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The value adding of each industry represents the value difference between the outputs and inputs of that industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of international outsourcing on the value adding of industries.

Input output analysis and linear programming are used as for the research methodology. Australian Motor Vehicle and Parts Manufacturing (AMVPM) industry as an outsourcer and its main suppliers were selected for ten alternative international outsourcing scenarios in a case study.

In all international outsourcing scenarios except the baseline scenario, the reduction in the value adding of Australia would be approximately three times more than the value adding reduction of the AMVPM industry. Moreover, the international outsourcing ratio has negative relationships with the value adding of the Australian industries and positive relationship with the international industries. Finally, it was found that the degree of supplier's dependency on the orders of the outsourcer effects the percentage reduction of supplier's value adding.

The aggregated data and the uncertainties in the technical coefficients are the main limitations of this research. The social and environmental costs, other tangible and intangible costs, as well as benefits of international outsourcing need to be further analysed in future research.

This study would help decision makers at the macro level to analyse and control the effect of international outsourcing on the value adding of their economies.

This study expands the current research at the industry level of international outsourcing by quantifying the effect of international outsourcing upon the value adding of all respected industries.

Continued innovation of products, services, technology and the organization itself, is one way to keep a business on its feet during these turbulent times. The importance of innovation – the process during which leap‐changes are effected – is generally recognized. However, in practice, the successful conclusion of a total innovation project is by no means matter‐of‐course. Many innovations end in failure. Research in the USA raises the questions of how successful Dutch companies and their managers are in terms of innovation. How many innovation projects succeed, how many fail? This study searches for an answer to this question. The logical next question then is, what are the differences between innovation projects that succeed and those that fail? In short, what are the factors that lead to success, and which factors lead to failure in the projects examined?

In this paper, some of the most important results of the recent work of the author’s Futures Observatory, the culmination of a decade of global research involving several thousand managers and professionals from large organisations, are explored in the context of the long‐range planning undertaken by larger organisations, especially governments, which can positively influence their environments. A range of research techniques has been developed to allow them to identify possible futures and – where possible – to manipulate them. The paper also includes a summary of the fundamental concepts underpinning the work and of the evidence which validates this.

Industry and academic marketing researchers have attempted to predict consumer behavior from the volume and sentiment of social media activity. Yet, real-world examples demonstrate that individual and cultural factors may need to be built into current measures. This study aims to examine factors that differentiated sharers from non-sharers in regards to consumer sharing habits about entertainment products.

A survey of students at four large Southeastern Universities (n = 3,079).

Quantifying cultural work done about social media phenomenon, such as “Black Twitter”, many statistically significant differences were found between consumers. For example, women and African Americans shared their opinions far more frequently than other demos. Second, sharing habits greatly varied when considering the social media platform being used. Finally, respondents shared positive opinions about a product more than negative ones and sharing rates increased after a product’s release.

Although much consumer marketing research continues to analyze social media behavior based on volume and valence, this study found that other factors – such as consumer demographics, the social media platform being used and a consumer’s engagement with, and reaction to, a product – need to be added to marketing metrics.

This study applies to German data a model in which the decision to attend higher education depends on the ratio of marginal cost and marginal return expected from higher education. If this ratio is below a certain threshold, the individual will choose to participate in higher education. In a simulation exercise, the impact of selected variables on this threshold, and thus on the participation probability, is quantified. The results suggests the presence of financial constraints binding participation in higher education and that the participation decision responds to some extent to return expectations in terms of labour market outcome and to financial incentives such as student support.

Climate change will affect tourism at several temporal and spatial levels. This chapter focuses on the quantification of effects and the development of strategies to reduce extremes and frequencies as well as thresholds in tourism areas. Knowledge about possibilities for mitigation and adaptation of current and expected climate conditions requires interdisciplinary approaches and solutions. Several examples are presented, including the effects of trees against climate change and extreme events (heat waves), behavior adaptations, urban and regional planning measures, bioclimatic conditions in the Mediterranean and human–biometeorological conditions under climate change conditions, and user-friendly computer tools for the quantification of urban bioclimate conditions.

Links the role of work study to TQM and argues that work study methods can play an integral part in TQM. Argues that many TQM programmes fail because they do not have measurement techniques in place which TQM requires on an ongoing basis. Suggests that work study methods provide necessary tools and techniques for TQM.

The article explores to what extent party politics has influenced the different trajectories in Spain and Italy in terms of gendered active social policies (ASPs) (i.e. ALMPs and WLBPs). Second, it investigates how social and political modernization in the two countries has facilitated or hindered party competition on gendered ASPs.

To investigate to what extent parties support gendered ASPs, the article relies on an original content analysis of party manifestos issued during the 2010s national elections. A total of 1387 quasi-sentences have been coded. The results were then quantified to graphically show how positions differentiate across parties and countries.

The content analysis of party manifestos displays that party politics matters: gendered ASPs are backed in a very different way by the Spanish and Italian parties. While in Spain all political parties have strongly championed ALMPs and WLBPs, this is not the case for the Italian parties. The research has also stressed that the specific path of social and political modernization is an important intervening variable that alters positively or negatively parties' support for gendered ASPs.

The article contributes to widen theoretically and empirically the literature on ASPs in the Southern European countries. Theoretically, it questions the supposed homogeneity of the Southern social model and investigated the alleged bifurcation between Italy and Spain, focusing on those policies – ASPs – that constitute the foundations of the Southern model: familialism and dualization. Furthermore, this bifurcation was analyzed adopting a gender perspective, and exploring adherence to or departure from the Southern model. Third, the article focuses on the politics of ASPs demonstrating that inspecting the political arena can contribute to explain policy change.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the practices of the interim and current CEOs employed in managing a supportive environment conducive for learning as well as sustaining organizational change; and second, to describe the theory of practice guiding their efforts.

An action science approach, coupled with the case‐study data‐gathering method to enable a pragmatic grounding of the change processes and organizational learning.

A theory of practice defined as three process principles of power that aid in managing a supportive environment conducive for learning as well as organizational change.

The theory of practice set forth combines two advocated views in using power (position power and empowerment) into a framework of reciprocal‐relational power. The theory needs to undergo further research to test its applicable knowledge in an action context.

Potential guide in helping practitioners in recognizing and implementing processes of reciprocal‐relational power to improve organizational learning and the success of change.

The paper presents a new way to recognize and see reciprocal‐relational forces within a cultural‐social‐political context.

This paper aims to define a theory of practice in successfully implementing management‐communication practices in the service of organizational learning.

A combination of research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, was used in gathering and analyzing data.

Three principles in creating a supportive environment conducive to employee empowerment and participative decision making enable organizational learning.

The study provides empirical findings in support of current theoretic knowledge in organizational learning and empowerment.

The paper partly rectifies that little research has investigated the enabling structures and processes to manage the environment that surrounds and supports employee participative decision making and new learning to occur at the individual and collective level within a health care setting.