Ensuring corporate travel compliance : Control vs. commitment strategies

Business travel has increased substantially during the past few decades. Business travel costs are one of the main controllable costs in international corporations, and thus companies are imposing stricter policies on corporate travel to create savings and efficiency. For travel management, the current literature suggests two alternative management strategies based on either a control-oriented or a commitment-oriented approach. In this paper we present an in-depth case study that investigates the impact that each type of strategy has on corporate travel policy compliance. Specifically, we investigate how the strategies are executed in a triadic travel supply chain setting, consisting of a corporate travel buyer, a business travel agency and a technology provider. Our findings show that both the control and commitment-based strategies are used in all stages of the travel process. The seminal finding is that the competitiveness and high quality of services provided internally by the buyer in collaboration with the triad members – rather than strict control and monitoring – is essential to travel policy compliance. This finding shows that corporate travel management shares similar perspectives to leisure travel in that service quality is key to securing business. Furthermore, a proactive approach to control via a well-established and reasonable travel policy is needed.© 2015 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The complementarity of green supply chain management practices and the impact on environmental performance

Although the importance of integrating different Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) activities has been highlighted in the literature, the potential interdependencies between these practices and their performance impacts have not been investigated. The purpose of this study is to examine the collective impact of internal and external GSCM practices on two aspects of environmental performance: environmental impact and environmental cost savings. GSCM is proposed as a collective competency, combining four distinct, but interrelated, sets of practices: environmental management systems, eco design, source reduction and external environmental practices. Using survey data from 138 Omani manufacturing firms and Structural Equation Modelling, we find strong empirical support for the complementarity of GSCM practices. We find a strong positive relationship between the level of collective GSCM competency and the environmental impact achieved. Our findings support the belief that complementarities between GSCM practices lead to better performance. Managers should therefore focus on implementing bundles of GSCM practices rather than searching for individual best practices. We find an indirect, mediated influence on environmental cost savings, which is consistent with previous results in other emerging market contexts

Kansalais- ja työväenopisto-opiskelun juuret aikuisopiskelijan elämässä

The article looks into the roots of study as conducted by long-term students at adult education centres. The material is composed of a thesis completed in 1990. The authors recognise four clearly distinguishable student types that are present to some degree in every adult student: those with goals, those who take study as a hobby, those who use it to compensate for something, and those who just use it to make time pass. The roots of study for each student are to be found in their life situations. These vary as does life.Artikkelissa selvitellään pitkäaikaisten kansalais- ja työväenopistossa opiskelijain opiskelun juuria. Materiaalina on vuonna 1990 tehty, saman aiheinen opinnäytetyö ja sen tulokset. Tutkijat erottavat neljä selkeää opiskelijatyyppiä, joita käytännössä on jonkinasteisesti kaikissa aikuisopiskelijoissa: tavoitteelliset opiskelijat, harrastusopiskelijat, kompensaatio-opiskelijat ja ajan täyttämiseen tähtäävät opiskelijat. Kaikkien opiskelijain opiskelun juuret löytyvät kuitenkin ihmisen elämäntilanteista. Ne vaihtelevat, kuten elämässä aina

Examining the antecedents of the Technology Acceptance Model within e-procurement

Purpose Despite the widespread organisational adoption of e-procurement systems, we continue to witness disappointing performance outcomes from their implementation. This can be explained largely by the failure of many organisations to translate the initial adoption decision, made at an organisational level, into individual-level acceptance of e-procurement by an organisation’s employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine the key antecedents of the technology acceptance model (TAM) for employees expected to use e-procurement systems in their day-to-day activities. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors apply and extend the TAM to examine the factors that influence the acceptance of e-procurement by individual employees. The authors’ focus is on the potential role of user-perceived e-procurement quality dimensions as the antecedents to the TAM’s cognitive mechanisms of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The structural equation model uses the survey data collected from 139 e-procurement users at a university in the Netherlands. Findings The results confirm the core TAM relationships within an e-procurement context. Extending the TAM model to explore the antecedents, the authors find that the e-procurement quality dimensions of processing, usability, and professionalism impact the levels of individual employee e-procurement acceptance. Interestingly, the system-level dimensions (processing and usability) appear to play a greater role than the support dimensions (professionalism) in these cognitive mechanisms. Practical implications The findings indicate that the need for e-procurement training and on-going support may be lessened by initial effective design covering system navigation and system usability and by ensuring that an e-procurement system has expedient information and product flows between the buyer and supplier. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the TAM and, more critically, its antecedents within an e-procurement context. It is also the first to empirically validate this extended model. Finally, by shifting the focus from the more typical organisational-level adoption to an individual employee acceptance unit of analysis, the authors provide a better understanding of how organisations can gain the most from investments in e-procurement and other similar e-supply chain management technologies. </jats:sec

Tools without skills:Exploring the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the relationship between e-purchasing tools and category performance

Purpose – The paper examines the moderating role of a purchasing function’s absorptive capacity (AC) on the relationship between the use of electronic purchasing tools and category level purchasing performance. The authors argue that an e-purchasing tool may not in itself positively influence performance unless combined with AC as a human interface to maximise its information and transactional improvement potential. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data collected from 297 procurement executives of large companies in ten countries are analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical moderated regression. Findings – The results demonstrate few significant direct effects of e-purchasing tools on category performance. All performance measures studied are enhanced when dimensions of AC and their interactions with the e-purchasing tools are added. Specifically, buyer competence, manager competence and communications climate have performance-enhancing effects. In some cases, AC on its own appears to increase performance more than e-tools. Originality/value – This paper is the first to study the moderating effects of AC on the relationship between e-purchasing tool usage and category performance. Its findings support the view that simply implementing technology does not lead to performance improvements, but that a human interface is required to maximise the information and transactional improvement potential of e-purchasing tools

Institutional pressures and sustainability assessment in supply chains

Purpose: Firms are increasingly held accountable for the welfare of workers across entire supply chains and so it is surprising that standard forms of governance for socially sustainable supply chain management have not yet emerged. Assessment initiatives have begun to develop as a proxy measure of social sustainable supply chain management. This research aims to examine how social sustainability assessment initiatives instigate and use institutional pressures to drive third-party accreditation as the legitimate means of demonstrating social sustainability in a global supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: Ten assessment initiatives focused on assuring social sustainability across supply chains are examined. Data are collected through interviews with senior managers and publicly available secondary material. Findings: The findings show how the social sustainability assessment initiatives act by instigating institutional pressures indirectly rather than directly. Coercive pressures are the most prevalent and are exerted through consumer and compliance requirements. The notion of pressures operating as a chain is proposed, and the recognition that actors within and outside of a supply chain are crucial to the institutionalization of social sustainability is discussed. Originality/value: Studies on sustainable supply chain management often focus on how companies sense and act upon institutional pressures. To add to the extant body of knowledge, this study focuses on the sources of the pressures and demonstrates how assessment initiatives use coercive, normative and mimetic pressures to drive the adoption of social sustainability assessment in supply chains

Drug screening approach combines epigenetic sensitization with immunochemotherapy in cancer

Background The epigenome plays a key role in cancer heterogeneity and drug resistance. Hence, a number of epigenetic inhibitors have been developed and tested in cancers. The major focus of most studies so far has been on the cytotoxic effect of these compounds, and only few have investigated the ability to revert the resistant phenotype in cancer cells. Hence, there is a need for a systematic methodology to unravel the mechanisms behind epigenetic sensitization. Results We have developed a high-throughput protocol to screen non-simultaneous drug combinations, and used it to investigate the reprogramming potential of epigenetic inhibitors. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our protocol by screening 60 epigenetic compounds on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cells. We identified several histone deacetylase (HDAC) and histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors that acted synergistically with doxorubicin and rituximab. These two classes of epigenetic inhibitors achieved sensitization by disrupting DNA repair, cell cycle, and apoptotic signaling. The data used to perform these analyses are easily browsable through our Results Explorer. Additionally, we showed that these inhibitors achieve sensitization at lower doses than those required to induce cytotoxicity. Conclusions Our drug screening approach provides a systematic framework to test non-simultaneous drug combinations. This methodology identified HDAC and HMT inhibitors as successful sensitizing compounds in treatment-resistant DLBCL. Further investigation into the mechanisms behind successful epigenetic sensitization highlighted DNA repair, cell cycle, and apoptosis as the most dysregulated pathways. Altogether, our method adds supporting evidence in the use of epigenetic inhibitors as sensitizing agents in clinical settings.Peer reviewe

Drug screening approach combines epigenetic sensitization with immunochemotherapy in cancer

Abstract Background The epigenome plays a key role in cancer heterogeneity and drug resistance. Hence, a number of epigenetic inhibitors have been developed and tested in cancers. The major focus of most studies so far has been on the cytotoxic effect of these compounds, and only few have investigated the ability to revert the resistant phenotype in cancer cells. Hence, there is a need for a systematic methodology to unravel the mechanisms behind epigenetic sensitization. Results We have developed a high-throughput protocol to screen non-simultaneous drug combinations, and used it to investigate the reprogramming potential of epigenetic inhibitors. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our protocol by screening 60 epigenetic compounds on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cells. We identified several histone deacetylase (HDAC) and histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors that acted synergistically with doxorubicin and rituximab. These two classes of epigenetic inhibitors achieved sensitization by disrupting DNA repair, cell cycle, and apoptotic signaling. The data used to perform these analyses are easily browsable through our Results Explorer. Additionally, we showed that these inhibitors achieve sensitization at lower doses than those required to induce cytotoxicity. Conclusions Our drug screening approach provides a systematic framework to test non-simultaneous drug combinations. This methodology identified HDAC and HMT inhibitors as successful sensitizing compounds in treatment-resistant DLBCL. Further investigation into the mechanisms behind successful epigenetic sensitization highlighted DNA repair, cell cycle, and apoptosis as the most dysregulated pathways. Altogether, our method adds supporting evidence in the use of epigenetic inhibitors as sensitizing agents in clinical settings

Kestävä ja turvallinen kiertotalous - Selvitys POP-yhdisteiden ja SVHC-aineiden hallinnasta kiertotaloudessa

Kestävä ja turvallinen kiertotalous edellyttää haitallisten aineiden hallintaa kaikissa materiaalien keräykseen ja käsittelyyn liittyvissä toimissa. Jäteperäisten materiaalien kemikaalit on huomioitava uusien tuotteiden valmistuksessa ja uudenlaisissa käyttötarkoituksissa. SIRKKU-hankkeessa kestävää ja turvallista kiertotaloutta selvitettiin vaarallisimpien kemikaalien ympäristö- ja ihmisvaikutusten, työturvallisuuden, jätteisiin liittyvien prosessien ja lainsäädännön kannalta. Tapaustarkasteluna käytettiin rakennustuotteiden kierrätystä, mutta suositukset sovellettiin kaikille toimialoille. Vaarallisimmista aineista, pysyvistä orgaanisista yhdisteistä (POP-yhdisteistä) ja erityistä huolta aiheuttavista aineista (SVHC-aineista) tarvitaan kvantitatiivista tietoa tuotteissa, jätevirroissa ja ympäristössä. Erilaisten jäteperäisten materiaalien kemikaalisisältöön liittyviä tunnistusteknologioita on kehitettävä, jotta kierrätyskelpoiset materiaalit voidaan hyödyntää turvallisesti. Jätemateriaalien hyödyntämisen menettelyjä tulee vauhdittaa. Päätöksenteon ennakoitavuus edistäisi kiertotaloutta. Viranomaiset tarvitsevat päätöksenteon tueksi ohjeistusta ja tietoa vaarallisista aineista jätevirroissa. Vaarallisten aineiden hallinta kiertotaloudessa edellyttää avoimen ja toimijoille sovellettavan kemikaalitiedon siirtymistä tuotteen koko elinkaaren ajan, myös jätevaiheeseen

Should we try out for the major leagues? A call for research in sports operations management

Purpose - Research related to operations management in the sport industry is underdeveloped, despite sport being a continued context of study in other management disciplines. Most studies on the topic are conducted largely in isolation and not linked to the wider operations management theory base. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the few studies conducted and develop a detailed research agenda to encourage future research in this interesting, important and topical context. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses a comprehensive systematic literature review methodology to synthesize the research on sport operations management to date. Gaps within the literature are identified and avenues for future research to drive improved performance in multiple aspects of sport operations management are suggested. Findings - Examination of the literature shows sports operations management to be underdeveloped, with little cumulative learning between existing studies and weak linkages between sport and operations management research. To develop the topic further there is a clear requirement for more theory-based research as well as more rigorous empirical testing. The sport industry has special characteristics that differentiate it from the overall service industry and call for targeted research. Practical implications - Sport today is a major business. The industry also contributes to individual health and well-being. This paper suggests several research directions designed to improve off-field performance in sport operations. Originality/value - This paper is the first to identify and synthesize the separate studies that have been conducted on operations management in sport to date in order to provide a multifaceted research agenda aimed at developing both theoretical and managerial contributions within this important yet under researched area