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We listen hard and talk straight, with no sugar coating and no filters. Trust is impossible without early, accurate and reliable communication, so we strive for “brutal” openness and honesty. All of us know where we stand, face reality and act on it. We are open to ideas from everyone, everywhere. This statement sums up one of the core values of Aker Kvaerner, a global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions, spanning oil and gas production, refining and chemicals, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, mining and metals, power and pulping.

To what extent, why and where do multinational companies locate divisional headquarters (DHQs) abroad? This study of 30 of the largest listed companies in Norway over the 2000–2006 period shows that foreign-located DHQs have become relatively commonplace. A majority of DHQs located abroad are outcomes of foreign acquisitions, which suggests that obtaining legitimacy from local stakeholders such as customers, employees and investors is an important motivation. We also find that Norwegian companies emphasize efficiency and value creation in their location choices, as they tend to prefer other advanced and competitive countries as hosts for their DHQs. Distance from Norway is not significant. The off-shoring of strategic units such as DHQs is a phenomenon that occurs in advanced phases of companies' internationalization, beyond the point when familiarity and proximity still are key decision-making factors.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the challenges of integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR) with other strategic foci into the supply/contractor chain, both conceptually and empirically, with a focus on one sectorial case: the Norwegian upstream petroleum industry. It compares contradictory theories of strategic focus and explores their implications for the organisation of the supply chain and discusses challenges and solutions for operative CSR‐oriented supply chain management

The empirical analysis, inspired by the cognitive mapping approach, seeks to elicit the strategic profiles of the oil majors and suppliers/contractors in the petroleum industry. This is based on textual analysis of core statements of overall business strategy such as the CEO's and the Chairman's statement letter to the shareholders. The paper also draws on research and workshops with petroleum companies and their suppliers in the North Sea, as well as contracting experts and researchers taking part in the EU‐TRENDS project which focused on satisfying Europe's future demands and needs for sustainable, secure, safe and clean energy supplies.

The strategic profiles of the petroleum companies and their suppliers/contractors indicate that, while they coincide on many points, there is considerable discrepancy as far as CSR and HSE are concerned. The suppliers/contractors tend to emphasise the technology dimension more strongly than the petroleum companies. HSE and CSR are, on average, strategically under‐communicated within the supply industry compared with the petroleum companies, but there is also considerable variation within each group.

The paper explores how transaction cost theory may help frame managerial challenges and approaches in integrating CSR consistently throughout supply chains. It shows some of the limitations of the “rationalist” model of industrial organisation both at the firm level and at the supply chain level and discusses possible expansions into broader managerial approaches.

The paper highlights some of the managerial challenges and basic approaches for integrating CSR consistently throughout the value chain.

The originality of the article lies conceptually in linking the CSR literature to transaction cost theory of industrial organisation. Empirically the article presents new insights into strategic foci of the petroleum companies and their supply chain.

The purpose of this study is to examine the tangible and intangible benefits of two enterprises resource planning (ERP) packages namely SAP and Oracle. In particular, the operational benefits (OP), managerial benefits (MB), strategic benefits (SB), information technology (IT) benefits and organizational benefits (OR) of SAP and Oracle packages are scrutinized.

A survey method was employed to elicit opinions from SAP and Oracle ERP professionals. The empirical results are analyzed using smartPLS (Version 2.0) software. The results are further compared and contrasted with that of Deloitte and O'Leary's studies.

Through this study, it seems that the tangible benefits such as procurement cost reduction (32 percent for SAP; 30 percent for Oracle), financial cycle reduction (46 percent for SAP; 48 percent for Oracle), productivity improvements (50 percent for SAP; 41 percent for Oracle), personnel reduction (43 percent for both SAP and Oracle) and IT cost reduction (35 percent for SAP; 21 percent for Oracle) percentages indicate Indian companies have achieved more ERP benefits as compared to Deloitte and O'Leary's studies.

Three limitations were identified in this study such as adoption of the survey instrument, potential for response bias associated with targeting packages and the research instrument targeted only for manufacturing organizations. In the future, one can analyze the ERP benefits based on the ERP life cycle stages such as initiation, adoption, adaptation, acceptance, routinization and infusion. Moreover, one can investigate all the benefits mentioned in the literature of Shang and Seddon's study as this study reveals only few tangible and intangible benefits. There is also a possibility of extending the study to the benefits in terms of pre‐ and post‐ERP implementation in manufacturing systems. Finally, introducing some moderators to see the effect on ERP benefits.

This paper provides new insights into the tangible and intangible benefits of SAP and Oracle ERP packages.

No prior study to the best of one's knowledge has been sought to explain in such benefits of SAP and Oracle ERP packages.

Traditionally, progress in detail engineering in construction projects is reported based on estimates and manual input from the disciplines in the engineering team. Reporting progress on activities in an engineering schedule manually, based on subjective evaluations, is time consuming and can reduce accuracy, especially in larger and multi-disciplinary projects. How can progress in detail engineering be reported using BIM and connected to activities in an engineering schedule? The purpose of this paper is to introduce a three-step process for reporting progress in detail engineering using building information modeling (BIM) to minimize manual reporting and increase quality and accuracy.

The findings of this paper are based on the studies of experiences from the execution of projects in the oil and gas industry. Data are collected from an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and two engineering contractors using case study research.

In the first step, control objects in building information models are introduced. Statuses are added to control objects to fulfill defined quality levels related to milestones. In the second step, the control objects with statuses are used to report visual progress and aggregated in an overall progress report. In the third step, overall progress from building information models are connected to activities in an engineering schedule.

Existing research works related to monitoring and reporting progress using a BIM focus on construction and not on detail engineering. The research demonstrates that actual progress in detail engineering can be visualized and reported through the use of BIM and extracted to activities in an engineering schedule through a three-step process.

The paper aims to address the failure of prevailing international management concepts to utilize the potentials of company wide employee participation in innovation, and give the reader some practical solutions and some ideas about how to exploit these potentials more efficiently.

These solutions and ideas are developed mainly through two Norwegian action research programmes that have been carried out together with industry over a ten‐year period. The main topic of research has been to see how good practice from prevailing international management concepts like total quality management and business process re‐engineering may be integrated with good practice from the Norwegian industrial democracy tradition into a new approach to continuous innovation. A case study approach has been used.

The case studies showed that a better utilization of the potentials of company wide employee participation in innovation gives efficiency as well as working environment improvements.

The case studies also showed that more knowledge and a further development of practical tools that ease participation in innovation is an important challenge for future R&D.

In order to fully exploit the potentials of employee participation in innovation companies and consultants need to adjust their practice in the direction of a more participatory approach.

The paper gives consultants, academics, managers and shop stewards a framework and some practical tools for employee participation in innovation that may be used at the different company levels. It is argued and shown how activities at the different levels may be co‐ordinated and work reciprocal supportive.