Incapability of Technological Capability: A Case Study on Product Innovation in the Japanese Facsimile Machine Industry

Technological leadership in an industry certainly seems like a ticket to ongoing success. However, overemphasis on existing technological capabilities may produce a form of myopia in product development. In other words, by focusing primarily on developing and improving their core technologies, organizations miss opportunities to exploit new technologies and thus create breakthrough products. Ken Kusunoki proposes that problem-solving approaches in a technologically leading firm paradoxically may impede radical product innovation. Suggesting that such firms are inherently oriented toward incremental innovation, he presents a conceptual framework of the dynamic interaction between technological and product development problem-solving in the context of product innovation. He then illustrates this conceptual framework by examining a case of radical innovation in the Japanese facsimile industry. For a technological leader, product innovation typically is driven by technology development. In other words, such a firm quite reasonably relies on the technological advantage it holds over competitors as the basis for its product developments. By refining and enhancing its industry-leading technological capabilities, the firm can successfully introduce incremental innovations in its products. Because of this strong emphasis on exploiting existing technological capabilities, however, the technological leader may fail to capitalize on new technologies that can produce radical innovations. In the race to develop high-speed, digital facsimile equipment during the early 1970s, for example, Matsushita held a decided technological advantage over competitors such as Ricoh. Notwithstanding Matsushita's technological edge, however, Ricoh brought this radical innovation to market two years before Matsushita introduced its first digital machine, causing a serious decline in Matsushita's market share. Ricoh's approach to technological and product problem-solving—an autonomous team structure, with a strong project manager and frequent transfers of engineers among interdependent units—contrasts dramatically with Matsushita's functional structure and strong emphasis on technological problem-solving. Interestingly, Matsushita regained its technological advantage by 1976, thanks to a rapid series of incremental innovations in its product technologies.     

Value creation from the innovation environment: partnership strategies in university spin‐outs

University spin‐out (USO) companies play an increasingly important role in generating value from radical, generic technologies, but this translation requires significant resources from other players to reach the market. Seven case studies illuminate how relationships with each type of partner can be leveraged to help the firm create value. We find that most firms in the sample are aware of the importance of corporate partners and actively seek to cultivate these relationships, but may not be taking full advantage of the resources available through nonparent academic institutions and other USOs with similar or complementary technologies.     

Profitability, Ownership Structure and Technical Efficiency of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China: A Case of Manufacturing Industries in Shanghai

This paper studies the relationship between accounting profits and technical efficiency of manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai during the period 1989–1992 and examines which factors affect the profitability of manufacturing enterprises. We first estimate the average technical efficiency of four major manufacturing industries in Shanghai. Then, we test for the presence of ownership effects of technical efficiency on profits of those enterprises in these four industries.     

Research notes and communications management and organizational change: A note on the railroad industry

Hypotheses which relate top-level managers' age, years of company and industry service, and education to strategic change are studied with a sample of 855 managers from 27 railroads. Results generally support hypotheses that younger managers and those with less experience are more likely to alter their strategies with changing environmental conditions.     

Hospitality Staff Attitudes to Guests with Impaired Mobility: The Potential of Education as an Agent of Attitudinal Change

This study aims to determine whether the attitudes of students (and therefore future employers) towards people with physical disabilities can be modified by exposing them to the needs of disabled people, or whether perceptions of the needs of the disabled are too entrenched for education to effect any change. It also evaluates whether attitudinal changes are enduring and therefore continue to influence students' responses to the disabled after a period of time has elapsed.     

Research Methods for Examining Independence Issues: Experimental and Economics-of-Auditing Approaches

Recent corporate failures in Australia and overseas have led many to question both the perceived and actual independence of auditors. We believe that it is unlikely that there is a general lack of independence among auditors or, at the other extreme, that there have been no breaches of independence. We suggest the need for research on factors that affect lack of actual independence. Research is also required on what factors affect independence as perceived by users of accounting reports. This paper outlines the research methods issues in the design of such studies.     

Wall Street''s contribution to management accounting: the Stern Stewart EVAfinancial management system

EVA^®is a variant of residual income marketed byStern Stewart & Co., a New York consulting firm, with the purpose of promoting value–maximizing behaviour in corporate managers. This paper reviews the EVA system in the light of this purpose. First, it outlines the rationale for the use of residual income in ‘value-based management’, highlighting the potential shortcomings of residual income as a single-period performance indicator. Second, it considers the adjustments to GAAP-based accounting advocated by Stern Stewart in order to produce a more economically meaningful version of residual income (EVA) which might serve as an effective indicator of single-period performance. Third, it examines the Stern Stewart approach to the setting of EVA benchmarks. Finally, it reviews the logic behind the use of the ‘bonus bank’ to separate the award of EVA–based bonuses from the payment of such bonuses.