Organizations workforce demographic age preferences: multiple case-studies from Brazil

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-427
Author(s):  
Anselmo Ferreira Vasconcelos
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Age Bias ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Organizational Age ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify whether there is some common pattern between organizations that give primacy either to younger workforce or to older one. Design/methodology/approach – It depicts the empirical evidence of eight case studies and some theoretical contributions thereof. All case units are considered outstanding employers in Brazil business scenario, given the magnitude of their human resource (HR) feats and society acknowledgements. Taken together, they are eight representative cases derived from Época magazine and Great Place to Work® Institute 2013 list. Findings – Case units exhibited strongest group age preferences on an ongoing basis. Rather, they depicted an unbalanced labor force demographic age frame for the sake of their own HR choices. As a result, they all could be labeled as age bias companies in a more or less degree. Given that their options (i.e. percentage of preferences) have been somewhat consistent during the period of analysis, one may therefore infer that such options have been buttressed by the leadership held values. Surprisingly, all case units had not provided logical arguments or wise explanations in light of their decisions related to it. Moreover, the companies had not offered compelling evidence that they were implementing robust diversity and inclusion polices aiming to provide an equalitarian treatment to all age groups or that they were at least paying attention to these issues in a coherent form. In fact, they have been astonishingly silent on these matters. Research limitations/implications – The purposeful sample strategy that was carried out in this study does not permit that the results be generalized. Actually, they are derived from only a specific cohort of companies – to some extent, they are outliers in the list of the best organizations to work for in Brazil – that has been noticeable for their extreme workforce age options. Practical implications – The case units sample showed to have huge difficulties to mitigate organizational age bias effects in their headcount. In fact, the majority of the case units that were perused demonstrated to give a consistent priority for either having either younger workforce or older one. Originality/value – Overall, it is expected that this study may contribute to diversity management theory by bringing further knowledge about how some of the best organizations to work for in Brazil implement their workforce demographic age policies.

Building a comprehensive framework for sustainable education using case studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rameshwar Dubey ◽  
Angappa Gunasekaran ◽  
Abhijit Deshpande
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Sample Size ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainable Education ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive theory for sustainable education. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used a multiple case studies approach. Findings The authors have identified ten drivers that influence sustainable education. Most of these drivers have been drawn on the basis of extensive literature review; however, some of the drivers are novel to the current study, such as attitude, behavior, and promotion. Research limitations/implications The framework needs to be validated using empirical research with a large-sample size. Practical implications The study offers guidelines to universities and institutions that want to impart sustainable education to their students for better employability. Social implications The study makes an immense contribution to society by recognizing the need for sustainable education and identifying how to achieve better results. Originality/value The current paper contributes to the existing literature by identifying three novel constructs and how the constructs can shape sustainable education to address current market needs.

The case studies of fraud prevention mechanisms in the Malaysian medium enterprises

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1024-1038
Author(s):  
Malar Gunasegaran ◽  
Rohaida Basiruddin ◽  
Siti Zaleha Abdul Rasid ◽  
Adriana Mohd Rizal
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Fraud Prevention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the extent and type of fraud scheme, prevention mechanisms and challenges experienced by the Malaysian medium enterprises. Design/methodology/approach The multiple case studies approach has been used in this study. The data were collected through interviews with the directors, owners, managers and supervisors of three medium-size enterprises. Findings The findings suggest that the fraud cases experienced by the enterprises were related to broken trust and non-cash larceny. The implementation of fraud prevention mechanisms in the enterprises seem to be very limited because of resources and budget constraints. Practical implications The findings of the study have an alarming implication for the owners and directors of the selected medium-size organizations. They seem to have shown proactivity and to have responded to fraud in their organizations by implementing fraud prevention mechanisms; however, not to the extent that large organizations have done. This fact may expose the companies to the risk of losing their competitiveness and the ability to survive in the marketplace. Originality/value This paper contributes to the growing literature on the studies of fraud scheme and the fraud prevention mechanism in the medium-size enterprises, particularly in the context of developing country. Prior studies in these areas have predominantly been undertaken by large organizations of developed countries, which offer different environment, litigation and institutional setting thus limits the generalizability of fraud prevention mechanism to small- and medium-size businesses.

Value co-creation in the B2B context: a diagnosis of knowledge management based on multiple case studies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Bonamigo ◽  
Camila Guimarães Frech ◽  
Ana Carolina Custódio Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Asymmetry ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to empirically investigate how organizations delivering services in business-to-business relations deal with the boundary paradox and knowledge asymmetry in value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a qualitative multiple case study strategy. Datas were gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews that were then analyzed through the content analysis. Findings The authors identified three mechanisms that organizations use to deal with the boundary paradox and two strategies to handle the knowledge asymmetry. Research limitations/implications First, no opportunities were afforded to involve more participants. Second, owning to confidentiality reasons, not all organizations provided us documents to be analyzed. Practical implications The findings guide managers in balancing the use of contracts and trust in inter-firm collaborations and fostering the learning of customers. Also, insights to protect knowledge based on the paradox of openness in value co-creation. Originality/value This study’s findings address the gap in value co-creation literature concerning the lack of empirical studies.

Could lean and green be the driver to integrate business improvement throughout the organisation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Chaplin ◽  
Simon T.J. O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Lean And Green ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies

Purpose It seems to be the consensus (Zhang et al., 2012; George et al., 2003; Arumugam et al., 2013) that Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has become a beneficial improvement initiative used in a variety of industries. There is a move towards integrating any high-level business improvement methods holistically throughout the whole organisation. Indeed, Hoerl (2014) explored the idea that when using LSS for business improvement, the programme should engage the whole organisation in much the same way as the financial function is present throughout each department. The purpose of this paper is to posit that using the lean and green agenda may be the driver to achieve integration. Design/methodology/approach The research adopted a subjective ontological perspective with the researcher using participant observation as the main research instrument. Denzin and Lincoln (2005) note that it is now common for scholars to argue that the only relevant data are those based upon the personal experience of the researcher; this served as an informing foundation for the approach for the exploration of the topic. Based on multiple case studies, chosen because they operate in different sectors, the paper adopted an extended case method (Burawoy, 1998) to analyse and gather the research. The organisations were chosen because they both were at a similar stage in their continuous improvement (CI) journey. The main reasoning behind the selection of the two different organisations is to reach “Thick Description” (Geertz, 1973, p. 3, 2001). Findings The findings suggest that there are still significant benefits of implementing a large-scale lean agenda in particular when using an LSS methodology. The paper finds that there are also significant gaps in achieving full integration within the organisation and argues that lean and CI are still the remit of the operations manager. The document goes on to argue that if the CI initiative is driven by the corporate social responsibility (CSR) plan, then any lean/lean green implementation will enable the company to drive CI integration with all stakeholders. Research limitations/implications The research has implications for those responsible for the CSR function within the organisation and the operations manager who is charged with implementing any lean/lean and green CI. Practical implications The paper argues that the lean and green agenda can drive integration of any CI activity throughout the organisation and suggests that the way this can be achieved is any CI activity that is included in the wider CSR plan. Social implications This paper contributes to the “lean and green” agenda and offers a solution for the problem of integrating LSS activities throughout the whole organisation by placing CI and LSS within the CSR remit. Originality/value There is little consensus how this holistic integrated approach should be implemented by the company. This research uses multiple case studies to critically examine the application of LSS as an improvement programme within two large UK-based organisations, each company operating in very different industry sectors to identify the benefits of LSS but also the missed “green/societal” opportunities and argues that if any lean and lean and green agenda is to be holistically adopted, then any CI activity should be driven by the CSR department.

Utility relocation management in highway projects

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneetha Vilventhan ◽  
Satyanarayana N. Kalidindi
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Nominal Group Technique ◽  
Nominal Group ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Highway Projects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Coordination Strategies ◽  
Underground Utilities ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Utility relocation issues are unfortunately frequent and recurring problems in several countries’ highway projects. Very few studies have addressed the utility relocation issues in highway projects. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, this paper explores how the utility relocation issues are managed in highway projects. Second, this paper systematically identifies the prioritized technical and coordination strategies to be adopted to avoid delays in utility relocation. Design/methodology/approach Multiple case-based research methodology was used to explore how the utility relocation issues are managed in highway projects. Empirical evidences from 11 road and bridge projects in India were used to develop the descriptive storyline for each of the project. The strategies used to manage the utility relocation issues were identified from three sources namely literature review, case studies and nominal group technique (NGT). The strategies were then evaluated quantitatively using NGT. Findings The analysis of the case studies showed that the delays in utility relocation were in the range of 5-52 months. It was found that the duration of relocation of utilities is impacted more significantly by the complexity of underground utilities rather than the size of the projects. Strategies that are used to manage utility relocation were identified across two groups namely; technical and coordination strategies. Practical implications Recommendations are provided for the practical use and policy changes. Originality/value The prioritized technical and coordination strategies can be used systematically to avoid delays in utility relocation.

Moves to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-43
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Employee Groups ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Firms that increase their emphasis on diversity and inclusion can generate positive perceptions and attitudes among employee groups that have been historically marginalized. Leaders play a significant role by consistently demonstrating fairness to all employees through formal practices and routine behaviors. Inclusion is determined more by the actions of co-workers who can help cultivate an environment where camaraderie and a sense of belongingness are the norm. Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

How women traverse an upward journey in Indian industry: multiple case studies

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonam Chawla ◽  
Radha R. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian Industry ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Context Specific

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present multiple case studies of women in leadership roles in India with a view to identifying inhibitors, facilitators and the strategies adopted by them to mitigate the challenges in their odyssey to these positions. The paper contributes to the pivotal subject of under-representation of women in apex positions, which has garnered the attention of researchers in recent years grappling with the identification of the underlying causes. Thus, with a view to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions, a greater understanding of this phenomenon is called for. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts exploratory case study method using multiple case studies. Empirical data were gathered using in-depth semi-structured interviews and personality test (NEO FFI) from women in leadership positions. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings The analysis of data has led to the identification of challenges faced by the women that were categorised as personal, professional, organisational and social issues. Further, six themes emerged as the strategies adopted by the women leaders to overcome the challenges. The paper also highlights the critical social, behavioural and organisational facilitators that played an important role in their leadership journey. The paper also includes context-specific findings of women leaders from Indian industry. Practical implications The paper would have relevance for researchers and practitioners in the field of gender diversity, leadership, organisational behaviour and human resource management. The findings of this paper can be leveraged by organisations to retain and manage female talent, which is a focal area in the present dynamic business environment, when a need for gender diversity is widely acknowledged by the top management in organisations. The exploratory case studies provide vistas for gender-based context-specific and cross-cultural research on the challenges faced by women executives in their leadership journey and the strategies adopted to mitigate these. Originality/value Though a great deal has been written about the barriers to women’s career advancement, less is known about the facilitators of women’s advancement. Also, women in the Asian context face unique challenges which present a major problem for multinational companies whose hopes for growth are pinned on emerging markets. The paper has identified new emergent themes, which have not been mentioned in the extant literature nationally or globally. The findings provide inputs to companies to adopt policies and practices to facilitate gender equality in leadership. The paper bridges the knowledge gap and makes conceptual contributions for future research.

The crusade of digital disruption

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 13-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Matzler ◽  
Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen ◽  
Markus Anschober ◽  
Thomas Kohler
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Products ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Digital Disruption ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to help managers understand digital disruption and implement strategies that will support the digital transformation of companies. Traditional companies need to learn from disruptive ventures and reimagine their business models based on digitalization. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on multiple case studies of both disruptive startups and established organizations navigating digital transformations. Findings The authors introduce three levels of digitalization to build a framework of six different value creation stages that result from digitalization. Companies need to create digital products, enhance their processes with digital technology and most important reimagine their business models. Practical implications Managers receive guidance on how to deal with digital disruption. They can learn from pathfinding companies that successfully leveraged digital technology to create and capture new value. Originality/value The original contribution of this paper is a simple and useful framework to understand and leverage digital disruption.

Modularity approach to improve the competitiveness of tourism businesses

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquale del Vecchio ◽  
Giustina Secundo ◽  
Giuseppina Passiante
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Exploratory Approach ◽  
Tourism Experience ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the scientific debate on innovation in tourism by focusing on modularity as emerging approach for creating personalized tourism experiences. The focus on modularity has two objectives. The first is to demonstrate that tourism offering can be conceived as bundles of products and services with growing relevance of knowledge; the second is to highlight how its adoption by tourism firms can enhance their competitiveness and contribute to assuring greater involvement of tourists in co-creating travel experiences. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts an exploratory approach based on multiple case studies to analyze two innovative tourism companies located in the Apulia region (Southern Italy). Findings Categorized as integrators of a wide set of tourist products and services, the cases provide a consistent scenario for deepening understanding of the meaning of modularity in tourism. Research limitations/implications The study offers an original contribution in determining the meaning of modularity in the field of knowledge-intensive services by demonstrating that the adoption of a modularity approach in the designing and offering by tourism companies can provide interesting benefits for their competitiveness and the greater satisfaction of customers. Practical implications The study offers implications for companies and decision makers involved in delivering more personalized tourism experiences. Originality/value Elements of originality can be identified in this contribution to the extension of studies on modularity in the service sector as well as for its strategic contribution at the co-creation of personalized tourism experience.

Models for understanding the influence of Supply Chain Governance on Supply Chain Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 424-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Cunha Dolci ◽  
Antonio Carlos Gastaud Maçada ◽  
Ely Laureano Paiva
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Supply Chain Performance ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies ◽  
Supply Chain Governance

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop models and analyse the influence of supply chain governance (SCG) and its conceptions (contractual, relational and transactional) on supply chain performance (SCP). Design/methodology/approach Multiple case studies and survey methods were used. Data collection in the multiple case studies was performed by in-depth interviews with supply chain executives from top strategic levels in six companies. The research instrument was applied to 185 executives from large companies that possessed a broad, complex supply chain in Brazil. Findings It was identified that SCG, comprising contractual, relational and transactional aspects, has a positive influence on operational and financial SCP. SCG was found to be a more comprehensive view of the supply chain that focuses on more strategic aspects and long-term inter-organizational relationships. SCG affects SCP, primarily in the operational aspects with regard to global costs and in the financial aspects of investment return. Originality/value SCG is a topic that has been widely studied in recent years for analysing inter-organizational relations as a multi-dimensional phenomenon embedded in the company’s structures and processes. Studies analysing all aspects of SCG at the same time, however, have not been found. Moreover, there are a number of performance indicators, but there is a lack of consensus on what determines the performance of these supply chains. Furthermore, few studies have attempted to understand the effects of SCG on supply chain performance.

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