Welcome to the world of packaging solutions!

more than 700 exhibitors featuring the newest packaging technologies,the latest machinery, state－ of－ the－ art containers, components and materialsmore than 300 additional exhibitors of cutting－ edge food and beverage processing innovationsmore than 17,000 packaging professionals and experts from around the worldWho in the world will be first with the latest trends?Over 17,000 decision makers of packaging and processing products from dozens of countries will be there. And they'll be compet…     

The contribution of Project-based-learning to high-achievers’ acquisition of technological knowledge and skills

The main goals of this study were to look after the technological knowledge construction process by high-school high-achievers, and their ability to design and implement solutions for technological problems. More specifically, we examine the contribution of Project-based-learning (PBL), as pedagogical means for supporting the students’ knowledge acquisition and problem-solving process. The findings show a significant increase in formal knowledge as measured by standardized matriculation exams; an expansion in the scope of technological knowledge acquired and implemented, and in the scope of knowledge resources utilized for the projects; a high level of overall performance as regards to the set of design skills studied; a positive change in attitude towards technology and technological studies; the emergence of consistent design styles by individuals and groups along their work in the projects.     

The imminent weakening of export momentum The analysis of China’s foreign trade of textiles from January to August

The weakening of export momentumAnalysts anticipated an imminent weakeningof export momentum for China's textile and apparel     

Married to the firm? A large‐scale investigation of the social context of ownership

Research summary : Using a large sample of private firms across Europe, we examine how the social context of owners affects firm strategy and performance. Drawing on embeddedness theory and the institutional logics perspective, we argue that embeddedness in a family, in particular the nuclear family, can strengthen identification and commitment to the firm, but can also induce owners to behave more conservatively. Consistent with this argument, we find that family‐owned firms have higher profit margins, returns on assets, and survival rates compared to single‐owner or unrelated‐owners' firms, but also invest and grow more slowly, hold greater reserves of cash, and rely less on external debt. These differences are most pronounced when the two largest shareholders are married. Our results highlight the key role of marital ties in explaining differences in behavior and performance among firms. Managerial summary : Despite the prevalence of the married‐couple ownership structure in firms, little research has been dedicated to understanding how these firms are managed and perform. We examine the behavior and performance of firms owned by married couples in a large panel of closely held Western European firms. We find that married‐owner family firms are managed more conservatively relative to firms with unrelated owners and even to other family‐owned firms. In particular, married‐owner family firms invest and grow more slowly and rely less on external finance. However, they also exhibit greater performance stability and higher profitability. Our findings suggest that social relationships among owners have a large impact on firm strategy and performance, and highlight some potential trade‐offs to performance when married couples control firms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Choose to Fight or Choose to Flee? A Network Embeddedness Perspective of Executive Ship Jumping in Declining Firms

Research summary: Executives in declining firms may engage in ship‐jumping behavior (i.e., voluntarily move to new employers before the failure occurs) to avoid the stigma of failure. However, it is unclear how executives decide whether or not to jump ship. Building on a network embeddedness perspective, we highlight how three network‐based indicators (i.e., executive social capital, the social capital of other peers in the declining firm, and the declining firm's alliance network) influence the executive‐level ship‐jumping decision by shaping its benefits and opportunity costs. Using data from executives at failing firms in China, we find support for our hypothesized relationships. Our research provides important insight into the network mechanisms driving the ship‐jumping decision. Managerial summary: Executives at failing firms have a choice: stay and attempt to rescue the firm from failure or exit and avoid the stigma of the failure (i.e., jump ship). Yet, little is known about what factors affect this choice. We propose that social capital plays an important role in the decision. Our evidence from specially treated (*ST) public firms in China finds that ship jumping is lowest at low and high values of social capital, and highest at moderate levels of social capital (an inverted U‐shaped relationship). In addition, higher levels of peer social capital (in the declining firm) as well as a well‐established firm‐level alliance network discourage the ship‐jumping choice. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using creative problem solving to promote students’ performance of concept mapping

The purpose of the study was to explore that using creative problem solving can promote students’ performance of concept mapping (CMPING). Students were encouraged to use creative problem solving (CPS) in constructing nanometer knowledge structure, and then to promote the performance of CMPING. The knowledge structure was visualized through CMPING which helps students to improve their performance. The participants were 42 college juniors who selected the course “Nano-environmental Engineering Technology”. Four instruments were used to classify student learning performance (meaningful learning, rote learning and non-learning). This study included three main issues: (1) Student learning quality was determined by the change in concept map construction. (2) In-depth interviews were applied to understand student’s CPS process. (3) Student interaction quality in a discussion board on a web-platform was evaluated. The results showed that meaningful high-level learners successfully applied CPS in constructing concept maps and they presented better performance of CMPING. Rote learners’ results were in the second place, and non-learners achieved the worse outcomes. It is suggested that a future teaching study can use creative problem solving to promote students’ performance of CMPING in other courses.     

Are pricing policies an impediment to the success of customer solutions?

In an era of declining pricing power and increased global competition, customized solutions appear to be an effective way to build competitive advantages without the debilitating effects of price competition. Solutions involve provision of an integrated combination of goods and services that are designed to meet a business customer's specific needs. Premium prices and higher margins can be extracted by solution providers, who now have considerable incentives to design and market innovative solutions for their customers. We examine the applicability of various pricing frameworks and pricing practices in the context of two industries — business process outsourcing and power generation equipments. Our interviews suggest that firms predominantly use traditional pricing strategies; new strategies for solution pricing are only emerging; and, successful firms are currently using hybrid pricing models. We find that the solutions that we observed among practitioners are not what theory would suggest as true solutions but what would be described by theory as bundled products. We also find that solutions are in the eye of the beholder, i.e., if customers can de-bundle offerings, they are not true solutions. We extend our findings to academic theory and to the practice of developing and pricing solutions.     

Giving fish or teaching to fish? An empirical study of the effects of government research and development policies

This study compares how government research and development (R&D) subsidy and knowledge transfer from universities and public research institutions stimulate a firm's new product development. More importantly, we emphasize that the effects of these governmental R&D policies on new product development can be achieved not only directly, but also via a mediating role – a firm's innovation capability. Furthermore, we test how other external knowledge sources (such as knowledge from universities and public research institutions) interact with government R&D support to stimulate new product development. The results, based on an investigation of 270 Chinese firms, suggest that both government R&D subsidy and knowledge transfer from universities and public research institutions enhance new product development. The results also show that although government R&D subsidy and knowledge transfer from universities and public research institutions has a direct impact on new product development, innovation capability does mediate the above relationships. Moreover, unlike the findings that other external knowledge sources have a direct influence on new product development as indicated by the previous literature, our findings suggest that external knowledge sources substitute with the government R&D subsidies and complement with knowledge transfer from universities and public research institutions. The results confirm the old sayings that teaching to fish (knowledge transfer from universities and public research institutions can complement with other external knowledge sources) is much better than giving fish (government R&D subsidies substitute other external knowledge sources). This paper enriches current literature of government R&D support policies to firm new product development by providing empirical evidences.     

Competition aspects of pricing access to networks: What are the issues?

The introduction of competition between service providers in industries with some sort of network—such as telecommunications, but also gas and electricity—has created the regulatory problem of access pricing. Where a service provider requires access to a network owned by another firm, how much should that other firm be allowed to charge for access to its network? The problem arises where no agreement is forthcoming through normal market negotiations. The paper discusses the question of access pricing in telecoms, and the issues involved in actually deriving a price fixing mechanism for access to a network.     

To teach or to compete? A strategic dilemma of knowledge owners in international alliances

The strategic importance of learning and knowledge development in alliances has been widely recognized and discussed in literature, though focusing mainly from the view of the demand side and leaving the equally important ingredient of knowledge owners’ incentives-to-teach intact. This paper blends the perspectives of the transaction-costs economics (TCE) and the knowledge-based view (KBV) in a hypothesized governance model that illustrates how knowledge and location factors of international partners jointly impact alliance strategies. We first identify the relevant knowledge and location factors affecting incentives-to-teach in alliances, and then incorporated them into a framework explaining the choice of contractual or equity-based mode governing an alliance. Eight hypotheses are developed and then tested on a sample of 640 international alliances, with at least a partner from a focal emerging economy, Taiwan. Our research findings show that the contractual mode is usually aligned with higher incentives-to-teach of the knowledge owners, especially in knowledge-asymmetric and location-symmetric alliances. In a contrast, the equity-based mode, offering additional safeguarding mechanisms for the knowledge owner, is often selected in the alliances associated with a severe concern of competition, especially in knowledge-symmetric and location-asymmetric alliances.     

Using best–worst scaling to explore perceptions of relative responsibility for ensuring food safety

We examine stakeholders’ perceptions of the share of the overall responsibility of each stage in the food supply chain has in ensuring that the meat people cook and eat at home is safe to consume. We elicit these perceptions of relative responsibility via surveys using the best–worst scaling technique and analyse the data via Bayesian estimation of mixed logit models. Results are reported for two groups of stakeholders: consumers and farmers, and for two meat food chains: chicken and beef. The results reveal that consumers tend to think farmers are more responsible for ensuring meat safety than farmers do. Similarly, farmers tend to think consumers have a greater degree of responsibility than consumers believe they have themselves. Such beliefs might affect stakeholders’ willingness to take actions and reduce hazards in the supply chain. From a policy perspective, the research findings provide useful insights to support policymakers and other decision-makers in the industry in developing mitigation strategies. Communication with consumers and farmers about emerging food safety problems in a supply chain and their involvement in proactive practices would need to be attuned to their subjective perceptions of relative responsibilities in order for integrated risk management systems to be effective.     

Regional differences in business ethics in the People’s Republic of China: A multi-dimensional approach to the effects of modernisation

This paper investigates the influence of modernisation on the moral judgements of 211 managers in the People’s Republic of China, based on their responses to a series of vignettes depicting potentially unethical behaviour in organisations. Since modernisation can take many forms, this paper takes a multi dimensional approach to examining levels of modernisation in different provinces in China. Three different measures are used, believed to represent different aspects of the modernisation process. These include the level of industrialisation of various provinces, the level of marketisation, or progress toward a market-based economy, and a new measure of Westernisation, or the extent to which individuals adopt aspects of Western lifestyle and materialism. This latter measure is developed and tested in the present study. Statistically significant associations between these three measures of modernisation and managers’ moral judgements were observed and the implications of these findings are discussed.     

Paths to Common Ground? A Rejoinder to Dewey's Response

While subsequent discussion in this Review has failed to reconcile the merger policies proposed by Dewey and Keyes, it has suggested that they are not as far apart as they seemed at first reading. It now appears that both writers advocate a serious critical consideration of the efficiencies claims advanced by proponents of otherwise unacceptable mergers. Moreover, there may be a possibility that Dewey's special large-firm merger control could be defended on grounds which would not conflict with Keyes' proposal but would simply complement it.     

Textile industry to see slow growth Analysis of industrial production activities in the first eight months

The textile sector,a major driver of the Chinese economy,has fallen victim to the global credit crisis and weaker demand.In the first eight months of     

The use of variance decomposition in the investigation of CEO effects: How large must the CEO effect be to rule out chance?

Variance decomposition analysis is often used to examine the degree to which CEOs influence their companies' performance (the so‐called CEO effect). Such studies play an important role in a body of literature that investigates the effect of leadership on organizations. In this paper, I argue that these previous studies have an important underlying flaw. Empirically, these studies wrongly attribute the performance effect of randomness—of chance—to the CEO. I demonstrate how randomness can affect the measured effects in a variance decomposition analysis, and I show that this is especially problematic for the measurement of CEO effects. I demonstrate how this results in a greatly inflated CEO effect and develop an approach to correct for it. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.