Oswald Mhlanga, Jacobus Steyn and John Spencer
The airline industry is structurally challenged by its very nature, because of high overhead and capital costs. This is further exacerbated by macro-predictability and…
Abstract
Purpose
The airline industry is structurally challenged by its very nature, because of high overhead and capital costs. This is further exacerbated by macro-predictability and micro-uncertainty, thereby making it difficult for airlines in South Africa to attain operational efficiency. The purpose of this study is to identify drivers of operational efficiency and their impacts on airline performances in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive data collection using primary and secondary sources enabled the researchers to gather data on all the airlines operating in South Africa, for the period of 2012-2016, on a variety of parameters. A two-stage empirical analysis was carried out, which involved estimation of operational efficiencies during the first stage by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and determination of performance drivers during the second stage by using a two-way random-effects generalised least squares regression and also a Tobit model.
Findings
From the study, it is clear that two structural drivers, namely, “aircraft size” and “seat load factor”, and two executional drivers, namely, “low cost business model” and “revenue hours per aircraft”, significantly impacted (p < 0.05) positively on airline efficiencies in South Africa. To improve efficiency, management should first concentrate on the drivers that can be changed in the short-term (executional drivers) and later focus on the drivers that require long-term planning (structural drivers). However, among the structural drivers, only “aircraft families” had a negative impact on airline efficiencies, whilst among executional drivers, only “block hours” negatively impacted on airline efficiencies.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the importance of this study, it is not free of limitations. Firstly, because of the small size of the industry, fewer airlines and lack of detailed data, the study could not consider other important factors such as optimal routing and network structure. Secondly, although non-aeronautical revenues have become increasingly important in airline management, they were not included in this study. Further studies may investigate the impact of these factors on airline efficiency.
Practical implications
The results have potential policy implications. Firstly, as the domestic airline market in South Africa is too small to operate with a smaller aircraft efficiently, airlines that intend to make use of smaller aircraft should first identify niche markets where they can have a route monopoly, such as SA Airlink. Secondly, as block time negatively affected airline efficiency, airlines can undertake schedule adjustments to reduce block time and thus improve technical efficiency.
Originality/value
This paper is a first attempt to identify drivers of operational efficiency in the airline industry in South Africa. The results indicate that DEA is a useful tool to identify factors impacting airline efficiency and could improve airline performances in South Africa.
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Peter Jones, Daphne Comfort and David Hillier
This paper offers a preliminary exploration of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues being addressed by the UK's top ten retailers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a preliminary exploration of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues being addressed by the UK's top ten retailers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws its empirical information from the CSR reports and information posted on the world wide web by the UK's top ten UK country of origin retailers. Four principal headings: namely, Environment; Marketplace; Workplace; and Community, are used to capture, and provide some illustrative examples of, CSR agendas.
Findings
The findings reveal that each of the top ten retailers has its own approach to CSR and that there are substantial variations in the nature and extent of the reporting process. That said there is some common ground in reporting on a range of environmental issues, on sourcing, on commitment to customers, on employees and on the communities in which the top ten retailers operate. A number of the top ten retailers are employing key performance indicators in an attempt to measure and benchmark their CSR achievements. The underlying message is that the top ten retailers claim that CSR is an integral element of their core business.
Originality/value
The paper provides an accessible review of CSR agendas being pursued by the UK's top ten retailers and as such will interest academics and students in higher education and practitioners and professionals working in the retail marketplace.
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In 1980 Gordon Simmons Research, in association with M & MD, interviewed a cross‐section of top management at 12 major retail organisations to examine their reactions to the…
Abstract
In 1980 Gordon Simmons Research, in association with M & MD, interviewed a cross‐section of top management at 12 major retail organisations to examine their reactions to the recession and the likely effect of the economic climate on their policies throughout the 1980s (RDM, May/June 1981, p.10). This article is based on an update conducted two years later during August and September 1982, with the same organisations. These retailers, though few in number, represent a high proportion of retail turnover because of the concentration of trade. They cover a wide cross‐section of retailing; supermarkets, department stores, electrical goods outlets, variety stores, men's and women's fashion. Interestingly enough, the interviews in this second survey coincided almost exactly with the beginning of a marked increase in consumer expenditure which began in the third quarter of 1982 (RDM, November/December 1982, p.4), and which has persisted up to the time of writing. However, the responses from retailers discussed in this article relate mostly to their experience through 1981 and 1982.
ROGER W. SPENCER and JOHN H. HUSTON
John Taylor devised a simple monetary policy rule that links the Federal Reserve's policy interest rate with inflation and output targets. This paper compares actual policy rates…
Abstract
John Taylor devised a simple monetary policy rule that links the Federal Reserve's policy interest rate with inflation and output targets. This paper compares actual policy rates with the rates that would have been recommended by the basic Taylor Rule for three long periods in U.S. economic history: 1875–1913 (“Pre Fed”), 1914–1951 (“Early Fed”), and 1952–1998 (“Modern Fed”). In addition, the authors develop a more complex version of the Rule to facilitate a comparison of the way in which each monetary authority would have reacted to the economic challenges presented outside its own time period. The empirical evidence suggests that Modern Fed would have reacted more promptly and appropriately to inflation and output problems outside its time period than either Early Fed or Pre Fed, and that the movement of interest rates in the Pre Fed period came closer to the corrective policies of Modern Fed than did those of Early Fed.
We would like to thank C. Y. Chen, Wenchih Lee, two anonymous referees and the seminar participants at the 2000 FMA annual meeting for their helpful comments and encouragement. All of the remaining errors are our responsibility.
Political economies evolve institutionally and technologically over time. This means that to understand evolutionary political economy one must understand the nature of the…
Abstract
Political economies evolve institutionally and technologically over time. This means that to understand evolutionary political economy one must understand the nature of the evolutionary process in its full complexity. From the time of Darwin and Spencer natural selection has been seen as the foundation of evolution. This view has remained even as views of how evolution operates more broadly have changed. An issue that some have viewed as an aspect of evolution that natural selection may not fully explain is that of emergence of higher order structures, with this aspect having been associated with the idea of emergence. In recent decades it has been argued that self-organization dynamics may explain such emergence, with this being argued to be constrained, if not overshadowed, by natural selection. Just as the balance between these aspects is debated within organic evolutionary theory, it also arises in the evolution of political economy, as between such examples of self-organizing emergence as the Mengerian analysis of the appearance of commodity money in primitive societies and the natural selection that operates in the competition between firms in markets.
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Frank Shipper and Richard C. Hoffman
This case has multiple theoretical linkages at the micro-organizational behavior level (e.g. job enrichment), but it is best analyzed and understood when examined at the…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
This case has multiple theoretical linkages at the micro-organizational behavior level (e.g. job enrichment), but it is best analyzed and understood when examined at the organizational level. Students will learn about shared entrepreneurship, high performance work systems, shared leadership and virtuous organizations, and how they can develop a sustainable competitive advantage.
Research methodology
The case was prepared using a qualitative approach. Data were collected via the following ways: literature search; organizational documents and published historical accounts; direct observations by a research team; and on-site audio recorded and transcribed individual and group interviews conducted by a research team (the authors) with organization members at multiple levels of the firm.
Case overview/synopsis
John Lewis Company has been in business since 1864. In 1929, it became the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) when the son of the founder sold a portion of the firm to the employees. In 1955, he sold his remaining interest to the employee/partners. JLP has a constitution and has a representative democracy governance structure. As the firm approaches the 100th anniversary of the trust, it is faced with multiple challenges. The partners are faced with the question – How to respond to the environmental turmoil?
Complexity academic level
This case has environmental issues – How to respond to competition, technological changes and environmental uncertainty and an internal issue – How can high performance work practices provide a sustainable competitive advantage? Both issues can be examined in strategic management courses after the students have studied traditionally managed companies. This case could also be used in human resource management courses.
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Chinmay Tumbe and Shashank Krishnakumar
This paper aims to understand the factors affecting the evolution of retailing in India since the mid-nineteenth century.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the factors affecting the evolution of retailing in India since the mid-nineteenth century.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper compares the trajectories of four distinct retail stores in India – Spencer’s pan-Indian retailing empire since 1863, Akbarallys’ department store chain in Mumbai since 1897, Apna Bazar’s consumer cooperative chain in Mumbai since 1948 and the Future Group’s pan-Indian retailing chain since the 1980s. Historical sources include firm biographies and newspaper archives.
Findings
This paper proposes a systems theory linking environmental influences and service innovation, to explain the evolution of retailing in India since the mid-nineteenth century. The key environmental influence on retailing has been state patronage – colonialism and high-end department stores until the 1940s, socialism and cooperative stores until the 1980s and liberalisation with restricted foreign direct investment in retailing until 2015 associated with indigenous corporate large retail format stores. Service innovation in terms of home delivery and recreation of the bazaar atmosphere due to norms on gender and community have also interacted to shape individual success in modern retailing and the dominance of small shop retailing over the long run.
Research limitations/implications
This paper questions standard accounts of retailing history in India that began with the late-twentieth century by showing the scale of a pan-Indian retailing chain in the early-twentieth century. It also provides an account of retailers that is missing in the current literature on the history of consumption in India.
Practical implications
Findings of this study will be useful to marketing professionals and teachers who wish to learn more about the history of retailing in India. It also shows how retailers navigated changes in the regulatory and business environment.
Originality/value
Through a comparative study, this paper outlines the environmental influences on retail formats and service innovation strategies that are required to serve the Indian market. It also brings to fore the significance of retailing chains in colonial India.
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THE enterprise of two London newspapers, the Tribune (for the second time) and the Daily Chronicle, in organizing exhibitions of books affords a convenient excuse for once again…
Abstract
THE enterprise of two London newspapers, the Tribune (for the second time) and the Daily Chronicle, in organizing exhibitions of books affords a convenient excuse for once again bringing forward proposals for a more permanent exhibition. On many occasions during the past twenty years the writer has made suggestions for the establishment of a central book bazaar, to which every kind of book‐buyer could resort in order to see and handle the latest literature on every subject. An experiment on wrong lines was made by the Library Bureau about fifteen years ago, but here, as in the exhibitions above mentioned, the arrangement was radically bad. Visiting the Daily Chronicle show in company with other librarians, and taking careful note of the planning, one was struck by the inutility of having the books arranged by publishers and not by subjects. Not one visitor in a hundred cares twopence whether books on electricity, biography, history, travel, or even fairy tales, are issued by Longmans, Heinemann, Macmillan, Dent or any other firm. What everyone wants to see is all the recent and latest books on definite subjects collected together in one place. The arrangements at the Chronicle and Tribune shows are just a jumble of old and new books placed in show‐cases by publishers' names, similar to the abortive exhibition held years ago in Bloomsbury Street. What the book‐buyer wants is not a miscellaneous assemblage of books of all periods, from 1877 to date, arranged in an artistic show‐case and placed in charge of a polite youth who only knows his own books—and not too much about them—but a properly classified and arranged collection of the newest books only, which could be expounded by a few experts versed in literature and bibliography. What is the use of salesmen in an exhibition where books are not sold outright? If these exhibitions were strictly limited to the newest books only, there would be much less need for salesmen to be retained as amateur detectives. Another decided blemish on such an exhibition is the absence of a general catalogue. Imagine any exhibition on business lines in which visitors are expected to cart away a load of catalogues issued separately by the various exhibitors and all on entirely different plans of arrangement! The British publisher in nearly everything he does is one of the most hopeless Conservatives in existence. He will not try anything which has not been done by his grandfather or someone even more remote, so that publishing methods remain crystallized almost on eighteenth century lines. The proposal about to be made is perhaps far too revolutionary for the careful consideration of present‐day publishers, but it is made in the sincere hope that it may one day be realized. It has been made before without any definite details, but its general lines have been discussed among librarians for years past.
The forecast that average wages would rise by at least 10% by mid‐'77 and inflation would continue at 14% were two of the more depressing “prospects” put forward at a recent…
Abstract
The forecast that average wages would rise by at least 10% by mid‐'77 and inflation would continue at 14% were two of the more depressing “prospects” put forward at a recent retailing seminar organised by stockbrokers, Philips and Drew. Speakers at the conference discussed share prospects in the retail sector for the benefit of an audience of potential investors—in the main representatives of insurance companies and pension funds. Financial analyst, Alun Jones, examined the outlook for the whole sector, while Kenneth Bishop, Finance Director, Debenhams; John Samuel, Director and Joint Secretary, Marks and Spencer; and Ian MacLaurin, Managing Director, Tesco Stores each looked at the prospects for their own companies. Below we summarise some of their conclusions.
With the promise of more and more retailers trading up and the increasing proliferation of speciality shops, it seems that the designer may be just coming into his own. Interior…
Abstract
With the promise of more and more retailers trading up and the increasing proliferation of speciality shops, it seems that the designer may be just coming into his own. Interior Design International, held at Olympia in March, claimed record numbers of visitors to its exhibition — a claim which was endorsed by a number of exhibitors to whom RDM spoke. And the conference held alongside it, “Tomorrow's Interiors”, had its shops and stores' seminar well attended; among the delegates from design houses and product groups were names like Marks & Spencer, Macdonalds, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Maple and Cadbury‐Schweppes. Other exhibitions in the offing include Shopex, to be held at Olympia from 18–22 May. The publicists have forecast a bumper exhibition, and claim to have some 220 exhibitors lined up. That's 55 up from last year's showing, when RDM counted something in the region of 165 companies. Of last year's number, around 75 have dropped out this year — or if your prefer it the other way, 90 exhibitors have chosen to stay on. The fact that Shopex has been brought down to London's Olympia has led to speculation that this could be a good thing for visitors from home and abroad. Last year, it was said that Birmingham was simply too decentralised, especially for the foreign visitor, and that most of the good examples of design and shopfitting were in the London shops anyway. The exhibition has a range of participants from the fields of shopfitting, design, display, point of sale, security, lighting, business machines, merchandising and allied products. It is interesting to see how many exhibitors are in the field of computers, cash registers and EPOS: Anker Data Systems, Associated Business Machines, Cash and Security Equipment, Chubb Cash, Compucorp, Decimo, Electronic Cash Registers, Geller Business Equipment, Gunn Electronic Cash Registers, Hugin Cash Registers, MLM Computers, NCR, Norfrond, Norman Pendred Cellgrave, SI Design Studio, Sanyo Marubeni UK, Shilglade Retail Systems, TEC UK, Transaction Data Systems. It will also be interesting to see what the shopfitter and designer has to offer the retailer today, faced as he is with a shrinking market. The consumer's pocket is emptier than ever before, and the major multiples have already absorbed most of the growth possible from squeezing out the independent. That the element of design will also play an increasingly important part in retailing was also evident from the ICSC 5th Annual Conference, also held in London in March. In the seminar entitled “Shopping centre response to the need for a better quality of life”, we heard how the consumer has become more discerning and demanding, and how we have to give her a more enjoyable, attractive and socially useful shopping centre; one that is well‐designed, convenient and inclusive of good services, eating areas and facilities like nurseries and libraries. From the same conference came a very interesting talk by Rodney Fitch of Fitch & Company, the design consultants, on the subject of “Graphics, signs and mall furniture.” This speech is reported below; we also present a version of the paper on design by David Calcott of John Michael Design Consultants, presented at the “Tomorrow's Interiors” conference.