A decade of change in Australia’s DBA landscape

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Wallace ◽  
Cathy Byrne ◽  
Andrea Vocino ◽  
Terry Sloan ◽  
Simon J. Pervan ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamics of the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in Australia through the lens of a changing higher education landscape. The paper reflects on issues raised in a previous analysis of DBA programmes undertaken a decade ago, and highlights persistent challenges and emerging opportunities for professional Doctorate programmes in the Australian context. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were undertaken with higher degree research directors, deans of graduate schools, and DBA programme directors from all 18 Australian institutions offering the DBA in 2013. Quantitative data on enrolments, accreditation requirements, course structures; and demographics are contextualised within a qualitative view of programme purposes, student and institutional motivations, rationales and concerns. Particular focus is given to perceptions of the difference between traditional research doctorates (PhDs) and professional doctorates, especially the DBA. Findings – In the decade from 2003 to 2013 DBA enrolments are down but enquiries are up, indicating unmet demand. There is a shift in the players, with some smaller, regional universities dramatically increasing their enrolments, and larger, traditional institutions exiting the space altogether. Significant changes in accreditation criteria have generated a perceptual shift: where DBAs previously suffered from “academic snobbery” regarding their legitimacy, this perception is being challenged by standards which require DBA equivalence with a PhD. This shift in standards has also created some confusion amongst supervisors and candidates. Originality/value – There is limited research into the DBA award or its candidates, and academic literature is generally silent on DBA supervision. This piece of research, one of very few that specifically examine the DBA, reflects on the past decade, analyses the present context and identifies emerging issues for the delivery of DBA programmes in Australia.

Author(s):  
Patricia J. Daugherty ◽  
Yemisi Bolumole ◽  
Scott J. Grawe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed light on the body of logistics customer service (LCS) research published in leading logistics journals from 1990 to 2017. Specifically, the paper presents a call to arms for logistics and supply chain researchers to address new and emerging issues impacting customer service in the age of omnichannel and e-commerce retailing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors reviewed academic journals to identify articles focusing on LCS from 1990 through 2017. The authors noted trends in academic research activity/focus and supplemented the findings by examining more recent trends covered in trade publication articles.FindingsThe authors observed a large amount of LCS research in the early 1990s and 2000s, but noticed a substantial decline in coverage within academic journals since the late 2000s while industry continues to give customer service issues even greater attention. The difference between the level of coverage within academic journals and the increased importance firms place on customer service represents a critical gap and opportunity for scholars. This research represents a “call to arms” to address this gap. With particular emphasis on observed customer impatience and escalating requests, within omni- and e-commerce channels of distribution, we suggest greater theoretical insights into customer service strategies and their role in successfully navigating today’s changing logistics service environment are needed.Originality/valueThe review serves as a call for more attention to customer service issues within leading logistics journals. Suggestions for research into new and emerging topics are offered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1459-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherese Y. Duncan ◽  
Raeesah Chohan ◽  
João José Ferreira

Purpose This paper aims to explore, using the employee lens of business-to-business firms, word use through brand engagement and social media interaction to understand the difference between employees who rate their employer brands highly on social media and those who don't. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a textual content analysis of posts published on the social media job evaluation site glassdoor.com. LIWC software package was used to analyze 30 of the top 200 business-to-business brands listed on Brandwatch using four variables, namely, analytical thinking, clout, authenticity and emotional tone. Findings The results show that employees who rate their employer’s brand low use significantly more words, are significantly less analytic and write with significantly more clout because they focus more on others than themselves. Employees who rate their employer’s brand highly, write with significantly more authenticity, exhibit a significantly higher tone and display far more positive emotions in their reviews. Practical implications Brand managers should treat social media data disseminated by individual stakeholders, like the variables used in this study (tone, word count, frequency), as a valuable tool for brand insight on their industry, competition and their own brand equity, now and especially over time. Originality/value This study provides acknowledgement that social media is a significant source of marketing intelligence that may improve brand equity by better understanding and managing brand engagement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Sravani Bharandev ◽  
Sapar Narayan Rao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the disposition effect at market level and propose an appropriate reference point for testing disposition at market level. Design/methodology/approach This is an empirical study conducted on 500 index stocks of NSE500 (National Stock Exchange). Winning and losing days for each stock are calculated using 52-week high and low prices as reference points. To test disposition effect, abnormal trading volumes of stocks are regressed on their percentage of winning (losing) days. Further using ANOVA, the difference between mean of percentage of winning (losing) days of high abnormal trading volume deciles and low abnormal trading volume deciles is tested. Findings Results show that a stock’s abnormal trading volume is positively influenced by the percentage of winning days whereas percentage of losing days show no such effect. Findings are consistent even after controlling for volatility and liquidity. ANOVA results show the presence of high percentage of winning days in higher deciles of abnormal trading volumes and no such pattern in case of losing days confirms the presence of disposition effect. Further an ex post analysis indicates that disposition prone investors accumulate losses. Originality/value This is the first study, which proposes the use of 52-week high and low prices as reference points to test the market-level disposition effect. Findings of this study enhance the limited literature available on disposition effect in emerging markets by providing evidence from Indian stock markets.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Rouhani ◽  
M. J. Nategh

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the workspace and dexterity of a microhexapod which is a 6-degrees of freedom (DOF) parallel compliant manipulator, and also to investigate its dimensional synthesis to maximize the workspace and the global dexterity index at the same time. Microassembly is so essential in the current industry for manufacturing complicated structures. Most of the micromanipulators suffer from their restricted workspace because of using flexure joints compared to the conventional ones. In addition, the controllability of micromanipulators inside the whole workspace is very vital. Thus, it is very important to select the design parameters in a way that not only maximize the workspace but also its global dexterity index. Design/methodology/approach – Microassembly is so essential in the current industry for manufacturing complicated structures. Most of the micromanipulators suffer from their restricted workspace because of using flexure joints compared to the conventional ones. In addition, the controllability of micromanipulators inside the whole workspace is very vital. Thus, it is very important to select the design parameters in a way that not only maximize the workspace but also its global dexterity index. Findings – It has been shown that the proposed procedure for the workspace calculation can considerably speed the required calculations. The optimization results show that a converged-diverged configuration of pods and an increase in the difference between the moving and the stationary platforms’ radii cause the global dexterity index to increase and the workspace to decrease. Originality/value – The proposed algorithm for the workspace analysis is very important, especially when it is an objective function of an optimization problem based on the search method. In addition, using screw theory can simply construct the homogeneous Jacobian matrix. The proposed methodology can be used for any other micromanipulator.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojtech Bartoš ◽  
Barbara Pertold-Gebicka

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of employers in creating employment gaps among women returning to the labor market after parental leaves of different durations. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a controlled correspondence field experiment that orthogonally manipulates parental leave length and the quality of fictitious female job candidates. The experiment is complemented with a survey among human resource managers. Findings High-quality candidates receive more interview invitations when applying after a short parental leave, while low-quality (LQ) candidates receive more interview invitations when applying after a typical three years long parental leave. Survey results suggest that the difference in invitations between short and typical leave treatments is driven by a social norm that mothers should stay home with children younger than three. Productivity gains from employing a LQ job applicant with a shorter career break might not be high enough to outweigh the adverse social norm effect. Social implications The presented results point toward the strong effect of prevailing social norms on job search prospects of women returning to the labor market after parental leave. Originality/value A correspondence experiment has not been used before to study the relationship between time spent on leave and the labor market prospects of mothers. It also extends research on social norms to the domain of hiring decisions.


2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-Jung Chen ◽  
Cheng-Loong Liang ◽  
Kang Lu

Object. Transthoracic endoscopic T2–3 sympathectomy is currently the treatment of choice for palmar hyperhidrosis. Compensatory sweating of the face, trunk, thigh, and sole of the foot was found in more than 50% of patients who underwent this procedure. The authors conducted this study to investigate the associated intraoperative changes in plantar skin temperature and postoperative plantar sweating. Methods. One hundred patients with palmar hyperhidrosis underwent bilateral transthoracic endoscopic T2–3 sympathectomy. There were 60 female and 40 male patients who ranged in age from 13 to 40 years (mean age 21.6 years). Characteristics studied included changes in palmar and plantar skin temperature measured intraoperatively, as well as pre- and postoperative changes in plantar sweating and sympathetic skin responses (SSRs). In 59 patients (59%) elevation of plantar temperature was demonstrated at the end of the surgical procedure. In this group, plantar sweating was found to be exacerbated in three patients (5%); plantar sweating was improved in 52 patients (88.1%); and no change was demonstrated in four patients (6.8%). In the other group of patients in whom no temperature change occurred, increased plantar sweating was demonstrated in three patients (7.3%); plantar sweating was improved in 20 patients (48.8%); and no change was shown in 18 patients (43.9%). The difference between temperature and sweating change was significant (p = 0.001). Compared with the presympathectomy rate, the rate of absent SSR also significantly increased after sympathectomy: from 20 to 76% after electrical stimulation and 36 to 64% after deep inspiration stimulation, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions. In contrast to compensatory sweating in other parts of the body after T2–3 sympathetomy, improvement in plantar sweating was shown in 72% and worsened symptoms in 6% of patients. The intraoperative plantar skin temperature change and perioperative SSR demonstrated a correlation between these changes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 87-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Creaser

Purpose Library impact and how to evaluate it has been debated for a number of years. While the activity – the busy-ness – of the library is now routinely measured and described, the difference the library makes is less tangible and harder to measure. Libraries in all sectors and worldwide are grappling with this issue, and the purpose of this paper is to summarise international standards available to support them. Design/methodology/approach The first international standard concerning library impact, ISO 16439 Information and documentation – methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, was published in 2014 after several years in development. Findings The standard describes a range of methods for assessing library impact which have been used across the world in a variety of libraries in all sectors. Originality/value This paper summarises the key methods described in the standard, and gives references for further reading.


Author(s):  
Koosha Choobdari Omran ◽  
Ali Mosallanejad

Purpose Double rotor induction machine (DRIM) is a particular type of induction machine (IM) that has been introduced to improve the parameters of the conventional IM. The purpose of this study is to propose a dynamic model of the DRIM under saturated and unsaturated conditions by using the equations obtained in this paper. Also, skin and temperature effects are considered in this model. Design/methodology/approach First, the DRIM structure and its performance will be briefly reviewed. Then, to realize the DRIM model, the mathematical equations of the electrical and mechanical part of the DRIM will be presented by state equations in the q-d axis by using the Park transformation. In this paper, the magnetizing fluxes saturation is included in the DRIM model by considering the difference between the amplitudes of the unsaturated and saturated magnetizing fluxes. The skin and temperature effects are also considered in this model by correcting the rotor and stator resistances values during operation. Findings To evaluate the effects of the saturation and skin effects on DRIM performance and validate the model, the machine is simulated with/without consideration of saturation and skin effects by the proposed model. Then, the results, including torque, speed, stator and rotor currents, active and reactive power, efficiency, power factor and torque-speed characteristic, are compared. In addition, the performance of the DRIM has been investigated at different speed conditions and load variations. The proposed model is developed in Matlab/Simulink for the sake of validation. Originality/value This paper presents an understandable model of DRIM with and without saturation, which can be used to analyze the steady-state and transient behavior of the motor in different situations.


Author(s):  
Omar Moufakkir ◽  
Yvette Reisinger

Purpose This study aims to further an understanding of hospitality employees’ perceptions of their customers in the context of service encounter by utilizing the concepts of contact hypothesis and cultural distance in a multi-ethnic environment. The study compares perceptions of Chinese immigrants working in restaurants of their British patrons (from a remote culture) and Chinese patrons (from a proximate culture). The service encounter takes place in the London Chinatown. The dynamics of Chinatown as a “third space” adds complexity to service encounter and employee perceptions. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 118 Chinese restaurant employees in the Soho area of the London Chinatown. Perception questions were based on interviews undertaken in an earlier phase of the research. A paired t-test was run to identify significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions of the Chinese and British patrons. Discriminant analysis was performed to determine which perception variables discriminated the most between the two patron groups. Findings Despite cultural proximity, the perceptions held by Chinese restaurant employees of their nationals were negative compared to the perceptions of British patrons. Out of 16, in 15 areas of measurement, there were significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions’ of their Chinese and British guests. Six variables that discriminated the most between the two groups of guests were no tips, not polite, loud, no compliment, messy and demanding. Research limitations/implications Research in ethnic and minority quarters, such as Chinatown in London, may suffer from “recall bias”, or in this case from making the difference between customer groups. Also, the Chinese are not a homogeneous group. For example, despite cultural similarity with mainstream culture, cultural and behavioral characteristics may exist between residents from the South, North and Hong Kong. Practical implications The cultural diversity of the industry’s employees necessitates managing cultural diversity effectively, especially in the sectors that rely heavily on guest–employee interaction. Perceptions affect attitudes and behavior. Training programs about perception and its roots may bridge the service gap in high-contact service encounters. Originality/value This study provides a ground for future empirical research into understanding the immigrant employees’ perceptions of their guests, nationals versus non-nationals and the ways for improving these perceptions. Taking the example of Chinatown as a dynamic “third space” is another approach to understanding the effects of “ethnoscape” on encounters in a more globalized village.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajay Kumar ◽  
Anil Kumar Kashyap

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify distinct segments of apparel shoppers based on their fashion shopping orientation. The difference among the segments based on mall attractive dimension is also examined. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through mall intercept survey from the mall shoppers. Samples of 375 respondents are used for data analysis purpose. Exploratory factor analysis is used to extract the factors of fashion shopping orientation and mall attractive dimensions while K-means cluster analysis is applied to identify the segments. Findings This study resulted in three factors of fashion orientation of apparel shoppers, i.e. fashion involvement, variety seeking and economic value, and four factors of mall attractive dimensions: convenience, entertainment, atmosphere and architecture design. Based on these factors, this study came out with three distinct segments of fashion shoppers: pragmatic shoppers, variety seeking shoppers and highly fashioned shoppers. These three segments are attracted towards the mall dimension differently. Originality/value This paper presents the three distinct profiles of fashion shoppers based on their fashion shopping orientation and mall attractive dimensions. The findings of this study may help retailers and mall developers to target mall visitors appropriately.


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