Building A High Customer Experience Management Organization: Towards Customer-Centricity

The dynamics involving market competition and the challenges of dealing with empowered customers, means that creating and delivering relevant customer experience (CX) of service, is as important as creating product or services. Several studies have treated customer experience as though a front-desk, sales-point affair with the customer in the retailing environment, negating the critical role of organization-wide efforts in the overall customer experience management sequence. This review, however, adopts customer-centricity, as a theoretical lens to underscore the [re]configuration of organizational-level factors that are critical to adopting a high customer-experienced centred organization. Based on the review, we highlight conditions for adopting high customer experience management organization: (1) developing an integrated CX strategy, (2) CX-based knowledge management, (3) organizational re-design that supports CX-management, (4) top management commitment, (5) integrated CX IT systems, and (6) CX-oriented HR policies. These practices are only necessary conditions, but not sufficient, for creating, delivering, relevant and sustainable customer experience. However, more robust empirical studies are needed to advance the application of organization-wide customer experience management, which vary across industry, products/services, and sector. Keywords: customer experience; customer-centricity; customer experience design; and integrated customer experience strategy. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/71-02 Publication date:September 30th 202

Managing Relational Capabilities of Inter-Organizational Innovation Ecosystems: Empirical Investigations

Problem statement: The inter-organizational relationship has become an increasingly emerging configuration in the domains of an innovation ecosystem. The synergy of firms, with diverse institutional logics, motives and resources position has the potential to generate common good, that lie beyond the reach and capability of a single firm. However, managing the idiosyncrasies of firms in such alliances remain highly problematic in practice and largely limited in the extant literature, and thus often results in firms’ unwillingness to engage in a collaborative innovation ecosystem. To address this, first, we conduct a review of the literature to elucidate the research gap, highly influential authors, and countries, the classification of the body of literature according to the network antecedents, management, and performance issues that are fundamental to innovation network projects. These results, however, advance our understanding of the critical issues affecting the practices of co-creation of value and the ecosystem innovation performance. Furthermore, while knowledge on inter-organizational relationship has been dominated in the context of large corporations, a comprehensive understanding of how relational capabilities of a network is linked to the co-value creation of local SMEs network is missing. Second, we try to address this by performing an empirical study of local SMEs business networks, in practical terms, to understand how the network develops and leverages the distinct capabilities and resources of partners while advancing the ecosystem innovation performance. Since the diverse idiosyncrasies associated with firms continue to limit the proliferation of the inter-firm innovation ecosystem, our third chapter tries to examine how institution-based trust-building programs enable the development of actors’ innovation performance in the ecosystem. Finally, despite the presence of prior studies on the inter-firm alliance for commercial purposes, studies on a cause-related alliance of firms in a period of global uncertainty are largely underdeveloped. We addressed this problem in the fourth chapter, by examining the first empirical context of collaborative value practices of a cause-based inter-firm alliance. Research design: To address the gaps, we first reviewed the state-of-the-earth on inter-organizational relationships and integrate the innovation ecosystem literature, to understand the current body of literature and explore the avenue for future research. Based on the result of this study, we conducted two series of qualitative case studies and one quantitative study, analyzing (1) the relational capabilities enabling value co-creation of an inter-firm innovation network, (2) the inter-firm innovation network characterizing the social cause rather than commercial purpose interests, and (3) the development of trust in inter-firm innovation projects. We mainly relied on the explorative, grounded theory methodology to select and analyze our cases. For both case studies, a series of in-depth personal interviews were conducted across two business networks involving the network companies allying. In addition to this, a comprehensive list of secondary data was generated to augment the research process and increase the robustness of the findings. Results: The results of this thesis first map out the state of the earth, describing the emerging themes and direction for future agenda. Based on our review of extant literature, we found that research in inter-organizational innovation is emerging fast. This is due to the plethora of economic and commercial advantages firms derived in their relationship- thus creating an opportunity for more research in the field. Despite the growing attention of researchers in the field, the literature on inter-organizational relationships suffers from many weaknesses - making it problematic to achieve common alliance success. Generally, we discovered that research in the field is highly fragmented. First, research in an inter-organizational business network is, however, still struggling to gain a solid identity in practice because of the nuance of factors and their effects on inter-firm relationships. Our findings showed that several factors caught researchers’ attractions while others remain largely limited. Th results showed that these factors have parsimonious effects on innovation ecosystems– failing many inter-organizational projects across many industries and sectors. These results were further clustered according to three categories of network management: network antecedents, network management, and network performance. The extant literature, however, provides no integrated framework to entangle such challenges in inter-organizational relationships. Second, we empirically examined the development of relational capabilities of local SMEs inter-firm network contracts. The study identifies key antecedents for successful organizing of inter-firm engagement, and the consequent development of network relational dynamic capabilities in a business network environment: friendship, institutional arrangements, participatory culture, homophily, flexibility, coordination and control, communication/information flows, trust-building, transparency and managing change/adaptability. Our findings also suggest that organizing for inter-firm engagement in a business network context, positively influenced network relational performance over time. Third, we empirically explored institution-based trust-building in the context of an inter-firm innovation ecosystem. The findings show that relational risk mediates the effects of trust in institutional openness and honesty, similarity/identification trust, and institutional reliability on the innovation performance of SMEs. In addition to these findings, our study also established that institutional trust-building practices differ greatly by the size of the enterprise (small vs medium). While small firms are found to be more vulnerable to relational risks of inter-firm similarity (over-familiarity) than medium-sized firms, Medium-sized firms, on the other hand, are vulnerable to high relational risks caused by low institutional openness and low competence on innovation performance. Finally, in the last chapter of this thesis, we empirically explored the value-creating activities of a cause-based social alliance project in Northern Italy, seeking to address the social challenges of society in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The finding of this study provides evidence that despite the different organizations, motives, and even diverse institutional logics, the collaborative value creation framework is a suitable theoretical lens to understand value generation in cause-based social entrepreneurship (SE) alliance. The study found four critical aspects of collaborative value processes, that enable the alliance actors to leverage the cause-based SE alliance capabilities: value definition, co-value creation, value balance, and value renewal. Due to the idiosyncrasies associated with the alliance firms, our study showed several challenges confronting the alliance, such as finding the right cause-driven social alliance partner, different institutional logics, systems, and operational guidelines, stakeholder commitment to the cause, resource-cause alliance fit, and trust. Contribution: Our results contribute, first, to the literature on managing the inter-organizational innovation network. By considering the context of local SMEs business networks, we provide empirical insights into the relational dynamics of actors in the innovation ecosystem. By the network context, we examined collaborative value processes that are critical to open innovation performance. Second, we bridge social entrepreneurship by better linking inter-firm cause-based alliance literature, a subject that is highly fragmented in the literature. Third, our empirical study of network relational capabilities contributes to the relational dynamic capabilities’ literature – discussing the processes enabling the development of the network’s relational capabilities while organizing inter-firm engagement projects. Lastly, we also contribute to research by empirically exploring the institution-based trust-building in the context of SMEs innovation ecosystem literature. The findings also contribute to the existing empirical studies on how institutional trust factors affect inter-firm innovation performance and the mediating role of relational risk involved in inter-firm business relationships. Finally, we contribute to practice, by arguing that the development of institution-based trust is a critical antecedent of setting up a successful cause-based inter-firm alliance. Limitations: This thesis underlies amongst others three main limitations: First, qualitative studies are prone to researchers’ bias as data is subjectively interpreted by researchers. This, however, makes it impossible to eliminate the influence of researchers’ personal views and perceptions. To minimize this bias, we adopt various triangulations methods thus, addressing the limitation of the case study approach. Second, the generalization of findings is limited by the case studies approach, giving the unique context of each case. Third, the quantitative study adopted is not without limitations. For instance, the small sample size, and use of limited scales, are likely to influence the results of the study. We recognized these limitations and proposed that future research should try to address more context-sensitive theorizing and by discussing findings limited to just specific case contexts. Future Research: This thesis proposed some agenda that future research should address: First, the research on network relational dynamic capabilities across various business networks, could offer more robust generalizable findings. Second, the case study approaches adopted in this thesis, however, has limitations. This limited context inherent in a case study design provides a narrow empirical context for the applicability of the results. Third, the quantitative studies adopted also posed some limitations, and thus, future research could explore other multi-dimensional scales of institutional trust-building practices for bigger firms, and even in different sectors/industries, or even across different geographic locations. Finally, future studies may also try to replicate the collaborative value practices of a cause-based SE network, addressing a particular industry or market, or even comparing across different network levels with a diverse membership, and market/industry structure. Thus, the samples from bigger firms and corporations and their attitude to a social cause may be highly influenced by the size, capability, and motives, since our current case is largely by SMEs. Further, a quantitative study on how collaborative value practices influence actors’ social performance, could yield interesting findings to the cause-based social entrepreneurship alliance literature

Impact of routine vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b in The Gambia: 20 years after its introduction

Background: In 1997, The Gambia introduced three primary doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine without a booster in its infant immunisation programme along with establishment of a population-based surveillance on Hib meningitis in the West Coast Region (WCR). This surveillance was stopped in 2002 with reported elimination of Hib disease. This was re-established in 2008 but stopped again in 2010. We aimed to re-establish the surveillance in WCR and to continue surveillance in Basse Health and Demographic Surveillance System (BHDSS) in the east of the country to assess any shifts in the epidemiology of Hib disease in The Gambia. Methods: In WCR, population-based surveillance for Hib meningitis was re-established in children aged under-10 years from 24 December 2014 to 31 March 2017, using conventional microbiology and Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). In BHDSS, population-based surveillance for Hib disease was conducted in children aged 2-59 months from 12 May 2008 to 31 December 2017 using conventional microbiology only. Hib carriage survey was carried out in pre-school and school children from July 2015 to November 2016. Results: In WCR, five Hib meningitis cases were detected using conventional microbiology while another 14 were detected by RT-PCR. Of the 19 cases, two (11%) were too young to be protected by vaccination while seven (37%) were unvaccinated. Using conventional microbiology, the incidence of Hib meningitis per 100 000-child-year (CY) in children aged 1-59 months was 0.7 in 2015 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.0-3.7) and 2.7 (95% CI = 0.7-7.0) in 2016. In BHDSS, 25 Hib cases were reported. Nine (36%) were too young to be protected by vaccination and five (20%) were under-vaccinated for age. Disease incidence peaked in 2012-2013 at 15 per 100 000 CY and fell to 5-8 per 100 000 CY over the subsequent four years. The prevalence of Hib carriage was 0.12% in WCR and 0.38% in BHDSS. Conclusions: After 20 years of using three primary doses of Hib vaccine without a booster Hib transmission continues in The Gambia, albeit at low rates. Improved coverage and timeliness of vaccination are of high priority for Hib disease in settings like Gambia, and there are currently no clear indications of a need for a booster dose

The response to iron supplementation of pregnant women with the haemoglobin genotype AA or AS

The influence of haemoglobin genotype on the response to iron supplementation was studied in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 497 multigravid pregnant women from a rural area of The Gambia. Women were randomly allocated to receive either oral iron (60mg elemental iron per day) or placebo. At 36 weeks of pregnancy, women who had received oral iron during pregnancy had higher mean haemoglobin, packed cell volume, plasma iron and ferritin levels than did women who received placebo. Iron supplementation of pregnant women with the AA haemoglobin genotype also resulted in increases in the packed cell volume (PCV) and haemoglobin level measured after delivery, and in the birth weight of the infant. However, in AS women PCV and haemoglobin level at delivery were lower in the supplemented group and supplementation was also associated with reduced birth weights. In malaria endemic areas, pregnant women with the haemoglobin genotype AS may not benefit from iron supplementation during pregnanc

Community psychosocial music intervention (CHIME) to reduce antenatal common mental disorder symptoms in The Gambia: a feasibility trial

Objectives: Examine the feasibility of a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) in The Gambia to reduce common mental disorder (CMD) symptoms in pregnant women. Design: Feasibility trial testing a randomised stepped-wedge cluster design. Setting: Four local antenatal clinics. Participants: Women who were 14–24 weeks pregnant and spoke Mandinka or Wolof were recruited into the intervention (n=50) or control group (n=74). Intervention: Music-based psychosocial support sessions designed and delivered by all-female fertility societies. Sessions lasted 1 hour and were held weekly for 6 weeks. Delivered to groups of women with no preselection. Sessions were designed to lift mood, build social connection and provide health messaging through participatory music making. The control group received standard antenatal care. Outcomes: Demographic, feasibility, acceptability outcomes and the appropriateness of the study design were assessed. Translated measurement tools (Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20); Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)) were used to assess CMD symptoms at baseline, post-intervention and 4-week follow-up. Results: All clinics and 82% of women approached consented to take part. A 33% attrition rate across all time points was observed. 72% in the intervention group attended at least three sessions. Audio and video analysis confirmed fidelity of the intervention and a thematic analysis of participant interviews demonstrated acceptability and positive evaluation. Results showed a potential beneficial effect with a reduction of 2.13 points (95% CI (0.89 to 3.38), p<0.01, n=99) on the SRQ-20 and 1.98 points (95% CI (1.06 to 2.90), p<0.01, n=99) on the EPDS at the post-intervention time point for the intervention group compared with standard care. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that CHIME is acceptable and feasible in The Gambia. To our knowledge, CHIME is the first example of a music-based psychosocial intervention to be applied to perinatal mental health in a low- and middle-income country context

A study protocol for testing the feasibility of a randomised stepped wedge cluster design to investigate a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) for perinatal mental health in The Gambia

Abstract: Background: Perinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental health problems in the perinatal period are a particular challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they can be at least twice as frequent as in higher-income countries. It is thus of high priority to develop new low-cost, low-resource, non-stigmatising and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally, for the benefit of both mother and child. Music-centred approaches may be particularly useful in The Gambia since a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers already exist. Methods: This protocol is for a study to examine the feasibility of undertaking a stepped wedge trial to test how a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) could be beneficial in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In this study, we plan to recruit 120 pregnant women (n = 60 intervention, n = 60 control) at four antenatal clinics over two 6-week stepped sequences. Women in the intervention will participate in weekly group-singing sessions, led by local Kanyeleng singing groups, for 6 weeks. The control group will receive standard care. We will assess symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). The feasibility of the design will be assessed through recruitment, retention and attrition rates of participants, clinics' adherence to the schedule and completeness of data by site. Qualitative interviews and video and audio recordings will be used to evaluate the acceptability of the intervention. Discussion: This feasibility trial will allow us to determine whether a larger trial with the same intervention and target group is feasible and acceptable in The Gambia. Trial registration: Retrospectively registered (24/01/2019) with Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR): PACTR201901917619299

A study protocol for testing the feasibility of a randomised stepped wedge cluster design to investigate a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) for perinatal mental health in The Gambia

Background: Perinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental health problems in the perinatal period are a particular challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they can be at least twice as frequent as in higher-income countries. It is thus of high priority to develop new low-cost, low-resource, non-stigmatising and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally, for the benefit of both mother and child. Music-centred approaches may be particularly useful in The Gambia since a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers already exist. Methods: This protocol is for a study to examine the feasibility of undertaking a stepped wedge trial to test how a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) could be beneficial in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In this study, we plan to recruit 120 pregnant women (n = 60 intervention, n = 60 control) at four antenatal clinics over two 6-week stepped sequences. Women in the intervention will participate in weekly group-singing sessions, led by local Kanyeleng singing groups, for 6 weeks. The control group will receive standard care. We will assess symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). The feasibility of the design will be assessed through recruitment, retention and attrition rates of participants, clinics' adherence to the schedule and completeness of data by site. Qualitative interviews and video and audio recordings will be used to evaluate the acceptability of the intervention. Discussion: This feasibility trial will allow us to determine whether a larger trial with the same intervention and target group is feasible and acceptable in The Gambia

Community psychosocial music intervention (CHIME) to reduce antenatal common mental disorder symptoms in The Gambia: a feasibility trial.

OBJECTIVES: Examine the feasibility of a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) in The Gambia to reduce common mental disorder (CMD) symptoms in pregnant women. DESIGN: Feasibility trial testing a randomised stepped-wedge cluster design. SETTING: Four local antenatal clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Women who were 14-24 weeks pregnant and spoke Mandinka or Wolof were recruited into the intervention (n=50) or control group (n=74). INTERVENTION: Music-based psychosocial support sessions designed and delivered by all-female fertility societies. Sessions lasted 1 hour and were held weekly for 6 weeks. Delivered to groups of women with no preselection. Sessions were designed to lift mood, build social connection and provide health messaging through participatory music making. The control group received standard antenatal care. OUTCOMES: Demographic, feasibility, acceptability outcomes and the appropriateness of the study design were assessed. Translated measurement tools (Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20); Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)) were used to assess CMD symptoms at baseline, post-intervention and 4-week follow-up. RESULTS: All clinics and 82% of women approached consented to take part. A 33% attrition rate across all time points was observed. 72% in the intervention group attended at least three sessions. Audio and video analysis confirmed fidelity of the intervention and a thematic analysis of participant interviews demonstrated acceptability and positive evaluation. Results showed a potential beneficial effect with a reduction of 2.13 points (95% CI (0.89 to 3.38), p<0.01, n=99) on the SRQ-20 and 1.98 points (95% CI (1.06 to 2.90), p<0.01, n=99) on the EPDS at the post-intervention time point for the intervention group compared with standard care. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrate that CHIME is acceptable and feasible in The Gambia. To our knowledge, CHIME is the first example of a music-based psychosocial intervention to be applied to perinatal mental health in a low- and middle-income country context. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR201901917619299)

Migration drivers and migration choice: interrogating responses to migration and development interventions in West Africa

The notion of migration as being at least partly about ‘choice’ is deeply rooted in both academic thought and public policy. Recent contributions have considered migration choice as step-wise in nature, involving a separation between ‘aspiration’ and ‘ability’ to migrate, whilst stressing a range of non-economic factors that influence migration choices. But such nuances have not prevented the emergence of a significant area of public policy that seeks to influence choices to migrate from Africa through ‘irregular’ channels, or at all, through a range of development interventions. This paper explores evidence from West Africa on how young people formulate the boundaries of such choice. Drawing on approaches in anthropology and elsewhere that stress the value of a ‘future-orientated’ lens, we show how present uncertainty is a central framing that fundamentally limits the value of thinking about migration as a choice. This has important implications for policy on ‘migration and development’

Designing a sustainable strategy for malaria control?

Malaria in the 21st century is showing signs of declining over much of its distribution, including several countries in Africa where previously this was not thought to be feasible. Yet for the most part the strategies to attack the infection are similar to those of the 1950s. Three major Journals have recently drawn attention to the situation, stressing the importance of research, describing the successes and defining semantics related to control. But there is a need to stress the importance of local sustainability, and consider somewhat urgently how individual endemic countries can plan and implement the programmes that are currently financed, for the most part, by donor institutions. On an immediate basis research should be more focused on a data driven approach to control. This will entail new thinking on the role of local infrastructure and in training of local scientists in local universities in epidemiology and field malariology so that expanded control programmes can become operational. Donor agencies should encourage and facilitate development of career opportunities for such personnel so that local expertise is available to contribute appropriately