The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the need for business to integrate the internet as a means for creating frameworks for sustainable innovation and growth.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the need for business to integrate the internet as a means for creating frameworks for sustainable innovation and growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from accepted methods for establishing business innovation, the author updates these traditional models for the internet age.
Findings
The internet can enable business innovation more quickly, and on a larger scale than ever before, but managers must first challenge themselves to achieve internet integration.
Practical implications
Business must integrate the internet now, in order to avoid loss of market share; those that have an internet‐enabled framework for innovation installed will see their business grow sustainably.
Originality/value
Managers will gain unique insight into how the internet can provide an innovation framework, by acting as a distributed application and a global medium.
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This article aims to further discussion on viable methods for marketing measurement that account for the complete customer journey by exploring common technology and communication…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to further discussion on viable methods for marketing measurement that account for the complete customer journey by exploring common technology and communication barriers and solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Extensive industry experience with technical and business methods, referenced in cited case studies, and research on available methods of tracking, also cited, informed the analysis contained within the article. The article is intended as a jumping off point for further conversation and debate.
Findings
Internal (author informed) case studies, and current industry offerings reveal that extant technology and standard business practices prevent the development of a total value model of marketing measurement. These barriers must be corrected before a complete picture of media efforts can be realized.
Practical implications
A total value model of marketing will require correcting for extant insufficient technology, and coordinating data and knowledge integration between business departments, to facilitate analysis of both online and offline marketing, and discern the value of individual media along the customer journey that lead to sales.
Originality/value
This article consolidates and pinpoints the crucial barriers to a method of marketing measurement that reveals online and offline media value along the entire customer journey. It offers solutions, for C‐level executives and marketers, to these barriers, and suggests that the most critical factor is internal business knowledge and practices.
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MacDermid Europe announces the appointment of Terence Copeland as new group managing diretor in charge of European operations. Mr Copeland, formerly manager of MacDermid Singapore…
Abstract
MacDermid Europe announces the appointment of Terence Copeland as new group managing diretor in charge of European operations. Mr Copeland, formerly manager of MacDermid Singapore and marketing director of MacDermid Asia, took up the post from the 1st of June.
The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry…
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.
This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.
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J. Christopher Hughen and Peter P. Lung
Student-managed investment funds typically pursue “plain vanilla” objectives. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adding option strategies to reduce the risk…
Abstract
Purpose
Student-managed investment funds typically pursue “plain vanilla” objectives. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adding option strategies to reduce the risk of equity positions around earnings announcements. The collar strategy is one such technique with the advantages of a low net cost and limited potential losses.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors provide recommendations for utilizing the collar strategy around earnings announcements. The authors also discuss how the value of this strategy is related to the literature on option pricing and earnings announcement returns.
Findings
Risk management strategies can enhance the pedagogical value of student-managed investment funds. The authors document how students have successfully utilized the collar strategy to immunize risk.
Originality/value
The collar strategy can enhance the pedagogical value of student-managed investment classes in several ways. First, students learn how to implement risk reduction strategies. Second, the proper implementation of these strategies requires students to learn the complex mechanisms associated with corporate earnings dissemination and analyst coverage. This also provides an opportunity to study earnings drift, which is a persistent and economically significant financial anomaly.
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Elmer Bakker, Jurong Zheng, Louise Knight and Christine Harland
The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the impact of context on the adoption of e‐commerce in supply chains.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the impact of context on the adoption of e‐commerce in supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review, 45 semi‐structured interviews in four different supply chains in the UK healthcare sector, involving 16 different organisations, and additional documentation is used in this study.
Findings
The adoption of e‐commerce in supply chains is simultaneously affected by two contextual meta‐variables: external pressure, which is influenced by supply chain structure, demand and industry characteristics; and internal readiness, which is influenced by IT, organisational and buying need characteristics. Different combinations of these two main variables lead to four different trade‐off situations affecting adoption or non‐adoption.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical research has been undertaken in the specific context of the UK healthcare supply chains. It would be useful to test our findings in other sectors and countries.
Practical implications
The paper helps to understand the contextual factors that affect e‐commerce adoption and concludes with a framework that differentiates four situations that can improve managers' and researchers' understanding of e‐commerce adoption in the future.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is the recognition that the adoption of e‐commerce is affected by factors in both an organisational and a supply chain context, which simultaneously lead to trade‐off decisions. Also, unlike most other studies which refer to supply chains and are limited to an organisational perspective or at most a dyadic perspective, this paper builds up a supply chain picture of context by including perspectives from multiple actors in a chain.
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Christopher McDermott and Gregory N. Stock
As hospital costs continue to rise, increasing attention is being paid to the way these organizations are and should be managed. This attention typically comes in the form of…
Abstract
Purpose
As hospital costs continue to rise, increasing attention is being paid to the way these organizations are and should be managed. This attention typically comes in the form of focus on costs of services, quality (often measured through mortality rates) and length of stay. Hospital management has a broad array of choices at their disposal to address these challenges. As service operations, hospitals present a significant opportunity to apply the many tools and techniques from the field of operations strategy to this important industry. The objective of this paper is to use the operations strategy framework to assess the relationship between a set of operational elements and hospital performance in terms of average length of stay (ALOS), so that hospital managers improve the effectiveness and efficiency of patient care of their hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the structural and infrastructural operations strategy framework, this study examines the relationship between several strategic variables and hospital performance. To analyze these relationships the paper employs data from the population of hospitals in New York State. The performance measure is the ALOS for patients, adjusted for the mix and severity of cases in each hospital.
Findings
The paper finds that a direct relationship exists between the dependent variable and location, capacity, and teaching status, and failed to find a direct relationship for capital expenditures, salary, and staffing levels. However, the paper did find significant interaction effects between capital expenses and both salary and staffing levels.
Practical implications
There appear to be trade‐offs between capital expenditures and workforce decisions that have significant implications in light of current and expected hospital staffing shortages. The findings indicate that reductions in staff may not be perfectly replaced by corresponding increases in capital expenditures.
Originality/value
This paper further expands the body of research that addresses the important challenges hospitals face from an operations management perspective.
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The field of broad-based employee ownership within corporations is a specific application of the foundational topic of property ownership. It is situated at the intersection of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The field of broad-based employee ownership within corporations is a specific application of the foundational topic of property ownership. It is situated at the intersection of a broad range of scholarly disciplines including economics, law, finance and management. Each discipline contributes vocabulary and distinctions describing this field. That broad spectrum of disciplinary inquiry is a strength but it also lends a “ships passing in the night” quality to discussions of employee ownership. This paper attempts to unravel the narrative diversity surrounding this topic. Four meanings of ownership are introduced. Those meanings are in turn embedded within two abstract models of the corporation; the corporation as property and the corporation as social institution.
Design/methodology/approach
There is no experimental design The paper presents a conceptual overview and introduces a taxonomy of four meanings and two models of ownership.
Findings
Four meanings of ownership are introduced. The meanings are ownership as compensation, investment, retirement and membership. Those meanings are in turn embedded within two abstract models of the corporation; the corporation as property and the corporation as social institution.
Research limitations/implications
No hypotheses are advanced. This is not a research paper. A conceptual overview that makes use of taxonomy of meanings and models is introduced to help clarify confusions abundant in the field of employee ownership. Readers may differ with the categories of meanings and models introduced in this conceptual overview.
Practical implications
The ambition of the paper is to describe the various meanings and models of employee ownership presently in use in both academic and applied settings. It is not necessary or desirable to assert the primacy of a single meaning or model in order to achieve progress. The analysis provided here surfaces a range of assumptions about ownership that have heretofore been implicit in both scholarship and in practice. Making those assumptions explicit should prove useful to both scholars and practitioners of employee ownership.
Social implications
The concept of employee ownership enjoys a relatively broad appeal with the public. Among the academic disciplines that have trained their lights upon it, a more mixed reception prevails. Much of the academic and policy controversy derives from confusion about the nature and structure of employee ownership. This paper attempts to address that confusion by presenting a taxonomy of meanings and models that may prove useful for future research.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first efforts to comprehinsively map the various meanings and models of broad-based employee ownership.