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Organisations with low absenteeism and low turnover can be distinguished from organisations with high absenteeism and turnover through the identification and implementation of sophisticated and strategic best practices such as benchmarking relative cost position, developing a corporate ethic, valuing the negotiation of an enterprise agreement, and not having a written OH&S policy. Several of the remaining 16 practices identified in the literature as best practices, including benchmarking customer service, having a policy addressing recruitment, selection and promotion, were shown to be standard industry practice in the AFI. The findings suggest that benchmarking allows organisations to identify and replicate the innovations of competitors, but competitive advantage requires innovation rather than replication.

Through a series of critical discussions on Karl Popper’s evolutionary analysis of learning and the non-authoritarian values it promotes, the purpose of this paper is to advocate a Popperian approach for building medical student knowledge. Specifically, it challenges positivist assumptions that permeate the design and management of many educational institutions, including teaching hospitals, by considering what does and does not happen when learning takes place.

To illustrate how Popper’s approach differs from such a conception of learning, the paper examines the exchange between a preceptor (Sam) and a medical student (Lisa). The following exchange is based on the observations during a team meeting in a Canadian teaching hospital. The authors sent the transcript of the observation to Lisa for her comments. The statements in italics represent Lisa’s additions. Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of participants in the exchange.

Popper’s evolutionary analysis of learning and the Objective Knowledge Growth Framework provide a means of managing specific aspects of one’s education through engaging in this learning process. Although this approach to teaching and decision making takes time to master, it does not require reconstituting existing institutional arrangements before it can be implemented in hospitals. Instead, it asks medical students, teachers and practitioners to be open to the theoretical underpinnings of the approach and to view knowledge growth as a process of systematic trial and error elimination.

This paper is original in its conceptualisation and may well become a classic in education circles. It draws on Popper’s philosophical arguments and enters into a much needed discourse for teaching and learning.

It is argued that existing literature on knowledge management fails to combine inter‐and intra‐organizational knowledge transfers and also neglects the role of spatial proximity in face‐to‐face transfers of tacit knowledge. A model is developed that captures these variables in a dyadic transfer situation, and short cases illustrate aspects of the model. Suggestions are made on how the dyadic model may be developed to apply to interactions in networks of more than two actors.

This study aims to explore the influence of the individual student profile of Hofstede’s Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectiveness and Long-Term Orientation on student service quality expectations in higher education.

Data is collected via a survey consisting of items from a standard Hofstede and a higher education adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. The survey sample includes 128 students who represent the entire population of a taught postgraduate course in Finance at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation analysis are used to describe and identify the relationship between student individual cultural values and student service quality expectations. Multiple regression analysis is applied to estimate the relationship between SERVQUAL constructs and items with respect to Hofstede’s cultural determinants.

The findings of this study suggest that individual culture can influence student service quality expectations in higher education.

In a context of a prospective quality management approach, there is value for HEIs to explore the individual cultural profile of their students as a way of understanding and actively managing student service quality expectations.

To the authors’ best knowledge, no previous study combines the SERVQUAL and Hofstede models in exploring the impact of cultural values on student service quality expectations in higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether customer-company identification (CCI) can transfer from one organization to the next within the context of service alliances.

A between-subjects experiment using a fictitious alliance and a field study focused on a real alliance tests identification transfer at the time of a service alliance announcement and while the service alliance is in operation.

Identification transfer is enabled by an exclusive service alliance but not an inclusive one. For identification transfer to be maintained, customers must perceive the companies as a coherent group (i.e. high entitativity) and have close physical proximity to the alliance.

By drawing heavily on self-categorization theory for the proposed effects, the current research provides a new theoretical framework to the service and brand alliance literature that contrasts with the attitude-based theories commonly used. Furthermore, the current research explores how company-company relationships influence CCI whereas most research has focused on characteristics of the customer-company relationship. These two differences suggest service alliances provide more value to the companies and customers than currently realized.

Business ethics/corporate social responsibility.

From undergrad to executive education (the case series has been successfully used with MBA students and executives).

The case series starts by describing how a fictitious company (called L'ArtiMarché) faced an individual corruption issue after entering the Russian market. After describing the company's creative reaction, the case shows that corruption issues can easily reoccur and might require a more systematic approach of L'ArtiMarché to fight corruption within the company and in the society at large.

Responding/reacting to (external) corruption; governance and compliance systems to prevent corruption; and contribution of companies to the development of the social/political/moral framework of their own operation.

Teaching notes.

This paper explores the impact of China’s growing prominence in global and regional foreign direct investment (FDI) fl ows on the Southeast Asian countries as investment locations. Providing internal social and economic cohesion is maintained, China is likely to exert a greater pull on regional FDI after WTO accession. To benefit from China’s success, the Southeast Asian countries will need to replace deteriorating individual locational advantages relative to China with a superior regional one. The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement or the Asian Investment Area or both are likely to be important policy solutions.

Naming practices reflect culture, language and identity considerations. This study aims to explore Chinese American naming choices, revealing nuanced and complex linguistic, cultural and pragmatic considerations for teachers of literacy.

The authors interviewed Chinese parents who are now living with their school-aged children in the USA on the naming choices of their students. By using content analysis, this study found patterns and themes from the interview data.

The findings of this study suggest Chinese parents named their US school-aged children by taking into consideration of both Mandarin and English linguistic features, traditional and pop culture and the transnational identity of their children.

The findings of this study can help teachers and teacher educators better understand the naming traditions of Chinese American families and connect these traditions to literacy instruction in the classroom. This study proposes practical suggestions suitable for both monolingual and multilingual students to explore all children’s names and help build inclusive, culturally sustaining classrooms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers of customer value, and their respective relationships with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, between two culturally distinct groups of adventure tourists.

The study adopted a descriptive design and compared data from 301 Japanese and Western adventure tourists who experienced the same adventure tour. The respondents were split into two groups, and a path modeling approach was used to examine similarities and differences.

The results indicated that Japanese tourists attached more importance to emotional value and novelty value. Western tourists, however, attached relatively more importance to the utilitarian dimension of price value for money.

The main implication of this study is that tourism operators should account for differences in value perceptions between Japanese and Western tourists when planning tour operations, training tour guides, and managing tour itineraries. Operators should also consider customizing their tour products to fit the specific needs of these different cultural groups. This reinforces the adaptation argument when marketing tourism to international consumers.

This study highlights that different value drivers affect the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of Japanese tourists, relative to Western tourists. The need for adaptation of tourism products toward certain international tourists is thus necessary. The research also reinforces the importance of conceptualizing and measuring customer value as a multidimensional construct in an international adventure tourism context.