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In the tide of the sharing economy, food and beverage sharing services (FBSS) are gradually drawing public attention. Many comments about FBSS are posted and discussed online, and this information may suggest the key factors in the operation of FBSS. This study aims to identify the key success factors (KSFs) of FBSS from online communities and media, potential consumers, customers and experts.

This study utilizes Internet big data analytics (IBDA) to identify the key FBSS factors and then examines the KSFs of FBSS through conducting an analysis of the importance of key factors for potential consumers, confirmatory factor analysis of customer satisfaction of key factors, multiple regression analysis of customer satisfaction of key factors influencing the customers' intentions to continue participating in FBSS and a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory of experts' opinions.

The results showed that the 15 key FBSS factors through IBDA were screened out. Among them, four KSFs that influence the operation of FBSS were identified. These four KSFs are discussed in detail in the text.

The findings of this study provide references for FBSS providers in the future to enhance customer value, service quality and business competitive advantages of FBSS.

This study aims at investigating the impact of the perceived importance of critical cultural readiness factors (CRFs) is on perceived importance of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) technical critical success factors (CSFs) in UK manufacturing sector.

A survey questionnaire through a multiple embedded case study was conducted. The study involves surveying people in the manufacturing firms followed by non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test to study the relationships.

It was found that the people's perception towards impact of CRFs on technical CSFs of LSS projects is different depending upon each CRF, demographic factors and technical CSFs. This means that particular CRFs need to be prioritised to address LSS technical CSFs.

The study fills the research gap in investigating the perception of people towards inter-relationship of cultural or soft CSFs of LSS and technical or hard CSFs of LSS in manufacturing firms. Nevertheless, the authors suggest further multi-case study analysis covering different manufacturing fields as future studies.

The study is crucial for managers financially to be ready to invest on a successful LSS project and it helps them to diagnose the cultural causes of failure in a more timely way and effectively.

This is a preliminary study focussing on analysing inter-relationship between perceived importance of soft readiness factors and perceived importance of implementing success factors as a missing jigsaw in the current literature.

This paper aims to study the asset pricing implications for stock and bond markets in a long-run risks (LRR) model with regime shifts. This general equilibrium framework can not only generate sign-switching stock-bond correlations and bond risk premium, but also quantitatively reproduce various other salient empirical features in stock and bond markets, including time-varying equity and bond return premia, regime shifts in real and nominal yield curves, the violation of the expectations hypothesis of bond returns.

The researchers study the joint determinants of stock and bond returns in a LRR model framework with regime shifts in consumption and inflation dynamics. In particular, the means, volatilities, and the correlation structure between consumption growth and inflation are regime-dependent.

The model shows that the term structure of interest rates and stock-bond correlation are intimately related to business cycles, while LRR play a more important role in accounting for high equity premium than do business cycle risks.

This paper studies the joint determinants of stock and bond returns in a Bansal and Yaron (2004) type of LRR framework. This rational expectations general equilibrium framework can (1) jointly match the dynamics of consumption, inflation and cash flow; (2) generate time-varying and sign-switching stock and bond correlations, as well as generating sign-switching bond risk premium; and (3) coherently explain another long list of salient empirical features in stock and bond markets, including time-varying equity and bond return premia, regime shifts in real and nominal yield curves, the violation of the expectations hypothesis of bond returns.

The communications business has a number of specialist skill areas within it, and the communications practitioner — particularly at senior level — should seek to acquire a broad range of attributes so that he or she can cater for every facet of the task. Crisis management is an essential skill in some organisations but it remains a skill ignored by too many. If crisis is not part of daily life there can be a dangerous ‘I'll never have to face that’ feeling.

The purpose of this paper is to collate Morrison & Foerster's view on the state of the global outsourcing market and their lawyers' experience with a wide range of sourcing projects in a number of geographic and sectoral markets.

The global sourcing trends 2008 report is co‐authored by Morrison & Foerster partners based in Europe, the USA and Asia and edited by the Chair of Morrison & Foerster's Global Sourcing Group. Initially, colleagues in the Global Sourcing Group were surveyed and this team of more than 60 lawyers in the firm's offices around the globe were asked for their observations over the last 12 months, and predictions for the coming months, based on advising on a wide range of sourcing projects in a number of geographic and sectoral markets. Soundings were taken from more than 50 clients from a client base which includes Fortune 100 companies, some of the world's largest financial institutions; public sector organizations; outsourcing service providers; and a range of corporates from diverse industry sectors including media, travel and logistics, insurance, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and IT. Other advisors in the sector were spoken to also, including many of the leading outsourcing consultancies. Results of this informal survey were then compared with the annual sourcing reports the firm had produced at the start of 2006 and 2007.

The report finds: an economic slowdown will see a move back towards cost‐driven outsourcing – despite the fact that, over the long term, service‐driven or value‐driven deals tend to deliver more stable, successful relationships. Greater emphasis is seen on post‐signature support, governance, supplier management, and the role of the retained function. As the pharma industry sharpens its focus on the core competencies needed to sustain its pipeline of new drug candidates, increased pharmaceutical outsourcing in 2008 and thereafter is expected to be seen. As all companies seek to reduce their corporate carbon footprint, a greater take up of outsourced services that deliver “Green IT” is expected.

This paper provides a summary of global sourcing trends in 2008, comment on the state of the outsourcing market and some trends to watch out for in 2008.

As a profession, public relations has become a global enterprise. Public relations education is only now beginning to catch up with the global nature of the profession. It is quite widely acknowledged that as far as public relations education is concerned, the USA is the leader in the number of universities that offer public relations courses as well as in the breadth and depth of the public relations curriculum. In its October 1999 report on the status of education in the USA, the Commission on Public Relations Education constituted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), called for curricula that prepared students to be effective communicators in the “age of global interdependence”. This paper argues that educators around the world are being hampered by the lack of an established body of knowledge (based on empirical evidence) about public relations practices in different parts of the world. This lack of evidence is preventing educators from preparing their students to become useful professionals who can meet the challenges of the “age of global interdependence”. The paper reviews literature identifying environmental variables that should help one understand public relations practices in different given countries. Based on this review, the paper operationalises these environmental variables as a next step towards cross‐national research. The paper also stresses the need to gather appropriate case studies in international public relations. Future researchers should be able to use this framework for conducting crossnational comparisons of public relations, thereby providing educators with the necessary empirical evidence to prepare the public relations professionals of the future.

Most “quality management models” to date have been largely “experience‐based”. For example, Deming’s famous chain reaction model and Juran’s trilogy model are validated by the gurus’ own observations and experience in the industry. Such “experience‐based” models have laid the cornerstone for some more “theory‐driven” approaches to quality management, usually encompassing theories from other related disciplines such as motivational theories and group dynamics. Such approaches have, in turn, formed the basis for some widely accepted and implemented quality management models. The TQM model of the US Department of Defense is an excellent example of a blueprint of quality strategies adopted by outstanding companies worldwide. Very little literature to date has attempted to verify the veracity of such models using actual data collected from the industry. The present paper aims at presenting an interesting exercise in verifying and confirming one such model using structural equation modelling techniques.

The purpose of this study is to simultaneously investigate a comprehensive analysis of the extent to which strategic orientations, namely, imitation and innovation orientations, and knowledge management affect firm performance.

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of the resource-based view and dynamic capability theory, this scholarly inquiry has proposed a comprehensive framework that delineates the relationships amongst imitation, innovation, absorptive capacity (ACAP), innovation performance and financial performance. To scrutinize the proposed research model, bootstrap routines were used through Smart partial least squares to estimate the procedures. To collect the necessary data, a questionnaire and financial statements were acquired from a sample of 100 Iranian firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The findings of the study have important implications for both scholars and practitioners seeking to enhance firm performance through the effective utilization of imitation, innovation and ACAP.

The results indicate that imitation activities have directly led to the improvement in innovation performance, even in the presence of innovation and ACAP. However, the relationship has not been confirmed by financial performance.

Imitation and innovation orientations have been identified as pivotal strategic orientations that can significantly affect firm performance. As far as the authors know, this investigation represents the first comprehensive examination of both imitation and innovation activities as a critical transition in emerging markets (EMs) characterized by complex economies, such as Iran. The findings may aid firms in enhancing their performance by providing insight into the strategic importance of imitation and innovation orientations in EMs.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the key ingredients of Six Sigma in order to grasp and understand its essential characteristics and then identify suitable ingredients and complements in consideration of vision, strategies, capability, and circumstance of a company.

The study outlines the range of research in Korean enterprises, suppliers, and SMEs. Potential ingredients collected from previous studies about critical success factors, ingredients of Six Sigma and TQM, and criteria of quality awards (Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Award, Deming Prize, Korean National Quality Award) are classified into 11 categories based on Six Sigma expert opinions and affinity analysis. Also, questionnaires are surveyed from champions, master black belts and black belts in 90 Korean companies that have more than three years of experience in implementing Six Sigma. Statistical analysis with factor analysis and hypothesis testing has been done to select the key ingredients and to find the differences among the diverse types of companies.

By using factor analysis, three main factors are derived for each category respectively, and consequently 30 factors in 11 categories are concluded as the key ingredients of Six Sigma in Korean companies. There is a significant difference in importance of Six Sigma key ingredients according to company size, business type, and implementation phase.

A study may be conducted to identify Six Sigma success factors according to corporate characteristics from key ingredients identified in this study in future.

The paper investigates the key ingredients of Six Sigma based on a survey of diverse sizes, industries, and implementation phases of Korean companies. Compared with other studies conducted by empirical methods, the survey data are statistically analysed and the evaluation results are represented as quantitative indicators.

To propose a framework with which to study the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries, with an emphasis on research design to examine the issues surrounding the phenomena.

A framework is developed that consists of four constructs, namely conditions, roles and contributions, learning, and efficacy. Details of the constructs are explained.

Management consulting industry proves to be a fertile research ground to study strategic alliances with regard to firm size. Through an illustration, it is shown that the proposed framework can be put into practice to investigate relevant research questions.

The framework has limited generalizability to situations where the clients of the knowledge‐intensive service are not clearly defined up front.

Knowledge industries will benefit from developing taxonomy of expertise. Client firms may benefit from encouraging small firm to form strategic alliances.

The contribution is threefold; identification of the interplay of firm size and the practice of alliance formation in knowledge industries as a viable research topic; a framework with which to examine the efficacy of strategic alliances of small firms in knowledge industries; and proposing to expand the knowledge management research beyond intra‐firm learning.