Marie‐Eve Faust and Serge Carrier
The purpose of this paper is to show that a new size labelling system based on the data gathered by [TC]2 in the Size USA, Let's Size up America survey would better serve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that a new size labelling system based on the data gathered by [TC]2 in the Size USA, Let's Size up America survey would better serve the female population than the system currently in use.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on previous research conducted on [TC]2 data and on pants measurements in the Canadian market, a new labelling system is proposed where size information is provided with three specific body measurements along with a female silhouette pictogram.
Findings
The paper demonstrates that a size label showing three pants measurements: pants waist, approximate hips, and inseam length, accompanied by a silhouette identifying where these measures were taken, is highly predictive of fit.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to lower body (pants) for female.
Practical implications
A change to such a size‐labelling system would allow the apparel industry to move towards mass customisation at minimal costs. It would be more effective for the apparel order givers and retailers, enabling them to target whichever market they wish yet convey the necessary fit information in a generally accepted format. This system would also be more efficient as it would reduce the consumer time spent in fit identification and merchandise returns, in the case of internet or catalogue sales. As a corollary, it would increase both consumer shopping experience satisfaction and industry profitability.
Originality/value
The study proposes a new labelling system.
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Keywords
Marie‐Eve Faust, Serge Carrier and Pierre Baptist
To demonstrate that the current weaknesses in women's ready‐to‐wear size standardization charts originate not only in the obsolescence of the base data but also in the…
Abstract
Purpose
To demonstrate that the current weaknesses in women's ready‐to‐wear size standardization charts originate not only in the obsolescence of the base data but also in the non‐adherence of order initiators to the suggested standard sizes.
Design/methodology/approach
Trouser manufacturers were selected in such a way as to cover the full price‐range spectrum. They provided their waist standard measurements and confirmed that they use the same measurements for all product lines. In‐store measurements were done. Garments were chosen at random from the selection offered in store and measured systematically. The specifications provided by the order initiators, the standard measurements prescribed, and the garment measures were all measured.
Findings
Results clearly indicate that order initiators do not adhere to the standard sizes charts and garment manufacturers are incapable or unwilling to produce garments that meet the order initiators’ specifications.
Research limitations/implications
Product selection and limited sample do not allow generalization yet clearly confirm this hypothesis.
Practical implications
Questions the pertinence of investing heavily in the modernization of standard sizes charts if the industry and the governments are not ready to impose adherence by order initiators.
Originality/value
Fills an important void in the existing literature as, although a number of authors have stated that garment manufacturers do not respect the standard sizes proposed by different national organizations or governmental agencies, the authors could not identify one research demonstrating this fact.
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Gabriel Etogo, Etgard Manga Engama and Théophile Serge Nomo
The purpose of this paper is to question gender identities as the basis for a differentialist conception of how to conceive and practice corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to question gender identities as the basis for a differentialist conception of how to conceive and practice corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Design/methodology/approach
This study has used a qualitative approach to study five paths of small and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) female entrepreneurs. This study selected female entrepreneurs who can bring us rich material, which highlights the relationship between the concepts of gender identity and CSR practices. In this perspective, this study has retained five “revealing” cases.
Findings
By establishing a break with the ontological experience that contributes to the application of CSR practices as a natural expression of behaviour, this study shows how social relations of sex reproduce but also how social relations are subverted with respect to the requirements relating to CSR practices.
Originality/value
The main originality of this approach consisted in adopting the concept of “gender inversion”, characteristic of “gender mobility”, to identify the potential and/or effective observable recompositions in the field of managerial behaviours.
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Adebayo Serge Francois Koukpaki, Kweku Adams and Adegboyega Oyedijo
This research explores the significant contribution of human resource development (HRD) managers in building organisational brands in the hotel industry through the lenses of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores the significant contribution of human resource development (HRD) managers in building organisational brands in the hotel industry through the lenses of dynamic capabilities for sustaining competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative case study design, this study deployed a semi-structured interview research method. It used a purposive sample of 20 HRD managers across twenty different hotels in India and South East Asia (ISEA) to explore their contribution to organisational brands. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings show the significance of HRD in building organisational brands. From a dynamic capabilities perspective, it was found that HRD has an impact on fostering brand awareness culture; HRD functional branding enhances the creation and sustaining of quality service culture; functional branding of HRD helps differentiate the brand and quality service, for product development and innovation by linking talent development and growth of key competencies and capabilities; brand training and behavioural training directly influence the right behaviour knowledge and effective communication that is translated into the enhancement of guest experience; and finally, organisational branding through branding culture and employer branding creates organisational wealth.
Originality/value
The authors propose a new conceptual framework for the branding of the Heroes to reclaim the HRD's splendour in the realm of other functions in the hotel industry in ISEA contexts. While the authors do not claim an external generalisability, we believe that an analytical application of this framework could be relevant in similar environments. The study also claims that HRD practitioners could use parallel literature repertoires from brand management discourse to value their strategic contributions in building and maintaining their reputational position at the board level. Practical implications and further research are discussed.
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The Sanitary Committee of a certain County Council, strong with the strength of recent creation, have lately been animated by a desire to distinguish themselves in some way, and…
Abstract
The Sanitary Committee of a certain County Council, strong with the strength of recent creation, have lately been animated by a desire to distinguish themselves in some way, and, proceeding along the lines of least resistance, they appear to have selected the Public Analyst as the most suitable object for attack. The charge against this unfortunate official was not that he is incompetent, or that he had been in any way negligent of his duties as prescribed by Act of Parliament, but simply and solely that he has the temerity to reside in London, which city is distant by a certain number of miles from the much favoured district controlled by the County Council aforesaid. The committee were favoured in their deliberations by the assistance of no less an authority than the “Principal” of a local “Technical School”;—and who could be more capable than he to express an opinion upon so simple a matter? This eminent exponent of scientific truths, after due and proper consideration, is reported to have delivered himself of the opinion that “scientifically it would be desirable that the analyst should reside in the district, as the delay occasioned by the sending of samples of water to London is liable to produce a misleading effect upon an analysis.” Apparently appalled by the contemplation of such possibilities, and strengthened by another expression of opinion to the effect that there were as “good men” in the district as in London, the committee resolved to recommend the County Council to determine the existing arrangement with the Public Analyst, and to appoint a “local analyst for all purposes.” Thus, the only objection which could be urged to the employment of a Public Analyst resident in London was the ridiculous one that the composition of a sample of water was likely to seriously alter during the period of its transit to London, and this contention becomes still more absurd when it is remembered that the examination of water samples is no part of the official duty of a Public Analyst. The employment of local scientific talent may be very proper when the object to be attained is simply the more or less imperfect instruction of the rising generation in the rudiments of what passes in this country for “technical education”; but the work of the Public Analyst is serious and responsible, and cannot be lightly undertaken by every person who may be acquainted with some of the uses of a test‐tube. The worthy members of this committee may find to their cost, as other committees have found before them, that persons possessing the requisite knowledge and experience are not necessarily indigenous to their district. Supposing that the County Council adopts the recommendation, the aspirations of the committee may even then be strangled in their infancy, as the Local Government Board will want to know all about the matter, and the committee will have to give serious and valid reasons in support of their case.
At a recent inquest upon the body of a woman who was alleged to have died as the result of taking certain drugs for an improper purpose, one of the witnesses described himself as…
Abstract
At a recent inquest upon the body of a woman who was alleged to have died as the result of taking certain drugs for an improper purpose, one of the witnesses described himself as “an analyst and manufacturing chemist,” but when asked by the coroner what qualifications he had, he replied : “I have no qualifications whatever. What I know I learned from my father, who was a well‐known ‘F.C.S.’” Comment on the “F.C.S.” is needless.
AT the request of the Director‐General of the International Labour Office Mr. Petre Lupu, Rumania's Minister of Labour, has described the benefits brought to his country through…
Abstract
AT the request of the Director‐General of the International Labour Office Mr. Petre Lupu, Rumania's Minister of Labour, has described the benefits brought to his country through setting up a Management Development Centre.
Basil Clarke and Terence E. Ford
Fifty years ago ,on 21st May 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed on this very field, Le Bourget, after having made the first non‐stop Atlantic crossing from New York to Paris. Several…
Abstract
Fifty years ago ,on 21st May 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed on this very field, Le Bourget, after having made the first non‐stop Atlantic crossing from New York to Paris. Several days earlier, Nungesser and Coli met their tragic end in attempting the flight from Paris to New York, an exploit that Costes and Bellonte succeeded in making only three years later.
Emre Uygun, Michel Hecquet, Abdelmounaïm Tounzi, Daniel Depernet, Vincent Lanfranchi, Serge Bruno and Thierry Tollance
This paper deals with the study of the influence of the phase shift between currents and back-electromotive forces (back-EMF) on torque ripple and radial magnetic forces for a low…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper deals with the study of the influence of the phase shift between currents and back-electromotive forces (back-EMF) on torque ripple and radial magnetic forces for a low power synchronous machine supplied with 120 degrees square-wave currents. This paper aims to establish a good compromise between efficiency, harmonics of torque and harmonics of radial forces at the origin of the electromagnetic noise.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a finite element approach, torque and magnetic pressure harmonics versus space and frequency are evaluated for different angle values. The evolutions of the different harmonics against the load angle are analyzed and compared to those of experimental measurements.
Findings
Depending on the load torque, field-weakening or field-boosting can be used to reduce current harmonics contributing the most to the radial magnetic forces responsible for the noise. Besides, a compromise can be found to avoid deteriorating too much the performances of the machine, thus being suitable with an industrial application.
Research limitations/implications
This study concerns low power permanent magnet synchronous machines with concentrated windings and driven with a trapezoidal control, while having sinusoidal back-EMF.
Originality/value
The use of a simple mean and suitable with a large-scale manufacturing industry to reduce the identified electromagnetic-borne noise of a specific electric drive makes the originality.