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Notes how rapid urbanization is transforming the developing world – creating cities, which on the one hand offer opportunities for global economic activity, but on the other hand are beset with serious local civic, economic and social problems. New networks based on information and communication technologies are increasingly being woven into the fabric of these cities supporting the connectedness of powerful groups both within the city and between cities around the world. These flows of global information and communication between powerful groups in the city involved in global economic activity coexist with intense face‐to‐face interactions at the local level. Bangalore in South India presents a major case study of this global/local interaction, being a focal point for software development in the Asian region and globally, but also beset with local problems of civic deficiencies, growing poverty and income inequality. Explores some of the issues which arise as Bangalore serves as a nexus that links global and local networks of exchange. Examines two Bangalore networks which typify global and local duality: the network of software firms located in high technology enclaves in and around the city, and the ostracised network of the slum dwellers of Bangalore, gradually being brought into mainstream discussions of governance in the city. Finds considerable similarities between global networks and local networks and outlines some of these dynamics.

This paper aims to investigate the difficulties encountered when integrating e‐Government systems across jurisdictions. The study focusses on the entanglement of social and technical interests involved in e‐Government integration projects and in particular on managing the tensions which arise between global and local network actors.

A case study of Australia's first attempt to make the nation's cultural collections accessible from a single online resource is conducted based on extensive archival data. This historical analysis applies concepts associated with Actor‐Network Theory as a theoretical lens to investigate relationships between various actors and to trace the trajectory of the project.

The analysis reveals that although the project originated from large institutions, buy‐in was restricted to individuals and the most significant value was for smaller organisations. Furthermore, although the global networks that governed the project could translate their visions through the local production networks, because the network's underlying weaknesses were never addressed, over time this destabilised the global vision. Finally, this case study demonstrates the true value in data consolidation projects can often be in delivering functions that were not originally imagined by the system designers.

Given the case study method, the findings of this study are likely to be idiosyncratic and not all integration projects will follow a similar trajectory. However, it is also unlikely that any national data integration initiative will follow a truly linear trajectory. Future research should focus on approaches to managing the negotiations between global and local actors.

This case study offers advice for projects attempting to consolidate data sources from disparate sources, highlighting the importance of key individual actors; identifying suitable technology artefacts; and aligning the needs of the local networks with the global vision.

The study highlights the need to align local and global interests in e‐Government integration projects and provides advice for projects attempting to consolidate data sources from disparate sources.

Using Triad-based multinational enterprises as their empirical setting, influential scholars in international management uncovered key organizational characteristics needed to create globally integrated and locally responsive multinationals. They proposed a “modern” theory of multinationals' organization (Hedlund, 1994). But recently, a new generation of multinationals from emerging markets has appeared. Little is known about their organizational choices and some scholars even doubt that they leverage organizational capabilities altogether. Does the “modern” theory still hold in their case? This exploratory study of three emerging-market multinationals (EMNEs) discloses that for reasons related to their origin in emerging economies and to the competitive specificities of these economies, EMNEs approach the global and local conundrum in ways which are both similar – and vastly different – from recommendations of the “modern” theory. We inductively develop a new theory that accounts for the evolution of organizational capabilities in EMNEs to reconcile global integration and local responsiveness. We discuss its implications for the executives of both emerging and Triad-based multinationals.

The leading frameworks of internationalization have contributed significantly to our knowledge of how firms internationalize, but do not fully explain how firms actually create and capture value from customers when internationalizing their activities. Understanding the value creation and capture activities defining their business model(s) is critical for firms moving into less familiar markets, and is particularly relevant for service firms where variability is an inherent feature of the firm/client experience. To address this gap, we take a business model perspective to analyze 144 internationalization events of 10 professional service firms. We find that the case firms adopted four different business models when internationalizing, and that single firms may utilize portfolios of business models. Our findings contribute to both the services internationalization and business model literatures by showing how variability in the internationalization process substantiates the need for business model portfolios.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a theoretical framework examining how local network ties and global network ties affect firms’ innovation performance via their absorptive capacities.

The conceptual framework is empirically tested in a field study with multi-source data collected from a sample of 297 manufacturing firms located in four. Manufacturing clusters in the south-eastern Yangtze River Delta of China. Hypotheses were tested with the use of path analysis with maximum likelihood robust estimates through the structural equation modelling approach.

The asymmetry between local network ties (LNT) and global network ties (GNT) in terms of influences on firms’ innovation performance is confirmed by empirical tests. LNT not only significantly and positively contribute to firms’ innovation performance directly but also enhance it indirectly via absorptive capability, whereas GNT exhibit only marginal influence on innovation performance. GNT are shown to boost innovation performance (IP) only indirectly via firms’ absorptive capacities. Knowledge heterogeneity and the difference between domestic and multinational firms’ institutional environment are considered to be the main causes of the asymmetric effects.

While the previous literature either focused on the mediating role of firms’ knowledge absorptive capacities or investigated the effects of social networks separately, this study incorporates both mechanisms into a single analytical framework to better account for the interactions between network effects and absorptive capacities. The results challenge some previous studies positing that GNT are stronger determinants than LNT in shaping a local firm’s innovation capacity in emerging economies, and the findings emphasize the importance of absorptive capacity in helping local enterprises to leverage external linkages to enhance firm’s innovation performance.

The successful identification and management of environmental risks remains one of the most important challenges facing mankind. The global nature of environmental risks makes the assumption and practice of environmental responsibility difficult. This paper aims to examine the nature of this difficulty, arguing that although environmental responsibility remains global, it is situated and practiced at the local level.

Using a case study methodology, the paper examines three family dairy farms in Belsize, New South Wales, Australia. Repeated interviews with adult members of the farming families explored their perspectives of the past, present and future of the farm, eliciting rich narratives about relationships between farm, environment, community and individual, and the role that responsibility plays in negotiating these relationships.

Environmental responsibility is established as multi‐faceted, and negotiated between social actors as one of myriad other, competing responsibilities. Responsibility is positioned as a critical factor in the generation and maintenance of social relationships, but one which is often mobilized as a mechanism of governance. The paper argues that this can result in tension for some social actors.

This paper positions responsibility generally, and environmental responsibility in particular, as situated on the junction between local and global networks. This occurs as a result of the intrusion of the global into the local, and the corresponding need for individuals to act on the global stage through the medium of their local contexts. In managing the changes in behavior and identity necessary to do this successfully, responsibility is identified as one means of establishing social identity and group members, and a way of defining specific social roles.

Seeks to explore the notion of fashion networks, both local and global, as a means by which “products” – economic and intangible – can be exchanged and to present research findings of a network study undertaken in the Nottingham knitting industry.

Presents a study of knitting companies in the Nottingham area of the UK using social network methods to identify the structure and role of the local and global networks in which these businesses sit and shows, by describing the networks of two contrasting companies, the advantages and challenges they afford to the learning of individual businesses and other participants in the local network.

The density of the local network is presented and the role of universities and regional development agencies is shown to be important. The profiles of two‐example companies shows one type which is well connected within the local network and another type which has good global links but is not well connected locally. The implications of these two kinds of profile are discussed.

Indicates the importance of developing balanced networks, which allow the dissemination of ideas, information and norms and provide opportunities for exchange.

Challenges current ideas about fashion supply chains by exploring markets as complex networks of relationships which reflects the blurring of boundaries between firms and changing perceptions of “customers” and currencies of exchange. This paper revisits notions of markets in the context of the needs of small and medium‐sized fashion businesses and in particular focuses on their learning and development.

This chapter explores the reconstruction of the illy’s coffee supply chain in Brazil. The original supply chain was disrupted by fluctuating prices and inefficiencies and renovated based on network relationships between the focal company and the coffee growers. It describes the peculiar experience of illycaffe (an international coffee roaster based in Italy) in building social capital into its supply chain and resulting in a more sustainable network.

The chapter summarizes the development of different types of social capital and applies the concepts to understand illy’s journey towards quality and supply chain sustainability. The research design is consistent with theory elaboration from a single case study.

The chapter applies social capital theory to food commodity supply chains. The evolution to a more reliable and sustainable supply chain for illy’s Arabica coffee in Brazil suggests that supply chain relationships are a crucial asset for the focal firm, the local communities, and society at large. Results also show that developing such relationships might lead to better product quality, supply chain sustainability, and improved supply base capabilities.

The findings of this chapter contribute to the definition of a relational governance model for global food commodity supply chains. From a research standpoint, the empirical setting allows analyses of antecedents and consequences of different social capital components in the food supply chain. In addition, the case may help executives understand how to leverage supply chain relationships and identify a path to product quality and supply chain sustainability.

Within New Zealand, cultural festivals play a vital role in the local representation of diasporic cultures. By analysing the production design of festivals, in Auckland, New Zealand representing Indian culture between 1995 and 2015, the purpose of this paper is to create a deeper understanding of collaborative networks and power relationships. Using Richard’s pulsar/iterative network theory and Booth’s notion of cultural production networks, a new theoretical model is proposed to visually track the collaborative networks that sustain and bridge cultures, empower communities and fulfil political agendas.

This ethnographic research draws upon event management studies, industry practice, ethnomusicology and sociology to take a multi-disciplinary approach to an applied research project. Using Richards’ pulsar and iterative event framework Castells’ network theory, combined with qualitative data, this research considers critical collaborative relationships clusters and how they might impact on the temporal nature of festivals.

The 1997 Festival of Asia and the subsequent Lantern Festival in 2000 and Diwali: Festival of Lights in 2002 were pulsar events that played a significant role in collaborative networks that expand across cultures, countries and traditions. The subsequent iterative events have played a vital role in the representation of Asian cultural identity in general and, more specifically, representing of the city’s growing – in both size and cultural diversity – Indian diaspora.

This research proposes a new conceptual model on festival management and diasporic communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Richards’ and Booth’s conceptual models are used, as a starting point, to offer a new way of considering the importance of looking at collaborative relationships through historical perspectives. The framework explored contributes a new approach to cultural festival network theory and a means to understand the complexity of networks required that engage actors from inside and outside both local and global communities.