This paper aims to address the general lack of detailed attention to the value co-creation process which happens in the consumers’ social environment. The purpose of the paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address the general lack of detailed attention to the value co-creation process which happens in the consumers’ social environment. The purpose of the paper is to extend prior understanding on new ways of creating value within an uncertain and complex small business environment where consumers are increasingly collaborating and constructing value within their own social environment that is not always visible to entrepreneurs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected in-depth data from craft beer consumers who detail consumers’ perspectives on value co-creation within their social context. Discourse analysis is used to examine the ways in which consumers create value within their social environment. Discourses are generated through in-depth, semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The findings reveal that a significant part of value creation happens outside the entrepreneurs’ control. Consumers seek to have social experiences which they want to experience individually but not alone. Accordingly, the legitimacy of a certain type of consumption creates a basis for consumers’ self-presentations and situational selves, on which value can be built.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights into how contemporary consumers work together to co-create value. In addition, this study answers the call for scholarly attention to consumer-to-consumer value linkages to gain new understandings of socially constructed value and contemporary consumption behaviour and reveals how entrepreneurs can benefit from this.
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Nadine Strauß, Laura Alonso-Muñoz and Homero Gil de Zúñiga
The purpose of this study is to identify the structural processes that lead citizens to escape their common social circles when talking about politics and public affairs (e.g…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the structural processes that lead citizens to escape their common social circles when talking about politics and public affairs (e.g. “filter bubbles”). To do so, this study tests to what extent political attitudes, political behavior, news media consumption and discussion frequency affect discussion network heterogeneity among US citizens.
Design/methodology/approach
Supported by the polling group Nielsen, this study uses a two-wave panel online survey to study the antecedents and mechanisms of discussion network heterogeneity among US citizens. To test the hypotheses and answer the research questions, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions (cross-sectional, lagged and autoregressive) and mediation analyses were conducted.
Findings
The findings imply that political discussion frequency functions as the key element in explaining the mechanism that leads politically interested and participatory citizens (online) as well as news consumers of traditional and online media to seek a more heterogeneous discussion network, disrupting the so-called “filter bubbles.” However, mediation analyses also showed that discussion frequency can lead to more homogenous discussion networks if people score high on political knowledge, possibly reflecting the formation of a close network of political-savvy individuals.
Originality/value
The survey data give important insights into the 2016 pre-election situation, trying to explain why US citizens were more likely to remain in homogenous discussion networks when talking about politics and public affairs. By using two-wave panel data, the analyses allow to draw tentative conclusions about the influential and inhibiting factors and mechanisms that lead individuals to seek/avoid a more heterogeneous discussion network.
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Santiago Sánchez, Fermín Lizarraga Dallo, Laura Arnedo Ajona and Manolo Cano Rodriguez
Taking into account that debtholders bear most of the risks in the case of failure (Jensen and Meckling, 1976), earnings quality is valuable for debtholder decision makers as a…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking into account that debtholders bear most of the risks in the case of failure (Jensen and Meckling, 1976), earnings quality is valuable for debtholder decision makers as a monitoring mechanism and as a signal of credibility that reduces information asymmetries. In this sense, this paper aims to analyze whether banks carry out an earnings quality analysis in their lending decision processes and, in particular, how carefully they do it.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors focus on data from pre-bankruptcy companies because both earnings management and the potential costs faced by auditors increase considerably during the process towards failure. To test the hypotheses, the authors run separate multivariate regressions of price (cost of debt) and non-price (credit availability) lending decisions on different proxies for earnings quality. The authors use Big N and modified audit reports as a proxy for audit quality. Additionally, they use discretionary accruals as a proxy of accounting numbers quality.
Findings
The results show that banks do consider their borrowers’ quality of earnings, but they do it quite cursorily, that is, without taking advantage of all the possibilities offered by an effective combination of external and internal proxies.
Research limitations/implications
The inferences apply only to financially distressed private firms, so they are not generalizable to other contexts with low ownership concentration or with a less severe risk of failure.
Practical implications
The language used by the auditors in the audit report, particularly in generally accepted accounting principles violations, might not be clear enough for the user to undo the specific distortions in the financial statements.
Originality/value
The authors provide evidence of how banks incorporate earnings quality into their lending decisions, prior research has analyzed them either separately or from an equity market perspective. Moreover, the authors also add to the debt-covenant literature by explicitly showing that manipulation helps managers to achieve better lending conditions.
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Anne Sisko Patana, Matti Pihlajamaa, Kirsi Polvinen, Tamara Carleton and Laura Kanto
This paper aims to identify inducement and blocking mechanisms which impact the development of the life sciences innovation system in Finland. Innovation system analysis of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify inducement and blocking mechanisms which impact the development of the life sciences innovation system in Finland. Innovation system analysis of emerging technologies is important for the design of technology-specific innovation policy measures to promote desirable futures
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study uses a functional technological innovation system analysis framework designed to identify policy goals for emerging technological fields. The data consist of 33 qualitative face-to-face interviews with senior managers and decision-makers. Best practices are identified from the San Francisco Bay Area and the Finnish life sciences innovation system is analyzed in detail.
Findings
The Finnish system has a good capability to perform top-level basic research, but the commercial aspect is largely missing because of the lack of business know-how, small size of the domestic market, networking failures, scarcity of funding and poor public image.
Research limitations/implications
The two regions have different scopes which prevents direct comparisons between them.
Originality/value
This study applies the technological innovation system model to the life sciences industry. It provides new information on the characteristics of the industry and factors affecting its dynamics. The results can be applied for policy design by policy makers.
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Hannele Roponen, Elina Fonsén, Tuulikki Ukkonen-Mikkola and Raisa Ahtiainen
This study examines the social organizational structure of one early childhood education (ECE) center in Finland and the relationship between this structure and the roles and the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the social organizational structure of one early childhood education (ECE) center in Finland and the relationship between this structure and the roles and the responsibilities of the members of the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is a qualitative case study with ethnographic features. Its variables for content analysis are based on Henry Mintzberg's theory of organizational design.
Findings
The study's results show that the organizational structure of the ECE center follows the organizational configuration of a Professional bureaucracy and that the multiprofessional teams follow the configuration of a Simple structure. The structures for centralization and decentralization are suitable for a professional bureaucracy, but the roles of the members of the organization and the processes for shared decision-making lack clarification. The shortage of qualified ECE teachers disrupts the function of the organization and the work of ECE leaders.
Research limitations/implications
The educational background of subjects may have affected the findings.
Originality/value
The study uses Henry Mintzberg's organizational structure theory to evaluate how and why power is distributed and activities are coordinated at the ECE center. The results also show what parts of the organization pose challenges that most commonly disrupt the organization's operations. With these findings, it is possible to expand the understanding of roles and responsibilities in the currently reforming ECE environment and what ECE centers need to function effectively. The study is part of a larger research project and will be continued to examine the leadership culture of the ECE center.
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Dilawar Ali, Kenzo Milleville, Steven Verstockt, Nico Van de Weghe, Sally Chambers and Julie M. Birkholz
Historical newspaper collections provide a wealth of information about the past. Although the digitization of these collections significantly improves their accessibility, a large…
Abstract
Purpose
Historical newspaper collections provide a wealth of information about the past. Although the digitization of these collections significantly improves their accessibility, a large portion of digitized historical newspaper collections, such as those of KBR, the Royal Library of Belgium, are not yet searchable at article-level. However, recent developments in AI-based research methods, such as document layout analysis, have the potential for further enriching the metadata to improve the searchability of these historical newspaper collections. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors explore how existing computer vision and machine learning approaches can be used to improve access to digitized historical newspapers. To do this, the authors propose a workflow, using computer vision and machine learning approaches to (1) provide article-level access to digitized historical newspaper collections using document layout analysis, (2) extract specific types of articles (e.g. feuilletons – literary supplements from Le Peuple from 1938), (3) conduct image similarity analysis using (un)supervised classification methods and (4) perform named entity recognition (NER) to link the extracted information to open data.
Findings
The results show that the proposed workflow improves the accessibility and searchability of digitized historical newspapers, and also contributes to the building of corpora for digital humanities research. The AI-based methods enable automatic extraction of feuilletons, clustering of similar images and dynamic linking of related articles.
Originality/value
The proposed workflow enables automatic extraction of articles, including detection of a specific type of article, such as a feuilleton or literary supplement. This is particularly valuable for humanities researchers as it improves the searchability of these collections and enables corpora to be built around specific themes. Article-level access to, and improved searchability of, KBR's digitized newspapers are demonstrated through the online tool (https://tw06v072.ugent.be/kbr/).
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Katherine Braun Galvão Bueno Sresnewsky, Angela Satiko Yojo, Andres Rodriguez Veloso and Laura Torresi
Luxury companies have expanded globally, but little attention is given to the difficulties associated with expansion to culturally different countries, especially when focusing on…
Abstract
Purpose
Luxury companies have expanded globally, but little attention is given to the difficulties associated with expansion to culturally different countries, especially when focusing on training salespeople in rapport-building behaviors. To address this discussion, we answer these research questions: (1) Does the luxury fashion brand country of origin affect the rapport-building strategies of salespeople?; (2) How do luxury fashion employees classify customers from collectivistic cultures with emerging economies, such as that in Brazil?; and (3) What are the rapport-building strategies used by these salespeople for each of these luxury fashion customer segments?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted in-depth interviews with salespeople, managers and team supervisors from four global luxury retailers from Britain, France and Italy that operate in Brazil. In total, the authors interviewed 20 employees with an average of greater than 7 years of experience in luxury sales. The authors based their analysis on a theoretically generated coding guide and content analysis theories.
Findings
When expanding to culturally different countries, retail companies should adopt glocal strategies, especially when luxury is involved and when customers demand exclusive attention from companies. Additionally, the authors suggest that the effectiveness of rapport building strategies is culturally dependent and should be adapted to the microlevel, especially for continental countries that are culturally diverse.
Research limitations/implications
This is employee-view research, with no inputs from customers or corporate managers. Luxury fashion brand stores did not grant permission for official research within their employees nor the observation of their customers during in-store interactions. Researchers interviewed employees as individual professionals, and their identities will remain anonymous.
Practical implications
When expanding to culturally different countries, luxury retailers should give special attention to the adaption of sales strategies, training and sales guidelines.
Originality/value
This study focuses on customer-employee rapport from the company's perspective.
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Felipe Mellado, Eric C.W. Lou and Christian L. Correa Becerra
There is a long-standing interest in performance improvement within the construction industry. Approaches based upon cost, time and quality (often called the Iron Triangle), have…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a long-standing interest in performance improvement within the construction industry. Approaches based upon cost, time and quality (often called the Iron Triangle), have been the focus of attention despite criticism of the validity of the Iron Triangle as a performance measure due to its simplistic approach. Furthermore, little emphasis has been placed on synthesising performance to understand whether this concept has evolved from the traditional view. An analysis of prominent literature was reviewed by classifying performance indicators which establish criteria for measuring performance in the construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature (1998–2018) on performance at a project level to determine a final rank of key performance indicators (KPIs) which will establish how projects are currently being measured.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a combined qualitative and quantitative approach – a comprehensive literature review on overall performance at a project level and the statistical Kendall’s W test to find concordance among the authors on performance in the construction industry to determine a final rank of KPIs.
Findings
The results demonstrate there is no congruent correlation on what performance is and the traditional iron triangle of “cost-time-quality” is still the preferred method of analysing performance, despite it being proven to be ineffective.
Originality/value
Performance in the construction industry is an ambiguous concept that can be interpreted differently by the construction industry’s stakeholders. Despite this lack of concordance, a starting point on the definition of performance can be obtained from the literature. The paper presents a final rank of KPIs.
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Ismail Abushaikha, Loay Salhieh and Neil Towers
Recent literature recognizes the role of warehouses in enhancing the overall logistics performance. Thus, lean thinking has recently found its way in supporting warehouse and…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent literature recognizes the role of warehouses in enhancing the overall logistics performance. Thus, lean thinking has recently found its way in supporting warehouse and distribution centre operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among warehouse waste reduction practices, warehouse operational performance, distribution performance and business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-stage study was conducted. First, a Delphi technique was adopted to develop a relevant questionnaire. Second, this questionnaire was used to measure the degree of waste reduction in the different warehouse activities and to test the developed research hypotheses. The authors test the hypotheses with a sample of Middle Eastern warehouse operators.
Findings
There exists a positive relationship between warehouse waste reduction level and both warehouse operational performance and distribution performance. There was no direct relationship between warehouse waste reduction level and business performance. However, results revealed that the relationship between warehouse waste reduction level and business performance was mediated by warehouse operational performance and distribution performance.
Practical implications
The developed instrument provides a guide for logistics managers as to understand how to reduce waste in each warehousing activity. The results also inform logistics managers of how distribution performance can be improved through lean warehousing. The resulting performance improvements in the distribution operations will ultimately be reflected in the logistics performance of downstream retailers.
Originality/value
The study develops an original instrument for measuring waste reduction in warehouses, and provides insights into the evolving lean warehousing research area. This is the first scholarly work to uncover the relationships among warehouse waste reduction practices, warehouse operational performance, distribution performance and business performance.