Development, Validity and Reliability of Perceived Service Quality in Retail Banking and its Relationship With Perceived Value and Customer Satisfaction

Microfinance is often hailed both as a tool for fighting poverty and as a tool for post-conflict reconciliation. This paper explores the use of microfinance in post-civil war Bosnia and Herzegovina, assessing its results in terms of both goals. As it combined high unemployment with a highly educated population in an institutionally open context, Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a crucial test of the effect of microfinance. If unambiguous signs of success cannot be found in a case with such favorable conditions, this would raise serious questions about the potential benefits of microfinance. The paper draws together evidence from a series of independent reviews of microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to assess its impact in terms of economic performance, the economic system, social welfare and post-conflict integration. Based on this case study, microfinance appears a better tool for dealing with poverty than with social integration or institution building.perceived quality, perceived value, satisfaction, retail banking services

Does it work? evaluating a new pay system

This report focuses on the evaluation of the impact of new pay systems in large, unionised multi-site organisations by the organisations themselves. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a pay system, however, does not take place in a vacuum and relates to the aims and objectives of the pay system concerned. Moreover, evaluation is not an end in itself. It is, therefore, relevant to consider if any further steps were taken as a result of evaluation. Accordingly our research questions were: • What were the aims and objectives of organisations when introducing new pay arrangements? • What data did organisations collect and review to inform their evaluation? • What steps have organisations taken as a result of their evaluation? We re-appraised our data from 10 NHS trusts in England which had introduced some innovations in pay and grading in the 1990s. Additionally, we looked at seven multi-site unionised organisations outside the NHS in both the public and private sectors, which had recently made changes to their reward systems, carrying out interviews and inspecting documents. The main output is a template for the evaluation of Agenda for Change by NHS organisations

Psychological Contracts, OCB and Customer Service: An Exploratory Examination

This paper examines the relationships among the psychological contract, fairness, OCB, and customer service. We report on two exploratory studies that provide insight into psychological contract violations and subsequent perceptions of fairness, as well as OCB activity. A linkage is made between psychological contracts and behavior directed internally and those directed externally (i.e., customer service). We extend the current theory to suggest implications for effectively managing customer service employee OCB. Finally, suggestions are made for both practice and future research to be conducted in a multidisciplinary design

Creating participatory writing cultures in UK higher education

One particularly difficult area for higher education students is writing appropriately for their respective disciplines. As writing is a social, cultural and dialogic act, writing support should create learning events that will allow for useful social exchange of ideas within the appropriate disciplinary cultures. Indeed, many claims are made in favour of disciplinary-based writing support: students will become more engaged with their subjects, will develop as critical thinkers and, through debate, will produce scripts which are more likely to warrant them voice within their disciplinary cultures. In the study described in this paper, two academics from Art and Design and Humanities in a UK university used different techniques to create participatory writing cultures in the classroom. Despite different settings, similar issues arose that are not fully addressed in the literature on writing development, including student non-engagement with active learning; issues with the development of critical skills; and student agency. The authors will discuss their findings by drawing on student feedback and their own reflection on the teaching sessions

B.P.M. in transition economies: joint empirical experience of Slovenia and Serbia

Business process management (B.P.M.) is empirically linked to the performance of organisations. Different studies in the business process field have shown that an organisation can benefit from B.P.M. through better financial and nonfinancial performance, which can drive it to competitive advantage. B.P.M. is also a concept which leads to better organised systems and can help companies in transition economies to perform better. The purpose of this paper is to compare B.P.M. practice in Slovenia and Serbia in order to formulate recommendations for companies in transition economies. The survey was carried out in 115 representatives of Slovene companies and 91 Serbian companies in the year 2014. The conclusions and recommendation for B.P.M. implementation in transition economies were drawn upon similarities in B.P.M. practice between Serbian and Slovenian companies. In addition, the differences in B.P.M. practice were analysed in order to identify the ways one country can learn from the experience of the other. The results from Slovenia and Serbia from 2014 are interesting for both countries from the perspective of how B.P.M. practice could be further developed in Slovenia and Serbia. The findings have significant managerial implications, as they will help managers to better understand the key factors for successful B.P.M. implementation transitional countries companies

Selection and qualification of e-commerce suppliers

With the growth of e-commerce in Brazil year after year, competition increases and entrepreneurs need to be attentive to their competitors and apply the best strategies and innovations to remain in the market. Thus, there is a need for organizations to adopt supplier selection and qualification techniques that provide competitive advantages in the market. Current organizations have sought to make their suppliers strategic partners in their businesses, and this partnership becomes a crucial factor for the growth of their businesses and a win-win negotiation for both parties. The methodology employed for the development of this scientific article was characterized by adopting a qualitative approach, and the research procedure used was a bibliographic study. The overall objective of this research is to demonstrate the importance of a careful selection and qualification of e-commerce suppliers. From the information gathered throughout the research, it became clear that evaluating the performance of suppliers is an essential issue for the development of e-commerce companies, as well as for the organization and optimization of the supply chain

Important aspects to the development of the supply chain management to promote innovation

The new economy, also called knowledge economy, shifts radically the basis of competition and highlights the merger of firms; the cooperation, without eliminating the role of competition; the customized and flexible production systems. It also points out the collective efficiency, which demands a new model of management of network relationships. In this context, profound changes in organizational structures are observed leading to the obsolescence of isolated companies and the emergence of networks of companies and supply chain managements. Based on this new paradigm of competitiveness, the objective of this article is to present relevant aspects of the development of supply chain managements to promote the innovation. This is an academic research, which encompasses technical and bibliographic procedures. The conquest of dynamic competitiveness depends on the growing search for optimal systems both in and out of the organizational boundary. In this context the creation of a new model of competitiveness with emphasis on the competition among supply chains highlights that organizations are part of a transitional stage which in the beginning focused on an individual efficiency and nowadays concentrates the attention on a collective efficiency. The supply chain management to promote the innovation must be focused on aspects related to technologies, to the processes involving value creation for the customer, and also on aspects related to human talent, especially in the integration of people to share the same objectives. The casting of variables that should be considered during the planning of supply chain management development to promote the innovation is: customer orientation, knowledge flow, structure, degree of relationships, and the use of information and communication technologies. It was also observed that the implementation of the concept of SCM to improve the innovation demands significant changes not only in internal procedures but also in external ones mainly due to the partnership between customers and suppliers

The e-revolution and post-compulsory education: using e-business models to deliver quality education

The best practices of e-business are revolutionising not just technology itself but the whole process through which services are provided; and from which important lessons can be learnt by post-compulsory educational institutions. This book aims to move debates about ICT and higher education beyond a simple focus on e-learning by considering the provision of post-compulsory education as a whole. It considers what we mean by e-business, why e-business approaches are relevant to universities and colleges and the key issues this raises for post-secondary education