Abstract
Details
Keywords
Barbara R. Lewis and Angela W. Hawksley
In the turbulent world of fashion retailing, competitive advantageis achieved by first targeting not simply in terms of demographics butalso in terms of lifestyle and attitude to…
Abstract
In the turbulent world of fashion retailing, competitive advantage is achieved by first targeting not simply in terms of demographics but also in terms of lifestyle and attitude to fashion, and secondly by creating a store image congruent with that of the target market. The findings of past studies are brought together and the results of a lifestyle and store image questionnaire which was administered to customers of a well‐known retail fashion chain in the UK are presented Analysis was focused on lifestyle and store image and included the identification of clusters of customers with similar profiles.
Details
Keywords
Angela Lewis, Abbas Elmualim and David Riley
The purpose of this paper is to present the findings and lessons learned from three case studies conducted for facilities located in California, North America. The findings aim to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the findings and lessons learned from three case studies conducted for facilities located in California, North America. The findings aim to focus on energy and maintenance management practices and the interdependent link between energy and maintenance.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a positivist epistemological philosophical approach informed by action research. The research cycle was completed for each case study. A case study report was provided to each facility management team to foster collaboration with the researcher and to document case study process and results.
Findings
Composite findings of the case studies include: there is an interdependent link between energy and maintenance management; reactive maintenance and energy management methods are commonly used; and more proactively operated and managed buildings require the interdependent link between energy maintenance management to be better understood.
Research limitations/implications
The three case studies were located in California. Although the case study results can be generalized, determination of how to generalize and apply the results to commercial buildings outside of the USA is beyond the scope of this paper.
Practical implications
Detailed discussion of the needs of the three facility management teams are discussed by identifying a current challenge, developing a solution and documenting lessons learned using the research cycle.
Originality/value
The paper seeks to demonstrate the interdependencies of energy and maintenance management, two topics which are often researched interdependently. Additionally, the paper provides insight about maintenance management, a topic often cited as being under researched.
Details
Keywords
The analysis presented here is based upon interviews conducted with 34 women in Maryland in 1997, one year after the passage of the PRA of 1996, or welfare reform. To locate…
Abstract
The analysis presented here is based upon interviews conducted with 34 women in Maryland in 1997, one year after the passage of the PRA of 1996, or welfare reform. To locate participants, I distributed fliers to educational and community centers asking for single women raising children and receiving aid who would be willing to share their experiences with welfare. I offered to compensate participants $15 for their time in participating in the interviews. After several initial interviewees were chosen from these sites, other respondents were located using an informal snowball sample.
Nori Yani Abu Talib, Radziah Abdul Latiff and Aini Aman
This paper aims to improve the understanding of the institutional pressures that shape the intention to adopt waqf accounting and reporting. The study seeks to answer two research…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve the understanding of the institutional pressures that shape the intention to adopt waqf accounting and reporting. The study seeks to answer two research questions as follows: what are the challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting in waqf institutions; and how do institutional pressures influence the adoption of waqf reporting in Malaysia. Drawing on the work of DiMaggio and Powell and Scott of institutional theory, this paper provides empirical evidence of institutional pressures on the adoption of waqf reporting in Malaysia and the challenges faced in adopting waqf accounting and reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses qualitative research method with an explanatory case study approach. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews with the accountants of State Islamic Religious Council and Customs of Terengganu, an informal conversation with the Deputy Director of Accountant Generals Department of Malaysia and document reviews, mainly the Malaysian Accounting Standard Board Research paper.
Findings
The findings show that coercive pressure such as government regulation contributes to challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting. Normative pressures contribute to challenges in formulating standardised waqf accounting and reporting, whereas mimetic pressure contributes to challenges in the comparability of the waqf accounting and reporting among the state Islamic religious councils in Malaysia. In the efforts towards the standardisation of waqf accounting and reporting practice, a similarity of the process of the standard implementation or the institutional isomorphism of the State Islamic Religious Council in Terengganu is strongly influenced from the result of the mandate of its Board members and Fatwa council members (coercive isomorphism and religion logic) and minor influence from the normative isomorphism (the result of the participants’ education and profession) as well as the result of imitating other State of Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) because of the ambiguity of the process or certain practice.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the knowledge by extending institutional theory and the possible role of religion logic in Islamic perspective to organisational behaviour and accounting development in SIRCs. This study is limited to the understanding of the challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting but could also be applicable to the adoption of other accounting standards or regulations.
Practical implications
This paper offers key implications for research, in improving the understanding of contextual factors and decision to adopt waqf accounting and reporting. The standard setter needs to be aware of the influence of contextual factors that shape decision towards standardisation of accounting and reporting for waqf.
Originality/value
The interplay of institutional pressures and implications of religion logic provides an interesting approach to understanding the waqf institutions’ intention to adopt accounting and reporting for waqf.
Details
Keywords
Sylvia Mónica Perez Nuñez and Martina Musteen
The aim of this study is to examine the role of learning in the opportunity discovery, opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness of sustainable ventures in an emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to examine the role of learning in the opportunity discovery, opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness of sustainable ventures in an emerging economy.
Design/methodology/approach
We use a partially grounded approach to analyze three case of successful sustainable ventures in the Cali Baja gastro industry.
Findings
We find that sustainable entrepreneurs possess general knowledge of natural and communal environment along with compassion for the environment. However, it is the acquisition of a specific business-related knowledge that is the trigger for the formation of the first-person opportunity belief (i.e. confidence in the ability to exploit the sustainable business opportunity personally). Our analysis of also reveals several unique learning processes associated with opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness with a special focus on tradeoffs and compromises that are required given the tension between the sometimes conflicting goals of sustainable enterprises.
Originality/value
Our study adds to the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship by investigating the complex interplay between personal and contextual factors that unfolds over time as entrepreneurs conceive and then exploit a viable business opportunity that simultaneously addresses environmental and social goals.