1,720,954 research outputs found
Analysing the features of modules and interfaces across the small consulting firms
Full text linkSmall consulting companies that handle low volumes of customers and a high variety of projects are facing the management of this complexity in a decidedly challenging manner. In fact, the highly evolving economic world and the pressing demands of customers impose concrete and advanced managerial choices. In this context, small consulting companies' widespread use of modularity has emerged in the case studies we conducted, for their provision of services, internal processes and organisational structure. The presence of a dynamic "modules market" has taken shape, which brings substantial qualitative data to the scientific literature on the issue of service modularity
Analisi delle configurazione e dei benefici della service modularity nelle piccole aziende di consulenza
Full text linkThe purpose of this thesis is to outline an overview of the concept of modularity across small consulting firms in the Italian context. In order to analyse useful managerial implications for practitioners and an international generalizability of the results, we reviewed and discussed the gaps in the literature. We underlined a lack of knowledge about low volume and high variety companies, such as small consulting firms, in terms of service modularity. In order to satisfy their business customers, both small and big companies always struggle between the request of customization and the need of standardization; and modularization appears to be a good compromise (Sundbo J., 2002). Nevertheless, the small consulting firms do not have as many instruments, resources and money to apply modularity as big ones have.
In 2013 the Italian small sized firms represented 99.5% of the Italian companies. They contributed to 30% of the Italian GDP and almost 77% of Italian employees worked for them. Studying this structured context appeared to be challenging in terms of contribution to the literature. Our research data started from the gaps that emerged from previous works. Due to the exploratory nature of the research, the selected methodology consisted of multiple case studies through a semi-structured interview protocol, which fits with the goal of conducting a qualitative research in this field. Basing on our analysis of the research gaps, we narrowed the field to small consulting firms only. We selected four firms providing pure consulting services in the business-to-business context. Common features allow literal replication. The key informants were Chief Operating Officers (COO), Chief Executive Officers (CEO), Partners and Managing Directors: we interviewed two respondents per company. We did not expect the respondents to be updated on service modularity concepts: this is why each interview was divided into two steps. First, a short training course was provided and an exploratory interview was conducted. Second, a focused and thorough investigation was carried out. Each of them was registered, transcribed, personally analyzed and triangulated with literature evidences, as-is mapping, companies’ websites.
The concepts of “service module” and “service interface” were clearly identified. Following the path started from previous studies, we collected several examples of modules that were connected to the consulting firms’ supply chain, both inside and outside the firms’ boundaries. The subdivision among the concepts of service modules, process modules and organizational modules (Voss et al., 2009) was our starting point.
In order to make a clear picture of the topic we drew a focused diagram. Vertically speaking, our interviews highlighted the existence of all the three types of modules inside the small consulting firms. Horizontally, a three-way structure intersected the diagram: buying modules, creating modules and selling modules are common factors across all the small consulting firms. The results pointed out the existence of a “modules’ market”; in addition, the human interface is involved among all of them. Depending on the specific activity, the human interface is required to have (if not, learn) specific competencies that allows a better modules management. All this lead to the new concepts of "human modules" and "service interfaces" that characterize the small consulting enterprises business.
From the firms’ point of view, often the process of modularization begins without having a clear picture of the topic, nor any prospect for future implications. Due to the classification we elaborated, every small consulting firm can evaluate their own degree of modularity. They repeatedly managed modules without making sure that the modules have the requested and necessary features to fill the internal gaps. In addition, we highlighted other gaps to explore in the future.
Originality/value
Our considerations are not in contrast to conventional models and definitions. According to the research gaps, we decided to explore the most challenging companies’ field. From our point of view, we are contributing to the literature by giving a new starting point for further researches of modularity across the service business: to date, several case studies were conducted, but we could not find a wire logic that guarantees continuity through the studies. By considering a variation of the volume (or the variety) in the diagram, we encourage the authors to clarify the degree of modularity of each service firm. Adding and adapting previous contributions are suggested in order to outline a structured literature review on service modularity
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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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