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In his book Pasteur's Quadrant, Donald Stokes (1997) argued that research projects can be described by their contributions to theoretical understanding and the solution of practical problems. Building on this model, scholars have suggested that educational research should focus more or less exclusively on what Stokes called “use-inspired basic research.” With this move has come a focus on projects with the potential to create systemic change – and the concurrent devaluation of naturalistic studies of learning in context and design research to develop innovative educational interventions. We argue that this current predilection is based on a fundamental misreading of the processes through which scientific investigation addresses practical problems, and (more important) is counter-productive for the field of educational technology. To make this case, we look more closely at the operationalization of Stokes’ quadrant model in the field of education, suggesting that its short-term focus on systemic change is based on a misunderstanding of history. We use Latour's (1983) study of Pasteur to suggest an alternative lever model for the research-based transformation of educational practices through educational technologies. By way of illustration, we use a brief example of a research project in educational technology to ground a discussion of the broader implications of this alternative conceptualization of the process of education research.

Purpose – This chapter examines the potential of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) for strategy research.

Methodology/approach – We introduce the set-theoretic framework of QCA and provide an overview of recent methodological developments.

Findings – We utilize a variety of examples relevant to strategy research to illustrate the action steps and key concepts involved in conducting a QCA study.

Originality/value of paper – We develop examples from core research areas in strategic management to illustrate QCA's potential for examining issues of causality and diversity in strategy research, and in settings involving medium-N samples. We conclude by emphasizing that QCA offers an alternative mode of inquiry to open and redirect important lines of strategy research.

Reviews conference proceedings on public management in the EC after Maastricht. Held in Dublin, financial issues, “international, supranational and transnational” overviews, and structures policies, inter alia, were discussed. Observes that, unfortunately, although possible future problems of public management were highlighted, answers were not always forthcoming.

This paper seeks to examine the introduction, in the UK, of reporting on social and environmental matters in the Companies Act 1985 (Operating and Financial Review and Directors' Report etc.) Regulations 2005 and the subsequent changes embodied in the Companies Act 2006. It aims to explore the potential impact of these reporting requirements on corporate legitimacy. Legitimacy is important because it reflects, and arises out of, society's support for the activities of the company.

The paper compares the Companies Act 1985 (Operating and Financial Review and Directors' Report etc.) Regulations 2005 with the Companies Act 2006. A postal survey was used to collect data from 79 companies that were affected by the operating and financial review. The reactions of different stakeholder groups to the changes in the law are assessed using secondary data sources, and issues surrounding legitimacy are analyzed using appropriate literature.

Companies that had to comply with the requirements of the operating and financial review were sufficiently prepared for its implementation and, given the choice, preferred the operating and financial review to be statutory. The authors therefore argue that the reasons for repealing the operating and financial review were overstated. Also, legitimacy theory indicates that the new reporting requirements are unlikely to meet the information needs of all stakeholders.

The paper provides a valuable analysis of how corporate social responsibility, which is deemed to be important for sustainable development, has been incorporated in law. It also provides a valuable analysis of how the law will affect corporate legitimacy.

THAT INDUSTRY is beset by too many chiefs and too few indians is painfully obvious today. This is true of privately‐owned businesses as well as—though maybe not so disastrously—those in the public sector.

This chapter describes how conversational computer agents have been used in collaborative problem-solving environments. These agent-based systems are designed to (a) assess the students’ knowledge, skills, actions, and various other psychological states on the basis of the students’ actions and the conversational interactions, (b) generate discourse moves that are sensitive to the psychological states and the problem states, and (c) advance a solution to the problem. We describe how this was accomplished in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) in 2015. In the PISA CPS 2015 assessment, a single human test taker (15-year-old student) interacts with one, two, or three agents that stage a series of assessment episodes. This chapter proposes that this PISA framework could be extended to accommodate more open-ended natural language interaction for those languages that have developed technologies for automated computational linguistics and discourse. Two examples support this suggestion, with associated relevant empirical support. First, there is AutoTutor, an agent that collaboratively helps the student answer difficult questions and solve problems. Second, there is CPS in the context of a multi-party simulation called Land Science in which the system tracks progress and knowledge states of small groups of 3–4 students. Human mentors or computer agents prompt them to perform actions and exchange open-ended chat in a collaborative learning and problem-solving environment.

The purpose of the paper is to report a study of knowledge sharing practices in the clinical research organization in a major pharmaceutical company. While knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer is often conceived of in terms of codification and storage in databases accessed through information technology, there is less experience in industry from working with knowledge sharing in face‐to‐face communication settings.

A collaborative research methodology including academic researchers, consultants and company representatives was used to examine and develop a knowledge‐sharing model. Interview and participative observations were used as data collection methods.

The study suggests that the use of so‐called knowledge facilitators, organizing and leading knowledge sharing seminars among clinical research teams, needs to develop the capacity to interrelate heedfully, that is, the dispositions to act with attentiveness, alertness, and care, to fully explore the insights, experiences, and know‐how generated in the clinical research teams. Heed precedes successful sharing of knowledge.

It is concluded that the literature on knowledge sharing needs to pay closer attention to the practices on the micro level in knowledge sharing, in the day‐to‐day collaborations between different professional groups.

The paper applies the concept of “heedful interrelation” in a practical knowledge management project in a major pharmaceutical company.

Striving to survive in the ever changing world, the ability to innovate has become increasingly crucial. But are all organisations convinced? Based on data collected from a recent survey and a telephone interview, this article examines the general understanding of issues concerning innovation among managers and their ability to translate this understanding into practice. The study reveals that while most organisations have realised the importance of innovation and are prepared to mobilise their managers to be involved in innovation projects, many of them have not yet been able to create an innovation culture and devise suitable policies to encourage innovation positively within the wider context of their organisations. It is also discovered that there is a surprisingly low level of understanding of the most commonly known innovation techniques, yet most people dismiss the value of creativity training programmes conducted in their organisations, raising serious concerns over the effectiveness of these programmes.

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of quality standards on contract arrangements in food supply chains.

A qualitative double case study was conducted on the dairy and citrus sectors in Uruguay. A transaction cost theoretical framework was used. All current public and private quality standards applied by processors were studied in relation to contract arrangements between processors and upstream producers as well as downstream buyers for each sector.

Quality standards complement contract arrangements for upstream transactions, leading to hierarchy-type contract arrangements. Quality standards substitute contract arrangements for downstream transactions, leading to market- or hybrid-type contract arrangements.

Longitudinal studies that measure changes in contract arrangements over time are recommended.

Supply chain actors can reduce transaction costs by aligning quality standards with appropriate contract arrangements – further supported by public instruments.

Quality standards have differential influence on underlying transaction characteristics, and therefore on contract arrangements, depending on the location of the transaction in the supply chain.