Best-practice Companies Research Articles

Cost Inefficiency of Japanese Railway Companies and Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Transformation

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected railway businesses. The motivation of this study is to provide vital information to railway company management and policymakers by quantitatively assessing the cost efficiency of railway operations. We examine the efficiency of Japanese listed railway companies by applying stochastic frontier analysis to their operational and financial data from 2005 to 2020. Then, we classify the companies into four groups by cost efficiency levels and identify the characteristics of the best-practice companies. Furthermore, we analyze the factors influencing cost efficiency before and during the pandemic. Finally, we discuss the sustainable business practices and measures of digital transformation (DX) that can be applied to improve efficiency and survive severe events like the pandemic. From the results, we reveal that cost-efficient companies succeeded in securing profits through the creation of new services by proactive DX investments. The practical contributions of this study are threefold: quantifying the deterioration in efficiency due to the pandemic; identifying characteristics of best-practice companies; and examining the relationship between cost efficiency levels and concrete measures and investments for sustainable business practices. This study proposes a new analytical framework that combines conventional methods.

A Practical Approach to Companies’ Transformation toward Product Longevity: A Best-Case Study

Product longevity is a key to improving the sustainability of production and consumption patterns. However, at many companies, extending product longevity requires overcoming several complex barriers. Identifying how to begin this process can be difficult; moreover, the available solutions may seem too complex or radical and, therefore, may be ignored as viable options. The purpose of this paper is to study the approaches and decision patterns that enable best-practice companies to produce high-longevity products. We aim to map approaches to implementing product longevity through a multiple-case study of 18 best-practice companies that systematically work to ensure product longevity. Through interviews with developers, CFOs and CEOs at companies that strive to design and produce long-lasting products, we identify three key types of approaches to implementing product longevity: performance-driven, behavioural change-driven and vision-driven approaches. This study reveals several types of approaches to implementing product longevity successfully. This contribution advances our understanding of how companies can engage with and foster product longevity at different stages of the development process.

SOCIAL INVESTMENT IN CORPORATION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN UKRAINE

The article is devoted to identify the need for social investment in the activities of Ukrainian corporations in formulating a social responsibility strategy. The purpose of the article is to investigate the development of social investment in the activities of corporations to determine the main directions of social responsibility in the formation of the strategy of Ukrainian companies. The methodological survey was conducted using a social investment index based on data from the official e-CSR website, non-financial reports of Ukrainian best-practice companies and corporate sustainability reports. The article is investigated definition of social investment as a subjects of the investment process, types of social investments. It is calculated the social investment index of Ukranian best-practice companies with responsible investing practices (PJSC «Mironovsky Bakery», DTEK, NNEGC Energoatom, PJSC Arcelor Mittal Kryviy Rih, NJSC «Ukrenergo», LLC Lifefell, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, LLC «Nova Poshta», SCM, PJSC Carlsberg Ukraine). The analysis allowed to determine the effective and destructive directions of doing socially responsible business which is based on selected indicators. The results allowed us to identify key barriers to social investing and the main directions of development of corporate social investment in Ukraine: increase of transparency of corporate activity, information awareness of business on the development of social investments in the national market, ensuring the ethics of doing business and adhering to the principles of integrity in the implementation of company development strategies, improving product quality in accordance with international standards.

Profit Efficiency and Its Determinants: A Comparative Analysis of Energy and Non-Energy Sectors of Pakistan using Stochastic Frontier Approach

This study examines profit efficiency and its determinants in the corporate sector of Pakistan during the study period by using a stochastic frontier approach (SFA), specified by Battese and Coelli (1995). A balanced panel data of 30 companies, 22 manufacturing, and 8 energy companies for the period 2009–2018 was constructed for the empirical analysis. All the required data for the analysis were obtained from various annual reports of the company and its official website. The study found that the profit efficiency of the corporate sector of Pakistan is increasing over the study period. However, on average, overall companies have met only 35.75% of their profit-generating potentialities relative to the best-practice companies, due to inefficiency, which is arising within the companies supported by a degree of variance value which is 75.75%. Companies in the energy sector have greater profit efficiency (52%) than the non-energy sector (39%). Further overall efficiency effects model shows that firm-age, labor productivity, export orientation, and firm-size are positively related to the profit efficiency of companies in Pakistan. However, labor productivity and export orientation are negatively correlated in the manufacturing sector but positively correlated with profit efficiency in the energy sector. Whereas firm size is positively related to profit efficiency in the manufacturing sector but has an insignificant relationship in the energy sector. The research findings can help managers and policymakers of the corporate sector of Pakistan in managing the level of efficiency in energy and non-energy companies and implications of strategies for improving organization efficiency by considering determinant factors and driving policies that influence profit efficiency under each sector.

Hoteliers’ service design for mobile-based value co-creation

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how hoteliers leverage mobile technologies to shape services that allow customers to create their own unique and personalized experiences.Design/methodology/approachGuided by service-dominant logic and sociomateriality, this study analyzes hoteliers’ reasoning behind the design of mobile-based services through qualitative research. Data were collected from interviews with hotel managers representing best-practice companies in the industry.FindingsThe findings provide a rich description of mobile-based value co-creation in the hotel context. They delineate hoteliers’ understanding of mobile technologies as a means to co-create value, their strategic considerations and the forms in which value is expected to be co-created.Research limitations/implicationsThis study unearths the new roles of hoteliers, unique forms of value co-creation and their underlying structures in the specific context of mobile-based value co-creation. Practical implications based on industry best practices are provided for hospitality companies seeking to innovate by co-creating value with customers using mobile technologies.Originality/valueThis research paper contributes to the hospitality literature on IT-enabled service innovation and value co-creation by comprehensively explaining the underlying structure and design of co-created experiences facilitated by mobile-based services.

Leave saving options over the life course – only for the highly skilled? Evidence from two German best-practice companies

ABSTRACTIndividual leave saving options provide new options to employees to improve their employability and work–life balance over the life course. They are based on a simple idea: Employees can deposit overtime hours or portions of due remuneration in a time credit account and withdraw them at a later point in time in order to take prolonged periods of leave for care, training, or leisure activities. It is the leading question of this article as to what extent and in which way these options are factually used by different categories of employees. By reviewing existing studies in the Netherlands and by analysing German employee data the article reveals constraints in the accessibility of leave saving options. On the basis of transaction cost theory hypotheses are formulated regarding different uses of leave saving options by age, gender, and occupational status. These hypotheses are tested using regression analysis and employee data from two German best-practice companies. They show evidence for significant restrictions in terms of a high degree of selectivity with regard to age, skill and income levels. Based on these findings recommendations for future research and working time policies are discussed.

Logistics learning mechanisms and capabilities: towards an understanding of sustainable competitive advantage

This study explores the relationship between logistics capabilities and sustainable competitive advantage by using the notion of learning mechanisms. It is argued that a set of processes of learning mechanisms may serve as a source of dynamic capabilities that create, develop and maintain logistics capabilities in their role as source of a company’s sustainable competitive advantage. The learning mechanisms, in the form of experience accumulation, knowledge articulation and codification, are identified in two best-practice companies within logistics. Results imply that the origin of the sustainability of a logistics-based company’s competitive advantage may be found in the dynamics of organisational learning, ultimately based on trial and error and experience accumulation. As such, the research elaborates on the connection between logistics capabilities and strategic competitive advantage, with learning as mediating dynamic capability.

Benchmarking-based process reengineering for construction management

In order to determine the most suited best practice processes to be implemented, a benchmarked company must conduct an accurate analysis of the gaps between best-practice processes and its own processes in order to redesign business processes successfully. This study applies benchmarking to BPR and meanwhile integrates semantic similarities and trend model concepts to develop a benchmarking-oriented process reengineering (BOPR) approach that will enable a project team to determine the best-practice company process most suited to benchmarked company needs. In BOPR approach, the concepts of semantic similarities analysis was applied to find the semantic-related objects between best-practice processes and benchmarking process; and the trend model methodology was applied to evaluate the degree of communication ease for best-practice processes once such are implemented in the benchmarked company. Finally, a procurement process case study from best-practice companies was analyzed to validate the feasibility of the developed BOPR method. In the case study, the BOPR method was implemented for the benchmarked company to assist the project team to determine the best choice paradigm for their benchmarking project.

Managing customer satisfaction through efficient listening tools: an evaluation of best practice in four world-class companies

Measuring customer satisfaction leads to identifying ways to improve product/service quality, which in turn leads to increasing the company's competitive advantage. This best-practice study examines four world-class companies, two of which are multinational corporations and the others are two of the largest companies in the UK. One of the objectives of this study is to examine how best-practice companies use various listening tools to obtain information about customers' needs, preferences, and perceptions of their performance. Another is to identify some best practices, which are salient activities for managing customer perception and satisfaction. The primary contribution of this article is its discussion of a variety of different customer listening tools used by firms and the creation of both a fitness framework and an implementation framework.

Optimizing the Stage-Gate Process: What Best-Practice Companies Do—II

OVERVIEW:With effective and systematic new product processes in place, the best-practice companies are turning toward improving their project selection process—the gates. With too many projects for the limited resources available, these companies are building tough gates into the new product process, using a scorecard method at gates to rate and prioritize projects, engaging senior management in the decision process, and improving the efficiency of gates through such means as virtual gates and self-managed gates. They also recognize that portfolio management must be integrated into the gating process in order to yield the right mix, balance and number of projects, and to deal with the challenge of maximizing the value of the portfolio and ensuring that it reflects their business's product innovation strategy.

Optimizing the Stage-Gate Process: What Best-Practice Companies Do—I

OVERVIEW:Now that most companies have implemented a systematic new product process to drive projects from idea to launch, the best-practice companies are improving their processes to make them both faster and more effective. With breakthrough ideas and home-run projects in short supply, some companies are adding a Discovery stage to the front end of the process in order to generate better ideas. Activities in this new stage include: building in an idea capture and handling system; doing voice of customer research work, including “camping out” with customers and working with innovative users; generating scenarios; and holding major revenue-generating events. Best-practice companies are also harnessing fundamental research more effectively by implementing a novel stage-gate approach.

The employee recruitment and retention handbook

Competition for skilled employees is fierce! This book provides comprehensive, practical advice to employers to get and keep the people they need. It covers such vital topics as what workers want--including a sense of making a real impact in their jobs and getting learning opportunities; why workers leave--sometimes just because they can (it's so easy to find a new job), often because they feel undervalued or bored where they are; and what best-practice companies are doing to attract and retain the talent necessary to remain competitive. Expert Diane Arthur discusses: Both traditional and new strategies, including a huge array of special incentives and perks Online recruiting via sites like Monster.com or a company's own Web site Successful programs from Cisco Systems, Bank of Boston, Eli Lilly, McDonald's, and dozens of other companies, including many small firms Competency-based recruiting and interviewing, contingent workers, telecommuting and other alternative work arrangements, future trends, and more.

Actions for integrating environmental aspects into product development

The paper is based on twenty-eight interviews in four Swedish companies – three of which consider themselves as the best practitioners in Evironmentally Conscious Design (ECD) and one that has recently begun to integrate environmental features into product development (referred to as the non-practice company). Based on earlier research, several important factors for a successful change in product development were investigated. The need to integrate environmental concerns into the non-practice company's product development is described, along with problems arising from the implementation of ECD and the solutions adopted by the best-practice companies. Lastly, six ways of integrating environmental aspects are identified in the areas management, individual behaviour, resources, formal product development procedures, support tools, and competence development.

“TAP-IN” to strategic and tactical intelligence in the sales and marketing functions

This article describes the results of a benchmarking study of mechanisms used in corporate CI operations to coordinate strategic and tactical intelligence for sales and marketing. The American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) sponsored the study, for which the authors served as subject-matter experts. The objective was to identify a set of mechanisms that establish a conceptual and operational integration of strategic and tactical intelligence. In-depth case studies of five best-practice companies (Amoco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dow Chemical, Met Life, and SBC), supplemented with quantitative surveys from an additional nine firms, provided the study data. The findings show that best-practice firms use a set of five coordinating mechanisms that the authors label TAP-IN™: (1) Teams, (2) CI human-resource job design and Allocation, (3) the Planning process, (4) Interaction (dialogue), and (5) human intelligence Networks. The use of these five mechanisms in tandem provides a sophisticated means of coordinating strategic and tactical intelligence in the sales and marketing functions and throughout the firm. All of the companies in the sample used the TAP-IN mechanisms to some degree. The data reveal a relationship between the number of mechanisms used by a company and the overall effectiveness of the coordination process. For instance, Dow Chemical and Amoco used all five mechanisms. These two companies also reported they were able to achieve coordination between strategic and tactical intelligence to a very high degree. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.