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1 – 10 of 66Adrian W. Müller and Jan Oliver Shwarz
– The purpose of this paper is to address a central question in foresight exercises: how to communicate derived results?
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address a central question in foresight exercises: how to communicate derived results?
Design/methodology/approach
By drawing on an empirical study, this paper presents a framework for using visualizations in foresight and illustrates its application by referring to a case study.
Findings
The argument is made that by using a dimensional framework, the effects of visualization can be leveraged for communicating foresight results and creating stronger buy-in.
Originality/value
Although visualizations appear to be a central means of communication and engagement, little is known in the context of foresight on the functions and dimension of visualizations.
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Raymond Young, Wenxin Chen, Ali Quazi, Warren Parry, Adrian Wong and Simon K. Poon
Project governance has been linked to project success because top management support is necessary for projects to succeed. However, top managers are time poor and it is…
Abstract
Purpose
Project governance has been linked to project success because top management support is necessary for projects to succeed. However, top managers are time poor and it is not clear which project governance mechanisms are effective for project success. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with success.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a quantitative study. A theoretical model of project governance was developed and tested with secondary industry data gathered from 51 global organisations and 66,817 responses.
Findings
The results found five project governance mechanisms (Vision, Change, Sponsor, KPI and Monitor) significantly correlate with project success and are effective at different stages in the project lifecycle.
Originality/value
Earlier research has found a relationship between project governance and project success but it has not been specific enough to guide top managers in practice. This is the first research to take this next step and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with project success. One finding of this research that has particular value is the identification of when in the project lifecycle a particular governance mechanism is most effective.
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Monika Bandi Tanner, Adrian Künzi, Therese Lehmann Friedli and Hansruedi Müller
The subsidization of events by public authorities at different administrative levels has become increasingly important in recent years. Event portfolios are an important…
Abstract
Purpose
The subsidization of events by public authorities at different administrative levels has become increasingly important in recent years. Event portfolios are an important supply component of tourism destinations. The development of a valuation tool with an event performance index (EPI) as the key output should enable public authorities to develop transparent, systematic and fair subsidization practices in the future. The paper aims discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a theoretical impact model and event evaluation practices, this work develops a new holistic valuation tool for events with key indicators along the dimensions of sustainable development. Basic cost-benefit analysis ideas enrich the approach conceptually. Indicator development was based on a process of elaboration that considered the scientific literature, event stakeholders and municipal representatives.
Findings
The EPI consists of seven core indicators: size, economic value, touristic value and image, innovative strength, value of networking, value of participation and social exchange and relative ecological burden. The application of this tool to a case study revealed that it generates comprehensive and robust indicators of multifaceted and destination-unspecific event values and supports the process of allocating event subsidies using different remuneration schemes. Straightforward and destination-unspecific indicators assure the transferability and adaptability of the valuation tool to different complex and multifaceted contexts of event subsidization.
Originality/value
The EPI seeks to reduce complexity and incentivize event organizers to meet future sustainable development goals. Additionally, this work contributes to future discussions of both the form and process of event subsidization.
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Adrian Schulte Steinberg and Sven Kunisch
Despite the increasing use of the agency perspective in studies of headquarters-subsidiaries relations in the multinational corporation (MNC), opponents fundamentally…
Abstract
Despite the increasing use of the agency perspective in studies of headquarters-subsidiaries relations in the multinational corporation (MNC), opponents fundamentally question its utility. In an attempt to contribute to this debate, we evaluate prior studies and develop considerations for future research. Our review of extant studies of headquarters-subsidiaries relations that make (explicit) use of the agency perspective reveals two significant shortcomings. First, we identify a need to validate the underlying assumptions when using the agency perspective in studies of headquarters-subsidiaries relations. Second, we detect a need to better account for the complex nature of headquarters-subsidiary relations in the MNC. A focus on these two areas can improve the use of the agency perspective and, ultimately, help resolve the contentious debate over the utility of the agency perspective.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reception and impact of Jürgen Habermas’s global academic best seller in the USA between 1974 and 2018. It specifically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reception and impact of Jürgen Habermas’s global academic best seller in the USA between 1974 and 2018. It specifically addresses the consequences of the long delay in the publication of the English translation of Habermas’s 1962 public sphere concept until 1989 in the context of Habermas’s paradigm shift from the Kantian ideal of a participatory democracy to a systems-theoretical interpretation of deliberative democracy, which informs Between Facts and Norms (1992/1996).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper can be classified as a “conceptual paper” that draws on empirical research, namely, Adrian Rauchfleisch’s (2017) bibliometric co-citation analysis of two decades of public sphere research, which features a multi-dimensional scaling of these research communities based on the distance matrix of the co-citation network.
Findings
As the 22,000 scholarly citations for structural transformation as of April 2018 already indicate, this paper confirms in detail that Habermas’s original public sphere concept attracts significantly more academic interest on an interdisciplinary basis than Between Facts and Norms, which no longer pursues a critical theory of contemporary democracy. Instead, this shift toward a uniquely sophisticated theory construction in the realm of normativity produces a work in Rechtstheorie (Thomas McCarthy) that is by definition removed from political practice. The paper demonstrates that only the criteria developed in structural transformation can be applied to the analysis of constitutional crises in the USA.
Originality/value
This paper was researched and written solely by the author. All sources are clearly identified.
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Ronald H. Stevens, Trysha L. Galloway and Ann Willemsen-Dunlap
In this chapter we highlight a neurodynamic approach that is showing promise as a quantitative measure of team performance.
Abstract
Purpose
In this chapter we highlight a neurodynamic approach that is showing promise as a quantitative measure of team performance.
Methodology/approach
During teamwork the rapid electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations that emerge on the scalp were transformed into symbolic data streams which provided historical details at a second-by-second resolution of how the team perceived the evolving task and how they adjusted their dynamics to compensate for, and anticipate new task challenges. Key to this approach are the different strategies that can be used to reduce the data dimensionality, including compression, abstraction and taking advantage of the natural redundancy in biologic signals.
Findings
The framework emerging is that teams continually enter and leave organizational neurodynamic partnerships with each other, so-called metastable states, depending on the evolving task, with higher level dynamics arising from mechanisms that naturally integrate over faster microscopic dynamics.
Practical implications
The development of quantitative measures of the momentary dynamics of teams is anticipated to significantly influence how teams are assembled, trained, and supported. The availability of such measures will enable objective comparisons to be made across teams, training protocols, and training sites. They will lead to better understandings of how expertise is developed and how training can be modified to accelerate the path toward expertise.
Originality/value
The innovation of this study is the potential it raises for developing globally applicable quantitative models of team dynamics that will allow comparisons to be made across teams, tasks, and training protocols.
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The financial analysis of international investment decisions is complex. The basic methodology which homes in on incremental cash flows needs to be refined in order to…
Abstract
The financial analysis of international investment decisions is complex. The basic methodology which homes in on incremental cash flows needs to be refined in order to focus upon cash flows which are remittable to the parent company, for it is only these that would logically add shareholder value. Build in the complications of two lots of tax and changing exchange rates and the equation looks anything but simple. But there is another complexity too which renders the traditional discounting methodology less than wholly appropriate. And this applies not just to international investment but to any situation where capital is committed with an option to expand or curtail embedded in it. This is not to say that the typical model cannot be adapted to meet the situation. It can and it is not too difficult.
Marc Walterbusch, Adrian Fietz and Frank Teuteberg
On account of its easy and intuitive usage as well as obvious advantages (e.g. access to work data from anywhere, at any time and through any means) the evolutionary cloud…
Abstract
Purpose
On account of its easy and intuitive usage as well as obvious advantages (e.g. access to work data from anywhere, at any time and through any means) the evolutionary cloud computing paradigm favors the use of shadow IT. Since many employees are not aware of the associated risks and possible legal violations, unauthorized use of cloud computing services could result in substantial risk exposure for any company. The purpose of this paper is to explore and to extend the body of knowledge concerning the topic of cloud computing with regard to shadow IT.
Design/methodology/approach
The aim of this contribution is to identify the reasons for the use of cloud computing services and the resulting shadow IT from an employee’s perspective, to demonstrate the counteractions a company may take against the unauthorized use of cloud computing services and to elaborate on the inherent opportunities and risks. We follow a mixed-methods approach consisting of a systematic literature review, a cloud computing awareness study, a vignette study and expert interviews.
Findings
Based on a triangulation of the data sets, the paper at hand proposes a morphological box as well as a two-piece belief-action-outcome model, both from an employee’s and employer’s point of view. Our findings ultimately lead to recommendations for action for employers to counteract the risk exposure. Furthermore, also employees are sensitized by means of insights into the topic of unauthorized usage of cloud computing services in everyday working life.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the triangulation reflect the limitations of each applied research method. These limitations justify why a mixed-methods approach is favored – rather than relying on a single source of data – because data from various sources can be triangulated.
Practical implications
The paper includes recommendations for action for the handling of the unauthorized usage of cloud computing services within a company, e.g., the set up of a company-wide cloud security strategy and the conduction of an anonymous employee survey to identify the status quo.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to explore the usage of cloud computing services within the context of shadow IT.
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Omar A. Alhaj, Ara D. Kanekanian and Adrian C. Peters
The main aim of this study is to investigate the whey protein profiles of different commercially available fermented milk drinks that might have been influenced by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this study is to investigate the whey protein profiles of different commercially available fermented milk drinks that might have been influenced by the growth of probiotics bacteria that have been added according to the claims made by the manufacturer.
Design/methodology/approach
The growth and the subsequent effect of probiotics on whey proteins were investigated through the peptide profiles of the hydrolysed whey protein. The profiles of whey proteins in skimmed milk and the four other probiotic fermented milk drinks were obtained by using the FPLC technique. Changes in whey proteins profiles in fermented milks were evaluated by comparing them with those of unfermented skimmed milk (control). The four samples were those of Yakult, Actimel, Muller and Tesco probiotic cranberry drinks.
Findings
This work has shown that all samples demonstrated a degree of protein hydrolysis. The high level of hydrolysis in “Yakult” and “Actimel” drink samples might have been due to the nature of the process, the length of time of fermentation or the high level of proteolytic activities of the micro‐organisms used. When compared with casein, it seems that whey proteins are more resistant to hydrolysis. The results also indicated that only traces of α‐lactalbumin were left in the whey sample from “Yakult” drink. There were noticeable reductions in the other three samples. Orotic acid, on the other hand, showed a decrease in their concentration in all whey protein samples when compared with the skimmed milk sample, except for the “Actimel” sample, which showed a noticeable increase.
Originality/value
This work has shown that there were distinct differences between the control sample (skimmed milk) and the four commercially available probiotic milk‐based fermented health drinks when a direct comparison was carried out between these samples.