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With supply chains expanding in scope and scale globally, the academic literature underlined the increasing role and importance of soft skills. Traditionally, the supply chain literature geared towards hard skills including functional and technical skill sets with limited discussion on soft skills. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assess and explore the soft skills demand in supply chain management arena.

This study has utilised a mixed methods study in two phases, with the first stage including a questionnaire distributed to 120 supply chain employees in the UK, followed by six interviews with supply chain experts in the UK.

The results suggest that soft skills, especially behavioural skills such as communication, planning, initiative and negotiation, were seen to be more important when compared to decision making, negotiation and management skills. The findings indicate that the changing supply chain scope encourages the requisition and development of different supply chain soft skills with varied levels of emphasis in relation to 15 soft skills identified in the literature.

This study employs a mixed-method approach to establish the perceived importance of soft skills in the UK supply chains. This limits the generalisability of the results to other contextual settings.

This paper presents soft skills impact upon the supply chain. Specific soft skills are critical to supply chain employees compared to others (e.g. behavioural and people management skills), which may lead to articulation of supply chain soft skills training initiatives.

This paper contributes to the soft skills discussion in the supply chain context and discusses the role of soft skills. Topical gaps in the literature are identified as areas for future research. The findings have generated additional supply chain skills to the academic literature as well as provided an understanding of the weighting of soft skills in terms of their importance and application to industry needs.

The growing scale and scope of the supply chain requires a greater understanding of the broader supply chain skills picture. This study aims to assess the supply chain skills needs within the context of a UK-based higher education institution involving graduates, academics and employers to appreciate the graduate skills demands of modern supply chains.

A mixed methods study entailing in-depth interviews with academics followed by a questionnaire distributed to graduates and employers has been designed and utilised.

The findings indicate that the changing supply chain scope encourages the requisition and development of different supply chain skills with varied levels of emphases in relation to 25 skills identified in the literature. Key graduate skills needs are highlighted, including time management, collaborative learning, teamwork and problem solving, with the addition of two supply chain skill areas, namely specialist training and the understanding and application of regulations. The findings of the current study present a limited emphasis on information technology (IT) skills, despite the significant IT advancements and changes in supply chains.

The study has been carried out in a UK university delivering undergraduate supply chain management courses. It would be beneficial to test whether the findings are exemplary across other supply chain courses and to investigate the integration of these skills within the supply chain syllabus and how employers, graduates and academic parties could actively engage in developing the agenda for future supply chain skills needs.

This research paper highlights the gaps in supply chain skills, which inevitably puts considerable pressure on operatives and managers whose responsibility it is to ensure compliance with regulations and professional bodies.

This paper contributes to the supply chain skills discussion and reports subject relevant challenges for supply chain educators by engaging three key stakeholders – graduate employers, graduates and academics. The findings have generated additional supply chain skills to the academic literature, in addition to providing an understanding of the weighting of skills in terms of their importance and application to industry needs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the relative importance of factors affecting quality. This is important where great expenditures of time, money, and resources are wasted each year due to inefficient or non-existent quality levels.

An exploratory approach is employed. After a literature review, six interviews are initially conducted with construction experts and then a simple survey of 328 questionnaires was administrated through structured personal interviews among contractors and architects in the Jordanian housing sector.

The findings suggest that contractors and architects combined agreed that the highest important factors affecting quality are: human resource management, customer satisfaction, and construction specific factors. The findings also suggest that strategic planning, continuous improvement, resources are the lowest important factors. A conceptual framework encompassing the key quality factors is also developed.

This research has important implications for different level managers at construction companies. By understanding the quality factors, managers can focus on the highest factors and catch up with their lowest important factors in order to maintain a balanced and integrated quality approach.

This is one of few studies that investigate the importance of quality factors. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper providing empirical evidence of the quality factors in construction management in a developing country.

The case is presented by a senior marketing major (Tim), who did a business internship in the new products area of a fictitious consumer package goods firm. The case is presented as a journal Tim kept while interning. It is based on the author’s own journal, kept while working as a business professor intern in a firm similar to that in the case. Although names have been disguised, most of the activities, practices and problems described in the case are based on the author’s internship experience. Tim is simultaneously involved in two major new product projects. First is the early exploratory research done for new vegetable‐based food products. Second is a snack product which is ready to be moved from a controlled store test to test markets. Tim is also involved in other activities: a new business committee meeting, an industry forum, and a strategic plans presentation meeting. Tim works fairly closely with the new products manager, people in other areas of the firm such as marketing research and research and development, as well as with the firm’s ad agency. The case also describes informational interviews Tim conducted with various functional managers in the company involved with new products, and it gives students a feel for all of the nitty gritty implementation details involved in new product work.

Through the discussion of this case, students will have a better understanding of the managerial dilemma associated with the implementation of management control in an early-stage firm. Students will provide proposals to improving current management control. Finally, this case encourages students to think about the costs and benefits of implementing formal management control systems.

As the company grows, it becomes difficult to keep control of the organization. The organizational structure of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Carrefour Jordan is too centralized, and the top management is confronted with information overload, which inhibits their ability to pursue strategic goals. The department managers are also confronted with communication problems, and they are evaluated based on the indicators that were out of their control. Processes and rules do not permit managers sufficient autonomy, and neither do these motivate employees towards organizational strategic goals. It is obvious that many control issues needed to be addressed in MAF Carrefour Jordan. However, given the limited budgets, MAF Carrefour Jordan managers need to decide which control systems to implement first.

This case can be used in an introductory cost accounting and management control course at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. The case should be introduced after students attained a baseline understanding of management control system fundamental concepts. However, this case is equally effective in introducing concepts to students who are new to management control systems.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

The purpose of this paper is to examine frameworks (such as scorecards) for ongoing library assessment and how business process modelling contributes in Part 3 of the series of viewpoint papers.

Reviews the statistical data collection for strategic planning, and use of data analytics. Considers how to organise further value explorations. Compares macro-frameworks (balanced scorecard, values scorecard) and micro-frameworks for library assessment. Reviews the evidence on business process modelling/re-engineering initiatives. Describes how the Riva approach can be used to both derive a process architecture and to model individual processes.

Data analytics requires collaboration among library services to develop reliable data sets and effective data visualisations for managers to use. Frameworks such as the balanced scorecard may be used to organise ongoing impact and performance evaluation. Queries that arise during ongoing library assessment may require a framework to formulate questions, and assemble evidence (qualitative and quantitative). Both macro- and micro-value frameworks are useful. Work on process modelling within libraries can help to develop an assessment culture, and the Riva approach provides both a process architecture and models of individual processes.

Examines how to implement a library assessment culture through use of data analytics, value frameworks and business process modelling.

The case was written based on personal interviews with Jordan Boyes.

Boyes Group, a private real estate brokerage in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, had been growing rapidly. Company founder Jordan Boyes needed to determine where to continue expanding. Saskatoon held great potential in home building, and he wondered if this would be a direction for his company. His real estate reputation was excellent, but he wondered if building homes would jeopardize his current relationships with local builders. He wanted to move fast, to avoid giving up market share to his competitors.

This case was designed for undergraduate and graduate classes in strategy.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of human resource development (HRD) education in Middle Eastern countries. In particular, the authors discuss the current state of HRD education, country readiness and challenges that hinder HRD progress in Middle Eastern countries. They argue that HRD programs need to prepare young employees for leadership roles through adapting constructivist pedagogy, including problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity.

The design of this paper followed a qualitative approach. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with five HRD experts in Middle Eastern countries and conducted integrative literature review and secondary data analysis.

Data analysis provided an overview of HRD education, looked at options individuals interested in HRD education might have, provided views on constructivism vs instructivism as education pedagogies and discussed cultural factors that impede critical reflection in the workplace.

To understand how to introduce constructivist elements to instructivist learning cultures, and to sustain it, HRD scholars in the Middle Eastern countries need to diminish the misalignment between instructional philosophies of trainers, trainees and national or institutional systems.

Understanding how policy, resources, infrastructure and culture influence learning expectations is vital to introducing innovative training activities or scaling them up to other workshops and systems.

This research sheds light on HRD education in the Middle Eastern countries; provides an overview of employment challenges and opportunities to improve workplace learning; and provides scholars, practitioners and other stakeholders interested in HRD with suggestions to develop successful workforce education.

Studies on Islamic calendar anomalies in financial markets tend to apply quantitative analysis to historic share prices. Surprisingly, there is a lack of research investigating whether the participants of such markets are aware of these anomalies and whether these anomalies affect their investment practice. Or is it a case that these practitioners are completely unaware of the anomalies present in these markets and are missing out on profitable opportunities? The purpose of this paper is to analyse the views of influential participants within the Pakistani Stock Market.

The study documents the findings for 19 face-to-face semi-structured interviews conducted with brokers, regulators and high-net-worth individual investors in Karachi.

The paper’s major findings indicate that the participants believed that anomalies were present in the stock market and market participants were actively attempting to exploit these anomalies for abnormal gains. Interviewees suggested that predictable patterns can be identified in certain Islamic months (Muharram, Safar, Ramadan and Zil Hajj). The most common pattern highlighted by the interviews related to the month of Ramadan. Furthermore, interviewees mentioned the influence of the “Memon” community in the Pakistani Stock Market. Respondents also suggested that investor sentiment played an important role in influencing the stock market prices and trading patterns.

Because all the prior studies investigating Islamic calendar anomalies in Muslim-majority countries adopted quantitative method using secondary data, the current investigation is of particular value, as it focuses on the qualitative analyses and reports the views of market participants. This allows to fully explore the topic under investigation and to draw robust conclusions.