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The case primarily revolves around the establishment, alignment and maintenance of expectations within a work environment. Specifically, the case focuses on the challenges that were created by the expectations that Kofi Nyarkoh had of his employee, Kwame Owusu, and the expectations that Kwame in turn formed based on the process surrounding his employment relationship with Kofi. The case is intended to help students assess a business situation and define the perceptions and expectations of stakeholders; assess the impact of differences in perceptions and expectations on the attitudes, behaviors and motivation in the workplace and develop appropriate recommendations.

The case was written based on a combination of field and telephone interviews and other communication between one of the authors and Kofi.

The case presents the story of Rococo LLC's founder and one of his key employees. Both men were originally from Ghana. They met in the USA through a mutual friend, and Kofi hired him to work on a client site for Rococo LLC despite Kwame's insufficient work experience.

This case is intended for students of organizational behavior, human resource management and management both at advanced undergraduate and graduate levels.

Within the supply chain the need for much closer, long‐term relationships is increasing due to supplier rationalisation and globalisation and more information about these interactions is required. The research specifically tested the well‐accepted Williamson's economic organisations failure framework as a theoretical model through which long‐term collaborative relationships can be viewed.

An exploratory research project was designed and carried out on a self‐selected census of 54 monopolistic relationships representing £575.8 m annual spend on equipment and associated services within the UK defence procurement organisation (a 10 per cent sample). Its aims were to understand the relationship dynamics within long‐term, sustained monopolies and to determine if generic success factors could be found to assist managers to break out of the essentially negative situation. A triangulated data capture approach was employed using both quantitative and qualitative methods from both the industry and MoD sides of each relationship and the research instruments concentrated on the five dimensions of the theoretical model with questions grounded in the literature.

The study demonstrated that the theoretical model could provide powerful insights into the research subject and especially revealed the important part played by co‐operation, co‐ordination and collaboration (C³ behaviour) in reducing the inherently negative effects of close proximity and limited choice relationships.

The research has used a narrow view through a specific theoretical model lens to achieve a broad understanding of business relationships within a single, albeit large, organisation.

Managers can reduce sources of frustration that generate negative behaviours by taking joint actions. Central to achieving this is C³ behaviour where setting synchronised objectives, pursuing joint approaches to service and product delivery, lowering costs and risks and promoting measures to support the growth of trust appear to be the best ways of halting negative behaviour spirals.

The prime contribution of this exploratory research is the exposure of relationship dynamics within a large sample of long‐term, collaborative supply chain business dyads using an integrated application of Williamson's organisations failure framework.

Reports on a risk assessment survey, piloted in five London schools, which aimed to assess the schools′ susceptibility to vandalism, and to establish which elements had the greatest effect on such vandalism. Findings show that most schools suffer vandalism of external areas, the level of which depends on boundary definition and maintenance, the number of entrances, whether sites are patrolled, and a building′s geometry. Suggests that objective risk assessment for schools is possible, and that headteachers can use such assessment to protect their schools more cost‐effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to focuss on customer driven supply chains and what this means for the management of freight transport, a key process in the supply chain as it acts as a physical link between customers and suppliers. It aims to assess whether some of the new collaborative models for transport management are delivering better optimised solutions.

The paper is based on a multi‐dimensional methodological approach, which includes empirical, model building, opinion and archival evidence. Much of the thinking and findings in this paper have been derived from a series of quasi‐delphi discussion sessions with logistics industry experts from three sectors, steel, grocery and construction and experienced academics in the fields of logistics and supply chain management.

The paper sets out to argue that new innovative solutions are emerging for better transport optimisation, that exploit the competitive power of collaboration, both vertically with supply chain partners and horizontally with other logistics service providers (LSPs).

The research was largely focused on the road freight transport industry in the UK and Europe. However, it is felt that similar thinking can be deployed in other settings for alternative transport modes and other geographical regions. From an academic perspective the paper contributes to the notion that supply chain management as well as focussing on vertical coordination and process integration also needs to incorporate the potential considerable power of horizontal collaboration.

In particular it is original in that it highlights how important it is to combine vertical collaboration with horizontal collaboration if better optimised transport solutions are to be achieved. This is of considerable value and interest both to practitioner and academic communities.

Households are exposed to a wide array of risks, characterized by a known or unknown probability distribution of events. Disasters are one of these risks at the extreme end. Understanding the nature of these risks is critical to recommending appropriate mitigation measures. A household’s resilience in resisting the negative outcomes of these risky events is indicative of its level of vulnerability. Vulnerability has emerged as the most critical concept in disaster studies, with several attempts at defining, measuring, indexing and modeling it. The paper presents the concept and meanings of risk and vulnerability as they have evolved in different disciplines. Building on these basic concepts, the paper suggests that assets are the key to reducing risk and vulnerability. Households resist and cope with adverse consequences of disasters and other risks through the assets that they can mobilize in face of shocks. Asustainable strategy for disaster reduction must therefore focus on asset‐building. There could be different types of assets, and their selection and application for disaster risk management is necessarily a contextual exercise. The mix of asset‐building strategies could vary from one community to another, depending upon households’ asset profile. The paper addresses the dynamics of assets‐risk interaction, thus focusing on the role of assets in risk management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of total quality management (TQM) and supply chain integration (SCI) practices on firm performance (FP) of container shipping industry in Singapore.

A survey was conducted with 159 container shipping companies in Singapore to examine the interrelationships between SCI and TQM practices and FP. A stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS version 14.0 was performed on the data.

Statistical results suggest that both TQM and SCI practices have positive effects on service quality and FP but at different extents, while TQM also contributes positively to SCI.

The small sample is the main limitation. The findings bear important implications for further research as understanding these dimensions can help to position key changes and industry improvement that will increase revenue and reduce cost to the container shipping companies in Singapore.

This research provides guidelines for shipping managers on how to implement the SCI and TQM practices appropriately to boost their FP to the fullest extent.

This study has unique implications for social sustainability especially the container shipping industry, which is hard pressed to combat the challenges within the logistics/transportation sector.

This is perhaps the first study that examines the influence of SCI and TQM practices on the performance of container shipping firms that helps them see beyond the silo mentality and focus on greater value addition in FP.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the issue of transfer pricing and logistics costs to understand trade statistics and the operation of supply chains by using invoice-level data for a single globally sourced product of a multinational firm.Supply chains are central to understanding wealth creation and capture in an increasingly globalized production system. The increasing disaggregation and dispersal of supply chains is profoundly affecting the geographical distribution of value added, input costs and profits of multinational firms. This suggests that understanding supply chains and where the activities and accounting for these activities take place is crucial for understanding the causes and consequences of contemporary globalization.

By using a case study of a single product and invoice-level data, it was possible to capture the actual costs incurred by a firm using a relatively simple global supply chain. The authors show how corporate intra-firm transfer pricing determines which business unit and location captures profits. A single firm provided the core data in this paper, including product- and firm-level information on intermediate product prices and input costs for all internal transfers.

This paper advances interesting insights into trade in value added and shows that, though not often considered significant, transfer pricing is a critical issue for understanding the geographical distribution of value added. The authors conclude with some observations about the nature of global supply chains, the value of international trade statistics and a hidden advantage of an integrated firm operating on a global scale the ability to somewhat arbitrarily select the activities to which profits should be allocated. For nation states, as supply chains become more international and complex, critical measures, such as gross domestic product, worker productivity, etc., are becoming ever more imprecise. The economic geography of cost of inputs and profits continue to separate as multinational enterprises drive the disaggregation of value creation and value capture.

The case study facilitates an understanding of complex supply chain issues, thereby extending and deepening findings from previous research. This case study of transfer pricing in supply chains will assist other scholars in better formulating testable propositions for their studies and sensitize them to the internal complexities corporate managers face when making operationalizing decisions.

The case study suggests that understanding the configuration of and accounting in supply chains is vital for accurately measuring any national economic statistics. This case study provides some bottom-up evidence that national accounts and international trade economics undertaken without a deep understanding of supply chain organization is likely to generate misleading results. The methodology of using invoice-level data can provide a more granular understanding of how supply chains are organized and where the value is added and captured. For practitioners, the data suggest that firms should think very carefully about which of their activities generate the most value, and value those accordingly.