Search results

I. INTRODUCTION In this monograph we point out and analyse various dimensions of bargaining structure, which we define broadly as the institutional configuration within which bargaining takes place, and attempt to provide some guidelines for management action. We look at the development, theory, and present framework of bargaining structure in Britain and then examine it in terms of choices: multi‐employer versus single employer, company versus plant level bargaining, and the various public policy issues involved.

Examines the role of the mood state that one brings to a service encounter and its effect on behaviour. Provides a broad overview of both mood effect and service encounter literature to arrive at a set of propositions linking the two. Offers implications for services marketers and directions for further research.

This study aims to take advantage of segment reporting to provide empirical evidence on the impacts of increasing the share of revenue generated from the timeshare segment in companies’ portfolios for firm value and profitability.

This paper examines data from five publicity traded hospitality companies that have a timeshare component and carries out different regression analysis using 69 observations ranging from 1998 to 2016.

The findings support the idea of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of timeshare business (DOT) and firm value and profitability. However, for positive values of DOT, an increase of DOT consistently has a negative impact on firm value and accounting profitability.

This study adds to previous findings through the addition of new variables and contemporary accounting practices. Though sufficient for the analyses conducted, the limited number of observations raises generalizability issues. Further research with larger data sets is advised.

This study implies that timeshare may continue to grow, but not as a segment in the lodging sector; rather as an industry mainly composed of timeshare-dedicated companies. As firms consider diversification or consolidation, this study may inform decisions related to potential firm value.

This study provides evidence to support previous literature related to spin-off activity in the lodging sector. Perhaps more importantly, this study adds value to research on firm value and profitability by extending traditional models and by developing a new “degree of business” variable using segment reporting.

Evaluation and measurement (E&M) remains a critical and debated topic among communication scholars and practice. Substantial research and professional efforts have been devoted to discussing what should be measured and which methods should be applied. Most of the E&M models seem to carry a positivist imprint. But, in real-life, organizations could not have clear aims, enough resources, or adequate informative systems to support E&M. Moreover, several contextual factors could affect the implementation of E&M management processes. The communication literature rarely highlights these factors. To fulfill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to theorize the contextual factors relevant to the management of the evaluation process.

A scoping literature review was carried out exploring the role of contextual factors and impact of contextual factors on E&M management processes. More specifically, the review examines the contribution provided by program evaluation and performance measurement (PM) fields of research.

The paper provides a scoping review of program evaluation and PM approaches. Additionally, it explains how both streams of thought argued the importance of contextual factors, such as organizational, relational, cultural and communicative factors, for the success of any evaluation processes. The study underlined that the main evaluation models used in the field of communication have overlooked these studies and put on evidence the role of contextual factors in effectively executing communication E&M.

The paper enriches the dominant rationale concerning the E&M management processes by incorporating literature on: program evaluation; and PM. The analysis could provide useful insights also from a professional perspective, by helping practitioners for a contextual assessment of strategic communication programs and activities.

A methodology for implementing CAPM systems is described. The research was motivated by evidence of dissatisfaction with the performance of current systems, and the existence of no generic methodology. A superposition process was employed. Areas of functional management were explored for sources of implementation methodologies and yielded a number of attributes for successful implementation. The emergent structure was then validated against field studies. The result, a methodology for improving control, is a three‐level hierarchy. The first level assesses the ability of the organisation to absorb change. The next considers the options for better control. The lowest level is concerned with implementation.

In this paper, the authors empirically investigate under which conditions production network management is effective to improve manufacturers' financial performance. For this, the authors explore contingencies between production networks and the three key dimensions of organizational environment.

A survey with senior managers was conducted for this research. The authors used a hierarchical regression analysis to test interaction effects and draw on follow-up interviews with chief operating officers (COOs) and senior managers to elaborate and explain the found associations.

Results indicate that manufacturers' financial performance is only associated with their network capability level if they operate in hostile competitive environments. In moderate competitive environments, improvements in the network capability level are not associated with greater financial performance. In particularly munificent environments, such production network upgrades are even associated with the opposite effect.

Results highlight in which organizational contexts upgrading production networks has positive performance implications and under which circumstances it is ineffective or even counterproductive.

The authors draw on unique survey data to add quantitative evidence to the predominantly conceptual and qualitative literature on global production networks. This is also one of the first studies to connect the topics of production networks and organizational environment.

This paper reports on research investigating the process of formation of manufacturing strategy in six UK manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Realised manufacturing strategy can be considered to be the pattern formed in the stream of actions taken within a firm’s manufacturing function. The research aims to locate the source of that stream by identifying the causal origins of strategic manufacturing actions using a strategy charting method. The findings indicate that, for these companies, realised manufacturing strategy is predominantly formed through a bottom‐up emergent process, arising from the preferences of personnel within the manufacturing function. For most strategic manufacturing actions, there is no demonstrable link to business strategy. As such, these firms are not following best‐practice manufacturing strategy literature, which advises that manufacturing strategy be derived from business strategy in a top‐down deliberate process. This is the case despite differences in the size, products, customers, ownership structures and histories of the companies. The paper speculates that, in UK SMEs, more widely, manufacturing strategy may similarly not arise from the pursuit of business objectives. This may be because the concept of manufacturing as a potential strategic weapon is absent in the SME community, or because the formalised top‐down deliberate process of developing manufacturing strategy associated with this concept is inappropriate in the dynamic environments in which most SMEs operate.

This paper seeks to explore the interplay and interdependencies of factory and network capabilities. This issue has become progressively more important as companies seek to manage dispersed networks of plants capable of responding to increasingly competitive and volatile environments. The paper draws on field studies of two international manufacturing networks comprising eight factories in six countries. The research used a case‐based methodology that combined multiple interviews and ethnographic research at each location. Factory and network level capabilities were shown to simultaneously affect a suggested set of dimensions of operational performance and a matrix was proposed to visualise this interdependency. The case studies show that decisions regarding factory and network issues are often taken independently of each other despite the fact that they may be heavily interdependent. The cases also highlight the critical dimension of time in factory and network level capability building as well as the need for developing strategy processes that take into account the interdependency of factory and network capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to set out to provide a selected bibliography or recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogues examining library instruction and information literacy.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

In order to respond to the many challenges that confront them, organizations must assist their leaders to develop their personal and professional strengths. The development of leaders and leadership involves more than just the development of knowledge and must become an integral part of the organizational culture so as to also develop know-how and soft skills. Accordingly, programs have been created that are based on collaborative learning and the contextualization of the various issues demanding resolution, all with a view to developing leadership capable of surpassing the limitations of current management methods. To demonstrate how these programs can influence leadership, this article proposes a theoretical review of leadership, viewed as an ongoing process and then presents three proven development programs: coaching, mentoring and action learning.