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1 – 10 of over 24000Jessica E. Moyer and Terry L. Weech
To provide a comparative review of the teaching of Readers' Advisory Services in schools of library and information science in selected schools in the USA, Canada and Europe.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a comparative review of the teaching of Readers' Advisory Services in schools of library and information science in selected schools in the USA, Canada and Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
After reviewing the literature, schools are selected based on their known activity in providing readers' advisory service courses or on their national ranking (in the case of US schools) to provide a snapshot of current level of readers' advisory instruction.
Findings
Instruction in readers' advisory services is a very small part of the total curriculum in schools examined. Librarians who wish to gain more insight to readers' advisory services must depend on continuing education opportunities, such as workshops and conference programs, not on courses in the curriculum of schools of library and information science.
Originality/value
This paper raises questions as to the relationship between library and information science curricula and the needs of practicing librarians to provide services to leisure readers. It finds that, despite an increased interest in providing readers' advisory services in libraries, library education is not responding to that need and continuing education and training programs are essential to providing librarians who are well prepared to serve leisure readers. For schools which are contemplating adding coursework in these areas, the case studies detail courses as they are offered at other institutions.
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Taking the entrepreneur’s perspective and a broad view of business advisory services, the purpose of this paper is to examine to what degree the need of business advisory services…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking the entrepreneur’s perspective and a broad view of business advisory services, the purpose of this paper is to examine to what degree the need of business advisory services among Swedish start-ups, first-generation immigrants compared to non-immigrants, is fulfilled.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample data consist of a unique and comprehensive firm-level database and contain telephone interviews with 2,800 Swedish start-up entrepreneurs. The study examines 20 different kinds of business advice services, in terms of both need and use. Statistical methods such as Mann-Whitney test and regression analysis are used while controlling for entrepreneurial characteristics.
Findings
The findings suggest that immigrants’ compared to non-immigrants’ need for business advisory service was not fulfilled. Of the 20 different business advices, ten were fulfilled and ten were not fulfilled. Both strategic advice and operational advice were fulfilled as well as unfulfilled. Apart from ethnicity, other variables did influence the need of business advisory services.
Research limitations/implications
The author was not able to make comparisons between different immigrant groups.
Practical implications
This study offers an explorative approach that contributes on how business advisory services are differentially tailored between start-ups by immigrants and those by non-immigrants. It illustrates to what extent public- and/or private-funded organizations contribute to fulfilment of the needs of immigrant and non-immigrant start-ups.
Originality/value
Few studies take the entrepreneur’s perspective and from such a perspective examine the fulfilment of needs of advice regarding both private and public organizations role in the area. Both the need and the use of business advisory services are studied as well as the kind of business advice that is needed.
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This paper explores the current state of Robo-advisory services in India. This paper further highlights the problems experienced by the service providers in disseminating the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the current state of Robo-advisory services in India. This paper further highlights the problems experienced by the service providers in disseminating the innovative business model among the Indians.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative approach to investigate the industry experts by conducting semi-structured interviews. The data collected were transcripted and further analyzed using the content analysis technique. Finally, the authors utilized categorization and coding techniques to frame broad study themes.
Findings
The study findings reveal that the three pillars of Robo-advisory are ease and convenience, the time factor and transparency in operations. Robo-advisory services are still at a nascent stage in India. Furthermore, keeping the sentiments of Indians in mind, FinTech companies could combine automated Robo-advisory with a human touch of a wealth manager for optimal advisory services.
Research limitations/implications
Since the present study is qualitative, the authors cannot generalize the study results. Future research can focus on empirically proving the constructs of the study using quantitative methods.
Practical implications
Robo-advisors have a well-established market in developed nations but are still nascent in developing countries like India. The current focus of service providers and regulatory authorities must be to increase awareness among investors by educating the investors and building trust.
Originality/value
The present study is the first to qualitatively synthesize the challenges faced by the FinTech service providers in the Indian market.
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This study aims to explore how small and medium-sized accounting practices (SMPs) make sense of and position themselves against the changing demand for services. It is argued that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how small and medium-sized accounting practices (SMPs) make sense of and position themselves against the changing demand for services. It is argued that changing demand for services from pure compliance to advisory acts as a trigger for sensemaking among SMP owners.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative multiple case study research approach is adopted, including semistructured interviews with key informants from seven Norwegian SMPs as well as document analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in the small practitioner segment of the accounting profession in making sense of changing demand for the nature of services. Three different situations emerged due to sensemaking, thus, the three distinct positions. Metaphors, namely, chameleons, turtles and bulls, are used to represent the positioning of SMPs. The sensemaking of actors as an adaptation led them to act as chameleons while distancing and resistance resulted in their positioning as turtles, and bulls, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the richness of data indicating a clear variation in interpretation among actors, the study is case based, with a limited number of SMPs, and caution should be exercised when generalising its conclusions.
Practical implications
The centrality of people as a driving force for positioning among SMPs and diversity among SMPs in value creation provide insights for both SMPs and their customers.
Originality/value
This study highlights the meaning and patterns of value creation and the positioning of accounting firms according to their sensemaking within an under-studied segment of the accounting profession.
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Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis…
Abstract
Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.
A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that…
Abstract
A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).
The children's room in my hometown library in Marion, Ohio, was a bright, comforting site, with low shelves of colorful books on every imaginable topic and a desk where kids…
Abstract
The children's room in my hometown library in Marion, Ohio, was a bright, comforting site, with low shelves of colorful books on every imaginable topic and a desk where kids could, under the librarian's careful guidance, use a red date‐due stamp to check out their own books.
Ahir Gopaldas, Marina Carnevale, Richard Kedzior and Anton Siebert
The marketing literature on service conversation in dyadic services has elaborated two approaches. An advisory approach involves providers giving customers expert advice on how to…
Abstract
Purpose
The marketing literature on service conversation in dyadic services has elaborated two approaches. An advisory approach involves providers giving customers expert advice on how to advance difficult projects. By contrast, a relational approach involves providers exchanging social support with customers to develop commercial friendships. Inspired by the transformative turn in service research, this study aims to develop a third approach, one that helps customers to cultivate their own agency, potential and well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The emergent model of service conversation is based on in-depth interviews with providers and clients of mental health services, including psychological counseling, psychotherapy and personal coaching.
Findings
A transformative approach to service conversation involves the iterative application of a complementary pair of conversational practices: seeding microtransformations by asking questions to inspire new ways of thinking, feeling and acting; and nurturing microtransformations via non-evaluative listening to affirm customers’ explorations of new possibilities. This pair of practices immediately elevates customers’ sense of psychological freedom, which, in turn, enables their process of self-transformation, one microtransformation at a time.
Practical implications
This study offers dyadic service providers a conceptual framework of advisory, relational and transformative approaches to service conversation for instrumental, communal and developmental service encounters, respectively. This framework can help dyadic service providers to conduct more collaborative, flexible and productive conversations with their customers.
Originality/value
Three approaches to service conversation – advisory, relational and transformative – are conceptually distinguished in terms of their overall aims, provider practices, customer experiences, customer outcomes, allocations of airtime, designations of expertise, application contexts, prototypical examples and blind spots.
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Ogan Yigitbasioglu, Peter Green and May-Yin Decca Cheung
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of accountants as advisors in professional services firms (PSFs), and it examines the impact of digital transformation on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of accountants as advisors in professional services firms (PSFs), and it examines the impact of digital transformation on the work, knowledge and skills of accountants in their role as advisors in PSFs.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using semi-structured interviews predominantly with partners in Australian PSFs, including the Big4 and directors of professional accounting bodies.
Findings
The findings show that accountants as advisors fill a critical role in PSFs as they represent substantial human capital for such firms. Accountants as advisors are a valuable strategic resource because of their unique capabilities in combining generic human capital with digital human capital and social capital resources. Some differences between the Big4 and non-Big4 were found in terms of services offered that were attributable to the respective industry foci and resource availability.
Practical implications
The findings have broader implications for both the accounting profession and the education sector in terms of providing a better, and more overt, understanding of what the future holds for the accounting profession and the relevant knowledge and skills required. Also, recruiters and managers at PSFs are likely to benefit from the findings.
Originality/value
Evidence from PSFs provides insights into an evolutionary path for the accounting profession, and the knowledge and skills accountants need to work in that increasingly competitive domain, due to digital transformation.
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This paper presents some ideas about readers' advisory service for library users whose primary language is not English to offer a perspective about some of the issues involved…
Abstract
This paper presents some ideas about readers' advisory service for library users whose primary language is not English to offer a perspective about some of the issues involved. Questions are raised to stimulate further study and research in this area of librarianship.