Business network becoming: Figurations of time,change and process

Concepts such as ‘time’ and ‘change’ are always presaged by metaphor, narratives and other ‘tropes’ and are therefore, representations invented by association, analogy, indirect inferences and figuration. If these representations change, then their meaning also changes. In this paper, we argue that dominant figurations of time have been predominantly mechanistic and a consequence of ‘substance’ metaphysics. The mechanistic metaphor of time constructs comprehensions of time that are linear, homogenous and clock-like. As with any analogical representations, this type of figuration favors some aspects of time and diminishes others. Our proposition is that if we apply an alternative ‘process metaphysics’ to time, then this is associated with different figurative representations. In this paper, we make specific reference to the IMP research tradition where we explore ‘holographic or rhizomic time’ as a different temporal metaphor. We illustrate what linear clock time reveals and hides in a ‘centered’ epistemology and explore what an adoption of ‘holographic’ time would allow us to see, and discuss some of the benefits and limitations of this different figuration of time, which promotes a ‘de-centered’ epistemology.     

Technological change as chaotic process

In this paper, we draw upon the concepts of chaos theory to examine technological change as a pattern of punctuated equilibrium through the alternation of continuity and discontinuity across time. We advocate the application of the chaos mathematical technique of time‐varying local Lyapunov exponents to estimate the rates of change, timing of technological transitions and the continuity–discontinuity loop time periods. To illustrate our framework of ideas, we investigated and compared the development of four technologies – semiconductor, display, software, and biotechnology – from 1976 to 2005, using time series patent data. Implications for theory, method, and practice are discussed.     

Development of maintenance function performance measurement framework and indicators

The performance and competitiveness of manufacturing companies is dependent on the reliability, availability and productivity of their production facilities. To ensure the plant achieves the desired performance, maintenance managers need a good track of performance on maintenance process and maintenance results. This can be attained through development and implementation of a rigorously defined performance measurement framework and indicators that are able to measure important elements of maintenance function performance. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that performance indicators are not defined in isolation, but should be the result of a careful analysis of the interaction of the maintenance function with other organisational functions, most evidently with the production function. In this paper, a conceptual framework that provide guidelines for choosing maintenance function performance indicators is proposed. It seeks to align maintenance objectives with manufacturing and corporate objectives, and provides a link between the maintenance objectives, maintenance process/efforts and maintenance results. Based on this conceptual framework, performance indicators of the maintenance process and maintenance results are identified for each category.     

The influence of the strategic planning process on strategic change

This paper proposes that organizational decision-makers exist in a market for strategic issues where different internal and external trends and developments compete for decision-makers' attention. The paper describes how an organization's strategic planning process affects the set of strategic issues that do capture decision-makers' attention. It explains how characteristics of the strategic issue array translate into effective and timely initiation and implementation of strategic change.     

Realized absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial universities’ organizational change: the role of process innovation practices

Although essential to all institutions, organizational change is a complex and high risk activity. In this paper, we examine how organizations develop and implement capabilities to facilitate organizational change. Drawing on the dynamic capability perspective and a ‘resourcing’ synergy view, we investigate how realized absorptive capacity in terms of transformation and exploitation capability directly affects organizational change, and how process innovation practices act as an effective mechanism that link transformation and exploitation capability with organizational change. To distinguish our analysis, we focus on both an emerging organizational form and an emerging economy context. Specifically, on the basis of a questionnaire survey of 316 academics from entrepreneurial universities in Malaysia, we find that both transformation and exploitation capability are facilitators of organizational change. However, the relationship of transformation capability with organizational change is fully mediated by process innovation practices, while the relationship between exploitation capability and organizational change is partially mediated by process innovation practices. Our research therefore contributes to the dynamic capability perspective of organizational change and absorptive capacity by highlighting the importance of integrating organizational transformation and exploitation capability with process innovation practices in different ways to facilitate organizational change. Our findings and accompanying discussion on how process innovation practices can generate moves towards universities that are more entrepreneurial will also be of interest to university managers and policy makers.     

Conceptualizing coopetition as a process: An outline of change in cooperative and competitive interactions

This study discusses how and why cooperative interactions between competitors change as their coopetitive relation develops over time. Such cooperative interactions are conceptualized to depend on the existence of agreements between competitors, or rules for cooperating and competing, which are formulated based on past experiences from mutual interaction. The purpose is to develop a framework which explains change in coopetitive interactions and particularly in inter-organizational rules for interaction. This framework distinguishes three mechanisms underlying change: inter-organizational learning manifested in cooperation between competitors, intra-organizational learning based on confrontations between conflicting experiences among organizational members, and the development of the external environment. Based on this generic framework, three scenarios are developed that delineate the nature of the change process in relations characterized respectively by strong competitive and cooperative dimensions, and in relations characterized by equal and moderately strong levels of cooperation and competition. These scenarios further suggest that rules for interaction change in a predefined or discontinuous manner depending on the balance and strength of the cooperative and competitive interactions.     

The role of the process plant contracting industry in technological change

The function of process plant contractors is to design and engineer plants, supply process technology, procure plant equipment and supervise the construction and commissioning of plant for producers in various process industries such as chemicals, gas and steel. As such they play a major part in the process of capital formation and are one of the major inputs for facilitating technological change.
This paper describes recent attempts to identify the factors which determine contractor involvement and use this information as a basis for analysing the part contractors will play in developing trchnologies such as coal conversion and biotechnology.     

设备故障率和设备维修策略

论述了设备故障率曲线及特点，分析了几种设备维修模式和优缺点，提出对重点关键设备的维修应采用标准维修或状态维修的方式，而其他设备应根据设备故障信息统计的结果，采用相应的方式。     

Maintaining a Scholarly Community: Casual Authorship and the State of IR Research

Any field of study must have a core of journals devoted to a literature and a critical mass of scientists interested in a problem area to permit knowledge to accumulate and grow (Crane 1969). Analyzing authors' institutional affiliations and the topics of the articles published in the field's premier journals from 1986 to 1995, this article assesses the vitality of the contemporary industrial relations (IR) publication network. We find that authorship in IR journals is largely casual and that the quantity of publications by Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA) members in IR journals has declined. In addition, more than half the frequent contributors to IR journals do not belong to the IRRA, and notable differences exist between IRRA members and nonmembers in the substance of their published research. These results lead us to question the survival of IR as a distinct scholarly community.     

The process of change in relationships between public research and industry: two case studies from France

This paper deals with the process through which relationships between public research laboratories and firms develop over time. Two case studies in France illustrate the lengthy and interactive process needed by laboratories and firms in learning to work together. Laboratories and firms need also to think about new R&D strategies and especially a new balance in their activities between research and development.     

The creation of momentum for change through the process of strategic issue diagnosis

This paper presents a model of how decision-makers interpret stategic issues. The model of strategic issue diagnosis identifies three critical events: activation, assessments of urgency and assessments of feasibility. The relationship of each of these interpretive assessments to the creation of momentum for change allows one to predict if and how organizations will respond to a changed decision environment. The paper further links strategic issue diagnosis to organizational responses by highlighting the systematic effect of two contextual variables—the organization's belief structure and its resources—upon the assessments in diagnosis. In this way, the model of issue diagnosis provides a framework for understanding how and why organizations respond differently to strategic issues.     

Fully quantitative predictive maintenance/inspection planning optimization for chemical process plant components

Predictive maintenance/inspection planning and fitness-for-service analyses are being applied more frequently to address the effect of component aging affecting plant reliabibility. Component aging is one of the critical issues in an increasingly competitive environment, especially in plant components built and installed during the 50s and 60s. Maintenance optimization is also a critical issue for components, such as those that operate in the creep regime, and therefore age quickly. Maximizing the value received for each predictive maintenance/inspection dollar is the key. This article introduces the use of decision analysis to unite engineering analysis and economic evaluation for decision making. To illustrate this idea, examples of this approach applied to chemical facility components will be presented. In addition, the concept of priority-ranking multiple component maintenance/inspectio projects having maintenance budget and safety constraints in a way that maximizes Net Present Value, will be presented.     

杜绝曲轴轴瓦维修中的错误做法

在曲轴连杆轴承、主轴承的维修中，常见一些错误做法，其危害性很大，必须引起注意并加以克服和纠正。     

Strategy and the research process: A comment

The purpose of this paper is to expand the discussion of the ‘state-of-the-science’ in strategy research. We critically examine the role that theory plays in strategic research, and describe the principles underlying good theory. From a philosophy of science perspective, we argue that: (1) both inductive and deductive methods are valid ways of generating theory; (2) the falsificationist perspective provides an inadequate model for describing the process of theory testing; and (3) managers, researchers, public policy-makers, the popular press, and the public at large all have important roles to play in the knowledge development process.     

Corruption and change: the impact of foreign direct investment

This study examines influences on the level of corruption in countries from a strategic perspective. Corruption is one of the country‐level influences on market entry, investment, and other decisions fundamental to strategic management at the international level. The study examines the impact on corruption of change in levels of foreign direct investment (FDI). It uses the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores computed by Transparency International for 1999 and 2000. Results indicate that the more rapid the rate of change in FDI, the higher the level of corruption. Higher levels of perceived corruption are associated with each of two dimensions of national culture: uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. Research and managerial implications are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

试谈如何提升油井护理质量

随着石油开发企业管理工作的不断深化,提升管理,精细管理,精确做事逐步成为工作主流．如何做好油井护理工作,实现控躺井、延周期、增效益的目标,是石油开发企业的当务之急。为此,石油开发企业应该把工艺设计管理、井下作业质量管理、护理措施管理、新技术新工艺应用管理、全面质量管理等作为提高油井护理质量、提高经济效益的主要途径和方法。     

Fixed and fluid: stability and change in the geography of the Internet

The geography of today's Internet infrastructure is grounded in the fiber installations, routers, switches and central offices that guide electronic messages around the world. While the location of hardware is relatively fixed, the task of identifying the locations where data and information are stored is a far more difficult task. Advances in technology have created a very fluid definition of the location of information that has become increasingly distributed and ethereal. This paper examines the current structure and location patterns of Internet infrastructure hardware in the USA and how content distribution networks and peer-to-peer networks have disrupted traditional information location. The comparison of the two provides insight into how the geography of infrastructure hardware is influencing Internet technology and business.     

When the mirror gets misted up: Modularity and technological change

This study investigates how component technological change affects the relationship between product modularity and organizational modularity (the across‐firm mirroring hypothesis). Studying the air conditioning industry, we show that the across‐firm mirroring hypothesis does not hold for technologically dynamic components and the associated supply relationships. In this case, the mirror gets “misted up” with buyers and suppliers having recourse to information sharing even in the presence of highly modular components. Our study contributes to the debate on the organizational implications of modularity and its ramifications for the theory of the firm. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

将质量管理融入长庆互联网维护管理中

长庆互联网的安全与稳定畅通,关系到数万口油、气井,上千座站、库,数千km长输管道的诸多生产建设与管理。从提升长庆互联网的运行维护管理水平入手,深刻阐述了在互联网运行维护管理过程中融入ISO9001质量管理体系,实施全过程管理对确保长庆互联网的安全与稳定畅通所具有的现实意义。