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This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational climate impacts the speed of strategic change (SSC) for firms in transitional economies and whether if the effects were contingent on internal control mechanisms.

A theoretical model including five constructs is developed. The questionnaire survey is deployed to scale main constructs, including organizational climate, such as open communication and hierarchical bureaucracy, internal controls such as strategic and financial control, and SSC. The moderation regression method in five steps is employed to test all hypotheses using the survey data from the 120 sampled Chinese firms.

The findings show that open communication has a positive effect on SCC, whereas hierarchical bureaucracy has a negative effect on SSC. Furthermore, strategic control positively moderates the relationship between open communication and SSC but negatively moderates the relationship between hierarchical bureaucracy and SSC; meanwhile, financial control negatively moderates the relationship between open communication and SSC but positively moderates the relationship between hierarchical bureaucracy and SSC.

This research integrates organizational climate and internal control mechanisms into the framework of strategic change to investigate how firms achieve fast strategic change through aligning organizational climate with proper organizational control mechanisms. The findings advance the authors’ understanding of the organizational climate, internal controls, and strategic change literature, and offer valuable managerial insights for managers in situations when strategic change is of central importance in the transitional economies.

This paper aims to study the issues of adaptive fuzzy control for a category of switched under-actuated systems with input nonlinearities and external disturbances.

A control scheme based on sliding mode surface with a hierarchical structure is introduced to enhance the responsiveness and robustness of the studied systems. An equivalent control and switching control rules are co-designed in a hierarchical sliding mode control (HSMC) framework to ensure that the system state reaches a given sliding surface and remains sliding on the surface, finally stabilizing at the equilibrium point. Besides, the input nonlinearities consist of non-symmetric saturation and dead-zone, which are estimated by an unknown bounded function and a known affine function.

Based on fuzzy logic systems and the hierarchical sliding mode control method, an adaptive fuzzy control method for uncertain switched under-actuated systems is put forward.

The “cause and effect” problems often existing in conventional backstepping designs can be prevented. Furthermore, the presented adaptive laws can eliminate the influence of external disturbances and approximation errors. Besides, in contrast to arbitrary switching strategies, the authors consider a switching rule with average dwell time, which resolves control problems that cannot be resolved with arbitrary switching signals and reduces conservatism.

Discusses the movement away from hierarchical organizational structures towards flatter, heterarchical, structures which is reflected in the growing interest in distributed manufacturing control systems. Traditional hierarchical control systems are limited by the breadth, quantity and timeliness of information needed for their operation. Distributed, heterarchical, control systems overcome these hierarchical limitations but, concurrently, forfeit advantages of the hierarchy including analytically optimal loading patterns and centralized pristine data tracking. Classifies existing research into four categories and documents a progression of heterarchical control approaches to inject some of the advantages of the traditional hierarchy into new heterarchical frameworks. Concludes that neither hierarchical nor heterarchical control structures are ideal in their pure form and, hence, proposes a modified structure, called the quasi‐heterarchical control system, which is a combination of, and a compromise between, pure hierarchy and pure heterarchy.

Examines the control mechanisms which superintendents used to shape and direct the work of suburban high school principals. Includes four hierarchical controls (supervision, input, behaviour and output) and two non‐hierarchical controls (section/socialization and environmental). Examines two additional areas, the social status of the school and the size of the district, for their effects on the application of the six control mechanisms. Finds the control mechanisms were used in all of the schools in varying degrees, but the extent of use across areas conveys how controls were “zoned” with tight controls (constraints) over some areas or loose controls (autonomy) over other areas. Concludes that district size does affect the variability of control and autonomy.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a kind of fuzzy adaptive control method to control non‐linear system that has the characteristic of small time delay and fast respond speed.

The paper analyzes the production process and the actual condition of the preheat process of the plating zinc and painting plastic scribbled of double layer welded pipe that has the small time delay and fast respond speed, and also gives the preheat process mathematical model. Fuzzy adaptive control method with hierarchical structure is used which aims at one non‐linear system that has the characteristic of small time delay and fast responds speed. Through the simulation, it proves the mentioned method is effective to control the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

Based on the mathematical model proposed about the production process and the actual condition of the preheat process, the fuzzy adaptive control method is effective to control the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

The paper proposes fuzzy adaptive control method with hierarchical structure which has the basic fuzzy control grade, adaptive adjust grade, and process state judgment grade.

A very useful method in welding process for double layers welded pipe.

The new mathematical model is proposed about the production process, and the new control method is used in the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

The data structuring mechanisms provided by the current problem solving environment have been found to satisfy modeling the problem solutions for common decision making processes of a static nature, whereas problems of a complex nature (e.g. resource management and optimization) need an abstract data structuring mechanism capable of emulating real‐life objects (e.g. human managers). This paper explains the concept of developing a new data structure based on a semantic network called SYSTEM MAP and shows how this novel data structure can be used to model expert resource management systems of a particularly hierarchical type.

This paper seeks to analyse accountability relationships developed since the introduction of reforms requiring nonprofit primary health organisations (PHOs) to discharge holistic accountability.

Case study data were obtained principally through semi‐structured interviews with PHOs and their key stakeholders, observation of formal and informal meetings, and primary and secondary documents.

While government strategy requires these PHOs to discharge holistic accountability, prior hierarchical‐based practices linger. A major impediment to securing holistic accountability is the failure of the new strategy to define clearly how the funder and provider should share accountability for improving their community's health. The implementation of holistic accountability was retarded when funders' propensity to control outcomes coincided with providers' lack of enthusiasm for embracing a greater range of stakeholders. The history and structure of individual PHOs was a key indicator of whether they discharged hierarchical or holistic accountability.

This case study research is context‐specific and may have limited applicability to other PHOs or jurisdictions. However, the study shows that when funders and providers build trust rather than depending on control, holistic accountability relationships can be developed.

Despite government intention that primary health care relationships will lead to holistic accountability, this will not occur until funders clearly define responsibilities and trust their service providers.

There is a paucity of research into government‐sponsored holistic accountability relationships with local nonprofit service providers. This research provides a unique contextual analysis of the perspectives of funders, providers and a wide group of stakeholders and the operationalisation of two different styles of accountability.

Traditional “hierarchical” and “network-centric management” approaches often associated with the management of well-defined construction projects lack the adaptability to cope with uncertainty, standardised practices and the required conformance to industry standards. The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrative “holonic” methodology for the management of megaprojects in the construction industry, which incorporates both adaptability and conformance to standards, and to illustrate the associated benefits of such a methodology.

A multi-case study comprising three cases delivered in the USA and Australia, namely the Adelaide Desalination Plant (ADP), the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and the Olmsted Locks and Dam Replacement project were utilized to demonstrate the key features of the hierarchical, network-centric and holonic approaches to managing megaprojects.

The case studies demonstrate incorporating the holonic approach into the management of complex construction projects results in increased management effectiveness and project success. The proposed “holonic” methodology provides the potential to efficiently manage megaprojects navigating through high degrees of uncertainty.

The adoption of the holonic view by project management (PM) practitioners will help them manage megaprojects that are characterised by greater complexity. Second, the proposed methodology enables the discipline of PM to evolve in alignment with rapidly unfolding global transformation trends.

This paper demonstrates the application of the “holonic” methodology to the domain of the management of construction megaprojects. Such an approach is needed as construction projects become increasingly more complex across the world due to technological, political and social uncertainties, larger scale, changing environmental and safety regulations, and the growing involvement of human factors germane to this research.