Putting people first? Chinese state-owned enterprises' adjustment to globalisation

This paper analyses the impact of FDI on the employment, productivity, profitability and survival performance of urban SOEs in China, with the aid of a rich panel data set over the period 1999–2005. Our estimation strategy controls for the endogeneity of a number of regressors and accounts for firm-level unobserved heterogeneity. Four key results emerge from the analysis: (i) Firmlevel foreign finance enhances the employment and productivity growth of SOEs, as well as their survival prospects; (ii) Competition from sectoral FDI has a deleterious impact on the growth and survival probability of SOEs without access to any foreign capital; (iii) Export-oriented FDI in downstream sectors has negative performance ramifications; and (iv) There are no discernible spillover effects that can be attributed to FDI in upstream sectors, suggesting limited linkages between multinational firms and SOEs.

Putting e-commerce adoption in a supply chain context

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the impact of context on the adoption of e-commerce in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review, 45 semi-structured interviews in four different supply chains in the UK healthcare sector, involving 16 different organisations, and additional documentation is used in this study. Findings – The adoption of e-commerce in supply chains is simultaneously affected by two contextual meta-variables: external pressure, which is influenced by supply chain structure, demand and industry characteristics; and internal readiness, which is influenced by IT, organisational and buying need characteristics. Different combinations of these two main variables lead to four different trade-off situations affecting adoption or non-adoption. Research limitations/implications – The empirical research has been undertaken in the specific context of the UK healthcare supply chains. It would be useful to test our findings in other sectors and countries. Practical implications – The paper helps to understand the contextual factors that affect e-commerce adoption and concludes with a framework that differentiates four situations that can improve managers' and researchers' understanding of e-commerce adoption in the future. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is the recognition that the adoption of e-commerce is affected by factors in both an organisational and a supply chain context, which simultaneously lead to trade-off decisions. Also, unlike most other studies which refer to supply chains and are limited to an organisational perspective or at most a dyadic perspective, this paper builds up a supply chain picture of context by including perspectives from multiple actors in a chain.

What do public values mean for public action? Putting public values in their plural place

Public values are moving from a research concern to policy discourse and management practice. There are, though, different readings of what public values actually mean. Reflection suggests two distinct strands of thinking: a generative strand that sees public value emerging from processes of public debate; and an institutional interpretation that views public values as the attributes of government producers. Neither perspective seems to offer a persuasive account of how the public gains from strengthened public values. Key propositions on values are generated from comparison of influential texts. A provisional framework is presented of the values base of public institutions and the loosely coupled public propositions flowing from these values. Value propositions issue from different governing contexts, which are grouped into policy frames that then compete with other problem frames for citizens’ cognitive resources. Vital democratic commitments to pluralism require public values to be distributed in competition with other, respected, frames.

Putting service relations to the test:how can negative consumer reactions of price increases be reduced?

Price increases seem to be an adequate way to improve the earnings of companies. This fact becomes especially crucial because of increased price competition in many markets. Price increases might lead to negative customer reactions, such as a lower perceived utility or a lower loyalty intention. Therefore, the question for managers remains how prices can be increased without losing customers. Results of our experimental study suggest that customers of energy suppliers rate the perceived utility of the offer relatively better when the price increase is combined with an additional modification of the product or accompanied by a new service. It becomes clear that intensifying service relations can offset the negative effects of price increases.

The vision strategy of golf putting

Golfers, coaches and researchers alike, have all keyed in on golf putting as an important aspect of overall golf performance. Of the three principle putting tasks (green reading, alignment and the putting action phase), the putting action phase has attracted the most attention from coaches, players and researchers alike. This phase includes the alignment of the club with the ball, the swing, and ball contact. A significant amount of research in this area has focused on measuring golfer’s vision strategies with eye tracking equipment. Unfortunately this research suffers from a number of shortcomings, which limit its usefulness. The purpose of this thesis was to address some of these shortcomings. The primary objective of this thesis was to re-evaluate golfer’s putting vision strategies using binocular eye tracking equipment and to define a new, optimal putting vision strategy which was associated with both higher skill and success. In order to facilitate this research, bespoke computer software was developed and validated, and new gaze behaviour criteria were defined. Additionally, the effects of training (habitual) and competition conditions on the putting vision strategy were examined, as was the effect of ocular dominance. Finally, methods for improving golfer’s binocular vision strategies are discussed, and a clinical plan for the optometric management of the golfer’s vision is presented. The clinical management plan includes the correction of fundamental aspects of golfers’ vision, including monocular refractive errors and binocular vision defects, as well as enhancement of their putting vision strategy, with the overall aim of improving performance on the golf course. This research has been undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of the human visual system and how it relates to the sport performance of golfers specifically. Ultimately, the analysis techniques and methods developed are applicable to the assessment of visual performance in all sports.

Putting supply chain management (SCM) theory into practice:the role and importance of the people dimension

This article deals with a number of supply chain management (SCM) issues: SCM’s “Big Idea” – integration, Divergence of Theory and Practice - the limitations of “hard-wiring”, The “Human Chain”, The Way Forward – asking the right question?

Putting supply chain learning theory into practice:lessons from an Irish case

The logistics service market is currently going through a fundamental transition. The development of closer relationships with customers and the continuous adaptation of products and services, represent potentially successful approaches to the development of improved competitive capability. To this end knowledge resources and learning processes increasingly represent key elements within the evolving framework of the 3PL business. This paper describes the case of NITL’s Foundation Certificate Programme (FCP) learning programme with specific reference to its use in addressing some of current shortcomings related to supply chain knowledge and skills in the Irish third party logistics (3PL) industry. The FCP rationale is based on the need to move from traditional approaches of supply chain organisation where the various links in the chain were measured and managed in isolation from each other and thus tended to operate at cross purposes, towards more integrated approaches.

Putting policy initiatives into practice:adopting an “honest broker” approach to adapting small businesses against flooding

Purpose: Amidst the current economic climate, which places many constraints on expensive flood defence schemes, the policy makers tend to favour schemes that are sympathetic to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and which promote empowering local communities based on their individual local contexts. Research has shown that although several initiatives are in place to create behavioural change among SMEs in undertaking adaptation approaches against flooding, they often tend to delay their responses by means of a "wait and see" attitude. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This paper argues that unless there are conscious efforts in the policy-making community to undertake explicit measures to engage with SMEs in a collaborative way, the uptake of adaptation measures will not be achieved as intended. With the use of the "honest broker" approach the paper provides a conceptual way forward of how a sense of collaboration can be instigated in an engagement process between the policy makers and SMEs, so that the scientific knowledge is translated in an appropriately rational way, which best meets the expectations of the SMEs. Findings: The paper proposes a conceptual model for engaging SMEs that will potentially increase the uptake of flood adaptation measures by SMEs. This could be a useful model with which to kick start a collaborative engagement process that could escalate to wider participation in other areas to improve impact of policy initiatives. Originality/value: The paper lays the conceptual foundation for a new theoretical base in the area, which will encourage more empirical investigations that will potentially enhance the practicality of some of the existing policies. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Ocular dominance and handedness in golf putting

Purpose: In golf, the impact of eye-hand dominance on putting performance has long been debated. Eye-hand dominance is thought to impact how golfers judge the alignment of the ball with the target and the club with the ball, as well as how golfers visualize the line of the putt when making decisions about the force needed to hit the ball. Previous studies have all measured ocular dominance in primary gaze only, despite golfers spending a significant amount of their time in a putting stance (bent at the hips, head tilted down). Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess ocular dominance in both primary gaze (aligning the ball with the target) and putting gaze (addressing the ball and aligning the club). Methods: This study investigatedmeasuring pointing oculardominance in both primary and putting gaze positions on 31 golfers (14 amateur, 7 club professionals, and 10 top professionals). All playerswere right-handed golfers, although one reported having no hand dominance and one reported being strongly left hand dominant. Results: The results showed that (1) primary and putting gaze ocular dominances are not equal, nor are they predictive of each other; (2) themagnitude of putting ocular dominance is significantly less than themagnitude of primary gaze ocular dominance; (3) ocular dominance is not correlated with handedness in either primary or putting gaze; and (4) eye-hand dominance is not associated with increased putting skill, although ocular dominance may be associated with increased putting success. Conclusions: It is important that coaches assess golfers' ocular dominance in both primary and putting gaze positions to ensure they have the most accurate information upon which to base their vision strategy decisions.

Putting children forward for epilepsy surgery:a qualitative study of UK parents' and health professionals' decision-making experiences

Background Against a backdrop of recommendations for increasing access to and uptake of early surgical intervention for children with medically intractable epilepsy, it is important to understand how parents and professionals decide to put children forward for epilepsy surgery and what their decisional support needs are. Aim The aim of this study was to explore how parents and health professionals make decisions regarding putting children forward for pediatric epilepsy surgery. Methods Individual interviews were conducted with nine parents of children who had undergone pediatric epilepsy surgery at a specialist children's hospital and ten healthcare professionals who made up the children's epilepsy surgery service multidisciplinary healthcare team (MDT). Three MDT meetings were also observed. Data were analyzed thematically. Findings Four themes were generated from analysis of interviews with parents: presentation of surgery as a treatment option, decision-making, looking back, and interventions. Three themes were generated from analysis of interviews/observations with health professionals: triangulating information, team working, and patient and family perspectives. Discussion Parents wanted more information and support in deciding to put their child forward for epilepsy surgery. They attempted to balance the potential benefits of surgery against any risks of harm. For health professionals, a multidisciplinary approach was seen as crucial to the decision-making process. Advocating for the family was perceived to be the responsibility of nonmedical professionals. Conclusion Decision-making can be supported by incorporating families into discussions regarding epilepsy surgery as a potential treatment option earlier in the process and by providing families with additional information and access to other parents with similar experiences.