Nucor is a manufacturer of steel and steel products. We operate seven steel mills and are the sixth largest steel company in the U.S. Of those six companies, we happen to be the…
Abstract
Nucor is a manufacturer of steel and steel products. We operate seven steel mills and are the sixth largest steel company in the U.S. Of those six companies, we happen to be the only one that operated profitably in 1992. What sets us apart from the rest of the industry?
Steven H. Appelbaum and John Gallagher
Aims to understand how training and communication help an organization to learn and gain a competitive advantage. Explores the link between training, communication and measurement…
Abstract
Aims to understand how training and communication help an organization to learn and gain a competitive advantage. Explores the link between training, communication and measurement with individual and organizational learning by conducting a specific qualitative analysis looking for insights into how the concepts sometimes work and how they fail. Also touches on the general themes that have shaken management and employees over the last 15 years as they struggle to survive and prosper in the global village, and compares this concept with ideas that have been prevalent in organizations since the early 1970s. The objective is to understand how organizations can tap their intangible assets and increase their value to the organization, the individual who holds the knowledge and the society that benefits from a healthy economy.
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What can big business learn from small business? Plenty. But beware—the same mistakes can kill any company, any size.
Yi‐Min Chen and Yi‐Fan Su
This paper aims to investigate the effects of country‐of‐manufacture (COM) and country‐of‐design (COD) on industrial brand equity.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effects of country‐of‐manufacture (COM) and country‐of‐design (COD) on industrial brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework to assess how international buyers evaluate industrial brand equity when confronted with a single cue and multiple cues is proposed. Data for testing the hypotheses are collected through fax, e‐mail, and online surveys of managers from 102 industrial buyers of Taiwanese fasteners. A quantitative study is undertaken of 64 respondents using PLS analysis.
Findings
The main finding is that the single‐cue framework produces more statistically significant COM and COD effects on industrial brand equity than does the multiple‐cue framework. The current results confirm previous findings that the country‐of‐origin effects based on single‐cue and multiple‐cue studies produce conflicting and inconclusive results.
Research limitations/implications
These findings underscore the findings that the impacts of COM and COD on industrial brand equity are jointly determined by study characteristics, research designs, and the nature of the dependent variable being investigated.
Practical implications
A clear implication for managers responsible for branding and communicating B2B products in international markets is to continue to create clear awareness of the offering and to provide appropriate imagery for consolidating the reputation of firms in both their internal (product) and external (country‐of‐origin) dimensions.
Originality/value
While country‐of‐origin and consumer products have been widely studied in the literature, the paper examines the effects of COM and COD on industrial brand equity in analyzing the process by which international buyers evaluate brand equity when confronted with a single cue and multiple cues.
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Many innovative companies are experimenting with a strategy of mass customization—the low‐cost production of high variety, even individually customized goods and services. Based…
Abstract
Many innovative companies are experimenting with a strategy of mass customization—the low‐cost production of high variety, even individually customized goods and services. Based on his experiences at IBM and research into mass customization conducted at MIT and at the IBM Consulting Group, the author has identified five basic methods for mass customizing products and services.
Philip Kotler and Waldemar Pfoertsch
This analysis aims to examine the need of business‐to‐business companies for branding and analyzes the options for success by means of the stock performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This analysis aims to examine the need of business‐to‐business companies for branding and analyzes the options for success by means of the stock performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper consists of a qualitative and quantitative pilot study and a quantitative main survey.
Findings
Long‐term branding strategies, brand performance and firm's business performance are found to be positively correlated with stock increase. Current brand focus and use of guiding principles can lead to improved business performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study has possible location‐ and industry‐specific limitations.
Practical implications
Managerially, the findings encourage firms to adopt a long‐term branding strategy, focusing not only on brand development.
Originality/value
By systematically examining relationships between branding strategy and performance of the global firms, this study adds knowledge to the field of B2B brand research.
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This article sets out to describe the benefits of systems thinking in overcoming short‐sighted decision making in business and industrial marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
This article sets out to describe the benefits of systems thinking in overcoming short‐sighted decision making in business and industrial marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
The article illustrates specific tools and recent applications of systems thinking research.
Findings
The basic building‐blocks for creating microworlds are the claims made by stakeholders running and affected by real‐life systems.
Research limitations/implications
Suggestions for future research includes transforming research designs from linear one‐way models to models expressly recognizing time delays, feedback loops among variables, and seemingly hidden, unimportant relationships.
Practical implications
All business exchanges involve systems and there is more complexity than is readily apparent; systems thinking helps decision makers to deeply understand what is really happening.
Originality/value
This article advises replacing the one‐direction thinking and research paradigm that dominates business and industrial marketing with systems thinking and system dynamics modeling; the article identifies examples and the literature necessary to embrace this alternative paradigm.
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Karen R. Johnson, Sunyoung Park and Kenneth R. Bartlett
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between service orientation, customer service training and employee engagement of firms in the hospitality sector of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between service orientation, customer service training and employee engagement of firms in the hospitality sector of the tourism industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 231 responses from 13 large all-inclusive hotels in Jamaica are analyzed by using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Overall, service orientation positively affected customer service training and employee engagement. In addition, customer service training positively affected employee engagement. Furthermore, the results indicate that customer service training mediates the relationship between service orientation and employee engagement.
Research limitations/implications
This study builds on the conceptual literature of engagement and adds to the limited empirical studies to date to highlight the importance of service-oriented culture and training activities on employee engagement.
Practical implications
The findings of the study generate an increased understanding of the importance of an engaged workforce and of specific customer service training practices that can foster engagement. This study also highlights that managers should be supportive of training and development activities within a broader context that considers specific desired workplace performance from employees.
Originality/value
The knowledge gap related to many frequently used organizational practices reported as having an impact on engagement is addressed. Addressing this problem extends existing literature and provides an evidence base for human resource managers and professionals in service organizations, specifically in hospitality firms.
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Today's historian of American history and culture is part of a highly diversified profession. While politics, economics, and social and intellectual history remain basic…
Abstract
Today's historian of American history and culture is part of a highly diversified profession. While politics, economics, and social and intellectual history remain basic categories for historical inquiry, new subareas have appeared over the past decade or so. Contemporary historians have found it necessary to adapt the methodologies of psychologists, sociologists, and demographers to their own purposes. As a result of this gradual process, psychohistory (including the history of childhood and the family), urban history, popular culture studies, and studies of the impact of science and scientists on American society have evolved into separate areas of historical scholarship. These new study areas have made certain types of historical records more important than ever before — fiscal documents, censuses, electoral data, parish records (births, deaths, marriages), slave owners' records, etc. It is expected that such documents will light up formerly dark historical corners. The concurrent development of computer technology has obviated the tedium that manual studies of mountains of raw data used to entail. The computer has also made it possible to manipulate data in numerous ways. While traditional historians view the results of quantitative history with suspicion, its potential is great — if the computer is used as a tool and not as an end in itself.
Matamela Makongoza, Peace Kiguwa and Simangele Mayisela
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social issue that continues to haunt humans globally. Despite the magnitude of research that has been conducted, the Sustainable Developmental…
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social issue that continues to haunt humans globally. Despite the magnitude of research that has been conducted, the Sustainable Developmental Goals target 5.2, and the South African proposed National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, South Africa experiences high incidences of IPV. In heterosexual couples, violence incidences are a concern that requires further research by scholars because cohabiting relationships are an increasing phenomenon within the African context. This study attempts to theorize from an African philosophical stance, focusing particularly on the African psychological perspective. In this chapter, The authors illuminate the nature and forms of violence that manifest in cohabiting relationships. This research explores participants’ experiences of IPV in cohabiting relationships.
This enquiry has been conceptualized using a qualitative constructivism paradigm with in-depth, unstructured one-on-one interviews. Interviews were conducted with 10 participants between the ages of 18 and 24 years recruited from the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme in Vhembe District in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes while narrative analysis was used for the participants’ stories. Participants shared their self-reflections on their IPV experiences, deciding to leave their relationships, and threats from their partners when they tried to leave the relationships.