1,720,954 research outputs found
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE: CONCEPTUALISING ITS APPLICATION IN SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN ZIMBABWE
Get PDFWithin this descriptive survey study, the researcher approached the concept of competitive intelligence (CI), which was considered to be a key element for the success of any business especially in the current period characterized by numerous economic and financial turbulences. This study set out to determine the difficulties associated with the adoption, practice and implementation of competitive intelligence by small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Zimbabwe. The study deliberately targeted SMEs because the researcher strongly believed that while small to medium companies may lack the huge resources required to launch and maintain large sophisticated CI networks, CI is equally important to these enterprises as well. The study used a sample of thirty entrepreneurs, selected using stratified random sampling. The instruments used for data collection were the self-administered questionnaire, the structured and unstructured interview guides. The data collection instruments were deliberately designed to generate quantitative and qualitative data. Data collected using the self-administered questionnaire was analysed using descriptive statistics. Analysis of data collected through the structured and unstructured interview guides involved a special set of interpretive practices and narrative techniques. The evidence from this study suggests that there has been very slow uptake of competitive intelligence by SMEs. In addition, the research clearly showed that competitive intelligence as practiced today is seriouslymisunderstood by many entrepreneurs who are running small to medium enterprises in Zimbabwe. The study advanced a view that training directed to entrepreneurs running SMEs should include among others training on the use of CI, its strategic importance and its benefits. In addition, the study recommended that SMEs should also consider being accredited with the Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence to enhance their understanding and application of this important strategic business management tool
THE VOLVING USE OF COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE AS A STRATEGIC BUSINESS MANAGEMENT TOOL: THE ZIMBABWEAN EXPERIENCE
Get PDFThis study employed a descriptive survey design to explore the difficulties manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe encounter in the application and practice of competitive intelligence (CI). This was done with full knowledge that adopting and implementing competitive intelligence concepts is a voluntary process as it is not enshrined in law and therefore there are no legal penalties imposed on those companies which do not apply any one of its tenets .The manufacturing sector was chosen because it is one of the sectors which is heavily threatened by globalization and technological advances. The exposure of the Zimbabwean manufacturing companies to both domestic and foreign competition means that these companies have to adopt and apply business survival strategies which include among others implementation of CI to counter this threat. The primary objective of this research was to explore the application and practice of CI in Zimbabwe. A sample of 100 Chief Executive Officers was chosen from a population of 350 manufacturing companies who are members of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI). This sample was selected using stratified random sampling. Data was collected through the use of a self-administered questionnaire which was supplemented by the use of the structured and unstructured interview schedules. The data collection instruments used, were designed such that they were able to generate both qualitative and quantitative data. The major findings from the study were that lack of financial resources dedicated to CI activities and lack of expertise to conduct CI processes were major barriers faced by companies in the application and practice of CI. It was therefore recommended that in order to boost and build expertise in the field of CI major Business Schools in the country should consider introducing compulsory core courses on CI
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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