Search results

The objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of tourism competitiveness over the years, ascertaining the state of the art and the degree of consensus among scholars on its constituent elements to propose an integrative and updated concept.

A set of 130 definitions on tourism competitiveness formulated between 1999–2018 was analyzed and segmented into three periods, allowing its historical evolution to be ascertained. It is a qualitative and quantitative exploratory research that uses a combination of techniques, namely, content analysis, analysis of co-words and consensus analysis.

The results indicated a low use of elements such as the quality of life and the environment in the authors' definitions during 1999–2018, although these elements were present in the first concept of tourism competitiveness by Crouch and Ritchie (1999, 2003). Another finding of this study shows a reduction in the analysis of tourism competitiveness based on the supply and demand side. Nowadays, the research tends to turn on the basis of the population directly affected. It also reveals the enrichment of the theoretical corpus with new lines of research arising and new groups of scholars of the subject, consequently a new frontier in tourism competitiveness.

The authors recommend deepening the analysis in each category of conceptual elements of tourism competitiveness to identify the origins of the low consensus. The authors also suggest conducting further research on the largest invisible schools of thought on this subject to understand their relations and perspectives, and thus to advance in the theoretical streams of the field. Finally, it is imperative to develop research on new models and monitors of tourism competitiveness that meet its renewed concept and integrate dimensions to consider the perspective of supply, demand, tourists and residents, as well as not excluding the economic bias but including the social side.

Owing to the fact that monitors of tourism competitiveness have practically no variables related to the social, most of the surveys are carried out from the supply or demand perspective, leaving the resident distant from the process. In this way, the results allow authors to indicate that new models of competitiveness measurement should be formulated based on the vision of the community impacted by tourism, i.e. a new version of tourism competitiveness not based on productivity but rather on the social aspect.

The findings of this study contribute to the field literature by offering an integrative concept of tourism competitiveness based on the elements with a higher level of consensus among researchers. Furthermore, the results accentuate a worrying fact regarding the operationalization of this concept, as the theoretical basis is not expressed in the monitors of competitiveness. Thus, nor it is possible in the management of the tourism industry.

The topic of this paper strikes the golden mean rather than the extreme ones. The purpose is to describe frameworks and processes that strive to balance and unite conceptual opposites (so‐called “halves”) of the reality spectrum in different areas of literature.

Two related frames of reference in the area of inventory management are used to underpin and illustrate the frameworks and the processes to identify and manage conceptual halves in theoretical descriptions of the reality spectrum.

The tendency to focus on just halves (or lesser pieces) of the reality spectrum in theoretical descriptions of intangibles derived from research efforts creates a kind of blinkers‐syndrome, which is not enough to achieve a thorough understanding of the reality spectrum at hand.

Current and forthcoming theoretical descriptions of intangibles would benefit from paying attention to the underlying message transmitted through the formula of consensus. It is important to remember that the formula of consensus is not only restricted to the counterparts, but also stresses the importance of the reality spectrum between conceptual halves in terms of the compatibility and the complement between the counterparts.

There are numerous halves in theoretical descriptions of the reality spectrum that are related to one another in areas such as constructs, strategies, perspectives, approaches, methodologies and principles. A formula of consensus is therefore introduced which consists of three ingredients (i.e. counterview; compatibility; and complement). It contributes to bridging the dissension of conceptual halves over time and across contexts in theoretical descriptions of the reality spectrum.

This article wants to propose deeper insights and clarifications into the effects of organizational politics which have been at the center of many debates in decision-making literature. For a long time, the debate focused on the negative effects of organizational politics and how to avoid them. This article wants to explore the positive effects of organizational politics and see how this impacts the consensus process in teams moderated by organizational change.

The article model and propositions are grounded in the organisational politics literature. The analysis builds on the “positive” politics literature which has been gaining steam in the last two decades and links this with the consensus literature.

The article proposes an integrated model which clearly shows how the three core concepts influence each other through the four proposed hypotheses. Organizational politics can help to create more consensus in a team decision-making process, and this can have a positive effect on team performance.

The article aims to expand insights of organizational politics on decision-making by putting the light on possible positive effects of organizational politics. The article addresses the theoretical gap of how organizational politics can impact the consensus process.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical method to be used in team decision making when allocating resources.

The paper proposes the following hypothesis: the selected team consensus strategy from among all available strategies must have minimum sum of squares of monetary regrets. A general algebraic representation of the above hypothesis is developed.

This hypothesis can be interpreted as a Nash equilibrium involving mixed strategies when the entire problem is viewed in game theoretic framework. The paper provides an explanation in quantitative terms of the reasoning process pursued by five business college department chairs faced with three strategies, in an actual consensus decision making to illustrate the above hypothesis. By making observations of the behavior of decision makers in the selection of a budget allocation formula, the paper shows that the hypothesis holds true for the specific reasoning process pursued by the chairs in arriving at the consensus solution. However, the chairs' consensus solution is found to be a local solution vis‐à‐vis the global optimal solution found by solving the game theoretic model.

The authors plan to conduct further empirical testing of the hypothesis using allocation strategies found in diverse decision‐making environments involving diverse decision makers such as business executives, government officers, education administrators, and others.

If this hypothesis can be validated to be true, decision makers should propose for consideration only those rational strategies that have minimal or low variance in monetary regrets since these are the strategies that would most likely be selected in team decision making.

Team decision making involving resource allocation abounds in all organizations, at all levels and in diverse applications. The practical procedure proposed in this paper, based on analytical foundation of game theory, provides decision makers a viable tool for allocating resources that results in consensus of all rational parties involved.

In this study, the authors explore how sensing and seizing of market opportunities, asset reconfiguration and top management team (TMT) consensus on these elements jointly relate to a firm's international expansion. By doing this, the authors contribute to the existing literature by addressing dynamic managerial capabilities at the TMT level instead of considering them as individual executives' traits. The authors use the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to analyze our data from 261 TMT executives in 63 firms. The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but in different configurations for specific stages and elements of international business. Presence of sensing as a part of configurations is observable, especially in connection to a firm having foreign customers and explicit internationalization strategies, while configurations where seizing and reconfiguration emerge are connected to firms showing continuity in the international markets. The authors’ results also indicate that a lack of TMT consensus in connection to dynamic managerial capabilities is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. Yet, lack of TMT consensus combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.

This study uses data gathered with a questionnaire where the executives select either “yes” or “no” in response to statements describing the firm situation with regard different managerial aspects and progress of international growth. The authors analyze these data from 261 TMT executives from 63 firms using the QCA method.

The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but to different extents for specific elements of international business; generally, while sensing is needed, in particular, for having foreign customers and internationalization strategies in the first place, seizing and reconfiguration became relevant for continuity in the international markets. Consensus or rather lack of it on these elements also plays a role. It seems that some disagreement is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. However, TMT disagreement combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.

The findings contribute to existing knowledge by exploring how managerial capabilities influence firm-level dynamic capabilities from the point of view of the TMT. The authors also add to existing research that has often focused on the relationships between TMT executives' demographic traits and TMT consensus and, further, the (subsequent) firm performance by looking at different configuration rather than linear linkages. Together, these notions further mean that the authors change the point of view on diversity. The authors consider the consensus on existing managerial dynamic capabilities rather than evaluate the functional diversity or the TMT executives' agreement on strategic moves.

All capabilities are important. TMT does not need to agree on everything, as long as they acknowledge where their problem areas are, and they can capture at least some of the relevant trends and opportunities. In fact, having some lack of consensus seems to be a driving force that allows capabilities to be questioned and potentially keeps (false) under-appreciation of existing capabilities from becoming a barrier to international expansion.

Unlike previous studies that have focused on the relationship between the TMT executives' demographic characteristics and firm performance or the relationship of the demographics and TMT strategic consensus at a general level – or studies that have explained international performance with TMT consensus (or with dynamic managerial capabilities), this study brings forth how the dynamic managerial capabilities and the TMT executives' strategic consensus with regard to these capabilities influence the firm's international expansion. Here, the authors consider internationalization widely, looking at whether the firm has foreign customers or international expansion strategy in place, and whether there this activity is sustained and continuous (with repeated trading and long-term international contracts, in particular). To our knowledge, there is no research on TMT strategic consensus that explains how the unanimity among executives on dynamic managerial capabilities connects to the firm's international expansion.

The blockchain represents a seminal paradigm shift, likely to radically transform business in the future. While the paradigm associated with the World Wide Web and Big Data is focused on the “sharing of information,” the paradigm associated with blockchain is focused on the “sharing of assets.” Intellectual assets are among the most valuable of assets, and customer co-creation is a key approach for creating new value for firms. This paper aims to draw on blockchain-centric logic to develop an initial theoretical framework, with managerial recommendations, for the use of blockchain in customer co-creation.

Building upon established indigenous theory development and inductive realist approaches, the authors develop an original two-step methodology to create the initial theoretical framework. This methodology, involving foundational premises and propositions, is ideal for relatively new areas of research and is well suited to serve as a relatively faster catalyst for future research.

Despite the substantial potential impact of blockchain in innovation, no theoretical foundation for blockchain in customer co-creation exists. To fill this gap, the authors present an initial theoretical framework, using blockchain-centric logic in customer co-creation. The proposed theoretical framework highlights how key prerequisites in customer co-creation, including trust, security, transparency, identity and immutability, can be enhanced with blockchain-centric logic.

It is hoped that the initial theoretical framework, based on blockchain-centric logic, can contribute to future academic research on blockchain in customer co-creation and help practitioners better exploit the blockchain in co-creation. Directions for future research, the larger agenda for this paper, are presented in the conclusion.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of studies on strategic consensus along manufacturing competitive priorities. Based on this analysis, a new methodology to measure strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities that is more consistent with mainstream operations management theory is proposed. The paper also includes novel proposals for future research.

The new methodology and proposals for research are mainly based on a literature review of previous studies on strategic consensus regarding manufacturing competitive priorities and also on relevant research and works in the field of operations management.

Previous methodologies used to measure strategic consensus regarding manufacturing competitive priorities are mainly based on studies in the business strategy field. Thus, these methodologies are deemed as inadequate in the operations management field. It is also found that there are very few studies that have analysed this topic in the operations management field. Moreover, since the methodologies used in those studies are based on previous research in the field of business strategy, the results of the reviewed papers are considered as questionable.

For academics, the paper and its results imply a change in the methodologies and research used to study the issue of strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities. The lack of research into this topic is also observed. More research and studies on this theme are needed. For practitioners, the methodology proposed in the paper could be utilised in order to assess the employees' knowledge of the relationships between manufacturing capabilities inside manufacturing firms.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first review paper into this under‐researched theme in the operations management field. The paper also presents the first methodology that incorporates mainstream theory and research in the field of operations management into the measurement of strategic consensus on manufacturing competitive priorities.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of the Delphi method to gain expert feedback on the identification of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and development of a novel intervention to reduce adolescent alcohol misuse, based on the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) of health risk behaviour.

Four BCTs based on the PWM were identified and incorporated into a draft intervention that aimed to change alcohol prototypes and enable adolescents to deal with social pressure. Using the Delphi process, successive questionnaires were distributed to 20 international experts to build consensus on the theoretical validity of the intervention.

In total, 15 experts completed round 1 and 11 completed round 2 of the Delphi study. A high level of consensus was achieved. Four priority areas were identified to improve the intervention: incorporating extra techniques to address social pressure; increasing intensity; providing incentives; and addressing credibility.

The sample of experts was self-selected and four participants were lost between the first and second round of the study.

The effectiveness of the identified BCTs will be evaluated within an intervention to reduce alcohol misuse in adolescents. Further work should build towards a more unified approach to developing interventions based on the PWM. The Delphi method is likely to be particularly useful when there is no existing consensus about which BCTs to use that reflect certain theoretical constructs or that best target a specific population or behaviour.

This paper is the first to address the identification of specific BCTs based on the PWM and thus makes an important contribution to the application of this model to interventions. This novel application of the Delphi method also makes a useful addition to the growing field of intervention development and design.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm for in‐mission trajectories and speed adjustment of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) participating in a mission that requires them to arrive at target location simultaneously with switching and imperfect communication among the vehicles.

This algorithm, programmed at each UAV level, is based on the repeated consensus seeking among the participating vehicles about the time‐on‐target (ToT) through an imperfect inter‐vehicle communication link. The vehicles exchange their individual ToT values repeatedly for a particular duration to pick the highest value among all the vehicles in communication. A consensus confidence flag is set high when consensus is successful. After every consensus cycle with high confidence value, the mission adjustment is carried out by computing difference value between ToT consensus and a threshold value. For the difference values higher than a certain limit, vehicle's trajectory is adjusted by in‐mission insertion of new waypoint (WP) and for lower values the vehicle's speed is varied under allowable limits. The consensus seeking followed by the mission adjustment is repeated periodically to quash the imperfect communication effects.

A mathematical analysis has been carried out to establish the conditions for convergence of the algorithm. The simultaneous arrival of the vehicles subjected to switching communication is achieved only when the union of the switching links during the consensus period enables a vehicle to receive information from all the other vehicles and the switching rate is sufficiently high. This algorithm has been tested in a 6‐degree‐of‐freedom (DoF) multiple UAV simulation environment and achieves simultaneous arrival of multiple fixed wing UAVs under imperfect communication links that meets the aforementioned conditions.

The presented algorithm and design strategy can be extended for other types of cooperative control missions where certain variable of interest is shared among all the vehicles over imperfect communication environment. The design is modular in functionality and can be incorporated into existing vehicles or simulations.

This research presents a new consensus algorithm that repeatedly performs polling of ToT among the vehicles through intermittent communication. The continual nature of consensus seeking covers the weakness of the imperfect communication. A two‐level mission adjustment provides better accuracy in simultaneous arrival at the target location.

This study aims to analyze the facilities managers’ involvement over the project life cycle phases (PLP), based on theoretical knowledge, consensus from empirical assessment of facilities managers and consultants’ practices.

A literature review was undertaken to determine the different tasks that facilities managers typically handle, identify project phases and their underlying activities in which facilities managers would be involved. This was followed by targeting a group of consultants to build a consensus, upon the identified involvement of facilities managers, over the PLP, while measuring the level of involvement from a representative group of facilities managers in Saudi Arabia. A matching between the perceptions and practice has been performed to serve as recommendations for future research on improving the practice in Saudi Arabia.

The involvement of facilities managers in the PLP is relatively low, according to the consultants’ perceptions. Consultants perceive that facilities managers should be involved in more professional activities, which would ultimately improve projects’ delivery to clients.

The involvement of facilities managers over the PLP ensures effective delivery of projects and reduces the multiplicity of challenges at the operation and maintenance phase. The viewing of facility managers’ involvement adds to the effectiveness of their role within the building industry.

This paper investigates the consultants’ perception of the involvement venues for facility managers to perform activities which are evaluated to be “mandatory,” “advantageous” or “not necessary.” The study reflects the state of facilities management practice, and the consensus of consultants toward the role of the facility managers through the PLP.