While the evolving high bandwidth information highways provide the infrastructure for attaining “physical connectivity” across computing resources and information systems, the…
Abstract
While the evolving high bandwidth information highways provide the infrastructure for attaining “physical connectivity” across computing resources and information systems, the “on/off” ramps to such highways are still at a primitive stage. Huge manual effort is currently expended to develop knowledge‐based paradigms that can effectively transcend national borders as well as other types of borders. This paper examines the prevailing situation from four perspectives: knowledge acquisition; knowledge discovery; knowledge management; and knowledge dissemination. Unlike current approaches that tend to focus on one aspect only, an integrated approach that attaches appropriate weightage to each of the four facets is emphasized in this paper.
Details
Keywords
Battery integration with renewable energy and conventional power grid is common practice in smart grid systems and provides higher operational flexibility. Abundant issues and…
Abstract
Purpose
Battery integration with renewable energy and conventional power grid is common practice in smart grid systems and provides higher operational flexibility. Abundant issues and challenges to the Indian smart grid while integrating renewable energy and storage technology will give timely emphasis to grasp uninterrupted power supply in forthcoming trend. Hence, this paper aims to acknowledge different barriers of battery integration and evaluate them to develop approaches for restricting their influence.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-model approach is used to illustrate how these challenges are interrelated by systematically handling expert views and helps to chronologically assemble various issues from the greatest severe to the slightest severe ones. Further, these barriers are grouped using the cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to the classification analysis (MICMAC) study grounded on their driving and dependence power. Also, hypothesis testing was done to validate the obtained model.
Findings
It provides a complete thoughtful on directional interrelationships between the barriers and delivers the best possible solution for the active operation of the smart grid and its performance.
Research limitations/implications
There is a significant requirement for high-tech inventions outside the transmission grid to function for the integration of renewables and storage systems.
Practical implications
The model will support policymakers in building knowledgeable decisions while chronologically rejecting the challenges of battery integration in smart grid systems to improve power grid performance.
Originality/value
Based on author’s best knowledge, there is hardly any research that explicitly explains the framework for the barriers of battery integration in grid for developing countries like India. It is one of the first attempts to understand the fundamental barriers for battery integration. This study adds significantly to the literature on the energy sector by capturing the perspective of various stakeholders.
Details
Keywords
Elisa Mattarelli and Amar Gupta
The increased use of distributed work arrangements across organizational and national borders calls for in‐depth investigation of subgroup dynamics in globally distributed teams…
Abstract
Purpose
The increased use of distributed work arrangements across organizational and national borders calls for in‐depth investigation of subgroup dynamics in globally distributed teams (GDTs). The purpose of this paper is to focus on the social dynamics that emerge across subgroups of onsite‐offshore teams and affect the process of knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study of eight GDTs working around the clock is conducted. These GDTs are part of organizations involved in offshoring of knowledge intensive work.
Findings
The evidence shows that the specific status cue of being onsite drives status differentials across subgroups; these differentials are reduced when the client is directly involved with the activities of the team. The negative effect of high status differentials on knowledge sharing is mitigated by the presence of straddlers, who assist in the transfer of codified knowledge. Conversely, when status differentials are low, straddlers hamper spontaneous direct learning between onsite members and offshore members.
Practical implications
This work has practical implications for organizations that want to use GDTs to achieve a faster (and cheaper) development of products and services. Managers should carefully design the organizational structures of GDTs and consider upfront the trade offs related to client involvement in teamwork and the use of straddlers across sites.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on subgroup dynamics, applying and extending the theory of status characteristics theory.
Details
Keywords
Auroop R. Ganguly and Amar Gupta
Strategic IT decisions have significant impact, but can be rather difficult to formulate in an objective manner. This article takes a fresh look at the e‐business adoption and…
Abstract
Strategic IT decisions have significant impact, but can be rather difficult to formulate in an objective manner. This article takes a fresh look at the e‐business adoption and vendor selection problems, and introduces new concepts to derive a decision‐making framework. The authors present a framework for the adoption of e‐business best practices and IT vendor selection. Development of this framework entailed the utilization of concepts from statistics and forecast verification, and their adoption in the context of the problems presented. A couple of key insights are developed. First, adoption of best practices for e‐business is reduced to three key determinants: the impacts on corporate knowledge management, performance management, and strategic management. Second, the corresponding IT e‐business vendor selection is described, in turn, through three determinants: strengths or capabilities in terms of collaboration and analytics, metrics and reports, and breadth of footprint. The proposed framework can be useful for strategic decision‐making in e‐business enabled enterprises as well as for designing the product strategies of IT vendors, as illustrated through references and examples. The paper takes a fresh look at the e‐business adoption and vendor selection problems, and introduces new concepts to derive a decision‐making framework. Future research needs to further validate the determinants and frameworks via case studies across and within business verticals.
Details
Keywords
Shruti J. Raval, Ravi Kant and Ravi Shankar
The aim of this analysis is to review the Indian manufacturing organizations practicing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools/techniques with an objective of monitoring the performance of an…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this analysis is to review the Indian manufacturing organizations practicing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools/techniques with an objective of monitoring the performance of an organization and to develop recommendation for strategies to benchmark organizational operational efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
This study offers insights of the LSS performance measurement aspects of the Indian manufacturing organizations based on Data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. The five inputs and two outputs are considered on the basis of literature review and discussed with the practitioners.
Findings
In this analysis, the relative efficiency score of 18 Indian manufacturing organizations has been determined in order to assist evaluation of the impact of monetary investment on the outputs. The present analysis not only investigates the optimum level of input variables but also lays down a significant observation that an organization having higher profit and inventory turnover ratio is not necessarily an efficient organization.
Practical implications
The results assist to determine the best practice units, potential source of inefficiency and deliver beneficial data for the consistent enhancement of the operational efficiency. The DEA results assist managers and decision makers to derive appropriate strategies to enhance their performance with reference to the efficient organization and to regard it as their role model.
Originality/value
This analysis renders a DEA based framework of LSS practicing Indian manufacturing organizations. The framework is unique in terms of its input-outputs variable selection and measurement procedure.
Details
Keywords
Shruti J. Raval, Ravi Kant and Ravi Shankar
The purpose of this paper is to examine and introduce comprehensive insights into the field of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) by reviewing the existing literature and identifying the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine and introduce comprehensive insights into the field of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) by reviewing the existing literature and identifying the research gap. The state of LSS research is assessed by critically examining the field, along with a number of dimensions, including time horizon, year, journal and publisher, university, country, author, geographic analysis, research design, research affairs, research methods, tools/techniques used, focus industries, major research area, benefits gained by LSS, critical success factors and barriers of LSS implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a systematic literature review of 190 articles containing the word LSS in their title, which are published in a well-known database, such as Elsevier ScienceDirect, Taylor and Francis, Emerald Full Text, Springer Link, Wiley InterScience and Inderscience from January 2000 to September 2016.
Findings
This analysis reveals 15 significant dimensions to identify the state of LSS research. Authors find a noticeable rise in the attention of LSS research in the available literature. Major findings show that, the empirical research holds greater credibility. Statistics prove that the case study method scores the highest among all the research methods used in the discipline. The largest number of studies have investigated research issues related to implementation and process of LSS. The LSS uses a wide range of tools/techniques/methodologies: the choice of tools is situation-specific. Manufacturing and health-care sectors have been the focus of LSS research, but LSS has also been adopted by other types of industries. The organizations following LSS have improved bottom-line results, improved company profitability and growth and enhanced customer satisfaction. In general the research is more interpretive in nature; there is still a lack of standard in the LSS implementation framework.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to reviewing those articles which contain the word LSS appeared in the title.
Originality/value
This study will help understand the current state of research on LSS, various trends in the field, its applicability and future prospects of investigation in the field.
Details
Keywords
Navin K. Dev, Ravi Shankar, Zach G. Zacharia and Sanjeev Swami
The purpose of this paper is to examine (1) how the recovery speed using promotional investment and (2) distributed production using additive manufacturing (AM) improve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine (1) how the recovery speed using promotional investment and (2) distributed production using additive manufacturing (AM) improve the resilience of the supply chain to manage any disruptions in the diffusion of green products.
Design/methodology/approach
The environmental performance, service level performance and economic performance are the measures of interest. These measures are studied through the integration of inventory and production planning (I&PP) of the reverse logistics system and consumer behavior using Bass (1969) model of diffusion of innovation under the paradigm of Industry 4.0 architecture. The Taguchi experimental design framework was used for the simulation analysis.
Findings
The adoption patterns based on the Bass model in conjunction with recovery speed and production on AM during the disruption period suggest that there exist tradeoff decisions between various combinations of information-sharing and I&PP policies.
Practical implications
The extensive sensitivity analyses provide real-time support for managerial decisions. Besides the potentials of Industry 4.0 capabilities, the present research suggests paying close attention to the recovery speed in conjunction with the inventory management system.
Social implications
The integration of consumers' behavior (Bass model) to digital technologies is an additional contribution of the present research toward sustainability issues from the social perspective.
Originality/value
Previous research studies have discussed resilience to manage the ripple effect. However, none of them have addressed the changing scope of resilience to manage the ripple effect caused by the disruption in the diffusion of green products in a reverse logistics setup.
Details
Keywords
Shruti J. Raval, Ravi Kant and Ravi Shankar
The purpose of this paper is to develop the balance score card (BSC) approach based Lean Six Sigma (LSS) performance measurement system and investigate the critical measures…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop the balance score card (BSC) approach based Lean Six Sigma (LSS) performance measurement system and investigate the critical measures currently practiced by Indian manufacturing organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study offers insights of LSS performance measurement from manufacturing industry. Initially, the BSC-based framework is developed to recognize the adoption of LSS performance measures. Then, the framework is applied to nine Indian manufacturing organizations to assess the LSS performance measure practice.
Findings
The BSC-based framework of LSS performance evaluation for manufacturing industry is formulated. Then, adoption of these LSS performance measures is investigated with nine Indian manufacturing organizations. The result indicates significant variability in terms of practicing level of LSS measures. However, the majority of organizations are more sensitive to the customer perspectives.
Practical implications
This study reveals a background as to why the performance measurement is required for the success of LSS and for providing practical guidelines for designing performance metrics. The framework interrelates and captures various LSS perspectives and indicator measures, and furnishes a comprehensive outlook of the organization for strategic analysis. This study provides BSC-based template for performing the benchmarking study. This analysis may serve as a reference point for manufacturing organization to determine their system weaknesses, and assist them to concentrate on their most vital and suitable criteria and objectives. However, the analysis contributes to the knowledge on LSS performance measurement system and catches differences in theory and practice, paving the approach to newer research.
Originality/value
This study renders an industry-oriented LSS performance measurement practical approach and suggests the easily adopted vital performance measures for different manufacturing organizations.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to show how workers successfully address constraints posed by distributed work – specifically, the lack of cognitive common ground or “mutual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how workers successfully address constraints posed by distributed work – specifically, the lack of cognitive common ground or “mutual knowledge” – through emergent practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on archival and interview data collected over a ten-month period, from two matched product development teams, one working side-by-side in the USA and the other distributed between the USA and India.
Findings
The paper illustrates how distributed team members compensate for the difficulties presented by the lack of mutual knowledge by modifying their use of knowledge management systems and communication technologies to coordinate work, and using temporal and task-based differences to facilitate problem solving.
Research limitations/implications
This study answers calls to examine how distributed teams actually work. By emphasizing the creation of new practices over knowledge transfer and employees’ perspectives over managers, the paper adds to current understandings of how aspects of the mutual knowledge problem can be alleviated. Since emergent practices are not dependent on shared values or identities, they can coordinate action without compromising the distinct perspectives of workers or constraining the diversity that inspires innovation. In addition, the attention to problem solving in distributed teams – particularly tacit knowledge recombination – extends a literature primarily focussed on communication and coordination processes.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors shift the focus from managerial and organizational policies to the emergent practices of workers themselves, by showing how the authors successfully coordinate and innovate in a changing organizational context.
Details
Keywords
Ishaan Sengupta, Kokil Jain, Arpan Kumar Kar and Isha Sharma
Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship. Drawing from cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning theory, the current study aims to examine how this relationship is shaped across three time periods (before the allegation is leveled, after the allegation is leveled, and when the allegation is found to be baseless).
Design/methodology/approach
We study comments posted by followers of two falsely alleged social media influencers (SMI) on their YouTube and Instagram channels. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) followed by netnography is used for thematic analysis. LDA is a social media topic modeling method that processes a statistically representative set of words to explain the tone and tenor of qualitative conversations. A sentiment analysis of the comments is done using SentiStrength.
Findings
When an allegation is leveled initially, the response from followers is overwhelmingly negative toward the influencer owing to moral coupling. However, when the allegations are proven to be false, the followers return to a positive opinion of the influencer, owing to feelings of dissonance and guilt.
Practical implications
The study contributes to the fields of influencer marketing, cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning. It highlights how endorsers can take advantage of the positive sentiment that arises once an accused SMI’s transgression is proven false.
Originality/value
This study introduces the concept of “Sentiment Reversal,” which is exhibited in the social media space. In this phenomenon, sentiments move from negative to positive toward the falsely accused SMI as they are vindicated of the previous charge.