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Outside RQ, writing on reference service, whether at craft or at management level, is rare. Attempts by LR to establish a practitioners' reference column have consistently failed. One referee doubted whether the following paper really deals with management aspects. Readers with other viewpoints may like to comment.

Our study explores friction costs in terms of competition and market structure, considering factors such as market share, industry leverage levels, industry hedging levels, number of peers, and the geographic concentration that influences reinsurance purchase in the Property and Casualty insurance industry in China. Financial factors that influence the hedging level are also included. The data are hand collected from 2008 to 2015 from the Chinese Insurance Yearbook. Using panel data analysis techniques, the results are interesting. The capital structure shows a significant negative relationship with the hedging level. Group has a negative relationship with reinsurance purchases. Assets exhibit a negative relationship with hedging levels. The hedging level has a negative relation with the individual hedging level. Insurers have less incentive to hedge because it provides less resource than leverage. The study also robustly investigates the strategic risk management separately by the financial crises.

Polyurea is an elastomeric two-phase co-polymer consisting of nanometer-sized discrete hard (i.e. high glass transition temperature) domains distributed randomly within a soft (i.e. low glass transition temperature) matrix. A number of experimental investigations reported in the open literature clearly demonstrated that the use of polyurea external coatings and/or internal linings can significantly increase blast survivability and ballistic penetration resistance of target structures, such as vehicles, buildings and field/laboratory test-plates. When designing blast/ballistic-threat survivable polyurea-coated structures, advanced computational methods and tools are being increasingly utilized. A critical aspect of this computational approach is the availability of physically based, high-fidelity polyurea material models. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In the present work, an attempt is made to develop a material model for polyurea which will include the effects of soft-matrix chain-segment molecular weight and the extent and morphology of hard-domain nano-segregation. Since these aspects of polyurea microstructure can be controlled through the selection of polyurea chemistry and synthesis conditions, and the present material model enables the prediction of polyurea blast-mitigation capacity and ballistic resistance, the model offers the potential for the “material-by-design” approach.

The model is validated by comparing its predictions with the corresponding experimental data.

The work clearly demonstrated that, in order to maximize shock-mitigation effects offered by polyurea, chemistry and processing/synthesis route of this material should be optimized.

Drawing on the anthropological literature, this paper aims to develop a model of taboos (morality) that applies to the marketing, consumer behaviour and consumption contexts.

The paper is mainly conceptual but illustrates the general premises of the model with a case study of “dark” tourism and the contemporary marketing of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The paper shows that even extreme taboos can be commodified and traded-off, and that not even the horrific deaths and large-scale suffering that occurred at Auschwitz are “sacred”. This can occur through reframing and seeing the same taboo through different national lens.

Questions pertaining to consumer morality are relative rather than universalistic, and even the most extreme cases of taboo can still be successfully marketed.

The paper is among the first to attempt to conceptually design a model and then explain the taboo process as it applies to a marketing and consumption context.

This research aims to address the transformative service research (TSR) agenda by examining the issue of caste-based financial exclusion in microcredit lending services in India. To do so, it draws on statistical discrimination theory from labour economics to develop and test a multi-level prosocial service orientation framework.

Survey data come from 238 loan officers and 250 lower caste loan applicants across 43 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India. The data are analysed using hierarchical linear modelling, a method appropriate for investigating micro- and macro-level organisational variables.

At the micro level, the service orientation factors of social dominance orientation and algorithmic-driven lending decisions affect financial exclusion of lower caste bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) vendors. At the macro level, the service orientation mechanism of inclusive service climate reduces caste-based financial exclusion, while the level of lending risk to reduce discrimination receives no support.

Research in other contexts is warranted to confirm the prosocial service orientation model. Methodological challenges at the BoP also present avenues for insightful work.

The study shows the importance of an inclusive service climate and reassessment of algorithmic-driven lending decisions to eliminate caste-based indicators in lending decisions. It also recommends policy reform of caste-based affirmative action at the macro- and micro-levels of lending decisions.

This research extends the TSR agenda to include caste-based discrimination in prosocial services. It takes a multidisciplinary perspective on services research by incorporating statistical discrimination theory from labour economics to extend understanding of service orientation.

“Academic values” is one of the most popular terms used in the higher education literature. But how do we study academic values? Besides autonomy, freedom, and collegiality, the “values” in “academic values” often remains implicit, leaving a conceptual gap in the literature. Moreover, autonomy, freedom, and collegiality may reflect the shared normative expectations as part of the value system of a profession, rather than the value orientation at the individual level. To examine the latter, this chapter proposes a conceptual framework adapted from the studies of work values in applied psychology. As a heuristic device, the academic work value framework consists of six ideal-typical value orientations belonging to three dimensions: work autonomy, social orientation, and value of knowledge. The framework's relevance and usefulness are evaluated by revisiting relevant literature on academic orientations. The result shows a spectrum of value positions in academic work, from the “old school” values to the “entrepreneurial” ones to the hybrid orientations. Overall, this framework provides a potential approach to operationalize the concept of academic values for empirical research. At the same time, as a heuristic device, it is open for reflection, critique, and further development.

“OH, that socialist fellow” would have been the rejoinder of older members of the Bromley establishment up to 1950 to any mention of H. G. Wells. It was not held to be an honour for the town to have been the birthplace of H. G. Wells nor was it felt that he should be honoured by the town. No plaque marked the site of his birthplace and there was no greater stock of his books in the Bromley Library than in any other.

At issue in the debate over home employment is whether paid work performed in the home exploits workers or enables them to decide when and where to do their work. Converting the terms of the debate into a set of variables, I compare blue‐collar workers in manufacturing industries by work location. Although observed differences are open to varying interpretations, I conclude that as a group the home workers in this sample may be choosing to work at home. However, my analyses also demonstrate the diversity of home working arrangements, and that worker's ‘choices’ are socially shaped such that home employment has different meanings and consequences for different groups of workers. I further argue that the exploitative potential in home work cannot be dismissed because the findings are controversial, and the sample most likely underrepresents home workers, especially those most vulnerable to exploitation. Evidently, more research is necessary on the diversity of home working arrangements and their implications.