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This paper aims to explain the modern unintended human-personal self-destruction and the importance of diverse society-specific holistic cultures (“native cultures”) and social value systems as the remedy.

This paper is a viewpoint, as both the explanation and the proposed remedy are based on the present author’s historical, theoretical and normative considerations.

First, the author’s interpretation of pre-modern to modern Western societies reveals that some important pre-modern Western values are given to the modern era as part of the market value system. Second, some Mercantilist ideas have strong influences on Classical economic theory and methodology. Third, the modern Western value system – the market value system – corresponds to the Core Synergism of Modern Civilization or the complex driving force of Modern Civilization.

This paper is designed to facilitate reflection on the excessive emphasis on economic/market values.

The present author’s normative framework for social value system (“integral harmony”) is used for explaining a likely remedy of the unintended human-personal self-destruction. Also, for solving the human-personal predicament, this article integrates native culture, balance and harmony into economic thinking to promote sustainable development for a viable human future. Concluding remarks provide a summary for clarification of the remedy.

Service products being intangible and experiential in nature are different to evaluate prior to purchase and consumption. Consumers perceive risk while purchasing services and rely on various information sources to make a purchase decision. In services, personal sources of information are considered more than non‐personal sources of information. The present study focuses on understanding the significance of supplementary services as nonpersonal source of information to consumers for pre‐purchase evaluation of credit card services. In other words, whether information regarding supplementary services can help consumers make pre‐purchase evaluation of credit cards. In addition to pre‐purchase evaluation, the impact of supplementary services is studied towards post‐purchase evaluation of credit card services. Supplementary services being a part of full service product offer by marketers can be utilised as a beneficial tool to create interest and developing awareness among consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize a kind of core-shell Ag@polyaniline (Ag@PAN) as a lubricant additive to improve the friction reduction and anti-wear abilities of lithium-based complex grease.

The core-shell Ag@PAN was prepared by a simple method and was introduced into the lithium-based complex grease. The typical properties of Ag@PAN were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectrometer and thermal gravimetric analyzer. The tribological properties were evaluated under different conditions. After the tribological test, the worn surface was analyzed by SEM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe the lubrication mechanisms.

The prepared Ag@PAN could greatly improve the friction reduction and wear resistance of the friction pair under different conditions. The preferable tribological performances were mainly attributed to the synergism of various lubrication mechanisms including “mending effect,” “rolling effect” and lubricating protective film, and so on.

This study synthesizes a new kind of core-shell Ag@PAN as a lubricant additive, and it possesses preferable friction reduction and anti-wear abilities.

This paper takes the manufacturing cluster supply chain as the research object and explores the evaluation and enhancement strategy of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy. The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze the mechanism of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy; (2) construct manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation model; (3) algorithm realization of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation and (4) propose manufacturing cluster-based supply chain synergy enhancement strategy.

Breaking through the limitations of traditional manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation, we take horizontal synergy and vertical synergy as coupled synergy subsystems, use the complex system synergy model to explore the horizontal synergy between core enterprises and cluster enterprises and the vertical synergy of supply chain enterprises and use the coupling coordination model to construct the coupled synergy evaluation model of manufacturing cluster supply chain, which is an innovation of the evaluation perspective of previous cluster supply chain synergy and also an enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation methodology. This is not only the innovation of the evaluation perspective but also the enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation method.

Using Python software to conduct empirical analysis on the evaluation model, the research shows that the horizontal and vertical synergies of the manufacturing cluster supply chain interact with each other and jointly affect the coupling synergy. On this basis, targeted strategies are proposed to enhance the synergy of the manufacturing cluster supply chain.

This study takes manufacturers, suppliers and sellers in the three-level supply chain as the research object and does not consider the synergistic evaluation between distributors and consumers in the supply chain, which can be further explored in this direction in the future.

Advanced manufacturing clusters, as the main force of manufacturing development, and the synergistic development of supply chain are one of the important driving forces for the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry. As a new type of network organization coupling industrial clusters and supply chains, cluster supply chain is conducive not only to improving the competitiveness of cluster supply chains but also to upgrading cluster supply chains through horizontal synergy within the cluster and vertical synergy in the supply chain.

Research can help accelerate the transformation and upgrading of clustered supply chains in the manufacturing industry, promote high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and accelerate the rise of the global value chain position of the manufacturing industry.

(1) Innovation of research perspective. Starting from two perspectives of horizontal synergy and vertical synergy, we take a core enterprise in the cluster supply chain as the starting point, horizontally explore the main enterprises of the cluster as the research object of horizontal synergy, vertically explore the upstream and downstream enterprises of the supply chain as the research object of vertical synergy and explore the coupling synergy of cluster supply chain as two subsystems, which provides new perspectives of evaluation of the degree of synergy and synergy evaluation. (2) Innovation of research content. Nine manufacturing clusters are selected as research samples, and through data collection and model analysis, it is verified that the evaluation model and implementation algorithm designed in this paper have strong practicability, which not only provides methodological reference for the evaluation of manufacturing cluster-type supply chain synergy but also reduces the loss caused by the instability of clusters and supply chains and then provides a theoretical basis for improving the overall performance of cluster-type supply chains.

Intensified competitive, technological, and market pressures have made organizational learning a critical imperative in global strategy effectiveness. Firms can learn through experience and from three processes that involve other firms: imitation, grafting, and synergism. Interpartner learning has become critical, since experiential learning is insufficient for most firms. Responds to calls for a broadened role of marketing and synthesizes and extends research from organization behaviour and strategic management to the field of marketing to fuel further academic inquiry. Based on an extension of Chandler′s strategy‐structure‐performance paradigm, develops propositions on how the environment, organizational culture, strategy, and structure can affect a company′s use of interpartner learning and its effectiveness in learning through strategic alliances. Provides several managerial implications to help improve marketers′ abilities to compete effectively in today′s dynamic, global business environment.

This paper aims to operationalize and to test the ARCTIC (A – Advantage, R – Relatedness, C – Complexity of Competence, T – Time of Integration, I – Implementation Plan, C – Cultural Fit) framework to assess the prerequisites of competence-based synergy in the acquisition process. The current research provides new analyses of recent acquisitions in the global beauty industry where the ARCTIC framework was satisfied and where the ARCTIC model was NOT satisfied by decisive factors to get the acquisition's synergies. It allows readers to contrast two case studies and grasp how the framework works in greater detail.

The current research relies on an extensive archival search that included financial statements, annual reports, internal documents, industry publications and CEO statements to get at a micro-level understanding. This boosts research data and the operationalization of the ARCTIC framework.

The research identified four steps for investigating whether core competence transfer in an acquisition process would be a source of competence-based synergies. The incorporation of real options into the synergy valuation measures market value-added arising from M&A deals.

The current paper contributes to theoretical and practical issues of global M&As as part of the existing literature of international business and strategic management. The impact on reciprocal synergies of agency problems, external interaction between CEOs in M&A deals, corporate governance systems and an executive compensation theory are promising areas of future research.

El presente artículo pretende poner en práctica y a prueba el esquema ARCTIC a fin de evaluar los requisitos previos de la sinergia basada en las competencias en el proceso de adquisición. Este estudio ofrece nuevos análisis de las recientes adquisiciones acontecidas en el sector de la belleza a nivel mundial en las que se siguió el esquema ARCTIC y en las que NO se siguió por factores decisivos para conseguir las sinergias de la adquisición. Permite a los lectores contrastar dos casos prácticos y comprender con mayor detalle cómo funciona el esquema.

Para el estudio actual se ha llevado a cabo una amplia búsqueda de archivos entre los que se incluyen balances financieros, informes anuales, documentación interna, publicaciones del sector y declaraciones del director general para obtener una comprensión pormenorizada. De este modo, se potencian los datos de la investigación y la puesta en práctica del esquema ARCTIC.

En el estudio se han identificado cuatro pasos que determinan si la transferencia de competencias básicas en un proceso de adquisición sería el origen de sinergias basadas en las competencias. La incorporación de opciones reales en la evaluación de las sinergias mide el valor añadido del mercado derivado de las operaciones de fusión y adquisición.

Este artículo contribuye a los aspectos teóricos y prácticos de las fusiones y las adquisiciones mundiales como parte de la bibliografía existente sobre comercio internacional y gestión estratégica. El impacto de las sinergias recíprocas de problemas del agente-principal, las interacciones externas entre directores generales en acuerdos de fusiones y adquisiciones, los sistemas de gobernanza empresarial y una teoría de la compensación ejecutiva son campos prometedores para futuras investigaciones.

One of the most promising synergistic compositions for use in high‐temperature lubricants comprises aromatic amine and an oil‐soluble alkali metal compound although action mechanism of this synergism is still questionable. The greatest efficiency of this additive pair is demonstrated for PEE based compositions using thin‐layer oxidation test at 250°C. Addition of potassium‐containing additive to aromatic amine antioxidant results in decreasing of formation of strongly‐oxidized substances. Determination of electrophysical parameters (dielectric constant and specific conductivity) for tested samples indicates formation of reversed micelles at the potassium content of about 0.6⋅10^‐2 mol/l, and the latter corresponds to the potassium content that provides the highest antioxidant efficiency. A novel method of inhibiting oxidation is proposed: micellar inhibition that suggests novel possibilities for protection of lubricants against oxidative degradation.

Politics in human societies represents a variation, and elaboration, on a major evolutionary theme. Political processes have played an important functional role in goal-oriented, cooperative social systems in the natural world. This view of politics is also consistent with a causal theory – known as the Synergism Hypothesis – which explains the rise of complexity in evolution over time and, equally important, the frequent examples of devolution and dissolution. In addition to a brief discussion of this theory, the evolution of political systems in humankind will be described, from its possible origins among our remote australopithecine ancestors to the emergence of complex modern civilizations. Now, however, we confront an existential threat to our species, and to many others, due mainly to climate change. The future is very problematic. I will argue here that the only viable path going forward is a new social contract coupled with (democratic) global governance – a global “superorganism.”

A multi‐component design of a “concurrent team” is described here for a concurrent engineering organization. This concurrent “team design” is composed of four essential teaming components: a logical component, a virtual component, a technological component and a personnel (work‐group or humane) component. The description is based on an implementation of a “concurrent team” environment for product development at Delphi Divisions of General Motors. The paper first describes how to configure a “concurrent team” organization that provides a decentralized cooperation during an integrated product development (IPD) process. The paper then shows how, with strategic design of a “concurrent team,” an organization can achieve optimum teamwork productivity during an IPD. As it has been observed during a number of automotive projects that the teamwork productivity of a concurrent engineering organization is largely influenced by the design of such “concurrent teams” as well as by elements of decentralized cooperation, the paper, also describes four key elements of decentralized cooperation that have been found useful with IPD clients.

Outlines the guiding principles of the West Midlands regional strategy for quality, with its goals and targets. Discusses the aims of assisting the development of clear and common understanding of quality in the region. Acknowledges the significant problems surrounding a regional strategy.