Markos Kyritsis

Motivators of SME initial export choice and the European Union regional effect in manufacturing

Purpose A global reach in exporting has been linked to profitability. The purpose of this paper is to answer the influence of EU regulations on exporting decisions of UK manufacturing small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) by investigating the home and host country-based motivators behind SMEs’ choice to export, and export regionally, within the EU. Design/methodology/approach Contrasting the Uppsala and resource-based view perspectives (using a sample of UK independent manufacturing SMEs and utilizing a survey, correlation analysis and factor analysis), the paper finds and describes the effect of the most recurrent motivators from the literature on the SMEs’ decision to export within the EU or not. Findings The paper finds that SMEs whose latest international market entry was not in the EU scored significantly higher in the factor scorings for the motivators in the external dimension than participants whose latest entry was in the EU. Several motivators show an association with the choice to export per se. The importance of regionalization to export initiation (and EU membership) within the EU is emphasized in the results. Research limitations/implications The sample size is limited. Practical implications In the current climate, how can SMEs reduce market research costs for managers by relying solely and proactively on home country and internal advantages and motivators and being more aware of their surroundings? Managers and policymakers can direct their strategy, resources and policy more efficiently according to motivators; internal home country motivators (e.g. strengths of prices of products) direct the SME to overcome inter-regional liability of foreignness, while host country motivators (e.g. legal restrictions in the host country) direct them to regional ventures. Originality/value The theoretical and empirical work on the topic, until recently, has been fragmented and inconsistent focusing on specific motivators but not necessarily justifying the selection or origin of variables even less on SMEs.

Issues and benefits of using 3D interfaces: visual and verbal tasks

Spatial memory is important for locating objects in hierarchical data structures, such as desktop folders. There are, however, some contradictions in literature concerning the effectiveness of 3D user interfaces when compared to their 2D counterparts. This paper uses a task-based approach in order to investigate the effectiveness of adding a third dimension to specific user tasks, i.e. the impact of depth on navigation in a 3D file manager. Results highlight issues and benefits of using 3D interfaces for visual and verbal tasks, and introduces the possible existence of a correlation between aptitude scores achieved on the Guilford-Zimmerman Orientation Survey and Electroencephalography-measured brainwave activity as participants search for targets of variable perceptual salience in 2D and 3D environments.

Acknowledging crossing-avoidance heuristic violations when solving the Euclidean travelling salesperson problem

AbstractIf a salesperson aims to visit a number of cities only once before returning home, which route should they take to minimise the total distance/cost? This combinatorial optimization problem is called the travelling salesperson problem (TSP) and has a rapid growth in the number of possible solutions as the number of cities increases. Despite its complexity, when cities and routes are represented in 2D Euclidean space (ETSP), humans solve the problem with relative ease, by applying simple visual heuristics. One of the most important heuristics appears to be the avoidance of path crossings, which will always result in more optimal solutions than tours that contain crossings. This study systematically investigates whether the occurrence of crossings is impacted by geometric properties by modelling their relationship using binomial logistic regression as well as random forests. Results show that properties, such as the number of nodes making up the convex hull, the standard deviation of the angles between nodes, the average distance between all nodes in the graph, the total number of nodes in the graph, and the tour cost (i.e., a measure of performance), are significant predictors of whether crossings are likely to occur.

Sense of direction and conscientiousness as predictors of performance in the Euclidean travelling salesman problem

A salesperson wishes to visit a number of cities before returning home using the shortest possible route, whilst only visiting each city once. This optimization problem, called the Travelling Salesman Problem, is difficult to solve using exhaustive algorithms due to the exponential growth in the number of possible solutions. Interestingly, when presented in Euclidean space (ETSP), humans quickly find good solutions. Past studies, however, are in disagreement whether human solutions are impacted by the participant’s ability to process figural effects in the graph geometry. In this study, we used principal component analysis to combine two correlated [r = 0.37, p < 0.01] self-assessed personality measures, i.e., a participant’s sense of direction and a participant’s level of conscientiousness, onto a single impulsiveness/cautiousness dimension. We then showed, using simple linear regression, that this new dimension is a significant predictor [R2 = 0.12, p < 0.01] of the number of edge crossings that occur in human ETSP solutions, a key metric of graph optimality. Our study provides evidence to suggest that human solutions to the ETSP are significantly affected by individual differences, including personality and cognitive traits.

Impact of cognitive style on spatial knowledge acquisition

A users cognitive style impacts the way they organize and process information. This paper considers how cognitive style impacts a users ability to acquire spatial knowledge from a range of virtual environments. Our results show that holist (field independent) users acquire spatial knowledge faster in low complex large environments, which support learning of relative visual references. Analytic (field dependent) users acquire spatial knowledge faster in complex environments, which obstruct the field of view and therefore support procedural learning. User specific limitations must be considered when defining required exposure time in virtual training environments.

Cognitive and Environmental Factors Influencing the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition within Virtual Reality Environments

As the fidelity of virtual environments VE continues to increase, the possibility of using them as training platforms is becoming increasingly realistic for a variety of application domains, including military and emergency personnel training. In the past, there was much debate on whether the acquisition and subsequent transfer of spatial knowledge from VEs to the real world is possible, or whether the differences in medium during training would essentially be an obstacle to truly learning geometric space. In this paper, the authors present various cognitive and environmental factors that not only contribute to this process, but also interact with each other to a certain degree, leading to a variable exposure time requirement in order for the process of spatial knowledge acquisition SKA to occur. The cognitive factors that the authors discuss include a variety of individual user differences such as: knowledge and experience; cognitive gender differences; aptitude and spatial orientation skill; and finally, cognitive styles. Environmental factors discussed include: Size, Spatial layout complexity and landmark distribution. It may seem obvious that since every individuals brain is unique-not only through experience, but also through genetic predisposition that a one size fits all approach to training would be illogical. Furthermore, considering that various cognitive differences may further emerge when a certain stimulus is present e.g. complex environmental space, it would make even more sense to understand how these factors can impact spatial memory, and to try to adapt the training session by providing visual/auditory cues as well as by changing the exposure time requirements for each individual. The impact of this research domain is important to VE training in general, however within service and military domains, guaranteeing appropriate spatial training is critical in order to ensure that disorientation does not occur in a life or death scenario.

Human behaviour in the Euclidean Travelling Salesperson Problem: Computational modelling of heuristics and figural effects

Abstract The Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP) describes a situation where an imaginary individual wishes to visit multiple cities once before returning to his/her own city. This type of problem is known as a nondeterministic polynomial (NP) hard problem, since the factorial number of solutions results in it being impractical to solve using exhaustive processing. Interestingly, when presented as a Euclidean graph (i.e., ETSP), humans identify near optimal solutions almost effortlessly, despite billions of possible tours. In this study, we consider human processing of the ETSP, and introduce the reader to a number of factors that literature proposes as impacting human performance. We hypothesise that: (i) human ETSP activity may be modelled by considering the quotient relationship between node-to-node and node-to-centroid distances; and (ii) consideration of figural effects can optimise automated TSP solution generation. In this paper human processing based heuristics are developed, i.e. replacing the cost function within the nearest neighbour algorithm, to guide node selection. Results showed that the quotient relationship between node-to-node and node-to-centroid distances can be used to closely model average human performance, across a range of ETSP graphs. Interestingly, however, additional consideration of graph figural effects (e.g. distance between boundary points in the convex hull, standard deviation of distances between nodes that make up the convex hull, and number of nodes in the convex hull) results in significantly improved tour costs.

Entrepreneurial perceptions and bias of SME exporting opportunities for manufacturing exporters: A UK study

Purpose Success in export ventures has been linked to managerial capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of exporting motivators on managerial perceptions of UK manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by investigating the links between export motivators and decision bias (i.e. predictable behavior). Design/methodology/approach Based on the Uppsala and resource-based view perspectives (using a sample of the UK’s independent manufacturing SMEs and utilizing a survey, correlation analysis, and factor analysis), this study finds and describes the effect of the most recurrent motivators and clusters of motivators from the literature on the SMEs’ decision to export by investigating the dimensions (research, external, reactive). Findings This study finds that export motivators can be separated into specific dimensions leading to potential selection bias. In addition, the importance of size, knowledge of foreign markets, and unsolicited orders show an association with the perceptions of motivator stimuli toward specific dimensions (research, external, reactive). Practical implications Government policy and SME export strategy need to understand managerial perceptions and bias better in order to allocate resources efficiently toward stimulating exporting. Originality/value The literature and empirical work on the topic have been fragmented and conflicting focusing on specific motivators but not necessarily explaining the selection or origin of motivators even less on SMEs. Dimensions have not been taken into account as clusters of motivators.

Scoping Customer Relationship Management Strategy in HEI

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are complex organisations, offering a wide range of services, which involve a multiplicity of customers, stakeholders and service providers; both in terms of type and number. Satisfying a diverse set of customer groups is complex, and requires development of strategic Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This paper contributes to the HEI area, by proposing an approach that scopes CRM strategy, allowing us a better understanding CRM implementation in Higher Education Institutions; maximising alignment of customer and management desires, expectation and needs.

Fashion magazines: design implications of focus and perception variance between Chinese and UK females

A growing segment of Chinese women are willing to spend a high percentage of their income on fashion related products, however there appears to be concern over the quality of Chinese fashion magazines. Concern can be focused in two major issues: i) fashion magazine design, and ii) pictorial and textual distribution of content. This paper investigates how human factors (i.e. social norms and individual differences) influence fashion magazine design/format preferences, and investigates the difference in readership patterns between British and Chinese Women. Our study identifies significant differences between UK and Chinese readership; which has an impact on magazine viewing patterns and content preference.