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The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of learners' satisfaction with a new blended learning method, namely online video presentations.

The study tests the proposed model using responses from 353 students who were exposed to the new method. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that both the perceived social (e.g. reduction in comparison bias) and utilitarian (e.g. presentation originality) benefits increase satisfaction with the online video presentation method, from both the creator's and the learner's perspectives.

This study provides several guidelines to instructors employing blended learning methods, as well as designers of platforms that enable blended learning.

This study provides a model to understand the determinants of learners' satisfaction with a new blended learning method. It looks at these determinants from both the content creators' perspective and the content viewer's perspective.

Distributed trust technologies, such as blockchain, propose to permit peer-to-peer transactions without trusted third parties. Yet not all implementations of such technologies fully decentralize. Information professionals make strategic choices about the level of decentralization when implementing such solutions, and many organizations are taking a hybrid (i.e. partially decentralized) approach to the implementation of distributed trust technologies. This paper conjectures that while hybrid approaches may resolve some challenges of decentralizing information governance, they also introduce others. To better understand these challenges, this paper aims first to elaborate a framework that conceptualizes a centralized–decentralized information governance continuum along three distinct dimensions: custody, ownership and right to access data. This paper then applies this framework to two illustrative blockchain case studies – a pilot Brazilian land transfer recording solution and a Canadian health data consent sharing project – to exemplify how the current transition state of blockchain pilots straddles both the old (centralized) and new (decentralized) worlds. Finally, this paper outlines the novel challenges that hybrid approaches introduce for information governance and what information professionals should do to navigate this thorny transition period. Counterintuitively, it may be much better for information professionals to embrace decentralization when implementing distributed trust technologies, as hybrid models could offer the worst of both the centralized and future decentralized worlds when consideration is given to the balance between information governance risks and new strategic business opportunities.

This paper illustrates how blockchain is transforming organizations and societies by highlighting new strategic information governance challenges using our original analytic framework in two detailed blockchain case studies – a pilot solution in Brazil to record land transfers (Flores et al., 2018) and another in Canada to handle health data sharing consent (Hofman et al., 2018). The two case studies represent research output of the first phase of an ongoing multidisciplinary research project focused on gaining an understanding of how blockchain technology generates organizational, societal and data transformations and challenges. The analytic framework was developed inductively from a thematic synthesis of the findings of the case studies conducted under the auspices of this research project. Each case discussed in detail in this paper was chosen from among the project's case studies, as it represents a desire to move away from the old centralized world of information governance to a new decentralized one. However, each case study also represents and embodies a transition state between the old and new worlds and highlights many of the associated strategic information governance challenges.

Decentralization continues to disrupt organizations and societies. New emerging distributed trust technologies such as blockchain break the old rules with respect to the trust and authority structures of organizations and how records and data are created, managed and used. While governments and businesses around the world clearly see value in this technology to drive business efficiency, open up new market opportunities and create new forms of value, these advantages will not come without challenges. For information executives then, the question is not if they will be disrupted, but how. Understanding the how as will be discussed in this paper provides the business know how to leverage the incredible innovation and transformation that decentralized trust technology enables before being leapfrogged by another organization. It requires a change of mindset to consider an organization as one part of a broader ecosystem, and for those who successfully do so, this paper views this as a strategic opportunity for those responsible for strategic information governance to design the future instead of being disrupted by it.

This paper presents a novel analytic framework for strategic information governance challenges as we transition from a traditional world of centralized records and information management to a new decentralized world. This paper analyzes these transitions and their implications for strategic information governance along three trajectories: custody, ownership and right to access records and data, illustrating with reference to our case studies.

This paper predicts a large number of organizations will miss the opportunities of the new decentralized trust world, resulting in a rather major churning of organizations, as those who successfully participate in building the new model will outcompete those stuck in the old world or the extremely problematic hybrid transition state. Counterintuitively, this paper argues that it may be much less complex for information executives to embrace decentralization as fast as they can, as in some ways the hybrid model seems to offer the worst of both the centralized and future decentralized worlds with respect to information governance risks.

This paper anticipates broader societal consequences of the predicted organization churn, in particular with respect to uncertainty about the evidence that records provide for public accountability and contractual rights and entitlements.

Decentralized trust technologies, such as blockchain, permit peer-to-peer transactions without trusted third parties. Of course, such radical shifts do not happen overnight. The current transition state of blockchain pilots straddles both the old and new worlds. This paper presents a theoretical framework categorizing strategic information governance challenges on a spectrum of centralized to decentralized in three primary areas: custody, ownership and right to access records and data. To illustrate how decentralized trust is transforming organizations and societies, this paper presents these strategic information governance challenges in two blockchain case studies – a pilot Brazilian land transfer recording solution and a Canadian health data consent sharing project. Drawing on the theoretical framework and case studies, this paper outlines what information executives should do to navigate this thorny transition period.

Organizations increasingly form or join collaborations to gain access to resources paramount for achieving a sustained competitive advantage. This paper aims to propose an extension to the established dependency network diagram (DND) technique to better facilitate analysis, design and, ultimately, strategic management of such collaborations.

Based on the resource dependence theory, the constructs of power and secondary dependency are operationalized and integrated into the original DND technique. New rules and an updated algorithm for how to construct extended DNDs are provided.

The value of the proposed extension of the DND technique is illustrated by analysis of an application hosting collaboration case study from the Australian financial service industry.

This study provides preliminary evidence for strategically managing resource collaborations. Future research could further test empirically the usefulness of the proposed extension of the DND technique and how much it contributes to better understanding resource collaborations.

The proposed extension of the DND technique enables managers to perform a broader analysis of dependencies among participants in a collaboration, helping them to more accurately comprehend the relationships between the entities in their collaborative environment and, thus, being in a better position of strategically managing resource dependencies.

The proposed extension of the DND technique makes a central contribution to the extant literature by adding a strategic dimension to a visualization technique used to represent collaborative environments.

Though academic research into the marketing/ entrepreneurship interface is of only relatively recent origin, it would seem that the basic principles of marketing appear to be equally valuable to both large and small firms. This article provides a critical review of the research into the role and process of marketing in small firms and attempts to classify the existing studies. In so doing, it identifies four approaches, namely the stages/growth model; the management styles model; the marketing as a management function model and the contingency model. From this, it concludes that in order to advance the theory of small business marketing a theoretical framework integrating the contingency approach and the process model appears to hold the greatest potential.

The aim of this paper is to explore and represent the dynamic relationship between total quality management (TQM), corporate strategy and resultant business operations. In particular, the paper seeks to determine the impact of TQM at the strategic level and how business operations are consequently developed and deployed. These issues are of interest to managers in organisations who want to move their TQM programmes beyond incremental operational improvements and to use TQM to influence, first, the strategy process and, second, business operations. Using an inductive grounded theory research methodology, the paper describes the development of a series of grounded models, which show the dynamic interaction between TQM, strategy and operations. It is concluded that the models represent a suitable framework for further in‐depth case‐based research in the area of TQM, strategy and business operations.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Irish comedian Frank Carson used to claim that his jokes were funnier because of the way he told them. It's much the same in business. Here it's solid execution that ultimately makes a technology, product or strategy stand out from the crowd. Surprisingly, though, many companies fail when it comes to actual delivery. As a result, any superiority counts for little and performance falls below expectation. At this point, leaders typically opt to restructure in the quest to improve strategic execution. The move appears to make sense. Changes made are tangible and stripping away management layers reduces costs and improves the bottom line. But this action merely scratches the surface of the problem and any improvement is invariably short‐lived. In other words, the real causes of poor organizational performance go unchecked. So what are these causes?

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2019.

The paper provides a brief description of all 370 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested as a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This paper discusses findings from an exploratory study concerning internal marketing in the UK retail bank industry. In order to enhance efficiency and provide motivation to employees many UK banks have adopted internal marketing. The paper adopts the approach of first defining the generic research area, and then describing the research approach. It is concerned with first identifying the rhetoric of internal marketing as employed in UK banks, and second with exploring the practice of reality of internal marketing as practiced within UK banks. The paper is grounded in Mason's view that theoretical positions or data explanations move from the particular context of internal marketing views and expand within banks to the general theoretical contribution to be made. Findings are explored via two extant relationships and three anomalies based on the data analysis. Evidence from the study suggests that internal marketing is being taken seriously but in such a way as to be managerially, not employee, oriented. At best, internal marketing within this industry is regarded as a form of window dressing or part of the trappings of marketing, rather than having any substantive base or rationale insofar as employees are concerned.

Despite the importance of marketing to the success of entrepreneurial ventures very few researchers have studied the links with new business performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine a number of marketing practices in relation to the performance of new firms. Furthermore, the study considers the moderating influence of market competitiveness on the marketing practice-performance relationship.

Both postal and web surveys were utilized to collect responses from 128 entrepreneurs in the early stages of business creation. The data were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factory analyses to establish the marketing practices in new ventures. These results were then subjected to hierarchical regression analysis to study the marketing-performance relationship. Further analysis was conducted to explore the moderation hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that some practices generally associated with marketing – selective distribution, market segmentation and advertising – have limited impact on performance in new ventures. In contrast, other practices such as product/service innovation, market research and service quality and functionality – do help establish competitive advantage. The results suggest that marketing practices associated with “entrepreneurial behaviour” and not “hard” marketing techniques drive new venture success. The results also support the moderation hypotheses confirming that market conditions help explain the role of marketing in new venture success.

The paper offers a new theoretical framework to better understand the marketing-performance relationship in new ventures and offers suggestions as to the specific conditions for effective use of various marketing practices.

This is one of the first attempts to explore the underlying mechanisms that support marketing practices in new ventures. It reveals the hidden dimensions of the marketing-performance relationship and thereby makes a contribution to both the marketing and entrepreneurship literatures.

Science would not have been possible without a particular form of communication, which itself has changed over the years. Why has science flourished in our Judeo‐Christian culture and not in others? We have very little idea, but certainly the Gutenberg printing press made the rapid dissemination of scientific work possible. For the first two hundred years of the Royal Society, science was the activity of the gentleman intellectual. In the history of infectious disease, the books and journals of the period 1840–1890 show how fragile science was, and how recent the present‐day scientific paper is. Fact and opinion were intermingled; there was no refereeing as we know it; there was total confusion in the meaning and definition of terms; the presentation of data was long‐winded, repetitious and illogical, with very poor tables and figures; and so on. The professionalism of science has occurred in the past hundred years; if we are not very careful, I think it may well be the last hundred years of science before a return to another dark age.