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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 January 2023

Anni Rajala and Tuire Hautala-Kankaanpää

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide…

3511

Abstract

Purpose

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide access to external real-time information and establish digital connectivity between firms to remain competitive. This study aims to focus on SMEs’ downstream and upstream platform-based digital connectivity (PDC).

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines the effects of PDC on SMEs’ operational performance under conditions of environmental turbulence. The data was gathered from 192 SMEs operating in the manufacturing arena.

Findings

The results show that the adoption of PDC does not directly affect an SME’s operational performance. However, in highly turbulent environments, PDC can improve operational performance. The results indicate that the performance effects of PDC vary according to the level and type of environmental turbulence.

Research limitations/implications

This research offers insights into the relationship between PDC among SMEs and operational performance and encourages future research examining other possible conditional effects that could explain the contradictory results found in previous research.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the knowledge of supply-chain digitalization among SMEs and its performance effects in varying environmental conditions. Further, this study contributes to the prior research by focusing on the interorganizational aspects of digitalization in SMEs.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 38 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2018

Tamara Keszey

This paper aims to enrich knowledge management theory and practice by investigating how boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge contributes to innovation success…

11654

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to enrich knowledge management theory and practice by investigating how boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge contributes to innovation success and by examining the contingent role of market turbulence.

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 296 top income Hungarian firms. Structural equation modelling with bootstrap procedures was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge has a dual effect on innovation success, which is captured by new product development innovativeness and performance. It has a direct effect on both new product development innovativeness and performance, and it has a mediated effect on new product development performance, where new product development innovativeness serves as a mediator. The study’s results indicate that these effects are robust and not contingent on the turbulence of the firm’s marketplace.

Research limitations/implications

This study’s respondents were managers in boundary-spanning positions charged with the task of linking the organisation with its external environment. Owing to their proximity to the external environment, their evaluation of market turbulence may be distorted.

Practical implications

Maintaining the willingness of managers in boundary-spanning positions to share what they know is essential to the continuous creation of superior new product development performance. Hence, firms should develop organisational cultures where employees’ knowledge-sharing willingness is presented as an important asset. While turbulent markets may be unpredictable and hostile, firms should not adjust their knowledge management practices.

Originality/value

Building on the research on knowledge sharing, boundary spanning theory and contingency theory, this paper increases the understanding of the salient factors that are often implicitly assumed in mechanisms involved in transforming knowledge into new product performance. This is the first empirical study to focus on boundary spanners’ knowledge behaviour and to consider the contingent role of market turbulence in knowledge management.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 22 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 July 2022

Izabela Kowalik, Lidia Danik and Agnieszka Pleśniak

The entrepreneurial marketing orientation (EMO) has been studied primarily in developed countries. The past research has focused on entrepreneurial marketing dimensions and their…

1482

Abstract

Purpose

The entrepreneurial marketing orientation (EMO) has been studied primarily in developed countries. The past research has focused on entrepreneurial marketing dimensions and their relationship with selected small- and medium-sized firm (SME) activities, strategic orientations or performance. Scholars have not paid enough attention to the EMO determinants. This study aims to investigate whether the SMEs originating from different countries, including the post-transition market, differ in their entrepreneurial marketing approach and checks its external determinants connected with environmental turbulence.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 219 Polish and 81 Finnish manufacturing SMEs, serving mainly business-to-business clients, were surveyed using the mixed-mode computer assisted telephone interview/computer assisted web interview method between 2020 and 2021. Structural equation modelling, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis analysis, analysis of variance and T-tests were applied.

Findings

The metric and partial scalar invariance of the EMO scale used in Finland and Poland was found. The authors showed that Finnish firms represent a more robust entrepreneurial posture in marketing than Polish ones. The export market turbulence and the perceived crisis influence are the environmental determinants of EMO level, while the industry technological development level is not.

Research limitations/implications

The conducted analyses allowed to identify EMO determinants, verify the entrepreneurial marketing measurement concept in a new country (Finland) and show the differences in EMO between SMEs from a less and more developed country.

Originality/value

The existing literature lacks empirical data on the external EMO determinants and inter-country comparisons. This study shows the differences in EMO level of companies from different country backgrounds and points to the market turbulence as its determinant.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 August 2021

Enrique Sanmiguel-Rojas and Ramon Fernandez-Feria

This paper aims to analyze the propulsive performance of small-amplitude pitching foils at very high frequencies with double objectives: to find out scaling laws for the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the propulsive performance of small-amplitude pitching foils at very high frequencies with double objectives: to find out scaling laws for the time-averaged thrust and propulsive efficiency at very high frequencies; and to characterize the Strouhal number above which the effect of turbulence on the mean values cannot be neglected.

Design/methodology/approach

The thrust force and propulsive efficiency of a pitching NACA0012 foil at high reduced frequencies (k) and a Reynolds number Re = 16 000 are analyzed using accurate numerical simulations, both assuming laminar flow and using a transition turbulence model. The time-averaged results are validated with available experimental data for k up to about 12 (Strouhal number, St, up to 0.6). This study also compares the present numerical results with the predictions of theoretical models and existing numerical results. For a foil pitching about its quarter chord with amplitude α0 = 8o, the reduced frequency is varied here up to k = 30 (St up to 2), much higher than in any previous numerical or experimental work.

Findings

For this pitch amplitude, turbulence effects are found negligible for St ≲ 0.8, and affecting less than 10% to the time-averaged thrust coefficient CT¯ for larger St Linear potential theory fails for very large k, even for the small pitch amplitude considered, particularly for the power coefficient, and therefore for the propulsive efficiency. It is found that CT¯St2 for large St, in agreement with recent models, and the propulsive efficiency decays as 1/k, in disagreement with the linear potential theory.

Originality/value

Pitching foils are increasingly studied as efficient propellers and energy harvesting devices. Their performance at very high reduced frequencies has not been sufficiently analyzed before. The authors provide accurate numerical simulations to discern when turbulence is relevant for the computation of the time-averaged thrust and efficiency and how their scaling with the reduced frequency is affected in relation to the laminar-flow predictions. This is relevant because some small-amplitude theoretical models predict high propulsive efficiency of pitching foils at very high frequencies over certain ranges of the structural parameters, and only very accurate numerical simulations may decide on these predictions.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 July 2023

Gavriel Dahan

The aim of this study is to empirically examine the impact of several environmental, organisational and managerial characteristics on entrepreneurial orientation (EO).

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to empirically examine the impact of several environmental, organisational and managerial characteristics on entrepreneurial orientation (EO).

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on resource-based view theory to construct a quantitative research method. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire and analysed by SmartPLS 3 (partial least squares structural equation modelling) software. The sample comprised 185 managers at domestic Israeli companies within various industries.

Findings

The data analysis shows that market turbulence, technological turbulence and risk-taking tendency have a positive impact on EO, while centralisation has a negative effect on EO, and formalisation does not affect it at all.

Originality/value

This study emphasises the importance of environmental, organisational and managerial characteristics as capabilities within an organisation and has practical implications for managers with regard to achieving a competitive advantage by promoting their EO.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2071-1395

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 September 2022

Samuel Foli, Susanne Durst and Serdal Temel

Acknowledging, on the one hand, the increasing fragility of supply chains and the number of risks involved in supply chain operations and, on the other hand, the role of small…

2785

Abstract

Purpose

Acknowledging, on the one hand, the increasing fragility of supply chains and the number of risks involved in supply chain operations and, on the other hand, the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in supply chains and the high exposure of these firms to risks of different types, this study aims to examine the relationship between supply chain risk management (SCRM) and innovation performance in SMEs. Furthermore, the impact of technological turbulence on this relationship was studied to take into account recent technological changes.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modelling was carried out on a sample of Turkish SMEs to test the hypotheses developed.

Findings

The findings presented allow the authors to better understand the link between SCRM and innovation performance in SMEs. More precisely, empirical evidence is provided about the impact of SCRM components such as maturity and ability on innovation performance. Furthermore, the findings show the impact of technological turbulence on both SCRM and innovation performance.

Originality/value

By focusing on SCRM in SMEs, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge with regard to SCRM in general and with regard to SMEs in particular; research on the latter has only started recently. Moreover, by having studied SMEs from a developing country (other than China), this paper helps to develop a broader and more diverse perspective of SCRM.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4604

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 July 2017

Carlos Augusto Rincón Díaz and José Albors Garrigós

The purpose of this paper is to propose a contingent model that facilitates knowledge of the strategies followed by the research technology organizations (RTOs) of Valencia and…

3396

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a contingent model that facilitates knowledge of the strategies followed by the research technology organizations (RTOs) of Valencia and the Basque Country, Spain, to adapt to the turbulence of their environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The research includes context, organizational and results variables and identifies some barriers that the RTOs encounter in collaborating with SMEs and also the best practices they follow to develop competitive advantages. The methodology used consisted of applying the proposed model to the 27 RTOs of both autonomous regions; a factor analysis was then performed to determine whether there exist groups of related (correlated) variables; finally, the authors proceeded to carry out a hierarchical cluster analysis to observe how the 27 RTOs are distributed according to their ability to adapt and respond to environmental turbulence.

Findings

The technological policy must consider the characteristics of each region to propose more efficient and equitable mechanisms that allow the RTOs to face new challenges.

Originality/value

This study proposes a theoretical model suitable for RTOs to respond to environmental changes, to the current economy globalization and to cope with new challenges. This proposal means that RTOs must manage an appropriate combination of key factors, including the development of more proactive innovation strategies, an organic organizational structure to relate better with other innovation agents and universities, which help them to work more efficiently with SMEs and to obtain a higher innovative performance.

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8451

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 January 2022

Yong Li, Yingchun Zhang, Gongnan Xie and Bengt Ake Sunden

This paper aims to comprehensively clarify the research status of thermal transport of supercritical aviation kerosene, with particular interests in the effect of cracking on heat…

1288

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to comprehensively clarify the research status of thermal transport of supercritical aviation kerosene, with particular interests in the effect of cracking on heat transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

A brief review of current research on supercritical aviation kerosene is presented in views of the surrogate model of hydrocarbon fuels, chemical cracking mechanism of hydrocarbon fuels, thermo-physical properties of hydrocarbon fuels, turbulence models, flow characteristics and thermal performances, which indicates that more efforts need to be directed into these topics. Therefore, supercritical thermal transport of n-decane is then computationally investigated in the condition of thermal pyrolysis, while the ASPEN HYSYS gives the properties of n-decane and pyrolysis products. In addition, the one-step chemical cracking mechanism and SST k-ω turbulence model are applied with relatively high precision.

Findings

The existing surrogate models of aviation kerosene are limited to a specific scope of application and their thermo-physical properties deviate from the experimental data. The turbulence models used to implement numerical simulation should be studied to further improve the prediction accuracy. The thermal-induced acceleration is driven by the drastic density change, which is caused by the production of small molecules. The wall temperature of the combustion chamber can be effectively reduced by this behavior, i.e. the phenomenon of heat transfer deterioration can be attenuated or suppressed by thermal pyrolysis.

Originality/value

The issues in numerical studies of supercritical aviation kerosene are clearly revealed, and the conjugation mechanism between thermal pyrolysis and convective heat transfer is initially presented.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 32 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Craig Webster

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the political turbulence of the times and discuss how political movements and political events that appear to be shocking to many are…

2524

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the political turbulence of the times and discuss how political movements and political events that appear to be shocking to many are linked with major transformations in the global economy in recent decades. The author shows how the political and economic situation will likely have little impact on tourism inflows in major developed countries in coming years.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores global changes since the end of the Cold War and how this has impacted upon potential tourists in tourist source markets and host destinations. It is a global analysis, exploring changes since the Cold War.

Findings

Western countries will continue to experience all sorts of political and social turbulence for the foreseeable future, as their populations become increasingly bifurcated in terms of their wealth and the fiat currency system and fractional reserve system of banking reaches the limits of what it is capable of. However, this does not necessarily mean that tourists will be deterred from travelling to developed countries, as long as the developed countries shield visitors from social upheaval and politically unpleasant events such as strikes, riots, and demonstrations.

Practical implications

The practical implications are that managers in the tourism industry should become increasingly aware of the widening gap between the rich and poor in developed countries and prepare for the political and social shocks of dealing with this phenomenon. The phenomenon will have political expression in political movements that will pay lip service to populist demands but will also have expression in disappointed populations that will take part in social unrest of all sorts. Managers should prepare for various expressions of unrest in developed countries that had not been so widespread, including strikes, demonstrations, and riots.

Originality/value

This paper discusses the ascendency of Donald Trump to the US Presidency and the increasing visibility of other political nonconformist movements in western countries as a possible threat to tourism in developed countries. It links the changing political and social reality of citizens since the end of the Cold War to the future role that developed countries will play in the tourism industry, largely as hosts to the world’s affluent class created by globalization.

Details

Journal of Tourism Futures, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-5911

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Babak Lotfi and Bengt Ake Sunden

This study aims to computational numerical simulations to clarify and explore the influences of periodic cellular lattice (PCL) morphological parameters – such as lattice…

1156

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to computational numerical simulations to clarify and explore the influences of periodic cellular lattice (PCL) morphological parameters – such as lattice structure topology (simple cubic, body-centered cubic, z-reinforced body-centered cubic [BCCZ], face-centered cubic and z-reinforced face-centered cubic [FCCZ] lattice structures) and porosity value ( ) – on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the novel trussed fin-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger (FETHX), which has led to a deeper understanding of the superior heat transfer enhancement ability of the PCL structure.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is proposed in this paper to provide better understanding of the fluid flow and heat transfer behavior of the PCL structures in the trussed FETHXs associated with different structure topologies and high-porosities. The flow governing equations of the trussed FETHX are solved by the CFD software ANSYS CFX® and use the Menter SST turbulence model to accurately predict flow characteristics in the fluid flow region.

Findings

The thermal-hydraulic performance benchmarks analysis – such as field synergy performance and performance evaluation criteria – conducted during this research successfully identified demonstrates that if the high porosity of all PCL structures decrease to 92%, the best thermal-hydraulic performance is provided. Overall, according to the obtained outcomes, the trussed FETHX with the advantages of using BCCZ lattice structure at 92% porosity presents good thermal-hydraulic performance enhancement among all the investigated PCL structures.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first in the literature that provides thorough thermal-hydraulic characteristics of a novel trussed FETHX with high-porosity PCL structures.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

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