Shuang Tian, Lin Wu and Kulwant S. Pawar
Characterised by simultaneous food waste and shortages, our current food system is far from sustainable. Industry 4.0 has responded with technology-enabled innovations, including…
Abstract
Purpose
Characterised by simultaneous food waste and shortages, our current food system is far from sustainable. Industry 4.0 has responded with technology-enabled innovations, including digital food-sharing platforms aimed at facilitating the efficient redistribution of surplus food. However, potential users often express reluctance to adopt such platforms, prompting this study to explore the underlying reasons for their hesitations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted in China, the world’s largest platform economy, where food-sharing platforms are notably absent. Using a vignette-based qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 potential users. The data were analysed through thematic analysis to uncover insights into adoption intentions.
Findings
The findings highlight the relevance of factors identified in existing technology acceptance theories, such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, facilitating conditions and price value, in shaping adoption intentions. Additionally, content-specific and context-specific factors – such as trust in other users and the platform, concerns about “losing face” (mianzi) and safety concerns during the pandemic – emerged as critical influences on users' decisions to engage with these platforms.
Originality/value
This study contributes to scholarly discussions on enhancing the effectiveness of new technological innovations for food supply chain sustainability. The theoretical contributions expand the technology acceptance literature by incorporating factors related to platform service content and operating context.
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Zheng Ma, Chih‐Cheng Lin, Kul Pawar and Johann Riedel
The purpose of this paper is to implement the simulation game in the cultural comparison study so as to understand the impact of cultural differences on the team interaction.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to implement the simulation game in the cultural comparison study so as to understand the impact of cultural differences on the team interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to focus on the factor of “national culture” and avoid other factors which can affect the results, this paper conducted a simulation game – COSIGA – for the data collection and factor control. Two sets of groups were performed to represent two national cultures – the UK and China.
Findings
This paper finds that there is more decision providing in the UK teams and more decision seeking in the China teams. The China teams used a more intuitive process to make decisions, and the UK teams used a more reference process to make decisions. There were more repetitions of the problem‐solving process in the China teams than in the UK teams. The looping problem‐solving process was present in the China teams and the linear problem‐solving process in the UK teams.
Originality/value
This paper presents a case study of cultural comparison using a simulation game. The selection criteria and factor control of the simulation game is outlined for the practical implications.
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Kulwant S. Pawar, Ahmad Beltagui and Johann C.K.H. Riedel
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of product‐service systems (PSS). It uses a multiple method approach to analyse literature and cases and synthesise a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of product‐service systems (PSS). It uses a multiple method approach to analyse literature and cases and synthesise a framework for the understanding and investigation of PSS. It demonstrates the need to consider the “organisation” or network, of firms involved in defining, designing and delivering value through the PSS. This is conceptualised as a product‐service‐organisation (PSO).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses three complementary methodologies: a road‐mapping analysis, investigating industrial challenges for collaborating enterprises, a multidisciplinary literature review of PSS concepts and analysis of two cases.
Findings
The paper finds that value can be most effectively delivered by networks of collaborating firms, integrating the products and services they offer to create the value which customers seek. In short, creating value requires the simultaneous design of product, service and organisation – the PSO triangle.
Research limitations/implications
The paper offers a new classification of PSS related literature, drawing on a broad review of research in marketing, design and operations management related to service and PSS. The framework helps researchers understand the organisational challenges of PSS and provides suggested future research directions and questions.
Practical implications
The framework provides the foundations for a process to develop PSS. It highlights the organisational challenges and suggests that a systematic yet iterative process can be devised to create and deliver value. This means defining customer value which can be profitably delivered; designing the PSS to create this value and identifying the required capabilities; and finally creating and managing the network of partners responsible for delivering value.
Originality/value
The major contribution is a link between the emerging PSS literature and previous research on virtual enterprises and other types of organisational networks. The paper argues that PSS often creates the need to identify and access capabilities through a collaborative network. This is conceptualised in the PSO triangle.
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Monder Ram, Kul Sanghera, Dilpazir Raja Khan and Tahir Abbas
Should enterprise support for ethnic minority firms be configured along ethnic lines? This question has confronted many officers engaged in the “enterprise industry”, as they…
Abstract
Should enterprise support for ethnic minority firms be configured along ethnic lines? This question has confronted many officers engaged in the “enterprise industry”, as they grapple with the task of supporting the increasingly significant phenomenon of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. The situation is complicated by the markedly different experiences of ethnic minority groups in business; the apparently low take‐up of existing services; and wider debates in the policy world encouraging the “integration” of business support activities. Policy initiatives to support ethnic minority businesses have had to engage with such issues; but rarely have they been documented. This paper assesses the experience in a Midlands city of AsCo, a Pakistani‐dominated business group that is attempting to “bridge the gap” between South Asians in the retail sector and the providers of business services. The paper is distinctive in a number of respects: The issue of practical enterprise support provision for South Asian firms has rarely been subject to academic scrutiny. Hence, the paper provides a rare case study of this process in action; The design of the initiative was a genuinely collaborative endeavour involving the researchers, policy makers (the local Training and Enterprise Council) and small businesses in AsCo. Indeed, the research was commissioned by the local Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) and AsCo; A methodologically heterogeneous approach is adopted. This involved in‐depth qualitative interviews with 25 member businesses of AsCo (out of a total membership of 80); ten interviews with non‐members; observations of a number of AsCo executive committee meetings; interviews with key TEC officers; and an insider’s view (the second author) of how the research has actually informed TEC policy.
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Taraprasad Mohapatra and Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra
The study aims to verify and establish the result of the most suitable optimization approach for higher performance and lower emission of a variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to verify and establish the result of the most suitable optimization approach for higher performance and lower emission of a variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel engine. In this study, three types of test fuels are taken and tested in a variable compression ratio diesel engine (compression ignition). The fuels used are conventional diesel fuel, e-diesel (85% diesel-15% bioethanol) and nano-fuel (85% diesel-15% bioethanol-25 ppm Al2O3). The effect of bioethanol and nano-particles on performance, emission and cost-effectiveness is investigated at different load and compression ratios (CRs). The optimum performance and lower emission of the engine are evaluated and compared with other optimization methods.
Design/methodology/approach
The test engine is run by diesel, e-diesel (85% diesel-15% bioethanol) and nano-fuel (85% diesel-15% bioethanol-25 ppm Al2O3) in three different loadings (4 kg, 8 kg and 12 kg) and CR of 14, 16 and 18, respectively. The optimum value of energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, NOX emission and relative cost variation are determined against the input parameters using Taguchi-Grey method and confirmed by response surface methodology (RSM) technique.
Findings
Using Taguchi-Grey method, the maximum energy and exergy efficiency, minimum % relative cost variation and NOX emission are 24.64%, 59.52%, 0 and 184 ppm, respectively, at 4 kg load, 18 CR and fuel type of nano-fuel. Using RSM technique, maximum energy and exergy efficiency are 24.8% and 62.9%, and minimum NOX emission and % cost variation are 208.4 ppm and –6.5, respectively, at 5.2 kg load, 18 CR and nano-fuel. The RSM is suggested as the most appropriate technique for obtaining maximum energy and exergy efficiency, and minimum % relative cost; however, for lowest possible NOX emission, the Taguchi-Grey method is the most appropriate.
Originality/value
Waste rice straw is used to produce bioethanol. 4-E analysis, i.e. energy, exergy, emission and economic analysis, has been carried out, optimized and compared.