Analytical market segmentation in nonbusiness situations: marketing the energy audit in the USA

Over the last decade, several authors have advocated that marketing applications be also extended to other than conventional business organizations. However, one of the major problems identified in such an endeavor has been the difficulties encountered in market segmentation. Our paper illustrates how the principles and procedures applied in conventional business situations can also be adopted in nonbusiness situations to meaningfully segment the market. In this regard, we report an empirical investigation of the energy audit program in the USA.     

Customer contact and the evaluation of service experiences: Propositions and implications for the design of services

A contingency framework is developed as a means of understanding the relationship between the level of customer contact and service satisfaction. Level of contact is defined as the extent of interpersonal interaction between the service customer and the service provider's boundary personnel. Consistent with Oliver (1997), perceived service satisfaction reflects the customer's judgment that the service delivered a plausible level of consumption-related fulfillment. The article offers a series of research propositions derived from prior research and writings from the marketing, psychology, and operations literatures. Implications for the design of service strategies in efforts to improve customer satisfaction are also discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Planning with uncertain materials availability: The value of workday flexibility

In this paper, we consider the problem of a manufacturer that faces uncertainty in the availability of its raw materials. This can occur, for example, in a remanufacturing setting where replacements for damaged components are not always available as needed. We examine the potential for flexible workday policies to mitigate the impact of uncertain materials availability, and present a simulation optimization approach to determine staffing levels under various levels of workday flexibility. An example implementation of the aggregate planning model we develop is provided using data from a cell phone reassembly facility in Hong Kong. Our model provides insights for managers regarding the benefits of increasing levels of workday flexibility when raw material availability is uncertain.     

Measures of capacity utilization and its determinants: a study of Indian manufacturing

We estimate Capacity Utilization (CU) rates in for selected industries in Indian manufacturing for the 20-year period 1976–1996. We estimate a generalized Leontief variable cost function, with capital as a quasi fixed input, to derive our CU measures, using error-component techniques. We note substantial variations in CU both across industries and over time. In general, we find that CU rates were higher in the earlier time-period, dropped in the mid-80s and started rising again in the early 90s. CU rates in our analysis are sensitive to input prices with the sole exception of the price of labor. We also confirm the standard result that variations in demand are a significant driving force for variations in CU. We find that CU is positively related to the magnitude of labor intensity in production. This holds for both between-industries and within-industries. Empirical results also indicate that traditional measures of CU such as minimum capital output ratio and peak-to-peak are not appropriate proxies for the short-run decision making of the firm regarding CU. As compared to the estimates derived from the choice-theoretic framework, we find that the traditional measures exhibit substantial bias.     

Exploiting Mobile Technology for Achieving Supply Chain Integration in Indian Retail

For decades supply chain coordination has been subject to research interest, and technology has been seen as an agent that accelerates this process. In developing countries, with far-flung markets and unorganized distribution networks, using technology for improving supply chain performances and accessing information is not an easy task. The research was directed to understand if mobile technology is being used by downstream supply chain partners for information sharing and thus improving supply chain performances. Findings suggest that supply chain integration with suppliers and customers is done through extensive use of mobile networks.     

Episodic and Systemic Power in the Transformation of Professional Service Firms

We examine the roles of episodic and systemic forms of power in radical organizational change. Drawing on a study of three attempted transformations in professional service firms from traditional professional partnerships into managed professional businesses – one relatively complete and two incomplete – we identify two key mechanisms that link episodic and systemic forms of power and show how those mechanisms affect the likelihood that organizations will be able to successfully undergo radical change. We find that episodic power is able to initiate and energize radical change when it represents a significant break from traditional authority structures and is legitimated through appeals to traditional organizational values. We find that systemic power is able to institutionalize radical change when the systems associated with it are legitimated by the skilled use of language by key actors and then left to operate independently by those actors. By articulating the specific mechanisms that link episodic and systemic power, our study provides a more complete model of the role of power in radical change, enabling better prediction of the likelihood of successful transformation and a fuller theoretical explanation of change outcomes.     

Are internal manufacturing and external supply chain flexibilities complementary capabilities?

Manufacturing flexibility is often viewed as a strategic capability that enables firms to more effectively meet heterogeneous market demands arising, in part, from increased product proliferation. However, recent studies suggest that the operational challenges associated with meeting this objective may be heavily dependent not only upon a firm's internal modification, mix, and new product flexibilities, but also upon the flexibility of its inbound and outbound supply chain partners. Drawing upon the theory of Complementarity, we examine if simultaneous utilization of both internal and external flexibilities does in fact create synergies that can improve a firm's delivery performance. Based on a sample of 158 U.S. manufacturing plants, we find that the extent to which performance enhancing synergies are generated is primarily dependent upon the type of internal flexibility that is paired with supply chain flexibilities. Additionally, we find that when synergies do exist, external supplier and logistics flexibilities generally tend to enhance the scope of flexible response, while internal flexibilities generally tend to enhance the achievability of a flexible response. Taken together, our findings suggest that the ability of firms to actually reap the synergistic benefits of an integrated system of supply chain flexibility is much more complex and nuanced than previously believed or expected.     

New career models in UK professional service firms: from up-or-out to up-and-going-nowhere?

In this paper, we empirically examine how professional service firms are adapting their promotion and career models to new market and institutional pressures, without losing the benefits of the traditional up-or-out tournament. Based on an in-depth qualitative study of 10 large UK based law firms we find that most of these firms do not have a formal up-or-out policy but that the up-or-out rule operates in practice. We also find that most firms have introduced alternative roles and a novel career policy that offers a holistic learning and development deal to associates without any expectation that unsuccessful candidates for promotion to partner should quit the firm. While this policy and the new roles formally contradict the principle of up-or-out by creating permanent non-partner positions, in practice they coexist. We conclude that the motivational power of the up-or-out tournament remains intact, notwithstanding the changes to the internal labour market structure of these professional service firms.     

Linking rewards to commitment: an empirical investigation of four UK call centres

Rewards being an important component of exchange theory, this research examines relationships among frontline employees' perceptions of rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the three components of organizational commitment (i.e. affective, normative and continuance). The investigation is conducted by the help of a large survey in four call centres of a major retail bank in the UK. The results of the study support the contentions of exchange theory, and highlight the significance of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to develop affective, normative and continuance commitment in call centre employees. This research also helps to identify the antecedents that develop each component of commitment. The findings of this research have key messages for practitioners, and contribute to the fields of HRM, rewards, commitment and exchange theory.