Antwerp Management School

Logistics integration and network orientation in the port and maritime industry have redefined the functional role of ports in value chains and have generated new patterns of freight distribution and new approaches to port hierarchy. Existing models on the spatial and functional evolution of ports and port systems only partially fit into the new freight distribution paradigm. This paper aims to add to existing literature by introducing a port regionalization phase in port and port system development. It is demonstrated that the regionalization phase and associated hinterland concepts demand new approaches to port governance and a functional focus that goes beyond the traditional port perimeter.

Asthma management guidelines provide recommendations for the optimum control of asthma. This survey assessed the current levels of asthma control as reported by patients, which partly reflect the extent to which guideline recommendations are implemented. Current asthma patients were identified by telephone by screening 73,880 households in seven European countries. Designated respondents were interviewed on healthcare utilization, symptom severity, activity limitations and asthma control. Current asthma patients were identified in 3,488 households, and 2,803 patients (80.4%) completed the survey. Forty-six per cent of patients reported daytime symptoms and 30% reported asthma-related sleep disturbances, at least once a week. In the past 12 months, 25% of patients reported an unscheduled urgent care visit, 10% reported one or more emergency room visits and 7% reported overnight hospitalization due to asthma. In the past 4 weeks, more patients had used prescription quick-relief medication (63%) than inhaled corticosteroids (23%). Patient perception of asthma control did not match their symptom severity; approximately 50% of patients reporting severe persistent symptoms also considered their asthma to be completely or well controlled. The current level of asthma control in Europe falls far short of the goals for long-term asthma management. Patients' perception of asthma control is different from their actual asthma control.

Data from 53 focus groups, which involved students from 10 to 18 years old, show that youngsters often interpret "cyberbullying" as "Internet bullying" and associate the phenomenon with a wide range of practices. In order to be considered "true" cyberbullying, these practices must meet several criteria. They should be intended to hurt (by the perpetrator) and perceived as hurtful (by the victim); be part of a repetitive pattern of negative offline or online actions; and be performed in a relationship characterized by a power imbalance (based on "real-life" power criteria, such as physical strength or age, and/or on ICT-related criteria such as technological know-how and anonymity).

IT governance is one of these concepts that suddenly emerged and became an important issue in the information technology area. Many organisations started with the implementation of IT governance to achieve a better alignment between business and IT. This paper carries interpretations regarding important existing theories, models, and practices in the IT governance domain and presents research questions derived from it. Next, multiple research strategies are triangulated in order to explore how organisations are implementing IT governance and to analyse the relationship between these implementations and business/IT alignment. The major finding is that business/IT alignment maturity is higher when organisations are applying a mix of mature IT governance practices.

To date, no international surveys estimating the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the general population have been published. The Confronting COPD International Survey aimed to quantify morbidity and burden in COPD subjects in 2000. From a total of 201,921 households screened by random-digit dialling in the USA, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK, 3,265 subjects with a diagnosis of COPD, chronic bronchitis or emphysema, or with symptoms of chronic bronchitis, were identified. The mean age of the subjects was 63.3 yrs and 44.2% were female. Subjects with COPD in North America and Europe appear to underestimate their morbidity, as shown by the high proportion of subjects with limitations to their basic daily life activities, frequent work loss (45.3% of COPD subjects of <65 yrs reported work loss in the past year) and frequent use of health services (13.8% of subjects required emergency care in the last year), and may be undertreated. There was a significant disparity between subjects' perception of disease severity and the degree of severity indicated by an objective breathlessness scale. Of those with the most severe breathlessness (too breathless to leave the house), 35.8% described their condition as mild or moderate, as did 60.3% of those with the next most severe degree of breathlessness (breathless after walking a few minutes on level ground). This international survey confirmed the great burden to society and high individual morbidity associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in subjects in North America and Europe.

In many organizations, Information Technology (IT) has become crucial in the support, the sustainability and the growth of the business. This pervasive use of technology has created a critical dependency on IT that calls for a specific focus on IT Governance. IT Governance consists of the leadership and organizational structures, processes and relational mechanisms that ensure that the organization's IT sustains and extends the organization's strategy and objectives. This records and interprets some important existing theories, models and practices in the IT Governance domain and aims to contribute to the understanding of IT Governance.

This analysis begins by exploring various reasons that the concept of terrorism has evaded a widely agreed upon definition for so long despite the efforts of so many writers. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties associated with all “essentially contested concepts.” In addition, the investigation calls attention to such problems as conceptual “stretching” and “traveling.” In an effort to solve the difficulties, the inquiry attempts to determine a consensus definition of terrorism by turning to an empirical analysis of how the term has been employed by academics over the years. Specifically, the well-known definition developed by Alex Schmid, based upon responses to a questionnaire he circulated in 1985, is compared with the way the concept has been employed by contributors to the major journals in the field: Terrorism, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Terrorism and Political Violence. The 22 “definitional elements” of which Schmid's definition is composed are compared to the frequency with which they appear in the professional journals. If these elements appear frequently in both the Schmid definition and those employed by the journal contributors, they are then used to form a consensus definition of the concept. The most striking feature of this academic consensus over the meaning of terrorism is the virtual absence of references to the psychological element, heretofore widely thought to be at the heart of the concept.

ABSTRACT Long payment terms are a strong impediment to the entry and survival of liquidity‐constrained firms. To test this idea and its implications, I consider the effect of a reform restricting the trade credit supply of French trucking firms. In a difference‐in‐differences setting, I find that trucking firms' corporate default probability decreases by 25% following the restriction. The effect is persistent, concentrated among liquidity‐constrained firms, and not offset by a decrease in profits. The restriction also triggers an increase in the entry of small trucking firms.

Abstract This paper describes two studies conducted in the People's Republic of China aimed at improving understanding of knowledge sharing among managers. Study 1 found evidence for the role of two individual factors: greed which reduced knowledge sharing, and self-efficacy which increased it. In addition, co-worker collegiality has an indirect influence on knowledge sharing by lowering greed and raising self-efficacy. Study 2 replicated the key findings of Study 1 and also identified the influence of organizational support on knowledge sharing. Organizational support led to higher utilization of information and communication technologies, resulting in more knowledge sharing, especially for explicit as opposed to implicit knowledge.

Accelerated mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet leads to glacier retreat and an increasing input of glacial meltwater to the fjords and coastal waters around Greenland. These high latitude ecosystems are highly productive and sustain important fisheries, yet it remains uncertain how they will respond to future changes in the Arctic cryosphere. Here we show that marine-terminating glaciers play a crucial role in sustaining high productivity of the fjord ecosystems. Hydrographic and biogeochemical data from two fjord systems adjacent to the Greenland ice sheet, suggest that marine ecosystem productivity is very differently regulated in fjords influenced by either land-terminating or marine-terminating glaciers. Rising subsurface meltwater plumes originating from marine-terminating glaciers entrain large volumes of ambient deep water to the surface. The resulting upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water sustains a high phytoplankton productivity throughout summer in the fjord with marine-terminating glaciers. In contrast, the fjord with only land-terminating glaciers lack this upwelling mechanism, and is characterized by lower productivity. Data on commercial halibut landings support that coastal regions influenced by large marine-terminating glaciers have substantially higher marine productivity. These results suggest that a switch from marine-terminating to land-terminating glaciers can substantially alter the productivity in the coastal zone around Greenland with potentially large ecological and socio-economic implications.

In many organisations, Information Technology (IT) has become crucial in the support, the sustainability and the growth of the business. This pervasive use of technology has created a critical dependency on IT that calls for a specific focus on IT Governance. IT Governance consists of the leadership and organisational structures and processes that ensure that the organisation’s IT sustains and extends the organisation’s strategy and objectives. This introductory chapter records and interprets some important existing theories, models and practises in the IT Governance domain and aims to contribute to the understanding of IT Governance and its structures, processes and relational mechanisms.

The paper discusses how logistics service providers are using terminals in their supply chains. It argues that an increasing ‘terminalization’ of supply chains is unfolding, whereby seaport and inland terminals are taking up a more active role in supply chains by increasingly confronting market players with operational considerations such as imposing berthing windows, dwell time charges, truck slots, all this to increase throughput, optimize terminal capacity and make the best use of available land. With the development of inland terminals, a new dimension is being added: logistics players are now making best use of the free time available in seaports terminals and inland terminals, thereby optimizing the terminal buffer function. As a result, transport terminals are achieving an additional level of integration within supply chains that goes beyond their conventional transshipment role. Given increasing levels of vertical integration in the market and an increasing pressure on port capacity, a further terminalization of supply chains is likely to occur, which will strengthen the active role of terminals in logistics.

Evaluations of the effects of microfinance programmes on women's empowerment generate mixed results. While some are supportive of microfinance's ability to induce a process of economic, social and political empowerment, others are more sceptical and even point to a deterioration of women's overall well-being. Against this background, development scholars and practitioners have sought to distil some of the ingredients that might increase the likelihood of empowerment or at least reduce adverse effects. This article formally tests the impact of some of the suggested changes in programme features on one particular dimension of empowerment: decision-making agency. Using household survey data from South India, the author explores the importance of the borrower's gender and the lending technology for intra-household decision-making processes. It is shown that direct bank–borrower credit delivery does not challenge the existing decision-making patterns, regardless of whether men or women receive the credit. These findings change when credit is combined with financial and social group intermediation. Women's group membership seriously shifts overall decision-making patterns from norm-guided behaviour and male decision-making to more joint and female decision-making. Longer-term group membership and more intensive training and group meetings strengthen these patterns.

Social science research has recently been subject to considerable criticism regarding the validity and power of empirical tests published in leading journals, and business scholarship is no exception. Transparency and replicability of empirical findings are essential to build a cumulative body of scholarly knowledge. Yet current practices are under increased scrutiny to achieve these objectives. JIBS is therefore discussing and revising its editorial practices to enhance the validity of empirical research. In this editorial, we reflect on best practices with respect to conducting, reporting, and discussing the results of quantitative hypothesis-testing research, and we develop guidelines for authors to enhance the rigor of their empirical work. This will not only help readers to assess empirical evidence comprehensively, but also enable subsequent research to build a cumulative body of empirical knowledge.

This article identifies and describes the development of three parallel streams of literature about network theory and research: social network analysis, policy change and political science networks, and public management networks. Noting that these traditions have sometimes been inattentive to each other's work, the authors illustrate the similarities and differences in the underlying theoretical assumptions, types of research questions addressed, and research methods typically employed by the three traditions. The authors draw especially on the social network analysis (sociological) tradition to provide theoretical and research insights for those who focus primarily on public management networks. The article concludes with recommendations for advancing current scholarship on public management networks.

The relation between working capital management and corporate profitability is investigated for a sample of 1009 large Belgian non-financial firms for the 1992-1996 period. Trade credit policy and inventory policy are measured by number of days accounts receivable, accounts payable and inventories, and the cash conversion cycle is used as a comprehensive measure of working capital management. The results suggest that managers can increase corporate profitability by reducing the number of days accounts receivable and inventories. Less profitable firms wait longer to pay their bills.

Based on a meta-analysis, this study aims to clarify the influence of online review valence (i.e., whether reviews in a review set are predominantly positive or negative) on various dependent variables, in particular on perceived usefulness of the reviews and on attitudes toward the product. The findings suggest that review valence affects perceived usefulness in a different way than it affects attitudes. We find an optimum impact level for perceived usefulness and a ceiling effect for attitudes. Primarily negative review sets that include few positive reviews show the strongest effect on perceived usefulness, while positive review sets that include few or no negative reviews are most successful in influencing attitudes. Additionally, review valence has a stronger influence on perceived usefulness when the reviews refer to experience (rather than search) products, and it has a stronger influence on attitudes for unfamiliar (rather than familiar) brands. Finally, the strongest influence of review valence refers to recommendation intentions. These findings provide several implications for researchers and practitioners.

Research Summary We integrate insights from upper echelon theory and the literature on innovation and multinational corporations (MNCs) to develop a framework explaining when and why nationality diversity in top management teams (TMTs) affects corporate entrepreneurship—as evidenced by diversity in global knowledge sourcing—and through this innovation performance in MNCs. In a panel of 165 manufacturing MNCs based in 20 countries, we confirm that the positive effects of TMT nationality diversity on corporate entrepreneurship and innovation are only unleashed in TMTs with low social stratification and in MNCs located in home countries that are low in national power distance. Our study contributes to opening up the black box of the upper echelon's strategic role in spurring entrepreneurship and innovation in MNCs embedded in different cultures. Managerial Summary The internationalization of TMTs in MNCs has been increasing in response to the globalization of markets and sources of knowledge. In this study, we examine under what circumstances MNCs that have TMTs comprised of executives with diverse nationalities exhibit stronger innovation performance. Analysis of leading corporations from 20 countries over a period of 10 years reveals that MNCs with diverse TMTs engage more in corporate entrepreneurship and subsequently see increased innovation performance—but only when these TMTs are operating in environments characterized by equal distribution of power and low hierarchy. The findings underscore the important role of corporate headquarters and TMT composition in the strategic management of modern MNCs.

One of the major problems in pattern mining is the explosion of the number of results. Tight constraints reveal only common knowledge, while loose constraints lead to an explosion in the number of returned patterns. This is caused by large groups of patterns essentially describing the same set of transactions. In this paper we approach this problem using the MDL principle: the best set of patterns is that set that compresses the database best. For this task we introduce the Krimp algorithm. Experimental evaluation shows that typically only hundreds of itemsets are returned; a dramatic reduction, up to seven orders of magnitude, in the number of frequent item sets. These selections, called code tables, are of high quality. This is shown with compression ratios, swap-randomisation, and the accuracies of the code table-based Krimp classifier, all obtained on a wide range of datasets. Further, we extensively evaluate the heuristic choices made in the design of the algorithm.

Through its photosynthetic capacity the leaf provides the basis for growth of the whole plant. In order to improve crops for higher productivity and resistance for future climate scenarios, it is important to obtain a mechanistic understanding of leaf growth and development and the effect of genetic and environmental factors on the process. Cells are both the basic building blocks of the leaf and the regulatory units that integrate genetic and environmental information into the developmental program. Therefore, to fundamentally understand leaf development, one needs to be able to reconstruct the developmental pathway of individual cells (and their progeny) from the stem cell niche to their final position in the mature leaf. To build the basis for such understanding, we review current knowledge on the spatial and temporal regulation mechanisms operating on cells, contributing to the formation of a leaf. We focus on the molecular networks that control exit from stem cell fate, leaf initiation, polarity, cytoplasmic growth, cell division, endoreduplication, transition between division and expansion, expansion and differentiation and their regulation by intercellular signaling molecules, including plant hormones, sugars, peptides, proteins, and microRNAs. We discuss to what extent the knowledge available in the literature is suitable to be applied in systems biology approaches to model the process of leaf growth, in order to better understand and predict leaf growth starting with the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.