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The purpose of this paper is to examine the transfer of Shenzhen's hi‐tech industries, with particular emphasis on its motives, characteristics and influence on Shenzhen's economy and industrial upgrading.

The paper uses an empirical approach and case study methodology mainly based on a survey of 1,573 hi‐tech companies in Shenzhen, in the form of questionnaires and interview.

Hi‐tech companies moved out to other cities on a small scale, revealing an accelerating trend. Most companies moved out (or plan to move out) with the purpose of seeking low production costs or meeting the needs of resources for development. Moreover, companies with different types of ownership transfer at different levels. In general, reasonable transfer of hi‐tech industries facilitates Shenzhen's industrial upgrading; however, the government should at the same time take precautions against industry transfer on a large‐scale.

Upgrading of Shenzhen's hi‐tech industry is imperative. To meet this end, policy makers should draw up appropriate guidelines on the transfer of backward hi‐tech industries and at the same time build sound supporting environment to attract and retain advanced hi‐tech companies.

Few empirical studies have been conducted to explore industry transfer within China. By examining the motive and characteristics of transfer of hi‐tech industries in Shenzhen, a pioneering city in China, this paper contributes to our understanding of the ongoing industrial restructuring in China.

Purpose – Structural embeddedness of social networks within and beyond work organizations has shown its association with the innovation at work for employees from literature. Structural embeddedness includes three dimensions: the diversity, density, and trust of accessed networks. This chapter attempts to compare how structural embeddedness mechanizes on innovation at work differently for employees in hi-tech and non-hi-tech sectors.Methodology/approach – We analyzed 1,817 cases of currently employed respondents from the 2005 Taiwan national survey on social capital. All the indicators on structural embeddedness are operationalized from position-generated networks, and we performed regression models for total, hi-tech, and non-hi-tech samples.Findings – Except the universal effects of diversity on innovation at work for employees in both hi-tech and non-hi-tech sectors, density and trust of accessed networks significantly affect innovation at work only for employees in non-hi-tech sectors. There is a slight interaction effect between trust and density on innovation at workplaces. Those individuals with high-degree trust in accessed networks tend to have a lower degree of innovation while their network density is high. It implies that complementary networks seem to be more useful for applying new ideas at the workplace for non-hi-tech workers.Originality/value of chapter – This chapter contributes to the literature by presenting the importance of structural embeddedness of accessed social networks for innovation at work.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy, in terms of employment and their contribution to national wealth. A significant proportion of that contribution comes from innovation. SMEs are also the engine for future growth in the economy. Project management has a role to play in managing that innovation and growth. The purpose of this paper is to find the extent to which SMEs use projects, project management and the tools of project management, and to determine what differences there are by size of company and industry.

A questionnaire was developed to examine the extent to which small firms carry out projects, the resources they employ, the way they measure project success and the tools and techniques that they use. The questionnaire was answered by 280 companies from a range of industries and sizes.

It is found that companies of all sizes spend roughly the same proportion of turnover on projects, but the smaller the company, the smaller their projects, the less they use project management and its tools. Surprisingly, hi‐tech companies spend less on projects than lo‐tech or service companies, but have larger projects and use project management to a greater extent. They also use the gadgets of project management to a greater extent.

It is concluded that SMEs do require less‐bureaucratic versions of project management, perhaps with different tool sets than the more traditional versions designed for medium‐sized or large projects, and with different versions for medium, small and micro projects. For all firms, the important success factors are client consultation; planning, monitoring and control; and resource allocation are also identified.

The findings suggest the need for further research into the nature of those “lite” versions of project management designed for SMEs.

During the 1990s, the Israeli economy experienced two major events. First, starting in the fall of 1989, a large wave of relatively highly skilled immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union (CIS) increasing the population and the labor force by considerable magnitude. Second, the hi-tech sector has grown substantially and reached a peak in growth and level in 2000.

This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the integration of immigrants from the CIS in the Israeli labor market and, specifically, in the hi-tech sector. Based on a unique panel data that follows immigrants for up to 12 years in Israel we find a significant positive correlation between immigrants’ participation in Israeli government-provided training programs and the propensity to work as professionals in the hi-tech industry and to work in white-collar occupations in other sectors. However, this correlation diminishes with ‘time since participation’ such that recent participants face a higher probability to work in hi-tech and white-collar jobs than those who participated in training earlier.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether all of the risk factors were priced during the internet bubble period.

A unique hand collected dataset was used from public prospectuses for companies that issued an initial public offering during the internet bubble period. Three hypotheses were proposed: the risk factors mentioned in the prospectus are important for IPO trading and therefore affect IPO underpricing; risk factors affect the IPO deal attributes; and the number of risk factors cited by the issuing firm is affected by direct participants such as venture capitalists and investment bankers.

It was found that hi‐tech dummy played a significant role during the bubble period. Moreover, not all risk factors are regarded important, some of them are not significant at all as predicted by first hypothesis. The most striking observation is the negative economic significance of the risk factor no prior market for the traded stock. This reveals that, traders are selective in valuing risks and may value some factors as opportunities and not as risk factors. In addition, the results reveal that risk factors do affect the deal attributes as predicted by our second hypothesis. Also, the pricing of these risk factors are not different between retail and hi‐tech companies. Regarding the participants, it was found that venture capitalists and investment bankers have a significant statistical and economic effect on the number of risk factors reported in the prospectus.

The paper contributes to the literature by investigating the IPO underpricing phenomenon in the internet bubble period.

Emerging economy firms seek strategic assets through cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) to upgrade their capabilities. The paper explores the relation between emerging economy firms' investments in CBAs and subsequent investments in domestic R&D. It investigates the underlying mechanism that links a firm's decision to pursue CBAs and the outcomes from the CBAs. The main idea behind the study is that firms have higher possibility of creating value from cross-border acquisitions when they simultaneously invest in domestic R&D though both investments are constrained by financial and managerial resources.

The hypotheses are tested on a panel data set of 296 Indian firms over a period of 13 years (2003–2015). The authors use a two-stage Heckman procedure for testing their hypotheses. In the first stage, a probit model predicts the probability of a firm being a cross-border acquirer. The second stage model is estimated by a pooled-data GLS (generalized least squares) regression technique.

The authors find a nonlinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between firm's investments in CBAs and domestic R&D. This suggests a complementary relation between investments in CBAs and a firm's domestic R&D at lower levels of investments in CBAs. At higher levels of investments in CBAs, CBA investments begin to substitute for firm's domestic R&D investments. For firms with higher international product-market experience and those operating in the hi-tech industry, the relationship between investments in CBAs and domestic R&D is complementary even at higher levels of CBA investments.

The study highlights the role of an emerging market firm's investment in domestic R&D as a link between the decision to invest in CBAs and related outcomes thereof. Emerging market firms face resource constraints while pursuing simultaneous investments in CBAs and R&D, but investment in R&D is essential for realizing the acquisition objectives. The authors also establish the significance of industry context and experiential learning in deciding the allocation of resources between CBAs and internal R&D.

To evaluate the current state of manufacturing in some selected plants in electronics, telecommunication/wireless, and computer industries in the Republic of China.

A spreadsheet‐based assessment tool is used to evaluate nine key areas of manufacturing. Participants are asked to answer questions for each area, namely inventory; team approach; processes; maintenance; layout/handling; suppliers; setups; quality; and scheduling/control. A score is given for each response in the assessment. Scores are then totaled for each of the nine areas. The results are then displayed in the score worksheet and finally a lean profile chart is created to display the current status of the plant and the gap from their specific lean targets.

Results of the lean assessment tool have revealed a somewhat significant gap from the lean manufacturing target, but have also identified opportunities for improvement.

The research findings are from some selected manufacturing plants in Chinese hi‐tech industries and they should not be interpreted as an indicator of that particular sector in China.

A very useful lean assessment tool that is easy to use by plants' management to help them identify their current state of manufacturing and the gaps from ideal lean targets.

This paper offers a practical and easy to use assessment tool to help manufacturing managers to make their manufacturing operations more productive.

Reverse logistics has been seen as a necessary cost of business, but more companies are seeing it as a core strategic activity. Every firm needs to find more efficicient ways of reclaiming, redistributing, and disposing returns. For a fast growing industry, however, it is difficult to focus on structuring internal processes for reverse logistics because its emphasis is always on time to market and growing sales. In order to capture the most updated trend in the field of reverse logistics, this paper describes best practices of reverse logistics in hi-tech industry and identifies barriers in implementing those practices. The focus areas of the benchmarking survey are outsourcing of the logistics function, organization of the logistics function, return management, and sustainability-green issue. Based on the survey results, we provide an insight for capturing these trends and leveraging them as a strategic core competency for this industry.

Technological advancements have benefited businesses all over the world in how they set up production lines, create new products/services and trade goods. Multinational corporations can communicate instantly with their distant operations by utilizing information technology tools and communication networks. Businesses have taken a significant shift and new factors have emerged which affect company's competitiveness. In case of resorting to an outsourcing option, a comprehensive approach for valuing the essential criteria is often missing. While specifically focusing on the decisions that have a huge impact on company's performance, it is crucial to pay close attention to the ways of selecting suppliers. The purpose of research is to choose the optimal manufacturing alternative from a set of possibilities.

The current research utilizes the Delphi technique for collection of vital criteria such as “quality”, “cost”, “delivery”, “warranties and claims”, “supplier profile”, “relationship and communication” and their respective sub-criteria. The purpose of research is to choose the optimal manufacturing alternative from a set of possibilities. In this regard, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique is employed.

The current research enlightens that outsourcing can yield promising beneficial results. The results highlighted that in Hi-tech public sector organizations, international alternative is found best in almost all criteria especially in vital criteria such as “Quality”, “Cost”, “Delivery”, “Supplier Profile,” etc. Similarly, in case the outsourcing is done to a Domestic alternative, still the Domestic alternative is found effective in comparison to in-house manufacturing setups. The research showed unexpected results. Because previously it was assumed that in-house manufacturing would be more beneficial. However, the current findings support the “NASA” strategy which moved toward outsourcing to private sector.

Limitations of the proposed methodology also produce opportunities for further exploration of the topic. One key limitation of the research described in this study is that the parameters and their sub-parameters interdependency were not taken under consideration. This means that quality and cost are not dependent upon each other. However, in reality quality and cost are interlinked. This means if quality is increased, cost is also increased. Similarly, for products having zero percent of re-claim, the product would have to be manufactured with high quality.

The study is advantageous for both suppliers and purchasers, in any type of businesses where decision-making problem are under consideration. This model aids suppliers in revealing, how they can expand their profile, by focusing on the current research's selection criteria. In this way alternatives profile can now be perfected. Moreover, buyers can now rank suppliers on their quality management, financial status and other essential factors in order to conduct purchasing decisions. For the decision maker, the results illustrate which critical factors to evaluate when screening suppliers by applying current model techniques.

It is obvious that nearly almost every industry is forced to look for alternatives for all of its operations if outsourcing is an option. The study's findings have major benefits for all industries with an important role in manufacturing and supply chain operations. These objectives will serve the industries well and they will be able to prioritize their alternative selection criteria based on their operations. The findings of this study can assist any organization in their selection of vendors by providing a more detailed explanation of the impact that various criteria have on the decision-making process.

To the best of authors' knowledge, no previous study has used two approaches (AHP and Delphi study) to propose a model for making manufacturing decisions with domestic, in house and international alternatives in Hi-tech public sector organizations. The model not only benefits the manufacturers for choosing suitable suppliers but also aids suppliers to build their profile in an improved fashion by focusing on the vital attributes. This research benefits managers to improve their ability to make effective purchasing decisions, and also opens new avenues for researchers to further explore such findings in other areas as well.