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The purpose of this paper is to show how Tai Chi (or T’ai Chi ch’uan) philosophy might be used in global project development. Collected case studies support a Tai Chi-based framework for global project teams to reduce stress and improve decision making through exercises, storytelling, and martial arts practices. The authors first proposed a model or procedural framework based on experiential knowledge from practicing Tai Chi while managing projects.

Analyzing case studies from knowledge managers, project managers, and executive leaders, the researchers collected data on applying the framework from a retrospective case study and from two observational case studies during project development. Tai Chi-based communications and exercises were shown to support critical thinking, knowledge sharing, and problem solving. The proposed framework and four-step procedure build on a global perspective to cultural awareness, creativity, and motivation as well as specific Tai Chi-based tactics, techniques, and operations for knowledge management. This preliminary study looks at improving collaboration in a competitive environment while supporting health, wellness, and work-life enjoyment.

Early research results suggest that teams and individuals working on projects and practicing Tai Chi might develop more cohesive strategies and improve soft skills during their integration of Eastern and Western philosophies.

Used case studies methodology, which provided examples of using Tai Chi during projects. Qualitative data used to develop the proposed framework. Also, interviews and discussion reviews conducted for additional validation collected on framework.

It is a pioneering, preliminary study. Future research with outcomes-based data from project managers using Tai Chi recommended.

The integration of Eastern and Western philosophies into a framework for team project and knowledge management was shown to support cohesive strategies, improve soft skills, and strengthen decision making.

Negotiation is crucial to business alliances, but this process can become more complicated if there are language barriers and differences in cultural values, customs, and lifestyles, such as Western businesses negotiating in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Previous studies have presented models of the Chinese negotiating process but these are primarily from the US. This study examines the negotiating experiences of selected New Zealand investors who have had experiences negotiating either Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or short‐term sales agreements in the PRC to create two conceptual models. The results provide some interesting insights for doing business in China.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a new approach for solving the expansion term problem.

This study develops an expansion term weighting function derived from the valuable concepts used by previous approaches. These concepts include probability measurement, adjustment according to situations, and summation of weights. Formal tests have been conducted to compare the proposed weighting function with the baseline ranking model and other weighting functions.

The results reveal stable performance by the proposed expansion term weighting function. It proves more effective than the baseline ranking model and outperforms other weighting functions.

The paper finds that testing additional data sets and potential applications to real working situations is required before the generalisability and superiority of the proposed expansion term weighting function can be asserted.

Stable performance and an acceptable level of effectiveness for the proposed expansion term weighting function indicate the potential for further study and development of this approach. This would add to the current methods studied by the information retrieval community for culling information from documents.

Financial analysts' forecasts serve as a proxy for market earnings expectations, and research provides mixed evidence of the relation between financial analysts' expertise and forecast accuracy. The judgment and decision-making (J/DM) literature suggests that those with more expertise will not perform better when tasks exhibit either extremely high or extremely low complexity. Expertise is expected to contribute to superior performance for tasks between these two extremes. Using archival data, this research examines the effect of analysts' expertise on forecasting performance by taking into consideration the forecasting task's complexity. Results indicate that expertise is not an explanatory factor for forecast accuracy when the forecasting task's complexity is extremely high or low. However, when task complexity falls between these two extremes, expertise is a significant explanatory variable of forecast accuracy. Both results are consistent with our expectations.

This paper applies and empirically tests a real options approach to conceptualizing the value of patents. Based on a theorem derived by Merton (1973), we propose that greater dispersion in the citations of a firm's patents represents greater flexibility for the firm to exercise the option rights embedded in the patents and thus enhances the option value of the patents. A test of this proposition using a sample of 128 US-based biotechnology firms found corroborative results.

We discuss recent developments in real options theory and its applications to strategic management research, examine the potential difficulties in implementing real options in theory and practice, and propose several areas for future research. Our review shows that real options theory has provided substantial insights into investment and exit decisions as well as into the choice of investment modes. In addition, extant research studies have contributed significantly to our understanding of whether and how organizations can benefit from real options. Future research that addresses difficulties in applications will further advance both real options theory and practice in strategic management. We call for future generations of research to enhance the impact of real options as an emerging dominant conceptual lens in strategic management.

The rapidly growing body of global leadership literature still lacks research on both global change and global leader cognition. This chapter presents two case studies describing large-scale global change efforts led by expert global leaders. This is complemented with the results of cognitive task analysis interviews with the two expert global leaders. The findings include task diagrams of the change process they employed and knowledge audits of the most difficult cognitive step in the change processes they led. The audit identifies the elements of expert cognition they utilized, the cues and strategies they employed, and the perceived difficulties novices would experience in similar situations. The findings confirm previous research, solidifying the role and nature of expert cognition in global leaders. We conclude with a discussion of the implications our analysis holds for research and practice.

We provide a comprehensive synthesis and extension of the real option (RO) literature on joint ventures (JVs), contributing in three main areas. First, we examine major alternative theoretical perspectives on JVs – learning, bargaining, transaction cost and agency theory – to elaborate how they complement or contradict RO predictions. Second, we compare arguments and variables used to explain different JV stages – initial RO explicitness and equity shares, JV stability, and performance consequences – and highlight research opportunities. Third, we discuss and extend research about behavioral aspects of making RO (JV) investments. Overall, we offer new predictions and suggestions for a better integration within the RO literature, and between RO and related literatures on JVs.

This study aims to find how trade development and digitalization affect smart-green production. Four factors are investigated in these effects (certification, technology innovation, natural resource management, low pesticides).

The mix-method approach was employed from validating the measurement scale to test the proposed hypotheses. At first, the grounded theory is the most authoritative and standard research method in qualitative research. Secondly, quantitative analysis was employed to draw conclusions about the impact of digitalization and trade development on smart-green agricultural production.

The results found that digitalization and trade development impact the development of smart-green agricultural production through certification employment, technology innovation, and a decrease in pesticide usage. Moreover, digitalization and trade development also indirectly affect the development of intelligent green agricultural production. Meanwhile, digitalization has a higher impact than trade development.

This research is based on the premise that digitalization and trade development can drive smart green agricultural production. Still, some studies have found a deviation between trade development and environmental protection. Hence, future research can explore the incentive effect of trade development and digitalization on other industries. Second, the measurement of the dependent variables in this study is based on the premise that smart-green agricultural production has not been widely promoted, so the changes in production before and after the whole public participation in smart-green output have yet to be reflected.

Smart green production in agriculture is essential for a transition economy and the world to meet food security and protect the environment. However, the effects of certification, technology innovation, natural resource management, and low pesticides on smart-green agriculture production have yet to be identified. Insights from this study can help governments, policy-makers, and farmers in emerging economies by adapting their strategies within their local contexts.

Beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) are more likely to access land through an unrelated landowner than through family. Thus, farm and ranch owners who might transfer their land or businesses out of family are potential sources of land access for BFRs and are the most frequent participants in incentive programs to facilitate land transfer to BFRs. To assist in identifying landowners who might transfer out of family, the paper aims to explore similarities and differences between landowners according to their expectations for intra-familial versus extra-familial farm transfer.

Pairwise and regression analysis of USA Midwestern and Plains landowners' responses to an online survey (n = 322).

Landowners who might transfer out of family were likely to need the proceeds from a land sale to finance their retirement. Landowners' financial needs interacted with their widespread interest in transferring to a BFR such that 97% of owners who expected extra-familial transfer wanted to transfer to a BFR. There were also statistical patterns around the size of owners' landholdings in relation to their transfer plans.

This exploratory inquiry suggests patterns for future research to examine, especially around landowners' juxtaposition of their retirement income and their interest in transferring to a BFR and how to align these priorities and values.

By exploring the characteristics of landowners who are the most likely to provide land access to BFRs, the authors begin to examine how to target these owners in program outreach. Patterns for further exploration point to landowners' financial needs in relation to their interest in helping a BFR to get started in agriculture.