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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that underpin brand switching of medical imaging products by mass-market users. Most of the literature on brand switching is focused on competitive market products, for which switching costs are manageable. However, little consideration is given to brand switching of high-technology capital products.

The conceptual model is developed based on the existing literature on B2B brand switching. An online survey was developed and distributed to decision makers involved in purchasing medical imaging technology.

The results confirm the expectation that product features is the most influential factor underpinning brand switching. Product features are critical for medical organizations who want to maintain their competitive advantage. The findings suggest that the set of factors that influence the decision to switch is unique for users of different market segments in the same industry (e.g. lead users and mass-market users). This difference stems from technology utilization of each market segment.

In high-technology markets, managers should develop a reliable strategy to evaluate the antecedents behind brand switching that are specific to their industry. Knowledge of the major factors that cause users to switch is essential to allow firms to determine the strategy needed to prevent the erosion of their market share.

Although the literature reports considerable research on brand switching, this study is a first-of-its-kind in that it demonstrates that the factors underpinning brand switching vary within the same industry, based on the characteristics of each market segment. This paper develops new knowledge on the factors that influence the decision of users of high-technology capital products to switch between brands to renew or improve their internal capabilities.

During the industrial purchasing process of high‐tech, innovative products, various decision‐influencers within buying companies evaluate the attractiveness of the manufacturer's market offering; namely the “value” of the offering. This paper aims to identify the various tangible and intangible value elements requested by the business customer, and the stage(s) of the purchasing process in which these value considerations take place.

This paper develops a framework that will effectively guide manufacturers of high‐tech, innovative products to market, and customize, their offer throughout the different stages of prospective business customers' purchasing process.

The findings, derived from in‐depth interviews, demonstrate that manufacturers should focus on distinctive product‐, service‐, and supplier‐related value elements, and that the particular elements depend on the different decision‐influencers, as well as the different stages of the purchasing process.

The paper discusses some avenues for future research in the marketing of high‐tech products.

The present research aims to examine the scholarly literature on high-performance work practices (HPWPs). Relevant comparisons were made between the hospitality industry, service industry and various other contextual environments in general business that might impact the choice and implementation of HPWPs, and a set of work practices was proposed for the hospitality industry.

A comprehensive review was conducted of scholarly literature related to HPWPs that was published in the past 25 years (1991-2015). A total of 89 scholarly articles were considered in this summary. Based on this review, HPWPs in the hospitality industry were compared and contrasted with other industry sectors.

There is little consensus among researchers concerning specific HPWPs that should be used by every company to improve their organizational- or individual-level performance. Thus, a specific set of 13 HPWPs that take into consideration the unique characteristics of the industry, based on a review of empirical research, was identified for the hospitality industry as a starting point for future research in the hospitality industry.

Following a comparison of HPWPs in the hospitality, services literature and manufacturing-based industry context, the authors extend the body of knowledge and propose a set of HPWPs for future research in the hospitality industry. HPWPs can have positive impacts on both organizational- and individual-level performance. Thirteen specific hospitality HPWPs were identified that are most beneficial, and the circumstances under which they might yield optimal results enhance the scholar’s understanding of HPWPs and provide guidance to human resource professionals to make evidence-based decisions. A better understanding of HPWPs can assist human resource professionals in making policy decisions that optimize the use of human capital in their organizations.

Although studies of “core competence” appear frequently, the concept lacks a clear definition that allows one to operationalize it and use it to develop falsifiable predictions. We propose a definition based on the phenomenon that core competence is typically applied to – adaptations to different external context. Sourcing insight form the paradigm of organizational ecology, we develop arguments rooted in theories of structural inertia and environmental imprinting. Empirical analyses of failure rates of entrants in the Italian automobile industry confirm our propositions that core competence is a source of competitive advantage when industry entry is based on relevant capabilities and a source of inertia and obsolescence when core competences need to be substantially altered. We conclude that whether core competence materializes as a dynamic capability or exposes the firm to liability to selection and obsolescence is a random process. Its outcome hinges on environmental variation and the resulting firm-environment (mis)alignment and is thus largely beyond managerial control.

This study aims to examine validity of the first mover advantage theory (FMA) in the context of digital audio player (DAP) market. It explores two research questions: do first‐movers improve their resources and capabilities and thus establish industry leadership? Do firms' initial resources affect the timing of entry?

To overcome the methodological problems of earlier research, the study employs historical analysis of archival sources, capturing the longitudinal nature of the market evolution and competitive dynamics within the industry.

The results show that pioneering entry is significantly inferior to later entry strategy. While the pioneers failed, Apple Computer, a follower, gained dominance. Firm's resources influence timing of entry. The pioneers are small firms while large firms prefer to enter later.

This study analyzed the evolution of a single radical innovation from its inception through growth stage and results may not apply to continuous innovations.

Managers should understand that it is not the first‐in‐market, but the firm that invests in developing its resources and capabilities in marketing, production and continual product improvement that ends up dominating the new market.

The contribution is identified in three areas as the most important for future research of FMA: it considers advantages of both pioneers and followers in an integrative fashion, it looks into how firms' resources and environmental conditions affect performance, and it uses multiple measures of performance.

The Academy of Management held its 1988 annual convention at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, August 5–11. The setting was highly appropriate, since some of the topics presented and discussed clearly bordered on fantasy.

In 2006 the German-based electronics company Siemens faced widespread corruption and bribery allegations. Investigations of the German state attorney’s office disclosed an amount of more than 2.3 billion of suspicious payments to foreign governments (Schubert & Miller, 2008). It turned out that Siemens had bribed governmental officials in order to secure contracts and to obtain favorable conditions over more than three decades (Schmidt, 2009). Though Siemens had a clearly stated anticorruption policy this did not prevent the company from getting involved in one of the largest corporate scandals in German business history.

A deeper analysis of the scandal reveals at least four fundamental shortcomings which enabled the corrupt practices on all organizational levels. First, most of the managers saw no alternatives to secure their foreign business, especially in countries where bribery payment has been a widespread practice. Second, the managers had created misguided bonds of loyalty believing that personal engagement in the corruption scheme was part of their dedication to the company. Third, due to corporate routines and commonly accepted practices, most managers lacked a clear sense of reality seeing corruption as part of the regular business at Siemens. Fourth, poor governance structures and a lack of clear regulations for doing business in a corrupt environment made it easier for managers to bypass official regulations.

This paper aims to provide image repository to the medical professional in an open source platform, which will increase the visibility of Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) image in a network mode; further, the proposed system will reduce the storage cost of the images to significant level.

The authors have developed a new institutional repository model for the medical professionals cum radiologists to preserve, store and retrieve medical images from one database with the help of open source software. The authors used JavaScript programming to integrate and develop the DICOM Standard with DSpace.

Major outcome of this work is that DICOM images can be accommodated in DSpace without modifying the image properties and keeping intact the various dimensions of image viewing options. Further, it was found that the images are retrieved without any ease because of the robust indexing system.

Major limitation of this study was the size of the data (5000 DICOM image) with which the authors have tested the system. The scalability of the system has to be tested on various fronts, for which separate study has to be done.

Once this system is in place, DICOM user can store, retrieve and access the image from Web platform. This proposed repository will be the storehouse of various DICOM images with reasonable storage costs.

In addition to exploring the opportunities of open source software (OSS) implementation in Medical Fields, this study includes issues related to implementation of open source repository for storing and preserving medical image. This is the first time in Library Science field to create and develop Open Source DICOM Medical Image Library with the help of DSpace. The study will create value for library professionals as well as medical professionals and OSS vendors to understand the medical market in the context of OSS.

Medical device industry in India is a niche sector with few key players but it possesses huge potential for both domestic and international trade. In recent years, a number of regulatory relaxations have been provided to medical device manufacturers in India to enhance production and further trade especially exports. Though the industry is highly dependent on imports, the purpose of this paper is to identify key medical devices using the revealed comparative advantage, which can be exported from India by identifying new markets.

For the selected medical devices, India’s exports to the world and the newly identified markets are forecasted using the autoregressive integrated moving average model of regression.

It is seen that three major medical devices emerge to be the ones where India has the capacity and potential to manufacture and export. These medical devices are electro-cardiographs, magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and oscilloscopes and oscillographs being exported to the USA, Australia; China and the USA, respectively, which is rising in recent years.

As the forecasted values indicate that there is an increasing potential in exports from India to the world of the selected medical devices, there is an urgent need to develop this industry and enhance exports from India. Very few studies have been carried out to examine and forecast exports from specific sectors or industries which is the need of the hour now.

The paper also provides suggestions to exporters and policymakers on leveraging the future export potential of selected medical devices.