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The paper aims to investigate the role of specialization and agglomeration forces on industry performance in an emerging market, namely, Thailand. In particular, the impact of clusters and the influence of complexity will be tackled.

The methodology used is based on the work of Delgado et al. (2014). Industries and clusters are assigned to a certain category according to their respective level of specialization and complexity. Performance measures are then computed for each category.

It was found that the agglomeration of similar industries and co-located and related industries increase the performance of firms in terms of gross output per employee and remuneration per employee. Moreover, the increase of performance induced by the complexity level of an industry was closely related to the level of specialization.

Building on a cluster mapping, this study brings new insight on the effect of specialization and agglomeration on performance in emerging markets. In fact, the paper show how performance can be enhanced in less sophisticated and developed economies.

Complex technology not only provides potential economic benefits but also increases the difficulty of application. Whether and how upstream technological complexity affects downstream manufacturers' innovation through vertical separation structure is worth discussing, but it has not been effectively discussed.

Through theoretical analysis and empirical testing, this article discusses the cost effect and market competition effect caused by upstream technological complexity on downstream manufacturers and further elucidates the impact of upstream technological complexity on downstream manufacturers' innovation.

Research has found that the impact of upstream technological complexity on the downstream manufacturers' innovation depends on the cost effect and market competition effect. The cost effect caused by the complexity of upstream technology inhibits the innovation of downstream manufacturers. In contrast, the market competition effect promotes the innovation of downstream manufacturers. There are differences in the cost effect and market competition effect of upstream technological complexity on different types of downstream manufacturers, so there is also significant heterogeneity in the impact of upstream technological complexity on innovation of different types of downstream manufacturers.

The conclusions of this article improve the understanding of the relationship between upstream technological complexity and downstream innovation and provide helpful implications for industrial chain innovation.

Easily employable quantitative supply chain complexity (SCC) measures considering the significant dimensions of complexity as well as the drivers that represent those dimensions are limited in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and a graph-theoretic approach to quantify SCC by a single numerical index considering the interdependence and the inheritance of the SCC drivers.

In total, 18 SCC drivers identified from the literature are clustered according to the significant dimensions of complexity. The interdependencies established through ISM and inheritance values of SCC drivers are mapped into a Variable Permanent Matrix (VPM). The permanent function of this VPM is then computed and the resulting single numerical index is the measure of SCC.

A scale is proposed by computing the minimum and maximum threshold values of SCC with the help of expert opinions of the Indian automotive industry. The complexity of commercial and passenger vehicle sectors within the automotive industry is measured and compared using the proposed scale. From the results, it is identified that the number of suppliers, increase in spare-parts due to shortened product life-cycle and demand uncertainties increase the SCC of the passenger vehicle sector, while number of parts, products and processes, variety of products and process and unreliability of suppliers increase the complexity of the commercial vehicle sector. The result indicates that various SCC drivers have a different impact on determining the SCC level of these two sectors.

The authors propose an integrated method that can be readily applied to measure and quantify SCC considering the significant dimensions of complexity as well as the interdependence and the inheritance of the SCC drivers that contribute to those dimensions. This index further helps to compare the complexity of the supply chain which varies between industries.

This study aims to examine whether the industry characteristics of homogeneity, product competition, high auditor competition and accounting standards complexity are associated with auditor changes.

Logistic regressions test for significance of the industry characteristics on resignations, dismissals and directional changes to and from Big 4 and nonBig 4 auditors after controlling for client, auditor and engagement factors.

The authors report a lower likelihood of auditor resignations with greater accounting standards complexity. The authors also report a greater likelihood of auditor dismissals with greater industry homogeneity, greater product competition and greater auditor competition. Results also show that accounting standards complexity is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig auditors, and industry homogeneity is associated with a greater likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig. Also, greater auditor competition is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from nonBig to Big auditors.

Prior research has established the importance of industry characteristics to the market for audit services (Cairney and Stewart, 2015; Wang and Chui, 2015; Cahan et al., 2011; Bills et al., 2015). The authors report that industry characteristics also impact auditor changes. Second, previous research has used various methods that indicate general industry effects on changes. The paper contributes to this research by specifying industry characteristics. Limitations include the reliance on the self-reporting in 8-Ks to identify auditors resigning and firms dismissing auditors. Also, the paper relies on proxies for industry characteristics that were developed in prior research.

Regulators have expressed concern over the relatively low rates of auditor changes and the problem of lack of auditor choice. By demonstrating a significant effect of industry characteristics on changes, the authors indicate some levers that may be available to influence rates of auditor changes, especially realignments to nonBig.

This is one of the first studies to examine how specific industry characteristics impact auditor changes. The study may be of interest to academics who are interested in how industry factors influence auditor changes. It may also interest policymakers who could lever the characteristics of industries to address concerns about the low rates of auditor changes.

This paper aims to present and discuss factors that affect the current complexity of new product development processes in the appliance sector, exploring their influence on the repositioning of senior Research & Development (R&D) executives in terms of both knowledge and leadership management.

The paper is built on an illustrative real case which is analyzed based on the conceptual foundations of the role of senior R&D executives, vis-a-vis industry specialists’ reflections on new requirements for such managers due to the current complexity of new product development processes.

The paper proposes an integrative framework that links emerging trends in product development complexity with a new enhanced approach required for senior R&D management. In addition, this paper raises new skills to equip the current and future generations of R&D managers, taking into account the need to reposition the knowledge management skills of senior R&D executives.

This paper sheds light on the skills desirable for senior R&D executives to be prepared for the new complexity involved in new product development processes, such as soft skills related to people management practices; technical skills related to portfolio management, project management and systems engineering; and conceptual skills related to the own, teach, learn and delegate strategy.

This paper blends academic and practical experience to shed light on emerging issues within R&D organizations and to point out the value of real impact research to open new research avenues.

For many wineries, internationalisation strategies, particularly in the form of exports may provide opportunities and financial gains. However, as more wine producers enter and compete in an increasingly convoluted wine market, accordingly the “playing field” in the wine industry becomes increasingly complex. To shed more light into wineries’ internationalisation efforts through exports in the currently uncertain business climate, this preliminary study investigates a group of predominantly micro, small, and medium wineries from both New and Old Worlds of wine. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An online questionnaire was designed to gather data from winery owners and managers that invited to participate voluntarily in the study; a total of 499 usable responses were obtained.

Diversifying and entering new markets, especially due to domestic competition are respondents’ main reasons for embarking in exports, while unfavourable currency exchange, issues of trust, or entry barriers are key challenges many of them face. Further, despite the relatively limited wine production of most participating wineries, respondents perceive a necessity to be present internationally. Indeed, rather than fitting into a specific business model/cycle, the current complex business environment is triggering export strategies among entrepreneurs.

The fiercely competitive wine market and continuously changing consumer trends significantly contribute to the complexities the wine industry faces. However, few academic studies have investigated some of the complexities that wineries located in different geographic, economic, political, and social environments face. In this regard, the study makes a contribution by identifying several developments related to complexity theory, including the impacts of globalisation, competition, and change, and the resulting complexity in the wine sector.

Oil is the natural resource recognized as the most important source of revenue in oil-dependent countries and is most often referred to as being susceptible to corruption owing to its strategic importance. A major challenge in addressing and encountering the problems in complex social systems, such as corruption, is how to structure the problematic situation and how to capture mental models of the stakeholders involved in the situation, and also how to identify the system’s behavior in response to various policy intervention attempts in the long run. This study aims to shed new lights on modeling and simulating corrupt system of the oil industry, as a complex social system needed to be structured according to social system theories’ principles.

Parson’s theory is applied as a basic framework to capture the complexities of a corrupt system, dividing the system into political and structural, economic, legal and judicial and cultural and social sub-systems. Then soft system dynamics methodology, which is a combination of the two well-known methodologies, soft system methodology and system dynamics, is applied to model and simulate the complexities involved in the oil industry of Iran, which owns the second-largest oil reservoir in the world and its economy is much dependent on the oil revenue, struggles with corruption, and plans for a large amount of anti-corruption activities.

After simulating and calibrating the model, three groups of policies, namely, “reducing corruption opportunities,” “reducing corruption demand,” and “increasing anti-corruption capacity” are implemented in the model. As to the simulation results, due to the mutual inter-causality of opportunity and demand for corruption, individual application of each group of policies will not be helpful for long, rather a combination of policies will conduce to substantial improvements in declining corruption in the oil industry.

The developed model addresses the dynamics of the complex socio-economic system of corruption in the system of oil industry via modeling and simulation. The developed four-dimension system dynamics framework could be considered as a guidance for corruption modeling in general and as a basic model for corruption modeling of oil-dependent countries’ systems in particular.

Service quality is a critical factor leading to firm returns. However, its benefit on the firm risk side metric is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to link firm service quality and firm cash flow volatility (CFV) and further investigates this relationship by incorporating the moderating effects from three environmental variables: munificence, dynamism, and complexity.

This study is based on a secondary data approach. The data are collected from multiple sources such as AMAC and COMPUSTAT. Robust regressions with a panel data approach are adopted to analyze the data.

Corporate service quality level has a strong effect in reducing firm CFV. Its impact is found to have a varied strength when the relationship is moderated by the environmental factors. In particular, it functions more strongly in high dynamism and high complexity environments.

Service quality has effects beyond the previous thinking that is mainly concentrated on firm profits. Managers now should know that it is also effective in smoothing cash flow and thus yields benefits for future corporate planning. This is particularly meaningful for companies that operate in a turbulent industry as well as in a highly competitive market.

This study is the first attempt that links firm service quality and firm risk factor represented by the volatility of income flow. It extends the role of service quality to an area that is increasingly emphasized by marketing researchers, e.g. the risk aspect of firm market-based assets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges faced by senior construction managers in managing cross‐cultural complexity and uncertainty. The rationale was to identify the key strategies that are considered essential for managing cross‐cultural complexity and uncertainty.

Interviews with 20 senior construction managers, ten in Kenya and ten in the UK, were recorded, transcribed and entered into the qualitative research software NVivo. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the cultural issues raised by participants. The findings were presented to the participants through workshops and group discussions.

The emerging key issues suggested that project leaders need to learn how to control their own characteristics and to use them selectively. An effective multicultural construction project team should focus on team output and attributes that characterise a multicultural team as a social entity.

Findings indicate that the role of construction project managers has significantly changed over the past two decades. In order to deal with cross‐cultural uncertainty, project leaders must have superior multicultural and interpersonal skills when managing global multicultural heavy engineering projects.

The research shows that leaders of global construction project teams need a good understanding of their culture, environment and the value of their individual contributions.

Few studies have explored how multinational firms (MNCs) use their experience when expanding abroad. According to the “knowledge projection” model of the MNC, appropriately disseminating industry experience, country experience and mode experience can a priori increase the chances of success of new subsidiaries. However, with inconsistent findings, prior research is of limited assistance in understanding this relationship. We argue that this situation can be explained by a focus on firm’s potential for experience accumulation, rather than on the actual transfer of experience. Deploying expatriate managers enable MNCs to apply organizational experience in foreign markets. It should also have an impact on foreign subsidiary’s chances of success and survival. Therefore, this paper examines how the use of expatriates to transfer experience can affect subsidiary survival.