Hot Dip Galvanizing is used extensively throughout industry to protect steel products from environmental corrosion. However, the process of lowering the work into the galvanizing…
Abstract
Hot Dip Galvanizing is used extensively throughout industry to protect steel products from environmental corrosion. However, the process of lowering the work into the galvanizing bath, then completely immersing it and finally withdrawing it produces emissions of fine particulate pollutants in the form of a “white cloud” which rises rapidly from the galvanizing bath as a result of the thermal currents.
Holly Chiu, Dov Fischer and Hershey Friedman
Board diversity has been an important topic in corporate governance. Extant literature examines the overall diversity in the boardroom and its impact. However, since important…
Abstract
Purpose
Board diversity has been an important topic in corporate governance. Extant literature examines the overall diversity in the boardroom and its impact. However, since important decisions are usually taken by the committees, it is important to also examine diversity in committees. We use the Coca-Cola Company as the case study and examine its diversity in both audit and finance committees. Our goal is to raise the awareness of researchers, board nominating committees, and diverse directors themselves, as to whether diverse directors are placed in the right positions to allow them to contribute their diverse views and experiences.
Methodology/Approach
We conducted a case study of the Coca-Cola Company using its proxy statement in both 2016 and 2018.
Findings
While Coca-Cola’s self-reported board diversity stood at 27% in 2016, and increased to 31% by 2018, the critical audit and finance committees showed a distinct lack of diversity. Focusing on gender diversity for the purposes of this chapter, we investigated two possibilities: (1) that the lack of committee diversity is due to the lack of finance and leadership skills of those board members who were from underrepresented groups, but this possibility does not seem likely, (2) that the presence of a female CFO removed the urgency to place board members from underrepresented groups on the audit and finance committees.
Value
We provide a cautionary perspective on the implementation of diversity policies at the highest levels of an organization. The pursuit of diversity, like other admirable corporate goals, can degenerate into a check-the-box mentality. When this happens, diversity can become viewed as a substitute for real competency rather than a complement to existing competencies.
Practical Implications
It is suggested that boards revise the recruiting and selecting process to include more female candidates, and be sensitive how and where those diverse directors can best contribute their perspectives and experiences.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to describe and critique ways in which the threats from confirmation bias have been rejected.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and critique ways in which the threats from confirmation bias have been rejected.
Design/methodology/approach
Dismissals of the existence of, or threats from, confirmation bias are identified from a review of literature across a very wide range of disciplines. The dismissals are robustly examined.
Findings
The dismissals are categorised as: (1) radical scepticism (2) consequentialism: and (3) denial. Each type of dismissal, it is argued, is flawed.
Originality/value
The three-fold structuring of confirmation bias dismissal is novel. In addition to drawing from organisation, management and wider social science literature, the article also uses arguments and examples from the creative arts.
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Sheila M. Puffer, Daniel J McCarthy and Alfred M Jaeger
The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of institutions and institutional voids in Russia, Brazil, and Poland over the decades of the 1980s through to 2015…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of institutions and institutional voids in Russia, Brazil, and Poland over the decades of the 1980s through to 2015. The paper asserts that Russia and Brazil could learn much from Poland regarding formal institution building and formal institutional voids that cause problems like corruption and limit economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative case study approach is utilized to assess the relative success of the three emerging market countries in transitioning to a market economy, viewed through the lens of institutional theory.
Findings
Poland’s experience in building successful formal institutions and mitigating major institutional voids can be instructive for Russia and Brazil which have shown far less success, and correspondingly less sustained economic growth.
Research limitations/implications
This paper demonstrates the value of applying institutional theory to analyze the progress of emerging economies in transitioning to a market economy.
Practical implications
This country comparison can prove valuable to other emerging economies seeking a successful transition to a market economy.
Social implications
Since institutions are the fabric of any society, the emphasis on institutions in this paper can have positive implications for society in emerging markets.
Originality/value
This paper is an original comparison of two BRIC countries with a smaller emerging economy, utilizing institutional theory. Factors contributing to Poland’s success are compared to Russia and Brazil to assess how those countries might be positively informed by Poland’s experience in building and strengthening sustainable formal institutions as well as avoiding institutional voids and their associated problems.
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Keywords
Barbara Schiavi, Vincent Havard, Karim Beddiar and David Baudry
Virtual Reality (VR) based training is an efficient and promising digital tool. In the construction industry, studies have been conducted on the realisation of VR scenarios for…
Abstract
Purpose
Virtual Reality (VR) based training is an efficient and promising digital tool. In the construction industry, studies have been conducted on the realisation of VR scenarios for construction operations, but the challenges lie in procedural scenario creation based on the knowledge and digital data of the construction project. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A new system and interface allowing an automatic generation of a VR scenario for operating procedure (OP) based on 4D Building Information Modelling (BIM) and tasks authoring by the domain experts are presented. The first process, Automatic Scenario Generation, generates assembly tasks based on the BIM metadata. The second process, Expert Scene and Scenario Authoring, allows adding tasks that cannot be modeled in the BIM OP.
Findings
With the 4D BIM methodology, the 3D model of building as well as the 3D OPs contain a time dimension representing the construction phases or planning. The evolution in time of the construction site and the tools and procedures adapted to each construction project must be integrated in the VR simulations. Moreover, domain experts should have control over the scenario and should be able to author tasks assigned to the operator in training.
Originality/value
A Unified Modeling Language based framework allows the reuse of BIM metadata to create the scene, VR interactions and the assembly procedure; the assembly procedure is embedded in the virtual environment considering the time (4D) in the construction of the building and is used as a training scenario for the operator; and the training scenario can be refined by adding operational knowledge, such as quality.