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HIFI (ESPRIT Project 6532) creates a set of tools to allow a reader to access a large body of heterogeneous information, managed by external databases created beforehand, through a hypertext interface. Information currently found in information systems is based on different media and is usually managed by different tools, like relational databases and a variety of multimedia database systems. Sometimes the need arises to ‘browse’ through the information using an interactive and intuitive interface. Hypertext is probably the best current means for interactive (and possibly intuitive) navigation through a heterogeneous body of information. Available hypertext tools, however, are usually seen as being for managing their own information rather than being an interface for accessing external databases. The HIFI approach is based on a model‐based description of the hypertext application, as it appears to the reader. A declarative and/or operational mapping translates hypertext operations (search, queries and navigation) into operations on the underlying information base and also ‘materialises’ hypertext objects, using objects of the underlying databases. The system also implements methodologies to support the hypertext interface development process. Real‐life applications will be developed to show the validity of the approach, with the cooperation of important end‐users who will cooperate with the project directly, either as partners or sponsors.

This study investigates the validity of the relationship paradigm in contrast with the marketing‐mix paradigm with respect to modern Russian markets. Moreover, the specifics of Russian marketing practices are outlined and a comparison with marketing practices in other countries is provided.

The paper is rooted in the theoretical framework of the “Contemporary Marketing Practices” project. Data about marketing practices are gathered with standardised questionnaires and groups of organisations are identified using cluster analysis, the gap criterion, and canonical discriminant analysis. By comparing scores for relational marketing as well as transactional marketing, the marketing practices are described and contrasted with those in Argentina and Canada. To assess the success of different combinations of marketing activities, association rules are computed.

Contemporary Russian marketing practices cover only a narrow spectrum of the diversity of marketing practices observed in other nations, and the overall intensity of marketing activities is low in comparison with international benchmarks. Overall, the relevance of the traditional transactional marketing concept holds for current practices and market conditions in Russia. Relational activities are considered as merely additional rather than as alternative options of developing organisations' marketing. Practitioners can adjust their marketing to the patterns of profitable activities revealed by this investigation. In particular, the new possibilities arising from IT‐based marketing are found to be not utilised by vendors who are already established in Russian markets.

The paper brings Russian markets into the academic discussion. Additionally, the use of association analysis for the evaluation of patterns of marketing activities and their success is introduced.

Researchers still debate the relevance of using cultural frameworks and socio‐economic differences between countries versus focussing on institutional differences when analysing issues affecting the transfer of Human Resource policies between countries. This paper first compares four countries from Europe and Asia on a macroeconomic level as well as on cultural dimensions. It then investigates perceived cultural differences between managers on the transfer of human resource policies by contrasting the perceptions of German headquarters managers with those of their subsidiary managers in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. This exploratory study uses qualitative methodology to analyse twenty four in‐depth interviews with Human Resource directors and line managers in German electrical, mechanical and chemical companies. The study confirms the importance of perceived cultural differences between managers at headquarters and in the subsidiaries and highlights the presence of misperceptions based on overgeneralisations emanating from the German headquarters as well as local subsidiaries. Convergence is confirmed on a HR policy level with crossvergence taking place on a process level via regional platforms. The growing role of the subsidiary HR director as a cultural translator and regional team player is found to be a key element in the transfer process.

This article raises the question of to what extent functional flexibility is an operatively designed approach with which European companies confront current short‐term changes in their environment, and whether functional flexibility is integrated into long‐term human resource strategies. The proposition is tested that organisations with a strategic human resource management in the sense of a coordinated, objective‐oriented personnel management pattern, show a higher probability of using job rotation than organisations lacking a strategic‐oriented human resource management approach.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how global managers from the generation born 1965 to 1980 (“Generation X”) manage demands of international business travel with desires for family involvement. A portrait evolves of how travel within a global career might be optimized for both business and family life.

A qualitative methodology was used as little research has focussed on alternative forms of global work or work-family issues in a global context. The author conducted in-depth interviews with 25 Gen X global managers in dual-career families (“Global Gen Xers”) pursuing global careers from the USA and Canada.

The author uncovered how Global Gen Xers experienced “work-life balance” through executing personal discretion over travel and substituting in technology. The construct of travel discretion reveals these approaches. Mutual flexibility on the part of global managers and organizations tamed the demanding nature of work spanning divergent locations and time zones.

The findings represent experiences from a self-select group of global Gen X managers interviewed at one point in their careers. The author did not obtain reflections from their families on work-family functioning.

The findings encourage companies to foster flexibility among their global managers around travel decisions. The author can consider how and when international travel can be replaced through technology in order to control costs and sustain global workforces.

This study provides one of the first examinations of work-life balance among younger global managers. It also highlights experiences of those not on expatriate assignments, but performing global work through international travel and technology.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the role of academia in broader society. What is academia’s role beyond being a business and providing qualified professionals to other businesses? What kind of organization and ethos is consistent with academia’s proper role in society, considered as a higher-order cognitive system?

Society as a whole is modeled as a viable system, with subsystems dedicated to self-production in the here and now (systems 1-3) and subsystems engaged in exploring the outside and future of the system and in consolidating an identity and an ethos (systems 4 and 5). The role, ethos and proper organization of academia are derived from this model and from cybernetic considerations on the proper architecture of system 4 and system 5 cognitive systems.

To fulfill its role as part of society’s system 4 and system 5, academia must include areas that are sometimes considered redundant or an expensive luxury, such as the humanities or basic research. The humanities must strive to catalyze broad community participation as part of their contribution to system 5 and must strive to produce bridge languages between communities and disciplines to increase the connectivity of the World Brain. The publish-or-perish ethos of academia must be replaced by an erotic spirituality, understood as desire for otherness.

This paper integrates broad philosophical considerations on the role of academia with the use of cybernetic models of viable systems and of distributed cognition, yielding practical guidelines for the organization of academia.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate three distinct hypotheses about the relationship between human resource (HR) practices (discretion and skill enhancement) and the level of trade openness and foreign direct investments of countries.

The study applies multilevel analysis using data of 16,701 employees living in 23 European countries.

Based on the multilevel analysis mixed support is found for the hypothesis stating that economic openness is curvilinearly related (an inverted U) to the use of HR practices. While this holds for discretion, it does not for skill enhancement.

While economic globalization is often mentioned as an important factor in understanding organizational relations, there have only been few international comparative studies explicitly linking measures of economic openness and HR practices. This study investigate whether economic globalization is important or not.

The dominant focus of HRM research has been that of “strategic HRM”, that is a focus on the impact of HRM on firm performance. The authors argue that not only are the cumulative results of this “dominant research orthodoxy” disappointing in terms of their external validity, but also they are of limited practical value. Further, it has failed not only in terms of its narrow firm performance-oriented agenda, but also the tenets of its agenda have contributed to serious levels of employee dissatisfaction and to the failure to deal with pressing global issues. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In order to assess the contribution of the dominant research orthodoxy the authors analyse the 16 most cited journal articles in the field of HRM.

The authors find a predominance of US-centric studies and therefore a questionable cross-national generalizability of the dominant research orthodoxy. The use of cross-sectional data means that long-term effects cannot be gauged. The authors observe a lack of consensus on how to operationalize HRM and firm performance. National context is generally absent.

The authors show that for HRM to realize its potential for governments, media, or philanthropic agencies, HRM must abandon its restricted scope and mono-dimensional sources of inspiration.

The authors not only point to the shortcomings of the dominant research orthodoxy within HRM, but the authors point to how HRM could become significantly more “centre-staged” by addressing the actors searching for contributions to the big questions of the world – the governments, media, and philanthropic agencies.

The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: what factors affect work role transition outcomes of Filipino employees in Singapore? What is the influence of type of expatriation on work role transition outcomes? Two outcomes of interest are work adjustment and job satisfaction.

An e-mail containing the link to a web-based structured questionnaire was sent to Filipinos working in local and multinational organizations in Singapore, who were also encouraged to forward the link to other Filipinos working in Singapore. The number of respondents totals 106. We used regression analysis to address the research question.

Work adjustment and job satisfaction do not share common factors, indicating differences in their dynamics. Work adjustment is singly explained by the individual factor: the self-efficacy beliefs of the global employees. It is not influenced by the content and context of work but by the disposition of the individual alone. On the other hand, job satisfaction is explained by job factors (role discretion and role conflict) and organizational or job context factors (supervisory support and perceived organizational support). It is not explained by self-efficacy belief. Both work role adjustment and job satisfaction are not influenced by whether or not the global employee is company assigned or self-initiated.

Given the nonprobabilistic sampling employed, results of the study, in a strict sense, apply only to the individuals who participated in the survey. In addition, cross-sectional nature of the study also limits inference on causality.

The null results of gender, marital status, and age imply that these are not good indicators of success and are not a good basis for selection. However, one important dimension to consider in recruitment is self-efficacy belief. Managers also need to nurture self-efficacy of existing employees by enabling them to experience success and for the managers to consciously develop and maintain high self-efficacy belief themselves to serve as role model of employees. Moreover, organizations can enhance and manage job satisfaction by providing support from both the supervisor and the organization, and designing jobs that provide role discretion and less role conflict. In addition, the null result of type of expatriation suggests that pre-departure support erodes through time such that companies that send employees to foreign subsidiaries must continue to provide support beyond the pre-departure phase and highlight the role of host country operations in providing job content and context conducive to job satisfaction.

This study furthers the understanding of work role transition outcomes of people from Asia and the developing world who work in countries other than their own. It also broadens our perspective of work role transition by looking at two outcomes: work adjustment and job satisfaction. Moreover, this study provides an important contribution to the literature by examining the differences in outcomes of company assigned and self-initiated global employees.