Ping Zhang, Wenju Zhu, Md. Yousuf Hossain, Shamima Sarker, Md. Nahid Pervez, Md. Ibrahim H. Mondal, Chao Yan, Yingjie Cai and Vincenzo Naddeo
The conventional textile dyeing process requires various operational characteristics, and determining the most reliable factor in dyeing performance has always been a challenge…
Abstract
Purpose
The conventional textile dyeing process requires various operational characteristics, and determining the most reliable factor in dyeing performance has always been a challenge for the textile industry. Thus, the present paper aimed to evaluate the process sensitivity of C. I. Reactive Blue 194 dyeing of cotton fabric using a statistical technique.
Design/methodology/approach
An L27 orthogonal array-based Taguchi's methodology was used with six parameters and three levels of each parameter. The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance were studied using total fixation efficiency (T%) as the response of the process sensitivity.
Findings
Results showed that dyebath pH was the most influential factor on the process and total fixation efficiency (p-value = 0.00 and contribution percentage 45.03%), followed by dye-fixing temperature, dye mass, electrolyte concentration, dye-fixing time and material to liquor ratio.
Originality/value
Overall this study provides a foundation for the determination of dyeing process sensitivity that will be useful in textile industries toward further development.
Details
Keywords
Ferran Vendrell-Herrero, Christian K. Darko and Pervez Ghauri
This study aims to investigate the importance of relational and conditional knowledge by assessing how service and signaling competences affect manufacturing firms’ productivity…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the importance of relational and conditional knowledge by assessing how service and signaling competences affect manufacturing firms’ productivity. These relationships are explored in the context of Africa, where, paradoxically, firms selling abroad must satisfy different market demands than firms that serve only domestic markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on the World Bank Enterprise Survey to perform a cross-sectional analysis of 4,683 manufacturing firms. These surveys cover the period 2009-2017 and 35 different African countries. The authors define service competence development as co-location with knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firms, measured through KIBS density at city level. Signaling is measured through outward-looking competences.
Findings
This paper shows that African exporters differ significantly from their non-exporting counterparts in terms of productivity and competences. External service competence generates productivity gains for exporters but has the opposite effect for non-exporters. Results consistent with previous research also show that signaling competences generate productivity gains, but the effect for firms serving domestic markets is stronger than the effect for exporting firms. The authors use paradoxes of learning to interpret these results.
Research limitations/implications
This study detects nuances of the African context that increase the understanding of knowledge management in emerging markets. The findings would benefit from confirmation in a longitudinal and causal setting.
Practical implications
African exporting firms should establish mechanisms to develop joint knowledge with external partners (know-with) to enhance their competitiveness, whereas African non-exporters should prioritize building knowledge credibility.
Originality/value
The study develops a novel empirical approach to analyzing firm competences in Africa. It also shows that contextualization of existing knowledge management theories matters, opening a research avenue to test further existing theories in emerging economies.
Details
Keywords
Rudolf R. Sinkovics and Pervez N. Ghauri
The first chapter by Pieter Pauwels, Paul G. Patterson, Ko de Ruyter, and Martin Wetzels is entitled “The Propensity to Continue Internationalization: A Study of Australian…
Abstract
The first chapter by Pieter Pauwels, Paul G. Patterson, Ko de Ruyter, and Martin Wetzels is entitled “The Propensity to Continue Internationalization: A Study of Australian Service Firms”. The authors build on the process theory of internationalization and the theory of planned behavior and investigate a firm's propensity to continue internationalization. They develop a theoretical model and test this using structural equation modeling using a sample of international service providers using partial least square (PLS). Their model confirms the pivotal role of attitudes towards internationalization, relevant behavioral norms, and behavioral control factors as contributors to the propensity to continue internationalization.
Pakistan is quite often described as a failing state. Some scholars have described it as a “failed state.” Without indulging into its controversial part, let us see the state of…
Abstract
Pakistan is quite often described as a failing state. Some scholars have described it as a “failed state.” Without indulging into its controversial part, let us see the state of affairs in Pakistan first. Pakistan has been under a mixed spell of military rule and controlled democracy. President Pervez Musharraf has learnt from the legacy of military rule of his predecessors that the best bet to remain in power is to blame democratic leaders for their failure to govern the country in the interest of the people. Musharraf had grabbed power through a bloodless military coup by dislodging the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif in October 1999 under a similar alibi. Even after the lapse of more than 8 years of his rule, there has been no change in terms of poverty eradication, economic development, living standards, or internal security. On the contrary, things have taken on a much uglier shape.