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A longitudinal study of the international behaviour of Swedish suppliers is presented. Three different types of supplier are identified: simple suppliers, advanced suppliers, and own product suppliers. Factors influencing the internationalisation of these suppliers are discussed. It is concluded that the firms’ offer and the customers’ buying strategies influence the firms’ international behaviour. However, these factors do not determine the international strategies completely. Various entrepreneurs will choose various strategies. Three different types of entrepreneurs are identified: the marketing, technical, and structural entrepreneurs. The type of entrepreneur influences the firms’ international strategies in different directions.

The purpose of this paper is to augment heat transfer rates of traditional rib-elements with minimal pressure drop penalties.

The novel geometries in the present research are conventional cylindrical ribs with rounded transitions to the adjacent flat surfaces and with modifications at their bases. All turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer results are presented using computation fluid dynamics with a validated v2f turbulence closure model. Turbulent flow characteristics and heat transfer performances in square channels with improved ribbed structures are numerically analyzed in this research work.

Based on the results, it is found that rounded transition cylindrical ribs have a large advantage over the conventional ribs in both enhancing heat transfer and reducing pressure loss penalty. In addition, cylindrical ribs increase the flow impingement at the upstream of the ribs, which will effectively increase the high heat transfer areas. The design of rounded transition cylindrical ribs and grooves will be an effective way to improve heat transfer enhancement and overall thermal performance of internal channels within blade cooling.

The novel geometries in this research are conventional cylindrical ribs with rounded transitions to the adjacent flat surfaces and with modifications at their bases. The combination of cylindrical ribs and grooves to manipulate the turbulent flow.

The purpose of this paper is to show how three similar utility companies have adopted intellectual capital statements as a management technology, incorporated it into existing practices, developed and adapted it.

The paper is based on ethnomethodology using accounts where the data collection was mainly through semi‐structured interviews with practitioners. The analysis is based on the actor network theory where the idea of an intellectual capital statement is enacted and materialised.

The paper finds that the local context and the local actors have a decisive influence on the network creation taking place around the intellectual capital statement as an object, where the objects create room for different actions. It is concluded that the intellectual capital statement in the companies functions as a conceptual framework where existing initiatives can be integrated into a whole. Further, it is concluded that an actor with a strong position is necessary in order for the intellectual capital statement to be part of the management practice.

Previous studies of intellectual capital reporting have been based on surveys or studies of the written reports and how they at a specific point in time were used in companies. This study is based on the researchers being present in the companies while the intellectual capital statements are developed, and on following the companies for three to four years. Thus, the focus is on the construction of the statements. Further, the methodology opens up new ways of understanding intellectual capital statements.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of students’ 1:1 laptop use from a capability perspective by investigating increases and decreases of students’ opportunities and choices. The paper investigates changes that have taken place and how these changes enable or restrict students to do and be what they desire.

The paper undertakes an interpretive case study based on group interviews and questionnaires. Sen's capability approach is used as theoretical framework and has informed the data collection and the analysis.

1:1 laptops in schools have provided students with new opportunities and choices, but also restricted others. An evident opportunity is the equalization of access to computers. Other opportunities relate to schoolwork efficiency and increased access to information. Gains also include the use of different media for overcoming disabilities or to fit individual learning styles. Regarding students’ well‐being, a “fun” learning environment is mentioned. However, the “fun” is often about playing games or using social media – something which diverts the students’ attention from the learning. Students also find that they are less social, too computer dependent, and that they miss using pen and paper. Additionally, health issues such as back problems and headaches are reported, as well as an increased risk of being robbed.

Most research on 1:1 laptops in education focuses on easily quantifiable measures and reports from a teacher perspective. The paper takes a broader approach and investigates the impact 1:1 laptops have on students’ well‐being and agency.

The purpose of this paper is to provide detailed findings regarding the perceived role of corporate governance in Zambia. There have been no detailed studies of opinions in a setting such as Zambia, i.e. a nation which has experienced relative political calm and which has an abundance of natural resources – but where corporate governance failures have been blamed directly for economic difficulties.

The study reports the results of a series of 24 in-depth interviews with Zambians, including politicians, regulators, senior business executives, transnational organisation representatives, academics and governance consultants. The discussions were conducted face-to-face and recorded in all cases.

Understanding of corporate governance is at an embryonic stage in Zambia, but embedded corruption is likely to require addressing before any meaningful change is likely. A range of isomorphic forces appear to be prevalent and the study argues that root and branch change in structures and attitudes is a necessity if improvements are to be forthcoming. The paper concludes with a call for unity in purpose and recognition of current malignancies.

Despite Zambia’s idiosyncrasies, the evidence suggests that a pan-African picture is emerging, with growing awareness of the potential benefits of improved corporate behaviour – but deep cynicism exists about the likelihood of these arising given corruption in reward structures. Such is the extent of embeddedness in power amongst those who benefit from current arrangements that both mimetic and coercive forces are argued to be ranged against any shift in extant systems and processes.

Entry modes are a central aspect of international business, particularly for young firms lacking organizational experience and capital, such as born global (BG) firms. Few studies on BG internationalization have addressed the antecedents to entry mode decisions in BG firms. Based on the two main groups of factors impacting entry mode decisions in general, namely environmental (external) conditions and firms’ strategic characteristics, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the interaction between country and market factors and BGs’ strategic orientation affects BGs’ choice of low- vs high-commitment entry modes.

Data from 104 Israeli high-tech BG firms were gathered in field interviews with managers. Preliminary analyses assessed non-response bias.

Most BGs showed a strong Prospector orientation manifested by exploration and exploitation of opportunities. This in turn moderated the impact of several host market factors on the choice of entry mode, encouraging BGs to choose high-commitment entry modes.

Contrary to earlier research claiming that BGs minimize risk by choosing low-commitment entry modes, the findings show that BGs’ choice of commitment level is affected by host market characteristics.

It is often thought that BGs’ choice of entry mode is decisively affected by the host market risk profile, encouraging the choice of low-commitment entry modes in riskier markets. As the findings show, however, BGs are also sensitive to the opportunities provided by the host market, sometimes resulting in high-commitment entry modes.

The purpose of this paper is to review good practice examples which promote recruitment and retention of older workers and/or the employability of workers as they age and to examine pathways of practice.

Analysis of qualitative data, drawing on a cross‐section selection of 83 good practice case studies in labour organisations in eight European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK.

The study presented good practice examples and pathways of practice for the four most frequently found dimensions in the sample (training, lifelong learning and knowledge transfer; flexible working; health protection and promotion and job design; career development and mobility management) as well as examples from small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) (construction) and the public sector (transport) adopting strategies that fall within these dimensions. These examples show that innovative solutions to the challenge of an ageing workforce have been developed with good outcomes, often combining a number of measures, e.g. mobility management, health promotion and knowledge transfer. However, there is an uneven profile of age management debates and company strategies across Europe (with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands being more advanced). There is also some evidence of a standstill or roll‐back of measures during an economic crisis.

The paper reviews organisational measures facilitating the extension of working lives, of which many are longstanding and include sectors previously underrepresented in good practice databases (SMEs, public sector).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether stock price predictions and investment decisions improve by exposure to increasing price series.

The authors conducted three laboratory experiments in which undergraduates were asked to role‐play being investors buying and selling stock shares. Their task was to predict an unknown closing price from an opening price and to choose the number of stocks to purchase to the opening price (risk aversion) or the closing price (risk taking). In Experiment 1 stock prices differed in volatility for increasing, decreasing or no price trend. Prices were in different conditions provided numerically for 15 trading days, for the last 10 trading days, or for the last five trading days. In Experiment 2 the price series were also visually displayed as scatter plots. In Experiment 3 the stock prices were presented for the preceding 15 days, only for each third day (five days) of the preceding 15 days, or as five prices, each aggregated for three consecutive days of the preceding 15 days. Only numerical price information was provided.

The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that predictions were not markedly worse for shorter than longer price series. Possibly because longer price series increase information processing load, visual information had some influence to reduce prediction errors for the longer price series. The results of Experiment 3 showed that accuracy of predictions increased for less price volatility due to aggregation, whereas again there was no difference between five and 15 trading days. Purchase decisions resulted in better outcomes for the aggregated prices.

Investorś performance in stock markets may not improve by increasing the length of evaluation intervals unless the quality of the information is also increased. The results need to be verified in actual stock markets.

The results have bearings on the design of bonus systems.

The paper shows how stock price predictions and buying and selling decisions depend on amount and quality of information about historical prices.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the interface between projects is of particular interest when organizing development projects. It offers a theoretical discussion of translation and inscription phases, not only because they are important to the understanding of mobilizing action in development projects, but also because they are crucial in a chain of sequential projects that are organized as responses to new situations.

The paper uses illustrations of development projects in public management in Sweden to discuss a fundamental organizing problem of projects: how project delimitation and formation take place.

The paper has focused on organizational change and development projects regarding environmental and health care organization renewal projects. It has analyzed how such projects are organized and linked to context. Development problems and their solutions cannot be divided into a functional structure since they overlap and demand attention by a multitude of perspectives during translation.

It is theoretically interesting to highlight certain slices of the organizational reality in projects. The paper has chosen a project perspective and focus at the beginning and end of projects. In theoretical terms, it has chosen to call these phases translation and inscription.

Projects are different compared with permanent organizations due to the existence of beginnings and endings. On the one hand, permanent organizations are normally “going concerns” where the start is back in history and the end is clouded in a distant future. On the other hand, in a project, translation and inscription phases are unavoidable as they are triggered by the specific conditions underlying beginnings and endings.

Projects with clear boundary‐overlapping character cannot be judged with concepts stemming from the methods of construction project management. In contrary, the paper argues that there are two other concepts that can better explain the special organizing problems invoked by the cases cited here: translation and inscription.

IVF has developed two new temperature measurement methods for PC boards and microelectronic devices as a result of Swedish national research programmes. This paper presents and explains how one can achieve a reliable temperature map using an IR scanner. First a method to compensate the large measurement errors due to variation of local factors of emissivity of the object surface is described. The second method makes it possible to use an IR scanner to measure a temperature map over a printed board assembly located inside a narrow cabinet.