Guanxi has been identified as having an important influence on business behavior. This paper investigates the influence of guanxi on three elements of supply chain management: strategic purchasing, outsourcing, and supplier development. Survey data was collected from 175 companies in the electronics sector of Hong Kong. The results indicate that guanxi has a significant influence on these three...

Though the application of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has become widespread, many organizational experiences have shown that resulting outcomes fall short of expectations. Best-practice experiences, however, have proven that effective application is centered on an integrative approach that seeks to achieve a balance between certain key organizational elements. This article presen...

Search engine marketing (SEM) has become an important strategic tool for destinations and tourism organizations to promote and advertise online. Due to the dynamic and constantly evolving relationships among travelers as information searchers, search engines, and the online tourism domain, the authors argued that a new model must be conceived to capture these relationships in order to better in...

This article addresses survival strategies of academic health centers (AHCs) in responding to market pressures and government reforms. Using six case studies of AHCs, the study links strategic changes in structure and management to managerial role performance. Utilizing Mintzberg's classification of work roles, the roles of liaison, monitor, entrepreneur, and resource allocator were found to be...

China now is one of the most important places where software outsourcing businesses are flourishing. However, the subcontracting in the current software outsourcing practices has not received enough attentions. This research attempts to further the understanding on this issue. Mixed empirical research approaches were used to explore the extent and the impacts of the outsourcing subcontracting. ...

Departing from the self-portrayal of the private security business as a normal, non-political sector at the service of states and other legitimate clients, this article argues that the rise of the private security business reinforces general trends towards techno-managerial, de-politicized, and militarized security practices. Even when firms behave by their own books, security privatization rec...

Based on an exploratory, on-going field study we suggest in this paper a conceptual, two dimensional framework for the classification of projects and systems, and show how this framework can be used to distinguish among management styles and practices for various types of engineering projects. The paper provides empirical evidence of the differences found among various kinds of projects and sug...

This paper introduces xTrust, a general purpose security framework that supports a wide range of applications and security mechanisms in a way that makes trust highly visible. It provides basic services for identifying paths between peers that are trusted for specific purposes, and for utilizing those paths for the trustworthy exchange of information. The design of the system is based on four g...

The practices of open innovation have been advocated as an efficient way to accelerate innovation processes and expanding the markets for innovations in turbulent times. One specific way of practicing open innovation is the use of web-based innovation tools whereby, among others, any user and customer in the world may be reached for the spawning ideas, sharing of experiences, testing of product...

In recent decades, there has been a substantial increase in private and public investment in entrepreneurship. This trend has important managerial, financial, and public policy implications. There is also considerable interest in understanding the financial practices of early stage companies. The recent global resurgence of leveraged buyouts and the concomitant rise of ‘‘private equity’’ market...