Search results

The present research sought to analyze the effects of customer delight on both internal and external financial structures of publicly traded, service firms.

Primary (i.e. survey) and secondary (i.e. financial records) data sources were gathered. A total of 685 participants responded to one questionnaire focusing on hotels and another one focused on restaurants, both of which measured levels of customer delight and satisfaction. Financial data were gathered from Center for Research in Security Prices, CRSP/COMPUSTAT.

Results of MANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference in the net profit margin (NPM) based on customer delight. Canonical correlation results exposed a significant correlation between satisfaction and delight combined and the financial performance measures (net profit margin, cash flow margin, return on assets and b-beta) combined.

By delighting their customers, managers will achieve higher profit margins. However, these are not likely to result in improved cash flow margin or return on assets. The effects of COVID-19 can alter yearly returns; thus, longitudinal research is needed to continue testing for the effects on delight on financial performance.

The relationship between delight and financial measures had not been previously determined (notwithstanding a few studies using substitute measures for financial performance). The present study uses actual data from the financial filings to empirically test their relationship to customer delight.

The purpose of this paper is to present a surgical robot for spinal fusion and its control framework that provides higher operation accuracy, greater flexibility of robot position control, and improved ergonomics.

A human‐guided robot for the spinal fusion surgery has been developed with a dexterous end‐effector that is capable of high‐speed drilling for cortical layer gimleting and tele‐operated insertion of screws into the vertebrae. The end‐effector is position‐controlled by a five degrees‐of‐freedom robot body that has a kinematically closed structure to withstand strong reaction force occurring in the surgery. The robot also allows the surgeon to control cooperatively the position and orientation of the end‐effector in order to provide maximum flexibility in exploiting his or her expertise. Also incorporated for improved safety is a “drill‐by‐wire” mechanism wherein a screw is tele‐drilled by the surgeon in a mechanically decoupled master/slave system. Finally, a torque‐rendering algorithm that adds synthetic open‐loop high‐frequency components on feedback torque increases the realism of tele‐drilling in the screw‐by‐wire mechanism.

Experimental results indicated that this assistive robot for spinal fusion performs drilling tasks within the static regulation errors less than 0.1 μm for position control and less than 0.05° for orientation control. The users of the tele‐drilling reported subjectively that they experienced torque feedback similar to that of direct screw insertion.

Although the robotic surgery system itself has been developed, integration with surgery planning and tracking systems is ongoing. Thus, the screw insertion accuracy of a whole surgery system with the assistive robot is to be investigated in the near future.

The paper arguably pioneers the dexterous end‐effector appropriately designed for spinal fusion, the cooperative robot position‐control algorithm, the screw‐by‐wire mechanism for indirect screw insertion, and the torque‐rendering algorithm for more realistic torque feedback. In particular, the system has the potential of circumventing the screw‐loosening problem, a common defect in the conventional surgeon‐operated or robot‐assisted spinal fusion surgery.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between organizational adaptability, institutional leadership and business process reengineering performance using the tested complexity theory in a developing economy setting.

This study is correlation and cross-sectional and adopts institutional-level data collected via questionnaires from reengineered microfinance institutions in Uganda. Cluster analysis as data mining technique was used to classify cases based on respondents’ opinions into homogeneous clusters. Nvivo was used to understand the perceptions of business process reengineering performance based on qualitative data. The authors used structural equation modeling to derive the predictive model of business process reengineering performance in a developing world setting.

The authors find that organizational adaptability and institutional leadership are key predictors of business process reengineering performance. Results reveal a predictive model of 61 per cent based on structural equation modeling for the study variables. Cluster analysis as data mining approach explored complex patterns of reengineered business processes.

The use of cluster analysis is susceptible to problems associated with sampling error and absence of fit indices. However, the likelihood of these problems is reduced by the interaction with the data, practical implications and use of smart partial least square to generate structural equations based on derived measurement models of each study variable.

Policymakers of Bank of Uganda, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, should develop sound policies in relation to knowledge management, institutional leadership and adaptive mechanisms to enhance business process reengineering performance to take advantage of new knowledge opportunities for the improvement of their businesses.

Given the results from structural equations generated, managers need to consider institutional leadership and organizational adaptability as key drivers of business process reengineering performance in microfinance institutions. The results confirm the significant role of institutional leadership, organizational adaptability in determining business process reengineering performance outcomes.

Unlike most of the business process reengineering literature, this study contributes to literature by domesticating and testing complexity theory to explain business process reengineering performance in developing economies.

The main objective of this study is to identify and define three sets of factors that might be useful for designing a disaster monitoring and response system.

First, a literature (meta) analysis is presented using academic research. The method was mainly based on a review of the scientific literature. The paper then identifies three sets of factors that may be employed when designing disaster monitoring and response systems.

The paper finds that successful operation of an organization that hosts a disaster monitoring system requires that operators and computers work together.

The model itself in this study is not all‐inclusive. An issue that deserves to be looked into is what role other technical, human, and organizational factors play in system performance.

The importance of disaster monitoring and response systems increased in recent years because of an increase in the numbers of deaths, the numbers of people affected by disasters and their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. These systems have the potential to significantly reduce losses from natural disasters.

This study proposes a model which may be valuable to state and federal agencies, public sector managers and administrators, system analysts, trainers in disaster management, researchers and practitioners involved in disaster and emergency response studies, managers of police, fire, and ambulance systems, and mayors and governors.