Problems in cross-functional sourcing decision processes

We identify problems encountered in a cross-functional sourcing decision process, founded on a longitudinal case study at a large manufacturing company. Ten problems are identified which affect the process negatively and which derive from three underlying factors: functional interdependency, strategy complications and misaligned functional goals. These factors are long-observed in literature on organizations but not specifically in the cross-functional sourcing decision process and we add an investigation into the effects these factors have on attempts to make better-founded sourcing decisions. Our findings indicate that the reality of making sourcing decisions is often more complex than is portrayed in previous research on sourcing decisions.     

Talent management,absorptive capacity,and firm performance: Does it work in China and Russia?

This article investigates the relationship between talent management (TM), absorptive capacity (AC), and firm performance. We build a theoretical framework and examine the mediating role of a firm's AC in TM–performance relationships in the contexts of China and Russia. We use a sample of 120 Chinese and Russian firms to provide empirical evidence of our hypotheses. Our results show for both Chinese and Russian firms, a well‐developed TM system positively influences a firm's ability to acquire, assimilate, and exploit knowledge as well as increase the overall level of a firm's AC. We also found support for the argument that TM has an indirect positive effect on firm performance through its AC; moreover, the effect is stronger for Chinese firms, specifically, within the link between AC and performance.     

Labor–Management Partnership and Employee Voice: Evidence from the Healthcare Setting

This paper examines the relationship between labor–management partnership (LMP) and employee voice in the healthcare setting. We argue that the ability of LMP to deliver gains to employees is contingent on the quality of the procedural infrastructure on which it is established. We maintain that the quality of LMP processes influences employee trust in their employer and perceptions of union effectiveness and that these perceptions, in turn, are related to employee patient‐care voice.     

Informal ties in organizations: a case study

Network techniques are applied to a case study. The results show that using a joint approach can help in giving further insight into the analysis of informal ties in an organization. Special emphasis is given to centrality. The concept of mutual awareness, both on an individual and a global levels, is introduced and illustrated.     

Technology sourcing decisions in exploratory projects

Drawing on research on innovation as knowledge combination and firm’s organizational boundaries the paper contributes to open the black box of a firm’s sourcing strategy, investigating how the new knowledge a project aims to develop affects sourcing decisions. The fine-grained level of investigation adopted, namely the project level, not only enhances the understanding of the antecedents of sourcing decisions in any single project but provides primary explorative evidence on the concept of a company sourcing strategy as a portfolio of decisions across projects. Our test is implemented on a sample of 60 New Product Development projects carried out by a group of leading Italian firms, operating in the machine tool industry. We identify two knowledge dimensions that are the determinants of sourcing decisions at project level: novelty, new functions that satisfy emergent market needs, and breadth, heterogeneity of technological fields that encompass possible solutions to product problems. Our findings show that in firms choosing sourcing configurations on a project-by-project basis, exploratory projects, which search at the frontiers of either novel product features or heterogeneous technological domains, spur firms to exploit the potential advantages of external sources.     

Performance of value- and size-based strategies in the Italian stock market

This paper investigates the performance of size- and value-based strategies in the Italian stock market in the period 2000–2018. Previous research argued the impossibility to define properly value-sorted portfolios due to the inaccuracy of book-to-market ratios available for Italian listed stocks. Using more accurate data, we implement portfolios sorting based on value and growth stocks, to assess the relevance of the value factor in the Italian stock market. We find that the capital asset pricing model fails to explain the cross-section of returns on the different strategies while the Fama and French three-factor model provides a better fit. The results show that all three factors are significant in explaining Italian stock returns during the sample period. Unlike previous studies, which either found no value effect at all or no clear-cut results when testing the book-to-market variable, we find that the value factor is statistically significant and the associated risk premium is of a considerable size.     

Impacts of Emerging Asia on African and Latin American Trade: Projections to 2030

Rapid growth in Asia's emerging economies has boosted export earnings of resource‐rich economies over the past decade. Whether or not those high growth rates continue, how will structural changes in Asia alter the relative importance of their imports of primary products? This paper projects production and trade patterns of Africa and Latin America to 2030 under various growth and policy scenarios in Asia, using the GTAP model of the global economy. We compare a projection assuming relatively conservative economic growth in China and India with a projection in which those economies continue to grow rapidly (albeit slower than in the previous decade). We then compare our conservative growth baseline with two alternative scenarios: one assuming Africa and Latin America choose to invest more in public agricultural R&D to take advantage of Asian import growth; the other assuming China and India dampen that import growth by restricting their imports of key food grains (following the historical pattern of economies such as Japan and Korea). The final section summarises the results and draws out policy implications for Latin America and Africa.     

How to visualise the invisible: Revealing re-use of rural buildings by non-agricultural entrepreneurs in the region of Roeselare-Tielt (Belgium)

Peri-urban rural areas are undergoing profound change in many regions, including the northern region of Belgium, Flanders. One driving force is the gradual conversion from an agriculturally based economy to a much more diverse economic base. Re-use of rural buildings by nonagricultural entrepreneurs is a part of this economic diversification. This re-use is changing not only the rural economy but also the social structure and spatial and environmental quality. However, re-use of rural buildings is chronically and severely underestimated. In most cases these activities are prohibited by spatial legislation, which results in their exclusion from census data. Standard methods based on measuring land use change do not measure this transformation either, as these new activities do not necessarily lead to a change in land use.This paper presents a survey method for describing and quantifying this hidden re-use of rural buildings by non-agricultural entrepreneurs. Several datasets were combined in a GIS environment. This led to an inventory which was further refined by confirming the knowledge of local civil officers and local authorities. Field visits provided final confirmation of the data. A case study using this survey method gave profound quantitative insights in the re-use dynamic for the region of Roeselare-Tielt in the north western part of Belgium. In the rural areas of this region, 1015 addresses were detected housing a non-agricultural activity. Further information was gained about the type and the age of the detected activity and the type of building in which these activities are taking place. The most common activities are (building) contractors, trade or commercial companies, landscapers, transport and woodworking companies. Furthermore, 35% of all detected enterprises are located in (former) farm buildings.These results then formed the starting point for individual interviews and focus group discussions on the current policy on this non-agricultural dynamic. Studying the re-use dynamic in the rural areas of the north western part of Belgium (Flanders), provides further knowledge on the economic diversification of rural areas under high urbanisation pressure. The results also illustrate that the current policy lacks both data and efficiency. A clear discrepancy was found between the legal rules, spatial reality and the policy attitude towards the reported illegal non-agricultural economic dynamic. We call for increased awareness of the non-agricultural re-use of rural buildings, given the effect on future spatial planning.     

Evaluating improvements in irrigation efficiency as a salinity mitigation option in the South Australian Riverland

A modelling framework incorporating relationships between agricultural production and groundwater hydrology was developed to estimate the benefits of improved irrigation efficiency in the Riverland of South Australia. Increased irrigation efficiency can generate external benefits to downstream users through reduced discharge of saline groundwater. In the Riverland these benefits are large in comparison to the direct value of the irrigation water. However, the non-exclusive and site-specific nature of these benefits makes it difficult to fully internalise them through market instruments such as salinity credits. Achieving optimal irrigation efficiency is likely to require institutional arrangements that promote collective investment and public expenditure.