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1 – 10 of 39Jan Aasen, Fredrik Nilsson, Torgeir Sørensen, Lars Lien and Marja Leonhardt
This study aims to explore how people with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders and lived experience of deep social marginalization perceived barriers and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how people with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders and lived experience of deep social marginalization perceived barriers and facilitators to mainstream social participation. The purpose of this study is to identify meaningful and relevant learning content for a virtual reality-based intervention to promote social participation in this group.
Design/methodology/approach
This formative qualitative study was conducted in Norway during Autumn 2022. Nine in-depth individual interviews with adults recovering from dual diagnosis were conducted, audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis in a collaborative analysis process.
Findings
Results indicated that social alienation, poor social skills, stigma, low self-esteem and social anxiety were key barriers to social participation in this group. This study suggests a need to learn appropriate social behaviour in mainstream society, in addition to better employability skills, civic literacy and health literacy to improve utilization of social opportunities.
Practical implications
This study implies that virtual reality-based interventions for promoting social participation in people with dual diagnosis should primarily focus on learning and practising appropriate social behaviour in shared public spaces before practising advanced social skills such as employability skills in simulated work environments. Learning and practising social skills appears decisive for using more complex social opportunities, such as in education, health, social services and work.
Originality/value
This research provides suggestions for the content of a novel virtual reality-based intervention to promote social participation among people in recovery from dual diagnosis.
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Fredrik Ralf Nilsson, Henrik Sternberg and Thorsten Klaas-Wissing
The purpose of this paper is to explore the environmental impact of logistics service provider (LSP) activities in the light of customer priorities and the fragmentation of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the environmental impact of logistics service provider (LSP) activities in the light of customer priorities and the fragmentation of the road haulage industry in Europe. It also explores the extent to which LSPs can actually monitor the environmental impact of logistics activities in the supply chain (SC).
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a narrative literature review, an interview study, a case survey and three in-depth case studies. A framework on sustainability challenges in SCs, derived from the literature, is used to structure and analyse the findings.
Findings
Despite the ambitious environmental schemes communicated by several LSPs, they show little interest in, and exert little control over, the actual emissions generated from their transport operations. It is clear from the results that any real concern from customers for environmental solutions which negatively influence the cost and time requirements of logistics services is not yet a reality.
Research limitations/implications
This paper implies that LSP sustainability cannot be investigated in isolation if a company does not manage its proprietary resources (like owning trucks and employing drivers), but rather engage subcontractors.
Practical implications
Environmental policies among different LSPs appear to be similar as policies, but differ in practice. This variation of practices emphasises the importance of follow-up control by environmentally aware buyers of logistics services.
Originality/value
This paper represents a novel approach as to how LSP environmental policies should be viewed. It highlights the concrete need for action to achieve the environmental targets of 2020 and 2050 for carbon emissions from road transportation.
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The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how perspectives and assumptions embedded in the complexity paradigm contribute to make logistics management research better aligned…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how perspectives and assumptions embedded in the complexity paradigm contribute to make logistics management research better aligned with real-life logistics. This is necessary, due to increasing supply chain complexity caused by an increasing request for sustainable development (SD).
Design/methodology/approach
The research is exploratory and based on a narrative literature review of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) from a complexity science perspective. Qualitative research interviews have been conducted with 12 logistics and supply chain managers in international companies and have focussed on their daily experiences and the underlying assumptions related to their actual work.
Findings
Logistics and SCM research is embedded in the functionalistic paradigm with reductionistic assumptions as the dominant logic. These do not sufficiently align with the complexity related, for example, to the daily work of SD in logistics management practice.
Research limitations/implications
It is proposed that the inclusion of complexity-based assumptions in logistics management research can increase realism in the advancement of the discipline. A key result is that the recognition of logistics as complex means inclusion of human and social aspects – which is apparent in any logistics process or phenomenon – in logistics knowledge creation processes.
Practical implications
Increased realism in logistics management research by addressing complexity, instead of merely reducing it, will provide logistics and supply chain managers with increased understanding and appropriate knowledge when they deal with emerging challenges such as SD.
Originality/value
Based on Boulding’s levels of complexity, this paper challenges the underlying assumptions of logistics management in research and practice, and provides reflective frameworks for advancing the discipline and aligning it to the complexity of contemporary challenges in logistics management.
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Tim Kastrup, Michael Grant and Fredrik Nilsson
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better, empirically grounded and theoretically informed understanding of data analytics (DA) use and nonuse in accounting for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better, empirically grounded and theoretically informed understanding of data analytics (DA) use and nonuse in accounting for decision-making. To that end, it explores the links between accounting logic, commercial logic and DA use in financial due diligence (FDD).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports the findings of a case study of DA use in the FDD practice of a Big Four accounting firm in Sweden (Pseudonym: DealCo). The primary data comprises semistructured interviews, observations and additional meetings. Institutional logics is mobilized as method theory.
Findings
First, accounting logic and commercial logic both drove and hindered DA use in DealCo’s FDD practice in different ways. Second, conflicting prescriptions for DA use existed mostly within commercial logic rather than between accounting logic and commercial logic. Third, accounting logic and commercial logic, as perceptual and conceptual filters, seemed to shape DealCo’s advisors’ understanding of DA and give rise to an efficiency-centric DA logic. This logic, in turn, as a high-level model of how to use DA in the context of FDD, governed DA use broadly.
Originality/value
The paper draws attention to direct and indirect links between accounting logic and commercial logic, on the one hand, and DA conceptions and use, on the other hand. It, thereby, advances prior theorization of DA use in accounting for decision-making.
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Tim Kastrup, Michael Grant and Fredrik Nilsson
New digital technologies are reshaping the business landscape and accounting work. This paper aims to investigate how incorporating more data and new data analytics (DA) tools…
Abstract
Purpose
New digital technologies are reshaping the business landscape and accounting work. This paper aims to investigate how incorporating more data and new data analytics (DA) tools impacts the role and use of judgment in financial due diligence (FDD).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports findings from a field study at a Big Four accounting firm in Sweden (“DealCo”). The primary data includes semi-structured interviews, observations and other meetings. Theoretically, it draws on Dewey’s The Logic of Judgments of Practise and Logic: The Theory of Inquiry and distinguishes between theoretical (what is probably true) and practical judgment (what to do).
Findings
In DealCo’s FDD practice, using more data and new DA tools meant that the realm of possibility had expanded significantly. To manage the newfound abundance and to use DA effectively, DealCo’s advisors invoked practical and theoretical judgments in different stages and areas of the data-driven FDD. The paper identifies four critical uses of judgment: Setting priorities and exercising restraint (practical judgment) and forming hypotheses and doing sense checks (theoretical judgment). In these capacities, practical judgment and theoretical judgment were essential in transforming raw data into actionable insights and, in effect, an indeterminate situation into a determinate one.
Originality/value
The study foregrounds the practical dimension of knowledge production for decision-making and contributes to a better understanding of the role, use and importance of accounting professionals’ judgment in a data-driven world.
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Fredrik Nilsson and Britta Gammelgaard
The purpose of this paper is to provide a paradigmatic reflection on theoretical approaches recently identified in logistics and supply chain management (SCM); namely complex…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a paradigmatic reflection on theoretical approaches recently identified in logistics and supply chain management (SCM); namely complex adaptive systems and complexity thinking, and to compare it to the dominant approach in logistics and SCM research, namely the systems approach. By analyzing the basic assumptions of the three approaches, SCM and logistics researchers are guided in their choice of research approaches which increases their awareness of the consequences different approaches have on theory and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The point of departure for the research presented is conceptualization based on literature reviews. Furthermore, years of observations, discussions and empirical studies of logistics operations and management have also influenced the design of this research.
Findings
With a discourse set in relation to the dominant approach in SCM and logistics research, the systems approach, it is concluded that the underlying assumptions of complex adaptive systems and complexity thinking are more appropriate than systems approach for contemporary challenges of organizational complexity in SCM and logistics. It is found that the two complexity‐based approaches can advance SCM and logistics research and practice especially when focusing on innovation, learning and sense‐making.
Research limitations/implications
Reflections of underlying assumptions when considering and selecting methodological approaches have implications for research results. This paper provides both a framework for and an analysis of such reflection which contributes to the further development of SCM and logistics research. Future research is needed to empirically provide insights on how complexity approaches can advance the area of SCM and logistics.
Practical implications
For logistics researchers and practitioners dealing with creativity, innovation, learning and sense‐making and other human‐related aspects, the complexity approaches, with underlying assumptions, presented will provide reflection, inspiration and guidance for further development.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the further development of SCM and logistics research and practice by providing a reflective analysis and discussion of established and new research approaches with potential benefits for the SCM and logistics community.
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The purpose of this paper is to present findings concerning what logistics managers perceive as being difficult and challenging, and what implications this may have for further…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present findings concerning what logistics managers perceive as being difficult and challenging, and what implications this may have for further advances in the logistics discipline.
Design/methodology/approach
The point of departure for this study was to reflect on perceived problems, uncertainties, trends, and solutions in logistics, and how they are handled in the everyday work. The study was exploratory, inspired by grounded theory and aimed at providing grounds for further theory building in the area of real logistics.
Findings
The findings of this study was related to human, organizational and social aspects, i.e. how understanding and sense‐making can be accomplished in logistics efforts. A major outcome from this research endeavor was initial, empirically derived arguments toward theories of complex logistics.
Research limitations/implications
One primary finding of importance was the identification of understanding and sense‐making of concepts, techniques and models in logistics. Thus, future research is needed to provide insights and guidance on how human factors can be considered and elaborated by management in logistics situations.
Practical implications
Logistics complexity needs consideration when logistics processes and phenomena are approached to ensure increase understanding for people involved and affected, and for the sense‐making of logistics phenomena.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to knowledge and understanding of uncertainty and challenges in logistics with focus on human aspects and perception. Previously, most research has focused on structural aspects and quantitative factors.
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Fredrik Nilsson and Vince Darley
This paper aims to contribute to the tactical and operational decision making of manufacturing and logistics operations by providing novel insights into modelling and simulation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the tactical and operational decision making of manufacturing and logistics operations by providing novel insights into modelling and simulation, based on complex adaptive systems (CAS).
Design/methodology/approach
The research approach is theoretically based on CAS with agent‐based modelling (ABM) as the implementation method. A case study is presented where an agent‐based model has contributed to increased understanding and precision in decision making at a packaging company in the UK.
Findings
The results suggest that ABM provides decision‐makers with robust and accurate “what‐if” scenarios of the dynamic interplay among several business functions. These scenarios can guide managers in the process of moving from policy space to performance space, i.e. concerning priorities of improvement efforts and choices of production/manufacturing policies, warehouse policies, customer service policies and logistics policies. Furthermore, it is found that ABM can include and pay attention to several aspects of CAS and thus provide understanding of, and explanation for, the patterns and effects which emerge in manufacturing and logistics settings.
Practical implications
Aided by agent‐based models and simulations, practitioners' levels of intuition can be enhanced since patterns on the macro level emerge from agents' interactive behaviour. Together with insights from CAS these emergent patterns can be explained and understood, and are thus beneficial for the improvement of decision making in companies.
Originality/value
The case presented distinguishes this paper from what has been written in previous articles on the application of ABM, since such articles have not produced any empirically verified results after implementation of ABM.
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Fredrik Nilsson, Magnus Fagerlund and Jonas Körner
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into, and guidance on, how to balance packaging standardisation and adaptation strategies in different markets in the fast moving…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into, and guidance on, how to balance packaging standardisation and adaptation strategies in different markets in the fast moving consumer electronic goods (FMCEG) industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was explorative in nature and was utilised in a case study format. The main data collection methods were a literature review, interviews, and field studies.
Findings
The paper presents two models developed to: classify markets according to product/packaging visibility at the retailers; and to evaluate packaging portfolios. The use of these models provides insights and understanding for companies aiming to develop their packaging portfolios to increase their sales and make distribution more effective.
Practical implications
The models developed were valuable in the analysis of the packaging strategy. Significantly, synergies emerged when the models were combined. Professionals can apply these models to other global companies in the FMCEG industry.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the debate on global standardisation vs local adaptation by taking a packaging perspective. This paper also demonstrates the need for global companies in the FMCEG industry to understand the value of packaging in different markets.
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