bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Applying importance‐performance analysis to assess service delivery performance
Authors: Tsoukatos Evangelos 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential of importance‐performance (IP) analysis as a decision‐making tool for service management, employing IP analysis to assess the performance of Greek insurance in delivering quality services.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in a two‐stage survey. In both stages, respondents were asked to provide importance and performance scores, in identical seven‐point Likert scales, for the 25 service attributes identified for Greek insurance. In order to qualify for the sample, individuals had to be over the age of 25 and have at least one insurance policy and one service encounter with their insurers within the previous three months. The two methodological streams of IP analysis, “gap analysis” and IP maps, were employed to analyse the data.FindingsThe value of importance‐performance analysis as a tool for managerial decision making in services was reaffirmed. Contrary to previous findings on insurers' reluctance to respond to their customers' quality requests, Greek insurance was found to have adequate reflexes in this respect. In stage one, the dimensions Responsiveness and Assurance were positioned in the “keep up the good work”, Reliability in the “concentrate”, Empathy in the “low priority” and Tangibles in the “possible overkill” quadrants of the importance‐performance map. In stage two, the industry was found to have taken actions towards keeping‐up with its customers' requirements.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of this study are that it was based on a single service industry and that convenience sampling was used. However, its methodology and results are valid for various industries in the service sector and provide a solid basis for future research.Originality/valueService managers can exploit the approach taken by this study to improve service management. Greek insurers have to keep considering the needs and wants of their customers regarding service delivery.
Investigating “head” and “heart” value traits of tertiary students studying in Cyprus
Authors: Krambia‐Kapardis Maria , Zopiatis Anastasios 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate, for the first time in Cyprus, tertiary education students' personal values. In particular the study seeks to examine: the most important personal values for tertiary education students in two institutions in Cyprus; whether there are any differences between the individual's values as a function of variables such as gender, ethnic origin, year of study, type of academic discipline and religion; and whether there is a balance between “head” and “heart” traits amongst tertiary students.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a comprehensive literature review the paper develops a quantitative questionnaire whereby tertiary students, currently pursuing accredited degrees in two tertiary institutions (one private and one public) were surveyed in order to identify their perceived level of importance from a list of 20 values with the utilization of a five‐point Likert scale. A purposive (judgmental) sampling technique was utilized to select 1,000 cases from the population that would best meet the research purpose and address the study's research questions. The data were analyzed utilizing both descriptive and inferential statistics.FindingsHonesty, loyalty to family and friends, friendliness, self‐confidence and world peace are ranked as the five most important personal values for college students in Cyprus. Surprisingly, traditionally important values such as patriotism and religion were ranked last by the respondents, both Cypriot and non‐Cypriot.Originality/valueThis would appear to be the first time that an investigation of this type has been undertaken in Cyprus.
EU enlargement: a case study of branding standardisation
Authors: Melewar T.C. , Hayday David , Gupta Suraksha , Cohen Geraldine 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not EU enlargement would cause companies to standardise their brand portfolios and the brands they offer, between Eastern and Western Europe.Design/methodology/approachThe issue of standardisation versus localisation, and the impact of EU enlargement upon standardisation are examined based on the existing literature. The paper looks at whether fostering more member states within the EU would encourage standardisation. It also explores whether barriers for standardisation still exist. The research employs a case study methodology to set scenarios of possible outcomes.FindingsThe research findings imply that external factors, which are market‐based and product‐based elements, seem to encourage standardisation. The effect is brought about by the benefits standardisation offers in terms of efficiency. There are still some minor national barriers that impede standardisation. However, the main obstacles are endogenous to corporations and pertain to company structure, strategy and historic resistance to standardisation.Research limitations/implicationsStandardisation of the marketing mix has been practised by managers as a way to combine customers' needs with cost‐effectiveness. The paper offers scope for further research into the application of various portfolio assessment tools to examine brands which will help managers to observe these relationships, and develop customised branding strategies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the marketing literature on branding and standardisation and supports the strategy of standardisation of brands for better performance.
Innovativeness and NPD processes/practices in the Greek food industry
Authors: Chryssochoidis George 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide empirical research evidence on the process innovations and the NPD (new product development) processes/practices adopted by the food industry as well as their interface.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in the Greek food industry. A total of 44 companies that have developed new products were identified and personal interviews were conducted with company managers. Three different aspects of their innovativeness was investigated, namely the use of new raw ingredients/materials, new machinery and new controls. Questions were asked on the adoption of 33 different processes for the development of these new products and the importance attributed to these NPD processes/practices.FindingsFirms in the food industry may operate on the basis of a U‐shaped process innovativeness. They employ either the same raw materials/ingredients with new equipment/machinery or new raw ingredients/materials with old equipment/machinery. New controls/procedures go together with new equipment/machinery. Increased process innovativeness is associated with only a small number of NPD processes/practices. These revolve around manufacturing and its preparation.Research implications/limitationsThe small number of identified innovations and the focus sector limit the results to the target sample.Practical implicationsThe exact NPD processes used by the food industry and which of these are associated with increased process innovativeness, bear important implications for food industry managers and research.Originality/valueThe paper fills a gap regarding what is the nature of innovativeness in the Greek food industry, what new product development processes/practices are followed and which of these are associated with increased innovativeness. As such it provides further specialised evidence for the food sector across European countries.
Strategy, structure, environment and performance in Spanish firms
Authors: Pertusa‐Ortega Eva M. , Claver‐Cortés Enrique , Molina‐Azorín José F. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to jointly analyse external adjustment (environment‐strategy) and internal adjustment (strategy‐structure), and their influence on firm performance in a set of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of a European‐Mediterranean region in order to check whether models mainly validated in US firms are applied in this context.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a quantitative methodological approach, a survey was applied to a sample of 91 SMEs of Alicante (Spain) from different industries in order to contrast nine hypotheses. Various statistical procedures were used, such as cluster analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Moreover, external and internal adjustment indices have been created.FindingsFindings show that traditional theoretical models are not exactly applicable in a context of European‐Mediterranean SMEs. Cost leadership strategy is not associated with a favourable environment, and innovation differentiation strategy is not associated with organic structures. The relationship between adjustment and performance is partially confirmed.Research limitations/implicationsThe caveats normally associated with survey methods apply, as do those related to the use of cross‐sectional and managerial perceptions data. Besides, the findings are limited to SMEs.Practical implicationsImplications for SME managers regarding the fit between environment, strategy, structure and its effect on performance are addressed. The results can serve as guidelines that will help managers in the formulation and adoption of their strategies.Originality/valueThe interest of this paper is that two issues often treated separately are now jointly analysed: internal and external adjustments. Moreover, it supplies empirical evidence of these issues in a European‐Mediterranean region, in which no similar studies have been carried out until now.
Immortal firms in mortal markets?
Authors: Dew Nicholas , Sarasvathy Saras D. , Read Stuart , Wiltbank Robert 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe “innovator's dilemma” suggests that by listening to current customers leading firms often lose their markets to upstart newcomers as a result. The purpose of this paper is to understand how entrepreneurs successfully create such upstart firms and new markets, since this ought to have direct implications for theorizing about the innovator's dilemma.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines implications of recent studies in entrepreneurial expertise that show expert entrepreneurs use an effectual logic of non‐predictive control. It then connects these ideas to notions of firms and markets as artifacts of entrepreneurial action. Finally, it describes the implications of these concepts for the innovation strategies of large corporations, and specifically for firms periodically facing the innovator's dilemma.FindingsThe findings suggest that the practical answer to the innovator's dilemma is not to predict technology trajectories more accurately, or otherwise strive to build immortal firms in mortal markets. Instead, innovation managers should focus on building new markets. This will inevitably involve pluralizing decision‐making technologies by including some aspects of effectual decision making (used by expert entrepreneurs) into the decision‐making processes of large firms.Originality/valueIt is the basic contention of this paper that the innovator's dilemma is not the story it is usually portrayed as, i.e. technology commercialization. Instead, the core issue is investing in and building new markets. The paper brings a novel theoretical framework (from entrepreneurship) to bear on this problem.
Organising new business development: open innovation at Degussa
Authors: Bröring Stefanie , Herzog Philipp 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse different organisational tools of business development used in practice. This analysis seeks to address the question of how an organisation can achieve the recurring shift from exploration to exploitation and at the same time manage to balance its open and closed innovation tools.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical basis for analysing the organisational implications of open vs closed innovation is built by Creavis, the business venturing arm of Degussa AG, a specialty chemicals company headquartered in Germany.FindingsCompanies face the ambiguity of creating new business options and exploiting these at a later stage. Since exploitative and explorative units require a different organisational set‐up, it is difficult for a company to shift its exploratory endeavours to exploitative means. The presented case study offers an answer to this dilemma by showing how organisations manage to combine both by a unique organisational set‐up allowing for an evolutionary approach of shifting exploratory work into exploitative results.Practical implicationsThe insights derived from the case study clearly present a way of dealing with ambidexterity in new business development. The in‐depth analysis advances the understanding of how organisations may successfully conduct business development and, in particular, which organisational tools they may use.Originality/valueThis paper is based on an original case study by the authors. It integrates management theory with a real life example to foster management research in new business development and the particular question of how to deal with the need of organisations to combine both exploratory and exploitative units and support their interaction as well as employing different approaches to innovation, i.e. open vs closed innovation.
Managing internal technology transfer in complex product development
Authors: Magnusson Thomas , Johansson Glenn 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to illustrate how the characteristics of complex product systems pose specific managerial challenges onto the transfer of new technology from technology development to product development.Design/methodology/approachThe research relies on comparative case studies involving three cases of internal technology transfer processes in the development of electrical equipment and telecommunication systems.FindingsThe research findings suggest that managerial decisions on internal technology transfer should be guided by a contingency framework rather than general procedures and tools.Research limitations/implicationsSince the research is restricted to a limited number of case studies, additional studies are required to validate the findings.Practical implicationsThe study results indicate that in cases of complex product development, there is a need for a more integrated view on technology and product development, than what is commonly described in the literature.Originality/valueThis article complements previous studies of the management of internal technology transfer processes, which primarily have addressed mass producing industries.
Fostering innovation
Authors: Jiménez‐Jimenez Daniel , Sanz Valle Raquel , Hernandez‐Espallardo Miguel 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study empirically the relationships between market orientation, organizational learning, innovation and performance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper formulates some hypotheses from the literature review. These hypotheses are tested using structural equations modelling with data collected from 744 firms.FindingsFindings show that, although market orientation and organizational learning foster innovation, the effect of the latter is comparatively higher. Moreover, the impact of market orientation and organizational learning on performance is completely mediated by innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of this paper are the cross‐sectional design of the research and the use of single informants for collecting the data. Apart from overcoming these limitations, for future research it is suggested that: studying the likely causal relation between market orientation and organizational learning; taking into account information about how radical the innovation is; and including the degree of dynamism of the market as a likely moderator of the relations proposed in the model.Practical implicationsThe paper provides evidence, first, that companies should be more innovative in order to increase performance. Second, that both adopting market orientation and improving the organizational learning processes of the company have a positive impact on innovation. And third, that innovation mediates the relation between market orientation and organizational learning, and performance.Originality/valueThis paper jointly examines in the same model the little‐researched links between market orientation, organizational learning, innovation and performance.
The role of technological and organizational innovation in the relation between market orientation and performance in cultural organizations
Authors: Carmen Camarero , María José Garrido 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to provide evidence of the mediating effect of technological and administrative innovation on the link between market orientation and the economic and social performance of museums.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on extensive literature, a model of the relationships is developed and empirically tested using survey data collected from 276 museums (135 Spanish and 141 French). Data are analyzed through structural equation modeling and/ or path modeling.FindingsIn the present study, evidence is found to support the positive and significant link between market orientation and the economic and social performance of museums. The paper statistically shows that although the linkage between market orientation and performance is significant, what best accounts for enhanced performance is technological and organizational innovation.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for museums aiming to increase their performance and innovativeness. The study suggests that museum managers should include technological and organizational innovation in models of market orientation to enhance the explanations of the economic and social performance. This study suggests the innovation is important mediator.Originality/valueThe paper suggests that museum managers need to consider the impact of technological and administrative innovations on achievement of organizational performance.
Break strategy – the key to breaking out
Authors: Cooke Howard , Woodhead Simon 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look at the problem caused by the operation of break clauses contained in commercial leases – a predominantly UK phenomenon, a consequence of longer lease terms.Design/methodology/approachThe pitfalls that can befall a corporate occupier are numerous and the authors of this paper share some of their recent experiences to highlight issues that can arise and how a Corporate Real Estate Manager or advisor can avoid or minimise those risks.FindingsFor corporate occupiers, the operation of a break clause can be fraught with difficulty and its successful implementation requires a strategy to be put in place well in advance of the break date.Originality/valueThe paper shows how turmoil in the wider financial market could make the flexibility that breaks offer very important to certain businesses.
Sources of net present value gains in the acquisitions of corporate real estate
Authors: Kien Hwa Ting 
Published: August 2008

PurposeAcquisitions of properties are carried out by corporate firms for development, investment and operational uses. Acquisitions of corporate real estate announced by listed non‐property companies are found to have positive stock price reactions. This paper seeks to identify the reasons why acquisitions of corporate real estate are a positive net present value (NPV) investment to the acquiring firms.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws theoretical explanations from real estate and finance literature to identify the reasons for the acquisitions to be positive NPV investments to non‐property listed companies.FindingsThe sources of gains in property acquisitions are worth, marriage value and business synergy. These explanations provide the reasons why the announcement of property acquisitions by listed companies could lead to positive wealth gains in the capital market.Originality/valueThis paper offers the explanations behind the positive stock price reactions upon the announcements of corporate real estate acquisitions.
The exclusion of indirect costs from efficiency benchmarking
Authors: Davide Barretta Antonio 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects produced by a strategy aimed at neutralising one of the “disturbance factors” that may impede the focalisation on “real (in)efficiency” in relative efficiency assessments within the health‐care sector: the exclusion of indirect costs from these comparative analyses.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis is based on the statistical elaboration of data from a sample group of hospital sub‐units within Italian health‐care trusts. The analysis isolates the effect on efficiency indicator variability (dependent variable) of excluding indirect costs (independent variable).FindingsThe analysis conducted has uncovered the likely manipulation of indirect costs to create the impression of having achieved approximately average levels of efficiency performance. The case analysed in this study shows how a defensive orientation in public organizations may arise even without the application of some form of compulsory benchmarking.Practical implicationsThe results observed highlight how the exclusion of indirect costs – potentially allocated to attain cross‐subsidization among cost objects – may help to uncover actual cases of (in)efficiency and thus aid in identifying “true” best practices.Originality/valueLiterature has presented a variety of strategies aimed at neutralising some of the “disturbance factors” that impede the focalisation on “real (in)efficiency” in inter‐trust efficiency comparisons. However, until now no studies have supplied evidence of the efficacy of the strategies in question in isolating “real (in)efficiency”.
Benchmarking and performance measurement: a statistical analysis
Authors: Moffett Sandra , Anderson‐Gillespie Karen , McAdam Rodney 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical understanding and practical application of lead benchmarking and performance measurement as a way to achieve organisational change.Design/methodology/approachThe paper combines a theory building/theory testing approach. Based on literary findings a conceptual model has been postulated to identify constructs associated with upstream performance measurement and lead benchmarking. A selection of research questions are posed and tested via empirical study. The survey instrument was distributed to 800 UK organisations which resulted in 157 responses.FindingsResults from the empirical research indicate that new lead, forward looking, predictive benchmarks need to be developed to support lead benchmarking and performance measurement activities. Furthermore, it was found that currently larger organisations are more likely to adopt these practices, with considerable variation across organisational sectors.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical research achieved a 19.6 per cent response rate. While this is adequate to report statistical representation, further data collection would be beneficial for industry generalisations.Practical implicationsMany organisations struggle to grasp metric measurement for lead benchmarking. This paper may provide insight into key factors to be considered for lead benchmarking uptake.Originality/valueThis paper builds on current literature and develops a conceptual model which is then tested via empirical research. This is a novel approach in the area of lead benchmarking.