The goal of this chapter is to analyse the decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency in the field of grocery retail mergers in the 2004–2009 period. In particular, various…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this chapter is to analyse the decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency in the field of grocery retail mergers in the 2004–2009 period. In particular, various criteria used by the Competition Agency to evaluate grocery retail mergers are identified and discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the comparative approach the author attempts to detect the relevant sources for certain solutions embraced by the Competition Agency by examining especially the relevant practice of the European Commission as well as relevant decisions adopted by some competition authorities in EU member states.
Findings
The grocery retail market in Croatia has seen a flurry of mergers since 2004 with the largest competitor spreading to various local markets. For the Croatian competition authority this merger wave has perhaps been the biggest challenge since its inception. In the face of growing market concentration, the authority saw fit to shift from initially providing green light to duly notified transactions to subsequently addressing serious competition concerns by ordering a number of remedies. The Croatian competition authority relied extensively on EU acquis when deciding on specific merger cases, especially as regards the relevant market definition.
Originality/value
The value of the chapter is reflected in the fact that this kind of comparative analysis of Croatian merger cases in the field of grocery retail mergers was not available before. It is especially in the light of the accession of Croatia to the EU, as foreseen on 1 July 2013, that this kind of study becomes useful both for domestic but also EU audience.
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This work is concerned with computational modelling of viscoplastic fluids. The flows considered are assumed to be incompressible, while the viscoplastic laws are obtained by…
Abstract
This work is concerned with computational modelling of viscoplastic fluids. The flows considered are assumed to be incompressible, while the viscoplastic laws are obtained by incorporating a yield stress below which the fluid is assumed to remain non‐deformable. The Bingham fluid is chosen as a model problem and is considered in detail in the text. The finite element formulation adopted in this work is based on a version of the stabilised finite element method, known as the Galerkin/least‐squares method, originally developed by Hughes and co‐workers. This methodology allows use of low and equal order interpolation of the pressure and velocity fields, thus providing an efficient finite element framework. The Newton‐Raphson method has been chosen for solution of the incremental non‐linear problem arising through the temporal discretisation of the evolution problem. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the main features of the described methodology.
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Mihaela Grubišić Šeba, Dubravka Jurlina Alibegović and Sunčana Slijepčević
Public-private partnership (PPP) growth is often related to infrastructure development needs and public debt increase. Despite huge infrastructure (re)construction needs, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Public-private partnership (PPP) growth is often related to infrastructure development needs and public debt increase. Despite huge infrastructure (re)construction needs, the number of PPP projects in Croatia has been rather small so far. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the prospects for PPP projects development in Croatia in the near future. It is examined whether the stance of local authorities towards implementing PPP projects depends more on the necessity of developing infrastructure needs of local citizens or on the available funds for capital investments in local budgets, which are, after covering all operational expenditures, scarce.
Design/methodology/approach
The Municipal Assemblies in European Local Governance (MAELG) survey data for Croatia are combined with available secondary data on local budgets’ revenues and expenditures in the period from 2008 to 2010 for the surveyed local government units. The differences between the answers of local representatives were tested for statistical significance by Pearson χ2 test, while ANOVA is used for testing statistical significance of budgetary data comparison. Some descriptive statistics’ results are also used. Apart from the quantitative data, qualitative research on PPPs, especially for fiscally constraint governments is used throughout the paper.
Findings
The main findings of the paper are that most Croatian local units are severely fiscally constraint to implement any capital projects. Their public revenues are often reserved for covering operational expenditures only. Since local representatives are mostly affirmative towards private sector involvement in providing public services, there is a room for PPP projects in Croatia. Due to the fact that every PPP contract requires active participation of the public partner, two possible solutions are proposed: pooled financing with a possible option of project’ bonds issuance to institutional investors and engaging publicly owned assets into infrastructure projects’ development.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is that it showed that there is little room for financing infrastructure development in Croatia if budgetary rules are followed straightforward. The paper aims to show fiscally constraint local governments a possible way for financing capital projects and rendering public services to their citizens. These solutions may also be applied in other indebted countries, especially if they own a significant portion of public assets.
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Through the application of domain-analytic principles, the purpose of this paper is to explore how participants’ understandings of healthy eating are related to their grouping and…
Abstract
Purpose
Through the application of domain-analytic principles, the purpose of this paper is to explore how participants’ understandings of healthy eating are related to their grouping and classification of foods.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 30 food-interested people were asked to (1) sort a series of 56 statements about food, health, and eating on a scale from “most disagree” to “most agree”; (2)complete an open card sort of 50 foods; and (3) classify these 50 foods on a scale from “most unhealthy” to “most healthy”. Exercises (1) and (3) involved Q-methodology, which groups people who share similar understandings of a phenomenon.
Findings
Participants’ understandings of healthy eating – revealed by the first Q-methodology exercise – were related to shared food priorities, values, and beliefs; these understandings were indirectly connected with food identities, which was not expected. This suggests that lay domain knowledge is difficult to capture and must involve other methodologies than those currently employed in domain-analytic research.
Research limitations/implications
Although a small sample of food-interested people were recruited, the purpose of this study was not to make generalized claims about perspectives on healthy eating, but to explore how domain knowledge is related to everyday organizational processes.
Originality/value
To “classify” in Library and Information Science (LIS) usually involves an engagement with formally established classification systems. In this paper the author suggests an alternative path for LIS scholars: the investigation of everyday life classification practices. Such an approach has value beyond the idiosyncratic, as the author discusses how these practices can inform LIS researchers’ strategies for augmenting the messages provided by static classification technologies.
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Sami J. Habib and Paulvanna N. Marimuthu
Continuous exposure and over‐utilization of sensors in harsh environments can lead some sensors to fail, and thereby not covering the service area effectively and efficiently. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Continuous exposure and over‐utilization of sensors in harsh environments can lead some sensors to fail, and thereby not covering the service area effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to propose a two‐level coverage restoration scheme for the failing sensors by the existing sensors deployed in the immediate neighborhood of the failing sensors. The restoration scheme extends the search process to the set of failed sensors' corner neighbors at a second stage, with non‐available immediate active neighboring sensors at its first stage. Thus, the coverage restoration scheme attempts to sustain a maximum area of coverage with failed sensors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have considered a wireless sensor network (WSN), comprised of sensors deployed in a grid‐based arrangement in an inaccessible arena. The authors have formulated the coverage restoration problem as an optimization problem, to find the nearest and most apt neighbor sensors to reach solutions of maximizing the coverage area with failed sensors, while minimizing the energy consumption. Simulated annealing has been utilized as a search algorithm to find out the neighboring sensors with maximal energy in the vicinity of the failed node to cover its area.
Findings
The experimental results within the optimization algorithm have demonstrated that the restoration scheme shows a better trade‐off in maximizing the coverage area up to 90 per cent with a decrease of 26 per cent lifespan. The performance of the algorithm is further improved with extended search space including the corner neighbors in addition to the immediate neighbors.
Practical implications
The proposed coverage restoration can be embedded within applications using WSN to restore the coverage and maintain its functionality with optimized energy consumption.
Originality/value
The paper employs a novel framework to restore the coverage of the failed sensors by doubling the sensing area of the neighborhood sensors, and it utilizes an optimization scheme to search for neighborhood sensors with maximal energy to extend the lifespan of WSN.
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Shrutikeerti Kaushal and Amlan Ghosh
The importance of banking and insurance, as an important part of the financial system, has been well accepted in the growth literature. Acting as financial intermediaries they…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of banking and insurance, as an important part of the financial system, has been well accepted in the growth literature. Acting as financial intermediaries they perform important functions that may contribute in economic growth. Addressing this issue, the purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between banking, insurance and economic growth in India in the post-liberalized era when the private sector was allowed to operate banking and insurance business.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to find the long-run and short-run relationship between banking, insurance and economic growth, the study uses the VAR-vector error correction model (VECM) along with Granger causality test to explore any causal relationship.
Findings
The results indicate that there is the long-term relationship between banking, insurance and economic growth and the causality results show a bi-directional relationship between insurance activity and economic growth; however, banking is not granger cause of insurance or economic growth rather it is economic growth that cause banking development.
Research limitations/implications
The only limitation to the study is the non-availability of monthly figures of GDP. The study therefore, as suggested by RBI, uses monthly data set of Index of Industrial Production to measure economic growth.
Practical implications
The findings of the study give policy directions to the policymakers to make strategies that are conducive toward boosting development in insurance in order to achieve the targeted economic growth.
Originality/value
This work is the first attempt to study the conjoint relationship between banking, insurance and economic growth on the Indian economy after the reforms were initiated in the financial sector.
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Mairead Grimley and Kevin John Burnard
This case study aims to explore the perceptions and attitudes towards risk within a UK local authority and the subsequent effects on decision-making. Through a qualitative…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study aims to explore the perceptions and attitudes towards risk within a UK local authority and the subsequent effects on decision-making. Through a qualitative analysis of both primary and secondary data, this study advances current understanding of the complex relationships between risk and decision-making. The study concludes by suggesting how local governments may better provide value to constituents.
Design/methodology/approach
This research follows a single case study approach. Data were collected through both a focused online survey and semi-structured interviews. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling in order to capture direct insights and understanding of the concepts under consideration. The study focuses on a single local authority within the UK.
Findings
Building on extant literature, this case study highlights both the individual and organisational considerations towards risk perception. Following the analysis of collected data, the study highlights the influence of risk aversion and public involvement within decision-making.
Originality/value
By aiming to improve and advance understanding of risk and decision-making in a local authority setting, the relevance of this research may be wider than internal organisational structures. The study provides recommendations for further research towards facilitating the inclusion of the citizen within decision-making processes.
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Rachel Trees and Dianne Marion Dean
This purpose of this study is to examine the fluidity of family life which continues to attract attention. This is increasingly significant for the intergenerational relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this study is to examine the fluidity of family life which continues to attract attention. This is increasingly significant for the intergenerational relationship between adult children and their elderly parents. Using practice theory, the aims are to understand the role of food in elderly families and explore how family practices are maintained when elderly transition into care.
Design/methodology/approach
A phenomenological research approach was used as the authors sought to build an understanding of the social interactions between family and their lifeworld.
Findings
This study extends theory on the relationship between the elderly parent and their family and explores through practice theory how families performed their love, how altered routines and long standing rituals provided structure to the elderly relatives and how care practices were negotiated as the elderly relatives transitioned from independence to dependence and towards care. A theoretical framework is introduced that provides guidance for the transition stages and the areas for negotiation.
Research limitations/implications
This research has implications for food manufacturers and marketers, as the demand for healthy food for the elderly is made more widely available, healthy and easy to prepare. The limitations of the research are due to the sample located in East Yorkshire only.
Practical implications
This research has implications for brand managers of food manufacturers and supermarkets that need to create product lines that target this segment by producing healthy, convenience food.
Social implications
It is also important for health and social care policy as the authors seek to understand the role of food, family and community and how policy can be devised to provide stability in this transitional and uncertain lifestage.
Originality/value
This research extends the body of literature on food and the family by focussing on the elderly cared for and their family. The authors show how food can be construed as loving care, and using practice theory, a theoretical framework is developed that can explain the transitions and how the family negotiates the stages from independence to dependence.
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Robert Muwanga, Johnson Ssekakubo, Grace Nalweyiso, Slyvia Aarakit and Samuel Kusasira
This study aims to examine the effect of the different forms of attitudes on the behavioural intentions to adopt solar energy technologies (SETs) in Uganda. Although commonly…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of the different forms of attitudes on the behavioural intentions to adopt solar energy technologies (SETs) in Uganda. Although commonly examined, the effect of attitudes on people’s behavioural intentions to adopt SETs ought to be more distinctively examined to have a clear picture of how each of the identified sets of attitudes influences the adoption of SETs.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a sample of 360 households from three urban districts in Uganda sampled using a multi-stage sampling technique, data were collected using a self-administrated structured questionnaire. The data were then analysed using partial least square–structural equation model with SmartPLS 3.0 software.
Findings
The study establishes that more specific attitudes affect behavioural intentions to adopt SETs than general pro-technology attitudes. Results reveal that both pro-environment and application-specific attitudes matter for behaviour intentions to adopt SETs amongst households. However, the general pro-technology attitudes are not significantly associated with behavioural intentions to adopt SETs.
Practical implications
The results are important for producers and promoters of solar technology to craft appropriate promotion campaigns intended to increase the acceptance and usage of SETs. This means focussing on creating positive attitudes specific to particular applications and popularising specific uses of solar technologies.
Originality/value
The study provides an alternative approach to the general representation of the attitudes–intentions relationships by examining the differences in the attitudes developed towards the different aspects of these technologies as a substantial source of variations in adoption behaviour, which is rarely addressed.
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Ismail Juma Ismail and Ismail Abdi Changalima
Over time, the concept of word of mouth (WOM) has spread beyond marketing into other disciplines. This is because WOM is important in decision-making…
Abstract
Purpose
Over time, the concept of word of mouth (WOM) has spread beyond marketing into other disciplines. This is because WOM is important in decision-making at both the individual and organisational levels. Also, people are more likely to trust recommendations from their peers than those from companies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived usefulness of WOM messages for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers in participating in Tanzanian public procurement opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected cross-sectional data from 214 SME suppliers who supply common use items to public procuring organisations in Dodoma City, Tanzania. Structural equation modelling was used to test the direct relationships between study variables, and Hayes' PROCESS macro was used to test for the indirect effect of WOM message delivery on WOM attributes and the perceived usefulness of WOM.
Findings
WOM attributes that include expertise differential, perceptual homophily, and trustworthiness are related to the perceived usefulness of WOM. Also, WOM message delivery mediates the relationship between the WOM attributes and the perceived usefulness of WOM in enhancing public procurement participation. Therefore, the study's findings revealed that WOM is applicable in the public procurement context, under which public buyers act as senders and suppliers act as receivers. The latter finds out about public procurement opportunities and responds to them, while the former gives suppliers whatever information they need to respond to public procurement tenders that have been advertised.
Research limitations/implications
Because the study was cross-sectional, it was difficult to determine whether the opinions gathered over time remained consistent. Furthermore, only suppliers who are parties to framework contracts under Government Procurement Services Agency were included in the study. Therefore, the sample was limited to only suppliers supplying common use items to various public organisations in Dodoma City, Tanzania.
Originality/value
This paper integrates the concept of WOM from the marketing discipline and public procurement. As a result, the study adds to the understanding of the use of information transmission in terms of the contribution of WOM messages from public buyers to suppliers to enhance small and medium enterprises' participation in public procurement opportunities.