In the search for methods of improving the management development process, several basic techniques are currently coming to the fore. One of these is coaching and counselling. The…
Abstract
In the search for methods of improving the management development process, several basic techniques are currently coming to the fore. One of these is coaching and counselling. The author talks about this new and emergent role for management trainers.
This paper aims to offer an example of a comprehensive mid-nineteenth century branding strategy in practice.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to offer an example of a comprehensive mid-nineteenth century branding strategy in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper follows a historical research methodology using archival resources and secondary sources within a conceptual framework of present-day branding theory (Bastos and Levy) and communication theory (Perloff). It interrogates visual and material data to construct a production-led examination of the development of a company brand.
Findings
The examination of the material suggests, first, that the company developed a sophisticated, multi-dimensional, multi-functional and materially coherent branding system. Second, it demonstrates that such a system represents an early example of a strategic practice that many scholars have considered to have arisen only in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. Third, it provides evidence that the origin, if not always the implementation, of the strategy lay with one man, Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Originality/value
This paper is novel in its use of visual and material culture artifacts to demonstrate the intentions of those who produced them. It also offers an example of practice in an area that is often only explored in theory. It will be of interest to cultural, marketing, visual and material culture historians.
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Miguel Baptista Nunes, Fenio Annansingh, Barry Eaglestone and Richard Wakefield
The purpose of this paper is to present a study of knowledge management understanding and usage in small and medium knowledge‐intensive enterprises.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a study of knowledge management understanding and usage in small and medium knowledge‐intensive enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has taken an interpretitivist approach, using two knowledge‐intensive South Yorkshire (England) companies as case studies, both of which are characterised by the need to process and use knowledge on a daily basis in order to remain competitive. The case studies were analysed using qualitative research methodology, composed of interviews and concept mapping, thus deriving a characterisation of understandings, perceptions and requirements of SMEs in relation to knowledge management.
Findings
The study provides evidence that, while SMEs, including knowledge intensive ones, acknowledge that adequately capturing, storing, sharing and disseminating knowledge can lead to greater innovation and productivity, their managers are not prepared to invest the relatively high effort on long term knowledge management goals for which they have difficulty in establishing the added value. Thus, knowledge management activities within SMEs tend to happen in an informal way, rarely supported by purposely designed ICT systems.
Research limitations/implications
This paper proposes that further studies in this field are required that focus on organisational and practical issues in order to close the gap between theoretical propositions and the reality of practice.
Practical implications
The study suggests that in order to implement an appropriate knowledge management strategy in SMEs cultural, behavioural, and organisational issues need to be tackled before even considering technical issues.
Originality/value
KM seems to have been successfully applied in large companies, but it is largely disregarded by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This has been attributed primarily to a lack of a formal approach to the sharing, recording, transferring, auditing and exploiting of organisational knowledge, together with a lack of utilisation of available information technologies. This paper debates these concepts from a research findings point of view.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which Canadian companies have embraced value‐based management (VBM) methods, identify the characteristics of these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which Canadian companies have embraced value‐based management (VBM) methods, identify the characteristics of these companies and of the executives responsible for the introduction of VBM in their organisations and assess the stock price performance of the companies that use VMB vs. those that do not.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey of CEOs of a large sample of Canadian companies and examines the relation of a number of explanatory variables, including stock price performance, to the probability of using VBM versus not using VBM via a regression analysis of qualitative choice, namely logit analysis.
Findings
The study finds that value‐based management methods are widely used in Canada, with the likelihood of usage being higher for larger companies with younger and more educated executives with an accounting/finance background. The statistical analysis that follows the tabulation of survey results indicates companies that used EVA had a better stock price performance than those not using EVA. Moreover, our logit regression analysis shows that companies with better stock market performance exhibited higher likelihood of using EVA.
Practical implications
The study implies that the lower usage of EVA in Canada, especially at the corporate level, provides some explanation for the stock market under‐ performance of the Canada market vis‐à‐vis the USA in the 1990s.
Originality/value
To our knowledge, this study serves as the first widespread evaluation of VBM methods in Canada and their effect on company and stock price performance.
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A 97‐page directory, It's my City. Project Directory, BBC TV North West in association with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, ISBN 1–870053–16–8, supported by Volkswagen…
Abstract
A 97‐page directory, It's my City. Project Directory, BBC TV North West in association with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, ISBN 1–870053–16–8, supported by Volkswagen, and with a foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales, was produced as a resource booklet for the BBC Television Series “It's my City” which looked at the work being undertaken by people in the UK's largest cities to improve their own environment. It gives short descriptions of hundreds of projects countrywide, lists useful organisations, and it is available free from BBC TV North West, New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester M60 1FA.
Looks at the effects reduction in Local Government spending has hadon race initiatives in the multi‐racial library service. Notes thatmulti racial librarians will be required to…
Abstract
Looks at the effects reduction in Local Government spending has had on race initiatives in the multi‐racial library service. Notes that multi racial librarians will be required to work two days a week at designated service points therefore diluting the service they provide. Concludes that a service for black and ethnic minority communities may be forced to depend on income from the very communities it was created to serve.
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Craig Furfine and Mike Fishbein
Zoe Greenwood, vice president at Foundation Investment Advisors, was glancing through the offering memorandum for a new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) deal on April…
Abstract
Zoe Greenwood, vice president at Foundation Investment Advisors, was glancing through the offering memorandum for a new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) deal on April 1, 2010, a time when the opportunities for commercial mortgage investors had been bleak to the point of comical. This new CMBS deal represented the first opportunity to buy CMBS backed by loans to multiple borrowers since credit markets had shut the securitization pipeline in June 2008.
The offering gave Greenwood a new investment opportunity to suggest to her firm's latest client. She had planned to recommend an expansion in her client's traditional commercial mortgage business, but these new bonds looked intriguing. Could the new CMBS offer her client a superior risk-return tradeoff compared with making individual mortgage loans?
After students have analyzed the case they will be able to:
–Learn how to construct promised cash flows from both commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities
–Understand the benefits and costs of direct lending versus indirect lending (purchase of mortgage-backed bonds)
–Underwrite commercial mortgage loans issued by others to identify potentially hidden risks
–Evaluate at what price a mortgage-bond investment makes financial sense
–Learn how to construct promised cash flows from both commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities
–Understand the benefits and costs of direct lending versus indirect lending (purchase of mortgage-backed bonds)
–Underwrite commercial mortgage loans issued by others to identify potentially hidden risks
–Evaluate at what price a mortgage-bond investment makes financial sense
Details
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Keywords
Although numerous articles emphasize the importance of the servicescape (the physical facilities of a service company), the effect of the servicescape on quality perception has…
Abstract
Purpose
Although numerous articles emphasize the importance of the servicescape (the physical facilities of a service company), the effect of the servicescape on quality perception has been inadequately captured by previous empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the servicescape on perceived quality in a more comprehensive way.
Design/methodology/approach
The article proposes a new model for assessing the effects of the servicescape on quality perception based on SERVQUAL. The model considers the special role of the servicescape (or what is called “tangibles” in SERVQUAL) by taking into account that the servicescape elements act as search qualities, while the other SERVQUAL dimensions represent experience or credence qualities. In doing so, the model captures direct and indirect influences of the servicescape. Additionally, a more comprehensive scale for the servicescape is suggested, which exceeds the mostly tangible aspects of the physical environment covered in the SERVQUAL scale. The model is tested in a population survey in two service industries (retail banking and restaurants).
Findings
The results show that the servicescape plays a greater role than was supposed in most previous studies. The servicescape is not only a cue for the expected service quality, but also influences customers' evaluations of other factors determining perceived service quality. Thus, the servicescape has a direct and an indirect effect on perceived service quality, which leads the servicescape to have a high overall effect. The results also show that the servicescape is of greater importance in determining customers' evaluations of the expected service quality in a hedonic service compared to a utilitarian service.
Research implications/limitations
Since the results of the study refer to two specific industries, the empirical results should be used with care. Thus, it would be conceivable that the influence of the servicescape might be larger even in utilitarian services if the customer spends an extended period in a facility. It is also worthwhile to consider the price paid for the service and consumer perceptions of quality relative to the price paid in future research. Further shortcomings of the study result from problems in examining the measurement models. Clearly, more effort is needed to develop a comprehensive measurement tool for assessing the service quality as well as the servicescape. Since the present study was primarily aligned with the general question about the meaning of the servicescape, the results obtained do not allow concrete managerial implications for the use of different servicescape elements. There is a need for further research examining the effect of single aspects as well as the entire servicescape.
Practical implications
Service providers should give careful consideration to their servicescape. In accordance with findings from environmental psychology, the servicescape may not remain limited to tangible elements, but must also consider ambient components such as odours and background music.
Originality/value
This paper provides a better assessment of the meaning of the servicescape from previous approaches. The servicescape is shown to be of greater importance for the perceived service quality than has been assumed.
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To explore the issues surrounding the falling rates of MMR vaccination following the publication of a controversial study by Wakefield et al.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the issues surrounding the falling rates of MMR vaccination following the publication of a controversial study by Wakefield et al.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to take a fresh look at the MMR crisis, the Greek tragedy, Antigone, was used as a “strong plot” to de‐contextualise the underlying social and political issues. In this short paper, two themes are explored that emerge from reading Antigone with respect to the unfolding crisis of public confidence in the MMR vaccine: first, the challenge to government in the form of a decrease in public trust in government and government policies; and second, how such a challenge assumes significance and, arising from that, the question of how one might respond to the challenge.
Findings
The MMR debate throws issues of importance to society into relief – for example, public trust in government and science; and notions of public good versus rational choice in public policy on vaccination, However, much of the debate has been polarised into good versus evil – good and evil being subjective positions that are interchangeable, depending on the side one favours. It is argued that the issues are more complex than this, and are as much to do with political consent and the bargain between citizen and state.
Originality/value
Using “strong plots” to theorise about current issues is powerful because it allows one to explore them from different angles and challenge one's understanding. Antigone provides us with a way of standing back from the MMR crisis and re‐conceptualising the issues to capture the essence of the underlying debate.
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Humayun Kabir, Li Su and Asheq Rahman
The setting of private finance companies that failed in New Zealand during 2006-2012 was characterized by weaker corporate governance and enforcement of securities law. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The setting of private finance companies that failed in New Zealand during 2006-2012 was characterized by weaker corporate governance and enforcement of securities law. This paper aims to explore audit failure in this setting and examine whether auditors erred in their audits of the failed finance companies and whether the audit failure rate of Big N auditors was different from that of non-Big N auditors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts the archival research method and uses three sets of evidence to assess audit failure – the frequency of going concern opinion (GCO) prior to failure, misstatements in the last audited financial statements, and the violation of the Code of Ethics.
Findings
The study finds that only 41 per cent of the sample companies received the GCO in their last audit prior to failure and provides evidence of material misstatements in the financial statements of a number of failed finance companies that received clean audit opinions prior to failure and breaches of the Code of Ethics by a number of auditors. These results strongly indicate audit failure for a number of failed finance companies. The audit failure rate, however, appears less for Big N auditors than for non-Big N auditors.
Practical implications
The study draws attention of the stock market regulator and the accounting profession to an area, the audit of private finance companies, that needs better quality audits.
Originality/value
This paper provides systematic evidence of audit failure in failed finance companies in New Zealand. It also furnishes preliminary evidence of Big N auditors compensating for weaker corporate governance.