Dependence of technological routinization on structural variables in human service organizations

The traditional explanation of the relationship between structure and technology in the design of an organization is developed to include the implementation phase. A model of the implementation phase uses worker discretion as a linking mechanism to explain the impact of structure on human service technologies. A path analysis of data from 30 human service organizations supports the specification of technological routinization in a dependent relationship with four structural variables.     

New Technology in Unionized Firms: Advantages of Mandatory Bargaining

U.S. Labor Law currently allows employers whose work forces are unionized to introduce new technologies without bargaining over the decision to do so. This forces unions to adopt inefficient strategies when negotiating collective bargaining agreements in an effort to minimize the impact of technological change on their members. Allowing unions to bargain over the decision to introduce new technologies would obviate their having to resort to these inefficient strategies. In addition, it might increase the likelihood of employees suggesting alterations in production processes that would increase the rate of technological change. For these reasons, this article advocates amending U.S. labor law to require employers to bargain over the introduction of new technologies.     

“知识失业”的原因与对策

知识失业不仅仅是一个经济现象,更是一个关系到经济、社会、家庭、学校多方面的社会现象。经济结构失衡和劳动力市场制度性分割是我国知识性失业的深层次原因,该问题的解决是一个长期的过程,应转变经济结构,加快产业升级,加大产品的科技含量和创新;深化体制改革,改变劳动力市场分割制度的局面,建立统一的,全国的劳动力市场体系。     

Schumpeter and new technology based firms: Towards a framework for how NTBFs cause creative destruction

Although Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” has become something of a buzzword, the theoretical underpinnings of his theory are largely missing from the recent literature on technological change. This paper explores the link between technological change and creative destruction, with particular attention being paid to the role of new technology-based firms in bringing this about. Recurring themes in the technological change literature are examined. These show that the phenomenon of dominant firms failing due to the introduction of a new (disruptive) technology is creative destruction in action. NTBFs are the most common introducers of disruptive technologies and a leading driver of creative destruction.     

Clusters for life or life cycles of clusters: in search of the critical factors of clusters' resilience

This article investigates the driving forces behind the life cycles and resilience of technological clusters. It concentrates, in particular, on the combination of critical parameters which allows clusters to succeed in disconnecting their cycle from the cycle of the technologies they produce, in order to maintain stability and growth in unstable economic environments. Three propositions on location decision externalities, the life cycle of composite technologies and the structural properties of knowledge networks are developed and introduced in an inclusive study of cluster trajectories. Discussions show that resilient clusters are those that combine network and external audience effects in location decision-making and evolve towards a specific core/periphery and disassortative structure of knowledge interactions along the knowledge and market phases. Understanding these pathways could be at the heart of the renewal of cluster and regional policy in a macro-economic context characterized by high instability and new growing consumer paradigms.     

经济结构调整与技术的相互关系研究

经济结构的不断调整就是技术不断的进步,而技术是调整经济结构的最重要手段。本文分别从技术对经济结构调整的正负作用两方面入手,对应列举了技术发展对经济结构调整及经济增长的实例,深入研究了经济结构调整与技术的相互关系,从而论证经济结构调整离不开技术,技术引进、改造以及创新更要满足经济结构调整的需要。     

莱钢冷轧薄板HPH罩式退火炉过程控制系统

随着强对流技术的引进和HPH（高效氢气）技术发展,罩式全氢退火炉已在一些冶金行业的现代化冷轧生产线中得到普遍采用,罩式退火炉的工艺过程较复杂,控制的设备和介质数量较多,本文主要针对过程控制系统做简要介绍。     

Technological Expansion: the Interaction Between Diversification Strategy and Organizational Capability

This study analyses technological expansion by examining the interaction between firms' diversification strategy and internal capabilities. We argue that when new technologies emerge, firms that were actively pursuing diversification do not have equal intention to adopt the technologies. For firms that possess internal capabilities similar or relevant to the new technologies, their diversification strategy facilitates technological expansion, otherwise diversification strategy negatively affects technological adoption. This study improves our understanding on technological expansion. Existing studies try to identify organizational characteristics that facilitate or impede firm entry into new technological fields. This research reveals that the same organizational characteristic (e.g. diversification strategy) can exhibit different effects on technological adoption. It facilitates technological expansion if firms' existing capabilities can be applied to new technologies, otherwise it impedes new technological adoption.     

砌体球形薄壳下钢筋混凝土环梁的构造与施工

文章详细介绍了地下砌体球壳结构下钢筋混凝土环梁的构造特点,阐述了圆形构件的施工要点和技术方法。     

Really changing the course: the limitations of environmental management systems for innovation

The paper broadens the scope of environmental management system (EMS) research by describing how EMSs can contribute to inertia in present production systems. In conjunction with other factors this inertia can inhibit dramatic shifts toward more sustainable technologies and systems. Our approach builds upon technological lock‐in theory, which focuses on market coordination and technological interdependencies as generators of inertia in technological systems. Building on this framework, we call attention to previously under appreciated non‐market social forces and institutional structures that can further reinforce lock‐in. We argue that the co‐evolutionary mechanisms that generate increasing returns for physical technologies may also be applied to social technologies, such as management systems. The paper describes the emergence of ‘EMS lock‐in’ as a path dependent evolution occurring within the context of the larger quality management paradigm. While EMS may initially produce improvements in environmental performance, EMS may also constrain organizational focus to the exploitation of present production systems, rather than exploring for superior innovations that are discontinuous. The paper questions the enthusiastic private and public sector support for EMS implementation and instead recommends an ambidextrous management approach that integrates foresight and broader stakeholder collaboration. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The interplay between technology characteristics,R&D internationalisation,and new product introduction: Empirical evidence from the energy conservation sector

Developing marketable products based on proprietary technologies is the key to success in many firms, but it is still a big challenge. Factors explaining when technologies are more likely to lead to a marketable product are not fully understood yet. This gap calls for further research on this important topic. The present paper addresses this issue by focusing on specific characteristics of technologies - i.e., their nature as breakthrough technologies and their generality - which can be considered as suitable predictors of new product introduction (NPI). Specifically, we study if and how these characteristics affect the likelihood of NPI. Moreover, in our research model, we argue that the effects of technology characteristics on NPI are contingent upon the degree of a firm's R&D internationalisation. We examine this moderating firm-level factor in a cross-level study design. We develop several hypotheses and test them with objective patent and novel trademark data. In detail, the analyses are based on a unique and longitudinal sample of 11,385 patents and 1,783 trademarks registered at the USPTO in the energy conservation sector by 696 different companies. By adopting hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we reveal that the likelihood of NPI is positively related to the breakthrough nature of technologies; this effect turns negative when the level of breakthrough nature is very high. Instead, technological generality has a negative influence on NPI. Finally, the degree to which firms internationalise their R&D activities negatively moderates those relationships.     

Environmental regulation, technological diversity, and the dynamics of technological change

Inducing technological progress is an important objective of environmental regulation. We investigate under which conditions regulation-induced technological progress pursues the best technological option. We analyze a setting with vertical and horizontal technological progress, cost uncertainty, time-limited patent protection, and a case that is typical for some emissi4on-intensive industries, like electricity generation or the chemical industry. Under taxes and standards, only the current least-cost technology is used and developed, implying a lock-in into a possibly inferior technology. Tradable permits yield slower progress but can facilitate the simultaneous development of technologies, rendering lock-ins less likely.     

Environmental technical and administrative innovations in the Canadian manufacturing industry

This paper explores whether the adoption of an EMS and/or TQM, both administrative innovations, lead to the development of cleaner technological innovations. We draw on the stakeholder influence literature and Daft's (1978) dual core model of organizational innovation to determine the factors affecting a facility's decision to undertake cleaner technological innovations. Using Canadian facility level manufacturing data, we find that an EMS reduces the likelihood that a facility will implement environmental technologies that change the production process (clean technologies) while TQM increases the likelihood that the facility will implement clean technologies. We also find that administrative pressures (corporate headquarters and shareholders/investors) have no impact on technological innovations while external stakeholders such as regulators, community groups and environmental groups as well as customers and suppliers each increase the likelihood that facilities will use cleaner technologies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The effect of R&D novelty and openness decision on firms' catch-up performance: Empirical evidence from China

This paper explores the strategic dimensions of R&D decisions toward novelty and openness in explaining the performance of latecomer firms in a developing economy. A structural equation model of R&D decision-making is formulated using survey data from 279 Chinese firms. The dimension of R&D novelty is defined as the degree of technological newness found in firms' R&D projects, while R&D openness describes the degree to which technologies are acquired from external sources. Our results indicate that firms' R&D decisions regarding novelty and openness are associated with demand opportunities, market competition, technological capability, and external networks. Greater R&D novelty contributes positively to innovative output but does not affect sales growth. Greater R&D openness contributes positively to sales growth but negatively to innovative output.     

外资企业技术授权与劳动力技能结构升级——来自世界银行中国企业调查数据的经验证据

在中国高技能劳动力供给不断增加的背景下,引进国外先进生产技术能够促进本土企业实现技术进步,进而扩大企业对高技能劳动力的相对需求。作为技术引进的途径之一,本土企业使用外资企业授权的生产技术与企业内高技能劳动力就业的关系却较少受到关注。本文利用世界银行2012年中国企业调查数据对这一问题进行初步探索。研究结果表明,获得外资企业技术授权能够显著提升劳动力技能结构,影响途径包括生产规模扩张、研发投入增加和资本深化。其中,生产规模和研发投入为正向途径,资本深化为反向途径。此外,外资企业技术授权作为本土企业扩大对高技能劳动力的相对需求的途径之一,对避免技能层面的要素错配和结构性失业具有重要意义。     

Technological adoption and use after mass market displacement: The case of the LP record

This paper investigates the reasons why some technologies, defying general expectations and the established models of technological change, may not disappear from the market after having been displaced from their once-dominant status. Our point of departure is that the established models of technological change are not suitable to explain this as they predominantly focus on technological dominance, giving attention to the technologies that display highest performance levels and gain greatest market share. And yet, technological landscapes are rife with technological designs that do not fulfil these conditions. Using the LP record as an empirical case, we propose that the central mechanism at play in the continuing market presence of once-dominant technologies is the recasting of their technological features from the functional-utilitarian to the aesthetic realm, with an additional element concerning communal interaction among users. The findings that emerge from our quantitative textual analysis of over 200,000 posts on a prominent online LP-related discussion forum (between 2002 and 2010) also suggest that the post-dominance technology adopters and users appear to share many key characteristics with the earliest adopters of new technologies, rather than with late-stage adopters which precede them.     

Optimal response to a next generation new product introduction: to imitate or to leapfrog?

In this paper, we study the choice of technology levels and timing of the introduction of new technologies in a market in which customer sophistication increases over time. Faced with the introduction of a new generation product, a firm can either imitate or leapfrog it. If the new product is introduced optimally, we show that the optimal response is to imitate it. This is because the technology leader's best strategy is to set a technology level that makes imitation the best response. We also derive decision rules for the timing of introduction of new technologies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Government policy and technological innovation—a suggested typology

Reports on the effects of government's role in stimulating technological development provide a mixed picture. Some policies have had the expected, stimulating effect and other policies have not. We suggest that specific characteristics of technologies that government has sought to stimulate have not been taken into account when governments formulated and implemented innovation policies. While technologies can be characterized according to more dimensions, we focus on two highly relevant characteristics. Technologies either develop in a discrete manner, independent of what specific knowledge has been developed in the past, or develop cumulatively. In addition, network effects may be present or absent in the market anticipated for the products for which a technology is used. A 2×2 typology of technological development ensues. We suggest that governments should consider developing policies to stimulate technological change keeping these characteristics in mind.     

技术进步、工业化程度对能耗强度影响的差异分析——基于省际面板数据的实证研究

碳达峰、碳中和的深层次问题是能源问题。本文分析了技术进步、工业化程度影响能耗强度的作用机制,并基于2010-2020年我国30个省区市(未包括西藏及港澳台)的面板数据进行实证研究,结果表明:技术进步与能耗强度显著负相关,技术进步通过改善要素生产率有效减少能耗;工业化程度对能耗强度存在显著的正向作用关系,工业体系中高耗能行业占比较高,高耗能产品份额的持续增加影响了能耗强度的降低;不同地区技术进步、工业化程度对能耗强度的影响存在差异性,这可能是与地区禀赋有关;且回归结果经GMM分析检验后是稳健的。据此,应加大节能技术研发并制定耗能标准,优化产业和能源结构,而不同地区应制定差异化能源政策并加强协作。     

An Analysis of Pure-Revenue Technology Licensing

This paper analyzes the incentives of patentholders to license their technologies for pure-revenue reasons. We hypothesize that this decision is mainly driven by characteristics of the innovation, which determine its technological attractiveness, the relevance of transaction costs in its transfer and the importance of the competition effect. By using the NBER Patent Citations Database and an original dataset of patented technologies devoted to license in an Internet marketplace, we find that importance, innovativeness, fit into the firm's core and scope of the innovation affect the patentholder's willingness to license it. Results increase our awareness on the drivers of technology licensing decisions.