Involvement Of External Partners Research Articles

The effect of organizational factors on SMEs performance in Dubai

Small and medium entities (SMEs) may not have an appreciable impact on the economy of a country unless they are performing well. In the UAE, the performance of SMEs still appears to be unimpressive despite the actions of the government. Cross-sectional research design and survey methods were used in research work since the managers and employees of SMEs were the primary sources of data. The result from the study revealed that organizational factors positively and significantly impacts SMEs performance. Future researchers will benefit largely from this present study because it will guide them on how and where to focus their research. The findings of the study will assist UAE agencies and institutions in understanding the mediating role of ABC adoption as the key drivers and exert a strong influence on performance for SMEs in UAE. The government and policymakers should look at the involvement of external partners in facilitating innovation activities among SMEs in UAE.

Formation of an Innovating Culture for International Companies in the Context of Global Development

For the third year in a row, according to the results of research by global consulting agencies, international companies-leaders consider innovation to be the number one priority among their corporate goals. Most companies declare their readiness to invest in breakthrough innovations related to digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and smartization of business processes. The criteria for the readiness of such companies are: intensification of the search for talents that generate new ideas and have the ability to implement them into reality, turn investments into results; use of new business models and a wide range of strategic tools; strengthening innovative platforms of knowledge and practice; organization or participation in ecosystems with the involvement of external partners and competitors. Leadership is based on a strong culture of innovation, which is represented by the principles, norms and rules of strategic thinking, flexibility, mobility in decision-making and implementation of decisions. The article analyzes the features of the formation of a culture of innovation by international companies that are established as leaders in creating new sources of income and values, products and markets; the common attributes of innovation culture are defined – compliance with the principles of social and environmental responsibility, possession of elements of leadership and teamwork, readiness for effective implementation of innovations, productivity and resilience to threats.

ИННОВАЦИИ КАК МЕТОД ОПЕРАТИВНОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЕМ

Goal. The purpose of the article is to study effective innovation management to create a favorable business environment that promotes the development and commercialization of ideas. To do this, the company must carry out horizontal and vertical management. Horizontal management involves the integration of various functional areas and stakeholders in the innovation process, while vertical management involves the coordination of strategic planning, organizational structure, access to resources and cultural aspects. Through a specific innovation management mechanism and approach, the company strives to implement innovations at all levels of the organization, involving all personnel in them, providing full-fledged innovative work time and creating global innovations within the enterprise. Tasks. This article defines the expediency of creating an innovative model based on mutually beneficial partnership with consumers, research institutions, universities, suppliers, distributors and even competitors. Within the framework of such a model, enterprises exchange innovative resources and mutually beneficial conditions. Methodology. The authors used such research methods as statistical analysis, observation, generalization, description and graphical modeling. Results. The article presents a classification of innovations based on their level of openness, including closed innovations, cooperative innovations, open innovations and innovations of a network organization. It is argued that for the successful commercialization of ideas, the management of an enterprise’s innovation activities must simultaneously take into account several aspects, such as strategy, organization, resources, culture and others, based on the external innovation environment of the enterprise, and contribute to its development. Conclusions. This article presents arguments in favor of using methods of operational innovation management in enterprises. It has been proven that the process of inventing and creating new products and services is only the first stage of innovation, while commercialization is a key part of the entire innovation process. In the process of technological innovation, business enterprises use both internal and external additional innovative resources to achieve innovative development goals. Companies have the opportunity to commercialize innovative products using both internal technology channels and with the involvement of external partners.

Is any open innovation pattern emerging in the Italian fashion field? Preliminary evidence from some case studies

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore whether open innovation is emerging in the Italian fashion industry.Design/methodology/approachBased on available studies on innovation and open innovation, we first identified the main facets of open innovation within the industry investigated, such as the process of searching for new ideas, the involvement of external partners in the new product development process and the use of collaboration mechanisms between supply chain partners. Starting from these findings, the authors designed a semi-structured questionnaire that was used as a guideline for 15 case studies, carried out in the Italian fashion industry.FindingsThe outcomes from the case studies allow drawing some conclusions about the emergency of open innovation in the fashion industry and the related patterns.Originality/valueGiven its exploratory nature, this study is expected to start a debate about open innovation in the fashion industry, as well as to encourage future studies in this field.

Availability of vocational rehabilitation services for people with acquired brain injury in Dutch rehabilitation institutions

ABSTRACT Objective To provide an overview of the availability of and process involved in vocational rehabilitation (VR) services for people with acquired brain injury (ABI) provided in Dutch rehabilitation institutions. Methods A survey on the availability and characteristics of the VR intervention process for people with ABI was conducted in all Dutch rehabilitation centers and rehabilitation departments of general and academic hospitals (n = 120). Different domains of the VR intervention process were included in the questionnaire, the number (and percentage) of respondents giving a certain answer within a domain was reported. Results Fifty-five institutions replied (response rate 46%). VR services for ABI were provided in 34 (62%) of these, of which 20 (59%) used a VR protocol. The main similarities found among different organizations providing VR services were the involvement of different disciplines, determination of the gap between job requirements and the patient’s abilities, goal-setting for VR, involvement of external partners, timing, and source of funding. The main differences found concerned start and stop criteria, and coordination of the VR process. Conclusions Currently, at least 30% of the Dutch rehabilitation institutions offer VR services for people with ABI; there is variation in processes.

Understanding sport sponsorship decision-making – an exploration of the roles and power bases in the sponsors’ buying center

ABSTRACT Research question: Despite increasing global sponsorship expenditures, research on sponsorship decision-making remains limited. Sponsors are considered holistically as organisations that make sponsorship decisions. However, sponsorship decisions are usually group decisions on which several individuals collaborate. Although the industrial marketing literature introduced the concept of buying centres for analysing group decisions, sponsorship decision-making as group decision-making is underresearched. The purpose of the study is to address this gap in the sport management literature by examining the roles of individuals involved in sponsorship decision-making and their power bases. Research methods: The study uses a qualitative Delphi technique with three rounds and two samples of sponsorship managers (N1=18, N2=13) from Germany and Austria. Results and Findings: The results show that the sponsors’ buying centre (SBC) comprises eight different roles: deciders, users, coordinators, experts, signatories, negotiators, initiators, and networkers. The findings also reveal that individuals occupying the various roles fulfil different tasks and rely on different power bases. The SBC is influenced by organisational and environmental factors. The study further demonstrates that sponsors can outsource roles to external partners. Implications: This study is the first to investigate the SBC empirically by taking the characteristics of the sponsorship context into account. This article, thereby, contributes to our theoretical understanding of sponsorship decision-making by examining the individuals’ roles in the SBC, the external and internal influences, and the involvement of external partners. Finally, the results have managerial implications for both sponsors and sponsees.

Corporate Universities’ Configuration in the Italian Context: An Exploratory Study

The popularity of Corporate Universities (CUs) has grown considerably over the last decades, gaining both scholars and practitioners’ interest. This exploratory study contributes to the CU-related research field adding empirical evidence to the scant literature that examines how the CU configuration is operationalized in the Italian context. Our findings reveal that different features exist with varied prominence among the selected CUs, revealing a great heterogeneity that cannot be explained uniquely by their stage of life cycle. Nevertheless, it is worth noting some common features across the selected cases. First of all, these CUs devote most of their activities exclusively or prominently to their internal audiences. Moreover, although they have relationships with universities and business schools, the level of involvement of external partners is still modest. Together these two aspects denote a low level of openness of these entities that may be explained by institutional and cultural factors characterizing the Italian context.

Performance Effects of Exploratory and Exploitative Innovation Strategies and the Moderating Role of External Innovation Partners

In today's dynamic environment, the involvement of external partners in the innovation process is frequently assumed to be a panacea to cut costs while improving outcomes. In this study, we scrutinize how different collaboration types influence the effects of exploitative and exploratory innovation strategies on new product development (NPD) performance. For our analyses, we draw on a survey comprising a sample of 254 technology-based German firms. Our findings indicate that exploitative strategies are best pursued without comprehensive external collaborations, while the involvement of several partners in a balanced approach is most promising for exploratory strategies. Joint exploration with competitors, in particular, shows the highest effects on NPD performance. The paper discusses the findings and provides several implications for future research.

Pedagogy of the possessed: the privatization of civic education and values under New Labour

As part of its agenda to promote choice, diversity and parent power in education, New Labour is aiming to develop a system of independent non‐fee paying state schools. It is envisaged that control of the governing arrangements in such schools will shift from the local authority and be delegated to a range of external partners and sponsors drawn largely from business and religious organisations. The involvement of external partners in education in the US suggests that it may be both ineffective and detrimental to the development of rounded citizens. This article reviews some of the themes from research there and argues that, in an increasingly fragmented world, privatised control of civic education in state‐funded schools in England threatens the integrity of public education and the civic objectives of state schooling.

Impact of e-commerce on business process redesign and integration

This paper reports on a study of the impact of e-commerce initiatives on business process changes and shows why some organisations carry out simple automation of business processes instead of redesigning them for gaining process efficiencies. Implementation of e-commerce helped the organisations in moving towards standardisation by uncovering variety and lack of process standardisation within and between various business units. Previous efforts of redesign in the context of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementations, the extent of involvement of external partners, and the general variability of information maintained by numerous legacy systems are factors influencing the extent and nature of process changes.

Reform through School Networks: A New Kind of Authority and Accountability

Many educational reforms are implemented on a school-by-school basis where the individual or the school is often the target of the effort. But the problems of education transcend the capacity of one school working alone. Networking schools with each other or with partner organizations works to develop social capital; this can be an effective alternative to market-type or hierarchical approaches to reform. In the network model of organizing, authority and accountability are based on the social relationships between network participants. Focusing on new management roles within school networks, the authors' findings suggest that networks promote community-based collaboration, cost sharing, knowledge sharing, and the involvement of external partners. In contrast, challenges to the network strategy include the need for extensive training in group process skills and the need for quality information. The intent of this article is to make the language and discourse of networks more accessible to education reformers.