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The purpose of this study is to explore cultural factors influencing knowledge sharing strategies in virtual communities of practice.

A qualitative research design was employed. Data collection was based on in‐depth interviews. The authors assumed that such factors as degree of collectivism, competitiveness, the importance of saving face, in‐group orientation, attention paid to power and hierarchy, and culture‐specific preferences for communication modes, would explain differences in knowledge seeking and sharing patterns.

The results showed that these factors had different levels of importance among employees in the three participating countries. The issue of saving face was less important than expected in China. Modesty requirements as well as a high degree of competitiveness among employees were found to be serious barriers to information sharing in China, but not in Russia and Brazil. Perceived differences in power and hierarchy seemed to be less critical in all three countries than initially assumed.

Since this study was conducted among the online community members of Caterpillar Inc., the results could be affected by factors unique to this specific case. Thus, future research should investigate the influence of other factors such as the organizational culture, or occupational groups on knowledge sharing strategies.

Before any introduction of country‐specific knowledge sharing systems, a cultural needs assessment should be conducted.

The impact of national culture factors on knowledge sharing has been largely neglected in the literature, and the findings will assist knowledge managers charged with the design of flexible knowledge management systems.

This study examines how entrepreneurial marketing dimensions (proactiveness, opportunity focused, leveraging, innovativeness, risk taking, value creation, and customer intensity) are related to qualitative and quantitative outcome measures for the SME and the entrepreneur (including company success, customer success, financial success, satisfaction with return goals, satisfaction with growth goals, excellence, and the entrepreneurʼs standard of living). Using factor analysis, three success outcome variables (financial, customer, and strong company success) emerged together. A separate factor analysis identified satisfactory growth and return goals. Stepwise regression revealed entrepreneurial marketing impacts outcome variables, particularly value creation. Implications for entrepreneurs and areas for research are included.

Organizational change involves optimizing a firm’s sustainability performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore how strategic orientations concerning the interface between business and society influence organizations’ sustainability performance. To explain how different strategic orientations – especially stewardship and instrumental orientations – impact sustainability performance, dynamic managerial capability theory is explored.

Ours is an inductive, qualitative study based on the template analysis of interviews conducted among sustainability managers from stock-listed multinational corporations headquartered in the Eurozone.

Corporations with a stewardship orientation develop different dynamic managerial capabilities underlying sustainability performance than corporations that apply a more instrumental orientation. Results also show an “in-between” position: an equidistant orientation.

This study proves the emergence of different dynamic managerial capabilities that depend on companies’ strategic orientation, but follow-up research based on appreciative inquiry is needed to investigate the development of these capabilities over time.

For achieving a higher level of sustainability performance, a stewardship orientation offers a stronger foundation than an instrumental orientation. Also companies with an equidistant orientation have a better sustainability performance than companies with an instrumental orientation, but based on a more central corporate level. The strategic orientation must be grounded in the development of fitting dynamic managerial capabilities that include an emphasis on shared cognition of long-term objectives, inclusion of stakeholders and setting objectives. Also strong internal and external ties, leadership of the CEO, educational background and how to deal with lack of knowledge are important aspects of managerial social and human capital.

Due to its focus on the sustainability performance of companies and the identification of the supporting dynamic managerial capabilities, this paper is socially highly relevant.

Previous research has focused on strategic orientation, but little to no research has investigated how various strategic orientations toward the interface between business and society impact sustainability performance or what role dynamic managerial capabilities might play in the related change process.

The purpose of this paper is to study the process in which dynamic capabilities renewed operational capabilities to sustain competitive advantage in management consulting firms of Iran during a period of drastic environmental changes.

Using a grounded theory building approach, comparative longitudinal case analyses were conducted in consultancies of Iran. The research was based on a deep study of documents, observations and interviews with managers and employees of 14 consulting firms.

It was found that during a period of environmental changes there was a relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage, but this relationship was mediated by the role of marketing and technological capabilities of a firm. It was also found that trust-building capabilities of the consulting firms moderate the relationship between dynamic and operational capabilities. The research explores homogeneity and heterogeneity of dynamic capabilities among consultancies too.

This research shows that under changing environmental conditions, dynamic capabilities of consultancies can become a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, it discusses whether dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic or are best practices. It also explains the role of trust-building capabilities of consulting firms in moderating the relationship between dynamic and operational capabilities in the particular environment of Iran.

This commentary on Kenny and Livi (2009) expands on aspects of leadership categorization theory that are consistent with the application of the social relations model (SRM). It critically considers limits to the generalization of the variance components analysis results described in Kenny and Livi's first example, and briefly summarizes results of an additional study that supports their findings. Finally, this commentary suggests interpretational issues of interest to researchers who wish to continue to apply the SRM to multi-level issues in the study of leadership.

In recent years, computer simulation has become a mainstream decision support tool in manufacturing industry. In order to maximise the benefits of using simulation within businesses simulation models should be designed, developed and deployed in a shorter time span. A number of factors, such as excessive model details, inefficient data collection, lengthy model documentation and poorly planned experiments, increase the overall lead time of simulation projects. Among these factors, input data modelling is seen as a major obstacle. Input data identification, collection, validation, and analysis, typically take more than one‐third of project time. This paper presents a IDEF (Integrated computer‐aided manufacturing DEFinition) based approach to accelerate identification and collection of input data. The use of the methodology is presented through its application in batch manufacturing environments. A functional module library and a reference data model, both developed using the IDEF family of constructs, are the core elements of the methodology. The paper also identifies the major causes behind the inefficient collection of data.

The aim of this research project is to uncover if place‐based learning can increase learner engagement and understanding of historical topics.

To study this, learners will use GeoStoryteller to learn about a historical topic on the places where significant events occurred, and then be interviewed by the researchers. GeoStoryteller is a tool developed by the researchers that runs on smartphones, such as an iPhone or Android. It provides the user multimedia stories about the historical sites, delivered via the mobile web or through Layar, an augmented reality web browser. The initial application of this technology focuses on German immigration to New York City between 1840 and 1945 through a partnership with the Goethe‐Institut, the Federal Republic of Germany's cultural institution. After using GeoStoryteller to learn about this content, n=31 participants were interviewed by the researchers, and transcripts were subjected to a quantitative content analysis.

Results indicate that the use of place increases learner perceptions of their engagement and understanding of historical topics; however, novel user interfaces like augmented reality impose significant usability issues, and more standard interfaces are preferred by users.

The use of place in mobile learning environments provides a meaningful entry point into historical content. Teachers of history and social studies, as well as those working in memory institutions (museum, libraries, and archives), should be encouraged in using place in their teaching and mobile education initiatives.

This paper explores the role of institutional objects in the constitution of institutional logics. Institutional objects depend for their objectivity on the goods produced through those objects, such as economic models, passports, or sacred texts. The authors theorize institutional logics as grammars of valuation that institutionalize goods through institutional objects. The authors identify four value moments through which goods are objectified: institution, the instituting of a good, a belief and an imagination of its objective goodness; production, how the good is produced, what practices are productive of the good; evaluation, how good is the good, the practices and objects through which worth in terms of that good is determined, and territorialization, the domain of reference of the good, to what objects and practices a good can and does refer in its instantiations. The authors assess the adequacy of our model through an institutional object based on the good of “market value” – i.e., an options pricing model. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for institutional logical theory and the sociology of valuation.