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1 – 10 of 15Yulia Malchenko, Megi Gogua, Ksenia Golovacheva, Maria Smirnova and Olga Alkanova
This study aims to systematize and critically analyse existing indices and frameworks on digital capabilities with the focus on consumers’ digital capabilities, identify…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to systematize and critically analyse existing indices and frameworks on digital capabilities with the focus on consumers’ digital capabilities, identify opportunities for their further development and suggest agenda for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 18 frameworks and indices of consumers’ digital capabilities were compared based on their purposes, stakeholders, scope and application areas.
Findings
The study concludes with propositions that generalise current views on conceptualisation, measurement and management of consumers’ digital capabilities. Each proposition is further investigated in terms of possible implications for research and practice.
Practical implications
The study indicates opportunities for businesses not only to consider consumers as recipients and adopters of digital technologies but also to aim to understand how to proactively involve consumers in value co-creation, help them be better educated and have a comprehensive understanding of potential outcomes of their participation in the digital economy.
Social implications
Highlighting individual consumer perspective in existing indices and frameworks will help consider the interests of society and provide win-win opportunities for everyone involved in the digital marketplace through bottom-up engagement in addition to top-down regulation and monitoring.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the extant literature threefold: firstly, existing digital capability frameworks and indices are systematized and critically investigated using criteria of stakeholders, purpose and aims; secondly, consumers are identified as principal stakeholder group whose interests are insufficiently presented in existing indices; thirdly, an integrative approach is suggested for a crucial comparison of existing indices, frameworks and their methodology with the focus on consumers’ interests.
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Ivan Poliakov and Maria Smirnova
This paper aims to characterize community archives in the common array of the manuscript collection of the National Library of Russia (NLR). The purpose of the paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to characterize community archives in the common array of the manuscript collection of the National Library of Russia (NLR). The purpose of the paper is to identify the features of organization of the archival system of Russia and the place of community archives in it. The authors intend to characterize the features of origin, history of existence and preservation of archives of public organizations in Russia on the example of the archives of Russian societies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; to spread knowledge about historical communities of Russia and their archival heritage and to discuss the value of community archives and their information potential.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on the traditional methodology of the academic archival studies. At the same time interdisciplinary approach plays a great role in the field of study of community archives. The findings of the study were obtained as a result of the application of methods of historical research and special historical disciplines: archival heuristics, archive studies, source studies and archeography. The data were complemented by documentary analysis, including materials of nine archives, documents concerning acquisition and storage of these archives.
Findings
As a result of the study of different community archives in the Manuscript Department of the NLR the authors came to the conclusion about poor preservation and diffusion of these archives. It suggests the necessity of developing methods of virtual archive reconstruction.
Originality/value
This is the first study to date on the community archives in Russia. The first attempt to attribute and classify community archives of the NLR.
Bahar Ashnai, Maria Smirnova, Sergei Kouchtch, Qionglei Yu, Bradley R. Barnes and Peter Naudé
The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of what constitutes relationship quality in four different countries. The paper shows which attributes are important in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of what constitutes relationship quality in four different countries. The paper shows which attributes are important in assessing relationship quality and how they vary in importance among countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Conjoint analysis was used to derive how managers trade‐off different attributes of relationship quality. These attributes were: the levels of trust in the relationship, the understanding of each others' needs, the integration of systems between the two companies, the use or abuse of power, and the profit resulting from the interactions. Cluster analysis was used to classify the respondents in order to check if the overall results were indicative of a general consensus among the managers concerned, or alternatively if there were different perspectives on what constituted good quality relationship.
Findings
Whilst the routes to develop relationships may vary between different countries, the attributes which make up relationships are also likely to be valued differently in various places around the world.
Research limitations/implications
Conjoint analysis questions are difficult to answer; making it difficult to have large sample sizes. However, further studies should try to consider increasing the sample size.
Practical implications
The paper shows that there are indeed differences between what it is that managers seek from the relationships that they have to manage: but while noting certain national traits that seem to dominate within particular cultures, there is still variance in the individual datasets, pointing to the fact that managers have to manage their portfolio of relationships in an individual way.
Originality/value
This is the first study that compares the importance of relationship quality within and between four counties.
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The purpose of this paper is to deploy the concept of the “glass slipper” to unpack the construction of systematic patterns of inclusion and exclusion along the lines of gender…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deploy the concept of the “glass slipper” to unpack the construction of systematic patterns of inclusion and exclusion along the lines of gender, age and class in the emerging, female-dominated profession of psychological counselling in Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on an analysis of 26 in-depth qualitative interviews with practising counsellors in Russia.
Findings
Drawing on the glass slipper concept, the article demonstrates how seemingly neutral discursive “rules” of professional conduct articulated by counsellors create an association between a collective professional identity and the social identities of typical practitioners, making this profession appear most suitable for middle-aged, middle-class women. The findings also show how certain embodied identities – in this case masculinity – may be able to “fit” into a slipper that was not made for them.
Originality/value
The paper extends the understanding of the dynamics of inequality patterns in a feminized profession in the Russian context by unveiling previously underexplored patterns of marginalization along the lines of class and age. It also strengthens the collective-associative view of occupational identity and extends the glass slipper concept by exposing the mechanisms of body-work association in this profession and demonstrating that certain identity characteristics may be more universally privileged in the construction of professional identities.
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Masoud Behzad, Benjamin Herrmann, Williams R. Calderón-Muñoz, José M. Cardemil and Rodrigo Barraza
Volumetric air receivers experience high thermal stress as a consequence of the intense radiation flux they are exposed to when used for heat and/or power generation. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Volumetric air receivers experience high thermal stress as a consequence of the intense radiation flux they are exposed to when used for heat and/or power generation. This study aims to propose a proper design that is required for the absorber and its holder to ensure efficient heat transfer between the fluid and solid phases and to avoid system failure due to thermal stress.
Design/methodology/approach
The design and modeling processes are applied to both the absorber and its holder. A multi-channel explicit geometry design and a discrete model is applied to the absorber to investigate the conjugate heat transfer and thermo-mechanical stress levels present in the steady-state condition. The discrete model is used to calibrate the initial state of the continuum model that is then used to investigate the transient operating states representing cloud-passing events.
Findings
The steady-state results constitute promising findings for operating the system at the desired airflow temperature of 700°C. In addition, we identified regions with high temperatures and high-stress values. Furthermore, the transient state model is capable of capturing the heat transfer and fluid dynamics phenomena, allowing the boundaries to be checked under normal operating conditions.
Originality/value
Thermal stress analysis of the absorber and the steady/transient-state thermal analysis of the absorber/holder were conducted. Steady-state heat transfer in the explicit model was used to calibrate the initial steady-state of the continuum model.
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Rodrigo Marques de Almeida Guerra and Maria Emilia Camargo
The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of learning orientation on the market orientation and business performance of industrial Small and Medium Enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of learning orientation on the market orientation and business performance of industrial Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the metal-mechanic and wine sectors in southern Brazil, an emerging economy country.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 309 Brazilian managers of SMEs in the metal-mechanic and wine sectors. The study analyzed overall model fit and causal relationships by confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The survey results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the variables market orientation, learning orientation and business performance in the investigated sectors. Learning orientation mediates the relationship between market orientation and business performance.
Practical implications
This article provides insight to guide industrial managers of Brazilian SMEs in the metal-mechanic and wine sectors in a prosperous region with a thriving economy. The mediating effect of learning orientation can help managers in their commitment to learning, market vision and open-mindedness in teams that work with multiple orientations.
Originality/value
Few studies focus on analyzing the mediating effect of learning orientation in industrial SMEs in the metal-mechanic and wine sectors. This article differs from others due to the relationships between the constructs, LO mediation over MO and BP, relevance of the investigated sectors for the region and multiple guidelines for managers of the investigated SMEs. Previous studies are scarce on the indirect effect of LO on MO and BP in developing countries.
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Maria Elisabete Neves, Adriana Santos, Catarina Proença and Carlos Pinho
The main goal of this paper is to study the influence of some corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate-specific characteristics on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The main goal of this paper is to study the influence of some corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate-specific characteristics on the performance of Iberian-listed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the paper's aim, the authors have used data from 33 Portuguese-listed companies, and 60 Spanish-listed companies, for the period 2011 to 2018. To test the hypotheses, the authors employed the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation method, developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998).
Findings
The results point out that the performance determinants vary depending on the country under analysis and the variable used to measure performance. Despite being neighbors and historically commercially close, these countries have differences in their governmental, social and economic structure that lead to different stakeholder perceptions on the determinants of corporate performance. Specifically, when the authors use Tobin's Q as a market performance variable, board independence and the existence of a CSR committee have different signs in the two countries. The same happens when return on assets (ROA) is used as an accounting variable for internal management, implying that both, managers and potential investors of the two countries have different understandings about the variables that influence their performance.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to comparatively analyze the two countries of the Iberian Peninsula, analyzing the effect of corporate governance and social responsibility characteristics on the performance. The authors' results show that managers and potential investors have different points of view regarding the importance of corporate governance and social responsibility characteristics in corporate performance.
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Joana Baleeiro Passos, Daisy Valle Enrique, Camila Costa Dutra and Carla Schwengber ten Caten
The innovation process demands an interaction between environment agents, knowledge generators and policies of incentive for innovation and not only development by companies…
Abstract
Purpose
The innovation process demands an interaction between environment agents, knowledge generators and policies of incentive for innovation and not only development by companies. Universities have gradually become the core of the knowledge production system and, therefore, their role regarding innovation has become more important and diversified. This study is aimed at identifying the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is aimed at identifying, based on a systematic literature review, the mechanisms of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, as well as the operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process.
Findings
The analysis of the 72 selected articles enabled identifying 15 mechanisms of U–I collaboration, proposing a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors screened nearly 1,500 papers and analyzed in detail 86 papers addressing U–I collaboration, mechanisms of U–I collaboration and operationalization steps of the U–I collaboration process. This paper provides a new classification for such mechanisms and developing a framework presenting the operationalization steps of the interaction process. This research contributes to both theory and practice by highlighting managerial aspects and stimulating academic research on such timely topic.
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