Marcu Handte, Christian Becker and Kurt Rothermel
Pervasive computing envisions seamless support for user tasks through cooperating devices that are present in an environment. Fluctuating availability of devices, induced by…
Abstract
Pervasive computing envisions seamless support for user tasks through cooperating devices that are present in an environment. Fluctuating availability of devices, induced by mobility and failures, requires mechanisms and algorithms that allow applications to adapt to their ever‐changing execution environments without user intervention. To ease the development of adaptive applications, Becker et al. (3) have proposed the peer‐based component system PCOM. This system provides fundamental mechanisms to support the automated composition of applications at runtime. In this article, we discuss the requirements on algorithms that enable automatic configuration of pervasive applications. Furthermore, we show how finding a configuration can be interpreted as Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problem. Based on this, we present an algorithm that is capable of finding an application configuration in the presence of strictly limited resources. To show the feasibility of this algorithm, we present an evaluation based on simulations and real‐world measurements and we compare the results with a simple greedy approximation.
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The dialogic nature of new organization development practices brought a dramatic shift in relation to the way OD has had been practiced in the past. However, contemporary…
Abstract
Purpose
The dialogic nature of new organization development practices brought a dramatic shift in relation to the way OD has had been practiced in the past. However, contemporary literature indicates that OD still has to go a long way if it has to play a central role. The purpose of this paper is to speculate for the concerns being raised about OD practices and propose an interpretive approach to fill in the gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper traces OD’s glorious journey, which began with egalitarian values. This section builds on the dynamics of power and politics which was integral to the OD movement and further reviews and critiques the contributions of new OD approaches that has its foundations in postmodernism and social constructionism. In the second part, the paper discusses the critical perspective and introduces the concept of subaltern to fill in the gaps in new OD approaches. Further, the paper finds a ground to integrate and redefine the boundaries of critical and subaltern studies.
Findings
The paper proposes an interpretive approach for designing and carrying out OD interventions and introduces the concept of critical-subaltern OD. This approach recognizes the importance to engage with the dialectics or contradictions present between (and within) OD interventions. Through this interpretive approach, the author positions critical-subaltern voices as an integral part of OD interventions and change management.
Practical implications
The interpretive approach gives an insight into the unacknowledged and unheard socially constructed realities of change and OD practices for sensemaking. The approach would also be instrumental in enhancing the levels of engagement and productivity in unacknowledged and non-dominant employees.
Originality/value
This paper is a departure from the modern literature of critical management studies and builds on the critical theory on OD. The paper proposes by roping in the benefits of subaltern studies into OD practices. The paper builds ways to include voices of those, who never gain a voice. In brief, toward the end of the paper, the author proposes an interpretive approach and moves toward critical-subaltern OD. Through this interpretive approach, the author positions critical-subaltern voices as an integral part of OD interventions and change management.
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This study aims to put forward a conceptual framework to promote strategies for exploring and exploiting value co-creation with suppliers through dynamic capabilities development.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to put forward a conceptual framework to promote strategies for exploring and exploiting value co-creation with suppliers through dynamic capabilities development.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual framework was developed by applying deductive logic to blend the theoretical perspectives of value co-creation and dynamic capabilities concerning interaction and innovation.
Findings
The suggested framework emphasized that to co-create value with suppliers, health-care organizations need to integrate innovation abilities with interactional abilities for assimilating mutual processes and resources. The study also points out the crucial role of middle managers to articulate the diverse value perspectives and act as change catalysts.
Practical implications
This paper provides a roadmap for health-care managers to develop internal bundles of resources and integrate inter-organizational processes in the direction of co-creating value. The approach suggests the use of project pipelines and performance measures as managerial tools for aligning value co-creating initiatives with suppliers.
Originality/value
The study is a pioneering attempt to develop a conceptual framework for co-creating value with suppliers and, consequently, to provide innovative services to patients. The study aligns with previous value co-creation and dynamic capabilities works in terms of interaction and innovation development. However, based on the interrelation of these two dimensions, the study puts forth four interrelated processes (experimenting new possibilities of value creation; articulating value alignment initiatives; implementing mutual benefits; and executing and managing performance improvement) attached by mutual change mechanisms.
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Richard J. Pech and Geoffrey Durden
Emphasises the dangers of complacency in business thinking and of the risks associated with strategic decisions that are repetitive and predictable. Introduces a military decision…
Abstract
Emphasises the dangers of complacency in business thinking and of the risks associated with strategic decisions that are repetitive and predictable. Introduces a military decision making model termed manoeuvre warfare and its history, successes, and applications within a business context. Recounts some well‐known military and business decision making blunders and warns of the strategic implications of falling into the same flawed decision‐making traps. Concludes with arguments supporting aggressive strategies that exploit the elements of speed, surprise, and flexibility.
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This study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (ESMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. It also examines whether these ESMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISAs on international marketing capability.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the international alliance and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility, the authors develop a conceptual model and empirically examine the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISAs, international marketing capability, export performance and adoption of digital technology. The authors collected survey data from 129 ESMEs located in Pakistan between May 2021 and August 2021 and tested the conceptual model with hierarchical-moderated regression analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISAs positively impacts on export performance of ESMEs in crises. Moreover, the authors found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs and export performance of ESMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs positively and international marketing capability.
Originality/value
The authors take strategic flexibility of ISAs in the context of the emerging market and how ESMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior ESMEs’ international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. In particular, the authors show that strategic flexibility of ISAs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of ESMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.
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Ankit Surana, Meena Chavan, Vikas Kumar and Francesco Chirico
The aim of this paper is to explore the internationalization of digital platform firms, specifically to investigate the advantages digital platform firms build during the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore the internationalization of digital platform firms, specifically to investigate the advantages digital platform firms build during the internationalization journey, which helps them overcome the liability of foreignness. More importantly, drawing on network theory and Luo’s framework of new OLI advantages, a new framework of Platform OLI (P-OLI) advantages is developed for digital platform firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a multi-case method to empirically understand the internationalization phenomenon of digital platform firms in the emerging economy of India, which is a less researched area. Twenty semi-structured interviews from top executives of 12 Indian headquartered digital platform firms were inductively analyzed based on Gioia’s method, and a cross-case examination was conducted to explore the respondent firm’s internationalization journey.
Findings
Several novel open resource and linkage advantages were identified for digital platform firms that are not covered by the new OLI advantages proposed by Luo. Furthermore, a new “I” advantage, which is information and knowledge advantage, has evolved from the data. This resulted in enhancing the scope of the new OLI framework and network theory and further enabled us to develop the P-OLI framework, a new framework for digital platform firms that reflects the specific advantages a digital platform firm builds during internationalization.
Originality/value
This is the first study which evaluates the new OLI framework from the perspective of a digital platform firm to develop a novel framework, P-OLI. Further, this study is among the few studies with an Indian digital platform firm focus and relies on primary interview data to study digital platform firms’ internationalization phenomenon.
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Walter Palomino-Tamayo and Juan S. Timaná
Technology may produce disruptive changes and market turbulence in any industry. Organizational inertia becomes relevant as a factor that adversely affects organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
Technology may produce disruptive changes and market turbulence in any industry. Organizational inertia becomes relevant as a factor that adversely affects organizational transformation; this study aims to examine how to overcome it and its consequences to firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The model estimation with seemingly unrelated regression and two-stage least square. The authors build a data set of years 2015–2019 from the Lima Stock Exchange firms to test the hypotheses.
Findings
In this research, using the evolutionary-ecological theory of Hannan and Freeman, the study shows the consequences of organizational inertia on marketing intensity and subsequently on firms' financial results.
Originality/value
This study presents an inter-functional model that links organizational behavior, marketing and finance functions, through the marketing value chain to overcome organizational inertia and create firm value.
Propósito
La tecnología puede producir cambios disruptivos y turbulencias en el mercado en cualquier industria. La inercia organizacional cobra relevancia como factor que incide negativamente en la transformación organizacional; esta investigación examina cómo superarlo y sus consecuencias para las empresas.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
La estimación del modelo es con regresión aparentemente no relacionada (SUR) y mínimos cuadrados de dos etapas (2SLS). Para probar las hipótesis, los autores construyen un conjunto de datos de los años 2015–2019 de firmas de la bolsa de valores de Lima.
Resultados
En esta investigación, utilizando la teoría ecológica evolutiva de Hannan y Freeman, el estudio muestra las consecuencias de la inercia organizacional en la intensidad del marketing y, posteriormente, en los resultados financieros de las empresas.
Originalidad/valor
Este estudio presenta un modelo interfuncional que vincula el comportamiento organizacional, las funciones de marketing y finanzas, a través de la cadena de valor del marketing para superar la inercia organizacional y crear valor para la empresa.
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Sanjay Kumar, Abid Haleem and Sushil
The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for assessing the overall innovativeness of manufacturing firms using a multi-attribute group decision-making methodology.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for assessing the overall innovativeness of manufacturing firms using a multi-attribute group decision-making methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies the indicators of firms’ innovativeness from the literature. The concept of neutrosophic numbers has been used to assign different importance weights to individual decision makers to account for the differences in their educational backgrounds and practical experience. An intuitionistic fuzzy based TOPSIS procedure is adapted for ranking the candidate firms based on their performance on identified criteria. The implementation of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through an explanatory example. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to judge the robustness of the proposed framework.
Findings
The proposed framework provides an efficient and reliable tool to subjectively evaluate and compare the innovativeness of manufacturing firms. The sensitivity analysis shows that the methodology is robust enough to absorb the noise factors/errors/variations, etc.
Research limitations/implications
Motivated by this work, future studies can consider developing an integrated innovativeness index for evaluation of innovativeness of manufacturing firms. The concept of interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy and neutrosophic sets can be utilized to reduce the margin of perceptual errors even further.
Practical implications
The study will provide the firms with a framework for benchmarking their innovative performance. The firms can analyze their current performance and reconfigure their resources and capabilities suitably to improve their competitive position.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few attempts that have been made to articulate a firm level innovativeness assessment tool for manufacturing firms operating in an industry sector. Advanced concepts of fuzzy and neutrosophic sets have been utilized to eliminate the chances of bias/perceptual errors that most often affect the quality of decisions in today’s dynamic and uncertain decision-making environment.