• Accelerating Internet adoption in the fresh produce supply chain: a VEGNET approach

      Duan, Yanqing; Xu, Xianzhong M.; Fu, Zetian; Liu, Xue; Zografos, Konstantinos (2008-02-27)
    • Accounting for the development of human capital in manufacturing organizations: a study of the Pakistani textile sector

      Chaudhry, Naveed Iqbal; Roomi, Muhammad Azam (Emerald, 2010-10)
      Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the impact of human capital development in organizations. It is based on some conceptual aspects of human resource accounting and considers how investments in the development of human capital can be measured in order to investigate the financial returns for organizations. Design/methodology/approach – The study is exploratory in nature as this is the first of its kind in the Pakistani manufacturing sector. The technique of convenience sampling was used to collect the data due to time and resource limitations. The sample comprises of 30 leading companies in the Pakistani textile sector. A self-administered postal questionnaire was designed for the research survey. The results focus on the benefits derived by using the capital investment appraisal techniques of human resource accounting including: return on investment, benefit to cost ratio, weighted average cost of capital, and bottom line evaluations. Findings – The results provide evidence of an association between investment in the development of human capital and the benefits, which organizations can reap from such investments. It further finds that the organizations investing in training and development programs provide high employee productivity that ultimately contributes towards high-organizational performance.
    • Acculturation to Global Consumer Culture (AGCC): testing the validity of the AGCC scale and some preliminary results from the United Kingdom

      Czarnecka, Barbara; Keles, Serap; University of Bedfordshire; University of Oslo (16th Cross-cultural Research Conference, 2015-12-13)
      This paper presents preliminary results from a study focused on acculturation to Global Consumer Culture (GCC) conducted in the UK. In particular, this paper’s aims are to test the validity of the original ‘Acculturation to Global Consumer Culture’ (AGCC) scale in a new cultural context, and to present preliminary results about the relation between acculturation to GCC and demographic factors, technological anxiety, and compulsive buying. This paper is based on online questionnaire completed by 340 respondents in the UK. The psychometric properties of this scale were verified via confirmatory factor analysis, and a new, shorter scale was proposed. Some results about the links between acculturation to GCC and demographics, technological anxiety, and compulsive buying were presented and discussed within the context of extant GCC research. Limitations and further research were discussed. Key words: consumer culture, global consumer culture, acculturation to global consumer culture
    • Acquiring and retaining customers in UK banks: an exploratory study

      Farquhar, Jillian Dawes; Panther, Tracy (Elsevier, 2008)
      This paper explores how traditional banks1 in the UK are managing customer acquisition (CA) at the same time as the retention of profitable customers. In spite of the interest of UK banks in retention, new customers often receive more favourable prices and conditions than existing customers, suggesting that acquisition may dominate. To explore the balance between acquisition and retention and to discover marketing activities that might support both, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a small sample of senior bank staff in the UK. Analysis of the interviews, using computer-aided software indicated that banks are indeed trying to manage acquisition with retention but encountering a range of difficulties as they revisit long-held strategies. The study also suggests seven activities that might contribute to a better balancing of CA with retention. By seeking expert management opinion through a qualitatively based study, this research proposes a preliminary framework of marketing activities that support both acquisition and retention.
    • Active participation in business-to-business online communities: a conceptual framework

      Gharib, Rebwar Kamal; Philpott, Elly; Duan, Yanqing; University of Strathclyde; University of Bedfordshire (Association for Information Systems, 2014)
      Online communities (OCs) have been studied for the past several decades by many scholars from different disciplines and backgrounds. It is found that the success of an OC largely depends on its members’ participation and contribution behaviour. While significant research has examined the factors affecting participation in various OC types ranging from online communities of practice to online social networking sites, little research has focused on Business-to-Business (B2B) OCs. Hence, the primarily aim of this paper is to provide some understanding of the most important factors affecting active participation in B2B OCs. Towards achieving this goal, this study proposed a theoretical framework underpinned by two well-known theories: Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Uses and Gratification theory (U&G). This study contributes to the OC literature by defining and classifying online business communities and proposes a theoretical model to address active participation in B2B OC. This is a theoretical study and its application has not been tested on a particular community, the next step therefore is to conduct future studies to empirically test the framework with B2B OCs members.
    • Addressing ICTs skill challenges in SMEs: insights from three country investigations

      Duan, Yanqing; Mullins, Roisin; Hamblin, David; Stanek, Stanislaw; Sroka, Henry; Machado, Virgilio; Araujo, Joao (Emerald, 2002)
    • Adoption of RFID technologies in UK logistics: moderating roles of size, barcode experience and government support

      Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan; Ramanathan, Usha; Ko, Lok Wan Lorraine; University of Bedfordshire; Nottingham University (Elsevier, 2013-07-16)
      Due to globalization, logistics has become an important part in the supply chain. Many logistics service providers have realised the importance of adoption of technologies that can help manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers to communicate with each other more efficiently. Among many logistics technologies, radio frequency identification (RFID) has been identified as an important technology to improve logistics operations and supply chain management, and thus is increasingly gaining both practitioners’ and researchers’ attention. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of usability features of RFID in the adoption of the technology by the logistics sector in the UK. We have used questionnaire survey method to collect data from the UK logistics firms. The analysis of the data shows that the usability of RFID technology positively influences adoption of technology. We have further tested the moderating effects of firm size, experience with barcode use, and government support in adopting RFID. Our results show that government support strongly moderates the link between usability of RFID and its adoption but size and experience with barcode do not moderate this link. We elaborate the contributions of the study and managerial implications of our results in this paper
    • Affective involvement in advertising effectiveness: implications for interpretation of print advertisements

      Danbury, Annie Hagen; Mortimer, Kathleen; University of Bedfordshire (European Advertising Academy, 2011-06-28)
      The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that affective dimensions of involvement have on the decoding process of print advertisements. The results from a factorial experiment using advertisements for two types of product, credit cards and chocolate bars, indicate that outcomes of the decoding process are predominantly influenced by affective dimensions of involvement, such as interest and pleasure, in a low involvement situation. This affective involvement has a strong relationship with likeability of the advertisement. However the relationship between comprehension and likeability is less straightforward and seems to be linked to beliefs about the advertisement.
    • Agricultural information dissemination using ICTs: a review and analysis of information dissemination models in China

      Zhang, Yun; Wang, Lei; Duan, Yanqing; Ministry of Agriculture, China; University of Bedfordshire (Elsevier, 2016-03)
      Over the last three decades, China’s agriculture sector has been transformed from the traditional to modern practice through the effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information processing and dissemination have played a critical role in this transformation process. Many studies in relation to agriculture information services have been conducted in China, but few of them have attempted to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of different information dissemination models and their applications. This paper aims to review and identify the ICT based information dissemination models in China and to share the knowledge and experience in applying emerging ICTs in disseminating agriculture information to farmers and farm communities to improve productivity and economic, social and environmental sustainability. The paper reviews and analyzes the development stages of China’s agricultural information dissemination systems and different mechanisms for agricultural information service development and operations. Seven ICT-based information dissemination models are identified and discussed. Success cases are presented. The findings provide a useful direction for researchers and practitioners in developing future ICT based information dissemination systems. It is hoped that this paper will also help other developing countries to learn from China’s experience and best practice in their endeavor of applying emerging ICTs in agriculture information dissemination and knowledge transfer.
    • Analyse de discours et organisations: mythes fantasmes, non-dits et quiproquo

      Ocler, Rodolphe (L'Harmattan, Paris, 2010)
      This volume is composed of 10 chapters analysing the diversity and richness of discourse analysis applied to organizational life. The first part of the book focuses on discourse theory and methodological implications. The second part clarifies how myths and phantasms develop in organisations. The last part explains the impact of quiproquo and unspoken stories in a managerial context.
    • An analysis of expert systems for business decision making at different levels and in different roles

      Edwards, John S.; Duan, Yanqing; Robins, P.C. (Palgrave MacMillan, 2000-03)
    • An analysis of marketing programmes adopted by regional small and medium-sized enterprises

      Parrott, Guy; Roomi, Muhammad Azam; Holliman, David (Emerald, 2010-05)
      Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of the true nature of contemporary SME marketing activities. While acknowledging operational constraints, the paper aims to hypothesize that, if effective marketing planning was employed, this would improve the long-term growth of small to medium-sized enterprises. The paper seeks to assess the implications current practices may have on the long-term survival of enterprises and to identify significant SME marketing development and training needs. Design/methodology/approach – A marketing audit approach yielded data from the collation of 125 completed online questionnaires within the East of England region. Statistical analysis using SPSS was applied to produce an in-depth quantitative analysis of these data. In addition, qualitative data were collected through face-to-face interviews of some 20 owner-managers. These responses were further inductively analysed and interpreted. Findings – Data analysis demonstrated a significant disparity between their perceived marketing effectiveness compared with their actual practices recorded at interview. Significantly, they failed to understand why campaigns did not yield results, as they routinely did not employ appropriate controls and procedures. SMEs believed that they were fully cognisant of the effectiveness of their marketing activity, through further exploration; evidence revealed that they failed to employ sufficient review procedures, and in the extreme cases these procedures were non-existent. A direct correlation was also witnessed between company size and the application of effective marketing planning. Larger enterprises demonstrated a greater awareness of strategic marketing competence.
    • An analysis of the diffusion of RFID in the UK logistics sector using a technology-acceptance perspective

      Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan; Ramanathan, Usha; Ko, Lok Wan Lorraine; University of Bedfordshire; Nottingham University (Business Science Reference, 2014)
      In this chapter, the authors explore the factors affecting the UK logistics service providers' intention to use RFID technology from the theoretical perspective of a Technology-Acceptance Model (TAM). The survey data analysis shows that perceived usability of RFID has a significant relationship with the levels of adoption of the technology, but perceived privacy issues and perceived security issues do not have such a significant relationship. Using further moderation analysis, the authors find that the relationship between usability and adoption becomes stronger if there is a high level of support for RFID projects within an organisation. The study points to the need to improve the appreciation and support in an organisation for RFID projects. For example, top management should be well informed so as to provide good support, while employees should be motivated to back the use of RFID in their operations. An appropriate level of the required infrastructure will also help increase the usability and hence the adoption of RFID in UK logistics.
    • An analysis of the key factors affecting the success of a re-launched destination marketing website in the UK

      Alford, Philip; Duan, Yanqing; Taylor, Jacqui; Bournemouth University; University of Bedfordshire (Springer International Publishing, 2014)
      This paper presents a case study of the re-launch of a DMO website in the UK. It evaluates the perceived usability of the new website and identifies the key factors affecting customers’ intention to use the new website. A large-scale online survey was developed to understand a number of issues relating to usability (e.g. aesthetics, effectiveness) and psychological and behavioural indicators (e.g. perceived trustworthiness and intent to use). Both quantitative and qualitative data was analysed to understand users’ perceptions, behaviour and attitudes towards the re-launched website. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed to identify the factors affecting their intention to use the new website. The SEM model identified the impact of a variety of factors on intention to use and the descriptive analysis, using both qualitative and quantitative data, highlights further areas of research.
    • An analysis of users' reactions to an expert advisory system

      Duan, Yanqing; Edwards, John S.; Robins, P.C. (Elsevier, 1995)
    • And did those feet? Getting medieval England “on-message”

      Croft, Robin; Hartland, Trevor; Skinner, Heather (Emerald, 2008)
      This paper aims to gain an understanding of the nature and extent of the practice of “public relations” in history. The paper uses an analysis of popular narratives (in particular rumour, legend and myth) to inform a detailed case study of Glastonbury abbey in the medieval period.
    • The antecedents and outcomes of brand experience on the social networking site

      Chen, Hsin; Papazafeiropoulou, Anastasia; Duan, Yanqing; Chen, Ta-Kang; University of Bedfordshire; Brunel University; SooChow University, Taipei (European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), 2013-06)
    • Anti-arbitration injunctions and the English courts: judicial interference or judicial protection?

      Seriki, Hakeem (Sweet and Maxwell, 2013)
      In the course of arbitral proceedings (whether before or during proceedings) a party may need to seek injunctive relief. The use of injunctive relief in international commercial arbitration is nothing new and must not be seen as incompatible with the underlining principles of commercial arbitration such as party autonomy, separability and kompetenz-kompetenz. Many institutional rules1 and arbitration legislation2 allow parties to apply to an appropriate court for injunctive relief. Indeed, injunctions can be very crucial to the outcome of a claim given that there are situations where the tribunal may not yet be constituted or lacks the power to grant the relief sought. For example, s.44 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) is seen as a supporting measure by which the courts can assist arbitral proceedings by granting an interim injunction so as to preserve evidence and assets in appropriate situations.3 Hence, arbitral proceedings can be secured by prompt early injunctive relief of the type that can only be granted by the courts.