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1 – 10 of over 54000Corinne Mulley and Geoffrey Clifton
This chapter demonstrates how the ‘golden rule’ can be applied by operators of flexible transport services to improve investment and pricing decisions.
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter demonstrates how the ‘golden rule’ can be applied by operators of flexible transport services to improve investment and pricing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The chapter explains why an appropriate decision making framework is particularly important for operators of flexible transport services and compares the traditional economic framework of fixed versus variable costs to the decision-oriented approach that analyses the activities of a firm in terms of costs that are avoidable (i.e. specific to a particular activity) and costs that are shared amongst a number of activities. The chapter introduces the ‘golden rule’ of decision making and discusses issues in implementing the rule.
Findings
An economic framework for decision making is particularly important for smaller scale transport operations (such as flexible transport services) because ‘lumpy’ investment costs are more significant than for larger operators. The traditional economic approach divides costs into fixed costs and those which vary by patronage. A better framework for decision making divides costs into those which are specific to a particular activity and, therefore, avoidable if that activity ceases, and those costs which are common to more than one activity.
Practical implications
Using this framework allows operators to apply the ‘golden rule’ in pricing their services so that the avoidable costs of each activity are recovered and the enterprise covers its shared costs overall.
Originality/value
This chapter will be useful to operators of flexible transport services who are new to the industry or are reacting to changes in the funding environment.
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Saerom Wang, Liping A. Cai and Xinran Lehto
This chapter investigates the antecedents of individuals’ emotional outcomes from their dining-away-from-home experiences and conceptualizes how food and emotions are related and…
Abstract
This chapter investigates the antecedents of individuals’ emotional outcomes from their dining-away-from-home experiences and conceptualizes how food and emotions are related and how travel and emotions are associated. The study applies the stimulus-response theory to set up the premise that emotions that individuals experience while dining out comprise a pivotal part of their emotional well-being and their emotions can be triggered by stimuli encountered on trips and in other away-from-home situations. Cognitive appraisal, arousal, and other causes that are responsible for awakening affective responses are utilized in developing six propositions regarding individuals’ emotional outcomes in travel and dining contexts. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested following the discussions on these propositions.
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When the issues surrounding corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are discussed, who or what organisation should be considered as the key player in CSR? Is it the service…
Abstract
When the issues surrounding corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are discussed, who or what organisation should be considered as the key player in CSR? Is it the service provider or a consumer on the socio-economic market that qualifies as a key player? One might be quick to suggest that traditionally service providers are supposed to play CSR roles. To think of the topic critically not only is a service provider that is required to play CSR roles but that the consumer is equally deemed to play a commendable role. Others may argue that such a suggestion is conclusive to mean that a banana vendor is supposed to follow his customers/consumer in question so that they do not throw the banana peels hazardously and affect the environment negatively.
The consumer, just like the vendor/service provider, ought to have discipline and principles as to how he or she utilises products around rather than blame the opposite on wrongly providing a service from which many are benefiting from.
The debate above suggests that consumers of products have their roles to play as regards CSR so that those that provide them with a socio-economic service can continue to do so and that relations between a consumer and a service provider are mutual and sustainable.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) industries in developing Africa use manual power to produce the desired consumables and because no technology is involved their products are reasonable and affordable. However, the manual power is applied at a risk and at the expense of the service providers’ health. Is there any consciousness of the situation at hand by the consumer? The specific local SME industries to be discussed are quarry stone crashing, charcoal making and cement industry outlets leading to a debate on whether consumers just like service providers need to work together to ensure that the local SME industries cited are recognised for sustainable development purposes.
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Jeannine M. Love and Margaret Stout
Public administration has struggled to develop effective practices for fostering just and sustainable responses to social, economic, and environmental crises. In this chapter, we…
Abstract
Public administration has struggled to develop effective practices for fostering just and sustainable responses to social, economic, and environmental crises. In this chapter, we argue that radically democratic social movements demonstrate the potential the ideal-type of Integrative Governance holds for achieving the collaborative advantage that has remained elusive to those who study and utilize traditional governance networks. Drawing from myriad studies of social movements, we demonstrate how particular social movements prefigure the philosophy and practices of this approach. Herein we focus on movements’ ethical stance of Stewardship, politics of Radical Democracy, epistemological use of Integral Knowing, and administrative practice of Facilitative Coordination, emphasizing how they use information communication technology and one-to-one organizing tactics. These practices enable social movements to integrate across the domains of sustainability and translate radically democratic modes of association from micro- to macro-scale. Thus, they shift attention from network structures, the main focus of the governance literature, to power dynamics. These movements constitute an interconnected global phenomenon, fostering solidarity across difference and prefiguring a transformation of the global political economy. Therefore, they are nascent exemplars of Integrative Governance, a more just and effective approach to global governance.
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To expand understanding of the motive, knowledge, and skill acquisition of criminal entrepreneurs while incarcerated and on release.
Abstract
Purpose
To expand understanding of the motive, knowledge, and skill acquisition of criminal entrepreneurs while incarcerated and on release.
Methodology/approach
This chapter uses semi-structured interviews incorporating field observations from a convenience sample of ex-offenders in the state of Colorado, in the United States, who have been engaged in destructive entrepreneurship as well as local experts that work with ex-offenders in transition and reentry into society after a period of incarceration.
Findings
Many of these offenders’ actions outside of prison are highly entrepreneurial, with the creation of “ventures” that include production, inventory, sales, employees, managers, distribution, security, etc. When incarcerated with fellow “entrepreneurs,” tricks of the trade are exchanged producing even smarter destructive entrepreneurship upon release.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include a small sample of interviewees, responses are anecdotal, subjective truth, and localized to the state of Colorado in the United States.
Practical implications
The findings inform research on entrepreneurial cognition set in the destructive space, as well as reveal methods and intentions that lead to a better understanding of the “structure of the reward” for such behavior.
Social implications
An examination of this behavior and underlying motives provides insights as to how society might be better prepared for and redirect destructive entrepreneurial behavior toward more positive outcomes.
Originality/value
The current sparse literature engaging the concept of destructive entrepreneurship generally does so at the country, institution, or corporate level. This chapter focuses on destructive entrepreneurial behavior at the individual (micro venture) level and provides recommendations for policy consideration.
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To provide an overview of the Japanese publishing industry and to compare it with the publishing industry in the United Kingdom to see whether similarities and differences are…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide an overview of the Japanese publishing industry and to compare it with the publishing industry in the United Kingdom to see whether similarities and differences are industry- or culture-specific.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides detailed descriptions of the activities of the three main players in the Japanese publishing industry (publishers/editors; distributors; and booksellers). This tripartite structure of the industry encourages divide-and-rule mechanisms also found in the Japanese advertising industry. At the same time, a comparison with the UK publishing industry reveals certain structural differences between it and the Japanese publishing industry.
Findings
Three developments that have affected trade relations in the UK publishing industry (retail chains, literary agents, and mergers and acquisitions) do not have such great impact in Japan. In Japan, wholesale distributors are extremely powerful – something not noted, but possibly overlooked, by Thompson for the UK publishing industry. Comparative material between Japan and the United Kingdom, as well as across industries within Japan, suggest certain cultural influences prevail in the organization of Japanese publishing.
Research limitations/implications
The Japanese publishing industry appears to operate under certain cultural constraints that inhibit cross-cultural comparison, while enabling cross-industry comparison within Japan. Why this is so needs further research. Can the parallels between advertising and publishing industries be extended to other forms of cultural production in Japan? In particular, the way in which money is circulated within an industry has an influential effect upon its structure.
Practical implications
A useful source of information for practitioners and academics interested in the functioning of a non-Western publishing industry. The paper also provides food for thought for those interested in trying to better the organization of publishing in Japan and/or the United Kingdom.
Originality/value
A hitherto undocumented comparative study in English of the Japanese publishing industry.
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Following recent terrorist attacks in the US and Europe, Western Muslims have been criticised for not taking a firm stand against radical Islam and extremist organisations…
Abstract
Following recent terrorist attacks in the US and Europe, Western Muslims have been criticised for not taking a firm stand against radical Islam and extremist organisations. Drawing on insights from narrative criminology, we challenge such assertions and reveal Muslims' narrative mobilisation against violent jihadism. Based on 90 qualitative interviews with young Muslims in Norway, we show how violent extremism is rejected in a multitude of ways. This narrative resistance includes criticising extremist jihadist organisations for false interpretations of Islam and using derogatory terms to describe them. It also includes less obvious forms of narrative resistance, such as humour and attempts to silence jihadist organisations by ignoring them. While narrative criminology has effectively analysed the stories that constitute harm, less attention has been paid to narratives that counter harm. We argue that stories that counter jihadi narratives are crucial to understand the narrative struggles of Muslim communities, whose outcomes can help determine why some individuals end up becoming religious extremists – while others do not. By distinguishing between factual, emotional and humorous counternarratives and describing silence as a form of resistance, we show resistance to extremism that is often concealed from the public and the state.
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Every employee embodies manifestations of every demographic that attach to him or her different minority and majority statuses at the same time. As these statuses are often…
Abstract
Every employee embodies manifestations of every demographic that attach to him or her different minority and majority statuses at the same time. As these statuses are often related to organizational hierarchies, employees frequently hold positions of dominance and subordination at the same time. Thus, a given individual’s coping strategies (or coping behavior) in terms of minority stress due to organizational processes of hierarchization, marginalization, and discrimination, are very often a simultaneous coping in terms of more than one demographic. Research on minority stress mostly focuses on single demographics representing only single facets of workforce diversity. By integrating the demographics of age, disability status, nationality, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and religion into one framework, the intersectional model proposed in this chapter broadens the perspective on minorities and related minority stress in the workplace. It is shown that coping with minority stress because of one demographic must always be interpreted in relation to the other demographics. The manifestation of one demographic can limit or broaden one’s coping resources for coping with minority stress because of another dimension. Thus, the manifestation of one demographic can determine the coping opportunities and coping behavior one applies to situations because of the minority status of another demographic. This coping behavior can include disclosure decisions about invisible demographics. Therefore, organizational interventions aiming to create a supportive workplace environment and equal opportunities for every employee (e.g., diversity management approaches) should include more demographics instead of focusing only on few.
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Martin Davies and Marcia Devlin
In higher education, interdisciplinarity involves the design of subjects that offer the opportunity to experience ‘different ways of knowing’ from students’ core or preferred…
Abstract
In higher education, interdisciplinarity involves the design of subjects that offer the opportunity to experience ‘different ways of knowing’ from students’ core or preferred disciplines. Such an education is increasingly important in a global knowledge economy. Many universities have begun to introduce interdisciplinary studies or subjects to meet this perceived need. This chapter explores some of the issues inherent in moves towards interdisciplinary higher education. Definitional issues associated with the term ‘academic discipline’, as well as other terms, including ‘multidisciplinary’, ‘cross-disciplinary’, ‘pluridisciplinarity’, ‘transdisciplinarity’ and ‘interdisciplinary’ are examined. A new nomenclature is introduced to assist in clarifying the subtle distinctions between the various positions. The chapter also outlines some of the pedagogical and epistemological considerations which are involved in any move from a conventional form of educational delivery to an interdisciplinary higher education, and recommends caution in any implementation of an interdisciplinary curriculum.