Thai Young Kim, Rommert Dekker and Christiaan Heij
The purpose of this paper is to show that intentional demand forecast bias can improve warehouse capacity planning and labour efficiency. It presents an empirical methodology to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that intentional demand forecast bias can improve warehouse capacity planning and labour efficiency. It presents an empirical methodology to detect and implement forecast bias.
Design/methodology/approach
A forecast model integrates historical demand information and expert forecasts to support active bias management. A non-linear relationship between labour productivity and forecast bias is employed to optimise efficiency. The business analytic methods are illustrated by a case study in a consumer electronics warehouse, supplemented by a survey among 30 warehouses.
Findings
Results indicate that warehouse management systematically over-forecasts order sizes. The case study shows that optimal bias for picking and loading is 30-70 per cent with efficiency gains of 5-10 per cent, whereas the labour-intensive packing stage does not benefit from bias. The survey results confirm productivity effects of forecast bias.
Research limitations/implications
Warehouse managers can apply the methodology in their own situation if they systematically register demand forecasts, actual order sizes and labour productivity per warehouse stage. Application is illustrated for a single warehouse, and studies for alternative product categories and labour processes are of interest.
Practical implications
Intentional forecast bias can lead to smoother workflows in warehouses and thus result in higher labour efficiency. Required data include historical data on demand forecasts, order sizes and labour productivity. Implementation depends on labour hiring strategies and cost structures.
Originality/value
Operational data support evidence-based warehouse labour management. The case study validates earlier conceptual studies based on artificial data.
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Cam Tu Nguyen, Kum Fai Yuen, Thai Young Kim and Xueqin Wang
Crowd logistics is a rising phenomenon in last-mile delivery that integrates technological applications and sources a large number of participants to do logistical activities…
Abstract
Purpose
Crowd logistics is a rising phenomenon in last-mile delivery that integrates technological applications and sources a large number of participants to do logistical activities, achieving sustainable shipping in urban environments. However, up until now, there has been limited literature in this field. This research aims to investigate the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that impact the participative behaviour of driver-partners in crowd logistics.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrated model is developed based on motivation theory, incorporating attitude as a contributor to both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. A questionnaire was constructed and distributed to collect data from 303 respondents who are existing or potential driver-partners in Vietnam.
Findings
Our findings confirm (1) the influence of monetary rewards on extrinsic motivation and (2) the power of self-efficacy, trust and sense of belonging on intrinsic motivation. Further, we find that attitude positively impacts extrinsic motivation, whereas there is no effect between attitude and intrinsic motivation. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are demonstrated to significantly influence driver-partners' participative intentions. Additionally, a positive association is found between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.
Originality/value
Findings from this study theoretically enrich the literature on crowd logistics, especially on the supply side, and empirically contribute to implications that are valuable to crowd logistics firms on driver-partner recruitment and business strategy development.
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Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and…
Abstract
Thailand has seen waves of youth-led protests over the past three years. Pro-democracy youth activists have vociferously criticised authority figures: teachers, parents and political leaders, especially the king. Drawing on vignettes assembled over a 14-year ethnographic work with young people in Thailand, as well as on current research on youth (online and offline) activism in Bangkok, I examine the multi-layered meaning of kinship in Thai society. The chapter reveals the political nature of childhood and parenthood as entangled modes of governance that come into being with other, both local and international cultural entities. I argue that Thai youth activists are attempting to rework dominant tropes that sustain “age-patriarchy” in the Buddhist kingdom. Their “engaged siblinghood” aims to reframe Thailand's generational order, refuting the moral principles that establish citizens' political subordination to monarchical paternalism and, relatedly, children's unquestionable respect to parents. As I show, Thai youth activists are doing so by engaging creatively with transnational discourses such as “democracy” and “children's rights,” while simultaneously drawing on K-pop icons, Japanese manga and Buddhist astrology. In articulating their dissent, these youths are thus bearers of a “bottom-up cosmopolitanism” that channels culturally hybrid, and politically subversive notions of childhood and citizenship in Southeast Asia's cyberspace and beyond. Whatever the outcome of their commitment, Thai youth activism signals the cultural disarticulation of the mytheme of the Father in Thailand, as well as the growing political influence of younger generations in the region.
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Lin Zhang, Pataradech “Tony” Srisupandit and Debra Cartwright
The purpose of this paper is to try to determine to what extent differences and similarities in sociopolitical, cultural and economic backgrounds are reflected in gender role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to try to determine to what extent differences and similarities in sociopolitical, cultural and economic backgrounds are reflected in gender role portrayals in magazine advertisements in the USA, China and Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis is used. Five different magazine categories are selected from the USA, China and Thailand in 2007: news and general interest; sports; entertainment; women's and business. The coding system employed is modified from Courtney and Lockeretz.
Findings
Overall, the paper finds that advertisers in Thailand, China and America shared some gender stereotyping. In addition, Chinese and Thai magazine advertisements show more gender stereotyping, while US advertisements show more egalitarian representations. These findings are consistent with their respective culture backgrounds.
Research limitations/implications
The use of content analysis is limited because it is mainly descriptive in nature and adequate causal explanations cannot be established. Besides, this research is cross‐sectional and the changes in gender role portrayals in cultures over time cannot be sufficiently captured.
Practical implications
The paper's observations support the hypotheses that the sociopolitical, cultural and economic differences of the three countries lead to different gender role attitudes in each society, and these different attitudes need to be considered by international advertisers. The paper also suggests that international advertisers should carefully consider the use of gender role stereotypes in their creative design, for the benefit both of the advertisers and the society.
Originality/value
No similar studies have been conducted on Thai advertisements and the most recent study in China was in 1997. It is also worthwhile to examine gender role portrayals in advertisements from three countries with unique sociopolitical backgrounds: the capitalistic USA (with Judeo‐Christian values), socialist China (with weak Confucian values) and capitalistic Thailand (with strong Confucian values).
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Dongqi Shi, Nimit Soonsan and Panuwat Phakdee-Auksorn
This study aims to explore the determinants of behavioral intentions during the previsit stage by investigating the influence of audience involvement with the audiovisual product…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the determinants of behavioral intentions during the previsit stage by investigating the influence of audience involvement with the audiovisual product and the mediating role played by place attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling was employed to verify the hypothesized relationships using the AMOS 24.0 program to assess the proposed model. A total of 564 young Chinese audiences who had watched the Thai television (TV) series “I Told Sunset About You” but had not previously visited Phuket, Thailand, were collected using the online survey as participants.
Findings
The findings indicate that audience involvement has a significant positive effect on place attachment and behavioral intentions during the previsit stage. Place attachment significantly influences behavioral intentions. Moreover, the result suggests that place attachment significantly mediates the relationship between audience involvement and behavioral intentions.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to film tourism research by revealing the crucial role of audience involvement in enhancing place attachment and fostering behavioral intentions toward depicted destinations among potential tourists.
Practical implications
This study suggests that destination marketers should be aware of the soft power of films and TV series to promote destination and attract prospective tourists.
Originality/value
This study provides a distinctive perspective on the interrelationships between audience involvement, place attachment, and previsit behavioral intentions. Additionally, it sheds light on the underlying mechanisms influencing potential tourists' behaviors in the context of film tourism.
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This paper aims to adopt the mutuality perspective from the field of human resource management (HRM) to examine family firms, specifically human resource (HR) practices that are…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to adopt the mutuality perspective from the field of human resource management (HRM) to examine family firms, specifically human resource (HR) practices that are likely to be found in Thai family firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The cross-case analysis of three successful unreformed or authoritarian family firms in Thailand draws on semistructured interviews with top managers and/or HR managers as well as the employees of each family firm, field visits to each firm and a review of archival documents and Web-based resources.
Findings
This paper proposes that the recruitment of employees via alternative or substream recruitment channels (especially the recruitment of current employees’ relatives or family members), paternalistic employee relations practices and the management of aging employees, specifically with regard to the absence of retirement age, the facilitation of financial planning, reduced workload, the appointment of mentors/advisors and the encouragement of aging employees to transfer knowledge to younger generations tend to be found across Thai family firms, especially the unreformed or authoritarian type. These HR practices are implemented across family firms because they help to manage high levels of debt that have accumulated over many years so that employees attain financial literacy before retirement and to foster and maintain positive relationships between managers and employees across firms. These positive relationships thus foster the retention of capable and loyal, aging employees who have been developed within the firm and who have worked with the firm for a long time (so-called Look-Mor), leading to the maintenance of tacit knowledge and experience within firms and the alleviation of the problem of labor shortage. Theoretically, this paper proposes that a family-like corporate culture typically found in family firms serves as the antecedent to the adoption and implementation of those HR practices (so-called culture determinism). In particular, the fit between corporate culture and HR practices is likely to foster the strong commitment among employees to firms and the feelings of job security among these employees (so-called commitment match in the mutuality of the employment relationship).
Research limitations/implications
An important limitation of this study concerns its methodology. Because this study is based on the case studies of only three unreformed or authoritarian family firms located in Thailand, the findings in this paper only propose substream or alternative HR practices that are likely to be found across Thai family firms; therefore, generalization to all other types of family firms and all other family firms across countries is not possible. Examining whether the HR practices proposed in this paper are uniquely found across family firms should be the subject of future research. Another limitation of this study is that it does not include firms located in other industries, such as the health-care industry and the hotel and restaurant industry. Future research could explore the HR practices implemented by family firms in these industries. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of family firms across industries might be useful in deepening the understanding of the HR practices implemented in family firms from the mutuality perspective on HRM.
Practical implications
This paper has practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers across firms not only in Thailand but also in other countries. First, top managers and/or HR managers across family firms, especially those of the unreformed or authoritarian type, should implement the HR practices proposed in this paper that are aligned well with a family-like corporate culture found in family firms to foster the strong commitment among employees to firms and the feeling of job security among these employees. Second, other types of firms (e.g. publicly owned corporations and multinational corporations) that do not have a family-like corporate culture may have to adapt some of these HR practices to their corporate culture and workplace atmosphere within their firms. Third, to manage and retain high-quality aging employees within firms, top managers and HR managers across various types of firms should implement some of the HR practices for managing aging employees proposed in this paper so that the firms can retain invaluable aging employees over time.
Social implications
This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and of several other emerging market economies. These governments should encourage the firms located in their countries to implement some of the HR practices proposed in this paper to maintain and support knowledgeable and skillful aging employees in their firms.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the two main bodies of literature on HRM and family business in the following ways. First, most previous studies on HRM have focused on the mainstream HR practices used in large firms while neglecting the alternative or substream HR practices used in family firms. Additionally, relatively little research has specifically examined the mutuality perspective with regard to HRM. Thus, this paper extends the literature on HRM and family business settings regarding HR practices that are likely to be found across Thai family firms, corporate culture as an antecedent of the adoption and implementation of those HR practices, and the fit between corporate culture and HR practices with respect to mutuality in the employment relationship. Moreover, the literature on HRM has typically overlooked the underresearched country of Thailand; most studies in this area have primarily focused on developed countries or other emerging market economies, including China and India. The findings of this paper provide an in-depth analysis of HR practices that are likely to be found in family firms located in the emerging market economy of Thailand according to the mutuality perspective with regard to HRM.
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Gi-Su Kim, Sung-Woo Lee, Chang-Soo Kim and Young-Joon Seo
The role of logistics service provider (LSP) is essential for efficient logistics service quality (LSQ) and supply chain management, especially in multimodal transport. Multimodal…
Abstract
The role of logistics service provider (LSP) is essential for efficient logistics service quality (LSQ) and supply chain management, especially in multimodal transport. Multimodal transport routes that use the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) play an important role in the supply chains of Northeast Asia. This paper aims to identify current conditions of TSR LSQ and propose improvements to enhance the competitiveness of traditional routes. Therefore, this study sheds light on and provides recommendations for various managerial strategies to LSPs in the context of the TSR. This study utilizes Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to measure levels of importance and performance of the logistics service of LSPs that provide multimodal transport services via the TSR from South Korea to Europe. This study identifies capabilities on the basis of five criteria (price, timeliness, reliability, equipment systems, and customer service) from a customers’ perspective. The results of the research indicate that operational improvements should be considered to activate TSR multimodal transport for northern logistics routes from the perspective of Korean shippers. Specific findings show that balanced development strategies are needed for logistics routes that have not yet been significantly activated, while implying that logistics costs could be reduced initially to satisfy shippers. This study presents an operational strategy for LSPs using the TSR in northern logistics through IPA methods. Furthermore, this research can help policymakers propose specific policies to revitalize the northern logistics of Korean logistics companies and to provide incentive supports for shippers.
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Sutthipat Assawavichairoj and Mehdi Taghian
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural differences in female consumers’ motivation to purchase appearance-enhancing products, particularly anti-aging creams.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural differences in female consumers’ motivation to purchase appearance-enhancing products, particularly anti-aging creams.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative research design to collect the data. Focus group discussions were used. The participants were selected from Thai and Australian females, 25-45 years old in Melbourne representing the most frequent users of anti-aging products.
Findings
The results indicated variations among participants in their motivation to seek a better appearance. The motivation ranged from a combination of striving to achieve an ideal self and a high level of social acceptability through maintaining youthful appearance and improving on the perceived declining youthful appearance. Using anti-aging products turned out to be a means for taking care of oneself, achieving better social acceptability and improving self-image. These key motivations are inspired by the individual’s social condition and from the reactions they receive from others. These motivations are shared by all participants, but within different cultural perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is in relation to the true expression of attitudes by respondents, particularly in regard to the discussion of privately held beliefs about self-image, social acceptability and personal appearance. Additionally, the variations between cultural perceptions are only indicative of real differences between collectivist and individualistic cultures.
Practical implications
Managers can adopt a cultural framework for understanding their consumers’ motivations to enhance their appearance, formulate more accurately their marketing strategy and activate and satisfy their consumers’ demand and better inform their new product developments.
Originality/value
The analysis explains and compares the differences and similarities in female consumers’ motivations for anti-aging product consumption of two fundamentally different cultural value systems.
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Jae Min Jung, Kawpong Polyorat and James J. Kellaris
The purpose of this paper is to examine an important exception to the “value congruity hypothesis,” which holds that advertising should be more effective when it is congruent with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine an important exception to the “value congruity hypothesis,” which holds that advertising should be more effective when it is congruent with cultural values. It documents a paradoxical “reverse authority effect” among young adult consumers in traditionally high power distance (PD) countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experiments were conducted using data from traditionally high (South Korea in Study 1, Thailand in Study 2) and low (USA in Study 1) PD countries. Data are analyzed by variance analyses (multivariate analysis of covariance, analyses of variance) and regression.
Findings
Results show a reverse authority effect in Korea and attenuation of this effect in the USA (Study 1). Results also show a reverse authority effect in Thailand (Study 2), suggesting the generality of the effect across young consumers in traditionally high PD countries. It appears that a shift away from traditional cultural values has occurred in the course of modernization, as Western ideology gains popularity among young adult consumers in Eastern countries.
Practical implications
Findings suggest that traditional national culture alone is not a good predictor of responses to authority‐based ads. Rather, the extent to which a segment embraces or rejects traditional cultural values is more relevant.
Originality/value
This paper documents a notable exception to the value congruity hypothesis, i.e. a negative effect of authority‐based ads among young consumers in high PD cultures. It extends prior research and has implications for both theory and practice in global advertising.
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Jinsoo Hwang, Seongseop (Sam) Kim, Ja Young (Jacey) Choe and Chang-Ho Chung
This study aims to investigate the potential for successful glocalization of ethnic Korean food through the exploration of the reasons for preferring Korean food, the success…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the potential for successful glocalization of ethnic Korean food through the exploration of the reasons for preferring Korean food, the success factors for a Korean restaurant and the factors affecting the outcome variables of customer satisfaction, revisit intentions and changing the image of Korea.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 265 Korean restaurant customers in the USA were collected.
Findings
Among the respondents’ reasons for their food preferences, the novel and diverse factor was found to significantly influence customer satisfaction, revisit intentions and Korea’s image. The “sociocultural” factor was found to positively influence customer satisfaction and Korea’s image.
Originality/value
This study delved into an example of glocalization of a national food. The findings provide conceptual and practical implications that the extant ethnic restaurant literature has not elucidated.