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1 – 10 of 10Agnieszka Chmielewska, Bartlomiej Adam Wysocki, Elżbieta Gadalińska, Eric MacDonald, Bogusława Adamczyk-Cieślak, David Dean and Wojciech Świeszkowski
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of remelting each layer on the homogeneity of nickel-titanium (NiTi) parts fabricated from elemental nickel and titanium…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of remelting each layer on the homogeneity of nickel-titanium (NiTi) parts fabricated from elemental nickel and titanium powders using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). In addition, the influence of manufacturing parameters and different melting strategies, including multiple cycles of remelting, on printability and macro defects, such as pore and crack formation, have been investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
An LPBF process was used to manufacture NiTi alloy from elementally blended powders and was evaluated with the use of a remelting scanning strategy to improve the homogeneity of fabricated specimens. Furthermore, both single melt and up to two remeltings were used.
Findings
The results indicate that remelting can be beneficial for density improvement as well as chemical and phase composition homogenization. Backscattered electron mode in scanning electron microscope showed a reduction in the presence of unmixed Ni and Ti elemental powders in response to increasing the number of remelts. The microhardness values of NiTi parts for the different numbers of melts studied were similar and ranged from 487 to 495 HV. Nevertheless, it was observed that measurement error decreases as the number of remelts increases, suggesting an increase in chemical and phase composition homogeneity. However, X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the presence of multiple phases regardless of the number of melt runs.
Originality/value
For the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, elementally blended NiTi powders were fabricated via LPBF using remelting scanning strategies.
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Hany Elbardan, Donald Nordberg and Vikash Kumar Sinha
This study aims to examine how the legitimacy of internal auditing is reconstructed during enterprise resource planning (ERP)-driven technological change.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how the legitimacy of internal auditing is reconstructed during enterprise resource planning (ERP)-driven technological change.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on the comparative analysis of internal auditing and its transformation due to ERP implementations at two case firms operating in the food sector in Egypt – one a major Egyptian multinational corporation (MNC) and the other a major domestic company (DC).
Findings
Internal auditors (IAs) at MNC saw ERP implementation as an opportunity to reconstruct the legitimacy of internal auditing work by engaging and partnering with actors involved with the ERP change. In doing so, the IAs acquired system certifications and provided line functions and external auditors with data-driven business insights. The “practical coping mechanism” adopted by the IAs led to the acceptance (and legitimacy) of their work. In contrast, IAs at DC adopted a purposeful strategy of disengaging, blaming and rejecting since they were skeptical of the top management team's (TMT's) sincerity. The “disinterestedness” led to the loss of legitimacy in the eyes of the stakeholders.
Originality/value
The article offers two contributions. First, it extends the literature by highlighting a spectrum of behavior displayed by IAs (coping with impending issues vs strategic purposefulness) during ERP-driven technological change. Second, the article contributes to the literature on legitimacy by highlighting four intertwined micro-processes – participating, socializing, learning and role-forging – that contribute to reconstructing the legitimacy of internal auditing.
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Peter J. Rimmer AM and Claude Comtois
This study revisits the Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 to explore the competitiveness of the country's grain exports. An approach to comprehending the dilemmas…
Abstract
This study revisits the Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 to explore the competitiveness of the country's grain exports. An approach to comprehending the dilemmas of the international grain supply chain and trade, and national logistics policy in an era of multinational corporations, draws upon the literature on global value chain analysis. This analysis identifies both the grain industry's global and local dimensions. An important literature on the 'politics’ of the supply chain is also called into play to discuss who controls what aspects. This task of interpreting the various steps in Canada's grain logistics chain recognizes the key economic actors - producers, grain companies, railway companies, port terminal operators and export buyers - and political struggles between them as they each seek to maximize their self-interest. Policy implications for streamlining logistics operations are drawn from identifying where changes in the supply chain arrangements have gained or lost opportunities in export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Kwabena Antwi-Situ and Samuel Koomson
More complexity, less freedom, distrust and a lack of information seem to pose threats to the success of partner relationships in accounting firms, as…
Abstract
Purpose
More complexity, less freedom, distrust and a lack of information seem to pose threats to the success of partner relationships in accounting firms, as approximately 70% of business partnerships fail globally, undermining SDG 17. The low competitive intensity in this industry seems not to help the current situation. Yet, the existing strategic alliance (SA) literature have been somewhat sluggish in adequately addressing how partnership attributes (PAs) affect partnership success (PS) and how brand competition (BC) impacts this relationship. In response, this conceptual work addresses the impact of PAs on PS in accounting firms. It further explores the BC conditions under which the PAs–PS connection may be intensified.
Design/methodology/approach
Incorporating theories and empirics on six distinct topics, this study presents a conceptual model and ten hypotheses that are worth testing in future research.
Findings
This research finds that PAs will be favourably linked to PS, and this favourable association will be positively moderated by BC such that the PAs–PS connection will be more pronounced if BC within the accounting industry is high than low.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is needed to empirically test the suppositions made. Also, they could extend the proposed framework to cover other moderators like technological turbulence, market dynamism and government regulation.
Practical implications
Practical lessons for governments, shareholders, chief executive officers, consultants and other industry players, particularly those who are interested in the success of accounting partnership firms, are deliberated.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates how PAs and BC interact to foster PS. It also provides a baseline information for upcoming researchers to investigate other external factors under which the PAs–PS connection may be improved.
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Organizations will be key to realizing the “transformative change for humanity” now being called for. However, the complexity calls for new ways of facilitating change and…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations will be key to realizing the “transformative change for humanity” now being called for. However, the complexity calls for new ways of facilitating change and organizational learning; it also calls for moving beyond sustainability to develop practices that restore and regenerate the world in which we live. Above all, it calls for the development of new frameworks, practices, mindset and capabilities to hold space for and facilitate such transformation, to dance with the “Logic of Life.” The purpose of this study is to contribute to advancing the current leading frameworks and practices of facilitating learning and development towards the enabling of regenerative transformative change in organizations and society.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an exploratory qualitative analysis of a facilitation prototype that expands the current framework and practice of Appreciative Inquiry Summits toward regeneration.
Findings
This study presents four paradoxes of regenerative facilitation to guide the dance for life in complex ecosystems. It also identifies that the dance needs to be widened, towards inviting more frequently the ends of the four paradoxes noted as regenerative, negative emotions, inner and more-than-human.
Originality/value
This study explores the intersection of practices and frameworks for facilitating complexity with principles from regenerative leadership and complexity theory, potentially making an important contribution to the urgent and widespread need to facilitate a regenerative transformative change for humanity, society and our organizations.
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Alfonso Andrés Rojo Ramírez, MCarmen Martínez-Victoria and María J. Martínez-Romero
The relationship between risk and return has been widely analysed in the scope of listed companies. However the present literature leaves uncovered an important study area with…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between risk and return has been widely analysed in the scope of listed companies. However the present literature leaves uncovered an important study area with regards to privately held firms. In order to cover this gap, this study analyses the risk-return trade-off in the context of private enterprises. Furthermore, the authors incorporate the contingent effect of being a family firm on the abovementioned relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using information from the SABI (Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos) database, a sample of 2,297 private manufacturing firms were analysed for the period of 2009–2016. So as to ascertain the proposed hypotheses, dynamic panel data methodology was applied. Specifically, the authors estimated the two-step general method of moments (GMM).
Findings
The obtained findings reveal that, according to prospect theory arguments, privately held firms adopt a conservative attitude toward risk when results are higher than a target level, while becoming risk seeking when results are lower than a target level. Moreover, the fact of being a family firm softens the risk-return relationship both when performance is above the target level and also when firms find themselves in the lowest performing case.
Originality/value
This article is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, one of the first studies dealing with the risk-return relationship in a privately held firm context. Moreover, the inclusion of being a family firm as a contingent factor in the abovementioned link is a complete novelty.
Objetivo
La relación riesgo-rentabilidad ha sido ampliamente analizada en el ámbito de las empresas cotizadas. Sin embargo, la literatura existente deja al descubierto una importante área de estudio en relación con las empresas no cotizadas. Para cubrir esta brecha, el presente estudio analiza el binomio riesgo-rentabilidad en el contexto de empresas privadas. Adicionalmente, incorporamos el efecto contingente de ser una empresa familiar sobre esta relación.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Utilizando información de la base de datos SABI (Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos) se analizó una muestra de 2.297 empresas manufactureras privadas para el período 2009–2016. Para comprobar las hipótesis propuestas se aplicó la metodología de datos de panel, específicamente, utilizamos el Método de los Momentos Generalizado (GMM).
Resultados
Los resultados muestran que, de acuerdo con la Teoría Prospectiva, las empresas no cotizadas presentan una mayor aversión al riesgo cuando su nivel de rentabilidad es superior al valor de referencia establecido, mientras que presentan una mayor propensión al riesgo cuando su rentabilidad es inferior al valor de referencia. Además, el hecho de ser una empresa familiar suaviza la relación riesgo-rentabilidad en ambos escenarios.
Originalidad/valor
Este es uno de los primeros estudios en abordar la relación riesgo-rentabilidad en el contexto de empresas no cotizadas. Además, la inclusión de ser una empresa familiar como factor contingente es completamente novedosa.
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Minh-Hoang Nguyen, Huyen Thanh Thanh Nguyen, Tam-Tri Le, Anh-Phuong Luong and Quan-Hoang Vuong
The current review aims to examine the growth trajectory, most influential documents, intellectual and conceptual structure of the literature regarding gender issues in family…
Abstract
Purpose
The current review aims to examine the growth trajectory, most influential documents, intellectual and conceptual structure of the literature regarding gender issues in family business research.
Design/methodology/approach
The bibliometric analysis was performed using 224 documents from 1991 to 2020 extracted from the Web of Science database.
Findings
The review finds that this field's knowledge grew exponentially during the last three decades, mainly after 2003 and the last several years. Based on the co-citation analysis, three major research lines are identified: “Women's challenges and opportunities in the family business”, “Gender diversity in the family business corporate board”, and “Gender and family SMEs management.” The temporal co-word analysis reveals that “Gender diversity in the family business corporate board” is the latest research line.
Originality/value
By reviewing prominent cited references and documents that cited them, the authors provide the landscapes and research gaps of three major research lines for further development.
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Tamsin Crook and Almuth McDowall
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuro-developmental condition that has frequently been pathologised in career research and broader society to date. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neuro-developmental condition that has frequently been pathologised in career research and broader society to date. The study seeks to reframe such assumptions through a qualitative positive-focused exploration of career stories of ADHD adults, elicited through a strength-focused technique with wide applicability for coaching and other career-based development activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Situated in a strength-focused coaching psychology paradigm, the authors undertook semi-structured interviews with 17 participants, using an adapted feedforward interview technique (FFI) rooted in positive psychology (PP), to investigate individuals' strengths and successful career experiences.
Findings
Narrative thematic analysis of the transcripts identified two core themes: “the paradoxical nature of strengths” and “career success as an evolving narrative”. The participants described how they have achieved career success both “in spite of” and “because of” ADHD. The use of the FFI demonstrated a helpful and easily taught method for eliciting personal narratives of success and strengths, an essential foundation to any coaching process.
Originality/value
This research provides a nuanced overview, and an associated conceptual model, of how adults with ADHD perceive their career-based strengths and experiences of success. Further, the research shows the value of using a positive psychological coaching approach when working with neurominority individuals, using a successful adaptation of the FFI. The authors hope that the documentation of this technique and the resulting insights will offer important guidance for managers as coaches and internal and external career coaches, as well as providing positive and relatable narrative resources for ADHD adults.
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Cara Greta Kolb, Maja Lehmann, Johannes Kriegler, Jana-Lorena Lindemann, Andreas Bachmann and Michael Friedrich Zaeh
This paper aims to present a requirements analysis for the processing of water-based electrode dispersions in inkjet printing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a requirements analysis for the processing of water-based electrode dispersions in inkjet printing.
Design/methodology/approach
A detailed examination of the components and the associated properties of the electrode dispersions has been carried out. The requirements of the printing process and the resulting performance characteristics of the electrode dispersions were analyzed in a top–down approach. The product and process side were compared, and the target specifications of the dispersion components were derived.
Findings
Target ranges have been identified for the main component properties, balancing the partly conflicting goals between the product and the process requirements.
Practical implications
The findings are expected to assist with the formulation of electrode dispersions as printing inks.
Originality/value
Little knowledge is available regarding the particular requirements arising from the systematic qualification of aqueous electrode dispersions for inkjet printing. This paper addresses these requirements, covering both product and process specifications.
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