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The social innovation of devolving HRM responsibilities to line managers results in many debates about how well they implement HRM practices. The implementation constraints line managers perceive in their HRM role are researched by taking organisational contingencies into consideration.

We present four case studies in which our findings are based on quantitative and qualitative data from the cases. The qualitative data allow us to explain some of our quantitative results in terms of organisational differences.

The HRM implementation effectiveness as perceived by line managers depends on the line managers’ span of control, his/her education level and experience and his/her hierarchical position in the organisation. Each HRM implementation constraint knows additional organisational contingencies.

We did not consider possible influences of one organisational characteristic on another, and the effect of this combined effect on the HRM implementation factors. In order to overcome this limitation, we would suggest using a structural equation model (SEM) in future research.

This chapter offers HR professionals solutions on how to structure the organisation and design the HRM role of line managers in order to implement HRM practices effectively.

We see many differences on how HRM implementation is managed in organisations. This chapter offers solutions to policy makers on how to equalise the HRM role of line managers.

The focus of this chapter is on the line manager (instead of HR managers) as implementer of HRM and the impact of organisational contingencies on HRM implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers, inhibitors and enablers of creating a textile-to-textile recycling system in the Scandinavian fashion industry. It investigates the technology, innovation and systemic changes required to enable circular supply chains.

The research study uses a qualitative, interpretivist approach, drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Scandinavian fashion industry.

The main inhibitors to textile-to-textile recycling systems in the Scandinavian fashion industry are: limited technology which creates a challenge for separating materials; high costs of research and development and building the supporting logistics; complexity of supply chains including the multitude of stakeholders involved in product development. The enablers are design and use of new materials, increased garment collection and collaboration. This research suggests that sorting and recycling technology can be enhanced with the use of digital technologies, as this would create transparency, traceability and automatisation.

The research is limited by a small sample size and lack of representation of all key stakeholder groups, which limits the ability to generalise these findings. However, as an exploratory study, the findings provide insights that can be further tested in other contexts.

Understanding of textile-to-textile recycling is emerging both theoretically and practically, however, there is still much that is not understood. This research contributes to furthering understanding of how technology, collaboration and systemic change in the fashion industry can support opportunities for textile-to-textile recycling, thereby aligning with circular economy principles.

This research models the impact of patient perceptions of care quality on overall patient satisfaction in a rural healthcare organization over a three-year time period. The purpose of this paper is to determine if the factors that influence perceptions of service quality change over time and if the change affects overall patient satisfaction.

Data were collected for three fiscal years (2012-2014) using a 36-question, Likert-scaled attitudinal survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify which constructs of five different service quality dimensions were statistically significant in predicting overall patient satisfaction. Paired comparison of means and ANOVA F-tests highlighted significant differences across years and demographics.

Multiple regression models of overall patient satisfaction over a three-year time period had significant repeat variables, indicating salience of the dimensions and constructs of service quality that predict patient satisfaction. However, some dimensions of service quality did not remain significant from one year to another, indicating there may be a gap in the patient service cycle over an extended time frame.

This paper explored the sequential relationship between patient satisfaction survey data and perceptions of service quality over a multi-year time frame. The research focussed on outpatient medical clinics, while the majority of previous studies have focussed on acute care or inpatient stays. A longitudinal study is especially relevant for outpatient clinics where continuity of care is important.

In this study, research was concerned primarily with the development of test methods that are sufficiently sensitive to detect the initial degradation of selected exterior coatings exposed to various pollutant‐containing environments. The test methods employed in generating dose response data included erosion rates, attenuated total reflectance (ATR), gloss and sheen, surface roughness, tensile strength and scanning election microscopy. Five commercially important paint systems were selected for characterizations including an oil house paint, latex coating, an alkyd industrial maintenance coating, a coil coating and an automotive refinish lacquer. The properties of the coating systems were determined periodically consequent to ‘short term’ exposure at four exterior locations and to various pollutant‐containing environments under controlled, but accelerated conditions in an Atlas Xenon Arc Weather‐Ometer® Model 600WR12. The test sites for the former ‘short term’ exterior study were located at Leeds (north central), North Dakota; Los Angeles, California; Chicago (Research Center), Illinois and Valparaiso, Indiana. These sites represent a ‘clean’ rural environment, a high O3 environment, a high SO2 environment, and a relatively high O3 environment plus a moderate SO2 environment, respectively. In the accelerated laboratory exposure study, five enenvironmental pollutant conditions were employed in the Weather‐Ometer including a zero pollutant, 0·1ppm and 1·0ppm SO2 and 0·1ppm or 1·0ppm O3 level. The zero pollutant condition represents the control (clean air) with 0·1 ppm of each pollutant type considered representative of the levels frequently reached in polluted cities. The 1·0ppm levels represent a highly polluted (industrial) site.

This paper aims to propose a framework for evaluating the performance of reverse value chain activities in the clothing industry operating at base of the pyramid. Specifically, the research explores firm and supply chain factors influencing clothing reverse value chain activities with a focus on developing economies.

The study adopted an explorative technique using direct observations and semi-structured interviews to collect information from eight companies and two traders. Internal resources and value chain capabilities were examined using theoretical underpinnings of resource-based view, transaction cost economics and base of the pyramid.

The paper identified multiple benefits of offshoring reverse value chain activities to the developing countries (at the base of the pyramid). Low operation cost, skilled manpower, business knowledge and location are found to be internal success factors. While favourable government legislation and domestic recycling markets are important external factors contributing to the success. Developing economies such as India contribute to firm performance by integrating, transforming, acquiring and co-creating the resources at base of the pyramid. Further, it was found that to achieve higher assets specificity, a few companies have opened their own shops in African countries, while others have opened sourcing branches in Canada or the USA to ensure good quality of raw materials. Collaboration and coordination among different value chain partners minimise cost and increases profitability. Innovation in the process such as clothes mutilation for recycling has created new business opportunities.

Information was collected from only eight organisations and two traders from India. Future scholars may extend the research to generalise the findings by documenting similar phenomena.

The proposed framework can serve a basis for the practitioners to evaluate firm performance, and the insights can be used to achieve sustainability by engaging producers, employees, consumers and community using base of the pyramid approach.

The study provides unique insights into the prevalent export and re-exports phenomena of used clothing. The resource-based view, transaction cost economics and base of the pyramid strategy underpinned together to develop a framework for understanding reverse value chain activities of clothing.

In this paper we report on a theoretical model of structured document indexing and retrieval based on the Dempster‐Shafer Theory of Evidence. This includes a description of our model of structured document retrieval, the representation of structured documents, the representation of individual components, how components are combined, details of the combination process, and how relevance is captured within the model. We also present a detailed account of an implementation of the model, and an evaluation scheme designed to test the effectiveness of our model. Finally we report on the details and results of a series of experiments performed to investigate the characteristics of the model.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Kara) was grown in Open‐Top Chambers (OTCs) in Northern Egypt at ambient (ca 350 ppm) or doubled CO₂ (ca 690 ppm) either in charcoal‐filtered air (15 nl l‐1) or in non‐filtered ambient air (78 nll‐1 O₃) to investigate the changes in physiology and yield under long‐term elevated CO₂ and/or O₃ throughout 100 days. Ambient O₃ level reduced net photosynthetic rates, number and weight of tubers by 18 per cent, 41 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively, whereas elevated CO₂ caused the opposite effect where it increased the same parameters by 44 per cent, 37 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. Significant O₃ x CO₂ interactions were detected. However, O₃ caused an increase in GR and POD by 18 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, while CO₂ caused an increase in POD only by 46 per cent, and there was no effect of O₃ and/or CO₂ on other enzymes. The results of this study are discussed in relation to predicted atmospheric changes.

The influence of corrosive gases on the solderability of palladium/silver thick‐film conductors has been investigated. An experimental set‐up for atmospheric corrosion testing has been constructed in which atmospheres can be created comparable to a heavily polluted industrial environment. Various Pd/Ag thick‐film conductors have been submitted for 14 days to flowing atmospheres containing 1 ppm SO2, 15, 0·2 or 0·04 ppm H2S, 1 ppm NO2, 1 ppm O3 and 0·05 ppm Cl2, separately or in various combinations. When used separately, only H2S causes a poor solderability of the thick‐film conductors. This effect on the solderability turns out to be independent of the H2S concentration; even concentrations as low as 0·04 ppm cause identical corrosion phenomena. The other gases mixed with H2S have a synergistic effect on the corrosion process.

Healthcare facilities are entering an era of increased oversight and heightened expectations concerning both reduced costs and measureable quality. The US Affordable Care Act requires healthcare organizations to collect certain metrics, including patient assessments of quality, in order to monitor and improve the quality of healthcare. These metrics are used as a basis for graduated insurance reimbursements, and are available to consumers as an aid in selecting healthcare providers and insurance plans. The purpose of this paper is to provide healthcare providers with the analytic capabilities to better understand quality of care from the patient’s point of view.

This research examines patient satisfaction data from a multi-specialty Medical Practice Group, and uses regression analysis and paired comparisons to provide insight into patient perceptions of care quality.

Results show that variables related to Access, Moving Through the Visit, Nurse/Assistant, Care Provider and Personal Issues significantly impact overall assessments of care quality. In addition, while gender and type of care provider do not appear to have an impact on overall patient satisfaction, significant differences do exist based on age group, specialty of the physician and clinic type.

This study differs from most academic research as it focusses on medical practices, rather than hospitals, and includes multiple clinic types, medical specialties and physician types in the analysis. The study demonstrates how analytics and patient perceptions of quality can inform policy decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between multivariate process capability indices and loss functions for both nominal‐the‐best and smaller‐the‐better cases, so the likelihood and consequences resulting from the nonconforming of a manufacturing process or an environmental system can be evaluated simultaneously.

In this paper, the authors present a new approach of correlated risk assessment by linking the multiple process capability indices and loss functions, in which the multivariate process capability indices and multivariate loss functions describe the likelihood and consequences as a result of nonconformities in multivariate manufacturing or environmental system, respectively. Then, the associated relationship equations are developed using multivariate methods. Moreover, a step‐by‐step procedure is provided to facilitate the implementation of the correlated risk assessment.

Given the multivariate process capability indices, the authors show that the expected loss can be estimated by developed relationship equations and two numerical examples are also given, to demonstrate how the correlated manufacturing and environmental risks can be properly assessed by linking the multivariate process capability indices and multivariate loss function.

The risk information of likelihood and expected loss, classified in the four planning zones of a strategic planning matrix, provides practising managers and engineers with a decision‐making tool for prioritizing their quality improvement projects when conducting risk assessment for any multivariate process or environmental system.

Once the existing quality/environmental problems and their Key Performance Indicators are identified, one may conduct risk assessment by applying the relationship equations to evaluate the impact of correlated risk on manufacturing processes or multiple environmental emissions inside company; this can lead to the direction of continuous improvement for any industry.