Graham Heaslip, Tore Listou, Per Olof Skoglund and Ioanna Falagara Sigala
Thomas Ekström, Per Hilletofth and Per Skoglund
Defence supply chains (SCs) aim at operational outcomes, and armed forces depend on them to provide availability and preparedness in peace and sustainability in war. Previous…
Abstract
Purpose
Defence supply chains (SCs) aim at operational outcomes, and armed forces depend on them to provide availability and preparedness in peace and sustainability in war. Previous research has focussed on strategies for SCs aiming at financial outcomes. This raises the question of how suitable commercial supply chain strategies (SCSs) are for supply chain design (SCD) in defence. The purpose of this paper is to explain the constructs of SCSs that satisfy military operational requirements and to propose SCSs that are appropriate in defence.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on a Delphi study with 20 experts from Swedish defence authorities. Through three Delphi rounds, two workshops and a validation round, these experts contributed to the reported findings.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that commercial SC constructs are acceptable and applicable in defence but not sufficient. An additional strategy is required to satisfy requirements on availability, preparedness and sustainability. The paper shows that different requirements in peace and war make it challenging to design suitable defence SCs and proposes eight SCSs that satisfy these requirements.
Research limitations/implications
The results emanate from the Swedish defence context and further research is required for generalisation.
Originality/value
This paper extends theory by investigating SCs aiming at operational outcomes. For managers in companies and defence authorities, it explicates how the unique issues in defence must influence SCD to satisfy operational requirements.
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This chapter builds upon two case studies, in Flensburg (Germany) and Essunga (Sweden), within the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education project Organisation…
Abstract
This chapter builds upon two case studies, in Flensburg (Germany) and Essunga (Sweden), within the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education project Organisation of Provision to Support Inclusive Education (OoP). The cases highlight general policy issues and challenges relating to inclusion in Europe and, more specifically, the complex question of how to change school culture and structures in order to increase the inclusive capability of schools, thereby raising the achievement of all learners. The cases illustrate the need for co-ordinated changes both at municipal-political and administrative level and at school level. The findings also highlight the importance of what Kim and Mauborgne (Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2003). Tipping point leadership. Harvard Business Review, April, 61–69.) termed ‘tipping-point leadership’ in a study on positive transformation of the New York Police Department’s culture and structures during the mid-1990s. In Flensburg and Essunga, the leaders at different levels co-operated in an extraordinary situation and created a common crisis awareness among the staff, an understanding of the necessity to change, and ways to support the professional organisation to develop a new, more inclusive thought-action style with greater influence on learner achievement.
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Annelie Sjölander-Lindqvist, Wilhelm Skoglund and Daniel Laven
This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a qualitative research approach and was implemented in the peripheral region of Jämtland in northern Sweden. The study interrogated the ambitions of craft brewers when starting up, their long-term goals and visions, including questions about the reason for starting up a brewery, how the different brewers cooperate and how and why the products are designed and labelled the way they are.
Findings
This study shows that the production of craft beer is an inherently social practice that is part of a particular sociocultural milieu. This milieu informs production in distinct and interrelated ways: through connecting to place and locality in the different aspects of production and marketing, through cooperation to develop production and overcome barriers, and through embedding their work in sustainability discourses.
Originality/value
The study addresses how, in the context of craft beer, terroir or taste of place, is a matter of social ties to place and community–social terroir. What is novel is the way in which social terroir becomes a critical ingredient in the production of craft beer. This illustrates how small-scale food production and gastronomic efforts can link people, places and businesses.
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Paulina Ines Rytkönen, Wilhelm Skoglund, Pejvak Oghazi and Daniel Laven
The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine the following questions: Which are the main underlying forces behind the entrepreneurial process in a rural RIS characterized by traditionally low-tech, small-scale businesses? How can the development of a low-tech regional innovation system be conceptualized?
Design/methodology/approach
The design of the study is based on entrepreneurship theory. Data analysis followed practices used in phenomenography, a research approach used to analyse and identify commonalities and variations in populations' perceptions of a certain phenomenon. Data are composed using semi-structured interviews and a database composed of company information of all firms in the population.
Findings
A proactive mobilization of regional stakeholders and resources can be an important driving force behind the entrepreneurial process and generation of a rural RIS. Innovation can be generated within low-tech industries turning the rural context into an asset. An RIS in a remote rural context can be initiated and orchestrated by regional authorities, but knowledge brokering and orchestration can also be managed by networks of small-scale businesses brought together by mutual benefit and common interests.
Research limitations/implications
Regional innovation systems theory is most often used to study high-tech industries. But by combining regional innovation systems with rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship context theory is a fruitful avenue to understand the role of rural entrepreneurship in regional development, even in remote and peripheral regions. Innovation does not need to entail high-tech international environments; it can appear as the result of efforts in low-tech industries in rural and remote environments. The authors’ findings need to be scrutinized; therefore, the authors call for more research on regional innovation systems in rural environments.
Practical implications
It is possible for regional authorities to orchestrate a development process through the actions of a strong regional agent but also by supporting the creation of networks of small businesses that are built on trust and common interests.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature with a new perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and of regional innovation systems. Entrepreneurship research with focus on rural contexts most often highlight limits to entrepreneurship and see entrepreneurship as “just running a business”. A perspective that starts from innovation and innovative behaviour, despite the rural context and embedded resources, helps to generate new knowledge that can enrich the understanding of entrepreneurship and also be the foundation for more precise business development policies in rural settings.
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Chiara Rinaldi, Massimo Giovanardi, Andrea Lucarelli, Wilhelm Skoglund and Annelie Sjölander Lindqvist
This study investigates the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Network as a global spatial brand and explores the tensions that emerge when this global brand is appropriated…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Network as a global spatial brand and explores the tensions that emerge when this global brand is appropriated locally.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on case study research that uses critical discourse analysis to identify the implications of a transferable learning capacity.
Findings
This paper identifies three different types of tensions in place brand management that emerge during the local appropriation of global brands: tensions inherent in multi-scalarity, tensions associated with integrating governance and strategy-related tensions.
Originality/value
This study advances the theoretical understanding of the spatial complexity inherent in place brand management practices by focusing on the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Network as a global brand in a Scandinavian context.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine usage trends during the first four years of the implementation of the Springer Book Archives (SBA) at the University of Melbourne. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine usage trends during the first four years of the implementation of the Springer Book Archives (SBA) at the University of Melbourne. The paper assesses the benefits of the SBA against perceptions at the time of purchase and seeks to evaluate the long-term value of the purchase.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology included a literature search to identify issues in the adoption of large backlists of ebooks, examination of detailed usage data supplied in COUNTER complaint spreadsheets and tables by Springer, validating findings with librarians and academics and positing next steps.
Findings
Usage of ebooks, like other electronic resources, is difficult to predict. Resources expected to be used, may not be and vice versa. Access to large aggregations of electronic content creates new opportunities for teaching and research, additional economies and benefits, as well as unexpected outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Detailed data on user profiles were not available and an evaluation of user perceptions was not possible at this time.
Originality/value
The literature review suggests that this is the only published study of institutional usage of the SBA at this time.