RSS 1.0Business and management
Recent Submissions
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Life cycle assessment tool for food supply chain environmental evaluationFood is at the centre of efforts to combat climate change, reduce water stress, pollution, and conserve the world’s wildlife. Assessing the environmental performance of food companies is essential to provide a comprehensive view of the production processes and gain insight into improvement options, but such a tool is currently non-existent in the literature. This study proposed a tool based on the life cycle assessment methodology focused on six stages of the food chain, raw materials acquisition, supplier, manufacturing, distribution, retail and wastes. The user can also evaluate the implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to reduce food waste applied in the real-world problems. The tool was validated through a case study of a food manufacturing company that prepares frozen meals via vending machines. The LCA results provided by the tool showed that food raw materials production is the main hotspot of nine impact categories. The IoT technologies’ contribution increased the company’s impact by around 0.4%. However, it is expected that employing these monitoring technologies would prevent food waste generation and the associated environmental impacts. Therefore, the results of this paper provide evidence that the proposed tool is suitable for determining environmental impacts and savings of food supply chain companies.
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A case study of human milk banking with focus on the role of IoT sensor technologyHuman milk is the biological norm for newborn nutrition, with breast milk from the mother being recognized as the best source of nutrition for infant health. When the mother’s milk is unavailable, donor human milk is the best alternative for infants with low birthweights. Growing recognition of the benefits of donor human milk has led to increasing global interest in monitoring and controlling human milk’s quality to fulfil the need for donor human milk. In response to this need, the REAMIT project proposed to adapt and apply existing innovative technology to continuously monitor and record human milk quality and signal potential milk quality issues. IoT sensors and big data technology have been used to monitor conditions that may increase spoilage (such as temperature and humidity) in the transportation stage. The sensors were installed in the insulated bags used to transport the milk from the donor’s home or hospital to the human milk bank and vice versa. The temperature and humidity were collected every 30 min, whilst the GPS locator sent data every 2 min. The data are collected in the cloud using GPRS/CAT-M1 technology. An algorithm was designed to send alerts when the milk temperature is above the prespecified threshold specified by the organisation, i.e., above −20 °C. The experience showed evidence that IoT sensors can efficiently be used to monitor and maintain quality in supply chains of high-quality human milk. This rare product needs a high level of quality control, which is possible with the support of smart technologies. The IoT technology used can help the human milk supply chain in five different aspects, namely by reducing waste, assuring quality, improving availability, reducing cost and improving sustainability. This system could be extended to various supply chains of rare and precious commodities, including further medical supplies such as human blood and organs, to completely avoid waste and ensure total quality in supply chains.
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Leaders, CSR and the role of religion in decision-making processes in Middle Eastern organisationsDespite numerous publications on the role of religion on individual and organisational ethical behaviour, academic literature seems to lack a comprehensive understanding of how religion affects the decision- making of leaders and ethical behaviour of organisations. This gap seems to be even more significant with regard to developing countries and was addressed in the present study by conducting twenty-two interviews with leaders from the public and private sectors of three Middle Eastern countries. The study used Grounded Theory approach for data analysis which identified how Islamic moral postulates and ethics impact on leaders’ ethical behaviour, decision-making and consequently translate to organisational CSR behaviour. With this study, we contribute to the CSR literature by providing empirical evidence on how the repetitive interactions of social actors with religious affiliations create behavioural expectations which, when repeated and consequently internalized, become a constituent part of leaders’ identity and shape how they interact with the surrounding environment.
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Using constructivist grounded theory to construct a substantive theory for corporate social responsibilityGrounded Theory strategy (GT) has been introduced almost 50 years ago as the approach developed significantly since that time and contributed to emergence of variety of GT strategies. One of these variations is the constructive turn of Kathy Charmaz. In this paper we demonstrate (1) the potential of Constructive Grounded Theory (CGT) into scientific inquiry on CSR and (2) how the approach was implemented in order to build a substantive theory for CSR by utilising a practical example from a recently completed doctoral study by the lead author.
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Chapitre 107. Lever le voile d’une illusion managériale par l’apport du "SIOFHIS" (Système d’Informations Opérationnelles et Fonctionnelles Humainement Intégrées et stimulantes)Organisation et information sont indissociables en sciences de gestion, pour autant, le manque d’explicitation des hypothèses mobilisées conduit parfois à entretenir un flou sur la nature du lien concernant leur rapprochement ainsi que des biais de représentations pour la prise de décisions. La notion de Système d’informations opérationnelles et fonctionnelles humainement intégrées et stimulantes propose une perspective féconde pour ne pas céder à la facilité d’un discours managérial trop normatif.
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Understanding business model development through the lens of complexity theory: enablers and barriersA winning business model is the key to business success in today’s fragmented market environment. However, businesses need to develop their business models over time to meet the requirements of environmental uncertainties and shifts surrounding the business. Drawing on complexity theory and its related concept of hierarchy, this study advances a systematic approach to theoretically investigate the factors that favourably or adversely affect business model development (BMD), in a hierarchical order. In particular, multiple fuzzy multicriteria decision making techniques were applied to develop the list of enablers of and barriers to BMD, to determine the priorities among enablers, and to determine the significance of barriers with respect to the main enablers of BMD. The results reveal that organizational form is the most salient enablers of BMD, while type II barriers are the most significant barriers, challenging the development of business models. Implications and future research directions are also provided.
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Assessing the application of multi-criteria decision making techniques in hospitality and tourism research: a bibliometric studyPurpose: Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques are decision support systems that provide systematic approaches to solve hospitality and tourism (H&T) problems while minimizing the risk of failure. However, less is known about the application of MCDM techniques in H&T research. This study aims to systematically assess the use of MCDM techniques in H&T research to classify its current application and determine its application potential for H&T research. Design/methodology/approach: This study used bibliometric analysis to examine all published MCDM studies focused on H&T industries, since 1997. In addition, topic modelling was used to discover key concepts. Finally, top cited studies in terms of total citations per year and total citations were qualitatively reviewed for more insights. Findings: The findings revealed an ongoing interest in applying MCDM techniques in H&T research. Specifically, the extension of fuzzy theory in MCDM techniques is burgeoning among H&T researchers. However, a certain number of MCDM techniques seem to be ignored in this field with a repetitive application of MCDM techniques in particular areas. Research limitations/implications: The data for the current research was solely retrieved from Scopus and other databases were not included. Therefore, future research is called for to re-examine the study by considering data from various databases. Originality/value: This study contributes to extant H&T literature by a) identifying the most prolific and influential countries, journals, publications, and trends by applying MCDM techniques in H&T research, and b) elucidating the implications and characteristics of MCDM techniques in H&T research.
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Understanding factors affecting the managers' perception of AI applications in information processingArtificial Intelligence (AI) bears great potential in supporting and/or replacing managers' information processing activities, but the benefits of AI can only be realized if the organisational managers are willing to use AI for information processing. The academic literature contains very limited theoretical and empirical research focusing on understanding the acceptance and applications of AI in manager's personal information processing. To address this knowledge gap, this workin- progress paper aims to develop a conceptual framework on factors affecting the managers' perceived roles of AI in their information processing and their intention to use AI. Underpinned by the relevant theories of information processing, the research framework can be used to examine if and to what extent the situational, personal, and performative factors of information systems (IS) influence the managers' perception of AI-based applications in terms of preferred human-AI collaboration modes and levels of AI input in information processing activities. The proposed framework offers a theoretical understanding and development of AI-based applications in the context of information processing from an end user's perspective.
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EPPR: blockchain for educational record sharing and recommendation using the Ethereum platformThere has been a great deal of discussion of the challenges on privacy of Educational Professional Personal Record (EPPR). Therefore, it is required to reassess the current models, in which various parties generate, exchange and observe a huge amount of personal data with regard to EPPR. Ethereum blockchain has shown that trusted, auditable transactions are detectible using a decentralised network of nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel decentralised framework to manage EPPR using Ethereum blockchain. The framework provides the owner of the EPPR a comprehensive immutable log and accessibility to their educational records across the educational record editors and consumers. Furthermore, it provides a recommender engine to endorse skills and competencies to the education record owners and similar candidates for educational records editors and consumers. The aim of the proposed framework is to enable educational stakeholders to participate in the network as blockchain miners rewarded by pseudonymised data.
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Micro-foundations as a grounding for readiness-for change in knowledge sharing initiativesWhile many organisations are often engaged in conventional change practices that usually involve top-down strategies for creating change, knowledge sharing initiatives differ where most of the complex processes are handled at the human-level. Therefore, knowledge sharing initiatives present a unique type of conundrum where there is a need to closely interconnect human behaviours and the person's readiness to identify the most effective approaches to achieve change. This paper investigates the individual level readiness-for change by studying organisational knowledge sharing initiatives from a micro-foundational perspective. These issues have been largely missing in the knowledge sharing literature which is integral to understanding of how to manage individuals at the micro-level who are experiencing a behavioural change as result of knowledge sharing initiatives. In this study an inductive grounded theory approach is being used to analyse the individuals' level experiences and origins of various influential factors supporting or inhibiting their readiness during knowledge sharing initiatives. The results indicate that asymmetries in communication and lack of awareness to knowledge sharing initiatives are fundamentally constructs akin to micro-level behaviours that have obvious effects on the individuals' readiness-for change.
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Readiness as a microfoundational approach to knowledge-managementOver the years, many theories have noted that the core factor that acts as a barrier to successful knowledge management (KM) initiatives is attributable, in part, to the individual’s lack of readiness to change. However, a significant gap in the literature is the lack of empirical and conceptual support to the idea that KM is inherently a change effort affecting issues of how to enact change in individuals. More recent work, have highlighted that one of the reasons for this gap in the knowledge literature, is that majority of studies as a whole are usually pre-occupied with macro-level constructs stemming from forces at the organizational level. The study argues that readiness-for change is an important step towards understanding the micro processes of individual actions and interactions, because research in this area examines how change occurs from the individual’s perspective. Based on the literature, the paper presents a model to help us explore the micro processes of organizational KM initiatives. The study also builds on previous work of Foss (2007) explanation of microfoundations and integrates it with insights of Armenakis and Harris (2002) theory of readiness for individual change. A discussion is presented demonstrating future directions towards a microfoundational approach to KM.
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Inferring causal interpretations of change-readiness using causal-models:a knowledge-based perspectiveThe ability to understand the conditions in which humans make causal judgements continues to arouse debate from cognitive science, philosophy, and even the domain of computer science. While for most organisations, change is a necessary impetus to sustainability, it is difficult to directly infer cause and affect relationships on human readiness without understanding how humans arrive causal inferences during a complex change situation. To explore the causal interpretations of human readiness-for change the research applies the systems thinking approach, utilising causal models to analyse the cause and effect of human readiness. The research contributes to a knowledge-based perspective examining the various factors effecting readiness-feedback, and how readiness-for change knowledge is received, and processed. The paper demonstrates the application of causal models to interpret the role of human readiness through a case study on the infectious outbreak of Clostridium Difficile (C. difficile). Then we propose a theory of readiness-for change through the lenses of Systems Thinking into a Knowledge Based Reasoning Framework.
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Review of knowledge sharing: conceptual foundations for microlevel sharing and readiness for change related behavioursIn the organisational change and knowledge sharing literature, recognition of high failures of change efforts is said to be associated to the organisations lack of understanding of how to manage readiness for change. In this paper, the case for change readiness is invoked by a need for further explanation of micro level foundations. A survey of 105 scholarly academic journals in the area of knowledge sharing research from 1994 to 2009 with keywords salient to knowledge sharing studies was conducted to explore current thinking about organisational change issues. The findings reveal that there is yet no well-established method or clear conceptual definition to exploring the phenomena of change for knowledge sharing on both individual and organisational levels. Based on the literature survey a model is proposed to integrate the relevant themes that influence knowledge readiness. A discussion is presented, demonstrating future directions towards knowledge sharing for micro-level knowledge sharing and readiness for change related behaviours.
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Sustainability opportunities and challenges in the UK HE sectorThis presentation aims to provide some insightful thoughts on how sustainability research is integrated into developing the HE sector. It explores the main challenges and opportunities of sustainable teaching and learning research. It illustrates teaching and research resources from leading sustainable business organizations in the UK. These organizations represent a new sustainable business model. This model focuses on commercializing social and environmental projects. Furthermore, this business model involves a new form of accountability that could be used for the HE services for the future generation. The main research objectives of this research paper are: 1. Explain how sustainability could offer more opportunities in the HE sector. 2. Explore the dilemmas of developing sustainable resources 3. Provide some examples (teaching resources and research impact case studies) to help institutions to grow and provide a more significant impact. The new sustainable business models (Cases) This presentation illustrates teaching and research resources from leading sustainable business organizations in the UK. A number of academic attempts developed to address the main themes of sustainable business models in some HE institutions. The main focus of these attempts was centered on examining the levels of social and environmental involvement within the HE sector. So, it seems more relevant for HE institutions to consider social and environmental issues (including sustainability practices) as a core component to create a more coherent sustainable business model. In addition, this presentation provides educational resources to analyze a number of different conceptual sustainability issues. These conceptual issues involve the need to answer some of the main challenges of sustainable business model in business organizations: - Sustainability for what? - Sustainability for whom? - Sustainability in what way? - Sustainability for how long? - Sustainability at what level of resolution?
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The role of universities in the achievement of the UN sustainable development goalsThis poster aims to illustrate some approaches that could be used to manage the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals in higher education institutions. More importantly, it suggests some institutional tools to manage the achievements of these goals and help business organizations to explore more profitable business opportunities from achieving these goals.
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Developing training materials for entrepreneurial skills: identifying processes, principles and core skills through case studiesThe study reported in this paper aims to address the challenge of entrepreneurial skills shortage by sharing the experience and findings of developing entrepreneurial skills for women and young graduates in the agri-food and creative sectors through effective online training material development and implementation. To achieve this aim, this paper analyses four projects, and identifies common themes in terms of projects, processes, principles, and core skills for developing online training materials. All four projects provide online training materials combined with multiple complimentary support schemes. Using the projects as case studies, this paper examines in particular the projects' aim and training objectives, processes and the core skills covered in the training modules. The findings of this paper are used to propose a framework for projects, processes and design principles, with the aim of enabling the development of entrepreneurial skills through effective online training design and implementation.
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Editorial: Special issue on "Bright ICT: security, privacy and risk issues"Bright ICT, a 2015 initiative of the Association of Information Systems introduced by Prof J.K. Lee, refers to the grand vision of a bright society enabled by ICT. Bright ICT research involves taking a holistic view at the design of ICT enabled future society (Lee, 2016; Lee et al., 2018). This concept entails the development of relevant technologies, business models, public policies, social norms, international agreements, metrics for measuring national progress and preventing undesirable activities on the Internet. It is also at the center of discussions on adoption or modification of technologies, policies, and organizations from which new business models—that create a bright safe internet—can evolve. As a double edge sword, technology creates huge benefits such as the use of mobile phones for healthcare access but create challenges such as delayed access to healthcare providers (Haenssgen & Ariana, 2017). Legal frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and opt-in/out rules that are promulgated to protect individuals’ private data have dual effect of reducing users’ information sharing intentions and giving power to a few Tech market players (Johnson et al., 2020).
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An investigation of the policies and crucial sectors of Smart Cities based on IoT applicationAs smart cities (SCs) emerge, the Internet of Things (IoT) is able to simplify more sophisti-cated and ubiquitous applications employed within these cities. In this regard, we investigate seven predominant sectors including the environment, public transport, utilities, street lighting, waste management, public safety, and smart parking that have a great effect on SC development. Our findings show that for the environment sector, cleaner air and water systems connected to IoT-driven sensors are used to detect the amount of CO2, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen to monitor air quality and to detect water leakage and pH levels. For public transport, IoT systems help traffic management and prevent train delays, for the utilities sector IoT systems are used for reducing overall bills and related costs as well as electricity consumption management. For the street-lighting sector, IoT systems are used for better control of streetlamps and saving energy associated with urban street lighting. For waste management, IoT systems for waste collection and gathering of data regarding the level of waste in the container are effective. In addition, for public safety these systems are important in order to prevent vehicle theft and smartphone loss and to enhance public safety. Finally, IoT systems are effective in reducing congestion in cities and helping drivers to find vacant parking spots using intelligent smart parking.
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Mechanistic model based optimization of feeding practices in aquacultureFish feed accounts for more than 50% of total production cost in intensive aquaculture. Feeding fish with low quality feed or adopting inappropriate feeding strategies causes not only food waste and consequent loss of income but also lead to water pollution. The aim of this study was to develop a mechanistic model based optimization method to determine aquaculture feeding programs. In particular, we integrate a fish weight prediction model and a requirement analysis model to establish an optimization method for designing balanced and sustainable feed formulations and effective feeding programs. The optimization strategy is necessary to maximise the fish weight at harvest, while constraints include specific feed requirements and fish growth characteristics. The optimization strategy is re-solved with new available fish weight measurement by using the error between measurement and model prediction to adjust the requirement analysis model and update feeding amount decision. The mechanistic models are parameterised using the existing nutritional data on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) to demonstrate the usefulness of proposed method. The simulation results show that the proposed approach can significantly improve aquaculture production. This particular simulation study reveals that when “Only prediction” method is considered as benchmark, the average improvement in fish weight of proposed method would be 13.25% when fish weight is measured once per four weeks (mimicking manual sampling practice), and 38.43% when daily measurement of fish weight is possible (e.g. through automatic image-based methods). Furthermore, if feed composition (460 g protein.kg feed−1 ; 18.9 MJ kg feed−1 ) is adjusted, the average improvement of proposed method could reach 46.85%. Compared with traditional feeding methods, the improvement of proposed method could reach 36.36% of the final fish weight at harvest. Further studies will consider improving the quality of feed plus executing more appropriate mathematical prediction models to optimize production performance.
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Critical analysis of the impact of Big Data analytics on supply chain operationsUndoubtedly, due to the increasingly competitive pressures and the stride of varying demands, volatility and disturbance have become the standard in today’s global markets. The spread of Covid-19 is a prime example for that. Supply chain managers are urged to rethink their competitive strategies to make use of Big Data Analytics (BDA), due to the increasing uncertainty in both demand and supply side, the competition among the supply chain partners and the need to identify ways to offer personalised products and services. With many supply chain executives recognising the need of “improving with data”, supply chain businesses need to equip themselves with sophisticated BDA methods/techniques to create valuable insights from big data, thus, enhancing the decision-making process and optimising the efficiency of Supply Chain Operations (SCO). This paper proposes the building blocks of a theoretical framework for understanding the impact of BDA on SCO. The framework is based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on BDA and SCO, underpinned by Task-Technology-Fit theory and Institutional Theory. The paper contributes to the literature by building a platform for future work on investigating factors driving and inhibiting BDA impact on SCO.
