Farhad Nabhani, Christian Josef Uhl, Florian Kauf and Alireza Shokri
The purpose of this paper is to present a new optimisation approach for product variance from the purchasing perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a new optimisation approach for product variance from the purchasing perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a case study of a collaboration with a global acting automotive Tier 1 supplier, who produces steering systems for cars and commercial vehicles. A total of 116 different variants of three components of a car automotive steering system were analysed and evaluated. The data were gathered from 13 sub-suppliers for three different types of a steering system.
Findings
Unnecessary time, money, quality and technology can be saved through a greater understanding of such product variances. The results of the case study lead to a general method to optimise existing product variance and present cost improvements and a new key performance indicator to manage product variance out of the purchasing department.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on a purchasing case study at a Tier 1 supplier of the automotive branch. The approach can be used for other company departments, e.g. logistics and for different industries than automotive.
Practical implications
A company can be successful and competitive when it meets the customer needs with a maximum on satisfaction without generating of waste. Unnecessary existing product variance is a kind of waste. The insights of this paper support the operative user and the strategic company management to reduce and improve unnecessary variance in different sections.
Originality/value
The structured analysis of product variance from the purchasing perspective and the key performance indicator “variance share” are new to company management. The research focuses on the management of existing variance out of the purchasing department which is a segment that has received limited academic attention in research to date.
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Keywords
Josef Wieland and Jessica Geraldo Schwengber
This paper aims to contribute to the literature on corporate and leadership responsibility by proposing a relational business model for shared responsibility.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the literature on corporate and leadership responsibility by proposing a relational business model for shared responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a literature review on corporate and leadership responsibility is presented and discussed. This is followed by an overview of existing public and private regulations and future perspectives that enforce and/or foster corporate and leadership responsibility. Based on the concepts of relational economics, relational leadership and proactive regulation, the theoretical foundations of a relational business model are derived. In addition, a decision model for the empirical application of the relational business model in ethical dilemma situations is developed and presented.
Findings
Theoretical elaboration of a relational business model and an associated relational decision-making approach.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a new way of doing business in terms of shared responsibility. Furthermore, corporate responsibility and leadership responsibility are usually researched as two distinct fields, with the former referring to the meso level and the latter to the micro level. A relational approach, which views leadership as a relational phenomenon, contributes to bridging both concepts.
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Keywords
This paper explores the development of a luxury retail shoe brand in Belle Époque Vienna.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the development of a luxury retail shoe brand in Belle Époque Vienna.
Design/methodology/approach
Footwear retailing and marketing history is a neglected area. Unfortunately, no business records have survived from Robert Schlesinger’s shoe stores. However, it has been possible to reconstruct the history of the development of the Paprika Schlesinger brand from its extensive advertising in the Viennese newspaper, the Neue Freie Presse, with the guidance of the founder’s grandson, Prof Robert A. Shaw, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Birkbeck, University of London, England. This case study would not have been possible without the digitization of some major collections of primary sources. In 2014, the European Union’s Europeana digitization initiative launched a new portal via the Library of Europe website which provides access to selected digitized historic newspaper collections in libraries across Europe. The project partners include the Austrian National Library which has digitized full runs of several major historic Austrian newspapers, including the Neue Freie Presse. Other project partners which have digitized historic newspapers which are relevant to this paper are the Landesbibliothek Dr Friedrich Teßmann of Italy’s Südtirol region, the National Library of France and the Berlin State Library. An associate project partner library, the Slovenian National and University Library’s Digital Library of Slovenia, has also digitized relevant historic newspapers. Furthermore, the City of Vienna has digitized a complete set of Vienna city directories as part of its Wienbibliothek Digital project.
Findings
This paper suggests that Robert Schlesinger created one of the first European luxury retail shoe brands.
Originality/value
This is the first academic study of the historical development of the advertising and marketing of a European luxury retail shoe brand.