Abstract
The past decades have been characterized by an increasing interest of companies in international trade and significant foreign direct investments, which led to a shift from localized manufacturing companies to global manufacturing networks. The main goal of this research is to analyze the management of information within the process of supplier selection in the context of manufacturing networks. The adoption of field study methodology allows understanding how the supplier selection process is carried out in Multinational Companies (MNCs) in different manufacturing sectors. In particular, this paper aims at identifying the information that mother company and their subsidiary companies share during the supplier selection process, and how they access to this information.

Abstract
Purpose - In collaborative settings, such as research and development projects, obtaining the maximum benefit from knowledge management systems depends on the ability of the different partners to understand the conceptualisation underlying the system's knowledge organisation. This paper aims to show how information/knowledge organisation in a multi-organisation project can be made more effective if the domain experts are involved in the specification of the systems semantic structure. A particular aspect is further studied: the role of conceptual relations in the process of collaborative development of such structures. Design/methodology/approach - An action-research approach was adopted, framed by a socio-semantic stance. A collaborative conceptual modelling platform was used to support the members of a research and development project in the process of developing a lightweight ontology aiming at reorganising all the project information in a wiki system. Data collection was carried out by means of participant observation, interviews and a questionnaire. Findings - The approach to solve the content organisation problem revealed to be effective both in the result and the process. It resulted in a better-organised system, enabling more efficient project information retrieval. The collaborative development of the lightweight ontology embodied, in fact, a learning process, leading to a shared conceptualisation. The research results point to the importance of the elicitation of conceptual relations for structuring the project's knowledge. These results are important for the design of methods and tools to support the collaborative development of conceptual models. Originality/value - This paper studies the social process leading to a shared conceptualisation, a subject that has not been sufficiently researched. This case study provides evidence about the importance of the early phases of the construction of ontologies, mainly if domain experts are deeply involved, supported by appropriated tools and guided by well-structured processes.

Abstract
There is no doubt that nowadays internationalization is increasingly attractive for companies that want to become more competitive. However, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) still are resourceconstrained, lacking adequate information and facing problems to establish and manage relationships to operate in a sustainable way in international markets. Despite receiving some support from governments and from other institutional entities, these difficulties faced by SMEs call for a stronger support, which can be played by industrial enterprises associations (IEAs). This chapter brings the perspective of five different companies that are associated with IEAs. The main objective is to have their opinion about the role of IEAs as information managers and promoters of collaborations, mainly for internationalization processes. Another objective is to understand the acceptance by these companies regarding the use of collaborative platforms, managed by IEAs, for supporting their information and collaboration management activities. © 2017, IGI Global.

Abstract
Knowledge management practices are used in collaborative networks promoting innovation in order to share critical knowledge among network members towards improving organizational results. This paper proposes to explore the channels and practices for knowledge sharing in collaborative networks, by means of an exploratory multiple case study carried out in two types of collaborative networks: (i) industrial associations; and (ii) science and technology parks. Empirical evidence has been collected from interviews with managers of the collaborative networks and of organizations participating in the collaborative networks. The contribution of this paper to the knowledge management literature is twofold: (i) it provides a characterization of the channels and technology used for knowledge sharing in collaborative networks based on empirical evidence and (ii) it describes knowledge sharing practices used among organizations to foster new forms of connectivity between groups and individuals.

Abstract
This paper intends to propose a platform dedicated to a community for inclusive fashion. This platform can innovate in the awareness creation process by involving a wide range of stakeholders through a novel combination of visually-centered networking/collaboration together with a powerful recommendation system based on data analytics. This solution can potentially impact positively the well-being of more than 50 million of motor/physical disabled citizens as consumers of fashion products. This can be achieved by bringing together three different networks: (i) fashion consumers, emphasizing consumers with disabilities; (ii) companies from fashion/garment/footwear industry; (iii) social and research organizations supporting disabled people. This will allow to create individual and collective awareness about sustainability at the social level demanding the engagement of groups of citizens and industries in sharing information and knowledge and developing ideas and solutions for people with disabilities facing problems related to fashion, garment and footwear products and services.

Abstract
In the era of information overflow, the effective implementation of models for managing multiple information streams may contribute to organizations' decision-making capabilities. Even though literature has proposed several information management models, little has been described about their implementation in real-world settings. This paper presents a case study on the usage of an information management model in the implementation of a collaborative system in a supply network. The case application analysis reinforces the value of using information management models to account for cultural aspects in the mapping of information needs and in the analysis of multiple stakeholders' requirements.