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1 – 10 of over 170000Katrina Crotts Roohr, Margarita Olivera-Aguilar and Ou Lydia Liu
For more than a decade, there has been an increased focus on the need for accountability and transparency about the value that United States and international higher education…
Abstract
For more than a decade, there has been an increased focus on the need for accountability and transparency about the value that United States and international higher education institutions add to students' knowledge and skills to help increase their economic productivity and career opportunities. This focus on accountability and transparency within the U.S. dates to 2005 when former US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings established a Commission on the Future of Higher Education to develop a national strategy for higher education reform. This led to an increased focus on measuring value added within higher education institutions and using value-added scores to make institutional comparisons. This chapter presents a brief history of value added within the United States and presents high-level summaries of initiatives, assessments used to measure value added, and a review of how value added is measured. We also present challenges around methodology and interpretation of results. Lastly, we discuss some of the future directions in evaluating value added in higher education and areas for future research.
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Joona Keränen and Anne Jalkala
The strategies to assess potential and realized customer value have received surprisingly little attention in management literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The strategies to assess potential and realized customer value have received surprisingly little attention in management literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine potential customer value assessment strategies for business-to-business (B2B) firms and their special characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part of the study draws from an exploratory, two-part field study involving three pilot firms, and seven best practice firms in customer value assessment. The research design followed an inductive, discovery-oriented grounded theory approach. Primary data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 35 business managers from ten B2B firms.
Findings
The study identifies three customer value assessment strategies adopted by firms in business markets: Emergent value sales strategy; Life-cycle value management strategy; and Dedicated value specialist strategy. These strategies highlight different ways of managing and coordinating organizational units in different phases of the customer value assessment process.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted from the supplier's perspective and is context-bound to firms operating in B2B markets.
Practical implications
Managers need to select an appropriate strategy for customer value assessment depending on market and offering characteristics, and assign clear responsibilities for value potential identification, baseline assessment, and long-term value realization.
Originality/value
The extant literature on customer value lacks understanding on customer value assessment strategies. The present study identifies three strategies that illuminate the required resources and organizational units at different phases of the customer value assessment process.
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Mark DeSantis, Matthew McCarter and Abel Winn
The authors use laboratory experiments to test two self-assessment tax mechanisms for facilitating land assembly. One mechanism is incentive compatible with a complex tax…
Abstract
The authors use laboratory experiments to test two self-assessment tax mechanisms for facilitating land assembly. One mechanism is incentive compatible with a complex tax function, while the other uses a flat tax rate to mitigate implementation concerns. Sellers publicly declare a price for their land. Overstating its true value is penalized by using the declared price to assess a property tax; understating its value is penalized by allowing developers to buy the property at the declared price. The authors find that both mechanisms increase the rate of land assembly and gains from trade relative to a control in which sellers’ price declarations have no effect on their taxes. However, these effects are statistically insignificant or transitory. The assembly rates in our self-assessment treatments are markedly higher than those of prior experimental studies in which the buyer faces bargaining frictions, such as costly delay or capital constraints.
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The purpose of this paper is to understand the alignment of assessment processes in libraries and develop a conceptual model of aligning library performance assessment for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the alignment of assessment processes in libraries and develop a conceptual model of aligning library performance assessment for effective reporting of library value and performance to stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews of library performance assessment literature and current practice research to identify the need and value of aligned performance assessment processes for libraries, the primary contributing alignment factors affecting the library assessment process, and potential benefits of improved alignment of the assessment process for libraries.
Findings
Libraries can improve the reporting and value of their assessment processes by improving the alignment of their assessment processes in two ways: internally through the use of consistent and innovative processes, metrics, and culture within the library and externally by embracing the alignment factors of the library's service environment. The library must develop more effective assessment alignment processes by progressively elevating the alignment of the library's assessment processes from internal non‐alignment of assessment to the total alignment of assessment to the library’ service environment and the dynamic environmental factors driving today's libraries.
Practical implications
Increasing the alignment of a library's assessment processes can improve the efficiency of assessment processes, the effectiveness of the results of the assessment processes, and the library stakeholder's appreciation and understanding of the results of the assessment processes.
Originality/value
Provides a conceptual model applicable to all types of libraries to increase the alignment of assessment and the library's ability to report value and impact.
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The purpose of this paper is to build a more scientific and refined collection assessment indicator system and examine the state of the collections, and adjusting collection…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to build a more scientific and refined collection assessment indicator system and examine the state of the collections, and adjusting collection development planning.
Design/methodology/approach
To analyze the weaknesses in the current assessment indicator system, advance the quality–utility–value Theory of collection assessment, introduce the advantages of the theory, use it to construct a collection assessment indicator system and clarify the content of each assessment indicator.
Findings
Empirical analysis of the foreign language collection of the National Library of China verified the scientific nature and feasibility of the assessment indicator system based on the quality–utility–value Theory.
Research limitations/implications
The indicator system should be more detailed according to the needs, and the scoring standard can be clearer.
Practical implications
According to the quality–utility–value Theory or based on such an assessment indicator system, libraries can build an indicator system related to their own libraries.
Social implications
Building a good collection assessment, it is very important In today’s library tight funds, after the outbreak of COVID-19. With the value dimension, the collection assessment of the library is more objective, comprehensive and three-dimensional.
Originality/value
This paper considers how to construct a collection assessment indicator system with the new theory, the quality–utility–value Theory; it is three-dimensional. Well, the collection value is not clearly measured and expressed in the indicator system before. Using this theory, this paper makes an empirical study on the evaluation of the foreign language collection of the National Library of China.
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Maria Miguel Ribeiro, Elona Hoover, Gemma Burford, Julia Buchebner and Thomas Lindenthal
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that values-focused assessment can provide a useful lens for integrating sustainability and institutional performance assessment in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that values-focused assessment can provide a useful lens for integrating sustainability and institutional performance assessment in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a values elicitation methodology for indicator development, through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and a stakeholder workshop, in a pilot project at BOKU University, Vienna.
Findings
This case highlights that many of the values held by university staff and students are pro-sustainability values. Starting from these values may be a useful way of engaging university stakeholders in sustainability dialogues. The paper illustrates how values-based indicators can be integrated into university performance assessments, providing a novel way of thinking about sustainability assessment in universities.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory pilot was carried out in a university with a focus on natural sciences. Further research could replicate and compare the results of this paper in other institutions.
Originality/value
Creating a shared understanding of pro-sustainability values can help individuals to reconceptualise sustainability in relation to their own work and motivations. In doing so, it can highlight the inherent synergies between sustainability assessment and institutional performance assessment in the higher education sector, which are usually seen as separate domains.
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Antonio Lerro, Francesca A. Iacobone and Giovanni Schiuma
Companies coping with global business are called more and more to lead their transformation into intelligent organizations, i.e. organizations able to leverage their intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
Companies coping with global business are called more and more to lead their transformation into intelligent organizations, i.e. organizations able to leverage their intellectual capital to achieve their business objectives and envision new development paths. This paper, assuming that the organizational intellectual capital corresponds to the knowledge assets attributed to a company, aims to discuss the organizational value, the processes, the approaches and the evaluation architectures of the knowledge asset assessment strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of a literature review, first the sub‐processes of the assessment are discussed, highlighting the main features of the assessment of knowledge assets as well as the twofold nature of the knowledge asset assessment, distinguishing between stock and flow perspective of the evaluation. Second, the managerial reasons at the basis of the implementation of measurement systems for disclosing organizational knowledge resources are discussed. Finally, according to a distinction between the assessment approaches and the evaluation architectures, four main knowledge asset assessment strategies are defined.
Findings
Despite a number of models to assess intellectual capital being proposed, they highlighted a need for clarification of their strategic focus. With the aim of filling this gap, the main finding of the paper is to clarify relevant issues providing an organic, literature review‐based and coherent framework about the knowledge assets assessment strategies.
Originality/value
The identification of these strategies not only contributes to advance the theory of knowledge asset assessment, but also provides insights to managers to better define and implement models and approaches for measuring organizational knowledge resources. Especially they support managers in choosing and arranging critical information for defining the most suitable decisions and actions concerning the effective management and development of a company's intellectual capital.
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Antonio Lerro and Giovanni Schiuma
Acknowledging the strategic relevance of assessing and managing intellectual capital (IC), this editorial first aims to discuss a classification of the IC assessment strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
Acknowledging the strategic relevance of assessing and managing intellectual capital (IC), this editorial first aims to discuss a classification of the IC assessment strategies and second seeks to introduce the main topics investigated by the papers collected in this special issue. The notion of IC assessment strategy is interpreted as the set of economic and managerial decisions and purposes characterising the assessment of an organisation's knowledge assets. It is argued that the definition of a knowledge asset assessment strategy has to take into account two dimensions: on the one hand, the nature of the managerial approach to be adopted for the assessment, distinguishing between “value management” and “value communication”; and on the other hand, the most appropriate “evaluation architecture” to be used in order to gather and report the assessment information for control and decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
The approaches, evidences and insights discussed in this introduction result from the integration of the theory analysis with the insights extracted from the discussions that took place at the conference “International Forum on Knowledge Assets Dynamics” organized in June 2012 in Matera, Italy. At this leading international conference, experts discussed the importance of intellectual capital for organizational business excellence in the 21st century business landscape, the new IC key‐value drivers to focus on in order to face emergent competitive challenges, and the research and management practices most appropriate to address complexity, uncertainty and changes of today's business landscape.
Findings
Four IC assessment strategies are proposed, addressing their relevance for management actions. This represents the background to introduce the main topics investigated by the papers that are collected in this special issue.
Originality/value
This editorial outlines the key IC assessment strategies that organisations and practitioners should take into account when designing measurement systems aimed at gathering information to inform IC management actions.
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Christof Oberhausen and Peter Plapper
In most cases, the conventional assessment of value streams is based on key performance indicators (KPIs) like the share of added value, the degree of flow or a comprehensive lead…
Abstract
Purpose
In most cases, the conventional assessment of value streams is based on key performance indicators (KPIs) like the share of added value, the degree of flow or a comprehensive lead time analysis. To evaluate cross-enterprise value streams of manufacturing, business or service processes in detail, a holistic methodology is needed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research paper, the assessment of value streams within complex cross-company networks is described. After a presentation of relevant KPIs in the fields of value stream management (VSM) and supply chain management (SCM), an approach for a cross-enterprise evaluation of value streams on different levels of detail is shown. In addition, the use of an absolute VSM evaluation, in contrast to a relative VSM assessment, is examined.
Findings
Based on a uniform and well-balanced set of KPIs and other VSM and SCM parameters, a performance assessment on different levels of value stream detail is enabled. Further investigations reveal the advantages of a relative compared with an absolute VSM assessment.
Research limitations/implications
In addition to a comprehensive overview of existing KPIs for a value stream assessment beyond company borders, a holistic and multi-level VSM approach is presented in this paper. In contrast to existing VSM approaches, the described method allows an evaluation and subsequent improvement of value streams within supply chain networks. Up to now, the presented approach for the assessment of cross-enterprise value streams has only been tested in specific industrial environments. In future, the proposed methodology shall also be validated for other process types like business, service or further manufacturing processes.
Practical implications
The described cross-company performance measurement approach shows a high practical relevance for organizations operating in supply chain networks. Due to the integrated use of different VSM parameters, the evaluation of highly interconnected value streams across corporate boundaries is facilitated. By means of a case study, the proposed methodology is validated under real industry conditions and proves its practical applicability.
Originality/value
One of the novel features of this research is the extension of the traditional VSM method with respect to a relative evaluation of value streams based on a set of significant KPIs. In addition, the allocation of these KPIs to different value stream layers and categories leads to an innovative approach for a multi-level assessment according to the needs of the specific VSM application, e.g. a more standardized use of VSM in complex supply chain networks.
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Robson Almeida Borges De Freitas and Antonio Martins de Oliveira Junior
Although Public Research Institutions (PRIs) are large technology producers, they lack automated information tools that follow technical and scientific criteria for assessing and…
Abstract
Purpose
Although Public Research Institutions (PRIs) are large technology producers, they lack automated information tools that follow technical and scientific criteria for assessing and valuing patents. The assessment and valuation processes are stages of technology transfer (TT) that make it possible to obtain productive arrangements and guide the efforts of those involved in the development, maintenance and negotiation. This study aims to analyze the hybrid model of assessment and valuation of technologies by Soares (2018), applying the ‘Valorativo' software. In addition to patent value and indicator scores, the methods allow an understanding of the technology portfolio and its management.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is quali-quantitative, following an approach of applied nature and descriptive objectives. The research has bibliographical, documental and case study features based on the software development methodologies described in the study and the theoretical framework.
Findings
The Valorativo software assisted in the analysis of ten patents on PRIs. With the data collection and patent analysis, PAT1 scored highest among engineering patents, PAT3 scored highest among pharmaceutical patents and PAT10 scored highest among biotechnology patents. Five of the assessed patents resulted in a surplus of net present value (NPV), final net present value (NPVF) and royalties; revenue expectations outpaced investments.
Practical implications
The authors based the developed software on Soares’s (2018) methodology, with additional calculations and graphs. The Web software and the spreadsheet with Visual Basic for Application (VBA) were developed to deal with the patents assessment and valuation, helping in the analysis of their Legal Value, Technological Value and Market Conditions in the assessment process, and the Discounted Cash Flow and NPV in the valuation process.
Originality/value
The software helps with patent analysis and can generate indicators for traders, technology holders and researchers. Thus, it was necessary to understand and develop a theoretical-applied framework to outline and replicate the methodology clearly and easily.
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