Relationship governance : structure and performance in industrial markets

The scope of research on interorganisational relationship structure has been limited by rigid adherence to specific governance paradigms and by lack of research into relational performance. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis responds to these issues by pursuing a multiparadigm, approach from which it develops a taxonomy of relationship structures that is linked to performance. The classification of a relationship into the taxonomy is based on the relationship strength construct. This construct discriminates between relational governance structures by measuring both behaviour process and economic content elements of a relationship. The result is a taxonomy of four relationship structures. They are bilateral, recurrent, dominant partner and discrete. Furthermore, the research links these relationship structures to a multifaceted definition of relational performance, which includes both behaviour and economic outcomes, to enable it to test which structure optimises performance. It proposes that bilateral relationships, developed from social exchange theory, are the optimal governance structures for managing interfirm. exchanges. Bilateral relationships have the highest level of relationship strength of all the structures. These structures involve partners who have high levels of trust in each other and who have made substantial commitment to the relationship. If these relationships are found to be the optimal structures in terms of performance, considerable support will have been found for social exchange theory. The research hypotheses are supported by empirical work which combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The qualitative study uses in-depth interviews with buyer and supplier organisations. The quantitative study consists of a mail survey of 500 UK industrial buyers who are interviewed about their main supply relationship. The industries included in the research are engineering, electronics and communications. The development of a taxonomy of relationship structures and its links to performance provides guidance to researchers and managers on how to assess and develop the potential of a relationship. The assumptions managers make about relationships have an impact on what is attainable from the relationship. The research also provides strong support for social exchange positions in managing interfirm relationships.The scope of research on interorganisational relationship structure has been limited by rigid adherence to specific governance paradigms and by lack of research into relational performance. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis responds to these issues by pursuing a multiparadigm, approach from which it develops a taxonomy of relationship structures that is linked to performance. The classification of a relationship into the taxonomy is based on the relationship strength construct. This construct discriminates between relational governance structures by measuring both behaviour process and economic content elements of a relationship. The result is a taxonomy of four relationship structures. They are bilateral, recurrent, dominant partner and discrete. Furthermore, the research links these relationship structures to a multifaceted definition of relational performance, which includes both behaviour and economic outcomes, to enable it to test which structure optimises performance. It proposes that bilateral relationships, developed from social exchange theory, are the optimal governance structures for managing interfirm. exchanges. Bilateral relationships have the highest level of relationship strength of all the structures. These structures involve partners who have high levels of trust in each other and who have made substantial commitment to the relationship. If these relationships are found to be the optimal structures in terms of performance, considerable support will have been found for social exchange theory. The research hypotheses are supported by empirical work which combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The qualitative study uses in-depth interviews with buyer and supplier organisations. The quantitative study consists of a mail survey of 500 UK industrial buyers who are interviewed about their main supply relationship. The industries included in the research are engineering, electronics and communications. The development of a taxonomy of relationship structures and its links to performance provides guidance to researchers and managers on how to assess and develop the potential of a relationship. The assumptions managers make about relationships have an impact on what is attainable from the relationship. The research also provides strong support for social exchange positions in managing interfirm relationships

An analysis of factors association with responsibility attribution in incidents of medical malpractice

Approximately twelve-hundred medical malpractice claims make it to the state courts each year. Within this setting, a growing concern is the influence of extralegal factors, which are factors outside the scope of the law that impact the manner in which jurors assign responsibility. The purpose of this study was to identify the strength and influence of two extralegal factors when attributing responsibility for claims of medical malpractice: severity effects and personal choice. A 2X2 research design with follow-up questionnaires was employed to assess participants' attribution of responsibility. The data revealed a relationship between personal choice and responsibility attribution, but failed to identify a relationship between severity effects and responsibility attribution. These results, in part, highlight the role extra-legal factors play in the decision-making process, which can inform the trial strategy of both plaintiffs and defendants in medical malpractice litigation

Measuring involvement of a network of users in NPD

The new product development (NPD) literature is rife with suggestions to involve customers in the innovation process, and many firms collaborate with customers. But the extant literature does not offer much guidance concerning the nature and quality of involving such a network of customers. This paper contributes to the extant literature on customer involvement by identifying a comprehensive set of metrics to measure the involvement of a network of customers in NPD. It introduces metrics describing three aspects of customer involvement: (1) the rationale for involving a network of customers in NPD, (2) the network of customers involved in NPD, and (3) the interaction process between manufacturer and customers at the level of individual customers. These metrics help to understand the roles of customers, the timing of their involvement at each stage in the development process, the type and number of customers that are involved, as well as the frequency and intensity of their involvement. The use of these metrics is illustrated by a study of customer network involvement by Irish business-to-business companies. Forty-six percent of the sampled firms (n=1400) were actively involved in NPD, but very few of them involved customers in the early stages (n=77). The involvement of customers in early NPD stages is significant, although manufacturers tend to go back to the same customers repeatedly. The intensity of customer involvement is also extensive, but even more so during the later NPD stages, especially for new products as opposed to product improvements. By incorporating a network perspective, the proposed metrics for customer network involvement provide a new approach for researchers to study the involvement of customers in NPD

A process-based model of network capability development by a start-up firm

Start-up firms are notoriously resource and time poor. One way of addressing these deficits is to develop strategic capability to access, activate and co-shape resources with other firms in the start-up's network. The capability literature assumes such a development is inevitable, provided a start-up survives. But developing network capability depends on the managers of other firms, the deepening managerial understanding of business relationships, and the ability of the start-up managers to adjust to and understand interdependence in networks. We present a processual model of how managerial understanding of network capability develops, comprising of three parts each building on the earlier: (i) in relationships, (ii) through relationships and (iii) in the network. The model was inductively developed from a longitudinal study of a start-up firm. Also, two sensemaking processes were found to predominate â problem solving and social-cognitive processes. Our model highlights the role of the start-up manager in sensemaking with managers across a number of firms to resolve commercial problems. Thus, the independence many start-up managers seek must turn towards interdependence. Second, managers' temporal horizons and the specific temporal profile of events and activities inside the involved business relationships are important in understanding and developing, with other firms, network capability

Identity masking effectiveness and gesture recognition: Effects of eye enhancement in seeing through the mask

Face identity masking algorithms developed in recent years aim to protect the privacy of people in video recordings. These algorithms are designed to interfere with identification, while preserving information about facial actions. An important challenge is to preserve subtle actions in the eye region, while obscuring the salient identity cues from the eyes. We evaluated the effectiveness of identity-masking algorithms based on Canny filters, applied with and without eye enhancement, for interfering with identification and preserving facial actions. In Experiments 1 and 2, we tested human participants' ability to match the facial identity of a driver in a low resolution video to a high resolution facial image. Results showed that both masking methods impaired identification, and that eye enhancement did not alter the effectiveness of the Canny filter mask. In Experiment 3, we tested action preservation and found that neither method interfered significantly with driver action perception. We conclude that relatively simple, filter-based masking algorithms, which are suitable for application to low quality video, can be used in privacy protection without compromising action perception.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Earthquake source parameters from GPS-measured static displacements with potential for real-time application

We describe a method for determining an optimal centroid–moment tensor solution of an earthquake from a set of static displacements measured using a network of Global Positioning System receivers. Using static displacements observed after the 4 April 2010, MW 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah, Mexico, earthquake, we perform an iterative inversion to obtain the source mechanism and location, which minimize the least-squares difference between data and synthetics. The efficiency of our algorithm for forward modeling static displacements in a layered elastic medium allows the inversion to be performed in real-time on a single processor without the need for precomputed libraries of excitation kernels; we present simulated real-time results for the El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. The only a priori information that our inversion scheme needs is a crustal model and approximate source location, so the method proposed here may represent an improvement on existing early warning approaches that rely on foreknowledge of fault locations and geometries

Widening participation in Scotland 1997-2021:A semi-systematic literature review and avenues for further research

This article sets out and critically analyses the state of current knowledge on Widening Participation at higher education institutions in Scotland and sets forth avenues for further research. Through a semi-systematic review of the literature, six discrete but overlapping themes relating to Widening Participation are identified, namely, (1) factors affecting the decision to apply to university, (2) the transition from high school or further education into university, (3) contextualised admissions, (4) completion and level of attainment, (5) economic, social and cultural capital and (6) equality, diversity and inclusion. The study finds that while clear progress has been made by higher education institutionstowards achieving quantitative government targets for student recruitment from underrepresented groups, there is an absence of studies and knowledge about the qualitative lived experiences of students as they transition through university, how students negotiate a sense of fit with institutional systems, and what targeted supports they may require to succeed. Avenues for further research which addresses these gaps in the knowledge base are put forward, namely, (1) broaden the academic base and interdisciplinarity of Widening Participation research, (2) reform and extend measures of success beyond admissions and attainment, (3) evolve institutional level support for transition into higher education, (4) develop more nuanced understandings of contextualised admissions and (5) investigate and gain deeper understandings of how the lived experiences of Widening Participation students shape and inform their journey through, experience of and attainment at university

Quantifying error introduced by iterative closest point image registration

Objectives: The aim of this paper was to quantify the analysis error introduced by iterative closest point (ICP) image registration. We also investigated whether a subsequent subtraction process can reduce process error. Methods: We tested metrology and two 3D inspection software using calibration standards at 0.39 μm, and 2.64 μm and mathematically perfect defects (softgauges) at 2 and 20 μm, on free form surfaces of increasing complexity and area, both with and without registration. Errors were calculated in percentage relative to the size of the defect being measured. Data were analysed in GraphPad Prism 9, normal and two-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey's was applied. Significance was inferred at p &lt; 0.05. Results: Using ICP registration introduced errors from 0 % to 15.63 % of the defect size depending on the surface complexity and size of the defect. Significant differences were observed in analysis measurements between metrology and 3D inspection software and within different 3D inspection software, however, one did not show clear superiority over another. Even in the absence of registration, defects at 0.39 μm, and 2.64 μm produced substantial measurement error (13.39–77.50 % of defect size) when using 3D inspection software. Adding an additional data subtraction process reduced registration error to negligible levels (&lt;1 % independent of surface complexity or area). Conclusions: Commercial 3D inspection software introduces error during direct measurements below 3 μm. When using an ICP registration, errors over 15 % of the defect size can be introduced regardless of the accuracy of adjacent registration surfaces. Analysis output between software are not consistently repeatable or comparable and do not utilise ISO standards. Subtracting the datasets and analysing the residual difference reduced error to negligible levels. Clinical significance: This paper quantifies the significant errors and inconsistencies introduced during the registration process even when 3D datasets are true and precise. This may impact on research diagnostics and clinical performance. An additional data processing step of scan subtraction can reduce this error but increases computational complexity.</p