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The purpose of the paper is to evaluate and further develop a model created to start‐up the implementation of continuous improvements (CI) and work development (WD).

The model is evaluated through action research at two different Swedish companies.

The study indicates that companies using the model can be successful in the start‐up of CI and WD and that the model creates opportunities to go further in both CI and WD issues. The study emphasizes the idea that facilitators are important for starting up and initiating a change in behaviour. The results also indicate the need for structural changes and a more profound competence in WD and coaching among managers to further develop a successful combination of CI and WD.

The study shows that it is harder to implement daily CI activities in the administrative parts then at the shop floor.

An enormous volume of literature has evolved which promises remedies for any organization′s new product development woes. Unfortunately, new product development is an inherently uncertain and complex process which is generally not amenable to standardized solutions. Based on extensive consulting experience, addresses three commonly held misconceptions regarding the new product development process. Provides examples to illustrate each of the misconceptions and presents the lesson to be learned from each. Finally, discusses recommendations for management.

Process gatekeepers, individuals responsible for strictly enforcing data completeness at critical points within a process, are often used to encourage compliance with processes associated with enterprise systems. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between process gatekeepers and process compliance.

Through a mixed‐method approach of both qualitative and quantitative analyses of one firm's sales processes, the paper identifies and measures four key drivers of compliance with the work process: ease of use, perceived value, urgency, and gatekeeper flexibility.

The paper finds that process context‐specific, gatekeeper‐related factors directly affect an individual's willingness to work within the bounds of prescribed processes. In particular, the paper finds evidence that gatekeeper flexibility appears to encourage process compliance.

These findings are limited in generalizability to a single organization, by potential instrument‐related biases, and by typical caveats associated with models derived from exploratory research.

Implications include the motivation of the need for overall process compliance in realizing the benefits of an enterprise information system, as well as the counterintuitive notion that gatekeeper flexibility may be positively related to process compliance.

This paper introduces the notion of process gatekeeper, devises a context‐specific measure of gatekeeper flexibility, and relates this notion to an overall model associated with process compliance in an enterprise system context.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the drivers of trading company strategy that explain trading company success in international business.

The strategy tripod that results from combining the industry-, resource- and institution-based views, each of which proposes specific drivers of strategic success, was used as the framework for investigating, in a longitudinal perspective, the drivers of the strategy of a trading company and its success in emerging economies. Data were collected using in-depth interviews, document analysis and non-participant observation and analyzed using content analysis techniques.

Rather than a single driver, the authors found that strategic choices were driven at times by the demands of industrial competitiveness, at times by firm resources and capabilities, and at times by institutional conditions. There was evidence neither of a linear chronological order for these drivers, nor of driver obsolescence. On the contrary, findings suggest that drivers are cumulative and interactive. Changes in organizational resources and capabilities or in competitive or institutional environments can force review and re-thinking of strategic objectives.

Generalization is affected by the fact that the study focusses on the experience of one individual trading company.

From a pragmatic, managerially oriented perspective, the findings show the importance to be alert to all the tripod legs over time, and not belittle the institutional context. This fact is noted by the data, which not realize a timeline or order between the drivers and the strategies adopted by the firm.

The paper is of value in showing the drivers of trading company strategy and the determinants of trading company success in emerging economies using a longitudinal perspective rather than the more usual sectional perspective. In addition, the study is original in simultaneously investigating all three legs of the strategy tripod and providing empirical evidence about how the respective drivers interact over time.