Essential Micro‐foundations for Contemporary Business Operations: Top Management Tangible Competencies,Relationship‐based Business Networks and Environmental Sustainability

Although various studies have emphasized linkages between firm competencies, networks and sustainability at organizational level, the links between top management tangible competencies (TMTCs) (e.g. contemporary relevant quantitative‐focused education such as big data analytics and data‐driven applications linked with the internet of things, relevant experience and analytical business applications), relationship‐based business networks (RBNs) and environmental sustainability have not been well established at micro‐level, and there is a literature gap in terms of investigating these relationships. This study examines these links based on the unique data collected from 175 top management representatives (chief executive officers and managing directors) working in food import and export firms headquartered in the UK and New Zealand. Our results from structural equation modelling indicate that TMTCs are the key determinants for building RBNs, mediating the correlation between TMTCs and environmental sustainability. Directly, the competencies also play a vital role towards environmental practices. The findings further depict that relationship‐oriented firms perform better compared to those which focus less on such networks. Consequently, our findings provide a deeper understanding of the micro‐foundations of environmental sustainability based on TMTCs rooted in the resource‐based view and RBNs entrenched in social network theory. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings, and we provide suggestions for future research.     

A three-state continuous time Markov chain model for HIV disease burden

Plasma HIV viral load (VL) is the clinical indicator used to evaluate disease burden for HIV-infected patients. We developed a covariate-adjusted, three-state, homogenous continuous time Markov chain model for HIV/AIDS disease burden among subgroups. We defined Detectable and Undetectable HIV VL levels as two transient states and Death as the third absorbing state. We implemented the exact maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters with related asymptotic distribution to conduct hypothesis testing. We evaluated the proposed model using HIV-infected individuals from South Carolina (SC) HIV surveillance data. Using the developed model, we estimated and compared the transition hazards, transition probabilities, and the state-specific duration for HIV-infected individuals. We examined gender, race/ethnicity, age, CD4 count, place of residence, and antiretroviral treatment regimen prescribed at the beginning of the study period. We found that patients with a higher CD4 count, increased age, heterosexual orientation, white, and single tablet regimen users were associated with reduced risk of transitioning to a Detectable VL from an Undetectable VL, whereas shorter time since diagnosis, being male, and injection drug use increased the risk of the same transition.     

Big Data‐Savvy Teams’ Skills,Big Data‐Driven Actions and Business Performance

Prior studies on big data analytics have emphasized the importance of specific big data skills and capabilities for organizational success; however, they have largely neglected to investigate the use of cross‐functional teams’ skills and links to the role played by relevant data‐driven actions and business performance. Drawing on the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and on unique data collected from 240 big data experts working in global agrifood networks, we examine the links between the use of big data‐savvy (BDS) teams’ skills, big data‐driven (BDD) actions and business performance. BDS teams depend on multi‐disciplinary skills (e.g. computing, mathematics, statistics, machine learning and business domain knowledge) that help them turn their traditional business operations into modern data‐driven insights (e.g. knowing real‐time price changes and customer preferences), leading to BDD actions that enhance business performance. Our results, raised from structural equation modelling, indicate that BDS teams’ skills that produce valuable insights are the key determinants for BDD actions, which ultimately contribute to business performance. We further demonstrate that those organizations that emphasize BDD actions perform better compared to those that do not focus on such applications and relevant insights.     

Equi-information robust designs: Which designs are possible?

The effects of missing observations in a designed experiment are reviewed. Conditions are determined for a design to retain equal information, i.e. the same generalized variance of unknown parameters, when either any single or any pair of observations is lost. Some examples of designs with this property are given. Although there are many designs which retain equal information for the loss of exactly t observations, where t = 1,2,3,…, it is shown that it is not possible to obtain any design which retains equal information when any one and any two and also any three observations are missing.     

Lead time adjustment through scrap management

In a discrete parts manufacturing environment, it is necessary to compensate for the decreasing planned batch size resulting from production of scrap (defectives) in the production line, by increasing the planned production volume. This calls for a revision in the initially computed manufacturing lead time (MLT). A survey of the literature reveals that although issues related to product quantity regeneration have been studied in detail, little has been done to assess the impact on manufacturing lead times. This paper discusses the impact of scrap on manufacturing lead time in a shop with an intermittent-flow, bath-oriented, discrete-parts manufacturing environment, producing make-to-stock items.     

Circular Binary Block Second- and Higher-Order Neighbor Designs

Some new neighbor designs are presented here. Second-order neighbor designs for different configurations are generated in circular binary blocks. Third-order and fourth-order neighbor designs for some cases are also constructed. In all cases, circular blocks are well separated and these designs are obtained through initial block/s. At the end of the study, some models for analysis of these designs are also presented.     

Knowledge retention in ERP implementations: the context of UK SMEs

Abstract

Knowledge retention (k-retention) is vital for various enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), though it is a highly demanding and challenging task. The aim of this paper is to investigate different types of approaches to k-retention and factors influencing k-retention in SMEs. Our study adopts a grounded theory approach with cases based on 12 ERP implementations in UK SMEs. We analyze our data using thematic analysis. The findings reveal specific elements that support the k-retention of ERP package knowledge and business process knowledge. These elements are: k-retention tools, documentation, human capital and the understanding of k-retention challenges. In addition to insights from these aspects, our study reveals two additional factors (project management and organizational culture) that influence ERP package k-retention and business process k-retention. Based on these findings, we develop an ERP k-retention (EKR) framework that can be utilized by SMEs which are considering implementing ERP systems, to facilitate knowledge retention during implementation.     

Ethnic minorities in British politics: candidate selection and clan politics in the Labour Party

In increasingly diverse polities, the question of how minorities engage with national and local political processes is important. In the U.K., the Labour Party has traditionally benefited electorally from ethnic minority communities, often through ethnicity-based voting blocs. However, little attention has been paid to how the Party’s candidate selection process is influenced by strategic party membership and nomination. We argue that community clan or kinship (biraderi) networks found amongst British Pakistanis have been mobilised for this purpose. We examine the cases of Bradford and Birmingham with respect to the nominations for Prospective Candidates at both parliamentary and local council level. We show the continued importance of biraderi connections in spite of Labour Party attempts to ‘clean up’ selection contests through impositions of the National Executive Committee (NEC). Such practices favour the selection of candidates with strong biraderi links and, as such, often marginalise female candidates.     

Can 18‐Month‐Old Infants Learn Words by Listening In on Conversations?

Previous research has shown that children as young as 2 can learn words from 3rd‐party conversations (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001). The focus of this study was to determine whether younger infants could learn a new word through overhearing. Novel object labels were introduced to 18‐month‐old infants in 1 of 2 conditions: directly by an experimenter or in the context of overhearing the experimenter use the word while interacting with another adult. The findings suggest that, when memory demands are not too high, 18‐month‐old infants can learn words through overhearing.