A framework for innovative service design

Drawing on research from design science, marketing, and service science, our paper provides an integrated framework for evaluating and directing innovative service design. The main goal of our review is to highlight the strengths of existing frameworks and to suggest how they can be enhanced in combination with design science principles. Based on our review, we propose a new framework for the design of innovative services that integrates several key paradigmatic approaches and identifies fundamental open research questions. Our approach is unique as it combines three service disciplines, namely services marketing, service science, and design science, and provides a new framework that describes step by step the procedure that needs to be taken and the conditions that need to be met for developing innovative services. We believe that providing such a framework is a valuable addition to the literature.     

人民币的远大抱负

中国正越来越多地参与商讨解决当前经济问题的对策。讨论大部分是围绕着钱的问题——无论是温家宝总理对中国持有的美国国债价值的担忧,还是中国央行提出的以超主权储备货币取代美元的国际货币体系。到目前为止,制约中国向全球货币改革贡献力量的一大因素一直是中国自身的货币政策,特别是人民币不可自由兑换的事实。不过,现在有初步迹象显示情况正在开始发生变化。     

基于平衡计分卡构建物流公司绩效管理系统的应用研究

本文是对国内物流公司构建基于平衡计分卡的绩效管理系统进行了应用性研究。本文通过设置公司级关键指标体系与设计绩效评价流程,提出物流企业在实施平衡计分卡进行绩效管理过程时如何建立有效的绩效管理机制。     

Four Design Criteria for any Future Contractarian Theory of Business Ethics

This article assesses the quality of Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) as a social contract argument. For this purpose, it embarks on a comparative analysis of the use of the social contract model as a theory of political authority and as a theory of social justice. Building on this comparison, it then develops four criteria for any future contractarian theory of business ethics (CBE). To apply the social contract model properly to the domain of business ethics, it should be: (1) self-disciplined, i.e., not aspire results beyond what the contract model can realistically establish; (2) argumentative, i.e., it should seek to provide principles that are demonstrative results of the contractarian method; (3) task-directed, i.e., it should be clear what the social contract thought-experiment is intended to model; and (4) domain-specific, i.e., the contractarian choice situation should be tailored to the defining problems of business ethics.     

Emerging Market Multinationals: Coopetition for Global Growth

Since the dramatic geopolitical shift toward liberalization in the last century, emerging‐market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) have become major players in global markets and continue to account for an increasing share of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Given this trend, the questions of how and why EMNEs pursue FDI deserve greater attention. This article builds on recent work that uses resource dependence theory (RDT) to explain EMNE internationalization strategies. We propose that EMNEs, while often resource deficient relative to their developed‐market competitors and, therefore, more dependent on others in the external environment, are uniquely positioned to overcome these deficiencies over time through simultaneous cooperation and competition—coopetition—with their global rivals and host‐ and home‐country governments. These propositions contribute to the EMNE internationalization literature by more fully incorporating RDT into current theories of internationalization, highlighting the importance of managing dependencies over time to maximize global growth. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Management succession and financial performance of family controlled firms

This paper examines the immediate and long-term impacts on financial performance of 124 management successions within Canadian family controlled firms. When family successors are appointed, stock prices decline by 3.20% during the 3-day (−1 to +1) event window, whereas there is no significant decrease when either non-family insiders or outsiders are appointed. However, a cross-sectional analysis indicates that the negative stock market reaction to family successors is related to their relatively young age which may reflect a lack of management experience rather than their family connection per se. Investors are uncertain about the “management quality” of family successors who have less established reputations than more seasoned non-family insiders and outsiders. Non-family member appointments tend to follow periods of poor operating performance implying that there might be more scope for improvement when a non-family successor is appointed. Unlike the US sample in McConaughy et al. [McConaughy, D.L., Walker, M.C., Henderson, G.V., Mishra, C.S., 1998. Founding family controlled firms: efficiency and value, Review of Financial Economics 7, 1–19.], which indicates that the median percentage of votes held by controlling families is less than 15%, the Canadian sample indicates a more concentrated ownership with the median percentage of family controlled votes exceeding 51%. Of the firms in our sample, 62% use dual class capitalization to maintain control within the family.     

Business Ethics on the Internet: 2

In a previous article the authors provided an introduction to using the internet as a resource for business ethics. In this sequel they look at newsgroups and chatrooms, and conclude by looking at the websites of Shell and a Shell critic on the controversial ethical aspects of its corporate policy and behaviour. Ben Fairweather is a Research Fellow, and Steve Dixon is Webmaster, at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LEl 9BH, England (email: ccsr@dmu.ac.uk) (website http://www.ccsr.cms.dmu.ac.uk/).     

The performance of newly privatized firms in selected MENA countries: The role of ownership structure, governance and liberalization policies

The paper analyzes 95 newly privatized firms (NPFs) in four Middle Eastern and North African countries (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey). We find that these firms experienced significant increases in profitability and operating efficiency, and significant declines in employment and leverage. We also document strong performance improvements for firms that did remain state-owned, that were not sold to foreigners, and that came from Egypt. Job losses are higher in Egypt and in firms where the state is no longer in control. Also, the results indicate that revenue firms and NPFs in Morocco display significantly less leverage than control firms and those from other countries. We find that profitability changes are negatively related to state control and positively related to foreign ownership. Trade openness, change in real GDP over the privatization window, index of investor protection, and foreign ownership are important determinants of the changes in sales efficiency and output. These findings suggest that NPFs become more productive in environments where property rights are better protected and enforced and that foreign investors influence firms' productivity through their monitoring role.