Enrico Contiero, Frederic Ponsignon, Philip Andrew Smart and Andrea Vinelli
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contingencies and characteristics of service recovery system (SRS) design.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contingencies and characteristics of service recovery system (SRS) design.
Design/methodology/approach
Informed by extensive case study data from two large Italian retail banks, the theory-building study builds on the seven design characteristics proposed by Smith et al. (2009). In all, 19 sub-dimensions are identified that provide a finer-grain view of the SRS at the operational level. The design characteristics and the corresponding sub-dimensions comprise the SRS design framework. These sub-dimensions are then analysed across the two cases. Specific attention is given to sub-dimensions that are contingent upon service recovery strategy.
Findings
The findings suggest that the extended set of SRS sub-dimensions (providing greater specificity) contributes to identifying commonality and difference between SRS configurations. This specificity facilitates the identification of two sets of SRS design characteristics (S-type and C-type) that correspond with the SR strategy. Two propositions have been formulated with respect to this SR strategy – SRS contingency. An additional set of sub-dimensions, common to both cases, is explained by conformance to regulatory control.
Originality/value
The paper provides novel theoretical insights into SRS design. The increased specificity of the SRS framework and the sets of sub-dimensions contingent on SR strategy extend the current theory. This provides opportunities for both practising managers and for future theoretical development.
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Assesses how the mainstream availability and acceptability of vegetarian food has impacted on the organised vegetarian movement in the UK. Presents data collected during an…
Abstract
Assesses how the mainstream availability and acceptability of vegetarian food has impacted on the organised vegetarian movement in the UK. Presents data collected during an ethnographic case study to show the dilemmas facing the leading UK vegetarian organisation during the mid‐1990s. In order to understand these dilemmas distinguishes between vegetarian food and the ideology of vegetarianism, using existing evidence about variability in diets, motives and organisational politics. When reflecting on the implications of the case study suggests that mainstream acceptance is a double‐edged sword that facilitates the adoption of the diet but threatens the moral foundations of the ideology.
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Peter K. McGregor, Jason Birt, Kelly Haynes, Ruth J. Martin, Lawrence J. Moores, Nicola J. Morris, Brender Willmott and Andrew C. Smart
A significant (8-18 per cent) proportion of higher education (HE) students in the UK are hosted by colleges. The quality of college HE provision has been questioned. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
A significant (8-18 per cent) proportion of higher education (HE) students in the UK are hosted by colleges. The quality of college HE provision has been questioned. The purpose of this paper is to present the case studies showing an HE ethos and student scholarship in a college environment from two levels of degree, three areas of science and contexts from submission to government consultations to tropical fieldwork, and from event organisation to volunteering.
Design/methodology/approach
Five case studies are presented, each of which was developed and delivered by a subset of the authors (see biographies for details). During delivery, individual staff developed opinions on the success of components of the approaches; these were discussed with co-deliverers, other authors/staff members and degree programme external examiners during the academic year. The information reported in this manuscript is a composite of these views.
Findings
All of the case studies were designed to have elements of HE ethos and student scholarship that contribute towards a high-quality student experience. The extensive links with potential employers and outside professionals help to ensure student engagement with real world issues and provide opportunities for individual enhancement, often through extracurricular activities.
Originality/value
The range of case studies presented here indicates the potential for engagement and enhancement in a college HE context; it also indicates the college-wide culture of progression and scholarship. Whilst the details are necessarily specific, the diversity of the case studies indicates the potential of the approaches outlined in other subjects.
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Ravi S. Behara, Sunil Babbar and Philip Andrew Smart
The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership role of authors, institutions, and countries based on research co-authorship networks in the field of operations management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership role of authors, institutions, and countries based on research co-authorship networks in the field of operations management (OM) and ranks European authors, institutions, and countries using network centrality measures. It also identifies the primary research areas of each of the leading European authors and maps the areas that European research in general has focussed most on.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on co-authorships in publications appearing in a representative set of three leading OM journals over the 15-year period of 1998-2012, network measures of total degree centrality and betweenness centrality are used to identify influential European agents serving as leaders and bridge builders in OM research. Keyword analysis is used to identify the dominant areas of OM research in Europe as well as the primary areas of research of the leading authors.
Findings
With UK, Spain, The Netherlands, and Italy accounting for the dominant share of authorship of papers in the journal set, many authors and institutions from these countries are also found to rank high on network centrality measures. While certain authors, institutions, and countries are found ranking high on total degree centrality based on number of direct connections in the network, others are found to play uniquely important roles as gatekeepers and bridge builders in network relationships. The body of research is found to be focussed most on the area of supply chain management. It is also found to be focussed more on manufacturing than service.
Research limitations/implications
The examination of networks in this study based on co-authorships in publications in the set of three leading journals: Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, and Production and Operations Management, is not all encompassing as there are likely other co-authorship relationships of OM researchers that go beyond publications in this set of journals.
Practical implications
Co-authorship of papers in the leading academic journals in a discipline provides a window on patterns of collaboration among key researchers within that academic community. The findings of this study inform the community of stakeholders on who the leading European agents in OM research are, what the primary areas of research of the leading European authors are, and areas that European research has focussed most on.
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind that identifies and maps key European authors, institutions, and countries based on the analysis of co-authorship networks of researchers who have published in a set of leading OM journals that are considered to be among the most relevant outlets in the field of OM. It also maps the primary areas of research.
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Launched in 2014, Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers led the category's rapid adoption by households and enabled the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) voice…
Abstract
Launched in 2014, Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers led the category's rapid adoption by households and enabled the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistants into the everyday lives of millions of people. By 2019, Alexa the virtual brains behind Amazon's smart speakers was able to play music, create reminders, get weather reports, control lights and other home appliances, shop, and do much more in response to voice commands. Amazon had developed significant new capabilities for Alexa, developed an entire ecosysgtem around it, expanded Alexa's user base to more than 100 million users, and made significant progress in monetizing its digital voice assistant. However, Alexa's progress also created new challenges for Amazon, its Alexa-enabled customers, and society at large. Amazon needed to identify and address these challenges in order to encourage continued consumer acceptance and preclude detrimental government or regulatory action.
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![Kellogg School of Management](/insight/static/img/kellogg-school-of-management-logo.png)
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Yung-Ting Chuang and Yi-Hsi Chen
The purpose of this paper is to apply social network analysis (SNA) to study faculty research productivity, to identify key leaders, to study publication keywords and research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply social network analysis (SNA) to study faculty research productivity, to identify key leaders, to study publication keywords and research areas and to visualize international collaboration patterns and analyze collaboration research fields from all Management Information System (MIS) departments in Taiwan from 1982 to 2015.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first retrieved results encompassing about 1,766 MIS professors and their publication records between 1982 and 2015 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST) website. Next, the authors merged these publication records with the records obtained from the Web of Science, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Airiti Library and Springer Link databases. The authors further applied six network centrality equations, leadership index, exponential weighted moving average (EWMA), contribution value and k-means clustering algorithms to analyze the collaboration patterns, research productivity and publication patterns. Finally, the authors applied D3.js to visualize the faculty members' international collaborations from all MIS departments in Taiwan.
Findings
The authors have first identified important scholars or leaders in the network. The authors also see that most MIS scholars in Taiwan tend to publish their papers in the journals such as Decision Support Systems and Information and Management. The authors have further figured out the significant scholars who have actively collaborated with academics in other countries. Furthermore, the authors have recognized the universities that have frequent collaboration with other international universities. The United States, China, Canada and the United Kingdom are the countries that have the highest numbers of collaborations with Taiwanese academics. Lastly, the keywords model, system and algorithm were the most common terms used in recent years.
Originality/value
This study applied SNA to visualize international research collaboration patterns and has revealed some salient characteristics of international cooperation trends and patterns, leadership networks and influences and research productivity for faculty in Information Management departments in Taiwan from 1982 to 2015. In addition, the authors have discovered the most common keywords used in recent years.
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Aqeela Saleem, Hongyi Sun, Javed Aslam and Yunbae Kim
Previous studies have focused on explaining the developmental paths and the relevant skills necessary for smart factories, based on an extensive review of the literature…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies have focused on explaining the developmental paths and the relevant skills necessary for smart factories, based on an extensive review of the literature. Unfortunately, there is a deficit of empirical analyses that present an in-depth overview of smart factory development. Although the literature supports the benefits of smart factories, it remains unclear whether there should be government intervention (GI) to facilitate or regulate such adoption. This study will provide an in-depth empirical analysis of smart factory adoption (SFA) and its role in manufacturing performance (MP) and sustainable manufacturing (SM).
Design/methodology/approach
This study used non-probability convenience and referral sampling techniques for data collection. This approach considered production managers from each company that participated in the survey questionnaire; thus, each production manager represented one firm. A total of 240 managers from several manufacturing companies participated in the study. This study employed direct and moderating hypotheses tested using PROCESS Macro, which Andrew Hayes developed for SPSS.
Findings
The study identified three fundamental elements of a smart factory: manufacturing big data (MBD), process automation (PA) and supply chain integration (SCI) and analyzed them individually to see how they affect MP. According to the results, building a smart factory has positive and significant impacts on MP and SM. Furthermore, this study explores the role of GI in promoting smart factory deployment for both production performance and sustainable production. The study found that GI did not have a significant moderating effect but did have a positive relationship with SM.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature on smart factories by examining the impact of SFA on MP and SM. This provides a more comprehensive overview of the potential benefits of smart factories across various aspects, such as the application of big data, adoption of automation technology and integration of the supply chain. This study suggests that managers and decision-makers consider investing in smart factory implementation to improve factory productivity and enhance sustainability. Policymakers and government officials can promote the adoption of smart factories by providing incentives, funding, and resources to manufacturing firms.
Originality/value
There is a scarcity of research measuring the actual performance of manufacturing firms that have already adopted smart factories, and this study seeks to address this gap in the literature. This study focuses on the implementation of manufacturing big data, process automation and supply chain integration and how the adoption of these technologies improves MP and provides a SM environment by conducting a real-time study of manufacturing organizations. This study presents an initial effort to explore the role of government involvement in promoting smart factories.
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Mahesh Prabhu and Amit Kumar Srivastava
This study aims to analyze the state of knowledge on the relationship between leadership and the firm’s supply chain. The study identifies and examines the existing literature…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the state of knowledge on the relationship between leadership and the firm’s supply chain. The study identifies and examines the existing literature, unveils research gaps and suggests future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a systematic review process, a total of 110 articles published in top-ranked academic journals (A* and A category as per ABDC-2019 list) were analyzed. Descriptive, cluster, thematic and regression analyses of citations were performed to garner insights.
Findings
The review outcome shows an upward trend of articles studying the influence of leadership in the supply chain. With the highest number of articles, developed countries and manufacturing companies have been the research contexts of the research studies. Clustering reveals eight significant areas where the leader’s involvement in the supply chain is discussed, with several sub-themes emerging within each cluster. Finally, the regression analysis of citations shows that only the journal’s quality matters the most in receiving the highest citation for the articles.
Research limitations/implications
As this study considered only A* and A-ranked journals of the ABDC-2019 list, there is a risk of excluding some relevant articles.
Originality/value
While the current literature deliberates on recent trends in the supply chain, such as the application of Industry 4.0 practices, this review revolves around the classical theme of leadership and demonstrates its importance in the supply chain. The study is among the first to conduct a bibliometric analysis of articles deliberating on leadership and supply chain issues by grouping the articles into clusters and themes. In the end, the clusters and themes were conceptualized into the “House of Supply Chain Leadership,” of which leadership forms the foundation.
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Annica Kronsell and Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren
New forms of ‘smart’ mobility have emerged with the advance of information technology. From a public sector perspective, these ambitions have been framed both in terms of…
Abstract
New forms of ‘smart’ mobility have emerged with the advance of information technology. From a public sector perspective, these ambitions have been framed both in terms of innovation and sustainability. The development work of these technologies is in part being subsidised by public actors investing in and funding different types of pilots or experiments in order to ‘test’ these technologies in what is called a real-life environment. This is part of a larger trend of experimental governance in which smart mobility is an important and a possibly growing part. This chapter offers a conceptual analysis of experimental governance by analysing three underlying assumptions in literature and practice (1) the need for extraordinary solutions, (2) the importance of learning by doing and (3) the necessity of collaboration. These three assumptions are analysed in relation to smart mobility experiments in Sweden, and discussed in relation to public values. The concluding discussion elevates a number of normative implications of using experimental governance as a policy instrument for the development of smart mobility.