Sundaram R.K., Senthil Kumaran S. and Edwin Samson P.
This study aims to reduce the interfacial tension by increasing the better adhesion between different immiscible polymers phases and also to evaluate the mechanical, thermal and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to reduce the interfacial tension by increasing the better adhesion between different immiscible polymers phases and also to evaluate the mechanical, thermal and thermo-mechanical behavior of the immiscible polymer blends.
Design/methodology/approach
The polymer blend composite (PBC) was prepared using a twin-screw extruder followed by injection molding. Two different kinds of PBC with compatibilizer (Ethylene-n-Butylacrylate-Glycidyl methacrylate) of varying compositions like polybutylene terephthalate + poly trimethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate (30% glass filled) + poly trimethylene terephthalate were prepared and material behavior at various test conditions were studied. The effect of glass fiber reinforcement on polymer blend and the interlocking effect by the compatibilizer between the polymer phases were also assessed.
Findings
Mechanical behavior of PBC was estimated by tensile, flexural and angular impact tests. Likewise, the thermal deflection was studied with the help of heat deflection temperature test. Thermo-mechanical behavior likes storage modulus, loss modulus and loss tangent were studied using the dynamic mechanical analysis test. Morphological analysis was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy.
Originality/value
This in turn makes the process easy to obtain the PBC having inherent mechanical, thermal and thermo-mechanically stable. And, it also enhances the mechanical properties like tensile, flexural and impact strength. Simultaneously, posse’s excellent heat deflection and thermo-mechanical behavior over a temperature range of 35–140ºC at a constant frequency of 5 Hz.
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Annika Steiber and Sverker Alänge
History is full of companies that were once innovative leaders but lost their innovative ability. The purpose of this paper is to explore, from a firm‐level perspective…
Abstract
Purpose
History is full of companies that were once innovative leaders but lost their innovative ability. The purpose of this paper is to explore, from a firm‐level perspective, organizational characteristics for continuous innovation in rapidly changing industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Findings from 28 interviews at Google Inc., are compared to previous research on organizational characteristics for continuous innovation.
Findings
Google's organization can be viewed as a dynamic and open corporate system for continuous innovation, involving the entire organization and supported by an innovation‐oriented and change‐prone top management and board. The relative importance of eight organizational characteristics in this corporate system is elaborated upon.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for empirical research contributing to the development of a more comprehensive analytical framework for continuous innovation, including the role of culture and selection/facilitation of self‐organizing individuals in innovation processes; and to study how to organize for both continuous innovation and continuous improvements.
Practical implications
The importance of factors such as culture and the selection of individuals, identified in the empirical study, needs to be considered by managers, and might influence their understanding of how to sustain continuous innovation over time.
Originality/value
This paper provides, from a firm‐level perspective and based on a unique access to empirical data, increased understanding of organizational characteristics conducive to continuous innovation in rapidly changing industries, and highlights the importance of characteristics that received less emphasis in previous research literature.
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Recently, manipulative techniques, such as dark patterns, are widely applied. However, there is a need for clarification regarding these techniques and related phenomena. In…
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, manipulative techniques, such as dark patterns, are widely applied. However, there is a need for clarification regarding these techniques and related phenomena. In particular, there is still no clarity about the terminology and conceptual basis of consumer manipulation. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by introducing a definition and classification of consumer manipulation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a conceptual approach, drawing on existing literature and established theories to comprehend the phenomenon of consumer manipulation.
Findings
The paper proposes that consumer manipulation comprises three dimensions: limited transparency, perceived restriction of autonomy and the feeling of being tricked. This paper presents a classification of different types of consumer manipulation and demonstrates how these types can lead to varying outcomes based on the source of manipulation, changeability, reasons for perception and perception timing. Based on this classification, research propositions informed by established theories and concepts are presented.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this work represents a first attempt to address the concept of consumer manipulation through a clear definition and classification. It is relevant for academics, policymakers and practitioners since it facilitates informed discussions and analyses of this concept. It benefits companies by raising awareness of potentially overlooked consequences of manipulative tactics, while also benefiting consumers by reducing their exposure to manipulation.
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Frank Wiengarten, Brian Fynes, Paul Humphreys, Roberto C. Chavez and Alan McKittrick
This paper seeks to report the results of an empirical study examining the value creation process of e‐business (EB) applications from a supply chain perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to report the results of an empirical study examining the value creation process of e‐business (EB) applications from a supply chain perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was sent to procurement managers located in the German automotive supply chain. Interaction effects were examined through regression analyses to illustrate the moderating role of the suppliers' EB readiness in the value creation process throughout the supply chain.
Findings
Based on the resource‐based view (RBV) and previous research this study illustrates that EB applications (i.e. EB interaction applications, EB coordination applications and EB integration applications) have a significantly stronger positive impact on operational performance when a company's key suppliers are ready and willing to engage in EB (suppliers' EB readiness).
Originality/value
Although research on the performance impact and business value of EB applications has advanced over the past years, there is still a scarcity of research taking a supply chain perspective on EB value. This study addresses this gap through reporting results of an empirical study examining the value creation of EB applications through the moderating role of suppliers' EB readiness on the EB applications‐operational performance relationship throughout the supply chain. This paper will thus be beneficial for supply chain managers considering investing in EB systems and will support further research in EB value creation in supply chains.
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Rapid economic growth and urbanization in India have increased demand for municipal services. In response, privatization has emerged as a policy solution to a growing deficit in…
Abstract
Purpose
Rapid economic growth and urbanization in India have increased demand for municipal services. In response, privatization has emerged as a policy solution to a growing deficit in urban infrastructure and service provision. But, privatization assumes prior state ownership of those services. Certain waste management services, specifically doorstep waste collection, have never been truly public in the sense that private informal actors have historically provided them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the tensions and contradictions between two related policy imperatives – universal service provision and privatization – that appear to be guiding the municipalization of solid waste collection services in urban India.
Design/methodology/approach
Research for this paper relies on detailed analysis of key government documents (reports of various committees, regulations and laws) that have been important in defining municipal responsibilities for waste management in India from 1990 to 2016. In addition, where appropriate, research materials from the author’s doctoral dissertation fieldwork in Delhi from October 2012 to December 2013 have also been used.
Findings
An analysis of key policy documents revealed that the government’s efforts to document deficits in service provision ignored, and thus rendered invisible, the work of the informal sector. While a consensus on the need for universal waste collection service had emerged as early as the late 1990s, it was not until 2016 that municipal responsibility for service provision was codified into law. The rules issued in 2016 municipalized this responsibility while simultaneously opening up spaces for the inclusion of the informal sector in waste collection service provision.
Originality/value
This paper fills a gap in the existing literature on how policy interventions have brought the space of the doorstep into the ambit of the state such that it allows for the opening up of those spaces for the entry of private capital. Under the guise of universal service provision, the shift to municipalization and outsourcing to private corporations is not in fact privatization – service provision is already private – but involves the dispossession of informal workers and the transfer of their resource to the formal, corporate sector.
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Chukiat Siriwong, Siwarit Pongsakornrungsilp, Pimlapas Pongsakornrungsilp and Vikas Kumar
This study aims to examine the role of mindful consumption in promoting rural sustainability, particularly in the context of tourism in Muang Kaen Community, Chiang Mai, Thailand…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of mindful consumption in promoting rural sustainability, particularly in the context of tourism in Muang Kaen Community, Chiang Mai, Thailand, by establishing a robust circular economy.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected through in-depth interviews with 28 informants who are tourism stakeholders regarding sustainable development, i.e. government officers, business owners, community leaders and community members in Muang Kaen, to achieve the data triangulation. A thematic analysis of the interview data was employed in this data set.
Findings
The findings demonstrate three key themes for driving sustainable community development: a sense of community, leadership and embodiment. At an individual level, local community members co-create a sense of community through Thainess, which gradually forms the social commitment to caring for neighbors, the community, and the environment. Carefulness also relates to another theme, “leadership” – social capital, which drives mindful behavior among the community members. Both situational and official leaders are key persons in forming a culture of sustainability within the community. Finally, the community can achieve sustainable goals by driving from the individual to the collective level through the embodiment.
Research limitations/implications
This single-case study warrants further examination across different communities to generalize the findings to broader circumstances.
Originality/value
This study has shed light on how rural tourism can drive sustainable development through a circular economy and mindful consumption.
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Dale L. Flesher, William D. Samson and Gary John Previts
Evidence of audit committee activity in the formative years of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad indicates that control and reporting activity developed long before the…
Abstract
Evidence of audit committee activity in the formative years of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad indicates that control and reporting activity developed long before the existence of regulatory mandate or the external auditing function. This is the earliest example of such an organized and continuing activity in American business history. With no previous business experience to model this enterprise, the organizers of the corporation put in place an audit committee of directors as a control device to safeguard assets and ensure proper handling of cash receipts and disbursements. Research into primary materials establishes that the committee not only performed regular routine audits of the “treasurer’s report,” but also identified and addressed critical problems of control and payment weaknesses. The discovery of the function of value‐for‐money (VFM) auditing by a committee of directors establishes historical context for today’s audit process and audit committee. Because the B&O was such an important entity, it influenced other railroads; and the railroad industry, in turn, greatly influenced the development of modern American businesses during the Industrial Revolution.
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Anthony Moung Yin CHAN, Fangus Wai Wa CHU and Chi Kwong YUEN
Total quality management (TQM) has been a popular managerial topic since the 1980s. However, not too many organizations have successfully implemented it. This paper studies a…
Abstract
Total quality management (TQM) has been a popular managerial topic since the 1980s. However, not too many organizations have successfully implemented it. This paper studies a successful TQM project implemented in a manufacturing company in the People's Republic of China. It reports the TQM implementation process, the benefits generated from the TQM project, the problems that arose from the adoption of TQM for the company, and the main factors for the eventual success of the project. This case study is a reference for managers and researchers who are interested in TQM or interested in the Chinese managerial environment in general.
Diane M. Sykes and Kathryn G. Kelly
Serious leisure and tourism experiences are important to the motorcycle subculture and form the basis for one subculture of consumption. This paper aims to further the…
Abstract
Purpose
Serious leisure and tourism experiences are important to the motorcycle subculture and form the basis for one subculture of consumption. This paper aims to further the understanding of motorcycle tourism demand generators so that a brand experience can be developed to appeal to this subculture.
Design/methodology/approach
A holistic approach was used to examine the open-end responses from motorcycle tourist survey data to discover emergent trends in motorcycle tourism and compare them to existing leisure and experiential tourism theories.
Findings
Analysis identified the applicability and limitations of demand generator theory, experiential tourism, the tourist gaze, drama-based theory and serious leisure theory when studying motorcycle tourism. A modified conceptual framework (Motorcycle Tourism Demand Generators) using core theories, contributing theories and useful theories emerged. Studying motorcycle tourism led to promulgating a new boundary, Dynamic Interaction Leisure, to study the motorcycle leisure lifestyle.
Research limitations/implications
Survey data were obtained from a small sample. The questionnaire was untested. Thus, results need further testing to be generalized. Respondents may be older than the general population of motorcycle riders. One researcher was a participant so care was taken to ensure objectivity.
Practical implications
Tourism bureaus and businesses can better understand motorcycle tourists' needs and facilitate creating brand experiences to improve motorcyclist's enjoyment. Promotional tools can be developed to encourage rural tourism that will generate substantial returns.
Originality/value
The paper modifies existing theories that study experiential tourism fitting them to motorcycle tourism suggesting a new model and boundary, Dynamic Interaction Leisure, to examine the sub-cultural motorcycle leisure lifestyle.