bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using GenRel for reliability assessment of mining equipment
Authors: Vayenas Nick , Yuriy Greg 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to formulate, develop and test a reliability assessment model (GenRel) based on genetic algorithms.Design/methodology/approachUsing genetic algorithm based modelling technique, a computer model was developed to predict mine equipment failures from historical data. Two different approaches in application of this technique are demonstrated.FindingsA case study representing a test for convergence of the model was successfully performed. This is an indicator that GenRel can be used to predict equipment failures using a genetic algorithm based modeling technique.Practical implicationsThe use of classical statistical techniques has proven to be an effective tool for reliability analysis of mining equipment. This paper presents an efficient alternative to these classical probability based reliability analysis methods. GenRel is a software solution which performs predictive reliability based upon genetic algorithms (GAs). The advantage of using this technique is the fact that the assumptions based on GAs are much simpler compared to classical statistical methods. The computer model is developed to accept a variety of user input data, most importantly, the ability to use real life historical data in the form of Time Between Failures (TBFs) or Time To Repair (TTRs).Originality/valueThe proposed research offers an alternative method to conventional statistically based reliability analysis and may lead to the foundation of a new approach for reliability assessment with potential applications in other industrial fields as well.
Exploring the dichotomies within the tacit knowledge literature: towards a process of tacit knowing in organizations
Authors: McAdam Rodney , Mason Bob , McCrory Josephine 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the definition and conception of tacit knowledge in existing peer reviewed literature and to suggest how research agendas can be established to clarify understanding for praxis.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology involved an in‐depth literature review of tacit knowledge as part of the knowledge management discourse.FindingsThere is considerable disagreement in the literature over the definition and role of tacit knowledge in management studies and organizations. These polemics are reflected in a lack of systematic research agendas being established. Conversely the more meta level concept of knowledge management has been the subject of an increasing amount of research. However, it is suggested that an improved understanding of tacit knowledge is needed to underpin and further develop the knowledge management discourse. From the literature the concept of tacit knowing is advanced as a means for establishing research agendas and improving understanding in praxis, within the tacit knowledge domain. This approach enables definitional differences to be further probed along with the role and purpose of tacit knowledge within organizations.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests a number of ways in which tacit knowledge can be developed in organizations at organizational, group and individual levels.Originality/valueThe paper shows how the concept of tacit knowing can help in understanding the dichotomies within the tacit knowledge literature and in advancing understanding of the subject.
Interpreting the balanced scorecard: an investigation into performance analysis and bias
Authors: Rich Vicky 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThis research seeks to explore the human interpretation of performance management information using Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a research vehicle.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the controlled environment of an experiment to explicitly investigate whether experienced managers weight all performance measures in a BSC equally when making comparative decisions.FindingsExperimental results suggest that managers do not rate the importance of individual performance measures equally, and at the outset of the decision process often rely on simplifying strategies to help process the information in the time available. Further analysis indicates that the decision approaches used were in themselves biased, and that decision outcomes were not always related to the factors which managers thought were important at the beginning of the process.Originality/valueThe research found that managers do not consider the measures in a scorecard equally, but will apply their own weighting if none is provided. Furthermore, managers are unlikely to use all of the performance measures available to them. These findings have significant implications for those designing scorecards whilst contributing to the academic debate on weighting of measures and cognitive bias in decision making.
Making public‐service telecommunications: past and present challenges for networked information infrastructures
Authors: Schiller Dan 
Published: March 2007

PurposeTo lay out the basis for the special symposium on public service telecommunications.Design/methodology/approachConceptual outline of some key issues.FindingsThe opportunity to revisit the subject of public service telecommunications is both timely and important.Originality/valueThe subject of public service telecommunications has been unduly neglected; this symposium constitutes a fresh and well‐informed scholarly engagement.
Constructing closed‐captioning in the public interest: from minority media accessibility to mainstream educational technology
Authors: Downey Greg 
Published: March 2007

PurposeTo explore the historical construction of the US broadcast television closed‐captioning system as a case study of debates over “public service broadcasting” during the late twentieth century.Design/methodology/approachHistorical.FindingsNeither the corporate voluntarism promoted by the FCC in the 1970s nor the “public‐private partnership” of the National Captioning Institute (NCI) in the 1980s proved able to sustain a closed‐captioning system; instead, a progressive round of re‐regulation on both the demand side (universal decoder distribution) and the supply side (mandatory program captioning) was necessary to bring the promise of broadcast equality to all deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (D/HOH) citizens.Originality/value of paperThe decades‐long legal, technological, and institutional battle to define the “public interest” responsibilities of broadcasters toward non‐hearing viewers was fraught with contradiction and compromise.
Searching for universal access: the public interest, the FCC and the regulation of international telecommunications
Authors: Hills Jill 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look at the way in which the “public interest” concept that was part of the US 1934 Communications Act has been defined and redefined in terms of international telecommunications over the 70 subsequent years.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken in the paper is to use case studies from three periods – the 1940s, the 1960s and the 1990s – to examine the concept of the “public interest” used by the FCC and other US agencies in relation to international communications. The empirical data comes from primary and secondary sources.FindingsFrom the evidence of the case studies the paper concludes that the FCC has always been an international actor but has lacked a conceptualization of a division between domestic and international or of an international “public interest” that prioritizes the universal penetration of telecommunications. With the exception of the 1940s, US agency determination of the “public interest”, although often presented as benefiting US consumers, has primarily benefited US business users and carriers.Originality/valueSpanning 50 years the paper brings evidence of the way in which the US political system has skewed the definition and redefinition of the concept of the “public interest” in the telecommunications sector to suit whichever national economic interest has pressed hardest. It shows how worldwide penetration of the technology has been linked to the interests of US carriers and business users.
Benchmarking with quality indicators: national projects
Authors: Poll Roswitha 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show the effectiveness of using performance indicators on a national scaleDesign/methodology/approachThe paper gives an overview of national projects and compares the methods used.FindingsThe paper finds that groups of libraries have tried to find consensus on a common set of performance indicators for benchmarking purposes. The indicators chosen for such projects differ between countries and types of libraries. The paper shows examples where sets of indicators are used on a national or regional scale on a regular basis and compares the indicators used and the methods of benchmarking.Practical implicationsThe paper shows the difficulties of reaching an agreement when starting a common project and points to results and success of the projects and to problems that occurred in the benchmarking process.Originality/valueThe paper acquaints libraries with existing projects and helps to find adequate methods for different purposes.
Reaching the international consumer
Authors: Wilkinson Timothy J. , McAlister Anna , Widmier Scott 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer an assessment of the international direct marketing environment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) analysis to investigate the business environment of international direct marketing. This framework is commonly used as a way of assessing the context of international marketing.FindingsGlobalization, technological innovation, and the spread of free‐market governance have created new and interesting opportunities for managers who decide to use direct marketing to sell their products overseas.Practical implicationsFor managers considering international direct marketing, a careful assessment of market prospects and a thoughtful evaluation of the PEST environment should maximize potential opportunities while minimizing the risks associated with foreign markets.Originality/valueThis paper provides an overview of the international direct marketing environment and can, therefore, be used by practioners in their efforts to shapes direct marketing strategy.
Marketing analytics: the evolution of marketing research in the twenty‐first century
Authors: Hauser William J. 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the current state of marketing analytics and how it should become a standard marketing research tool in the twenty‐first century.Design/methodology/approachThe design of this paper is both a review of the field of marketing analytics and a discussion of how these factors must be enhanced and incorporated into twenty‐first century marketing research. As such this paper is offered as a viewpoint based on years of experience in the field and should serve as the basis for discussion and discourse by both academicians and practitioners.FindingsIn the realm of marketing, primary research has traditionally focused on quantitative or qualitative methodologies to provide customer insights. With advances in technology, especially data mining, marketing analytics has become an invaluable tool and should be viewed as an equal component of the marketing research toolkit. Analytics requires marketers to use data to understand customers at every touch point throughout their lifecycle with the business. To do this the analyst must mine, analyze, interpret, and present the information so that it is converted into actionable intelligence. In this process, the customer's information DNA is tracked, segmented, modeled and then acted upon. As these concepts and tools become standard operating procedures, academic marketing departments must internalize analytics into their overall curriculum in order to provide students with a compelling career advantage.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is that it presents marketers with a strong argument for the integration of marketing analytics into their practice of researching marketing issues and problems. Analytics completes the research triangle of qualitative, quantitative and data mined information gathering, analysis, and interpretation. It is hoped that this paper will generate additional discourse and research in this area and, especially, the adaptation of analytics as a standard research tool by marketers.
Etic interpreting of naïve subjective personal introspections of tourism behavior
Authors: Martin Drew , Woodside Arch G. , Dehuang Ning 
Published: March 2007

PurposeTo demonstrate how brand netnography is useful in showing how visitors interpret the places, people and situations that they experience when traveling.Design/methodology/approachThrough analysis of online consumer stories about their travel experiences, this paper probes how visitors interpret their experiences while visiting cities in Asia. Deconstructing texts written by consumers via Heider's balance theory provides the method of analysis for samples of both positive and negative travel experiences of foreign visitors.FindingsMapping consumer experiences shows immediate and downstream positive and negative associations of concepts, events, and outcomes in visitors' stories. These maps include descriptions of how visitors live specific destination's unique promises.Research limitations/implicationsThe population of bloggers who report their experiences may not be representative of the population of all visitors.Practical implicationsBlog‐journal stories provides the opportunity to collect emic interpretative data unobtrusively. These stories have the potential to influence substantial numbers of future visitors who go online in search of first‐person unbiased, unrehearsed reports of others' destination experiences. First‐person (emic) reports enable managers of places (brands) to learn and talk in dialects of customers.Originality/valueThis paper provides a revisionist proposal to Holt's five‐step strategy for building destinations as iconic brands and suggestions for tourism management. The revisionist view includes interpreting consumers' own interpretations of their place experiences.
Why people travel to exotic places
Authors: Correia Antónia , Oom do Valle Patricia , Moço Cláudia 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThis study focuses on the Portuguese tourist decision process in terms of traveling to exotic places. Based on the push‐pull motive model defined by Crompton in 1979, this paper seeks to propose an integrated approach to understand tourist motivations and how these contribute to the perception of a destination.Design/methodology/approachA structural model and a categorical principal component analysis are used to assess to what degree motivational factors may influence perceptions about a destination. The empirical study is supported through data from a sample of 1,097 individuals who travelled by plane to exotic places, during 2004.FindingsThe findings show that push and pull motivations influence the way tourists perceive the destination but the resulting image does not determined the intrinsic motivations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has the restriction of being limited to the Portuguese case. However, these findings open paths for further investigation, namely extending to other destinations and to tourists with different incentives and nationality.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the overall understanding of why tourists adopt specific behaviors. In specific, motivations and perceptions were combined in order to understand why people could be pushed to travel to exotic destinations and how they form their perceptions.
Tourist shoppers' satisfaction with regional shopping mall experiences
Authors: LeHew Melody L.A. , Wesley Scarlett C. 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether tourist shopper segments are an attractive market for shopping centers. This research aims to explore whether or not tourist shoppers are more satisfied than resident shoppers with their shopping experience and whether tourist shoppers have the intention to spend more than their resident shopper counterparts.Design/methodology/approachData for this report come from personal face‐to‐face mall intercepts of shoppers (n=578) in two new generation malls (West Edmonton Mall and Mall of America in Bloomington) and two heritage‐destination (Pier 39 in San Francisco and Forum Shops in Las Vegas) centers.FindingsAnalysis concludes that although the shopping center and retail industry place increasing emphasis on leisure shopping and tourism, the results of this study suggest that the tourist shopper market may not be the most valuable customer group. Resident shoppers of tourist‐focused shopping centers are more satisfied than tourist shoppers of those centers.Research limitations/implicationsThe non‐random nature of the sample for this study is the primary limitation. Therefore, the results are not generalizable to the greater population of tourist focused shopping centers.Practical implicationsThe shopping center and retail industry place increasing emphasis on leisure shopping and tourism, but the results of this study suggest that the tourist shopper market may not be the most valuable customer group. Resident shoppers of tourist‐focused shopping centers are more satisfied than tourist shoppers of those centers. These findings should encourage shopping center managers to use caution when modifying strategies to meet the needs of the tourist segment, as well as to not forget the importance of resident shoppers to their profitability.Originality/valueThese findings should encourage shopping center managers to use caution when modifying strategies to meet the needs of the tourist segment, as well as to not forget the importance of resident shoppers to their profitability.
Socio‐spatial variations in the nature of entrepreneurship
Authors: Williams Colin C. 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the discourse that entrepreneurship and enterprise culture are inextricably inter‐twinned with profit‐driven capitalist endeavour by seeking to understand whether amongst some populations, the culture of entrepreneurship is more socially‐oriented than profit‐driven.Design/methodology/approachTo do this, a secondary analysis is undertaken of the results of the UK Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in general, and UK Social Entrepreneurship Monitor more particularly. It compares the levels and ratios of commercial‐to‐social entrepreneurship across various population groups and areas in the UK.FindingsThe finding is that there are different cultures of entrepreneurship across varying population groups. Many marginalized groups are more socially‐orientated than profit‐driven. This is particularly the case amongst the long‐term registered disabled (2.3 times more likely to engage in social rather than commercial entrepreneurship than the average UK entrepreneur), other non‐White groups (2.2 times more likely) and the retired (twice as likely). Similarly, people living in rural areas display a greater propinquity to engage in social rather than commercial entrepreneurship than those living in urban areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings raise questions about whether it is appropriate to parachute into some populations a culture of commercial entrepreneurship that might be “foreign” to their enterprise culture and whether a focus on social entrepreneurship in the enterprise culture agenda will promote greater inclusiveness of populations traditionally under‐represented.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to document the varying ratios of commercial‐to‐social entrepreneurship amongst different population groups and areas.
Aboriginal partnerships in Canada: focus on the Diavik Diamond Mine
Authors: Missens Richard , Paul Dana Leo , Anderson Robert 
Published: March 2007

PurposeIn negotiation with diamond enterprises, Aboriginal communities have provided their consent for the diamond mines and have ensured their participation in all diamond projects within their traditional territories. The purpose of this study is to evaluate partnership strategies.Design/methodology/approachInterviews.FindingsNatural resource enterprises support more than 650 Canadian communities and according to industry Canada this accounts for 12 percent of Canada's gross domestic product. The diamond industry accounts for 4 percent of the nation's expenditures on mining and processing and it is poised for significant growth and contribution to the economy. This emerging industry has created a unique opportunity for Aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories, also known as NWT.Practical implicationsDiavik's success story shows that a good mining strategy is to think beyond extraction, and to be a good corporate citizen, supporting communities and their enterprises. In 2005, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business awarded Diavik the gold award. As well, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada awarded Diavik an award for protecting its natural surroundings and for its efforts to establish and maintain good relations with local communities.Originality/valueFive communities have signed partnership agreements with Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., providing joint control of training, employment and business opportunities. This paper discusses the commitments, and the progress, made by Diavik in the participation agreements.
On the determinants of board size and its composition: additional evidence from Ghana
Authors: Kyereboah‐Coleman Anthony , Biekpe Nicholas 
Published: March 2007

PurposeThe fundamental objective of this study is to contribute to the debate by empirically examining the determinants of board size and its composition from a small and developing country perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a quantitative approach based on secondary data from firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Panel data multiple regressions within both fixed and random effects techniques estimations were carried out.FindingsBoard size and its composition are a function of firm and industrial characteristics. Specific findings are that, while firm level risk has a positive relationship with board size, CEO tenure has a negative correlation with board size; and that firms with larger institutional shareholding employ less outside directorsResearch limitations/implicationsA study of this nature requires a large sample base. It is therefore obvious that sample size was the main limitation of the study. Though, this limitation does not compromise on the validity of our findings, study findings and its general interpretation should be done with some degree of caution.Originality/valueSince, most of the studies in this area have been largely theoretical and have concentrated in developed countries, this paper makes an important contribution by looking at the issue empirically from a small and developing country perspective.