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1 – 10 of 13Michael A. Saliba, Andrew Vella Zarb and Jonathan C. Borg
The purpose of this paper is to address a problem that is commonly faced by manufacturing companies in the plastics industry, where large and different batches of freshly produced…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address a problem that is commonly faced by manufacturing companies in the plastics industry, where large and different batches of freshly produced units need to be unloaded from the injection‐moulding machines and relocated, using automation.
Design/methodology/approach
The new solution is reached through a formal design approach, including a function analysis, a product design specification, a quality function deployment exercise, the generation of a number of conceptual solutions, and concept evaluation using morphological charts, failure mode and effect analysis and a decision matrix.
Findings
A single modular end effector that can be easily reconfigured for a large variety of moulds has been developed. The results are also extrapolated to more general applications where an end effector is required to carry out simultaneously several different but well‐defined functions in the presence of high variety.
Research limitations/implications
The critical decision that often needs to be made in industry, between flexibility and reconfigurability, is discussed. It is shown that when batch sizes are large, the penalty incurred in reconfiguration time is well offset by gains in simplicity, reliability and lower cost.
Practical implications
The company involved in this case study will achieve significant savings in costs and in storage space, since it will no longer need dedicated gripping devices for its different products.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates the application of a formal design and development approach to arrive at a novel reconfigurable solution to a common parts handling problem in industry.
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Keywords
William Barnett and Michael Saliba
There is a significant body of literature explaining how a free market for kidneys would eliminate both the economic and the medical shortage of kidneys and thus, in addition to…
Abstract
There is a significant body of literature explaining how a free market for kidneys would eliminate both the economic and the medical shortage of kidneys and thus, in addition to supplying sufficient kidneys for those who become needy in the future, remove the entire backlog of 40,000+ patients waiting for a kidney transplant in the United States. This article is an attempt to fathom the financial and market processes that would evolve were a free market for kidneys to be permitted. Issues addressed include the types of institutions that would likely develop, how transactions would be facilitated, and what would happen to the price of kidneys both in the short and long term.
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Zafar U. Ahmed, Philip W. Zgheib, Abdulrahim K. Kowatly and Peter Rhetts
The Lebanese began their present emigration in the middle of the nineteenth century, heading towards North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia…
Abstract
Purpose
The Lebanese began their present emigration in the middle of the nineteenth century, heading towards North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. Today's Lebanese diaspora is made of highly educated and prominent entrepreneurs who have created huge marks in their adopted homelands and the world. In the current study the authors aim to explore this and make suggestions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use historical literature review and synthesis in order to explore the topic and make suggestions for future research.
Findings
The authors find that entrepreneurs from Lebanon have had a significant impact on the economies of many parts of the world.
Originality/value
This paper is original in that it brings together the research on entrepreneurship and Lebanon so that future researchers can have good ideas as to ways to pursue future cross‐cultural research.
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Steven H. Appelbaum, Regina Calcagno, Sean Michael Magarelli and Milad Saliba
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the “how” and “why” must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm’s relationship with its community. To better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today’s global environment the corporate-societal relationship needs to be examined in this three-part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation.
Findings
There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change’s purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative’s success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered.
Research limitations/implications
Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed.
Practical implications
A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability.
Social implications
Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum.
Originality/value
This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.
Details
Keywords
Steven H. Appelbaum, Regina Calcagno, Sean Michael Magarelli and Milad Saliba
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the “how” and “why” must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm’s relationship with its community. The purpose of this paper is to examine the corporate-societal relationship to better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today’s global environment in this three-part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to: illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability; and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation.
Findings
There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change’s purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative’s success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered.
Research limitations/implications
Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed.
Practical implications
A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability.
Social implications
Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum.
Originality/value
This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.
Details
Keywords
Steven H. Appelbaum, Regina Calcagno, Sean Michael Magarelli and Milad Saliba
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present kaleidoscopic business landscape the concepts of corporate sustainability are increasingly affecting corporations’ relationships with society and shaping how business leaders interpret changes to their organizations. The path to sustainability is best viewed as an organizational change initiative for which the “how” and “why” must be considered. Broadly, change initiatives have a notably poor success rate, which is likely related to discord between an initiative and the people undertaking it. Corporate sustainability is a transformational change that impacts business culture and a firm’s relationship with its community. The purpose of this paper is to better understand implications of undertaking sustainability change initiatives in today’s global environment the corporate-societal relationship needs to be examined in this three part paper in terms of value creation, for whom, and how sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant portion of this equation. First, a basis for corporate sustainability and the concepts surrounding who the stakeholders need to be examined, after which the reasons for attempting sustainability, in terms of value creation, and considerations for the implementation (culture, identity, attachment) of said change initiative will be explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to illustrate the meaning and approaches to corporate sustainability and analyze how organizational change initiatives can best be used to facilitate organizational transformation.
Findings
There is no consensus on the meaning of corporate sustainability, rather there continues to be an evolution of ideas and theories shaping the evolution of corporate sustainability. To implement any form of corporate sustainability requires that managers understand their objective and the cultural and psychological barriers of organizational change. Better engagement with those undertaking organizational change and clear articulation of the change’s purpose can better lend themselves to an initiative’s success. However, there is no panacea and managers must recognize that approaches may need to be altered.
Research limitations/implications
Research tends to occupy one of two spheres, either corporate sustainability or change initiatives. More linkage between these two concepts and empirical research of the effectiveness of organizational change practices for corporate sustainability is needed.
Practical implications
A better understanding of organizational change theories, practices, and procedures may benefit managers and organizations that endeavor to realize corporate sustainability.
Social implications
Given the implications of recent corporate collapses and their perceived malice, there is now greater thought about the role these organizations have in society. Concepts regarding shared value and mutual benefit to society and corporations can be expected to remain at the forefront of the public decorum.
Originality/value
This paper sought to draw stronger ties between corporate sustainability and organizational change, highlighting that the two are codependent.
Details
Keywords
A chronological outline of library and bibliographic development prefaces this case‐study. It is not exhaustive and is meant to be only indicative of the evolution of library and…
Abstract
A chronological outline of library and bibliographic development prefaces this case‐study. It is not exhaustive and is meant to be only indicative of the evolution of library and bibliographic services and does not in itself replace a detailed history of the subject area.
Latisha Reynolds, Samantha McClellan, Susan Finley, George Martinez and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares
This paper aims to highlight recent resources on information literacy (IL) and library instruction, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight recent resources on information literacy (IL) and library instruction, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and IL published in 2015.
Findings
This paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain either unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and IL.
Details
Keywords
Cornelia Staub and Michael Siegrist
The purpose of this research paper was to examine difficulties that consumers have when choosing wine in a restaurant and whether structuring a wine list according to taste rather…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research paper was to examine difficulties that consumers have when choosing wine in a restaurant and whether structuring a wine list according to taste rather than origin facilitates decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two online studies in Switzerland to assess whether a wine list organized according to wine style categories, such as fresh and dry or bold and fruity, reduces consumers’ perceived difficulty of choice compared to a traditional origin-grouped wine list and which wine list consumers prefer. In the first study (N = 577), participants received either an origin- or a style-grouped wine list. In the second study (N = 276), participants received and evaluated both wine lists.
Findings
In Study 1, participants with the style-grouped wine list had a longer decision time, but perceived difficulty of choosing a wine was the same as that for the origin-grouped wine list. Study 2 revealed that participants strongly preferred either the origin- or style-grouped wine list. Overall, more than half the participants preferred the style-grouped wine list, indicating that many consumers may appreciate wine lists organized according to wine style.
Practical implications
The findings underscore that restaurants should recognize customer preferences for wine list structures, which may influence customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
This paper assesses consumer perceptions of different wine list structures and how these affect consumers’ selection of a wine in a restaurant.
Details