R. Anthony Inman, Martha Lair Sale and Kenneth W. Green
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the relationships among the three elements of the theory of constraints (TOC), a number of observable outcomes expected to be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the relationships among the three elements of the theory of constraints (TOC), a number of observable outcomes expected to be associated with the application of TOC, and organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A model, which incorporates TOC elements as antecedent to TOC outcomes and TOC outcomes as antecedent to organizational performance, is proposed. Data were collected from 110 organizations identified as TOC adopters, and the model was assessed using a structural equation modeling methodology.
Findings
Results indicate that the proposed model fits the data well. Adoption of TOC yields observable TOC outcomes, which lead to improved business unit performance. Analysis suggests that the use of TOC is effective in improving organizational performance.
Research limitations/implications
Scales are developed for use in future TOC research.
Practical implications
TOC is found to be effective in improving organizational performance.
Originality/value
While this work was begun much earlier than the work of Boyd and Gupta, this work revises their model and main hypothesis. TOC scales are developed and validated for use by future TOC researchers.
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Ryan Samuel Sale and Martha Lair Sale
The purpose of this paper is to suggest a performance evaluation technique that allows for the inclusion of qualitative data in a way that is more easily quantified.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to suggest a performance evaluation technique that allows for the inclusion of qualitative data in a way that is more easily quantified.
Design/methodology/approach
The performance evaluation technique described in this paper is a combination of two existing techniques: the balanced scorecard and the analytical hierarchy process.
Findings
These two methods are found to complement each other quite well. An example illustrates the combined usage of the two techniques and the inherent advantages of the combination.
Research limitations/implications
Use of analytic hierarchy process, without reliance on one of several commercially available software programs, may prove to be unwieldy and time consuming.
Practical implications
This paper demonstrates a technique allowing managers to use qualitative measures in performance evaluations without concern that the results will be judged to be unsubstantiated and overly subjective.
Originality/value
This paper combines two existing methods. The strengths and weaknesses of these two methods combine to create a technique that is superior to the use of either one in isolation.
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Tom Schultheiss, Lorraine Hartline, Jean Mandeberg, Pam Petrich and Sue Stern
The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the…
Abstract
The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.
AFTER some unsuccessful negotiations during the period when the first full‐time schools of librarianship were being established, the Birmingham School was founded in the autumn of…
Abstract
AFTER some unsuccessful negotiations during the period when the first full‐time schools of librarianship were being established, the Birmingham School was founded in the autumn of 1950. Circumstances were not entirely favourable—the immediate post‐war generation of enthusiastic ex‐service students had already passed through other schools; the accommodation available was indifferent; the administrative support was bad; resources were weak, both in books and in equipment. There was, more importantly, a strong local tradition of part‐time classes in librarianship and little or no conviction that full‐time study was necessary or desirable.
Stefan Scheidt, Carsten Gelhard, Juliane Strotzer and Jörg Henseler
While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially…
Abstract
Purpose
While the branding of individuals has attracted increasing attention from practitioners in recent decades, understanding of personal branding still remains limited, especially with regard to the branding of celebrity CEOs. To contribute to this debate, this paper aims to explore the co-branding of celebrity CEOs and corporate brands, integrating endorsement theory and the concept of meaning transfer at a level of brand attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
A between-subjects true experimental design was chosen for each of the two empirical studies with a total of 268 participants, using mock newspaper articles about a succession scenario at the CEO level of different companies. The study is designed to analyse the meaning transfer from celebrity CEO to corporate brand and vice versa using 16 personality attributes.
Findings
This study gives empirical support for meaning transfer effects at the brand attribute level in both the celebrity-CEO-to-corporate-brand and corporate-brand-to-celebrity-CEO direction, which confirms the applicability of the concept of brand endorsement to celebrity CEOs and the mutuality in co-branding models. Furthermore, a more detailed and expansive perspective on the definition of endorsement is provided as well as managerial guidance for building celebrity CEOs and corporate brands in consideration of meaning transfer effects.
Originality/value
This study is one of only few analysing the phenomenon of meaning transfer between brands that focus on non-evaluative associations (i.e. personality attributes). It is unique in its scope, insofar as the partnering relationship between celebrity CEOs and corporate brands have not been analysed empirically from this perspective yet. It bridges the gap between application in practice and the academic foundations, and it contributes to a broader understanding and definition of celebrity endorsement.
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Maria Lucila Osorio, Edgar Centeno and Jesus Cambra-Fierro
The purpose of this study is threefold. First, human brands are conceptualized and the distinction between them and personal brands is established. Second, human-brand research is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is threefold. First, human brands are conceptualized and the distinction between them and personal brands is established. Second, human-brand research is reviewed in light of a strategic brand management framework and gaps in the knowledge that may suggest new research pathways are identified. Third, the extent to which a brand management model designed for products could be applied to human brands is explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted in this study. The content analysis of the selected set of papers allowed the assessment of the state of this field of brand management and the identification of proposals for future research.
Findings
Substantial research exists on different aspects of human brands. However, these studies are fragmented in nature, thus highlighting the need for specific and complete human-brand management models.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this literature review is that it is based on a sample of papers collected by one specific criterion; furthermore, the way the papers were classified may be challenged. However, this study provides a comprehensive picture of studies on human brands available today.
Originality/value
A parsimonious distinction and connectivity between human and personal brands suggest a branding-by-individual continuum. Additionally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first identifiable one that summarizes the growing literature on human brands, reveals important gaps in the knowledge and calls for the development of particular human-brand management models.
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Stephen Brown, Pierre McDonagh and Clifford Shultz
Dark marketing is the “the application or adaptation of marketing principles and practices to domains of death, destruction and the ostensibly reprehensible”. This paper examines…
Abstract
Purpose
Dark marketing is the “the application or adaptation of marketing principles and practices to domains of death, destruction and the ostensibly reprehensible”. This paper examines the nature, character and extent of dark marketing, noting that it is made manifest in manifold shapes and forms.
Design/methodology/approach
Primarily a conceptual paper, this article includes several mini case studies – exemplars, rather – of dark marketing's many and varied expressions.
Findings
The paper considers the scale and scope of dark marketing, and endeavours to classify both. Dark marketing is discernible at micro, meso and macro scales. Its scope consists of four shades or degrees of darkness, entitled light dark marketing, slight dark marketing, quite dark marketing and night dark marketing. An evolutionary trend in the direction of darkness is also noted.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is a think piece, not an empirical analysis. It is, therefore, a first step rather than a definitive statement.
Practical implications
Practitioners and academics are inclined to regard marketing in a positive light, as a force for the good. Crusading journalists and certain social scientists see it as the spawn of the devil. This article argues that the dark and light aspects of marketing are inextricably intertwined.
Originality/value
The paper provides food for thought, a markedly different way of thinking about marketing and its place in the world.