Toolbox value creation final report (WP-101)

This document contains the deliverables of TransForum project WP-101, Toolbox Value Creation. Its contents allow users to use a summary analysis toolbox made for charting and improving value chains in the areas of People, Planet and Profit. Features of the toolbox are: Guidance in organizing a quick scan and change process. Create summary graphic overview of the materials balance of a production network. Model People and Planet and Profit separately but in conjunction. Allow flexible inclusion or omission of actors, processes and products. Analyze value of improvements

Toolbox Value Creation Handbook : Charting People, Planet and Profit in Value Chains

To create a sustainable society companies need new data and information regarding e.g. environmental and societal impacts of new products or processes are necessary, but these are often missing. Information systems can play an important role here and many tools are already developed. It became clear that one crucial tool was lacking: One that (a) integrates People, Planet, and Profit value (b) focuses on the whole production chains and (c) allows flexible data input. A new tool, QChain, was born. QChain is meant for anybody who works on sustainability issues, aiming to create a sustainable production chain. In practice this will often be policy makers, champions, consultants and network coordinators that work on a sustainability problem or valorisation issues. The tool is especially useful in organizations that feel the need or want to create the need to not only focus on profit, but also reckon with people and planet value – their licence to produce. QChain is a drawing tool that supports shared value creation for sustainable production chains

Employee Stock Ownership and Financial Performance in European Countries: The Moderating Effects of Uncertainty Avoidance and Social Trust

This study investigates how the effect of employee stock ownership on financial performance may hinge on the diverse cultural and societal contexts of European countries. Based on agency and national culture theories, we hypothesize that the positive relationship between employee stock ownership and return on assets (ROA) is stronger in those nations with lower uncertainty avoidance and higher social trust. Using a multisource, time‐lagged, large‐scale dataset of 1,741 firms from 21 countries in Europe, our multilevel, random coefficient modeling analysis found evidence for these hypotheses, suggesting that uncertainty avoidance and social trust serve as important contextual cues in predicting the linkage between employee stock ownership and financial performance. Our supplemental analysis with distinction between the managerial and nonmanagerial employee stock ownership further indicates managerial employee stock ownership has a direct positive effect on ROA. Although nonmanagerial employee stock ownership had a nonsignificant association with ROA, the relationship was positive and significant when uncertainty avoidance was low and social trust was high. This research contributes to the existing literature by illuminating some of the contextual influences altering the effectiveness of employee stock ownership. Our findings also offer practical suggestions for effectively using employee stock ownership

The Role of Relapse Prevention and Goal Setting in Training Transfer Enhancement

This article reviews the effect of two post-training transfer interventions (relapse prevention [RP] and goal setting [GS]) on trainees’ ability to apply skills gained in a training context to the workplace. Through a review of post-training transfer interventions literature, the article identifies a number of key issues that remain unresolved or underexplored, for example, the inconsistent results on the impact of RP on transfer of training, the lack of agreement on which GS types are more efficient to improve transfer performance, the lack of clarity about the distinction between RP and GS, and the underlying process through which these two post-training transfer interventions influence transfer of training. We offer some recommendations to overcome these problems and also provide guidance for future research on transfer of training

Intercultural communication in the context of Saudi Arab tertiary education

© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2015. This chapter is a case study of intercultural communication in a tertiary educational setting in Saudi Arabia. Given the fact that educational institutions adopt Western models of education and employ foreign professors, this study aims at shedding light on the patterns of communication in the classroom. The elements of Hofstede\u27s five dimensional model, namely, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and power distance dimensions were applied for the purpose of analysis. The study involved in-depth interviews with 17 female students of a private university in the Eastern Province. While assessing the perception of the students about the communication patterns, it provides recommendations on improving the educational experience of local students taught by Western professors. Ultimately, the findings will contribute in promoting a culturally responsible education characterized by critical thinking skills, individual creativity, and movement out of comfort zones, which will prepare students for the globalized job market\u27s challenges

Social media use and impact during the holiday travel planning process

Through an empirical study among holiday travellers, residing in the Former Soviet Union Republics, this paper presents a comprehensive view of role and impact of social media on the whole holiday travel planning process: Before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence and trust. Findings suggest that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between perceived level of influence from social media and changes made in holiday plans prior to final decisions. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is perceived as more trustworthy when compared to official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising

A consideration of the challenges involved in supervising international masters students

This paper explores the challenges facing supervisors of international postgraduate students at the dissertation stage of the masters programme. The central problems of time pressure, language difficulties, a lack of critical analysis and a prevalence of personal problems among international students are discussed. This paper makes recommendations for the improvement of language and critical thinking skills, and questions the future policy of language requirements at HE for international Masters students