Gender differences within early stage and established small enterprises: An exploratory study

This paper examines 2 years of data from GEM Canada in order to develop new insights into the factors that contribute to the performance outcomes of female enterprises and how these factors are affected by the firm’s stage of development. The analysis encompasses both personal and organizational characteristics and assesses their association with selected performance measures at the early stage as well as at the established phase of development. The findings indicate that the greater propensity of men to pursue business growth and earnings can be attributed to marital status (live with a partner) and the expected depth of the ownership team. Moreover, the performance outcomes for male entrepreneurs are influenced by a relatively wide range of variables, with business demographics being more prominent than for the female enterprises. For both genders, the mix of relevant underlying factors varies as the venture progresses along the ‘nascent-new-established’ continuum.     

Implementing continuous improvement in the North American mining industry

This study identifies key factors required to successfully change a mining organization's culture to that mandated by a continuous improvement (CI) philosophy. Guided by a change-oriented model of CI implementation and the Malcolm Baldridge criteria, a survey was conducted involving mining firms operating in North America with annual revenues over $100 million. Twenty-four firms participated and resulted in 268 usable questionnaires. A principal component factor analysis followed by linear regression revealed that four factors accounted for success in implementing CI; employee involvement was the most important one. This dominant factor proved to be complex and had elements of the context of change (e.g., acceptance of company goals), the content of change (teamwork, new ways of working, and supportive HRM policies), and the process of change (leadership and access to information). Other predictors included, in order of importance, corporate presence, customer-oriented strategy, and adoption of practical goals. The article concludes with a discussion of employee involvement and the trend toward a productivity gap, with firms pursuing CI in the lead.     

农户层次氮素投入影响因素实证分析——以华北平原冬小麦为例

本文以华北平原冬小麦为倒，利用中德合作教育项目一华北平原集约化作物生产体系中资源可持续利用的农户调查数据，构建双对数模型对农户层次氮肥投入的影响因素进行了研究。结果表明氮素价格、土壤潜在生产能力、种植业收入比重、农业劳动力年龄、种植规模和是否施用有机肥料等因素显著影响着农户冬小麦氮素投入量。在分析和讨论的基础上，提出了合理施用氮肥的政策建议。     

Not for turning? Power,institutional ethos and the ethics of irreversibility

Adoption of an ‘ethics of reversibility’ can seem fashionably enlightened, even democratic, but appears less radical when issues of power are opened up. Adopting the motif of keeping, this paper sets its questioning of an on-going individuation of ethics within the context of an insidious reduction of institutional mores to business parlance. Keeping Derrida's ‘philosophy of reversals’ in view, the discussion resists the double bind of attempts to make higher-level decisions ever more ‘irreversible’ on the one hand, while devolving ethical responsibilities for outcomes downwards on the other. In criss-crossing, back and forth, on variations of these themes, the aim of the paper is to contest a division of moral labour in which the more powerful style themselves as ‘not for turning’, while those dispossessed of authority are left to vacillate within the market agendas of flexibility and transparency.     

Decision support for disaster management

Disaster response and recovery are crucial phases of disaster management. Decision-support systems used in disaster management must cope with the complexity and uncertainty involved with the scheduling and assignment of differentially-skilled personnel and assets to specific tasks. Operational constraints—such as workload and labor requirements, precedence constraints, resource availability, and critical deadlines among others—make timely and appropriate task assignment and sequencing difficult. Failure to assign personnel in an efficient and effective manner may result in unnecessary fatalities and significant additional loss of property as well as damaging the reputation of the disaster management organizations. Therefore, this paper proposes a decision-support system for disaster response and recovery using hybrid meta-heuristics.     

Dynamic capabilities and e-service

The rapid, pervasive growth of Internet use for business purposes has had a noticeable effect on numerous firms' business strategies. This type of perturbation among competitors results in a more dynamic market. To be successful in such a market often requires a firm to reexamine how it competes. In recent years, two strategic management theories—the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capabilities theory (DCT)—have been advanced by proponents as being the key to developing successful competitive advantage. We argue that the DCT is a logical extension of the RBV. Operationalization has been a critical issue for both theories, and this paper fills a gap in the literature by offering a method of operationalizing dynamic capabilities. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Training and the application of computer- based technology : The Case of Ontario Manufacturing

The reality of global market has challenged Canadian manufacturing companies to improve their competitiveness, primarily through the introduction of computer-based technologies. It is our contention that, in order to benefit from the use of technology, consistent attention is required to employee skills and training. Focusing on the Ontario manufacturing sector, this article explores, within an organizational context, the role of employee skills and training in relation to technology, product, and market changes. It concludes with a discussion of the contextual pressures on management and the likely future developments.