Search results

[Documents librarians regularly alert patrons to the vagaries of the seemingly infinite variety of statistics available in the publications of international governmental agencies. Many documents experts even warm of the possible inaccuracies of international government statistics. Only the most skeptical, however, would portray the validity of government statistics in the manner that two international experts do in the following essays. The warnings they issue would be important at any time, but they are particularly relevant now that documents librarians are on the verge of having unparalleled access to these data via Congressional Information Service's Index to International Statistics (first issue due in January 1983). Considering the increasing use of international statistical publications, the contents of the following essays exemplify why it is imperative that librarians renew their skepticism regarding the limitations of international statistics.

The USA and China have had a complex relationship since the 1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China. This relationship has gone from hostility to guarded friendliness to increased tension at the beginning of the new millennium. Recent years have seen the emergence of literature stressing China’s potential emergence as a national security threat to the USA. This article will look at books, government documents, and Internet resources examining the current and possible future national security relationship between these two countries from 1995/1996 to the present. This literature presents US and international perspectives representing a variety of viewpoints on a subject that may have a major impact on international relations during the twenty‐first century.

Cash flow deficit situations and working capital control are major challenges for many companies, especially those whose suppliers and clients have strong bargaining power. This study aims to describe the application of the Six Sigma methodology for solving these problems in a large German food can manufacturing company.

This paper follows the qualitative methodology of case study research. During different define, measure, analyse, improve and control process phases, the problem and critical aspects are identified to improve the quality of the payment process and improvements are suggested and implemented.

The results provide evidence of how Six Sigma can be useful in administrative–financial processes that are carried out within a company. This result is particularly interesting because it is about processes that have not applied Six Sigma methodology. For the company studied, this methodology has balanced its cash flow and this meant large amounts of savings, especially in bank interest to avoid having to ask for bank credits.

This case can be extrapolated to other companies, regardless of the company size, that present similar symptoms of cash deficit, especially if their bargaining power with suppliers and customers is low.

This paper aims to identify the documented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on early career researcher (ECR) activity, development, career prospects and well-being.

This is a systematic literature review of English language peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and 2021, which provided empirical evidence of the impact of the pandemic on ECR activity and development. The search strategy involved online databases (Scopus, Web of Science and Overton); well-established higher education journals (based on Scopus classification) and references in the retained articles (snowballing). The final sample included 11 papers.

The evidence shows that ECRs have been affected in terms of research activity, researcher development, career prospects and well-being. Although many negative consequences were identified, some promising learning practices have arisen; however, these opportunities were not always fully realised. The results raise questions about differential effects across fields and possible long-term consequences where some fields and some scholars may be worse off due to priorities established as societies struggle to recover.

There is a need for revised institutional and national policies to ensure that sufficient measures are implemented to support ECRs’ research work in a situation where new duties and chores were added during the pandemic.

This paper provides insights into the impacts of the initial societal challenges of the pandemic on ECRs across disciplines that may have long-lasting effects on their academic development and well-being.

Two of the most common reasons for not implementing a risk management program are cost and benefit. This paper focuses on whether the benefits of intervention can be shown to justify the costs. A confounding factor is that the acts of intervention during a risk management program may alter the outcome in ways we cannot separate and therefore cannot cost out. A second confounding factor is response bias – the tendency of individuals consistently to underestimate or overestimate risk, resulting in interventions that may be ineffective or excessively wasteful. The authors demonstrate that signal detection theory (SDT) can be used to analyze data collected during a risk management program to disambiguate the confounding effects of intervention and response bias. SDT can produce an unbiased estimate of percent correct for a risk management program. Furthermore, this unbiased estimator allows comparison of results from one program to another.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of cultural collectivism on the efficacy of lean practices. Furthermore, this study assesses whether or not potential cultural disadvantages related to the level of individualism at the national level can be compensated for at the organisational culture level.

Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism is used to test whether practicing a collectivistic culture at the organisational level can fully compensate for the potential disadvantages of being geographically situated in an individualistic culture when practicing lean manufacturing.

Results suggest that cultural collectivism at the national and organisational level have a significant impact on the efficacy of lean practices. Furthermore, the negative impact of being situated in an individualistic country cannot be fully compensated for through practicing a collectivistic organisational culture when practicing lean.

This study represents a comprehensive attempt to simultaneously assess the collectivism cultural components of lean practices at the national as well as at the organisational level.

The chapter examines the employment of unique social media concepts (e.g., dialogue, engagement, mobilization, authenticity, influence, and transparency) for CSR communication among top companies in Latin America. A quantitative content analysis of 1,000 tweets from corporate official accounts of the top 25 largest firms in the Latin Trade ranking was performed. Tweets were randomly selected if contained hashtags or keywords related to CSR concepts (CSR, sustainability, citizenship, society, environment, etc.). Transparency was the social media concept most employed on CSR-related messages on Twitter. However, most of the companies did not include any of the social media features analyzed. The results of this chapter are consistent with previous studies that social media is used as another traditional informational channel. This work only analyzed tweets sent by Latin American companies, it did not take into consideration responses to messages (replies or retweets of the followers of each company). Future studies can examine stakeholders’ response regarding CSR communication for in-depth analysis of the use of social media by Latin American companies. Organizations and companies can benefit from the results of this work in order to craft effective content on social media that includes features and strategies that can resonance to different groups of stakeholders. CSR social media communication studies that focused on Latin America are scarce. Our study is pioneer in analyzing the usage of social media concepts for CSR communication in Latin America.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the perceptions of cleanliness and organization of the point of sale, hygiene and training of those who serve the public (service) and healthiness of the products, constitute a base for the perception of the quality of food sold in the street. Studies about development of street food trade have gained relevance in academic debate because of its social and economic significance. Usually, aspects related to sanitary issues are presented, and the factors that influence consumer perception regarding quality of food consumed are less explored. This was the focus of this work. The relationships among possible predecessors – attendance, cleanliness, organization and healthiness – were tested, all acting together, influencing the variable perception of product quality. Competitive models were tested because of theoretical divergences regarding the relationship between quality and healthiness, not yet totally clear in the literature.

A quantitative survey was carried out in the city of Diadema (SP, Brazil), getting 603 respondents, with data and theoretical models analyzed by structural equation modeling.

Results indicated that organization variable is not significant regarding perception of product quality, while attendance and healthiness directly affect this perception. On the other hand, cleanliness influences perceived healthiness and this, in turn, reinforces perception of product quality.

The focus of street food traders should be on clerk cleanliness and politeness (characteristics related to the service) that end up influencing the perception that the consumer develops regarding healthiness (characteristic related to product quality).

Usually research studies on this theme include only aspects related to sanitary and safety issues, and those which focus on consumer perception of food quality cover conventional outlets such as bars and restaurants. There are few ones performed as in this study that analyze street food consumer behavior regarding his/her perception of quality, cleanliness, care received, among others.

This paper aims to critically review the most cited literature published from 2000 to 2020 in 24 top-ranked marketing journals on the three most studied branding concepts of the 21st century – brand equity, brand loyalty and brand image – to explore how in these papers they have been defined, measured and examined, and propose how they should move forward in an era where brands are expected to be “socially and socio-politically conscious.”

For each concept a systematic literature review is conducted. In doing so, the definitions, antecedents, outcomes and measures for each concept were accessed and synthesized.

The systematic literature reviews provide a “state-of-the-art” snapshot of each concept and collectively demonstrate there is no consensus on the independence and interdependence of these dynamic multidimensional concepts. Based on the recommended process in the measurement literature, an evolved definition of each concept is proposed. In addition to the corresponding research directions presented in the moving forward sections of each systematic literature review, common research avenues emerged.

This paper acknowledges these three branding concepts as dynamic (i.e. evolving over time), systemically reviews and synthesizes the extant literature, and provides a path forward to defining, measuring and exploring brand equity, brand loyalty and brand image in the present era where brands are expected to be socially and socio-politically conscious with responsibilities to the planet, people and profit.

After initially positioning this paper within the broader mental health recovery literature, this paper aims to highlight the role that physical activity can play in promoting social inclusion and social recovery for those experiencing mental health challenges.

This conceptual paper draws together the limited, but growing, research on how physical activity can facilitate improved social inclusion and benefit an individual’s recovery.

For individuals suffering with mental health challenges, not being able to exercise their right to inclusion is concerning from a recovery perspective, because experiencing social inclusion is recognised as a facilitator of recovery. Initial research has demonstrated by embracing community inclusion and supporting initiatives such as physical activity programs, mental health services can better facilitate individuals’ journeys towards social inclusion and social recovery.

Future research should appreciate the interplay between inclusion, recovery and physical activity. Collaborating with individuals with lived experience, peer mentors and social prescribing teams to explore options for physical activity within local communities fosters empowerment, social inclusion and ensures interventions align with individuals’ preferences and needs.

Practitioners in health service and community settings should recognise the wide-ranging benefits of physical activity for individuals with mental health challenges, especially in terms of helping their social inclusion and social recovery.

This paper is unique in synthesising the mental health literature relating to social inclusion, social recovery and physical activity. Initial findings show promise, but more attention is needed to explore the relationship between these elements and how individuals experiencing mental health challenges can be supported using physical activity.