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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/08858629910290210. When citing the…
Abstract
This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/08858629910290210. When citing the article, please cite: Ralf Schellhase, Petra Hardock, Martin Ohlwein, (1999), “Customer satisfaction in business-to-business marketing: the case of retail organizations and their suppliers”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 14 Iss: 5/6, pp. 416 - 432.
Thiara Reis Lopes, Fernando Periotto and Adelmo Lowe Pletsch
The purpose of this paper is to assess the occurrence and risk of dispersion in the environment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms from sanitary sewage sludge produced in two…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the occurrence and risk of dispersion in the environment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms from sanitary sewage sludge produced in two conventional wastewater treatment systems adopted in the West of the State of Paraná, Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The sludge samples were collected for three months from two wastewater treatment plants, totaling six sample points, and sent to the laboratory where the physical-chemical and biological determinations were performed.
Findings
This work made possible to find that the sludge produced in the sewage treatment plants presents potential risks related to the spread of microorganisms due to the occurrence of resistant isolates of Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. It was also possible to detect that the largest concentrations of metal ions in the sludge favored the occurrence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. The occurrence of pathogens, heavy metals and other emerging pollutants in sewage indicates that the sludge requires proper treatment, to provide safe agricultural reuse or disposal.
Practical implications
The techniques applied for monitoring sludge were effective to check the risk of resistant microorganisms input into the environment. Studies concerning sewage treatment plants’ final effluents can bring additional data about the incorporation of such microorganisms into aquatic environments.
Originality/value
The results made possible to observe the need to provide post-treatment for the sludge, especially of the sludge obtained from the anaerobic fluidized bed reactor, since the removal of pathogens, as well as the nutrients, is not satisfactory.
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Kathrin Kirchner, Ralf Laue, Kasper Edwards and Birger Lantow
Medical diagnosis and treatment processes exhibit a high degree of variability, as during the process execution, healthcare professionals can decide on additional steps, change…
Abstract
Purpose
Medical diagnosis and treatment processes exhibit a high degree of variability, as during the process execution, healthcare professionals can decide on additional steps, change the execution order or skip a task. Process models can help to document and to discuss such processes. However, depicting variability in graphical process models using standardized languages, such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), can lead to large and complicated diagrams that medical staff who do not have formal training in modeling languages have difficulty understanding. This study proposes a pattern-based process visualization that medical doctors can understand without extensive training. The process descriptions using this pattern-based visualization can later be transformed into formal business process models in languages such as BPMN.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors derived patterns for expressing variability in healthcare processes from the literature and medical guidelines. Then, the authors evaluated and revised these patterns based on interviews with physicians in a Danish hospital.
Findings
A set of business process variability patterns was proposed to express situations with variability in hospital treatment and diagnosis processes. The interviewed medical doctors could translate the patterns into their daily work practice, and the patterns were used to model a hospital process.
Practical implications
When communicating with medical personnel, the patterns can be used as building blocks for documenting and discussing variable processes.
Originality/value
The patterns can reduce complexity in process visualization. This study provides the first validation of these patterns in a hospital.
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Hoàng Long Phan and Ralf Zurbruegg
This paper examines how a firm's hierarchical complexity, which is determined by the way it organizes its subsidiaries across the hierarchical levels, can impact its stock price…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines how a firm's hierarchical complexity, which is determined by the way it organizes its subsidiaries across the hierarchical levels, can impact its stock price crash risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ a measure of hierarchical complexity that captures the depth and breadth of how subsidiaries are organized within a firm. This measure is calculated using information about firms' subsidiaries extracted from the Bureau van Dijk (BvD) database that allows the authors to construct each firm's hierarchical structure. The data sample includes 2,461 USA firms for the period from 2012 to 2017 (11,006 firm-year observations). Univariate tests and panel regression are used for the main analysis. Two-stage-least-squares (2SLS) instrumental variable regression and various other tests are employed for robustness check.
Findings
The results show a positive relationship between hierarchical complexity and stock price crash risk. This relationship is amplified in firms with a greater number of subsidiaries that are hierarchically distanced from the parent company as well as in firms with a greater number of foreign subsidiaries in countries with weaker rule of law.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to investigate the impact hierarchical complexity has on crash risk. The results highlight the role that a firm's organizational structure can have on asset pricing behavior.
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Stefan Jooss, Julia Lenz and Ralf Burbach
This paper aims to unpack how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can operationalise coopetition in talent management, addressing ongoing talent shortages in the hospitality…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to unpack how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can operationalise coopetition in talent management, addressing ongoing talent shortages in the hospitality industry which were intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws from literature on coopetition and talent management in SMEs. Specifically, the authors take an interorganisational talent pool lens and develop a framework following the principles of open-systems theory.
Findings
The authors find that the traditional use of talent pools is often impractical for SMEs because of a lack of resources and capabilities. Instead, interorganisational talent pools, through coopetition in talent management, can aid these firms to address talent shortages. The authors identify potential for SME coopetition at various stages, including attraction, development and retention of talent.
Practical implications
Coopetition in talent management can aid industries in establishing market-thickening pipelines. Through co-attracting, co-developing and co-retaining talent, SMEs can create interorganisational talent pools. To develop talent management coopetition, a set of prerequisites, catalysts and potential inhibitors must be analysed and managed.
Originality/value
This paper moves the talent management debate beyond competition for talent, introducing coopetition as a viable alternative. Taking an open-systems perspective, the authors develop an integrative framework for coopetition in talent management in SMEs encompassing input, process and output components. The authors reveal the dynamic and complex nature of this coopetition process, highlighting the essential role of coopetition context and illustrating open-system principles.
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Ralf Wilden and Siegfried Gudergan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a firm’s service-dominant orientation on marketing and technological capabilities, and its performance. It outlines how…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a firm’s service-dominant orientation on marketing and technological capabilities, and its performance. It outlines how a service-dominant orientation offers guidance for the development and deployment of ordinary capabilities, and indirectly affects performance. Additionally, it delineates how dynamic capabilities affect the impact of a service-dominant orientation on ordinary capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least squares structural equation modeling drawing on data from 228 firms serves to assess hypotheses relating service-dominant orientation and dynamic capabilities with firm performance.
Findings
The results indicate that marketing and technological capabilities fully mediate the relationship between a firm’s service-dominant orientation and firm performance. Furthermore, the positive marginal effect of a firm’s service-dominant orientation on its marketing capabilities increases with the firm displaying a stronger service-dominant orientation. In addition, the positive effect of service-dominant orientation on marketing capabilities reduces the more the firm deploys dynamic capabilities.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the cross-sectional sample, future studies could adopt longitudinal research designs to explore the impact of a service-dominant orientation on ordinary capabilities and performance, or investigate the applicability of the findings in other contexts.
Practical implications
The findings imply that implementing a service-dominant orientation can be beneficial for firms. However, because the impact of such an orientation weakens the greater a firm’s dynamic capabilities, managers need to be mindful of this trade-off.
Originality/value
The study is the first to establish a link between the dynamic capability view, originating from strategy research, and service-dominant logic, stemming from marketing thinking.
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Peter Baumgartner, Ralf Kalmbach, Matthias Mahnel and Hans‐Jörg Lütjens
Describes how KHS Maschinen‐und Anlagenbau is transforming its service operation to strengthen customer relationships and accelerate growth.
Abstract
Describes how KHS Maschinen‐und Anlagenbau is transforming its service operation to strengthen customer relationships and accelerate growth.
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