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The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of environmental conditions of the subsidiaries’ host country in the process of developing global innovation. It is argued that, even though the local environment in which subsidiaries are placed must be taken into account, this is not the only important factor to directly create global innovation, but it also becomes necessary for the subsidiaries to be endowed with autonomy, in this sense allowing them to enjoy the local conditions for innovation purposes.

A quantitative approach is opted for the research development, while the hypotheses were evaluated from the analysis of the relationship between four constructs: global innovation, local market conditions, local competitive dynamics and autonomy to innovate. The structural equation modeling technique is applied, using data from 172 foreign subsidiaries located in Brazil.

The validity and reliability parameters analyzed in the proposed model were suitable (average variance extracted, Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability and discriminant validity). H1 (the better the market conditions of the host country, the greater the subsidiary’s autonomy to innovate) was not supported. However, both H2 and H3 were supported, suggesting the influence of local competitive dynamics on autonomy to innovate, and also the influence of autonomy to innovate on global innovation, respectively.

This paper provides some contributions for the advance in researches about the global innovation management, considering the subsidiaries’ perspective, showing the relevance of the subsidiary’s autonomy for the development of global innovation given a favorable local competitive dynamic.

The concept of space is commonly transcending the binary separation between materiality and abstraction structuring social theory, being both a built, immutable environment and what is derived from uncoordinated spatial practices embedded in social norms and instituted behaviours. As a consequence, organization theorists have been only marginally interested in organized spaces and spatiality, examining primarily office spaces and other visual, symbolic spaces in organizations. Organized space is relational and transductive, constructed to be able to both accommodate various needs and demands and to be able of responding to emerging information. Organized space is thus transient and fluid, only temporarily stabilized, and fundamentally open to external influences. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A study of shopping center development practices demonstrates how various actors representing heterogeneous interests collaborate to balance various interests such as the need for both commercial and public spaces in a community, rendering social space a politicized space wherein disputes and interests are settled.

Social spaces such as shopping centers are unfolding as relational and transductive spaces capable of being modified and changes as new social needs and demands emerge. Shopping center spaces are developed in the intersection of a variety of professional domains of expertise and social interests and needs.

The paper combines a theoretical framework of social spaces as being what is produced in collaborative efforts and what includes both technical and material as well as social and cultural components with an empirical study of shopping mall development.

The aim of this paper is to suggest a redefinition of the functional product value calculation in lean product development (LPD). The proposed method integrates emotional customer value into the traditional model, which is based on minimizing operating costs and reducing time‐to‐market.

Perceptions of customer value among employees at a Norwegian boat manufacturer, customers, and competitors are investigated through a case study. Results are compared with principles for promoting value and minimizing waste in LPD.

Findings from the case study suggest that a less‐than‐perfect match between customer needs and product offerings sometimes improves customer satisfaction. Furthermore, how customers perceive product value depends on experience that may be at variance with current needs. It is also suggested that deep understanding of customer‐defined value does not imply an ability to satisfy that value.

Understanding the position of meaning‐driven and technology‐driven innovation in different types of industries represents a challenge for further research, as does the issue of whether these two are the only dimensions driving a sustainable innovation strategy. Actionable knowledge on how emotional value can be maximized is also needed.

Maximizing customer value is a core principle in LPD, but the value definitions used tend to be based on logical reasoning rather than real‐life observations. This article presents empirical insights concerning different stakeholders' perceptions of customer value, and the resulting implications for the present lean framework.

This paper aims to present a research outcome to an investigation towards the innovative use of electronic-learning (e-Learning) software solutions to strengthen the interactive component of mobile learning (m-Learning) in university contexts. This work was motivated by observations of interactive limitations in existing m-Learning solutions in well-intentioned software development and e-Learning efforts. The aim of the project, thus, was to interrogate hindrances to the potency of m-Learning interventions. The idea was to strengthen the interactive component, to improve the compatibility of the desktop e-Learning process – with mobile appliances such as mobile phones and, finally, to explore cost minimizing avenues of downloading learning materials over mobile phones.

The methodology of the project was twofold: that is, both literature-based and experimental. Literature background offered insight on existing efforts towards interactive m-Learning solutions. Against this background, the project was then designed to explore ways to provide presentations and interactive chats for effective m-Learning over mobile phones. The idea was to reduce the file size of presentations slides for effective display on mobile devices. Finally, the aim was also to minimize airtime costs when transmitting presentation slides and when conducting interactive chats on mobile phones. An experiment research method was, thus, used. In this method, a problem and question were articulated first. Then, a practical technological solution was conceptualized, developed, pre-tested, modified and re-tested until it complied with sought specifications, Finally, the solution was implemented, to confirm its viability and response to a research problem and, ultimately, was reported in the findings.

Slides were developed with light colour resolutions to open effortlessly on tiny mobile screens. The best quality was between 128 and 201.188 (out of 255) pixels (more visible mobile phone screens), using Open Source Software. Clear slides also had a font greater than size 32. The average data per presentation were 9,872.66 bytes, and, when seven learners were chatting, it was 3,686.63 bytes (0.03 megabytes). For airtime costs, the Vodacom rate of R0.46 per megabyte was used. This translates to 0.8 × 0.46 = R0.0368 cost per slide. The m-Chisimba platform therefore, seems to be cost-effective, quality expedient and most appropriate for interactive m-Learning.

Existing m-Learning has been inadequate, failing to align adequately the desktop e-Learning solutions with mobile phone platforms. Desktop presentation slides, for example, have been incompatible with mobile phones’ operations and screen sizes. Mostly, content could consume a lot more airtime, owing to large sizes of desktop originated material that was incompatible with mobile platforms. A solution that emerged from original experiments, leading to the enhanced interactive m-Learning solution, the m-Chisimba platform, is, therefore, presented in this paper. The thinking is that mobile applications are convenient enablers which extend access to information. Nevertheless, mobile applications (including m-Learning solutions) cannot be seen as panaceas to solve all learning concerns as literacy and affordability remain challenges in many under-developed social environments. As a newly developed innovation, the m-Chisimba platform offers an improved m-Learning solution for learning activities over mobile gadgets such as mobile phones.

The research work offers new innovative solutions in a number of practical ways. It improves the interactivity component of the m-Learning process, to empower educators and learners to effectively engage learning over m-Learning devices.

The innovation makes it easier to for learning to take place effortlessly, over mobile platforms. Implications are that more people will be able to access learning processes on the move, meaning that obstacles to access learning opportunities are minimised.

Existing m-Learning has been inadequate, failing to align adequately the desktop e-Learning solutions with mobile phone platforms. Desktop presentation slides, for example, have been incompatible with mobile phones’ operations and screen sizes. Mostly, content could consume a lot more airtime, owing to large sizes of desktop-originated material that was incompatible with mobile-platforms. A solution that emerged from original experiments, leading to the enhanced interactive m-Learning solution, the m-Chisimba platform, is, therefore, presented in this paper. The thinking is that mobile applications are convenient enablers which extend access to information. Nevertheless, mobile applications (including m-Learning solutions) cannot be seen as panaceas to solve all learning concerns as literacy and affordability remain challenges in many under-developed social environments. As a newly developed innovation, the m-Chisimba platform offers an improved m-Learning solution for learning activities over mobile gadgets such as mobile phones.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel strategy of optimal parameters configuration and placement for sensitive equipment.

In this study, clamped thin plate is considered as the foundation form, and a novel composite system is proposed based on the two-stage isolation system. By means of the theory of mechanical four-pole connection, the displacement amplitude transmissibility from the thin plate to precision equipment is derived. For the purpose of performing optimal design of the composite system, a novel multi-objective idea is presented. Multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is adopted as an optimization technique, which can achieve a global optimal solution (gbest), and selecting the desired solution from an equivalent Pareto set can be avoided. Maximum and variance of the four transmitted peak displacements are considered as the fitness functions simultaneously; the purpose is aimed at reducing the amplitude of the multi-peak isolation system, meanwhile pursuing a uniform vibration as far as possible. The optimization is mainly organized as a combination of parameter configuration and placement design, and the traversal search of discrete plate is performed in each iteration for the purpose of achieving the global optimum.

An important transmissibility based on the mechanical four-pole connection is derived, and a composite vibration isolation system is proposed, and a novel optimization problem is also defined here. This study reports a novel optimization strategy combined with artificial intelligence for parameters and placement design of precision equipment, which can promote the traditional view of two-stage vibration isolation.

Two-stage vibration isolation systems are widely applied to the vibration attenuation of precision equipment, but in these traditional designs, vibration participation of foundation is often ignored. In this paper, participation of foundation of equipment is considered, and a coherent new strategy for equipment isolation and foundation vibration is presented. This study shows a new vision of interdisciplinary including civil engineering, mechanical dynamics and computational science.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an autoclave that can be used to assess corrosion behaviour of suitable material in high-pressure–high-temperature (HPHT) environments. Many new discoveries of oil and gas field are in HPHT environments. The development of such fields requires appropriate selection of materials that are able to withstand not just the service loads but also corrosive production fluids in the HPHT environment.

The exposure of material samples to elevated pressure and temperature is usually done using an autoclave. The suitability of an existing autoclave for HPHT corrosion studies is provided together with suggestions on necessary design modifications. An alternative design of the autoclave is proposed based on functionality requirements and life cycle cost assessment.

It is concluded that the existing autoclave was unsuitable for HPHT corrosion tests, and modifications were very expensive to implement and/or not foolproof. A new autoclave was designed, manufactured, tested and successfully used to study the effect of aqueous solution on the corrosion of a pipe subject to a combination of axial tension, internal pressure and elevated temperature.

The maximum design pressure of 15 MPa is more than sufficient for high-pressure corrosion studies in aqueous solution where partial pressure of the dissolved gas is one of the main controlling parameters. However, the design pressure is only suitable for corrosion studies in a seawater environment of up to 1,500 m water depth.

A new design of autoclave together with all the necessary piping, assembly and control system is proposed for HPHT corrosion studies. The autoclave can be used as standalone or integrated with a mechanical testing machine and thus enables corrosion studies under a wide range of loading.

This paper aims to illustrate the use of the augmented epsilon-constraint method implemented in general algebraic modelling system (GAMS), aimed at optimizing the geometry of a thermoacoustic regenerator. Thermoacoustic heat engines provide a practical solution to the problem of heat management where heat can be pumped or spot cooling can be produced. However, the most inhibiting characteristic of thermoacoustic cooling is their current lack of efficiencies.

Lexicographic optimization is presented as an alternative optimization technique to the common used weighting methods. This approach establishes a hierarchical order among all the optimization objectives instead of giving them a specific (and most of the time, arbitrary) weight.

A practical example is given, in a hypothetical scenario, showing how the proposed optimization technique may help thermoacoustic regenerator designers to identify Pareto optimal solutions when dealing with geometric parameters. This study highlights the fact that the geometrical parameters are interdependent, which support the use of a multi-objective approach for optimization in thermoacoustic.

The research output from this paper can be a valuable resource to support designers in building efficient thermoacoustic device. The research illustrates the use of a lexicographic optimization to provide more meaningful results describing the geometry of thermoacoustic regenerator. It applies the epsilon-constraint method (AUGMENCON) to solve a five-criteria mixed integer non-linear problem implemented in GAMS (GAM software).

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.