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1 – 10 of 11Fotis C. Kitsios and Evangelos Grigoroudis
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the new service development (NSD) process in tourism. For this reason, factors influencing the process of service…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the new service development (NSD) process in tourism. For this reason, factors influencing the process of service innovation in the hospitality sector were explored and correlated with business performance in the hospitality industry through a multicriteria decision analysis approach.
Design/methodology/approach
An original multicriteria decision analysis approach is applied in order to estimate the efficiency of the NSD process. The approach follows the principles of ordinal regression analysis, using goal programming techniques. Collected data are based on in-depth structured and questionnaire-based interviews of 77 hotel managers in 147 new services in a representative sample of 99 hotels in Greece. Several financial ratios, covering different aspects of business performance, are used in order to evaluate the NSD process for three years after the services innovation had been launched.
Findings
These findings reveal the importance of financial liquidity and business efficiency for the hotel industry (i.e. the ability of a firm to use available resources in order to achieve specific sales goals). The aforementioned variables can determine how quickly and effectively assets are converted to cash. In general, the findings show the emphasis that should be given to customer needs, as well as to the effective management of a NSD project.
Originality/value
Findings of this study may support hotel managers to make complex strategic decisions for future development. These findings have suggested that service innovation should be included as a strategic tool to assess differentiation effort in the hotel industry.
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Charilaos Lavranos, Panagiotis Manolitzas, Petros Kostagiolas and Evangelos Grigoroudis
The purpose of this paper is to study and quantify musicians' creativity in order to tune music library services and pinpoint potential musical creative activities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study and quantify musicians' creativity in order to tune music library services and pinpoint potential musical creative activities.
Design/methodology/approach/methodology/approach
Webster's conceptual framework for the creative thinking process in music is informing our survey while the analysis adopts a multiple criteria method for quantifying musical creativity. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is also adopted developing strategic decisions based on musicians' creativity behaviours.
Findings
Mental representations of the music heard (listening) is the most important dimension for creative thinking in music while dimensions such as recorded improvisations (improvisation), written analysis (analysis) and composed music scores (composition) follow. SWOT analysis provides further indications for music library services development based on musicians' creativity behaviours.
Originality/value
This study proposes a novel research vein based on multicriteria analysis within the contexts of musical creativity for managing music library services.
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Niki Glaveli, Panagiotis Manolitzas and Evangelos Grigoroudis
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to explore the importance of specific work environment facets for the overall job satisfaction (JS) of primary full-time permanent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to explore the importance of specific work environment facets for the overall job satisfaction (JS) of primary full-time permanent teachers (PTs) and substitute/temporary teachers (STs). Second, to highlight the similarity or difference in JS patterns among PTs and STs. Third, to provide guidelines for effective evidence-based human resource management (HRM) interventions targeting to boost PTs and STs JS levels by considering: (1) the perceived importance of individual work facets for them and (2) the school's performance in providing a satisfactory work environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on overall and important JS facets (i.e. satisfaction with opportunities for self-fulfillment, work intensity/load, salary/income, leadership and collegial relations) were collected from a sample of 438 PTs and STs in Greece. Moreover, MUSA, a method that combines Multi-Criteria Decision (MCDA) and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA), was applied to uncover the critical work environment facets of PTs and STs overall JS that call for interventions.
Findings
The findings suggest that PTs seem to value, more than STs, the transactional and economic aspects of the school environment. More precisely, on the part of PTs, self-fulfillment and salary/income are the main contributors to their JS, whilst leadership is the least important facet of JS. For STs self-fulfillment and collegial relationships are the aspects of work that contribute the most to their overall JS, whilst salary/income is the least important contributor. The study results further indicate that self-fulfillment is the strong attribute of Greek schools' work environment in boosting TJS regardless teachers' status, whilst salary/income and workload are potential threats.
Originality/value
It is one of the few studies that provide insights into the differing JS patterns of STs and PTs through the application of a MCDA/IPA method. Therefore, it offers evidence-based guidelines that take into consideration both the school's performance (overall and facet JS) and importance of core aspects of the work experience for STs and PTs.
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Elias G. Carayannis, Evangelos Grigoroudis, Manlio Del Giudice, Maria Rosaria Della Peruta and Stavros Sindakis
Organizations and their members operate in increasingly complex, dynamic and even disruptive environments, with risk and uncertainty being major challenges. To that effect, data…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations and their members operate in increasingly complex, dynamic and even disruptive environments, with risk and uncertainty being major challenges. To that effect, data, information, knowledge, and respective competences are increasingly instrumental in enabling and sustaining organizational intelligence that translates into resilience in the shorter and sustainable excellence in the longer term. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the artifacts and routines in a sustainable organizational excellence context.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature review was used to develop the context of the paper, focusing on big data and organizational intelligence for enterprise excellence and resilience. In addition, a thematic literature review method was used to study the role and impacts of routines and artifacts in organizational change, policies, structure and performance.
Findings
Although many traditional management practices retain their validity, knowledge management must give a clearer view of the existing connection between firm-level competitive advantage in open economies flows and difficult-to-use knowledge assets. The proposed framework studies knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation as organizational phenomena opposed and mutually incompatible.
Originality/value
The paper presents a first attempt to study the linkages of organizational routines and artifacts as a cycle wherein knowledge acquisition and learning competencies form and enhance a firm’s organizational intelligence, leading to robust competitiveness and sustainable entrepreneurship.
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Konstantinos Petridis, Evangelos Grigoroudis and Garyfallos Arabatzis
The design of a biomass supply chain is a problem where multiple stakeholders with often conflicting objectives are involved. To accommodate the aspects stakeholder, the supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The design of a biomass supply chain is a problem where multiple stakeholders with often conflicting objectives are involved. To accommodate the aspects stakeholder, the supply chain design should incorporate multiple objectives. In addition to the supply chain design, the management of energy from biomass is a demanding task, as the operation of production of biomass products needs to be aligned with the rest of the operations of the biomass supply chain. The purpose of the paper is to propose a mathematical framework for the optimal design of biomass supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrated mathematical framework that models biomass production, transportation and warehousing throughout the nodes of a biomass supply chain is presented. Owing to conflicting objectives, weights are imposed on each aspect, and a 0-1 weighted goal programming mixed-integer linear programming (WGP MILP) programming model is formulated and used for all possible weight representations under environmental, economic and social criteria.
Findings
The results of the study show that emphasis on the environmental aspect, expressed with high values in the environmental criterion, significantly reduces the level of CO2 emissions derived from the transportation of biomass through the various nodes of the supply chain. Environmental and economic criteria seem to be moving in the same direction for high weight values in the corresponding aspect. From the results, social criterion seems to move to the opposite direction from environmental and economic criteria.
Originality/value
An integrated mathematical framework is presented modeling biomass production, transportation and warehousing. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, such a model that integrates multiple objectives with supply chain design has not yet been published.
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Evangelos Grigoroudis, Panagiotis Kyriazopoulos, Yannis Siskos, Athanasios Spyridakos and Denis Yannacopoulos
Internet service providers (ISPs) constitute a highly competitive market, while the unstable market conditions directly affect customer preferences and make ISPs to develop a…
Abstract
Purpose
Internet service providers (ISPs) constitute a highly competitive market, while the unstable market conditions directly affect customer preferences and make ISPs to develop a “mass customization” strategy, individualizing services and approaching every customer in an individual way. However, customization requires an in‐depth analysis of current customer preferences and an evaluation of future behavior. The main objective of the paper is to present a framework for analyzing changes of customer preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents detailed results of independent customer satisfaction surveys conducted in different time periods in the Greek ISP market. The analyses are based on non‐parametric statistical techniques and the multicriteria satisfaction analysis method, which is a multicriteria preference disaggregation approach.
Findings
Results are mainly focused on the evaluation of potential trends of e‐customer preferences. Furthermore, results of a benchmarking analysis are also presented, based on the evolution of satisfaction levels for the quality characteristics of the provided services.
Research limitations/implications
Future research in the context of the presented study may be focused on satisfaction benchmarking analysis, given the rapid changes of the market conditions. An extended satisfaction survey will give the ability to analyze customer preferences in comparison with the main ISP competitors.
Practical implications
The presented study may help organizations in highly competitive markets dominated by rapid technological progresses to track short‐term changes of customer preferences.
Originality/value
The analyses presented are based on the combination of multicriteria analysis and non‐parametric statistics. The main advantage of these methods is that they respect the qualitative (ordinal) form of collected survey data.
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Yannis Politis, Charalambos Litos, Evangelos Grigoroudis and Vassilis S. Moustakis
The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a business excellence model applicable in the hospitality industry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a business excellence model applicable in the hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Two surveys using questionnaires were conducted: the first one for the development of the model's criteria and sub‐criteria and the second one for the assessment of the criteria and sub‐criteria weights. The model was tested on a number of Greek high‐class hotels.
Findings
Compared with other business excellence models the proposed model includes criteria and sub‐criteria that are more applicable to hotels. The model studies the factors that drive excellence in the hotel sector as well as the importance of these factors as they have been defined by the managers of the hotels. The implementation of the model in a number of high‐class Greek hotels shows its applicability and suitability to be used as a benchmarking system.
Research limitations/implications
Time limitations, as the project was co‐funded by the European Union, have limited the implementation of the proposed business excellence model to a small number of Greek hotels in the area of Crete.
Originality/value
The critical success factors for high‐class hotels have been identified and a business excellence model applicable in the hospitality sector has been developed.
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Christina Diakaki, Evangelos Grigoroudis and Maria Stabouli
The aim of the paper is to propose a method that may assist organisations in the task of selecting appropriate indicators for their environmental performance evaluation procedures.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to propose a method that may assist organisations in the task of selecting appropriate indicators for their environmental performance evaluation procedures.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed method is based on the principles of risk assessment, a key technique in the protection and management of the environment. When well‐constructed, it may cover all aspects of an organisation's activities, thus providing a sound base for the identification of the most significant indicators to be considered for the environmental performance evaluation.
Findings
The proposed approach starts from an initial set of numerous indicators. Each indicator is identified in order to monitor and assess the progress towards the achievement of a goal that has been set in relation to a particular environmental aspect of the activities of the considered organisation. For each indicator, a related environmental risk is assessed that may then be used to prioritise the indicators, and identify the most significant ones as far as the environmental aspects of the considered organisation are concerned.
Originality/value
Despite the fact that the environmental performance evaluation has been considered to be both significant and useful, the approaches proposed, so far, are very generic and do not provide actual assistance to the organisations that wish to adopt and apply such procedures. The main advantage of the proposed methodology lies exactly at this point. It facilitates the process of environmental performance evaluation providing substantial assistance to one of the most important stages that is to decide which particular indicators will be considered.
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Michalis Ainatzoglou, Evangelos Tsiaras, Vagelis G. Papadakis, Stergios Tampekis and Frank A. Coutelieris
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of open-flame pyrolysis kilns as an efficient and sustainable solution for managing olive tree prunings in Mediterranean…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of open-flame pyrolysis kilns as an efficient and sustainable solution for managing olive tree prunings in Mediterranean regions. By converting agricultural residues into biochar, this method aims to reduce biomass waste, mitigate CO2 emissions, and enhance soil quality. The research seeks to highlight the environmental, economic and agricultural benefits of this approach, promoting its integration into local farming practices as part of a circular economy strategy and a broader effort toward climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores the use of open-flame pyrolysis kilns for converting olive tree prunings into biochar. Portable kilns were utilized to carbonize biomass residues in a controlled manner, offering an affordable and efficient solution with minimal technical requirements. The process was evaluated for carbon capture efficiency, biochar quality and emissions reduction. A life-cycle assessment was conducted to estimate potential environmental impacts, with a focus on CO2 mitigation. Field trials assessed the feasibility of integrating this method into local agricultural practices, emphasizing its role in sustainable waste management, soil improvement and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Findings
This study demonstrates that open-flame pyrolysis kilns are an effective and low-cost method for converting olive tree prunings into high-quality biochar. The process achieved high carbon capture efficiency with minimal emissions, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional biomass disposal practices. Biochar produced improved soil properties, supporting nutrient retention and microbial activity. In addition, the method significantly reduced CO2 emissions compared to burning prunings in fields. These findings highlight the environmental and agricultural benefits of biochar production, emphasizing its potential for waste management, climate change mitigation and enhancing soil health in Mediterranean farming systems.
Originality/value
This study introduces open-flame pyrolysis kilns as a novel, practical solution for managing olive tree prunings in Mediterranean regions, addressing both environmental and agricultural challenges. It highlights the dual benefits of reducing CO2 emissions and producing biochar to enhance soil quality. The research provides an accessible, low-cost alternative for small-scale farmers, integrating sustainable waste management with climate change mitigation. By emphasizing the use of portable kilns and minimal technical requirements, this study offers valuable insights into promoting biochar production as part of circular economy practices, filling a critical gap in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy strategies.
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Veronika Andrea, Stilianos Tampakis, Georgios Tsantopoulos and Evangelos Manolas
The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach regarding the management measures for solving environmental problems in protected areas. Two neighboring protected areas with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach regarding the management measures for solving environmental problems in protected areas. Two neighboring protected areas with different features were chosen in order to investigate the similarity of the environmental problems with regard to these two areas and if it is possible for these problems to be solved through a network of protected areas.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out through the use of a questionnaire which was distributed to the inhabitants and visitors of both areas, as well as through interviews with the representatives of organizations responsible for the management and administration of those areas and representatives of the municipalities and the regional authorities these two national parks belong to. Simple random sampling was applied to the inhabitants and cluster sampling to the visitors.
Findings
The results show that with regard to the visitors the most important problem is illegal hunting while for the inhabitants equally important is the problem of pollution and cleanliness. However, those responsible with the management of the two National Parks think that the greatest threat to the wider area is the problem of floods.
Originality/value
The views of the stakeholders in a given time, provides us with the best possible information for solving the problems faced and can be used as a tool for increasing the effectiveness of the measures which have been taken to deal with the particular problems.
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