An empirical assessment of the operational performance through internal benchmarking: a case of a global logistics firm

This article solves an operational performance measurement problem of a global logistics firm through an internal benchmarking tool. The intended impact is to enable logistics firms to form a deeper understanding of their own internal processes and metrics. The methodology of this in-depth action research involves a sequential approach with a series of interviews, questionnaire-based surveys, operations data collated through observations and process mapping yielding real-world data. A series of statistical tests are conducted to analyse the collated data. Strategic priorities of the firm are integrated with the firm’s operational performance to ascertain the effective performance by considering both the tangible and intangible measures. The outcomes inform both practitioners and academics how the firm could improve its freight forwarding business’s profitability by ensuring that its operations meet the prioritised criteria. The ‘best practice’ derived from internal benchmarking forms an intermediate step towards external benchmarking. The outcomes facilitate investigating the current business strategy, the standard operating procedures and the scope of improving those.     

Whither the Internal Conversation?

The internal conversation has a venerable place in the symbolic interactionist tradition but has been the focus of little empirical research by interactionists. After reviewing selected research on the internal conversation (most by noninteractionist sociologists or nonsociologists), we argue that interactionists ought to conduct research of our own to examine claims we have been making and to better understand social life. We propose some worthy areas and avenues of investigation.     

Land markets and migration trends in Tanzania: A qualitative‐quantitative analysis

While migration has been found to enhance welfare across a range of settings, most of the literature focuses on rural‐to‐urban migrant flows. Using a unique dataset from north‐western Tanzania, this article probes an important, yet overlooked, link between land markets and rural‐to‐rural migration. A mixed‐methods approach is used to discern how these two forces are intertwined in village life. Results indicate that household decisions to migrate are particularly influenced by the ease of market‐based land access in their new communities. This suggests that labour mobility may be facilitated through the development of a well‐functioning land market.     

新建本科院校提升治理能力的路径

从“管理”走向“治理”，新建本科院校存在一些困难，主要表现为：管理体制重心居上，教学质量难以保障；行政 化倾向严重，学术自由难以实现；办学自主权缺失，办学特色难以形成；教师成长与发展机制不畅，大学精神难以彰显。在治理 理念下，新建本科院校应通过以下路径提高治理能力：以权力下放为重点，提升教学治理能力；以去行政化为导向，提高学术治 理能力；落实办学自主权，提高特色治理能力；凸显教师主体地位，提高文化治理能力。     

地方政府推进城镇小区配套幼儿园治理的政策与反思——基于27 份省级政策文本分析

以27 份省级的城镇小区配套幼儿园治理文本为对象，采用内容分析法，按照“治理要求”、“治理任务”、“治理步骤”和 “治理措施”四个维度，进而形成编码表并归类政策文本的具体内容。借助NVivo-12 质性分析软件对政策文本进行处理，进而 探究地方政府城镇小区配套幼儿园治理文本的内容结构及其存在问题。研究发现：治理方案趋同性强、地方性不足；治理过程 泛化、对治理的现实问题认识不够；治理周期迅速、但治理效果有待评估；治理措施系统、但操作性不强；治理主体多元，但协作 水平不高。在此基础上提出地方政府推进城镇小区配套幼儿园治理方面的建议：重视地区差异，促使治理贴切地方实际；加强 治理措施的可操作性，细化分类精准施策；明晰前期整改结果，强化治理效果的后期评估；学习协同治理观念，提高多部门协作 水平。     

When the main job tasks are perceived to be ‘irrelevant’ in the workplace: the internal uselessness of corporate social responsibility work in Japan

ABSTRACT

Despite a symbolic shift toward ‘emotional taint’ in dirty work literature, the role of the workplace has not been studied in relation to socially admired professions, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) work. This article carries out an in-depth, critical examination of CSR as an emotionally tainted occupation in Japan. Its findings, substantiated by an analysis of 34 CSR workers’ rhetoric, help conceptualise ‘internal uselessness’. This emerges when workers feel their organisations publicly foster an image of their work that is decoupled from its internal reality, assigning them chief tasks they consider irrelevant. This leads to negative consequences that damage their workplace social relationships, professional aspirations and emotional well-being. The findings ultimately show that these CSR workers in Japan attempt to counterbalance internal uselessness through a social quest with peers outside their workplace, but also manage their emotions by rationalising their job status as inescapable, influenced by situated commitment norms.     

Sample size re‐estimation incorporating prior information on a nuisance parameter

Prior information is often incorporated informally when planning a clinical trial. Here, we present an approach on how to incorporate prior information, such as data from historical clinical trials, into the nuisance parameter–based sample size re‐estimation in a design with an internal pilot study. We focus on trials with continuous endpoints in which the outcome variance is the nuisance parameter. For planning and analyzing the trial, frequentist methods are considered. Moreover, the external information on the variance is summarized by the Bayesian meta‐analytic‐predictive approach. To incorporate external information into the sample size re‐estimation, we propose to update the meta‐analytic‐predictive prior based on the results of the internal pilot study and to re‐estimate the sample size using an estimator from the posterior. By means of a simulation study, we compare the operating characteristics such as power and sample size distribution of the proposed procedure with the traditional sample size re‐estimation approach that uses the pooled variance estimator. The simulation study shows that, if no prior‐data conflict is present, incorporating external information into the sample size re‐estimation improves the operating characteristics compared to the traditional approach. In the case of a prior‐data conflict, that is, when the variance of the ongoing clinical trial is unequal to the prior location, the performance of the traditional sample size re‐estimation procedure is in general superior, even when the prior information is robustified. When considering to include prior information in sample size re‐estimation, the potential gains should be balanced against the risks.     

农民合作社信用合作满意度实证研究——基于内部社会资本分析视角

基于对3个省的3个县市区253家合作社的调查数据,运用因子分析法和二元Logistic分析法实证研究合作社社员满意度的影响因素。因子分析结果表明:内部社会资本由内部信任、内部规范和社会网络等3个因子构成。Logistic回归分析结果显示:内部信任、内部规范这两个测量变量与社员满意度存在显著的正相关性,而社会规范与社员满意度之间呈显著的负向相关关系。组织认同能够提高社员对合作社的满意度,且加入合作社时间越短的社员对合作社的满意度越高。此外,还通过剔除不显著变量和增加变量的方法对社员满意度进行回归分析,结果证明研究结论具有高度的稳健性。据此提出建立健全信用合作管理制度、加强合作社的社会整合功能、发挥合作社示范作用的政策建议。     

论准备海外上市公司的内部控制建设

本文主要探讨准备在海外上市的中国企业要加入到国际市场的竞争中,应该如何按照国际上通行的内部控制标准来建立内部控制体系。以COSO报告作为内控标准来分析我国现阶段企业内控管理的基本状况,并进一步就国内企业应如何按照国际上通行的内部控制标准来建立完善而有效的内部控制体系提出了一些应对措施和建议。