In pursuing sustainable competitive advantage, firms undertake a range of strategic initiatives such as innovation, customer relationship management, entering new markets overseas, and competitive actions within current marketplaces. Studies that examine these initiatives generally study the...

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are constantly confronting formidable and competitive challenges. In their midst, to stay abreast of larger firms or international markets, a small number is still able to insulate themselves from the pervasive effects of competition, technology advancement...

As small films have limited resources, they cannot out-muscle larger competitors, so they have to do something different - be innovative and leverage know-how and collaborate with others to increase the scale and scope of what they can offer to be globally competitive. This paper describes an...

Many small manufacturing firms are becoming dislinked from their traditional client connections as those larger manufacturing clients strive to reduce costs by either moving production to lower cost countries or working with fewer, more capable suppliers. This paper explores learnings from a...

This paper explores qualitative research in general and the case study approach in particular as used in Operations Management (OM) theory-building research. It discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of qualitative approaches used in OM research as against their quantitative...

The purpose of the research undertaken for this thesis was to examine management practices relating to new product development processes in small to medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMEs). The thesis topic has its origins in a European Community funded research project carried out during 1997-9...

Collaborative R&D networks in Australia are explored through a comparison of case studies of seven such ?clubs?. The paper addresses the research question: what are the conditions and mechanisms that facilitate the engagement of entrepreneurial SMEs with R&D and innovation? A typology of these...

The rising interest in innovation studies as indicators of industry growth has resulted in the proliferation of research unpacking the elements that enable companies to learn and to innovate (Arthur De Little, 2001; Smith, 2000). In recent years the attention has been focused on knowledge-intensive...