A consumer definition of store convenience (finally)

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughan Reimers

Purpose – Despite an increasingly convenience-oriented society, very few empirical studies have identified convenience as a salient determinant of store patronage. Such atypical findings could be due to the way in which academics have defined store convenience. The purpose of this study is to empirically develop an alternative definition of store convenience. Design/methodology/approach – A household mail-out survey was used to identify the attributes consumers associate with store convenience. Findings – Empirical analysis provides strong support for the alternative definition, with respondents indicating that 25 of the test attributes serve as convenience attributes in the context of a department store. Practical implications – In spite of the many things a store manager can do to make their store more convenient, academic studies have recognised very few of these as convenience attributes. This study provides store managers with a list of 25 tools they have at their disposal to help save their customers' time and effort and help combat the internet threat. Originality/value – Comprising 25 attributes, the alternative definition represents a significant increase over any existing definition. The failure of existing definitions to incorporate so many of these attributes may explain why academic research has suggested that, in an era of convenience, convenience itself is a less-than-salient determinant of store patronage.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Keith McGrath ◽  
Stephen Jonathan Whitty

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to remove confusion surrounding the terms responsibility and accountability from the general and project management arenas by creating “refined” (with unnecessary elements removed) definitions of these terms. Design/methodology/approach A method of deriving refined definitions for a group of terms by ensuring that there is no internal conflict or overlap is adopted and applied to resolve the confusion. Findings The confusion between responsibility and accountability can be characterised as a failure to separate the obligation to satisfactorily perform a task (responsibility) from the liability to ensure that it is satisfactorily done (accountability). Furthermore, clarity of application can be achieved if legislative and organisational accountabilities are differentiated and it is recognised that accountability and responsibility transition across organisational levels. A difficulty in applying accountability in RACI tables is also resolved. Research limitations/implications Clear definition of responsibility and accountability will facilitate future research endeavours by removing confusion surrounding the terms. Verification of the method used through its success in deriving these “refined” definitions suggests its suitability for application to other contested terms. Practical implications Projects and businesses alike can benefit from removal of confusion around the definitions of responsibility and accountability in the academic research they fund and attempt to apply. They can also achieve improvements in both efficiency and effectiveness in undertaking organisation-wide exercises to determine organisational responsibilities and accountabilities as well as in the application of governance models. Social implications Refined definitions of responsibility and accountability will facilitate building social and physical systems and infrastructure, benefitting organisations, whether public, charitable or private. Originality/value Clarity resulting in the avoidance of confusion and misunderstanding together with their consequent waste of time, resources and money.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 574-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Aarum Andersen

Purpose This paper aims to assess the concept of managerial discretion with respect to its theoretical and empirical usefulness for corporate governance research. Design/methodology/approach This paper scrutinises applied theoretical claims, definitions and methods, as well as a number of empirical studies on managerial discretion. Findings To date, no empirical definition of the concept has been presented and no measurement has been developed and tested for reliability and validity that contains all three factors of the managerial discretion concept, as proposed by Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987). Practical implications Research on managerial discretion does not provide owners and directors of boards with any advice on granting top managers a high or low degree of discretion. Originality/value This paper concludes that corporate governance scholarship will improve if it abandons the concept of managerial discretion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy

Purpose – This paper aims to present an interview asking Robert I. Sutton how leaders can create or discover wellsprings of excellence and engagement within their organizations and then scale them successfully to encompass the company as a whole, and then continue to scale them successfully as the business expands. Design/methodology/approach – Sutton discusses what was learned in the process of researching his book Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More without Settling for Less (Crown Business, 2014), co-authored with fellow Stanford professor, Huggy Rao. Findings – Scaling depends on having shared beliefs and behaviors that people not only talk about, but they also actually live – and that help guide and motivate people in the pursuit of the local definition of excellence. Practical implications – To scale excellence the best leaders and teams employ a one-two punch of first arousing collective emotion, especially pride or anger, and then channelling that emotion to propel the desired action. Originality/value – The paper provides an insightful look at the process of scaling up continuous customer-focused performance and product innovation by a well-known expert.


2006 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald McLean

PurposeTo provide for the use of airlines and other civil aviation organizations a practical definition of operational efficiency and to show how it can be determined.Design/methodology/approachA brief account of air transport economics is used to demonstrate how bom load factors and aircraft utilization need to be considered in assessing operational efficiency. Then other efficiencies are treated briefly before an example is given of how the better of two fictitious aircraft can be chosen for a particular route. A second example involving the calculation of the operational efficiency achieved by an imaginary airline is also given to show that the typical value is lower than might be expected, particularly in view of the relatively high load factors involved.FindingsProvides performance values and economic figures which are typical of current airline operations.Practical implicationsUse of the proposed definition will allow the consistent assessment of the economic performance of airlines.Originality/valueAt present there is no definition of operational efficiency in general use although it is greatly needed by airlines. The definition proposed in this paper is practical and easy to use.


2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 715-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Gall ◽  
Jack Fiorito

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to give a critique of the extant literature on union commitment and participation in order to develop remedies to identified weaknessesDesign/methodology/approachThe paper uses a critical assessment of extant literature.FindingsA number of critical deficiencies exist in the literature to which remedies are proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe remedies need testing through empirical research.Practical implicationsFuture research needs to have different research foci and questions.Social implicationsWith a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership, unions may be better able to benefit from academic research in the area.Originality/valueThe paper suggests that a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership will allow more incisive and more robust contributions to be made to understanding unions as complex social organisms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 362-365
Author(s):  
Simon Reese

Purpose The “Implication for practitioners” paper summarizes the articles within this issue of The Learning Organization in an easy-to-digest format for the practitioner audience. This paper aims to outline how in practice the structure and people and the interplay of both have an impact in creating a learning organization. Included in the paper is a summary of articles within this issue that outline different studies that can easily lead toward actions in practice. Design/methodology/approach The summary identifies specific elements from the articles within this issue that can applied in practice. Findings This issue of The Learning Organization is full of content to help practitioners think more deeply about assessing their organization and offers application of tools that can be easily applied in any organization. Practical implications The “Implication for practitioners” paper aims to outline areas where the articles can be further applied. The articles within this issue outline how structure and characteristics (or people) can provide a significant impact on developing a learning organization. Originality/value Readers can gain value in reading this summary, as it outline some of the many practical ideas outlined within the articles of this issue of The Learning Organization.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maninder Singh ◽  
P.S. James ◽  
Shirshendu Ganguli

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify future directions for human resource managers to provide work accommodations to chronically ill employees. Design/methodology/approach The authors researched empirical studies in management, occupational health journals, and reports on chronically ill employees. Findings The paper provides research-based practical insights for human resource practitioners to deal with the growing number of chronically ill employees. Practical implications The paper highlights solutions for human resource managers to create an inclusive workplace for employees with chronic illness. Originality/value The authors identified effective human resource and health practices for chronically ill employees, which would help to increase their productivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Rudyanto ◽  
Sidharta Utama ◽  
Dwi Martani ◽  
Desi Adhariani

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the roles of corruption and tax allocation inefficiency in moderating the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a fixed-effect multiple regression analysis for 55,438 firm-year observations covering 22 countries from 2007 to 2017. Findings For less (more) tax-aggressive observations, corruption and tax allocation inefficiency strengthen the negative (positive) effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare. The results are in line with public choice and functionalism theories that suggest that private investments can increase welfare when governments are dysfunctional. Practical implications This paper shows that the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare depends on tax aggressiveness, corruption and tax allocation inefficiency. Social implications This paper implies that governments should reduce their corruption levels and increase tax allocation efficiency because private investments are ineffective in the long run. Originality/value Because of increasing awareness of sustainability issue, sustainable welfare is considered more relevant than traditional welfare. Hence, empirical studies on the effect of tax aggressiveness on sustainable welfare are crucial. This paper adds the literature by combining public choice and functionalism theories to investigate the moderating roles of corruption and tax allocation inefficiency in this issue.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Fahey

Purpose By clearly mapping the pathway for managing the early stages of any marketplace analysis project, its definition, scope, framing, focus, perspective, context, imagination and data choices – the odds of generating important strategic insight can be greatly increased for executives as well as analysis teams. Design/methodology/approach A marketing analysis team should pay specific attention to how it organizes the analysis context’a process called “Structuring”. Findings A working definition of insight: new marketplace understanding that makes a difference to the organization’s thinking, decision making and action. Practical/implications 10; Nothing constricts the insight structuring process as much as lack of imagination! Originality/value The choice of analysis scope, framing, focus, perspective or methods is a critical part of the marketplace analysis structuring process that increases the possibility of distinctly different strategic inferences emerging. The article is a much needed guide to mastering strategic insight for executives and marketplace analysts.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gülçin Polat

PurposeAlthough it has been implicitly or explicitly assumed that family business professionalization is indeed a multidimensional construct, there has been a tendency to confine it to the employment of nonfamily managers and delegating authority in academic research. Dekker et al. (2013) have made an impressive work in untangling the multidimensional structure of family business professionalization. This paper aims to introduce a more comprehensive multidimensional approach and a framework to understand and study family business professionalization by identifying additional dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual framework relies on insights derived from the literature on family business professionalization, occupational professionalism and organizational professionalism to reveal the broader multidimensionality of family business professionalization.FindingsThe proposed framework extends the definition of family business professionalization and offers additional dimensions which were grouped under five overarching headings: professionalization of management, professionalization of organizational structure, processes and operations, professionalization of family's relationship with business, professionalization of employees and professionalization of work environment and culture.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature by providing a wider approach for the understanding of family business professionalization. It presents a new way of thinking about family business professionalization, underlining the importance of employees and organizational culture for the professionalization process in family firms.


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