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The purpose of this paper is to find what kinds of problems, while implementing information security policy, may take place in foreign companies in the East African Community (EAC) because of cultural differences, and to suggest supplemental countermeasures in international frameworks such as Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and ISO/IEC27001.

Setting potential problems based on Hofstede's scores of cultural dimensions and the authors' experience, this paper predicts potential problems first by using the theory of level of potential. Local employees working for foreign companies were polled to evaluate the severity of the problems. Based on the survey results, the paper finds which problems may take place, what triggers them and how severe they are. Finally, it finds countermeasures to prevent the problems.

Overall, British, US and Japanese companies are found to have higher potential of facing problems in the EAC. The problem of “using a previous company's confidential information” has been found to have the highest severity. British, US and Belgian companies have individualism‐originated problems. Japanese companies have the highest potential of facing problems due to masculinity. Chinese companies have the highest potential of facing problems due to long‐term orientation. In addition, a list of countermeasures is proposed to protect business information.

The paper has identified information security management (ISM)‐related problems with their severities for each of the selected investing countries in the EAC, applying a new method to predict potential problems concerning ISM in foreign companies. It has recommended practical countermeasures against the six serious problems identified.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

An indirect symmetric Galerkin BEM (SGBEM) is applied to 2D potential problems in this paper. Based on the assumption that solutions from different methods should be the same, the hypersingular matrix appeared in SGBEM is approximately expressed by those matrices appeared in asymmetric Galerkin BEM (AGBEM). As only strong and weak singularities need to be solved, the problem becomes much simpler. The space derivatives of potential are expressed with a set of new meaning distributed flux, which will produce the same potential on the boundary position for Ω in the unbounded domain Ω+Ω′, so that hypersingularity will not appear for boundary points. Therefore, there is no need of C^1,α for the spatial interpolation function (no Galerkin integration can be used for this purpose). Formulations for both the steady‐state and time‐domain potential problems are given. Three numerical examples are analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed indirect method.

This chapter addresses social embeddedness effects on ex ante management of economic transactions. We focus on dyadic embeddedness, that is the history of prior transactions between business partners and the anticipation of future transactions. Ex ante management through, for example, contractual arrangements is costly but mitigates risks associated with the transaction, such as risks from strategic and opportunistic behavior. Dyadic embeddedness can reduce such risks and, hence, the need for ex ante management by, for instance, making reciprocity and conditional cooperation feasible. The chapter presents a novel theoretical model generating dyadic embeddedness effects, together with effects of transaction characteristics and management costs. We stress the interaction of the history of prior transactions and expectations of future business. Hypotheses are tested using new and primary data from an extensive survey of more than 900 purchases of information technology (IT) products (hard- and software) by almost 800 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results support, in particular, the hypotheses on effects of dyadic embeddedness.

This chapter addresses how firms buying information technology (IT) products select their suppliers. We argue that social embeddedness, in the sense of own experiences with suppliers and information about experiences of third parties, influences these types of selection decisions. More specifically, we claim that social embeddedness is more important if: (1) the potential damage for the buyer from receiving an inferior product is larger and (2) if it is more difficult for the buyer to monitor the quality of the product. We use large-scale surveys of IT transactions in the Netherlands and Germany to test these hypotheses. In general, our hypotheses about the effects of social embeddedness on partner selection are supported. We find that buyers tend to assign greater weight to product quality if the potential damage for the buyer is larger. Negative third-party information is particularly important if the buyer has large problems to monitor the quality of a product.

The study aims to investigate whether the perceived problems in exiting a business—as well as the scope of and access to external support—may impact an entrepreneur's decision regarding the exit strategy, that is, the choice between the stewardship and harvest exit strategy.

The authors have collected data from 302 entrepreneurs using a novel survey instrument and subjected the sample to structural equation modeling (SEM) and ordered logit regressions.

The results reveal that potential difficulties in implementing an exit strategy, the scope of external support anticipated by the exiting entrepreneur and access to such support influence the potential choice of an exit strategy. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the stewardship exit strategy is preferred over the harvest exit strategy by entrepreneurs who face potential difficulties in obtaining external support or foresee problems related to a potential exit strategy.

This study provides new insights into an entrepreneur's exit phenomenon by adding new elements, such as perceived problems involved in exiting a business as well as the scope of and access to external support, to the list of factors that may affect the choice of an exit strategy.

Over the past 10 years, client briefing or facility programming of building projects, has received a great deal of attention from researchers and practitioners. Despite these efforts, tangible improvements to client briefing remain elusive. More testing and evaluation still needs to be carried out before we can judge whether or not any progress has been made. The primary aim of this paper is to present the present authors' experience of testing three potential client briefing techniques in a study conducted within the design studio of a university school of architecture and building. The authors also place the client briefing problem into context by first analysing types of problem, the client briefing problem itself, potential problem‐solving techniques and the three techniques selected for this trial. The current paper presents the results of a survey of student architect opinions about the processes and techniques that were trialed. It was found that more empirical research is needed with these and other techniques in the client briefing environment because no single technique is likely to provide the best solution in every situation. However, whichever technique is adopted, it seems advisable to identify the client's strategic objectives clearly so that the design team can begin its work on a firm foundation. Resistance within the design studio culture towards potential application of analytical techniques is also discussed.

This paper seeks to define a new construct, salesperson opportunity recognition, which contributes to solutions selling effectiveness and efficiency.

A framework for the composition of salesperson opportunity recognition as well as antecedents and outcomes is constructed from an analysis and synthesis of the extant literature on entrepreneurial cognition and creativity.

The paper identifies salesperson opportunity recognition as a distinct, multi‐dimensional construct that mediates the relationship between key organizational variables and solutions selling outcomes.

The paper is conceptual and requires empirical development.

This paper describes key cognitive processes necessary for salespeople to succeed in today's solutions‐oriented, customer‐centric environment. The discussion should help sales scholars embark on new research into salesperson cognition.