Managing venture team relationships in corporate incubators: a case study of network dynamics and political rivalry in a high-tech incubator

This article addresses venture team relationships in an advanced high tech incubator through an analysis of the personal relationships of venture team members. During the study period of almost 2 years, the ventures were projected to grow and commercialise but, overall, they failed. Quantitative data collected in two rounds showed that commercial relationships remained weak while political relationships intensified. Qualitative follow-up interviews suggest that the political rivalry and low level of knowledge sharing between the ventures were further exacerbated by the individualistic-competitive structure of the incubator and weak management in some respects.     

Motivation in sport and exercise: a comparison between the BRSQ and BREQ

Quality & Quantity - This study aimed to test whether the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire and the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire can measure the same constructs in...     

EOQ application in a pharmaceutical environment: A case study

This paper describes a successful application of classical inventory theory at a drug manufacturing plant located in Montreal that has resulted in annual savings in the order of $110,800 and assisted management in its decision to invest in larger production equipment. The basic assumptions underlying EOQ models are reviewed and dealt with. For instance, an algorithm was devised to handle the peaks in the demand of many A class items. Following the implementation of this algorithm, buffer stocks were reduced signifi cantly while maintaining the same high levels of service.     

A Bayesian approach to experimental analysis: trading in a laboratory financial market

We employ a Bayesian approach to analyze financial markets experimental data. We estimate a structural model of sequential trading in which trading decisions are classified in five types: private-information based, noise, herd, contrarian and irresolute. Through Monte Carlo simulation, we estimate the posterior distributions of the structural parameters. This technique allows us to compare several non-nested models of trade arrival. We find that the model best fitting the data is that in which a proportion of trades stems from subjects who do not rely only on their private information once the difference between the number of previous buy and sell decisions is at least two. In this model, the majority of trades stem from subjects following their private information. There is also a large proportion of noise trading activity, which is biased towards buying the asset. We observe little herding and contrarianism, as theory suggests. Finally, we observe a significant proportion of (irresolute) subjects who follow their own private information when it agrees with public information, but abstain from trading when it does not.     

Tensions between assessment,grading and development in development centres: a case study

Development centres capitalize upon tried and tested assessment centre methods and are quite widely used in career management. However, a number of issues arise in their operation. Some of these reflect the balance between, on the one hand, assessing and grading people and, on the other hand, facilitating and guiding their future development. An investigation is reported of how these issues are experienced and made sense of in a UK-based international company. Data were gathered on two occasions one year apart (Ns = 95 and 113) from participants and other stakeholders in a development centre for potential senior managers. Findings indicate that participants who were awarded a high grade at the centre did not necessarily have more positive perceptions of the development centre process. However, grading, with its consequences for development, motivation and social networks, was salient in respondents' comments about the centres. Themes in these responses are identified and described. Participants were more likely than others (e.g. assessors, line managers) to value the development centre for reasons related to their development, whereas others were more likely to mention assessment/grading. Few respondents mentioned both. Overall, the findings support, to some extent, concerns about the incompatibility of grading and development, but also suggest that the use of grading does not entirely negate the developmental value of the centres. Much depends on perceptions of how the grading information is used.     

An interaction approach to global sourcing: A case study of IKEA

This study explores the process of global sourcing through a case of the Swedish furnishing retailer IKEA from an interaction perspective. With a point of departure in the streams of existing research on global sourcing and the internationalization process of firms through networks, a research question is proposed concerning supply network interactions as an influence in the global sourcing process. The study uses an in-depth qualitative case study methodology, focusing on IKEA and its development of a supply network for the PAX wardrobe system during the years 2003–2009. The findings draw on 29 interviews in Sweden and China, ranging from interviews with the supply management function of IKEA to interviews with Swedish and Chinese suppliers and sub-suppliers. The findings show that the global sourcing process is influenced by interactions and network effects between supply network actors. In particular, we find that relationships between suppliers were identified and set up by IKEA, but cascaded into deeper interactions amongst suppliers at different supply network tiers. Our study contributes to global sourcing research in indicating the importance of interaction amongst supply network actors, showing how the global sourcing strategy of one actor may significantly influence the sourcing strategies of other actors. Global sourcing decisions therefore need to be understood and coordinated across global supply networks.     

A clash of human resource management cultures: a micro-state case study

When resorting to Greek divine mythology to purchase original insights on management styles, Handy (1991) identifies Apollo and Dionysius as representative of two ideal types which can be developed and fine-tuned to highlight one relatively under-explored area of inter-cultural human resource management. This concerns the cultural interface between alien, imported management styles and local, home-grown practices in the context of small and island states. This paper argues that indigenous behaviour patterns in the unfolding of labour-management relations cannot be discounted. Indeed, these home-bred practices will both place imported 'textbook' management strategies in sharp relief as well as debilitate their purposed efficacy. Such a proposition suggests that this is one expression of how globalization will necessarily find itself textured and infected by indigenous cultural material, even that forthcoming from possibly the least expected quarter: that of micro, insular jurisdictions. Case-study material exploring and illustrating this cultural clash is drawn from seminal, empirical fieldwork carried out in the Indian Ocean island state Republic of the Seychelles.     

How to reduce your inventory: a real world case study

This case study describes the use of a performance analysis system at the Safety Products Division of Mine Safety Appliances Company, which contributed to the reduction of excess inventories by more than $8,000,000 during the first two years of implementation.     

New product development in foreign customer relationships: a study of international SMEs

Abstract

This study identifies a gap in research concerning how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from pursuing locally (rather than globally) oriented internationalization strategies. Becoming overly dependent on one single foreign market could potentially reduce the inflow and diversity of new knowledge that can serve as input for new product development. This study discusses how this risk can be minimized. In this endeavour we create a theoretical model that investigates how the local sales concentration and relationship-specific commitment of SMEs relates to new product development. To do this we draw on the behavioural internationalization process framework. The theoretical model is tested on an effective sample of 188 Swedish SMEs. The results show that relationship-specific commitment mediates the effect of local sales concentration on new product development. The implication is that investments which enable collaboration in important business relationships are crucial requisites for keeping firms innovative and in pace with market fluctuations. The findings thus contribute to international business literature by showing that a local market scope of operations combined with a relationship orientation are beneficial for new product development in international SMEs.     

Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study

This article uses a case study to demonstrate the application of virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel within an organization. The article is presented as a literature review followed by a case study of a virtual team project entitled the “Country Capital Works Program” undertaken within the New South Wales Police Force, Australia. The case confirms the appropriateness of existing virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel for a specific purpose. The study has the inherent limitations of any case study in terms of the generalization of the findings.     

Mapping the relationships between high-performance work systems,employee resilience and engagement: a study of the banking industry in China

Abstract

There is now growing interest in employee resilience in the organizational context and its contribution to organizational performance. However, little is known the extent to which high-performance work systems (HPWS) contributes towards enhancing employee’s resilience as well as their levels of engagement. This study examines the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and strategic/high-performance human resource management theory, we develop three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement, and the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between HPWS and engagement. All hypotheses are supported and suggest that HPWS can be used as a job resource to positively affect resilience and subsequently employee engagement. The key message of the paper is that employee resilience can be viewed as a set of skills and attributes that can be developed through the effective use of HPWS to benefit both individuals and the organization.     

A goal programming approach to public investment decisions: A case study of rural roads in Indonesia

The development planner must often face complex problems with multiple, conflicting objectives. Goal programming provides a general methodology for solving such problems. The tool is applied here to aid in the selection of rural road projects in the Indonesian Rural Works Program. Selection criteria are formalized into a set of nineteen goals which form the basis for a goal programming model. Changes in priority levels of goals and weights are used to analyze the respective effects upon the spatial distribution of investments. The approach is applicable to a wide range of problems and a variety of sensitivity analyses. Despite clear advantages, several drawbacks must be noted. First, the application of the methodology, given its degree of sophistication, is limited to a central decision making unit which has access to appropriate software. Second, the technique assumes that the planner has the ability to formulate alternative actions and consequences in a quantifiable expression.     

外国游客旅游认知行为研究——以广州市为例

以广州市外国游客为实证分析对象,尝试从心理学和消费行为学角度探讨旅游者认知行为的基本特征,期望能为旅游行为研究提供参考,并为提升广州市以及中国旅游形象提供理论依据.     

如何处理该宅基地之争

案例张某和李某为同村村民。张某1983年以前是农村户口,在农村有一处宅基地并建有住房,1983年全家户口迁移成为城镇居民,此后张某的房屋一直由李某居住。2005年,张某修建的房屋倒塌。2007年,李某在张某原宅基地上修建了房屋。2008年2月,李某向县国土资源局申请宅基地使用权登记。张某知道后,     

Decentralisation of collective bargaining: a case study

While a number of surveys have identified a trend towards decentralised bargaining, this article is one of the first to examine the process of decentralisation. The decision of Coats Viyella PLC to decentralise bargaining in its apparel division is examined in detail and the outcomes of the first round of decentralised negotiations are analysed.     

The Warwick way: A case study of entrepreneurship within a university context

The University of Warwick perceives itself as an innovative and entrepreneririal organization, and has a reputation as such amongst institutions of higher education within the UK. The Conservative Government of Mrs. Thatcher has since 1979 applied steadily increasing pressure on the British system of higher education for it to be more flexible, responsive and business-minded, with less dependency on public funding. The result has been a turbulent and challenging environment for the quasi-public sector universities, with a premium being placed on their ability to manage change. At the time ofwriting, Warwick appears to have operated successfully within this new climate, both to its benefit and to that of its local industrial district. The airticle examines the factors which facilitate and stimulate innovative and entrepreneurial activity amongst the Warwick academic community - factors which will become increasingly important if the university world .is to adapt with flexibility, responsiveness and imagination to the changing and increasingly demanding economic and governmental climate now prevailing not only in the USA and the UK, but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Nigeria.     

Evaluating the statistical significance of de facto accounting harmonization: a study of European global players

Two different forces are involved in the international harmonization of accounting: institutional endeavours to harmonize accounting internationally by developing common accounting rules and reporting standards, and spontaneous efforts by ‘global players’ to adopt accounting methods that will improve communication with users in other countries. These two developments are proceeding side by side, generally reinforcing one another but occasionally moving independently. This paper is primarily concerned with the process of harmonization of financial accounting within the European Union. The hypothesis we want to test is that, in spite of the obstacles to the harmonization of regulations in the European Union, there has been greater conformity in recent years in the accounting practices of companies which operate on the international stage. If so, the implications for the harmonization strategies of the international bodies are important. In this study, we first carry out a critical analysis of previous research on accounting harmonization, summarizing the methods used in empirical studies of de facto harmonization and the results obtained. We note that the major deficiency in the index-based methods of measuring harmonization is that no test of significance has been included in prior research. In this paper, we propose a bootstrapping test of the C index as a way of measuring the significance of the change in its value. We consider a sample of eighty-five ‘global players’ from thirteen countries and we analyse their financial statements with regard to four accounting issues (deferred taxation, goodwill, leasing and foreign currency translation), providing estimates of the significance of de facto accounting harmonization for the periods from 1991–2 to 1996–7.     

Demographic-economic analysis in a multi-zonal region: a case study of Nordrhein-Westfalen

"This paper develops a series of spatially-disaggregated demographic-economic models, based on an extended Leontief type input-output model. Travel between residence and place of work and residence and place of shopping is included in the models, and a detailed decomposition of a range of multipliers identified. A model explicitly involving travel to work is developed empirically for the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen in West Germany, and sets of multipliers presented which relate changes in demographic and economic variables in particular zones of the state with changes in economic output and employment-related variables in other zones."     

Discriminating between autoregressive forms: A Monte Carlo comparison of Bayesian and ad hoc methods

The paper considers the problem of discriminating between the autoregressive forms of a Koyck distributed lag model and a regression model with autocorrelated distrubances. Several interpretations of an ad hoc rule-of-thumb suggested by Griliches are compared with Bayesian posterior odds analysis in a Monte Carlo experiment. The Bayesian analysis is generally superior to the rules-of-thumb, the latter exhibiting large probabilities of type I error, and low power. The rules-of-thumb excessively favour the distributed lag model, while the Bayesian method is free from such bias. All methods improve with increased sample size.