Strategies for performance improvement in the Chinese chemical industry:evidence from case study investigations

Purpose – This paper sets out to explore the proposition that building competences is more effective than privatisation and restructuring to improve performance in the Chinese chemical industry. Design/methodology/approach – Case study research has been undertaken in the Chinese chemical industry. The two case companies provide representative data on the factors under investigation. The case investigations that are described were complemented by a survey, the results of which have been reported elsewhere. Findings – Results obtained from the research show that privatisation of Chinese state-owned enterprises is not always an effective strategy to improve performance. In the case study companies, the development of core competences was more effective in enhancing performance. Research limitations/implications – The research results are limited by the scope of the study, which was carried out in the Chinese chemical industry. They are also based on in-depth case investigations in only two companies, but are supported by a large-scale survey reported elsewhere. The results have implications for academic researchers interested in China's privatisation programme. Practical implications – The research has practical implications for companies outside China that are considering collaborative operations with Chinese companies or investing in joint ventures. It also has implications for suppliers or customers of Chinese companies. Originality/value – The paper is based on original case study investigations carried out in Chinese enterprises and is supported by a survey of representative companies in China's chemical sector. Value is derived from understanding the basis of improved performance in the companies studied.

The growing importance of inter-company collaboration

Guest editorial: This special issue has been drawn from papers that were published as part of the Second European Conference on Management of Technology (EuroMOT) which was held at Aston Business School (Birmingham, UK) 10-12 September 2006. This was the official European conference for the International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT); the overall theme of the conference was “Technology and global integration.” There were many high-calibre papers submitted to the conference and published in the associated proceedings (Bennett et al., 2006). The streams of interest that emerged from these submissions were the importance of: technology strategy, innovation, process technologies, managing change, national policies and systems, research and development, supply chain technology, service and operational technology, education and training, small company incubation, technology transfer, virtual operations, technology in developing countries, partnership and alliance, and financing and investment. This special issue focuses upon the streams of interest that accentuate the importance of collaboration between different organisations. Such organisations vary greatly in character; for instance, they may be large or small, publicly or privately owned, and operate in manufacturing or service sectors. Despite these varying characteristics they all have something in common; they all stress the importance of inter-organisational collaboration as a critical success factor for their organisation. In today's global economy it is essential that organisations decide what their core competencies are what those of complementing organisations are. Core competences should be developed to become a bases of differentiation, leverage and competitive advantage, whilst those that are less mature should be outsourced to other organisations that can claim to have had more recognition and success in that particular core competence (Porter, 2001). This strategic trend can be observed throughout advanced economies and is growing strongly. If a posteriori reasoning is applied here it follows that organisations could continue to become more specialised in fewer areas whilst simultaneously becoming more dependent upon other organisations for critical parts of their operations. Such actions seem to fly in the face of rational business strategy and so the question must be asked: why are organisations developing this way? The answer could lie in the recent changes in endogenous and exogenous factors of the organisation; the former emphasising resource-based issues in the short-term, and strategic positioning in the long-term whilst the later emphasises transaction costs in the short-term and acquisition of new skills and knowledge in the long-term. For a harmonious balance of these forces to prevail requires organisations to firstly declare a shared meta-strategy, then to put some cross-organisational processes into place which have their routine operations automated as far as possible. A rolling business plan would review, assess and reposition each organisation within this meta-strategy according to how well they have contributed (Binder and Clegg, 2006). The important common issue here is that an increasing number of businesses today are gaining direct benefit from increasing their levels of inter-organisational collaboration. Such collaboration has largely been possible due to recent technological advances which can make organisational structures more agile (e.g. the extended or the virtual enterprise), organisational infra-structure more connected, and the sharing of real-time information an operational reality. This special issue consists of research papers that have explored the above phenomenon in some way. For instance, the role of government intervention, the use of internet-based technologies, the role of research and development organisations, the changing relationships between start-ups and established firms, the importance of cross-company communities of practice, the practice of networking, the front-loading of large-scale projects, innovation and the probabilistic uncertainties that organisations experience are explored in these papers. The cases cited in these papers are limited as they have a Eurocentric focus. However, it is hoped that readers of this special issue will gain a valuable insight into the increasing importance of collaborative practices via these studies.

Editorial

This second issue of Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP) continues the international nature of the first issue, with papers from authors based on four different continents. There are five regular papers, plus the first of what is intended to be an occasional series of 'position papers' from respected figures in the knowledge management field, who have specific issues they wish to raise from a personal standpoint. The first two regular papers are both based on case studies. The first is 'Aggressively pursuing knowledge management over two years: a case study a US government organization' by Jay Liebowitz. Liebowitz is well known to both academics and practictioners as an author on knowledge management and knowledge based systems. Government departments in many Western countries must soon face up to the problems that will occur as the 'baby boomer' generation reaches retirement age over the next decade. This paper describes how one particular US government organization has attempted to address this situation (and others) through the introduction of a knowledge management initiative. The second case study paper is 'Knowledge creation through the synthesizing capability of networked strategic communities: case study on new product development in Japan' by Mitsuru Kodama. This paper looks at the importance of strategic communities - communities that have strategic relevance and support - in knowledge management. Here, the case study organization is Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), a Japanese telecommunication firm. The third paper is 'Knowledge management and intellectual capital: an empirical examination of current practice in Australia' by Albert Zhou and Dieter Fink. This paper reports the results of a survey carried out in 2001, exploring the practices relating to knowledge management and intellectual capital in Australia and the relationship between them. The remaining two regular papers are conceptual in nature. The fourth is 'The enterprise knowledge dictionary' by Stuart Galup, Ronald Dattero and Richard Hicks. Galup, Dattero and Hicks propose the concept of an enterprise knowledge dictionary and its associated knowledge management system architecture as offering the appropriate form of information technology to support various different types of knowledge sources, while behaving as a single source from the user's viewpoint. The fifth and final regular paper is 'Community of practice and metacapabilities' by Geri Furlong and Leslie Johnson. This paper looks at the role of communities of practice in learning in organizations. Its emphasis is on metacapabilities - the properties required to learn, develop and apply skills. This discussion takes work on learning and core competences to a higher level. Finally, this issue includes a position paper 'Innovation as an objective of knowledge management. Part I: the landscape of management' by Dave Snowden. Snowden has been highly visible in the knowledge management community thanks to his role as the Director of IBM Global Services' Canolfan Cynefin Centre. He has helped many government and private sector organizations to consider their knowledge management problems and strategies. This, the first of two-part paper, is inspired by the notion of complexity. In it, Snowden calls for what he sees as a 20th century emphasis on designed systems for knowledge management to be consigned to history, and replaced by a 21st century emphasis on emergence. Letters to the editor on this, or any other topic related to knowledge management research and practice, are welcome. We trust that you will find the contributions stimulating, and again invite you to contribute your own paper(s) to future issues of KMRP.

THE ROLE OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES IN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF MEDIUM SIZED FINNISH MANUFACTURING FIRMS - A case for Sormat Oy

A rapidly changing business environment has necessitated most small and medium sized enterprises with international ambitions to reconsider their sources of competitive advantage. To survive in the face of a changing business environment, firms should utilize their dynamic organizational capabilities as well as their internationalization capabilities. Firms develop a competitive advantage if they can exploit their unique organizational competences in a new or foreign market and also if they can acquire new capabilities as a result of engaging in foreign markets. The acquired capabilities from foreign locations enhance the existing capability portfolio of a firm with a desire to internationalize. The study combined the research streams of SME organizational dynamic capability and internationalization capability to build a complete picture on the existing knowledge. An intensive case study was used for empirically testing the theoretical framework of the study and compared with the literature on various organizational capability factors and internationalization capabilities. Sormay Oy was selected because it is a successful medium sized company operating in Finland in the manufacturing industry which has a high international profile. In addition, it has sufficient rate of growth in sales that warrants it to engage internationally in matters such as, acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships. The key findings of the study suggests that, medium sized manufacturing firms have a set of core competences arising from their organizational capabilities which were identified to be employee know how and relationship with stakeholders which aid the firm in its quest for attaining competitive advantage, ensuring production flexibility and gaining benefits present in a network. In addition, internationalization capabilities were identified under both the RAT test and CAT test whereby the primary findings suggests that, firms that outperform their competitors produce products that meet specific customer and country requirements, foresee the pitfalls of imitation brought about by the foreign local companies and members of a particular network through joint ventures, acquisitions or partnerships as well as those firms that are capable to acquire new capabilities in the foreign markets and successfully use these acquired capabilities to enhance or renew their capability portfolio for their competitive advantage. Additional significant findings under internationalization capabilities were discovered whereby, Sormay Oy was able to develop a new market space for its products despite the difficult institutional environment present in Russia.

¿Cómo compiten las firmas latinoamericanas en los mercados globalizados? La estrategia del grupo empresarial antioqueño para enfrentar la competencia internacional : El caso de Inversiones Nacional de Chocolates

En este artículo se presentan los resultados de la investigación que se desarrolló en Colombia, como parte del proyecto a nivel de América Latina, identificado como Can Latin American firms compete?, el cual fue auspiciado por Thunderbird: The Garvin School of International Management, con el fin de establecer cómo han logrado algunas firmas latinoamericanas extenderse exitosamente en los mercados internacionales e identificar la presencia de modelos y características comunes a estas empresas y sus pares en otras regiones del mundo. En Colombia se seleccionó al Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño y en particular su industria de alimentos, la cual conforma el conglomerado de empresas de Inversiones Nacional de Chocolates, como objetivo del estudio, teniendo en cuenta que este es posiblemente el grupo que reúne las mayores realizaciones en el proceso de internacionalización. En el trabajo se identifican las características sobresalientes que han permitido el desarrollo de competencias centrales (core competences), sobre las cuales se han establecido las estrategias para penetrar exitosamente en diferentes mercados internacionales, el aprendizaje de las diferentes culturas propias de esos mercados, y los procesos que se desarrollaron para enfrentar los riesgos, darles valor a los productos y enfrentar la creciente competencia de otras firmas multinacionales.

International student exchanges and entrepreneurial capabilities: insights from colombian students studying in France

It seems globalization has challenge different types of fields around the world. Cultures, politics, economies and even education are day by day challenged due to the open of boundaries, therefore countries, institution and people need to develop new activities in order to gain a competitive advantages over others, that’s why entrepreneurship comes to the discussion as an opportunity and a possible solution to situation, but what triggers it? Can it be influenced through different programs and can it be teach changing university curriculums? Well, as boundaries are falling even in educational institutions, this study aims to explain if there’s any effect on students’ entrepreneurial capabilities after being part of international exchange programs. It will be done through the collection of primary data from Colombian students studying in France and if this program influenced their skills as entrepreneurs.

An investigation on the pay-off to generic competences for core employees in Catalan manufacturing firms

The aim of this paper is to measure the returns to human capital. We use a unique data set consisting of matched employer-employee information. Data on individuals' human capital include a set of 26 competences that capture the utilization of workers' skills in a very detailed way. Thus, we can expand the concept of human capital and discuss the type of skills that are more productive in the workplace and, hence, generate a higher payoff for the workers. The rich information on firm's and workplace characteristics allows us to introduce a broad range of controls and to improve previous research in this field. This paper gives evidence that the returns to generic competences differ depending on the position of the worker in the firm. Only numeracy skills are reward independent of the occupational status of the worker. The level of technology used by the firm in the production process does not directly increase workers’ pay, but it influences the pay-off to some of the competences. JEL Classification: J24, J31

Gestión de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluación de competencias = Management of student learning outside the classroom and the self-evaluation of competences

La asignatura troncal “Evaluación Psicológica” de los estudios de Psicología y delestudio de grado “Desarrollo humano en la sociedad de la información” de laUniversidad de Girona consta de 12 créditos según la Ley Orgánica de Universidades.Hasta el año académico 2004-05 el trabajo no presencial del alumno consistía en larealización de una evaluación psicológica que se entregaba por escrito a final de curso yde la cual el estudiante obtenía una calificación y revisión si se solicitaba. En el caminohacia el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, esta asignatura consta de 9 créditosque equivalen a un total de 255 horas de trabajo presencial y no presencial delestudiante. En los años académicos 2005-06 y 2006-07 se ha creado una guía de trabajopara la gestión de la actividad no presencial con el objetivo de alcanzar aprendizajes anivel de aplicación y solución de problemas/pensamiento crítico (Bloom, 1975)siguiendo las recomendaciones de la Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitariode Cataluña (2005). La guía incorpora: los objetivos de aprendizaje, los criterios deevaluación, la descripción de las actividades, el cronograma semanal de trabajos paratodo el curso, la especificación de las tutorías programadas para la revisión de losdiversos pasos del proceso de evaluación psicológica y el uso del foro para elconocimiento, análisis y crítica constructiva de las evaluaciones realizadas por loscompañeros

Gestión de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluación de competencias = Management of Student Learning Outside the Classroom and the Self-evaluation of Competences

Psychological Assessment is a core subject of Psychology studies, and of the university degree Human development, at the University of Girona and according to the University regulations, had 12 credits. Until the 2005-06 academic years, the student work conducted outside the classroom consisted of undertaking a psychological assessment that was written and handed in at the end of the course. From this the student obtained a qualification and a review if they applied for it In accordance with the European Credits for Higher Education, this subject was reduced to 9 credits, which is the equivalent of a total of 255 hours of in-class work and outside the classroom. In the 2006-07 academic year we created a guide to manage the student’s experiences outside the classroom, with the objective of encouraging the application of problem solving/critical thinking (Bloom, 1975), in line with the recommendations of the Catalonia Agency for University System Quality (2005). The guide includes: learning objectives, evaluation criterions, a description of activities, work week timetable for the whole course, programmed tutorials to review all steps of the psychological assessment process, and the use of a web-based virtual forum for the transfer of knowledge, analysis and constructive critiques of the assessment done by themselves and their colleagues

Gestión de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluación de competencias = Management of student learning outside the classroom and the self-evaluation of competences

La asignatura troncal “Evaluación Psicológica” de los estudios de Psicología y del estudio de grado “Desarrollo humano en la sociedad de la información” de la Universidad de Girona consta de 12 créditos según la Ley Orgánica de Universidades. Hasta el año académico 2004-05 el trabajo no presencial del alumno consistía en la realización de una evaluación psicológica que se entregaba por escrito a final de curso y de la cual el estudiante obtenía una calificación y revisión si se solicitaba. En el camino hacia el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, esta asignatura consta de 9 créditos que equivalen a un total de 255 horas de trabajo presencial y no presencial del estudiante. En los años académicos 2005-06 y 2006-07 se ha creado una guía de trabajo para la gestión de la actividad no presencial con el objetivo de alcanzar aprendizajes a nivel de aplicación y solución de problemas/pensamiento crítico (Bloom, 1975) siguiendo las recomendaciones de la Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitario de Cataluña (2005). La guía incorpora: los objetivos de aprendizaje, los criterios de evaluación, la descripción de las actividades, el cronograma semanal de trabajos para todo el curso, la especificación de las tutorías programadas para la revisión de los diversos pasos del proceso de evaluación psicológica y el uso del foro para el conocimiento, análisis y crítica constructiva de las evaluaciones realizadas por los compañeros

Is production the core competence for the internationalization of emerging country firms?

The rise of new multinationals in countries like Brazil provides an opportunity to revisit and carefully construct theories of how firms internationalize, a topic on which extant theory is weak. Brazilian firms are "infant multinationals", unlike developed country firms that are "mature multinationals". They are also internationalizing in a very different global context, and can do so on the basis of different competitive advantages than multinationals that came before. Therefore, this study aims at creating subsidies for theory building about early-stage internationalization. Emerging country firms have Production competences as main competitive asset to internationalize, what reflects their competitive positioning in home markets and their entry strategy in international markets. In the case of early-entrants - Western multinationals in the 1950s and Japanese in the 1980s - the Production competence played a key role for successful internationalization. Thus, the focus of the study is the role that the Production competence plays in the internationalization of late-entrants, the emerging country multinationals. The research design considers not only the position of the headquarters but also the initiatives of the subsidiaries and the dynamic interplay between both. The paper allows a better understanding of internationalization processes and the role of Production, when firms start building their own international networks. It brings relevant insights about the paths that are being followed by emerging country multinationals, the difficulties they find, the solutions they develop. These are important inputs not only for new theory building but also for managerial practice. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From core rigidities to dynamic capabilities: the role of external knowledge. A multiple case study

This study focuses on the processes of change that firms undertake to overcome conditions of organizational rigidity and develop new dynamic capabilities, thanks to the contribution of external knowledge. When external contingencies highlight firms’ core rigidities, external actors can intervene in change projects, providing new competences to firms’ managers. Knowledge transfer and organizational learning processes can lead to the development of new dynamic capabilities. Existing literature does not completely explain how these processes develop and how external knowledge providers, as management consultants, influence them. Dynamic capabilities literature has become very rich in the last years; however, the models that explain how dynamic capabilities evolve are not particularly investigated. Adopting a qualitative approach, this research proposes four relevant case studies in which external actors introduce new knowledge within organizations, activating processes of change. Each case study consists of a management consulting project. Data are collected through in-depth interviews with consultants and managers. A large amount of documents supports evidences from interviews. A narrative approach is adopted to account for change processes and a synthetic approach is proposed to compare case studies along relevant dimensions. This study presents a model of capabilities evolution, supported by empirical evidence, to explain how external knowledge intervenes in capabilities evolution processes: first, external actors solve gaps between environmental demands and firms’ capabilities, changing organizational structures and routines; second, a knowledge transfer between consultants and managers leads to the creation of new ordinary capabilities; third, managers can develop new dynamic capabilities through a deliberate learning process that internalizes new tacit knowledge from consultants. After the end of the consulting project, two elements can influence the deliberate learning process: new external contingencies and changes in the perceptions about external actors.

The fiscal compact - Europe's "hard core" based on German economic conditions. OSW Commentary No. 71, 2012-03-07

On 2 March, the leaders of 25 EU member states signed the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union. It will introduce new fiscal constraints and officially vest new competences in the eurozone countries. Thus, their right to coordinate economic policy among them will be sanctioned. So far, the Lisbon Treaty has only provided for organisation of informal Eurogroup meetings, to be attended by representatives of the European Commission. The principles introduced by the compact, if the eurozone countries are really determined to observe its provisions, will create a new way of managing the single currency. Within the next few years, the most indebted countries will have to carry out radical reforms to boost their competitiveness and adjust it to German standards. During this period the Federal Republic of Germany will most probably decide to offer higher loan guarantees to relieve these countries’ budgets. The compact’s political consequences are also of great significance, especially considering how the treaty was finalised. The eurozone states have in fact accepted that the direction for changes will be devised by France and Germany, and the role of European institutions such as the Commission or the Parliament may weaken. From the perspective of eurozone candidate countries, the introduction of the fiscal compact means expanding the scope of conditions they must meet to become members of the single currency area. In the future, a country, in order to adopt the single currency, will have to meet the structural deficit criterion, and also most probably carry out economic reforms such as unifying its fiscal system. These goals will be achieved across the eurozone gradually, in the subsequent stages of the economic governance reform.

Core-valence Correlation Effects On Ir Calculations: The Bf3 And Bcl3 Cases.

The first theoretical results of core-valence correlation effects are presented for the infrared wavenumbers and intensities of the BF3 and BCl3 molecules, using (double- and triple-zeta) Dunning core-valence basis sets at the CCSD(T) level. The results are compared with those calculated in the frozen core approximation with standard Dunning basis sets at the same correlation level and with the experimental values. The general conclusion is that the effect of core-valence correlation is, for infrared wavenumbers and intensities, smaller than the effect of adding augmented diffuse functions to the basis set, e.g., cc-pVTZ to aug-cc-pVTZ. Moreover, the trends observed in the data are mainly related to the augmented functions rather than the core-valence functions added to the basis set. The results obtained here confirm previous studies pointing out the large descrepancy between the theoretical and experimental intensities of the stretching mode for BCl3.

Compact Ag@fe3o4 Core-shell Nanoparticles By Means Of Single-step Thermal Decomposition Reaction.

A temperature pause introduced in a simple single-step thermal decomposition of iron, with the presence of silver seeds formed in the same reaction mixture, gives rise to novel compact heterostructures: brick-like Ag@Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles. This novel method is relatively easy to implement, and could contribute to overcome the challenge of obtaining a multifunctional heteroparticle in which a noble metal is surrounded by magnetite. Structural analyses of the samples show 4 nm silver nanoparticles wrapped within compact cubic external structures of Fe oxide, with curious rectangular shape. The magnetic properties indicate a near superparamagnetic like behavior with a weak hysteresis at room temperature. The value of the anisotropy involved makes these particles candidates to potential applications in nanomedicine.