CFP: Second Volume of the Handbook of Research on Techno-Entrepreneurship

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

From: João Ferreira [mailto:jjmf at ubi.pt] 
Date: Wed 2 May 2012 22:13

CALL FOR PAPERS
 
IJMSIT Special Issue on Knowledge strategies, decision making and information technology  in emergent economies
 
Special Issue Editors:
Irina Purcarea, PhD (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, irina.purcarea at gmail.com), João J.  M. Ferreira, PhD (University of Beira Interior, Portugal, jjmf at ubi.pt). 
 
The Context 
According to the 2012 World Economic Outlook issued by IMF, during 2012 and 2013, growth in emerging and developing economies is expected to average 5¾ percent. In emerging and developing economies, the near-term focus should be on responding to moderating domestic demand and slowing external demand from advanced economies.

In recent years, the international business arena has witnessed the emergence, growth and dominance of a large number of firms from the emerging economies. Managing knowledge can contribute in what concerns the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for today's competitive and globalized business world.

No matter if we refer to developed or emergent economies, enhancing quality through knowledge represents now the key to ensure the success of the economy (Haller, 2011).  Multinationals from developed economies are now working on developing an "open innovation" model in order to source innovations from outside the firm, including from emerging economies such as those in Asia (Li & Kozhikode, 2009). Emerging economies are therefore urged to develop their own innovative capabilities and move from a process to a product focus and from imitation to innovation. Different studies addressed the issue of catching up of latecomer firms in emerging economies from the perspective of the firm level heterogeneities in the catching up process in the technological domain, and the sustainability issue of the catching up (Li & Kozhikode, 2008). The findings reveal that firms in emerging economies have to invest in their own internal technological competence in order to make the transition from imitation to innovation. At the same time, emerging economy latecomer firms might consider expanding to other emerging economies with similar institutional infrastructure as their own.

Regarding the exports dimension, for emergent economies to obtain significant incomes from exports, they should make a high specificity offer that should integrate a high degree of knowledge. In what concerns criteria used in offshore decision in emergent economies, recent studies showed that multinational firms nowadays choose offshoring countries for strategic reasons, such as market potential, rather than for cost minimization aims (Fel & Griette, 2010). At the same time, international firms with large offshoring experience tend to develop a specific methodology for analysis and risk-prevention related to emerging countries.
 
Purpose
The purpose of this special issue is to obtain fresh insights in what concerns current trends in management with respect to emergent economies. The special issue should cover a range of current market concepts such as knowledge management, retail management, mergers & acquisitions, outsourcing, decision making processes as well as information technology. There will be three main areas of interest to be covered, namely knowledge management with an emphasis on types of knowledge strategies employed, tools and techniques and current orientation in the decision-making process as well as information technology within firms in emergent economies.  

Research Questions
Accordingly, we call for papers that help achieve one or more of the following research questions:
.         How can firms in emergent economies develop organizational value through knowledge management? 
.         Which are the information technologies that are currently used to manage knowledge in emergent economies?
.         Which are the main challenges to managing knowledge in a project-based environment?
.         Which are some of the tools employed in a complex strategic decision-making process?
.         In what way is a firm in an emerging economy able to develop using an innovation-oriented approach? 
 
To fulfill this purpose and answer these questions, potential contributions may include but are not limited to: 
.         Business transformation in emerging economies
.         Business models in emerging economies
.         Supply chain excellence in emerging economies
.         Management information systems in strategic planning
.         Information flows in the decision-making process
.         Change management
.         Adoption of new information technologies
.         Adoption of new information technologies in SMEs
.         KM in SMEs
.         KM strategies and organisational learning
.         Knowledge strategies and innovation
.         Knowledge sharing 
.         Technical frameworks in knowledge creation and sharing
.         Management of relationship marketing through electronic channels
.         KM in shaping the marketing strategy
.         The use and evaluation of Social Media Platforms
.         Intellectual capital
.         Enhancing quality through knowledge
.         Internal technological competence in business development
 
Submissions Instructions:
The deadline for submissions is: October 20, 2012 
All manuscripts will be subject to the double-blind peer review process of IJMSIT.  Submissions should be prepared in accordance to the IJMSIT's Guidelines:
 
http://naisit.org/pdf/Guidelines_IJMSIT_ManuscriptSubmissions.pdf
 
Please be sure to submit the paper under Special Issue on "Knowledge strategies, decision making and information technology in emergent economies" when submitting your manuscript. 
Please direct any questions to the editors of the Special Issue:
Irina Purcarea, PhD (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, irina.purcarea at gmail.com), João J. M. Ferreira, PhD (University of Beira Interior, Portugal, jjmf at ubi.pt).