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The research problem investigated in this paper addresses how love can intentionally be reflected in decision-making processes. The study is built on a theoretical and a practical foundation. The theoretical foundation comprises two parts with perspectives from theology and organizational theory. The practical foundation is derived from field research in the area of public administration and church leadership. Examples from field research indicate that trust and building of relationship will change adversarial behaviour into cooperative behaviour. Three network strategies are identified to make decision-making intentionally relational. The conceptual contribution is original, although the authors draw on existing insights from theology and public administration.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interview findings of five large construction firms who pioneered their intranet and extranet (IE) uptake to generate a co‐operative virtual workplace and business environment with internal and external project teams. The main objective was to investigate IE implementation and evolution among the selected construction firms in order to showcase their successful ICT uptake experience in practice.

The research was conducted using case study approach using five UK construction companies, i.e. architect, developer, project management and cost consultant, and contractors. All interviewees held significant roles for IE implementation and/or development in their respective organisations. The interviews were recorded and transcript. The transcripts were analysed and sent to the companies for comments.

The findings show that the motivation among surveyed construction organisations for taking up an advanced IE was predominantly influenced by three main factors: the need for better business communications and knowledge dissemination; increased global competitiveness; and enthusiasm to be at the forefront of technology developments.

The study demonstrates real‐life ICT uptake experiences and feedback to highlight how the full benefits of ICT investment can be achieved and aligned to business needs and objectives. In addition, the findings provide a valuable business case study for construction professionals, information technology managers, and businesses when considering an ICT investment in IE as part of their overall business strategy.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in the production of natural essential oils can reduce market accessibility challenges by trading through electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces). However, trust is a barrier that SMEs should overcome in order to successfully trade in e-marketplaces. The agricultural sector presents a unique challenge to the subject of trust and e-marketplaces. It is difficult for SMEs in the agricultural sector to provide the level of assurance of product quality that their buyers expect. Trust between buyers and sellers during the earliest stages of e-marketplace interaction can pave the way for future trust in a seller on an e-marketplace. Thus, this study uses the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) to investigate factors that could influence the initial trust and pave the way for future trust in a seller on e-marketplaces. This study assumes a qualitative research methodology in which a multiple-case study approach is adopted. The study focuses on SMEs that produce natural essential oils in South Africa. Open-ended interviews were conducted with companies involved in buying or selling natural essential oils in South Africa to determine the factors that influence their decision to buy or sell in an e-marketplace. Findings from data were used to inform the development of a model of trust in sellers of natural essential oils in e-marketplaces. The proposed model recommends trust factors that should be considered during the entry, personal, and exit phases of the URT. The model identifies common and unique trust factors that relate specifically to businesses trading natural essential oils on e-marketplaces. The study found that some SMEs face challenges in coming up with an effective model for selling agricultural produce on e-marketplaces. Hence, they often resort to face-to-face interaction when it comes to product inspection, especially when dealing with first-time buyers. However, this study presented measures put in place by other SMEs suggesting how such challenges could be addressed. Nevertheless, a lack of trust in technology remains a cause for concern to some SMEs selling natural essential oils.

Considers a system (machine) that is subject to failure (breakdown). Two characterizations are presented. In the first characterization, the state of the system is described by the real age of the machine and the number of failures incurred to date. In the second characterization, the state of the system is described by the real age of the machine and the virtual age of the machine. In either characterization, upon failure, the unit may undergo a repair which can partially reset the failure intensity of the unit. The degree of reset assumed by the repair is a function of the characterization utilized. The other alternative, at a failure, is to conduct a major overhaul that serves to refresh the failure intensity of the unit. General cost structures, depending upon (real age, number of failures) in characterization one or (real age, virtual age) in characterization two are permitted. The decision, on failure to repair or renew is formulated as a discrete semi‐Markov Decision process. Optimal decisions are of the threshold type. The threshold rules depend upon the characterization.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on an optimizing maintenance policy with repair limit time for a new type of aircraft component, in which the lifetime is assumed to be an uncertain variable due to no historical operation data, and the repair time is a random variable that can be described by the experimental data.

To describe this repair limit time policy over an infinite time horizon, an extended uncertain random renewal reward theorem is firstly proposed based on chance theory, involves uncertain random interarrival times and stochastic rewards. Accordingly, the uncertain random programming model, which minimized the expected maintenance cost rate, is formulated to find the optimal repair limit time.

A numerical example with sensitivity analysis is provided to illustrate the utility of the proposed policy. It provides a useful reference and guidance for aircraft optimization. For maintainers, it plays an important guiding role in engineering practice.

The proposed uncertain random renewal reward process proved useful for the optimization of maintenance strategy with maintenance limited time for a new type of aircraft components, which provides scientific support for aircraft maintenance decision-making for civil aviation enterprises.

In this paper, we consider a repair‐time limit replacement problem with imperfect repair and develop a graphical method to determine the optimal repair‐time limit which minimizes the expected total discounted cost over an infinite time horizon. The method proposed can be applied to an estimation problem of the optimal repair‐time limit from the empirical repair‐time data. Then, the modified scaled total time on test transform of the underlying repair‐time distribution function is used. Numerical examples are devoted to examine asymptotic properties of the nonparametric estimator for the optimal repair‐time limit.

Most electronic market (e‐markets)‐based research that has been undertaken has primarily focused on the design and development of systems to support electronic trading within national boundaries and it has been implied that conducting business through this medium is beneficial to the organisation. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the relative significance of economic, social, political and cultural factors and their interconnections in the transition to global e‐markets.

The paper uses an interpretive case study as this facilitates an understanding of how globalisation constructs affect the transition of organisations to the global market environment.

The case study has found the need for organisations to address a wide range of issues if they are to benefit from participation in global electronic marketplaces (e‐marketplaces). The development of information communication and technologies (ICT) has been viewed as a primary factor in the reduction of transaction costs and one which allows for a greater number of suppliers in electronic markets. A large supplier base is seen as an advantage by some since it improves the bargaining position of the buyer. Dealing closely with a small number of suppliers may reduce transaction costs and risk, but such costs and risks have been significantly reduced by the development of internet based e‐marketplaces where the market absorbs a high proportion of both. In the case study, an organisation moving to the e‐market because of the advantages of significantly reduced transaction costs has been seen.

The literature adoption of global procurement platforms stresses the economic benefits. However, few studies have examined the social, cultural and political factors that are part of the globalisation trend and how these impact on companies trying to make a transition to global procurement strategies. In this paper, it is revealed that the trend toward globalisation fuelled by ICT is affected by a complex array of economic, social, political and cultural factors. The economic benefits of globalisation cannot be fully realised without consideration of the social, political and cultural issues.

Intends to address a fundamental problem in maintenance engineering: how should the shutdown of a production system be scheduled? In this regard, intends to investigate a way to predict the next system failure time based on the system historical performances.

GM(1,1) model from the grey system theory and the fuzzy set statistics methodologies are used.

It was found out that the system next unexpected failure time can be predicted by grey system theory model as well as fuzzy set statistics methodology. Particularly, the grey modelling is more direct and less complicated in mathematical treatments.

Many maintenance models have developed but most of them are seeking optimality from the viewpoint of probabilistic theory. A new filtering theory based on grey system theory is introduced so that any actual system functioning (failure) time can be effectively partitioned into system characteristic functioning times and repair improvement (damage) times.

In today's highly competitive business world, the effectively address the production system's next failure time can guarantee the quality of the product and safely secure the delivery of product in schedule under contract. The grey filters have effectively addressed the next system failure time which is a function of chronological time of the production system, the system behaviour of near future is clearly shown so that management could utilize this state information for production and maintenance planning.

Provides a viewpoint on system failure‐repair predictions.

Recent changes in the UK political landscape have brought about cuts in public sector spending. Local authorities, in common with other public sector agencies, are required to make significant cost savings over the coming years. Procurement is an area of public sector administration characterised by considerable costs and inefficiency where the adoption of innovative technologies, such as e‐markets, can be deployed to effect significant costs savings. However, there are many barriers to the adoption of such technologies. The purpose of this paper is to explore and expound the factors that impede local authorities from adopting e‐markets and to present a learning opportunity for procurement managers and other stakeholders involved in technology adoption in local government and the wider public sector.

A case study based on in depth interviews with 17 senior level executives in e‐markets and local authorities on barriers to e‐market adoption in the local government sector is presented. The interviews were transcribed and subsequently coded and analysed using the qualitative data analysis software QSR N6.

A number of factors (risk perception, knowledge deficits, trust, firm size, and organisational readiness) pertaining to Johnson's framework of e‐market adoption barriers were found to affect e‐market adoption and use in the local government sector. Importantly, the study also found factors that are idiosyncratic to the sector that impinged on e‐market adoption.

The scope of the study is limited to examining such barriers from a buy‐side local authority perspective, the findings of which may have implications for the adoption of e‐markets and other e‐procurement technologies in the wider public sector and beyond. The paper also makes a contribution to the literature on e‐market adoption by adding to the body of knowledge relating to institutional theory.

The case study can help local authority and other public sector procurement managers, academic researchers, practitioners, consultants and other professionals involved in technology adoption better understand, and find practical ways to offset, the barriers that impinge on the adoption of e‐markets and other innovative technologies that can reduce costs within public sector organisations.

E‐market adoption has the potential to realise a number of significant cost saving benefits within and between organisations. However, such benefits cannot be realised if there are barriers to their adoption and full utilisation. To date, research on the dynamics of e‐market adoption has largely focused on private sector enterprises with few studies examining this phenomenon in public sector environments. Therefore, e‐market adoption in the public sector has received limited attention in the literature over the past decade. This study examines, and provides empirical evidence of, barriers to e‐market uptake and usage in the local government sector in order to act as a starting point to creating better understanding of such barriers among academic and practitioner audiences.