Mara Nikolaidou, Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos and Michael Hatzopoulos
Aims to present the authors' efforts towards the development of a digital library environment supporting research at the Medical School of Athens University, Greece.
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to present the authors' efforts towards the development of a digital library environment supporting research at the Medical School of Athens University, Greece.
Design/methodology/approach
The digital library facilitates access to medical material produced by laboratories for both research and educational purposes. As the material produced varies (regarding its type and structure) and the search requirements imposed by potential users differ, each laboratory develops its own collection. All collections must be bilingual, supporting both Greek and English. Extended requirements were imposed regarding the services offered by the digital library environment, due to the following reasons: end‐users actively participate in the cataloguing workflow; cataloguers should be able to create and manage multiple collections in a simplified manner; and different search requirements must be supported for different user groups. To formulate and then deal with these requirements, the authors introduced the term “dynamic collection management” denoting automated collection definition and unified collection management within an integrated digital library environment. Digital library components providing the desired functionality and the interaction between them are described. System performance, especially during collection search, and bilingual support are also explored.
Findings
Finds that Athens Medical School Digital Library facilitates access to medical material to researchers and students for both research and educational purposes.
Originality/value
The paper provides useful information on a digital library environment which supports research.
Details
Keywords
Jaime A. Morales Burgos, Markus Kittler and Michael Walsh
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the capital budgeting decision-making of Canadian and Mexican entrepreneurs in small businesses in the food sector. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the capital budgeting decision-making of Canadian and Mexican entrepreneurs in small businesses in the food sector. The objective is to understand the capital budgeting decisions through the lens of bounded rationality and how these decisions are affected by different (national) contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a comparative study in which the use of constructivist grounded theory allowed deep conversations about capital budgeting decisions. Data was collected from forty semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs/managers in two regions, Mexico and Canada.
Findings
Insights from this study suggest that entrepreneurs’ capital budgeting decisions are not only taken under conditions of bounded rationality but also suggest a prominent role of context in how bounded rationality is applied differently towards investment decisions.
Research limitations/implications
While the findings cannot simply be generalized, exploring how capital budgeting decisions are made differently across two regional contexts adds to the understanding of the nexus of context, bounded rationality and capital budgeting decision-making.
Practical implications
Using a bounded rationality lens, this study contrasts and explains similarities and differences in the entrepreneur’s capital budgeting decision-making within small businesses. The insights add to the body of knowledge and help entrepreneurs to reflect on their approach to decision-making.
Originality/value
The paper uses a less commonly applied approach to understand two under-researched regional contexts. We use constructivist grounded theory to explore entrepreneurs’ capital budgeting decision-making in small businesses in two regions, Canada and Mexico. The comparative approach and the findings add to the understanding of decision-making, highlight the prominent role of context and also challenge some insights from previous research.
Details
Keywords
This paper addresses a theoretical weakness inherent in the typical application of the net present value approach to investment appraisal. This weakness concerns the assumption…
Abstract
This paper addresses a theoretical weakness inherent in the typical application of the net present value approach to investment appraisal. This weakness concerns the assumption that the estimated cash flows occur at the end of each period rather than the more realistic assumption of occurring on a continuous basis. Continuous cash flows are introduced and, more significantly, continuous discount factors (CDF) are estimated. The impact of using CDFs is examined in a simple project appraisal and compared to discrete discount factors. It is shown that the acceptance or rejection of marginal investment projects may depend on the type of discount factor used. Similarly, the impact upon the internal rate of return method is addressed. Finally directions for further theoretical developments are suggested.