Co-evolutionary dynamics in strategic alliances: The influence of the industry lifecycle

This article examines the application of co-evolutionary theory to the way in which firms form, perform, compete and change within alliance relationships over the period of the industry life cycle. This extends the work of Volberda and Lewin who extensively critiqued the use of single-theme explanations for explaining the adaption and selection of firms. Delineating the aspects of change (adaptation) and selection, and using case material from different stages of the Industry life cycle, we propose that co-evolution is a better explanator of strategic alliance and industry dynamics at early and late stages of the cycle, whilst evolution and survival of the fittest is more useful in the middle stages.     

Dilemmas and outcomes of professional identity construction among students of human resource management

Using a sample of final year undergraduates, this article examines how HRM students construct a sense of professional identity over the course of their degree. While students' original decision to enter HR rarely altered at university, their expectations of what ‘doing HRM’ constituted sometimes changed radically from the need to fit their core values with their occupational expectations and learning experiences. The emergence of different ways of achieving this fit yielded several types of HRM identity. The implications of this fragmenting of student identities for the HR profession and HRM teaching are evaluated.     

Working Capital Management and Firm Performance: Some Evidence from Europe

International Advances in Economic Research -     

Modeling the relation between students’ implicit beliefs about their abilities and their educational STEM choices

Despite the large body of research on students’ educational and career choices in the field of technology, design, and science, we still lack a clear understanding of how to stimulate more students to opt for a study path or career within the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). In this article, we outline a new theoretical framework to describe how students’ implicit belief about the malleability of their intelligence can be an important precursor of their STEM educational and career choice behavior. Based on the different bodies of literature about STEM choices and about students’ implicit beliefs about their abilities, we present three hypothetical pathways, in the form of testable models, that describe potential relations between the implicit theories that students may hold regarding the malleability of their STEM ability and students’ intentions to pursue a STEM career. Each pathway outlines a specific mediating factor influencing this relation: (a) self-efficacy beliefs, (b) stereotypical thinking, and (c) motivational beliefs. These pathways provide more insight into the underlying mechanisms that may affect STEM choice behavior. In our view, such a theoretical underpinning is a necessary prerequisite for further scientific investigation into the potential relations between students’ implicit beliefs about their potential development, relevant psychological variables, and STEM choice behavior. Furthermore, we believe it provides a theoretical foundation for practical interventions that aim to stimulate STEM choice behavior.     

Effects of company visits on Dutch primary school children’s attitudes toward technical professions

Technology-oriented company visits could potentially provide children with a stimulating ‘real-world’ setting to develop more broad and positive images of and attitudes toward technology and technical professions. The present study was the first to explore whether children’s images of and attitudes toward technology, technical competencies and technical professions could be affected by technology-oriented company visits, as they are presently carried out in the Netherlands. A previously validated measurement instrument was used to measure children’s images and attitudes prior to and after the visits and results were compared to similar measurements among children who did not take part in the visits. In addition, based on recent review studies about school visits to science centers, we derived several key theoretical guidelines for organizing effective school visits. Based on these guidelines, structured interviews were carried out with all teachers prior to the company visits. Results indicated that children’s images and attitudes remained mostly unaffected by the company visits, a finding that could be explained by the fact that the level of in-school preparation, follow-up activities and teachers’ level of involvement during the visits was generally low. In addition, observations during the visits showed that the activities at the technical companies were mostly ‘hands-on’ and stereotypical (e.g., working with machines). Based on these findings, we formulate a set of new guidelines for technology-oriented company visits that could improve the desired attitudinal effects.     

MEASURING QUALITY IN SOCIAL CARE SERVICES: THEORY AND PRACTICE

ABSTRACT 1 : Measuring and assessing service quality in the social care sector presents distinct challenges. The ‘experience’ good properties of social care, for instance, and the large influence played by subjective judgements about the quality of personal relationships between carer and user and of process‐related service characteristics make it difficult to develop indicators of service quality, including those of service impact on final outcomes. Using some of the key features of the ‘Production of Welfare’ approach, the paper discusses recent developments in the UK of the theoretical and practical frameworks used for assessing quality in social care and for understanding the final impact of services on the wellbeing of their recipients. Key current and future challenges to the development of such frameworks include difficulties in disentangling the impact of social care services on final outcomes from the often dominating effects of other, non‐service related factors, and the generalization of consumer‐directed care models and of the ‘personalization’ of care services. These challenges are discussed in the context of the different possible applications of quality indicators, including their role as supporting the service commissioning process and their use for assessing the performance of service providers.     

The Asymmetric Effect of Endowments on Vertical Intra‐industrial Trade

(1238) J. Milgram‐Baleix and Ana I. Moro‐Egido This paper investigates the determinants of vertical Spanish intra‐industry trade with developed and developing countries. We empirically test the comparative advantage explanation. To do so, we build physical, human and technological capital stocks. On average, when using OLS techniques, differences in endowments are a limitation for vertical intra‐industry trade. Using quantile regression techniques, we observe that this negative effect decreases in absolute terms as vertical intra‐industry trade flows increase and, in some cases, the impact becomes positive for the upper tails, thus supporting the view of a reduced version of the comparative advantage explanation. Our results provide interesting insights into Spain and emerging countries. A large part of Spanish trade already takes place on an inter‐industry basis or consists of exporting low quality products in exchange for similar products of a higher quality range, in particular with European countries but more surprisingly with emerging countries. Our study shows that high quality exports and horizontal intra‐industry trade are mainly driven by proximities of demand and technological capital while low quality exports share most determinants of inter‐industry trade.