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1 – 10 of 547YouthBuild programs are uniquely designed to address the status of unemployed and uneducated young men and women who are disconnected from work and education. This study, on…
Abstract
Purpose
YouthBuild programs are uniquely designed to address the status of unemployed and uneducated young men and women who are disconnected from work and education. This study, on YouthBuild Las Vegas (YBLV), aims to fill the call for more research on transformative service research, specifically related to education, poverty and well-being. The program educates “opportunity youth” in construction skills while also encouraging progression toward a GED/HiSet or high school diploma. Service providers can better understand how to increase and support reconnection and well-being, especially among low-income individuals in communities with great needs for support services.
Design/methodology/approach
This yearlong qualitative research study intended to better understand transformative service within the context of former high school dropouts previously without a path to a productive future. YBLV was an ideal single-site case study because it was bound by space, people, organization and time. The study followed one YBLV class from admission through graduation; the qualitative work with the organization started prior to the students’ enrollment and continued after the students graduated. Primary data collections were interviews and observations. Additional data collection occurred in the forms of written documents, as well as photos and videos.
Findings
YBLV succeeded because of service providers’ attention to the funds of knowledge of the student population and adapting the format and structure of programs to adult learners, developing mentors for consumers and acknowledging the context and layers of knowledge that consumers brought to the program. The students were able to experience reconnection and increased well-being because of the service providers’ impact throughout the program.
Research limitations/implications
Transformative service research (TSR) research has focused on areas as diverse as health care and homelessness, whereas the lens of funds of knowledge has primarily been applied within educational settings. It would be worthwhile to apply funds of knowledge framework beyond education yet still within the TSR agenda. There are also opportunities to apply the theory to other vulnerable populations. Broadening the scope of reconnection and well-being TSR research far beyond YouthBuild may identify additional or other synergies between these areas.
Practical implications
The growing body of research on TSR suggested a gap in understanding how service providers can support consumers in poverty and a need for greater well-being. This study on YouthBuild highlighted the phenomenon among low-income, undereducated, urban young adults and while the goal of qualitative research is not to be generalizable, specific examples such as adapting programs and structures to low-income consumers, developing mentors to model wanted behavior and goal-setting and acknowledging the funds of knowledge that consumers bring to situations, can be generic ingredients for future transformative service projects.
Social implications
Research has demonstrated that public investment in programs that assist youth toward a positive trajectory and greater well-being is much more beneficial than disciplinary measures such as increased spending on policing and prisons. Employment and educational training programs have led to measurable success and when disconnected youth have greater vocational training and high school completion, they and the broader economy experience improved outcomes. Therefore, from a policy perspective, YouthBuild and programs like it emphasize growth, development and well-being for undereducated and low-income individuals.
Originality/value
The funds of knowledge theoretical framework are new to the Journal of Services Marketing (JSM). That framework coupled with the population of former high school dropouts in a second-chance school and a focus on service providers and well-being within a poverty context, all contribute to the paper’s originality. Reconnection is also a relatively new concept for readers of JSM. These three areas: funds of knowledge, reconnection and TSR are the backbone of this research.
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Within the strategy as practice field several studies have recently paid attention to organizational arenas like meetings, workshops and away‐days. There has, however, been a…
Abstract
Purpose
Within the strategy as practice field several studies have recently paid attention to organizational arenas like meetings, workshops and away‐days. There has, however, been a tendency to focus on what happens “inside” separated organizational arenas. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the separated organizational arenas and other organizational activities in the strategizing process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual. The framework rests on Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory and draws on recent empirical studies.
Findings
The main contribution of the article is the presentation of a theoretically well‐founded framework that further specifies and problematizes the relationships of separated organizational arenas. By focusing and conceptualizing the conditions for separation and reconnection, a foundation for analyzing the interconnectedness between different arenas is provided.
Practical implications
The paper contributes to our understanding of phenomena like meetings and work‐shops in the strategic process.
Originality/value
The framework is in line with, and expands the theorizing that Hendry and Seidl (2003) initiated about strategic episodes and the theorizing about first and second order observations in strategic processes initiated by Schreyögg and Kliesch‐Eberl (2007).
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This chapter argues that a structural change is occurring in the relationships among the State and the society, opening up new opportunities for co-creating public value. In…
Abstract
This chapter argues that a structural change is occurring in the relationships among the State and the society, opening up new opportunities for co-creating public value. In particular, four alternative patterns are proposed: resistance (no change); outsourcing; layering; strategic reconnection. The strategic reconnection alternative is the one grounded on public value co-creation as a new paradigm for public management and as a new ethos for public managers. The chapter highlights how several strategic management schools (Ferlie & Ongaro, 2015) may inform the design and the management of processes of public value co-creation. Finally, it highlights the role of civicness as a principle of democratic governance, as a philosophical premise for human agency towards public value co-creation and as the seed animating what it is defined in the chapter as the ‘public value society’.
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Carmen Padin and Göran Svensson
The objective of this paper is to describe a multi‐layer matrix model of sustainable tourism.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to describe a multi‐layer matrix model of sustainable tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual discussion and illustration is provided.
Findings
It incorporates multiple layers of a proposed process of sustainable tourism and areas of measurement interconnected through a series of gap and reconnection analyses.
Research limitations/implications
Opportunities for further research are offered.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the importance of linking planning and implementation to evaluation and control, but it also stresses the importance of reconnecting back to ongoing planning and implementation, in order to make necessary revisions in the process of sustainable tourism.
Originality/value
One contribution is that sustainable tourism is not defined as a concept or construct, but as a process, since there are no achievements or progress in sustainable practices without a sequence of inter‐connected and measureable doings in the context of markets and societies. Another contribution is that the process of sustainable tourism is continuous and iterative.
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Moya Kneafsey, Laura Venn and Elizabeth Bos
The unglamorous leek is an everyday foodstuff in a British supermarket, but its meaning is constructed through the interplay of a range of non-human materialities including the…
Abstract
The unglamorous leek is an everyday foodstuff in a British supermarket, but its meaning is constructed through the interplay of a range of non-human materialities including the plant, its packaging and its information dense labels. This chapter examines the variations in the ways in which leeks are marketed in different supermarkets, with a particular focus on how they can be traced back to their roots in British fields. We examine the ways in which non-human and virtual entities ‘bring to life’ the human producers of the leeks in a bid to mimic the reconnection that is sought through local food systems. We use the example of the leeks to explore what is happening to food supply chains, urban-rural connections and rural representations as farmers and retailers build new modes of working and as social media tools open up virtual access to the people growing our food.
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Göran Svensson and Carmen Padin
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of spinoffs and tradeoffs in business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace based on environmental, economic and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of spinoffs and tradeoffs in business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace based on environmental, economic and social constituents. It is based on the insights gathered from a company’s business-driven sustainable development. It can therefore be used as a teaching case.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive approach based on case study methodology is applied to describe a company’s spinoffs and tradeoffs of business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace.
Findings
The study reports how raw material residuals can be recycled and reused in spinoff processes, and tradeoffs done, to optimize the outcome of business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace.
Research limitations/implications
The study reveals that spinoffs and tradeoffs between constituents and related sub-constituents enable to improve the ultimate outcome of business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace. The study also illustrates how environmental, social and economic constituents and related sub-constituents connect and reconnect to each other as a whole through spinoffs and tradeoffs, to optimize business-driven sustainable development in marketplace.
Practical implications
Business-driven sustainable development requires corporate considerations to connect and reconnect the economic, social and environmental constituents and related sub-constituents. It illustrates the pioneering actions of combining existing solutions of business sustainability in conjunction and gaining synergy effects to optimize business-driven sustainable development.
Originality/value
Contribution is based on the actions of combining existing solutions of business sustainability in conjunction and gaining synergy effects to optimize business-driven sustainable development. This study also makes a contribution illustrating a framework based on a company’s business-driven sustainable development fostering CO2 neutrality and fossil-free fuel in the food and agricultural industries. In addition, it makes a contribution illustrating how raw material residuals are recycled and reused in spinoff processes, so as to optimize the business-driven sustainable development. Furthermore, it makes a contribution illustrating that business-driven sustainable development in the marketplace is neither simplistic nor straightforward, but requires that tradeoffs between constituents and related sub-constituents be made to optimize the ultimate outcome.
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Introduction Sewer rehabilitation encompasses many different aspects of civil engineering. This single term defines all the activities involved, from detection of a lost sewer to…
Abstract
Introduction Sewer rehabilitation encompasses many different aspects of civil engineering. This single term defines all the activities involved, from detection of a lost sewer to reconnection to the existing property, after renovation of the sewer is complete. In this second part of this paper, the renovation techniques will be discussed.
Rachel Duffy, Andrew Fearne and Victoria Healing
This paper reports the findings of a research project that investigated the extent of the information gap that exists between the British agri‐food industry and consumers to help…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports the findings of a research project that investigated the extent of the information gap that exists between the British agri‐food industry and consumers to help assist the industry in its efforts to re‐connect with consumers and the wider public.
Design/methodology/approach
The first stage involved an information audit to examine the communication activities of the providers of information about food and farming, which was conducted using desk research and personal interviews. The second stage involved qualitative and quantitative primary research to examine the information needs and knowledge amongst consumers, one of the key target groups identified in the first stage of the project.
Findings
The review of the communication activities of organisations in the agri‐food industry identified an extremely fragmented delivery to consumers and a distinct lack of resources to effectively communicate the information that exists and evaluate its impact on the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of consumers. The consumer research indicated that, while many are interested in food production issues, the fragmented communication messages that they receive are not giving them a clear reason to consider the implications of their purchases for the British farming industry and the environment.
Research limitations/implications
The information audit, whilst comprehensive, was not exhaustive, and so it is likely that some information providers may have been excluded from the review. In addition, the effectiveness of individual organisations' communication activities has not been evaluated and this presents a useful avenue for future research.
Practical implications
Owing to the limited communication budgets of individual organisations it is suggested that the industry collaborate and pool its resources to develop a co‐ordinated and effective consumer campaign for British agriculture.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to participants in the agri‐food industry as, since the publication of the Policy Commission inquiry into the future of farming and food, the subject of reconnection in the food chain has become very topical, with both industry and government representatives identifying the poor image of farming and consumers' lack of understanding of the link between food and farming as a significant problem for the industry.
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In the marketing literature it is often argued that corporations should pay attention to the needs and wants not only of their own customers, but also to those of their customers'…
Abstract
Purpose
In the marketing literature it is often argued that corporations should pay attention to the needs and wants not only of their own customers, but also to those of their customers' customers. This is often referred to as “the marketing concept”. The objective is to revitalize the marketing concept beyond the traditional levels of manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, customers and consumers in marketing channels.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual discussion and approach are undertaken.
Findings
The term “spherical marketing concept” is coined. This term connects the distinct upstream and downstream levels of marketing channels, as well as reconnecting their indistinct subsequent and preceding levels.
Research limitations/implications
The dilemma with the common use of the marketing concept in the literature is that it fails to acknowledge the simultaneous connection of the components and interfaces between the upstream and downstream distinct levels from the start to the end of the marketing channels with the reconnection of the components and interfaces from the subsequent and preceding indistinct levels of the marketing channels. Further research efforts should be dedicated to bridge the start and end of distinct levels of marketing channels by way of the indistinct preceding and subsequent ones. Economic, social and ecological factors should be included.
Practical implications
It is not enough simply to match the supply and demand between the start and the end of marketing channels – a revitalization of the boundaries of the marketing concept towards a total circulation approach is necessary. Best practice tends to be more and more aware and skilful in this respect.
Originality/value
The spherical marketing concept contributes to pin‐point the importance of the seamlessness, sustainability and total circulation of components and interfaces in marketing channels. It also contributes to place current theories and practices in perspective for the future.
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