Abstract Purpose – The objective of this paper is to determine the feasibility of binding, politically, economically and culturally, the Mediterranean Sea’s southern and northern coasts. Design/methodology/approach – The paper evokes the gains and limitations of such an undertaking. Findings – The paper finds that the initiative may be premature, but a formal relationship should stren…
Abstract This article evaluates 63 Turkish firms’ per-ceptions of different factors leading to success in doing business with the FSU. It discusses in detail several important factors such as uncer-tainty handling, and the cultural and geo-graphic proximity from the Turkish firms’ point of view. It suggests to In ternational companies interested in the FSU, that Turkey can be an excellent…
Abstract Purpose – Guided by voice and leadership theory, this paper aims to articulate the underpinnings of upward defiance (competence deficiency; ignorance of concerns; structural gaps between echelons) and to describe the managerial actions that help depose those underpinnings. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes 30 historic narrative accounts of actual mutinies. The journ…
Abstract Purpose – The aim of this paper is to discuss the apparent paradox that multinational firms may and sometimes do pursue social benefits as their main objective. Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores the grey area that lays between some consolidated analytical concepts, namely: spillovers, corporate responsibility, social cooperation and non-governmental organizations.…
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a stakeholder approach based on a case-study research was used to define a method to be applied across the Portuguese seaport administrations (SA) in order to justify the tariffs to be charged for a variety of services provided by these entities. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved both the Portuguese maritime t…
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what types of shipping knowledge are crucial in order for shipping companies to survive in dynamic business environment, and to investigate how the shipping knowledge affects the company’s performance (i.e. organizational innovation and logistics value). This paper also diagnoses the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the …
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use a conceptual model from literature for designing value recovery (VR) networks for three categories of post-consumer product returns. Design/methodology/approach – A bi-level optimization model is developed to determine the disposition decision for refrigerators, washing machines and passenger cars in the Indian context using data for p…
Here in the quiet hours of my life, I write this short story for which I give much credit to my wife Ying-Lun for this opportunity and for her advice, interpretations and giving me the understanding, time, patience, love and “quiet time” needed to accomplish this writing that I have longed to do for so many years. I dedicate this book to my wife Ying-Lun Ng Fletcher. and To Dr. David C. Wyl…
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this research is to empirically develop a service-driven market orientation construct and test its relationships with service quality. Design/methodology/approach – The researcher employs Critical Incident Technique to generate items for the survey instrument. Then, the quantitative-based descriptive research uses structured questionnaires to capture the …
Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to analyse available multimodal transport route variations for iron ore shipments from northwest Australia to northeast China, focusing on a major iron and steel manufacturer. Design/methodology/approach – The research is focused on a case study and uses an established cost model as a framework, for the first time, in the context of heavy bulk cargo ship…
Abstract Purpose – When deploying a frigate to the Gulf of Aden as a part of the Operation Atalanta, the Norwegian Defence outsourced logistics to a TPL provider. The purpose of this paper is to explore the cooperation between the Defence and the TPL provider during the operation. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative design was chosen. Semi-structured interviews were combined with r…
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for an entity to manage airborne relief when a nation’s civil aviation authorities are overwhelmed or incapacitated due to a major rapid-onset disaster. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines why relief airflow management was so vital during the 2010 Haiti earthquake and how this management was accomplished. …
Abstract The fundamentals of TQM are revisited for providing a relevant perspective on business excellence. Judging from the experience of the Japanese TQM movement, there is a need for a step-by-step approach towards TQ. As a result of exploratory research, a model called TQMEX standing for TQM EXcellence model has been developed based on sound TQM practices. The theoretical background, perso…
Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that information security should be regarded as a critical cross-field outcome (CCFO). This could assist in narrowing the evident “information security gap” that currently exists in undergraduate information technology/information systems/computer science (IT/IS/CS) curricula at South African universities. Design/methodology/appro…
Liberia is at the crossroads. Still recovering from a protracted civil war, there is inadequate education, high illiteracy rates particularly for women and where the population is 90 percent food insecure. Libraries are non-existent outside of universities at which libraries are woefully inadequate. Through various initiatives Rutgers University and others are working to help develop a twenty-f…
Abstract Purpose – To carry out a practical experiment into the feasibility of service orientation to achieve a dynamic, late-binding service architecture. Design/methodology/approach – Literature view to provide a foundation in standards and measure anecdotal opinion regarding service orientation. The review informed an architectural design based on real world requirements from a multinat…
Summary Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the broad issues related to business excellence and the application of such programs. Design/methodology/approach – In brief, this study investigated the use of business excellence programs including the use of the ISO 9000:2000 series of standards, by anadian organizations. The results of a national survey on the use of business …
The impact of extreme events on crude oil markets is of great importance in crude oil price analysis due to the fact that those events generally exert strong impact on crude oil markets. For better estimation of the impact of events on crude oil price volatility, this study attempts to use an EMD-based event analysis approach for this task. In the proposed method, the time series to be analyzed…
Abstract Purpose – Can marginalized stakeholders whose issues with the firm are unaddressed because of their resource and legitimacy constraints (low salience) increase their salience by capitalizing on certain inherent properties of their stakeholder environment? The purpose of this paper is to examine this question using a real life case of the Coca-Cola controversy in Kerala, India, where…
Eco-efficiency is an instrument for sustainability analysis, indicating how efficient the economic activity is with regard to nature's goods and services. This paper conducts an ecoefficiency analysis for regional industrial systems in China by developing data envelopment analysis (DEA) based models. Using real data of 30 provinces in China, an empirical study is employed to illustrate the patt…
abstract Block widths ranging from two to fifteen rows in a marine container terminal are evaluated by a fully-integrated, discrete event simulation model. Experiments consider dozens of yard configurations and four container terminal settings that are designed to reproduce the microscopic, stochastic, real-time environment at a multiple-berth facility. Results show that the quay crane rate i…
Abstract Energy-saving target ratios (ESTR) for 17 APEC economies during 1991–2000 are computed in a total-factor framework. All nominal variables are transformed into real variables by the purchasing power parity (PPP) at the 1995 price level. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is used to find the energy-saving target (EST) for APEC economies without reducing their maximum potenti…
abstract Energy use in the production of desirable output often results in the generation of undesirable emission with detrimental impact on the environment, and whose disposal is frequently monitored by public authorities. Previous studies, however, paid little attention to undesirable output and environmental regulation related to its disposal while estimating energy use efficiency. Analysis…
Abstract The article examines the possible implications of climate change for seaport competition and for the local hinterlands of ports of countries that border the Adriatic. The focus is on the effects that further increases in the annual durations over which the Northern Sea Route is navigable will have on costs of shipping between Asian and Europe and, in turn, the effects of this on the v…
abstract An unceasing growth of gas consumption in domestic households, industry, and power plants has gradually turned natural gas into a major source of energy. Main drivers in this development are the technical and economic advantages of natural gas. It is a clean, versatile, and easily controllable fuel. On this basis, natural gas is often considered the form of energy that will be the ‘…
Kee-Hung Lai is an Associate Professor with research interest in logistics management in the Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has co-authored three books and his research papers have been accepted or published by various journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Omega and others. T.C. Edwin Cheng is Cha…
Abstract Organizations realize that a strong supporting logistics or electronic logistics (e-logistics) function is an important organizational offering from both the commercial and the consumer perspective. The implications of e-logistics models and practices cover the forward and reverse logistics functions of organizations. They also have a direct and profound impact from an environmental …