Suggests that a staff vacancy can provide a rare opportunity toredefine the post, its content and organizational role; and to analysethe personal and professional skills which are…
Abstract
Suggests that a staff vacancy can provide a rare opportunity to redefine the post, its content and organizational role; and to analyse the personal and professional skills which are required of the future incumbent.
Details
Keywords
Christine Mendoza Pardo and Christian Fikar
This paper studies digitalization projects aiming to increase the share of regional food in the hospitality sector and communal catering. The focus is set on influencing factors…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper studies digitalization projects aiming to increase the share of regional food in the hospitality sector and communal catering. The focus is set on influencing factors and underlying feedback structures that arise through the digitalization of regional food supplies. The results can guide stakeholders to get a better understanding of key influencing factors and complexities from a holistic perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A systems thinking approach is employed to model regional food networks. The influencing factors were found in the literature and in two model regions. Feedback loops and underlying structures were explained and validated through semi-structured interviews. Findings are visualized in causal loop diagrams (CLDs) and are used for theory development.
Findings
The presentation in CLDs helps understanding the influence of digital logistics platforms on the entire system of regional food supply and not just on isolated parts. Among others, cooperation, trust and digital solutions were identified as key success factors when aiming to increase the share of regional food in the hospitality sector and communal catering.
Research limitations/implications
The work focused on the underlying feedback structures occurring in regional food supply in two, rural Bavarian regions in Germany with their unique geographical settings. Findings may, consequently, not be entirely transferable to other regions with varying characteristics. Further research needs to be done to see how much these regional parameters influence digital logistics platforms.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the existing scientific literature by showing the impact coming from digital logistics platforms on regional food supply systems. Developing CLDs provides a basis for future work and facilitates discussion for researchers and practitioners to support future real-world implementations.
Details
Keywords
Douglas H. Constance, William H. Friedland, Marie-Christine Renard and Marta G. Rivera-Ferre
This introduction provides an overview of the discourse on alternative agrifood movements (AAMs) to (1) ascertain the degree of convergence and divergence around a common ethos of…
Abstract
This introduction provides an overview of the discourse on alternative agrifood movements (AAMs) to (1) ascertain the degree of convergence and divergence around a common ethos of alterity and (2) context the chapters of the book. AAMs have increased in recent years in response to the growing legitimation crisis of the conventional agrifood system. Some agrifood researchers argue that AAMs represent the vanguard movement of our time, a formidable counter movement to global capitalism. Other authors note a pattern of blunting of the transformative qualities of AAMs due to conventionalization and mainstreaming in the market. The literature on AAMs is organized following a Four Questions in Agrifood Studies (Constance, 2008) framework. The section for each Question ends with a case study to better illustrate the historical dynamics of an AAM. The literature review ends with a summary of the discourse applied to the research question of the book: Are AAMs the vanguard social movement of our time? The last section of this introduction provides a short description of each contributing chapter of the book, which is divided into five sections: Introduction; Theoretical and Conceptual Framings; Food Sovereignty Movements; Alternative Movements in the Global North; and Conclusions.
Andrew J. Hobson, Linda J. Searby, Lorraine Harrison and Pam Firth
Rodney C. Runyan, Patricia Huddleston and Jane L. Swinney
The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative study of small retailers, designed to uncover perceptions of resources which may be utilized to create competitive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative study of small retailers, designed to uncover perceptions of resources which may be utilized to create competitive advantages and improve performance. The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has focused on large firms, and this study extends RBV to the small firm.
Design/methodology/approach
Using focus groups of small retailers within four communities in the USA, open‐ended questioning and discussions were utilized to help elicit responses about owner's resources.
Findings
The concepts of community brand identity, local social capital and environmental hostility (though not part of the original discussion guide), emerged as important constructs. Both community brand identity and social capital were articulated by focus group participants as resources which helped them to be successful. Brand identity was seen as important regardless of environment, while social capital emerged as a resource used more in hostile environments.
Research limitations/implications
Brand identity and social capital are non‐economic resources which may help small retailers to compete in increasingly competitive environments. The RBV holds that to provide a competitive advantage, a firm's resources must be valuable, rare, imperfectly mobile and non‐substitutable. This qualitative study supports the conceptualization of brand identity and social capital as such resources.
Practical implications
Small business owners need to recognize the value of non‐monetary resources. Once these are recognized they can then be leveraged by the business owner to improve performance.
Originality/value
Few studies exist which apply the RBV to small firms. Only recently have scholars begun to operationalize constructs of the RBV. Researchers have not investigated social capital or brand identity as mitigators of environmental hostility. This study addresses each of these issues.
Details
Keywords
This study documents the role of relational trust in an afterschool organization and its influences on young people’s experiences.
Abstract
Purpose
This study documents the role of relational trust in an afterschool organization and its influences on young people’s experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a 10-month ethnographic study of one afterschool program that teaches teens how to make documentaries, I demonstrate that the confluence of blurred organizational goals; weak relational trust among staff; and funding pressures may have the unintended consequence of exploiting students for their work products and life stories.
Findings
The study finds that, while not all organizations function with student work at its center, many afterschool organizations are under increasing pressures to document student gains through tangible measures.
Practical implications
Implications from these findings reveal the need for developing strong relationships among staff members as well as establishing transparency in funding afterschool programs from within the organization and from foundations in order to provide quality programming for young people.
Originality/value
This study informs organizational theory, specifically in terms of measures of variation in relational trust within an organization and its influence on young people. This chapter includes student accounts of experiences with staff to enhance the significance of relational trust.
Details
Keywords
The progress of initiatives concerned with implementing evaluated clinical research (such as evidence based medicine and clinical effectiveness) is dependent on the way individual…
Abstract
The progress of initiatives concerned with implementing evaluated clinical research (such as evidence based medicine and clinical effectiveness) is dependent on the way individual health professionals actually acquire, use and value clinical knowledge in routine practice. The findings of two research projects, the Value and EVINCE projects, are compared with studies of the consolidation and application of clinical knowledge in clinical decision making. The Value project was concerned with the ways in which information from NHS libraries might be used in present and future clinical decision making. EVINCE was a similar impact study for nursing professionals. Both studies confirmed the importance of personal clinical knowledge. Health information services need to use a variety of strategies and knowledge management skills to ensure that the evaluated research evidence is assimilated and implemented into practice.
Details
Keywords
Robert Detmering, Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Samantha McClellan and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
Introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2013.
Findings
Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.