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1 – 6 of 6Alberto Brunete, Carlos Mateo, Ernesto Gambao, Miguel Hernando, Jukka Koskinen, Jari M Ahola, Tuomas Seppälä and Tapio Heikkila
This paper aims to propose a new technique for programming robotized machining tasks based on intuitive human–machine interaction. This will enable operators to create robot…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a new technique for programming robotized machining tasks based on intuitive human–machine interaction. This will enable operators to create robot programs for small-batch production in a fast and easy way, reducing the required time to accomplish the programming tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
This technique makes use of online walk-through path guidance using an external force/torque sensor, and simple and intuitive visual programming, by a demonstration method and symbolic task-level programming.
Findings
Thanks to this technique, the operator can easily program robots without learning every robot-specific language and can design new tasks for industrial robots based on manual guidance.
Originality/value
The main contribution of the paper is a new procedure to program machining tasks based on manual guidance (walk-through teaching method) and user-friendly visual programming. Up to now, the acquisition of paths and the task programming were done in separate steps and in separate machines. The authors propose a procedure for using a tablet as the only user interface to acquire paths and to make a program to use this path for machining tasks.
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Kimmo Alajoutsijärvi, Katariina Juusola and Marjo Siltaoja
The purpose of the chapter is to elaborate the theory of academic capitalism by focusing on rarely examined forerunners of academic capitalism: namely, business schools.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the chapter is to elaborate the theory of academic capitalism by focusing on rarely examined forerunners of academic capitalism: namely, business schools.
Design/methodology/approach
A research-based essay.
Findings
The findings emphasize that there are different forms of academic capitalism. Our example from Dubai context shows how more extreme form of academic capitalism, which we label Acamanic Capitalism, developed as a result of free educational markets.
Originality/value
The chapter provides scholarly value through novel conceptualization. The phenomenon of acamanic capitalism should also be acknowledged in academia and in critical management education.
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Helen Cripps, Abhay Singh, Thomas Mejtoft and Jari Salo
The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance business relationships in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a combination of methodologies for gathering data in 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries and the downloaded posts from each of the interviewees' Twitter accounts. The tweets were analysed using structural topic modelling (STM), and then compared to the interview data. This method enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent's actual tweets.
Findings
The research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas, promotion and innovation within their industry. Twitter facilitates building relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high-quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and with their suppliers, customers and also their peers.
Research limitations/implications
As this study covered five countries, further comparative research on the use of Twitter in the B2B context is called for. Further investigation of the formalisation of social media strategies and return on investment for social media marketing efforts is also warranted.
Practical implications
This research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables customer and peer conversations that eventually support the development of product and service innovations. Twitter has the capacity for marketers to inform and engage customers and peers in their networks on wider topics thereby building the brand of the individual users and their companies simultaneously.
Originality/value
This study focuses on interactions at the individual level illustrating that Twitter is used for both customer and peer interactions that can lead to the sourcing of ideas, knowledge and ultimately innovation. The study is novel in its methodological approach of combining structured interviews and text mining that found the topics of the interviewees' tweets aligned with their interview responses.
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Marjo‐Riitta Parzefall and Jari Hakanen
It has been hypothesized that perceived contract fulfilment is positively associated with affective commitment, leading also to reduced turnover intentions, and with mental…
Abstract
Purpose
It has been hypothesized that perceived contract fulfilment is positively associated with affective commitment, leading also to reduced turnover intentions, and with mental health, and that these relationships are fully mediated by work engagement. Employing the job demands resources (JDR) model, the purpose of this study is to examine the motivational and health‐enhancing properties driven by perceived employer psychological contact fulfilment.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 178 Finnish employees using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The hypotheses were supported. Perceived psychological contract fulfilment had both motivational (psychological contract → work engagement → affective commitment → reduced turnover intentions) and health‐enhancing (psychological contract → work engagement → mental health) effects.
Originality/value
The findings highlight the centrality of perceived psychological contract fulfilment to employees, and the importance of work engagement as a positive affective‐cognitive state at work.
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Ilkka Tapani Ojansivu, Kimmo Alajoutsijärvi and Jari Salo
The purpose of this research is to increase understanding of post-project business relationships in service-intensive projects, a topic unexplored to date. This research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to increase understanding of post-project business relationships in service-intensive projects, a topic unexplored to date. This research contributes to the project marketing research focusing on post-project interaction, by building a conceptual research framework capable of illustrating the path from the initiation of a relationship through the project’s afterlife.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative case study is used across four different service-intensive project contexts to highlight the conceptual research framework, derived from the IMP-related interaction research, in practice.
Findings
According to the research findings, there are at least four potential post-project business relationships associated with service-intensive projects. Furthermore, the findings indicate that these relationships embody certain antecedent and process characteristics, enabling us to compile four distinct development paths.
Research limitations/implications
The four cases of the empirical research were chosen on theoretical grounds to highlight the conceptual research framework in practice, and thus the purpose was mainly descriptive. The findings should be generalized only with caution, as more empirical research is needed in this emerging project context.
Practical implications
For managers, the findings provide practical guidance to deal with different post-project relationships. They will help managers to initiate, maintain and develop post-project relationships and to avoid a mismatch between relationship antecedent, processes and outcomes.
Originality/value
Post-project buyer – seller interaction has been studied by the project marketing research stream, but mainly from the perspective of social exchange and sleeping relationships. With the advent of service-intensive projects, however, a whole new breed of post-project business relationships is unfolding and demanding research attention. This research is a step toward understanding the different post-project business relationships associated with service-intensive projects.
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Several scholars have recently highlighted the narrowness of accounting research regarding it as a threat to scholarly developments in the field. The aim of this study was to…
Abstract
Purpose
Several scholars have recently highlighted the narrowness of accounting research regarding it as a threat to scholarly developments in the field. The aim of this study was to chart progress in management accounting research using a sample of doctoral dissertations published in Finland. In particular, the study examines the range and diversity of research strategic choices in Finnish dissertations over time, including the topics and methodological and theoretical approaches chosen. The authors also briefly compare findings over time and with other progress studies.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal historical investigation was selected. All of the 80 management accounting doctoral dissertations published in Finnish business schools and departments during 1945-2015 were analysed.
Findings
The findings reveal that an expansion of doctoral education has led to an increasing diversity of research strategic choices in Finland. Different issues have been of interest at different times; so, it has been possible to cover a wide range of cost, management accounting and other topics and to use different methodological and theoretical approaches over time. Consequently, management accounting has become a rich and multifaceted field of scientific research.
Research limitations/implications
While this analysis is limited to doctoral research in Finland, the results should be relevant in advancing the understanding of the development of management accounting research.
Practical implications
Overall, the findings support the view that there have been, and continue to be, many ways to conduct innovative research in the field of management accounting.
Social implications
Dissertation research in this field has been extensive and vital enough to educate new generations of academics, guarantee continuity of the subject as an academic discipline and make management accounting a significant academic field of research.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to current research on management accounting change by an analysis of a sample of doctoral dissertations.
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