Collaborative futures:discursive realignments in austere times

This paper explores the future of collaboration in an era of austerity. Boundary object theory provides a framework to examine the significance and role of four key discourses in collaboration – efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and cultural performance. Crisis provides a way of examining how and in what ways discourses realign. The exploration of discourses aids critical analysis of collaboration across sectoral, geographical and disciplinary boundaries, highlighting the importance of understanding the contextual roots of collaboration theory and practice, and the implications of local/global dynamics.

The dynamics of global sourcing : perspectives and practices:6th global sourcing workshop 2012, Courchevel, France, March 12-15, 2012, revised selected papers

This edited book is intended for use by students, academics and practitioners who take interest in the outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business services and processes. The book offers a review of the key topics in outsourcing and offshoring, populated with practical frameworks that serve as a tool kit for practitioners, academics and students. The range of topics covered in this book is wide and diverse, and represents both client and supplier perspectives on sourcing of global services. Various aspects related to the decision making process (e.g., asset transfer), learning mechanisms and organizational practices for managing outsourcing relationships are discussed in great depth. Contemporary sourcing models, including cloud services, are examined. Client dependency on the outsourcing provider, and social aspects, such as identity, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, resistance in outsourcing and failures are investigated to derive lessons as to how to avoid them and improve efficiency in outsourcing. Topics discussed in this book combine theoretical and practical insights regarding challenges that both clients and vendors face. Case studies from client and vendor organizations are used extensively throughout the book. Last but not least, the book examines current and future trends in outsourcing and offshoring, placing particular attention on the centrality of innovation in sourcing arrangements, and how innovation can be realized in outsourcing. The book is based on a vast empirical base brought together through years of extensive research by leading researchers in information systems, strategic management and operations.

South Africa and the global game:football, apartheid and beyond

Firmly situating South African teams, players, and associations in the international framework in which they have to compete, South Africa and the Global Game: Football, Apartheid, and Beyond presents an interdisciplinary analysis of how and why South Africa underwent a remarkable transformation from a pariah in world sport to the first African host of a World Cup in 2010. Written by an eminent team of scholars, this special issue and book aims to examine the importance of football in South African society, revealing how the black oppression transformed a colonial game into a force for political, cultural and social liberation. It explores how the hosting of the 2010 World Cup aims to enhance the prestige of the post-apartheid nation, to generate economic growth and stimulate Pan-African pride. Among the themes dealt with are race and racism, class and gender dynamics, social identities, mass media and culture, and globalization. This collection of original and insightful essays will appeal to specialists in African Studies, Cultural Studies, and Sport Studies, as well as to non-specialist readers seeking to inform themselves ahead of the 2010 World Cup. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society. 1. Introduction Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann Part 1: Past is Prologue – History of Football in South Africa 2. Football as Code: The Social Diffusion of ‘Soccer’ in South Africa Lloyd Hill 3. White Football in South Africa: Empire, Apartheid and Change, 1892 – 1977 Chris Bolsmann 4. A Biography of Darius Dhlomo: Transnational Footballer in the Era of Apartheid Peter Alegi 5. Women and Gender in South African Soccer Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak Part 2: Football Culture after Apartheid: Local and Transnational Dynamics 6. "You Must Support Chiefs: Pirates Already Have Two White Fans!" Race and Racial Discourse in South African Football Fandom Marc Fletcher 7. "It wasn’t that I did not like South African Football": Media, History, and Biography Sean Jacobs 8. Soccer in a Rugby Town: Restructuring Football in Stellenbosch Sylvain Cubizolles 9. Differing Trajectories: Football Development and Patterns of Player Migration in South Africa and Ghana Paul Darby and Eirik Solberg Part 3: The 2010 World Cup: Challenges and Opportunities 10. Football's Tsars: Proprietorship, Corporatism and Politics in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Scarlett Cornelissen 11. Sports as Cultural Diplomacy: The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa’s Foreign Policy Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu 12. World Cup 2010: Africa’s Turn or the Turn on Africa? Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed 13. The 2010 FIFA World Cup: Critical Voices From Below Percy Ngonyama.

Synchronization processes in nonlinear systems and their relation to cortical oscillatory dynamics

This thesis was focused on theoretical models of synchronization to cortical dynamics as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Dynamical systems theory was used in both identifying relevant variables for brain coordination and also in devising methods for their quantification. We presented a method for studying interactions of linear and chaotic neuronal sources using MEG beamforming techniques. We showed that such sources can be accurately reconstructed in terms of their location, temporal dynamics and possible interactions. Synchronization in low-dimensional nonlinear systems was studied to explore specific correlates of functional integration and segregation. In the case of interacting dissimilar systems, relevant coordination phenomena involved generalized and phase synchronization, which were often intermittent. Spatially-extended systems were then studied. For locally-coupled dissimilar systems, as in the case of cortical columns, clustering behaviour occurred. Synchronized clusters emerged at different frequencies and their boundaries were marked through oscillation death. The macroscopic mean field revealed sharp spectral peaks at the frequencies of the clusters and broader spectral drops at their boundaries. These results question existing models of Event Related Synchronization and Desynchronization. We re-examined the concept of the steady-state evoked response following an AM stimulus. We showed that very little variability in the AM following response could be accounted by system noise. We presented a methodology for detecting local and global nonlinear interactions from MEG data in order to account for residual variability. We found crosshemispheric nonlinear interactions of ongoing cortical rhythms concurrent with the stimulus and interactions of these rhythms with the following AM responses. Finally, we hypothesized that holistic spatial stimuli would be accompanied by the emergence of clusters in primary visual cortex resulting in frequency-specific MEG oscillations. Indeed, we found different frequency distributions in induced gamma oscillations for different spatial stimuli, which was suggestive of temporal coding of these spatial stimuli. Further, we addressed the bursting character of these oscillations, which was suggestive of intermittent nonlinear dynamics. However, we did not observe the characteristic-3/2 power-law scaling in the distribution of interburst intervals. Further, this distribution was only seldom significantly different to the one obtained in surrogate data, where nonlinear structure was destroyed. In conclusion, the work presented in this thesis suggests that advances in dynamical systems theory in conjunction with developments in magnetoencephalography may facilitate a mapping between levels of description int he brain. this may potentially represent a major advancement in neuroscience.

The big 4 in Bangladesh:caught between the global and the local

Purpose- This article explores the work practices of Big 4 firms in Bangladesh with the aim of exploring the extent to which Global Professional Service Firms can be thought of as being genuinely ‘global’. Methodology/Approach- Interviews were undertaken with the vast majority of Big 4 partners in Bangladesh. These interviews explored a number of themes related to the professional service work context in Bangladesh and the relationship between local and global firms. Findings- The central finding of this paper is that although the Big 4 have a long-established presence in Bangladesh, local societal factors heavily influence the realities of work for accountants there. In most cases the Big 4 firms establish correspondent firms (instead of full member firms) in Bangladesh and tend to offer restricted service lines. Additionally, the paper identifies professional, commercial and cultural barriers to greater Big 4 involvement in the local market. Conceptually, the chief contribution of this paper is to explore how the effects of globalising capitalism and standardised ‘best practices’ in global professional service work are mediated through the societal effects of Bangladeshi society, resulting in the Big 4 having only a tentative presence in the Bangladeshi market. Research implications- The findings cast doubt on the extent to which self-styled Global Professional Service firms are truly ‘global’ in nature. Future work examining the Big 4, or accounting more generally, in the context of globalization, would do well to pay greater attention to the experience of professionals in emerging markets. Originality/Value- Whilst there has been much work looking at accounting and accountants in the context of globalization, this work has tended to privilege ‘core’ western empirical settings. Very little is known about Professional Service Firms in ‘peripheral’ or emerging markets. Furthermore, this study extends the application of the System, Society and Dominance framework by mapping the interactions and dynamics of these three sources of influence in the setting of PSFs.

To what extent and in what manner do Chinese and Indian contract research organisation learn and upgrade with the unbundling the global pharmaceutical R&D value chain?

The paper applies the GVC framework to analyse the organisational and geographical reconfiguration of the global R&D function of leading US and European pharmaceutical MNCs. Though pharmaceutical MNCs have been outsourcing clinical trial activities since the mid-1990s, the outsourcing of discovery research tasks is a phenomenon of the 2000s (Ramirez 2013). Moreover, in the context of a crisis of R&D productivity and increasing pressure from shareholders, a number of US and European pharmaceutical MNCs are breaking up their R&D function in an attempt to increase flexibility and reduce risk as well as costs and are thereby restructuring the global architecture of their R&D function. This break-up, or unbundling (Sako 2006), of the R&D function is particularly interesting given the prevalence of market failure in innovation (Howells et al 2008), the non-modular nature of the R&D process in this industry (Pisano 2006) and the strategic important of this activity to the core competence and long-term competitive advantage of firms in this sector. The focus of this paper is on the outsourcing of R&D activities to Chinese and Indian independently-owned contract research organisations (CROs) and the way these firms are becoming integrated as service providers into the global R&D function (or R&D value chain) of pharmaceutical MNCs. Above all the paper is concerned with the development of capabilities of CROs from these two countries and the dynamics of upgrading in GVCs in knowledge-intensive functions. The paper therefore discusses the role of both knowledge flows within global pharmaceutical R&D value chains as well as national innovation systems on the development of capabilities of Chinese and Indian CROs. Our analysis is based on data from semi-structured interviews collected from senior R&D managers from a sample of ten US and European pharmaceutical MNCs and owners and senior R&D managers from five Chinese and five Indian CROs who are providing research services to MNCs in this industry. We discuss the emergence of R&D outsourcing in this industry and the nature and mechanisms of knowledge flows within R&D value chains. The embeddedness of CROS in the national innovation systems of their home countries is also discussed.