Frank van der Zwan and Tracy Bhamra
There is a window of opportunity within the area of design for sustainability for services marketing academics and practitioners to offer their knowledge and experience to…
Abstract
There is a window of opportunity within the area of design for sustainability for services marketing academics and practitioners to offer their knowledge and experience to manufacturing companies and academics. Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in services within the field of sustainable development. Services are viewed as a dematerialized alternative to existing products, with reduced environmental impact (i.e. less material and less energy use to fulfil a certain need). The services considered by academics in the field of sustainable development are those related to products or those substituting products. These services are often called “eco‐efficient services”. Academics focusing on the development of eco‐efficient services can use elements of theory and experience available within the services marketing discipline. Services marketing academics and practitioners can help in developing blueprints and processes to facilitate manufacturing companies to shift towards a more service‐intensive way of doing business. This paper calls for cross‐disciplinary collaboration.
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David Tyler, Jo Heeley and Tracy Bhamra
This study sets out to focus on the textiles and fashion clothing supply chain with the objective of identifying factors that constrain company activities and inhibit…
Abstract
Purpose
This study sets out to focus on the textiles and fashion clothing supply chain with the objective of identifying factors that constrain company activities and inhibit competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology for this research involves multiple case studies involving UK companies. Supply chain management theory and ecological concepts have been used to interpret the data and to identify significant blocks affecting dynamic performance of the participating companies.
Findings
The research has identified seven significant blocks to responsiveness that were apparent in the observed supply chains: timing of fabric trade shows, lack of control of availability of fabric, forecasting, late stage product changes, geographical proximity to market, decision making decoupled from fashion trends, stock‐outs and slow selling products.
Practical implications
The paper draws conclusions about the strategic directions of fashion supply chains and suggests the need to develop strong personal and organisational relationships in order to produce a culture characterised by common goals, trust and mutual interest.
Originality/value
The observations and analyses of responsiveness barriers establish a framework for strategic thinking regarding the supply chain responsiveness, with academic and commercial implications.
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Vicky Lofthouse, Tracy Bhamra and Tom Burrow
This paper describes the novel approach taken in a collaborative research project that aimed to investigate new ways of understanding the customer, for Derby‐based fibre…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes the novel approach taken in a collaborative research project that aimed to investigate new ways of understanding the customer, for Derby‐based fibre manufacturer, Tencel Limited. The overall aim of the research described in this paper, was to help identify and establish a significant retail programme with a major UK store group for Tencel limited.
Design/methodology/approach
In an iterative process, the target customer for the focus groups was identified, the main aims of the process were discussed, the test garments were identified and the empathic design tools were adapted. The team developed a programme of activities that would capture customer focused information on these critical issues.
Findings
Using the Grove techniques helped to make the project transparent and inclusive, and enabled the whole team to be involved in the decision‐making process. Using these techniques have provided Tencel with a non‐scientific way of understanding how their end customer perceives their fibre, providing unequivocal evidence of the customer true feelings recorded as “raw” video based evidence.
Practical implications
The Tencel/IF project has also led to a number of additional advantages for the company, such as the development of new relationships within the supply chain, the development of new relationships within Tencel and the enhancement of multi‐disciplinary team working and concurrent engineering.
Originality/value
This paper has presented the novel approach that the combined Tencel/IF team took to develop a better understanding of the end customer and illustrates how techniques which were developed for one industry can be successfully adapted and applied to a quite different industry with excellent results.
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Suneeta Bhamra, Anthea Tinker, Gill Mein, Richard Ashcroft and Janet Askham
Research that follows people over a period of time (longitudinal or panel studies) is increasingly recognised as of great importance in helping us to understand the ageing process…
Abstract
Research that follows people over a period of time (longitudinal or panel studies) is increasingly recognised as of great importance in helping us to understand the ageing process and changes over time in the lives of older people. If people drop out of studies ‐ which older people are more likely to do ‐ the value of the study diminishes. This research draws on evidence from ongoing and previous longitudinal studies of people aged 55 and over to examine what factors encourage the retention of participants and what causes them to drop out. The research is synthesising existing evidence, drawing together the experiences of researchers involved in longitudinal studies, and collecting some new evidence about the views of survey participants. This article reports on the first part of the research by drawing together evidence from other studies. These show that there are some factors that are related to attrition whereas for others the evidence is mixed. Methods employed by these studies to reduce attrition and retain participants are examined. It must be noted that apart from the consistent finding that attrition is associated with age, education, socio‐economic status and cognitive impairment, not all studies examined the same variables; some only being explored by one study. This makes it difficult to draw any further conclusions and indicates that attrition needs to be addressed in a uniform manner by more studies. This article identifies some implications for policy‐makers and practitioners.
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Naznin Tabassum, Sujana Shafique, Anastasia Konstantopoulou and Ahmad Arslan
This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review and a set of propositions to identify the antecedent of women managers’ resilience and develops a conceptual framework for resilience.
Findings
The results indicate that in addition to personal resilience traits, interactive engagement with the work environment, career adaptability and positive human resource management (HRM) interventions are the main antecedents of women managers’ resilience.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to theory by providing a new perspective on the study of resilience as a process at the organisational level and as a trait at personal level. It contributes to the women employee-centric resilience discussion in HRM literature and explores the relationship between resilience and women managers’ career progression. This is a developmental study, and despite the strengths of the undertaken approach, there are a number of limitations due to the lack of empirical evidence. Therefore, future research activities should focus on validating the framework and determining any potential boundaries of this resilience framework.
Practical implications
The study reveals a number of practical implications leading to a recommended resilience toolkit for HR managers of organisations to develop and promote resilience in their women managers and aspiring managers.
Social implications
The social implications of this study include the social relationships within the work-setting, better employee engagement and interaction with the work environment and flexible career progression pathways.
Originality/value
The paper is based on rich conceptual and theoretical discussion that identifies the key antecedents of women managers’ resilience. The study also conceptually establishes the moderating relationship between women managers’ resilience and work stress and burnout.