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This paper aims to empirically investigate how knowledge coordination is carried out within and across expert teams in the outsourcing service desk context from the standpoint of the information and communication technologies (ICT) provider.

The authors draw on an embedded case study to unravel the mechanisms used by expert teams to achieve knowledge coordination. Data collection included semi-structured interviews and document analysis over eight months.

Four groups of coordination mechanisms were found according to their nature and role in helping MESA achieve its organizational goals. The authors also identified how this set of mechanisms responds to the task-resource dependency and how it evolves over time to provide reliable ICT services. Furthermore, the analysis of four knowledge coordination dimensions inside each group uncovers the complexity of coordination in the studied context, with the “who” dimension being predominant across the groups. The analysis further reveals that the content (what) and mode of coordination (how) of each group respond to elements in the knowledge coordination process relevant for the different stages of the ICT service delivery process.

The case study addresses how people in outsourced services coordinate their knowledge to manage the interdependencies among the involved organizations and thus, achieving their goals. This study extends previous research that had analyzed the consequences of knowledge coordination for providers and customers by delving into the mechanisms used in this process from the provider’s point of view.

Protection of intellectual property (IP) is important to leverage its commercial potential. This study aims to examine and comprehend the level of understanding of intellectual property rights (IPR) among Indian academics. The study covers three main aspects – awareness level of IP among Indian academics, comprehending if the current state of knowledge about IP is useful for commercialization and whether the current knowledge of IP activities among Indian academics is sufficient to support their professional career and generate revenues from their inventions.

A structured methodology was contemplated and applied. A cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling method was adopted. The duration of the study was six months from March to August 2021. A total of 500 Indian academics were approached, of which 116 responded with a response rate of 23.4%. A structured questionnaire was administered to the participants to understand their level of knowledge about IP. Furthermore, the data analysis was performed based on descriptive analysis.

The study findings revealed that the awareness among the participants about IP was minimal. The underlying reasons could be academics did not focus on generating IP through novel research, awareness of basic knowledge about IP was considerably low and inadequate to support their professional career, primary focus was on which publications are considered as one of the important criteria for performance management, national policies do not encourage collaborative research between university and industry that may lead to potential IP generation and the Indian academic set-up expects multitasking by its faculty members.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is an original contribution, based on the study carried out by the authors to understand the awareness of IP activities among Indian academics.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable firms to improve their processes to remain competitive and profitable in today’s market. These demands not only value economic results but also social impact and environmental care. In other words, firms must achieve sustainable performance. However, to take on these new sustainability challenges, firms must have dynamic capabilities to take advantage of highly changing technology. Thus, this study aims to examine the mediating role of dynamic capabilities in the relationship between ICT and sustainable performance.

This study was empirical, associative and explanatory, following a latent variable design. The sample of the study consisted of partners, founders, executives and promoters from 102 Colombian new technology-based firms selected through purposive non-probabilistic sampling. Variance-based structural equation modeling or partial least squares was used for the statistical data analysis.

A higher-order model was tested, corroborating that ICT was composed of two dimensions (use and acquisition), dynamic capabilities were composed of three dimensions (absorption, innovation and adaptation), while sustainable performance showed a unidimensional structure. As for the research hypotheses, all the direct effects were supported, as well as the mediating effect of dynamic capability in the relationship between ICT and sustainable performance, this being a complementary mediation.

This study highlights the importance of dynamic capabilities for firms today, especially those working with high levels of technology. Also, considering the results obtained, firms must implement better strategies in the acquisition and use of technology to improve their sustainable performance in dynamic and uncertain environments.

This study aims to explore how to overcome and address the loss of exploratory innovation, thereby achieving greater success in exploratory innovation. This phenomenon of loss occurs when enterprises decrease their investment in and engagement with exploratory innovation, ultimately leading to an insufficient amount of such innovation efforts. Drawing on dynamic capabilities, this study investigates the relationship between organizational foresight and exploratory innovation and examines the moderating role of breakthrough orientation/financial orientation.

This study used survey data collected from 296 Chinese high-tech companies in multiple industries and sectors.

The evidence produced by this study reveals that three elements of organizational foresight (i.e. environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and integrating capabilities) positively influence exploratory innovation. Furthermore, this positive effect is strengthened in the context of a high-breakthrough orientation. Moreover, the relationships among environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and exploratory innovation become weaker as an enterprise’s financial orientation increases, whereas a strong financial orientation does not affect the relationship between integrating capabilities and exploratory innovation.

Ambidexterity is key to successful enterprise innovation. Compared with exploitative innovation, it is by no means easy to engage in exploratory innovation, which is especially important in high-tech companies. While the loss of exploratory innovation has been observed, few empirical studies have explored ways to promote exploratory innovation more effectively. A key research implication of this study pertains to the role of organizational foresight in the improvement of exploratory innovation in the context of high-tech companies.

This paper contributes to the broader literature on exploratory innovation and organizational foresight and provides practical guidance for high-tech companies regarding ways of avoiding the loss of exploratory innovation and becoming more successful at exploratory innovation.

Emerging economies have been highlighted as an important growth source of the global economy. However, this group of countries has not received enough academic attention yet. Therefore, this study aims to identify the impact of research and development (R&D) expenditure on economic growth in emerging economies.

The theoretical framework of the production function is applied to quantitatively analyse the impact of R&D expenditure on economic growth with a sample of 29 emerging economies in the period between 1996 and 2019.

The panel cointegration test confirms the existence of long-run cointegration relationships between economic growth and independent variables in these emerging economies. Besides, the estimated results show that the national R&D expenditure has positive effects on economic growth from both direct and interaction dimensions. This evidence has filled the empirical research gap in the R&D-growth nexus in the case of emerging economies. Finally, while gross capital and education have positive impacts on growth, corruption has a harmful effect on economic growth in these countries.

The results highlight that policymakers should enhance R&D expenditure and R&D activities as the key national development strategy. The investment in R&D not only helps emerging economies avoid the middle-income trap but also pushes these countries to successfully join the group of developed countries.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first to examine the impact of R&D expenditure on economic growth with a homogeneous sample of emerging economies. The results are obviously helpful for policymakers to use R&D as the key development strategy for supporting economic growth in emerging economies in the future.

This study aims to examine decision factors for global sourcing, differentiated into transcontinental and continental sourcing to obtain insight into locational aspects of sourcing decisions and global trends. This study analyzed various country perceptions to reveal their influence on sourcing decisions. The country of origin (COO) theory explains why certain country perceptions and images influence purchasing experts in their selection of suppliers.

This study used a two-study approach. In Study 1, the authors conducted discrete choice card experiments with 71 purchasing experts located in Europe and the USA to examine the importance of essential decision factors for global sourcing. Given the clear evidence that location is a factor in sourcing decisions, in Study 2 the authors investigated purchasers’ perceptions and images of countries, adding country ranking experiments on various perceived characteristics such as quality, price and technology.

Study 1 provides evidence that the purchasers’ personal relationship with the supplier plays a decisive role in the supplier selection process. While product quality and location impact sourcing decisions, the attraction of the buying company and cultural barriers are less significant. Interestingly, however, these factors seem as important as price to respondents. This implies that a strong relationship with suppliers and good quality products are essential aspects of a reliable and robust supply chain in the post-COVID-19 era. Examining the locational aspect in detail, Study 2 linked the choice card experiments with country ranking experiments. In this study, the authors found that purchasing experts consider that transcontinental countries such as Japan and China offer significant advantages in terms of price and technology. China has enhanced its quality, which is recognizable in the country ranking experiments. Therefore, decisions on global sourcing are not just based on such high-impact factors as price and availability; country perceptions are also influential. Additionally, the significance of the locational aspect could be linked to certain country images of transcontinental suppliers, as the COO theory describes.

The new approach divides global sourcing into transcontinental and European sourcing to evaluate special decision factors and link these factors to the locational aspect of sourcing decisions. To deepen the clear evidence for the locational aspect and investigate the possible influence of country perceptions, the authors applied the COO theory. This approach enabled authors to show the strong influence of country perception on purchasing departments, which is represented by the locational effect. Hence, the success of transcontinental countries relies not only on factors such as their availability but also on the purchasers’ positive perceptions of these countries in terms of technology and price.

This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional decisions regarding the vertical fine-slicing of value chain activities (whether performed internally or externally) and the consideration of resource-sharing decisions (integration or separation) for each value chain function.

The authors draw on primary data collected from two case study firms operating in the large emerging Chinese market: Volvo Construction Equipment AB and Epiroc AB. In-depth cases illustrate how foreign MNCs expand into new market segments and simultaneously target both the lower-priced mid-market and the premium segments in the Chinese mining and construction industry.

The results reveal that product diversification creates challenges for managers who must oversee new (vertical) value chains, often simultaneously. Beyond geography and modes of governance, managers must decide whether to integrate or separate value chain activities for the new product lines. The study identifies four main strategic choices for firms to address this complexity, focusing on the decision to internalise or externalise (i.e. within or across organisational boundaries) and integrate or separate value chain activities between different product lines.

This study builds upon the internalisation theory and recent international business contributions that focus on value chain configurations to explain MNCs’ product diversification as a growth strategy in a host emerging market. It also sheds light on the choice of conducting new activities in-house or externally and elucidates firms’ managerial decisions to operationally integrate or separate individual value chain activities. The study provides insights into the drivers explaining managerial decisions to configure value chain activities across product lines and contributes to the growing body of literature on MNC activities in emerging economies by highlighting that product diversification impacts entry mode diversity and resource sharing across units.

We conducted a systematic review to explore the potential for the application of blockchain technologies for supply chain resilience in a small-scale agri-food business context.

As part of the research methodology, scientific databases such as Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus were used to find relevant articles for this review.

The systematic review of articles (n = 57) found that the use of blockchain technology in the small-scale agri-food business sector can reduce the risk of food fraud by assuring the provenance of food products.

Only a few papers were directly from a small-scale agribusiness context. Key challenges that limit the implementation of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies include concerns over the disclosure of proprietary information and trade secrets, incomplete or inaccurate information, economic and technical difficulties, low levels of trust in the technology, risk of human error and poor governance of process-related issues.

The application of blockchain technology ensures that the risks and costs associated with non-compliance, product recalls and product loss are reduced. Improved communication and information sharing can increase resilience and better support provenance claims and traceability. Better customer relationships can be built, increasing supply chain efficiency and resilience.

Supply chain vulnerability (SCV) analysis is vital for manufacturers globally because it creates a pathway for building resilient supply chains in uncertain environments. This study aims to identify drivers of SCV in the Indian manufacturing sector.

Sixteen drivers were identified from the literature review and followed by expert interviews. Interpretive structural modeling was used to determine the hierarchical structural relationship among identified SCV factors.

It was found that risk is not a board room agenda. Misaligned performance measures with incentives and lack of risk dashboard are the causal factors of SCV. Supply chain security, centralized production and distribution and lack of trust in the supply chain were driven factors.

This provides new insights to assess and prioritize initiatives for supply chain sustainability in terms of continuing business operations. The structural model provides a systemic view of SCV and helps reduce vulnerability.

This study aims to develop a model for integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in resource sharing practices for enhanced service delivery in academic libraries in Southeast Nigeria. Seven objectives guided the study; ICT-based resource sharing practices in academic libraries in Southeast Nigeria; ICT infrastructure for resource sharing; ICT needs of librarians for resource sharing practices; stages of ICT integration in resource sharing; perception of librarians towards ICT-based resource sharing; challenges to integration of ICT in resource sharing practices; design a model for the integration of ICT into resource sharing; all in academic libraries in Southeast Nigeria.

The research design adopted for this study is the mixed research design containing the “descriptive survey” research design and the “research and development, R&D.” The population of the study is 164, comprising all of the librarians in federal universities in Southeast Nigeria. All of the librarians of the five federal universities will be involved in the study. Hence, there was no sampling. The instrument for data collection is a structured questionnaire.

The findings of the study revealed that 88.8% of the librarians use ICT to boost the volume of resources; while 74% of the librarians were positive in all responses pertaining to ICT-based resource sharing practices in the libraries. The study also revealed that ICT infrastructures in the library for resource sharing are highly available and applicable; while computers and internet networks are the most needed gadgets for the operations. Libraries in Southeast Nigeria are in the applying and transforming stages of ICT adoption at a 69.7% response rate; while the librarians have a strong belief and understanding that a lot can be achieved in resource sharing through ICT; and would recommend such. Poor electrification, inadequate funding and unavailability of some ICT technologies were equally identified as challenges. The study conclusively developed a resource sharing model, the Southeast Federal University Library Connect; accessible at https://southeastfeduniconnect.njh.com.ng

The research study is one of the few types of research that has developed a functional model for resource sharing in academic libraries in Southeast Nigeria.