The constructing model of culinary creativity: an approach of mixed methods

This study explores the origin of culinary creativity and trainability in culinary education from the perspective of industry and academic chefs in Chinese culture in Taiwan. This study was conducted by mixed methods in 3 stages: first, face-to-face interviews were conducted to gather rich data of culinary creativity development to develop the second stage of Analytic hierarchy process (AHP); second, this study applied the AHP method to evaluate and prioritize culinary creativity components; and third, we employed the Modified Delphi method to reach a consensus of defining culinary creativity. The results show that the constructing model of culinary creativity is based on creativity in general by adding specific principle and influenced by education and training. The AHP result shows that the chefs’ perspectives in evaluating and prioritizing culinary creativity components. Lastly, the major consensuses from the modified Delphi method is that culinary creativity can fit into creativity in general with certain conditions. On trainability, culinary creativity could be trained and educated to improve and advance the quality and quantity of culinary creativity.     

The effect of firm complexity and founding team size on agile internal communication in startups

Today’s firms, particularly startups, require agile communication to sense and seize opportunities and to adapt to the market as quickly as possible (Picken 2017; Takeuchi and Nonaka 1986). However, scholars have predominantly focused on external communication, taking agile internal communication for granted. This paper analyzes the combinations of conditions (i.e., firm features and communication devices) that are present in startups with agile internal communication. The study considers the startup’s life cycle, the size of the startup, and the size of the founding team. The use of direct communication channels, structured communication channels, and agile methods is also considered. Analysis of 88 Spanish startups shows that the size of the founding team influences the combination of present and absent communication methods when agile internal communication is present. In startups where the founding team is small, direct communication methods are absent, whereas the use of structured communication methods, online project management, and other communication tools is present. On the contrary, when the founding team size is large, direct communication is a core condition, as is the absence of structured communication methods. Agile methods represent a peripheral condition for the presence of agile internal communication when the founding team is small and structured communication is present as a core condition. Similarly, when the founding team is small and the presence of direct communication is a core condition, the presence of agile methods is a peripheral condition for the presence of agile internal communication.

     

COMPETITION BETWEEN EQUITY MARKETS: A REVIEW OF THE CONSOLIDATION VERSUS FRAGMENTATION DEBATE

Technological advances and regulatory initiatives have led to the emergence of a competitive, but fragmented, equity trading landscape in several markets around the world. While these changes have coincided with benefits like reduced transaction costs, advancements in trading technology, and access to a diverse array of execution venues, regulators and market participants have also raised concerns about the welfare implications of innovations like dark pools as well as the resulting increase in execution complexity. Exchanges are often viewed as natural monopolies due to the presence of network externalities and economies of scale. However, heterogeneity in traders' preferences means that no single venue can serve the interests of all investors. Fragmentation of the marketplace can be seen as a direct outcome of this heterogeneity. In this paper, we review the theoretical and empirical literature examining the economic arguments and motivations underlying market fragmentation, the resulting implications for liquidity and price efficiency, and the role for public policy. Beyond the concerns for equity markets, the lessons from this literature are relevant for other asset classes experiencing an increase in competition between trading venues.     

Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Sample of Dutch Twins

This paper examines the causal link that runs from classroom quality to student achievement using data on twin pairs who entered the same school but were allocated to different classrooms in an exogenous way. In particular, we apply twin fixed‐effects estimation to assess the effect of teacher quality on student test scores from second through eighth grade of primary education, arguing that a change in teacher quality is probably the most important classroom intervention within a twin context. In a series of estimations using measurable teacher characteristics, we find that (a) the test performance of all students improves with teacher experience; (b) teacher experience also matters for student performance after the initial years in the profession; (c) the teacher experience effect is most prominent in earlier grades; (d) the teacher experience effects are robust to the inclusion of other classroom quality measures, such as peer group composition and class size; and (e) an increase in teacher experience also matters for career stages with less labor market mobility, which suggests positive returns to on‐the‐job learning of teachers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Great Game or Great Confusion: The Geopolitical Understanding of EU-Russia Energy Relations

This article explains why a considerable part of the International Relations literature frames highly complex energy relations between the EU and Russia in terms of simple, exclusive geopolitical intentions. Drawing on Construal Level Theory, it addresses the gap between immediate interaction between various private and public actors with their own agendas and individual intentionalities and assumed collective geopolitical intentionalities. Because of the degree of abstraction, collective motivations are attributed to actors like Russia and the EU. This attribution risks to be subject to bias. It is argued that higher psychological distance increases the likelihood of more radical and ideologised framing. These abstract schemes do not follow from the endogenous energy dynamics but are function of a broader logic of competition which has characterised EU-Russia relations.     

Proximity changes to what and for whom? Investigating sustainable accessibility change in the Gothenburg city region 1990–2014

This paper operationalizes the concept of sustainable accessibility by emphasizing the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability from a spatial perspective. In doing so, we develop a heuristic model that focuses on the crucial dimensions of who gets access to what by using sustainable means of movement. We apply our conceptual approach in an examination of trends in sustainable accessibility for different social groups living in Gothenburg, Sweden between 1990 and 2014. On the basis of welfare-related and time-geographical considerations, we investigate accessibility by proximity for low- and high-income earners, people with small children, and elderly people. We investigate to what extent proximity to fundamental facilities increases or decreases over time, indicating changing conditions for sustainability. The results show that opportunities for living a local life and achieving accessibility via proximity differ socially. Low-income earners and the elderly generally live closer to the facilities important for daily life than do high-income earners and parents of young children. We also show that the opportunities for various social groups to obtain access by proximity change over time. For example, we observe a trend in which over time older people face reduced opportunities to reach daily facilities in their local neighborhoods.     

Epidemic models on social networks—With inference

This article considers stochastic models for the spread of an infection in a structured community, where this structured community is itself described by a random network model. Some common network models and transmission models are defined and large population properties of them are presented. The focus is then shifted to statistical methodology: what can be estimated and how, depending on the underlying network, transmission model, and the available data? This survey article discusses several different scenarios, giving references to publications where more details can be found, and identifies important open problems.     

Financing buyer–supplier dyads: an empirical analysis on financial collaboration in the supply chain

Awareness of capital commitment in the context of supply management has increased tremendously in recent years. However, researchers often only consider the intra-organisational perspective of financing. Consequently, a great optimisation potential, especially in globally dispersed supply chains, remains unlocked. To address this research gap, this paper presents a conceptual research model with hypotheses derived from principal–agent theory to explain the role of collaboration in the context of financing a buyer–supplier dyad and its effect on the resulting financing performance. A cross-industry survey yielding 145 responses was used to empirically test the hypotheses. The results indicate that both strategy alignment between purchasing and finance departments (intra-firm financial collaboration) as well as in the buyer–supplier dyad (inter-organisational financial collaboration) have a significant positive effect on the overall financing performance. These findings provide researchers and practitioners with a clearer understanding of upstream-oriented supply chain finance and the possibilities and constraints in its implementation.     

Coalition Formation Procedures: The Impact of Issue Saliences and Consensus Estimation

Coalition formation procedures incorporate two properties that are not often found in other coalition formation models: the choice between different formation paths and constrained consensus positions. However, there are two aspects of coalition formation procedures that are often overlooked: issue saliences and consensus estimation. Issue saliences are a measure of the importance that parties can attribute to issue dimensions. Initially, we employ the classical application to implement issue saliences. The classical application combines the Euclidean distance with the center of gravity as a consensus estimate. Secondly, we introduce a consistent distance application where the coalition consensus position is determined by minimizing the sum of salience-weighted Euclidean distances. The impact of these aspects is examined with the help of both numerical and empirical applications. The results indicate that both the consensus estimation method and the inclusion of issue saliences do not only have an impact on the estimated consensus position. They also determine the individual parties’ preferences towards the potential coalition formation procedures.