An Empirical Model for Managing Quality in the Electronics Industry

Much of the empirical research in the past two decades has suggested that quality management (QM) is context dependent. This research develops an empirical QM model in a technology‐based sector—electronics manufacturing. Based on quantitative and qualitative investigations of 225 electronics firms in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China, a path analytic model is developed. The empirical model shows that a typical quality management system (QMS) in the electronics industry is composed of four major modules, namely leadership, cultural elements, operational support systems, and process management. These modules create a series of chain effects on organizational performance, rather than acting as parallel elements with an equal impact. By quantifying their effects on organizational performance and comparing the model to others in the literature, we identify those QM constructs that are context dependent. In electronics manufacturing, process management and customer focus are more important than other elements (e.g., cultural factors) for garnering business results. This study contributes to contingency theory and research by identifying the key constructs and their relationships in a competitive, volatile, and technology‐based industry with complex supply networks.     

Reordering Our Priorities by Putting Phenomena before Design: Escaping the Straitjacket of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing

In this paper we reflect on two related questions. First, how have we arrived at a position where null hypothesis significance testing is the dominant criterion employed by quantitative researchers when deciding on whether or not a result is ‘significant'? Second, how might we change the practice of quantitative management research by promoting a greater plurality of methods, and in doing so better enable scholars to put phenomena before design? We conclude by arguing that quantitative management researchers need to focus on the epistemological issues surrounding the role of scholarly reasoning in justifying knowledge claims. By embracing a plurality of approaches to reasoning quantitative researchers will be better able to escape the straitjacket of null hypothesis significance testing and, in doing so, reorder their priorities by putting phenomena before design.     

Advertising in Asymmetric Competing Supply Chains

Advertising is a crucial tool for demand creation and market expansion. When a manufacturer uses a retailer as a channel for reaching end customers, the advertising strategy takes on an additional dimension: which party will perform the advertising to end customers. Cost sharing (“co‐operative advertising”) arrangements proliferate the option by decoupling the execution of the advertising from its funding. We examine the efficacy of cost sharing in a model of two competing manufacturer–retailer supply chains who sell partially substitutable products that may differ in market size. Some counterintuitive findings suggest that the firms performing the advertising would rather bear the costs entirely if this protects their unit profit margin. We also evaluate the implications of advertising strategy for overall supply chain efficiency and consumer welfare.     

Conditional Gaussian mixture modelling for dietary pattern analysis

Summary.  Free-living individuals have multifaceted diets and consume foods in numerous combinations. In epidemiological studies it is desirable to characterize individual diets not only in terms of the quantity of individual dietary components but also in terms of dietary patterns. We describe the conditional Gaussian mixture model for dietary pattern analysis and show how it can be adapted to take account of important characteristics of self-reported dietary data. We illustrate this approach with an analysis of the 2000–2001 National Diet and Nutrition Survey of adults. The results strongly favoured a mixture model solution allowing clusters to vary in shape and size, over the standard approach that has been used previously to find dietary patterns.     

Student Perceptions of Web-Assisted Teaching Strategies

This study determines which Web-assisted teaching strategies social work students from a single university experience and perceive as valuable. The results demonstrate that most faculty use email, post grades online, and give out student email addresses to the class. Students perceive email communication with the instructor and the online provision of course information as the most valuable strategies. The impact of several student characteristics on value perception is also examined, revealing varying levels of influence. These findings suggest that the strategies students report as the most valuable are not necessarily the strategies most frequently used by faculty.