84,542 research outputs found
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Improving sustainability performance through supplier relationship management in the tobacco industry
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how tobacco manufacturing companies can improve their sustainability performance via effective supplier relationship management (SRM).
Design/methodology/approach: This study has adopted a single case study of an international tobacco company. The primary data involved semi-structured interviews with participants from the case company who are familiar with sustainable SRM in the tobacco industry and are engaging in various techniques to improve sustainability performance.
Findings: The drivers for sustainable SRM commonly identified in literature are observable within the case company. There is also clear evidence of integrating sustainability in its SRM processes. However, the perception of sustainability as a requirement to meet stringent regulations limits its scope and drive in pursuing sustainable SRM. It has also limited supplier sustainability evaluation and performance metrics. Furthermore, the findings of this paper reinforce the importance of a procurement teamâs ability to work with other functional teams in implementing sustainable SRM. The findings also contribute to the emerging literature on the impact of sustainability on supplier segmentation and multi-tier supplier management.
Research limitations/implications: This study provides insight into the varying SRM methods used in the tobacco industry to ensure compliance and improve sustainability performance. However, further research is required to explore the generalisability of the findings of this study derived from a single case study.
Originality/value: The tobacco industry is an under-researched industry, particularly in terms of sustainable operations and supply chain management practices. The findings of this study seem to be relevant to those comparable industries with stringent regulations as well
Challenging Gender in Single-Sex Spaces: Lessons from a Feminist Softball League
This Article explores transgender inclusion within adult recreational womenâs leagues by using the example of the Mary Vazquez Womenâs Softball League (MVWSL), in Northampton, Massachusetts. A MVWSL policy addressing transgender inclusion became necessary due to a noticeable increase in gender-identity diversity. The resultant policy respects the leagueâs core lesbian constituency by providing individuals with the freedom to acknowledge openly a gender identity that has or is evolving from lesbian to something else, and reflects the leagueâs founding feminist principles by refusing to define for others the suitability of a womenâs community.
The Author demonstrates the successful creation of a policy based on internal principles and values rather than external ones, and defines inclusion and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. This application can be applied in other sporting contexts that separate players by sex to determine the values-driven process of defining who is eligible in each category or, when separation is necessary, to promote the objectives of the leagues, particularly when such a policy is absent from public law
Challenging the Enterprises' Business Model: helping entrepreneurs to understand and interpret opportunities and threats
Christopher Brown, Diane Morrad, âChallenging the Enterprises' Business Model: helping entrepreneurs to understand and interpret opportunities and threatsâ, paper presented at the 15th Annual Edineb Conference, Malaga, Spain, 15-18 June, 2008.Enterprises are presented with ever increasing challenges regarding marketplace uncertainty and ambiguity. They face competitive pressures from local and international sources, their competitors are constantly tweaking products and services to jostle ahead of them, and their customers expect responsiveness and innovativeness to their expressed and latent needs. The enterprisesâ very success, and survival, depends on their ability to change their business, market and product strategies to fit these challenges. Underlying these business, market and product strategies is the enterprisesâ business model. Simply, business models are an organisationâs understanding and interpretation of how they currently, and in the future, achieve their revenue and profit streams. These business models, used by the senior management and employees, are often based on outdated perspectives of both how the marketplace works and the changing business and customer values expected by their demanding stakeholders. In SMEs the creation, development and creative deconstruction of business models is most often driven by the founding entrepreneur, or subsequent corporate entrepreneurs brought in to provide professional management of these rapidly growing businesses. Interestingly, more recent research has strongly linked entrepreneursâ mindset, or mental models (Zahra, Korri et al. 2005), associated with the challenges to the enterprise, with their drivers for innovation and changes in their enterprisesâ business models. Certainly research has identified the potential value changes, business and customer, that can often facilitate the construction and deconstruction of business value-based innovations (Munive-Hernandez, Dewhurst et al. 2004), and then reflecting these in their overall business processes. This paper discusses the research study, undertaken by the authors, to explore the link between entrepreneursâ understanding and interpretation of business opportunities and threats, and the potential influence in challenging their mindset business model. The paper begins by discussing the two broad approaches to modelling enterprise strategies and the resulting integrated business models: innovation and process orientations.Peer reviewedSubmitted Versio
Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs. disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities
This paper studies innovativeness in SMEs from a set of innovation indicators at the firm level, capturing various types of innovation (product, process, organisational, and marketing innovations) and the level of
innovativeness in these firmâs developments. The article identifies two separate dimensions in the innovativeness of Spanish SMEs, using factor analysis techniques. One dimension is associated with the
capabilities for core/internal innovation and the other with the capabilities for the adoption of technology. The paper shows that significant differences exist in the personal and organisational factors that favour
these two dimensions. The entrepreneurâs motivation, business planning, and cooperation in R&D activities constitute significant factors when considering the core dimension of a firmâs innovativeness, but have no effect on the firmâs capabilities for technology adoption. However, the use of external consultancy services seems to have no significant effect on the core dimension of the innovativeness of anSME, whereas it is a relevant factor for its technology adoption. Furthermore, it is shown that the entrepreneurâs education plays a more significant role in the core dimension of a firmâs innovativeness than in its capabilities for technology adoption. Depending on the policy objectives, these differences should lead to the application of specific policy approaches when an attempt to stimulate innovation in
SMEs is made
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Firm technological responses to regulatory changes: A longitudinal study in the Le Mans Prototype racing
Despite the critical role of regulations on competition and innovation, little is known about firm responses and related effects on performance under regulatory contingencies that are permissive or restrictive. By longitudinally investigating hybrid cars competing in the Le Mans Prototype racing (LMP1), we counter-intuitively suggest that permissive regulations increase technological uncertainty and thus decrease the firmsâ likelihood of shifting their technological trajectory, while restrictive regulations lead to the opposite outcome. Further, we suggest that permissive regulations favour firms that innovate their products by sequentially upgrading core and peripheral subsystems, while restrictive regulationsâin the long termâ favour firms upgrading them simultaneously. Implications for theory and practice are discussed
The New Hampshire, Vol. 67, No. 52 (May. 10, 1977)
An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire
Spartan Daily, March 8, 2001
Volume 116, Issue 30https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/9666/thumbnail.jp
Enablers and Constraints in Implementing Lean Manufacturing: evidence from Brazilian SMEs
Lean Manufacturing has revolutionized the global manufacturing environment at an unprecedented rate. In scholarly and managerial literature, many works have reported that Lean Manufacturing is a very efficient approach and a straightforward way towards process improvements, in terms of productivity and value adding activities ratio. However, many studies on Lean Manufacturing have highlighted many problems in its implementation. The analysis carried out within the research project is aimed to the factors enabling or constraining the Lean Transformation of a firmâs production system, along with the most relevant tools or practices to be applied. The research methodology used is the so-called âNormative Delphiâ with a panel formed by 32 experts coming from 16 Brazilian SMEs. Our results are partially consistent with what has already been discussed in the literature and we found that the most relevant tools/practices are: value stream mapping, 5S methodology, and Kaizen (Gemba walks); the top three enabling factors are: knowledge and sponsorship of senior management, focus on continuous improvement, and employee development fostered by the company; finally, the main critical constraints are: little support from the top management, resistance to change by middle management, and poor or non-qualified Lean training activities
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