Search results

The purpose of this paper is to outline the role of organizational and cultural tools to increase supply chain security within the intermodal rail and road industry. Three main research questions are set, regarding: what organizational and cultural tools are used by companies within the intermodal rail and road industry; how these tools impact on security performance; and what environmental factors trigger the use of each tool.

In total, 13 companies within the intermodal rail and road industry have been studied in detail through in-depth case studies.

Results suggest that organizational and cultural tools impact positively on supply chain security, by reducing collusion and both operative and planning mistakes. In particular, such tools mitigate the effect of lack of cooperation and communication between partners and of inadequate partners.

Results point out that the ability of organizational and cultural tools to increase supply chain security has not been fully exploited yet. Tools to mitigate the negative effects on security of inadequacy of partners are not popular or they are not considered as powerful enough, despite it has been highlighted as the most relevant causal factor of lack of security.

This paper introduces a thorough overview of the effects of cultural and organizational tools on supply chain security and a detailed study of these tools in the area of intermodal rail-and-road transport.

This paper aims to describe and analyze organizational learning processes and power dynamics during the adoption and use of an information system (IS) at a Brazilian public organization.

A case study was chosen as the research method. Data were gathered from documents and interviews with key informants.

The results indicate the existence of two learning cycles during the adoption of the IS at the organization. In the first cycle, learning occurred only at the individual level. In the second cycle, cognitive and social processes of individual and group learning were associated with power dynamics, enabling learning at the organizational level. These results reveal a relationship between the organizational learning process and the specific modes of power, notably discipline, influence, force and domination.

The study presents empirical evidence about the conceptual relation between the organizational learning process and different forms of power in organizations. There has been limited empirical research on this topic worldwide to date, and none in the context of Brazilian organizations published in Brazil or abroad.

The purpose of the paper is to offer a new view on economic growth and use this view to add to the explanation of economic growth as a powerful agent that determines policies regarding urgent issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution.

The study is based on analysis of scholarship and media, interviews and observations in a multi-sited ethnography of economic growth.

The article argues that the circulation of economic growth has contributed to a shaping of institutions and language to an extent where environmental policy proposals framed as harmful to economic growth can easily be rejected. Furthermore, the article offers an operationalisation of the term ecologisation by promoting a new inclusive language in decision-making.

The paper fills a gap in literature by offering an empirical philosophical take on economic growth and by offering a suggestion for the operationalisation of the term ecologisation.

This paper seeks to explore undergraduate placement experiences in tourism and hospitality SMEs, focusing on the notions of surprise and sense making. It aims to argue that surprises and sense making are important elements not only of the adjustment process when entering new work environments, but also of the learning experience that placements provide.

In‐depth interviews were conducted with 20 students who had recently completed a 48 week placement.

The paper finds that the surprises students encountered were not as dramatic as the literature on organisational entry suggests. This is partially explained by students already having gained substantial amounts of work experience prior to the placement. A number of SME‐characteristic employment experiences were confirmed while others were questioned.

Further detailed research is required that takes a more holistic account of the placement experience in order to understand more fully the impact of placement on learning and career choices.

The paper raises important questions about the value of undergraduate placements in an age of mass higher education where many students work part‐time.

An apparent lack of reflection hindered the sense making process, which raises questions as to whether placements are achieving their potential for experiential learning.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that impede innovation in Colombian manufacturing firms, as measured by the level of technological intensity.

The authors used data from 1,850 firms to determine the barriers associated with information and internal capabilities, risks and environment.

The main results of this study confirm that potentially innovative firms of low technological intensity are more likely to ascribe high importance to obstacles associated with information and internal capabilities, when compared with innovative firms. The abandonment of innovative projects, family-operated enterprises and investment in R&D are all related to an increased perception of obstacles to innovation, while investments in information and communication technologies have an opposite effect. Variables as partnerships and export behaviour, have different effects depending on the level of technological intensity.

This study investigates the obstacles to innovation of a firm as determined by its characteristics and as measured against its level of technological intensity. Previous studies have investigated barriers to innovation in technologically advanced sectors (Lachman and López, 2019) and technology-based SMEs (De Moraes Silva et al. 2020) or how the technological intensity of the firm determines access to university knowledge for overcoming barriers (Kanama and Nishikawa, 2017). The only study to analyse barriers to innovation by measuring a firm’s technological intensity was conducted into Mexican manufacturing and services sector companies by Santiago et al. (2017).

This article examines in what way strategies of new independent trade unions in London – that achieved pioneering, victories to end outsourcing – offer learning opportunities for more established trade unions. It proposes to (re-)encourage a culture of class struggle trade unionism. The article builds on existing research that outlined the organising practices of these independent trade unions but breaks down the binary analysis of independent versus established trade unions. The author uses the acronym CARE (Collectivising individual grievances, Action, Relations of trust and care, Escalating confrontations) as an analytical framework for exploring class struggle trade unionism, and examines in what ways these strategies have been (re)-learnt by established trade unions through the example of independent trade unions. In doing so, this article contributes to a much wider debate on trade union renewal.

This article offers an insider perspective of an “academic activist” (Chatterton et al., 2007). The article draws on author’s experiences and reflection as the co-founder of the trade union United Voices of the World (UVW) created in 2014, and previously involvement in the establishment of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) in 2012. Findings are based on author’s ethnographic engagement as well as a selection of 29 interviews from a much larger data set on independent trade unions comprising focus groups and interviews.

This article demonstrates that class struggle trade unionism has in some ways been remembered and hence pioneered by the new independent trade unions, yet they are possible in established trade unions alike.

This is the first time an article systematically explores the strategies that established trade unions can learn – and indeed are learning – from independent trade unions.

To evaluate whether “numerical flexibility” – specifically a form of temporary and precarious employment – hourly‐paid part‐time teaching in the UK higher education sector – adds strategic value and demonstrates good practice.

The study is based on new evidence drawn from five case study organisations in which a range of managers was interviewed in depth.

Analysis identifies a continuum of strategies from integration into the main workforce through to “deepened differentiation”. Although integration is somewhat problematic when applied to a diverse group, differentiation seems predicated on a defensive, risk management approach designed to further marginalise this activity. Also, differentiation fails to address the aspirations of many employees, creating tensions between institutional strategy and the needs of academic heads.

The number of case studies is limited. These case studies were selected because they had the most proactive strategies on this issue, which infers that the majority of employers in HE have not been rather less strategic or proactive.

The paper is of particular value to HR professionals considering the use of numerical flexibility approaches. It also contributes to the academic debate on the strategic value of such approaches.

The paper explores a neglected but important area of the workforce. The paper notes that some supposed benefits of numerical flexibility might be illusory, such as the deployment of allegedly “cheap and disposable” substitute workers which may be offset by unintentional consequences including rigidities in an organisation's human resource systems.

In light of the current challenges in the business environment, firms, particularly those involved in supply chains, must foster innovation. In this context, the current study employs the theory of dynamic organizational capabilities (DOCs) to track supply chain learning capabilities (SCLCs) and independently uncover their relationship to innovation at both the product and process levels. Similarly, the study intends to investigate the influence of technological turbulence (TT) on these relationships as a moderating variable.

The data were gathered using in-person interviews with 189 CEOs with some supply chain management proficiency from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial zones of eastern Egypt. The study used a survey approach to collect data, and the SEM-PLS technique was utilized to analyze the data.

Study findings revealed that SCLCs positively affect product and process innovation. In addition, TT positively moderates the relationship between SCLCs and product and process innovation, except for risk-taking capability. Further theoretical and practical implications are derived from the study findings.

This research adds to the knowledge of the dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), which affects how firms interact with their external environment. Studying learning capabilities are employed as essential competencies to counterbalance high levels of TT in the external environment in terms of innovative performance and vice versa if firms do not attempt to strengthen their dynamic learning capabilities in supply chains. In addition, this study contributes to the literature by studying learning capabilities from the external perspective, where SCLCs are being developed as a new variable to improve innovation.