Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Impact Of Life-Cycle Costs Threshold Criteria In The Alternate Design Pavement Bidding Practices Of Public Transportation Agencies, Ilker Karaca, Douglas Gransberg, Ashley F. Buss

Ilker Karaca

This paper proposes a model that enables Department of Transportation (DOT) policy makers to quantify the expected volume of projects that will qualify for letting in their alternate design/alternate bid (ADAB) pavement bidding programs. Current guidance on alternate bidding recommends a fixed percentage as the life cycle cost (LCC) threshold criterion to determine whether pavement selection decisions should be made through ADAB bidding practices. The paper’s analysis shows that the fixed LCC threshold percentage approach may have considerable shortcomings. Instead, a dynamic threshold value is proposed that can subsequently be calibrated by agencies, based on the desired size of their …

A Bayesian Network Estimation Of The Service-Profit Chain For Transport Service Satisfaction, Ronald Anderson, Robert Mackoy

Robert Mackoy

Bayesian network methodology is used to model key linkages of the service-profit chain within the context of transportation service satisfaction. Bayesian networks offer some advantages for implementing managerially focused models over other statistical techniques designed primarily for evaluating theoretical models. These advantages are (1) providing a causal explanation using observable variables within a single multivariate model, (2) analysis of nonlinear relationships contained in ordinal measurements, (3) accommodation of branching patterns that occur in data collection, and (4) the ability to conduct probabilistic inference for prediction and diagnostics with an output metric that can be understood by managers and academics. Sample …

A Rasch Model Analysis Of Technology Usage In Minnesota Hospitals, John Olson, James Belohlav, Lori Cook

John Olson

No abstract provided.

Change Is Always Constant, Anthony Jackson

Anthony J Jackson Prof

Are you keeping up with companies who despite the economic downturn are still making a profit or are you making excuses like once the economy get's better we'll change, and when the economy gets better you say we just got back on our feet and now is not the time to change, and once you start doing better financially you say we have so many things to catch up on first before we change, and when you catch up on things the economy slips a bit and you can't change, and guess what my friends this is where you started.

Can Strategic Management Techniques Be Applied To Small And Medium Enterprises, Anthony J. Jackson Prof

Anthony J Jackson Prof

This research focused on strategic management techniques and how these techniques are applicable to small and medium enterprises. The use of generic or specific strategic management tools and techniques among small and medium size businesses has had insignificant value because strategic application are thought in terms of for only larger companies. This paper examined the benefits of using strategic tools and techniques to companies seeking profits and growth. This research also supports how strategy can improve performance of small and medium businesses. Qualitative research was used for this study to determine if there was a correlation between strategic management, market …

The Sfa Business Review Vol. 2 No. 2, M. Dudley Stewart, Ralph L. White, John H. Lewis, Danny R. Arnold, John D. Whitt, Patsy Spurrier, Janelle C. Ashley

Ralph E. White

No abstract provided.

Customer Loyalty, Repurchase And Satisfaction: A Meta-Analytical Review, Tamilla Curtis, Russell Abratt, Dawna L. Rhoades, Paul Dion

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between customer loyalty, repurchase/repurchase intent and satisfaction in order to attempt to resolve the mixed views on these concepts. A quantitative review of loyalty-repurchase satisfaction constructs was conducted to identify the strength and direction of the researched relationships and the influence of possible moderating factors affecting those relationships. The Hunter and Schmidt (1990) meta-analytical technique and software were employed. The results demonstrate that loyalty and satisfaction indicate strong positive relationships (0.54). Repurchase and satisfaction display a complicated relationship, which confirmed the view that satisfaction does not explain repurchase behavior. Repurchase …

Green Freight Asia (C): The Road Ahead, Jason Woodard, Christopher Dula

C. Jason Woodard

Green Freight Asia is a three-part case series featured in the 2014 APEX Business-IT Global Case Challenge. The case is best used for group projects or workshop assignments concerning business-IT related topics. In this case, students take on the role of a small firm pitching to collaborate with GFA on an IT solution partnership to support GFA’s programme for the adoption of green freight practices in the Asia Pacific region. The case could also be adapted for classroom facilitation with adequate preparation.

Green Freight Asia (C): The Road Ahead is the third and final part of the case series. It …

Green Freight Asia (A): Driving The Adoption Of Sustainable Supply Chain Practices, Jason Woodard, Christopher Dula

C. Jason Woodard

Green Freight Asia is a three-part case series featured in the 2014 APEX Business-IT Global Case Challenge. The case is best used for group projects or workshop assignments concerning business-IT related topics. In this case, students take on the role of a small firm pitching to collaborate with GFA on an IT solution partnership to support GFA’s programme for the adoption of green freight practices in the Asia Pacific region. The case could also be adapted for classroom facilitation with adequate preparation. The first part, Green Freight Asia (A): Driving the Adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Practices, chronicles the formation …

Green Freight Asia (B): Navigating Toward A Successful Partnership, Jason Woodard, Christopher Dula

C. Jason Woodard

Green Freight Asia is a three-part case series featured in the 2014 APEX Business-IT Global Case Challenge. The case is best used for group projects or workshop assignments concerning business-IT related topics. In this case, students take on the role of a small firm pitching to collaborate with GFA on an IT solution partnership to support GFA’s programme for the adoption of green freight practices in the Asia Pacific region. The case could also be adapted for classroom facilitation with adequate preparation. The second part, Green Freight Asia (B): Navigating Toward A Successful Partnership, explores how a collaborative partnership between …

Revitalizing Ethiopia's Manufacturing Enterprises Through The Japanese Production Management Strategy, Asayehgn Desta

Asayehgn Desta

Global Delivery Models: The Role Of Talent, Speed And Time Zones In The Global Outsourcing Industry, Stephan Manning, Marcus Larsen, Pratyush Bharati

Pratyush Bharati

We investigate antecedents and contingencies of location configurations supporting global delivery models (GDMs) in global outsourcing. GDMs are a new form of IT-enabled client-specific investment promoting services provision integration with clients by exploiting client proximity and time-zone spread allowing for 24/7 service delivery and access to resources. Based on comprehensive data we show that providers are likely to establish GDM configurations when clients value access to globally distributed talent pools and speed of service delivery, and in particular when services are highly commoditized. Findings imply that coordination across time zones increasingly affects international operations in business-to-business and born-global industries.

Satisfaction With Airline Service Quality: Familiarity Breeds Contempt, Tamilla Curtis, Dawna Rhoades, Blaise Waguespack

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The objective of this study is to investigate frequency-of-flight issues and the differences between frequent and non-frequent flyers’ levels of satisfaction and the importance attributed to overall airline service quality and select attributes. The results indicate that the level of satisfaction with overall airline quality and select attributes decrease the more passengers fly. Conversely, the level of importance attributed to airline amenities increased with flight frequency. Perceptions of airline quality may vary between different nationalities and different socioeconomic groups. Differences between the short- and long-haul flights, as well as domestic and international services could also exist. Airline managers need to …

Regional Jet Aircraft Competitiveness: Challenges And Opportunities, Tamilla Curtis, Dawna Rhoades, Blaise Waguespack

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The regional jet aircraft is a unique market niche. Particularly suitable for providing capacity in the 30 to 90 seat range, these jets are often used to connect smaller airports to network carrier hubs, as well as to fill in during slow periods. The market is currently dominated by two manufacturers: Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier. Due to the nature of the global aircraft industry, Embraer and Bombardier are largely dependent on the international sale of their aircraft for steady revenue streams. Orders and deliveries of aircraft with fewer than 100 seats have grown rapidly over the past ten years. …

How High Will Russian Aviation Fly?, Tamilla Curtis, Irina Swenson

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The study provides the historical context of the Russian aviation industry reflecting the periods of its growth and decline. It reveals the competitive advantage strategies that have been implemented by the Russian government in an attempt to revivify an enfeebled nation's aeronautic industry. The paper discusses the newly formed Joint Stock Company (JSC) United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and its strategies to break into global markets, including UAC innovative product offerings. Whether or not, the recent efforts of the Russian government serve as a fulcrum for the Russian aviation industry that will leverage Russia into the global market, remains to be …

Crm In Russia And U.S. -- Case Study From American Financial Service Industry, Tamilla Curtis, Tom Griffin, Donald Barrere

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

This paper discusses Customer Relationship Management in two sharply contrasting business cultures: the United States and Russia. Included in the present work is a case study of a midsized American financial services firm that illustrates a common path to the decision to have a CRM system: the planning, selection, and the implementation of the CRM program, including a discussion of the likelihood of success. The clients in this case are Financial Advisors, who in turn sell the investment products to the end user individual investors. CRM in Russia is yet in its infancy as the economy emerges from 200 years …

Corporate Brand Management In Higher Education: The Case Of Erau, Tamilla Curtis, Russell Abratt, William Minor

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

There is evidence in the literature that organizations struggle to formulate and implement their corporate branding strategies. This paper aims to provide an overview of the corporate brand building process in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology was used in this study. A single case study of a private American university was used to gather information about their corporate brand building process. University administrators and documents were used to gain insights into their brand building process. Findings – The corporate brand building process addressed three key areas; web administration, program marketing and corporate brand positioning. The corporate brand building …

Joint Sector Review Assessment, Ghana, Advancing Mutual Accountability Through Comprehensive, Inclusive, And Technically Robust Review And Dialogue, Samuel Asuming-Brempong, Stephen Frimpong

Stephen Frimpong

In any sector, policy dialogue is a critical component to efficient and harmonious policymaking and implementation. A joint sector review (JSR) is an annual review of the sector to identify where challenges are preventing coherent dialogue. In Ghana, the first agriculture JSR was instituted in 2008 with the goal of reaching a common point- of- view among key sector stakeholders on important achievements in the preceding year. Stakeholders include the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA); development partners (DPs); other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), the private sector, and civil society. In addition, the JSR seeks to review key remaining …

Using Strategic Partnerships To Create A Sustainable Competitive Position For Hi-Tech Start-Up Firms, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

In most cases these companies chose or were forced to engage in a technology partnership in order to develop and survive. As one would expect, some of these partnerships succeeded whilst others failed. With hindsight it occurred to the author that success or failure was not necessarily a random event, or idiosyncratic to one particular company, but that there seemed to be a pattern. Some partnerships failed because they were a strategic misfit, others probably because they were badly implemented. Based on these clinical case studies, The author addresses these questions: when and under what conditions a partnership is needed; …

Technology Strategy And China's Technology Capacity Building, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

China has the potential to become a major source of innovation for the world. The scientific investment is in place and rapidly growing. But in order to reap the benefits of this investment its organisations will have to become better at managing innovation. One of the key elements of innovation management is the determination and implementation of a sound technology strategy. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework and a detailed overview of what it entails to develop and implement a technology strategy. The paper emphasizes the alignment of the strategy with the organisational competencies and the …

Interpreting And Responding To Strategic Issues: The Impact Of National Culture, Susan C. Schneider, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Perceptions of environmental uncertainty and organizational control influence strategic behavior. As national culture influences these perceptions we expect to find cultural differences in interpretation and response to strategic issues. Given a case describing an issue concerning deregulation of the U.S. banking industry, managers completed questionnaires rating interpretations and responses to that issue. National culture was found to influence interpretation and responses. In particular, Latin European managers when compared with other managers were more likely to interpret the issue as a crisis and as a threat. Latin Europeans were also more likely to recommend proactive behavior. This study indicates that different …

Ecosystem Advantage: How To Successfully Harness The Power Of Partners, Peter James Williamson, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Changes in the global environment are generating opportunities for companies to build advantage by creating loosely coupled networks or ecosystems. Ecosystems are larger, more diverse, and more fluid than a traditional set of bilateral partnerships or complementors. By leveraging ecosystems, companies can deliver complex solutions while maintaining corporate focus. This article describes six keys to unlock ecosystem advantage: pinpointing where value is created, defining an architecture of differentiated partner roles, stimulating complementary partner investments, reducing the transaction costs, facilitating joint learning across the network, and engineering effective ways to capture profit.

‘Campus Connect’: An Infosys Program To Develop India’S Information Technology Ecosystem, Arnoud De Meyer, Peter Williamson, Havovi Joshi, Christopher Dula

Arnoud De Meyer

This case is set in April 2013, and discusses the key elements that have contributed to the success of Infosys Ltd’s Campus Connect Program (CC) in developing India’s IT talent over the past eight years. The CC programme had been developed by Infosys in response to a growing belief among India’s IT industry majors that the large number of fresh graduates they were looking to recruit from engineering colleges were neither readily employable nor sufficiently industry-ready. The programme was envisaged to address this problem through an industry-academia initiative that would architect the education experience of engineering students. The goal was …

Encompass: Creating Innovation In Broadcast, Everyday, Arnoud De Meyer, Anne-Valerie Ohlsson-Corboz

Arnoud DE MEYER

Headquartered in the United States, Encompass Digital Media provides digital media services through its broadcasting facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. Encompass delivers tailor-made solutions for the management and distribution of content, including a diversified range of TV content, as well as live sports events for companies such as ESPN, IMG, Star Sports and Sony Entertainment.

Encompass Digital Media (Asia) began its operations in Singapore in 2009. By 2012, the company had captured over 50 per cent of the market for outsourced Digital Playout services in Asia. While manpower costs were significantly higher than in China, …

Sentosa (C): Advancing Sentosa’S Strategy Through Integrated Customer Engagement, Jason Woodard, Kevin Sproule

C. Jason Woodard

This case is the third part of a three-part series on the Sentosa Leisure Group based in Singapore. The three cases focus on: Case (A) – Marketing / Analytics Case (B) – IT solution design Case (C) – Long-term strategy Sentosa (C): After successfully answering the ‘big’ questions like how to drive Sentosa’s core revenue and designing a new IT platform, students are asked to tie it all together. How can their learning be used to chart a strategy for the Sentosa Leisure Group? How can they realise the aggressive revenue and profit goals set forward by the board? In …

Coping With Growth Transitions: The Case Of Chinese Family Businesses In Singapore, Wee-Liang Tan, Siew Tong Fock

Wee Liang TAN

Families control more than half of the corporations in East Asia. The contribution of family businesses to Asia's economic growth is predicated upon successfully growing their businesses. Many family businesses in East Asia, spanning countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, are Chinese owned and managed. Some claim that these businesses will never develop into full-fledged multinational enterprises because of their cultural heritage (Redding, 1990). However, some Chinese family businesses have successfully made the transition.This paper presents an in-depth study of five Chinese family businesses in Singapore that have successfully made the transition in growth and size …

Blackness And Governance, Fred Moten, Stefano Harney

Stephen Matthias Harney

No abstract provided.

Marketing Behavior Practices Towards Competitors For Application Of Marketing Behavior Matrix In Online Marketing- An Exploratory Study, Dipanjay Jayant Bhalerao

Dipanjay Jayant Bhalerao

Behavioral aspect in marketing domain has been crucial majorly from consumer’s point of view. Since 1957, except the theory of MBEA (Marketing Behavior and Executive Action) by Prof. Wroe Alderson, the behavioral aspect of marketing was researched only in the consumer buying behavior arena. “All marketing activity is an aspect of the interaction among organized behavior systems related to each other in what may be described as an ecological network. Operating systems are a subclass of behavior systems, distinguished by inputs and outputs and the structuring of processes to achieve efficiency” (Wroe Alderson, 1957).As per this statement there is scope …

Theories For Competitive Advantage, Hui-Ling Wang

Hui-Ling Wang

Introduction Competitive advantage is obtained when an organisation develops or acquires a set of attributes (or executes actions) that allow it to outperform its competitors. The development of theories that help explain competitive advantage has occupied the attention of the management community for the better part of half a century. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the key theories in this space. The overview will span a long timeline, starting from the 1960s to formulations that were introduced in mid-2013. In the early period, there were two dominant theories of competitive advantage: the Market-Based View (MBV) and the …

Corporate Social Responsibility In A Remedy-Seeking Society: A Public Choice Perspective, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Written for the Chapman Law Review Symposium on “What Can Law & Economics Teach Us About the Corporate Social Responsibility Debate?,” this Article applies the lessons of public choice theory to examine corporate social responsibility. The Article adopts a broad definition of corporate social responsibility activism to include both (1) those efforts that seek to convince corporations to voluntarily take into account corporate social responsibility in their own decision-making, and (2) the efforts to alter the legal landscape and expand legal obligations of corporations beyond traditional notions of harm and duty so as to force corporations to invest in interests …