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This study aims to examine the effect of the effectuation set of means on new venture performance in the context of Tanzania’s emerging economy. To determine how new ventures, benefit from the effectuation set of means experienced entrepreneurs possess, this study examines the role of the flexibility principle of effectuation as a key mediator.

The research is quantitative in nature, and a survey questionnaire was used to get data from five cities of Tanzania. In total, 350 samples obtained for analysis. The hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling were used for testing the hypotheses.

The effectuation set of means is affirmed to have a positive effect on new venture performance. The flexibility principle plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between the effectuation set of means and new venture performance.

This empirical evidence contributes to the progress of the theory of effectuation and also provides managerial guidelines for entrepreneurs who operate their new ventures and face uncertain business environments.

In the era of multiple global disruptions, firms are finding it to continue their business. MSMEs are impacted more as they have constrained resources. Organizational flexibility has emerged as an organizational and management principle that would help firms stay competitive even in volatile markets. This study aims to present a set of guidelines and insights for MSME managers to implement organizational flexibility in their organizations.

This study uses total interpretive structural modelling to study how the various factors contributing to organizational flexibility behave together. Behavioural theory is used to explain why organizations need to incorporate flexibility, and systems theory of organization is used to explain why an organization needs to have open boundaries.

Organizational flexibility is a principle that may be supported by the systems theory of organization. The study has shown that it is important for MSMEs to have supply chain collaborations to be more flexible. The study also shows pressure from competitors as the key driver that would make a firm more flexible, and that adequate support from management and technological skills are required to drive flexibility in an organization.

Single respondent bias may have occurred in this study. This can be eliminated by interviewing multiple people from the same organization. Further research around the reasoning for linkages can be explored with theory-driven grounded studies.

This study attempts to use a multi-criteria decision-making technique to present insights to managers to help them make their organizations flexible.

Examine and understand how an informal volunteer’s goals and actions develop from the moment they first learn about a disaster.

We examine informal volunteerism (the activities of people who work outside of formal emergency and disaster management arrangements) through the theoretical lens of entrepreneurial effectuation to explain informal volunteer behavior and cognition and gain insight on how they develop their disaster relief ventures.

We find that informal volunteers follow an effectual logic, relying on available means to take advantage of opportunities as they are recognized or created. Application of effectuation vs causation processes depended on whether the informal volunteers were categorized as traditional, emergent or extended volunteers.

Informal volunteers’ disregard for the Affordable Loss Principle task governments and disaster relief organizations with the important challenge of managing and assuring the safety and well-being of informal volunteers. Their entrepreneurial behavior also invites the establishment of formal processes to counsel and guide informal volunteers, helping them fill out the necessary paperwork and funding applications to develop their efforts.

Through their experimentation and flexibility, informal volunteers accelerate disaster recovery, recognizing opportunities, working around bureaucracy and other roadblocks that hinder the efforts of established organizations. They also demonstrate entrepreneurial behavior that helps revitalize and jumpstart the local economy, making for stronger and more resilient communities

This study borrows from Effectuation Theory from the entrepreneurship field in order to bring a much needed theoretical lens to the topic and greatly assists informal volunteerism research, moving from past efforts that simply define and categorize the concept.

In response to the underexplored need for holistically inclusive makerspaces for learning, we put propose the “SCAFFOLD” framework, which considers equity, inclusion and accessibility in the design of spaces and activities for socioculturally diverse learners.

This paper proposes a universal design (UD) framework that is intersectionally inclusive for learners with diverse needs in makerspaces and maker activities. This paper provides conjecture mapping to put forth theoretical and empirical arguments for the design of holistically inclusive makerspaces that consider gender equity and cultural inclusivity, as well as accessibility for diverse learners with divergent and unique abilities and dis/abilities.

Combining related literature and three existing UD frameworks (i.e. UD, web accessibility and UD for learning) and prior research on equity and inclusivity in making, this paper proposes the integration of eight principles, which leverage individuals’ diverse abilities to become agentic makers: simplicity, collaboration, accessibility, flexibility, fail-safe, object-oriented, linkability and diversity.

Researchers who have implemented conjecture maps (Lee et al., 2018) have found them to be useful for developing theory and learning designs grounded in research and practice. However, it should be noted that design research is iterative and contextual, and conjecture maps are effective in providing visibility and rigor, but are meant to be flexible and responsive to changes in context (Lee et al., 2018; Sandoval, 2014).

This paper provides practical guidelines and principles for researchers, educators, instructional designers and product developers to assess and redesign makerspaces and activities that are intersectionally and universally inclusive, equitable and accessible.

The concept “flexibility” is ubiquitous as a rationale for organizational change. However, its broad application is accompanied by a general lack of definitional agreement or theoretical cohesion. The purpose of this paper is to propose the merits of an alternative approach – applying a discourse perspective to the use of flexibility as a rationale for organizational change.

This paper first illustrates the broad referencing of flexibility as a desired organizational characteristic. It then discusses the associated lack of theoretical coherence associated with the use of the concept “flexibility” before arguing the merits of a discourse perspective on flexibility as a rationale for organizational change.

This paper identifies a set of questions to frame a discourse perspective on the use of “flexibility” as a rationale for organizational change.

The questions derived in this paper provide a research agenda for an investigation of the use and effects of the concept “flexibility” in the context of organizational change.

The questions derived in this paper provide practice‐based insights into how the concept “flexibility” is and/or could be used in the context of organizational change.

“Flexibility” is a ubiquitous concept as a rationale for organizational change and its use is accompanied by a diversity of definitions and conceptual frameworks. The originality of this paper is that rather than seeking to provide yet another definition – or attempting a resolution of definitional differences – it argues the merits of a discourse perspective on the use and effect of the concept flexibility in the context of organizational change.

The current political situation in Europe has amplified economic sanctions as a retaliatory measure for states not directly involved in the conflict but wanting to influence the political situation. The purpose of this paper is to further understand the interplay of the neutrality principle and employment of economic sanctions.

Through an extensive literature review, heavily based on the publications of the Swiss Confederacy, neutrality as a foreign policy serving to promote Swiss interests is explored. The room for interpretation and freedom of action in the neutrality principle is highlighted above all.

Economic sanctions are compatible with the neutrality principle, but do not necessarily further the same purpose. Political pressure to participate in sanctions does not take into consideration the ways in which the credibility of neutrality can be implicated, as well as the value of protecting Switzerland’s role as an international mediator.

The consistency with which the neutrality principle is translated into the modern geopolitical context is crucial for its longevity. The novelty of the current political sanctions, still unfolding, demands a careful examination into the history of neutrality and the use of sanctions. No better insight can be offered than by the development of neutrality in the history of the titan of neutrality, Switzerland.

In this chapter, we first describe the all governing principles of treatment for sexual offenders that maximise effectiveness. These are derived from Andrews and Bonta's (2006) summary of a variety of meta-analyses of outcome studies. From this source and others, we then claim that there are three elements essential to effective treatment: (1) targeting criminogenic features; (2) employing empirically sound procedures to modify these targets; and (3) delivering treatment in an effective psychotherapeutic way. Next we describe our treatment approach that emphasises these crucial elements within a strength-based programme that is motivational and provides Ward's (2002) Good Lives Model as the framework. We then challenge the broadly accepted idea that the Random Controlled Trial (RCT) is the only basis upon which inferences about treatment effectiveness can be derived. We point to methodological, practical and ethical problems associated with implementing an RCT study and offer at least two alternatives: the so-called ‘incidental design’ which compares the outcome of the treated group with a matched (but not randomly assigned) group from the same or similar setting to the treated group; and a strategy where the recidivism rate of treated group is compared with what would be expected on the basis of risk assessments of each of the treated subjects.

The evolution of production models raises a number of questions on the changes which are taking place, on the continuity of or break with consolidated models, and on whether new production paradigms are emerging. Traces back this broad and multi‐faceted debate to five theses which summarise the principal interpretative approaches: the emergence of lean production as the dominant model; the indeterminacy of production models and the unpredictability of their evolution; the existence of a number of different models which are strongly dependent on context; the asymptotic convergence over time of different models on a single point of reference which is not lean production, while the latter will decline or be revised; and the emergence of a new unifying paradigm which leaves room for and even requires specific variations and adaptations. Reassesses these positions in the light of the life‐cycle of management models and in support of the fifth thesis, i.e. the emergence of a new paradigm. Among the different possible formulations of the new paradigm, that termed “strategically flexible production” is presented.

Third and last of a series of articles examining the case for competence‐based qualifications in the UK. Reviews the previous two articles prior to identifying strengths in the competence philosophy and methodology and weaknesses in established practice. Concludes that competence‐based qualifications require modification in operation if they are to realize the potential benefits and advantages claimed. Two models of argued changes are provided as a basis for a suggested way forward.

It is crucial to recognize that supply chain flexibility is important to build sustainable competitive edge in coping with uncertainty. This study puts forth an empirically supported integrative framework to understand supply chain flexibility from market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives, interrelationships among its dimensions and the effect of supply chain complexity as a contingent factor.

The online survey data were collected from 201 manufacturing companies and checked for common method variance, validity and reliability. Structural equation modeling was then used to test the hypotheses.

The results of this study demonstrate that there are interrelationships among market-oriented and network-oriented supply chain flexibility dimensions. It is the flexibility embedded in the supply chain network configuration that plays critical roles in superior performance in flexibility capabilities to create customer values. The interrelated effect among flexibility dimensions is contingent on the magnitude of the supply chain complexity corresponding to the number of supply chain tiers.

This study takes a step to advance understanding of supply chain flexibility from an integrative point of view consisting of market-oriented and network-oriented perspectives. This study is expected to provide practitioners the foundation to implement supply chain flexibility considering the interrelationships among flexibility dimensions. Our results suggest that to carry out a supply chain flexibility strategy, the vertical complexity of the supply chain structure needs to be taken into consideration.