ALBERT

Notes: Purpose - Aims to provide empirical evidence of the relationships between and among reverse logistics, resource commitment, and innovation. Design/methodology/approach - Mail surveys were sent to members of the Automobile Aftermarket Industry Association, a large trade association. Factor level results followed by between-item results, as typically reported in general linear modeling and mediated regression, are developed using a split sample methodology. Ultimately, Resource-Advantage Theory provided the framework for examining the impact of developing innovative reverse logistics-related dynamic capabilities. Findings - Resource commitment makes reverse logistics programs more efficient and more effective. However, the resources must be used in such a manner as to develop innovative capabilities/approaches to handling returns. Resource commitment was not found to be significantly related to innovation in reverse logistics at smaller firms. This is likely to be related to the level of resources available. Larger firms can commit greater resources and, thus, enjoy superior performance compared with smaller firms in the survey group. Research limitations/implications - The focus is somewhat narrow. New research should extend beyond the one industry examined. Future research should also expand to include more members of the supply chain and employ methods that allow examination of network relationships. Practical implications - Reverse logistics deserves special attention in terms of resource commitment. Resources related to labor, i.e. allocating sufficient personnel to reverse logistics programs, are especially critical. Innovation in reverse logistics programs was found to be related to operational service quality at both small and large firms. Originality/value - The research provides empirical evidence of the relationships between resource commitment and innovation - and how reverse logistics program performance is influenced. This has important implications with respect to customer relations. It can also be used to provide rationale for securing adequate resource commitment for reverse logistics programs.

Notes: Purpose - Collaboration has been referred to as the driving force behind effective supply chain management and may be the ultimate core capability. However, there is a fairly widespread belief that few firms have truly capitalized on its potential. A study was undertaken to assess the current level of supply chain collaboration and identify best practice. Design/methodology/approach - Supply chain executives provided insights into collaboration. Survey data, personal interviews, and a review of the collaboration literature were used to develop a conceptual model profiling behavior, culture, and relational interactions associated with successful collaboration. Findings - Positive collaboration-related outcomes include enhancements to efficiency, effectiveness, and market positions for the respondents' firms. Research limitations/implications - The small sample size represents a limitation, but is balanced by the quality of the respondent base and their expertise/experience. Another limitation involves securing input from only one party to the collaborative relationships. Developing a longitudinal study would help determine how collaboration-related factors and relationships change over time. Practical implications - Several respondents mentioned a "blurring of lines" between organizations contrasted to an "us vs them" approach. This was expressed in a number of different ways - treating the arrangements as if they both were part of the same operation, treating them as co-owned, and employing a new focus on the best common solution. Many of the respondents indicating rewards are not distributed evenly still admitted they get enough "out of" the collaborative arrangements to make it worthwhile. Originality/value - Real-world practical experiences are recounted involving many of today's top companies.

Notes: : The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has based its water quality management approach on a set of guidelines published in 1970. In light of the changing societal and economic background, advancement in technology and scientific knowledge, and philosophical attitudes towards water management, the water management program was recently revised. Factors influencing the revised approach, including federal-provincial interrelationships and international commitments under the Canada-U.S. Agreement, are summarized.The revised program consists of a goal statement, policies to implement this goal, revised water quality objectives, and detailed implementation procedures for field staff use. Rather than promulgating regulations to impose arbitrary effluent or receiving water standards on a province-wide basis, the revised approach involves the imposition of legally enforceable effluent requirements on a case-by-case basis. Although the paper emphasizes the surface water quality program, it also outlines the Ministry's goals, policies, and procedures for the management of surface-water quantity, as well as ground water quality and quantity.

Notes: SUMMARY 1. Maximum water depth penetration and changes in horizontal distribution during 39 years of the emergent vegetation in a eutrophic lake in southern Sweden were investigated.2. The capacity of the emergent vegetation to penetrate into deeper water areas was found to be higher at wave exposed than al sheltered sites.3. Differences in biomass and biomass allocation of the dominant speeies. Phragmites australis, between an exposed and a sheltered site suggest that horizontal expansion towards deeper water at sheltered sites is limited by unfavourable substrate conditions.

Notes: 1. A 6-year study (1992–97) of changes in submerged vegetation after biomanipulation was carried out in the eutrophicated Lake Finjasjön, Southern Sweden. Ten sites around the lake were revisited each year. At each site five samples of above-ground biomass were taken at 10 cm water depth intervals. An investigation of the seed bank at the 10 sites, and a grazing experiment where birds and large fish were excluded was also conducted.2. Between 1992 and 1996, in shallow areas (water depth 〈 3 m), vegetation cover increased from 〈 3 to 75% and above-ground biomass from 〈 1 to 100 g DW m–2. Mean outer water depth increased from 0.3 to 2.5 m. Elodea canadensis and Myriophyllum spicatum accounted for 〉 95% of the increase in biomass and plant cover. The following year (1997), however, cover and above-ground biomass decreased, mainly attributable to the total disappearance of E. canadensis. Secchi depth increased after biomanipulation until 1996, but decreased again in 1997.3. Total and mean number of submerged species increased after biomanipulation, probably as a result of the improved light climate. However, after the initial increase in species number there was a decrease during the following years, possibly attributed to competition from the rapidly expanding E. canadensis and M. spicatum. The lack of increase in species number after the disappearance of E. canadensis in 1997 implies that other factors also affected species richness.4. A viable seed bank was not necessary for a rapid recolonization of submerged macrophytes, nor did grazing by waterfowl or fish delay the re-colonization of submerged macrophytes.5. Submerged macrophytes are capable of rapid recolonization if conditions improve, even in large lakes such as Finjasjön (11 km2). Species that spread by fragments will increase rapidly and probably outcompete other species.6. The results indicate that after the initial Secchi depth increase, probably caused by high zooplankton densities, submerged vegetation further improved the light climate. The decrease in macrophyte biomass in 1997 may have caused the observed increase in phosphorus and chlorophyll a, and the decrease in Secchi depth. We suggest that nutrient competition from periphyton, attached to the macrophytes, may be an important factor in limiting phytoplankton production, although other factors (e.g. zooplankton grazing) are also of importance, especially as triggers for the shift to a clear-water state.