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The purpose of this study is to examine, through the lens of the buying center concept, a theorized link between organizational buying behavior (OBB) and a national culture of collectivism, large power distance, particularism and a wasta practice.

A qualitative methodology was used to gain better understanding of OBB in an under-researched business environment of the Arabian Gulf. The data come from 41 organizational practitioners who reported on the industrial buying processes in their organizations with reference to the buying center framework.

The study developed a model of the buying center for the emerging markets governed by socio-political institutions.

The data were obtained only from one culturally specific world region.

To attain efficacious results in culturally distant business environments, industrial marketers should complement home country experience with a thorough understanding of how national cultures affect the dynamics of OBB.

The study updates the conceptualization of the buying center’s organizational actors (OAs) for business contexts beyond traditional, mature markets. It reveals the typology of decisional influencers, introduces and defines the role of advisers and clarifies the role of the gatekeeping bureaucracy and differing perceptions thereof by OAs.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel method of 3D foot and shoe model matching based on oriented bounding box (OBB) and axis-aligned bounding box (AABB).

The paper first calculates their OBBs of foot and shoe models; aligns three axial directions of their OBBs to be parallel to three axes of world coordinate system. Then, computes their AABBs of foot and shoe models, translates the center of the bottom face of the foot's AABB to that of the shoe's AABB.

After the matching, the shoe model could be larger or locally smaller than the foot model. The paper finally adjusts the size of shoe model according to the distance difference.

Experimental results show that this method is simple and feasible which can effectively realize the matching between foot and shoe models.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a physically plausible solution based on hybrid bounding volume (BV) hierarchy for real‐time collision detection (CD) and response between a deformable and a rigid object.

Hybrid BV can be used to build BV hierarchy for the deformable object. The overlapping tests based on separating axis theorem (SAT) can be used to deal with CD. The physics conception of restitution coefficient and other important forces can be used to more real collision response.

Many methods focus on a specific application, but none of them gives an approach to physically plausible, real‐time simulation of CD and response up to 10,000 of deforming primitives. The paper finds that hybrid BV AABB‐Sphere for deformable object could increase the efficiency for CD, and restitution coefficient and other important physical concepts could provide more real collision response.

The paper does not deal with all types of CD, such as CD for two deformable objects.

Using AABB‐Sphere hybrid BV to build hierarchical BV tree for deformable object, and OBB‐Sphere hybrid BV for rigid object. Owing to the variety of hybrid BV structures, during different phases of CD, different overlapping tests are used to accelerate CD effectively. Using important physics conceptions provides a good solution to simulate more real collision response.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the decision process of enterprise software acquisition. The research aims to focus on identifying significant influences on enterprise software acquisition decisions.

As a research model and theoretical background, the organizational buying model (OBB) is proposed for the acquisition of enterprise systems. Influences on enterprise software acquisition decision processes were found by an empirical study carried out from a practitioner's perspective. The study collected data via a mail survey administered to information systems (IS) professionals involved in the acquisition of enterprise software (ES). The survey questionnaire was developed based on a previous research project and a literature review. Organizational buying behavior (OBB) models in the literature served as the basis for the influences included in the survey instrument. Factor analysis was carried out on the survey data to identify the most significant factors/influences.

The following five factors emerged as significant influences on the acquisition decision process of enterprise software: ES strategy and performance; BPR and adaptability; management commitment and user buy‐in; single vendor integrated solution; and consultants, team‐location, and vendor's financing. These factors are discussed and managerial implications are extracted. Conclusions are derived from the study findings and guidelines for further research are suggested.

The present study provides a starting point for further research in understanding a more comprehensive list of influences on enterprise software acquisition. A bigger sample from more industries is required to examine whether the significance of the influences remains stable.

Using OBB models has proven to be useful for organizations in making effective decisions on enterprise software acquisition.

Reshoring and insourcing decisions have been discussed in the popular press, yet coverage of these topics in the academic literature is limited. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it seeks to develop a more complete understanding of the underlying drivers of reshoring and insourcing decisions and their permutations. Second, it seeks to provide directions for future research to further analyze the link between drivers and outcomes of the reshoring and insourcing phenomena.

This research follows a conceptual approach guided by transaction cost economics (TCE) and organizational buying behavior (OBB) theories. First, a theoretical framework of reshoring and insourcing decisions is developed. Next a comprehensive summary of reshoring and insourcing drivers is evaluated, yielding an in-depth discussion of future research directions (FRDs).

The analysis demonstrates that the framework can be utilized to explain recent insourcing and reshoring changes of firms and to help dismantle the external and organizational challenges associated with reshoring and insourcing decision making.

Three FRDs are presented in the light of TCE and OBB. A fourth research direction highlights additional contextual factors outside the scope of these two theoretical lenses. These four research directions yield insightful implications for scholars and contribute to the emerging reshoring and insourcing literature.

The full array of potential reshoring and insourcing permutations are structured to allow for an elaboration of their respective drivers. Moreover, enablers and obstacles in implementing the multitude of combined reshoring and insourcing decisions are highlighted and summarized as contextual variables.

The concluding conceptual framework guides the evaluation of the reshoring and insourcing driver-outcome relationship across various value creation tasks and provides guidance to scholars and managers alike.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the characterization and classification of parts with respect to the meshing issue, and notably the meshing of thin parts difficulty handled automatically and which often requires adaptation steps. The objective is to distinguish the so-called thin parts and parts with thin features from the other parts.

The concepts of thin part and part with thin features are introduced together with the mechanisms and criteria used for their identification in a CAD models database. The criteria are built on top of a set of shape descriptors and notably the distance distribution which is used to characterize the thickness of the object. To speed up the identification process, shape descriptors are computed from tessellated parts.

A complete modular approach has been designed. It computes shape descriptors over parts stored in a directory and it uses criteria to distinguish three categories: thin parts, parts with thin features and other parts. Being the three categories identified, the user can spend more time on the parts that are considered as more difficulty meshable.

The approach is limited to the three above mentioned categories. However, it has been designed so that the values corresponding to the shape descriptors and associated meshing qualities can easily be inserted within a machining learning tool later on.

The use of the developed tool can be seen as a pre-processing step during the preparation of finite element (FE) simulation models. It is automatic and can be run in batch and in parallel.

The approach is modular, it is simple and easy to implement. Categories are built on top of several shape descriptors and not on a unique signature. It is independent of the CAD modeler. This approach is integrated within a FE simulation model preparation framework and help engineers anticipating difficulties when meshing CAD models.

In the process of robot shell design, it is necessary to match the shape of the input 3D original character mesh model and robot endoskeleton, in order to make the input model fit for robot and avoid collision. So, the purpose of this paper is to find an object of reference, which can be used for the process of shape matching.

In this work, the authors propose an interior bounded box (IBB) approach that derives from oriented bounding box (OBB). This kind of box is inside the closed mesh model. At the same time, it has maximum volume which is aligned with the object axis but is enclosed by all the mesh vertices. Based on the IBB of input mesh model and the OBB of robot endoskeleton, the authors can complete the process of shape matching. In this paper, the authors use an evolutionary algorithm, covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES), to approximate the IBB based on skeleton and symmetry of input character mesh model.

Based on the evolutionary algorithm CMA-ES, the optimal position and scale information of IBB can be found. The authors can obtain satisfactory IBB result after this optimization process. The output IBB has maximum volume and is enveloped by the input character mesh model as well.

To the best knowledge of the authors, the IBB is first proposed and used in the field of robot shell design. Taking advantage of the IBB, people can quickly obtain a shell model that fit for robot. At the same time, it can avoid collision between shell model and the robot endoskeleton.

The purpose of this paper is to present an automated method for complicated truss structure subassembly identification.

A community-detecting algorithm is introduced and adapted to reach the target. The ratio between oriented bounding boxes of parts is used as the weight to reflect the compact degree of assembly relationships. The authors also propose a method to merge nodes together at cut-vertex in model, by which the solving process could be accelerated.

This method could identify the subassemblies of complex truss structures according to the specific requirements.

This research area is limited to truss structures. This research offers a new method in assembly sequences planning area. It could identify subassemblies in complex truss structures, with which the existing method is not adequate to deal.

This method could facilitate the complex truss structures assembly planning, lower the human errors and reduce the planning time.

The method could inspire general assembly analysis planning.

All authors of this paper confirm that this manuscript is original and has not been submitted or published elsewhere.

This paper aims to investigate the dynamics of the organizational buying process of radical software innovations. Acquisition of technology innovations by early adopting organizations has been studied previously with scant attention being given to the actual buying process and the risk mitigation mechanism. This paper addresses these gaps in the literature and this paper finds evidence to support that the organizational buying process of radical software innovations is different from the general models of organizational buying.

Methods from the grounded theory approach were used to conduct 20 in-depth interviews with senior industry practitioners. Purposive sampling was used to identify the participants.

A theoretical model of the organizational buying process of radical software innovations emerged with themes and concepts that explain the dynamics of the buying and adoption processes. The paper challenges the fundamental tenet of organizational buying that needs recognition triggers the buying process. An interesting nuance was found that risk is mitigated within the buying action itself.

An understanding of the buyer behaviour process will help marketers of radical software innovations to formulate the appropriate marketing response. Sales personnel can attune their customer interactions when helping customers to acquire a radical software innovation. Firms that want to be early adopters and innovate can tune their buying process in line with the findings.

This paper develops a typological buying model. It unravels the dynamics of the adoption process by discussing how early adopting organizations buy radical software innovations. New concepts with rich explanatory powers are discussed.