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– The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to better understand incentives and obstacles to consolidation of materials in humanitarian logistics.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to better understand incentives and obstacles to consolidation of materials in humanitarian logistics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a content analysis for its literature review method to code 87 articles related to supply chain and logistics and understand what are the incentives and obstacles to consolidation. It then discusses these issues from the point of view of humanitarian logistics.
Findings
Through the combination of a literature review and discussion, the framework developed in this conceptual paper identifies specific sources of delays and impediments to cooperation present in disaster response and development activities. These issues can be related to disaster type, the focus of the organization and the stakeholders as well as the resources required for consolidation themselves.
Research limitations/implications
There are limitations to a conceptual paper, one being the lack of empirical proof for the findings. Another limitation is the use of coding; even though the coding grid was iterative to take into account the findings in the literature, there might still be shortcomings inherent to the categories.
Originality/value
This study offers a comprehensive review of consolidation activities in the last decades and offers an abstract model to further investigate consolidation in the context of humanitarian logistics.
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Keywords
Consolidation, the grouping of several small shipments into one at a designated location, can reduce total logistics cost. Total logistics cost includes consolidation…
Abstract
Consolidation, the grouping of several small shipments into one at a designated location, can reduce total logistics cost. Total logistics cost includes consolidation, transportation and inventory costs. Identifying where cost‐saving opportunities exist is often confused by the interrelated nature of these various costs.
Scott Eacott and Amanda Freeborn
School consolidation reforms are underway in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The purpose of this paper is to establish an evidence base of research literature on school…
Abstract
Purpose
School consolidation reforms are underway in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The purpose of this paper is to establish an evidence base of research literature on school consolidation in regional, rural and remote locations.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping study of empirical literature on school consolidation, with a particular focus on regional, rural and remote education, since the year 2000 was undertaken. A corpus of 35 papers were identified and subjected to analysis based on: year of publication, country of origin, unit of analysis, data sources, timeframe and theoretical model.
Findings
There remains a limited evidence base for the success of school consolidation reforms for turning around student outcomes. In addition, a number of social implications are experienced by communities losing their local school. These issues are amplified in regional, rural and remote locations.
Practical implications
School consolidation reforms are used by governments/systems wanting to reduce costs and address issues of student disengagement and under-achievement. Despite a lengthy history internationally, there is at best mixed evidence regarding these reforms. With a consider disparity gap between urban and regional, rural and remote school outcomes, robust evidence on the success of reforms has major policy implications for government, systems, educators and communities.
Originality/value
With reforms already underway in NSW (and elsewhere), the need for a rigorous and robust evidence base, such as this scoping study, is timely and significant.
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Mark M.J. Wilson and Ram N. Roy
Gaining access to the cost savings and production efficiencies derived from lowering inventories in the supply chain is as vital for small‐to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) as…
Abstract
Purpose
Gaining access to the cost savings and production efficiencies derived from lowering inventories in the supply chain is as vital for small‐to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) as they are for larger manufacturing firms. Lean procurement as a concept has been advanced as a method for achieving this. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a method of addressing some of the critical barriers to implementing lean procurement methodologies in an SME environment through the application of procurement consolidation techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
First the relevant theoretical and practitioner literature is reviewed, a theoretical consolidation model is developed, and a worked example is presented.
Findings
The barriers face by SMEs trying to implement a lean procurement philosophy are significant. Low volumes, small lot sizes and high frequency purchases incur significant additional distribution costs. The paper argues that the use of a double freight consolidation model (DFCM) is useful to SMEs for maximising the trade‐offs between volume and frequency in an international supply chain.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst this research suggests that SMEs can indeed use the DFCM for lean procurement, the next step is to apply the model in practice.
Originality/value
This paper synthesises consolidation modelling and lean procurement principles. This synthesis is further enhanced by applying a simulated example to the challenging SME environment. The application of the categorisation of both buyers and vendors to the consolidation model is novel.
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Silvia Gardini and Giuseppe Grossi
The paper focuses on the potential benefits of fair value accounting (FVA) in the public sector and the shift towards the entity theory of consolidation supported by international…
Abstract
The paper focuses on the potential benefits of fair value accounting (FVA) in the public sector and the shift towards the entity theory of consolidation supported by international accounting standards. The analysis of the Italian cases shows neither adjustments of the assets to their fair value, nor any recognition of intangibles other than goodwill in consolidated financial statement (CFS), maintaining the configuration of a municipal corporate group based on historical costs. These findings suggest a lack of focus on FVA by local governments (LGs), which is in contrast with international accounting standards. Using a combination of sources (such as annual reports and interviews), part of this paper is based on multiple-case studies of Italian LGs on the voluntary adoption of CFS.
Wenxiong Wang, Lihong Yu, Wei Zhou, David W. Marcouiller and Bin Luo
Effective farmer participation in the rural land consolidation process has become increasingly important because it improves results in rural land consolidation and land use…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective farmer participation in the rural land consolidation process has become increasingly important because it improves results in rural land consolidation and land use efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanism of farmers’ effective participation in Chinese rural land consolidation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically assess farmers’ effective participation in the rural land consolidation process in ten counties of China’s Hubei province. Focusing on an effective decision-making model, the authors comprehensively evaluated farmer participation using surveys that incorporated an index system and analyzed survey results using a structural equation model to examine factors that influenced farmer’s effective participation.
Findings
The results of the study suggest that the correlations between farmers’ effective participation and the impacting factors the authors proposed were particularly strong. In addition, participation ability, participation opportunity and participation incentive are strongly associated with effective farmer participation. Thus, the authors highlight that incentives should be provided to encourage farmers’ effective participation in rural land consolidation.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen approach and the set of the research object, the geographic context of the empirical survey work was limited; furthermore, the authors only studied the influencing factors at the individual level, leaving the interaction effects between governmental factors and farmer individual factors inadequately explained.
Originality/value
Despite those limitations, these results serve as an important reference for government agencies and stakeholder groups in rural land consolidation decision making.
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Alexander Serenko and Nick Bontis
– The purpose of this paper is to: investigate the current state of intellectual capital (IC) as an academic discipline, and explore the impact of IC on the state of practice.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to: investigate the current state of intellectual capital (IC) as an academic discipline, and explore the impact of IC on the state of practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The most influential articles published in the Journal of Intellectual Capital were identified. Analysis of their cited and citing works was done.
Findings
The IC discipline: first, successfully disseminates its knowledge beyond the English-language world but ignores research published in languages other than English; second, has higher self-citation rates; third, uses books for the development of its theoretical foundation; fourth, successfully converts experiential knowledge into academic knowledge; fifth, exerts a limited yet potentially increasing practical impact; and sixth, is at the theoretical consolidation stage of pre-science and is progressing toward becoming a reference discipline. No anomalies in the development of the IC discipline were observed.
Practical implications
IC researchers should pay more attention to works published in non-English journals. Given the status of IC as a professional discipline, they should continue using non-peer reviewed sources to convert experiential knowledge into academic knowledge. They also need to promote their research far beyond the traditional IC domain.
Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first empirical analysis of the IC discipline from the reference discipline perspective.
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Gaurav Marathe, Girish Balasubramanian and Manish Singhal
The purpose of this paper is to argue for theoretical integration as a major step in consolidation of the vast leadership literature. It is an attempt to lay out a basic canvas…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for theoretical integration as a major step in consolidation of the vast leadership literature. It is an attempt to lay out a basic canvas that could be further used for building an integrated theory of leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept matrix framework (Webster and Watson, 2002) has been used for analytical abstraction to organize the published research on leadership and distill certain commonalities. The paper finally proposes certain pivots for theoretical integration of the leadership literature.
Findings
A thorough analysis of the leadership literature and the identification of commonalities within the various theories help the authors to identify the change and collective filter, outcomes of leadership, organizational outcomes, leadership role, sources of leadership, processes within the larger leadership process and the context as the pivots for building an integrated theory of leadership.
Research limitations/implications
While the paper is not a detailed literature review and lacks predictive power, it is a synthesis of the published literature. The paper proposes a descriptive model meant to provide a sound foundation for an integrated theory of leadership.
Practical implications
The paper provides a framework to reduce the complexity and ambiguity of leadership research literature and could be utilized as a starting platform for an integrated theory of leadership. It is hoped that this shall also provide leaders and leadership training providers with a more holistic approach for leadership assessment and development.
Originality/value
Based on a survey of literature, the explanation of the leadership process, suggestions for evaluation of quality of leadership and pivots for theoretical integration are the main contributions.
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Suvil Chomchaiya and Vatcharaporn Esichaikul
The purpose of this paper is to develop a consolidated framework for government e-procurement (e-GP) performance measurement based on the importance internal stakeholders attach…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a consolidated framework for government e-procurement (e-GP) performance measurement based on the importance internal stakeholders attach to performance measures and metrics, providing in-depth understanding of their interest in e-GP performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is divided into two main phases: internal stakeholder identification and consolidation of performance measures and metrics. The mixed-methods approach follows semi-structured expert interviews with questionnaires collected from 413 internal stakeholders.
Findings
Five internal stakeholder groups were identified: management, auditors, financial officers, service users, and service support staff. Eight measures and 44 corresponding metrics were consolidated, and 21 significantly distinct performance metrics were identified from stakeholders’ perceptions. As expected, financial measures were most important to financial officers, while contract management was most important to service support staff.
Practical implications
Although e-GP processes can vary by country, this study’s approach to developing an e-GP performance measurement framework is adaptable, offering beneficial guidelines for designing e-GP performance measurement systems.
Originality/value
This paper goes beyond the existing literature by magnifying the internal stakeholder roles and perceptions of importance, as reflected in the consolidated e-GP performance measurement framework. The consolidation approach with theoretical references (new public management, transaction cost economics, and institutional theory) yielded comprehensive e-GP-specific performance measures and metrics, providing a rigorous approach to measuring e-GP performance.
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Luís César Ferreira Motta Barbosa, Otávio José de Oliveira, Marcio Cardoso Machado, Ana Clara Tomaz Morais, Patrícia Maria Bozola and Manuel Gilberto Freitas Santos
This study used a qualitative approach on five case studies in Brazilian industrial companies. The research used interviews, document analysis and on-site visits to collect and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study used a qualitative approach on five case studies in Brazilian industrial companies. The research used interviews, document analysis and on-site visits to collect and analyze data. The companies were selected based on the following criteria: operating in the industrial sector, updating their quality management system (QMS) process to ISO 9001: 2015 and agreeing to participate in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
This article aims to investigate the strategies of industrial companies adopted for ISO-9001:2015 certification in light of the six major advances concerning the previous version. Thus, QMS of other organizations can incorporate identified lessons learned, whether certified or not.
Findings
The main finding of the research is the systematization of a set of lessons learned in the experiences of implementing the six significant advances of ISO 9001 concerning the previous version by industrial companies in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. These lessons can and should be used by other organizations to improve their QMSs.
Practical implications
The practices identified in this empirical research can serve as benchmarking to assist quality managers from other companies in QMS certification based on ISO 9001: 2015 or even those not certified but interested in updating their QMSs. Therefore, lessons learned can significantly minimize efforts to improve your projects, processes, products and services. These findings can also help industrial companies improve their production efficiency and effectiveness through quality improvement.
Originality/value
The main novelty of the research is the consolidation of theoretical and practical analysis of the main changes in the latest version of the ISO 9001 standards. The efforts to fulfill those changes result in lessons learned. The “lessons learned” will form a new block of knowledge that will subsidize theoretical (new research) and practical (formulation of a new ISO 9001 standard and helps quality managers improve their systems).
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