1,720,960 research outputs found
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
An investigation into the effectiveness of marketing strategies employed by Zimbabwean Insurance companies for creating competitive advantage.
No full textThe Zimbabwean Insurance Industry has continued to see an increase in the number of players entering the market on one hand and a shrinking market at the back of an underperforming economy on the other hand. This has resulted in both old and new players in the insurance industry scrambling for the few clients who still see value in taking up life assurance policies especially after the losses that they suffered when the Zimbabwean economy adopted the multicurrency system. This challenge has been coupled with the influx of many new insurance companies that have joined the industry since the introduction of the multicurrency system. Competition in the industry has therefore been inadvertently on the increase over the years. It is against this background that the researchers sought to investigate into the various strategies that different players within the insurance industry have implemented in creating competitive advantage to attain improved organizational performance and sustainable growth. The objectives of this research were; to identify the different strategies that have been formulated and implemented by various organizations in the insurance industry in creating competitive advantage within the insurance industry; to measure the effectiveness of these strategies in creating competitive advantage; to identify the various challenges in the formulation and implementation of marketing strategies designed to create competitive advantage; an, to identify and recommend possible solutions to challenges faced in strategy implementation as organizations endeavour to continuously create competitive advantage. A cross sectional survey methodology was used to gather data from a sample of organizations within the insurance industry and two instruments were largely used for data gathering; the questionnaire and the depth interview guide. Results were analyzed and the following conclusions were drawn; organizations in the insurance industry largely use differentiation and low cost strategies, their products are intensely distributed using multiple agents and brokers, personal selling and advertising are also used as the main promotional strategies, and the use of human capital to create competitive advantage is becoming more extensively used by most organizations in the industry. It was on the basis of these conclusions that the researchers made the following recommendations; organizations in the insurance industry to regularly carry out comprehensive market researches to identify customers’ ever-changing needs in a dynamic environment, efforts have to be made to satisfy these identified customer needs if insurers are to effectively create competitive advantage, there is need to increase the level of giving customers value for money through enhanced product features and benefits, insurers can aggressively use ICTS to extensively promote their products to their various target markets, the use of physical evidence to create competitive advantage can be further explored and there is need for redefining organizational systems so that they become more robust in facilitating efficient service delivery. These recommendations are envisaged to significantly benefit players in the insurance industry, if they are to continuously create competitive advantage for superior performance and sustainable organizational growth
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
An analysis of the factors affecting formulation and implementation of marketing strategies in the insurance industry
No full textInsurance companies in Zimbabwe are currently operating in a highly competitive environment and
they continuously explore various strategies to create competitive advantage and sustainable growth.
The formulation and implementation of such strategies has not been without its own challenges. In a
previous research, the authors of this paper focused on the various strategies that insurance companies
can pursue to create competitive advantage. Competition in the industry has therefore been
inadvertently on the increase over the years. It was during this research that the researchers realized the
importance of focusing not only on the strategies but on the factors that can affect either the success or
failure of strategy formulation and implementation. The objectives of this research were therefore; to
identify and analyze the impact of various factors in the formulation and implementation of marketing
strategies designed to create competitive advantage, and to identify and recommend possible solutions
to challenges faced in strategy implementation as organizations endeavour to continuously create
competitive advantage. A cross sectional survey methodology was used to gather data from a sample
of organizations within the insurance industry and two instruments were largely used for data
gathering; the questionnaire and the depth interview guide. Results were analyzed and the following
conclusions were drawn; organizations in the insurance industry largely use differentiation and low
cost strategies, their products are intensely distributed using multiple agents and brokers, personal
selling and advertising are also used as the main promotional strategies, and the use of human capital
to create competitive advantage is becoming more extensively used by most organizations in the
industry. It was on the basis of these conclusions that the researchers made the following
recommendations; organizations in the insurance industry to regularly carry out comprehensive market
researches to identify customers’ ever-changing needs in a dynamic environment, efforts have to be
made to satisfy these identified customer needs if insurers are to effectively create competitive
advantage, there is need to increase the level of giving customers value for money through enhanced
product features and benefits, insurers can aggressively use ICTS to extensively promote their products
to their various target markets, the use of physical evidence to create competitive advantage can be
further explored and there is need for redefining organizational systems so that they become more
robust in facilitating efficient service delivery. These recommendations are envisaged to significantly
benefit players in the insurance industry, if they are to continuously create competitive advantage for
superior performance and sustainable organizational growth
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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