Percy and Alkali presented generalizations of the proportional intensities model introduced by Cox. They identified several features of these models that are particularly relevant for modelling complex repairable systems subject to preventive maintenance (PM). These include the baseline...

Companies increasingly seek solutions to the corporate/local dichotomies perceived to be a feature of more traditional approaches to managing across national boundaries. At the human resource level, the rhetoric of transnationalism emphasizes integration being achieved through 'soft' mechanisms,...

The unprecedented severity of the Asian economic recession in Thailand came as a shock to the indigenous corporate sector. Businesses long habituated to record levels of growth were suddenly confronted with spiralling costs and declining sales. In response to this crisis a number of powerful...

This study examines the effect of diverse national values on strategic investment decision (SID) making in the context of industry globalization. Whilst previous single country studies of strategic decision making have highlighted the effect of variables such as uncertainty, environmental...

The importance of inter-personal relationships has increasingly been acknowledged in entrepreneurship and international business research. This paper focuses on the role of entrepreneurs' inter-personal relationships in the internationalization process, addressing three broad questions: what are...

The rapid growth of international business at a time when many multinational companies (MNCs) are under increasing cost pressures has led these organisations to take a much closer look at their expatriation policies and practices. Faced with unprecedented levels of foreign competition at home...

The use of networked organizational arrangements to conduct exchanges is one of the most distinctive features of high-tech research intensive industries. Advances in biotechnology and genomics research have enabled a generic technology platform that has fuelled a more 'open' approach to...

If, as Adam Smith once famously suggested, Britain was a nation of shopkeepers then it is now a nation of shopworkers. Retail is now a significant part of the UK economy, accounting for £256 billion in sales and one-third of all consumer spending (Skillsmart, 2007). It is the largest private...

Informational challenges---absence, uncertainty, asymmetry---shape the working of markets and commerce in many developing countries. For developing country micro-enterprises, which form the bulk of all enterprises worldwide, these challenges shape the characteristics of their supply chains. They...

Two interrelated aspects of the debate on the nature of labour supply chain in the hotel industry form the focus of this research article. First, the notion of a shift to some forms of human resources recruitment strategies which seeks to use agency staff as a means of generating economical...