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The purpose of this paper is to identify key factors that influence the integration process in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs). The research questions are: how national and organizational culture coupled with other organizational characteristics influence M&A deals of EMNEs? Which factors influence the process of cultural and organizational integration in cross-border M&A deals, initiated by EMNEs? What is the effect and consequences that different integration factors have on cross-border M&A deals by EMNEs?

The paper is based on a multiple case study research, considering cross-border deals of Chinese and Russian firms separately. Each block consists of two cases, describing M&A integration of companies operating in two sectors: high technology and finance. The authors obtained the data for case studies from companies’ official websites, annual reports, press releases, other official documents where companies were mentioned, business-media sources (newspapers and magazines), published interviews, documented speeches, letters, laws, as well as through blogs and social networks. The authors have also used the published information from articles, books, databases, and previously conducted case studies.

The authors have identified the factors influencing deals’ results of Chinese and Russian MNEs, with explanation based on case studies’ analysis. The full list of factors is presented in Table IV in the manuscript. The authors have also identified the set of elements that were derived from the case studies’ analysis only, without having any strong support in the literature, such as changes at a senior management level, educational and business exchanges, CSR policy, and the government involvement.

The authors have identified the key factors that influence integration of emerging market firms in cross-border M&A deal. The list of factors was adjusted and actualized in accordance with the results of four cases of cross-border M&A deals of Chinese or Russian companies. As a result, the authors founded the combination of characteristics of cultural and organizational integration process of firms from China and Russia.

Rapid response is often the cornerstone of success in many industries, especially manufacturing. In the authors’ opinion, organizational structure will also affect the construction of a fast-response supply chain system. The main purpose of this research examines whether different levels of organizational structure have different effects on the relationship between external integration and firm performance.

This study applied questionnaires to collect data. This study collected 818 questionnaires from manufacturers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to verify our proposed model using structural equation modeling.

Results show that response speed perfectly mediates the relationship between external integration and firm performance. Different levels of organizational structure will also affect external integration. Strict organizational structure requires customer integration, while loose organizational structure requires supplier integration to quickly meet customer needs.

Companies can probably determine whether their organizational structure is higher or lower than that of their competitors. If firms can determine that their organization structure is high or low, they can adopt suitable external integrations to enhance quick response and operational performance.

In the relationship between supply chain integration and performance, we consider a mediating variable and moderating variable together. Results explain the reason that the relationship between supply chain integration and performance are inconsistent in previous studies. We have addressed external integration in alignment with organizational structure to provide better service and enhance performance by providing empirical evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of inter‐organisational compatibility on inter‐organisational information systems (IOIS) integration and supply chain performance of large enterprises (LE) and small‐medium enterprises (SMEs) in Australian retailing chains.

Convergent interviewing technique was used to collect data from managers of 12 fast‐moving consumer goods and hardware manufacturing and retailing organisations. Within‐ and cross‐case analyses were used to analyse the data.

The results indicate that technical, strategic and cultural compatibility between supply chain partners are antecedents to IOIS integration and supply chain performance of both LE and SMEs. A conceptual model explaining the relationship between inter‐organisational compatibility, IOIS integration and supply chain performance is advanced. The study extends congruency theory to information systems and supply chain contexts.

The study provides some guidelines to supply chain and information systems managers on how inter‐organisational compatibility can be used to facilitate IOIS integration and enhance supply chain performance in both large and small firms. Technical, strategic and cultural compatibility emerged as antecedents to IOIS integration, suggesting the need for supply chain managers especially within SMEs to pay close attention to inter‐organisational compatibility factors when integrating IOIS with supply chain partners.

Research relating IOIS integration and supply chain is limited, especially in the SMEs context. Thus, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge by examining how inter‐organisational compatibility influences organisations' decisions to integrate IOIS with supply chain partners using congruency theory.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a two-part study that has explored the organisational and leadership competencies required for successful service integration within a health consortia in Australia. Preliminary organisational and leadership competency frameworks were developed to serve as reference points as the consortia it expanded to cater for increased service demand in the midst of significant health reform.

The study design is outlined, which involved literature reviews and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders to ascertain the key determinants of successful service integration at both organisational and leadership levels.

The literature reviews revealed little existing research specifically focused on the organisational and leadership competencies that underpin successful service integration. The themes from the literature reviews and semi-structured interviews informed the preliminary organisational and leadership competency frameworks. Both frameworks are outlined in the paper. Key determinants of successful service integration – at both an organisational and individual leadership level – are also presented.

This is a one-organisation case study and the competency frameworks presented are preliminary. However, the study findings provide a foundation for further research focusing on the longer-term success of service integration.

Service integration in health is a new and emerging area, and there is little extant research exploring the organisational and leadership competencies underpinning its success. The competency frameworks presented in the paper may be of interest to other consortia and organisations engaged in service integration and other forms of merger and collaboration.

Based on theories of organizational learning and strategy, the purpose of this study is to develop a strategic contingency model to identify the interrelationships among knowledge characteristics, knowledge management (KM) strategy, knowledge integration, organizational learning, KM capability and innovation.

This study was conducted using the survey method. A total of 800 survey questionnaires were sent to KM managers from the semiconductor, LED, precision machinery, communication, and biotech industries. ANOVA and LISREL were adopted to test 11 hypotheses as developed in this study.

The research results concluded that: knowledge characteristics with higher modularity and explicitness could enhance organizational learning and knowledge integration; levels of organizational learning, knowledge integration, and KM capability had significant impact on a firm's innovation; the interaction effects of human oriented KM strategy and organizational learning, and system oriented KM strategy and knowledge integration were found to significantly impact KM capability.

To further confirm the results of this cross‐sectional research, more longitudinal research is suggested. To identify the scope of generalization of this study, future research may use the same questionnaire or an abbreviated one to conduct surveys across different industries or different international settings.

The interrelationships among knowledge characteristics, KM capability and innovation have been evaluated extensively in previous studies. However, the interaction effects between organizational learning and KM strategy and between system oriented KM strategy and knowledge integration on KM capability have been largely ignored. The results of this study provide very important references for academics and practitioners to implement the effectiveness of KM.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing retail managerial turnover.

The Organizational Model of Employee Persistence provided the theoretical framework for this longitudinal study. Responses to the Organizational Survey of Managerial Integration were obtained from 528 managers in three randomly‐selected retail organizations.

By identifying and facilitating organizational behaviors that lead to a more integrative work climate, retail organizations might reduce costs associated with turnover. Managers' perceptions of integration (connectedness or engagement with the organization) based on their organizational experiences and relationships significantly explained turnover.

The 54 specific items that comprise the construct, integration, can be used as baseline data. Other implications for research include further critique of the model and testing both within the USA and internationally; re‐examination of the factor structure of the instrument; adaptation to non‐managerial populations and to non‐retail settings; and structural equations modeling to determine directionality of the variables.

Organizations might pay closer attention to the career development needs of their managers through formal and informal opportunities for career development. In addition, organizations might address issues associated with worklife balance.

This study introduces a new model of employee turnover and the concept of integration to the turnover literature. The findings underscore the importance of management development in creating and sustaining an organizational climate conducive to retaining managerial employees.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of organisational level supply chain activities on the effect of inter‐organisational information systems (IOIS) and activity (IOA) integration on business performance of retailing organisations within Australia.

The study followed a causal research approach and survey methodology to collect data from the managers of food and hardware retailers. Multiple regression and MacKinnon et al.'s mediation analysis were used to investigate the hypothesised relationships.

The results suggest that inter‐organisational information systems (IOIS) and activity integration have positive effects on customer responsiveness and financial performance of organisations. Organisational‐level supply chain functions mediate the relationships between IOIS and activity integration and customer responsiveness, as well as financial performance.

The research focused at the retailer level of the supply chain. Large‐scale cross‐sectional studies that include other levels of supply chain are required for generalisability.

The research suggests that organisations need to integrate their inter‐organisational information systems and activities with supply chain partners to enhance supply chain and business performance.

The results extend the body of knowledge on inter‐organisational information systems, inter‐organisational integration and supply chain management. The study also provides some empirical insights into management practices in the retailing sector.

In this chapter, the authors theorize organizational integration by extending, elaborating, and combining various theoretical perspectives, such as structural contingency theory, organization economics, and organizational culture. The aim of this study is to provide the foundation for a holistic theory of integration that examines the different relevant facets of integration and a comprehensive set of tools – integrative devices – by which integration can be sought by those who design the organization. To this end, the authors examine the integration challenge that arises from various types of subunit interdependence – pooled, sequential, and reciprocal – and theorize which configurations of integrative devices are more likely to be effective in a given task environment. The authors close by discussing directions for future research on organizational integration.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

Multi-supplier project networks represent a large part of the business-to-business (B2B) sector as the scope of many projects requires that different providers participate in their development and delivery. This raises the question of how the integration of the resources of the various partners can be shaped successfully. Specifically, the different organizational identities provide institutional frames of reference to the resource-integrating firms. As the organizational identities are typically not harmonious with each other, at least partial misalignments of the institutional setting that shapes the resource integration processes may emerge. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of various organizational identities on the course and outcome of resource integration in project networks.

The paper makes use of interpretive phenomenology in conjunction with a qualitative case study approach to access the lived experience of actors of different professional service firms having experienced changes in resource integration in a B2B project network.

A conceptualization of organizational identity as an institutional context for resource integration is developed and empirically investigated. The findings show a strong impact on the firms’ organizational identities and the actors’ resource integration experience and evaluation. Moreover, the findings provide evidence that, if unmanaged, at least partial misalignment of the institutional arrangements of multi-organizational B2B project network represents a normal and also a stable condition.

As a first conceptualization and empirical analysis of the interplay between organizational identity and resource integration, this paper advances the current understanding of the institutional context for resource integration. It argues for the wider relevance of organizational identity constructs and paves the way for future development.