Comparative study of logistics services in the container liner shipping market in the U.K. and South Korea

In line with the dramatic changes of business environment, certain liner shipping companies have claimed that what they are providing is a 'logistics service' rather than a 'traditional shipping service'. It was found that there is a shortage of discussion in existing literature related to the liner shipping industry regarding the introduction of logistics service and no empirical study on how the operation of such a logistics service has been perceived by shippers. The prime objective of the research is to provide a practical clarification to understanding an operation of logistics service in the liner shipping market. The Delphi technique was used to investigate the difference between the features of traditional shipping service and those of logistics services. It also explored the driving forces, which appear to stimulate liner shipping service providers to adopt logistics service concepts into their business area. A mail questionnaire was developed to analyse shippers' perception of logistics service and measure the performance of logistics service operation with reference to the international shippers in the U. K. and South Korea. An analysis of the survey revealed that there is a significant association between years in business and the perception of logistics service. With regard to the analysis of relationship between service providers' performance and choice of service providers, the research reached an answer by analysing the correlation between service providers' performance and the behaviour of choosing service providers. A positive correlation was found for transport, payment, and cargo related factors. On the other hand, no correlation was found for the document factor. With reference to these findings, service providers could initiate the target marketing for various classes of shippers. The comparisons between the U. K. and South Korean shippers were made in terms of the level of satisfaction on the service functions. The Delphi technique indicated the exploratory findings related to the conceptualisation of logistics service in the liner shipping market. The research dealt with experts' points of view only, albeit in some depth. However, the conceptualisation would be more developed if the views of service providers and service consumers were also sought. Based upon the size of the sample, caution must be exercised when making any broad generalisation. The research makes an original contribution to knowledge by applying a service function approach to a logistics service concept in the liner shipping context for the first time. The researchf indings could help explain consumers' assessmenot f their service provided in a wider variety of industries and therefore add to the understanding of perceptions and the assessmenot f the nature of logistics service operations

Understanding structures and practices of meaning-making in industrial networks

Purpose: To propose an approach for exploring industrial marketing network environments through a social semiotic lens. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper introduces social semiotic perspectives to the study of business/industrial network interaction. Findings: We describe how structures of meaning derived from a cultural history of signification and interpretive processes of meaning in action are co-determined in social semiosis. We emphasise the meaning of environments using this social semiotic approach, leading us to explore the idea of the ‘atmosemiosphere’ - the most highly complex business network level, in illustrating how meaning is made through structuration between structures of meaning and their enactments in interactions between actors within living business networks. Practical Implications: Figurative language plays an important role in the structuration of meaning. This facilitates establishing plots and, therefore, in the actors’ capability to tell a story, which starts with knowing what kind of story can be told. By implication, the effective networker must be a consummate moving ‘picture maker’ and to do so, she must have competences in narrative, emplotment, myth-making, storytelling and figuration in more than one discursive repertoire. Originality/Value: In employing a structurational discourse perspective informed by social semiotics, our original contribution is a ‘business networks as discursive constructions’ approach in that discursive nets, webs of narratives and stories, and labyrinths of tropes are considered just as important in constituting networks as networks of actor relationships and patterns of other activities and resources

Exploring the perceived value of social practice theories for business-to-business marketing managers

Purpose: Drawing on sociological theories of Giddens, Bourdieu and Goffman, the purpose of this paper is to explore how different relationships are characterized between actors in interaction and determine whether social theories of practice resonate as being practical to managers. Design/methodology/approach: In the empirical investigations, the authors employ the Delphi method whereby the authors elevate six highly experienced marketing practitioners in Dubai and Bangkok, each in different industries and from different cultural backgrounds, to designated expert positions in exploring the practical relevance of the practice-based theories of Bourdieu, the dramaturgy of Goffman and the structuration theory of Giddens in understanding practical experiences of managing in business-to-business networks. Findings: The results show that aspects of these theories are consistent with practitioners\u27 experiences in many ways but the theories themselves do not appear to resonate with the modernist practical consciousness of the participants as being particularly pragmatic or practically useful except as resources they could selectively borrow from as bricoleurs of changing action. Originality/value: Social practice theories appear rather too abstract and complex to practical actors. It is therefore paradoxical that social practice theories do not appear as sufficiently handy or ready to hand in Heidegger\u27s (1962) terms; being in need of translation into practical usefulness. It would appear that social practice theories can be a useful analytical vehicle for the academic analyst but cannot resonate with the modernist consciousness of the practical actor

Job satisfaction, supply chain agility and firm sustainability post COVID-19

Purpose - Employees are the most valuable assets of an organization, and they are critical for building sustainable business and supply chains. Based on the resource-based view and social capital theory, the study attempts to understand how human capital can influence firm sustainability through supply chain agility. We investigate the relationships between employees’ job satisfaction, supply chain agility and firm sustainability. A theoretical framework is developed. Multiple research methods, such as factor analysis, structural equation modelling (SEM), mediation analysis and moderation analysis are applied in this study. Empirical data is collected from 271 organisations in the United Arab Emirates. Measurement models are validated in factor analysis. Then, the structural model and research hypotheses are tested in SEM, mediation, and moderation analysis. Our results show that job satisfaction significantly influences firm sustainability through supply chain agility. However, our study did not discover any empirical evidence indicating that supply chain agility moderates the correlation between job satisfaction and firm sustainability

Towards forest supply chain risks

Forest supply chain has drawn increasing attention worldwide. This paper develops a supply chain risk (SCR) framework in the forest industry. Forest supply chain risk has become an obstacle to gaining competitive advantages and developing sustainable forestry. However, very few studies attempt to investigate SCR in an integrated forest supply chain. It is essential to understand and manage these risks, which may impede the industry’s performance improvement. An extensive literature review, and Delphi study are performed to develop and identify the major forest SCRs. The result has shown that the five types of forest SCRs are recognized. In this study, we extend SCR into the forest sector and contribute to the forest supply chain management literature. Further research is needed to address specific problems associated with types of SCRs and develop appropriate forest SCR mitigation strategies in contexts

Overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana brassinosteroid-related acyltransferase 1 gene induces brassinosteroid-deficient phenotypes in creeping bentgrass

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are naturally occurring steroidal hormones that play diverse roles in various processes during plant growth and development. Thus, genetic manipulation of endogenous BR levels might offer a way of improving the agronomic traits of crops, including plant architecture and stress tolerance. In this study, we produced transgenic creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) overexpressing a BR-inactivating enzyme, Arabidopsis thaliana BR-related acyltransferase 1 (AtBAT1), which is known to catalyze the conversion of BR intermediates to inactive acylated conjugates. After putative transgenic plants were selected using herbicide resistance assay, genomic integration of the AtBAT1 gene was confirmed by genomic PCR and Southern blot analysis, and transgene expression was validated by northern blot analysis. The transgenic creeping bentgrass plants exhibited BR-deficient phenotypes, including reduced plant height with shortened internodes (i.e., semi-dwarf), reduced leaf growth rates with short, wide, and thick architecture, high chlorophyll contents, decreased numbers of vascular bundles, and large lamina joint bending angles (i.e., erect leaves). Subsequent analyses showed that the transgenic plants had significantly reduced amounts of endogenous BR intermediates, including typhasterol, 6-deoxocastasterone, and castasterone. Moreover, the AtBAT1 transgenic plants displayed drought tolerance as well as delayed senescence. Therefore, the results of the present study demonstrate that overexpression of an Arabidopsis BR-inactivating enzyme can reduce the endogenous levels of BRs in creeping bentgrass resulting in BR-deficient phenotypes, indicating that the AtBAT1 gene from a dicot plant is also functional in the monocot crop.111Ysciescopu

Context into text into context : marketing practice into theory ; marketing theory into practice

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of marketing practice and theory in arguing that much of the dislocation between strategy and practice is due to the inheritance and internalisation of often impractical but persistently dominant, tacit Cartesian assumptions. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses case methodology to examine the marketing theory into practice/marketing practice into theory conundrum and explores: their separation (marketing theory and marketing practice); their flows (context to text to context: theory into practice/practice into theory); their symbiosis (the praxis of marketing); and the dynamic and static (in situ/in aspic) nature of their duality. This work is an exploratory empirical study undertaken in what is a very under-researched area. Findings - In this paper, marketing theory and marketing practice are recognised as occupying different epistemes. The lifeworld of marketing theorising appears as characterised by a relatively homogenous and mostly cognitive world dominated by rationality and empirical rigour. By contrast, the embodied practitioner inhabits a more highly segmented, fragmented, heterogeneous and frequently improvised landscape. Practical implications - The authors propose that the all-consuming clamour for reliance and relevance of theory to practice dictates that the form, function and philosophy of marketing must be co-created in the practical pragmatism of praxis. Praxis is practice informed by theory and theory informed by practice, a cyclical process of experiential, contextual learning. Originality/value - The paper appears to be the first to bring together Cartesian thought and the practice-theory divide in B2B marketing theory