ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE- DIFFERENT APPROACHES

As organizations decide to expand on other markets, managers are facing with new problems and realities. If thirty years ago, companies afford to ignore the international business environment, today they need to think globally. This new dimension of international business was made possible by unprecedented growth of telecommunications, technology, transport and the existence of international standards. The article aims to analyze the main reasons for organizational change, in terms of contingency theory and strategic approach.organizational structure, contingency theory, strategic approach

How japanese run their businesses

The amazing economic results of Japan in the 20th century have determined an assiduous research of japanese evolution, only to prove that the main cause and factor for those results in japanese management. In this paper we try to reveal the main characteristics of this system and to compare it with other types of management.Japan, business culture, types of management, organizational structure

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS AND THE ASSET-LIGHT APPROACH

Today, regarding all industries, nothing is meant to last forever. If we look at industry trends in terms of corporate strategy, we clearly notice that most major companies are gearing toward an asset-light approach to remain competitive. The internationalization process has determined companies worldwide to find solutions to minimize transaction costs and the expansions costs on foreign markets.In the maturity stage of the internationalization process, many companies from various business sectors, have chosen the ” asset light” approach, a business model focusing on minimizing “in-house” resources and maximizing usage of outsourcing opportunities.internationalization, asset-light approach

Smart textiles to promote multidisciplinary stem training

Smart textiles consist of multi-disciplinary knowledge. Disciplines such as physics, mathematics, material science or electrics is needed in order to be able to design and manufacture a smart textiles product. This is why knowledge in smart textiles may be used to showcase high school and university students in basic years of preparation some applications of technical disciplines they are learning. The Erasmus+ project “Smart textiles for STEM training – Skills4Smartex” is a strategic partnership project for Vocational Education and Training aiming to promote additional knowledge and skills for trainees in technical fields, for a broader understanding of interconnections and application of STEM, via smart textiles. Skills4Smartex is an ongoing project within the period Oct. 2018-Sept. 2020, with a partnership of six research providers in textiles www.skills4smartex.eu. The project has three intellectual outputs: the Guide for smart practices (O1), the Course in smart textiles (O2) and the Dedicated e-learning Instrument (O3). The Guide for smart practices consists in the analysis of a survey with 63 textile companies on partnership level and interviews with 18 companies. Main aim of O1 is to transfer from source site to target sites technical and smart textile best practices and the profile of workforce needed for the future textile industry. The needs analysis achieved within O1will serve to conceive the Course for smart textiles with 42 modules (O2), to be accessed via the Dedicated e-learning Instrument (O3). All outputs are available with free access on the e-learning platform: www.adva2tex.eu/portal

Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis

Air temperature and winter precipitation changes over the last five decades have impacted the timing, duration, and thickness of the ice cover on Arctic lakes as shown by recent studies. In the case of shallow tundra lakes, many of which are less than 3 m deep, warmer climate conditions could result in thinner ice covers and consequently, in a smaller fraction of lakes freezing to their bed in winter. However, these changes have not yet been comprehensively documented. The analysis of a 20 yr time series of European remote sensing satellite ERS-1/2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and a numerical lake ice model were employed to determine the response of ice cover (thickness, freezing to the bed, and phenology) on shallow lakes of the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) to climate conditions over the last six decades. Given the large area covered by these lakes, changes in the regional climate and weather are related to regime shifts in the ice cover of the lakes. Analysis of available SAR data from 1991 to 2011, from a sub-region of the NSA near Barrow, shows a reduction in the fraction of lakes that freeze to the bed in late winter. This finding is in good agreement with the decrease in ice thickness simulated with the Canadian Lake Ice Model (CLIMo), a lower fraction of lakes frozen to the bed corresponding to a thinner ice cover. Observed changes of the ice cover show a trend toward increasing floating ice fractions from 1991 to 2011, with the greatest change occurring in April, when the grounded ice fraction declined by 22% (α = 0.01). Model results indicate a trend toward thinner ice covers by 18–22 cm (no-snow and 53% snow depth scenarios, α = 0.01) during the 1991–2011 period and by 21–38 cm (α = 0.001) from 1950 to 2011. The longer trend analysis (1950–2011) also shows a decrease in the ice cover duration by ~24 days consequent to later freeze-up dates by 5.9 days (α = 0.1) and earlier break-up dates by 17.7–18.6 days (α = 0.001)

Why wait? Organizational learning, institutional quality and the speed of foreign market re-entry after initial entry and exit

Using a unique dataset of over 1000 foreign marketre-entries by multinational enterprises, we draw on organizational learning and institutional theory perspectives to examine the antecedents of speed of foreign market re-entry into previously exited markets. Contrary to expectations, we find that the length of experience accumulated between initial entry and exit does not lead to earlier re-entries. In turn, the depth of experience accumulated through operating via joint ventures and the nature of the experience determined by the exit process have a significant impact for early re-entrants. Host country institutional quality leads to early re-entry and, under certain circumstances, moderates the relationship between learning from past experiences and re-entry speed. Our findings reveal experience-based learning to be a complex and dynamic process, one highly dependent on the quality of the institutional setting of the firm. Theoretical and practical implications of the paper are discussed, along with directions for future research on international business strategies

Variational Calibration

The approach to the improving the accuracy of the impedance parameter measurements is described. This approach is based on the well-known variations of the influence of the disturbing factors on the results of measurement. Using these variations, measurement circuit provides the additional number of measurements, equal to the number of the disturbing factors. System of equations describes these results of measurements. The solution of this system eliminates the influence of the appropriate uncertainty sources on the results of measurement and gets the true result of the measured value. In addition, the solution of this system also gets the values of the uncertainty components in every measurement and possibility to monitor the properties of the measurement circuit. Examples of the realization of this method for improving the accuracy of the impedance parameter measurements in different bridges are given

Electrical characteristics of metal-insulator-semiconductor Schottky diodes using a photowashing treatment in AlzGa1-xAs/InGaAs (X=0.75) pseudimorphic high electron mobility transistors

MIS Schottky diodes on Al0.75Ga0.25As/In0.2Ga0.8As PHEMTs were produced using both photowashing and H2O2 treatments. The Schottky contact on the GaAs layer with photowashing and H2O2 treatments showed enhancements of the SBH of about 0.11 and 0.05 eV, respectively. However, on the undoped AlGaAs layer, no further improvement in SBH was observed. After the photowashing treatment, the Ga oxide (Ga2O3) was dominantly created. In the mean time, two types of As oxide (As2O3,As5O2) were mainly produced by the H2O2 treatment, which are distributed uniformly on the GaAs surface. The thickness of the oxide layer formed by both treatments was nearly the same. Applying a representative model, formation of Ga oxide after the photowashing treatment effectively enhanced the SBH.open4