Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore knowledge creation processes in small innovative hi‐tech firms operating in the software industry.

The research framework examines specific action and interaction processes aiming at creating knowledge. This exploratory research is constituted by five case studies, each of them being represented by a small Canadian software firm. Analysis draws upon four sources of data. A total of 15 interviews (three per case) had been conducted and subsequently transcribed and coded using qualitative software – Nvivo 07.

The results of the study reveal that interaction processes permitting the creation of knowledge in small hi‐tech firms can take place via: formal meetings; informal communities; project teams; external interaction; and information technology‐tools. Rapid prototyping represents the kernel activity of knowledge creation through action. Details of the results, implications of the findings, and conclusions are presented and discussed.

This paper is based on a limited number of case studies, therefore empirical results cannot be generalized. Future research on larger samples of small Canadian software firms is needed, using the same eligibility criteria and comparing the same knowledge creation processes as those explored in this study. Other promising avenues of inquiry include such questions as the way small knowledge‐based firms operating in turbulent environments organize internally to create knowledge, the conditions enabling the generation of knowledge, and the particular “spaces” in which knowledge creation occurs in these firms.

The systematic description and comparison of knowledge creation processes in each explored company contribute to the better understanding of specific “interaction” and “action” processes through which knowledge is generated, enabling practitioners in small innovative hi‐tech firms to design appropriate policies and procedures for enhancing knowledge creation behaviors of their employees.

This research is among the first and most exhaustive exploratory and comparative studies carried out in the Canadian context of small firms operating in the software industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore multiple cases of Moldovan women who individually initiated and involved in work arrangements with Italian employers. The main purpose is to examine the international employment experiences of female migrants by identifying the challenges they face in a foreign country and building a comprehensive typology of female migrant workers.

The empirical work consists of field notes gathered through direct observations and semi‐structured interviews conducted with five Moldovan women while they were still working in Italy. The content analysis of the interviews reveals how Moldovan workers perceive their foreign experience and the ways it influences their personal development.

The paper suggests that such brain mobility concepts as brain drain, brain waste and optimal brain drain represent the distinguishing characteristics of our interviewees who are citizens of a transitional economy. Imaginary trip, frustrating encounter, identity consolidation and self‐actualization are identified as four consecutive stages through which the self‐initiated migration experience develops over the time. The resulting variations in migrants' behaviours and mind‐sets create a typology of female workers based on their desperateness to migrate (planner vs despairer), their failure to tolerate the frustrating encounter (surrenderer), their attitudes towards personal development (conformist vs rejuvenator) and their ability to transcend their own limitations (highflyer). The paper describes the double identity strangeness along with other aspects which differentiate self‐initiated experiences from expatriate assignments.

The use of a limited number of case studies prevents concluding whether and to what extent the findings apply to all female migrant workers from other transitional economies. This limitation could be clarified in a future study on larger samples of female respondents involved in self‐initiated employment arrangements in Italy or in other developed countries.

At the organizational level, the findings allow employers and human resource managers in the destination country to distinguish different types of migrant workers and better understand their particular needs in order to facilitate their intra‐firm integration.

Using a gender analysis highlighted in the international migration literature, this research makes a contribution towards creating a solid knowledge base on Moldovan migrant women – a widely underexplored group of migrant workers – and their involvement in labour market processes in Italy.

The purpose of this study paper is to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the knowledge flow in high-tech industries.

This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method. This research has been done in a qualitative–quantitative method. In the qualitative part, due to the nature of the data in this study, expert interviews have been used. The sample studied in this research includes 35 managers and expert professors with experience in the field of knowledge management working in universities and high-tech industries who have been selected by the method of snowball. In the quantitative part, the questionnaire tool and DANP multivariate decision-making method have been used.

In this study, a multicriteria decision-making technique using a combination of DEMATEL and ANP (DANP) was used to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the knowledge flow in high-tech industries. In this study, the factors affecting the knowledge flow, including 8 main factors and 31 subfactors, were selected. Human resources, organizational structure, organizational culture, knowledge communication, knowledge management tools, knowledge characteristics, laws, policies and regulations and financial resources were effective in improving knowledge flow, respectively.

By studying the research, it was found that the study area is limited, and the previous work has remained at the level of documentation and little practical use has been done. In previous research, the discussion of knowledge flow has not been very open, and doing incomplete work causes limited experiences and increases cost and time wastage, and parallel work may also occur. Therefore, to complete the knowledge management circle and fully achieve the research objectives, as well as to make available and transfer the experiences of people working in this field and also to save time and reduce costs, the contents and factors of previous models have been counted. It is designed for high-tech industries, a model for the flow of knowledge.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Firms and entire sectors can be vulnerable to both immediate and lasting effects when a major crisis occurs. Swift response utilizing appropriate strategies can enable effective crisis management that enables not only damage limitation and recovery but scope to transform the industry’s future.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This study aims to examine the influence of international business competence (IBC) on innovation performance of organizations activating in global markets. The study also explores whether ambidextrous organizational culture (AOC) acts as an antecedent of IBC and whether the environmental dynamism affects the IBC–innovation performance relationship.

The authors assessed the hypothesized relationships using data collected from a sample of companies operating in the Norwegian seafood industry. The direct, mediating and moderating effects were tested using partial least squares (PLS) with SmartPLS software application.

The empirical analysis revealed that AOC is positively associated with IBC, while IBC is a significant predictor of innovation performance. The findings also corroborated the proposed mediation effect of IBC, but refuted the moderating role of environmental dynamism.

This study contributes to the international business literature by suggesting that companies equipped with IBC can excel in innovative undertakings and that organizational culture can be effectively leveraged to develop such competences.

The aim of this chapter is to define and explore the group of emotions known as self-conscious emotions. The state of the knowledge on guilt, shame, pride, and embarrassment is reviewed, with particular attention paid to research on these four self-conscious emotions in work and organizational settings. Surprisingly little research on self-conscious emotions comes from researchers interested in occupational stress and well-being, yet these emotions are commonly experienced and may be a reaction to or even a source of stress. They may also impact behaviors and attitudes that affect stress and well-being. I conclude the review with a call for more research on these emotions as related to stress and well-being, offering some suggestions for areas of focus.

In recent years, entrepreneurship education has become increasingly popular to promote economic development and encourage entrepreneurship. This chapter aims to review the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and the mode of delivery. This review will help understand the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education (entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial intention, enhanced entrepreneurial mindset and greater business success). It will also help understand the mode of delivery (classroom instruction, experiential learning, mentoring and coaching and online learning) Using the traditional review methodology, the chapter focusses on the outcomes of entrepreneurship education on students and their attitudes, intentions and behaviours towards entrepreneurship. The chapter also evaluates the various modes of delivery, including traditional classroom-based instruction, experiential learning and online education. The review compared the United States of America and South African points of view on entrepreneurship education to posit significant directions on how to effectuate entrepreneurship education. The chapter further reviews the sustainable development goals that are aligned with entrepreneurship. Overall, the chapter concludes that entrepreneurship education is effective in promoting entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and behaviours, and its mode of delivery significantly influences its impact. The chapter recommends the integration of active and experiential learning methods into entrepreneurship education, and the development of innovative modes of delivery to reach a wider audience. Policymakers should also support the integration of entrepreneurship education into the formal education system to promote economic development.

This study aims to explore the evolution of corporate governance through a 100-year-old Italian Barilla pasta family business from its founding to 1971. The study builds on prior research which has applied the three-circle model of family business systems in a historic context.

Using legal records, five phases in the history of Barilla are noted. Annual reports and other sources have allowed for some more insights into business events and developments. Then, drawing on the three-circle model of family business, the corporate governance regime is mapped to the model and the family actors.

The findings here support extant literature in that the systems in the three-circle model are found to overlap more in a historic setting. Challenges with the three-circle model are also noted, specifically, when corporate governance is considered across a century of an organisation’s history.

This study supports prior use of three-circle model of a family business in an historic context, providing further evidence the model is not static over time. Contrary to the original three-circle model, this study suggests that family actors can potentially occupy more than one location in the model if the non-human actor of corporate governance and its effect on human actors is also considered.

In recent years much attention has been paid to proposals reform the law on manufacturers' liability for defective oducts. In particular, the so‐called ‘Brussels Directive’, r the approximation of the laws of the member states of e European Economic Community relating to product bility, has excited great controversy. As early as 1976 e first formal proposals were made for a new strict bility regime and revised proposals were submitted to e Council of Ministers on 1st October 1979. The net sult so far has been nil, as member states have disagreed er certain key proposals in the Directive, and the ommunity Consumer Protection policy has floundered the general lack of political impetus generated by ccessive budgetary and agricultural crisis. Yet almost rreptitiously on the domestic front there have been portant developments which may well have the effect of rendering some parts of the E.E.C. proposals obsolete before they reach the statute book.