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The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing literature related to organizational vision and discusses its potential implications for human resource development (HRD). Furthermore, the paper aims to provide a forum for debate on the utility and effectiveness of organizational vision and how it is related to HRD and strategic management.

Examination of the organizational vision literature revealed three commonly addressed themes: the visioning process; vision content selection; and vision implementation.

Implications of these findings for leadership and HRD are presented and include the role of HRD as a strategic partner in the visioning process and the role of leaders in advancing visioning efforts.

Goes some way to fulfilling the need for research in the area of organizational vision, particularly as it relates to leadership, motivation, strategy, and commitment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the subnational regional dimension of exports by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India, one of the prominent emerging economies or “rising powers”.

To understand the forces driving the variation in subnational region’s share in international business of rising power SMEs, an analytical conceptual framework on regional export advantage (REA) was formulated based on the review of relevant theoretical and empirical literature. The model was estimated for Indian states using the most appropriate and recently developed econometric technique of fractional logit model.

The paper provides evidence that the emergence of exports by rising Indian power SMEs is geographically limited to a few select regions/states. Southern Indian states alone accounted for half of exports from SMEs in the organized manufacturing sector during 2000-2008, followed by Western India. The REA analysis has brought to the fore that regional stock of technological knowledge, availability of skill, port facilities, urban areas and foreign direct investment stocks are crucial factors determining states’ share in SME exports across technological subcategories. However, the size and sophistication of local demand continue to influence states’ efforts at enhancing exports by SMEs, at least those belonging to the medium- and high-technology categories.

The proposed empirical framework could be extended to include institutional and political economy factors. Its application to subnational regional shares in total exports by all firms taking into account fixed effects for regions may be another feasible line of future research.

Empirical findings recognize that appropriate strategies by subnational policymakers are important for a region to achieve a higher contribution in national SME exports. Subnational policy measures aimed at upgradation of regional technological assets and skill base through the promotion of technology clusters and R & D of local firms, facilitation and creation of better industry-university linkages and investments in education and training institution may help the states to gain higher export advantage.

This paper provides new analytics and insights into the role of subnational spaces in the internationalization of rising power SMEs from India and serves to contribute to the extant international business research that is predominantly occupied with “nation” as the unit of location.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

The purpose of this paper is to explore why some firms succeed while others flounder or fail to implement quality improvement programmes. It synthesises self-efficacy literature to propose a model of self-efficacy’s role in affecting implementation success of quality improvement programmes in organisations.

A review of scholarly articles on the topics of self-efficacy and quality initiatives brings to light self-efficacy’s role in successful quality programme implementation. When considered in the context of organisation barriers, it can lead to organisational success.

It is determined that quality training programmes play an important role in affecting existing efficacies and leading to “quality self-efficacy” in employees. The proposed model and related propositions suggest that right approaches of implementing quality training among certain types of employees and/or organisations can promote teamwork to achieve performance success.

Moving forward, the proposed model should be empirically tested to improve our understanding of quality self-efficacy construct and its role in aiding organisational success. Furthermore, it would offer guidelines for the implementation of quality programmes in the most optimal way.

In applying theories on self-efficacy, motivation, empowerment, and quality training, the authors posit that existing efficacy and quality self-efficacy are crucial for quality implementation efforts to overcome organisational barriers and lead to effective teamwork and performance success.

The authors postulate that deciding factors for organisational success originate from employees themselves as existing efficacies. Even though employees can foster quality self-efficacy through the implementation of quality improvement initiatives, existing self-efficacy, and organisation barriers will be moderating forces on eventual effectiveness of quality self-efficacy, teamwork, and organisational performance.

The model and related propositions, linking self- and collective efficacies to quality training, teamwork, and quality performance, offered in this paper will prove useful for organisational decision-makers in selecting quality programmes for implementation in organisation to achieve performance success.

Hospitals are responsible for protecting the well-being of their patients and staff. To do so, accurate information is needed for the hospital to make appropriate decisions and allocate resources efficiently. This study aims to describe the implementation process of a surveillance system to reduce hospital-acquired infection (HAI) reporting errors in the maternity unit of a district hospital in Rwanda.

The team adapted an evidence-based tool to identify and report HAI, provided training to staff and distributed reporting responsibilities equally between the maternity staff to improve accuracy in HAI reporting.

The intervention successfully reduced the reporting discrepancy of HAI from 6.5 to 1.9 per cent: p < 0.05.

This case study described the implementation process of a surveillance system using strategic problem solving to reduce HAI reporting errors. The results can inform hospitals in similar settings of the steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system to reduce reporting errors. The accurate data will enable the hospital to take corrective measures to address HAI in the future.

The results will inform hospitals in similar settings of steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system using the SPS approach to reduce reporting errors.

In debates related to energy poverty, the link to questions of residential segregation remains somewhat peripheral. Because, usually, only energy-poor households are at the focus and residential mobility is not addressed, the interdependencies between households’ energy costs and the residential segregation of cities remain out of sight. Concern that energy efficiency measures could foster socio-spatial segregation in cities has recently emerged in Germany. If only households with higher incomes can afford housing with high energy efficiency standards, whereas low income households tend to choose non-refurbished but, in sum, more affordable housing stock, an increasing concentration of poor households in poor housing conditions would result. German energy efficiency and CO2 reduction policies are relatively insensitive to such questions.

Using survey data from a small shrinking city in Germany, we explore how energy costs are interrelated with residential location decisions and, thus, with segregation processes and patterns. Shrinking cities represent an interesting case because, here, a decreasing demand for housing stimulates residential mobility and paves the way for dynamic reconfigurations of socio-spatial patterns.

We found that energy-related aspects of homes play a role in location decisions. Low income households seek to minimize housing costs in general, paying specific attention to heating systems, thermal insulation and costs. Resulting segregation effects depend very much on where affordable and, at the same time, energy-efficient housing stock is spatially concentrated in cities. These findings should be taken into consideration for future policies on energy in existing dwellings.

The value which can be placed upon the rights of property in a name of a commodity, a food or drink, perhaps famous all over the world, which has come down to us through the centuries, is incalculable. Most of such foods and drinks have a regional association, and are prepared according to methods, often secret, handed down from one generation to another and from locally grown and produced materials. Nowhere are such traditions so well established as in cheese‐making and the wine industry. The names do not signify merely a method of manufacture, since this can be simulated almost anywhere, nor even the raw materials, but differences in climate, the soil and its treatment, its produce, harvesting, even in the contaminants of environment. Rochfort cheese, for example, is made from ewe's milk, but most important, with mould growths found only in the caves of that part of France where it is stored.

The aim the study is to explore the impact of real exchange rate volatility and other macroeconomic variable such as price of import, industrial production and real exchange rate on 45 import commodities, considering global financial crisis period on India's import from the US. The empirical analysis at disaggregate level of import indicates the existence of both short-run and long-run effect in one-third importing commodities. The results show both positive and negative effect and causality among variables.

The study uses E-GARCH model to gage the real exchange rate volatility, an autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bound test technique to discover the adequate short- and long-run relationships and Toda-Yamamoto causality method to analyze the causality among variables. The study uses the time period from 2002:M09 to 2019:M06.

The empirical analysis at disaggregate level of import indicates the existence of both short-run and long-run effect in one-third importing commodities. The results show both positive and negative effects and causality among variables.

The finding of the study suggests that macroeconomic variables have significant role and could be important to undertake the small and medium scale industries in policymaking. Government may need to make decision for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as their performance can bring change in the trade to compete globally by increasing and controlling the price of the import and defending the domestic competitiveness.

The study uses additional variable namely price of import and includes the global financial crisis period to measure dampening effect on each commodity by using robust econometric technique in context of emerging nation like India.