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1 – 10 of 751Gordon Bowen, Richard Bowen, Deidre Bowen, Atul Sethi and Yaneal Patel
Successful smart cities' implementation will require organisational leadership decision-making competences. The foundation of smart cities is digital technologies; many of these…
Abstract
Successful smart cities' implementation will require organisational leadership decision-making competences. The foundation of smart cities is digital technologies; many of these technologies are emerging technologies that require IT skills, which are scarce and will exacerbate the battle for talent between organisations. Filling the talent gap will necessitate global hiring, which has implications for organisational culture, cultural diversity and organisational leadership. Organisational cultural mix is an important contributor to leadership decision-making. However, decision-making is underpinned by trust. Blockchain is an emerging technology that has the potential to engender organisational trust in decision-making and, by extension, in the leadership with the ‘right’ organisational culture. Smart cities will be required to leverage emerging technologies to give business performance a competitive advantage and use emerging technologies’ applications to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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David E. Bowen, Raymond P. Fisk, John E.G. Bateson, Leonard L. Berry, Mary Jo Bitner, Stephen W. Brown, Richard B. Chase, Bo Edvardsson, Christian Grönroos, A. Parasuraman, Benjamin Schneider and Valarie A. Zeithaml
A small group of pioneering founders led the creation and early evolution of the service research field. Decades later, this article shares timeless service wisdom from ten of…
Abstract
Purpose
A small group of pioneering founders led the creation and early evolution of the service research field. Decades later, this article shares timeless service wisdom from ten of those pioneering founders.
Design/methodology/approach
Bowen and Fisk specified three criteria by which to identify a pioneering founder. In total, 11 founders met the criteria (Bateson, Berry, Bitner, Brown, Chase, Edvardsson, Grönroos, Gummesson, Parasuraman, Schneider and Zeithaml) and were invited to join Bowen and Fisk – founders that also met the criteria as coauthors. Ten founders then answered a set of questions regarding their careers as service scholars and the state of the field.
Findings
Insightful reflections were provided by each of the ten pioneering founders. In addition, based on their synthesis of the reflections, Bowen and Fisk developed nine wisdom themes for service researchers to consider and to possibly act upon.
Originality/value
The service research field is in its fifth decade. This article offers a unique way to learn directly from the pioneering founders about the still-relevant history of the field, the founders' lives and contributions as service scholars and the founders' hopes and concerns for the service research field.
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Adam Waytz and Vasilia Kilibarda
In 2011, Sherry Hunt was a vice president and chief underwriter at CitiMortgage headquarters in the United States. For years she had been witnessing fraud, as the company bought…
Abstract
In 2011, Sherry Hunt was a vice president and chief underwriter at CitiMortgage headquarters in the United States. For years she had been witnessing fraud, as the company bought billions of dollars in mortgage loans from external lenders that did not meet Citi credit policy and sold them to government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). This resulted in Citi selling to GSEs such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pools of loans that were considerably defective and thus likely to default. Citi had also approved hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of defective mortgage files for U.S. Federal Housing Administration insurance. After reporting the mortgage defects in regular reports, notifying and working closely with her direct supervisor (who was subsequently asked to leave Citi after alerting the chairman of the board to these issues) to stop the purchase of defective loans, leaving anonymous tips on the FBI's and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's websites, and receiving threats from two of her superiors who demanded that she change the results of her quality control unit's reports, the shy and conflict-avoidant Hunt had to decide who she should tell about the fraud, and how.
The case gives students the opportunity to recommend how Hunt should proceed based on their analysis of the stakeholders involved. To aid instructors, the case includes Kellogg-produced videos of Hunt—the only on-camera interviews she has ever given—explaining what happened after she reported the fraud to Citi HR and, later, the U.S. Department of Justice. Within the case, students are also briefly exposed to legislation and bodies pertinent to whistle-blowing in the United States, including the Dodd-Frank Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the SEC Office of the Whistleblower.
This case won the 2014 competition for Outstanding Case on Anti-Corruption, supported by the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative of the UN Global Compact.
Analyze stakeholders' motivations to prepare counter-arguments to the resistance one might encounter when reporting unethical behavior
Write a script for who to tell, how, and why
Discuss how incentive structures, management, and culture play roles in promoting or hindering ethical behavior in organizations
Identify behaviors that help a whistle-blower be effective
Gain experience resolving ethical dilemmas in which two values may conflict, such as professional duty and personal ethics
Analyze stakeholders' motivations to prepare counter-arguments to the resistance one might encounter when reporting unethical behavior
Write a script for who to tell, how, and why
Discuss how incentive structures, management, and culture play roles in promoting or hindering ethical behavior in organizations
Identify behaviors that help a whistle-blower be effective
Gain experience resolving ethical dilemmas in which two values may conflict, such as professional duty and personal ethics
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Stephen W. Brown, Raymond P. Fisk and Mary Jo Bitner
Offers the personal interpretations of authors as participant‐observerstogether with a data‐based analysis of the evolution of the servicesmarketing literature. Bibliographic…
Abstract
Offers the personal interpretations of authors as participant‐observers together with a data‐based analysis of the evolution of the services marketing literature. Bibliographic analysis of more than 1,000 English language, general services marketing publications, spanning four decades, provides an additional resource. Using an evolutionary metaphor as the framework, traces the literature through three stages: Crawling Out (1953‐79): Scurrying About (1980‐85); and Walking Erect (1986‐present). Shows how the literature has evolved from the early services‐marketing‐is‐different debate to the maturation of specific topics (e.g. service quality, service encounters) and the legitimization of the services marketing literature by major journals. Presents a classification and summary of publications and authors. Closes with discussion and speculation on the future of the services marketing literature.
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Michele Esteves Martins, Guilherme Silveira Martins, João Mario Csillag and Susana Carla Farias Pereira
The purpose of this paper is to characterize and discuss the collaborative network formed by researchers that published about services in the top journals in Operations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to characterize and discuss the collaborative network formed by researchers that published about services in the top journals in Operations, Marketing, and Human Resources Management, and provide further comparison with major Service journals.
Design/methodology/approach
The method used was designed documentary research using papers published in the top three relevant international journals specific to Operations, Marketing, and Human Resources from 1995 to 2010. Papers were selected using a search of the ABI/Inform Global (Proquest) database on the word “service” in the title, abstract, or keywords. Additionally, it included two major Service journals. A total of 1,481 papers and 2,457 authors composed the Social Network Analysis (SNA).
Findings
The co‐authorship network revealed that the social structure is highly fragmented. However, its main component can be classified as “small world”, indicating that authors are connected to others outside their group through a small number of intermediaries. This type of structure is favorable both to knowledge flow and development.
Practical implications
The results may be valuable to the community of researchers interested in the theme of Services, as well as in the fields of Operations, Marketing, and Human Resources to identify researchers and research groups. Thus, it can serve as guidance for publishers, colleges, and companies in the search for scholars in the service subject.
Originality/value
The paper uses SNA to investigate the interaction/collaboration of co‐authors using authorship as the unit of analysis.
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This paper seeks to provide the reader with a clear insight into the discussion over the voluntary aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the attempts to introduce…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide the reader with a clear insight into the discussion over the voluntary aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the attempts to introduce regulatory reforms to control corporate activities within Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper evaluates the arguments regarding the need for CSR and the criticisms against its voluntary initiative, and analyses three proposed aspects for regulatory amendment in Australia: fiduciary duty, extraterritorial regulation and corporate disclosure.
Findings
This paper recognises the attributes of both the mandatory and voluntary aspects, and suggests that there needs to be a balance between both mechanisms in order to achieve a positive outcome.
Originality/value
Although, in Australia, amendment proposals have not been approved, the discussions over regulatory reform will continue. This paper will provide those involved in this field with an insight to the underlying issues over directors' duties, extraterritorial regulation and corporate disclosure. The understanding of these issues will be useful in the future development of appropriate mechanisms regarding CSR.
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Amanda Bowen, Claire Beswick and Richard Thomson
Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to apply lessons learned in core readings, analysis and discussion to a specific case study dealing with a current…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this case study, students should be able to apply lessons learned in core readings, analysis and discussion to a specific case study dealing with a current, real-world situation, specifically: critically assess Livestock Wealth’s case facts and present and justify their point of view – based on attentive reading, critical analysis and engagement – about the company; use a range of strategic tools such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis, PESTLE analysis and the Ansoff matrix to thoroughly evaluate Livestock Wealth’s internal and external business environment for developing strategic options for business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; use strategic thinking to develop a range of creative solutions to guide the company’s business growth and improvements to marketing strategy; and assess their own growth and development in terms of personal preparation and organisation, collaboration, critical thinking, decision-making skills, participation and problem-solving.
Case overview/synopsis
By February 2022, Ntuthuko Shezi, the founder and chief executive officer of Livestock Wealth, had turned his idea of “crowd farming”, which enables anyone to invest in living farm assets and earn a profit at harvest, into a full-fledged business that was creating wealth for both investors and farmers. Underpinning this case study is Shezi’s vision of an African continent where there is “no ground that is not planted with something of value”, local economies are created in those areas, communities are wealthy, there is abundance, there is money for children to attend school and ultimately where “cows (and agricultural produce in general) are seen as money”. Shezi had grown up in a rural area with grandparents who owned a couple of cows, realizing that the cows were the bedrock of the family’s finances. Describing his business, he says, “Cattle are like a walking bank, and we see ourselves as the bank of the future, where every person who owns a cow can access financial services through Livestock Wealth, just like it has always been in Africa.” This case study describes the two key decisions that Shezi needed to make – what direction to take in terms of business growth and how to improve his marketing strategy (with a limited budget) to attract sufficient investment into Livestock Wealth to make his dreams a reality.
Complexity academic level
This case study is suitable for use for a post-graduate diploma in business, master of business administration or master’s in management.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 11: Strategy.
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The purpose of this paper is to elucidate and explain the origins and transformation of the study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) over its half‐century history.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elucidate and explain the origins and transformation of the study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) over its half‐century history.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a historical study in two parts. The first and larger part examines the CSR literature of the 1950s from both an intellectual and social perspective. It not only analyzes the content of these writings, but it also places them and their authors in a political and economic context. The second part explains why so many of the themes and approaches of this first generation have been abandoned by more recent CSR scholars by pointing to decisive changes in the American social and political environment.
Findings
Early CSR research was a product of the cataclysmic events that the scholars in this field experienced personally and professionally, most importantly the labor conflicts of the 1930s and the uneasy labor peace that subsequently followed. By contrast, the more modern approach that emphasizes the ethics of executive decision making became the dominant paradigm in the 1980s when institutional support for a macro perspective disappeared.
Practical implications
The first generation of scholars were concerned with issues of economic fairness and the independence of governments from interest group pressures. With these issues currently reasserting themselves on a global level, modern scholars could learn a great deal from studying the insights and practical experience of these neglected thinkers.
Originality/value
This is both the first in‐depth study of the content and origins of early CSR scholarship and an explanation of its limited influence.
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Richard Kotas, Richard Teare, Jeremy Logie, Chandana Jayauuardena and John Bowen