Internal branding to influence employees' brand promise delivery:a case study in Thailand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the internal branding process from the perspective of service providers in Thailand. It will reveal the key internal branding mechanisms and empirically assess the relationship between internal branding and employees' brand attitudes and performance. Design/methodology/approach – A case study representing the Thai hotel industry is adopted with mixed methodologies. In-depth interviews are first carried out with 30 customer-interface employees in six major hotels in Thailand. On a census basis, a quantitative survey with 699 respondents from five major hotels in Thailand follows. Findings – Internal branding coordinating marketing with human resource management has a statistically significant impact on attitudinal and behavioural aspects of employees in their delivery of the brand promise. As employees' brand commitment do not have a statistically significant relationship with employees' brand performance, it is not regarded as a mediator in the link between internal branding and employees' brand performance. Practical implications – A number of significant managerial implications are drawn from this study, for example using both internal communication and training to influence employees' brand-supporting attitudes and behaviours. Still, it should be noted that the effect of internal branding on employee behaviours could be dependent on the extent to which it influences their brand attitudes. Originality/value – The paper provides valuable insights, from the key internal audience's perspectives, into an internal branding process. It has empirically shown the relationship between internal branding and the behavioural outcome as well as the partial meditating effects of employees' brand identification, commitment and loyalty.

Exploring the influences of internal branding on employees' brand promise delivery

Internal branding is increasingly seen as a doctrine to ensure employees’ delivery of the brand promise by shaping employees’ brand attitudes and behaviours. However, few studies, if any, have been conducted to understand the internal branding process from the viewpoint of employees who are the end receivers. Therefore, this study aims at exploring employees’ perceptions toward the internal branding process. It identifies the relevant mechanisms and describes how internal branding affected service employees. The challenges of its success are uncovered and discussed. Finally, managerial implications and future research directions are provided.

Nanotechnology for the delivery of vaccines

Liposomes offer an ideal platform for the delivery of subunit vaccines, due to their versatility and flexibility, which allows for antigen as well as immunostimulatory lipids and TLR agonists to become associated with these bilayered vesicles. Liposomes have the ability to protect vaccine antigen, as well as enhance delivery to antigen presenting cells, whilst the importance of cationic surface charge for delivery of TB subunit vaccines and formation of an ‘antigen depot’ may play a key role in boosting cell-mediated immunity and Th1 immune responses. The rational design of vaccine adjuvants requires the thorough investigation into the physicochemical characteristics that dictate the function of a liposomal adjuvant. Within this thesis, physicochemical characteristics were investigated in order to show any effects on the biodistribution profiles and the ensuing immune responses of these formulations. Initially the role of liposome charge within the formulation was investigated and subsequently their efficacy as vaccine adjuvants in combination with their biodistribution was measured to allow the role of formulation in vaccine function to be considered. These results showed that cationic surface charge, in combination with high loading of H56 vaccine antigen through electrostatic binding, was crucial in the promotion of the ‘depot-effect’ at the injection site which increases the initiation of Th1 cell-mediated immune responses that are required to offer protection against tuberculosis. To further investigate this, different methods of liposome production were also investigated where antigen incorporation within the vesicles as well as surface adsorption were adopted. Using the dehydration-rehydration (DRV) method (where liposomes are freeze-dried in the presence of antigen to promote antigen encapsulation) and the double emulsion (DE) method, a range of liposomes entrapping antigen were formulated. Variation in the liposome preparation method can lead to antigen entrapment within the delivery system which has been shown to be greater for DRV-formulated liposomes compared to their DE-counterparts. This resulted in no significant effect on the vaccine biodistribution profile, as well as not significantly altering the efficacy of cationic liposomal adjuvants. To further enhance the efficacy of these systems, the addition of TLR agonists either at the vesicle surface as well as within the delivery system has been displayed through variation in the preparation method. Anionic liposomal adjuvants have been formulated, which displayed rapid drainage from the injection site to the draining lymph nodes and displayed a reduction in measured Th1 immune responses. However, variation in the preparation method can alter the immune response profile for anionic liposomal adjuvants with a bias in immune response to Th2 responses being noted. Through the use of high shear mixing and stepwise incorporation, the efficient loading of TLR agonist within liposomes has been shown. However, interestingly the conjugation between lipid and non-electrostatically bound TLR agonist, followed by insertion into the bilayer of DDA/TDB resulted in localised agonist retention at the injection site and further stimulation of the Th1 immune response at the SOI, spleen and draining lymphatics as well as enhanced antibody titres.

Stressful times call for team-based measures:psychiatric nursing in the UK National Health Service

Background: Team-based working is now an inherent part of effective health care delivery. Previous research has identified that team working is associated with positive mental health and well-being outcomes for individuals operating in an effective team environment. This is a particularly important topic in the health services context, although little empirical attention has been paid to mental-health services. Psychiatric nurses work on a day-to-day basis with a particularly stressful and demanding client group in an environment which is characterised by high demands, uncertainty, and limited resources. This paper specifically focuses on psychiatric nurses working in National Health Service (NHS) and casts some light on the ways in which effective team-based working can help to alleviate a number of occupational stressors and strains. Method: A questionnaire method (2005 NHS Staff Survey) was employed to collect data from 6655 psychiatric nurses from 64 different NHS Trusts. The hypotheses were concerned with four overall measures from the survey; effective team working, occupational stress, work pressure and social support. Hypothesis 1 stated that effective team working will have a significant negative relationship with occupational stress and work pressure. Further, Hypothesis 2 stated that social support from supervisors and co-workers will moderate this relationship. Findings: Data was treated with a series of regression analyses. For Hypothesis 1, working in a real team did have main effects on work pressure and accounted for 1.6 per cent of the variance. Using the Nagelkerke R square value, working in a real team also had main effects on occupational stress an accounted for approximately 2.8 per cent of the variance. Further, the Exp (B) value of 0.662 suggests that the odds of suffering from occupational stress are cut by 33.8 per cent when a psychiatric nurse works in a real team. Results failed to provide support for Hypothesis 2. The analysis then went on to adopt a unique approach for assessing the extent of real team-based working, distinguishing between real teams, and a number of pseudo team typologies, as well as the absence of teamwork all together. As was hypothesised, results demonstrated that psychiatric nurses working in real teams (ones with clear objectives, where-by team members work closely with one another to achieve team objectives and meet regularly to discuss team effectiveness and how it can be improved) experienced the lowest levels of stress and work pressure of the sample. However, contrary to prediction, results indicated that psychiatric nurses working in any type of pseudo team actually experienced significantly higher levels of stress and work pressure than those who did not report as working in a team at all. Discussion: These findings have serious implications for NHS Mental Health Trusts, which may not be implementing, structuring and managing their nursing teams adequately. Indeed, results suggest that poorly-structured team work may actually facilitate stress and pressure in the workplace. Conversely, well-structured real teams serve to reduce stress and work pressure, which in turn not only enhances the working lives and well-being of psychiatric nurses, but also greatly improves the service that the NHS provides to its users.

Investigating local delivery by road to retail and non-retail customers in the UK logistics sector

Over recent years, hub-and-spoke distribution techniques have attracted widespread research attention. Despite there being a growing body of literature in this area there is less focus on the spoke-terminal element of the hub-and-spoke system as being a key component in the overall service received by the end-user. Current literature is highly geared towards discussing bulk optimization of freight units rather than to the more discrete and individualistic profile characteristics of shared-user Less-than-truckload (LTL) freight. In this paper, a literature review is presented to review the role hub-and-spoke systems play in meeting multi-profile customer demands, particularly in developing sectors with more sophisticated needs, such as retail. The paper also looks at the use of simulation technology as a suitable tool for analyzing spoke-terminal operations within developing hub-and spoke systems.

INFRAWEBS Semantic Web Service Development on the Base of Knowledge Management Layer

The paper gives an overview about the ongoing FP6-IST INFRAWEBS project and describes the main layers and software components embedded in an application oriented realisation framework. An important part of INFRAWEBS is a Semantic Web Unit (SWU) – a collaboration platform and interoperable middleware for ontology-based handling and maintaining of SWS. The framework provides knowledge about a specific domain and relies on ontologies to structure and exchange this knowledge to semantic service development modules. INFRAWEBS Designer and Composer are sub-modules of SWU responsible for creating Semantic Web Services using Case-Based Reasoning approach. The Service Access Middleware (SAM) is responsible for building up the communication channels between users and various other modules. It serves as a generic middleware for deployment of Semantic Web Services. This software toolset provides a development framework for creating and maintaining the full-life-cycle of Semantic Web Services with specific application support.

The design of contact lens based ocular drug delivery systems for single-day use:part (I) structural factors, surrogate ophthalmic dyes and passive diffusion studies

The poor retention and efficacy of instilled drops as a means of delivering drugs to the ophthalmic environment is well-recognised. The potential value of contact lenses as a means of ophthalmic drug delivery, and consequent improvement of pre-corneal retention is one obvious route to the development of a more effective ocular delivery system. Furthermore, the increasing availability and clinical use of daily disposable contact lenses provides the platform for the development of viable single-day use drug delivery devices based on existing materials and lenses. In order to provide a basis for the effective design of such devices, a systematic understanding of the factors affecting the interaction of individual drugs with the lens matrix is required. Because a large number of potential structural variables are involved, it is necessary to achieve some rationalisation of the parameters and physicochemical properties (such as molecular weight, charge, partition coefficients) that influence drug interactions. Ophthalmic dyes and structurally related compounds based on the same core structure were used to investigate these various factors and the way in which they can be used in concert to design effective release systems for structurally different drugs. Initial studies of passive diffusional release form a necessary precursor to the investigation of the features of the ocular environment that over-ride this simple behaviour. Commercially available contact lenses of differing structural classifications were used to study factors affecting the uptake of the surrogate actives and their release under 'passive' conditions. The interaction between active and lens material shows considerable and complex structure dependence, which is not simply related to equilibrium water content. The structure of the polymer matrix itself was found to have the dominant controlling influence on active uptake; hydrophobic interaction with the ophthalmic dye playing a major role. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Adaptive E-learning Content Design and Delivery Based on Learning Styles and Knowledge Level

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): K.3.1, K.3.2.

Application of Service-Oriented Architecture in Software Quality Management

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): D.2.5, D.2.9, D.2.11.

Impact of denial of service solutions on network quality of service

The Internet has become a universal communication network tool. It has evolved from a platform that supports best-effort traffic to one that now carries different traffic types including those involving continuous media with quality of service (QoS) requirements. As more services are delivered over the Internet, we face increasing risk to their availability given that malicious attacks on those Internet services continue to increase. Several networks have witnessed denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks over the past few years which have disrupted QoS of network services, thereby violating the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the client and the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Hence DoS or DDoS attacks are major threats to network QoS. In this paper we survey techniques and solutions that have been deployed to thwart DoS and DDoS attacks and we evaluate them in terms of their impact on network QoS for Internet services. We also present vulnerabilities that can be exploited for QoS protocols and also affect QoS if exploited. In addition, we also highlight challenges that still need to be addressed to achieve end-to-end QoS with recently proposed DoS/DDoS solutions. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

eBEST platform a KKV-klaszterek operatív és együttműködési folyamatainak támogatására (eBEST platform for supporting operational and cooperative processes of SME's clusters)

Az Európai Bizottság jelentése szerint a magyar kis- és középvállalkozások helyzete 2005 óta stagnál. Bár ezek a vállalkozások adják a magyar vállalkozások 99%-át, mégis a közbeszerzési, valamint a növekvő piacokhoz való hozzáférés terén számos akadállyal kerülnek szembe. Az eBEST projekten (Empowering Business Ecosystems of Small Service Enterprises to Face the Economic Crisis) belül kialakított platform olyan funkcionalitással bír, ami mindamellett, hogy lehetővé teszi a vállalkozások szervezett csoportokba, azaz ökoszisztémákba rendeződését, hozzá tud járulni a fogyasztói igények kielégítése érdekében létrejövő ellátási lánc, illetve egyedi folyamatok mentén fellépő információszerzési, kommunikációs vagy együttműködési akadályok lebontásához. ____ It is widely recognised that the most important factor for increasing the productivity of small companies is a deep adoption of computer-based applications and services. The FP7 SME eBEST project proposed a new operational environment specifically conceived for net worked small companies, supported by an advanced suite of ICT services, the eBEST platform. The paper aims at presenting the projects achievements that are validated by a number of company clusters of different EU countries and industry sectors. The general objectives of the eBEST project are attracting customers to work with the clustered companies, facilitating companies to collaborate with each other, and enabling associations to foster the devised innovation.

Spatial-temporal mining of archived automatic vehicle location (AVL) data for transit service planning applications

An Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system is a computer-based vehicle tracking system that is capable of determining a vehicle's location in real time. As a major technology of the Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS), AVL systems have been widely deployed by transit agencies for purposes such as real-time operation monitoring, computer-aided dispatching, and arrival time prediction. AVL systems make a large amount of transit performance data available that are valuable for transit performance management and planning purposes. However, the difficulties of extracting useful information from the huge spatial-temporal database have hindered off-line applications of the AVL data. ^ In this study, a data mining process, including data integration, cluster analysis, and multiple regression, is proposed. The AVL-generated data are first integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. The model-based cluster method is employed to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of transit travel speeds, which may be easily translated into travel time. The transit speed variations along the route segments are identified. Transit service periods such as morning peak, mid-day, afternoon peak, and evening periods are determined based on analyses of transit travel speed variations for different times of day. The seasonal patterns of transit performance are investigated by using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Travel speed models based on the clustered time-of-day intervals are developed using important factors identified as having significant effects on speed for different time-of-day periods. ^ It has been found that transit performance varied from different seasons and different time-of-day periods. The geographic location of a transit route segment also plays a role in the variation of the transit performance. The results of this research indicate that advanced data mining techniques have good potential in providing automated techniques of assisting transit agencies in service planning, scheduling, and operations control. ^

Restaurant Industry Perspectives on Pro-social Rule Breaking: Intent versus Action

The resounding message extracted from the service literature is that employees serve pivotal functions in the overall guest experience. This is of course due to the simultaneous delivery of personalized service provision with resultant consumption of those services. This simultaneous delivery and consumption cycle is at times challenged by a perceived desire to accommodate guest request that may violate, to a greater or lesser degree, an organizational rule. This is important to note because increased interactions with customers enable frontline employees to have a better sense of what customers want from the company as well as from the company itself (Bitner, et al, 1994). With that platform established, then why are some employees willing to break organizational rules and risk disciplinary action to better service a customer? This study examines the employee personality, degree of autonomy, job meaning, and co-worker influence on an employee's decision to break organizational rules. The results of this study indicate that co-worker influence exerted a minimal influence on employee decision to break rules while the presence of societal consciousness exerted a much stronger influence. Women reported that they were less likely to engage in rule divergence, and significant correlations were present when filtered by years in current position, and years in the industry.

The Food Service Industry: Beliefs Held by Academics

In his study - The Food Service Industry: Beliefs Held by Academics - by Jack Ninemeier, Associate Professor, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Michigan State University, Associate Professor Ninemeier initially describes his study this way: “Those in the academic sector exert a great deal of influence on those they are training to enter the food service industry. One author surveyed educational institutions across the country to ascertain attitudes of teachers toward various segments of the industry.” Those essential segments of the industry serve as the underpinnings of this discussion and are four-fold. They are lodging, institutional, multi-unit, and single-unit properties. For each segment the analysis addressed factors relating to Marketing, management and operating concerns: Marketing, operations, fiscal management, innovation, future of the segment Employee-related concerns: quality of work life, training/education opportunities, career opportunities The study uses a survey of academicians as a guide; they point to segments of the food service industry students might be inclined to enter, or even ignore. The survey was done via a questionnaire sent from the campus of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Michigan State University to 1850 full-time faculty members in two and four-year hospitality programs in the United States. Through the survey, Ninemeier wishes to reasonably address specific problems now confronting the food service industry. Those problems include but are not limited to: reducing employee turnover, retaining staff, increasing productivity and revenue, and attracting new staff. “Teachers in these programs are, therefore, an important plank in industry's platform designed to recruit students with appropriate background knowledge and interest in their operations,” Ninemeier says. Your author actually illustrates the survey results, in table form. The importance to an employee, of tangibles and intangibles such as morale, ego/esteem, wages, and benefits are each explored through the survey. According to the study, an interesting dichotomy exists in the institutional property element. Although, beliefs the academics hold about the institutional element suggest that it offers low job stress, attractive working conditions, and non-demanding competitive pressures, the survey and Ninemeier also observe: “Academics do not believe that many of their graduates will enter the institutional segment.” “If academic beliefs are incorrect, an educational program to educate academics about management and employee opportunities in the segment may be in order,” Ninemeier waxes philosophically.

A Customer's Expectation and Perception of Hotel Service Quality in Cyprus

In recent years, hotels in Cyprus have encountered difficult economic times due to increasing customer demands and strong internal industry development competition. The hospitality industry’s main concern globally is to serve its customer S needs and desires, most of which are addressed through personal services. Hence, the hotel businesses that are able to provide quality services to its ever-demanding customers in a warm and efficient manner are those businesses which will be more likely to obtain a long term competitive advantage over their rivals. Ironically, the quality of services frequently cannot fully appreciated until something goes wrong, and then, the poor quality of services can have long lasting lingering effects on the customer base and, hence, often is translated into a loss of business. Nevertheless, since the issue of delivery of hospitality services always involves people, this issue must center around the management of the human resource factor, and in particular, on the way which interacts with itself and with guests, as service encounters. In the eyes of guests, hospitality businesses will be viewed successful or failure, depending on [he cumulative impact of the service encounters they have experienced on a personal level. Finally, since hotels are offering intangible and perishable personal service encounters, managing these services must be a paramount concern of any hotel business. As a preliminary exercise, visualize when you have last visited a hotel, or a restaurant, and then, ask yourself these questions: What did you feel about the quality of the experience? Was it a memorable one, which you would recommend it to others, or there were certain things, which could have made the difference? Thus, the way personalized services are provided can make the deference in attracting arid retaining long-term customers