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This article presents an annotated bibliography of literature recently published on the topic of library instruction and information literacy in academic, school, public, special, and all types of libraries. Collaboration was a strong theme, especially among academic and school libraries. Other themes discussed in the articles include the globalism of information literacy, assessment, the use of course management systems, and the use and value of online tutorials.

This paper aims to explore the nature of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) cluster, to establish and empirically verify in the pilot study the role of clusters in developing the fourth industrial revolution. It aims to find out if the cluster can provide a conducive knowledge environment fostering the advancement of I4.0; simplify the implementation of I4.0 by making it faster, easier, and cheaper and finally be applied as policy tool organising the development of I4.0.

This paper is based on the narrative literature review mapping the cluster’s nature with I4.0 features. It adopts the case study approach and uses simple statistical analysis to explore the basic characteristics of I4.0 clusters combined with a survey technique – short questionnaire organised in three major blocks.

Drawing on German pilot study it can be confirmed that clusters offer conducive environment facilitating the emergence, testing and development of I4.0 specific solutions. They provide favourable knowledge environment, simplify and increase the efficiency of the business processes and organise the policymaking in this area.

The results of presented pilot study rooted in Germany – a country seen as the front-runner in implementing the solutions of the fourth industrial revolution – can add a certain value to the emerging research on unearthed linkages between clusters and I4.0. This paper might be seen as a contribution to the emerging literature on the spatial dimension of I4.0. It expands previous research on cluster channels’ likely impact on I4.0.

The purpose of this paper is to portray social learning in cluster initiatives (CIs), namely, to explore, with the lens of the communities of practice (CoPs) theory, in what ways social learning occurs in CIs and discover how various CoPs emerge and evolve in CIs to facilitate a collective journey in their learning process. Subsequently, the authors address the following research questions: In what ways does social learning occur in CIs? How is social learning facilitated through the emergence and evolution of various CoPs in CIs?

The study applies the abduction approach for the interpretation of the collected data and attempts to create the best explanations for the observations on the basis of the CoP theory. The qualitative study of four CIs helped to identify various ways that social learning occurs in CIs and the role of the identified CoPs in the process. Social learning is portrayed as a collective journey within and between CoPs, where the interactions of their members deepen their level of involvement and help them to enhance learning in their CoP.

The paper shows ways that social learning occurs in CIs and describes the role of CoPs. It identifies three types of CoPs in CIs: participants, cooperators and locomotives. Additionally, it documents different ways of social learning in CIs, namely, one-way or two-way information transfer and raising awareness; demonstrating and inspiring; or motivating and educating. It also shows that while potentially every member of a CI has access to these practices, only a limited number of members are actually involved. Social learning in CIs is selective and some CI members accept their role as more peripheral in their CI.

The research shows the application of the CoP theory to the analysis of social learning in CIs, a peculiar type of clusters. It describes how CoPs in the studied CIs varied in terms of the occurrence of learning. Furthermore, it reveals how social learning related to the level of involvement of CI members, namely, with an increase of involvement, the members formed more selective CoPs and strengthened their social learning. Nevertheless, the qualitative approach in the study and the specific sample of the CIs chosen for the analysis do not allow a generalization of the findings.

Although in different CoPs social learning occurs in different ways, at each stage of the development of CIs, the learning process is carried out on the basis of interactions created among members. Therefore, it is important to support the “soft” forms of cooperation within CIs – involving members in activities and developing interactions. In addition, to ensure the growth of their entire CI, coordinators should create conditions for the development of existing CoPs into higher forms, which better support learning. They should also adopt boundary-spanning roles between various CoPs to strengthen social learning in CIs.

The literature on CIs, which are peculiar forms of clusters, is still underdeveloped. The research fills in the gap concerning the ways social learning occurs in CIs. It shows that selectiveness can be observed in this process, and emphasizes the role of interactions developed through CoPs and the benefits offered by them. The study applies the CoP approach. Consequently, it expands the theoretical base in view of the generally lacking studies on social learning in CIs in the literature on clustering. Because the CoP theory has rarely been applied in the management literature, it also augments this specific field.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively review the sources of competitive strength of emerging market multinationals (EMMs). Since most lack firm-specific assets such as internalized knowledge or globally recognized brands, especially in their early international growth, and emanate from less-developed nations, the success of EMMs has to be explained by identifying factors in their home nations and international scope which make these firms internationally competitive.

A comprehensive review of the extant literature and company cases identified several sources of competitive advantage for emerging market firms. Since conclusive evidence is still unavailable, many of these factors are proposed as hypotheses for future empirical research. Where needed, contrary viewpoints are also discussed and cited.

This paper identifies several possible location-specific assets of emerging market companies including the mindset of top management of EMMs (such as long term orientation, global or cosmopolitan perspectives, a degree of humility that recognizes the need to catch-up by learning from foreign allies and customers, tolerance for ambiguity, and frugality) and home country cultural traits such as emphasis on relationships, family control, and private equity capital. Other sources of competitiveness may lie in the home country pool of technical talent and cheap labor, the extensive diasporas of persons of Chinese, Indian and Brazilian origin, and the role of common language as determinants for the geographical pattern of FDI from emerging nations.

This paper serves the dual purpose of providing a comprehensive literature review of this topic for doctoral or Masters students, and specifying hypotheses (as well as opposing views) for further investigation.

This work concerns the electrodeposition of highly pure brushite (CaHPO₄·2H₂O) on titanium alloy substrates and the transformation of the brushite to hydroxyapatite (HAp) Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂ as a coating for orthopaedic implants. Thus, the electrodeposition of electrolyte containing calcium nitrate and ammonium hydrogen phosphate was carried out. The influences of the substrate surface treatment, the electroplating conditions (bath composition, current density, pH value and temperature) and the hydrothermal post treatment conditions on the deposition rate, the throwing power, the adhesion, the morphology and the structure of the coating were evaluated. High adhesion bond strength (around 23 mPa) was achieved on a rough clean substrate, which is slightly higher than plasma sprayed HAp coating on titanium alloy.

Due to the unique nature of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), the impact of crowdfunding on them is more significant than on other industries. This study investigates the association between crowdfunding campaigns in four different categories of cultural production and each campaign promoter's decision regarding platform choice.

We classified cultural productions according to the Cultural Enterprise Framework. We collected data from 1,465 successful, reward-based, culture crowdfunding campaigns from five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). We used binary logistic regression for estimation purposes.

We find that cultural productions with a high degree of cultural affinity are more likely to use a local platform, while cultural productions with a higher degree of complexity in production or with composite motives are more likely to use an international platform. Additionally, the funding goal and the platform's financing model affect the probability of using an international platform.

Our finding is that there is a relationship between cultural production type and crowdfunding platform choice, and that these choices can be crucial for campaign promoters. Based on the findings and empirical setting, there is evidence that campaign promoters of cultural productions with a cultural affinity orientation may choose to use local platforms, while promoters of projects with complex production requirements or composite motives for using crowdfunding similarly may tend to opt for international platforms. We also propose a framework for the categorisation of cultural productions.

In part-I of this review series, research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was reviewed. The purpose of this paper which is part-II of the series, is to review management research from India and Pakistan over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014.

A systematic review approach was adopted for this research. As a quality standard for inclusion, articles were restricted to journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council in 2013 and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago classification system. The divisions and interest groups of the Academy of Management were used as framework to organize the search results.

A total of 1,039 articles related to India (n = 930) and Pakistan (n = 112) emerged from the search process, with three articles being related to both countries. The research was published in 163 different journals that met the quality criteria. The period under review coincides with the advent of economic liberalization in India and this emerged as a major theme in the India-related research. Other context-specific insights for these two countries are also derived from an ecological and institutional theory perspective.

This research represents the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in India and Pakistan. As in part-I, the unique review approach allows for strict adherence to a predetermined quality standard while including a wide variety of journals and research traditions.