Search results

Few companies can afford to ignore international competition; those which are comfortable today may be vulnerable tomorrow. There are several strategies that companies can develop to improve their positions in light of the current highly competitive economic environment.

The use of bibliographic citation is a crucial aspect in the creation and dissemination of information. Numerous studies have been done ranging from simple citation counts to more complex bibliographic coupling studies, and from citation classifications to citation motivation studies. This review focusses on the citation studies that have explored the complexities and the underlying norms of the citation process. The major emphasis is placed upon the studies which have dealt with citation functions, citation quality, citation concepts and citation motivation. The international perspectives of citation practice are also discussed.

Twenty years ago, Senge's, 1990 pioneering article, ”The learning organization,” published in MIT's Sloan Management Review, received center‐stage attention. The concept received much support and was followed with articles by prominent writers and educators, Margaret Wheatley amongst them. Only ten years later, however, another prominent writer and educator, David Garvin, remarked, “Learning organizations have been embraced in theory but are still surprisingly rare.” The purpose of this paper is to argue and present support for a perspective that learning organizations have existed for over 100 years. Linking this concept to the past versus arguing that learning organizations are new will better pave the way for learning organizations to achieve a status of being more than simply “embraced in theory.”

Three objectives were presented. The first developed an historical link, with the goal of showing that learning organizations have had a rich history and did not simply appear in 1990. The approach to the second was based on drawing implications from literature about the learning process. The very heart of competitiveness depends on how firm members experience the learning process. The process is a function of the use of tools (T) within a learning climate (C) and their interaction (T x C). The approach to the third objective was to conceptualize learning climate dimensions, old compared to new learning organizations.

First, the idea that learning is always a competitiveness issue has not been consistently advanced in the literature, if hardly at all. Second, the internal learning climates within firms are what is at the heart of other cultures' successes. Much time has been spent studying the tools used in these firms, for instance quality circles, but little time with the climate learning dimension. The climate dimension has been the reason for their success.

The paper presents a tools/climate learning dimensions matrix (a 2x2 matrix) and develops the understanding that all learning stems from two learning dimensions, tools, and the learning dimension, climate, within which the tools are employed. Within this discussion, the authors present the idea of the competitive advantage of cultures; this advantage appearing in a firm as a consequence of the “climate learning dimension” of various cultures. The concluding section of the paper presents five climate dimensions; those of yesterday compared with those of today. These well known management perspectives (e.g. single loop learning/double loop learning, independence/interdependence) are linked to the learning process with a special focus on the climate dimension of the process. It is there that the degree of the firm's competitiveness is enhanced.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

In the wake of growing environmental issues, active public and corporate interventions are inevitable to reduce the negative impact of human activities on global environments. Building on the Norm Activation Model and Value-Belief-Norm Theory, the purpose of this paper is to report on research exploring consumers’ eco-socially conscious behaviours related to the choice and use of personal cars in a developing country, Pakistan.

To test a moderated-mediation model of environmental values, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), spirituality and eco-socially conscious consumer behaviours (ESCCBs), data were collected from 447 customers of three automobile manufacturing firms from eight different cities of Pakistan. The data collection was undertaken by using a self-administered questionnaire based on key themes in the literature.

Analysis of the data revealed that altruistic and egoistic values were negatively while biospheric values were positively associated with eco-ESCCB. PCE mediated all the relationships and spirituality moderated the mediated paths.

Although there are several models that explain purchase and use of personal cars in isolation or in conjunction with other general pro-environmental behaviours, an explanation of the eco-social aspects of purchase and use of personal cars in one theoretical model is rare to find. Second, among the many theoretical predictors and intervening factors explaining several pro-environmental behaviours, some culture-specific factors have been ignored – spirituality being one of them. This study contributes to the body of knowledge related to pro-environmental behaviours by conceptualising and testing the impact of spirituality in a moderated-mediation model.

This paper ranks university faculties, accounting doctoral programs, individual behavioral accounting researchers, and the most influential articles based on Google Scholar citations to publications in Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (AABR). All articles published in AABR in its first 15 volumes are included and four citation metrics are used. The paper identifies the articles, authors, faculties, and doctoral programs that made the greatest contribution to the development of AABR. Such an analysis provides a useful basis for understanding the direction the journal has taken and how it has contributed to the literature (Meyer & Rigsby, 2001). The h-index and m-index for AABR indicates it compares favorably among its peers. Potential doctoral students with an interest in behavioral accounting research, “new” accounting faculty with an interest in behavioral accounting research, current behavioral accounting research faculty, department chairs, deans, and other administrators will find these results informative.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.

The case discusses the operational, strategic, and financial turnaround at Solo Cup, a manufacturer of disposable dining wares. Solo Cup’s troubles were compounded by the acquisition of a larger rival, Sweetheart Company, which had its own problems and presented issues of merger integration that management could not solve. David Garfield, a managing director at turnaround consulting firm Alix Partners, must first recognize Solo Cup’s core competencies in order to determine the appropriate change in strategic course, strip out the assets that no longer support the operations necessary for that strategy, and monetize them in order to rationalize its balance sheet. This case teaches that a three-pronged approach will invariably produce greater results than any one-dimensional turnaround.

Students will learn turnaround techniques necessary to restructure a company operationally, strategically, and financially, and will learn how Alix Partners' relentless focus on “letting data rule” allowed the firm to revive a faltering company.