Renu Agarwal
University of Technology Sydney, UTS Business School, Faculty Member
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ABSTRACT Yield management is credited with delivering increases in revenue of between 5% and 7% for top tier airlines. Its application in other service industries with high fixed costs and little marginal cost for additional customers,... more
ABSTRACT Yield management is credited with delivering increases in revenue of between 5% and 7% for top tier airlines. Its application in other service industries with high fixed costs and little marginal cost for additional customers, however, is still in its infancy and yet to be explored. In this context, this paper introduces the fundamental concepts and trade-offs of yield management in the education services sector, in particular the vocational education training (VET) sector. We initially examine the components of yield management then describe yield management in the transportation and hospitality sectors, and draw parallels with the those sectors. Finally, we explore the applicability of yield management to the education services sector. We specifically examine a potential strategic application of yield management theory and concepts to increasing the disbursement of international students opting to study in regional areas of Australia. While preliminary findings indicate that yield management concepts apply in the VET sector in Australia, further research is required to validate this through defining: the market size, price break points, and the economic, social and cultural benefits. In addition, the generalizability of yield management concepts to other education services sectors, such as schools and higher education service providers, requires further work.
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Yield management is credited with delivering increases in revenue of between five to seven percent for top tier airlines. Since that time, its application has been extended to other service sectors within the travel and tourism industry.... more
Yield management is credited with delivering increases in revenue of between five to seven percent for top tier airlines. Since that time, its application has been extended to other service sectors within the travel and tourism industry. However, its application in other service industries which have high fixed costs and little marginal cost for additional customers is still in its infancy or is yet to be explored. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the fundamental concepts and trade-offs of yield management in the education services sector; as such we initially examine the components of yield management; describe yield management in the transportation and hospitality sectors; and finally, draw parallels with transportation and hospitality sector and explore its applicability in the education services sector. Beyond this, we look at a potential strategic application of yield management theory and concepts in increasing the disbursement of international students opting to study in regional areas of Australia. Examination of the limitations and barriers to implementing a yield management system in the education sector along with recommendations for further research are discussed.
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This report explores Australia’s productivity slowdown and the policy measures that are being proposed to address it. There is increasing recognition and agreement among policy-makers in Australia that productivity is a key driver of... more
This report explores Australia’s productivity slowdown and the policy measures that are being proposed to address it. There is increasing recognition and agreement among policy-makers in Australia that productivity is a key driver of growth, competitiveness and living standards. But there is less agreement on the sources and measurement of productivity performance, and consequently on the policies that may contribute to a sustainable improvement in performance. The need for such improvement has been sharpened and made more urgent by two separate but related problems that have recently received considerable public attention. The first problem is the impending fall in Australia’s terms of trade from the heights reached during the commodity boom. The unprecedented rise in our terms of trade as a result of increased commodity prices delivered a massive boost to the growth in our national income in the early 2000s, helped to shield Australia from the worst of the global financial crisis and made our economy the envy of the world. However, it masked a second problem which is the underlying deterioration of Australia’s productivity performance since the 1990s. While this problem could be safely ignored, and was ignored in the past, with rising terms of trade taking up the slack, it is now fully exposed by the turnaround in our terms of trade as the commodity cycle runs its course. There were warning signs but a cyclical event was confused by many policymakers and commentators with structural change. The report finds that just as the slowdown was previously ignored, it is now misinterpreted and exaggerated to justify measures that may have little or no relevance to our future productivity performance, and which may themselves have contributed to the slowdown.
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Digital services are a disruptive innovation helping the Australian government deliver public services to a greater number of citizens faster and more efficiently than ever before (United Nations, 2016). Over the last 20 years, the... more
Digital services are a disruptive innovation helping the Australian government deliver public services to a greater number of citizens faster and more efficiently than ever before (United Nations, 2016). Over the last 20 years, the Australian federal government has been able to achieve nearly full availability of digital government services through public sector innovation. A recent commitment to such innovation occurred with the May 2015 release of a Digital Service Standard (DSS). Two years has passed since Australia introduced its DSS and this research reviews the role of this standard in fostering public service innovation. To perform this analysis, this research evaluates the alignment between the DSS and the commonly adopted approaches for managing organisational innovation of Innovation Process Management (Cooper, 1990) and Innovation Portfolio Management (Tuff & Nadji, 2012) in the public sector context. The analysis draws on publicly available data on 19 Digital Service Standard assessments from July 2015 to June 2017 and case studies of three assessments including: Digital Marketplace, MyGov and BloodNet. This evaluation found that the DSS exemplifies innovation process and innovation portfolio management in its use of gates, assessment criteria and reach across eight different agencies. The analysis also identified design limitations in the DSS as a whole of government innovation management approach due to its limited uptake in the majority of large government agencies and lack of specific standards to encourage different types of innovation. The paper proposes a framework to realign the DSS to better practices of innovation process and portfolio management, including tailoring the standard for new and existing services across a greater proportion of government agencies, and adjusting the DSS to encourage both incremental and disruptive innovations
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Analysing and understanding donor behaviour in Non-profit Organisations (NPOs) is challenging due to the lack of human and technical resources. Machine learning (ML) techniques can analyse and understand donor behaviour at a certain... more
Analysing and understanding donor behaviour in Non-profit Organisations (NPOs) is challenging due to the lack of human and technical resources. Machine learning (ML) techniques can analyse and understand donor behaviour at a certain level; however, it remains to be seen how to build and design an Artificial Intelligence enabled Decision Support System (AI-enabled DSS) to analyse donor behaviour. Thus, this paper proposes an AI-enabled DSS conceptual design to analyse donor behaviour in NPOs. A conceptual design is created following a Design Science Research approach to evaluate an AI-enabled DSS's initial DPs and features to analyse donor behaviour in NPOs. The evaluation process of the conceptual design applied formative assessment through conducting interviews with stakeholders from NPOs. The interviews were conducted using the Appreciative Inquiry framework to facilitate the process of interviews. The results of analysis based on the interviews provide insightful information ...
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The emerging economies are key factors in the future growth of world trade and the maintenance of global financial stability. Little is known about the way in which firms in emerging economies strategically manage the learning –... more
The emerging economies are key factors in the future growth of world trade and the maintenance of global financial stability. Little is known about the way in which firms in emerging economies strategically manage the learning – creativity process to develop competitive advantage in both domestic and global markets. We extend the literature on learning and human capital by positing a model and examining 1) the mediating role of higherorder human capital in the relationship between learning facilitation and knowledge exploitation (KE); and 2) the mediating role of endogenous creativity in the KE – firm performance relationship. Qualitative method based on the sample in China’s firms was adopted and the results indicate that all the hypothesized relationships are supported.
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The traditional manufacturing model of volume-variety influencing the conduct of business is not entirely representative of service-centric business. The latter has two key differences – it is much more end-user centric and... more
The traditional manufacturing model of volume-variety influencing the conduct of business is not entirely representative of service-centric business. The latter has two key differences – it is much more end-user centric and individualistic in experience. The complex nature of service attributes also make it much more convoluted. The notion of product being the centre of interaction is being replaced with service processes involving participants and generally defined between a service provider and service consumer. The aim of this paper is to validate the service innovation hypotheses put forward based on significant developments in value networks, open interfaces, and business models recently. In doing so, this theoretical paper substantiates the claim that prescriptive volume-variety relationships are little meaningful in service delivery environment.
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Research Interests: Business and Benchmarking
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This paper researches - Elevated Service Offerings - (ESO), or enhanced service offerings which can only be eventuated as a result of partnering, and which could not be delivered on individual organisational merit, within a service value... more
This paper researches - Elevated Service Offerings - (ESO), or enhanced service offerings which can only be eventuated as a result of partnering, and which could not be delivered on individual organisational merit, within a service value network. The ESO is a multi-dimensional construct which was operationalized and validated through an extensive literature review, Exploratory Factor Analysis, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis using a holdout sample. This research gives managers of service organisations further insight into the dimensions of this new concept of innovation in services in collaborative service systems
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This study investigates the impact of organisational leadership and governance, ICT infrastructure and organizational culture on innovation in services, using empirical data from a major Australian telecommunication service provider and... more
This study investigates the impact of organisational leadership and governance, ICT infrastructure and organizational culture on innovation in services, using empirical data from a major Australian telecommunication service provider and its partnering organisations. Our empirical results show that governance, leadership, organisational culture, and ICT integration attributes all contribute significantly to the creation and delivery of innovation in services. Governance strategies tend to structure and regulate the conduct of the parties in an exchange, however when integrated, they constrain the latitude of decision making within the relationship. It is important that an environment of mutual support and culture is created to establish volitional compliance amongst partners. This is possible only through collaborative communication, openness and trust, with seamless integration of ICT systems, which allows transparent flow of information for real-time decision making
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Increasingly, small and medium enterprise firms (SMEs) in emerging economies are partnering with large multinational firms within a ‘service value network (SVN)’. Moreover, these firms are short of resources such as human capital,... more
Increasingly, small and medium enterprise firms (SMEs) in emerging economies are partnering with large multinational firms within a ‘service value network (SVN)’. Moreover, these firms are short of resources such as human capital, financial capital and know-how, which are essential for innovation, development of new technologies and maintaining sustainable competitive advantage. This chapter draws on existing constructs on collaborative organisational infrastructure (COI), collaborative architecture management (CAM) and information technology infrastructure flexibility (ITIF) from extant literature to demonstrate the importance of governance, leadership, information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure and business IT infrastructure flexibility in achieving effective collaborative entrepreneurial alertness (CEA). In particular, this chapter theoretically postulates the flow-on effects of partnering in an SVN fostering entrepreneurial alertness (EA) capability on individual SME firms’ capability.
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Several service classifications based on servicespecific attributes, service delivery, channel strategies, marketing and management have evolved in response to the dynamics of the service industry. Service-specific attributes necessitate... more
Several service classifications based on servicespecific attributes, service delivery, channel strategies, marketing and management have evolved in response to the dynamics of the service industry. Service-specific attributes necessitate the need for strategic and ...
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Participating in global supply chains is becoming an imperative, yet remains a challenging endeavour for many businesses. In 2015 World Trade Organisations members exported merchandise to the value of US$16.2 trillion and commercial... more
Participating in global supply chains is becoming an imperative, yet remains a challenging endeavour for many businesses. In 2015 World Trade Organisations members exported merchandise to the value of US$16.2 trillion and commercial services US$4.68 trillion. Monetary policies in developed countries and exchange rate volatility impact the price of goods, firm performance and growth of international trade. One of the many risks for participating businesses in international business, especially for small to medium sized business, is foreign exchange risk generally managed through hedging and invoicing risks. In this context, invoicing currency strategy is an important factor for supply chains and is indicative of the level of economic risk and which parties bear risks in global supply chains. This research explores and compares management techniques for exchange rate exposure in the currency payment processes and though the use of different currencies when deploying block chain techno...
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Modern businesses are recognising the power of innovation through design thinking to sustain innovation and growth in today’s competitive markets. Design is now becoming a holistic process and there is emerging need for future business... more
Modern businesses are recognising the power of innovation through design thinking to sustain innovation and growth in today’s competitive markets. Design is now becoming a holistic process and there is emerging need for future business leaders to understand the underlying processes of design thinking in an urge to innovate. This paper introduces a framework in design thinking to encourage information systems (IS) and management students to foster their creativity and innovation capabilities, and also improve their metacognitive skills. The framework is used to develop and implement teaching methods that increasingly focus on agility and innovation. An exploration of steps of implementing this framework in teaching introductory to high level university subjects is discussed. One of the key goals of the framework was to ensure that students learn early in their studies that design thinking is not only about identifying new ideas, but how the ideas can be externalised and differentiate...
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Organisations strive to be innovative in order to survive and succeed in an everchanging business environment. Nevertheless, do these organisations really understand the meaning of innovation? The meaning and understanding of innovation... more
Organisations strive to be innovative in order to survive and succeed in an everchanging business environment. Nevertheless, do these organisations really understand the meaning of innovation? The meaning and understanding of innovation is changing, originally l imited to science and technological innovations i t now includes innovation due to value co-creation, environmental and social challenges. Innovation is st i l l an opaque concept, though many efforts are involved in developing an understanding of an organisation. This paper aims to explore the perspectives and patterns of Australian f irms practising innovat ions in their dayto-day activi t ies. The paper further examines the patterns of innovation involving innovation resources , ef forts, outputs, and metrics used to measure innovation. An empirical study with quali tative analysis forms the basis of this paper.
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Forecasting for uncertain product demand in supply chain is challenging and statistical models alone cannot overcome the challenges faced. Our overall objective is to explore the challenges faced in forecasting uncertain product demand... more
Forecasting for uncertain product demand in supply chain is challenging and statistical models alone cannot overcome the challenges faced. Our overall objective is to explore the challenges faced in forecasting uncertain product demand and examine extant literature by synthesizing the results of studies that have empirically investigated this complex phenomenon. We performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) following the well-known guidelines of the evidence-based paradigm which resulted in selecting 66 empirical studies. Our results are presented into two categories of internal and external challenges: 24 of the 66 studies express internal challenges, whilst 13 studies report external challenges, and 8 studies cover both internal and external challenges. We also present significant gaps identified in the research literature.
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Business firms are increasingly becoming dependent on each other to deliver services to their customers. Due to rapid changes in market conditions such as introduction of new technologies, changing customer preferences, and increasing... more
Business firms are increasingly becoming dependent on each other to deliver services to their customers. Due to rapid changes in market conditions such as introduction of new technologies, changing customer preferences, and increasing competitive pressures on firms, the ability to build innovative capability has become a key resource and an asset. In the context of service firms, there is a growing trend of collaboration between firms facilitating value creation, Nevertheless, it is important to understand value creation in the reverse manner ie.; do networks facilitate value for individual firms in return, and are there linkages between capabilities of networks, and capabilities of individual partnering companies. As evident from extant literature, the nature and type of linkage between firms in a business network plays a critical role in facilitating innovation capability building of the network. However, in order to effectively learn from the network service firms need to possess...
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The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to identify, analyze, and to assess supply chain disruption factors and drivers. Based on an empirical analysis, four disruption factor categories including natural, human-made, system... more
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to identify, analyze, and to assess supply chain disruption factors and drivers. Based on an empirical analysis, four disruption factor categories including natural, human-made, system accidents, and financials with a total of sixteen disruption drivers are identified and examined in a real-world industrial setting. This research utilizes an integrated approach comprising both the Delphi method and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). To test this integrated method, one of the well-known examples in industrial contexts of developing countries, the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh is considered. To evaluate this industrial example, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to ensure the robustness and viability of the framework in practical settings. This study not only expands the literature scope of supply chain disruption risk assessment but through its application in any context or industry will reduce the impact of such disruptions and enhance the overall supply chain resilience. Consequently, these enhanced capabilities arm managers the ability to formulate relevant mitigation strategies that are robust and computationally efficient. These strategies will allow managers to take calculated decisions proactively. Finally, the results reveal that political and regulatory instability, cyclones, labor strikes, flooding, heavy rain, and factory fires are the top six disruption drivers causing disruptions to the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.
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This chapter is theoretical in nature and follows the evolution of production in the context of developed nations. We begin with the physical nature of industrial economies of the past, move to the service- and knowledge-based economies... more
This chapter is theoretical in nature and follows the evolution of production in the context of developed nations. We begin with the physical nature of industrial economies of the past, move to the service- and knowledge-based economies of the present, and incorporate the emerging creative industries where human creativity forms the basis on which value is created. Paralleled to this is the contributions of academic scholars whose theories and models have provided understanding and meaning at each of these evolutionary stages. The chapter culminates with our contribution which recombines aspects of each of the models to form the Value Creation Cube framework. The Value Creation Cube framework represents the different perspectives of production, including the human elements of customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees and managers, whilst also provisioning for the technical components that enable the efficient communication and integration of each of the sub-components.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to measure service productivity using the Service Enterprise Productivity in Action (SEPIA) model. The research operationalises only one of the five stakeholder groups, the customer interface which... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to measure service productivity using the Service Enterprise Productivity in Action (SEPIA) model. The research operationalises only one of the five stakeholder groups, the customer interface which incorporates service complexity (SC), customer interactions, customer channel, customer loyalty (CL) (new) as inputs, and CL (referred and repeat) and willingness to pay as output measures.Design/methodology/approachThe research extends our understanding of existing service productivity models with the development of the SEPIA model. Data were collected from 14 organisations operating in the Australian travel and tourism industry, which was analysed using a data envelopment analysis input oriented variable return to scale method as applied to the SEPIA model customer interface.FindingsFour key findings from the research include: customer choice and their ability to pay is a determinant of service productivity; service productivity is a two stage process...
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the development of key supply chain capabilities in the Indian public sector-run liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply chain. This case study has relevance to emerging markets grappling... more
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the development of key supply chain capabilities in the Indian public sector-run liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply chain. This case study has relevance to emerging markets grappling with problems caused by monopolies and subsidies. Furthermore, this case study not only aims to improve operations of the LPG supply chain, but also re-designs its supply network to meet customers’ expectations. It illustrates value creation through growth in non-domestic sales, a reduction in consumption of subsidized LPG as a consequence of better understanding of customer needs and customer diversity, process re-engineering and deployment of ICT systems, and change management and capability building across various LPG stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive research methodology is applied, using an illustrative single case study of the Indian public sector-run LPG supply chain. The research methodology is iterative and explorator...
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In order to succeed in highly competitive markets undergoing rapid technological advancement, professionals and academics have started to realise the importance of building dynamic capabilities. In the context of service companies, this... more
In order to succeed in highly competitive markets undergoing rapid technological advancement, professionals and academics have started to realise the importance of building dynamic capabilities. In the context of service companies, this is even more relevant as service firms are increasingly dependent delivering end to end services to their customers by integrating their core competence with other firms within a service value network. Thus, the necessity to investigate the dynamics of collaboration including partnering with their customers has implications for managers. As evident from literature as well as industry experience, collaboration offers unique opportunities to the partners when creating, designing and delivering new services. Value is co-created whilst attempting to combine, mobilise and realign complimentary resources and skills.; ;
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake a survey of the external and internal forces changing the nature of business schools and business education. It aims to investigate how management education responds to increasing... more
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake a survey of the external and internal forces changing the nature of business schools and business education. It aims to investigate how management education responds to increasing productivity, innovation and capability challenges, examine how MBA programs currently meet these demands, and how these courses might redefine their identity and delivery and finally explore how to deepen engagement between business schools and business stakeholders, and to balance the imperatives of relevance and quality.Design/methodology/approach – This is a survey of business schools and business education in the context of evolving educational and industry policy in Australia in response to an increasingly international and competitive economy. The different potential roles and strategies of business schools are examined, and future strategies identified.Findings – The paper finds that management education is facing insistent pressure to change internationally, and that b...
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake a survey of the external and internal forces changing the nature of business schools and business education. It aims to investigate how management education responds to increasing... more
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake a survey of the external and internal forces changing the nature of business schools and business education. It aims to investigate how management education responds to increasing productivity, innovation and capability challenges, examine how MBA programs currently meet these demands, and how these courses might redefine their identity and delivery and finally explore how to deepen engagement between business schools and business stakeholders, and to balance the imperatives of relevance and quality.Design/methodology/approach – This is a survey of business schools and business education in the context of evolving educational and industry policy in Australia in response to an increasingly international and competitive economy. The different potential roles and strategies of business schools are examined, and future strategies identified.Findings – The paper finds that management education is facing insistent pressure to change internationally, and that b...
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Service organizations increasingly organize themselves and operate on a value chain level. This creates important challenges and opportunities, which call for a realignment of strategic focuses, in particular with respect to the impact of... more
Service organizations increasingly organize themselves and operate on a value chain level. This creates important challenges and opportunities, which call for a realignment of strategic focuses, in particular with respect to the impact of technovation on service creation and services modus operandi, their resulting service classification, and the restructuring amongst different service value chain industries. This research builds on a recently developed classification scheme, referred to as the Services Cubicle, that transcends current industry boundaries and includes upcoming service business trends in technovation. The paper subsequently illustrates a variety of service industry examples in order to clarify the resulting service classifications, taking into account deployment of varying degrees of technovation in that industry.