Dong Hoang, Cathy Barnes and Olga Munroe
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the management of traditional retail markets (TRM) in the UK. TRM are indoor and outdoor markets located in town and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the management of traditional retail markets (TRM) in the UK. TRM are indoor and outdoor markets located in town and city centres across the UK, selling food, household goods, clothing and the like.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a comparative analysis approach of multiple cases using an analytical framework drawn from place management and retail business management literature. The study investigates 11 retail markets in the UK, including 7 run by Local Councils, 2 privately run and 2 operated by Charity Trusts.
Findings
The paper identifies the management challenges of TRM lying at the intersect between its private-like business entity and the management overseen by local authorities, whose roles and functions are mainly on delivering public services. Although some council markets struggle, it remains a popular model for TRM because it offers social space and inclusion which other types of markets lack. The study also highlights that the environment within which TRM operate, such as policy, infrastructure, business and entrepreneurial aspects play an important role in influencing the performance of the markets.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the retail literature’s conceptual and empirical understanding of TRM management – the area which has been mostly neglected and under-researched. It offers an integrated analytical framework, including four dimensions of policy, infrastructure, business and entrepreneurial environment to advance the current limited understanding of this traditional form of retailing and sheds light on future research in this area.
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Cathy Barnes, Tom Childs, Brian Henson and Stephen Lillford
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Kansei engineering toolkit that has been developed to provide a set of tools and techniques to support better packaging design.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Kansei engineering toolkit that has been developed to provide a set of tools and techniques to support better packaging design.
Design/methodology/approach
The toolkit has its foundations in Kansei engineering but the work has extended the scope and increased reliability of results by: including structured linkages to designers; replacing “highest level Kansei” from Kansei type 1 with brand values; introducing a more structured process for the elicitation of type 2 selection of pack physical properties; reducing the complexity of the semantic differential survey used to elicit consumer perceptions; and structuring a process for selection of the Kansei words.
Findings
The work has shown that the proposed toolkit is able to support the design of packaging by illustrating the process with industrial case studies.
Research limitations/implications
Kansei engineering and the techniques presented in this toolkit are inevitably simplifications of the real situation, since many more variables affect the consumers purchase decision than is tested in this process. There is still a need to test the insights gained by the toolkit into a wider investigation.
Practical implications
This paper offers the packaging industry a robust and repeatable method to develop better packaging.
Originality/value
The paper presents an overall description of the Kansei engineering toolkit for packaging design and is a structured process that provides quantitative results for the relationship between branding, consumer perception and design variables.
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Ian C. Turner, Barrie D. Dunn and Cathy Barnes
The purpose of this paper is to present a process (chemical stripping) that can be used to remove pure tin plating from component leads and propose this activity as a mitigation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a process (chemical stripping) that can be used to remove pure tin plating from component leads and propose this activity as a mitigation strategy for tin whisker risk reduction associated with spacecraft hardware. The problems associated with the nucleation and growth of tin whiskers are stated. Present contractual requirements, having the purpose of avoiding the selection of pure tin plating, are highlighted to those not familiar with spacecraft standards.
Design/methodology/approach
The key issue here is that the process must remove pure tin from the entire length of terminations present on a wide range of component types. A resilient component can be dipped into liquid solder directly to the component's body in order to remove pure tin by alloying it with tin‐lead. However, delicate heat‐sensitive devices and those with glass‐to‐metal seals can suffer from the effect of thermal shock associated with immersion of their leads/terminations into molten solder. Solder dipping was performed on chemically stripped terminations but, in the specific case of the delicate components, the solder was prevented from wetting along the complete length of the exposed base metal or barrier layer metal. Any negative effect of the chemical stripping solution was assessed by inspection of each components' markings, their construction materials and, after tin‐dipping, a wide range of standard tests were performed on re‐processed devices in order to check that they had not degraded either physically or electrically.
Findings
The majority of components that were re‐processed by chemical stripping, and subsequently solder‐dipped, suffered no degradation from either of these processes. In order to avoid the removal of identification markings it was found that the bodies of certain components should not be completely immersed into the chemical stripping solution. Devices sensitive to heat or thermal shock could be stripped and their leads partially re‐tinned by immersion into liquid solder to a predetermined depth. A short length of exposed bare termination substrate adjacent to a seal is considered, for the purpose of this study, to be acceptable.
Originality/value
The European space industry has not previously utilized chemical stripping as a viable method for removing pure tin from components and other space hardware. The complete procedure for stripping and solder‐dipping will be of benefit to companies manufacturing products for industries that have exemption from the RoHS lead‐free directives.
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The purpose of this paper is to show that more than ever than ever, businesses need to understand the nature of different concepts of knowledge and methods for producing them.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that more than ever than ever, businesses need to understand the nature of different concepts of knowledge and methods for producing them.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing the philosophy of inquiry, the extreme importance and relevance of applied epistemology (theories of knowledge/inquiry) for business is demonstrated. It introduces and briefly explains five archetypal inquiry systems from Western philosophy. Each system defines “truth” and “knowledge” in completely different ways.
Findings
The paper shows the strengths and the limitations of each system for “knowledge”, and especially for doing business in the systems age.
Originality/value
The philosophy of inquiry has been greatly underutilized, even ignored, in schools of business. This paper attempts to correct this.
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Bonnie Lee, Jason Solowoniuk and Mary Fong
Trauma and adverse childhood events are found in the pre‐immigration histories of a cohort of four Chinese Canadian pathological gamblers. The nature of their traumatic…
Abstract
Trauma and adverse childhood events are found in the pre‐immigration histories of a cohort of four Chinese Canadian pathological gamblers. The nature of their traumatic experiences, consisting of loss and abandonment, neglect and deprivation, physical and emotional abuse, socioeconomic and political oppression, is elucidated and described. The impact of pre‐immigration trauma and its relationship to the development of pathological gambling post‐immigration are discussed. Upon further corroboration of the existence of pre‐immigration trauma among Chinese and Asian immigrants in future studies, training of counsellors to incorporate an in‐depth pre‐immigration history in the assessment and treatment protocol of immigrants manifesting pathological gambling is recommended.
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W. Brian Dowis, Ted D. Englebrecht and Mike Wiggins
Married couples receive tax benefits such as favorable tax rates, higher exclusions, higher phase-outs, and combined deductions. However, joint and several tax liability is a…
Abstract
Married couples receive tax benefits such as favorable tax rates, higher exclusions, higher phase-outs, and combined deductions. However, joint and several tax liability is a major issue facing these taxpayers. The term innocent spouse relief, within the Internal Revenue Code, is a direct result of one spouse failing to satisfy the joint liability for the married couple. Since both individuals are jointly and severally liable for the combined liability, the innocent spouse may be responsible for the liability in whole or in part. Our study examines this highly litigated arena of innocent spouse relief. To assist in this area of taxation, the Internal Revenue Service has provided taxpayers and tax practitioners with guidance. Revenue Procedure 2003-61 (2003-2 CB 296) outlines factors useful in determining whether innocent spouse relief should be granted. Additionally, this study creates a predictive model containing only three significant factors (economic hardship, knowledge/reason, significant benefit) capable of predicting with approximately 89% accuracy. These same three variables are significant after running multiple regression with p-values of 0.002 (economic hardship), 0.000 (knowledge/reason to know), and 0.001 (significant benefit). These factors provide valuable insight to practitioners when advising clients on challenging or accepting the Internal Revenue Service's decision. Additionally, abuse is marginally significant in the regression model. Also, judge gender and political affiliation are analyzed. However, the gender of the judge and political affiliation fail to be statistically significant using the chi-square test and regression model.
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Zarrina Kurtz and Cathy Street
Research has highlighted problems in accessing mental health services for people from minority ethnic groups. Much of this literature is focused on adults. The Minority Voices…
Abstract
Research has highlighted problems in accessing mental health services for people from minority ethnic groups. Much of this literature is focused on adults. The Minority Voices study aimed to identify and describe the perceptions and use of mental health services from the viewpoint of black and minority ethnic (BME) young people aged between 12 and 25 in England and Wales, and to examine initiatives designed to improve the access to, and acceptability of, services for these young people. It used a mixed methods approach, including a literature review, national service mapping, in‐depth interviews and focus groups in four sample areas and action research in preparing materials designed by BME young people. A number of issues that impede access to services, and that are specific to them, were identified and explored with young people from BME groups. These include concerns related to discrimination and racism, confidentiality, family and community pressures, uncertainty about any help they may receive, and marked fears of the stigma that surrounds mental health difficulties. Within services, a lack of capacity of targeted services and of cultural competence were highlighted. The research concluded that there is a need to improve awareness of mental health and information about services among BME communities, and for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to work with these communities to explore ways in which acceptable and appropriate mental health expertise can be made more readily available through both informal and mainstream provision.