Linking of Manufacturing Strategy,Market Requirements and Manufacturing Attributes In Technology Choice: An Expert System Approach

This paper suggests a framework for acquisition of new manufacturing technology that links the manufacturing strategy, market requirements and manufacturing attributes using an expert system approach. This paper takes a closer took at traditional notion of manufacturing-marketing coordination and attempts to find its links with manufacturing capabilities provided by recent evolving new manufacturing technology. For this purpose we deal with different steps involved in the strategic evaluation process beginning with the choice of a suitable competitive strategy by a firm. Then the chosen competitive strategy is linked with the market requirements, system attributes and appropriate manufacturing technology choices. The proposed model is integrated by an expert system approach that includes strategic factors of both a tangible and an intangible nature and is implemented by using the VP-Expert shell.     

Understanding consumers' purchase intentions toward natural‐claimed products: A qualitative research in personal care products

In recent years there is a trend of consuming natural products for a sustainable and healthier life. Therefore, firms began aligning their strategy with sustainability by communication strategies that they produce natural products, which are better for health as well as the environmental sustainability. However, sometimes these claims may be deceptive. The purpose of this paper is to understand the consumers' purchasing intentions toward products claiming naturalness in their advertising and packaging strategies. This research also examined greenwashing perceptions and their potential roles in purchasing intentions. In‐depth face‐to‐face interviews carried out with 20 Turkish women regarding personal care products (local brand and international brand). The findings of the interviews revealed eight themes (perceived greenwashing, perceived green image, price perception, environmental concern, green trust, skepticism, perceived risk, and purchase intention). This study contributes to predict a framework from consumer viewpoint for identifying the themes related to greenwashing.     

Property Prices and Exposure to Multiple Noise Sources: Hedonic Regression with Road and Railway Noise

This study examines the effect of road and railway noise on property prices. It uses the hedonic regression technique on a Swedish data set that contains information about both road and railway noise for each property, and finds that road noise has a larger negative impact on the property prices than railway noise. This is in line with the evidence from the acoustical literature which has shown that individuals are more disturbed by road than railway noise, but contradicts recent results from a hedonic study on data of the United Kingdom.     

Demystifying Fair Trade in France: The History of an Ambiguous Project

In France, Fair Trade arrived on the scene in the late twentieth century, and since then has passed through several experimental phases before becoming an enduring “realistic” economic alternative. To understand the transformation, this article defines Fair Trade as a social construct issues and tensions of which change depending on the point of entry. By conducting a secondary analysis of several data sets from varied sources, including documentary material, interviews, and observations, the authors trace the history of Fair Trade in France, define its introduction as a system, describe its institutionalization, and contribute to a greater understanding of how its ideals have changed and become more professional over time. The analyses reveal that the term “Fair Trade” has become ambiguous, spanning divergent and conflicting ideas and projects, including opening and closing conventional market systems and alter-globalization and anti-globalization.     

Business Ethics Research with an Accounting Focus: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1988 to 2007

This article uses bibliometric analysis to empirically examine research on business ethics published in a broad set of journals, focused over the period 1988–2007. We consider those journals with an emphasis on accounting. First, we determine the citation frequencies of documents to identify the core articles in accounting research with an ethics focus as well as the contributions of influential fields included in the research sphere of these journals. We also employ document co-citation analysis to analyze the scholarly communication patterns that exist within the realm of the specified articles. Second, we utilize social network analysis tools to profile the centrality features of the co-citation network of these documents.     

The evolution of boards and CEOs following performance declines

This paper examines the evolution of corporate boards following a large performance decline. Over 40% of the original directors depart the board during the three years following underperformance. Measures of initial CEO influence over the board such as CEO ownership are associated with smaller increases in board independence and less board turnover. The underperforming firms undergo a strong recovery subsequently, with the largest performance improvement occurring among firms that experience no turnover on their boards and among firms that do not change their board independence. We conclude that the large board turnover experienced by underperforming firms presents significant challenges for subsequent recovery.     

Examination of the roles of foundations on Turkish education system of Cyprus

The foundation, to be recognized as a commodity which is used for the sake of humanity, is to remove from being a special commodity and to carry on and develop as a resource that could be benefited by society eternally for people’s service. After Cyprus was received by Ottoman Empire, some foundations were installed in order that people could meet their religious and social needs. British-Ottoman defense treaty in June 4, 1878 did not mortgage in any way any either Turkish people or assets in Cyprus. Foundation commodities and Land Registry Office were under the sovereignty and supervision of Ottoman Empire. No change was foreseen on immovable properties and especially status of immovable commodities belonging to the Foundations which are under the property of Ottoman Empire through this treaty. The British Colonial Administration changed the provisions of this treaty unilaterally, and developed a series of transactions towards invading the island. It firstly intervened in Foundations, and it settled an English administrator in pious foundation management. In 1914, it changed the island to be Royalty colony, namely; it acquired the island. Thanks to the royal charter enacted in November 30, 1915, the foundations started to manage with commissioners assigned to the management and benefit from the institution in order to control the commodities of the foundation. The foundations were transformed into Government Offices in 1928, and all of the foundation immovables were left to face the threat of intervention. The Turkish Cypriot foundation commodities and foundations management were exposed to continuous interventions, thus administrative and financial power of foundation institution were weakened. As a result of the changes in law that were made by British Colonial Administration, many lands belonging to the foundations and Varosha (Mara?) Region which is the most important tourism center of Famagusta passed into the ownership of Greeks.     

Knowledge,technological convergence and economic growth: a dynamic panel data analysis of Middle East and North Africa and Latin America

Quality & Quantity - This paper aims to investigate the role of various knowledge indicators, such as research and development, information and communication technologies and trade, in the...     

Business process management in hotels: with a focus on delivering quality guest service

Quality & Quantity - In this study business process management as a tool of improvement service quality is introduced and it is examined that how it can be used to improve service quality in...