Business process innovation in the supply chain – a case study of implementing vendor managed inventory

A growing number of international companies operate in a standard business systems environment. This suggests that standard business system solutions, e.g. from SAP R/3, might be adopted rather than introducing new problem specific systems solutions for new business requirements. This could be a cost efficient alternative in a situation when supply chain sophistication and integration demands from customers are increasing. In the Nordic countries vendor managed inventory (VMI) is an example of a new way of doing business that can give pioneers a competitive edge. The vendor in this case is the first supplier to go into a full-scale VMI relationship with the wholesaler – and has, through this, substantially reduced delivery costs to the retail trade. The case VMI implementation demonstrates that it is possible to arrive at a simple but efficient solution in a standard systems environment. The case shows how VMI can be implemented in a SAP R/3 environment based on the EDIFACT inventory report.     

Approach to service design based on customer behavior data: a case study on eco-driving service design using bus drivers’ behavior data

Various types and massive amounts of customer behavior data are collected in various industries, such as transportation, healthcare, hospitality, and logistics. The use of customer behavior data can improve the design activities of service firms. Despite the applicability of customer behavior data to service design, only a few studies have examined an approach to utilize customer behavior data in service design. This study proposes an approach for designing services with customer behavior data. The approach is based on a case study on eco-driving service design with the behavior data of bus drivers. This study extends the research on service design by demonstrating how customer behavior data are utilized for service design and assisting service designers in designing services with customer behavior data.     

Artistic intervention,intellectual capital,and service innovation: a case study of a Taiwan’s hotel

This study adopts the perspective of artistic intervention to argue that art is a catalyst. Interdisciplinary cooperation between artists and managers prompts artists to enter the corporate world, intervening in organizational routines and operations and thereby promoting service innovation. This paper, which also adopts the perspective of intellectual capital (IC), explores the characteristics of IC management through an in-depth case study of a successful art-focused Taiwanese hotel that has adopted long-term artistic intervention. The results show the importance of analyzing IC as a stock of resources. Hotel managers must emphasize the importance of managing the physical and the intangible resources, and both embedded in employees and processes of hotels. The relationship of a hotel with its external stakeholders and customers are particularly good sources for improving IC and promoting service innovation. This paper has management implications for the artistic interventions of the studied hotel and recommends future research directions.     

Global acquisition and knowledge transfer — a case study of company D

Knowledge transfer, acting through capital, technology and people, is typically accompanied by globalisation. This paper examines a case of such transfer, paying attention to some theoretical implications of the political economy of Japanese business. It looks at the corporate culture, production systems and industrial relations of a British firm (herein ‘D’) which was taken over by a Japanese textile trading company (S), and in particular at the change from a line system to a flexible group system in production, representing a paradigmatic change from Fordism. Under Japanese ownership, managerial control increased, though without degrading working conditions; how far this ‘miracle’ will go remains to be seen. This paper thus examines the dialectical process of capitalist knowledge transfer, suggesting that it will provide opportunities for innovation in management, but within the strictures of capitalist development.     

Joint service,pricing and advertising strategies with tourists’ green tourism experience in a tourism supply chain

We consider the supply chain in the tourism industry, in which tourists are susceptible to the tourists' green tourism experience when they make purchase decisions for a green tourism product. Our research considers a green tourism supply chain (GTSC) consisting of one scenic spot (SS) and one travel agency (TA), and studies the joint green tourism service, pricing and advertising problem of the SS and the TA. We establish Stackelberg differential game models between the SS and the TA in the centralized, decentralized and revenue-sharing scenarios, and apply Pontryagin's maximum principle to obtain the dynamic equilibrium solutions of the GTSC members. Based on the three different scenarios, we analyze influences of the tourists' green tourism experience concern level, the wholesale ticket price and the sharing ratio on the optimal decisions and performances of the GTSC. This paper is the first quantitative research to study the green tourism service effort, pricing and advertising strategies of the GTSC members and design GTSC improvement contract with considering the green tourism experience. Our results provide management insights for the SS and the TA to manage GTSC under the green tourism preferences and the green tourism experience of tourists.     

Measuring innovation in a ‘low-tech’ service industry: the case of the Dutch hospitality industry

This article presents the findings of a survey among 613 firms in the Dutch hospitality industry adopting a demarcation perspective. The paper illustrates that innovation in this service industry is much higher and more varied than regularly reported. It further indicates that innovation activities in ‘low-tech industries’ can be in place with less formalized forms of (service) innovation management. Finally, it is shown that a higher innovation intensity is associated with better firm performance. Based on this, some implications for managing innovation in the hospitality industry are discussed. Finally, some fundamental issues in the measurement of service innovation are raised.     

Convertibility of the rouble — Monetary integration of the Russian Federation

Russia has so far failed to achieve its goal of monetary integration into the international capital markets. Due to the deep financial and currency crisis which began in 1998, the current situation is a far more difficult one than in 1991, at the start of the transformation process. The following article examines the reasons why this situation arose and formulates alternatives to the reform approaches to date.     

The influence of the CEO’s business education on the performance of hybrid organizations: the case of the global microfinance industry

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are typical examples of hybrid organisations, meaning organisations pursuing both a financial and social logic. This study examines the question of whether financial and social performance improves when an MFI’s chief executive officer (CEO) has a business education. We apply the random effects instrumental variable regression method to examine the influence of the CEO’s business education on the MFI’s financial and social performance. Our panel dataset that includes 353 MFIs from across the globe indicates that ‘only’ 55% of the MFIs have a CEO with a business education. The empirical results indicate that MFIs with CEOs who have a business education perform significantly better, financially and socially, than MFIs managed by CEOs with other types of educational backgrounds. The findings suggest that CEOs with a business education seem better at managing the much-debated tradeoff between providing small loans and producing healthy financial results.     

New product development strategies of suppliers of emerging technologies—a case study of expert systems

Rapid change, high levels of risk and uncertainty is the context in which suppliers of emerging technologies are developing strategies for new product development. Collaboration with “progressive” customers and the formation of lateral links with suppliers and manufacturers are options available for effective innovation. Approaches to innovation of established and start‐up companies operating in the embryonic expert systems market in the UK are discussed and salient features of a nascent product market outlined.     

Building chain loyalty in grocery retailing by means of loyalty programs – A study of ‘the Norwegian case’

The aim of the paper is to analyze chain loyalty effects of customers' perceived value of loyalty programs in grocery retailing. It contributes to filling a gap in the literature, as there has been little earlier focus on the links between customers' perception of loyalty program value and satisfaction, image, and loyalty, at the chain level. One main finding is that customers’ perceived value of a loyalty program has significant direct and moderating effects on chain loyalty, and the moderation effects are chain dependent. Managers should thus consider satisfaction creation, image building, and loyalty program value creation as parallel processes.     

Is brain hemisphericity a correlate of performance in problem-solving courses? A case study from an HBCU

The authors set out to determine the brain dominance characteristics of students enrolled in business statistics courses in a historically Black university in a major southeastern Texas city. Thereafter, the authors investigated the relationship between a student’s brain hemispheric preference and academic performance in college courses, which emphasize problem solving. The results reported in this study reveal that left brain– and right brain–dominant students are at parity when it comes to performance in a problem-solving course. Moreover, both left brain– and right brain–dominant learners perform better than whole-brain dominant learners in a problem-solving course.     

Quality of past performance: Impact on consumers’ responses to service failure

The conceptual model developed in this paper for the airline industry examines the relationship between quality of past service performance and consumers’ responses to service failures (causal attributions, emotions and satisfaction). The empirical results obtained indicate that for those consumers with higher perceptions of quality the causes underlying service failures are seen as less stable and less controllable by the firm than the causes identified by consumers with lower perceptions of quality. Attributions about the failure not only influence satisfaction directly but also moderate the effect of quality on satisfaction. We also analyse the mediating effect of negative emotions on the relationship between service failure attributions and consumer satisfaction.

Does the inflation rate affect the performance of the stock market? The case of Egypt

The intention of this paper is to examine the impact of the inflation rate on the performance of the Egyptian stock market. Particular attention is paid to the effects of the rate of inflation on various stock market performance variables, in terms of market activity and market liquidity. From the co-integration analysis through error correction mechanisms (ECM), significant long-run and short-run relationships between the variables are found, implying that the inflation rate has had an impact upon the Egyptian stock market performance generally.     

A transformative service research agenda: a study of workers’ well-being

Interest in workers’ well-being is mounting – a key driver being the growing recognition that well-being is linked to performance. Utilizing a transformative service research (TSR) agenda, this study examines how people management practices impact the well-being of hospitality and retail workers. Comparing the experiences of permanent and precarious workers, we find it is not employment practices per se that promulgate feelings of insecurity and inferiority; rather, it is the attributions ascribed to them. This has practical implications. Most notably, some of the deleterious effects of precarious employment might be mitigated where careful attention is paid to the motives underlying an organization’s people management practices. Theoretically, TSR offers a more expansive lens for understanding the social exchange occurring in both employment relationships and service encounters, thus contributing significantly to knowledge on mutual gains theories. These findings and their implications are discussed in detail in the paper.     

The effects of producers’ trademark strategies on the structure of the cognac brandy supply chain during the second half of the 19th century. The reconfiguration of commercial trust by the use of brands

Abstract

The role of intermediaries in the distribution system of the cognac brandy trade changed with the choice of brand strategies by producers, thanks to the development of favorable legislation for property rights. Prior to the enforcement of trademark laws, consumers relied heavily upon the personal reputations of retailers in order to choose the spirits they drank. The recognition of producers’ trademarks in the second half of the nineteenth century reconfigured the issue of trust by allowing producers to integrate forward into distribution and marketing and by allowing consumers to trust an entity that they did not know personally: producers’ brands. They took over part of retailers’ work and tried to monitor intermediaries so as to enhance their own name as a sign of quality.     

Is the speed of post-acquisition integration manageable? Case study: post-acquisition integration of HSBC with the Mercantile Bank, 1959–84

This study aims to fill in the gaps in existing business history research regarding post-acquisition integration by adopting a case study of the post-acquisition integration process between HSBC and Mercantile Bank (MB) 1959–84. It explores the impact of the institutional environment and organisational transformation on the speed of integration and tries to explain why the integration between HSBC and MB took so long. This study may also give some indications to the current emerging multinational companies (MNCs) from the developing countries.     

Is a gift on sale “heart-discounted”? Givers’ misprediction on the value of discounted gifts and the influence of service robots

The main purpose of this research is to investigate whether, why, and when givers and recipients perceive the value of a discounted gift differently. The studies provide convergent evidence that givers perceive discounted gifts as less valuable than regular-priced gifts whereas recipients do not perceive them as different. Givers' devaluation of the discounted gift is driven by their concern about the thoughtfulness of a gift. Moreover, the giver-recipient asymmetry is mitigated when the in-store interaction with a salesperson is substituted by technology via a service robot. This research contributes to the gift-giving literature and the growing literature on service robots by revealing how promotional offers influence consumers’ evaluation of gifts and how technological advance in retail may affect the proposed effect. Managerial implications for planning and executing price promotions for gifts are also discussed.     

Is the more always better? A comparative study of internal and external integration practices in new product and new service development

This study investigates the relationship between internal and external integration practices and innovation success of new products and new services. Building on the idea that key success drivers in new product and new service development may have implementing costs besides their obvious benefits, this article examines the possibility that a nonlinear relationship in the shape of an inverted U exists between innovation success and the antecedents examined in this research. The present study also addresses scholars' call for research to investigate differences in the drivers of new product and new service success. The findings suggest that differences exist in the nature of the relationship—that is, linear versus nonlinear—between cross-functional integration, customer integration, and interfirm collaboration and innovation success in a new product versus new service setting.     

Unravelling the impact of psychological empowerment on customer service behaviours as a consequence of ‘Leader-Member Exchange’

This study aims to investigate the cognitive process by which perceived organizational justice and leader–member exchange (LMX) are channelized into role-prescribed and extra-role customer service behaviours. It proposes the mediating role of three forms of psychological empowerment (goal internalization, perceived competence, and perceived control) in the predictor–outcome relationship, and examines this relationship from a comparative view of the role-prescribed and extra-role behaviours. Valid and reliable self-report and supervisory evaluation measures were administered to 282 nurses in Korea. The results indicate that LMX had a significantly greater effect on extra-role behaviours than on role-prescribed behaviours, and that perceived control mediated the relationship between LMX and extra-role behaviours. In terms of justice perceptions, there was no significant comparative effect on customer service behaviours. Furthermore, perceived competence mediated the relationship only between distributive justice and role-prescribed behaviours.     

The impact of supply disruption risk on a retailer’s pricing and procurement strategies in the presence of a substitute product

Retailers often experience stockouts when a supplier fails to deliver an order. In this paper, we identify the optimal procurement policy of a multi-product retailer in the presence of possible supply disruptions. Our analysis reveals that, in anticipation of potential supply disruptions, a retailer would typically benefit from ordering more units from a reliable supplier and fewer units from an unreliable one. Furthermore, the total number of units ordered may increase when there is supply disruption risk. As a result, the retailer may overstock some items. However, there are situations in which a retailer would optimally respond to supply uncertainty by consolidating its selling strategy around the unreliable supplier’s product. Under such a strategy, we find the surprising result that the retailer reduces the amount it orders from a reliable supplier as an unreliable seller becomes even less reliable. We also explore how supply disruptions can affect a retailer’s optimal pricing strategy. We find that under certain conditions, it is beneficial for a retailer to lower its price of a substitute product when one supplier fails to deliver its product. Finally, we find that, on net, consumers may benefit from supply uncertainty even though supply disruptions eliminate access to a desirable product.