Florence Y.Y. Ling, Peng Chong Tan, Yan Ning, Albert Teo and Asanga Gunawansa
The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational contracting (RC) practices that give rise to higher quality interpersonal relations between these pairs of stakeholders at…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational contracting (RC) practices that give rise to higher quality interpersonal relations between these pairs of stakeholders at the end of public projects: clients and contractors; contractors and consultants; and clients and consultants. It developed models to predict the level of quality of interpersonal relations between the stakeholders at the completion of public projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a set of questionnaire, data were collected from randomly selected construction industry practitioners who have had experience in public projects in Singapore. The data were analysed to identify association between the use of RC practices and quality of interpersonal relations between stakeholders. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted.
Findings
It was found that when certain RC practices were adopted to a larger extent, public projects also have significantly higher quality of interpersonal relations between clients, contractors and consultants. Three mathematical models were developed to predict the relationship quality between stakeholders at the end of the public project.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations include the subjective nature of the Likert scale that was used in answering the questionnaire survey and the limited number of interviews. The effect of existing good relations among stakeholders was not taken into account.
Practical implications
Suitable RC practices for adoption by public clients, contractors and consultants in public projects are recommended. These include developing deeper mutual trust and understanding, sharing project information, and having real gain-share/pain-share among contracting parties.
Originality/value
RC practices that are significantly associated with relationships among contracting parties in public projects in Singapore are uncovered. Contracting parties may use the recommendations to help enhance their relationships with one another in a public project.
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Chaochao Guo, Youchao Sun, Rourou Yu and Chong Peng
The purpose of this paper is to overcome the inherent lack of precision in commonly used interpolation procedures when solving the mathematical model of turbofan engines, as well…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to overcome the inherent lack of precision in commonly used interpolation procedures when solving the mathematical model of turbofan engines, as well as to address the issue that the theoretical variogram model in traditional Kriging models is prone to subjective selection bias, which makes it impossible to accurately capture the inherent fluctuation patterns in compressor data.
Design/methodology/approach
To mitigate this challenge, based on the spatial distribution characteristics of the compressor characteristic data of a certain type of turbofan engine, the input and output dimensions of the model are defined. By determining the stable operating region from the original component data, the authors use the proposed Kriging method improved with a support vector machine model to reconstruct the characteristics at unknown speeds within this region. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated using the established assessment metrics.
Findings
Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits significant advantages over the conventional Kriging approach. Specifically, it leads to a substantial reduction in root mean square error and mean absolute error by 0.0153/0.0118 (low speed), 0.1306/0.0362 (medium speed) and −0.0066/0.2366 (high speed).
Originality/value
This refined approach not only offers notable engineering applicability but also contributes significantly to the enhancement of aerospace engine model solutions’ precision.
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Jenson Chong-Leng Goh, Manohar P. Sabnani, Gee Kwang Randolph Tan and Siew Peng Tan
Strategy.
Abstract
Subject area
Strategy.
Study level/applicability
Undergraduate final year or MBA.
Case overview
This teaching case describes the journey undertaken by Yoma Strategic Holdings (YSH) Ltd, a Singapore-listed company that operates predominately in Myanmar, to become a successful and highly profitable conglomerate business empire in Myanmar. The case provides a rich contextual description of how YSH leveraged upon its partnerships and capabilities, especially with its parent and sister companies, to pursue its conglomerate business model. To facilitate the discussion that this teaching case aims to generate among lecturers and students, we have provided a summary of the latest developments in Myanmar since the 2010 general election. This helps to give students an appreciation of the challenges involved in creating a successful business in Myanmar.
Expected learning outcomes
The learning outcomes that this teaching case hopes to achieve in students are as follows: Understand the concept of “economies of scope” in corporate strategy; identify and explain the various corporate strategies (i.e. diversification and vertical integration) that can be implemented to develop a conglomerate business model; recognize the organizational and managerial issues arising from implementing these corporate strategies and understand the circumstances that influence its success; and assess the relative advantages of managing a business in a conglomerate business model and advise a company on whether a particular activity should be undertaken internally or outsourced.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
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This study examines the drivers of consumers’ intentions to adopt mobile wallets in Pakistan’s hospitality industry. Specifically, it proposes and tests a model of non-user…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the drivers of consumers’ intentions to adopt mobile wallets in Pakistan’s hospitality industry. Specifically, it proposes and tests a model of non-user consumer intention to adopt mobile wallets for hospitality in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework grounded in the mobile technology acceptance model (MTAM) integrating personal innovativeness in IT, mobile perceived compatibility, perceived critical mass, perceived enjoyment, mobile perceived risk and mobile perceived wireless trust was used as a theoretical model of the study. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the research model and its relevant hypotheses on a sample of 310 mobile wallet nonusers.
Findings
Findings from the expanded model demonstrate that only four of the suggested hypotheses were insignificant in this study and require additional examination. Overall, the modified model explained 63% of the variance in the behavioral intention to adopt mobile wallets. This paper concludes with key implications and directions for future work concerning the limitations of this study.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the factors that explain nonusers’ behavioral intention to use a mobile wallet in the hospitality context.
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Teng Teng and Christos Tsinopoulos
The purpose of this study is to explore the link between information systems (IS) capabilities, supplier integration and cost performance in the service context. Specifically, it…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the link between information systems (IS) capabilities, supplier integration and cost performance in the service context. Specifically, it empirically investigates how supplier integration meditates the relationship between three dimensions of IS capabilities and cost performance in service firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 156 UK service firms was conducted and the data analyzed to determine the role of supplier integration in mediating the effects of IS capabilities on firms' cost performance. The research model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the neural network model was used to rank the relative influence of significant predictors obtained from SEM.
Findings
The results confirmed that supplier integration fully mediates the effects of information technology (IT) for supply chain activities and flexible IT infrastructure on cost performance and partially mediates the effect of operations manager's IT knowledge on cost performance. The results showed that operations manager's IT knowledge is the strongest predictor of supplier integration.
Originality/value
This study takes a step toward quelling concerns about the business value of IS, contributing to the development and validation of the measurement of IS capabilities in the service operations context. Additionally, it adds to the emerging body of literature linking supplier integration to the operational performance of service firms.
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Seok-Tyug Tan, Amin Ismail, Muhajir Hamid, Pei-Pei Chong, Jian Sun and Seok-Shin Tan
Literature has shown that phenolic acids and flavonoids are bearing with hypoglycemic and anti-adipogenic properties. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the possibility of…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature has shown that phenolic acids and flavonoids are bearing with hypoglycemic and anti-adipogenic properties. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the possibility of phenolic-rich soya bean husk powder extract (SHPE) in combating diabetes and obesity using in vitro models.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypoglycemic properties were evaluated by determining the ability of SHPE (25-100 µg/mL) in inhibiting a-amylase and a-glucosidase enzymes and in triggering insulin secretion in BRIN-BD11 cells. Murine 3T3-L1 adipocytes were used for evaluating the anti-adipogenic properties of SHPE through the determination of relative lipid accumulation, triglyceride content and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) activity.
Findings
The hypoglycemic properties of SHPE was in the dose-dependent manner, where 100 µg SHPE/mL exhibited a significant higher (p < 0.05) a-amylase inhibitory activity (56.8 ± 0.11 per cent) and insulin secretion activity (0.73 ± 0.02 µg/l) against other concentrations. In contrast to the aforementioned findings, a significant lower a-glucosidase inhibitory activity (52.0 ± 0.44 per cent) was also observed in 100 µg SHPE/mL. Nevertheless, findings revealed that all the SHPE were able to inhibit the activity of a-amylase and a-glucosidase and stimulated the insulin secretion in BRIN-BD11 cells. On the other hand, the anti-adipogenic properties of SHPE were in the reverse dose-dependent manner, where 100 µg SHPE/mL demonstrated a significant lower (p < 0.05) relative lipid accumulation (48.5 ± 0.03 per cent), intracellular triglyceride content (5.7 ± 0.07 mg/dL) and GPDH activity (1.0 ± 0.01 mU/mL). These findings reflected that 100 µg SHPE/mL was a potent anti-adipogenic agent when compared with other concentrations. In conclusion, soya husk could emerge as a potential hypoglycemic and anti-adipogenic agents in in vitro models.
Originality/value
This was the first study to explore the effectiveness of phytochemicals derived from soya bean husk in ameliorating hyperglycemia and adipogenesis. Promising findings that derived from the present study could enable the scientists to re-evaluate the potential use of agricultural wastes, especially in the formulation of nutraceuticals.
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Wai Peng Wong and Kuan Yew Wong
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how supply chain management (SCM) practices and knowledge management (KM) capabilities affect firm performance. This study was…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how supply chain management (SCM) practices and knowledge management (KM) capabilities affect firm performance. This study was conducted in the Asia Pacific region, which had not been examined before.
Design/methodology/approach
A three‐phase statistical analysis which comprised phase one (convergent validity, reliability, and discriminant validity), phase two (mediated regression analysis) and phase three (path analysis) was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The results from this paper have shown that the implementation of SCM practices will interact with KM capabilities to influence firm performance.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed model does not consider firm performance from multiple perspectives. In addition, the use of longitudinal data would be more useful to examine how changes in certain variables affect performance.
Practical implications
These findings provide important insights for managers to understand the disposition of the firm to better leverage internal capability (knowledge), by exploiting relationships with supply chain partners.
Social implications
This paper has extended knowledge in the mainstream management and provides valuable clues on how to improve organizational effectiveness, which is the crux of management.
Originality/value
The paper is among the first empirical works that specifically investigate the relationships between KM and SCM; thus this paper fills an important gap in the supply chain literature.
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Romina Gómez-Prado, Aldo Alvarez-Risco, Jorge Sánchez-Palomino, Berdy Briggitte Cuya-Velásquez, Sharon Esquerre-Botton, Luigi Leclercq-Machado, Sarahit Castillo-Benancio, Marián Arias-Meza, Micaela Jaramillo-Arévalo, Myreya De-La-Cruz-Diaz, Maria de las Mercedes Anderson-Seminario and Shyla Del-Aguila-Arcentales
In the academic field of business management, several potential theories were established during the last decades to explain companies' decisions, organizational behavior…
Abstract
In the academic field of business management, several potential theories were established during the last decades to explain companies' decisions, organizational behavior, consumer patterns, and internationalization, among others. As a result, businesses and scholars were able to analyze and decide based on theoretical approaches to explain the current conditions of the market. Secondary research was conducted to collect more than 36 management theories. This chapter aims to develop the most famous theories related to business applied in the international field. The novelty of this chapter relies on the compilation of recognized previous research studies from the academic literature and evidence in international business.
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Yungchul Kim, Ting Hin Ho, Lay Peng Tan and Riza Casidy
Consumer forgiveness is an important concept in service failure and recovery research. To advance knowledge and develop future research agenda in this domain, this paper provides…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer forgiveness is an important concept in service failure and recovery research. To advance knowledge and develop future research agenda in this domain, this paper provides a systematic review of the literature on factors influencing consumer forgiveness while adopting the customer journey perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted of 102 peer-reviewed journal articles, on factors influencing consumer forgiveness, published between January 2000 and December 2020.
Findings
The authors' analysis offers a detailed account of the factors influencing consumer forgiveness across the three stages of the service journey: pre-transgression, transgression and recovery. From the review, the authors identified significant gaps relating to the interactions between the relevant factors influencing forgiveness throughout the various stages of the consumer service journey. Based on the findings, the authors offer several research questions to help managers optimize customer forgiveness following a service failure throughout each stage of consumer service journey.
Originality/value
The authors' review synthesizes the literature on factors contributing to consumer forgiveness and integrates these factors into the customer service journey. The authors' findings inform directions for future research and provide insights regarding the measures that service providers should take to understand and encourage consumer forgiveness.
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Xiaodie Pu, Meng Chen, Zhao Cai, Alain Yee-Loong Chong and Kim Hua Tan
This study aims to examine the impact of lean manufacturing (LM) on the financial performance of companies affected by emergency situations. It additionally explores the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of lean manufacturing (LM) on the financial performance of companies affected by emergency situations. It additionally explores the role of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) in complementing LM to enhance financial performance in emergency and non-emergency situations.
Design/methodology/approach
Both survey and archival data were collected from 219 manufacturing companies in China. With longitudinal data collected before and after an emergency situation (i.e. Typhoon Rumbia), regression analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of LM and AMTs on financial performance in different contexts.
Findings
Our results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between LM and financial performance in the context of emergency. We also found that AMTs exerted a positive moderation effect on the inverted U-shaped relationship, indicating high levels of AMTs that mitigated the inefficiency of LM in coping with supply chain emergencies.
Research limitations/implications
Through simultaneous investigation of LM and AMTs as bundles of practices and their fit with different contexts, this study takes a systems approach to fit that advances the application of contingency theory in the Operations Management literature to more complex patterns of fit.
Originality/value
This study illuminates how AMTs support LM practices in facilitating organizational performance in different contexts. Specifically, this study unravels the interaction mechanisms between AMTs and LM in influencing financial performance in emergency and non-emergency situations.