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This paper aims to analyse the idea that experience acts as an antecedent in divestiture and triggers an organisational learning process that enables the divesting firm to convert experience into knowledge, increasing the probability that a firm will undertake subsequent divestitures.

The approach is quantitative. The research project used a case–control design, with a sample consisting of 274 divesting and non-divesting firms. Given the dichotomous nature of the dependent variable, the relations of the research model are tested using logistic regression.

The likelihood of a divestiture increases when firms have already had past experience of divestitures. Firm performance and firm size act as moderating variables, that is, the learning effects are weaker in firms with better past performance and also in larger firms.

The study contributes to the literature on organisational learning and divestiture. In particular, the knowledge obtained from previous divestitures is positively related to subsequent ones. The results on firm size and performance as contingency factors make it possible to distinguish between the different learning mechanisms in proactive and reactive divestitures, as well as in larger and smaller firms. Accordingly, a two-level framework of experience and knowledge is proposed.

The results are of interest for practitioners who need a better understanding of the antecedents of their strategic actions in terms of past experience and knowledge. The study also offers insights into the knowledge management practices that fit into the proposed two-level framework of knowledge accumulation.

The originality of the study consists in the strong evidence of learning effects in divestitures that it finds. This study augments a promising line of research on the effect of experience in rare strategic decisions, enriching our understanding of the learning mechanisms associated with complex experiences.

Transport shapes the health of urban populations. It can support healthy behaviours such as participation in regular physical activity and access to community connection. Transport systems can also have major negative impacts on health. For example, through air pollution from fossil fuel-based modes of travel, the risk of injury and death from transport related collisions, and in the way sedentary modes of travelling can contribute to less physically active lifestyles.

This chapter considers the long-term impact of the pandemic on a series of well-researched transport-related health outcomes. It first describes the established connections between transport and health. It then considers the future implications of three potential pandemic-induced shifts: the increased uptake of working from home (WFH); decreased usage of public transport and increased interest in walking and cycling in the local neighbourhood. The impacts of these shifts on the transport-health nexus are then discussed, revealing both positive and negative outcomes. The authors conclude by providing policy recommendations to mitigate possible negative outcomes and strengthen the positive consequences into the future.

This article examines the relation between measures of military affairs (such as its budgetary cost and the size of armed forces) and measures of human development (such as education, health, freedom, and income). The article's major innovation concerns the separation of data by groups of countries. Across a variety of statistical specifications, I find that the statistical relation between military and human development variables is inconclusive, except for the case of the industrialized nations where a clear negative relation emerges. A discussion of the findings, aimed at the public policy-maker, concludes the article.

In order to overcome potential limitations in their own experience with a strategic action, firms will often outsource to expert firms that have greater experience with such actions. In this study, the authors contribute to theory on organizational experience and learning by examining an important but understudied type of experience – outsourced experience. The authors show whether, and under what conditions, such experience may be beneficial for focal firms. In the context of acquisitions, the authors find that outsourced acquisition experience brought to acquisition deals by advisors is typically assessed by markets to be detrimental but may become beneficial if such experience is specific to the acquirer’s context. Further, the authors find that acquirers’ own knowledge can signal that they are less reliant on advisor experience, thus mitigating its potentially harmful effects. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Achieving sustainable development in heart-wrenching milestone in the face of the current pandemic (COVID-19) situation is becoming a key factor for competitiveness of organizations. Human Resource Development professionals are deemed to be in an ideal position to facilitate the organizational sustainable development by bringing about contextual changes in the workplace and by changing the behavioral patterns of employees. The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered the disruption across societies, raising challenges for the organizations besides other institutions to play their imperative role for a sustainable development pathway. One such way of striving by organizations would be to embark among employees a spark of bringing a change among its employees from being self-centered to societal-oriented by instilling among them the kindle of DSIW (Desire to have Significant Impact through Work). It is the desire of making substantial impact toward society and others' lives, which is evoked under ethical leadership and perceived ethical Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Thus, we have identified the underpinning values of being an ethical leader in wake of contributing toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) toward bringing a societal perspective among employees by infusing the altruistic desire, that is, DSIW among employees. This chapter is broadly divided into two main sections. The first section highlights the contextual settings and the underlying mechanisms that lead to DSIW. The second section draws the attention toward the implication of DSIW for employees in bringing about social change with respect to sustainability, social well-being, as well for the sustainable development of organizations and for positive socioeconomic consequences.

This paper describes some recent innovations in design, process and materials in printed circuit laminate technology, which can lead to significant paradigm shifts in the design and application of electronic products. The traditional roles for printed circuit cards and boards have been to provide wiring interconnection capacity, and a robust mechanical structure for the more delicate and costly chips and modules. The advent of surface mount technology eliminated the need for plated‐through holes as anchors for pinned components. The proliferation of light, high performance, multifunction electronic products will lead to light weight, small, low profile printed circuit assemblies. Adding a redistribution layer to the traditional card surface allows flip‐chip‐on‐board and MCM‐L packages as a low‐cost alternative to traditional high density MCM packages, particularly in applications where size, shape and weight are as important as density and performance. Concurrent with the deliberate evolution of traditional printed circuit technology, some important new materials and process innovations have brought about a new generation of laminate capabilities that are particularly important for the future high I/O requirements predicted for the second part of this decade.

Based on the sample of the European information and communications technology (ICT) companies, this paper aims to identify which strategy of knowledge generation is most beneficial for companies: internal knowledge development or absorption of knowledge external to the company through corporate acquisition or merger.

In this study, a longitudinal analysis of European ICT companies was conducted, contrasting internal knowledge creation, in the form of patent accumulation and research and development (R&D) efforts, with external learning through merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activities to uncover the best strategies for performance maximization.

Results suggest that the two knowledge generation strategies are not complementary and demonstrate only marginal impact on organizational performance. However, intriguing patterns in combining the two became apparent. It was found that patent accumulation improves learning achieved through M&A activities, while also acting as a protection against corporate takeover. At the same time, the internal knowledge generation strategy was found to have a negative impact on financial performance, with external knowledge generation demonstrating somewhat mixed results.

This paper provides practical insights into the patterns of internal and external knowledge generation activities. The two strategies were found not to be complementary, implying that companies must carefully choose their preferences.

This large-scale study tackles the interplay between internal and external knowledge generation strategies, which are mostly studied separately. It reveals new patterns in corporate acquisition and divestment strategies as sources of new knowledge. It also ties the knowledge paradigm to organizational performance.

This study aims to examine the moderating role of chief executive officer (CEO) power on the relationship between divestiture strategy and firm performance by framing the relationship under the agency and power circulation theories.

This study focuses on a sample of 319 non-financial public-listed companies in Malaysia from the year 2012–2016 and estimates the model under two-step generalized method of moments panel regression to eliminate the endogeneity issue.

The results show that divestiture strategy decreased the firm performance. Meanwhile, greater CEO power changed that divestiture effect but still failed to increase the performance. This study also indicates the CEO power strengthens the relationship between firm performance and divestiture.

The overall findings show that the positive moderating role of CEO power on the relationship between divestiture and performance. This research confirmed the agency and power circulation theories by showing that CEO power can make divestiture strategy works. However, the moderating plot tells different. CEO power may strengthen the relationship between divestiture and performance; it fails to boost up the performance in overall. Therefore, this study is about CEO power on the strategic decision and gives a good implication for corporate governance concerning the impact of CEO power on the organization’s alignment process.

This study examines the effect of CEO power on the performance of divestiture strategy implementation by contesting the agency and power circulation theories within an emerging country context.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a rigorous systematic literature review and present a summary of building systems and technologies that can be used to mitigate the spread of airborne viruses. With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, occupants’ health and indoor air quality (IAQ) have become a critical issue for facility managers to maintain the full functionality of the buildings. An improved understanding of these available systems will help facility managers and building owners to protect the health and safety of building occupants.

The PRISMA protocol was used for defining the literature search methodology. The concept mapping technique was used for determining the keywords. The keywords were then used to search for relevant articles using the Scopus database and Google Scholar. A thorough bibliometric analysis and qualitative analysis were conducted for the selected publications.

It was found that sensor technologies, botanical air-filtration systems and artificial intelligence could be used to effectively monitor and improve IAQ. In addition, natural ventilation is one of the low-cost and effective methods of reducing contaminants from the indoor air. Computational fluid dynamic modeling can be used to understand the flow of virus particles within the building through the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Several changes to the HVAC system are also discussed.

This study contains a diversity of methods from the existing literature that were systematically selected to present the state-of-the-art building systems and technologies that can effectively improve IAQ. The researchers plan to follow up on the findings of this research and will conduct an empirical study to assess its impact on IAQ.

This article is intended to contribute towards furthering the understanding of researcher development as demonstrated by doctoral students' learning within scholarly communities. The article does this by reporting the findings of a study that explored the students' key learning experiences during their doctoral journey.

The 19 participants were natural science doctoral students from a top‐level research community in Finland. The data were collected through interviews that were qualitatively content analysed.

The participants emphasised the significance of participation, development as a scholar, developing specific research competences as well as learning to balance between doctoral research and other institutional tasks. They situated the key learning experiences in collaborative academic contexts such as research activities, taking courses, and academic meetings. The participants generally perceived their experiences as positive and enhancing.

Significant learning experiences identified by natural science doctoral students themselves are rarely studied. The results of the study reported in this article may be used by doctoral trainers, supervisors and students to create environments that foster students' learning and researcher development through their participation in scholarly communities.