Anna Rissanen, John G. Hoang and Michelle Spila
The goals of this research study included evaluating the outcomes of Interdisciplinary Science Threshold Experience (InSciTE) on student experience of science discipline, level of…
Abstract
Purpose
The goals of this research study included evaluating the outcomes of Interdisciplinary Science Threshold Experience (InSciTE) on student experience of science discipline, level of sense belongingness to a large Faculty of Science (FoS), outcomes in learning science literacy skills and whether a student's background played a role in the differences of effects of the high-impact teaching practices. InSciTE was designed to facilitate the transition from high school to a large research-intensive university, and specifically to a FoS with over 6,000 undergraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
The FoS in a Canadian university engaged in the development of a *9 credit program bundling foundational statistics and chemistry courses with integration of aspects of mathematics and biology or physics to create a new first-year, academic interdisciplinary experience called InSciTE. This project-based curriculum emphasized teamwork and leadership, and presented complex interdisciplinary challenges facing today's world. A team-teaching environment consisting of instructors, a lab coordinator and teaching assistants was instrumental for the core InSciTE courses. In addition, the authors utilized a variety of learning practices with interdisciplinary themes to meet the learning outcomes. Course activities included field experience and tours, blended learning and flipped lectures, guest speakers, discovery-based lab activities, group discussions and projects, a capstone research project, and a combination of formative and summative assessments. The authors proposed two hypotheses for the evaluative study; first that the high-impact practices (HIP) will improve students’ experiences and belongingness to science faculty, and second that InSciTE facilitates learning of scientific literacy skills. To assess the effectiveness of InSciTE, the authors used two surveys, the first being the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS), which measures skills related to major aspects of scientific literacy: recognizing and analysing the use of methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge and the ability to organize, analyse, and interpret quantitative data and scientific information. The second survey examined student belongingness, motivation and autonomous learning, combined with demographic data questions.
Findings
The results suggest that InSciTE students reported higher feelings of relatedness, group membership, and career aspirations and performed better on the TOSLS compared to students in other science courses.
Originality/value
As a leader in interdisciplinary science, the FoS at a Canadian university developed a full-year course bundling foundational statistics and chemistry courses with integration of some aspects of mathematics and biology or physics to create a new first-year, academic interdisciplinary experience called InSciTE. This project-based curriculum emphasized teamwork and leadership, and presented complex interdisciplinary challenges facing today's world aiming to facilitate transition from high school to a research-intensive university.
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The production of the ‘good life’ or the ‘less bad-life’ (Berlant, 2007, 2011), especially among generations of the Marcos dictatorship and the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue…
Abstract
The production of the ‘good life’ or the ‘less bad-life’ (Berlant, 2007, 2011), especially among generations of the Marcos dictatorship and the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue revolutions (henceforth, EDSA revolutions) in the Philippines, is animated by the ‘mobility imperative’ (Farrugia, 2016). The mobility imperative includes processes that encourage or demand mobility (Farrugia, 2016) for individuals and institutions. It figures in various ‘systems of practice’ (Levitt, 1998, 2001) among families in migrant-sending communities, government and corporations that magnify how migration is the ticket to better life (McKay, 2012) or its glorification as a heroic act (de los Reyes, 2013, 2014). Among the generations of the Martial Law and the EDSA revolutions, therefore, the ‘good life’ is hinged upon departure as professionals (e.g. nurses and engineers), workers in elementary occupations (e.g. construction and domestic workers) or mail-order brides or pen pals. Put simply, the good life in these generations is a function of remittances.
This chapter examines how the contemporary generation of young people construct the ‘good life’ in differential and new terms (de los Reyes, 2023; McKay & Brady, 2005) from previous generations. Using interviews and vision boards of left-behind children (15–18 years old), it argues that left-behind children critically appraise the ‘mobility imperative’. The chapter shows that there is a growing imagination of alternatives to the migration-induced good life among left-behind children, and therefore, they gradually refuse the ‘mobility imperative’. For them, the aspired good life consists of potentially being employees or entrepreneurs in their own villages and living a life with their own families (de los Reyes, 2019, 2020).
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John Walsh, Trung Quang Nguyen and Thinh Hoang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of digital transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of digital transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam.
Design/methodology/approach
The research features in-depth personal interviews with SME executives and managers.
Findings
The findings of this study may be summarized into five main areas: (1) multi-tasking role and scarcity of resources; (2) risk; (3) data-driven decision-making processes; (4) efficient communications; and (5) strategic issues. These categories emerged from the content analysis process.
Research limitations/implications
Qualitative research provides a good explanation for situations in actual firms but may not always be generalizable.
Practical implications
Means of overcoming problems with implementing digital transformation in Vietnamese SMEs are provided.
Originality/value
Most studies of Vietnamese companies focus on intensive manufacturing and membership in supply chains. Few studies consider the emergent service and technology sector.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Ngoc Dung Tran, Phuong Hoa Dinh, Dinh Hoang Uyen Nguyen and Van Vinh Nguyen
This paper aims to investigate “corporate governance” of the English East India Company (EIC) in the late 17th century through a case study of the Tonkin factory (1672–1697).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate “corporate governance” of the English East India Company (EIC) in the late 17th century through a case study of the Tonkin factory (1672–1697).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws upon British primary materials relating to the Tonkin factory to examine and analyze the EIC’s style of management in Tonkin (Vietnam) and Bantam (Java). Qualitative and comparative methods are applied to the analysis of reports, records and letters written by EIC staff.
Findings
The paper finds that the EIC faced principal-agent problems as it had difficulties administering its distant agents and subsidiaries in the 17th century. London was strategically weakened, both by the limiting power of regional headquarters and by its use of experienced factors. Before 1682, London failed to temper the Bantam Council’s influence, and there were serious internal conflicts and power struggles between English Tonkin employees seeking to improve their positions. After 1686, London successfully forced Madras to adopt a noninterventionist stance in Tonkin’s business, but it faced the problem of “adverse selection.”
Originality/value
This paper provides evidence from the Tonkin factory (1672–1697) to show the EIC’s governance in the perspective of the agency theory.
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Taewon Suh, Jae C. Jung, Gail M. Zank and Richard J. Arend
Assuming that supplier knowledge can either strengthen the partnership by nurturing the commitment and trust between partners or allow the buyer to be more calculative, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
Assuming that supplier knowledge can either strengthen the partnership by nurturing the commitment and trust between partners or allow the buyer to be more calculative, this study aims to propose two types of knowledge sharing in supplier relationship – a type benefiting the partnership and another privately benefiting only one partner.
Design/methodology/approach
Using structural equation modeling and a surveyed dataset from 352 buyer–supplier partnerships, this study tested the research model of dual mechanism, where two types of knowledge sharing co-exist and have opposite effects on partnership longevity.
Findings
This study found that the two types of knowledge sharing create divergent effects on partnership continuation. For a buyer firm developing supplier knowledge, its supplier firm reciprocates by sharing knowledge with the buyer. While relation-specific knowledge promotes partnership longevity through developing trust, institutionalized knowledge hampers partnership longevity.
Research limitations/implications
Findings overall indicate that knowledge plays a more instrumental role in sharing knowledge in a buyer–supplier relationship, and alternative forces simultaneously work in the partnership. Although this study explicates two mediating mechanisms for the effect of supplier knowledge, there remain many unknown aspects of the effect.
Practical implications
From the buyer’s perspective, it is possible its institutionalized knowledge can facilitate its relationship with a current supply chain partner so that it can gain more benefits from the relationship. From the supplier’s perspective, caution should be exercised in selecting the type of knowledge to share.
Social implications
This study may have a broad impact on public policy by theorizing and testing why some partnerships last longer/shorter than others in association with the dynamics of the relationship initiated by one’s relational knowledge and the other’s knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
What this study contributes to involves the theorizing and testing the effects of the dual mechanism of knowledge sharing on partnership longevity. This study provides an example of a private investment in knowledge that is reciprocated with each type of knowledge – benefiting the partner and also benefiting the focal buyer firm.
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S. Allen Hartt, Jonathan Nash and Catherine Plante
Local governments use taxes on future increases in property values to pay for current economic development through tax incremental financing (TIF). TIF is a powerful tax tool used…
Abstract
Local governments use taxes on future increases in property values to pay for current economic development through tax incremental financing (TIF). TIF is a powerful tax tool used to spur improvements to a designated area. Proponents of TIF argue that it allows local governments to make investments without affecting previously established government and school district programs. Detractors argue that because the TIF designation denies existing overlapping districts (e.g., schools) the benefits of increases in property values, TIF can have a negative impact on a community. Empirical evidence on the economic and fiscal effects of TIF is mixed. This paper describes the potential costs and benefits associated with the use of TIF and then summarizes prior research on outcomes associated with this widely used property tax program.
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Trang T. Hoang, John E. Bell and Thomas J. Goldsby
This paper aims to present an emergent framework that proposes the strategic importance of supply chain (SC) traceability beyond the traditional role in supporting product safety…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an emergent framework that proposes the strategic importance of supply chain (SC) traceability beyond the traditional role in supporting product safety, recalls and sustainability initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory (GT) approach with 22 in-depth interviews with managers from 10 countries/territories and 3 different echelons of the food SC is employed to arrive at the strategic traceability framework and framework's propositions.
Findings
The framework suggests that traceability can sometimes help expose and modify firms' core and non-core SC capabilities and provide an opportunity to align them better with SC strategies. This alignment may require a complementary execution of human coordination and the adoption of technological traceability components.
Practical implications
The research suggests that firms may be able to extract greater value from the firms' traceability investments. While traceability continues to serve the key purposes of preventing and mitigating the risks of recalls, this can sometimes illuminate sustained business growth opportunities.
Originality/value
The study extends traceability beyond a means to meet the requirements of product safety, recalls and sustainability. Rather, this study establishes traceability's role in exposing and aligning firms' capabilities for business gain and not merely recall risk mitigation. This reframing of the premise for traceability can invigorate both research and practice on the subject of traceability.