Rodney McAdam and Brendan Lafferty
Increasing competitive pressure in all business sectors (e.g. private, public SME) is reflected in the continuing quest for business improvement philosophies and methodologies to…
Abstract
Increasing competitive pressure in all business sectors (e.g. private, public SME) is reflected in the continuing quest for business improvement philosophies and methodologies to address this challenge. Recent developments have included increased organisational and academic interest in the six sigma approach to business improvement. There are many organisational examples (mainly USA and UK based) of large scale improvements in defect and process measures attributed to this approach. However, there is a paucity of critical studies on six sigma beyond that of “how to” and that of descriptive accounts, with a focus on measures and results rather than employee involvement and motivation. The aim of this paper is to explore the development of six sigma in a multilevel case analysis, from both a process perspective and a people perspective. The findings show that the case organisation had to widen its conception and application of six sigma to include people and organisational criteria to enable the approach to become embedded in the organisation.
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Raija Komppula and Helen Reijonen
The purpose of this study was to identify those factors that are supposed to be the most important in terms of small business success in tourism industry. The empirical data is…
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify those factors that are supposed to be the most important in terms of small business success in tourism industry. The empirical data is collected within one region in Finland. The respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of the given factors for the firm's success and how highly the respondent evaluated the company's expertise in each factor in their operations. Questionnaires were sent by mail to a total of 214 tourism businesses. The final response rate was 43% (92 businesses). According to the analysis of the data, the respondents emphasise the importance of customer orientation, good skills in leadership, internal marketing and a good reputation of the firm and the product. The impact of external advice (incubators, consultants, research organisations) was evaluated as the least important factor of success. So, market orientation seems to play a key role in the performance of small and micro tourism firms. Customer orientation is also well mastered according to the businesses. The greatest development needs would be in the areas of price and accessibility, as well as in customer orientation. The results of this study indicate that there are no statistically significant differences in the views held by slowly or fast growing tourism businesses regarding the importance of the success factors. The same factors are considered important and less important in both slowly and fast growing businesses. Neither were there any statistically significant differences in these businesses as to the expertise in these success factors.
Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Sarah Lawson
THE LONDON ACADEMIC BOOK FAIR, which we organised on April 30, attracted a very respectable turnout of librarians, and not just from academic libraries either. It was good to see…
Abstract
THE LONDON ACADEMIC BOOK FAIR, which we organised on April 30, attracted a very respectable turnout of librarians, and not just from academic libraries either. It was good to see them, and I hope they found the day useful, with 131 stands to inspect and a busy but much less frenetic atmosphere than ruled at the London Book Fair last October.
The purpose of this paper is to outline the structures of collegial governance in Australian universities between 1945 and the “Dawkins reforms” of the late 1980s. It describes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the structures of collegial governance in Australian universities between 1945 and the “Dawkins reforms” of the late 1980s. It describes the historical contours of collegial governance in practice, the changes it underwent, and the structural limits within which it was able to operate.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based upon the writings of academics and university administrators from the period, with more fine-grained exemplification provided by archival and other evidence from Faculties of Arts and their equivalents in newer universities.
Findings
Elements of hierarchy and lateral organisation coexisted in the pre-Dawkins university in ways not generally made explicit in the existing literature. This mixture was sustained by ideals about academic freedom.
Research limitations/implications
By historicising “collegiality” the research problematises polemical uses of the term, either for or against. It also seeks to clarify the distinctiveness of contemporary structures—especially for those with no first-hand experience of the pre-Dawkins university—by demonstrating historical difference without resort to nostalgia.
Originality/value
“Collegiality” is a common concept in education and organisation studies, as well as in critiques of the contemporary corporate university. However, the concept has received little sustained historical investigation. A clearer history of collegial governance is valuable both in its own right and as a conceptually clarifying resource for contemporary analyses of collegiality and managerialism.
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Anne Rindell, Bo Edvardsson and Tore Strandvik
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a tool for mapping how consumers' past experiences influence the consumer's present corporate brand image.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a tool for mapping how consumers' past experiences influence the consumer's present corporate brand image.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was used for analysing in‐depth conversational interviews collected on three IKEA markets (Sweden, Finland, and Germany).
Findings
The study shows that the tool gives an understanding of how past and present brand experiences are inter‐dependent.
Practical implications
The paper gives management an insight into consumers' perspectives of their corporate brand.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is that it offers a practical tool for mapping the roots of companies' current corporate brand images.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of inputs from consumers' past experiences of a company on their current image‐construction processes, in the context of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of inputs from consumers' past experiences of a company on their current image‐construction processes, in the context of non‐food retailing.
Design/methodology/approach
Research data were collected by a multi‐method combination of several different qualitative research methods from individuals selected by the theoretical sampling procedure. Analysis and interpretation conformed to a classic grounded theory approach.
Findings
It was found that consumer images generated by relevant past experience are a direct and influential input into real‐time corporate image formation. Two new theoretical concepts were identified, “image heritage” and “image‐in‐use”, respectively, distinguishing consumers' past‐based images from those they construct in real time. Image heritage is moderated by three principal variables: timespan of awareness, content of earlier experiences, and key temporal focus.
Research limitations/implications
This study focused on the corporate image of non‐food retailers. Future research should broaden the context, to enhance understanding of image heritage and image‐in‐use, and yield useful conceptual generalisations.
Practical implications
Given that the consumer's view of the company's past plays an important role in their interpretation of its present corporate brand, branding strategy should be informed by a systematic effort to identify the probable components of that historical perception.
Originality/value
This study is the first to focus on the influence of the past on consumers' current corporate images. The constructs identified and the terminology novel, offering a radically new dimension to corporate image research.