Search results

The purpose of this paper is to extend an analysis presented in earlier work which investigated the dynamical behavior of a network of oscillatory units described by the amplitude of and phase of oscillations, and to present an objective function that can be successfully applied to multi‐layer networks.

In this paper, an objective function is presented that can be successfully applied to multi‐layer networks. The behavior of the objective function is explained through its ability to achieve a sparse representation of the inputs in complex‐valued space.

It is found that if the activity of each network unit is represented by a phasor in the complex plane, then sparsity is achieved when there is maximal phase separation in the complex plane. Increasing the spread of feedback connections is shown to improve segmentation performance significantly but does not affect separation performance. This enables a quantitative approach to characterizing and understanding cortical function.

The formulation of the multi‐layer objective function and the interpretation of its behavior through sparsity in complex space are novel contributions of this paper.

This study aims to examine the altering paradigms for two specific characteristics of the international diamond industry: community-based business model and competitive advantage and their impact and interaction effect.

This study uses global value chain (GVC) analysis to understand the industry characteristics, social impacts and disruption in the international diamond industry. Further, normalized revealed comparative advantage is used to measure the competitiveness of different countries over time. Finally, stochastic frontier analysis is used to test the impact of the community-based business model and competitiveness on exports and estimate the technical efficiency.

The international diamond industry is witnessing changes in the business model, competitiveness, processes, policies and consumer behavior. While competitive advantage and community have a positive impact on exports, the relationship between competitive advantage and exports gets negatively moderated by the community. Further, insights from the GVC analysis indicate that though the industry is facing several disruptions and challenges, it has shown the unique quality of community reconfiguration and relocation.

This paper provides insights into the diamond industry facing multiple disruptions at various stages of GVC and contributes to the literature on international trade, community-based business models and GVC.

Critics increasingly highlight the dark sides of the sharing economy resulting from the insufficient regulation of competition, labor, or taxes in its for-profit sector. In this chapter, the authors argue that regulatory solutions for the sharing economy hinge on the understanding of the ways in which the sharing economy is organized. Here, digitalization undermines established regulation through underlying organizational shifts pertaining to places, labor inputs and output responsibilities. Mapping out the field of actors that are or could be involved in regulating the sharing economy, the authors highlight a particular role played not only by digital platforms as market organizers, but also of a variety of other public and private actors such as standard setting organizations, social movements, trade unions, organized buyers and sellers, incumbents, or policy makers. The authors suggest that an understanding of sharing economy markets as fields can not only capture the highly organized nature of the sharing economy, but also serve to untangle the contestations and power dynamics unfolding among various actors engaged in different regulatory issues associated with the sharing economy. Seeing “Uberization” as a next development stage away from the modern corporation after global supply chains, the authors highlight regulatory challenges associated with the even more individualized and dispersed way in which sharing economy markets are organized and also discuss new opportunities for regulation provided by digital technology.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasise mangrove reforestation as a countermeasure for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Godavari Delta in India.

Restoration of the mangrove forest in the Godavari Delta near Kakinada town in the south‐eastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is carried out with participatory involvement of local communities depending for their livelihood on the mangrove forest. The extent of habitat restoration through reforestation in this area is explored. The possible contribution of restored mangroves in minimising the impacts of sea‐level rise due to climate change is highlighted. Reforestation information from 1999 to 2006 is collected from available published work and the Forest Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The positive result of reforestation since the past few years is seen as an increase in mangrove vegetation. The changing landscape due to restoration could stop erosion and salt water incursion up to some extent and help in maintaining the biodiversity of this place.

A long‐term monitoring with ethnobiological study is required for managing such projects in future.

The Godavari Delta mangroves are rich in biodiversity and offer a wide range of ecological services. Adding to habitat degradation, predicted sea‐level rise is likely to affect the local human communities. The role of mangroves as an economically viable barrier against sea‐level rise has been recognised in other Asian countries. The results from this case study too could be disseminated to various stakeholders involved in sustainable development. The focus of the paper on India is particularly relevant, as the country is going to be integral in climate change debates.

The study aims to explore whether there is diversity of occupational culture among IT workers. Prior work conceptualizes IT occupational culture (ITOC) as based around six distinctive values (ASPIRE) but has not explored whether there is variation in ITOC.

Survey data from 496 New Zealand IT workers was used to create factors representing IT occupational values based on the ASPIRE tool. Hierarchical cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were applied to identify distinctive segments of ITOC.

Four ITOC segments were identified: fun-lovers, innovators, independents and institutionalists. These differed in the relative emphasis ascribed to the ITOC values with each segment being distinguished by 1–2 dominant values. Segment membership varied according to level of responsibility and birth country. Institutionalists and innovators had higher concern about organizational and IT issues than fun-lovers and independents. Job satisfaction was lowest among innovators and highest along institutionalists.

This study challenges the concept of a unified ITOC, suggesting that ITOC is pluralistic. It also theorizes about interactions between ITOC, individual motivation and values and national culture.

Management needs to be cognizant of the fact that IT occupational culture is not homogeneous and different IT occupational segments require unique management approaches, and that their own values may not match those of others in IT work. By understanding ITOC segments, managers can tailor support, assign tasks appropriately and design teams to optimize synergies and avoid conflict.

This study reveals the existence of ITOC segments and theorizes about the relationship of these to innovation-orientation, job satisfaction, individual motivation, work styles and national culture. The combination of cluster and discriminant analysis is a valuable replicable inductive method that is underrepresented in Information Systems (IS) research.

The purpose of the study was to assess the nutritional and health status of Saharia and non-Saharia women.

The present study was undertaken to compare the nutritional status of Saharia versus non-Saharia women in Baran district, Rajasthan. The sample comprised married non-pregnant and non-lactating (NPNL) women (aged 18-35 years) from three groups, that is, Saharia (n = 100), non-Saharia (Meena tribe, n = 100) and general category (n = 30). The general category women, or reference group, were selected as the control group belonging to the same region. The data included general profile, physical measurement, biochemical hemoglobin estimation, dietary and nutrient intake assessment.

The mean hemoglobin value in Saharia (8.3 ± 1.4 g/dl) and Meena (8.1 ± 1.4 g/dl) women was found to be significantly lower (p < 0.01 at 99 per cent confidence level) than that of the reference group (9.5 ± 1.4 g/dl) and much below the standard value of 12 g/dl. Chronic energy deficiency (BMI < 18.5) was more prevalent in Saharia women (68 per cent) followed by Meena (∼24 per cent) than reference women (7 per cent). Only 29 per cent Saharia women were under normal BMI and majority of the reference group women (77 per cent) and Meena women (72 per cent) had normal BMI (18.5-24). Nutrient and dietary intake of both the tribal women groups were low when compared with suggested levels. In Saharia and Meena women, magnesium and thiamine were significantly higher (p < 0.01) and other nutrients were significantly lower (p < 0.01) than recommended dietary allowances.

Anemia is prevalent in all categories of women. Women’s health is poor especially among Saharia women who are still striving hard to meet the national health standards. A multidimensional approach is required to uplift the health status. Hemoglobin levels of all the women were found to be very low.

This paper analyzes how information systems (IS) can serve as tools of neo-colonial control in offshore outsourcing of research and development work. It draws on critical work examining business and knowledge process outsourcing.

The paper reports an empirical study of how laboratory information management systems (LIMS) shape offshore outsourcing practices involving Western client firms and Indian contract research organizations (CROs) in the pharmaceutical industry. The study adopted a multi-actor perspective, involving interviews with representatives of Western clients, Indian CROs, system validation auditors, and software vendors. The analysis was iterative and interpretative, guided by postcolonial sensitivity to themes of power and control.

The study found that LIMS act as tools of neo-colonial control at three levels. As Western clients specify particular brands of LIMS, they create a hierarchy among local CROs and impact the development of the local LIMS industry. At inter-organizational level, LIMS shape relationships by allowing remote, real-time and retrospective surveillance of CROs’ work. At individual level, the ability of LIMS to support micro-modularizing of research leads to routinization of scientific discovery, negatively impacting scientists’ work satisfaction.

By examining multiple actors’ perceptions of IS, this paper looks beyond the rhetoric of system efficiency characteristic of most international business research. As it explores dynamics of power and control surrounding IS, it also questions the proposition that outsourcing of high-end work will move emerging economies upstream in the value chain.

Culture and institutions are among the essential sources of comparative advantage in international trade and may influence a country's FDI influx. This paper aims to analyze the impact of cultural distance (CD) and institutional distance (ID) on the efficiency of China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) for the panel of 43 countries during 2003–2016.

The stochastic frontier approach (SFA) has been incorporated into the standard gravity model of gravity Kalirajan, 1999; Ravishankar and Stack, 2014). SFA has traditionally been implemented to evaluate the production frontier as the highest yield that could possibly be generated from specified input levels. The production process is viewed to be fully efficient if the real output is performed at frontier level. Otherwise, the production process is assumed technically inefficient, which implies potential scope for enhanced output. This error term is split into two parts, a non-negative term and more standard asymmetrical term. The former identifies inefficiencies in production, while the latter retrieves random disorders

The outcomes assert a U-shaped relationship between CD and the efficiency of China's OFDI. Put differently, when the CD is minimal, the “liability of foreignness” (LOF) effect plays a dominant role; and CD tends to reduce the efficiency of China's OFDI. On the flip side, when the culture distance is greater than a certain threshold level, the “advantages of foreignness” (AOF) effect plays a predominant role, and CD improves the efficiency of China's OFDI. Institutional distance results in the “LOF” effect significantly reduce the efficiency of China's OFDI.

Notwithstanding these contributions, our study has some limitations which offer directions for future research. The major limitation of this research work is the availability of comprehensive data for a well extended time, in particular for the variable of CD. Further, a firm-level study can shed light on the motivations and performance of China OFDI. Finally, given that our analysis focuses on emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) from China, the findings might not be explicitly generalizable to MNEs from other developing countries. Future studies should concentrate on the comparative study of China's OFDI with other developing countries, to deepen our understanding of the effects of ID and CD on the efficiency of OFDI.

(1) The work is novel in nature as the authors attempt to explore the effect of ID and CD on efficiency of Chinese FDI. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research is conducted in this direction in terms of Chinese FDI. (2) Further, the prior studies employed standard gravity model, which may not correctly evaluate the trade potential viewed as the highest potential value. To overcome the shortcomings of the standard gravity model in estimation of the trade performance and efficiency, the SFA has been incorporated into the standard gravity model of gravity.

The aim of the present research is to examine a university’s website factors that influence the brand image of a university and behavioral intentions of students.

Convenience sampling was used to collect data through questionnaires distributed to students of different colleges and universities in Islamabad, and the research model was tested through variance-based structural equation modeling in smart PLS.

The results reveal that diversity information, excellence information, personal branding of professors and virtual tours on a university’s website have a positive impact on brand image as well as behavioral intentions of students. In addition, brand image mediates the relationship between all factors and students’ behavioral intentions.

The present study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of diversity information, excellence details, professors' personal branding, and virtual tours on a university's brand image and students’ behavioral intentions. The findings offer theoretical and practical implications for enhancing e-marketing strategies through a university's website.