Radouane Oudrhiri, Mustafa Al-Balushi, Stuart Anwyl, Anthony Bendell, Sabet Chamie, Shirley Yvonne Coleman, Mark Hayman, Roger Hilton, Osama Ahmad Melhem, Jayeshkumat Patel, Steve Ward, Simon White and Peter Whitehouse
This paper gives the background to the ISO 18404:2015 standard and explains its rationale. It aims to correct misconceptions and erroneous statements about the standard appearing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper gives the background to the ISO 18404:2015 standard and explains its rationale. It aims to correct misconceptions and erroneous statements about the standard appearing in the paper by Antony et al. (2021) and to demonstrate the usefulness of the standard in a wide range of application sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of recently reported misconceptions and erroneous statements is presented and clarifications are provided. A qualitative interview approach was utilised to obtain the views of leading academics and practitioners familiar with Six Sigma and Lean in a range of sectors and from different parts of the world. This includes the results of a survey for capturing expectations and requirements for the next ISO18404 version.
Findings
Clarifications were needed to correct some misconceptions and erroneous statements in recently published work. However, on review, the reports of the interviews in Antony et al. (2021) indicate that most Lean Six Sigma professionals have positive experiences with ISO 18404:2015 and see the advantages of a common standard in helping continuous improvement deployment. Possible causes of some reported negative results are already scheduled to be addressed in the forthcoming review of ISO 18404:2015.
Research limitations/implications
A very real constraint when conducting research into ISO 18404:2015 is to obtain a balanced view of the standard from those who have a vested interest in its continuation and evolution, or not. Whilst the authors cannot claim to be any more objective than Antony et al.’s (2021) authors and commentators, they are, in contrast to that group, highly knowledgeable about the reality of the standard, rather than speculating in ignorance.
Practical implications
A very real constraint when conducting research into ISO 18404:2015 is to obtain a balanced view of the standard which is balanced with respect from those who have a vested interest in its continuation and evolution, or not. Whilst the current authors cannot claim to be any more objective than previous authors, Antony et al.’s (2021) authors and commentators, they are, in contrast to that group, highly knowledgeable about the reality of the standard, rather than speculating in ignorance.
Originality/value
The paper gives a clear description of the ISO standard development process and provides a resource for people to obtain insight into the value or non-value add of a standard in Six Sigma and Lean, and the appropriate details of such a standard. These results can form the basis of a case for the implementation of the standard for those organisations currently trying to decide whether or not to implement it.
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Andrew Hayman, associate consultant with Davies & Robson Software and Alan Wilson, director — Cape Systems and Consulting Services, Europe and associate consultant with Davies &…
Abstract
Andrew Hayman, associate consultant with Davies & Robson Software and Alan Wilson, director — Cape Systems and Consulting Services, Europe and associate consultant with Davies & Robson demonstrate how the efficiency of packaging can have a major effect on the costs of the manufacturer and the client or end user. They discuss how new cost allocation techniques can reflect the true cost of handling a product through the logistics chain, particularly in respect of the impact that the cube of the product makes upon those costs. Whilst the article concentrates on direct product profitability in a fast moving consumer goods environment the principles and practice apply to any other industry.
Timothy Galpin, Georgann Jouflas and Mark Gasta
This paper aims to assess Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities by applying a well-substantiated framework titled the “Leading the Sustainable Organization” (LSO) model in order…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities by applying a well-substantiated framework titled the “Leading the Sustainable Organization” (LSO) model in order to systematically explore their efforts. Anecdotally the sustainability activities and accomplishments of Vail Resorts appear comprehensive and impressive. Corporate sustainability is a complex, multi-functional endeavor, yet guidance on the issue has tended to be single level, single stage and single disciplinary. Our multi-level assessment of Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities, including the stakeholder and financial impacts, develops a deeper understanding of sustainability and the effect it can have on profitability and value of a company.
Design/methodology/approach
Vail Resorts’ sustainability activities were assessed by applying a well-substantiated framework titled the “Leading the Sustainable Organization” (LSO) model.
Findings
The in-role and extra-role sustainability performance of employees at Vail Resorts demonstrates their engagement with the company’s sustainability efforts. Beyond employee sustainability performance, the company-level sustainability performance of Vail Resorts exhibits the payoff of the company’s sustainability efforts.
Research limitations/implications
The LSO model was applied to only one organization. Future application to multiple firms would provide a broader assessment of the state of sustainability in organizations of various sizes and across industries.
Practical implications
By examining their sustainability activities through the lens of the LSO model, Vail Resorts provides a rich example of best practices relating to a company’s pursuit of sustainability efforts and their expected benefits. Vail Resorts’ wide-ranging sustainability actions, combined with the LSO model, provide managers with a well-defined road map to lead their own sustainable organization. Vail Resorts’ implementation of the various components of the LSO model, and the results achieved, demonstrate that “sustainability is not just doing good, it is also good business.”
Originality/value
Applying the LSO model offers both practicing managers and researchers alike a well-substantiated framework to assess organizational sustainability efforts, in order to identify areas of organizational sustainability strength as well as areas needing improvement.
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This chapter exposes the official view that seems to portray New Towns in the UK as unbalanced communities built on the premise of a failed statist policy but it does not accept…
Abstract
This chapter exposes the official view that seems to portray New Towns in the UK as unbalanced communities built on the premise of a failed statist policy but it does not accept these views as fact. A principal critique is that the historiography of New Towns has been predominantly written by experts (academics and otherwise), providing a limited interpretation of the legacy of (living in) New Towns. This chapter uses a selection of key experts and helicopter specialists who contribute to its legacy through academic writing, policy reports and professional advice in their role as planners and architects (including the author/myself a chartered British architect). Experts and helicopter specialists were instrumental in writing and disseminating a specific understanding of the New Towns programme to unpack the stereotypes that were constructed around New Towns, which have (as a result) contributed to their so-called decline. This chapter also questions whether certain issues are due to a biased misrepresentation of the New Towns narrative, and if an alternative perspective is available.
The characterisation of New Towns as communities doomed for failure in their ideological pursuit of balance has been thematically classified as belonging to five stereotypes and each is discussed in a separate section: New Towns represent a statist approach to planning; A case of New Town Blues or suburban dystopia? Design driven stereotypes of New Towns as mostly Modernist projects; New Towns are nothing more than large council estates; Land-banking over Compulsory Purchase Orders.
Presenting the data in such a way permits a deconstruction of ‘balance’ as a lofty abstraction into five clear example-based observations that assist the evaluation of the traditional historiography and writings of British New Towns (Fig. 3.1).
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Austin Troy and Roger G. Kennedy
This book is divided into four parts: (1) Institutions and policy, (2) The economics of hazards, (3) Community involvement, and (4) Management and ecology. The first section…
Abstract
This book is divided into four parts: (1) Institutions and policy, (2) The economics of hazards, (3) Community involvement, and (4) Management and ecology. The first section contains four chapters that cover the issue of wildfire from historical and institutional perspectives. “Forest fire history: learning from disaster” by Roger Kennedy (Chapter 2) addresses the pressures and politics giving rise to the current situation. “Fire Policy in the Urban–Wildland Interface in the United States: What are the Issues and Possible Solutions?” (Chapter 3) by Scott Stephens and Brandon Collins provides a summary of the problems associated with wildfire hazards in UWI communities, discusses fuels-treatment options for local governments and property owners, and analyzes challenges to planning, drawing on experiences from Australia. “Wildfire hazard mitigation as “safe” smart growth” (Chapter 4) by Robert Paterson looks at how smart growth principals are being adapted to fire-safe land use planning and zoning, including a discussion of the role of regional coordination and state-level planning requirements. “Practical and institutional constraints on adopting wide-scale prescribed burning: lessons from the mountains of California” (Chapter 5) by Kurt Menning details the problems of fuel accumulation due to suppression, the potential power of prescribed burning as a management tool, and the social and regulatory obstacles to implementing wide-scale prescribed burning programs.
Luiz Antonio Joia and Paulo Sanz
To analyze empirically the transaction profitability derived from sporadic and frequent customers in the e‐retailing sector of minor home appliances in Brazil.
Abstract
Purpose
To analyze empirically the transaction profitability derived from sporadic and frequent customers in the e‐retailing sector of minor home appliances in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
A company's database was analyzed quantitatively to assess the transaction profitability derived from sporadic and frequent customers purchasing via the firm's digital channel, namely its web site. Besides, qualitative evidence was also collected from interviews with the main professionals involved in marketing and e‐commerce in the firm and through analysis of the company's web site and e‐mail communications with customers.
Findings
The commercial transaction profitability associated with sporadic customers can be higher than that derived from frequent purchasers.
Research limitations/implications
The study concentrated on a single company within a specific industry (minor home appliance e‐retailing) based in a specific country, namely Brazil.
Practical implications
The benefits of web consumer retention would only seem to be advantageous for digital companies that are client‐centric, which can interact with these consumers. Furthermore, the mere fact of using transactional practices, low differentiation between products and the emphasis on promotion of price on the web would seem to increase sensitivity to price on the part of the consumers, particularly those who make purchases more frequently.
Originality/value
To enable practitioners and academics to grasp fully the real value of frequent and sporadic clients, in order to allow digital companies to develop coherent strategies for them.
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The main emphasis of nutritional study, until within comparatively recent years, was placed on a consideration of the energy or calorie value of a diet. A diet was considered…
Abstract
The main emphasis of nutritional study, until within comparatively recent years, was placed on a consideration of the energy or calorie value of a diet. A diet was considered sufficient or otherwise depending on the number of calories it contained. The modern trend in nuitrition, however, has tended to follow an opposite direction—the quantitative aspect has been relegated to a subsidiary position, and the quality of the diet is now considered as of supreme importance. In this qualitative assessment vitamins have been placed in the forefront, and there has been a tendency to overstress the nutritional importance of these essentials to the exclusion of perhaps as important dietary constituents.
Graduate development programmes are a well-established strategy for recruiting graduates into the sector at the start of a lifetime public service career. There are indications…
Abstract
Purpose
Graduate development programmes are a well-established strategy for recruiting graduates into the sector at the start of a lifetime public service career. There are indications, however, that public sector careers are becoming less secure and less long term in keeping with overall career trends across all sectors, a trend that has seen the emergence of employment contracts based on employability rather than job security. The purpose of this paper is to explore a graduate development programme offered by a state-based Australian public sector organisation to identify the extent to which it reflects and supports the shift to an employability-based contract from the perspective of programme participants.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 participants from three intakes of a public sector graduate development programme. Data were analysed through identification of first- and second-order themes as well as cross-case comparison.
Findings
Findings indicate that the one-year development programme partially supports an employability-based contract. The organisation could not promise ongoing employment and job security but did assist participants to develop skills and competencies for the future through its formal training and development programme. Work unit support for employability was, however, much more variable and depended to a large extent on line managers.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in a single organisation and only included current and past programme participants who were still employed in the public sector.
Practical implications
The success of the programme was largely dependent on job placement and level of line manager support. Addressing these areas through better programme design and management can support the development of future leaders through opportunities for enhanced employability.
Originality/value
The study extends current research on employability by exploring how a public sector organisation provides support for graduates in a developmental programme from a participant perspective.
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The chapter traces the genealogy of the Education for All (EFA) Movement understood as a global regime of educational governance between 1990 and 2005. The chapter sets out the…
Abstract
The chapter traces the genealogy of the Education for All (EFA) Movement understood as a global regime of educational governance between 1990 and 2005. The chapter sets out the achievements of EFA including some success in uniting diverse interests around a common set of goals. It will also discuss the key tensions related to the Northern and Western-led nature of EFA; tensions between the multilateral agencies over the leadership of EFA and the issues associated with the hegemonic status assumed by the World Bank; the tension between a wider EFA agenda and a narrower focus on a few quantifiable targets; and the associated tensions between more economistic and rights-based views of EFA. It will be argued that the development of these tensions can be understood in relation to different kinds of power linked to the international political economy and to the impact of other global regimes.
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This chapter explores processes of stratification in reproductive healthcare and considers the ways in which mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion shape reproductive opportunities and…
Abstract
This chapter explores processes of stratification in reproductive healthcare and considers the ways in which mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion shape reproductive opportunities and experiences. First, I consider the process of “selective inclusion” among sexual minority women. This examination questions the schisms that exist within the sexual minority population in regard to their visibility and legibility in medical, scientific, and public health discourses and constructions of reproductive health. The second process I examine is that of “exclusionary inclusion” among substance using pregnant women who have been collectively deemed “bad breeders” by medical and state authorities and whose reproduction is explicitly monitored, regulated, and criminalized. The final process I discuss is “side-stepping inclusion” which describes the healthcare and consumer decisions of women who circumvent medicalized childbirth experiences by employing the services of a midwife for their pregnancy and birth care. This chapter examines how medicalization, biomedicalization, and de-medicalization dynamically work together to expand and delimit inclusionary processes, emphasizing the spectral and interconnected quality of these processes. By exploring various processes of inclusion that shape reproductive experiences of these disparate and differentially marginalized populations, this chapter provides a conceptual and critical meditation on the ways in which “respectable reproduction” is deployed in reproductive care. In considering these processes of inclusion and the ways in which they are co-produced by medical discourses and practices, scholars may more clearly grasp some fundamental mechanisms of stratification in reproductive healthcare and knowledge production.