Low- and medium-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (LMT SMEs) constitute a large and important segment in European economies. Because of increasingly international competition, LMT SMEs must rely on innovation to strengthen their competitive position over time. In this study, we empirically analyze possible complementarity or substitutability between internal capabilities and external knowledge sourcing. Using a short panel of 142 Dutch LMT SMEs, we find empirical evidence that suggests a negative interplay between internal capabilities and external knowledge sourcing.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of organizational crisis and organizational change management and to provide a guide to crisis prevention, management and recovery by highlighting critical actions to be taken during each stage of an organizational crisis. A second aim is to compare the crisis management of two financial firms during the 2007 financial crisis: Lehman Brothers and Paulson & Company.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology involved a review of the literature and a case analysis related to organizational crisis and organizational change management. The synthesis of these two approaches is a conceptual paper. Furthermore, the article is supplemented by comparing the management of the 2007 financial crisis by both Lehman Brothers and Paulson & Company in an attempt to compare the literature findings to a global organizational crisis.FindingsThe literature suggests that organizations with early crisis detection methods and crisis management plans already in place before the onset of a crisis are significantly better prepared to manage and survive a crisis event. In addition, these better prepared organizations have the opportunity to reposition themselves and turn a crisis event into a strategic opportunity. This is evident in the authors' comparisons of both Lehman Brothers' and Paulson & Company's different management of the 2007 financial crisis.Practical implicationsThe demand for crisis management is on the rise as the 2007 financial crisis exposed the lack of preparedness among financial institutions, challenged the assumptions crisis management plans were based on and required a regulatory transformation of financial markets. Surviving firms are recovering and learning from the crisis as their crisis management proved to be ineffective.Originality/valueThe scope of this paper offers readers a guide to organizational crisis management, supplemented with examples from a financial crisis that affected almost every organization in the world and from which many organizations are still recovering. Any organization, regardless of industry, can benefit from the guide presented in this research. Moreover, the framework of this paper can enable practitioners to formulate and improve their organization's crisis management plans and capabilities.

Background and objectives A 2-year-old female with neuroblastoma needed In(b-), E-red blood cells (RBCs). No units were available at the blood centre (BC) nor in the rare donor programme member's inventories. BC's Immunohematology Reference Laboratory (IRL) and its marketing department concentrated on recruiting and testing those donors more likely to be antigen negative based on ethnicity.Materials and methods The BC's communication plan utilized social and traditional media to assist in the search for In(b-) blood. Media strategies directed donors in the United States (US) and Canada to go to their nearest BC for collection, tagging and testing of units. Two segments from each donation were shipped overnight to the BC's IRL (associated with the patient) for testing. Diluted anti-Inb sera was tested by microtechniques to conserve resources. Additionally, the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP) facilitated the international searches and acted as a liaison to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Results More than 25 000 people responded to the appeal. Seventy-seven BCs submitted segments from 4197 units. Two donors were In(b-) but E+ and thus not compatible with the patient but were submitted to ARDP for future needs. The prevalence of In(b-) units identified in the search was 0Á048%. In total, five known In(b-) donors, two from the US and three from international sources, provided units for this patient.Conclusion Social media sparked a viral response to the rare blood need. While a match was not found among the units tested, domestic and international searches were able to meet the patient's blood needs.

Este artículo está orientado a presentar una síntesis de los elementos básicos, de una nueva propuesta teórica para la Contabilidad, en la perspectiva de la T3C, a desarrollarse en una obra más extensa, que está en proceso, dentro de las actividades de trabajo del Grupo de Investigación en