Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe great majority of scientific publications regarding organizational communications give considerable importance to qualitative analyses while paying scant regard to objective and quantitative approaches. Indeed, very few research projects are dedicated to modeling and measuring the variables upon which good quality communications depend. The aim of this paper is to create and test a model which is able to express the quality of organizational communications as measurable, quantitative values. Thus, corporate managements will be able to use the model to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organizational communications generated within their companies (operative use of the model) and create the conditions necessary to achieve good organizational communications right from the planning stage (strategic use of the model). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractThis paper proposes a strategic path managers might follow in order to optimise the outcome of the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. As a starting point, we analysed the practice of CSR and its impact within a service industry, namely the Italian banking sector. Our aim was to understand the impact of CSR on the service company both externally and within the company itself and consequently our research was conducted on two different levels. The corporate level considers CSR as it is perceived by top management, and the operational level takes into account the perspectives of the front line employees and customers. Analysis at the corporate level was carried out by means of a thorough examination of the social reports and Internet sites of the service companies concerned, whereas the front line was studied by administrating a structured questionnaire, issued both to employees and to customers in a sample of bank branches.The research demonstrates that service companies are in fact implementing CSR initiatives and that stakeholders have a considerable interest in such initiatives. However, should the CSR initiatives be used as a tool solely to improve the brand equity rather than to improve relationships with their main stakeholders (employees and customers), then a boomerang effect is produced whereby the stakeholders pinpoint the CSR initiatives as one of the main reasons for their discontent with the service company. Although top managers invest in CSR initiatives in order to increase the satisfaction of the stakeholders, should the main stakeholders be unsatisfied with the management of the service company core business, the CSR initiatives might be rendered rather ineffective. As a result, the CSR initiatives may be a sign of underlying rift between top managers and the front line employees within the company, which in turn might also damage the relationship between bank and its customers. The implications of the findings in this paper provide a managerial tool for use in the implementation of CSR. This tool dictates a specific path to be followed which also requires precise timing for its success. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose
– Demand-based pricing fixes price according to customers' perceptions of service value and to their resulting willingness to pay. This pricing approach enables service companies to align their prices to customers' preferences and to their expenditure propensity. Accordingly, it can generate higher margins than other pricing approaches. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to implement operationally. Consequently, in order to overcome these implementation difficulties, the purpose of this paper is to provide a demand-based pricing approach based on the user-friendly technique of service blueprint (SB).


Design/methodology/approach
– The methodology relies on the design science leads. Design science deals with creating artefacts or models for supporting human or organizational purposes; such artefacts have to be assessed against criteria of utility or value for users. Accordingly, an experimental action research is performed for both implementing and testing the proposed pricing approach.


Findings
– Starting from the main difficulties hindering implementation of demand-based pricing, SB is proved to enable companies to overcome such difficulties and to support its implementation. Moreover, by employing SB, an innovative approach for fixing service prices is provided.


Practical implications
– The proposed approach enables managers of service companies to overcome difficulties of demand-based pricing and to employ pricing strategies according to demand-based drivers.


Originality/value
– In line with a recent call for research on service pricing, this paper develops a new pricing approach, which is able to promote demand-based pricing.

Is corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment effectively disclosed through a company's sustainably report? Moreover, in what measure is a company's CSR commitment really acknowledged by its stakeholders? Because it has been observed that stakeholders' recognition of a company's social and environmental conduct highly impacts the business returns of CSR initiatives, it is therefore not surprising that measurement of the stakeholder perception is a key issue for CSR assessment.In this paper, we propose a method enabling companies to evaluate the effectiveness of their CSR policies both in terms of disclosure and capacity to fulfill both stakeholder social and environmental expectations. The method we propose compares, through a gap analysis, three measures as follows: the company commitment disclosed through its sustainability report, the company CSR commitment perceived by its stakeholders, and the CSR commitment that stakeholders require to the company. The outcome of the proposed methodology provides managerial insights for evaluating the effectiveness of ongoing CSR practices and for formulating CSR strategies. An application illustrates the use of the methodology in practice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a method for analysing and improving the operational performance of business processes (BPs).


Design/methodology/approach
– The method employs two standards, Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN 2.0) and Business Processes Simulation (BPSim 1.0), to measure key performance indicators (KPIs) of BPs and test for potential improvements. The BP is first modelled in BPMN 2.0. Operational performance can then be measured using BPSim 1.0. The process simulation also enables execution of reliable "what-if" analysis, allowing improvements of the actual processes under study. To confirm the validity of the method the authors provide an application to the healthcare domain, in which the authors conduct several simulation experiments. The case study examines a standardised patient arrival and treatment process in an orthopaedic-emergency room of a public hospital.


Findings
– The method permits detection of process criticalities, as well as identifying the best corrective actions by means of the "what-if" analysis. The paper discusses both management and research implications of the method.


Originality/value
– The study responds to current calls for holistic and sustainable approaches to business process management (BPM). It provides step-by-step process modelling and simulation that serve as a "virtual laboratory" to test potential improvements and verify their impact on operational performance, without the risk of error that would be involved in ex-novo simulation programming.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether cultural backgrounds of nations are expressed through the web design of their companies. Actually, it investigates whether, in countries characterized by the same cultural matrix and language but by different national backgrounds, the cultural specificities of a country are a critical success factor for web design and enablers of business excellence.Design/methodology/approach– Starting from a deep literature review, four research hypotheses on the relationship between cultural background and web design are formulated. By employing both the content analysis and the cross-tabulation methodology, these hypotheses are tested.Findings– Brazilian, Portuguese, Angolan and Macanese web sites show that companies operating in these countries are aware that cultural background is a necessary success factor to consider for improving cross-cultural management of computer-mediated communication. Indeed, the findings confirm that the internet is not a culturally neutral communication medium. By providing evidences of web site cultural adaptation, this study supports the use of a targeted approach to web site design and provides managerial guidelines for improving business excellence of companies' online environment.Originality/value– The paper offers insights into the topic of a culturally adapted computer-mediated communication for improving consumer experience.

AbstractPrevious studies show that individual characteristics can influence stakeholder attitudes towards corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study analyses employee attitudes such as CSR demandingness, trust and satisfaction, to determine whether they vary according to differences in gender, age, and educational level. The analysis was carried out by surveying 153 employees of 11 Italian banks, and by performing a content analysis of the banks' sustainability reports. The Italian banking sector was chosen because of recent financial and CSR scandals. The findings suggest that, on average, male employees are slightly more trusting in and satisfied with CSR performance than their female counterparts. Graduates are slightly more demanding, largely more trusting, and generally more satisfied than non‐graduates. Interestingly, the difference between older and younger employees is not significant. The proposed approach can be useful in designing tailored CSR activities and communication avenues by shedding light on employees' CSR attitudes.

Employing corporate social responsibility (CSR) for competitiveness enhancement requires a radical change in managerial thinking and new tools for supporting business activities. Indeed, the lack of suitable measures for detecting the stage of a company CSR cultural development hinders the identification and exploitation of business opportunities related to CSR. Following this lead, in this paper, we propose a two‐dimensional CSR model for supporting managers in their pursuing for long‐term competitiveness, turning CSR‐driven opportunities in business advantages.The model is based on two dimensions: the "CSR development" dimension and the "CSR commitment" dimension. The CSR development dimension allows decision makers to position companies with respect to the stage of their CSR cultural evolution, whereas the CSR commitment dimension assesses companies' degree of commitment based on their economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic CSR performance. The position that a company occupies in the two‐dimensional CSR model describes both its actual stage of CSR cultural development and its CSR commitment. Finally, the model is employed to a case study in the banking sector. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PurposePrevious research reports mixed results regarding the performance impact of servitization in manufacturing firms. To resolve this, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptually consistent and comprehensive measurement framework for both dimensions, servitization and its performance effect, and apply in a configurational analysis to reexamine previous evidence, arriving at a configurational theory of the relationship between servitization and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachCombining systematic literature review (SLR) and inductive reasoning, the existing indicators for servitization and performance are identified and clustered into groups that adequately represent both dimensions. The dataset is reanalyzed against the resulting framework to identify the configurational patterns and to formulate the theoretical propositions.FindingsFinancial and nonfinancial indicators of servitization and its performance impact are organized into a comprehensive measurement framework grounded on existing research. The subsequent meta-analysis shows that the positive or negative impacts of servitization on performance depend on how firms implement servitization strategies and which performance aspects are examined.Research limitations/implicationsThe results explain when servitization can be successful and confirm the existence of the so-called servitization paradox. The meta-analysis identified patterns that explain the previous mixed results, shaping a configurational theory of servitization. Thus, the measurement framework is conceptually robust and has sufficient detail to capture servitization and its performance outcome as it feasibly distinguished between different organizational configurations.Originality/valueThe framework provides a comprehensive portfolio of indicators for both managers and scholars to measure servitization intensity and performance. This supports managers of servitizing firms in leading this organizational transformation while avoiding its organizational and financial paradoxes.

Workforce management (WFM) systems potentially enable the optimisation of the management of the workforce (WF) of a service provider (SP) in order to maximise both service quality and efficiency. Although the extent research literature provides characterizations of the various typologies of WFM systems, the effects of these systems on productivity and quality have not been investigated very extensively.This paper proposes a classification of WFMs that enables an SP to select the most suitable WFM, on the basis of both SP operating characteristics and SP efficiency objectives. The aim of this classification is to offer guidelines to SPs intending to implement a WFM system for the first time in order to improve productivity and quality. A case study of two departments of an important European telecommunications services company is then presented in order to examine the implications of our research for WF management. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.