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The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify and map contemporary research on advanced technology implementations for problem-solving purposes in the manufacturing industry, and to further understand the organizational learning possibilities of advanced technology problem-solving in the manufacturing industry.

This paper outlines a scoping review of contemporary research on the subject. The findings of the review are discussed in the light of theories of contradicting learning logics.

This paper shows that contemporary research on the subject is characterized by technological determinism and strong solution-focus. A discussion on the manufacturing industries’ contextual reasons for this in relation to contradicting learning logics shows that a Mode-2 problem-solving approach could facilitate further learning and expand knowledge on advanced technology problem-solving in the manufacturing industry. A research agenda with six propositions is provided.

The introduction of advanced technology implies complex effects on the manufacturing industry in general, while previous research shows a clear focus on technological aspects of this transformation. This paper provides value by providing novel knowledge on the relationship between advanced technology, problem-solving and organizational learning in the manufacturing industry.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

Our annual surveys seek to provide insight into important market dynamics, opportunities and problems in the North American third party logistics (3PL) industry, from the perspective of the chief executive officers (CEOs) of major logistics service companies. The information generated is not only useful to managers considering using such services, but also to provider CEOs to facilitate industry benchmarking.

For the past decade, that insight has been sought by conducting annual surveys of the CEOs of many of the largest 3PL companies serving North America.

The CEOs projected substantial revenue growth in the North American 3PL marketplace over the next three years. Their companies are becoming increasingly customer selective, and aggressively selling along customer supply chains. They are increasingly focusing attention on the possible large‐scale adoption of RFID technology in the industry, and seeking ways to overcome industry pricing pressures.

This survey focused on the largest 3PL companies operating in North America. However, many small‐medium size companies now participate in that market, and little work has been done to document developments in that sector of the industry. Further, little research has been conducted concerning the provision and use of 3PL services in other geographies.

As previously noted, the findings not only give insight into the industry for those considering the use of 3PL services, but also give provider CEO a means of benchmarking their companies against industry averages.

Data generated in this survey provide a basis for comparison with that generated in our previous annual surveys, and an understanding of current 3PL market conditions.

This paper examines the development of green skills across firms located in an institutional context, specifically the national education and skill-formation system, of the under-researched developing country of Thailand.

This paper qualitatively explores the Thai education and skill-formation system and conducts a cross-case analysis of four firms across different industries in Thailand. The empirical findings in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders; field visits to vocational colleges, universities, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and firms across industries both in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources.

This paper proposes that firms across industries in Thailand must be responsible for helping their employees/workers obtain the green knowledge and skills necessary to perform green jobs through high-road human resource (HR) practices in response to the fact that the Thai education and skill-formation system is unlikely to produce a sufficient number of employees/workers who have green knowledge, skills and abilities and are industry-ready to perform green jobs, leading to a shortage of employees/workers who possess green skills in the labor market. Specifically, curricula in vocational colleges and universities in Thailand are not likely to respond to the needs of firms in producing those employees/workers.

The limitations of this research concern its methodology. This research is based on the qualitative studies of the Thai education and skill-formation system and a case study of firms across industries in Thailand. Thus, this paper does not aim to generalize the findings to all other countries but to enrich the discussion on the effects of macro-level HR policies on the creation of green jobs and the development of green skills across firms in each country. Additionally, it is difficult to gain access to firms across several industries and various stakeholders to understand the development of green skills among employees in these firms. The reasons are resource constraints, time constraints and the hesitation of firms in permitting the author to access the data. These difficulties have restricted the sources of information to construct a more nuanced picture of firms across various industries in developing green skills among their existing employees. Consequently, this research does not include firms in several other industries, including the pulp and paper industry, textile and garment industry, plastic industry and agri-food industry. Thus, future research may extend the topic of the development of green skills among employees to these industries. Quantitative studies using large samples of firms across industries may also be useful in deepening the understanding of this topic, which is significant from the perspectives of the strategic human resource management (SHRM), comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and green economy.

This paper also provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms in Thailand, other developing countries and other emerging market economies with deficiencies in the national education and skill-formation system. First, the top managers and/or HR managers can apply various methods to internally develop managers and employees/workers with the appropriate environmental/green knowledge and necessary skills to perform green jobs. The methods include classroom training, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring systems, job shadowing and being role models for younger generations of employees. Second, these top managers and/or HR managers can cooperate with vocational colleges and/or universities in their countries to design educational programs/curricula related to environmental/green management to be able to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for their firms. These managers can request for assistance from universities in their countries when their firms confront sophisticated questions/problems related to environmental/green management. In this regard, universities will have an opportunity to solve real environmental/green problems experienced by industries, while firms can appropriately and accurately solve environmental/green questions/problems. Third, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their firms to apply for certificates of green-/environmentally friendly products or carbon footprint labels from NGOs to foster a green image among firms' consumers. These applications require the firms to pay special attention to the cultivation of green awareness and the development of green skills among their employees. Fourth, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their employees to express green-/environmentally friendly behaviors as well as sufficiency-based consumption behaviors. In fact, these top managers and/or HR managers can foster their employees to reduce energy consumption, including electricity and water, to conserve these types of energy for young generations. Fifth, these top managers and/or HR managers can adopt and implement green human resource management (GHRM) practices consisting of green recruitment and selection, green training and development, green performance management, green pay and rewards and green employee relations in their firms to upgrade both the environmental and social performances of firms. Finally, these top managers and/or HR managers must take serious actions regarding the implementation of environmental/green management policies and practices within their firms in order to facilitate the movement of the country toward the bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy (BCG economy).

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government, vocational colleges and universities in Thailand, other developing countries and emerging market economies where the skill shortage problem is still severe. First, the government of each country should incorporate green/environmental policies into the national education policy and the long-term strategic plan of the country. Second, the government should continuously implement such national policy and strategic plan by encouraging government agencies, vocational colleges, universities, firms and NGOs to cooperate in developing and offering environmental/green management educational programs/curricula to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for those firms. Third, the government should encourage vocational colleges and universities to equip their students with green skills to be industry-ready in a real working context. Fourth, to alleviate the skill shortage problem in the labor market, the government should foster firms, especially private sector firms, to focus on the upskilling and reskilling of their existing employees. With this action, their existing employees will have green skills, be able to effectively perform green jobs and become an important driver to help the country move toward the BCG economy. Fifth, the government of each country should encourage firms to develop green-/environmentally friendly products by offering them various types of incentives, including tax reductions or tax exemptions. Sixth, the government should encourage universities in the country to sign a memorandum of understanding with leading research institutes and world-class digital technology companies such that these institutes and/or companies admit high-potential university students to work as trainees/entry-level employees for a certain duration. This action can ultimately facilitate knowledge transfer from these institutes and/or companies to those university students who will finally return to work in their home country. Seventh, the government, especially the Ministry of Education, should encourage vocational colleges and universities to teach students in the environmental/green management program based on real case studies/problems found across firms. In this way, graduates should be industry-ready to perform green jobs. Finally, the government must pay serious attention to the implementation of environmental/green management policies across levels within the country so that the transition of the country toward the BCG economy will finally come true in the future.

This paper contributes to the SHRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and the literature on the green economy and the development of green skills in firms in the following ways. First, this paper focuses on examining how the institutional context of Thailand shapes the development of green knowledge and skills among employees across firms in Thailand. In this regard, the paper aims to fill the gap in the literature on strategic HRM and comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices as proposed by Batt and Banerjee (2012) and Batt and Hermans (2012), who suggested that the literature on strategic HRM should go beyond the organizational context and examine how firms adopt and implement HR practices in response to the national institutional context. Second, the paper aims to extend the literature on the green economy regarding the roles played by institutional factors in shaping the development of green knowledge and skills across firms. Finally, strategic HRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices and green economy studies have overlooked the under-researched country of Thailand. Most studies in these three areas focus more on developed countries. Thus, the findings of this paper should extend the literature on those areas regarding the development of green skills among employees across firms in response to the Thai institutional context.

Traditionally, the hotel industry has prided itself on its provision of quality service and therefore guest satisfaction. Unfortunately, hotel managers are often reluctant, or even resistant, to accept technologies, fearing that technologies might change their ability to provide hotel guests with the personal attention that characterizes a typical hotel business. Hotel managers’ low technical competence, and the wide adoption of technology‐assisted hotel operations, mean that the hotel industry remains at high risk regarding information technology (IT) problems. This paper reports on a study that investigates the Y2K readiness in various departments of the Kowloon Hotel. Based on the Kowloon Hotel’s experience, this paper serves to inform hotel managers that: most, if not all, hotels are at risk of future IT problems; the cost of a hotel for ignoring these problems could be huge, and most importantly; the problems’ influences will be timeless. That is, IT problems could have a long‐lasting impact on the entire hotel industry. Research findings of this paper should be of interest to hoteliers to better understand the impact of IT applications in the year 2000 and beyond.

To achieve change in the Australian red meat processing industry it is necessary to address the tyranny of distance in a dispersed industry, a culture of “firefighting” rather than root cause problem solving and a low investment in staff training and development. Internet‐based learning offers potential where off‐the‐job training is not feasible or efficient. Hence our decision to design a management development initiative for the industry. $LAM (pronounced “slam” – may be viewed at URL: http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/$lam/) is the name coined for the learning process that uses interactive Internet‐based decision support systems. $LAM integrates high quality content, state‐of‐the‐art instructional design principles and motivational strategies. The goal was the delivery of an industry specific cost of quality tutorial and activity based projects able to promote learners’ ability to formulate conceptual generalisations and promote change in developing new responses to industry issues.

This paper is based on research being undertaken by the Centre for Strategic Procurement Management (funded by BAA) considering best practice in construction procurement. The primary aim of the study is to establish how supply chains in construction may be managed more efficiently and effectively. This involves the amalgamation of conventional views on industry problems and initiatives for improvement, the theoretical and empirical consideration of supply chain optimisation, the identification of ‘best practices’ in the procurement process, and the development of suitable change management strategies to allow organizations to move towards better practice. This paper discusses the limitations behind the current thinking for reforming the UK construction industry, and how Latham's ‘team’ approach will not succeed where clients adopt a ‘traditional’ approach to procuring their construction needs. There is a need to differentiate between ‘process’ and ‘commodity’ spend in construction. It is argued that the benefits of a collaborative approach can only be realized by those clients managing ‘fit‐for‐purpose’ supply relationships to satisfy their regular process requirements. An approach known as relational competence analysis is suggested as a methodology for helping clients to determine what is ‘fit for their purpose.

To present a holistic picture of the three paths to new market creation, what leads to one form of market creation over another, and how each path triggers a different balance between disruptive and nondisruptive growth.

The authors present “A Growth Model of Market-Creating Innovation Strategy” based on their three decades long research journey from blue ocean strategy to what Kim and Mauborgne have come to call “nondisruptive creation,” creation without destruction or disruption.

The authors’ found that what triggers one type of market-creating innovation over another comes down to the type of problem or opportunity an organization sets out to address. Offering a breakthrough solution to an industry’s existing problem is the path to disruptive creation and disruptive growth. Identifying and solving a brand-new problem or seizing a brand-new opportunity outside existing industry boundaries sets you on the path to “nondisruptive creation” and nondisruptive growth. Between these two ends of the market-innovation spectrum is redefining an existing industry problem and then solving the redefined problem. This is the essence of blue ocean strategy, which generates a more balanced blend of disruptive and nondisruptive growth.

Leaders can be more intentional and move beyond chance to consciously direct their efforts to the type of market innovation they choose to nurture, and deliberately put their resources behind it. Leaders learn the path to nondisruptive creation where their current business is not disrupted by the initiative and where economic growth and social good are not trade-offs.

The article offers a unique overview of the three dominant paths to market-creating innovation – disruption, blue ocean strategy, and nondisruptive creation – and their different impacts on growth.

The purpose of this study is to outline the problems associated with asset information management using the Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) standard and to analyse the causes of industry failure to successfully adopt the standard. Based on this analysis, the paper will propose a process model, namely, Lifecycle Exchange of Asset Data (LEAD) to manage asset dataflow between all building stakeholders from design to construction and ultimately to the facility management team. This model aims to help the construction supply chain to produce complete and high-quality asset data that supports the operation phase of the built environment.

A review of relevant studies provided a theoretical background for this study. The authors then collected and analysed COBie data from five live construction projects using building information modelling (BIM) projects from different design and construction companies. The process model is based on an industry placement within Bouygues UK construction company, which was a Tier 1 building contractor in London in the period from December 2016 to December 2018. The researcher used an inductive approach observing current practises in two construction projects to produce “LEAD” model. Then a focus group was conducted with industry experts to discuss and refine the process model.

Analysis of literature and data collected in the course of this study revealed that although COBie is a BIM Level 2 standard in the UK, there is currently a low success rate in producing complete and accurate COBie data in the UK construction industry. This low rate is because of COBie’s rigid data syntax/structure, complexity and ambiguity of its data exchange process, which suggests that COBie may not be the future of the industry. Based on these findings, the study proposed a process model, namely, “LEAD,” to improve COBie output and also to be used with project-specific information requirements.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to focus solely on asset data exchange process using COBie standard and highlights the problems the industry faces in this remit. The study is based on industry placement for two years, so the analysis is based on actual and current industry problems. Current industry practices also informed the “LEAD” model, and the model provides a step-by-step guidance in producing and exchanging BIM asset data in all stages of the building lifecycle.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the most common problems associated with COBie as an asset data exchange standard. Understanding these problems is of high value for industry practitioners to avoid them in projects. The paper also proposed a novel process model that can be used either to improve COBie quality or can be used with any project-specific data requirements.