scholarly journals The Impact of Environmental Turbulence on Product Innovation in Small to Medium Enterprises in Harare, Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6A) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Caroline Zimuto ◽  
Maxwell Sandada ◽  
Tinashe Chuchu ◽  
Tinashe Ndoro

The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of environmental turbulence on product innovations in small to medium enterprises (SMEs). In the study environmental turbulence consisted of five dimensions namely, supplier turbulence, technological turbulence, market turbulence, regulatory turbulence and competitive intensity. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was adopted in the study. The study sample was drawn from a pool of 3,000 SMEs both unregistered and registered with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises in Harare, Zimbabwe. In the study, a total of 200 completed surveys were obtained and analysed. To analyse the research data SPSS23 was utilised. Regression analysis was carried out to establish the cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the study. The findings of the study showed that technology turbulence and competitive intensity had a statistically significant positive impact on product innovation. Market turbulence was noted as having a statistically significant negative impact on product innovativeness. The main implications established in the study were that SMEs should introduce mechanisms to manage and mitigate market, supplier and regulatory turbulence to ensure that their levels of product innovativeness remain positive.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Chen ◽  
Tanya (Ya) Tang ◽  
Siting Wu ◽  
Feng Wang

Purpose Although coopetition has been studied for decades, most prior studies shed light on interfirm coopetition across firms instead of intrafirm coopetition across functional departments within a firm. To fill the research gaps, this study aims to investigate the differential effects of cross-functional coopetition on both product and service innovations and the moderating roles of environmental turbulence. Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed both senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China. Findings This study discovers the opposite relationships of cross-functional coopetition on product and service innovations such that cross-functional coopetition enhances product innovation but hurts service innovation. Furthermore, market turbulence attenuates the positive effect on product innovation but strengthens the negative effect on service innovation. However, technological turbulence attenuates the negative impact of cross-functional coopetition on service innovation. Originality/value The effects of cross-functional coopetition have been ignored in the innovation literature. By identifying the double-edged sword of cross-functional coopetition, this study contributes to the literature by providing new insights into the differential effects of cross-functional coopetition on product and service innovations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-232
Author(s):  
Dewi Nurbaiti ◽  
Nur Fitri Rahmawati ◽  
Suparman ◽  
Rousdy Safari Tamba ◽  
Thamrin

The existence of a corona virus epidemic or Covid-19 that lasted a long time in several countries, one of which in Indonesia has a negative impact on the Micro and Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The impact that occurred was the decline in turnover due to the reduced number of buyers, where many MSMEs had to close their businesses. When entering the new normalcy era or the New Normal era, the SMEs will open their businesses again but get new challenges in terms of product innovation. Innovation is needed to make a business survive in the new normal era, one of which is innovation in terms of product types. The purpose of this study is to produce recommendations for SMEs in determining the right product innovation strategy in the New Normal era. This study raises the formulation of the problem of how the SME product innovation strategy in the current era of New Normal. The method used in this study is a qualitative research method with data collection techniques through network interviews and descriptive data analysis techniques, with research informants who are SMEs in East Jakarta. The results of this study indicate that in the New Normal era, the SMEs are implementing a product innovation strategy by changing the shape of the product in the same type  (changing shape)  and also changing the type of product that is different from the previous product (changing type). By implementing the two product innovation strategies, SMEs can still compete in the New Normal era at this time. Recommendations from this research are expected to be used by SMEs to be more innovative in producing culinary products so they can survive in the New Normal era.


Author(s):  
Jia Hui Shericia Poh ◽  
Ho Jin Chung

Fitspiration content on social media has been popularized over the last few years, with the intention to influence users to lead healthy and fit lifestyles. The present study aimed to identify the impact of fitspiration content on social media among young adult followers in Singapore. Method: Participants were 124 university students in Singapore who completed a cross-sectional survey. The survey included 16 multiple choice questions, 4 short-answer questions and 8 open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics was adopted for quantitative data and content analysis was utilized for qualitative data. The perceived impact of fitspiration content was explained through three themes: 1) Positive impact of fitspiration content on social media, 2) Negative impact of fitspiration content on social media, and 3) Perceived impact of social media on self.  Three other themes were also developed for understanding the conditions influenced by fitspiration content on social media: 1) Evaluation and satisfaction with one’s fitness journey, 2) Motivational levels of participants, and 3) Diet restrictions. Results showed that positive impact were experienced by the majority of the participants, whereas some participants experienced negative impacts. It was concluded that fitspiration content on social media does inspire users to become a better version of themselves both physically and mentally. However, it is also dependent on the perceptions of the users and the extent to which they allowed such content to influence them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Mahmoud MOURAD

This study has examined the impact of mortality rate of children under five years of age (MORRATE), physicians (PMP), health expenditure per person (HEPP), access to electricity (AELEC) and GDP per capita on life expectancy at birth (LEB) for one hundred and thirty-eight countries taken as cross-sectional data. The MORRATE ranged from 2.4 to 160.2 (per 1,000 people), thus reflecting an inequality in LEB which fluctuates between 44.8 and 82.8. The PMP varies from 0.01 to 7.74, the HEPP between 16.92 and 8264 USD, the AELEC between 4.1% to 100% and finally the GDP per capita oscillates between 326.6 and 102,863 USD. The multiple linear regression model is estimated using the OLS method and several tests for heteroscedasticity are performed. The null hypothesis of homoscedasticity is rejected and therefore the Weighted Generalized Least Squares) WGLS) method is used to produce unbiased, efficient and consistent estimators. The results showed a negative impact of MORRATE on LEB. A single increase in the number of deceased children leads to a decrease of about 2.12 months in LEB. The HEPP has a positive impact on LEB, so if HEPP rises to 100 USD then the LEB rises by 33 days approximately. When introducing four binary variables characterizing the five continents, and taking Oceania as a reference, the life expectancy in an African country will be about 2.4 years less than the LEB reference. For the other continents, it seems that the values of LEB are very close.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250793
Author(s):  
Andrea N. Smit ◽  
Myriam Juda ◽  
Ashley Livingstone ◽  
Stephanie R. U. ◽  
Ralph E. Mistlberger

Social-distancing directives to contain community transmission of the COVID-19 virus can be expected to affect sleep timing, duration or quality. Remote work or school may increase time available for sleep, with benefits for immune function and mental health, particularly in those individuals who obtain less sleep than age-adjusted recommendations. Young adults are thought to regularly carry significant sleep debt related in part to misalignment between endogenous circadian clock time and social time. We examined the impact of social-distancing measures on sleep in young adults by comparing sleep self-studies submitted by students enrolled in a university course during the 2020 summer session (entirely remote instruction, N = 80) with self-studies submitted by students enrolled in the same course during previous summer semesters (on-campus instruction, N = 452; cross-sectional study design). Self-studies included 2–8 week sleep diaries, two chronotype questionnaires, written reports, and sleep tracker (Fitbit) data from a subsample. Students in the 2020 remote instruction semester slept later, less efficiently, less at night and more in the day, but did not sleep more overall despite online, asynchronous classes and ~44% fewer work days compared to students in previous summers. Subjectively, the net impact on sleep was judged as positive or negative in equal numbers of students, with students identifying as evening types significantly more likely to report a positive impact, and morning types a negative impact. Several features of the data suggest that the average amount of sleep reported by students in this summer course, historically and during the 2020 remote school semester, represents a homeostatic balance, rather than a chronic deficit. Regardless of the interpretation, the results provide additional evidence that social-distancing measures affect sleep in heterogeneous ways.


Author(s):  
Pathirawasam Chandrapala ◽  
Adriana Knápková

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of internal factors in generating financial performance of firms in the Czech Republic. The paper examines the impact of firm specific factors on company financial performance of 974 firms in the Czech Republic over the period 2005 to 2008, using data in the Albertina database. Pooled and panel cross-sectional time series techniques are used for the data analysis. Return on Assets (ROA) is the dependent variable of the model and eight firm specific factors are introduced as the explanatory variables. Using Return on Assets as the dependent variable, it is established that the firm size, sales growth and capital turnover are having significant positive impact on financial performance of firms. At the same time, debt ratio and inventory reflect significant negative impact on financial performance of firms. Overall explanatory powers of the two models are low and further research is necessary to increase the statistical power of the model. The results from the present study may be very encouraging and useful for managers as well as investors to plan investment and operational activities to achieve profitability objectives more efficiently and effectively. The findings have important managerial implications.


VASA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian-Alexander Behrendt ◽  
Tilo Kölbel ◽  
Thea Schwaneberg ◽  
Holger Diener ◽  
Ralf Hohnhold ◽  
...  

Abstract. Background: Worldwide prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) is increasing and peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) has become the primary invasive treatment. There is evidence that multidisciplinary team decision-making (MTD) has an impact on in-hospital outcomes. This study aims to depict practice patterns and time changes regarding MTD of different medical specialties. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study design. 20,748 invasive, percutaneous PVI of PAD conducted in the metropolitan area of Hamburg (Germany) were consecutively collected between January 2004 and December 2014. Results: MTD prior to PVI was associated with lower odds of early unsuccessful termination of the procedures (Odds Ratio 0.662, p < 0.001). The proportion of MTD decreased over the study period (30.9 % until 2009 vs. 16.6 % from 2010, p < 0.001) while rates of critical limb-threatening ischemia (34.5 % vs. 42.1 %), patients´ age (70 vs. 72 years), PVI below-the-knee (BTK) (13.2 % vs. 22.4 %), and rates of severe TASC C/D lesions BTK (43.2 % vs. 54.2 %) increased (all p < 0.001). Utilization of MTD was different between medical specialties with lowest frequency in procedures performed by internists when compared to other medical specialties (7.1 % vs. 25.7 %, p < 0.001). Conclusions: MTD prior to PVI is associated with technical success of the procedure. Nonetheless, rates of MTD prior to PVI are decreasing during the study period. Future studies should address the impact of multidisciplinary vascular teams on long-term outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Shafaque Fatima ◽  
Saqib Sharif

Linking with the business case for diversity, this study examines whether the top management team (TMT) and the board of directors (BODs) diversity has a positive impact on financial institution (FI) performance in select countries of Asia least researched domain. We use data from 119 financial institutions across Asia for the year 2015, initially 1,447 institutions; however, incomplete data was excluded from final analysis. We use three proxies for diversity, that is, nationality diversity, gender diversity, and age diversity of TMT and BODs. To investigate the impact of TMT and BODs diversity, cross-sectional ordinary least-squares estimation is applied, using Return on Average Assets (ROAA%) as a measure of performance.  We find that nationality diversity and age diversity is positively and significantly related to FIs performance. Our evidence indicates that executives and board members with diverse exposure and younger age improve FIs profitability. However, there is no significant relationship between gender and FIs performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mazen El Ghaziri ◽  
Shellie Simons ◽  
Jane Lipscomb ◽  
Carla L. Storr ◽  
Kathleen McPhaul ◽  
...  

Background: Workplace Bullying (WPB) can have a tremendous, negative impact on the victims and the organization as a whole. The purpose of this study was to examine individual and organizational impact associated with exposure to bullying in a large U.S. unionized public sector workforce. Methods: A cross-sectional Web-based survey was conducted among 16,492 U.S. state government workers. Survey domains included demographics, negative acts (NAs) and bullying, supportiveness of the organizational climate, and individual and organizational impacts of bullying. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the impact among respondents who reported exposure to bullying. Findings: A total of 72% participants responded to the survey (n = 11,874), with 43.7% (n = 5,181) reporting exposure to NAs and bullying. A total of 40% (n = 4,711) participants who experienced WPB reported individual impact(s) while 42% ( n = 4,969) reported organization impact(s). Regular NA was associated with high individual impact (negatively impacted them personally; odds ratio [OR] = 5.03) when controlling for other covariates including: female gender (OR =1.89) and job tenure of 6 to 10 years (OR = 1.95); working in a supportive organizational climate and membership in a supportive bargaining unit were protective of high impact (OR = 0.04 and OR = 0.59, respectively). High organizational impact (transferring to another position) was associated with regular NA and bullying (OR = 16.26), female gender (OR = 1.55), providing health care and field service (OR = 1.68), and protective effect of organizational climate (OR = 0.39). We found a dose-response relationship between bullying and both individual and organizational-level impact. Conclusion/Application to Practice: Understanding the impacts of WPB should serve to motivate more workplaces and unions to implement effective interventions to ameliorate the problem by enhancing the organizational climate, as well as management and employee training on the nature of WPB and guidance on reporting.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A18-A19
Author(s):  
Molly Zimmerman ◽  
Christiane Hale ◽  
Adam Brickman ◽  
Lok-Kin Yeung ◽  
Justin Cochran ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Sleep loss has a range of detrimental effects on cognitive ability. However, few studies have examined the impact of sleep restriction on neuropsychological function using an experimental design. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which maintained insufficient sleep affects cognition in healthy adults compared to habitual adequate sleep. Methods This study used a randomized, crossover, outpatient sleep restriction design. Adults who regularly slept at least 7 h/night, verified by 2 weeks of screening with actigraphy, completed 2 phases of 6 weeks each: habitual sleep (&gt;7 h of sleep/night) or sleep restriction (habitual sleep minus 1.5 h) separated by a 6-week washout period. During the sleep restriction phase, participants were asked to delay their bedtime by 1.5 hours/night while maintaining their habitual wake time. Neuropsychological function was evaluated with the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery at baseline (week 0) and endpoint (week 6) of each intervention phase. The NIH Toolbox evaluates a range of cognitive abilities, including attention, executive functioning, and working memory. General linear models with post hoc paired t-tests were used to assess demographically-adjusted test scores prior to and following each sleep condition. Results At the time of analyses, 16 participants were enrolled (age 34.5□14.5 years, 9 women), 10 of whom had completed study procedures. An interaction between sleep condition and testing session revealed that individuals performed worse on List Sorting, a working memory test, after sleep restriction but improved slightly after habitual sleep (p&lt;0.001). While not statistically reliable, the pattern of test results was similar on the other tests of processing speed, executive function, and attention. Conclusion In these preliminary results from this randomized experimental study, we demonstrated that sleep restriction has a negative impact while stable habitual adequate sleep has a positive impact on working memory, or the ability to temporarily hold information in mind while executing task demands. This finding contributes to our understanding of the complex interplay between different aspects of sleep quality (i.e., both sleep restriction as well as the maintenance of stable sleep patterns) on cognition and underscores the importance of routine sleep screening as part of medical evaluations. Support (if any):


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