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This paper discusses a number of issues affecting mergers and acquisitions (M&A) from the perspective of competence-based management. A new framework for competence gap analysis is developed which can be used to assess important aspects of M&A decisions. The usefulness of M&A is compared with other gap-closing actions. This model is founded in the systems view of the firm as developed by Sanchez and Heene (1996), where strategic gaps perceived by managers motivate actions to change the resource and competence base of a firm. In the analysis process derived from this model, several resource states must be identified and analyzed, especially those critical to competences that are needed to achieve sustained competitive advantages in targeted future markets. This approach to strategic gap analysis is also helpful in evaluating alternative gap-closing actions. In this context, M&A are shown to be particularly appropriate actions to fill numerous and large competence gaps especially with a high degree of interaction between involved resources.

Using a sample of 250 Tunisian companies, this paper aims to assess the joint audit mission quality in Tunisia.

The present work aimed at investigating the determining factors of the joint audit quality.

A total of nine essential determining factors were predictably identified: length of service, experience, size asymmetry between the joint auditors, complexity, governance, expertise, information and communications technology use, profitability and staff qualification. However, results show that specialization, satisfaction, the supply of services other than audit, work distribution, leverage as well as size have a positive but non-significant correlation with the joint audit quality, which may be due to the Tunisian context.

Many previous works have been conducted on joint audit in France (Haak et al., 2018), Denmark (Lesage et al., 2017), Germany (Velte and Azibi, 2015), Sweden (Zerni et al., 2012) and Italy (Bianchi et al., 2019). However, to the authors’ knowledge, the Tunisian context is still under-studied and, thus, the objective was to fill this gap in the literature b.y examining the determinants of the quality of joint audit in Tunisia.

The main purpose of the paper is to analyse how a performance measurement system constitutes a dialogue to enable manageability in knowledge work organisations.

The paper is based on an action research project aimed to study the use of performance measurement in a knowledge work context. The case study is applied. The results are derived in participative action research interventions that aimed to build an applicable performance measurement system in three individual organisations. The approach is constructive and normative.

The paper provides information about applications of performance measurement in knowledge work context. As a result there is discussion on applying performance measurement in the managerial system of knowledge worker organisations and description of using performance measurement in knowledge work context. The contribution consists of managerial norms for applying performance measurement in knowledge work context.

The research, thus the results too, is delineated to small and medium size organisations.

In the paper there are several transferable results. As the aim was to have normative results, the degree of practicality is relatively high. Taking the restrictions of conceptuality of performance measurement into account, the paper provides useful information to practitioners.

The paper answers the research question set. Originality of the paper lies in the field applying performance measurement. It continues the discussion on the traditions of management and leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to compare Chinese high-tech firms with other international firms in terms of quality capability and competence.

This study uses data from the GMRG fourth round survey and provides a method for differentiating and empirically measuring quality competence and capability using a sample of 343 plants in 17 countries in the high-tech manufacturing sector.

It is shown that the theory of performance frontiers can be used to explain differences in levels of investment in quality management, as well as competence and capability, in plants across regions with varying levels of economic development. Further, it is shown that plants in China provide an example of a special case in that they do not display the same characteristics as plants in other emerging economies.

The study is limited to the high-tech sector and is also constrained by the countries in which the GMRG data has been gathered.

Investment in quality management methods may not always result in discernible variance in quality indicators. In this study this has been shown to be the case in plants in the industrialized world, highlighting the importance of developing a requisite proficiency in innovation. For the plants in China leverage may lie in focussing on how and where resources are being invested, and how quality management is actually valued within a plant.

The study indicates that although some economies in the world may experience rapid growth this also needs to be tempered by a requisite investment in building human capability.

The evidence indicates that the plants in China in this study do not possess similar levels of quality competence and capability, and struggle to make investment in quality management alter outcomes.

We hear and read much about managerial competence and competence based approaches to management education and development (Albanese 1989) but what is competence in managers? Much of the literature and company practice in developing management competence treats competence as an unproblematic concept. Competence is just competence. Everyone knows what competence is, don't they?

Explains that the concept of competences is being used widely in the sphere of management development as a means for measuring the performance of individuals. This growth in use has taken place without establishing exactly what organizations are referring to when using the term “competence”. There has also been an assumption that competence can be measured. It is suggested that, given the wide range of activities which the term “management” can be said to encompass, it may be inappropriate to define management in terms of a limited range of activities. The competence approach also implies that the type of lists of skills developed is a correct list which can be applied in different industries. Given that there is no such thing as a generic manager, but rather individuals who are effective in different sectors, the competence approach would appear to be fundamentally flawed.

Reports on a project by the Ocean Group which was analysed by Ashridge Management Research Group. The project covered processes dealing with the definition and measurement of competences required to make an effective senior manager. The competences do not stand alone but are supported by being part of a whole approach that includes appraisal.

This paper aims to analyze the production function nexus between higher education practice and the development of innovation‐related competencies by university graduates in Spain. The research hypothesis is the presence of statistically significant relationships between the development of innovational competencies and the modes of teaching and learning used in higher education practice.

The relationships are modeled through a set of stochastic frontier and variance component equations with the development of each competency as the dependent variable. The main explanatory variables capture the prevalence of diverse teaching/learning modes and the behavior of graduates during their studies. Controls for individual and study programs are also included. Data comes from the European graduate survey REFLEX and includes about 5,500 records.

Estimates show evidence of significant marginal effects of the teaching and learning modes and the development of specific competencies by graduates. Proactive methods in general, and problem‐based learning in particular, appear as the most effective classroom practices to develop the competencies required to innovate in the workplace.

To guide the implementation of reforms in higher education, more must be learned about possible trade‐offs between the diverse types of resources involved and the outcomes obtained. Resources should be examined in terms of their relative costs and the results interpreted with regard to their value to individuals and society.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to explore quantitatively the influence of higher education practice on the development of the capabilities required to innovate in the workplace.

The past 40 years of reform and opening up have seen the role of core competence receive unprecedented attention because of the impact of the new normal economy as well as the pressure of transformation and upgrading. Few Chinese enterprises have effectively constructed core competence, and there is also a lack of strategic perspective and contextual embedding of its construction process in theory. This study aims to analyse the unique contextual characteristics of China in the transitional period and the impact on the core competence construction of Chinese enterprises and proposes its construction mechanism for Chinese enterprises.

Through theoretical deduction and speculation, this paper analyses the process of concept formation, clarifies the concept, analyses its connotations and structure and emphasises its relativity. Based on a review of the theoretical research on the core competence construction process and an analysis of dual contextual impact, this paper puts forward a mechanism for core competence construction.

The results reveal that four specific characteristics of entrepreneurs in balancing and coping with the dual nature of external context constitute the key driving force for a Chinese enterprises’ core competence construction; under the influence of this driving force, the core competence construction mechanism includes process mode, knowledge source, management mode and key success factors.

Approaching it from a Chinese context, this study deepens the concept of core competence; enriches and develops the research related to the core strategic research proposition of its construction; and provides positive significance for Chinese enterprises to effectively build, develop and strengthen core competence and enhance their international competitiveness.

Given the remarkable increase in entrepreneurial activities initiated by women in the Egyptian context in addition to the scarcity of empirical studies on digital self-employment there, the authors of the present paper aim to identify what motivates women to engage in digital entrepreneurship, and to identify how those women establish their digital entrepreneurial activities.

The authors employed a qualitative research method through semi-structured interviews with 30 women entrepreneurs who own and manage digital businesses. Thematic analysis was subsequently used to determine the main ideas in the transcripts.

The authors have found that enjoying absolute independence, securing more time for family, guaranteeing an independent source of income in addition to the ease of accessing extensive online markets are the main motives behind the engagement of women in the Egyptian context in digital entrepreneurship activities. Moreover, the authors have also asserted that the minimal training and government support stimulate women entrepreneurs there to start and continue their digital business activities informally.

This paper contributes by filling a gap in entrepreneurship studies in which empirical studies on establishing and managing digital entrepreneurship among women in developing economies has been limited so far.