Mark Carr, Arlene Hostrop and Daniel O'Connor
The vice president of sales for a major consumer products company was all smiles as he greeted his best customer, but that smile faded quickly. “I've got stores all over the…
Abstract
The vice president of sales for a major consumer products company was all smiles as he greeted his best customer, but that smile faded quickly. “I've got stores all over the world,” the retailer said. “Yet I'm paying a different price—and getting different promotional programs—for the same product in each market. And your people can't justify the differences.” Before the VP had a chance to respond, the retailer went on: “If you don't give me a consistent price and promotional program for all my stores, I'll just buy everything from the lowest‐priced market.”
Lawrence Webb, Brendan O’Connell, Chris Carr and Mark Higgins
Whilst Hong Kong is suffering from a limited supply of developable land in its major urban areas, some open spaces are frequently criticized as inconvenient for users…
Abstract
Whilst Hong Kong is suffering from a limited supply of developable land in its major urban areas, some open spaces are frequently criticized as inconvenient for users, consequently leading to an ineffective use pattern. How to enhance the performance of open space is therefore a critical issue faced by city planners. As the conventional accessibility model, which is mainly described with respect to maximum walking distance or service radius, is inadequate to give an account of the issue, this paper accordingly indicates an alternative approach and seeks an explanation from the urban configuration and the way it conditions pedestrian movement pattern. Through investigating the relationship between urban configuration, pedestrian movement and accessibility and use of open spaces based on the Wanchai District of Hong Kong, which particularly epitomizes various urban grids that may have different consequences on the utilization of open space, this study aims to examine whether there is a consistent relationship existing in different spatial grids or whether the relationship varies from different layout patterns. It is hoped that the findings can be employed to improve the performance of open spaces in the urban areas of Hong Kong, in addition to other similar urban environment.
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THINGS have travelled full circle. There was a time when the Swedes were busy learning from our enterprise and experiences, especially in the fields of industry and commerce; now…
Abstract
THINGS have travelled full circle. There was a time when the Swedes were busy learning from our enterprise and experiences, especially in the fields of industry and commerce; now the position is somewhat reversed and we are eager to profit from them in such diverse fields as social welfare, labour relations, modern design generally, and what is more relevant here, librarianship. Sweden has also much to offer from its cultural life through its novelists, poets, artists and musicians, many of whom deserve wider audiences both here and in other countries.
Daniel Prajogo, Baofeng Huo and Zhaojun Han
The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a model of different aspects of ISO 9000 implementation in terms of their relationships with three key supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a model of different aspects of ISO 9000 implementation in terms of their relationships with three key supply chain (SC) management practices (internal processes, supplier relationships, and customer relationships). In addition, it aims to examine the relationship between the three key SC activities and operational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 321 middle and senior managers of ISO 9001 certified firms in Australia who were responsible for managing the quality systems in their organizations. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed using LISREL software to test the research model and the hypotheses in this study.
Findings
The results show that advanced implementation of ISO 9000 is positively related to all three aspects of SC activities (internal, customer, and supplier process management), while supportive implementation is positively related to internal and customer process management. However, basic implementation has no direct influence on any SC management practices. The results also indicate that supplier and internal process management both have a positive effect on operational performance, while customer process management has no significant impact on operational performance.
Practical implications
The results provide key insights for managers on the extent to which different aspects of the implementation of a quality management system would produce benefits for the organization within the SC context.
Originality/value
Despite the central premises of ISO 9000, which are concerned with internal processes and SC management practices, only a few studies have examined this matter to date. The current study seeks to bridge this gap by examining the effect of ISO 9000 implementation on operational and SC management practices that, in turn, will predict the operational benefits within adopting firms.
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Murder is overwhelmingly a male affair (UNODC Global Study on Homicide, 2019). So, when women kill, their crimes gain a lot of attention and even more hysteria in both courts and…
Abstract
Murder is overwhelmingly a male affair (UNODC Global Study on Homicide, 2019). So, when women kill, their crimes gain a lot of attention and even more hysteria in both courts and media. This chapter will analyse the cases of Sally Challen, Belinda van Krevel and Maxine Carr to show that portrayals of women who are involved in killing exist on a continuum, from abused victims to those simply ‘born evil’ to the incomprehension of those whose crimes render them outside society altogether; or in simple terms, from sad, to bad, to mad. In all cases, the agency of the women is presented as incomplete or impossible, indicating our inability in heteropatriarchy to acknowledge that women are as capable as men of exhibiting the full spectrum of human behaviour. Denying agency, particularly to violent women, allows Western societies to avoid having to face and thus, attempt to understand, the female capacity for aggression.
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This article revisits Nicolas Carr's popular Harvard Review article IT Doesn't Matter on its ten-year anniversary. The purpose is to analyze Carr's argument by analyzing the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article revisits Nicolas Carr's popular Harvard Review article IT Doesn't Matter on its ten-year anniversary. The purpose is to analyze Carr's argument by analyzing the development of the argument itself as opposed to finding exceptions to the argument, which has been done in the past.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use co-evolutionary theory as a case against Carr's argument by showing that Carr has only looked at the growth of IT from a population ecology perspective and has failed to anticipate the adaptive nature of IT within the organization.
Findings
The authors show that Carr's new rules for IT management may not be applicable if viewed through the lens of the three principles of self-renewing organizations espoused by co-evolutionary theory.
Research limitations/implications
The authors provide a new basis for evaluating the strategic nature of IT and offer a background for future research and case studies into evaluating IT strategic competitive advantage within the organization.
Practical implications
The research provides guidelines for organizations to better decide how to strategically implement IT to more fully utilize its capabilities.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new method for refuting a popular article by attacking the argument as opposed to finding exceptions to the argument. This is valuable to those who wish to evangelize the strategic capacity of IT within the organization.
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Earlier in the year, during the national steel industry strike, the House of Lords overturned a judgment of Lord Denning, MR, that sections of the industry unaffected by the trade…
Abstract
Earlier in the year, during the national steel industry strike, the House of Lords overturned a judgment of Lord Denning, MR, that sections of the industry unaffected by the trade dispute could be regarded as outside the Act and its amendments and that unions could be restrained in their application of immune activities to those firms. The decision apart, their Lordships in delivering judgment reaffirmed that only Parliament had power to make the Law; it was not the function of Judges to do this, their's to interpret and apply the Law. In strict legal terms and applying to statutes and statutory instruments, this is true; but in the widest sense, judges have been making law for centuries. Otherwise, from whence cometh the Common Law, one of the wonders of the world, if not from the mouths of H.M. Judges. Much of it is now enshrined in statute form, especially Criminal Law, but initially it was all judge‐made. In most systems of human control and function, complete separation is rarely possible and when attempted the results have not been conspicuously successful.
When Arnold Carr was a 13‐year old office boy, he vowed he'd be boss. Now 70, Carr has built a wide ranging industrial combine, Thomas Ward, which has earnt the title the ‘Harrods…
Abstract
When Arnold Carr was a 13‐year old office boy, he vowed he'd be boss. Now 70, Carr has built a wide ranging industrial combine, Thomas Ward, which has earnt the title the ‘Harrods of Industry’. Ken Gooding reports