Networks and capabilities as characteristics of logistics firms

The research purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse how three basic types of logistics firms differ in terms of their core capabilities and network development as well as the effects of the difference. Based on the resource-based view and the industrial network approach, a conceptual framework is developed to differentiate logistics firms. Two case studies of logistics firms are used as examples to demonstrate how the framework can be used. Logistics firms have clear differences in capabilities and network focus. These firms follow different dominating logics of value creation that make them develop in different ways and think totally differently. This research enhances our understanding of the different logics of logistics firms and their interdependence. They are complementary and interacting in the logistics service supply chain. Moving between the basic types of logistics firms means changing the capabilities and network focus, which is costly and difficult. The conceptual framework can be used as a tool to comprehend multiple types of logistics firms. It also helps us to analyze related strategic moves.     

The impact of practical relevance on training transfer: evidence from a service quality training program for German bank clerks

The management literature provides a variety of recommendations as to how workers’ customer orientation might be improved, including through training. Crucial factors in the process of transferring the contents of service quality training programs to practice, however, have not yet been sufficiently analysed. This study proposes and tests a model of transfer motivation and training transfer via structural equation modelling, validating Baldwin and Ford's framework and Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation. Following the recommendation of Alliger et al., the present study analyses the relationship between Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation, paying attention to the specificity of the measures at each level. The survey collects data from 213 German bank employees who attended a training program aimed at improving service quality. As hypothesized, the perceived practical relevance of the training was found to exert a strong influence on the reaction of the participants and had a substantial total effect on the motivation to transfer and on actual transfer. Subject to the limitations of the research methodology employed here, it is concluded that trainee satisfaction needs to be conceptually distinguished from perceived practical relevance and that the latter is the main driving force for transfer motivation and transfer.     

Gesundheitsfonds in der Kritik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Biased Tariff Choices: Exploring Role Effects in B to B Settings

Purpose: The authors examine whether motivational and cognitive causes that explain tariff choice biases in business-to-consumer (B2C) settings also hold in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Opposed to prior B2C research that is dominated by individual decision making, the study proposes role effects in buying centers influence the exploration of tariff choice and tariff choice biases in B2B settings.

Originality: A rich body of research into biased tariff choices, especially flat-rate biases, exists for B2C markets, yet a dearth of research marks tariff choice behavior in B2B settings. This study is the first one on tariff choice especially dedicated to B2B settings.

Methodology and Findings: The findings from transactional and survey data pertaining to a mobile phone service provider reveal that tariff choice biases also occur in B2B markets. Seventy-nine percent of all tariff choices among decision makers are biased; 73 percent are due to the flat-rate bias. The (mis-)judgment effect, the insurance effect, and the convenience effect significantly influence tariff choice and the flat-rate bias.

Research Implications: The authors provide a flowchart of strategies that structures the practical implications. Based on this flowchart, they propose that mobile phone service providers should undertake a flat-rate preference strategy, because B2B customers may accept the flat-rate bias to profit from the insurance effect. The authors argue that following a flat-rate preference strategy is advisable, because turnover can be protected entirely while the vulnerability of that strategy is low.     

Operators’ Perceptions of Energy Use and Actual Saving Opportunities for Tourism Accommodation

The last decade saw increased efforts by the tourism sector globally to understand and manage its energy requirements and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In recognition of the substantial amounts of energy consumed by the accommodation industry coupled with low levels of energy efficiency, this study explores current practices and opportunities for the New Zealand accommodation sector. An energy survey of 242 accommodation providers and analyses of 15 detailed energy audits are used to identify operators’ perceptions on energy use, implementation of energy savings measures, savings potentials and implementation costs. The results identify that there is a substantial gap between the positive perceptions held by operators and levels of implementation. Despite substantial theoretical knowledge on barriers to energy efficiency and conservation, there still seems to be a need to address the apparent gap through enabling policy frameworks and partnerships that go beyond the individual business. Good understanding and recognition of energy as a substantial cost factor in themselves seem to be insufficient motivators for action and will not lead to the necessary cuts in GHG emissions as demanded by global climate change mitigation goals.     

Understanding tourism leaders’ perceptions of risks from climate change: an assessment of policy-making processes in the Maldives using the social amplification of risk framework (SARF)

Coastal tourism destinations are highly vulnerable to climate change risks, including sea-level rise, inundation, and extreme weather events. While such risks pose major challenges to the sustainability of these destinations, they have been insufficiently examined in tourism research. This study uses the social amplification of risk framework as a basis for understanding how climate change risks are perceived and what processes lead to an amplification or attenuation of risk perceptions at management and governance levels. In the context of the extremely low-lying Maldives, 12 leading tourism stakeholders, including representatives of government, industry, and NGOs, were interviewed to gather empirical data on risk perceptions. Results indicate that, while climate change risks are amplified for international audiences, several factors lead to an attenuation of risks for domestic audiences. As a result, local tourism stakeholders are not immediately concerned, and adaptation measures are woefully inadequate to cope with future climate risks. Detailed reference is made to the policy inertia found, the conflicts inherent in playing down risk in order to attract jobs, profitable tourism investment and tourists, and the equally pressing need to stress risks in order to attract expertise and funds to enable adaptation policies to be designed and funded.     

Solutions to the request reassignment problem in collaborative carrier networks

The paper considers an arrangement for exchanging transportation requests to facilitate collaboration among independent carriers. The goal is to maximize the total profit without decreasing the individual profit of the carriers. Two solution approaches are developed for this problem involving decentralized control and auction based exchange mechanisms. The results are compared with those obtained without collaboration and by a centralized control. They indicate that horizontal collaboration pays off even in highly competitive environments.     

DYNAMIC INDIFFERENCE VALUATION VIA CONVEX RISK MEASURES

The (subjective) indifference value of a payoff in an incomplete financial market is that monetary amount which leaves an agent indifferent between buying or not buying the payoff when she always optimally exploits her trading opportunities. We study these values over time when they are defined with respect to a dynamic monetary concave utility functional, that is, minus a dynamic convex risk measure. For that purpose, we prove some new results about families of conditional convex risk measures. We study the convolution of abstract conditional convex risk measures and show that it preserves the dynamic property of time-consistency. Moreover, we construct a dynamic risk measure (or utility functional) associated to superreplication in a market with trading constraints and prove that it is time-consistent. By combining these results, we deduce that the corresponding indifference valuation functional is again time-consistent. As an auxiliary tool, we establish a variant of the representation theorem for conditional convex risk measures in terms of equivalent probability measures.