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1 – 10 of 26Geopost is a leading distribution and logistics player in the UK and Ireland, employing over 3,800 people. It embarked upon a major change and leadership programme, named “Making…
Abstract
Geopost is a leading distribution and logistics player in the UK and Ireland, employing over 3,800 people. It embarked upon a major change and leadership programme, named “Making A Difference” (MAD). Comprised of four modules, MAD has facilitated the development of change management skills and behaviours amongst 60 managers at MAD. MAD encapsulates modules on personal leadership styles, people management and creative thinking and interpersonal skills. It is underpinned by participation in a 360‐degree exercise. The success of MAD at Geopost has been reflected in real bottom line impact areas, as well as many other softer benefits.
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Michael Jay Polonsky, Ahmed Ferdous, Nichola Robertson, Sandra Jones, Andre Renzaho and Joanne Telenta
This study aims to test the efficacy of the awareness of a transformative health service communication intervention targeted to African refugees in Australia, designed to increase…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test the efficacy of the awareness of a transformative health service communication intervention targeted to African refugees in Australia, designed to increase their intentions to participate in blood donation and reduce any identified barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
Following the intervention launch, a survey was administered to African refugees. The data were analysed with structural equation modelling.
Findings
Intervention awareness increases refugees’ blood donation knowledge and intentions. Although it has no direct effect on refugees’ medical mistrust or perceived discrimination, intervention awareness indirectly reduces medical mistrust. The findings, thus, suggest that the intervention was transformative: it directly and indirectly reduced barriers to refugee participation in blood donation services.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include a relatively small sample size, single-country context and measures that address blood donation intentions versus behaviours.
Social implications
Addressing health service inequities through intervention awareness, via the mere exposure effect, can facilitate refugees’ health service participation and inclusion.
Originality/value
This study contributes to transformative service research and responds to calls to improve individual and community well-being by testing a transformative intervention targeted towards vulnerable consumers. Not all targeted refugees donated blood, but being encouraged to participate in this health service within the host society can foster their greater inclusion.
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Ilayaraja Subramanian, Jörg Finsterwalder and C. Michael Hall
This study aims to systematically review and conceptualise service-related research on refugees to identify gaps in the literature, derive future research avenues and stimulate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to systematically review and conceptualise service-related research on refugees to identify gaps in the literature, derive future research avenues and stimulate interdisciplinary research and practice to improve well-being of refugees.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic literature review (SLR) of 102 journal articles published or available online from 2010 to 2020.
Findings
Ten themes are identified across the three phases of the refugees’ service journey (entry, transition and exit). Most of the articles focus on the exit phase. One-third of the literature analyses refugees’ access and adaptation to health-care services. The dearth of research on other refugee services reflects the failure to attend to all aspects of service provision across all phases of the refugee service journey.
Research limitations/implications
While the ten themes across the three phases require scholars’ and practitioners’ attention, different aspects of the SLR’s findings necessitate further investigation. To reinvigorate research and practice, and stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration, a novel Communities of Practice approach is suggested.
Practical implications
Practitioners and policymakers should place more focus on the entry and transition phases of the refugee service journey.
Social implications
Lack of research and engagement with the first two phases of the refugee journey might come at the expense of refugees. More service support is needed to buffer the journey from homeland to host country.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this SLR on refugee-related services is the first of its kind from a service research perspective.
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Laszlo Sajtos, Michael Kleinaltenkamp and Julie Harrison
Institutional arrangements for collaborative purposes have gained increasing attention within research on service ecosystems. For collaborations to be effective, actors need to…
Abstract
Purpose
Institutional arrangements for collaborative purposes have gained increasing attention within research on service ecosystems. For collaborations to be effective, actors need to undertake institutional work that will result in new institutional arrangements. When institutional work takes place across service ecosystems, actors may be confronted with non-harmonious or conflicting institutional arrangements, which need to be reconciled by translating the incompatible views of diverse ecosystems. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of boundary objects as a means of facilitating institutional work across ecosystems, and present their mechanism in undertaking institutional work.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal qualitative interviews were conducted with three key actors (funding agency, service provider and clinicians) in providing home-based support services (HBSS). The data were analyzed by undertaking a thematic analysis of the transcripts, which helped to identify the actors’ views on the nature of HBSS and its impact as a boundary object within the implementation of the case-mix system, and thus to empirically illustrate the theoretical assumptions.
Findings
The data assisted in the creation of a conceptualization that maps out the process of boundary objects facilitating (disrupting and creating) institutional work. This study supports that boundary objects disrupt boundaries between actors’ ecosystems, which was a sufficient condition to dismantle institutional support for the practices of individual fields. Furthermore, the object has changed the type and extent of interaction between actors in an ecosystem to allow these actors to redefine their identity and role in the new institutional arrangement.
Originality/value
This work has developed a novel conceptualization for a boundary object-led translation process in facilitating institutional work. To the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the processes and mechanisms of boundary objects in facilitating institutional work across ecosystems.
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Catarina Antónia Martins, Maria João Aibéo Carneiro and Osvaldo Rocha Pacheco
Destination management organizations perform a very important role regarding the management of tourism destinations. Destination management systems are a key technological…
Abstract
Purpose
Destination management organizations perform a very important role regarding the management of tourism destinations. Destination management systems are a key technological infrastructure for these organizations. However, in the literature, it is not clear what are the factors that promote the implementation of these systems, neither what are the factors that contribute to their success. This study aims to propose and test two research models to overcome these research gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
The first model refers to the determinants of the implementation of destination management systems, and the second model refers to the determinants of the success of those systems. The models are tested with data collected through a questionnaire survey from destination management organizations of five European countries, which are among the leaders in international tourism receipts.
Findings
Concerning the factors that promote the implementation of destination management systems, this study reveals the importance of the diversity of partnerships that the private sector establishes in the destination, of advantages resulting from governance and of partners' involvement in the functions of destination management organizations. Concerning the factors that promote the success of these systems, this study highlights the importance of a phased implementation, the fact that a high number of functionalities in the system prevents success and the importance of having a revenue model that can support financial and operating costs.
Originality/value
The study provides important theoretical and practical contributions to the successful implementation of destination management systems by destination management organizations.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential contribution of some approaches, i.e. value‐chain, strategic marketing, electronic marketing and clustering, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential contribution of some approaches, i.e. value‐chain, strategic marketing, electronic marketing and clustering, and to suggest a conceptual framework allowing improving effectiveness in the field of promoting tourism destinations. Hence, the paper puts forward a conceptual framework allowing attaining an integrated approach in tourism destination marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach adopted and implemented for this study is a desk research based on extensive literature and well‐established theories.
Findings
The paper provides insights into a comprehensive approach to destination marketing planning and implementation and suggests a conceptual framework encompassing approaches contributing to improve effectiveness and efficiency in the field of destination marketing.
Practical implications
The factors influencing e‐marketing and clustering approaches are highlighted and a set of recommendations are put forward for destination marketers.
Originality/value
Destination marketing organisations all over the world have to implement innovative and appropriate approaches; and use adequate tools and techniques in order to improve their marketing activities effectiveness and efficiency. The paper successfully addresses the complexity in the field of destination marketing due to the various stakeholders involved and to the nature of tourism product/experience. Therefore, this paper successfully suggests a conceptual framework contributing to improve effectiveness and efficiency of activities of destination marketing organizations by adopting an integrated approach based on well‐established theories.
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Arun Kumar Tarofder, Govindan Marthandan, Avvari V. Mohan and Prashantini Tarofder
The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the critical factors for the diffusion of web technologies in supply chain management (SCM) functions, based on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the critical factors for the diffusion of web technologies in supply chain management (SCM) functions, based on the technology‐organizational‐environment model, and to identify the benefits resulting from diffusion.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected, via an internet survey, from 251 respondents, ranging from middle‐level to top‐level managers, from firms which currently utilize web technologies for their supply chain activities. Structural equation modelling was employed for five factors: relative advantage; competitive pressure; complexity; trialability; and top management support, which have been hypothesized to affect the diffusion of web technologies in SCM functions.
Findings
The results suggest that all the factors except trialability are significant predictors of web technologies' diffusion in supply chain functions. The results show also that by diffusing web technologies, organizations can enhance their supply chain activities.
Research limitations/implications
The survey was conducted in a Malaysian context, using a limited set of variables, thus limiting the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
This study provides a greater understanding of managers' perception of web technology diffusion in their organizational SCM functions, and benefits realizing from diffusion of web technology, such as operational efficiency.
Originality/value
Those interested in adopting web technologies in their supply chain activities may find these results helpful in guiding their efforts.
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Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa, Michael Nyarko, Monica Addison and Dadson Awunyo-Vitor
A key strategy in the policy of saw millers and artisanal millers supplying the domestic market with legal and sustainable lumber is the transformation of chainsaw operators into…
Abstract
Purpose
A key strategy in the policy of saw millers and artisanal millers supplying the domestic market with legal and sustainable lumber is the transformation of chainsaw operators into legal artisanal millers to stop the production of illegal timber and supply only authorized wood to local trade points. The challenge, however, is how to develop the concept of its viability and acceptability to the chainsaw operators. Specifically, existing and potential investors’ knowledge about the possible costs and revenue is non-existent. This study aims to examine the financial and economic viability of the artisanal timber milling (ATM) business in rural Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from three operational artisanal milling companies in Ghana, net present value, internal rate of return, profitability index and payback period were used in analyzing the viability of artisanal timber milling.
Findings
The results showed that the ATM business is financially and economically viable, attractive and profitable.
Social implications
ATM business has the potential to create more jobs in the timber industry, reduce illegalities in the forestry sector and improve the living standard of individuals used by the sector.
Originality/value
As part of ATM’s medium and long-term strategies, the study encourages stakeholders to consider assisting existing and potential actors who have the passion to venture into this business to acquire concessions and financial support from financial institutions.
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Brian P. Bloomfield and Theo Vurdubakis
The pupose of this paper is twofold. First, to consider the cultural reception of recent developments in genetic technology and human reproduction, particularly in relation to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The pupose of this paper is twofold. First, to consider the cultural reception of recent developments in genetic technology and human reproduction, particularly in relation to the prospect of human cloning and the advent of the “designer human”; and second, to explore the ways in which public discussion of these developments presuppose and recast issues of diversity, difference and (in)equality.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws upon UK print media sources (broadsheet and tabloid newspapers) over the past two decades to examine the ways in which cultural expectations concerning developments in reproductive technology are commonly expressed. It does not aim at a quantitative examination of the content of what was said; rather it seeks to explore how it was said and thus the discursive resources that were employed in doing so.
Findings
The paper suggests that images of “technology” function simultaneously as “mirrors of society”, providing a means for articulating and rhetorically rehearsing the various philosophical antinomies and moral conflicts that characterize social organization.
Originality/value
The paper adopts a novel approach to the question of diversity, difference and (in)equality by considering the “monsters” discursively associated with recent developments in genetic and reproductive technology as well as the “monstrous” forms of social organization that they foreshadow.
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