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Many international management scholars have expressed concern about whether societal culture changes so rapidly that research which attempts to represent it has little utility. We address this fundamental concern of international management by providing three theoretical lenses to examine the forces that produce and maintain a society's culture: functional theory, neo-institutional theory and complexity theory. We consider principles of progressive change and problems of social psychology from functional theory, the three pillars and conflicting institutional logics of neo-institutional theory and the ideas of stable equilibrium, oscillations and chaos of dynamic systems from complexity theory. Although these three theoretical lenses sometimes produce conflicting explanations of culture change, they often complement each other. Together, they provide a more realistic picture of the dynamics of the societal cultural milieu of organizations than do cultural representations that favour stability or those that completely discount the utility of any attempt at representing cultural continuity.

How does career boundary-crossing affect an entrepreneur’s new venture? When entrepreneurs cross industry or functional boundaries to lead startups, they may lack specific experience needed for performance. Conversely, the diverse experiences they carry can enhance exploration and lead to the emergence of innovation in startups. We highlight important consequences of career boundary-crossing, using a multi-industry longitudinal sample of high-technology firms. We find that entrepreneurs who cross functional boundaries are more likely to lead their startups into new product areas. We also find that entrepreneurs’ industry boundary-crossing is associated with startup failure, but it also increases the probability of an IPO.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes of brain functional network after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD).

In this study, resting electroencephalography (EEG) is used to explore the changes in spectral power density, functional connectivity and network topology elicited by an acute open-label course of ECT in a group of 19 MDD subjects. The brain functional network based on Pearson correlation is constructed in a continuous threshold space (0.38–0.59). Complex network theory is used to analyze the network characteristic such as the length of the characteristic path, clustering coefficient, degree, betweenness centrality, global efficiency and small-world architecture.

The results show that ECT increased the spectral power density of Delta, Theta and Alpha1 bands and the full frequency. ECT increases the functional connectivity in Delta and full frequency and reduces the functional connectivity in Alpha2 band. In the selected threshold space, the clustering coefficient, global efficiency and small-world attributes of the network are changed significantly after ECT.

The findings indicate that resting EEG could effectively characterize the changes of brain functional networks following ECT in MDD. The results provide a theoretical basis to explore the neurophysiological mechanism of ECT in the field of MDD treatment.

Literature is unanimous about the effects of functional diversity in new product development teams. This paper uses simulation modeling to investigate the contradictory and dynamic effects of functional team diversity on innovation revealed by empirical literature. This paper aims to start a discussion on this dynamic perspective of team diversity.

This paper presents a systemic approach toward investigating the contradictory and dynamic effects of functional team diversity on innovation by creating a simplified System Dynamics model of functional diversity in new product development teams.

Although the simulation model is highly simplified, it can integrate the contradictory results of empirical data and the dynamic component of teamwork. Therefore, it offers a new approach to investigating the effects of functional diversity on team innovation.

The model is highly simplified and exemplary. No actual data are included, thus limiting the results as fully theoretical.

Empirical studies often analyze the effects of functional diversity on innovation in new product development teams. However, empirical data are unclear regarding the nature of the effects of functional diversity on innovation. Therefore, functional diversity is chosen for the simulation model as being the most controversially discussed diversity attribute. By applying a simulation model to the problem and adding a dynamic component to teamwork, we are contributing to the explanation for the contradictory findings in literature.

The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively analyse the changes in the functional efficiency of the six Chinese agricultural futures markets and compare the relative behaviour of different futures markets. In addition, this paper analyses the causes of differences in the functional efficiency of agricultural futures markets and advances policy suggestions.

The method used in this paper is the social loss index proposed by Stein (1981, 1986). This method can quantitatively measure the functional efficiency of agricultural futures markets from the perspective of social welfare. The indicator is calculated for the 2009–2017 period and for several sub-periods. The data are from the CSMAR research data services in China.

Preliminary results suggest that the longer it takes for an agricultural futures contract to reach maturity, the lower the functional efficiency of its market. Second, the functional efficiency of the agricultural futures markets in China is improved except for that of the wheat futures market. Finally, the corn futures market is most efficient probably due to the progress of marketization, while the strong wheat futures market is most inefficient probably due to the decrease in futures market liquidity.

This paper uses a more reasonable method to study the functional efficiency of Chinese agricultural futures markets and then analyses the causes of differences in the functional efficiency of agricultural futures markets.

The purpose of this research is to report on research to date concerning the creation of a hybrid model for managing performance and decision making with elements of an IBM supply chain.

As part of a wider research programme this paper utilises survey, focus group and case analysis techniques to examine the supply chain interactions.

A cross‐functional process‐orientated team was assembled to look at the end‐to‐end process logic, skills alignment, effective codified knowledge systems, and the prioritisation of change to overcome inhibitors of change originating from functional/IT‐focused processes/solutions.

The results of this paper have, as yet, not been validated beyond the process performance targets set by IBM. Validation across and within industry boundaries, based on survey and case analysis, is about to commence.

Too often “management” play too active a role in the operational aspects of team‐based solution methodologies – and can potentially reinforce the functional inhibitors of change. This paper suggests that management sets the scene and prioritises process outcomes – allowing non‐managerial professionals the scope to reach optimal outcomes.

This research draws upon a number of inter‐disciplinary fields in an effort to better understand how knowledge is created, managed and exploited within complex solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the flexibility of business process models. The authors give the notions of flexible process distance, which corresponds to the number of change operations needed for transforming one process model into another, considering the different perspectives (functional, operational, behavioral, informational, and organizational).

The proposed approach is a quantitative-based approach to measure the flexibility of business process models. In this context, the authors presented a method to compute the distance between two process models. The authors measured the distance between a process model and a process variant in terms of the number of high-level change operations (e.g. to insert or delete actors) needed to transform the process model into the respective variant when a change occurred, considering the different perspectives and the flexible features.

To evaluate the flexibility-measurement approach, the authors performed a comprehensive simulation using an emergency care (EC) business process model and its variants. The authors used a real-world EC process and illustrated the possible changes faced in the emergency department (possible variants). Simulation results were promising because they fit the flexibility needs of the EC process users. This was validated using the authors’ previous work which consists in a guidance approach for business process flexibility.

The authors defined six different distances between business process models, which are summarized in the definition of total process distance. However, changes in one perspective may lead to changes in other perspectives. For instance, adding a new activity may lead to adding a new actor.

The results of this study would help companies to obtain important information about their processes and to compare the desired level of flexibility with their actual process flexibility.

This study is probably the first flexibility-measurement approach which incorporates features for capturing changes affecting the functional, operational, informational, organizational, and behavioral perspectives as well as elements related to approaches enhancing flexibility.

This paper aims to explore environmental accounting in terms of long‐term societal transition towards “sustainable development”.

Accordingly, the paper uses an abstracted and generic framework of antecedents to “deinstitutionalisation” (the erosion or discontinuity of institutionalized organisational activities or practices) to analyse a case study of how a UK local government council is responding to an environmental agenda in the context of an array of gradual political, functional and social pressures to change its activities.

The findings of the study indicate how, in different ways, environmental accounting is pressed into use to promote such change.

Contrary to other frameworks which emphasise how environmental accounting is potentially constructive/empowering or captured/colonized, drawing on this case study the paper argues that environmental accounting may in contrast be mobilised to contribute to a process of deinstitutionalisation, even when attempts to develop such accounting are not entirely successful.

As the number of organizations that have implemented enterprise resourceplanning (ERP) systems unsuccessfully increase, it is necessary to establish the impediments in ERP implementations and the extent to which these impact the success of ERP projects. This study aims to identify the critical impediments that large organizations face in the implementation of ERP systems, and the impact of these impediments on overall success of ERP projects by a survey of Fortune 500 organizations.

A survey was prepared based on 47 impediments identified from previous ERP implementation studies.

This study finds that most of critical impediments are from functional coordination problems related to inadequate support from functional units and coordination among functional units, the project management related to business process change, and change management related to resistance of users. In this study, impediments are categorized based on project phases, and differences in the impediments the organizations faced between less successful and more successful organizations are found.

This research provides significant implications for industry managers engaged in large‐scale enterprise system implementations. Our survey results suggest that understanding new requirements for ERP implementation such as functional coordination is more critical issues than understanding technical features of ERP system.