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This paper is a case history of the introduction of Just‐in‐Time (JIT) into a company in the electronic capital goods sector of the Scottish electronics industry. The case attempts to identify the company policies that led up to the introduction of JIT, the difficulties encountered and the benefits that the company has accrued in the short time since the introduction of JIT, with particular reference to the productivity/service trade‐offs. The company examined designs and manufactures complex, high technology, fairly high volume, short life‐cycle electronic products for international markets. Very high levels of quality and reliability are required by customers. Consideration is given to how the benefits that this company has accrued may be obtained by other companies both in the same environment and in other environments.

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.

The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to investigate whether the manufacturing specializations of network plants fulfilling similar strategic plant roles (Ferdows, 1997) are common in type. Second, to examine current strategic manufacturing network management practice and develop a map of this process.

Three multisite manufacturing businesses participated in this case research. The first phase of the study consisted of an initial visit made to the headquarters of each firm to be briefed on its manufacturing network strategy and to collect company manufacturing performance data. Visits were then made to 11 network plants to collect site manufacturing performance data and to research the manufacturing specialization of each site and the degree of autonomy of its management team. The second phase of the research comprised a number of additional visits to the headquarters of one of the three case study firms to investigate the process employed to downsize its existing manufacturing network capacity in response to a significant decline in customer demand.

Three common types of manufacturing specialization have been identified in the networks of plants studied and the case research findings have enabled the development of a process for manufacturing network strategy deployment.

The proposed process for the strategic management of a manufacturing network is based upon the findings of a single case study and thus the generalizability of the findings is limited.

Auditing the manufacturing specialization of network sites is an essential preparatory procedure for determining a manufacturing network strategy. How this information is used to facilitate the management of manufacturing network configuration and coordination and for manufacturing network strategy deployment is detailed in the paper.

A process map has been developed that includes a review of current network configuration and coordination policies, in combination, as these underpin manufacturing network strategy deployment. Such a process map has not been detailed previously in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and build a hierarchy of the factors influencing competitiveness of electronics manufacturing industry (EMI) at the industry level and apply the interpretive structural modeling, fuzzy Matriced’ Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á UN Classement (i.e. the cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification; MICMAC) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approaches. These factors have been explained with respect to managerial and government policymakers’ standpoint in Indian context.

This study presents a hierarchy and weight-based model that demonstrates mutual relationships among the significant factors of competitiveness of the Indian EMI.

This study covers a wide variety of factors that form the bedrock of the competitiveness of the EMI. Interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy MICMAC are used to cluster the influential factors of competitiveness considering the driving and dependence power. AHP is used to rank the factors on the basis of weights. Results show that the “government role” and “foreign exchange market” have a significantly high driving power. On the other hand, the “capital resource availability” and “productivity measures” come at the top of the interpretive structural modeling hierarchy, implying high dependence power.

The study has strong practical implications for both the manufacturers and the policymakers. The manufacturers need to focus on the factors of competitiveness to improve performance, and at the same time, the government should come forward to build a suitable environment for business in light of the huge demand and frame suitable policies.

The lackluster performance of the industry is because of the existing electronics policies and environmental conditions. The proposed interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy MICMAC and AHP frameworks suggest a better understanding of the key factors and their mutual relationship to analyze competitiveness of the electronics manufacturing industry in view of the Indian Government’s “Make in India” initiatives.

This paper contributes to the industry level competitiveness and dynamics of multi-factors approach and utilize the ISM–fuzzy MICMAC and AHP management decision tool in the identification and ranking of factors that influence the competitiveness of the EMI in the country.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance.

The relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance is examined by using data obtained from 252 Turkish export firms, which are among the top 1,000 firms in terms of export volume in Turkey. To examine these relationships, a theoretical framework is empirically tested using structural equation modeling and tested via an empirical study of Turkish export companies.

The results of this study can benefit policymakers in government at the national level and company decision-makers at the firm level. Furthermore, an understanding of the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance may help firms to make correct technology transfer decisions and focus on the correct type of innovation to increase firm performance in practice. The findings indicate the positive effects of technology transfer on innovation and firm performance. In addition, innovation mediates the relationship between technology transfer and firm performance in Turkish export companies. This study suggests that decision-makers should transfer the right technology because well-realized technology transfers lead to the improvement of corporate innovation capacities and improvement of firm performances for export companies.

There is no study that fully examined the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance. The proposed literature-based theoretical framework in this study is novel for Turkish export companies.

This study aims to investigate the influence of a range of contingent factors that moderate the approaches to training in manufacturing SMEs.

The study is based on a regression analysis of data from a survey of 198 manufacturing SMEs.

The findings suggest that there will be times when formal training is appropriate for SMEs. Dependent on size, product, market and organizational structures, formal training will be both required and/or encouraged by SME management. The challenge will be to understand specific organizational conditions, and to target the right type of intervention at a particular small firm based on its specific characteristics and needs. This will require a deeper understanding of the context and issues facing a specific firm.

Because of the diversity of small firms' structures, product and market conditions and leadership and management approaches, generic support policies are unlikely to be effective. Research, management and policy instruments of training support will need to interact with, and be responsive to, the subtle distinctions of context that will moderate what is more appropriate, and more likely to be welcomed, in the small business sector. There does appear to be a demand for formal training in certain types of firms, but other learning initiatives will have to be supported where formal training is not appropriate or not welcome.

The empirical analysis and the tentative conceptual framework make an important contribution towards a demand‐led policy framework in the area of development and training support for SMEs.

Increasingly, academics, practitioners and governments recognise the need to examine the role and effectiveness of entrepreneurship training and support. Studies to date have examined the importance of training and other skill development opportunities in promoting entrepreneurship in the context of different sectors, regions and countries. An important theme to emerge from the research is the failure of some programmes to take on board the cultural, educational and social background of the “entrepreneurs”, leading to ineffective training and support. This paper investigates the effectiveness of training and support initiatives for entrepreneurs in Ireland and The Netherlands, examining the experiences of 57 entrepreneurs from the services, manufacturing and high technology sectors in Ireland and The Netherlands. The results highlight the value of non‐formal support structures, such as mentoring and networking, and question the value of traditional formal business education and training strategies.

This paper presents results on the extent to which e‐business and knowledge management approaches are being used by SMEs in the UK. The questionnaire survey and interview results identify the main issues that should concern SMEs if they want to prevail in the emerging business environment and knowledge economy. The main finding is that SMEs have increasingly applied e‐business for B2B and B2C activities, but SMEs are not generally aware of how knowledge can be created through the use of e‐business applications and daily operations. It is envisaged that the findings from this study will provide the main step forward in developing a reference framework and a management model for SMEs to assess, manage and make use of the existing and new e‐business tools and knowledge reflecting the e‐business and knowledge management era.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current state of popular modern methods of construction (MMC) and pre-manufactured construction in the construction industry and propose a framework for future implications for practice and future research.

This technical paper is based on a narrative review of the extant literature on the subject. First, the Scopus search engine was used to retrieve relevant papers on MMC, offsite and pre-manufactured construction. Second, institutional literature such as reports by industry professional and trade bodies, literature from leading technology firms and contractors with experience of MMC were extracted. These two strands of literature were synthesised and a comprehensive discussion on the topic was provided.

Results show that journal publications on MMC and pre-manufactured construction have increased in the past decade. The paper found significant advances in the development of premanufactured and offsite construction approaches with many benefits. Offsite and pre-manufactured construction are viable and sustainable systems currently suitable for wider adoption as the mainstream construction method.

This technical paper based on an integrative review of relevant literature could have benefitted from interviews of professionals with experience of offsite and pre-manufacture techniques and from wider availability of current academic publications on the subject. Validation of the framework has not been undertaken.

Not much-published work has been undertaken on the current state of development globally and the viability of these construction approaches. This paper evaluates evidence from academic and industry sources to address this gap. A framework has been developed which can help the industry’s industrialisation drive.

This study investigates a mediational model between legitimated elements, financial resource mobilisation and subsequent early firm growth among New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) using conformity and control perspectives of legitimacy.

To test the hypotheses, a longitudinal database of 303 NTBFs from Sweden, Finland and France is used. The ordinary least square regression analysis method is applied, and the proposed mediation relationships are studied by employing the four-step approach developed by Baron and Kenny (1986).

This study finds that based on the conformity principle, two out of three legitimated elements (business plan and incubator relationship, but not start-up experience) have an impact on financial resource mobilisation, which in turn, is associated with early growth in NTBFs based on the control principle. Thus, financial resource mobilisation positively mediates the relationships among the two legitimated elements and early growth in NTBFs.

This study has several limitations, which also generate promising pathways for future research. Future research should study the relationship between the three legitimacy elements and financial resource mobilisation and early growth across a wider range of firms and settings. The questionnaire was also based on a single point in time and could not capture the evolving nature of the legitimacy elements and fundraising. Hence, future research can examine the multidimensionality of these processes; longitudinal qualitative studies can be a complement, allowing for a better understanding of the impact of legitimacy on NTBFs.

The findings offer implications for managers of NTBFs because developing legitimacy is critical to NTBFs early growth and development. The findings indicate that NTBFs' founders must systematically develop business plans and that incubators help enhance legitimacy through a signalling.

It is believed that the study meaningfully contributes to the collective understanding of the role of legitimacy in driving the development of NTBFs. Given the importance of NTBFs in our economies, coupled with the lack of attention given to the role of mobilisation of external resources in explaining NTBF early growth, it is believed that the study is both timely and important.

The findings meaningfully contribute to the collective understanding of NTBF growth. While there are studies that have examined the antecedents of growth and finance separately, this study proposes a novel mediational model that integrates both and tests it empirically.