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This paper aims to manufacture Ti6Al4V/TiC functionally graded material (FGM) by direct laser deposition (DLD) using Ti6Al4V and TiC powder. The objective is to investigate the effect of process parameters and TiC composition on microstructure, Vickers hardness and mechanical properties.

Powder blends with three different volume percentages of Ti6Al4V and TiC were used as feed material for DLD process. Five experiments with different values of laser power and scan speed were conducted to investigate the effect on microstructure and Vickers hardness for different compositions of feed material. Mini-tensile tests were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the FGM samples. Digital image correlation (DIC) was applied to estimate Young’s modulus and ultimate tensile stress (UTS) of heterogeneous material.

This paper indicates that primary carbide, eutectic carbide and un-melted carbide phases are formed in the FGM deposit. As the energy density was increased, the primary and secondary dendrite arm spacing was found to increase. As TiC composition was increased, Young’s modulus increased and UTS decreased. The dendritic morphology of primary TiC growth was expected to cause low resistance for crack propagation, causing lower UTS values. Tensile specimens cut in vertical orientation were observed to possess higher values of Young’s modulus in comparison with specimens cut horizontally at low carbon content.

Current work presents unique and original contributions from the study of miniature FGM tensile specimens using DIC method. It investigates the effect of specimen orientation and TiC content on Young’s modulus and UTS. The relationship between energy density and dendritic arm spacing was evaluated. The relationship between laser power and scan speed with microstructure and Vickers hardness was investigated.

Drawing on an organizational learning perspective, this paper examines the effect of levels of foreign market involvement (intensity and geographic spread) on internationalization outcomes recognizing that the moderating influence of entry-mode learning potential is not well documented in the literature on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The sample includes 180 SMEs evenly selected from three industries: biotechnology, software and clothing (60 firms in each industry). The sampled firms employ less than 250 employees and are equally distributed between three developed economies and three emerging economies. All were engaged in foreign business.

The authors find that there is a direct relationship between levels of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes. Entry-mode learning potential moderates the relationship between intensity of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes but not the relationship between geographic spread and internationalization outcomes.

This study reveals several new insights that help explain the pathway through which foreign market involvement activities are translated into internationalization outcomes.

The authors conclude that the positive relationship between intensity of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes is strengthened when SMEs also use an entry mode with a higher learning potential than exporting only.

China’s capital Beijing is a special case of fast urbanization and monocentric development, resulting in major efforts to implement polycentric structures. The purpose of this paper is thus centered on understanding the phenomenon of an established edge city and the level of integration regarding all daily activities of its residents.

Since the end of the 20th century, Chinese cities have been witnessing rapid urban growth and expansion. One of the major planning challenges has been the implementation of polycentric urban structures to enforce integrated urbanism and thus less dependency on commuting to few main commercial and business centers. The methodological approach includes various mapping efforts and field studies to investigate the currently produced urban landscape and highlight the rather challenging reality of edge cities being produced in a very short period of time.

This paper explores one of Beijing’s biggest edge cities, known as the Yizhuang Development Area, which was created by an investment initiative of the municipal government. The city has been developed with a strong focus on functional planning aspects rather than a dynamic diversification of walkable districts with emerging identities.

This investigation attempts to add some new insights into the contemporary urbanism in Chinese edge cities and the general problem of missing urban design initiatives to enhance the overall urban quality of diversity and social interaction.

This study aims to propose a vertical coupling dynamic analysis method of vehicle–track–substructure based on forced vibration and use this method to analyze the influence on the dynamic response of track and vehicle caused by local fastener failure.

The track and substructure are decomposed into the rail subsystem and substructure subsystem, in which the rail subsystem is composed of two layers of nodes corresponding to the upper rail and the lower fastener. The rail is treated as a continuous beam with elastic discrete point supports, and spring-damping elements are used to simulate the constraints between rail and fastener. Forced displacement and forced velocity are used to deal with the effect of the substructure on the rail system, while the external load is used to deal with the reverse effect. The fastener failure is simulated with the methods that cancel the forced vibration transmission, namely take no account of the substructure–rail interaction at that position.

The dynamic characteristics of the infrastructure with local diseases can be accurately calculated by using the proposed method. Local fastener failure will slightly affect the vibration of substructure and carbody, but it will significantly intensify the vibration response between wheel and rail. The maximum vertical displacement and the maximum vertical vibration acceleration of rail is 2.94 times and 2.97 times the normal value, respectively, under the train speed of 350 km·h⁻¹. At the same time, the maximum wheel–rail force and wheel load reduction rate increase by 22.0 and 50.2%, respectively, from the normal value.

This method can better reveal the local vibration conditions of the rail and easily simulate the influence of various defects on the dynamic response of the coupling system.

Compared with the time-consuming numerical method and the complex lumped parameter thermal network method to solve the steady-state heat distribution of the permanent magnet (PM) linear motor, there is no analytical method based on the thermal partial differential equations. This paper aims to propose a two-dimensional (2-D) analytical model for predicting the steady-state temperature distribution of PM linear motors to improve the prediction accuracy and speed up the calculation.

Based on the complex Fourier series theory and Cauchy’s product theorem, this paper presents for the first time a general analytical solution for 2-D temperature field in Cartesian coordinates. Then, by combining the electromagnetic field finite element model (FEM), the copper loss, iron loss and PM eddy current loss are used as the heat sources of the thermal analytical model. Finally, the solution to the temperature field is obtained by solving the system equations under boundary and interface conditions.

The analytical results are in good agreement with those from the thermal FEM, and the calculation speed is significantly faster than that of the thermal FEM.

The multilayer model proposed in this paper can consider heat conduction, convection and radiation. It is not only suitable for PM linear motors but also has significant application value for the thermal analysis of electromagnetic devices modeled in 2-D Cartesian coordinates.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral dimensions of the middle managers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) on firms’ innovation performance in a context of cultural diversity and the mediating role of knowledge sharing in this relationship. The author deepens the analysis by exploring the moderating role of collaborative climate (CC) on the link between CQ and KS.

A survey was conducted on 186 foreign middle managers working in Tunisian firms. The data analysis was performed via the partial least square method.

The results revealed that middle managers’ metacognitive CQ has a positive effect on KS, which in turn enhances firms’ innovation performance. In this line, KS partially mediates the relationship between metacogntive CQ and innovation performance. Findings also indicate that CC moderates the link between three dimensions of CQ, namely metacognitive, behavioral and motivational CQs and KS.

The paper sheds lights on the contribution of middle managers’ CQ and the CC within firms to the KS and innovation performance in a context of cultural diversity. At the best of the author’s knowledge, the links among these variables had not been empirically examined, especially involving samples of middle managers. This study offers important insights for managers by providing them with tools to improve KS and firms’ innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover career-related issues that high-skilled female immigrants face and their strategies for rebuilding their careers upon migration for a diverse range of reasons including following a spouse, furthering education and self-initiated expatriation.

Using grounded theory to explore this topic, the authors performed 14 in-depth interviews with female immigrants that fit pre-determined inclusion criteria for high-skilled (e.g. educated, gainfully and professionally employed). The study context of immigration is the USA, and the authors performed interviews with high-skilled immigrants from Turkey – an underrepresented nation in the US migrant population.

Content analysis of in-depth interviews revealed five primary theoretical themes that captured the career experiences of these individuals: non-linear career entry, career orientation, strong commitment and will to succeed, socialization patterns at work and support network. Integrating these findings with theories on adult learning, the authors developed an experiential learning model of career reconstruction among high-skilled immigrants.

This study contributes to the global mobility literature by developing an experiential learning theory of careers and taking a gendered perspective to the career experiences of high-skilled female immigrants. It answers the questions: what are the individual and situation factors associated with career success among high-skilled female immigrants? and what is the process that high-skilled immigrants go through to rebuild their careers?

Over the years, the impact of the business cycle on firm strategy has been neglected in the area of strategic management and remains one of the most important but least developed research streams in management scholarship. Studies in this area are scattered across time and domains, therefore, there is a need to consolidate this fragmented literature to provide a comprehensive review and thus avenues for further research. This study aims to address this gap.

In this study, the systematic literature review (SLR) method is used to select and examine research articles in the area of firm responses and decisions during recession. This SLR examines 127 studies and carries out a thematic synthesis of the literature.

Based on the SLR and thematic synthesis of the literature, the themes identified in this study include – severity of recession impact (Theme 1); firm specific characteristics (Theme 2); resource adjustment activities (Theme 3); and firm performance (Theme 4), based on these themes and analysis this paper maps and proposes various relationships and linkages in this research domain that can be explored further for the development of scholarship in this field of study.

This paper fulfills the need for a systematic review of the extant literature on firms’ responses during recession. The study synthesizes literature and carries out a thematic analysis from 1980 till the period February 2024 to provide directions to advance this domain of literature.

Knowledge is a vital strategic resource for multinational enterprises (MNEs). As MNEs expand internationally, knowledge transfer through expatriates is a crucial part of the value proposition of outward foreign direct investment. However, this is undermined if knowledge is hidden rather than shared. Given the scarcity of research on knowledge hiding in MNEs, this paper aims to investigate this phenomenon among expatriates and develops a new framework to analyze knowledge hiding.

Survey data from 201 Chinese MNE expatriates is collected and analyzed using Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling to test the relationships between knowledge hiding, organizational practices, cultural intelligence and job embeddedness. Relevant organizational practices based on the ability-motivation-opportunity enhancing framework were identified, based on 24 semi-structured qualitative interviews which guided the quantitative analysis.

The direct effects of organizational practices on all types of knowledge hiding are limited. However, organizational practices’ influence on knowledge hiding is mediated by the cultural intelligence of expatriates, and this relationship is moderated by job embeddedness.

The research advances current thinking about knowledge management and outlines both theoretical and practical implications at organizational and societal levels. It explores the mechanisms for remedying knowledge hiding through organizational practices, including the interactive effects of cultural intelligence and job embeddedness among expatriates. Organizational knowledge management strategies in MNEs need to recognize cultural differences and improve job embeddedness to form the basis of successful knowledge transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the success factors needed for the development of global human resources from both the organisation’s and expatriates’ perspectives in emerging eastern economies. Specifically, this study focuses on pre-expatriation preparation, during-expatriation adjustment and post-expatriation repatriation.

In total, 23 Taiwanese personnel contributed to this case study. Data collected from the focus group discussion and open-ended asynchronous email interviews was analysed using the content analysis approach.

The results of this study revealed four main selection criteria for the selection process and five desired preparation methods from the organisation and the expatriates’ perspectives.

This study makes two main contributions to cross-cultural related global human resources research. Firstly, this study deepens understanding on the pathway to developing culturally intelligent global human resources for successful mission accomplishment from both the organisation and expatriates’ perspectives based on a three-phase expatriation process in emerging eastern economies. Secondly, this study provides an insight into the best practices that HR practitioners can use in developing global human resources for expatriation.