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This paper seeks to present recent work demonstrating the feasibility of Microbots' mobility in rough terrain. Microbots are a new search and rescue concept based on the deployment of teams of small spherical mobile robots. In this concept, hundreds to thousands of cm‐scale, sub‐kilogram Microbots are released over a search site such as collapsed building rubble or caves. Microbots use hopping, bouncing, and rolling to infiltrate subterranean spaces in search of possible survivors.

The feasibility of the Microbot mobility concept is evaluated through laboratory prototypes and mobility simulations.

Experimental studies have demonstrated the feasibility of using dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) to generate autonomous hops. High‐efficiency hydrogen fuel cells were shown to be able to power DEAs. Simulation results show that Microbots of proper diameter and hop height can successfully traverse very rough terrains.

The implication of this research is that small hopping robots are appropriate for certain search and rescue missions. The limitation of the research to date is that issues of control, path planning, and communication have not yet been addressed.

Key technologies of the Microbot mobility, that use high‐energy‐density micro fuel cells combined with low cost and lightweight DEAs, are feasible. These technologies have the potential to make a significant impact on the search and rescue robots.

These results suggest that a team of Microbots‐based DEAs and micro fuel cells can be a useful and effective tool for search and rescue operations.

This paper examines how firms of different sizes formulate and implement strategies to achieve fit with an external environment disrupted by a geopolitical event. The context of the study is the pharmaceutical industry and how it managed the supply chain uncertainty created by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit.

Data were collected longitudinally from the pro-Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, until the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January 2020. Twenty-seven interviews were conducted in the pharmaceutical sector, including nineteen interviews with senior managers at eight case companies and eight interviews with experts working for trade associations and standards institutes. The interview findings were triangulated with Brexit policy and strategy documentation.

When formulating strategy, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) used worst case assumptions, while large firms, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) gathered knowledge as part of a “wait-and-see” strategy, allowing them to reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Firms then implemented reactive and/or proactive strategies to mitigate supply chain risks.

The study elaborates on strategic contingency theory by identifying two important conditions for achieving strategic fit: first, companies deploy intangible resources, such as management time, to gather information and reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty. Second, companies deploy tangible resources (supply chain redundancies, new supply chain assets) to lessen the negative outcomes of supply chain risks. Managers are provided with an empirical framework for mitigating supply chain uncertainty and risk originating from geopolitical disruptions.

The present study attempted to replicate the findings of Kolb's research identifying two groups of mediators, which she labeled “Dealmakers” and “Orchestrators.” Seventy‐seven mediators were presented with a written dispute and asked to react the likelihood that they would use each of nine different mediation techniques. The techniques corresponded to Sheppard's taxonomy of Process Control, Content Control, and Motivational Control techniques. They also rated the perceived effectiveness of each of these three types of control with the dispute. Based upon their responses, the mediators were separated into groups using average‐link cluster analysis. The results suggested four clusters: Cluster 1 members corresponded to Kolb's “Dealmakers,” relying upon Process, Content, and Motivational Control techniques. Cluster 2 members did not correspond to either of Kolb's classifications, choosing to use Content and Motivational Control strategies. Cluster 3 members were similar to Kolb's “Orchestrators;” members of this cluster relied upon Process and Content Control techniques only. Cluster 4 members were reluctant to use any of the control strategies. These findings suggest a partial replication and extension of Kolb's initial work. Implications for future research are discussed.

Judging from the titles in this year's survey, 1982/83 was the “Year of the Bibliography.” Wherein half of last year's reviews were bibliographies, almost three‐fourths of this year's are (11 out of 15): much of this can be attributed to the computer. The outstanding (and anachronistic) exception to this general truth is Beers' Bibliography, which was compiled laboriously by hand.

This paper aims to furnish incremental insights on dividends and corporate governance (CG) by addressing the relationship between board meeting frequency and board independence with dividend payout. In particular, this study aims to investigate whether CG attributes are substitutes to control agency problem within the Malaysian context.

This paper examines panel data on a sample of 114 Malaysian firms (798 observations) for seven years from 2002 to 2008.

Based on 798 firm-year observations for the period from 2002 to 2008, the results show significant negative relationship between CG (board independence, board meeting frequency) and dividend payout. This suggests that CG and dividend payout are substitutes in reducing agency costs. Our study provides empirical evidence consistent with the “substitution argument”, indicating that firms with weak CG need to establish reputation by paying more dividends. Specifically, the findings indicate that firms with a higher proportion of independent directors and boards of director that meet more frequent pay lower dividends.

This paper provides evidence on previously untested governance characteristics in relation to how they act as substitute mechanisms with dividends for reducing agency costs. The results builds a strong case for the fresh strand of knowledge on dividends and CG which tests each CG variables to understand each of its unique relationship with dividends in line with the dividends outcome or substitute theory.

Whether working in institutional archives or manuscript collecting repositories, archivists must consciously decide what to collect and preserve. Collecting policies for acquisition of manuscripts and archives are based on the institution’s mission and goals. The process involves donor relations, legal and fiscal concerns, and accurate recordkeeping. Archives cannot save everything. Once considered an almost routine process, defining an institutional collecting policy for manuscripts and archives has recently been challenged by postmodernists who contend that the decision of what to collect is not neutral or objective, but a mediated construct based on cultural values.

The purpose of this paper is to explore career strategies used by Greek hotel managers in order to advance their careers successfully.

Using a case study sample of 65 hotel general managers working in deluxe hotels in Greece, data on career strategies were collected using a postal questionnaire.

It is revealed that the managers use a range of different strategies in order to advance their careers. The most commonly used are in relation to career opportunities, skills, mobility, interpersonal relations and handling diverse situations. The least commonly used ones relate to family contacts, job search techniques and pay.

The strategies are discussed in terms of recruitment, training and retention of managers in the hotel industry.

This paper builds on the knowledge of careers strategies used for career success.

Strategic management scholars seek to link strategic factors to performance. When specific causal links cannot be identified, however, other potential explanations should be considered, including the notion of luck. This paper aims to introduce a distinction between scholarly and practitioner perspectives of luck and identifies why this distinction is critical to both scholars and practitioners.

This paper proposes a framework linking luck and competitive advantage. It also reports the results of an exploratory empirical investigation on the perceived role of luck in firm performance.

Scholars and practitioners have different views of luck's role in organizational performance. Managers are more likely to assign luck for bad outcomes rather than good. In addition, the more quantitative a manager's work function, the less likely he or she is to perceive a luck‐performance linkage, and the higher the manager is in the organization, the more likely he or she is to perceive luck as affecting outcomes.

There are a number of reasons why luck should receive prominence when considering the strategy‐performance relationship: many of the linkages between strategic factors and performance are identified after the fact – they are viewed as causal when they were actually lucky; empirical research may identify relationships whether they actually exist; researchers tend to find what they are looking for; and academics will be more likely to explain “luck” if they are using the appropriate tools to reveal it.

The positive link between management level and luck's role in performance identified in this study suggests that the more a manager knows about a firm's resources and attributes, the more likely he or she is to downplay the role they actually play in performance. From this perspective, managers seem more willing to acknowledge the role played by luck as they progress into greater levels of responsibility and control.

A significant portion of empirical work seeks to explain differences in performance across organizations by identifying the links between various strategic factors and performance. Although this research has contributed much to the knowledge about the strategy‐performance nexus, it assumes that strategy‐performance linkages necessarily exist and that they can be readily identified. In other words, most scholarly work in this area is based on assumptions that minimize or preclude the role of luck or randomness in the determination of firm performance. Building on previous work, this paper adopts an alternative perspective on the strategy‐performance relationship, highlighting the often overlooked role of luck.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether board gender diversity and other board characteristics affect earnings management practices of top public companies in Kazakhstan.

The study analyzes data of top public companies for the period 2010-2016. Data on corporate governance were manually collected from annual reports and investment memorandums, and financial data were collected from audited financial statements.

The empirical results show that companies with greater board gender diversity are more effective in constraining earnings management. The findings also indicate that companies with larger boards adopt a more restrained approach to earnings management practices, thus supporting the theoretical framework of the study. However, the results provide weak evidence of the association between board independence and earnings quality.

This study is the first to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and earnings management in emerging markets such as Kazakhstan that offers managerial and policy implications.

There are multiple perspectives of divestiture and its performance that require reconciliation. While research finds a positive market response to divestment announcement, divestiture of prior acquisitions are generally viewed negatively. The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test different explanations for the divestment of prior acquisitions.

This research employs event study to capture market reaction at acquisition announcement and subsequent divestments in a sample of 69 public US high-technology acquisitions between 2003 and 2008 that were divested by 2015. Only initial acquisitions involving public firms were included from the Thomson One Banker SDC database. Public press releases and companies’ SEC filings were reviewed to track divestitures back to prior acquisitions. Ordinary least squared regression was used to estimate coefficients.

Results indicate a positive relation between acquisition and divestiture performance around announcement dates. This finding rejects the correction of mistake explanation, suggesting that a negative stigma surrounding divestments is largely unwarranted and that investors reward capable acquirer’s divestiture decisions.

Investors do not treat all information signals at divestiture equally. For example, acquisitions made by larger and more profitable firms, or acquisitions paid for with stock, are associated with lower return upon divestiture announcement.

This study finds that investors view divestiture as a proactive strategy, suggesting firms can improve performance by actively managing acquisitions and divestments to optimize their portfolio of businesses.