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The issue of urban sprawl is a main concern for cities across North America. Conventional neighbourhood subdivisions are the key building blocks that contribute to sprawl and have been criticized for their lack of affordability, convenience, efficiency, and public space. This research project presents an alternative approach to conventional neighbourhood planning and design. Recognizing that suburban growth is likely to continue, this project attempts to improve the residential subdivision rather than to limit its development. The alternative approach is based on the concept of sustainable development and is guided by a set of planning principles and design guidelines. This approach is demonstrated in the re-design of Royalwood, a conventional neighbourhood subdivision in Winnipeg. Following the re-design, a comparative analysis between the alternative concept and the conventional plan is undertaken, focusing on land use distribution and "urban efficiency". The analysis shows the alternative concept has advantages in housing diversity and affordability, local services, public spaces, and pedestrian conveniences, while having lower infrastructure and development costs. This project concludes with suggestions for future alternative development in Winnipeg, noting that the City government, residential developers, and local homebuilders are the key players for initiating progress. Recommendations are directed at the City of Winnipeg to create a more favorable setting for the possible implementation of future alternative development.

PurposeThis study examines factors that influence organizations' choices of an internal human capital development strategy and an external human capital acquisition strategy. The human resource architecture indicates that organizations will use different human capital acquisition strategies. Following the resource-based view, human capital theory and the human resource architecture, we examine factors that impact the choices of different human capital acquisition strategies.Design/methodology/approachWe examine these important human capital decisions in the context of Major League Soccer. Data to test the hypotheses were collected from a variety of publicly available sources. We tested the hypotheses with regression analyses.FindingsWe find that while organizations employ both internal and external human capital strategies, organizations may have one dominant human capital strategy and the other strategy may be used to supplement the human capital needs of organizations. Additionally, our results indicate that organizations with an older workforce tend to use an internal human capital development strategy, while higher performing organizations are less likely to use an internal human capital development strategy.Originality/valueThis study makes contributions by examining the choices between internal and external human capital strategies and factors that influence the choice of an internal or external human capital strategy.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to address two issues relevant to those managing product returns: (1) how customers perceive the returning process and assessing the extent that these perceptions have on satisfaction with the organization, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) and (2) are these outcomes moderated by whether customer returns were planned or unplanned?Design/methodology/approachThe data consisted of 21 semi-structured interviews (pilot study) and a quantitative survey (n = 384; main study) targeted at consumers who had bought fashion items online.FindingsQualitative insights revealed that perceptions of the returning experience are driven by monetary costs, convenience, stress and guilt. Quantitative findings showed that the returning experience explains return satisfaction for both planned and unplanned returners, and returning satisfaction explains overall satisfaction and WOM. The noteworthy difference concerns loyalty: although customers that planned to return items are more loyal to the organization, it is the unplanned returners whose loyalty can be significantly increased by better managing the returning process.Practical implicationsReturning products online is increasingly common and thus forms an important part of the customer's overall experience with an organization. Returns management can therefore drive key customer outcomes. Understanding the dynamics between the product return experience, return satisfaction and customer outcomes will help practitioners design and implement more informed returns management strategies. Measures are also presented that assess the cognitive and emotional aspects associated with returning products.Social implicationsReturning products is an increasingly important challenge for online retailers. Understanding what kinds of returning behaviors occur allows companies to design and execute better informed decisions to manage this phenomenon, not only for the sake of firm performance but also for societal and environmental benefits – the triple bottom line.Originality/valueWhile scholars have investigated the relationship between return policies (e.g. free vs fee) and profitability, no prior literature has examined the returning experience: how consumers perceive the returning process; motivations for their returns (whether returns were planned or not) and subsequent customer outcomes.

Four issues that can affect statistical conclusions from mediation analysis are presented here: The implications of omitting mediators; not conducting reverse mediation analysis; using inappropriate measures; and not considering a wider array of experiment-based methods. Suggestions for addressing each of these are advanced. Previous issues of AMJ, JMR and JCR are then examined to gauge the extent to which these suggestions were used. Less than half of the published papers inspected (44.4% of the total) endeavored to address at least three of the four issues raised above. AMJ authors will realize higher statistical as well as theoretical rigor if they consider these suggestions.