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In today's complex and rapidly changing business environment, cross-boundary growth is increasingly critical to the survival or even success of organizations. The purpose of this study is to examine the forming mechanism of firm’s cross-boundary growth by integrating the two important antecedent factors of performance pressure and managerial discretion into a united framework and theoretically analyze the direct role of performance pressure on firm’s cross-boundary growth as well as reveal the moderating role of managerial discretion. Also, the authors select listed manufacturing companies in China as samples to empirically test the research hypotheses.

The authors design a multiple regression model to perform empirical analysis by using a panel of 4,002 year-observations in 1,334 listed manufacturing companies between 2013 and 2016. The sample data sources mainly come from the Wind Database, which is mainland China's leading financial database and software services provider. The hypotheses proposed are tested by adopting a panel data set of the listed manufacturing companies of China.

Empirical results show that performance pressure has a positive effect on the cross-industry growth and cross-domestic regional growth but a negative effect on the cross-international regional growth, and managerial discretion has a different moderating effect. Specifically, capital intensity strengthens the positive effect of performance pressure on cross-industry growth but weakens the negative effect of performance pressure on cross-international regional growth. State ownership enhances the positive effect of performance pressure on cross-domestic regional growth but decreases the negative effect of performance pressure on cross-international regional growth. CEO duality increases the negative impact of performance pressure on cross-international regional growth.

This study provides several implications for top executives, including how to dialectically consider the double-edged effect of performance pressure on cross-boundary growth of firms, create an appropriate environments of managerial discretion and design the types of cross-boundary growth strategies that top executives can follow in the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity era.

Although the relevant literature highlights the importance of performance pressure, it has not been related to the cross-boundary growth of firms. This paper makes an incremental contribution to the literature on the forming mechanisms of firm’s cross-boundary growth by providing an important perspective of performance pressure to firm growth determinants and taking into account the moderating role of managerial discretion.

This study aims to examine whether auditors who specialize in research and development (R&D) activities help reduce managers’ opportunistic adjustment of R&D expenditure for real earnings management (REM).

Using a sample of US firms during the 2001–2017 period, the authors identify auditors’ R&D specialization as their prior experience of auditing R&D expenses spent by each client’s peers. The authors measure R&D-based REM as the negative deviation from the predicted level of R&D expenditure.

The authors find that clients of R&D specialist auditors are less likely to engage in REM through a discretionary reduction of R&D expenditure. This effect is more pronounced when clients face higher competition, have larger investment opportunities and entail higher audit risks.

This study shows that auditors’ specialized knowledge can facilitate stronger monitoring of clients’ real decisions, providing implications for auditors’ knowledge acquisition and transfer in specific types of transactions.

This study contributes to the literature by documenting the governance role played by R&D specialist auditors in clients’ real economic decisions. Moreover, the study identifies R&D as a distinct area of auditor specialization.

Prior research has emphasised the importance of the early phases of construction projects, as well as the difficulties of procuring engineering services – especially due to the uncertainties. Despite that, studies on the public procurement of engineering services are scarce. Although scholars have shown that uncertainty may affect the choice of control modes, the level of uncertainty that characterises services is not addressed by the two task characteristics: knowledge of the transformation process and output measurability. The purpose is to investigate organisational control in public procurement of engineering services.

The existing control model was adjusted in this study by conceptually adding uncertainty as a third aspect to the two task characteristics. A single case study of the Swedish Transport Administration was used. The empirical data, comprising 14 interviews with managers from the client and engineering consulting companies, were analysed using flexible pattern matching and visual mapping approaches and then illustrated using the model.

The public client did not base its choice of control modes on uncertainty, but rather on the other two task characteristics. Consequently, the service providers argued that the chosen control modes reduced their creativity, increased their financial risks and caused unclear responsibilities. This study therefore shows that uncertainty is an important factor to consider in the choice of control modes, both from a theoretical perspective and from the service providers' point of view. The developed model may therefore be useful for researchers as well as practitioners.

This study is the first attempt to add uncertainty as a task characteristic when choosing control modes. The results contribute to the scarce control literature regarding the procurement of engineering services for construction projects and the procurement of other services with high uncertainty.

Amidst unpredictable and turbulent periods, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, service organization’s responses are required to be innovative, adaptable and resilient. The purpose of this study is to explore the utilization of both reconfiguration and transformational strategies as instruments for cultivating resilience and advancing sustainability in service organizations.

The study examines a proposed resilience model using fuzzy logic. The research also used a semantic differential scale to capture nuanced and intricate attitudes. Finally, to augment the validity of the resilience model, a measurement scale was formulated using business mathematics and expert opinions.

Although investing in resilience training can help organizations gain control and maintain their operations in times of crisis, it may not directly help service organizations understand the external turmoil, seek available resources or create adaptive remedies. Conversely, high levels of reconfiguration and transformation management vigour empower a service organization’s revolutionary, malleable vision, organizational structure and decision-making processes, welcoming talented and innovative employees to enhance capabilities during crises.

The resilience model bestows a comprehensive understanding of the pertinence of building resilience for service organizations identifying the antecedents that influence the adoption of these strategies and introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that empowers service organizations to conceptualize and plan for building resilience. The research guides service organizations to become more resilient to external shocks and adapt to changing circumstances by diversifying their offerings, optimizing their resources and adopting flexible work arrangements. The study elaborates on the enhancement of resilience, increasing innovation, improving efficiency and enhancing customer satisfaction for service organizations to remain competitive and contribute to positive social and economic outcomes through the adoption of both reconfiguration and transformational strategies.

The study also guides the service organizations to become more resilient to external shocks and adapt to changing circumstances by diversifying their offerings, optimizing their resources and adopting flexible work arrangements. Rapid innovation and business model innovation are essential components, enabling service organizations to foster a culture of innovation and remain competitive. In addition, the adoption can lead to improved financial performance, job creation and economic growth, contributing to positive social and economic impacts.

The resilience model bestows a comprehensive understanding of the pertinence of building resilience for service organizations. It identifies the antecedents that influence the adoption of these strategies and introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that empowers service organizations to conceptualize and plan for building resilience. The research also provides a foundation for further investigation into the effectiveness of these strategies and their impact on organizational performance and sustainability. By better preparing service organizations for disruptions and uncertainties, this research triggers ameliorated organizational performance and sustainability.

Within the realm of the service industry, the present investigation has undertaken the development, quantification and scrutiny of both resilience and tenacity. In addition, it has delved into the intricate dynamics surrounding the influencing factors and antecedents that bear upon resilience, elucidating their consequential impact on the operational performance and outlook of service-oriented organizations. The findings derived from this research furnish valuable insights germane to enhancing operational efficacy and surmounting impediments within the sector.

In this research, the initial list of internal capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leading to success in international markets has been extracted. Then, the most relevant capabilities to international SMEs under servitisation and hybrid offerings have been screened. Next, the selected capabilities have been classified, and ultimately the relationship amongst the capabilities has been analysed. The conceptual model for SMEs participating in international markets with hybrid offerings has been illustrated.

A literature review has been employed to extract the initial list of internal capabilities to address the research objectives. Then, a novel hesitant fuzzy Delphi (HFD) method has been developed to select the most relevant capabilities for SMEs for hybrid offerings in international markets by using the experts opinions. Subsequently, a novel hesitant fuzzy interpretive structural modelling (HFISM) has been developed to classify the capabilities, design a level-based conceptual model and present the relationship amongst the prominent capabilities.

After the literature review, sixteen internal capabilities leading to success in the international market via hybrid offerings have been extracted. Then, eight selected capabilities were chosen for further investigation by applying 15 expert opinions and via the HFD approach. According to HFISM results, a level-based conceptual model was emanated, and “ability to take advantage of international opportunities”, “financial strength”, “technology level” and “efficient innovation management” were considered as the most fundamental capabilities resulting in successful hybrid offerings in international markets.

Alongside the multi-layer decision-making approach developed in this manuscript to analyse the internal capabilities roles in hybrid offering success towards international markets, to the best knowledge of the authors, the hesitant fuzzy approaches developed in this article have not been previously presented by any other scholar. A novel HFD approach has been designed for consensus amongst the experts under uncertain circumstances. Furthermore, a novel HFISM has been suggested and employed in this research to comprehend the relationship amongst the internal capabilities.

This study aims to develop the application of the strategic choice approach (SCA) in Karaj City (Iran) as the case study for facilitating the decision-making process concerning uncertainties associated with determining fault trace, fault buffer zone and fault setback, as well as inherent uncertainties related to urban issues – known as wicked problems – which make a clear definition unachievable for them.

The SCA was recycled in this study to manage uncertain situations in planning. It is designed to deal with problems caused by uncertainty, insufficient knowledge and unpredictable policy outcomes. In combination with the risk-based planning approach, the paper proposes a new model to deal with uncertainty and hazard risk at the same time.

The results indicated that such decision-making tools are helpful for urban planners who impose changes in the fault zone to save lives and properties where the process seems problematic and ambiguous. Further analysis from the SCA development not only shows that urban planning restrictions should be applied gradually and in pace with the completion of fault displacement geological data but also reveals that defining the implementation process and institutional structure is as important as the preparation of binding fault zoning documents.

The paper will push forward global research and practice because the results can be generalized for use in other earthquake-prone countries, as the considerations and obstacles have a universal character and more specifically because many earthquake-prone countries have not started to define fault avoidance zone restrictions up to now.

The paper develops a model for enhancing R&D productivity for Indian public funded laboratories. The paper utilizes the productivity data of five Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories for analysis and to form the constructs of the model.

The weighted average method was employed for analyzing the rankings of survey respondents pertaining to the significant measures enhancing R&D involvement of researchers and significant non-R&D jobs. The authors have proposed a model of productivity. Various individual, organizational and environmental constructs related to the researchers working in the CSIR laboratories have been outlined that can enhance R&D productivity of researchers in Indian R&D laboratories. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to find the predictability of the productivity model.

The organizational factors have a crucial role in enhancing the R&D outputs of CSIR laboratories. The R&D productivity of researchers can be improved through implementing the constructs of the proposed model of productivity.

The R&D productivity model can be adapted by the R&D laboratories to enhance researchers’ R&D involvement, increased R&D outputs and achieving self-sustenance in long run.

The R&D laboratories can initiate exercises to explore the most relevant factors and measures to enhance R&D productivity of their researchers. The constructs of the model can function as a guideline to introduce the most preferable research policies in the laboratory for overall mutual growth of laboratory and the researchers.

Hardly any studies have been found that have focused on finding the measures of enhancing R&D involvement of researchers and the influence of significant time-intensive jobs on researchers’ productivity.

This study aims to propose a refined dynamic network slacks-based measure (DNSBM) to evaluate the efficiency of China's regional green innovation system which consists of basic research, applied research and commercialization stages and explore the influencing factors of the stage efficiency.

A two-step procedure is employed. The first step proposes an improved DNSBM model with flexible settings of stages' input or output efficiency and uses second order cone programming (SOCP) to solve the non-linear problem. In the second step, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and Tobit models are used to explore the influencing factors of the stage efficiency. Global Dynamic Malmquist Productivity Index (GDMPI) and Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method are introduced for further discussion of the productivity change and regional differences.

On average, Chinese provincial green innovation efficiency should be improved by 24.11% to become efficient. The commercialization stage outperforms the stages of basic research and applied research. Comparisons between the proposed model and input-oriented, output-oriented and non-oriented DNSBM models show that the proposed model is more advanced because it allows some stages to have output-oriented model characteristics while the other stages have input-oriented model characteristics. The examination of the influencing factors reveals that the three stages of the green innovation system have quite diverse influencing factors. Further discussion reveals that Chinese green innovation productivity has increased by 39.85%, which is driven mainly by technology progress, and the increasing tendency of regional differences between northern and southern China should be paid attention to.

This study proposes an improved dynamic three-stage slacks-based measure (SBM) model that allows calculating output efficiency in some stages and input efficiency in the other stages with the application of SOCP approach. In order to capture productivity change, this study develops a GDMPI based on the DNSBM model. In practice, the efficiency of regional green innovation in China and the factors that influence each stage are examined.

This study analyses the link between product/service innovation, partnerships and Managerial Control System (MCS). Particularly, it aims to analyse empirically the role of MCS in supporting the innovation partnership successful functioning and management.

The sample of this study consists of 106 Italian manufacturing firms belonging to the sectors of the Italian economy with the largest number of registered patents according to the European trend chart on innovation.

The results show that MCS may play a key role in reducing risks and lowering the likelihood of failure of innovation partnerships. Particularly, the authors found a positive correlation between the use of informal control mechanisms and a partnership’s successful performance. Moreover, among informal control, the findings show that trust is the only true informal mechanism that can guarantee a successful collaboration. The results of this study may offer relevant implications for practitioners. With regard to the control of the partnership’s activities, the initiatives and creativity of those who are actively involved in the innovation process should not be inhibited; therefore, stifling them with strict rules and procedures would be ineffective but if a firm is not willing to give up formal control mechanisms altogether because it does not believe that a trust-based coordination is sufficiently reassuring, it should opt for “weak”, albeit formal, control mechanisms based on a shared production and management of plans and reports, thus ensuring a perfect information symmetry among different partners.

Notwithstanding the different opportunities provided by partnerships and strategic alliances to support there is a growing body of evidence of a high failure rate in such organisational forms. One of the causes cited in the literature is the high level of risk associated with alliances as compared to internal development of innovation. The risks mainly arise from the difficulties to obtain cooperation with partners that might have different objectives, and from the potential opportunistic behaviour of some of the partners. This is particularly true in innovation networks where the uncertainty of producing an interesting result is very high and the investments that the partners make are considerable. In this context, MCS could play a relevant role in reducing the risks and decreasing the likelihood of failure.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an extensively used additive manufacturing method with the capacity to build complex functional components. Due to the machinery and environmental factors during manufacturing, the FDM parts inevitably demonstrated uncertainty in properties and performance. This study aims to identify the stochastic constitutive behaviors of FDM-fabricated polylactic acid (PLA) tensile specimens induced by the manufacturing process.

By conducting the tensile test, the effects of the printing machine selection and three major manufacturing parameters (i.e., printing speed S, nozzle temperature T and layer thickness t) on the stochastic constitutive behaviors were investigated. The influence of the loading rate was also explained. In addition, the data-driven models were established to quantify and optimize the uncertain mechanical behaviors of FDM-based tensile specimens under various printing parameters.

As indicated by the results, the uncertain behaviors of the stiffness and strength of the PLA tensile specimens were dominated by the printing speed and nozzle temperature, respectively. The manufacturing-induced stochastic constitutive behaviors could be accurately captured by the developed data-driven model with the R² over 0.98 on the testing dataset. The optimal parameters obtained from the data-driven framework were T = 231.3595 °C, S = 40.3179 mm/min and t = 0.2343 mm, which were in good agreement with the experiments.

The developed data-driven models can also be integrated into the design and characterization of parts fabricated by extrusion and other additive manufacturing technologies.

Stochastic behaviors of additively manufactured products were revealed by considering extensive manufacturing factors. The data-driven models were proposed to facilitate the description and optimization of the FDM products and control their quality.