insights into the processes of subjection and the nature of power relations that may be usefully incorporated into studies of the elderly in China.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a theoretical paper.Practical implicationsIt raises questions to relationship of patriachy to understanding Chinese culture.Originality/valueIt is an original paper in that an application of Butler's conceptual tools have bot been applied elsewhere to examining China and ageing.
The contribution of networks to immigrant insertion into the informal economy
Authors: Trinci Simone 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThis article seeks to explain the role of networks in facilitating immigrant insertion into the labour market.Design/methodology/approachParticipant observation and semi‐structured interviews were conducted in Tuscany in Italy with immigrants working in the agricultural, building and family care sectors.FindingsNetworks have been discovered to play some role in providing information on vacancies but a less important role in providing guarantees to employers. Unlike much previous research, therefore, this study does not find that co‐ethnic networks enable new immigrants to find jobs in the informal economy.Originality/valueThis is one of the few contemporary empirical studies on immigrants in the informal economy in Italy and the role that networks play in gaining entry.
Managing a hotel's perishable inventory using bid prices
Authors: Harewood Stephen I. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeTo determine conditions under which a hotel in Barbados can benefit from the use of revenue management.Design/methodology/approachMonte Carlo simulation is used to compare a first‐come first‐served approach for accepting booking requests to a bid price approach. Comparisons are made using different assumptions about upgrading, downgrading and overbooking.FindingsWhen demand intensity is high, the bid price method yields higher revenue than the first‐come first‐served method. If demand intensity is low, but some necessary resources are scarce and the hotel practises upgrading and downgrading, then the bid price approach can also lead to improved revenue. No evidence was found to suggest that overbooking or downgrading costs affect the relative performances of the two approaches if these costs are taken into consideration.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was conducted for one type of hotel using a particular sample period and the conclusions will not necessarily be true for other sample periods and other types of hotels.Practical implicationsThe results show that hotels, which practise upgrading, downgrading and overbooking, should consider adopting a revenue management approach, when allocating their scarce resources among competing market segments.Originality/valueExisting linear programming models of the revenue management problem are extended here to allow for upgrading and downgrading, when one resource is substituted for another in a package, and to allow for overbooking, when the hotel cannot honour a booking because of the unavailability of some resource. This formulation emphasizes the efficient allocation of all of the hotel's scarce resources.
The effects of ISO 9001 on firms' productive efficiency
Authors: Tzelepis Dimitris , Tsekouras Kostas , Skuras Dimitris , Dimara Efthalia 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThis work sets out to explore the effects of ISO 9001 on productive efficiency of firms.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 1,572 firms from three Greek manufacturing industries is used for empirical work. The firms are from the food and beverages industries, the machineries industries as well as from the electrical and electronics appliances manufacturing industries and include both adopters and non‐adopters of ISO 9001. A stochastic frontier methodological approach is adopted and the effects of ISO 9001 can be modeled in four ways: as a managerial input alongside the conventional inputs of capital and labor, as a factor affecting technical inefficiency, as an input and a factor affecting technical inefficiency and as having no effect at all.FindingsISO 9001 operates as a factor affecting technical inefficiency with non‐neutral effects on capital and labor. The combined effect of ISO 9001 with capital increases the level of technical inefficiency reflecting adjustment costs incurred when ISO 9001 is adopted. The combined effect of ISO 9001 with labor decreases the level of technical inefficiency reflecting the positive result of ISO 9001 on reducing x‐inefficiency.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis isolates the effects of ISO 9001 on capital and labor but specific case studies are necessary in order to reveal managerial best practices that confront negative and support positive effects of ISO 9001 adoption within firms.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that ISO 9001 is a managerial factor reducing productive inefficiency.
Sequences of improvement in supply networks: case studies from the pharmaceutical industry
Authors: Danese Pamela , Romano Pietro , Vinelli Andrea 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe aim of the current study is to develop an understanding of the decisional process that leads a company, at a given point in time, to choose the subsequent supply chain management (SCM) initiative to be implemented.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts the descriptive case study research design, as defined by Yin and McCutcheon and Meredith. Four supply networks, whose central firms are leading pharmaceutical companies, have been investigated.FindingsAt a given time when deciding the SCM initiative(s) to be implemented, external fit and the state of supply network configuration and integration are both important, but for different reasons. In particular, lack of external fit triggers the implementation of SCM initiatives. Sequences of SCM initiatives are the result of a series of successive decisional situations, where the external fit and state of supply network configuration and integration vary each time a new SCM initiative is implemented.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is descriptive. Further research is required to develop a theory on the sequences of SCM improvement initiatives.Practical implicationsManagers contemplating the implementation of SCM interventions should consider the current performance conditions for competitiveness and compare them with the measured supply network performances, decide what SCM initiatives should be implemented after considering the current state of the supply network configuration and integration and performance dimensions to be improved, and measure the impact (positive and negative) of the implemented initiatives on supply network performance to evaluate whether or not to implement further initiatives. Moreover, if managers are able to forecast the potential performance trade‐off associated with the implementation of the selected SCM interventions, long‐term improvement programmes encompassing further SCM initiatives over time can be planned to counteract the trade‐off penalty.Originality/valueThis study refines current literature on the sequences of improvement in supply networks, by demonstrating that the state of supply network configuration and integration is not enough to explain the decisional process that leads a company to follow a well‐defined sequence. The paper also explores how the external fit affects the adoption of the following SCM initiatives, thus proving that SCM sequences cannot be considered context‐free.
ERP implementation efforts at three firms
Authors: Bozarth Cecil 
Published: September 2006

PurposeTo compare actual company ERP implementation practices with the prescriptions found in the strategic information systems planning (SISP) and IT‐enabled change management literature.Design/methodology/approachThe case study method is used to study ERP specification, selection, and implementation efforts at three companies. The main sources of data were structured face‐to‐face interviews with key personnel, and supporting internal documents provided by the study companies.FindingsAll three companies did an adequate job linking the ERP decision to higher‐level IS and supply chain strategies, although mid‐level managers dominated the strategic debate. However, two of the companies fell far short in the specification and selection processes, particularly with regard to achieving broad participation and managing stakeholder commitment. As such, these two companies missed an opportunity to think independently about their long‐term information requirements and capabilities, proactively manage the debate with the vendors, and obtain early buy‐in from key users.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study method limits the sample size, but allows more depth than would be possible using survey instruments or secondary sources. In time, follow‐up research will examine the ultimate success of the companies' efforts.Practical implicationsAn important insight is the importance of involving key users in the specification and selection process, especially when the new system promised radical change to current work methods.Originality/valueThis research provides a concise comparison of the ERP efforts across three companies, and pulls together the OM‐based ERP research, SISP, and IT‐enabled change literatures. It is suitable for practitioners and students, as well as researchers.
Approaches of the Austrian School to the Soziale Frage before World War I – Wieser and Böhm‐Bawerk
Authors: Chaloupek Günther 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe paper aims to provide an overview of the Austrian School's approaches to the social question before World War I.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a comparative study.FindingsIn his contributions Friedrich von Wieser supported co‐operative associations as an organizational form of big enterprise to be used as instruments to ameliorate the social condition of workers; and who dealt with issues such as private ownership of the means of production and economic inequality, impact of collective bargaining on wage formation, and public economy, where he discussed the contribution of public sector production to social value. Further reports on Böhm‐Bawerk's essay on disadvantageous consequences of free competition where he came to the conclusion that free competition in reality does not maximize national economic welfare, without, however, drawing concrete policy consequences from his findings. As Austria's finance minister he introduced a modestly progressive income tax early in the twentieth century. Later, in his essay “Control or economic law” he took a more reserved position with respect to the possibilities of correcting ore modifying outcomes of the market process.Practical implicationsThe paper illustrates that redistribution can enhance economic welfare.Originality/valueCalls back to memory that opinions of the first generation of the Austrian School (Wieser, Böhm‐Bawerk) were different from Ludwig Mises' positions expressed in Die Gemeinwirtschaft that all measures of social policy are aimed at the destruction of the free market economy, which later came to be considered as the dominant position of the Austrian School towards the social question.
Another look at the social question
Authors: Ramos Silva Joaquim 
Published: September 2006

PurposeFocussing on the historical experience, the purpose of this paper is to argue the need for change in the design and implementation of social policies in order to overcome the stalemate of the last two or three decades.Design/methodology/approachStarting with the social measures taken by Bismarck in the late nineteenth century, the paper shows that modern social policy has ever since been diversely developed in the world, and compares the experiences of the USA and Europe. Under this framework, the paper raises less handled social issues that are decisive for a true reform, and that must be taken into account either theoretically or for practical purposes.FindingsIn a competitive environment and in a rapidly changing world economy, it is demonstrated that the paper's topic has a strong theoretical and empirical basis. Owing to its great complexity, however, the search for sound economic foundations of social policies must be continued.Practical implicationsIn dealing with the dilemmas faced by social policies more emphasis should be put on the development of new insights, particularly on a global scale and in a more friendly approach to technological modernisation.Originality/valueThe paper explores the deepening of the policy mix between public measures and civil society initiatives as a possible solution to the present difficulties. Furthermore, it stresses the relevance of marginalised issues like the full integration of technological modernisation, and of an international dimension into the social policies, so far basically domestic.
An analytical approach on defense expenditure and economic growth
Authors: Kalyoncu Huseyin , Yucel Fatih 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe objective of this study is to examine the relationship between defense expenditure and economic growth for Turkey and Greece in the period of 1956‐2003 using yearly data.Design/methodology/approachThe Engle‐Granger cointegration methodology and Granger causality test are used.FindingsIt is found that these two variables are cointegrated for both countries studied. Unidirectional causality running from economic growth to defense expenditure is only found for Turkey.Originality/valueThe paper ınvestigates the long‐run relationship between defense expenditure and economic growth by conducting cointegration and causality tests in the context of Turkey and Greece over the period 1956‐2003.