"Virtual word of mouth":a case for the adaptation of existing word of mouth theory to virtual community environments

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Measuring employee innovation:a review of existing scales and the development of the innovative behavior and innovation support inventories across cultures

Purpose - The paper develops a model of employee innovative behavior conceptualizing it as distinct from innovation outputs and as a multi-faceted behavior rather than a simple count of ‘innovative acts’ by employees. It understands individual employee innovative behaviors as a micro-foundation of firm intrapreneurship that is embedded in and influenced by contextual factors such as managerial, organizational and cultural support for innovation. Building from a review of existing employee innovative behavior scales and theoretical considerations we develop and validate the Innovative Behavior Inventory (IBI) and the Innovation Support Inventory (ISI). Design/methodology/approach – Two pilot studies, a third validation study in the Czech Republic and a fourth cross-cultural validation study using population representative samples from Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic (N=2812 employees and 450 entrepreneurs) were conducted. Findings - Both inventories were reliable and showed factorial, criterion, convergent and discriminant validity as well as cross-cultural equivalence. Employee innovative behavior was supported as comprising of idea generation, idea search, idea communication, implementation starting activities, involving others and overcoming obstacles. Managerial support was the most proximal contextual influence on innovative behavior and mediated the effect of organizational support and national culture. Originality/value - The paper advances our understanding of employee innovative behavior as a multi-faceted phenomenon and the contextual factors influencing it. Where past research typically focuses on convenience samples within a particular country, we offer first robust evidence that our model of employee innovative behavior generalizes across cultures and types of samples. Our model and the IBI and ISI inventories enable researchers to build a deeper understanding of the important micro-foundation underpinning intrapreneurial behavior in organizations and allow practitioners to identify their organizations’ strengths and weaknesses related to intrapreneurship.

Upgrading biomass fast pyrolysis liquids

A comprehensive examination is made of the characteristics and quality requirements of bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of biomass. This considers all aspects of the special characteristics of bio-oil – how they are created and the solutions available to help meet requirements for utilisation. Particular attention is paid to chemical and catalytic upgrading including synthesis gas and hydrogen production which has seen a wide range of new research activities and also more limited attention to chemicals recovery. An appreciation of the potential for bio-oil to meet a broad spectrum of applications in renewable energy has led to a significantly increased R&D activity that has focused on addressing liquid quality issues both for direct use for heat and power and indirect use for biofuels and green chemicals. This increased activity is evident in North America, Europe and Asia with many new entrants as well as expansion of existing activities. The only disappointment is the more limited industrial development and also deployment of fast pyrolysis processes that are necessary to provide the basic bio-oil raw material.

Upgrading biomass fast pyrolysis liquids

A comprehensive examination is made of the characteristics and quality requirements of bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of biomass. An appreciation of the potential for bio-oil to meet a broad spectrum of applications in renewable energy has led to a significantly increased R&D activity that has focused on addressing liquid quality issues both for direct use for heat and power and indirect use for biofuels and green chemicals. This increased activity is evident in North America, Europe, and Asia with many new entrants as well as expansion of existing activities. The only disappointment is the more limited industrial development and also deployment of fast pyrolysis processes that are necessary to provide the basic bio-oil raw material. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Investigating the supply and demand relationship in a profession: the English and Welsh schools of librarianship and information Studies and the Higher Education Library and Information Services employment sector in England and Wales.

Concern has been expressed in the professional literature - borne out by professional experience and observation - that the supply and demand relationship existing between the 13 English and Welsh Library and Information Studies (LIS) Schools (as providers of `First Professional' staff) and the Higher Education Library and Information Services (HE LIS) sector of England and Wales (as one group of employers of such staff) is unsatisfactory and needs attention. An appropriate methodology to investigate this problem was devised. A basic content analysis of Schools' curricular and recruitment material intended for public consumption was undertaken to establish an overview of the LIS initial professional education system in England and Wales, and to identify and analyse any covert messages imparted to readers. This was followed by a mix of Main Questionnaires and Semi-Structured Interviews with appropriate populations. The investigation revealed some serious areas of dissatisfaction by the HE LIS Chiefs with the role and function of the Schools. Considerable divergence of views emerged on the state of the working relationships between the two sectors and on the Schools' successes in meeting the needs of the HE LIS sector and on CPD provision. There were, however, areas of substantial and consistent agreement between the two sectors. The main implications of the findings were that those areas encompassing divergence of views were worrying and needed addressing by both sides. Possible ways forward included recommendations on improving the image of the profession purveyed by the Schools; the forming of closer and more effective inter-sectoral relationships; recognising fully the importance of `practicum' and increasing and sustaining the network of `practicum' providers.

Practice report: the role of environmental factors in industrial site selection activities: a case of limestone quarry expansion in Barbados, West Indies

Site selection is a key activity for quarry expansion to support cement production, and is governed by factors such as resource availability, logistics, costs, and socio-environmental factors. Adequate consideration of all factors facilitates both industrial productivity and sustainable economic growth. This study illustrates the site selection process that was undertaken for the expansion of limestone quarry operations to support cement production in Barbados. First, alternate sites with adequate resources to support a 25-year development horizon were identified. Second, socio-environmental conditions were described and potential impacts identified. Third, a comparative matrix was constructed to evaluate relative site characteristics with respect to physical, ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors. The study shows that environmental factors were essential to the final site recommendation.

An analysis of costs in institutions of higher education in England

Cost functions are estimated, using random effects and stochastic frontier methods, for English higher education institutions. The article advances on existing literature by employing finer disaggregation by subject, institution type and location, and by introducing consideration of quality effects. Estimates are provided of average incremental costs attached to each output type, and of returns to scale and scope. Implications for the policy of expansion of higher education are discussed.

The impact of Foreign Direct Investment and trade openness on ICT expansion: A comparative analysis of Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern countries

This study investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow and trade openness on the expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the period of 1996 to 2005, in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. The results of regression analyses conducted indicate that while dissimilarities exist among the countries included in this study in terms of their level of socio-economic and political development, factors such as trade openness, education and the growth of GDP had a positive impact on their ICT development. While FDI inflow had positive impact on the expansion of ICTs on Asia-Pacific countries its impact on Middle Eastern countries was not statistically significant. The study results also show that governmental intervention in economic activities has a negative impact on ICT expansion in both regions. In the Middle East, regional conflict imposes additional negative impact on FDI inflow and trade openness and consequently, ICT expansion. The regression results show that those countries that implemented liberalization of their ICT sector were able to not only reduce the digital divide with other developed countries, but also increase their operations in both local and global markets.

A review of multi-factor capacity expansion models for manufacturing plants:searching for a holistic decision aid

Investment in capacity expansion remains one of the most critical decisions for a manufacturing organisation with global production facilities. Multiple factors need to be considered making the decision process very complex. The purpose of this paper is to establish the state-of-the-art in multi-factor models for capacity expansion of manufacturing plants within a corporation. The research programme consisting of an extensive literature review and a structured assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the current research is presented. The study found that there is a wealth of mathematical multi-factor models for evaluating capacity expansion decisions however no single contribution captures all the different facets of the problem.

The role of environmental factors in industrial site selection activities:a case of limestone quarry expansion in Barbados, West Indies

Site selection is a key activity for quarry expansion to support cement production, and is governed by factors such as resource availability, logistics, costs, and socio-environmental factors. Adequate consideration of all factors facilitates both industrial productivity and sustainable economic growth. This study illustrates the site selection process that was undertaken for the expansion of limestone quarry operations to support cement production in Barbados. First, alternate sites with adequate resources to support a 25-year development horizon were identified. Second, socio-environmental conditions were described and potential impacts identified. Third, a comparative matrix was constructed to evaluate relative site characteristics with respect to physical, ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors. The study shows that environmental factors were essential to the final site recommendation.