Search results

The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid-simulated annealing algorithm to address the lacunas in production logistics. The primary focus is laid on the basic understanding of the critical quandary occurring in production logistics, and subsequently research attempts are undertaken to resolve the issue by developing a hybrid algorithm. A logistics problem associated with a flow shop (FS) having a string of jobs which need to be scheduled on m number of machines is considered.

An attempt is made here to introduce and further establish a hybrid-simulated annealing algorithm (NEHSAO) with a new scheme for neighbourhood solutions generation, outside inverse (OINV). The competence in terms of performance of the proposed algorithm is enhanced by incorporating a fast polynomial algorithm, NEH, which provides the initial seed. Additionally, a new cooling scheme (Ex-Log) is employed to enhance the capacity of the algorithm. The algorithm is tested on the benchmark problems of Carlier and Reeves and subsequently validated against other algorithms reported in related literature.

It is clearly observed that the performance of the proposed algorithm is far superior in most of the cases when compared to the other conventionally used algorithms. The proposed algorithm is then employed to a FS under dynamic conditions of machine breakdown, followed by formulation of three cases and finally identification of the best condition for scheduling under dynamic conditions.

This paper proposes an hybrid algorithm to reduce makespan. Practical implementation of this algorithm in industries would lower the makespan and help the organisation to increse their profit

The aim of this paper is to develop a contribution to knowledge that adds to the empirical evidence of predictive condition-based maintenance by demonstrating how the availability and reliability of current assets can be improved without costly capital investment, resulting in overall system performance improvements

The empirical, experimental approach, technical action research (TAR), was designed to study a major Middle Eastern airport baggage handling operation. A predictive condition-based maintenance prototype station was installed to monitor the condition of a highly complex system of static and moving assets.

The research provides evidence that the performance frontier for airport baggage handling systems can be improved using automated dynamic monitoring of the vibration and digital image data on baggage trays as they pass a service station. The introduction of low-end innovation, which combines advanced technology and low-cost hardware, reduced asset failures in this complex, high-speed operating environment.

The originality derives from the application of existing hardware with the combination of edge and cloud computing software through architectural innovation, resulting in adaptations to an existing baggage handling system within the context of a time-critical logistics system.

While a record number of employees work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are faced with a new demand for human resources (HR) policies and procedures in light of this emerging ‘new normal’. It is common for organisations to promote certain behaviours and norms as their cultures develop; however, this can often be significantly more challenging in times of uncertainty. As a result, the strategic and operational focus of HR managers can make a critical contribution to organisational effectiveness in times of crisis, especially when pre-existing policies and procedures are challenged by employees attempting to cope in an evolving reality. In this chapter, we seek to explain how the needs of the organisation, policy enforcement and changes by HR managers, and the behaviours of employees conflict and complement each other in an internal three-way tug of war among these actors. Organisational culture, strategic HR management, and self-determination theories are utilised to discuss implications for norm formation and culture from the top management team, HR managers, and employees during times of uncertainty. Recommendations for practice and additional avenues for research are presented to examine the cultural implications for organisations in the future.

Conceptual and empirical research over the past 20 years has moved the social media (SM) literature beyond the embryotic stage to a well-developed academic discipline. As the lead article in the special issue in the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing on Cutting-Edge Research in Social Media and Interactive Marketing, this review and agenda article has two key goals: (1) to review key SM and interactive marketing research over the past three years and (2) to identify the next wave of high priority challenges and research opportunities.

Given the “cutting-edge” research focus of the special issue, this review and research agenda paper focused on articles published in 25 key marketing journals between January 2021 and March 2024. Initially, the search request was for articles with “social media, social selling, social commerce” located in the article title, author-selected key words and journal-selected keywords. Later, we conducted searches based on terminology from articles presented in the final review. In total, over 1,000 articles were reviewed across the 25 journals, plus additional ones that were cited in those journals that were not on the initial list.

Our review uncovered eight key content areas: (1) data sources, methodology and scale development; (2) emergent SM technologies; (3) artificial intelligence; (4) virtual reality; (5) sales and sales management; (6) consumer welfare; (7) influencer marketing; and (8) social commerce. Table I provides a summer of key articles and research findings for each of the content areas.

As a literature review and research agenda article, this paper is one of the most extensive to date on SM marketing, and particularly with regard to emergent research over the past three years. Recommendations for future research are integrated through the paper and summarized in Figure 2.

Consumer welfare is one of the eight emergent content areas uncovered in the literature review. Specific focus is on SM privacy, misinformation, mental health and misbehavior.

This paper aims to expand current theories of globalisation to a consideration of its impact on the individual. Much work has been done on the impact of globalisation on social, political and economic structures. In this paper, globalisation, for the individual, reflects a re-conceptualisation of the Self/Other encounter. In order to explore this Self/Other dimension, the paper analyses the literary work of nineteenth-century writer Pierre Loti since his work begins to problematise this important motif. His work also provides insight into the effect on the individual when encountering the Other in a globalised context.

Drawing from literary criticism, the paper adopts an interpretive approach. Using the fiction and non-fiction work of Pierre Loti, an integrated psychoanalytical, postcolonial analysis is conducted to draw out possible insights into how Loti conceptualises the Other and is thus transformed himself.

The paper finds that the Self/Other encounter shifts in the era of globalisation. The blurring of the Self/Other is part of the impact of globalisation on the individual. Further, the paper argues that Loti was the first to problematise Self/Other at a point in history where the distinction seemed clear. Loti's work is instructive for tracing the dissolution of the Self/Other encounter since the themes and issues raised in his early work foreshadow our contemporary experience of globalisation.

This paper takes a specific view of globalisation through an interpretive lens. It also uses one specific body of work to answer the research question of what impact globalisation has on the individual. A broader sampling and application of theoretical strains out of the literary criticism canon would expand the parameters of this study.

This paper makes an original contribution to current theorisations of globalisation in that it re-conceptualises classical understandings of the Self/Other divide. The finding that the Self/Other divide is altered in the current era of globalisation has impact for cultural and marketing theory since it re-focuses attention on the shifting nature of identity and how we encounter the Other in our daily existence.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the strategic capabilities that are related to success in five disparate Australian industries.

Five studies were conducted using a generative multi‐stage research approach in order to determine the capabilities that are related to success in the management consulting, advertising and IT industries, legal profession and top 500 listed companies.

There is a clear commonality of capabilities across all studies. These are quality of service, particularly customer service; good leadership and vision, which encourages innovation and creativity; selection and retention of excellent staff with good technical skills; credibility, integrity and honesty; excellent differentiated product(s) or service(s); and adaptability and flexibility. In general the capabilities were significantly related to the organisational success measures.

The study could be extended to other Australian and international industries.

Organisations that develop and implement resources to be proficient in all these capabilities should achieve increased success measured by a mix of hard and soft performance indicators. Our study is differentiated because the drivers and, indeed the indicators, of success have been proffered by executives themselves (not just the literature), who were located in disparate industries. Their views are deemed important because Australia's economy emerged relatively unscathed from the global financial economy and avoided a recession.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictors of self-harm in male inmates.

Male inmates with and without a background of self-harm (i.e. suicidal and non-suicidal) were compared across two distal (static and trait) and two proximal (environmental and current/state psychological) domains. The factors from the four domains which may accurately classify self-harm history were also examined.

The two groups were significantly different across the four domains, particularly on psychological characteristics. The self-harm group was associated with childhood trauma, violent offences, institutional misconducts and lower levels of social support significantly more than the non-self-harm group. Being single, childhood abuse, impulsivity, antisocial personality disorder and global psychopathology were the five key predictors that contributed to 87.4 per cent of all cases being correctly classified.

The high levels of psychiatric morbidity and childhood trauma in the self-harm group indicated a need for interventions that address emotional and interpersonal difficulties and optimization of adaptive coping skills. Also, interventions may require a focus on the behavioural functions.

A novel approach was taken to the grouping of the variables. A comprehensive range of variables, was assessed simultaneously, including some not previously considered indicators, and in an understudied population, Australian male inmates. The lower levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness and generalized anxiety disorder which distinguished the self-harm and non-self-harm group, were newly identified for self-harm.