Business process reengineering applied to the returns channel is becoming increasingly important as a result of marketplace requirements for productivity and customer…
Abstract
Business process reengineering applied to the returns channel is becoming increasingly important as a result of marketplace requirements for productivity and customer satisfaction. This article provides an overview of a reengineering approach to “reverse logistics” and presents methodologies which may be helpful to management. Several examples from the literature are provided as illustrations of issues involved in reengineering the returns channel process and measuring return to available (RTA). The core processes of the Xerox Business Process Architecture (XBPA) are studied to identify the issues involved with solving the business issue by process rather than with functional strategies. Issues associated with business problem benchmarking as an input to reengineering and the key aspects of managing by process are also presented.
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Chief Scout executive Jere Ratcliffe is leading America's premier youth organization through its first long‐range plan.
A new executive role has emerged, the chief information officer or CIO.Five successful CIOs in five different industry types agreed to beobserved for one work week each. Perhaps…
Abstract
A new executive role has emerged, the chief information officer or CIO. Five successful CIOs in five different industry types agreed to be observed for one work week each. Perhaps the most important shared characteristic among these successful information executives was their use of figurative or metaphorical language. Anecdotes illustrating this particularly effective form of communication are provided from each of the five environments: insurance, university, manufacturing, government agency, and utilities. The ability to read ongoing situations from others′ perspective seemed to enable the CIOs to use metaphorical language more effectively. In turn, seeking the appropriate metaphor or analogy seemed to sharpen their ability to read situations from others′ perspective.
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Santi Furnari and Marianna Rolbina
Despite the importance of brokers in creative projects, limited attention has been devoted to the micro-interactions by which brokers induce others’ collaboration while…
Abstract
Despite the importance of brokers in creative projects, limited attention has been devoted to the micro-interactions by which brokers induce others’ collaboration while simultaneously retaining some control over creative production. Building on an interactionist perspective, we develop the concept of brokerage style – i.e., a recognizable pattern in the ways in which a broker interacts with others. By using different brokerage styles in different phases of a creative project, brokers can orient the social interactions among project participants, “charging” those interactions with different types of emotional energy and mutual attention, eventually inducing collective collaboration and limiting participants’ expectations of control. We illustrate our interactionist model of brokerage styles with examples from the music and TV industries.
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Louise Hallenborg, Marco Ceccagnoli and Meadow Clendenin
This chapter provides an overview of five modes of intellectual property (IP) protection – patents, designs, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets – available in the United…
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of five modes of intellectual property (IP) protection – patents, designs, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets – available in the United States, the European Union, and Japan. After describing the purposes of and principal differences among the five types of IP protection and outlining the advantages of each form, the chapter provides country- and region-specific information. The authors highlight the aspects of IP law in which international harmonization has, or has not yet, occurred, and offer insights into the relative advantages of various national and regional IP protection systems.
This paper considers the determinants of residential values from a hierarchical approach based on market experience using a system of Likert Scaling. The approach is tested…
Abstract
This paper considers the determinants of residential values from a hierarchical approach based on market experience using a system of Likert Scaling. The approach is tested initially by statistical methods based on a stepwise selection in an ordinary least squares model. The results, however, seem to indicate the presence of multicollinearity, and ridge regression is used to screen the variables and to help select the appropriate model. The study was carried out in Singapore in relation to the rental value of a cluster of 114 high rise apartments in the prime Orchard Road area. The data were collected by Yeo Swee Ching, and both he and Lee Hin Tak used them as a basis for their student dissertations under the author's guidance. This paper sets out some of the methodology and findings of the investigations.
The purpose of this paper is to question the conventional wisdom that China fails to produce distinctive innovation; its capabilities limited merely to copying and reverse…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to question the conventional wisdom that China fails to produce distinctive innovation; its capabilities limited merely to copying and reverse engineering. The author postulates that the lack of innovation is a delayed activity since China is undergoing a process of building absorptive capacity (AC) as a precursor to innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The author probes this question by drawing on the concept of AC, a competence separate from innovativeness and a precursor to it. By drawing on the AC literature three propositions are established. Subsequently, these propositions are examined, in part, with data drawn from 34 interviews conducted in China with CEOs, other senior corporate officers and government officials. In this way, the author explores the challenges to innovating.
Findings
Thomson Reuters 2015 Top Global Innovators report listed no Chinese company among its top 100 list of innovative companies. The author’s belief, however, favors China to become a source of innovation. A positive tilt derived from both interviews and recent reports published by Bain & Company, Booz and Co as well as McKinsey & Co. This evidences, the author argues, China is acquiring AC, a competence independent of innovation but a necessary antecedent to decoding and deploying the intellectual property in its portfolio. The collective effect of this is that the perception of China as a source of innovative activity will show an uptick when the AC threshold is reached.
Research limitations/implications
This is a viewpoint paper grounded on an exploratory study.
Practical implications
Guidance on AC development is valuable to government policy makers promoting innovation in China and those attempting to arbitrage these developments. Similarly, policy makers in competitive nations should also be aware that their innovation-focused industries may need nurturing and bolstering since they may be at risk of being swept away by a tsunami-like innovation wave from China.
Originality/value
This is an original take on the relationship of AC and innovativeness in China. The author argues that in contrast to the conventional wisdom China has the potential for innovativeness.
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The purpose of this paper is to consider the attainment of the corporate objective of the UK Companies Act of 2006 Section 172(1) from the perspective of financial valuations that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the attainment of the corporate objective of the UK Companies Act of 2006 Section 172(1) from the perspective of financial valuations that are reliant on the cost of capital. The cost of capital plays an important role in many of the models and propositions that are routinely used for financial valuation and decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
From the perspective of financial valuations that are used to guide decision making that is in accordance with the corporate objective of the UK Companies Act of 2006 Section 172(1), managers and directors require a valid, reliable, and interpretable cost of capital. The theory, models, and propositions of financial management, whether they be investment, financing, or distributions (Sections 829‐853) decisions, are dependent on the cost of capital. This paper has three main tasks. First, the relevant sections of UK corporate statute with regard to the corporate objective need to be identified and presented. Second, a brief review of the function and role of the cost of capital for the valuations upon which investment, financing, and dividend decisions are based, is undertaken to ensure that the role and function of this key financial metric is clearly recognized. Third, since the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is so widely and exclusively used, often without recourse to other approaches to calculation of the cost of capital, an update of CAPM empirical evidence is undertaken to affirm the 2004 findings and subsequent recommendations by Fama and French that the CAPM is not an acceptable way of calculating the cost of capital.
Findings
It is doubtful whether directors, who use an empirically invalid and unreliable valuation model such as the CAPM to calculate the cost of capital, will be able to meaningfully and purposefully make decisions consistent with the “enlightened shareholder value”. Managers and directors need to use approaches to the cost of capital that are valid and can be empirically verified.
Practical implications
This paper recommends that directors of public companies who make decisions using financial valuations that embody the cost of capital should ensure that models other than the CAPM are used; otherwise, they may find it difficult unable to defend challenges to their statutory duty of attaining the corporate objective.
Originality/value
An update of CAPM empirical evidence is undertaken to affirm the findings and subsequent recommendations by Fama and French (2004) that the CAPM is not an acceptable way of calculating the cost of capital.
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This study investigates the roles of board independence and CEO duality on a firm’s performance relying on financial ratios, namely ROA, ROE, EPS and profit margin. This paper…
Abstract
This study investigates the roles of board independence and CEO duality on a firm’s performance relying on financial ratios, namely ROA, ROE, EPS and profit margin. This paper argues that if boards and leadership structure are well in place and conform to the practices in other developed countries, the long‐term shareholder value is expected to increase and shareholder interests are also well protected. To test the roles of board independence and CEO duality, data from the KLSE Main Board companies for the 1994‐1996 financial years were used. The 1994‐1996 financial years were chosen because, during this period, the issue of corporate governance in Malaysia was not as prominent as it was during, and after, the 1997/1998 financial crisis. Thus, this period could be considered as the period during which guidelines on the structure of the board of directors were not yet available in Malaysia. The findings, generally, suggest that neither board independence, leadership structure nor the joint effects of these two showed any relations with firm performance. Findings of this study, nonetheless, showed that Malaysian companies’ boards were generally dominated by outside directors and the majority of the companies in the study practiced non‐dual leadership structures. Thus, this evidence suggests that the structure of the boards of directors in Malaysia is largely independent of management and the absence of any dominant personality.