Research Methodologies in Global Product Development

This assignment focuses on research methodologies employed in global product development. It requires a critical analysis of different approaches, considering their strengths and weaknesses within the context of multinational corporations operating on an international scale. The text provides examples of various research methodologies used in diverse fields like human resource management, innovation management, e-government, and queer studies. Students are expected to synthesize this information to understand how these methodologies can be applied to the specific challenges of global product development.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC .............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Aims and Objectives........................................................................................................1
P2. Project Management Plan.................................................................................................3
P3. Produce a work-break down structure., Gantt Chart and Time Scale..............................4
..........................................................................................................................................................6
..........................................................................................................................................................7
P4.Research Methodologies...................................................................................................8
P5.Finding and Discussion...................................................................................................10
P6.RECOMMENDATION..................................................................................................20
P7.REFLECTION................................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23

TOPIC
To determine the impact of globalization on new product development of company. A
case study on H&M.
INTRODUCTION
Globalisation is the process by which businesses or other organisation develop
international influence or start operating on an international scale. After the centuries of
technological progress as well as advances in international cooperation, the world is more
connected than ever. It is because of globalisation and describe the growing interdependence of
the world's economies, population and cultures, brought about by cross border trade in products
and services, flow of investment, information and technology (De Brentani and Kleinschmidt,
2015). Businesses are greatly influenced by globalisation as they gain the opportunities to trade
across the boarders (Strategies for new product development on global scale, 2017).
Globalisation leads to increase in transfer of capital including the expansion of foreign direct
investment (FDI) by transnational companies (TNC's) and the rising influence of sovereign
wealth funds. In terms of production there was greater outsourcing as well as offshoring. Further,
globalisation also leads to greater level of labour migration both within and between nations. In
addition to this, innovation is also increases because spending on innovation, capital investment
as well as infrastructure is also raised across the world. Thus, globalisation results in bringing
positivity in the businesses.
This present report will cover, aims and objectives, overview of the company,
background of the research and rationale. After that, project management plan will also be
depicted in this research paper. Research methodology and data analysis and finding will be done
in this study. Afterwards, recommendation and reflection part will be done.
TASK
P1. Aims and Objectives
Aims and Objectives
Aim: “To determine the impact of globalisation on new product development of company. A
case study on H&M”.
Objectives: To determine the concept of globalisation.
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 To determine the factors of globalisation that affect H&M in the development of new
product. To analyse the challenges faced by H&M after globalisation in the new product
development of the company.
 To provide recommendation on successful launching of new product in the market.
Research Questions:
1. What is the concept of globalisation?
2. What are the factors of globalisation that affect H&M in the development of new product.
3. What are the challenges faced by H&M after globalisation in the new product
development of the company.
4. What are the recommendations on successful launching of new product in the market.
Overview of the company
H&M is being chosen for assessment. Henns & Mauritz (H&M) is a Swedish multinational
company. It is recognised and known for its fast fashion clothing company for men and women,
children and teenagers. It was founded in 1974 by Erling Persson. Its headquarter is located in
Sweden. The operation of H&M is in 62 countries and there are 148000 employees are currently
working (Charles Jr, Schmidheiny and Watts, 2017). In this present report, H&M is going to
launch a new product (summer shoe) in London fashion week.
Background of the Research
The present research is based on the impact of globalisation on the new product
development of H&M company. Globalisation is a very popular topic in context of businesses
because it has great impact on the profitability, sales, market share, operations as well as entire
organisation. After the globalisation it becomes easy for the organisation to trade across the
boarder by which they can expand their business (Kawakami, Barczak and Durmuşoğlu, 2015).
Thus, the study of research will identify the factors and challenges that affects the organisation as
a whole as well as in development of new product. H&M is one of the biggest fashion brand
company working at global level thus, there are various situations arise where sometimes it
becomes very difficult for them to operate and sometimes it creates ample of opportunities to
expand them at global level.
Rationale
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Around this topic, the impact of globalisation on the businesses, there have been
extensive researches are done. This present study will analyse the impact of globalisation on the
new product development of H&M. Company is going to create and develop a new product
which is summer shoe in the market. So, it is very important to identify the challenges along with
opportunities that company gain from the global market. The reason for selecting this topic is
that globalisation a very broad term but there are many factors such as technology, political,
differences in tax system, production issues, resource and markets, industrial organisation and
many other factors are there which affect the operation of company (Gachoka, 2015).
P2. Project Management Plan
Project Management Plan.
Project management plan is very important part when it comes to conducting research on
any topic for the study. It is the document that is used to guide both execution of the project and
project control. The main elements of project management plan includes standard for scope, cost
and schedule, quality, communication, risk and resources. Here are the elements described below
which are used to create a project management plan-
Cost- This is the fundamental work of the researcher that scholar have to set the cost or
plan the budgeted cost in which the study is completed. Thus, proper management of costing is
needed so that all the activities of research carried in effective manner. In conducting this present
research, £5000 is requires reaching the aim and objectives by performing all the tasks because
globalisation is very broad topic and researcher has to study all the narrow aspect so that result
obtained will be authentic (Postelnicu and Dabija, 2015). Further, in the production of new
product which is shoes, the cost will be £50000 as it includes start from beginning of market
research.
Quality- Quality is very important to reach the aim and objectives as well as to solve the
issues in the research. All the information or data which are collected by the researcher should
have reliability and authenticity. Researcher should ensure that from gathering data to
interpretation, quality must be maintain. Further, Company will use key performance indicator
and benchmarking so that the quality of shoes or new priduct can be monitiored.
Resources- Adequate resources are required to conduct the entire research in a
systematic manner. If researcher does not have adequate resources than the quality of study will
be affected. So it is very important that required resources should be gathered. Resource includes
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laptop, storage devices, stationery items. Further, the resources required to complete shoes are
trained professional for conducting market research, raw materials, fund, time etc.
Communication- Communication is the backbone when it comes to conducting any
research on any topic. There should be effective communication between the function of
business and all the activities related to the purpose of globalisation. Researcher will use emails,
circulars are selected for effective communication. Further, in the communication of new
product, H&M will use social media advertisement, fashion maximum, will conduct fashion
shoes etc.
Risk- In order to conduct the research effectively it is very important that there should be
proper assessment of risk that will help the organisation and investigator to maintain the
effectiveness of the study of the investigation (Okrepilov and Leonidovich, 2015). There are
many risks such as theft of data, security issues etc. thus, it is very essential that researcher
should ensue and mitigate the risk by making proper plan and management. In addition to this, in
the production and the launching of shoes H&M also faced some risk like cost of production
might be increase, theft of design before launching, customers will like or not etc.
P3. Produce a work-break down structure., Gantt Chart and Time Scale.
Task
Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Scheduled Identification of market 8 days Mon 03-12-18 Wed 12-12-18
Auto
Scheduled Selection of market 9 days Thu 13-12-18 Tue 25-12-18 1
Auto
Scheduled
conducting market
research 9 days Wed 26-12-18 Mon 07-01-19 2,1
Auto
Scheduled
formulating of goals and
objectives 7 days Wed 26-12-18 Thu 03-01-19 2
Auto
Scheduled
identification of audience
in new market 4 days Tue 08-01-19 Fri 11-01-19 3,4
Auto
Scheduled creating marketing plan 6 days Tue 08-01-19 Tue 15-01-19 3
Auto
Scheduled
implementing of
marketing plan 10 days Wed 16-01-19 Tue 29-01-19 5,6
Auto
Scheduled testing of product 8 days Wed 30-01-19 Fri 08-02-19 7
Auto final launch of product in 5 days Mon 11-02-19 Fri 15-02-19 8
4

Scheduled market
5

GANTT CHART:
Critical Path:
6

Illustration 1: WBS
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P4.Research Methodologies
Introduction
Research methodologies are the most important part as it is directly linked with executing
the aims and objectives of the research study. With the help of research methodologies it
becomes easy for researcher to collect authentic data for the purpose of taking right decisions.
Research methods include philosophies, approaches, type, design data collection, data analysis,
sampling and ethical consideration. The type of research methodologies chosen by researcher
underpin the work as well as methods uses to collect the data.
Research Type
The careful consideration of the study regarding a topic or problem using scientific
methods are called as research. There are two types of research which are qualitative and
quantitative (Woodhouse, 2016). Qualitative research is based on the numeric figures or
quantities whereas qualitative research are those that is based on words, emotions, sounds,
feelings and any other unquantifiable elements. The present research is based on qualitative
research as researcher has taken views of respondents and for that thematic analysis will be done.
Research Approach
It is very important for the researcher to select the best approach to conduct the research.
It is the plans as well as the procedure for research that span the steps from broad assumption to
detailed methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation. It is very essential for the
research to select the best approach to collect the data so that relevancy of study is maintained.
There are mainly two types of research approach which are deductive and inductive. Deductive
approach is testing and aimed theory. On the other hand, inductive approach is mainly concerned
with the generation of new theory emerging from the data. This present research is based on
inductive approach because the result obtained best when study is qualitative. Thus, researcher
effectively and efficiently determine the impact of globalization on new product development of
H&M by using inductive approach.
Research Design
Research design is defined as the framework of methods as well as techniques selected by
the scholar in order to combine different elements of the study in a logically and reasoning
manner (Yusuf, Adams and Dingley, 2016). There are four types of research design which are
descriptive, correlational, semi- experimental and experimental. In this present research,
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descriptive research has been chosen by researcher. Descriptive research design is a scientific
method involves describing as well as observing the behaviour of a subject without influencing it
in any way and participants in the research are depicted in accurate manner. Thus, researcher
effectively and efficiently determine the impact of globalization on new product development of
H&M by using descriptive research design.
Sampling
Sampling is very important section when it comes to conducting research on any topic. It
means the process of selecting a small part of the population. It is very important to select the
group of sample from the population because it is not possible to study the entire population
because it is very large as well as it also required time, cost and energy. So, in order to make the
research easy and convenient, researcher has selected a small part of the population for the study
instead of studying entire population (Skinner and Engelberg, 2018). There are two types of
sampling probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling. In this present research, researcher has
used probabilistic sampling in which random sampling techniques has been used because in this
type of sampling each respondents have equal chance of being selected in the sample. Researcher
has selected 20 senior managers of H&M.
Data Collection
When it comes to conducting the research, it is very important to collect the data from
authentic sources. It is the process of collecting information from all relevant sources in order to
find answer to the research problems, test hypothesis as well as to measure the results. Primary
and secondary are two methods by which data are collected. The data which are fresh and first
hand are called primary data for example survey, questionnaire, force field, etc. on the other
hand second, second hand or used data are called as secondary data, for example, internet
articles, blogs, books and journals etc. Research has used both the methods in order to determine
the impact of globalization on new product development of H&M by using descriptive research
design (Greenhalgh and et.al., 2016).
Data Analysis
When the data is collected it is required to inspect, clean and mould the data because the
information which are collected are meaningless and useless without its proper analysis. There
are tow methods for analysing the data which are qualitative and quantitative data. Researcher
has used to analysis the data by qualitative methods in which thematic analysis has been done.
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Researcher has prepared tables, charts and graphs and interpret the data in a very systematic and
logical way.
Ethical Consideration
Ethics are the norms, standard which makes distinguish what is wrong and right. It is
very important for the scholar to understand the norms and standard that makes the study very
authentic and valid (Nash and Browne, 2016). Here are the ethics which needs to consider the
before and during the research are as follows-
 All the participant in the study were not subject to about harms in any ways
whatsoever.
 No any participants are force to participate in the study and they have right to
leave the sample wherever they want.
 Data are collected for the authentic sources. Wikipedia and invetopedia sites were
excluded.
 The dignity and respect of the respondents are maintained.
 The level of confidentiality was adequate.
 Any type of communication in respect to the study was done with transparency
and honesty (Fox and Alldred, 2015).
 The protection and privacy of data was ensured by the scholar.
P5.Finding and Discussion
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name of Organisation:
Name of Respondents:
Gender:
Age:
1. How long you are working in H&M?
 1 to 5 years
 5 to 10 years
 10 to 15 years
 15 years and above
2. Do you know the actual and detailed concept of globalisation?
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 Yes
 No
 Not Sure
3.Do you think technological advancement after globalisation brings productivity in the
operations of your company?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly Disagree
 Disagree
 Neutral
4. Do you think that New Product Development bring success to H&M?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly Disagree
 Disagree
 Neutral
5.According to you globalisation gives rise to many opportunities to the businesses to expand
and increase sales and profitability?
 Yes
 No
 Not Sure
6.In your opinion, what are the advantages that helps your company in the launching of new
product development?
 Easy access to technology
 Easy mobility of goods and services
 Free movement of labours
 All the above.
7. What are the challenges faced by your company in the new product development?
 Leads to cut-throat competition
 Alien Culture
 Dynamic business environment
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 Ever Changing customer needs
8. Do you think customer awareness and reactions have been enhanced with increasing trade
across the world?
 Yes
 No
 Not Sure
9. What are recommendation you provide for successful launching of new product in the
market?
…..................
Theme 1: Maximum managers are working for more than 5 to 10 years.
Particulars Participants
1 to 5 years 5
5 to 10 years 8
10 to 15 years 3
15 years and above 4
12
1 to 5 years
5 to 10 years
10 to 15 years
15 years and above
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Participants

Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and
it was identified that maximum participants are working in the company for more than 5 to 10
years and they are senior most employees of the company. On the other hand, 5 managers are
employed for more than 1 to 5 years and 3 senior managers are employed for 10 to 15 years.
Only 3 managers are there who are employed for more than 15 years.
Theme 2: Maximum manager know the actual and detailed concept of globalisation.
Particulars Participants
Yes 12
No 6
Not Sure 2
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Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and
it was identified that 12 managers know the actual and detailed concept of globalisation. They
said that they have studied on the impact, advantages, challenges of globalisation in very detailed
manner. On the other hand, only 6 manager does not know about globalisation. They said that
they only know the meaning of globalisation that free movement of goods and services on global
level is known as globalisation. Only 2 respondents does not have proper answer as they are
confused.
Theme 3: Technological advancement after globalisation brings productivity in the
operations of H&M.
Particulars Participants
Strongly Agree 7
Agree 3
Strongly Disagree 5
Disagree 4
14
Yes
No
Not Sure
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Participants

Neutral 2
Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and it was
identified that technological advancement after globalisation brings productivity in the
operations of the company as 7 respondents are strongly agreed. They said that after
globalisation, it becomes very easy to access technology form anywhere across the world which
brings productivity in the operation like digital payment system, biometric machines, packing
and labelling machines, etc. 3 managers are also supporting for the same reason given by above 7
participants. On the other hand, 5 managers are against of this as they said that technological
advancement does not improve the productivity as it has bought mismanagement of the
resources. Further 3 respondents are also not supporting technological advancement brings
productivity in the operation. Only 2 participants are not sure about their answer.
Theme 4: New Product Development bring success to H&M.
Particulars Participants
Strongly Agree 9
Agree 2
15
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Participants

Strongly Disagree 5
Disagree 3
Neutral 0
Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and
it was identified that new product development bring success to the company as 9 participants
are strongly agreed, They said that summer shoes is one of the most demanded product in the
market and it is sure that this innovation will be worth for H&M. 2 manager are also supporting
with the same reason. Apart from this, 5 managers are against of this as they said that product is
good but the usage of this product is depended on season which is summer so, the sale of this
product will only be in summer season. 3 managers are also disagreed for the same reason as
they also said that seasonal dependency is the major drawback of this product.
Theme 5: Globalisation gives rise to many opportunities to the businesses to expand and
increase sales and profitability.
Particulars Participants
16
Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Participants

Yes 13
No 5
Not Sure 2
Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and it was
identified that globalisation give rise to many opportunities to the businesses to expand and
increase sales and profitability as 13 participants are strongly agreed. They said that after
globalisation it becomes very easy for companied to expand the businesses in global business
environment which raises the profitability of the company. On the other hand, 5 participants are
not supporting as they said that globalisation leads to cut-throat competition. Only 2 managers
are not sure about their answer.
Theme 6: Easy access to technology is the advantage that helps your company in the
launching of new product development.
17
Yes
No
Not Sure
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Participants

Particulars Participants
Easy access to technology 7
Easy mobility of goods and services 6
Free movement of labours 4
All the above. 3
Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and it was
identified that easy access to technology is the major advantage that help company in the
launching of new product development as said by 7 respondents. 6 manger said that easy
mobility of goods and services is also one of the best advantage as H&M easily acquire raw
materials from any other nations of their choice. In addition to this, 4 managers said that H&M
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Easy access to
technology
Easy mobility of goods
and services
Free movement of
labours
All the above.

easily acquire labour talent from across the world which is also very helpful in the development
of new product. 3 respondents are agreed on all the above options.
Theme 7: Challenges faced by your company in the new product development.
Particulars Participants
Leads to cut-throat competition 7
Alien Culture 4
Dynamic business environment 3
Ever Changing customer needs 5
Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and
it was identified that there are various challenges faced by company in the development of new
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Leads to cut-throat
competition
Alien Culture
Dynamic business
environment
Ever Changing customer
needs

product. 7 managers said that threat of competition is very high which also leads to the deep
thinking that product will achieve success in the market or not. 4 respondents said that because
of alien culture it sometime becomes very difficult to launch new product because globalisation
has promoted patters of consumption as well as lifestyle which are inconsistent. 8 managers said
that because of ever changing needs of customers and dynamic business environment it becomes
challenging task to launch a new product.
Theme 8: Customer awareness and reactions have been enhanced with increasing trade
across the world.
Particulars Participants
Yes 12
No 5
Not Sure 3
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Interpretation: From the above survey conducted from the senior managers of H&M and
it was identified that customer's awareness and reaction have been rise with the increasing trade
across the world as 12 responders are highly agreed. They said that, now customers react very
quickly for the product on social media. On the other hand, 5 participants said that trade does
nota effect customers, as they are already very concern and reactive. Only 3 participants are not
sure about their answer.
P6.RECOMMENDATION
From the above primary analysis of the data, researcher has recommended various things
that is very effective for the company in successful launching of new product in the market. Here
are some suggestion from researcher which are as follows-
H&M should conduct market research before launching the product in the market. By
conducting market research, they can understand the actual needs and wants of customers. In
addition to this, they should use SWOT analysis tool so that they can know their strength and
weakness as well as grab opportunities and reduce threat in the market (Nikolova, Kuporov and
Rodionov, 2015).
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Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Participants

H&M should define the target audience after conducting market research and before
launching the product in the market, because it is not possible to target the entire audience for the
first time. For the laughing of the new product (Summer shoes) the best segment for H&M is
geographical segments like where temperature is very high.
H&M should use social media tool for promotion as this is one of the best as well as cost
effective method for advertising of goods and services in the market. The network coverage of
social media is very broad as compare to other mediums.
H&M should grab opportunities from the market like they should import raw materials
from other nations if required, they should hire designers across the world so that they can
launch the best innovative product in the market (Abrol, Prajapati and Singh, 2017).
P7.REFLECTION
In this present research, I have learned many things which will be very helpful for me to
raise my skills and knowledge on the topic of globalisation. I was feeling very pleasure in
conducting this research because I have learned that how to launch the new product in the
market. The entire process, steps, strategies required for the successful launching of product is
very important to follow. The best thing about this study is that launching of new product is
closely linked with the impact of globalisation on the businesses as well as on the customers.
Moreover, in formulating aims and objectives research, I was thinking very broadly but after that
I understood that the best result is obtained by narrowing the research aims and objectives. After
that I have prepared a project management plan where I have make a budget for the research,
select the medium for effective communication, identify the potential risk, gathered the resources
so that I can reach the best conclusion of the study.
Further, I have used various research methodologies where I feel a little bit difficult and it
also took time but it is very important part in conducting the research study because the
conclusion and results are depended on the type of research methodologies selected. In selecting
the research methodologies I have evaluated all types of methodologies and after that researcher
have chosen the best and appropriate one. In addition to this, the best part of this study is data
collection form survey. This was my amazing experience as I have understood the views of
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senior managers of H&M on globalisation. Thus, this research study is very helpful for the
research in conducting further any research studies.
CONCLUSION
The above research study comes to the conclusion that the impact of globalisation on the
businesses is positive. There are great opportunities for the organisations to launch new product
and achieved success in the market by taking advantages of globalisation. Further, it was also
concluded that, with the increasing trade across the boarder, it brings productivity in the
operations and functions of businesses that automatically brings positive impact on the growth of
economy. Further, with the creative results as well as using of tools and techniques, it was
summarises that businesses are growing to the great heights after globalisation. The majority in
the survey is supporting globalisation as it leads to positive impact on the performance of the
company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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industry: implications for innovation. Institutions and Economies, pp.327-365.
Charles Jr, O.H., Schmidheiny, S. and Watts, P., 2017. Walking the talk: The business case for
sustainable development. Routledge.
De Brentani, U. and Kleinschmidt, E.J., 2015. The impact of company resources and capabilities
on global new product program performance. Project Management Journal, 46(1). pp.12-
29.
Fox, N.J. and Alldred, P., 2015. New materialist social inquiry: Designs, methods and the
research-assemblage. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 18(4).
pp.399-414.
Gachoka, H., 2015. Impact of globalization on the human resource management function in
developing countries: a case study of kenya public corporations.
Greenhalgh, T and et.al., 2016. An open letter to The BMJ editors on qualitative
research. Bmj, 352(i563).
Kawakami, T., Barczak, G. and Durmuşoğlu, S.S., 2015. Information technology tools in new
product development: The impact of complementary resources. Journal of Product
Innovation Management. 32(4). pp.622-635.
Nash, C.J. and Browne, K., 2016. Queer methods and methodologies: An introduction. In Queer
Methods and Methodologies (pp. 15-38). Routledge.
Nikolova, L.V., Kuporov, J.J. and Rodionov, D.G., 2015. Risk management of innovation
projects in the context of globalization. International Journal of Economics and Financial
Issues, 5(3S), pp.73-79.
Okrepilov, V.V. and Leonidovich, M.V., 2015. Economics of quality-the basis of innovative
development and ensuring the quality of life. Asian Social Science.11(7).p.312.
Postelnicu, C. and Dabija, D.C., 2015. Transfer and Diffusion of New Technologies Within the
Supply Chain of Multinational Companies with Operations in Romania—A Contemporary
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