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The purpose of this paper is to propose a quality function deployment analytic hierarchy process (QFD‐AHP) framework to improve quality and competitive positioning within the financial services context. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through a case study.

Results of two empirical surveys were utilized to detect the “Voice of the Customer”. The first identified main bank selection criteria and questionnaires and exploratory factor analysis were employed. The second utilized structured interviews for the development of the first house of quality (HOQ), relating customer requirements to key market segments. The AHP was used to determine the intensity of the relationships within the HOQ.

In total, six key selection criteria were designated. Analysis incorporated customer needs and evaluations for the bank's current position, future goals related to specific market segments, and competition allocations. “Pricing” was the most important criterion, followed by “effective services” and “location”.

Data analysis was carried out with data from one relatively large organization. Future research might comprise additional financial institutions and possible comparative analysis regarding criteria and modeling alternatives. In addition, integration of tools such as fuzzy AHP to account for the volatility of bank selection criteria could be of great interest.

Prioritizing selection criteria is a valuable tool to help managers focus future improvement efforts and goals in a sector which faces important challenges due to the global financial crisis. As selection criteria and relative importance change due to turbulent financial situation, models such as the proposed allow adaptation, echoing the evolving voice of the customer in the key attributes and performance improvement priorities.

The paper develops a model that integrates the AHP and the QFD through which banks will identify key customer segments’ needs, as a first step in their effort to improve quality and performance. The authors emphasized the research design to foster face validity.

The paper focuses on the potential benefits of fair value accounting (FVA) in the public sector and the shift towards the entity theory of consolidation supported by international accounting standards. The analysis of the Italian cases shows neither adjustments of the assets to their fair value, nor any recognition of intangibles other than goodwill in consolidated financial statement (CFS), maintaining the configuration of a municipal corporate group based on historical costs. These findings suggest a lack of focus on FVA by local governments (LGs), which is in contrast with international accounting standards. Using a combination of sources (such as annual reports and interviews), part of this paper is based on multiple-case studies of Italian LGs on the voluntary adoption of CFS.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the external environment on the strategic thinking dimensions in Malaysia and Palestine on the banking sector.

This paper focuses on dynamism and complexity in political and economic external environments. This study uses qualitative methodology through a comparative case study method. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from in-depth semistructured interviews with 33 bank executives from Malaysia and 17 from Palestine.

The findings revealed that the banking sector in both Malaysia and Palestine shared five common strategic thinking dimensions, including vision, creativity, conceptual thinking, futurism and opportunity. However, a sixth dimension, intent-focused, was unique to Palestinian bank executives. This study indicates that Palestine’s financial strategic thinking environment is more dynamic and complex than Malaysia’s. Additionally, the study highlights the significant influence of both microenvironments (such as types of banks) and the macroenvironment (such as political and economic situations). These findings hold important implications for decision-makers in the banking sector of both countries.

As with many studies, this study has some limitations. First, the analysis examines only the turbulent and stable environment in the two countries by using a qualitative approach which enables the analysis of thoughts and actions and exposes the beliefs, perceptions, mental maps and structures of belief in their perceptions (Cavana et al., 2001). As such, the results are limited to a particular time, date and geographical location; thus, opinions and perceptions might be altered due to changes in the external political and economic environment. The second limitation of this work is that the case study might not be appropriate for generalization (Stake, 1978). Finally, the limited number of female participants in Palestine shows a high level of inequality compared to Malaysian participants.

This study explores the implication of uncertain environments at the national level on executives’ cognition and actions, links the micro- and macro-environment of the banking industry to a theoretical perspective and develops a conceptual circular model to show the effect of macro environments on bank performance. The findings offer practical contributions to the current literature, providing insights for executives to navigate a dynamic and complex banking industry.

This study fills the literature gap by exploring how strategic thinking dimensions triggered by macro- and micro-environments impact banking sector performance in Malaysia and Palestine.

This chapter presents a novel method for using PechaKucha presentations to generate and analyze participant-generated video data. As a data source, participatory video (PV) differs from ethnographic or archival video by relying on participants to tell their own stories. As a presentation technique, PechaKucha produces six-minute-and-forty-second, narrated slideshow presentations. The slideshows or recordings from live PechaKucha presentations are a dense form of PV that is easier to code and analyze than traditional sources of PV. This chapter describes the procedures to capture and analyze PechaKucha-based PV and illustrates considerations for researchers who plan to use PV to gather data.

Crystallization is the process widely used for components separation and solids purification. The systems for crystallization process evaluation applied so far, involve numerous non-invasive tomographic measurement techniques which suffers from some reported problems. The purpose of this paper is to show the abilities of three-dimensional Electrical Capacitance Tomography (3D ECT) in the context of non-invasive and non-intrusive visualization of crystallization processes. Multiple aspects and problems of ECT imaging, as well as the computer model design to work with the high relative permittivity liquids, have been pointed out.

To design the most efficient (from a mechanical and electrical point of view) 3D ECT sensor structure, the high-precise impedance meter was applied. The three types of sensor were designed, built, and tested. To meet the new concept requirements, the dedicated ECT device has been constructed.

It has been shown that the ECT technique can be applied to the diagnosis of crystallization. The crystals distribution can be identified using this technique. The achieved measurement resolution allows detecting the localization of crystals. The usage of stabilized electrodes improves the sensitivity of the sensor and provides the images better suitable for further analysis.

The dedicated 3D ECT sensor construction has been proposed to increase its sensitivity in the border area, where the crystals grow. Regarding this feature, some new algorithms for the potential field distribution and the sensitivity matrix calculation have been developed. The adaptation of the iterative 3D image reconstruction process has also been described.

The purpose of this study is to address the question that economic standards, norms and regulations can possess weak spots that might be exploitable for the embezzlement of an organization’s assets with resultant material consequences in money laundering,tax evasion, fraud, corruption and other potential financial crimes.

The author’s methodological approach is to introduce and discuss a new logical-deductive test that the author names “embezzler test”. The author’s test investigates regulatory architectures from the perspective of someone attempting to divert assets from or to an organization. It appraises whether a potential embezzler could divert resources without being detected and sanctioned.

The embezzler test can be applied to a broad range of standards, norms and regulations.

This new test can be improved and further calibrated in future research.

Researchers, regulators and law makers can use the new test to identify and eventually fix weak spots for embezzlement in norms, standards and regulations.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, such a test has never been formulated or applied before to identify weak spots for potential embezzlement in regulatory architectures.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to assess the potential of the visual to enact multiplicity and reflexivity in organizational research, and second, to develop a performative approach to the visual, which offers aesthetic strategies for creating future research accounts in organization and management studies.

The paper reviews existing visual research in organization and management studies and presents an in‐depth analysis of two early, almost classical, and yet very different endeavors to create visual accounts based on ethnography: the multi‐media enactments by Bruno Latour, Emilie Hermant, Susanna Shannon, and Patricia Reed, and the filmic and written work by Trinh T. Minh‐ha and her collaborators.

The authors’ analysis of how the visual is performed in both cases identifies a repertoire of three distinct and paradoxical aesthetic strategies: de/synchronizing, de/centralizing, and dis/covering.

The authors analyze two rarely acknowledged but ground‐breaking research presentations, identify aesthetic strategies to perform multiplicity and reflexivity in research accounts, and question the ways that research accounts are written and published in organization and management studies by acknowledging the consequences of a performative approach to the visual.