Strategic decision-making process (SDMP) in times of crisis:evidence from Greek banks

This paper investigates the strategic decision making process (SDMP) of Greek banks’ top management in the context of profound organisational changes introduced in 2012 due to the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. It focuses on the impact of three key dimensions of the SDMP, namely, rationality, intuition and political behaviour, relating to four changes introduced, namely, mergers and acquisitions, branch network rationalisation, integration of information technology (IT) and downsizing of operations and personnel. A survey questionnaire was conducted, targeting Greek banks’ top management. Out of 140 questionnaires, 78 were returned, a 55.71% response rate. Data was analysed using structural equation modelling. Research findings identify rationality as a key dimension of SDMP for all organisational changes, as there was high focus on identifying and analysing all required information, use of external financial advisors, and reliance on multiple methods of information gathering. Decision-makers used their intuition in the form of past experience when making acquisition decisions, whilst their personal judgment and “inner voice” were neglected.Finally, political behaviour was not displayed during this process, as decision-makers were open with each other about their interests and preferences, and there was no bargaining, negotiation or use of power amongst them. One limitation was that of not considering all the factors that might help measure SDMP. Also, this study was conducted in a period of political and financial uncertainty for Greek banks, as well as for the Greek economy in general, so findings may not be generalizable to other industries and countries. Conducting interviews could have offered deeper insight as well. This study’s value lies in the fact that the organisational changes were determined by Greece’s leaders, and thus the Greek banks had to operate under a dynamic, inflexible and non-autonomous environment. Also, this study extends prior SDMP research by examining the impact of the three key SDMP dimensions on four types of organisational change

Supermarket retailers - is your supply chain really as green as it should be?

This short paper considers the issue of environmental supply chain transparency of retailers. It explains why progress on environmental issues in the retail sector depends not only on what retailers do, but on what their suppliers do. It explains the role of supply chain information in helping diagnose environmental supply chain issues, and how creating a database of public domain information from a wide variety of public domain sources can help. It then considers how use of advanced analytical techniques based on artificial intelligence can accelerate and simplify access to this information, allowing retailers to identify problem areas amongst suppliers quickly and efficiently. It examines a case study of a leading British grocery retailer to show what such data and analysis can reveal. Finally, it identifies all the stakeholders who need such analyses, and recommends actions they should take to improve retail compliance with environmental supply chain requirements

Multiple helices as agents of change? The case of the neighborhoods of the future project and the development of direction for policy and practice on health, happiness and wellbeing for the next generation of older adults

This article describes a case study on a project to create cooperation between international (EU) and national governments, small and large enterprises, universities and non-governmental charitable and social organizations. It explains the nature of the project and investigates the implications of the project for the discourse concerning the Triple Helix. The project, still in progress at the time of writing, required the stimulation of large scale and pervasive innovative responses to the challenge of aging populations in European countries, particularly as regards the creation of appropriate homes and neighborhoods that will enable the new generation of older adults to live well, happily and healthily. People in this new generation is conventionally referred to as baby boomers, the largest, longest lived, healthiest, wealthiest, longest working older generation that Europe has ever seen. The paper describes the first stage of the project - the creation of an inclusive dialogue between the different parties. Then it presents a discussion of the learnings from the case study for organizers of other similar dialogues, based upon an in-depth interview with the initiator of the project, who is also one of this article’s co-authors. It also proposes a new configuration of Triple Helix model. We conclude this paper by presenting a question that Triple Helix participants as agents of change will have to answer in the future

Multiple Helices as Agents of Change? The Case of the Neighborhoods of the Future Project and the Development of Direction for Policy and Practice on Health, Happiness and Wellbeing for the next Generation of Older Adults

This article describes a case study on a project to create cooperation between international (EU) and national governments, small and large enterprises, universities and non-governmental charitable and social organizations. It explains the nature of the project and investigates the implications of the project for the discourse concerning the Triple Helix. The project, still in progress at the time of writing, required the stimulation of large scale and pervasive innovative responses to the challenge of aging populations in European countries, particularly as regards the creation of appropriate homes and neighborhoods that will enable the new generation of older adults to live well, happily and healthily. People in this new generation is conventionally referred to as baby boomers, the largest, longest lived, healthiest, wealthiest, longest working older generation that Europe has ever seen. The paper describes the first stage of the project - the creation of an inclusive dialogue between the different parties. Then it presents a discussion of the learnings from the case study for organizers of other similar dialogues, based upon an in-depth interview with the initiator of the project, who is also one of this article’s co-authors. It also proposes a new configuration of Triple Helix model. We conclude this paper by presenting a question that Triple Helix participants as agents of change will have to answer in the future

Modernising the curriculum and pedagogy : to be or not to be? using film and online video to engage students and enhance learning

This article reviews the literature on using films and videos (whether fictional or fact), particularly in their online versions, to support teaching and curriculum development in higher education, with a special focus on management education. It identifies the value of these inputs in securing student engagement and learning and in exploring difficult concepts in areas such as business ethics. It poses the question as to why the use of film and video is not more prevalent, particularly given the ease of identification and access of appropriate material in an age of online video, and the possibility of using students to search for and identify this material and use it themselves. It concludes by suggesting that one of the problems lies in the decentralisation of responsibility for quality and content to individual lecturers, who are content to use conventional approaches to education

Hydrodynamic capabilities of an SPH code incorporating an artificial conductivity term with a gravity-based signal velocity

This paper investigates the hydrodynamic performances of an SPH code incorporating an artificial heat conductivity term in which the adopted signal velocity is applicable when gravity is present. In accordance with previous findings it is shown that the performances of SPH to describe the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities depend strongly on the consistency of the initial condition set-up and on the leading error in the momentum equation due to incomplete kernel sampling. An error and stability analysis shows that the quartic B-spline kernel (M_5) possesses very good stability properties and we propose its use with a large neighbor number, between ~50 (2D) to ~ 100 (3D), to improve convergence in simulation results without being affected by the so-called clumping instability. SPH simulations of the blob test show that in the regime of strong supersonic flows an appropriate limiting condition, which depends on the Prandtl number, must be imposed on the artificial conductivity SPH coefficients in order to avoid an unphysical amount of heat diffusion. Results from hydrodynamic simulations that include self-gravity show profiles of hydrodynamic variables that are in much better agreement with those produced using mesh-based codes. In particular, the final levels of core entropies in cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters are consistent with those found using AMR codes. Finally, results of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability test demonstrate that in the regime of very subsonic flows the code has still several difficulties in the treatment of hydrodynamic instabilities. These problems being intrinsically due to the way in which in standard SPH gradients are calculated and not to the implementation of the artificial conductivity term.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Information management in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper reviews the information management aspects of the early months of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Coronavirus 19 outbreak. It shows that the transition from epidemic to pandemic was caused partly by poor management of information that was publicly available in January 2020. The approach combines public domain epidemic data with economic, demographic, health, social and political data and investigates how information was managed by governments. It includes case studies of early-stage information management, from countries with high and low COVID-19 impacts (as measured by deaths per million). The reasons why the information was not acted upon appropriately include “dark side” information behaviours Stone et al. (2019). Many errors and misjudgements could have been avoided by using learnings from previous epidemics, particularly the 1918-19 flu epidemic, when international travel (mainly of troops in World War 1) was a prime mode of spreading. It concludes that if similar outbreaks are not to turn into pandemics, much earlier action is needed, mainly closing borders and locking-down. The research is based on what was known at the time of writing, when the pandemic’s exact origin was uncertain, when some statistics about actions and results were unavailable and when final results were unknown. Governments faced with early warning signs or pandemics must act much faster. This is one of the first analyses of information management practices relating to the pandemic’s early stages

The role of qualification frameworks in assuring appropriate selection of assessment methods for quality learning

This paper aims to identify the role of qualification frameworks in defining appropriate assessment methods to assess the earning gained by the learners. It demonstrates a successful mechanism of mapping courses to certain life-long learning and employability skills, measured in multiple progressive stages. The paper provides tools and criteria used to support Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) while selecting appropriate assessment methods to assure high quality learning