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This research aims at examining the role of the managing director in the development of dynamic capabilities at SMEs.

The paper used a mixed‐methods approach and conducted case studies at 13 SMEs. The primary sources of data were semi‐structured interviews, which were supplemented by quantitative data from a postal survey and content analysis of the companies' websites.

The paper suggests that managing directors “enact” in the development of dynamic capabilities, if they believe that dynamic capabilities are a source of competitive advantage. If they do not appreciate the importance of dynamic capabilities they can get trapped in a vicious circle.

This research focuses especially on small firms, and it is unlikely that the findings can be applied to large firms.

The key managerial implication is the threat of a vicious circle if the development of dynamic capabilities is neglected.

This paper draws the dynamic capabilities framework and the enactment concept together, suggesting that managerial decisions and behavior affect dynamic capabilities at an organizational level, which then drives firm performance.

Throughout America most managers complain about conducting performance appraisals. Most directors dread the time of the year when they must undergo increasingly strict and stressful reviews and then perform the same for their subordinates.

Web services promise a step change in business‐to‐business application models and practices. But how do we measure web services' performance? Because web services are so new, and implementations so few, the purpose of this paper is to take internet performance as a proxy for web services performance.

The authors surveyed 106 e‐business SMEs to identify key drivers for internet performance, and then predicted web services performance.

Surprisingly, it was found that while business resources and IT resources positively impact internet performance, dynamic capabilities do not. Also, there appear to be significant firm size effects.

The implications of these findings for the strategic management of web services are discussed, and in particular, managers' need to balance resources and capabilities in volatile business environments.

John Suzuki has joined Chemitrade Ltd. as product manager. He was previously with Honeywell and Stein Ltd.

The purpose of this study is to introduce a virtual collaborative learning setting called “Net Economy”, which we established as part of an international learning network of currently six universities, and present our approach to continuously improve the course in each cycle.

Using the community of inquiry framework as guidance and canonical action research (CAR) as the chosen research design, the discussion forum of the online course is assessed regarding its critical thinking value. We thereby measure critical thinking with the help of the according model provided by Newman et al. (1995), which differentiates 40 indicators of critical thinking from 10 different categories.

The calculated critical thinking ratios for the analyzed two discussion threads indicate a strong use of outside knowledge, intensive justification and critical assessment of posts by the students. But at the same time, there are also weak spots, like manifold repetitions. Based on these results, we derive changes for the next course cycle to improve the critical thinking of the students.

A comparison of the results after the next course cycle will then allow us to assess the effects of the implemented changes, which would not be possible without a critical thinking diagnosis approach.

February 20, 1969 Master and servant — Wrongful dismissal — Gardener — Written contract — Express term for three months' notice of termination of contract — Deterioration in work — Complaints of “dumb insolence” — Final act of insolence — Whether indicating repudiation of responsibilities under contract — Whether summary dismissal justified.

The Jason Bourne series of films (2002–2016) are widely acknowledged with helping to successfully re-invent the action thriller genre in the 2000s by focusing more on motivation and plot than over-the-top spectacle. Featuring a profoundly wounded son figure in the titular character, the films are indicative of an awareness of the vulnerabilities and reactions of a fatherless masculinity within a post-Cold War political reality.

This chapter will argue that Bourne's onscreen pain and subsequent violent responses to his various narrative predicaments are a result of being repeatedly betrayed by a series of older males, in many cases, father surrogates. Bourne's experience of this paternal disruption and betrayal is the key psychological motivating factor, with the films and the story arc of the character only being resolved when both he and the audience finally discover and reconcile the role that his biological father played in shaping his destiny and his life. This ‘father hunger’ – in effect a need for a continuative masculinity – that Jason Bourne experiences, and that is arguably at the heart of the franchise, will be analysed and explored within the contexts of post-Jungian screen theory. Alongside the deliberately casting of ‘quality’ actors (such as Brian Cox, Joan Allen, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn) and other formalist elements of the text, archetypal energies and symbolism are also rife throughout the film, and can be, in part, credited with the critical and commercial success of the films. Finally, the films are put in their cinematic context in terms of the influence they subsequently exerted on other action film franchises – particularly James Bond (1962 to present).