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Competencies are significant predictors of employee outcome. Nowadays, new technologies are changing maintenance processes and workflow. The role of employees and their competencies will therefore undergo decisive changes in the future. Therefore, a well-designed competency model for maintenance departments is important. The purpose of this paper is to develop a maintenance 4.0 competency model applicable to all industrial sectors by adapting it to the specificities of each sector.

The research methods consist of a comprehensive literature review on the main characteristics of the competency model and the individual competencies needed for the maintenance 4.0 employees. Interviews were conducted in order to validate and prioritize the required competencies for maintenance 4.0 employees identified in the literature.

The maintenance 4.0 competency model combines the required competencies in maintenance 4.0 and crosses the three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. These competencies are organized in terms of four categories: technical, personal, social and methodological. In addition, a degree of importance for each competency is assigned as very important, moderately important and slightly important. As a result, this study identified the essential competencies for maintenance 4.0 stakeholders, where 12 competencies are considered very important for maintenance 4.0 technicians, 19 for engineers and 18 for managers.

This work has some limitations. First, although the articles related to competencies and their classification were selected very carefully, it is difficult to eliminate the probability of overlooking publications. Second, the limitation of the study is based on the difficulty of implementing the model in a case study, given that a minority of industrial companies have implemented maintenance 4.0 technologies in Morocco.

This work has practical implications for both individuals and institutions (companies and academies) to cope with new competency requirements in maintenance 4.0. Organizations can use the model in the recruitment process and for the identification of training needs. The results of the research will also contribute to identifying the scope of competencies of the maintenance 4.0 actors (engineer, manager and technician), which, in practice, contributes to the creation of requirements for the candidates applying for a job in the maintenance department. Additionally, educational institutions should make the necessary changes to their curricula to suitably prepare students for the required maintenance 4.0 competencies.

The social implications of the article result from the contribution to the development of maintenance competencies. Individuals can use this model for their own personal development. Furthermore, companies can use this model to define job profiles for vacancies in M4.0. Therefore, using the model for training program implementation has a positive effect on employee job satisfaction and employees ’morale.

This research develops a novel maintenance 4.0 competency model by categorizing the maintenance workforce into three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. In addition, the competency requirement is prioritized to three degrees: very important, moderately important and slightly important. According to the previous studies conducted on maintenance 4.0 and employees' competencies, this study revealed that no research has developed a competency model for maintenance 4.0. Hence, this model is unique, generic and integrative since it presents the most relevant competencies for the three hierarchical levels. Moreover, this work combines the results of the literature review and the experts' returns. This model can be useful in the recruitment of new maintenance employees, the evaluation of their performance and the identification of training needs to cope with new changes in maintenance competencies.

Small highly saturated interior permanent magnet- synchronous machines (IPMSMs) show a very nonlinear behaviour. Such machines are mostly controlled with a closed-loop cascade control, which is based on a d-q two-axis dynamic model with constant concentrated parameters to calculate the control parameters. This paper aims to present the identification of a complete current- and rotor position-dependent d-q dynamic model, which is derived by using a finite element method (FEM) simulation. The machine’s constant parameters are determined for an operation on the maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) curve. The obtained MTPA control performance was evaluated on the complete FEM-based nonlinear d-q model.

A FEM model was used to determine the nonlinear properties of the complete d-q dynamic model of the IPMSM. Furthermore, a fitting procedure based on the nonlinear MTPA curve is proposed to determine adequate constant parameters for MTPA operation of the IPMSM.

The current-dependent d-q dynamic model of the machine models the relevant dynamic behaviour of the complete current- and rotor position-dependent FEM-based d-q dynamic model. The most adequate control response was achieved while using the constant parameters fitted to the nonlinear MTPA curve by using the proposed method.

The effect on the motor’s steady-state and dynamic behaviour of differently complex d-q dynamic models was evaluated. A workflow to obtain constant set of parameters for the decoupled operation in the MTPA region was developed and their effect on the control response was analysed.

Despite an extensive body of research on brand loyalty, it has been demonstrated that customer‐based brand research is still in a state of evolution. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test alternative models of the brand loyalty process by examining the effects of customer orientation, brand association, perceived service quality, and satisfaction on brand loyalty utilizing data from South Korea and China. Further, relatively little attention has been given to the competing process of individual‐level brand loyalty. Thus, this paper aims to examine the relationships among satisfaction and other key constructs that may potentially affect brand loyalty.

Structural equation analysis of six competing models is provided. Although competing models are supported by prior research, they differ with respect to the particular mechanism that underlies the alternative explanations and the mediating effects. In this study, Armstrong's notion is adopted to show that the role of the scientist is changed from advocating a single hypothesis to evaluating which of a number of competing models is more appropriate. The current research attempts to empirically test competing mechanisms pertaining to how each of the variables affects brand loyalty.

First, the research model fits well and outperforms other competing models. Second, the results are consistent with the proposed model even though there are cultural differences between Chinese and South Korean consumers. Finally, the research model empirically establishes the mediating role of satisfaction in the context of brand loyalty formation.

This study is a contribution to extant research because it empirically establishes the inter‐relationships between important variables affecting brand loyalty (e.g. customer orientation, satisfaction, and perceived quality) across two cultures (South Korea and China), thus further enhancing the efficacy of the obtained results.

Reports on research which investigated the production deficiencies of a firm manufacturing plastic products, which was also engaged with the Teaching Company Scheme. Owing to inadequate information it was unable to sustain stable operations. A computer‐based Management Information System (MIS) was installed to resolve this problem. This was designed to meet the firm′s immediate needs and operate effectively within its resource limitations. Despite substantial progress, the MIS showed that overall performance was still poor and similar to that experienced elsewhere in the industry. Discusses the reasons for these deficiencies herein.

Attempts to prove, in this second chapter of the author’s monograph, that with a new research programme, it is possible to build a methodological bridge between economics and all other natural sciences and the scientists should address this challenge. Reviews basic principles that govern nature, including Einstein’s findings along with such luminaries as Copernicus, Newton, Galileo and Jeans. Concludes that the future is safe, as a new generation of scientists is now emerging in the East and the West, and that the new methodology should provide enough space for new roads, ideas and interpretations, which may occur in the future. Closes by saying a new spirit should be initiated in economics and transplanted into natural sciences.

There is a double crisis in modern science and in particular in physics and mechanics. Among others Einstein and Stephane Lupasco, in the 1930s, warned about this crisis. The Quantum Theory cannot be reconciled with the Relativity Theory. Specifically there is a gap (cleavage) between micro – and macro‐physics and mechanics. Parallel or beneath there is also a second crisis derived from a discontinuity (again a cleavage) between classical and modern science, that is between two previous revolutions. A new research programme of a simultaneous equilibrium versus disequilibrium approach, initially applied in economics has now been extended to include natural sciences. It is the question of a new, more comprehensive methodology which is actually a sui generis synthesis between classical and modern heritage. The rigorous application of the new research programme leads to the organisation of an Orientation Table, that is, a methodological map of all possible combinations (systems). The Table shows, without any exaggeration, a few revolutionary results. For instance, with the help of the Table, modern science or the second revolution (Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg) does not appear contradictory but rather complementary to classical science or the first revolution (Newton, Lavoisier). The Kuhnian thesis to the contrary is disproved and the second crisis is solved. With the help of the Universal Hypothesis of Duality (the basis of the Orientation Table), matter and energy, at the micro – and macro‐level, appear in a double form (the Principle of Duality): stable (equilibrium) particles and unstable (disequilibrium) waves. The strong interactions from modern physics are associated with the law of gravitation (attraction) or stable equilibrium which governs stable matter and energy. The weak interactions are associated with the law of disgravitation (dispersion or repulsion) including entropy or unstable equilibrium which governs unstable matter and energy. In this way the first crisis is also solved.

This paper aims to investigate the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding through Partnership and Development Nurturing Program (PDNP) in the development of entrepreneurial attitude and the small and micro entrepreneurs’ (SMEs’) income in Pekanbaru.

Primary data were obtained from the SMEs’ response to the development of entrepreneurial attitude, income of sales and expenses before and after getting PDNP fund. Secondary data were obtained from the publication of firms and relevant authorities. The sample used in this study comprised 95 respondents, including the SMEs in Pekanbaru who received PDNP fund in 2013 and who were selected by purposive sampling. Generalized structural component analysis (GSCA) was used to analyze the data for inner model (hypothesis testing for structural model) and outer model (measurement model for unobservable variables). Sobel test (under GSCA model) was used to test whether a variable is a mediating variable that assesses the relationship between endogenous variables and exogenous variables.

CSR funding (by PNBP fund) is significantly effective for entrepreneurial attitude. The higher value of CSR funding (by PNBP fund), which is reflected in the high values of turnover (X1), marketing coverage (X2), partnership program (X3) and sales (X4), will lead to a higher value of entrepreneurial attitude, which is reflected in the high value of planning (M1), confidence (M2), orientation to task (M3), risk taking (M4), leadership (M5) and honesty (M6). Entrepreneurial attitude significantly affects the income of SMEs. The higher value of entrepreneurial attitude, which is reflected in the high value of planning (M1), confidence (M2), orientation to task (M3), risk taking (M4), leadership (M5) and honesty (M6), will lead to a higher value of income of SMEs, which is reflected in the high value of effectivity (Y1), efficiency (Y2) and economist (Y3). CSR funding (by PNBP Fund) has a significant effect on the SMEs’ income with a mediation effect of entrepreneurial attitude. A high value of CSR funding (by PNBP Fund), which is reflected in the high values of turnover (X1), marketing coverage (X2), partnership program (X3) and sales (X4), will lead to a higher value of income of SMEs, which is reflected in the high value of effectivity (Y1), efficiency (Y2) and economist (Y3), if the value of entrepreneurial attitude is higher, which is reflected in the high values of planning (M1), confidence (M2), orientation to task (M3), risk taking (M4), leadership (M5) and honesty (M6).

A gap exists between the expected goals of SMEs, which is to increase people’s income through the development of their entrepreneurship, and the realization of the program. Hence, it is necessary to improve the implementation of the partnership program, which needs improvement in planning, process and the evaluation of the program. This phenomenon motivated the researcher to conduct this study so that the partnership and the community development program, as a form of CSR, benefit SMEs to increase their income.

The United States (U.S.) has been described as the root of the global financial crisis. The events of the financial, sovereign debt, and Euro crisis and the accompanying economic turmoil that have spread throughout most of the Western world have been traced back to the excessive consumer borrowing, sub-prime mortgage lending and ultimately the housing bubble in the United States. Its burst in 2008 created a shock that overshadowed prior recession and fiscal stress of governmental entities in the United States. Deriving over 90% of their own tax revenues from property taxes, local governments in Michigan have been hit even more excessively. However, the cases analysed in this chapter not only tell a unique story of deep shock and legacy costs, but also of creative ways of surviving the crisis, exerting different patterns of financial resilience. In general, state regulations restricted buffering the impact, and some cities additionally suffered from their geographical vicinity to and economic dependency on Detroit, a city that stands for the turbulence of the U.S. automobile industry. After first deploying buffering capacities that still existed, two cases saw the crisis as an opportunity to address their vulnerabilities (reactive adapters), an opportunity that was not recognised in the case of a constrained adapter. In contrast, one case showed strong anticipatory and coping capacities that have been built up in the past, equipping the local government to operate in a lean and efficient way, and to proactively adapt to arising shocks.

The first Principia Mathematica (1686) by Sir Isaac Newton with reference to natural philosophy and his system of the world has largely contributed to the first revolution in scientific thinking in modern times. It has created the conceptual basis of modern science in the classical tradition by providing the tools of analysis and the technique of reasoning in terms of stability—from—within or, as we would say today, the model of stable equilibrium conditions.

Looks at the impact John Maynard Keynes and the movement (Keynesian) he started had on the theory and practice of economics in the 1930s and onwards. Identifies respective problems about capitalism and discusses them in depth. States that the monetary and fiscal policies recommended by Keynes have helped the West escape severe social consequences in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Goes on to show how economists after Keynes carried his work forward and upward in the 1940s and 1950s. Closes by stating there is a further, third revolution in economic thinking on the rise.