Search results

Stretch goals or targets ask an employee to go beyond the possible (and merely difficult) to the impossible. This performance requirement violates the generally accepted criterion for goal setting that require goals to be verifiable and attainable, with difficulty. Yet, stretch goals are an accepted management tool in organisations such as General Electric. The present paper discusses the potential for the successful implementation of stretch goals based on considerations of workflow integration and risk deviation.

The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, it aims to differentiate the response of a stretching jet encountering a quadratic air resistance from the classical jet shape formed in a frictionless medium. Second, it investigates how the resulting jet forms with and without air resistance, seeking evidence that supports the similarity flows frequently studied for stretching/moving thin bodies under the boundary layer approximation.

This study extends the established electrohydrodynamic stretching jet theory, used to model electrospinning or jet printing in the absence of air resistance, to encompass the impact of the retarding force on the jet stretching in both the cone and final regimes before it impinges on a substrate.

A close examination of the nonlinear governing equations reveals that the jet rapidly thins near the nozzle because of the combined action of viscous and electrical forces. In this region, the exponentially decaying jet receives further support from the air resistance, resulting in a closer alignment with the observed experimental jet. This exponential decay, accelerated by the inversely quadratic speed of the liquid particles, serves as clear evidence for the existence of a similarity flow over an exponentially stretching sheet. Furthermore, in the final regime, the jet stretching exhibits an algebraic decay in the absence of air friction, while with air resistance, it decays exponentially to reach a limiting speed. In the former case, a square root dependence of the stretching jet speed leads to the emergence of a similarity flow over a thin stretching jet, while in the latter case, a Sakiadis’ similarity flow appears over a continuously moving flat surface.

The analysis goes beyond jet hydrodynamics, delving into the interplay of electrostatic forces (including Coulomb’s law) and quadratic air drag, drawing upon experimental data on glycerol liquid presented in earlier publications.

Finally, the asymptotic behavior of the stretching jet under the combined influence of electrostatic pull and its electric currents because of bulk conduction and surface convection is validated through a comprehensive numerical simulation of the nonlinear system.

Past theorizing and empirical work suggest that long-standing strategic leaders generate harmful attention and information-processing effects in their organizations, which in turn impair organizational learning and performance. In contrast, our argument is that longevity and its attendant inertia foster useful transformational and strategic persistence for organizations pursuing stretch goals. Through attentional vigilance and restricted focus, inertia may create the cognitive profile necessary for effective learning when organizations pursue the seemingly impossible. We empirically examine our ideas in the context of the French royal navy and the naval battles it had with the British in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. More specifically, we focus on two distinct but related stretch periods during which the French royal navy was tasked with building a powerful naval force and using it to gain naval supremacy over Great Britain. Given its exceptionally weak starting position at the beginning of the two studied periods and its desire to displace the established and advantaged navy of the era, the French had a lofty task. Our results are supportive of the stability argument, with leader longevity and inertia being positive for outcomes.

Brand managers must decide between extension and alliance strategies to grow their brands. This paper aims to describe testing of consumers' responses to two alternative brand growth strategies: an extension strategy whereby a brand moves into a new category alone, and an alliance strategy whereby the same brand moves into the new category as a branded ingredient in a brand already established in that category. How far to stretch a brand is yet another strategic choice facing the brand manager, and the current research tests, under short and long category‐stretch conditions, the attitudinal responses to extension and alliance strategies.

The paper builds on the categorisation and incongruence literature. An experiment was employed to test the main hypotheses in the study.

Extensions outperform alliances, especially when the brand undertakes a long stretch, and short‐stretch strategies outperform long‐stretch strategies.

An extension strategy may be preferred to an alliance strategy, especially in situations in which the new growth opportunity requires a long stretch.

The paper compares, in the same study, the attitudinal effects of two important growth strategies widely employed by companies. Previous studies have assessed the performance of these two strategic options only separately.

The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the production of cotton spandex woven fabric with some user-friendly properties like wearer comfort, super stretch and elasticity. The findings could contribute to ease spandex production and to optimize its property of elasticity. Stretch or a super stretch property is generally desirable, as it can increase the comfort level of those who wear it. In this experiment, the difficulties which were identified while manufacturing cotton spandex woven fabric resolved after identification.

In this experiment, three types of cotton spandex woven fabrics, with different composition and constructions, were used to find out their elastic properties. Temperature ranging from 160°C to 200°C with the machine speed of 20 to 26 MPM (meter per minute) was applied with an adjusted industrial setting with the facilities of a stenter machine to optimize the properties of cotton spandex woven fabric.

The findings establish that the temperature treatment closely compacted the elastic portions with cotton fibers, giving stability to the spandex yarn, which as a result, influenced cotton spandex woven fabric’s elastic properties, namely, stretch, growth and recovery. The consequences of temperature on cotton spandex yarns were assessed using a microscope, and the results were subsequently analyzed.

Because of the poor facilities in testing laboratory, only few tests with microscopic evaluation were conducted to assess the elastic performances of cotton spandex woven fabric.

It is a practice-based research, and the findings could be beneficial to personnel in the textile industry, who are responsible for the manufacturing of cotton spandex woven fabric.

This research could enhance the wearer’s satisfaction, with some comfort elastic properties, which can have a positive influence over spandex clothing industries.

This research establishes that heat setting had a progressive influence on the production of cotton spandex woven fabric and for the optimization of its elastic performances. This research opens a possible way for scholars to further study in this field.

This paper studies the effects of stretching slenderization on the structure and properties of yak hair using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, tensile curves and dyeability. The SEM results show that stretching slenderization can decrease the diameter of yak hair, and the scale of the fibres is elongated and thinner. As well, the structure of the fibre scale is looser after stretching, and some scale cells are damaged. The stretching process results in the structural transformation of yak hair from an α-keratin to a predominantly β-keratin crystalline structure by the Raman analysis. Through the tensile curves, the slenderizing of the yak hair at different stretching rates is analyzed. The breaking tenacity increases gradually in terms of the stretching rate and breaking elongation decreases. Optical microscope photographs and dyeing rate analysis are used to observe the changes in the dyeability of yak hair before and after the stretching. The results show that after stretching, there is a significant improvement in the dyeing properties of yak hair.

In this paper, the authors aim to propose that status differentiation, the extent to which people differentiate their behaviors or attribute power to others according to perceived status differences, moderates the effect of stretch direction upward or downward and brand image prestige or functional on consumers 2019 responses to line extensions.

This study was a 2 (culture: Chinese vs American) × 2 (stretch direction: up vs down) × 2 (brand image: prestige vs functional) experiment design. Study 2 was a 2 (status differentiation: high vs low) × 2 (stretch direction: up vs down) × 2 (brand image: prestige vs functional) experiment design.

The results of two studies show that high status differentiation has a positive prestige-enhancement effect on an upward extension but a detrimental effect on a downward extension. This effect is more pronounced for prestige brands than for functional brands. In addition, the authors have found similar patterns for the prestige perceptions of the parent brands after extension.

This research makes important contributions to the fields of cross-cultural psychology. The status differentiation beliefs could be primed temporarily and had a significant impact on individuals’ responses to line extension.

The research identifies status differentiation as an important factor for marketers to consider when extending their brands to global markets.

Past research on vertical extensions has examined numerous factors influencing consumers’ responses. This paper is the only one to examine culture factor.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of stretch goals on unethical behavior and explore the mediating role of ambivalent identification and moderating role of competitive psychological climate.

A total of 350 MBA students from Northwestern China completed the two-phase survey. The bootstrapping analysis outlined by Hayes was used to assess a moderated mediation model.

This study found that stretch goals could trigger employees' unethical behavior via ambivalent identification. Competitive psychological climate intensified the relationship between stretch goals and ambivalent identification. Moreover, such a climate aggravated the indirect effect of stretch goals on unethical behavior via ambivalent identification.

Organizations and managers should use stretch goals prudently and implement measures to reduce the ethical cost.

This study provides unique contributions by identifying ambivalent identification as an important mediator and competitive psychological climate as a boundary condition of stretch goals' disruptive effect on unethical behavior.

Air permeability of knitted fabrics is normally measured for the samples in their unstretched state. But, this air permeability values indicate the ability of these garments to allow air through them when they are not in use. But, the real-time condition is different and certainly the knitted garments mentioned above will subject to a degree of stretch during their usage. So, the measurement of air permeability under stretch and the fabric properties which would influence the air permeability of weft-knitted fabrics in their stretched state is of paramount importance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The aim of this research work is to investigate the change in air permeability values under the incremental extension of cotton tubular weft-knitted fabrics produced from the yarns of different spinning systems.

From the results, it is evident that the pique fabric samples of compact spun yarn displayed the highest air permeability values during the incremental stretch at all the three relaxation states. It is followed by the pique samples of ring spun yarn. Next to pique samples, the jersey samples made from the compact yarn and ring spun yarn revealed more air permeability, respectively. The core spun pique samples and core spun jersey samples displayed the least air permeability values, respectively. But, the pique and jersey samples made up of ring yarn and compact yarn showed gradual reduction in their air permeability towards the incremental stretch and the core spun pique samples and core spun jersey samples were uniformly seen with gradual increase in their air permeability during the incremental stretch.

Very limited quantity of research has been carried out in this area. So, a novel attempt has been made in this research work to investigate the influence of incremental stretch on air permeability of single knit structures.

In recent times, the usage of elastane-containing denim garments has increased, as it provides fit and comfort both at the same time. The purpose of the study is to understand the effect of abrasion on the durability of comfort related to body movement and shape retention property of the stretch-denim fabric.

The paper investigates the effect of abrasion on the initial tensile properties, recovery and resilience properties of the stretch-denim fabric. Further, to analyse the effect of the composition of the elastane yarn, three different types of elastane yarns having different types of sheath (covering) fibre, structure and different levels of elastane content have been used in the weft.

The comfort related to body movement and the shape retention properties of the stretch-denim fabric got affected due to abrasive damage. The elastane yarn composition and structure played an important role in determining the extent of the change in such properties during abrasion. The fabric with a higher level of elastane content suffered a greater loss in shape-retention properties due to abrasion. The extent of mass loss in stretch-denim fabric does not always correlate to the extent of loss in the comfort and shape-retention properties.

Most of the earlier studies have investigated the effect of abrasion on the durability aspect of the stretch-denim fabric. In a practical scenario, the stretch-denim garments are rarely discarded due to tearing or change in appearance but mainly due to bagging, i.e. distortion in shape after usage. Thus, the study on the combined effect of the abrasion and cyclic loading on the comfort and shape-retention properties will help to predict the performance of the apparel during usage.