STATE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS AND INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES*

Because of the growth of new technology based economic development policies at the state level in recent years, this research project provides an assessment of the experiences of users of one such program: the technology research center in microelectronics. A survey of a large number of companies gave us results that should be of interest to decision makers in universities, private industry as well as the public sector. Access to students as future employees was seen as a major reason why companies get involved with universities, more so than research enhancement per se. A univerisity's inability to protect what companies see as confidential research is seen as a major disincentive to further university-industry relationships, while most companies did not see federal or state tax incentives as encouraging collaboration. Among companies who had direct experience with state-funded technology center programs, most reacted positively to their experiences. Such collaboration was seen to stimulate related research within many participating companies, while also leading to improvements in the quality of products and production methods. While the majority of companies thought that states should continue to fund technology development programs, particularly at universities, neither universities nor government were seen as important sources of technical knowledge by many companies. A lack of information about state programs was seen among many companies that responded to the survey.     

BANKRUPTCY, THE CREDIT CARD AND AMERICAN FREEDOM

Over the past 30 years, the USA has enhanced economic freedom in a paradigmatic way. This was accomplished through its unique 1978 bankruptcy law legislation, which itself had been necessitated by the previous over-use of the credit card. Curiously, this expansion of economic freedom is reminiscent of some nineteenth-century calls for social justice.     

GENDER, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT IN AGRICULTURE

The authors analyze the impacts of Southern Latin America integration on Brazilian agriculture. The first part describes the creation of MERCOSUL and its consequences on Brazilian agriculture. Two types of effects are investigated: how MERCOSUL may have induced improvements in the level of competitiveness of the local production of wheat; and the strategies for productive reintegration developed by wheat producers and other economic agents. Some conclusions are presented discussing agricultural diversification as an alternative to economic integration in southern Latin America.     

STRATEGIES OF EXPANSION AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN FIRMS 1

Summary The pace of change of the last ten years has challenged the traditional management processes to the point that the key organizational question is no longer to fit new strategies into available organizational patterns but instead to fit the organizational structure to the kind of problems to be faced. However, the intricacy of strategic and structural difficulties is often such that the appraisal of organizational inadequacies may prove difficult: symptoms may be wrongly considered as problems which may in turn be over-or understated so that corrective measures may well be inappropriate. This is why the saying‘When in trouble, reoganize!’is of little practicability. The lack of organizational planning in framing responses to structural problems will more and more make adjustments necessary. In our attempts to define the nature of organizational changes which are likely to occur within business firms in the future, we shall isolate the stragetic decisions related to corporate expansion on a transnational, trans-continental and eventually on an intercontinental scale. We shall start by analysing present organizational patterns — as they reflect decisions made in the past regarding current strategies — and we shall try to outline some possible structural developments as they may be required by the implementation of future strategies.     

THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS*

This paper explores the role of management consultants in the development of information technology (IT) in organizations. Contending that the process of IT systems development is characterized by the exercise of power, the central theme of the argument concerns the indissoluble nature of the technical and socio-political skills inherent in IT consultancy practice. IT consultancy practice is not just socio-political when winning a contract - the sales pitch - and technical when developing an IT system. Rather, socio-political skills centred on the mobilization of discursive and symbolic resources are an inherent part of the construction of such systems.     

由中国人在美国社区的生活故事想到的……

一次偶然机会,听到从美国回来的朋友介绍他在美国亲历的业主大会见闻,在惊讶感慨之余,也给了我们很大的启示. 故事是这样的,朋友夫妻二人在某大学读书并做研究,由于租房不合算,决定在学校附近买一套公寓.由于初来乍到,不熟悉当地环境和购房、居住的特点,仓促间按照在国内的习惯选择了一处距离较近、环境幽静、空气清新、价格适宜的公寓.但入住后的经历让他不胜烦恼:入住不久,他就接到参加业主大会(为了便于理解,暂且使用我国的称谓)的通知,他婉言谢绝了(有物业管理经验的人都知道,国人不喜参加业主大会是普遍现象,这样做等于不行使自己的权利,把权利让给少数人,又不进行必要的监督,受侵害的往往是让出权利的本人).但第二天业主大会的书面通知又到了,称这位朋友不参加业主大会让人遗憾,但业主大会的决议程序合法有效,所有业主都必须遵守,而昨天业主大会的决议竟然是今后不许使用明火炒菜,避免产生大量刺鼻气味(国人总是以为业主大会讨论决定的往往是炒掉或选聘物业管理公司、物业管理费涨价或降价、维修资金的使用等大事,没想到在美国这样关于生活习惯或邻里纠纷的事情也通过业主大会来解决).     

THE NORTH AMERICAN BLACKOUT AND ELECTRICITY POLICY: ALTERNATIVES TO TRANSMISSION CONSTRUCTION

It is time to stop regulating the electricity industry as if it were a natural monopoly. Technology has moved on and competition must not be discouraged by regulation. Competition is not only necessary for lower prices to consumers: the particular technological developments that have taken place in recent years mean that competition can diversify supply sources and contribute to increased security of supply.     

FACTORS OF INTERREGIONAL INCOME INEQUALITY IN POSTWAR JAPAN: THEIL DECOMPOSITION AND GAP ACCOUNTING ANALYSES

This study empirically identifies some factors of interregional income inequality in postwar Japan during the period 1955–2005 using a decomposition analysis with a Theil L index and a gap accounting analysis. One major empirical finding was that interregional inequality in per capita GDP during the period 1955–2005 showed a double peaked M‐shaped curve, which was predominantly attributed to interregional inequality in labor productivity. The sectoral decomposition analysis revealed that the factors that caused fluctuations in interregional inequality in labor productivity differed from year to year. The fluctuations during the period 1960–1980 were caused by an intersectoral equilibrating process between the tertiary sector and other sectors, whereas that the fluctuations that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted from interregional disequilibrating and equilibrating processes within the tertiary sector.     

名雕丹迪：成全心底的美式梦

“深切地认知每个方案的独特性,绝不存在一致的设计方式可解决每个住宅使用者的需求。”这是美国著名的设计大师迈克·伍德的座右铭。当美国的西部牛仔、好莱坞大片、迪斯尼、星巴克等一些优质文化不断进驻中国之时,越来越多的人崇尚美国人的生活方式,渴望在自我的空间里演绎出自由、个性与品味。