Customer Pressure Research Articles

Results of ultrasound-assisted brace casting for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

BackgroundFour factors have been reported to affect brace treatment outcome: (1) growth or curve based risk, (2) the in-brace correction, (3) the brace wear quantity, and (4) the brace wear quality. The quality of brace design affects the in-brace correction and comfort which indirectly affects the brace wear quantity and quality. This paper reported the immediate benefits and results on using ultrasound (US) to aid orthotists to design braces for the treatment of scoliosis.MethodsThirty-four AIS subjects participated in this study with 17 (2 males, 15 females) in the control group and 17 (2 males, 15 females) in the intervention (US) group. All participants were prescribed full time TLSO, constructed by either of the 2 orthotists in fabrication of spinal braces. For the control group, the Providence brace design system was adopted to design full time braces. For the intervention group, the custom standing Providence brace design system, plus a medical ultrasound system, a custom pressure measurement system and an in-house software were used to assist brace casting.ResultsIn the control group, 8 of 17 (47%) subjects needed a total of 11 brace adjustments after initial fabrication requiring a total of 28 in-brace radiographs. Three subjects (18%) required a second adjustment. For the US group, only 1 subject (6%) required adjustment. The total number of in-brace radiographs was 18. The p value of the chi-square for requiring brace adjustment was 0.006 which was a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In the intervention group, the immediate in-brace correction as measured from radiographs was 48 ± 17%, and in the control group the first and second in-brace correction was 33 ± 19% and 40 ± 20%, respectively. The unpaired 2 sided Student’s t test of the in-brace correction was significantly different between the US and the first follow-up of the control group (p = 0.02), but was not significant after the second brace adjustment (p = 0.22).ConclusionsThe use of the 3D ultrasound system provided a radiation-free method to determine the optimum pressure level and location to assist brace design, resulting in decreased radiation exposure during follow-up brace evaluation, increased the in-brace correction, reduced the patients’ visits to both brace adjustment and scoliosis clinics. However, the final outcomes could not be reported yet as some of patients are still under brace treatment.Trial registrationNCT02996643, retrospectively registered in 16 December 2016

Factors Influencing ISO 14001 Firm’s Perceived Environmental Performance in Malaysia

The changes in the global environmental conditions have placed great challenges on governments, industries, and societies. Business organizations are often blamed for being the sources of theseenvironmental problems. This study aimed to examine the factors influencing the perceived environmental performance of firms certified under the ISO 14001 in Malaysia. A total of 268 manufacturing companies responded to the questionnaires. In this study, structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses. It was found that the “environmental policy”, “environmental training”, “regulatory stakeholder’s pressures”, and “customer pressures”, influence the firm’s perceived environmental performance in which “customer pressures”, was found to be the dominant factor. The measure of environmental performance was self-reported due to the lack of available data. Therefore, perceived environmental performance was employed for this study which is aperceived measure based on the dimensions of the ISO 14001 definition. This study provided a model to synthesize both internal (environmental policy and environmental training) and external (regulatory stakeholder’s pressure and customer pressures) constructs that influenced a firm’sperceived environmental performance. The empirical results and insights from interviews shed lights on the practitioners as to how to enhance a firm’s environmental performance through green practices.

Analyzing sustainable manufacturing practices – A case study in Indian context

Rising advancements in manufacturing sectors force manufacturers to rethink and redesign their existing systems in order to cope with the challenges that emerged with globalization and environmental concerns. An increase in customer awareness and pressures from stakeholders shifted manufacturers' focus; no longer were financial benefits the primary concern in the contemporary business environment. As a result, many innovative strategies were brought into the realm of manufacturing systems, such as lean, green, agile, and sustainable manufacturing practices. Sustainable manufacturing has been praised in recent years for its significant benefits directed at triple bottom line factors (social, environmental, and financial), but the majority of manufacturing strategies remain limited to either one or two factors. No reliable guidelines exist to guarantee the successful implementation of sustainable manufacturing; available literature fails to explore such a complex research topic. Minding this gap, this study takes the opportunity to analyze and identify effective sustainable manufacturing practices that may help in a specific domain. This study proposes a framework to achieve the research aim in an Indian context, where sustainability issues are especially relevant. Initially, the common sustainable manufacturing practices are collected from literature resources and validated with focus groups. Then, the collected practices are compared with one another with the assistance of case industry decision makers. To analyze the practices, a multi-criteria decision making methodology was adopted, specifically DEMATEL. From the case results, we determine that among 22 common sustainable manufacturing practices, promoting 6R (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign, and remanufacture) concepts reveals the greatest influence on implementation. Clearly, focusing on 6R concepts will effectively improve sustainable manufacturing implementation in the organization. Finally, this study sheds some light on the future opportunities hidden in this research area by providing contributions towards both scientific and social means.

Trunk Function and Ischial Pressure Offloading in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Objective: To determine if there is a relationship between trunk function and offloading of the ischial tuberosities in individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Design: Prospective cross-sectional evaluation. Setting: Sub-acute rehabilitation hospital. Participants: Fifteen non-ambulatory participants with complete or incomplete traumatic and non-traumatic SCI, American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS), Classification A-D. Outcome Measures: Isometric trunk strength using a hand held dynamometer, the ability to reach using the multidirectional reach test and offloading times of the ischial tuberosities using a customized pressure mat. Results: Participants who were able to engage in the multidirectional reach test were defined as “Reachers”, whereas individuals who were unable to engage in the multidirectional reach test were defined as “Non-Reachers”. Trunk strength was significantly higher in Reachers compared with Non-Reachers (P < 0.05). Offloading times over the left and right ischial tuberosities were lower in Non-Reachers when compared with Reachers, however the results were statistically significant only for offloading over the right ischial tuberosity (P < 0.05). There was no correlation between trunk strength and pressure offloading times for both groups. Conclusions: Regardless of an individual's ability to engage in a reaching task, participants with spinal cord injury spent more time offloading the left ischial tuberosity compared with the right ischial tuberosity. The study highlights the need to identify factors that may contribute to offloading behavior in individuals with spinal cord injury who lack sufficient trunk strength.

Forecasting social CRM adoption in SMEs: A combined SEM-neural network method

The growth of social media usage questions the old-style idea of customer relationship management (CRM). Social CRM strategy is a novel version of CRM empowered by social media technology that offers a new way of managing relationships with customers effectively. This study aims to forecast the predictors of social CRM strategy adoption by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The proposed model used in this study derived its theoretical support from IT/IS, marketing, and CRM literature. In the proposed Technology-Organization-Environment-Process (TOEP) adoption model, several hypotheses are developed which examine the role of Technological factors, such as Cost of Adoption, Relative Advantages, Complexity, and Compatibility; Organizational factors, such as IT/IS knowledge of employee, and Top management support; Environmental factors such as Competitive Pressure, and Customer Pressure; and Process factors such as Information Capture, Information Use, and Information Sharing; all having a positive relationship with social CRM adoption. This research applied a following two staged SEM-neural network method combining both structural equation modelling (SEM) and neural network analyses. The proposed hypothetical model is examined by using SEM on the collected data of SMEs in Kuala Lumpur, the central city of Malaysia. The SEM approach with a neural network method can be used to investigate the complicated relations involved in the adoption of social CRM. The study finds that compatibility, information capture, IT/IS knowledge of employee, top management support, information sharing, competitive pressure, cost, relative advantage, and customer pressure are the most important factors influencing social CRM adoption. Remarkably, the results of neural network analysis show that compatibility and information capture of social CRM are the most significant factors which affect SMEs' adoption of this form of customer relationship management. The outcomes of this research benefit executives' decision-making by identifying and ranking factors that enable them to discover how they can advance the usage of social CRM in their firms. Furthermore, the findings of this study can help the managers/owners of SMEs assign their resources, according to the ranking of social CRM adoption factors, when they are making plans to adopt social CRM. This study differs from previous studies as it proposes an innovative new approach to determine what influences the adoption of social CRM. By proposing the TOEP adoption model, additional information process factors advance the traditional TOE adoption model.

Designing and providing integrated product-service systems – challenges, opportunities and solutions resulting from prescriptive approaches in two industrial companies

Due to customer pressure and growing competition, industrial companies are increasingly moving towards providing integrated offerings of products and services (PSS). Despite this trend, literature providing a deep understanding of the challenges associated with this transition is limited, while publications discussing approaches that focus on overcoming these challenges are particularly lacking. This article is based on a multi-case study of two Swedish industrial companies undergoing the transition to designing and providing PSS. It reports on the challenges identified at the case companies as well as opportunities arising from and solutions to these challenges. Subsequent to initial research on the challenges, prescriptive approaches such as a life cycle costing method and a PSS design method were applied in the case companies over an extended time frame. On the one hand, these prescriptive approaches provided both a deeper understanding of the challenges, which include a persistent product centred mindset, a lack of adjustment to changed incentive structures and the separation of product and service design. On the other hand, they also led to effective solutions such as focusing on customer value and introducing a PSS transition facilitator for the design team. These solutions were adapted to the situations in the respective companies and they partly went beyond the prescriptive measures first introduced. Therefore, the article shows the applicability of prescriptive approaches and methods to detect, understand and alleviate the challenges of PSS design and provision. Further, the article provides broadly applicable learning for industrial companies undergoing this process.

The Impact of Institutional Pressures on Green Supply Chain Management and Firm Performance: Top Management Roles and Social Capital

This study investigates the impact of three institutional pressures, namely government, customer, and competitor pressures, on the environmental and operational performance of firms. These three institutional pressures are examined by implementing green supply chain management, considering the role of top management and studying social capital between buyers and suppliers in the supply chain. Data were collected through an electronic mail survey from buyer firms in the manufacturing industry in Korea. With 241 complete and usable responses, we used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Our findings revealed that the majority of our hypotheses were supported, which is in line with the existing literature. However, the impact of coercive pressure on top management support and the impact of structural social capital on performance were found to be insignificant. The major contribution of our study is that it broadens the framework of green supply chain management (GSCM) by integrating major and recent constructs in the GSCM theory, while also providing instructive managerial implications through empirical evidence.

Determinants and outcomes of environmental practices in Malaysian construction projects

Construction activities produce an enormous quantity of waste and consume massive amounts of energy. These activities have considerable environmental effects and have resulted in mounting demand to implement environmental practices (EP) at all levels in the construction industry. The present study investigates the determinants of EP implementation in construction projects and the impacts of such practices on the environmental and economic performance of construction firms. Data were gathered from a survey of 210 firms that were part of project teams in the Malaysian construction industry, and these data were analysed using the partial least squares technique. The results indicate that organizational support, customer pressure, and regulatory pressure have a positive impact on implementing EP in construction projects and that implementing EP has a positive effect on the environmental and economic performance of construction firms. The research results provide valuable information for understanding the determinants and outcomes of EP and are particularly critical for improved assessments of the effectiveness of EP investments to reduce the negative environmental impacts of construction activities.

Applying the TOE framework in the Halal warehouse adoption study

PurposeThis study aims to identify the contributing factors to the adoption of Halal warehousing services among Malaysia Halal manufacturers.Design/methodology/approachA survey, based on the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework, was distributed to 200 participants at the Malaysia International Halal Showcase 2013. Of these, 140 responses were complete, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modelling approach and SMART-PLS 2.0 software.FindingsPerceived benefits, cost, customer pressure and organizational readiness were found to have a significant relationship with Halal manufacturers’ intention to adopt Halal warehousing services. Perceived benefits, customer pressure and organizational readiness were the drivers of adoption, and cost was a barrier.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper examines the factors affecting Malaysian Halal manufacturers’ intention to adopt Halal warehousing services in three industries, food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.Practical implicationsThe results provide insights into the adoption of Halal warehousing among Malaysian Halal manufacturers. The government, Halal warehouse service providers and customers may use these findings to expand the adoption of Halal warehouse services.Originality/valueAdopting the TOE framework, this study investigates and develops a model for Halal warehouse adoption. The results indicate that the variables from the TOE framework have a significant relationship with the adoption of Halal warehousing activities.

A replenishment model for VMI warehouse of LED-CM plants

Purpose- The LED Chip Manufacturing (LED-CM) is an important process in the LED supply chain. Due to customer pressure or to providing better services in order to enhance competitiveness, the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) strategy is applied in LED-CM plant in recent years. The chips in the VMI warehouse of the customers must meet the specifications of the customer requirements. Basically, Chips of a specification of the customer requirements compose of the chips of different bins. A bin is defined by the definite electrical functions of LED chips. Deciding how many chips of each feasible bin must be allocated to a replenishment order (RO) affects the performance of VMI in LED-CM plant. Methodology- A model of allocating chips from bins to ROs for LED-CM plants is proposed in this paper. Three objectives, i.e., maximizing ROs of delivery, maximizing throughput of delivery and maximizing the total left chips of the feasible bins of potential ROs, are considered in the proposed model to obtain the best result. Findings- The obtained ROs of delivery or throughput of delivery could serve as a valuable informance for LED-CM plants. Conclusion- Results show that employing the proposed methodology can facilitate LED-CM plants to implement the VMI service effectively.

Corporate Environmental Strategies in Transition Economies: Survey of the Literature

Twenty-five years ago, an unprecedented economic-political transition began in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since then, a meaningful literature has examined businesses’ environmental-management efforts during the transition. Over the same period as the transition, many firms in developed countries were integrating environmental components into their business strategies and finding this integration profitable. A growing body of research explores the topic of corporate environmental strategy. Given the rising importance of this topic in developed economies, its seems highly important to reassess the literature on businesses’ environmental-protection efforts during the transition in order to explore corporate environmental strategies in transition economies where the business benefits may be less clear and domestic consumer pressure for better corporate environmental stewardship is limited. Given the lack of clarity, exploration of corporate environmental strategies in transition economies is important. Guided by a simple conceptual framework, this article reviews and assesses the full body of the empirical literature in order to explore the drivers behind corporate environmental strategies in transition economies. The discussion that follows considers a broad array of drivers: internal factors, market pressures, government, and civil society. The empirical evidence suggests a positive role for foreign ownership and foreign customer pressure, and a stronger role for governmental factors: capacity to monitor, greater enforcement, permit issuance, and higher emission charge rates. The review reveals that many key factors, such as investor pressure, domestic customer pressure, and corporate culture, are weakly explored, if not fully ignored, by empirical studies.

The Effect of Facility Management in Supply Chain Security Operational Performance and Firm in Malaysia

Purpose - The security issue in supply chains is among the most pressing concerns that firms are currently facing. As a preliminary attempt to address this lack of empirical research, the primary purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between security practices and the security operational performance with respect to security culture as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey questionnaire responded by 100 senior executives in the industry in Malaysia. The relationships proposed in the developed theoretical framework were represented through three hypotheses: H1- there is a significant relationship between professionalism and contract compliance. H2- There is a significant relationship between processing and contract compliance. H3- there is a significant relationship between specification and contract compliance. Linear regression, ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – Strong evidence was found of a positive relationship between regulatory measures, customer pressures with the green purchasing supply chain. Green purchasing was most strongly influenced by regulatory measures and customer pressures, whilst social-cultural responsibility was most strongly influenced by green purchasing supply chain. Practical implications – This study will assist supply chain managers and logisticians to re-examine their existing supply chain security model by considering the selected supply chain security practices, which have a significant impact on supply chain security operational performance. Individual firms need to strategize their business model with the inclusion of security aspects, which will surely create a competitive advantage over other players in the logistics industry. Firms can develop the best appropriate supply chain security model that will benefit the firm, customers, and business partners, such as suppliers and local authorities. Originality/value - The study highlights is the important role of the supply chain security practices to deliver high quality of service in terms of supply chain security operational performance in emerging countries. In addition, it offers an empirical analysis of the moderating role of security culture on the relationship between supply chain security practices and security operational performance.

Investors as Stewards of the Commons?

Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of initiatives seeking to mobilize investor voice towards positive social impact. In this paper, I provide a framework outlining the role of investors as stewards of the commons. While companies are increasingly addressing environmental and social issues that also improve their economic value, for some of these issues individual company action is costly. At the same time, for a further subset of those issues, company action coupled with collaboration between companies is value enhancing. However, collaboration between companies is notoriously difficult and fragile requiring commitment mechanisms. I suggest that a small set of large institutional investors, importantly, but not exclusively, index and quasi-index investors, could provide this commitment mechanism. Common ownership of competitors within industries and long-time horizons in ownership of shares are key characteristics for investors that could act as stewards of the commons. Social pressure fueled by socially responsible investment funds and non-profit organizations and customer pressure from individual investors are critical in mitigating free-rider problems among asset managers and sustaining engagement practices. Finally, I explore the limits and anticompetitive concerns to the theory of change presented here.

Interaction between tolerance levels of people and adoption of green supply chain management practices: an empirical case study in the domestic appliances industry

To establish the scenario of adopting green supply chain management (GSCM) practices by navigating into the gateway of reality for sustainable environment. To understand the connection between tolerance level of people and adoption of GSCM practices and thereby investigating the perceptions of different pressure groups. The work relies on survey results taken in different pressure groups for domestic appliance industry. Survey questionnaire was developed, and responses were taken in the form of likert scale for 167 respondents. Survey results explain that adoption of GSCM practices is not much explained, and some sections of people are not able to tolerate the practices. Either they do not care for environment and do not know about GSCM. The paper discusses the lifestyle of people and its interaction with environmental remedy. This paper brings new insights on perceptions of regulatory, customer, shareholder and community pressure groups towards adoption of GSCM practices. Survey research method is limited to domestic appliances sector, and results may vary when tolerance level of people changes. Fluctuation in lifestyle of people to adapt to changes is a limitation in this paper. The paper brings out new insights on different categories of people. New findings are given on thoughts to deal with prejudices of people. Future research is suggested to find missing links to develop this body of literature.

Interaction between tolerance levels of people and adoption of green supply chain management practices: an empirical case study in the domestic appliances industry

To establish the scenario of adopting green supply chain management (GSCM) practices by navigating into the gateway of reality for sustainable environment. To understand the connection between tolerance level of people and adoption of GSCM practices and thereby investigating the perceptions of different pressure groups. The work relies on survey results taken in different pressure groups for domestic appliance industry. Survey questionnaire was developed, and responses were taken in the form of likert scale for 167 respondents. Survey results explain that adoption of GSCM practices is not much explained, and some sections of people are not able to tolerate the practices. Either they do not care for environment and do not know about GSCM. The paper discusses the lifestyle of people and its interaction with environmental remedy. This paper brings new insights on perceptions of regulatory, customer, shareholder and community pressure groups towards adoption of GSCM practices. Survey research method is limited to domestic appliances sector, and results may vary when tolerance level of people changes. Fluctuation in lifestyle of people to adapt to changes is a limitation in this paper. The paper brings out new insights on different categories of people. New findings are given on thoughts to deal with prejudices of people. Future research is suggested to find missing links to develop this body of literature.

Sustainability Assessment in Automotive and Electronics Supply Chains—A Set of Indicators Defined in a Multi-Stakeholder Approach

In automotive and electronics supply chains, sustainability assessment is gaining increasing importance. More stringent regulations and growing customer pressure are driving the change towards more environmentally, socially and economically responsible supply chains. Since this implies a rising use of resources for data collection, monitoring, exchange and assessment, the objective of this paper is to facilitate supply chain sustainability assessment. The present paper first provides a tailored set of 69 supply chain sustainability indicators for the European automotive and electronics industries. These were derived on the basis of a systematic literature review, together with 13 semi-structured interviews and five focus group workshops, all of which involved sustainability and industry experts. Second, the paper provides a case example of software-based supply chain sustainability data exchange. The extent to which sustainability information is currently exchanged in the two industries is also analyzed. The set of indicators is scientifically relevant since it considers all three dimensions of sustainability and is intended to allow for supply chain-wide sustainability assessment in two specific industries. It is also of high practical relevance since it was developed with and validated by industry experts, and also since it considers industrial and technical requirements for supply chain sustainability assessment in order to increase the efficiency of the work processes.

Understanding mobile marketing adoption intention by South African SMEs: A multi-perspective framework

This paper examines the key drivers of mobile marketing adoption intention by South African SMEs using a multi-perspective framework that combines elements in the technological, organisational and environmental contexts of the enterprises. Data was collected from a random sample of 205 SMEs from Gauteng, South Africa. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results identified perceived relative advantage, perceived cost, top management support, employees’ IT capability, and customer pressure as important drivers of mobile marketing adoption intention. Of these factors, top management support emerged as the strongest driver of adoption intention. The implications of these findings for mobile marketers and others interested in accelerating the adoption of mobile marketing among SMEs are highlighted.

Role of Perceived Usefulness, Organisational Readiness, Customer Pressure, Competitive Pressure in Adaption of E-Commerce in Indian SMEs

Author Prof (Dr.) Indrajit Sinha Faculty of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Institute of Management Science Email: indrajitinha25@gmail.com ABSTRACT With advancement of hardware, software and internet/intranet and chunk of population adopting to technology based E-business and is rapidly growing in India particularly in service sector. It has become necessary for small and medium enterprises to adopt e-business to have competitive advantages. However it is observed that companies in the same industry implement e-business at different pace. This paper likely to focus on why some of the SME do and other group do not want adopt e-commerce. Depiction on several previous research (environmental & organisational factors, Porter’s strategies, technology acceptance) has led to determine the impact of different predictors namely Organizational Readiness, Competitive Pressure, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Customer Acceptance on adaptation e-commerce by SMEs in Indian business environment. A model is designed using these predictors and was empirically tested using survey and interview data from SMEs in India. The study yield evidence that Organizational Readiness, Competitive Pressure, Perceived Usefulness,Perceived Customer Pressure were found to be affecting E-business adoption by Indian SMEs. Implication for SMEs and for further research are discussed.

Investigating the impact of passive external lower limb compression on central and peripheral hemodynamics during exercise.

The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of graduated compression socks (GCS) on enhancing muscle blood flow and oxygenation during exercise and recovery in healthy subjects. Twelve healthy volunteers completed a protocol involving baseline, exercise, and recovery periods with and without GCS. Each test was repeated twice to assess repeatability of the results. The applied sock pressure was measured prior to experimentation using a custom pressure sensing system, and modified as necessary using tensor bandages to control the applied load. During each of the experimental phases, blood velocity in the popliteal artery, calf muscle tissue oxygenation, muscle activity, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, and applied pressure from the sock were measured. Popliteal artery diameter was measured during baseline and recovery periods. The GCS significantly reduced deoxyhemoglobin (HHb) in the leg during baseline (HHb, p = 0.001) and total blood volume and HHb in the leg during exercise (total hemoglobin, p = 0.01; HHb, p = 0.02). However, there were no differences in leg muscle blood flow velocity or any other variables with and without GCS at baseline, exercise, or recovery. Interestingly, it was found that the local applied sock pressure was very sensitive to the sock application process and, furthermore, the pressure varied considerably during exercise. No significant changes were observed in measures reflecting oxygen delivery for healthy subjects using GCS during exercise and recovery. Applied sock pressure was carefully controlled, thus eliminating the sock application process as a variable.

Customer pressure, customer–manufacturer–supplier relationships, and quality control performance

What factors motivate firms to improve quality management and enter customer–supplier collaborative relationships? This study investigates how the pressure to adopt the ISO 9000 or 14000 series from downstream customers affects customer–supplier collaborations and process improvement. Employing a survey dataset linking respondents (i.e., focal firms), their downstream customers, and their upstream suppliers in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, this study finds that the ISO requirements to the suppliers promote the development of collaborative relationships between the focal firms and their suppliers and improve process control. Regression analysis and csQCA indicate importance of analyzing combinations of the factors rather than individual factors that may affect quality control improvement.