The Influence of Digital Design and IT on Modular Product Architecture

The architecture of a product is the design and specification of inherent subsystems, components, and interfaces between subsystems. Well‐defined interfaces allow the development of standardized subsystems that may be shared across product lines, e.g., technology platforms. Past research shows the benefits of modular product architecture in terms of improving cost of goods through common components and materials as well as improving development time cycles for derivative products. Product architecture does not occur by accident; it must be engineered and implemented. This study explores the impact of digital design and information technology (IT) on the development of modular product architectures. Through an empirical study of 122 firms and follow‐up interviews with several respondents, we study the impact of digital design tools and IT infrastructure on the development of modular product architecture and overall project outcomes. The results indicate that a firm's IT infrastructure has a strong, significant relationship with the development of modular product architecture. The findings also show a strong, positive relationship between the development of modular product architecture and project outcomes. However, in contrast to the common perception that digital design tools enhance R&D productivity and effectiveness, we do not find a significant relationship between digital design tool usage and modular product architecture or overall project outcomes. The findings suggest that digital design tools and their organizational implementation need improvement in up‐front new product development phases.     

Adjustment to variations in prices of imported inputs : The role of economic structure

Zusammenfassung Anpassung an ?nderungen der Preise von importierten Inputs: Die Bedeutung der wirtschaftlichen Struktur. — Eine der erstaunlichsten Erscheinungen der Weltwirtschaft in den 70er Jahren war der noch nie dagewesene und zum gro\en Teil unerwartete Anstieg der Preise für Rohstoffe und Zwischenprodukte. Dieser Aufsatz befa\t sich mit der Frage, wie Preis?nderungen von importierten Inputs in eine offene Volkswirtschaft übertragen werden und — was wichtiger ist — wie strukturelle Merkmale den übertragungsproze beeinflussen. Es wird ein importierter Input in das Modell einer offenen Volkswirtschaft mit entwickelten Finanzm?rkten, einem flexiblen Wechselkurs und Marktmacht auf der Exportseite eingebaut. Das Modell zeigt, da\ Unterschiede in den strukturellen Parametern — z. B. im Grad der Marktmacht oder im Ausma\ der Offenheit der heimischen Güterund Finanzm?rkte — die übertragung von ausl?ndischen Preisst?rungen auf das Inland stark ver?ndern; sie k?nnen die Reaktion der inl?ndischen Preise, Einkommen und Zinss?tze sowie des Wechselkurses abschw?chen oder auch verst?rken.

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Résumé L’ajustement aux variations en prix des inputs importés: Le r?le de la structure économique. — Un des événements éminents de l’économie internationale dans les années soixante-dix était l’accroissement extraordinaire et largement inattendu du prix de la plupart des matières premières et des biens intermediaires. Cet article analyse comment les variations en prix des inputs importés sont transmises à une économie ouverte et, plus important, comment des caractéristiques structurelles affectuent le processus de transmission. On a introduit l’input importé dans un modèle d’une économie ouverte avec des marchés financiers développés, un taux de change flexible et quelque pouvoir du marché en ce qui concerne les exportations. Le modèle révèle que les différences en paramètres structurels — par exemple le degré de pouvoir du marché ou la mesure de l’ouverture des marchés des biens et financiers — significativement changent la transmission des perturbances en prix étranger à l’économie locale; elles peuvent modérer ou exacerber la réponse des prix locaux, du revenu, du taux d’intérêt et du taux de change.

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Resumen Ajustes a las variaciones en los precios de insumos importados. El rol de la estructura económica. — Una de las caracteristicas más notables de la economía internacional en los a?os 70 fue el aumento sin precedentes y en gran parte no esperado en los precios de la mayoría de las materias primas y bienes intermedios. Este articulo se ocupa de cómo las variaciones en los precios de insumos importados son transmitidos a la economía abierta y, más importante, cómo las características estructurales afectan al proceso de transmisión. Un insumo importado es introducido en un modelo de una economía abierta con mercados financieros desarrollados, un tipo de cambio flexible y cierto grado de poder de mercado en el lado de las exportaciones. El modelo revela que diferencias en parámetres estructurales, tales como el grado del poder del mercado o medida de ?apertura por el lado de la demanda? o ?apertura financiera?, altera significativamente la transmisión de perturbaciones de precios externos hacia la economia doméstica; ellos pueden moderar o agravar la respuesta de precios domésticos, ingreso, la tasa de interés y el tipo de cambio.

     

Dual Exchange Rates in Europe and Latin America

This article uncovers some important empirical regularitiessurrounding the operation of formal dual exchange rates in Europeand Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Although there areparallels between the European and Latin American experiences,there are also interesting differences in terms of the sizeand nature of the distortion created by two official exchangerates; the response of the distortion to foreign interest rates,real commercial exchange rates, and domestic budget deficits;and the motives for adopting this exchange rate regime. Empiricalwork on dual exchange rate regimes is made difficult by thetransitory nature of these regimes and by frequent changes ininstitutional practices.     

Think talent – think male? A comparative case study analysis of gender inclusion in talent management practices in the German media industry

This paper contributes to our knowledge on talent management (TM) by conceptually and empirically investigating the peculiarities of TM and gender inclusion in talent development in the German context, as well as by analyzing whether TM is an inclusive HRM practice with respect to gender. Thus, we add an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of TM by linking it to important findings of gender and HRM studies with a specific focus on inclusion. A conceptualization of inclusive TM is suggested, and as a result of a comprehensive literature review, we identify five TM elements (talent definition, underlying career orientation, the content of talent development programs, the TM approach, and the talent selection process) which – depending on their design and characteristics – have an impact on the degree of gender bias and the discriminatory risk of TM. Respective propositions are suggested, and based on a qualitative comparative case study analysis, this paper provides empirical evidence from the German media industry, which shows important differences between cases in the identified TM elements and indicators concerning the gender inclusion of TM practices.     

The Construction of Risk Management Credibility Within Corporate Boardrooms

Despite various corporate collapses over the last decades, risk management is increasingly influential across organizations worldwide, as if the apparatus’ credibility was impermeable to scandals that, from critical angles, cast doubt on its efficacy. Relying on a cultural perspective of analysis highlighting the range of social processes that protect prevailing institutions’ legitimacy from aberrations, we examined the sense-making approaches employed by corporate boardroom actors to maintain their confidence in the credibility of the risk management apparatus despite being exposed to a continuous flow of corporate failures pointing to risk management efficacy limitations. Specifically, we conducted 35 interviews with corporate board stakeholders, mostly board members and corporate consultants. Our analysis indicates that actors involved in risk management processes tend to interpret aberration cases through perspectives that put the blame on some implementation deficiency, thereby ensuring that risk management's core assumptions are not questioned. These perspectives point to a defensive system of thought grounded in the director and consultancy communities, whose main referents are subject to intense work and re-conceptualization in the aftermath of aberrations, thereby providing community members with the means to make sense of the frictions of organizational life in ways that maintain the legitimacy of the risk management apparatus.     

The HWWA econometric model for economic forecasts

Econometric models are often used to forecast economic developments. Does the use of computer-based econometric procedures help sharpen our view of the future or are we blinkered by the supposed ‘precision’ of such models? What problems arise when building national economic models and when these models are used for forecasting purposes? These issues are examined with reference to the HWWA model.     

“We make the shoes,you make the story” Teenage girls’ experiences of fashion: Bricolage,tactics and narrative identity

This article explores the ways that French teenage girls use fashion discourse to construct their evolving identity from their recently left childhood to their future as fully grown women. Verbatim texts of 14 phenomenological discussions concerning clothing, accessories, make‐up and fashion are interpreted using the concepts of bricolage (Lévi‐Strauss), tactics (Certeau) and narrative identity (Ric?ur). The findings resonate with Thompson and Haytko’s portrayal of a dialogical relationship between consumers and a system of countervailing fashion meanings and with Murray’s exposition of a dialectical and discursive tension between sign‐experimentation and sign‐domination. But beyond this we elucidate the process by which teenagers also acquire, from personal social milieu, skills and tactics through which they toy with preconstrained sartorial symbolism to construct the plot line of their own lives which, in turn, reflects their past, defines their present self and presages their future.     

From vision to action: Framing the Leitbild concept in the context of landscape planning

Reviewing landscape developments in the last decades evidently shows that in the future most pressing changes can be expected for the land surface. This indispensably calls for strategic approaches based on visions and transdisciplinary creativity. Hence, this paper critically reviews the Leitbild concept, an idea on spatial planning which has been widely discussed in the German-speaking planning literature but which has received scant attention elsewhere. Although the term has been translated as a ‘vision’, this paper shows that the concept is far richer in its content than these casual translations suggest. The paper shows that it defines a particular paradigm for landscape planning that embodies a transdisciplinary approach in which lay-people and experts develop both goals and strategies for realising their joint visions. A systematic overview of the key characteristics that make up the Leitbild approach is provided and set in relation to already available approaches for decision makers. Although there are similarities between the Leitbild approach and other planning and decision-support tools, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Impact Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA-sust), the paper shows that the particular combination of issues considered when developing a Leitbild makes it distinctive. Through an iterative process, the development of a Leitbild allows new approaches to spatial planning in which space and place can be considered as a social construct, and in which the values and understandings of local actors can be better represented.     

Affirmative action programs and business ownership among minorities and women

Affirmative action programs are commonly used as a means to level the playing field for minority- and women-owned firms in public procurement markets, and therefore may be a positive factor in business entry and survival. To the extent that affirmative action programs also apply to traditional labor markets, however, they may alter the opportunity cost of starting a business. We utilize the elimination of affirmative action in California and Washington States through voter initiatives to identify the effect of affirmative action on minority and female self-employment rates. In our base specifications, we find evidence of modest increases in self-employment among minorities and women in both California and Washington after elimination of affirmative action, consistent with the hypothesis that the opportunity cost of starting a business fell due to restricting opportunities in the traditional labor markets. The sign of the estimated effect, however, is not uniformly positive when considering specific race/gender groups, and the statistical significance of the main results is somewhat sensitive to the choice of control states.