Showing papers in "Problems and perspectives in management in 2012"

Service quality in a landlord-small business relationship in shopping centres

Abstract: The aim of the study reported on in this article is to measure the perceived service quality that small business tenants in shopping centres receive from landlords. There are numerous models available to measure service quality, but no studies have been done on the perceived service quality that small business tenants receive from landlords in shopping centres. A quantitative survey on a non-probability sample of 457 small business tenants in 27 different shopping centres in Pretoria, South Africa was conducted. It was found that small business tenants in shopping centres are in general not satisfied with the service quality they receive from landlords. An important finding is the fact that only two distinct dimensions of perceived service quality were found to be pertinent in this relationship, namely intangible (softer issues), and marketing and tangibles. Landlords need to know whether small business tenants are satisfied with the service they provide. This will help them to improve on their service quality in order to retain their tenants and be competitive with other landlords of shopping centres. The findings add to the literature on perceived service quality, specifically in the landlord-small business tenant relationship in shopping centres. It provides valuable information to landlords on having an understanding of how small business tenants perceive the quality of service rendered to them by the landlords.

Improving efficiency in budgeting – an interventionist approach to spreadsheet accuracy testing

Abstract: Over the past three decades, the reliance on sophisticated spreadsheets for budgeting has emerged as a standard in most organizations (Hesse and Hesse Scerno, 2009). Despite these technological advancements, rich empirical evidence documents that technologically induced ‘spreadsheet errors’ can substantially lower the accuracy of spreadsheets (Powell et al., 2009). These errors lead to suboptimal decision making and biased performance assessment. The aim of this paper is to examine how spreadsheet error can be detected and prevented in the budgeting process. The research design applies models of spreadsheet accuracy testing (SAT) from Kruck (2006) and Vessey (1985). The paper, thereby, illustrates the error reduction process in budgeting as well as future spreadsheet error prevention through the use of VBA. The authors base the analyses on a unique dataset (interviews, participating observations, technical artifacts) gathered through ‘action research’ at a Chinese-Danish government organization, which uses budgets for assessing applications on research funding. Our results confirm and extend existing theory in the field of budgeting and SAT and provide interesting findings. First, the paper shows that later spreadsheet error in budgeting is already rooted in a poor conceptualization of the budget template, in non-workflow-oriented imputation of data and poor documentation of data requirements. Second, it illustrates how the accuracy of spreadsheets substantially improves by introducing even simplistic VBA. Third, we present evidence that the flexibility of the budgeting template itself to changes in the organizational environment fosters spreadsheet accuracy in the long term.

The mix of research methods in the leading tourism journals: 2000-2009

Abstract: The issue of method is central to tourism research. Over the past two decades, the call for greater quality tourism research has turned its focus on to the methods adopted by researchers – and the need to redress a perceived imbalance between the amount of quantitative research published and that based on qualitative, mixed method and theoretical approaches. The purpose of this article is to determine the mix of research methods published in the three leading tourism journals. This study involved a content analysis of 1617 articles published between 2000 and 2009 in three most prominent tourism journals (i.e. Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, and Journal of Travel Research). It was found that 53.9 per cent of articles employed purely quantitative methods, 19 per cent of articles used purely qualitative methods, 11.2 per cent employed a mixed qualitative/quantitative method, and 15.9 per cent were conceptual in nature. An increase was observed in the amount of qualitative research published over this period; however there was a continued dominance of quantitative research. This paper offers guidance to both tourism researchers and leading tourism journals about their role in answering the call for more, and better quality articles based on qualitative and mixed method research.

Frontier and envelopment evaluations of university graduation efficiencies and productivities: elements for performance-based funding

Abstract: Universities are increasingly being pressured to increase student graduation rates. In the public sector, graduation rates are being integrated into performance based funding models. To some extent, private university rates have acted as benchmarks for public institutions. Thus, there is a managerial and public policies need to better understand productive efficiencies of both private and publicly owned universities. Thus, this paper provides stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimates and comparisons of graduation rate efficiencies and productivities across both sectors. Panel data is used for four academic years from 2005 to 2009, and includes possible effects and responses to the financial crisis. Although both sectors operate below 85% efficiency, results indicate private universities operate from 2 percentage points below to 7 to 12 percentage points above public institutions. Malmquist index results indicate overall productivity erosion for both ownership types. That is due, in part, to declines in managerial efficiencies and technological changes. However, total productivity regress is not substantially different in two sectors and there is some indication that all universities are moving toward productivity gain territory despite the underlying burdens imposed by the financial crisis.

Modernization through Benchmarking: An Analysis of Three Utility Companies

Abstract: Benchmarking has become popular as a way of evaluating the efficiency of public organizations. This article illustrates how three public companies in the supply sector perceive the implementation of regulatory benchmarking, how they react, what actions are initiated and what dilemmas it involves. Emphasis is put on assessing whether benchmarking results in actual changes and how the companies react to the pressures of rationalization that challenge existing professional understanding. The article is based on ethnomethodology with the use of the notion of account, where primary data collection has taken place through research interview.