Reconfiguring supplier relationships between local and global: History matters

Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly facing international markets as part of their processes of growth and development. A great deal of literature deals with different patterns of growth and international development that are specific to SMEs with respect to large companies. Fewer studies have been conducted on the reconfiguration of company supplier relationships involved in these processes. This paper focuses on the role played by the consolidated set of company supplier relationships when the firm faces some critical stages in its process of development, i.e., growth from small to mid-sized and the implementation of new ventures abroad accessing new business relationships with international suppliers. A multiple and longitudinal case study shows how the local set of supplier relationships of four mid-sized Italian mechanical companies acting in industrial districts has played an important role in shaping the emerging set of supplier relationships and addressing companies' actions in their growth and internationalization processes.     

Accelerators as start-up infrastructure for entrepreneurial clusters

ABSTRACT

Infrastructure is commonly conceptualized as a set of facilities that play a critical role in facilitating activities by individuals and organizations. Conventionally, infrastructure is tightly linked to publicly funded projects that facilitate access to key resources and enable diverse activities. Within entrepreneurial clusters research, infrastructure includes universities, research institutions and telecommunication technologies that facilitate entrepreneurial activities. These capital-intensive investments seek to facilitate start-ups emergence by aiding access to markets and development of ideas. Accelerators facilitate the same activities and have only recently been conceptualized as start-up infrastructure. This study builds upon this research stream by elaborating on how accelerators can play this meaningful role at the cluster level. Specifically, and by relying on the analysis of empirical evidence from three distinct studies, we uncover how accelerators provide tangible and intangible dimensions of start-up infrastructure to form a positively reinforcing cycle of entrepreneurial activities. Additionally, our findings allow us to push further the idea that start-up infrastructure development can be an endogenous process involving multiple actors within the cluster. Our empirical findings and the theoretical insights derived from them have meaningful implications for the aforementioned literature, as well as start-up practitioners and policymakers linked to the funding of entrepreneurial clusters.     

贵阳市信息化与工业化融合方式探析

贵阳市目前处于工业化中期加快发展阶段,积极推进信息化与工业化的融合有重要的作用和意义。贵阳市推进信息化与工业化融合有一定的基础条件和强烈的需求,融合的方式有五种:一是信息技术在企业管理中的应用;二是信息技术在生产过程中的应用;三是信息技术融入产品;四是信息技术在研究与计划中的应用;五是信息技术创新新工业行业。这五种融合方式在贵阳市的实现情况不均衡;对于不同行业、不同规模、不同技术水平的企业,要有选择、有侧重地实现这五种方式;政府需要从政策、投资、基础平台建设等方面采取必要的措施予以保障。     

河南制造业和物流业联动发展分析

近年,河南制造业和物流业都获得了较快发展,但仍不尽如人意。协整理论分析表明,河南制造业和物流业联动发展水平较低。其根本原因在于供应链难协同,物流创新不足。为此应优化环境,建立联动机制,推动制造企业一体化物流和第三方物流业的整合与流程再造。     

第三方物流服务项目的开发与实施方案

优质物流服务是物流企业取得成功的关键。我国大多数物流企业物流服务项目单一、传统,不能根据市场需求,不断开发新的物流服务项目,用专业化服务满足个性化需求,提高服务质量,以满足市场上不断增长的物流需求。面对我国第三方物流服务项目开发的落后现状,通过实际的市场调研,分析物流服务构成要素,制定物流服务项目开发与实施方案,从而帮助广大物流企业更好的做好物流服务工作。     

新兴产业中的中小企业发展战略分析

本文界定了中小企业的概念,并研究了新兴产业中中小企业的发展障碍和战略选择。指出中小企业的发展障碍主要是原材料、零部件、资金与其他供给的不足,顾客的困惑与等待观望和被替代产品的反应。相应地,企业应选择的战略为塑造产业结构,正确对待产业发展的外在性,注意产业机会与障碍的转变和选择适当的进入时机与领域。     

软环境建设在城市经济发展中的作用

作者根据长春市的实践 ,从三个方面探讨软环境建设在城市经济发展中的地位和作用。     

汽车工业供应物流要货参数模型研究

结合汽车工业供应物流的实际情况,将正常供货的服务能力及成本、应急供货服务能力及成本、缺货损失成本及不同供货事件的概率引入到供应物流总成本模型当中,充分揭示了供应物流日常运作决策中所要权衡的核心矛盾,反映了汽车供应物流运作的战略支持价值。在这个基础上,导出要货参数模型,如最佳供货间隔周期模型、最佳供货批量模型。针对影响最佳供货批量的主要因素进行了灵敏度分析,找到了供应物流优化的重点。     

东北地区制造业物流服务平台设计

指出建设东北地区制造业物流服务平台是加强物流企业与上下游企业之间的合作,调配社会物流资源,优化社会供应链的需要。物流服务平台设计要考虑东北地区制造业特性及要求,具备物流交易撮合、仓储、配送管理、货运代理、安全认证等服务功能,并且坚持前瞻性与阶段性相结合等原则。     

The relationship between brokers’ influence, strength of ties and NPD project outcomes in innovation-driven horizontal networks

This paper examines the impact of a broker's perceived use of power – position (i.e., coercive, reward and legitimate) and personal (i.e., expert, information and referent) – on strength of ties between network members and new product development (NPD) project outcomes. Our sample consists of 100 individuals drawn from 42 organizations that were involved in different innovation-driven horizontal networks. The results of structural equation modeling suggest that the perceived use of both personal power bases and position power bases by the broker are positively related to the strength of ties between members. Strength of ties, on the other hand, is positively related to NPD project outcomes of design performance and development time. Finally, results show that the relationships between a broker's use of different power bases and NPD project outcomes are fully mediated by the strength of ties between networks members. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.