Purpose: This study examined how the catering business quickly responded and recovered from the threats caused by COVID-19 with the use of social media in Beijing, China. It evidences how various catering businesses in Beijing continued to pursue their businesses after restrictive social distancing measures were imposed. Methodology: Unstructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with nine restaurant managers in Beijing, who worked during both waves of the pandemic in the spring and fall of 2020. Findings: COVID-19 further strengthened the smoke-free law enforcement in Beijing for the catering business. The Chinese consumers were found to replace restaurant consumption with stay-at-home delivery. Caterers consider social media platforms as essential tools for digital-led customer interaction in a pandemic, but also show concerns about the market power of these platforms. The Chinese government successfully implemented its health tracking app into popular local social media platforms in the battle against COVID-19, and enabled businesses to continue functioning. Value: COVID-19 not only disrupts our daily lives, but it has significantly impacted and improved a smoke-free environment, and it has accelerated the catering business to actively embrace technology which led to remarkable innovations. Integrating health tracking apps into popular and highly penetrated social media platforms is considered as one significant success factor for the containment of the coronavirus and a great help in restoring consumer confidence, leading to purchasing action. This research offers a Chinese inside view of the power of social media to enhance customer interaction and business performance even during a pandemic, profiting both businesses and consumers alike. Implications are raised for similar integration of health apps elsewhere.
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Design educators and industry partners are critical knowledge managers and co-drivers of change, and design graduate and post-graduate students can act as catalysts for new ideas, energy, and perspectives. In this article, we will explore how design advances industry development through the lens of a longitudinal inquiry into activities carried out as part of a Dutch design faculty-industry collaboration. We analyze seventy-five (75) Master of Science (MSc) thesis outcomes and seven (7) Doctorate (PhD) thesis outcomes (five in progress) to identify ways that design activities have influenced advances in the Dutch aviation industry over time. Based on these findings, we then introduce an Industry Design Framework, which organizes the industry/design relationship as a three-layered system. This novel approach to engaging industry in design research and design education has immediate practical value and theoretical significance, both in the present and for future research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.07.003 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-de-lille-8039372/
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Purpose: This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of molecular gastronomy by conducting empirical research focusing on renowned chefs. Design/methodology/approach: The approach taken is a literature review summarising past culinary innovations then the paper focuses on the origins and evolution of molecular gastronomy, followed by 18 phenomenological interviews with a snowball sample of world class chefs from across Europe. Findings: There is far greater confusion about what molecular gastronomy might be than is implied in previous studies. The term has become wrongly used to describe a possible culinary movement mainly as a result of media influence. Leading chefs, whose new restaurant concepts have become associated with it, reject the term. Research limitations/implications: With only 20 years of history molecular gastronomy is still a comparatively new phenomenon. This initial research presents a clear picture of its evolution so far and the increasing confusion the use of the term has created. It is still far too early to decide if these are heralding a new gastronomic movement. Practical implications: Although molecular gastronomy itself may not provide a foundation for a genuine and lasting development of cuisine it is generating fascination with the fundamental science and techniques of cuisine and showy culinary alchemy. As with nouvelle cuisine poor quality copycat chefs could bring into disrepute the reputation and practices of those who are at the vanguard of culinary and restaurant innovation. Originality/value: This paper is the first widespread primary study, across five countries, into recognised exceptional chefs' understanding of molecular gastronomy. It clarifies that molecular gastronomy was never intended to be the foundation of a culinary movement and identifies four key elements for the development of lasting cuisine movements and trends.
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Purpose As a step toward more firmly establishing factors to promote retention among younger employees in the hospitality industry, this study aims to focuses on fun in the workplace (fun activities, manager support for fun and coworker socializing) and training climate (organizational support, manager support and job support) as potential antecedents of turnover in a European context. Design/methodology/approach Logistic regression was used to analyze the impact of fun and training climate on turnover with a sample of 902 employees from Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. Data on fun and training climate were obtained through surveys, which were paired with turnover data from organizational records. Findings With respect to fun in the workplace, group-level manager support for fun and coworker socializing were significantly related to turnover, but not fun activities. With respect to training climate, individual-level job support was significantly related to turnover, but not organizational support and manager support. Research limitations/implications As the data were obtained from employees from one organization, further research would be valuable with additional samples to substantiate the generalizability of the results. Practical implications Given the challenge of turnover, organizations should foster informal aspects of fun in the workplace and learning opportunities to promote retention. Originality/value The study examined the fun–turnover relationship in a context outside of the USA where previous fun–turnover research has been conducted, and it examined fun relative to training climate, which has not been studied heretofore. This study also investigated group- and individual-level effects of both fun and training climate on turnover.
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Relatief kleine, gespecialiseerde bedrijven in de maakindustrie hebben behoefte aan flexibele assemblageprocessen en productielogistiek. Digitalisering biedt veel mogelijkheden om productieprocessen efficiënter en duurzamer te maken, innovatieve producten te fabriceren en over te schakelen op andere businessmodellen. Dit moet dan wel werken voor kleine series en enkelstuks. ‘Kunnen wij het maken?’ verwijst naar onderliggende vragen over: ‘Hoe beheersen we risico’s in complexe maakprocessen?’, ‘Hoe werken we samen in de keten?’ en ‘Wat moeten huidige en toekomstige engineers weten over ‘Industry 4.0’ en circulaire maakindustrie?’. Bijgaand essay, in verkorte vorm uitgesproken als Intreerede, legt uit hoe de onderzoekers van Smart Sustainable Manufacturing aan de slag gaan om een antwoord te vinden op deze vragen, door middel van cocreatie met de beroepspraktijk en het onderwijs in het Re/manufacturing lab.
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This report provides the global community of hospitality professionals with critical insights into emerging trends and developments, with a particular focus on the future of business travel. Business travellers play a pivotal role within the tourism industry, contributing significantly to international travel, GDP, and business revenues.In light of recent disruptions and evolving challenges, this forward-looking study aims not only to reflect on the past but, more importantly, to anticipate future developments and uncertainties in the realm of business travel. By doing so, it offers strategic insights to help hospitality leaders navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the industry.Key findings from the Yearly Outlook include:• Recovery of International Travel: By 2024, international travel arrivals have surpassed 2019 levels by 2%, signalling a full recovery in the sector. In Amsterdam, there was a 13% decrease in business traveller numbers, offset by an increase in the average length of stay from 2.34 to 2.71 days. Notably, more business travellers opted for 3-star accommodations, marking a shift in preferences.• Future of Business Travel: The report outlines a baseline scenario that predicts a sustainable, personalised, and seamless business travel experience by 2035. This future will likely be driven by AI integration, shifts in travel patterns—such as an increase in short-haul trips, longer stays combining business and leisure—and a growing focus on sustainability.• Potential Disruptors: The study also analyses several potential disruptors to these trends. These include socio-political shifts that could reverse sustainability efforts, risks associated with AI-assisted travel, the decline of less attractive business destinations, and the impact of global geopolitical tensions.The Yearly Outlook provides practical recommendations for hospitality professionals and tourism policymakers. These recommendations focus on building resilience, anticipating changes in business travel preferences, leveraging AI and technological advancements, and promoting sustainable practices within the industry.
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The aim of this research is to explore the potential of Mixed Reality (MR) technologies for Operator Support in order to progress towards Industry 4.0 (I4.0) particularly for SMEs. Through a series of interventions and interviews conducted with local SMEs, potential use cases and their drawbacks have been identified. From this, insights were derived that serve as a starting point for conducting further experiments with MR technology in the smart manufacturing laboratory at the THUAS in Delft. The intervention consisted of a free form workshop in which the participants get ‘tinkering’ time to explore MR in their own work environment. The various levels of awareness were assessed in three stages: during an introductory interview, and after an instruction meeting and some ‘tinkering’. The study took place in the period from January 2022 to July 2022 with 10 local SMEs in the Netherlands. The results show that for all SMEs the awareness and understanding increased. The use cases identified by operators themselves concerned Quality Control, Diagnostics, Instruction, Specification and Improvement of Operations. Drawbacks foreseen related to Ergonomic Concerns, Resistance from operators, Technical considerations, Unavailability of MR device and an insufficient digital infrastructure to support MR in full extent. The use case most promising to the participants was further developed into a physical prototype for an ‘assisted assembly cell’ by which the aspects of ergonomics and the mentioned technical considerations could be analysed.
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The hospitality industry, comprising diverse Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) such as restaurants, hotels, and catering facilities plays an important role in local and regional communities by providing employment opportunities, facilitating the organization of community events, and supporting local social activities and sports teams (Panteia, 2023). The hospitality industry thereby represents a major source of income in Europe, but also a commensurate burden on the environment because of its relatively high usage of water and energy consumption, and food waste, leading to the formulation of several initiatives to increase the sustainability of hotels, restaurants, and resorts, such as farm to fork and towel reuse (Bux & Amicarelli, 2023). Another avenue for hospitality organizations to make progress towards sustainability goals is through circular economy strategies (Bux & Amicarelli, 2023) based on the creation of small regenerative loops that require the involvement of multiple stakeholders (Tomassini & Cavagnaro, 2022). Nevertheless, hospitality operators need to track their progress towards sustainability goals while keep sight of their financial goals (Bux & Amicarelli, 2023), requiring a data-driven decision-making approach to sustainability and circularity. Big data analytics have therefore been identified as an enabler of the circular economy paradigm by reducing uncertainty and allowing organizations to predict results (Awan et al., 2021; Gupta et al., 2019). Hospitality organizations however remain behind in leveraging data analytics for decisionmaking (Mariani & Baggio, 2022). The purpose of the study is therefore to examine how hospitality organizations can leverage data analytics to make data-driven decisions regarding circularity. Using a multiple case study approach of three Dutch hospitality SMEs, enablers and inhibitors of data analytics for datadriven decisions regarding circularity are examined. This addresses the call by Tomassini and Cavagnaro (2022) for more exploration of the circularity paradigm in hospitality. Despite the ongoing interest in increasing the sustainability of the hospitality industry (European Commission, 2013), relatively little attention has been paid to the development of circularity strategies and what is needed to implement them.
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The aim of this research is to assess the potential impact of the CO2 Performance Ladder on CO2 emission reduction. The CO2 Performance Ladder is a new green procurement scheme that has been adopted by several public authorities in the Netherlands; it is a staged certification scheme for energy and CO2 management. The achieved certification level gives companies a certain competitive advantage in contract awarding procedures. While the scheme has been widely adopted by companies in the construction industry, other types of companies in the supply chain of the commissioning parties also participate. Currently, more than 190 companies participate in the scheme. The aggregate CO2 emissions covered by the scheme are around 1.7 Mtonnes, which corresponds to almost 1 % of national greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands. Since the introduction of the scheme the total CO2 emissions have decreased substantially. Nevertheless, these emission reductions should be interpreted with caution since emission reductions are dominated by a few companies and are affected to a large extent by economic activity. Companies participating in the scheme have set different types of CO2 emission reduction targets with varying ambition levels. The projected impact of these targets on CO2 emissions is in the range of a 0.5 %-1.3 % absolute emission reduction per year, with a most likely value of 1.1 %. The CO2 Performance Ladder can therefore make a substantial contribution to achieving the CO2 emission reductions for non-ETS sectors in the Netherlands up to 2020.
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