Developing a research framework for understanding the social realities, with special reference to Sri Lankan entrepreneurs

This paper identifies and examines issues of relevance for increasing effectiveness of entrepreneurial management research. These issues emerged from research into entrepreneurial behaviour and underlying motivations in Sri Lanka. Understanding of socially- and culturally-bound social actors, social actions and social outputs in entrepreneurial activity requires context-sensitivity, expressed through cognisance of institutional characteristics, the interface between cultural values and business, and historical and cultural forces which impact on entrepreneurship. We suggest that this requires exploration through bottom-up translations of actions consistent with the beliefs and values of the actors involved, employing qualitative methodology to ground the reality of human behaviour in deep-rooted cultural and social contexts. Thorough interpretation of holistic case studies that are capable of capturing the actors' viewpoints brings appropriate insights to the field of entrepreneurship.

An Autonomic Framework for Mobile Cloud Computing

This thesis presents the formal definition of a novel Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) extension of the Networked Autonomic Machine (NAM) framework, a general-purpose conceptual tool which describes large-scale distributed autonomic systems. The introduction of autonomic policies in the MCC paradigm has proved to be an effective technique to increase the robustness and flexibility of MCC systems. In particular, autonomic policies based on continuous resource and connectivity monitoring help automate context-aware decisions for computation offloading. We have also provided NAM with a formalization in terms of a transformational operational semantics in order to fill the gap between its existing Java implementation NAM4J and its conceptual definition. Moreover, we have extended NAM4J by adding several components with the purpose of managing large scale autonomic distributed environments. In particular, the middleware allows for the implementation of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks of NAM nodes. Moreover, NAM mobility actions have been implemented to enable the migration of code, execution state and data. Within NAM4J, we have designed and developed a component, denoted as context bus, which is particularly useful in collaborative applications in that, if replicated on each peer, it instantiates a virtual shared channel allowing nodes to notify and get notified about context events. Regarding the autonomic policies management, we have provided NAM4J with a rule engine, whose purpose is to allow a system to autonomously determine when offloading is convenient. We have also provided NAM4J with trust and reputation management mechanisms to make the middleware suitable for applications in which such aspects are of great interest. To this purpose, we have designed and implemented a distributed framework, denoted as DARTSense, where no central server is required, as reputation values are stored and updated by participants in a subjective fashion. We have also investigated the literature regarding MCC systems. The analysis pointed out that all MCC models focus on mobile devices, and consider the Cloud as a system with unlimited resources. To contribute in filling this gap, we defined a modeling and simulation framework for the design and analysis of MCC systems, encompassing both their sides. We have also implemented a modular and reusable simulator of the model. We have applied the NAM principles to two different application scenarios. First, we have defined a hybrid P2P/cloud approach where components and protocols are autonomically configured according to specific target goals, such as cost-effectiveness, reliability and availability. Merging P2P and cloud paradigms brings together the advantages of both: high availability, provided by the Cloud presence, and low cost, by exploiting inexpensive peers resources. As an example, we have shown how the proposed approach can be used to design NAM-based collaborative storage systems based on an autonomic policy to decide how to distribute data chunks among peers and Cloud, according to cost minimization and data availability goals. As a second application, we have defined an autonomic architecture for decentralized urban participatory sensing (UPS) which bridges sensor networks and mobile systems to improve effectiveness and efficiency. The developed application allows users to retrieve and publish different types of sensed information by using the features provided by NAM4J's context bus. Trust and reputation is managed through the application of DARTSense mechanisms. Also, the application includes an autonomic policy that detects areas characterized by few contributors, and tries to recruit new providers by migrating code necessary to sensing, through NAM mobility actions.

Project risk management in analytic framework

Risks and uncertainties are part and parcel of any project as projects are planned with many assumptions. Therefore, managing those risks is the key to project success. Although risk is present in all most all projects, large-scale construction projects are most vulnerable. Risk is by nature subjective. However, managing risk subjectively posses the danger of non-achievement of project goals. This study introduces an analytical framework for managing risk in projects. All the risk factors are identified, their effects are analyzed, and alternative responses are derived with cost implication for mitigating the identified risks. A decision-making framework is then formulated using decision tree. The expected monetary values are derived for each alternative. The responses, which require least cost is selected. The entire methodology has been explained through a case study of an oil pipeline project in India and its effectiveness in managing projects has been demonstrated. © INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING.

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.

Testing competing HRM-performance linkage models:evidence from the Greek manufacturing sector

This paper proposes an integrative framework for the conduct of a more thorough and robust analysis regarding the linkage between Human Resource Management (HRM) and business performance. In order to provide the required basis for the proposed framework, initially, the core aspects of the main HRM models predicting business performance are analysed. The framework proposes both the principle of mediation (i.e. HRM outcomes mediate the relationship between organisational strategies and business performance) and the perspective of simultaneity of decision-making by firms with regard to the consideration of business strategies and HRM policies. In order to empirically test this framework the methodological approach of 'structural equation models' is employed. The empirical research is based on a sample of 178 organisations operating in the Greek manufacturing sector. The paper concludes that both the mediation principle and the simultaneity perspective are supported, emphasising further the positive role of HRM outcomes towards organisational performance.

Quality management (QM) implementation in the Kuwaiti Oil Industry:An empirical study and a proposed generic framework

In an Arab oil producing country in the Middle East such as Kuwait, Oil industry is considered as the main and most important industry of the country. This industry’s importance emerged from the significant role it plays in both country’s national economy and also global economy. Moreover, Oil industry’s criticality comes from its interconnectivity with national security and power in the Middle East region. Hence, conducting this research in this crucial industry had certainly added values to companies in this industry as it investigated thoroughly the main components of the TQM implementation process and identified which components affects significantly TQM’s implementation and its gained business results. In addition, as the Oil sector is a large sector that is known for its richness of employees with different national cultures and backgrounds. Thus, this culture-heterogeneous industry seems to be the most appropriate environment to address and satisfy a need in the literature to investigate the national culture values’ effects on TQM implementation process. Furthermore, this research has developed a new conceptual model of TQM implementation process in the Kuwaiti Oil industry that applies in general to operations and productions organizations at the Kuwaiti business environment and in specific to organizations in the Oil industry, as well it serves as a good theoretical model for improving operations and production level of the oil industry in other developing and developed countries. Thus, such research findings minimized the literature’s gap found the limited amount of empirical research of TQM implementation in well-developed industries existing in an Arab, developing countries and specifically in Kuwait, where there was no coherent national model for a universal TQM implementation in the Kuwaiti Oil industry in specific and Kuwaiti business environment in general. Finally, this newly developed research framework, which emerged from the literature search, was validated by rigorous quantitative analysis tools including SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling. The quantitative findings of questionnaires collected were supported by the qualitative findings of interviews conducted.

Truth values and truth-commitment in interdiscursive dating ads

In this article, I explore issues of commitment to truth in dating ads that use apparently impossible categorizations to project identities for ad writers and their desired others. The article begins with a brief overview of relevant aspects of Text World Theory (especially Gavins's work on dating ads), Sinclair's model of fictional worlds and Routledge and Chapman's account of truth-commitment in discourse, and proposes the need for a framework that allows for a partial suspension of commitment to truth. I then draw on the work of Ivanič and Weldon on identity in writing, in order to develop an account that offers a discourse- and genre-based discussion of how the intertextual metaphors in such ads are interpreted in relation to truth values. I suggest the default stance is that of positive commitment to literal truth and that, when this is not possible, a fall-back mode of negative commitment to metaphorical truth is preferred over an interpretation in which questions of truth are truly suspended. Finally, I consider a related category, of apparently negative dating ad identities, in order to suggest a functional motivation for the inclusion of elements that cannot be interpreted in truth-committed mode. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications.

Aligning employee service recovery performance with brand values:the role of brand-specific leadership

This study investigates the effects of brand-specific leadership on employees' brand-aligned service recovery performance (SRP). In order to do so, we empirically test a conceptual model of relationships between brand-specific transformational leadership (TFL) and transactional leadership (TRL), trust in leader and in corporate brand, brand identification, and SRP from employees' perspectives. It is the first study to incorporate trust in corporate brand into the framework. Results from a study of 246 customer-contact employees show that brand-specific TFL has a positive impact on all variables studied, while brand-specific TRL is ineffective in fostering brand-building behaviours. More specifically, brand-specific TFL's effects on employee SRP are mediated by trust in the leader, trust in the corporate brand, and brand identification. Implications and future research directions are discussed. © 2013 Copyright Taylor & Francis.

The role of personal values in corporate social entrepreneurship

The literature acknowledges a distinction between immoral, amoral and moral management (Carroll, 1987; Crane 2000). This paper makes a case for the manager as a moral agent, even though the paper begins by highlighting a body of evidence which suggests that individual moral agency is sacrificed at work and is compromised in deference to other pressures. This leads to a discussion of the notion of managerial discretion and an examination of a separate, contrary body of literature which indicates that some managers in corporations may use their discretion to behave in a socially entrepreneurial manner. The underlying assumption of the study is that CSR isn’t solely driven by economics and that it may also be championed as a result of a personal morality, inspired by an individual’s own socially oriented personal values. A conceptual framework is put forward and it is suggested that individuals may be categorized as Active or Frustrated Corporate Social Entrepreneurs; Conformists or Apathetics: distinguished by individualistic or collectivist personal values. In a discussion of the nature of values, this paper highlights how values may act as drivers of our behavior and pays particular attention to the values of the entrepreneur, thereby linking the existing debate on moral agency with the field of corporate social responsibility.

Personal values as a catalyst for corporate social entrepreneurship

The literature acknowledges a distinction between immoral, amoral and moral management. This paper makes a case for the employee (at any level) as a moral agent, even though the paper begins by highlighting a body of evidence which suggests that individual moral agency is sacrificed at work and is compromised in deference to other pressures. This leads to a discussion about the notion of discretion and an examination of a separate, contrary body of literature which indicates that some individuals in corporations may use their discretion to behave in a socially entrepreneurial manner. My underlying assumption is that CSR isn’t solely driven by economics and that it may also be championed as a result of a personal morality, inspired by employees’ own socially oriented personal values. A conceptual framework is put forward and it is suggested that individuals may be categorized as Active or Frustrated Corporate Social Entrepreneurs; Conformists or Apathetics, distinguished by their individualistic or collectivist personal values. In a discussion of the nature of values, this paper highlights how values may act as drivers of our behavior and pays particular attention to the values of the entrepreneur, thereby linking the existing debate on moral agency with the field of corporate social responsibility.

State–society relations in a dynamic framework:the case of the Far East and Sub-Saharan Africa

According to the textbook approach, the developmental states of the Far East have been considered as strong and autonomous entities. Although their bureaucratic elites have remained isolated from direct pressures stemming from society, the state capacity has also been utilised in order to allocate resources in the interest of the whole society. Yet, society – by and large –has remained weak and subordinated to the state elite. On the other hand, the general perception of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been just the opposite. The violent and permanent conflict amongst rent-seeking groups for influence and authority over resources has culminated in a situation where states have become extremely weak and fragmented, while society – depending on the capacity of competing groups for mobilising resources to organise themselves mostly on a regional or local level (resulting in local petty kingdoms) – has never had the chance to evolve as a strong player. State failure in the literature, therefore, – in the context of SSA – refers not just to a weak and captured state but also to a non-functioning, and sometimes even non-existent society, too. Recently, however, the driving forces of globalisation might have triggered serious changes in the above described status quo. Accordingly, our hypothesis is the following: globalisation, especially the dynamic changes of technology, capital and communication have made the simplistic “strong state–weak society” (in Asia) and “weak state–weak society” (in Africa) categorisation somewhat obsolete. While our comparative study has a strong emphasis on the empirical scrutiny of trying to uncover the dynamics of changes in state–society relations in the two chosen regions both qualitatively and quantitatively, it also aims at complementing the meaning and essence of the concepts and methodology of stateness, state capacity and state-society relations, the well-known building blocks of the seminal works of Evans (1995), Leftwich (1995), Migdal (1988) or Myrdal (1968).

State–society relations in a dynamic framework: The case of the Far East and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the textbook approach, the developmental states of the Far East have been considered as strong and autonomous entities. Although their bureaucratic elites have remained isolated from direct pressures stemming from society, the state capacity has also been utilised in order to allocate resources in the interest of the whole society. Yet, society – by and large –has remained weak and subordinated to the state elite. On the other hand, the general perception of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been just the opposite. The violent and permanent conflict amongst rent-seeking groups for influence and authority over resources has culminated in a situation where states have become extremely weak and fragmented, while society – depending on the capacity of competing groups for mobilising resources to organise themselves mostly on a regional or local level (resulting in local petty kingdoms) – has never had the chance to evolve as a strong player. State failure in the literature, therefore, – in the context of SSA – refers not just to a weak and captured state but also to a non-functioning, and sometimes even non-existent society, too. Recently, however, the driving forces of globalisation might have triggered serious changes in the above described status quo. Accordingly, our hypothesis is the following: globalisation, especially the dynamic changes of technology, capital and communication have made the simplistic “strong state–weak society” (in Asia) and “weak state–weak society” (in Africa) categorisation somewhat obsolete. While our comparative study has a strong emphasis on the empirical scrutiny of trying to uncover the dynamics of changes in state–society relations in the two chosen regions both qualitatively and quantitatively, it also aims at complementing the meaning and essence of the concepts and methodology of stateness, state capacity and state-society relations, the well-known building blocks of the seminal works of Evans (1995), Leftwich (1995), Migdal (1988) or Myrdal (1968).

A közösségi versenyképesség elméleti keretei = Analytical framework to study competitiveness of communities

Tanulmányunk célja a versenyképesség közösségi beágyazottságának elemzéséhez alkalmas elemzési keretek bemutatása és a versenyképesség fogalmának elemzése a fogalom intézményi, normatív tartalma szempontjából. Célunk a közösségi versenyképesség fogalmának és az ezt elemezni képes megközelítés kidolgozása. A feladat kettős: 1. A versenyképesség értelmezése a döntések közösségi keretei szempontjából 2. A közösségi keretek versenyképességre gyakorolt hatásának elemzése Ennek érdekében a tanulmány első fejezetében az egyéni döntést meghatározó tényezőket és az egyéni döntések jövőbeli interakciók környezetére gyakorolt hatását elemző keretet vázoljuk fel. Megközelítésünk szerint az egyéni döntést négy tényező határozza meg. a közösségi környezet, a természeti környezet, s személyes jellemzők és az interakciós partnerek. Az ez alapján születő döntések formálják a jövőbeli döntési környezetet. A döntések hatásának elemzéséhez a környezetre gyakorolt hatások értékelését orientáló fogalomra van szükség. Elemzésünk esetében ez a fogalom az értékteremtés, amit a következőképp határozunk meg: az értékteremtő tevékenységek során valaki arra törekszik, hogy saját személyes céljait a másokkal való kölcsönösen előnyös együttműködések lehetőségeinek bővítésével, hozamainak növelésével szolgálja. A második fejezetben az egyéni döntések közösségi kereteit és az egyéni döntések közösségre gyakorolt hatását elemezzük részletesen. A formális és informális intézmények világát, a közösségi magatartásokat szabályozó normák és konvenciók rendszerét a következő öt – a valóságban gyakran keveredő - alapelemre bontjuk értékrend, konvenció, közösségi szabály, hivatalos előírás, egyének közötti megállapodás. Ezek közül a magánszereplők együttműködésének az érintett szereplők által módosítható intézményi elemeinek (konvenció, megállapodás) alkalmazkodása a leggyorsabb, a közösség egészét irányító formális intézmények a status quo iránti elfogultságuk miatt lomhábbak, míg a közösség életét informálisan befolyásoló normák a legstabilabb intézményi elemek. A közösségek változása általában lassú, legtöbbször nem szándékolt hatások következménye. Mindezek mellett a közösségi intézmények tudatos alakításában komoly szerepe van (1) a konvenciókat megújító intézményi innovátoroknak, (2) a szerződéses formulákon módosító vállalkozóknak és (3) a hivatalos előírások formálásába bekapcsolódó politikai szereplőknek politikai vállalkozóként, tisztviselőként, vagy közéleti résztvevőként. A harmadik fejezetben a versenyképesség fogalmát elemezzük, és ez alapján határozzuk meg a közösségi versenyképesség fogalmát. Megvizsgáljuk, milyen feltevésekkel él a fogalom a közösségi környezettel kapcsolatban, illetve milyen normatív elemei vannak a definíciónak. A vizsgálathoz a versenyképesség fogalmának egy lecsupaszított változatát használtuk. E szerint a versenyképesség valaki képessége értékteremtő módon bekapcsolódni a gazdasági munkamegosztásba úgy, hogy tevékenysége relatív hozama nem csökken. Az elemzés alapján a versenyképesség a közösségi környezet következő hét elemére épül: 1. A közösség tagjainak és a tagság tartalmának meghatározottsága; 2. a potenciális együttműködő felek közös múltja, jövője, konvenció- és normarendszere; 3. A gazdasági együttműködés intézményeinek (csere, vállalkozás, tulajdon, szerződés) működőképessége; 4. Az értékteremtés normatív koncepciója és az arra épülő részleteiben meghatározott, és részleteiben is közösségi legitimációval bíró szabályrendszer; 5. Az innovációt támogató és a kellően rugalmas értékrend és közösségi szabályok. 6. A gazdasági munkamegosztás igényeihez részleteiben és változásával is igazodó konvenciók, hivatalos előírások és szerződések; 7. A közösségi környezet tudatos alakításával foglalkozó szereplők (közösségi innovátorok, vállalkozók és politikai szereplők) motivációja és lehetősége a hozamok relatív szintjének tartását támogató intézményi környezet karbantartásában. A versenyképesség fogalmának intézményi elemzése rámutat, hogy a fogalom gazdag értéktartalommal és határozott közösségi intézményrendszer-képpel rendelkezik. A közösségi versenyképesség ez alapján a versenyképesség fogalmába kódolt közösségi környezetként határozható meg. A kutatás következő lépése a közösségi versenyképesség meghatározása, az azt befolyásoló mechanizmusok feltárása és javítását támogató elemzési eszközök, gyakorlati segédletek kidolgozása. Ezen feladatok előkészítése érdekében a tanulmány mellékletében két történelmi esettanulmányt mutatunk be, röviden áttekintjük a téma szempontjából releváns irodalom főbb eredményeit és bemutatunk egy praktikus alkalmazásra szánt normatív elemzési eszközt, mellyel az elemezhető, hogy az állami lépések mennyire bátorítják az értékteremtő vállalkozást. _________ This paper (1) introduces an analytical framework to study the impact of the community on competitiveness and (2) analyses the institutional and normative content in the concept of competitiveness. The goal is to elaborate an approach that supports the definition and analysis of the ‘competiveness of community’. This task has two main parts: 1. interpretation of competiveness from social choice perspective 2. assessing the impact of social settings on the competiveness of a community The first chapter of the study draws up an analytical framework to study the social factors of individual decisions and their impact on the environment of future interactions. We focus on four main factors that shape setting of future interactions: social environment, natural environment, personal characteristics and partners in interactions. We use the concept of value creation to assess the impact of individual decisions on these factors. The second chapter discusses the social factors of individual decisions and the impact of individual decisions on the community. Institutions are conceptualized as value systems, conventions, community rules, official rules and contracts in the study. The conventions and contracts can accommodate to the changes of environment more smoothly, formal institutions are less flexible due to their bias toward status quo. Informal rules and value systems resists change more frequently. The formation of social environment is usually slow and based on unintended effects. Altogether (1) innovators who revise social conventions, (2) entrepreneurs who reshape contracts and (4) political entrepreneurs who formulate formal rules have influential roles on the institutional setting. The third chapter discusses the social assumptions included into the definition of competitiveness and we give a definition for the competiveness of communities. A simplified definition of competitiveness is used for this analysis: competiveness is someone’s ability and motivation to participate in the economic division of labor in a way that is based on value creation and maintains the relative return of activities. Our analysis reveals that competitiveness assumes the following features of the community: 1. Defined membership of community: who are the members and what does membership mean. 2. Common past, future, convention and norm system of the potential participants of interactions 3. Functionality of institutions that facilitate division of labor (exchange, entrepreneurship, property, contract) 4. Existing normative concept on value creation and social accepted rules that govern interactions 5. Value system and rules that promote innovation 6. Conventions, official norms and contracts that fits to economic division of labor in a detailed and dynamic way 7. Motivation and potential of actors who shape social environment consciously to maintain institutions in order to sustain the relative return of economic activities This analysis shows that the concept of competitiveness assumes well established values and detailed expectations on institutional settings. Followingly, competiveness of community can be defined with these criteria of social environment. Two historical case studies and the draft of a policy oriented toolkit demonstrate the applicability of the introduced approach in the appendix. The core findings of the literature are also reviewed there.

A decision support framework for infrastructure maintenance investment decision-making

Infrastructure management agencies are facing multiple challenges, including aging infrastructure, reduction in capacity of existing infrastructure, and availability of limited funds. Therefore, decision makers are required to think innovatively and develop inventive ways of using available funds. Maintenance investment decisions are generally made based on physical condition only. It is important to understand that spending money on public infrastructure is synonymous with spending money on people themselves. This also requires consideration of decision parameters, in addition to physical condition, such as strategic importance, socioeconomic contribution and infrastructure utilization. Consideration of multiple decision parameters for infrastructure maintenance investments can be beneficial in case of limited funding. Given this motivation, this dissertation presents a prototype decision support framework to evaluate trade-off, among competing infrastructures, that are candidates for infrastructure maintenance, repair and rehabilitation investments. Decision parameters' performances measured through various factors are combined to determine the integrated state of an infrastructure using Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). The integrated state, cost and benefit estimates of probable maintenance actions are utilized alongside expert opinion to develop transition probability and reward matrices for each probable maintenance action for a particular candidate infrastructure. These matrices are then used as an input to the Markov Decision Process (MDP) for the finite-stage dynamic programming model to perform project (candidate)-level analysis to determine optimized maintenance strategies based on reward maximization. The outcomes of project (candidate)-level analysis are then utilized to perform network-level analysis taking the portfolio management approach to determine a suitable portfolio under budgetary constraints. The major decision support outcomes of the prototype framework include performance trend curves, decision logic maps, and a network-level maintenance investment plan for the upcoming years. The framework has been implemented with a set of bridges considered as a network with the assistance of the Pima County DOT, AZ. It is expected that the concept of this prototype framework can help infrastructure management agencies better manage their available funds for maintenance.

Virtuous or vicious cycle? Inscribing diverse professional values in lecture capture systems

This paper examines how the introduction and use of a new information system affects and is affected by the values of a diverse professional workforce. It uses the example of lecture capture systems in a university. Its contribution is to combine two concepts taken from actor-network theory, namely accumulation and inscription, and combine them with an integrated framework of diversity management. A model is developed of accumulation cycles in lecture capture usage, involving multiple interacting actants, including the broader environment, management commitment to diversity, work group characteristics, individual practices and the affordances of technology. Using this model, alternative future inscriptions can be identified - an optimal one, which enhances professional values, as a result of a virtuous accumulation cycle, or a sub-optimal one, as a result of a vicious cycle. It identifies diversity management as an important influence on how professional values are enhanced, modified or destroyed.