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The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of PRINCE2 (PRoject IN Controlled Environments 2) standard on customer satisfaction jointly with vendor relationship management capability in the information technology outsourcing (ITO) context. This paper further tries to explore the above underlying mechanism by studying the mediating effect of deliverable quality.

This paper develops a mediated moderation model to explain the underlying influence processes of PRINCE2 standard, vendor relationship management capability and deliverable quality on ITO customer satisfaction. By conducting a pair-wise survey of 260 project managers in seven Iranian firms, the model and hypotheses are empirically tested with the partial least squares method.

Our results suggest that firms benefit more in terms of IT costs reduction when they have a higher level of complementary investment in an external standard, especially through an interplay effect of the external standard and internal relational aspect. Firms can make business processes more amenable to outsourcing and facilitate monitoring of vendor performance and effective coordination with vendors. More interestingly, we find that this interactive effect is fully mediated by deliverable quality, which, in turn, directly increases ITO customer satisfaction.

This study adds some new knowledge and provides new views to study ITO customer satisfaction by addressing the importance of PRINCE2 standard. This study further enhances our understanding in terms of the underlying pathway through which the PRINCE2 standard jointly affects customer satisfaction with vendor relationship management capability and deliverable quality. With the effort of explicitly explaining the complex mechanisms, this study helps ITO managers proactively escort outsourcing activities and projects.

The purpose of this paper is to represent a unique combined Real time Delphi (RTD) – analytic network process (ANP) approach considering efficient decision making with practical validation.

An ANP model encounters invisible relationship and interdependency among qualitative and quantitative criteria for assessment. RTD supports continuous assessment and improvement in team building, modeling, developing, implementing and validating the procedure. To illustrate practical validation of the model, the authors apply it in a manufacturing firm. A case illustrating the model, finds improved results and judgments followed by conclusion.

A case illustrating the model, finds improved results and judgments. This model improves warehouse performance by integrating lean and people issues. The outcome results in an efficient decision making and consensus judgments. It also fosters high trust and coordination level among people in warehouse.

Previous studies have assessed leanness either at enterprise or manufacturing level. As lean transformation and assessment both are continuous and long-term procedure, first the concept should apply to single function and should lead toward enterprise level. A web-based approach and multi criteria decision-making techniques like analytic hierarchy process, and ANP had been applied individually to measure leanness at enterprise level. Because of the warehouse contributing significantly to the total wastes and costs for an organization, such operations are considered presently.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the concepts of individual and complete statistical power used for multiple testing and shows their relevance for determining the number of statistical tests to perform when assessing non-response bias.

A statistical power analysis of 55 survey-based research papers published in three prestigious logistics journals (International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal) over the last decade was conducted.

Results show that some of the low complete power levels encountered could have been avoided if fewer tests had been used in the assessment of non-response bias.

The research offers important recommendations to scholars engaged in survey research as they assess the effects of non-respondents on research findings. By following the recommended strategies for testing non-response bias, researchers can improve the statistical power of their findings.

Purpose – This chapter introduces two empirical models that could be used to examine the influence of Eastern and Western culture on strategic management: the cultural consensus model (CCM) and the cultural mixture model (CMM).

Methodology/approach – We describe how strategic management scholars can use these models and suggest areas where these models can be of greatest use, including international market entry, international mergers and acquisitions and international alliances, global headquarters and subsidiary relationships, and corporate governance.

Findings – Originally developed by cognitive anthropologists and cultural psychologists, these models can measure domain specificity, scope, and heterogeneity of cultural influences within and across Eastern and Western societies; can address multilevel issues; and can measure an individual or firm's representativeness of the culture.

Social implications – This new research methodology can help strategic management researchers address the impact of “West meets East” on strategic management outcomes and processes.

Originality/value of chapter – The two empirical models provide methodologies that integrate qualitative and quantitative methods.

The purpose of this paper is to recognize and model the enablers of supply chain quality risk management (SCQRM) through an empirical study in the Indian automotive companies.

A systematic literature review was conducted to extract the key enablers of quality management (QM) and risk management in the context of manufacturing supply chains. A grey-based DEMATEL method was employed to identify and model the key enablers of SCQRM.

The results of empirical study showed that the effectiveness of QM and risk management systems for automotive supply chain is driven by a set of common enablers that could be employed for developing dedicated SCQRM systems. The common causal factors in the model such as the involvement of top leaders, inter-firm communication and strategic-level alignment between supply chain members on both these issues clearly state that there is a need for a broader policy at an early stage.

It is crucial for the automotive companies to develop and implement structured systems for SCQRM keeping in view the impact of any unaddressed quality risk on missed production targets, vehicle recalls and safety hazards.

This study ascertains the key enablers of SCQRM with emblematic focus on automotive industry and identifies if there are commonalities in these enablers.

Disaster mutual assistance (DMA) or mutual aid is a reciprocal arrangement between organizations that permits and prearranges one company to access resources from another company to recover from disaster impacts faster. As a practical tool to access response resources quickly, DMA can be an important element of an effective emergency management process, but the decision to provide (or not to provide) DMA is challenging and involves a number of factors. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study conducted to identify DMA decision criteria and their weights based on electricity companies operating in North America.

The authors employed a combination of Delphi and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods. Delphi method identified the decision criteria that should be considered before electricity utilities enact their DMA agreements. A standard AHP calculated the weights of identified DMA criteria.

In total, 11 criteria were identified and classified into three main groups: responding criteria, requesting criteria and disaster criteria. Of the 11, “Emergency Conditions” within the responding criteria group, “Extent of Damage” of the requesting criteria group, and “Size of Disaster”, associated with the disaster criteria group, had the highest weight. Three other factors (“Work Safety Practice”, “Natural Hazards” and “Availability of Resources”) carried a noticeable weight difference, while the remaining factors were weighted relatively lower.

At present, a decision to provide mutual assistance is highly subjective, based on “gut feel”, and dependent on interpersonal relationships between the requestor and the provider. However, mobilizing and dispatching electricity industry crews is a risky and costly operation for both requesting and responding companies and requires careful assessment for which a cost-benefit threshold has not been developed. This cost-benefit perspective is often frowned upon owing to the intended altruistic nature of DMA agreements and its influence on decision makers. The developed criteria in this study are intended to assist electricity companies in making a more informed and quantifiable decision when deliberating a request for mutual assistance. These criteria may also be used by assistance-requesting companies to better identify electricity companies that are more likely to provide assistance to them.

This study contributes to the literature by examining the current state of DMA in electricity utilities, identifying decision criteria and weighing such criteria to enable electricity companies in making more objective decisions, thereby, increasing the overall effectiveness of their disaster management process.

The national logistics policy report published by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism in 2011 proposes to establish international logistics strategy teams in 10 different regions around Japan to satisfy the increasing demand for advance transportation infrastructure and stay competitive in Asia Pacific. The globalization of world economies creates many opportunities as well as challenges for international logistics companies to gain more business chances in this changing environment. The purpose of this paper is to improve service quality of international logistics companies and explores the quality function deployment in terms of quality evaluation method. The logistics service is particularly characterized by offering a series of transport solution and including other logistics activities. The major customers of the logistics services are the industrial clients. The customer satisfaction is key managerial mission since the competitiveness is a growing issue in this industry. The quality function deployment is one of the unique procedures to expose the requirements of customer and transform them into managerial tasks by cross correlation analysis between requirements and technical measures. The empirical study is performed to investigate service quality of the logistics industry by focusing on a group of leading logistics companies.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a research study that aims to establish a people capability framework to promote the sustainability agenda in facilities management (FM) practices.

Through a literature review, a range of factors relating to people capabilities in the context of sustainability endeavours is identified. A questionnaire survey of industry practitioners and statistical data analysis help prioritise these people capability factors and evaluate the role played by each factor in promoting sustainability in FM practices.

Twenty-three people capability factors are identified as significant to the promotion of sustainability measures in FM practices. Dealing with these factors effectively can provide a sound basis for equipping FM professionals with the necessary knowledge, information on training and educational needs and the right mindset to enhance the implementation of sustainability in FM practices.

The research shows the importance of capabilities and skills in the pursuit of sustainability in professional practice. In addition, it highlights specific areas for improvement in the FM sector.

The research links the importance of sustainability with the mindset and preparedness of FM practitioners. It emphasises people capabilities, in addition to technological advancement and financial implications, in the promotion of sustainability in the building industry.

The criteria selection of green suppliers is an interesting and practical research topic. With the development and consciousness of environmental management, this issue has received a significant consideration from academics, researchers and businessmen. The purpose of this paper is to study what factors are considered to be the most important when choosing partners/suppliers in a green supply chain, with reference to the Taiwanese hand tool industry, as this industry plays a major role in the Taiwanese economy.

Inheriting from previous researches, the literature about green supplier selection that appeared in international journals from 1997 to 2009 was reviewed. Then, the integrating fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) approach is proposed to select the most important criteria for green supplier selection in the Taiwanese hand tool industry.

Ultimately, a list of criteria, along with their priority levels, is presented, not only to support Taiwanese hand‐tool companies when selecting suppliers, but also to help the suppliers of these companies to improve their performance in order to meet customers' (hand‐tool companies) requirements.

The approach used in this paper to select green suppliers can be applied to other industrial or geographical settings.

Various demands and requirements of foreign home-buyers from different background are yet unclear to most of the residential developers. The aim of this study is to blueprint a fuzzy mapping of psychological phenomena reflected in consumer behavior, and to develop a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) decision making model to assist residential developers in dealing with potential foreign customers. Through a questionnaire survey in the form of pair wise comparison matrix among 126 expatriates, this study introduces a new approach to assist residential developers dealing with expatriates' preference on house purchase in Malaysia in a simple and efficient way. With this fuzzy mapping, residential developers could utilize psychological phenomena to manipulate expatriates' preference on housing purchase rather than to merely comply passively.