Internet technologies, ECRM capabilities, and performance benefits for SMEs:An exploratory study

Research on large firms suggests that dedicated customer relationship management (CRM) software applications play a critical role in creating and sustaining customer relationships. CRM is also of strategic importance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but most of them do not employ dedicated CRM software. Instead they use generic Internet-based technologies to manage customer relationships with electronic CRM (eCRM). There has been little research on the extent to which the use of generic Internet technologies contributes to SME performance. The present study fills the gap, building upon the literature on organizational capabilities, marketing, and SMEs to develop a research model with which to explore the relationships between generic Internet technologies, eCRM capabilities, and the resulting performance benefits in the SME context. A survey across 286 SMEs in Ireland finds strong empirical evidence in support of the hypotheses regarding these benefits. The study contributes to managerial decision making by showing how SMEs can use generic Internet technologies to advance their customer relationships and contributes to theory development by conceptualizing eCRM capabilities in an SME context.

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.

Introduction : the role of quality, production and technological innovation in improving competitive performance

Quality, production and technological innovation management rank among the most important matters of concern to modern manufacturing organisations. They can provide companies with the decisive means of gaining a competitive advantage, especially within industries where there is an increasing similarity in product design and manufacturing processes. The papers in this special issue of International Journal of Technology Management have all been selected as examples of how aspects of quality, production and technological innovation can help to improve competitive performance. Most are based on presentations made at the UK Operations Management Association's Sixth International Conference held at Aston University at which the theme was 'Getting Ahead Through Technology and People'. At the conference itself over 80 papers were presented by authors from 15 countries around the world. Among the many topics addressed within the conference theme, technological innovation, quality and production management emerged as attracting the greatest concern and interest of delegates, particularly those from industry. For any new initiative to be implemented successfully, it should be led from the top of the organization. Achieving the desired level of commitment from top management can, however, be a difficulty. In the first paper of this issue, Mackness investigates this question by explaining how systems thinking can help. In the systems approach, properties such as 'emergence', 'hierarchy', 'commnication' and 'control' are used to assist top managers in preparing for change. Mackness's paper is then complemented by Iijima and Hasegawa's contribution in which they investigate the development of Quality Information Management (QIM) in Japan. They present the idea of a Design Review and demonstrate how it can be used to trace and reduce quality-related losses. The next paper on the subject of quality is by Whittle and colleagues. It relates to total quality and the process of culture change within organisations. Using the findings of investigations carried out in a number of case study companies, they describe four generic models which have been identified as characterising methods of implementing total quality within existing organisation cultures. Boaden and Dale's paper also relates to the management of quality, but looks specifically at the construction industry where it has been found there is still some confusion over the role of Quality Assurance (QA) and Total Quality Management (TQM). They describe the results of a questionnaire survey of forty companies in the industry and compare them to similar work carried out in other industries. Szakonyi's contribution then completes this group of papers which all relate specifically to the question of quality. His concern is with the two ways in which R&D or engineering managers can work on improving quality. The first is by improving it in the laboratory, while the second is by working with other functions to improve quality in the company. The next group of papers in this issue all address aspects of production management. Umeda's paper proposes a new manufacturing-oriented simulation package for production management which provides important information for both design and operation of manufacturing systems. A simulation for production strategy in a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) environment is also discussed. This paper is then followed by a contribution by Tanaka and colleagues in which they consider loading schedules for manufacturing orders in a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) environment. They compare mathematical programming with a knowledge-based approach, and comment on their relative effectiveness for different practical situations. Engstrom and Medbo's paper then looks at a particular aspect of production system design, namely the question of devising group working arrangements for assembly with new product structures. Using the case of a Swedish vehicle assembly plant where long cycle assembly work has been adopted, they advocate the use of a generally applicable product structure which can be adapted to suit individual local conditions. In the last paper of this particular group, Tay considers how automation has affected the production efficiency in Singapore. Using data from ten major industries he identifies several factors which are positively correlated with efficiency, with capital intensity being of greatest interest to policy makers. The two following papers examine the case of electronic data interchange (EDI) as a means of improving the efficiency and quality of trading relationships. Banerjee and Banerjee consider a particular approach to material provisioning for production systems using orderless inventory replenishment. Using the example of a single supplier and multiple buyers they develop an analytical model which is applicable for the exchange of information between trading partners using EDI. They conclude that EDI-based inventory control can be attractive from economic as well as other standpoints and that the approach is consistent with and can be instrumental in moving towards just-in-time (JIT) inventory management. Slacker's complementary viewpoint on EDI is from the perspective of the quality relation-ship between the customer and supplier. Based on the experience of Lucas, a supplier within the automotive industry, he concludes that both banks and trading companies must take responsibility for the development of payment mechanisms which satisfy the requirements of quality trading. The three final papers of this issue relate to technological innovation and are all country based. Berman and Khalil report on a survey of US technological effectiveness in the global economy. The importance of education is supported in their conclusions, although it remains unclear to what extent the US government can play a wider role in promoting technological innovation and new industries. The role of technology in national development is taken up by Martinsons and Valdemars who examine the case of the former Soviet Union. The failure to successfully infuse technology into Soviet enterprises is seen as a factor in that country's demise, and it is anticipated that the newly liberalised economies will be able to encourage greater technological creativity. This point is then taken up in Perminov's concluding paper which looks in detail at Russia. Here a similar analysis is made of the concluding paper which looks in detail at Russia. Here a similar analysis is made of the Soviet Union's technological decline, but a development strategy is also presented within the context of the change from a centralised to a free market economy. The papers included in this special issue of the International Journal of Technology Management each represent a unique and particular contribution to their own specific area of concern. Together, however, they also argue or demonstrate the general improvements in competitive performance that can be achieved through the application of modern principles and practice to the management of quality, production and technological innovation.

Uses of frontier efficiency methodologies and multi-criteria decision making for performance measurement in the energy sector

Guest editorial Ali Emrouznejad is a Senior Lecturer at the Aston Business School in Birmingham, UK. His areas of research interest include performance measurement and management, efficiency and productivity analysis as well as data mining. He has published widely in various international journals. He is an Associate Editor of IMA Journal of Management Mathematics and Guest Editor to several special issues of journals including Journal of Operational Research Society, Annals of Operations Research, Journal of Medical Systems, and International Journal of Energy Management Sector. He is in the editorial board of several international journals and co-founder of Performance Improvement Management Software. William Ho is a Senior Lecturer at the Aston University Business School. Before joining Aston in 2005, he had worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include supply chain management, production and operations management, and operations research. He has published extensively in various international journals like Computers & Operations Research, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, European Journal of Operational Research, Expert Systems with Applications, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, and so on. His first authored book was published in 2006. He is an Editorial Board member of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology and an Associate Editor of the OR Insight Journal. Currently, he is a Scholar of the Advanced Institute of Management Research. Uses of frontier efficiency methodologies and multi-criteria decision making for performance measurement in the energy sector This special issue aims to focus on holistic, applied research on performance measurement in energy sector management and for publication of relevant applied research to bridge the gap between industry and academia. After a rigorous refereeing process, seven papers were included in this special issue. The volume opens with five data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based papers. Wu et al. apply the DEA-based Malmquist index to evaluate the changes in relative efficiency and the total factor productivity of coal-fired electricity generation of 30 Chinese administrative regions from 1999 to 2007. Factors considered in the model include fuel consumption, labor, capital, sulphur dioxide emissions, and electricity generated. The authors reveal that the east provinces were relatively and technically more efficient, whereas the west provinces had the highest growth rate in the period studied. Ioannis E. Tsolas applies the DEA approach to assess the performance of Greek fossil fuel-fired power stations taking undesirable outputs into consideration, such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions. In addition, the bootstrapping approach is deployed to address the uncertainty surrounding DEA point estimates, and provide bias-corrected estimations and confidence intervals for the point estimates. The author revealed from the sample that the non-lignite-fired stations are on an average more efficient than the lignite-fired stations. Maethee Mekaroonreung and Andrew L. Johnson compare the relative performance of three DEA-based measures, which estimate production frontiers and evaluate the relative efficiency of 113 US petroleum refineries while considering undesirable outputs. Three inputs (capital, energy consumption, and crude oil consumption), two desirable outputs (gasoline and distillate generation), and an undesirable output (toxic release) are considered in the DEA models. The authors discover that refineries in the Rocky Mountain region performed the best, and about 60 percent of oil refineries in the sample could improve their efficiencies further. H. Omrani, A. Azadeh, S. F. Ghaderi, and S. Abdollahzadeh presented an integrated approach, combining DEA, corrected ordinary least squares (COLS), and principal component analysis (PCA) methods, to calculate the relative efficiency scores of 26 Iranian electricity distribution units from 2003 to 2006. Specifically, both DEA and COLS are used to check three internal consistency conditions, whereas PCA is used to verify and validate the final ranking results of either DEA (consistency) or DEA-COLS (non-consistency). Three inputs (network length, transformer capacity, and number of employees) and two outputs (number of customers and total electricity sales) are considered in the model. Virendra Ajodhia applied three DEA-based models to evaluate the relative performance of 20 electricity distribution firms from the UK and the Netherlands. The first model is a traditional DEA model for analyzing cost-only efficiency. The second model includes (inverse) quality by modelling total customer minutes lost as an input data. The third model is based on the idea of using total social costs, including the firm’s private costs and the interruption costs incurred by consumers, as an input. Both energy-delivered and number of consumers are treated as the outputs in the models. After five DEA papers, Stelios Grafakos, Alexandros Flamos, Vlasis Oikonomou, and D. Zevgolis presented a multiple criteria analysis weighting approach to evaluate the energy and climate policy. The proposed approach is akin to the analytic hierarchy process, which consists of pairwise comparisons, consistency verification, and criteria prioritization. In the approach, stakeholders and experts in the energy policy field are incorporated in the evaluation process by providing an interactive mean with verbal, numerical, and visual representation of their preferences. A total of 14 evaluation criteria were considered and classified into four objectives, such as climate change mitigation, energy effectiveness, socioeconomic, and competitiveness and technology. Finally, Borge Hess applied the stochastic frontier analysis approach to analyze the impact of various business strategies, including acquisition, holding structures, and joint ventures, on a firm’s efficiency within a sample of 47 natural gas transmission pipelines in the USA from 1996 to 2005. The author finds that there were no significant changes in the firm’s efficiency by an acquisition, and there is a weak evidence for efficiency improvements caused by the new shareholder. Besides, the author discovers that parent companies appear not to influence a subsidiary’s efficiency positively. In addition, the analysis shows a negative impact of a joint venture on technical efficiency of the pipeline company. To conclude, we are grateful to all the authors for their contribution, and all the reviewers for their constructive comments, which made this special issue possible. We hope that this issue would contribute significantly to performance improvement of the energy sector.

Improving “last mile” delivery performance to retailers in hub and spoke distribution systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the “last mile” delivery link between a hub and spoke distribution system and its customers. The proportion of retail, as opposed to non-retail (trade) customers using this type of distribution system has been growing in the UK. The paper shows the applicability of simulation to demonstrate changes in overall delivery policy to these customers. Design/methodology/approach – A case-based research method was chosen with the aim to provide an exemplar of practice and test the proposition that simulation can be used as a tool to investigate changes in delivery policy. Findings – The results indicate the potential improvement in delivery performance, specifically in meeting timed delivery performance, that could be made by having separate retail and non-retail delivery runs from the spoke terminal to the customer. Research limitations/implications – The simulation study does not attempt to generate a vehicle routing schedule but demonstrates the effects of a change on delivery performance when comparing delivery policies. Practical implications – Scheduling and spreadsheet software are widely used and provide useful assistance in the design of delivery runs and the allocation of staff to those delivery runs. This paper demonstrates to managers the usefulness of investigating the efficacy of current design rules and presents simulation as a suitable tool for this analysis. Originality/value – A simulation model is used in a novel application to test a change in delivery policy in response to a changing delivery profile of increased retail deliveries.

Managing customer relationship management projects:the case of a large French telecommunication company

Customer relationship management (CRM) implementation projects reflect a growing conceptual shift from the traditional engineering view of projects. Such projects are complex and risky because they call for both organisational and technological changes. This requires effective project management across various phases of the implementation process. However, few empirical researches have dealt with these project management issues. The aim of this research is to investigate how a “project team” manages CRM implementation projects successfully, across the different phases of the implementation process. We conducted an in-depth case study of the “Firm-Clients Branch” of a large telecommunications company in France. The findings show that, to manage CRM implementation projects successfully, an integrated and balanced approach is required. This involves appropriate system selection, effective process re-engineering and further development of organizational structures. We highlight the need for a “technochange approach” to achieve successful organisational transition and effective CRM implementation. The study reveals that the project team plays a central role throughout the implementation phases. Furthermore the effectiveness of technochange depends on project team performance, technology efficiency and close coordination with stakeholders.

Satisfaction as a predictor of future performance:a replication

Since the introduction of the Net Promoter concept there has been a vivid and ongoing debate among academics and practitioners about the performance of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in comparison to other customer metrics, such as customer satisfaction, to predict company growth rates. We report results from a study using data from customers and firms in the Netherlands on the relationship between different satisfaction and loyalty metrics as well as the NPS with sales revenue growth, gross margins and net operating cash flows. We find that all metrics perform equally well in predicting current gross margins and current sales revenue growth and equally poor for predicting future sales growth and gross margins as well as current and future net cash flows. The NPS is neither superior nor inferior to other metrics. Taken together, our study suggests that the predictive capability of customer metrics, such as NPS, for future company growth rates is limited. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Market orientation, innovation capability and business performance:insights from the global financial crisis

Purpose - The paper aims to examine the role of market orientation (MO) and innovation capability in determining business performance during an economic upturn and downturn. Design/methodology/approach - The data comprise two national-level surveys conducted in Finland in 2008, representing an economic boom, and in 2010 when the global economic crisis had hit the Finnish market. Partial least square path analysis is used to test the potential mediating effect of innovation capability on the relationship between MO and business performance during economic boom and bust. Findings - The results show that innovation capability fully mediates the performance effects of a MO during an economic upturn, whereas the mediation is only partial during a downturn. Innovation capability also mediates the relationship between a customer orientation and business performance during an upturn, whereas the mediating effect culminates in a competitor orientation during a downturn. Thus, the role of innovation capability as a mediator between the individual market-orientation components varies along the business cycle. Originality/value - This paper is one of the first studies that empirically examine the impact of the economic cycle on the relationship between strategic marketing concepts, such as MO or innovation capability, and the firm's business performance.

Towards a multilevel model of the high performance work systems–workplace safety relationship

Human Resource (HR) systems and practices generally referred to as High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs), (Huselid, 1995) (sometimes termed High Commitment Work Practices or High Involvement Work Practices) have attracted much research attention in past decades. Although many conceptualizations of the construct have been proposed, there is general agreement that HPWPs encompass a bundle or set of HR practices including sophisticated staffing, intensive training and development, incentive-based compensation, performance management, initiatives aimed at increasing employee participation and involvement, job safety and security, and work design (e.g. Pfeffer, 1998). It is argued that these practices either directly and indirectly influence the extent to which employees’ knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics are utilized in the organization. Research spanning nearly 20 years has provided considerable empirical evidence for relationships between HPWPs and various measures of performance including increased productivity, improved customer service, and reduced turnover (e.g. Guthrie, 2001; Belt & Giles, 2009). With the exception of a few papers (e.g., Laursen &Foss, 2003), this literature appears to lack focus on how HPWPs influence or foster more innovative-related attitudes and behaviours, extra role behaviors, and performance. This situation exists despite the vast evidence demonstrating the importance of innovation, proactivity, and creativity in its various forms to individual, group, and organizational performance outcomes. Several pertinent issues arise when considering HPWPs and their relationship to innovation and performance outcomes. At a broad level is the issue of which HPWPs are related to which innovation-related variables. Another issue not well identified in research relates to employees’ perceptions of HPWPs: does an employee actually perceive the HPWP –outcomes relationship? No matter how well HPWPs are designed, if they are not perceived and experienced by employees to be effective or worthwhile then their likely success in achieving positive outcomes is limited. At another level, research needs to consider the mechanisms through which HPWPs influence –innovation and performance. The research question here relates to what possible mediating variables are important to the success or failure of HPWPs in impacting innovative behaviours and attitudes and what are the potential process considerations? These questions call for theory refinement and the development of more comprehensive models of the HPWP-innovation/performance relationship that include intermediate linkages and boundary conditions (Ferris, Hochwarter, Buckley, Harrell-Cook, & Frink, 1999). While there are many calls for this type of research to be made a high priority, to date, researchers have made few inroads into answering these questions. This symposium brings together researchers from Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa to examine these various questions relating to the HPWP-innovation-performance relationship. Each paper discusses a HPWP and potential variables that can facilitate or hinder the effects of these practices on innovation- and performance- related outcomes. The first paper by Johnston and Becker explores the HPWPs in relation to work design in a disaster response organization that shifts quickly from business as usual to rapid response. The researchers examine how the enactment of the organizational response is devolved to groups and individuals. Moreover, they assess motivational characteristics that exist in dual work designs (normal operations and periods of disaster activation) and the implications for innovation. The second paper by Jørgensen reports the results of an investigation into training and development practices and innovative work behaviors (IWBs) in Danish organizations. Research on how to design and implement training and development initiatives to support IWBs and innovation in general is surprisingly scant and often vague. This research investigates the mechanisms by which training and development initiatives influence employee behaviors associated with innovation, and provides insights into how training and development can be used effectively by firms to attract and retain valuable human capital in knowledge-intensive firms. The next two papers in this symposium consider the role of employee perceptions of HPWPs and their relationships to innovation-related variables and performance. First, Bish and Newton examine perceptions of the characteristics and awareness of occupational health and safety (OHS) practices and their relationship to individual level adaptability and proactivity in an Australian public service organization. The authors explore the role of perceived supportive and visionary leadership and its impact on the OHS policy-adaptability/proactivity relationship. The study highlights the positive main effects of awareness and characteristics of OHS polices, and supportive and visionary leadership on individual adaptability and proactivity. It also highlights the important moderating effects of leadership in the OHS policy-adaptability/proactivity relationship. Okhawere and Davis present a conceptual model developed for a Nigerian study in the safety-critical oil and gas industry that takes a multi-level approach to the HPWP-safety relationship. Adopting a social exchange perspective, they propose that at the organizational level, organizational climate for safety mediates the relationship between enacted HPWS’s and organizational safety performance (prescribed and extra role performance). At the individual level, the experience of HPWP impacts on individual behaviors and attitudes in organizations, here operationalized as safety knowledge, skills and motivation, and these influence individual safety performance. However these latter relationships are moderated by organizational climate for safety. A positive organizational climate for safety strengthens the relationship between individual safety behaviors and attitudes and individual-level safety performance, therefore suggesting a cross-level boundary condition. The model includes both safety performance (behaviors) and organizational level safety outcomes, operationalized as accidents, injuries, and fatalities. The final paper of this symposium by Zhang and Liu explores leader development and relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity and innovation in China. The authors further develop a model that incorporates the effects of extrinsic motivation (pay for performance: PFP) and employee collectivism in the leader-employee creativity relationship. The papers’ contributions include the incorporation of a PFP effect on creativity as moderator, rather than predictor in most studies; the exploration of the PFP effect from both fairness and strength perspectives; the advancement of knowledge on the impact of collectivism on the leader- employee creativity link. Last, this is the first study to examine three-way interactional effects among leader-member exchange (LMX), PFP and collectivism, thus, enriches our understanding of promoting employee creativity. In conclusion, this symposium draws upon the findings of four empirical studies and one conceptual study to provide an insight into understanding how different variables facilitate or potentially hinder the influence various HPWPs on innovation and performance. We will propose a number of questions for further consideration and discussion. The symposium will address the Conference Theme of ‘Capitalism in Question' by highlighting how HPWPs can promote financial health and performance of organizations while maintaining a high level of regard and respect for employees and organizational stakeholders. Furthermore, the focus on different countries and cultures explores the overall research question in relation to different modes or stages of development of capitalism.

Is more capability always beneficial for firm performance? Market orientation, core business process capabilities, and business environment

This study examines the role of capabilities in core marketing-related business processes–product development management (PDM), supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM)–in translating a firm’s market orientation (MO) into firm performance. The study is the first to examine the interplay of all three business process capabilities simultaneously, while investigating how environmental conditions moderate their performance effects. A moderated mediation analysis of 468 product-focused firms finds that PDM and CRM process capabilities play important mediating roles, whereas SCM process capability does not mediate the relationship between MO and performance. However, the relative importance of the capabilities as mediators varies along the degree of environmental turbulence, and under certain conditions, an increase in the level of business process capability may even turn detrimental.

A hazai kis - és középvállalatok teljesítményét befolyásoló stratégiai orientációk (The effect of strategic orientations on the performance of Hungarian SMEs)

A szerzők 300 magyar kis- és középvállalatot (KKV) tartalmazó mintán vizsgálják a különböző stratégiai orientációk teljesítményre gyakorolt hatását. Ismeretes, hogy a gazdasági környezet változása erősítheti (stimulálhatja), illetve korlátozhatja e kapcsolat szorosságát. Az eredmények alapján elmondható, hogy a modellben alkalmazott stratégiai orientációk közül elsősorban a vállalkozói orientáció és mérsékelt módon az ügyfélkapcsolati orientáció hat pozitívan a KKV-k teljesítményére. Megerősítést nyert az a sejtés, hogy a piaci és az innovációra irányuló orientáció akkor értékelődik fel, ha a környezetben turbulens (gyakran előre jelezhetetlen) erők hatnak. / === / The authors examine the effect of different strategic orientations on business performance on a sample of 300 small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in Hungary. It is widely known that the competitive environment might stimulate or hinder the relationship between strategic orientations and business performance. The results show that out of six strategic orientations the entrepreneurial orientation has the strongest effect on SME performance. Customer relationship orientation is also responsible for the performance development of SMEs, although to a lesser extent. Furthermore, it has been reinforced that market and innovation orientation takes its importance if there are turbulent forces in the environment.

Üzleti teljesítménymérés a sportban, - avagy miként segítheti a sportszervezetek vezetőit a Balanced Scorecard koncepció a stratégia szerinti működésben = Measuring Business Performance in Sports - How the Balanced Scorecard approach can help sports organisations in operating along strategic objectives

Napjainkban egyre nagyobb figyelem fordul a sporttevékenység társadalmi hasznosságára, ugyanakkor számos sportszervezet a túléléséért küzd. A legtöbb sportszervezetnél a sportteljesítmény mérése dominál, s viszonylag kevés figyelmet fordítanak az üzleti teljesítmény és az ezt befolyásoló tényezők mérésére, annak ellenére, hogy a vezetők tudatában vannak a sportteljesítmény és az üzleti teljesítmény kölcsönös összefüggésével. A sportteljesítményt a fogyasztói elégedettségen keresztül bevételre kell váltani, illetve biztosítani kell a finanszírozási forrásokat (gondolhatunk akár a játékosok fizetésére) a megfelelő sportteljesítmény eléréséhez. A sportszervezetek vezetőinek át kell látniuk a sportteljesítmény és az üzleti teljesítmény összefüggéseit, és azonosítaniuk kell a kritikus értékteremtő tényezőket. Ehhez adhat egy megfelelő gondolkodási keretet a Balanced Scorecard alkalmazása. Tanulmányunkban egy rövid áttekintést adunk a Balanced Scorecard alkalmazásának előnyeiről és kihívásairól a non-profit szervezetek esetében, majd egy magyarországi kézilabda klubnál készített esettanulmány segítségével megvizsgáljuk a BSC alkalmazási lehetőségét a sportkluboknál. _____ While performance measurement in the sport industry has a traditionally strong focus on sports results, commercial success of sports clubs needs to gain more ground. Sports results should generate market revenues, by satisfying customer needs, and allow continued investment in the further improvement of sports success (i.e. more funds for player transfers and wages). Club managers need to understand the complex relationship between on-field and off-the-field success, and identify critical success factors for achieving strategic objectives. The Balanced Scorecard approach provides a plausible framework for such analysis. Our paper explains the challenges of and opportunities for implementing a Balanced Scorecard system in non-profit organisations, and provides insights into its application in professional sport through an in-depth case study of a handball club in Hungary. We conclude by providing a model for managing sports organisations in line with strategic objectives, balancing out stakeholder expectations for both sports results and commercial success.

Development of ``HealthServe'': A measure of customer service orientation in healthcare

An assessment tool designed to measure a customer service orientation among RN's and LPN's was developed using a content-oriented approach. Critical incidents were first developed by asking two samples of healthcare managers (n = 52 and 25) to identify various customer-contact situations. The critical incidents were then used to formulate a 121-item instrument. Patient-contact workers from 3 hospitals (n = 102) completed the instrument along with the NEO-FFI, a measure of the Big Five personality factors. Concurrently, managers completed a performance evaluation scale on the employees participating in the study in order to determine the predictive validity of the instrument.^ Through a criterion-keying approach, the instrument was scaled down to 38 items. The correlation between HealthServe and the supervisory ratings of performance evaluation data supported the instrument's criterion-related validity (r =.66, p $<$.0001). Incremental validity of HealthServe over the Big Five was found with HealthServe accounting for 46% of the variance.^ The NEO-FFI was used to assess the correlation between personality traits and HealthServe. A factor analysis of HealthServe suggested 4 factors which were correlated with the NEO-FFI scores. Results indicated that HealthServe was related to Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and negatively related to Neuroticism.^ The benefits of the test construction procedure used here over the use of broad-based measures of personality were discussed as well as the limitations of using a concurrent validation strategy. Recommendations for future studies were provided. ^

The impact of bandwidth in structured interviewing and criterion stability in predicting and assessing manager performance across transition and maintenance stages

The current study examined the role of three important components in the use of structured employment interviewing in performance prediction: construct bandwidth, observed communication skill, and the stability/dynamicity of performance criteria over time. A matched sample of 242 hospitality managers was derived from a field data set provided by a large hospitality management organization. Interview data and two years of performance appraisal data were provided. Bandwidth analysis demonstrated only minimal differences in prediction between matched predictor-criterion pairs compared with predictor to overall aggregate ratings (unmatched). The communication skill analysis revealed that this interviewer rated observation significantly predicted a number of the individual performance dimensions as well as overall performance over time. Of the five interview items, the strongest overall predictor of performance was interviewer rated communication skill. The stability/dynamicity analyses demonstrated the performance criteria to be generally stable over the two year period examined, which provides support for the long held notion that performance criteria is stabile over time. However, there were two exceptions. The interview dimension customer service orientation had shifting relationships over time with four of the criteria over the two year period. The performance criteria employee development also demonstrated some instability in its relationships with predictors. Thus, some evidence of dynamicity in performance criteria was revealed. Interestingly, both of the most noteworthy findings in the study involved items that were rated differently than the others in the study. The rated interview item communication skill and the rated performance criteria client satisfaction were ratings that involved a more direct level of observation. Additional analyses also revealed evidence of a general factor of performance. These two themes are more fully covered in the discussion.

A methodological framework for modeling pavement maintenance costs for projects with performance-based contracts

Performance-based maintenance contracts differ significantly from material and method-based contracts that have been traditionally used to maintain roads. Road agencies around the world have moved towards a performance-based contract approach because it offers several advantages like cost saving, better budgeting certainty, better customer satisfaction with better road services and conditions. Payments for the maintenance of road are explicitly linked to the contractor successfully meeting certain clearly defined minimum performance indicators in these contracts. Quantitative evaluation of the cost of performance-based contracts has several difficulties due to the complexity of the pavement deterioration process. Based on a probabilistic analysis of failures of achieving multiple performance criteria over the length of the contract period, an effort has been made to develop a model that is capable of estimating the cost of these performance-based contracts. One of the essential functions of such model is to predict performance of the pavement as accurately as possible. Prediction of future degradation of pavement is done using Markov Chain Process, which requires estimating transition probabilities from previous deterioration rate for similar pavements. Transition probabilities were derived using historical pavement condition rating data, both for predicting pavement deterioration when there is no maintenance, and for predicting pavement improvement when maintenance activities are performed. A methodological framework has been developed to estimate the cost of maintaining road based on multiple performance criteria such as crack, rut and, roughness. The application of the developed model has been demonstrated via a real case study of Miami Dade Expressways (MDX) using pavement condition rating data from Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for a typical performance-based asphalt pavement maintenance contract. Results indicated that the pavement performance model developed could predict the pavement deterioration quite accurately. Sensitivity analysis performed shows that the model is very responsive to even slight changes in pavement deterioration rate and performance constraints. It is expected that the use of this model will assist the highway agencies and contractors in arriving at a fair contract value for executing long term performance-based pavement maintenance works.