Getting Trapped in the Suppression of Exploration: A Simulation Model

The benefits of strategically balancing exploitation and exploration are well documented in the literature. Nonetheless, many firms tend to overemphasize exploitation efforts, a situation commonly referred to as the ‘success trap’. Previous studies have attributed this behaviour to managerial incompetence or myopia. However, some management teams appear to adequately recognize the exploration need, while not being able to bring about the required strategic change. We draw on system dynamics modelling to investigate this phenomenon. A simulation model is developed and then the behaviour of a selected firm is replicated to uncover the underlying processes. As such, we develop a process theory of the success trap at the managerial level, coined the ‘suppression process’. This process theory describes and explains how the interplay between top managers, board members, and exploitation–exploration activities can trap the firm in the suppression of exploration.     

日新月异：传送技术新进展

传送系统以及传送技术在过去五年里发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是由几个滚轴和几条皮带组成的机器能变到哪儿去呢？不就只是运运箱子吗？如果您是指小厂房、小型配送中心那种简单的滚轴传送带，嗯，可能是这样。不过与此同时新一代传送系统和传送控制技术也已被应用，以迎合现今日益复杂的和自动化的生产配送环境。以较少的设备投资换取更大的处理量以及对节能和可持续性的重视都是这些变化的重要动因，但是除此之外还有很多其他的影响因素需要考虑。     

文化差异、价值观与不完全契约的治理

通过分析差异文化下的交易困境,认为文化的经济功能除了对违约行为形成约束外,还通过形成一些基本价值判断标准,规定了不完全契约的"剩余"分配的可接受比例,降低了交易的不确定性。但不同的文化价值观的判断标准是不同的,因此也造成了差异文化之间的交易"壁垒"。认为实现从封闭秩序文化向开放秩序文化的转型对我国现阶段的经济建设具有重要的推动作用。     

The relationship between land use and groundwater resources and quality

Groundwater has three major roles in our environment: providing the baseflow that keeps most rivers flowing all year long, maintaining good river water quality by diluting sewage and other effluents, and as an excellent source of water supply, providing over 75 per cent of the potable supply in some regions. Groundwater is intimately connected with the landscape and land use that it underlies, and most of the landscape and is vulnerable to the anthropogenic activities on the land surface above. Land use affects groundwater resources through changes in recharge and by changing demands for water. Inappropriate land use, particularly poor land management, causes chronic groundwater quality problems. Acute groundwater quality problems are common and arise from unsuitable land use and control, notably through point sources of hazardous chemicals. Current land use instruments have only been designed to address quality issues in groundwater and do not consider recharge. These instruments have been largely ineffective in protecting groundwater from diffuse pollution for several reasons including fragmentation, their general absence of teeth, and their lack of integration into the land use planning system. This paper argues for a more radical approach which would zone land according to its overall vulnerability and resilience to anthropogenic and climatic influence in order to sustainably support the ecosystem services it can deliver. Land use would be matched with the vulnerability of the soil, with geology and water, and with the whole ecosystem. The Water Framework Directive offers a mechanism to do this, but there is no evidence of enough political will to tackle the long-term conflicts between land use and groundwater.     

The next available agent: work organisation in Indian call centres

We examine the employee perception of work organisation in four large Indian call centres to investigate causes of employee dissatisfaction and turnover. We find that profound mismatch between the offshored labour market and the labour process pose fundamental challenges that may not be susceptible to easy HR fixes.     

Trip destinations, gateways and itineraries: the example of Hong Kong

Trip itinerary data present analytical problems because of the great diversity of routes that travelers follow and the varying significance of destinations along those routes. Most of the models that have been proposed to deal with this complexity have focused either on the total number of travelers from one country to another, or on the overall pattern of entire trips. An alternative and complementary approach is to examine the relative location of a destination within the larger itinerary pattern. Depending on their location within the overall trip itinerary, places can exhibit characteristics of one or more destination types: Single Destination, Gateway Destination, Egress Destination, Touring Destination, or Hub Destination. Data collected on international air travelers to Hong Kong exhibited the first four of these five patterns. Taiwan and Singapore residents primarily used Hong Kong as a Single Destination for short break shopping holidays and for business. US and Australian residents were the most likely to use Hong Kong as a trip Gateway and as a Touring Destination, especially as the Gateway for a trip to China, but Hong Kong also served as a Gateway for trips to destinations in East and Southeast Asia and, for US residents, to Australia. Residents of China were more likely to use Hong Kong as a trip Egress Destination than were others. Hong Kong has traditionally considered itself primarily as a ‘gateway to China’ and an ‘Asian travel hub’. Hong Kong, and other destinations, could benefit from being more aware of their role as an Egress Destination and of their relationships with destinations that travelers visit before and after their arrival.