Interdependent Activities Research Articles

Developing a framework to evaluate business networks: the case of Ireland's industry-led network initiative

Business networks have been described as cooperative arrangements between independent business organisations that vary from contractual joint ventures to informal exchanges of information. This collaboration has become recognised as an innovative and efficient tool for organising interdependent activities, with benefits accruing to both firms and the local economy. For a number of years, resources have been devoted to supporting Irish networking policies. One recent example of such support is the Irish government's target of €20 million per annum for five years to support the creation of enterprise-led networks. It is imperative that a clear rationale for such interventions is established, as the opportunity cost of public funds is high. This article, therefore, develops an evaluation framework for such networking interventions. This framework will facilitate effective programme planning, implementation and evaluation. It will potentially show how a chain of cause-and-effect at both micro and macro-levels for networking interventions can be established.

Designing Your Future Business Model: An Activity System Perspective

Building on the received literature, we conceptualize a firm's business model as a system of interdependent activities that transcends the focal firm and spans its boundaries. The activity system enables the firm to create value in concert with its partners but also to appropriate a share of the value created. Anchored on theoretical and empirical research, we suggest two sets of parameters that activity systems designers need to consider: design elements - content, structure and governance - that describe the architecture of an activity system; and design themes - novelty, lock-in, complementarities and efficiency - that describe the sources of the activity system's value creation.

Exploring the Challenges and Prospects for Polycentricity in International Humanitarian Relief

The coordination of relief in international humanitarian crises has long been viewed as fraught with problems of inadequate oversight and coordination. Contrary to this claim, this article argues that the international relief system, viewed as interdependent actors, is better understood on the basis of the principle of polycentricity. The authors sketch the conditions necessary to secure a polycentric social order and compare these to the international humanitarian relief framework. They argue that polycentricity may be a more apt aspiration for participants in the international relief system than are calls for new and more stringent forms of monocentric coordination, but its conditions too may be difficult for the relevant participants to realize. The authors explore the tensions and possibilities implicit in this reframing at both the strategic and operating scales.

The analysis and case studies of successful express logistics companies

With the globalisation of world business, the border-crossing activities between organisations have substantially increased. Organisations not only need to handle supply functions, but also play a tremendous role in demand simulation through integration both inside the firm and outside with business partners and customers. Logistics has become more and more mature and sophisticated by taking on an external focus, incorporating suppliers and customers in the business processes, with all the supply chain functions integrated into a whole. By minimising the costs in the value chain or providing customised services, logistics acts as a major source of competitive advantages and profitability. To meet this goal, it would require the integration of activities to focus on customer-oriented measures. Customer service and logistics activities are a chain of interdependent activities that supplement each other to facilitate the flow of information, goods and cash within the value chain. The absence of one activity may imply some specific channels need to supplement another unit. Generally, this paper is to study the impact of corporate strategy, technology and customer satisfaction on the firm's performance, filling the gap of good customer service effects on long-term profits. Two international delivery providers, UPS and FedEx, are studied to realise the critical success factors of express logistics.

Beyond sacred violence: a comparative study of sacrifice

For many Westerners, the term sacrifice is associated with ancient, often primitive ritual practices. It suggests the death-frequently violent, often bloody-of an animal victim, usually with the aim of atoning for human guilt. Sacrifice is a serious ritual, culminating in a dramatic event. The reality of religious sacrificial acts across the globe and throughout history is, however, more expansive and inclusive. In Beyond Sacred Violence, Kathryn McClymond argues that the modern Western world's reductive understanding of sacrifice simplifies an enormously broad and dynamic cluster of religious activities. Drawing on a comparative study of Vedic and Jewish sacrificial practices, she demonstrates not only that sacrifice has no single, essential, identifying characteristic but also that the elements most frequently attributed to such acts-death and violence-are not universal. McClymond reveals that the world of religious sacrifice varies greatly, including grain-based offerings, precious liquids, and complex interdependent activities. Engagingly argued and written, Beyond Sacred Violence significantly extends our understanding of religious sacrifice and serves as a timely reminder that the field of religious studies is largely framed by Christianity.

Moving towards a resilient supply chain

The nature of supply chain management—global in scope, the existence of interdependent activities in the various processes, the need for collaborative relationships between members, and the uncertainty that is inherent in both supply and demand - makes it vulnerable to unexpected events that have the potential to disrupt operations as planned. Disruptions to the supply chain can have a profound effect on the firm ranging from loss of revenue to increased costs when operations don’t proceed as planned. Firms realized that it was critical to their business interests to proactively manage, and even mitigate, the risks that are inherent in global supply chains.

Interactive Actor Analysis for Rural Water Management in The Netherlands: An Application of the Transactional Approach

Recent developments in the policy sciences emphasize the social environment in which decisions are made. The ‘network metaphor’ is often used to describe the key role of interactions between interdependent actors involved in decision making. These interactions take place in a policy arena drawn up by actors with an interest in and control over decisions on the issues addressed. Interdependencies, caused by the need for actors to increase their means of realizing objectives, are the driving force behind these interactions. Dependency relations are of special interest to water management and river basin management because of the fundamental asymmetrical interdependencies that exist in river basins between upstream and downstream stakeholders. Coleman’s linear system of action models decision making process involving dependencies between multiple stakeholders as exchange of control over issues, while interactions are required to negotiate exchanges of control. We developed an interactive method for actor analysis based on Coleman’s linear system of action and applied it to the national rural water management policy domain in The Netherlands. The method is firmly rooted in mathematical sociology and defies the criticism that methods for actor and stakeholder analysis do not specify a theoretical basis explaining the causal relations between the variables analyzed and policy change. With the application to the rural water management policy arena we intended to increase our insight into the practical applicability of this analytic method in an interactive workshop, the acceptability of the approach for the participating actors, its contribution to the process of decision making and our understanding of the rural water management policy arena in The Netherlands. We found that the Association of Water Authorities, the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Agriculture are the most powerful actor in the policy domain, while governance and cost and benefits of rural water management are the most salient issues. Progress in policy development for rural water management is probably most promising for the issues governance, costs and benefits, safety and rural living conditions through improved interaction between the Association of Water Authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Credit Bank. Besides these analytic results the interactive approach implemented increased the participants understanding of their dependency on other actors in the rural water management policy domain and supported them in developing a sound perspective on their dependency position. We concluded that the method developed is acceptable to real-world policy decision makers, can successfully be applied in an interactive setting, potentially contributes to the process of decision making by increasing the participants understanding of their dependency position, has the potential to delivers valuable advice for future decision-making and increases our understanding of policy development for rural water management in general.

CHUNKY VS. INCREMENTAL GROWTH: HOW TO EXPAND A SEARCH DOMAIN.

The article explains system and decision theories which are used to solve the problem of managing interdependent activities within organizations and during periods of growth. The contextual analysis is based on behavioral heuristics, complex problem solving, and expansion of a search domain. The discussion mentions: domain and system design as well as the activity configuration; the search and expansion strategies in modeled firms; time allocation patterns for monitoring chunky and incremental growth; the interdependent elements in expanding a search domain; controlling the size and growth of a complex search space; and the strategic planning of managers and designers.

Medusan morphospace: phylogenetic constraints, biomechanical solutions, and ecological consequences

Abstract. Medusae were the earliest animals to evolve muscle‐powered swimming in the seas. Although medusae have achieved diverse and prominent ecological roles throughout the world's oceans, we argue that the primitive organization of cnidarian muscle tissue limits force production and, hence, the mechanical alternatives for swimming bell function. We use a recently developed model comparing the potential force production with the hydrodynamic requirements of jet propulsion, and conclude that jet production is possible only at relatively small bell diameters. In contrast, production of a more complex wake via what we term rowing propulsion permits much larger sizes but requires a different suite of morphological features. Analysis of morphometric data from all medusan taxa independently confirms size‐dependent patterns of bell forms that correspond with model predictions. Further, morphospace analysis indicates that various lineages within the Medusozoa have proceeded along either of two evolutionary trajectories. The first alternative involved restriction of jet‐propelled medusan bell diameters to small dimensions. These medusae may be either solitary individuals (characteristic of Anthomedusae and Trachymedusae) or aggregates of small individual medusan units into larger colonial forms (characteristic of the nectophores of many members of the Siphonophorae). The second trajectory involved use of rowing propulsion (characteristic of Scyphozoa and some hydromedusan lineages such as the Leptomedusae and Narcomedusae) that allows much larger bell sizes. Convergence on either of the differing propulsive alternatives within the Medusozoa has emerged via parallel evolution among different medusan lineages. The distinctions between propulsive modes have important ecological ramifications because swimming and foraging are interdependent activities for medusae. Rowing swimmers are characteristically cruising predators that select different prey types from those selected by jet‐propelled medusae, which are predominantly ambush predators. These relationships indicate that the different biomechanical solutions to constraints on bell function have entailed ecological consequences that are evident in the prey selection patterns and trophic impacts of contemporary medusan lineages.

“It's One of Those Things That You Do to Help the Family”

This article examines how immigrant adolescent development is shaped by the cultural and linguistic practice of language brokering. Framed by theories on interdependent/independent developmental scripts, the changing experiences and views of 12 Latino/a children of U.S. immigrants over 5 years were analyzed. It was found that translating is a relational, interdependent activity in which adolescents both help and receive help from family members. As adolescents, they extend this helping orientation beyond their household, but in these public spaces, they sometimes meet up with other developmental scripts. This article's examination of brokering's effects on immigrant adolescence leads to the discussion that one must consider the manner in which all adolescents and parents are negotiating independent and interdependent worlds.

Using Chinese natural products for diabetes mellitus drug discovery and development

This paper provides a review of natural Chinese drug products, including phytochemic compounds, medicinal herbs and multi-component herbal formulae, that have been reported to possess hypoglycemic activity with mechanisms for antidiabetic action. Along with a great number of combination formulae, ∼ 187 different Chinese medicinal herbs are clinically applied to treat diabetes mellitus and its complications in China, most of which have achieved reasonably good clinical outcomes. These valuable data and practical experience provide a promising opportunity for the discovery and development of drug candidates with good therapeutic efficacy and low toxicity. The concept of treating complex, multifactorial metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, using multi-component therapeutics, including single-herb formulae and combination herbal formulae, shall be regarded as a concerted pharmacologic intervention of multiple compounds interacting with multiple targets and possessing interdependent activities that are required for a synergistic or optimal effect. The conventional approach for the discovery and development of antidiabetic drug products from natural products involving a high-throughput, bioactivity guided drug screening of single compounds obtained from thousands of herbs has proven to be a costly and non-productive effort. Hence, an alternative way of developing new drug candidates, as suggested in this review, is to reduce and simplify a well-established combination herbal formula, along with the pharmacologic evaluation of a small group of phytochemic compounds, which are therapeutically effective as the original formula and have known chemical structures, compositions and mechanisms of action that are similar to chemical drugs.

Recreational traffic management: The relations between research and implementation

Traffic management in National Parks is necessary in order to avoid the negative effects of car traffic. Implementing traffic management measures can be difficult, due to public resistance or other problems. A research project in the Veluwezoom National Park in The Netherlands shows that there are two important reasons for problematic implementation. The first reason is a lack of knowledge about the recreational use of the area. The second reason is the interdependence of actors involved. Both aspects need to be considered and related to each other in order to make more realistic traffic management plans.

Interdependency, Competition, and Industry Dynamics

Asystematic understanding of industry dynamics is critical to strategy research because individual firm performance dynamics both reflect and affect change at the industry level. Descriptive research on industry dynamics has identified a dominant pattern where prices fall, output rises, and the number of firms rises and then falls over time. Several models have been advanced to explain these patterns, with a particular focus on explaining why a shakeout in the number of firms occurs. In the most prominent models, shakeout is generated by rising realized heterogeneity among firms that either is assumed to be unrecognized but determined ex ante or is generated by stochastic innovation outcomes coupled with convex adjustment costs and scale advantages in innovation and learning. In this paper, we develop an alternative model where heterogeneity develops among firms over time (leading to a shakeout) because firms must make choices about highly interdependent productive activities where the ideal combinations cannot be easily deduced or imitated. By combining two established models (a Cournot model of competition with an NK model of interdependency in production activities), we are able to advance an alternative explanation for the observed patterns of industry behavior, including shakeout. We show that variation in the potential for interdependency in activities among industries is able to explain varying levels of shakeout as well as differing patterns of entry and exit among industries. Notably, the model generates several empirical predictions not apparent in past research and several that directly conflict with the results of prominent alternative models of industry dynamics. Specifically, we show that when the potential for interdependency within an industry is low, entry slows down and incumbent survival is all but assured, whereas in industries where the potential for interdependencies is high, shakeouts are severe and the rates of entry and exit remain high over longer time periods, with decreasing survival rates for incumbents.

Issue management and crisis management: An integrated, non-linear, relational construct

Despite extensive attempts to define and differentiate issue management and crisis management, the definitional approach – and linear life-cycle models which focus on the elements – fail to capture the full dynamics of the disciplines. Instead of a focus on definitions, this paper proposes a non-linear, relational construct which considers issue and crisis management in the context of interdependent activities and clusters of activity which must be managed at different stages. This includes the role of issue management in both the pre-crisis and post-crisis phases. The model addresses some of the limitations of linear approaches and helps analyze the outcomes and overlaps between activity clusters in order to optimize strategic relationships and enhance bottom-line effectiveness.

The emergent coordination of cognitive function.

1/f scaling has been observed throughout human physiology and behavior, but its origins and meaning remain a matter of debate. Some argue that it is a byproduct of ongoing processes in the brain or body and therefore of limited relevance to psychological theory. Others argue that 1/f scaling reflects a fundamental aspect of all physiological and cognitive functions, namely, that they emerge in the balance of independent versus interdependent component activities. In 4 experiments, series of key-press responses were used to test between these 2 alternative explanations. The critical design feature was to take 2 measures of each key-press response: reaction time and key-contact duration. These measures resulted in 2 parallel series of intrinsic fluctuations for each series of key-press responses. Intrinsic fluctuations exhibited 1/f scaling in both reaction times and key-contact durations, yet the 2 measures were uncorrelated with each other and separately perturbable. These and other findings indicate that 1/f scaling is too pervasive to be idiosyncratic and of limited relevance. It is instead argued that 1/f scaling reflects the coordinative, metastable basis of cognitive function.

Nature-inspired metaheuristics for multiobjective activity crashing

Many project tasks and manufacturing processes consist of interdependent time-related activities that can be represented as networks. Deciding which of these sub-processes should receive extra resources to speed up the whole network (i.e., where activity crashing should be applied) usually involves the pursuit of multiple objectives amid a lack of a priori preference information. A common decision support approach lies in first determining efficient combinations of activity crashing measures and then pursuing an interactive exploration of this space. As it is impossible to exactly solve the underlying multiobjective combinatorial optimization problem within a reasonable computation time for real-world problems, we have developed proper solution procedures based on three major (nature-inspired) metaheuristics. This paper describes these implementations, discusses their strengths, and provides results from computational experiments.

Urban transport, the environment and deliberative governance: the role of interdependence and trust

Today, actors in policy making and planning are often faced with demands of handling conditions characterized by increasing fragmentation, differentiation and complexity. In response to an apparent limited reach of traditional monocentric and top-down governing in dealing with those conditions, a range of deliberative and more interactive governance approaches have emerged. This article discusses the central role of interdependence and trust in such approaches, based on three cases, Aalborg (DK), Lund (S) and Groningen (NL), in which environmental objectives and strategies have materialized in local transport policy making and planning. The cases offer illustrative examples of policy processes and collaboration in which the development (or lack) of interdependence and trust have been decisive. In a concluding prescriptive endeavour, several aspects are tentatively suggested as being relevant in searching for new formats for collaboration and deliberative governance and, in particular, for generating trust among interdependent actors. The concluding remark holds that deliberative governance can illuminate conflicting relations and provoke or massage those early in policy and planning processes; conflicts that would have emerged and backfired on the process anyway. The early discovery in such processes of problems, imbalances and differences in interests and opinions may improve the chance to establish and implement workable compromises on goals and solutions.

An ANP/DNP analysis of economic elements in today’s world network economy

The network economy is a term for today’s global relationship among economic elements characterized by massive connectivity. The central act of the new era is to connect everything to everything in deep web networks at many levels of mutually interdependent relations, where resources and activities are shared, markets are enlarged and costs and risk are reduced. Network systems contain both positive and negative feedback. A variety of feedback processes create complex system behavior. For such a network the Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach seems to be very appropriate. The ANP method makes it possible to deal systematically with all kinds of dependence and feedback in the system. Dynamic models try to reflect changes in real or simulated time and take into account that the network model components are constantly evolving. Dynamic models use concepts of state variables, flows, and feedback processes. The Dynamic Network Process (DNP) is an extension of ANP that can deal with time dependent priorities in a networked economy.

Regulatory Credibility and Authority through Inclusiveness: Standardization Organizations in Cases of Eco-Labelling

This paper deals with the challenging task of permanently organizing projects that include a broad range of actors: enterprises, social movement organizations and state actors. It focuses on a special type of standardization activity, namely eco-labelling, and is based on case studies of two Swedish projects/organizations: labelling of organic food and sustainable forestry. In this paper, I theorize about the concept of inclusiveness, which is seen as being instrumental for the creation of regulatory credibility and authority and argue that different types of members/participants have different types of power resources, which the standardization organization (SO) seeks to mobilize and control. The combination of these individual power resources brings action capacity and symbolic resources to the SO, including an image of independence. Moreover, the SO provides an organizational setting that, inter alias, helps interdependent actors to maintain a hold on each other, and forces them to engage in a dialogue and repeated interaction over time. This interaction can, in turn, result in common expectations and understandings that are essential for the operations of non-state governance. However, the case studies also indicate difficulties in organizing such complex networks. It can, above all, be difficult to prevent a power shift in favour of organizations with large power resources.

Interdependency, Competition, and the Distribution of Firm and Industry Profits

Coordination of interdependencies among firms’ productive activities has been advanced as a promising explanation for sustained heterogeneity in capabilities among firms. In this paper, we extend this line of research to determine the industry structures and patterns of expected firm profits for the case when difficulty optimizing interdependent activities does, in fact, generate and sustain capability heterogeneity among firms. We combine a widely used agent-based model where firms search to discover sets of activities that complement one another (reducing overall costs or raising product quality) with traditional economic models of competition among profit-maximizing firms. The agent-based model produces a distribution of performance (interpreted as variable cost or product quality) among firms and the competition models determine resulting industry outcomes including patterns of entry, exit, and profits. The integration of economic models of competition among firms with an agent-based model of search for improvement by firms reveals a rich relationship between interdependencies in production functions and industry structure, firm profits, and industry average profitability.