Translation research and interpreting research:traditions, gaps and synergies

Despite differences, translation and interpreting have much in common. This volume focuses on aspects of conducting research into these two modes. It reviews recent developments and explores kinship, differences and prospects for partnership between Translation Research and Interpreting Research.

Building bridges for innovation in ageing:synergies between action groups of the EIP on AHA

The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) proposed six Action Groups. After almost three years of activity, many achievements have been obtained through commitments or collaborative work of the Action Groups. However, they have often worked in silos and, consequently, synergies between Action Groups have been proposed to strengthen the triple win of the EIP on AHA. The paper presents the methodology and current status of the Task Force on EIP on AHA synergies. Synergies are in line with the Action Groups’ new Renovated Action Plan (2016-2018) to ensure that their future objectives are coherent and fully connected. The outcomes and impact of synergies are using the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the EIP on AHA (MAFEIP). Eight proposals for synergies have been approved by the Task Force: Five cross-cutting synergies which can be used for all current and future synergies as they consider overarching domains (appropriate polypharmacy, citizen empowerment, teaching and coaching on AHA, deployment of synergies to EU regions, Responsible Research and Innovation), and three cross-cutting synergies focussing on current Action Group activities (falls, frailty, integrated care and chronic respiratory diseases).

Translation research versus interpreting research: kinship, differences and prospects for partnership

Despite differences, translation and interpreting have much in common. This volume focuses on aspects of conducting research into these two modes. It reviews recent developments and explores kinship, differences and prospects for partnership between Translation Research and Interpreting Research.

Impacts and relationships between three evolving disciplines

This paper is concerned with three evolving disciplines, namely, Management of Technology (MoT), Operations Management (OM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM). These three disciplines have emerged at different times, SCM being the most recent, although they also seem to be concerned, at least in some part, with the same managerial problem areas. Based on this underlying assumption, the paper lays the ground for this special issue of the International Journal of Technology Management, which is devised to provide a platform for discussion concerning the impacts, relationships and possible synergies between the three disciplines that very much seem to be driving the attention of a lot of recent management thinking.

How screening criteria change during brand development

Purpose - Despite the increasing sophistication of new product development (NPD) research, the reliance on traditional approaches to studying NPD has left several areas in need of further research. The authors propose addressing some of these gaps, especially the limited focus on consumer brands, evaluation criteria used across different project-review points in the NPD process, and the distinction between "kills", "successes", and "failures". Moreover, they propose investigating how screening criteria change across project-review points, using real-time NPD projects. Design/methodology/approach - A postal survey generated 172 usable questionnaires from a sample of European, North American, Far Eastern and Australian consumer packaged-goods firms, providing data on 314 new product projects covering different development and post-commercialization review points. Findings - The results confirm that acceptance-rejection criteria vary through the NPD process. However, financial criteria dominate across all the project-review points. Initial screening is coarse, focusing predominantly on financial criteria. Fit with organizational, product, brand, promotional, and market requirements dominate in the detailed screen and pre-development evaluation points. At pre-launch, decision-makers focus on product, brand, and promotional criteria. Commercial fit, production synergies, and reliability of the firm's market intelligence are significant discriminators in the post-launch review. Moreover, the importance of marketing and channel issues makes the criteria for screening brands different from those of industrial markets. Originality/value - The study, although largely descriptive and involves a relatively small sample of consumer goods firms, offers new insights into NPD project evaluation behavior. Future, larger-scale investigations covering a broader spectrum of consumer product sectors are needed to validate our results and to explain the reasons behind managers' decisions. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

A configuration framework of manufacturing strategy paradigm in state owned enterprises within China's petrochemical industry:building context-embedded configurations for the paradigm of strategic manufacturing management from exploratory case studies

The role of the production system as a key determinant of competitive performance of business operations- has long been the subject of industrial organization research, even predating the .explicit conceptua1isation of manufacturing, strategy in the literature. Particular emergent production issues such as the globalisation of production, global supply chain management, management of integrated manufacturing and a growing e~busjness environment are expected to critically influence the overall competitive performance and therefore the strategic success of the organization. More than ever, there is a critical need to configure and improve production system and operations competence in a strategic way so as to contribute to the long-term competitiveness of the organization. In order to operate competitively and profitably, manufacturing companies, no matter how well managed, all need a long-term 'strategic direction' for the development of operations competence in order to consistently produce more market value with less cost towards a leadership position. As to the long-term competitiveness, it is more important to establish a dynamic 'strategic perspective' for continuous operational improvements in pursuit of this direction, as well as ongoing reviews of the direction in relation to the overall operating context. However, it also clear that the 'existing paradigm of manufacturing strategy development' is incapable of adequately responding to the increasing complexities and variations of contemporary business operations. This has been factually reflected as many manufacturing companies are finding that methodologies advocated in the existing paradigm for developing manufacturing strategy have very limited scale and scope for contextual contingency in empirical application. More importantly, there has also emerged a deficiency in the multidimensional and integrative profile from a theoretical perspective when operationalising the underlying concept of strategic manufacturing management established in the literature. The point of departure for this study was a recognition of such contextual and unitary limitations in the existing paradigm of manufacturing strategy development when applied to contemporary industrial organizations in general, and Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in particular. As China gradually becomes integrated into the world economy, the relevance of Western management theory and its paradigm becomes a practical matter as much as a theoretical issue. Since China markedly differs from Western countries in terms of culture, society, and political and economic systems, it presents promising grounds to test and refine existing management theories and paradigms with greater contextual contingency and wider theoretical perspective. Under China's ongoing programmes of SOE reform, there has been an increased recognition that strategy development is the very essence of the management task for managers of manufacturing companies in the same way as it is for their counterparts in Western economies. However, the Western paradigm often displays a rather naive and unitary perspective of the nature of strategic management decision-making, one which largely overlooks context-embedded factors and social/political influences on the development of manufacturing strategy. This thesis studies the successful experiences of developing manufacturing strategy from five high-performing large-scale SOEs within China’s petrochemical industry. China’s petrochemical industry constitutes a basic heavy industrial sector, which has always been a strategic focus for reform and development by the Chinese government. Using a confirmation approach, the study has focused on exploring and conceptualising the empirical paradigm of manufacturing strategy development practiced by management. That is examining the ‘empirical specifics’ and surfacing the ‘managerial perceptions’ of content configuration, context of consideration, and process organization for developing a manufacturing strategy during the practice. The research investigation adopts a qualitative exploratory case study methodology with a semi-structural front-end research design. Data collection follows a longitudinal and multiple-case design and triangulates case evidence from sources including qualitative interviews, direct observation, and a search of documentations and archival records. Data analysis follows an investigative progression from a within-case preliminary interpretation of facts to a cross-case search for patterns through theoretical comparison and analytical generalization. The underlying conceptions in both the literature of manufacturing strategy and related studies in business strategy were used to develop theoretical framework and analytical templates applied during data collection and analysis. The thesis makes both empirical and theoretical contributions to our understanding of 'contemporary management paradigm of manufacturing strategy development'. First, it provides a valuable contextual contingency of the 'subject' using the business setting of China's SOEs in petrochemical industry. This has been unpacked into empirical configurations developed for its context of consideration, its content and process respectively. Of special note, a lean paradigm of business operations and production management discovered at case companies has significant implications as an emerging alternative for high-volume capital intensive state manufacturing in China. Second, it provides a multidimensional and integrative theoretical profile of the 'subject' based upon managerial perspectives conceptualised at case companies when operationalising manufacturing strategy. This has been unpacked into conceptual frameworks developed for its context of consideration, its content constructs, and its process patterns respectively. Notably, a synergies perspective towards the operating context, competitive priorities and competence development of business operations and production management has significant implications for implementing a lean manufacturing paradigm. As a whole, in so doing, the thesis established a theoretical platform for future refinement and development of context-specific methodologies for developing manufacturing strategy.

Knowledge, capabilities and manufacturing innovation: a US-Europe comparison

In this paper we report a comparative analysis of the factors which contribute to the innovation performance of manufacturing firms in the US state of Georgia, and three European regions, the UK regions of Wales and the West Midlands, and the Spanish region of Catalonia. We consider the factors which shape firms’ ability to generate new products and processes and undertake various forms of organisational and structural change. We are particularly concerned with how firms collect the knowledge on which they base their innovation and their effectiveness in translating that knowledge into new innovations. Three main empirical conclusions result. First, US firms have more widespread links to external knowledge sources than those in Europe and notably the universities make a greater contribution to innovation in the US than in Europe. Second, UK firms prove more effective at capturing synergies between their innovation activities than US and Catalan firms. Third, firms’ operating environment proves more conducive to innovation in the US than in either the UK regions or Catalonia. Our results suggest the potential for mutual learning. For the UK there are lessons in terms of the way in which the universities in Georgia are supporting innovation. For firms in Georgia and in Catalonia the potential lessons are more strategic or organisational and relate to how they can better capture potential synergies between their innovation activities.

Servitization of manufacturing

The servicisation agenda is arguably one of the most important facing western manufacturers. In a world of severe international competition, it can be the basis of distinct competitive advantage, and a means to differentiate a company's products from goods produced in low cost economies. The concept of Product Service Systems (PSS) is, in particular, a special case of servicisation. With PSS, the market proposition is designed as a system that exploits synergies between products and services while, at the same time, seeks to reduce the economic and environmental costs of delivery. Although key to sustaining western manufacturing operations, major issues arise with design and management of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain activities for successful implementation of such a service-led competitive strategy. This session includes presentations which examine the opportunities and challenges associated with servicisation in more detail.

The immune system as drug target

The immune system is perhaps the largest yet most diffuse and distributed somatic system in vertebrates. It plays vital roles in fighting infection and in the homeostatic control of chronic disease. As such, the immune system in both pathological and healthy states is a prime target for therapeutic interventions by drugs-both small-molecule and biologic. Comprising both the innate and adaptive immune systems, human immunity is awash with potential unexploited molecular targets. Key examples include the pattern recognition receptors of the innate immune system and the major histocompatibility complex of the adaptive immune system. Moreover, the immune system is also the source of many current and, hopefully, future drugs, of which the prime example is the monoclonal antibody, the most exciting and profitable type of present-day drug moiety. This brief review explores the identity and synergies of the hierarchy of drug targets represented by the human immune system, with particular emphasis on the emerging paradigm of systems pharmacology. © the authors, publisher and licensee Libertas Academica Limited.