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Article
Publication date: 26 July 2019

A domain-specific measure of centrality for water distribution networks

Seyed Ashkan Zarghami and Indra Gunawan

In recent years, centrality measures have been extensively used to analyze real-world complex networks. Water distribution networks (WDNs), as a good example of complex…

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Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, centrality measures have been extensively used to analyze real-world complex networks. Water distribution networks (WDNs), as a good example of complex networks, exhibit properties not shared by other networks. This raises concerns about the effectiveness of applying the classical centrality measures to these networks. The purpose of this paper is to generate a new centrality measure in order to stick more closely to WDNs features.

Design/methodology/approach

This work refines the traditional betweenness centrality by adding a hydraulic-based weighting factor in order to improve its fit with the WDNs features. Rather than an exclusive focus on the network topology, as does the betweenness centrality, the new centrality measure reflects the importance of each node by taking into account its topological location, its demand value and the demand distribution of other nodes in the network.

Findings

Comparative analysis proves that the new centrality measure yields information that cannot be captured by closeness, betweenness and eigenvector centrality and is more accurate at ranking the importance of the nodes in WDNs.

Practical implications

The following practical implications emerge from the centrality analysis proposed in this work. First, the maintenance strategy driven by the new centrality analysis enables practitioners to prioritize the components in the network based on the priority ranking attributed to each node. This allows for least cost decisions to be made for implementing the preventive maintenance strategies. Second, the output of the centrality analysis proposed herein assists water utilities in identifying the effects of components failure on the network performance, which in turn can support the design and deployment of an effective risk management strategy.

Originality/value

The new centrality measure, proposed herein, is distinct from the conventional centrality measures. In contrast to the classical centrality metrics in which the importance of components is assessed based on a pure topological viewpoint, the proposed centrality measure integrates both topological and hydraulic attributes of WDNs and therefore is more accurate at ranking the importance of the nodes.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-03-2019-0176
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

  • Betweenness centrality
  • Centrality measures
  • Closeness centrality
  • Demand centrality
  • Eigenvector centrality
  • Percolation centrality
  • Water distribution networks

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Book part
Publication date: 8 November 2010

Consumption demand in Marx and in the current crisis

Radhika Desai

This chapter challenges the denial of “underconsumption” – the role of consumption demand in capitalist reproduction and its paucity in crises – in contemporary Marxism…

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Abstract

This chapter challenges the denial of “underconsumption” – the role of consumption demand in capitalist reproduction and its paucity in crises – in contemporary Marxism. At stake are better understandings not only of crisis theory but also, inter alia, of imperialism, “reformism,” and Marx's intellectual legacy. The chapter shows how the centrality of consumption demand is underlined in the three volumes of Capital and the Grundrisse, and goes on to discuss the origins, weaknesses, and persistence of this denial. The chapter also shows that Marx did not regard underconsumption as a moralistic argument about unfulfilled need. The denial originates not in Marx but in productionism, the idea that capitalism is a system of “production for production's sake.”

Originating in the overkill of Tugan Baranowski's refutation of the Russian populists’ view that capitalist development was impossible in Russia due to lack of a home market, productionism is based on his attempt to force Marxism into the marginalist and the general equilibrium framework. Despite its antipathy with Marxism, most contemporary Marxist economics are based on it. Inevitably its adherence to Say's Law – the denial of the possibility of gluts in the market – infects the tendency to assume that capitalism's contradictions do not lie in circulation. Productionism's denial of the importance of consumption demand also rests on nonsequiturs, nondialectical thinking, and an underestimation of the contradictions in capitalism Marx identified, other than the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. The chapter ends by showing the centrality of demand in the recent historical evolution of capitalism as reconstructed by Robert Brenner, followed by a discussion of whether underconsumption is “reformist.”

Details

The National Question and the Question of Crisis
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0161-7230(2010)0000026005
ISBN: 978-0-85724-493-2

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Article
Publication date: 12 August 2019

Engagement and exhaustion in healthcare: a network approach

Thomas Kowalewski and Britta Ruschoff

Taking a network approach, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the social antecedents of work-related engagement and exhaustion in a sample of Dutch healthcare…

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Abstract

Purpose

Taking a network approach, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the social antecedents of work-related engagement and exhaustion in a sample of Dutch healthcare workers, examining how employees’ structural position in the team (i.e. their centrality in the network) is associated with their engagement and exhaustion. Distinctions are made between instrumental networks (i.e. structural dependencies) and expressive networks (i.e. emotional connectedness through friendships).

Design/methodology/approach

Associations between job characteristics (quantitative demands, emotional demands and influence) and employees’ centrality in the instrumental and expressive networks at work with their self-reported engagement and exhaustion were examined. Network centrality was assessed though a sociometric survey by the total number of nominations each employee received (in-degree centrality) or gave (out-degree centrality) and for both networks separately.

Findings

The results show that whereas job characteristics but not network centrality were associated with exhaustion, network centrality in the expressive network but not job characteristics was associated with engagement. In-degree centrality (being nominated by many co-workers as a friend) was positively associated with engagement, whereas out-degree centrality (nominating many co-workers as a friend) was negatively associated with engagement.

Originality/value

The results support recent findings concerning more multifaceted antecedents of engagement and exhaustion, and underline the importance considering social network characteristics in investigations of work engagement. On a methodological level, the differing results for in-degree and out-degree centrality underline the importance of not only relying on self-reported social relationships but to also capture other-reported data.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-01-2019-0021
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

  • Exhaustion
  • Healthcare
  • Social networks
  • Work engagement

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2016

A foot in both camps: role identity and entrepreneurial orientation in professional service firms

Steven A. Stewart, Gary J. Castrogiovanni and Bryant Ashley Hudson

Professional service entrepreneurs (PSEs) paradoxically practice their profession in highly institutionalized contexts that require intense socialization, while also…

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Abstract

Purpose

Professional service entrepreneurs (PSEs) paradoxically practice their profession in highly institutionalized contexts that require intense socialization, while also enacting another role as an entrepreneur. Activities consistent with entrepreneurship may be unnecessary for – and possibly contradictory with – activities consistent with professional roles. The purpose of this paper is to address the question of how two highly important role identities (professional and entrepreneurial) relate to entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in professional firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a survey methodology, the authors measure entrepreneurial and professional role identity importance, and PSE’s perceptions of firm-level EO, using a sample of 138 medical practitioners who own and operate their own small-to medium-sized professional practices. In this paper, the authors examine the associations of the importance of these identities, and the relative importance of one to another, with EO.

Findings

The authors find that a PSE’s entrepreneurial role identity importance is positively related to the EO dimensions of risk taking and innovativeness, while professional role identity importance is negatively related to risk taking. Additionally, the authors find that the degree of relative importance (centrality) of an entrepreneurial role identity to a professional role identity is related positively to the EO dimensions of risk taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness.

Research limitations/implications

This is a cross-sectional study. As such, the authors examine associations rather than a process. The sample is limited to professional medical practitioners in the USA who own and operate their own practices.

Originality/value

This paper helps to better understand why some professional firms are more entrepreneurial than others. The findings suggest that, even in the conservative context of professional services, the PSEs entrepreneurial role centrality is consistent with the EO of the firm’s strategies.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 22 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-09-2015-0201
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

  • Entrepreneurs
  • Entrepreneurial orientation
  • Identity
  • Professionals
  • Small- to medium-sized enterprises
  • Professional services

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Article
Publication date: 28 March 2008

Complexities and challenges in the work‐family interface

Noreen Heraty, Michael J. Morley and Jeanette N. Cleveland

The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on “Complexities and challenges in the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on “Complexities and challenges in the work‐family interface”.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first introduces the theme of the special issue, and a brief outline of each paper contained in it is given.

Findings

There is concern that progress in the work‐family research area has been somewhat restricted and may have failed to take sufficient account of the complexity of work‐family issues.

Originality/value

The literature on the work‐family interface is complex, and theory in the field is uncertain and under‐developed. The papers in this special issue should further understanding of the challenges and complexities underscoring the work‐family interface.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940810861347
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

  • Family
  • Sociology of work

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Article
Publication date: 26 November 2020

Impact of network effects on service provider performance in digital business platforms

Khadija Ali Vakeel, Edward C. Malthouse and Aimei Yang

Digital business platforms (DBPs) such as Alibaba and Google Shopping are partnership networks that use the Internet to bring service providers (e.g. retail vendors) and…

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Abstract

Purpose

Digital business platforms (DBPs) such as Alibaba and Google Shopping are partnership networks that use the Internet to bring service providers (e.g. retail vendors) and customers together. One of the benefits of DBPs is network effects, in which customers can purchase from multiple providers, giving rise to a unique network. However, few studies have explored which service providers benefit from network effects and which do not.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the theories of transaction costs and network analysis, the authors apply network models to DBPs to understand which service providers benefit from network effects.

Findings

The authors identify three segments of service providers: (1) those with high prominence (connection to providers with high network centrality), (2) those with high network constraint (adjacent to isolated providers) and (3) those with low prominence and constraint. The authors find that segments (1) and (3) benefit from reciprocated customer exchanges, and thus benefit from network effects, while high constraint segment (2) providers do not benefit from reciprocated exchanges. Moreover, the authors find that for segments (2) and (3) future sales have a negative association with unreciprocated customer exchanges, while segment (1) has no significant association between unreciprocated exchanges and future sales.

Research limitations/implications

The authors discuss implications for a multisided platform (MSP), as it decides which service providers to attract, promote and recommend. They can use this study’s results to know which segments of providers will increase network effects to make the platform more valuable.

Practical implications

This paper provides managers of service platforms with strategies for managing relations with their service providers.

Social implications

Service platforms are an important and disruptive business model. The authors need to understand how network effects operate to create efficient platforms.

Originality/value

This paper extends the literature on MSPs by quantifying network effects and showing not all service providers benefit equally on an MSP from network effects. Critical insights into network effects on the MSP are provided, including different ways it can impact provider sales.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2020-0120
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

  • Digital business platforms
  • Service provider network
  • Network centrality
  • Structural hole

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Article
Publication date: 23 March 2020

The growth of hidden champions in China: a cognitive explanation from integrated view

Linan Lei, Xiaobo Wu and Ziyan Tan

There is a research gap in strategic management regarding the complement from managerial cognition literature to the behavioral theory of firm, as well as linkage between…

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Abstract

Purpose

There is a research gap in strategic management regarding the complement from managerial cognition literature to the behavioral theory of firm, as well as linkage between cognitive structure and cognitive process of strategy formulation in the field of managerial cognition, which also calls for further exploration. The purpose of this paper is to construct a model from an integrated view for explaining the process of cognitive reconstruction under incremental changes.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative research is conducted in the form of 17 semi-structured interviews in four hidden champions operating in China. Based on the model generated from the literature review, this paper adopts the abductive logic for data analysis.

Findings

This paper draws the following conclusions. The cognitive structure is shaped by the changing environment and the performance feedback, the variance in structural attributes will affect whether the changing environment destructs the effectiveness of original cognitive structure or not, the centrality of cognitive structure will promote the efficiency of tried-and-true organizational adaptations to incremental changes, and cognitive structure reconstruction is the result of the recursive process of trial-and-error learning.

Originality/value

This paper proposes the model explaining the interaction mechanisms between cognitive structure and strategy formulation process. It also presents the iterative sense-making process for reconstructing cognitive structure in strategy formulation. Both of them extend the understanding on managerial cognition in organizational adaptations to incremental environmental changes.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-06-2019-0206
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

  • Managerial cognition
  • Strategy formulation
  • Cognitive structure
  • Hidden champions
  • Incremental changes

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1998

Quality in the macroeconomic system of tourism

Mara Manente and Maria Carla Furlan

The authors' approach to quality is in contrast to the usual view found in economics. They analyse the quality of tourism as a system which includes final consumption…

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Abstract

The authors' approach to quality is in contrast to the usual view found in economics. They analyse the quality of tourism as a system which includes final consumption, product‐based market services, the natural environment and cultural resources at no cost, and the impact of the local society, all from the macroeconomic point of view. They point out that if optimal use is to be made of resources in the sense of achieving sustainable system quality, this use must be compatible with carrying capacity.

Details

The Tourist Review, vol. 53 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/eb058272
ISSN: 0251-3102

Keywords

  • Carrying capacity
  • Macroeconomic system of tourism
  • Optimum use of resources
  • Quality

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1986

Distributing imported goods to British customers

Alan McKinnon

Interest in international physical distribution in Britain has traditionally focused on the problems exporters experience in transporting their goods to overseas…

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Abstract

Interest in international physical distribution in Britain has traditionally focused on the problems exporters experience in transporting their goods to overseas customers. Very little consideration has been given to the way in which foreign manufacturers distribute their products in the home market. In a country such as Britain, where import penetration has reached a high level, foreign produced goods accounts for a large proportion of total freight movement and warehouse stock. Foreign manufacturers have invested heavily in distribution facilities in the UK and many are major clients of specialist distribution companies. The quality and efficiency of foreign manufacturers' distribution operations in the UK also affect their ability to compete with indigenous producers and to meet wholesalers' and retailers' delivery requirements. This article examines the nature and extent of foreign manufacturers' involvement in physical distribution in the UK.

Details

Retail and Distribution Management, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018319
ISSN: 0307-2363

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Expert briefing
Publication date: 5 August 2019

Sudan’s revolution enters its most challenging phase

Location:
SUDAN

While a huge step towards a possible democratic transition, the real challenge facing Sudan’s revolution will come in its implementation phases.

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Details

DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB245607

ISSN: 2633-304X

Keywords

Geographic
Sudan
AF
Topical
economy
politics
social
government
military
opposition
protest
reform
security
talks
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