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This study reports an examination of the relationships between Porter's (1980) generic strategies, dynamic environments, and performance. In me study, profile deviation is used to test strategy—environment fit. A sample of 173 acute care hospitals was used to test the proposed relationship. Results from the study indicate that adherence to an externally specified ideal strategy profile has a positive effect on firm performance. From a methodological standpoint, results suggest that empirical and theoretical profiles have equal predictive validity, and both have a higher predictive validity, than a random profile. Results also suggest that profiles can not be assumed to be robust to differences in performance measures used.

Global competition has increased a manufacturer focus on relationships and optimization of internal processes within channels of distribution. One of the central themes of channel relationships and an important theoretical proposition in corporate branding has been achievement of alignment between corporate and stakeholder perspectives. Using three corporate brands, this study seeks to use a configurational theoretic approach to investigate how deviation of salespeople from the corporate perspective is related to their satisfaction and commitment.

The manager‐specified ideal corporate brand profile was used as a proxy for a corporate perspective and a benchmark. Applying the Profile Deviation approach to study the effects of misalignment, the authors hypothesise that salespeople's deviation from the corporate perspective is negatively related to their satisfaction and commitment.

Results, which were robust across the three corporate brands, partially support the hypotheses. However, positive performance implications of salesperson deviation suggest that the effects of misalignment are more complex than currently viewed in the literature. Findings and implications are discussed and research directions are developed.

The study offers insights into the areas of corporate brand misalignment, internal branding and salesmanship.

From the comparison of the three congruence models, it was intended to infer which corporation has succeeded in narrowing the perceptual discrepancy between the corporate and salesperson perspectives. By developing a fine‐grained analysis the study pin‐points the actual aspects that require co‐alignment, thus facilitating managerial decision making.

This paper aims to develop a thorough understanding of industry-specific networking behaviour on the internationalization performance of Czech small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The authors used a profile deviation-ideal profile methodology to explore the ideal networking behaviour profile of different industries. The authors argue that firms adhering to ideal profiles performed well in the international market, while firms deviating from the ideal profile performed poorly. Data were collected through an online questionnaire specifically targeted at Czech SME executives. The authors attempted to explore these issues by using four aspects of networking behaviour to test the ideal networking behaviour profile of five different industries (automotive, telecommunications, construction, audit and finance and transportation).

The authors have identified different ideal networking behaviour profile for three industries, which underpinned supported the hypothesis that each dimension of networking behaviour should be fine-tuned for each sector to achieve to attain maximum benefits and performance in the international market.

Although previous studies supported the role of networking behaviour in improving internationalization performance, multiple studies had also provided conflicting results on how networking affects different industries and it is unclear how and why networking affects these various industries differently. The authors believe that the results research provides empirical evidence in proving that different networking dimensions should be fine-tuned as per industry to achieve the highest performance in the international market. The authors believe that the findings broaden the current understanding of the role of networks in the internationalization. The authors believe that the findings extend the current understanding of the role of networks in the internationalization of SMEs.

Material extrusion-based additive manufacturing is a prominent manufacturing technique to fabricate complex geometrical three-dimensional (3D) parts. Despite the indisputable advantages of material extrusion-based technique, the poor surface and subsurface integrity hinder the industrial application of this technology. The purpose of this study is introducing the hot air jet treatment (HAJ) technique for surface treatment of additive manufactured parts.

In the presented research, novel theoretical formulation and finite element models are developed to study and model the polishing mechanism of printed parts surface through the HAJ technique. The model correlates reflow material volume, layer width and layer height. The reflow material volume is a function of treatment temperature, treatment velocity and HAJ velocity. The values of reflow material volume are obtained through the finite element modeling model due to the complexity of the interactions between thermal and mechanical phenomena. The theoretical model presumptions are validated through experiments, and the results show that the treatment parameters have a significant impact on the surface characteristics, hardness and dimensional variations of the treated surface.

The results demonstrate that the average value of error between the calculated theoretical results and experimental results is 14.3%. Meanwhile, the 3D plots of Ra and Rq revealed that the maximum values of Ra and Rq reduction percentages at 255°C, 270°C, 285°C and 300°C treatment temperatures are (35.9%, 33.9%), (77.6%,76.4%), (94%, 93.8%) and (85.1%, 84%), respectively. The scanning electron microscope results illustrate three different treatment zones and the treatment-induced and manufacturing-induced entrapped air relief phenomenon. The measured results of hardness variation percentages and dimensional deviation percentages at different regimes are (8.33%, 0.19%), (10.55%, 0.31%) and (−0.27%, 0.34%), respectively.

While some studies have investigated the effect of the HAJ process on the structural integrity of manufactured items, there is a dearth of research on the underlying treatment mechanism, the integrity of the treated surface and the subsurface characteristics of the treated surface.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the status and characteristics of rail technology of high-speed railway in China, and point out the development direction of rail technology of high-speed railway.

This study reviews the evolution of high-speed rail standards in China, comparing their chemical composition, mechanical attributes and geometric specifications with EN standards. It delves into the status of rail production technology, shifts in key performance indicators and the quality characteristics of rails. The analysis further examines the interplay between wheels and rails, the implementation of grinding technology and the techniques for inspecting rail service conditions. It encapsulates the salient features of rail operation and maintenance within the high-speed railway ecosystem. The paper concludes with an insightful prognosis of high-speed railway technology development in China.

The rail standards of high-speed railway in China are scientific and advanced, highly operational and in line with international standards. The quality and performance of rail in China have reached the world’s advanced level. The 60N profile guarantees the operation quality of wheel–rail interaction effectively. The rail grinding technology system scientifically guarantees the long-term good service performance of the rail. The rail service state detection technology is scientific and efficient. The rail technology will take “more intelligent” and “higher speed” as the development direction to meet the future needs of high-speed railway in China.

The development direction of rail technology for high-speed railway in China is defined, which will promote the continuous innovation and breakthrough of rail technology.

The main aim of this paper is description of new apparatus and approach for contact less evaluation of surface roughness. For characterization of surface roughness, the procedures based on classical and non‐classical (complexity) parameters are proposed.

For obtaining the roughness profile in the selected direction (on the line transect of the surface), the special arrangements of textile bend around sharp edge is used. The image analysis is used for extraction of surface profile. The system of controlled movement allows one to obtain surface roughness profile in two dimensions.

By using aggregation (cut length principle), the roughness resolution is decreased and roughness profile is created without local roughness variation. After application of cut length principle, the direct combination of slices leads to the creation of roughness surface.

There exists plenty of roughness characteristics based on standard statistics or analysis of spatial processes. For evaluation of suitability of these characteristics, it will be necessary to compare results from sets of textile surfaces.

The measurement of fabric roughness by an RCM device is useful as simple tool for description of roughness in individual slices and in the whole rough plane. This method replaces the traditional contact stylus profiling methods

The reconstruction of surface roughness from individual slices. The utilization of aggregation principle for creation of micro and macro roughness. The evaluation of roughness parameters based on the geometrical characteristics, harmonic analysis and complexity indices.

The purpose of this paper is to show the possibility of using the quartz regular surface profile in the form of protrusions and troughs of a triangular shape instead of a random surface profile characterized by a Gaussian correlation function when analyzing the electromagnetic field parameters above the quartz surface to determine the conditions of the effective surface subnano-polishing.

The numerical determination of the evanescent field optimal configuration formed near the quartz rough surface coated with an aqueous solution of calcium hypochlorite when illuminated from the side of the solution has been considered. The finite-element approach is used to solve the Helmholtz two-dimensional vector equation.

Conditions of effective photochemical polishing of rough surface with profile in the form of triangular protrusions and troughs to a sub-nanometer level of roughness are found. These optimal conditions are achieved when the light falls normally on the quartz surface and the height of the surface protrusions is small (up to 20 nm).

This paper shows the possibility of simplifying electrodynamic calculations and analyzing an evanescent field near a quartz surface for the purpose of photochemical polishing by replacing the random profile function with a deterministic periodic function. That is, the novelty of this paper, which supplements the works published earlier [Journal of Modern Optics, 67(3) (2020):242–251; Optik, 207 (2020):164438].

This paper aims to investigate the effect of centrifugal disk finishing (CDF) technique on the surface and subsurface characteristics of the fused deposited modeling (FDM) parts in both theoretical and experimental aspects. From theoretical aspect, a novel theoretical model is developed as a function of layer deposition orientation, layer thickness, finishing working time, density ratio and hardness ratio to estimate the surface roughness profile of FDM part at different finishing conditions and finishing time intervals. Meanwhile, from the experimental aspect, an experimental campaign was performed under different mechanical and mechanical-chemical finishing conditions to verify the theoretical model and also assess the surface and subsurface characteristics of the polished parts.

The theoretical model commences with an approximation of surface profile of the FDM part through a sequence of parabola arcs, continues with the calculation of reference line and machined surface profile and leads to a formulation of surface roughness of as-printed and polished surface. In the experimental section, the FDM parts are polished under dry, pure water, 25% and 50% volumetric aqueous acetone solutions finishing conditions through CDF technique.

The comparison between experimental and theoretical results reveals 9% mean absolute error between theoretical and experimental results. Meanwhile, Rq reduction percentage of polished parts under dry, pure water, 25% and 50% aqueous acetone solutions are 66.1%, 54.5%, 56.9% and 67.2%, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy results reveal severe layer damage in dry finishing condition, while the application of 50% aqueous acetone as a polishing solution completely eliminates layer damage. Another promising finding was sticky material phenomenon on the surface of polished part under 25% finishing condition. The Shore hardness test illustrates that the surface hardness improvement of the polished parts under dry, pure water, 25% and 50% aqueous acetone solutions finishing conditions are 8.4%, 2.25%, 4.36% and 10.8%, respectively. The results also revealed that the dimension variation of polished parts under dry, pure water, 25% and 50% aqueous acetone solutions are 0.634%, 0.525%, 0.545% and 0.608%, respectively. The edge profile radius of the as-printed part is 134 µm, while the edge profiles radius of the polished parts under dry, pure water, 25% aqueous acetone solution and 50% aqueous acetone solution are 785.5 µm, 545.5 µm, 623.5 µm and 721.5 µm, respectively, at the polishing time of 720 min.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study the benefits of the mechanical-chemical polishing technique in comparison to mechanical and chemical polishing strategy of the FDM parts for the first time. Beside the experimental campaign, the novel analytical formulation of surface roughness as a function of mechanical properties of abrasive media and FDM part and finishing specifications provides a valuable insight in the case of material-removal processes.

Purpose – Taking a configurational perspective, this study explores if there are different market entry strategies used and if there are ideal configurations of subsidiary strategy in different types of foreign countries.

Methodology – The study is based on a sample of 238 subsidiaries of German companies that are located in 38 different countries. Capturing many different facets of the subsidiary strategy, the configuration of top performers in different environments is identified. With a ‘fit as profile deviation’ approach, it is investigated whether the strategy of the top performers indeed constitutes an ideal strategy.

Findings – The host countries of the subsidiaries can be clustered in four types: BRICs, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the USA. Chosen market entry modes differ significantly between those four host country types. The top performing subsidiaries in each of the country types have distinct strategy patterns. However, deviation from the strategy profile of the top performers only explains the lower performance of subsidiaries in country types BRICs and Eastern Europe. Performance differences between subsidiaries in Western Europe and the USA cannot be explained with the variables captured in this study.

Research limitations/implications – Taking a configurational approach on subsidiary strategy proves to be a promising path to create new insights. But subsidiary strategy pattern alone is insufficient to explain performance in two country types. Thus, other influence factors must be investigated. Furthermore, the study did explore subsidiary strategy patterns with a cluster analysis, without ex ante hypotheses about the patterns. Hence, further studies are needed to re-investigate these patterns.

Coordination feature (CF) is the information carrier in dimension and shape transfer process in aircraft manufacturing. The change of its geometric size, shape, position or other attributes would affect the consistency of accumulated errors between two or more assemblies. To identify these “key characteristics” that have a close relationship with the assembly precision, a comprehensive method was developed under digital manufacturing environment, which was based on importance calculation. The multi-hierarchy and multi-station assembly process of aircraft products were also taken into consideration.

First, the interaction and evaluation relationship between components at different manufacturing stages was decomposed with a hierarchical net. Second, to meet coordination accuracy requirements, with the integrated application of Taguchi quality loss function, accuracy principal and error correction coefficient H, the quality loss between target features and candidate features at adjacent assembly hierarchies were calculated, which was based on their precision variation. Third, the influence degree and affected degree of the features were calculated with DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) method, and the concepts of centrality degree index and cause degree index were proposed for calculating the complete importance degree to eventually identify the CFs.

Based on the proposed methodology, CFs, affecting the skin profile and the flush coordination accuracy, were successfully identified at different assembly hierarchies to a certain type of wing flap component.

Benefit results for the engineering application showed that the deviation of skin profile was more accurate than before, and the tolerance was also closer to the centerline of required assembly precision range. Moreover, the stability in the assembly process was increased by 26.9 per cent, which could bring a higher assembly quality and an enhancement on aircraft’s flight performance.