Tim Butcher

Characterising spatial logistics employment clusters

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First to identify economic activities and broader spatial logistics functions that characterise an urban setting, and second to delineate significant spatial logistics employment clusters to represent the underlying regional geography of the logistics landscape. Design/methodology/approach – Using the four-digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, industries “explicitly” related to logistics were identified and aggregated with respect to employment. A principal component analysis was conducted to capture the functional interdependence of inter-related industries and measures of spatial autocorrelation were also applied to identify spatial logistics employment clusters. Findings – The results show that the logistics sector accounts for 3.57 per cent of total employment and that road freight, postal services, and air and space transport are major employers of logistics managers. The research shows significant spatial clustering of lo...

Longing to belong

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine distinctions between embeddedness and belonging in ethnographic fieldwork to make sense of a researchers identity position in the field. Design/methodology/approach – A confessional ethnographic narrative was retrospectively crafted from field notes from a 12-month fieldwork period. This narrative is presented and critically discussed to problematize the authors remembered sense of place and temporality in the field. Findings – Regardless of whether a researcher “longs to belong” in the field, the paper finds that the research and the researcher belongs to the field. The temporality of an ethnographers being in the field causes its inhabitants, the research participants to assign him/her a distinct and hybrid identity position. Research limitations/implications – It is recognized that the research presented is bound by nostalgia. However, such reflexive intersubjectivity must be accounted for in ethnography. The identity position of a researcher influences the research process and outcomes. And that identity is not at the discretion of the researcher. Originality/value – Adopting the trope of habitus and postcolonial principles, this research illustrates the criticality of reflexive intersubjectivity in ethnography to positioning the researcher as “Other,” not the research participants. For organizational ethnographers, and qualitative researchers more widely, to recognize this ethical consideration has consequences for how fieldwork is practiced and reported.

Coworking: A Transdisciplinary Overview

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of ‘coworking’ to an academic audience. It argues that coworking is a complex social phenomenon that can be differentiated from other spatial concepts that relate to work, learning and social interactions. The paper provides an historical account of the origins of coworking and reviews the existing scholarly and popular literature, offering a theoretical distinction between coworking spaces and serviced offices that hinges upon the degree of social collaboration versus the importance of location and facilities of the office environment. An overview of the most recent data on the number and location of coworking spaces across the world is provided, including a few examples that demonstrate the spatial distribution of coworking spaces within cities. It also provides some data on typical profiles of coworkers, and links coworking to the broader contextual debates on non-standard and creative work. Finally the paper suggests some future research directions by linking relevant extant theory with key questions across the fields of economic geography, urban planning economics and organisational studies.

A Pilot Project for Evaluating the Impact of AUTO-ID Technologies on Out-of-Stock

This research aims to validate a model for assessing the economic impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology on stock-outs of items at retail stores in the context of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). It is widely recognized by practitioners and researchers that reducing stock-outs will increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, thereby reducing consumers′ necessity to seek required goods from competing retailers and thereby potentially switching their loyalty and buying habits. Thus, consumer loyalty to a particular retailer is now considered to be as important as brand loyalty, if not more so. Empirical on-shelf availability data used in this article were collected during a two-week pilot study at two Italian retailers′ stores. Availability data for a total of seventy-seven products from nine product categories was measured and a mathematical model adapted from extant literature was used to provide an estimate of RFID impact. This work is the first part of a wider research project whose ultimate aim is to identify the root causes of stock-outs and to test the use of RFID technology as a possible solution to out-of-stock (OOS]products. Despite a recent flourish of publications discussing this topic and the prioritization of this issue by practitioners, there is as yet no definitive model for stock-out root cause analysis. This research also has significant practical implications and the wider project is in part supported by three major Italian retailers and a number of their first-tier suppliers, thus emphasizing the importance of this research.

Supply chain management skills to sense and seize opportunities

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the supply chain management (SCM) skills that support the sensing and seizing of opportunities in a changing business environment.,Based on the previous literature on the T-shaped model of SCM skills, data were collected through a mail survey among Australian business executives. The resultant skill sets are grouped along factors that support the sensing vs seizing of opportunities.,Interestingly from an SCM perspective, functional logistics-related skills are important to maintain competitiveness but are not the ones contributing to a firm’s ability to sense opportunities and threats, and to seize opportunities in a changing business environment. The authors, therefore, support the notion that supply chain managers should be managers first. Factual SCM knowledge is the solid basis, but otherwise only an entry requirement in this field.,Problem-solving skills, along with forecasting and customer/supplier relationship management, stand out as important components that support the ability of supply chain managers to sense and shape opportunities and threats in a turbulent business environment. This focus would tend to suggest the importance of supply chain integration and collaboration as management approaches. Other SCM skills from warehousing and inventory management to transportation and purchasing are more prevalent for maintaining competitiveness.,The results of the survey and the consequential analysis indicate that the content of tertiary-level educational programmes should be significantly reviewed to deliver two distinct (but partially overlapping) streams that focus on the generalist and functionalist managers who must work together in the management of the increasingly global and complex supply chains.,Functional skills often form the basis of training and education programmes for supply chain managers. Whilst these form the solid foundation for their jobs, they are entry requirements at best. In a changing business environment, other skills are needed for success. Given that turbulence is becoming the norm rather than the exception, this finding necessitates rethinking in training and education programmes, as well as in the recruitment of supply chain managers.,Testing the T-shaped model of SCM skills from a dynamic capabilities perspective, the results of the factor analysis lead to a regrouping of skill sets in terms of sensing and seizing opportunities in a turbulent business environment.

Identifying Supply Chain Value Using RFID-Enabled Distributed Decision-Making for Food Quality and Assurance

This chapter conceptually considers how retailers might integrate radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and distributed decision making (DDM) to provide real-time product information visibility to enhance food retail supply chain decision-making for assurance of quality and safety. A pilot research project in one UK retailer’s fresh meat supply chain is used to illustrate these concepts. Value stream mapping (VSM) and on-site interviews were the primary research methods for the project. A current state VSM found non-value adding activities in time and labor processes, which in turn led to increased errors. A future state VSM suggests that RFID technology would increase information visibility, reduce handling and checking, and increase speed when it is integrated with an appropriate DDM system. There are potentially large savings to be had by implementing RFID and DDM systems where information is required for traceability and control of food quality and safety.

Co-working communities: sustainability citizenship at work

The aim of this chapter is to explore coworking as an alternative form of citizen-based organisation in shared member-based spaces, which enable peer-to-peer interactions that engender camaraderie and a collective sense of achievement that enhances individual sociality and productivity as a form of socially and economically sustainable work. Hence, I focus this chapter on the spaces of organisation and their cultures of sustainability. Under this broad definition, coworking takes various spatial forms, from ad hoc meet-ups at cafes to low-rent shared office and maker spaces to high-fee architecturally designed workspaces.

To play Papunya: the problematic interface between a remote Aboriginal community and the organization of Australian Football in Central Australia

This paper outlines issues arising from engagement with the remote Aboriginal community of Papunya. Researching the relationship between the communitys football club and the organization of competitive fixtures in the Central Australian Football League (CAFL), we found that contrary to popular discourse the well-being of men in Papunya may be damaged by their participation in ‘town football’. We outline the nature of the current relationship between Papunya and the CAFL and the efforts of Elders to reshape the organizational interface via the establishment of an ‘on-country’ football league. We highlight that organizational rhetoric about reconciliation and cross-cultural awareness is not enough to warrant effective working relationships with Papunya people. We argue that there is a need to move beyond recognition of difference that is embodied in such agendas to develop strategies of interface inclusive of Aboriginal understandings of football

Learning everyday entrepreneurial practices through coworking

This article aims to understand learning in coworking. Coworking is an emergent global phenomenon that involves independent workers, often from various occupational backgrounds, working collectively in shared workspaces. I situate coworking in broader debates on entrepreneurialism and socioeconomic change to conceptualise it as a twofold process: of learning everyday coworking practices and learning through coworking practices. While coworking, individuals learn to make sense of their place in the entrepreneurial milieu by developing practices that contest established entrepreneurial norms. Drawing on an ethnographic study, I show how coworkers learn to become collaborative, intentional and to perform contestation through co-created situated learning. That learning enables them to co-construct a sense of community necessary to become entrepreneurially proficient in an increasingly uncertain world of work. By critically understanding why and how learning occurs in coworking, this research contributes to our knowledge of what learning is, and why and where it can occur.

Participation and Engagement in Inter-organizational Groups: Synthesizing Social Network Analysis with Ethnography to Evaluate Social Capital

A network ethnography methodology was developed to understand and explain the influence of social capital on social network structures. This approach was applied to an inter-organizational technology cooperation group to identify causes of low group participation and engagement and opportunities to increase those factors. A cluster of key actors at the core of the group was found to hold the majority of the social capital, which is viewed as both a current constraint and a future opportunity. The methodology is evaluated with a view continuing its development.