Spatial dimensions of Internet activity

The global diffusion of Internet activity is advancing at an unprecedented rate. However, it is increasingly apparent that the diffusion of information technologies and their associated activity is spatially uneven. Utilizing a comprehensive database of domain registrations, spatial–statistical methods, and a geographic information system (GIS), the spatial dimensions of Internet activity are explored for the state of Ohio. In addition to identifying considerable differences in Internet activity between urban and rural locales, results suggest that existing telecommunication infrastructure and educational institutions also play significant roles in the level of Internet-related activity for the region.     

Investigating differences among research projects and implications for managers

As research and innovation have become central to the economy, the challenge of managing these activities has taken on greater importance. Studies have focused on the impact of organizational variables on research activities, such as work environment, human resource factors, and managerial practices. But little attention has been paid to the effect of differences among types of research projects. While the notion that differences exist among research projects is acknowledged, particularly in the research & development portfolio literature, there have been relatively few studies into the dimensions by which research projects, and needs of project team members, differ. Further, there is little recognition that these differences translate into the need for different research project management practices. The objective of this paper is to investigate differences among research projects along three dimensions, amount of funding, complexity of project teams, and research orientation. These dimensions are selected because of their central theoretical importance in the organizational literature, as well as posing a number of different challenges for research management. This study looked at 18 research projects at a national laboratory and analyzed the responses of project members to a comprehensive research environment survey conducted in 2001. The results of the analysis indicate that there are significant differences between types of projects along three dimensions and suggest ways that research performance can be improved through management intervention.     

Supply source selection criteria: The impact of supplier performance on distributor performance

In drawing attention to certain important gaps in the purchasing literature, the study reports on a systematic examination of supplier performance in purchasing decision criteria of U.K. distributor firms of information technology (IT) products. An attempt is made to explore the presence of dimensions underlying supplier performance in buying decision elements and identify potential differences in distributor performance with regard to supplier performance in important purchasing decision criteria. Based on a survey sample of 237 distributors, the results suggest significant differences between highly performing and poorly performing distributors in relation to their suppliers' performance in four buying decision criterion dimensions: reliability, competitive pricing, service support, and technological capability. The implications of the findings for business practitioners are highlighted, and directions for future research are identified.     

Dimensions of space in business network research

Interactive processes constitute a core notion in business exchange, leading to the concepts of relationships and networks. The constitution of process, comprising unfolding events, activities, and connected structures, relies on difference in space and time. While research has been devoted to time, the concept of space has thus far remained largely unexplored within business network research.This conceptual paper focuses on spatial dimensions for conducting research according to the IMP business network approach. Business actors create connected relationships and networks that exist and change as continuous emerging spatial structures and as mental maps in the managerial mindset. These relational network processes and structures are located, distributed and experienced in and across space. Drawing on economic geography and conceptual frameworks from the business network approach, we propose new dimensions and conceptualizations of space for the study of these networks. The paper delivers proposals to extend our current understanding of business networks as emerging and changing spatio-temporal entities with implications for theory development, research and practice.     

Performance Pay in China: Gender Aspects

We provide an in‐depth analysis of gender differences in performance pay in China based on a unique dataset — the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China — that provides information on the different components of pay including performance pay and base pay as well as a wide array of pay determining characteristic. The share of performance pay is documented and its determinants, including gender, analysed. Particular attention is paid to gender differences in the different dimensions of performance pay: the probability of receiving it; the magnitude conditional upon receiving it; and their product being the overall unconditional magnitude. Gender differences in these dimensions are decomposed into components due to male–female differences in the endowments of characteristics that explain these dimensions of pay, and gender differences that arise even when men and women have the same endowments of such characteristics with the later component, often taken to reflect discrimination.     

Gains from resistance: rejection of a new digital technology in a healthcare sector workplace

The issue of spaces for non-organised employee resistance has attracted renewed attention due to the diffusion of new digital technologies in the workplace. The ability of new technologies to measure and restrict employee behaviour in new ways requires explanations of resistance that account for both technology’s material characteristics and employee agency, without descending into technological determinism. This article is based on a case of effective resistance to a new data reporting technology introduced in home nursing in Denmark and explores the causes, forms and outcomes of the resistance. In this study, labour process theory is complemented with Edwards and Ramirez’s classification of dimensions of technological change. The study argues that two dimensions are important for effective employee resistance to technology: contestation of the unintended rather than the intended effects of the technology and the non-immanence of the effects in the technology, which allows the employees to reconstitute it in use.     

The Effect of Time Use in Explaining Male–Female Productivity Differences Among Economists

This study examines the opportunity cost of non‐research responsibilities on research output. Using a sample of early career faculty members who received their Ph.D. in economics, we consider the effect of two dimensions of time use on research output: (1) time allocation, or how time is divided between research and other duties and (2) time concentration, or how research time is distributed during the academic year relative to summer months. This second dimension has not been used in prior studies on research productivity; however, the inherent delays in the publication process as well as start‐up costs may imply that concentrating research time exclusively in the summer months reduces research output. We find that both dimensions of time use are significant predictors of peer‐reviewed publications and that time concentration is a significant predictor of submissions. We find gender differences in both dimensions of time use, which are attributable to gender differences in employment at research institutions and on‐going childcare responsibilities.     

Temporal and Spatial Information Diffusion in Real Estate Price Changes and Variances

This article examines patterns of temporal and spatial diffusion of real estate price changes. In addition to means, changes in volatility are tracked in reaction to substantial new information, estimated with GARCH-M methods. The data covers towns in Connecticut and near San Francisco. There is evidence of negative feedback at short lags, contrary to previous research on housing and other assets. There is also evidence of a moving average error process which tends to reverse recent shocks. Significantly positive spatial information diffusion is found from neighboring towns in Connecticut but none in control tests on nonneighboring towns. The results also include evidence of a risk-reward tradeoff in housing price changes in the San Francisco area.     

The Effects of Securitization on Consumer Mortgage Costs

We examine the effects of securitization on two dimensions of consumer mortgage costs: coupon rates and loan origination fees. We find no evidence that securitization reduces the coupon rates on fixed- or adjustable-rate mortgages. Instead, securitization appears to lower mortgage loan origination fees, resulting in substantial savings for consumers. Securitization activity includes passthrough creation and collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) creation. We test for differences between the effects of passthrough and CMO creation on primary mortgage costs. Surprisingly, these activities appear to have indistinguishable effects on loan rates and origination fees, suggesting that a large derivatives market for mortgage loans is not creating value for consumers.     

产业集群共性技术创新过程及机制研究述评

产业共性技术作为竞争前技术在国家创新体系中具有重要的作用,受到各国政府的重视。本文首先阐述了共性技术的相关研究,在此基础上分析了产业集群和共性技术的互动关系,产业共性技术研发和扩散促进了区域产业集群形成与发展,产业集群是推动产业共性技术研发和扩散的重要平台。然后,对产业集群共性技术研发、供给、创新系统、扩散研究进行了分析,最后提出产业集群共性技术研发激励措施和未来研究展望。     

Entry,Standards and Competition: Firm Strategies and the Diffusion of Mobile Telephony

This paper studies the effects of a countrys regulatory setting and competitive environment the performance of second-generation (2G) mobile on telecommunication. We consider three dimensions of sector performance: entry time, service prices and diffusion. We address the question of non-random selection arising from cross-country differences in the timing of the commercialization of new technologies. Our empirical exploration shows that this type of sample selection may indeed be a substantial problem in cross-country studies on technology diffusion and yield biased estimates of the policy variables of interest. Our estimation results suggest that standardization accelerates 2G entry and diffusion, although within-standards competition triggers less aggressive price competition than between-standards competition. We also find that an early monopolist will price more aggressively to build up an installed base. Furthermore, we find that liberalizing markets for incumbent technologies (i.e., fixed line telephony) has accelerated the commercialization of 2G.     

The effects of national culture on the theory and practice of managing R&D professionals abroad

G. Hofstede's research on 'Culture's Consequences' (1980) greatly shaped the discussion of cross-cultural differences in management theory and practice during the 1980's. And yet, his 4-D Model's applicability to the management of R&D laboratories and their professionals worldwide remained in doubt due to the fact that his four dimensions of Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism, and Masculinity were derived from responses of mid-level IBM employees with lower levels of formal education than those of typical R&D professionals. This paper reports on results of the first comprehensive follow-up study that (1) show Hofstede's four dimensions to be equally valid for highly educated respondents from 17 Western European countries, Turkey, and the USA, (2) describe significant similarities between the respondents' work goals and those of R&D professionals, and (3) suggest implications of cross-cultural differences along the dimensions for the theory and practice of managing R&D professionals abroad.     

A Comparison of New Service versus New Product Development: Configurations of Collaborative Intensity as Predictors of Performance

Collaboration among firms for innovation has received considerable attention. However, little is known about how firm‐to‐firm collaboration is configured in new service development (NSD) versus new product development (NPD). This study takes a multidimensional approach and measures firm‐to‐firm collaboration on different intensity dimensions of (1) processes (mutual communication, joint engagement, sharing responsibilities) and (2) ownership (relationship commitment and mutual trust). By showing that the phenomenon of collaboration is multifaceted, this study is able to knit a more comprehensive and cohesive understanding of the differences between NSD and NPD success as the result of different patterns of collaboration. Specifically, it utilizes survey data collected from 194 alliances to substantiate how NSD and NPD differ on these collaborative dimensions and then explores their impact on NSD versus NPD performance. The findings suggest that collaboration between firms in NSD is configured and works differently than collaboration between firms in NPD. The results further show that there is a stronger, positive relationship of intensity levels of joint engagement among firms involved in product development and performance than when a new service is developed. However, the intensity of mutual trust has a stronger, positive relationship with development performance when a new service is developed than when a new product is developed. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are given.     

Intraorganizational information and communication technology diffusion: Implications for industrial sellers and buyers

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) like CRM, ERP and Intranet are considered important for creating competitive advantage. Despite their rapid deployment rates, only a few studies mainly from the information technology (IT) and engineering literature have been devoted in uncovering the factors that influence the diffusion of new information technologies within an organization. Similarly, empirical studies regarding the impact of ICT diffusion on organizations are strikingly limited. In an attempt to fill this research void, the present study examines the implementation of ICT tools within marketing-related and non-marketing-related functions. By testing a number of hypotheses using structural equation modeling, the authors conclude that the antecedents and consequences of ICT diffusion in these functions vary. Their findings provide the foundation for a more thorough examination of both intraorganizational diffusion of ICT tools as well as their impact on organizations.     

An Examination of New Product Development Best Practice

Efforts continue to identify new product development (NPD) best practices. Examples of recognized studies include those by the Product Development and Management Association's Comparative Performance Assessment Study and the American Productivity Quality Center NPD best practices study. While these studies designate practices that distinguish top‐performing companies, it is unclear whether NPD practitioners as a group (not just researchers) are knowledgeable about what represents a NPD best practice. The importance of this is that it offers insight into how NPD practitioners are translating potential NPD knowledge into actual NPD practice. In other words, are practitioners aware of and able to implement NPD best practices designated by noteworthy studies? The answer to this question ascertains a current state of the field toward understanding NPD best practice and the maturity level of various practices. Answering this question further contributes to our understanding of the diffusion of NPD best practices knowledge by NPD professionals, possibly identifying gaps between prescribed and actual practice. Beginning the empirical examination by conducting a Delphi methodology with 20 leading innovation researchers, the study examined the likely dimensions of NPD and corresponding definitions to validate the NPD practices framework originally proposed by Kahn, Barczak, and Moss. A survey was then conducted with practitioners from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland to gauge opinions about perceptions of the importance of different NPD dimensions, specific characteristics reflected by each of these dimensions, and the level of NPD practice maturity that these characteristics would represent. The study is therefore unique in that it relies on the opinions of NPD practitioners to see what they perceive as best practice versus prior studies where the researcher has identified and prescribed best practices. Results of the present study find that seven NPD dimensions are recommended, whereas the 2006 Kahn, Barczak, and Moss framework had suggested six dimensions. Among practitioners across the three country contexts, there is consensus on which dimensions are more important, providing evidence that NPD dimensions may be generalizable across Western contexts. Strategy was rated higher than any of the other dimensions followed by research, commercialization, and process. Project climate and metrics were perceived as the lowest in importance. The high weighting on strategy and low weighting on metrics and project climate reinforce previous best practice findings. Regarding the characteristics of each best practice dimension, practitioners appear able to distinguish what constitutes poor versus best practice, but consensus on distinguishing middle range practices are not as clear. The suggested implications of these findings are that managers should emphasize strategy when undertaking NPD efforts and consider the fit of their projects with this strategy. The results further imply that there are clearly some poor practices that managers should avoid and best practices to which managers should ascribe. For academics, the results strongly suggest a need to do a better job of diffusing NPD knowledge and research on best practices. Particular attention by academics to the issues of metrics, project climate, and company culture appears warranted.     

User motivation for broadband: A rural Danish study

The diffusion of broadband has gained much research attention, in particular in relation to the urban-rural divide. However, research has focused primarily on the supply side of broadband roll-out, while the demand side has been somewhat neglected. This article illustrates the complexity of broadband adoption and argues that a rural adoption approach needs to draw on existing social meaning systems. By focusing on the user motivation for broadband, this article presents findings from a qualitative study of rural residents. Means-end theory was used as a framework for understanding these motives. Furthermore, the article adapts the FCB grid as a tool for both public and private providers of broadband to examine effective rural promotion strategy.     

Cross-National Diffusion Research: What Do We Know and How Certain Are We?

To compete effectively in the global marketplace, marketing managers require insight into how a product gets adopted in different countries. For example, can international marketers identify specific cultural traits that may help them to forecast how quickly a new product will be adopted in a particular country or in a group of somehow related countries? Similarly, can they identify factors that suggest why the adoption process differs among countries?Although these diffusion-related questions address critical issues for international marketing managers, only a few studies have explored cross-national diffusion. To help fill this gap, V. Kumar, Jaishankar Ganesh, and Raj Echambadi present the results of a study that replicates and extends the findings of three previously published studies of cross-national diffusion. Their research aims to replicate four findings from the previous studies: the role of country-specific effects in explaining differences in diffusion parameters, the presence of a lead-lag effect, the use of cultural variables to explain systematically the diffusion patterns across countries, and the merit of country segmentation schemes based on diffusion parameters. They extend the previous research by integrating cross-sectional and time lag variables into a single framework, and they demonstrate how managers can apply this integrated framework for forecasting the diffusion of new products.They replicate the findings from the previous studies by using annual sales data for five product categories (VCRs, microwave ovens, cellular phones, home computers, and CD players) in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. The product categories and time periods covered differ from the ones in the previous studies; some overlap exists among the countries in this study and the ones in the previous studies.The findings in this study suggest that country-specific characteristics (for example, cosmopolitanism, mobility, percentage of women in the labor force) are useful for identifying the differences in diffusion patterns across countries and innovations. This study also suggests that the lead-lag effect helps to explain differences in diffusion across countries. Factors that this study identifies as possibly influencing the clustering of countries with similar diffusion patterns include timing of entry, geographical proximity, and cultural or economic similarity.     

Rolling out of fibre optic networks in intermediate versus urban areas: An exploratory spatial analysis in the Netherlands

Within the growing literature on broadband development, much research has focused on infrastructure competition and spatial effects driving investment incentives in broadband provision. However, less attention has been paid to the geographical factors explaining very high capacity fibre based network rollout. The purpose of this paper is to examine these geographical effects of rollout of these networks by utilizing basic data mining techniques in conjunction with exploratory spatial data analysis. In explaining the rollout of these networks, the paper derives from the literature a geographical model on broadband provision and examines it empirically by focusing on the spatial and temporal effects driving very high capacity fibre-based network development in the Netherlands. The paper confirms previous research on market uncertainty and the techno-economics of broadband development, but shows, in addition, that more specific factors related to local effects and demand uncertainty are vital in explaining the rollout of very high capacity fibre-based network.     

省际OFDI、出口贸易对全要素生产率的影响——基于空间杜宾模型的实证分析

中国地域辽阔,地区差异较大,研究省际OFDI、出口贸易对全要素生产率的影响需重视空间因素的作用。本文基于2005～2014年我国28个省份的面板数据,采用空间杜宾模型,实证分析OFDI和出口贸易这两个方面对全要素生产率的影响。结果表明,省际OFDI、出口贸易和全要素生产率均表现出空间集聚特征;OFDI与全要素生产率的增长呈负相关;出口对全要素生产率有显著的正向效应,并且通过空间溢出效应显著促进邻接省份全要素生产率的提升。因此,我国需重视技术寻求型OFDI的建设,充分考虑OFDI对国内经济增长的空间溢出影响,以期达到对外投资和出口贸易双实现技术溢出效应的效果。     

Comparison of patterns of research effectiveness and output and their stability across six countries*

The focus of the study is an exploration of the stability of relationships between characteristics of research groups and various dimensions of the effectiveness of research activities across different national settings. The analysis is based on data collected by a Unesco coordinated international research team in six European countries. Data were collected by means of a survey of research groups engaged in research and experimental development activities in a variety of scientific disciplines, primarily in the natural and technological sciences. The total sample consists of 1,222 research groups. From a wide variety of data a set of indices describing the age, patterns of communication, management, diversity, morale and inter-personal relations in the unit, etc., were selected on the basis of observed correlations to measures of effectiveness in the samples of each of the six countries. By means of a residualization procedure the indices were adjusted for the effect of the type of institution end scientific field of research groups to eliminate differences with respect to these two structural dimensions in the samples of the different countries. Stepwise regression analyses were performed separately for each country to explore the relationships of the ‘adjusted’ indices to seven different measures of effectiveness. The common pattern of relationships of certain indices to give effectiveness measures is described and discussed. The recurrent relevance of certain variables in the individual countries across a variety of effectiveness measures is analysed. On the basis of these analyses a few ‘universal’ indices are isolated such as quality of research planning, communication with users of the research results, and the research morale as perceived by unit heads and scientists. These seem to have consistent, systematic and additive relationships across countries to most of the specific dimensions of research group effectiveness. In conclusion the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.