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The purpose of this study is to analyse the extent of the integration between manufacturers and third party logistics (TPL) providers at present and how the integration is expected to develop in the near future. The focus is on studying what tasks are part of the cooperation, what information and communications technology (ICT) tools are used for support, and what types of services are supplied and are expected to be supplied by TPL providers in the future.

A multiple case study of seven manufacturers and TPL providers is conducted. As the basis for the study a literature review is presented focusing on supply chain management and TPL provider integration as well as operationalisation of the integration concept. A framework is chosen for developing a detailed interview guide.

Cooperation is primarily found in sub‐processes of three out of the eight business processes studied. Further integration in the same processes is expected, based on ICT tools and with a focus on cost. ICT competences are primarily seen as a qualifier not a differentiator. Because the future TPL industry is expected to be characterised by more standardised services, more segmented markets for the various services and more intense competition, the manufacturers do not expect increased dependence on the TPL providers.

Managerial and behavioural components are not part of this study and their effect on integration will require further investigation.

From a supply chain management perspective, the study sheds light on a rarely explored area concerning the integration between manufacturers and TPL providers and its future development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how necessary changes in a manufacturing system can be determined based on a new product specification. It proposes a formal modelling approach, enhancing the utilization of changeability of a manufacturing system given a set of changes in a product.

To develop the proposed modelling approach, a design science research method is used to iteratively frame an issue, develop a solution and evaluate it in a relevant environment. Evaluation is carried out through a case study.

A stepwise method is introduced, facilitating the creation of a model describing the relations between product characteristics within a product family and the changeability of a manufacturing system. Limitations of each manufacturing system module are evaluated to determine permittable changes in the product domain. This establishes clear relations between product attributes and manufacturing capabilities. Through this, users receive feedback on which parts of the manufacturing system must change, depending on changes in product attributes.

Testing has been carried out in an academic learning factory setting. Products and processes are thus less complicated than an industrial setting. The system used for validation is highly modular by design.

The proposed approach could be used during product development, when determining characteristics and variety of new products, evaluating the consequences of changing the solution space. This implies a shorter time-to-market and lower product costs.

Faster product development and shorter time-to-market would give manufacturers increased agility to track market needs, and ultimately lead to greater fulfilment of customer requirements.

The current body of literature focus on modelling either products or manufacturing systems. Little literature addresses both, but does not touch on identifying changes within parts of the manufacturing system, nor supports the high changeability proposed in this research.

The current study aims to address the relationship between trust, team identification, and team conflict. Specifically, it aims to examine whether trust in peers mediates the relationship between team identification and team conflict.

This is an empirical paper based on two field studies. In Study 1, 241 employees in a US Fortune 500 company distributed in various and mostly R&D teams were surveyed. In Study 2, 205 employees in a health care organization in the Midwest were surveyed.

Team identification was related to lower levels of both task conflict and relationship conflict. This relationship, however, is mediated by the employees' trust in their peers.

This finding addresses concerns about the mechanisms by which employee attitudes contribute to work behaviors.

This study highlights the importance of cultivating team members' sense of “we” rather than a sense of “I” in the team context, reinforced the crucial role of trust in organizational context. Further, by shedding light on the process by which teams come into conflict, our results suggest a means by which managers and organizations can work towards creating optimal levels of conflict in their work teams.

As far as it is known, this is the first field study that has examined the mediating role of trust between team identity and team conflict.

This paper aims to reveal how larger enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can enable innovation collaboration for enhanced competitiveness of the offshore wind energy sector.

The research is based on a longitudinal qualitative study starting in 2011 with a project-based network learning course with 15 SME wind farm suppliers and follow-up interviews with 10 SMEs and continued with interviews conducted with 20 individual enterprises within operation and maintenance conducted in 2014-2015.

The findings reveal challenges as well as opportunities for innovation collaboration between larger enterprises and SMEs to contribute to the innovation and competitiveness of the offshore wind farm sector. A glass ceiling is revealed for demand-driven positions if the SME does not possess rare and specific valuable knowledge. There are opportunities revealed in general for supplier-driven positions if SME suppliers can collaborate and develop interesting solutions for larger enterprises. If SMEs succeed in either of these aims, the SMEs have an opportunity to attain partner-driven collaboration. However, challenges are present according to the understanding of the different organisational approaches in SMEs and larger enterprises and in the different business approaches.

The research is limited to the offshore wind energy sector. Further research is needed for verification of the findings in other energy sectors.

A fourfold contribution is made to enhance the understanding of innovation collaboration and to enable competitiveness for the offshore wind energy sector. SMEs, larger enterprises, academic researchers and policy bodies are provided with a model for action within the four positions for innovation collaboration.

This article considers how the evaluation of research teams can better account for the challenges of transdisciplinarity, including their larger team size and more diverse and permeable membership, as well as the tensions between institutional pressures on individuals to publish and team goals.

An evaluation team was retained from 2015 to 2020 to conduct a comprehensive external evaluation of a five-year EPSCoR-funded program undertaken by a transdisciplinary research team. The formative portion of the evaluation involved monitoring the program’s developmental progress, while the summative portion tracked observable program outputs and outcomes as evidence of progress toward short- and long-term goals. The evaluation team systematically reviewed internal assessments and gathered additional data for an external assessment via periodic participation in team meetings, participant interviews and an online formative team survey (starting in Year 2).

Survey participants had a better understanding of the project’s “Goals and Vision” compared to other aspects. “Work Roles,” and particularly the timeliness of decision-making, were perceived to be a “Big Problem,” specifically in regard to heavy travel by key managers/leadership. For “Communication Channels,” Year 2 tensions included differing views on the extent to which management should be collaborative versus “hierarchical.” These concerns about communication demonstrate that differences in language, culture or status impact the efficiency and working relationship of the team. “Authorship Credit/Intellectual Property” was raised most consistently each year as an area of concern.

The study involves the use of a unique survey approach.

The purpose of this paper is to increase knowledge of the role organizational factors have in how health personnel make efficiency-thoroughness trade-offs, and how these trade-offs potentially affect clinical quality dimensions.

The paper is a thematic synthesis of the literature concerning health personnel working in clinical, somatic healthcare services, organizational factors and clinical quality.

Identified organizational factors imposing trade-offs were high workload, time limits, inappropriate staffing and limited resources. The trade-offs done by health personnel were often trade-offs weighing thoroughness (e.g. providing extra handovers or working additional hours) in an environment weighing efficiency (e.g. ward routines of having one single handover and work-hour regulations limiting physicians' work hours). In this context, the health personnel functioned as regulators, balancing efficiency and thoroughness and ensuring patient safety and patient centeredness. However, sometimes organizational factors limited health personnel's flexibility in weighing these aspects, leading to breached medication rules, skipped opportunities for safety debriefings and patients being excluded from medication reviews.

Balancing resources and healthcare demands while maintaining healthcare quality is a large part of health personnel's daily work, and organizational factors are suspected to affect this balancing act. Yet, there is limited research on this subject. With the expected aging of the population and the subsequent pressure on healthcare services' resources, the balancing between efficiency and thoroughness will become crucial in handling increased healthcare demands, while maintaining high-quality care.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate an unexploited conceptual pragmatic sociological framework for analyses of action strategies among social assistance recipients, who are affected by contemporary politics of retrenchment.

Noting that existing literature on resistance and coping is mostly concerned with either collective public resistance or sub-public individualised coping strategies, the paper turns to theoretical insights from newer French pragmatic sociologist Laurent Thévenot, enabling the researcher to dissolve the stark boundaries between private/public and coping/resistance. The use of the concepts is demonstrated through a case study analysis of the various actions of Danish social assistance recipients, who were recently affected by a harsh workfare initiative.

The empirical demonstration points to a plurality of individualised strategies of action, taken on by the affected social assistance recipients. Thereby it points to some advantages of the proposed framework, as it makes visible the versatility of the contemporary “welfare client”, as he or she dynamically changes the scope of action and moves between the private and the public and between coping and resistance.

The paper applies hitherto unexploited concepts from French pragmatic sociology to strategies of action among welfare recipients in times of welfare retrenchment.