WorldWideScience

Sample records for professional services firms

  1. Balancing organizational and professional commitments in Professional Service Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Frances; Becker, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Due to their potential to positively influence sales quality and performance and reduce employee turnover in service organizations, HR practices targeting employee commitment have received considerable attention in the HRM literature in recent years. Parallel to this, there has been increasing...... financial investment firms. Our findings suggest that in professional service firms, HR practices encourage high levels of organizational commitment primarily and most often through their influence on professional commitment and that HR practices related to flexible work design are essential in creating...

  2. Profits or Professionalism? On Designing Professional Service Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.W. Lander (Michel)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractResearch on professional service firms (PSFs) did not come off the ground until recently. This lack of attention is surprising, given their integral role in contemporary knowledge-based economies. In this dissertation, I focus on two professional industries: law and accounting.

  3. Guarantees come to professional service firms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, C W; Schlesinger, L A; Maher, D

    1992-01-01

    Can lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, accountants, and consultants guarantee their work? Your money back if not absolutely delighted? Some professional service firms are doing exactly that, and they believe they are gaining not only satisfied customers but higher market share and improved service quality. The authors discuss the benefits and risks of unconditional and more limited guarantees. Firms that address this issue proactively now, they argue, will be less likely to rush into poorly considered guarantees later.

  4. Life Cycle Characteristics of Small Professional Service Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Masurel, E.; van Montfort, C.A.G.M.

    2006-01-01

    Our study of professional services firms clearly revealed that firms change over the course of their life cycles. During the first three stages, diversification in sales, the differentiation in labor force, and the level of labor productivity increase. In the last stage, diversification in sales,

  5. Exploring business model innovation in professional service firms : Insights from architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lieftink, B.; Bos-de Vos, M.; Lauche, K.; Smits, A.

    2014-01-01

    Business model innovation may be a significant source of competitive advantage and firm performance. New ways of doing business have become increasingly important in the professional service sector. This research specifically focuses on business model innovation by architecture firms, which are

  6. Replication of innovation in professional service firms: options for leveraging knowledge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tuominen, T.; van der Aa, W.

    2013-01-01

    In this conceptual paper we elaborate on the replication of innovation in professional service firms (PSFs). We do this by integrating literature streams on replication, knowledge sharing, productization of services and management of PSF’s. First we discuss the object of replication in order to

  7. Characteristics of Intrapreneurs in Scale-Intensive Service Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katja Maria Hydle

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This empirical paper explores the work of employees in charge of service innovation when firms develop and launch new scale-intensive services by addressing two re- search questions: i How do employees responsible for service innovation work? and ii what are the related managerial implications when developing and launching new scale-intensive services? To this end, 21 qualitative, in-depth interviews were con- ducted with employees in five large scale-intensive service firms. The findings suggest that the involvement of internal professionals is an asset when new scale-intensive services are developed, and that internal professionals act as intrapreneurs when they are involved in the development of radically new scale-intensive services. This paper integrates understanding from the innovation management literature with knowledge of professionals from extant literature on professional service firms since we find that professionals in scale-intensive firms act as intrapreneurs. Thus, this pa- per extends the theory on determinants of innovation in scale-intensive service firms, blending insights from both findings and theory.

  8. Tackling the work-life balance challenge in Professional Service Firms: the impact of projects, organizing and service characteristics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noury, L.C.; Gand, Sébastien; Sardas, Jean-Claude

    2017-01-01

    Professional Service Firms (PSFs) are currently under considerable pressure for economic reasons (low growth, pressure on cost), but also from the emergence of individual demands for work-life balance (WLB) from professionals, which challenge traditional ways of organizing both projects and careers.

  9. Realizing high performance on multiple stakeholder domains : A resource-based analysis of professional service firms in the Netherlands and Germany

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Glunk, U.

    1999-01-01

    This book presents an empirical study on small and medium-sized professional service firms in the Netherlands and Germany. The overall aim of this study was to specify and test those intra-organizational resources that enable small and medium-sized professional service firms to realize high

  10. Green Enterprise and Sustainability towards Business Federation in Professional Service Firms with respect to Globalization

    OpenAIRE

    EZENDU ARIWA; CARSTEN MARTIN SYVER TSEN

    2013-01-01

    We present the business federation as a new organizational form. We illustrate how professional service firms can achieve economic growth by operating locally within an international network. Within the business federation,local offices gain access to resources through an extreme form of delegation. The article illustrates how the business federation functions using five organizational design parameters. In order to achieve scale effects,information technology is essential. Information techno...

  11. Leadership drivers of organizational creativity: a path model of creative climate in a professional service firm

    OpenAIRE

    Sandvik Madsen, Alexander; Espedal, Bjarne; Selart, Marcus

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore how and under what conditions two different leadership roles are able to facilitate an organizational climate that supports creativity. The study was conducted in a leading professional service firm. The introduced hypotheses were tested by means of a structural equation model. Findings indicate that the leadership roles are conceptually different and that organizational structure is important for leaders’ ability to create a climate ...

  12. The international marketing of professional service projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skaates, Maria Anne; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Alajoutsijärvi, Kimmo

    2003-01-01

    Many types of commercial professional services are commonly sold as projects. Therefore this article draws on the project marketing literature to elucidate the international marketing of professional service projects. After an initial literature review, the project marketing milieu concept......, and representations to another national milieu with similarly well-developed norms, rules, and representations, yet that there also exist global milieux. Managerial implications concerning professional service firms' preparation for entering a foreign milieu as well as subsidiary or office establishment abroad...

  13. Examining internationalization of the professional services firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skaates, Maria Anne

    2003-01-01

    of architectural services to Germany in the 1990s, the types of knowledge the case firms needed to acquire and use to obtain German architectural projects, and the project acquisition process, including especially the role that previous project work plays in project acquisitions abroad. The results of the research......) and Bourdieu's social and cultural capital theory could be combined to explain the dynamics of the project acquisition process, including the role of previous project work. The study resulted in seven general hypothetical propositions and four managerially-relevant general models which should be externally...... sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's social and cultural capital framework and various contributions from reference theory and the boundary spanner and knowledge management literatures. The study's research questions focus on understanding relations between the actors involved in the Danish internationalization...

  14. Trade-offs in the value capture of architectural firms : the significance of professional value

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bos-De Vos, M.; Wamelink, J.W.F.; Volker, L.

    2016-01-01

    Architectural firms often have difficulty generating profit from their services as they pursue not only commercial but also professional goals. These goals frequently conflict and have to be balanced during the process of value creation and value capture. So far, literature has focused on the

  15. Forensic Service Supply by Audit Firms: Classification, Market, Methods, and Prior Research

    OpenAIRE

    Quick, Reiner

    2017-01-01

    Provision of non-audit services is of increasing economic importance for audit firms Especially provision to non-audit clients Wide range of offered services From detection to prevention, from bribery to fraud to violation of code of conduct Small, but growing market with Big 4 as clear leaders Wide variety of backgrounds of forensic services professionals Consequently, diverse portfolio of methods Most research focuses on fraud with some high-quality publications Miss...

  16. Value Creation Logics and Internationalization of Service Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

    2014-01-01

    While mainstream theories in international business and management are founded either explicitly or implicitly on studies of manufacturing firms, prior attempts to develop theory on the internationalization of service firms are sparse and have yet to establish solid and comprehensive frameworks...... on a thorough understanding of the fundamental nature of these firms. We put forward ten propositions concerning the pace of internationalization in service firms and the dominant foreign operation modes. The use of value creation logics can be a useful complement to the conventional approaches to the study...... of service firms’ internationalization. However, the fact that most firms encompass more than one value creation logic complicates the use of firm databases and industry statistics. The study presents a novel theoretical approach and a set of propositions on service firm internationalization founded...

  17. Value Creation Logics and Internationalization of Service Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

    2014-01-01

    be based on a thorough understanding of the fundamental nature of these firms. Design/methodology/approach - Theoretical study. Findings - We put forward propositions concerning the pace of internationalization and the default foreign operation modes in service firms. Research limitations...... implications - We suggest that managers in service firms should consider primarily the nature of the value creation logic(s) in their firms when deciding and designing an internationalization strategy. Originality/value - The study presents a novel theoretical approach and a set of propositions on service firm....../implications - The use of value creation logics can be a useful complement to the conventional approaches to the study of service firms’ internationalization. However, the fact that most firms encompass more than one value creation logic complicates the use of firm databases and industry statistics. Practical...

  18. Professional norms, public service motivation and economic incentives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Lotte Bøgh

    2007-01-01

    The theories of professions, public service motivation, and economic incentives explain the behaviour of the producers of publicly financed services differently. They emphasize professional norms, sector, and economic incentives, respectively. The few existing attempts to integrate these theories...... have, however, indicated that these factors interact. Using interviews, surveys and registers, the paper investigated how professional norms, economic incentives and sector affected the behaviour of Danish dentists and physicians. It was found that when strong professional norms existed, economic...... incentives were unimportant for both public and private employees. In contrast, when no firm professional norm applied, economic incentives affected behaviour. Controlling for different economic incentives, sector does not seem to affect the behaviour much. The results imply that the economic...

  19. Multicultural markets and acculturation: Implications for service firms

    OpenAIRE

    Poulis, Konstantinos; Yamin, Mo; Poulis, Efthimios

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose is to construct an analytical framework that encapsulates implications for the marketing offering of service firms as a result of observed intra-national ethnic diversity in these firms' markets of operation. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual approach which promotes the idea that acculturation matters for service firms operating in multicultural markets and adopts relevant propositions related to service firms' strategy in such markets. Findings: Integrati...

  20. Beefing up operations in service firms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chase, R B; Hayes, R H

    1991-01-01

    Many articles exhort service firm managers to empower workers and first-line supervisors, exploit technology, focus on the customer, and, above all, provide outstanding service. This article proposes a framework to help you evaluate your company's competitive standing in each of these areas. It discusses four types of companies on a continuum, from the company that is simply "available for service" to the firm that delivers world class service. The authors focus on operations, the function that controls the service encounter, and apply the manufacturing strategy paradigm to services as a means of implementing change.

  1. Impact of error management culture on knowledge performance in professional service firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tabea Scheel

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge is the most crucial resource of the 21st century. For professional service firms (PSFs, knowledge represents the input as well as the output, and thus the fundamental base for performance. As every organization, PSFs have to deal with errors – and how they do that indicates their error culture. Considering the positive potential of errors (e.g., innovation, error management culture is positively related to organizational performance. This longitudinal quantitative study investigates the impact of error management culture on knowledge performance in four waves. The study was conducted in 131 PSFs, i.e. tax accounting offices. As a standard quality management system (QMS was assumed to moderate the relationship between error management culture and knowledge performance, offices' ISO 9000 certification was assessed. Error management culture correlated positively with knowledge performance at a significant level and predicted knowledge performance one year later. While the ISO 9000 certification correlated positively with knowledge performance, its assumed moderation of the relationship between error management culture and knowledge performance was not consistent. The process-oriented QMS seems to function as facilitator for the more behavior-oriented error management culture. However, the benefit of ISO 9000 certification for tax accounting remains to be proven. Given the impact of error management culture on knowledge performance, PSFs should focus on actively promoting positive attitudes towards errors.

  2. SOME REFLECTIONS UPON MANAGEMENT CONSULTING AS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

    OpenAIRE

    Tomescu Ada; Botezat Elena

    2008-01-01

    Management consulting helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the thorough analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement. There is probably no activity about which the opinions are so divided as management consulting. The purpose of this paper is to make some reflections upon what role play the consulting management services as professional service to the firms and how offering these services affects the offering and delivery of oth...

  3. The Internationalisation of Service Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blagoeva, Denitsa Hazarbassanova

    The question the thesis aims at resolving is: How do the value creation logics of firms impact their internationalisation? The overall aim of this PhD project is to explore and test an approach to understanding the internationalisation of service firms, based not on opposing them to manufacturing...

  4. New Opportunities for a Professional Services Firm: Building a Brand and Developing a Marketing Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Rachel K.

    2013-01-01

    BD Capital Management, an investment advisory firm based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is dedicated to providing personal, comprehensive investment services to individuals and families, pension and profit sharing plans, endowment funds, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations.

  5. Service-Oriented Strategies for Manufacturing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tan, Adrian; McAloone, Tim C.; Matzen, Detlef

    2009-01-01

    This chapter establishes PSS (Product/Service-Systems) approaches in the context of manufacturing firms and their existing product-oriented business. PSS can be seen as a strategy for manufacturing firms to gain competitive advantage in the market, but what market conditions and organisational......, customers and partners in business planning and strategy to reap the full benefits. Finally a path to how manufacturers can make the change from product to service-orientation is traced....

  6. Educational Competencies That Mid-Sized CPA Firms Value in Their Professional Accounting Staff

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margheim, Loren; Hora, Judith A.; Pattison, Diane

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the educational competencies mid-sized accounting firm partners value in their professional staff when making promotion decisions to senior, manager, and partner. Mid-sized firms were defined in this study to include all of the non-Big 4 national firms, the large regional CPA firms, and several large local firms. Over 1,380…

  7. Service Orientation in Manufacturing Firms : Understanding Challenges with Service Business Logic

    OpenAIRE

    Löfberg, Nina

    2014-01-01

    Globalisation and competition from low-cost countries has pushed manufacturing firms towards offering services to remain competitive. However, increasing the service orientation of a manufacturing firm to find new ways of value (co-)creation has presented several challenges, such as the fact that services do not provide the expected revenues, and resistance from both the sales force and from customers towards services. The aim of this thesis is to understand challenges linked to increasing se...

  8. Customer orientation and innovation : a comparative study of manufacturing and service firms

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Qiang; Zhao, Xiande; Voss, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the effect of customer orientation on innovation performance in manufacturing and service firms by comparing their innovation mechanisms. Based on a sample of 1646 manufacturing firms and 686 service firms, our results indicate that customer orientation positively affects service innovativeness and product innovativeness in service firms and manufacturing firms, respectively, and that such effects are mediated by two important firm resources: supplier collaboration and...

  9. Organisational identity and alcohol use among young employees: a case study of a professional services firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Benjamin; Bridgman, Todd

    2013-11-01

    Cultural influences on young people's drinking have been the focus of much research and policy practice. Young people's drinking is influenced by a range of institutions, including the workplace, yet this has received comparatively little attention by researchers and policymakers. This study examines the workplace influences on young people's drinking through the conceptual lens of organisational identification. Data was collected through 16 semi-structured interviews with mainly young employees of a professional services firm in New Zealand. The interviews were coded and analysed thematically, generating five themes of alcohol use at work. Alcohol was used in a number of ways by the respondents in relation to their work, from acting as a means of relieving stress or anxiety induced by work, to providing a means for bonding with work colleagues. Their work also impacted on their alcohol use in more 'positive' ways (e.g. respondents limiting their intake to prevent damage to their career prospects). The study highlights how processes of organisational identification both encourage and inhibit alcohol use. The consumption of alcohol at work provides young professionals with a medium to engage in a variety of organisational identification processes. An understanding of these processes can assist policymakers in focusing on the workplace, an area largely ignored to date, as a target for their campaigns aimed at reducing the harmful effects of young people's heavy alcohol use. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Understanding the Modularization of Business Services : The Maturity of Firms in Bundling Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plugge, A.G.; Bouwman, W.A.G.A.

    2017-01-01

    Sourcing literature reveals that large firms bundle or unbundle existing business services by means of modularization to achieve organizational agility. However, one may assume that firms need some degree of maturity to manage the complexity that comes along with bundling modularized services.

  11. Service regime: An empirical analysis of innovation patterns in service firms.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chang, Y.C.; Linton, J.D.; Linton, Jonathan; Chen, M.N.

    2012-01-01

    The concept of service regime is developed to extend and test Miozzo and Soete's service taxonomy. Derived from the synthesis approach of service innovation, the service regime considers sources of innovation, innovation trajectories, and appropriability. Hypotheses on firm patterns of innovation

  12. 77 FR 7489 - Small Business Size Standards: Professional, Technical, and Scientific Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-10

    ... would (1) provide a competitive advantage to larger firms over their truly small counterparts; (2) allow... Vol. 77 Friday, No. 28 February 10, 2012 Part V Small Business Administration 13 CFR Part 121 Small Business Size Standards: Professional, Technical, and Scientific Services; Final Rule #0;#0...

  13. Hospitals look to hospitality service firms to meet TQM goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hard, R

    1992-05-20

    Hospitals that hire contract service firms to manage one or all aspects of their hospitality service departments increasingly expect those firms to help meet total quality management goals as well as offer the more traditional cost reduction, quality improvement and specialized expertise, finds the 1992 Hospital Contract Services Survey conducted by Hospitals.

  14. Adopting De Novo Programming Approach on IC Design Service Firms Resources Integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James K. C. Chen

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The semiconductor industry has very important position in computer industry, ICT field, and new electronic technology developing. The IC design service is one of key factor of semiconductor industry development. There are more than 365 IC design service firms have been established around Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. Building an efficient planning model for IC design service firm resources integrating is very interest issue. This study aims to construct a planning model for IC design service firm implementation resources integration. This study uses the De Novo programming as an approach of criteria alternative to achieve optimal resource allocation on IC design firm. Results show the IC design service firm should conduct open innovation concept and utilizes design outsourcing obtains cost down and enhance IC design service business performance. This plan model of De Novo programming is not only for IC design service firm and also can apply to the other industrial implementation strategic alliance/integrating resource. This plan model is a universal model for the others industries field.

  15. Archetypes and person-organization fit in law firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Haas, M.J.O.M.; van Eerde, W.

    2015-01-01

    We investigated Person-Organization (P-O) Fit specific for professional services firms, based on archetype theory. To do so, we first established the applicability of archetype theory for the big law firms in The Netherlands. Subsequently, we developed a measure to investigate P-O fit between early

  16. Motivating talents in Thai and Malaysian service firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lehmann, Sanne

    2009-01-01

    Talent development in Thailand and Malaysian service firms has become a prioritized human resource management practice as these societies move toward knowledge-based economies. This paper discusses talent management in the social, organizational and managerial context of firms in Thailand...... and Malaysia, and argues that such structures often counterbalance investments made in talent development. The paper concludes that new human resource management practices do not produce a difference per se. It is the mindset and attitude of various managers that makes the difference. The learning...... for practitioners is that they need to adapt existing social and organizational structures to their new human resource management practices. The paper is based mainly on qualitative interviews with human resource managers from Thai and Malaysian service firms....

  17. Steering manufacturing firms towards service business model innovation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kastalli, I.V.; van Looy, Bart; Neely, A.

    2013-01-01

    Increasingly, manufacturing firms are turning to services as a new way of creating and capturing value. Despite its potential benefits, many new product-service providers struggle to deploy service activities effectively, not least because they fail to reflect the presence of service activities in

  18. A Knowledge Management Model for Firms in the Financial Services Industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Held, Carsten; Duncan, Glen; Yanamandram, Venkat

    2013-01-01

    The financial services industry faces many demanding challenges. Firms within this industry are predominantly knowledge-based, as are most of the industry's products, processes and services. The application of knowledge management represents a clear opportunity for financial services firms to confront challenges. However, no industry specific…

  19. A Comparative Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Orientation/Growth Relationship in Service Firms and Manufacturing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rigtering, J.P. Coen; Kraus, Sascha; Eggers, Fabian

    2014-01-01

    This article builds on the recently increasingly mentioned notion that entrepreneurship in the service sector is a worthwhile, but clearly underresearched topic. Using a sample of 1,612 small- and medium-size enterprises from the four German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland......, and Liechtenstein, and using structural equation modeling, this article finds that service firms have a significantly higher entrepreneurial orientation (EO) than manufacturing firms – both on the overall level as well as for each of the three sub-categories proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk...

  20. Embedding Knowledge Processes to Maintain Service Levels and Efficiency in a Growing Software Service Firm

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oostdam, M.; Verburg, R.M.; Lobbezoo, M.

    2013-01-01

    Software service firms are challenged to maintain high service levels and to innovate at the same time. Therefore, valuable human resources need often to be balanced between innovation and operations related activities. In this paper we describe how such as a firm deals with these issues by

  1. How Knowledge Accumulation changed the Competitive Advantage of Strategy Consulting Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); M.G. Baaij (Marc); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractResearch evidence confirms that the accumulation of knowledge contributes to the competitive advantage of firms. In the strategy consulting industry, one of the most knowledge-intensive professional services industries, however, established firms that exploited their knowledge

  2. A portrait of trading firms in the services sectors: Comparable evidence from four EU countries

    OpenAIRE

    Haller, Stefanie A.; Damijan, Jože; Kaitila, Ville; Kostevc, Črt; Maliranta, Mika; Milet, Emmanuel; Mirza, Daniel; Rojec, Matija

    2012-01-01

    We establish a set of stylised facts for trade and trading firms in five market services sectors using comparable firm-level and services data from four EU countries. Our analysis shows that exports account for much lower shares of overall sales in the services sectors than in manufacturing. In line with this there are also fewer firms engaged in trade in the services sectors than in manufacturing; trade intensities, in turn, vary by services sector and country. Trade by services firms is som...

  3. Service platforms management strategy: case study of an interior design firm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonel Del Rey de Melo Filho

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Platform management is a strategic tool for firms of various sizes, although it demands studies in the service sector. The aim of this paper is to investigate a use of platform management, designed to reach flexibility and operational dynamics in service projects. The studied platform is evaluated as a strategic resource in a particular case. The contributions of the service platform were explored from Resource-Based View (RBV and Service Marketing (SM perspectives, to study their effects on firms’ performance. The research strategy used was an exploratory case study in an interior design firm. The data collection techniques included a participant observation, document analysis and a focus group with firm managers. The research demonstrated that platform management is a strategic resource that assists with the planning of internal capabilities, market positioning, and provides better customer service.

  4. Intra-firm knowledge transfer-a qualitative case study of knowledge transfer and its implications in a soft service firm

    OpenAIRE

    Zheleva, Denitsa; Viklund, Alexandra

    2014-01-01

    The following case study aims to explore the knowledge transfer and its implications in the context of a soft service firm. The complexity of knowledge itself and the knowledge transfer process in service firms brings new challenges. The phenomenon was investigated by the application of grounded theory. Interviews were conducted with employees at a company present in the Quick Service Restaurant segment. It resulted in several findings that were not reported by previous literature. Firstly, w...

  5. Information and Knowledge Management at South African Law Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T du Plessis

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Global and national law firms alike operate in a challenging business environment and managing the firm's information and knowledge assets is increasingly viewed as a key factor in efficient legal service delivery. In legal practice, information management technologies, for example intranets, portals, workflow management systems, document and content management systems, case and project management systems and online dispute resolution systems are becoming important means of legal service delivery. The reason for applying information management technologies and implementing knowledge management strategies in law firms is not only to satisfy clients' growing need for a trusted online platform to interact with legal service providers, but for law firms to capitalise on their intellectual assets, to continuously modernise legal practice management, to empower lawyers, to increase productivity, to use time efficiently, to transfer skills and knowledge from senior to junior professionals, to improve service delivery and to gain competitive advantage. This article firstly reviews the role of information and knowledge management in providing an effective legal service to clients and compares foreign and South African law firms' information management related contexts, challenges and benefits. Secondly, it presents the findings of a survey conducted at South African law firms based on their knowledge management practices. The aim of the article is to provide insights into law firm knowledge management and its effect on providing legal services in an online business environment.

  6. 75 FR 66796 - Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP (“PwC”), Internal Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-29

    ... LLP (``PwC''), Internal Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group Atlanta, GA; Amended...''), Internal Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group. Accordingly, the Department is amending this... Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group. The amended notice applicable to TA-W-73,630 is...

  7. Linking Resource-Based Strategies to Customer-Focused Performance for Professional Services: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming-Lu Wu

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper links professional service firms’ resource-based strategies to their customer-focused performance for formulating service quality improvement priorities. The research applies the structural equation modelling approach to survey data from Hong Kong construction consultants to test some hypotheses. The study validates the various measures of firms’ resource-based strategies and customer-focused performance and bridges the gaps in firms’ organizational learning, core competences and customer-focused performance mediated by their strategic flexibility. The research results have practical implications for professional service firms to deploy resources appropriately to first enhance different competences and then improve customerfocused performance using their different competences.

  8. What results when firms implement practices: the differential relationship between specific practices, firm financial performance, customer service, and quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Cristina B; Porath, Christine L; Benson, George S; Lawler, Edward E

    2007-11-01

    Previous research on organizational practices is replete with contradictory evidence regarding their effects. Here, the authors argue that these contradictory findings may have occurred because researchers have often examined complex practice combinations and have failed to investigate a broad variety of firm-level outcomes. Thus, past research may obscure important differential effects of specific practices on specific firm-level outcomes. Extending this research, the authors develop hypotheses about the effects of practices that (a) enable information sharing, (b) set boundaries, and (c) enable teams on 3 different firm-level outcomes: financial performance, customer service, and quality. Relationships are tested in a sample of observations from over 200 Fortune 1000 firms. Results indicate that information-sharing practices were positively related to financial performance 1 year following implementation of the practices, boundary-setting practices were positively related to firm-level customer service, and team-enabling practices were related to firm-level quality. No single set of practices predicted all 3 firm-level outcomes, indicating practice-specific effects. These findings help resolve the theoretical tension in the literature regarding the effects of organizational practices and offer guidance as to how to best target practices to increase specific work-related outcomes. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. (c) 2007 APA

  9. Analysis of Preference of Incentives to Innovation of Dominican Manufacturing and Service Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Gómez-Valenzuela

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper is analyzed  the structure of preference of incentives to innovation of Dominican manufacturing and services firms.  The analysis of preference was  carried out using a Conjoint Analysis. In  total  326 firms were surveyed across the country.   According to the main findings,   Dominican firms prefer combinations of incentives to minimize tax liabilities but also to reduce uncertainty related to innovation activities.   In terms of preference, no statistically significant differences between manufacturing and service firms were found.

  10. 75 FR 66797 - PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) Internal Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-29

    ... LLP (``PwC'') Internal Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group, Charlotte, NC; Amended... Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group. Accordingly, the Department is amending this... Firm Services Client Account Administrators Group. The amended notice applicable to TA-W-73,608 is...

  11. The influence of experiential, inherited and external knowledge on the internationalization of venture capital firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S. De Prijcker (Sofie); S. Manigart (Sophie); D.M. Wright (Mike); W. de Maeseneire (Wouter)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThis paper examines the effect of different types of international knowledge accumulation on the internationalization of venture capital firms, as a particular type of professional service firms. We distinguish between experiential knowledge acquired through previous activities,

  12. Gender diversity and innovation in manufacturing and service firms

    OpenAIRE

    Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Parra, Maria Dolores; Teruel, Mercedes

    2015-01-01

    Traditionally, researchers have considered the innovation process as being gender neutral. However, recently some studies have begun to take gender diversity into account as a determinant of firms’ innovation. This paper aims to analyse how the effect of gender diversity on innovation output at firm level is sensitive to team size. Using the Spanish PITEC (Panel de Innovación Tecnológica) from 2007 to 2012 for innovative manufacturing and service firms, we estimate...

  13. US service firms eye increased sales to Mexico

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports on American service supply companies which hope the pending U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement will step up their sales of goods and service to Petroleos Mexicanos. They testified at a House foreign affairs subcommittee hearing on the oil aspects of the FTA and commented on a recent General Accounting Office report. Rep. Sam Gejdenson, (D-Conn.), subcommittee chairman, has been critical of FTA negotiations because it appears they will not open the Mexican oil sector to U.S. firms. Mexico's constitution bans foreign firms from owning Mexican reserves. It has been stated that the U.S. oil industry needs the business. The industry, particularly drillers, contractors, and manufacturers of oil equipment, has been hurting for more than 10 years now. They have lost more than 356,000 jobs in this sector in the last decade more than have been lost in the entire U.S. auto industry. Access to trade and investment in Mexico's oil sector could mean the difference between profit and bankruptcy for tens of thousands of small and medium size oil service contractors

  14. Importance of Logistics Processes for Customer Service and Firm Performance: Evidence from Furniture Industry of Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Imran Qadir

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Research Question: This study examines the relationship between logistics processes, customer service and firm performance in the furniture industry of Pakistan. Motivation: Furniture industry in Pakistan comprises small and medium enterprises wherein production is mainly labor intensive. Therefore, the current study also investigates the mediating role of manufacturing flexibility for the relationship of logistics processes and customer service. The paper applies the logistics models developed by Bowesox (1974, Green et al.(2008, and Tracey (1998 to furniture industry. Idea: The core idea of the paper is to measure the effects of logistics process on customer service and the performance of furniture manufacturing firms. The study takes the logistics process as an independent variable, the customer service as the first dependent variable and manufacturing performance as a moderating variable. Data: Primary data on logistics, customer service, manufacturing flexibility and firm performance were conveniently collected through a questionnaire from owners/managers of 61 furniture manufacturing firms. Tool: Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analyses were run to draw the results. Findings: Logistics processes positively affect customer service and firm performance. Customer service also exerts a positive effect on firm performance while the moderating role of manufacturing flexibility was not supported for the relationship of logistics processes and customer service. Contribution: Through efficiency in logistics processes, furniture manufacturing firms can serve customers in a superior way to ultimately achieve improved firm performance. The framework being restricted to efficiency of logistics processes only constitutes an important limitation of the study.

  15. Employment Effects of Service Offshoring: Evidence from Matched Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Rosario Crinò

    2009-01-01

    This paper studies the effects of service offshoring on the level and skill composition of domestic employment, using a rich data set of Italian firms and propensity score matching techniques. The results show that service offshoring has no effect on the level of employment but changes its composition in favor of high skilled workers.

  16. TOTAL QUALITY AND WORK ORGANISATION IN HEALTH CARE FIRMS

    OpenAIRE

    Gianfranco Corio

    1997-01-01

    [The area of organisation is the one to work in so as to improve products/services in health care firms, and to establish the transformation of professional behaviour. The actions and roles of middle management as a strategic entity in the case of the set-up of programs for improvement based on Total Quality. Total Quality as a strategic factor in health care firms with regard to management and as a basic component for "purchasing" decisions made by external customers.

  17. The Dilemma of Professional Partnerships

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bévort, Frans; Poulfelt, Flemming

    A large and growing proportion of the organizations in the contemporary knowledge economy are organized as professional partnerships as is the case of professional service firms. As these firms have grown larger (e.g. Big4: Deloitte, PwC, E&Y, KPMG), the way of organizing is under pressure...... other sources, the paper analyzes the changing organization of work, the changing partner and manager roles and basic changes in the HR-model. The paper explores the question of where the partnership organization is going and discusses potentials and pitfalls for this particular type of organization....

  18. Transformation of Manufacturing Firms to Servitisation Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lin, Chih-Cheng; Ma, Zheng; Tanev, Stoyan

    2014-01-01

    It is crucial for the manufacturing SMEs to reconsider their business strategy in order to be able to launch customer-centric solutions. This ability is associated with a paradigm shift from a product-orientation to service-orientation. One of the major challenges to success in transforming...... a traditional manufacturing firm to service-oriented firms is the conspicuous lack of publications in this research stream. Applying a case study research approach, this study explores the transformation model for manufacturing SMEs to servitisation firms by adopting a network approach, and reveals...

  19. Do Private Firms Outperform SOE Firms after Going Public in China Given their Different Governance Characteristics?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenghui Tong

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the characteristics of board structure that affect Chinese public firm’s financial performance. Using a sample of 871 firms with 699 observations of previously private firms and 1,914 observations of previously state-owned enterprise (SOE firms, we investigate the differences in corporate governance between publicly listed firms that used to be pure private firms before going public and listed firms that used to be SOEs before their initial public offerings (IPOs. Our main finding is that previously private firms outperform previously SOE firms in China after IPOs. In the wake of becoming listed firms, previously SOE firms might be faced with difficulties adjusting to professional business practices to build and extend competitive advantages. In addition, favorable policies and assistance from the government to the SOE firms might have triggered complacency, especially in early years after getting listed. On the other hand, professional savvy and acumen, combined with efficiency and favorable business climate created by the government have probably led the previously private firms to improve their values stronger and faster.

  20. The Transfer Pricing Problem in a Service Firm : A Case Study on a Swedish Multinational Enterprise

    OpenAIRE

    Husain, Shakir; Yilmaz, Emre

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to answer the research question of how a service company (ServiceCo) could achieve a transfer price of its services. This is of particular interest, due to the growth of service firms that have rapidly increased and surpassed the manufacturing firms, as well as the dominant logic shifting towards services. However, the problem with this field of study is that transfer pricing with regards to the service industry, is a rather unexplored phenomenon in which the guid...

  1. THE MEASUREMENT OF SERVICE QUALITY WITH SERVQUAL FOR DIFFERENT DOMESTIC AIRLINE FIRMS IN TURKEY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenan Aydin

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The primary purpose of this research is to determine whether there is a significant differencebetween the passengers’ service quality expectations and service quality perceptions in differentairline firms. The collateral purpose is to find out whether there is a significant difference betweenservice quality expectation and service quality perception of the passengers who have differentsocio-demographic characteristics. To achieve these purposes, the 5 - dimensional scale, suggestedby Parasuraman et.al (1988 was applied to the airline travel sector. The questionnaire was used ininterviewing the passengers at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul in Turkey with a “face to face”method. The data was analysed in SPSS 16 program after questionnnaires were collected. Firstly, thedemographic characteristics of passengers were presented for different airline firms. Then the highestand the lowest gaps for the each statement was determined. Lastly it was compared if there was asignificant difference between the service quality expectation and perception for different domesticairline firms.

  2. ON THE THREAT OF SUPPLIERS FOR THE ENGINEERING CONSULTING AND DESIGN SERVICES FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Sorin STROE

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In the case of companies from engineering consulting and design services industry the classic models of analysis (e.g. Porter's five forces for structural analysis exhibit interesting aspects in comparison with the situation when applied to traditional services or industrial production firms, due to the distinctive characteristics of the industry. The purpose of this paper is to present a general overview of the engineering consulting and design industry also analyze different facets of the suppliers concept and their force and threat for the engineering services firms. The paper aims at analyzing the dual strategic role of aspecial type of suppliers for the engineering companies.

  3. Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Vermeulen, Patrick; Bosch, Frans; Volberda, Henk

    2007-01-01

    textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation. In this paper, we use an institutional perspective to investigate why established firms in the financial services industry struggle with their complex incremental product innovation efforts. We ar...

  4. 37 CFR 10.35 - Firm names and letterheads.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 37 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Firm names and letterheads... Office Code of Professional Responsibility § 10.35 Firm names and letterheads. (a) A practitioner shall not use a firm name, letterhead, or other professional designation that violates § 10.31. A trade name...

  5. Information technology adoption for service innovation practices and competitive advantage: the case of financial firms

    OpenAIRE

    J.S. Chen; H.T. Tsou

    2007-01-01

    Background. The importance of information technology to current business practices has long drawn the attention of practitioners and academicians. Aim. This paper aims to broaden understanding about service innovation as a critical organizational capability through which information technology adoption influences the competitive advantage of a firm. In the context of financial firms, this study examines how information technology is adopted and managed to enhance service innovation practices ...

  6. The Arena of the Professional Body

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Costas, Jana; Blagoev, Blagoy; Kärreman, Dan

    2016-01-01

    professionals, as well as to escape from frustrations arising in their everyday work life. We develop how this turn to sport can be viewed as an attempt to deal with the conflicting discourses of autonomy and ambition prevalent in professional service firms. In so doing, the paper seeks to contribute to a more...

  7. Distribution system choice in a service industry: An analysis of international insurance firms operating in the United States

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Parente, R.; Choi, B.P.; Slangen, A.H.L.; Ketkar, S.

    2010-01-01

    Service firms play an increasingly important role in the global economy. However, the internationalization strategies of such firms, and especially their distribution system choices, have been underexplored in the international management literature. One specific service industry that has

  8. Identifying neo-Schumpeterian innovation in service firms : A conceptual essay with a novel classification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Flikkema, M.J.; Sluis, van der E.C. (Lidewey); Jansen, P.G.W.

    2007-01-01

    The identification of innovation in service firms is problematic since there is no consensus of opinion on its conceptualization. Recent papers suggest both distinctive features of innovation in services and distinctive types of service innovation. This article reviews and evaluates these findings

  9. Collaborative Communities of Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2011-01-01

    and developing strategic initiatives that aid the community as a whole. We discuss the facilitator role of the shared services provider, contrasting it with the coordinator role found in other multi-firm organizations, and we show how shared services providers function by describing three examples...... is an organizational model called the collaborative community of firms. This chapter addresses an important organizational role in a collaborative community, that of the shared services provider. The shared services provider acts as a facilitator in the community, helping member firms collaborate with one another...... of collaborative communities of firms from different sectors: the U.S.-based Blade.org and two Denmark-based communities, the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis and MG50. Implications for the theory and practice of organization design are discussed....

  10. Productivity in Information Service Industries: a Panel Analysis of Japanese Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Futoshi Kurokawa; Kiyohiko G. Nishimura

    2006-01-01

    We examine factors determining productivity of information-technology service activities at firm level, using most comprehensive data of information service industries in Japan. We focus on the degree of modularisation and resulting outsourcing and economies/diseconomies of scale in software development, and changes. We find that outsourcing has persistent negative effects on total factor productivity, suggesting not only productivity-enhancing modularisation is not fully utilised but also pr...

  11. IMPACT OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM-LEVEL CONTROL VARIABLES ON DIVIDEND POLICY OF SERVICE TRADE SECTOR OF MALAYSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agha Jahanzeb

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper empirically investigates the impact of corporate governance factors (i.e. board size, board independence and CEO ownership and firm-level control variables (i.e. firm size, firm growth and firm profitability on the dividend payout policy among the service sector companies of Malaysia that are listed on Bursa Malaysia. Ordinary least square model was used to estimate the results. Sample consisted of 113 service sector firms from the period of 2009 to 2013. The results show that the profitable companies with large boards and less growth tend to pay higher dividends. Findings can be interpreted as that the profitable companies are sharing their profits with their shareholders in terms of dividends to give positive message to the market.

  12. Emotion management strategies in PR firms: senior level perspectives of professional relationships (working paper)

    OpenAIRE

    Yeomans, L

    2016-01-01

    Much of the PR literature tends to focus on engagement in building relationships between organisations and publics or stakeholders. However, less is known about everyday interpersonal engagement, especially in regard to the professional context of the PR consulting firm (Sissons, 2015). This paper asks what it means to engage with clients and journalists, from the perspectives of managing directors and owners of London-based public relations agencies. What are the “feeling rules” (Hochschild,...

  13. The theoretical justification of civil service professional space management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. M. Terentiev

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The article develops the basic theoretical principles concerning the practical aspects of a civil service professional space. Development of the theoretical foundations of civil service professional space management provides for Public Administration new, more comprehensive methodological tools for adequately analysis and management of both social and professional processes in the public service, and ongoing process in the subspaces, fields and environments of all professions. Civil service professional space defines the main parameters and directions of public service, and professional environment of public authorities. As a space of common activity it requires special development and management. The author describes the content of functions for civil service professional space management, and provides appropriate practical recommendations. It is concluded that the civil service professional space should be the top point for analysis, forecasting, planning, implementation and decision-making in the civil service management in Ukraine.

  14. Human Resource Management in Professional Services Firms: Too Good to be True?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bévort, Frans; Poulfelt, Flemming

    2015-01-01

    ? This paper analyzes the ways HR specialists and PSF managers/partners differ in their understanding of organizations and their management. The analysis supports the argument that, while HR specialists and the discipline of HRM are governed by bureaucratic logic in their approach to management, PSF managers...... of institutional logics to HRM practice in PSFs. The paper builds on interviews with five HR managers who have held positions in PSFs, as well as a longitudinal case study of PSF managers in one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms. The paper offers a number of tentative proposals around how HRM and PSFs might...... transcend the described gulf between the two approaches to management....

  15. When Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Collaborations Co-Occur

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schleimer, Stephanie Christine; Sculman, Arthur D.

    2011-01-01

    There is evidence that intra-firm collaboration and inter-firm collaboration are important for new service development (NSD) and new product development (NPD) success. However, evidence of the contributions of each to innovative outcomes is inconsistent. This inconsistency is associated with the ...

  16. Networking quality and trust in professional services

    OpenAIRE

    Toryanto, Agustinus A.; Hasyim

    2017-01-01

    This study attempts to offer an outward-looking insight of the extent the knowledge management and value creation developed within professional organizations that is perceived to be able to influence networking behaviors and organizational performance. By using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with AMOS, and conducting survey with non-probability sampling techniques of 300 law firms in several cities in Indonesia, the study proposed the networking capability as the mediating variable of...

  17. Leadership styles of service professionals aiding women of abuse: enhancing service delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haeseler, Lisa Ann

    2013-01-01

    Leadership styles of service professionals--including social workers and teachers--in the area of family abuse were investigated. Leadership characteristics of the professionals were measured by their responses to a survey. Results indicated that the interviewed service professionals demonstrated productive leadership traits. Study findings are congruent with leadership styles described in the research. Holistic and collaborative services are required to enhance care for women of abuse, as their needs are multifaceted and complex. Specific leadership styles promote better care for women; leaders need to collaboratively initiate and deliver more interdisciplinary and unified service.

  18. Service delivery innovation architecture: An empirical study of antecedents and outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajeev Verma

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The research examines service delivery innovation architecture and its role in achieving sustainable competitive advantage of firms. The study develops and empirically examines an antecedent based model of service delivery innovation. We collected data from 203 service sector professionals working in Mexican financial and information technology firms, and tested the proposed relationship. Further, the study investigates the moderating role of customer orientation on innovation driven performance outcomes. Results show that customer orientation strengthens the service delivery–performance relationship. This paper aims to contribute to the strategic planning of service firms by guiding their resource allocation to ensure sustainable growth.

  19. Gibrat's Law and the Firm Size / Firm Growth Relationship in Italian Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R. Piergiovanni; E. Santarelli (Enrico); L. Klomp (Luuk); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    2002-01-01

    textabstractSeveral surveys on intra-industry dynamics have recently reached the conclusion from a large body of evidence that Gibrat's Law does not hold, i.e., the main finding is that firm growth decreases with firm size. However, almost all of these studies have been based on manufacturing. In

  20. 45 CFR 1158.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... advice and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1158.205... Own Employees § 1158.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  1. 7 CFR 3018.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 3018.205 Section....205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in...

  2. 7 CFR 3018.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 3018.300 Section... Employees § 3018.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated...

  3. 49 CFR 20.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 20.300... Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 20.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  4. 20 CFR 438.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... advice and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 438.205... Own Employees § 438.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  5. A path-theoretical investigation of the persistence of extra-long working hours in a management consulting firm

    OpenAIRE

    Blagoev, Blagoy

    2016-01-01

    This thesis explores the reasons for the persistence of the regime of long working hours and constant availability in professional service firms. Recently, this working time regime has become a central issue for many firms, as new generations of employees demand more work-life balance and flexibility provisions from their employers. However, empirical studies indicate that these firms’ efforts to implement various flexibility initiatives often fail or, in some cases, even seem to reinforce th...

  6. Adequacy of core knowledge and soft skills in the performance of professional employees of real estate firms in Nigeria

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oladokun, S.O.; Gbadegesin, J.T.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose – Real estate professionals are vital resources to the property firms and the industry atlarge. Employees’ skills, knowledge and competence contribute in great measure to organisation’s business performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the adequacy ofcore knowledge and soft

  7. 6 CFR 9.15 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 6 Domestic Security 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 9.15... LOBBYING Activities by Own Employees § 9.15 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the... Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement if payment is for professional or technical...

  8. 45 CFR 1158.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a legal... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1158.300... Other Than Own Employees § 1158.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use...

  9. 10 CFR 601.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 601.300 Section 601... Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 601.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  10. 22 CFR 311.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Professional and technical services. 311.205... § 311.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in...

  11. 45 CFR 1168.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1168.300... Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 1168.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  12. 22 CFR 138.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 138.300... Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 138.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  13. 22 CFR 519.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Professional and technical services. 519.300... by Other Than Own Employees § 519.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the...

  14. 22 CFR 227.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 227.300... Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 227.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  15. 20 CFR 438.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 438.300... Other Than Own Employees § 438.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use...

  16. 34 CFR 82.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... and analysis directly applying any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting or a... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Professional and technical services. 82.300 Section 82... by Other Than Own Employees § 82.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the...

  17. Impact of firm-level factors and market entry mode on performance: A study of service MNCs in an emerging economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Acheampong

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The study examined the market entry strategies of multinational services companies into Ghana’s service sector and the linkages to firm level performance after entry. Literature was reviewed on market entry strategies, internationalisation, globalisation of service firms and resource-based theory. The study adopted a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in this study. The qualitative approach was for deeper enquiry and quantitative for empirical testing. The study found that firm specific factors affect the market entry strategy while the entry strategy also affects performance after it enters the market. Home country factors and the features of services are also seen to moderate on the effects mentioned. Respondents also indicated that the features of services were an industry wide issue not so much consideration is given to it.

  18. Marketing the professional services of the dietitian.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenberg, J G

    1986-01-01

    Professionals are beginning to realize that a good service does not necessarily sell itself and that active strategic marketing is often needed. It is no longer sufficient for a dietitian to be up-to-date and provide high quality services; cost effectiveness of sound nutrition must be demonstrated and the services of the dietitian aggressively marketed. A strategic market plan based on an assessment of opportunities and capabilities should be developed and continuously adjusted. This article discusses the steps in strategic market planning with practical examples for the dietitian. Dietitians should examine the marketing strategies being implemented by other professional groups since many can be adapted to marketing nutrition services. There exists much opportunity and unprecedented challenges for all dietitians, calling for creativity, innovation, and professionalism.

  19. 29 CFR 93.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Professional and technical services. 93.205 Section 93.205... Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 93.100 (a...

  20. 39 CFR 281.1 - Notification of firm mailers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Notification of firm mailers. 281.1 Section 281.1 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION FIRM MAILINGS DAMAGED OR DESTROYED THROUGH TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENTS OR CATASTROPHES § 281.1 Notification of firm mailers. Whenever...

  1. Resource based view of the firm: measures of reputation among health service-sector businesses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Alan D

    2008-01-01

    Application of the strategic leverage of Resource Based View of the Firm (RBV) directly advocates that a company's competitive advantage is derived from its ability to assemble and exploit an appropriate combination of resources (both tangible and intangible assets). The three companies that were selected were Pittsburgh-based companies that were within relatively easy access, representing healthcare service-related industries, and can be reviewed for the principles of the RBV. The particular firms represented a variety of establishments and included Baptist Homes (a long-term care facility), University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)(a provider of hospital and other health services), and GlaxoSmithKline, Consumer Healthcare, North America (GSK-CHNA)(a global provider of healthcare products and services). Through the case studies, it was found that not all intangible assets are strategic, and by extension, not all measures of reputation are strategic either. For an intangible asset to be considered strategic, in this case reputation, it must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable.

  2. ASSESSING THE NON-FINANCIAL PREDICTORS OF THE SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF YOUNG FIRMS IN THE NETHERLANDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip VERGAUWEN

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the Lussier (1995 success and failure prediction model is improved and tested on asample of Dutch firms. Besides clearly defining a specific business plan, work experience is added asa variable, and contrary to previous researches, the discrete variables are dealt with appropriate thistime. The results of this improved model show that product/service timing, planning, managementexperience, knowledge of marketing, economic timing, professional advice, and having a businesspartner are predictors of success and failure for young firms in the Netherlands.

  3. The Contribution of Knowledge Intensive Business Services to Successful Innovation in Manufacturing Firms - The Importance of Geographical Proximity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Drejer, Ina; Vinding, Anker Lund

    2003-01-01

    The present paper addresses the importance of geographical location of firms in relation to processes of transfer and creation of knowledge with respect to product development, or more specific in terms of firm access to external knowledge provided by knowledge intensive service providers. The an...

  4. Towards radical innovation in knowledge-intensive service firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.B.M. van Poucke (Anna)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractWhat is happening in the field of knowledge-intensive work and professional services? Why do knowledge workers have to work harder to prove their added value and significance on the basis of the knowledge they hold? Due to globalization and explosive growth in the use of information

  5. 25 CFR 36.82 - May behavioral health professional(s) provide services during the academic school day?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ...) provide services during the academic school day? Behavioral health professional(s) must average at least... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false May behavioral health professional(s) provide services during the academic school day? 36.82 Section 36.82 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

  6. 7 CFR 51.893 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.893 Section 51.893 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Table Grapes (European or Vinifera Type) 1 Definitions § 51.893 Firm. Firm means...

  7. Do family CEOs impact firm value? An empirical analysis of Indian family firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lakshmi Kalyanaraman

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the association between family CEO and firm value on a sample of 288 family firms during the 6-year period, from 2009 to 2014. The sample is drawn from domestic private companies belonging to non-financial services sector included in the NSE CNX 500 index. We find that family CEO has no significant association with firm value, when the family is not the majority shareholder. Family shareholding has positive relationship with firm value, but does not moderate the relationship of family CEO with firm value. We show that family CEO and firm value are negatively related when the family does not hold majority equity stake in the family firm. While family shareholding has no significant relationship with firm value, it has a negative interaction effect on the relationship between family CEO and firm value. The research findings have important implications for family firms as well as the nonfamily investors in the family firms.

  8. Moving forward with service dominant logic: Exploring the strategic orientations of a service-centred view of the firm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paladino, A.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Service Dominant Logic (SDL has been the subject of great conceptual debate over the past years. We are now clearly at a crossroad where application is required to cement its practical relevance to the organization and its performance. This paper extends the SDL debate, as founded by Vargo and Lusch (2004, by analyzing it through the lens of strategic orientations, in combination with a service-centred view of the firm. In doing so, the purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly we aim to identify the existence of common characteristics between SDL and existing conceptual orientations. Secondly, we go further to explore the conceptual relationships between these identified and empirically evaluated strategic orientations (market, resource, learning, service, and entrepreneurship orientations and SDL theory. We proffer that a service-centred view of the firm requires the deployment of key facets of all of these strategic orientations. In this way, we argue that a SD orientation emerges that is in essence a strategic orientation combination. In doing so, we develop a comprehensive framework and lay the foundation for the initiation of empirical work on SDL to further enrich the work initiated by Vargo and Lusch (2004. The paper concludes with a discussion of this framework, its implications for scholars and practitioners and areas for future research.

  9. 7 CFR 51.1551 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1551 Section 51.1551 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Potatoes 1 Definitions § 51.1551 Firm. Firm means that the potato is not shriveled...

  10. 7 CFR 51.696 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.696 Section 51.696 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... § 51.696 Firm. Firm as applied to common oranges, means that the fruit is not soft, or noticeably...

  11. 7 CFR 51.1353 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1353 Section 51.1353 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Pears for Canning Definitions § 51.1353 Firm. Firm means that the pear is fairly solid and...

  12. 7 CFR 51.1006 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1006 Section 51.1006 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1006 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft or...

  13. 7 CFR 51.1824 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1824 Section 51.1824 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1824 Firm. Firm means that the flesh is not soft...

  14. 7 CFR 51.765 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.765 Section 51.765 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Grapefruit Definitions § 51.765 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft...

  15. 7 CFR 51.634 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.634 Section 51.634 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing...) Definitions § 51.634 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft, or noticeably wilted or flabby, and the skin...

  16. 45 CFR 1230.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... technical discipline. For example, drafting or a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1230.300....300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in...

  17. 15 CFR 28.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., drafting or a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services... ON LOBBYING Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 28.300 Professional and technical services. (a...

  18. 24 CFR 87.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services... and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 87.100 (a), does...

  19. 43 CFR 18.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ..., drafting or a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 18... LOBBYING Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 18.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The...

  20. 49 CFR 20.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 20.205... Activities by Own Employees § 20.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  1. 22 CFR 519.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 22 Foreign Relations 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Professional and technical services. 519.205... by Own Employees § 519.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  2. 6 CFR 9.23 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 6 Domestic Security 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 9.23... LOBBYING Activities by Other than Own Employees § 9.23 Professional and technical services. (a) The...

  3. The innovative behaviour of tourism firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sundbo, Jon; Orfila-Sintes, Francina; Sørensen, Flemming

    2007-01-01

    Tourism firms operate in a competitive sector where innovating is often a condition for survival. This article presents a theoretical framework for understanding tourist firms’ innovative behaviour and innovation systems in tourism. The innovativeness of tourism firms and its determinants...... systems. The article suggests that large size, professionalism, but also entrepreneurship among small tourism firms are important determinants of innovation. Varied innovation networks are another determinant as are supportive innovation systems. These determinants favour Spanish firms, which are more...... are investigated by analysing quantitative as well as qualitative data comparing Spain and Denmark. A taxonomy of tourism firms is suggested and the firms’ characteristics which influence their innovativeness are presented. Additionally, the role of innovation networks is discussed, as is the role of innovation...

  4. 10 CFR 601.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 601.205 Section 601... Activities by Own Employees § 601.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  5. 45 CFR 1168.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1168.205... Activities by Own Employees § 1168.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  6. 22 CFR 138.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 138.205... Activities by Own Employees § 138.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  7. 32 CFR 28.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Professional and technical services. 28.300... Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 28.100 (a...

  8. 34 CFR 82.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Professional and technical services. 82.205 Section 82... by Own Employees § 82.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  9. 22 CFR 227.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ..., drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer is allowable. Similarly, technical... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Professional and technical services. 227.205... Activities by Own Employees § 227.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  10. 12 CFR 411.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 411.300 Section 411.300 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES NEW RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 411.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on...

  11. 12 CFR 411.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Professional and technical services. 411.205 Section 411.205 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES NEW RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING Activities by Own Employees § 411.205 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of...

  12. Collaborative Communities of Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøllingtoft, Anne; Müller, Sabine; Ulhøi, John Parm

    2011-01-01

    and developing strategic initiatives that aid the community as a whole. We discuss the facilitator role of the shared services provider, contrasting it with the coordinator role found in other multi-firm organizations, and we show how shared services providers function by describing three examples...... of collaborative communities of firms from different sectors: the U.S.-based Blade.org and two Denmark-based communities, the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis and MG50. Implications for the theory and practice of organization design are discussed....

  13. 17 CFR 249.510 - Form 10-M, consent to service of process by a nonresident general partner of a broker-dealer firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ..., consent to service of process by a nonresident general partner of a broker-dealer firm. This form shall be... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Form 10-M, consent to service of process by a nonresident general partner of a broker-dealer firm. 249.510 Section 249.510...

  14. Servitization in Industrial Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hsuan, Juliana; Frandsen, Thomas; Raja, Jawwad

    This booklet outlines the breadth and depth of services offered by Danish manufacturing companies, aiming to provide a better understanding of the servitization landscape in Denmark. A total of 1,103 company websites have been checked against 16 service categories. Of these, 939 companies were...... analyzed in more detail, for example with regard to the types of services offered, company size, industry representation, turnover and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). The analysis presented in this booklet may inspire Danish firms and help them, in their servitization journeys, to position...... themselves in relation to other companies in similar or related industries. In setting out a brief overview of the overall industrial service landscape in Denmark, the following is highlighted: - The extent to which Danish industrial firms are communicating service offerings through their websites...

  15. 7 CFR 51.1831 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.1831 Section 51.1831 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1831 Fairly firm. Fairly firm means that the...

  16. 7 CFR 51.774 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.774 Section 51.774 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Grapefruit Definitions § 51.774 Fairly firm. Fairly firm means that the...

  17. 7 CFR 51.2843 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.2843 Section 51.2843 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Fairly firm. Fairly firm means that the onion may yield slightly to moderate pressure but is not...

  18. 7 CFR 51.3204 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.3204 Section 51.3204 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Bermuda-Granex-Grano Type Onions Definitions § 51.3204 Fairly firm. Fairly firm...

  19. 7 CFR 51.1167 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.1167 Section 51.1167 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Oranges and Tangelos Definitions § 51.1167 Fairly firm. Fairly firm as...

  20. 7 CFR 51.705 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.705 Section 51.705 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... § 51.705 Fairly firm. Fairly firm as applied to common oranges, means that the fruit may be slightly...

  1. 7 CFR 51.1012 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.1012 Section 51.1012 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1012 Fairly firm. Fairly firm means that the fruit is...

  2. Shared vision promotes family firm performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neff, John E

    2015-01-01

    A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS), Role Clarity (RCL), Confidence in Management (CON), and Professional Networking (OLN) that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR), the functional integrity of the family itself, exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC) that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

  3. Shared Vision promotes family firm performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Edward Neff

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS, Role Clarity (RCL, Confidence in Management (CON, and Professional Networking (OLN that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR, the functional integrity of the family itself exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

  4. Constructing Business Models around Identity : Tensions in Architectural Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bos-De Vos, M.; Volker, L.; Chan, Paul W; Neilson, Christopher J.

    2017-01-01

    Architectural firms experience difficulties to establish healthy and sustainable business models as they have to reconcile the often-competing value systems that they are based upon. Organizational members continuously negotiate professional values and beliefs with the firm's commercial goals,

  5. 7 CFR 51.643 - Fairly firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly firm. 51.643 Section 51.643 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing...) Definitions § 51.643 Fairly firm. Fairly firm means that the fruit may be slightly soft, but not bruised, and...

  6. 44 CFR 18.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical... Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 18.100 (a...

  7. Is Transfer of Training Related to Firm Performance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saks, Alan M.; Burke-Smalley, Lisa A.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap between micro-training research on the transfer of training and macro-training research on training and firm performance by testing the relationship between transfer of training and firm performance. Training and development professionals completed a survey about the training methods used in their…

  8. Governance of Clubs and Firms with Cultural Dimensions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Brink, J.R.; Ruys, P.H.M.; Semenov, R.

    1999-01-01

    The neoclassical way to cope with firms providing services, or with clubs procuring services, is restricted by the lack of institutional features. An institutional approach is introduced that requires a cooperative governance to realize the potential value-production by firms, or to realize the

  9. 45 CFR 604.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 604.205 Section 604.205 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION NEW RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING Activities by Own Employees § 604.205 Professional and technical...

  10. On the Relationship between Human Capital and Firm Performanc

    OpenAIRE

    Dinh Thi Thanh Binh; Le Minh Ngoc; Nguyen Huu Thinh; Bui Cao Khai; Tran Duy Hung; Nguyen Viet Duong; Le Thi Thu Trang

    2013-01-01

    This paper applies the ordinary least square regression model to estimate the effects of the human capital on the business performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. We exploit the cross-sectional data of SMEs for the year 2009. The estimated results show that basic and professional education of the firm owner are important factors affecting the success of the firm. Further, experience in owning a business before can help the firm owners enhance their performance. Finally,...

  11. 45 CFR 604.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 604.300 Section 604.300 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION NEW RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING Activities by Other Than Own Employees § 604.300 Professional and...

  12. Appraisal of Information Technology Requirements in Quantity Surveying Firms in Northern Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. U. Datti

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available A worrisome trend in the adoption of emerging technologies for competitive advantages and improved productivities by QSs have been observed in that there is overwhelming evidence that there is an increasing usage of IT in quantity surveying firms but little or no noticeable benefits on the practice. It however becomes pertinent to ask then, that despite the increases adoption of computing and telecommunication technologies, why isn’t there any noticeable change due to the impacts of IT in the Nigerian Construction Industry with particular reference to Quantity Surveying practices. The study appraised the requirement of IT in quantity surveying practice in Nigeria. It examined the position of IT in quantity surveying firms in terms of its requirement and analyzed IT requirements-based problem constraining quantity surveying firms. The study is a survey research designed to obtain information on information technology in QS firms. A self-administered questionnaire was employed to quantity surveyors in consulting firms for responses. Responses were returned and analyzed using severity index and later ranked in order of importance. The results indicate a high level of computerization of professional services among the firms with greater number of their computers being networked. However, despite high level of networking of available computers, sharing of printers and other scarce tools/technologies are not established. Compared to developed countries such as Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and USA, the position of IT requirements in QS firms in Nigeria can be said to be at basic level with organization possessing and applying basic IT tools and technologies (e.g. scanners, digital cameras, dvd/cd-rom, general purpose software, QS application software, chat programs etc. in their daily operation and processes. While most firms are progressing toward intermediate level by possessing intermediate IT tools and technologies (e.g. teleconferencing

  13. The adoption of Firm-Hosted Online Communities: an empirical investigation into the role of service quality and social interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corkindale, David; Ram, Jiwat; Chen, Howard

    2018-02-01

    Online communities are a powerful device for collaborative creativity and innovation. Developments in Web 2.0 technologies have given rise to such interactions through firm-hosted online communities (FHOCs) - firm-run online information services that also provide self-help to a community. We devise a model that seeks to explain the factors that encourage people to become members of a FHOC and test the model using structural equation modelling based on data collected from 511 users of a FHOC. The study finds that: (a) an understanding of Perceived Usefulness (PU) plays a mediating role between Behavioural Intention (BI) to adopt FHOC and Trust, as well as Interface design; b) Networking among users has an indirect effect on BI; and c) design of the Interface has a direct influence on BI. A managerial implication is that Networking plays a role in the way supplementary services, including blogs and discussion forums, are perceived. Theoretically, when service quality is decomposed into components such as core services and supplementary services, it also positively influences PU.

  14. The Dilemma of Service Productivity and Service Innovation: An Empirical Exploration in Financial Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aspara, Jaakko; Klein, Jan F; Luo, Xueming; Tikkanen, Henrikki

    2018-05-01

    We conduct a systematic exploratory investigation of the effects of firms' existing service productivity on the success of their new service innovations. Although previous research extensively addresses service productivity and service innovation, this is the first empirical study that bridges the gap between these two research streams and examines the links between the two concepts. Based on a comprehensive data set of new service introductions in a financial services market over a 14-year period, we empirically explore the relationship between a firm's existing service productivity and the firm's success in introducing new services to the market. The results unveil a fundamental service productivity-service innovation dilemma: Being productive in existing services increases a firm's willingness to innovate new services proactively but decreases the firm's capabilities of bringing these services to the market successfully. We provide specific insights into the mechanism underlying the complex relationship between a firm's productivity in existing services, its innovation proactivity, and its service innovation success. For managers, we not only unpack and elucidate this dilemma but also demonstrate that a focused customer scope and growth market conditions may enable firms to mitigate the dilemma and successfully pursue service productivity and service innovation simultaneously.

  15. Professional International Service Learning as an International Service Learning Opportunity Appropriate for Graduate or Professional Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lightfoot, Elizabeth; Lee, Hee Yun

    2015-01-01

    Graduate and professional schools are increasingly using short-term international study abroad courses as one way for internationalizing their curriculum. While international service learning can be a means for improving students' engagement in international learning experiences and providing a structure for learning, it is difficult to design…

  16. Outsourcing the law firm library: the UK experience

    OpenAIRE

    Brown, Fiona

    2017-01-01

    Since 2009, a number of large and leading UK law firms have outsourced their in-house law library and research service to outsource service providers. Integreon, the leading provider of these services in the UK, commenced operations in Australia in 2011. Since that time, a number of other providers of outsourced law library and legal research services have attracted a number of top-tier Australian law firms as clients. These outsource providers are not currently providing law library and lega...

  17. Sustainability of financial professional services through marketing strategy- an empirical research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dutescu Adriana

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available All types of companies providing financial professional services use, formally or informally, marketing principles and tools for the development of their business, in order to straighten their sustainability. By the end of 2009, in Romania, the financial professional services market has had a relatively constant and predictable development, the mandatory nature of these services being their most important promoter. This article presents the results of a survey aimed to highlight the impact of different marketing principles, techniques and tools on the sustainability of financial professional services in accounting and audit nowadays. The research is based on a questionnaire circulated to professionals with the relevant expertise in the financial-accounting domain. The number of responses obtained was considered meaningful, allowing the research results to be extrapolated to the entire studied population. The respondents, whose anonymity was respected, had multiple choice answers for most of the questions and also having the option of opened answers. The main findings of our research are a starting point in providing solutions to improve the sustainability of financial professional services through a coherent, innovative and effective marketing strategy.

  18. Corruption and firm behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Sandra Sequeira; Simeon Djankov

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates how corruption affects firrm behavior. Firms can engage in two types of corruption when seeking a public service: cost-reducing "collusive" corruption and cost increasing "coercive" corruption. Using an original and unusually rich dataset on bribe payments at ports matched to firrm-level data, we observe how firms respond to each type of corruption by adjusting their shipping and sourcing strategies. "Collusive" corruption is associated with higher usage of the corrupt...

  19. 44 CFR 18.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... technical discipline. For example, drafting or a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical... § 18.300 Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in...

  20. Building Strong Customer Relationships through Brand Orientation in Small Service Firms: An Empirical Investigation

    OpenAIRE

    Chovancová, Miloslava; Osakwe, Christian Nedu; Ogbonna, Benson U.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between the adoption of a brand orientation strategy and customer relationship performance in a small service firm setting. More specifically, in addition to investigating the direct link between brand orientation and customer relationship performance, we further examine the moderating effects of entrepreneurial orientation and perceived competitive intensity on the empirical link between brand orientation and customer relat...

  1. 45 CFR 1230.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Professional and technical services. 1230.205 Section 1230.205 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE NEW RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING Activities by Own Employees § 1230.205...

  2. Professional services contract manager development and certification strategy : spr 696 : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-27

    SCDOT hires many consultants to provide professional services in support of its planning, design, construction and : maintenance projects. SCDOT personnel responsible for procuring and administering these professional service : contracts, especially ...

  3. Building Strong Customer Relationships through Brand Orientation in Small Service Firms: An Empirical Investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miloslava Chovancová

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between the adoption of a brand orientation strategy and customer relationship performance in a small service firm setting. More specifically, in addition to investigating the direct link between brand orientation and customer relationship performance, we further examine the moderating effects of entrepreneurial orientation and perceived competitive intensity on the empirical link between brand orientation and customer relationship performance. To test the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual framework, 105 usable structured questionnaires were collected from small service firms and the data were further analyzed using a hierarchical, moderated regression analysis. The results affirm the positive link between brand orientation and customer relationship performance. Moreover, entrepreneurial orientation is found to strengthen the brand orientation-customer relationship performance link. However, our results show that competitive intensity does not significantly moderate the brand orientation-customer relationship performance link. Nonetheless, it is highly suggestive that perceived competitive intensity is a direct predictor of customer relationship performance. In terms of the practical significance of the overall research model, the effect size is fairly large (Cohen’s f 2 = 0.33. The research implications and directions for future research are further highlighted in the penultimate section of the paper.

  4. Communication skills of healthcare professionals in paediatric diabetes services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hambly, H; Robling, M; Crowne, E; Hood, K; Gregory, J W

    2009-05-01

    To identify training needs in communication skills and to assess training preferences of staff working in paediatric diabetes services, which will inform the development of a learning programme in behaviour change counselling for healthcare professionals. Three hundred and eighty-five staff in 67 UK paediatric diabetes services were sent questionnaires to determine their previous communication skills training, to measure their self-reported view of the importance of and confidence in addressing common clinical problems and to assess the perceived feasibility of training methods to improve skillfulness. Two hundred and sixty-six questionnaires (69%) were returned from 65 services. Sixteen per cent of doctors, nurses and dietitians reported no previous training in communication skills and 47% had received no training since graduating. Respondents rated psychosocial issues as more important to address than medical issues within consultations (t = 8.93, P important component of consultations involving young people with diabetes, but healthcare professionals find it easier to address medical issues. This represents a key training need in communication skills for diabetes professionals. The survey will inform the development of a tailored learning programme for health professionals in UK paediatric diabetes clinics.

  5. How do Managerial Successions Shape Corporate Financial Policies in Family Firms?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Amore, Mario Daniele; Minichilli, Alessandro; Corbetta, Guido

    2011-01-01

    Despite recent evidence on the importance of chief executive officer (CEO) successions in family firms, we still know little about the differences in corporate strategies entailed by family and professional managers around transition. We investigate the consequences of managerial successions...... financing: the increase in debt is particularly pronounced for young firms, firms with a high level of investment, and firms in which the controlling family maintains a dominant representation on the board of directors. Examining the importance of financial flexibility, we find that the increase in debt...

  6. The case of sustainability assurance: constructing a new assurance service

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O'Dwyer, B.

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents an in-depth longitudinal case study examining the processes through which practitioners in two Big 4 professional services firms have attempted to construct sustainability assurance (independent assurance on sustainability reports). Power’s (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003) theorization

  7. Do Services differ from Manufacturing? The Post-Entry Performance of Firms in Dutch Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.B. Audretsch (David); L. Klomp (Luuk); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    1998-01-01

    textabstractA large literature has emerged focusing on the post-entry performance of firms and, in particular, on the links between firm growth, survival, size and age. While these studies have resulted in findings that are sufficiently consistent as to constitute Stylized Facts, virtually all of

  8. Building an International Financial Services Firm: How to design and execute cross-border strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Markus Venzin

    2009-01-01

    A new era of global banking and insurance is emerging, with leading banks eager to serve international markets. This book explores the issues that arise for banks in their strategic choices as they move into these new international markets. Building an International Financial Services Firm challenges conventional assumptions from the international management literature on topics such as the limits of globalization, the importance of cultural and institutional distance, the nature of economies...

  9. Professionals' views on mental health service users' education: challenges and support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieminen, I; Kaunonen, M

    2017-02-01

    WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Mental health service users (MHSUs) may experience disruptions in their education. However, education has been shown to have a positive influence on their recovery, potentially offering them broader employment opportunities. The literature suggests that providing support for MHSUs in their educational efforts may be beneficial and is wished for by the service users themselves. However, there is a lack of mental health professionals' views on the topic in the setting of a community mental health centre. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO THE EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: In the perception of mental health professionals, the predominance of disease in the life of MHSUs and their marginalization may form barriers to their success in education. Professionals can support MHSUs in their educational efforts by strengthening the MHSUs' internal resources and creating a supportive environment with professional expertise available. A service user-centred education might further help MHSUs to achieve their educational goals. Our findings confirm previous knowledge of a recovery-oriented approach to supporting MHSUs' education. This study explored the topic from the professionals' perspective in the context of community mental health centres, which is a fresh view in the research literature. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: The findings suggest which types of support professionals perceive to be required for MHSUs to advance their studies. Knowledge of adequate forms of support can be applied in the mental health nursing practice to develop support measures for service users to advance in their studies. All levels of the community mental health centres should be aware of and adopt a recovery-oriented approach. MHSUs and professionals need to have a shared opinion on the definition of recovery orientation. This requires mutual discussion and the more active involvement of MHSUs in the design of their own rehabilitation process. Introduction Studies show

  10. Supply-demand gap between small exporting creative firms and professional service providers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Y. Nauwelaerts; Iris Hollaender; M. Cools

    2010-01-01

    Creative SMEs are heavily focusing on the creating process designing new products and services. Consequently, their managers tend to loose contact with crucial management issues. Especially their knowledge of the financial aspects of their business can be so limited that they fail to connect with

  11. 38 CFR 45.300 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... technical discipline. For example, drafting or a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by a lawyer... technical services. 45.300 Section 45.300 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS... Professional and technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 45.100(a), does...

  12. An empirical study of the role of the corporate HR function in global talent management in professional and financial service firms in the global financial crisis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sparrow, P.; Farndale, E.; Scullion, H.

    2013-01-01

    This study presents an empirical exploration of a theory-driven framework of corporate human resource (CHR) roles in global talent management (GTM). Specifically, it expands our knowledge of the process of GTM in two sectors: financial and professional services. Based on in-depth interview data from

  13. Barriers to innovation within large financial services firms : An in-depth study into disruptive and radical innovation projects at a bank

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Das, P.A.C.; Verburg, R.M.; Verbraeck, A.; Bonebakker, Lodewijk

    2017-01-01

    Purpose - Since the 2008 financial crisis, the financial industry is in need of innovation to increase stability and improve quality of services. The purpose of this paper is to explore internal barriers that influence the effectiveness of projects within large financial services firms focussing on

  14. 32 CFR 28.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid or proposal by... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Professional and technical services. 28.205... technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 28.100 (a), does not apply in...

  15. The websites adoption in the Spanish agrifood firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    López-Becerra, E.I.; Arcas-Lario, Francisco Alcon N.

    2016-01-01

    Currently, the use of websites in the firms of the Spanish agrifood sector has not become widespread despite the possible benefits to be derived from their adequate integration and management within the firms. Among these advantages, the increase in the quality of the services offered and the improvement in the relations with their stakeholders should be highlighted. In this context, the objective of the present work is to determine to what extent websites are used by firms in the agrifood sector of Spain, analysing the background which explains why they are adopted and the consequences of introducing them. To do so, a theoretical framework is posed which allows these factors to be identified, and an empirical study is carried out with Spanish agrifood firms. The results of the work indicate that the adoption of websites will be favoured when the directors of the firm are higher qualified, the firm is bigger in size, the firm’s function is distribution, and when the relative advantage and technology compatibility is perceived, among others. Technology adoption consequences analysis suggests that the benefits of adoption are related with improving the relationships with suppliers, customers, owning partners and, in general, the quality of the services offered by the firm.

  16. The websites adoption in the Spanish agrifood firms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    López-Becerra, E.I.; Arcas-Lario, Francisco Alcon N.

    2016-07-01

    Currently, the use of websites in the firms of the Spanish agrifood sector has not become widespread despite the possible benefits to be derived from their adequate integration and management within the firms. Among these advantages, the increase in the quality of the services offered and the improvement in the relations with their stakeholders should be highlighted. In this context, the objective of the present work is to determine to what extent websites are used by firms in the agrifood sector of Spain, analysing the background which explains why they are adopted and the consequences of introducing them. To do so, a theoretical framework is posed which allows these factors to be identified, and an empirical study is carried out with Spanish agrifood firms. The results of the work indicate that the adoption of websites will be favoured when the directors of the firm are higher qualified, the firm is bigger in size, the firm’s function is distribution, and when the relative advantage and technology compatibility is perceived, among others. Technology adoption consequences analysis suggests that the benefits of adoption are related with improving the relationships with suppliers, customers, owning partners and, in general, the quality of the services offered by the firm.

  17. Information Technology Managerial Capabilities and Customer Service Performance Among Insurance Firms in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunday Adekunle Aduloju

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The potential of information technology (IT as an enabler of customer service process continues to generate interest, which is reflected in the large number of IT-related studies. In spite of the significant progress made in this area, research findings have been mixed and inconsistent. Also, the underlying mechanisms by which IT can affect customer service process remain underexamined. The aim of this study was to find out whether IT investments and IT managerial capabilities can account for variations in customer service performance among insurance companies in Nigeria. Using survey research design, the three formulated hypotheses were tested with data gathered from 402 staff at the managerial level drawn from the selected insurance companies in Nigeria, which have been among the largest investors in IT, and where customer service is widely perceived as strategically important. Responses were analyzed using linear regression. A major finding of this study is that IT is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for sustainable competitive advantage in customer service. Results show that the interaction of IT investments and tacit, path-dependent, and firm-specific IT managerial capabilities significantly explains variations in customer service performance. Consequently, this study recommends that to realize IT-business value, investments in IT should be accompanied by building and developing IT managerial capabilities.

  18. The Management of Law Firms Using Business Process Management, Document Management and Web Services Integration

    OpenAIRE

    Roxana Maria Petculet

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to present the technical solution implemented in the present context for the management of law firms. The informational system consists of the automation of business processes using a BPM engine and electronic archiving using a DMS. The communication between the two modules is made by invoking web services. The whole system integrates modules like: project management, contract management, invoice management, collection, CRM, reporting.

  19. What professionals consider when designing a modular service architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broekhuis, Manda; van Offenbeek, Marjolein; van der Laan, Monique

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Purpose: The paper explores how functional and appropriateness arguments influence the adoption of modularity principles during the design of a professional service architecture. Design: Action design research was conducted to examine the design process of a modular service architecture for

  20. Less wireless costs : optimizing firms aim to cut wireless service bills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahony, J.

    2006-01-01

    The Calgary-based firm Alliance is offering optimized billing to oil companies, many of which spend more than $100,000 a month on wireless services for devices such as cellular telephones, pagers and Blackberries. In particular, Alliance is focusing on cutting the cost of wireless for corporate clients by analyzing client-usage patterns and choosing the most cost-efficient rate plans offered by the telecoms. Alliance suggests that do-it-yourself optimization is too complex for the average user, given the very large choice of rate plans. Using algorithms, Alliance software goes through all the wireless service contract options from the telecoms to choose the best plan for a company's needs. Optimizers claim their clients will see significant savings on wireless, in the order to 20 to 50 per cent. This article presented a brief case history of a successful optimization plan for Nabors Canada LP. Alliance allows its clients to view their billing information on their web-based server. Call records can be viewed by device or company division. 1 ref., 1 fig

  1. Conceptions of mobile emergency service health professionals concerning psychiatric emergency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Bonfada

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Under the Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation, assistance to psychological seizures represents a challenge for the emergency services. Therefore, the objective of this paper is the analysis of the conceptions of health professionals who work at the Mobile Emergency Service in Natal on psychiatric emergency care. This paper is, then, a qualitative study that used interviews as tools for collecting information. By using thematic analysis, the speeches were grouped into three categories: the stigma on patients and the professionals' fear of services interventions in psychiatric emergencies; having psychiatric emergencies regarded as harmful to patients and others' security; psychiatric emergencies being taken as patients' aggressiveness or severe depression. The data collected indicate that the interviewed professionals' ideas are supported by elements associated with the ideology that insanity implies social segregation and dangerousness. Thus, the survey prompted reflection on relevant issues to the process of psychiatric reformation implementation.

  2. Social and cultural capital in project marketing service firms: Danish architectural firms on the German market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skaates, Maria Anne; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Alajoutsijärvi, Kimmo

    2002-01-01

    This article analyses the marketing activities of three Danish architectural firms in Germany during the 1990s from a perspective that is new to project marketing, in that the Bourdivan concepts of social and cultural capital are applied to the offerings and activities of firms. In architecture...... provide support for our claim that the accumulation of social and cultural capital is crucial to acquiring architectural projects, while also indicating that cultural and social capital are internationally transferable to a limited extent only. This in turn suggests that national construction industries...

  3. Relationship Between Learning Orientation And Business Performance And The Moderating Effect Of Competitive Advantage: An Accounting Services Firms Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Louis Martinette; Alice Obenchain-Leeson; Gladys Gomez; Jessica Webb

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the influence of learning orientation on business performance (achievement of sales and profit objectives) in the context of pure service, specifically that of public accounting services firms. The conceptual framework used in this research has been drawn from marketing, finance, and organizational behavior theory. Specifically, relationships related to learning orientation, sources of competitive advantage, and business performance have been identified. This research ...

  4. Managing Relationship-driven Competence Dynamics in Professional Service Organisations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skaates, Maria Anne; Seppänen, Veikko

    2002-01-01

    Client relations play a major role in the competence development of professional service providers. However mutuality and particularity are also key concerns in providers' client relationships. Therefore four inter-linked frameworks for classifying relationship-related competence dynamics...... at the levels of the organisation, relationship, and network of relationships are presented. The frameworks are illustrated in a case concerning fault diagnosis software projects undertaken by Finnish contractual R&D provider VTT Electronics. Finally, suggestions are made concerning the use of the frameworks...... by managers of professional service organisations to develop an increased understanding of their own client relationship-specific competence dynamics....

  5. 48 CFR 36.607 - Release of information on firm selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... firm selection. 36.607 Section 36.607 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION... Services 36.607 Release of information on firm selection. (a) After final selection has taken place, the contracting officer may release information identifying only the architect-engineer firm with which a contract...

  6. Belgian firms visiting CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    FP Department

    2009-01-01

    25 – 26 MAY 2009 09.00 to 17.00 Monday 25 May 09.00 to 17.00 Tuesday 26 May Individual interviews will take place in technicians’ offices. The firms will contact relevant users/technicians but any user wishing to make contact with a particular firm is welcome to use the contact details which are available from each departmental secretariat or from the GS Department web pages here. List of Companies:Automation Services and Consulting BVBA Burrick NV, (PLC) Cissoid DB Engineering Design, Drafting & Services BVBA Entelec Control Systems GILLAM-Fei S.A. HPC ICSENSE IWT – Enterprise Europe Flanders Jema SA Mecasoft SA SA Polmans Rapid-Torc Resarm Engineering Plastics SA Sentera Europa NV SLC BVBA Stocker Industrie SA Technord Tecnubel Winlock BVBA For further information please contact Caroline Laignel (GS-DI 73722) or Karine Robert (GS-SEM-LS 74407).

  7. An IMP interaction approach to modelling business-to-business professional service quality: the case of Hong Kong consulting engineering service

    OpenAIRE

    Woo, Ka-shing

    2001-01-01

    In the domain of services marketing, the most researched area is in service quality. Since the pioneering stage of service quality research in the early 1980s, most of the studies have been conducted in the context of consumer services and consumer professional services. The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap in the existing literature to measure service quality of a particular business-to-business professional service industry (i.e., Hong Kong consulting engineering industry). I...

  8. Inter-firm and intra-firm efficiency measures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Silva, E.; Stefanou, S.

    2001-01-01

    Intra-firm efficiency involves computing a particular firm's efficiency degree over time relative to the firm-specific production frontier. Inter-firm efficiency reveals a particular firm's performance over time relative to the ``best practice frontier'' among the set of comparable firms. These

  9. Subcontracting relations and their effects on safety and security in two firms: SNCF and GrDF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ponnet, Marie

    2011-01-01

    Because of economical processes that tend to move the frontiers of firms salaried relations of uncertain status are found coexisting inside the very same working world. From a qualitative investigation mixing employees' interviews and observations made on SNCF and GrDF working sites our research offers to think about the relations linking subcontracting, maintenance, safety and security. Considering subcontracting as a particular way for professional bodies to be associated allows us to wonder about its effects within a same firm (the 'integrated' subcontracting) as much as between a principal and a provider. Our thesis shows that when change occurs inside the organization - like the creation of new committees of experts or the reorganizing of an old service - security and safety can be impacted because thus professional bodies tend to be reconfigured while modifications affect practices, professional identities and work division. The relations between subcontractors and principal are complicated and their consequences depend from the context they are placed in, determined by a combination of various characteristics such as the confidence level, the available time, the reputation, the position occupied by the subcontractor. Our investigation makes clear that there is no direct link between subcontracting, security and safety. Their effects, in spite of their reality, are submitted to the altering mediation of legal factors (related to economic national and European issues) and concern the working organization as well as the professional identities. (author)

  10. Benefits in behavioral health carve-out plans of Fortune 500 firms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merrick, E L; Garnick, D W; Horgan, C M; Goldin, D; Hodgkin, D; Sciegaj, M

    2001-07-01

    This study examined the prevalence and nature of behavioral health carve-out contracts among Fortune 500 firms in 1997. A survey was conducted of 498 companies that were listed as Fortune 500 firms in 1994 or 1995. A total of 336 firms (68 percent) responded to the survey. Univariate analyses were used to analyze prevalence, types, and amounts of covered services, cost sharing, and benefit limits. A total of 132 firms reported contracting with managed behavioral health organizations; 124 firms answered benefits questions about covered services, cost-sharing levels, and annual and lifetime limits. Most of the plans covered a broad range of services. Cost sharing was typically required, and for inpatient care it was often substantial. Fifteen percent of the firms offered mental health benefits that were below the limits defined in this study as minimal benefit levels, and 34 percent offered substance abuse treatment benefits that fell below minimal levels. The most generous mental health benefits and substance abuse treatment benefits, defined as no limits or a lifetime limit only of $1 million or more, were offered by 31 percent and 20 percent of the firms, respectively. The carve-out contracts of the Fortune 500 firms in this study typically covered a wide range of services, and the benefits appeared generous relative to those reported for other integrated and carve-out plans. However, these benefits generally did not reach the level of parity with typical medical benefits, nor did they fully protect enrollees from the risk of catastrophic expenditures.

  11. Drivers of relationships affecting B2B firms in an e-commerce environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Samanta

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The advent of the internet has created numerous opportunities for B2B marketing professionals to enhance current marketing practices, including electronic relationships. However, the investigation of e-relationships and the factors that influence e-relationships in an internet environment is scant. Further, there appears to be no investigation of this phenomenon within the context of Greek B2B Medium-sized firms (MSF. Τhe research problem investigated in this research is: “Which drivers in B2B e-commerce use affect inter-firm relationships in medium-sized B2B firms?”. A framework for B2B e-commerce relationships in a changing and globalized environment was synthesised and integrated with the literature about relationship marketing to arrive at the following research issues: “How do relationship marketing drivers affect the management of B2B e-relationships?”. An explanatory quantitative research approach was used and quantitative data was collected from B2B firms in Greece, which represents a case of e-commerce progress during the last six years. Regarding social exchange, some important differences emerge where cooperation between B2B e-commerce firms is concerned. Suppliers engaged in electronic commerce are more committed and oriented to a long-term relationship than buyers, based on both previous and current experience with them. Confidence in the relationships, consistency and honesty with their obligations and the exchange of reliable, trustworthy information and advisory services between firms are important factors in the development and establishment of their e-relationships. The main contribution of this research is the development of a theoretical framework for e-relationships in medium-sized Β2Β firms. That framework is the first rigorously researched step towards understanding the importance of these powerful streams of relationship drivers in total, and the business activity of e-marketing and electronic relationships.

  12. The cash-flow analysis of the firm

    OpenAIRE

    Mariana Man

    2001-01-01

    The analysis of economic and financial indicators of the firm regards the profit and loss account analysis and the balance sheet analysis. The cash-flow from operating activities represents the amount of cash obtained by a firm from selling goods and services after deducting the costs involved by raw materials, materials and processenig operations

  13. 48 CFR 52.216-16 - Incentive Price Revision-Firm Target.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-Firm Target. 52.216-16 Section 52.216-16 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION... Clauses 52.216-16 Incentive Price Revision—Firm Target. As prescribed in 16.406(a), insert the following clause: Incentive Price Revision—Firm Target (OCT 1997) (a) General. The supplies or services identified...

  14. The Private Military Firms: Historical Evolution and Industry Analysis

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Alabarda, Yusuf; Lisowiec, Rafal

    2007-01-01

    .... This new industry, where firms not only supply the goods of warfare, but also fulfill many of the professional functions, is not only significant to the defense community, but has wider ramifications...

  15. PROFILE OF SOCIAL SERVICES FROM JIU VALLEY IN LIGHT PROFESSIONALS PERCEPTION. QUALITATIVE APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FELICIA ANDRIONI

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to analyse Jiu Valley social services profile using a qualitative perspective – focus grup analysis, by investigating perceptions of social services professionals from Jiu Valley, Hunedoara County, Romania. The qualitative methods of investigation, particularly important in achieving a comprehensive profile of social services from the Jiu Valley was to achieve a focused discussion sessions on social services. The following objectives were targeted by focus group: analysis of social professionals’ perception on social services from the Jiu Valley, Hunedoara County and identifying internal and external factors, to put their mark on the functioning of social services. Upon completion of discussions session focusing on social services in the Jiu Valley to conclude on the following aspects: social professionals perceive favorable development of social services in the Jiu Valley region in the period 2002-2008, and considering the dynamic development of these services is progressive. There are a number of elements which are seen by professionals as catalysts for the proper functioning and development of social services and factors inhibiting or blocking the functioning of these services.

  16. Financial Constrains for Innovative Firms: The Role of Size, Industry and ICT Uses as Determinants of Firms' Financial Structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castillo-Merino, David; Vilaseca-Requena, Jordi; Plana-Erta, Dolors

    This paper uses a large and original data set of Catalan firms in all the economic branches to analyse the effects of size, industry and degree of ICT uses on financial constraints for innovative firms. We have conducted a micro econometric analysis following Henry et al. (1999) investment model to empirically contrast the relationship between firms' investment spread over time and their financial structure, and we have used von Kalckreuth (2004) methodology, based on an original survey with data on financial issues. Our results show that it exits a positive and significant relationship between investment shift and financial structure, emerging financial constraints for more innovative firms. Furthermore, these constraints are higher for micro companies and firms within the knowledge-advanced services' industry. Finally, we have also found that advanced ICT uses by more innovative firms allow them to reduce constraints of access to sources of finance.

  17. 41 CFR 105-69.205 - Professional and technical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... any professional or technical discipline. For example, drafting of a legal document accompanying a bid... technical services. 105-69.205 Section 105-69.205 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property... technical services. (a) The prohibition on the use of appropriated funds, in § 105-69.100 (a), does not...

  18. The development of integrated service centre system for professional teachers empowerment in North Sumatera

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gultom, S.; Simanjorang, M. M.; Muchtar, Z.; Mansyur, A.

    2018-03-01

    Based on Act number 12 in year 2012 the function of higher education is related to individual, social community, knowledge and technology development. Hence, higher education providers need to think and develop policies in order to improve their service and fulfil the higher education function. As part of the effort to fulfil its function Universitas Negeri Medan (Unimed), which historically was a pre-service teacher training institute, should has a special interest on improving teachers’ professionalism. The Act number 14 in year 2005 described requirements for professional teacher, including academic qualification and set of competencies possessed by the teacher. The Act also guaranties teachers’ right to have opportunities for improving their competencies and academic qualification through training and other professionalism development programme. The question is how this guarantee can be implemented. In order to answer this question a developmental study has been done which aimed on developing an integrated service centre system for professional teachers empowerment. As the name implies, this integrated service centre system is expected to be a real manifestation of Unimed’s support towards the improvement of professional teachers quality, which in the end will boils down to the improvement of national education services quality. The result of this study is an integrated service centre system for professional teachers empowerment that fulfils the professionalism principles described in the Act number 14 in year 2005, which has been developed by considering problems faced by and also supports needed by teachers post certification programme.

  19. The innovation effect of user design: Exploring consumers' innovation perceptions of firms selling products designed by users

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Schreier (Martin); C. Fuchs (Christoph); D.W. Dahl (Darren)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractThe authors study consumer perceptions of firms that sell products designed by users. In contrast with the traditional design mode, in which professional designers employed by firms handle the design task, common design by users involves the firm's user community in creating new product

  20. Determinants of Innovation in Croatian SMEs – Comparison of Service and Manufacturing Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ljiljana Božić

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – In this paper we focus on SMEs in Croatia operating in the manufacturing and services sectors, and seek to compare them in terms of their involvement in innovation activities, and the factors determining their decision to innovate, in general and in four types of innovations in particular: product/service, process, organizational and marketing innovations. Design/Methodology/Approach – The analysis relies on the Croatian Community Innovation Survey 2010 (CIS 2010 data. To find out whether innovations have a different pattern of drivers in manufacturing and in services, we estimate the probit and multivariate probit models separately on these two groups of firms. Findings and implications – The findings reveal that, despite some differences, service and manufacturing SMEs are not that different from one another when it comes to innovation activities. Service SMEs are somewhat less likely to introduce technological innovations, but manufacturing and service SMEs do not differ significantly when it comes to non-technological innovations. One noteworthy difference between manufacturing and service SMEs is that the latter rely on acquired knowledge much more than do the former. Limitation – One limitation of the study is that most variables in the CIS dataset, including those on innovations, are of a binary nature, a fact that dictated the choice of the econometric model. In addition, the data pertain to the time period of an economic downturn in Croatia, which possibly affected the results obtained. Originality – This research contributes to understanding the drivers of innovation activities in SMEs and differences in this regard between manufacturing and services in Croatia.

  1. Key to internationalization of the civil engineering consulting firms. A success story: TYPSA group

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mª Ángeles Rastrollo Horrillo

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To progress in the identification of the characteristics of the engineering consulting firms sector that influence the internationalization as well as profiling the decisions that shape their internationalisation strategy. Design/methodology: The applied methodology combines both the review of the academic literature and practical perspective based on a case study. The main source of data comes from a number of semi-structured interviews. In order to allow for the triangulation of data, additional data from the review of the documentation of the enterprise as well as from professional published reports on the sector was collected. Contributions and results: Three distinctive features of the engineering consulting firms and on the way they condition their internationalisation strategy were identified. The case analysis has allowed highlighting elements of the organizational, human and relational assets underpinning the internationalisation strategy f these companies. Research limitations/implications: The mains limitations of this research are related to the study of only one case for the qualitative method. For that reason, the results are not generalizable. Practical implications: The results could help engineering consulting firms in defining their internationalisation strategy. Originality/value: This article contributes to the literature on the internationalisation of the services sector by filling the gap in the concrete issues of the internationalisation of engineering consulting firms.

  2. Home care services for sick children: Healthcare professionals' conceptions of challenges and facilitators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castor, Charlotte; Hallström, Inger; Hansson, Helena; Landgren, Kajsa

    2017-09-01

    To explore healthcare professionals' conceptions of caring for sick children in home care services. Families often prefer home care to hospital care, and the number of home care services for children is increasing. Caring for children at home has been recognised as challenging for healthcare professionals in home care services used to providing care predominately for adults. An inductive qualitative design. Seven focus group interviews were performed with 36 healthcare professionals from multidisciplinary home care services. Data were analysed stepwise using a phenomenographic analysis. Three description categories emerged: "A challenging opportunity", "A child perspective", and "Re-organise in accordance with new prerequisites." Providing home care services for children was conceived to evoke both professional and personal challenges such as feelings of inadequacy and fear and professional growth such as increased competence and satisfaction. Conceptions of whether the home or the hospital was the best place for care differed. Adapting to the child's care was conceived as important. Cooperation with paediatric departments and a well-functioning team work were important organisational aspects. Providing home care for children was a challenging but rewarding task for healthcare professionals used to care for adults. To provide care with a child perspective was experienced as important even though there were conflicting conceptions of how this should be done. Close cooperation with paediatric departments and teamwork were prerequisites that make up for the low number of paediatric patients and facilitate confidence and competence. A sufficient number of referred children and enabling healthcare professionals to be part of the re-organising and implementation processes might facilitate the home care services for sick children. Enough time and good teamwork must be emphasised. Early referrals, continuous cooperation with paediatric clinics complemented with

  3. 21 CFR 107.210 - Firm-initiated product removals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Firm-initiated product removals. 107.210 Section 107.210 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION INFANT FORMULA Infant Formula Recalls § 107.210 Firm-initiated product...

  4. People Passion Programme: Implementing an Innovative Workplace Learning Culture through Professional Development--The Case of KPMG Thailand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phornprapha, Sarote

    2015-01-01

    With a vision that changes within the organisation could only happen through people, Chief Executive Officer Ms. Kaisri Nuengsigkapian led the creation of a successful workplace learning programme, People Passion within KPMG Thailand, which is part of a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services. This article…

  5. Restructuring: new relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barreau, S.

    2001-11-01

    Since the 1986 oil shock, international oil companies have focused on their base competencies, concentrating on activities viewed as their core businesses and steadily increasing the number of tasks to be subcontracted to the upstream oil and gas service sector. The upstream oil and gas service companies had to be restructured to face this new challenge. The strategies they launched at the end of the 80's were varied. Some firms became largely integrated (Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Halliburton) whereas other firms chose to broaden their range of services. However generally, they opted for external investment which led to an important wave of mergers and acquisitions. The first part characterizes the upstream oil and gas sector by introducing the main oil and gas service firms and their recent strategic evolution. This concludes with both an economic valuation and a typology of attempted growth strategies. To illustrate this, a matrix has been created to characterise the dynamic paths of the oil and gas service firms. The purpose of the second part is to consider the economic theories related to industrial strategies. The strategies of innovation, market protection, vertical integration and diversification have been studied to illustrate the main conclusion which is that the aim of all these strategies was to change the relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil and gas service firms. (author)

  6. The construction of knowledge service system in professional libraries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Xue

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the challenges for the professional libraries under the new situation are pointed out. Combined with characteristics of knowledge service, its hierarchical structure is proposed and elaborated. It also describes the practices and outcomes obtained from the construction of knowledge service system of nuclear science and technology library. Recommendations for its future work are also presented. (author)

  7. New Firm Survival: Industry versus Firm Effects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.B. Audretsch (David); P. Houweling (Patrick); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    1997-01-01

    textabstractRecent studies show that the likelihood of survival differs significantly across firms. Both firm and industry characteristics are hypothesized to account for this heterogenity. Using a longitudinal database of manufacturing firms we investigate whether firm or industry characteristics

  8. Strategic innovation: An empirical study on hotel firms operating in Antalya region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatma Nur Iplik

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Strategic innovation is an issue that is frequently debated by the recent studies. The contemporary organizations almost in all industries seek to increase their strategic innovation capabilities in order to possess a sustainable competitive advantage. Similarly, in the hospitality industry strategic innovation is an essential instrument of gaining competitive advantage in the marketplaces. In modern days of hospitality and tourism, satisfying consurmers with providing only accommodation and catering services is not sustainable since demand is becoming diversified and rivals are offering new services. Thus, strategic innovation may assist hotel firms in meeting new demand and expanding the range of services they offer. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are to measure the level of strategic innovation of hotel firms, and to reveal the obstacles to strategic innovation activities. The paper will also examine the importance of strategic innovation for hotel firms. To this end, a questionnaire was developed and employed to middle and top level executives of hotel firms operating in Antalya province. Results show that hotel firms primarily innovate to improve service quality and to satisfy guests. It was also found that the most important obstacle to innovation is cost of innovation activities.

  9. Investigating the Effect of New Communication and Information Technologies on Organizational Structure and Firm Performance in Service Industry: a Survey of Consultant Engineering Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ali akbar Farghangi

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to investigate the current and desired situation of information and communication technologies (ICT, organizational structure and firm performance in Consultant Engineering Firms. To do so, a descriptive-exploratory study was performed among 252 managers and experts of consultant engineering firms in Tehran. A cluster sampling approach was used bya self-administrated questionnaire. Reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s coefficient. Using one sample t-test, paired sample t-test and regression analysis, results indicated that 1 current and desired situation of ICT, organizational structure and firm performance are acceptable, 2 there is significant difference between current and desired situation of ICT, organizational structure and firm performance, 3 ICT has a positive and significant effect on organizational structure and firm performance

  10. Customer satisfaction amongst users of estate surveying and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Customer satisfaction and service quality are crucial factors in real estate professional service delivery. Firm size, amongst other factors, influences firms' service quality and hence its customers' satisfaction levels. This study investigated the influence of firm size on customer satisfaction levels of users of professional ...

  11. Gamification in Healthcare: Perspectives of Mental Health Service Users and Health Professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopia, Hanna; Raitio, Katja

    2016-12-01

    The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study is to explore the perceptions and experiences that mental health service users (n = 10) and healthcare professionals (n = 32) have regarding the use of gamification in mental health care. Data was gathered by interviews. The mental health service users described promoting and retarding factors in the use of gamification, while professionals described the requirements for using gamification and changes occurring in the work culture. Additional research is needed on how game-playing elements could be integrated as a systematic part of mental health practice and how the digital skills of professionals could be effectively developed.

  12. Expectations of Health Care Professionals Regarding the Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Somayeh Hanafi

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: The provision of accurate and timely drug information to health care professionals is an important mechanism to promote safe and effective drug therapy for patients. World’s Drug and Poison Information Centers (DPICs are mainly affiliated to hospitals, rather rarely with faculties of pharmacy or with faculties of medicine and other related organizations.Methods: Data was collected from a questionnaire which was distributed among 400 health care providers in April 2009. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 17.Results: Medical reference books and drug information textbooks (36.7% and expert colleagues (29.7% were the “most commonly” used drug information resources. In addition, 77.8% of respondents “almost never” use DPICs. About 77% of respondents were non- acquainted with these centers’ activities. Five expectations were considered ‘very important’ by respondents: Provide information on IV drugs incompatibilities (74%, Provide drug interaction information (70.1%, Provide new drugs information (56.5%, Education/training of health care professionals regarding rational drug therapy and prevention of medication errors (54.9%, Providing information on dosage forms of drugs available in Iran (53.5%.Conclusion: Being non acquaintance with services of DPIC centers can be considered as the most important reason of not using them. Considering “announcement of availability of drugs in pharmacy” as one of the activities of DPICs, shows that the health care professionals are not acquainted with real services of these centers. It shows an urgent need for culture building activities to introduce them to these centers services.

  13. The impact of health care professionals' service orientation on patients' innovative behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henrike, Hannemann-Weber; Schultz, Carsten

    2014-01-01

    The increasing availability of medical information and the rising relevance of patient communities drive the active role of health consumers in health care processes. Patients become experts on their disease and provide valuable stimuli for novel care solutions. Medical encounters evolve toward a more collaborative health care service process, where patients are accepted as equal partners. However, the patient's active role depends on the interaction with the involved health care professionals. The aim of this article is to examine whether the service orientation of health care professionals and their proactive and adaptive work behavior and the extent of shared goals within the necessary interdisciplinary health professional team influence patients' innovative behavior. We address six rare diseases and use interview and survey data to test theoretically derived hypotheses. The sample consists of 86 patients and their 160 health care professionals. Sixty patients provided additional information via interviews. Patients' innovative behavior is reflected by the number of generated ideas as well as the variety of ideas. The service orientation of work teams plays an important role in the innovation process of patients. As hypothesized, the extent of shared goals within the health care teams has a direct effect on patients' idea generation. Work adaptivity and proactivity and shared goals both reinforce the positive effect of service orientation. Furthermore, significant associations between the three independent variables and the second outcome variable of patient's idea variety are confirmed. The study underlines (1) the important role of patients within health care service innovation processes, (2) the necessity of a service-oriented working climate to foster the development of innovative care solutions for rare diseases, and (3) the need for an efficient cooperation and open mindset of health care professionals to motivate and support patient innovation.

  14. MULTI-MARKET INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONAL ECONOMIC MODELS FOR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS BY SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE CONSTRUCTION DESIGN SERVICE FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerry London

    2010-11-01

    processes and strategies intrinsic to each case study and establishes a detailed set of empirical observations from which to develop further a grounded theoretical model of reflexive capability for the internationalization process. This study contributes to the body of knowledge around the SME AEC design service firm's internationalization process, as a dynamic, evolving and continuously adaptable construct for project-based sectors. DOI: 10.3763/aedm.2009.0111 Source: Architectural Engineering and Design Management, Volume 6, Number 2, 2010 , pp. 132-152(21

  15. The next phase in professional services research: From implementation to sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crespo-Gonzalez, Carmen; Garcia-Cardenas, Victoria; Benrimoj, Shalom I

    The provision of professional pharmacy services has been heralded as the professional and the economic future of pharmacy. There are different phases involved in a service creation including service design, impact evaluation, implementation and sustainability. The two first phases have been subject to extensive research. In the last years the principles of Implementation science have been applied in pharmacy to study the initial uptake and integration of evidence-based services into routine practice. However, little attention has been paid to the sustainability of those services, during which there is a continued use of the service previously implemented to achieve and sustain long-term outcomes. The objective of this commentary is to describe the differences and common characteristics between the implementation and the sustainability phase and to propose a definition for pharmacy. A literature search was performed. Four critical elements were identified: 1. The aim of the implementation phase is to incorporate new services into practice, the sustainability phase's aim is to make the services routine to achieve and sustain long-term benefits 2. At the implementation phase planned activities are used as a process to integrate the new service, at the sustainability phase there is a continuous improvement of the service 3. The implementation phase occurs during the period of time between the adoption of a service and its integration. Some authors suggest the sustainability phase is a concomitant phase with the implementation phase and others suggest it is independent 4. There is a lack of consensus regarding the duration of each phase. The following definition of sustainability for pharmacy services is proposed: "Sustainability is a phase in the process of a professional pharmacy service, in which the service previously integrated into practice during the implementation phase is routinized and institutionalized over time to achieve and sustain the expected service

  16. How professionals perceive types of risk in public service innovation: Reports from Copenhagen municipality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Timeus, Krista; Ricard, Lykke Margot

    The paper addresses two questions; what do professionals working in the public administration understand by ‘risk’ in relation to their work on innovation?; and how do these professionals understand their own role in managing risks of innovation? The paper takes an inductive approach and focuses....... In the last five years, Copenhagen municipality has implemented programmes and partnerships for innovation, especially in social services, such as a new ‘innovation house’ to coordinate the municipality’s innovation strategy across all administrative departments. This context makes it a suitable case to study...... on individuals, namely, professionals in Copenhagen municipality working on public services innovation. Such innovation includes new services or new methods of service delivery. Although all types of innovation include some risk, in public services, risks are exacerbated by the vulnerability of many users...

  17. Capital market financing, firm growth, and firm size distribution

    OpenAIRE

    Didier Brandao,Tatiana; Levine,Ross Eric; Schmukler,Sergio L.

    2015-01-01

    How many and which firms issue equity and bonds in domestic and international markets, how do these firms grow relative to non-issuing firms, and how does firm performance vary along the firm size distribution? To evaluate these questions, a new data set is constructed by matching data on firm-level capital raising activity with balance sheet data for 45,527 listed firms in 51 countries. T...

  18. Legal Technology for Law Firms: Determining Roadmaps for Innovation

    OpenAIRE

    Kerikmäe, Tanel; Hoffmann, Thomas; Chochia, Archil

    2018-01-01

    The business model of many law firms, as legal professions on the whole, will be facing a considerable paradigm change since the work provided by law firms in the form of billable hours, in fact, largely consists of services which do not require superior legal education but involve mere data procession. It is only a question of time that the consequence – to have all outsourceable services be performed by means of legal technology – will become public knowledge in the branch, as the costs sav...

  19. Pre-service teachers' professional learning experiences during rural ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The concept of student teaching practice is globally rooted in training pre-service teachers to work within diverse schools and learner populations, in dissimilar contexts. It is also a drive towards the development of knowledge, professionalism, sense of efficacy, and flexibility in their performance and interactions. There is ...

  20. SERVICING THE MARKET NICHE – A POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR THE MAINTENANCE AND/OR SUCCESS OF THE FIRM ON THE MARKET IN THE CONTEXT OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

    OpenAIRE

    Doina I. POPESCU

    2013-01-01

    This work shows the importance of servicing the market niche by firms operating in the garment industry in the context of the world economic crisis. The paper presents the necessity of adapting companies’ strategies based on the main trends set out by the global economic crisis. Within this work is presented a study that aims to highlight the degree in which Romanian firms acting in the clothing industry service the market niche, their identification, the measure in which these firms’ managem...

  1. An investigation of the choice of governance modes in Chinese family firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiancai Pi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to investigate the choice of governance modes in Chinese family firms. For that purpose, we build a principal-agent model to conduct our analyses. There are two modes of governance that the owner of the family firm can choose from, either the relational governance or the professional governance. The choice of governance modes is embodied in managerial compensation under different contractual arrangements. Our theoretical analyses show that under some conditions it is optimal for the owner to choose the relational governance, while under other conditions it is optimal for the owner to adopt the professional governance. That is to say, the choice of governance modes is condition-dependent

  2. DIFFERENCES IN REPORTED FIRM PERFORMANCE BY GENDER: DOES INDUSTRY MATTER?

    OpenAIRE

    JANE L. SWINNEY; RODNEY C. RUNYAN; PATRICIA HUDDLESTON

    2006-01-01

    Business performance results were collected from small business entrepreneurs in one Mid-western state operating in the retail and services industries. These industries account for more than 80 percent of female entrepreneurs' fields of operation. The pattern of reported firm performance between the genders indicated that male entrepreneurs with a high school education reported the highest firm performance scores overall. Female entrepreneurs with a college degree reported the highest firm pe...

  3. From dissatisfied customers to evangelists of the firm: A study of the Spanish mobile service sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús Cambra Fierro

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper takes a closer look at factors which serve as a catalyst for transforming initially dissatisfied customers into evangelists of the firm; that is, customers who spread positive word-of-mouth about a company, its products and/or services—and recommend them to other consumers. We propose a conceptual model, rooted in relationship marketing theory, which identifies a set of factors that afford a better understanding of post-service recovery customer transformation processes. The proposed model is empirically tested in the context of mobile telecommunications services using a structural equation modeling approach. Our findings reveal that when companies are capable of designing effective service recovery processes—where customers perceive effort and justice in the outcome—initial dissatisfaction can turn to brand loyalty, long-term commitment and, above all, readiness to speak positively about the company and its products. Finally, the main implications for marketing practice are discussed.

  4. Boundary Crossing during Pre-service Teacher Training: empowering or hampering professional growth?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Christine

    2017-10-01

    Yuli Rahmawati's paper presents an auto-ethnographic inquiry into her lived experiences as a science teacher in different countries. Through her reflections and analysis of events, Yuli captures and builds a model of her identity and explores the influence of inter- and intra-cultural perspectives in shaping how she recognizes herself and brings meaning to her professional life. Yuli's insights and explanations of teaching within different cultural contexts highlight the importance of personally relevant and meaningful knowledge, where expectations and accepted norms, that might fit well within one community, may be seen quite differently in another. While for Yuli, this led to professional growth as she inquired and made sense of her new context, my concern is that the social and cultural change could, in some instances, lead to disengagement rather than professional growth. My concern is that the conflict that arises from boundary crossing may be experienced even stronger by inexperienced professionals, such as pre-service teachers. The learning trajectory of pre-service teachers is steep; they need to gain stronger knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy and an awareness of how their students learn. They also need to build confidence in their professional self and what they can do to support and trigger student learning. For this to happen, in the tight time frames available on teacher education courses, pre-service teachers need to understand and engage with the new community that they are placed in very quickly, to make sense of both their role and that of others within the community. This paper suggests that pre-service providers should carefully consider the learning opportunities offered by school contexts, that may vary dramatically from the social and cultural contexts experienced by their teachers as part of their own education, to prevent disengagement or misunderstanding hampering professional growth.

  5. Nuclear Regulatory Commission directory of high-technology 8(a) firms. Revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1986-05-01

    An overview is given for each of the high-technology small business firms qualifying under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act for consideration under Minority Business Development Plans. Each overview gives detailed profiles of relevant technical classification data, client contacts, and information on the professional personnel of each firm. In addition, the directory contains information about average gross receipts and facilities, including testing capabilities and computer availability

  6. Tax Professional Internships and Subsequent Professional Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegel, Philip H.; Blackwood, B. J.; Landy, Sharon D.

    2010-01-01

    How do internships influence the socialization and performance of accounting students employed in the tax department of a CPA firm? Previous research on accounting internships primarily focuses on auditing personnel. There is evidence in the literature that indicates audit and tax professionals have different work cultures. This paper examines the…

  7. Small and Local until it hurts? -Architects and Engineers development in a Professional knowledge industry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian; Buser, Martine

    2009-01-01

    professional knowledge service AEC-companies in the region of Central Denmark. The aim of the paper is to analyse how SMEs is managed, is innovating, using ICT and their response to the financial crisis.   Drawing on management studies, professional knowledge service is viewed as something precariously...... constructed through interacting with customers. An extensive desk study and two interviews are used to investigate the local AEC-companies, focusing on two micro firms. There is considerable growth among knowledge service companies in the region. The analysis shows that microfirms are indeed distinct......, innovation for example occurs in a complex interplay with limited internal efforts and external networking. And still as a relatively local phenomenon. Even if the financial crisis has considerably impact of the AEC-sector in 2008-9, the microfirms investigated still haven't been impacted and the pain...

  8. In search of wellness: allied health professionals' understandings of wellness in childhood disability services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breen, Lauren J; Wildy, Helen; Saggers, Sherry; Millsteed, Jeannine; Raghavendra, Parimala

    2011-01-01

    Wellness approaches are not routine in childhood disability services, despite theoretical and empirical support and an increasing demand for them from health consumers and disability activists. We aimed to investigate how health professionals define or understand wellness and its practice in the context of childhood disability. A qualitative, interpretive approach was taken. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 health professionals (allied health therapists and managers) providing early intervention and ongoing therapy within four Australian childhood health and disability services. Years of experience providing services to children with disabilities and their families ranged from 6 months to 30 years (M=9.41, SD=9.04). The data revealed a noteworthy impediment to incorporating wellness into practice - the difficulties in the allied health professionals reaching consensus in defining wellness. There appeared to be distinct differences between the four services, while there appeared to be no appreciable difference based on the individual professional's years of experience or allied health discipline. The effect of organisational culture should be considered in efforts to embed wellness in childhood health and disability services in order to address client well-being, empowerment, choice, independence and rights to meaningful and productive lives. © 2011 Informa UK, Ltd.

  9. Visit of Belgian firms to CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2009-01-01

    25 – 26 MAY 2009 09.00 to 17.00 Monday 25 May 09.00 to 17.00 Tuesday 26 May Individual interviews will take place in technicians’ offices. The firms will contact relevant users/technicians but any user wishing to make contact with a particular firm is welcome to use the contact details which are available from each departmental secretariat or from the GS Department web pages. List of Companies: Automation Services and Consulting BVBA Burrick NV, (PLC) Cissoid DB Engineering Design, Drafting & Services BVBA Entelec Control Systems GILLAM-Fei S.A. HPC ICSENSE IWT – Enterprise Europe Flanders Jema SA Mecasoft SA SA Polmans Rapid-Torc Resarm Engineering Plastics SA Sentera Europa NV SLC BVBA Stocker Industrie SA Technord Tecnubel Winlock BVBA For further information please contact Caroline Laignel (GS-DI 73722) or Karine Robert (GS-SEM-LS 74407).

  10. Social Networks as Enablers of Enterprise Creativity: Evidence from Portuguese Firms and Users

    OpenAIRE

    Fernandes, Silvia; Belo, Ana

    2016-01-01

    The present work analyzes the profiles of social networks' users, individuais and enterprises in Algarve (Portugal), having accomplished online questionnaires. Samples of 230 users and 70 firms were collected. According to data obtained there are different behaviors. Users' results highlight the need of harnessing the potential of recruitment and business projects through social networks, as searching for knowledge, communication and professional relations are expressive. Firms' results revea...

  11. Marketing-sales interface configurations in B2B firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Biemans, Wim G.; Brencic, Maja Makovec; Malshe, Avinash; Makovec Brenciv, M.

    As the body of knowledge on marketing-sales interface expands, there is a greater need to investigate the specific aspects of marketing-sales configurations in B2B firms. Using a qualitative methodology and interview data collected from over 100 sales and marketing professionals from the US, The

  12. Executive compensation and firm performance: Evidence from Indian firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehul Raithatha

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The study examines the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance among Indian firms. The evidence suggests that firm performance measured by accounting, as well as market-based measures, significantly affects executive compensation. We also test for the presence of persistence in executive compensation by employing the system-generalised methods of moments (GMM estimator. We find significant persistence in executive compensation among the sample firms. Further, we report the absence of pay–performance relationship among the smaller sample firms and business group affiliated firms. Thus, our findings cast doubts over the performance-based executive compensation practices of Indian business group affiliated firms.

  13. [Professional's expectations to improve quality of care and social services utilization in geriatric oncology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoine, Valéry; de Wazières, Benoît; Houédé, Nadine

    2015-02-01

    Coordination of a multidisciplinary and multi-professional intervention is a key issue in the management of elderly cancer patients to improve health status and quality of life. Optimizing the links between professionals is needed to improve care planning, health and social services utilization. Descriptive study in a French University Hospital. A 6-item structured questionnaire was addressed to professionals involved in global and supportive cares of elderly cancer patients (name, location, effective health care and services offered, needs to improve the quality of their intervention). After the analysis of answers, definition of propositions to improve cares and services utilization. The 37 respondents identified a total of 166 needs to improve quality of care in geriatric oncology. Major expectations were concerning improvement of global/supportive cares and health care services utilization, a better coordination between geriatric teams and oncologists. Ten propositions, including a model of in-hospital health care planning, were defined to answer to professional's needs with the aim of optimizing cancer treatment and global cares. Identification of effective services and needs can represent a first step in a continuous program to improve quality of cares, according to the French national cancer plan 2014-2019. It allows federating professionals for a coordination effort, a better organization of the clinical activity in geriatric oncology, to optimize clinical practice and global cares. Copyright © 2014 Société Française du Cancer. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  14. The Influence of Field Teaching Practice on Pre-service Teachers’ Professional Identity: A Mixed Methods Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hongyu; Zhang, Xiaohui

    2017-01-01

    The current study used mixed methods to research pre-service teachers’ professional identity. Ninety-eight pre-service teachers were investigated and twelve teachers were interviewed in China. The results were as follows: (1) The results of quantitative data showed that compared with before the field teaching practice, pre-service teachers’ professional identity increased after the field teaching practice—specifically, intrinsic value identity increased, and extrinsic value identity did not significantly change; (2) The results of qualitative data validated and elaborated the results of quantitative data in more detail with regard to changes in professional identity. Specifically, compared with before the field teaching practice, intrinsic value identity including work content, work pattern, etc., increased and extrinsic value identity including work environment, income, and social status, etc., did not significantly change after experiencing teaching practice; (3) The results of qualitative data also showed that mentor support at field school promoted the development of pre-service teachers’ professional identity. Moreover, the development of pre-service teachers’ professional identity during field teaching practice further promoted their professional commitment; that is, it promoted their emotional evaluation and belief in the teaching profession. The study discussed these results and proposed solutions and suggestions for future studies. PMID:28790956

  15. Welfare Service Professionals, Migrants, and the Question of Trust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fersch, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this article is to analyze migrants’ interpretations of their encounters with welfare service professionals in Denmark, focusing on client trust and exploring its diversity across professions. It is based on qualitative interviews with migrants. Migrants as newcomers to the welfare state...

  16. Preretirement Programs within Service Firms: Existing and Planned Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegel, Sidney R.; Rives, Janet M.

    1980-01-01

    A study of 300 nonmanufacturing firms' current and projected preretirement programs indicated that (1) personnel departments have primary responsibility for existing programs, (2) focus is changing from financial planning to psychological counseling, and (3) such programs benefit the company as well as the employee. (SK)

  17. The effects of customer equity drivers on loyalty across services industries and firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ou, Yi-Chun; Verhoef, Peter C.; Wiesel, Thorsten

    Customer equity drivers (CEDs)-value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity-positively affect loyalty intentions, but this effect varies across industries and firms. We empirically examine potential industry and firm characteristics that explain why the CEDs-loyalty link varies across

  18. Recovery-oriented services for individuals with mental illness and case managers' experience of professional burnout.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraus, Shane W; Stein, Catherine H

    2013-02-01

    Present cross-sectional study examined perceptions of recovery-oriented services and reports of professional burnout and job satisfaction in a sample of 114 case managers working in community mental health centers across Ohio. The research examined the relative contribution of demographic characteristics, the structure of case management services, and case managers' beliefs about recovery-oriented services in describing their reports of professional burnout and job satisfaction. Regardless of individual characteristics of case managers and reports of the structure of their jobs, case managers who perceived their agency to offer higher levels of recovery-oriented services also reported lower levels of depersonalization and emotional exhaustion at work, and higher levels of professional accomplishment and job satisfaction. Directions for future research in the area are discussed.

  19. The Conflict of Professionals in Bureaucratic Organizations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorensen, James E.; Sorensen, Thomas L.

    1974-01-01

    A study of 264 certified public accountants in large public accounting firms showed that when professionals work in a professional-bureaucratic organization, conflict and deprivation result with predictable consequences such as job dissatisfaction and job migration. (Author)

  20. How Fidelity invests in service professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McColgan, E A

    1997-01-01

    If you're in the business of service delivery, investment in the training and development of your staff is one of the keys to your company's success. But what's the best way to design and implement your investment? In 1994, Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company (FIRSCo) needed to ensure that its rapidly expanding staff maintained the company's high levels of customer satisfaction. The solution, according to Ellyn McColgan, formerly an executive vice president of FIRSCo and now the president of Fidelity Investments Tax-Exempt Services Company, was to reach out to its service associates with a powerful new model for training and development called Service Delivery University. SDU is a virtual university with a content-based core curriculum and five colleges that focus on business concepts and skills. It is driven by three principles. First, all training must be directly aligned with the company's strategic and financial objectives and focused on customer needs. Second, service delivery is a profession and should be taught as such. And finally, professional development should be the primary responsibility of line managers rather than the human resources department. McColgan explains how FIRSCo overcame resistance to this sweeping change in employee education. (Time was one obstacle: each associate receives 80 hours of training per year.) In addition, the author discusses the fine art of measuring the success of a program like SDU. She finds that the company's investment has paid dividends to the staff, to the organization as a whole, and to FIRSCo's customers.

  1. 48 CFR 236.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. 236.602 Section 236.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 236.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer...

  2. Multiple levels in the organisation of innovation : project organization in single-firm projects and multi-firm projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jaspers, F.P.H.; Ende, van den J.C.M.; Borgh, van der W.; Yin, Jie

    2008-01-01

    Studies about how the organization of new product (and new service) development projects (NPD) projects influences project performance typically investigate this in Single-firm projects, i.e. projects with high ownership integration. However, NPD projects are often performed by two or more

  3. Older LGBT people's experiences and concerns with healthcare professionals and services in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharek, Danika Burke; McCann, Edward; Sheerin, Fintan; Glacken, Michele; Higgins, Agnes

    2015-09-01

    The specific healthcare needs and concerns for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons have not been explored to any degree within Ireland. The aim of this paper, which is part of a larger study, is to detail older LGBT persons' usage, experiences and concerns with accessing healthcare services, disclosing their LGBT identity to professionals, preferences for care and their suggestions for improvement in services, including nursing services. A mixed methods research design combining quantitative survey and qualitative interview approaches of equal significance was used. 144 respondents completed an 84-item questionnaire concerning their use of healthcare services, experiences and needs. The qualitative phase involved in-depth interviews where 36 participants' experiences and concerns around health services were explored more in-depth. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative analysis employed the constant comparative process to generate the leading themes. Only one in three participants believed that healthcare professionals have sufficient knowledge of LGBT issues, and less than half (43%) felt respected as an LGBT person by healthcare professionals. Although 26% had chosen not to reveal their LGBT status for fear of a negative response, many positive encounters of coming out to healthcare professionals were relayed in the interviews. LGBT persons have specific concerns around residential care, particularly in relation to the perception that the Irish healthcare services emanate a heteronormative culture. Irish healthcare services need to reflect on how they currently engage with older LGBT persons at both an organisational and practitioner level. Consideration needs to be given to the specific concerns of ageing LGBT persons, particularly in relation to long-term residential care. Healthcare practitioners need to be knowledgeable of, and sensitive to, LGBT issues. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Appropriability, services and reputation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dolfsma, W.A.

    2011-01-01

    The appropriability regime (Teece 1986) that innovating service firms face is generally weaker than what firms in manufacturing sectors face. An important means to appropriate benefits from innovation that service firms can use is their reputation. This conceptual paper offers insights into how a

  5. Service Innovation in Industrial Contexts

    OpenAIRE

    Kowalkowski, Christian

    2016-01-01

    Both academics and practitioners emphasize the importance for product firms of pursuing service innovation. Despite a strategic focus on service-led growth, however, many firms struggle to succeed with their service innovation initiatives. In order to increase our understanding of the nature of service innovation in product firms, this chapter discusses the specificities in, and dynamics of, service offerings, service processes, and business models in industrial contexts. First, it outlines k...

  6. Estimating the option value of a non-firm electricity tariff

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moore, J.; Horii, B.; Price, S.; Olson, A.; Woo, C.K.

    2010-01-01

    We estimate the option value of a non-firm electricity tariff commonly used by a local distribution company (LDC) in its electricity demand response program. This option value captures the benefit that a LDC enjoys from not serving an end-use load during high-price hours in a wholesale electricity market. It is conservative in that it does not include the cost savings in meeting the LDC's resource adequacy requirement or deferring transmission and distribution (T and D) investments necessary for delivering reliable service. Illustrated by a Northern California example, our two-pronged approach entails (a) a set of summer monthly market price regressions to forecast daily spot price distributions that incorporate uncertainty in natural gas price and weather; and (b) a simulation exercise to quantify the tariff's value under a specific design. The results indicate that a non-firm service tariff can have varying option value estimates that are highly sensitive to the tariff's design, and that an incentive payment based on the option value alone is likely insufficient to attract customer participation in a non-firm service program. (author)

  7. 12 CFR 513.8 - Removal, suspension, or debarment of independent public accountants and accounting firms...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... independent public accountants and accounting firms performing audit services. 513.8 Section 513.8 Banks and... Removal, suspension, or debarment of independent public accountants and accounting firms performing audit... of independent public accountants and their accounting firms from performing independent audit and...

  8. Scripting Professional Identities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bévort, Frans; Suddaby, Roy

    2016-01-01

    on a longitudinal ethnography of professionals in a Big Four accounting firm we analyse the process by which individual professionals make sense of their new roles and integrate the conflicting demands of professional and managerial logics. We find that individuals are active authors of their own identity scripts......This article examines how individual accountants subjectively interpret competing logics of professionalism as they transform from practicing accountants to managerial roles and as their organizations transform from traditional professional partnerships to more corporate organizational forms. Based....... We further observe considerable interpretive variation in how identity scripts are reproduced and enacted. We contribute to the emerging understanding of institutions as ‘inhabited’ by individuals and extend this literature by demonstrating that the institutional work of reinterpreting competing...

  9. Job Sharing: An Employment Alternative for the Career Services Professional.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Louise; Meerdink, Lois A.

    1985-01-01

    Describes and assesses job sharing as an employment alternative for career services professionals. Discusses the job-sharing format with regard to fringe benefits, scheduling, advantages, client reactions, potential problems, and specific factors that contribute to successful job sharing. (BH)

  10. Capital Structure and Firm Performance During Global Financial Crisis

    OpenAIRE

    Khodavandloo, Marzieh; Zakaria, Zukarnain; Nassir, Annuar Md.

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between capital structure and firm performance has been extensively investigated in the recent decades. However, only few studies investigate this relationship during financial crisis. Recent global financial crisis provides an opportunity to examine the effect of the crisis on the relationship between capital structure and firm performance. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate this relationship based on 45 listed companies involved in trading and services sector of the...

  11. ERP and Knowledge Management Integration: The Case of Malaysian Business Firms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Supramaniam, Mahadevan; Kuppusamy, Mudiarasan

    2010-01-01

    In order to compete in a global environment, Malaysian business firms need to improve their products and services through best practices. This paper aims to investigate the critical success factors to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with knowledge management (KM) strategies among Malaysian business firms. In order to achieve the research…

  12. Do Peer Firms Affect Firm Corporate Social Responsibility?

    OpenAIRE

    Shenggang Yang; Heng Ye; Qi Zhu

    2017-01-01

    Peer-firm strategies are a critical factor for corporate finance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the main trend for evaluating the behavior of firms. On the basis of the connection between peer strategy and CSR, this paper explores the CSR strategies employed by a sample of Chinese firms during the 2008–2015 period. Our two main empirical findings are as follows. First, the CSR strategies of firms have a positive effect on their CSR behavior. Second, when there is the CSR gap be...

  13. The Needs for Professionalism and Competency in the Construction Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adebiyi John Oladotun

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The quantity surveyors, in the present day construction industry, analyze cost components of a construction project in a scientific way and applies the results of the analysis to a variety of financial and economic problems confronting the developer and the designer. However, competence, in any sphere of work, can be a difficult concept to pin down, especially, when it relates to professional occupations where such roles are complex and involved diverse professionals in the built environment sector. This paper aims to investigate the competencies of quantity surveyors in the discharge of its professional duties by evaluating the effects of professional competency on quantity surveying practices in Nigeria. The study population comprised professional quantity surveyors who are in the private construction/consulting firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data were obtained to investigate the professional views on the quantity surveying profession, the roles of quantity surveyors in the construction industry and the need for professionalism and competencies in the surveying industry. Questionnaires were administered to randomly select 200 practicing quantity surveyors in Lagos state. Findings revealed that the major role of quantity surveyors in the construction industry is the preparation of the bill of quantity as it ranked 1st with RII value of 1.00; it was also discovered that quantity surveyors were in agreement with client service delivery as the first ethical standard that construction professionals should consider when performing their professional obligations in order to avoid project failure and over-cost. It is therefore recommended that the professional bodies and the academia should organize proper and adequate service trainings, workshops and seminars which will enhance the possibility of acquiring more skills and experience so as to improve competence in the discharge of quantity surveyors professional duties.

  14. The Need for Professionalism and Competencies in the Construction Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adebiyi John Oladotun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The quantity surveyors, in the present day construction industry, analyze cost components of a construction project in a scientific way and applies the results of the analysis to a variety of financial and economic problems confronting the developer and the designer. However, competence, in any sphere of work, can be a difficult concept to pin down, especially, when it relates to professional occupations where such roles are complex and involved diverse professionals in the built environment sector. This paper aims to investigate the competencies of quantity surveyors in the discharge of its professional duties by evaluating the effects of professional competency on quantity surveying practices in Nigeria. The study population comprised professional quantity surveyors who are in the private construction/consulting firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data were obtained to investigate the professional views on the quantity surveying profession, the roles of quantity surveyors in the construction industry and the need for professionalism and competencies in the surveying industry. Questionnaires were administered to randomly select 200 practicing quantity surveyors in Lagos state. Findings revealed that the major role of quantity surveyors in the construction industry is the preparation of the bill of quantity as it ranked 1st with RII value of 1.00; it was also discovered that quantity surveyors were in agreement with client service delivery as the first ethical standard that construction professionals should consider when performing their professional obligations in order to avoid project failure and over-cost. It is therefore recommended that the professional bodies and the academia should organize proper and adequate service trainings, workshops and seminars which will enhance the possibility of acquiring more skills and experience so as to improve competence in the discharge of quantity surveyors professional duties.

  15. Do Foreign Experts Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Munch, Jakob Roland; Rose Skaksen, Jan

    While most countries welcome (and some even subsidise) high-skilled immigrants, there is very limited evidence of their importance for domestic firms. To guide our empirical analysis, we first set up a simple theoretical model to show how foreign experts may impact on the productivity and wages o...... productive (pay higher wages) and increase their exports of goods and services.......While most countries welcome (and some even subsidise) high-skilled immigrants, there is very limited evidence of their importance for domestic firms. To guide our empirical analysis, we first set up a simple theoretical model to show how foreign experts may impact on the productivity and wages...... of domestic firms. Using matched worker-firm data from Denmark and a difference-indifferences matching approach, we then find that firms that hire foreign experts – defined as employees eligible for reduced taxation under the Danish "Tax scheme for foreign researchers and key employees" – both become more...

  16. Strategies for knowledge management in law firms in Botswana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.C. Fombad

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available This article formulates a route map on how law firms in Botswana may utilise knowledge management to enhance their competitive edge amidst the changing legal environment. It draws from the multiple definitions and perspectives of knowledge management, several frameworks and models together with the empirical findings to recommend a strategy for knowledge management in law firms in Botswana. It underscores the fact that knowledge management is becoming an imperative for the survival of law firms as knowledge intensive organisations. Law firms in Botswana can no longer afford to rely on the traditional methods of managing knowledge because there is a need for the 'best minds' and the best knowledge in their area of practice. It is recommended that lawyers should be proactive, adaptive, innovative, effective and competitive in the provision of outstanding, cost-efficient and effective services to clients. Most previous studies in this area have been carried out in developed countries with large law firms.

  17. An empirical investigation on factors influencing customer loyalty and their relationships with quality of services: A case study of insurance firm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rostam Pourrahidi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the effect of various factors influencing customer loyalty and quality of services on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The proposed study is implemented in one of Iranian insurance firms by choosing a sample of 171 randomly selected customers of this insurance firm. We use SERVQUAL standard questionnaire to measure customer satisfaction. The study examines three hypotheses associated with the proposed study using one-way t-student as well as path analysis, and the results have confirmed all three hypotheses. The study also uses Freedman test to rank the most important factors and detects that value was the most important issue followed by trust, customer satisfaction, empathy, value and resistance to change.

  18. The Value Creation Logic and the Internationalisation of Internet Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blagoeva, Denitsa Hazarbassanova

    2016-01-01

    the way firms create value with their internationalisation. What theory best explains the internationalization of IFs seems contingent on what firms do. Practical implications: The message to practitioners is that international strategy not only can but also needs to be different across firms. It needs....../methodology/approach: The authors answer this question using three cases illustrating the internationalisation process of three pure play digital service firms, each falling into one value creation logic. Findings: Each case company had a different approach to internationalisation, explained by a different theory. The firms...... differed in what their motivation was to internationalise, how they dealt with their liability of foreignness and how they learnt to internationalise. The differences were consistent with the specificities of their value creation. The contribution of this paper is to take the first steps towards linking...

  19. Information and Communication Technology Clusters, Local Firm ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Information and Communication Technology Clusters, Local Firm Performance, and Employment Generation. As countries steadily increase the share and value of knowledge, information, and services in their economies, governments have been crafting policies to attract foreign investment and establish large ...

  20. Examining the scope of multibusiness health care firms: implications for strategy and financial performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noorein Inamdar, S

    2007-08-01

    Use theory and data to examine the scope of corporate strategies for multibusiness health care firms, also known as organized or integrated health care delivery systems. Data are from the 2000 HIMSS Analytics Annual Survey of integrated health care delivery systems (IHDS), which provides complete information on businesses owned by IHDS. Scope defined as the breadth and type of businesses in which a firm chooses to compete is measured across seven separate business areas: (1) health plans, (2) ambulatory, (3) acute, (4) subacute, (5) home health, (6) other related nonpatient care businesses, and (7) external collaborations. Theories on strategy and organizational configurations along with measures of scope and a novel dataset were used to classify 796 firms into five mutually exclusive groups. The bases for classification were two competitive dimensions of scope: (1) breadth of businesses and (2) mix of existing core businesses versus new noncore businesses. Unit of analysis is the multibusiness health care firm. Sample consists of 796 firms, defined as nonprofit organizations that own two or more direct patient care businesses in two or more separate areas across the health care value chain. Firms were clustered into five mutually exclusive organizational configurations with unique scope characteristics revealing a new taxonomy of corporate strategies. Analysis of the scope variables revealed five strategic types (along with the number of firms and distinguishing features of each strategy) defined as follows: (1) Core Service Provider (340 firms with the smallest scope providing core set of patient care services), (2) Mission Based (52 firms with the next smallest scope offering core set of services to underserved populations), (3) Contractor (266 firms with medium scope and contracting with physician groups), (4) Health Plan Focus (83 firms with large scope and providing health plans), and (5) Entrepreneur (55 firms with the largest scope offering both a core set

  1. Expecting the Exceptional: Pre-Service Professional Development in Global Citizenship Education

    OpenAIRE

    Appleyard, Natalie; McLean, Lorna R

    2011-01-01

    This case study analyses a professional development (PD) program in global citizenship education (GCE) that seeks to develop teacher education candidates’ knowledge and capacities as global citizens during a one-year Bachelor of Education program. In particular, we explore how pre-service teachers perceived and experienced PD in GCE as a component of their professional learning and how this knowledge related to their understanding of curricula and pedagogical practices. First, we explore a mo...

  2. The Hidden Work of Women in Small Family Firms in Southern Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Rodríguez-Modroño

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Women have historically played an important hidden role in family firms, and a great deal of research is now shedding light on this role. In spite of the more formal nature of female work at the present day, still a considerable volume of women’s contributions in family firms is unregistered and unpaid, even in developed regions. A questionnaire was administered to 396 women working in small and medium-sized family firms located in Andalucia, a southern European region, characterized by familialism and an important informal economy. Our results confirm the persistence of subordinate forms of unpaid family collaboration due to the neutrality assigned to female contributions under the traditional gendered division of work. But also this study shows how some of the women voluntarily embrace subordinate roles as a temporary way to gain professional experience, useful for their future work inside or outside the family firm.

  3. Game analysis of product-service integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heping Zhong

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This paper aims at defining the value creation mechanism and income distribution strategies of product-service integration in order to promote product-service integration of a firm.Design/methodology/approach: This paper conducts researches quantitatively on the coordination mechanism of product-service integration by using game theory, and uses the methods of Shapley value and Equal growth rate to further discuss income distribution strategies of product-service integration.Findings: Product-service integration increases the total income of a firm and the added value of the income decreases as the unit price demand variation coefficient of products and services increases, while decreases as the marginal cost of products increases, decreases as the marginal cost of services increases. Moreover, the findings suggest that both income distribution strategies of product-service integration based on Shapley value method and Equal growth rate method can make the product department and service department of a firm win-win and realize the pareto improvement. The choice of what kind of distribution strategy to coordinate the actions between departments depends on the department playing dominant role in the firm. Generally speaking, for a firm at the center of market, when the product department is the main contributor to firm income, the service department will choose the income distribution strategy of product-service integration based on Shapley value method; when the service department is the main contributor to firm income, the service department will choose the income distribution strategy of product-service integration based on Equal growth rate method.Research limitations/implications: This paper makes some strict assumptions such as complete information, risk neutral, linear cost function and so on and the discussion is limited to the simple relationship between product department and service department.Practical implications: Product-service

  4. The provision of neuropsychological services in rural/regional settings: professional and ethical issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allott, Kelly; Lloyd, Susan

    2009-07-01

    Despite rapid growth of the discipline of clinical neuropsychology during recent times, there is limited information regarding the identification and management of professional and ethical issues associated with the practice of neuropsychology within rural settings. The aim of this article is to outline the characteristics unique to practicing neuropsychology in rural communities and to describe the potential professional and ethical dilemmas that might arise. Issues are illustrated using examples from neuropsychological practice in a rural/regional setting in Victoria, Australia. Relative to urban regions, there is an inequality in the distribution of psychologists, including neuropsychologists, in rural areas. The unique characteristics of rural and regional communities that impact on neuropsychological practice are: 1) limited resources in expertise, technology, and community services, 2) greater travel distances and costs, 3) professional isolation, and 4) beliefs about psychological services. These characteristics lower the threshold for particular ethical issues. The ethical issues that require anticipation and careful management include: 1) professional competence, 2) multiple relationships, and 3) confidentiality. Through increased awareness and management of rural-specific professional and ethical issues, rural neuropsychologists can experience their work as rewarding and enjoyable. Specific guidelines for identifying, managing, and resolving ethically and professionally challenging situations that may arise during rural practice are provided.

  5. An Analysis of Strategic Marketing Practices of High-Growth U.S. Family Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy Upton

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of strategic marketing factors of Fast Growth family firms from the United States. Data reveal that Fast Growth Family Firms (FGFFs prefer a differentiation strategy in general and are more likely to adopt an early follower strategy when marketing new products or services. We found that rely on existing products, those that are older than three years to a great extent. However, they commit almost a third of sales to new products and services revealing that the businesses are adept at finding subsequent products and services to maintain their momentum in the marketplace. Further, it seems that about a third of new products are sustaining the hyper-growth rate of these firms. In addition to finding new products and services, fast growth family businesses must pursue new customers. Although some researchers have pointed to globalization as the impetus for fast growth, others have noted that family firms avoid the global marketplace. Our sample reveals that U.S. FGFFs are most likely to gain the majority of sales within the U.S. We found international sales significantly correlated with several factors including having an outsider on the board of directors and the use of agents and brokers.

  6. The clinical profile of employees with mental health problems working in social firms in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milton, Alyssa; Parsons, Nicholas; Morant, Nicola; Gilbert, Eleanor; Johnson, Sonia; Fisher, Adrian; Singh, Swaran; Cunliffe, Di; Marwaha, Steven

    2015-08-01

    UK social firms are under-researched but are a potentially important vocational option for people with mental health problems. To describe the clinical profile, satisfaction levels and experiences of social firms employees with mental health problems. Clinical, work and service use characteristics were collected from social firms' employees with mental health problems in England and Wales. Workplace experience and satisfaction were explored qualitatively. Predominantly, social firms' employees (N = 80) report that they have a diagnosis of depression (56%) and anxiety (41%). People with schizophrenia (20%) or bipolar disorder (5%) were a minority. Respondents had low symptom and disability levels, high quality of life and job satisfaction and experienced reductions in secondary mental health service use over time. High-workplace satisfaction was related to flexibility, manager and colleague support and workplace accommodations. The clinical profile, quality of life and job satisfaction level of employees with mental health problems suggest social firms could be a useful addition to UK vocational services for some people. Current employees mainly have common mental disorders, and social firms will need to shift their focus if they are to form a substantial pathway for the vocational recovery of people currently using community mental health teams.

  7. Inequity among human service professionals : Measurement and relation to burnout

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VanDierendonck, D; Schaufeli, W.B; Buunk, Abraham (Bram)

    1996-01-01

    This research investigated the impact on burnout of inequity experienced by human service professionals. Two studies were conducted, among therapists working with inmates in a forensic psychiatric center (N = 112) and among staff members of an institute for the direct care of mentally disabled (N =

  8. Real Estate Development by Architectural Firms : Is the Business Model Future-Proof?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bos-De Vos, M.; Volker, L.; Wamelink, J.W.F.; Chan, P.W.; Neilson, C.J.

    2016-01-01

    Architectural firms need business models that are able to deal with the diversity and uncertainty of their work to run a successful business over time. Little is known about the business models that are used in architectural service delivery and how they enable or constrain firms to create and

  9. Professional carers' experiences of providing a pediatric palliative care service in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Jean; Quin, Suzanne

    2007-11-01

    In this article the authors present findings on professional carers' experience of providing pediatric palliative care to children with life-limiting conditions. For this qualitative study, part of a national pediatric palliative care needs analysis, the authors engaged in 15 focus group interviews and drew on the responses of open-ended questions to give voice to the experiences of professional carers and to situate the humanity of their caring reality. This humanity is articulated through three themes: clarity of definition and complexity of engagement, seeking to deliver a palliative care service, and the emotional cost of providing palliative care. Further analysis of these themes points to a work-life experience of skilled and emotional engagement with children, and their parents, in complex processes of caregiving and decision making. Pediatric palliative care occurs in an environment where parents shoulder a large burden of the care and professionals find themselves working in underresourced services.

  10. 48 CFR 536.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 536.602 Section 536.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 536.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  11. Gender and the Business Environment for New Firm Creation

    OpenAIRE

    Leora F. Klapper; Simon C. Parker

    2011-01-01

    The authors summarize the extant literature on the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship. They note significant quantitative gender differences in business entry, with male-owned firms heavily prevailing over firms owned by women in many parts of the world. They find that enterprises owned by men on the one hand and women on the other are generally concentrated in different sectors, women entrepreneurs being better represented in labor intensive sectors such as trade and services r...

  12. Estimating risk propagation between interacting firms on inter-firm complex network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goto, Hayato; Takayasu, Hideki; Takayasu, Misako

    2017-01-01

    We derive a stochastic function of risk propagation empirically from comprehensive data of chain-reaction bankruptcy events in Japan from 2006 to 2015 over 5,000 pairs of firms. The probability is formulated by firm interaction between the pair of firms; it is proportional to the product of α-th power of the size of the first bankrupt firm and β-th power of that of the chain-reaction bankrupt firm. We confirm that α is positive and β is negative throughout the observing period, meaning that the probability of cascading failure is higher between a larger first bankrupt firm and smaller trading firm. We additionally introduce a numerical model simulating the whole ecosystem of firms and show that the interaction kernel is a key factor to express complexities of spreading bankruptcy risks on real ecosystems.

  13. Estimating risk propagation between interacting firms on inter-firm complex network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayato Goto

    Full Text Available We derive a stochastic function of risk propagation empirically from comprehensive data of chain-reaction bankruptcy events in Japan from 2006 to 2015 over 5,000 pairs of firms. The probability is formulated by firm interaction between the pair of firms; it is proportional to the product of α-th power of the size of the first bankrupt firm and β-th power of that of the chain-reaction bankrupt firm. We confirm that α is positive and β is negative throughout the observing period, meaning that the probability of cascading failure is higher between a larger first bankrupt firm and smaller trading firm. We additionally introduce a numerical model simulating the whole ecosystem of firms and show that the interaction kernel is a key factor to express complexities of spreading bankruptcy risks on real ecosystems.

  14. User violence towards nursing professionals in mental health services and emergency units

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bartolomé Llor-Esteban

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Workplace violence is present in many work sectors, but in the area of mental health, nurses have a higher risk due to the close relationship they have with users. This study analyzed hostile user statements against nursing professionals of Mental Health Services and Emergency Units in Health Service (MHS hospitals in Murcia, Spain, and determined the frequency of exposure to the different violent user behaviors. The study was carried out with a sample of 518 nursing professionals from four hospital services: Mental Health, Emergency Units, Medical Hospitalization, and Maternal-and-Child. The nursing staff of Mental Health and Emergency Units was the most exposed to violence. Non-physical violence was more frequent in Emergency Units, whereas physical violence was more frequent in Mental Health. Among the consequences of exposure to non-physical violence are workers’ emotional exhaustion and the presence of psychological distress.

  15. As Kibs e a inovação tecnológica das firmas de serviços Kibs and technological innovation of service firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Claudio Kubota

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available No âmbito da União Europeia e da OCDE, é crescente a importância atribuída aos intangíveis e aos serviços na chamada Economia Baseada no Conhecimento. Algumas firmas de serviços são classificadas como Knowledge Intensive Business Services (Kibs, ou seja, serviços empresariais intensivos em conhecimento. Segundo a literatura, as Kibs exercem um papel de facilitadoras da inovação, ao fornecerem a interface entre o conhecimento genérico disponível na economia e o conhecimento tácito localizado na firma. O estudo utilizou microdados da Pesquisa da Atividade Econômica Paulista (Paep 2001 para investigar empiricamente se é possível afirmar que as Kibs contribuem para a inovação tecnológica de suas clientes do próprio setor de serviços. Os resultados indicam que os serviços para os quais essa afirmativa encontra respaldo foram: jurídicos, contábeis, de soluções de internet, de comunicação empresarial, de publicidade e propaganda e de gestão empresarial.For the European Union and the OECD, a great importance is given to the intangibles and services in the so called Knowledge Based Economy. Some services firms are classified as Knowledge Intensive Business Firms (Kibs. According to the literature, Kibs act as facilitators of innovation, because they function as interfaces of the generic knowledge available in the economy, and the tacit knowledge of the firms. The study explored microdata from the Survey of the Economic Activity in São Paulo (Paep 2001, to investigate empirically if it is correct to state that Kibs contribute to the technological innovation of their clients of the services sector. The results indicate that the services for which this statement is true are: juridical, accountancy, internet solutions, business communications, advertisement and business management.

  16. Visit of Belgian Firms at CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    FP Department

    2009-01-01

    25 – 26 MAY 2009 09h00 to 17h00 Monday 25 May 09h00 to 17h00 Tuesday 26 May Individual interviews will take place in technicians’ offices. The firms will contact relevant users/technicians but any user wishing to make contact with a particular firm is welcome to use the contact details which are available from each secretariat of department or from the GS Department web pages at the following URL: http://gs-dep.web.cern.ch/gs-dep/groups/sem/ls/Industrial_Exhibitions.htm List of Companies: 1. Automation Services and Consulting BVBA 2. Burrick NV, (PLC) 3. Cissoid 4. DB Engineering 5. Design, Drafting & Services BVBA 6. Entelec Control Systems 7. GILLAM-Fei S.A. 8. HPC 9. ICSENSE 10. IWT – Enterprise Europe Flanders 11. Jema SA 12. Mecasoft SA 13. SA Polmans 14. Rapid-Torc 15. Resarm Engineering Plastics SA 16. Sentera Europa NV 17. SLC BVBA 18. Stocker Industrie SA 19. Technord 20. Tecnubel 21. Winlock BVBA For further information please contact Caroline Laignel GS-DI 737...

  17. Active Construction of Profession-Related Events: The Priming Effect among Pre-service Teachers with Different Professional Identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin-Qiang; Zhu, Jun-Cheng; Liu, Lu; Chen, Xiang-Yu; Huo, Jun-Yu

    2018-01-01

    Pre-service teachers with different professional identity may actively construct different subjective profession-related events based on the same objective profession-related events. To explore the priming effect among pre-service teachers with different professional identity, this study examined the effect of positive, negative, or neutral priming sentences in an individualized narration of profession-related events through a priming paradigm. Forty-two female volunteers were asked to complete positive, negative, and neutral priming sentences describing profession-related events. The results showed that, relative to those with weak professional identity, participants with strong professional identity generated a higher number of positive items when primed with different stimuli and displayed greater positive priming bias for positive and neutral stimuli. In addition, relative to those with strong professional identity, participants with weak professional identity generated a higher number of neutral and negative items when primed with positive and negative stimuli, respectively, and displayed greater negative priming bias toward negative stimuli. These results indicate that pre-service teachers with strong professional identity were likely to have established positive self-schemas involving profession-related events, which facilitated active, positive construction of such events.

  18. Active Construction of Profession-Related Events: The Priming Effect among Pre-service Teachers with Different Professional Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin-qiang Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Pre-service teachers with different professional identity may actively construct different subjective profession-related events based on the same objective profession-related events. To explore the priming effect among pre-service teachers with different professional identity, this study examined the effect of positive, negative, or neutral priming sentences in an individualized narration of profession-related events through a priming paradigm. Forty-two female volunteers were asked to complete positive, negative, and neutral priming sentences describing profession-related events. The results showed that, relative to those with weak professional identity, participants with strong professional identity generated a higher number of positive items when primed with different stimuli and displayed greater positive priming bias for positive and neutral stimuli. In addition, relative to those with strong professional identity, participants with weak professional identity generated a higher number of neutral and negative items when primed with positive and negative stimuli, respectively, and displayed greater negative priming bias toward negative stimuli. These results indicate that pre-service teachers with strong professional identity were likely to have established positive self-schemas involving profession-related events, which facilitated active, positive construction of such events.

  19. Female Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from UK Listed Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pananda Pasaribu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The impact of female directors on firm performance has lacked consistency in the previously conducted empirical studies, which may be due to the endogeneity problem, or certain characteristics (i.e. governance, industry, competition. This study examines the relationship between female directors and firm performance by addressing those problems. This study analyses all non-financial UK listed firms during the period 2004-2012 and employs several econometric models. The regression results indicate that there is little evidence that female directors have a positive and strong relationship with firm performance. But, further analysis reports that the UK’s small listed firms experience a positive significant effect, because small firms do not suffer from the problem of over-monitoring and they have more flexibility in composing their boards of directors.

  20. Firm Culture and Leadership as Firm Performance Predictors : a Resource-Based Perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilderom, C.P.M.; van den Berg, P.

    2000-01-01

    In this study, we tested part of the resource-based view of the firm by examining two 'soft' resources, firm culture and top leadership, as predictors of 'hard' or bottom-line firm performance.Transformational top leadership was found to predict firm performance directly while the link between firm

  1. Up or out? Archetypes and person-organization fit in Dutch law firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Haas, M.J.O.M.

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the conditions and mechanisms of fit between lawyers’ values and ambitions, on the one hand, and law firms’ values and other characteristics on the other hand. The big law firms in The Netherlands are distinguished according to their configuration as a professional

  2. Entry modes of European firms in Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Simonet

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explore the entry modes of EU firms setting up operations in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach: we use a case study approach on Haymarket, Cadbury, Creative Education, Fairchild, Aventis and Artemisinin and Farming International using interviews from managerial professionals in Vietnam. Findings: Despite the fact that Vietnam has been opening up for more than 20 years, licensing is the preferred entry mode because of the risks involved in venturing with local firms; that preference signals a low level commitment and a high perception of risk and state interference. In line with Vietnam transition to state - rather than private market - capitalism, a foreign company opting for a joint-venture will do so with a state-owned rather than privately-owned company. The choice of a subsidiary can be explained by the lack of trust in partners and institutions, not by improvement in the socio-political environment. Limitations: In determining the entry mode strategy, the paper focuses on the Uppsala school’s “psychic distance” (e.g. cultural distance, lack of trust rather than on firm-specific advantages (Rugman, 1980; 2006. Key-words: international entry mode; emerging markets; subsidiary; joint-venture; India; Vietnam

  3. Professional Business Services and their Role in the EU Economy. Measuring ‘Knock-on’ Effects.

    OpenAIRE

    Paterson, Iain; Sellner, Richard

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the wider economic role of professional services within the EU. Besides their importance measured by shares in value added, gross output or employment, professional services contribute significantly to the economic performance in other sectors via forward linkages. Traditionally these linkages are defined by the Inverse-Leontief Matrix of an Input-Output system. However, we introduce a measure based on the methodology of Fujita (2008) that is more closely related to th...

  4. Firm Innovation and the Ratchet Effect Among Consumer Packaged Goods Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Christine Moorman; Simone Wies; Natalie Mizik; Fredrika J. Spencer

    2012-01-01

    We consider how public firms influence their stock market valuations by timing the introduction of innovative new products. Our focus is on innovation ratchet strategy --firms timing the introduction of innovations in order to demonstrate an improvement in the number of introductions over time. We document that public firms use an innovation ratchet strategy more often than do private firms and that the stock market rewards public firms for doing so. These rewards from the stock market, howev...

  5. Encounters with service professionals experienced by children from families with alcohol problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Werner, Anne; Malterud, Kirsti

    2016-01-01

    Aim: The aim of this study was to explore encounters with service professionals experienced in childhood and adolescence by children who grew up with parental alcohol abuse. We focused on their accounts from situations indicating children’s struggles or parental drinking problems. Methods: Semi......-structured qualitative interview study was conducted with retrospective data from nine adults. Systematic text condensation was used to understand childhood experiences from encounters with professionals. Results: Participants believed that professionals rarely recognised their parents’ drinking problems. The children...... parental drinking. Even when problems were obvious, participants felt that professionals took no further action. Medical and social problems were managed within very confined perspectives. Conclusions: Specific commitment to confront cultural taboos is needed to attend to children’s unmet needs...

  6. Compatibility of Firm Positioning Strategy and Website Content: Highest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evla MUTLU KESİCİ

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Corporate websites are essential platforms through which firms introduce their goods and services on B2B and B2C level, express financial information for the stakeholders and share corporate values, purposes and activities. Due to its facilities, websites take part in firm positioning strategy. Accordingly this study aims to understand the innovation oriented positioning through corporate websites. The method applied in this study has been adapted from the 2QCV2Q Model developed by Mich and Franch (2000 to evaluate websites and top 30 firms with the highest Research and Development expenditures listed in Turkishtime (2015 have been analyzed. Within this context, this study presents a revised and updated method for the assessments of websites through positioning strategy framework. Findings indicate no direct relationship between website evaluation and R&D expenditure, though some common weaknesses have been put forward, such as information about management of the firms. Besides, publicly traded firms are recognized to facilitate websites more efficiently than non-publicly traded firms. Study contribute to both academia and practitioners as putting forward a new approach for 2QCV2Q Model and indicating the similarities and differences among the corporate websites through positioning perspective.

  7. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Markusen, James R.; Schjerning, Bertel

    to the firm?s productivity. Foreign-owned firms have, on average, higher productivity in equilibrium due to entry costs, which means that low-productivity foreign firms cannot enter. Foreign firms have higher wage growth and, with some exceptions, pay higher average wages, but not when compared to similarly...... large domestic firms. The empirical implications of the model are tested on matched employer-employee data from Denmark. Consistent with the theory, we find considerable evidence of higher wages and wage growth in large and/or foreign-owned firms. These effects survive controlling for individual...... characteristics, but, as expected, are reduced significantly when controlling for unobservable firm heterogeneity. Furthermore, acquired skills in foreign-owned and large firms appear to be transferable to both subsequent wage work and self-employment...

  8. Analysis of the occupational therapist’s activities as a professional adviser in the professional rehabilitation service of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Etiene Cerutti Louzada

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The INSS Professional Rehabilitation Service (PR underwent several changes, especially those that occurred with the creation of the SUS and the withdrawal of any kind of health care from the institute. In 2008, with the revitalization of the service, several occupational therapists joined the institution, but remained a model of action without focusing on health care and without valuing the professional specificity. This form of intervention has been causing discussions about the work of these professionals, implied by the lack of literature that bases their interventions and strengthens the maintenance of their professional identity within this new scenario. Objective: To investigate the relationship between Occupational Therapy and the role played by occupational therapists in the INSS PR service. Method: Qualitative research of the exploratory type, being observed the performance of an occupational therapist of the Executive Management Recife/PE, Responsible for Professional Orientation. Results: It was verified that in the INSS, the occupational therapist employs many specificities of its profession, which are related to: objective (emancipation of the individual and insertion on work activity, object (human doing, occupational performance, instrument (analysis of the labor activity and workstation. In addition, it was noticed that the social security context exerts some limitations in the occupational therapeutic action, within the scope of the institutional norms of management and of conducting the professional doing in the RP. Conclusion: Relationships between Occupational Therapy and function of Responsible for Professional Orientation of INSS were established, indicating ways for a practice based on the theoretical bases of the profession. It is recommended to conduct researches in the area that analyze the performance of this professional and the impact of their interventions in the replacement of INSS policyholders in

  9. Perceived needs of pharmaceutical care services among healthcare professionals in South Korea: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Iyn-Hyang; Rhie, Sandy Jeong; Je, Nam Kyung; Rhew, Ki Yon; Ji, Eunhee; Oh, Jung Mi; Lee, Euni; Yoon, Jeong-Hyun

    2016-10-01

    Purpose To explore the need for pharmaceutical care services, key features of desirable pharmacy services, and perceived barriers for advancing the services in hospital environments with doctors and nurses who are key co-workers of the interdisciplinary team care services.Methods Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with eighteen doctors and fifteen nurses employing purposive and snowballing sampling strategies were conducted in ten hospitals in South Korea. Results The level of pharmaceutical care was varied across regions or institutions in South Korea. The concept of pharmaceutical care was insufficiently defined, and tended to be limited to some parts of medication counseling. Through pharmaceutical care services, doctors desired to acquire comprehensive drug information from and to share clinical responsibilities with pharmacists. Nurses wished to lower their burdens of medication counseling services from their daily practices. Doctors and nurses asked for pharmacists providing essential and carefully selected medication information to their patients in a patient-centered manner. The listed barriers to pharmaceutical care included the lack of appropriate systems for reward, insufficient accessibility to patient records by pharmacists, ambiguous role descriptions of pharmacist, and absence of effective communication among professionals. Conclusion A successful pharmaceutical care service model should allow efficient exchange of information among healthcare professionals to build inter-professional trust and to provide a continuity of care both in terms of time and setting. As prerequisites of such system, it was warranted to develop clinical evidence and an appropriate reward system for pharmaceutical care services.

  10. Using Facebook as an E-Portfolio in Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers' Professional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabilan, Muhammad Kamarul

    2016-01-01

    This study aims to determine if "Facebook," when used as an online teacher portfolio (OTP), could contribute meaningfully to pre-service teachers' professional development (PD) and in what ways the OTP can be meaningful. Pre-service teachers (n = 91) were asked to develop OTP using "Facebook" and engage in learning and…

  11. From purists to players? How service industry professionals develop social skills for informal client relationships.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Taminiau, Y.T.A.; Ferguson, J.E.

    2015-01-01

    Developing informal client relationships is an essential social skill for service industry professionals, such as accountants. This skill can be considered a form of 'social knowledge', a key enabler in facilitating communications, and helping professionals distinguish themselves from competitors.

  12. Differences in Professional Interests Between School Librarians and School Directors of Audio-Visual Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eshleman, Winston

    Since the state of Ohio has combined the certification requirements for the professions of school librarians and directors of audiovisual services, the professional interests of these two groups were compared to discover if they have identical interests. A questionnaire was devised with rating scales for areas of professional concern. The…

  13. Social firms as a means of vocational recovery for people with mental illness: a UK survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Employment is associated with better quality of life and wellbeing in people with mental illness. Unemployment is associated with greater levels of psychological illness and is viewed as a core part of the social exclusion faced by people with mental illness. Social Firms offer paid employment to people with mental illness but are under-investigated in the UK. The aims of this phase of the Social Firms A Route to Recovery (SoFARR) project were to describe the availability and spread of Social Firms across the UK, to outline the range of opportunities Social Firms offer people with severe mental illness and to understand the extent to which they are employed within these firms. Method A UK national survey of Social Firms, other social enterprises and supported businesses was completed to understand the extent to which they provide paid employment for the mentally ill. A study-specific questionnaire was developed. It covered two broad areas asking employers about the nature of the Social Firm itself and about the employees with mental illness working there. Results We obtained returns from 76 Social Firms and social enterprises / supported businesses employing 692 people with mental illness. Forty per cent of Social Firms were in the south of England, 24% in the North and the Midlands, 18% in Scotland and 18% in Wales. Other social enterprises/supported businesses were similarly distributed. Trading activities were confined mainly to manufacturing, service industry, recycling, horticulture and catering. The number of employees with mental illness working in Social Firms and other social enterprises/supported businesses was small (median of 3 and 6.5 respectively). Over 50% employed people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, though the greatest proportion of employees with mental illness had depression or anxiety. Over two thirds of Social Firms liaised with mental health services and over a quarter received funding from the NHS or a mental health

  14. Social Firms as a means of vocational recovery for people with mental illness: a UK survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, Eleanor; Marwaha, Steven; Milton, Alyssa; Johnson, Sonia; Morant, Nicola; Parsons, Nicholas; Fisher, Adrian; Singh, Swaran; Cunliffe, Di

    2013-07-11

    Employment is associated with better quality of life and wellbeing in people with mental illness. Unemployment is associated with greater levels of psychological illness and is viewed as a core part of the social exclusion faced by people with mental illness. Social Firms offer paid employment to people with mental illness but are under-investigated in the UK. The aims of this phase of the Social Firms A Route to Recovery (SoFARR) project were to describe the availability and spread of Social Firms across the UK, to outline the range of opportunities Social Firms offer people with severe mental illness and to understand the extent to which they are employed within these firms. A UK national survey of Social Firms, other social enterprises and supported businesses was completed to understand the extent to which they provide paid employment for the mentally ill. A study-specific questionnaire was developed. It covered two broad areas asking employers about the nature of the Social Firm itself and about the employees with mental illness working there. We obtained returns from 76 Social Firms and social enterprises / supported businesses employing 692 people with mental illness. Forty per cent of Social Firms were in the south of England, 24% in the North and the Midlands, 18% in Scotland and 18% in Wales. Other social enterprises/supported businesses were similarly distributed. Trading activities were confined mainly to manufacturing, service industry, recycling, horticulture and catering. The number of employees with mental illness working in Social Firms and other social enterprises/supported businesses was small (median of 3 and 6.5 respectively). Over 50% employed people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, though the greatest proportion of employees with mental illness had depression or anxiety. Over two thirds of Social Firms liaised with mental health services and over a quarter received funding from the NHS or a mental health charity. Most workers with

  15. Guide to legal services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This is a directory of law firms that provide services to the independent energy industry. The directory lists the firm's name, address, telephone and FAX numbers, and the name of a contact person. Included is a description of the specialties or services offered by the firm in the area of independent energy projects; some of these include regulatory, tax, fuel supply, operations and maintenance, environmental, real estate, government contracts and bankruptcy

  16. University English and Audit Firms in the Philippines: Meeting Needs, Merging Deeds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenedero, Pia Patricia P.; Vizconde, Camilla J.

    2015-01-01

    With increasing demand for accounting professionals, audit firms are banking on universities to provide graduates equipped with technical know-how and critical English skills. This explains heightened employer concern over the business English skills of new hires, prompting questions on adequacy and relevance of English taught in universities.…

  17. Pengaruh Family Control, Firm Size, Firm Risk, Dan Firm Life Cycle Terhadap Profitabilitas Dan Nilai Perusahaan Sektor Industri Barang Konsumsi

    OpenAIRE

    Servin, Servin

    2014-01-01

    This study aims to examine the effect of family control, firm size, firm risk, and firm lifecycle towards profitability and firm's value. Sampels were taken from 27 consumer goodscompanies, listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange, ranging from 2010 – 2012. The hypotheseswere tested using multiple regression analysis. In this study, profitability was measured byROA (Return on Asset) and firm's value was measured by Tobin's q. The result were, familycontrol and life cycle stage-growth had negative i...

  18. The impact of switching costs on closing of service branches

    OpenAIRE

    Baron, Mira G.

    2002-01-01

    The paper deals with the optimal location of service branches. Consumers can receive service from different firms and branches offering substitute services. The consumer chooses the firm and the branch. Examples are banking services (which firm and branch?), healthcare providers, insurance companies and their agents, brokerage firms and their branches. With the change in the accessibility of the internet, the service industry witnesses the impact of the change in technology. More customers pr...

  19. Exploring resilience and mindfulness as preventative factors for psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress among human service professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harker, Rachel; Pidgeon, Aileen M; Klaassen, Frances; King, Steven

    2016-06-08

    Human service professionals are concerned with the intervention and empowerment of vulnerable social populations. The human service industry is laden with employment-related stressors and emotionally demanding interactions, which can lead to deleterious effects, such as burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Little attention has been given to developing knowledge of what might enable human service workers to persist and thrive. Cultivating and sustaining resilience can buffer the impact of occupational stressors on human service professionals. One of the psychological factors associated with cultivating resilience is mindfulness. The aim of this current research is to improve our understanding of the relationship between resilience, mindfulness, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and psychological distress among human service professionals. The current study surveyed 133 human service professionals working in the fields of psychology, social work, counseling, youth and foster care work to explore the predictive relationship between resilience, mindfulness, and psychological distress. The results showed that higher levels of resilience were a significant predictor of lower levels of psychological distress, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. In addition, higher levels of mindfulness were a significant predictor of lower levels of psychological distress and burnout. The findings suggest that cultivating resilience and mindfulness in human service professionals may assist in preventing psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Limitations of this study are discussed together with implications for future research.

  20. Does Input Quality Drive Measured Differences in Firm Productivity?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fox, Jeremy T.; Smeets, Valerie Anne Rolande

    2011-01-01

    One explanation for productivity dispersion is that the quality of inputs differs across firms. We add labor market history variables such as experience and firm and industry tenure, as well as general human capital measures such as schooling and sex. Adding these variables decreases the ratio...... of the 90th to 10th productivity quantiles from 3.27 to 2.68 across eight Danish manufacturing and service industries. We also use the wage bill and worker fixed effects. We find that the wage bill explains as much dispersion as human capital measures....

  1. CAREER AND WORK RELATIONS IN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICE INDUSTRY: THE PERSPECTIVES OF IT PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR MANAGERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valter Moreno

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates work relations and career perspectives of IT professionals in the information technology service industry. The research is based on the case of executives, managers and technical professionals which work in a large Brazilian company that provides consulting and systems development and implementation services, and reveals a considerable vulnerability in the relationship between the company and such professionals. The human resources business model adopted seems to impose restrictions to the development of the professionals, consequently limiting their future performance, and concurring for the continuing devaluation of IT as a profession. The sustainability of such a model is discussed, given its long term risks for the companies’ service quality and competitiveness, as well as its implications for the attractiveness of Information Technology as a career.

  2. 75 FR 2491 - Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms Program Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-15

    ... strengthen their marketing channels to more effectively reach service firms, it is expected that the number... a marketing/sales project or production/engineering project in their Adjustment Proposals, and 35... types of projects in Adjustment Proposals. More than half of all firms proposed to implement marketing...

  3. The right place? Users and professionals' constructions of the place's influence on personal recovery in community mental health services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Femdal, Ingrid

    2018-01-01

    Current mental health policy emphasizes the importance of community-based service delivery for people with mental health problems to encompass personal recovery. The aim of this study is to explore how users and professionals construct the place's influence on personal recovery in community mental health services. This is a qualitative, interpretive study based on ten individual, semi-structured interviews with users and professionals, respectively. A discourse analysis inspired by the work of Foucault was used to analyze the interviews. The findings show how place can be constructed as a potential for and as a barrier against recovery. Constructions of the aim of the services matter when choosing a place for the services. Further, constructions of user-professional relationships and flexibility are important in the constructions of an appropriate place for the services. The aim of the service, the user-professional relationship, and flexibility in choosing place were essential in the participants' constructions. To find "the right place" for mental health services was constructed as context-sensitive and complex processes of assessment and co-determination. Trial registration The study is approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics, Norway (REK-Midt 2011/2057).

  4. Division of Labor, Transaction Cost, Emergence of the Firm and Firm Size

    OpenAIRE

    Pak-Wai Liu; Xiaokai Yang

    1999-01-01

    In this paper a general equilibrium model is constructed to explain the emergence of firms and change in firm size by the tradeoff between economies of specialization and transaction cost. We show that firms emerge from the development of division of labor if the transaction efficiency for labor is smaller than that for intermediate goods. Given the emergence of firms, change in the average size of firms (average employment) will depend on the change in transaction efficiency for intermediate...

  5. Is it time to abandon care planning in mental health services? A qualitative study exploring the views of professionals, service users and carers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Helen L; Lovell, Karina; Bee, Penny; Sanders, Caroline; Rogers, Anne

    2018-06-01

    It has been established that mental health-care planning does not adequately respond to the needs of those accessing services. Understanding the reasons for this and identifying whose needs care plans serve requires an exploration of the perspectives of service users, carers and professionals within the wider organizational context. To explore the current operationalization of care planning and perceptions of its function within mental health services from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders. Participants included 21 mental health professionals, 29 service users and 4 carers from seven Mental Health Trusts in England. All participants had experience of care planning processes within secondary mental health-care services. Fifty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and analysed utilizing a qualitative framework approach. Care plans and care planning were characterized by a failure to meet the complexity of mental health needs, and care planning processes were seen to prioritize organizational agendas and risk prevention which distanced care planning from the everyday lives of service users. Care planning is recognized, embedded and well established in the practices of mental health professionals and service users. However, it is considered too superficial and mainly irrelevant to users for managing mental health in their everyday lives. Those responsible for the planning and delivery of mental health services should consider ways to increase the relevance of care planning to the everyday lives of service users including separating risk from holistic needs assessment, using support aids and utilizing a peer workforce in this regard. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Pre-service teacher professional development on climate change: Assessment of workshop success and influence of prior knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veron, D. E.; Ad-Marbach, G.; Fox-Lykens, R.; Ozbay, G.; Sezen-Barrie, A.; Wolfson, J.

    2017-12-01

    As states move to adopt the next generation science standards, in-service teachers are being provided with professional development that introduces climate change content and best practices for teaching climate change in the classroom. However, research has shown that it is challenging to bring this information into the higher education curriculum in education courses for pre-service teachers due to curricular and programming constraints. Over two years, the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Assessment and Research (MADE-CLEAR) project explored a professional development approach for pre-service teachers which employed paired workshops that resulted in participant-developed lesson plans based on climate change content. The workshops were designed to provide pre-service teachers with climate change content related to the carbon cycle and to model a variety of techniques and activities for presenting this information in the classroom. Lesson plans were developed between the first and second workshop, presented at the second workshop and discussed with peers and in-service teachers, and then revised in response to feedback from the second workshop. Participant climate change content knowledge was assessed before the first workshop, and after the final revision of the lesson plan was submitted to the MADE-CLEAR team. Climate content knowledge was also assessed using the same survey for additional pre-service teacher groups who did not participate in the professional development. Results show that while the paired workshop approach increased climate content knowledge, the amount of improvement varied depending on the participants' prior knowledge in climate change content. In addition, some alternate conceptions of climate change were not altered by participant involvement in the professional development approach. Revised lesson plans showed understanding of underlying climate change impacts and demonstrated awareness of appropriate techniques for introducing this

  7. Default Risk and Firm Value of Shipping & Logistics Firms in Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyun Jung Nam

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available As shipping and logistics industry is one of the core industries in Korea, the volume was ranked in the fifth highest in the world. However, shipping and logistics industry of Korea has suffered from default risk since Global Financial Crisis in 2008. This study examines the relationship between the default risk, as measured by the Altman K-Score, and firm value, as measured by the Return on Assets (ROA, of shipping and logistics firms in Korea and compares the impact of default risk on firm value between good financial health firms and poor financial health firms. As the trends of KScores over a ten-year periods, shipping and logistics firms in Korea register weak-to-moderate financial healthy rage. We find that Altman K-Score is significantly linked with firm value and also higher performing firms as measured by the ROA exhibit higher financial health as measured by KScore. Although nine years have been passed since Global Financial Crisis 2008, Korean shipping and logistics industry is still under the financial depression. This study proposes that systematic financial alert system of Korean shipping and logistics industry should be required to decrease default risk reflecting significance of Korean economy.

  8. Unraveling Supply-Driven Business Models of Architectural Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bos-De Vos, M.; Volker, L.; Wamelink, J.W.F.; Kaminsky, Jessica; Zerjav, Vedran

    2016-01-01

    Architectural firms deliver services for various, unique projects that are all characterized by a high level of uncertainty. To successfully propose, create and capture value, they need business models that are able to deal with this variety and uncertainty. So far, little is known about the

  9. Job Design, Training Effect and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Work Placement at Audit Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Liu Guangyou

    2017-01-01

    This paper aims to test the relationships between job design aspects and job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of training effect in these relationships. Regression and mediation analyses were performed based on the data collected from a questionnaire-based survey on the senior accounting students’ audit work placement at audit firms. I conclude that repeated tedious non-professional job aspect is negatively related to job satisfaction, whereas judgmental professional job aspect is ...

  10. The Impact of Financial Access on Firm Growth: Evidence from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Impact of Financial Access on Firm Growth: Evidence from Ethiopian Grain Traders and Millers. ... Ethiopian Journal of Economics ... the necessary investment to provide effective marketing services for the transformation of agriculture.

  11. Analysis of occupational accidents with biological material among professionals in pre-hospital services

    OpenAIRE

    Oliveira,Adriana Cristina de; Paiva,Maria Henriqueta Rocha Siqueira

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of accidents due to biological material exposure, the characteristics and post-accident conduct among professionals of pre-hospital services of the four municipalities of Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHOD: A cross-sectional study, using a structured questionnaire that was developed to enable the calculation of prevalence, descriptive analysis and analytical analysis using logistic regression. The study included 228 professionals; the prevalence of accidents du...

  12. Exploring an increased role for Australian community pharmacy in mental health professional service delivery: evaluation of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hattingh, H Laetitia; Scahill, Shane; Fowler, Jane L; Wheeler, Amanda J

    2016-12-01

    Australian general practitioners primarily treat mental health problems by prescribing medication dispensed by community pharmacists. Pharmacists therefore have regular interactions with mental health consumers and carers. This narrative review explored the potential role of community pharmacy in mental health services. Medline, CINAHL, ProQuest, Emerald, PsycINFO, Science Direct, PubMed, Web of Knowledge and IPA were utilised. The Cochrane Library as well as grey literature and "lay" search engines such as GoogleScholar were also searched. Four systematic reviews and ten community pharmacy randomised controlled trials were identified. Various relevant reviews outlining the impact of community pharmacy based disease state or medicines management services were also identified. International studies involving professional service interventions for mental health consumers could be contextualised for the Australian setting. Australian studies of pharmacy professional services for chronic physical health conditions provided further guidance for the expansion of community pharmacy mental health professional services.

  13. Firm handling; the information exchange interaction by parents in paediatric care – An observational study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carina Berterö

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Information exchange is fundamental in the paediatric care encounter. Health care professionals need further background knowledge to encounter the parents/guardians from their perspective in their minors’ paediatric care. The parents’/guardians’ ability to manage the situation is dependent on their receiving optimal information, which is why it is important to study how information is exchanged.Aim: The aim of this study was to identify, describe and conceptualize how parents/guardians resolved their main concern ininformation exchange with health care professionals in paediatric care situations involving their minors.Methodology: Glaser’s grounded theory method was used and all data were analysed using constant comparative analysis. The observational study took place at three paediatric outpatient units at a university hospital and 24 parents/guardians participated. Data sources were field notes from 37 observations of paediatric care situations and five adherent excerpts from the minors’ medical records. Grounded theory is a method of conceptualising behaviour, which is why an observational study of parents’/guardians’ information exchange and social interaction in the context of nursing care is relevant as research design.Results: Firm handling was revealed as the way the parents/guardians resolved their main concerns when they were exchanging information about their minors’ paediatric care. Firm handling is built on five inter-related categories: representative advocating, collaborating, aim sharing, supportive resourcing and minor bypassing.Conclusions: This knowledge suggests possible ways for health care professionals to design paediatric care that supports, facilitates, strengthens and improves the parents’/guardians’ firm handling. The key issue is to find ways to support parents/guardians and minors so they can participate in health care encounters according to their preferences. Firm handling gives an

  14. Occupational accidents among nursing professionals in a home care service in the state of São Paulo

    OpenAIRE

    Jéssica Fernanda Corrêa Cordeiro; Amanda Pavinsk Alves; Emília Maria Paulina Campos Chayamiti; Diego Oliveira Miranda; Elucir Gir; Silvia Rita Marin da Silva Canini

    2016-01-01

    This is a cross-sectional study whose objective is to identify and describe accidents with biological material as told by nursing professionals in a home care service in a city in the state of São Paulo. Of the 30 subjects who provided that service in the data collection period, 28 agreed to participate and 12 (42.8%) claimed to have suffered at least one accident with biological material while carrying out professional procedures for that service. Most of the exposures were percutaneous (91....

  15. The basic direction of integration of professional football of Germany in modern market [Osnovnye napravleniia integracii professional'nogo futbola germanii v sovremennyj rynok

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shtolze Peter.

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Considered change in control the system by professional football in Germany, conditioned influencing of modern market. Basic directions and marketing facilities are certain. It is set that basic directions integration in a modern market are professionalism of management football and use of marketing. Attention is accented on changes in the structure of management, creation of marketing departments, making up of the staff of clubs specialists in area of market management, introduction of the corporate beginnings in activity of clubs, use of services of market mediators, establishment of daughter's commercial firms. It is marked that marketing is supposed by activity of soccer organizations on such basic directions: work with an audience; sale of mediarights; work with sponsors and advertisers; merchandising. It is set that to weak positions of marketing it is necessary to take low economic efficiency of business partnership with the representatives of mass medias, insufficient return from merchandising.

  16. Thermodynamics of firms' growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zambrano, Eduardo; Hernando, Alberto; Hernando, Ricardo; Plastino, Angelo

    2015-01-01

    The distribution of firms' growth and firms' sizes is a topic under intense scrutiny. In this paper, we show that a thermodynamic model based on the maximum entropy principle, with dynamical prior information, can be constructed that adequately describes the dynamics and distribution of firms' growth. Our theoretical framework is tested against a comprehensive database of Spanish firms, which covers, to a very large extent, Spain's economic activity, with a total of 1 155 142 firms evolving along a full decade. We show that the empirical exponent of Pareto's law, a rule often observed in the rank distribution of large-size firms, is explained by the capacity of economic system for creating/destroying firms, and that can be used to measure the health of a capitalist-based economy. Indeed, our model predicts that when the exponent is larger than 1, creation of firms is favoured; when it is smaller than 1, destruction of firms is favoured instead; and when it equals 1 (matching Zipf's law), the system is in a full macroeconomic equilibrium, entailing ‘free’ creation and/or destruction of firms. For medium and smaller firm sizes, the dynamical regime changes, the whole distribution can no longer be fitted to a single simple analytical form and numerical prediction is required. Our model constitutes the basis for a full predictive framework regarding the economic evolution of an ensemble of firms. Such a structure can be potentially used to develop simulations and test hypothetical scenarios, such as economic crisis or the response to specific policy measures. PMID:26510828

  17. Procurement with specialized firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boone, Jan; Schottmuller, C.

    2016-01-01

    We analyze optimal procurement mechanisms when firms are specialized. The procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms' cost functions and values high quality as well as low price. Lower type firms are cheaper (more expensive) than higher type firms when providing low (high)

  18. What factors influence the decisions of mental health professionals to release service users from seclusion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Haley; Baker, John; Berzins, Kathyrn

    2018-06-22

    Mental health policy stipulates seclusion should only be used as an intervention of last resort and for the minimum possible duration. Current evidence details which service users are more likely to be secluded, why they are secluded, and what influences the decision to seclude them. However, very little is known about the decision to release service users from seclusion. An integrative review was undertaken to explore the decision-making processes of mental health professionals which guide the ending of seclusion. The review used a systematic approach to gather and thematically analyse evidence within a framework approach. The twelve articles identified generated one overriding theme, maintaining safety. In addition, several subthemes emerged including the process of risk assessing which was dependent upon interaction and control, mediated by factors external to the service user such as the attitude and experience of staff and the acuity of the environment. Service users were expected to demonstrate compliance with the process ultimately ending in release and reflection. Little evidence exists regarding factors influencing mental health professionals in decisions to release service users from seclusion. There is no evidence-based risk assessment tool, and service users are not routinely involved in the decision to release them. Support from experienced professionals is vital to ensure timely release from seclusion. Greater insight into influences upon decisions to discontinue episodes may support initiatives aimed at reducing durations and use of seclusion. © 2018 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

  19. Pre-Service Special Education Teachers' Professionalism and Preparation in Terms of Child Sexual Abuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Zboon, Eman; Ahmad, Jamal

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed at examining Jordanian pre-service special education teachers' professionalism and preparation on the topic of child sexual abuse (CSA). Qualitative research data from interviews with 20 pre-service special education teachers were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that these participants generally hold avoiding…

  20. Founder Control, Ownership Structure and Firm Value: Evidence from Entrepreneurial Listed Firms in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijun Xia

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available In emerging markets, the deviation between the ultimate controlling shareholders' voting rights and their cash flow rights (hereafter “DVC” in the listed firms is quite prevalent. DVC could be introduced due to the ultimate controlling shareholders' opportunistic incentives, as well as by their incentives to improve firm efficiency. This study uses 229 listed firms ultimately controlled by individuals or families (hereafter “entrepreneurial firms” for 2004 in China, to investigate the effect of DVC on firm value and to determine whether it is different between founder and non-founder controlled firms. We find that DVC has a positive effect on firm value for founder controlled firms. This result implies that investors believe that their interests are better protected by founder controlled firms than by non-founder controlled firms.

  1. Firm Traits and Web Based Disclosures in Top Nigerian Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bello Ayuba

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The use of the internet as a medium of dissemination of information to stakeholders is increasingly gaining grounds. This study extends existing literature on web disclosures by investigating the characteristics that predict the extent of web-based disclosures. In this study, corporate websites of top Nigerian firms are used as sources of data, while a regression analysis is employed to examine the extent of prediction. Results indicate that the firm size and industry type are significant determinants of web disclosures. However, other firm traits such as ownership dispersion and financial performance do not significantly explain the extent of internet disclosures. The study recommends that a regulatory template for corporate web disclosures be put in place by government regardless of the size or industry classification of the firm. This is with a view to considerably reduce agency conflicts arising from information asymmetry in publicly listed firms in Nigeria.

  2. Quality of healthcare services and its relationship with patient safety culture and nurse-physician professional communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akram Ghahramanian

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: This study investigated quality of healthcare services from patients’ perspectives and its relationship with patient safety culture and nurse-physician professional communication. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 surgery patients and 101 nurses caring them in a public hospital in Tabriz–Iran. Data were collected using the service quality measurement scale (SERVQUAL, hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC and nurse physician professional communication questionnaire. Results: The highest and lowest mean (±SD scores of the patients’ perception on the healthcare services quality belonged to the assurance 13.92 (±3.55 and empathy 6.78 (±1.88 domains,respectively. With regard to the patient safety culture, the mean percentage of positive answers ranged from 45.87% for "non-punitive response to errors" to 68.21% for "organizational continuous learning" domains. The highest and lowest mean (±SD scores for the nurse physician professional communication were obtained for "cooperation" 3.44 (±0.35 and "non participative decision-making" 2.84 (±0.34 domains, respectively. The "frequency of reported errors by healthcare professionals" (B=-4.20, 95% CI = -7.14 to -1.27, P<0.01 and "respect and sharing of information" (B=7.69, 95% CI=4.01 to 11.36, P<0.001 predicted the patients’perceptions of the quality of healthcare services. Conclusion: Organizational culture in dealing with medical error should be changed to non punitive response. Change in safety culture towards reporting of errors, effective communication and teamwork between healthcare professionals are recommended.

  3. Quality of healthcare services and its relationship with patient safety culture and nurse-physician professional communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghahramanian, Akram; Rezaei, Tayyebeh; Abdullahzadeh, Farahnaz; Sheikhalipour, Zahra; Dianat, Iman

    2017-01-01

    Background: This study investigated quality of healthcare services from patients' perspectives and its relationship with patient safety culture and nurse-physician professional communication. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 surgery patients and 101 nurses caring them in a public hospital in Tabriz-Iran. Data were collected using the service quality measurement scale (SERVQUAL), hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC) and nurse physician professional communication questionnaire. Results: The highest and lowest mean (±SD) scores of the patients' perception on the healthcare services quality belonged to the assurance 13.92 (±3.55) and empathy 6.78 (±1.88) domains,respectively. With regard to the patient safety culture, the mean percentage of positive answers ranged from 45.87% for "non-punitive response to errors" to 68.21% for "organizational continuous learning" domains. The highest and lowest mean (±SD) scores for the nurse physician professional communication were obtained for "cooperation" 3.44 (±0.35) and "non-participative decision-making" 2.84 (±0.34) domains, respectively. The "frequency of reported errors by healthcare professionals" (B=-4.20, 95% CI = -7.14 to -1.27, P<0.01) and "respect and sharing of information" (B=7.69, 95% CI=4.01 to 11.36, P<0.001) predicted the patients'perceptions of the quality of healthcare services. Conclusion: Organizational culture in dealing with medical error should be changed to non-punitive response. Change in safety culture towards reporting of errors, effective communication and teamwork between healthcare professionals are recommended.

  4. Child obesity service provision: a cross-sectional survey of physiotherapy practice trends and professional needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milne, Nikki; Choy, Nancy Low; Leong, Gary M; Hughes, Roger; Hing, Wayne

    2016-01-01

    This study explored current physiotherapy practice trends for management of children who are overweight or obese. The professional needs of physiotherapists working with this population were also assessed, including the perceived need for physiotherapy clinical guidelines for prevention and management of children with obesity. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with questionnaires purposefully distributed through 13 key physiotherapy services throughout Australia. Snowball sampling resulted in completed questionnaires from 64 physiotherapists who provided services to children. Half (n=33, 52%) of respondents provided services specifically to overweight or obese children. Of those providing services, one-quarter had prior training specific to working with this population. Most used multi-disciplinary models (n=16, 76%) and provided under 5h of obesity-related services each week (n=29, 88%). Half (n=16, 49%) used body mass index as an outcome measure but more (n=25, 76%) used bodyweight. Only 14 (42%) assessed motor skills. The majority of respondents (n=57, 89%) indicated a need for physiotherapy guidelines to best manage overweight and obese children. Professional development priorities included: 'Educating children and families', 'Assessment methods' and 'Exercise prescription' for overweight and obese children. This data provides workforce intelligence to guide future professional training and inform development of clinical guidelines for physiotherapists in prevention and management of children with obesity and related chronic disease.

  5. Firm size and taxes

    OpenAIRE

    Chongvilaivan, Aekapol; Jinjarak, Yothin

    2010-01-01

    The scale dependence in firm growth (smaller firms grow faster) is systematically reflected in the size distribution. This paper studies whether taxes affect the equilibrium firm size distribution in a cross-country context. The main finding is that the empirical association between firm growth and corporate tax (VAT) is positive (negative), with notable differences in the response of manufacturing firms and that of the others. We draw implications for recent debate on the impact of taxes and...

  6. Cyclicality and Firm Size in Private Firm Defaults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Thais Lærkholm; Lando, David; Medhat, Mamdouh

    2017-01-01

    The Basel II/III and CRD IV Accords reduce capital charges on bank loans to smaller firms by assuming that the default probabilities of smaller firms are less sensitive to macroeconomic cycles. We test this assumption in a default intensity framework using a large sample of bank loans to private...

  7. Acquired brain injury services in the Republic of Ireland: experiences and perceptions of families and professionals.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    McDermott, Garret L

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to highlight the experiences and perceptions of rehabilitation services among families of people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and among professionals working in ABI rehabilitation services in Ireland.

  8. Characteristics of Place Identity as Part of Professional Identity Development among Pre-Service Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Michal; Hochberg, Nurit

    2016-01-01

    How do pre-service teachers perceive place identity, and is there a connection between their formative place identity and the development of their professional teaching identity? These questions are probed among pre-service teachers who participated in a course titled "Integrating Nature into Preschool." The design of the course was…

  9. An Examination of Technology Training Experiences from Teacher Candidacy to In-Service Professional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Mable Evans

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of in-service teachers concerning the effectiveness of technology training from a teacher education preparation program to in-service professional development. The findings of the study revealed that inservice teachers have had varying degrees of technology experiences from their…

  10. Female Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from UK Listed Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Pasaribu, Pananda

    2017-01-01

    The impact of female directors on firm performance has lacked consistency in the previously conducted empirical studies, which may be due to the endogeneity problem, or certain characteristics (i.e. governance, industry, competition). This study examines the relationship between female directors and firm performance by addressing those problems. This study analyses all non-financial UK listed firms during the period 2004-2012 and employs several econometric models. The regression results indi...

  11. Analysis of a STEM Education Professional Development Conference for Pre-Service Educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardrict-Ewing, Gloria

    2017-01-01

    Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines are attracting increased attention in education. The iSTEM 2017 conference was a professional development program designed to acquaint pre-service teachers with interdisciplinary, research-based STEM instructional strategies that can transform traditional classroom instruction…

  12. Evaluation Method for Service Branding Using Word-of-Mouth Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirahada, Kunio; Kosaka, Michitaka

    Development and spread of internet technology contributes service firms to obtaining the high capability of brand information transmission as well as relative customer feedback data collection. In this paper, we propose a new evaluation method for service branding using firms and consumers data on the internet. Based on service marketing 7Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical evidence, Process) which are the key viewpoints for branding, we develop a brand evaluation system including coding methods for Word-of-Mouth (WoM) and corporate introductory information on the internet to identify both customer's service value recognition vector and firm's service value proposition vector. Our system quantitatively clarify both customer's service value recognition of the firm and firm's strength in service value proposition, thereby analyzing service brand communication gaps between firm and consumers. We applied this system to Japanese Ryokan hotel industry. Using six ryokan-hotels' data on Jyaran-net and Rakuten travel, we made totally 983 codes from WoM information and analyzed their service brand value according to three price based categories. As a result, we found that the characteristics of customers' service value recognition vector differ according to the price categories. In addition, the system clarified that there is a firm that has a different service value proposition vector from customers' recognition vector. This helps to analyze corporate service brand strategy and has a significance as a system technology supporting service management.

  13. Service-sector Competition, Innovation and R&D

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tingvall, Patrick Gustavsson; Karpaty, Patrik

    2011-01-01

    The central prediction of the Aghion, Bloom, Blundell and Howitt model is an inverted U-shaped relationship between innovation and competition. The model is built on the assumption of a product market and has not yet been tested on the service sector. Using detailed firm-level data on Swedish...... service-sector firms, we find evidence of an inverse U-shaped relationship for exporting service-sector firms. A further breakdown of innovation expenditures shows that the inverse U-shaped pattern holds for intramural R&D and training, but not for extramural R&D. Finally, the results indicate...... that as competition increases, small firms tend to seek strategic alliances with competitors, whereas large firms tend to reduce collaboration with competitors. The behavior of large firms can partly be due to their superior capacity to handle innovation projects internally, which will become more important...

  14. Leverage, Investment, and Firm Growth

    OpenAIRE

    Larry Lang; Eli Ofek; Rene M. Stulz

    1995-01-01

    We show that there is a negative relation between leverage and future growth at the firm level and, for diversified firms, at the segment level. Further, this negative relation between leverage and growth holds for firms with low Tobin's q, but not for high-q firms or firms in high-q industries. Therefore, leverage does not reduce growth for firms known to have good investment opportunities, but is negatively related to growth for firms whose growth opportunities are either not recognized by ...

  15. Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services for Sustainable Buildings: A Guide for Federal Project Managers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2004-06-01

    This guide was prepared to be a resource for federal construction project managers and others who want to integrate the principles of sustainable design into the procurement of professional building design and consulting services. To economize on energy costs and improve the safety, comfort, and health of building occupants, building design teams can incorporate daylighting, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and passive solar design into all projects in which these elements are technically and economically feasible. The information presented here will help project leaders begin the process and manage the inclusion of sustainable design in the procurement process. The section on establishing selection criteria contains key elements to consider before selecting an architectural and engineering (A/E) firm. The section on preparing the statement of work discusses the broad spectrum of sustainable design services that an A/E firm can provide. Several helpful checklists are included.

  16. Qualities and Practices of Professional Social Work Leadership in an Interdisciplinary Mental Health Service: An Action Learning Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNabb, David; Webster, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Since the mid-1980s, health service restructuring in New Zealand has strengthened managerialism, arguably detracting from professional considerations. Professional leaders without line-management responsibilities have replaced social work departments headed by a professional social worker. An emerging social work contribution to interdisciplinary…

  17. Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers as They Relate to Professional Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Emily; Poel, Elissa; Licona, Miguel M.; Arroyos, Elsa C.; Meraz-Rodriguez, Alma

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the beliefs and concerns of pre-service teachers as they relate to professional practice during their practicum experience. This study took place in a minority-serving university in the Southwest. All activities were conducted during one academic semester and held during the weekly on-campus seminars. The…

  18. Performance of Patenting Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Erik Strøjer; Smith, Valdemar; Nielsen, Anders Østergaard

    2000-01-01

    Most countries focus on industries with high technology and the governments grant subsidies to innovating firms. However, there has been remarkable few studies of the performance of innovative firms or industries. This study examines the performance of patent active firms compared to the non-patenting...... firms within the manufacturing sector in Denmark. Performance is measured both by growth in employment as well as in the return on equity and profit share in turnover. The results suggest that differences in performance of patenting and non-patenting firms are very small, which questions the political...

  19. 76 FR 27952 - Small Business Size Standards: Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-13

    ... Administration (SBA or Agency) proposed to increase small business size standards for 35 industries and one sub... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 13 CFR Part 121 RIN 3245-AG07 Small Business Size Standards: Professional, Scientific and Technical Services. AGENCY: U.S. Small Business Administration. ACTION: Proposed...

  20. Placement, support, and retention of health professionals: national, cross-sectional findings from medical and dental community service officers in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatcher, Abigail M; Onah, Michael; Kornik, Saul; Peacocke, Julia; Reid, Stephen

    2014-02-26

    In South Africa, community service following medical training serves as a mechanism for equitable distribution of health professionals and their professional development. Community service officers are required to contribute a year towards serving in a public health facility while receiving supervision and remuneration. Although the South African community service programme has been in effect since 1998, little is known about how placement and practical support occur, or how community service may impact future retention of health professionals. National, cross-sectional data were collected from community service officers who served during 2009 using a structured self-report questionnaire. A Supervision Satisfaction Scale (SSS) was created by summing scores of five questions rated on a three-point Likert scale (orientation, clinical advising, ongoing mentorship, accessibility of clinic leadership, and handling of community service officers' concerns). Research endpoints were guided by community service programmatic goals and analysed as dichotomous outcomes. Bivariate and multivariate logistical regressions were conducted using Stata 12. The sample population comprised 685 doctors and dentists (response rate 44%). Rural placement was more likely among unmarried, male, and black practitioners. Rates of self-reported professional development were high (470 out of 539 responses; 87%). Participants with higher scores on the SSS were more likely to report professional development. Although few participants planned to continue work in rural, underserved communities (n = 171 out of 657 responses, 25%), those serving in a rural facility during the community service year had higher intentions of continuing rural work. Those reporting professional development during the community service year were twice as likely to report intentions to remain in rural, underserved communities. Despite challenges in equitable distribution of practitioners, participant satisfaction with the

  1. FORMING OF EMOTIONAL FIRMNESS OF FUTURE PILOTS BY FACILITIES OF PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOPHYZIOLOGICAL PREPARATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Т. Плачинда

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The main approaches regarding formation of mental stability of a future pilot and development of their psychophysiological qualities are suggested. The emotional stability indicators and the means of forming emotional firmness in special cases have been described. The author has paid  attention to the importance of psychological state recovery after the flight and the positive role  of physical training and psychophysiological preparation in the formation of professional efficiency of flight crew and professional longevity

  2. Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.A.M. Vermeulen (Patrick); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

    2006-01-01

    textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation.

  3. Complex Incremental Product Innovation in Established Service Firms: A Micro Institutional Perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.A.M. Vermeulen (Patrick); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

    2007-01-01

    textabstractMany product innovation studies have described key determinants that should lead to successful incremental product innovation. Despite numerous studies suggesting how incremental product innovation should be successfully undertaken, many firms still struggle with this type of innovation.

  4. Tensions Between Firm Size and Sustainability Goals: Fair Trade Coffee in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip H. Howard

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability marketing trends have typically been led by smaller, more mission-driven firms, but are increasingly attracting larger, more profit-driven firms. Studying the strategies of firms that are moving away from these two poles (i.e., mission-driven but larger firms, and profit-driven firms that are more committed to sustainability may help us to better understand the potential to resolve tensions between firm size and sustainability goals. We used this approach to analyze a case study of the U.S. fair trade coffee industry, employing the methods of data visualization and media content analysis. We identified three firms that account for the highest proportion of U.S. fair trade coffee purchases (Equal Exchange, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Starbucks and analyzed their strategies, including reactions to recent changes in U.S. fair trade standards. We found an inverse relationship between firm size and demonstrated commitment to sustainability ideals, and the two larger firms were much less likely to acknowledge conflicts between size and sustainability in their public discourse. We conclude that similar efforts to increase sustainability marketing for other products and services should be more skeptical of approaches that rely on primarily on the participation of large, profit-driven firms.

  5. Economic value added or earnings: What explains market value in Indian firms?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nufazil Altaf

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the claim made by Stern Stewart & Company that economic value added is a better metric that traditional earning based measures in explaining market value. For better exposition, a sample of 325 Indian firms has been divided into two parts- 170 firms belonging to Indian manufacturing companies and 155 companies belonging to the Indian service sector. After performing univariate and multivariate regression analyses, the results of the study reveal that the operating income has a strong linkage with market value added in both manufacturing and service sectors. For both the sectors, the economic value added shows weaker but positive relationship with the market value added.

  6. Should firms always invest in corporate social responsibility? Whether, when, and how?

    OpenAIRE

    Chatterjee, Prabirendra

    2015-01-01

    Firms in various markets such as health care, financial services, software, consumer goods etc. spend significant amount of money on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The literature suggests that consumers take into consideration firmsí CSR activities when making purchase decisions and this leads to either an increase in willingness to pay or an increase in purchase intention. Unfortunately, notwithstanding its strategic beneÖts, the empirical Öndings regarding the impact o...

  7. ARE SMALL-FIRM CLUSTERS EMERGENT PHENOMENA? EVIDENCE FROM ZIMBABWE’S SMALL FURNITURE- MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Godfrey MUPONDA

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons behind the rapid growth and apparent dynamism of Zimbabwe’s small-firm industrial clusters. The hypothesis behind the study was that these small-firm clusters are emergent phenomena. The study analysed the capital utilisation techniques of small firms located in a large industrial cluster in order to determine the factors that lead to the collective efficiency of such firms. The study found that, in comparison with large, stock exchange-listed firms, the cluster environment enables the small firm to operate from a relatively small capital base and also to use its capital more efficiently in creating revenues and profits. The individual firm does not have to invest its capital in a large assets base as this is done by a specialised group of firms within the cluster. Thus, the cluster has the characteristics of an emergent phenomenon.

  8. A Firm-Specific Analysis of the Exchange-Rate Exposure of Dutch Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A. de Jong (Abe); J. Ligterink; V. Macrae

    2002-01-01

    textabstractWe examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50% of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a

  9. [Links between non-professional agents and the official Veterinary Services in sub-Saharan Africa].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diop, B A; Bessin, R

    2004-04-01

    Para-professional agents known as auxiliaries, or community animal health workers, provide low-cost basic veterinary services to communities of livestock producers. A 2003 survey of 16 Sub-Saharan African countries, carried out as part of the Pan-African Programme for the Control of Epizootics, showed that in the majority of cases, the official Veterinary Services have no (or very few) links with the auxiliaries, although they are well aware of their existence and in some cases the auxiliaries have been trained by officials of the Veterinary Services. However, there are isolated cases of countries establishing more formal links, for example, recognising the status of an auxiliary, recognising auxiliaries with no definition of a status, attaching auxiliaries to Veterinary Service staff, establishing agreements for the provision of auxiliary services through livestock producer associations, harmonising auxiliary training programmes, issuing professional auxiliary cards, and setting up a consultation framework on the issue of auxiliaries. Unlike private veterinarians, agents of the official services do not generally perceive auxiliaries as competitors, and sometimes collaboration develops at this level. The authors propose several measures to improve links between the official Veterinary Services and auxiliaries, as follows: the fields of competence of auxiliaries should be defined and their curriculum harmonised, the status of auxiliaries should be recognised, a monitoring and assessment mechanism should be established at senior level in the Veterinary Services, training for livestock producers should be improved.

  10. Exploring New Firm Creation Out of Brand Communities: The Case of LEGO

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hienerth, Christoph; Lettl, Christopher; Biskjaer, Michael Mose

    2011-01-01

    In the field of new product development, brand communities have attracted a great deal of attention from both academics and practitioners as a means of facilitating consumer-producer co-creation processes. In this paper, we extend the line of research on brand communities to the field...... brand community enjoys a broader range of LEGO products and services. Our findings reveal the emergence of a hybrid organizational form in which new business ideas are neither exploited solely within the boundaries of the focal producer firm, nor pursued by fully independent new firms alone. We observe...... of entrepreneurship studies by examining the conditions under which new firms emerge out of these social networks. Our empirical setting is the global LEGO brand community. As a well-known pioneering firm that is constantly experimenting with new ways of collaborating with its fan and customer base, LEGO recently...

  11. Essays on Family Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, Haoyong

    2012-01-01

    The dissertation examines corporate performance and capital structure of family firms, contributing to the limited empirical research on family firms. Family firms are prevalent in national economies all over the world. It is the prevalence that makes family firms receive increasing attentions from academia. The dissertation consists of an introduction and three chapters. Each chapter is an independent paper. The first chapter is a joint work with Professor Morten Bennedsen and...

  12. Unbundled infrastructure firms: Competition and continuing regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogendorn, Christiaan Paul

    Unbundled infrastructure firms provide conduits for electricity transmission, residential communications, etc. but are vertically disintegrated from "content" functions such as electricity generation or world-wide-web pages. These conduits are being deregulated, and this dissertation examines whether the deregulated conduits will behave in an efficient and competitive manner. The dissertation presents three essays, each of which develops a theoretical model of the behavior of conduit firms in a market environment. The first essay considers the prospects for competition between multiple conduits in the emerging market for broadband (high-speed) residential Internet access. It finds that such competition is likely to emerge as demand for these services increase. The second essay shows how a monopoly electricity or natural gas transmission conduit can facilitate collusion between suppliers of the good. It shows that this is an inefficient effect of standard price-cap regulation. The third essay considers the supply chain of residential Internet access and evaluates proposed "open access" regulation that would allow more than one firm to serve customers over the same physical infrastructure. It shows that the amount of content available to consumers does not necessarily increase under open access.

  13. Global Sourcing and Firm Selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kohler, Wilhelm; Smolka, Marcel

    2014-01-01

    We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms.......We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms....

  14. The use of storytelling in quantitative research reports: A marketing research firm perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanessa Maritz

    2014-07-01

    Research purpose: This article investigates the use of storytelling as a tool for actionable reporting by South African marketing research firms Motivation for the study: Clients of marketing research firms often criticise research reports as being too technical and lacking in strategic value. Storytelling is a reporting technique that can be used to develop actionable research and provide clients with more strategic value. Research design, approach and method: A total of 26 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with client service directors and managers of marketing research firms that deliver quantitative research reports to clients. Main findings: Results indicated that all marketing research firms but one use storytelling. Barriers that impede more regular use are inexperienced research executives and the time intensity associated with creating stories. Practical/managerial implications: Storytelling should be used by marketing research firms to provide clients with more actionable research. Contribution/value-add: The study provides marketing research firms in South Africa with recommendations as to how to implement storytelling as a reporting technique, which will add value to clients and enable marketing research firms to remain competitive and develop relationships with clients.

  15. Whom do new firms hire?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahl, Michael S.; Klepper, Steven

    2015-01-01

    Using the matched employer-employee data set for Denmark and information on the founders of new firms, we analyze the hiring choices of all new firms that entered from 2003 to 2010. We develop a theoretical model in which the quality of a firm’s employees determines its average cost, a firm......, and firm size influence the wages firms pay to their early hires. We find that beginning with the time of entry, larger firms consistently pay higher wages to their new hires. These are firms with greater survival prospects at the time of entry based on the pre-entry backgrounds of their founders...

  16. A Professional Experience Model for Primary Pre-Service Teachers Specialising in Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMaster, Heather; Cavanagh, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Many primary pre-service teachers (PSTs) who are enthused by tertiary courses that espouse and model a socio-constructivist approach to teaching mathematics, revert to a traditional approach when they encounter mathematics teaching during professional experience. An intervention was designed to translate the initial pedagogical intent of four…

  17. Maximize Benefits, Minimize Risk: Selecting the Right HVAC Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golden, James T.

    1993-01-01

    An informal survey of 20 major urban school districts found that 40% were currently operating in a "break down" maintenance mode. A majority, 57.9%, also indicated they saw considerable benefits in contracting for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance services with outside firms. Offers guidelines in selecting…

  18. Firm-specific factors and financial performance of firms in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pathirawasam Chandrapala

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to investigate the role of internal factors in generating financial performance of firms in the Czech Republic. The paper examines the impact of firm specific factors on company financial performance of 974 firms in the Czech Republic over the period 2005 to 2008, using data in the Albertina database. Pooled and panel cross-sectional time series techniques are used for the data analysis. Return on Assets (ROA is the dependent variable of the model and eight firm specific factors are introduced as the explanatory variables. Using Return on Assets as the dependent variable, it is established that the firm size, sales growth and capital turnover are having significant positive impact on financial performance of firms. At the same time, debt ratio and inventory reflect significant negative impact on financial performance of firms. Overall explanatory powers of the two models are low and further research is necessary to increase the statistical power of the model. The results from the present study may be very encouraging and useful for managers as well as investors to plan investment and operational activities to achieve profitability objectives more efficiently and effectively. The findings have important managerial implications.

  19. 48 CFR 2936.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 2936.602 Section 2936.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 2936.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  20. Innovative methods and tools for professionals working in supported living services for intellectually disabled persons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gruiz, Katalin

    2015-01-01

    Autonomy of mid-seriously and seriously intellectually disabled persons is encouraged both by legislations on human rights and the modern social care and services. The process leading to the maximum possible autonomy is illustrated by a developmental spiral in our model. Specialty of the development is that the personal educational projects are realized during everyday activities. The process requires conscious professionals with an empowering and motivating attitude, with adult relationship to the intellectually disabled persons and versatile skills and tools. In this educational relationship the social professional and the supported person are equal partners moving together along the spiral of human development. An innovative tool-battery has been developed aiding support-staff in the 'pedagogical' task embedded into everyday social services. The tool-battery and its first application in supported living services of the Hungarian Down Foundation are introduced in this paper.

  1. Characteristics of the innovation activities of firms in Europe: a critical review of international differences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vokoun Marek

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A sample of 18 papers and 32 data sets revealed 210,404 firm level observations about European firms making decisions about innovation. A total of 66,965 observations describe activities of innovators between 1986 and 2008. This paper used a basic literature review to assess properties of innovation among quite rare full CDM (Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse papers. This study compared results from two systems of estimation and showed that both international and regional comparisons are rather problematic because of different definitions of innovation variables and data set representativeness. On average, a typical firm that engaged in innovation was a large firm competing in international markets in the sample of firms with 20+ employees. Smaller firms, however, invested more in research and development (R&D and no linear relationship was found for output characteristics. Cooperation on R&D projects increased overall innovation intensity. There is strong evidence that public funding had an ambiguous effect on R&D spending and no additional effect on innovation output on average. This output measured by sales from innovated goods and services was on average in a positive relationship with labour productivity; however, a detailed view suggested this effect was present only in product innovation. In this paper, it is shown that results of innovation studies cannot be compared or used in research without deeper analysis of the data sample (micro companies, industries, active firms, entrants etc., dependent variable (innovator, R&D expenditures, sales, productivity, new product, new service etc. and the baseline company that is defined by independent variables.

  2. Framing Pre-Service Teachers' Professional Learning Using Web2.0 Tools: Positioning Pre-Service Teachers as Agents of Cultural and Technological Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidd, Warren

    2013-01-01

    This article addresses key issues in pre-service teachers' professional learning. The argument explores pre-service teachers' learning and practice, which is both informed by technology and which uses technologically enhanced practices in classrooms as learning and teaching strategies. The article is contextualized by current…

  3. The Relationship between Offshoring Strategies and Firm Performance: Impact of innovation, absorptive capacity and firm size

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.W. Roza-van Vuren (Marja)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractHow do offshoring strategies impact firm performance? And how are innovation, absorptive capacity and firm size influencing this relationship? This research investigates how firms of varying size, well-established firms and growing firms may profit from relocating business activities to

  4. Application of integrated marketing communications in business family firms in Republic of Srpska

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perić Nenad

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available As studies have shown, family businesses are the oldest and most common form of business organization in the world and is a key foundation of the global economy. Experience has shown that the family firm in the Republic of Srpska increasingly opt for hiring professionals for public relations or hiring agency for this work, for resolving crisis situations. The problems they face are, on the one hand, an insufficient budget for the integration of marketing communications and the management of unreason benefit from IMC. On the other hand, sometimes it's already failed separation of family business relationships. Hypotheses to be proven, are associated with insufficient support from family firms by the authorities in the Republic of Srpska, which implies limiting the growth of family firms, and insufficient investment in IMC, regardless, whether family firms have developed an export strategy. Hypothesis has been detected at levels of cognition. The first is proved for the general hypothesis, and then the collateral hypothesis. The sample of 208 family businesses in the Republic of Srpska and statistical analysis methods are descriptive analysis and chi-square test.

  5. 48 CFR 1336.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 1336.602 Section 1336.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 1336.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  6. 48 CFR 636.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 636.602 Section 636.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF STATE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 636.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  7. 48 CFR 436.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 436.602 Section 436.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Service 436.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  8. 48 CFR 1536.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 1536.602 Section 1536.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 1536.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  9. 48 CFR 36.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 36.602 Section 36.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 36.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  10. Occupational accidents among nursing professionals in a home care service in the state of São Paulo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jéssica Fernanda Corrêa Cordeiro

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This is a cross-sectional study whose objective is to identify and describe accidents with biological material as told by nursing professionals in a home care service in a city in the state of São Paulo. Of the 30 subjects who provided that service in the data collection period, 28 agreed to participate and 12 (42.8% claimed to have suffered at least one accident with biological material while carrying out professional procedures for that service. Most of the exposures were percutaneous (91.7% and blood was the most often involved fluid (75%. Regarding procedures, 75% of the individuals were administering drugs when the accident happened and 50% admitted that they were recapping hollow needles. The current study enabled the identification of situations described by the professionals and which led to the occurrence of accidents with biological material during home care. These findings can support preventive measures and guide future studies that involve this type of accident at homes.

  11. Firm-Specific Learning and the Nature of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Thorbjørn

    2007-01-01

    that a conjoint research program, encompassing both transaction costs and capabilities, must be developed and tested empirically. Cet article discute les limites d'une explication de l'existence de la firme fondée exclusivement sur les coûts de transaction en indiquant quelques facteurs additionnels susceptibles...... d'intervenir. Un modèle heuristique simple montre que les effets d'apprentissage spécifiques à la firme peuvent surmonter les coûts de surveillance des employés et expliquer l'existence de la firme même en l'absence de coûts de transaction liés au mode d'organisation de marché. Une comparaison de l......'importance relative des explications fondées sur les coûts de transaction et celles fondées sur les compétences en ce qui concerne l'existence de la firme montre qu'il n'y a aucune raison a priori de supposer la suprématie d'un type d'explication à l'autre. Nous soutenons qu'un programme de recherche conjoint...

  12. The Power Asymmetry and Non-Competitive Behaviour of Firms at Consumer Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulyana Vladimirovna Karagezyan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The specific features of formation of the market economy in Russia caused not only development of the competitive environment, but also fixing of the model of noncompetitive behavior of enterprises. In a contradiction of the economic theory in which one of necessary conditions of “survival” of the companies is improvement of quality of goods, in the real economy consumers often face acquisition of low-quality goods. This article is devoted to an urgent problem of studying the model of noncompetitive behavior of firms in Russia. The purpose of this study is the explanation of the reasons of noncompetitive behavior of the enterprises in the Russian markets. On the basis of data of Federal service on supervision in the sphere of consumer protection, the dominating violations, as well as the markets most subjected to noncompetitive behavior of firms were revealed. Key characteristics of noncompetitive behavior are decline in the quality of production, violation of the consumer rights, using illegal tactics. As a result of this analysis we have made the following conclusions: violations of the rights of the consumer are expressed in realization of low-quality and unsafe products, refusal of providing necessary information on terms of transaction, imposing of additional services. The reasons of noncompetitive behavior of the companies include prevailing of the sovereignty of the producer over the consumer’s sovereignty; accumulation of the power of firms in a services sector and retail trade, a manipulative information and existence of information asymmetry between consumers and the companies. Overcoming the noncompetitive behavior of firm will become possible when power and information asymmetry decreases at the consumer markets.

  13. Financing Strategies of New Technology-Based Firms: A Comparison by Gender

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alicia Robb

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Technology-based firms have been and will continue to be important contributors to the U.S. economy. For the past two decades, technology firms have been a major source of innovation, business development and growth, and new jobs. Securing funding for new technology-based firms is particularly problematic, however, whether they are owned by women or men. Many such firms are built upon intellectual capital rather than on physical assets, so it is difficult to determine the value and prospects of the firm. The problem of asymmetric or incomplete information is especially acute (Brierley, 2001, often resulting in a shortage of capital or capital that can only be obtained under unfavorable terms and conditions. A number of researchers contend that one of the primary reasons women-owned firms tend to be smaller than firms owned by men is that women tend to concentrate in low-growth retail and service lines of business (Rosa et al., 1996; Du Rietz & Henrekson, 2000. These businesses have a higher risk of failure (Robb, 2002; Fairlie & Robb, 2008; Watson, 2003 combined with a higher level of difficulty in attracting sources of capital due to their limited prospects for growth and profitability (Menzies et al., 2004; Sabarwal & Terrell, 2008. More recently, however, some researchers have begun to attack the “myth” that women do not want high-growth businesses (Brush et al., 2001. They contend that a new generation of women entrepreneurs is willing to “go boldly where no one has gone before” by starting firms in the fields of technology and bioscience, where there are opportunities for significant growth and profits. In this paper we will examine the financing sources and strategies, by gender, for new technology-based firms using the Kauffman Firm Survey data. We identify not only sources of financing, but also financing gaps which may impede the ability of women to launch and grow technology-based firms.

  14. Bridging the Gaps: Measuring Cultural Competence among Future School Library and Youth Services Library Professionals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Renee Franklin; Kumasi, Kafi

    2011-01-01

    School library and youth services professionals must develop and display a strong sense of cultural competence to effectively serve their patrons. Cultural competence is defined here as one's ability to understand the needs of populations different from their own. This paper reports on the perceptions of school library and youth services students…

  15. Stakeholder Governance, Competition and Firm Value

    OpenAIRE

    Allen, Franklin; Carletti, Elena; Marquez, Robert

    2014-01-01

    In many countries, the legal system or social norms ensure that firms are stakeholder oriented. We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of stakeholder-oriented firms that are concerned with employees and suppliers compared to shareholder-oriented firms in a model of imperfect competition. Stakeholder firms are more (less) valuable than shareholder firms when marginal cost uncertainty is greater (less) than demand uncertainty. With globalization shareholder firms and stakeholder firms ofte...

  16. Reframing cooperation: Challenges in overcoming tensions between professional services and volunteer organizations providing parenting support in immigrant communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ponzoni, E.

    2015-01-01

    Volunteer organizations can potentially partner with mainstream professional services to provide better parenting support to immigrant parents. This qualitative study of cooperation between professional agencies and volunteer organizations known as migrant volunteer and community organizations

  17. 48 CFR 1436.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 1436.602 Section 1436.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 1436.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  18. 48 CFR 836.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 836.602 Section 836.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 836.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  19. Critical analysis of the implications of new managerialism on ethical, democratic and professional values in public service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose G. Vargas-Hernández

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to critically analyze the implications of the new managerialism in the public service through ethical, democratic and professional values. It assumes the contradictions between the values that seek to promote the public service under the model of managerialism and the reality of its implementation. The method used is analytical-descriptive-normative from the critical perspective of the parallel developments of managerialism and public service. The theoretical and methodological framework that serves as a reference for this critical analysis is provided by the theories of organizational economics and public choice. The discussion concludes that there is a necessary conflict between ethical, democratic and professional values of these new organizational forms promoted by managerialism through the theories of economics and organizational public choice and traditional values of public service.

  20. A survey on the current status of rehabilitation services and burnout of rehabilitation professionals in Shanghai.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Wenliang; Zhou, Ping; Zheng, Songbai; Xue, Di

    2017-01-01

    Although many studies have discussed burnout in clinical physicians, the evidence literature about physical rehabilitation professionals is still limited in China. To understand the current status of rehabilitation services and burnout of rehabilitation professionals in Shanghai. Twenty-four hospitals located in three districts of Shanghai were selected for this study. The questionnaire surveys of 24 hospitals and their 221 rehabilitation professionals and 235 other medical professionals were conducted. The percentages of the hospitals that had rehabilitation departments in three districts of Shanghai ranged from 25.0% to 88.9%, suggesting a great variation in distribution of rehabilitation resources. Only one tertiary general hospital had 12 beds for inpatient rehabilitation. The surveyed rehabilitation professionals who had graduate or undergraduate education accounted for 64.90% as a whole, but 49.32% in community health centers, 66.67% in secondary general hospitals, and 77.78% in tertiary general hospitals. The average scores for emotional exhaustion, cynicism and low professional efficacy were 11.66, 7.48, and 10.36 respectively. This study reveals that the resources in the field of rehabilitation in Shanghai need to be enhanced to meet its future demands. It is also recommended that the managers in secondary general hospitals and the local government pay more attention to the rehabilitation professionals in the secondary general hospitals because they are reporting higher emotional exhaustion. Finally, the value of rehabilitation services to help persons with disabilities need to be better conveyed to all interested parties.

  1. Firm Exit, Technological Progress and Trade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    The dynamics of export market exit and firm closure have found limited attention in the new heterogeneous-firms trade literature. In fact, several of the predictions on firm survival and exit stemming from this new class of models are at odds with the stylized facts. Empirically, higher productiv......The dynamics of export market exit and firm closure have found limited attention in the new heterogeneous-firms trade literature. In fact, several of the predictions on firm survival and exit stemming from this new class of models are at odds with the stylized facts. Empirically, higher...... productivity firms survive longer, most firm closures are young firms, higher productivity exporters are more likely to continue to export compared to less productive exporters and market exits as well as firm closures are typically preceded by periods of contracting market shares. The present paper shows...... liberalization on export market exit and firm closure....

  2. Corporate Governance Provisions, Family Involvement, and Firm Performance in Publicly Traded Family Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esra Memili

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the moderation effects of corporate governance provisions on the link between family involvement (i.e., family ownership and family management in publicly-traded firms and firm performance by drawing upon agency theory, with a focus on principal-principal agency issues, and the extant family governance literature. We develop and test the hypotheses on 386 of the S&P 500 firms longitudinally. Findings support the hypotheses suggesting the moderation effects of the use of provisions (a protecting controlling owners in terms of their sustainability of controlling status, and (b protecting management legally on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance. We also found support for the moderation effects of provisions (c protecting controlling owners in terms of their voting rights, (d protecting noncontrolling owners, and (e protecting management monetarily on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance. By this, our study provides empirical support for the principal-principal agency perspective on the corporate governance in publicly-traded family firms. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for both the corporate governance literature, as well as for the theory of the family firm. Our study also offers insights to policy directed toward monitoring the actions of large shareholders such as family and enhancing the overall shareholder value in publicly-traded family firms.

  3. 48 CFR 1836.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 1836.602 Section 1836.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 1836.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  4. Restructuring: new relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil firms; Alliances et restructurations: nouvelles relations entre maitres d'oeuvre et parapetrolier

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barreau, S

    2001-11-01

    Since the 1986 oil shock, international oil companies have focused on their base competencies, concentrating on activities viewed as their core businesses and steadily increasing the number of tasks to be subcontracted to the upstream oil and gas service sector. The upstream oil and gas service companies had to be restructured to face this new challenge. The strategies they launched at the end of the 80's were varied. Some firms became largely integrated (Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Halliburton) whereas other firms chose to broaden their range of services. However generally, they opted for external investment which led to an important wave of mergers and acquisitions. The first part characterizes the upstream oil and gas sector by introducing the main oil and gas service firms and their recent strategic evolution. This concludes with both an economic valuation and a typology of attempted growth strategies. To illustrate this, a matrix has been created to characterise the dynamic paths of the oil and gas service firms. The purpose of the second part is to consider the economic theories related to industrial strategies. The strategies of innovation, market protection, vertical integration and diversification have been studied to illustrate the main conclusion which is that the aim of all these strategies was to change the relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil and gas service firms. (author)

  5. Firming Up Inequality

    OpenAIRE

    Jae Song; David J. Price; Fatih Guvenen; Nicholas Bloom; Till von Wachter

    2015-01-01

    Earnings inequality in the United States has increased rapidly over the last three decades, but little is known about the role of firms in this trend. For example, how much of the rise in earnings inequality can be attributed to rising dispersion between firms in the average wages they pay, and how much is due to rising wage dispersion among workers within firms? Similarly, how did rising inequality affect the wage earnings of different types of workers working for the same employer—men vs. w...

  6. Analysis of occupational accidents with biological material among professionals in pre-hospital services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oliveira, Adriana Cristina; Paiva, Maria Henriqueta Rocha Siqueira

    2013-02-01

    To estimate the prevalence of accidents due to biological material exposure, the characteristics and post-accident conduct among professionals of pre-hospital services of the four municipalities of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A cross-sectional study, using a structured questionnaire that was developed to enable the calculation of prevalence, descriptive analysis and analytical analysis using logistic regression. The study included 228 professionals; the prevalence of accidents due to biological material exposure was 29.4%, with 49.2% percutaneous, 10.4% mucousal, 6.0% non-intact skin, and 34.4% intact skin. Among the professionals injured, those that stood out were nursing technicians (41.9%) and drivers (28.3%). Notification of the occurrence of the accident occurred in 29.8% of the cases. Percutaneous exposure was associated with time of work in the organization (OR=2.51, 95% CI: 1.18 to 5.35, paccidents with biological material should be encouraged, along with professional evaluation/monitoring.

  7. Services in the Community for Adults with Psychosis and Intellectual Disabilities: A Delphi Consultation of Professionals' Views

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemmings, C. P.; Underwood, L. A.; Bouras, N.

    2009-01-01

    Background: There remains a severe lack of evidence on the effectiveness of community services for adults with psychosis and intellectual disabilities (ID). There has been little consensus even of what services should provide for this service user group. Method: A consultation of multidisciplinary professionals was carried out by using a…

  8. Services Supporting the Customer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gremyr, Ida; Halldorsson, Arni; Hsuan, Juliana

    2017-01-01

    This paper focuses on customer and user experience of advanced service offerings, focusing mechanisms such as e.g. feedback processes as a means to utilise and learn from users’ experiences. The purpose is to understand how servitization changes the constellation of actors in aftermarket value...... creation, and what mechanisms are needed for firms to exploit the interactions in these new constellation as a basis for service improvement and development. By studying two manufacturing firms offering advanced services, this paper points to changed actor configurations (both intra- and inter......-organisational) and interaction mechanisms (existing and new) when transitioning to offering more advanced services such as “services supporting customers”....

  9. Linkages between organization climate and work outcomes: perceptual differences among health service professionals as a function of customer contact intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scotti, Dennis J; Harmon, Joel

    2014-01-01

    The delivery of high-quality service, rendered by health service professionals who interact with customers (patients), increases the likelihood that customers will form positive evaluations of the quality of their service encounters as well as high levels of customer satisfaction. Using linkage theory to develop our conceptual framework, we identify four clusters of variables which contribute to a chain of sequential events that connect organization climate to personal and operational work outcomes. We then examine the perceptual differences of service professionals, grouped by intensity of customer contact, with respect to these variables. National data for this project were obtained from multiple sources made available by the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA). Cross-group differences were tested using a series of variance analyses. The results indicate that level of customer-contact intensity plays a significant role in explaining variation in perceptions of support staff, clinical practitioners, and nurses at the multivariate and univariate levels of analysis. Contact intensity appears to be a core determinant of the nature of work performed by health service professionals as well as their psychological responses to organizational and customer-related dynamics. Health service professionals are important resources because of their specialized knowledge, labor expense, and scarcity. Based on findings from our research, managers are advised to survey employees' perceptions of their organizational environment and design practices that respond to the unique viewpoints of each of the professional groups identified in this study. Such tailoring should help executives maximize the value of investments in human resources by underwriting patient satisfaction and financial sustainability.

  10. A firm-specific exposure analyis of the exchange-rate exposure of Dutch firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, A.; Ligterink, J.; Macrae, V.

    2006-01-01

    We examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50 per cent of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a

  11. COEXISTENCE OF PRIVATE FIRMS AND OPEN SOURCE FIRMS UNDER SPILLOVERS AND CONSUMER BIAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murat YILMAZ

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Open source technologies have been an important divergence from the private produc- tion, and some markets have accommodated both open source firms and private firms. We explore the conditions under which such a coexistence of both type of firms can be seen. Through a simple and tractable game theoretical model, with spillovers on the open source production and positive consumer bias for the privately produced good, we analyze the conditions for which, in the equilibrium, a private firm and an open source firm share the market. We find that for large enough consumer bias, the two types cannot coexist, however when the consumer bias is relatively low and the spillover effect is not too strong, then we get a coexistence result.

  12. PENGARUH EFEKTIVITAS KOMITE AUDIT, KOMITMEN PROFESIONAL, TENURE OF THE AUDIT FIRM, DAN PERSAINGAN ANTAR KANTOR AKUNTAN PUBLIK TERHADAP INDEPENDENSI AKUNTAN PUBLIK: PERSEPSI AUDITOR EKSTERNAL DI SURABAYA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jimy Abadi

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Each company which is had by public needs public accountant opinion about financialstatement that was prepared by the management. Audit of financial statement is done forincrease financial statement credibility through push down information risk. Stakeholderslook at independent auditor report for the financial statement include reasonable assuranceabout relevance and reliability. But without independence, the attestation function will be nil.In other words, the independence is perhaps the most essential factor in existence of a publicaccounting profession. The goal of this research are to examine and to get empirical evidenceabout influence of audit committee effectiveness, professional commitment, tenure of the auditfirm, and competition among public accountant firms to accountant public independenceaccordance external auditor perception in Surabaya. The analysis model for this researchuses multiple regression analysis. This research uses 91 samples of questionnaire responsefrom staffs of non big four affiliation and non-affiliation CPA firm. The result of this researchis committee audit effectiveness and commitment professional have significant influence topublic accountant independence individually. Tenure of the audit firm doesn’t havesignificant influence to public accountant independence individually. And the competitionamong public accountant firms has significant influence to public accountant independenceindividually for non affiliation CPA firms, while the competition among public accountantfirms doesn’t have significant influence to public accountant independence individually fornon big four affiliation CPA firms. Keywords:public accountant independence, audit committee effectiveness, professionalcommitment, tenure of the audit firm, competition among public accountant firms,external auditor perception

  13. 48 CFR 2436.602 - Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... architect-engineer contracts. 2436.602 Section 2436.602 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 2436.602 Selection of firms for architect-engineer contracts. ...

  14. Effect of Work-Life Balance Practices on Firm Productivity: Evidence from Japanese firm-level panel data

    OpenAIRE

    YAMAMOTO Isamu; MATSUURA Toshiyuki

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines how firm practices that could contribute to worker attainment of work-life balance (WLB) affect the total factor productivity (TFP) of a firm, by using panel data of Japanese firms from the 1990s. We observed a positive correlation between the WLB practices and TFP among sampled firms. However, that correlation vanished when we controlled for unobserved firm heterogeneity, and we found no general causal relationship in which WLB practices increase firm TFP in the medium or...

  15. A Comparison of New Service versus New Product Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schleimer, Stephanie Christine; Schulman, Arthur

    2011-01-01

    Collaboration among firms for innovation has received considerable attention. However, little is known about how firm-to-firm collaboration is configured in new service development (NSD) versus new product development (NPD). This study takes a multidimensional approach and measures firm-to-firm c...

  16. Design guidelines for mobile information and entertainment services based on the Radio538 ringtunes i-mode service case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kar, E. van de; Maitland, C.F.; Wehn de Montalvo, U.W.C.; Bouwman, H.

    2003-01-01

    The mobile telecommunications industry is undergoing rapid change, which is increasing the interdependency of firms in the sector. Mobile information and entertainment services will be delivered through inter-organizational networks of firms. This means the problems of service design must be

  17. Real Time Pricing and the Real Live Firm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moezzi, Mithra; Goldman, Charles; Sezgen, Osman; Bharvirkar, Ranjit; Hopper, Nicole

    2004-05-26

    Energy economists have long argued the benefits of real time pricing (RTP) of electricity. Their basis for modeling customers response to short-term fluctuations in electricity prices are based on theories of rational firm behavior, where management strives to minimize operating costs and optimize profit, and labor, capital and energy are potential substitutes in the firm's production function. How well do private firms and public sector institutions operating conditions, knowledge structures, decision-making practices, and external relationships comport with these assumptions and how might this impact price response? We discuss these issues on the basis of interviews with 29 large (over 2 MW) industrial, commercial, and institutional customers in the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation service territory that have faced day-ahead electricity market prices since 1998. We look at stories interviewees told about why and how they respond to RTP, why some customers report that they can't, and why even if they can, they don't. Some firms respond as theorized, and we describe their load curtailment strategies. About half of our interviewees reported that they were unable to either shift or forego electricity consumption even when prices are high ($0.50/kWh). Reasons customers gave for why they weren't price-responsive include implicit value placed on reliability, pricing structures, lack of flexibility in adjusting production inputs, just-in-time practices, perceived barriers to onsite generation, and insufficient time. We draw these observations into a framework that could help refine economic theory of dynamic pricing by providing real-world descriptions of how firms behave and why.

  18. A crisis resolution and home treatment team in Norway: a longitudinal survey study Part 2. Provision of professional services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karlsson Bengt

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT is an emerging mode of delivering acute mental health care in the community. There is a paucity of knowledge regarding the workings of CRHT in the literature. This is the second paper in a series of three from the longitudinal survey of patients of a CRHT team in Norway, which was aimed at describing the characteristics of patients served, professional services provided, and clinical outcomes. This report focuses on the provision of professional services by the team. Methods The project was a descriptive, quantitative study based on the patient data from a longitudinal survey of one CRHT team in Norway. The participants of the survey, a total of 363 patients, constituted the complete registration of patients of this team in the period from February 2008 to July 2009. Results The average length of service by the team was about 15 days, and those with depression as the major symptom had the longest mean length of stay on the team. The team was engaged in providing a variety of services including individual treatments involving multiple professionals, group treatment meetings, and coordination activities involving external service sectors. While the type of professionals providing individual treatment was not associated with the severity level of clinical problems, those receiving various group treatment meetings had more serious level of clinical symptoms than those not receiving group treatment meetings. In addition coordination activities involving healthcare professionals and social services in the community were in line with the patients' clinical and social needs. The results of the study show that the team functioned effectively in addressing the general guidelines for the functioning of CRHT teams.

  19. Stimulating Firm Innovativeness: Probing the Interrelations between Managerial and Organizational Determinants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O.R. Mihalache (Oli)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractInnovation is the engine of sustained organizational performance and is central to organizations’ competitive advantage. This thesis aims to further the understanding of how firms can stimulate two types of innovation outcomes: i) product and service innovation, and ii) management

  20. LEARNING, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION ORIENTATIONS IN TURKISH FAMILY-OWNED FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erkut Altindag

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Globalization is forcing family-owned companies need to be more flexible and faster organization structures to respond effectively to the customers’ growing various types needs on the certain line of producing high quality goods and services these days. With the start of a new paradigm era in strategic management field, family- owned firms began to choose different tools to maximize their sustainable performance against rivals. These tools include special strategic orientations including learning, entrepreneurship and innovation implications. Our study tries to explore the effects of strategic orientations implications into firm performance and their effects on growth and financial performance in Turkish family-owned companies.

  1. The modern crisis in health services--professional concerns and the public interest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheps, C G

    1981-01-01

    The modern crisis in the health service systems of developed nations is described. Six major issues are discussed. 1) The need for recognition of the wholeness of man and the implications of this for implementing the concept of essential unity in the development and organization of health services; 2) the creation of ample opportunity for health manpower to work effectively in team situations; 3) the need for community-wide epidemiologic intelligence that will allow for better identification of problems and solutions; 4) the need to move away from the entrepreneurial framework of health care and regionalize facilities; 5) the assessment of costs both in terms of actions and inactions; and 6) the need for the professionals and public to work together in order to improve health services.

  2. Organizational learning capability, firm innovativeness, and firm performance: A meta-analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlägel, Christopher; Reichel, Lisa-Marie; Richter, Nicole Franziska

    In the last twenty years a growing number of empirical studies tested the association be-tween organizational learning capability (OLC) and various economic outcomes. While these studies have provided a better understanding of these relationships, the literature is characterized by the use...... different measures. Based on 53 studies (13,663 firms), we (a) provide a systematic overview of the most commonly used OLC measures, (b) use meta-analytic techniques to highlight the relevance of OLC for firm innovativeness (ruc = .39) and firm perfor-mance (ruc = .41), and (c) explore the unique and common...

  3. Firm Search for External Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sofka, Wolfgang; Grimpe, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    ignored the institutional context that provides or denies access to external knowledge at the country level. Combining institutional and knowledge search theory, we suggest that the market orientation of the institutional environment and the magnitude of institutional change influence when firms begin......The innovation performance of modern firms is increasingly determined by their ability to search and absorb external knowledge. However, after a certain threshold firms "oversearch" their environment and innovation performance declines. In this paper, we argue that prior literature has largely...... to experience the negative performance effects of oversearch. Based on a comprehensive sample of almost 8,000 firms from ten European countries, we find that institutions matter considerably for firms' search activity. Higher market orientation of institutions increases the effectiveness of firms' search...

  4. The relationship between strategic type and firm capabilities in Chinese firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benedetto, Di A.C.; Song, X.M.

    2003-01-01

    Proposes that firms of different Miles and Snow strategic types will have different bundles of firm-level capabilities; that is, certain capabilities will be more important to certain strategic types. Specifically, proposes that prospectors have greater relative inside-out capabilities and

  5. Restructuring: new relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil firms; Alliances et restructurations: nouvelles relations entre maitres d'oeuvre et parapetrolier

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barreau, S

    2001-11-01

    Since the 1986 oil shock, international oil companies have focused on their base competencies, concentrating on activities viewed as their core businesses and steadily increasing the number of tasks to be subcontracted to the upstream oil and gas service sector. The upstream oil and gas service companies had to be restructured to face this new challenge. The strategies they launched at the end of the 80's were varied. Some firms became largely integrated (Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Halliburton) whereas other firms chose to broaden their range of services. However generally, they opted for external investment which led to an important wave of mergers and acquisitions. The first part characterizes the upstream oil and gas sector by introducing the main oil and gas service firms and their recent strategic evolution. This concludes with both an economic valuation and a typology of attempted growth strategies. To illustrate this, a matrix has been created to characterise the dynamic paths of the oil and gas service firms. The purpose of the second part is to consider the economic theories related to industrial strategies. The strategies of innovation, market protection, vertical integration and diversification have been studied to illustrate the main conclusion which is that the aim of all these strategies was to change the relationships between the oil companies and the upstream oil and gas service firms. (author)

  6. 78 FR 32366 - Notice of Petitions by Firms for Determination of Eligibility To Apply for Trade Adjustment...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-30

    ... blanking die stampings. J&L Dimensional Services, Inc 16 Industrial Parkway, 5/17/2013 Firm is a finisher... Rock, CO 80109. artificial stone and stone veneer products. Peet Shoe Dryer, Inc. (dba Peet Dryer).. 919 St. Maries River Road, 5/20/2013 Firm manufacturers St. Maries, ID 83861. electric shoe footwear...

  7. Developing Leadership through "Serviceship": Leveraging the Intersection between Service-Learning and Professional Internship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hastings, Lindsay J.; Wall, Milan; Mantonya, Kurt

    2018-01-01

    Considering the role of higher education in preparing the next generation of leaders for social change, leadership education is challenged to consider how best to prepare young adults for socially responsible leadership. Service-learning and professional internships, separately, have been identified as vehicles for preparing young adults for…

  8. Assessing the Merits of International Service-Learning in Developing Professionalism in Mass Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motley, Phillip; Sturgill, Amanda

    2013-01-01

    This project assessed how an international service-learning course affected mass communication students' knowledge of professionalism. Using written reflections and focus group transcripts from four courses that took place in Central America, we observed that placing students in immersive environments, where they are able to work on authentic…

  9. Developing Recreation, Leisure, and Sport Professional Competencies through Practitioner/Academic Service Engagement Partnerships

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanSickle, Jennifer; Schaumleffel, Nathan A.

    2016-01-01

    The goal of many universities is to prepare students for professional careers, especially in the applied field of recreation, leisure, and sport (Smith, O'Dell, & Schaumleffel, 2002). While some universities continue to use traditional knowledge-transfer methods to accomplish this goal, others have developed service engagement projects that…

  10. Social security and firm performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, Sangheon; Torm, Nina

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates how social security provision - a key determinant of formality - impacts on small and medium-sized firm performance in Viet Nam. Based on enterprise census data covering all registered firms from 2006 to 2011, the authors find that firms which increase their social...... security coverage by 10 per cent experience a revenue gain of 1.4-2.0 per cent per worker and a profit gain of up to 1.8 per cent, depending on the survival time of the firm. However, given the time lag between 'investment' (in social security contributions) and returns (enhanced firm performance...

  11. Enterprise risk management and firm value within China’s insurance industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiuying Li

    2014-02-01

    Research purpose: The purpose of the study is to empirically examine the relationship between ERM and firm value. The study is undertaken within the context of the Chinese insurance industry. Motivation for the study: Recent attempts to link ERM with firm value have been undertaken primarily in the USA and Europe and have produced ambiguous and inconclusive findings. Research design, approach and method: Data was obtained from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, a government body responsible for regulating insurance products and services in China. The data sample consisted of 135 insurance companies operating in China (in 2010. Regression modelling is employed to analyse the data. Main findings: The results show the relationship between ERM and firm value at first appears statistically significant within a Pearson correlation matrix but then falls below statistical significance on closer scrutiny through regression analysis. Accordingly, it is recommended that insurers in China should not look to aggressive investment in ERM as a strategy for producing quick gains in firm value. Practical/managerial implications: Risk managers should plan ERM development from a risk management maturity perspective, which equates the highest level of ERM development with ERM’s capacity to improve firm resilience to the unknown and serve as a mechanism for strategic decision-making. Contribution/value-add: The study employed return on equity as a proxy for firm value, utilising ordinary least squares regression modelling to test propositions of the relationships between variables.

  12. Decomposing Firm-level Sales Variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Jakob Roland; Nguyen, Daniel Xuyen

    , and that for the median product it drives 31% of the sales variation. When we remove first-time exports from our sample, the median value increases to 40%, implying that firm-destination-specific effects are most important the first year. We conclude that while firm-specific productivity can account for some......We measure the contribution of firm-specific effects to overall sales variation within a destination and find it remarkably low. Our empirical decomposition is structurally motivated by a heterogeneity model of exporting involving destination-specific, firm-specific, and firm......-destination-specific latent effects with incidental truncation. We use a highly detailed dataset with exports by products and destinations for all Danish manufacturing fi…rms. We fi…nd the contribution of firm-specific heterogeneity to within-destination sales variation varies greatly across HS6 products...

  13. Statistical Monitoring of Innovation Capacities of the Serbian Firms as Decision- Making Tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marija Mosurović Ružičić

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The subject of this paper is to underline the importance of using data obtained via the official statistical reports that is based on Oslo manual methodology manual (Community Innovation Survey for strategic decision making both at the national level as well as at the level of the company. These data enable monitoring and evaluating the innovation capacity of the firms with the aim of improving it. The paper, also, points out the importance of the firm's innovation capacity assessment as an impeller of economic development based on knowledge. By the data obtained by presented methodology, national decision makers can clearly comprehend and improve the direction of innovation policy and its integration into the wider policy framework that encourage economic development based on innovation. At the firm level, the use of data implies development of professional management of the innovative firm that will be able to respond to problem situations of the modern economy through the formulation of appropriate strategies. The paper analyzed data from three statistical periods during which the Oslo manual methodology had been applied in Serbia. Analysis has shown that the data obtained in this way are not sufficiently used by decision-makers an occasion rating innovation capacity of enterprises.

  14. Help-seeking for child psychopathology: pathways to informal and professional services in the Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zwaanswijk, M.; Ende, J. van der; Verhaak, P.F.M.; Bensing, J.M.; Verhulst, F.C.

    2005-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To devise and test a model describing the process of help-seeking for child psychopathology in professional and informal service settings. METHOD: Using structural equation modeling, associations between several help-seeking stages, and the influence of child, family, and context

  15. Family firm research – A review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Cheng

    2014-09-01

    Part I of the article discusses the fundaments of family firms: the prevalence of and the agency conflicts within family firms. Part II summarizes the findings of recent U.S. family firm studies. It reviews the evidence on the family firm premium (how, which, and when family firms are associated with a valuation premium, the manifestation of the agency conflict between majority and minority shareholders in family firms, earnings quality and corporate disclosure, and the determinants of family ownership and control. Part III discusses the prevalence and characteristics of Chinese family firms and reviews the findings of related studies. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research.

  16. Motivation and reward systems in service provision: exploring motivators for people providing engineering services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kreye, Melanie; Nandrup-Bus, Troels

    2015-01-01

    It is becoming a distinctive feature for manufacturing firms to compete strategically through service provision. In relation to reward systems the aim of this thesis is to investigate what motivates employees of servitized manufacturing firms when providing engineering services and why. Through...... quantitative and qualitative data collection with an international company within the European healthcare sector, the findings show that key motivating factors were to “delight” the customer and being able to take responsibility and accountability for ones work. Service employees were found to feel proud...

  17. Professional psychology in health care services: a blueprint for education and training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    In 2010, an interorganizational effort among the American Psychological Association, the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, and the Council of Chairs of Training Councils, known as the Health Service Psychology Education Collaborative (HSPEC), was initiated to address mounting concerns related to education and training for the professional practice of psychology. Given that professional psychology includes diverse areas of practice and the mounting concerns about psychology's role in a reformed health care system, HSPEC chose to focus on preparation of psychologists for the delivery of health care services and made seven recommendations that constitute the core of a blueprint for the future. These recommendations require significant changes in graduate education-changes critical to the future of psychology as a health profession. As part of its work, HSPEC developed a statement of core competencies for the preparation of health service psychologists, integrating feedback solicited through public comment and review by the psychology community, including education and training councils and APA governance groups. The articulation of these competencies serves to inform not only the preparation of health service psychologists but students, employers, regulators, and policymakers as well. It also reflects the discipline's commitment to quality and accountability in the preparation of its workforce. HSPEC recognizes that its recommendations to strengthen the core preparation and identity of health service psychologists will result in some limitations on degrees of freedom at the program level but believes such limitation to be in the service of coherent and uniform standards for education and training. This blueprint supports the evolution and development of the profession within a scientific context. It supports standards as meaningful, versus minimum, indicators as part of the profession's obligation to the public. The blueprint also calls for the profession

  18. Connected Firms and Investor Myopia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ginglinger, Edith; Hébert, Camille; Renneboog, Luc

    2017-01-01

    Conglomerates, multinational corporations and business groups are non-exclusive forms of complex firms. Often organized as corporate networks, complex firms control a myriad of firms connected through ownership links. We investigate whether parent-subsidiary links within corporate networks enhance

  19. Service engineers in change: count your words : A case study into professional discourse and culture within three Dutch organizations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Drs Jos Pieterse

    2014-01-01

    This doctoral thesis describes three case studies of service engineers participating in organizational change, interacting with managers and consultants. The study investigates the role of differences in professional discourse and culture when these three professional groups interact in

  20. Managing online service recovery : procedures, justice and customer satisfaction

    OpenAIRE

    Singh, Jaywant; Crisafulli, Benedetta

    2016-01-01

    Purpose The Internet has changed the way services are delivered and has created new forms of customer-firm interactions. Whilst online service failures remain inevitable, the Internet offers opportunities for delivering efficient service recovery through the online channel. Notwithstanding, research evidence on how firms can deliver online service recovery remains scarce. This study investigates the impact of two online service recovery strategies - online information and te...

  1. Motivation and reward systems in service provision: exploring motivators for people providing engineering services

    OpenAIRE

    Kreye, Melanie; Nandrup-Bus, Troels

    2015-01-01

    It is becoming a distinctive feature for manufacturing firms to compete strategically through service provision. In relation to reward systems the aim of this thesis is to investigate what motivates employees of servitized manufacturing firms when providing engineering services and why. Through quantitative and qualitative data collection with an international company within the European healthcare sector, the findings show that key motivating factors were to “delight” the customer and being ...

  2. Inference from concave stochastic frontiers and the covariance of firm efficiency measures across firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dashti, Imad

    2003-01-01

    This paper uses a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to obtain confidence intervals on firm efficiency measures of electric utilities rather than the point estimates reported in most previous studies. Results reveal that the stochastic frontier model yields imprecise measures of firm efficiency. However, the application produces much more precise inference on pairwise efficiency comparisons of firms due to a sometimes strong positive covariance of efficiency measures across firms. In addition, we examine the sensitivity to functional form by repeating the analysis for Cobb-Douglas, translog and Fourier frontiers, with and without imposing monotonicity and concavity

  3. Subcontracting relations and their effects on safety and security in two firms: SNCF and GrDF; Les relations de sous-traitance et leurs effets sur la surete et la securite dans deux entreprises: SNCF et GrDF

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponnet, Marie

    2011-07-04

    Because of economical processes that tend to move the frontiers of firms salaried relations of uncertain status are found coexisting inside the very same working world. From a qualitative investigation mixing employees' interviews and observations made on SNCF and GrDF working sites our research offers to think about the relations linking subcontracting, maintenance, safety and security. Considering subcontracting as a particular way for professional bodies to be associated allows us to wonder about its effects within a same firm (the 'integrated' subcontracting) as much as between a principal and a provider. Our thesis shows that when change occurs inside the organization - like the creation of new committees of experts or the reorganizing of an old service - security and safety can be impacted because thus professional bodies tend to be reconfigured while modifications affect practices, professional identities and work division. The relations between subcontractors and principal are complicated and their consequences depend from the context they are placed in, determined by a combination of various characteristics such as the confidence level, the available time, the reputation, the position occupied by the subcontractor. Our investigation makes clear that there is no direct link between subcontracting, security and safety. Their effects, in spite of their reality, are submitted to the altering mediation of legal factors (related to economic national and European issues) and concern the working organization as well as the professional identities. (author)

  4. TQM and firms performance: An EFQM excellence model research based survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santos-Vijande, M. L.

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to develop an instrument for measuring TQM implementation following the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model and to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between management practices and measures of business performance in the model. To this end, the study employs survey data collected from Spanish manufacturing and service firms. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to test the psychometric properties of the measurement scales and the hypothesized relationships between total quality management practices and organizational performance are examined using structural equation modeling. The findings of the research indicate that the adoption of the TQM practices suggested in the EFQM Excellence Model allows firms to outperform their competitors in the results criteria included in the Model. Therefore, this paper provides a valuable benchmarking data for firms as it substantiates the EFQM Enabler’s contribution to the attainment of competitive advantage.

  5. Gender Segregation Small Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Kenneth R Troske; William J Carrington

    1992-01-01

    This paper studies interfirm gender segregation in a unique sample of small employers. We focus on small firms because previous research on interfirm segregation has studied only large firms and because it is easier to link the demographic characteristics of employers and employees in small firms. This latter feature permits an assessment of the role of employer discrimination in creating gender segregation. Our first finding is that interfirm segregation is prevalent among small employers. I...

  6. Evaluation of a co-delivered training package for community mental health professionals on service user- and carer-involved care planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grundy, A C; Walker, L; Meade, O; Fraser, C; Cree, L; Bee, P; Lovell, K; Callaghan, P

    2017-08-01

    WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: There is consistent evidence that service users and carers feel marginalized in the process of mental health care planning. Mental health professionals have identified ongoing training needs in relation to involving service users and carers in care planning. There is limited research on the acceptability of training packages for mental health professionals which involve service users and carers as co-facilitators. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: A co-produced and co-delivered training package on service user- and carer-involved care planning was acceptable to mental health professionals. Aspects of the training that were particularly valued were the co-production model, small group discussion and the opportunity for reflective practice. The organizational context of care planning may need more consideration in future training models. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses using co-production models of delivering training to other mental health professionals can be confident that such initiatives will be warmly welcomed, acceptable and engaging. On the basis of the results reported here, we encourage mental health nurses to use co-production approaches more often. Further research will show how clinically effective this training is in improving outcomes for service users and carers. Background There is limited evidence for the acceptability of training for mental health professionals on service user- and carer-involved care planning. Aim To investigate the acceptability of a co-delivered, two-day training intervention on service user- and carer-involved care planning. Methods Community mental health professionals were invited to complete the Training Acceptability Rating Scale post-training. Responses to the quantitative items were summarized using descriptive statistics (Miles, ), and qualitative responses were coded using content analysis (Weber, ). Results Of 350 trainees, 310 completed the

  7. Build-operate-transfer Outsourcing Contracts in Services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

    2013-01-01

    Build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracting has been widely used in the engineering and construction industry and has recently spread into the service industry domains. Notably, service provider firms from emerging markets, India in particular, are now offering BOT outsourcing contracts in which...... the client firms are allotted call options, i.e. the right, but not the obligation, to transfer pre-specified assets from the service provider. As such, BOT outsourcing contracts seems to be an interesting contractual novelty that combines the advantages of outsourced and captive offshoring operations....... In this paper we investigate under which circumstances a BOT outsourcing contract (i.e. a contract where the client firm exercises its call option) is beneficial, or the opposite, to the emerging market vendor firm. Whether BOT outsourcing contracts are boon or bane to an emerging market vendor basically hinges...

  8. How small firms contrast with large firms regarding perceptions, practices, and needs in the U.S

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urs Buehlmann; Matthew Bumgardner; Michael. Sperber

    2013-01-01

    As many larger secondary woodworking firms have moved production offshore and been adversely impacted by the recent housing downturn, smaller firms have become important to driving U.S. hardwood demand. This study compared and contrasted small and large firms on a number of factors to help determine the unique characteristics of small firms and to provide insights into...

  9. [The profile and professional practice of nurses in a psychosocial care services].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Cristiane Bergues; Aranha e Silva, Ana Luisa

    2010-06-01

    This qualitative study was performed with fourteen nurses of eleven psychosocial care services. The objectives of the study were the following: to characterize the professional profile of the nurses who work in community psychiatric services and to verify those nurses' practice according to the current model of mental health care. there was a prevalence of females; most had over 10 years since their graduation; their entrance in the mental health area is late and is associated with the lack of job opportunities and the fact that the service is close to their home. One part of the nurses found it difficult to define their work at an extra-hospital environment. On the other hand, another group of nurses believes that the nursing work in mental health services is flexible and it is shared with other workers of the multidisciplinary team. Low salaries, poor infrastructure and the lack of team member acknowledgement generate dissatisfaction at work. The Brazilian Psychiatric Reform is associated with dehospitalization.

  10. The Impacts of Business Support Services for Small and Medium Enterprises on Firm Performance in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piza C

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES OF THE REVIEW Business support interventions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs direct a large amount of resources to SMEs, with the assumption that institutional constraints impede small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs from generating profits and employment at the firm level, which in turn is thought to impede economic growth and poverty reduction. Yet despite this abundance of resources, very little is known about the impact of such interventions. To address this gap, this systematic review analyses evaluations of SME support services in LMICs to help inform policy debates pertaining to SMEs and business support services. This review examines the available evidence on the effects of SME support services in LMICs on firm-level performance indicators (such as revenues, profits, and productivity, employment generation, and labour productivity. METHODS We systematically searched for available literature. To identify relevant papers for this review, we conducted electronic searches on key platforms; snowball sampling of references from relevant papers and book chapters, and suggestions from recognized experts in the field. We focused on LMICs as defined by the World Bank classifications, and on evidence published since the year 2000, so as to include more sophisticated evaluation techniques. The references retrieved for this review are up-to-date as of December 2014. We included studies that evaluated the effectiveness of business support services on firm level outcomes of SMEs in low- and middle-income countries. We defined SMEs as firms with between two and 250 employees, but also included studies that used annual revenue to classify firms as SMEs instead of employee count. We examined interventions involving tax simplification, exports and access to external markets; support for innovation policies; support to local production systems; training and technical assistance, and SME financing and credit guarantee

  11. Behind the scenes of GS: a professional fire and rescue service like no other

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2014-01-01

    Meet the professionals at the top of their game working hard for the well-being of the CERN community. Meet the CERN Fire Brigade.   Highly-qualified professional firefighters CERN’s Fire and Rescue Service (FRS, GS-FB Group) currently consists of 58 professionals. These are highly sought-after positions: for just a handful of vacancies, hundreds of applications are submitted from all over Europe. And bear in mind that only professional firefighters with at least five years’ experience at a centre with high levels of operational activity may apply… and they must also have a good command of at least one of the Organization's two official languages. Once the pre-selection process is over, around twenty candidates progress to the next stage, where they are really put through their paces with language tests, theory exams and exercises on real fires. “For the practical part, all candidates are evaluated on their responses to a real fire," ...

  12. Board diversity in family firms

    OpenAIRE

    Menozzi, Anna; Fraquelli, Giovanni; Novara, Jolanda de

    2015-01-01

    The paper deals with diversity as a key factor to improve the board of directors’ decision process in family firms. The empirical literature about board diversity points at the positive impact of diversity on board functioning and firm performance. The paper uses a statistical diversity index to capture the heterogeneity of board of directors and put it in relation with firm performance, as measured by firm profitability. The empirical analysis is based on a newly collected panel of 327 famil...

  13. Firm-Level Corruption in Vietnam

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rand, John; Tarp, Finn

    This paper uses a unique panel dataset on firm-level corruption. It contains quantitative information on bribe payments by a sample of formal and informal Vietnamese firms. We show that bribe incidence is highly associated with firm-level differences in (i) visibility, (ii) sunk costs, (iii...

  14. A firm's activity in social media and its relationship with corporate reputation, firm size and firm performance

    OpenAIRE

    Mäkinen, Hanna

    2015-01-01

    The significance of social media has increased greatly in the past few years, leading companies to increase their social media activity and also increase their interest in knowing whether it is genuinely worth being active on social media, including knowing the potential advantages. This study aims to examine the relationship between social media activity and three variables: reputation, firm size and firm performance. The study analyzes the relationships between the constru...

  15. PENGARUH DUE PROFESSIONAL CARE TERHADAP KUALITAS AUDIT PADA KANTOR AKUNTAN PUBLIK DI KOTA BANDUNG

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tb. Aman Faturachman

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to know how the influence of professional care due to audit quality. Case study at Public Accounting Firm in Bandung City. Hypothesis in this research is due professional care have positive effect to audit quality. The research method used in this research is associative method. The population in this study were junior auditor and senior auditor who worked at Public Accounting Firm in Bandung City. Sampling using convenience sampling. Data used primary data collected from questionnaire results. In analyzing the data, this study uses a statistical analysis called product moment correlation. From the test results obtained a positive influence of 0.569 and the coefficient of determination of 32.37%. These results indicate that due professional care has an effect on audit quality of 32.37%.

  16. Selection of workers and firm heterogeneity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G.W.J. Hendrikse (George)

    1992-01-01

    textabstractA model based on differences between workers regarding their preferences for wage and leisure drives the heterogeneity of firms result. The more industrious workers are driven to small firms due to free riding in large firms. An industry consisting of small and large firms turns out to

  17. Examining the articulation of innovativeness in co-creative firms: a neural network approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    di Tollo, Giacomo; Tanev, Stoyan

    2011-03-01

    Value co-creation is an emerging marketing and innovation paradigm describing a broader opening of the firm to its customers by providing them with the opportunity to become active participants in the design and development of personalized products, services and experiences. The aim of the present contribution is to provide preliminary results from a research project focusing on the relationship between value co-creation and the perception of innovation in technology-driven firms. The data was collected in a previous study using web search techniques and factor analysis to identify the key co-creation components and the frequency of firms' online comments about their new products, processes and services. The present work focuses on using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach to understand if the extent of value co-creation activities can be thought of as an indicator of the perception of innovation. The preliminary simulation results indicate the existence of such relationship. The ANN approach does not suggest a specific model but the relationship that was found out between the forecasted values of the perception of innovation and its actual values clearly points in this direction.

  18. How we established a new undergraduate firm on a Medical Admissions Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nazir, Tahir; Wallis, Simon; Higham, Jackie; Newton, Kate; Pugh, Mark; Woywodt, Alexander

    2014-11-01

    Medical Admission Units (MAUs) were introduced in the UK in the 1980s primarily driven by a governance and service improvement agenda. In the UK this has led to the development of Acute Medicine as a specialty in its own right, together with a strong role of this specialty in postgraduate teaching. In contrast, the role of MAUs, if any, in undergraduate medical education is currently unclear. Prompted by an expansion of our undergraduate student numbers, our aim was to establish a Year 3 undergraduate firm on a 33-bedded MAU in a large academic teaching hospital in the National Health Service (NHS). Despite initial scepticism from clinicians, managers, and educators, the new firm placement on MAU became an instant success and continues to attract excellent feedback from our Year 3 undergraduate students. Students enjoy the bedside teaching with a high percentage of consultant-delivered teaching and also liked the involvement of Foundation Doctors. Here, we report our experience on how to make such a firm work, based on student feedback and the tutors' experience. We provide an overview and a step-by-step guide of how to construct a successful new undergraduate firm on a busy MAU. We also discuss opportunities and challenges and discuss the relevant literature. We conclude that undergraduate teaching is feasible and rewarding in an extremely busy MAU setting. We note that identifying enthusiastic educators within the MAU team, utilisation of peripheral learning opportunities, structured timetables and induction, and a robust framework for quality assurance are all crucial to success.

  19. 40 CFR 745.89 - Firm certification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Firm certification. 745.89 Section 745... § 745.89 Firm certification. (a) Initial certification. (1) Firms that perform renovations for compensation must apply to EPA for certification to perform renovations or dust sampling. To apply, a firm must...

  20. Service quality in public health clinics: perceptions of users and health professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campos, Domingos Fernandes; Negromonte Filho, Rinaldo Bezerra; Castro, Felipe Nalon

    2017-10-09

    Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the expectations and quality gaps in services provided at city public health clinics in the city of Natal, Brazil, from the perspective of patients and healthcare service providers. Design/methodology/approach The research sample consisted of 1,200 patients who used public health services and 265 providers - doctors, nutritionists, physiotherapists, psychologists, pharmacists and managers at three health clinics in the city of Natal, Brazil. A scale with 25 health service attributes was used in data collection. Summary statistics and t-test were used to analyze the data. Findings The results show that the providers think that users have lower levels of expectations than those indicated by the users in all attributes. Providers and users have the most approximate insights into what attributes are considered most important: explanations, level of knowledge and attention dispensed by health professionals. Users and providers perceived similar quality gaps for most of the attributes. The gaps were statistically the same, when comparing the mean quality shortcomings by means of a Student's test, considering a significance level of 5 percent, obtained independently by the manifestation of users and providers. Research limitations/implications The results reveal only a photograph of the moment. The study did not consider the differences that may exist between groups with different income levels, genders or age groups. A qualitative study could improve the understanding of the differences and coincidences of the diverse points of views. A more advanced research could even study possibilities so that health managers could promote changes in the service, some of them low cost, as the health professionals training for contact with patients. Practical implications The evaluation of the service quality complemented by the matrix of opportunities, importance × quality gaps generates information to help make decisions in the

  1. The impact of firm and industry characteristics on small firms' capital structure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Degryse, H.A.; de Goeij, P. C.; Kappert, P.

    2012-01-01

    We study the impact of firm and industry characteristics on small firms’ capital structure, employing a proprietary database containing financial statements of Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2003 to 2005. The firm characteristics suggest that the capital structure decision is

  2. The cultural embeddedness of professional service purchasing-A comparative study of German and Swedish companies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pemer, Frida; Sieweke, Jost; Werr, Andreas; Birkner, Stephanie; Mohe, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Research on professional service purchasing generally takes a culturally universalistic approach, implicitly assuming the generalizability of research findings and normative models to different cultural contexts. However, research in related disciplines points to the influence of national culture on

  3. Leverage, Growth Opportunities and Firm Investment: The Case of Manufacturing Firms in China

    OpenAIRE

    Di Sheng; Shuyang Hou

    2014-01-01

    This paper examined the impact of financial leverage on investment decisions offirms using the panel data of publicly traded Chinese firms. We collected data for511 manufacturing companies during the period from 2005 to 2013 to do theresearch. The data shows that financial leverage is negatively correlated with afirm’s investment. Moreover, after we categorized the data into two types: 1)high-growth firms and 2) low-growth firms, it demonstrated that such negativecorrelation is significant fo...

  4. Law Firms and Public Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fong, Colin

    1997-01-01

    Summarizes sources of legal information in New South Wales and outlines the libraries' driving motivations, access policies, and practices. Also highlights the important value-added service professional library staff contribute to both the quality and quantity of information delivery in this discipline. (Author/AEF)

  5. Experiences of Emerging Economy Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Experiences of Emerging Economy Firms investigates the different elements of the experiences of emerging economy firms and sheds essential light on a large variety of aspects associated with their functioning in both home and host contexts. For example, firms must be able to overcome the liability...... of foreign and emerging issues when they expand their activities in various contexts, enter, exit, and re-enter overseas markets; they have to overcome institutional barriers, adapt the cultural challenges in foreign markets, undergo the impact of large multinational firms from developed economies...

  6. The Role of Services for Manufacturing Firms’ Exports

    OpenAIRE

    Lodefalk, Magnus

    2012-01-01

    Manufacturing firms increasingly focus on services. This trend is evident in their composition of input, in-house production and seemingly also in total sale. Firms’ services intensity may affect their productivity, and thereby competitiveness abroad. Services are also instrumental in connecting to the foreign market and can help firms to differentiate their offers. However, only bits and pieces of the relation between services and manufacturing’s exports have been analysed in previous litera...

  7. 7 CFR 51.1156 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1156 Section 51.1156 Agriculture Regulations... Standards for Grades of Florida Oranges and Tangelos Definitions § 51.1156 Firm. Firm as applied to common... oranges of the Mandarin group (Satsumas, King, Mandarin), “firm” means that the fruit is not extremely...

  8. Firm Leverage and the Financial Crisis

    OpenAIRE

    Fatih Altunok; Arif Oduncu

    2014-01-01

    The firm growth dynamics is an important topic since the growth performance of firms is the main source of the economic growth in countries. Generally, crises produce a sharp decline in firms’ growth and this leads to a decline in both the level of employment and the income of households. This paper focuses on the role of firm leverage on the growth performance of the firm during the global financial crisis. We investigate whether the firms that experienced a large leverage increase before th...

  9. Professional Aspirations among Pre-Service Teachers: Personal Responsibility, Time Perspectives, and Career Choice Satisfaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eren, Altay

    2017-01-01

    Exploring the direct and indirect effects of pre-service teachers' sense of personal responsibility on their professional aspirations through affective (i.e., career choice satisfaction) and cognitive (i.e., time perspectives) variables may enable teacher educators and policy makers to better describe the factors influencing teacher development in…

  10. 10 CFR 603.1230 - Commercial firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Commercial firm. 603.1230 Section 603.1230 Energy... Used in this Part § 603.1230 Commercial firm. A for-profit firm or segment of a for-profit firm (e.g., a division or other business unit) that does a substantial portion of its business in the commercial...

  11. The importance of using the dosimeter in medical professionals in the hemodynamic service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melo, Francisca A. de; Victor Filho, Edgard; Silva, Carla V. da; Santos, Tayline T. dos; Guerra, Decio C.

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study is to evaluate the medical exposure to ionizing radiation of X type in a interventional radiology service, of an university hospital, making a correlation with the importance of using dosimeters for monitoring the effective dose in individuals occupationally exposed (IOE). It was performed an analysis of radiation doses in two stages: the first there was not guidance on the need of using dosimeters; in the second time the professionals performed all procedures carrying the dosimeter. The result showed an average effective dose of professionals / year of 8.60 mSv at first moment, against a dose of 27.41 mSv in the second time after the routine of use the dosimeters, surpassing, in this second phase, the annual dose rate allowed by current radiation protection legislation, which calls for 20 mSv / year for professional. The comparison result in an increase of effective dose of professionals in nearly 300%. It is concluded that the implementation a continuing education project, including awareness of the importance in daily use dosimeter, shows up as a solution for optimizing the dose of these occupationally exposed individuals

  12. Professional Networks in the International Political Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, Lasse Folke; Seabrooke, Leonard

    debates; and the creation of ‘human capital controls’ to prevent the poaching of skilled migrants. The paper directly contributes to the STS literature in locating how professional practices and, their work content, are linked to science and technology while embedded in sociocultural frameworks......Who writes the rules for the governance of the world economy? This paper looks beyond the usual suspects of states, NGOs and firms to attempt to map how ideas and skills travel between professional ecologies to solve long-term socioeconomic problems. The paper identifies professional networks...... they compete and cooperate through a variety of novel concepts and technologies. The issue-areas discussed in relation to professional networks include: the creation of a viable bio-fuels industry; addressing low fertility rates in the OECD; risk weighting and regulatory segmentation in financial reform...

  13. Job Design, Training Effect and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Work Placement at Audit Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Guangyou

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to test the relationships between job design aspects and job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of training effect in these relationships. Regression and mediation analyses were performed based on the data collected from a questionnaire-based survey on the senior accounting students’ audit work placement at audit firms. I conclude that repeated tedious non-professional job aspect is negatively related to job satisfaction, whereas judgmental professional job aspect is positively related to job satisfaction. I also conclude that training effect of work placement is playing a partial mediating role in the identified positive relationship while having no mediation in the negative one.

  14. African Exporting Firms in the Turmoil of the Global Financial Crisis ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper adopts a different approach by examining the impact of the recent global financial crisis on exporting firms in the manufacturing and services sectors in low income countries of the African continent. The paper investigates the impact of the global financial crisis on three Sub Saharan African economies namely ...

  15. The Identity of Ownership on Firm Internationalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strandskov, Jesper; Madsen, Tage Koed; Pedersen, Bent

    2016-01-01

    The paper develops an integrative ownership-internationalization model that explores the influences of various owner types (i.e. investor-owned firms, family-owned firms, employee-owned firms, cooperative–owned firms, and state-owned firms) on firm internationalization. Based on a comparative...... analysis of the various owner types, we discuss how each owner group’s main objectives, risk behavior and provision of resources influence their internationalization strategies and decisions (i.e. scale, scope and speed decisions)....

  16. The Role of Firm Ownership on Internationalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hobdari, Bersant; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Sinani, Evis

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates how different types of owners influence the extent of firm internationalization, measured by the share of firm exports in total sales. The results of the analysis carried out using firm level data of Estonian and Slovenian firms, show that the firms under the control...... in internationalization process. Finally, high market share also leads to increased internationalization through exports as firms seek to expand in foreign markets after having dominated the domestic ones....

  17. Foreign Exchange Exposures of Korean Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sungbin Cho

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available We measure foreign exchange exposures as sensitivity of firm's value to FX premium in the CAPM plus FX premium model, and try to find determinants of the exposures; using data of non-financial companies listed in the Korea Exchange from the year 2007 to 2008. Main findings are as follows. If Korean won depreciates, only a small number of firms is benefitted while majority of firms are harmed to the contrary of common knowledge. As a firm's export increases, the foreign exchange exposure increases up to a certain level and after that it declines. And, smaller firms of negative foreign exchange exposures are more sensitive to foreign exchange changes. These suggest heterogeneous effects of foreign exchange rates on industries and firms.

  18. Heterogeneity in Firm Performance During Economic Crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Bruni

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available What happens to firms during periods of deep economic crisis? Did different types of firms perform differently under the economic crisis? With the aid of a rich database and focusing on the literature regarding the growth of firms, this paper investigates the relative profitability performance of Italian firms during the current economic crisis, exploring those factors, which help certain firms to do relatively better even in the slowdown period. Some preliminary results show that the Italian firms that are relatively young in age, with relatively better current liquidity and more focused on domestic market have performed better than other firms. Furthermore, firms operating in high-tech and in highly concentrated sectors have enjoyed a better performance in this period.

  19. From Pre-Service to In-Service Teachers: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Professional Development of English Language Teachers in Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Mingyue Michelle

    2013-01-01

    This study reports on a longitudinal inquiry into professional identity construction among six novice cross-border English language teachers from mainland China, who completed their pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong (HK) and began their teaching practice in local HK schools. The findings indicate that the participants navigated obstacles…

  20. A Meta-Summary of Qualitative Findings about Professional Services for Survivors of Sexual Violence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martsolf, Donna S.; Draucker, Claire B.; Cook, Christina B.; Ross, Ratchneewan; Stidham, Andrea Warner; Mweemba, Prudencia

    2010-01-01

    Sexual violence occurs at alarming rates in children and adults. Survivors experience myriad negative health outcomes and legal problems, which place them in need of professional services. A meta-summary was conducted of 31 published qualitative studies on adults' responses to sexual violence, with a focus on survivors' use of professional…

  1. Drivers of Discretionary Firm Donations in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Discretionary firm donation is usually related to the stakeholder theory and corporate social performance. Although theoretical explanations for this social behavior are pervasive in related literature, empirical modeling remains underdeveloped. We developed an explanatory structural model of discretionary firm donation using firm and industry level indicators. Unlike previous research, we estimated the explanatory power of the construct we called stakeholder orientation. Our tentative model was tested on a Brazilian sample of 101 publicly traded donor firms, using data on firm donations to social projects and to political candidates in electoral campaigns. The main results suggest that discretionary donation seems to be a strategy for managing conflicting claims in highly stakeholder oriented firms; the characteristics of the firm are more important than industry effects in explaining firm donations; and large firms, showing slack resources, and with a less concentrated ownership structure tend to engage in discretionary donation more intensively.

  2. Foreign Entry and Heterogeneous Growth of Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Deng, Paul Duo; Jefferson, Gary H.

    We adopt the framework of Schumpeterian creative destruction formalized by Aghion et al. (2009) to analyze the impact of foreign entry on the productivity growth of domestic firms. In the face of foreign entry, domestic firms exhibit heterogeneous patterns of growth depending on their technologic...... manufacturing. Our empirical results confirm that foreign entry indeed generates strong heterogeneous growth patterns among domestic firms.......We adopt the framework of Schumpeterian creative destruction formalized by Aghion et al. (2009) to analyze the impact of foreign entry on the productivity growth of domestic firms. In the face of foreign entry, domestic firms exhibit heterogeneous patterns of growth depending on their technological...... distance from foreign firms. Domestic firms with smaller technological distance from their foreign counterparts tend to experience faster productivity growth, while firms with larger technological distance tend to lag further behind. We test this hypothesis using a unique firm-level data of Chinese...

  3. EQUIP training the trainers: an evaluation of a training programme for service users and carers involved in training mental health professionals in user-involved care planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, C; Grundy, A; Meade, O; Callaghan, P; Lovell, K

    2017-08-01

    WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: UK NHS policy highlights the importance of user and carer involvement in health professional training. We know little about service user and carer motivations and experiences of accessing training courses for delivering training to health professionals and how well such courses prepare them for delivering training to healthcare professionals. 'Involvement' in training has often been tokenistic and too narrowly focused on preregistration courses. There is limited data on how best to prepare and support potential service user and carer trainers. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This study adds to the international literature by highlighting service user and carer motivations for accessing a training course for delivering training to health professionals. Service users and carers wanted to gain new skills and confidence in presentation/facilitation as well as to make a difference to healthcare practice. We also learned that service users desired different levels of involvement in training facilitation - some wanted to take a more active role than others. A one-size-fits-all approach is not always appropriate. Encountering resistance from staff in training was a previously unidentified challenge to service user and carers' experience of delivering training in practice and is a key challenge for trainers to address in future. Professional training involvement can be enhanced via specialist training such as the EQUIP training the trainers programme evaluated here. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: When training service users and carers to deliver training to mental health professionals, it is important that service users are equipped to deal with resistance from staff. It is important that service user and carer roles are negotiated and agreed prior to delivering training to healthcare professionals to accommodate individual preferences and allay anxieties. Training for service users and carers must be offered

  4. Construction firm practices and manager beliefs regarding the employment and safety of teenaged employees: a North Carolina based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauscher, Kimberly J; Schulman, Michael; Runyan, Carol W

    2010-01-01

    The objective of this study was to examine the reported practices of construction firms and the beliefs of firm managers/supervisors with respect to employing youth under age 18 and ensuring their safety. The participants in this study were firm representatives from 54, mostly small to medium sized, construction firms in North Carolina. Survey responses were analyzed for the entire sample and within strata of firm size (1-10, 11+ employees) using descriptive statistics. Percentages and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Chi-square tests were used to test for statistical significance in differences between firm sizes. The findings suggest limits in the adequacy of safety training given to youth in construction, particularly in light of the minimal experience firms require of young hires, that managers' beliefs about the causes of young worker injury are largely focused on worker behaviors rather than on the presence of hazards, and that managers' compliance with child labor laws may be hampered by their lack of knowledge of these laws and an ambivalence toward their usefulness and enforcement. While larger studies are needed to confirm and advance these findings, when considered along with prior studies, they demonstrate the need to improve the safety of the construction environment for youth. The development of new educational interventions by health and safety professionals targeted at construction firms are supported, as are efforts by government regulators to increase enforcement and employer knowledge of the child labor laws.

  5. Financial Services and Emerging Markets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B. Karreman (Bas)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractThis study addresses the organization and strategy of firms in emerging markets with an explicit application to financial services. Given the relevance of a well-functioning financial system for economic growth, understanding the organization and strategy of firms contributing to the

  6. Essays on Firm Behavior in Developing Economies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abeberese, Ama Baafra

    The performance of firms is central to growth in developing economies. A burgeoning literature within development economics seeks to understand the behavior of firms in developing countries and the constraints to their performance. This dissertation explores two types of constraints---infrastructure-related constraints and trade-related constraints---faced by manufacturing firms in developing countries. Despite the widely acknowledged importance of infrastructure for economic growth, there has been relatively little research on how infrastructure affects the decisions of firms. Electricity, in particular, is commonly cited by firms in developing countries as a major obstacle to their performance. In the first two chapters, I analyze the responses of firms to two types of electricity constraints, namely electricity prices and electricity shortages. Chapter 1 provides evidence on how electricity prices affect a firm's industry choice and productivity growth using data on Indian manufacturing firms. I construct an instrument for electricity price as the interaction between the price of coal paid by power utilities, which is arguably exogenous to firm characteristics, and the initial share of thermal generation in a state's total electricity generation capacity. I find that, in response to an exogenous increase in electricity price, firms reduce their electricity consumption and switch to industries with less electricity-intensive production processes. I also find that firm output, machine intensity and labor productivity decline with an increase in electricity price. In addition to these level effects, I show that firm output and productivity growth rates are negatively affected by high electricity prices. These results suggest that electricity constraints faced by firms may limit a country's growth by leading firms to operate in industries with fewer productivity-enhancing opportunities. Chapter 2 examines the impact of electricity shortages on firm investment. I

  7. TRANSFER OF MARKETING KNOWLEDGE IN THAI INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURE FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Osman Mohamad

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available The focus of this study is the transfer of marketing knowledge within Thai joint venture firms. The perspectives of Thai managers were surveyed using a structured instrument. The analysis identifies seven dimensions of marketing management knowledge: promotion management, price management, logistics management, product innovation management, strategic marketing management, cross-cultural management, and target marketing management. The incidence of transfer is highest for activities in strategic marketing management, followed by price management. Transfer in product innovation management and target marketing management tends to vary with the age of the joint venture. Joint venture firms with foreign partners originating from Western, advanced, industrialised nations recorded the highest incidence of knowledge transfer occurring within product innovation management. This trend also holds true for the management of promotion activities. The incidence of transfer in target marketing management is lowest among firms with foreign partners from neighbouring nations. The incidence of knowledge transfer within product innovation and target marketing also tends to vary with the age of the joint venture. An analysis based on industry classification revealed that the transfer of knowledge regarding logistics management occurs most for firms in the manufacturing sector. In the service sector, the highest incidence of knowledge transfer within the areas of promotion management and target marketing management occurred in the agricultural sector.

  8. Furniture firms shuns CSL for EMS program expansion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deans, B

    1982-05-31

    The R.B. Furniture Company's disappointment in its 10 CSL Industries Inc. energy-management systems is responsible for a decision to install Trimax Controls in the remaining 67 stores. At issue are CSL's service policy of using independent installers and service contractors as well as technical problems with the equipment, although R.B. Furniture concedes it had a 2.5-year payback, a 20% drop in electricity consumption, and generally reliable performance of the CSL system. A CSL official claims its higher equipment costs are the real reason. Interviews with CSL and R.B. Furniture Co. representatives explore the attitudes and problems of both firms. The Trimex system includes a three-year warranty. (DCK)

  9. Costing and pricing electric power reserve services. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirsch, L.D.; Rajaraman, R.; Clark, C.

    1997-12-01

    In the competitive electric power markets of the imminent future, reserves will be the second largest generation service in terms of their revenues and profits. Because reserves will be more widely traded than at present, they will be provided by the cheapest available sources regardless of the ownership of those sources. Price will determine the willingness of generators and consumers to provide reserve services; and it may also determine the willingness of reserve users to purchase reserve services. This report presents a methodology by which generation firms and merchant firms can profitably cost and price the reserve services that they offer. The methodology is generally applicable to a wide range of market structures that such firms might face

  10. Customer Engagement Behavior in the Context of Continuous Service Relationships

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haurum, Helle

    are sometimes inconsistent and follows not necessarily pre-figured sequences. Customers’ CEB manifestations co-exist with the experiences customers have in their service relationships. CEB is sometimes manifested by customers to re-experience, reinforce or challenge what the customer is currently / has been...... experiencing. CEB is as well sometimes embedded in the service relationship to a degree, where customers’ experiences and CEB become deeply intertwined or even become one and same construct, and sometimes is a CEB manifestation a consequence of a certain customer experience. CEB has changed the service...... intended by the firm. This might be the reality of ‘the new service relationship’. These obvious managerial challenges are best solved by the firm, when the firm adopts a customer-centric approach and understands which situation(s) their customers are most frequently in (revolving around the firm...

  11. Do Treasure Islands Create Firm Value?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lai, Tat-kei; Ng, Travis

    They do! Otherwise, their use would not have been so prevalent among firms. How much firm value they create, however, is still an open question. Exploiting a political event in the U.K. that suddenly raised the cost of using tax havens, we find that there was a 0.87% reduction in cumulative...... abnormal return (CAR) among the sampled firms, corresponding to about £532 million in market capitalization. The firms of stronger corporate governance registered a stronger reduction in CAR. A simple linear extrapolation suggests that the firm value contributed by tax havens can be as much as £31 billion....

  12. A resource based view to small firms' sustainable competitive advantages: A case of Iranian small firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Reza Babakhan

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available During the last decades, the importance of small firms as one of the main economical parts in each country has been proved. Considering to the resources limitation in one hand, and the competitive global market in the other hand, it is very important that firms can obtain sustainable competitive advantages (SCAs to compete with other rivals. This paper, at the first step, tries to explore the potentially SCAs of Qom's small firms by using of Structural Equation Model (SEM. Then, the real current situation of firms in using these competitive advantages has been examined. The results tell that except firms' location, other potentially SCAs do not have acceptable condition.

  13. Do Work-Life Balance Policies Increase a Firm's Total Factor Productivity?: Evidence from panel data of Japanese firms (Japanese)

    OpenAIRE

    YAMAMOTO Isamu; MATSUURA Toshiyuki

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines how firms' policies for workers' work-life balance (WLB) affect total factor productivity (TFP) in the long run, by using panel data of Japanese firms from the 1990s. Although we observed a positive correlation between firms' WLB policies and their TFP, once controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity, we found no causal relationship where WLB policies increase a firm's TFP in the long run. Under the following conditions, however, WLB policies would likely improve a firm...

  14. Agility in a small software firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Thomas; Mathiassen, Lars

    2009-01-01

    Small software firms are vulnerable to environmental uncertainty. While agile methods and other technologies offer suggestions to this challenge, we know little about how these firms combine project and firm level capabilities to effectively respond to changes. On this backdrop, we examine a small...... Danish software firm, TeachTech Inc., through the lens of Haeckel's sense-and-respond approach. Our analysis suggests that: the firm has appropriate sense-and-respond cycles, but improving process modularity and human resource flexibility, could increase its ability to respond faster and more effectively......; the firm focuses on specific business goals, but these are not clearly explicated and expressed as empowering governing values enabling a quick and coordinated response; complex and demanding challenges are related to dynamically reassigning commitments and the supporting mechanisms are insufficient...

  15. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Markusen, James R.; Schjerning, Bertel

    Many papers have documented a wage premium in foreign-owned and large firms. However, there is very little formal theory in the literature and empirical analyses are typically not based on hypotheses which are rigorously derived from theory. This paper contributes to the theory-empirics gap...... by developing a model that allows for two "pure" explanations for the wage premium. The first is a heterogenous-worker explanation along the lines of Yeaple (2005), where firms that select more scaleintensive technologies select ex-ante more productive workers. In this case, the wage premium is a pure selection...... phenomenon. The second explanation builds on the heterogeneous-firm model of Melitz (2003) combined with on-the-job learning as in Markusen (2001). Productivity differences between firms are internalized by ex-ante homogeneous workers, so the wage premium is a pure learning phenomenon due to ex-post higher...

  16. Strategies for Designing and Developing Services for Manufacturing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tan, Adrian Ronald; Matzen, Detlef; McAloone, Tim C.

    2010-01-01

    Product/service-systems (PSS) are in effect an approach to designing integrated products and services with a focus on both customer- and product life cycleactivities . Literature offers a range of service-oriented design strategies from product-oriented DfX approaches to more customer...... manufacturing companies may align their product and service development activities with their business strategies.......-oriented approaches such as integrated solutions and service design. These design strategies are mapped out in relation to how applicable they are to different types of services. Case studies from two industrial companies are used to confront the existing literature in order to improve understanding of how...

  17. CLUSTERING AND THE NATURE OF RELATIONSHIP AMONGST FIRMS IN THE LAGOS REGION, NIGERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FAGBOHUNKA Adejompo

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Regional cluster, a geographically bounded concentration of interdependent firms, is the best environment to fostering a strong relationship amongst firms which can lead to amazing technological and industrial expansion. This paper underscores clustering and the resultant nature of relationship amongst firms, using the Lagos region as a case study. One hundred and three questionnaire were administered in twelve industrial estates; one questionnaire in each of the firm. This connotes that all the firms in the industrial estates were successfully covered in the questionnaire administration, which was administered. A descriptive statistical analytical technique was adopted. The paper has reveals the types of working relationship amongst firms in the Lagos region which includes; raw materials purchase, subcontract, collaboration in research and development, sales promotion, transportation, power supply, water supply, security, waste treatment, telecommunication, ports and shipping as well as labour supply. The paper found out that raw materials purchase/supply was more striking amongst the working relationship types. Also, the paper has revealed services sharing amongst the firms and transport as the most dominant. The most important location advantage was the market facilities. The analysis of variance carried out in relation to variation in clustering amongst the firms at 0.05% level was significant. The paper concluded that industrial cluster if encouraged, will lead to increase working relationship, which in turn have the capability of boosting, promoting and encouraging economies of clustering. Cluster concepts spatially emphasize inter-firm relations that facilitate innovative activity, which is recognized as a driving force of sustained economic growth. It is therefore recommended that these clustering of firms should be made viable, encouraged and strengthened through government investment in the industrial sector, making the location

  18. University-School Collaboration as a Tool for Promoting Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers' Professional Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilic, Hulya; Tunc Pekkan, Zelha

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we discuss pre-service mathematics teachers' professional gains from a university-school collaboration where they were given opportunity to observe two teacher educators' instructional practices in a 6th grade classroom, interact with students in one-to-one fashion and reflect on the teacher educators' and their own practices. Three…

  19. Does ownership affect the variability of the production process? Evidence from international courier services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hsieh, C.; Lazzarini, S.G.; Nickerson, J.A.; Laurini, M.

    2010-01-01

    A firm often must ensure that products or services it produces match customer expectations. We define variability as any deviation in a production process yielding products or services whose attributes differ from the firm's stated target specifications. Firms pursuing products marked by low

  20. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Schjerning, Bertel; R. Markusen, James

    2013-01-01

    Three types of theories have been used to explain the wage premium in foreign firms: the theories of heterogeneous workers, heterogeneous learning, and heterogeneous firms. We set up a model that explicitly encompasses two of these theories, and that can illustrate the third. This unifying...

  1. Location of New Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Backman, Mikaela; Karlsson, Charlie

    2017-01-01

    characteristics, such as the commuting experience. Our results show that commuting influences the firm location choice. The probability of establishing a firm in the work municipality increases if the entrepreneur is a commuter, holding constant the type of region and unobservable and observable individual...

  2. How do Economic Crises Impact Firm Boundaries?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Kirsten

    2010-01-01

    How economic crises impact the boundaries of firms has been offered virtually no attention in the literature on the theory of the firm. I review the best-known theories of the firm and identify the variables that matter for the explanation of firm boundaries. I then examine how an economic crisis...... may impact these variables and change efficient firm boundaries. The various theories of the firm have difficulties explaining how firms efficiently adapt their boundaries to such prominent characteristics of economic crisis as declining demand and increased costs of external finance. However, all...... these theories stress uncertainty as an antecedent of firm organization, and as uncertainty is also an important characteristic of an economic crisis I examine how uncertainty is allowed to play out in the various theories in order to identify what predictions we can derive from the theory regarding changes...

  3. Initial capital structure of portuguese innovative firms : the role of nascent entrepreneurs' human capital

    OpenAIRE

    Couto, Eduardo; Bilau, José

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study is to analyse whether the human capital of the nascent entrepreneur influences the initial capital structure of Portuguese innovative firms. The research model used includes a dependent binary variable devised to check the initial capital structure, two groups of independent variables referring to the human capital and a group of control variables. The results obtained through logistic regression show that "heterogeneity of professional experience" positively influences ...

  4. IMPLEMENTING A VALUE ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR SERVICE INNOVATION IDEAS

    OpenAIRE

    TOR HELGE AAS

    2010-01-01

    There has not been much discussion of how firms may assess the value of service innovation projects ex-ante in the extant research literature. This paper theoretically derives a value assessment tool for service innovation ideas called QSI (tool for pre-Qualification of Service Innovation projects). Thereafter QSI is implemented in three firms and it is explored to what degree the implementation improved managerial decision making on service innovation projects and investments. The findings i...

  5. Innovative knowledge sharing, supply chain integration and firm performance of Australian manufacturing firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Singh, Prakash J.; Power, Damien

    2014-01-01

    A number of reports show that innovation in Australian manufacturing firms is declining. We propose that better knowledge sharing practices can assist these firms to become more innovative. In this paper, we examine this proposition by empirically testing the relationship between knowledge sharing

  6. Does Labor Diversity Affect Firm Performance?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pytlikova, Mariola; Pozzoli, Dario; Parrotta, Pierpaolo

    /education significantly enhances firm performance as measured by firm TFP. Conversely, diversity in demographics and ethnicity brings mixed results – both dimensions of workforce diversity have either no or negative effects on firm TFP. Hence, it seems as if the negative effects, coming from communication and integration...... costs connected to a more demographically and culturally diverse workforce, counteract the positive effects of diversity on firm TFP, coming from creativity and knowledge spillovers. However, we find that ethnic diversity is valuable for firms operating in industries characterized by above-average trade...... openness, giving support to the hypothesis that an ethnically diverse workforce provides information and access to global markets....

  7. From Knowledge to Firm Performance: An Empirical analysis of Intellectual Capital Impact in Polish and Dutch Listed Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koen Verduijn

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Empirical results about the direct relation of knowledge leading to financial performance at a firm is dispersed. This study aims to examine the impact intellectual capital (IC has on firm performance in Polish and Dutch listed firms.Methodology: Quantitative data is collected based on audited annual reports from the top 20 companies listed at the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Amsterdam Stock Exchange between 2007 and 2011. IC is measured using the VAIC methodology with its individual elements of HCE, SCE, and CEE. Direct relations between ICE, HCE, and SCE and five measures of firm performance are statistically analysed.Results: The results suggest that there is a direct positive relationship between ICE and firm performance of Polish and Dutch listed firms, particularly with ROA, ROE, EP, and to a lesser extent with ATO. Firms listed in Poland provide a stronger positive ICE relation to ROA and ROE where firms listed in the Netherlands provide a stronger positive ICE relation to EP. Regarding individual elements, HCE relates highly positive to ROA, ROE, and EP where SCE finds only partial negative relation with ATO.Implications: Nurturing IC and in particular HC confirms the importance of firm knowledge and employees with right training and other support. Additionally, further clarification regarding SC is required.Originality: This paper presents the first study of the IC relationship with firm performance in Poland as well in the Netherlands. Additionally, the comparison between firms of both countries establishes a novelty in IC research.

  8. Procurement with Specialized Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boone, J.; Schottmuller, C.

    2011-01-01

    This paper analyzes optimal procurement mechanisms in a setting where the procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms’ cost functions and cares about quality as well as price. Low type firms are cheaper than high type firms in providing low quality but more expensive when

  9. Tensions in firm-community collaboration and the role of intermediaries in exploiting synergies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dragsdahl Lauritzen, Ghita; Salomo, Søren

    2013-01-01

    and firms have become central to value creation. This is also reflected in an increasing interest in user-driven innovation. However, from the context in which firms and communities intersect, tensions arise due to undefined boundaries and a lack of clear roles. Although, intermediaries such as service...... and as dilemmas relating to power, identity, and competence that must be balanced in order to encourage and benefit from user contributions. Introducing Systems theory this paper shows that what is currently described as dilemmas that must be managed, are in fact paradoxes that are mutually enabling and must...

  10. Does Cash Contribute to Value? A Comparison of Constrained and Unconstrained Firms in China and Germany

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Zhang

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available A fundamental characteristic of emerging markets is the underdevelopment of legal institutions and financial markets. Therefore, the marginal value of a firm’s cash holdings in emerging countries can be lower than 1, due to high agency costs resulting from poor external corporate governance. However, the marginal value of cash may also be high in emerging markets because the information asymmetry between current and new providers of funds is high, which means that it is difficult to access the (low quality capital markets. We study for the industrialized countries of China and Germany whether corporate cash holdings contribute to shareholder value in both constrained and unconstrained firms. In contradiction to previous literature on emerging markets, we find that the marginal value of cash is not smaller than 1 in China, so that agency costs do not dominate. We, however, find marginal values of cash lower than 1 for unconstrained firms in both countries, implying that in these firms agency costs of cash holdings exist. For constrained firms we find marginal values significantly larger than 1 in both countries. This indicates difficulties in accessing the financial markets for these firms. These difficulties prove to be larger in China than in Germany for small and service firms, but not for high growth firms.

  11. Supporting home care for the dying: an evaluation of healthcare professionals' perspectives of an individually tailored hospice at home service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jack, Barbara A; Baldry, Catherine R; Groves, Karen E; Whelan, Alison; Sephton, Janice; Gaunt, Kathryn

    2013-10-01

    To explore health care professionals' perspective of hospice at home service that has different components, individually tailored to meet the needs of patients. Over 50% of adults diagnosed with a terminal illness and the majority of people who have cancer, prefer to be cared for and to die in their own home. Despite this, most deaths occur in hospital. Increasing the options available for patients, including their place of care and death is central to current UK policy initiatives. Hospice at home services aim to support patients to remain at home, yet there are wide variations in the design of services and delivery. A hospice at home service was developed to provide various components (accompanied transfer home, crisis intervention and hospice aides) that could be tailored to meet the individual needs of patients. An evaluation study. Data were collected from 75 health care professionals. District nurses participated in one focus group (13) and 31 completed an electronic survey. Palliative care specialist nurses participated in a focus group (9). One hospital discharge co-ordinator and two general practitioners participated in semi-structured interviews and a further 19 general practitioners completed the electronic survey. Health care professionals reported the impact and value of each of the components of the service, as helping to support patients to remain at home, by individually tailoring care. They also positively reported that support for family carers appeared to enable them to continue coping, rapid access to the service was suggested to contribute to faster hospital discharges and the crisis intervention service was identified as helping patients remain in their own home, where they wanted to be. Health care professionals perceived that the additional individualised support provided by this service contributed to enabling patients to continue be cared for and to die at home in their place of choice. This service offers various components of a hospice

  12. Firms, crowds, and innovation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felin, Teppo; Lakhani, Karim R; Tushman, Michael L

    2017-05-01

    The purpose of this article is to suggest a (preliminary) taxonomy and research agenda for the topic of "firms, crowds, and innovation" and to provide an introduction to the associated special issue. We specifically discuss how various crowd-related phenomena and practices-for example, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, user innovation, and peer production-relate to theories of the firm, with particular attention on "sociality" in firms and markets. We first briefly review extant theories of the firm and then discuss three theoretical aspects of sociality related to crowds in the context of strategy, organizations, and innovation: (1) the functions of sociality (sociality as extension of rationality, sociality as sensing and signaling, sociality as matching and identity), (2) the forms of sociality (independent/aggregate and interacting/emergent forms of sociality), and (3) the failures of sociality (misattribution and misapplication). We conclude with an outline of future research directions and introduce the special issue papers and essays.

  13. Technological Capability and Firm Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Maciel Reichert

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to investigate the relationship between investments in technological capability and economic performance in Brazilian firms. Based on economic development theory and on developed countries history, it is assumed that this relationship is positive. Through key indicators, 133 Brazilian firms have been analyzed. Given the economic circumstances of an emerging economy, which the majority of businesses are primarily based on low and medium-low-technology industries, it is not possible to affirm the existence of a positive relation between technological capability and firm performance. There are other elements that allow firms to achieve such results. Firms of lower technological intensity industries performed above average in the economic performance indicators, adversely, they invested below average in technological capability. These findings do not diminish the merit of firms’ and country’s success. They in fact confirm a historical tradition of a country that concentrates its efforts on basic industries.

  14. An Aspirational Community Theory of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Xin

    propose an aspirational community theory of the firm (ACT) as a candidate theory by conceptualizing the firm as an aspirational community, the core of which is a group of like-minded people sharing similar or same aspiration/vision. To explain the existence of the firm, we make a distinction between......All of the three major theories of the firm, i.e., the transaction cost theory, knowledge-based theory and the entrepreneurship theory, offer some insightful analyses of the nature of the firm. However, they all have limitations and weaknesses in answering the fundamental question of the existence...... of the firm. In addition, they are all partial due to their particular focus on the multifaceted phenomenon of the firm. We argue that it is necessary and sufficient to develop a comprehensive yet integrative theory of the firm that combines the three competing yet complementary logics. Toward this end, we...

  15. Supervision in Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Vafaï , Kouroche

    2012-01-01

    URL des Documents de travail : http://centredeconomiesorbonne.univ-paris1.fr/bandeau-haut/documents-de-travail/; Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 2012.84 - ISSN : 1955-611X; To control, evaluate, and motivate their agents, firms employ supervisors. As shown by empirical investigations, biased evaluation by supervisors linked to collusion is a persistent feature of firms. This paper studies how deceptive supervision affects agency relationships. We consider a three-leve...

  16. Merger incentives and the failing firm defense

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouckaert, J.M.C.; Kort, P.M.

    2014-01-01

    The merger incentives between profitable firms differ fundamentally from the incentives of a profitable firm to merge with a failing firm. We investigate these incentives under different modes of price competition and Cournot behavior. Our main finding is that firms strictly prefer exit of the

  17. Firm Based Trade Models and Turkish Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilüfer ARGIN

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Among all international trade models, only The Firm Based Trade Models explains firm’s action and behavior in the world trade. The Firm Based Trade Models focuses on the trade behavior of individual firms that actually make intra industry trade. Firm Based Trade Models can explain globalization process truly. These approaches include multinational cooperation, supply chain and outsourcing also. Our paper aims to explain and analyze Turkish export with Firm Based Trade Models’ context. We use UNCTAD data on exports by SITC Rev 3 categorization to explain total export and 255 products and calculate intensive-extensive margins of Turkish firms.

  18. Values of financial services professionals and the global financial crisis as a crisis of ethics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoorn, André van

    2013-01-01

    Many attribute the global financial crisis (GFC) to the ethical values of the people involved, financial services professionals (FSPs) such as stockbrokers or fund managers. The crisis-of-ethics debate is important, concerning one of the main policy challenges of our times, but is based on popular

  19. Analysis of a STEM Education Professional Development Conference for Pre-Service Educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardrict-Ewing, Gloria

    Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines are attracting increased attention in education. The iSTEM 2017 conference was a professional development program designed to acquaint pre-service teachers with interdisciplinary, research-based STEM instructional strategies that can transform traditional classroom instruction into dynamic learning environments. The STEM Education Scholars (STEMES) is a Learning Community of Practice, housed in the College of Education, at a mid-sized mid-western public research university. The program of study focused on designing a professional development program for future Pre-K12 teachers. The iSTEM 2017 conference presented by the STEMES Community of Practice sought to inform pre-service teachers of STEM pedagogy, and focused on innovative classroom resources, hands-on learning and increasing content confidence when incorporating STEM into classroom instruction. iSTEM 2017 was held in February, 2017, and offered twenty refereed presentations and workshop sessions, a keynote address, and a closing session to over 200 pre-service teachers. Conference participants chose sessions, participated in game-like experiences and shared their learning with each other as well as with conference organizers. Results from participant self-reported surveys were analyzed to measure the impact of the conference on improving participants' confidence in teaching STEM topics, and their attitudes about the instructional methods. These results were added to the conference proceedings, which also contain documentation of each iSTEM 2017 session. Findings suggest that the iSTEM 2017 conference had an overall positive impact on participants' familiarity with STEM education, their belief in the importance of STEM education, and their confidence to integrate STEM education into future instructional practices.

  20. Information Technology, Human Resources Management Systems and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis from Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pilar Ficapal-Cusí

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This research paper uses survey data on 1.518 Catalan firms (in Spain, with capital in Barcelona to examine the relationship between IT use, innovative human resources management systems (IHRMS and firm’s performance. Using factor and cluster analysis, we find that only one-third of Catalan firms use IHRMS. Using association analysis we find that firms that adopt IHMRS are more internationalised; show grater ability to adapt to the change environment, to innovate and to collaborate; focuses product/service differentiation strategy enhancing quality; apply a greater degree of new forms of work organization; use IT more intensively; and invest more in training their employees Using regression analysis, we find that features which are structural, technological, strategic, organisational and result-related explain the adoption of IHRMS.

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