Variability of the Bering Sea circulation in the period 1992-2010

Sea surface height anomalies observed by satellites in 1992-2010 are combined with monthly climatologies of temperature and salinity to estimate circulation in the southern Bering Sea. The estimated surface and deep currents are consistent with independent velocity observations by surface drifters and Argo floats parked at 1,000 m. Analysis reveals 1-3-Sv interannual transport variations of the major currents with typical intra-annual variability of 3-7 Sv. On the seasonal scale, the Alaskan Stream transport is well correlated with the Kamchatka (0.81), Near Strait (0.53) and the Bering Slope (0.37) currents. Lagged correlations reveal a gradual increase of the time the lags between the transports of the Alaskan Stream, the Bering Slope Current and the Kamchatka Current, supporting the concept that the Bering Sea basin is ventilated by the waters carried by the Alaskan Stream south of the Aleutian Arc and by the flow through the Near Strait. Correlations of the Bering Sea currents with the Bering Strait transport are dominated by the seasonal cycle. On the interannual time scale, significant negative correlations are diagnosed between the Near Strait transport and the Bering Slope and Alaskan Stream currents. Substantial correlations are also diagnosed between the eddy kinetic energy and Pacific Decadal Oscillation

SMEs De- or Re-Organising knowledge when outsourcing?

A growing number of Danish manufacturing companies feel compelled to offshore greater or smaller parts of their organisation. Drawing on organisational theory and, the concept of knowledge governance, this paper examines two SMEs in the textile and the furniture sector, highlighting the knowledge-management intersection. The two case studies show one SME reorganising its processes and integrating knowledge through a mainly captive knowledge governance set-up; the other deorganises, disintegrates and, to a certain extent, “compensates” with virtual organisational elements: exercising knowledge governance through IT systems as well as through the establishment of an offshored physical intermediary control element. Furthermore, both case companies work with so-called soft knowledge governance approaches, in one case through the introduction of CSR in the new captive setup, and in the other case through the specific selection of new suppliers and their capability/competence building over time. Organisation design approaches would focus on the initial diagnosis, choice and implementation of a “new” organisation. However, the organisations studied, experience emergent organisational design elements over time. Furthermore, they are involved in dynamically tackling the learning of the organisational players as well as the dynamics of their relationships with cooperating partners regarding maintaining and developing their innovation capability. To manage these challenges, both case companies choose to revisit the organisational design elements and reconfigure their organisational design set-up, indicating a need to reinstate the classic design components along with a more dynamic perspective