Search results
1 – 10 of 204Haihan Li, Per Hilletofth, David Eriksson and Wendy Tate
This study aims to investigate the manufacturing reshoring decision-making content from an Eclectic Paradigm perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the manufacturing reshoring decision-making content from an Eclectic Paradigm perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a six-step systematic literature review on factors influencing manufacturing reshoring decision-making. The review is based on 100 peer-reviewed journal papers discussing reshoring decision-making contents published from 2009 to 2022.
Findings
In total, 80 decision factors were extracted and then categorized into resource-seeking (8%), market-seeking (11%), efficiency-seeking (41%) and strategic asset-seeking (16%) advantages. Additionally, 24% of these were identified as hybrid, which means that they were classified into multiple categories. Some decision factors were further identified as reshoring influencing factors (i.e. drivers, enablers and barriers).
Research limitations/implications
Scholars need to consider what other theories can be used or developed to identify and evaluate the decision factors (determinants) of manufacturing reshoring as well as how currently adopted theory can be further advanced to create clearer and comprehensive theoretical frameworks.
Practical implications
This research underscores the importance of developing clearer and more comprehensive theoretical frameworks. For practitioners, understanding the multifaceted nature of decision factors could enhance strategic decision-making regarding reshoring initiatives.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the value and practicality of the Eclectic Paradigm in categorizing factors in manufacturing reshoring decision-making content and presents in-depth theoretical classifications. In addition, it bridges the gap between decision factors and influencing factors in the decision-making content research realm.
Details
Keywords
Prantika Ray and Sunil Kumar Maheshwari
International assignments are not just opportunities for career advancement but also for personal growth and exploration. This paper, by capturing the changing expectations and…
Abstract
Purpose
International assignments are not just opportunities for career advancement but also for personal growth and exploration. This paper, by capturing the changing expectations and success parameters across the assignments, is a timely and relevant resource for individuals navigating the complexities of international careers. In addition, the paper aims to help organizations build policies for enabling successful assignments for international assignees and managers.
Design/methodology/approach
Our research took a unique two-pronged approach to understanding the success parameters of international assignments. We first interviewed 16 managers to understand the success parameters they set for expatriates. Then, we interviewed 19 international assignees to explore their choices and how they defined success in their international experiences.
Findings
Our comprehensive research, based on 35 interviews with international assignees and their supervisors, reveals that an assignment's success evolves with different stages of the assignment, over the assignments that the assignees choose, and varies according to the intent of the mobility.
Originality/value
This paper makes a significant contribution to the field of cross-cultural management and international assignments. By discussing the evolving definition of success across various international assignments, it not only provides valuable insights for expatriates in their international careers but also to managers to build aligned policies and practices.
Details
Keywords
Shahrokh Nikou, Bibek Kadel and Dandi Merga Gutema
The choices that international students make regarding abroad study destination selection or leave the host country after graduation are influenced by a variety of factors that…
Abstract
Purpose
The choices that international students make regarding abroad study destination selection or leave the host country after graduation are influenced by a variety of factors that are both related to positive and negative aspects of the host country.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on the push-pull factor theory and examines the factors that influence international students' decision to choose abroad study destination (Finland) or leave the country after their graduations. The data were collected through an online survey of 195 international students currently studying in Finland and were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. This method offers a flexible and robust approach to test relationships, particularly in situations where sample size and the conceptual model are small and complex.
Findings
The results show that international students' choice of study destination (Finland) is influenced by the host country's quality of life, academic excellence and economic factors such as salary and benefits. Unfamiliarity with the culture and language barriers have a negative impact on their decisions to stay in the host country after graduation.
Originality/value
By utilising a comprehensive analysis of both push and pull factors in relation to the host country, this study unveils a novel perspective in the field of international student mobility. The results provide insights to the institutional leaders and policymakers into how to attract and retain international students by focusing on the factors that matter most to international students. To attract more international students, higher education institutions (HEIs) should include career development activities, e.g. job fairs, language training, scholarships and internships in their curriculum. Moreover, it provides recommendations on how to create a welcoming and supportive environment that promotes academic excellence and career development.
Details
Keywords
Takayuki Tomobuchi, Osamu Tsukihashi and Kazuki Isomura
The purpose of this study is to present the possibilities of co-creation-type reconstruction methods by focusing on examples of reconstruction in communities affected by the 2011…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to present the possibilities of co-creation-type reconstruction methods by focusing on examples of reconstruction in communities affected by the 2011 disaster in Japan. This is because the reconstruction of a community is not a matter of supplementing what has been physically lost, but must include social and cultural aspects. We will also conduct research based on the idea that by placing the residents, who are the bearers of the community, in the lead role, we can achieve a recovery that promotes maturity, rather than a recovery that overwrites the community.
Design/methodology/approach
This research was initially conducted for the purpose of reconstruction assistance, but in the process, the author conducted research using information obtained through material surveys on local history and self-governing activities, interview surveys on pre-disaster life, and participatory observation of reconstruction activities. In order to extract knowledge on co-creative reconstruction methods, the author focused on the actual state of cooperation between residents, experts involved in reconstruction support, and the government, based on past research conducted by the author, and extracted what could be considered co-creation from this.
Findings
Co-creative reconstruction is defined as a state in which a shared vision for reconstruction is created by each organization involved in the reconstruction process, with the residents at the core, and collaboration is generated beyond the organizational framework in order to achieve the objectives. This case study can be divided into the following three stages: the stage where the local residents start the recovery process, the stage where a vision for recovery is drawn up based on the recovery project organized by the government, and the stage where collaboration beyond the organizational framework is created to achieve the recovery vision.
Research limitations/implications
Compared to normal urban development, reconstruction projects in disaster-stricken areas are carried out simultaneously in a short period of time. Therefore, in order to capture the details of reconstruction, it is necessary to limit the target area and continue participant observation. However, the limited number of areas to be studied makes it difficult to conduct comparative verification. In addition, the unclear concept of “co-creation” requires the formation of common values through the verification of various case studies. Therefore, it is essential to form an environment in which various case studies can be collected and discussed.
Practical implications
Many of the research reports on earthquake recovery are extracts on specific themes. As a result, it is difficult to obtain an overall picture of how specific areas are recovering. As such, there are few examples that can serve as a reference when confronting reconstruction and an exploratory approach to the unclear future is required. Therefore, this study has practical findings in that it presents concrete sample information by clearly indicating issues and reconstruction systems on a long-term time horizon.
Social implications
It is nonsense to impose a uniform recovery plan in the midst of a mature society with increasingly diverse values. It is necessary to explore the possibility of bottom-up reconstruction in which residents play a leading role as a way to realize individualized and diverse reconstruction. This study presents the possibility of promoting reconstruction while maintaining equal relationships among residents, experts, and the government.
Originality/value
First, the study captures the actual situation of the village before the earthquake and the actual situation of the village during the reconstruction process, using the village as the basic unit. Second, it captures the reconstruction process of the village over a 10-year time frame. According to a specific timeline, the activities, discussions, and institutional changes to promote reconstruction are positioned. Third, in the limited phase of earthquake reconstruction, the project is providing information and analysis from a comprehensive and multifaceted perspective by narrowing down the target areas and continuing high-resolution surveys.
Details
Keywords
Sonia María Suárez-Ortega, Mar Suarez and Antonia Mercedes García-Cabrera
This study aims to examine the effect of the interplay between national culture and supervisor gender on supervisors’ supportive behaviours towards employees in Europe.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of the interplay between national culture and supervisor gender on supervisors’ supportive behaviours towards employees in Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on Hofstede’s cultural scores for 34 European countries, two clusters of countries were identified, reflecting two cultural configurations: favouring versus not favouring gender equality (GE). For hypotheses testing, the authors used a sample of 21,335 native employees, obtained from the European Working Conditions Survey.
Findings
Women in supervisory positions, compared to men, provided more support to subordinates in terms of respect, recognition, encouraging development and providing feedback. In countries with cultures favouring progress towards GE (small power distance, weak uncertainty avoidance, individualism and indulgence), only respect and recognition were more prevalent. In countries with opposing cultural configurations, other supportive behaviours stood out: coordinating work, providing feedback and helping with work. Furthermore, the impact of supervisor gender on supportive behaviours was influenced by national culture. Gender differences were larger in countries with a culture favouring progress towards GE compared to countries not favouring such progress.
Originality/value
The authors present a pioneering study that delves into national values as they relate to progress towards GE to understand the differences between male and female supervisors in the display of six supportive behaviours towards their subordinates. Their cultural approach nuances some of the predictions of social role theory.
Details
Keywords
Jiayin Qin and Tomoki Sekiguchi
This study aims to understand how female globally mobile employees (GMEs), a group that is gaining a stronger presence in global work, exert their career agency within the context…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand how female globally mobile employees (GMEs), a group that is gaining a stronger presence in global work, exert their career agency within the context of structural constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
Using theoretical perspectives of career-agency theory and person-environment fit as frames of reference, this study collected 113 blog posts written by 19 female GMEs and conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 female GMEs who are currently living and working in Japan.
Findings
This study found that the informants exercised career agency as a response to challenges related to foreignness and gender. Through career-related agentic behaviors, the informants strove to increase their fit with their environments while interacting with different aspects of structural constraints. This study also found that people in different stages of global mobility exhibited different mindsets toward their foreignness, consequently influencing their career agency.
Originality/value
This study highlights the dynamic interaction between structural constraints and the agency of female GMEs, advancing the understanding of career agency in women’s global work. In addition, it recognizes the presence of expatriate residents as a distinct subgroup within the GME population, shedding light on the evolving ambiguous boundaries between self-initiated expatriates and other talent categories.
Details
Keywords
Mohammad A. Hassanain, Turky Suliman Almhbash, Mohammad Sharif Zami, Ahmed M. Ibrahim and Adel Alshibani
This paper aims to review and assess the sustainable design and management considerations affecting workplaces’ productivity in Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review and assess the sustainable design and management considerations affecting workplaces’ productivity in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a mixed approach, commencing with literature review, development and pilot-testing of a structured questionnaire instrument to assess design and management considerations towards productively sustainable workplaces (PSWs). In total, 31 considerations affecting sustainable workplaces’ productivity were identified and clustered under five main directions. A collective group of stakeholders, including architects/engineers (A/E), workplace users and facilities managers, were approached to correlate and compare their individual assessment of the identified PSWs. The relative importance index (RII) for each of the PSW considerations is correlated and discussed.
Findings
A high level of agreement is recognized among the three stakeholder groups for PSWs considerations’ assessed rankings. The provision of sufficient ventilation and illumination levels, availability of occupational health, security and safety, availability of ergonomically oriented technological infrastructure, availability of formal and informal meeting spaces, efficient space utilization and ergonomic workstations are all ranked highest in importance as design considerations towards PSWs.
Originality/value
The study stems from the need to understand how the PSWs’ design and management considerations are perceived by all streams of stakeholders. The findings identify the considerations’ importance for prioritization on PSWs’ investments.
Details
Keywords
Jesús F. Lampón, Francisco Carballo-Cruz and María-Elena Velando-Rodríguez
Autonomous and connected mobility technologies have led to a reconfiguration of the automotive industry value chain. This may involve an impact on the geography of the European…
Abstract
Purpose
Autonomous and connected mobility technologies have led to a reconfiguration of the automotive industry value chain. This may involve an impact on the geography of the European automotive industry, especially for peripheral countries. The aim of the paper is to analyse the repositioning of a peripheral country (Portugal) in the core-periphery model of the automotive industry derived from this new technological context.
Design/methodology/approach
An eclectic theoretical framework, based on the global value chain (GVC) approach, the spatial division of labour and location theory, supports this research. Moreover, an original empirical study was developed. This study comprised a comparative analysis of two samples of firms based on the key variables related to country position. One sample comprised Portuguese traditional automotive firms and the other Portuguese firms linked to autonomous and connected mobility technologies.
Findings
The results highlight the upgrading of Portugal in the European core-periphery model of the automotive industry. This is due to the presence of domestic firms, especially multinationals, linked to autonomous and connected mobility technologies in the country. The decision power derived from their position on the first levels of supply and the added value of activities and technological innovation of these new actors change the role of the country in the European automotive industry. The main implication is that managers of domestic firms and policy makers in peripheral countries can upgrade a country’s position in the European core-periphery model by shifting its competitiveness toward knowledge-based activities linked to the new mobility technologies.
Originality/value
This research is supported by a novel eclectic theoretical framework based on the global value chain (GVC) approach, the spatial division of labour and location theory. Moreover, country position is analysed through empirical evidence. An original comparative empirical study based on the key variables defined under this theoretical framework was developed.
Details
Keywords
Kensuke Otsuyama, Tomoyuki Mashiko and Haruka Tsukuda
Studies on land acquisition (LA) and recovery simulations have garnered considerable attention amidst climate change. Previous literature has reported that LA and relocation…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies on land acquisition (LA) and recovery simulations have garnered considerable attention amidst climate change. Previous literature has reported that LA and relocation contribute to reducing repetitive disaster losses or downzoning (limiting development). However, studies on decision-making about resettlement or relocation for landowners or decision-makers for disaster-impacted lands are limited. This study aims to qualitatively illustrate LA program schemes for recovery, and identify the underlying concepts of LA in Italy, the United States and Japan. By doing so, this study contributes to construction of future agent-based recovery simulations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study seeks to identify a variety of LA models in different contexts to provide input for future works. This study employed multiple case studies to explore common and contrasting results, and identify varied LA concepts. The methodology involved a literature review, including official reports, to examine the timeframes of LA projects qualitatively, complemented using aerial photos to confirm related land use changes pre- and post-LA.
Findings
The results indicate that buyout programs in the United States enhance renaturalization in flood-prone areas as a downzoning approach. In contrast, LA in Japan focuses on the continuation of communities or neighborhoods through the recovery and relocation process. In Italy, LA is used to contribute to supporting the tradition/legacy of historic housing and facilities for post-disaster temporary dwellings, reflecting an underlying concept of “tradition and legacy.”
Originality/value
This comparative study fills a research gap by focusing on LA concepts, and its novelty lies in finding the underlying concepts of LA in three countries. Through international comparison, it suggests that LA in Japan could incorporate conservation of the historical town center or the opportunity for downzoning.
Details
Keywords
Mi Lin, Ivan Nevzgodin, Ana Pereira Roders and Wessel de Jonge
Attributes conveying cultural significance play a key role in heritage management, as well as in differentiating interventions in built heritage. However, seldom the relation…
Abstract
Purpose
Attributes conveying cultural significance play a key role in heritage management, as well as in differentiating interventions in built heritage. However, seldom the relation between interventions and attributes, either tangible or intangible, has been researched systematically. How do both tangible and intangible attributes and interventions relate? What attributes make interventions on built heritage differ?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducts a systematic content analysis of forty-one international doctrinal documents—mainly adopted by the Council of Europe, UNESCO and ICOMOS, between 1877 and 2021. The main aim is to reveal and compare the selected eight intervention concepts, namely—restoration (C1), preservation (C2), conservation (C3), adaptation (C4), rehabilitation (C5), relocation (C6), reconstruction (C7) and renewal (C8)—and their definitions, in relation to attributes, both tangible and intangible. The intensity of the relationship between intervention concepts and attributes is determined based on the frequency of the mentioned attributes per intervention.
Findings
There were three key findings. First, although the attention to intangible attributes has increased in the last decades, the relationship between interventions and tangible attributes remains stronger. The highest frequency of referencing the tangible attributes was identified in “relocation” and “preservation,” while the lowest was in “rehabilitation.” Second, certain attributes play contradictory roles, e.g. “material,” “use” and “process,” which creates inconsistent definitions between documents. Third, as attributes often include one another in building layers, they trigger the intervention concepts in hierarchical patterns.
Originality/value
This paper explores and discusses the results of a novel comparative analysis between different intervention concepts and definitions, with a particular focus on the attributes. The results can support further research and practice, clarifying the identified differences and similarities.
Details