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The effectiveness of product replenishment and responsiveness of customer service delivery impact largely on satisfaction and retention of customers in retail chain logistics distribution. The fast moving goods in the complex delivery network and limited vehicle resource often lead to long customer waiting time in stock replenishment. With lack of literature systematically reviewing factors affecting retail distribution in inter-store stock transfer services and improving the operations, the purpose of this paper is to analyse and enhance this service for the retail to reduce customer dissatisfaction by developing an integrated quality service improvement methodology and an optimisation tool to improve the product delivery services.

This paper reviews inter-store stock transfer operations and the process capability of an international retail chain, and proposes improvements by integrating Six Sigma, factor analysis, and optimisation modelling. User experience and expectations are evaluated through an empirical survey. A novel principle component factored inter-store stock transfer model is developed to improve replenishment operations. A total of 11 factors affecting inter-store stock transfer delivery time are analysed. An extended model with principal component factors incorporated is developed for the simulation.

The C_pk value of 0.51 shows significant difference between the experienced and expected waiting time. With the inter-store stock transfer optimisation model developed, the model assists traffic personnel on the vehicle route planning with multiple pick-up and drop-off locations. The system also ensures the best routing with a minimal travelling time planned, facilitating a reduction of the inter-store stock transfer time, thus improving the customer waiting time. Four significant factors affecting the delivery time are also identified from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results are analysed with an extended principal component factored inter-store stock transfer model.

The developed inter-store stock transfer models minimise stock transfer time, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce loss of sales. An integrated service quality improvement methodology has been developed and applied in reviewing significant factors affecting inter-store stock transfer operations.

This paper presents an analysis on inter-store stock transfer operations of an international retail and proposes enhancements on the operations by integrating Six Sigma, factor analysis, and optimisation modelling. A novel principal component factored inter-store stock transfer model is developed to improve the stock replenishment operations.

The purpose of this paper is first, to identify the institutional variables that influence the technology acquisition intent (TAI) in new high‐tech product development (NPD) process; second, to identify and confirm the consequence of TAI in the Stage‐Gate system of NPD process; and third, to validate the moderating role of Perceived Risk and Project Duration on the “TAI to new product commercialization (NPC) relationship” in the NPD process.

The research design for this generic study involved two phases: exploratory and descriptive. The theoretical framework emanated from the exploratory phase and is validated by conducting a global survey on 215 high‐tech product marketing firms.

The institutional variables – Dominant Design and Network Externalities – directly influence a firm's TAI that in turn leads to NPC. While the study confirms that the longer project duration negatively moderates to TAI to NPC relationship, no support was found for the influence of increased risk perception on the same.

The study explains the rationale for marketer's efforts toward dominant design and network externalities. Also, the NPD teams should be cautious about project duration, as uncertainty associated with longer project duration reduces the TAI, and thereby inhibits the successful NPC.

By empirically investigating the influence of institutional variables on a firm's TAI, the study significantly contributes to extant theories on NPD. Also, the study results have significant implications for high‐tech product marketing theory and practice in the context of emerging market economies.

Purpose – This chapter gives an overview of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on institutional corrections in the United States and the responses correctional institutions have taken to lessen those impacts.

Methodology/Approach – A review of the extant literature was conducted to gather information on COVID-19 and the institutional corrections systems within the United States.

Findings – The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on correctional institutions within the United States were more pronounced due to the demographic characteristics of inmates and facility challenges. Responses to outbreaks or potential outbreaks in jails and prisons in the United States included screening measures, restricted inmate movement and visitation, and decarceration efforts.

Originality/Value – This chapter builds upon literature by discussing the challenges posed to correctional institutions in the United States in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and summarizing the measures taken to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on inmates, institutional staff, and community members alike.

Purpose: Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the purpose of this chapter is to investigate the influence of supervisor family support (SFS) on job performance of employees through work and family demand, work-family conflict (WFC), work-life balance (WLB), job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and organizational commitment. In doing so, this chapter aims to respond to the limited existing research on WLB in the Australian financial industry, despite its substantial contribution to the economy. Study Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses an online panel which recruits participants at different levels of financial organizations in Australia. The data comprise 305 employees to test a model with structural equation modeling. Findings: Results demonstrate that SFS relates positively to WLB and inversely to perceived family demand, WFC, and family-work conflict, with no significant link to perceived work demand. Findings show further that WLB associates positively with employee attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, life satisfaction, organizational commitment). Results also demonstrate positive relations between employee attitudes and job performance. Finally, results show a significant positive relationship between WLB and job performance. Research Limitations/Implications: The survey data were collected from a single source (the financial industry) and from Sydney; therefore, the conclusions may carry less weight than those triangulated from multiple sources and across Australia. The variables were self-reported, which may leave the data subject to some response biases. Consistent with the past research, steps were taken to reduce single-source bias. Practical Implications: The results demonstrate that SFS is important in determining employee job performance in financial industry. It also highlights the role of work and family demand, WFC, WLB, and job attitudes. Originality/Value: The study would guide employers, employees, and managers involved in the financial industry to implement policies which may aim to augment job performance and promote balance between work, home, and life.

This chapter examines the ‘embodied turn’ in the study of traditional Chinese sports and identifies issues within this area of research. It introduces new interpretative perspectives and approaches within the framework of bodily sociology to elucidate the link between locally-informed sports practices and the formation of socialized individuals. The chapter categorises the current research into three main themes: self-giving, the creation of bodily value and the construction of national identity through sports. It then integrates these themes with the findings of embodied sociology. The chapter compiles and analyzes the existing literature on traditional Chinese sports culture from both Chinese and international scholars, offering insights into the status, rationale and challenges of bodily sociological research. By contextualising the concept of the embodied turn in traditional Chinese sports culture – through concepts such as self-givenness, self-techniques, the generation of value and the creation of collective memory – the chapter discusses the impact of bodily sociology on cultural research. The chapter advocates for further bodily sociological studies of Chinese sports culture, which could enhance the understanding of Chinese studies among Western scholars and contribute to a genuine embodied turn in this field of study. Providing one of the initial explorations of embodied studies in traditional Chinese sports, the chapter reveals a transition from broad cultural interpretations and symbolic, structuralist sociology to a phenomenological approach in sports cultural studies. It posits that the bodily sociology approach is beneficial for sports studies although current research has not yet fully realized the embodied turn.

The various levels of research support undergirding effective practices are outlined. Evidence supporting specific programming, service delivery models, and curricular interventions, and a subset of research-based classroom strategies for talented learners is reviewed. Trends and innovations for effective practices in the future are suggested.

The study examines organization citizenship behavior (OCB) as a mediating variable between instrumental work values (IWVs) and organizational performance; and group differences between family manager and nonfamily manager for integrated models in family hotels. Data were collected from 189 hotels (n = 921) ranging from budget to three-star family hotels in Ghana using questionnaire administered conveniently. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Work value positively influences OCB and organizational performance of family hotels. OCB mediates the relationship between work values and organizational performance. The study also found significant support for group differences between family and nonfamily firms for IWVs and mediating effect of OCB on the relationship between IWVs and performance.