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1 – 10 of 183Nasrin Razi, Asghar Moshabaki, Hamid Khodadad Hosseini and Asadollah Kordnaeij
The purpose of this study is to develop a model for business to business salesperson performance (SP) with a service ecosystems perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop a model for business to business salesperson performance (SP) with a service ecosystems perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the research aims, classical grounded theory was used. The data was gathered through in-depth interviews with 20 sales managers and main sales actors.
Findings
After coding and analyzing the data, salesperson institutional performance is introduced as a core category including three main dimensions of regulative, normative and cognitive-cultural performance. Multi-level factors determining SP are identified and performance results are introduced in a multi-level long term way. The sales actors, macro variables, actors’ orientations and sales method are introduced as circumstances, while salesperson stressors are presented as covariants deterring the fulfillment of salesperson’s activities.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the contributions of the salesperson in the alignment of institutional arrangements or the results of their being institutionalized, as well as determining the factors and variables affecting it.
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Sayed Hamid Khodadad Hosseini and Leila Behboudi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate brand trust and brand image effects on healthcare service users. Nowadays, managers and health activists are showing increased tendency…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate brand trust and brand image effects on healthcare service users. Nowadays, managers and health activists are showing increased tendency to marketing and branding to attract and satisfy customers.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study’s design is based on a conceptual model examining brand trust and brand image effects on customer satisfaction. Data obtained from 240 questionnaires (310 respondents) were analyzed using path analysis.
Findings
Results revealed that the most effective items bearing the highest influence on customer satisfaction and on benefiting from healthcare services include brand image, staff sincerity to its patients, interactions with physicians and rapport.
Research limitations/implications
This study needs to be conducted in different hospitals and with different patients, which would lead to the model’s expansion and its influence on the patient satisfaction.
Originality/value
Being the first study that simultaneously addresses brand trust and brand image effects on customer satisfaction, this research provides in-depth insights into healthcare marketing. Moreover, identifying significant components associated with healthcare branding helps managers and healthcare activists to create and protect their brands and, consequently, leading to an increased profitability resulting from the enhanced consumer satisfaction. Additionally, it would probably facilitate purchasing processes during the service selection.
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The end of World War II brought about many economic changes, among them the tremendous increase of US manufacturing activities in Western Europe. This astronomical increase of…
Abstract
The end of World War II brought about many economic changes, among them the tremendous increase of US manufacturing activities in Western Europe. This astronomical increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) required a new theory ‐ an economic theory of foreign direct investment. International economic theory, which traditionally had ignored the FDI decision, was not able to explain the FDI decision, nor could it explain the phenomena of multinational corporation (MNC). In a world of perfect competition, foreign direct investment would be absent. And when all markets operate efficiently, when there are no external economies of production and marketing, when information is costless and there are no barriers to trade or competition, international trade is the only possible form of international involvement. Logically, it follows that it is the departures from the models of perfect competition that must provide the rationale for foreign direct investment. Since, according to the Heckscher‐ Ohlin‐Samuelson (neoclassical) model, trade of goods will equalize factor prices in a world of factor immobility. In fact, the FDI decision is even ignored by new international economics which, since the late 1970's, has utilized new developments in the field of industrial organization. Proponents of these new theories have developed models that emphasize increasing returns and imperfect competition and see the possibility that government involvements in trade (trade restrictions, export subsidies, etc.) may under some circumstances be useful. All of this is done while foreign direct investment is ignored.
This book is important for demonstrating a significant lacuna in our current view of the history of economic thought. It reflects many years of research, and of struggle with…
Abstract
This book is important for demonstrating a significant lacuna in our current view of the history of economic thought. It reflects many years of research, and of struggle with established views, on the part of the editor and principal author, S. M. Ghazanfar, who is to be congratulated for having thus carried his program to fruition. He has been ably aided by A. A. Islahi and Hamid Hosseini in this venture. I am reminded of the introduction to Maria Rosa Menocal's (1987) book on The Arabic role in medieval literary history where she poses the question of “courtly love” and thus, indirectly, of chivalry, for Medieval Europe. What is the origin of the troubadour, the bearer of songs of courtly love? A simple solution presents itself in the Arab word “tarab,” or song, from which troubadour seems to follow naturally. Nonetheless, the suggestion was dismissed out of hand because troubadour “could not” have arisen from a society which oppresses women! We should be more concerned with the facts than with our preconceptions about societies.
Mahmood Yousefi and Sohrab Abizadeh
In 1979, twenty‐five hundred years of monarchy came to an abrupt end in Iran. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the new regime has weathered internal uprisings, a…
Abstract
In 1979, twenty‐five hundred years of monarchy came to an abrupt end in Iran. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the new regime has weathered internal uprisings, a costly war with Iraq, and international sanctions. It is interesting to learn the extent to which economic adversities faced by Iran have been ideologically driven. In order to assess this phenomenon, this paper utilizes a framework of analysis laid out by the scholarship of Islamic economics. In section I, the paper discusses some economic forces which underlay the 1979 tumult. Subsequently, a discussion of the new economic and social order is given. An assessment is made in the final section.
According to the late Maxime Rodinson, there exists a basic affinity between the economic scheme of Islam and the capitalist system. Although most Muslims, including…
Abstract
According to the late Maxime Rodinson, there exists a basic affinity between the economic scheme of Islam and the capitalist system. Although most Muslims, including pro‐capitalist ones, like to think of Islam as a unique way of life and one distinguished from both capitalism and socialism, there exist various Muslims who, like Rodinson, find important similarities between Islam and capitalism. One such similarity concerns private ownership of property and the means of production. According to Zubair Hassan of India, “Islam, like capitalism, permits private ownership of property including the means of production and grants freedom of enterprise”.
The purpose of this paper is to argue that free market capitalism is neither efficient nor just. This is in spite of the claims made by its proponents who, utilizing Adam Smith's…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that free market capitalism is neither efficient nor just. This is in spite of the claims made by its proponents who, utilizing Adam Smith's doctrine of invisible hand or the fundamental theorem of welfare economics, assume that it is efficient, just, smooth functioning, and self‐regulating.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper utilizes conceptual/theoretical research and arguments that have emerged in the literatures of public economics and welfare economics.
Findings
In addition to proving the above, the paper also finds that Adam Smith is actually a moral egalitarian, thus he could not have agreed with Nozick and Friedman regarding the nature of capitalism. To the extent that Smith supported free market capitalism, it was because he thought, in contrast to mercantilist policies, that free markets would lead to equity and justice.
Originality/value
The paper is an original/valuable contribution since it rescues Adam Smith from the extreme proponents of laissez‐faire capitalism who claim him.
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The purpose of this paper is to develop principles through which the global economic structure could become more equal and just; it begins by demonstrating that world poverty is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop principles through which the global economic structure could become more equal and just; it begins by demonstrating that world poverty is pervasive, and that the global economic structure is very unequal.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper utilizes conceptual/theoretical arguments in welfare economics, utilitarianism, Sen's capability approach, and Rawlsian theories of justice to argue that none of those theories can lead to a more equal global economic structure. Thus, the development of more egalitarian principles is needed.
Findings
Arguing that the principles that Rawls developed in his 1999 The Law of Peoples are more egalitarian than the other theories, the paper still finds them less than adequate. However, the principles developed in the paper can lead the world toward a more just and much more egalitarian economic structure.
Originality/value
Since the principles developed in the paper are more egalitarian, helping toward ending world poverty and extreme inequality, the paper and its findings constitute an original and a valuable contribution.
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Outlines the ideas incorporated in “development economics” and criticizes the lack of distinction made by some writers between development and economic growth. Asks whether…
Abstract
Outlines the ideas incorporated in “development economics” and criticizes the lack of distinction made by some writers between development and economic growth. Asks whether underdeveloped countries really need a different economic theory from Western Europe and suggests that growth (in gross national product) and development (i.e. structural change) are actually complementary processes. Reviews various theories on the causes of underdevelopment (e.g. market failure, government failure) and strategies to cure it (e.g. government intervention, private initiative, market mechanism); and cites some examples of successful positive intervention.
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Monir Sadat Hosseini, Hamid Javadi and Sadegh Vaez-Zadeh
This paper aims to investigate analytical electromagnetic fields and thrust ripples representation of linear flux-switching motors with simple modulated secondary referred as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate analytical electromagnetic fields and thrust ripples representation of linear flux-switching motors with simple modulated secondary referred as segmented secondary linear flux-switching motor (SSLFSM).
Design/methodology/approach
SSLFSMs are applicable to transportation systems like Maglev due to their simple and consequently low-cost secondary structures and high force density. However, they have high thrust ripples that deteriorate a smooth motion in rail transportation systems. Therefore, derivation of accurate analytical models for thrust ripples minimization of the motor is essential, which is absent in the literature. In this paper, a two-dimensional analytical model is developed for this motor. The model is based on transfer relations and Fourier theory used for solving a two-dimensional boundary value problem. Certain model regions are determined by considering actual machine structure and observing specific rules. Analytical solution of Maxwell and Poison equations are then obtained in the regions.
Finding
Using the presented modeling method, the airgap electromagnetic field distribution and developed thrust of the motor are calculated for different positions of the motor as well as its thrust ripples. They are verified by the results obtained from finite element method. Also, the analytical results are compared with the presented experimental results.
Originality/value
This paper has analytically presented the airgap electromagnetic field distribution, thrust and thrust ripples of the SSLFSMs. This modeling is essential in thrust ripples minimization of the motor.
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