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Article
Publication date: 30 September 2013

Summer Brines, Deborah Shepherd and Christine Woods

Continued research around innovation within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) family businesses is needed to better understand the influence of specific resources and…

3313

Abstract

Purpose

Continued research around innovation within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) family businesses is needed to better understand the influence of specific resources and capabilities that might promote and/or constrain entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this paper is to develop an organising framework investigating SME family business innovation drawing on a Schumpeterian understanding of innovation as the introduction of new combinations.

Design/methodology/approach

Four guiding principles are developed and applied to an illustrative case study of an entrepreneurial family business that highlights the usefulness of complexity thinking for understanding innovation.

Findings

NZ Sock provides a rich illustrative case study to highlight how principles of complexity thinking along with Schumpeterian notions of innovation can usefully inform the authors’ understanding of entrepreneurial SME family businesses. The proposed guiding principles offered are borne out in application to the illustrative case example.

Research limitations/implications

The findings suggest that complexity thinking and a Schumpeterian lens can usefully inform and extend the authors’ understanding of innovation within entrepreneurial SME family businesses. Further research would benefit from exploring the guiding principles proposed in other entrepreneurial SME family businesses to further substantiate this field of inquiry.

Practical implications

Principles of complexity thinking may provide additional understanding and insight for SME family business members needing to innovate and adapt to ever-changing operating environments.

Originality/value

Innovation is critical to the long-term survival and success of such firms; yet, to date little theoretical contribution and research has been offered in the field of innovation within the context of SME family businesses. Complex adaptive systems provide a lens from which to understand such businesses and that that a complexity framework helpfully allows attention to be given to such phenomena as emergence, adaptability and combinations through which innovation outcomes and processes may be understood. This paper offers four guiding principles that can be further tested and refined.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1988

P. Ghosh

Steam contamination (solid particles in the superheated steam) comes from the boiler water largely in the carry‐over of water droplets. The need for extreme purity of steam for…

Abstract

Steam contamination (solid particles in the superheated steam) comes from the boiler water largely in the carry‐over of water droplets. The need for extreme purity of steam for use in high pressure turbines has prompted the development of highly satisfactory devices for separating steam and water in a boiler drum. Consequently, steam contamination has been steadily reduced. Troublesome turbine blade deposits may occur with surprisingly low (0.6 ppm) total solids contamination in steam. In the 3.5–6 MPa range, however these deposits are usually water soluble and can be removed by periodic washing. In the 4 to 10 MPa range, however, silica deposits predominate and these deposits are not easily removed by water washing. With operating pressure of 13 MPa and above insoluble deposits do occur which may be controlled by residual water washing. Before the unit is returned to service, the deposits should be removed by air or water‐driven turbine cleaners or by chemical cleaning.

Details

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, vol. 35 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0003-5599

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1959

L.R. Sparrow

After dealing in Part 1 with the actual corrosion of pipelines under the varied atmospheric and ground conditions in the Middle East, Mr. Sparrow deals with practical problems in…

Abstract

After dealing in Part 1 with the actual corrosion of pipelines under the varied atmospheric and ground conditions in the Middle East, Mr. Sparrow deals with practical problems in the construction of groundbeds in the desert, their siting, and the siting of terminals and tank farms. Stress is laid on the importance of regular and thorough checking of pipeline protection methods, both pipe wrapping and cathodic protection.

Details

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0003-5599

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2013

Mohamed Ali Darwish

Natural gas (NG) consumption is increasing at an alarming rate, and more than 50 percent of this gas is used in generating electric power (EP) and desalted seawater (DW) in what…

2815

Abstract

Purpose

Natural gas (NG) consumption is increasing at an alarming rate, and more than 50 percent of this gas is used in generating electric power (EP) and desalted seawater (DW) in what is called cogeneration power desalting plants (CPDP). In this context, the purpose of this paper is to study the energy status in Qatar. More specifically, Qatar energy supply side is studied through the CPDP. In an effort to decrease the energy consumption by raising the efficiency of the CPDP (at the supply side), and conserving energy at the demand side, primarily energy footprint is performed.

Design/methodology/approach

The status of CPDP, in terms of the type, capacity, fuel consumption is studied, and measures that should be taken to improve their performance and reduce their consumed fuel are presented.

Findings

Study of the EP and DW sector showed that the fuel consumed in the CPDP can be reduced substantially by converting the simple gas turbine cycle to combined cycle to raise its efficiency from 30 percent to up to 50 percent. On the demand side, it was shown that air conditioning (AC) of buildings consumes about two‐third of the summer peak load; and about half of the annual EP output. So, measures to decrease the AC cooling load are suggested by implementing building code to decrease the consumed energy in buildings.

Originality/value

Data on the NG and oil proven reserve, production, and consumption are limited and scattered. It is necessary to have a clear picture of Qatar showing the flow of energy supply, demand, consumption, and losses in certain sectors to know where energy can be conserved; and this paper is the first trial in that direction. Although prime energy looks abundant today, it can be consumed locally within few decades if consumption is not controlled.

Details

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6220

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1949

Although a comparatively rare disease in Great Britain, cases of trichinosis have been reported from different parts of the country from time to time. Statistics show that during…

Abstract

Although a comparatively rare disease in Great Britain, cases of trichinosis have been reported from different parts of the country from time to time. Statistics show that during the present century only 59 cases were reported prior to the Wolverhampton outbreak in 1941. Trichinosis is a parasitic disease. The Trichina spiralis lives in the small intestine, the female measuring about ⅛ in. in length and the male 1/16 in. The ova emerge as minute hair‐like embryos which burrow from the intestines to the musculature of the host. Thus if man consumes pork containing live trichinæ the larvæ are freed from their capsules by the action of the gastric juices, and maturity is attained in the small intestine. The female grows rapidly and at the end of a week gives rise to a swarm of a hundred or so embryos. The burrowing process starts again, and this boring into muscles produces intense muscular pains, swelling and tenderness, high fever, and other symptoms. The effects of cooking and preserving on infected meat are described by Mr. C. R. A. Martin, who says that thorough cooking for twenty minutes at a temperature above 150° F. is sufficient to destroy all trichinæ, providing the whole of the meat is subjected to this temperature for a similar period. It is obvious, therefore, that in domestic cookery boiling would be preferable to roasting in order to kill live parasites. Only very low temperatures (0°–5° F.) applied for three weeks have any effect on the vitality of trichinæ. Dry salting will kill all trichinæ in surface layers of the meat after exposure to the salt for fourteen days, but in the case of large bacon or hams a much longer exposure of eight to twelve weeks would be necessary, together with brine pumping of the thicker parts. Pickling in brine, if the brine is sufficiently strong, is a surer method of destroying larvæ. Smoking, partly through heat and partly the resinous products of burning pine sawdust, also has a slight effect on their vitality. It has, howver, been suggested that Memo. 62/Foods issued by the Ministry of Food, which recommends that a carcase affected with trichinosis should be condemned, is out of date and that there should be no grounds for ignoring the possibility of the disease during the ordinary routine meat inspections. In this connection, the recent circular dealing with outbreaks of cysticercus bovis infestation of cattle in different parts of the country should serve as a warning. A further warning is given in a letter to the British Medical Journal in which the writer deplores the way in which corned beef is served to the public. The procedure in the majority of shops, says the writer, is to open a large tin of corned beef and place the contents on a wooden cutting board. The same knife used for cutting uncooked sausages, uncooked beef, uncooked pork, and slabs of sausage meat is used, without any attempt at cleaning it, for cutting slices of corned beef. The writer goes on to say that the corned beef is then placed on the weighing machine plate, which quite normally in a butcher's shop is covered with blood. Further contact between the uncooked meat and corned beef is made when the wrapped (and sometimes unwrapped) corned beef is placed on top of the raw meat. Should parasitic worms or cysts which have evaded the eye of the meat inspector be present in the raw meat, they will be transferred to the corned beef by knives, by butchers' hands, by scales, and by direct contact with the raw meat. Many veterinarians have pressed for the detailed examination of pig carcases for trichinosis which would necessitate the removal of suspected muscle by means of a trichinoscope, but no such instrument is in existence in the abattoirs of this country. The whole operation, which is carried out as a matter of routine inspection in many Continental abattoirs, takes only a few minutes. Should simple safeguards in feeding and inspection be adopted, it seems fairly evident that the absence of a trichinoscope need not be regarded as a serious gap in our public health services, but the rarity of outbreaks of the disease in this country must not lead to complacency or to ignoring the possibility of its presence during the normal course of meat inspection.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 51 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1966

Spaniards do not have a term to define the diarrhoea and vomiting, occurring either singly or in combination, which affects British tourists to Spain. Enfermedad espanola, a…

Abstract

Spaniards do not have a term to define the diarrhoea and vomiting, occurring either singly or in combination, which affects British tourists to Spain. Enfermedad espanola, a generic term, explains nothing, no more than the term “Spanish ‘tummy’” and from the number of reports by returning visitors of sickness, ranging from one‐day vomiting or diarrhoea to a week or more of severe symptoms, often leading to prostration and collapse, varied pathology is indicated; a combination of causes, although how much is due to intestinal pathogens and how much to plain dietary disturbance is not known. What is certain, however, is that the incidence rate is very high; during the height of the summer anything from 80 to 100%.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 68 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1966

The transformation of France under De Gaulle from the “sick man of Europe” with governments changing every few months, to one of the world's strongest economies, holds lessons for…

Abstract

The transformation of France under De Gaulle from the “sick man of Europe” with governments changing every few months, to one of the world's strongest economies, holds lessons for us all. Of course France's virtual self‐sufficiency in food and fuel always ensured an eventual resurgence under a strong and stable government. We thought of this recently on a trip to Western Provence, the oldest part of France and one off the beaten tourist track. It was one of the earliest provinces of Imperial Rome and in each settlement the Romans tried to reproduce a petite Rome, with arena, theatre, baths and villas, so that many Provencal towns have as many Roman antiquities as Rome itself. In its beauty of line and colour, its architecture, clustered villages on hilltops and the tall Lombardy pines, the countryside looks Italian, but the people seem unlike the Italian, Spanish or French. We thought them descendants of the ancient Gaul, whose tribes settled all over Western Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean to Galway Bay.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 68 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1959

The daily loaf or cake of bread is undoubtedly Man's first and oldest form of prepared food. Except in the the cereal used to make it, it differs little the world all over, but…

Abstract

The daily loaf or cake of bread is undoubtedly Man's first and oldest form of prepared food. Except in the the cereal used to make it, it differs little the world all over, but changes are taking place in this staple food, in its preparation and distribution. In recent legal proceedings, a charge of selling a loaf not of the nature, etc., in that it contained rodent contamination, was brought against partners in what was described as the last surviving family baker's business in a relatively large and populous suburban area of London. “Take‐over bids” are the order of the day and in modern business, which includes the baking of bread, the accent is on combination and concentration. The Magistrates must have had a wistful regard for the things that are passing for they fined the “little man” about half the amount they subsequently fined a larger undertaking for a similar type of offence.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 61 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1954

On Thursday in each week the Leader of the House of Commons announces the business which will be taken during the following week. During the past two months he has been repeatedly…

Abstract

On Thursday in each week the Leader of the House of Commons announces the business which will be taken during the following week. During the past two months he has been repeatedly asked by members of the Opposition when it is proposed to have a second reading debate on the Food and Drugs Amendment Bill. Evasive answers have been given, but on July 8th Captain Crookshank intimated that the Government hoped that the second reading would take place before the summer recess, but not during the week ending on July 17th. As the Committee stage must be expected to be fairly protracted, too much hope should not be entertained that the Bill will pass through all its stages this session, as there are still other important matters requiring Parliamentary time.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 56 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1903

The substitution of an imitation of some kind for the article actually asked for or desired by the purchaser is a particularly mean form of deception which is practised nowadays…

Abstract

The substitution of an imitation of some kind for the article actually asked for or desired by the purchaser is a particularly mean form of deception which is practised nowadays to an almost incredible extent. It is astonishing and mournful that so many persons should be concerned in the deliberate initiation, fostering, and carrying on of so shameful a system, and that others are to be found who in speech and print seem willing to lend to it either their countenance or condonation. One must suppose that there exists a form of moral obliquity or distortion—at first accentuated and ultimately rendered incurable by the acquirement and contemplation of illegitimate gains—which makes the sufferer incapable of grasping the fact that the proceedings in question are utterly degrading and iniquitous. However this may be, the circumstances are such that a strong endeavour ought to be made to get the public to appreciate them, and to expose and, as far as may be possible, to punish those who are guilty, at any rate of the worst types of fraudulent dealing referred to. The Daily Mail and, in a lesser but important degree, the Daily News, have rendered excellent service by directing attention to the matter. The articles which have been published up to the present in these newspapers have been reprinted in pamphlet form under the title of “ The Fraud of the Label,” and a study of this brief but telling exposé may be strongly recommended to all and sundry. A most appropriate quotation from Sir WALTER SCOTT'S “Kenilworth ” appears on the title page: “ Some … plainly admitted they had never seen it; others denied that such a drug existed … and most of them attempted to satisfy their customer by producing some substitute … which, they maintained, possessed in a superior degree the self‐same qualities.”

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 5 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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