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Whilst there is a growing body of research which discusses the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) (otherwise known as “drones”) to transport medical supplies, almost all reported cases employ short range aircraft. The purpose of this paper is to consider the advantages and challenges inherent in the use of long endurance remotely piloted aircraft systems (LE-RPAS) aircraft to support the provision of medical supplies to remote locations – specifically “medical maggots” used in maggot debridement therapy (MDT) wound care.

After introducing both MDT and the LE-RPAS technology, the paper first reports on the outcomes of a case study involving 11 semi-structured interviews with individuals who either have experience and expertise in the use of LE-RPAS or in the provision of healthcare to remote communities in Western Australia. The insights gained from this case study are then synthesised to assess the feasibility of LE-RPAS assisted delivery of medical maggots to those living in such geographically challenging locations.

No insuperable challenges to the concept of using LE-RPAS to transport medical maggots were uncovered during this research – rather, those who contributed to the investigations from across the spectrum from operators to users, were highly supportive of the overall concept.

The paper offers an assessment of the feasibility of the use of LE-RPAS to transport medical maggots. In doing so, it highlights a number of infrastructure and organisational challenges that would need to be overcome to operationalise this concept. Whilst the particular context of the paper relates to the provision of medical support to a remote location of a developed country, the core benefits and challenges that are exposed relate equally to the use of LE-RPAS in a post-disaster response. To this end, the paper offers a high-level route map to support the implementation of the concept.

The paper proposes a novel approach to the efficient and effective provision of medical care to remote Australian communities which, in particular, reduces the need to travel significant distances to obtain treatment. In doing so, it emphasises the importance in gaining acceptance of both the use of MDT and also the operation of RPAS noting that these have previously been employed in a military, as distinct from humanitarian, context.

The paper demonstrates how the use of LE-RPAS to support remote communities offers the potential to deliver healthcare at reduced cost compared to conventional approaches. The paper also underlines the potential benefits of the use of MDT to address the growing wound burdens in remote communities. Finally, the paper expands on the existing discussion of the use of RPAS to include its capability to act as the delivery mechanism for medical maggots.

To advance the learning of professional practices in teacher education and medical education, this conceptual paper aims to introduce the idea of representational scaffolding for digital simulations in higher education.

This study outlines the ideas of core practices in two important fields of higher education, namely, teacher and medical education. To facilitate future professionals’ learning of relevant practices, using digital simulations for the approximation of practice offers multiple options for selecting and adjusting representations of practice situations. Adjusting the demands of the learning task in simulations by selecting and modifying representations of practice to match relevant learner characteristics can be characterized as representational scaffolding. Building on research on problem-solving and scientific reasoning, this article identifies leverage points for employing representational scaffolding.

The four suggested sets of representational scaffolds that target relevant features of practice situations in simulations are: informational complexity, typicality, required agency and situation dynamics. Representational scaffolds might be implemented in a strategy for approximating practice that involves the media design, sequencing and adaptation of representational scaffolding.

The outlined conceptualization of representational scaffolding can systematize the design and adaptation of digital simulations in higher education and might contribute to the advancement of future professionals’ learning to further engage in professional practices. This conceptual paper offers a necessary foundation and terminology for approaching related future research.

Organisations differ in the ways that they organise their communication disciplines. Contemporary literature features contributions from a number of noted authors, all focusing on the centralisation of communication. Scant attention, however, is paid to factors that are potentially capable of identifying the differences to be found in practice. This paper describes the results of a qualitative research project involving 16 major companies in the Netherlands. This project was initiated by Bennis Porter Novelli and designed to investigate the influence of corporate identity structure on the organisation’s communication structure. The research clearly shows that organisations with monolithic, branded and endorsed identity structures differ in the way they structure and coordinate their external communication disciplines.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of dynamic marketing capabilities (DMC), foreign ownership modes and sub-national locations on the performance of foreign-owned affiliates (FOAs) in developing economies.

Based on a sample of 254 FOAs in the Indian manufacturing sector (covering the period of 2000-2008 leading to 623 firm-year observations), the empirical paper adopts the panel data regression approach.

The study confirms the significant importance of DMC to assist FOAs to gain better sales performance in an emerging market such as India. The findings indicate that wholly owned foreign affiliates (WOFAs) have better sales performance than international joint ventures (IJVs), and majority-owned international joint ventures (MAIJVs) perform better than minority-owned international joint ventures in the Indian manufacturing sector. The results confirm that effective deployment of DMC leads to better sales performance in WOFAs and to some extent in MAIJVs. Perhaps the most interesting finding is that developing DMC in non-metropolitan areas is associated with higher sales growth than in metropolitan locations.

The study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of DMC on performance of FOA by considering the organised manufacturing sector in a large and fast growing developing economy. In addition, the results for the moderating effects provide novel evidence of the conditions under which DMC of FOA interact with different ownership modes and influence firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers about pervasive “predatory lending” practices in the credit card industry and to explore the limitations of the Congressional response to this problem.

National attention has been focused on illegal and unscrupulous behavior in the mortgage industry, but practices common to the credit card industry have been virtually ignored. This issue is explored through a description of the modus operandi of credit card lenders, details of regulator positions on predatory lending, and the recent Congressional response to this trend via The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009.

“Predatory lending” is a fraudulent practice that presents serious financial risks to consumers. Recent attempts to minimize those risks by Congressional statute may be inadequate. This paper identifies some of the limitations of those regulatory provisions to raise awareness of the issue.

While the response to predatory lending has been well‐intentioned, lenders are constantly findings new ways to circumvent current law and regulations. As a result, research must continue to properly investigate and address the issue.

Exploration of credit card lending practices is relevant in the context of the current economic environment. Further, investigation of the prevalence and impact of “predatory lending,” as well as the recent Congressional response, are necessary to determine if enough is being done to stymie this problem and protect consumers from continued economic marginalization.

This paper provides current information relevant to the pervasive issue of predatory credit card lending in the USA.

The purpose of this paper is to address the following question: How do strategy implementation obstacles relate to each other and affect strategy implementation?

The research methodology is qualitative and based on an extensive review of the literature and on an in-depth case study analysis.

This paper draws two main conclusions. The first is that the many obstacles that impact the strategy implementation process can interact and be strongly interrelated in dynamic and complex manners. The second is that obstacles can lead to and reinforce other obstacles, eventually forming long chains of blockages.

Strategy implementation remains a difficult task with improbable success. This paper provides a contribution to an explanation on why so many strategy implementation efforts fail. It is one of the very few papers addressing the issue of the relationships between strategy implementation obstacles.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether business students deceive others more often than non-business students.

A cheap talk experiment and an ethics questionnaire are employed to examine the subject’s behavior. Fundamental differences, such as psychopathic personality, are used to examine their role in deceptive and unethical behavior.

The results show that business students deceive others for personal gain more often than non-business students when there is the most to gain; however, business students find deception committed by others as unethical. Business students exhibit more psychopathic tendencies compared to non-business students, including being more likely to fit the prototypical psychopath profile. This fundamental difference in psychopathy can help explain why individuals deceive others and behave unethically.

These results have important implications for the business industry and the design of policies.

Thus, this study endeavors to advance the literature on fundamental distinctions between those who work in high levels of organizations and how this fundamental difference impacts decision making.

Family firms (FF) reveal a considerable heterogeneity in their innovation behavior. Due to the successful long-term preservation of their innovation capacity via special resources and routines, multi-generational FF are of special interest in terms of learning from good practices. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain principles for successful innovation behavior in long-term successful FF and to contribute to bridging the theory-practice gap.

Results are generated by analyzing innovation and innovation processes in five cases of long-term successful FF. On the basis of these good practice cases, the “rules of the game” of innovating are re-constructed using fine and system analyses based on narrative interviews with the FF CEOs.

Intense reflection on the innovation characteristics of the five good practice cases along with a critical examination of the literature on innovation in FF were used to derive practical suggestions for FF in the form of 11 principles for FF taking a proactive interest in innovation.

The 11 generated principles of successfully innovative FF were validated by FF CEOs who confirmed the practical relevance of these principles as valuable guidelines for successful innovation. Owners and managers may reflect on these principles against the background of the innovation behavior of their firms and adapt them to their contextual conditions.

These principles serve as tangible suggestions for developing adequate innovation management strategies for individual FF. Furthermore, two FF CEOs were invited to comment on the viability of principles based on their comprehensive practical experience.