Matthew Tickle

A case study of supplier selection in developing economies: a perspective on institutional theory and corporate social responsibility

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of supplier selection activities in a service sector organisation in Nigeria. It aims to examine the role of normative forces within the context of Institutional Theory.Design/methodology/approach – A single case study approach was used. Action research utilising participant observation was used in data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS.Findings – Criteria relating to corporate social responsibility (CSR) proved to be a significant weakness for Nigerian suppliers, as most of the bidding organisations were unable to show evidence of, for example, payment of taxes and insurance for their employees. However, suppliers of services, in general, performed better than suppliers of products.Practical implications – Suppliers of products and services in Nigeria need to improve their performance with respect to CSR in particular. As most of these organisations are small businesses, they had previousl...

Deployment of business excellence in Asia: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of business excellence in Asian organisations. The study examines the effectiveness of business excellence in the organisations that adopt it as well as the approaches used to deploy business excellence. Finally, the study investigates the attitudes of organisations with respect to business excellence awards.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey of 74 organisations across five Asian countries was carried out in order to collect quantitative data. In addition, qualitative data was collected from 21 discussion groups held in all five countries and from 13 interviews held with senior executives of organisations that had won business excellence awards.Findings – The organisations believe that business excellence is important in helping them reach their organisational goals. The results also show that participation in and winning business excellence awards is a key objective for many organisations in the region. However, the region...

Deploying business excellence – success factors for high performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how organisations successfully deploy business excellence (BE) by comparing the tools and strategies implemented by organisations at different levels of BE maturity. Design/methodology/approach – The study used a combination of a questionnaire, discussion groups and interviews with respondents including private sector organisations across India, Japan, Republic of China, Singapore and Thailand. These countries were selected due to them being considered as having the most advanced BE organisations in Asia by the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) that commissioned the study. Once triangulated, the quantitative data were analysed through use of the IBM SPSS Statistical software package. Findings – The study has shown that on average, organisations with higher BE maturity outperform their less mature counterparts. The study also revealed that organisations with a high BE maturity were more likely to use specific tools and were more lik...

A study of the use of business improvement initiatives: the association with company size and level of national development

This paper investigates the awareness, use and effectiveness of improvement initiatives in organisations of different sizes and in different countries. In particular, comparisons are made between large firms and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), between organisations in the developing and developed worlds and between organisations in China and India and the rest of the developing world. A questionnaire survey of 453 organisations across 44 countries was conducted with the findings indicating that there are significant differences in comparability of tools. For some tools there are no significant differences between developed and developing countries as well as between large organisations and small organisations. For other tools, there are significant differences with organisations in developing countries, in general, more aware and more likely to use business improvement initiatives when compared to organisations in developed countries. Similarly, organisations in China and India have a higher awareness of and are more likely to adopt improvement initiatives when compared to the rest of the developing world. Finally, larger firms are more aware and more likely to use improvement initiatives when compared to SMEs.

Business improvement tools and techniques: a comparison across sectors and industries

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness, usage, perceived effectiveness and potential future use of improvement tools and techniques via two sets of comparisons: between public and private sector organisations, and between manufacturers and service organisations. The need for the study was driven by the current lack of understanding of the extent of improvement tools and techniques adoption on a global scale. A questionnaire survey of 453 respondents from over 20 countries was conducted and the quantitative data were analysed through use of the IBM SPSS software package. The study’s findings indicated that there are no significant differences between both sets of organisations for the majority of improvement tools and techniques. However, this study has shown that public sector organisations are more likely to adopt some improvement tools and techniques in comparison to their private sector counterparts. Similarly, service organisations are also more likely to adopt some improvement tools and techniques than their manufacturing counterparts. These results contradict the conventional perception that improvement tools and techniques are used more often by the private sector and manufacturing organisations.

Online Communities of Practice for innovation and knowledge transfer: A case study in the U.K.

Although the concept of online CoPs using Web 2.0-enabled applications has been very successful within a social context, it is not yet prevalent amongst organisations or universities specialising in knowledge transfer. Indeed, both concepts (i.e. Web 2.0 and knowledge flow) are still emergent in nature. This paper details the successful implementation of an online Community of Practice (CoP) for an innovation and knowledge transfer (KT) application. Using a case study online CoP from the UK, the paper details how the online CoP was developed, the functionality and user types offered by the online CoP, the governance methods used, the technology selected and finally the benefits it brings to its members.

Development processes in B2B virtual communities

This paper compares the development processes of four business-to-business (B2B) virtual communities (VCs). This research suggests that a standard methodology for developing VCs does not yet exist and that a in order to successfully develop and deploy B2B VCs a meticulous development framework based on academic research is required. The research also indicates that the main challenge in developing a successful B2B VC involves developing a culture of member engagement and involvement.

Supplier qualification for high-value goods and services in Nigeria: a comparison of qualified and non-qualified suppliers

ABSTRACT This study set out to understand the capabilities of suppliers of high-value products and services in Nigeria. Supplier capability data were collected from almost 500 potential suppliers across 28 product categories. The findings indicate that only a small minority of potential suppliers achieved the required levels of performance and that very few companies have suitable operational capabilities or corporate citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, significant differences were found between service suppliers and product suppliers with regard to performance. The findings suggest that the majority of suppliers of products and services in Nigeria need to improve their operational capabilities and corporate citizenship behaviours, or else risk losing their ability to compete in a changing market place with new barriers to entry.

A Conceptual Review of Social Media Adoption in SMEs

Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are not well equipped to use Social Media (SM) and struggle to utilise its full potential in the context of adding value to the business. It is suggested that SMEs often need strategic guidance and support, particularly with regard to optimising SM. The question remains as to how effectively SM is embedded in the business operations of SMEs. This study examines how SM adoption can be realised by SMEs. It considers how SMEs can adapt their business strategies under changing circumstances by adopting SM in their daily practice. By integrating the current models of technology adoption (including the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) and Innovation-Decision-Process from Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) frameworks) a conceptual framework for achieving SM adoption is developed and presented. The results of this study provide a helpful synthesis of the extant literature and act as a useful springboard for further work in this important area.

Supplier selection activities in the service sector: A case study in Nigeria

This paper presents the results of the supplier selection process conducted by a Nigerian service sector organization. One organization was used as a case study whereby data collection involved an action research approach; the data was then subject to statistical analysis via the SPSS Statistics software package. In total, 185 potential suppliers were assessed. Several statistically significant differences were also found between those suppliers that met the minimum requirements and those that did not as well as between organizations that offered products and organizations that offered services.