The Chinese automotive industry: WTO accession, problems in going global and future potential

The Chinese economy has been growing with a pace and duration that the world has never seen before. Since 1978, the country has been facing a constant economic growth for more than 30 years. One of the pillars of the economy is the automotive industry; an interesting mixture of Joint Ventures and independent companies. The competition is cut throat and has even been more intense after the China’s World Trade Organization accession in 2001. The potential of the industry is huge, taken into consideration the size of the market and the impressive growth of the economy. All the above leave no doubt: the WTO accession in 2001 was a very important evolution that could trigger many changes in the country’s industry and potentially give the Chinese auto manufacturers the chance to go global and compete in Western, more prestigious markets but in the same time caused serious concern about the possible threats that it could cause. The questions this paper will try to answer are two. Has the WTO had a positive effect on the Chinese auto industry, and if so, and more importantly, how has it? In addition, the question of the times concerning the auto industry; can the Chinese compete abroad? Can they follow the example followed by the Japanese and the Koreans and become real global players and if so how long should the world wait for the fourth big one

Productive organizational energy mediates the impact of organizational structure on absorptive capacity

The ability of an organization to cope with radical technological change is regarded to be heavily dependent on its ability to absorb and apply knowledge from its environment. This study investigates the role of organizational structure in driving absorptive capacity and uncovers the role of the emergent phenomenon of organizational energy as the enabler of this relationship. A field study was conducted among firms that are challenged by the disruptive nature of Cloud computing. Our results show that organizational design affects the degree of mobilization of an organization's affective, cognitive and behavioral resources, which in turn influence the effectiveness of learning processes related to the absorption and exchange of knowledge within the organization. Furthermore, they reveal the positive relationship between the enactment of absorptive capacity and the successful adoption of Cloud technology for incumbent firms. The findings contribute to our understanding of the micro-foundations of absorptive capacity and how positive organizational phenomena facilitate effective adoption and implementation of emerging technologies

Towards a Model for Building Information Awareness in Crisis Situations

In crisis situations access to information is key to reduce uncertainty and enable effective decision making. With the advent of modern information technologies there is an abundance of possibilities to obtain, process, and share information. The number of actors that can potentially provide information has grown concomitantly. The challenge therefore is no longer the availability of information but rather the ability to find and connect with actors providing information in a volatile and dynamic environment. This requires of organizations to be aware of the actors and their information potential, and actively build informational awareness. In this paper we propose a model for the development of the awareness of organizations of the information landscape during critical events. We validate this model using two case studies and extract key factors that contribute to the challenges and success of leveraging information potential of actors in a crisis

Mitigating the Dark Side of Agile Teams: Peer Pressure, Leaders’ Control, and the Innovative Output of Self-managing Teams

Increasingly, organizations have been employing self-managing teams to circumvent bureaucratic controls and stimulate innovation. However, this goal is not easily achieved; in many situations, informal controls replace formal controls. This study develops a multi-level perspective of control. We explicitly analyze control mechanisms at different levels of the organization and how they affect innovative team output. We theorize and empirically investigate a potential downside of horizontal social control mechanisms at the team level (i.e., peer pressure) affecting self-managing teams’ innovative outcomes. We also discuss managerial control mechanisms at the organizational level (i.e., interactive and diagnostic management control systems) that may help to mitigate such negative effects. We theorize how they may influence the innovative output of self-managing teams, both directly and interactively. We chose a multi-level, multi-source setting for our study and ran three parallel surveys with employees in a Fortune 500 firm. 248 team members, 126 internal team leaders, and 97 organizational leaders enabled us to create a unique database of 97 self-managing software development teams. Our findings confirm that peer pressure is common among established agile teams and that it negatively influences the innovative output of the agile teams. Moreover, our findings show that the magnitude of the effect of peer pressure is contingent on control mechanisms at higher levels within the organization. This enables us to provide new theoretical insights regarding the paradoxical effect of managerial control systems when it comes to flat organizations and autonomous teams. Additionally, we provide practical guidelines for managers who increasingly adopt agile practices but at the same time face issues with regard to innovation

Management of Emerging Technologies and the Learning Organization : Lessons from the Cloud and Serious Games Technology

This thesis takes learning as a starting point to investigate its associations with successful emerging technologies adoption as well as the act of adaptation to discontinuous change as captured by the phenomenon of organizational resilience. The first part of the thesis explores the micro-foundations of absorptive capacity as a driver for successful technology adoption as well as the behavioral, strategic and operational antecedents of organizational resilience. The second part explores the potential of a promising emerging technology, i.e. Serious Games, to enhance learning and training in an organizational setting. Serious Games have evolved vastly over traditional business simulations and other early game-based learning applications. They arguably provide with excellent opportunities for learning and training, however, the challenges embedded in the design and adoption of such solutions are immense. Following an integrative approach, the last two chapters of this thesis will highlight the interplay between design elements and human emotion and cognition and outline the potential advantages of game-based learning applications for organizations

Acute hepatitis associated with Q fever in a man in Greece: a case report

Coxiella burnetii is the causative agent of Q fever. Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis that is responsible for various clinical manifestations. However, in Greece hepatitis due to Coxiella is rarely encountered. A case of Q fever associated with hepatitis is reported here. Diagnosis was made by specific serological investigation (enzyme-linked immunosorbent and indirect immunofluorescene assays) for Coxiella burnetii

Primary plasmacytoma of the cranial vault: a case report

We report one case of a 78-year-old woman who referred to our hospital because of a progressive right hemiparesis. On clinical examination a painless large soft mass in the left parietal region was observed. CT and MRI revealed an extra-axial mass in the in the left fronto-temporo-parietal region. The lesion was totally excised despite the bleeding tendency. Histology disclosed the presence of a plasmacytoma. Postoperative, the patient developed an epidural hematoma that required immediate evacuation. On further investigation active tuberculosis was detected. On follow up examination 1 year later no tumor recurrence or evidence of multiple myeloma was detected

Genotoxicity of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Granulosa Cells

Nanoparticles that are aimed at targeting cancer cells, but sparing healthy tissue provide an attractive platform of implementation for hyperthermia or as carriers of chemotherapeutics. According to the literature, diverse effects of nanoparticles relating to mammalian reproductive tissue are described. To address the impact of nanoparticles on cyto- and genotoxicity concerning the reproductive system, we examined the effect of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) on granulosa cells, which are very important for ovarian function and female fertility. Human granulosa cells (HLG-5) were treated with SPIONs, either coated with lauric acid (SEONLA) only, or additionally with a protein corona of bovine serum albumin (BSA;SEONLA-BSA),or with dextran (SEONDEX). Both micronuclei testing and the detection of H2A.X revealed no genotoxic effects of SEONLA-BSA, SEONDEX or SEONLA. Thus, it was demonstrated that different coatings of SPIONs improve biocompatibility, especially in terms of genotoxicity towards cells of the reproductive system