Tommie L. Ellis, Robert A. Nicholson, Antoinette Y. Briggs, Scott A. Hunter, James E. Harbison, Paul S. Saladna, Michael W. Garris, Robert K. Ohnemus, John E. O’Connor and Steven B. Reynolds
Rising operational costs and software sustainment concerns have driven the Air Force to move to newer technology to ensure that the Air Force Standard Base Supply System (SBSS…
Abstract
Purpose
Rising operational costs and software sustainment concerns have driven the Air Force to move to newer technology to ensure that the Air Force Standard Base Supply System (SBSS) can continue to provide affordable and sustainable mission support in the years to come. This paper aims to summarize the successful software modernization effort the Air Force undertook to achieve that objective.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the preliminary system updates that were required to isolate the SBSS software from all internal and external system and user interfaces in preparation for the subsequent successful code roll effort. Once the legacy SBSS component was fully isolated, the SBSS software modernization objective was achieved via a “code roll” conversion of the SBSS software from legacy COBOL to Java code, and movement of the integrated logistics system-supply application from a proprietary information technology (IT) platform to an open IT operating environment.
Findings
The SBSS system modernization yielded immediate and significant IT operational cost reductions and provided an important foundation for achieving Air Force logistics system consolidation and cloud computing objectives going forward.
Originality/value
The SBSS modernization experience should be useful in assisting similar data system software modernization efforts.
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Keywords
The paper aims to describe the results assessment approach to the evaluation of training and development programmes.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe the results assessment approach to the evaluation of training and development programmes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explains the shortfalls with current approaches to evaluation, outlines the research that led to the development of the results assessment approach, and describes a realistic, pragmatic method to evaluate any training initiative.
Findings
Ultimately, “results” are what training and development professionals' customers need – and want – delivered, yet training and development professionals think and act within the limits of a training expertise that often lacks the necessary business perspective. Yet, the good news is that it doesn't take a huge effort or costly resources to improve things.
Practical implications
The results of every significant development programme must fall into one or more of the following domains: perception, transfer and impact.
Social implications
The results assessment evaluation model can play a key part in ensuring training and development activities are central to an organisation's goal, aims and objectives.
Originality/value
The paper describes a model that challenges current training evaluation practice and by focusing on business results enables “training” to become a core business partner.
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Anahita Baregheh, Thomas Carey and Gina O’Connor
As a sector, higher education is at the low end of innovation rankings. The challenges we face – demographic, technological, political, and pedagogical – will require sustained…
Abstract
As a sector, higher education is at the low end of innovation rankings. The challenges we face – demographic, technological, political, and pedagogical – will require sustained innovation at a strategic level. Recent research with mature companies has identified exemplars in strategic innovation (e.g., O’Connor, Corbett, & Peters, 2018). This work explores whether – and how – higher education institutions might adapt insights from the corporate sector for strategic innovation in teaching and learning.
The introductory section provides an overview of the nature of strategic innovation (and why it is hard to sustain), strategic issues facing higher education, and the status and challenges of sustaining strategic innovation for teaching. The next two sections describe insights from research with corporate exemplars of sustaining strategic innovation. Each section uses a scenario from higher education as a proof-of-concept test to explore the application of the corporate sector insights for strategic innovation in higher education teaching and learning.
The final section of the chapter discusses the planned next steps to prototype and test adaptation of these corporate sector insights with institutional innovation leaders in higher education, as well as additional potential sources of insights (from other research in the corporate sector and from strategic innovation in the public sector).
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Introduces a special issue on globalization and the welfare state. Asserts that economic globalization constrains national economic and social policy far more now than ever…
Abstract
Introduces a special issue on globalization and the welfare state. Asserts that economic globalization constrains national economic and social policy far more now than ever before, although the level of international trade has not increased that much compared to levels at the beginning of this century. Talks about the political consequences of economic globalization, particularly welfare state retrenchment in the advanced capitalist world. Outlines the papers included in this issue – comparing welfare system changes in Sweden, the UK and the USA; urban bias in state policy‐making in Mexico; and the developing of the Israeli welfare state. Concludes that economic globalization has a limited effect in shaping social welfare policy in advanced capitalist countries; nevertheless, recommends further research into which aspects of economic globalization shape social welfare policy.
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Explores how eating‐out patterns have changed over the last 50years. From a food‐rationed wartime Britain through to the 1960s withthe advent of the Chinese restaurant invasion…
Abstract
Explores how eating‐out patterns have changed over the last 50 years. From a food‐rationed wartime Britain through to the 1960s with the advent of the Chinese restaurant invasion, closely followed by the mushrooming Indian and Italian restaurants, highlights present‐day dining‐out habits and the demand by customers for quality and variety.
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Evaluates changes in the welfare system in Sweden, the UK and the USA over a decade, basing arguments on the divergence of economic globalization and domestic forces. Presents…
Abstract
Evaluates changes in the welfare system in Sweden, the UK and the USA over a decade, basing arguments on the divergence of economic globalization and domestic forces. Presents brief economic snapshots of each country, stating quite categorically that the welfare state is an impediment to capitalist profit‐making, hence all three nations have retrenched welfare systems in the hope of remaining globally economically competitive. Lays the responsibility for retrenchment firmly at the door of conservative political parties. Takes into account public opinion, national institutional structures, multiculturalism and class issues. Explores domestic structures of accumulation (DSA) and refers to changes in the international economy, particularly the Bretton Woods system (Pax Americana), and notes how the economic health of nations mirrors that of the US. Investigates the roles of multinationals and direct foreign investment in the global economy, returning to how economic policy affects the welfare state. Points out the changes made to the welfare state through privatization, decentralization and modification of public sector financing. Concludes that the main result has been an increase in earnings inequality and poverty.
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The aim of this paper is to examine how the “colleen” archetype was used in the creation of a successful brand personality for a range of soap manufactured in Ireland during the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine how the “colleen” archetype was used in the creation of a successful brand personality for a range of soap manufactured in Ireland during the early twentieth century. It reveals the commercial and political agendas behind this move and the colleen's later application to Ulster unionist graphic propaganda against Home Rule between 1914 and 1916.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study is based on an analysis of primary and secondary sources; the former encompassing both graphic advertising material and ephemera.
Findings
This paper demonstrates how contemporary pictorial advertising for colleen soap was suffused with text and imagery propounding Ulster's preservation within the UK. It also suggests that the popularity of this brand personality may have been a factor in the colleen's appropriation for propaganda purposes by certain strands within Ulster unionism.
Originality/value
This paper is based on original research that expands the historical corpus of Irish visual representation, while also adding notably to discourses within the History of Marketing and Women's History.