Mohsen Attaran and Tai T. Nguyen
Human resources are the most important asset of any organization. Yet most organizations continue to arrange their people in work patterns that inhibit and limit their employees’…
Abstract
Human resources are the most important asset of any organization. Yet most organizations continue to arrange their people in work patterns that inhibit and limit their employees’ participation. Many companies have tried to move away from a traditional rigid organizational structure to a more flexible one only to abandon it with few or no positive results. The difference between success and failure depends not on company size or resources, but on appropriate planning and avoidance of pitfalls. This article presents Chevron’s experiences in establishing interfunctional work teams, evaluates barriers, and suggests steps for successful implementation of self‐directed process teams.
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Minh Van Nguyen, Khanh Duy Ha and Chien Thanh Phan
Reconstruction of old buildings is often necessary after prolonged usage, but these projects encounter various complexities, leading to their failure. However, there is a lack of…
Abstract
Purpose
Reconstruction of old buildings is often necessary after prolonged usage, but these projects encounter various complexities, leading to their failure. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on investigating the complexity of old building reconstruction initiatives. Thus, this study aims to examine the complexity of reconstruction projects for old buildings in Vietnamese urban areas.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a literature review and discussions with experienced practitioners, 12 significant complexity factors were identified. The study then utilized the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique to analyze the interrelationships among these complexity factors.
Findings
The findings revealed intricate interdependencies among the complexity factors, visualized in a complexity map. The map highlighted the critical complexities of site compensation, clearance and the long project duration. Furthermore, a causal diagram categorized the complexity factors into net-effect and net-cause groups.
Originality/value
By examining the relationships and interactions among these factors, the study emphasizes the interconnected nature of complex systems and the influence of one factor on others. Therefore, decision-makers and stakeholders involved in reconstructing old buildings are suggested to possess a comprehensive understanding of these interdependencies to ensure effective decision-making.
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Mohsen Attaran and Tai T. Nguyen
Human resources are the most important asset of any organization. Yet most organizations continue to arrange their people in work patterns that inhibit and limit their employees’…
Abstract
Human resources are the most important asset of any organization. Yet most organizations continue to arrange their people in work patterns that inhibit and limit their employees’ participation. Many companies have tried to move away from a traditional rigid organizational structure to a more flexible one only to abandon it with little or no positive results. The difference between success and failure depends not on company size or resources, but on appropriate planning and avoidance of pitfalls. Presents Chevron’s experiences in establishing inter‐functional work teams, evaluates barriers, and suggests steps for successful implementation of self‐directed process teams.
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Huu Minh Nguyen, Thi Hong Tran and Thi Thanh Loan Tran
“The world needs science, science needs women” is the message given by UNESCO in the program for the development of women in science” (UNESCO, 2017). In Vietnam, women’s…
Abstract
“The world needs science, science needs women” is the message given by UNESCO in the program for the development of women in science” (UNESCO, 2017). In Vietnam, women’s participation and achievements in scientific research is considered a great and important resource for industrialization and modernization. Even so, are there gender differences in scientific achievement in the social science research institutes in Vietnam? What factors influence the scientific achievement of female social researchers? The answers will be based on data from a 2017 survey with a sample of 756 researchers, of which 77.6% were female. The survey was conducted by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, a leading, ministry-level national center for the social sciences in Vietnam. This chapter analyzed the scientific achievements of researchers through their position as principal investigators of research projects and their publications, and factors that may impact this. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of factors that may affect the scientific achievement of researchers found that gender differences in academic achievement in the social sciences in Vietnam was still prevalent. Female researchers’ scientific achievements were lower than those of their male counterparts. The contribution to science of Vietnamese female researchers was limited by many different factors; the most important were the academic rank of the researchers and gender stereotype that considered housework the responsibility of women.
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Nguyen Vinh Khuong, Doan Thi Ngoc Anh, Pham Minh Nhu, Tai Vu Tran Trong, Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang and Dang Hoang Kha Thy
This study aims to examine the relationship between key audit matters (KAMs) and the restatement of financial statements, assessing their impact on the financial statement…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between key audit matters (KAMs) and the restatement of financial statements, assessing their impact on the financial statement restatement process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to examine the economic context of Vietnam by analyzing data from 170 listed enterprises on the Vietnam stock exchange from 2010–2021. Feasible generalized least squares and robustness regression are conducted to give results and conclusions.
Findings
The results show that the KAMs disclosure in the financial statements has not really significantly affected the quality of an audit, so the KAMs disclosure does not have too much impact on the restatement of financial statements. However, this study found that the number of disclosed KAMs would partly reflect the shortcoming that exists in companies' financial statements.
Practical implications
The authenticity of financial statements is crucial for companies to meet auditor requirements, particularly KAMs. Restatements can influence business decisions and provide more accurate financial information to stakeholders. Thus, studying the impact of KAMs on restatement is essential for improving the veracity and reliability of financial statements.
Originality/value
This study clarifies the important role of KAMs in financial statements to recommend investors to be more careful in considering KAMs disclosed by auditors in audit reports. In addition, this study helps to add an overview of KAMs in emerging markets like Vietnam, as well as helps stakeholders to improve the legal system on Accounting – Auditing in Vietnam.
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Agung Sutrisno, Indra Gunawan, Iwan Vanany, Mohammad Asjad and Wahyu Caesarendra
Proposing an improved model for evaluating criticality of non-value added (waste) in operation is necessary for realizing sustainable manufacturing practices. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Proposing an improved model for evaluating criticality of non-value added (waste) in operation is necessary for realizing sustainable manufacturing practices. The purpose of this paper is concerning on improvement of the decision support model for evaluating risk criticality lean waste occurrence by considering the weight of modified FMEA indices and the influence of waste-worsening factors causing the escalation of waste risk magnitude.
Design/methodology/approach
Integration of entropy and Taguchi loss function into decision support model of modified FMEA is presented to rectify the limitation of previous risk reprioritization models in modified FMEA studies. The weight of the probability components and loss components are quantified using entropy. A case study from industry is used to test the applicability of the integration model in practical situation.
Findings
The proposed model enables to overcome the limitations of using subjective determination on the weight of modified FMEA indices. The inclusion of the waste-worsening factors and Taguchi loss functions enables the FMEA team to articulate the severity level of waste consequences appropriately over the use of ordinal scale in ranking the risk of lean waste in modified FMEA references.
Research limitations/implications
When appraising the risk of lean waste criticality, ignorance on weighting of FMEA indices may be inappropriate for an accurate risk-based decision-making. This paper provides insights to scholars and practitioners and others concerned with the lean operation to understand the significance of considering the impact of FMEA indices and waste-worsening factors in evaluating criticality of lean waste risks.
Practical implications
The method adopted is for quantifying the criticality of lean waste and inclusion of weighting of FMEA indices in modified FMEA provides insight and exemplar on tackling the risk of lean waste and determining the most critical waste affecting performability of company operations.
Originality/value
Integration of the entropy and Taguchi loss function for appraising the criticality of lean waste in modified FMEA is the first in the lean management discipline. These findings will be highly useful for professionals wishing to implement the lean waste reduction strategy.
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Cong-Phuoc Phan, Hong-Quang Nguyen and Tan-Tai Nguyen
Large collections of patent documents disclosing novel, non-obvious technologies are publicly available and beneficial to academia and industries. To maximally exploit its…
Abstract
Purpose
Large collections of patent documents disclosing novel, non-obvious technologies are publicly available and beneficial to academia and industries. To maximally exploit its potential, searching these patent documents has increasingly become an important topic. Although much research has processed a large size of collections, a few studies have attempted to integrate both patent classifications and specifications for analyzing user queries. Consequently, the queries are often insufficiently analyzed for improving the accuracy of search results. This paper aims to address such limitation by exploiting semantic relationships between patent contents and their classification.
Design/methodology/approach
The contributions are fourfold. First, the authors enhance similarity measurement between two short sentences and make it 20 per cent more accurate. Second, the Graph-embedded Tree ontology is enriched by integrating both patent documents and classification scheme. Third, the ontology does not rely on rule-based method or text matching; instead, an heuristic meaning comparison to extract semantic relationships between concepts is applied. Finally, the patent search approach uses the ontology effectively with the results sorted based on their most common order.
Findings
The experiment on searching for 600 patent documents in the field of Logistics brings better 15 per cent in terms of F-Measure when compared with traditional approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The research, however, still requires improvement in which the terms and phrases extracted by Noun and Noun phrases making less sense in some aspect and thus might not result in high accuracy. The large collection of extracted relationships could be further optimized for its conciseness. In addition, parallel processing such as Map-Reduce could be further used to improve the search processing performance.
Practical implications
The experimental results could be used for scientists and technologists to search for novel, non-obvious technologies in the patents.
Social implications
High quality of patent search results will reduce the patent infringement.
Originality/value
The proposed ontology is semantically enriched by integrating both patent documents and their classification. This ontology facilitates the analysis of the user queries for enhancing the accuracy of the patent search results.
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This study aims to study the effect of the reinforcement of mixed CeO2-ZrO2 nanoparticles in the polyurethane (PU) for protection properties of steel structures.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to study the effect of the reinforcement of mixed CeO2-ZrO2 nanoparticles in the polyurethane (PU) for protection properties of steel structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Electrochemical techniques were used to study the anticorrosion properties of the generated PU/CeO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite coated steel. Dynamic mechanical testing was done to investigate the mechanical properties.
Findings
In natural seawater, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments indicated outstanding protective behaviour for the PU/CeO2-ZrO2-coated steel. The coating resistance of the PU/CeO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite coating was found to be roughly 30% greater than that of the PU coating. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses of the coated steel surface revealed that the CeO2-ZrO2 was accumulated at the corrosion products, preventing the corrosion. Dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that when the nanoparticle concentration was 3 Wt.%, the PU/CeO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite coating had improved dynamic mechanical parameters.
Originality/value
The coating resistance of the PU/CeO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite was determined to be 2999.17 kΩ.cm2. The perceived current by scanning electrochemical microscopy analysis across the PU/CeO2-ZrO2 coating was 1.7 nA. The PU/CeO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite had a good hydrophobic behaviour (WCA: 101o). The newly synthesised PU/CeO2-ZrO2 composite offered great barrier and mechanical properties, preventing material degradation and increase the lifespan of the coated steel. Hence, this form of coating could be used as a viable coating material for industrial purposes.
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Ying Li, Yung-Ho Chiu, Tai-Yu Lin and Hongyi Cen
As more women are now being appointed to senior and top management positions and invited to sit on boards of directors, they are now directly participating in strategic company…
Abstract
Purpose
As more women are now being appointed to senior and top management positions and invited to sit on boards of directors, they are now directly participating in strategic company decision-making. As female directors have been found to provide new ideas, increase company competitiveness, efficiency and performance and bring a greater number of external resources to a company than male directors, this paper aims to put female directors as a variable into the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and statistical models to explore the effect of female directors on operating performances. The DEA first quantified and measured the company efficiencies, after which the statistical model analyzed the correlations between the variables to specifically identify the impact of female decision makers on the operating efficiencies in state-owned and private enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA was developed to explore Chinese cultural media company efficiencies under optimal input and output resource allocations, after which Tobit Regression was applied to determine the effect of female executives on these efficiencies.
Findings
From 2012 to 2016, the overall efficiencies in Chinese state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises. The overall technology gaps (TGs) in the state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises.
Originality/value
Previous research has tended to focus on the causal relationships between female senior executives and business performances; however, there have been few studies on the relationships between female executives and company performance from an efficiency perspective (optimal resource allocation). This paper, therefore, is the first to develop a novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA to examine Chinese cultural media enterprise efficiencies, and the first to apply Tobit Regression to assess the effect of female executives on those efficiencies.
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Abdulazeez Abdulquadri, Emmanuel Mogaji, Tai Anh Kieu and Nguyen Phong Nguyen
Recognising the high numbers of unbanked and financially excluded adults in Nigeria, this study aims to position chatbot as a digital transformation tool to radically change…
Abstract
Purpose
Recognising the high numbers of unbanked and financially excluded adults in Nigeria, this study aims to position chatbot as a digital transformation tool to radically change business model, improve customer experience and enhance financial inclusion in emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The Search-Access-Test (S-A-T) model was adopted to understand how Nigerian banks are adopting chatbots.
Findings
A majority of Nigerian banks now have chatbots that enhance customer engagement and financial inclusion. WhatsApp was the most frequently used platform. Chatbots were often branded and presented with female gender identification. The chatbots were less responsive beyond their predefined path. While Nigeria is a multilingual country with English being the original language, none of the chatbots used any of the Nigerian’s local languages.
Practical implications
Brands need to re-evaluate their chatbots with regard to responsiveness, predefined questions, verification and privacy. There are also possibilities of branding the chatbot and developing content creation strategies for proper engagement. Beyond English, the integration of African languages into chatbot is essential for digital transformation. Digital literacy and skills, particularly in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, should be supported to equip future developers and create more jobs.
Originality/value
While many theoretically based models for investigating the adoption of digital technologies have often placed focus on users’ ability to engage, this study takes an alternative perspective; by using the S-A-T model, it lays the responsibilities on the banks and chatbot developer to ensure that their chatbots are secure, responsive and able to meet the needs of the customers.