Dilupa Nakandala, Meg Smith and Henry Lau
The purpose of this paper is to investigate supply chain relationships in an urban local fresh food system from a retailer perspective to examine the types of relationships and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate supply chain relationships in an urban local fresh food system from a retailer perspective to examine the types of relationships and the factors underpinning the development of such relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the multiple case study method, interview data from twelve urban local fresh food retailers in Sydney were analysed using the thematic analysis.
Findings
This study finds that balanced power relationships in the supply chain allow reasonable power to sit with growers in product price determination irrespective of the dependency of small-scale growers on relatively large local retailers. Trust-based relationships are developed over multiple transactions, where shared values across the supply chain and consistently low opportunistic behaviour in reward sharing are demonstrated to be the crucial factors underpinning close relationships. This study also found evidence of horizontal supply chain linkages among retailers in a competitive environment.
Practical implications
Findings of this study have implications for policymakers in designing urban fresh food systems and for practitioners in large urban retailers including supermarkets that attempt to integrate local food into their product portfolio.
Originality/value
This study extends the local food system literature dominated by rural studies to include new knowledge about the dynamics of collaborations in contemporary urban local fresh food supply chains. It provides the first empirical evidence of lateral inventory transshipment between retailers in a competitive environment confirming previous simulation studies.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact on the new federal wage fixing system on gender pay equity in Australia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact on the new federal wage fixing system on gender pay equity in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is divided into four parts. The first section briefly examines the policy approach to the issue of gender pay equity in other Anglophone counties and the history of pay (in)equity under the Australian tribunal based industrial relations system. The second section overviews the recent developments at the State level in Australia focused on gender pay equity. The third section discusses recent cases in State wage fixing systems in Australia designed to remedy the gender based undervaluation of children's services employees. The fourth and final section discusses the implications of the new “national” workplace relations laws in the context of gender pay equity in Australia.
Findings
The capacity of State tribunals to continue to apply gender free wage determinations is under threat because of the federal government's 2006 “reforms” to the Australian industrial relations and wage fixation systems.
Originality/value
The commissioned case studies and inquiries demonstrate that governments – and State Labor governments in particular – have placed the issue of the gender earnings gap on the policy agenda.
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Shovan Chowdhury and Asok K. Nanda
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new probability density function having both unbounded and bounded support with a wider applicability. While the distribution with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new probability density function having both unbounded and bounded support with a wider applicability. While the distribution with bounded support on [0, 1] has applications in insurance and inventory management with ability to fit risk management data on proportions better than existing bounded distributions, the same with unbounded support is used as a lifetime model and is considered as an attractive alternative to some existing models in the reliability literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The new density function, called modified exponential-geometric distribution is derived from the exponential-geometric distribution introduced by Adamidis and Loukas (1998). The support of the density function is shown to be both unbounded and bounded depending on the values of one of the shape parameters. Various properties of the density function are studied in detail and the parameters are estimated through maximum likelihood method of estimation. A number of applications related to reliability, insurance and inventory management are exhibited along with some useful data analysis.
Findings
A single probability distribution with both unbounded and bounded support, which does not seem to exist in the reliability literature, is introduced in this paper. The proposed density function exhibits varying shapes including U-shape, and the failure rate also shows increasing, decreasing and bathtub shapes. The Monte Carlo simulation shows that the estimates of the parameters are quite stable with low standard errors. The distribution with unbounded support is shown to have competitive features for lifetime modeling through analysis of two data sets. The distribution with bounded support on [0, 1] is shown to have application in insurance and inventory management and is found to t data on proportions related to risk management better than some existing bounded distributions.
Originality/value
The authors introduce an innovative probability distribution which contributes significantly in insurance and inventory management besides its remarkable statistical and reliability properties.
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Pierre A. Balthazard and Robert W. Thatcher
Through a review of historically famous cases and a chronicle of neurotechnology development, this chapter discusses brain structure and brain function as two distinct yet…
Abstract
Through a review of historically famous cases and a chronicle of neurotechnology development, this chapter discusses brain structure and brain function as two distinct yet interrelated paths to understand the relative contributions of anatomical and physiological mechanisms to the human brain–behavior relationship. From an organizational neuroscience perspective, the chapter describes over a dozen neuroimaging technologies that are classified under four groupings: morphologic, invasive metabolic, noninvasive metabolic, and electromagnetic. We then discuss neuroimaging variables that may be useful in social science investigations, and we underscore electroencephalography as a particularly useful modality for the study of individuals and groups in organizational settings. The chapter concludes by considering emerging science and novel brain technologies for the organizational researcher as we look to the future.
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Sheralyn Campbell, Glenda MacNaughton, Jane Page and Sharne Rolfe
In this chapter, we used a research-based case study titled “The Desirable Prince Meeting” to explore how interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives on the child can be used to…
Abstract
In this chapter, we used a research-based case study titled “The Desirable Prince Meeting” to explore how interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives on the child can be used to prompt critical reflection on socially just equity praxis in early childhood education. We argue that using multiple theoretical perspectives to analyze teaching and learning can generate and drive critical reflection on equity praxis more effectively than using a single perspective that presents a single truth about teaching and learning moments.
Uses qualitative data to explore how contemporary religious beliefs mark conceptions of work, particularly with regards to the beliefs of conservative protestant women. Compares…
Abstract
Uses qualitative data to explore how contemporary religious beliefs mark conceptions of work, particularly with regards to the beliefs of conservative protestant women. Compares liberal protestant women and men as well as conservative men against this group. States that conservative women consider motherhood as their most important work yet they are also most likely to feel “called” to their paid work. Cites that this has important implications for the sociological literature on gender and work. Builds on the original work of Max Weber.