Evolution and Transformation of Innovation in the Global Automotive Industry

The automotive industry is an integral component of the global economy and is unique in that it encompasses every aspect of the value chain—from raw materials to design and development, manufacturing, sales and service, and even disposal. All of these value‐creating areas are undergoing significant innovative change as a result of environmental and competitive forces. In this issue, we explore some of the most salient topics related to innovation and product management in the context of the contemporary global automotive industry.     

国际汽车整车与零部件厂商协作关系及我国汽车业发展战略

一、国外汽车整车和零部件厂商组织关系分析1 .纵向一体化战略的兴衰汽车生产垂直分工体系越发达 ,汽车零部件工业也就越发达。对于汽车整车厂商来说 ,获得生产所需要的零部件有两种选择 :一是自制 ,二是外购。影响这种决策的因素是多方面的 ,但最终要落实到成本上 ,表 1列出了影响整车厂自制或外购决策的主要因素。　　表 1影响自制或外购决策的主要因素条　　　　　件自制外购A.生产条件1.是否以规模经济为特征 2 .是否要求专门的技术 ,而这只有协作企业拥有 3.是否要求大量的要素投入 (资金和劳动 ) 4 .是否有高的工程标准 5 .是否…     

谁“导演”了美加大停电——大停电的成因与思考

一、8月14日的美、加到底发生了什么对8月14日的美加大停电,目前还有很多原因未能深入揭示。但从技术层面上来讲,我们对于8.14大停电的原因已经有所了解。因此,我们首先要回答为什么会发生这次大停电?1. 从事故初起到16点11分大停电爆发。这次大停电,主要发生在俄亥俄州、纽约州和加拿大的安大略省。大停电开始的区域是俄亥俄州北部,从特里堡和克莱弗兰开始。图1上有两个圆圈的地方,表示俄亥俄州北部2台大的发电机组停运,时间是8月14日下午15点06分。由于这两台机组的停运,使得该系统即第一条线路发生了故障。图1上几个箭头显示的是当时的潮…     

可拓学与信息管理、知识管理的关系研究

知识经济时代信息和知识成为重要的资源,同时也产生了信息爆炸和知识过载等问题,从而对信息管理与知识管理的智能性提出了新的需求。探讨信息管理与知识管理学科发展中遇到的问题,以可拓学理论方法为指导,提出了信息管理、知识管理与可拓学的相互促进发展模式,利用现有信息管理、知识管理的研究成果,丰富可拓学的基元库和可拓变换方法库,同时引入可拓学的方法论指导信息管理和知识管理的学科发展,使之更具有智能性。这一模式对人工智能的发展也有促进作用。     

The Role of Public and Private Protection in Disruptive Innovation: The Automotive Industry and the Emergence of Low‐Emission Vehicles

In the automotive industry, the need to move toward more sustainable trajectories of innovation has received much attention. Car manufacturers have started to develop lower emission alternatives for the internal combustion engine, particularly electric, hybrid, and fuel‐cell vehicles. They face the challenge, however, of how to make a potentially disruptive, systemic, and societally embedded technology such as a low‐emission vehicle attractive to mainstream customers. While literature has suggested that companies can empower the initial stages of disruptive innovation by creating protected spaces themselves and/or by taking advantage of such spaces created by public actors, the specific role of these different types of protection levers—private and/or public—has remained unclear. This article therefore investigates to what extent and how private and public protection levers affect firm‐level strategies to increase the attractiveness of disruptive and systemic innovations to mainstream customers. This is explored empirically through a multiple case study of the emergence of low‐emission vehicles within three car manufacturers—Daimler, General Motors, and Toyota—in the context of European, Japanese, and U.S. policies. The empirical analysis is conducted on a data set consisting of more than 9000 articles from two trade magazines, a car magazine and a financial newspaper for the period of 1997–2010. As main findings, the article identifies regulation, tax incentives, and public–private partnerships as the public protection levers that impose or stimulate “new” performance metrics such as fuel economy and vehicle emissions. It also finds that resource allocation, niche occupation, and collaboration‐integration act as the main private protection levers. In addition, two protection levers emerge from the data that are rather prominent in this context: the use of regulation imposing large‐scale commercialization of low‐emission vehicles and dumping of products in the market below cost price. The article concludes with two different protection trajectories—a public protection trajectory and a private protection trajectory—which explain how car manufacturers leverage the various protection levers to deal with disruptive technology. The main implication of the two trajectories is that while the public protection trajectory stalled due to the systemic, socially embedded technological impediments of electric vehicles and fuel‐cell vehicles, the private protection trajectory picked up the remains of the public protection trajectory and has gained momentum, continuing until today.     

Deregulation, Business Strategy, and Wages in the Airline Industry

This study assesses empirically the relationship between business strategy and wages within the context of a significant environmental change—deregulation of the airline industry. Regression results provide limited support for the hypotheses that firms' business strategies would lead to systematic differences in average earnings levels of airline carriers, depending on whether or not the industry was regulated, and that these strategies would operate over and above firms' ability to pay higher wages. It appears that business strategies may be linked to their human resource outcomes even in a heavily unionized environment.     

Industry Structure and Pricing. The New Rivalry in Infrastructure,Mark A. Jamison.

Review of Industrial Organization -     

Competition and Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry

The U.S. government, media, and flying public have expressedgreat concern in recent years over both airline market concentration and flightdelays. This study explores potential connections between the two by examining whetherthe lack of competition on a particular route results in worse on-time performance.Analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics in 2000 indicatesthat both the prevalence and duration of flight delays are significantly greater onroutes where only one airline provides direct service. Additional competition iscorrelated with better on-time performance. Weather, congestion, and schedulingdecisions also contribute significantly to explaining flight delays.     

Perceptions and Worry about Hazards at Work: Unions, Contract Maintenance, and Job Control in the U.S. Petrochemical Industry

Union statements and journalist accounts have tied workers' fears of accidents to the increasing use of subcontractors at U.S. petrochemical plants. In this case study of workers at a chemical facility in Louisiana, we explore who perceives and worries about chemical exposures and explosions in the work place and why. Perceptions of chemical exposures were highest among union members, contract workers, and those with low job control, whereas perception of explosions was highest among those reporting being rushed or overworked. Contract workers appear to be more worried about hazards in the industry than direct-hire employees.     

Enforcement and Control of Piracy,Copying, and Sharing in the Movie Industry

We review strategies that movie distributors have used to cope with piracy, copying, and sharing of movies in the United States in four categories: “hard goods” commercial piracy, consumer theft of pay TV signals, consumer copying and sharing of videos and pay TV, and (mostly in prospect) Internet file sharing. In the past, distributors have mainly sought to raise costs of engaging in these activities by increasing legal jeopardy, advantaging anti-copy technology, and reducing original sources of supply. They appear to have effectively reduced or contained most piracy, copying, and sharing of movies in the U.S., at least with analog media. Movie distributors are following similar strategies with digital media, including Internet file sharing. Digital media raise the stakes because of lower costs of copying or sharing and higher quality of outputs. Digital outputs are not always as high quality as source originals, however, and digital rights management (DRM) technologies potentially improve distributor control. The movie studios now face technological, demand, and political uncertainties in the U.S., notably in maintaining or achieving technically compatible DRM systems to control file sharing and PPV/VOD copying. Implications for foreign markets and directions for research are discussed. Some sections of this article draw substantially on David Waterman (2005a). Hollywood’s road to riches (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).     

Foreign Direct Investment,Imports and Innovations in the Service Industry

The paper analyses for the first time empirically the impact of foreign competition due to inward foreign direct investment and imports on the innovation activities using data of German service firms. Based on the hypothesis that foreign competition has a disciplining effect on domestic markets derived from the manufacturing sector, a positive impact can be expected on innovation in the service sector, while other theoretical considerations do not absolutely support this optimistic view. In the empirical analysis, variants of two probit models are estimated for a sample of 2,019 service firms to explain their product and process innovation activities. The results show that both foreign direct investment and imports have highly significant positive effects on product and process innovations. Vice versa, the export and foreign production activities of domestic firms support innovations, too.     

要研究电力工业的垄断和竞争问题——读戚聿东《中国现代垄断经济研究》

本刊开设“电力月评”栏目的目的有二 :一是关注电力行业变革过程中出现的热点、难点 ,以及这种变革可能会给煤炭行业造成的影响。二是关注煤炭企业自办电厂 (如坑口电厂、矸石电厂 ) ,不能说它们就是一个弱势群体 ,但目前它们面临的形势的确不容乐观。朱成章先生研究电力工业多年 ,提出的对电力工业垄断和竞争问题的观点 ,很有创见 ,值得认真思考 ;张文宪先生立足煤炭企业 ,对煤炭企业自办电厂的发展表达了自己的想法 ,但本刊认为 ,这个问题绝对有必要好好地探讨。希望广大读者关注并积极参与 !     

Regulation and the Development of Competition in the U.K. Gas Supply Industry

When the U.K. gas supply industry was privatised, it retained its monopoly vertically integrated structure. We discuss the forces which led to the deregulation of the U.K. gas supply industry. Important factors in the process include a number of critical reports by the regulatory authorities, the growth of alternative gas supplies including the development of the spot-market, and the success of independents in gaining market share in markets opened up to competition. We also present surveys of gas users and independent gas suppliers and find that price advantage has been the critical factor in the increase in market share gained by the independent gas suppliers.     

Industrial Concentration and Performance: A Study of the Structure,Conduct, and Performance of Indian Industry.

Review of Industrial Organization -