Business Demands Research Articles

Hiring Expert Talent in a Recession: Targeted Labor Pool Sourcing and Firm Performance

Extant research suggests that hiring experts during economic downturns can improve firm financial performance. However, recessionary labor markets deepen the challenges facing hiring firms, calling to question both the firm-level benefits and the tactics of acquiring talent when demand for a firm's business is declining. We theorize and find that hiring expert talent during a recession actually weakens firm performance in the context of knowledge-based services. Notably though, we find firms can effectively attenuate the negative hiring effect by targeting particular labor pools, underlining the significance of gaining human capital advantages through focused sourcing. We test our hypotheses using a longitudinal sample of large U.S. corporate law firms between 2002 and 2010.

ADAPTATION AND PRODUCTION AS KEY FACTORS FOR ESP COURSE DESIGN IN TERTIARY EDUCATION

В статье рассматриваются АСЦ курсы (английский для специальных целей), которые являются более доминирующими и прогрессивными подходами преподавания языка в системе высшего образования. АСЦ курсы ориентированы на конкретные профессии и связаны с языковыми потребностями студентов. В статье обсуждаются как роль анализа потребностей и выбора материалов, так и адаптация материалов в соответствии с конкретными требованиями специальностей и изменениями бизнес-среды. Импликация результатов исследования заключается в том, что АСЦ курсы должны быть более приспособленными к потребностям учащихся, ориентированы на производственные навыки, словарный запас и специализированные функции языка.

The Communication and Function Architecture Research of Integrated Energy Management System for Building

There is a huge energy-saving potential for building, and the building usually have flexible adjustable resources, such as photovoltaic power generation system, air-conditioning system and lighting system, etc. The construction of building integrated energy management system can promote building energy efficiency, reduce building user’s energy expenditure, in addition which can help the power system to improve its energy efficiency. This paper designed the communication architecture of building integrated energy management system on the basis of wireless sensor network, which improves the convenience and reliability of building internal information interaction; In view of the business demand about typical energy-using equipment energy efficiency management and flexible adjustable resources participating in demand response in the building, the function architecture of integrated energy management system was researched. By trial-manufacture the building integrated energy management system, the proposed communication architecture and function architecture conform to the actual demand of building energy efficiency and demand response.

In vitro shoots from root explant, their encapsulation, storage, plant recovery and genetic fidelity assessment of Limonium hybrid ‘Misty Blue’: a florist plant

Limonium ‘Misty Blue’ is an interspecific hybrid of Limonium latifolium and L. bellidifolium and has a huge demand in floriculture business as both fresh and dry flowers with stunning purple-blue blooms. The propagation only through vegetative means restrict the popularization of this plant to the flower growers. We therefore optimized an efficient micropropagation protocol for direct organogenesis from root explants, as leaf is not conducible to respond in culture. 61.43% of root explants directly formed shoot buds on their surface after 4-weeks of culture in media containing ½ MS, 43.82 mM sucrose 2.22 µM BA and 1.07 µM NAA. The shoot buds failed to differentiate into healthy shoots unless the previous medium was replaced by full strength MS, and 87.64 mM sucrose along with 0.44 µM BA and 1.07 µM NAA. Encapsulations of juvenile shoots were carried out by 3% sodium alginate and 100 mM CaCl2 which were again successfully stored at 4 °C for 30 days along with 56.79% of plant recovery in MS + 0.44 µM BA + 4.5 µM IBA + 87.64 mM sucrose containing medium. 150 synthetic seed derived full grown plants were successfully acclimatized in green house, where a total of 101 plants survived after secondary hardening. The ISSR analysis revealed genetic homogeneity of synthetic seed derived hardened plants.

Developing a regional economy through creative industries: innovation capacity in a regional Australian city

ABSTRACTCreative industries are driving economic growth across the world with their employment of innovation methodologies, including Co-creation and Design Thinking, which has spawned disruptive but beneficial business models. Creative industries are, therefore, cross-pollinating their ideas within other business sectors, primarily in major urban areas. This study examined whether those same innovation methodologies are used and can grow a regional economy, specifically in Townsville, Australia. Surveys and interviews were employed to gauge local business demand for creative industries services and also the creative industries sectors’ understanding of human-centred innovation methodologies and the potential for their use. Survey and interview results indicate confusion about the specifics of innovation methodologies – particularly in engaging with the end-users of services – but there is a general support for their use in the wider business community. Interviews with business owners highlighted a willingness to engage with regional creative industries, but concerns were raised about the affordability of such business services when compared to services offered in major urban centres. The findings propose that there is strong potential for creative industries to grow a regional economy, in this case Townsville in northern Australia, but only if the creative sector markets itself better to the wider business community.

Electricity Generation with Conventional and Nonconventional Energy Technologies in Dudhali Village

Objective: To generate the energy with the help of conventional and non-conventional sources. Methods: Energy shortage is the major threat for economic development and Rural Electrification can improve the standard of a country. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) gives a report about Uttarakhand and accordingly near about 123 numbers of villages are still not electrified due to shortage of transmission line, this problem can be solved by stand alone system. This paper is a best off grid hybrid system model with the help of HOMER software. Finding: This paper suggests the best Hybrid system for electricity production with the help of conventional and non-Conventional resources to assure the electrical needs of distant village, Dudhali in Uttarakhand state, and estimates the domestic, business, agriculture and small industries demand, and identify the best off-grid alternative. This paper presents issues which disturbing in understanding of the best explanation. Application: One of the most universal concerns of the utilities is to reduce the emission from habitual energy system by using non conventional sources and to decrease the cost of electricity supply to distant areas. Hybrid systems can provide a good solution for such problems because they integrate renewable energy along with the traditional power plants.

The battery business: Lithium availability and the growth of the global electric car industry

This article presents a spatial analysis of lithium availability from the mid-twentieth century to the present time in order to clarify and contribute to the growing body of scholarship on the relationship between the global lithium supply and the viability of a modern, mass-market electric vehicle industry. Drawing on archival research conducted in Bolivia in 2012, this article advances the argument that the concept of ‘lithium scarcity’ is much more nuanced than is often portrayed. In addition, perceptions of a worldwide lithium shortage are more entangled with business demands for certain grades of lithium at certain price points rather than actual scarcity. This analysis of lithium availability is defined in terms of the basic tension between the supply of extractable lithium deposits on the one hand and the quality and price demands of battery manufacturers on the other. This tension has played a role in determining the evolution of the electric car from a luxury to a mass-market product and involves a host of complementary and competitive business and geopolitical actors.

Driver Accuracy in Identifying Food and Attraction Targets on Business Logo Signs: Impacts of Driver Age, Number of Panels, Logo Familiarity, and Logo Format

The standard business logo sign found along North Carolina highways contains six logos, in accordance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. As the population grows, the demand for business is increasing. Shifting from six-panel business logo signs to nine-panel signs would afford more businesses the opportunity to advertise in areas of high demand. The effects that such a change may have on the driving population are analyzed. Factors such as a driver’s age and familiarity with logos and logo format are taken into consideration. A change in the format of business logo signs is proposed not only to move from six to nine panels but also to improve the effectiveness of existing business logo signs.

Dynamic Semi-Group CIA Pattern Optimizing the Risk on RTS

The preventive control is one of the best well advance control for recent complex IS Security Application to protect the data and services from the uncertainty, hacker, and unauthorized users. Now, increasing the demand and importance of business, information & communication system & growing the external risks is a very common phenomenon for everywhere. The RTS security put forward to the management focus on IT infrastructure. This work contributes to the development of an optimization pattern that aims to determine the optimal cost to be apply into security mechanisms deciding on the measure components of system security and resources. The author's mechanism should be design in such way, the Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authenticity and Accountability are automatically PDC for all the time. The author has to optimize the system attacks and down time by implementing semi-group structure CIA pattern, mean while improving the throughput of the Business, Resources & Technology. Finally, the author has to maximize the protection of IT resources & Services for all the time and every time. This proposed CIA Pattern is the part of protection, detection, benchmarking, fault analysis and risk assessment of real time operating system and applicable to efficient resource management on web application.

Women's entrepreneurship in Northern Portugal: psychological factors versus contextual influences in the economic downturn

The study's purpose is to identify the psychological profile of women entrepreneurs, and assess the extent to which their entrepreneurial motivation may be influenced by the territorial and conjunctural contexts in which they operate, and by their capacity to reconcile the demands of family and business. A questionnaire was used to gather data on recent entrepreneurial initiatives by women in Northern Portugal. Structural equation models validated the links between women's dual role (family/business) and their psychological/cognitive profiles, their business start-up propensity and the firms' success. The study suggests that while a correlation exists between motivation and business environment that positively influenced women's start-up decisions and subsequent success, the motives underpinning decisions in rural and urban contexts differ. However, women prove capable of effectively managing their dual role as wife/mother and entrepreneur regardless of territorial context. The paper confirms women's capacity to reconcile the demands of work and family as a key variable, offers tentative conclusions as to how the current economic and financial crisis may influence women's entrepreneurial motivation, and recommends new directions in research that may better inform entrepreneurship theory, practice, policies and teaching.

Black gold: corporate diplomatic ties of Maersk in Brazil

During the last three decades, globalisation has intensively pushed companies towards internationalisation. Corporations have become more independent state-like with diplomatic relations with other foreign official government in order to accompany these business demands, create risk-mitigating strategies, and gain legitimacy. The aim of this article is to explore the perceived role of corporate diplomacy on the complex relationship between Maersk Group, the Brazilian Governments and stakeholders involved in the oil and gas market. In order to understand the process of corporate diplomacy of the company, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Brazilian Government officials, Danish diplomats and Maersk employees. Findings reveal the strategic importance of corporate diplomacy for Maersk business in Brazil. Personal diplomatic ties forged with Maersk's representatives and Brazilian and Danish authorities are key to boost their objectives. It also shows the importance of the Danish diplomatic mission helping the company to gain access to government authorities.

Уважение к научному сообществу как предпосылка доверия к институту науки в современной России

This article presents the dynamics of respect for the scientific community and confidence in Institute of Science in Russia. Respect and confidence are analyzed as temporal characteristics of social relationships. Respect is based on the projection of previous achievements and merits on to the present. And confidence is secured in the future. It is shown that, despite a high degree of confidence in the Russian Academy of Sciences, the credibility of scientists is declining. The author sees the reasons for this in the low respect for the scientific community in modern Russia. The history of the Institute of Science and the scientific community in Russia in the Petrine reforms is traced, and their commitment to official functions in relation to the state. In the Soviet period, the need for advanced scientific research and development to ensure defense and indicate advantages of the Soviet system to create conditions for progress turned science into one of the most important institutions and scientists into a respected social group. Scientific work became one of the most reliable lifts of social mobility. In the stagnation period, the intensity of scientific research and development implementation into the economy decreased, however, the high prestige of the scientist status led to an increase in imitation science activities. During the reform period in the 1990-s, respect for the scientific community slumped because of the absence of government and business demand of scientific research and development, downturn of scientists living standards, and loss of the science career attractiveness against the background of the growth of values of wealth and material success. The decrease in respect for the scientific community will lead to a further decline of confidence in science and scientists.

Evaluating recruitment consultants using performance appraisal as a tool for IT and manufacturing companies

It has become evident in today's scenario that majority of companies (especially IT and manufacturing) and recruitment consultants go in tandem owing to the increasing business demands and manpower requirements. One of the key challenges faced by IT and manufacturing companies is the effective evaluation of consultants for efficient vendor management. In the current scenario, no standardised procedure exists to help IT and manufacturing companies in making decisions about what to expect from each consultant, the basis for retention or rejection decisions, giving apt feedback to the consultant and fixing of performance-linked remuneration for the consultant. Thus, evaluating the consultant is vital as it gives a sense of accountability and direction for the consultants to adhere to their promises and compete with their competitors in a better way. This paper aims at providing a performance appraisal model as a tool to evaluate consultants. Using appraisal as a tool to evaluate the performance of consultants ensures quality service by the consultants and also enables the IT and manufacturing companies to provide effective and constructive feedback to the consultants.

Дослідження контенту українського медіаринку

Given that the effective management of TV business demands a lot of data from various methods of marketing research, we defined the main objective of this study as analysis of the Ukrainian TV producers’ content. In our study we applied the methodology of quantitative online-survey of respondents about product proposals and motivational advantages. 460 respondents from all regions of Ukraine, except the Crimea, took part in our online-survey, that insured its representativeness. The content of Ukrainian TV channels was determined through the quantitative method of assessing the particular product and understanding the prospects for its development in the media market. The motivational advantages of the audience were explored relating to consumer advantages in terms of viewing, rating, advertising, packaging, and type of products. Respondents’ attitude to the products in terms of the attractiveness of brands of competing enterprises was studied. The results of this measurement will help to study the attitude of consumers to the content and development of the media market, as well as to identify the advantages and shortcomings of the existing business processes on TV due to the intensive integration of TV resources into the Internet. The main conclusion of our study proves the significance of survey method for expanding and refining knowledge about the audience’s benefits for making effective management decisions.

Human resource flexibility and organisational effectiveness: mediating role of organisational citizenship behaviour

The study examines the influence of human resource (HR) flexibility on organisational effectiveness. It also examines the mediating role of organisational citizenship behaviour between HR flexibility and organisational effectiveness. Using structural equation modelling on survey data collected from 350 executive respondents randomly selected from various manufacturing industries of public sector organisations in India, the study has revealed significant influence of HR flexibility on organisational effectiveness. The findings also reported that organisational citizenship behaviour has significant mediating effect on the relationship between HR flexibility and organisational effectiveness. The findings have very important implications for organisations to nurture good citizenship behaviour among its executives to achieve optimum organisational effectiveness. The study also suggests that HR flexibility is the essence for any organisation to deal with the global business demands in a timely manner. Thus organisations must practise HR flexibility for maximum benefit with minimum investment in its HRs. The future scopes of the research along with other managerial implications are discussed in the light of empirical evidences.

CARACTERÍSTICAS E PROCESSOS INTRAGRUPO E ALINHAMENTO OPERACIONAL TI-NEGÓCIO

Although the literature on business-IT alignment is substantial, longitudinal studies on the social aspects of the alignment process are still relatively scarce. In this paper, we identify the social factors related to the characteristics and processes of multifunctional work groups that influence the process of operationally aligning IT services and business demands in organizations. To this end, we conducted an in-depth qualitative research on a self-managed cross-functional team composed of business and IT representatives who dealt with systems requirements in a multinational aeronautics turbine maintenance company in Brazil. We assessed the elements of Cohen and Bailey’s (1997) group efficacy model, the roles described by Mathieu et al. (2015), as well the level of operational alignment in that context, over the years the team had been meeting. Our results highlight the importance of team characteristics and processes for the development of business-IT operational alignment.

10-225 「リーダ技術者」向け研修プログラムにみる技術者教育の変化 : 研修プログラムは事業所の教育ニーズや受講者の熱い思いを糧に成長・進化する(オーガナイズドセッション:企業における技術者継続教育-技術に携わる人の育成,口頭発表論文)

10-225 「リーダ技術者」向け研修プログラムにみる技術者教育の変化 : 研修プログラムは事業所の教育ニーズや受講者の熱い思いを糧に成長・進化する(オーガナイズドセッション:企業における技術者継続教育-技術に携わる人の育成,口頭発表論文)

Enterprise Application Integration in Industrial Integration: A Literature Review

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is an important factor in the success of the enterprise application as standalone applications cannot contribute to the success of the increasing business demand of today. There has been a steady growth in the number of research conducted in this field; as such, there is a need to review the research in this field. This paper conducts an extensive review on 44 journal publications in the field of EAI from 1992 to 2015 available in Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) database. The aim of this paper is to present scholars and practitioners with a detailed overview of the available research in the field of EAI. The selected papers have been grouped into 13 categories. The contents of papers in each categories are summarized and future research direction for each category is outlined. This overview indicates that the research in EAI that has spanned from late 90’s till date, requires more effort in developing new methodologies and framework to integrate enterprise applications that are the need of today’s growing business that venture into new technologies like cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT).

Benefits and tensions in delivering public health in community pharmacies - a qualitative study of healthy living pharmacy staff champions.

Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLP) were introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) in a further attempt to deliver public health benefits in community pharmacy settings. Central to the initiative are staff trained as Healthy Living Champions (HLC) and this study sought to explore HLC perceptions of positive and negative aspect of their work and the wider scheme. A qualitative study was undertaken with a purposive sample of HLCs working in pathfinder HCPs in the Sheffield area in 2014. Participants were recruited by email to either a focus group (n = 7) held at a training event or later semi-structured one-to-one interviews in pharmacies (n = 6). Four stages of interpretative phenomenological analysis were used to code and identify themes. Four main themes emerged relating to the positive workforce development impact HLPs had upon HLCs themselves and on perceived customer and patient engagement and benefits. Tensions were identified with existing commercial business demands and negative views overall of the pharmacy setting with a perceived lack of not only integration with other services but also awareness among the public and health care staff. HLCs felt empowered and more confident in initiating conversation about health issues with patients, but identified barriers relating to workload, a lack of time to perform their role, isolation, tensions with non-HLC staff and logistical barriers such as poor Internet access. Delivering public health activities through the HLC role in UK pharmacies is associated with several perceived benefits for different stakeholders, but may be threatened by well recognised barriers in UK pharmacies related to the commercial setting.

Aconitum biotechnology: recent trends and emerging perspectives

The genus Aconitum (consists more than 250 species) is one of the most important clades of highly valued medicinal plants. Aconitum species are very essential in the traditional device of medication and feature excessive business demand in the herbal marketplace. Some of biologically energetic compounds, e.g., aconitine, indaconitine, pseudoacontine, and so on, had been recognized, and new formulations primarily based on those compounds are being produced as rapid rate. This has led to extensive and rather unregulated exploitation of the species in the wild making the genus a threatened group. Conventional breeding and propagation methods have contributed significantly, but these could not meet up with the ever increasing demands of herbal drug industry globally. Biotechnological interventions, therefore, emerge as an alternative approach in terms of higher production and conservation as well. In recent years, several reports have been published on in vitro propagation of various important Aconitum species. However, advanced biotechnological approaches, such as synthetic seed production and hairy root cultures, are still lacking with only a few reports available. The current review presents an updated overview and critical assessment of secondary data concerning the past and recent biotechnological approaches and interventions in genus Aconitum. This review also attempts to provide a detailed account of work explored so far in micropropagation and emphasizes over the areas not attempted yet, which will act as a baseline data as well as valuable information for different stakeholders and researchers working on various aspects of Aconitum biotechnology.