Dorina Maria Buda and Alison Jane McIntosh
The purpose of this paper is to propose voyeurism as one possible lens to analyse the experiential nature of dark tourism in places of socio‐political danger, thus expanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose voyeurism as one possible lens to analyse the experiential nature of dark tourism in places of socio‐political danger, thus expanding psychoanalytic understandings of those who travel to a “dark” place.
Design/methodology/approach
Freud's and Lacan's theories on voyeurism are used to examine the desire to travel to and gaze upon something that is (socially constructed as) forbidden, such as a place that is portrayed as being hostile to international tourists. A qualitative and critical analysis approach is employed to examine one tourist's experience of travelling to Iran and being imprisoned as a result of taking a photograph of what he thought was a sunrise but also pictured pylons near an electrical plant.
Findings
The authors' analysis of the experiences of this tourist in Iran reveals that tourism, in its widest sense, can be experienced as “dark” through the consumption and performance of danger. This finding moves beyond the examination of dark tourism merely as “tourist products”, or that frame a particular moment in time, or are merely founded on one's connection to or perception of the site.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst the authors recognise the limitations of the case study approach taken here, and as such, generalisations cannot be inferred from the findings, it is argued that there is merit in exploring critically the motivational and experiential nature of travel to places that may be considered forbidden, dangerous or hostile in an attempt to further understand the concept of dark tourism from a tourist's lived perspective.
Originality/value
As the authors bring voyeurism into the debate on dark tourism, the study analyses the voyeuristic experiences of a dark tourist. In short, the authors argue that the lived and “deviant” experiential nature of tourism itself can be included in the discussion of “dark tourism”.
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F. Hidalgo and P. Brunn
Robot calibration and metrology systems vary widely in performance, but, as a general rule, they are considered to be expensive systems that are normally beyond the budget of the…
Abstract
Robot calibration and metrology systems vary widely in performance, but, as a general rule, they are considered to be expensive systems that are normally beyond the budget of the average company. A market survey involving some of the leading systems available reveals that the leading performers are characteristically easy to set‐up, operate and, most important, more economical. Nevertheless, the price range of these systems is still too high for them to be in widespread, regular use. The development of systems that combine these characteristics, but at a low‐cost, would fill an important void in the automated manufacturing industry.
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Vaggelis Saprikis and Maro Vlachopoulou
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of various factors on suppliers' level of use of business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐marketplaces by examining three basic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of various factors on suppliers' level of use of business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐marketplaces by examining three basic variable domains; suppliers' internal environment, their external environment and the characteristics of the adopted B2B e‐marketplace.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework is developed based on extended literature review and examined on data collected from 87 suppliers that currently use Greek B2B e‐marketplaces. Factor analysis and multiple discriminant analysis are applied to test the framework and its related hypotheses.
Findings
Several hypotheses are formulated leading to the development of the proposed “B2B e‐MarkFLU” conceptual framework. The research results show that factors from all the examined variable domains influence suppliers' level of use of B2B e‐marketplaces. However, the B2B e‐marketplace's characteristics are regarded as the most important of the three categories because of its higher impact on the involved suppliers, whereas the factors from the external environment have the lowest impact.
Originality/value
The research helps to fill an existing gap in the study of B2B e‐marketplaces' post‐adoption stage, as there have been extremely limited empirical studies after their adoption phase. To our knowledge, this paper comprises the first empirical attempt aimed to investigate thoroughly the three aforementioned variable domains by researching suppliers' active participation in B2B e‐marketplaces.
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Mathias Cöster, Einar Iveroth, Nils-Göran Olve, Carl-Johan Petri and Alf Westelius
The purpose of this paper is to lay a current, research-based foundation for investigation of the concept of innovative price models and its connection to business models.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to lay a current, research-based foundation for investigation of the concept of innovative price models and its connection to business models.
Design/methodology/approach
The design is composed of a structured literature review of articles on price models published in 22 journals during 42 years. This then serves as a base for a subsequent conceptual discussion about the foundation of innovative price models.
Findings
The literature review yields only very few results that are loosely scattered across various areas and mostly without any kind of deeper exploration of the concept of price models. The paper therefore goes on to conceptually explore some fundamental conditions that might influence or even determine price models. The final outcome of this exploration is the relation, intention, technology and environment (RITE) framework that is a meta-model for conceptualising innovative price models.
Research limitations/implications
The literature review could include additional journals and areas, and empirical testing of the RITE framework as yet has been limited.
Practical implications
The RITE framework can be used by practitioners as a tool for investigating the potential and usefulness of developing the capability to handle innovative price models.
Originality/value
The RITE framework provides fundamental conditions, which influence, or even determine, how innovative price models are developed and applied.
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Nik. Brandal and Øivind Bratberg
In the 1990s, European social democrats coalesced around a set of principles often referred to as the third way – characterised by prudent economic governance, a slimmer public…
Abstract
In the 1990s, European social democrats coalesced around a set of principles often referred to as the third way – characterised by prudent economic governance, a slimmer public sector, ‘productive’ welfare services and attraction to inward investment. Third way proponents perceived fairness as supporting opportunity rather than redistributing welfare. On the way to the late 2000s, their sense of direction was lost. The final phase, one might argue, ended with the 2008–2009 financial crisis. Henceforth, the challenge for the Left concerned how to define a social democracy with less revenue and limited scope for expanding public services, while reaching out to the so-called left-behinds through better jobs and a renewed sense of common purpose.
Jeremy Corbyn and Emmanuel Macron represent two distinctly different attempts at forging a new way forward from the impasse. During Corbyn's tenure as a leader (2015–2020), Labour carved out space by moving leftwards on key economic policies while proffering communitarianism as the antidote to globalised capitalism. Across the English Channel, Macron's new party, La République En Marche, sought to generate a new form of politics that had clear similarities with the centrism of third way social democracy, supplemented by an emphasis on social dialogue and enhanced European integration as a strategy for harnessing globalisation.
Corbynism and Macronism represent two distinct attempts at centre-left renewal, both personalised yet evolving on the back of mass movements. This chapter summarises the trajectory of both in terms of ideological content and organisational change and asks what lessons they convey about the future of social democracy in the twenty-first century.
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The Internet offers companies many opportunities to implement new business models, called e(electronic)‐business in short, and to reinforce their competitiveness in the market. It…
Abstract
The Internet offers companies many opportunities to implement new business models, called e(electronic)‐business in short, and to reinforce their competitiveness in the market. It is currently suggested that business‐to‐business commerce, which is one of the dominant segments in e‐business, is going to develop around e‐marketplaces. However, the new millennium has witnessed the rise and fall of many “dot.com” firms and now both the companies and the investors are extremely cautious about the performance and effectiveness of the e‐marketplaces. To get more benefit from this digital marketplace, suggests the use of fuzzy logic based on multi‐criteria evaluation as a superior means of improving the efficiency of the decision making for the e‐marketplace selection under uncertain conditions. This evaluation approach, in which both fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy Delphi methodologies are employed, enables one to deal with the uncertainty and vagueness from subjective perception and the experiences of humans in a group decision process and ensures a more convincing and effective decision making. Also shows the application of the approach on a real life case.
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Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger and Craig Mahoney
Nations today are faced with unprecedented challenges due to rapid globalization and global climate change. Universities no longer operate in isolation but are now a part of…
Abstract
Nations today are faced with unprecedented challenges due to rapid globalization and global climate change. Universities no longer operate in isolation but are now a part of society where they are expected to be socially responsible citizens. Universities need to have effective strategies in order to be effective in a highly competitive higher education (HE) landscape. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a preferred strategy that can help achieve a good reputation and competitive advantage for the institutions of HE. Such institutions imparting HE are engaging in debates and quality research work to gauge the need of the current generation with a vision to meet the needs of the future generation (Sengupta, Blessinger, & Yamin, 2020). This book contains chapters that review scientific literature with an aim to find out the theoretical underpinnings explored in the case studies and interventions practiced by universities across the globe. This book provides evidence for CSR and the role of civil societies in creating an organizational culture that promotes social competence and human relations. This collective knowledge will help facilitate continuous improvement in higher education institutions with external impact and internal capacity building and a focus toward performance and management.
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Henry Ongori and Stephen O. Migiro
The purpose of this paper is to examine the driving forces, challenges benefits, barriers and strategies to decrease barriers to information and communication technologies (ICTs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the driving forces, challenges benefits, barriers and strategies to decrease barriers to information and communication technologies (ICTs) adoption and assimilation by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in this era of globalization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a review of literature, both online and print.
Findings
The paper concludes that, ICTs adoption and assimilation in SMEs is critical to enhance their competitiveness. In addition, ICTs usage in SMEs will enhance accessibility into the international markets.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of this paper is that it only reviews relevant literature and that empirical findings are not obtained to give an insight and holistic view of ICTs adoption and assimilation by SMEs.
Practical implications
Effective use of ICTs in SMEs has great impact on its competitiveness and sustainability. In addition, owners/owner managers, policy makers and other stakeholders would be in a position to understand the challenges faced by SMEs in ICTs adoption and come up with various interventions to assist SMEs.
Originality/value
Despite the challenges faced by SMEs on ICTs adoption, SMEs stand to benefit from adopting ICTs in their business processes especially in accessing international markets. SMEs play a great role in the economy and thus need special attention.
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Luciano Novais, Juan Manuel Maqueira Marín and José Moyano-Fuentes
With support from the dynamic capabilities theory, this paper examines the role of Cloud Computing technology use in logistics (Cloud-Supported Logistics) and its effect on…
Abstract
Purpose
With support from the dynamic capabilities theory, this paper examines the role of Cloud Computing technology use in logistics (Cloud-Supported Logistics) and its effect on business results in Lean manufacturing management (Lean Production implementation) and Supply Chain Integration contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the survey method, a random sample of 260 companies in intermediate positions in their supply chains was gathered from a population of 1,717 Spanish companies and used to test five hypotheses. The data were collected by telephone survey using a computerised system with a response rate of 15.6% (260 valid questionnaires). Structural equation modelling was used to test the five proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The findings indicate that Cloud-Supported Logistics use plays an important role in achieving better business results in Lean Production environments. Lean Production has been found to have both a direct effect and an even more powerful indirect effect on performance through the Cloud-Supported Logistics and Supply Chain Integration that these technologies produce. Supply Chain Integration is also found to have a mediating effect in the Cloud-Supported Logistics–performance relationship.
Originality/value
This study is valuable for academics and practitioners as it provides evidence of the relevant role played by Cloud-Supported Logistics in Lean Production implementation contexts. Cloud-Supported Logistics and Lean Production are strategically and operationally linked and their joint use results in Supply Chain Integration and better business performance.
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José Jesús Castro‐Schez, Raúl Miguel, David Vallejo and Vanesa Herrera
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi‐agent architecture, which offers services to be applied in B2C e‐Marketplaces and to present the core system: the search agent.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi‐agent architecture, which offers services to be applied in B2C e‐Marketplaces and to present the core system: the search agent.
Design/methodology/approach
The different parts that compose an e‐commerce portal are naturally performed through intelligent agents, which have the ability to communicate with one another and autonomously act depending on defined goals.
Findings
The search agent returns the more relevant results in direct shopping than others previously used. It is based on a usability‐improved fuzzy searching mechanism that allows the specification of uncertain and vague searching preferences.
Research limitations/implications
More empirical research efforts need to be directed to study the efficiency over time. This work is based on a prototype, which is its main limitation.
Practical implications
Intelligent agents can be useful to improve e‐commerce services in B2C portals.
Originality/value
The research extends previous authors' work on the application of intelligent agents to e‐commerce fields.