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21 – 30 of over 26000Rong Zhu, Sunny Li Sun and Ying Huang
Initiated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over half a century ago, fair trade has successfully evolved from a regional business discourse to a global social movement…
Abstract
Purpose
Initiated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over half a century ago, fair trade has successfully evolved from a regional business discourse to a global social movement within international trade. In the matter of fair trade coffee, this global social movement has transformed the traditional coffee trade structure of inequality and unfairness into a conglomerate of international institutions that embrace equity and inclusivity – a metamorphosis that can be attributed to NGOs’ institutional entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
In this exploratory study, the authors examine the fair trade coffee industry and trace the actions of NGOs along with other stakeholders at the organizational field level, in moving toward an inclusive model of globalization.
Findings
Departing from exploitative globalization, fair trade practices advocate inclusive growth through the promotion and establishment of greater equity for all as well as higher environmental standards in global value chains.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to nascent research on inclusive growth by analyzing how fair trade promotes inclusive growth and trade in GVCs. This study also contributes to research on institutional entrepreneurship by examining two enabling conditions – the shift in institutional logics and the peripheral social position of NGOs – that enabled NGOs to serve as institutional entrepreneurs in the initiation phase of institutional entrepreneurship.
Practical implications
Policymakers may encourage collaboration between profit organizations and nonprofit organizations to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for trials, errors, and revisions. The evolution of fair trade coffee provides such an example.
Social implications
The coevolution of NGOs and MNEs has made the globalization of fair trade practices possible. The collaboration between NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs (operating on the community logic) and MNEs as institutional followers (operating on the financial logic) support inclusive globalization and sustain fair trade practices.
Originality/value
Drawing on the process model of institutional entrepreneurship, the authors seek to understand the role of NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs in the dynamics of initiating, diffusing and sustaining fair trade coffee practices.
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Giacomo Morri and Karoline Jostov
This paper aims to investigate the impact of leverage on the total shareholder return of European publicly traded real estate vehicles in three periods: Crisis Period (2007-2009)…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of leverage on the total shareholder return of European publicly traded real estate vehicles in three periods: Crisis Period (2007-2009), Rebound Period (2009-2014) and the Whole Period.
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-sectional analysis is used and the leverage effect on the performance is controlled for seven other independent variables (local market risk premium, size, book-to-market, short-term debt, cash); moreover, regional differences are accounted for.
Findings
It is established that during the Crisis Period, leverage levels are negatively associated with performance: this relationship also holds throughout the Whole Period, implying that for real estate securities, the cost of financial distress is larger than the potential gain from taxation, although the economic significance of it is limited. The Fama and French (1992) three factors, including size, book-to-market and local market risk premium, are found to be relevant, which is consistent with the literature. In addition, the UK and Sweden regions are identified as significant.
Originality/value
Even if there is sizeable body of literature on determinants of leverage and determinants of asset returns, little work has been done on how leverage affects the returns of European real estate companies. In addition, this paper takes advantage of observations from a full economic cycle and the possible effects of the crisis period.
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Steven Jay Cuvelier, Di Jia and Cheng Jin
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Chinese police cadets’ background, motivations and educational perceptions and their attitudes toward common…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Chinese police cadets’ background, motivations and educational perceptions and their attitudes toward common police roles.
Design/methodology/approach
Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 382 Chinese police cadets. Based upon predisposition and socialization theories, personal background, career motivation and attitudes toward education were examined as statistical explanations of cadets’ attitudes toward order maintenance, preventative patrol, law enforcement, and community building as elements of the police role.
Findings
Cadets who recognized more value in their practical and academic education also significantly favored the transitional and contemporary police roles (preventative patrol, law enforcement, and community building), which are taught as part of their college curriculum. But educational perceptions had no effect on order maintenance, which is a more historical role, and not emphasized by the police college. Cadets from lower SES backgrounds and those receiving outside influence to select a policing career tended to support traditional police roles whereas cadets with a relative in policing tended to show greater support for contemporary policing roles.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by being a cross-sectional study of a single police college. Future studies should incorporate a longitudinal element to follow the perceptions of cadets from their school experience into the policing profession and should be conducted in other settings to assess generalizability.
Practical implications
The impact of higher education on police cadets appears to be better measured as a function of their perceived importance of education (engagement) rather than measuring their exposure to it. The effectiveness of police training and education may be enhanced by adopting teaching methods that better engage learners.
Social implications
Better alignment between police officers’ attitudes toward their roles and duties and contemporary police standards and practices will assure more effective and responsible police action and delivery of police services to the community.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to demonstrate that Cadets who hold higher regard for practical and academic education are significantly better aligned to the policing roles emphasized by their educational program.
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Liz Stanley, Kate Mackenzie Davey and Gillian Symon
The purpose of this paper is to explore how two kinds of UK-based media positioned investment banking as dirty work during the financial crisis, thereby engaging in moral…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how two kinds of UK-based media positioned investment banking as dirty work during the financial crisis, thereby engaging in moral enterprise (Becker, 1963) and contributing to the shaping of society's normative contours (Cohen, 1972).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ rhetorical analysis to explore how newspaper editorials and an online blog portray investment banking as tainted between April 2008 and October 2009.
Findings
These media sources construct the values and behaviours of investment bankers, rather than the tasks of their occupation, as morally tainted. Through specific rhetorical strategies the authors advance three key arguments: bankers are morally tainted because their wealth is excessive; because their wealth is not earned; and because they are selfish and materialist.
Originality/value
In investigating media designations of investment banking as dirty work, the paper addresses two aspects of dirty work which are underexplored. First, it examines a high-prestige occupation and second, investigates the construction and attribution of taint to a previously untainted occupation. It makes two methodological contributions to the literature: contributing to the nascent interest in the media's construction of dirty work (e.g. Grandy and Mavin, 2012); and using rhetorical analysis to study the construction of taint.
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IN a paper on airscrew‐blade vibration, published in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society lor September, 1937, the author gave brief descriptions of different designs of…
Abstract
IN a paper on airscrew‐blade vibration, published in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society lor September, 1937, the author gave brief descriptions of different designs of the same general typo of mechanism for exciting harmonic torques in airscrew drives for experimental purposes. 1n these exciters, harmonic inertia torque is produced by rotating a set of identical unbalanced pinions mounted in a Gage and arranged symmetrically about a shaft axis. The pinion axes are parallel to the shaft axis and the pinions are driven either by a sun gear or by an annulus gear. The gear meshing is such that the direction of unbalance for all the pinions of the set is radially outwards at the same instant: when the unbalance is radially outwards or inwards there is momentarily no torque effect.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the orbital perturbation caused by the gravitational orbit–attitude coupling of spacecraft in the proximity of asteroids.
Design/methodology/approach
The gravitational orbit–attitude coupling perturbation (GOACP), which has been neglected before in the close-proximity orbital dynamics about asteroids, is investigated and compared with other orbital perturbations. The GOACP has its origin in the fact that the gravity acting on a non-spherical extended body is actually different from that acting on a point mass located at the body’s center of mass, which is the approximated model in the orbital dynamics. Besides, a case study of a tethered satellite system is given by numerical simulations.
Findings
It is found that the ratio of GOACP to the asteroid’s non-spherical gravity is the order of ρ/ae, where ρ is the spacecraft’s characteristic dimension and ae is the asteroid’s mean radius. It can also be seen that as ρ increases, GOACP will also increase but the solar radiation pressure (SRP) will decrease due to the decreasing area-to-mass ratio. The GOACP will be more significant than SRP at small orbital radii for a large-sized spacecraft. Based on the results by analyses and simulations, it can be concluded that GOACP needs to be considered in the orbital dynamics for a large-sized spacecraft in the proximity of a small asteroid.
Practical implications
This study is of great importance for the future asteroids missions for scientific explorations and near-Earth objects mitigation.
Originality/value
The GOACP, which has been neglected before, is revealed and studied.
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Cui Hutao, Cheng Xiaojun, Xu Rui and Cui Pingyuan
The purpose of this paper is to propose an attitude control algorithm for spacecraft with geometric constraints.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose an attitude control algorithm for spacecraft with geometric constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
The geometric constraint is reformulated as a quadratic form when quaternion is used as attitude parameter, then the constraint is proved to be nonconvex and is further transformed to a convex one. By designing a new constraint formulation to satisfy the real constraint in the predictive horizon, the attitude control problem is reshaped to a convex planning problem which is based on receding horizon control.
Findings
The proposed algorithm is more effective in handling geometric constraints than previous research which used single step planning control.
Practical implications
With novel improvements to current methods for steering spacecraft from one attitude to another with geometric constraints, great attitude maneuver path can be achieved to protect instruments and meanwhile satisfy mission requirements.
Originality/value
The attitude control algorithm in this paper is designed especially for the satisfaction of geometric constraints in the process of attitude maneuver of spacecraft. By the application of this algorithm, the security of certain optical instruments, which is critical in an autonomous system, can be further assured.
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Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in…
Abstract
Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.
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Lingtao Yu, Huajian Song, Tao Wang, Zhengyu Wang, Liqiang Sun and Zhijiang Du
The characteristic of static is quite important especially for the manipulator with force feedback. This paper aims to improve the traditional static model by considering the…
Abstract
Purpose
The characteristic of static is quite important especially for the manipulator with force feedback. This paper aims to improve the traditional static model by considering the limitations such as lacking of versatility and ignoring gravity of links. For this purpose, a new asymmetric mass distribution method on the analysis of universal “force-sensing” model has been put forward to overcome the limitations.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the forces and torques analysis of every link and the moving platform, the static model of 3-RUU manipulator is acquired. Then, based on the physical meaning analysis of every part in the static model of 3-RUU manipulator, a new asymmetric mass distribution method on the analysis of universal “force-sensing” model can be obtained.
Findings
The correctness of the static model of 3-RUU manipulator is verified by simulation results based on Pro/Engineer software and Adams software. Furthermore, experiment results based on a manipulator similar to the Omega.3 manipulator indicate that the universal “force-sensing” model can be applicable to the above manipulator.
Originality/value
A new asymmetric mass distribution method on the analysis of universal static mathematical model has been put forward. Based on physical meaning of the above method, the “force-sensing” model can be established quickly and it owns versatility, which can be applicable to the 3-RUU manipulator, the Omega.3 parallel manipulator and other similar manipulators with force feedback. In addition, it can improve the accuracy of the “force-sensing” model to a great extent.
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