title: The measurement of internal supply chain integration

authors: Basnet, Chuda

subjects: communications

abstract: Purpose: Internal supply chain refers to the chain of activities within a company that concludes with providing a product to the customer. This process involves multiple functions within companies such as sales, production, and distribution. It is obvious that a company's performance would be enhanced by the integration of these functions. However, there is no consensus yet on how integration is to be defined and measured. The purpose of this paper is to present research that was conducted with the goal of developing an instrument for the measurement of internal supply chain integration. Design/methodology/approach: Scale items were identified from current literature and the resulting survey instrument was sent out to a sample of New Zealand manufacturers. Statistical analysis was conducted to purify and validate the instrument. Findings: In total, three dimensions of integration were identified, labelled coordination, communication, and affective relationship. This paper makes a contribution towards developing a consensus in the understanding and measurement of the integration construct. Research limitations/implications: The selection and exclusion of measurement items for the survey have followed established principles of survey research, but may have been affected by the personal bias of the author. While every attempt has been made to comprehensively capture the state of the research up to the time of the study, there may be some omissions. The sample for the survey was drawn from a database of New Zealand businesses, thus the results are generalizable only to the extent that these businesses represent the population of all businesses. Another limitation is that no prior survey/case studies were carried out to collect practitioner's definitions/measures for integration. Practical implications: The authors hope to have made a contribution here towards building a consensus among practitioners and researchers in defining and measuring internal supply chain integration. For practitioners, the measurement instrument offers a self-assessment tool for internal supply chain integration. This should help them in identifying areas for improvement. Originality/value: The contribution of this paper consists of: development of an instrument for the measurement of integration, validating the instrument against a criterion, and the identification of three dimensions of integration - communication, coordination, and affective relationship. The unique contributions of this paper are the validation of the instrument against a criterion and the identification of "affective relationship" as a dimension of internal supply chain integration.

text: The measurement of internal supply chain integration Purpose: Internal supply chain refers to the chain of activities within a company that concludes with providing a product to the customer. This process involves multiple functions within companies such as sales, production, and distribution. It is obvious that a company's performance would be enhanced by the integration of these functions. However, there is no consensus yet on how integration is to be defined and measured. The purpose of this paper is to present research that was conducted with the goal of developing an instrument for the measurement of internal supply chain integration. Design/methodology/approach: Scale items were identified from current literature and the resulting survey instrument was sent out to a sample of New Zealand manufacturers. Statistical analysis was conducted to purify and validate the instrument. Findings: In total, three dimensions of integration were identified, labelled coordination, communication, and affective relationship. This paper makes a contribution towards developing a consensus in the understanding and measurement of the integration construct. Research limitations/implications: The selection and exclusion of measurement items for the survey have followed established principles of survey research, but may have been affected by the personal bias of the author. While every attempt has been made to comprehensively capture the state of the research up to the time of the study, there may be some omissions. The sample for the survey was drawn from a database of New Zealand businesses, thus the results are generalizable only to the extent that these businesses represent the population of all businesses. Another limitation is that no prior survey/case studies were carried out to collect practitioner's definitions/measures for integration. Practical implications: The authors hope to have made a contribution here towards building a consensus among practitioners and researchers in defining and measuring internal supply chain integration. For practitioners, the measurement instrument offers a self-assessment tool for internal supply chain integration. This should help them in identifying areas for improvement. Originality/value: The contribution of this paper consists of: development of an instrument for the measurement of integration, validating the instrument against a criterion, and the identification of three dimensions of integration - communication, coordination, and affective relationship. The unique contributions of this paper are the validation of the instrument against a criterion and the identification of "affective relationship" as a dimension of internal supply chain integration.

year: 2013

title: An Analysis of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

authors: Jacobs, Luke Brett

subjects: Games studies

abstract: This thesis explores the representation of the characters and content in the electronic game Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault first published in 2004. The thesis examines the history of conflict themed games and current academic literature on the subject of representation of ethnicity and history in these games. A methodological discussion is presented outlining the challenge of academic game study and how it was applied to this particular title. The findings of an analysis conducted under the methodology explored in the thesis, is presented. These findings conclude that in terms of representation the game has few novel aspects and that the way the characters are presented is motivated by game design decisions rather than historic revisionism.

text: An Analysis of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault This thesis explores the representation of the characters and content in the electronic game Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault first published in 2004. The thesis examines the history of conflict themed games and current academic literature on the subject of representation of ethnicity and history in these games. A methodological discussion is presented outlining the challenge of academic game study and how it was applied to this particular title. The findings of an analysis conducted under the methodology explored in the thesis, is presented. These findings conclude that in terms of representation the game has few novel aspects and that the way the characters are presented is motivated by game design decisions rather than historic revisionism.

year: 2011

title: It's harder in my language, but I still choose it

authors: Keegan, Te Taka Adrian Gregory

abstract: In New Zealand, the language that dominates most technologies is English. For a variety of reasons, interfaces have been made available in the Maori language for a range of modem technological tools. We have conducted usability studies on many of these products and fluent Maori users have almost unanimously stated that the products are more difficult and time consuming to use in the indigenous (Maori) language. They allude to unfamiliar instances and uses of Maori words, and to an ingrained familiarity with the English-language versions of these technologies, saying they would revert to the English-language interfaces if time is a factor. However, they also express a sense of pride at being able to see and use the Maori language in these various forms of media and state that although they experience some difficulty, the Maori-language versions would still be their first preference.

text: It's harder in my language, but I still choose it In New Zealand, the language that dominates most technologies is English. For a variety of reasons, interfaces have been made available in the Maori language for a range of modem technological tools. We have conducted usability studies on many of these products and fluent Maori users have almost unanimously stated that the products are more difficult and time consuming to use in the indigenous (Maori) language. They allude to unfamiliar instances and uses of Maori words, and to an ingrained familiarity with the English-language versions of these technologies, saying they would revert to the English-language interfaces if time is a factor. However, they also express a sense of pride at being able to see and use the Maori language in these various forms of media and state that although they experience some difficulty, the Maori-language versions would still be their first preference.

year: 2014